the effects of their long forced
marches; and fierce bands of our guerillas guarded the mountain passes.
As far as our particular district was concerned, the war seemed to be
over.

One night as I sat making a fair copy of a proclamation, the colonel,
looking up suddenly, exclaimed, "Crawford, would you like to go to
Lima?"

"To Lima, sir?" and I let the pen fall in my eagerness; "why, I'd give
anything to go there!"

"Well, you can go for nothing, my boy, in a day or two. Of course you
know our friends have been for some time now in possession of the
capital, and that San Martin is Protector of Peru?"

"Yes, sir, though I think 'tis but an empty title until the Royalists
are thoroughly beaten."

"All in good time," said he pleasantly. "That will come some day. We
shall be masters of Callao shortly; which will be a great step forward.
I have received news this afternoon which impels me to make the journey
to Lima; so if you think you're strong enough--"

"I'm sure I am," I cried eagerly. "I haven't an ache or pain in my
whole body now, and--"

"All right!" interrupted the colonel; "I'll take you. Now finish your
copying, and don't fling the ink all over the place; it's wasteful."

It was not only wasteful, but it gave me extra work, the copy being so
smeared and blotted that I had to write it again on a fresh sheet.

"Lima in a day or two!" I said softly to myself as my pen drove along
the paper. The words sounded like sweetest music to me, and I hummed
them to myself over and over again. I pictured the dear old home, the
park, the pony I had ridden so often, the silvery pond, and the boats I
had fashioned to sail on its waters.

But above and beyond all I saw my mother, with eyes aglint and face
suffused with joy. The vision was so real that I stopped in my writing
to view it more closely. And when the colonel presently gave me leave
for the remainder of the day, I rushed off to find Jose, hardly knowing
whether I ran or flew.

"What is it, Jack?" he exclaimed. "Has Captain Plaza promised to take
you on another trip?"

He laughed at his own joke, and I laughed too, being in the humour to
see fun in anything.

"You aren't far out, Jose," I replied, slapping him on the shoulder out
of pure good humour. "I am going on a trip, but not with Plaza!"

"Then it must be with the colonel."

"Right this time. But where are we going, Jose? can you tell me that,
eh? No, you'll never guess, so I will