the noonday gun boomed, and had the Royalists listened
they might have heard the rumble of artillery and the rattling of
cavalry surrounding them in a vast circle. But had they heard it they
would not have been stayed. To withdraw now, to sneak away from the very
brink of danger, would be worse than death. They must go on to the end.
The world's eyes were on them, or would be to-morrow; the world is
always looking at yesterday.

Like bees from a hive they swarmed, a handful of men, from the door of
the mess-tent, drawing their swords to conquer a kingdom for a king who
had run away. There was a noble despair in their hearts.

"Up with the King's banner!" shouted Featherstone, and Dacre went to the
mast and drew up the flag.

"God save the King!" shouted every throat, as the heavy folds went
upward.

But there was a hitch in the halyards, and Dacre's excitement did not
allow him to remove it quickly. The royal banner stopped on its way
aloft--stopped at the half mast--and there ominously remained for a full
half minute before the lines were cleared and it soared to the masthead.

On the parade-ground seven regiments of infantry had wheeled into line,
and presented arms as the commander rode to the front of the brigade.
When the noonday gun boomed, a thrill went through the scarlet ranks,
for even the linesmen knew that a tragedy was about to be enacted. The
word had been passed through the camp that the Royalist traitors would
at that hour declare themselves.

Never was drama seen upon the stage in which the actors approached the
tragic ending so fatuously, so deliberately.

Colonel Arundel, riding in front of the staff, halted and faced the
brigade. The troops presented arms; the band played the national anthem,
"God Save the People!" When the music had ceased the eyes of Colonel
Arundel were turned to the flag-pole at the mess-tent. His heart leaped
within him when he saw the lines shake, and then, true to the moment of
time, up went the flag of the King.

"Soldiers!" shouted the old commander, baring his white head and
pointing to the royal banner; "behold the flag of your King and country!
King George has come to claim his own again, and he is now in personal
command of this camp. God save the King!"

The whole brigade stared at the flagstaff where the big banner of King
George had stopped at the half-mast like a mourning emblem. A round of
suppressed laughter came from the troops--a sound that sent a shud