of every wisp of vapor. The sun of
early August shone hot and strong upon the sandy wastes between the
westward limits of the division camps and the foamy strand beneath the
low bluffs, and beat upon the canvas homes of the rejoicing soldiery,
slacking cloth and cordage so that the trim tent lines had become broken
and jagged, thereby setting the teeth of "Old Squeers" on edge, as he
gazed grimly from under the brim of his unsightly felt hat and called for
his one faithful henchman, the orderly. Even his adjutant could not
condone the regimental commander's objectionable traits, for a crustier
old villain of a veteran lived not in the line of the army. "Ould Canker"
the troopers had dubbed him during the few years he had served in the
cavalry, transplanted from a foot regiment at the time of the
reorganization, so-called, of the army in '71; but a few years of mounted
duty in Arizona and later in the Sioux country had sickened him of
cavalry life and he gladly accepted a chance to transfer back to the
infantry. Now, twenty years after, risen by degrees to the grade of
lieutenant-colonel, he found himself in command of a famous old regiment
of regulars, whose colonel had donned the stars of a general officer of
volunteers, and the pet name--save the mark--of cavalry days had given
place to the unflattering _sobriquet_ derived from that horror of boyish
readers--the ill-favored schoolmaster of Dotheboys Hall. He had come to
the --teenth with a halo of condemnation from the regiment in which he
had served as major and won his baleful name, and "the boys" of his new
command soon learned to like him even less than those who had dubbed him
"Squeers," because, as they explained, there wasn't any privilege or
pleasure he would not "do the boys" out of if he possibly could. Gordon
had promptly tendered his resignation as regimental adjutant when his
beloved colonel left the post to report for duty in the army destined for
Cuba, but Lieutenant-Colonel Canker declined to accept it, and fairly
told Gordon that, as he hadn't a friend among the subalterns, there was
no one else to take it. Then, too, the colonel himself wrote a word or
two and settled the matter.

A big review had been ordered for the morning. An entire brigade of
sturdy volunteers was already forming and marching out by battalions to
their regimental parades, the men showing in their easy stride and
elastic carriage the effects of two months' hard drill and graduall