, and that is not
seemly in a soldier of your experience."

"But, Colonel, this isn't a battle. Of course, I wouldn't let myself be
stirred up by the Yankees, but it's a dinner, Colonel! It's a Christmas
dinner, and it bears all the signs of being as fine as any we ever ate
in the old times of peace!"

"Thomas, my lad, I regret it, but I must say that you are talking in
a much more light-headed way than usual. All that we had we brought
with us, and your young brother officers, who I must say excel you in
industry, are now assembling it."

"But, Colonel, there's a big black fellow outside. He's just come in
with a loaded horse, belonging to the owner of this house, and he's
brought a letter with him. Read it, sir."

Colonel Talbot gravely read the letter and passed it to
Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, who read it with equal gravity.

"Sounds well, eh, Hector?" Colonel Talbot said.

"Most excellent, Leonidas."

They went to the door with Happy Tom, and again Caesar saluted
respectfully.

"You are welcome, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot. "I am commander here.
What has your kind master sent us?"

Caesar bowed low before the two colonels and then proceeded to unload
his horse. The young officers had come crowding to the door, but Happy
Tom received the first package, which was wrapped in sacking.

"An old Virginia ham, nut-fed and sugar-cured!" he exclaimed. "Yes,
it's real! By all the stars and the sun and the moon, too, it's real,
because I'm pinching it! I thought I'd never see another such ham
again!"

"And here's a dressed turkey, a twenty-pounder at least!" said Harry.
"Ah, you noble bird! What better fate could you find than a tomb in the
stomachs of brave Confederate soldiers!"

"And another turkey!" said Dalton.

"And a bag of nuts!" said Sherburne.

"And, as I live, two bottles of claret!" said St. Claire.

"And a big black cake!" said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire.

"And a great bunch of holly!" said Colonel Talbot, in whose eye, usually
so warlike, a large tear stood.

"Dat," said Caesar, "was sent by little Miss Julia Moncrieffe, just nine
years old. She wished she had a bunch for every soldier in the army,
an' she sent her lub to all uv 'em."

"God bless little Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine," said Colonel Talbot,
much moved.

"God bless her, so say we all of us," the others added together.

"And now, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot, "put your horse in the part of
the st