the chatter of the riders and stamping and champing of
the blanketed horses, as they were led up and down, Kettle suddenly
appeared carrying in his arms a white bundle, which turned out to be
the After-Clap. He should have been asleep in his crib for hours, but
instead he was wide awake, laughing and crowing and evidently meant,
with Kettle's assistance, to make a night of it.

"What do you mean, Kettle, by bringing the baby out this time of
night?" asked the surprised Anita.

"I got him all wropped up warm," answered Kettle, apologetically,
pointing to the After-Clap's white fur coat and cap. "But that chile
knowed there wuz a hoss show on--it's mighty little he doan' know, and
after the Kun'l and Miss Betty lef', he begin' to cry for 'Horsey!
Horsey!' an I jes' had to take him up an' dress him an' bring him here.
An' that's Gord's truth, Miss Anita," a phrase Kettle habitually used
when making doubtful statements.

The baby was so obviously happy in this breach of all nursery
discipline that Anita had not the heart to send him home. Anita was a
soft-hearted creature. Sergeant McGillicuddy, however, explained
disgustedly to the waiting troopers and horses how the After-Clap was
permitted to begin his career of dissipation.

"I'll bet you a million of monkeys," the Sergeant proclaimed, "as
Missis McGillicuddy wasn't on hand when that there baby begun to yell
'Horsey! Horsey!' if he ever did it at all. With eight children av
her own and Anna Mariar's beau, Missis McGillicuddy must sometimes stop
at home. Lord help the naygur if Missis McGillicuddy should favor this
evint with her prisince!"

The sympathies of the soldiers were entirely with the After-Clap, who
loved soldiers, knowing them to be his true friends, and was never
happier than with his big, kind, blue-coated playmates, the troopers,
with their rattling sabres and clanking spurs.

Sergeant McGillicuddy, being himself under Mrs. McGillicuddy's iron
rule, did not approve of Kettle's breach of discipline and hatched a
scheme to catch him. With a countenance as inscrutable as the Sphinx,
he stepped to the telephone booth, shut the door carefully, and held a
short conversation over the wire with Mrs. McGillicuddy. When the
Sergeant came out of the telephone booth his face was not inscrutable
but expressed pure human joy and triumph.

"It's Missis McGillicuddy as 'll do for ye," said the Sergeant with a
grin, going up to Kettle, holding the delight