. Mrs. Walton and
Miss Allison looked at each other in surprise, for the reply was no echo,
but the call of a real bugle, somewhere not far away.

"Oh, we forgot to tell you, Aunt Mary," said Malcolm, noting the surprised
glance, "It's a regiment of the State Guard, in camp over by Calkin's
Cliff. We boys were over there this morning. They made a big fuss over us
when they found that Ranald was General Walton's son and we were his
nephews. They wanted us to stay to dinner, and when they found out that
you were coming to camp here, the Colonel said be wanted to come over here
and call. He used to know you out West."

"Colonel Wayne," repeated Mrs. Walton, when Malcolm finally remembered the
name. "We knew him when he was only a young cadet at West Point. The
General was very fond of him, and I shall be glad to see him again."

"They'll be interested in Hero," said Ranald. "Maybe they'll want to train
some war dogs for our army if they set him at work. Do you suppose he has
forgotten his training, Lloyd? Let's try him in the morning."

"You can make a great game of it," suggested Mrs. Walton. "Rig up one of
the tents for a hospital. Some of the boys can be wounded soldiers and
some of the girls nurses."

"All but me," said Lloyd. "I'll have to be an officer to give the ordahs.
He only knows the French words for that, and the Majah taught them to me."

"What can we use for the brassards and costumes?" said Kitty.

"Elise has an old red apron in the clothes-hamper that we can cut up for
crosses," said Mrs. Walton, always ready for emergencies. "But now to your
tents, every man of you, or you'll never be ready to get up in the
morning."

It was hard to go to sleep in the midst of such strange surroundings, and
more than once Lloyd started up, aroused by the hoot of an owl, or the
thud of a bat against the side of the tent. Not until she reached out and
laid her hand on the great St. Bernard stretched out beside her cot, did
she settle herself comfortably to sleep. With the touch of his soft curls
against her fingers, she was no longer afraid.

When the officers came into the camp next day, they found the children in
the midst of their new game. It was some time before their attention was
attracted to it, for the Colonel was one of the men who had followed
General Walton on his long, hard Indian campaign, and there were many
questions to be asked and answered, about mutual friends in the army.

Hero was not making a