"Fair play, my boy. You charged me with lying--indirectly--but not the less offensively on that account. Don't dodge the question." "I haven't dodged it. I gave you my candid opinion that you were not present at Magenta; and I don't think there is an officer in the regiment who believes you were there." "Isn't the word of an officer and a gentleman to be accepted?" "Certainly, if he keeps within the bounds of reason; but when you talk about the Russians at Magenta, and over seven thousand cannons in a single army, we know that you are either 'drawing the long-bow,' or laboring under some strange delusion. Supper is ready." "We can eat and talk too." And they did. "May I be allowed to ask, Lieutenant Somers, if you deem my statement inconsistent with reason?" "To be sure I do. We have six guns to a battery; seventy-two hundred guns would make twelve hundred batteries. We have about one hundred and fifty men to a battery, which would make one hundred and eighty thousand men in the artillery arm alone; which is positively ridiculous. You said Russians----" "Of course, that was a slip of the tongue. I meant Prussians," added the captain, entirely overwhelmed by the lieutenant's arithmetic, as well as by the laughter of Captain Benson and Lieutenant Munroe, who belonged to the mess. "Worse yet," said Somers. "They were Austrians. Now, captain, you are a brave man, and a splendid fellow; but I think it is a great pity you should tell such abominably great stories." "I accept the apology," laughed Captain de Banyan. "We will call it square, and turn in; for I think that we shall have hot work to-morrow." CHAPTER VIII AN ORDER FROM HEADQUARTERS While Captain de Banyan and Lieutenant Somers were asleep, the commanding general received the intelligence of a movement on our right by the famous Stonewall Jackson. The position which had been gained by the advance at Oak Grove was abandoned, and the troops returned to their old line. The next day was heard the roar of the guns at Mechanicsville; and on that succeeding was fought the battle of Gaines's Mills--the only defeat in the field sustained by the Union army during that battle-week. General McClellan then decided to change his base of operations; which, rendered into plain English, meant that he had been flanked, and was obliged to make the best move he could to save his army and material. The troops fought all day, and ran all night, till they reached the James River, where they were protected by the all-powerful gunboats. In the battles of Savage's Station, Glendale and Malvern Hills, they were victorious, and fought as no troops had ever fought before. As a retreat, it was successful; but it was the sad and inglorious end of the Peninsular campaign.