alarm Queen Mab, the missing hair was replaced by burnt
cork; but Jack, forgetting what had happened, sponged his face and
rushed down to tea, where Barbara, after regarding him for a few
moments in silence, leaned across the table and remarked, with a wise
shake of her head, "Yes, I see--you've been shaving."

But what proved a source of endless delight to the two boys was an old,
military bell-tent which Queen Mab had bought for their special use and
amusement. They pitched it on a corner of the lawn, and were always
repairing thither to read, and talk, and hold councils of war. It was
delightful to speculate as to what doughty warriors might have been
sheltered beneath it; and to imagine that sundry small rents and
patches must be the result of the enemy's fire, and not due to the wear
and tear of ordinary encampments.

Not satisfied with living in it by day, they determined to pass a night
there also, and would not rest content until their aunt had given them
permission to try the experiment.

"All we want," said Valentine, "is a mackintosh to spread on the
ground, and a few rugs and sofa cushions, and a candle and a box of
matches."

"Very well, you can have plenty of those," answered Queen Mab; "perhaps
some day you won't be so well off, Valentine."

She spoke lightly enough, and with no foreshadowing of a visionary
picture, often to haunt her mind in the days to come, of men lying
silently under a clear, starlit sky, with belts on, rifles by their
sides, and bayonets ready fixed.

The two boys prepared to put their project into immediate execution;
and in connection with this their first but by no means last experience
of a night under canvas, they were destined to fall in with a little
adventure which must be recorded.

Shortly before the commencement of the holidays a lot of strawberries
had been stolen from the garden, and Queen Mab feared lest a similar
fate should overtake a fine show of pears which were just getting ripe.

"Well, good-night," she said, as she prepared to close the door on the
two adventurers; "if you're cold, and want to come in, throw some
pebbles up at my window."

"Oh, we shan't want to come in," answered Jack stoutly. "If you hear
any one coming to steal the fruit, you shout, 'Guard turn out!' and
we'll nab 'em."

The boys settled down like old campaigners. "Awful joke, isn't it?"
said Jack.

"Yes, prime!" answered Valentine; "soldiering must be jolly."

Half an hou