pped mouth, a quick, blithe, brown eye, and a broad, blunt nose.
Hamish knew intuitively that this was the typical inhabitant, the
native, so to speak, of the guard-house; his sort had ridden the
wooden-horse, for many a weary hour in every country under the sun, and
when an Indian's tomahawk or a Frenchman's bullet should clear the ranks
of him, the gap would be filled by a successor so like him in spirit
that he might seem a lineal descendant instead of a mere successor in
the line. He had long ago been dubbed the "Devil's Dragoon," and he
looked down with a good-humored glance at a bevy of his comrades, who
from the door of the nearest log-cabin covertly cast gibes at him,
calling out _sotto voce_, "Right about wheel--Trot!--March!"

In another quarter of the parade the regular exercise was in progress,
and Hamish listened with interest to the voice of the officer as it rang
out crisp and clear on the frosty air.

"Poise--Firelock!"

A short interval while the sun glanced down the gleaming barrels of the
muskets.

"Cock--Firelock!"

A sharp metallic click as of many sounds blent into one.

"Take--Aim!"

A moment of suspense.

"Fire!"

A resonant detonation of blank cartridges--and all the live echoes
leaped in the woods, while the smoke drifted about the parade and
glimmered prismatic in the sun, and then cleared away, escaping over the
ramparts and blending with the timorous dissolving mists of the morning.

Several Indians had come in through the open gate, some arrayed in
feather or fur match-coats and others in buckskin shirt and leggings,
with their blankets purchased from the traders drawn up about their
ears; they were standing near the walls of one of the block-houses to
see the drill. A certain expectancy hung upon this group as they watched
the movements of the men now loading anew.

"Half-cock--Firelock!" came the order in the peremptory voice of the
officer.

Once more that sharp, metallic, unnerving click.

"Handle--Cartridge!"

A sudden swift facial expression went along the line with a formidable
effect. With the simultaneous show of strong teeth it was as if each
soldier had fiercely snarled like a wild beast. But each had only bitten
the end of the cartridge.

"Prime!"

The eyes of the Indians followed with an unwinking, fascinated stare the
swift, simultaneous movement of the rank as of one man, every muscle
animated by the same impulse.

"Shut--Pan!"

Once more the single