The footsteps died away, and more came, quicker and brisker than the first; and two cadets went by his hiding place. Then another with his best girl (for the time being); and Magnus watched them all. As the silence fell again a wood thrush in the shadows behind him rang its liquid chime. Then a tall cadet with chevrons, and the dainty air and manner which had earned him the soubriquet of "Gentleman Joe," passed slowly by with his mother on his arm; he bending down to her, and she looking up to him, while a little white fidget of ten years old flitted about the two. But when these were out of sight, then Magnus Kindred threw himself face down among the moss and ferns, and gave no further heed to outside things. "Oh, mother!--and Cherry, and Violet, and Rose--and home!" It was very bitter for a while. And when at last, in answer to a distant drum-call, Magnus roused himself, and got on his feet, he knew that he hated that drum, and all it betokened, just as hard as he could. Gentler thoughts came, as he mounted the hill. The clear notes of the thrushes were all around him, but in their grave sweetness there were no faltering tones; and while it pierced the boy's heart it strengthened it, too. Yes, one day _he_ would be the tall man with chevrons, leading his mother along Flirtation; and she should be as proud of him as Mrs. Gresham was of her son. And, instead of that child in white, there would be--but here the drum became imperative, and Magnus stowed away all the rest of his thoughts, and double-timed every remaining step up to Camp Hard. X BAND CONCERT I cannot bear it any longer, said the pewter soldier as he sat on the drawers; it is so lonely and melancholy here. --HANS ANDERSEN. It was the evening for band concert at the camp: a warm first of August. A red glow lingered over Crownest, the stars came out slowly, hazy with the heat; the katydids were publishing their arrival in the usual contradictory way. As the twilight deepened, the camp began to light up, and in front of the colour-line one especial burner shone full upon the concert programme, which was posted on a stick. Beyond this a small circle of lights marked the standing place of the band. Cadets were everywhere--half in a tent, or half out; walking, sauntering, standing, in twos and threes and half-dozens; some down on the grass where the lights shone full, and some hid away in the shadows towards Fort Clinton. Other figures were coming up, too, and dresses of every hue flitted across the plain. The dew lay sweet and fresh upon every grass-blade, but then the grass was short, and nobody minded dew when going to band concert. Often some grey uniform was escorting some dainty lady: these coming straight from the houses, and those others pausing, after a delightful tryst at Trophy Point, or a saunter along the upper bends of Flirtation. For, in those days, the concert night limits were--so far as you could hear and distinguish the music.