Occasionally he would purse his lips, and John knew that his favorite expression was coming forth.

To the young American's imaginative mind his broad back expressed rigidity and strength.
The great murmuring sound, the blended advance of so many men, made John sleepy by-and-by.

In spite of himself his heavy eyelids drooped, and although he strove manfully against it, sleep took him.

When he awoke he heard the same deep murmur, like the roll of the sea, and saw the army still advancing.

It was yet night, though fine and clear, and there before him was the broad, powerful back of the general.