"Let it look as it pleases," said Harry. "I'm going to make a dash for the inside and a fire!"
They found the colonels and the rest of the staff in the sitting-room, all except two, who were acting as cooks, but their work ceased in a moment or two, as breakfast was ready. It consisted of coffee and bread and ham left over from the night before. A heap of timber glowed in the fireplace and shot forth ruddy flames. Harry's soul fairly warmed within him.
"Sit down, all of you," said Colonel Talbot, "and we'll help one another."
They ate with the appetite of the soldier, and Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, finishing first, withdrew to a wide window seat. There they produced the board and box of chessmen and proceeded to rearrange them exactly as they were before the battle of Fredericksburg.
"You will recall that your king was in great danger, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire.
"Truly I do, Hector, but I do not think it beyond my power to rescue him."
"It will be a hard task, Leonidas."
"Hector, I would have you to remember that I am an officer in the Army of Northern Virginia, and the Army of Northern Virginia prefers hard tasks to easy ones."
"You put the truth happily, Leonidas, but I must insist that your position is one of uncommon danger."
"I recognize the fact fully, Hector, but I assert firmly that I will rescue my red king."