Daisy in a very great state of delight began to make search for something that would do to stand for artillery; but Capt.  Drummond presently solved the question by breaking some twigs from the tree overhead and cutting them up into inch lengths.  These little mock guns he distributed liberally among the white stones, pointing their muzzles in various directions; and finally drew some lines in the sand which he informed Daisy were fortifications.  Daisy looked on; it was better than a fairy tale.

“Now Daisy, we are ready for action.  This is the battle of Balaklava; and these are part of the lines.  An order was brought to an officer commanding a body of cavalry stationed up here—­you know what cavalry is?”

“Yes, I know.”

“The order was brought to him to charge upon the enemy down there,—­in a place where he could do no good and must be cut to pieces;—­the enemy had so many guns in that place and he had so few men to attack them with.  The order was a mistake.  He knew it was a mistake, but his General had sent it—­there was nothing for him to do but to obey.  So he charged.”

“And his men?”

“Every one.  They knew they were going to their death—­and everybody else knew it that saw them go—­but they charged!”

“Did you see it, Capt.  Drummond?”

“I saw it.”

“And did they go to their death?” said Daisy, awe-stricken, for Captain Drummond’s look said that he was thinking of something it had been grave to see.

“Why yes.  Look here, Daisy—­here were cannon; there were cannon; there were more cannon; cannon on every side of them but one.  They went into death they knew, when they went in there.”

“How many of them went there?”

“Six hundred.”

“Six hundred!—­were they all killed?”

“No.  There were a part of them that escaped and lived to come back.”

Daisy looked at the pebbles and the guns in profound silence.

“But if the officer knew the order was a mistake, why must he obey it?”

“That’s a soldier’s duty, Daisy.  He can do nothing but follow orders.  A soldier can’t know, very often, what an order is given for; he cannot judge; he does not know what his General means to accomplish.  All he has to think of is to obey orders; and if every soldier does that, all is right.”

What was little Daisy thinking of?  She sat looking at her friend the Captain.  He was amused.

“Well, Daisy—­what do you think? will it do?  Do you think you will stand it and be a soldier?”

Daisy hesitated a good deal, and looked off and on at the Captain’s face.  Then she said very quietly, “Yes.”

“You will!” he said.  “I wish you would join my branch of the service.  Suppose you come into my company?”

“Suppose you join mine?”

“With all my heart!” said the Captain laughing; “if it is not inconsistent with my present duties.  So you have enlisted already?  Are you authorized to receive recruits?”