"Surely it is; and very thankful shall we be for your hospitality, and yet more for your advice. This is the famous soldier, Julia," he continued turning to the lady who accompanied him, "of whom you have heard so much, and whom we had hoped to meet at San Antonio."
No more words were spoken until they reached the spot which Delacroix had selected for his bivouac; but, as they did so, an exclamation of pleasure burst from Julia's lips at the romantic beauty of the scene.
The travellers immediately dismounted.
Now, as Julia stood erect before the Partisan, with the clear light of the blazing wood-fire falling full on her face, and revealing all the charms of a figure, tall as the tallest of her sex, voluptuous and fully rounded, yet slight withal, and delicate and slender as the fairest ideal of a poet's dream, he thought that he had never looked upon anything so perfectly and femininely lovely.
For some moments he stood gazing at her, mute, and positively breathless with admiration; then, suddenly recollecting himself, he called to the nearest of the dragoons, bidding him lead the lady's horse down to the river, and water him; and then conducted her respectfully to the place where he had spread his poncho on the grass, and with the aid of that and his large saddle, arranged for her an extemporaneous arm-chair near the fire, which the fresh coolness of the woods rendered not wholly needless, even at that season; while the thin smoke that rose from the wood embers, kept the mosquitoes at a distance.
Meanwhile, some of the dragoons applied themselves to clean the horses and accoutrements, while others unloaded the pack mules, and unbuckling the bags and cases which they carried, produced camp-kettles and canteens, and a small India-rubber tent and camp-bed, which was speedily set up and prepared in the methodical manner of the old soldier, and promised better accommodation for the lady.
"My cooking is ready, lady, such as it is," said the Partisan, "and I fancy you have the Spartan sauce, which even makes the black broth palatable."
Julia started a little at the classical allusion, and cast a quick glance toward her young husband, whose attention had been fixed on another portion of the roving soldier's speech, and said quickly, repeating the Partisan's word:
"Lady! Indeed I have been strangely remiss and discourteous, Major Delacroix. In the first hurry of our introduction, I forgot to name ourselves to you, though Yankee like; yet, I assure you, I am not a Yankee; I by no means forgot to exhort from you all that I wished to know. I should have imagined, Jule, that you would have found tongue enough by this time to make yourself known to Major Delacroix, but since it seems you have not done so, better late than never. Allow me, Major Delacroix, to present you to Mrs. Arthur Gordon, six weeks ago Miss Julia Forester, of New Orleans; and that done, to call your attention to my very humble and unworthy self, Arthur Gordon, First Lieutenant of the Second Dragoons."
When Arthur Gordon pronounced the words, Julia Forester, he started forward, and exclaimed: