Samson rubbed his hands and began to smile, but the pleasant look was ousted by a grotesque twitching of the countenance.
“What’s the matter?”
“I always forget, sir. Wound reminds me when I go too fast, and aren’t careful. All right again soon, though. Don’t hear no noos of the war being over, sir, I s’pose?”
“No, Samson, none. Tired of it?”
“Tired, sir? I don’t know about tired, but I can’t help thinking of the manor now and then, and what sort of a state my garden will be in. Why, Master Fred, sir, you know that bit under the north wall, where the mistress’s herbs and simples grow!”
“Yes.”
“Well, sir, I shan’t know that bit again. That there patch in partic’lar ’ll be one big touzle o’ weeds, and—”
Tantara, tantara, tantara! A trumpet rang out, sending a thrill through Fred, as he grasped its meaning, and that of the blasts that followed, with the rush of feet and trampling of horses. For a messenger had come in bearing a despatch, and in an incredibly short space of time tents were struck, baggage waggons loaded, and the little force was marching slowly to the west, Fred having only time to shake hands with his little nurse, and assure the landlord for the fiftieth time that he forgave him for being the cause of his wounds, and was most grateful for the kindness he had received.
Then, to his intense delight, he was once more mounted on his horse, which gave a whinny of recognition as his master patted his neck and smoothed his velvet muzzle. The trumpets rang out the advance, and with the sun flashing from the men’s arms, the array moved slowly off, and the youth’s eyes sparkled as he drew in long breaths of the soft sweet air, while he gazed wonderingly in the direction they were taking, his breast filled with new hopes, in which he was afraid to indulge, lest they should prove to be false.
The longing to question his superior officers was intense, though he knew that even they would probably be in ignorance of their route; and never before had he felt so strongly that a soldier is only a portion of one great piece of mechanism moved by one—the general in command.