The face and figure thus illuminated were those of a strongly
built, handsome man of thirty, so soldierly in bearing that it
needed not the buff epaulets and facings to show his captain's rank
in the Continental army. Yet there was something in his facial
expression that contradicted the manliness of his presence,--an
irritation and querulousness that were inconsistent with his size
and strength. This fretfulness increased as the moments went by
without sign or motion in the faintly lit field beyond, until, in
peevish exasperation, he began to kick the nearer stones against
the wall.

"Moo-oo-w!"

The soldier started. Not that he was frightened, nor that he had
failed to recognize in these prolonged syllables the deep-chested,
half-drowsy low of a cow, but that it was so near him--evidently
just beside the wall. If an object so bulky could have approached
him so near without his knowledge, might not she--

"Moo-oo!"

He drew nearer the wall cautiously. "So, Cushy! Mooly! Come up,
Bossy!" he said persuasively. "Moo"--but here the low unexpectedly
broke down, and ended in a very human and rather musical little
laugh.

"Thankful!" exclaimed the soldier, echoing the laugh a trifle
uneasily and affectedly as a hooded little head arose above the
wall.