"I've got breakfast ready for you, an' I hope, boy,
that you'll get through with a whole skin. I said that both sides would
have to fight this war without my help, but I don't mind givin' a boy
a hand when he needs it."
Harry did not say much, but he was deeply grateful. After breakfast he
mounted his horse, received careful directions from Perkins and rode
toward Washington. The whole forest was fresh and green after its heavy
bath, and birds, rejoicing in the morning, sang in every bush. Harry's
elation returned. Clothes impart a certain quality, and, dressed in
a charcoal burner's Sunday best, he began to bear himself like one.
He rode in a slouchy manner, and he transferred the pistols from his
belt to the large inside pockets of his new coat. As he passed in an
hour from the forest into a rolling open country, he saw that Perkins
had advised him wisely. Dressed in the Confederate uniform he would
certainly have had trouble before he made the first mile.
He saw the camps of troops both to right and left and he knew that these
were the flank of the Northern army. Then from the crest of another
hill he caught his second view of Washington. The gleam from the dome
of the Capitol was much more vivid now, and he saw other white buildings
amid the foliage.
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