"So I did, sir, and have been here ever since."
"It may be necessary to keep you on duty all night. Roll yourself in one of those blankets, and lie down."
Enoch had no desire to sleep; but this was neither more nor less than a command, and he obeyed.
Lying on the ground at the edge of the tent, behind the camp-table, he would easily escape observation. But the novelty of his surroundings, the fact that officers were entering and leaving the tent almost constantly, and the belief that a battle was imminent—would, perhaps, be fought on the morrow—drove from his eyelids the desire for slumber, and he was an interested observer of all that occurred around him.
Couriers were coming in from the different divisions, bearing messages which required immediate answers, and Washington was sending out aids in every direction to gather information concerning his own troops and the movements of the enemy.
Not until nearly midnight was the tent free from visitors, and then the commander-in-chief began to write, using certain memoranda Enoch had observed him making during the day, in the preparation of what were evidently official documents.
It was while General Washington was thus employed, apparently to the exclusion of everything else, and the silence which ensued was profound as compared with the confusion of an hour previous, that sleep was beginning to weigh upon the young aid's eyelids, when he heard a gruff "Who goes there?" from the sentinel on duty, and then the reply:
"I am Dr. Griffith, chaplain and surgeon of the Virginia line, on business highly important to the commander-in-chief."
There was a brief delay, after which Enoch heard a call for the officer of the guard.
When that soldier arrived the boy heard the visitor repeat his words, receiving as answer: