that illuminating remark he had slid his finger over some two
hundred leagues of country from Quebec to Michigan.

They met us with honest joy and no little surprise that evening as
we came into camp. Ten of our comrades had returned, but as for
ourselves, they thought us in for a long stay. We said little of
what we had gone through, outside the small office at headquarters,
but somehow it began to travel, passing quickly from mouth to
mouth, until it got to the newspapers and began to stir the tongue
of each raw recruit. General Brown was there that evening, and had
for me, as always, the warm heart of a father. He heard our report
with a kindly sympathy.

Next morning I rode away to see the Comte de Chaumont at
Leraysville. I had my life, and a great reason to be thankful, but
there were lives dearer than my own to me, and they were yet in
peril. Those dear faces haunted me and filled my sleep with
trouble. I rode fast, reaching the chateau at luncheon time. The
count was reading in a rustic chair at the big gate. He came
running to me, his face red with excitement.

"M'sieur le Capitaine!" he cried, my hand in both of his, "I
thought you were dead."

"And so I have been--dead as a cat drowned in a well, that turns up
again as lively as ever. Any news of the baroness and the young
ladies?"

"A letter," said he. "Come, get off your horse. I shall read to
you the letter."