Anne inquired of him what it all meant; but Simon Burden, without
answering, continued to move on with parted gums, staring at the
cavalry on his own private account with a concern that people often
show about temporal phenomena when such matters can affect them but
a short time longer. 'You'll walk into the millpond!' said Anne.
'What are they doing? You were a soldier many years ago, and ought
to know.'

'Don't ask me, Mis'ess Anne,' said the military relic, depositing
his body against the wall one limb at a time. 'I were only in the
foot, ye know, and never had a clear understanding of horses. Ay, I
be a old man, and of no judgment now.' Some additional pressure,
however, caused him to search further in his worm-eaten magazine of
ideas, and he found that he did know in a dim irresponsible way.
The soldiers must have come there to camp: those men they had seen
first were the markers: they had come on before the rest to measure
out the ground. He who had accompanied them was the quartermaster.
'And so you see they have got all the lines marked out by the time
the regiment have come up,' he added. 'And then they will--
well-a-deary! who'd ha' supposed that Overcombe would see such a day
as this!'

'And then they will--'

'Then-- Ah, it's gone from me again!' said Simon. 'O, and then they
will raise their tents, you know, and picket their horses. That was
it; so it was.'

By this time the column of horse had ascended into full view, and