en he told me that war was no ways like peace. I wonder what's going on
right now down at the Sunflower Ranch. The rain ought to fill that old
spillway draw from the lake down in the woods. It's nearly time for the
water lilies to bloom, too."

The memory of the May night two years before with Leigh Shirley, all pink
and white and sweet and modest, came surging across his mind as a heavy
dash of rain deluged the tent walls about him.

"Look here, Private Thaine Aydelot, Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, if you
are going to be a soldier stop that memory business right here, except to
remember what Private Asher Aydelot, of the Third Ohio Infantry, told you
about guard duty twenty-six hours out of twenty-four. Heigh ho!"

Thaine ended with a sigh, then he shut his teeth grimly and stared at the
unceasing downpour with unseeing eyes.

A noisy demonstration in the camp roused him, and in a minute more young
Todd Stewart lay stretched at full length in the mud before his tent.

"Welcome to our city, whose beauties have overcome others also," Thaine
said, as he helped Todd to rise from the mud.

"Well, you look good to me, whether I do to you or not," Todd declared, as
he scraped at the muddy plaster on his clothing.

"Enter!" Thaine exclaimed dramatically, holding back the tent flaps. "I
hope you are not wounded."

Todd limped inside and sat down on the wet straw.

"No, my company just got to camp. I was so crazy to see anybody from the
short grass country that I made a slide your way too swiftly. I don't mind
these clothes, for I'll be getting my soldier's togs in a minute anyhow,
but I did twist that ankle in my zeal. Where's your uniform?" Todd asked,
staring at Thaine's clothes.

"With yours, still. Make a minute of it when you get it, won't you?"
Thaine replied. "Our common Uncle wants soldiers. He has no time to give
to their clothes. A ragged shirt or naked breast will stop a Spanish
bullet as well as a khaki suit."

"Do you mean to say you haven't your soldier uniform yet?" Todd broke in.

"A few of us have, but most of us haven't. They cost something," Thaine
said with a shiver, for the May afternoon was chilly.

"Then I'll not stay here and risk my precious life for a government so
darned little and stingy."

Todd sprang up with the words, but fell down again, clasping his ankle.

"Oh, yes, you will. You've enlisted already, and you have a bad ankle
already. Let me see it."

Thaine examined the spraine