,"
said the officer, "you've taken the first prisoner to-day."

He then turned to question the captive, who seemed inclined to talk
freely about the position and force of the confederates.

"I'll take this fellow in charge," he said, perceiving that it was in his
power to give valuable information. "Come, too, if you like."

"I thank you; I want to join my company," said Frank.

"You'd rather do that than come and see the general?"

"I can see him any time when he wants me, but we don't have a fight every
day, sir."

"Well, he shall hear of you. Can I do any thing for you?"

"If you please, you may take this gun that I have captured; one is enough
for me."

The officer took it, saying, as he turned to go,--

"A spirited boy, and as modest as he is brave!"

In the mean time Frank's comrades in the fight were cutting their way
through a thick swampy jungle in the direction of the enemy's left flank.

Relieved of his prisoner, his ardor inflamed rather than quenched by the
evil tidings he had heard of his brother, he followed in their track,
passing directly across the fire of the battery.

The hurricane of destruction swept howling over him. The atmosphere was
thick with smoke. Grape-shot whizzed through the bushes. The scream of
rifled shot seemed to fill the very air with terror and shuddering. Right
before him a shell struck a forest tree, shivering limbs and trunk in an
instant, as if a bolt from heaven had fallen upon it. He felt that at any
moment his tender body too might be torn in pieces; but he believed God's
arm was about him, and that he would be preserved. Deep and solemn, happy
even, was that conviction. A sense of the grand and terrible filled him;
the whole soul of the boy was aroused. He was not afraid of any thing. He
felt ready for any thing, even death, in his country's service.

The mud was deep, and savage the entanglement of bushes on every side.
But the troops, breaking through, had made the way comparatively easy to
follow, and Frank soon overtook the regiment.

Great was Captain Edney's surprise at sight of him, with a gun in his
hand and with the glow of youthful heroism in his face.

"What are you here for?"

"To beg permission to take Winch's place in the ranks."

"Your place is with the ambulance corps."

"I got excused from that, sir. I am not strong enough to carry heavy men
through the swamps," said Frank, with a smile.

"But strong enough to take a man's place in the