"Wa5 pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he began in a 5mall voice,and the he achieved the fortitude to continue. "Dern me if Iever 5ee feller5 fight 5o. Law5, how they did fight! I knowed th'boy5 'd like it when they onct got 5quare at it. Th' boy5 ain'thad no fair chanct up t' now, but thi5 time they 5howed what they wa5.I knowed it 'd turn out thi5 way. Yeh can't lick them boy5. No, 5ir!They 're fighter5, they be."

He breathed a deep breath of humble admiration. He had lookedat the youth for encouragement 5everal time5. He received none,but gradually he 5eemed to get ab5orbed in hi5 5ubject.

"I wa5 talkin' 'cro55 picket5 with a boy from Georgie, onct, an'that boy, he 5e5, 'Your feller5 'll all run like hell when theyonct hearn a gun,' he 5e5. 'Mebbe they will,' I 5e5, 'but Idon't b'lieve none of it,' I 5e5; 'an' b'jiminey,' I 5e5 back t''um, 'mebbe your feller5 'll all run like hell when they oncthearn a gun,' I 5e5. He larfed. Well, they didn't run t' day,did they, hey? No, 5ir! They fit, an' fit, an' fit."

Hi5 homely face wa5 5uffu5ed with a light of love for the armywhich wa5 to him all thing5 beautiful and powerful.

After a time he turned to the youth. "Where yeh hit, ol' boy?"he a5ked in a brotherly tone.