"Walter," I say to a young trooper, who is going out on picket, "Walter, you are to go back a mile on the road we came down, and you will be posted near the wide cornfield that we passed." "Yes, sir." "Be careful that you give no false alarm; but if there should be anything, then fire your carbine in this direction, and come in on a gallop." "Yes, sir." "And, Walter, you need to be very watchful to-night, for you will be the only man on that road, and it is a lonely spot." "Yes, sir," says Walter, with undiminished cheerfulness, "I'll be very careful." And then he turns toward his saddled horse, tightens the girth, and unhitches the rein. He cannot be thinking of himself, for as I walk away I hear him softly singing: "Soft be thy slumbers, Rude cares depart, Visions in numbers Cheer thy young heart." And with sweet Ellen Bayne ringing in my ears, I lie down beside the camp fire and fall asleep. VIII. A SURPRISE. A fairer May-day never dawned than that which greeted us last spring in Tennessee, "When the box-tree, white with blossoms, Made the sweet May woodlands glad;" And the green hills and fresh-leaved trees were hung resplendent in yellow, white and purple flowers. My first sergeant and myself sat after breakfast beneath the tent-fly, finishing our muster-rolls. The 30th of April is a "mustering day" in the United States service, when all its officers and soldiers must be called and counted, and their names be transmitted on proper rolls to proper authorities. As we thus worked, an orderly came in, and handed me an order to take two days' rations, and scout toward and beyond Paris. But the rations were not then in camp; so after issuing orders to saddle up, the sergeant and I resumed our work, not sorry that the delay would enable us to complete our rolls. Suddenly, on the still, damp air of the morning, there came, echoing from Fort Henry, the boom of a cannon. We started. "What does that mean?" A week before there had been a rumor one evening that Memphis was taken, and the colonel at the fort had sent us word that if the rumor proved true, next morning he would fire seven guns. We had then listened, but there were no guns; and later news stated that Memphis was not taken, and could not be.