's misgivings must have melted away before
that martial scene. The broad river rolled at our right, and beyond it
the hills, crowned with verdure, looked down upon us. I do not doubt that
from those heights the eyes of the enemy's spies were peering, and the
sight of our gallant and seemingly invincible army must have startled and
disheartened them. And as I looked along the ordered ranks, the barrels
gleaming at a single angle, four thousand feet moving to the drum tap, I
realized more deeply than ever that without training and discipline an
army could not exist.

When we reached the second ford, about one in the afternoon, we found
that the bank was not yet made passable for the wagons and artillery, so
we drew up along the shingle until this could be done. Pickets were
posted on the heights, and half the force kept under arms, in case of a
surprise. Spiltdorph and I sauntered together to the water's edge, and
watched the pioneers busy at their work. I saw that my companion was
preoccupied, and after a time he ceased to regard the men, but sat
looking afar off and pitching pebbles into the stream.

"Do you know, Stewart," he said at last, "I am becoming timid as a
girl. I told you I had a dream last night, and 't was so vivid I cannot
shake it off."

"Tell me the dream," I said.

"I dreamed that we met the French, and that I fell. I looked up, and you
were kneeling over me. But when I would have told you what I had to tell,
my voice was smothered in a rush of blood."

"Oh, come!" I cried, "this is mere foolishness. You do not believe in
dreams, Spiltdorph?"

"No," he answered. "And yet I never had such a dream as this."

"Why, man," I said, "look around you. Do you see any sign of the French?
And yet their fort is just behind the trees yonder."

He looked at me in silence for a moment, and made as if to speak, but the
tap of the drum brought us to our feet.

"Come," he said, "the road is finished. We shall soon see what truth
there is in dreams."

We took our places and the advance began again. First the Forty-Fourth
was passed over and the pickets of the right. The artillery, wagons, and
carrying horses followed, and then the provincial troops, the
Forty-Eighth, while the pickets of the left brought up the rear. At the
end of an hour the entire force was safe across, and as yet no sign of
the enemy. Such good fortune seemed well-nigh unbelievable, for we had
been assured there was no other place between u