id Almia, before the others had time to reply; 'they are my
prisoners.' The dusty man looked at her in amazement. 'Yes,' said the
man with the black hair; 'she speaks the truth. We are her prisoners.'

"Rapidly Almia explained the situation, and when she had finished, the
stranger nodded his head three or four times, and put his blank-book in
his pocket. 'Well, well, well,' said he, 'this is what might be expected
from the tendency of the times! There are sixteen thousand two hundred
and forty more women than men in this State, and many of them are single
and have to do something. But a bushwhacker nurse! Truly I never thought
of anything like that!'

"'And you?' asked Almia. 'I think it is right that you should give some
account of yourself. I do not ask your name, nor do I wish to know which
cause you have espoused. But as you appear to be a soldier I am curious
to know how you happen to be sitting by the roadside making
calculations.' 'I am a soldier,' answered the dusty man, 'but, under
the circumstances,'--regarding very closely the trousers of Almia's two
companions,--'I am very glad you do not want to know to which side I
belong. The facts of the case are these: I am an Exceptional Pedestrian.
I am also a very earnest student of social aspects considered in their
relation to topography. Yesterday, when my army halted at noon, I set
out to make some investigations in connection with my favorite research,
and when I returned, much later than I expected, my army had gone on,
and I have not yet been able to come up to it, although I have walked a
great many miles.'

"'I should say,' remarked the soldier with the black hair, 'that you are
a deserter.' 'No,' replied the Exceptional Pedestrian, 'I did not desert
my army; it deserted me. And now I wish to say that I have become very
much interested in you all, and, if there is no objection, I should like
to join your company for the present.' 'I have no objection myself,'
said Almia, 'but what do you say?' she asked, addressing the two
soldiers. 'I am afraid, miss,' replied the man with the brown hair, who
had recognized some peculiarities in the fashion of the stranger's dusty
clothes, 'that if he attempted to leave us I would be obliged to shoot
him as a deserter.' 'And I,' said the other, 'would be obliged to do the
same thing, because he is my enemy.' 'Under these circumstances,' said
the Exceptional Pedestrian, 'I beg to insist that I be allowed to attach
myself t