ng with my men here, and I will obey any order I receive, I don't
care what it is."

As he spoke of his experience a pained expression came over his face,
but he looked proud and almost happy when he announced the result of
the conflict.

"They say I'm a lunatic, I know they do," he continued, looking round
to see that no one else was present, and lowering his voice to a
whisper. "They say I'm a lunatic, but I'm not. When they say I'm a
lunatic they mean I'm a perfect soldier--a complete soldier. And they
call those fine fellows lead soldiers! Lunatics and lead soldiers
indeed! Well, suppose we are! I tell you an army of lead soldiers with
a lunatic at the head would be the best army in the world. We do what
we're told, and we're not afraid of anything."

Sam stopped talking at this juncture and went on for some time in
silence maneuvering his troops. Finally he picked up the colonel with
the white plume, and a ray of light from the afternoon sun fell upon
it, and he held it before him, gazing upon it entranced. The door
opened, and the doctor entered.

"I fear you must go now, Mr. Cleary. He can't stand much excitement.
He's quiet now. Just come out with me without saying anything," and
Cleary followed him out of the room, while Sam sat motionless with his
eyes fixed on his talisman.

"He sits like that for hours," said the doctor. "It's a kind of
hypnotism, I think, which we don't quite understand yet. I am writing
up the case for _The Medical Gazette_. It's a peculiar kind of
insanity, this preoccupation with uniforms and soldiers, and the
readiness to do anything a man in regimentals tells him to."

"It's rather more common, perhaps, out of asylums than in them,"
muttered Cleary, but the doctor did not hear him. "Do you think he
will ever recover, doctor?" he continued.

The doctor shook his head ominously.

"And will he live to old age in this condition?"

"He might, if there were nothing else the matter with him, but there
is, and perhaps it's a fortunate thing. He's got a new disease called
filariasis, a sort of low fever that he picked up in the Cubapines or
Porsslania. There's a good deal of it among the soldiers who have come
back. We have a lot of lunatics from the army here and several of them
have this new fever too. It wouldn't kill him alone, either, but the
two things together will surely carry him off. He will hardly live
another half-year."

"I suppo