Act II

Night's dark fingers crept into the settlement and tightened their grip, as the waning sunshine drew far and away, over the edge of the boundary walls, the reddened sky marking its vow to return good and strong the following morning.

The sentry and his lad stood watch, the father all alert and the boy hugging himself against first chill of the evening.

A long time passed without event, until, suddenly but faintly, a song could be heard, far off on the forest road, and with time it grew louder.

"Hark!" said the sentry, "I know that song! It's an old tune our Recruiting Officer would sing, to put cheer in our hearts on the hardest of days. But he's been gone too long now, it cannot be. Or can it?"

The song grew steadily louder...