very sober in dress and manner."

"Harry, my lad, when you've lived as long as I have you will know that a
merry heart may beat beneath a plain brown dress, and that an ugly hood
cannot wholly hide a sweet and saucy face. The girls--God bless 'em--
have been the same in all lands since the world began, and will continue
so to the end. While this war is on you boys cannot go a-courting,
either in the North or South. Am I not right, Hector, old friend?"

"Right, as always, Leonidas. I perceive, though, that the sun is about
to set; not a new thing, I admit, but we must not delay our young friends,
when the general perhaps needs them."

"Well spoken again, Hector. You are an unfailing fount of wisdom.
Good night, my brave lads. Not many of the Invincibles are left, but
every one of them is a true friend of you both."

As they rode across the darkening fields Harry and Dalton knew that the
colonel spoke the truth about the Invincibles.

"I like a faith such as theirs," said Dalton.

"Yes, it can often turn defeat into real victory."

They quickly found the general's headquarters, and as usual, whenever the
weather permitted, he had made arrangements to sleep in the open air,
his blankets spread upon soft boughs. Harry and Dalton, having slept
all day, would be on night duty, and after supper they sat at a little
distance, awaiting orders.