He looked curiously at her. "After all," he said, "it is not so bad as
you think, Daisy. A good soldier does not find it hard to obey orders."

"What sorts of orders does he have to obey?"

"All sorts."

"But suppose they were wrong orders?"

"Makes no difference."

"_Wrong_ orders?"

"Yes," said Capt. Drummond, laughing. "If it is something he can do, he
does it; if it is something he can't do, he loses his head trying."

"Loses his head, sir?"

"Yes--by a cannon ball; or his heart, by a musket ball; or maybe he gets
off with losing a hand or a leg; just as it happens. That makes no
difference, either." He watched Daisy as he spoke, seeing a slight
colour rise in her cheeks, and wondering what made the-child's quiet
grey eyes look at him so thoughtfully.

[Illustration: A SOLDIER.]

"Capt. Drummond, is he ever told to do anything he _can't_ do?"

"A few years ago, Daisy, the English and the French were fighting the
Russians in the Crimea. I happened to be there on business, and I saw
some things. An order was brought one day to an officer commanding a
body of cavalry--you know what cavalry is?"

"Yes, I know."

"The order was brought in--Hallo! what's that?"

For a voice was heard shouting at a little distance, "Drummond!--Ho,
Drummond! Where are you?"

"It's Mr. McFarlane!" said Daisy. "He'll come here. I'm very sorry."

"Don't be sorry," said the Captain. "Come,--let us disappoint him. He
can't play hide and seek."

He jumped up and caught Daisy's willing hand, with the other hand caught
up her shawl, and drew her along swiftly under cover of the trees and
shrubbery towards the river, and away from the voice they heard calling.
Daisy half ran, half flew, it seemed to her; so fast the strong hand of
her friend pulled her over the ground. At the edge of the bank that
faced the river, at the top of a very steep descent of a hundred feet or
near that, under a thick shelter of trees, Capt. Drummond called a halt
and stood listening. Far off, faint in the distance, they could still
hear the shout.

"Drummond!--where are you? Hallo!"

"We'll go down to the river," said the Captain; "and he is too lazy to
look for us there. We shall be safe. Daisy, this is a retreat--but it is
not a hardship, is it?"

Daisy looked up delighted. The little face so soberly thoughtful a few
minutes ago was all bright and flushed. The Captain was charmed too.

"But we can't get down there,"--said Daisy, casting her ey