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diff --git a/62275-0.txt b/62275-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6aac7b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/62275-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15802 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, West Point Colors, by Anna Bartlett Warner + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: West Point Colors + + +Author: Anna Bartlett Warner + + + +Release Date: May 30, 2020 [eBook #62275] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEST POINT COLORS*** + + +E-text prepared by MWS, Val Wooff, and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive (https://archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations + and recorded music. + See 62275-h.htm or 62275-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62275/62275-h/62275-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62275/62275-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/westpointcolorsa00warn + + + + + +WEST POINT COLORS + + +[Illustration: THE FLAG] + + +WEST POINT COLORS + +by + +ANNA B. WARNER + + +_"My only regret is that I have but one life to give +for my country."_ + +NATHAN HALE. + + +[Illustration: Colophon] + + + + + + +New York Chicago Toronto +Fleming H. Revell Company +London and Edinburgh + +Copyright, 1903, by +Fleming H. Revell Company +(October) + +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue +Chicago: 63 Washington Street +Toronto: 27 Richmond Street, W. +London: 21 Paternoster Square +Edinburgh: 30 St. Mary Street + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER, PAGE + + I. THE BOY, 9 + II. MEANS TO AN END, 14 + III. THE NIGHT EXPRESS, 21 + IV. READY FOR DUTY, 26 + V. THE FLAG, 36 + VI. A LONELY CANDIDATE, 54 + VII. IN FOR IT, 60 + VIII. RUBS THE WRONG WAY, 67 + IX. CAMP HARD, 73 + X. BAND CONCERT, 78 + XI. ON GUARD, 88 + XII. _Off_ GUARD, 92 + XIII. A BLUE CHRISTMAS, 97 + XIV. CAMP GOLIGHTLY, 106 + XV. SIGNALING FOR HELP, 112 + XVI. RE-ENFORCEMENTS READY, 117 + XVII. THREE CHEERS AND A TIGER, 124 + XVIII. HIGH SUMMER, 129 + XIX. THE VISITORS' SEATS, 138 + XX. JUST THEE AND ME, 142 + XXI. ME ONLY, 150 + XXII. GIRLS, 157 + XXIII. THE GRIM GRAY WALLS, 167 + XXIV. NINETY-NINE DAYS TO JUNE, 173 + XXV. FURLOUGH, 180 + XXVI. CHERRY, 189 + XXVII. OFF LIMITS, 199 + XXVIII. ON EXHIBITION, 209 + XXIX. SKIRMISHING, 218 + XXX. A MORNING TALK, 226 + XXXI. THE SUMMER GIRL, 238 + XXXII. LAYING FOUNDATIONS, 245 + XXXIII. BUILDING THEREON, 258 + XXXIV. AMBUSHES, 272 + XXXV. OF COURSE, 278 + XXXVI. SAN CARLOS, 284 + XXXVII. RUSHED INTO CAMP, 288 + XXXVIII. HIGH GROUND, 293 + XXXIX. MORE GIRLS, 299 + XL. ON FORT PUT, 305 + XLI. UP CROWNEST, 321 + XLII. CHRISTMAS LEAVE, 332 + XLIII. THE HUNDREDTH NIGHT, 343 + XLIV. PRESSING ON, 355 + XLV. NOTHING SERIOUS, 360 + XLVI. TRYING LETTERS, 364 + XLVII. MRS. CONGRESSMAN, 369 + XLVIII. THE GUARD-HOUSE IN JUNE, 376 + XLIX. FLIRTATION AND OTHER PLACES, 388 + L. FAIRYLAND, 398 + LI. THE HOME STRETCH, 404 + LII. THE BIG RECEPTION, 414 + LIII. THE FIRST POST, 420 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, FACING PAGE + + + THE FLAG, _Title_ + THE BARRACKS IN WINTER, 97 + THE COLOR GUARD, 109 + MOUNTING HEAVY GUNS IN FORT CLINTON, 170 + CADET ROOM IN BARRACKS, 300 + PARADE REST IN CAMP, 377 + FLIRTATION, 392 + CADET BOAT AND CREW, 401 + + + + +INTRODUCTION TO THIS TALE OF A POSSIBLE CADET + +Some of my friends in a certain cadet class beset me to write a West +Point story; promising me incidents at will, a plot, a name, and a +tactical officer for "the villain." Perhaps it was because I declined +this last sensational detail that they backed out of all the rest, and +having given my boat a shove into deep water, left me to row and pilot +as best I might. + +However, help came from other men, in other classes. I was cheered on +in my work, and given story after story, with full leave to use them as +I chose; and so it falls out that my book is quite true. + +Not that all the happenings ever came to any one cadet, or within the +bounds of any four years' course. But they have almost all, at some +time, been part of somebody's cadet life at West Point. With what men, +or in what years, it does not matter: the last decade of the nineteenth +century nearly enough covers the whole. + +I have tried hard to have the small technicalities quite correct. Yet +as rules do vary now and then, even at West Point, everything may not +always _seem_ right, to this or that graduate. And, of course, I may +have blundered here and there. + +Certain points in cadet life I was especially asked to handle; and if +once or twice I have told only what _might_ have been, even there I had +the warrant of cadet opinion. + +As for the fancy names, it was so hard to find plain ones that were +not down in some Army List or Visitors' Book, that I made up a few, +choosing rather to give caps which nobody would put on than others +quite sure to be appropriated. Truly, I did not name Miss Dangleum: a +young officer did that, and Cadet Devlin was also dubbed by one who +knew. + +Since certain words of my story were written a few changes have come +in. The cadet classes have pledged themselves to abolish hazing; +the Hundredth Night (in its old wild glee) has been forbidden; the +Cadet Howitzer is spiked. The shady nooks along "Flirtation" have +been cleared up; Fort Clinton is a memory, the tents are brown, and +Dade's white shaft now stands in the gayest and sunniest of all the +thoroughfares. But human nature survives,--and "boodle"--and the girls, +so that my book is declared to be still "absolutely true." + +Sometimes when I watch that grey throng in the Chapel, I have a great +wish that I could see the other little army with whom they are to join +hands. So much depends on them. For womanhood sets the standard for the +world of men. + + "She's like the keystone to an arch, + That consummates all beauty; + She's like the music to a march, + That sheds a joy on duty." + +Such she should be. + + A. B. W. + + MARTLAER'S ROCK. + + + + +I + +THE BOY + + The lions, if they left not the forest, would capture no prey; and + the arrow, if it quitted not the bow, would not strike the mark. + + --_Arabian Nights._ + + +The precise date of my story does not matter: the world strikes a much +more even average than we are apt to think; and still, as of old, "the +thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is +done, is that which shall be done." + +Once upon a time, then, there was a boy whose name was Charlemagne +Kindred. + +"Magnus" was the home version. I think his two young sisters were +perhaps rather proud of the royal-republican title, and would by no +means let it come down to "Charley," and so lose itself in the crowd. +Once in a while, when a longer lecture than usual was called for, Mrs. +Kindred would say Charlemagne: but I doubt if it had much effect, +unless to give Magnus some slighting thoughts of the ancestor who had +first borne his name. + +Mrs. Kindred was a widow of ten years' standing; and she and Magnus, +and the two young sisters, made up the family. There is nothing on +earth sweeter than girls can be; and these two filled out the fair +pattern, with few breaks or flaws. But no history or inheritance of +even a name had been wasted on them, and they set out in life as plain +Rose and Violet, named for their father's favourite flowers. + +Magnus had not at all, however, the same reverence for his sisters that +they felt for him, which was a pity; for really I think they deserved +it better. + +But another drawback to the perfections of my hero,--a common one +enough with heroes, and which after all proved him the real thing,--he +had not five cents to his name. And failing this, the question came up +very naturally, what else he could have "to his name," to make that +worth the carrying. + +"Mamma, he'd make a beautiful minister!" said Rose, who, enshrined in +the very rosiest corner of her heart, had a faint, far-away picture of +her father in the pulpit. + +"He would make a beautiful anything," said the mother, her eyes shining +at the mere thought of her boy. "But he cannot be a minister, Rose, at +least not in his father's church, without going to college." + +"And that takes money," said Violet. "Mamma, if I were Uncle Sam, I'd +have free colleges. I can't see why not, just as well as free schools." + +"I do not like to hear you say 'Uncle Sam,' Violet. It is not +respectful to the Government." + +"Magnus does." + +Mrs. Kindred might have answered that the bump of reverence was not as +yet developed in that young magnate's head to any alarming degree, but +no such disloyal words came out. She sat thinking. + +"The Government has one free college, you know, girls," she said; "at +least, I suppose it may be called that. Two, in fact: the Naval Academy +at Annapolis, and the Military Academy at West Point. I wonder it never +occurred to me before." + +"West Point!" exclaimed both the girls, open-eyed. + +"Then he'd be a soldier, and wear a uniform," said Violet. + +"Yes, and then there would be a war, and he would get killed," said +Rose. + +"No, he wouldn't," said Violet. "Catch Magnus letting anybody shoot +_him_. He's a good deal too quick for that. Besides, people can get +killed anywhere. Missionaries do, sometimes." + +"I wonder I never thought of West Point," Mrs. Kindred repeated. "Hush, +girls; don't say such things. There is no war now, and maybe there +never will be again. Magnus would like it, too." + +"He'd be splendid in uniform," said Rose, "he's so tall." + +"Too tall," said the mother with a sigh. "Magnus grows altogether too +fast. Perhaps West Point would be just the thing for him, and make him +spread out a little. You know, girls, what big fellows some of those +army men are, in papa's book of officers?" + +"Yes," said Violet doubtfully, "big enough. But then Magnus never could +be as broad as he is long, so we needn't worry." + +A cheery whistle, strong and sweet and clear, pierced through the +summer air outside; and with one consent the three talkers hurried +to the window to look out. It was a back window, commanding easily a +woodshed, a small garden, and a barn. + +In the woodshed, hard at work upon a somewhat elaborate dog-house, +stood the young future victim of mathematics and wave motion. Coat off, +hat tossed down, hands busily chiselling out some bit of ornamentation; +the head with its shock of brown curls bent low over his work. And very +appropriately just then, for the thoughts that filled the air, Magnus +was whistling "Yankee Doodle": his limber young tones going with great +force and discernment into all the ups and downs of that delightful +old melody. Do not mistake me and think the words ironical; I am +extremely fond of "Yankee Doodle," myself. + +"How queer he should be whistling that!" said Rose. "Oh, Magnus!" + +"Hello!" + +"Come up here. We were just talking about you." + +"Talk away." + +"But mother and all!" + +"Good I am down here, then," said the boy, eyeing a bit of board along +the edge to see if it was straight. + +"Why?" cried Violet. + +"You know she doesn't like to praise me to my face," said Magnus, +carefully planing the aforesaid edge. + +"Conceited boy!" said Rose. + +Well, I suppose he was that, just a little; but what can happen to +average masculine nature, with three such bits of the feminine to stand +round and gaze at its perfections? Magnus brought his board to a nicety +of straightness, tossed off the shavings, gave another toss to his +brown hair--then looked up at the sweet cluster of faces in the window +and laughed. + +"All's safe up there, so long as I stay down here," he said. + +The three were silent. + +"He is such a beauty!" said Rose under her breath. "He grows better and +handsomer every day." + +"But we want to talk to you!" said Violet. + +"I can wait." + +"Suppose we cannot?" + +"Front door's open," said Magnus, falling to work with his hammer, and +once more lapsing into the sweets of "Yankee Doodle." + +"Mother, may we tell him?" said Rose. "May we ask him how he'd like +it?" + +"Why, yes, dear; that can do no harm," said Mrs. Kindred. + +So the girls went down to the woodshed, perching themselves on some +hard places each side of their big brother. + +"Magnus, how would you like to be a soldier?" + +"When there's a war, you'll see." + +That was beginning at the wrong end; the two young faces grew suddenly +grave. But, after all, there was no war then, and probably never would +be, as their mother had said. + +"But we mean _now_," Rose went on. "How would you like to go to West +Point?" + +"What for?" + +"Why, to learn to be a soldier!" said Violet impressively. + +Magnus laughed in high derision. + +"Soldiers!" he said--"Popinjays. Parrots and popinjays. There was one +of those fellows at Clear Spring last summer, and he had airs enough to +fly a kite with a tail a mile long." + +Again the two young sisters were silent. + +"But _you_ would not, Magnus, when you came home," said Violet. "Oh, +Rose! just think of his coming home on vacation!" + +"And if all the rest are like that, you could be what mamma calls +a 'beautiful example,'" said Rose. "I heard Cherry speak of that +'fellow,' as you call him. She said his uniform was very interesting." + +"Cherry doesn't care a copper for such stuff!" said Magnus hotly. + +"I suppose she can admire a uniform," said Rose. + +But to that Magnus made no reply. + + + + +II + +MEANS TO AN END + + The nightingale flew away, and time flew also. + + --HANS ANDERSEN. + + +Charlemagne got his appointment. In a very commonplace way, after all, +like most other boys; in spite of his long name and his longer list of +qualifications. Some relative knew the Congressman of the district, +had done business with him in the pre-official days, and in one of the +intervals of home rest after Washington fatigues, young Kindred was +taken over to the dignitary's whereabouts, and presented as one who was +eager to serve his country in another line. There was nothing heroic +about the whole proceeding, and the man was not an ideal Congressman; +but he answered the purpose. + +The interview would have made a fine subject for a picture. The boy, +on his dignity every inch of him, making believe that he did not care +a continental about the matter; but too unskilled in dissembling to +prove the fact, and keep down the quick flashes of eye and flushes of +cheek. The introducer, the childless uncle to whom his sister's son +was the one boy of all the world. Opposite them the old Congressman, +with chair at an uncertain angle and hat ditto; tilting back in the +cool shady porch, and listening with a scarce hid smile to the tale of +Charlemagne's attainments. + +"Has he room in his head for anything more?" he demanded, when Mr. +Thorn paused. "He'll want a little, over there." + +"I am ready to learn all they teach, sir!" said young Magnus, firing +up. "You think I don't know anything now--and maybe I don't." + +"Maybe--" said the Congressman drily. "How about the _outside_ of your +head? You'll get it rough and ready, at West Point." + +"I've got hands!" said Magnus with another flush. + +"True," said the Honourable Miles Ironwood. "Well, take good care of +them." + +"And I have understood," put in Mr. Thorn, "that hazing is quite +stamped out at West Point." + +Mr. Ironwood skilfully rocked his chair upon its two hind legs, a +mocking smile upon his lips. + +"Ever see a bit of woodland that was half trees and two-thirds rocks?" +he said. + +"I was brought up on just such a place," said Mr. Thorn. + +"Ever fight a fire there?" + +"Many a time." + +"H'm--I thought perhaps you hadn't," said the Congressman. "Well, Mr. +Thorn, this district is not represented at West Point just now; last +appointment resigned some months ago, and I suppose it had better be +filled. And this young man doesn't look as if he would give the Tacs +more trouble than common. And if they go for him, that is his lookout +and not mine." + +"Who are the Tacs, sir?" inquired Magnus. + +"Men who come round every morning to see if you have washed your face," +said Mr. Ironwood, without moving a muscle of his own. "And every +night, to tuck you up and bring away the light." + +Magnus coloured indignantly; but a certain twinkle in Mr. Ironwood's +eye kept him silent. + +"What do they teach there, chiefly?" said Mr. Thorn. "What had Magnus +better learn before he goes?" + +"Learn everything you can, when you are going _anywhere_," said Mr. +Ironwood impressively. "They teach riding--a little--at West Point. And +mathematics--some." + +"Charlemagne can ride," said his uncle proudly. + +"On his head?" + +"Why no!" said Mr. Thorn. "Will that be required?" + +"I've seen 'em on their heads, in that riding-hall," said the +Congressman with an easy change of position. + +"They teach the classics, of course?" + +"He'll hear something about Achilles, like as not," said Mr. Ironwood. +"Hector, too. Not so much of either as he will of Charlemagne." + +Again the suggestive gleam of the eye acted upon the boy as both spur +and check. + +"And you have no general advice to give him, Mr. Ironwood, as to what +he had best do to prepare himself?" + +"Prepare himself?" Mr. Ironwood brought his chair down on all-fours +with considerable force. "If that boy wants to get ready for West +Point, let him do every blessed thing he _don't_ want to do and not one +that he _does_, between now and next June. Good-morning: I'll attend to +it." + +"He's an old buzzard!" said Magnus as they walked away. + +"A little sudden, sometimes," said his mild uncle. "But he's a smart +man--a very smart man. And now I think of it, he was there once +himself, and didn't get through. That's what makes him so down on the +place." + +"Must have been a very smart man if he couldn't get through West +Point," Magnus said, with a boy's easy contempt. + +But smart or not, Mr. Ironwood was as good as his word. And so in due +course it was set forth in the _Army and Navy Journal_, that among +the candidates for the Military Academy the following June would be +found one Charlemagne Kindred. And the local paper of Barren Heights +(albeit not generally concerning itself with West Point) got hold of +the item and copied it out in full. And so astonishing was it to see +Charlemagne's name in print that the family copy of said paper would +have been quite worn out with much study and handling, if Mrs. Kindred +had not rescued it, and laid it safe away among the family archives. + +As for Cherry, after first privately breaking her heart because Magnus +was going away, she then plucked up courage and common sense, and +became the proudest little maiden that could be found among all the +patient readers of the _Barren Heights View_. + +It is safe to say that Magnus reversed Mr. Ironwood's wise counsel +at every point and every time. Having himself been a failure at West +Point, the Congressman's opinion was counted a failure too; would have +been, anyhow, I fancy; and Charlemagne Kindred got ready for West +Point by doing every possible thing he wanted to do, and letting the +things he did not want to do, alone. Even when the rainy days of May +went weeping by, and the fateful June was close at hand, what that boy +did--and was allowed to do--would not bear telling. "He is going away," +hushed every reproof; and "when I am gone," forestalled criticism. +Refuse him? scold him?--the three gentle hearts at home were quite +beyond all that. + +To be sure, he ought to have studied hard, the whole time; but then +Magnus was so quick and bright it could not be really needful. And if +Mrs. Kindred now and then sighed, and wondered what the end would be, +if the beginning was so lawless, and what her husband the minister +would have said to his only son becoming a soldier--the girls had the +answer ready. + +"Why mother, it is to defend the Country! My father went to the war +once, himself." + +"Yes, in time of need," said Mrs. Kindred. + +"But Magnus says that when there is no danger is the time to prepare," +said Rose. + +"Yes," Mrs. Kindred said again with a smile and a sigh, pleased at such +wisdom in her boy; although it was a principle of sound business which +Magnus had never been known to act upon, in any one single case. + +But even he sobered down a little, as the last home day drew on. When +the new trunk was packed, and Magnus had said good-bye to all the +neighbourhood, and taken his last walk with Cherry; cheering up her +forebodings in various efficacious ways best known to himself and to +her; when there was nothing left but the good-night, and the early +breakfast, and the parting--then, indeed, things began to look serious, +and the boy too. + +He sat that evening, taking the clearest sort of mental photographs. +He saw the grief that lay back of his mother's brave words and tender +smiles: saw it, as it were, on that other background of the older +and deeper sorrow which never left her face. He noticed the white +lines that marked the brown hair above her temples. He studied her +hands: slender, white, but with that unmistakable character of use and +usefulness which some hands have. + +He looked at his sisters: fair, innocent slips of girls as you could +find, East or West: their tears coming and going, their smiles playing +hide and seek. Who ever had three such blessed bits of womankind +entrusted to him? and who would take care of them when he, tall +Charlemagne Kindred, should be far away? Magnus registered in his heart +some vows that night, which to his honour he kept. + +Then his eyes went down again to his mother's hands. They were quietly +folded in her lap; but as Magnus looked, he seemed to see them busy +in a hundred different ways, and always for him. Steadying his baby +steps, cooling his aching head; binding up scratches and cuts; sewing +on buttons, knitting socks, mending gloves. Now laid tenderly on his +shoulder in some time of persuasion or entreaty--and now held out, both +of them, to receive the penitent. + +But here Magnus jumped up and fled away, out of the room, out of the +house; and poured forth his agony of tears in the old orchard, under +the quiet stars. + +At his age, however, such showers are brief, and often end in a highly +exalted state of mind. Magnus came back to the house protector of his +mother, defender of his sisters, and knight-errant for all womankind in +general--especially Cherry. + +Cherry would have given what coppers she had in the world, and some +silver to boot, to spend that last evening and morning at the Kindred +house, and the girls had entreated her to stay, but she was a very +self-contained little damsel and said no. "Little" is not descriptive, +however, for Cherry was growing up tall and straight as a plumed reed +by the river side; with a wealth of dark brown hair, and large serious +eyes, and delicate brows that, when they laughed, went into curves as +lovely and mischievous as the proverbial bow of Cupid. The whole of the +demure face laughed then, with dimples here and dimples there. + +Brought up until six years old with a frail, invalid mother, and since +then by a student father, the child had early learned to keep herself +to herself with severe decision. And keep herself hid according to +her own ideas, Cherry feared she could not, if she was at hand to see +Magnus Kindred go. Besides--Magnus himself had not asked her! + +"But why will you not stay, Cherry?" the girls persisted. + +"It does not matter why, you know, so long as I am going," said wise +Cherry, and so she put on her sun-bonnet, and went back with steady +steps toward her own gate, so soon as tea was over. To be sure, Magnus +did see her and come bounding after; and, to be sure, she found out +then that she was not really in such haste as she had thought: but +still Magnus would never have got the sort of farewell he did, if +he had not been saucy and taken it. Though, alas! I am afraid his +after-memory of the parting was for a time less tender and true than +hers. + +So there were only the three home faces about the boy that last +morning, and only the three sore hearts to plan and prepare his +breakfast and every other possible sort of ministration. And magnate as +he was, Charlemagne found those three as much as he could bear. + + + + +III + +THE NIGHT EXPRESS + + Just in the grey of the dawn, as the mists uprose from the meadow, + There was a stir and a sound in the slumbering village of Plymouth; + Clanging and clicking of arms, and the order imperative, "Forward!" + + --LONGFELLOW. + + +I do not see why the march of improvement should tread down sentiment +and tread out romance; but such seems to be the fact. Beauty and +feeling, like very birds of the wildwood, take wing and flee at the +shriek of the steam-whistle. Your public conveyance is no longer a +kindly, easy-going personality, the "Highflyer" or the "Dashaway" +mail-coach; it is only the 6.30 train. You could turn and wave a +good-bye, in the olden time; gazing back at the dear home outlines +until, in the pathetic words of David Copperfield, "the sky was empty." +But now, even if the railway does not graze your front dooryard, and +you must walk or drive to the station, yet you hardly dare glance round +you as you go, lest you should miss the train. For that distant dark +line with its trail of silver smoke, which comes snaking along across +the country, makes no account of you as an individual, and is equally +ready to run you down or to pick you up; and will sooner do either than +wait. + +Magnus was to report at West Point on a certain specified day, and his +setting out had been timed accordingly: and now the terror of being +late, and so belated, was upon them all. They hurried him off after +the five-o'clock breakfast; kissing him, crying over him indeed, but +pushing him out of the house. And Mrs. Kindred would not go with him +to the station nor let the girls; Magnus could walk so much faster +alone, or even run, if need be; and they might make him loiter. + +So the boy went forth alone; turning round at the last corner, and +waving his hat with an air of triumph which was very make-believe +indeed. His heart was as heavy as lead, and he called himself the +greatest ninny in existence; leaving such a home, and such a mother, +and three such girls. For in that last look back Magnus had not failed +to see the curling smoke that floated away from the chimney of Cherry's +house, high up upon the hill. What a silly he was, sure enough. Why, +the mere old lilac bushes in the dooryard were better than all West +Point. Nevertheless, he went on-- + + "For men must work and women must weep." + +Happily for the women, their life is generally more real and prosaic +than the poet thought; and they also have to work on, through their +tears. + +The train came rushing up on time; Magnus swung himself in; and with a +derisive snort the locomotive tore him away from home, and mother, and +the three girls. + +As a rule, the inmates of a railway car are extremely unsympathetic +to look at. What face or figure do you ever see there to which you +would like to appeal in case of need? When the need comes, indeed, +there is generally someone to take it up, a comforting thought, worth +remembering; but for the most part people hold themselves visibly +aloof, except in the way of growling over open windows, or of striving +for seats. + +Charlemagne Kindred looked up and down the car, scanning briefly +the faces as he took his seat; and the width of the world, and its +exceeding low temperature, settled down upon his heart as a new fact. + +The first day and the first night went by wearily enough. Magnus had +decided to save money by not taking a sleeper; assuring his anxious +mother and sisters that he could sleep anyhow and anywhere. And so he +could, at home, as they well knew. But it seemed to him in that long +first night, as if the boards of their barn floor at home were softer +(as they were certainly far sweeter) than all the cushions of the night +express. What fumes the men brought in from the smoking car! What gruff +voices and hollow laughs and idle words were all about him. Disgust, +fatigue, and strangeness took the boy in their hard hands, until, as +the second night drew on, Magnus did not know himself. He wondered what +was the matter with him: wondered if he was going to be ill: and never +guessed for a while that he was growing deathly, deadly homesick. + +The knowledge came. Just at nightfall the train slowed up at a little +country station, and a woman and child got out. They had been sitting +far behind Magnus, and, as the child never cried, she had called forth +no special notice; though once or twice when the rush and roar ceased +for a moment, Magnus had caught the sweet canary-bird notes of the +little voice. Now, she passed him in her mother's arms; and in the +moment's pause at the door, the little creature turned and looked down +the dingy car, where what light there was seemed just to show up the +darkness. The sweet, serious eyes gazed along the lines of her late +fellow-passengers--then as the way opened, and the mother moved on, +the child waved her little innocent hand in farewell greeting to that +small, unknown world. + +"Dood-night, folks!" she said--and was gone. + +I can fancy that many hearts stirred at the sound; but poor Magnus +quite gave way. Oh, for one word from the dear home voices, one touch +of the dear home hands. He remembered Violet, when she was no bigger +than that little thing, nestled in her mother's arms just so. What was +he doing here, away from them all? What was West Point to him? If +indeed he ever got there. Magnus felt now as if he should die by the +way. + +He was alone in the seat just then; and the boy pulled his hat down +over his eyes, leaned head and arms against the dingy red cushion, +and let the tears come. The train ran on, past several other small +stations; then drew up before a ten-minutes-for-refreshment place, +where to many people the minutes and the refreshment would be equally +brief and unsatisfactory. Yet the glow and light and counter full of +viands looked tempting enough to a weary passenger; and many got out. +Magnus never stirred. He was not hungry, naturally enough; and besides +had some of the home sandwiches and cookies still in his bag. But touch +_them_--look at them even--in his present mood, he could not. + +The car was almost empty: and in the relief of the sudden stillness +and space, Magnus got up and walked to and fro between the open doors. +It was a comfort to do anything, and the ten minutes were far too +short for him as for the rest. He dropped into his seat again, as the +passengers came hurrying back; watching them with languid interest, +and wondering which one would come and sit by him. Last night he had +had a man so redolent of unpleasant things that only a very tired boy +could have managed to sleep at all. Last night, and part of to-day. A +somewhat different set were coming in now; new faces taking the place +of others left behind at the station. + +Magnus eyed them one by one, desiring none of them in his seat, and +only hoping they would leave it and him alone, until just as the +train began to pull out of the station. There came in then a man of +a different type of citizenship. Of good height and sturdy build; +close shaven, close cropped: a dress and outfit scrupulously neat and +in order, but evidently bought at the shop of Comfort and Use, and +not from that tailor to all the crowned heads, High Style. Over the +whole man was that look of absolute cleanness--mental, moral, and +physical--which a smooth face always sets off to the best advantage. +Step firm and businesslike, eyes quick and kind. A man "at leisure from +himself," for all the work his Master might set before him. Was there, +perhaps, work here? + +The car had thinned out a good deal by this time; people dropping off +at one and another station, getting to their homes as the night drew +on, and there were many vacant seats: here two together, and there one +by somebody else. Mr. Wayne paused a moment, looking down the car, and +from under his straw hat Magnus watched him, with a vague longing that +he would come and sit by _him_. + +That is a wonderfully lovely glimpse of unseen things, in one of the +chapters of the book of Daniel, where one angel says to another, "Run, +speak to that young man." I suppose Mr. Wayne was conscious of no +audible monition; but after that moment's pause, he stepped down the +car, past one and another tempting "whole" seat, and took his place by +young Charlemagne Kindred. + + + + +IV + +READY FOR DUTY + + The man that wants me is the man I want. + + --DR. EDWARD PAYSON. + + +"This seat is not engaged? You are not expecting a companion?" the +stranger said as he sat down. + +"No, sir, I have nobody to expect," said Magnus, his tone making the +answer broader than the question. + +"Nobody to expect?" Mr. Wayne repeated the words, then went on softly +to himself, yet just so that Magnus caught the sound, "'My soul, wait +thou upon God, for my expectation is from him.'" + +"Where does this train stop for supper?" he said abruptly, after a +minute or two. + +"They had supper at Beaver Junction." + +"So, so! Just where I got in. Have you had yours?" + +"No, sir. I didn't want any." + +"Well, you and I wear our family likeness with a difference," said Mr. +Wayne. "I have had no supper either, but I want it. They _used_ to stop +at Edenton. Been a change, I suppose, since the extension of the road." + +He rose up and went to the further end of the car, where the conductor +was taking a minute's rest; coming back with the word that another +chance for refreshments would be at Centerville Junction, where they +had to wait for the train from Combination. + +"Then you and I will go and sup together," he said. + +"I don't want any supper," the boy repeated. + +"What's the matter? You're not sick?" and the keen eyes made a closer +survey. + +"No, indeed, sir." + +"The home station is close at hand, then, is it?" + +"No, sir. It will not be near _me_ for two years," said Magnus, trying +to speak with the proper pride of a young man off on his travels, and +far from home, but the boyish voice betraying itself and him. + +"Two years!" Mr. Wayne repeated; adding with a breath that was almost a +groan, "Two years out of sight of home! You are going to West Point?" +he said the next minute in his quick way. + +"Yes, sir. But how did you know?" said the boy, rousing up in his +surprise. + +"Yankees aren't worth a red cent if they can't guess," said Mr. Wayne, +smiling. "Well, that settles the question of supper. If you get to West +Point in a die-away condition, they'll not take you in; and you will +see the home station quicker than you care about, maybe. The first +thing they'll tell you at West Point will be to 'brace up,' so you'd +better do a little at it before you get there." + +If Magnus was half ready to resent the words he could not, for the +merry glance that went with them. + +"Were you ever at West Point, sir?" + +"Often." + +"Well, what sort of a place is it?" said Magnus, sitting straight up in +his interest. + +"One of the very loveliest places on this fair earth," said Mr. Wayne. +"With hills and woods and river that you will lose your heart to, and +never get it back." + +"Nice people, too?" questioned Magnus. + +"All sorts of people. As in every other bit of the world. All sorts." + +"There is only one sort at home," said Magnus proudly. + +"Ah, true! But home is the only exception. And so, + + "Be it ever so homely, + There is no place like home." + +"But even in the home neighbourhood, I think, you can remember +varieties?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Magnus, smiling. "Chaff Pointer said it was waste +time for me to go to West Point, for he knew I'd never get through." + +"Well, I'd prove that man a false prophet, if he does belong near +home," said Mr. Wayne. "How did 'Chaff' get his name?" + +"All the rest of the family are sound and good for something, and so +everybody calls him 'Chaff,'" said Magnus. + +Mr. Wayne laughed heartily. "All sorts there, too," he said. "But here +is our ten-minute station. Come along. I invite you to be my guest, and +when you are invited out to supper, you must go when you don't want to +go, and eat when you are not hungry." + +And Magnus laughed and followed. But to hurry into that brilliantly +lighted room after a cheerful companion, and to eat all sorts of queer +railway providings at railway speed, was a very different thing from +munching his dry sandwich alone in the dusky car, and all the time +seeing nothing but the dear fingers that put it up. Appetite came +back, and spirits, with somewhat of the joyous sense of enterprise +and novelty; confidence and liking for his new friend sprang up into +life-size proportions, and it did not take long to tell over the whole +little home story. It was such a comfort to speak to somebody. + +And Mr. Wayne listened with deepest interest. He had meant to take a +sleeper as soon as they left the Junction, but changed his purpose, and +sat by the boy through all the hours of the night. Ready for words when +Magnus roused up to speak them; and when the young eyes closed, and +the young head sought intervals of rest against the hard, swaying back +of the seat, then studying the boy with a face from which the laugh had +vanished, and a grave, almost solemn, look came up to take its place. + +"Good blood," so he muttered to himself, as he noted the clear skin and +pure colour, "and well brought up"--for unmistakable lines of truth and +intelligence marked the face. "Warm-hearted--almost--as a woman, and +wilful enough for two! What will he do at West Point? and what will +West Point do to him?" + +The grave eyes were shielded, and from the kindly heart went up that +longing petition of the Lord himself: + +"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that +thou shouldest keep them from the evil." + +So the night wore on, with alternate snatches of talk and sleep, until +the early dawn of the June day came swiftly up over the outside world. + +"To-night I shall be at West Point," said Magnus, as the two new-made +friends went back to their car after breakfast. + +"Ordered to report to-day?" + +"No, sir, not until Friday." + +"Where will you stay to-night?" + +"Oh, I cannot tell," said Magnus. "I don't know anybody nor anything at +West Point. Oh, I suppose I'll find some place!" + +"'Some place' is not always a good place. You had better stay in town +with me to-night, and take an early morning train up river." + +"Do you live in town, sir?" + +"Not I! But I shall be there to-night." + +Hotels and hotel bills were as yet unknown things to Magnus Kindred, +and he entered into this plan with great alacrity; nor ever guessed, +till he went home on furlough and put up at the same hotel, how large a +part of his fare that night was paid by Mr. Wayne himself. + +It was very late when the train ran into the big city, at least +according to the standard at Barren Heights, but those weird old hands +on the church steeples of New York count nothing "late" until it is two +o'clock in the morning, and so in truth early once more. + +Magnus felt quite sure that the rumble and roar would not let him sleep +a wink, but after he had once closed his eyes, they never opened again +until broad daylight. + +The two friends roomed together. A big room, it seemed to Magnus, +the two sides of which had each quite a retired privacy of its own. +Mr. Wayne, writing letters under the gaslight, noted the boy's neat, +orderly ways in all his preparations for bed. Magnus had sat reading +his own private chapter first, not with haste, but with interest, and +then they had had prayers together. Now, the boy knelt quietly by his +own special bed, his face upon his arms, and once or twice there came +a sound that brought the quick drops to Mr. Wayne's own eyes. But then +Magnus called out his "Good-night, sir!" in a cheerful, resolved tone, +which was all that could be wished. + +In the morning the two walked up to the Grand Central together. There +their ways parted, Mr. Wayne going off on the New Haven road, while +Magnus checked his trunk for Garrisons and West Point. + +"Magnus, what is going to be your dependence at West Point?" said Mr. +Wayne, as they stepped along. + +"Hard work, sir." + +"Good," said Mr. Wayne. "And what for your hard work? How do you expect +to keep yourself at it?" + +"My own will, sir." + +"Good again," said his friend. "And how is that will to be kept to its +duty?" + +"Mother says I'm self-willed enough for anything," said Magnus. + +"Truly. But self-will and will-power are very different forces, and +often come in sharp collision. Misguided steam is quite likely to blow +up the whole concern." + +"Well, sir, what can I do with my will but use it?" said the boy with +some quickness. + +"You can abuse it quite easily," said Mr. Wayne. "Turn it on the wrong +things, fire it up in the wrong place. A soldier needs to have the +'governor' of his own private engine in excellent working order." + +"I'm not a soldier yet," said Magnus, laughing, "and shall not be for +four years." + +"You will be one, to all intents, as soon as you are admitted at West +Point. From that moment you are counted in the service of the United +States, and under her orders. Bound to do her bidding, whether you like +it or not, whether you understand it or not." + +"Even if someone has blundered?" said Magnus with a half laugh. + +"Even if someone has blundered. With that question you have nothing +to do. Men will blunder now and then, at West Point as elsewhere, but +that is no concern of yours. Uncle Sam's orders are to be obeyed, and +neither the quality nor the quantity of them affects the thing in the +least." + +"That sounds hard," said Magnus. + +"It _is_ hard." + +"And rather impossible to carry out, I should say," remarked Magnus +with a boy's air of competent criticism. + +"Nothing is impossible which ought to be done," said Mr. Wayne. "If the +authorities at West Point did not disapprove of decorations, I would +have that written up over your door in gilt letters." + +"Disapprove!" Magnus repeated. + +"Disapprove. A soldier's life has small time and place but for the +absolute needs-be." + +"Did you ever go through West Point, sir?" said Magnus with a wondering +look at his new-found friend. + +"No indeed. But I have been through Chattanooga, and Fair Oaks, and a +few other places, and so I know what all this play-soldiering may come +to." + +Magnus stopped short and gazed at him. + +"Chattanooga! Fair Oaks! You have been _there_?" he said. + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Wayne, pulling him round again, "and I'm glad I +am not there now. Come on; we must catch our train. Never mind all +that to-day. So you thought you would be your own master till you got +shoulder-straps, hey? Not a bit of it. You belong to Uncle Sam just as +much in grey as you ever will in blue." + +"Body and soul!" said Magnus with a rather unmirthful laugh. + +"Not soul," said Mr. Wayne. "The only power that traffics in souls is +the devil, and his vice-gerent the World. But about everything else, +from the minute you enter West Point, you are under orders--sworn in to +obey. How are you going to bring yourself up to that point?" + +"Why, I have always been taught to obey, at home," said Magnus. + +"Yes, and when you didn't do it, it was always, 'Oh, Magnus must have +forgotten. He never _means_ to disobey.'" + +"How do you know, sir?" said the boy, laughing and colouring, too. + +"I have had a mother," said Mr. Wayne. "And if there is anything on +this earth at the antipodes of the being that owns that blessed name, +it is a West Point tactical officer." + +"Who is he?" said Magnus. + +"The tactical officer? Oh, he is one of a small force in blue, +specially detailed to look after the cadets in grey." + +"They must be the ones that our Congressman says come round to see if +you've washed your face," said Magnus. "They'd better not try that on +me!" + +Mr. Wayne laughed a little. + +"Well, I'd be ready for them," he said. "Fighting for rights that you +haven't got does not pay at West Point." + +"Why, what sort of a queer place is it?" said young Charlemagne with +growing distaste. + +"It is a place where you are under orders," said Mr. Wayne, "and that +often makes wild work with one's own private notions. You swear to obey +orders when you go in, and you are under them till you come out. From +the time you get up till the time you go to bed,--and after." + +"Not while I am asleep, I suppose," said the boy with an expressive +lift of the brows. + +"Yes you are. If you fail to hear the reveille gun, your being asleep +will not excuse you. It is your business to wake up. Nobody will come +round and tap softly at your door and say, 'Now, Magnus, dear, if you +are not _too_ tired, I think you had better get up.'" + +It was so exactly what his mother had said but four days ago that the +boy's eyes flushed, and his throat choked up. + +"What will they do to me?" he said, making a brave fight for his +self-control, "if I do not hear the gun?" + +"Oh, you will figure in the report as a 'late,' or an 'absent,' with +corresponding small penalties, that is all. Nothing very terrible if it +comes but once, but piling up trouble if it comes often." + +"They might call a fellow," said Magnus, who never liked to do that +kind office for himself. + +"Armies are seldom large enough for each man to have another man +detailed to look after him," said Mr. Wayne drily. + +Magnus made no answer. He paced up and down the long station house by +his friend's side, swinging his little handbag with an air that was not +all of enjoyment. + +"It's a hard place, then, isn't it?" + +"There are no easy places in this world, so far as I know," answered +Mr. Wayne. "Not for men who wish to get on. There are a few where you +can stand still. West Point is not one of those. Back or forward you +must go, there. But there is no hardest place on earth that 'work and +pray' will not carry a man gloriously through." + +"Well, mother has taught me the one, and I guess I'll soon pick up the +other," said Magnus. "I'm not afraid of work, if I _am_ rather lazy." + +"Magnus," said his friend suddenly, "when you get to West Point I want +you to make friends with the flag." + +"All right," said the boy, laughing. "Do they fly the flag all the +time? That is glorious!" + +"They fly it all the time, in all weathers; from the small storm flag +in a gale, to the bunting thirty-six feet long, on a holiday. What +would you think, if they hauled the flag down every time someone came +by who did not like it?" + +"I should say, 'Shoot the man who touched the halyards'!" said Magnus. + +"Suppose the passerby was from a powerful nation that we feared to +offend?" + +"There is no such nation!" said the boy, drawing himself up. + +"But Young America can _suppose_, for the argument's sake," said Mr. +Wayne, smiling. + +"Hard thing to do, sir," laughed Magnus. "However, I'll suppose, as you +say. And I say, the man would come down, a long sight ahead of the +Stars and Stripes. I'd risk offending anybody, for the flag." + +Mr. Wayne paused and faced him. + +"Magnus," he said, "I have just three words for you at West Point. +Work, pray, and keep your colours flying! Good-bye; the doors are open." + +So they parted, and soon the cry was, "All aboard!" and the train moved +slowly out of the Grand Central. + + + + +V + +THE FLAG + + What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep, + As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? + Now it catches the gleam + Of the morning's first beam; + In full glory reflected now shines on the stream. + + --FRANCIS KEY. + + +It is not a particularly interesting bit of road at first, as you leave +the great city, going north. The tunnel, the gleams and glooms in the +long passage under ever-arching streets; and whatever the Harlem end of +New York may have been, it is not delightsome to look upon now. + +But the way to the turn is not long; and once round that corner, and +racing along the river side, there is enough to see, well worth the +seeing. And it was all new to Magnus. The wonderful rush of the mighty +river, rolling its blue waves in endless curls and undulations; the +stately Palisades, with their drapings of June green; the white-winged +craft on the water, and the white-winged gulls in the air; all made the +boy's heart leap. Here went a steamer, ploughing her crested furrows; +now and then the train stopped for breath at some station with a +strange name. It was all a wonderful new world. + +With his face close to the window Magnus looked eagerly out; sending +his gaze as far up the river as the headlands and bends would let him; +and at last in the distance beyond the narrowing waters of Haverstraw +Bay, and above the nearer hillsides, rose lovely mountain-heads. Not +towering and stupendous, such as he might have seen many a time in the +Western States, but soft, rounded, exquisite; just high enough, in +fact, to claim the dignified name of mountains, as distinguished from +mere hills. What they were, and where they belonged, Magnus could not +tell. They rose up, and stretched out, and locked in, in an impassable +sort of way; as if they might be miles off from the river. He did not +know whether West Point was near them. And yet, by his time-table, +there was but one station more before he must leave the train. + +Now the engine rushed inland for a bit, losing sight of the river, and +Magnus studied the time-table again, assuring himself for the twentieth +time of the precise hour and minute when he was expected to reach +Garrisons. Then as the train drew up at Peekskill, he gazed out at that +dingy combination which gathers round a railway station. The engine got +its quantum of water, darted on, and then--ah, what could be fairer! +Magnus almost shouted with delight as they swept around the curve, with +the full south view for a moment, past Anthony's Nose, and with the +Dunderberg across the stream. + +"What are these mountains called?" he asked of a Peekskill passenger +who had taken the seat beside him. + +"Highlands--Hudson Highlands," said the man. "You don't belong round +here, likely?" + +"I never was here before." + +"You've come to the right place, then. Aint purtier mountings nowhere. +Such a lot o' happenings, too. Now, right _here_,"--as the train rushed +through a deep rock cut,--"just about here, was where Benedict Arnold +sneaked off to find the _Vulture_. And earth nor water didn't nary one +on 'em open and swaller him up." + +"Then this is Teller's Point!" cried Magnus. + +"Teller's Point it is. And up yonder, to your right, is where the +scamp was livin', and gettin' his breakfast that mornin', when the +Father of his country come, and all but cotched him. Tell you, these +old hills has seen things! But now look this way a bit. See that crick +over there, and the mill? Fort Montgomery's one side, to the north, +and t'other side o' the crick is Fort Clinton; and down there, atween +'em, is where they fit the battle and killed my great grandfather. They +do say, the Continentals was that mad they pitched all the Hessians +into the crick. Tell you what, young man, it's fine to have one o' the +family die in the service. I aint partic'lar about its bein' me, you +understand, but some one on 'em." + +"But you'd be ready to have it you?" said Magnus, eyeing his new +acquaintance. + +"Likely I would, if the tug came. Life's life, howsoever, when there +aint no special call to get along without it. They're tryin' to learn +them boys at West Point how to fight; but la! this here sham work don't +go for nothin'. Live in peace till the time comes, say I." + +"But you want to be ready for the time," said Magnus. + +"Ready?" the man repeated. "Take your pitchfork and _go_. That's ready +enough for me. It did average well, in '76." + +"Garri-sons!" sang out the brakeman, flinging back the door. +"Garrisons! Ferry to West Point." + +And in another minute Magnus was out on the platform, and heard the +little ferryboat ringing her bell. He looked eagerly about him, found +the right official to take his check, and following that bell, marched +down to the _Highlander_, and went on board. + +A down train was nearly due, so there were a few minutes to wait; and +Magnus pushed straight on to the little forward deck, and then forgot +everything in what he saw. + +It was unearthly fair, this bit of the world that lay before him. The +lovely green further shore, decked from river side to sky edge in the +rich growth and colouring of early summer; the hills but hardly yet in +their full depth of green, so that the dark cedars and hemlocks stood +out markedly among the tender hues of oaks, hickories, chestnuts, and +maples. From the midst of the trees on the table-land rose up chimneys, +pointed roofs, round roofs, and domes, which as yet meant nothing +to Charlemagne Kindred. The river rolled placidly by, stirred into +wavelets by the fresh, sweet breeze; close at hand he could hear the +soft lapping of the water against the sides of the boat. All sweet, all +strange; and between the two, Magnus very nearly let his head go down. + +But now came the thunder of the down train; the inviting ding-dong +of the ferryboat made itself once more heard, a little throng of +passengers came hurrying on board, and then they were off. Crossing the +Rubicon, Magnus felt, if he did not say. + +For a few moments still he stood quite alone on the forward deck. How +fast the little steamer parted the blue waters that lay between him and +his new life! Hilltops to the north, hilltops to the south, Anthony's +Nose cutting the river off on the one hand, Martlaer's Rock--the old +"East Point" of the maps--closing it in on the other. Before him, West +Point, "Tacs," and orders; behind him, the road by which he had come +from home. + +Then the swing-door slammed, and a bevy of girls came rushing out +to the front of the boat. Magnus turned to look at them, then +instinctively took a stand further back, where he could gaze less +visibly. + +Certainly he had seen girls enough to know the genus, but these were +a new species. Such hats, such heels, such giggles, such bewildering +dresses. Such knots of riband, such spots of velvet, such piles of +artificial flowers, such very pretty faces. Not handsome, like Cherry, +Magnus said indignantly, calling himself to order; and then began to +wonder how Cherry would look dressed _so_. + +And even as the thought came, he heard one whisper to the other, "A +candidate." + +And Magnus felt unreasonably angry. What business had they to pick him +out? And how was he a marked man, anyway? But their notice of him was +short. + +"Look at Jenny!" giggled one, half under her breath, pointing to a +girl who leaned on the railing, and never took her eyes from the West +Point shore. "He isn't on the watch, sweet child: it's one o'clock, +and they're all in the Mess Hall. Don't send such wistful looks on +ahead, or they'll mount the hill and spoil his digestion." And she half +whistled, half sang: + + "Come fill up your glasses, and don't stand back; + Vive la compagnie! + And drink to the health of our Captain Jack----" + +"You don't call him plain 'Jack' yet, do you, dear?" + +"If you _could_ talk a little sense!" murmured the girl at the railing. +"I shall never call him '_plain_' anything." + +The girls choked with laughter, which half rippled out, and half was +smothered. Then the talk went on, in the same undertones; not as if it +was meant to be heard, and yet which Magnus could not help hearing. + +"She's such a Paul Pry! Said to me the other day when we were out +walking, 'But you are not in love with any one of the class?' I said, +'No; I'm in love with the whole class.' Oh, dear! it will be too +dreadful when they all go!" + +"There are always candidates," whispered another, with a glance towards +Magnus, and then the boat touched her landing, and the girls hurried on +shore. + +Magnus did not hurry. He had no quarters to spend on omnibus fare, and +no mind at all to be wedged in among those lively ladies. He picked up +his bag and walked after the stage as it slowly climbed the hill. A few +swift strides would have easily taken him beyond it. But he lingered +and loitered, sat down on the tall stone curbing of the road, and tried +to find out why he felt so uncomfortable. What if he was a "candidate"? +There was Cherry, and the other two girls at home, on tiptoe over that +very fact. Why should West Point feel so differently? He had come to +learn to serve and to defend his country; to grace her ranks, wherever +he might be. + +Magnus looked after his stageful of enemies, and seeing that they had +turned down towards the south, he quickened his steps, and soon reached +the top of the hill. There paused again, partly for strangeness, and +partly for wonder. It was all so beautiful, so new. + +The grass, close shaven and vividly green, covered the ground on every +side; up the slopes, and down in the hollows; with only the cavalry +plain lying brown and bare in the sunshine. Buildings, with hardly two +alike, were dropped down for the most part in a long, curving line, +the end of which he could not see. No people, anywhere, for it was +dinner time or lunch time all over the Post; only as Magnus crossed +the road to get a nearer view of the buildings, he came upon a very +distinguished personage with a gun on his shoulder, pacing aimlessly up +and down the sidewalk. His uniform was blue, his "deportment" fierce. +"He must be an officer," thought the boy to himself, "and this some +special important point he must watch." + +Magnus found a seat under a friendly tree, and studied him. That slow, +ceaseless, back-and-forth march, fascinated the quicksilver youngster. +Orioles whistled over his head, sparrows sang, catbirds cried out +in fear or shouted for joy. Further off was the whistle and roar of +trains, and the bell of the ferryboat. In every pause the breeze +rustled softly by, and the river plashed against the shore. He had +never seen anything so lovely in all his life. But now, where were all +those voices?--a mild roar of talk. Plainly, in that small grey stone +castle just over the way. + +He strolled on again, passed the old Academic, and came out upon the +plain. And then for a while he forgot everything but what his eyes took +in. + +The smooth greensward, irregularly framed in with trees, and having +here and there a slight undulation which only heightened its beauty, +lay shimmering in the summer sun. On one side, behind the trees, the +row of houses went its winding way; on the other, the trees drew +together rather thinly in a little wood; but Magnus just then gave +no heed to either. His eyes followed the green right on to a sort of +jumping-off place, where the ground dropped suddenly all along the +line. There too was a closer-set clump of trees; and from among them, +white and slim, rose the tall flagstaff, bearing aloft the beautiful +banner of the Stars and Stripes. + +There was not much wind, and the great flag hung in those half-way +curves which are more picturesque than the full expansion. Softly +twisting, turning, its mighty folds; the red, white, and blue seeming +ever in playful strife for the upper hand, which should show most and +which give way. + +Magnus looked at it, and then instantly bared his head. He had never +seen so large a flag, nor ever one that floated with such clear +assumption of its rights; such careless, easy grace in claiming and +keeping them. "Make a friend of the flag," Mr. Wayne had said, and from +this moment the boy took it to his very heart. Fight for it? Aye, that +he would! + +He walked slowly across the plain, still watching the flag, until +he stood close beneath it, and could hear the soft flapping of the +halyards as they beat against the pole. But now it was fairyland +everywhere. + +All about him, spotting the green grass, were guns: big guns +and little guns; shining black and mouldy green; with piles of +wicked-looking black shot. The guns themselves, like many other +senders-forth of mischief, looked sleepy and innocent enough. Tall +trees rose up, bordering the little platform, from which the ground +fell off steeply towards the river; some younger and softer tree heads +showing there and hindering the further view. But Magnus wanted no more +views just then. + +He stood leaning back against the white flagstaff, and for the moment +felt content. Over his head the lovely folds of the flag curled and +drooped and stretched away upon the wind; and again, as Magnus looked +up at it, he doffed his hat. Then he found himself wondering what they +did to the grass in this part of the world, to make it so smooth and +soft and even. Then two or three uniforms went by, and he wondered over +them: it was in truth fairyland. Oh, if the folks at home could only +see it! And then, suddenly, fairyland shifted its place, and fled away +far out West, to the lonely regions of Barren Heights. Oh, if--not that +they were here, but that he was there!--just back once more at home! +The boy's hat came down low over his eyes. What did that old flag care +for him? And what did he care for grass, or views, or uniforms, or +anything else, but only just to see mother, and the girls, and Cherry? + +"Bracing up" is often so useful a process that one must not be too hard +upon the agents that oblige us thereto; and this time the agents were +very comely. A cluster of young girls, clad in all the pretty frippery +of the day, came giggling along the walk towards the flagstaff. It +was not, Say something and laugh at it--or, Say something to make the +others laugh; but there was a chronic state of giggle, as if life +were such a very droll thing that no occasional outburst could do it +justice. The walk passed the flagstaff with some little green space +between; and they came flickering along (I am really at a loss for +a word); changing places, pulling each other, pushing each other, +whispering, sometimes half-dancing, down the walk. + +It is needless to say that Magnus "braced up" immediately; and still +leaning against the flagstaff, watched them from under his hat. + +These were not his fair foes of the ferryboat, whom he had supposed +were rare specimens: now he was to learn that the species is widespread +and common, in June. Again he heard the obnoxious word, "candidate." + +"Holding up the flagstaff, as usual," said the leading girl. "I do +verily believe they think that's what they come for." + +"Hush!" said another. "Don't talk so loud. He might hear." + +"He'll hear worse than that, before he's been here many days," said the +first. "I'll just break it to him by degrees. Say, girls, let's go and +give him his 'technical,' and get the start of Devlin Fritz." + +"_Do_ be quiet!" said a third. "No wonder they all call you 'Miss +Saucy.'" + +"It's something to have them _all_ call you anything," returned the +young lady with much content. + +"Oh, that's true!" said another. "I declare, girls, I think it's too +bad. Here I've spent ten pounds of candy since I came, and I haven't +got one special cadet yet." + +"Huyler's?" demanded Miss Saucy. + +"Huyler's." + +"Get Dulce to hand you over Mr. Day. She bores the poor boy to death. I +know he'd be glad of almost any change," said Miss Flirt. + +"Or she might try a 'candied date,'" suggested Miss Saucy with a +sideway gesture. + +In the small babel of words and laughter that followed this, the girls +drifted away out of hearing, and the sweet summer air was silent +again. The leaves clapped hands softly, the folds of the beautiful flag +curled and played as before over the head of the young candidate. But +in the heart of Magnus himself, just now, the summer grace and peace +found no foothold. Rather, his thoughts were like a November gale, with +the air full of dust and rubbish. + +What if he _was_ a candidate? Men had to be, when they first came, he +supposed. And what if he _did_ mean to hold up the flagstaff? who had a +better right? Magnus looked up defiantly, and made a profound reverence +to the Stars and Stripes. All the same, he edged away as he saw another +party of girls approaching, and went and sat down on a long iron +seat among the tree shadows. One thing was certain: his sisters--and +Cherry--should never set foot here, if he could help it. He had been +thinking--if only they could get money enough--how fine it would be to +have them all come and see this beautiful place. Such walks as they +could take! But West Point just _swarmed_ with girls already. And at +this point of his meditations Magnus was quite sure that he heard +"candidate" again, from another jocund voice. + +"Say, let's find out." + +"What for?" said a pink vision. + +"Fun," said the white one: "Oh, I know the regulation questions." And +but half under her breath, the pretty tones sang out: + + "See where he hails from-- + What is his name; + Who was his 'pred.,' + And why he came." + +"Who cares?" said the other girl, hurrying her along. "Come, we are +late." + +That party passed, followed, it must be owned, by some rather fierce +looks from Magnus. Then, slowly strolling down the pathway, came two +more: a girl, in the height of every fashion, and a tall fellow in +close-fitting grey coat and the whitest of unwrinkled trousers. Over +his head he carried the girl's scarlet and lace parasol, shielding +himself as carefully as if she had brought it for that express purpose. +As perhaps she had: who knows? At all events, the little lady gazed up +at the dark sunburnt face, with its vivid background, as if nothing +could be too good to screen such a complexion. And he looked down at +her--well, women never get just what they give, but he did look very +admiringly; as if the delicate face needed nothing, not even a parasol. + +Whatever was the reason, this couple made Magnus more irate than any +that had gone before. There was an instant antagonism to the tall +cadet. His uniform was so becoming, and fitted so well; the glancing +buttons were so attractive; the gold bars on the upper arm had such +a distinguished look; the young stranger set him down at once for a +coxcomb. But there was a little envy in it all. How cleverly he cut +down the military stride to keep step with the girl's mincing feet; a +difficult thing, as Magnus knew. + +"Taking care of his own precious face, and letting hers burn!" quoth +the young civilian; but all the same, he would have given more money +than he was likely to have soon to be in just such guise himself, with +Cherry by his side. He'd show that fellow a thing or two. + +He was getting homesick again. All these people, with their friends +and their fun, made him feel so desolately far away from everybody. He +slouched his hat down further, and wandered off again, not looking much +where he went; just following the path beneath his feet. Slowly round +the guns, then on along the bank, and there found more seats. There +was no sound of voice or step here, and Magnus sat down wearily, and +leaned his head on his arm, and tried to fight the homesickness. For +the moment he despised the whole race of girls, Cherry, of course, +excepted. "Simpering up into that fellow's face, as if there had never +been a man before, nor would be again." + +Yes, there was certainly a twinge of envy in Charlemagne's heart. The +tall cadet had carried himself with such careless, graceful erectness +that there was no relief to be had out of calling him a "ramrod." And +his white trousers were _so_ white, and so without a wrinkle. + +"I'd like to know how he manages that," thought Magnus, the envy +passing into wonder. With him, white trousers had been always uncertain +and short-lived things. And now his thoughts flew far away again, +over hills and prairie land; and once more he was going through wild +exploits at home; getting himself wet and muddy, and having the girls +laugh at him from the midst of their intact fresh draperies. Magnus +drew a long, heavy sigh. + +Then he roused himself and sat up; for again those measured steps, the +peculiar tread of which he was just learning to know, sounded near by; +and another cadet, from the opposite direction, came down the walk. He +glanced at Magnus, then crossed the grass, and took his seat on the +other end of the same bench; but said not a word, only gazed placidly +up the river. And now, as one always looks whither another is looking, +so also did Magnus. + +There were no trees in the way here, and the view was open. Close +at his feet the ground fell sharply down to the level of the siege +battery, where a dozen guns and mortars kept grim watch, their ugly +black mouths pointed up-stream. Beyond the green parapet nothing made +much show till you reached the river itself, which for ten miles here +came flowing gently down, with no sharp turns; the whole of "Martlaer's +Reach" lay full in sight. In the far, far distance, an irregularly +broken line of blue peaks brushed softly against the sky. At their +feet lay the green wooded slopes of the Newburgh hills, with Newburgh +itself sparkling in the sun. The line stretched across so straight from +side to side, as if there the river began. + +Nearer, and on either hand, rising in abrupt masses from the water's +edge, lay Butter Hill and Breakneck, Bull Hill and Crow Nest; pillars +of the north Highland gateway. All green, from brow to base, except +where every now and then the granite framework of the mountains pushed +itself through in crags and ridges. The green was exquisite, with all +the lush hues of June. + +Between the hills the flood of the great river poured along unchecked, +until where in the very foreground the grey-green bluff of Martlaer's +Rock thrust itself out athwart the stream; bringing it with one sharp +turn to its very narrowest and deepest part. For a little distance +then, in front of Magnus, the river ran east and west--along the +Rock; then took another short turn, and went racing south; the lovely +"Shaw-na-taw-ty," that "flows toward the midday." Between the river and +the homesick boy lay only the broken hillside and the silent guns. + +There were no human voices, either, but a chance medley of sweet sounds +from other throats. Song sparrows in their rollicking glee, with the +homespun twitter of a chipping sparrow, giving her brood their first +outing. Robins kept up their changing chorus; crows cawed; among +the distant trees you could hear the thrush bells now and then. The +indescribable sighs and murmurs and trills of the summer wind, the soft +touches of the mighty river along its banks, filled every moment of +unappropriated time. + +Magnus forgot everything, as he looked and listened. June threw her +warm spell over him, and for the minute again he was content. + +"Yes, that can't be beat," remarked his neighbour in grey, who had been +watching him closely. "Look at it all you want to; now is a good time." + +"I think every time is good, for such a view," Magnus said, facing +round. + +"When do you report?" asked the other abruptly. + +"To-morrow." Magnus answered the question, perceiving the next instant +that again he was noted as a candidate. + +"Well, next week, if you are here, you'll find some other hills lying +round promiscuous, and you won't think quite so much about these." + +"How did you know I was to report at all?" + +The cadet laughed. + +"No mistaking a candidate," he said. "You have the real all-overish +look about you. And no need to huff up at it, either. I've been there +myself, so I know." + +"Do you like it here?" said Magnus, the flush cooling down. + +"Fair to middling. When I'm up in math., keep out of Con., and don't +get skinned too often." + +This was high Dutch to Magnus. But he was at the age when pertinent +questions are far harder to ask than the impertinent; and nothing would +have made him show his ignorance. He went back to the last subject. + +"You say you know, because you've been a candidate yourself; but who +tells all these girls?" + +"Oh, the girls!" said the cadet. "Yes, there's a good many girls +here; and what some of 'em don't know, and don't do, wouldn't fill a +collar-box. Even Crinkem's head could hold it." + +"Who is Crinkem?" + +"My respected classmate. Absolutely worried along so far, and gone on +furlough. Nobody can guess how he did it, either. Who are you?" + +"Charlemagne Kindred." + +The cadet gave a long, "Whew!" + +"Is that all you have for week days?" he asked. + +"Not quite," said Magnus, smiling in spite of himself. "They call me +Magnus, at home." + +"Won't do you any good here," said the other, shaking his head. "Name's +got to go down in full, if it was Beelzebub Nebuchadnezzar. You'll be +rechristened for common use." + +"Do they always do that?" said Magnus, looking grave. + +"Mostly." + +Magnus reddened. + +"I cannot see what the Faculty have to do with my name," he said. "It's +not their business." + +"Not the Faculty, as you call them, at all," said the cadet, "but your +beloved fellow-students. They will take almost as anxious care of you +as will the Com." + +"Oh, the other cadets!" said Magnus loftily. "I'll take care of them." + +"I would," said the man in grey with dry emphasis. "Not too many at +once. There's quite a few of them." + +Magnus sat studying the north view without seeing it. + +"But how is this?" he said suddenly. "You say your classmate has gone +on furlough--why aren't you gone too?" + +The cadet shrugged his shoulders. + +"Some men leave their country for their country's good," he said, "and +some stay in it, same at same. I lost my furlough. But anyhow Crinkem +went ahead of time; folks sick at home. He's always in luck." + +"_Lost_ it," Magnus repeated. "How could you?" + +"Easy enough, if you run against the Tacs in a tight place. Lose +anything here, except your heart and your appetite." + +But to these last words Magnus gave no heed; his whole soul was astir +with this new idea. _Lose his furlough!_ Not go home even at the end +of the two long years! + +"Can you do that?" he said. "Is it often done?" + +"Not so very. Oh, you can do it, fast enough, if you have a run of bad +luck, as I did." + +"I don't believe in luck," Magnus answered him. + +"Don't you? Well, you will, when you've been here a month." + +And now a party of strollers came by the seat; another much-dressed +young damsel, set in a framework of grey uniforms. As they passed, the +lady bowed; Magnus's friend stood up and doffed his cap, the other +cadets also touching theirs; and again (against his will) Magnus +admired and envied the easy precision of every movement. He wondered +if he could take off his hat with that peculiar swing?--and said no, +to himself, at once. But he would have it before furlough--and how +astonished Cherry would be! + +"Been round Flirtation?" demanded his new acquaintance abruptly, +watching the three who went slowly on towards where the path left the +brow of the hill, and ran down among the cedars. + +"Round flirtation!" + +The cadet laughed. + +"You needn't look so scared," he said--"it's only one of our walks. At +least it isn't generally anything else. Come on, and I'll show it to +you. I don't see what Fitch is after with that girl; cutting out poor +little Day. And he can talk a dozen to Day's one. Come along." + +So they rose up, and stepped on at a good pace, till they had the +others in full sight again; dropping then into the like easy saunter. +At least it was easy to one, but for Magnus like being in bonds; and he +was constantly getting ahead, checking himself, and falling back. + +"I'll teach them how to walk, when I'm once in," he thought. Then aloud: + +"We should call this slow doings out West," he said. + +"Yes," said his companion. "Generally want to get there, out West, I +suppose?" + +"We certainly do." + +"All right. Well, those folks don't." + +It was such a self-evident fact about the three in front, that Magnus +looked from them to the man at his side, and his eyes flashed with fun. +They both laughed. + +"Do none of them ever want to get _anywhere_?" said Magnus. + +"Not often--on Flirtation. Spoil the fun, you know." + +"Well, you say that is Mr. Fitch, and the other is Mr. Day, then who +are you?" said Magnus. + +"To be sure!" said the cadet with a lazy drawl. "I've been wondering +how long a Westerner could get along without asking." + +If Magnus grew hot at this implied charge, he had no chance to show it +then. A sudden drum-call, clear and loud, sent its racket through the +still air. The cadet stopped short. + +"There!" he said; "that beastly review is to come off, after all." + +And without another word, he turned and darted up the hill. In another +minute, Fitch and Day went speeding by, at the same keen, measured +pace, which struck Magnus as unlike anything he had ever seen. A few +bounds brought him up to the green level of the plain, where he could +watch the three, as they hurried along to the grey barracks. Nor those +three alone. From every side, from all directions, the grey and white +came hurrying in. Hurrying--yet always with the same even, regular, +swift step; the foot lifted just so high, the right arm swinging just +so far; and with no seeming effort. Magnus saw one and another of them +take off his cap to some lady as he flew by, but without the least +pause or break. Only two or three very much belated men dropped into a +walk as they neared the barracks. As Rosamund said, "It was too late to +get up early." + + + + +VI + +A LONELY CANDIDATE + + Nothing useless is, or low; + Each thing in its place is best: + And what seems but idle show, + Strengthens and supports the rest. + +--LONGFELLOW. + + +Magnus strolled leisurely along, thinking first that he could show +these cadets how to run, and then beginning to have grave doubts on +the subject; and finally finding himself a seat under the trees, where +he could look and listen in shady comfort. Eyes and ears had full +occupation. + +There was a busy note of preparation everywhere, and especially among +the drums. Beating there, and then beating here; the sound caught +up and echoed back from the grey rocks on the green hillside. Then +came out uniforms of various sorts (Magnus personified the dress, not +knowing the men) and proceeded to mark off a certain space on the green +in front of him, setting a gay little banner at the four corners of a +large, large square. + +Then, at first slowly, but soon hurrying up from every point of the +compass, a many-coloured crowd swarmed in and filled the seats--filled +them presently so full that Magnus gave up his place to the next gauzy +creature that came along. She fluttered down into the seat with much +gratulation and no thanks, and Magnus gravely took his stand in the +rear. + +He had no lack of company, even there. Officers in various uniforms, +civilians in all sorts of coats, and girls in all sorts of finery, +stood beside and around him. + +And now, also, there came straying in another small posse, whom Magnus +instinctively knew as of his own kind. Yes, they must be candidates; +partly, perhaps, because they could not possibly be anything else; +no other class owned them. Yet how did _he_ know that?--to whom all +classes here were strange. What possible connection between that dapper +little fellow in straw hat and black alpaca coat, and this young giant +who wore a cloth cap and a fluttering linen duster? Or how was his next +neighbour in a Derby and long frock coat like the fourth man, who wore +brown trousers, a cutaway coat, and a wide-awake? Yet even Magnus could +see that "candidate" was written on them all. So plainly, indeed, that +he stepped further back and put himself behind the tree. Anybody who +looked at him standing there--and some did look--saw a tall, well-made +young fellow in a neat and perfectly unobtrusive suit of brown-grey +cloth. Very dark hair and with a wilful curl that tossed it about every +way. Excellent features, ignorant as yet of life's moulding touch; and +a sweet, mobile mouth, set just now in very grave lines indeed, and +so hiding one of the great charms of his face. For nobody could watch +Magnus Kindred when he smiled or laughed, and not notice the _clean_ +look: the utterly pure and true lines into which those grave ones +changed. For the rest, hands and feet were well shaped and in excellent +order; and the whole bearing was both self-reliant and unconscious. + +But it seemed as if the gayer grew the scene, the soberer grew that +young face gazing out from behind the tree. For of all the lonely +places, commend me to an unknown throng of pleasure-seekers, where +everyone belongs to someone, is waiting for someone, or is waited for, +and you belong to none. No eyes are watching for you, no heart stirs +when you come in sight; and no one will miss you if you do not come at +all. + +So Magnus felt that day. The more people came, the more he was crowded +almost from standing-room, the wider grew the heart distance between +himself and the bright world about him. Gay girls, pretty girls, +thronged the seats and the walk; Magnus only felt that none of them +was Cherry, and every older woman that came by, decked in feathers and +flowers and laces, sent his thoughts off with such a rush to his own +dear mother, in her simplest go-to-meeting bonnet, that it was all the +boy could do to stand there and give no sign. And at even the officers +he looked askance, wondering which of them might possibly be "Tacs." + +"Poor fellow!" said some of the kind hearts amid the finery. "He looks +pretty homesick." + +"Such a handsome boy, too. You must take him out in the German, Floy." + +"Oh, _he_ can't go to the German," said Miss Floy, who had reached +the mature age of thirteen. "None of the plebs can. And he's only a +candidate, yet. Besides, I don't care much for any man that doesn't +wear chevrons." + +And the mother laughed and repeated the smart saying to her next +neighbour. + +If there arose in the mind of Charlemagne Kindred an instant resolve +to wear chevrons, at whatever cost, you must not think hardly of him. +These pretty, airy creatures wield a powerful sceptre and their silken +cords are strong. + +How the people crowded in! They sat where they could, and stood where +they shouldn't. They grouped themselves round the old trees, and made +a strong background to the iron seats. Officers, civilians, matrons, +girls--and candidates. Little children dropped down on the green edge +of the parade ground, and at last grown-up and hard-pushed people +sat there, too. Then an imposing police sergeant came along, waving +them off with his black wand. And the people jumped up, growling and +frowning, and, as soon as they saw his back, dropped down again. + +As for Magnus, the whole thing seemed to wind him up in tightening +cords of tension. He was outside now, but to-morrow at this time he +would be in; caught and bound and caged behind a cordon of regulations. +Assigned a place, turned over to duties which he could in no wise quit +or change. Not to see home again for two long years. + +Should he do it? Or should he, in these last hours of freedom, set +himself free for good? Take the first train for the West, and leave all +his great prospects behind him, and the chevrons and shoulder-straps to +someone else? Thoughts came and went, surged and rolled back; and the +whistle of each train, as it flew by, just made the confusion deeper. +"Come!" they seemed to say. "Come-m-me-me!" + +Meantime the review went on; the citizen actors showed how they could +not march and the cadets how they could; and this last part was so fine +that Magnus fairly forgot himself and his trouble. Round the great +square they went; the grey and white lines moving like some one elastic +thing. Corners made no break, hot sunbeams seemed unnoticed. So they +marched round; first slow, then fast; and then began the double-timing. + +How beautiful it was! Privates in their glancing lines; cadet officers +leading on, and running backwards or forwards with equally unerring +footsteps. Heading all, the Commandant. Years had passed away since +he learned the double-quick; and the supple boy had changed into the +grey-haired man; but his foot never faltered, his step never lagged. +The white-plumed blue uniform led on the grey with a gallantry it was +pretty to see. Magnus watched the whole with deepest admiration; down +to the last bit of timeful running with no music to mark it off. + +He was noticing every step; eyeing the black shoe-soles that came up +as one, the bent-knee line of white trousers, the glitter of the guns; +forgetting everything else, when again the hated word came full upon +his ear. + +"Just look at that candidate, will you! It's as good as a play. I +wonder he didn't join in." + +"Ya-as," was answered in a drawling tone by her escort. "There he +stands. Study his perfections now, while you can, Miss Jenny. Next week +he will have ceased to shine upon the polite world. Exit the candidate, +enter the beast. That is, if he gets in, which is doubtful." + +A small thing may do the work where a large one fails; trains got no +hearing, after that. That he would enter became instantly a fixed fact +to that particular candidate. + +The girl was certainly pretty. How would Cherry look, sitting there, +and with himself in a grey coat bending over her, and twirling her +parasol? Cherry was handsomer--miles away--than this girl. Deeper eyes, +tenderer mouth, more glowing cheeks, too, for that matter. Yet she +would not look _so_, the boy honestly owned to himself, though fuming +a little over the admission; the whole make-up would be different. The +very idea of such shoes as this damsel thrust out into the sunlight had +never entered Cherry's wholesome head. "Shoe pegs," Magnus called the +heels, with great scorn, and set right in the middle of her foot. And +scarlet stockings. And her dress--what was it made of? No, Cherry would +not look so; and however he might frown, Magnus felt the glamour, as +most men do, of city dressmaking and "the correct thing." + +"Country-made gowns look so different," said someone behind him. + +Then that girl further on, in fluffs of white lace and muslin, white +shoes, white gloves, and her dainty head crowned with "an acre" of +Leghorn, and "a half bushel" of roses. No, neither would Cherry look +like her. And now the boy's fancy brought the little country maiden, +in her country garb--even her Sunday best--and set her down beside +these two. A plain white gown, with no setting off but the simple +ruffles which Cherry had embroidered, and the exquisite laundry work +which she had also done herself. Black shoes, which were made for +walking ("but either one of those white ones could hold 'em both," +thought Magnus, in his hot fancy). Then a broad straw hat, round which +Violet's deft fingers had twined a dark green riband; while the hands, +which were small, indeed, and comely, but unwhitened with either +idleness or lemon, wore only a pair of spotless Lisle thread gloves. + +Magnus looked at the pink, the white, the tan kids all about him, and +drew a deep breath. + +"But she _shall_ sit there!" he said, with one of his fierce mental +bursts. "She shall sit there, and look just so. No, not just so, for, +if they try their prettiest, they can never any of them look like her." + + + + +VII + +IN FOR IT + + With this hand work, and with the other pray, + And God will bless them both from day to day. + + --_Old Vierlander Motto._ + + +Some little time after the foregoing events, the following letter was +sent from the West Point Post Office: + + "CAMP HARD, June --, 18--. + + "MY DEAR FOLKS AT HOME: + + "Well, I am in for it. Uncle Sam has me, body and soul. At least + the body is self-evident, and as I don't get time to say my soul's + my own, I suppose he claims that, too,--Mr. Wayne to the contrary. + Bought and paid for and sworn in; and earmarks enough for a drove + of pigs. Do you want to know what I look like, you girls? Just at + present I am a compound of grey and green in about equal mixture. + No, I guess the green has it. Hair cut short, army shoes, and a + brand new prison dress which might fit anybody else as well as it + does me, and better. I get up by a gun, and go to bed by a drum, + and have a bugle to tell me when to go to sleep, and as we are + young and tender in the ways of the world, at every meal the first + captain informs us when to stop eating. (He's nothing special to + look at, Cherry. Don't open your eyes too wide. But he's such an + old spoon that he's always in a hurry to get out and walk with + some girl or other)." + + "We study straight lines in the morning, and play leap-frog + in the afternoon; and have girls come and make fun of us while + we're at it. Yesterday they enjoyed it more than was good for + themselves, and one of the officers ordered them off." + + "There are two special prigs in chevrons, who have charge of our + thumbs and shoulderblades; and when you girls come to see me, + _one_ of 'em won't get an introduction, that's all. What do you + think he did yesterday? It was hot enough to melt down your ideas, + if you had any--hot as the middle line of the equator; and he had + been drilling us as if he had never been drilled himself, and + didn't know how it felt. So, when drill was over, he stood a lot + of us round his tent door in the sun, and then made iced lemonade, + and sat there drinking it with us looking on. Give us some? Not + quite. Go to the store and buy our own lemons, Rose? Why, we can't + get a shoestring without a special order. Corporal Mean smuggled + in his sugar from the Mess Hall; and I guess Miss Flyaway brought + him the lemons. If you want to know about Miss Flyaway, she's + one of the girls; a summer girl, as they say here, and we plebs + could spare her till winter just as well as not. She's as bad as + a third-class corporal--only we can laugh at her and we can't at + him. If we did, we'd be skinned in a minute. This is what I should + hear read out after parade: + + "'Kindred--disrespect to superior officer, at about 4.30 P. + M.'--demerits according. Oh, well! we'll wear through somehow; it + takes a good deal to kill a man. And they're not all like that. + Cadet Captain Steady called me into his tent to-day and gave me a + whole lot of good advice that would have gone to mother's heart. + There's another Captain, too, Mr. Upright, who's as nice as he + can be; and some of the Tacs aren't very bad to take. But we've + got one in our company! I just wish you could see him. We call + him Towser--because he's always nosing round, and sniffing about + everywhere, to see what sort of a dry bone he can find to pick. He + hasn't hived any of mine yet, but he spied a whole square inch of + paper in front of Randolph's tent and reported him for disorder. + You have to polish your shoestrings to go down A Company street, + when he's in charge. So whoever sees him coming fires off a + volley, and then we all know. Bow--wow--wow--wow--wow--wow!" + + "You'll like my tentmate, Rig. That's not his name, of course, but + we call him so because he's so B. J. about his dress. They don't + leave him much hair to brush, but what he has takes up half his + spare time." + + "Now I know mother is aching to put in her questions--just waiting + till I get through writing stuff. Well, ma'am, you see, we just + _have_ to praise ourselves a little bit here, because if we don't + do it, it don't get done; and so I call myself a pretty good boy. + Whether I'd suit you exactly, I'll not say. I go to prayer-meeting + twice a week and once to Chapel (_have_ to go there, so you + needn't give me a credit), and I've not missed reading my chapter + one day yet. Mr. Upright came by the other day when I was at it, + and he stopped and walked in." + + "'Keep straight on with your good home habits, Mr. Kindred,' he + said, 'no matter what anybody says or does. Read the Bible just as + much as you like; the more, the better. Remember: + + "'He always wins, who sides with God.'" + + "So I read every day. And I'm not likely to stop praying as long + as I have you four to pray about. I guess I shall keep my colours + flying--a storm flag, anyway. But it does blow pretty hard here + sometimes, that is sure. Train says I can't do it. No use, he + declares: says he's tried it and it won't work. (He was turned + back, and so he has been here a year and thinks he knows.) He says + there's no place in the course for religion; just as well give it + up first as last." + + "So I told him my mother had no 'give up' in her dictionary and + never taught me how to spell the words." + + "Poor Train! His mother went to heaven three years ago; though how + she can enjoy herself up there, with him going on as he does down + here, I can't see. Maybe she doesn't know." + + "There goes the first drum! Good-bye. Kiss each other all round + for me, beginning anywhere." + + "MAGNUS KINDRED, + U. S. Corps of Cadets." + + "You mustn't think hard of Rig; he's a real good fellow. But you + see he's a pinky-white creation: and it hurts his feelings to look + like an acorn." + +This letter was duly addressed, sealed, and stamped; went on the +orderly's back to the post-office, and thence, in due course, across +the continent to the far-off simple home at Barren Heights. There it +alighted with the force and precision of a bombshell. That is, if force +may be measured by commotion. + +The strange phrases, the new ideas, the dim, vague vision of most +unwonted doings--there is no telling what a stir-up it all was. The +three girls had gone to the post office together in the course of their +afternoon walk, and had taken turns at bringing the precious missive +home. Now they sat about on the front steps, while Mrs. Kindred, in the +porch rocking chair, opened and read the letter aloud. + +I think she never even thought of a hidden meaning in "Camp Hard," +passing it by as a mere name; but as she read on, even where the words +themselves were perplexing, their intent was unmistakable. At the end +of almost the very first sentence Mrs. Kindred took off her glasses, +laid them down on the letter, and looked about her. + +"No time to say his soul is his own," she said. "Why, what does this +mean?" + +Everybody else had felt the shock, but as usual they all crowded in to +the rescue. + +"It must be just his way of talking," said Violet. "Don't you know, +mother, that when Magnus gets excited he always goes on stilts?" + +"And of course, he is very busy," said Rose, "with so many new things +to do." + +"And you can see he is talking in the air, Mrs. Kindred," said Cherry's +sweet voice, "because he instances something for which he does _not_ +want time. Magnus has never called his soul his own, since he gave it +to Christ to save and keep." + +"Dear boy!" said the mother. "Thank you, Cherry, for reminding me. Yes, +I will not doubt,"--and she read on. + +"I cannot see why he says 'skinned,'" said Violet. "It's a very queer +way to talk." + +"But just like him," said Rose. "Magnus always did talk wild--just a +little bit," the sisterly censure softening down. "And you see they +play games for exercise--so that is very good." + +"I suppose studying straight lines must mean drawing," said Cherry, +looking down at the open letter. "Magnus will not care what they do, if +they will only let him draw." + +"I am not so anxious about all _that_," said the mother thoughtfully. +"Boys at school must have some hardships and do many things they do not +like. And you see he does go to prayer-meeting and read the Bible." + +"But he says such strange things," said Violet, studying the letter +from her side. "Do all people in the East have names like that? 'Rig,' +and 'Mean,' and 'Upright'--it sounds like the Pilgrim's Progress." + +"And so it is," said the mother, smiling faintly, through two big +teardrops, "and Magnus is going over a part of the road where we have +never been. That must be, girls. But the Lord is as strong there +as here in Barren Heights; and Magnus is no weaker than he was at +home--bless his dear heart! He never could bear that word 'weak.' I +wish he had told us what he means by 'a storm flag.'" + +"Why, it must be a flag that flies in all weathers!" cried Cherry. "So +strong that the wind cannot tear it, and so deep-coloured that the rain +cannot wash it out." + +Well for them all that she did not know enough to add, "And so small +that it can hardly be seen." + +But no such thought cast its dark shadow. Mrs. Kindred looked at the +sweet eyes, all aglow with the spirit of the martyrs; the lips in a +quiver, the cheeks in a flush; then took Cherry in her arms and kissed +her. + +"You are never anything but a blessing," she said, and went away +to pour out tears and petitions in her own private room; with a +heart-aching sense all the while that she wished some other boy had the +glory and the brass buttons, and that her own Magnus was safe at home. + +Meanwhile the girls in the porch talked on. + +"I dare say you are right about the flag, Cherry," said Rose, "but +there are other things I cannot understand." + +"It is dreadful about his clothes," put in Violet. + +"I do not mind _that_ so much," said Rose. "Mother always said Magnus +was a fidget to fit. But what _can_ he mean by B. J.? Oh, girls, do you +think it could possibly be some dreadful expression he has learned, and +didn't like to write out to us?" And Rose put her head down, in great +distress. + +"It _could_ not be!" said Violet, with a scared look. "Why, you are +talking about Magnus! Rose, I believe you are crazy." + +"I think I must be," said Rose, lifting her head and brushing off the +tears. "Of course, it is all my nonsense. Cherry, where are you going?" + +"Home," said the girl, pulling on her deep sun-bonnet. "I have +something to do. I'll be down again soon." + +No one noticed how white the young face had grown while the other girls +wept; no one guessed the cause of this sudden home-going; but as she +went, Cherry clenched her hands for very anguish of heart. _Magnus_ +change like that? _Magnus_ learn words so bad that he would not write +them home? No indeed!--it could not be; she knew it could not. All the +same, that vision of possibility had come into her heart, and come to +stay; and nothing stilled the aching until she had carried her burden +to the feet of Him, "Who is able to keep you from falling, and to +present you faultless before the presence of his glory." + +Cherry did not cry: she was not given to tears: but from that day on, +two Bible verses answered to each other in her heart like a sweet chime: + +"Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, that have not defiled their +garments," and "He is able to save to the uttermost." + + + + +VIII + +RUBS THE WRONG WAY + + Now don't go off half cock; folks never gains + By usin' pepper sarce instead o' brains. + + --_Biglow Papers._ + + +If Cadet Magnus Kindred knew in a general sort of way that all the +simple, loving women folk at home were praying for him morning, +noon, and night, "and watching thereunto with all perseverance," it +was with a very easy remembrance of the fact, and not the faintest +idea that anything but pleasure touched the case. And he would have +simply shouted at Rose's panic over the unexplained "B. J." In fact, +if anybody knows the origin of those two cabalistic letters, Magnus +certainly did not. + +Indeed, he had scant time for running down questions. Drills began +as soon as examination was over, and were pushed on "fiercely" (as +Randolph declared), hot sun or no sun, rested or tired. Though Magnus +had been used to such an active open-air life that all this came easier +to him than to some others. As to the rest, he got along pretty well +for a "pleb," having a certain sensible nature which made light of +hardships, and was not quick to take offence. So when he was jeered and +pointed at, chin poked in and toes pushed out, he rarely said anything +stronger, even to himself, than, "Just you wait!" Good common sense +everywhere befriended him, even when the drill masters abused their +power, or first classmen showed their prowess by "jumping" plebs. + +So he brought in water and cleaned guns; stood attention, and stood his +ground; and when the time came for that amusement, "advanced ghosts" +in the most correct terms, but kept his musket against all attempts of +Cadet Devlin and his compeers. Nay, on one such occasion, he gave the +marauder the most accurate measure of himself upon the ground that the +young man had ever had. Of course Magnus was reported, but he gave too +straight answers for the charge to stand, and the upshot was that Mr. +Devlin lost his chevrons "for hazing plebs." The whole account caused +great consternation at home, only lulled by the assurance Magnus gave +that if he had let anyone take his gun, he himself might have been put +in "light prison" or sent home in disgrace. For to the bewildered mind +of a pleb in those early days, anything might happen. + +Devlin swore vengeance, and in a small way carried it out. But young +Kindred laughed off some things, ignored others, and now and then gave +Mr. Devlin a blaze out of his honest eyes before which that gentleman +rather shrivelled up. Nobody liked to exactly try to handle Charlemagne +Kindred: there was about him "a look of unknown quantities"--as Mr. +Upright remarked one day. Cadet Upright was a staunch friend; and it +was a blessing to all the plebs in Camp Hard that year that he was head +man over them. + +"Come and clean my gun, Mr. Kindred," he would say, adding, when Magnus +was in the tent, "The gun is not very dirty, and there is no hurry +about it, but you must be doing something, and in here is better than +out there." + +A fact which Magnus realised when from the cool recesses of the tent he +saw other plebs fetching water in the sun, or standing attention for a +lecture from Mr. Devlin: teased and worried and laughed at by Mr. Prank. + +It was during the fervid days of that July that Rig ("poor Rig," as +Magnus generally termed him in the letters home) went through a small +bit of experience which, by his own account, made him "a sadder, if +not a wiser, man." + +The morning was intensely hot. The plebs had been out at their early +drill and now in the canvas shade were enjoying a few minutes' rest. +Guard-mounting was just over, and for a brief space no one had anything +special to do. The visitors' seats were nearly deserted, with only +a few sentimentals from either side the colour-line still lounging +there. The sentries paced up and down in full fatigue dress: the row of +stacked arms shimmered in the heat. + +In his tent Magnus was devouring over again the last night's letter +from home, and so did not notice what was going on, until the shadow of +Cadet Prank in the tent door made him look up in time to see Rig (alias +McLean) start to his feet and stand very stiff indeed. + +"Good-day, Mr. McLean," said the man with chevrons. "Don't disturb +yourself, I'll not come in. I know you've been hard at it this +morning, and I really hate to ask you to go out again,--but in such +a case,"--and Mr. Prank gazed into the glowing sunshine in deep +perplexity. + +Magnus, watching from the depths of the tent, saw the gleam which no +effort of Prank's could keep out of his eyes, with the dangerously +solemn lines about the mouth. But poor Rig at such honeyed words from +an upper classman, lost what little everyday perception belonged to +him. "He's just got to learn for himself, though," thought Magnus, +looking on with intense amusement. + +Mr. Prank suddenly turned and glanced suspiciously down towards the +listener; but Magnus was all quiet, behind his letter. + +"You see, Mr. McLean," Prank went on, dropping his voice a little, "I +want a man I can trust, to do me a small service. If you are not too +much fatigued--it would not take long." + +Visions of Mr. Prank for his bosom friend, and Camp Hard suddenly +transformed into Elysium, floated before Rig's eyes. + +"Yes, sir,--no, sir," he answered, gathering up the points. + +"It is really but a minute's work," said Prank with another glance over +Rig's head towards Magnus; "but a particular friend of mine has gone on +guard without his gloves. Most absent-minded man alive! And if the Com. +comes along, he's ruined. So I thought if you would just take them to +him--you see _I_ should have to report him. He's on post No. 6." + +Mr. Prank held out a pair of immaculate white gloves. But now Rig drew +back. To waylay a sentinel on his beat, was something so clearly beyond +pleb limits that he took fright. + +"Yes, sir," he began; "certainly, sir. But you know, sir, it's against +orders, I believe----" + +Mr. Prank drew himself up to all his inches. + +"That will do," he said. "Of course, I don't know much about +regulations and never heard the orders. Very kind of you to instruct +me, I am sure; I shall not forget it! Sorry to have disturbed your +toilette, Mr. McLean, but I thought such a trifle could not seriously +put you out. Someone else, probably, will be kind enough--whose hair +curls easier than yours." + +And tucking the white gloves into the cadet pocket (his sleeve), Mr. +Prank strode haughtily away. + +Rig felt miserable. He did not see that Magnus in his dark corner was +shaking from head to foot. But to lose his character for obligingness! +With a bound he was after the retreating chevrons. + +"Oh, Mr. Prank!" he said. "Of course I didn't mean that you didn't +know, sir; and I have just thought of a way, if you think it will do. I +can hang the gloves on one of the bayonets where the arms are stacked, +you know, sir, and then he can get them for himself." + +"The very thing!" said Prank, with a well-kept face. "I see you are +bright, Mr. McLean, as well as obliging. Take the gloves, my dear +fellow, and be quick. And count upon me hereafter." + +With a swelling heart Rig stepped briskly up to the shining row of +guns, where not an inch nor a line was out of the most spick-and-span +state of military precision, and hung the white pendant on a glittering +point of steel. And as he turned--alas! he was tapped on the shoulder +and marched off to the guard tent "for tampering with the arms." + +"I shouldn't have minded that so much," he said afterwards to Magnus, +"if I hadn't been such a double-distilled fool. And I'm not a fool +really, you know,--but I'm not 'a gem of purest ray serene,' either. +And I just lost my head with being told I was." + +Plenty of that sort of sport (to give it its common name) went on in +Camp Hard, and even the most patient men grew tired of it, and the +most good-natured got cross. It is monotonous when all the fun goes to +somebody else. Even the straight shoulders sometimes rebelled against +the perpetual bracing up; and many a poor fourth classman wished that +his grey trousers had no side seam which could serve as a landmark to +his weary thumbs: for in those days "finning out" was in full force. + +But indeed it was sometimes hard to take even what the law allowed. + +A strict order had been published that no cadet should ask a pleb to +perform any menial service, but when Corporal Main remarked, "Mr. +Stone, there are some very dusty shoes in my tent,"--no more was +needed. Stone was just come in from drill, and ached in every inch; but +he went at the shoes, and cleaned and rubbed and polished for dear +life, while Corporal Main strolled off with Miss Flyaway, and told her +the story. + +Again, another humane order was read out one day in the Mess Hall, to +the effect that in that place of supposed relaxation plebs need not +"brace," but might sit and stand "at will." But the minute the reader's +back was turned Cadet Prank drawled out: + +"Boys, hadn't you all a great deal _rather_ brace up?" + +And so many hurriedly answered, "Yes, sir!" that the contrary noes were +never counted. + +That was the way of it; and by dint of being laughed at and pointed +at; drilled, straightened, pulled into shape, and called "beasts," the +fourth classmen began to feel as if in truth the name fitted. They +huddled together in corners, talked in whispers, and told endless +stories of home. + + + + +IX + +CAMP HARD + + _Marcus Antonius._ Cæsar dear, is there no way this troubling my + dear little plebeian sentinels can be stopped? + + _Cæsar._ There probably is, but we have not found it yet. + + --_Colour Line Tragedy of 1890._ + + +Nor yet. And so, year by year, for a time, the new fourth classmen +worked out pretty fairly Lowell's lines: + + "Mis'ble as roosters in a rain, + Heads down, and tails half-mast." + +Magnus Kindred was speeding along through camp one morning, thinking of +home, when he was hailed by an upper classman. + +"See here, beast, what's your name?" + +Magnus made answer, with what composure of face and voice he could call +up at such short notice. + +"Where did you come from?" And again the reply came with fair coolness. + +"Got so few men out there, they give 'em long names to stretch out and +cover the country. Who was your pred.?" + +"Mr. Dunn, sir. He resigned, sir." + +"Good example for you to follow in November," said Mr. Seaton, "but +you've got to be taken care of in the mean time. Wipe that smile off, +sir! What's your technical name?" + +"Haven't got any, sir." + +"Well, if anyone asks you that again, tell 'em it's Lorenzo Monkey," +said Seaton, and walked away. + +Magnus shook his fist at him (mentally), but what can a pleb do? And +so to the next inquirer he answered (pretty ungraciously, it must be +owned): + +"Somebody said it was Lorenzo Monkey, sir." + +"Can't have a monkey without a tail," said Mr. Danby. "Now remember, +beast, you are technically called: 'Lorenzo Monkey; and the name is not +fame.' Take your eyes off me, sir!" + +Well, the tail grew--naturally; and every time the name was called for, +to amuse one man or a dozen, somebody would add on a word, and then +Magnus was bid to rattle the whole thing off, amid shouts of laughter. +He was required also to write out his technical name in full, and hand +the paper in under the guise of an official document: a half sheet of +paper duly folded, and inscribed as follows: + + Camp Hard, + West Point, N. Y., + July --, 18--. + + Kindred, C, + + Cadet Private. Co. "A." 4th Class. + + Subscribed Copy of + "Technical Name." + +Within, it ran thus: + + Camp Hard, + West Point, N. Y., + July --, 18--. + + To Cadet Lieut. Crabapple. (Through the proper channels.) + + _Sir_: I have the honour to submit the following,--my technical + name for the summer encampment, U. S. M. A. To wit: + + I am Lorenzo Monkey; and the name is not fame. It is tame: it + is lame: it is shame: it is blame: it is game. Yet I claim, a + Colonial dame was my flame, when I came. Same at same. + + Very respectfully, + Your obedient servant, + Charlemagne Kindred, + Cadet Private, Co. "A." Fourth Class. + + To Cadet Lieut. Crabapple, + Commanding Battalion of Crabs. + +Magnus chafed at all this stuff; growled over it, almost resisted; and +yet it was wise to pass things by as quietly as he could. All the same, +his feeling towards some of the upper classmen was getting to be a very +fixed fact, indeed. + +Mr. Prank, for instance, was much given to hops,--also to prinking +for the same: and it was in his heart to combine all the good things +he could, and "crawling" plebs came in among the rest. So on hop +nights, after supper, when Mr. Prank was shaving, dressing, and vainly +endeavouring to curl his short hair, Magnus Kindred was frequently +detailed as valet. The work being to follow Mr. Prank about the tent +and fan him during these fatigues, and also to soothe and attune his +feelings by singing "Annie Laurie" or some other lovelorn ditty. How +Magnus did hate it!--and how he did secretly vow vengeance, if ever he +himself should have half a chance with Mr. Prank's best girl! But then! +Mr. Prank had a relay of "best girls," and could spare one or two just +as well as not. + +On the other hand, the two men who "tented" with Magnus thought he had +an easy time. + +"If you had to black Mr. Mean's shoes!" said Randolph. + +"Or clear up after old Seaton," said Rig. + +Rig's technical name taxed all his powers of memory and patience. It +began: + +"I am the distilled quintessence of stuff, the double-dyed result of +being dipped in the Styx,"--and so on, _ad infinitum_, and to Rig, +certainly, _ad nauseam_. + +Homesickness had broken loose in the fourth class, of late, and become +epidemic. These boys were but boys, and the manliest of them all +would--many a day--have given up his hopes of being a brigadier just +to lay his head down on his mother's apron, and have her pet him and +comfort him, and make him feel that he was not a "beast." + +"But she'd not find any hair to stroke, now," said Magnus Kindred, in +one of these spasms. And then he caught hold of himself again, set his +teeth in his favourite fashion, and announced to himself that he meant +to be adjutant. + +"And I'll not look like you, either," he went on, apostrophising Mr. +Larkin, who just then came strolling by between two admiring girls, +turning from one to the other with much the air of the exquisite who +said: + +"Really, now, you know--won't somebody come and share me?" + +The young adjutant's buttons were very bright, and his waist was very +small; and the red and white (brown) of his complexion left nothing +to be desired. If he had been a girl, you might have called his walk +"willowy," but I know not the masculine of that. And the barber had +plainly been open to persuasion in his case, and had left almost a +lovelock or two on the tall head. + +Magnus Kindred watched the party go by, but they did not see him. In +one of the rocky, shady nooks on Flirtation, where the green leaves +rustle and the river whispers softly to the shore, there he had hidden +himself away with his sweet and bitter fancies. Hard, literal facts +they were just then, for Magnus. + +The footsteps died away, and more came, quicker and brisker than the +first; and two cadets went by his hiding place. Then another with his +best girl (for the time being); and Magnus watched them all. As the +silence fell again a wood thrush in the shadows behind him rang its +liquid chime. + +Then a tall cadet with chevrons, and the dainty air and manner which +had earned him the soubriquet of "Gentleman Joe," passed slowly by with +his mother on his arm; he bending down to her, and she looking up to +him, while a little white fidget of ten years old flitted about the two. + +But when these were out of sight, then Magnus Kindred threw himself +face down among the moss and ferns, and gave no further heed to outside +things. + +"Oh, mother!--and Cherry, and Violet, and Rose--and home!" It was very +bitter for a while. And when at last, in answer to a distant drum-call, +Magnus roused himself, and got on his feet, he knew that he hated that +drum, and all it betokened, just as hard as he could. + +Gentler thoughts came, as he mounted the hill. The clear notes of +the thrushes were all around him, but in their grave sweetness there +were no faltering tones; and while it pierced the boy's heart it +strengthened it, too. Yes, one day _he_ would be the tall man with +chevrons, leading his mother along Flirtation; and she should be as +proud of him as Mrs. Gresham was of her son. And, instead of that child +in white, there would be--but here the drum became imperative, and +Magnus stowed away all the rest of his thoughts, and double-timed every +remaining step up to Camp Hard. + + + + +X + +BAND CONCERT + + I cannot bear it any longer, said the pewter soldier as he sat on the + drawers; it is so lonely and melancholy here. + + --HANS ANDERSEN. + + +It was the evening for band concert at the camp: a warm first of +August. A red glow lingered over Crownest, the stars came out slowly, +hazy with the heat; the katydids were publishing their arrival in the +usual contradictory way. As the twilight deepened, the camp began to +light up, and in front of the colour-line one especial burner shone +full upon the concert programme, which was posted on a stick. Beyond +this a small circle of lights marked the standing place of the band. + +Cadets were everywhere--half in a tent, or half out; walking, +sauntering, standing, in twos and threes and half-dozens; some down on +the grass where the lights shone full, and some hid away in the shadows +towards Fort Clinton. + +Other figures were coming up, too, and dresses of every hue flitted +across the plain. The dew lay sweet and fresh upon every grass-blade, +but then the grass was short, and nobody minded dew when going to band +concert. + +Often some grey uniform was escorting some dainty lady: these +coming straight from the houses, and those others pausing, after a +delightful tryst at Trophy Point, or a saunter along the upper bends of +Flirtation. For, in those days, the concert night limits were--so far +as you could hear and distinguish the music. + +The plebs kept together, and away from the gay throng; unless where +some especially happy boy had a cousin on hand. But a great event +had marked that day in Camp Hard; for the obnoxious "grey bags" had +disappeared, giving place to the full uniform, bell buttons and all +complete; and at last the plebs looked like cadets. + +Magnus Kindred had been as jubilant as anyone over the change, and +nobody had given a heartier parting kick to the grey bag. But "a +competency is what a man has, and a little more"--and so, then, the +young man wanted someone to look at him. How his mother and sisters +would have stroked the sleeve of that wonderful dress coat, and admired +the buttons: how they would have studied out every turn of braid and +quirl of adornment. And Cherry--no, they were not her little hands +he seemed to feel on his arm: her hands were just folded in their +pretty way, and she stood a few steps off, laughing at the others, +and secretly admiring him. She never said so, but what innocent, +true-hearted girl can quite keep it out of her eyes, when her hero +stands before her? Or, if the eyes sometimes grew shy and turned away, +the lips laughed, and told it still. + +"Bless her dear heart!" Magnus said, almost aloud, his own lips parting +in a smile at the sweet vision. But then they closed again firmer than +ever. Two thousand miles away (it seemed five thousand to Magnus), and +two whole years before he could go there. And a weary sigh measured off +both time and space, and found them endless. + +"Joseph," whispered Mrs. Gresham to her son (they were just opposite +Magnus), "who is that boy?" + +"Kindred--fourth class." + +"He looks like a first-class fellow," said Mrs. Gresham, watching him, +as he suddenly moved off and joined the grey circle around the band. +"What a fine face he has! I noticed him yesterday before parade." + +"Good fellow enough," assented Mr. Gresham, who was just then +"noticing" the arrival of Miss Saucy. "But he's so awfully homesick. +Blue as Cat's eyes." + +"Well, you're not obliged to call me 'Cat,' sir, if you _are_ a +captain," said the little girl, trying hard to make a pinch tell +through the thick cadet cloth. "He's the one that was up among the +rocks, Aunt Effie. I told you, and you wouldn't look." + +"Certainly not," said Mrs. Gresham. "Never try to see anybody who does +not wish to be seen, Catty." + +Miss Catty pouted. + +"I knew he was a cadet," she said, "for I saw the bell buttons. And I +thought cadets _always_ want to be looked at. They act so." + +There was a burst of laughter from the group that had gathered round +Mrs. Gresham. + +"Oh, what a pity she's not a little older!" cried Miss Flyaway. "Your +mainstay ought not to graduate for six years to come, Mrs. Gresham, +that Catty might be up to the situation. But then, we poor damsels +would have lost him. So it's best as it is. Things are generally best +as they are." + +"Some few things might be improved," said Mrs. Gresham quietly. +"Joseph, I wish you would bring up Mr. Kindred, and introduce him." + +"Now, ma'am?" + +"Yes, now. We can spare you so long as that." + +"Oh, with the greatest pleasure!" cried Miss Flirt, making a profound +courtesy; while Miss Flyaway called after him: "Don't hurry yourself, +we'll wait." + +"Tell him you wouldn't go away for _anything_," said the irrepressible +Catty. + +"You saucy monkey!" said Miss Flirt. "You ought to be in bed and +asleep." + +"I don't believe you were, at my age," said Catty, with better logic +than she knew. + +"Hush, Catty!" said her aunt. "Mr. Carr, who is that officer talking +with Mrs. Seaton?" + +"The arch-fiend, _we_ call him," said Carr, with a laugh. "He's the +professor of confusion worse confounded, Mrs. Gresham. Do you want him +brought up, too?" + +"Thank you, no: here comes Joseph. How do you do, Mr. Kindred?" And +Mrs. Gresham gave Magnus a warm clasp of the hand that went to his +heart. + +"Come and sit here by me," she said, making room for Magnus. "I suppose +you enjoy these concerts very much?" + +"Sometimes," Magnus answered her. "They make a change." + +"Why don't you go to the hops, if you want a change?" said Catty, +leaning her elbows on her aunt's lap, and gazing up at the new +acquaintance. Magnus laughed in spite of himself. + +"How do you know but I do?" he said. + +"I never see you there when I go," said Catty. + +"I'll tell you, child," said Miss Flirt, coming to the rescue. "Mr. +Kindred never goes to the hops in the hop room, because at this time of +year he has no end of hops outdoors." + +Catty looked mystified. + +"I'm not talking to you," she said, turning her back. "But I never met +you out walking either, Mr. Kindred. Don't you ever walk with anybody +but your best girl? I never do, when my special cadet's on guard." + +Amid the little hubbub which this called forth, Mrs. Gresham rose up. + +"If you will give me your arm, Mr. Kindred," she said, "I should like +to walk round the camp. The lights and shades show so differently from +different points; it is pleasant to watch them. I have been in Europe +for three years, and West Point is new to me. What is the band playing +now?" + +"I'm not sure, ma'am. One of Moore's melodies comes next." + +"How lovely the shadows are! I used to be quite a painter in my young +days," said Mrs. Gresham as they strolled along. "Is that one of your +studies?" + +"Not this year, ma'am. Indeed we have no real studies 'in camp.'" + +"But still many things that deserve the name: I understand. What do you +call the hardest thing you have to do?" + +"Sometimes, 'study to be quiet,'" said Magnus, with a look and tone at +once so playful and so full of feeling that Mrs. Gresham opened her +heart, and took him right in. + +"Ah, yes!" she said, "I can well believe it. And I am glad you have +Bible words at hand for your hard places." + +"Do you care about them?" said Magnus quickly. "I thought nobody did, +here." + +"About Bible words? Oh, yes they do!" said Mrs. Gresham, with her +gentle smile. "You do not know many people here yet, Mr. Kindred." + +"And I am not likely to, very soon," said Magnus. "But I spoke too +quick. Yes, I know there are some right here in the Corps who care. +There's Mr. Upright of the first class. I do not believe he ever misses +a chance of doing the out-and-out thing for a Christian to do. And Mr. +True of the third, he's another. Oh, there are a lot among us that know +enough--if we only hold out," he added soberly. + +Mrs. Gresham had listened for her son's name, but it did not come. He, +too, "knew enough," but alas! only that very morning when he came in +from drill, Magnus had heard him curse his horse, and the instructor, +and the whole concern, in terms that would have wrung the gentle +mother's heart. The girls did not know, as they hung upon his arm; the +officers did not guess, seeing only the straight military figure and +good face: only God knew, and the fellow-students to whom Gresham was +setting his example. The mother felt the omission, sighed, waited, and +sighed again; then silently locked up her fears and her disappointment. + +"But you _must_ hold out, Mr. Kindred," she said. "If you are a +professing Christian, you have sworn it." + +"Yes, ma'am," Magnus answered soberly, "and I mean it, too. But there +are harder times here than you can guess." + +"It is the pinch that shows what a man is," said Mrs. Gresham. "If you +must run, run before the firing begins." + +Magnus laughed. + +"I'll remember," he said. + +"But remember, too," said Mrs. Gresham, "that here as everywhere else: +on the Hill Difficulty of West Point, no less than among the Delectable +Mountains at home, you are to be a witness for Christ." + +"Yes, ma'am--you would think so," said Magnus excitedly, "and so mother +thinks. But how are you going to do anything _here_? Religion don't +count, in this old camp." + +"Religion may come in and stay, even where she is not fêted and +caressed," said Mrs. Gresham. + +"That is true enough," said the boy, colouring. "All the same, you +can't guess, as I said, what a hard time she has. And now guard duty +begins; and it'll be drill and walk post, walk post and drill, night +and day. Your shoulders poked in, and your feet kicked out. Skinned if +you don't skin somebody else, and nearly skinned actually if you do. +Told forty things a day that you don't understand, and then given extra +tours _because_ you don't. That's what they say. Why, there are six +hundred and sixty-eight separate regulations that we are supposed to +keep!" + +"Six hundred and sixty-eight!" said Mrs. Gresham. "Well, it must take a +very lively imagination to 'suppose' that three hundred boys will keep +six hundred and sixty-eight regulations." + +"They know we can't do it," said Magnus hotly. "But we're bid to, all +the same. And they punish us if we don't." + +"Good-evening, Mrs. Gresham," said another voice, and Cadet Main (alias +Mean) came up and shook hands. "What work of charity have you in tow +now?" + +"Mr. Kindred has been telling me about the many regulations," said Mrs. +Gresham. + +"Oh, regulations!" said Main. "Yes, there's quite a little many of 'em. +Keeps a fellow busy to break 'em all; but some of us max it, every +time." + +"Break them? You mean 'keep them,'" said Mrs. Gresham. + +"No I don't--not I!" said Main, laughing. "You'd better believe I +don't. Why, the only fun I have in life is breaking regulations." + +"Breaking them?" repeated Mrs. Gresham, looking bewildered. "But you +will get yourself into trouble, so, Mr. Main." + +"Will, shall, have, and expect to," said Main. "I'm bound to get some +fun out of this old prison." + +"Suppose the walls open, rather suddenly, and let you out." + +"Make my best bow, and go. It'll be a great loss to the service. But +you should talk to Lorenzo here, Mrs. Gresham; he's played good boy +ever since he came. Regular pet of the Com.'s, he is. Why, he won't +even help carry off Sammy from the Mess Hall." + +"And pray how comes 'Sammy,' as you call him, to need carrying off?" +demanded Mrs. Gresham severely. But that brought such a chorus of +laughter from the whole group of cadets (several more had gathered +round), that Mrs. Gresham let her question drop. + +"We'll run it up to the hotel some day, and present him, Mrs. Gresham," +said Main. + +"If you 'run it'--to anywhere I am, I'll not see you," said the lady. + +"Why, you _can't_ keep all the regulations," said Devlin. "Not if you +did your level best. You just _have_ to break them." + +"Then what is it all for--this Blue Book you tell of?" + +"Light reading for the Academic Board," suggested Mr. Sharpless. + +"Skinning made easy," said Main. "Every new Tac makes a new rule and +tacks it on. They'll bring it up to a thousand presently." + +They had made the circuit of the camp, and now came round once more to +the open space before the lights, with its shadowy border where the +motley groups paused, moved on, went in and out. The camp points of +flame flickered, and peered into the dusk; contesting now with a nobler +light their right of search. For in the east the moon was rising; +lifting her fair face above the hilltops, and pouring a flood of summer +glory over river and plain. + +"Just so she will be rising at home," Magnus thought. "With the girls +all sitting on the steps, and mother in her rocking chair in the porch." + +It is well for the homesick cadet that his surroundings are so fine, +beguiling him with their beauty; but it is also a good thing that he +never can do much "mooning" at once. Before Magnus had got to the +middle of his third sigh came the sharp voice of the drum, calling him +to order. And yet "sharp" is hardly the word; only neglected duty takes +on that tone, but the drum-call was brisk, imperative, unmistakable. +Yet fine, as well, and stirring; as duty attended to always is. + +It was pretty to see the grey and white figures coming out from the +dusky shadows among the trees, and crossing to the tents. Some at a +quick run, others slowly, as under protest: here and there one very +lingeringly, with many a backward look and farewell word, to some +white-robed vision that shewed angelic in the uncertain light. + +Meanwhile, the racket of drum and fife filled all the air, rattling up +and down the company streets. The crowd scattered, the band tramped +off; and still here and there a tardy cadet came hurrying in, but only +in time to get a cold "late" or "absence." + +"Oh, it _is_ such fun to make them run!" said one fair creature +delightedly. "I just kept Mr. Dunkirk fooling along after the first +drum; and there he goes, for all he is worth." + +"Too late?" queried a quiet lady in a dark dress. + +"Not too late to get to bed," said Miss Saucy. "They won't make him +walk post to-night, poor boy. But he'll be on the black list to-morrow." + +"Then you won't have him to walk with on Saturday," said another girl. + +"Have somebody else, _ma chère_. One gets tired of the same man too +often. If I didn't trip him up now and then I should die of a surfeit +of honey, and never have a chance at treacle and lumps of sugar." + +"But do you mean to say," said the lady in black, "do you really mean +to say that you get these young men into difficulty _wilfully_? That +_you_ are responsible for their being late?" + +"Well, I do everything wilfully," said the girl--"and I am never +responsible for anything. So I don't know how you'll fix it." + +"I shall tell the Commandant to-morrow!" said the lady excitedly. + +"No good." said the girl. "He can't skin me--and he _will_ skin him. +It don't hurt much: _he_ don't care. Says he don't." + +"He ought to care!" + +"Very likely he ought," said Miss Saucy. "Oh, he's not absolute +perfection--won't be canonised till he's dead, I dare say." + + + + +XI + +ON GUARD + + Twelve small strokes on the tinkling bell; + Midnight comes, and all is well! + + --_Culprit Fay._ + + +Yes, with the new uniform came also new work, as Magnus had been +warned. Guard duty put in its claim, and the plebs were promoted to +walk post, and to learn what upper classmen could do to make that duty +unpleasant. "Jumping plebs" went on with variations. "Crawling" seems +to be the favourite word now, but probably the thing itself is not much +slower than it was of yore. + +The first night on guard was a never-to-be-forgotten thing to Magnus +Kindred. + +It was a quiet night enough, so far as disturbances went, for this +time the tide of mischief seemed to set in some other direction. But +that only left the power of the night itself unchecked. So still, so +solemn, so sweet, and yet with such a bitter flavour. Strange beyond +description, and beautiful past all telling. + +Charlemagne had gone on with the second relief, tattoo had beat, and +taps had said its closing word; and now all private lights were out. +The day had been hot, but the night came down dewy and cool; and the +full summer moon was slowly flooding the world with glory, and lining +out everything in clear black and white. + +Every tent wall was raised to let in the air. The prostrate men on the +floors were as still as the white canvas above their heads. Sleeping +off drills and difficulties here, and there plotting and planning; or +perhaps gazing out into the night with wide-open, homesick eyes. + +A faint breath stirred the trees around Camp Hard; from across the +plain one could just catch the sound of slow footsteps, where the +enlisted sentry paced up and down the Officers' Row. Far below, on the +river, boats went and came: a sloop, dreaming noiselessly along on the +incoming tide; or two steamers, signalling before they met. You could +hear the dash of the swell upon the shore, and the panting breath of +the fierce little tugs, with the more stately beat of the paddles of a +side-wheeler. Over all, the moon rode high and clear. + +And, for this night, the Western pleb was unmolested. Not a stray ghost +crossed his beat. Up and down, up and down, in company with his shadow, +the slow, measured step leaving his thoughts free: and they had all +gone home. And so it was, that by degrees Magnus Kindred fell into one +of his desperate fits of lonely homesickness, ready to fire off his +musket, or do any lawless thing, if only so he might be arrested and +dismissed to freedom, mother, and the girls. And on post you cannot +throw your arms into the air and yourself down on the ground; not get +even the smallest bit of any such slight relief. + +As Magnus turned on his beat, pacing now towards the western hills, the +exceeding beauty of the bit of star-spangled sky to the north was full +in view. The Great Bear and his associates held on their shining way, +despite the moon, calm, high, lifted above all of earth's tears and +turmoils. What was that his mother used to sing? + + "Ye stars are but the shining dust + Of my divine abode; + The pavement of those heavenly courts + Where I shall see my God." + +Magnus remembered with another of his sharp twinges. + +"All right for her!" he thought, pacing back again to meet the moon, +"all right for them all! But the folks that tread those pavements have +gotten the victory." + +"I do not think, myself," Cadet Kindred went on candidly, eyeing the +stars once more, "that I am fighting for it hard enough to hurt, just +at present. 'Gotten the victory,'" he repeated to himself, "won it, and +kept it." + +The dear folks at home might not even be thinking of him, just then; +they were doubtless all peacefully asleep, each having laid down her +heart's desire at the feet of Him "that keepeth Israel," so leaving the +far-off young sentinel in His tender care. But Magnus knew, almost as +if he had heard them, the prayers sent up for him that night. + +A sharp, resonant cry brought him suddenly back to Camp Hard and duty. +From the post in front of the camp the sentinel gave the hour. + +"Number One! Half-past ten o'clock and all's--well!" + +Then it came to Magnus. + +Now the guard had been admonished, that very day, not to mumble the +words, but to give each its full value, clear and strong. But this +first man was sleepy, or lazy, and gave small heed to the order. His +"All's well!" was loud enough, but seemed rather a matter of hope than +of certainty. + +I am not sure that Magnus even supposed that he himself was working out +the spirit of the order, but he was homesick and disheartened, as well +as ignorant of military affairs; and with that a little bit reckless, +and ready to do anything for a change. What did it matter, anyhow? And +so, as it came to his turn, he shouted forth the call at the top of his +voice, and to the closing notes of the retreat bugle call at parade. + +[Music: Num-ber two: Half-past ten o'-clock, and all is ... well!] + +And half the camp heard it. + +Of course there was a stir, and Magnus was reported for "calling the +hour in an improper manner." But he went scot-free, after all, by +reason, doubtless, of his short acquaintance with guard duty. + + + + +XII + +_OFF_ GUARD + + Are you shining for Jesus loyally, + Shining just anywhere; + Not only in easy places, + Not only just here and there? + + --F. R. HAVERGAL. + +In such fashion days and weeks rolled by; as time-wheels will, over +the roughest ground, and through the most uninteresting country. For +without doubt, drills can become monotonous; and if the body yielded +itself more and more easily to regulations, as the time went on, so did +not always the mind. + +At first, in the strangeness of everything, details went for less, but +now that he no longer wore the grey bag, to have his toes still kicked +out set his blood tingling. He was so well made by nature, that "this +extra regulation ramrod style," as he spitefully termed it, seemed like +persecution. For some of the drill masters by no means slackened their +demands as the need of them grew less. + +"Get your shoulders back, Mr. Kindred!" + +"_Get_ them back, sir!" + +"_Get_ them _back_!" + +"He had better take a sledge hammer and pound them in," Magnus declared +one day. + +"You'll be pounded for disrespect," Rig warned him. + +"All right; it's a true bill. I don't respect that man, and I never +shall." + +"But officers, you know," suggested Rig. + +"Oh, officers!" said Magnus loftily. "What business has he to be an +officer, with the manners of a boot-black?" + +However, as I said, time did wear on; with parades, drills, gymnastics, +and the rest of it. And in the intervals, when upper classmen walked +with the pretty girls, and went to teas and picnics, the plebs drew +together and eyed them from a distance, making many comments, uttering +many groans; but, most of all, knitting up firm and strong the class +bond which no after-years could break. + +This class bond is a most natural thing among boys who have faced +hardships side by side; and in a way, it is very fine; but it has its +danger, too. + +The stand taken by each one in the class for and with each other one, +in those first hard weeks when they feel as if every man's hand was +against them all, sometimes passes into a "Stand by the class!" which +cramps the influence, and hinders the action of many an individual man. +"The class, right or wrong!" is never a safe motto. + +One other little event in camp life that summer may be told over here, +for its after-effect upon Magnus Kindred. + +There were two or three men in the pleb class who, by reason of a +certain offhand brightness of thought and tongue, had more influence +with the rest than they deserved, for either their principles or their +brains. Men able to put the wrong thing into such brilliant words, +that the real meaning was lost sight of in the fun and the glitter. +And so, in the scarcity of amusements, Magnus fell into the habit of +lingering where they stood; listening to their sayings, laughing at +their sallies, and, to a certain degree, following their lead. And, as +often happens, the light words, the smart speeches which were not true, +won their way. He began to hearken more readily, and more easily lent +himself to plans and projects he might better have let alone; getting +into the swirl of a current not likely to land him on any good and +fruitful shore. + +And then, as birds of a feather are apt to find each other out, some +men of like tendencies in the first class made common cause, in a way; +finding an admiring look of any sort quite pleasant, and a pleb a +convenient catspaw, now and then. They made the musical ones come in +for a chorus; and under such innocent cover matured their plans, and +told their stories, to nobody's good. + +If one of these wits set forth the fact that "Muffti" was sure to +lead the prayer-meeting that night, Magnus would perhaps stay in his +tent, or wander off beyond sound of the hymns, which always pricked +his conscience and his heart as well. Or if some smart man made fun of +the preacher who was to fill the chaplain's place during the summer +vacation, Magnus was careful the next Sunday to practise himself in the +fine art of sitting bolt upright when fast asleep. He grew to be an +expert at smuggling in "boodle": he took the loan of books he had much +better have let alone. + +"Come round to my tent after dinner, Mr. Kindred," said Cadet Upright +one day; and of course Magnus went; then stood attention in the +straightest sort of way; very much wondering for what unknown breach of +rules he was to be called to account by the first Captain. + +So he stood up to all his inches, just within the tent door, while +Cadet Captain Upright sat on a camp stool facing him; a stray sunbeam +working its way in to touch the chevrons, and lighting up the honest, +sunburnt face. Mr. Upright was no beauty, but not a man in the Corps +was more thoroughly respected than he. "Not much to look at," said Sam +Weller of his hat, "but it's an astonishin' 'un to wear!" + +"Mr. Kindred," began Upright, "I asked you to come, because I wanted to +talk to you." + +He paused, and Magnus responded, "Yes, sir." + +"You are in danger," Upright went on. "You are taking risks no wise man +will shoulder." + +"What have I done, sir?" Magnus demanded, stiffening slightly. + +"Nothing special, to my knowledge," said the first captain, "But I see +you in slippery places, where sooner or later a man must go down. And +the mud often sticks for a good while to come, even after--and even +if--he picks himself up and gets away." + +"I don't see, sir," Magnus began--"what risks are you talking of, Mr. +Upright?" + +"The risk of being false to yourself, and to your Christian pledge +and name; the risk of (practically) forgetting your mother and your +mother's words." + +But now Magnus burst forth. + +"Forgetting my mother!" he said. Then checking himself: + +"Oh, well, sir, that proves you never saw her, Mr. Upright." + +Upright laughed, and his eyes shone. + +"Good for you!" he said heartily. "But, Mr. Kindred, you are training +with the wrong crowd." + +And now Magnus coloured, and his eyes went down. Upright watched him +for a moment in silence; then he took up a slip of paper, and held it +out. + +"Here is a reminding text I wrote off for you," he said. "Take it with +you up and down the post. 'He setteth a print on the heels of my feet.' +That will do, sir," and Magnus saluted, and whirled away. + +"Might be the Com. himself, for the style he talks!" he grumbled, under +his breath. But all the same, the words sank in. They were too true to +miss a hearing, on the one side, and had been too kindly spoken to +lose it, on the other. Yes, he was training with the wrong crowd, there +was no doubt of that. + +Magnus winced under the confession. There was no one he so little liked +to find fault with as himself, and to court-martial Cadet Kindred, on +his own knowledge and belief, was extremely unpleasant. + +But the finding of the Court is rarely severe in such cases; and Magnus +presently let himself off with a few admonitions to be more careful. He +went to prayer-meeting regularly, boned discipline a little, and kept +away from that crowd (what he called) "all he could." + +Then they broke camp, and marched into barracks, and that was a help, +for work began at a rate that left scant time for lawless play. Magnus +Kindred had studied before, studied hard, but never with the exactness +of drill and discipline and pressure that now filled every day. +Breakfast, recitation, study, dinner, study, recitation, drill; then +dress parade, supper, and study. Some of the plebs resigned and went +home, others talked gloomily of being "found" in January; before which +wintry fear homesickness itself gave way. And again others drew the +buckles of their armour tight, looked well to their stirrups, and went +at the difficulties, lance in rest. + +[Illustration: THE BARRACKS IN WINTER] + + + + +XIII + +A BLUE CHRISTMAS + + No age, no race, no single soul, + By lofty tumbling wins the goal. + The steady pace it keeps between; + The little points it makes unseen; + By these, achieved in gathering might, + It moveth on, and out of sight: + And wins, through all that's overpast, + The city of its hopes at last. + + --MRS. WHITNEY. + + +Of these true knights Charlemagne Kindred was one. Lessons, problems, +questions, went down before his fierce assault. He had never enjoyed +being headed off in what he chose to do; and had pledged it to himself +that if ever anything did that kind office for him, it should not be +West Point. + +"_You_ stop me?" he would say to some particularly obnoxious book. +"_You_ get in my way?" and probably the hard-headed volume would then +and there find itself pitched to the furthest corner of the room. But +after that little expression of opinion, Magnus would pick the book up, +and bone with all his might. Smith's "Conic Sections" got quite used to +such short excursions, and Ketel's "French Grammar" grew old before its +time. + +Rig's method was different. + +"Kin, I'm growing grey," he said plaintively one morning. + +"Grey as a goose." + +"No, but really," said Rig, laying down the book. "This thing's too +hard, you know. Breaks a man all up." + +"You'd best stick yourself together again before two o'clock," said +Magnus. + +"No good," said Rig, taking up another study volume from the heap. +"I'll try this a while. Nobody ought to be expected to learn such +stuff." + +"Put that book down!" Magnus thundered at him, from his own corner. + +"Oh, I can put it down easy enough," Rig said rather sulkily. "But I +can't see what business it is of yours." + +"Now fold your hands, and spell zero ten times backwards," said Magnus, +"and then take your Davies, and go to work. Unless you want to fess +solid for the rest of your life." + +"Well--Say, Kin,--what a good fellow Mr. Upright is." + +"Mr. Upright's a cold max. Mind your business." + +Pushing and pulling did a good deal for Rig that winter. There was a +little stir about the holidays, when the happy upper classmen who had +won their Christmas leave went off for unlimited bliss in a limited +time, and those who had lost it abused "luck." And there was also the +mild interest of a better dinner than usual. But to the plebs, for whom +no getting away was possible, and to whom no Point festivities were +open, that first Christmas was a thing to live through as best they +might. I think some of them despised even the dinner, with the flavour +of their mother's cookery yet lingering and fresh. + +How hard it was! "The most miserable day they ever spent," as many a +one has said since. And the letters and home trifles that arrived in +the mail-bag were not much help in the line of bracing up. Magnus put +Cherry's bookmark in his Bible, and his mother's picture up his sleeve; +while the toilet cushion and cover on which the two girls had bestowed +so many loving looks, as they wrought out the pretty devices, were hid +away in his clothes bag; no such decorations being allowed in barracks. + +Then he wrote letters to them all, then he tried to study, but who can +study on a legal holiday? + +So at last Cadet Kindred donned his grey fearnaught, wandered +down among the rocks and snow-drifts on Flirtation, and listened +to the grinding of the ice cakes in the dark river. The sky, blue +with an unearthly far-away depth of colour, was pushed back by the +whitened hills: all nature seemed locked up and unapproachable and +unsympathising. + + "Those fair blue heavens so distant are, + Their very clearness seems to say + How far, how far! + They lie above man's stormy way." + +And Magnus Kindred felt as desperately lonesome as he thought it was in +the power of man to be. + +There were no loiterers now under the "Kissing Rock"; no echoing steps +within "First-class Cave"; all the old seats and trysting places were +snow capped and silent. Even the broad folds of the Post flag would +have been some company, a little cheer to his sad eyes as he once more +came out upon the plain. But the Post flag was safely folded away; +and only a wee, wintry looking storm flag, whipped out in many a past +gale, was abroad to brave the keen-edged airs that stirred round Trophy +Point. Could anything exceed the dreariness and length of that wretched +Christmas Day? + +Then such cake for tea--though I doubt if Purcell's best would have +suited Magnus that night. He was glad when the drummers began their +noisy tattoo, that he might unroll his mattress, go to bed, and forget +his misery. + +New Year's Day was not quite so bad, perhaps because the coming +examination lent at least a dash of red pepper to the monotony, and the +first evening of the new year was full of study and talk, questions, +fears, and surmisings. Blue letters home went off in troops, and many +a man arranged definitely just what he would do after he was "found," +of which last fact he felt sure. With the great hop that graced this +week, or the gay damsels who graced the hop, the fourth class had +nothing to do. + +It was natural enough that the strain and fatigue of the examination +should be followed by a certain dislike for work at all. The men who +were "found" had vanished; the men who had gone up a section were +quietly in place, while others had as quietly joined "the Immortals," +a better name than its popular substitute. And from now on until June, +things would remain pretty much as they were. + +No wonder, then, if the reaction set in strong. Snow blocked the +favourite cadet walks; permits for skating were cut. No parades, no +stirring drills, except in the riding-hall, and the plebs had no good +of them. + +Then there were stormy days when even the officers' row was gloomy, and +things grew very tame indeed. The bent bows ached to spring back, and +the pent-up steam was ready to blow off in any direction; for mischief +at least makes a change, and to break regulations and not be found out, +gave life a certain flavour. It was a pity, but not at all strange. + +And so, in some parts of the barracks, license, not liberty, was the +popular word. The great point of interest by day and by night being how +to defy the blue book, and not get caught. + +The leaders were bright men, some of them; personable, pleasant to talk +to, fair mathematicians, and capital cooks over the gas-light. Several +had friends who sent them money, sweets, mince pies, and tobacco: all +smuggled in by unscrupulous outside hands. And these dainties were +freely dispensed by the happy owners. + +As to the rest, they were light fingered enough for pick-pockets, and +could abstract and convey to barracks anything--except "Sammy"--from +the mess-hall table; and I have even been told that this one exception +lost its place that year. + +But so far, you could charge things pretty fairly upon fun, and the +delightful exercise of skill. If, as was alleged, they carried off two +pounds of sugar for every lemon they got hold of, still, one must do +something; and as they said, "the sugar was all paid for out of their +own allowance." + +A much graver thing--perhaps the worst in the whole business--was the +bribing enlisted men. Some free lances, indeed, were much too fond of +"chancing" it, to do their frisky deeds by proxy. They fetched for +themselves what they wanted, with a daring of which I may not tell. +But others would get the sentry at the gate to pass things in; or a +bandsman to bring all sorts of contraband goods from the Falls. Other +people helped, but a mess-hall waiter could only lose his place and run +away, while the sentinels were in trust. + +Now Magnus Kindred had not been so brought up, and the sight and +hearing of certain things at first made him indignant. But they looked +lighter coloured the fifteenth time than the first. The memory of Mr. +Upright's words also faded out, and when springtime came, and days grew +long and nights were bright, he had fallen back into much the old way, +and was training with (or training) the wrong crowd. And he was so +agile and wary that he never got caught, which was perhaps his loss. + +"I don't see how you work it, Kin," Rig complained one day. "You do +everything you have a mind to, and yet even Towser will swear you in +for sweet cream every time. But as for me, if both my shoe toes aren't +blacked exactly alike, I'm skinned to a certainty." + +I am not sure that Magnus relished the compliment,--one has a choice +about praise,--but he made no answer, and did not change his too +successful ways. + +And thus that pleb winter did much work for him in more lines than one. +For you cannot keep hard at hard studies, as he did, without a swift +and increasing rate of progress; the Hill Difficulty of West Point, as +Mrs. Gresham had called it, yielded better and better footing, week by +week. But alas, it is also true that you cannot constantly fling even +small stones at the law, without that fine pillar of strength's being +chipped and frayed, and in a sort defaced. Magnus Kindred did not call +his doings by any such dignified name, but all the same, freedom and +lawlessness were getting very much mixed in his mind. While the right +of the authorities to command, and his own right to disobey, were in a +worse tangle still. The wise, dignified, and wholesome rule of "Honour +to whom honour, fear to whom fear," was much dethroned in those days. + +So the course of the days and the drift of the ways went on. Winter +slid early into spring. Company drills began, and the full tide of +everything set in, especially walks. Bright parasols appeared on the +sidewalk, and the old seat at Gee's Point once more received its guests. + +A general stir of preparation was in the air; grass was dressed, +branches trimmed, and rubbish burned. Cleaning house was on hand, and +dressmakers; and always drills, drills, drills. To the Post in general, +these signs meant the coming of the Board of Visitors, and all the +whirl of examination week: but to the cadets, chiefly June. + +All that spring, in spite of much work, Magnus Kindred wrote home very +regularly; long, amusing letters. Telling less of his inner life than +the hearts at home would have liked; but the strangeness of what he +said of the outer partly covered this up. And I doubt whether Magnus +knew how little he told. + +Of one thing, however, he was dimly conscious. At first, his mother's +expressions of trust and hope, given in Bible words or her own, had +been a comfort and help to him; they seemed to bring her nearer and to +make him stronger. But of late he had been often inclined to slur over +those parts of her letters, and to hurry on "to get the news first"--as +he put it to himself. He never stopped to ask why; and it was again Mr. +Upright who opened his eyes, and showed him how quietly they had been +closing and falling asleep. + +There are tears as well as smiles, on that fateful day in June. Here is +a mother, who, having had her son within easy reach for the last four +years, knows that now, after the short graduation leave, he will be +whirled away beyond her ken. To Barrancas, it may be, or Huachuca, or +Indian Territory. So the mother breaks down and cries visibly. + +And here are roommates, who have stood shoulder to shoulder in all +sorts of hardships, now henceforth, until, they are grey-haired men, +to live as far apart as this broad country can put them; and it is a +sobering thought. + +Then, this pretty, timid girl, who has ventured her heart on the +insecure ground of cadet soft speeches; or thought out her wedding +dress after one particular walk around Flirtation; or tried the class +ring on one of her own slender fingers, without being asked to keep it +there. + +"Oh, it is too dreadful!" she cries, stamping her little foot, and with +the tears all ready, when that heartless band fall off into "The Girl I +Left Behind Me." "I can _not_ see what they find in that old tune." + +It goes hard with her, sometimes, poor child, in matter of health. + +And sometimes a like hope is laid down with the grey, and the +blue must seek another charmer; and earth is--henceforth and +comparatively--a desert. All sorts of things happen at graduation; and +when you hear an eager, "You will be sure to come back in August," it +does not follow that he will, or that she will wait for him if he does. + +But there was no shallow sentiment about Mr. Upright. On the day of his +graduation, the young first captain, having put off his cadet honours +and come out in plain "cits," went down to the mess-hall dinner to look +round the old place once more, and to speak farewell words to his own +company and the Corps. Magnus Kindred caught his eye and smile, and +started a yell for Mr. Upright, which quite cut short that young man's +power to say much; but every word had the resonance of true metal. + +"'Quit you like men! be strong.' 'Strong in the Lord, and in the power +of his might,'" he said; vainly trying to shake all the hands held out +to him. But if the tones faltered, the meaning was full strung, and +Magnus once more opened his eyes, and looked at himself and his doings. +And the more he looked, the less he liked it. + +It was a good day for feeling blue. The sudden quiet, the cut-down +numbers; envy of the furlough men, and to a degree, of the graduates, +made men restless and dull. No drill, no parade, and not even "a plank" +left of the Board of Visitors. Not even many girls to look at; for half +the Post, and three-tenths of the visitors, had sailed away with the +gay throng on the down boat, and candidates swarmed everywhere. + +Magnus Kindred strolled off by himself to the river edge, sat down and +looked himself over. + +"Absolutely getting used to things!" he confided to his favourite oaks +and cedars. And then he began to see what was the character of those +things. Of course, a boy could not grow up anywhere, alas! in this +poor world, and not now and then hear men swear; but oaths from his +_comrades_ had at first shocked him exceedingly. There was one man, for +instance, who for a low mark in the section room, a bad ride, a rainy +Saturday, would have his mouth so full of cursing that it seemed hard +to get it all out. He lived near Magnus; and many a time had the boy +secretly stopped his ears to shut out the terrible words. Rig said the +air was "blue" with them. + +But quick and keen it came to Magnus now, that he had long ceased to +take any such precautions. Ah! only last night, after the reading of +the black list, he had wondered idly to himself, whether Carr would +find something new to say. + +Some hot, unwonted tears sprang up at that, with some very pricking +thoughts of the four pure hearts at home keeping watch for him. And the +thoughts grew and piled up, and sharpened their edges. + +I should have said that when the new cadet officers were read out on +Graduation Day, Magnus found himself promoted to the rank of corporal. +Soon after this the Corps went into camp. + + + + +XIV + +CAMP GOLIGHTLY + + As 'twixt the silences, now far, now nigh, + Rings the sharp challenge, hums the low reply. + + --_Biglow Papers._ + + +Yearling Camp was wonderfully unlike the dreary pleb camp of a year +ago. The special hazers, drill masters, and tormentors of last year +were gone away on furlough, or gone for good, and there was a new first +class to take the lead. And if everyone was sorry to lose Mr. Upright, +"many a dry eye followed" Mr. Devlin and Mr. Prank. + +Now the yearlings threw off their reserve, came out of hiding, and were +introduced to the ladies. Some wore chevrons, some were drill masters, +some frequented the hops, and almost all of them learned to play the +cavalier and to win fair companions for walks before breakfast and +after drill; for band practice, for band concert, and the delightful +wanderings on O. G. P. The long winter months of work were in the dim +distance, the next big milestone was marked furlough, and at hand were +summer and the summer girl. Sisters came, and cousins; introductions +were many, flirtations not a few. + +"It's the most delicious place!" cried Nina Dangleum one day. "You are +always falling in love, and it never comes to anything." + +It was not to be supposed that amid such breezes Magnus Kindred could +keep himself unfanned. To give him his due, he had no particular taste +for flirting, and did not often mean it; he was too earnest a fellow to +like half-way measures, or to go into anything only skin-deep. And I +think his own blessed cluster of womankind at home had set the standard +too high for him to enjoy drawing a girl on to be silly, even if it +was amusing to see. He had also not much taste for talking unmitigated +stuff, or much knack at doing it, and at this time of his existence +would have nearly endorsed Mr. Weller's words: + +"Wot's the use o' calling a young 'ooman a Wenus? Just as well call her +a griffin, or a king's arms." + +But the gales that stirred about West Point just then were very +perfume-laden; and almost any woman might seem like an angel, when you +first come out of the double shadow of pleb year and barracks, where +tactical officers were your chief glimpses of the outside world. + +The soft, "Mr. Kindred, I saw you coming clear across the plain," +smoothed down very pleasantly the plumage which had been so roughly +stroked the wrong way. The "Tac" might have reported those very bell +buttons that very day as in need of rubbing up; but if Miss Flyaway +could see them as soon as the man left camp, you perceive it took off +the effect. + +In matters of discipline, however, and of military precision Magnus +was, on the whole, a careful fellow (Rig spelled it "lucky"), and so +when other men had their freedom tied up, he was often detailed to walk +with the friend or the cousin and give her "a good time." Thus he came +in for rather more than his share of sweets. + +It was charming to wander almost anywhere in those fair days, and well +nigh as good to lie in the shadow of the trees about Fort Clinton, with +a book or without. The "without" was Rig's style. + +"Kin--I'm no end comfortable!" he declared one day, lying back on the +green with his arms above his head. + +"Same at same," responded Magnus, from behind his home newspaper. Rig +suddenly sat up. + +"Say, Kin, I want to go to artillery drill to-morrow night as chief of +caissons." + +"All right. If you're detailed for guard, shall I take the girl?" + +"Steady!" + +But after all, so it fell out; and when the Band concert began, Magnus +escorted Miss Dangleum through the shadows to where the light battery +guns stood ready, helped her to mount a caisson, and was in close +attendance till the drum beat. One of these old caissons was quite a +favourite "box" with the girls. + +"Beastly!" Rig declared it all, when he came off guard next day. + +"I saw him having the spooniest sort of a time," said Randolph +maliciously. "Chappy and the Kitten were on the next gun. I say, I'm +tired walking post. I'm going to bone colours." + +"Go in and win," Magnus admonished him. + +"Well, you'll see," said Randolph. And to be sure, such a polishing of +buttons, and rubbing up of arms, as followed were unknown before in +Randolph's tent. Magnus declared that the buttons made him wink clear +across A Company Street. + +Just at the last possible moment before the critical guard-mounting, +Randolph rushed in upon his two friends. + +"Say, boys, lend me a pair of white trousers. I can't find any of mine +that are fit to go with my buttons." + +"Well, I've only one pair fit to go with mine," said Magnus. "Sorry! +but they'd be too long for you." + +"Rig's will do," said Randolph, making a dash at the pile of trousers. +"Thanks awfully. My, how they shine!" + +[Illustration: THE COLOR GUARD] + +Well, they certainly did. Spotless, unwrinkled, as if they, too, had +been "boning" colours. Randolph marched out on higher heels than +those prescribed in the regulations, and later on presented himself +fearlessly as a candidate for honours. And the inspecting officer's +face seemed to say he had reason; Randolph could see approval in every +look and gesture. Gloves, buttons, gun were scrutinised; the trousers +were dazzling and smooth. Then the officer passed round for a back +view. Hair right length, collar right height above the grey, belt and +buttons adjusted to a nicety. + +"Mr. Randolph," said the cadet adjutant, as he came round in front, "I +would have given you colours but for those trousers." + +And when Randolph got in and scrutinised himself he found that the +borrowed trousers were deeply frayed at the ankle! After which the +young man professed himself blue and bored. + +"Just my luck," he said. "But I'll get even with him, see if I don't. +They were only fringed behind." + +Two or three days after this, Randolph accosted Magnus. + +"Say, Kin, want some fun? Like to see Coxy scared within an inch of his +life?" + +"No sort of objection on my part; rather B. J. in you to propose it." + +"It's more than propose," said Randolph. "Just you hang round my tent +about nine o'clock." + +Then after supper Randolph took his stand at the foot of A Company +Street, where the plebs were busily going back and forth between the +hydrant and the tents. + +"Mr. Johnson!" he said, hailing a D Company pleb, but keeping his voice +well down. + +"Yes, sir." + +The pleb slackened his pace a little, but did not look round, and +Randolph stood glancing carelessly about, as if thinking of nothing in +particular. + +"When you have carried in that pail come at once to the darkened tent +at the head of the street." + +"Yes, sir." + +"What is your name, sir?" to another. + +"Mr. Ummerstot, sir." + +"Mr. Upstart! I would like to know, Mr. Upstart, if you have no +superior whose pail needs tilling as well as your own? Go home at once, +and then report at my tent. The one with no light in it." + +"Yes, sir." + +When six more were under orders, Randolph strolled back to the front +of his tent, and as fast as the plebs came up, he passed them in. They +might stand at ease, but must not talk above a whisper. When they were +all in hiding, Randolph spoke through the closed door of the tent. + +"Mr. Johnson!" in a low undertone. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Your special technical name for this evening is _Hippotherium_. Do you +hive it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Mr. Upstart! Your special name till tattoo is _Semnopithereus_." + +"Mr. Parboil!" + +"Mr. Carboil, sir," said the poor pleb, with a mild preference for his +own name. + +"I said _Parboil_. Your name will be _Cereopithereus_. Mr. +Cereopithereus, you are first cousin to Mr. Semnopithereus, and +according to Darwin, you each bear the same relation to a man that a +pleb does to his superiors." + +So the eight names were given, and then Randolph began again: + +"Mr. Ichthyosaurus, you and your fellow animals will answer to your +special technical names at roll-call, by a growl. You, sir, are an +extinct reptile. Did you ever hear an extinct reptile growl?" + +"No, sir." + +"You other animals, stop that unseemly snicker. Where have you lived, +sir, all your life to know so little?" + +"In Massachusetts, sir." + +"The very headquarters of fossil life. Well, sir, if you have any +imagination at all, growl as nearly as you can in the hypothetical +voice of that extinct reptile called an Ichthyosaurus." + +A low growl, ending in a suppressed chuckle. + +"Order there, in the zoölogical museum! Mr. Hippotherium!" and another +growl followed in a different key. + +"How," said Randolph, when the roll had been gone through, "the +countersign is: 'Here comes the unsuspecting stranger!' Do you +understand?" + +The painful general growl that answered him was cut short by a +smothered laugh. + +"Attention! When you hear the countersign and see the tent flap lifted +you are to growl all together, with your deepest and heaviest roar." + +A few minutes passed silently by. Randolph loitered about near the +tent, as one might do who found the evening air refreshing. Then +suddenly Adjutant Cox passed down the colour line. + +"Say, Cox," Randolph hailed him, "come and see what I've got in my +tent." + +Thinking only of boodle, for which he had a soft spot, Mr. Cox came up, +and pushed back the tent flap. + +"Here comes the unsuspecting stranger!" cried Randolph, and from the +darkness poured forth such a horrible and very prehistoric roar that +the tall cadet made one spring across the company street, demanding in +no gentle tones of Randolph "What on earth he had got there?" Then, +"hiving" the joke, he walked rapidly away. Only one such roar could +be risked, and after a little more hectoring the plebs were let out +quietly one by one, and Randolph sought out Magnus and Rig to receive +their compliments on his success. + + + + +XV + +SIGNALING FOR HELP + + All common things, each day's events, + That with the hour begin and end, + Our pleasures, and our discontents, + Are rounds by which we may ascend. + + --LONGFELLOW. + + +It was a new experience to be on guard as corporal; and instead of the +tedious pacing up and down, to go round the camp at set intervals, +posting the reliefs, and then to sleep or lounge in the guard tent. No +more sounding out the "All's well!" in proper, or improper, style; but +it seemed to Magnus that he never missed hearing it. + +But whereas in the old days he used to wish every time he called the +hour that the beautiful, serious, and weird cry could reach across the +continent, even to his mother's ears, now, on the whole, he was content +that it did not. + +"If only she could hear it!" he used to think; if only the "All's +well!" could cross those weary miles that kept her away. But now, +somehow, he did not wish it. Yes, it was all well with the camp, all +well with the Post; was it all well with him? Would the words bear a +true report as _she_ would understand them? + +Cadet Kindred studied the point a good deal as he lay there in the +guard tent looking himself over, or stole a solitary walk now and then. +And I say "stole" advisedly. Short of stealing away, a solitary walk +was hard to get. + +If, at the risk of his neck, he slid down some sheer cliff to the +river's edge, few indeed would follow him, but a cadet boat might come +along shore with a barge-load of girls in tow. And sometimes he was +quick enough to dodge behind the bushes, and sometimes he sat still and +let the shower of exclamations come. + +"Oh, there's Mr. Kindred!" + +"Just _see_ Mr. Kindred!" + +"Mr. Kindred, _please_ get right into the boat." + +"Haven't a permit." + +"There's nobody round," said the Kitten. "Jump in quick. You _never_ +can get back up there without being dashed to pieces." + +"Hardly _with_. Then there'll be one less 'additional' in the way." + +"How dreadful! I thought you were better brought up than to talk so." + +"I was." + +"Were you really so very well brought up?" said the Kitten, with her +head on one side. "Do you know, I should never have thought it." + +Magnus rose to his feet, and doffed his cap profoundly. + +"Now you've done it, Puss," said Miss Saucy. + +"Why, I don't see how," said the Kitten. "I hate well-brought-up +people; that's why I spoke." + +"Better hate Kin as fast as you can, then," said Chappy from the boat, +"so's there'll be a chance for some of the rest of us. Why, he don't +sleep in chapel more than every other Sunday." + +"How can he help going to sleep, poor boy?" said Miss Saucy. "Such +sermons!" + +"Well, come now," said another cadet, "that last sermon wasn't half +bad. And not more than twice as long as was necessary." + +"Yes, but for these times!" quoth Miss Saucy. "Why, it was just like +saying 'Be good,' don't you know?" + +"Hard upon the times, wasn't it?" said Magnus. + +"Well, row on," said the Kitten with a deep sigh. "I see by his face +nothing _I_ can say will do any good. But it is such a pity! I never +guessed he was that sort. A new fad, isn't it?" she said in a loud +aside, as the oars dipped and rose. "Good-bye, Mr. Kindred! I hope your +meditations will be very profitable." + +"Thank you," Magnus answered, standing up again, "I think they will." + +He watched the boat as it went on over the dimpling water, then changed +his place a little, and began on a new end of his thoughts. This girl +had "never guessed he was that sort." + +Maybe she was only telling society fibs, but Magnus would not let +himself off so. For what reason had he ever given her to think him a +Christian? Where had his colours been, in all these walks and talks and +meetings? Up his sleeve, in hiding? + +"But I cannot flaunt them in people's faces," Magnus pleaded for +himself. + +No, and no more did the flag its stars and stripes; only waved them +joyously overhead. + +He had been ready to say that the constant frolic with the gay crowd +was not good for him, but how about his side of the influence? Had +he ever tried talking sense to girls whom he condemned for talking +only nonsense? "Ye are the salt of the earth," but salt refreshes, +stimulates, purifies; how far had he been like that? Without being +priggish, without setting up for a preacher, could he not show in +every way that the service of Christ was better than all else, and the +knowledge of Him the most joyful thing in all this world? "Ye are my +witnesses," said the Lord Jesus; and what sort of testimony did Cadet +Magnus Kindred give from day to day? No matter how other men did, what +had he done? + +The final outcome of all these cogitations was a letter. + + "CAMP GOLIGHTLY, + + "July --, 18--. + + "MY DEAR MOTHER: + + "I don't see why you don't come East and look after your boy. How + do you know what he is about here? Better come and see whether + you want him home on furlough; that is, if that time ever comes, + which I don't believe it will. Three, six, well nigh eight months + yet before it will even be 'One hundred days to June.' Besides, + they may find me in January, and then, instead of going home, I + should go as straight to the Antipodes as if they'd shot me out of + a catapult." + + "Don't be uneasy; I'm not skinned more than twice a day on an + average; skins grow fast here, and skinning is nothing when you + get used to it. So the eels say. And I'm sure to take daddy's + scalp when we get back to barracks. Not much of a possession, + either, I must own." + + "Do you realise, ma'am, that your son is that much detested and + overworked and maligned being a yearling Corporal?--wearing + chevrons, and sporting dignity enough for three Major-Generals? + Come and see me drill the plebs; best fun you ever saw in your + life--when you aren't one of 'em." + + "But now, mother, this is serious. Do bring up our three girls + respectably, so that when they come here for first-class camp, + they'll know how to behave. But first of all, you've got to come + yourself and brush me up. Buy your ticket for West Point, stop at + Garrisons, cross in the ferryboat, and take the omnibus up the + hill. Look out both sides all the way up; and the minute you see a + grey uniform throw up his cap, get out. I suppose I might run it + down the hill, but then if I get in con. and couldn't see you all + the time you were here, it wouldn't pay. And Towser'd be sure to + be round with his patent magnifiers." + + "So I'll go to the edge of limits, and as you don't know where + that is, look out. If you get lost, I'll put Towser on the track + and he'll know where you are before you know it yourself. I wonder + the Phil. Department don't set him to work on the lost Pleiad." + + "Heigh-ho! I wish you were here this minute--with your bag full + of gingercakes. I was on guard last night, and had nothing to eat + but those old cast-iron sandwiches. So we put 'em in the reveille + gun and they went off that way. Love to the girls. Don't bring 'em + this time, but come yourself." + + "Your (very) third class Corporal, + CHARLEMAGNE KINDRED." + + "I enclose a picture of myself which you may like to see." + + + + +XVI + +RE-ENFORCEMENTS READY + + Rien n'est impossible: il y a des voies qui conduisent à toutes + choses; et si nous avions assez de volonté, nous aurions toujours + assez de moyens. + + --ROCHEFOUCAULD. + + +"Like to see it!" Well, I suppose they did. It will not do to say that +never was photograph so devoured; too many just such counterfeits of +boys in grey have sped across this broad continent and been just so +received; but it was well for this particular one that mere looking at +things cannot wear them out. + +At first, after one astonished look and exclamation they all broke down +and cried. Partly for joy--for how handsome he was! and how those bell +buttons did set him off!--partly for the wild longing it stirred to +have him in their arms again. But with this came in another feeling: +that keen, subtle pang which detects a change. Was their own wayward, +careless, happy-go-lucky Magnus really hid away behind that perfectly +buttoned coat? For even a year at West Point makes a wonderful change, +which even accustomed eyes find marvellous; what wonder that these +unwonted ones grew wide open as they gazed? He had graduated from the +mild sway of persuasion and was under orders. + +If the first half hour's study of the picture was full of joy, it may +be doubted if the pain of the second had all the softening that really +belonged to it. _This_ exact, stately young man, _her_ Magnus, who used +to catch her in his arms and whirl her off her feet. _This_ soldierly +fellow _their_ brother, who would swing himself by one foot from the +apple tree and climb the lightning rod and hold on by his teeth to the +window sill? They did not write all this out for themselves, but the +smiles faded. Not their boy any longer, but Uncle Sam's. + +"I should think they might have left him just a few curls!" said +Violet, identifying one small grievance. "Oh, I wonder what Cherry will +say?" + +"I wish she'd come," said poor Mrs. Kindred, trying hard to speak +calmly. "Cherry is always so wise. And I am such a goose," she added, +feeling after a stray smile. "Of course, he could not be at West Point +and a soldier and look like my little boy still." + +"Let me run up with it to Cherry and bring her back," said Rose. + +"No, no, leave it here!" cried the mother. "I cannot have it out of +my sight one minute. Oh, girls! was there ever such a handsome fellow +seen, anywhere?" + +"Never, I do believe," said Rose. "Mother, his eyes haven't changed +one bit. Just see how they laugh at you----" But that look stopped the +words. + +"What is going on here?" said a sweet young voice at the window. "What +are you all studying out?" And Cherry's quick, soft steps came through +the hall and into the room. + +"Don't tell her! Don't tell her!" cried both the girls in an eager +whisper. + +"Come in, love," said Mrs. Kindred. "We were just wishing for you." + +"Yes, come and tell us what you think," said Rose. And placing +themselves each side of Cherry, the two girls marched her up to a place +behind their mother's chair, where she could look over Mrs. Kindred's +cap and see the picture, watching to hear what she would say. + +But Cherry said never a word. She started, and gave a little cry at +first sight of that wonderful presentation of her hero, but then she +stood quite still; her fingers interlacing each other, the red and +white playing hide and seek on her young face. That undefined change +which they all felt came to her with a difference. For Magnus had +never been hers to have and to hold, but only to gaze at from a safe +distance; and suddenly, lo! he had become more wonderful than ever. +Whether this put him further away or not gave Cherry no trouble just +then; she had forgotten herself and the whole world at first sight of +this picture of that astonishing person, Cadet Charlemagne Kindred. + +"Do you think it looks like him, dear?" Mrs. Kindred said plaintively; +and with a quick jump down to earth, Cherry answered in the most +matter-of-fact way: + +"It must, Mrs. Kindred; it is a photograph." + +"That's true," said the mother. "I had forgotten that, Cherry; you +always say just the right thing." And she turned round and held up her +face to kiss the girl who had spoken with such calm wisdom. But poor +Cherry found out then that her own nerves were overstrung, and she +had no answer ready. And what sort of an unconscious feeling was it +that made her turn away and take up the empty "Pach" envelope and look +inside; _could_ Magnus have put in a second copy for her? An action, by +the way, it was a pity that young man did not see, walking, as he was +just then, round Flirtation and making pretty speeches to the youngest +Miss Fashion. + +Cherry laid down the envelope and put on her hat. + +"You are strange people not to like it," she said. + +"Why, we do!" cried both the girls. "Only we felt just a little bad +because it looks different." + +"But you knew he would grow older, didn't you?" said Cherry, tying the +hat-strings. "And you could not expect them to let his coat go flying +open, in the Army." + +"To be sure, that is just it," said the mother, gazing at her young +soldier; "he is in the Army. Dear me! Dear me! But take off your hat +and sit down, child; here is a whole long letter to read." + +There could be but one answer to that. Cherry put herself on a foot +cushion behind the table, just where she could have a good peep at the +picture whenever she chose, and the reading began. But with the very +first sentence Mrs. Kindred laid down the sheet and looked about her +with bewildered eyes. + +"He doesn't see why I don't come and look after him!" she said. "Why, I +thought he had the whole Government to do that." + +"And it's the first time Magnus ever asked such a favour of anyone, I +am sure," said Rose. + +"Oh, but you see," said Cherry from behind her table, "he is homesick, +Mrs. Kindred, and wants you; and nothing else will do." + +"He must have got over his homesickness long ago," said Violet. + +"Just the first sort," said Cherry; "but you see it has come back +again. It is four hundred and twenty-three days since he saw his +mother." Her voice choked a little. + +"Well, you are an almanac, there is no doubt," said Rose, quite failing +to trace this exact tally to its true source. "Dear mamma, don't look +so! It's just lovely of him to be homesick for a sight of you; he ought +to be." + +"And of course, you will go to him at once," put in Violet. "Then you +can tell us all about him and the place and everything." + +"Go to him!" These lively spirits, treading down impossibilities with +their young feet, were too much for her. + +"Why, girls, I haven't the money." + +"You shall have my new winter bonnet--which was to be," said Rose. + +"And all my Christmas presents which, perhaps, were not to be," said +Violet. "I've got five cents besides in my strong box." + +"And Uncle Thorn will help," said Rose. Mrs. Kindred held up her hand. + +"Be quiet, all of you," she said, "or I shall lose my senses." She sat +looking at that boy in grey who was homesick for the sight of her. + +"It isn't 'all of us,' at all, mamma," said Violet, "for Cherry is as +still as a mouse. Speak up, red lips, and give us your opinion." + +Speaking low, as before, Cherry made answer that it would be safe to +read the whole letter, before deciding upon anything, which was such +a self-evident point of wisdom that they all laughed, and the reading +began again. + +"Now, mamma, don't stop till you get through, no matter what he says," +pleaded Rose. And Mrs. Kindred tried, but in truth it was hard. Every +sentence or two she would stop and look up helplessly, at the two faces +that bent over her, or try for encouragement from Cherry's shining +eyes, down by the table. Which eyes, however, were not always in sight. +Cherry found some wonderful things in the letter, which the others +missed; and so now and then retired into her own private meditations. +"Bring up _our_ three girls" and "when _they_ come." Clearly, then, she +also was expected at "first-class camp," whatever that might be. + +"Cherry, you don't seem to hear, my child. What does he mean about +their 'finding' him and his not coming home, but going to the +Antipodes?" + +"I think it is just some of his nonsense, Mrs. Kindred," said the girl, +too happy to be alarmed. "He wants to make you come, and so he says +all the queer things he can think of. You see West Point hasn't really +changed him one bit." + +"Dear fellow!" said the mother, with another look at the picture. +"I think you must be right, Cherry. I am getting used to the dress a +little. And I'd almost give my life to see him. But do you really think +I could go so far alone, even if I had the money?" + +With the happy courage of their years, the girls assured her that +nothing possibly could be easier; get in and get out all right, and the +railway companies would do the rest. + +"Uncle Thorn will put you in, you know," said Violet, "and as for your +getting out, when you are so near Magnus I don't believe anybody could +keep you in the cars without handcuffs and fetters. You'll just fly +out." + +"But suppose I fly out too soon?" said Mrs. Kindred, to whose eyes the +two thousand miles of space loomed up very large indeed. + +"You will not," said Rose decidedly. "Conductor will not let you. Read +on, mamma, please." + +So Mrs. Kindred read on, only to get more hopelessly mixed as to the +real state of things. "Skins" and "scalps"--third-class corporals and +the Antipodes; laying it off on the West Point vernacular did not clear +up the meaning a bit. And when the letter had been read carefully twice +through from end to end, Mrs. Kindred laid it down and calmly announced +that she should set off for the East as soon as she could get ready. +And the girls kissed her and cheered her, and only wished they could go +too. + +And things turned out a good deal as they had said. Mr. Thorn not only +bought her ticket, but put her in careful charge of the conductor. The +girls packed the modest little trunk, stowing in all the gingercakes +there was room for; Violet laid in a dainty handkerchief embroidered +with the young cadet's initials, Rose added a small pincushion "to go +in his pocket," and Cherry, with some demurs, sent him her last little +drawing of the old apple tree which had been his own special private +gymnasium. Cherry had a very pretty knack with her pencil. Then they +all went to the station to see her off, even some of the neighbours +joining in. + +"It's a clear Providence your goin', Mrs. Kindred," said one good +woman, whose husband had come West looking for "royal roads" to wealth +and place. "Now you kin tell us all about it, for sen' Magnus went, +we've been athinkin' o' sendin' our Bill. He's a dreffle shiftless +feller: don't take after me, if I do say it. Bill just despises work in +any shape or way, and so his father kinder thought maybe he'd do for +West Point. They'd pull him through, likely, just as they do the rest, +and then he'd he provided for." + +Happily, the train came, and nobody could answer. The girls went home +and held an indignation meeting, and Mrs. Kindred rolled swiftly away, +very soon forgetting everything else in the one thought that she was +going to see her boy. + + + + +XVII + +THREE CHEERS AND A TIGER + + 'Twas morn, a most auspicious one: + From the golden East the golden sun + Came forth his glorious race to run, + Through clouds of most splendid tinges. + Clouds that lately slept in shade, + But now seemed made + Of gold brocade; + With magnificent golden fringes. + + --HOOD. + + +Yes, it was a royal August day. The last summer month has a very +different character in different places. In town, where, instead of + + "Three months of sunshine bound in sheaves" + +you have the same stored up in pavements and glowing from brown stone +fronts, it is a time which men naturally enough choose for their +vacation, and leave the city home behind them as fast and as far as +they can. September rains may clear the air, but till then, away. + +But in the Highlands, with here and there a rare exception, August +is one of the very loveliest months of all the year. We say of a +human face that it is finer after life has given its touches and done +somewhat of its fine chiselling, and a little so does the last summer +month surpass the two that went before. More sedate than jocund June; +far calmer than July with its tempests and fervid heats, the shadows +fall differently, the changed lights give you a new insight into +things. The days are so exquisite partly because they are shortening; +the flowers hurry out in troops. And nowhere in all the year do we +have such a succession of wonderful sunset skies as in August. Then +the temperature is for the most part perfect; the cool mornings and +evenings only the fairer for the midday heat. It is a time when you can +sit out, dine out, and well nigh take leave of the house altogether. + +One wise thing inexperienced Mrs. Kindred remembered to do. From point +to point as the miles rolled by, she sent postals to the girls at home, +and one at the outset to Magnus. He knew just when to look for her. And +so, when the day came, and dinner was over, Cadet Charlemagne reported +his absence at the guard tent, and strolled away to Trophy Point, and +seated himself to wait and watch. Too early yet by an hour; but he was +restless and could do nothing else. + +The day was cloudless now; the noon heats still in the air; the hazy, +lazy hum of the locusts thrilled out on every side. Perhaps lazy is not +just the word--but there are no inflections; they fight it out on one +line, as few tired workers ever can. + +A suspicion of real haze hung over Newburgh; the more distant hills +looked faint and dreamy. Far up the river a long tow wound silently +down, leaving its trail upon the quiet water; nearby a sloop or two +went softly on, spreading their white wings to the breeze. There was +just enough air stirring to lift and drop, lift and drop, the bunting +on the flagstaff. + +Magnus sat looking and listening, drawing a deep breath now and +then. How long it seemed since he first saw Trophy Point and that +flagstaff!--and it was really but fourteen months. He glanced up at the +flag, just then shaking out its lovely folds. That had not changed. And +he knew his mother had not; she would be just the same blessed person +she had always been. But how about himself? and what would she think +of him? And now, studying that question, Magnus took out mentally +his own private stand of colours and looked at them, matching them +with the flag overhead. It hung very still just then; and yet he could +see a star here, a touch of the stripes there. Storms might beat it to +ribands, but they could not change the colours nor make the flag come +down. + +"That weak strip of bunting!" thought Magnus, with a certain +interlining of words not complimentary to himself. And other words +written above his father's grave came quick and clear: "The world +passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God +abideth forever." + +Magnus stood up and walked slowly along the little path to another +point, whence he could see the "Central" road. + +"I'm no end glad she's coming!"--so ran his thoughts. "But I just +wonder how she'll like her boy? And there she comes!" + +For now a puff of white smoke rose up at the mouth of the Breakneck +tunnel and then fell into a long, curling line, and began to wind its +way rapidly along the curves of the river road. + +Magnus watched it, jumped on the seat to see it better still, and then +tossed his cap into the air like any boy let out of school. + +"Hurrah, old flag!" he cried; "there she comes! Now you'll see somebody +worth looking at." + +The white line rushed on, paused at Cold Spring, whirled along over the +north bay and hid itself in the green Island woods, while Magnus, again +waving his cap and this time so recklessly that it was near going down +the hill, hurried away to Battery Knox, ran up on the green parapet, +and stood to watch. The engine came puffing over the south bay as if +the fate of the nation hung on its speed, dived into the Garrisons +tunnel and slowed up. + +How long it stayed! + +"Just to put off mother and her little trunk!" thought Magnus, laughing +to himself, and then getting such dim eyes that he could not see a +thing. But he felt as if he could hug even the trunk. + +And now, puff, puff, the train slowly moved away from the station, and +the little ferryboat rang her bell. Of course, his mother was there, in +the small, dark throng that came down to the river, and of course he +must therefore really see her, but--Oh! it was too tantalising! I think +at that minute Magnus would have given anything (except furlough) for a +good glass. + +The boat was off, steering across the river in a pretty curve to suit +the tide; the smooth water turning back in two long lines of wrinkles +in her wake. + +Magnus leaped down from the parapet and was speeding away up the path +at a great rate when there came a hail: + +"Mr. Kin--dred!" + +Magnus paused to see. + +Clustered about the pathetic white column that looking calmly down on +the silent river, tells in such vivid fashion its terrible tale of +struggle and death, were three or four very summery looking girls: Miss +Fashion, Miss Dangleum, and another whom Magnus did not know. + +"_Do_ come here, Mr. Kindred," pleaded Miss Dangleum. + +Well, a cadet is nothing if he is not a squire of distressed damsels. +Magnus turned and jumped down to where they stood. + +"What's the matter?" he said; "has a fan gone down the hill? or is a +parasol in trouble?" + +"There, isn't that just like you!" said Miss Fashion. "No, nothing so +serious as that." + +"Miss Beguile has come," said Miss Dangleum, "and she asked you down to +a private view of her eyes." + +"Oh, _Nina_!" said Miss Beguile, in soft expostulation. + +"We also wanted her to see yours," said Miss Nina daringly. "She +doesn't believe cadets have any under those caps." + +Magnus doffed his own particular cap, as in duty bound, but the view +Miss Beguile got of his eyes was very short and unsatisfactory. + +"Now find us a nice seat," said Miss Dangleum. "We've got lots of +boodle." + +"Certainly--at any other time," began Magnus, "but now----" + +"You don't mean to say you've got a previous?" cried the girls. + +"Very previous, indeed. I am just going to meet my mother." + +"Your mother?" said Miss Beguile with the sweetest air of interest. +"How charming!" + +"Dear me, where does _she_ come from?" drawled Miss Fashion. + +But now Mr. Kindred's eyes came to the front and declared themselves. + +"She comes from _home_," he said. "Excuse me, I am late"; and with +another touch of his cap Magnus sprang away up the path about as fast +as a man could go and not run. + +"He has magnificent eyes," said Miss Beguile. + +"Yes, but no use," said Miss Dangleum. "I cannot bring that man to +terms, do what I will." + +"Flinty, is he?" said Miss Beguile. "Well, I mean to get hold of him, +girls, I give you notice. He's the sort of man I like." + +"Is there any sort you don't like, Bessie?" said Miss Fashion. + +"Oh, it's always great fun to have men round, no matter what sort they +are," confessed her friend. "But the unapproachable is my dearest +choice, every time." + + + + +XVIII + +HIGH SUMMER + + Far through the memory shines a happy day. + + --LOWELL. + + +Magnus meanwhile went speeding on; leaping over space, and chafing at +the lost minutes in terms not very flattering to his fair disturbers. +But he was in good time, after all. The stage had waited for a West +Shore train, and when Magnus reached the furthest and nearest point +to which he might go, the horses with their light load were but just +nearing the riding hall. + +Slowly, slowly--how that stage did creep along. Magnus crossed the +road, went back again, darted from one point to another; if only he +could get a good glimpse inside! Now the lumbering thing turned a +little; ah, it was just empty. No; surely that was a bonnet on the +further seat; and now at this window looking out for him! And surely if +ever a forage cap went high in air, one went then. But the moment it +was within reach again Magnus pulled it far down over his own eyes. He +had been at West Point more than a year, looking at tactical officers, +professors, dignitaries of all sorts; with wild cadets and all kinds +of girls; and now this was his mother's face, and like nothing else in +all the world. The boy's heart gave a bound fit to burst something less +elastic than a young heart always is. + +As for poor Mrs. Kindred, when she saw that cap go up in the air, of +course you know what happened to her. But she would not look away, +even to cry, and sat gazing at that tall figure in grey and drawing +the long sobbing breaths that bear such a very mixed freight. She even +forgot to pull the check string, and would have been driven straight +on if Magnus, in a voice stern enough for the first captain, had not +bidden the driver stop. And it seemed so natural and fitting that her +boy should pay her fare that when he pulled out a hidden quarter and +passed it up to the driver no qualms of fear that he might be "skinned" +for so doing disturbed her mind. Of course cadets have no more business +with pocket money than they have with pockets, but she did not know +that. + +Magnus got one hand on his arm, gripping it with the other hand as if +he thought she might run away; and drew her rapidly along through the +nearest byways to a nook among rocks and trees that he deemed his own +private discovery. Once there, hidden away in the sweet, cool shadow, +with the river plashing softly far below, and a wood thrush ringing his +chimes near by, Cadet Corporal Kindred threw his cap down on the grass, +put his arms round his mother, and hid his face in her neck as if he +had been six years old. + +It was just what the mother needed. For at first sight, this tall, +splendid fellow with braid and buttons and chevrons, straight as a +line, and with all the saucy curls cut away, laid her under a spell. +Except the first meeting kiss she had had hardly a sign from him unless +that grip of her hand. But now, with her boy in her arms, he was her +boy still, and she quite too happy for this lower world. + +"Child," she said at last, "what have they done with your hair? Have +you been sick?" + +Then Magnus looked up and laughed; the old shine in his eyes making her +heart leap. + +"Regulations," he said. "I am nothing any more but a bundle of +regulations, mother. Might about as well be a convict labeled 379." + +"Regulations!" Mrs. Kindred repeated. "I wish I had the making of them." + +"I wish you had, mother. And there are some three hundred and odd more +boys here, who would confidingly hand the job over to you. Then we'd +have pie every day for dinner and cake for supper, Saturday in the +middle of the week, and no Monday morning recitations." + +"But Magnus," said Mrs. Kindred, bewildered over this very mixed lot of +grievances, "don't you have cake for supper?" + +"Now and then a mysterious compound which goes by that name," said +Magnus. "We are having it scientifically analysed to see whether it is +all new-process granite, or whether one part mud comes in." + +But here the innocent, perplexed face was too much for him. He almost +shouted with fun, tossing his cap up higher than it had ever been. + +"You blessed mother!" he said. "You haven't changed one bit--not a +pin's point. There was one on your shoulder just now to scratch me, +exactly as there always used to be." + +"Oh, my dear!" cried poor Mrs. Kindred. "I did not mean to leave that +pin there. I just stuck it in last night in the sleeping car." + +"But you always did 'just stick it in,' you know," said Magnus +disrespectfully; "and I never remember the time when it didn't just +stick out. It wouldn't be you without a pin on your shoulder." + +"It wouldn't be you if you were not a saucy boy," said the mother, and +then they looked in each other's eyes and laughed; how happy they were! + +"All right, mammy," said Magnus. "That pin gave me a welcome nothing +else could. How are the girls?" + +"The girls are lovely," said Mrs. Kindred. "Cherry has tried to fill +your place, Magnus, ever since you came away." + +"H'm, I don't know about that," said Magnus. "Tell her she can't have +but half of it, fair and square." + +"Oh, well, you know how I talk," said Mrs. Kindred. "She could not +really, dear, nor anybody else. But she is the dearest girl, Magnus, +and so wise. We have to get her to explain all the queer things in your +letters." + +"Do I write queer things?" + +"Very; or they sound so to us. And I get quite worried sometimes. +And then Cherry will say in that pretty way of hers, 'You know it is +Magnus, Mrs. Kindred, so he could not mean _that_.'" + +If two sparks flew from Cadet Kindred's eyes at these words, only the +green moss at his feet was witness thereto. But, then, a very grave +look came over his face. His mother watched him anxiously. + +"You do not think I really _meant_ that, dear?" she said. "No one on +earth could fill my boy's place with me, Magnus." + +"No, no; I understand," he said, without looking up. "But she deserves +it so. Cherry is a great deal better than I am, mother." + +The mother smiled contentedly. Very small improvement did her boy need +for her. But she would not say that; just as well for him not to know +how high he stood on the general merit roll. And it was a fine new +West Point development, if Magnus was inclined to underrate his own +perfections. Which, by the way, was not at all what that young man was +doing. But Cherry's simple, unquestioning faith in him suddenly touched +up his memory of certain things which (in spite of being "Magnus") he +had done, and the recollection was not pleasant. Not very bad things, +Oh, no! but by no means up to Cherry's standard. + +"It's not worth while for her to come on before furlough," he said, +thinking aloud. + +"Her?" Mrs. Kindred repeated questioningly. + +"Yes, any one of the girls," said Magnus. "You see, the winter journey +is one thing; and then in the winter there's such a beastly lot of +studying to do. And in the spring I shall be boning every minute. But +wait till first-class camp. Or you might all come back with me from +furlough--just for a first sight of the place." + +"But my dear!" said Mrs. Kindred. "Why Magnus, you talk as if we had +the Bank of England at our back." + +"No, only me in front," said Magnus with a gleam of his bright eyes. +"You don't suppose I am going to worry through the last two years here +without a sight of you all? Wouldn't pay to bone rank if nobody came to +see my chevrons. Just as well go on and get rattled like some of the +rest of them." + +"But my dear!" said poor Mrs. Kindred. "'Rattled' and 'bone' you've +said twice. And you called your studies 'beastly.' I thought they +taught English at West Point." + +How Magnus laughed! + +"There are Tacs over yonder," he said, "with a party of summer girls; +and one of the girls offered me a lot of boodle. And the Com.'s out +riding, and the Supe's gone to town, and the Arch-fiend is at the +seaside." + +"Now Charlemagne, stop!" said Mrs. Kindred. Magnus gave her another +delighted hug. + +"Oh mammy!" he said; "this is you, and no mistake. I didn't quite +believe it was at first." And kissing first one hand and then the +other, Magnus put them both back in her lap, and laid his cheek down +upon them. The mother got one hand away and softly stroked the fine +head. + +"I do not understand about your hair, yet," she said. + +"Regulations." + +"And why do you wear such a thick coat this warm day, Magnus?" + +"Regulations." + +"Why my dear! Well, you might unbutton it at least," said Mrs. Kindred. + +"Regulations." + +Mrs. Kindred was silent a minute. + +"I took my dinner in Poughkeepsie," she said, "because I was not sure +of getting here in time for yours; and I know it is not good for you to +wait." + +"No ma'am, it isn't--here," said Magnus. + +"But we can have supper at any time you like." + +Magnus, without raising his head, gave a groan and wished they could. + +"Well, we can," said Mrs. Kindred. "I can wait till late, or have it +early, Magnus, just as suits you. What do you mean by sighing like +that? What is in the way?" + +"Regulations." + +"Oh well!" said the mother, trying to smother her disappointment; "you +have some other thing on hand? Never mind, dear, then we'll be together +at breakfast." + +"No, we sha'n't." + +"Why not?" + +"Regulations. We cannot have one single meal together while you are +here, mammy." + +And now, indeed, Mrs. Kindred had no more to say; the bands of red +tape seemed to be winding all about her heart, and drawing very tight +indeed. She had so pictured to herself the joy of once more handing her +boy his cup of coffee. But it must be best for him, she said bravely to +herself; or else they would not make such rules. And, whatever was best +for him-- + +"What _can_ you do, dear?" she said aloud, but with a plaintiveness +that went to the boy's heart. He sat up and took her in his arms. + +"I can do lots, mammy!" he said. "Never you worry one bit. I can't +do it for breakfast, and I can't do it to-night, but some other day +I'll cut supper, and we'll have it down here together. And we'll have +picnics instead of dinner. And I'll walk with you every minute of +release from quarters." + +"Release!" The word jarred on the mother's ear; to what had she sent +her boy? But then, whatever it was, it agreed with him splendidly; +never had she seen Magnus in more jocund health and strength; life at +its best was in every look and motion. And the eyes that flashed and +sparkled at her were not the least in the world careworn or overworked. +So Mrs. Kindred locked up all her dismayed pangs and questionings, and +once more stroking her boy's cropped head, remarked that it was said to +make the hair grow to cut it. + +"I'll have a mop when I come out, then," said Magnus. "How does Cherry +wear her hair now? same old way?" + +"Oh yes!" said Mrs. Kindred; "only it's never twice just the same. You +know her curls arrange themselves--as yours used to, Magnus." + +"Disarrange was the word for me. If anybody cuts hers off, I'll shoot +him." + +"I think somebody did cut one off once, without being shot," said Mrs. +Kindred. Magnus coloured. + +"That was only one," he said. "Why didn't you bring them all along? The +girls, I mean." + +"Why, you unreasonable boy," said his mother; "you expressly bade me +not." + +"I had been here so long, I forgot that you always minded," said +Magnus, with a saucy look. + +"Well, I did _not_ always," said Mrs. Kindred; "but the girls could not +have come off in such a moment, Magnus; they were not ready." + +"Girls never are. They'd learn, if they had a week or two in camp. +Bang goes the reveille gun--and in just two minutes you have to be +dressed and out in line, swearing that 'Kindred, C.' is present and +accounted for." + +"Swearing, Magnus?" + +"Well, some of the men make the statement pretty loud. I am one of the +mild kind, and 'roar gently.'" + +"Yes, I know what your gentle roars amount to," said his mother +derisively. "But Magnus, do they really make you dress in two minutes?" + +"By my watch." + +"But you haven't got a watch," said the perplexed mother. + +"And therefore am subject now and then to miscalculations." + +"Well, West Point has not changed you yet, to hurt," said the mother, +smiling at him. Magnus took her tender hands and put one on each side +of his face. + +"Mammy," he said, "it is the jolliest thing to see you sitting there, +puzzling your dear head over my grinds. I could cry, if I wanted to. +But I say, when you do bring the girls, don't give 'em time to get +ready. They shan't come here looking as if they'd never had anything +before, but had got it now, sure." + +"But our girls have always had enough, you know, Magnus, and they are +not likely to have any more," said Mrs. Kindred, cutting both knots. + +"They are worth all the girls I have seen here, multiplied by twelve +dozen," said Magnus. "Oh, mother, why didn't they come! But I tell you, +you'll have your hands full when they do. Violet will make a sensation. +And Rose--I think True will be fathom deep at first sight of Rose; he +likes quiet, sweet, strong girls." + +"I should think most people would," said Mrs. Kindred. "And how about +Cherry?" + +"I said nothing about Cherry." + +"Am I not to bring her?" + +"Oh yes! she had better come too," said Magnus. "Mammy, it is as good +as a month of Saturdays just to look at you. You are the handsomest +woman on the Post." + +And now pink tinges came upon the sweet pale face; and Mrs. Kindred was +certainly the happiest woman anywhere about. + + + + +XIX + +THE VISITORS' SEATS + + With whom doth Time gallop withal? + + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +Alas. Time did not slacken his pace for those two people. After that +very first day, when Mrs. Kindred really took in the astounding fact +that she was _there_, she began to count almost the seconds as they +ticked away, and grudged even those spent in sleep. + +She would sit far on into the night, looking over from her window to +where her boy's tent rose up sharp and white in the moonshine; and with +the first drum-beat in the morning was at her post, sending off her +heart and her blessing to that grey line where Magnus stood. If he was +on guard she watched for glimpses of his tall figure as he went up and +down, posting reliefs, and in a sort loved the whole white battalion +that marched away to dinner because one particular white helmet rested +on his head. And never was there a more devoted frequenter of the camp, +as she waited there on the visitors' seats for his moments of leisure, +happy between whiles that he was at least nearby. + +Then she steadied her nerves to bear the sharp reports in the Light +Battery drill, and watched manœuvres and evolutions as eagerly as +if she understood them all. How stately Magnus looked in his various +trappings; how nimbly he tumbled in and out of the caissons. And when +the sergeant shouted out at parade: + +"Company A, one corporal absent!"--how thankful that particular mother +was that it could not possibly be _her_ son. + +It was astonishing to see such honours and cares resting upon his young +head; drilling plebs, posting sentinels; no wonder he had changed. +Was the change in him all for the better? The mother could not quite +tell. When Magnus was with her that joy swept everything else away; but +sometimes, as she sat alone, her thoughts worked hard, and many things +came in to tangle and perplex them. + +Loitering about the camp in this way, and never missing a formation, +Mrs. Kindred also could not miss a good deal else. The Point was +not crowded; but the summer girl--and the summer girl's supposed +chaperon--were in sufficient force; and as young people nowadays think +their words worth hearing, Mrs. Kindred did not need to strain her ears +nor give undue attention to know much that was said and done. + +It was a glimpse into a life unguessed before. Her own had been simple, +earnest, and useful, from her youth up. The three girls at home were as +merry as crickets, and overflowing with fun and frolic; but the cricket +fun--if fun it be--was not more guileless and true-hearted than theirs. + +But now, sitting under the trees and watching her boy from a distance, +Mrs. Kindred would sometimes hear, close at hand, some word or +sentiment that made her start and look round, with a great wish that +the girl's mother were there; and behold, quite often she _was_. Then +this mother would get up and change her seat. + +Small use. Near the new place sat a tall young lady in tennis rig set +free, while her waist was drawn in until playing must have been hard +work. A game had been on, for Miss Viny's cheeks were flushed, and she +still brandished her racket. She was talking over her shoulder to a +semi-young officer. + +"I think you have a great deal too much to do with Captain Chose, Miss +Viny," said this gentleman. "You know he is in a very peculiar position +with regard to his wife." + +And the handsome girl, flashing round at him her daring eyes, made +answer: + +"That only makes him the more interesting!" + +Mrs. Kindred shivered slightly, and once more changed her seat. + +And _now_ she got among a bevy of girls who were talking of Magnus; +they fluttered in and settled down all around her, too eager over their +subject to know or care who heard their talk. + +"I'll get hold of him somehow. I'm bound to do it," said a dark girl in +very extreme costume. "I told you I would, and I will." + +"Not worth the bother," said a plump little damsel in pink. "There are +plenty more." + +"Not plenty with eyes like his; there's not such another pair in the +Corps. They're just heavenly." + +"Yes, aren't they?" said the plump girl. "When he looks at you it makes +you feel queer all over." + +"I was afraid you were going to say, all through," said Miss Beguile; +"and you know there isn't any 'all through' to you, Kitten." + +"Now I call that _too_ bad," said the Kitten. "When I am universally +known to be all heart." + +"Good you are," said Miss Saucy, "for you give everyone a piece and +the supply might fail. But there's a good deal of you, such as it is, +Kitten. You'll turn the three F's, if you live long enough." + +"_Some_ people don't think there's too much of me," said the Kitten, +pouting. + +"About half the Corps, I should judge. Now I believe in one grand +master passion, don't you know. I think it's dear." + +"It's a passion for a master--if you're in love with Mr. Kindred," said +a fourth girl. "He'll manage you, Bessie. Make you behave." + +If anybody had had time to notice the quiet little mother sitting +there, he would have seen a very perceptible start, and a pair of eyes +as indignant as such tender eyes could be. _Those_ girls after her +young magnate? Mrs. Kindred was fit to go that moment to headquarters +and demand a cordon of red tape to surround her boy. But she could do +nothing; could not speak to the girls, could not (alas) even shake +them. Then she seemed to remember seeing him bow to these very ones; +and with a certain dress-coat air, which now Mrs. Kindred marked as one +of the new things about Magnus that disturbed her. + +What if Cherry had seen and heard it all? And suddenly Mrs. Kindred +knew why it was Cherry she thought of, and not Rose or Violet. + +Here was a new and difficult complication. Yes, of course, it was all +natural, the mother felt, and plain enough now she thought of it. +Whether Cherry herself yet knew, or not, she _would_, just as soon as +Magnus took a fancy to somebody else. Could he do that, after having +once known her? Mrs. Kindred waited till the next relief went on, and +Magnus within the guard tent was quite out of sight, and then went to +her room to think and to pray. + +Should she talk to Magnus?--no; skating is generally safer than +navigation in broken ice. And the next day but one she was to go home. + +No further sight of her boy could be hoped for that night, and Mrs. +Kindred shut herself in and watched the silent camp long after the +sweet "curfew" bugle had cried to every light: + +"Put it out! Put it out! Put it out!" + + + + +XX + +JUST THEE AND ME + + Hushed with broad sunlight lies the hill, + And minuting the long day's loss, + The cedar's shadow, slow and still, + Creeps o'er the dial of grey moss. + + --LOWELL. + + +The next day rose fairer than ever. Magnus came off at eight o'clock +with "old guard privileges," and having also kind permission from the +authorities to dine with his mother in the woods. + +Now the ordering and preparing of this dinner had been a great joy to +Mrs. Kindred; what though the correct dainties could not be had. Green +corn to boil was an impossibility, even if a kettle could be found; and +home-made rolls were far out of reach, and not all the canned things +that were ever turned out could replace her own home-fed chickens and +home-cured ham. The supplies from the baker were fresh and clean and +well looking--yet Mrs. Kindred sighed, thinking of Violet's loaves of +cake, and Cherry's pies. + +Magnus, however, was not so critical, he did not see even such as these +every day, and so enjoyed everything to his mother's heart's content. +And as she feasted on her boy there was really no lack anywhere. The +fair August lights and shades chased each other among cedars and oaks, +the locusts hummed; the birds that had nestlings sped swiftly to and +fro, bringing food. Fall after fall of rocky woods and winding road lay +at their feet; below all, the white camp in its green setting, then the +river--never twice the same. Far up in the north the Catskills lifted +their blue, changeless heads. + +It was all so wondrous and so new to Mrs. Kindred that she was watching +it, taking it in, even when she thought she had no eyes but for Magnus. +The hills bewitched her; the distant blue, the nearer green; on all +sides she seemed to hear the silent chanting of her favourite psalm: + +"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." + +Surely this was a place wherein to grow "strong in the Lord"; a place +where to remember: + +"Thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures." + +"Mammy, you don't eat," said Magnus, beginning on another small pie. +"You might venture--just a little. I think there'd be enough left for +me." + +"My dear, I have too much," said the mother. "Magnus, don't eat any +more of that pie; it is not Cherry's make, remember." + +"Don't I know it! But her pies are across the continent, worse luck. +It is good the know-nothing girls here don't try their hand. Shade +of Scipio Africanus, what a poisoning of cadets there would be! Dr. +Senna says that if it wasn't for Pretty Newcomb and her candy--with a +sprained ankle now and then--he shouldn't have a man on the sick list." + +"Well, that is good," said Mrs. Kindred heartily; "the place must agree +with you all. Magnus, do you know many people here?" + +"Three hundred cadets, more or less, and too many officers quite +intimately," said Magnus, trying the cake. "Besides the bugler and the +orderly." + +"Any ladies?" + +"Quite some." + +"I really do wish they taught English here," said poor Mrs. Kindred. +"You are just as bad as ever, Magnus." + +"Worse!" But Magnus laughed up into her eyes with a look that to the +mother negatived that. What eyes his were! And that reminded her. + +"Have you ever met a Miss Kitten?" + +"The cadets' 'pet Kitten'? Well, I should say I had, rather." + +"Magnus; I do not like to hear you talk so." + +"But that is what she is, mammy, so why shouldn't I say it?" + +"Always speak respectfully about women, my dear." + +"Women? Well, let her pass for that," said Magnus, unconsciously +quoting Portia. + +"You do know her then?" + +"Enough to take off my cap when I meet her and walk while she talks," +said Magnus. "Why mammy, what makes you so curious about the Kitten?" + +"I am interested in anyone you know." + +Mrs. Kindred went on, silently putting the remains of the feast into +the basket. Magnus, leaning on one elbow, watched the hands that did +their work so quietly and well. Then he bent down and kissed first one +hand and then the other, touching them with cheek as well as lips. And +Mrs. Kindred left her basket, and coaxed his head down on her lap, +softly stroking and caressing it. Magnus drew a long, deep breath. + +"Mammy," he said, "they don't grow beds of Roses and Violets out here, +nor anywhere, I guess, but at home." + +"It is you that have to grow 'out here,' Magnus." + +"Yes'm. How much?" said Magnus; "I'm a good half-inch taller already." + +"Dear me!" said Mrs. Kindred, quoting her favourite lines: + + "It is not growing like a tree + That makes man better be." + +"A whole half-inch, Magnus?" + +Magnus laughed. + +"Ah, mammy," he said, "you can't keep dark worth a cent. Truly, a whole +half-inch. Call it three-quarters." + +"I must remember and tell the girls," said Mrs. Kindred. + +"Yes, don't forget," said Magnus ironically. "Charge your memory, and +tie a red string round every finger. Then tell 'em the first minute +they meet you at the station, mother, and have it off your mind." + +"You are a _very_ saucy boy," said Mrs. Kindred, trying to look grave. + +"West Point is a developing place, as some wise M. C. said last June. +Have the girls grown, mother? How tall is Cherry?" + +"Grown a little, I think, in several ways. Every day I see her, I think +she could not be sweeter--and then the next day I think she is," said +Mrs. Kindred warmly. + +"Bless her dear heart!" Magnus remarked under breath. + +"Sometimes I think she works too hard," said Mrs. Kindred. "I really +believe that child carries a book in her pocket, and studies every +chance she gets. She has coaxed the other girls into a sort of class, +and for two hours every day they study together." + +"Good for her!" said Magnus; "good for 'em all. Studies are extremely +developing. I wish I could send 'em all mine. I think I have grown +enough." + +"I suppose you carry a book in your pocket, too," said Mrs. Kindred, +taking her turn at the irony. + +"Haven't got one," said Magnus; "or doubtless I should. The books are +on hand, but the pocket is wanting." + +"No pocket?" + +"No'm. _Now_ you have an idea of desolate destitution." And Magnus +raised himself on one elbow again, drew out a white handkerchief from +his sleeve, and after a melancholy wave in the air, tucked it back +again. + +"But my dear!" said Mrs. Kindred. + +"Ah, you see what development costs here," said Magnus. "No wonder +I have shot up into the air, that being the only place where I +couldn't run against regulations. Just notice to-night at parade what +preternaturally tall men we have in the Corps. You see there are no +Tacs up overhead,"--and Magnus gazed pathetically into the serene blue. + +"Stop fooling," said his mother. "Magnus, if you have no pockets--why, +I never heard of such doings!--then where do you put anything?" + +"Up my sleeve." + +"Nonsense; your sleeve will not hold much to speak of." + +"No," said Magnus; "and so what it holds is generally _not_ spoken of. +In winter we have a resource--a small one; but in summer we should be +hard up if it wasn't for the girls." + +"What have the girls to do with your pockets?" said Mrs. Kindred rather +severely. + +"Would fill them, if we had any. As it is, they fill their own and +empty them at our feet." + +"Magnus, I don't know you," said his mother; "I never heard you talk in +that way at home, and I do not like it now." + +"Well, it's the truth," said Magnus. "The Kitten threw a pear after me +yesterday, as I went by; and only this morning Miss Midget pelted the +men who were at Derby Drill, from her basket of peaches. What can a man +do? You must speak of people as you find them." + +Mrs. Kindred drew a longer sigh than her boy had done. + +"If that is for me, you needn't," said Magnus; "Kittens aren't lions, +mammy. I'm better off than Daniel, yet. Only his detail of an angel +stayed by him,--and mine comes--and will go!" And Magnus brought the +beloved hands up to his face again. + +Poor Mrs. Kindred! it was all so strange and sweet, and perplexing and +delightful, that she was on the very edge of a burst of tears. That +touch of her boy's fingers and face, so long unfelt, and for so long to +be again, just wrung her heart. And when so many other confusing ideas +came to tangle themselves in with this, no wonder her nerves got out of +order. And so, as such dear people will, finding earth altogether too +much for her, Mrs. Kindred took refuge where the ways are marked out, +and the standing sure. + +"I am glad you reminded me of Daniel," she said, her voice faltering in +spite of her. "Yes, 'My God will send his angel' to look after you." + +"He _has_," put in Magnus. + +"But dear," the mother went on, "Daniel risked everything, for loyalty +to his master. I should go home with a glad heart if I knew that was +true of you." + +How sweet the summer silence lay between the two. The soft plash of +the river quickened just now by the swell of a passing boat; the bird +notes waking up a little as the day wore on; the lengthening shadows, +the descending sun. And no human voice broke the hush. If a sigh came +to Mrs. Kindred's lips, it was stayed there; if deprecating, excusing +words were ready with Magnus, not one came out. Hand in hand, so they +sat; but presently the mother's heart went up in such eager, wordless +prayer that, except that hand-clasp, she was conscious of nothing else. +Magnus, glancing at her furtively from under his cap, saw the closed +eyes and the rapt face; but even as he looked, the eyes opened and +lifted with a glow of love and trust that sent his own face down, down +into her lap. + +"Well?" she said gently. "How is it dear? Are you like that?" + +"Not much!" Magnus answered, sitting straight up again, and gazing off +at the shining river. "About as little as you'd like to have me. But +mother, you don't know how hard it is." + +"Perhaps I do," she said. "The world power does not go by places, nor +is the devil shut up to any State. Didn't you tell me that you had +always at least a storm flag out?" + +"Did you guess what I meant?" + +"Cherry guessed," said Mrs. Kindred. "She said you never took your flag +down, even on the stormiest days." + +"Like Cherry!" cried Magnus. "Her true heart could not even imagine +anything else. Well, mother, that's what it ought to mean--and what it +_does_ mean, for that blessed old banner down yonder. The toughest wind +that blows never finds that flagstaff empty, from reveille to retreat. +And in the deadest sort of a calm you can see a touch of blue and a +gleam of red clinging and glowing about the top of the old pole." + +"And for you, Magnus? What does it mean for you?" the mother said +anxiously. + +"Oh, nothing very bad!" Magnus answered. "Only sometimes I seem to fly +my storm flag in fair weather." + +There was a long, quiet pause. Magnus waited for his mother to speak, +and her words were not ready. The young cadet, looking at her again, +found no shocked expression, as he had feared; the tender face was +grave and thoughtful, but calm; the eyes gazing out far beyond him. + +"Dear," she said at last, "are all the men in your Company Christians?" + +"All the men in my Company? Well, I should say not." + +"Or all your special associates?" + +"Why, no! Not by several and many." + +"Magnus, suppose this pretty place was suddenly peopled with aliens, +and not an American left but the one in charge of the colours. What +should he do?" + +"Hang out the garrison flag, if it blew to tatters!" said Magnus. + +Mrs. Kindred laughed, but her eyes filled and her lips trembled. + +"Yes, dear," she said. "So do." + + + + +XXI + +ME ONLY + + "Everything goes away," said the Dryad: "goes away as the clouds + go, never to return." + + --HANS ANDERSEN. + + +That was the last long talk they had together. A brief walk next +morning before eight o'clock; another--ah, how short--to the brow of +the hill where they had met that first day; and then Magnus pulled his +cap over his eyes and strode away to his hidden nook, and the mother +went quietly sobbing down the hill. Alas! how fast the minutes flew now +that had seemed so loitering when she came. + +As for Magnus, he watched the ferryboat every foot of the way over; +waved his cap frantically to the cluster of dark spots that went up the +sloping path to the station; then listened for the roar of the coming +train with an intensity that made him start when he heard it. With +a great pang he saw the pliant black line wind out from between the +cloven rocks and swing along to the station, almost holding his breath +in the minute's hush that came next. Hardly a minute; then puffs of +black smoke curled up into the air, the engine gave its usual snort at +such trifles as love and life and parting, and the train glided on into +the tunnel, flew out across the bay, and past the Island; the trail of +smoke fainted and faded away on the sweet summer air, and Cadet Kindred +shook his fist at the whole thing. + +What right had that black engine to carry his mother off before his +very eyes? And what business had he to be lingering there behind her? +If it could have been done suddenly and quietly, I believe Magnus +would have resigned on the spot, and taken the next train home. + +But red tape has its use. What letters and papers and statements such +a step would involve; what answering of official questions; and Cadet +Charlemagne Kindred did not feel prepared to state publicly that +he, who had survived to be a yearling corporal, must now resign for +homesickness. A drum-call in the distance also lent its persuasions. +The usual is generally, after all, the easiest thing to do, so Magnus +put his cap in position, and set his face towards camp and duty. But +taking off the cap again, he first bowed very low towards the steadfast +old hills through whose cuts and chasms his mother had just vanished, +kissing his hand to her in mute farewell; then resolutely walked away. + +There was a pleb drill that afternoon, and with the way one has of +being good by proxy, Mr. Kindred kept his little set of men to their +work most unflinchingly, with small allowance for mistakes, and none at +all for inattention. Such zeal bestowed upon himself would have wrought +wonders. To hear him, you would have thought a mathematical line the +only easy position, and any sort of twist or bend that might be ordered +merely a pleasing variety of the same. "Brace up"--the poor, distracted +fourth classmen felt sure he must have done it in his cradle. + +Miss Dangleum came by and paused to look--and Magnus was sublimely +unconscious of her presence; the Kitten held out a box of bonbons--and +he went by at the double-quick. Then Miss Saucy joined the group, with +Miss Bessie Beguile, and finally, that young lady's mother came slowly +on the scene. + +"What's the matter here?" said the panting chaperon. "How you girls +do run! What are you looking at? Who's fainted? These drills are +positively barbarous!" + +"Oh, don't you just wish he _would_ faint?" cried the Kitten. "Such +fun! Then we'd all rush in with our smelling-bottles, while Mrs. +Beguile ran for water!" + +"While I--ran--for water!" quoth Mrs. Beguile, with a thought of her +rather stout proportions. + +"But you'd be the only one, you know, mamma," said Miss Bessie sweetly. +"Because _we_ couldn't invade the guard tents alone." + +"Nor in company, either," said Miss Saucy. "Nobody's going to faint, +Mrs. Beguile, unless it's me, because we can't get Mr. Kindred to look +at us." + +"My dear!" said Mrs. Beguile. "I am surprised! _Never_ show such +special interest. Why, you will turn the young man's head." + +"Just what we're after," said the Kitten. "And what we'll do, too. I'll +_make_ him look at me--I vow I will!" + +The words were spoken half aloud, but the young lady got not a glimpse +of the eyes in question. Corporal Kindred's words of command rang out +minus let or hinderance; and if the girls put themselves in the way, he +led his men straight on, and they had to get out of it. + +"I don't mind," said Miss Saucy, after one of these raids. "It's fun. +And he can't _help_ seeing us!" + +"It's ravishing to hear anything in such a voice," said Miss Beguile. +"If I were going to be shot, I should like to have him give the order." + +"It wouldn't be exactly what you call going off the stage to slow +music," said Miss Saucy, as a sharp and imperative "Halt!" came from +the young corporal's lips. The girls refreshed themselves with a +prolonged titter, the weary plebs dropped down upon the grass. Magnus +walked slowly down the road. + +"I wonder if one might venture to address his High Mightiness, in these +his moments of comparative leisure?" said Miss Dangleum. "They are so +pernickity about drills. Mr. Kindred!" (softly and experimentally). +Magnus turned within a yard of the young lady and paced back. + +"Oh, Mr. Kindred! If there was a snake here, could you come and kill +it? Wouldn't a rattlesnake be against regulations?" + +And now there was a smothered laugh among the plebs. But the corporal +turned and took his way past the ladies again, and gave no sign. + +"Mr. Kindred!" (very pleadingly) while one pretty hand held out a box +of brown chocolates and another a red-cheeked peach. In apparently deep +abstraction Mr. Kindred once more paced down the road. + +"I'll throw it at him! I vow I will," said Miss Saucy. "If I could +knock his cap off, I should die radiant." + +And she did her best. But some puff of adverse wind, some swerve in the +fair hand, spoiled all; the corporal's cap maintained its position; the +peach fell harmlessly at his feet. + +"Attention!" + +The plebs started, and so did the girls. + +"I'll go home after that," said Miss Saucy. "The only thought left to +make life bearable is, that he'll come back after drill and pick it +up." But he did not. + +Parade followed drill, and supper came after parade; and then in the +cool evening light people began to gather for band concert. What +pleasure Magnus had had there with his mother, night after night! This +time he did not want to see anybody or hear anything. Yet the evening's +witchery kept him out of his tent, and the unearthly sweetness from +some of the brass instruments drew him, little by little, into the +group around the band. Pretty soon Rig touched him on the shoulder. + +"Say, Kin, Miss Dangleum wants you." + +"What for?" + +"Wants to show you how she's done her back hair." + +"Don't get off any grinds on me to-night," said Magnus, "I'm not in the +mood." + +"What shall I tell her?" + +"What you like!" + +"All right. I'll go back and report that you are out of town, and have +left a bear to keep house." + +Which apparently he did, to judge by the shout of laughter that went up. + +"Oh, do bring him!" cried a pretty voice. "I do so dote upon bears. Oh, +I think they're dear! Which one is Mr. Kindred?" + +"You'll know by his eyes, when he turns round," said Miss Saucy. + +"But that's the only way I can ever tell cadets apart--by their eyes," +said Miss Midget. "Is that the reason they order 'Eyes front' so +much?--so that the officers can know which one to report?" + +Another laugh followed. + +"You'd better believe old Towser would know, if they hadn't any eyes at +all," said Randolph, "or if he hadn't!" + +"Well, he hasn't, much," said Miss Saucy. + +"Stands to reason," said Rig, "because he's got 'em all over--diffused. +In the back of his head, and on his shoulder-straps, and the white +stripe down his trousers, and the point of his nose." + +"That's awfully funny!" said Miss Beguile. "Must make it awfully lively +for all of you." + +"Just does. The only enjoyment he has in life is skinning cadets. So +it's 'Skin 'em! Skin 'em!' all the day long. Too much shirt-collar at +breakfast, and too little coat above belt at drill." + +"And too much hair," said Mr. Carr. "I declare, when Towser comes +rubbing up and down the back of my head, I feel as if I was a baby +getting washed and dressed." + +The girls clapped their hands in applause. + +"Such pretty hair, too," said the Kitten, "or would be, I'm sure, if +one could see it." Mr. Carr made a profound reverence. + +"Thank you so much," he said. "Awfully good of you. Wish you'd give +Towser a hint." + +"Wherever did the poor man get such a name?" said Miss Beguile. + +"Simple and descriptive," said Mr. Carr. + +"Look here, D. T.," said Rig, "I wouldn't be as funny as I could, not +every time, don't you know. You might get the blues for disrespect. +He's sure to be round." + +"And why do you call _him_ 'D. T.'?" demanded another girl. + +"Doubletimes it every day," said Rig. "Gets a late in the morning, and +a cold absence at night." + +"But what _can_ we do to rouse Mr. Kindred from this awful +abstraction?" said Miss Dangleum. + +"Let's give him homeopathic treatment," said the Kitten. "D. T., +double-time it over to the band and bid them play 'Love Not.'" + +"I'll go," said Rig. "He won't get there till the drum beats. 'Love +Not'--I never heard of such a tune in my life." + +"You will--first time you make love to the wrong girl," said Miss +Saucy. "Now go!" + +"They won't do it for him," said Carr; "they _can't_--unless the Com. +or the officer in charge says so. You'll have to go yourself. Towser's +in charge." + +"Send the Kitten," said Miss Dangleum. "That will just fit. Here, Puss, +draw in your claws and stretch out your paws, and go get an order for +the band to play 'Love Not.'" + +So the écru dress flitted away, and the others watched with deep +interest. + +"He won't do it," said Randolph. + +"Yes, he will," said Miss Dangleum. "Puss is a match for the whole +canine contingent." + +And so it proved. The band finished the fantasia they had in hand, took +their short rest, and struck off into the old, time-worn air. + +And now everybody stopped to listen; some because they remembered it so +long ago, and some because it was so old that it was new. + +Magnus Kindred knew it well. The flood of new music had spread but +slowly over his own little home region, and this air had always been +a favourite with his mother. In the old childish days, before sorrows +came, he had many a time heard her sing it. And now, amid the sweet +rendering of the band, he seemed to hear her dear voice still, and the +old words kept sounding in his ears: + + "Love not! Love not! + The thing you love may change." + +"Never!" Magnus said to himself. Not one of those four beloved people +at home could ever swerve from him. What stuff those song makers did +write! + +He followed the band through the variations and interlude. Then began +the simple air again; and the words would come: + + "Love not! Love not! + The thing you love may die." + +A great pang shot through the boy's heart. _Could_ such things happen +to him? How had his mother looked? Magnus turned away from the band and +hid himself in the dark recesses of his tent. + + + + +XXII + +GIRLS + + Rien de trop est un point Dont on parle sans cesse, et qu'on + observe point. + + --LA FONTAINE. + + +So Miss Dangleum failed for that time. But "To-morrow is also a day," +says the proverb. And it is not in human nature to be always insensible +to blandishments. Mr. Kindred found himself scanning his wonderful eyes +in the small glass quite oftener than was needed. He could also pick +out Miss Dangleum's red parasol clear across the plain from all its +compeers; and knew at least half of Miss Beguile's fans by experience. +She declared that he had broken a quarter of them, but this statement +is plainly incorrect. + +The Point filled up to crowding as the encampment neared its close, and +introductions, walks, picnics, were multiplied, and every cadet who +liked the fun could have enough of it. + +Magnus Kindred, for one, had about all he could manage, Rig's favourite +cousin was always on his hands when Rig himself was on guard or in +confinement. This happened pretty often, and as Rig was his "wife" +Magnus could not object. Chapman's sister was often turned over to him +because Chapman's best girl was also at the Point. + +Then there was every now and then some plain, unnoticed girl whom +Magnus in his chivalry would look after and take out, giving her a +royal good time. There were guests at some of the houses where the +young cadet had been made welcome, and he must help amuse them. And +finally (for my hero was every inch a man), there were wits and +beauties with whom he liked to stand at least as well as the best. It +was all very enticing, and he was so lonely when his mother had gone +that petting of any sort felt good. + +So that last part of August was one grand whirl, in which common sense +and right ways got drawn in and danced a breakdown. At least that +was what Cadet Kindred said of it himself in his calmer moments. For +"Kindred--late at roll-call," "Kindred--absent at supper," had been +read out too often from the blue list after parade. + +Magnus was on guard the last night but one of Camp Golightly, and +between reliefs took time to foot up his accounts. What had he to +show for those weeks since his mother went away? Or (excepting only +her visit) for the whole of "Yearling Camp"? Not much, he thought to +himself with a curl of his lip. The little pleasure he had given was +easy and cheap; the pleasure he had had--well, it did not look very +bright to him now. Not very satisfactory. + +It seemed rather small business to take all the sweets he could get: +compliments, flattery, and boodle, from girls to whom he neither would, +could, nor should, give more in return than a walk or two; perhaps only +the convenient phrase: + +"Thanks, awfully." + +And that very phrase was his mother's aversion. + +And it was no end mean, to laugh at a thing and then afterwards score +it sharply. Was he still "training with the wrong crowd"--only of girls +this time? + +Then he changed his ground and came up on the other side. How far had +he been a power for good in all those weeks? How much stronger or purer +had any company been for his presence? Who had learned to think sweeter +things of religion for his glad life? Whose doubts had weakened in the +light of his faith? Was anyone more ready to swear fealty to Christ +for _his_ constant witnessing to the blessedness of the service? Nay, +Cadet Kindred knew, now that he took time to think, what had ailed some +of the merrymaking. It jarred his conscience. And sometimes he had felt +it at the time. + +That Sunday afternoon, when he had walked about with Miss Dangleum, and +smiled at her vapid infidelities, the twinge had been so sharp, as he +thought of his mother in the old porch at home, drawing strength and +knowledge from her open Bible, that he never did _that_ thing again. +But he had laughed at Miss Beguile's jests about church and church +service, and the very next day, in chapel, had taken the sugar plums +she offered under cover of her fan. + +He had been indignant when some girl, displeased with the sermon, shook +her fist at the preacher then and there. But perhaps she had never been +taught any better--and what had been his own criticisms of that very +sermon? Just as open as he dared make them. + +Cadet Kindred felt rather sick of himself, on the whole. + +"That's a large place in which to keep your colours!" he said, looking +down into his grey sleeve. + +In some things he had stood firm. The first brandy snap he got hold of +at Mrs. Beguile's picnic went over the cliffs at Fort Putnam, to the +great excitement of a nest of young squirrels. And the first bonbon +drugged with rum followed: first, and last. + +"But, easy and cheap!" he repeated to himself. "I was not going to be +tricked into taking that stuff. I had said I wouldn't." + +What else had he "said"? + +Coming off next morning with O. G. P., Magnus got leave to go to the +trunkroom, and hunted out a little copy of the Church covenant which he +knew his mother had packed in with his other things. Then, under one of +the shadowing trees of Fort Clinton, he lay on the grass and read it +over. + +"Unto Him, the Lord, you do now give yourself away, in a covenant never +to be revoked, to be His willing servant forever." + +Was it like a good servant to listen to slighting talk about his +Master's laws? To be silent when the Name that is above every name was +lightly spoken? Could he not rise and go from any company? How long +would he be quiet if his mother's name was handled so? He did always +wince, he was glad to remember, but who had been the wiser? + +"Not even a poor little storm flag!" he said bitterly to himself. "And +these are but catspaws that come to me." + +Magnus turned over on his elbow, and looked across to the flagstaff, +where the colours were having a lively time in the breeze; looked and +looked, his eyes growing very grave, his lips firm. + +"You're worth a half hundred of me, old comrade," he said, with a +reverent wave of his cap. What was that his mother had said in her last +letter? + +"Thou, therefore, my son, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus +Christ." Turning back after a while to his former position, Magnus +found himself face to face with a pile of muslin and lace, of which +Miss Saucy was the fair centre. She stood a little away, gazing +pensively at him, her white kids clasped in what might be either +entreaty or dismay. + +"Oh, there's nothing the matter, is there?" she said. "I was _so_ +afraid you'd had a sunstroke, or something. And you know you promised +me a walk this morning." + +"Did I?" + +"Yes, and it's very rude of you to forget it." + +"Well, it is not too late for the walk," said Magnus, slipping the +little book up his sleeve, and putting himself by the young lady's +side. "Which way?" + +"Round the plain. I mustn't get out of sight, because I have to walk +with Mr. Chapman at twelve." + +"'Have to' expresses it." + +"You shan't make fun of him," said Miss Saucy. "Of course, he's not +some people,--but then he never forgets his walks, which some people +do. What was that book you were studying?" + +"Regulations." + +"Blue book?" + +"No, white." + +"Then it was the black one. Boning discipline! I don't believe it. Not +you." + +Magnus bowed. + +"Let me see, then," she said. "I know it's just some old thing with a +love letter inside. Give it to me!" + +Magnus drew out the little book and handed it over, but Miss Saucy was +a very bewildered girl indeed, as she turned the pages. + +"_What?_" she said. "I can't make head or tail of this thing. What sort +of stuff is it, anyhow?" + +"Stuff that will wear." + +"It'll wear you--wear you out," said Miss Saucy. "You are at least two +years older than you were last night. Oh, I don't know anything about +religion, except the outside of course, don't you know; but that's +enough. So the Chaplain has given you the points, and you're going to +pose; Cadet Kindred, the serious man. Well, it'll be a variety. Come, +let's go; I'll be the first to have a walk with him, anyhow. Will +this do-o-o?" said the girl, drawling out her words, and bringing the +corners of her little mouth as far down as they would go. "Mr. Kindred, +what will be a profitable subject for us to discuss, as we take our +solemn way under the brooding trees that shadow the path once called +Flirtation? The low state of grace in the Corps, and what to do about +it? Then when we've settled that we might turn our brilliant light upon +the girls and go for them." + +"You said you wanted to walk on the plain," Magnus answered her. + +"Plain's too gay. Do you think, Mr. Kindred, you could lend me your +lovely book just till to-morrow? It might do me no end of good. And you +know how much I need it." + +"The book would do you no good at all," said Magnus, trying to keep +cool. "If that is what you want, you had better read your own Bible." + +"Haven't one to my name,--so there!" said Miss Saucy. "Oh, I never dare +read the Bible, for fear of what I might find. I suppose you see me +there quite often, all done up in black, and labelled like old letters. +'To be----'" + +"Stop!" Magnus said, so sharply and suddenly that Miss Saucy did stop +for sheer amazement. + +"Well, I vow!" she said. "I wonder what right you have to speak to me +so, Mr. Cadet Kindred." + +"No right at all," said Magnus. "Only, if you play with Bible words, +you will cut your own fingers; and I'm not going to stand by and see +you do it. That is all. So if I should leave you and go back to camp, +you'll know why." And Magnus strode on at a pace quite beyond the usual +Flirtation saunter. + +"I never--was--so talked to--in all my--many years of existence," said +Miss Saucy, pretending to whimper. "I know I'm an awfully bad girl--and +it's awfully sweet of you to tell me so. Such a nice time, too, when +there's nobody round to take my part. Really looks as if you _cared_," +added she, with soft intonation. "Don't go so fast, Mr. Kindred, +please! I won't say another word--not half a word. Not if we meet a +procession of snakes. Or my best man with another girl. Or your best +girl with another man." + +"You will not meet her," said Magnus. "She is too far away." + +"Well, that is abominable," said Miss Saucy, as a turn of the walk +brought them face to face with another couple. "That is awfully, +savagely cruel. Oh, Nina Dangleum! Here is Mr. Kindred telling me he is +engaged to be married! How are we all to live on and smile?" + +"Excuse me; I said nothing of the sort," said Magnus. + +"Awfully of the sort, I should say," retorted Miss Saucy. "Ought to be, +if you're not. With a faraway girl that hides all the rest of creation." + +"Then we are not to congratulate _both_ parties?" said the second man +in grey, Mr. Short. + +"Yes, me, by all means--that I'm not the other girl," said Miss +Saucy. "We've been having the awfullest quarrel! I never guessed +Mr. Kindred had such a temper: he always struck me as one of the +sweet-milk division. Like the Zulu's dog, you know, that eat up all the +missionary's Bible and could never fight any--more." + +"Naturally," said Magnus. + +"Well, the dog didn't die--if that's what you mean," said Miss Saucy. +"Only his popularity." + +"What do you know about missionaries?" said Short, with a laugh. +"That's a story made to order." + +"It isn't! I guess I can hear things; I've got ears." + +"Two pink shells," Mr. Short suggested. Miss Saucy made him a sweeping +courtesy. + +"Positively, the first decent word I've had said to me this morning. +Mr. Kindred has been simply savage. But, do you know, Nina," she went +on, half aside, "I think he believes it suits his style. Very fetching, +don't you know. Why his eyes just glowed! If I wasn't so awfully afraid +of him, I vow I'd make him angry every day." + +"Nothing left for you two, that I see, but coffee and pistols," said +Short. "I suppose you can shoot, Miss Saucy?" + +"I suppose I can't." + +"Shall I take the job off your hands?" + +"Oh, no use!" said the girl. "Mr. Kindred can't fight. He's the Zulu's +dog." + +Magnus coloured; but with a quiet steadiness of face and voice that +held the essence of bravery, he said: + +"True, Oh, Miss Saucy! So, as it is to be peace and not war, shall we +walk on?" + +And Miss Saucy actually behaved herself, for the rest of the way; +and declared afterwards that she never _had_ known Mr. Kindred so +fascinating. + +Late in the afternoon, Rig coming into the tent was much astonished to +find Magnus with his arms on the locker, and his head on his arms. + +"Whatever's to pay now?" he said. "Just seen Pretty Newcomb go by with +Carr? I wouldn't mind, Kin! There's several girls left." + +"Rig," said Magnus, looking up at him, "if you bring all your brilliant +intellect to bear in September, I'm afraid the Institution will blow +up." + +"Couldn't get the old thing started. Well, what is it, then? What +are you at, all by yourself here? We've been having lots of fun in D +Company." + +"Good place for it," said Magnus; "your sort." + +"What are you about, anyway?" + +"Adding up two and two, and trying to make them six." + +"Talk of blowing things up!" said Rig; "if _that_ isn't inflation! +You'll find it a quicker job, Kin, to fetch in two more, if time is any +object to you." + +"When you want sense," said Magnus, "go straight to the man who hasn't +got any, and he'll give you his whole stock. I'll pit you against the +world. Clear out and curl your hair; I've got something to do." + +And Magnus took from his Bible the slip of paper Mr. Upright had given +him a year ago, then turned over to the fourth chapter of the first +epistle of Peter, and put it in there for a mark. But he looked long +and steadily at the staunch words: + +"Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed." + +After a little Rig came and peered over his shoulder again. + +"Hard at it yet?" he said. + +"Yes," said Magnus, "and like to be. Just look at this! 'If ye be +reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.' And I don't feel +happy, worth a cent. I feel just as cross as two sticks." + +"But you can't take that as a _command_," said Rig, looking puzzled. +"Folks don't feel happy to order." + +"Not a command, no; it merely states the case. How I should feel if the +cause were as dear to me as it ought to be." + +"Well, I'd like to know what you're cross about," said Rig gloomily. +"All the girls at your feet, and never twitted with anything by the +Com. If it was me, now! You know how I shone in the blue list the other +night." + +Magnus nodded. + +"Well, I hadn't really done anything," said Rig; "not worth mentioning, +you know; and so I put in an explanation. And it was disallowed." + +"Naturally." + +"What do you mean by 'naturally'?" + +"The way of the world, or the tactical part of it." + +"But I wasn't going to stand it, if it was, you know; and I polished up +my buttons, brushed the top of my head, swept my face, and went to see +the Supe." + +"Submitted your explanation to him?" + +"Another, Kin, another, with variations. Told him I didn't really know +the act was against rules. Which I didn't, except by hearsay; and +that's not evidence in law." + +"Haven't you a copy of the blue book?" demanded Magnus. + +"Always sleep with it clasped to my heart, so as to know when to wake +up," said Rig. "But now, Kin, what do you think the Supe did? Passed +right over my innocent face and guileless bearing, my spotless gloves +and inky shoes, and went for me like a Bengal tiger." + +"'Mr. McLean,' he said, 'ignorance in your case is no excuse, sir. +You have been reported for breaking almost every rule known to this +Institution. That will do, sir.'" + +"And you came away, as usual, sadder and wiser?" + +Rig heaved a deep sigh. + +"Yes," he said, "'sadder and wiser' will be my motto, Kin, as long as I +stay here." + +Magnus laughed and held out his hand. + +"I mean to make you better that, this year," he said. + + + + +XXIII + +THE GRIM GRAY WALLS + + I'm older'n you,--and I've seen things a many; + And my experience,--tell ye what it's ben;-- + Folks that worked thorough was the ones that thriv; + But bad work follers ye's long's ye live. + + --_Biglow Papers._ + + +Next day the tents were struck; and the manifold delights of Camp +Golightly drifted away beyond recall. But how pretty--and how gay--the +scene was, that last morning. + +A perfect day to begin with; the air crisp enough to herald the coming +fall; everything at its best, and the crowd at its largest. Mothers, +brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, and strangers, the whole Post, +and half the neighbourhood. The groups are always very varied, often +picturesque. + +Here stands a tall first classman, perfectly hemmed in by the dear +people from home. His cap is off, and his face aglow; and lifted +high up in his arms is the pet of the family; the little girl's hand +straying round his neck, her soft childish dress and his gleaming +chevrons setting each other off in a very perfect way. + +Beyond them is a many-coloured group of girls and dresses, but the +girls look sleepy, and the muslins a trifle tired. The small hours of +the hop last night have been too much for both. They are languidly +talking over supposed conquests, rousing up now and then to say +good-bye to special cadet friends, with many promises to come back +next June for graduation. Under another tree is another party in the +freshest of dresses, but themselves in the dumps. + +"Why, Amy!" says one of the calmest of the group, "you are almost +crying!" + +"Oh, it is too awful to have it all go!" said Miss Amy, never taking +her tearful gaze from the white tents. "I asked Ella this morning +how she could possibly sit there and eat all that chicken and egg. I +couldn't touch a thing!" + +And beyond these again stands a camera and its attendant genii, where +a half-dozen mothers and their cadet sons are getting photographed +together. + +Great army wagons pass back and forth between camp and barracks, +bearing away bedding, lockers, brooms, and looking-glasses; and over +the same short road go men in grey, with private effects too precious +for the wagon, or perhaps only a belated broom. + +Out in the company streets there gathered and grew the while, this day, +an array of rubbish; old shoes and gloves, old boxes that had once +held boodle, white jars that _must_ have known tobacco, and yet had +baffled (somehow) all tactical noses. White handkerchiefs--this one, +indeed, duly marked "Smith, J." but this other, alas! filmy and fine +with embroidery and lace. Once coveted and begged for and hid away, +now tossed out among mess-hall spoons, stray towels, and broken glass. +Had it even, perhaps, belonged to the fair damsel now weeping over the +coming wreck of Camp Golightly? Take warning, young ladies, and do not +waste your pocket handkerchiefs. + +As time went on, the grey element gradually faded out from about the +seats, and the white canvas began to shrink and fall from its smooth +shapeliness, with cadets clustering in and about every tent. + +The drummers came, and the first drum sounded. The tents shivered and +swayed, the cadets took new positions, the breeze played over their +heads and threatened to strike the tents at its own pleasure. Another +drum, and now every eye and hand are needed to maintain even the +semblance of a camp. Another--and the pretty little white town falls +prostrate, and the grey men have the field. + +Then fold and bundle up, with some cheers for the quickest; the full +band marches in, the Commandant leads off on horseback--and away goes +the grey-and-white host, plumes waving, arms glancing, all down the old +road to the officers' row, and so on to barracks. And over the plain +in all sorts of groups and combinations, goes a motley crowd of the +sovereign people, vainly striving to get there first. + +Poor little Miss Amy! Your cambric handkerchief lies limp and low in D +Company street; and the man who was to keep it "always" marches past in +the battalion, his head high in air. + +A day or two of freedom follow, for getting settled; a few last +bewitching walks are taken by some, while others peep into their study +books and try to brush off a little of the summer's dust which dims +that respected pile. And so comes the 1st of September. + +I think Magnus Kindred was glad to get back to barracks, if only to +tackle the year which should bring in furlough, and the yearling course +certainly gave him enough to do. But who could not work with furlough +before him? and of late another thought had taken new hold of his +heart. He was but one, yet the honour of the name he bore was just so +far in his keeping. If he stood high, it would be one answer to the +taunt that religion made muffs of men. That would surely be said, if he +were low in discipline, careless in dress, idle in studies. + +So for one cause and another, Magnus worked with all his might; stood +one in discipline, and in other things went steadily up. And his +example told; there was a strong, sound atmosphere about him that other +men could feel. + +His dose of bitter-sweet thoughts about himself had done him good; and +though he could not help hearing and seeing many things he did not +like, join in them he would not, even if people laughed at him. More +stringent orders than any blue book shows had taken new hold of the +boy's heart, drawing him back from evil, speeding him on to good. "I +have sworn unto the Lord, and I will perform it." Magnus and the flag +had a good deal to say to each other in those days. + +What busy days they were! New studies, new drills, riding among the +rest; but that was a delight. The days shortened, the girls drifted +away to less studious regions, the leaves fell--then the snowflakes; +and the winter settled down into the long, steady stride which brought +furlough nearer with every step. + +January's first week sifted out several men from the yearling class; +Mr. Carr among the rest. But as for some reason Mr. Carr took up his +abode in the neighbourhood, he was still at least as useful an ally in +helping them break regulations as he had been while in the Corps. + +"If you want some fun," Rig said to Magnus one day, "just hang round +the west wall of the Academic after supper." + +"What about? I'm not going to put my fingers into a dark pocket." + +"Nobody wants 'em in. There'll be enough without yours," said Rig. "But +Carr is going to bring up a grocery store, and I thought you might like +to see it." + +"Bring up a grocery! Look out it doesn't turn into light prison for +some of you." + +[Illustration: MOUNTING HEAVY GUNS IN FORT CLINTON] + +However, groceries being rare in that particular locality, when Magnus +went out for his evening walk he did stroll towards the old Academic. +The night was moonless, and not overbright with even stars; but the +white spread of snow made things quite plain enough. And presently, as +Magnus stepped down the walk, he saw a dark huddle of figures near the +appointed west wall. A small sled and a very big box, with a half-dozen +cadets playing stevedore. + +Then an officer came along the walk, meeting Magnus, who saluted and +passed on. The officer glanced rather curiously down towards the dark +group, but, with his mind full of something else, he merely took a +short cut across the area, and so through the sallyport from the inside. + +It was at a critical moment. Box after box of chickens, mince pies, +cakes, ham, sweets, celery, and so forth, had been pounced upon, stowed +in bags, and carried off. Rig's turn came last. + +"I believe it's a mistake, you all going the same way," he said, as he +seized the last bag of chickens. "I'll slip round the corner, and come +in from the plain." + +So round he went in the dusky light and met Lieutenant Benton in the +very mouth of the sallyport. Rig saluted, and slipped in. But dark +as it was under the grey arch, the officer's practised eyes found +something unusual about the cadet outlines, and the next moment he +turned and gave chase. + +Rig had the start, and would have got off out of sight in another +second if Mr. Benton had not suddenly shouted: + +"Cadet, halt!" + +Then it was all up. + +"What have you there, sir?" + +"Chickens, sir." + +"Go to the guard-house and turn them in." + +Crestfallen and sour, Rig crossed the area, set his bag down at the +door of the guardhouse, and went in with his report. Being promptly +ordered to produce his plunder, Rig stepped to the door--and behold! +one chicken only was left. The light-fingered, light-footed boys in +grey had in that two minutes rifled the bag and vanished. And Rig felt +smaller than his own chicken when he turned it in, with the big bag, to +the officer of the day. + +"Just my luck!" he said gloomily. But he never knew who ate the +chickens. + + + + +XXIV + +NINETY-NINE DAYS TO JUNE + + The bargain must be, + That, as long as I choose, I am perfectly free. + For this is a sort of engagement, you see, + That is binding on you, but not binding on me. + + --_Nothing to Wear._ + + +It is impossible to put in words what furlough means to a +two-years-from-home boy. For "boy" he is still, to the dear home +group, as well as in West Point pranks and frolics. But from the time +the Hundredth Night is over there is a steadily growing pressure of +excitement. It is not long till, for themselves, the men begin to count +the hours. + +A great deal of outdoor work comes with the softening skies and +freshening earth. Company drills, dress parades, make the Point all +alive again, and the cadets full of growls. Not all the prospective +laurels for perfect marching can make the means to that end a pleasure. +They have no time for it, they say; time is so precious, when you do +not want to spend it in some particular way. But rides on the road are +good, after the winter drills in the Hall; and Saturday afternoons just +perfect--except on the area. Springing grass, opening flowers, scented +air, and in the distance--June. + +For at West Point June has a gift for everyone. In the first class, +graduation; to the old second class, first-class camp and privileges; +for the old third class, furlough. While the plebs become yearlings, +and call themselves the happiest of all. + +As the time comes on, all sorts of tradesmen invade the Point; men with +samples of cloth for uniforms and for "cits"; with sashes, swords, +hats, gloves, helmets, and handbags; with trunks, class albums, studs, +canes, and umbrellas. Each Saturday afternoon is weighted with the most +perplexed sort of shopping. For when you have lived two years, or four +years, in a forage cap, it takes a good deal of study to know whether +you will be most Adonis-like in a stove-pipe, or a wide-awake, or a +plain straw hat. The cut of coats, the colour of trousers, cause deep +debate, as also the probable worth of one tradesman's word as against +another's. + +With first-class questions Magnus had nothing this year to do, but over +one furlough point he had a sharp fight with himself. The "cit" clothes +in which he had come as a candidate were odious to him on that very +account. All the same, one way to save money was to wear them home. +So Cadet Kindred braced up mentally, and said that was just what he +would do. And then, to put an extra touch to his goodness, he thought +he would try them on and see how ugly they were; break it to himself +gently, and by degrees, before he walked out through the sallyport in +open day. + +It was a splendid plan. For lo and behold! under the hard, despised +West Point training, Mr. Kindred had grown and filled out and developed +until he could not possibly wear those old clothes. + +Magnus tossed the coat up to the ceiling, regardless of what might +happen to the plaster, and joined the shopping band that very day. + +It was delightful now, in the soft spring weather, to go out at every +release from quarters, for a stroll round the plain, or down by the +river. How lovely Flirtation was! An army of "Dutchman's breeches" held +all the best posts among the rocks by the wayside, scaling the cliffs +even down by the landing. And in the deeper shade north of Battery +Knox, whole beds of dog-tooth violets filled the spots of damper +ground, lifting their elegant heads like the highbred beauties that +they are. + +Among the tougher growths, iron wood and black birch were charming +with their tresses, and the young tufts of maple and oak and hickory +leaves were a joy to see. Shad blossoms and dogwood "picked out" the +green; from some far-down hidden corner the spice bush spiced the air. +Saxifrage spread whole sheets of bloom; and Lowell's "dear common +flower" gleamed everywhere. + +And then the girls came. Some "opening buds" that had come fresh from +Paris; and some early birds, besides robins and song sparrows. The +company drills had lookers-on; the walks round Flirtation were not +always games of solitaire. + +Among the visitors who appeared thus early, was a certain Mrs. Granton, +with two girls of her own, and two belonging to other people--Miss Bee +and Miss Clive. The Granton girls were just average damsels, but, of +course, having a gay brother in the first class, they went everywhere, +and knew everybody. Miss Clive was an heiress and played ditto, ditto +upon yet stronger ground. + +In the wake of these triumphant young ladies came Miss Bee with just +funds enough to pay her own bills, but no particular store of either +wealth or beauty. + +She was a sensible girl, had a sensible little face, with pleasant eyes +and a merry mouth, but had not knowledge to make the most of herself +in the way some others did; nor, it may be, the inclination. No poppy +leaves stained her cheeks, no powder whitened her forehead, no foreign +coils of hair swelled out the moderate portion which was of home +growth. And no extra-high heels put her further up in the world than +she was by nature. Her shoes were "common sense"; her gloves were large +enough to button all the way; her parasol was brown, and she had a +trick of saying nothing she did not mean. + +No girl who behaves herself will ever be slighted at West Point; cadets +are too courteous and too chivalrous as well. But in view of all I have +told of Miss Bee, you will easily guess that her place in the public +interest was small. Everyone was polite to her, but no one missed her, +or looked for her, or wondered where she was. Cadets never scowled at +each other for her sake; and pretty girls never cared what she had on. +Yet perhaps among them all there was not one who tasted every crumb of +pleasure with such keen relish as Miss Bee. She had had so little of it +in her life, poor child! This was her first real outing. No wonder West +Point was fairyland, and every cadet a born prince in disguise. + +At first, indeed, she was terribly afraid of them; conscious, perhaps, +of her own lack of "fetching" qualities, but by degrees that changed a +little. The innocent colour started to her cheeks as readily as ever, +when some grey uniform came up with: + +"Good-evening, Miss Bee. How did you enjoy the Light Battery this +morning?" + +But when none of them came, when they were all swept away in the gay +whirl of beauty and fashion, and she sat solitary with Mrs. Granton, +this was not quite so easy to bear, Mabel found, as at first. And many +a brave struggle for victory went on under the old trees before parade, +and Saturday afternoons at the Hotel, and in her own room. Nobody +guessed it, and she never told. + +It was no great wonder if, to this rather dull young life, thus +suddenly set down at the edge of the bright whirl, the hero of all +romance, past, present, and future, should array himself in bell +buttons and grey dress coat. It was also quite natural that this hazy +individual should develop into the face and figure of Cadet Charlemagne +Kindred, with no fault on his part, and no special folly on hers. In +truth, it was some time before the child picked up a dictionary of +herself, with definitions. + +But Magnus was undoubtedly one of the handsomest men there, with keen +eyes that could be wondrously soft upon occasion, a winning smile, and +a laugh that was refined and pure as well as gay. And then, as may +happen, his good intentions led him perilously far. He thought the girl +rather neglected by her own party, and so took special pains to see +and to speak to her whenever she was about. He asked her for a walk, +when there was danger of her being left behind; asked her opinion, +right over the head of Miss Dashaway, and (I shall have to confess it) +enjoyed the quick flutter of colour that lit up her face whenever he +came near. For Magnus had no thought of risk in the matter; he was far +too much of a gentleman--too much of a man--to try to draw her on for +his own amusement. He just meant to be kind to her, though he did pick +up a little pleasure for himself as he went along. Now and then he +took refuge with her when other girls bored him; made her a "previous" +against Miss Flirt's advances, and never noticed that all the while he +was drinking in silent flattery by the cupful; getting his own mind so +befogged, indeed, that he could not see how swiftly and surely one poor +little craft was heading for a very dangerous coast. + +Cadet Kindred was not a vain fellow, but what man does not feel the +bewitchment of having eyes watch for him and look up to him, even +though he be too careless of them to know their colour? What man does +not like to have his words counted and treasured as if they held the +distilled wisdom of the sages and the ages? And Magnus was also minus +a dictionary, and did not know how to spell things one bit. The girl +_must_ have a good time, he told himself, she could not be left riding +at anchor while all the rest set sail, and what might happen if he too +often played pilot, to that he never gave a thought. All _that_ was in +the realm of impossibility, in this connection. Wise men and poor girls. + +It looked so impossible to other eyes, and the girl kept her own +counsel so well that it drew little notice. Rig did once or twice ask +Magnus if he was getting rattled with that little Bee girl, and some +others remarked that Kin was practising how to flirt when the time +came; but such words were empty air to Magnus. It was well for all +parties that June stepped in, with its absorbing demands. + +There were plenty of men who did more flirting and frolicking now than +ever, but not so Magnus Kindred. Everything dropped out of his life but +home and furlough. Each night he wrote to his mother about three lines, +telling her what the "Exam" had done with him that day, and in all +the other between-times he was either freshening up his knowledge of +some hard points of study, or he was taking long walks with June, and +June only, to clear his brain. If he heard voices, or caught a glimpse +of grey coats or red parasols, Magnus sheered off, scaling the rocks +or scrambling down the cliffs to some breakneck spot, quite beyond +reach for any cadet who had girls in tow. There he would lie on the +moss and listen to the river, or the bell notes of the thrush; listen +without hearing, as he planned his journey home. He would take such +a train, and make such a connection, and jump off at the old station +at just such a time. He would not tell them quite when to expect him, +because they would be sure to come to meet him, and some of them would +cry--right there before everybody. And it was a bother to attend to +your luggage with three girls round your neck. But then Magnus laughed +and coloured too. There could hardly be _three_--yet somehow two seemed +even more objectionable. And still if he sent no word, and they did +not meet him, there was a good half hour lost from that end of his +furlough. + +So he argued it, back and forth. And all the while, poor little Miss +Bee was weeping secret tears over the seeming defection of her knight. +She _must_ have displeased him somehow. + +"My sisters can hardly wait until I get home!" said Mr. Randolph one +night. + +"There's another man's sister can hardly wait until I do," said Clive. + + + + +XXV + +FURLOUGH + + Den away, away, for I can't wait any longer. + Hooray! Hooray! I's goin' home! + + --_Old Shady._ + + +It is strange how some event towards which you have been working, and +which seemed to fill earth and sky till you reached it, at once then +sinks down and becomes hardly distinguishable from the plain. So passed +by the examination to Magnus Kindred. + +In fact everybody is so fagged out by the 12th of June, tired with +work, with gaiety and excitement, that feeling seems swallowed up of +high pressure. This may be one reason why the bad success of other men +affects so little those who have won through. Exceptionally strong as +class feeling is at West Point, the dropped names seem to make very +slight impression. And in some cases, of course, there is no surprise. +When a man bones nothing but mischief, and tries to crowd into the +three weeks before examination the study which should have filled six +months, June is not always kind to him. Unless, indeed, he be one of +those men who are pure mathematics--and even then the discipline column +may cut him down. So it was with small surprise that Magnus heard +Chapman's name among the "found deficient." Chapman did not whimper, +but he took it hard. + +"It's that beastly calculus!" he confided to Magnus, in the hurried +moments of parting. "Oh, yes! I know what you mean by raising your +eyebrows, but a man couldn't live here if he didn't run it now and +then." + +"But you see a man can't always live here if he does," said Magnus. + +"Bosh! Yes, he can. Only they don't all run against old Towser every +time, as I did. No, it wasn't that at all, it was the calculus." + +And doubtless, in great measure, it was. Another boy, from far away, +fairly came to tears. + +"I don't see how I am to go home!" he said. "I don't know what my +mother will say!" + +While another, who had got a turn-back, liked so little what his mother +_did_ say that he gave her a sharp little lecture on the Graduation +ground. + +"I can't tell what makes you go on so!" he burst forth. "I'm only +turned back. Lots of men are sent away altogether. Why do you talk like +that? What's the matter?" + +Poor mothers! It is often pathetic to hear them explain the case to +other people. + +"He's a good boy, Miss Smith; but you know he has always been delicate. +Hard study never agreed with him." (True, this last.) + +"You see, Mrs. Brown, he has had such trouble with his eyes that I +wonder he has kept up at all. I really must speak to the Superintendent +about the study lights. Then these early recitations. Why, at home we +never thought of waking him up till eight o'clock, and then gently, you +know, and by degrees. And now he says that gun just goes through his +head without a word of preparation. I suppose, really, that is what +ails his eyes." + +"Everything here is so wretchedly mismanaged!" commented a wise and +sympathetic damsel. "The cadets are abused at every turn. I don't see +how they stand it. It is the meanest place!" + +"Well, I've done what I could to straighten things," said a beaming +matron. "Look at this bag,--absolutely worn out in the service. It has +brought Tom _everything_--from cigars up. And when he wants money, he +has only to say so." + +Strange, that with such care Tom should ever grumble at +anything--especially regulations. + +But graduation has come and gone, the graduates have scattered; some +for home, some for Europe, some to be married "on graduation leave." +For three months they have "the world before them, where to choose." + +The furlough men, too, are scattered, yet more widely and individually, +speeding away on the spider's web of railways that covers the country. +Class supper was over, changed from a gay revel to a less brilliant +memory, and Magnus Kindred went whirling along towards home. And the +great question of taking them all by surprise was still unsettled. + +The home folks, however, had their own ideas on the subject, and for at +least two days before Magnus could possibly come, they had met every +train from the East; Mrs. Kindred, Rose, and Violet. Cherry went the +first time, but after that absented herself on one plea or another. And +so on that sweet June afternoon, when the train slowed up to let off +the one passenger and the one trunk, the three were in hiding behind +the station. + +No one could ever describe what that first home-coming was to Magnus. +For miles and hours the excitement in the boy's heart had been working +itself up to white heat, as point after point rose up to give him +welcome. Here a cliff and there a hill; the schoolhouse near by, the +church further off; if he had only had a dozen straw hats, I think +eleven of them would have gone out of the window, for pure joy. + +But the little platform was empty, save of officials; not a creature +got out of the train but Magnus, and not one was waiting to get in. +Not a figure broke the broad June sunlight that filled the old road +towards home. But when he had hurriedly tramped down the steps, he +found himself in his mother's arms, with the two girls sobbing for joy +on either side. + +Of the next few minutes, I think no one of them could afterwards give +much account. Then Magnus, with one arm round his mother, gave that +hand to Violet, and the other to Rose, and so they walked along. How +they talked!--with tongues once set free; but most of all, how they +looked at each other. Mother and son had met within the year, but the +two girls gazed at their handsome brother with a surprised delight that +could never have enough. + +"But I had forgotten that you were so brown, Magnus," said Rose. + +"Drills." + +"You always were straight," said Violet, "but now----" + +"Bracing up." + +"And your hair is _so_ short," said Rose. + +"Regulations." + +Then how they all laughed and hugged each other over again, for there +were only the wild birds to see. + +"Well, certainly, if brevity be the soul of wit, you have improved in +one line," said Rose. + +"They teach it out there," said Magnus. "'Mr. Kindred, your head is on +one side, sir!'--'Yes, sir. Which side, sir?'" + +"And what did you get for being so saucy?" asked the mother, as the +laugh died away. + +"Nothing that time. Even Towser can't skin a man unless he gets hold of +him. But wherever is Cherry? When you all came out of the first bush, I +thought she would jump out of the second." + +"She's at home," said Rose. "We wanted her to come, and she wouldn't." + +"But she did the first time," said Violet eagerly; "the first day we +thought you might come." + +"Oh, ho!--and as I didn't show up then she put on her high-heeled +shoes," said Magnus. "Girls are all just alike the world over." + +"No, they are not!" cried both the charming specimens then present. +"And you shall not say that of Cherry. She is like nobody else--and +nobody else is like her." + +And privately, Magnus thought his own two sisters very unlike most +other girls. With their fresh, unjaded faces, undoctored complexions, +untrammelled feet and waists, and unspoiled minds, they made a +wonderful sweet contrast to Miss Dashaway and Miss Flirt. Magnus had +not known how his estimate of women had run down among the crowd till +he found it mounting up again, ten degrees at a time. + +Even Cherry's absenting herself--it provoked him heartily, and he felt +himself much injured, but it was after all a refreshing change after +Miss Dangleum's ways. Yes, demonstrations were the man's business, and +in his present mood Magnus felt quite equal to them, could he but get +hold of the right person. + +No half-grown girl in half-long dresses appeared, however, as they +reached the house, but for a few minutes Magnus had all he could +manage. The old dog (prudently left at home) was nearly as wild over +the meeting as his young master; jumped upon him, clung to him, danced +round him, whimpered, whined, and barked for joy. It was not five +minutes before the two were rolling down the grass slope together, +then running a sharp race, and then flying all over the old house from +room to room. Magnus shouldered his trunk and rushed upstairs with it, +and Plato dashed after him, wakening all the echoes that were anywhere +about. The two girls, putting rolls in the oven and setting on cream +and butter, almost danced in their tiptoe joy; the mother in the small +sitting-room hid her face in her hands, and cried and gave thanks. Just +to hear that boy's step overhead, what was it like? And then to have +the pair come racing down the old stairs when supper was ready, Plato +barking in a perfect scream of delight;--do you wonder that the prayer +for a blessing was spoken low and falteringly? or that a hush filled +all the room for some moments thereafter? + +Then the three busied themselves earnestly about their boy's supper, +and the boy also lent his assistance; Plato lying on the floor and +winking at him. The old dog was afraid to really go to sleep lest he +should lose sight of his young master. + +"I suppose her High Mightiness expects me to put on my war paint +to-morrow, and to go and ca--ll," said Magnus, drawling out the last +word with ridiculous intonation. + +"Who? Cherry? Now, Magnus, you shall not call her that," said Rose. + +"Shall not, hey? I will call her anything I like," said Magnus. + +"Well, go on, then, and do it," cried Violet, with a laugh, "for here +she is." + +And in more confusion than he expected from himself, after this +bravado, Cadet Kindred started up from the table and found himself face +to face with his old playmate. + +Cherry had the advantage of him; she had seen the photograph, and was +partly prepared for what she saw now--not quite. But to Magnus, with +eyes full of the gleesome, outspoken girl of sixteen, this vision of a +tall, slender maiden of eighteen summers, with something of a woman's +shy reserve floating round her like the daintiest filmy veil, was +altogether new. He had seen nothing like it. She was so lovely, so +dainty, so sweet--if any epithets presented themselves, they died on +his tongue. + +And the girl, too, had caught her breath; the living presence is always +so far beyond the picture. All her nicely prepared words of welcome +took to their heels, and Cherry held out her hand and said simply: + +"How do you do?" + +Magnus got hold of the hand, and kept it; held it fast while he pushed +and pulled chairs about to give her a place by himself. The hand was +something tangible--especially as it was not quite ready to be held. + +"How do I do?" he repeated, as she took her seat: "you don't care. Why +didn't you come to meet me?" + +"I think you had enough at the station." + +"And you had enough at home, I suppose." + +"Enough to do--yes." + +"Well, how can you spare the time to be here now?" said Mr. Kindred, +pursuing his inquiries. A girl who did not wear even the semblance of a +heart upon her sleeve was something new of late, and exasperating. "It +is very frivolous work to sit by and see me eat supper." + +"It will be less so, when I get something to eat myself," Cherry +answered demurely. "But I can wait still longer, if it is not certain +the supply will hold out." + +"There! now you have got it," cried Rose, clapping her hands; "and +good for you, too. Hectoring her in that style! Give her some berries, +Magnus, before you eat another one. Cherry picked two thirds of them +with her own fingers." + +"She did!" said Magnus, reddening in spite of himself under Cherry's +fire; second classman on furlough and presumptive first sergeant though +he was. "That explains why I've had to empty the sugar bowl. I'm sorry +I have made such a raid, Cherry, but you shall have what is left." + +And swiftly he drew everything as near the girl's plate as the dishes +could find room. Bread plate and butter plate, cake basket, cheese, +cream pitcher, water pitcher, and the wreck of the broiled chicken. +Then seizing the berry bowl Magnus began to pile the sweet wild +strawberries upon her plate, adding slowly and skilfully till they ran +down to the very edge and rose up in the middle a red fragrant cone. + +"How will that do to begin?" he said. "Will you have some sugar?--but I +suppose not, as you picked them yourself and put all the tartness into +mine." + +The other three looked on, laughing and interested; but now Cherry +was out of her depth. She looked down at the strawberry hill, at the +dishes, then glanced round at Magnus. What did he mean? Was he really +vexed? Could he really think? It was the fairest kind of a look, so +earnest and questioning. What do you mean? it said. + +I think Cadet Kindred knew very promptly what he meant, and saw some +things clearly which had been hanging about in a sort of uncertain +haze. And thus in answer to her shy questioning, Cherry met a look so +keen and merry and full of mischief, full of she hardly knew what, that +her eyes fell and the pink flushes came hurrying over her face. + +Then Magnus laughed. He had the vantage now which belonged to him, and +he felt better. + +"Cherry," he said, "you are a transparent humbug! Mother, will you give +me a cup of tea?" + +"I think you are an extremely rude boy," said Mrs. Kindred, putting +in an extra lump of sugar the while. "If these are your West Point +manners, you will need a few terms at some other school." + +"West Point manners are all packed away with my dress coat. This is the +original Magnus variety." + +"It is good to know," said Rose. "Here we have all been rubbing _our_ +manners up, to receive you properly." + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Magnus, turning to gaze at Cherry. "Good +to know, as you say. I did suspicion it was something got up for my +express benefit." + +"Let her alone, and finish your supper," said Mrs. Kindred. "That is, +if you ever intend to finish." + +"Emphatically I do!" said Magnus. "If I didn't, I could never begin +again, and that would be a loss out here. Cherry, give me just a few +berries off your plate. I am bashful about taking any more out of the +dish. The sugar has given out, too," he added, dropping his voice; "and +these will not want any." + +Poor Cherry!--she literally found not a word to say, but sat looking +down at her plate in helpless silence, as the hands she remembered +so well conveyed away part of its contents. Then Rose came with a +replenished sugar-bowl and set it down by him. But Magnus waved it away. + +"Thank you, no," he said. "These are too sweet for sugar. How do you +suppose Cherry worked it, to get them all on her plate?" + +"Crazy boy!" said Rose, "you put them there yourself. Magnus, is your +dress coat here?" + +"Truly. Had to bring it along, lest a war should break out before I get +back. May need it yet----" with an indescribable inflection which only +Cherry caught. + +"Then if you _have_ done, as mother says," said Violet, "go straight +upstairs and put it on, and come down and show yourself." + +"Put on my dress coat, after such a supper," quoth Magnus. "I think I +will!" + +"Don't be foolish," said Rose. "Go at once, if you want pancakes for +breakfast." + +"Make it waffles----" + +"Very well, then, waffles," cried both the girls, laughing at him. "Now +Magnus, go! While your hair is short." + + + + +XXVI + +CHERRY + + 'Tis the middle watch of a summer night. + The earth is dark, but the heavens are bright; + Naught is seen in the vault on high, + But the moon and the stars and the cloudless sky, + And the flood that rolls its milky hue, + A river of light, in the welkin blue. + + --_Culprit Fay._ + + +And thus it was, that in ten minutes or so there entered upon the scene +a fine presentation of a West Point cadet: short hair, white collar, +bell buttons, and all the rest. + +Just inside the door Magnus paused, drew himself up, and gave a +comprehensive military salute; then came on with quick, regulation +step, halted in front of Cherry, and took off his cap with the true +cadet swing. + +"Thought you'd be out, Miss Reserve. I saw you clear across the plain. +Now Cherry, you must ask how I could possibly see so far." + +"What would you answer if I did?" Cherry said diplomatically. This +photograph in person was not easy to talk to. + +"I should remark that I can always see some people, across the world. +Then you must put your head on one side and say: 'But you know you have +_such_ eyes, Mr. Kindred!'" + +"Well, I certainly shall not say _that_," Cherry declared, venturing a +look. + +"Magnus, you are a young peacock," said his mother. + +"Fine feathers, mammy. How do you like West Point, Miss Reserve? Is +this your first visit? Very warm, isn't it? What do think of our view?" + +Oh, how they laughed at him, Cherry and all! Magnus kept a grave face. + +"Will you walk with me after supper?" he went on. And Cherry's sweet +eyes opened full on him, to see what he meant. + +"That is not the way at all," said Magnus (approving it highly, all the +same). "You must put your head on the other side now and say: 'Really, +Mr. Kindred--he! he!--I'm awfully sorry--but I've given all my walks +away.' Then I shall answer fiercely: 'Tell me one of the men, and I'll +go fight him and get it back.' Now, Cherry, clasp your hands and say +pleadingly: 'Oh, no! Please don't, Mr. Kindred! I remember now--there +is one walk just before breakfast. Would that be too early for you?' +And I answer practically: 'Nothing is too early for me, Miss Reserve, +after you have opened your eyes.' And then you must give me an admiring +glance and say: 'Oh, don't talk of _my_ eyes, Mr. Kindred!' Then the +drum-beats, and I double-time it into camp." + +"You need not say 'you'--I should never say such things," Cherry +declared; this vision of other girls acting as a tonic, though she +laughed with the rest. + +"Of course not! You do not say anything to me," retorted Magnus. + +"She is too polite to interrupt you," said Rose. "Do you mean to say +that West Point girls talk like that?" + +"Some of the girls. Cherry will when I have walked with her a few +times." + +Cherry glanced up in quick denial, meeting then the aforesaid eyes +looking so handsome and competent and full of frolic and power that her +own beat a hasty retreat. + +"And you walk with such girls?" demanded Violet. + +"Oh, yes--" Magnus said easily. "One cannot be uncivil just because +they are complimentary." + +"But before breakfast!" said Rose. "Is there no other half hour in the +day that would do?" + +"My dear girl, it's not _that_ half hour in particular; it is every +half hour they can get. You wouldn't have them pink and white their +cheeks for nothing." + +"Pink their cheeks?" + +"Why, yes," said Magnus. "Pink them--frost them. I'm sure I don't know +how it's done." + +"You are telling traveller's tales," said Mrs. Kindred gravely. + +"Well, I like that!" said Magnus. "Why, mammy, they _all_ do it. +Clinker says so. At least not all, I suppose. Of course, there are +exceptions." + +"Charlemagne"--began Mrs. Kindred. But at this word Magnus turned +to her and "stood attention," bracing up to the fullest extent, and +saluting with such profound gravity and respect that the rest all +shouted, and the mother's face gave way. + +"There is no doing anything with you," she said. "You must give them no +end of trouble at West Point. Go upstairs and take off that toggery, +and see if you can be a reasonable boy." + +"I've got to give Cherry her walk first," said Magnus. "She has never +walked with a real live cadet; and she may as well practise on me +before she undertakes the rest of the Corps next summer." + +"I look like that," said Cherry, with some scorn. + +"Very much like it, I should say," responded Magnus. "I know how it +will be. 'Say, Kindred, who's that awfully nice girl you've got on +hand? Introduce me, won't you? Your sister, aint she? Well, don't let +her promise all her walks to those spoony fellows. You want her to have +a good time, you know.'" + +Magnus hit it off with excellent mimicry, and the room was in a buzz of +amusement. + +"Then I shall say," he went on, "that my sisters are in quite another +package, and that to ensure her having a good time, she has promised +all her walks to me." + +"She hasn't at all," said Violet. + +"She will--by that time," said Magnus confidently; enjoying the +pulsating colour in Cherry's face, and comparing it with the unmoved +tinting of poppy leaves. "Why, even to-night she'll not walk home with +anybody but Cadet Kindred, in full canonicals." + +"Magnus!" said his mother, "I think you are absolutely beside yourself." + +"Do cadets all talk in that style?" demanded Rose. + +"Not all so brilliantly as I do, by any means, but in the same general +way." + +"Then I think they need a professor of common sense at West Point." + +"And I think you had better go to bed and to sleep," said Violet. +"We'll walk home with Cherry. Your brain is getting overexcited." + +"Silence and solitude will calm it down," said Magnus. "If you all go, +there will be a chatter, but Cherry and I know each other so well that +there is no need to speak. She will not try to keep me, mammy; I'll be +right back." + +There is no doubt but Cherry was laughing when they set out, partly +for nervousness, but also in part for the mere infectious atmosphere +of frolic. She gave no sign, however, being much under the spell of +the tall, erect figure at her side. Whenever she looked up and tried +to throw off the glamour, one glint of the bell buttons brought it on +worse than before. + +"Aren't we walking very fast?" said Magnus mildly. + +"But you told your mother you would be right back," said Cherry. + +"From your front door--not from ours." The laugh rippled out at that, +as Cherry moderated her pace. + +"No use, you see," said Magnus, falling into an easy saunter. "I can +do the double faster than you can. I knew you meant to scoot away by +yourself, the minute I went to change myself into a cit." + +"Who told you?" said Cherry. + +"You." + +Silence fell upon this; then Magnus began again: + +"You see, I really wanted to have you alone awhile--I wanted to ask +tidings of an old friend of mine. I thought perhaps you could tell me +where to find her; girls always seem to know about girls." + +"Oh, I do not!" said Cherry hastily, running over in her mind all the +girls she had ever heard of. "You should ask Rose." + +"Rose doesn't know everything. I dare say you can tell me if she has +moved off. I thought so much of her!" said Magnus pensively, gazing +up at the stars. "We used to be very intimate. I left my heart in her +keeping--whatever she did with it. Why--you will hardly believe me--but +she used to live here, in your house. And when I was going away to West +Point she kissed me right at this very gate." + +"She didn't!" cried Cherry hotly, and then hung her head. + +"Oh, you do know her then?" said Magnus. "Why didn't you say so before? +And where do you suppose she probably is now?" + +Cherry resolutely stopped and faced him; what though the full moonlight +effect well nigh swept off her self-possession. + +"Magnus," she said, "you are talking great nonsense. It may be the West +Point fashionable way of talking sense, but we are plain folks out here +and have not had your advantages." + +And here Magnus made a bow so profound that it sent Cherry's words to +the right-about. + +"What next?" said Magnus. "That is all more or less true, so far, but +well begun is only half done." + +"Oh, it is no use to talk to you!" said Cherry. "And it never was, for +that matter." + +"_My_ talking is of some use, however," said Magnus. "I have quite +succeeded in bringing myself back to your recollection. What more did +you want to say, pretty girl?" + +"That you are extremely silly," said Cherry, with the laugh getting +into her voice. + +"There is no contenting these women of sense!" said Magnus. "If I fib, +she scolds: if I tell truth, she flouts me. If Derby drill will only +handle this line of approaches, I shall learn how, in time. Don't walk +so fast, wise damsel." + +"Will you come in and see papa to-night?" said Cherry, not slackening +her pace in the least. + +"Well, hardly," said Magnus. "I like to make it all safe with the +daughter before I rush into the paternal presence." + +If Cherry had been that sort of a girl, I think she would have lent +him a very earnest and hearty little cuff. As it was, she gave him +one hopeless glance and slipped through the little gate, as her next +neighbour would have said, "spryer'n an eel." + +But quick steps were play to Magnus, and before Cherry's foot had +touched the doorstone he was beside her. His hands met round but not +touching her, putting the girl in a charmed circle of space; and the +strong, clear voice chanted out an old playtime couplet: + + "Open the ring and let her in, + And kiss her when you get her in." + +"Oh, Magnus! do hush!" Cherry said desperately. "You are altogether +wild to-night. And everybody will find it out!" she added, as if that +doubled the case. She made a quick motion to dive under "the ring" and +get away, which was quite fruitless. + +"Stand still," Magnus admonished her. "Unless you want the prison walls +to converge, as in that old tale of the Inquisition. I am going to put +you straight through the catechism. First of all, will you confess that +you are a humbug and a fraud?" + +"I am only myself," Cherry faltered, but standing so still now that she +hardly dared breathe. + +"Only yourself--a very good answer. Well, I never want you to be +anything else, more or less. Do you understand?" + +"The words are tolerably plain," said Cherry. + +"Then if you are 'only yourself,' why didn't you welcome me home?" + +"What did you want me to say?" said Cherry, with again a little break +in her voice. + +"Say?" repeated Magnus. "You should have thrown up your hands and eyes, +and then taken down the dictionary and used every word there was in it." + +But now Cherry laughed. + +"You would have had a pretty mixed dose, if I had," she said. + +"Well, that is past," said Magnus; "you can't do it now. So you must +have the catechism. Are you glad to see me?" + +"Very." + +"You are delighted?" + +"Yes"--a little slower. + +"Out of your wits with joy?" + +"No," said Cherry; "you are the only person out of his wits." + +"Ready to do anything I ask you?" + +"In reason"--again slowly. + +"Out of reason?" + +"No." + +"You will dream of me to-night?" + +"I hope not." + +"You will go wherever I want you to while I am here?" + +"I--think so." + +"And you will walk with me three times a day at West Point and with +nobody else?" + +"I shall not be at West Point. Magnus, do stop fooling and let me go." + +"Bid me good-night, then." + +"Good-night." + +"I mean the way we said good-bye." + +"That is the way I said good-bye," Cherry answered. + +"It wasn't the way _I_ said good-bye," said Magnus. "_This_ was +the way. And this is the way I say good-night. Cherry, you are a +transparent fraud." + +"But you must go," Cherry urged, very grave and quiet now. "If you do +not go, you never can come again!" she added, as a last argument. + +"What a wise girl! I believe she could tackle warped surfaces." + +"Are they any harder to manage than you are?" said Cherry. "You +know"--but she checked herself. It would not do to mention her father +again, even to save his being waked up by all this talking under his +window. + +"Know what?" + +"Less than you think," said Cherry coolly. + +"The professors have been trying to din that into me for the last two +years," said Magnus, "but I never thought to have you take it up. What +were you going to say?" + +"I shall not tell you." + +"Sugar and spice," quoted Magnus. "Shows what I have to expect at my +first wild frontier post." + +"I can tell you what to expect before that," said Cherry. "If you stay +here moonshining any longer, you 'will be pale to-morrow,' like your +namesake in Dickens." + +"Then you can hand over some of your pinks," said Magnus. "Besides, +my dear, I must inform you of a well-known West Point fact: truth +misapplied ceases to be useful. Mr. Peter Magnus was storing his good +looks to propound a certain question next day. Whereas I, having +settled it to-night----" + +But just there Cherry made a quick movement of her pretty head, stooped +under the enclosing arms, and was out of sight in a second. + +Magnus ran down the hill, whistling at the top of his power. I am not +sure that Cherry knew what he whistled; and I doubt if he knew himself; +but I think it was "The Girl I Left behind Me." + +"My dear boy," said Mrs. Kindred, as her cadet came in, "you forget +that it is night in these Western regions. Have you been round the +neighbourhood whistling people up?" + +Magnus threw himself down on the floor at her feet. + +"Mammy, if you'd not been allowed to whistle for two years, you would +know how good it feels." + +"Not allowed to whistle? What could comfort you?" said the mother, +laying her hand caressingly on his head. "Well, I suppose if three +hundred boys got to whistling, the effect might be rather powerful." + +"What kept you so long, boy?" said Rose. + +"Cherry. She is a rather slow girl, sometimes." + +"She isn't!" cried Violet. "_Never!_ She is just the quickest girl +going." + +"Cherry--as I have found her," said Magnus gravely. + +"Do all cadets tell fibs?" inquired Rose. + +"Unless I am a shining exception, they do." + +"Well, do they all look like you?" said Violet. + +"Making allowance for the difference of men," said Magnus, with easy +assurance. + +"What are those things on your arm for?" + +"Rank, power, and responsibility. They are not 'things,' they are +chevrons." + +"What's the sense of cutting your hair so short?" + +"So as to see better how to skin us for 'too much shirt collar,'" +replied Mr. Kindred. + +"Girls," said the mother, "you must really let him go to bed. I do not +think he half knows what he is about." + +"Don't I, though!" cried Magnus, springing up. "Just one hour and a +half ago tattoo beat, and I wasn't there to hear it." + +And once more the cap did duty in the air, as Magnus gave a tolerably +quiet version of the class yell. + +"Go, child," his mother repeated, smiling at him. + +"Yes, I must," said Magnus. "Cherry said I should be pale to-morrow. It +is worth while going to sleep, with no reveille gun ahead." + + + + +XXVII + +OFF LIMITS + + Forgotten the sounds of drum and fife, + Forgotten the winter days so drear; + But all was keen with the glad new life + That throbs in the veins in the furlough year. + + --_Howitzer of 1891._ + + +It was just like the cross grain of human nature that without a sound +but the singing of birds to rouse him, our young soldier should wake up +at precisely reveille gun time. In fact he did it for three days, to +his great disgust; and then, as he said of himself, learned to know how +happy he was. + +Of course, this first morning at home, with everything before him +except drills and regulations, going to sleep again was impossible. + +So with the sublime unconsciousness of other people's slumbers which +marks young men of his age, Magnus lay still and began to whistle. And +with that other line of forgetfulness which shows the inferiority of +the feminine mind, there was not a woman in the house but would have +given her best sleep to hear him. + +They were not asleep, however, but up and stirring; and it was perhaps +some closing door or opening window, or the long unheard voice of the +coffee mill, which reminded Cadet Kindred that in these regions there +was no preparatory drum; and that such a noise as he had been making +would quite rule out the thought of any private suggestions at his +door. Wherefore, he had better get up. But what fun--to dress as he +liked, in what he liked, and be as long as he liked about it. + +With these thoughts came another to hasten his motions: would Cherry +come to breakfast? And if she did, then just when would she come? And +here Magnus paused before a piquant illustration of the young lady +herself, drawn from memory--or, as the _real_ novelists put it, "which +had been photographed on his heart in one brief moment." And thus it +seemed: + +A tall, delicately formed girl, with dark hair, which did not crinkle +and curl like his own, but parted in shining waves and rings; a +complexion colourless in general, but where the rosy tints came and +went like a pink cloud, in swift pulsations. The eyes--no, Mr. Kindred +thought he had not a fair look at her eyes last night, and that was one +thing to do to-day. Also her hand was a soft and fresh thing to touch. +And at this point Magnus opened his door and passed out. + +On the way downstairs he peeped into his mother's room, but no one +was there, and he went straight on to a small room on the first floor +which was a sort of offshoot from the house, and hardly bigger than a +good-sized bay window. + +But the picture he found there Magnus never forgot. + +The room had been his father's summer study. Too cold for winter use, +but in June perfection, with every window open to the air. Roses and +honeysuckles climbed up and ran across and strayed in; amid the tangle +birds sang and twittered and builded. Further off were cattle and +chickens, with an old drum major of a turkey cock strutting before the +barnyard throng. The scent of hayfields was mingled with the yet rarer +fragrance of new-mown grass. + +If the room had been larger, the minister's old library would have made +small show; but as it was, the strips of wall between the windows were +quite well covered. It was a very old affair in every way; leather +covers much worn with handling, shutting in truths that were but the +brighter for much believing. Very old-fashioned books. You could not +find a copy of "Why I am a Doubter"; nor a single treatise on "The +Eternal Equilibrium of Things." The glad toiler in Christ's vineyard +had had no use for "The Trammels of Faith, and how I Got beyond Them"; +and as little for "The Proper Sphere and Limit of the Bible, Set Forth +and Defined." + +But there was Baxter's "Call to the Unconverted," which the minister +himself had also preached; with Bunyan's "Holy War between Diabolus +and the Town of Mansoul," the which he himself had also waged; there +was "The Saint's Everlasting Rest," upon which he now had entered. +There was also old Matthew Henry's "Commentary" in its six volumes, +which gave people so much to do on the plane of the lower criticism, +that they had small chance to wish for the higher; with Fox's "Book of +Martyrs," and "Lives of the Port Royalists," and Doddridge's "Rise and +Progress of Religion in the Soul." + +Only two chairs were in the room: one, where inquirers had so often sat +and troubled hearts found peace, was pushed back now, its service done; +but the minister's chair still stood by the minister's table where lay +the minister's Book of books; and in the chair sat the minister's widow. + +She was not reading at the moment: I think she had been listening to +the gay sounds upstairs; and a tender, happy smile was on her lips, +in perfect keeping with the words on which her eyes had been. But +everything in that room was in keeping, to Magnus: his mother's cap +looked to him not a whit purer than her face; nor was the shine outside +the windows more gladsome than the look she turned to him. The young +cadet was at her side in an instant, down on his knees with his head on +her shoulder. + +"What waked you up so early, child?" + +"The echo of that reveille gun came clear across the Continent for the +express purpose." + +"Hardly. I heard you whistling some time ago." + +"Did I disturb you?" + +"You could not do that," said the mother. + +"But you were reading." + +"Thoughts of you are never far away from the Bible, nor the Bible from +thoughts of you. Where have you been reading this morning, Magnus?" + +"I've not been reading anywhere. Mother, do you think I had better run +up for Cherry? or will she be here all right on time?" + +"Time for what?" said Mrs. Kindred, rather opening her eyes at this +very rapid transit. + +"Breakfast." + +"Did she say she would come?" + +"Why--no," said Magnus. "I took it for granted." + +"Never take anything for granted about Cherry, except that she will +do just what is right. She never goes anywhere, Magnus, until she has +given her father his breakfast and seen to his morning comfort in every +way." + +"I should think she might come," Magnus said discontentedly. "It's my +first morning home. He could get along for once." + +The mother smiled a little at the wide space demanded by the young +people in these days, and the side corner deemed enough for the elder; +but the usurpers are too lovely and beloved to be resisted. And +besides, there is a sort of "while they can"--that checks many a word; +the tender, pathetic force of Dr. Bonar's thought: + + "Take thou my place, and be thy feast + Sweeter than mine has been!" + +"Cherry will not come, Magnus," she said. "She never gets free before +ten or eleven o'clock. So tell me why you have done no reading to-day." + +"Out of the habit," said Magnus. "I never do it in the morning." + +"What is your Bible time?" + +"Well, if I can be said to have one, it is more apt to be at night," +said Magnus. "I don't always read then, but most generally I do." + +"At night?" said the mother, carefully hiding all signs of the +underground shock that made her heart tremble. "I like to read at +night, too. But then, dear, if you do not read in the morning as well, +you have no fresh heartful of the blessed words to live by through the +day." And she looked round at Magnus with such eager, anxious, pleading +eyes as went straight to his heart. Which truly was not far to seek, +that morning. He jumped up and put himself in the other chair, drawing +it up to her. + +"Mammy," he said, "let me tell you about it. It's this way. The gun +wakes me up. And I tumble downstairs half dressed, and declare at the +top of my voice that I am myself, and nobody else. That is, the first +sergeant calls 'Kindred!' and I yell back 'Here!' Then I rush in again, +and tumble into bed, clothes and all, and get the very best nap you +ever dreamed of." + +"Another nap? For how long?" + +"Two minutes and a quarter, drum time. Then I finish dressing and go +to breakfast. And after breakfast, we don't have very much time before +recitation." + +"Cannot you read then?" + +"Once in a while I do," said Magnus. "Not always. Maybe I do a little +boning in math. Maybe I take a walk with the nicest girl there is +round." + +His mother could not help smiling. + +"Can you always get the nicest?" she said. + +"Oh, yes!" Magnus answered easily; "unless she happens to be somebody +else's best. Sometimes then. You see, so long as she doesn't look me in +the face, she can fancy I am her 'best' man." + +"Why, Magnus!" his mother said, half laughing now, but really anxious; +"how do you behave, to make that possible?" + +Magnus laughed too, with great delight. + +"Sure enough," he said, "how do I? Maybe I go through the motions." + +And now it was Mrs. Kindred who, after a moment's pause, changed the +subject. + +"Look, dear," she said, laying her hand on the open Bible, "I was +reading just here: the parable of the sower. And my thoughts had been +going back and forth from the seed which the fowls of the air were let +pick up, to that other which fell in an honest and good heart, and +'with patience,' brought forth an hundred-fold." + +Magnus ran his eyes over the passage. + +"There are lots of fowls of the air at the Academy," he said. + +"Maybe no more than elsewhere. But they have no business in _your_ +life, Magnus." + +"No, mammy, they haven't," he said, hesitating a little with the +difficulty of making his case plain. "All the same, they come in. I'll +go to a right down good prayer-meeting Sunday night, and come back +meaning to be the joy of your heart from that time on. Think I'll go +straight to bed, so as to be sure and keep good till morning. Well, +the moon is coming up as I get back to camp, and there is Randolph +with pink and white gowns in tow; and I stop to speak, and they all +say: 'Oh, come for a little walk!' I don't want to, and I half turn +away--and then I go. The prayer-meeting isn't all gone by the time I +get back, but there has been more of it picked up than you'd like." + +"Yes," the mother answered, thinking in her heart that she had not +prayed half enough for her boy in his hard places. + +"Why, I've seen a man stay to Communion," Magnus went on, "and when +we came out, there was Pretty Newcomb waiting for him in the rain, at +the foot of the Chapel steps. Just walked him off alongside of her +umbrella--or under it. And what are you going to do?" + +"I see. But, Magnus, you said 'Sunday' night. What sort of girls are at +the Camp Sunday night?" + +"Summer girls," said Magnus briefly. + +"Well, dear," said the mother, the cheerful tone coming back to her +voice, "the Lord is 'able to keep you from falling,' even in the most +difficult places; and to make you 'fruitful to every good work,' +in spite of all the fowls of the air that ever fluttered down. But +remember, that on your part the word is: 'Hold fast that which thou +hast, that no man take thy crown.'" + +"I know." But then Magnus remembered something else, and was suddenly +silent. + +And now came a soft, imperative call to breakfast. + +"Waffles!" cried Rose in the distance, and the talk ended. Only as the +mother went out with her boy's arm round her waist, she looked up at +him with her true eyes. + +"Magnus, _never_ 'go through the motions,' as you call it, with the +wrong woman. _Never_, as a sham. It dishonours the woman and degrades +the man, and robs the other woman--the right one--of somewhat that +belongs to her alone." + +"Well, I never really have, mammy," said Magnus gravely; "so make your +mind easy. And I never shall--unless the right one throws me over. I +don't know what I'll do then." + +And in spite of all previous warning Magnus looked round the breakfast +room for Cherry, and not finding her, felt very much aggrieved. + +There was no lack of talk and laughter, however; the joy of those four +people in being together was extreme, and of course, the others did not +miss Cherry, not having expected her, but Magnus did. The reserved, +dainty girl had taken him by storm. They had always been inseparable +as children, and as true boy and girl, though never with any freedom +on her part, even then, that passed the prettiest bounds. Now she had +stepped off a little, regarding him from a safer grown-up distance, +and Magnus was wild to annihilate both time and space, and whatever +else came in his way. She had bloomed out into something much rarer +than he knew could be in the world, and Cadet Kindred surrendered at +discretion, and without a summons. I believe he found that last fact +the crowning charm. If Cherry had held forth her little finger to draw +him on, or had in any way shortened that new indefinable distance +between him and her, I think Magnus would have struck off a percentage +from her perfections. It vexed and bewitched him equally. + +So the young man sat opposite the open window, where the smoke from the +other house curled softly into view, and thought himself ill-used and +happy in about half and half mixture. He watched the winding path, but +it remained empty. Then he looked at his sisters; how handsome they +were, too! Splendid girls, both of them; and wouldn't they make a stir +in first-class camp? Of course his mother had always been perfection. +And here his eyes came round to her, with a smile of such joyful love +and content that poor Mrs. Kindred was very near making a goose of +herself, as she would have phrased it. What it was to have her boy home +again! + +"But I cannot see why they don't move down here!" Magnus broke forth +irrelevantly. "Living on there all by themselves in that stupid old +house." + +"Stupid?" cried Violet. "Why, it's the very prettiest house in all the +State." + +"You had best not let Cherry hear you say such things," remarked Rose. +"She loves that house with all her heart." + +"Stuff!" said Magnus. "She'll have to leave it some time." + +"She will not while her father lives," said Mrs. Kindred. + +"Why, mother, girls do it every day." + +"Girls--but not Cherry," the mother answered; and Magnus was so charmed +with the saying, and the fair little pedestal on which it placed his +heart's delight, that he adopted it for a private phrase of his own; +used many times afterwards, it may be said, when "girls--but not +Cherry," were around. + +"Then, when she will not come, you go to her?" he asked. + +"Oh, she always comes," said Violet; "some time in the day." + +"Some time in the day!" + +"According to what she has to do. Only letter days she always came +early, and left the work till she got back." + +"Some of it," corrected Rose. "But there's no letter due from Magnus +to-day, you know, so we cannot tell when she will be here." + +"Now that is too bad!" said Mr. Kindred, pushing back his chair. +"Coming to hear my letters, and not coming to see me!" + +"Well, the letters were very interesting, you know----" Violet began, +and then thought it prudent to vanish. + +"But, my dear," said Mrs. Kindred, "as you must of course go up there +this morning yourself before you pay any other visits, I do not see how +it really matters." + +"No, of course," said Magnus briskly. "Oh, mammy, I wish you'd pick out +a lot of such easy duties for me." + +"We cannot go with you," said Rose, "because we also have something to +do; but we will come after you. You must wear your cadet clothes for +Mr. Erskine." + +So Magnus put himself in trim, and charging his sisters not to hurry on +his account, and promising faithfully to wait till they came, began to +mount the hill. Good for him the girls were busy--and yet, suppose that +other girl were hid away in some part of the house to which Rose and +Violet could go, while he could not? + +Magnus whistled his thoughts down the wind, as he went on, and then, +with a sudden fancy to approach unnoticed, hushed his tones and even +his steps, and went in, seeing nobody. Through the hall to the back +door--and there got another picture to think of in barracks. + + + + +XXVIII + +ON EXHIBITION + + Wise men always + Affirm and say, + That best is for a man + Diligently + For to apply, + All business that he can. + + --SIR T. MORE. + + +The Red House had been set very near the branch road by which he came +up, and in front there was only a short path and a bit of greensward, +but at the back lay a big old-fashioned garden, sloping gaily down +towards a bit of woodland and a talkative brook. + +Overlooking all this was a very wide porch with sashes on all sides +which could be shut, but which on this warm still morning were all slid +back. The porch within was full of flowers, with various rustic holders +to hang and to stand and to rest on the sills, a wonderful basket of +lilies of the valley being the centre piece on the breakfast table. + +There were traces in the house of other days and more Eastern regions, +and the little spider-legged table was dark with long years of service, +the spoons were slim-stemmed and delicate, the dishes of exquisite blue +and white. + +But the dishes held very simple viands: bread, milk, wheat, with fruit +and flowers, were about the whole, for some hurts or injuries dating +back to the war time had slowly brought Mr. Erskine to a semi-invalid +state, and Cherry wanted nothing but what her father had. + +I have told you nothing about Mr. Erskine--and yet he was a very +noticeable man. Hair whitened more with sorrow than years (it had +changed suddenly upon the death of his wife), cheeks where the native +red still lingered, setting off the look of extremely delicate health, +with features refined and above-board in every line. The eyes were both +soft and flashing, the smile--once the merriest in the world--now never +lost its shade of pathos. Everything about the man was refined, the +daintily cared-for hand, the plain, scrupulously neat dress. Across one +edge of the placid brow a red scar swept down and hid itself among the +thick locks of frosted hair, and now, as you looked further, you could +see that the right hand had lost its mate, and the left sleeve hung +empty. + +With one hand resting lightly on that shoulder and kneeling at her +father's side, Cherry read to him from a book laid open on the table, +while Mr. Erskine was slowly finishing his plate of strawberries, +dipping them, one by one, in the white sugar. Now and then a word of +question, of comment, of explanation, passed between the two, with +heads lifted and eyes meeting each other, then the reading went on +again. + +This was what Magnus saw; and though he made out no words, the mere +tones of Cherry's voice seemed to him as sweet as any bird or brook +or leaf-stir in the whole morning concert; and I know not how long he +might have stood there in the shadows of the hall, if little Snip, the +terrier, being officer in charge and scenting mischief, had not rushed +in from the garden on a tour of keen inspection coupled with much +comment. Cherry rose quickly to her feet, Magnus stepped out upon the +porch, and catching hold of her hand, as he went by, dropped down upon +one knee by Mr. Erskine, in laughing glee at his astonishment. + +"Magnus!" he cried. "My dear boy, is this you? Can it be possible!" The +one arm came round the boy and drew him close. + +"So this is what made you stumble over your report of last night," Mr. +Erskine went on, turning to Cherry; "you were hiding a secret." Cherry +blushed scarlet. + +"Did I stumble, papa?" she said, carrying off the dishes. + +"Very much, for you. Well, my boy, there is no need to ask you how you +are. Stand off there, and let me have a good look." + +"I didn't mean to come in war paint, sir," said Magnus, as he obeyed; +"but they said at home you would want to see it." + +"Of course I do. Well, they certainly turn out--showy fellows over +there." Mr. Erskine hesitated over his adjective, as if to choose a +safe one. Cherry bit her lips, Magnus laughed and coloured too. + +"They try for it," he said; "but we hope to be useful also, some day, +Mr. Erskine." + +"Of all the 'some days' for being useful, I have ever found to-day the +very best. Sit down and give an account of yourself. Let the cloth +wait, Cherry. I suppose you want to hear it all, too. Unless you heard +it last night." + +"No, indeed, sir," said Magnus. "I did not have a chance to tell her +half." This with a glance at Cherry, which she did not mean to see. + +"Papa," she said, "it will take but a minute to finish the table, and +then we can listen so much better." + +"Have your own way, love," her father answered, smiling. "My dear +love!" he said under his breath, watching her. Then he turned to Magnus. + +"Of course we know a good deal about you," he said, "for we have read +and reread your letters, but I think I can understand them better now. +And so these are the famous bell buttons?" + +"Yes, sir, the regulation sort." + +"Truly, they are pretty bright," said Mr. Erskine, with an amused +smile. "Are the coats still pocketless?" + +Cadet Kindred disclosed the hiding place of his handkerchief. + +"I should call that hard lines," said Mr. Erskine. "Your mother gave us +a description when she came home, and I rather think Cherry cried over +it. 'What _will_ Magnus do without pockets?' she said. 'Because, you +know, papa, if there was ever anything he did _not_ have in his pocket, +it was only what he could not find.' Do you remember, love?" + +"Papa," said Cherry, much abashed at both the story and the laugh it +brought, "I think it is enough to have said silly things without having +them repeated." + +She fetched her work basket, and placing herself at the other side of +her father, took out some bit of white stuff, and began to fold and +hem with great speed and dexterity. Magnus watched her, wishing it +were something for him. He had now and then seen a girl with a crochet +needle in these two years, or straining her eyes over a piece of mussed +unhappy looking drawnwork, but everything about Cherry and her basket +was as fresh as the morning. Her strip of muslin might have just come +from the shop, and have gone straight back there again, for all the +disturbance it had from her neat handling. + +"Yes, she's a busy child," said Mr. Erskine fondly, noting where the +eyes were bent; "busy and sweet as the day is long. But come, Magnus, +draw up your chair, and let us have the story. Of course, as I said, +we have heard a great deal, but we want the whole thing now, don't we, +love? Do you wear all that finery every day?" + +"Yes sir, except when nobody is supposed to see us. We have an ugly, +comfortable blouse for study, and meals, and recitations. With fatigue +suits, of course, for drills." + +"Look your worst at recitations, hey? I should think it good policy to +look your best." + +"Wouldn't make any difference with those old buffers," said Magnus. +"They don't care if you fess perfectly frigid. They'd just as soon give +you zero as anything else." + +Mr. Erskine's mouth took on a quizzical look. + +"Sounds like cold weather, doesn't it, love?" he said. "But let us go +on regularly. Suppose it was term-time, how would your day begin?" + +"With the gun, always, sir. Unless I am boning math. and have waked +myself up for early study. I'm too much of a sleepyhead to do it often." + +"Best not; you need the sleep." + +"Yes, but when you want to max it, and have been getting two-nine for +three days running, you see that will not do," said Magnus. "And I will +not bugle; and I can't fudge worth a cent." + +The comical look passed into a laugh this time, low and very pleasant, +Cherry joining in, after a vain attempt to keep herself quiet. + +"Next in prominence to the gun comes breakfast, I suppose," said Mr. +Erskine. + +"Yes, breakfast--slumgudgeon stew, and the rest of it," said Magnus. +"But the bread and butter and milk are always good. They've taken +to calling the roll after breakfast, as well as before, in case +slumgudgeon should have laid some slain man under the table. Then comes +a bit of release from quarters. If I've been fizzling lately, maybe I +put in the time on French; but I am more apt to take a walk." + +"That is well," said Mr. Erskine. "A brisk walk puts the brain in good +order." + +"It's not always a brisk walk, though," said Magnus. "Most often I go +dawdling along with some girl." + +And now Cherry was so still that only the swift-flying needle seemed to +move. Mr. Erskine looked amused. + +"I should think that a poor preparing for the section room," he +said. "Can't be helped if it is," said Magnus. "There's such a lot +of girls--and summer girls--about, it takes every minute you can get. +Chappy comes up and says: 'Kin, just give my sister a walk, will you? +Awfully nice girl, but if I don't bone a little I'll be found in +French, sure guns. And besides, my best girl is here.' So I go. Then +Miss Beguile says: 'Oh, Mr. Kindred! I've _never_ seen Fort Putnam. +Please take me!'" + +How they both laugh at him--Cherry holding back a little, then letting +her merry notes ring in. + +"That sounds stringent," said Mr. Erskine. "Do you notice, love, his +fine distinction between 'girls' and 'summer girls'? That is something +we simple people know nothing of. By the way, I suppose _you_ must be a +summer girl--as he never sees you in the winter." + +"If anyone ever dares call her a summer girl," said Mr. Kindred +promptly, "I'll knock him down quicker than he ever had it done before." + +"Hands off! I'll not call her so," said Mr. Erskine, laughing. "She is +an everyday girl, and better each time. But Magnus, suppose _your_ best +girl happens to be also on hand?" + +"She never is, sir. She has not been at the Point since I went there." + +"Hard on you, if she went there before; you speak as if she were a +fixed fact. Do you know, Magnus, I am rather sorry to hear that." + +"Why, sir?" demanded Magnus, noting the pulsating colour in the fair +face bent over the needlework. + +"Well, when I thought of it, I hoped you would keep clear of all such +entanglements till you knew what you wanted." + +"I did, sir." + +"Oh, of course! I beg pardon; I should have said till you had seen a +little more of the world." + +"Do you think the world is the place to choose, sir?" + +Mr. Erskine smiled, half sorrowfully. + +"I have only an old matchlock," he said, "and cannot cope with you +young sharpshooters. But my boy, what I meant was this. When the boy +goes off to college and grows into new mental strength and riches, +and the girl stays at home and gets not half a chance, poor child, to +do anything but wash dishes or (now do not glower at me) perhaps does +not wish for higher things, then the man comes home raised to a plane +where she is not fitted to stand by his side, and she can never be the +helpmeet for him that she should." + +Magnus listened respectfully; watching that lovely, flitting colour, it +was not hard to sit still. + +"You think," he said, "that some girls wouldn't amount to much at a +one-company post. When a man was hard up for comrades?" + +"Not unless they were 'best girls' in truth." + +"Oh, well, mine is," said Magnus confidently, "the very bestest sort. +I don't know how much she knows--but if I stay at the Academy two +years longer I shall have a stuffed head, full enough to lend on every +occasion. Besides, it's not needful for a man's peace of mind that his +wife should understand wave motion, is it, sir?" + +Mr. Erskine laughed at him, and Cherry laughed too, though now +colouring furiously. + +"I suppose it is not needful," her father said, not noticing her, +"unless in practice. Well, I hope it will turn out all right for you. +I had a friend, Magnus, who got entangled, as I call it, very early, +went away to college, and when he came back with all his honours, his +mother forbade the bans on that distinct plea; she said the girl was +too ignorant. I think my friend would have gone straight on through it +all, but the girl was not of that sort. She refused to enter any family +by the side door. So they waited, the engagement was virtually broken, +and years went by. Then the mother died, the man sought his old love +and married her. But Magnus, the girl had spent those years not in +lamenting, not in flirting, but in solid, hard study. So that when at +last they went forth in life together she had passed him, and was the +better educated of the two." + +What was Cherry laughing at? For while the cheeks had not all cooled +down, the lips had parted in but half-controlled curls of fun. + +"Well, if she was proficient in warped surfaces, I hope they enjoyed +talking it over in their play-spells," said Magnus. "I've no use for +some of those things, they sift out too many good men. We all felt bad +to have Chuck go." + +"Finished his course?" said Mr. Erskine. + +"At West Point, sir; graduated at the wrong end, dropped. He did +everything to stay; ran a light after taps, cut society, and sat night +after night with his feet in cold water and his hands in his hair +(what there was of it)," Magnus added in parenthesis. "But nothing did +any good; he'd go next day and fess on a clean board. 'Mr. Simpkins,' +the instructor asked him one day, 'are you as stupid at drill as you +are in the section room?' And Chuck turned with the blandest face and +answered: 'Nigh on to it, Lieutenant!' And he was." + +How the listeners laughed again. + +"But that was Simpkins," Cherry remarked. "You said 'Chuck.'" + +"'Chuck' was his cadet name." + +"Do they name everyone?" asked Mr. Erskine. + +"Very generally. But some names go with the office. The fattest man in +the class is 'Tubs,' and the oldest 'Daddy'; while the cleanest-face +man in all the Corps may be 'mud,' because his pred. or his resemblance +owned the name. 'Deacon' and 'Squire', 'Mile-High' and 'Shorty', +'Pretty Jones' and 'Lady Crane.'" + +"What is yours?" said Cherry. + +"Only 'Kin'; sometimes with the 'Kith' added. Do you see?" + +"I see that you are a very wide-awake set of boys," said Mr. Erskine. +Cherry slowly pulled off her thimble. + +"Papa," she said, "I sent word that they must all come here to dinner, +and it is time for me to go and see to things." + +"I will come and help," said Magnus. + +"Thank you, no," Cherry answered him gaily. "Housekeeping is one of the +few things you have _not_ studied. Stay and talk to your mother, she is +just here." + +So while the two girls followed Cherry, the other three people sat +talking over many things, the two elders closely scanning the young +cadet; and he, all unconscious of their scrutiny, showing himself +just as he was in truth. Certainly the stories and pranks he rattled +off were full of mischief, and as surely they gave small token of a +reverent respect for regulations. But there was no taint of anything +mean or low, no word that savoured of "conduct unbecoming an officer +and a gentleman." The mother breathed freer with every new light thrown +upon his West Point life, and felt that her boy had come back to her +pure as he had gone away. The eyes of the two old friends met in +joyful sympathy time and again, as Magnus talked and told, and their +laughter had no reserve of anxious questioning. And when at last Magnus +detailed himself to go and look after the girls and dinner, Mr. Erskine +stretched out his hand to the happy mother. + +"He is a splendid fellow," he said; "a grand boy! I congratulate you +with all my heart." + + + + +XXIX + +SKIRMISHING + + O wha can prudence think upon, + And sic a lassie by him? + O wha can prudence think upon, + And sae in love as I am? + + --_Old Song._ + + +Magnus, meanwhile, with quite as much of the "boy" as the "grand" +about him, despite his inches, tiptoed off along passages and through +doorways that he knew by heart, following the hum of voices. So +presently came out into the small summer kitchen, where a pleasant +smell of good cookery steamed and puffed and whiffed from various +vessels within and upon the stove. Dishes stood ready on the table, +with white-covered pans of rolls just waiting to be baked, but save the +old cat, winking and blinking by the oven door, there was nobody in +charge. + +Magnus gave her a toss up in the air for old times' sake, peeped +cautiously out at the broad back steps, then let himself easily down +through the open window and came round the other way upon the scene of +the sweet chatter that was going on. + +The three girls were on the steps, Rose and Violet hulling +strawberries, while Cherry in a wide check apron, sat on the lowest +step of all with a basket of lettuce at her side, picking over the +fresh green leaves, and dropping them into a pan of cold water. A thick +clump of lilac bushes served as a screen. + +"Do you know," Rose was saying, "I cannot believe it, yet. I think I +cried for joy a little bit, when I waked up in the night and remembered +that Magnus was really here." + +"And doesn't he look well?" said Violet; "and isn't he a beauty?" + +"Do not tell him that," Cherry answered with discretion. She would have +given a ready enough answer a week ago, but somehow, with the continent +no more between them, the young damsel had grown wary. + +"I'm afraid everybody else will tell him," said Rose. "But he is not +spoiled a bit _yet_. Don't you think so?" + +"Not a bit." + +It was a very mild way of giving her estimate, and Cherry scolded +herself that she could not answer freely, as she had always done; +called herself to account for the shyness which had sprung into life +with, indeed, the very first coming of that photograph. + +"I am such a goose!" poor Cherry thought, bending down low over the +lettuce basket. "What shall I do to myself? If only he had not acted so +last night!" + +And just here, by way of composing matters, two hands came softly round +her head, and were laid lightly and respectfully upon her eyes. It was +one of his old teasing ways with her. + +Cherry's start passed almost into a tremor. She put up her hands to +remove the obstruction, and they were taken and held fast; and what +more Magnus might have dared had there been no witnesses, will never be +known. + +Cherry lifted her face, trying to speak sternly. + +"Magnus," she said, "you have not improved one bit. I thought West +Point was to make a man of you--or a better man--or something." + +"It has made 'something' of me," he retorted, gazing down at her. "Give +you three guesses." + +"Too much else to do. Set that pan of lettuce on the table, please. +Don't you see how busy I am?" And Cherry drew towards her a basket of +green peas and began to shell with all her might. + +"I see it--to the depths of my heart," Magnus answered as he did her +bidding. "Here, Viola, give us your apron. If I don't sit down and help +this girl, I shall have her fainting away on my hands." + +"No, you will not," Cherry said very decidedly. + +But Magnus spied a spare apron on a nail, and, tying it carefully round +his neck, he put himself down on the doorstep, and dived in among the +pea pods. Always taking, if he could, the very one of which Cherry had +laid hold, and then dropping that and seizing her fingers, and then +mysteriously scattering the peas from his own hands or shaking them +out of hers, so that the rolling things had to be sought on all sides. +Which last process Cadet Kindred pursued so zealously that more than +once his face and Cherry's shining locks came very near together. + +The sisters looked on, laughing and delighted. For just so those two +had teased and scolded and played together, since they were big enough +to play, and to see it all go on again in the old fashion was too good +for anything. Of the subtile difference that had crept in, their young +eyes took no note. And Cherry herself tried hard to ignore it, laughing +with the rest, and very well holding her own, but dimly conscious all +the while that things she would have ventured once, she did not venture +now. + +"Boy, why do you tie that string round your neck?" said Rose. "Have you +forgotten how aprons are worn?" + +"A lost art. But this is the improved style, which I mean to introduce +at West Point. I cannot see how the Tactical Department has overlooked +aprons so long. We're too young to know when to wear overcoats, so +aprons to keep our trousers clean would be just the thing. I'll +introduce them." + +"When you go back, I suppose," said Rose sarcastically. "I'll lend you +mine for a pattern." + +"When I go back as Com.," Magnus answered with dignity. "When I am Com. +and Cherry is Supe. _then_ you'll see." + +"You could see now, if you would look," said Cherry, as a podful of +peas rolled down the step. + +"I am looking with all my eyes.--And they dare to call you a summer +girl!" Magnus broke forth, watching the lovely pink cloud of colour +that came and went with such swift changes. + +"Will you _please_ tell us what a summer girl is like?" said Violet. +"She has danced about a good deal in your letters, but we everyday +people don't know what she is. Come, boy, describe her." + +"Her!" Magnus repeated. "She is to the full as plural as she is +singular." + +"Many of them at West Point, are there?" said Rose. + +"Car loads; stunning, too, as they can be, some of them. Take your +breath away. Say, girls, where's the old banjo? In existence yet?" + +"Oh, dear, yes," said Rose. "Only no one has played it since you went +away." + +"And it is here, too," said Violet. "Mother made us bring it this +morning, because she was sure Mr. Erskine would like to hear you sing." + +Magnus laughed. + +"Thought he couldn't wait until to-morrow," he said. "Or knew _she_ +couldn't. Mammy hasn't changed, that is plain. But I shall sing to Miss +Erskine first. About her namesake--and some other things." + +He jumped up and went for the banjo, placing himself then in the +doorway where he could look down upon Cherry. She had put away the +peas, and now had in her hand a bowl of yellow cream, which she was +softly beating to a stiff froth. The other girls had finished their +berries, and sat near her on the steps. Beyond, the honey bees hummed +over clover and mignonette, the little brook tinkled along unseen. +Behind him, Magnus could hear the pleasant murmur of the talk that went +on within the house. Then a cow lifted up her voice and gave a long, +plaintive moo, and a wren under the eaves poured out new tidings of the +wealth that came to her every five minutes. Magnus leaned back his head +against the doorpost and listened. + +"That bird sings for all she is worth," he said. It took such hold of +him; the sweet home air and sounds and sunshine, the two dear girls +watching him with their loving admiration, and the yet dearer, whose +bent-down face told more than she meant it should, the sights and +scents from hayfields and hills--it came upon Magnus Kindred like a +spell. And as with it all mingled in the echoes of music from the +graduating parade, he struck a few notes on the old banjo, and then +sang out from the depths of his heart: + + "Home, home! Sweet, sweet home, + O there's no place like home! + There is no place like home." + +Cadet Kindred had by nature a rather rarely fine voice. Art had indeed +never tutored nor trained it, but it was one of those voices which can +never by possibility sing out of tune or time, and in the two years he +had been away, exercise and growth had both strengthened and sweetened +it; a sort of revelation now to the listening girls. + +The two sisters gazed at him as if nobody had ever sung before; +Cherry's beater went slower and softer, then stopped, and the girl sat +in breathless listening; until her lips began to tremble, and there +came such a surge of sorrow and sympathy and delight in the music, +and--and--everything else; that Cherry laid one hand upon her breast +as if to quiet and keep it down, and at first dared not look at the +singer, and then could not take her eyes away. + +As for Magnus, he had thrown himself into the music, as was his wont, +being for the time all rapt and unconscious of other things. From +"Sweet Home" to "Lang Syne"--back and forth as the band had done--so +went the voice, and it was not until the words woke up some special +association that Magnus took note of the sweet, pitiful eyes that were +fixed on him. The other girls had pulled out their handkerchiefs. + + "We twa hae paidlet in the burn, + Frae morning sun till dine; + But we've wandered mony a weary fit, + Sen auld lang syne." + +"That is just what we did, Cerise--do you remember? And just what I +have done, since." + +"But oh, Magnus!" she cried, "were you so homesick as that?" + +"Homesick? Your blue apron is rose-colour to it." + +"I am glad we did not know," Cherry said with a long breath, beginning +slowly to beat her cream. "You were very good not to tell." + +"And did nobody help you or speak to you?" questioned the two young +sisters, coming up nearer to sit at his feet. + +"I had help enough," said Magnus, softly twanging the strings of his +banjo. "Everybody from the Com. to the third-class corporals bade me +brace up. And if I wanted a lonely walk in the open air on Saturday, I +had only to wear my hair long and dishevelled as a sign of grief, and +they'd give to me without asking. And if I dead-beat and went to the +Hospital to get a chance to mope a little, Dr. Pestle would give me +some compound to _make_ me sick, lest I should lose my time and be down +there for nothing. The Tacs were so afraid I should 'wet my couch with +briny tears' that they made me keep the old thing tight rolled up till +bed time. I was too tired to cry, then." + +"Queer help," said Rose. + +"The best that could be, Rosy. They made me mad, and then I was all +right." + +"I should call that poor comfort," said Violet. + +"Nothing like it, however," said Magnus. "Dries up your feelings +quicker than fourteen pocket-handkerchiefs. You owe the world one, and +you mean to live till you pay it. So suicide can wait." + +"Magnus, I wish you would not talk so," Cherry said appealingly. + +"Now there is Cerise," Magnus went on. "If I could once make her +thoroughly angry with me, she wouldn't mind anything else that +happened. The thing is how. I haven't found out yet." + +"And you never will," said Rose. "You cannot do it." + +"I cannot, hey? That is good to know. Gives me great freedom of action. +I'll store up the information for future use." + +"What makes you call her Cerise?" said Rose. + +"Practising my French. Of course I never thought of her in common +English when I was away." + +"Cherry, he cannot be with you five minutes without beginning to +tease," said the girls, laughing. "He is the very same boy he always +was." + +"I think he has made good progress in the art of telling fibs," said +Cherry in turn. + +"Fibs!" Magnus repeated, with much unworded scorn. "You'll see about +that. I mean to tell the truth while I am home now, if I never do +again." And with the most funny, rollicking tone Mr. Kindred caught up +his banjo and dashed off into "The Girl I Left Behind Me"; rattling it +out, throwing in recitative here and there, and putting such spirit +and vim into the performance that now the girls all laughed till they +nearly cried again; but this time Cherry kept her eyes on her cream. + +Then quick and easily as the band had done, Magnus dropped once more +into the plaintive burden of: + + "Home, home; sweet, sweet home; + There is no place like home,-- + There is no place like home." + +But now, when he stopped playing, his two sisters came round him +caressing him, hanging upon him, and even Mrs. Kindred looked in from +the other room and said: + +"Magnus, don't play that any more. You break my heart. I shall never be +able to let you go back again." + +Magnus laid the banjo aside. + +"Don't fret now, mammy," he said. "It has been pretty tough, but the +worst is over." + + + + +XXX + +A MORNING TALK + + Hope rules a land forever green: + All powers that serve the bright-eyed queen + Are confident and gay. + Clouds at her bidding disappear; + Points she to aught? The bliss draws near, + And fancy rules the way. + + --WORDSWORTH. + + +That was a wonderful day. But it may be remarked, that Mr. Kindred went +home more than ever discontented with the length of the hill. + +"Living up there," he said, "when we are all down here. It is too bad. +How many times a month does Cherry walk down here in the sun?" + +"She need not walk in the sun," said the girls, laughing at him. "There +is shade all the way if she wants it. Why, she comes every day, you +foolish boy." + +"At what hour, generally, you foolish girl?" + +"Oh, all sorts of times," said Violet; "after breakfast, and before +dinner, and after tea. But they are both coming down to-day to dine +with us." + +"I think I will just go up and make sure they understand that," said +Magnus. "Cherry does not always take up an idea as quick as she might." + +And away he dashed out of the house and began to double-time it up the +hill, the three women at home watching from the window in admiring joy. + +"He is the best looking fellow that ever was," said Rose. And the +mother answered as Cherry had done: + +"Yes, but do not tell him so." + +Then the girls laughed. + +"Oh, mother," they cried, "you do it, every time you look at him." + +Magnus meanwhile sped lightly up the hill. He had his reasons for +liking to go at this particular time; the picture yesterday was too +lovely for him not to long to see it again, and it might be that +Cherry read to her father every morning. Then what was the book? +Cherry had closed it so suddenly upon his coming, that he caught no +glimpse of the inside; but the outside stirred his curiosity. It was +an old book, bound in the dainty old-time vellum, once marked and +embossed with gold; but that was much faded and worn away. It did not +look like a Bible, and yet that, Magnus felt, was the correct thing +for Cherry--such a girl as she was--to be reading to her father at +breakfast time. Other people's duties are marked out in such very +distinct lines that even colour blindness is rarely doubtful over them. + +But no murmur of voices met him, as he paused at the front door; and +something warned him to go quietly round the house to the steps that +ran down into the garden. And sure enough, he had his picture, but a +different one this time. + +A little white-covered tray on the upper step held bread and milk and +berries, and on the step below sat Cherry, with a book in her lap. She +jumped up at the sound of his footfall, and put the book away, coming +back instantly to her place. + +"Mr. Erskine out?" Magnus asked, as he took position at her feet. + +"Oh, no, not out. It is one of the days when that old bullet wound +gives so much trouble that the best thing is to keep quite still." + +"You don't read to him, such days?" + +"He has had the reading--and he had his breakfast," said Cherry; "but +he made me come down and take mine in the fresh air." + +"And instead of doing it, you fall to reading again," said Magnus, +reaching up his hand to the milk pitcher and filling her glass. "Please +to begin at once." + +"Please to have some too, then. There are more strawberries on the +table inside." + +"Two breakfasts to-day, against some other morning when I shall have +none," said Magnus. "What are you waiting for? Something else I should +get?" For Cherry sat lingering, and had not touched her spoon. + +"Well?" Magnus repeated, watching her. He had a spoonful of berries on +the way to his mouth, and still her hands had not stirred. + +"But Magnus--you haven't--will you ask the blessing?" Cherry said. + +The berries came down with a rush. + +"Go on," he said, with an odd change in his voice. And Cherry bent her +head and spoke the few sweet words as simply and gladly as if they were +but a breath of native air. Magnus was stirred more than he cared to +own. + +"Heaven and earth come pretty close together where you are," he broke +out, eating his berries and forgetting the sugar. + +"Where anybody is," said Cherry. "Heaven must be near when the Lord is +close by, 'with you,' and 'at your right hand.'" + +She was all changed this morning; so quiet, so self-possessed. + +"Well, you see," Magnus went on impulsively, "one gets out of practice. +I've not heard a blessing asked for two years, till I came home. Except +when mother and I had our picnic." + +"Not in your Mess Hall?" + +"Well, I should say not!" + +"But, Magnus----" + +"What?" + +"You can always ask one silently for yourself." + +Magnus gave a long groan. + +"I believe your flag is sixty feet long," he said. "What do you suppose +the other three hundred men would say to me?" + +"I do not know." + +"Not care, I dare say. Well, to begin, they'd give me a silence, just +as like as not." + +"A _what_?" + +"A silence. That's what we give a Tac who oversteps bounds, or a +party of women who are brought in to see the animals feed. There's a +universal din up to that moment, and then every man drops his knife and +fork, stops his tongue, and looks. You don't know what silence means +till you've heard that." + +"What a very queer custom! And that is what they might do to you? But +it could not last long, I suppose, because they would have to eat their +breakfast." + +"No, it would not last long!" said Magnus ironically. "First Rig +begins: 'Hello, Kin! Most through? Lose your breakfast?' And Crane: +'Say, Kin! Come and bless what's left on our table.' And Crinkem would +yell: 'Shut up, and let him alone! He's praying for strength to eat the +steak.'" + +The girl's colour flitted back and forth as he spoke; then her eyes +lighted up. + +"It does not sound pleasant," she said; "but Magnus, if I were you, I +think I would try it." + +"I don't doubt you would," said Magnus, thinking his own thoughts. +"Sixty feet long in all weathers. But Cerise, besides all that, there +isn't time. We have but just so many minutes for breakfast, anyhow; and +while I had my eyes shut, somebody else might get my roll. No great +gain, but still a loss." + +"That would be very sad," said Cherry, with a comical smile. "But +then, you would enjoy the rest so much better. Magnus," she went on +seriously, "did you ever think how many faint-hearted Christians there +may be in the crowd who would take courage from you to do right?" + +"And so help me face the silence?" + +"It is grand to face wrong things for right reasons!" said Cherry, her +eyes like two opals, showing their hidden fire. "'And they departed +from the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer +shame for his name.'" + +Magnus looked at her. + +"Yes, talk to me," he said. "I want all the talking to I can get. But +I can tell you, Cerise--do you mind my calling you so?"--he broke off +abruptly. + +"Why, no," the girl answered. "It does not sound quite natural." + +"Not like old times--no, of course not. Well, would you like Chérie +better? I think I should," said Mr. Kindred, watching the pink tinges +with a delightful sense of having the reins in his own hands again. "It +is more closely descriptive, and just as good for my French." + +"You are without question the most absurd boy this side of West Point!" +said Cherry. "Have you emptied your strawberry basket? I must put these +things away." + +"We must, indeed," said Magnus, handling dishes and bearing them off +into the house. "You know I have come to take you back with me?" + +"Have you! It might have been wise--not to say civil--to state that +before." + +"But I don't want to go," said Magnus. "I'd rather have you all to +myself here." + +"Well, will you please stop practising your favourite wave motion, +and keep out of my way?" said Cherry, much hindered in her progress by +finding Magnus before her at every turn. + +"Haven't studied it yet,--so there. Now, Cherry, you surely did not +mind what I said about wave motion?" + +"Why should I mind?" + +"I mean what I said about women's not needing to learn it." + +"If all the men understand it through and through, that might leave +the women free for other work," said Cherry critically, as if she were +weighing the case. + +"Ah!" said Magnus; "now you are beginning to talk like yourself. I +haven't half known you since I came home. Tease away, ma Chérie." + +"Magnus, don't you want to run upstairs and get papa's tray? He must be +done with it by this time." + +"Why, of course," said Cadet Kindred. "Only--this is the second time +you have sent me to him,--and as I remarked the other night----" + +"I declare!" Cherry exclaimed, giving him a good sight of the fire +sparks. But then she turned and darted away up some back staircase so +fleetly and softly that he could not even tell by which way she had +gone. And when the pursuer by ordinary routes had reached the room, +Cherry was in calm conversation with her father. + +Mr. Erskine was sitting by the window, and certainly looked rather +surprised at the headlong style in which Magnus rushed in; but smiled +and shook hands very cordially. + +"Cherry sent me to get your tray, sir," the young man explained; "and +she was so high-strung over my seeming hesitation that, after that, I +stumbled upstairs as fast as I could." + +"I see--chaffing each other as usual," said Mr. Erskine. + +"Papa," Cherry put in, safely ensconced now behind her father and her +work basket, "you must not believe one word these cadets say." + +"These cadets!" Magnus retorted. "Please to be more personal in your +remarks. I stand up for the veracity of the Corps." + +"And represent it, no doubt." + +"I wonder who is wandering into fib-land now," said Magnus. "Mr. +Erskine, if you take her at her word, and never believe anything I say, +I shall live to see the day when, with tears in her eyes, she will +assure you of my perfect truth and reliability." + +"Indeed you will not," said Cherry. "Unless you live to be a hundred +and ten." + +Mr. Erskine laughed heartily. Just so had those two been sparring ever +since they were in leading strings; perfect inseparables, but never +together ten minutes without getting up a skirmish of some kind. + +"I am sorry this is one of your bad days, sir," Magnus went on; "but +the sun is very bright, as you can see, sir, and the air is soft--you +can _feel_ that. I like to back up my words when I can. And perhaps you +will kindly take hold of my arm, sir, and judge if it is likely to give +way under the weight of your hand down the hill." + +"All which means," said Mr. Erskine, "that I am expected by the dear +people down there?" + +"Yes, sir. And I think mother will be disappointed if you don't +come--but I'll scoot down and get a note from her to say so. And Rose +will cry out, 'Oh, dear!' and Violet will exclaim, 'Dear me!' At +least," said Magnus, correcting himself, "it will be something like +that. Even warped surfaces cannot always help a man to know just what a +woman will say." + +And Cadet Kindred stood back with the air of one who, having just sent +a shell from the siege battery, and seen it hit the mark, feels that he +deserves well of his country. + +"Why 'warped surfaces'?" said Mr. Erskine, laughing up at the handsome +young fellow, whom he loved next to his own daughter. + +"Uncertain, sir. And incomprehensible. Greatest puzzle I know," said +Magnus. + +"Well," said his friend slowly, "you are a good persuader, Magnus. +Cherry, you are going, of course." + +"If you do, papa." + +"Not else? Then I must try. I know you want to see all you can of your +old playmate. It is better than letters, isn't it, love? I can tell +you, Magnus, there was no keeping her at home letter day, no matter +what the weather was." + +If Cherry sighed inwardly, "Oh, papa!" she gave no sign. + +"I am very happy to hear it, sir," said Magnus, in his stateliest +tones. "It was beautiful filial devotion in Cherry. Of course she knew +how anxious you were to know that, as yet, I was out of light prison. I +hope she never took cold, or injured her health in any way, going out +in all weathers to relieve your anxiety." + +"Truly, it was not all for me," said Mr. Erskine. "Do you remember, +love, the week when the track was snowed up? and the overdue letter +that never came at all? Magnus, those were dark days. I believe Cherry +went down to the other house six times between sunrise and sunset; and +then when at last the mail-bag came, our letter did not." + +"It was very beautiful of her to take so much trouble to quiet your +mind, sir," said Magnus, watching the swift, pulsating colour in +Cherry's fair cheek. + +"Nay, I took very little of it to myself," said Mr. Erskine, going +calmly on, as men will, through they know not what. "My heart ached +for her that day when she came back with her pale face, and said so +patiently, 'We must wait till to-morrow, papa.' Then at night they all +came up here; and I had to say over everything I had ever known or +heard about trains, letters, and--boys. You ought to be a good fellow, +Magnus, with four such women-hearts watching over you." + +"Yes, sir. Don't you think it might further the cause if they told me a +little more about it?" said Magnus, with an innocent face. + +"Papa--he knows quite enough for his good," Cherry remonstrated. + +"Yes, and he might not like to hear it all," Mr. Erskine went on, in +the same unconscious fashion. "Poor little girl! How her voice shook +when she began to read to me that morning!" + +"What did she read, sir?" Magnus questioned, with an odd change in his +own. + +"I think we were in the Revelation just then. Were we not, love?" + +"Yes, papa,"--very low. + +"Yes, I remember. 'The sea of glass,' and 'them that had gotten the +victory.' Cherry read it as if she was ready to have the time come." + +"Papa!"--it was almost a cry. "Why will you go back and bring that all +up again? Cannot you find pleasanter things to tell him?" + +"No, he cannot, and you know it very well," said Magnus decidedly. +"Leave fib-land to me. I wish you would show me the very chapter, +please, Mr. Erskine." + +"Hand me the book--there it is, love, on my table." + +"I'll bring you another, papa,--" and Cherry went swiftly to the next +room. + +Magnus, however, had his own private reasons for thwarting her whenever +he could, if it was only in the choice of a book; and before she could +get back he had brought the other volume to Mr. Erskine. + +"Papa, this is better," Cherry said, coming in; but Magnus shook his +head at her, and she silently came down to her seat again. Then came a +surprise. + +Magnus had been so busy watching her that neither book had had much +notice. Now, as Mr. Erskine turned the leaves, saying: "Here, this is +the place," Magnus bent down over his friend's shoulder to look, and +behold! he could not read one word. It might be the Revelation--but it +was also Greek. At least, so he supposed. + +"Well, which was the book she was reading from that day?" he said, +looking at Cherry, who now sat perfectly still, with the other +Testament in her lap and her hands folded upon it. And if it had not +been impossible, he would have thought she was biting her lips hard to +keep back a laugh. + +"This is the very one," said Mr. Erskine, all unconscious. "She always +reads in this--we both like it better. It is worn on the outside," +he went on, turning the book over and giving the vellum affectionate +touches, "but I like these old bindings, don't you? The time-stained +cover for the things which time can neither stain nor wear out. This +was the book and the place where she read that morning." + +"I should like to hear her read it now," said Cadet Kindred, feeling +considerably dazed. + +"Read it to him, love," said Mr. Erskine, giving the old book to her; +and without raising her eyes Cherry obeyed, but in tones so low, that +but for their clearness, the eager listener could hardly have caught +one word. Understand one word he did not. + +"Magnificent, are they not?" said Mr. Erskine. "But the English version +holds its own," he added musingly. + +"'And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them +that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and +over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of +glass, having the harps of God.'" + +"Yes, that was it. You see, my boy, if you had indeed gotten the +victory, and passed on into the exceeding glory and the joy, it did not +so much matter if, for a little space, we broke our hearts down here." + +It was a strange, wholesome ten minutes for Cadet Kindred; and I think +as he stood there looking down at Cherry, he took the measure of his +smallest storm flag more accurately than he had ever done before. In +fact he could hardly find it to measure, but seemed to hear the empty +halyards whipping against the staff. And that girl had been staying her +heart with the thought of his victory and crown! + +"That was the first hard day," said Mr. Erskine; "and the letters did +not come for a week. What was our next reading, love? Magnus would like +to hear them all." + +But now Cherry's answer burst forth: + +"Papa--I cannot!" + +The father's hand came tenderly on her head. + +"That is too much to ask," he said. "Those days are better out of +sight. Go and get your hat, love, and we will try to reach our dear +friends down the hill. Poor little girl!" he said, as Cherry sprang +away; "it was a very hard time for her. And everybody looked to her for +comfort. Violet would come up and cry on her shoulder, and Rose would +beg her to go down and talk to your mother; and Cherry went and came, +and reasoned and hunted up possible causes, and cheered everybody but +herself. With a smile always ready, but pale as the winter sunshine. +You see the lines were down, so that we could not telegraph, and when +the first train broke through, even then there was no letter. She is a +brave heart." + +"She is the very dearest girl in all the world!" Magnus said eagerly. + +"About that," her father answered--"well, love, here you are. Now we +shall see what this brave young shoulder that is so ready to be useful, +can do." + +"Then, as you will not need me, papa, I will run on ahead," and Cherry +slipped in among the trees, and was out of sight directly. + + + + +XXXI + +THE SUMMER GIRL + + No man has complained that you have discoursed too long on any + subject, for you leave us in an eagerness of hearing more. + + --DRYDEN. + + +The other two walked slowly on. They had always been cronies, as a man +and even a small boy can be; and now Magnus found his old friend full +of the keenest interest in all the new life and varying work of which +the young cadet had so much to tell. Slowly down the pretty hill they +went; Mr. Erskine taking from Magnus what help he could for his lame +side, and the cadet trying to make the regulation step know its place. +And it was so pleasant to see, so like the dear old times, that the +four at the cottage dropped everything to watch them as they came. Then +Mrs. Kindred hurried out to welcome her guest, the two sisters got hold +of Magnus, and Cherry went quietly back to finish setting the table. + +I doubt she was not minding her business too closely, smiling to +herself over the words and laughter that came past the half-open door +of the closet where she was sorting out spoons; for she never heard +what stealthy steps drew near, and her first warning of danger was the +sudden darkening of the closet by the shutting of the door. Cherry +sprang towards it just in time to hear the bolt shot and the key +withdrawn. Then came a struggle outside. + +"Oh, Magnus, stop! Cherry is in there!" + +"Safe as possible." + +"Give me the key! She wants to be out here." + +"Then why did she go in?" + +"She went for the spoons, you intolerable boy," said Violet. + +"Do to talk of," said Magnus coolly. "No, my dear; she went because +this intolerable boy was around. So you perceive it is very kind of me +to keep her where she cannot see him. Come, chicks; let's get the old +banjo, and I'll sing you the 'Song of the Summer Girl.'" + +"If you sing one single note when Cherry is not by to hear, we will +stop our ears," said Rose. + +"Then you will not be able to tell her about it afterwards," said +Magnus. "Come along." + +"Well, you cannot have your dinner till we get the spoons," said Violet. + +"At West Point we eat with forks--when we have them," said Magnus. +"When we do not, we take our fingers. Where is that banjo?" + +The girls followed him, talking and scolding and threatening to tell +Mr. Erskine, but Cherry had no idea of waiting for outside help. She +was a girl of resources, and the case in hand was not very hard. For +this was an outside lock, simply screwed on; an old knife made a fair +screwdriver; and, when Magnus had just reached the next room, a soft +chink made him look round, and there was Cherry, calmly putting the +spoons in place. + +"Where did you come from?" he said, turning back. + +"The spoon drawer. Do I understand that West Point cadets scorn both +spoons and forks?" + +"I'll teach you something about West Point cadets, before I go," Magnus +asserted, stepping towards her. + +"How good of you!" said Cherry mockingly, as she slipped round the +table. "We're such an ignorant set out here. Magnus, if you would +announce a lecture on warped surfaces, I really think it would draw." + +What Magnus would have said or done, and how Cherry might have +suffered for her temerity, does not appear. Rose came in, bearing +a dish of such chicken pot-pie as Magnus declared never grew on a +reservation; Violet followed with potatoes and peas and beets--the +pretty red, white, and green of the summer garden; and they all sat +down to dinner. Then Magnus found that he had neither spoon nor fork. + +"Why, Violet, how careless," the mother said, as he made known the fact. + +"No, mamma, not I." + +"Mrs. Kindred," said Cherry, "Magnus said that West Point cadets could +eat with their fingers, so I thought if he enjoyed it, we should like +to see how it was done. And it would be one less to wash. And the +chickens are cut up," she added gravely. Mrs. Kindred laughed. + +"If you two are having a fight, I'll keep out," she said. "Go and help +yourself, Magnus." And this he would have done from Cherry's plate, if +that young damsel had not laid fast hold of her property; so he took +Violet's instead. + +But it was a delightful dinner: what though the courses were few and +simple, and the trained waiters only the three girls. Then the two +elders carried Magnus off to the porch for another talk while the girls +cleared the table, and then they also came out, bringing the banjo. + +"Now for the summer girl!" they cried, and Magnus left his place for +one on the steps at Cherry's feet. + +"_She_ has been called 'a summer girl,'" he said, "and I want to see +how she likes her portrait. This lay is named: 'The Idle of the Summer +Girl.'" + +"Your writing?" said Rose. + +"If you admire it, yes." + +"Dear me, child," said Mrs. Kindred, "do they waste your time out there +writing poetry?" + +"They don't waste any of my time they get hold of, you'd better +believe," said Magnus. "I should forget what time means if I didn't +filch a little for my own use, now and then. This is: 'The Idle of the +Summer Girl. By Two Who Idled With Her,' Cadet Rig being the other +party. All the weak lines are his. There's another touching ditty on +the same theme, much sung in camp at the time of full moon, but it +takes two to do it justice, as you can judge from a specimen verse." + +Magnus twanged the banjo lugubriously, and began his song, changing +voice for the supposed two singers, and giving the words of comment in +his own: + + _1st Cadet_: "O the Summer Girl has come to town." + + _2d Cadet_: "Alas, my heart!" + + _1st Cadet_: "In a sky-scraper hat, and a trail--ing gown." + + _2d Cadet_: "Alas, my heart!" + + _3d Cadet_: "Steady on that, you haven't got any." + +At least four voices cried: + +"Go on! Go on!" + +"Can't," said Magnus; "it exhausts my feelings. Too spoony." + +"Is that the way you talk to each other?" said Violet. + +"Very much the way." + +"And does nobody take up the cudgels for the poor summer girl?" +inquired Mr. Erskine. + +"Oh, I'll take them up, if you wish," said Magnus. "My Idle does her +justice," and he dashed off into a tune crazy enough for a patchwork +quilt: + + "I sing the song of the Summer Girl; + She feels for the lonely cadet. + Her chocolate creams, in my very dreams + I seem to taste them yet." + +("N. B.--The last ones weren't fresh. Bought at the station probably.") + + "The peaches she threw at my head at drill, + The apples she dropped at my feet; + The little pound cake that she made me take, + First biting, to make it sweet." + +"Magnus--she didn't!" + +"Rose--she did!" + +"And you eat it?" + +"Tossed it over my shoulder while she bestowed one on Chappy. Robins +aren't fetched up particular, as I was. Why, that's nothing!" + +"Nothing?" + +"No," said Magnus. "When a girl puts a lump of sugar between her teeth +and comes round offering everybody a bite, that is rather steep." + + "And yet, long life to the Summer Girl! + Far be it from me to flout her. + She's made in the shop, and she's not tip-top, + But what could we do without her? + + There were two spoons and a single dish, + Two hearts that beat as one; + When we sat by the wall before recall, + Eating ice cream in the sun." + +A general shout of derision greeted this, except from Cherry, who had +grown rather quiet over these extraordinary "idles." + +"Well, you must have been homesick, I should say," remarked Rose. + +"Why, Magnus, I did not know you had it in you to flirt," said his +mother. + +"Don't think I have, mammy, to any dangerous extent. What's the row? +Can't a man sing a song o' sixpence without being immediately spotted +for one of the blackbirds?" + +"But eating out of the same dish!" said Violet. + +"If you had been a year at West Point, you'd eat ice cream out of +anything," said Magnus, "and almost with anybody. I am generally +careful to keep far away on my own side, and to grow more modest as the +partition wall grows thin." + +"But you had no money," said Mrs. Kindred. "I cannot see where you got +ice cream." + +"Summer girl stands treat. When you see a group of fainting cadets +gathered round Delmonico's, you may take your affidavit there's a +summer girl inside. Why, the amount of boodle that fair creature +smuggles into camp and throws around generally would set a country +store up in business." + +"Boodle?" queried Mr. Erskine. + +"Contraband sweets of life, sir." + +"But Magnus, you said 'smuggled,'" said his mother. + +"Had to be smuggled, mammy, or it could never get in. Tacs would +confiscate and eat it up. And it might disagree with some of 'em. +Better let any number of cadets suffer from indigestion and go to the +hospital than have Towser off duty for a single day." + +"My dear," said Mrs. Kindred, trying hard to keep a grave face, "I do +not like to have you breaking rules." + +"Don't like it myself," said Magnus virtuously. "They should not make +'em so fragile." + +"If they are fragile, keep off." + +"Just can't, mammy. Here we've had breakfast at half past six. Then +we go head over heels into math. and heels over head into tan bark; +and not another regulation mouthful to be had till one o'clock. Flesh +and blood can't stand it, you know. We just _have_ to have a barrel of +apples handy, and a box of crackers; and any other trifles we can pick +up." + +"A barrel of apples!" said Rose. "And 'smuggled' in! Wherever in the +world do you keep them?" + +"You are going to be such a favourite with the Tacs next summer, I +think I will not tell," said Magnus. + +"Poor starved boy!" said Rose. "And he has been home two whole days, +and not even half a dish of ice cream, yet." + +"I have had all the ice I want, thank you," said Cadet Kindred, looking +up at Cherry, who as I said, had been very silent while all these other +girls filled the air. "_Cream_ has been scarce. Perhaps if you two +would stir up some sort of stuff to-morrow, Cherry would come down and +freeze it." + +"You shall freeze it yourself," said Violet. + +"Agreed--with her to help me." And laughing up at her with mischievous +eyes, Magnus finished his song: + + "But never you trust the Summer Girl,-- + Or you will find to your sorrow, + That just as she smiled on Tubs to-day, + She'll smile on Daddy to-morrow." + + + + +XXXII + +LAYING FOUNDATIONS + + There are three short and simple words, the hardest of all to + pronounce in any language, but which no man or nation that cannot + utter, can claim to have arrived at manhood. Those words are, I + was wrong. + + --JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + +The early tea was over, and long shadows were falling as the little +party broke up. The three girls were still debating what sort of ice +cream they should make, when just beyond the gate a neighbour, driving +by, offered Mr. Erskine a seat in his buggy. Then Magnus turned to his +sisters. + +"Stay here, you girls," he said. "I have to speak to Cherry very +seriously; and I doubt if she likes to be lectured before people. Run +in." + +The girls laughed and obeyed; but perhaps Cherry did not choose to wait +for lectures, nor mean to have them, for she spoke first. They were +going slowly up the hill, Magnus falling into the West Point saunter, +to which Cherry rather unwillingly conformed. + +"We are walking very slow," she ventured. "And you used to walk so +fast." + +"West Point style. The very first day they impressed it upon my mind +that fast walkers want to get somewhere. And, Cerise, just now I do +not." + +"Magnus," she said suddenly, "what did you really mean by a 'storm +flag'?" + +"Ah!" said Cadet Kindred, in a tone of deep satisfaction, "now I have +got it. I thought it could not be long before Cherry would take me in +hand." + +"But whatever did you mean?" + +"Come over here and sit down," he said, drawing her away from the path +to a rock among the trees, and laying himself at her feet. "Now what +was it I said in that unfortunate letter?" + +"It was not unfortunate," said Cherry, "for we were very glad to get +it; only that puzzled us. You said you kept some sort of a storm flag +flying. And we did not know what a storm flag might be." + +Magnus looked down for a moment in silence. + +"No wonder," he said, "for the idea is something that never came into +your true heart. You know what it means to strike your colours?" + +"Yes--oh, yes!" + +"And what it is to keep them flying,--for you do it every day." + +"And I thought that must be what you meant," said Cherry. "You did not +like to call your flag a big one, but it was always bravely flying." + +"I meant more than that--or less," said Magnus. "Cerise, a storm flag +is a sort of between thing. It may blow pretty hard, you think, and so +you haul down your beautiful fair-weather banner and run up another +that costs less; a little, little strip of bunting that hardly shows it +is there. You know it is; and once in a while, in a good light, you can +see the colours; but that is about all. It does not encourage the world +much, and tells of hard weather more than of victory and joy. Do you +understand now, dear girl?" + +Cherry was looking at him with the keenest attention; the pulsations of +colour came and went. + +"But, Magnus," she began. + +"Yes, Chérie. Say whatever comes into your heart to say." + +"Then there is a little short time every now and then when the colours +are really down?" + +"Yes. And the harder the gale, the longer it takes to get them +up again. It is often slow work, anyhow," said Magnus, with some +bitterness at himself. + +Cherry sat silent, looking down. + +"What would happen to the other flag--the big one--if you left it +flying?" she said. + +"In a gale? Go to ribands, probably--the real one." + +"Yes, the real one. But that is just what the bullets do to it!" said +Cherry, her eyes glowing and deepening. "And everybody only loves such +a flag the better." + +"And you love me the less." + +The girl started slightly, with the sudden transfer of the subject to +herself, but she made no answer. + +"Speak!" Magnus said, getting hold of her hand and giving it a little +shake. "Cherry, you've _got_ to speak. Do you?" + +"No," she answered slowly; "you know that could not be. We have been +friends too long. I was a little disappointed, that is all." + +I suppose there are few wholesomer views a man can get of himself than +through the eyes of the right sort of woman; but the wholesome is not +always the sweet. Cadet Kindred said to himself just then that it was +extremely bitter. He had been disappointed in himself, of course, more +than once, but that was another matter. One gives little softening +touches to one's own private lectures; excusing and explaining. Now, +this true heart, which he well believed would never flinch in the +direst extremity, had counted the minutes when the colours were down, +measured the storm flag, and been "disappointed." + +If she had said sharper things, he could have borne it better. Was this +weak girl going to sail away from him on every tack? This morning she +had read pages where he knew not a word; this afternoon she was ready +for the forefront of that life battle where he had at least _thought_ +of dodging behind a tree. + +He sat looking down, slowly swinging her hand back and forth, thinking +of the days and times when he had trained with the wrong crowd, giving +countenance to what at heart he disapproved. Nothing so dreadfully bad, +perhaps, but very small work for him, a servant of the Great King; not +loyal, not dauntless. + +True, he had afterwards called himself to order; had "braced up" +spiritually, and even for a time won the title of "saint"; but +"steadfast, immovable," he had not been. And in that swift way in which +thoughts work, there flashed upon him the story of one of the battles +of the Wilderness, when, as the young colour-bearer was shot down, +another caught the banner from his hand--and another from his, until +for a few minutes the colours just fell and rose, fell and rose--but +never allowed to touch the ground; not once. + +"Magnus----" + +"What?" he said. + +"Will you please to look up and speak?" The tone was deprecating, the +dark eyes wistful and grave. + +"There does not anything please me just now, except holding your hand. +No, you cannot get it away. You see, Cherry, this is how it is: there's +a strong tide there, setting the way you shouldn't go." + +"Everywhere," put in Cherry. + +"So mother says; but I speak of what I know. When you first get to +the Academy, you are so homesick that you'd like to pray and read the +Bible all the time; it seems more like home than anything else. Then +you are plagued, and get provoked. Then upper classmen drive you to +prayer-meeting, and of course you don't want to go. Then you get so +tangled up in the work and the hazing that you'd give your own dog two +cents to tell you who you are. You can't keep Sunday,--at least, you +think you can't,--with guard-mounting in the morning and dress parade +at night, and in barracks a lesson a mile long for eight o'clock Monday +morning." + +"But Magnus, you do not study on Sunday?" Cherry said anxiously. + +"I did once--and maxed it straight through, had a splendid week, and +saw visions of Willet's Point. So I thought I'd try it again. And that +week I just went down; got the worst marks I ever had, and, instead +of the doughty Engineer Corps, had the Immortals in full view. So I +concluded to get back into the good old ways and stay there." + +Cherry laughed, but her eyes glistened. "That was one of the Lord's +gentle rebukes," she said. + +"Well, it lasted," said Magnus. "I haven't done that thing again." + +"And they make no allowance for the day before's being Sunday?" + +"Not a bit. Why, one of the instructors advised us to have our +prayer-meeting early Sunday night, that there might be more hours for +study." + +"But if you told them, Magnus?" + +"They would just think I was shirking. You see we could not ask in +numbers enough to be a power, for many of the men do not care. That's +another thing in one's way; see a first classman as meek as Moses at +prayer-meeting, and then in camp have him just as hateful as Pharaoh +and all the Egyptians." + +"To you yourself, Magnus?" + +"I was a pleb once, you know. And nothing was too bad to do to a pleb, +for the best of men. No, I take that back; we had--and we have--some +splendid upper classmen; men who dose you with good counsel. It is not +always pleasant to take, Chérie, but it did me lots of good, for they +lived up to it themselves. They help, too, in other ways. Get a pleb +in out of the sun, and give him some play work in a tent, and so keep +him away from the hazing parties and give him time to breathe. Mr. +Upright was always doing such things." + +"I should think everyone would love him very much." + +"Yes, but you mustn't," said Magnus, giving her hand a little swing. +"You are not to love anybody but me. However, Upright isn't there now; +graduated, and gone to make enlisted men good and happy, wherever he's +stationed. Trueman is such another; and Starr, in our class. Ugliest +little man you ever saw, and the best." + +"Then I do not believe he is the ugliest," said Cherry decidedly. "But +it was not like that last year, Magnus?" + +"Oh, no! Yearlings have leave to step out and show themselves. Get +invited to picnics, some of them, and go to the hops, most of them, and +are wild for fun, all of them." + +"Well, Magnus?" + +"Well, Chérie, you see how it was. I have not been as bad as I might, +nor anything like as good. They think me a pretty reliable fellow over +there, but I'm not by any means what you would call a shining light. +Six in studies, and one in discipline, and a double-first at all sorts +of mischief." + +Cherry could not help smiling. + +"The very same boy you always were," she said. + +"Pretty much. Only this is mischief that tells. Chocolate parties in +rooms after lights are out." + +"After lights are out?" + +"Supposed to be. Explosions on the area coming from nowhere and +nothing; and post dogs, painted to admiration." + +"But, Magnus!" + +"What, my lady?" + +"_You_ do not do such things?" + +"I drank the chocolate--should have got skinned for it, too, only I +stood behind something when Towser came in. And I looked at the dog. +And I did not go out of my wits with astonishment at the explosions. +Queer, too; for when you get together a bell button, a match, a white +feather, a little powder, and a second classman, they make more noise +than you would suppose possible." + +"I thought they kept such watch of you," Cherry said. "We have wasted a +great deal of sympathy." + +"No you haven't, and yes, they do; that's the fun. Some of the men will +tell you that breaking regulations is all the fun they have." + +"Not you, Magnus?" + +"No, not I exactly. I never can quite get rid of a certain respect for +law and order. But you would laugh yourself; you couldn't help it, to +see a solemn-looking Tac inspecting for apples, and know that they were +within an inch of his nose, where he couldn't find them." + +"And you all kept grave?" + +"Stood attention, like the sweet boys we were, till he was gone,--and +stood on our heads afterwards." + +Cherry did laugh, but rather doubtfully. "I suppose it must be fun," +she said, "but I wish you would let the other boys have it." + +"That is not the only sort, by any means," said Magnus. "One day Miss +Flirt had brought Crinkem a basket of pears. Well, he stored them +skilfully in parts unknown, till friendly darkness should come to help; +had to go to drill, and told Carr (who hadn't) to keep an eye on the +basket. Which Carr did. Wasn't a pear there when Crinkem got back." + +"Who is Crinkem?" + +"First classman, then." + +"And who is Miss Flirt?" + +"A summer girl who stays all the time, and flirts with everybody." + +"With you?" + +"No, because she can't. She jeered me when I was a poor candidate, and +I vowed revenge." + +"I should say revenge lay in the other direction," remarked Cherry. + +"Not for her. She's been on tiptoe to rope me in, ever since I wore +chevrons. I did half think I would teach her a lesson when I got to be +first captain." + +"Oh, Magnus, don't!" + +"Why not?" + +"Because she is a woman," said Cherry earnestly. "Oh, Magnus, help even +the silly people, if you can. I've been thinking so much lately of the +dear Lord's words: 'Ye are the salt of the earth.' Don't you know how +salt gives strength and character to even things tasteless and ready to +spoil?" + +Magnus bent down, reverently touching his lips to the hand he held. + +"It's a pledge," he said. "I'll let Miss Flirt alone; help her, if I +can. But Cerise, I only said _thought_. And I have not thought it any +more since I have seen you again. You are certainly that salt, for me." + +"How did the class supper go off?" Cherry inquired, changing the +subject. "You were full of it when you wrote last." + +"It went off," said Magnus soberly. "The crowd was there. And some of +the crowd were too full of it afterwards. Don't speak about that; I'd +like to forget it." + +She looked at him a little wonderingly, with that grave, earnest look +which was so innocent of evil, but said no more. Magnus watched her +for a minute, then gently laid back in her lap the hand he had been +holding, and turned half away. + +"You want to hear about it," he said, "and you shall; it is best you +should. Cherry, you know cadets are forbidden strong drink, in any +shape, while they are at the Post?" + +She nodded. + +"Well, before furlough and before graduation, there is always a vote +taken by each class,--'wet or dry,' for the class supper; shall they +have wine--or shall they not? I have heard of one class who fought it +through for temperance, and won. With, of course, a minority protest; +but so really a minority that the other was counted as the class vote; +and their names should be gold-starred in every register. Our class had +no such proud distinction, nor the late first; and the usual results +followed." + +"But Magnus!" The girl's colour changed so that he could not bear to +look at her. + +"Yes?" he said, with a deep breath. "Ask any questions you like." + +"I cannot ask!" she cried in distress. "These men whom you praise so +highly, who are so pleasant, so brilliant----" + +"Were under a cloud that night, some of them," said Magnus gravely. +"They did not fall under the table, Cherry, but they did try to get +upon it and harangue the world from thence. It took pretty forcible +persuasions to keep some of them down." + +"Alas!" Cherry said, in a tone of sorrow and pity that might have gone +to anybody's heart, her sweet eyes brimming over. "Oh, Magnus, what did +the minority do?" + +Magnus glanced up at her. + +"Stood to their votes, some of them," he said; "and some did not. And +of those last, Cherry, I was one." + +"_You_, Magnus?" The words came with such a cry that the young man felt +as if he had been struck. Not another word followed, but he could see +that she was trembling from head to foot. + +"Do not mistake me," he said gently. "I did not disgrace myself in any +open way, but I did take more than was good for me. For the first, and +for the last time, the Lord being my witness and my help." + +And now something in his words scattered the last show of Cherry's +self-control. She exclaimed once more: + +"Oh, Magnus!" + +But then her head went down in her hands, and she cried as bitterly +as only those women who rarely cry at all can do--silently, +uncontrollably, shaken like a young willow by this sudden flood which +had burst its bounds. Cherry could not stay the tears, could not look +up nor speak. + +And Magnus on his part ventured neither word nor touch, and after a +minute or two no look. The sight of the dear head, bowed so low in its +distress, was more than he could bear. He turned away, with a sort +of groan, thinking of that miserable night with unmeasured scorn of +himself. Not that he had by any means gone the length of many another +man; no one had been obliged to call him to order or see him home. But +he knew that both dignity and manhood had been tampered with, and the +scorn was deep. Not even a poor storm flag out that night! + +Would Cherry ever speak to him again? + +And now he turned towards her once more. One long curly brown tress had +slipped from the comb, and lay waving down at his side. Magnus looked +at it, touched it softly, then turned away again. + +There came a sound of steps and voices, and, too quick to be hindered, +Cherry sprang to her feet and darted away; and Magnus was taken +possession of by his two young sisters, one on either side. + +"What are you doing?" said Violet gaily. "Composing a sonnet to the +summer girl's eyebrows?" + +"They are not always her own. What are _you_ about, chicks? wandering +round at this time of night." + +"We came to help you get home," said Rose. "Or to find out if you were +coming." + +"Because, if you are not, one pint of flannel cakes for breakfast will +be enough," said Violet. "Where is Cherry?" + +"I do not know." + +"Oh, you took her home, and got moonstruck on the way back," said Rose. + +"Struck with something. It was more like Ithuriel's spear," said Magnus +absently. + +"But what were you at, sure enough?" + +"Getting photographs of myself in the moonlight." + +"Snap-shots?" Rose asked, laughing at him. + +"Just that. You are good little girls to look me up. Come, let us go." + +And with a sort of bitter-sweet sense of holding fast what he had, +Magnus put his arm round each, and so led them down the hill, their +young voices making merry, the girlish arms locked round him, fast and +true. + +This did not lay his thoughts, however. Should _he_ ever mar the joy of +these gay tones? ever make the innocent eyes look down in shame, for +him? Thoughts, questions, purposes, surged through the young cadet's +head as he walked along, and Magnus would fain have gone straight to +the silence of his own room. But they had waited prayers for him, and +of course he must take his place. + +There are moods, however, in which no prayers but one's own will do; +and though Magnus did hear his mother's voice, and the chapter she +read, he could never have told a word of it afterwards. He got away as +soon as he could, and went upstairs; went to his own room and locked +the door, and fell on his knees; it seemed to him as if only so could +he even think out anything clearly. + +How had it all come about? The wild transport of the last few days had +confused everything. + +He remembered now that one and another had counselled him not to go, +to cut the class supper, and so save money, risk, and name. "I'll have +nothing to do with the whole thing," Twinkle had said. And he could see +the staunch, quiet face of some who were there and yet stood to their +vote. Why had not he? + +It was not real cowardice, Magnus said to himself. He had thought the +word, and yet the bravery called for had not been so much that of +standing a taunt or refusing a persuasion; the men had not said so very +much to him. Perhaps, indeed, more open attack might have roused more +open resistance. But he had lacked that utterly "valiant for the truth" +heart, which for love of the cause, and seeing the fight at hand, +flings out the unpopular banner and stands beside it. + +As in those dreadful days of the New York riots, when all the servants +in a certain house declared their sympathy with the rioters and against +the flag. And the dear mistress of the house, alone there, and with no +one to back her, ran out the biggest "Old Glory" she could find, from +her very most conspicuous window, and kept it floating. + +Just there, Magnus felt, had been his fault, ever since he went to the +Academy; his religion had been too little an open, positive thing; had +not gone forth enough from its own intrenchments. He had rarely ever +tried to make himself a power for good. There had been back and forth +progress and impulses (if I may so put it), but not steady, daily +growth; not joyful, burning zeal for Christ and his cause. So, in the +wild excitement of that day and night, he had forgotten everything but +that he was off on furlough. Now it had come to this. + +Had he lost Cherry? He could not tell. But he would be worthy of her, +whether or not. If the joy of his life was gone, and sometimes Magnus +felt that it was, yet honour and truth remained. "What shall it profit +a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" + +Nay, he would neither "lose himself," nor be "cast away." Thoughts +passed into earnest, pleading prayer, into new consecration vows; and +when the next fair dawn came stealing over the shadowed world, Cadet +Charlemagne Kindred had folded away his storm flag, and nailed his +noblest colours to the mast, and bid them fly! + + + + +XXXIII + +BUILDING THEREON + + Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing + Ever made by the Hand above? + A woman's heart and a woman's life, + And a woman's wonderful love? + + You have written my lesson of duty out; + Manlike have you questioned me: + Now stand at the bar of my woman's soul, + While I shall question thee. + + --MRS. BROWNING. + + +But with that point settled, and a stand taken which Magnus knew +would now, by the grace of God, be held till death; there came also a +restless impatience to see Cherry again and know the worst--if worst +it was to be. And so, when Mrs. Kindred bade him go up the hill after +breakfast and see how Mr. Erskine fared after his walk, Magnus went off +with the most eager alacrity. + +He found the two over their reading, as on that first day. Mr. Erskine +greeted him very warmly, Cherry gave a little cold, trembling hand, and +no look at all. + +"We were almost through our passage," Mr. Erskine said. "Will you sit +down, my boy, and wait five minutes before we begin to talk?" + +Magnus said truly that he should like very much to listen, and if +Cherry opened her lips to say no, she thought better of it, and went +straight on with her reading. + +But it was with extreme difficulty; the voice shook and fell; more +than once she stopped short for breath to go on, and at last, midway +in a verse, the words faltered, broke, and after a moment's brave +struggle, Cherry hid her face on her father's breast. + +"My poor little girl!" he said soothingly, kissing the bowed head. "She +is not herself, Magnus, this morning. Got up with a headache and a +white face. I was quite troubled about her. And in some moods the words +and imagery of the Bible search out all one's weak spots." + +"I do not understand Greek, sir," said Magnus briefly. + +"Oh, you do not? Then I should not have made you listen. I beg pardon. +This was it,--a grand passage: + +"'And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the +Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they shall +see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.'" + +"But you should not break down there, love. _That_ is all victory." + +"She was thinking of those who have not won it, sir," said Magnus. + +"Perhaps--dear heart!" said her father. "Well, my boy, never do you be +one of those. Fight the good fight, even on the smallest field. 'As a +good soldier of Jesus Christ.'" + +"I mean it, sir," Magnus answered gravely. "Mr. Erskine, what that girl +needs is fresh air. If you will send her off for a good walk with me, +I'll find a place in the woods where she can leave her headache. Do you +want her to sputter Greek to you any longer?" + +"'Sputter Greek!'" Mr. Erskine repeated. "Well, that certainly displays +your knowledge of the language. Yes, go, love. I think Magnus is right." + +"I know he is, this time," said that young man confidently. "I wish I +could stay with you, Mr. Erskine, while she is gone, but then you see +she wouldn't go. I'll stay as long as you like when we come back." + +"I don't doubt it," said his friend, smiling. "I know you of old. +'Sputter Greek,' indeed! My Cherry, who has such a specially fine +accent. I think she is very good to go with you at all." + +"Cherry never thinks of herself, sir," said Magnus. "If you ask her +this minute, she will tell you she has thought only of me, ever since I +came in." + +A quick, assenting colour leaped into the pale cheeks for a moment, as +Cherry tied on her hat, but she said nothing; and Mr. Erskine was too +well used to the chaffing between the two to do more than laugh at it. + +So they went out into the perfect June day, slowly along amid +hedgerows and flowers, bees, butterflies, and birds, to the edge of +the shadowy woodland. For some reason of his own, Magnus had put on +the grey that morning, and now as they went on, Cherry could not but +notice and admire the free, regular step, and the easy exactness of +the tall shadow that kept pace with her own. But he said nothing, nor +did she, and once, glancing up at him from under her hat, she noted +the deep quiet of his face--very, very grave, yet with a fine, clear +steadfastness that seemed to herald victory from henceforth. A man's +face now, a boy's no longer. + +Absorbed as he appeared to be, Magnus must have been also watching her, +for he caught the look. + +"Yes?" he said. "What were you going to ask? Sit down, Cerise; here is +a good place for you." + +But he did not put himself at her feet, as yesterday, nor even close at +her side, but on a grey rock a little way off; then threw his cap down +on the grass, and sat watching her anxiously. + +"What is it?" he said again. "Speak out all that is in your dear +heart. You could not offend me, and hurts from you will only do me +good." + +Probably the "all" in Cherry's heart was a good deal, just then; for at +first she could bring nothing out. + +"I am not sure that I was going to say anything," she answered with +effort. + +"Well, you looked at me," said Magnus. "What was that for? To see what +sort of a wild animal I had turned into since last night?" + +"No, no! Oh, Magnus don't talk so. People may look at each other, I +suppose." + +"I suppose they may--and I have been looking at you. Cherry, have you +been crying over me all night? Because, if you have, I might as well go +and drown myself at once." + +Cherry remarked logically that she did not see how that would help +matters. + +"They used to say you never cried," Magnus said reproachfully. + +"Most women keep a few tears for special occasions," said Cherry, +trying to speak lightly. + +"Well, you have squandered your whole stock on me," said Magnus; "you +don't look as if there could be one tear left. I'm not worth it, +Cherry. Such a coward, such a careless fellow; yielding to temptation, +and with only bravery enough left to own it. I wonder you should cry +over _him_." + +Plainly, the fountain had not yet run dry, for the girl looked at him +with her eyes full. + +"Oh, Magnus!" she cried, "why do you talk so? You break my heart." + +"Well, you are breaking mine," said Magnus; "so we're quits." + +"What have I done?" Cherry faltered. + +"Thrown me off like a bad package. You didn't look at me when I came +in, you hardly spoke to me. I suppose I deserve it, but that does not +generally make things much easier." + +"Just now you found fault with me for looking at you." + +"Found fault, did I?" said Magnus. "I wonder you dare say such a thing +to me." + +"Well, remarked upon it, then," Cherry corrected herself. + +"A man is pretty apt to remark upon the first gleam of anything like +sunlight he has seen for twelve hours." + +"Those twelve hours having come off chiefly in the night." + +"Stop chopping logic with me! If I get cross there is no telling what I +may do. Cherry, why don't you say out all the dreadful things at once, +and have them off your mind?" + +"But, I thought it was to cure my _head_ you brought me here?" + +"You did not think any such thing. You knew I had to have it out with +you, some time, and now you will not let me do it. Never even gave me +your hand when I came in, but just a little piece of ice." + +"You are quite wild this morning," Cherry said, with the feeling that +detachments were coming up faster than she could manage them. + +"Men are apt to be, when they are waiting to be shot and the guns don't +go off." + +"But how do I hinder your having a talk?" + +"It takes two to make a bargain, doesn't it? Oh, yes, I can talk on by +myself, Saturdays and Sundays, and all the week, and tell the truth +straight through. How lovely Cherry looks this morning! The first night +I came back I found she had grown handsomer than I ever thought any +woman could be, and I think so still. And there's not a girl in all the +world that is half so good. And I never cared two straws for anybody +else--and never shall. Never could, for that matter. And I've been +a fool, and a poltroon, and anything else you like; and so she has +thrown me off, and has no use for me any more. And it makes me just mad +to sit here and think that I have lost her. And some day I shall get +her wedding cards, with the name of some nice man who never tied his +shoestrings in a hurry." + +"Magnus, why, Magnus!" Cherry said, astonishment sending every other +feeling to the rear. "What is the matter with you?" + +"That." + +"What has come over you?" + +"This." + +"But we cannot have our talk on such terms," said Cherry, catching her +breath a little. + +"They're the only terms we shall ever talk on again," said Magnus. "We +always chose each other out, from the time we could walk; and I knew I +loved you with all my heart when I went away. But the minute I saw you +again, that first night, I knew that I never should--never could--love +anybody else. Not if I lived to be nine hundred and ninety-nine, and +you got in love with forty other men." + +Cherry could not help laughing, in spite of herself, for sheer +nervousness. + +"I think that would cure you," she said. + +"No, it wouldn't. I ought to know, after fighting the thing through all +night." + +"But, Magnus, we used to be just brother and sister," Cherry said very +low. + +"No, we didn't. Maybe you think so. We're not that now, anyway, and +never shall be again. That was why I poured out the whole thing to you +last night, and made you sick. I wanted you to know everything there +was to tell. Just how weak and wicked and mean I could be. I knew I +didn't deserve to hold your hand this morning, and that was the very +reason I wanted it so much." + +"But, Magnus," Cherry said, the bright drops welling up again, "that +'could' is in the past." + +"With the Lord's help, yes!" he answered. "I will live a pure life and +a true life, even if I must live it alone. Your arrow did its work." + +"Mine?" the girl cried. "Oh, Magnus, was I so unkind?" + +"So kind. But I was pierced through, all the same." + +"I did not mean it," she said, the tears dropping down. "Oh, Magnus, I +did not mean it!" + +"Well, you had better mean it," he said; "good enough for me. If there +were more girls like you in the world there'd be more better men. Why, +half of the women you see almost put the stuff down your throat. Give +it to you so sweetened and spiced and fussed up that you don't know +what you're taking. And when it's once in your mouth, it's pretty hard +not to swallow it." + +"Very hard, I should think," said Cherry. "It looks easier to refuse it +altogether." + +"For you, I dare say; but things are not always exactly what they look, +for other people. However, I am going to try it. So if you ever happen +to read in the papers of a hopelessly insane cadet, you'll know who it +is." + +Again the girl's eyes filled, though a bit of a smile came too. + +"Magnus," she said, "I think you are called to be a leader." + +"Looks like it." + +"But I mean, really. How many other fellows, do you think, may take +heart to follow, if you will but show the way?" + +"So you said before. How many? I don't know; perhaps some. Oh, there +are men enough there now who never touch anything stronger than water. +And I never did, till that unlucky night. But I've been in lately, +somehow, with the other crowd." + +"Crowds are unsafe places," Cherry said with a sigh. + +"Well, don't waste any long breaths on me," Magnus said. "Why do you?" + +The girl's lips parted in that same pathetic smile, but then they began +to quiver, trembling so that she could not speak. + +"I wonder at you," Magnus repeated. "Why don't you tell me all your +mind, and bid me go? What do _you_ want of such a Derelict?" + +"Magnus, you are very hard to me." + +"I? Hard to you?" Magnus repeated, at her feet now. "To you? My beauty, +and treasure, and heart's delight? The girl I love best in all the +world, and the only one I ever can love better than everything else. I, +hard to _you_? The girl I left behind me, with my heart in her keeping. +And now she sits there, despising me. Cherry, I never was anything but +true to you; never. I have fooled with other girls, but I did not care +a red cent for the whole lot." + +"No--" Cherry said, drawing a long, long sigh. "Oh Magnus! you were not +true to yourself." + +"Never mind me," Magnus answered unreasonably. "I don't want you for a +missionary. If I've got to have one, call in some old wrinkled specimen +that will not distract my mind. If you don't care anything about me +except to get me creditably out of the world, why, say so. I have told +you all the worst things about myself. And if you are willing to work +it as we always did; I carrying you over the hard places, and you +brushing the mud off with your own little hands--you can say that, too." + +"Oh, Magnus!" she cried, "there must not be any mud." + +"There must not be, and there isn't going to be; but what if there +was? We can't have the marriage service made over just for us two, +I suppose. I mean it shall be for better and better, every day I +live--but you've got to _take_ me 'for better, for worse.'" + +I fancy few men have any faint notion what it is to a woman to have +her image of perfection marred; perhaps men less often set up ideals, +unless in the line of beauty; and that is altogether a lower erection. +To see "fragile" written on your tower of strength, and the hero marked +"human," in unmistakable letters, is a very, very sharp lesson. A +good one, though; the sooner that form of idolatry ceases the better; +letting the woman down--or up--to her proper station of helpmeet. +Cherry's heart was ringing yet with the ache and the sorrow, her eyes +dazed with this sudden mortal light let in upon the world of dreams and +imaginations. + +Her love was not changed, she knew that; as it had gone out to the +hero, so still it went out to the man, and would, while her life +lasted. No question to settle there. But now another was stirring in +the girl's heart, coming on a sudden uncalled for, unwelcome--and the +old words of the apostle confronted her: + +"And the wife see that she reverence her husband." + +Could she do that? For suppose-- + +Cherry could not put the thought in actual black and white, even to +herself, but none the less she heard it speak. He had been tempted +once--what if it happened again, or again? + +And now the girl lifted her head and looked at him, as if to spell out +the answer; never guessing how she looked. Wistful, questioning, eager; +a look so pathetic in its love and sorrow that Magnus had all he could +do to sit still and bear it. But then Cherry turned away again, and +dropping her face in her hands cried and sobbed as if she had never +cried before. + +"That means, you give me up," Magnus said, struggling with himself. +"You have no use for me any more; and I may go to Jericho or the moon, +as I like best. Well, it is natural, I suppose. What could you want +with anyone who had even once given way? I shall never blame you, +Cherry. But, stop crying, dear heart! It's hard lines for a man to be +killed two ways at once. Cherry--stop! Do you hear?" + +With a great effort the girl controlled herself, and looked up, pushing +the tears to right and left; drawing one of those long clearing-wind +breaths of which women seem to have the prerogative. A breath at once +of loss and of courage, coming from the depths of pain, but telling of +courage and hope; that sort of sigh which has many a time been followed +by a shout of victory. + +Magnus had been watching her eagerly, but as she looked up, his eyes +turned away, and Cherry again studied him. What a boy he was still, +after all: the young head with its short, curling hair, already showing +that West Point barbers were far away; the smooth cheek giving faint +tokens of what soon would be. The very hands looked so young. They were +not clasped nor folded, but lay absolutely still, with that air of +intense waiting which the whole figure wore. Cherry gazed at them, one +and another scene of her young life wherein those hands had played a +part coming up before her. Played it so well and so kindly that she had +every line of them by heart; sledding, strawberrying, nutting, riding; +the broken toys they had mended, the strong help they had been in many +a rough place. Always gentle and patient for her, always ready to do +her bidding; the tenderest hands when she was hurt, the most untirable +for her need. + +Cherry almost cried out aloud, for the sudden stricture of heart, but +she kept herself in hand, and now her look went up to the face again, +and she found that Magnus was watching her, with the intensest, hungry, +longing eagerness. He did not stir, but sat still in that attitude of +waiting. + +"Magnus--" + +"What?" + +"Why do not you speak?" + +"I have nothing to say, Cherry." + +"Nothing?" + +"Nothing. I have said all I can. I might promise never to grieve you +again; might promise all sorts of beautiful things; but you know--and I +know--that something stronger than mere love of you, dear, must do the +work, and that the work must be done, whether you ever love me again or +not. I believe I did not know I could be tempted--and I have been left +to find it out. If I tell you that I have sworn unto the Lord and will +not go back, it is not to plead my cause with you, Cherry; but because +I know that just for old-time's sake, your dear heart will always care +that your old playmate should grow into a man and not a beast." + +"Oh, Magnus!" she cried, in that same sudden way. + +"Well, that is what it amounts to. That was what I called myself next +morning. And then with the joy of getting home and among you all +again--and the wonder of seeing what you had grown into--everything +else went out of my head. I was so eager to have you that I took it for +granted you would have me. Then I remembered that for two whole years +you had seen nothing of me, and the more I loved you the more that +thought kept coming up. So then I gave you the whole story, and lost +all I care for in this world. But it had to be done--and I should do it +again. You needn't look at me so, dear, and try to hide how you feel. +You could not help being disgusted. I do not blame you in the least, +Cherry." + +"Oh, Magnus!" she cried again. "How can you use such words about me?" + +"What words shall I use? You were disgusted, and you know it." + +"No, oh, no!" + +"What then? Choose your own words, and tell me." + +"I thought my heart was breaking," the girl said, pressing both hands +upon her breast. "That was all." + +"Was that all?" Magnus said, with a sort of quiet rage at himself. "Had +I done nothing but that? Only broken the truest heart that ever beat? +Nothing more?" + +"Please, please!" Cherry pleaded. "Magnus, I cannot talk to you if you +say such things." + +"Go on then, you, and do the talking. Didn't I tell you I had nothing +more to say?" + +Cherry hesitated a moment, and then she put out her hand and laid it +softly on that other which had grown so brown with handling guns and +pontoons. Magnus winced, as at the touch of sharp steel, but his own +hand never stirred. + +"What is it?" he said rather shortly. + +"Magnus--does your mother know?" + +"I am going to tell her." + +"No, no, do not! There is no need," Cherry said earnestly. + +"Not much use, perhaps," he answered in a gloomy tone. "She's bound to +be my mother, through thick and thin." + +"Promise!" Cherry said. + +"What have you got to do with it?" Magnus asked her, looking up. "What +business is it of yours, anyhow? You have washed your hands of me and +my concerns." + +"Magnus, you _know_ that is not true." + +"I hope it will not take more tears to do the work," he went on in the +same tone. "There have been enough shed now, to clear away fifteen +years of memories." + +"You do not think so, or you would not say it," poor Cherry protested. +"You are just trying to make me contradict you." + +"Am I?" said Magnus, with a half laugh. "Well, go ahead and do it, +then. Say nothing could ever make you forget me." + +"Nothing ever could." + +"Say you did love me with all your heart when I went away." + +"Yes." + +"And all the time I was gone." + +"All the time." + +"And when I came home." + +"Yes," the girl answered in her grave, sweet tones. + +"So little while ago!" Magnus said, with a deep breath. "Cherry, you +were very distant to me at first--have been, all along." + +"You were a little bit of a stranger." + +"And now you know me too well. So it goes. If I had not told you--but +it is better so." + +"Oh, yes; far better!" the girl said earnestly. "Secrets are terrible +things between people who--care for each other." + +"How cautiously she chooses her words," Magnus said, in the same hard +way. "Has to stop and think whether she even cares." + +"Magnus, that is not true." + +"Didn't you stop to think what to say?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, then." + +"People stop to think for different reasons." + +"You were afraid of saying too much, and you know you were." + +"If you are so very far-seeing, perhaps you can also tell me why." + +"Because you are as true as the blue sky," said Magnus; "and as +tender, and so you wanted to use the softest words you could, and hurt +me the least." + +"You would not 'make a max,' as you call it, on girls," said Cherry, +her lips parting in a bit of a smile. "I did not choose my words so, at +all." + +"Why, then?" + +"Because I am a girl, I think," she answered rather slowly. + +"And so did not want to give more pain than you could help. That is +just what I said." + +"Do you ever play stupid at West Point?" Cherry said a little +impatiently. + +"No need to play it." + +"Well, there is no need now," she said, springing up; "and I am going +home till you come back to your common sense." + +"No, don't go!" Magnus said, catching hold of her dress. "Sit down +and lecture me, scold me, say what you will of me, only stay a while +longer. Cherry, you do not know what it is to have the only girl in the +world throw you off." + +She turned then, and stood looking down at him; the fair face telling +all he wanted to know; but, as Cherry had said, he was not well read in +girls. + +"Magnus," she said, "what makes you talk so? I am not 'the only girl +in the world'--but I have not thrown you off. You know I could not do +that. Unless----" + +"Unless what?" he said eagerly. + +"Unless I knew you had _chosen_ such ways," the girl said, growing very +white. "And then it would be you that had thrown me off." + + + + +XXXIV + +AMBUSHES + + Soft silken hours, + Open suns, shady bowers; + 'Bove all, nothing within that lowers. + + --CRASHAW. + + +Magnus was as good as his word, and stayed all day. What though Cherry +was summarily sent off, after the early dinner, to sleep away the +effects of her headache. Whether she slept or not I would not dare say; +but certainly Magnus talked, and kept Mr. Erskine well amused, till she +appeared again. + +But he gave not a hint of the morning's work; about that, both parties +most interested held their peace. I think they both craved silence +for a while, and so kept in hiding; not ready yet to hear common +tongues discuss the new-found wonder of the world. Cherry had been too +shaken and bruised--there were too many sharp details still vividly +in sight--for her to go straight to her father, as perhaps at another +time she might have done; she needed to steady her own thoughts first. +And for Magnus, too, the morning had been a hard one, even with its +culmination of joy. Besides, counting Cherry his own from that time +forward, the small ceremony of asking for her could well wait. Probably +Mr. Erskine needed no telling how things stood. And if it were indeed +a secret, what fun to keep it such! He wanted no words on the subject, +just now, save from Cherry herself. Not yet. + +All the family from the other house came up the hill to tea next day, +but saw nothing new. If Cherry was more quiet than usual, that was +not strange, after such a headache; and if Cadet Kindred, on the other +hand, was as full of pranks as the veriest boy could be, it was not +such an unheard-of thing as to draw any special attention. One thing +they might have seen, that his mischief and frolic never came near +Cherry; towards her his manner was a silent devotion of the most tender +and serious sort, but he kept everyone else in such a breeze that no +one gave heed. + +Speeding back from the post-office with a handful of letters, Magnus +announced that Messrs. Twinkle and Rig--alias Cadets Starr and +McLean--were coming to make him a visit in the course of their furlough +wanderings, and everybody at once went into committee on the proper and +possible means of delighting them. + +Magnus, indeed, turned off the matter very easily. + +"It is done to your hand," he affirmed. "Mother's cake and pies and +bread and butter--with two girls--would make the average cadet almost +too happy to support life." + +"Two girls!" Rose commented. "You seem to leave Cherry out." + +"I did--that's a fact," Magnus said, with a queer gesture. "But then +you also leave me out, and I am a third cadet; so it's all right. +She'll not stand in the cold." + +"I do not think she will, if the others have any sense," said Rose. + +"The average cadet has not much, when there are girls around," said +Magnus. "He has such hard rubs all day from the Profs and Tacs that +their soft ways get the better of him." + +"We have no soft ways, here," said Rose decidedly. + +"Not for me, I know; but wait till Twinkle comes along." + +"Twinkle--what a name!" said Violet. + +"He couldn't miss it, being a small man called Starr," said Magnus. +"And he's not a blazer, by any means; keeps down well near the horizon, +and never even poses as a first-magnitude man. Sometimes when he fesses +more than usually frigid, we sing him to sleep with: + + "Twinkle! Twinkle! little Starr! + How I wonder what you are." + +"I think that is perfectly mean!" said Rose indignantly. "Making sport +of each other's misfortunes." + +"We should die if we didn't make sport of something," said Magnus. "And +you laugh easier when you take another man's scalp, than when he takes +yours." + +"Well, of all the lingo that ever was heard, I think your cadet slang +is the queerest," said Violet. + +"Glad it meets your approval," Magnus said, with a bow. "Say, Cherry, +just promise you'll walk with nobody but me, while those fellows are +here. Have a previous every time. These girls are so keen-set for +brotherly kindness that they'll be sacrificing themselves on me to let +you have the strangers. You're too tall for Twinkle, and Rig will turn +your head." + +"Or she will turn his," said Violet. + +"I suppose that is it. But it wouldn't do for Rig to get rattled. The +poor boy has got to go back and bone for dear life. Rose will keep him +up to his duty; talk geometry to him, and make his life a burden." + +"Rose will?" said that young person, lifting her eyebrows. "Well, I +wish Cherry would talk some sense into you." + +"Nobody can do it half so well," said Magnus, with a change of tone. +"And she is going to try; she is to give me a special private lecture +every day I am here. So that it is really quite providential to have +Twinkle and Rig on hand, for they'll keep you two girls amused and out +of the way." + +"Indeed! And who is to amuse mother?" + +"Cherry and I." + +And Magnus stooped down by his mother, with arms about her neck, and +laid his face close to hers. + +"Cherry and I, mammy," he said softly. "Do you understand? Cherry and +I?" + +Only Cherry saw the little start, the eager look at him, and the slight +nod with which Magnus answered. But Mrs. Kindred was a wise woman, +and said no word. Perhaps she prayed a little more for the two after +that; though really I do not know whether she could. There sprang up an +instant wish in Cherry's mind, however, that no word should be said to +anybody else until the two strange cadets should have made their visit +and gone. Magnus was quite wild enough, even with this slight check +upon his proceedings. And an unconsciously deprecating look went over +to him, which the young man caught, read, and answered with a profound +bow. + +"Yes, lady," he said; "your commands shall be obeyed. Even to the half +of my fortune. Or, as I haven't any at all, perhaps the whole will not +be too much." + +"By the way," said Mr. Erskine, noting (and somehow resenting) the pink +tints that came up in Cherry's cheeks; "what has become of that 'very +best sort of a girl' you talked so fast about last week?" + +"What has become of her?" Magnus repeated, standing involuntary +"attention." + +"Yes. Where is she?" + +"At home, sir." + +"I will not ask where that is, as I have not permission," said Mr. +Erskine, smiling now; "but what does she say to your coming here first +and staying so long?" + +"She has made no objection as yet, sir. So I do not think she will." + +"Well, she ought, if she cares enough for you," said Mr. Erskine. +"Boy, I'm afraid you have got yourself tangled up in a foolish thing." + +"What should you call 'enough,' sir?" + +"Well--all she can," said Mr. Erskine. + +"How much _could_ any first-best girl care for me, sir?" said Magnus, +moving a step or two for a better view of Cherry. + +"Oh, you need not try the modest game here," said Mr. Erskine, laughing +at him. "It is too late in the day for that. If she only cares a +little, let her go; and find one who will love all there is in you, +and a good deal more that she thinks is there. I wouldn't give a +counterfeit five cents for a tepid girl." + +Mr. Erskine spoke with such disgustful energy that everybody laughed +out. + +"But what girl is this?" Rose demanded. "Someone you never told us of?" + +"There are fifty girls I never told you of." + +"And besides, Rose, he is only attitudinising," said Mr. Erskine. "I +do not believe the girl is in existence that could get him away. He is +just young man enough to like the part of an easy-minded lover." + +Magnus remarked with some energy that it was better than the part of +an _un_easy-minded lover, every time. But now the fun of the thing got +hold of him, and sealed his lips in earnest. No, if really people could +not see, they could wait. + +Several other things came in to further and abet the silence. + +First of all, the neighbourhood waked up to the fact that a prospective +brigadier was among them, and the inroads to see Magnus, and to hear +him tell his experience, were many--and "a nuisance." So he himself +declared, making wry faces over his popularity. + +Then, Mr. Erskine had one of his suffering weeks, when troubling him +with questions was not to be thought of. Magnus detailed himself as +head nurse, taking all the night work, sending Cherry off to bed, and +gathering up the reins generally in his own hands, proving himself +most tender and efficient as well as strong. Of course, things must +be talked over before he went back; but even Cherry herself could not +think this a good time. + +On the back of all these hinderances, and just as Mr. Erskine began to +be about again, came the other two cadets. + + + + +XXXV + +OF COURSE + + Admire my daughter! Sir, you're very good. + + --_Tales of the Hall._ + + +There followed such a round of teas on the hill and dinners at the +cottage; of picnics, walks, drives, and berry-scouts, that the days +gave up their ordinary rate of progress, and flew. June had long been +out of sight; and now July was ending, and August close at hand. Magnus +indeed closed his ears to the soft flutter, as the days winged by; but +not so Mrs. Kindred, and not so Cherry. The girl began to look forward +with absolute dismay to the drawing out from her daily life of this +gold-twisted silken thread. What should she do, when Magnus was away +again? + +If I say that she was getting bound to him in deeper and finer trust +and love, with every new day's experience, it is no more than the +truth; and no more, I think, than he deserved. Love for the right sort +of woman puts a man at his best, and brings him out wonderfully. Count +the minutes? Ah, yes! two hearts at least did that. In just so many +days more Magnus must leave them all. + +Then suppose Mr. Erskine--no, it could not be; and yet, after every +such decision, one always goes back to say the "suppose" over again. + +"Magnus, I do wish you would have your talk with papa," Cherry ventured +one day. + +"You recommended that at first--twice, if I recollect right," remarked +Cadet Kindred. + +"I did nothing of the sort. But I should think you might have commended +it to yourself by this time." + +"It is such fun to puzzle him." + +"But it will not be fun to grieve him," Cherry said. + +"Is he going to be grieved? Then it will all come upon your hands. You +know you can wheedle any bird off any bush at any time." + +"'Wheedle' papa!" Cherry said with some energy. "Not I, I promise you." + +"Well, I know you mean to keep all your promises to me," said Magnus. +"But come along, and see me throw myself at his feet. Then he can save +time, and give us his blessing together." + +"No, I am not going," Cherry said, pulling her hand away and trying not +to laugh. + +"You are worse than Lord Ullin's daughter," said Magnus. "She plunged +into all the danger there was around. Chérie, will you send me a letter +every single day?" + +"Oh, do not talk about letters yet!" Cherry said, in such a pitiful +tone that Magnus forgot all about Mr. Erskine, and gave himself up to +the task of comforting her. And it was the father himself who at last, +unawares, brought on the talk. + +"Only twenty days left," he said one morning, when Magnus came into his +study and sat down, with an absent-minded air. + +"Nineteen, sir." + +"Then you settle down to hard work again." + +"For two years, sir." + +"And then?" + +"Then I take my diploma and a three-months' leave, and come back here." + +"Three months--till October." + +"Yes, sir." + +"That is better than nothing," said Mr. Erskine; "but we shall all +think it very short." + +"I cannot stay until quite October," said Magnus, "but towards that." + +"And then?" + +"Then I take Cherry and go to my post." + +But now Mr. Erskine sat straight up, grasping the arm of his chair. + +"Take Cherry!" he repeated. "My baby! It is _Cherry_ you want to take +to San Carlos?" + +"It may not be San Carlos, sir. Of course, I must take her wherever I +go." + +"Well, you need not get up before gunfire to bone assurance," said +Mr. Erskine. "My Cherry! And what do you suppose she will say to this +brilliant plan for her happiness?" + +"I do not think she much cares where we go, sir," Magnus answered, with +easy confidence. + +It was an indescribable pang that shot through the father's heart. His +one treasure, his pearl of all the world, already did not "much care" +where she went, so long as she could be with this youngster--put her +hand in his, and go! + +"It may happen that I shall care," he said huskily. "What makes you +think I will give her up to go anywhere?" + +"But you can go, too, you know, sir," Cadet Kindred answered, with that +same calm tone which ignores the hard and cuts through the impossible. +"We have talked about it a great deal." + +"It strikes me that a little of the talking should have come to me." + +"Yes, sir; but then you are so seldom alone--always reading or +something on hand--it was hard to find a chance. And then you were +sick. And I thought you must see for yourself. And then, if you +didn't, it was such fun to puzzle you," Magnus said honestly. + +"So seldom alone," Mr. Erskine repeated rather bitterly. "I suppose it +will be often enough in the future. No, do not say another word to me +now. Take yourself off, young man, and get out of my sight, and give me +a chance to draw my breath. My Cherry!" + +It was perhaps just as well for everybody that the two guests were +still there, and the fun and frolic at high-water mark; the best +intentions thereto, or even the justest cause, could not make anybody +look grave or stiff or anxious. Therefore Mr. Erskine had time to study +up his hard question unnoticed. + +"Question," indeed, it hardly was. Mr. Erskine knew, without thinking, +that he loved Magnus Kindred like his own son; and it took very little +awakened observation to show him that, on Cherry's part, the old +childish affection had passed into the deepest and strongest that a +woman can know. Reserved and self-contained as she always was, her +father could see a hundred little tokens which he marvelled he had +never noticed before. He watched Magnus, too, with very keen-set eyes, +studied him, weighed him in all sorts of scales, and, on the whole, +was well content. Just about as much of a boy as ever, only more of +a man; gay, saucy, absurd, and sensible; but through it all now, in +whatever touched Cherry, there was an indescribable tone of reverence +which became him well, as it does any man who has won for himself the +priceless trust of a true woman's love. His own love and devotion were +patent enough. Magnus had certainly "taken it hard," as people say. The +father noted it well, and judged it all of a quality that would wear. + +Once making up his mind to the situation, it was amusing enough; and +the two elders of the party had many a quiet laugh at the skill with +which Messrs. Twinkle and Rig were headed off, and never allowed to +improve their acquaintance with Cherry. It was always somebody else +with whom they were fated to walk, and to whom they might make pretty +speeches; and with all a man's recklessness about possible damage to +other hearts, and lest his tactics should be found out, Magnus hunted +up other girls--old acquaintances of the neighbourhood--to share the +burden which at first Violet and Rose had borne alone. + +"But, Magnus!" Mrs. Kindred protested one day, "you go on like crazy +boys, you three. Girls about here aren't used to young fellows who say +everything they do not mean. My dear, I fear you are sowing mischief. +Jenny Mott went home last night with her head more than half turned." + +"Easy job for Rig to finish, then," said Magnus. "Never mind, mammy; +keep up your spirits. We're not so unlike other boys as you seem to +think. It _is_ getting to be rather serious with Twinkle and Viola." + +"Now, my dear!" Mrs. Kindred said, with her hand on his arm; "now, +Magnus! you must not put any nonsense into that child's head!" + +"Couldn't if I would," said Magnus; "not an inch of room. You couldn't +get a grain in sideways after Twinkle's been talking to her. He's a +right good fellow, mammy; don't drink, don't smoke, don't flirt--much; +and if his light isn't of the very biggest, it's always there, which is +better. She might do worse." + +"But, Magnus, Violet is hardly grown up." + +"Why don't you tell Twinkle so, and ask him to wait?" said Magnus, with +a very grave face. But then he laughed. + +"Oh, mammy!" he said, "when cadets are about, it's 'all luggage at the +risk of the owners.' I _had_ picked out somebody else for Vio, if only +he's not gone before she gets there. What a thing it is to have me well +settled in life before your anxieties over the girls come on!" And +then Magnus kissed her, and set his face towards the other house. + +"But Magnus!" said Mrs. Kindred, calling him back, "you have not told +me what Mr. Erskine says. Do you know yourself? He knits his brows so +sometimes, when he is looking at you, that I never dare ask him. Is he +willing, do you think?" + +"He will be, before I get through with him," said Magnus confidently, +and he went whistling up the hill, as though that small task were done +to his hand. + + + + +XXXVI + +SAN CARLOS + + Mix up a barrel of sand and ashes and thorns, and jam scorpions + and rattlesnakes along in, and dump the outfit on stones, and heat + the stones red hot; and set the United States army loose over the + place chasin' Apaches; and you've got San Carlos. + + --U. S. SOLDIER, _in Harper's Magazine_. + + +And I suppose so it was; the task was really ended when the idea came +in. A strong protector for his darling when his own care should fail, +had been the longing in Mr. Erskine's heart for many a day, and Magnus +Kindred had always been second only to Cherry in his heart. Yet to give +her up before the time, and, instead of leaving her, to have her leave +him, it was sharp enough. No wonder he knit his brows now and then in +the midst of all the gaiety, and almost put out a hand between his +child and this youngster who claimed such rights and took them with +such assurance. No wonder if he frowned a little now, to-day, as Magnus +came whistling up, and throwing himself down on a lower step of the +porch, waited for the older man to speak. + +But for a while the silence was unbroken, as Mr. Erskine made a sort +of final examination; obliged to come back to the judgment he had +given weeks ago, that Charlemagne Kindred was "a splendid fellow." The +critical eyes could find no fault. + +Very serious the face was now, as he sat there looking off, schooling +himself to patient waiting, once in a while almost starting up at +some sound of Cherry's voice or step within the house. I am afraid +Mr. Erskine took a malign pleasure in keeping him where he was. The +malignity was not deep, however, for once, when some scrap of a song +floated down from an open upstairs window, there came a look over the +face of Cadet Charlemagne Kindred--a sudden light and love and joy--to +which the father's eyes gave such sympathetic answer that he was fain +to screen them with his hand. + +"Well, young sir," he began at last, "I suppose you want to know what I +have to say to you?" + +"Yes, sir. Furlough ends next week," Magnus answered, without looking +round. + +"Then back for two years more?" + +"Back for two years, sir." + +"Magnus, what sort of an inner life have you lived at West Point? They +have made a soldier of you outwardly; we can all see so much; but it is +possible for a man to be that, and yet have no soldier's heart within." + +Magnus coloured deeply. + +"Yes, sir," he said. "I know it. And that has been true of me a few +times, Mr. Erskine. Never but once in any great thing." + +"There are no little things in right and wrong, boy." + +"No, sir. I should have said, in what people call great." + +Mr. Erskine was silent with sudden pain; he had not looked for such an +answer. Then Magnus turned round, and sat facing him, looking full up. + +"I have told Cherry the whole thing, straight through," he said; "and +now I will tell you, sir, if you wish." + +Mr. Erskine drew a breath of relief. If he had told Cherry, it could be +nothing very bad; and that he _had_ told her half cleared it away. + +"No, do not tell me," he said. "If Cherry knows, that is enough. But, +Magnus, I never expected _you_ to lack the soldier heart!" + +The boy's eyes flushed, and his lips were unsteady as he said: + +"Nor I, sir. You cannot possibly be half so disappointed in me as I was +in myself." + +There was a long pause. What that bit of schooling was to Magnus it +would be hard to describe; but he said not a word to shorten it. With +head well up, and eyes looking gravely off at the fair landscape, of +which they saw not a thing, so he sat; and Mr. Erskine watched him. His +whole heart went out to the boy in tenderness and up for him in prayer. +Not a hero in his own right, perhaps, but a better, stronger thing is +the man whom God keeps, and who trusts the Lord for all power to keep +himself. + +"The people that know their God, shall be strong and do exploits." + +"You told Cherry," the elder man began at length. "And what did Cherry +say?" + +"Broke my heart into little pieces," said Magnus briefly. + +It was Mr. Erskine's turn to have wet eyes, though he smiled too. + +"So!" he said. "My boy, did you ever realise that you might break _her_ +heart?" + +"Don't ask me to realise it any more than I do, sir," Magnus answered, +with a troubled voice. "You see she minds things that some people call +trifles." + +"Like a true woman," said Mr. Erskine. "I am glad she does." + +"So am I!" said Magnus, with hearty emphasis. "There is not a thing +about her that I am not glad of. But I have told her everything, Mr. +Erskine," he added, "and she forgives me." + +"Like a woman again," thought the father. "And she is ready to go with +you to San Carlos?" + +"I don't know why you will persist in sending me there, sir," Magnus +said, with just a touch of impatience. "That seems to be your +favourite post. We have not spoken of San Carlos." + +"No, I suppose all your talk has been of Fortress Monroe, Governor's +Island, and West Point," said Mr. Erskine, in a mocking tone. "Those +are the usual first posts for young second lieutenants." + +"West Point!" Magnus repeated scornfully. "If you had the faintest +idea, Mr. Erskine, what West Point is _without_ Cherry, you would know +that San Carlos will be the ranking post in the country when she gets +there!" + +And the young man sprang to his feet, as if tenter hooks were restless +things. + +Mr. Erskine held out his hand. "Forgive me, my boy," he said. "I will +not tease you any more. Go and find my treasure--and take her for +_your_ treasure, and guard her with your life. I do not mean in the +common sense of dying for her, but in the nobler, costlier way of +living for her. Shield her from any touch of shame, from any sense of +loss, from any shadow of pain or sorrow that is not Heaven-sent. Live +so that she will be prouder of you every day. Magnus, my darling is a +_trust_." + +There was something very sweet and solemn too in the way Magnus took +the extended hand, and dropping on his knee kissed it earnestly. + +"As such I take her, sir. My most dear trust, for every hour I live." + +But then he sprang up again, threw his arms round Mr. Erskine with a +hug like a young bear, and with a joyous shout of "Ho for San Carlos!" +darted away into the house to find Cherry. + + + + +XXXVII + +RUSHED INTO CAMP + + Whither I must, I must. + + --_King Henry IV._ + + +If love does sometimes contrive to do for itself what the poet wished, +and "annihilate time," over the "space," alas! it has generally no +power. Those last days at home were to Magnus only quarter-days; but +once in the cars, and the miles drew out a lengthening chain that +fairly seemed to clank in his hearing. Two years now, almost, away from +those dear faces; two years more without Cherry. + +To be sure, she was coming to first-class camp; that was something. She +had not said she would, but she must; or he should simply die, and the +authorities would have to send him home. + +As the train flew on, tossing everything behind its back, classmates +began to straggle in, catching the express from one point or another; +each State giving up its contingent of much-disgusted men, all equally +gloomy and rebellious. What was the use of the old concern, anyhow? So +they grumbled, keeping down each other's low spirits, and ever and anon +launching forth upon the departed joys of the last eight weeks; opening +their hearts less or more, according to the man. For in some coat +pockets lay hid a little glove, carefully wrapped in rosy thoughts, and +(I was going to say) here and there also a mitten, in different-hued +tissue paper. But no, I take that back; nobody ever gets a mitten on +furlough, which is perhaps the reason why so many engagements date back +to just that point. + +They felt very small just now, with love and home behind them; speeding +away towards drums, Tacs and the reveille gun. I think some of them +would have liked to slide off on a railroad "Y," and so ride backwards +all the rest of the way, as under protest. + +Through all the grumbling Charlemagne Kindred was profoundly silent, +only jerking his words out when they must come, in a way that made the +others pronounce him "a gingersnap." But snaps are sweet, and he was +not. + +"Just think," Rig said lugubriously, as he dropped into the seat by +Magnus, "this time to-morrow I shall not have even the show of a +pocket." + +"That's square; you'll have nothing to put in it." + +"And I've got three confinements to serve out the first thing," said +Crane, in front. + +"All right--you went in for them," said Magnus, with a comfortable +consciousness of his own clear score. + +"Didn't; I went out." + +So the talk went on, and Magnus sat vaguely listening, seldom joining +in, his whole self reaching back towards that beloved region whither +he could not go. He longed to have the talk stop, the train stop, the +world stop--almost: anything, to change the pitiless rush and roar with +which he was speeded away from all he loved best.--Mile after mile, +hour after hour; till he felt ready to start up and cuff somebody, if +only so he could make a change. They talk of homesick plebs, and those +fellows have it hard enough; but I doubt if it compares with the _mal +de pays_ of the furlough men when they come back. + +Cadet Kindred fought it, wrestled with it; then suddenly turned and +began to fight himself. For was not this West Point life the very +thing singled out just now for him? The surest, best, and quickest +way in which he could win education, position, and the means to live? +The shortest road to that fair home for Cherry which tinted even his +dreams? Had it not been the Lord's appointment, far more than that +which dated back to Congressman Ironwood? I do not think the ache died +out, a bit; but the antagonism did. Ready for duty, ready for all that +might come with duty; yes, that should be true of him. As clearly as +to-morrow he would answer to his name at roll-call, so now in his heart +Charlemagne Kindred said: "Yes, Lord, here!" What were they all praying +for him at home? Not only, not chiefly, that he might win the honours; +but that his daily life might _be_ an honour to the cause of Christ. + +The miles did not shorten after that; home still shone oh, how vividly! +and shoulder-straps looked dim and hazy in the distance, and graduation +but a myth; but the brave heart addressed itself to wait, and to work, +and to endure. + +The great city was reached, and trunks and men conveyed across to where +the swift steamer lay taking in her living freight. The whole class, +gathered now from all sides of the great country, mustered in "cits" +for the last time. + +As I think, it was a happy thing for these young schoolmen, that in +the year of which I write, the "rush" was still in its glory; not yet +found out to be unmilitary and dangerous. But now the first classman is +supposed to forget that he ever was a boy. + +For my part, I am glad to know this for a clear fallacy. No power on +earth, not even time, can ever drive the mischief out of some men, or +kill the frolic that lies hid behind those sober suits of grey. The +most sedate bearing may belong to the plotter of the most consummate +exploits; and the gravest men take your breath away telling what they +have done. Ah, it is not the boy in them that needs watching, but the +undisciplined man. + +But as I said, in those days the hopeless task was not begun. So when +the boat reached the landing, and her signal went sounding up the +hill, a rousing reception was ready. + +The furlough men had been watching with sober eyes, as one grey wall +after another peered through the trees; and now they stepped wearily +along the steep, winding road, bags in hand; a dusty, rebellious lot. +Then paused at the top of the hill and clustered together in front of +the Library. + +Before them lay the cavalry plain, brown and powdery with sun and +riding; the black guns of the Light Battery; then the camp. Rank after +rank, in their exact order, the white tents gleamed in the sunshine. A +moment the travellers saw it all. + +Then on the nearer side there gathered a grey and white swarm of +figures; the furlough men spread themselves in a long single line, +and, joining hands, began to double-time it across the plain. The grey +figures dashed out across what was afterwards the famous "Post No. 6," +swooped down upon the furlough men, and "rushed them into camp." + +There followed ten minutes of utter Babel-like confusion; hats, caps, +handbags, and men were on the ground or in the air, as the case might +be. I think Mr. Starr lost his foothold on firm earth several times, +while Magnus Kindred made things just as lively for one or two small +first classmen. Men hugged each other or shook hands, according to the +various degrees of size and friendship. The ladies on the seats clapped +hands; the yearlings, on their way to dancing, turned and gave a cheer. +Then the hubbub was over. The furlough men dived into their tents, +and came forth to dinner roll-call full blown cadets, with very sober +faces. The rush helped them for the minute, but it could not last; they +were a sorry-looking lot. + +Charlemagne Kindred came out too, after a while (anything but his own +thoughts!), and was most effusively greeted by Miss Beguile and Miss +Saucy. But being promptly bid to stand and deliver a full, true, and +unvarnished account of the summer's work and play, he got off as soon +as he could and took his sergeant's chevrons and his loneliness down +Flirtation for a walk. + +How unbearable these average girls were to him after Cherry! Cherry, +with her quaint, womanly ways, and low-toned voice, and earnest eyes; a +hundred times fairer in her fresh print dress than they with all their +silks and streamers! "A trust"--ah, she was one worth having. And it +was with a very moved and joyful heart that Cadet Kindred realised how +surely upon his keeping of that trust, hung all the joy and brightness +of her sweet life. Hers--and theirs; four true women looking up to him. + +On the whole, it was a very good bit of thinking the young sergeant did +there, with the lovely river sweeping by at his feet, and the leaves in +a glad rustle behind him. Yes, every new bit of honour that he could +win, in any line, would be gilded anew for them. He must send them a +correct drawing of even the new chevrons. + +Magnus again mounted the hill, but at the edge of the broken ground he +faced about and took off his cap to the flag. + +"Glad to see you, old friend!" he said. "Henceforth, you and I are +going to run things together. I'm enlisted now, for all the storms that +blow." + + + + +XXXVIII + +HIGH GROUND + + But never sit we down and say, + "There's nothing left but sorrow." + We walk the Wilderness to-day, + The promised Land to-morrow. + + --GERALD MASSEY. + + +There was much wedging and crowding in the camp that night, lightened +somewhat by the big hop which shortened the night for so many. Not for +Magnus. He went to bed, thinking the night would be two nights long: +quite sure he should not close his eyes. + +But youth, and health, and the long journey, and even sorrow, quite +upset his calculations. When the hop men turned in, Magnus hardly +roused up enough to give a short answer to some details; and when the +sharp voice of the reveille gun spoke in his ear, it was as clear a +wake-up--and alas! as disgusted a one--as Cadet Kindred had ever known. +But breaking camp at least would be welcome: hard work suited his mood +just now much better than play. + +Yet before the hour drew on, he strolled out towards the visitors' +seats; the exquisite morning, the dainty wreaths of mist, and the +sweet, pure air, making him so homesick that he craved even a chatter +of tongues that should stop his thoughts. + +The seats were a waving line of colour. Hats turned up, and hats +turned down; bonnets too small to be seen, and hats like umbrellas; +ribands, laces, streamers of every kind. Plenty of grey coats, too; +first classmen and yearlings in their glory, with other disconsolate +furlough men, searching the crowd for a friend, if possibly such a +thing remained to them east of the Rockies, or north of Mason and +Dixon's line. Everywhere a busy chatter, with introductions, greetings, +inquiries, and much swinging of cadet caps. Sugar-plums abounded. +On the grass a group of children sunned themselves in front of the +grown-up people, sometimes aping their ways. + +Magnus was taken possession of rapturously,--had to touch a half-dozen +gloves in as many seconds. + +"And where have you been all summer, Mr. Kindred?" Miss Fashion +inquired in gracious tones. + +"In a much better place than this old camp, Miss Fashion." + +"That goes without saying," chimed in Miss Saucy. "Any place where +_you_ were, would of course overtop the rest of the world." + +"It might," Magnus answered, thinking of the oak shadows where he had +sat with Cherry. I am not so sure that he heard Miss Fashion's next +words, looking over her head towards the Western sky. The West! The +West! + +"And of course your desire for study is immense," the young lady went +on, a little louder. + +"Quite insatiable!" + +"Oh, you're too good to be true!" said Miss Saucy. + +"But don't you feel all out of training?" said another girl. "I should +think it would come awfully hard at first." + +"On the contrary, I feel in better training than ever in my life +before." + +"But that is _awful_!" said the Kitten. "Back from furlough 'in +training'? Why, Magnus, you'll come out blue." + +"I expect it," said Magnus, with a bow. "That is what I am aiming for." + +"Now _that_ I call mean," said the young lady; "taking one up so. How +sharp you have grown all of a sudden!" + +"Best let him alone, Puss," said Miss Saucy, "or you'll cut your +fingers. He's been at the seaside, eating razors." + +"Using 'em, too," said the Kitten, gazing at Magnus. "Didn't it go to +your heart to cut off your moustache?" + +"Everything goes to my heart. That is my weak point." + +"What was the last arrival?" demanded Miss Saucy. + +"That drum." And in answer to the warning rub-a-dub, Cadet Kindred +touched his cap to the ladies and crossed the green strip in front of +the colour line. + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Miss Kent, a pretty blonde in her first West Point +season, and who had taken the whole yearling class as near to her heart +as is usual on such occasions; "I shall just cry, I know I shall, when +that camp goes down! Think, girls, there won't be any place to go to +spend the day!" + +"The seats under the trees," suggested Miss Beguile. + +"Oh, yes, you can sit there as long as you please," said Minna Kent, +"but _they_ can't come and sit with you. Some old dowager always pokes +along and turns them out." + +"And if the men look at you in ranks, you're none the wiser," said Miss +Saucy. "Do you know, I just _made_ Clinch look at me the other night as +he came round Towser. He was acting-adjutant. It's the meanest thing to +break camp before cold weather. There it goes!--our camp!" + +But it was the same old story, after all. Always crushed sugar plums +under foot and withered flowers; the air filled with heart-beats that +nobody heard, and glances that no one saw. + +The cadets get rid of their plumes and trappings; the girls hold +fast to all they have; and away they all go, for walks, talks, and +flirtations. Two girls to a cadet, three cadets to a girl, or two very +special chums together. + +Among the solitary stragglers was Charlemagne Kindred. He waited +till every girl was out of sight, dodged or shook off his loitering +comrades, and then, with steady step went straight across the plain and +took stand beneath the waving folds of his old love, the flag. + +Two whole years--two years and three months almost--since the first +day when he stood in that circling shadow and took his vow of brave +allegiance. Leaning back now against the white pole, he tried to scan +the two years' record. + +In the main, he had kept his vow; love had never faltered, nor fealty. +But he knew now, far better than he knew then, that for this love as +for the other he must _live_, as well as be ready to die. The honour +of the Stars and Stripes was at stake, wherever an American fought out +his personal life-fight with evil. On harder fields sometimes than +Chapultepec, and with no earthly glory for reward. No name on a tall +column, no tablet in chapel or hall. Unknown, perhaps, while the fight +lasted: no notice taken, until the Great Captain shall speak the "Well +done," when he comes to survey the field. + +Looking up at the red, white, and blue, Magnus said to himself that +devotion, purity, and truth were the real defenders of the country; +winning victories far beyond what powder and shot could ever gain; +keeping the flag not only flying, but unstained. + +"Winning victories"--he repeated to himself, looking up again at the +lovely waving folds of the flag: "positive, as well as negative." + +Bible words are very positive. + +"He that is not with me is against me," said the Lord Jesus. "He that +gathereth not with me, scattereth." + +"But they don't leave us time for anything like that," Magnus thought, +in half excuse. "It takes so long just to _be_; to look after your own +prayers and reading. There isn't any chance to _do_." + +And now he remembered the lovely, constant shining of Cherry's life in +even the commonest, everyday things; the halo that was always about +her. Set her at any sort of work, in any sort of company, and you could +never doubt for a moment whose she was and whom she served. The King's +seal was there. Such a life is positive, by its very nature. + +"But then she is like nobody else," Magnus went on, as his rapturous +thoughts finished off with a long, heavy sigh. "And she has a little +space to breathe in, too. But here--just math. and chem., study and +drill, from dawn to dark." Then other words came up before his eyes. + +"Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily; as to the Lord, and not to men." + +"Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord +Jesus." + +"Even those old lessons," commented Cadet Kindred. "I rather suspect +I've been setting my study books at the wrong angle. I know Cherry says +that drudgery fades out, if you write the name of Jesus on it. Wonder +if it would work so with anybody but her?" + +And a long, dull procession of days rose up in sight; each one loaded +down with hard, monotonous work. Not prettily varied, with one day this +and next day that, but a steady, straight on pull in the same lines, +for weeks together. + +"And we can't turn and twist about as you do, old flag," he said, "but +have got to stand attention (or sit it) every time. It would feel sort +o' good, if we could just choose our own positions for firing off +blunders." + +"Whatever in the world are _you_ holding up the flagstaff for?" said +Rig's astonished voice, as that young man came up from among the guns. +"Beastly dull here, isn't it? I say, Kin, when's that awfully pretty +sister of yours coming?" + +"Which one?" + +"Well, both, then," corrected Rig. + +"After you graduate--if you ever do." + +"You may well say if. But you'll be gone yourself, then." + +"Maybe I shall not let them come at all. There are too many girls +here now." And Magnus cast cynical eyes towards several free-and-easy +damsels who were sauntering across the plain, well attended. + +"There they go," he said; "men and girls and parasols. And the parasols +are the only things in the lot with a grain of sense. Just hear that +pink girl laugh! She's got Duncy in tow, telling him: 'Oh, Mr. Duncy! +you are _so_ amusing!'" + +"Shouldn't wonder if she wasn't. I think he is, sometimes, myself," +said Rig. + +"He is a consistent goose," said Magnus. + +"Come, now, Kin, you're out of humour," Rig said soothingly. "You'll +feel better after dinner." + +"No I shall not," Magnus answered crossly. "Last Thursday I had chicken +pie and apple fritters." + +Rig gave a groan. + +"Well," he said, "it can't be helped, so eat all you can. And there +goes the drum." + +The two set off for barracks, but if Magnus had eased his mind, he had +certainly given his heart an extra load. + +"Kindred's as glum as a post," remarked a smart first classman. "Easy +to see his girl's gone back on him." + +Magnus caught the words, but then came a thrill of joy. No, _that_ +could never be true; and his girl was the very best in all the world. +The sights and sounds about him grew indistinct; and with thoughts two +thousand miles away, Cadet Kindred finished his dinner and never knew +what it was. Only "Company A, rise!" awaked him from his dream. + + + + +XXXIX + +MORE GIRLS + + Pray to God, but continue to row to the shore. + + --_Russian Proverb._ + + +But work did come hard! The reveille gun was such an impertinence after +the lazy summer mornings at home. Every officer figured as an enemy, +every drill was an unmitigated bore. And despite what people say about +changed seasons, it rained Saturday afternoon then, as it always does +now; while if it rained other days too, yet it was sure to clear up in +time for drill--or the cadets thought so, which did as well. + +Such meals, too, three times a day! Fair enough in ordinary, and easily +disposed of by the healthy young appetites, whetted with hard work and +open air; but thrown into utter disgrace just now by the background of +"mother's" dainties and "home" cream. They were sober enough, these +furlough men. But it is hard for even quiet steeds to go calmly back +from pasture into the traces; some other fiery young coursers were +simply rampant. A good deal of mischief went on in those first weeks in +barracks. + +Magnus Kindred kept out of it, partly because he had Cherry's image +before his eyes; but also because he liked his freedom better than +anything else, and had never learned to confound license with liberty. +No amount of fun on Monday, would pay him for spending the next +Saturday afternoon on the area. + +So while other men "ran it" to the Hotel or to Highland Falls, paying +that unpleasant penalty, Cadet Kindred kept his playtime free, taking +long, long walks over the mountain or in other leafy regions where +the squirrels and woodpeckers had it all to themselves. Studying the +fanciful piebald of the autumn leaves, gathering the quaint yellow +witch-hazel blooms, and the white ladies' tresses; and bringing back to +barracks such a clear head for study that he went up hand over hand. +Men said he was in love--which was certainly true; and some, that he +was trying to "bootlick the Supe," which was as certainly false. And +again others, that he was "boning Willet's Point." But no; he was doing +better, and simply "boning" the highest stand he could reach. + +Meanwhile, to grace the lovely fall weather, several new flowers--or +birds--might be seen at parade and on the sidewalk. And Magnus had been +duly presented, and had done his first devoirs to the fair strangers. +But after that he thought he might please himself again, and muse and +climb among the beloved old rocks. + +"Where _does_ Mr. Kindred go every Saturday?" Miss Berry demanded of +Rig one day. "You know I'm visiting at the corner house, and can watch +both ways. But while I'm running from one window to the other, he +always contrives to vanish; and I never can tell into which house." + +"Of course I cannot say, Miss Jo," Rig answered, "because you know I +never get round the corner. The minute I see you watching for me, I +stop and come in." + +"Watching for you! I think I see myself," said Miss Berry. + +"You'll see something very sweet, when you do," said Rig politely. + +"It'll be something pretty sour, if you're not careful," retorted Miss +Berry. "But say--I'm awfully curious to know. Where does he go most, +Saturdays?" + +"Why, nowhere, to visit, they say," said the hostess. + +[Illustration: CADET ROOM IN BARRACKS] + +"Isn't there someone he cares about out West, Mr. McLean?" + +"He has two charming sisters." + +"Oh, of course!--all you cadets have charming sisters," said Miss Jo +impatiently. "Anybody else?" + +"Lots of girls there," Rig replied. "They haven't all come East by +several." + +"What do Western girls look like?" + +"Angels, some of 'em," said Rig, thinking of Violet's eyes. + +"Did you see Mr. Kindred's best girl?" + +"I rather suspect I saw three of them," Rig answered slowly. + +"Three! Why, the man's a Turk. Wasn't one better than the other?" + +"I thought so," said Rig. "It's a matter of opinion, I suspect." + +"Oh, shut up!" said Miss Jo, with beautiful ease of manner. "It's no +more possible to get the truth out of a cadet, than----" + +"Than to get it without him," suggested Rig. + +"I'll get at it somehow, you'd better believe," said Miss Jo. "What +were these three girls called?" + +"One of them seemed to have a sort of French title; the other two +answered to plain English." + +"French--that's a likely story. What do you know about French?" + +"Not much," Rig confessed. "Don't be hard on me, Miss Jo. I expect to +be found in January, but you might leave a fellow hopes till then." + +"And you will _not_ tell us a thing about Mr. Kindred," joined in +another girl. + +"Well, now"--said Rig,--"that's putting it rather strong. But here +comes Kin himself; he ought to know. He's of age, ask him, as the Jews +said in the Bible." + +And Mr. McLean stepped to the window and hailed his friend, who had not +had the faintest intention of calling upon anybody that afternoon. + +However, so summoned, there was nothing else to do. So Magnus came in, +hung up his cap in the hall, shook hands with his hostess and the other +ladies, and then, after the manner of cadet chaff, asked Rig what he +was fooling there for? wasting his own time as well as Miss Jo's? + +"She said she hadn't any to lose, so I'm safe there," answered Mr. +McLean. + +"Make the most of it,--that won't carry you far," said Miss Jo. "What +_do_ you suppose he has been doing, Mr. Kindred?" + +"Could not guess--when it is Rig." + +"Absolutely quoted the Bible to me. I came so near fainting away that +he called you in for a tonic." + +"Quoted it pertinently?" + +"No, impertinently. Oh, Mr. Kindred, will you let me have a walk after +chapel on Sunday?" + +"Certainly--but I cannot take you to get it." + +"I suppose that passes for cadet wit," said Miss Jo, pouting. "Why +cannot you, pray?" + +"Something else to do: a previous." + +"You can't fool me so," said Miss Jo, shaking her flaxen head. "You +_know_ your best girl isn't here." + +"What then?" + +"Then there is nobody else you need walk with. I think you're very +unkind, Mr. Kindred. And I've got such a box of candy as _you_ never +saw." + +"Let me see it now," said Magnus, smiling. "Destroy ignorance wherever +you find it." + +"I guess I will! No, I'll give that walk to Mr. Clayton, and nobody +else shall have a crumb." + +"Or a smile." + +"Good for Clayton," said Rig. "Then he won't have to dead-beat to +the hospital Monday morning, but can go there for good and sufficient +reasons." + +"Aren't you ashamed!--as if my candy was poison," said Miss Jo +indignantly. + +"Mr. Kindred," said the hostess, "my curiosity is astir about this +'best girl' of yours; I should like to know your taste. What is she +like?" + +"Like herself: I know nobody else," said Magnus. + +"So then she really does exist somewhere?" + +"Why, you asked about her." + +"Yes, of course I did; but then I didn't know but Mr. McLean had been +fooling us." + +"Would he dare do that?" + +"It's my belief he fools about everything," said Miss Jo. "And you too. +I don't think you cadets know how to be serious about a single thing." + +"Grinds _are_ almost the staff of life here," said Magnus. "But you +do Rig unjustice: he'll be serious enough when he gets zero in wave +motion." + +"Don't speak of wave motion Saturday afternoon," pleaded Rig. "It's the +only time in the week when anything stands still and right side up. +The air waves, and the light waves; and not a thing is steady, from +Saturday night to Saturday noonday." + +"I hope you do not study wave motion on Sunday," said the hostess +reprovingly. + +"Only practises it in chapel, you know," said Magnus. "Rig goes to +sleep systematically, and keeps up in wave motion by a series of +graceful nods." + +"Ha! ha!" laughed Rig. "Well, I sometimes do, that's a fact. Somebody +stuck a pin into me last Sunday. Wasn't you, was it, Kin?" + +"It was not my pin. Come away, Rig, you've got another visit to pay +before retreat," and the two bowed themselves out. + +"I don't believe I'll call on Miss Saucy to-day," said Rig, as they +walked along. "I got thinking about your handsome sisters, and that +takes the taste out of other girls." + +"Oh, does it!" said Magnus mockingly. "If you say that again, I'll +report you to the Com. for a cannibal. There--the Kitten is tapping on +the window for you, and you can go to Miss Saucy later. Run in; there's +a lot of girls staying there." + +And Rig ran in. But in the hall, while giving himself those finishing +touches in which even men indulge, Rig found that Cadet Kindred had +slipped away to parts unknown. + + + + +XL + +ON FORT PUT + + Think truly, and thy thoughts + Shall the world's famine feed; + Speak truly, and each word of thine + Shall be a fruitful seed. + Live truly, and thy life shall be + A great and noble creed. + + --DR. BONAR. + + +No, Cadet Kindred was in no mood for "other girls" that day; had he not +just been writing his heart out to Cherry? and was not her last letter +lying _perdu_ up his sleeve? You could not expect him to have any +relish for common doings. + +So with the easy, steady gait which I wish all men might copy, Magnus +went swiftly on to the west end of the officers' row. Past Miss Saucy, +who signalled him from her friend's porch; past Miss Bee, who bowed +from an open window; past the talk and the laughter, the scent of +chocolate, the certainty of sugar plums. Then at the last house of +the old "west limits" he turned sharply round the corner, and began +to mount the hill. Small danger of "other girls" here, or of other +men, unless a few homesick strollers like himself; and these were +passed with only a nod. The real denizens of the roadway were wild and +sweet as the day. Red squirrels and brown chipmunks darted across the +path, whisked into holes, or chattered in the treetops; "the sound of +dropping nuts," the rustle of leaves, the voice of a crow or a gull, +only made the stillness more exquisite. The rocks were cushioned +with mosses; the ferns and the early fallen leaves of chestnut and +butternut made a lovely carpet all about; the clear air seemed strung +and tuned to the last pitch of harmony. Far down, down, the winding +river, in its varying shades of blue and grey, flowed silently among +the hills, flecked with the white wings of two or three sloops and +schooners; but all too distant for the murmur of the little waves, the +creaking of cordage, to reach him. + +Cadet Kindred paused several times at points where the view opened; +then addressing himself to the hill again, and choosing the old broken, +steep-pitched track of a hundred years ago. The Revolutionary style +suited his mood to-day; and he sped up the last steep incline with a +will; passed through the old sallyport, sprang up the parapet, and sat +down to gaze. + +At his feet the rough hillside went in tumbling, breaking fashion down +to the little fringe of houses in the officers' row; and beyond them +the green plain spread out its fair expanse, with Barracks and Academic +Library and Chapel, walling it in on the south. Elsewhere the river, +and beyond that again the hills. From above the trees on Trophy Point +the fair, curling folds of the flag, with an action which would have +been lazy had there been any call for haste, lifted and drooped at the +top of the tall white staff. Magnus Kindred stood up again and saluted, +with a flourish. + +"Yes, old friend," he said, "we are sworn comrades now, whatever +happens. One full summer more for me here, and then away to the ends of +the earth: but that blessed old rag will fly just as well at San Carlos +as at West Point, and be just as ready to read me a lesson." + +And with that, Magnus stretched himself out on the green slope, pulled +forth Cherry's letter, and read it through twice. + +Then he studied the flag again; musing over things he had heard and +read. Of the men who ran up the colours when their ship was sinking +in the deep, dark sea; of standards dyed with the life-blood of their +defenders. Of the failures that yet were a triumphant success. + + "My half day's work is done, + And this is all my part. + I give a patient God + My patient heart: + + "And grasp his banner still, + Though all its blue be dim; + These stripes, no less than stars, + Lead after him." + +"I wonder if that fellow loved anybody," Magnus questioned with +himself, a stricture coming over his heart at thought of the young +soldier under whose death-pillow the brave, pitiful lines were found. +"And I wonder if I could have said it in his place? But that is +what it means. That is just what I have to do for the old Stars and +Stripes--and for the Lord's banner." + +And secure against the criticisms of chipmunks and chickadees, Magnus +began at the old ballad of the "Star-Spangled Banner," and sang it +straight through. + +"Well sung, and to the purpose," said a pleasant voice, and Magnus +started up, to find a gentleman close behind him; and, as he saw at a +glance, no less a person than his friend of the candidate journey. + +It was plain, however, that Mr. Wayne did not know him. How could he +find in the close-cropped hair the wayward, curly locks of two years +ago? or see, in this happy compound of uniform and drill, the homesick +boy whom he had cheered and comforted? + +"Do not let me disturb you," said the newcomer, taking a seat near +Magnus. "I was wandering round among the old walls, thinking how much +had crumbled and how much grown up since their day, not knowing there +was anyone up here but myself. And when suddenly the dear old song +rang out, I could not help coming near to listen. Has it come into +fashion again, in these latter days?" + +"Not especially, that I know of," said Magnus. "But I was brought up on +it." + +"So was I. And where were you brought up?" + +Magnus named his State. + +"Strange!" said Mr. Wayne. "The first boy I ever spoke to who was +coming to West Point was from that State; and now so is also the first +full-fledged cadet I meet with here." + +"Yes, we have a good representation from all our districts," said +Magnus. + +"Do you men from the same State always hold together in any special +way?" + +"Against all the rest of the world, yes," said Magnus. "But we often +choose our chums from the Antipodes." + +"For private and personal reasons, rather than public; I see. But then +of course you know them all, more or less; and so you must know the man +I am after." + +"A relation of yours, sir?" Magnus inquired gravely. + +"Oh, no, not at all; only an acquaintance of a day and a night. But I +should like to see him again very much; in fact that was why I stopped +over a day here. I wonder if he is in the corps still? Must be, I +think; he did not look like a fellow to be 'found' in anything,--unless +caution and self-control." + +"That's a bad showing," said Magnus. "I'd rather chance it in math." + +"You must know him, of course, if he is here," Mr. Wayne went on; +"for he was from your State, I know. I had his name down--and I also +had my pocket-book stolen! Can you tell over the list of your State +delegation?" + +So Magnus began. + +"Smith, J., 2d; Jones, L.; Devius, E.; Smith, T. A.; Marston, +Kindred----" + +"That's the man!" broke in Mr. Wayne; "Charlemagne Kindred. And you say +he is here still?" + +"Oh, yes, he's here," said Magnus, with a half groan. + +"Doing well?" + +"Doing all sorts of ways. He is just back from furlough, and as blue as +a mouldy cheese." + +"Back from furlough! Ah, then he has seen his mother again. That ought +to cure him of doing 'all sorts of ways.' Where does he stand in his +class?" + +"Oh, he keeps out of the Immortals," said Magnus with a shrug. "Might +max it oftener, if he didn't read so many magazines and write so many +letters." + +"Letters, hey? These 'left behind' girls have a good deal to answer +for. And yet such a trust as a woman's life and happiness, ought to +steady any man, and put him at his best." + +"He has four just such trusts," said Magnus. "I don't know that they'd +all die if he went to the bad, but two of them would." + +"Four--you seem to know him very well," said Mr. Wayne, turning to look +more narrowly at his companion. + +"I don't know, sir: sometimes I think I do, sometimes not. He takes me +all by surprise every now and then," said Magnus. + +But with that he turned his eyes full upon Mr. Wayne, and the +recognition was instant. + +"And this is you!" said Mr. Wayne. "I see it now. Indeed I think I felt +it all along. Sit over there, and let me look at you." + +So Magnus changed his seat for another, and went through a new sort of +inspection; differing _in toto_ from that of any member of the tactical +department. For Mr. Wayne's eyes passed rapidly over grey cloth and +bell buttons (Magnus feeling quite sure the while that any dulness or +disorder there would have been noted) and came to the young face, with +a look so searching and wise that the sunburnt cheeks reddened, and the +eyes went down. Only for a moment, however: then they met the search +squarely, and with a laugh. + +"Yes, sir," said Cadet Kindred, "that is just about what I am." + +Privately, Mr. Wayne had been thinking to himself that just what he saw +was a remarkably fine-looking fellow, whom anybody might be proud to +call son or brother. For the eyes were steady and true; and when the +face broke in a smile or a laugh the mouth had the same utterly clean +look which had marked it two years ago. Mr. Wayne noted it all, and +drew a deep breath of rejoicing. + +"I give most humble and hearty thanks," he said, reverently lifting his +hat. Magnus sprang up and came back to his old seat. + +"Were you so doubtful of me, sir?" he said. "And what made you +doubtful?" + +"Not doubtful of you, my boy, but certain of the world. And the +world--even this little world here--is a hard place." + +"This is an awful place!" said Magnus. + +"You think so now, because you are just back from furlough. But you +will find the world power in full force still, when you get to some +far-off frontier post. Very few lives have a steady fair breeze +straight into heaven. 'Ye must take the wind in your face if ye will +fetch Christ,' said old Samuel Rutherford; and most of us find it so. +But then, 'How sweet is the wind that bloweth out of the airth where +Christ is.'" + +And Magnus remembered instantly that ever since he came to West Point, +he had hailed the west wind, because it seemed to come from home. + +"How can you always tell, sir, whence it comes?" he asked suddenly. +"Being disagreeable doesn't prove a thing right." + +"Truly no. But you know what Christ himself is, Mr. Kindred; study +him, his character, his will, his throne. It is not hard to match your +colours, if you are really so minded. West Point is not so unlike +everywhere else as you seem to think. I remember a young man who went +from here to Texas, and wrote back that he was still fighting the +world, the flesh, and the devil. Finding the world perhaps a little +less down there, but the flesh and the devil about as usual. And so you +will find it. 'The kingdom of God is within you'--not outside: whether +at Governor's Island, or San Carlos." + +"What makes you speak of San Carlos, sir?" Magnus said, with almost a +start. + +"One of the worst posts in the army, is it not?--or counted so?" + +"I am not afraid of San Carlos," said Magnus decidedly. "The devil +always has to clear out, when an angel comes in." + +Mr. Wayne turned and looked at him. + +"So!" he said; "that is all settled, is it? But no, my young sir: Satan +held a dispute with an archangel once, long enough for some pretty +strong words on both sides. And you are going to take an angel to San +Carlos!" + +Almost just what Mr. Erskine had said. + +"Were you ever there, sir?" Magnus asked. + +"Oh, yes." + +"Doesn't the place need angels?" + +And now Mr. Wayne laughed. + +"You have the best of me there," he said. "Yes, not a doubt of that, it +does. And it is the very place that the white wings love to brighten +if they can. But Mr. Kindred, if your particular angel is to live at +San Carlos--or anywhere--and not break her heart; spread her white +wings and fly away from earth and you together; you have got to fight +the devil yourself; hand to hand, and wherever you find him. These +earthly angels are not quite so robust as the old painters make out the +heavenly to be." + +"She is the very centre of my life!" cried Magnus. But Mr. Wayne sighed. + +"It happened once," he said, "that a young graduate of West Point +brought his three-months' bride not to San Carlos, but to Fortress +Monroe. Of course, the 'pleasant fellows' of the garrison went to work +to entertain him, and one of them told me this story: + +"'We had a little supper party,' he said. 'Not very large, but correct +and choice; and we kept it up pretty late; and X. Y. got more than he +could manage gracefully. So some of the stronger heads among us set out +to get him home. Late, as I said; servants asleep, lights out, and I +guess we knocked and rang more than once. Then X. Y.'s young wife came +down, candle in hand, to let him in. Poor girl--I did feel sorry for +her when I saw her white face, as the candle flared out upon him.'" + +There came up before Charlemagne Kindred, as his friend spoke, the +vision of another face; so blanched, so stricken in its grief, and all +for him. He bowed his head upon his hands. + +Mr. Wayne asked never a word. He looked at the fine young man beside +him, not knowing just what he might have touched, and then away over +the fair hills and the soft flowing river. What a world! Peace written +everywhere on the exquisite setting; and everywhere in the picture the +sharp life and death conflict. Then the glad words in the Revelation +made answer: + +"And I saw, and, behold, a white horse; and he that sat on him had a +bow: and he went forth, conquering and to conquer." + +"Amen!" Mr. Wayne said aloud: adding half under his breath: "'Oh that +thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the +mountains might flow down at thy presence!'" + +Magnus looked up in surprise. + +"Only an old habit of mine," Mr. Wayne said, smiling at him. "I live so +much alone, that I very often talk to myself for lack of a listener." + +"Do you want to see these mountains flow down?" Magnus asked, gazing in +his turn at the fair hills. + +"Not these in themselves; only I long for all which the prophet's words +imply. To see the crooked made straight, and the rough places plain; +to hear the royal proclamation of the Prince of Peace sound out across +this burdened earth; one could be willing to have 'every mountain and +island' moved out of their places. To have that trumpet blast fill all +the air: + +"'The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of +his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.'" + +"No more miserable captives to the power of evil; no more strong men +'whom Satan hath bound at his own will." + + "No midnight shades, no clouded sun, + But sacred, high, eternal noons." + +"How naturally the words follow: + +"'We give thee thanks, O Lord, because thou hast taken to thee thy +great power, and hast reigned.'" + +Then Magnus began and told him the whole story; pouring out details, +and not sparing himself in the least. And Mr. Wayne listened in deepest +silence, with a grave, tender face which drew on confidence. Magnus did +not once name Cherry, only at the end he said: + +"I told her everything. And if I thought I should ever again make her +look as she did then, I think I would shoot myself." + +"Powder is very cheap," Mr. Wayne said slowly. "It is the meanest, +smallest, silliest back door through which a man ever shirked his +difficulties. But to live a strong life, to have one's self in hand +and keep a tight rein, that costs, and costs tremendously; demands +a man's whole will-power, and the mighty grace of God. There is no +promise whatever to the one who runs away; they are all: 'To him that +overcometh.'" + +"Yes sir, I know," Magnus answered him. "But instead of costing, it +seems to me the only life that pays." + +"And where do you get dividends, but from investments?" said Mr. Wayne +quickly. "You gain from what you put in: knowledge from study, health +from exercise, advance from toil. You bone discipline, and you stand +one; you bone mathematics, and you max it every time." + +"No, you don't," said Magnus. "Not some of us." + +"Yes you do. Not all just alike, perhaps; one man puts in more brains +than another, and so maybe gets larger returns; but the slower fellow +maxes it _for him_; the dividends are as large as the stock will +warrant. And to my mind, that is the only ambition worth a copper. I've +no patience with this trying to get ahead of somebody else in any line. +Get ahead of yourself; break your own record." + +"Not making other men your measure," Magnus said. + +"No. That's the way Paul puts it: 'I press toward the mark for the +prize'; not to get ahead of Peter or James or John. The colour markers +always in advance, flagging out new ground." + +"What do you count a man's colour markers, sir?" Magnus said, looking +amused. + +"Perhaps clean purpose of heart and loyalty to God would come near +it. The Great Captain has thrown open to you--to every young man--a +wondrous Promised Land. He says: 'Go in and possess it. Ye are well +able to overcome.' The land is not all 'fish and cucumbers and melons,' +with a good deal of garlic, like the Egypt degradation and bondage; but +'a goodly land of springs and fountains, of oil olive and honey; whose +stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.' I do +not believe you cadets are half aggressive enough." + +"In what way, sir?" + +"Every way. Suppose your colour markers had been up to their duty on +that sad night, and you pressing forward for the Lord's 'Well done.'" + +"Yes," Magnus answered, with a thrill of pain that somehow got into his +voice. + +"Or suppose," Mr. Wayne went on, laying a tender hand on the young +man's shoulder, "suppose you had been praying for those other men whose +ways you knew; working with them, persuading them into the service of +Christ?" + +"Oh, that could not be," Mr. Kindred said decidedly. "At least, I might +pray for them, of course, but I could not say much." + +"Why not?" + +"Against cadet code, sir. We let each other pretty well alone." + +"Cadet code!" Mr. Wayne repeated. "You tease each other now and then, I +fancy?" + +"Always!" + +"And laugh at each other?" + +"Without stint." + +"Perhaps introduce each other occasionally?" + +"Why, of course, sir!" Magnus answered. + +"And probably the cadet code would permit you to pull a man out of the +river, or tell him the barracks were ablaze? It is framed only against +the important things, hey?" + +"Don't you call it important to pull a man out of the river?" Magnus +asked, with a laugh. + +"Rather. Nothing like pulling him into the kingdom." + +The clouds sailed silently by, river and hill darkening and brightening +as the shadows fell and passed; the leaves rustled softly among the oak +branches and stirred with a different music among the pines. Then from +far down below sounded a drum--Magnus started up. + +"Thank you, Mr. Wayne!" he said earnestly. "Come to the guard-house +before call to quarters. I must go." + +"I will walk down with you," said his friend. + +"But I must run!" + +And away he went, springing down the hill through every short cut that +could be found; the grey and white showing, and hiding, and coming out +again further on. + +Mr. Wayne watched him with great interest, taking his own pace the +while down the hill; and now, as he went, from every other quarter came +just such flying figures. From the woods, from Flirtation, from the +river; from lingering last words on doorsteps, and girls and bonbons in +the houses. Hastening along with the graceful ease of long practice, +hurrying to lose themselves behind the grim grey walls of barracks. + +And Mr. Wayne watched and laughed; but then his eyes grew grave. Will +they make such haste at every call of duty, these gay youngsters? on +hand and "ready" at each noble muster? Alas, no! Even now some are +getting an "absence," and some a "late," and of others the guns are +not cleaned and the bell buttons will be tarnished. Ready! it is a +short word; but it means a man's whole ceaseless purpose, self-denial, +and care. How little those speeding figures on the green guessed that +anybody on the old hillside was praying for them; but I believe the +very skill and swiftness with which they darted along, gave stringency +to the prayer; such power for good, such forces for evil; such ease +in doing the right thing, such recklessness, sometimes, whether it was +done or not. Through his glass, Mr. Wayne could study it all out. + +See that one now; a tall fellow, going over the ground at a rate to +take common people's breath away. It is not altogether his fault that +he has to run for it; his best girl is on hand to-day, and this was a +critical walk round Flirtation. Drum-calls were scarcely heard, and +minutes flew unheeded. No carelessness of orders kept him back, and no +contempt for them make him linger now. He does not mean to have even +a late; and so dashes on and wins. There is some jeering and clapping +as the tall figure comes up; "Two-forty" being his affectionate +soubriquet; but all the same he is there, in ranks, with about ten +seconds or less to spare. + +Another--Oh, yes, he set out to run; anathematising the drum, the +parade, and the regulations, and so soon stops; runs again--and stops, +with a sort of what's-the-use air. "How much time?" he asks another, +who is walking calmly on. + +"None at all." + +Whereupon he quickens his steps; but not so the second. The drum-beats +come thicker and faster--that makes no odds. It is only a "skin" more +or less, he says to himself; and he's sure to get it some other way, +if not this; and he has lost his Christmas leave already. So, while +the rest fall in, and answer to roll-call, he comes leisurely up to +barracks, some minutes after the last man has shouted "Here!" + +That is Cadet Clinker all through; if he is going to fess, he'll "fess +cold." No one knows better than he how many demerits a man may get and +still keep his place in the corps; or what delicate shades of meaning +there are about "taking advantage of permits." So he runs it here and +runs it there; goes off limits in all sorts of ways, places, and times, +and gets help from all the friendly smugglers that infest the Post. +He is one who entraps others, serving out his stores in many-coloured +glasses or dainty cups, teaching the younger men strange oaths and +unwholesome ways; making many a weak boy ashamed of his mother's +counsels and his father's rules. + +"_Il y a des héros en mal, comme en bien._" + +You see he is such a pleasant fellow,--handsome, rich, plausible; a +great favourite with the ladies; and with a head about equally divided +between folly and mathematics. Excellent gifts, all thrown away; and +worst of all, thrown where they are stumbling blocks for other men. But +he is a tremendous favourite all the same, with much more courage to do +wrong than he has to do right. + +It is a thing to see Mr. Clinker come forth and walk about the Post, a +day or two after one of his prize-fight exploits. His mouth is swelled, +his eyes bruised, his nose knocked out of all its fine proportions. But +he steps jauntily along, and the pretty girl at his side gazes up into +the disfigured face as if Clinker were one of the first defenders of +the country, newly risen from the shadows of old Fort Clinton. + +To-night Magnus watched him coming over the plain, and thought of Mr. +Wayne's words. No, he had never prayed for Clinker, much less tried to +win him to better ways. And Cadet Kindred remarked to himself, quite +privately, that he would rather "pull him out of the river" than do +_that_, every time. + +Mr. Wayne stayed over Sunday, and Magnus spent with him every minute +that he could. The day was still and mild, so they could be out of +doors the whole time; and I hardly know which of them enjoyed it most. + +"If surroundings made men, you cadets should be the noblest set on +earth!" Mr. Wayne broke forth, as late in the afternoon they walked +up from Battery Knox, and paused in the little clearing where "Dade +and his Command" will be thought of for many a long day. "Such wonders +of beauty on every side, in mountains and sky and river; and whichever +way you turn, such reminders of men who have 'fought a good fight' on +the field of honour. Look at the old flag, and think how it has been +shot at and insulted; defied and threatened; yet how splendidly it +floats off to-day! And the guns that lie sleeping beneath its shadow +were captured by men who knew no such words as 'hard' or 'easy.' And +the great iron links once stretched across the river tell of other +chains triumphantly broken, in the face of fearful odds. On all sides +you find written: 'Faithful unto death.' Life purpose, life and death +effort, life-blood, have done it all; the blood of men who 'counted not +their life dear unto themselves' when the country had need. And the one +traitor among them--why, you will not have his name even in sight! His +tablet is a blank." + +Slowly pacing up the walk again, Mr. Wayne went on, half to himself: + +"Then Paul answered: 'What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for +I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the +name of the Lord Jesus.' Magnus" (with sudden change of tone) "when we +parted two years ago at the Grand Central, I bade you make friends with +the flag; _now_ I tell you to open a recruiting office. I think you +Christian men in the corps are making a grand mistake." + + "If you cannot reach the nation, + Gather in the men you know: + Teach your friend the way to glory-- + Draw your comrade where you go." + +Cadet Kindred stopped short and faced him. + +"Yes," Mr. Wayne said, answering the look; "I know all about it. But +the Lord said: 'He that gathereth not with me, scattereth'. And if you +think it will be easier to take positive ground and begin positive work +for Christ among a lot of strange officers at your first post, _I_ +think you are mistaken." + + + + +XLI + +UP CROWNEST + + Crowds of bees are giddy with clover, + Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet: + Crowds of larks in their matins hang over, + Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet. + + --JEAN INGELOW. + + +If Cadet Kindred rose up next morning with the very spirit of the +Crusades astir in his heart; ready to charge down upon the Saracens, +lance in rest; he said to himself as the day went on, that if Mr. Wayne +had ever been a West Point cadet, that gentleman would know some things +he did not know now. + +Here had Magnus been dreaming all night how he knocked a bumper out of +Randolph's hand; how he had run Rig up to the first section in French; +and how he had pitched Clinker back over the Commissary wall, just in +time to prevent his being missed and "skinned." Also how he himself +had been publicly thanked for these exploits by the Academic Board in +full session. But, alas! "the stuff that dreams are made of" fades in +the morning sun, and from these pleasing nocturnal visions Mr. Kindred +passed to a particularly tough recitation, with corresponding low +marks, and thence to the stubbornest horse in the hall, that would not +take the hurdles, and made him instead take the tan. And now, as he +sat in his room, tired and growly, the mail brought him nothing but a +desperately perfumed pink note. Magnus said "Phew!" and moved to the +window. + +"Sent the whole shop, hasn't she?" said Rig. "That's Mrs. Newcomb, a +mile off." + +"Just listen, will you?" said Magnus. "She wants to give a picnic on +Crownest, and tells me to bring men enough for five girls! How many +apiece, do you suppose?" + +"Unknown quantity; all depends on the girls. Who are they?" + +"Doesn't tell. Miss Pretty, of course, for one; she is a niece or +something. Then there's another girl, 'just from abroad,'--'and the +rest you know.' Well, I'll take the new girl, at a venture." + +"Then you'll not have to think up any new grinds," said Rig. "Lucky +man. And I'll take Miss Pretty. If she's heard all mine before, she +won't say so. So we are two." + +"And Clinker's three----" + +"What do you have him for?" said Rig. "He's in every single thing--when +he isn't on the area." + +"She wants him. By name," said Magnus. "Hopes 'dear Mr. Clinker will be +at leisure.'" + +"That's a neat way of hoping he's out of Con." said Rig. "Say, didn't +she have a granddaughter or something, getting rubbed up in Paris? +That's the new girl." + +"Granddaughter!" said Magnus. "Just let Mrs. Newcomb hear you say that! +But I'll take the rubbed-up girl, whoever she is, my risk. And Miss +Frisk will take _you_. She's sure to be along." + +"Sure to get Clinker, if she is," said Rig. "Wonder if the little Busy +Bee will come? Kin, you're hard on that girl." + +"Don't want me to be soft, do you?" said Magnus, with the drum cutting +him short. + +Of course the names of the party were all out before Saturday; the +girls could not talk of much else. And as for cadets, each girl might +have had five, had the limits of the lunch basket agreed thereto. The +day was perfect, the dresses faultless, and Mr. Clinker happily "at +leisure," for once. + +Not everybody knows--but few _try_ to know--how witching that climb up +Crownest is, if you take the old "Cadet Trail." The way goes along for +a while at the level of the plain, but then betakes itself to the air; +presently mounting up and up with a straight pitch before you. There +come turns, of course, winding round some unscaleable rock; and gentler +going over a small knoll or two, and quite a level stretch around the +shoulder, in the "Nest." But very often it is just a steep ladder of +a path, to be climbed as best you can. A wilderness of grey rock and +green woods; feathery hemlocks, sombre oaks, ash trees, maples, and +hickory. Below these, dogwood and other "cornels," with ironwood, shad +blossom, witch hazel, and laurel. Lower still ferns--unlike those +in the valley; with orchids of a new type, yellow gerardias, purple +gerardias, partridge berry, and wintergreen. Then the brown leaves of +last year, half covering the mosses, and thickly sprinkled in turn with +the red and yellow of to-day. + +The rarest scents are in the air: the balsam breath of the sweet brier, +and from the new-fallen and falling leaves that special fragrance of +the autumn woods--sweet, racy, heart-piercing, a waft from days gone by +and withered, their work all done. + +Many of the birds have already gone South; but robins are here, and +chickadees, and the cry of the gulls is in perfect keeping with the +cool air and the white caps on the river. + +Up through this wilderness of wild and fragrant things, the little +party went joyously along; or if not quite that on Mrs. Newcomb's +part, yet it is painful to relate that her trips and stumbles did but +heighten the fun for all the rest. In many a place it took two men to +get her on at all. Magnus would leave his pretty companion safe on some +high standpoint, jump down again himself, and with Crane on the other +side carefully engineer Mrs. Newcomb to a place beside her niece. It +might also be noticed that Mr. Clinker and his convoy generally lagged +behind at such crises, or got into some tangle themselves, from which +they came out, safe and suddenly, as soon as Mrs. Newcomb was disposed +of. And by and by Cadet Kindred, being quite alive to the situation, +quickened his pace, and passed on too far ahead for any new service to +be required of him. + +On and up the two flitted along--like grey and red squirrels, +averred the toiling Mrs. Newcomb; but even for themselves there were +difficulties. + +Here, for instance, stands an immense rock that stops the way. And as +Miss Lane measures it with her eyes, behold! there is Magnus on top of +it, reaching down his hand to her. + +"Do you expect me to climb up there?" Cadet gives a little gesture of +the head which Dickens would have said meant, "He rather thought so." + +"How did you get there yourself?" + +"Came." + +"Are there any snakes up there?" + +"Not so many as where you are." + +Miss Lane seized his hand, made unheard-of efforts, and mounted the +rock, then looked down complacently. + +"Why, how slow you are!" she cried. "Just jump up as I did. Oh--what +was that--a rattle?" + +"Yes; Rig's tin pail against his buttons," said Magnus, laughing. + +"I wish he'd give it to someone who does not wear buttons. Must people +always carry tin pails when they go out to enjoy themselves?" + +"You'll like it at the top. And we're almost there now." + +Trees grew shorter and scarcer, rocks stood up in bolder +self-assertion; and, with a last steep climb, the grey and the red came +out upon the mountain's lovely head, and, after a shout of victory, +sat down to look and breathe. Oh, how wonderfully fair earth is from +the top of Crownest! + +On the west, beyond the dipping hillside, the broad valley lay in +seven shades of green--slope beyond slope--till it touched the soft +horizon blue. To the north, the far-off Catskill range rose, shoulder +to shoulder, from the more level land, a great lonely pile. Then on the +south, beyond the locked-in Highlands, Tappan lay shimmering in the +sunlight, a blue inland sea; while just across the river on its eastern +shore, the bluff ends of the mountains fell apart, and you could see +the long valleys between; the grey-green ridges like grim ribs, running +eastward towards the Connecticut line. The river itself was decked with +various craft; over all there wandered a faint, fitful north breeze. + +From their vantage ground Magnus and his companion watched the toiling +party below, for whom neither earth nor sky had any special charm just +then. Privately Mrs. Newcomb was assuring herself, that the next time +she gave a picnic it would not be on the top of Crownest; the girls +might say what they liked. And Mr. Clinker was inwardly chafing against +the good lady's value in avoirdupois. (Quite literally, sometimes, +when on a bad bit of road she surged up against him.) Rig was laughing +to himself at them, at Magnus, and at things generally; and aloud at +the sallies of Miss Freak; while the last couples of the party fumed a +little at the slow progress and the narrow trail. How came those two to +get ahead? There they sat, in triumphant ease, the grey and the red. + +"You men are a very peculiar set," Miss Lane said suddenly. + +"I am sure you ladies are." + +"Oh, I am not talking of the whole human race," said Miss Lane: "it is +cadets that are so odd, so unlike other people." + +"That is good," said Magnus. "One would not wish to be like everybody +else." + +"How you chop one up. I mean other students. Do you try to be unlike +all other cadets?" + +Magnus shook his head. + +"I get the credit sometimes, without trying." + +"And I can see you deserve it, too," said the girl. "You would have +tugged Aunt Newcomb all the way up here, if you hadn't thought Mr. +Clinker meant you should." + +Magnus laughed. + +"Do you call that being odd?" he said. "It is just even." + +"And then, instead of standing off like a shirk, you did the polite +thing and ran away. Do you always run from difficulties, Mr. Kindred?" + +"Bad for me if I do," said Magnus. "A foe in the rear is worth two in +front." + +"Then you generally fight?" + +"People, or things?" + +"Both." + +"Well, as to the people," Magnus answered, "I have not been much +tried. It depends on yourself somewhat, I fancy; and I have never been +challenged since I entered the Corps." + +"What would you do if you were?" + +"What I would, is one thing," Magnus said rather slowly. "By my good +leave, I should say no." + +"Would you--and be pointed at?" + +"You're sure to be pointed at for something," Magnus answered lightly. +"It's a choice of cases." + +"But I cannot imagine a man like you saying no!" said the girl eagerly. +"Not fight, if you were challenged? You are brave, I know." + +"How do you know? If I am, I shall never fight for fear of being +pointed at." + +"But why?" Miss Lane repeated, her bright eyes searching his face. +"Tell me quick, Mr. Kindred. They'll all be up here directly, and I +cannot possibly wait to know till to-morrow. Why wouldn't you fight? I +believe you could whip any man in the Corps." + +"There is one rule," said Magnus, meeting her look, "which I have sworn +to keep. It is an old rule, and a short one, but it covers a great deal +of ground. 'Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of +the Lord Jesus.' I could not so endorse my acceptance of a challenge." + +The girl looked at him with wide open eyes. + +"You will find those old rules of yours terribly in the way, +sometimes," she said. + +"Sure sign that I am off the track, then," said her companion, smiling. +"Fences don't matter when you mean to keep the road. But doubtless most +good things have their inconvenient side." + +"Aunt Newcomb, for instance," said Miss Lane, changing her tone. "I +think I should count both sides 'inconvenient,' if I had to pull her up +the hill. By the way, Mr. Kindred, why didn't your rule oblige you to +take the brunt of the burden to the last?" + +"It might in some cases," said Magnus; "not in this. Clinker had to +earn his lunch, and there was no other way for him to do it." + +"Well, there they come," said Miss Lane, rising up, "to cut short our +talk; I am quite sorry. You interest me, Mr. Kindred; cadets with +'views' are a novelty. But I rather wish you would fight!" + +"I dare say I could get a broken head in the riding-hall some day, when +I'm on Dangerfield--would that do?" said Magnus, laughing back at her +as he went forward to give Mrs. Newcomb a hand, which was gratefully +taken. + +"Oh, Mr. Kindred--thank you! This has been certainly--the most awfully +grand--walk I ever experienced." + +"It isn't a walk at all, Aunt Newcomb," said Miss Freak. "It's a +clamber, and a climb, and the roughest sort of time. I've ruined my +best pair of shoes, and not another this side of New York. And five +walks on hand for to-morrow." + +"Get an order on the Captain from the Com.," Rig suggested. + +"Fit warranted," said Miss Freak, putting her little foot out into the +sunlight. "I wonder you don't offer me your own, Mr. McLean, at once, +and save what is left of mine." + +"You wouldn't need but one," said Rig; "and regulations require me to +have two." + +"Much you care for regulations, up here." + +"Freaky, my dear," said her aunt, "I wish you girls would unpack the +baskets, and heat up our coffee. I am just worn out." + +"But you must have a fire," said Miss Lane. "Who'll make it?" + +Then followed the prettiest, liveliest bustle. The hilltop all around +them was covered with a low growth of huckleberry bushes; and here and +there, scattered about among this, were twigs and sticks and chips, dry +and bleached and just ready to burn. + +Choosing with some care a rock whence the fire could not easily spread, +a gay little blaze was soon kindled, and the cold coffee put under--or +over--its care. Then busy hands unpacked or uncovered the baskets. +Sandwiches were in one, cake in another, late peaches filled a third. +Miss Freak had a box of Huyler's somewhat luscious sweets; Miss Newcomb +an assortment of peanut brittle, cocoanut cakes, and sweet chocolate; +and the wind kept still, and did not blow even a napkin away. + +But the last time Magnus Kindred had been at a picnic, it was in the +far-away home region, and with just the home group around him; and now +it all came back to him in a moment; with the tones of his mother's +voice as she asked for a blessing on their day's pleasure. And I +suppose it was this that made him pause unconsciously, after he had +taken his stand by the fire to pour out the steaming coffee. + +"What is it?" said Mrs. Newcomb, in her plaintive voice. "Not hot yet?" + +Then Miss Freak laughed out, and Miss Newcomb looked at her, and Miss +Lane watched this cadet who had "views." + +"Oh, aunty!" cried Miss Freak, "don't you know he's one of the +too-good-for-this-earth boys? Why, coffee out of an ice box would scald +his throat, if somebody didn't pray over it first. He's waiting for you +to say grace, ma'am." + +"Waiting for me!" Mrs. Newcomb repeated helplessly. "But your uncle +always does it, you know, Freaky." + +"Well, he isn't here," said Miss Freak. "Come, aunty!" The girls were +choking themselves with their pocket-handkerchiefs; the cadets, better +used to endurance, kept their gravity intact. Charlemagne Kindred +stood absolutely still; but his thoughts went flying back to the +honeysuckle-wreathed porch, and Cherry, and how she had waited for him. +Blessings on her! she never came near him but to do him good. + +"Why doesn't the man pour out his coffee?" Miss Lane was saying +impatiently to herself. + +"Mr. Kindred," said Mrs. Newcomb in a sort of appeal--"girls, be +quiet--I am ashamed of you. Mr. Kindred, will you be kind enough to say +grace yourself? Of course, it is quite proper to have it done, and a +man can do it so much better." + +"Not this man!" So shot the feeling through Cadet Charlemagne. This +man, who had never even come near such a thing in public. But quick as +Nehemiah got his orders, so on the instant the young cadet had his. +Was he not pledged to shun no point of witness-bearing? And, with +again one swift thought of Cherry, Magnus obeyed; standing there by the +little fire, while good Mrs. Newcomb bowed her head, and the others +watched him from their mossy seats. And the words were Cherry's own, as +she had said them on that well-remembered morning. + +"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much." +This was a very small thing to do, but I think nobody ever guessed what +it cost Magnus Kindred. And as little did he imagine, how that small +bit of open confession broadened out and took its full proportions to +other eyes. There was something in the serious face, something in the +reverent voice, something about it all, indeed, that everybody felt. As +Mr. Kindred came forward now with Mrs. Newcomb's coffee cup, Clinker +looked at him curiously, McLean with a sort of wondering veneration, +while Miss Lane said to herself: "Fight! Of course he could!" But then +Magnus threw himself into the fun, and in two minutes had fanned the +frolic to a point that quite outshone the fire. + +"So nice to have a private chaplain along," Miss Freak had said airily, +trying to throw off her thoughts. But the other girls frowned down +all attempts at fun in that direction, and harmony reigned. Or, to +speak more correctly, the lunch baskets reigned in a very harmonious +atmosphere. + +Sitting about on moss or stones, after the good cheer had vanished, +the cadets got off so many "grinds" that poor Mrs. Newcomb declared +she should have no strength left to help her down the hill. Then they +sang songs, and gave out conundrums. The girls made chains of the pine +needles, and the men in grey put them on, and declared them emblematic +and imperishable. + +On her part, Miss Lane went on with her study of Magnus Kindred, +watching him keenly. She noticed that though he took the frail +green links from her hands, putting them round his cap, twining them +about his arm, he said no word of their being "fetters"--called +them garlands, instead. She felt that in all the light play, the +cavalier-like deference, there was no sham devotion, no hint of deeper +things. Yet he wore his class ring. And she knew she was pretty, and +felt certain she was well dressed. It piqued her; she would have liked +to see those green chains press hard, with a permanent sensation. And +then, when she went off to look at some side view which Mr. Clinker +recommended, what did Mr. Kindred do but seat himself by Mrs. Newcomb +and talk to her! It was extremely trying. + +I think, to me, the way down Crownest is more difficult than the way +up; taking hold perhaps upon a set of less-used muscles; but the party +all came safe and sound to the lower level and easier going of the +plain. + +"Now you must be sure and come to us at Christmas," Mrs. Newcomb was +saying, as they parted. "We shall expect you all." + +"Well, I can't come, sorry to say," Mr. Clinker answered with a laugh. +"I've got a previous with the Com. Awfully hard lines for me--but it's +just my luck." + + + + +XLII + +CHRISTMAS LEAVE + + Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes, they were men that stood + alone. + + --JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + +Cold weather came early. Mrs. Newcomb's picnic was the last of the +season, and most of the human birds of passage grew chilly, and took +their bright plumage back to city streets. A few visitors lingered on; +people with no children to put to school, or with some son or brother +in the Corps. + +Only the steadfast old hills flung out their hardy colours--and flung +them off; decking themselves with an occasional white cap instead. The +blue river rolled by in deep foamy wrinkles; the distant Catskills had +donned their snow. + +No parades now, but noisy drills, with light battery, siege battery, +and sea-coast guns, making the hills roar out in countless echoes. Only +Battery Knox lay quiet, unmoved in all the commotion, keeping silent +watch near the white shaft of "Dade and his Command." While far away +beyond the hubbub, a small army of white and grey and brown stones told +of other soldiers, who had fought their last battle, and answered to +the last command. Very little told there, indeed, but of the _soldier_; +the _man_ almost left out. But on one old, old stone are words to make +one's heart leap up for joy: + +"He that doeth the will of God, abideth forever." + +October ran its bright course, and the shorter, darker days of November +came softly in, but very fair, even yet. The hills set forth their +rocky heights and fastnesses, stripped now of the softening leaves, +and still the cold grey of the stone was warmed and clouded with the +wilderness of brown tree stems. And every here and there rose up a +tall hemlock or cedar or pine, in its dark, dauntless green, while not +a few red oaks still sported the tatters of their autumn flags. Along +the river on the lower ground, black alder bushes showed a wealth of +"winter berries," beautiful as coral beads, and a close match in colour. + +Drills ceased, and dress parade began; and in the dusky time between +gunfire and supper the men had chance for a good constitutional upon +the well-swept sidewalk of the officers' row. Wrapped in long grey +fearnaughts, with steady, swinging step, they went up and down, in ones +and twos and threes, almost like an open procession; talking, talking, +and discussing. Now the last blunder of the "Com.," now the latest whim +of the "Supe"; then the marks of the day. Here, consigning all tactical +officers to the prompt dealing of a drumhead court-martial, and here +busy with the charms of some fair new girl. Oftenest of all, perhaps, +dwelling on Graduation, Furlough, and First-class camp. + +But you never saw them walk arm in arm, like other students,--this +would strike any stranger. Close together, but both hands free. Perhaps +the regulation salute, with its frequent, instant, and exact demands, +may be partly the cause of this. + +A fellow once hastening over to the hop with a girl on one arm, and her +shoes and fan laying claim to the other, passed a certain dignitary +with only a bow of the head, and was of course reported. + +Going next day to explain and get the report off, he was told: + +"Drop the girl! Drop the shoes! Salute, salute!" + +Another feature of West Point life which I think would strike unwonted +eyes, is the universal opening of front doors at four o'clock. Up to +that time, after the midday refection of whatever name, West Point on +the plain might be a city asleep, with slow pacing sentries guarding +its slumbers. But when the sweet four o'clock bugle sounds out, waking +the echoes and the antagonistic dogs, the houses wake up too. Bonnets +go on, gloves slide into place, and the fair wearers come forth with a +delightful sense of expecting or being expected (for both things are in +place), and the thinnest veil of unconcern to hide it all. It is a very +pretty scene. + +Officers and professors come hastening back from the section room, gay +turnouts wheel hither and thither, and the cadets are presently out in +force. For drill, for parade, for walks, according to the time of year +and the state of the weather. Football was not yet the rage, in Magnus +Kindred's time, nor bicycles; and so every man you met was practising +the noble art of walking, or showing how splendidly West Point can ride. + +As November speeded away, Christmas leave began to rise up in the +distance, and to claim many thoughts. Men who had lost it were down on +their "luck" (the cadet spelling for carelessness), men who had won it +debated in what way the few dear hours of freedom should be spent; and +many a fellow from some far-down or far-off corner of the land stood +pledged to go with his happier friend whose home was nearer by. + +In all these joys, as usual, the poor fourth classmen had no share. +They walked, indeed, like the rest; one must do something; but they +talked gloomy things. No Christmas leave for them--and not much of +anything else but hard work. They were not supposed to need anything +else. No damsels on the sidewalk proffered them sugar plums, very few +people even knew them by sight. + +I will do Magnus Kindred the justice to say that the keen memory +of some of his own early days at the Post made him a little bit +thoughtful of these forlorn young strangers. It was no great credit to +him, perhaps, if he now and then passed on to fourth class hands a box +of Miss Flirt's best candy, but he did better than that. He gave words +of encouragement and counsel, cheered up the faint hearts, and would +smile and speak to a pleb on the sidewalk, just as if he himself had +not been first sergeant, and a prime favourite with the ladies. + +Some people will say he could have had no time to look after anyone but +himself, but you never know how much you have, till you divide it up +with needy people. And I doubt if helping takes more time than hazing. +It is rather a question of which word you will say, what look you will +give. And there had come to Cadet Kindred the wholesome perception that +he could be a power for good or for evil, with all these younger boys. +Consciously or unconsciously, they were watching the upper classmen, +and taking tone from them. + +"What is in the way of your living just as earnest Christian lives +here, as at home?" he had said one day to some plebs who were gradually +sliding back from all their good home habits. And one answered: + +"Because we are so far from home, sir, and can't go to church so often, +and can't keep Sunday as we have been taught." + +But another said boldly: + +"Because the first classmen are so different in camp from what they are +in prayer-meeting." + +And it set Magnus to thinking. His own pleb days were not so long past +that he could forget how he used to watch Mr. Upright, to see what all +his brave words in the prayer meeting came to in the week; finding the +first captain's straight everyday walk a constant help. And just such +service he himself was called upon to render to these new men. + +It had been a doubt with Mr. Kindred, as the holidays drew on, whether +after all he would use his Christmas leave. He had it, easy enough, but +what should he do with it? Home was too far away to be even thought of, +and short of home, what was there he cared for? Magnus rather thought +he would stay at the Post. + +However, as the time drew near, and Mrs. Newcomb renewed her +invitation, and Mrs. Beguile sent up hers, Magnus yielded to the +prospective charms of the Metropolitan Museum, Central Park, and New +York harbour; and joined the gay party that were going to town. Five +days' escape from the reveille gun was, after all, worth something. + +Busy, gay days! In their quiet "cit" dress the cadets roamed about all +day, and then at night, in correct cadet costume, went to dinner here +and supper there, until Magnus thought he must have been presented to +all the pretty girls in town. Rooms were full of floating sashes and +falling lace and skirts that could "stand alone": and the men in grey +moved about among the airiest kind of clouds and billows; a maze of +bewildering scents and sounds and visions, with old friends and new on +every hand. + +The last night of all there was a large gathering of young people at +the house of Mrs. Beguile, and of course the West Pointers were petted +and wondered over to their hearts' content. In fact Magnus had more of +it than he wanted; he grew tired of being asked for bell buttons, and +telling how often he had his hair cut. McLean enjoyed it, and Randolph +could never have too many girls around, even if the fair creatures +had to stand on tiptoe and peep over each other's shoulders. But Mr. +Kindred was in a very critical mood, thinking of Cherry; and found +himself comparing necks and shoulders on every hand. He was saying +stringent things to himself anent one of the prodigal owners, when Mrs. +Beguile touched him on the arm. + +"I do not wonder you are lost in admiration," she said, following his +eyes, which were just then fixed on the youngest Miss Fashion; an +extremely handsome young lady, too much of whose dress seemed to have +slid down to the floor in a mass of curling frills and furbelows. + +"Like Venus rising from the sea, is she not, Mr. Kindred, with her +white foamy draperies?" + +Magnus considered this rendering. + +"Why did Venus rise from the sea?" he asked abruptly. But now Mrs. +Beguile looked at him. + +"Why?" she repeated. "Dear me! how should I know? I'm not the least bit +classical. Because she liked to, I suppose. But my dear Mr. Kindred, as +our great poet has beautifully remarked, 'Life is a business, not good +cheer.' Will you come with me and make yourself useful?" + +"What an opening--to a man who has been totally useless for the last +four days!" Magnus answered, as he followed his hostess to the supper +room. "But if your poet had seen that table, Mrs. Beguile, he would +have written down life to be good cheer and not business--couldn't help +it, you know; it would have confused his mind to that extent." + +Mrs. Beguile took this as a great joke, and went about repeating it. + +"Cadets have such pretty ways of saying things," she remarked. "Oh, +Busy, here's Mr. Kindred. You used to see him at West Point, you know, +and he's just as nice as ever." + +Poor little Miss Bee! Did she need to be assured of that? But she bore +herself gallantly, was just glad enough and not too glad to see him, +gave one thought to her dress--so unfashionably high and plain--and +never found out with what deep approval Cadet Kindred noticed its +modest cut and simple trimmings. + +"Cherry might ask her to be one of the bridesmaids," he thought. Poor +little Mabel! + +"Say, Kin," Rig confided to him as he went by with Miss Flirt's empty +plate; "just two things not here, cast-iron pancakes, and 'Sammy.'" + +"And the first captain," added Randolph, "yelling out 'Battalion, +rise!' before we're half through." + +"What do you think of this, for Commissary beef?" quoth Twinkle, +devouring a sandwich in blissful ignorance of its component parts. + +"Mr. Kindred! Mr. Kindred!" called out Miss Freak from a window seat +behind him; "do please get me a glass of punch. I'm just dying with +thirst." + +Magnus stepped over to a side table and brought the young lady a glass +of sparkling cold water. Miss Freak promptly handed it back. + +"What did you bring that for?" she asked. "I didn't say water, man +alive!" + +"Best thing I know, when you are thirsty," said Magnus. "Try it once." + +"Try it once," the girl repeated mockingly. "Do you suppose I never +have?" + +"She wants punch," remarked Miss Saucy. + +"She thinks she does." + +"She _knows_ she does," said Miss Freak, with a stamp of her little +foot. "You'd better believe she knows what she wants." + +"I never heard that ladies could not be mistaken, did you?" said Magnus +provokingly. + +"Mrs. Beguile! Mrs. Beguile!" called out Miss Freak, "here's one of +your guests very rude to me!" + +"What is it, Freaky?" asked the good lady, bustling up. "Rude to you? +Oh, I guess not. Mr. Kindred will take care of you." + +"If she will let me." + +"Why, he's the very man!" said Miss Freak. "I want some punch, and +he'll not get it for me." + +"Not get it for you, dear?" + +"Doused me with cold water," said the young lady, pouting. + +"Doused you!" Mrs. Beguile looked at the pink draperies, which gave no +sign of such heroic treatment; then she turned to Magnus. + +"I am trying to take care of her, Mrs. Beguile," Magnus said. + +The good lady looked at him,--the clean, clear face, the bright eyes; +looked across to the great punch bowl, where the ladling and quaffing +went ceaselessly on, her own boys among the crowd, and a shadow fell on +her placid face. + +"Do you drink nothing but water yourself, Mr. Kindred?" + +"Nothing, ma'am." + +"Not even punch?" + +"No, ma'am." + +Another look went across the room, and then Mrs. Beguile said with a +half sigh: + +"Freaky, if I were you, I'd let him take care of me as he thinks best; +and of himself, too. You are a brave man, Mr. Kindred." + +"'The Lord cover his head in the day of battle,'" said a low voice +behind Magnus. He turned quickly, but perhaps the speaker had turned +too, for he saw no sign. + +"I thought you wouldn't fight?" said Miss Lane, laughing up at him. + +As for Miss Freak, she pouted, and made believe cry; and Randolph +darted over to the great bowl, coming back with a glass of punch in +each hand, one for his own companion and one for Miss Freak. + +"Such airs!" commented portly Mrs. Chose, sailing by. "Setting himself +up above the rest of the world. Just the way with those West Pointers. +I told you so, Miranda; more strut than sense. I'll never take you to +West Point again." + +"Oh, yes you will," said Miss Miranda cheerfully, "because I'm going. +Give me the strut, every time." + +"I admire your courage, Mr. Kindred," said another lady; "it is quite +touching in so young a man. But I am always sorry to see a fine thing +wasted, thrown away: misdirected zeal, you know, for instance. You +cannot think for a moment that one of those small glasses of punch +could affect a person in any way?" + +"It might make him want another, Mrs. Bright," Magnus answered +respectfully. She was a very pleasant, sensible woman, and had always +been very kind to him. + +"Want another? Well, let him have it. Two such glasses of simple punch? +Why, the head that wouldn't stand that isn't worth the purchase." + +"Mine would be worth more before than it would after," Magnus answered +gaily, but not without a twinge. + +"Oh, are you particularly susceptible?" + +"Not that I know of, ma'am." + +"Of course, if you are," the lady went on, "you do right to let it +alone. But you might grant others the pleasure. Really, I think it is +rather narrow of you, Mr. Kindred, and so I don't like it. You know you +have always been my model cadet." + +Magnus bowed. + +"Fences have a narrow look, I do suppose," he said, "but they are good +things, in spots. And I'd rather disappoint you so, than in some other +ways, Mrs. Bright." + +The two stood silent for a moment, looking off towards the punch bowl. +Men came and went, and went and came, with other people's glasses; and +then stood still and emptied their own. Young men, old men, with women +on the outskirts. + +"And you will not get _me_ a glass?" said Mrs. Bright; looking up at +her favourite. + +"No, ma'am, if you please," Magnus said, with very winning deference. +"You will not ask me, Mrs. Bright?" + +"You cannot think there is any risk for _me_? Would it be against West +Point regulations? But they are not in force here." + +"No; although West Point honour is mine to guard, wherever I am," +answered Magnus. "But I have said it to myself, that I will never take +nor give the stuff in any form. For a regulation older than West Point, +Mrs. Bright." + +"What, then?" + +"'If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world +standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.'" + +Very hilarious voices from the region of the punch bowl emphasised the +clear, brave words. + +"I don't like it," said the lady frankly. "You upset all my ideas." + +"But why do you keep him mewed up here in the corner, Mrs. Bright?" +said Miss Saucy, who had been listening intently behind backs. "I don't +believe he's had one scrap of supper. Have a cup of tea; do, Magnus. +You can't live upon air, man, even in the plural. Here's some I brought +you myself. Taste it and see how good it is. You like lemon, I know." + +Magnus took the cup from the glittering fingers, expressed his thanks, +and tasted as he was bid. Then instantly turned and set the full cup +down on the table, coming back to his place without a word. + +A great burst of laughter greeted him. Miss Saucy fairly sank down into +a chair, and Miss Newcomb and a half-dozen more clapped hands with +delight. + +"What is all this?" said Mrs. Bright sternly; the screaming style was +not to her taste, and she had caught the sudden flush and gleam on the +face of Charlemagne Kindred. "What is all this, girls?" + +"Rum," Magnus said briefly. + +"It wasn't!" cried Miss Saucy; "it was good, honest tea, Mrs. Bright." + +"With dishonest seasoning." + +"That was a very unladylike trick," said Mrs. Bright. "Girls, I am +extremely astonished at you. Rum in tea? Why, I never heard of such a +thing." + +"Oh, aunty," cried Miss Freak, with her hands on her sides, "there's +lots of things you never heard of!" + +"Well, I am glad I have heard of _you_!" said Mrs. Bright, giving +Magnus a good grip of her hand. "Glad I have heard you, too. And now I +must go." + +Miss Lane, who had been a keen looker-on at all this, came up a little +closer. + +"How does it work?" she said softly. "You know I warned you those old +rules would get in your way." + +"They have not yet," said Magnus. "I am all standing, thank you." + +"I see; straighter than ever. It's a great thing to have 'views,'" said +Miss Lane, with a laugh. "When they materialise like yours." + +For a few minutes the air was full of "See you at the New Year's +Hop"--"Take you to the Hundredth Night"--"Come for first-class camp." +Then the company separated, the lights went out, and the punch bowl was +left to its own reflections. + + + + +XLIII + +THE HUNDREDTH NIGHT + + Oh, who will leave West Point retreats, + A hundred days to come? + Oh, who will walk the city streets, + A hundred days to come? + Oh, who will wear their suits of cits, + Oh, who will boast of spooning fits, + Who'll lose their cents but not their wits, + A hundred days to come? + + --_West Point Howitzer of '93._ + + +The January examination that year came on and went off, bearing with it +but few wrecks. One or two hard-working men who were cut out for lines +of life where mathematics counted less; with two or three careless +ones who coveted lines where there was no work at all. And now in +everybody's mind the cold days and hard studies ranged themselves in +a shortening vista, with June at the end. June! the short word for +first-class camp, furlough, yearling camp, and graduation. While to +Charlemagne Kindred and many another, was added in the thought of +friends at home who had promised to grace June with their presence. +Some men talked about this, but he never did--at least, not in full. +To his roommate he did sometimes speak of his mother and her coming, +but not of his sisters; never of Cherry. No one knew that she existed, +except the men who had been there, and they had been very much thrown +off to the other girls even then. And as Magnus was extremely popular +at West Point, there were always girls at hand to suggest unlimited +chaffing, without crossing the continent to find occasion thereto. +Letters came and went in troops, of course, but so they did for +other men. Three girls he never heard of wrote to Magnus, desiring a +correspondence, and he turned the letters over to Mr. Trent, who had +quite a lively time. Thus, one way and another, the weeks swung on, and +Washington's birthday was close at hand. + +"One hundred days to June!" + +So rang out the joyful tidings in the Mess Hall one snowy winter +morning, making the old place on a sudden all summer with warm +exultation. It was almost beyond belief; and the fourth classman +detailed to announce the date might have been chaired and borne back to +barracks on the shoulders of the crowd, had such doings been allowed +at the Academy. As things were, however, all that could be given him +was the further privilege of announcing next morning, that the days had +dwindled to ninety nine. + +But just in here came the Hundredth Night extravaganza; like +Hallowe'en, or the Carnival, or any other special occasion when wits +run wild. + +If I should try to give you the details of any one particular Hundredth +Night frolic, I might either make anomalous blunders or else mark out +and specify some one special year, and so date my story. Let me rather, +then, give a chance medley from many celebrations, of things that were +done--or might have been done--only vouching for the general truth of +its details. + +Of course Magnus Kindred was in the forefront of everything, with his +untiring energy, fine voice, and ready wit; and no beavers could have +worked harder over a winter house, than these men over one winter +frolic. Plans, dresses, scenery, jokes, and poems, with here and there +an elaborate mock-machine; what patience, what perseverance, what +endless fertile wits, they did display. Every Saturday afternoon, +every minute of release from quarters, went into the work. Ladies were +called upon for hints and materials; good-natured officers gave their +accoutrements and their advice. The very professors lent their coats to +the wicked boys who were preparing to "skin" their benefactors, in the +only way possible to cadets. + +For the men in grey may not argue, remonstrate, or petition; may not +even ask why. "Theirs but to do and die," as they themselves would +put it; until the Colour Line comes round, or the Hundredth Night. +Then, twice in the year, they are allowed to state their opinions, +grievances, and desires, though still within certain limits. Woe be to +the man who ventures to disagree with his instructor in the section +room; but at the Hundredth night he may make what fun of him he +can--within limits. + +Of late, however, the censorship over these frolics has been so strict +that they are shorn of their old glory. The wild garden effect has +changed into more "correct" growths, well trained and trimmed: less +distinctive, less individual. Wits will not play without space to play +in. But in those times of which I write, it seems to have been thought +that steam pent up was more dangerous than the same blown off; and that +the quips and jibes and flings, so dear to cadet hearts, were most +innocuous when well shaken up and aired twice a year. + +Cadet rebukes rarely miss the mark through being wrapped in too much +cotton. But if a few cuts and scratches follow they are not deep, and +the surrounding fun half heals them. I defy anybody to look grave, when +that grey house "comes down" in a roar of merriment. + +Of course, many of the jokes are so local and technical that a stranger +would be puzzled. West Point affairs, personal hits at cadets, +or memories of the section room, figure largely. But whether you +understand or not, you have to laugh, just for the rollicking joy that +goes on behind you. The jolly storm of applause sweeps you helplessly +along. + +There are years when you go to the Hundredth Night between snowbanks +as high as yourself, and along slippery white paths; there are others +when the hills are clouded, and the mist hangs low, and the gas +lights twinkle and peer through a grey veil. There are still others +when air and hills and sky are at the brightest and bonniest, with +a clear, hard, brown earth; and you cross the plain amid a glory of +contesting lights:--gas round the quarters; a young moon dipping her +lovely crescent behind the hill; Newburgh's electric lights winking and +blinking like live things, from ten miles away; and close before you, +the whole front of barracks in a blaze of lit-up rooms. It is so fair, +so weird, that you can only look and look, back and forth, from side to +side. + +As you gaze and loiter, small parties pass you on the way: people +intent upon other effects than those of light and shadow. Generally +a cadet with a girl--or two girls; with sometimes a chaperon, and +sometimes not. But remember that every West Point cadet is held to be a +knight _par excellence_; a gentleman all through; and so, by long usage +and experience, judged to be a fit and sufficient escort on every such +occasion. It is the regular thing. + +And then when the figures flit by you side by side or arm in arm; pink +and grey, or grey and yellow, or, as now, furs and cadet cloth, all +your comment is for the pretty combination. And when some solitary +greatcoat goes speeding along to meet an appointment at the Hotel or +the houses, you instantly hope that the girl will not keep him waiting. + +For the minutes are running on; and whoever wants a good seat--or a +seat at all--had better not delay. + +There is a grey throng about the steps of the old Mess Hall, and girls +in quantity. + +They press up the stone steps, and pour into the hall, pretty and +flushed, proud and sufficient. Officers with their families join in, +and now and then a distinguished stranger; and these fill up the front +seats. Then come civilians, visitors, and their escorts. Behind the +curtain mysterious sounds of tools at work tell of preparations not +quite complete. There is music, a pause, and more music; and then from +behind the curtain a tall, grey figure steps gravely forth, bows low to +the audience, and begins the regulation Hundredth Night address. It is +the president of the first class. + +Whoever makes the speech, and whatever else he puts in it, the refrain +is always: + +"One hundred days to June!" + +I think I never knew but one exception; and I missed the old words +then; but this night they were in full force. Yet the speech was in +some ways as unlike most others as he himself was different from many +men. Strong, tall, square shouldered, both mentally and physically, +Cadet Trueman no more thought of turning a stone wall, or dodging a +river, than if they had been pebbles and rivulets. Which way he ought +to go, that way he went; the only sort of a steeplechase in which no +man comes to grief. Not a brilliant man, but a diligent; "hard work and +hard praying" had brought him nobly through. Trueman stood high, wore +high chevrons, and knew less (experimentally) of the area of barracks +than any man in his class. No ladies' man, as you might guess; although +the chevrons, or something, won him many admiring looks. But if ever +you met Mr. Trueman meandering round Flirtation with a girl, you might +be sure it was a case of philanthropy, pure and simple, and that the +damsel was on his hands by no volition of his own. And he never asked +for the further favour of a walk after chapel, or on O. G. P. He always +acquitted himself well on such occasions, but that was the last of it; +and he joyfully slid back among the bachelors again. And now, as he +came forward and bowed to the expectant throng, no thought of any--or +all--the bright eyes in the room made his pulse one throb the quicker. +He had stir enough, in the mere heading of his speech: + +"One hundred days to June!" + +"Who is that?" whispered a stylish new girl for whom Magnus Kindred +played cavalier. + +"Fort Put. In moments of deepest affection, 'Old Put.'" + +"How absurd you cadets always are! Wherefore do you call him that?" + +"Only thing in the neighbourhood like him. Crownest is a trifle large +for even his inches." + +The girl looked indignant, as if she thought Magnus was fooling her; +but then the speech began. + +Happy for you, perhaps, that no complete copy has come to my hands; +you are spared the danger of being even asked to read it. But the +last sentences so fixed themselves in Magnus Kindred's mind that he +sent them off to Cherry next day, word for word. And of course I have +unlimited control of the correspondence. "Ladies and Gentlemen" figured +politely in the opening words, but Cadet True soon forgot them; looking +clean across the gay flower garden in front to the grey mass behind: +the vivid, eager, forceful lives hid away beneath those trim dress +coats. + +"One hundred days to June! To freedom, to power, to Life! Men of 18--, +shall your freedom be liberty or license? your power sworn in for good, +or for evil? Shall life be a failure--or a success? The names that rank +highest to-day, will they keep their proud position? The names that +stand lower, will they show the world what they could have done here, +but for Wave Motion and Spanish?" + +And now Mr. Trueman had to pause, for this mention of their dire +enemies brought the grey house down. + +"It may be--it can be, if you will," he went on. "Every man has it in +him to do royal work. 'The people that know their God shall be strong, +and do exploits.' + + "Fight the fight, Christian! + Jesus is o'er thee. + Run the race, Christian! + Heaven is before thee. + Thee from the love of Christ + Nothing shall sever: + Mount when thy work is done, + Praise him forever." + +The grey figure bowed and disappeared behind the curtain amid great +cheering. + +"Good for you, Old Put!" cried Magnus heartily. "You see," he explained +to his companion, "True's just the same (or a trifle better) in +barracks than he is at prayer-meeting. That's how he won his name. +Nothing but treachery could have put the old fort in the hands of the +enemy,--and that failed. I believe," said Mr. Kindred, turning bright +eyes on his companion, "that if Arnold had carried out his plan, the +rocks on the hillside would have risen up and fought back the invaders." + +Miss Cray looked at him. + +"You're very patriotic, aren't you, Mr. Kindred?" + +"Rather," Magnus answered with dry emphasis. + +"I've been abroad so long," said the pretty girl, "I get puzzled. I do +know about Arnold. There's his tablet in the chapel, you know. But who +were Grant and Sherman, anyway? Didn't they figure in the last war, +somehow?" + +"Some people thought they did," said Cadet Kindred, with a face that +had no expression whatever. And then, happily, the curtain drew up. + +But how shall I give any idea of the performance to one who has never +seen the like? Hits at officers, burlesques of unpopular orders, +take-offs of the girls, with jibes and chaff at each other that would +have made anybody but cadets just savage. Being cadets, they caught +the fun, stood the jeers, and laughed--roared--till the Mess Hall rang. + +With all this, songs--often very good; or a charming bit of "silent +manual"; and scenes and situations sometimes true, always possible, +and very droll. Then some mock machinery that one wondered how they +ever found time to make; unheard-of problems and discoveries worked +out in most ingenious ways, with just enough flavour of this or that +instructor's style to "adorn the tale"--whether any moral came in or +not. + +Enter a donkey, carefully compounded of four plebs within--and I cannot +guess what without. Ears and tail of the proper length, hide of the +proper colour. He is slightly jerky and uncertain about his first +coming in; but that is all in keeping for a descendant of the donkey +"what wouldn't go"; and there is no hitch whatever in the performance. +I believe one of the legs fainted as time went on; but the little +beast (I mean the donkey), being skilfully pulled by the tail, beat a +masterly retreat upon the other three. + +A showman comes in with an armful of pictures, clever crayon sketches +of nooks on Flirtation; of unhorsed cadets; of cadet dreams, and +first-post realities. The showman pulls them away, one after the other, +with brief words of comment, prefacing the last with a bit of glowing +praise and liking--and lo! there stands before you the life-size +"counterfeit" of the well-beloved Superintendent; cleverly enlarged by +the cadet artist from a picture in some magazine. How the men cheer! +They'll have a slap at him, like enough, among the jokes, but they love +him none the less. + +Then stalks out to view a stately papa, and a whole bevy of blooming +daughters flutter in after him. They are dressed to kill, and come +flirting and fanning, bridling and prinking, in a way to instruct some +_bona fide_ girls. The butterfly poise of these airy damsels is quite +admirable, and could only have been won by long and careful study of +the originals. + +A dance of cuirassiers follows: but thereby hangs a tail--longer than +the donkey's. + +There had been for some time a highly unpopular dog at the Post; +whether bearing his own demerits, or those of his master, history saith +not. But some months before this winter night, and with his owner away, +the dog had been mysteriously and marvellously painted by hands unknown. + +Condign punishment was ready for the offenders. But the prefix to the +old receipt for cooking a hare ("First catch it") is eminently in place +at West Point,--and no one was caught. It was told, _sub rosa_, and +with great delight, how word flashed over the wires: "The dog has been +painted"; and how, when the owner came back, he met the chief culprit +first of all, and said he was glad to see him. But all this had passed, +and the dog was himself again. + +Now, to-night, the four cuirassiers, booted and spurred and helmeted, +went on with their dance, singing their song the while, when suddenly +from behind the scenes slid in the dog--the paint stripes in order as +they had been before, and the medallion on its side with the number of +its master's regiment all complete. The carefully moulded little body +gave hardly a hint of its pillow-case skin. + +Midway across the stage the dog stood still. And instantly the +cuirassiers paused in their dance, drew up around the dog and solemnly +saluted, with sword points to the earth, as if the whole tactical +department had been there in person. A wild dance followed, and the dog +was then solemnly borne off on the points of the cuirassiers' weapons. +But words cannot give the utter drollery of the thing, nor tell the +perfect way in which it was carried out. + +Then came more music, and the reading of the _Howitzer_. + +A cadet _Howitzer_ is a small, wholly original newspaper, full of +everything in general; grinds, burlesques, sharp hints and comments, +with bits of ridiculous fact as well; free as air, and sometimes as +breezy. Verses to the cadet girl, verses _at_ her, as well as touching +the stringent professor, and the unpopular drill. Grievances painted in +high colours, and jokes about cadets that are as merciless as they are +many. + +Scene: Riding hall. + +Lieut. B.: "Mr. H., let go that horse's mane, sir!" + +Cadet H. "I--I--I'm afraid he'll fall down if I do, Lieutenant." + +"Why is T. like necessity?" + +"Because he knows no Law." + +"A first-class horse--the Spanish pony." + +"Mabel, what became of that West Pointer you were engaged to?" + +"O, he turned out to be a disappointer." + +Scene: Section room. + +Cadet L.: "Stucco is made by mixing gypsum with a large solution." + +Instructor: "Large solution of what?" + +Cadet: "The text does not state, sir. It just says it is mixed with a +solution of size." + +Scene: Section room. + +Professor: "Now, gentlemen, the Indians made signs of natural and +living objects their language. For instance, if they wished to +represent the Little Horn River they drew a little horn; and if they +wished to represent the Big Horn River, they drew a big horn." + +Cadet C.: "Professor, how did they represent the Little Big Horn?" + +Such, and such like, keen-worded trifles; a line, or a page long; often +very bright, seldom complimentary, but always most impartial in their +bestowal of hits. + +Miranda: "I think Mr. W. is the most absent-minded cadet I know." + +Jenny: "How so, dear?" + +Miranda: "Why, last night he took the waltz position when we were just +sitting still on the Hotel piazza!" + +"For sale: We have on hand a large edition of C.'s 'Art of +Dismounting'; the most complete work of its kind. Also K.'s treatise on +'The Tanbark; as I have found it.'" + +So goes the _Howitzer_; and the audience are kindly told that at the +end of the explosion the members of the medical department will pass +in and out among the seats, administering "three pills, three times a +day," to each of the wounded. "Warranted to cure." + +I might give sharper-pointed details; but things that pass with the +saying, in an evening frolic, might jar or rasp if written down in cold +black and white. At the time (to their good sense be it spoken), no one +laughs more readily than the sufferers themselves. And in spite of the +local colour, which is confusing to a stranger, the jokes do very much +explain themselves. As when the Irish schoolmaster, counting up his +boys, suddenly demands: "Where, thin, is Tommy L.?" and a make-believe +urchin cries out: "Plase, sor, he's puttin' on the shtamps on that last +letter to Philadelphy!" the shout from the Corps makes it easy to guess +what sort of hands will open the letter. + +Now the curtain rises on Flirtation rocks and trees; and a well made-up +damsel passes across the stage and out of sight, followed presently by +a cadet captain, who hurries along in her steps, peering anxiously from +side to side. + +"She said she'd walk this way!" he murmurs perplexedly, as he too +disappears. + +The steps die out, and a third-class corporal comes on the scene. He +also scans the seats and the bushes as he hastens by. + +"Wonder if I'm late?" he questions. "She said she'd walk this way." + +Again the silence settles down, broken this time by the less evenly +assured tread of a pleb. "Not long from home, but very far!" is written +all over him. Plainly he is following up a very unwonted gleam of +pleasure. + +"She said she'd walk this way!" he exclaims rather breathlessly as he +dives in among the shadows. + +The scenes, by the way, are remarkably well painted by those busy +amateur hands, and vary greatly from year to year. "A street in old +Vienna" was especially good; and some of the World's Fair incidents +pertaining thereto, laughable enough. + +But look at the clock upon the wall! and remember that this is Saturday +night. + +The last joke has shaken the house, the last song died away; the gay +company pours out of the old doors, and the Hundredth Night is over. + + + + +XLIV + +PRESSING ON + + I work with fury and delight, because I must get on, and I do get + on. + + --BARON BUNSEN. + + +Morning by morning now the shortening roll of days makes part of the +cadet breakfast. + +"Ninety-nine days to June!" + +"Ninety-eight days to June!" + +"Ninety-seven days to June!" + +And all listen, and every heart takes a lighter bound. Ask any man, +from now on, what is the news, and the odds are that you will get for +answer: + +"Ninety-six days to June!"--or forty-six, as the case may be. I had a +note once from a cadet, dated: + +"Barracks. Sixty-four days to June!" + +But then he forgot to sign his name. That did not matter. + + * * * * * + +It is a strong pull, each man for himself, for the next three months; +a sort of individual "tug of war." I think Magnus had never worked so +hard in all the time he had been at West Point. Perhaps chemistry and +wave motion had something to do with this, for our hero was no genius. +Nothing but honest work carried him on. Higher thoughts than of rank +lit up the musty pages, and made music for the dull company drills. +Truly he was not unmindful of the charms of an engineer post for +Cherry; but several born mathematicians stood between him and any hope +of that. Yet all he _could_ do, he would. The honour of the Christian +name, no less than Cherry's sweet life, was in his trust, to dim or +to brighten; and no man should ever adorn the tale with the name of +Charlemagne Kindred, when saying that religion spoiled men, and should +be left to women and children. + +So Magnus had his own secret joy over every high mark. Never had he +enjoyed "maxing it," as he did that winter, and never had he done it so +often. + +Some years ago, when the graduating class received their Bibles, and +Dr. Wm. M. Taylor made the presentation address, he bade every man +cull from his morning reading--no matter how brief it was--a sort +of rose-in-the-buttonhole word for the day. Something like that our +young cadet had learned to do. Nothing had hindered his daily reading +since furlough, hard as it seemed to spare the minutes, some days, +when work was unusually pressing. But perhaps that very pressure +taught him to dive right into the meaning of what he read; catch up +a message, and bear it away. Now a promise, now a precept, now a +prayer; a breath of joyous hope, a gleam of unearthly glory. That real +rose-in-the-buttonhole which dress coats and blouses may never wear, +would have drooped in the drill, fainted in the section room, and been +lost in the tan bark. But it seemed to Magnus as if his invisible +blooms grew only fairer as the day went on. The fragrance was royal, as +it came and went in such variety. + +"Hopeth all things, endureth all things."-- + +"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord."-- + +"Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto +men."-- + +"Nevertheless, the Lord stood by me."-- + +Nobody knew all this; few people read the signs; though they did +note the high marks, and could say that "Kindred" (in his own way) +was the gayest man in barracks. But I fear they deemed him a crank, +all the same. Rig would look up at the clatter caused by "Analytical +Mechanics," as it struck the corner of the room; and then see Magnus +with an odd smile on his face make a rush for the obnoxious volume, and +plunge into it again with all his might. "Studying like mad," as his +easy-going comrade phrased it; but Magnus only called it "heartily." + +Or in the section room, with his wits gone a wool gathering, and his +ideas in May-day confusion; every thought he had, tangled up with those +last letters from home; desperately tempted to "bugle it," and let some +other man bear the brunt; then the sweet "royal law" he was wearing +that day gave its counsel, and braced him at once to do the right +thing. He would answer, ready or unready, when his turn came. No man +stumbled or doubted the truth of religion, because of any section-room +meanness or selfishness on the part of Charlemagne Kindred. + +And so an unwelcome order, from perhaps a disagreeable man, turned +round in the wind and came first (for him) as the Lord's command. "Obey +them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." You will +easily guess that Cadet Kindred remained high in discipline. + +And later on, first in studies also? No, by no means. Willet's Point +never showed its head on the horizon; the leaders in the class were not +men to be dislodged. And some studies came hard. Then (and now perhaps +it is well I am far away from some of my friends) Cadet Kindred would +have nothing to do with "ponies." Those seductive little frauds looked +just as enticing, maybe, to him as to other men; but common sense and +loyalty made him let them alone. + +"Common sense--for what am I here for," he answered Rig one day, "but +to tread the paths of learning? And that does not mean going pony-back." + +"You can sort of line out the ground, you know," Rig said; "and then +wear out your shoes all you want to at San Carlos." + +San Carlos! What visions came with the name. For a moment Rig's face +showed through a golden haze. + +"But besides," Magnus went on, bringing his thoughts back, "it's not +doing things 'heartily.' The Lord gave me this appointment to make just +the most out of it I could. I cannot look up to Him from a 'pony,' and +say I have learned my lesson." + +"But the Bible says, He always helps those that help themselves," +remarked Rig. + +"No, it doesn't; not the first word. You have borrowed some man's +'pony' for that. It says 'Fear not, for I will help thee,'--" and +Magnus plunged into his lesson again. The Divine strength that is +trusted in, is a wonderful power; and Cadet Kindred pushed on and +pushed up, every now and then took some other man's scalp, and never +lost his own. + +And he found the Sunday rest a great thing. Broken in upon, indeed, by +a guard-mounting and parade; by police calls, inspection, and now and +then guard duty; but between whiles full of quiet time to think. + +It was such a pleasure to pile up the study books Saturday night, and +leave the dark mass untouched till Monday morning. It took faith--a +good deal--in some crises of work, but it paid well. The free time was +so good. Not hours snatched unlawfully, but taken of right, according +to that most wise and blessed law of the Lord: "In it thou shalt not do +any work." + +In fine weather Magnus kept himself much out of doors, letting the dust +of the week clear all away from eyes and heart and brain, till the +balance of things, so often confused in the weekday rush, swung steady +and true once more. + +"I don't see how you do it, Kin," said Randolph one day. "Do you run a +light after taps?" + +"Never," said Magnus. "I study all I can Saturday, and as early as I +can Monday morning." + +"Always ready for eight o'clock?" + +"I will not say the details are always just as clear as they were on +Saturday, but then my head is so much clearer. I get along, somehow." + +"Well, I should say you did!" commented Rig. "Maxing it every blessed +day last week." + + + + +XLV + +NOTHING SERIOUS + + A warrior so bold and a virgin so bright + Conversed as they sat on the green. + Alonzo the brave was the name of this knight: + The damsel, the fair Imogene. + + --LEWIS. + + +One of the mild amusements of this spring for Magnus was watching Rig. +For Mr. McLean had fallen in love. Not deeply, for that implies certain +other depths--or hopelessly, for there was every likelihood that he +would get out again all safe; but unmanageably. Unutterably, Rig called +it, and Magnus unendurably. + +So the young man mooned over photographs, sported (in his room) an +end of pink riband; tumbled his hair all he could, and went down in +everything. + +"I say, Rig!" Magnus admonished him one night, "keep out of the +'immortals,' whatever else you do." + +"I cannot do much of anything," Rig answered mournfully. + +"Well, I'd try, if I died in the effort," said Magnus. "Bone chevrons; +your charmer has a quick eye for them." + +"She has a quick eye for everything." + +"Wearing bell buttons." But Rig did not heed him. + +"Confess, Kin, you never saw such eyes." + +"Only about five hundred and forty times, when I used to go +cat-fishing. Ever notice catfish eyes, Rig?" + +"They're so blue!" said Cadet McLean. "So deeply, darkly----" + +"If you don't shut up," Magnus shouted at him, "I'll try if I can't +shake some sense into you. Quit sighing like a furnace. You nearly blew +the gas out." + +"Of course I can't expect you to understand," said Rig. "You live only +in books, far away from all this sort of thing." + +"I hope so, this sort," said Magnus. + +"You see, my heart is larger than my head," said Mr. McLean. "Always +was." + +But now Magnus threw down his book, and pitched into his friend +very literally; pounding him, hustling him, getting him into a real +fisticuff fight to protect himself. + +"Feel better, don't you?" said Mr. Kindred, when the two faced each +other, flushed and panting. "Balance of power restored?" + +"I don't know how I feel!" said McLean. "I've lost all my ideas." + +"Well, don't advertise them at any high figure," said Magnus. + + "Let 'em alone, + And they will come home, + With their little tails behind 'em. + +"Sit down and study, like a reasonable being. If I were a woman, I +wouldn't _look_ at a man who couldn't hold his head up when my back was +turned." + +"It is quite impossible for me to look at a book," said Rig. + +"Very good; sit still and sigh, and I'll write your explanation." + +"To whom? What about?" Rig sat up now and gazed at him. + +"To the Prof. To-morrow. As follows: + +"'Sir: I have the honour to state that I have fallen into a six-inch +mud puddle, and cannot get out in time for recitation. So wave motion +must wait.'" + +"Stuff!" McLean said rather angrily. + +"Stuff, and nothing but stuff. Rig, when you get fired in June, your +dear devoted will not turn her head to see which way you go to take +the train. Not much!" said Magnus, relieving his feelings with a bit +of slang, and then diving into his own problems for the next day. And +Rig could get neither word nor look more that night. But whatever +traditions may say, unlimited chocolate creams do not help a man with +his tactics; nor does plum cake after taps provide him a clear head for +next day's wave motion. + +"You could make better marks, Mr. McLean," said the Superintendent one +day, meeting Rig. "Why don't you, sir?" + +And if Rig had been openly honest, he would have answered: + +"Love--and mince pie, sir." + +Magnus scolded his friend, fought him, jeered him; then tried other +measures. + +The days were softening and lengthening, with grass and flowers on +the jump. Visitors were arriving in numbers; and for Magnus had come, +from away across the continent, a bunch of snowdrops in Cherry's last +letter. Somehow his own great happiness made the young cadet anxious +for his friend. + +"Look here, Trent," he said one day to another classmate, "can't you +pitch in and spoon that Curry girl? Rig will be ruined." + +"Spoon her yourself." + +"Haven't time. One more will make no difference to you." + +"Thanks. Rig will put a bullet in my head, if he suspects." + +"Well, your brain always did need fresh air," said Magnus, "so that +will fit. Why, to-day, in the section room, Hammer asked him the colour +of old red sandstone,--and Rig answered: + +"'Blue, Lieutenant.'" + +"Ha! ha!" laughed Mr. Trent. "But isn't this rather a queer business to +be talked up by our high and mighty magnate of the tender conscience? +The man who keels over at the mere sight of a 'pony.'" + +"Pshaw! if it was some girls," said Magnus. "But it will make no +difference to her either. You've both worn your hearts out--supposing +you ever had any." + +"Thanks--awfully! And you think Miss Curry might be induced to hand +over 'those fossil remains that she terms her affections' to me?" + +"To your temporary care. You wear chevrons," said Magnus. "And your +affections are as fossilised as hers, allowing for the argument's sake +that such things ever existed. Just stroll up on the other side, when +Rig's around. She'll be delighted. And as neither of you could possibly +fall in love with anybody, there'll be nobody hurt." + +"Except Rig." + +"Rig!" Magnus said impatiently. "Rig ought to be cut in little pieces +and sewed up some other way." + +"Kin," said Mr. Trent, striking an easy attitude across the back of a +chair, "you amuse me." + +"Well, clear out and amuse yourself," said Magnus. "I've got a previous +with this old book. And if Catkins finds you here, you'll be skinned +for all he is worth." + +Which warning Mr. Trent saw fit to heed. + + + + +XLVI + +TRYING LETTERS + + Though there's always enough to bear, + There is always something to do; + We have never to seek for care, + When we have the world to get through. + + --CHARLES SWAIN. + + +But whoever succeeded in driving the moth away from the candle? Magnus +was fain to content himself with remembering that on most singed human +moths, wings grow anew very fast. + +Miss Curry welcomed Mr. Trent's advances with a gracious smile, but +she by no means let go her hold of Rig; and Rig had perfectly lost +his head. The girl might flout him five times a day, and these cool +applications did but heighten the fever. + +From the middle of April on, there was pretty steady "cadet weather." +Whatever the dawn may threaten, it always clears off in time for drill, +except on Saturdays, when the order is reversed, and the rain sets in +with double force just as the hours of freedom begin. + +Rain did not hinder some men. Magnus rather enjoyed wrapping himself +in his long grey coat and stalking off into the gloom and the fog. +The hills were so lovely in their misty caps, the air so laden with +spring sweets: spice bush and trillium, black birch and dogwood and +azalia, and all the leaf buds just bursting their varnished sheath. How +fragrant the pines were! and the cedars and hemlocks: how dainty the +small clouds of wayfaring birds just come to spend the night. And in +another month _his_ birds of passage would be here, and the air full of +their voices. Sometimes when Magnus thought of it, the excitement half +made him wild; and he would set off for a sharp run up the hill, or a +one-sided leap-frog among the rocks. Then he would throw himself down +on the moss and hold his head and think. Or he took a squirrel track to +the top of a tall tree and shouted (not too loud) and waved his cap to +the passing trains, and saluted the old flag. + +The Point filled up fast with candidates; and as Magnus looked at them, +he did not much wonder at the glances which had once been cast on him. +He found a slight touch of contempt the easiest thing in the world to +creep in. A host of these sombre drones seeking something to do, a +swarm of gay butterflies demanding only honey; what a motley crowd it +made. + +Even Magnus was drawn in by the honey-seekers; and took Miss Freak +a walk after trailing arbutus, because she asked him so sweetly; +and indeed himself asked some other girls to go here or there. And, +of course, being a cadet, he said pretty things and made himself +agreeable, though never beyond certain limits (N. B. I do not mean +cadet limits, this time). As Miss Freak said, with her charming +frankness: + +"He never gives you anything to think of at night, when you get your +back hair down." + +But in spite of that small drawback, Mr. Kindred had his full share of +what Mr. Clinker facetiously termed "drilling the Light Battery." + +Some very pleasant and sensible girls came to the Point that spring; +and in the great longing for sweeter tones than those of the average +cadet, Magnus was ready enough to make acquaintance and take walks. And +the girl generally declared: "It has been most delightful." Only when +one gauzy creature looked up at him and said: + +"Isn't it strange? You know I've always wanted to live at an army +post--but I'm not engaged yet,"--then Cadet Kindred grew silent, and +as soon as possible resigned in favour of Mr. Clinker. + +So the hope-gilded days flew on: but with the end of May came a check. + +Magnus got back from a long walk, to find two letters on his table. I +know it is the correct thing for hero and heroine to "tear open" their +letters, but Magnus cut his as carefully as if the very envelope might +hold its quota of words. + +"Dear Magnus," so the clear handwriting began, "I am afraid--no, I +suppose I hope--that you will be very sorry. For I cannot go East with +Mrs. Kindred and the girls." + +And here, truth compels me to say, Cadet Kindred threw down the letter, +and stamped about the room in a small tempest of displeasure. + +"What's up?" queried Rig, who had noted the postmark. "Hasn't gone back +on you, has she?" + +For which harmless suggestion, Magnus promptly tumbled the offender out +of his chair, and left him to pick himself up. + +"I say! Steady on that, you know," commented Mr. McLean. "Girls are +plenty; but where will you find a friend like me?" + +"That was a beastly insinuation!" said Magnus in hot wrath. + +"Was it? Girls are all alike, old boy." And Rig heaved a sigh. + +"They're not! And this isn't what you mean by a girl. It's a--a----" + +"An angel, perhaps," said Rig. "Then allow me to inquire what business +you have to be rattled, with anything an angel sees fit to do." + +"Rig," said Magnus seriously, pausing before him, "do you know +whereabouts we are in barracks?" + +"Second floor, first div.," Rig answered. + +"Well, you can have a chance to measure the breadth of the window, and +the depth to the ground, just as soon as you want it." + +"Thanks, I'm sure," said Mr. McLean. "At this moment, I am hard at work +on the problem of your temper, minus your common sense. What does the +letter say?" + +"Don't know yet," said Magnus. "I've only read three lines." + +Rig looked at him, and then gathering up his own books, he carried them +over to the cold steam pipes, laid them down, and perched himself at +one end. + +"You must excuse me," he said; "you are so plainly insane, that a due +regard to my personal safety brings about this temporary coolness. +'Distance lends enchantment'--but you are more irresistible near by." + +Magnus flung back into his chair again, with a half groan, and took up +the letter. If it had been release from quarters he would have gone to +Fort Put for the reading. + +"Cannot come East!" he muttered to himself. "What's the use of reading +on? She will not--and that's just where it is." And yet he read. + +"Papa is not strong this spring; not at all able for the journey; and +I cannot leave him alone. He says 'Go'--but I cannot, Magnus. Not this +year." ("Bless her for that!") Magnus interlined. "But the girls are +to see everything, and remember everything, and tell it all to me; and +maybe when you graduate we can all be there." + +"I think I will not write any more to-day, because I cannot talk of +anything but this; and it is not best to say too much. But we are +fighting in the same field, Magnus, even if we are out of sight of each +other, and we get our orders from the same King. How I have thought +over and over, the seeing you at parade! I felt sure I could always +pick you out from all the three hundred. Good-bye.--Your Cherry." + +It was well for Magnus that he had little time to brood over his +disappointment. June was near at hand, some few "planks" of the Board +of Visitors already arriving, and some last study to be done. + +"You bone straight on through the year," Randolph said to him one day. +"Why, in life, man, don't you let up, now and then?" + +"I'm after another bone," Magnus answered him. But he did not say that +when the "standing" roll came to the hand he loved best, her eyes must +find the name of Charlemagne Kindred as high as it could possibly be. + +"Just as high as I can put it," he told himself, with a fresh rush at +everything. For faith does not spoil a man, nor holy living mar his +scholarship. + +So Magnus studied, and played tennis, and ran races; did exploits on +the poles and ropes, and threw everybody who dared wrestle with him; +won his marks, kept his chevrons, and did not lose his popularity. + +But disappointments are said to hunt in couples. The next week after +Cherry's letter of bad news, came one from Mrs. Kindred, with addition +to the same. For she, too, must stay at home. + +"Cherry wants my help in every way," wrote the mother. "I must stay +with her. And it is really better, dear, on all accounts. For if I +live till next June, I must go then to see you graduate,--and two such +journeys cost." + +Magnus sat back in great gloom, and declared that June was "fizzling +out." + +"I suppose the next word will be that Viola and Rose have some sort of +a previous at the North Pole," he said. + + + + +XLVII + +MRS. CONGRESSMAN + + Pure was her mind and simple her intent, + Good all she sought and kindness all she meant. + + --CRABBE. + + +But no such climax followed. The girls wrote that they were to leave +home on such a day, in charge of the wife of that very Congressman who +had given Magnus his appointment. A true woman of the world in some +things, but kindly, and not wanting in sense and tact. People said she +liked uniforms herself, and was glad of a train of girls because it +drew on a train of cadets. But neither thing was so very exceptional +and unheard of that people needed to be hard on her. And she chose her +girls well; always, if she could, some hid-away damsel whose one chance +of getting to the Point this might be. And now, when the boy owed his +place to her husband's good offices, it was her delight to take his +sisters. The one stipulation was that she should have her own way about +the bills. + +"I must have a clear mind," she said, "and stop when I choose, and +where I choose, or the trip won't be a speck of good. It's nobody's +business how I manage my affairs, and you chits needn't strike in to be +the first." + +So in this lady's ample care Rose and Violet made the long journey, +and enjoyed every scrap of it. The meals in the dining car, and (I'm +afraid) the bunks in the so-called sleeper; even the small delays, for +then they could look out to better advantage; and Mrs. Congressman +voted them the two best girls she had ever taken anywhere. "Always +ready for breakfast," she said, "and always willing to wait. It was as +good as music to hear them laugh when we had to switch off on the side +track, or when folks jammed past them to dinner; it sweetened the whole +car; curled everybody's feathers...." + +It was true, and I think would have been, even on a journey not into +"Fairyland," though of course that helped. But the two were very quiet +in their eager looking; the laugh and the exclamation were low-toned +and well-bred. They asked sensible questions, and not too many even +of them. Only when they got talking of Magnus, then indeed, the +words came, with such sparkles and dimples and exultation, that Mrs. +Congressman began to think her husband had done a bright thing for the +country, when he gave that young soldier his place. But no one else in +the car found out that they had a brother at West Point, and were on +their way to see him; nor that their escort was the wife of an Hon. M. +C.; such cheap fame our two girls had not learned to seek. + +And thus it was a delightful little party that after some hours of +rest, and a late breakfast, bestowed themselves in a palace car of the +11.30 train, and went swaying and swinging up the river. + +People may say they have seen the Hudson, but never before as it is +to-day, or as it will be to-morrow. The tide, the wind, the time of +year, the temperature, the magnetic conditions, join hands in an +endless chain of new effects. With a blue sky it is one thing, and will +change its complexion on the instant, with the shadow of a passing +cloud. To-day, in a frolic of white caps racing down before the north +wind, and to-morrow rolling up in dull leaden surges, with a southern +Banshee at its back. Now lapping the shore with sweetest whispers, now +decked with a fringe of winter ice. Then frozen over from shore to +shore, fitting in among the hills like an accurately cut sheet of white +paper. But living, even then, with mysterious cracks and reports, with +little plashes, where the tide breaks out along the edge. + +It was May yet, with the lilac storm just past, and the river in full +flood, tossed and heaving from the strain of the east wind. The green +of the hills--the endless shades of the young leafage--seemed almost +to change while you looked. The girls grew too breathless to talk even +about Magnus, and to the hackneyed eyes of Mrs. Congressman, there was +positive refreshment in the way those two arm-chairs whirled on their +pivots, for last glimpses and new effects. + +"My dear girls, I wish my neck had the untirable quality of yours," she +said. + +"Tired--how could one be tired?" said Violet. "Oh, Rose! just see that +vessel with her sails swung out each side. That must be what Cooper +means by 'wing and wing.'" + +"Yes, the wind is stirring up," said Mrs. Congressman; "I'm sure I wish +it would;" and she plied her fan. + +"Let me fan you!" Rose cried, turning her chair away from the +entrancing view. + +"No, no! Look out and see all you can. I may be an old goose, but I +know a little." + +"You are just as kind as you can be, Mrs. Ironwood," said Rose +gratefully. + +"But allow me to remark, young ladies," said their friend, looking +amused, "that at West Point there are also some things, and people, +to look at. So don't get your necks stiff. You must not gaze in one +direction all the time, there." + +"Yes, ma'am. O, Violet, did you hear? The next stop is Garrisons!" And +the two girls took hold of hands, as if to keep each other still. + +"Yes, we're fairly in the Highlands now," said Mrs. Congressman, tying +her bonnet strings. "Well, children, I'm glad you're so happy, and +it's a real pleasure to have you along. Some girls are just a nuisance +at West Point." + +"Oh, I hope we shall not be a nuisance," Violet said, but looking out +all the while. + +"I'm afraid we shall make a great many mistakes," said Rose, studying +the rocky green Dunderberg with her heart in her eyes. "You know we +have just lived at home. Couldn't you tell us now, before we get there, +how to do?" + +"Bridges for rivers you'll not have to cross," quoth Mrs. Congressman, +who had imbibed a little of her husband's manner, which now and then +came out. "No use, child; you never do what you think you will. The +chief thing at West Point, as everywhere, is to be a lady as much as a +girl, and that you both are, always." + +"Oh, thank you, ma'am!" Rose said warmly. + +"There is one other thing," Mrs. Congressman went on, "that I might +just remark. No manner of use, but it'll not do any harm. It is only, +girls, that you must never believe anything cadets tell you." + +This brought both chairs round on a sharp pirouette. + +"Not anything!" + +"But, you do not mean Magnus." + +"Oh, Magnus is all the knights of the round table rolled into one; of +course he takes in truth among his smaller virtues. The rest do not." + +"Why, I thought Magnus said truth was one of the very first things +there!" said Rose. + +"Official truth. No cadet is allowed to fib officially. So they take it +out socially." + +The speaker kept a perfectly grave face, and the two girls looked +aghast, felt so, all through the tunnel. But as they ran out in sight +of Fort Montgomery and the tall outlines that rose up beyond, cadets +(except Magnus) sunk down into very sublunary things. + +"Oh, well, Magnus isn't so," Rose said contentedly. + +"And we are not likely to see much of other cadets," Violet said, +pressing close to her window. + +Mrs. Congressman watched them for a minute; the graceful heads, the +fair, well-bred faces; but then she seemed to find something very +amusing out of her own window, for she smiled to herself till they +reached Garrisons. There might be several cadets, she thought, who +would have a word to say to that statement. + +If Magnus had scanned the way over and up, because there was nobody +there, for him, with what a difference the two young sisters watched +every point where possibly he might be. Silently they followed their +leader into the old omnibus, and noted every stone, stick, and leaf, +that decked the road up the hill. + +Passing the Mess Hall came a new sensation; for the day was so warm +that windows and doors stood wide open, and there was not only the +usual tumult of voices, but also a tangle of heads, arms, and grey +cloth in view from the omnibus. + +"The boys are at dinner," said Mrs. Ironwood. + +"Oh, and is Magnus there, too?" cried the girls. + +"Unless he's in the hospital." + +"In the hospital!" + +"He ought to be, if he's not eating his dinner. Might have sprained +his ankle, dismounting too fast. Might have swallowed too much of Miss +Somebody's cake." + +But both these ideas were summarily dismissed. + +"He is in there, of course," Rose said, her eyes full, and her heart +wafting a blessing to the unseen brother; and with one consent the +girls kissed their hands to the old grey building. + +"Now, children," said Mrs. Congressman as they jolted on, "I must tell +you one thing. This is all very well, tucked away in the 'bus with +me; but never do you kiss hands to anybody at West Point, under other +circumstances. There are always cadets lurking round in the bushes, +and they'll think you mean _them_." + +How the girls laughed! Whether because they had just been so near +Magnus, or at this image of an ambush of other cadets, or the faint +spice of danger in the air, or the general culmination; but even the +quiet Rose came down from her dignity, and the omnibus rattled up to +the hotel with a chorus of fun inside. + +The needs of life are helpful and calming. Washing the dust off quiets +one down, and prosaic dinner brings back one's sober senses. It was an +extremely demure pair of girls that followed Mrs. Congressman into the +dining-room, and gave earnest heed while she ordered dinner, surveyed +the guests, scolded the waiter, and praised the soup. + +"You must eat, girls," she said. "Build yourselves up for what's before +you. I suppose this is the last quiet minute we shall have to ourselves +till we go away." + +"What is to happen to us?" said Violet merrily. + +"Walks," said Mrs. Ironwood. "And talks. And stands. I hope you've both +brought plenty of shoes." + +"I noticed the stones, as we came along," said Rose. + +"Stones! It's the soft going that tells on the shoes, child. I brought +Mary Gates here one rainy spring, and she finished her overshoes in a +week, and I had to send her home." + +"In a week! Did she dance instead of walking?" + +"Danced attendance," said Mrs. Congressman. "I didn't mean to pun, +girls, but that was the fact. Now I should take you straight off to the +guard-house to see Magnus----" + +"The guard-house?" + +"The visitors' room, there, silly! but work begins at two o'clock, and +we shouldn't find him. So I'll go and get a snooze, and you'd best do +the same." + +"We could not possibly sleep," said Violet. "We'll sit out on the +piazza and look." + +"It's a fine view, whichever way," said Mrs. Ironwood; "but the Land +of Nod is more to my mind just now. Sit out here, then, or do what you +like, only don't go off hotel limits. There's no town crier here. And +call me at a quarter past three. And girls"--she put her head inside +the door again--"whatever you do, don't go down and stand at the hotel +fence." + +The girls listened to the retreating footsteps, but then they looked at +each other and laughed. + +"West Point must be an odd place," said Rose. + +"And she is the oddest woman! What ails the hotel fence, any more than +all other fences?" said Violet. "It looks pretty strong." + +However, they obeyed orders, and wandering about a little, as all doors +stood open, came presently out upon the north piazza and the north +view. + + + + +XLVIII + +THE GUARD-HOUSE IN JUNE + + The little birds sang as if it were + The one day of summer in all the year. + + --LOWELL. + + +I do not know when Mrs. Congressman would have been roused from her +nap, if the clock on the old tower had not told its tale of the passage +of time. But when three sonorous notes had sounded, after that the +girls kept close watch, for soon Magnus would be but a half hour away. + +They passed round to the west side, and sat watching the hills and the +plain and the clock, by turns; and it wanted two minutes of the quarter +when they went in. And Mrs. Ironwood was prompt. She waked up at once, +donned a fresh gown and an astonishing bonnet; looked her girls over +critically, to make sure their simple preparations had come out all +right, then sailed away down the steps and across the plain, with her +pretty convoy close following. + +Late spring everywhere, blue sky and hot sun; a ravishing green carpet, +and just a stir of such air as breathes nowhere but in the Highlands. +Gaily dressed women spotted the green, dark-blue officers came and +went; the bugler at the sallyport handled and toned his bugle. + +Straight through the sallyport the Western dame led her two girls, +passing grey coats on the way across the area, and meeting others +at the guard-house; nodding to one, hailing another, but giving +no introductions; until after making known her wishes to the +magnificent officer of the day, she turned to her girls, and presented +Cadet-Captain Trueman. Then panted up the narrow staircase to the +visitors' room, which was hot, and not magnificent. + +[Illustration: PARADE REST IN CAMP] + +Mrs. Ironwood and her fan at once absorbed the window, the two girls +stood shyly behind her; and back and forth before their eyes went the +slim grey figures in the area. Some who knew Mrs. Ironwood and doffed +their caps to her gave just a swift second glance at the two new faces. +For a cadet never stares, or does it so surreptitiously from under his +visor that nobody knows. + +But the minutes seemed long. Mrs. Ironwood's fan plied back and forth, +the girls stood watching. + +"What makes them all look just alike?" said Violet. "I should say that +man has been across six times already." Mrs. Ironwood laughed. + +"Maybe he has," she said. "You'll bring the chaos to order in a day or +two. Look very monotonous, don't they? I suppose you'll not even know +Magnus when he comes." + +But a little cry from both the girls answered that. Another grey figure +came hurrying across the open space, swung his cap high in air beneath +the window, and came tearing up the stairs. + +After the first words, Mrs. Ironwood went back to her seat, and left +them to themselves, interviewing at more length some of her friends +below; but then she made a move. + +"We must get out of here," she said. "There come more bonnets, and +there'll be more cadets, and we shan't have standing room." + +"When the bugle blows," said Magnus. "I can't leave here till four +o'clock. But it's close on that now." + +"And then we can have you all the rest of the afternoon," said Violet. + +"No, little peach blossom, you cannot. There's a review on hand. I'll +take you down to the seats. There it goes--" And the sweet four o'clock +call rang out in front of barracks, repeated then at different points, +and answered by soft echoes from the hill. + +The little party made their way out, and down among the old trees by +the officers' row, where already the seats were filling up. But Magnus +found them a good place, and himself stood in front; mounting guard +over his treasures with a joy and pride it was pleasant to see. He +quite ignored the suggestive looks that came from other men in grey. +Just now, he wanted his sisters all to himself. And the way they gazed +at him could not be told. + +To see how he knew by instinct when an officer came by; instantly +whirling around to salute, to note how very often that cap came off to +some embodiment of fashion and finery, was a great study. For Magnus +was on tiptoe, and put in all the flourishes the law allowed. Only at +the sound of the first drum did his exalted state come down. + +"That drummer ought to be hung at the sallyport," he said. + +"But it is all so pretty," said Rose. "And so in keeping, Magnus." + +"You do not know drums," he said. "That call means: 'Charlemagne +Kindred--and every other cadet out for a breath of fresh air--walk +straight off to barracks.'" + +"Does it?" said Violet. "Then why don't you go? We'll walk over with +you." + +"Sit still! Why don't I go?" and Mr. Kindred gave fresh utterance to +his disdain. + +"Now it sounds again," said Rose. "Is that a second invitation to +'walk'?" + +"No; this one says: 'Magnus Kindred--and every other man who is +enjoying himself--run!'" + +"O, then, do go, dear!" pleaded the girls. "O, Magnus! _do_ not be +late. See, those men are running." + +But Magnus gave no sort of heed. He bowed to Miss Newcomb, looked +after the speeding grey coats, and remarked calmly: + +"Let them run. They want practice." But when the next call sounded, +Magnus turned. + +"That spells," he said: "'Magnus Kindred--and every other poor fellow +who doesn't mean to be skinned--scamper!'" and scamper he certainly +did. The two girls watched him, breathless and anxious. + +"There are three ladies right in his way," said Violet. "Oh, I hope +they'll not stop him!" + +But no, indeed; a cadet dodging a "late" is not so easily stopped. +Magnus knew them, took off his cap to them, spoke some words of +greeting, but never stayed his pace; and his sisters had the pleasure +of seeing him dive in through the sallyport before the drum said +another word. Then they looked at each other and laughed. + +"Such a boy!" said Rose. + +"But how he did run," said Violet. Then they both were silent with +intensest interest. For the old grey barracks presently took to itself +the well-known likeness of a beehive in swarming time, and ignorant +eyes could as little tell what was going on as the uninitiated can +guess that the bees are searching for their queen. Hanging round the +doorways, clustering in front, with new forms all the time pouring out, +until, like the tin pan of the farmer's wife, that mysterious drum +brought order, and they settled down in a long, long line upon the +sidewalk. + +Just at this point, with all the dangerous element in safe bonds, Mrs. +Ironwood left her girls for a while and went for a chat on one of the +hospitable porches behind her. Several other people also moved away, +for a walk or a talk; and the vacant seats were taken by a handful of +girls just come on the ground, and who, noting the new faces, were now +in the keen pursuit of knowledge. + +At first, however, they seemed more eager to give it, talking fast and +loud, and sometimes across the two young strangers who were watching +every movement on the plain. But when the march down from barracks +ended in another motionless line upon the green, and each girl began to +pick out her friends and favourites, despite the confusing chin-straps, +then it was impossible not to listen. + +"Look at Mr. True," said one; "he's a mere mathematical line." + +"He'd be adorable, if he wasn't such a poke," said another. + +"I'd give more to see that man brought to terms!" + +"What terms?" + +"Unconditional surrender. Down on his knees." + +"Mr. Randolph is just behind him," said the first. "And Mr. Crane is +fourth from the end in B Company." + +"Which is Mr. Kindred?" said Rose, turning to her. + +"Second man with the cross-belt. Do you know him?" said the young lady, +much surprised. + +"I have met him several times." + +"Well, anybody who knows Magnus Kindred after meeting him 'several +times,' may go up head," said Miss Saucy. + +"Is he a poke, too?" asked Violet, with a grave face. + +"No, he's too wicked for that," said Miss Cray. + +"Wicked?" said little Miss Wren. "Why, he's one in discipline all the +time." + +"Well, he'd better be two, and have a few grains of civility," said +Miss Cray. "Absolutely he left me all standing in the middle of the +plain yesterday, just because that ridiculous drum chose to beat!" + +"But that was a very good way to be left," said Rose merrily. "Perhaps +if you had been all falling, he would have stayed." + +"Fine idea to work up!" said another girl, laughing, but Miss Cray +tossed her head. + +"Nobody cared, either way," she said. "How do _you_ know what 'perhaps' +he would have done?" + +"Why, we are both his sisters," said Violet. And for once in her life +Miss Cray was taken aback. + +"Fancy it!" she said. "Where are you staying?" + +"At the hotel." + +"We are at Cranston's. Who is your chaperon?" + +"Mrs. Ironwood." + +Which was better care than Miss Cray herself could boast, and so the +force of circumstances dealt another blow. + +"Well, don't serve me out too large a slice of humble pie," she said. +"I'm awfully fond of Mr. Kindred, myself. The trouble is, he's not so +awfully fond of me. And wounded hearts, you know!" + +"If Mr. McLean were here, he'd say: 'Steady!'" remarked Miss Wren. "Do +you know Mr. McLean, too?" she said, turning to Violet. + +"Yes." + +"Met _him_ 'several times'?" + +"Yes." + +"But you must come from the West?" + +"There are quite a number of people out there," said Violet. + +"And one can visit, even on a prairie," said Miss Cray politely. "But +it seems so odd." + +Perhaps for a freer discussion of the oddity of things, that party +moved away, and Mrs. Ironwood came back to her charge. But social +duties still claimed her to such a degree that she hardly looked at the +review, and not at all at the girls, for a good while. Then in some +moment of silence, a soft, long-drawn breath made her turn her head. + +The cadets were just passing, double-timing round the square, and the +good lady saw that her two girls had hold of hands, and that the eyes +of both were full. What about? Only for one particular dress coat with +a white cross-belt, one particular pair of shoes that darted past; the +owner whereof was so far from feeling himself a hero that he was just +pronouncing under breath the whole review a mean contrivance to keep +men out in the sun. Ah, young brothers! have you any faint vision of +what your sisters see in you? + +"Pull up your wraps, girls," said Mrs. Congressman. "It turns cool +here, the minute the sun drops behind the hill. And I suppose wild +horses wouldn't get you away before parade. Well, they'll have dealings +with that man." + +The end of the battalion was just passing, one single cadet officer +bringing up the rear; and this man's sash had come untied. And as he +darted on, one long red streamer trailed gracefully behind him; too +heavy to float, unless with more wind astir. + +The girls were in fits of merriment; only our two girls looked grave. + +"Just think!" whispered Rose; "it might have been Magnus." + +"But why doesn't he stop and tie it up?" said Violet. + +"Stop and tie it up?" said Mrs. Congressman, who caught the words. +"Why, if his head was off, he couldn't stop to put it on. Not in a +review." + +Between review and parade there was a charming bit of free time when +Magnus came down to see his sisters. Miss Cray and her party took for +granted he was coming also to see them, and there was some bridling and +handling of sugar-plum boxes. And it was quite a shock, when Magnus, +after bowing to them, turned away, and found himself a seat between +"those two Western girls," whom he could see any time. + +Sweet brief minutes; I wonder if unlimited free hours can ever have +the subtle charm that used to hang over the now-and-then release from +quarters? + +Mr. Starr came up to claim acquaintance, and presently coaxed Rose +away to introduce her to the sidewalk, as he said; Cadet-Captain +Trueman appeared, preferring the same claim, though of so much later +date. And Miss Cray looked on. + +As for my two girls, they were more than content; Violet finding the +grave, dark-browed Mr. True a very interesting person indeed; and Rose +so taken up with Mr. Starr's sallies of fun and comment, that she +missed all the admiring glances bestowed upon her own sweet eyes and +laughing mouth. The first drum came all too soon. + +Starr went on to just the point where they had turned before, came +slowly back and led Rose to her seat; then standing before her and +going on with his talk. And Miss Cray listened. + +"Mr. Trueman," she said presently, putting in her word, "we had a wager +about you last night." + +"About me? That certainly speaks you all ladies of much leisure." + +"Now, don't begin to preach," said Miss Freak. "Be good for once, and +tell us." + +"And what, if you please?" + +"The point was this," said Miss Saucy. "Kate said that before you will +go down on your knees to a woman, you must have a cushion a mile high. +The rest of us thought that perhaps a yard might do." + +"Pardon me!" said Mr. Trueman, with some energy; "if ever I kneel to a +woman, I shall want no cushion!" + +And the tall cadet captain bowed gravely to Violet, touched his cap to +the others, and walked away. + +A quick clearance of grey coats from about the seats followed. Over by +the innocent-looking reveille gun stood two soldiers in blue, at the +foot of the flagstaff were two more. The flag showed off its beauties, +lifting, falling, floating away in circling folds upon the fitful +air; then drooping, a mere line of colour against the staff. Then +came a series of wild yells from the front of barracks, answering the +roll-call, and then parade. + +In spite of the dignitaries who generally "assist" at a review, adding +all that position or plumage can give, they never get off anything at +West Point that is quite so good as an old-time dress parade. I use my +adjective wittingly, for--no disrespect to the new tactics, they hurt +the effect. To-night everything was perfect, even the music. The band +struck up "Money Musk," or some other time-honoured quick-step, known +in those happy days before "Boulanger" was heard of; the grey files +came down the green in absolute order, and drew up in a long, unbroken, +glancing line, before the seats. + +The hills across the river were in a glory of sunshine, the higher +heads that sentinel the north entrance to the Highlands showed sunlight +and shadow, too. The river went silently along, you could just hear the +paddles of the _Mary Powell_, as she speeded round Gee's Point on her +northward course. All this, while the adjutant dressed the line, and +brought it to parade rest. + +"Sound off!" + +It matters little what they played then, for as the drum major raised +his baton and struck his attitude, and the throng of bandsmen went +nimbly after him, our two Western girls were absolutely and wholly +bewitched. To see the black plumes slanting off as one before the +breeze, with the stir of a red sash here and there, and the glinting of +breast-plates and bayonets and bell buttons in that long moveless line. +Then to behold the band of musicians getting tangled up in a maze at +the turn, but coming out all right, and playing for dear life through +it all,--they were so wrapped and lost, no wonder the gun made them +jump. + +Then the wonder of the manual, to unwonted eyes; the comical +different voices in which the sergeants reported, with hand on heart +(supposedly), and the amused guesses as to how in Company D there +should be two privates absent and unaccounted for. Even the jumble of +the orders was delightful. + +"Headquarters Military Academy, West Point, N. Y., May 10, 18--" so +much was generally plain. As also "Special Order. No. forty three-e-e!" +But whether it gave Cadet Nameless leave of absence for two weeks, or +said he was to be shot in two days, only the nature of the case made +clear. To their ears, it might as well have been the one as the other. + +The reading ends, the adjutant tucks the folded paper into the breast +of his dress coat, comes neatly round on one heel, and waves his sword +to the officer in charge. + +"Sir, the orders are published." + +"Dismiss the parade, sir!" + +Another skilful pirouette, and the adjutant faces the line and sheathes +his sword. + +"Parade dismissed!" + +The swords of all the cadet officers rattle down into the scabbard, the +adjutant steps loftily back to his old place by the line. + +"Forward! Guide centre! March!" + +And with another gay burst of music, the cadet officers come forward, +salute the officer in charge, and disperse (in these days draw up +behind him); the long, grey line breaks into companies, the music +changes its measure, and away they all go to barracks, to the sweet +strains of "Pop Goes the Weasel!" Every right arm swings just so, every +black shoe sole displays its regulation state, in most regulation +order. But how many furtive blessings brushed the head of Cadet Kindred +as he went by, that obtuse young fellow never guessed. + +Tea at the hotel, after all this, was prosaic enough, but doubtless the +most soaring bird comes down to rest, and finds the lower lands quite +bearable, with further flight in prospect. So the two girls relished +their bread and butter and strawberries with no alloy, for was not +Magnus coming after supper for a walk? Magnus, and perhaps two more. + +"Everything is so unusual," Rose said; "it makes one feel quite +distinguished. Think of walking 'till call to quarters!" + +"Yes, think of it," said Mrs. Congressman, carefully creaming her black +tea. "Then you've been in the cars night and day since Monday. You must +excuse me, young ladies. I know girls are untirable where cadets are +concerned, but I am too old a bird for that sort of chaff, and I am +going straight to my bed, as soon as I see you off. With your brother +along, you'll not need me." + +"May we sit on the piazza after we come back? Or must we go to bed, +too?" asked Violet. + +"Sit there? Yes. Must you go to bed? No. Sit there and gaze at the +barracks till shutting up time comes, and then go upstairs and carry it +on from your window. You're not obliged to go to bed at all, while you +are at West Point. Who's coming to-night?" + +"Magnus, of course, and Mr. Trueman. And Mr. McLean said he would, if +he could." + +"Three for two girls; you begin well. There, they are coming out, and +you can go stand at the fence, and I can go to my bed." + +"Why should we stand at the fence?" + +"'Mahomet and the mountain,'" said Mrs. Congressman. "Bell buttons +cannot come any nearer, without a special permit." + +"But I do not like that," said Violet, drawing back. "You know you bade +us not. It looks as if we were waiting for somebody." + +"Silly girl! That is just what you are doing: now isn't then. Come, +I'll see you safe to the fence." + +So under that broad, protecting shadow the girls went down the walk; +shy, and glad, and expectant, and just a trifle afraid; for were there +not _four_ dark figures coming rapidly across the plain? It was all so +strange and entrancing; the straight shadows, the measured step. + +"Ah, here you are!" cried Magnus. "Good-evening, Mrs. Ironwood." + +"How d'ye do again," said that lady. "How d'ye do, Mr. Trueman, and Mr. +McLean--and, as I'm alive!--Mr. Bouché! I suppose two of you have come +for me. I'm so broad, you think one wouldn't hear what the other was +saying, and you could both fool me to your heart's content." + +There was a laugh and a protest (very honest, so far as the coming for +_her_ was concerned), and then the young people turned away, and Mrs. +Congressman went to her much coveted repose. + +"She fulfils her destiny," said Mr. Bouché, as he placed himself by +Rose. "The only possible use of a chaperon is to go to sleep." + + + + +XLIX + +FLIRTATION AND OTHER PLACES + + When feelings were young, and the world was new. + + --PRINGLE. + + +There is no need to describe that walk, nor the many that followed it. +Anybody who has been a girl--or had care of a girl--at West Point, +knows without telling; though doubtless the walks vary according to +the girl. But hither and thither, then as now, went Peace and War, in +endless new combinations. Down among the grey rocks and green mosses of +Flirtation, where the tide flowed by as softly as the minutes, and all +the pretty whispers sounded true. Or up on the old fort; green enough +once, but in these days pathetic as well as lovely in its helpless +decline, and where much history might have been talked, and was not. +Kosciusko's garden, Fort Clinton, even the Officer's Row--what tales +they might tell, and are silent. + +I must do Mrs. Ironwood the justice to say, that she did not fulfil +her destiny after that night, so far as it involved going to sleep +when she should be on duty. And she did the duty well, as befits long +habit. Always accidentally on hand; keen-eyed, though taking no notice; +interfering when she must, in a way that was wholly pleasant--and +unmanageable. The two girls, so unlearned in the world, could not have +had a more wisely careful friend. Violet never guessed how it was that +she was generally free to walk with Mr. Trueman, nor why Mr. Clinker +always fell to the lot of Mrs. Ironwood herself. "She must be very fond +of him," thought the girls. And Magnus was careful, too, in a way, and +would by no means present everybody he knew to his two young sisters. + +So within that twofold invisible fence Violet and Rose moved joyously +on, and had--as they wrote home--"the very loveliest time that girls +could." + +And it became plain to lynx-eyed Mrs. Congressman, that Magnus soon +ceased to be the only grey figure on the horizon. His walks with other +girls were borne meekly; and the days when he was on guard called forth +less lamentation. In short (in the prettiest sort of way) the cadet +fever had claimed our two young Westerners. As how should it not, when +they were in such demand? Men did not stand round them to see "what +those girls would do next," the poorest sort of a compliment; but came +for the real liking and appreciation of the fair womanliness, of which +even faulty men have an idea--or an ideal. Then fresh common sense is +very pleasant when you find it; and if Rose was thought too sensible by +some--or too sedate, Violet was as full of fun and frolic as any young, +unspoiled nature ought to be; so they set each other off. But the fun +was not pointed with slang, nor did the frolic show out in shrieks of +laughter, or in familiar ways. It never occurred to either of them +that it was witty to say "Get out!" or ladylike to beg for buttons and +buckles. Or interesting, to give a kiss to some man who was unmannerly +enough to ask it. But nobody dared that of them. + +Mrs. Ironwood's "sleepy" eyes saw all these things; saw also, +by degrees, some others. She could tell, to a time, how often +Cadet-Captain Trueman had walked with Violet, as also that Violet +seemed quite unconscious that he came oftener than other men. + +"Great pity!" said Mrs. Ironwood in her heart, waving her fan there +on the hotel piazza. "He's the best fellow living--and she's the girl +of girls for him. But she hasn't a sou--and _he_ hasn't; it would +never do. I did try to keep Rose in the way--but my! he'd get round a +standing army. Study, drills, examination, don't head him off one bit. +A fine piece of three weeks' work! And in ten days more he graduates, +and there's an end." + +And just at that very time, this is what was going on among the +casemates at Fort Putnam. + +"Do you think you could live on a second lieutenant's pay?" Trueman was +saying. "It is not much, you know--but then at first we should probably +be stationed at some small one-company post, where it would not be +needful to make a show." + +"I have never lived where it was needful, or possible, to make a show," +said Violet, with a bit of a laugh at the idea of being "stationed" +anywhere. "But you know I have had no chance to think of anything yet." + +"Yes, of course," said Trueman; "it's all very sudden to you. But +the first minute I saw you I knew I had met my fate, and I have done +nothing but think, ever since. Thinking out the fairest story that ever +came into any man's heart. And I am going so soon. Write home to-night, +will you, Miss Violet, and get _leave_ to promise?" + +And then with the sound of coming footsteps, the two drew apart a +little, and walked decorously down the hill; Trueman screening himself +carefully with Violet's blue parasol from the sun without, and she +conscious only of a strange new sunlight within. + +Rose, meanwhile, was having a different sort of talk with Mr. Bouché; +an American, despite his French name. + +He was a handsome fellow, stood well up in his class, and was +proficient in more than West Point learning; but as much adrift as any +unpiloted boat in all matters of faith, and some of practice. Why he +sought out Rose Kindred (as he had done persistently from the day she +came) it would be hard to tell, unless from that peculiar masculine +contrariness which, as Mrs. Ironwood phrased it, "makes Arctic men +always swear by the South Pole." + +It was Mr. Bouché's special delight to get Rose away from everyone +else, find her a splendid seat in some leafy nook, throw himself down +on the grass where he must needs look up and so could properly gaze +into her face, and then draw her into an argument. I do not know that +Rose was more wedded to her opinions than other women, but she knew +what she believed, which they do not all. And when the point was of +importance she could fight, and fight well; zeal and love of the truth +holding their own fearlessly against more polished weapons. Even as did +the old "Queen's Arm" in the hand of one of her ancestors at Concord. + +On this particular afternoon, every place seemed taken. Gee's Point, of +course, but also the seat by the river edge, and the almost unscalable +rocks, and the grey stones that lie about the way to Battery Knox. + +"Never mind," Rose said. "I am not tired. I would just as leave walk." + +"Tired! You? No," said Mr. Bouché; "you are the most rested creature +that ever lived. But I am a lazy fellow, and I want a comfortable +place, where you can lecture me." + +"Upon your laziness?" + +"Upon what you will. I need it all round." + +"There will not be time for an all-round lecture before parade." + +"Bother parade!" said Mr. Bouché. "Why need you remind a fellow of +parade, just when he's happy? Here--come this way. Now we can dive +through these bushes--look out for your dress, Miss Rose!--and we can +sit on the rock and be out of the way of all the spoons. And Catkins +himself couldn't find us." + +Laughing at him, guarding her dress, following through the tangle +like a true fresh-air girl, Rose presently forgot everything in the +loveliness that was all about. Behind them, trees and bushes were both +shade and screen; but in front there was only rock, river, and hill. +The grey ledge on which they stood took a sudden dip almost at their +feet, and went down, down, sheer and smooth, with little to break the +line till it ended in a low fringe of riverside bushes. And the stream +itself, curling rapidly round Gee's Point, went in full flow through +the broadening channel towards Anthony's Nose and the "Race." One or two +sailing vessels beat up against the breeze; from under the fringe of +bushes came the measured dip of oars. The east-side hills, with their +wavy outline, caught the full glory of the sinking sun. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" Rose cried. + +"Yes!" said Mr. Bouché, who had been eyeing the girl much as she +studied the landscape; "just what I was thinking." + +"It is like nothing I ever saw anywhere else," said Rose. + +"Nor I," assented her companion. + +"You see, I have never been just here before," said Rose, turning at +the somewhat peculiar tone of voice. "Have you?" + +"I am not sure--that I have," said Mr. Bouché, considering with himself +whether certain sensations in the region of his heart could possibly +(in a cadet of such wide experience) mean something new. "It rather +seems to me not. What are you going to lecture me about, Miss Rose?" + +"Nothing." + +"Oh, yes, you are!" cried Bouché, rousing up. "That's not fair. It is +in the bond that you are to lecture." + +"Who signed the bond?" + +"I--for self and partner," said Bouché audaciously. + +"'Himself and he,'" said Rose, quoting Cowper. + +[Illustration: FLIRTATION] + +"Now, that is truly unkind," said Mr. Bouché, with an injured air; "and +therefore not like you, Miss Rose. And people should always speak in +character. I am surprised at you. Do you believe that I never think of +anybody but myself?" + +"Oh, I suppose when you are speaking to me, you must be thinking of me +a little," said Rose, a faint tinge coming into her cheeks as she made +the admission. "Look at that eagle flying across the river." + +"Let him fly--" said Bouché. "You really suppose I think of you 'a +little,' then? When it's week days and Sundays, Saturdays and common +days. When the reveille gun has grown sweet to my ear, because----" + +"Now hush!" Rose interrupted him. "That is a good place to stop. +Nothing ever yet made the reveille gun sound sweet to a cadet." + +"Other cadets." + +"Well, you are just another cadet," said Rose. + +Bouché burst into a laugh, in spite of his efforts to look tragic. + +"There," he said; "she's making fun of me. It's all up. I am only 'just +another cadet.' One more in her train. Only so many additional bell +buttons, and a pair of chevrons thrown in." + +"Who is the professor of nonsense here?" Rose demanded. "I never saw +such proficients as you cadets are, in all my life. Have you had forty +pages to learn? and are you trying them off on me? Very well recited, +Mr. Bouché." + +"It isn't at all. You are getting off grinds on me the whole time, and +that's not fair. I should think conscientious scruples would hinder +you." + +"Conscientious scruples?" + +"Yes," said Bouché. "The way you throw away opportunities tries even my +conscience. You see, Miss Rose, _I_ never had folks to stand round me +and keep me straight. I've been a Topsy boy, all my life." + +"Topsy-turvy?" suggested Rose. + +Bouché drew a deep sigh. + +"There it goes again," he said; "I shall have to take it, I suppose. +But I guess it's true. And now, when somebody has a chance to set me +right, she don't do it." + +"What could she do?" Rose asked, seriously now. + +"For one thing, she could take a long, long walk with me on Sunday. +Keep me out of mischief the whole afternoon." + +"You mistake, Mr. Bouché," said Rose, turning her clear, grave eyes +upon him. "Getting into mischief one's self, never helps anybody else +out." + +"How would you get in?" Bouché said eagerly. "I'd max it on care of +you." + +"Ah, yes, I do not doubt. But--I was not brought up so," Rose said, +hesitating over her words. "At home, Sunday is such a special, +set-apart, happy day. We never take it for common things." + +"It would be a very special and happy day for me, if you would take the +walk," said Bouché. "Of course _you_ would count it 'common' doings to +go with me, any day." + +"It is not fair to twist my words," said Rose, looking troubled. + +"Then if it would be _un_common, you can go. You are throwing down +opportunities, Miss Rose. I'll take you to some remote, far-wilderness +corner, and you shall preach to me till the drum beats. I'm as meek as +skim-milk on Sunday. Why, if you only tell me to take my cap and go to +chapel, I shall do it." + +"But you have to do that." + +"You'd better believe I wouldn't be there else," said Bouché. "But I'll +listen to you a quarter longer than we give the chaplain." + +"I do not think you will--for I shall not speak, on Sunday," said Rose. + +"Not speak! Turning into 'a sweet, silent Carthusian,' and thinking up +hard things to say to me on Monday." + +Rose did not at once answer. + +"Mr. Bouché," she said, "I think you make a great mistake about the +chapel." + +"It's the biggest-sized mistake to make me go there." + +"But if you went willingly, you would forget all about being made to +go," said Rose. + +How Bouché laughed! Rose coloured a little, but stood her ground. + +"I mean," she said, "the bonds you strive against are the ones that +press hard." + +"Good beginning," said the cadet, controlling himself. "Go on, Miss +Rose." + +"Well," she said, "then you need not have laughed at me quite so much. +But somebody says, there are two ends to a sermon." + +"Only one here," said Bouché, "and that's at the beginning." + +"Two ends," Rose went on steadily; "the human and the Divine, the text +and the preacher. If you begin with the preacher, one man may not like +him, and another one may----" + +"That man hasn't reported yet," Bouché interrupted her. + +"And it would be just the same," Rose said, "if an angel came and +preached to you. Some men would be sure to criticise him, and study the +length of his wings." + +"Wishing he'd use 'em to fly away with; that would be me, every +time--unless he wore your bonnet." + +"So the best speaker would not please you all," Rose concluded. "But if +you would begin with the text, you could not dispute that authority, +nor question that style. You would not _dare_ to criticise it. And if +you were studying the text all the way through, no sermon could seem +dull, because it would have such living light upon it, from the Lord's +own living words." + +There was such a light and glow on the girl's own face, that Mr. Bouché +gazed at her with evident admiration. + +"All depends," he said. "Give me my particular angel for the preacher, +and the text may go." + +"Mr. Bouché," said Rose, rising up, "I am sure I heard a drum." + +"You can always hear a drum here, any time of day or night." + +"Not that drum; listen!" + +"Happy drum to be listened to." + +"But seriously, we must walk on; you will be late." + +"'One private absent.' Hard on the Com. But it's not imminent yet, Miss +Rose." + +"Why, you do not look!" said Rose. "See how the shadow lies on the +river. Please go! Just run on; never mind me." + +"Never mind you!" said Bouché, taking leisurely steps at her side. "Not +if I know it." + +"Mr. Bouché, you will be late." + +"Like enough. The first sergeant of D Company will tell it with his +hand on his heart, regretfully adding: ''Tis true, 'tis pity; pity +'tis, 'tis true.' And old Powder Flask will jump for joy in his +regulation shoes." + +"What for?" + +"The chance of skinning me for the ninety-ninth time this week." + +"Well, I'll not be responsible for his joy," said Rose. "Good-bye!" And +as they came to one of the many cross-paths that led towards the plain, +Rose suddenly turned up the ascent, running so lightly and easily that +it was almost as pretty to see as the regular double-time. Bouché +stood open-eyed for a second, and then came up with her, fuming. + +"Now this is atrocious, preposterous, unheard of!" he said. "I don't +care a button for a 'late.'" + +"Well, you should," said Rose, laughing round at him, keeping her pace +and her breath admirably. "And this might turn into a cold absence. You +ought to care. Magnus says discipline counts. There's a different sort +of text for you." + +"I vow!" said Bouché. "Don't you give me any of _his_ wise sayings, or +I'll punch his head when I get back to barracks, the first thing." + +"Not the _first_," said Rose with a gay laugh, as they reached the edge +of the open, "Look! there goes the band. Run, Mr. Bouché!" + +"As if I hadn't been running!" said Bouché, much aggrieved. "Miss Rose, +I'll owe you one better for this." + +And then, run he did. + + + + +L + +FAIRYLAND + + Their shields before their breasts, forth at once they go, + Their lances in the rest levelled fair and low; + Their banners and their crests waving in a row. + + --FRERE. + + +The first week in June at West Point is such an old story that I had +best not say much about it here. The (generally) perfect weather, +the stirring drills, the crowd of lookers-on, with the sort of jail +delivery from study hours and usual restrictions. The cadets come out +and sun themselves like hibernated bees, or bears, with an unlimited +taste for honey. "Best" dresses sweep the ground, "best" bonnets brave +the wind; only the serene blue sky looks down unmoved at the show and +frolic and madcap doings of the people. It is a little older than they. + +The furlough men are wild with joy and expectation; the plebs have +grown two inches since May. Second classmen are sporting imaginary +chevrons (the nearest some of them will come to it); and the almost +graduates walk at ease, kings in their own right. Bewitching damsels +repeat the question, "O, where do you expect to be stationed?" But +alas, the reply is not always, "Anywhere--with you!" That might have +been in yearling camp; but things have changed; cadet limits are down; +and Choice opens its eyes and waits. + +In fact, there is need of some sober sense just now. For with the +looming up of Fort Grant or Custer; Barrancas, Camp Assiniboine, or +San Carlos: comes also the question of comforts and climates. These +delicate creatures can walk all day and dance all night in West Point +air. But what will their high heels do at Huachuca? and how will their +fair cheeks stand the heat at Eagle Pass? Are they brave to be left +with only soldier attendants when the young lieutenant is ordered off +on a scout after Indians? Can they make bread, where the baker does +not come round? and keep their sweet patience when some "ranking" new +arrival swoops down upon their pretty quarters, and bids them move? Or +again, what if the modest pay of a second-lieutenant should not comport +with twenty-dollar bonnets? + +Such questions go for little, when it's "a girl I have known +for fifteen years"; but they press rather hard upon last week's +acquaintance. No wonder many a face in the class looks thoughtful. And +no wonder, either, that there are so many last leave-taking walks, for +just the fair outlines and the grand old river, near and among which +the men have won their shoulder-straps. + +Among all the unwonted eyes that ever saw June come over West Point, +none could get more delight than did Cadet Kindred's two young sisters. +The mere shining out of the whole post in white trousers was an event. +And the guns that greeted the Board of Visitors were, to the full, as +imposing, as the various "planks" in that respected body. The girls +watched every point of the welcoming review, and then studied the +chosen guests as they trooped into the "big house" reception. But +better than chicken salad indoors, was the music discoursed by the band +in the pretty grounds outside. It may be said, however, that Violet did +not fail to see Mr. Trueman, in sash and plume, go up the steps with +the rest of the graduating class, and to think for one brief moment +that it might be pleasant to go there too. + +Only parade that night, but a wonderful walk after supper; and next +day, and every day for ten more, a series of varied pleasures. + +The examinations in the library were positively awe-inspiring; such +battle plans, such hieroglyphics. There was some trembling of heart +the first time they saw Magnus under fire; but he so plainly knew +what he was about, that fear soon passed into rejoicing. And when Mr. +Clinker was set to read Spanish, and the story (as translated) sounded +unutterably ridiculous, Mrs. Ironwood declared that her two girls +behaved better than she did. + +Something of this in the morning; at night a concert; in the afternoon +a drill. Perhaps on the cavalry plain with the ear-tearing racket of +the Light Battery; where the guns were sometimes pointed at the ladies, +and the ladies cried out, and stopped their ears, and ran away; and +the hills sent back the thunder, and the descending sun half glorified +the clouds of dust. Or maybe they went down by the river, and saw +Mr. Trueman and a throng of unknown men build the pontoon bridge, +themselves sitting on the grass in a blaze of sunshine, which the north +wind softened down. With gay dresses on every side, and grey-and-white +men standing behind them, or down on the grass too. Sugar-plums in +many hands, the perfume of flirtation in all the air; and certainly +their own attendant cavaliers were well disposed for both these soft +delectations. But if Rose looked round, it was generally to put some +intelligent question, which Bouché could only answer in kind; and +Violet's bright eyes were too eagerly watching what Mr. True did with +his boat, to heed what Randolph whispered about _them_. + +How skilfully those huge grey pontoons swung into line; how stirring +was the sounding tramp of the plank-bearers; how curiously they locked +arms going back, and how very charming was the walk over that strange +bridge when it was done. + +[Illustration: CADET BOAT AND CREW] + +Another day came skirmish drill, with the grey files in all sorts of +varied action; the men scattered over the plain as a sower casts his +seed. Speeding down in the hollow, dashing up the ridge, disappearing +behind the trees, and firing straight at the pretty spectators. In +those days, the short midway rest was all right for visiting; and so, +when the other men dropped down on the grass, Magnus and Mr. Trueman +and quite a little crowd came over to the seats, cap in hand. Smoky, +and dusty, and hot--and charming--for a few minutes of lively talk. To +the begrimed warriors every girl looked perfectly resplendent, in her +fresh summer dress. + +Then, as the drill went on, and the privates came down on one knee +to fire, or crouched down, or lay at length, with the cadet officers +standing motionless behind them; what terribly exposed positions the +chevrons seemed to have! What a mark for the enemy's guns was each +straight figure, casting its motionless shadow across the sunlit grass. +Bullets might whistle over the men on the ground--but for these! It was +all too real; and the young sisters were glad when those on the ground +sprang up, and leaders and men were merged in an equality of danger. + +One night there was the noisy, vivid, weird mortar drill; touched up +with talk, flitting changes of place, comments, explanations, and +fairyland bursts of red fire. What a night that was! The roar of the +guns, the soft-spoken words; the flash-illumined smoke, the dark +figures behind the "footlights" on the battery; the motley human mass +which the crimson fire caught in its red glow. + +Less picturesque, but more breathless in interest, was the cavalry +drill on the plain and the grand charge. + +In happy ignorance that surgeons and their attendants were in watchful +waiting, the two girls found the whole thing just magnificent, and +caught no hint of danger, even from other people's outcries. There was +one lady in particular, handsome, well-dressed, and knowing everybody, +whose son was in the drill, and whose fears were many and public. In +the midst of the most harmless evolutions she was, as she phrased it, +"on thorns"; and she danced about as if it were true. + +Up on a seat to see better; down again that she might not see at all; +with little cries and shrieks and groans of fright or expostulation--it +was droll enough. Rose thought she would watch her when the charge +really came,--and forgot her as July forgets December. + +There had been a few minutes of seeming quiet, the squad all down by +the library; but anyone who looked keenly could see this man examining +his bridle, and that one tightening the girth. You could see them +looking to their stirrups, or rising a little in the saddle to get a +better seat. Then they began to move forward, slowly at first, then +quicker, till the word was given: + +"Charge!" and horses and men came tearing along like a Kansas cyclone +upon the resounding road. + +In some of the quieter moments before the charge, Rose and Violet had +picked out two or three men they knew, noting their horses (they were +not all dark then); and now, even in that dusty whirlwind, the grey +and the black could be seen and followed. And--yes, certainly--Mr. +Trueman's horse has leaped the Hotel fence, and the plucky rider puts +him at it again, and comes bounding back. And Mr. Clinker's steed +has swerved at the crossroad and gone dashing along towards Trophy +Point, for freedom and Highland Falls. However, he missed in both, +and everything came out right, and nobody was hurt; and the drill was +pronounced in every way first-class. But for days after, when Violet +shut her eyes, she seemed to see the flashing sabres, and hear again +the ringing shout; and to watch that particular grey horse as he leaped +the hedge. + +Then came graduation; and Violet had the first sight of Mr. Trueman's +diploma, as soon as he could step aside and show it. And Magnus was +made first captain, and Mr. Bouché shone forth as adjutant; and even +Mr. McLean found his arm adorned with three bright bars, to his own +astonishment. + +"All owing to Kin," he confided to the two sisters. "If he hadn't +pinched me black and blue every day since Christmas, I should be on my +way back to Kansas, to hoe potatoes for the rest of my life." + +It may be said, in passing, that Mr. Trueman lingered at the post for a +few days in "cits," and finally departed with a permit to show himself +in the Western home, and plead his own cause there. + +Mrs. Ironwood lingered, too, even longer, to let her charge have a +taste of the pretty concerts and guard-mounting in camp; and then the +girls packed their trunk, and saw the hills fade away in a mist that +was all in their own eyes. + + + + +LI + +THE HOME-STRETCH + + A gold fringe on the purpling hem + Of hills the river runs, + As down its long green valley falls + The last of summer suns. + Along its tawny gravel bed + Broad-flowing, swift, and still, + As if its meadow-levels felt + The hurry of the hill, + Noiseless between its banks of green + From curve to curve it slips; + The drowsy maple shadows rest + Like fingers on its lips. + + --WHITTIER. + + +To come down from two girls of your own to none, is a long step; and +I think if ever Cadet Charlemagne was ready to put the full value on +the many fair and gay women at the Point, it was just then, when his +sisters had gone. Not another sight of his own to be hoped for till a +whole long year should roll away. First-class camp though it was, I +think he would have liked the busy term-time better. + +But he talked with Miss Lane, he walked with Miss Newcomb; and did the +civil thing to a handful of new visitors; went to picnics, teas, and +such like merrymakings; and through it all found himself pining for +Cherry, and wondering what they were all about at home. In the very +midst of the frolic, with bright eyes and soft hands on every side, the +refrain of the old song would keep coming up: + + "O this is no' my ain lassie! + Fair though the lassie be." + +Such a mood works differently with different men; with Magnus it +wrought in a very becoming fashion. For the high mark put upon the +three girls far away, set the standard for his behaviour to those +near by. "Help them," Cherry had said. And so, over his ordinary good +manners and winning ways, there had come that grave air of chivalry, +that deference to women _because_ they were women, which sets off a +man's own manhood as nothing else can. His heart was elsewhere, but his +best service was theirs to command. Now and then he ventured a reproof. + +"You must not do that," he said one day to Miss Lane; receiving an +instant "Thank you!" which spoke her good stuff. And even when he came +between Miss Saucy and some lawless escapade with a firm: "You shall +not do that!" the words were so courteous and earnest that the girl +yielded with: + +"There, there--I won't. Hush up!" + +It was kind work to do, and the giving pleasure was always pleasant; +but for his own delights Magnus fell back into his solitary woodside +walks, with now and then a long pull upon the river. Up and down the +shining current; fighting the wind, breasting the tide; tossed with +mimic billows, or shivering a mirror of blue; so he went. Now coasting +along at oar's length from the shore, where the hills rose up in +castellated masses of rock and the cool shadow lay deep; then resting +on his oars, and gazing through the peerless north gateway at the +flood of sunset over Newburgh Bay. Sometimes showing it all to Cherry, +"on their wedding trip"; or again, sent back here as Commandant, with +Cherry the fair Frau Commander of the Post. And then-- + +A faint strain of music broke in upon his dream; the oars hung +motionless, dripping their bright drops. + +A soldier's funeral was passing slowly up the winding Camptown road; +the grave notes of the band coming clear and soft across the water; +the flag drooped midway. Magnus reverently bared his head. Then he sat +listening. + +There was so little tide that a dip of the oars now and then kept the +boat in place; and Magnus sat there motionless, until the third volley +rang out among the echoes, and to the usual lively racket the men came +marching home. + +"Yes!" he said to himself, as he began to pull down stream again. "When +the time comes for Old Glory to wrap me up, let them bring me here and +lay me there, to sleep among the hills." + +And with a shake of the head at his own musings, Cadet Charlemagne made +the boat fairly spin till it reached the landing, and dashed into the +sallyport with full five minutes to spare. + +The Fourth of July that year rose exceedingly hot. A misty haze veiled +the mountains, the dew lay thick on every blade of grass; the silent +black-mouthed guns were dripping with moisture. + +Being a holiday, even the reveille gun took an extra nap; and the camp +lay in absolute stillness for a half hour beyond its usual time. Only +the sentries paced up and down in the heightening glare; and far away +in the Logtown regions you could hear the sputtering of fire-crackers +and know that Independence Day was begun. + +Meanwhile, by the same token, a lively ambush was preparing in the +quiet camp--a thing not distinctly set down and forbidden in West Point +rules, and with what we call constructive evidence cadets concern +themselves but little. And so with happy unconcern, Magnus and Twinkle, +and pretty much all the first class who were not on duty, arranged the +frolic. And for once the plebs liked their orders. + +Up came the sun, touching Crownest, gilding Fort Putnam, peering into +every bush and tree; and from the other side up came the band, their +white helmets making a winding line of light across the plain. They +took post at one corner of the camp; and then, as the Stars and Stripes +swung slowly up to the head of the flagstaff, began their march and +their music, saluting the colours. + +You have all heard how the piper of Hamelin played the rats out, where +none were seen before; and something like that happened now. The camp +was for all useful purposes asleep. But as soon as the inspiring notes +of "The Red, White, and Blue" broke up the stillness, there came a stir. + +At quick step, and to a full-blast medley of national airs, the band +passed through the camp; up A Company Street and down B Company Street; +and as they went, out poured a chance-medley crowd to match. A crowd of +plebs, wrapped in sheets, in blankets, in every sort of harum-scarum +costume; with brooms for muskets, and the strict orders of upper +classmen for regulations. + +With all other cadet eyes peering through tent curtains to watch, the +crazy throng came after the band in full procession. And even when the +officer in charge woke up to the state of things, these agile boys +kept out of the way; slipped through between tents to the next Company +street, and then re-forming and marching on joyously, until, as the +band came round to its starting point, and "Yankee Doodle" filled all +the air, the queer contingent drew up in order before them, solemnly +presented arms (alias broom-sticks) scattered, dived, and disappeared. +And only the most sedate and orderly faces could be seen at roll-call. + +That was great fun. Better than the Fourth of July dinner, Magnus +declared. + +The usual festivities graced the morning. The muster, and the march +across the plain to the old trees before the library. The band played, +Magnus read the "Declaration," and Mr. Bouché made a speech which +proved him, in theory, a model patriot. + +Then the midday salute of forty odd guns thundered out among the hills; +returned by them in six times as many echoes; and the work of the day +was done. Once upon a time, when powder was cheap, there used to be a +salute at sunrise, too, and at sundown. + +Magnus strolled away to one of his haunts by the river, and sat himself +down to watch the tide come in. It was almost full flood; the water +creeping silently up, hiding every mud-stained rock, floating off the +drift from every corner. One could see how it picked up its freight +of chips and sticks and sawdust; but the current was so strong, the +water so bright, that the dark streaks hardly counted. In fact, Magnus +enjoyed the whole process, finding fair images for himself. + +"Just so," he thought, "would the June-tide set in, when: + + "Whatever of life has ebbed away + Comes flooding back, with a ripply cheer, + Into every green inlet, and creek, and bay." + +Bearing away then, of course, to parts unknown, all the disagreeables +of life; studies, drills, and regulations. Wave motion giving place to +Cherry. "It is so pleasant," said one of these pre-graduates to me, "to +think of never again having to do anything I don't want to do!" + +Magnus was so deep in his dreams down there one day that a step close +by made him start. This was no gauze-winged vision, however, but a +poor, homesick pleb. In the gray, baggy suit of first initiation, with +clouded brow and an air of general forlornness, he looked as little +like flood tide as a fellow could do. + +He glanced at the trim first classman down among the bushes, went a few +steps on, turned, hesitated, and finally came up behind Magnus. + +"Shall I disturb you, sir?" he said deprecatingly. + +"No; come on. Rocks are Government property. You're Mr. Renwick, aren't +you?" + +"Yes, sir." + +The boy sat himself down at the water's edge, and looked gloomily off. +He was a slight fellow, just touching the regulation age; fair-skinned, +soft-haired, with an unmistakable air of love and petting about him. +"A mother's boy" all over. There were hearts aching for a sight of him +somewhere, without a doubt. + +Magnus eyed him a while from a first-class standpoint; then his look +softened. What wretched, desperate hours he himself had spent in that +very dress among those very rocks. And then of a sudden Cadet Kindred +fell to wondering what the Lord would say to this poor heart, were he +there himself in bodily presence? And the reply was instant: + +"Be pitiful, be courteous." + +"You were in the pleb formation on the Fourth?" he said abruptly. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Liked it?" + +"No, sir. At least I liked it well enough, but I didn't enjoy it." + +"Why not?" + +"Last Fourth was better." + +"Oh, was it!" said Magnus ironically. "Did you think to bring +home-doings in your pocket when you came to West Point?" + +"No, sir," said Renwick, with a sigh. "I suppose not." + +"If you had all you wanted at home, why didn't you stay there?" + +"I had _not_ all I wanted," said the boy, rousing up. "I wanted an +education, and we were too poor for me to get it anywhere else." + +"My case precisely. And to-day you think home is worth all the +education that ever was heard of. So have I, a thousand times. But it +isn't, for all." + +"Did _you_ ever feel so, Mr. Kindred?" said the boy, changing his seat +for one a little nearer. "Everybody says you've had a clear run of +luck, straight through." + +"Stuff!" Magnus answered him. "Are you a Christian, Mr. Renwick?" + +"I hope so, sir." + +"Hope so! Well, are you an American?" + +"Why, of course I am." + +"How do you know? You may be a Chinese." + +"Well, I know--whether I can tell how or not," said the boy. + +"Certain sure where you belong in this world, and not sure at all where +you belong in the next. Unsound business, Mr. Renwick." + +Renwick looked at him. + +"You are a queer man!" he said. + +"My one distinction. Found I couldn't lead off in anything else, here. +What are _you_ going to be?" + +"A success--if I can, sir." + +"Well, the only way to success is, to succeed." + +"I know as much as that myself, sir." + +"Practise it then. You might as well try to take that hill at one +jump, as think to be a success in January and June, and a failure all +the rest of the time. Unless you're a fine mixture of laziness and +mathematics. I am not myself." + +"Very little mathematics about me," said Renwick; "and they speak as if +that was everything here. So I don't see what I am to do." + +"Do?" Magnus said. "Why, dig like a prairie dog! Things are not so deep +down that they _can't_ be routed out. And get all the help you can, and +take all you can get." + +"Do you mean 'ponies'?" said Renwick with a doubtful look. + +"I do _not_ mean 'ponies'!" + +"But they say _you_ are always so busy?" + +"O yes, I'm busy enough; have to look out for my own scalp, you know. +My advice is always at your service, but my time most generally not." + +"Then I don't see what you mean, sir." + +"Have you a Bible, Mr. Renwick?" + +"Yes, sir, of course." + +"Read it?" + +"Sometimes." + +"Well, at one of those rare intervals," said Magnus, "put three marks +in it. A red one here: + +"'Call upon me here in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee.'" + +The boy drew a long sigh. + +"Mother's verse," he said. "But that will not bring me home." + +"No, and you don't want to go. Then a long blue one here: + +"'What time I am afraid I will trust in thee.'" + +"Hold on there," said Renwick. "I'm not afraid, sir, and I don't expect +to be." + +"You will be, quite unexpectedly, some day, when you get into the +section room and find you have left your wits in barracks. But put a +broad white mark here, and _keep_ it white: + +"'Walk in the light.'" + +"Keep out of all dark ways, Mr. Renwick. You can have the Lord's help +every time and all the time, on those terms." + +Renwick looked at him again. + +"Well, that's the first time I ever heard of getting through West Point +_so_," he said. + +"Tiptop way, you'll find," said Magnus. + +"And that is your whole list of directions?" + +"Finished up with the first one: dig! You must work like all the +beavers between whiles, or you'll never have the face to pray such +prayers." + +"I heard you were odd," was Renwick's comment. + +"And now you think the half wasn't told you. Sound doctrine, +nevertheless." + +"But mathematics!" said the boy; "and natural philosophy! and Spanish!" + +"Know them all through now, don't you?" said Magnus; "and so want no +help." + +"No, no, sir! of course not. But I mean--Mr. Kindred, do all the head +men get to the top of the class your way?" + +"Probably not." + +"Then why do you lay it out for me?" + +"Only sure way I know." + +"To push me up head?" + +"To put you somewhere where it's worth while for a man to stand," said +Magnus. "You might come out head--and be a disgrace to the service. You +might go down before French twistifications, get dropped--and live to +bless the country some other way." + +"I thought you meant I should be sure to graduate," said Renwick, +disappointed. + +"There's but one thing sure." And rising to his feet, Cadet Kindred +chanted out a scrap of an old hymn. + + "Looking off unto Jesus, + I go not astray: + My eyes are on him + And he shows me the way. + The path may seem dark + As he leads me along; + But following Jesus, + I cannot go wrong." + +"Does it ever seem dark to you, sir?" Renwick said wistfully. + +"Lots of times." + +"It is so hateful here," the boy burst forth; "the place, and the +drills, and the cadets, and everything!" + +"Yes, isn't it!" said Magnus heartily. "I have felt just so. Why, +there are days when I should like to shoot the cadets, burn down the +barracks, pitch all those old study books into the blaze, and tie the +Tacs within roasting distance." + +The two looked at each other, and then both broke into a laugh. + +"Splendid old place, isn't it?" said Mr. Kindred. "And the drills are +as good as the rack for stretching a man. And the cadets aren't much +worse than the rest of the world. You and I are two of them. Come on! +Let's go take a look at the flag. That always puts me to rights when I +turn sour. 'Hail, Columbia, happy land!' and West Point is part of it." + + "The sweet red, white, and blue, + The brave red, white and blue, + Has done so much for me, + And done so much for you." + + + + +LII + +THE BIG RECEPTION + + When shall I come to the top of that same hill? + ----You do climb up it now; look how we labour. + + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +A very busy six months followed first-class camp; the autumn full +of drills and study, the winter of examination, hard work, and the +Hundredth Night. With the opening spring poured in the usual flood of +tradesmen and their wares; company drills began, early visitors came, +and June was coming. The lower classmen, as usual, were on tiptoe with +glee and excitement; and, also as usual, were the ballasting thoughts +in many a first-class head. Questions of regiments, of posts, and of +girls. + +But for Charlemagne Kindred all that was settled. If he were ordered +to the North Pole, and stationed on the tip end of it, he should still +take Cherry. And if he could not keep the wind from roughening her soft +hair, Lieutenant Kindred would be a much more incompetent person than +Cadet Charlemagne thought possible. Cherry was just the girl for Arctic +regions; she would sketch the icebergs, sing to the seals, and teach +them Greek. And in the long evenings by their driftwood fire, they +could plan out where to live when he wore three stars on his shoulder, +and was retired on full pay for special services as yet unknown. +A little soon for that, to be sure; but there is no harm in being +beforehand, even "quite some," as they say in New Jersey. They could +draw plans for the house, and so save on architects when the time came. + +Other big questions came up for other men. Should this one assume +at once the debt which the dear home people shouldered so patiently +to send him to West Point? And how much can this other save from his +slender pay, to help educate his young brothers and sisters? It touches +one's heart to see the dainty articles of dress that are bought for the +girls at home, whose life has been chiefly homespun. + +Then what work will they find to do at the strange, far-away posts? +Work in that other army to which, as boys, they were mustered in? For +there are many church members in the corps; and I doubt if there is +one to whom the old vows do not come up in mind before graduation. +Sometimes, perhaps, with a never-so-keen perception of what Paul meant +when he said: "I have finished my course; I have kept the faith." Paul +could have claimed the lower honours too; learned, skilled, an acute +theologian, a matchless writer. But no earthly plaudits were in his +thoughts; only the Lord's "Well done"; the crown which those Royal +hands would give him "at that day." + +The spring flew on, tossing off its freight of snowdrops, violets, +columbine, and apple blossoms. Twenty-three days to June, twenty-two +days; then came more tidings. + +Mr. Erskine was failing, so the mother wrote; failing steadily and +fast. It was doubtful if Magnus would see his friend again; and the +young cadet's heart went out with a great yearning to the lonely girl +of whom he would so soon be the chief earthly protector. And once again +Magnus gave thanks for that grace which had brought him through the +fire, and made him fit to take such a charge. But none of them could +come for graduation. + +"Of course we cannot leave Cherry," so Violet wrote; "one of us is up +there all the time. Cherry looks like a white wind-flower. O, Magnus, I +wish you were here!" And Magnus gave a groan and turned to his tally: +twenty-one days to June. + +But he did what he could. He wrote Cherry a letter every day, saying +everything he could to beguile her thoughts. He sent the last picture +of himself, and the class picture, and a photograph of the up-river +view. In every letter went his marks for the day, with what bits of +mischief or of news the Post could furnish. He told what girls he had +walked with, and of his rambles alone; giving her much to read and to +talk of. With all this he studied untiringly, refused invitations, went +up in his marks, and was often fagged enough when tattoo beat; but less +with the work than with excitement and tension. + +He had applied for a regiment not then near San Carlos; but so much +depended upon how many men went to Willet's Point that he could guess +little as to his own placing. One thing was sure, he was learning +fast. Lessons of patience, of self-control, of trust; so winning true +promotion, day by day. Finding out also, with new understanding, +the exceeding helpfulness of prayer; learning to lay down cares and +questions at the feet of that blessed Lord Jesus who "doeth all things +well." Rank and post, life and death, could safely be left with Him! A +great peace and a great strength were in the face of Magnus Kindred in +those days. + +If he seemed graver than usual, it was that with every chance his +thoughts flew away. Or, rather, were some of them always in that +far-off sick-room. For whoever else might be with her, Magnus knew, +unerringly, how Cherry's heart reached out for him. How, in every hard +moment, with every new token of the coming sorrow, the longing for him +leaped up and grew. Sometimes it made him almost desperate enough to +go, at all risks. + +As a last comfort to himself and to her, Magnus took off his class ring +and expressed it on, bidding her wear it till he came to put another in +its place. She would not take it last summer, but she must _now_. And +there was no telling what that ring was to the girl, and to her father +as well, making the bond so tangible and real. Cherry studied it in +her lonely night watches, and Mr. Erskine's heart gave thanks at every +gleam of the stone as her hands' sweet ministry came about him. While +far away, Magnus, on his part, was verifying and honouring all their +trust. + +So came on June, with her rose-trimmed slippers; and it seemed that +first summer afternoon as if the whole countryside poured down upon +West Point. Long before four o'clock the seats were full, then crowded; +the wagon-load of campstools vanished as they came; and soon even +standing-room was at a premium. And when the Board of Visitors had +reviewed the Corps, and the Corps the Board, everybody who had the +right crowded in to the reception, while the left-out throng whirled +round with one accord, and sat staring with all its eyes at the open +door and solid front of the Superintendent's quarters. If only X-rays +had been on hand! The interest grew to a keen point when the first +class (all together then, though now they go scattering in) passed +through the gate, doffed their plumed hats, and vanished within the +doorway. + +Magnus was claimed by old friends and presented to new, had a great +grip of Mr. Wayne's hand, and brought little Miss Bee a plate of +lobster salad deeply bordered with sunshine. + +I think Cadet Charlemagne had learned a little more about girls than he +once knew; and the light and colour that came into this particular shy +face at sight of him, smote him with a sense of at least possible past +mistakes. She had no need to think so much of his small civilities. +And Mr. Kindred bowed himself away, and made merry in a gauzy circle +of colours near by. And then, when Miss Bee looked so left out in the +cold, Magnus rushed up again, took her plate, brought her an ice, and +made things worse than ever. Manlike, he thought the fast-and-loose +plan worked to admiration. + +Now privately, Miss Bee cared nothing for lobster and very little for +ice; but it felt so good to be noticed and to have something to do, +that I think she hardly knew what she had. And had not Mr. Kindred said +the ice would "refresh" her? So she ate a little, played with it a +little, and heard, nolens-volens, a good deal of talk. + +"Why, here is Mr. Kindred!" said one of his Christmas friends. "All on +tiptoe for shoulder-straps." + +"Mr. Kindred has small occasion to stand on 'tiptoe' for anything," +said Miss Lane. "But what have you done with your beautiful class ring? +Not lost it?" + +"Hardly, since I know where it is. Lost things are said to keep cool +company in the moon." + +"What is keeping company with your ring?" said Miss Saucy. "Your heart, +of course?" + +"Of course." + +"Will she be here for the hop?" + +"Since when were hearts feminine? No, I do not think 'she' will," said +Magnus. "Hearts are best at home, hop nights." + +The talk went on, the crowd drifted; and little Miss Bee in her corner +held her plate and ate her ice, and tasted nothing. Of course, she +had seen that the ring was missing; but then no girl had boasted its +possession. And men took whims. + +What tales dark corners could tell; of hard-pressed fights, of +struggles, of victory! The band played, the throng increased--then +began to thin out. Presently Magnus came and took the plate from the +weary fingers, asking if she would have anything more. + +"No, nothing," she assured him with a smile. But something in the smile +and its quiet patience, made him dart over to the table and fetch a +handful of the gayest bonbons and mottoes, and bestow them in Miss +Bee's own hands. A man's blunder, again! And yet perhaps not. Of +course the sweets were not eaten; they were conveyed away and stored +among Miss Bee's few chiefest treasures; but I think in time they +became a comfort, too; shining tokens of what a friend she had had in +one of the foremost men of the Corps. It could not be helped that this +put other men at a discount. + +For the ten days that followed no one saw much of Cadet Kindred, in any +of those between-times that he could call his own. West Point outlines +had cast their lovely spell about him; and with every chance he was +down by the river, up among the rocks; climbing the leafy ways; saying +good-bye, and then coming back to say it again. + + + + +LIII + +THE FIRST POST + + A ravelled rainbow overhead + Lets down to life its varying thread; + Love's blue,--joy's gold,--and fair between + Hope's shifting light of emerald green; + With either side, in deep relief, + A crimson pain, a violet grief. + + --MRS. WHITNEY. + + +I never understand how people can chatter all through the graduating +parade. Standing before other people who fain would see, but with their +own backs to the show; gabbling on about trains and stages, weather and +wraps, to the utter discomfiture of the quiet souls who are straining +their ears to catch the "standing," just then read out by the cadet +adjutant; and finally pausing long enough to wonder "Whatever is he +talking so long about, anyway?" + +"Headquarters Military Academy, West Point, N. Y. Special order, No. +fifty-nine!" So much with the knowledge that comes by iteration, you +make out; but the human wall shuts off the rest. Such people should +stay at home. + +If you are a stranger and unwarned, you may easily miss some special +points in the show to-night. You will not know that, when the battalion +comes marching down to the tune of "The Dashing White Sergeant," it +means that from fifty to seventy of its men are on dress parade for the +last time. And as they come nearer and wheel into line, you will hardly +notice, that among those orderly grey figures, there is every here and +there one who carries only side-arms, his musket left behind. And when +these come out and form a quiet line in front of the rest, you will +not guess that they are never again to go through the manual or be +mingled with the other men. Also for this night, the Commandant himself +steps out upon the ground, instead of the usual officer in charge. + +The line is dressed, and then-- + +"Parade rest!" and then-- + +"Sound off!" + +And with sweet, clear rendering, the band begins to play: + + "In cottage or palace, + Wherever I roam, + Be it ever so humble, + There's no place like home. + Home! Home! + Sweet, sweet home!"-- + +O what does it mean, to those men who (except for the short furlough) +have been four years in exile! They give no sign; motionless as so many +statues; the black chin straps merging faces, and hiding what may be +there. The June air stirs the soft edges of the black plumes, floating +them off as one; the sunset glitters on buckle and bayonet; the great +garrison flag curls and uncurls its mighty folds. "It may be for years +and it may be for ever," before the men of that front rank will look +upon the scene again. They have hated it, sometimes, and longed to get +away, but now they know how well they love it. What things those old +hills and they have gone through together! from the forlorn pleb days +until now. And even with that thought, the band lapses softly into +another mood: + + "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, + And never brought to mind?" + +and every heart answers to the pleading of "Auld Lang Syne." + +For these classmates, after to-morrow, will be scattered to the four +winds. Some, not to meet again till they are grey-haired men; never +_all_ to stand together, until the day when before the King "in his +glory," "shall be gathered all nations." Believers or unbelievers, they +think of it now. They may not speak nor touch each other, nor turn the +head, but they think. + +It is as well, perhaps, that "The girl I left behind me" puts in her +word just here, and you have to laugh, partly because you were so near +crying. But Lang Syne and Sweet Home have the last saying, as the band +comes back to its place. + +Parade goes on, and for once everybody is "present or accounted for." +The orders are published, the standing read (not always, in these +days), and then the graduating class come forward, and with dress hats +off and held at the correct angle, shake hands with the Commandant and +have a short address from him. And while the little company pass down +and stand in line before the trees (not that either, now), the old +Commandant turns hastily away from the show, and seeks his own front +door. It is a long ago "Lang Syne" that he remembers, and far better +than these youngsters, he knows what all this means. + +But the music begins again, with another change. "I see them on their +winding way" fills all the air. The lines break up; and buckle and +bayonet, sash and plume, come gaily past the seats, and then as they +pass the waiting graduates, again the plumed hats come off, while +cheers ring out in eager greeting from their comrades marching by. + +"I know I shall cry when it comes to that!" said a gay young first +classman to me. And I have no doubt he did. But there are no lookers-on +in front of them, and the old plain tells no tales. + +The next ten or twelve waking hours are little but hurry and rush. +The big hop on hand for society men: with farewell visits, last ends +of packing, and countless bits of red tape to be tied in regulation +knots. Then last looks at the river, and hands laid lovingly and for +the last time upon some of the old grey rocks. + +In front of the library a platform is raised, and draped with the +star-spangled banner, and a canvas canopy stretches across from tree +to tree. Strong ropes wall in the space below, where stand the chairs, +rank after rank, and as the morning hours run on, sentinels guard the +ropes against all intruders. The seats, of course, are, first of all, +for cadets and people of the Post, but just there does the dear general +public wish to sit, and for whom the chairs are placed affects them not +at all. So, for an hour or more, there is a sort of running fight--a +skirmish line--all round the lines of rope, and the sentries well nigh +meet their match. Demands, complaints, exclamations, are loud-voiced +and many, and neither orders nor fixed bayonets win much respect. + +"Those are the orders, ma'am." + +"I'm not responsible, ma'am." + +"No, ma'am, no one allowed inside the ropes." + +"Sit there? Those seats are reserved for the mothers, ma'am." + +"But _we_ are the mothers," cried one good dame to the stony official. +And as the guard turned to ward off some new intruder, one could but +laugh at the adroitness with which she slipped in behind his back, +to be again ordered out. At last come dignitaries in such very full +feather that the crowd stands back and becomes a trifle more modest. +The hands on the clock move on, cadets who were wandering about +with mothers and friends leave them and go off to barracks. Men for +the platform come leisurely along, sure of a good place; the upper +ten for the seats below make more speed, seeking the best. Then the +superintendent, the adjutant, and all the glittering people in train +of the Board of Visitors, mount the platform, and make it a study +of sheen and colour. Drums sound in the distance, then nearer, and +the whole battalion comes marching down. They halt at the back of the +crowd, stack arms, and the graduating class file in and take their +seats. + +There is a short prayer from the chaplain, "Hail, Columbia!" from +the band, and then the address--or, maybe two. From the president of +the board generally, followed often by words from some high ranking +officer, or some notability in civil life. Addresses sometimes wise, +sometimes more--otherwise--than one could wish; very seldom vivid +and instinct with fire. The country figures, of course, and "this +Institution," and the flag, with the service, in a mild sort of way. +All eyes are fixed upon this particular class, and the army welcomes it +with open arms. And the cadets have done well, and the professors have +done their best. On the whole, the sort of speeches to which you would +like to apply a match and bring them to either a blaze or to ashes. How +rarely--Oh, how rarely!--have these veterans in camp or council one +word of real cheer, wisdom, and fire, for these "youngsters," these +smooth-faced new recruits. + +Perhaps it makes less difference than I think to the grave young men +waiting there, bare-headed and absorbed; they have been at such high +pressure, and have so much else to think of. They listen, and applaud, +from time to time, and generally in the right place. Once in a while +you may notice that just _there_ the Southern hands are silent. + +More music follows, and then the adjutant with his stack of diplomas +comes to the front and stands behind the Superintendent, or whoever is +to give them out: in the old days, it was often General Sherman. One by +one he takes the parchment from the adjutant, and the names are called +off in order of standing. + +"Harvey Linton!" + +A tall, dark-haired young fellow rises from the grey mass, comes to +the foot of the platform, and with a low bow takes the credentials for +which he has toiled so bravely. + +"I congratulate you, sir," says the donor; "not so much for being at +the head as for the hard work which has put you there,"--and Linton +bows again, and goes back to his seat. + +"Yes, he has done very well--ve--ry well," so his father in the crowd +answers friendly words, trying hard to seem unconscious that his son +has carried off first honours. + +"Anson Dent!" and this time it is a broad shouldered Wisconsiner, +followed by a Virginian, a fair haired Hoosier, and all the rest. But +you notice other differences among the men. For while some smile and +bow gratefully, others give the briefest sort of nod, and some none at +all. Some flush, and some grow pale, and some hands almost grab the +diploma as if a right had been long withheld. And one casts furtive +glances towards a certain bewitching bonnet in the crowd, as he goes +to his seat, and the next sends a deeper gaze across the gay lines, +seeking a face and dress the plainest there, but the best beloved in +all the world; while many see only the friends a thousand miles away. +One man unrolls his diploma and studies it with all his eyes, his +neighbour plays with his, as if it were the veriest trifle--a mere +bagatelle. + +"Charlemagne Kindred!" + +And I am bound to own that this man went forward in a dream. With one +swift glance at Mr. Wayne, he did catch the loving interest in that +face, but the rest of the people might as well have been a fog bank. He +was feeling so much that he seemed not to feel at all, until when they +broke up, and Twinkle pressed through the crowd, crying: + +"Where is my mother! I want my mother!" + +And then Magnus could have shaken him, for daring to put his own +heart-cry in words. + +Indiscriminate cheering was not the fashion in those days. A specially +popular man, or one who had done his work against special odds, might +have some hearty plaudits. But generally the applause was kept for "the +last man," who by brilliant carelessness or industrious breaking of +regulations, footed "the immortals." Of course, they all cheered _him_. +Had he not kept someone else from being "last man?"--even now and then +(it is whispered) closing up the class end so that no one else _could_ +fall through. But after all, _somebody_ must be last, so cheer him on. +He may outrank you yet, in life. + +The scene changes. Everyone rises to the "Star-Spangled Banner," there +is the benediction, the cadets march away to the "Left Behind Girl" +once more; and then girls present, who will not accept the situation, +tear along to the front of barracks to hear the new orders. + +The companies are drawn up in line, never again to stand together +there, and the adjutant publishes the orders for the last time. + +It is a long reading. Lists of the men who graduate, of the men who +go on furlough, and of the new cadet officers; and again the friendly +chin-straps do the part of words, and "conceal thought." But if you are +near enough, and know the faces, you can see a gleam in the eyes of the +men who are to wear chevrons, or gloom on the faces of some who are +left in ranks, while the furlough men are almost dancing. But not even +a half-inch stir, anywhere. + +When the reading is done, and they break ranks, then indeed frolic +breaks loose, and every sort of thing is on hand. Graduates rush +to their rooms, clasping a hand here and there as they go, to put +off the grey once more and forever. Furlough men also "scoot" away, +eager to come out in "cits" for the journey; while the others hug and +congratulate each other in a threefold tangle, sometimes; the new +officers hurry to put on their chevrons; and (lest the fun should be +one-sided) are now and then caught and borne away and put under the +hydrant by the zealous yearlings. + +Meantime the sallyport fills up with girls, matrons, friends, old +graduates, and people in general. The gay overflow pours out into the +area of barracks, all waiting to see the young lieutenants and the +furlough men shine out in "cits." And they are about as different from +each other, when they come, as they were in the old candidate days. One +tall man in an extra tall hat, the next neat and harmonious down to +his small handbag, and this one just a trifle loud and mixed. Twos and +threes and one alone, hardly to be known at first, with their canes and +neckties. The furlough men shine all over with joy, the young graduates +have thoughts. So this face grows grave over a handshake, and this +other stalwart fellow breaks down in his words of farewell, and leaves +them unsaid. + +Mr. Wayne stood there with the rest, watching for Magnus, and then +having a word with him from time to time, until that matter-of-fact +regulation drum beat the call for dinner, and the new cadet officers +marched the men away. + +The air is still full of hurry, for most of those who are going want +to take the down boat, and there are a few last calls to pay, and some +unfinished business with the commissary or the "Com." But one way and +another the area is cleared, the men slip out of sight, and graduation +is over. Few words may tell the rest. + +Mr. Erskine had passed away from this earthly life, during that very +week in June; and it was a very pale and grief-stricken girl, much +needing him, that Magnus took in his arms when he reached home. And +later on in the summer there was a quiet wedding, with just a few +classmates in full-dress uniform to light up the room, and Mr. Wayne to +join the two hands in a bond which should never be broken. + +And their first post? What does that matter? However, it was one with +plenty to do, and some things to bear; a good place wherein to shine as +the Lord's true servants, and an excellent one from which to look up to +Him. + +For the rest, it stood on high ground, with a fine outlook, and a fair +climate. It was called Fort Content. + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. + + Blank pages have been removed. + + There are inconsistencies in the display of attributions in the poetry + and quotes following chapter headings. These have been retained. + + In the body of the text closing quotes have been omitted before + poetry, after a colon and in correspondence. 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