orner. Dust and stains were upon his face. His lower jaw
hung down as if lacking strength to assume its normal position. He was
the picture of an exhausted soldier after a feast of war.

He had evidently gone to sleep with his sword in his arms. These two
had slumbered in an embrace, but the weapon had been allowed in time to
fall unheeded to the ground. The brass-mounted hilt lay in contact
with some parts of the fire.

Within the gleam of rose and orange light from the burning sticks were
other soldiers, snoring and heaving, or lying deathlike in slumber. A
few pairs of legs were stuck forth, rigid and straight. The shoes
displayed the mud or dust of marches and bits of rounded trousers,
protruding from the blankets, showed rents and tears from hurried
pitchings through the dense brambles.

The fire cackled musically. From it swelled light smoke. Overhead the
foliage moved softly. The leaves, with their faces turned toward the
blaze, were colored shifting hues of silver, often edged with red. Far
off to the right, through a window in the forest could be seen a
handful of stars lying, like glittering pebbles, on the black level of
the night.

Occasionally, in this low-arched hall, a soldier would arouse and turn
his body to a new position, the experience of his sleep having taught
him of uneven and objectionable places upon the ground under him. Or,
perhaps, he would lift himself to a sitting posture, blink at the fire
for an unintelligent moment, throw a swift glance at his prostrate
companion, and then cuddle down again with a grunt of sleepy content.

The youth sat in a forlorn heap until his friend the loud young soldier
came, swinging two canteens by their light strings. "Well, now, Henry,
ol' boy," said the latter, "we'll have yeh fixed up in jest about a
minnit."

He had the bustling ways of an amateur nurse. He fussed around the
fire and stirred the sticks to brilliant exertions. He made his
patient drink largely from the canteen that contained the coffee. It
was to the youth a delicious draught. He tilted his head afar back and
held the canteen long to his lips. The cool mixture went caressingly
down his blistered throat. Having finished, he sighed with comfortable
delight.

The loud young soldier watched his comrade with an air of satisfaction.
He later produced an extensive handkerchief from his pocket. He folded
it into a manner of bandage and soused water from the other canteen