Won by the Sword | Page 3

the boys continued their play. The next afternoon the lad remained at
home, to the surprise of the sergeant.
"What keeps you in today, Hector? It is rare indeed that you are indoors
in the afternoon."
"An officer came along while we were playing," the lad said, "and
asked me some questions. I told him who I was. He said that he had
some influence, and might be able to assist me."
"What sort of assistance?" the sergeant grumbled. "He must have
influence indeed if he can get you a pension."
"I don't think it was that," the boy said. "I said that I should like to
enlist as a volunteer."
The sergeant laughed. "Well, they do take volunteers as young as you
are, Hector, but they must be cadets of a noble family. You will have to
wait another couple of years before they will enlist you, much less take
you as a volunteer."

There were a good many Scottish soldiers sitting in the room, when an
officer rode up to the door and dismounted.
"It is a general officer," one of the men said, looking out of the window,
and as the door opened and the officer entered, all stood up and saluted.
"Sit down, men," he said. "I am not here to disturb you, but to have a
talk with Sergeant MacIntosh. Have you a room, sergeant, where we
can speak privately?"
"Yes, general," the sergeant said, saluting again, and led the way into a
little room generally devoted to the use of noncommissioned officers.
The officer caught Hector's eye, and beckoned to him to follow.
"Do you know me, sergeant?"
"Yes, general, you are Viscount Turenne."
Hector gave an involuntary exclamation of horror at the thought of the
freedom with which he had the day before discoursed with this famous
commander. Military officers at that time did not wear any set uniforms,
and indeed there was very considerable latitude among the soldiers, and
it was only because he was followed by two attendants that the boy had
taken him to be an officer, probably a young captain. The quietness of
his dress had not even led him to believe that he belonged to a noble
family.
"This lad tells me that he is the son of Captain Campbell of the Scottish
regiment?"
"That is so, general."
"And also that you were a sergeant in his father's company, and have
since taken care of him."
"I have done the best I could for him, general; but indeed the officers of
the regiment allow me quite as much as the lad's food costs."
"He seems to be a careful student of military history, sergeant?"

"That he is, sir. I don't think there has been a battle, or even a skirmish,
in the past ten years which he cannot tell you the ins and outs of. He
will sit here for hours as quiet as a mouse when some soldiers from the
wars come in, and sometimes he gets books lent him with the plans of
battles and sieges, and when he is not doing that he is in the barrack
yard watching the men drill. I believe he knows all the words of
command as well as any captain in the Scottish regiment. As to
handling his musket, I have taught him that myself, and the use of a
sword, too, since he was ten years old, and the men of his father's
company have taken pleasure in teaching the lad all they knew in that
way."
"He reminds me of my own boyhood," the general said. "I like his
looks, and it seems to me that he has the making of a good officer. All
the officers of the regiment are men of good Scottish families, and as
such can serve in any capacity. I have often need of a young officer
who can carry my messages on a field of battle, and can be trusted to
understand their import and deliver them faithfully. Now, Campbell,"
he said, turning to the lad, who was standing with flushed face and eyes
beaming with delight and gratitude, "I will give you the choice. I will
either appoint you a volunteer for a year, in which time, if your conduct
is satisfactory, I will name you lieutenant, or I will take you directly
into my own household. My object in either case would be to produce
an officer likely to be useful to his Majesty.
"I should certainly not have adopted that course had it not been that you
appear already to have learned the duties of a soldier, and to be
acquainted with the ordinary drill and with the necessities of a soldier's
life. If you enter my household you will find it no child's play, certainly
no life of ease