“It’s somebody’s fault,” said the general, angrily. “No, no; I am sure it is not his. Well, I must have the men out to do something. No rust, Fred Forrester, no rust. What are you going to do?”
“Take my place in the regiment, sir, if you have no more writing for me to do.”
“Don’t want to go over to the Manor, then, to see the ladies, and ask how all are?”
“Of course I should like to, sir, but I was not going to ask leave.”
“You can go, my lad. There is no news of the enemy, and the scouts are well out in every direction. Be on the look-out though, and I cannot give you more than three hours.”
Overjoyed at this unexpected piece of good fortune, Fred hurried to his sleeping quarters, to try and give a few touches to his personal appearance, for, after months in the field, he did not feel at all proud of his sombre and shabby uniform.
This done, he made off just as the little force of well-mounted, sturdy men under the general’s command were filing slowly out, and making for the broad open park, where a long and arduous drill was to be carried out.
It was a glorious day, and the prospect of being at home for even so short a time, and seeing his mother and those who had been his best friends was delightful. There was no sign of warfare anywhere, such as he had seen in other parts, in the shape of devastated crops and burned outhouses. But as he rose one of the hills that he had to cross, a glint of steel, where the sun shone on a morion, showed where one of the outposts was on the look-out. Further on, away to the left, he caught sight of another, and knowing pretty well where to look, he had no difficulty, sooner or later, in making out where the different vedettes were placed.
“Puzzle an enemy to catch our weasel asleep,” he said to himself, laughingly, as he trotted on. “Why, if all our leaders were like General Hedley and my father, the war would soon be at an end—and a good thing too.”
He rode on, thinking of the reception he would get, and hoping that Lady Markham would not behave coldly to him; and then the watchfulness of the pupil in military matters came out.