chargers, armed and accoutred throughout, ascending the down at a
point to the left where the incline was comparatively easy. The
burnished chains, buckles, and plates of their trappings shone like
little looking-glasses, and the blue, red, and white about them was
unsubdued by weather or wear.

The two troopers rode proudly on, as if nothing less than crowns and
empires ever concerned their magnificent minds. They reached that
part of the down which lay just in front of her, where they came to
a halt. In another minute there appeared behind them a group
containing some half-dozen more of the same sort. These came on,
halted, and dismounted likewise.

Two of the soldiers then walked some distance onward together, when
one stood still, the other advancing further, and stretching a white
line of tape between them. Two more of the men marched to another
outlying point, where they made marks in the ground. Thus they
walked about and took distances, obviously according to some
preconcerted scheme.

At the end of this systematic proceeding one solitary horseman--a
commissioned officer, if his uniform could be judged rightly at that
distance--rode up the down, went over the ground, looked at what the
others had done, and seemed to think that it was good. And then the
girl heard yet louder tramps and clankings, and she beheld rising
from where the others had risen a whole column of cavalry in
marching order. At a distance behind these came a cloud of dust
enveloping more and more troops, their arms and accoutrements
reflecting the sun through the haze in faint flashes, stars, and
streaks of light. The whole body approached slowly towards the