heir remorseless enemies. But the woods seemed to promise
the most secure retreat from the fury of the Black Horse Cavalry, which
was now sweeping over the battle-field. The Zouave ran in this direction,
and our soldier boy followed him. Now that the excitement of the conflict
was over, the enthusiasm which had buoyed him up began to subside. The day
was lost; all hopes of glory had fled; and a total defeat and rout were
not calculated to add much strength to his over-tasked limbs.

He was nearly used up, and it was hard work to run--very hard work; and
nothing but the instinct of self-preservation enabled him to keep the tall
and wiry form of the Zouave in sight. They reached the ravine, where the
water was about three feet deep. The shot, and shell, and bullets still
fell in showers around them, and occasionally one of the luckless
fugitives was struck down. They crossed the stream, and continued on their
flight. An officer on horseback dashed by them, and bade them run with all
their might, or they would be taken.

"For Heaven's sake, get me some water!" said a rebel, who was wounded in
the leg, to a Zouave, who passed near him.

"You are a rebel, but I will do that for you," replied the Zouave; and he
gave him a canteen filled with water.

The rebel drank a long, deep draught, and then levelled his musket at the
head of his Samaritan enemy and fired. This transaction had occupied but a
moment, and Tom saw the whole. His blood froze with horror at the
unparalleled atrocity of the act. The Zouave, whom Tom had followed,
uttered a terrible oath, and snatching the musket from the hands of the
soldier boy, he rushed upon the soulless miscreant, and transfixed him
upon the bayonet. Uttering fierce curses all the time, he plunged the
bayonet again and again into the vitals of the rebel, till life was
extinct.

"Boy, I used to be human once," said the Zouave, when he had executed this
summary justice upon the rebel; "but I'm not human now. I'm all devil."

"What a wretch that rebel was!" exclaimed Tom, who seemed to breathe freer
now that retribution had overtaken the viper.

"A wretch! Haven't you got any bigger word than that, boy? He was a fiend!
But we mustn't stop here."

"I thought the rebels were human."

"Human? That isn't the first time to-day I've seen such a thing as that
done. Come along, my boy; come along."

Tom followed the Zouave again; but he was too much exhausted to run any
farther. Even the te