Then suddenly the officer in front said, 'Battery! Halt!' and all
the soldiers pulled their horses up, and the great guns stopped
too. Then the officer said, 'Sit at ease,' and something else, and
the sergeant repeated it, and some of the men got off their horses
and lit their pipes, and some sat down on the grass edge of the
road, holding their horses' bridles.

We could see all the arms and accoutrements as plain as plain.

Then the officer came up to us. We were all standing on the wall
that day, except Dora, who had to sit, because her foot was bad,
but we let her have the three-edged rapier to wear, and the
blunderbuss to hold as well--it has a brass mouth and is like in Mr
Caldecott's pictures.

He was a beautiful man the officer. Like a Viking. Very tall and
fair, with moustaches very long, and bright blue eyes. He said--

'Good morning.'

So did we.

Then he said--

'You seem to be a military lot.'

We said we wished we were.

'And patriotic,' said he.