CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER. | PAGE. | |
| I. | In the Stage-Coach and at the Inn, | [5] |
| II. | A New Arrival, | [17] |
| III. | Dinner Talk, | [28] |
| IV. | More of the Mystery, | [36] |
| V. | The Mud Man, | [46] |
| VI. | A Transition Period, | [52] |
| VII. | The Election and the Result, | [62] |
| VIII. | Mr. Diggs in a New Field, | [69] |
| IX. | The Chasm Opens, | [81] |
| X. | The Beginning of Soldier Life, | [89] |
| XI. | Mr. Tompkins' Peril, | [102] |
| XII. | Foraging, | [108] |
| XIII. | Uncle Dan Means Business, | [114] |
| XIV. | Mrs. Juniper Entertains, | [120] |
| XV. | Mr. Diggs Again in Trouble, | [127] |
| XVI. | Yellow Steve, | [143] |
| XVII. | A Soldier's Turkey Hunt, | [151] |
| XVIII. | Mr. Tompkins Receives Strange News, | [158] |
| XIX. | Irene's Dilemma—The Brothers Meet, | [162] |
| XX. | War in the Neighborhood, | [174] |
| XXI. | Crazy Joe's Mistake, | [182] |
| XXII. | Diggs Gets out of His Scrape Again, | [193] |
| XXIII. | The Abduction, | [201] |
| XXIV. | He is My Husband. Oh, Spare His Life, | [209] |
| XXV. | At Home Again, | [219] |
| XXVI. | Another Phase of Soldier Life, | [223] |
| XXVII. | A Prisoner, | [227] |
| XXVIII. | Olivia, | [231] |
| XXIX. | The Alarm—The Manuscript, | [236] |
| XXX. | Yellow Steve's Mysterious Story, | [242] |
| XXXI. | The Reconciliation, | [247] |
Brother against Brother.
CHAPTER I. IN THE STAGE-COACH AND AT THE INN.
Thick, misty clouds overcast the sky; peals of thunder in the distance came rolling nearer and nearer, until they burst into one prolonged roar just above a lumbering old stage-coach slowly making its way over the muddy roads of a Virginia post route, the driver incessantly cracking his long whip over the backs of his jaded horses, and urging them, with shouts and exclamations, to accelerate their speed.
This scene occurs in what is now West Virginia. It is west of the mountain range, but where, on every hand, are frowning precipices, deep gorges and swift-flowing torrents. On the right, the jutting headlands are crowned with huge old bowlders, just peeping out from the thicket of evergreens and creeping vines which surround them. Although not called mountainous, it is a country whose picturesque heights and umbrageous valleys would excite a degree of enthusiasm in the bosom of a lover of the beautiful. Down in those lonely valleys, almost hidden in their leafy groves, was the home of many an old Virginia aristocrat. The great, gnarled oak standing upon the verge of some miniature precipice, and glooming sullenly through the misty rain, seems but part of some pictured scene. Far in the distance, faintly penciled against the misty sky, rise headlands to what seems an enormous height, about them a dark mass of clouds, like some giant's garment caught upon the peaks and blown about at the will of the wind. It envelops and conceals the highest peaks, leaving the imagination to add to the belief in their stupendous height.