I knew little about military discipline—­less about the rules of active service; so I had no idea that I was letting these hungry men—­and evidently hunger laughs at laws—­break all the regulations of the army.  Their guns were lying about in any old place; their kits were on the ground; their belts were unbuckled.  Suddenly the captain rode up the road and looked over the hedge at the scene.  The men were sitting on the benches, on the ground, anywhere, and were all smoking my best Egyptian cigarettes, and I was running round as happy as a queen, seeing them so contented and comfortable.

It was a rude awakening when the captain rode up the street.

There was a sudden jumping up, a hurried buckling up of belts, a grab for kits and guns, and an unceremonious cut for the gate.  I heard a volley from the officer.  I marked a serious effort on the part of the men to keep the smiles off their faces as they hurriedly got their kits on their backs and their guns on their shoulders, and, rigidly saluting, dispersed up the hill, leaving two very straight men marching before the gate as if they never in their lives had thought of anything but picket duty.

The captain never even looked at me, but rode up the hill after his men.  A few minutes later he returned, dismounted at the gate, tied his horse, and came in.  I was a bit confused.  But he smiled one of those smiles of his, and I got right over it.

“Dear little lady,” he said, “I wonder if there is any tea left for me?”

Was there!  I should think so; and I thought to myself, as I led the way into the dining-room, that he was probably just as hungry as his men.

While I was making a fresh brew he said to me:—­

“You must forgive my giving my men Hades right before you, but they deserved it, and know it, and under the circumstances I imagine they did not mind taking it.  I did not mean you to give them a party, you know.  Why, if the major had ridden up that hill—­and he might have—­and seen that party inside your garden, I should have lost my commission and those boys got the guardhouse.  These men are on active service.”

Then, while he drank his tea, he told me why he felt a certain indulgence for them—­these boys who were hurried away from England without having a chance to take leave of their families, or even to warn them that they were going.

“This is the first time that they have had a chance to talk to a woman who speaks their tongue since they left England; I can’t begrudge it to them and they know it.  But discipline is discipline, and if I had let such a breach of it pass they would have no respect for me.  They understand.  They had no business to put their guns out of their hands.  What would they have done if the detachment of Uhlans we are watching for had dashed up that hill—­as they might have?”

Before I could answer or remark on this startling speech there was a tremendous explosion, which brought me to my feet, with the inevitable,—­