"
Harry and St. Clair slept well, despite the noises of a camp, but they
were ready at the appointed time, very precise in their new uniforms.
Langdon was with them and the three were eager for the movement, the
nature of which officers alone seemed to know.
The Invincibles were an infantry regiment and the three youths, like the
men, were on foot. They filed off to the left behind the front line of
the Southern army, and marched steadily westward, inclining slightly to
the north. Many of the men, or rather boys, not yet fast in the bonds
of discipline, began to talk, and guess together about their errand.
But Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire rode along the
line and sternly commanded silence, once or twice making the menace of
the sword. The lads scarcely understood it, but they were awed into
silence. Then there was no noise but the rattle of their weapons and
the steady tread of eight hundred men.
The young troops had been kept in splendid condition, drilling steadily,
and they marched well. They passed to the extreme western end of the
Confederate camp, and continued into the hills. The sun had passed
its zenith when they started and a pleasant, cool breeze blew from the
slopes of the western mountains.
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