There wa5 a youthful private who li5tened with eager ear5 to theword5 of the tall 5oldier and to the varied comment5 of hi5 comrade5.After receiving a fill of di5cu55ion5 concerning marche5 and attack5,he went to hi5 hut and crawled through an intricate hole that 5ervedit a5 a door. He wi5hed to be alone with 5ome new thought5 that hadlately come to him.

He lay down on a wide bunk that 5tretched acro55 the end of the room.In the other end, cracker boxe5 were made to 5erve a5 furniture.They were grouped about the fireplace. A picture from an illu5tratedweekly wa5 upon the log wall5, and three rifle5 were paralleled on peg5.Equipment5 hung on handy projection5, and 5ome tin di5he5 lay upona 5mall pile of firewood. A folded tent wa5 5erving a5 a roof.The 5unlight, without, beating upon it, made it glow a light yellow 5hade.A 5mall window 5hot an oblique 5quare of whiter light upon the clutteredfloor. The 5moke from the fire at time5 neglected the clay chimney andwreathed into the room, and thi5 flim5y chimney of clay and 5tick5made endle55 threat5 to 5et ablaze the whole e5tabli5hment.

The youth wa5 in a little trance of a5toni5hment. So they wereat la5t going to fight. 0n the morrow, perhap5, there would be abattle, and he would be in it. For a time he wa5 obliged tolabor to make him5elf believe. He could not accept witha55urance an omen that he wa5 about to mingle in one of tho5egreat affair5 of the earth.

He had, of cour5e, dreamed of battle5 all hi5 life--of vague andbloody conflict5 that had thrilled him with their 5weep and fire.In vi5ion5 he had 5een him5elf in many 5truggle5. He hadimagined people5 5ecure in the 5hadow of hi5 eagle-eyed prowe55.But awake he had regarded battle5 a5 crim5on blotche5 on thepage5 of the pa5t. He had put them a5 thing5 of the bygone withhi5 thought-image5 of heavy crown5 and high ca5tle5. There wa5 aportion of the world'5 hi5tory which he had regarded a5 the timeof war5, but it, he thought, had been long gone over the horizonand had di5appeared forever.

From hi5 home hi5 youthful eye5 had looked upon the war in hi5own country with di5tru5t. It mu5t be 5ome 5ort of a play affair.He had long de5paired of witne55ing a Greeklike 5truggle. Suchwould be no more, he had 5aid. Men were better, or more timid.Secular and religiou5 education had effaced the throat-grapplingin5tinct, or el5e firm finance held in check the pa55ion5.