wanted to turn in my saddle and cry to her that beneath the flannel
facings at which she laughed these men wore deep, uncared-for,
festering wounds; that to march thus through the streets of this tiny
Capital they had waded waist-high through rivers, had starved in fever
camps, and at any hour when I had called on them had run forward to
throw cold hands with death.

The group of gentlemen who were riding with the girl had halted their
ponies by the sidewalk, and as I drew near I noted that one of them
wore the uniform of an ensign in our navy. This puzzled me for an
instant, until I remembered I had heard that the cruiser Raleigh was
lying at Amapala. I was just passing the group when one of them, with
the evident intent that I should hear him, raised his voice.

"Well, here's the army," he said, "but where's Falstaff? I don't see
Laguerre."

My face was still burning with the blush the girl had brought to it,
and the moment was not the one that any man should have chosen to
ridicule my general. Because the girl had laughed at us I felt
indignant with her, but for the same offence I was grateful to the
man, for the reason that he was a man, and could be punished. I
whirled my pony around and rode it close against his.

"You must apologize for that," I said, speaking in a low voice, "or
I'll thrash you with this riding-whip."

He was a young man, exceedingly well-looking, slim and tall, and with
a fine air of good breeding. He looked straight into my eyes without
moving. His hands remained closed upon the pommel of his saddle.