ok of courage on the face of the young recruit, and the look,
too, on the face of the old reservist. In the distance they see the
fortress of Hempfield with its redoubts and entanglements. They are
setting forth to take Hempfield, at any cost--their Captain commands it.

* * * * *

Near the town of Hempfield, as you approach it from the west, the road
skirts a little hill. As we drew nearer I saw some one walking upon the
road. A woman. She was stepping forth firmly, her figure cut in strong
and simple lines against the sky, her head thrown back, showing the
clear contour of her throat and the firm chin. A light scarf, caught in
the wind, floated behind. Suddenly I felt Nort seize my arm, and exclaim
in low, tense voice:

"Anthy!"

I thought his hand trembled a little, but it may have been my own arm. I
remember hearing our steps ring cold on the iron earth, and I had a
strange sense of the high things of life.

She had not seen us. She was walking with one hand lifted to her breast,
the fingers just touching her dress, in a way she sometimes had. I shall
not forget the swift, half-startled glance from her dark and glowing
eyes when she saw us, nor the smile which suddenly lighted her face.

I suppose all of us were charged at that moment with a high voltage of
emotion. I know that Anthy, walking thus with her hand raised, was deep
in the troubled problems of the _Star_. I know well what was in the
heart of Nort, and I know the vain thoughts I was thinking; and yet we
three stood there in the gray of the evening looking at one another and
exchanging at first only a few commonplace words.

Presently Anthy turned to Nort with the direct way she had, and said to
him lightly, smiling a little:

"I hope you will not desert the _Star_. We must make it go--all of us
together."

Nort said not a word, but looked Anthy in the eyes. When we moved onward
again, however, his mood seemed utterly changed. He walked quickly and
began to talk volubly-- Jiminy! If they'd let themselves go! Greatest
opportunity in New England! National reputation-- I could scarcely
believe that this was the same Nort I had found only an hour before
moping by the river.

As we came into Hempfield the lights had begun to come out in the
houses; a belated farmer in his lumber wagon rattled down the street.
Men were going into the post office, for it was the hour of the evening
mail; we had a whiff, at the corner, of