Presently a horseman with jangling equipment drew rein before the colonel of the regiment.

The two held a short, sharp-worded conversation.

The men in the foremost ranks craned their necks.
As the horseman wheeled his animal and galloped away he turned to shout over his shoulder, "Don't forget that box of cigars!" The colonel mumbled in reply.

The youth wondered what a box of cigars had to do with war.
A moment later the regiment went swinging off into the darkness.

It was now like one of those moving monsters wending with many feet.