"
"I had no such purpose. I know that you are bound to be in active life,
and I was already meditating a longer journey for you. Listen clearly
to me, Harry. The fight here is about over, and we are going to fail.
It is by the narrowest of margins, but still we will fail. We who are
for the South know it with certainty. Kentucky will refuse to go out
of the Union, and it is a great blow to us. I shall have to go back to
Pendleton for a week or two and then I will take a command. But since
you are bent upon service in the field, I want you to go to the East."
Harry's face flushed with pleasure. It was his dearest wish. Colonel
Kenton, looking at him out of the corner of his eyes, smiled.
"I fancied that you would be quite willing to go," he said. "I had a
letter this morning from a man who likes you well, Colonel Leonidas
Talbot. He is at Richmond and he says that President Davis, his cabinet,
and all the equipment of a capital will arrive there about the last of
the month. The enemy is massing before Washington and also toward the
West in the Maryland and Virginia mountains. A great battle is sure
to be fought in the summer and he wants you on his staff.
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