r looks so threatening that I have sent
for the wagonette to come for us, and I was about to send over to your
camp to see if Hero had wandered back there. He has not been seen since
last night. He was lying by Lloyd's cot just before I went to sleep, but
this morning he is nowhere to be found. Lloyd is distressed. I told her
that probably the drill yesterday awakened all his love for the old life,
and that he might have been drawn back to it. Was I right? Have you seen
him?"

"Yes," said the orderly, hesitating. "I saw him, but I find it hard to
tell you how and where, Mrs. Walton." He paused again, and then hurried
on with the explanation, as if anxious to have it over as soon as
possible.

"He was shot last night by mistake on the picket-line. The sentry is all
broken up over it, poor fellow, and the whole camp regrets it more than I
can tell. You see, after yesterday's performance we almost claimed the dog
as one of us. Colonel Wayne has made me the bearer of his deepest regrets.
He especially deplores the occurrence on account of the dog's little
mistress, knowing what a great grief it will be to her. He wishes, if you
think it will be any consolation to her, to give Hero a military funeral,
and bury him with the honours due a brave soldier."

"I am sure that Lloyd will want that," said Mrs, Walton. "She will
appreciate it deeply, when she understands what a mark of respect to Hero
such an attention would be. Tell Colonel Wayne, please, that I gladly
accept the offer in her behalf, and will send Ranald over later, to
arrange for it."

The orderly rode away, and Mrs. Walton turned to her sister, exclaiming,
"Poor little Lloyd! I confess I am not brave enough to face her grief when
she first hears the news. You will have to tell her, Allison. You know her
so much better than I. We might as well hurry the preparations for
leaving. No one will care to stay a moment longer, now this has happened.
It will cast a gloom over the entire party."

"Maybe it would be better not to tell her until after she gets home,"
suggested Miss Allison. She had soothed the childish griefs of nearly
every child in the Valley, at some time or another, but she felt that this
was the most serious one that had fallen to her lot to comfort.

"I'm sure it would be impossible to get Lloyd away from here without Hero,
unless she knew," was the answer. "I heard her tell Kitty this morning
that nobody could make her go without him. She said if