A young lieutenant upon a bicycle spun silently past.

An officer came from his front gate, his coat unbuttoned and a briar in his teeth.

The walks and roads were flanked with lines of black-painted cannon-balls; inverted pieces of abandoned ordnance stood at corners.

From a distance came the mellow snarling of a bugle.
Blix and Condy had planned a long walk for that day.

They were to go out through the Presidio Reservation, past the barracks and officers' quarters, and on to the old fort at the Golden Gate.