rs of the road. The afternoon was past its height,
but bright yet, with the undersong of the wind and of Thunder Run. The
yellow cat had had his dinner, too, and after sauntering around the
yard, and observing the robin on the locust tree again curled himself on
the porch and slept.

Sairy straightened herself from the washtub. "Somebody's comin' up the
road. It's a man!" She came toward the porch, wiping her hands, white
and crinkled, upon her apron. "He's a soldier, Tom! Maybe one of the
boys air come back--"

Tom rose too, quickly. He staggered and had to catch at the sapling that
made the pillar. "Maybe it's--"

"No, no! no, no! Don't you think that, an' have a set-back when you find
it ain't! It ain't tall enough for Allan, an' it ain't him anyhow. It
_couldn't_ be."

"No, I reckon it couldn't," said Tom. "But anyhow it's one of the boys."
He was half way to the gate, Sairy after him, and they were the first to
welcome Steve Dagg back to Thunder Run.

Tom Cole forgot that he had no opinion of Steve anyway. Sairy pursed her
lips, but a soldier was a soldier. Steve came and sat down on the edge
of the porch, beside the china asters, "Gawd! don't Thunder Run sound
natural! Yass'm, I walked from Buford's, an' 't was awful hard to do,
cause my foot is all sore an' gangrened. I've got a furlough till it
gets well. It's awful sore. Gawd! ef Thunder Run had seen what I've
seen, an' heard what I've heard, an' done what I've done, an' been
through what I've been through--"

CHAPTER XLII

SPECIAL ORDERS, NO. 191

In Lee's tent, pitched in a grove a mile from Frederick, was held a
council of war,--Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Longstreet, Jeb Stuart. Lee sat
beside the table, Jackson faced him, sabre across knees, Longstreet had
his place a little to one side, and Stuart stood, his shoulder against
the tent pole. The last-named had been speaking. He now ended with "I
think I may say, sir, that hardly a rabbit has gotten past my pickets.
He's a fine fellow, Little Mac is! but he's mighty cautious, and you
couldn't exactly call him swift as lightning. He's still a score of
miles to the east of us, and he knows mighty little what we are about."

Jackson spoke. "General McClellan does not know if the whole army has
crossed or only part of it has crossed. He does not know whether we are
going to move against Washington, or move against Baltimore, or invade
Pennsylvania. Always mystify, mislead, and deceive the enemy as