Violet Jacob > Flemington

336
FLEMINGTON
consisting of a troop of his own regiment which
had lately marched in, and two of his men stood
sentry outside the tent in which Archie Fleming-
ton was sitting at an improvised table writing a
letter.
He had been a close prisoner since his arrest
on the Muir of Pert, and during the week that
had elapsed, whilst correspondence about him
and orders concerning him had gone to and fro
between Brechin and Edinburgh, he had been
exclusively under Callandar’s charge. That ar¬
rangement was the one concession made on
his behalf among the many that had been asked
for by his friends. At his own request he was
to remain Callandar’s prisoner till the end, and it
was to be Calandar’s voice that would give the
order for his release at sunrise to-morrow, and
Callandar’s troopers whose hands would set him
free.
The two men had spent much time together.
Though the officer’s responsibility did not include
the necessity of seeing much of his prisoner, he
had chosen to spend nearly all his leisure in
Archie’s tent. They had drawn very near together,
this incongruous pair, though the chasm that lay
between their respective temperaments had not
been bridged by words. They had sat together
on many evenings, almost in silence, playing
cards until one of them grew drowsy, or some
officious cock crowed on the outskirts of the
town. Of the incident which had brought them
into their present relationship, they spoke not at