Occasionally he heard a faint stir near him, as some restless soldier turned on his side in his sleep, and now and then a muttered word from an officer who passed near in the darkness.
Hours never passed more slowly.

Colonel Kenton had gone back toward the Northern lines, and the boy surmised that he would be one of the first in the attack at dawn.

He began to wonder if dawn would ever really come.

Stars and a fair moon were out, and as nearly as he could judge from them it must be about three o'clock in the morning.

Yet it seemed to him that he had been lying there at least twelve hours.
He shut his eyes again, but sleep was as far from him as ever.