he
cannoneers moving with quick precision amidst obscurity--the flash, the
recoil as gun after gun jumped back, buried in smoke.

It lasted only a few minutes; no more shells came whistling down among
the cavalry; and presently the battery grew silent, and the steaming
hill, belted with vapor, cleared slowly in the breezy sunshine.

The cavalry had mounted and leisurely filed off to the shelter of a
grassy hollow; the band, dismounted, were drawn up to be told off in
squads as stretcher-bearers; the bandmaster was sauntering past, buried
in meditation, his sabre trailing a furrow through the dust, when a
clatter of hoofs broke out along the village street, and a general
officer, followed by a plunging knot of horsemen, tore up and drew
bridle.

The colonel of the cavalry regiment, followed by the chief trumpeter,
trotted out to meet them, saluting sharply; there was a quick exchange
of words; the general officer waved his hand toward the south, wheeled
his horse, hesitated, and pointed at the band.

"How many sabres?" he asked.

"Twenty-seven," replied the colonel--"no carbines."

"Better have them play you in--_if you go_," said the officer.

The colonel saluted and backed his horse as the cavalcade swept past
him; then he beckoned to the bandmaster.

"Here's your chance," he said. "Orders are to charge anything that
appears on that road. You'll play us in this time. Mount your men."

Ten minutes later the regiment, band ahead, marched out of Sandy River
and climbed the hill, halting in the road that passed the great white
mansion. As the outposts moved forward they encountered a small boy on a
pony, who swung his cap at them gayly as he rode. Squads, dismounted,
engaged in tearing away the rail fences bordering the highway, looked
around, shouting a cheery answer to his excited greeting; the colonel on
a ridge to the east lowered his field glasses to watch him; the
bandmaster saw him coming and smiled as the boy drew bridle beside him,
saluting.

"If you're not going to fight, why are you here?" asked the boy
breathlessly.

"It really looks," said the bandmaster, "as though we might fight, after
all."

"_You, too?_"

"Perhaps."

"Then--could you come into the house--just a moment? My sister asked me
to find you."

A bright blush crept over the bandmaster's sun-tanned cheeks.

"With pleasure," he said, dismounting, and leading his horse through the
gateway and across the shrubbery to the trees.