ty that he should not do his share
towards supporting the family.

Tom finished his letters, and was rejoiced to find that his friends at
home were all well and happy; and in a few days more, a letter from him
would gladden their hearts with the intelligence of his safe return to the
regiment.

"All well--ain't they?" asked Hapgood, as Tom folded up the letters and
put them in his pocket; and the veteran could not fail to see, from the
happy expression of his countenance, that their contents were
satisfactory.

"All well," replied Tom. "Where is Fred Pemberton? I haven't seen him
yet."

"In the hospital: he's sick, or thinks he is," answered Hapgood. "Ben
Lethbridge is in the guard house. He attempted to run away while we were
coming over from Shuter's Hill."

"Who were killed, and who were wounded? I haven't heard a word about the
affair, you know," asked Tom.

"Sergeant Bradford was wounded and taken prisoner. Sergeant Brown was hit
by a shell, but not hurt much. The second lieutenant was wounded in the
foot, and--"

A loud laugh from the men interrupted the statement.

"What are you laughing at?" demanded Tom.

"He resigned," added Bob Dornton, chuckling.

"You said he was wounded?"

"I didn't say so; the lieutenant said so himself, and hobbled about with a
big cane for a week; but as soon as his resignation was accepted, he threw
away his stick, and walked as well as ever he could."

The boys all laughed heartily, and seemed to enjoy the joke prodigiously.
Tom thought it was a remarkable cure, though the remedy was one which no
decent man would be willing to adopt.

"How's Captain Benson?"

"He's better; he felt awful bad because he wasn't in that battle. The
colonel has gone home, sick. He has more pluck than body. He was
sun-struck, and dropped off his horse, like a dead man, on the field. It's
a great pity he hasn't twice or three times as much body; if he had, he'd
make a first-rate officer."

It was now Tom's turn to relate his adventures; and he modestly told his
story. His auditors were deeply interested in his narrative, and when he
had finished, it was unanimously voted that Tom was a "trump;" which I
suppose means nothing more than that he was a smart fellow--a position
which no one who has read his adventures will be disposed to controvert.

A long period of comparative inactivity for the regiment followed the
battle of Bull Run. General McClellan had been called from the scene of
hi