He strode off into the darkness, and Dan, seized with a sudden homesickness for the army, lay down beside his musket and fell asleep.
III. — THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
At daybreak they took up the march again, Dan walking slowly, with his musket striking the ground and his arm on Big Abel's shoulder. Where the lane curved in the hollow, they came upon a white cottage, with a woman milking a spotted cow in the barnyard. As she caught sight of them, she waved wildly with her linsey apron, holding the milk pail carefully between her feet as the spotted cow turned inquiringly.
“Go 'way, I don't want no stragglers here,” she cried, as one having authority.
Leaning upon the fence, Dan placidly regarded her.
“My dear madam, you commit an error of judgment,” he replied, pausing to argue.
With the cow's udder in her hand the woman looked up from the streaming milk.
“Well, ain't you stragglers?” she inquired.