ad of Narcisse. For the first
time in his life he moved beyond the corporate limits of his native
town.

"'Ezcape fum the aunt, thou sluggud!'" "_Au 'evoi'_" to his aunt and the
uncle of his aunt. "_Au 'evoi'!_ _Au 'evoi'!_"--desk, pen, book--work,
care, thought, restraint--all sinking, sinking beneath the receding
horizon of Lake Ponchartrain, and the wide world and a soldier's life
before him.

Farewell, Byronic youth! You are not of so frail a stuff as you have
seemed. You shall thirst by day and hunger by night. You shall keep
vigil on the sands of the Gulf and on the banks of the Potomac. You
shall grow brown, but prettier. You shall shiver in loathsome tatters,
yet keep your grace, your courtesy, your joyousness. You shall ditch and
lie down in ditches, and shall sing your saucy songs of defiance in the
face of the foe, so blackened with powder and dust and smoke that your
mother in heaven would not know her child. And you shall borrow to your
heart's content chickens, hogs, rails, milk, buttermilk, sweet potatoes,
what not; and shall learn the American songs, and by the camp-fire of
Shenandoah valley sing "The years creep slowly by, Lorena" to messmates
with shaded eyes, and "Her bright smile haunts me still." Ah, boy!
there's an old woman still living in the Rue Casa Calvo--your bright
smile haunts her still. And there shall be blood on your sword, and
blood--twice--thrice--on your brow. Your captain shall die in your arms;
and you shall lead charge after charge, and shall step up from rank to
rank; and all at once, one day, just in the final onset, with the cheer
on your lips, and your red sword waving high, with but one lightning
stroke of agony, down, down you shall go in the death of your dearest
choice.

CHAPTER LI.

BLUE BONNETS OVER THE BORDER.

One morning, about the 1st of June, 1861, in the city of New York, two
men of the mercantile class came from a cross street into Broadway, near
what was then the upper region of its wholesale stores. They paused on
the corner, near the edge of the sidewalk.

"Even when the States were seceding," said one of them, "I couldn't make
up my mind that they really meant to break up the Union."

He had rosy cheeks, a retreating chin, and amiable, inquiring eyes. The
other had a narrower face, alert eyes, thin nostrils, and a generally
aggressive look. He did not reply at once, but, after a quick glance
down the great thoroughfare and another one up it, sa