“Look out, the Yankees are coming!” he cried.

I glanced through the window, and recognized a man of Mohun’s command, who also recognized me.

“How near are they?” I said, attempting to swallow the burning tea.

“Not a quarter of a mile off, colonel!”

“That will give me time,” I said.

And I applied myself again to the tea, which this time I poured out into the saucer, in order to cool it.

“Look out, colonel!” cried the man.

“Where are they?”

“At the gate.”

I finished the tea, and the goblet of cream just as the man shouted:—