When they reached the jail the prisoners were separated; Vincent, who was the only officer, being assigned quarters with some twenty others of the same rank.

The prisoners crowded round him as he entered, eager to hear the last news from the front, for they had heard from their guards only news of constant victories won by the Northerners; for every defeat was transformed by the Northern papers into a brilliant victory, and it was only when the shattered remains of the various armies returned to Alexandria to be re-formed that the truth gradually leaked out.

Thus Antietam had been claimed as a great Northern victory, for, although McClellan's troops had in the battle been hurled back, shattered and broken, across the river, two days afterward Lee had retired.
One of the prisoners, who was also dressed in cavalry uniform, hung back from the rest, and going to the window looked out while Vincent was chatting with the others.

Presently he turned round, and Vincent recognized with surprise his old opponent Jackson.

After a moment's hesitation he walked across the room to him.
"Jackson," he said, "we have not been friends lately, but I don't see why we should keep up our quarrel any longer; we got on all right at school together; and now we are prisoners together here it would be foolish to continue our quarrel.