hat she did not understand he was a prisoner
until she heard the graybeard call out: "Well, put him in the barn.
He'll be safe there, I guess." A party of troopers moved with the
prisoner toward the barn.

The girl made a sudden gesture of horror, remembering the three men in
the feed box.

III.

The busy troopers in blue scurried about the long lines of stamping
horses. Men crooked their backs and perspired in order to rub with
cloths or bunches of grass these slim equine legs, upon whose splendid
machinery they depended so greatly. The lips of the horses were still
wet and frothy from the steel bars which had wrenched at their mouths
all day. Over their backs and about their noses sped the talk of the
men.

"Moind where yer plug is steppin', Finerty! Keep 'im aff me!"

"An ould elephant! He shtrides like a schoolhouse."

"Bill's little mar--she was plum beat when she come in with Crawford's
crowd."

"Crawford's the hardest-ridin' cavalryman in the army. An he don't use
up a horse, neither--much. They stay fresh when the others are most
a-droppin'."

"Finerty, will yeh moind that cow a yours?"

Amid a bustle of gossip and banter, the horses retained their air of
solemn rumination, twisting their lower jaws from side to side and
sometimes rubbing noses dreamfully.

Over in front of the barn three troopers sat talking comfortably. Their
carbines were leaned against the wall. At their side and outlined in the
black of the open door stood a sentry, his weapon resting in the hollow
of his arm. Four horses, saddled and accoutred, were conferring with
their heads close together. The four bridle reins were flung over a
post.

Upon the calm green of the land, typical in every way of peace, the hues
of war brought thither by the troops shone strangely. Mary, gazing
curiously, did not feel that she was contemplating a familiar scene. It
was no longer the home acres. The new blue, steel, and faded yellow
thoroughly dominated the old green and brown. She could hear the voices
of the men, and it seemed from their tone that they had camped there for
years. Everything with them was usual. They had taken possession of the
landscape in such a way that even the old marks appeared strange and
formidable to the girl.

Mary had intended to go and tell the commander in blue that her mother
did not wish his men to use the barn at all, but she paused when she
heard him speak to the sergeant. She thought she perceived t