e. It was a stranger he gazed at, yet voice, speech, and
appearance were like the man's who had trained him from a puppy, and he
gave a wriggle of pleasure when the big hand came down on his head, and
the deep voice spoke caressingly to him.

When the orderly mounted his horse. Hero would have followed had not the
Little Colonel called him sharply, grieved and jealous that he should show
such marked interest in a stranger. He turned back at her call, but stood
in the road, looking after his new-found friend, till horse and rider
disappeared down the bridle-path that led through the deep woods to the
other camp.

CHAPTER XV.

THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE

Promptly on Thursday, at the time appointed, the orderly rode over to Camp
Walton to escort the party back to the camp at Calkin's Cliff. The four
boys led the way on their ponies; the rest piled into a great farm wagon
filled with straw, that had been procured from one of the neighbouring
farms for the occasion.

Hero followed obediently, when the Little Colonel ordered him to jump up
beside her, but he turned longing eyes on the orderly, whom he had
welcomed with strong marks of pleasure. It was only their second meeting,
but Hero seemed to regard him as an old friend. He leaped up to lick his
face, and bounded around him with quick, short barks of pleasure that, for
the moment, gave Lloyd a jealous pang. She was hurt that Hero should show
such an evident desire to follow him in preference to her.

"I don't see what makes Hero act so," she said to Mrs. Walton.

"The orderly certainly must bear a strong resemblance to some one whom
Hero knew and loved in France," she replied. "You have owned him less than
two months, and he has been away from France only a year, you must
remember. Everything must seem strange to him here. He was not brought up
to play with children, as many St. Bernards are.

"The other night, at the entertainment, I wondered many times what Hero
must think of his strange surroundings. His life here is different in
every way from all that he has been used to. A dog trained from puppyhood
to the experiences of soldier life would naturally miss the excitement of
camp as much as a soldier suddenly retired to the life of a private
citizen."

"Oh, deah!" sighed Lloyd, "I wish he could talk. I'd ask him if he is
unhappy. _Are_ you homesick, old fellow?"

She took his great head between her little hands and looked earnestly into
his eyes as she as