"Mrs. Gordon, suh," said the adjutant, with placid superiority, "considers it a reflection on her sex when I fail to pay it due homage. Of course you didn't see the ladies. The party was shown into the general's own domicile. Couldn't you see how many young fellows were posing in picturesque attitudes in front of it? Awe Hank!" he suddenly shouted to an officer striding past the tent in dripping mackintosh. "Goin' up to division headquarters? Just tell the staff or the chief I've sent an orderly galloping after Squeers. He's halfway to the Presidio now, but it'll be an hour before they can get back." The silent officer nodded and went on, whereat Gordon made a spring for the entrance and hailed again. "Say, Hank! Who are the damsels?" The answer came back through the fog: "People from the East--looking for a runaway. Old gent, pretty daughter, and pretty daughter's prettier cousin. Heard the orders?" "Damn the orders! They don't touch _us_. Where do they come from?" "D'rect from Washington, they say. Three regiments to sail at once, and----" "Oh, I know all that!" shouted Gordon impatiently. "It was all over camp an hour ago! Where do they--the girls--come from? What's their name?" "Wasn't presented," was the sulky reply. "Let a lot of stuffy old women show up in search of long-lost sons and those fellows at headquarters unload them on us in less than no time, but a brace of pretty girls--! Why, they double the gate guards so that no outsider can so much as see them. Billy, here, knows 'em. Ask him." By this time the youngster had ranged up alongside the adjutant and was laughingly enjoying the latest arrival's tirade at the expense of the headquarters' staff, but at his closing words Lieutenant Billy's grin of amusement suddenly left his face, giving way to a look of blank amaze. "_I_ know 'em! I haven't been east of the Big Muddy since I was a kid." "They asked for you all the same, just after you started. 'Least one of 'em did--for What's-his-name?--the chief's military legal adviser, came out bareheaded and called after you, but you were out of hearing. He said the cousin, the prettiest one, recognized you as you skipped away from the general's tent and pointed you out to her friend. Somebody explained you were running an errand for one of those aides too lazy to go himself, and that you'd be back presently." "Then go at once, young man," said the adjutant, laying a mighty hand on the junior's square shoulder. "Stand not upon the order of your going, but git! Never you mind about the colonel. He won't be _here_ until after he's been _there_, and he's in for a rasping over this morning's inspection. Just look at the report. Sergeant-major, send me Colonel Colt's report!" he called aloud, tossing his head back as he spoke, "Come in, Parson; come out of the wet." And, eager enough to read a famous inspector's criticisms of the appearance of the regiment, the officer addressed as Parson shoved briskly into the tent.