They reached the parade-ground just in time to see the battalion
forming under arms, and Max and Lulu watched every movement with
intense interest and delight,--the long skirmish lines firing
in advance or retreat, picking off distant imaginary leaders of
a pretended enemy in reply to the ringing skirmish calls of the
key-bugles, deploying at the run, rallying at the reserves and around
the colours.
That last seemed to delight Lulu more than anything else. "Oh," she
exclaimed, "isn't it lovely! Wouldn't they all fight for the dear old
flag if an enemy should come and try to tear it down!"
"I'm inclined to think they would," returned Mr. Keith, smiling at her
enthusiasm. "Now look at the flag waving from the top of the staff
yonder."
The words had scarcely left his lips when there came the sudden bang of
the sunset gun, and the flag quickly fluttered to the earth.
Then followed the march of the cadets to their supper, and our little
party turned about and went in search of theirs.
On leaving the table they went out upon the hotel porch and seated
themselves where the view was particularly fine, the gentlemen
conversing, Max and Lulu listening, both tired enough to be quite
willing to sit still.
The talk, which was principally of ordnance and various matters
connected with army and navy, had greater interest for the boy than for
his sister, and Lulu soon laid her head on her father's shoulder, and
was presently in the land of dreams.
"My poor, tired, little girl!" he said, low and tenderly, softly
smoothing the hair from her forehead as he spoke.
At that she roused, and lifting her head, said coaxingly, "Please don't
send me to bed yet, Papa! I'm wide awake now."
"Are you, indeed?" he laughed. "I think those eyes look rather heavy;
but you may sit up now if you will agree to sleep in the morning when
Max and I will probably be going out to see the cadets begin their day.
Would you like to go, Max?"
"Yes, indeed, sir!" answered Max, in eager tones; "it's about five
o'clock we have to start,--isn't it?"
"Yes, Max. Lieutenant Keith has kindly offered to call us in season,
and become our escort to the camp."
"Oh, Papa, mayn't I go too?" pleaded Lulu, in the most coaxing tones.
"I won't give you the least bit of trouble."
"You never do, daughter, in regard to such matters; you are always
prompt, and ready in good season."
"Then do you say I may go, Papa?"
"Yes, if you will go to bed at once, in order to secure enough sleep by
five o'clock in the morning."
"Oh, thank you, sir! Yes, indeed, I will," she said, hastily rising to
her feet, and bidding good-night to Mr. Keith.
"I too," said Max, following her example.
"Good children," said their father; then noticing the longing look in
Lulu's eyes, he excused himself to his friend, saying he would join him
again presently, and went with them.
"That is a beautiful, bright, engaging, little girl of yours,
Raymond,--one that any father might be proud of," remarked Keith when
the Captain had resumed the seat by his side.
"She seems all that to me; but I have sometimes thought it might be
the blindness of parental affection that makes the child so lovely and
engaging in her father's eyes," returned the Captain, in tones that
spoke much gratification.
"I think, indeed I am sure, not," returned Keith. "About how old is
she?"
"Thirteen. Actually, she'll be a woman before I know it!" was the added
exclamation in a tone of dismay. "I don't like the thought of losing
my little girl even in that way."
"Ah, you'll be likely to lose her in another before many years!"
laughed his friend. "She'll make a lovely woman, Raymond!"
"I think you are right," answered the father; "and I confess that the
thought of another gaining the first place in her heart--which I know
is mine now--is far from pleasant to me. Well, it cannot be for some
years yet, and I shall try not to think of it. Perhaps she may never
care to leave her father."
"I don't believe she will if she is wise. You are a fortunate man,
Raymond! Your son--the image of his father--is not less attractive than
his sister, and evidently a remarkably intelligent lad. He will make
his mark in the navy; and I dare say we shall have the pleasure of
seeing him an admiral by the time we--you and I--are gray-headed, old
veterans."
"Perhaps so," returned the Captain, with a pleased smile; "but
promotion is slow in the navy in these days of peace."
"Quite true; and as true of the army as of the navy. But even that is
to be preferred to war,--eh, Raymond?"
"Most decidedly," was the emphatic reply.
"You leave for home to-morrow evening, I think you said?" was Keith's
next remark, made in an inquiring tone.
"That is my plan at present," replied the Captain, "though I would stay
a little longer rather than have the children disappointed in their
hope of seeing everything about here that has any connection with the
Revolution."
"They seem to be ardent young patriots," said Keith. "It does one good
to see their pride and delight in the flag. How their eyes shone at the
sight of the rally round the colours."
"Yes; and they feel an intense interest in everything that has any
connection with the Revolutionary struggle. They get it in the blood;
and it has been their father's earnest endeavour to cultivate in them
an ardent love of country."
"In which he has evidently been remarkably successful," returned Keith.
"I am much mistaken if that boy does not do you great credit while in
the Naval Academy, and, as I remarked a moment since, after fairly
entering the service."
"A kind and pleasant prediction, Keith," the Captain said, giving his
friend a gratified look.
"How many children have you, Raymond?" was the next question.
"Only five," the Captain said, with a happy laugh,--"five treasures
that should, it seems to me, make any man feel rich; also, a sweet,
beautiful, young wife, who is to her husband worth far more than her
weight in gold. 'Her price is above rubies.' And you, Keith,--you have
not told me whether you have yet found your mate."
"No, not yet. I sometimes think I never shall, but shall soon become a
confirmed old bachelor," Keith replied. Then, after an instant's pause,
"I wonder if Lulu's father would give her to me should I wait patiently
till she is old enough to know her own mind in such matters, and then
succeed in winning her heart?"
"Ah, Keith, is that a serious thought or a mere idle jest?" queried the
Captain, turning a surprised and not altogether pleased look upon his
friend.
"A sort of mixture of the two, I believe, Raymond," was the laughing
reply; "but I haven't the least idea of putting any such mischief into
your daughter's head,--at least, not at present. But if I ask your
permission half a dozen years hence to pay my court to her, I hope it
will not be refused."
"Well, Keith," the Captain said, after a moment's silence, "I should
be very loath to stand in the way of your happiness,--still more of
that of my dear daughter; but the time is so far off that we need not
discuss the question now. My little girl seems still the merest child,
with no thought of the cares, pleasures, and duties of womanhood;
and I wish to keep her so as long as I can. That is one reason why
I rejoice in being able to educate her myself in our own home; and
thus far the loves of the dear ones in it have seemed all-sufficient
for her happiness. And I own to being particularly pleased with her
oft-repeated assurance that she loves Papa better than she does any one
else in all the wide world."
"Ah, I do not wonder that she does, for her father is altogether worthy
of all the love she can give him!" Keith said, with a half-sigh,
thinking of the loneliness of his lot compared with that of the Captain.
"Keith," the Captain said, after a moment's silence, "you tell me your
furlough will not expire for some weeks yet. Can you not spend them
with us at the sea-shore?"
Donald demurred a little at first, saying he had made other plans; and
besides, his going might interfere with his cousins' arrangements.
"Not the slightest danger of that," the Captain averred; "and I am
certain that one and all will be delighted to see you."
"And I own to being fairly hungry for a sight of them," laughed Donald.
"So, Raymond, your invitation is accepted, and on your own head be the
consequences."
"No objection to that; I'm delighted to have you on any terms,
reasonable or otherwise," the Captain said, with his pleasant smile.
Max and Lulu had an hour or more of good refreshing sleep before the
two gentlemen separated for the night.
Captain Raymond went very softly into Lulu's room, and stood for a
moment by the bedside looking fondly down into the rosy, sleeping face,
then, bending over her, kissed her tenderly on cheek and lip and brow.
Her eyes opened wide and looked up into his, while a glad smile broke
over her face.
"You dear, good Papa, to come in and kiss me again!" she said, putting
her arm round his neck and returning his caresses. "Oh, I do think I
have just the very dearest, kindest, best father in the whole wide
world!"
"That's rather strong, isn't it?" he returned, laughing, but at the
same time gathering her up in his arms for a moment's petting and
fondling. Then, laying her down again, "I did not mean to wake you,"
he said; "and I want you now to go to sleep again as fast as you can,
because, though to-morrow will, I hope, be a very enjoyable day to you
and Max, it is probable you will find it quite fatiguing also."
"Yes, sir; but I don't mean to think about it now, else I'd be wide
awake presently, and maybe not sleep any more to-night," Lulu answered
drowsily, her eyes closing while she spoke.
He was turning away, when she roused sufficiently to ask another
question. "Papa, will you please wake me when the time comes to get
up?"
"Yes, daughter," he replied. "Do not let the fear of not waking in
season rob you of a moment's sleep. I think you may safely trust to
your father to attend to that for you."
It seemed to Lulu that but a few moments had passed when her father's
voice spoke again close to her side.
"Wake up now, little daughter, if you want to go with Papa and Max to
see what the cadets will be doing in their camp for the next hour or
so."
"Oh, yes, indeed, I do!" she cried, wide awake in an instant.
"Good-morning; and thank you ever so much for calling me, dear Papa!"
and with the words her arms were round his neck, her kisses on his
cheek.
He gave her a hearty embrace in turn; and then, with a "Now, my
darling, you must make haste, we have only ten minutes; but I
shall bring you back to rearrange your toilet before going down to
breakfast," he released her and went back to his own room.
Lulu made quick work of her dressing, and when her father tapped at her
door to say it was time to go, was quite ready.
They found Mr. Keith waiting on the porch, exchanged a pleasant
"good-morning" with him, and at once started for the camp.
Max and Lulu were in gayest spirits, and were allowed to laugh and talk
till the little party drew near the camp, when their father bade them
be quiet, and amuse themselves for the present by looking and listening.
He spoke in a kind, pleasant tone, and they obeyed at once.
Down by the guard-tents they could see a dim, drowsy gleam, as of a
lantern; the gas-jets along the way seemed to burn dimly, too, as the
daylight grew stronger, and up about the hill-tops on the farther side
of the river the sky was growing rosy and bright with the coming day.
But all was so quiet, so still, where the tents were that it seemed
as if everybody there must be still wrapped in slumber; and Lulu was
beginning to think Mr. Keith must have called for them a little earlier
than necessary, when a sudden gleam and rattle among the trees almost
made her jump, so startled was she, while at the same instant a stern,
boyish voice called out, "Who comes there?" and a sentry stood before
them wrapped in an overcoat,--for the morning was very cool up there
among the mountains,--and with the dew dripping from his cap.
"Friends, with the countersign," replied Mr. Keith.
"Halt, friends! Advance one with the countersign," commanded the
sentry; and while the Captain and his children stood still where they
were, Mr. Keith stepped up to the levelled bayonet and whispered a
word or two in the ear of the young sentinel which at once caused a
change in his attitude toward our party,--respectful attention taking
the place of the fierce suspicion. "Advance, friends!" he said,
bringing his heels together and his rifle to the carry, then stood like
a statue while they passed on into the camp he guarded.
Max and Lulu, remembering their father's order to them to keep quiet,
said nothing, but were careful to make the very best use of their eyes.
Down by the tents, on the south and east sides, they could see sentries
pacing their rounds, but there was as yet no sound or movement among
the occupants.
Some drummer-boys were hurrying over the plain toward the camp, while a
corporal and two cadets were silently crossing to the northeast corner,
where stood a field-piece dripping with dew.
Max motioned to Lulu to notice what they were doing, and as he did so
they had reached the gun, and there was a dull thud as they rammed home
their cartridge.
The drummer-boys were chattering together in low tones, glancing now
and again at the clock in the "Academic" tower over on the other side
of the plain. Suddenly a mellow stroke began to tell the hour, but
the next was drowned in the roar of the gun as it belched forth fire
and smoke, while at the same instant drum and fife broke forth in the
stirring strains of the reveille.
Lulu almost danced with delight, looking up into her father's face
with eyes shining with pleasure. His answering smile was both fond and
indulgent as he took the small white hand in his with a loving clasp;
but it was no time for words amid the thunder of the drums playing
their march in and about the camp.
Lulu could see the tent-flaps raised, drowsy heads peering out, then
dozens of erect, slender lads, in white trousers and tight-fitting
coatees, coming out with buckets, and hurrying away to the water-tanks
and back again.
Presently the drums and fifes ceased their music; there was a brief
interval of silence, while the streets of the camp filled up with gray
and white coated figures. Then came another rattle of the drums like a
sharp, quick, imperative call.
"Fall in!" ordered the sergeants; and like a flash each company sprang
into two long columns.
"Left face!" ordered each first sergeant, while the second sergeant,
answering to his own name, was watching with eagle eye a delinquent who
came hurrying on, and took his place in the ranks too late by a full
half-second.
"Ah," exclaimed Keith, "that poor lad will be reported as too late at
reveille!"
Lulu gave him a look of surprise. "Dear me," she said to herself, "if
Papa was that strict with his children what ever would become of me?"
But the first sergeant was calling the roll, and she listened with
fresh astonishment as he rattled off the seventy or eighty names
without so much as an instant's pause, using no list, and seeming to
recognize each lad as he answered "Here."
It took scarcely a minute; then at a single word the ranks scattered,
the lads hurrying away to their tents, while the first sergeant made a
brief report to the captain, who stood near, then the captain to the
officer of the day.
Our little party had now seated themselves where a good view of the
camp might be obtained, and Max and Lulu watched with great interest
what was going on there. They could see the lads pull off their gray
coats, raise their tent-walls to give free circulation through them to
the sweet morning air, pile up their bedding, and sweep their floors.
Lulu gave her father an inquiring look, and he said, "What is it,
daughter? You may talk now, if you wish."
"I was just wondering if you had to do such work as that at Annapolis,"
she said in reply.
"I did," he responded, with a smile, "and thought you had heard me
speak of it."
"Maybe I have," she said, with a tone and look as if trying to recall
something in the past. "Oh, yes, I do remember it now! And I suppose
that's the reason you have always been so particular with us about
keeping our rooms nice and neat."
"Partly, I believe," he returned, softly patting the hand she had laid
on his knee; "but my mother was very neat and orderly, and from my
earliest childhood tried to teach me to be the same."
"And I think I'll find it easier because of your teachings, sir,"
remarked Max.
"I hope so," the Captain said; "you'll find you have enough to learn,
my boy, without that."
"A good father is a great blessing, Max, as I have found in my own
experience," said Mr. Keith.
But the roll of the drums began again, now playing "Pease upon a
Trencher;" again the ranks were formed, rolls called; the sergeants
marched their companies to the colour line, officers took their
stations; first captain ordered attention, swung the battalion into
column of platoons to the left, ordered "Forward, guide right, march!"
and away they went, to the stirring music of the fifes and drums, away
across the plain till the main road was reached, down the shaded lane
between the old "Academic" and the chapel, past the new quarters, and
the grassy terrace beyond. Then each platoon wheeled in succession to
the right, mounted the broad stone steps, and disappeared beneath the
portals of the mess hall.
Our party, who had followed at so slight a distance as to be able to
keep the cadets in sight to the door of entrance, did not attempt
to look in upon them at their meal, but hurried on to the hotel to
give attention to their own breakfasts,--the keen morning air and the
exercise of walking having bestowed upon each one an excellent appetite.
Max and Lulu were very eager to "get back in time to see everything,"
as they expressed it, so began eating in great haste.
Their father gently admonished them to be more deliberate.
"You must not forget," he said, "that food must be thoroughly
masticated in order to digest properly; and those who indulge in
eating at such a rapid rate will be very likely soon to suffer from
indigestion."
"And we may as well take our time," added Mr. Keith, "for it will be an
hour or more before anything of special interest will be going on among
the cadets."
"What do they do next, sir?" asked Max.
"Morning drill, which is not very interesting, comes next; then the
tents are put in order."
"That must take a good while," remarked Lulu.
"From three to five minutes, perhaps."
"Oh!" she cried in surprise; "how can they do it so quickly? I'm sure I
couldn't put my room at home in good order in less than ten minutes."
"But, then, you're not a boy, you know," laughed Max.
"I'm quite as smart as if I were," she returned promptly. "Isn't that
so, Papa?"
"I have known some boys who were not particularly bright," he answered,
with an amused look. "Perhaps you might compare quite favourably with
them."
"Oh, Papa!" she exclaimed; "is that the best you can say about me?"
"I can say that my daughter seems to me to have as much brain as my
son, and of as good quality," he replied kindly, refilling her plate
as he spoke; "and I very much doubt his ability to put a room in order
more rapidly than she can, and at the same time equally well," he
concluded.
"Well, it's a sort of womanish work anyhow,--isn't it, Papa?" queried
Max, giving Lulu another laughing look.
"I don't see it so," replied his father. "I would be sorry to admit,
or to think, that women have a monopoly of the good qualities of order
and cleanliness."
"I, too, sir," said Max; "and I'm quite resolved to do my father credit
in that line as well as others, at the academy and elsewhere."
"Are we going at once, Papa?" Lulu asked as they left the table.
"No; but probably in ten or fifteen minutes. Can you wait so long as
that?" he asked, with a humorous smile, and softly smoothing her hair
as she stood by his side.
"Oh, yes, sir!" she answered brightly. "I hope I'm not quite so
impatient as I used to be; and I feel quite sure you'll not let Max or
me miss anything very interesting or important."
"Not if I can well help it, daughter," he said. "I want you and Max
to see and hear all that I think will be instructive, or give you
pleasure."
A few moments later they set out; and they had just reached the grove
up by the guard-tents, and seated themselves comfortably, when the drum
tapped for morning parade, and the cadets were seen issuing from their
tents, buttoned to the throat in faultlessly fitting uniforms, their
collars, cuffs, gloves, belts, and trousers of spotless white, their
rifles, and every bit of metal about them gleaming with polish.
"How fine the fellows do look, Lu!" remarked Max, in an undertone.
"Yes," she replied; "they couldn't be neater if they were girls."
"No, I should think not," he returned, with a laugh. "Oh, see! yonder
comes the band. Now we'll soon have some music."
"And there come some officers," said Lulu; and as she spoke the sentry
on No. 1 rattled his piece, with a shout that re-echoed from the hills,
"Turn out the guard, Commandant of Cadets!" and instantly the members
of the guard were seen hastily to snatch their rifles from the racks,
form ranks, and present arms.
"Oh, Maxie, isn't that fine!" whispered Lulu, ecstatically. "Wouldn't
you like to be that officer?"
"I'd ten times rather be captain of a good ship," returned Max.
"I believe I'd rather be in the navy, too, if I were a boy," she said;
"but I'd like the army next best."
"Yes, so would I."
But the drum again tapped sharply, the cadets in each street resolved
themselves into two long parallel lines, elbow to elbow, and at the
last tap faced suddenly outward, while the glistening rifles sprang up
to "support arms;" every first sergeant called off his roll, every man
as he answered to his name snapping down his piece to the "carry" and
"order."
That done, the sergeant faced his captain, saluting in soldierly
fashion, and took his post; the captain whipped out his shining sword;
the lieutenants stepped to their posts.
"This is the morning inspection," Mr. Keith said in reply to an
inquiring look from Max and Lulu.
"Are they very particular, sir?" queried Max.
"Very; should a speck of rust be found on a cadet's rifle, a single
button missing from his clothing, or unfastened, a spot on his
trousers, a rip or tear in his gloves, or dust on his shoes, it
is likely to be noted on the company delinquency-book to-day, and
published to the battalion to-morrow evening."
"I wonder if they're as strict and hard on a fellow as that at
Annapolis," thought Max to himself. "I mean to ask Papa about it."
The inspection was soon over.
"Now," said Mr. Keith, "there'll be a moment's breathing spell, then
more music by the band while the cadets go through some of their
exercises, which I think you will find well worth looking at."
They did enjoy it extremely,--the music, the manoeuvres of the cadets
under the orders now of the adjutant, and again of the officer in
command.
There followed a half-hour of rest, in which Mr. Keith introduced his
friend, Captain Raymond, to some of the other officers, and they all
had a little chat together.
But as the clock struck nine the cadets were again in ranks.
"What are they going to do now, Mr. Keith?" asked Lulu.
"This is the hour for battery drill," was the reply.
"Ah, I'm glad we're going to see that!" said Max. "I'd rather see it
than anything else."
"The cadets are dividing and going in different directions," said Lulu.
"Some of them seem to be going down by the river."
"Yes; some members of the senior class. They are going to what is
called the 'sea-coast battery' at the water's edge, and presently you
will hear the thunder of great guns coming from there."
"Oh, can we go and look at them?" asked Lulu, excitedly. "May we,
Papa?" turning to him.
"I think we shall have a finer sight up here," he replied. "Am I not
right, Mr. Keith?"
"Yes; I think we would better remain where we are. I would like you
to see what daring horsemen these youngsters are. See yonder are the
seniors in riding-dress, with gauntlets and cavalry sabres. Watch how
easily they mount, and how perfectly at home they are upon their
steeds."
With intense interest and no little excitement Max and Lulu watched and
listened to all that followed,--the rapid movements of column, line,
and battery, the flash of sabres, the belching of flame and smoke,
accompanied by the thundering roar of the great guns, the stirring
bugle blasts, the rearing of the horses when brought to a sudden
halt. Even the gentlemen showed unmistakable symptoms of interest and
excitement.
The hour of battery drill passed very quickly. When it was over the
Captain called a carriage, and he, Mr. Keith, Max, and Lulu drove from
one point of interest to another, occupying in this way the time till
the hour for the boat from Albany to touch at the point. They took
passage on it to New York City, where they left it to board a Sound
steamer,--a few hours' journey in which would take them to that part
of the sea-coast of Rhode Island which had been selected as the summer
resort of the family connection.