back, and the driver, poking his head around
the canvas wind-screen at the front, called out to Mrs. Cranston,
"There's two of our fellows coming a couple of miles ahead, mum." And
both ladies leaned from the wagon to strain their eyes in vain effort to
distinguish the forms and faces of the distant party, Margaret half
hoping that her soldier husband might have been able to stretch a point
and ride far down to meet her, Miss Loomis half divining who it must be,
and it was Miss Loomis who was right. Fifteen minutes further and the
Concord halted again, and Mr. Hastings, with Davies at his side, rode up
to the open door.

Even at a glance one could see how much he was changed in the service of
those two months. The lines about his clear, thoughtful eyes had
deepened and his face was thinner, despite the full, heavy,
close-cropped beard, but there was no mistaking the joy with which he
met and welcomed his friends and nurses of that long autumn's
convalescence. He whipped off his gauntlets and flung them at Louis's
head, as the boys came dancing about his horse, and then extended both
hands in eager greeting to Mrs. Cranston, who was nearest him, and who
frankly grasped and shook them in hearty, cordial fashion.

"Oh, how glad I am to see you!" she cried. "We thought to meet you at
our first camp I had no idea you could come so fast." And by this time
she had released his hands and he was bending farther in to extend the
right to Miss Loomis, who welcomed him with friendly warmth, yet with
that womanly reserve which seemed never separable from her.

"We did not stop at the Niobrara," said he. "We came right through and
camped at Dismal River late last night. Did you see Mrs. Davies this
morning? How did you leave her?" he asked, with grave anxiety.

"We left her very comfortable. Dr. Rooke said there was no occasion
whatever for anxiety," answered Mrs. Cranston, tactfully evading the
question as to "seeing her," and then, fearful lest he should be moved
to repeat it, plunging impetuously ahead. "She was looking so bright and
well, so lovely in fact, that none of us were prepared for her being
ill. Of course you'll hear all about the excitement and adventure they
met with, so I won't speak of it now. In deed, you know, we hardly know
anything more about it ourselves than you do, for both Mrs. Davies and
Mrs. Darling saw so little of what followed the first appearance of the
fellows. Mr. Sanders jumped right out among th