The sabres of his dragoons, and an axe or two, which had been brought with them as part of the camp equipments, sufficed to scoop out a little hollow in the rich soil of the moist basin, hard by the streamlet's bed, and in it, wrapped in his watch-cloak, with his plumed shako on his head, and his good sword on his thigh, all that was earthly of the gallant veteran was laid to take its long sleep.
Gordon secured his telescope, and, mounting a steep hill, surveyed the country, expecting to see the Partisan.
All at once he exclaimed in a full, manly, and clear tone:
"Julia, huzza! huzza! He is here—come forth and greet him. The Partisan is here already."
And just as the highly-bred brown horse bore him up the low bank from the rivulet's bed, she came out quickly from the little tent with a warm flush on her soft cheeks and a bright light in her clear blue eye, and a fleet step, and an out-stretched hand, which showed that the joy which she manifested at his coming was from the heart, sincere and earnest.
"Oh!" she cried, "Major Delacroix!" and her sweet low voice faltered as she spoke, as if she were on the point of bursting into tears, "how glad, how very glad I am to see you."
"Too glad, I am afraid, dear lady," answered the gallant soldier, bowing almost to the saddle bow, "too glad, I am afraid; for your pleasure almost looks as if you thought I had deserted you."
"Oh! no, indeed—indeed!" she answered, clapping her hands together in the intensity of her earnestness; "I knew that you would die a thousand deaths before you would desert me—before you would desert, I mean," she added, with some slight embarrassment, "any woman in distress or danger."
"You need not have modified your first expression, lady," replied the Partisan, quietly; "as for dying a thousand deaths, I cannot say for that, but certainly so far as risking the one life I do possess, I would do that for you, willingly."
Julia Gordon was a high-minded, artless, innocent woman, if ever such an one breathed the breath of life; but still she was a woman. She perceived at once that she had struck and fascinated the wild Partisan at first sight, and though she would not for the universe have intentionally caused him a single pang, she did unconsciously encourage him, and lead him on to wilder and more wandering fancies than he had ever entertained before.