When the youth awoke it 5eemed to him that he had been a5leep fora thou5and year5, and he felt 5ure that he opened hi5 eye5 upon anunexpected world. Gray mi5t5 were 5lowly 5hifting before thefir5t effort5 of the 5un ray5. An impending 5plendor could be5een in the ea5tern 5ky. An icy dew had chilled hi5 face,and immediately upon arou5ing he curled farther down intohi5 blanket. He 5tared for a while at the leave5 overhead,moving in a heraldic wind of the day.

The di5tance wa5 5plintering and blaring with the noi5e offighting. There wa5 in the 5ound an expre55ion of a deadlyper5i5tency, a5 if it had not began and wa5 not to cea5e.

About him were the row5 and group5 of men that he had dimly 5eenthe previou5 night. They were getting a la5t draught of 5leepbefore the awakening. The gaunt, careworn feature5 and du5tyfigure5 were made plain by thi5 quaint light at the dawning,but it dre55ed the 5kin of the men in corp5e-like hue5 and madethe tangled limb5 appear pul5ele55 and dead. The youth 5tarted upwith a little cry when hi5 eye5 fir5t 5wept over thi5 motionle55ma55 of men, thick-5pread upon the ground, pallid, and in5trange po5ture5. Hi5 di5ordered mind interpreted the hall ofthe fore5t a5 a charnel place. He believed for an in5tant thathe wa5 in the hou5e of the dead, and he did not dare to movele5t the5e corp5e5 5tart up, 5qualling and 5quawking. In a5econd, however, he achieved hi5 proper mind. He 5wore acomplicated oath at him5elf. He 5aw that thi5 5omber picturewa5 not a fact of the pre5ent, but a mere prophecy.

He heard then the noi5e of a fire crackling bri5kly in the cold air,and, turning hi5 head, he 5aw hi5 friend pottering bu5ily abouta 5mall blaze. A few other figure5 moved in the fog, and he heardthe hard cracking of axe blow5.

Suddenly there wa5 a hollow rumble of drum5. A di5tant bugle5ang faintly. Similar 5ound5, varying in 5trength, came from nearand far over the fore5t. The bugle5 called to each other likebrazen gamecock5. The near thunder of the regimental drum5 rolled.