50 BRUNO 



racks in the old city made all the small boys of 

 the town even more ambitious than small boys 

 usually are to be soldiers. Apparently, every 

 one of them had sent Santa Glaus a petition 

 to bring him something warlike for a Christmas 

 present. 



Julius delighted Bruno by taking him out 

 and buying him a paper of candy, which he ate 

 with much relish; then we three sat on the 

 upper piazza on which our room opened, listen- 

 ing to the music and watching the processions. 



It was a very strange Christmas to all three 

 of us. The air was pleasantly warm, and 

 green things, with roses and other flowers, were 

 in sight in all directions. 



As soon as Christmas had passed, we, with 

 that feeling of having turned a corner, common 

 at such times, began to hasten our preparations 

 to go on South. We had inspected various 

 tracts of land around St. Augustine, but had 

 not found anything to which we felt particu- 

 larly drawn. It seemed rather odd, too, to 

 come South intending to pioneer, and then to 

 settle in or near what the old sergeant at the 

 Fort assured us was the oldest city in the Union. 



We felt that we must, at all events, see what 

 the wilder parts of the State were like before 



