"'Excuse me, sir,' said the brown-haired man, 'but you must seek a place
of safety.'

"The general raised his head. 'Is there a road to the west?' he asked.
'I must take a roundabout way, and join my army, and share its fortunes,
whatever they may be.'

"'Yes, sir,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian; 'if you skirt these woods,
and follow the upward trend of the limestone- and quartz-beds, and then
keep along the crest of the mountain for about eight miles, you will
come to the village of Kirksville, where our retreating army will no
doubt halt for the night.'

"The general said no more. He turned his horse, whose bridle Almia had
now released, and, casting another look of sadness upon the erect form
of the bushwhacker nurse, he sped away.

"I will not say anything more of the general, except that after
following for half an hour the directions given to him by the
Exceptional Pedestrian, he rode at full speed into the ranks of the
enemy, and was obliged to surrender. No evil happened to him, however,
for the war was soon ended, and he was released.

"'Now,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian, who was in no way a traitor,
but only a person accustomed to making mistakes, 'the day is drawing to
a close, and we must hurry away.'

"No one objected, and the three soldiers accompanied Almia back over the
way she had taken when she walked to the battle-field. A little after
eight o'clock they arrived at the main road, and there Almia found her
cab waiting for her.

"'I will probably not see you again,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian,
shaking her very cordially by the hand; 'for as the war is now
practically over, and my regiment probably scattered, I shall go West.
There are many features of our social aspects out there which I wish to
study. But before I leave you, miss, I wish to thank you for having made
yourself so highly instrumental in bringing this terrible and inhuman
war to a close.'

"'Good-by,' said Almia. 'But I think it may be said that it was an
Albert biscuit which gave us peace. If that horse had not been used to
being fed by girls, my efforts might have come to nothing.'

"When the two younger soldiers bade good-by to Almia they did not say
much, but it seemed to her they felt a good deal. At any rate, she knew
she felt a good deal. She had known them but a little while, but they
had come into her life in such a strange way; for a time she had ruled
their destinies, and they had been so good to her! The