out:

"Colonel, I am directed by Colonel Harmon to say that the enemy's guns
are within easy reach of our rifles, and most of them visible from
several points along the ridge."

The brigade commander looked at him without a trace of interest in his
expression. "I know it," he said quietly.

The young adjutant was visibly embarrassed. "Colonel Harmon would like
to have permission to silence those guns," he stammered.

"So should I," the colonel said in the same tone. "Present my
compliments to Colonel Harmon and say to him that the general's orders
for the infantry not to fire are still in force."

The adjutant saluted and retired. The colonel ground his heel into the
earth and turned to look again at the enemy's guns.

"Colonel," said the adjutant-general, "I don't know that I ought to say
anything, but there is something wrong in all this. Do you happen to
know that Captain Coulter is from the South?"

"No; _was_ he, indeed?"

"I heard that last summer the division which the general then commanded
was in the vicinity of Coulter's home--camped there for weeks, and--"

"Listen!" said the colonel, interrupting with an upward gesture. "Do you
hear _that_?"

"That" was the silence of the Federal gun. The staff, the orderlies, the
lines of infantry behind the crest--all had "heard," and were looking
curiously in the direction of the crater, whence no smoke now ascended
except desultory cloudlets from the enemy's shells. Then came the blare
of a bugle, a faint rattle of wheels; a minute later the sharp reports
recommenced with double activity. The demolished gun had been replaced
with a sound one.

"Yes," said the adjutant-general, resuming his narrative, "the general
made the acquaintance of Coulter's family. There was trouble--I don't
know the exact nature of it--something about Coulter's wife. She is a
red-hot Secessionist, as they all are, except Coulter himself, but she
is a good wife and high-bred lady. There was a complaint to army
headquarters. The general was transferred to this division. It is odd
that Coulter's battery should afterward have been assigned to it."

The colonel had risen from the rock upon which they had been sitting.
His eyes were blazing with a generous indignation.

"See here, Morrison," said he, looking his gossiping staff officer
straight in the face, "did you get that story from a gentleman or a
liar?"

"I don't want to say how I got it, Colonel, unless it is necessary"--he
was