The Little Regiment

hs or bunches of grass these slim equine legs, upon whose splendid machinery they depended so greatly. The lips of the horses were still we

g is steppin', Finer

! He shtrides lik

s plum beat when she come

rmy. An' he don't use up a horse, neither-much. Th

yeh moind tha

heir air of solemn rumination, twisting their lower jaws

side and outlined in the black of the open door stood a sentry, his weapon resting in the hollow of his arm. Four hors

iliar scene. It was no longer the home acres. The new blue, steel, and faded yellow thoroughly dominated the old green and brown. She could hear the voices of the men, and it seemed from their ton

she perceived then that it mattered little to him what her mother wished, and that an objection by her or by anybody would be futile. She saw the soldiers conduct the prisoner in grey i

hair-breadth things. True, they were usually bent upon rescuing and recovering their lovers, and neither the calm man in grey, nor any of the three in the feed-box, was lover of hers, but then a real heroine would not pause over

back to the rest of the world, engaged, no doubt, in a steadfast contemplation of the calm man, and incidentally, of the feed-box. She knew, to

er, that even should she achieve all things up to the point where she might take glorious stand between the escaping and the pursuers, those grim troopers in blue would not pause. They would run around her, make a circuit. One by o

But she was beginning to believe the old greybeard to be a bear. It was hardly probable that he would give this plan his support. It was more probable that he and some of his men would at once descend upon the feed-box and confiscate

n. She was not, then, made of that fine stuff, that mental satin, which enabled some other beings to be of such mighty service to the distres

the shadows were of lead. In this more sombre atmosphere the fires built by the troops down in th

" She hastily obeyed the call. She perceived that she had quit

id new wrinkles upon her forehead. Weaving wild glances from side to side, she began t

llow carefully for her

hey haven't hurt anythi

somethin

ng, and you know very well that nothing can be done for me when I get one of these spells. It's trouble-that

in, she was interrupted shortly. Somehow her sitting in passive silence within hearing of this illness seemed to contribute to her mother's relief. She assumed a posture of submission. Sometimes her mother projected questions

om the window, she saw the four soldiers still at the barn door. In the west, the sky was yellow. Some tree-trunks intersecting it appeared b

innied from the orchard. There was a low hum of human voices. Sometimes small detachments of troopers rode past the front of the house. The girl heard the abrupt calls of

he admitted that the prisoners could not escape through them. She remembered some inadequacies of the roof, but these also c

circle into masses of heavy mystic blackness. She took two steps toward the door. But there she paused. Innumerable possibilities of danger had assa

ventured upon a forward step. Unconsciously, her throat was arranged for a sudden shrill scream. High in the tree-branches she could hear the voice of the wind, a melody of the night, low and sad, the plaint of an endless, incommunicable sorrow. Her own distress, the plight of the men in grey-these near matters as well as all she had known or im

icks. At this noise, however, the guards at the barn made no sign. Finally, she was where she could see the knot-holes in the rear of the structure gleaming like pieces of metal from the effect

ath upon another, making a conflagration of his description of his troop-horse. "Why," he was declaring to the cal

ly called in low tones: "S-s-s-h!" "Quit, Pete; here comes the lieutenant." The sentry had apparentl

barn. The sentry saluted primly. The officer flashed a

right

im a slightly disagreeable aspect, but somewhere in his face there was a quality of singular thoughtfulness, as of the absorb

long finger and poi

s a feed-box

's in

't kno

p the lid. With a sweeping gesture he reached down and scooped a handful of feed. "You ou

e pallor of the dying she had watched the downward sweep of the officer's arm, which after all had only brought forth a handful of feed. The resu