“A strange officer, ma’am, and several strange soldiers coming in at the gate.”
Mrs. Moseley laid down her work and came and joined Judy at the window.
A small troop of horsemen, about ten men in all, with an officer at their head, marched through the gate, wheeled to the right, and rode up to the adjutant’s quarters, where they all dismounted.
The officer, attended by an orderly, went into the office.
The men remained outside, standing by their horses.
“What does it mean, ma’am, do you think?” inquired Judy.
“I don’t know. It may be some small reinforcement on their way to some other fort. We shall hear when the colonel comes in.”
As the lady spoke the orderly came out of the adjutant’s office and spoke to the dismounted men, who immediately dispersed, leading their horses away.
The two women stood a few minutes longer at the window, and then, as there was nothing more to be learned by looking out, each returned to her employment.
Even after that, Judy continued to glance from her lesson in syntax, through the open window that commanded the great gates and a broad sweep of the fort grounds; but nothing occurred to reward her vigilance or satisfy her curiosity.