and busy. His men are devoted to him. Well, he
came walking along, scrutinizing the groups, and when he found me,
delivering the summons, returning my salute, and passing on with his
little smile. As he did not come back at all, I see that he took that
method of making his escape.

For when I got to the head of the street there was a big touring car, the
captain standing talking beside it, and in it, besides the old Colonel
and our old neighbors the Chapmans, were Vera and her sister Frances.
Some other officers were likewise there, and when the visitors descended
to walk about, took charge of them. I, a humble private lingering near
because commanded, thought that now I might slip away; but Vera in her
usual way chose her own partner, and chose me.

The camp did not interest her especially; she had seen it at a glance
from the automobile. The way we lived was at once familiar to her; I soon
found that she did not want me to explain anything. Knowing that she
always has her own purposes, and also knowing that I can never guess
them, I waited for her to declare herself. She selected a convenient seat
on a stone wall, where we could see everything; every man who went by
stared at her in admiration, and evidently said to himself, "Isn't that
rookie in luck!"

Her pretence was that she wanted to know about me, so as to write you;
but pretences with Vera are very open. Really she wanted to know about
the captain--what kind of a man, how he treated us, how we liked him. She
couldn't quite bring herself to say, "Dick, tell me about him!" There is
always Vera's pride. But after all, there never need be concealments
between us; she knows we are to be friends all our lives. So she let me
see what she wouldn't plainly say. And I answered quite as plainly: a
fine captain, a fine man, the fellows swore by him.

She objected. "He says they hate him."

"Perhaps you never before," I said, "came across an aggressive man who is
modest. I know he thinks that; it merely shows that he can't work for
popularity. But he was telling us recently of the practice hikes he has
been giving his company in Panama, to show that after all the hardest
work is what we shall look back on with the most pride. It was as plain
as day to us, though not to him, that the men there are like our fellows
here--they will do anything for him."

She dropped the subject; one not knowing Vera would have supposed that
she was not even interested in it, but I knew