So his relaxed, almost collegial style of command helped foster an esprit de corps in the regiment instead of undermining his authority with its officers. The truth was, even if they'd been able to see into the bedroom, the officers and men of the regiment wouldn't have done more than make wisecracks about sleeping on a bed so big you needed a map to find your way out of it in the morning. Some of the soldiers would have been tempted to sneak in and swipe the canopy, no doubt. But they probably wouldn't have actually done it. Not the colonel's canopy.

When he had everyone's attention, Jeff used a pointer he'd had made for him by one of the regiment's carpenters to indicate their position on a large map he had hanging on an easel. The map was new, having just been finished by the same artist who'd done the portrait on the beckies.

"You see this stretch of the Elbe, from here north to Konigstein?" He waggled the tip of the pointer back and forth across the border. "That's why we're really here, gentlemen. I hope I don't have any officers in this regiment who are so dim-witted that they really think General Stearns left us here to protect Bohemia against that jackass Heinrich Holk."

A little sigh swept the room. They'd wondered, of course.

"The general left you with special orders," ventured Major Eisenhauer.

Jeff shook his head. "No, he didn't say a word to me. He didn't need to."

He turned to face his officers. "Here's how it is, and if there's anyone here who thinks he'll have trouble with what might be coming, you'd better come talk to me in private after this meeting."

His tone of voice was harsh, which was unusual for Colonel Higgins.

Another little sigh swept the room. They'd wondered about that, too.

"Let me start by making one thing clear. Mike Stearns believes in the rule of law just as much as I do. So if nobody breaks the rules, then you and me and every soldier in this regiment is just going to spend some chilly but probably pleasant enough months twiddling our thumbs here. But if rules do start getting broken…"