ack
toward Strasburg. All was confusion. They would never stop to listen to
explanations as to a turned coat! Steve was sure that they would simply
shoot him or cut him down before he could say "I am one of you!" They
would kill him, like a stray bee in the hive, and go their way, one way
or the other, whichever way they were going! The contending motions made
him giddy.

An aide in blue, galloping madly from the front, encountered beside the
pokeberry clump an officer, directing, with his sword. Steve was morally
assured that they had seen him, had stopped, in short, to hale him
forth. As they did not--only excitedly shouted each at the other--he
drew breath again. He could see the two but dimly, close though they
were, because of the dust. Suddenly there came to him a rose-coloured
thought. That same veil must make him well-nigh invisible; more than
that, the dust lay so thickly on all things that colour in any uniform
was a debatable quality. He didn't believe anybody was noticing. The
extreme height to which his courage ever attained, was at once his. He
felt almost dare-devil.

The aide was shouting, so that he might be heard through the uproar.
"Where are the guns? Colonel Hatch says for the good Lord's sake hurry
them up! Hell's broke loose and occupied Middletown. Ashby's there, and
they say Jackson! They've planted guns--they've strung thousands of men
behind stone fences--they're using our own wagons for breastworks! The
cavalry was trying to get past. Listen to that!"

The other officer shouted also, waving his sword. "There's a battery
behind--Here it comes!--We ought to have started last night. The general
said he must develop the forces of the enemy--"

"He's developing them all right. Well, good-bye! Meet in Washington!"

The battery passed with uproar, clanging toward the front, scattering
men to either side like spray. Steve's wayside bower was invaded. "Get
out of here! This ain't no time to be sitting on your tail, thinking of
going fishing! G'lang!"

Steve went, covered with dust, the shade of the uniform below never
noticed in the furious excitement of the road. Life there was at fever
point, aware that death was hovering, and struggling to escape. In the
dust and uproar, the blare and panic, he was aware that he was moving
toward Middletown where they were fighting. Fighting was not precisely
that for which he was looking, and yet he was moving that way, and he
could not help it. The noise i