Dick, lying between the two blankets which he always carried in a roll tied to his saddle, was very comfortable now, with his head on his knapsack.

The night had turned cooler, and, save when faint and far lightning quivered, it was heavy and dark with clouds.

But the young lieutenants, hardened by two years of war and life in the open, felt snug and cosy on the broad, sheltered piazza.

It was not often they found such good quarters, and Dick, like Colonel Winchester, was truly thankful that they had reached Bellevue before the coming storm.
It was evident now that the night was going to be wild.

The lightning grew brighter and came nearer, cutting fiercely across the southern sky.
The ominous rumble of thunder, which reminded Dick so much of the mutter of distant battle, came from the horizon on which the lightning was flashing.
Colonel Winchester, Pennington and Warner had gone to sleep, but Dick was wakeful.