"Yes; but the revel will outlast the day," he answered, laughing.
"Tommy is in his glory now, and it will take more than taps to make him subside.""Perhaps.He has rioted most joyously.Christmas has been no empty mockery to him." Weldon's quick ear detected a ring of melancholy in the Captain's voice.
"Has it to you?"
The Captain sat silent for a moment, his eyes fixed on the winking fires.
"Not really.Of course, we all have been a bit homesick, and I can see no shame in confessing it.Besides, after one gets out of his windsor-tie stage of life, these especial holidays seem to mark time so.One thinks back to this time, last year; and one has to wonder a bit where he will be, a year from now.A good deal can happen in a year.""For better, or for worse," Weldon added.
The words caught the Captain's ear.
"Yes, for better or for worse," he repeated; "in sickness and in health.A year is a long time.Tell me, have you heard lately from Miss Dent?"Long afterwards, the question came back to Weldon, with the obvious association of ideas.Now he answered, with perfect unconcern,--"Not for three or four weeks."
"I have heard since you, then.She wrote, last week, and sent greeting to you and Mr.Carew.""Thank you.Give mine back to her; that is, if you are writing.""I shall write, to-night," the Captain said briefly.
"Then please send her my wishes for Christmas and New Year's both.
You might also remind her to write to me.She writes wonderfully good letters." Turning his eyes from the fire, the Captain watched him steadily for a moment.Unconscious of his companion's gaze, Weldon was staring out across the camp, his lips framed to a noiseless whistling, his face full of dreamy content.The Captain studied the happy, resolute young face, drew a deep breath and then turned to the fire once more.
"Yes," he assented."But you would know that, from hearing her talk."Suddenly, Weldon's lips straightened, and he faced the Captain directly.
"I like Miss Dent," he said frankly."Of course, you know that.But, moreover, I have always felt I owed her a debt of gratitude for introducing me to you.I know one doesn't usually say such things, Captain Frazer," he laughed, in sudden boyish embarrassment; "but it is a little different on Christmas night, you know.Next year, we may be miles apart, and so, if you don't mind, I'd like to say that you have been wonderfully good to me, this year, and that Iappreciate it."
Captain Frazer took the outstretched hand, slim, but hard now, and a bit stubby about the nails.
"Thank you, Weldon," he answered."This may be our only Christmas together, and I am glad you told me."The silence about them was broken by the voices of the soldiers singing around the camp fires and by the bagpipes playing somewhere across the distance.Then, after a little, they fell to talking of other things, with the natural antipathy of healthy men to any recurrence of a momentary outburst of sentiment.
Around them, the fires flared and flamed across the darkness; beyond them, the veldt stretched away, sinister, mysterious; and from above the stars twinkled down upon them, smiling a Christmas blessing alike on those who were doomed to glory and those who were doomed to death.For an instant, the sudden pause in the singing and laughter seemed typical of the short, sudden pause in their active lives.
Then, as the Captain rose, the singing broke out once more, Carew's voice leading.
"Good-night, Weldon.I must go back to my quarters.""And to your letters?"
"Yes, to my letters.And may next Christmas be good to us both!"Weldon rose and saluted, then stood looking after his companion as he walked away, head and shoulders erect and his lips smiling slightly, as if in anticipation of the task before him.And, meanwhile, from the fire near by came the lusty chorus,--"A little brown cot, a shady green spot, No happier home I find.
My heart's fairly gone, for I love only one, She's the gi-irl I le-eft behind."The voices, rollicking even in their sentimentality, dropped away into silence; the fire flared up and then suddenly died away into darkness.But, even in the darkness, Weldon could see the dim outline of the Captain's figure, moving steadily forward along his self-appointed way.
