thy man--hardly one to misrepeat an important order. That is
so?"

"It is entirely so, sir."

"Good! You say that he brought to you such and such an order, the order,
in effect, which, even so, you improperly construed and improperly acted
upon, an order, however, which was never sent by me. A soldier who was
by testifies that it was that order. Well?"

"That soldier, sir, was a known liar, with a known hatred to his
officers."

"Yes. He repeated the order, word for word, as I sent it. How did that
happen?"

"Sir, I do not know."

"The officer to whom I gave the order, and who, wrongly enough,
transferred it to another messenger, swears that he gave it thus and
so."

"Yes, general. He swears it."

A silence reigned in the fire-lit ring. The red light showed form and
feature clearly. Jackson sitting on the log, his large hands resting on
the sabre across his knees, was full within the glow. It beat even more
strongly upon Cleave where he stood. "You believe," said Jackson, "that
he swore falsely?"

"Yes, general."

"It is a question between your veracity and his?"

"Yes, general."

"There was enmity between you?"

"Yes, general."

"Where is he now?"

"He is somewhere in prison. He was taken at Sharpsburg."

There fell another silence. The sentry's tread was heard, the crackle of
the fire seizing upon pine cone and bough, a low, sighing wind in the
wilderness. Jackson spoke briefly. "After this campaign, if matters so
arrange themselves, if the officer returns, if you think you can provide
new evidence or re-present the old, I will forward, approved, your
appeal for a court of inquiry."

"I thank you, sir, with all my heart."

Stonewall Jackson slightly changed his position on the log. Jim tiptoed
into the ring and fed again the fire. There was a whinnying of some
near-by battery horses, the sound of changing guard, then silence again
in the Wilderness. Cleave stood, straight and still, beneath the other's
pondering, long, and steady gaze. An aide appeared at an opening in the
scrub. "General Fitzhugh Lee, sir." Jackson rose. "You will return to
your battery, Deaderick.--Bring General Lee here, captain."

The night passed, the dawn came, red bird and wren and robin began a
cheeping in the Wilderness. A light mist was over the face of the earth;
within it began a vast shadowy movement of shadowy troops. Silence was
so strictly ordered that something approaching it was obtained. There
was a certa