ENEMY'S CAMP

It was late when Jeanne awoke, and springing up she dressed hastily and
went downstairs. There was no one in the living-room. The fire had died
down and a few glowing coals gleamed red in the ashes. Full of a vague
alarm and fearing she knew not what, Jeanne ran into the kitchen but there
was no one there. Quickly she ran from one room to another but all were
empty. The apartments appeared larger and more desolate than ever in
their emptiness. Again and again the now frightened girl ran through the
rooms and out upon the galleries, but the echo of her own voice was all
the answer that came to her cries. At last the truth dawned upon her.
She had been abandoned by her uncle and aunt.

This then was the meaning of Madame's laughter. She, Jeanne, a Union
girl, had been left to get along as best she could on a lonely, deserted
plantation in the very midst of rebeldom; to live or die as the case
might be.

With a cry the girl flung herself upon the floor and let the flood of
her anguish sweep over her. A great fear was upon her. The fear of the
unknown. Never before had she been so utterly, so entirely alone. It was
long before she could control herself, and when at last she sat up, and
tried to think calmly, she seemed to have grown older.

"I must be brave," she thought. "Perhaps it is better so after all. I am
no worse off than I was with them. May be I can make my way back to New
Orleans and General Butler will send me home. But where am I? I don't know
whether it is Alabama or Mississippi, but whichever it is, I must try to
get back to Louisiana. Oh, my money!"

Hastily she searched for it and, to her great joy, found the bills safely
hidden in the lining of her dress. Long ago her aunt had complained of the
thieving of the blacks, and cautioned Jeanne to hide securely whatever
she had of value.

"Aunt Clarisse must have forgotten it," she exulted, "or she would have
taken it from me. 'One can always get along if one has money,' father
said. This will help me to get home. I wonder if my flag is safe!"

Full of anxiety lest the beloved emblem might have been taken she thrust
her hand into the folds of her dress, and to her great delight, found it
still there. Drawing it forth she gazed at it lovingly, and then shook it
out straight. As she did so her eye was caught by a piece of paper pinned
to one corner of it. With an exclamation Jeanne caught at it eagerly.

"My dear little Yankee," it ran. "We