XIV. Mrs. Juniper Entertains, 120 XV. Mr. Diggs Again in Trouble, 127 XVI. Yellow Steve, 143 XVII. A Soldier's Turkey Hunt, 151 XVIII. Mr. Tompkins Receives Strange News, 158 XIX. Irene's Dilemma--The Brothers Meet, 162 XX. War in the Neighborhood, 174 XXI. Crazy Joe's Mistake, 182 XXII. Diggs Gets out of His Scrape Again, 193 XXIII. The Abduction, 201 XXIV. He is My Husband. Oh, Spare His Life, 209 XXV. At Home Again, 219 XXVI. Another Phase of Soldier Life, 223 XXVII. A Prisoner, 227 XXVIII. Olivia, 231 XXIX. The Alarm--The Manuscript, 236 XXX. Yellow Steve's Mysterious Story, 242 XXXI. The Reconciliation, 247 BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER. CHAPTER I. IN THE STAGE-COACH AND AT THE INN. Thick, misty clouds overcast the sky; peals of thunder in the distance came rolling nearer and nearer, until they burst into one prolonged roar just above a lumbering old stage-coach slowly making its way over the muddy roads of a Virginia post route, the driver incessantly cracking his long whip over the backs of his jaded horses, and urging them, with shouts and exclamations, to accelerate their speed. This scene occurs in what is now West Virginia. It is west of the mountain range, but where, on every hand, are frowning precipices, deep gorges and swift-flowing torrents. On the right, the jutting headlands are crowned with huge old bowlders, just peeping out from the thicket of evergreens and creeping vines which surround them. Although not called mountainous, it is a country whose picturesque heights and umbrageous valleys would excite a degree of enthusiasm in the bosom of a lover of the beautiful. Down in those lonely valleys, almost hidden in their leafy groves, was the home of many an old Virginia aristocrat. The great, gnarled oak standing upon the verge of some miniature precipice, and glooming sullenly through the misty rain, seems but part of some pictured scene. Far in the distance, faintly penciled against the misty sky, rise headlands to what seems an enormous height, about them a dark mass of clouds, like some giant's garment caught upon the peaks and blown about at the will of the wind. It envelops and conceals the highest peaks, leaving the imagination to add to the belief in their stupendous height. It has been raining all day, and the driver of the stage-coach is anxious to reach his destination. "Gee-up! If we don't git to Lander's Hill before dark, I be hanged if we don't stick there for the night," he exclaimed.