The subaltern, glancing up quickly, saw, planted on horseback before him, with legs astraddle, a podgy, red-faced man in a blue uniform buttoned to the chin. The General himself happened to be standing less than five yards away, resting his elbows on the wall of the road while he scanned the valley and the struggling Frenchmen through his glass: and the subaltern, knowing that he must have heard the question, for the moment made no reply. "Be so good as to answer at once, Sir? Where is General Paget?" The General closed his glass leisurably and came forward. "I am General Paget, Sir--at your commands." "Oh--ah--er, I beg pardon," said the little blue-coated man, slewing about in his saddle. "I am Paymaster-General, and--er--the fact is----" "Paymaster-General?" echoed Paget in a soft and musing tone, as if deliberately searching his memory. "Assistant," the little man corrected. "Get down from your horse, Sir." "I beg pardon----" "Get down from your horse." [Illustration: "GET DOWN FROM YOUR HORSE, SIR."] The Assistant-Paymaster clambered off. His vanity was wounded and he showed it; the mottles on his face deepened to crimson. "Beg pardon--ceremony--hardly an occasion--treasure of the army in danger." Paget eyed him calmly, but with a darkening at the corner of the eye; a sign which the watching subaltern knew to be ominous. "Be a little more explicit, if you please." "The treasure, Sir, for which I am responsible----" "Yes? How much?" "I am not sure that I ought----" "How much?" "If you press the question, Sir, it might be twenty-five thousand pounds. I should not have mentioned it in the hearing of your men----" he hesitated. The General concluded his sentence for him. "--Had not your foresight placed it in safety and out of their reach: that's understood. Well, Sir,--what then?" "But, on the contrary, General, it is in imminent peril! The carts conveying it have stuck fast, not a mile ahead: the bullocks are foundered and cannot proceed; and I have ridden back to request that you supply me with fresh animals." "Look at me, Sir, and then pray look about you." "I beg your pardon----"