They filed off to the left behind the front line of the Southern army, and marched steadily westward, inclining slightly to the north.

Many of the men, or rather boys, not yet fast in the bonds of discipline, began to talk, and guess together about their errand.
But Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St.Hilaire rode along the line and sternly commanded silence, once or twice making the menace of the sword.

The lads scarcely understood it, but they were awed into silence.

Then there was no noise but the rattle of their weapons and the steady tread of eight hundred men.
The young troops had been kept in splendid condition, drilling steadily, and they marched well.

They passed to the extreme western end of the Confederate camp, and continued into the hills.