and face
of the wild figure before him; 'you're such a devil of a fellow. You
hurt yourself a hundred times more than you need, because you will be
foremost in everything, and will do more than the rest.'

'For the matter of that,' returned Hugh, shaking back his ragged hair
and glancing towards the door of the stable in which they lay; 'there's
one yonder as good as me. What did I tell you about him? Did I say he
was worth a dozen, when you doubted him?'

Mr Dennis rolled lazily over upon his breast, and resting his chin upon
his hand in imitation of the attitude in which Hugh lay, said, as he too
looked towards the door:

'Ay, ay, you knew him, brother, you knew him. But who'd suppose to look
at that chap now, that he could be the man he is! Isn't it a thousand
cruel pities, brother, that instead of taking his nat'ral rest and
qualifying himself for further exertions in this here honourable cause,
he should be playing at soldiers like a boy? And his cleanliness too!'
said Mr Dennis, who certainly had no reason to entertain a fellow
feeling with anybody who was particular on that score; 'what weaknesses
he's guilty of; with respect to his cleanliness! At five o'clock this
morning, there he was at the pump, though any one would think he had
gone through enough, the day before yesterday, to be pretty fast asleep
at that time. But no--when I woke for a minute or two, there he was at
the pump, and if you'd seen him sticking them peacock's feathers into
his hat when he'd done washing--ah! I'm sorry he's such a imperfect
character, but the best on us is incomplete in some pint of view or
another.'

The subject of this dialogue and of these concluding remarks, which were
uttered in a tone of philosophical meditation, was, as the reader will
have divined, no other than Barnaby, who, with his flag in hand, stood
sentry in the little patch of sunlight at the distant door, or walked
to and fro outside, singing softly to himself; and keeping time to the
music of some clear church bells. Whether he stood still, leaning with
both hands on the flagstaff, or, bearing it upon his shoulder, paced
slowly up and down, the careful arrangement of his poor dress, and his
erect and lofty bearing, showed how high a sense he had of the great
importance of his trust, and how happy and how proud it made him. To
Hugh and his companion, who lay in a dark corner of the gloomy shed,
he, and the sunlight, and the peaceful Sabbath sound to which he