the Alpha and Omega of the ten, as Major Sloat
dubbed them,--the senior and junior in rank, Chester and Armitage by
name, have rolled themselves in their blankets under another tent-fly
and are chatting in low tones before dropping off to sleep. They have
been inseparable on the journey thus far, and the colonel has had two or
three long talks with them; but who knows what the morrow may bring
forth? There is still much to settle.

One officer, he of the guard, is still afoot, and trudging about among
the trees, looking after his sentries. Another officer, also alone, is
sitting in silence smoking a pipe: it is Mr. Jerrold.

Cleared though he is of the charges originally brought against him in
the minds of his colonel and Captain Chester, he has lost caste with his
fellows and with them. Only two or three men have been made aware of the
statement which acquitted him, but every one knows instinctively that he
was saved by Nina Beaubien, and that in accepting his release at her
hands he had put her to a cruel expense. Every man among his brother
officers knows in some way that he has been acquitted of having
compromised Alice Renwick's fair fame only by an _alibi_ that
correspondingly harmed another. The fact now generally known, that they
were betrothed, and that the engagement was openly announced, made no
difference. Without being able to analyze his conduct, the regiment was
satisfied that it had been selfish and contemptible; and that was enough
to warrant giving him the cold shoulder. He was quick to see and take
the hint, and, in bitter distress of mind, to withdraw himself from
their companionship. He had hoped and expected that his eagerness to go
with them on the wild and sudden campaign would reinstate him in their
good graces, but it failed utterly. "Any man would seek _that_," was the
verdict of the informal council held by the officers. "He would have
been a poltroon if he hadn't sought to go; but, while he isn't a
poltroon, he has done a contemptible thing." And so it stood. Rollins
had cut him dead, refused his hand, and denied him a chance to explain.
"Tell him he can't explain," was the savage reply he sent by the
adjutant, who consented to carry Jerrold's message in order that he
might have fair play. "He knows, without explanation, the wrong he has
done to more than one. I won't have anything to do with him."

Others avoided him, and only coldly spoke to him when speech was
necessary. Chester treated