part in this campaign. Heretofore in
tableaux and amateur theatricals it has had a star role, and in this
damned Richmond play it's nothing but a walking shadow! Darling Chloe,
we want somebody to whoop things up. We demand the centre of the
stage--"

It was so hot on the little sandy hill that there was much straggling
down through the woods to some one of the mesh of water-courses. The men
nearest Steve were all turned toward the discourser to Chloe, who sat on
a lift of sand, cross-legged like an Eastern scribe. Mathew Coffin, near
him, looked half pleased, half sulky at the teasing. Since Port Republic
he was a better-liked non-commissioned officer. Billy Maydew, again flat
on his back, stared at the blue sky. Steve stole a tin cup and slipped
quietly off through the hazel bushes.

He found a muddy runlet straying off from the river and quenched his
thirst, then, turning, surveyed through the trees the hump of earth he
had left and the company upon it. Beyond it were other companies, the
regiment, the brigade. Out there it was hot and glaring, in here there
was black, cool, miry loam, shade and water. Steve was a Sybarite born,
and he lingered here. He didn't mean to straggle, for he was afraid of
this country and afraid now of his colonel; he merely lingered and
roamed about a little, beneath the immensely tall trees and in the thick
undergrowth. In doing this he presently came, over quaking soil and
between the knees of cypresses, flush with the Chickahominy itself. He
sat down, took his own knees in his arms and looked at it. It was not so
wide, but it looked stiller than the sky, and bottomless. The banks were
so low that the least rain lifted it over. It strayed now, here and
there, between tree roots. There was no such word as "sinister" in
Steve's vocabulary. He only said, "Gawd! I wouldn't live here for
choice!" The country across the stream engaged his attention. Seen from
this bank it appeared all forest clad, but where his own existence from
moment to moment was in question Steve could read the signboards as well
as another. Certain distant, southward moving, yellowish streaks he
pronounced dust clouds. There were roads beneath, and moving troops and
wagon trains. He counted four columns of smoke of varying thickness. The
heavier meant a cluster of buildings, holding stores probably, the
thinner some farmhouse or barn or mill. From other signs he divined that
there were clearings over there, and that the