h's own. A huge Yule
log, such as could not be discredited by any that had ever sent up
sparks and flame at this sacred season, made the great chimney place one
vast scarlet glow; the door of necessity stood open, although the snow
was on the ground, and the dark, bare branches of the rows of trees left
in military alignment, down the centre of the parade, whitely glimmered
with frost and ice akin to the chilly glitter of the wintry stars which
they seemed to touch with their topmost boughs.

The garrison had been surprised on the previous midnight by the sudden
outbreak of the sound on the icy air of certain familiar old Christmas
carols sung by a few of the soldiers, who had the memory and the voice
to compass the feat, and who had been wont for a time to steal off to
the woods to rehearse in secret, in order to bring to the Yule-tide, so
surely coming, even to these far-away fastnesses, something of the
blithe association and yet the spirit of sanctity of the old remembered
Yule-tides of long distances agone both of time and place. The
enthusiasm that this reminder awakened nullified all thought of the
breach of discipline. The singers were summoned into the hall by the
commandant, and the embers stirred up, and they drank his health and
the king's as long as he dared let them have the liquor. And now, all
unseen in the darkness, the waits were stationed at a little distance to
mellow the sound, and were singing these old Christmas carols while the
guests gathered. The rough martial voices rang out with a sort of
jubilant solemnity and a strongly defined _tempo giusto_, very natural
to men who "mark time" for their sins, and whose progress through life
is to the sound of the drum.

The iterative beat pulsed through the open doors to the groups about the
big Yule-tide fires and those coming in out of the dark wilderness, not
daring to stir without firelock, knife, and pistol, for fear of a
treacherous foe. And in the hearts and minds of the full-armed guests
was roused a sentiment not new but half-forgotten, to hear in those
confident, mellow, assured tones--

"God rest ye, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing ye dismay;
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day."

Between each stanza when silence came unwelcome to the ear and the
chatter of tongues seemed dull and trivial a bugle sang out suddenly,
its golden-sweet notes vibrating and ringing in the air in the intervals
of this sweet old hymning t