em betimes. They were ravenously hungry; they wanted to fall to at
once. Only the officers' wives noticed that the two files of troopers
DID NOT DISMOUNT, but filed slowly before the entrance to the woods.
Lady Elfrida as hostess was prettily distressed by it, but was told by
Captain Joyce that it was "against rules," and that she could "feed"
them at the fort. The officers' wives put a few questions in whispers,
and were promptly frowned down. Nevertheless, the luncheon was a
successful festivity: the gentlemen were loud in the praises of their
gracious hostess; the delicacies she had provided by express from
distant stations, and much that was distinctly English and despoiled
from her own stores, were gratefully appreciated by the officers of
a remote frontier garrison. Lady Elfrida's health was toasted by
the gallant colonel in a speech that was the soul of chivalry. Lord
Runnybroke responded, perhaps without the American abandon, but with
the steady conscientiousness of an hereditary legislator, but the M. P.
summed up a slightly exaggerated but well meaning episode by pointing
out that it was on occasions like this that the two nations showed their
common ancestry by standing side by side. Only one thing troubled the
rosy, excited, but still clear-headed Friddy; the plates were whisked
away like magic after each delicacy, by the military servants, and
vanished; the tables were in the same mysterious way cleared as rapidly
as they were set, and any attempt to recall a dish was met by the
declaration that it was already packed away in the wagon. As they
at last rose from the actually empty board, and saw even the tables
disappear, Lady Elfrida plaintively protested that she felt as if she
had been presiding over an Arabian Nights entertainment, served by
genii, and she knew that they would all awaken hungry when they were
well on their way back. Nevertheless, in spite of this expedition, the
officers lounged about smoking until every trace of the festivity had
vanished. Reggy found himself standing near Peter. "You know," he said,
confidentially, "I don't think the colonel has a very high opinion of
your pets,--the Indians. And, by Jove, if the 'friendlies' are as nasty
towards you as they were to us this morning, I wonder what you call the
'hostile' tribes."

"Did you have any difficulty with them?" said Peter quickly.

"No, not exactly, don't you know--we were too many, I fancy; but, by
Jove, the beggars whenever