The long-impending rain began to fall with a mournful patter, drop and
drop. There was a silence.

At last a low voice said, "Well--I might--sometimes I
might--perhaps--but only once in a great while--I might walk to the old
tree--in the afternoons."

THE VETERAN.

Out of the low window could be seen three hickory trees placed
irregularly in a meadow that was resplendent in springtime green.
Farther away, the old, dismal belfry of the village church loomed over
the pines. A horse meditating in the shade of one of the hickories
lazily swished his tail. The warm sunshine made an oblong of vivid
yellow on the floor of the grocery.

"Could you see the whites of their eyes?" said the man who was seated on
a soap box.

"Nothing of the kind," replied old Henry warmly. "Just a lot of flitting
figures, and I let go at where they 'peared to be the thickest. Bang!"

"Mr. Fleming," said the grocer--his deferential voice expressed somehow
the old man's exact social weight--"Mr. Fleming, you never was
frightened much in them battles, was you?"

The veteran looked down and grinned. Observing his manner, the entire
group tittered. "Well, I guess I was," he answered finally. "Pretty well
scared, sometimes. Why, in my first battle I thought the sky was falling
down. I thought the world was coming to an end. You bet I was scared."

Every one laughed. Perhaps it seemed strange and rather wonderful to
them that a man should admit the thing, and in the tone of their
laughter there was probably more admiration than if old Fleming had
declared that he had always been a lion. Moreover, they knew that he had
ranked as an orderly sergeant, and so their opinion of his heroism was
fixed. None, to be sure, knew how an orderly sergeant ranked, but then
it was understood to be somewhere just shy of a major general's stars.
So, when old Henry admitted that he had been frightened, there was a
laugh.

"The trouble was," said the old man, "I thought they were all shooting
at me. Yes, sir, I thought every man in the other army was aiming at me
in particular, and only me. And it seemed so darned unreasonable,
you know. I wanted to explain to 'em what an almighty good fellow
I was, because I thought then they might quit all trying
to hit me. But I couldn't explain, and they kept on being
unreasonable--blim!--blam!--bang! So I run!"

Two little triangles of wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes.
Evidently he appreciated some comed