"
"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.
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