Ambrose Bierce is a wordsmith who paints with a marvelous portrait with words. This short story with its surprise ending draws you in like a month to the flame. The story itself is entertaining, but with a surprise ending one is drawn to rethinking the story, and re-reading again. The American Civil War where brother fought brother father fought son is well represented in this story. After the Civil War Pierce became a journalist in San Francisco, and was a prolific producer of short stories. Were he alive today, he would no doubt be diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder.