CKPT. CHKRLES KING S 
 
 POPULAR MILITARY NOVELS. 
 
 THE COLONEL S DAUGHTER. 
 
 Illustrated, izmo. Extra cloth. $1.25. 
 
 MARION S FAITH. 
 
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 " It is a relief, indeed, to turn from the dismal intro 
 spection of much of our modern fiction to the fresh 
 naturalness of such stories as these." N. Y. Critic. 
 
 " No military novels of the day rival those of Capt. 
 King in precision and popularity." Boston Courier. 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, Publishers, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPT. CHARLES KING, U.S.A., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE COLONEL S DAUGHTER," "MARION S FAITH," ETC. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 
 A. F. HAKMEK. 
 
 P H 1 1, A I> E M> ft I A . 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 1,891. 
 
COMPANY. 
 
CHARLES H. KOCKWELL, 
 
 CAPTAIN FIFTH U. S. CAVALRY, 
 
 WHO AS FRIEND, AS SOLDIER, AND AS GENTLEMAN, WAS 
 WITHOUT REPROACH, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCKIBED. 
 
 MlSOlo 
 
PRELUDE. 
 
 OCTOBER in the Black Hills of Dakota. Cloudless 
 skies. Golden sunshine. Keen, crisp, invigorating 
 air. Lovely vistas of romantic valley, hemmed in by 
 rugged heights, rock-buttressed, pine-crested. Clear, 
 sparkling waters rushing over rocky bed, browsing 
 herds of troop horses scattered here and there over the 
 billowy slopes. Bivouac fires twinkling everywhere 
 through the timber, sending their curling smoke high 
 aloft towards the zenith. Rich, resinous, balsamic 
 odors floating on the faint breeze that whispers through 
 the tree-tops. Here, there, and everywhere groups of 
 gaunt, hardy, bearded men, whose rough garb of can 
 vas, flannel or dressed deer-skin gives no evidence of 
 their calling. Only the parallel rows of white tents 
 gleaming in the sunshine in the middle distance and 
 the stirring peal of the bugle tell of the probable pres 
 ence of a military force. There, down the valley where 
 it widens slightly, the strong battalions of infantry have 
 stacked their long Springnelds and pitched their canvas 
 abodes after a tramp through mud and mire, over ridge 
 and mountain, under weeping skies or blazing suns for 
 two thousand weary miles ; and now, blissfully drink 
 ing in this perfect air, they rest from their labors. 
 Here, closer at hand, swarm their comrades of the cav- 
 
X PRELUDE. 
 
 Among the twenty comrades surrounding the new 
 comers hardly one is any better off in point of cos 
 tume; many are worse, yet this is one of the crack 
 regiments of the service, and it has long been known 
 as " the Dandy th." Many an old friend of Arizona 
 days is here : Jack Truscott, long the adjutant and now 
 a beloved troop commander ; bluff old Stannard, the 
 junior major; Raymond, Turner, Gregg, Freeman, and 
 Wayne among the captains; Billings, the adjutant; 
 Wilkins, Crane, Carroll, and Hunter among the subs. 
 Stanch old Buckets, the Arizona quartermaster, had 
 been decreed with Colonel Pelham too much of a vet 
 eran for such tough campaigning as they might have 
 to encounter, and so was left behind in May. And 
 Billy Ray, the pet of the whole regiment, the idol of 
 Wayne s squadron since their savage tussle with the 
 Cheyennes in July, was now recovered from his wound, 
 rescued from the toils that had been thrown about him 
 during the early summer and coming to join his old 
 regiment, bringing with him several new officers, nearly 
 four hundred recruits, and over four hundred horses. 
 He is now but a single day s short march away, and 
 here are two of his officers sent ahead to warn the gen 
 eral of the coming of the command and to request in 
 structions where to meet him, for it is well known that 
 this very afternoon the cavalry breaks camp and moves 
 away, none but the tall brigade commander knows 
 whither. 
 
 And it is an old friend who, laughing, joyous and 
 jovial, is greeting man after man with hearty hand 
 shake and jubilant hail. He has the voice of a sten- 
 tor, has Blake, and the legs of a spider; and with 
 
PRELUDE. xi 
 
 many a facetious comment he is introducing his com 
 panion to such of the regiment as have not yet known 
 him, for Lieutenant Hollis has just come into the th 
 by transfer, and has hastened out with Ray s command 
 to take his share in what may be left of the campaign. 
 Both he and Blake are garbed in neat, trim-fitting 
 fatigue uniforms, with high riding-boots and broad- 
 brimmed campaign hats. Both are tall and slender, 
 and Hollis is athletic, even elegant in build, a finer- 
 looking fellow in every way than his companion, and 
 a much younger man. The greeting accorded to both 
 is frank and cordial. Many indeed, notably Truscott, 
 Turner, and Billings, have grasped Blake s gauntleted 
 hands in both their own and wrung them hard. They 
 all know by this time how loyally he has stood by 
 Billy Ray in his troubles of the summer past. In 
 greeting the new subaltern, men who never before 
 had met him raise the worn old felt hat and cor 
 dially extend the hand. Every man is ready enough 
 to welcome a fellow who has long been striving to 
 win a transfer to their rolls, and yet it is odd how 
 speedily many of their number quit the group gath 
 ered here at the colonel s camp-fire and cluster about 
 an object of much greater interest. A dozen yards 
 away are two trim orderlies, dismounted and holding 
 their own horses and those of the two officers; and 
 it is the sight of these fat, sleek, beautifully-groomed 
 sorrels, such marvellous contrast to the hundreds of 
 gaunt, famished steeds herded along the valley, that 
 bring these born cavalrymen in admiring throngs about 
 them. 
 
 "Got any more sorrels like these, Blake?" shouts 
 
xii PRELUDE. 
 
 Gregg in his resounding barytone. u Just what I want 
 for my troop !" 
 
 " Ay, marry, that we have ! and bays for Freeman 
 and chestnuts for Turner. Kay s been parcelling out 
 their paces all the way up, and every mother s son of 
 them steps like a four-year old and shines like satin." 
 
 " That s a handsome beast you have there, Mr. Hol- 
 lis," says the major, nodding approvingly at a big, 
 pawing gray, and with his hands in his pockets old 
 Stannard steps over to take a closer look. 
 
 "Yes, sir," answers Hollis, glad of such high en 
 dorsement of his choice ; " I ve had my eye on him a 
 whole year, and have only just bought him. I was 
 riding him every day when you went through. I 
 couldn t live without just so much horseback exercise. 
 It s one reason why I transferred. The doctors pre 
 scribed it in fact." 
 
 " Just hear that galoot, will you?" mutters Blake, 
 savagely, between his teeth. " He is forever prating 
 about his health, and he s as sound as a dollar." 
 
 Half a dozen men look up in sudden surprise. This 
 is a new trait in Blake. Always laughing, "ranting, 
 poking fun at anything and anybody, they are all ac 
 customed to his jibes, but not to such evident irrita 
 bility. It is utterly unlike him. 
 
 " Why, everybody has spoken so cordially of Hollis, 
 Blake," says Captain Turner, after an instant of silence. 
 " Don t you like him ?" 
 
 "Like him? Oh, Lord, yes ! well enough, only 
 he s more kinds of an ass than I ever met before, and 
 just now his fad seems to be his health. He has bored 
 Ray and me almost to death about his lymphatic tern- 
 
PRELUDE. x iii 
 
 perament and what the doctors tell him. The young 
 sters have dubbed him Lymph already, but he s so 
 dense he sees no ridicule in it. What ho, bnlly rook !" 
 he shouts, with sudden relapse into his old manner, as 
 he steps quickly forward, all joviality again, to greet 
 Captain Wayne, who, with Wilkins trailing behind, 
 comes panting up the slope. " What are these, so with 
 ered, and so wild in their attire?" 
 
 " Did you bring plenty of bays, Legs ? I want to 
 say right here that if I don t get first choice there ll 
 be a row. 7 
 
 " Thou Mars of malcontents ! Listen to him now," 
 laughs Blake. " Not so much as a how do you do ? 
 for me, and nothing but anxiety for horseflesh. You 
 old hippophagist ! you ve been living on it long enough 
 this summer to need a change." 
 
 " I never ate a mouthful of it," protests Wayne, 
 wrathfully. " I d sooner eat my boots." 
 
 " Well, what did you live on ? Have you been 
 sucking your paws like a hibernating bear ?" 
 
 " I ve lived on the hope of seeing*my troop mounted 
 on new horses, nothing else," says Wayne, throwing 
 himself down on the turf. " Legs, you look too swell 
 for one of us. I don t mean your legs, man ; when I 
 say legs, I mean you." 
 
 " Thou dost belie me, Wayne ! Tis but the com 
 bined effect of living in such high latitudes and on such 
 low diet. A summer in Cheyenne, with such compan 
 ionship as ours, would physic a Falstaff. Wait till 
 we re back in Kansas this winter, and I ll show you a 
 pair of legs Adonis might sigh for." 
 
 "A what?" asks Mr. Hollis, blankly. 
 
xi v PRELUDE. 
 
 " A man you never heard of, Tommy," answers 
 Blake, winking significantly at Wayne. " He was 
 first cousin to Antinous. Another stranger, I fancy. 
 You never knew Ann, did you, Hollis?" 
 
 "Not that I know of," says Hollis. "The name 
 doesn t seem familiar." But the silence in the group 
 seems to give him an inkling that Blake is guying 
 him again, and he flushes and looks uneasily around. 
 Blake has been chaffing him more or less all the way 
 from Cheyenne, and he does not know why. There is 
 a pained expression in Truscott s face as he rises and 
 betakes himself to where the colonel is seated on a 
 stump, conversing with his staff-officers a few paces 
 away. It was never like the old Blake to be play 
 ing upon the innocence or ignorance of a new-comer, 
 and Truscott utterly disapproves of anything of the 
 kind. 
 
 " What the mischief has got into Legs ?" asks Tur 
 ner, as he too rises and, joining Truscott, strolls away. 
 " Do you suppose the summer s experiences have made 
 him crabbed? I always heard Hollis was not over 
 bright ; but it isn t like Blake to be showing the fellow 
 up in this savage way." 
 
 Truscott shakes his head, then turns back and calls 
 to the new officer, who seems embarrassed and ill at 
 ease, although a general chat has begun again. " Oh, 
 Mr. Hollis, Captain Turner and I would like to look 
 at your gray. Did you buy him in Cheyenne?" he 
 hails, in cordial tone. And Hollis s eyes brighten, and 
 he gladly joins the two troop commanders. 
 
 "Yes, captain, yes; I think I got him at a good 
 bargain, too. Mr. Ray finally decided me to take him. 
 
PRELUDE. XV 
 
 I believe he is considered as good a judge as we have 
 in the th." 
 
 " Oh, yes, Ray has no superior," answers Truscott, 
 pleasantly. " Whoa, boy ! let me look at your hoof," 
 he says, as he bends down and picks up the gray s fore 
 foot. " What do you call him, Mr. Hollis?" 
 
 "Well, I don t know just yet, captain. He has 
 always been Jim, but I wanted something better, 
 something descriptive, you know. He seems too big 
 and splendid a fellow to call Jim. I wanted some 
 thing, well, classical rather, like Bucephalus or Am- 
 phitrite, and I asked Blake. He tells me to name him 
 Lymphititis; but it doesn t seem just the thing some 
 how." 
 
 Truscott bites his lip and bends lower over the hoof 
 he is carefully examining, and Turner whirls about on 
 his heel. Hollis, narrowly watching both, can readily 
 see that it is another instance of Blake s ridicule, and 
 he thinks it too bad that a man whom he is so dis 
 posed to like should seem to take every opportunity of 
 shaming him. 
 
 " Don t mind Blake s nonsense, Hollis," says Trus 
 cott, kindly. " He is one of the best fellows in the 
 regiment, but he can no more resist his propensity to 
 burlesque everything than he could the desire to stand 
 by you if anything went wrong. You ll get to know 
 and like him after a while." 
 
 All the same, Captain Truscott means to have a word 
 on the subject with his ranting friend, who is now once 
 more exciting the merriment of the throng with his 
 quips and jibes. It has always been one of the un 
 written laws of the th that new-comers among the 
 
xvi PRELUDE. 
 
 officers should be treated with every courtesy and con 
 sideration. It is only when old enough to fight their 
 own battles that it has been considered admissible to 
 ventilate their various foibles and weaknesses. Blake s 
 open ridicule of Hollis, therefore, has struck discord 
 antly upon the senses of the assembled party, and he 
 cannot but see it. For the time being, therefore, he 
 holds his shafts, and, linking his arm in that of his 
 stanch friend and troop commander, Freeman, he pres 
 ently strolls away to visit the bivouacs farther down 
 the stream. 
 
 Just at sunset on the following day, and in a valley 
 deeper, narrower, more romantic than that in which the 
 command was camped at dawn, two long columns of 
 horse have halted and are busily unsaddling and pitch 
 ing their tents for the night. The column from the 
 south is the big detachment of recruits led by Lieuten 
 ant Ray, and around him the officers of the regiment 
 gather for hours, and many a rough-looking trooper, 
 too, has hovered about until he could catch the lieuten 
 ant s eye, and then, encouraged by the kindly gleam of 
 recognition, has come forward to salute the young sol 
 dier whose name is on every cavalryman s lips this 
 night, and to be rewarded by a cordial shake of the 
 hand. It is late in the cool, star-lit evening before most 
 of the party seek their blankets, and Stannard and Jack 
 Truscott, though they have been with Ray since the pre 
 vious afternoon, having ridden forth to meet him at 
 the Gap, are among the last to go. Blake s voice is 
 heard declaiming a general good-night to the th over 
 among the tents, and his elocution just now is of that 
 spasmodic and uncertain character which must be ex- 
 
PRELUDE. xvii 
 
 pected of a man who is compelled to dodge the boots 
 and repel the insinuations hurled at him from every 
 tent-door within range. It is true that the th has 
 had to eat some of its horses to keep alive, but the 
 regiment is sensitive upon the subject, and Blake s 
 effusion is conceded to be even worse in taste than the 
 scanty breakfasts of September. But he rants on : 
 
 " Good-night, I have to say good-night 
 To such a host of howling swells. 
 Good-night unto this famished band, 
 All scrawny with 
 
 " Confound you, Wayne ! Take your spurs off your 
 boots before you sling them at me again. 
 
 " Good-night to Freeman s beauteous bays, 
 Good-night to chestnut sorrels dear, 
 Good-night unto those luscious steaks 
 And all the feeders nestled here. 
 This jovial band detains me? then 
 I ll have to say good-night again." 
 
 Groans and objurgations come from every side; but 
 he persists : 
 
 " Sleep well, comrades mine ; may dreams of horse 
 flesh breed no nightmare. Wilkins, get thee to bed. 
 If thou venturest forth in stocking feet again thou lt 
 catch thy death o j cold. Thou art more than half 
 hoarse now. Thou lt be a living chevaux-de-frise. 
 Nay, it boots not what you sling," he laughs, as he 
 stoops and picks up the nearest foot-gear and hurls it 
 at the advancing Wilkins. " A thousand more mis 
 chances than this one have learned me how to brook 
 
xviii PRELUDE. 
 
 this patiently. List, list, oh, list !" he declaims, as he 
 backs cautiously away : 
 
 " Yet, there will come a time, my lads, 
 When, if I read our stars aright, 
 You will not care for tough cheval 
 Or grass-fed mule ; till then good-night. 
 You wish that time were here ? and I ; 
 You do not blush to own it s so ? 
 Why, you d have rushed yourselves to death 
 For such a feast a month ago." 
 
 But here a dash from half a dozen tents and a volley 
 of boots and billingsgate drives the disturber of the 
 peace from camp, and, pursued until out of range by 
 missiles of every imaginable kind, he comes laughing 
 and leaping in wildest spirits to the camp-fire where 
 Truscott, Ray, and Stannard are still chatting, and 
 throws himself panting upon his buffalo-robe. 
 
 "Upon rny soul, Blake, you re more of a ranter 
 every day of your life," says the major. " We ll have 
 to put you in charge of the post theatre at Russell this 
 winter." 
 
 " At Riley, you mean, major ! Surely we go back 
 to the Kansas stations ?" cries Blake, sitting suddenly 
 erect, his face covering instantly with a shade of strange 
 anxiety. Ray looks up in surprise at the total and sud 
 den change. Truscott lifts his eyes from the letter he 
 has been reading in the fire-light and turns on Blake in 
 manifest concern. 
 
 " Not a bit of it," is Stannard s prompt reply. " The 
 general told me yesterday that head-quarters and six 
 troops would take station at Russell the moment the 
 campaign was "over, yours among them." 
 
PRELUDE. xix 
 
 For one moment Blake sits there as though stunned, 
 then, suddenly recollecting himself, he starts to his feet. 
 
 " Where s my pipe ?" he says, nervously ; and, with 
 out another word, goes stalking off into the darkness 
 down the valley. For a moment more the three 
 friends sit looking at one another. It is Stannard 
 who first finds voice. 
 
 " Well ! what on earth is wrong with Blake ?" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IT had been blowing hard all the morning, and now, 
 at two o clock, a fierce gale was sweeping down from 
 the mountain-pass at the west, whirling the shingles 
 out of the rickety old sheds and storehouses and 
 quarters at the fort and sending them sailing and spin 
 ning over the bleak, barren prairie that spread away 
 towards the distant roofs of the frontier city. Out 
 among the foot-hills the cattle were huddling for 
 shelter down in the deep ravines. The jack-rabbits, 
 with their long ears flattened out on their furry backs, 
 and even the sentries of the prairie-dog village had 
 taken refuge in the bowels of the earth. The herds of 
 troop horses, sent out after morning stables for a day 
 of sunshine and fresh air, had long since been blown 
 in under cover. The mules in the corral, down in the 
 valley, had all turned tail to the northwest, and, with 
 lowered fronts and every hair of their patchy hides 
 stuck out the wrong way, stood braced against the gale 
 in mute yet emphatic protest. Up at the guard-house 
 the tall white flag-staff had been bending like a trout- 
 rod until, in helpless surrender to the elements, the dot 
 
 of a storm-flag had been hauled down ; and the sentry 
 
 7 
 
8 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 on number one, blinded and battered by the sand and 
 gravel hurled into his face, had been drawn inside. 
 
 Over the broad expanse of the parade-ground, from 
 the piazzas on officers row to the big brown barracks 
 of the men, not a living being was in sight. .Even the 
 colonel s orderly, who usually stood in statuesque pose 
 at the gate or paced slowly up and down within hail 
 ing distance of the official front door, had been given 
 a chair within the hall- way, and sat there dozing while 
 the colonel took his own siesta. Over at the adjutant s 
 office the clerks were busily writing, occasionally rising 
 and shaking* out the big muster-roils or post returns 
 on which they were at work, and slashing at their 
 grimy desks with much muttered profanity, striving to 
 rid them of the coat of sand and dust that came sift 
 ing in through rattling window-sash or the chinks and 
 crooks and crannies and knot-holes in the warped 
 weather-boarding. The orderly trumpeter, with his 
 chair tilted back against the wall, was glancing every 
 now and then up at the clock and then at the grim face 
 of the sergeant-major. It was almost time for drill, 
 and the colonel had not yet spoken. Unless the order 
 came in five minutes he would have to sound the call, 
 and then the whole garrison would upbraid him as 
 though it were all his fault instead of that of the com 
 manding officer. They could not possibly drill in such 
 a gale : why, then, sound the call ? Why the dickens 
 could not the colonel make up his mind beforehand in 
 stead of waiting until the last moment ? Why, indeed ? 
 Even the adjutant could not answer that question. It 
 was one of the colonel s idiosyncrasies, was the sole ex 
 planation. He never would decide, said the growlers, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 9 
 
 whether inspection was to be in full dress or fatigue, 
 in overcoats or blouses, mounted or afoot, until ten 
 minutes before the time for first call, and then, like as 
 not, those men who had dressed in full uniform were 
 compelled to unbuckle, uncord, unbutton, and slip out 
 of those gaudy garments and into the simple blue, all 
 the time freeing their impressions as to the colonel s 
 heartless conduct. And those officers, mayhap, who 
 had got into breeches, boots, and spurs, for mounted 
 duty, would have to peel out of them in undignified 
 haste and insert their nether limbs into their yellow- 
 striped trousers, and barely escape a late when the as 
 sembly rang out over the fretful garrison. These were 
 days when the seventh, the Sabbath of the Lord, was 
 ushered in by a long and intricate ceremony, and these 
 were, possibly, experiences that led to subsequent Con 
 gressional action forbidding the principal portion there 
 of. At all events, it was a well-established fact that 
 when the colonel drove away town ward to worship and 
 glorify on his own account and to humble himself, in 
 purely perfunctory style of course, before the throne of 
 grace, he left behind him a battalion of miserable sin 
 ners for whom the peace and sanctity that should sur 
 round the day was irretrievably wrecked, and whose 
 rank blasphemy over the colonel s vexatious indecision 
 was something past praying for. 
 
 And there was some hard swearing going on down 
 at the club-room, at the store, on this particularly breezy 
 afternoon. There were most of the bachelors and one 
 or two of the benedicts of the garrison assembled, 
 and bets were even as to whether the colonel would 
 have drill-call sounded or not. One and all had agreed 
 
10 . CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 that, drill itself being an impossibility in such a blast, 
 it was simply cruelty to make officers and men turn 
 out under arms and answer roll-call, and one and all 
 were disposed to lay the blame, on this day of all 
 others, on the shoulders of Lieutenant Hollis. 
 
 "It s all your doing, you wooden-headed gabbler," 
 shouted the tallest and lankiest of the party, lowering 
 a pair of lean, long legs from the window-sill to the 
 floor. " How many times have we not told you never 
 to go and suggest a thing to the chief if you wanted 
 to have it done? Odds boddikins ! man, can you 
 never learn wisdom with examples such as these?" 
 And Lieutenant Blake buried his long moustache in 
 a glass of beer and rose to his full height, winking 
 Weller-like over the edge of the can at his circle of 
 associates. 
 
 " Oh, come now, Blake," answered Hollis, unwilling 
 to be the victim of popular obloquy, "I didn t convey 
 any idea to him whatever; I simply " 
 
 " Well said, mine ancient. Stop right there, now, 
 till we make a note of the first indication of awakening 
 intellect you ve shown in a week. Of course you 
 didn t convey an idea to him. It wouldn t have been 
 you if you had. You simply, very simply, said 
 what?" 
 
 " Well, that I supposed if it blew hard there would 
 be no drill, and I could go to town. I thought I 
 could gallop in right after that Board met, don t you 
 know?" 
 
 " To which our revered leader responded in so many 
 words that if it continued to blow a gale at two thirty 
 there possibly wouldn t, and that time alone would 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. \\ 
 
 tell. Precisely what you ought to have had sense 
 enough to know in the first place. Hollis, you ve 
 had enough good advice from me to make most young 
 men paragons of wisdom and discretion. Thou rt a 
 
 parlous boy ! And Zounds ! there goes drill-call 
 
 now Perdition take the thing !" 
 
 " For goodness 7 sake, Blake, shut up, or we ll never 
 hear recall," shouted Mr. Hunter, as he made a lunge 
 for his belt and sabre. "Great Scott! Just look at 
 that trumpeter ! He s well-nigh flattened out against 
 the band-stand. There, listen !" 
 
 Two or three young officers had started for the door, 
 but were promptly adjured not to open it unless they 
 wanted the club-room blown inside out. For an in 
 stant the gale seemed to howl and shriek with wrath 
 at its brazen rival, and the boy bugler threw an arm 
 around a post of the stand and braced himself for 
 another blast. This time he was greeted with a sup 
 pressed cheer. It was " recall" that came " whistling 
 down the wind," the soldier signal that the troops 
 need not turn out. 
 
 " Now, why couldn t he just as well have said so 
 three or four hours ago instead of keeping us in sus 
 pense? I might have been at the Terrys for luncheon. 
 Can t you let me off stables, captain ?" asked Hollis, 
 with a grin on his good-natured face. 
 
 " You don t mean you are going in town a day like 
 this?" said Captain Gregg, in amaze. 
 
 " Why not? There are those young ladies from 
 Detroit at Major Thorp s. I haven t called yet, and 
 they came three days ago." 
 
 " Great Caesar s ghost, Hollis ! No woman on earth 
 
12 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 would expect a call this afternoon, and no woman wants 
 a caller when she doesn t expect him," quoth his cap 
 tain. Other officers, too, were prompt to ridicule the 
 plan ; but Blake, usually the most declamatory of 
 men, after one quick glance at Hollis, turned suddenly 
 away. 
 
 " Come, Dana, let s have a game of pool," he called 
 aloud, and busied himself in selecting a cue. Three or 
 four of the young fellows quickly joined him, rejoicing 
 in their unexpected holiday. Captain Gregg himself 
 slowly found his feet, saying a little exercise was what 
 he needed, and pool would supply it. There had 
 fallen an odd sort of constraint on the party. 
 
 "How are you going in, Hollis?" was presently 
 asked. " You won t be fit to be seen by the time you 
 get there." 
 
 " Oh, I ll ride. I can get brushed off and put in 
 shape at the hotel. Here s Jim, now," he added ; for 
 at the moment a big gray horse, lunging and switching 
 about, wrathful at being led forth in such weather, 
 came cantering under the lee of the store, and a young 
 trooper sprang from the saddle and rubbed his eyes 
 with grimy fist. 
 
 " You ll never get back this night, Hollis, and, in my 
 c/pinion, have no business to go," said Gregg, gloomily. 
 " Of course, I do not oppose since the colonel has given 
 permission, but he gave it before the gale began, and 
 doubtless thinks you have abandoned the idea by this 
 time." 
 
 "Oh, I ll get back somehow," was the laughing 
 response. "If I don t, it won t be Jim s fault. He 
 has faced many a gale as stiff as this before you 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 15 
 
 ever came here. Good-by, fellows ; be good to 
 yourselves." 
 
 "By-by, Hollis," was the careless, half-laughing 
 reply of one or two of the group now gathering about 
 the table. Gregg simply looked after him, half per 
 plexed. Blake turned his back and bored savagely at 
 the cube of chalk with the cue tip. 
 
 There was a wild whistle of wind the instant the 
 door was opened, a slam, and Hollis was gone. 
 
 For a few moments no one spoke. No man in that 
 party could have been surprised at any expedition Hol 
 lis might make where the society of the opposite sex 
 was the object in view. He had been only a short time 
 in the th, transferred thither from another corps after 
 a campaign that had brought about some vacancies on 
 the muster-roll. He had been stationed in the fort 
 over a year, and, being a most determined society man, 
 was thoroughly acquainted with all the desirable people 
 in the neighborhood when his new comrades arrived at 
 the post comparative strangers. He was brimful of 
 life, energy, and animal spirits ; a fair rider, a jolly, 
 good-natured companion, a most accomplished dancer, 
 and leader in all social entertainments ; but life to him 
 seemed vested with no higher objects than those in 
 volved in " germans," parties, and private theatricals. 
 Military duty was a necessary evil, grudgingly per 
 formed and more frequently slighted that social duties 
 might have his utmost time. He was the despair of 
 the regimental adjutant, who found errors in every kind 
 of paper Hollis was compelled to submit ; the tolera 
 tion of his good-natured captain, because Mrs. Gregg 
 would not allow a word to be said against her second 
 
 2 
 
14 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 lieutenant, and the exasperation of his colonel, who, on 
 more than one occasion, had sent couriers racing town- 
 ward after him, with orders to come back at once, and, 
 amazed but indomitably smiling, he would return, to 
 catch a rasping for some carelessly-executed piece of 
 work, and yet was so apologetic and regretful that the 
 colonel himself would feel disarmed, and the adjutant 
 would turn to and straighten out the papers for him. 
 Everybody liked Hollis, in town and at the fort. The 
 ladies of the th were enraptured with him wheu 
 they arrived, for he was among the first to call and 
 bid them welcome. He was always proposing hops, 
 dances, picnics, something delightful for their enter 
 tainment, and as most of the ladies of the regiment 
 were young and attractive, some of them radiant beau 
 ties, and all of them fond, more or less, of attention 
 and the many bright phases of garrison life, Mr. 
 Hollis was a recruit worth having. Several of the 
 ladies, too, had decided to send for unmarried sisters or 
 relatives, and give them an idea of army life on the 
 far frontier, and the th was rather short of bachelors. 
 Two of their array had been seriously wounded during 
 the summer campaign, and were off the dancing-list for 
 the time being. Another, one of the best partners in 
 the days gone by, had fallen deeply in love with a 
 girl who had just returned to the East, and was re 
 ported engaged to her after a brief but romantic court 
 ship that everybody in the regiment was eagerly talk- 
 lag of except those best informed in the matter. And 
 so, with Dana and Hunter off the dancing-list, and 
 Ray in love and, as they said, " reformed," the th 
 indeed needed young blood, declared the ladies. True, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 15 
 
 there were four or five admirable fellows among the 
 subalterns, Clark, the new quartermaster, Royce, 
 Webster, and even " Daddy-long-legs/ 7 as some of 
 them disdainfully called Blake, were all good dancers 
 and excellent partners. " Still, they are not quite so 
 enthusiastic, you know," said Mrs. Turner. " Poor 
 Mr. Blake is so blase and superior, and Mr. Clark is so 
 dreadfully impartial." And Mrs. Turner was an au 
 thority on social questions with the th, and had been 
 so for years, only this much of the statement she did 
 not relish hearing. Many of the married officers were 
 good dancers, too ; " Still, that wasn t quite at least it 
 didn t seem the same as having plenty of bachelors," 
 exclaimed another regimental belle. Altogether, be 
 tween the extensive acquaintance he had among the 
 local dames and damsels and his undoubted popularity, 
 Mr. Hollis was certainly in metaphorical clover at the 
 outset of the bitter winter that settled down on the 
 Rockies that ever memorable year. 
 
 " And yet," said Mr. Blake, only a few days be 
 fore, "if there s a possible chance for Tommy Hollis 
 to put his foot in it, you can bet your last cent he ll 
 do it." 
 
 It must be confessed that there was not a little to 
 inspire Mr. Blake in this gloomy prophecy. Tommy 
 was the hero of half a dozen exploits, both exasper 
 ating and absurd, over which his new comrades of the 
 th had alternately laughed and sworn until almost 
 any other man would have been moved to more dis 
 cretion. But Hollis seemed indomitably bent on ful 
 filling Blake s prediction. It was he who induced the 
 ladies of his former regiment to give a complimentary 
 
16 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 hop to the officers of the th as they camped for a 
 few days on the open prairie en route to the Indian 
 country; charged himself with the duty of delivering 
 the invitations; reported that his mission was fulfilled, 
 and then expressed boundless amaze when the hop 
 came off and not a man of the th appeared. The 
 ladies of the garrison did not cease talking of that un 
 paralleled piece of rudeness for months after. Then 
 at last, when the matter was brought to the attention of 
 that much-maligned regiment, it transpired that Tommy 
 had indeed ridden over to camp and told the adjutant 
 and one or two of the officers that there was to be a 
 little dance at the fort that night, and invited them to 
 be present ; was informed that not a man could come, 
 as they had nothing but scouting rig to wear, to which 
 he promptly replied that that made no difference what 
 ever, as it was purely an informal affair, and rode away 
 very possibly believing that, despite their regrets, the 
 th would attend. Not one word was said of its 
 being a party given in their honor by the ladies of the 
 fort, and the th could have mobbed him when the 
 truth came out. 
 
 Then it was Hollis who rode far and wide through 
 town the day after the regiment returned from the 
 campaign, ragged, bearded, unkempt, and invited 
 scores of his friends to come out to the fort to meet 
 them all at a hop on the following night. That there 
 could be any hesitancy on the part of the th never 
 occurred to him for one instant, and he was amazed at 
 the reception accorded him when he appeared at the 
 camp and smilingly announced that all the nice people 
 in town would be with them the next evening. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 17 
 
 " Man alive ! didn t you know that not a soul of us 
 has any clothes here except the rags on his back ?" 
 was the first remark that greeted him. He had totally 
 forgotten that the regiment came to the department 
 equipped for field service only, and that all personal 
 baggage was miles and miles away. So poor Tommy 
 galloped around town again, recalling his invitations 
 all the next day, and yet learned nothing by experi 
 ence. Two weeks later he induced a number of the 
 bachelors to "chip in" and give a dinner to a dis 
 tinguished officer going East on leave, and, as he 
 thoroughly knew the town, undertook all arrangements, 
 which were complete as far as the banquet was con 
 cerned, and everybody thought Hollis had done capi 
 tally until they assembled en grande tenue to do honor 
 to their guest, who had departed on the afternoon 
 train for the East that very day, totally ignorant of the 
 feast that had been in store for him. The chaffing 
 Hollis had to undergo for this performance would have 
 made a sensitive man simply rabid. But the ladies 
 of the th were beginning to arrive and take posses 
 sion of their new abiding-places out at the fort, and he 
 found consolation in the joy with which they welcomed 
 his enthusiastic aid in fitting up parlors, hanging cur 
 tains and pictures, and making himself successively 
 useful to more than half their number. " Did you 
 ever know a nicer fellow?" "Isn t he just too kind 
 and helpful for anything?" "What a delightful acqui 
 sition !" These and similar feminine explosives were 
 dinned in the ears of the other men until Hollis was 
 rechristened "Helpful Tommy," and solemnly pro 
 claimed an enemy to the peace and good order of the 
 
18 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 bachelor mess. But he could afford it all, for the 
 women were entirely his friends. 
 
 And then Mrs. Granger returned from a summer at 
 the sea-shore, and the tide began to turn. 
 
 She was a stranger to the ladies of the th, but not 
 to the old fort and its neighborhood. She was the 
 wife of an officer of the supply department, a daz- 
 zlingly handsome woman, who for two years had 
 queened it in the garrison despite the fact that she did 
 not live there at all. Her home was at the quarter 
 master s depot, over by the railway, and much nearer 
 town, but no party, no dinner, no theatricals, no social 
 affair of any kind was a success in the garrison unless 
 graced by her presence. In years she was much 
 younger than her husband. Major Granger was a man 
 engrossed in his duties and in the art of making- 
 money. He had property interests all over the West, 
 and they absorbed his whole time and attention. He 
 had one fondness, whist, which his wife despised. 
 She had several fondnesses, and he was none of them. 
 He enjoyed an evening at the fort because it gave him 
 several hours with the older officers and his beloved 
 rubber. She rejoiced in her evenings there, as they 
 gave her hours with the younger officers and the de 
 lightful dance. He was growing bald and portly. 
 She had lost not a hair of her queenly head, nor 
 gained an ounce in weight. People from town coming 
 to call on the ladies of the new regiment invariably 
 asked if they had ever met Mrs. Granger; and the 
 ladies were not slow to note that of all their sex who 
 had been prominent in local society during the few 
 years previous, no one had made so deep an impression 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 19 
 
 as the wife of this solemn, spectacled major who so 
 punctiliously called to pay his respects on their arrival 
 and to assure them how glad Mrs. Granger would be 
 to meet them on her return. Naturally, in comparing 
 notes, the new arrivals had come to the conclusion that 
 Mrs. Granger had been the avowed leader in all social 
 affairs for some time past, and the question that 
 promptly occurred to Mrs. Turner and her cronies was 
 whether she would expect to resume her queendom now 
 that the th had come; and the ladies of the th 
 had good reason to feel that, in view of their many 
 triumphs in the past, Mrs. Granger might find the 
 throne and sceptre less attainable than before. 
 
 By the time they had been settled three weeks every 
 woman in the th was very curious to see Mrs. 
 Granger. Many of them had begun to question Mr. 
 Hollis about her. Some of them had already begun 
 to decide that his enthusiastic praise of that lady was 
 sufficient to depose him from his high station in their 
 regard. And then she came, and called, and conquered. 
 Her grace of manner, her frank cordiality, her un 
 affected pleasure in meeting the ladies of the th, of 
 whom she had heard so very, very much that was 
 pleasant ; her semi-confidential, yet most guarded, in 
 formation that their predecessors at the fort had been, 
 oh, everything that was nice and good, but still don t 
 you know? there was something lacking, that in 
 definable something that only birth, education, and 
 social position can give; "and it is so different 
 where the th is concerned. 7 Now, as most of the 
 matrons of the regiment had been prominent in social 
 circles in Eastern or Southern cities ; as many of them 
 
20 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 had been educated in the finest finishing schools of 
 New York and Philadelphia, or else abroad, and as 
 they had reason to pride themselves on their antece 
 dents, Mrs. Granger s prompt discovery and equally 
 prompt recognition of these claims to pre-eminence fell 
 soothingly upon their ears. A woman who wore such 
 lovely toilets, who was wealthy, and who knew " what 
 was what," as Mrs. Turner deftly expressed it, could 
 not fail to be a welcome addition to their set. Mrs. 
 Turner, indeed, was quite put out because Mrs. Stan- 
 nard and Mrs. Truscott did not at once chime in with 
 her views. The former, well versed in such matters 
 and in the study of man and womankind, had received 
 Mrs. Granger s advances with all courtesy, yet re 
 served her opinion for the ears of her lord, the gruff, 
 but beloved major of the regiment. Mrs. Truscott, 
 wrapped up in her stalwart husband and her joy of a 
 baby, was not disposed to like any woman who sought 
 the attentions of the other sex, and everybody had 
 heard of Mrs. Granger s being the recipient of much 
 homage from all the officers stationed there during the 
 previous year, all of whom now were gone but Mr. 
 Hollis. 
 
 One odd thing had happened the day she drove out 
 to the fort in her stylish landau, wrapped in robes and 
 seal-skins, for the air of early December was sharply 
 cold, though the snow lay only in patches on the prairie. 
 Captain Truscott, Lieutenants Ray, Blake, and the ad 
 jutant had all been with Major Stannard in his den, 
 and busy with the map of the late campaign, while 
 Mrs. Stannard was entertaining visitors in the parlor. 
 Stable-call sounded. It was time for them to go. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 21 
 
 Blake had been in the wildest spirits, chatting, laugh 
 ing, and spouting Shakespeare, as was his wont when in 
 jolly mood. The major led his friends through the 
 dining-room to the parlor just as the servant ushered 
 in two ladies. Presentations were necessary. Mrs. 
 Granger beamed with cordiality upon the major and 
 Captain Truscott, and then the long lashes swept her 
 downy cheek as she extended a daintily-gloved hand to 
 Mr. Blake. 
 
 "It is so pleasant to meet old friends again," she 
 said, then raised her lovely gray eyes and looked 
 straight into his ; and Blake, with white face and 
 twitching lips, had merely bowed low, said some inar 
 ticulate words, and left the room. 
 
 " Have you known Mr. Blake long ?" was the not 
 unnatural question. 
 
 " Oh, we were great friends once upon a time, long 
 ago." 
 
 And was this, then, the explanation of Blake s long 
 bachelorhood ? Was it for her sake he still wore the 
 willow ? Not a man nor a woman in the regiment up to 
 this moment dreamed that he had ever even met Mrs. 
 Granger before. But Mrs. Raymond was present 
 at this meeting, and Mrs. Raymond was a woman who 
 never kept an idea to herself. Sooner or later every 
 body had heard of the sudden change in Blake s man 
 ner on meeting Mrs. Granger. Some of the youngsters 
 had been talking of it at the store this very afternoon 
 before he and Hollis had happened in. And now, as 
 the gale and the game continued, here he was again, 
 silent and absent-minded. It was Blake s turn to 
 play. 
 
22 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Come, Legs," called Dana, " what are you moon 
 ing there by the window for?" And Blake started, 
 shook himself together, aimed for a simple shot, and 
 missed. 
 
 Tramping down to stables that afternoon, Gregg 
 took the tall lieutenant s arm as they wrapped their 
 heavy coats about them and struggled along in the lee 
 of the storehouses. 
 
 " Blake, didn t Granger go up to Sherman yesterday 
 as witness on that court, or at least this morning ?" 
 
 " How should I know ?" was the curt answer. 
 
 " Yet you know it is there and not to town that 
 Hollis has gone. I know it without looking." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE lamps were lighted in the club-room and store 
 by the time the men came marching back from stables, 
 fairly towing one another up in the teeth of the gale. 
 It was sharply cold, and every now and then angry 
 spits of snow would strike upon the cheek, hard and 
 stinging as small shot. The colonel had noted the 
 absence of Mr. Hollis, as Captain Gregg fully desired 
 he should do. He wanted his subaltern brought up 
 with a round turn, but, like other weak men in or out 
 of the army, preferred that some one else should do the 
 disagreeable part of the work for him. He was actually 
 disappointed when the colonel coolly said, 
 
 " Yes, I did give him permission to go to town, and 
 it is my fault. We could hardly expect him to get 
 back in the face of such a storm." 
 
 Gregg said no more, but kept up a good deal of 
 thinking. If Blake would only take the matter up 
 now; but Blake wouldn t; Blake shook him off the 
 moment he attempted to speak of it, and even angrily 
 turned his back on him. Gregg was much perplexed. It 
 may have been all very well for a bachelor officer to be 
 devoting himself to the handsome wife of an absent com 
 rade a year ago, before the th came to the garrison, 
 but "this was something," said Gregg, "the th 
 wouldn t stand." The fact that it had had to stand it 
 
24 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 on cue or two occasions in the past was exactly what 
 made the colonel dead set against it now. There 
 should be no scandal in the regiment he commanded, 
 said the chief, and Gregg really thought he ought to 
 know that it was garrison chat that all last year Mr. 
 Hollis had been an adorer of Mrs. Granger s, and that 
 now he was beginning again the moment of her return, 
 and this day, when her husband was away. Still he 
 hated to be the means of starting a story of any kind. 
 He wished the colonel could see without being told. 
 He wondered the colonel had not been told, since the 
 ladies very generally heard or saw all that was going 
 on. Then it suddenly flashed upon him that Mrs. 
 Granger had been most attentive to her ladyship, the 
 colonel s wife, driving her about in the stylish landau, 
 sending her flowers from her little conservatory, giving 
 her a luncheon at the depot just to meet some of the 
 nicest people in town ; and for the week or ten days that 
 followed her home-coming, Mrs. Granger this and Mrs. 
 Granger that was the glowing theme of Mrs. Ather- 
 ton s discourse. Mrs. Granger had entertained her 
 delightfully; was a most charming, superior, educated 
 woman. How she wished she could transfer into Ours. 
 A few such women would do more to form it than any 
 thing else. And this sort of talk made some of the 
 regimental ladies wince. They did not at all like it 
 that their social head should consider them in need of 
 forming, and Mrs. Gregg and Mrs. Turner were de 
 cidedly indignant, while Mrs. Wilkins an indomita 
 ble matron, always at war with every colonel s wife 
 declared it was "simply abominable" on her ladyship s 
 part. She would have Mrs. Atherton know that " the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 25 
 
 ladies of the th were not to be led by the likes of 
 well, by ladies like Mrs. Granger, with all her landaus 
 and luncheons." Indeed, there were frequent symp 
 toms of insubordination, all on account of the growing 
 tendency to quote Mrs. Granger on every occasion, 
 when the change came that made them once again a 
 united sisterhood. 
 
 After buffeting their way half- way back to quarters 
 on such a bitter evening and in face of such a blast, 
 what was more natural than that the officers a num 
 ber at least should drop in at the cheerily-lighted club- 
 room and take a rest, or its equivalent. The colonel, 
 with old Stannard and three or four seniors, pushed on 
 up the walk, bending nearly double to oppose the gale ; 
 but Gregg wanted a word with Blake, who had plainly 
 avoided him, and whose long legs had borne him well 
 ahead of the whole array the moment the stable duty 
 was over. Four or five young infantrymen were 
 sprawled about the room as their comrades of the 
 cavalry came blustering in, whipping off fur gloves 
 and caps, and thrashing about with their arms in their 
 attempt to restore circulation at their fingers ends. 
 These looked up and hailed the first comer with eager 
 delight, for no man in the th was much more popu 
 lar than " Leggy Blake." Ordinarily the most jovial 
 and companionable soul, the tall lieutenant seemed 
 wrapped in gloom, and only nodded in response to 
 their laughing hails as he crossed the room and stood 
 at the little bar. 
 
 " By Jove! we re defrauded, fellows," gleefully 
 shouted Mr. Ross, of the Riflers. " Pie s heard the 
 news : look at his face." 
 B 3 
 
26 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 "What news?" was the sharp response, as Blake 
 turned promptly upon them. " What do you mean ?" 
 
 For a moment none could speak. The opening of 
 the outer door was accompanied by another shriek and 
 rush of the gale that set the newspapers whirling off 
 the centre-table and rattling about the sanded floor. 
 Half a dozen of the cavalry crowd had entered by 
 this time, and all heard the sudden snap in Blake s 
 tone. 
 
 " Well-1," said Ross, slowly, " I ll have to answer 
 you Yankee fashion. Who do you suppose is elected 
 to lead the ladies german ?" 
 
 " Oh, Ray, or Clark, or almost anybody," said 
 Blake, indifferently, and turned back to the bar, level 
 ling a significant finger at a big decanter. 
 
 " Metheglin, thou menial, and prithee haste 
 
 Have a nip, Dana? Tis a nipping and an eager air 
 without." 
 
 " Who do you say, Dana, or you, Hunter?" persisted 
 Ross, with mischief dancing in his eyes. 
 
 " Can t guess, if it isn t Ray or Clark or Legs 
 here. Who?" And the young gentlemen looked 
 oddly interested. 
 
 " Tommy Hollis, begad ! late of the Fortieth Foot. 
 What have you fellows been doing that your ladies 
 should give you all the go-by and pick out a raw 
 recruit, an ex-doughboy at that?" 
 
 Blake turned slowly about in the very act of pour 
 ing out a moderate tipple, looking at Ross as though 
 hardly credulous. Dana glanced quickly at his tall 
 associate, and contented himself with a low whistle. 
 Hunter turned away, and intimated that he, too, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 27 
 
 wouldn t mind joining Blake if properly approached. 
 The others burst out laughing. 
 
 For several days the ladies of the th had been 
 deep in preparation for a hop that was to eclipse any 
 thing yet given at the fort. There had been two or 
 three very enjoyable little parties : one tendered by the 
 infantry to the new arrivals ; another by the garrison 
 bachelors to the ladies of both regiments and those in 
 town ; a third by the officers of the th. But now 
 the ladies of that redoubtable corps proposed having 
 the finest of all, a german that would open the eyes 
 of the entire neighborhood ; that would be charmingly 
 managed ; that was to outshine all previous affairs in 
 the beauty of the decorations, the prodigality of the 
 supper, and the elegance of the favors. A general 
 court-martial for the settlement of a difference between 
 two officers of very high rank, being in session in town, 
 there were gathered in the neighborhood a large num 
 ber of the field and staff. There was every reason 
 why the " ladies german" as it began to be spoken 
 of should attain proportions never yet attempted at 
 the fort, for its splendor would be heralded far and 
 wide throughout the whole military division, as, either 
 on the detail of the court or the witnesses summoned 
 before it, nearly all the larger posts were represented. 
 When originally conceived a much less ambitious pro 
 gramme had been decided upon ; but in some way or 
 other every day added to the items, and not a few of 
 the benedicts began to pull on long faces as their better 
 halves detailed with voluble tongue the results of the 
 latest conference. It was too late to retreat, however ; 
 they were in for it and had to see it through. 
 
28 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 That the meetings held by the fair projectors of the 
 scheme were entirely harmonious, and that the views 
 of the various dames and damsels called into congress 
 were all of accord, no one could truthfully assert. Mr. 
 Billings, the adjutant, could not help noting the flushed 
 faces, the compressed lips, and the high-tossing heads 
 of some of the members thereof as they came forth 
 from their consultation, and had only a very distant 
 and absent-minded nod for him as he hastened by on his 
 way to the office. Despite resolutions of secrecy and 
 a determination to surround the proceedings with a 
 degree of mystery almost equal to that which hedgeth 
 those of the court, there were occasional verbal out- 
 croppings, those spats of straw which told the way 
 the wind was blowing, over which unfeeling hus 
 bands later on chuckled not a little when comparing 
 notes. But one thing was certain : the ladies meant to 
 manage this affair themselves; conduct all its business ; 
 superintend the floor- waxing, the decorations, the music, 
 the preparations for supper, the sideboard, punch-bowl, 
 the invitations, the favors, even the arrangements for 
 caring for the teams and drivers from town. It was to 
 be the "ladies german" in all that the name implied, 
 and no woman not of the th, and no man what 
 soever, was to be called into consultation. " We just 
 mean to run it ourselves, and stand or fall on the 
 result," said the spirited matron at the head of the 
 committee of ways and means, "and you men can 
 chuckle as much as you like." .It was true that in de 
 ciding upon the eligibility for invitation of certain 
 of the towns-people, the young matrons having that 
 matter in charge found themselves compelled to con- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 29 
 
 suit the sisterhood of the Riflers, and received the vary 
 ing opinions that were to be expected. It was even 
 rumored that they had gone so far as to ask Mr. 
 Hollis, in strict confidence, for his views upon the Mc- 
 Guffys and the O Gradys, and, receiving his cordial 
 endorsement, these very worthy but somewhat un 
 tutored families were duly included in the list, where 
 at the ladies in some households in town elevated their 
 eyebrows and gave utterance to expressions not alto 
 gether complimentary to the discrimination of the th. 
 It is even possible that, had there been a little more 
 time, civil war would have broken out in garrison, for 
 it was known that a strong minority had dissented 
 radically from the views of the leaders. But better 
 counsels kept open rupture in check, and, so far as the 
 outer world was concerned, all seemed going " merry 
 as a marriage bell," until the discovery was made that 
 in one thing, at least, they must call for the services 
 of a man. Whoever heard of a german without a 
 leader ? 
 
 The grand affair was to come off on Thursday night. 
 Everything had been settled except the name of their 
 leader. The meeting held on Saturday afternoon at 
 the colonel s quarters was momentous and not entirely 
 devoid of spirited controversy. Some of the ladies 
 did not attend it at all, alleging good and sufficient 
 reasons, for the possession of which they were not un 
 thankful. The selection of a leader had been finally 
 left in the hands of a committee composed of three 
 ladies who had been most prominent in the movement, 
 and it was known that they had had a conference on 
 Sunday evening, when, as we all concede, other matters 
 
 8* 
 
30 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 supposedly had engrossed their thoughts. That the 
 result of their deliberation was not one which they 
 themselves desired to announce to the regiment may be 
 derived from the fact that it was through the Riflers, 
 and with much chaff and fun and laughter, that the 
 bachelors of the th received the information that they 
 had been " overslaughed," and the honor conferred 
 upon a new-comer to their ranks, and of all men on 
 earth Tommy Hollis. 
 
 Of course it would never do to show the least feeling 
 in the matter. Clark and Webster, Dana and Hunter 
 accepted the verdict with much apparent equanimity, 
 though frankly admitting it a surprise. Hunter, it is 
 true, was on the ragged edge of a rash speech when 
 Blake s boot-heel came down on his foot, and, glancing 
 up in sudden wrath and pain, Mr. Hunter glared at 
 his long-legged friend, and was silenced at sight of the 
 face glowering at him from behind the outspread news 
 paper. 
 
 "What the devil s got into Blake, anyhow?" he 
 asked his comrades a few moments after, as they seated 
 themselves at the dinner-table in Clark s roomy 
 quarters. " He s been savage and sullen as a wolf for 
 the last three days. I never knew a fellow so 
 changed." 
 
 " Blake s hipped about something, I reckon. He 
 wouldn t come to dinner ; said he was going to dine 
 out," answered Dana, shortly. " That makes two 
 gone to-night. Now, of course, it wouldn t do to 
 say so there, with Ross and Graham and Foster, of 
 the Riflers, chaffing away at us ; but I do think it 
 is a mighty queer thing that Hollis should have 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 31 
 
 been chosen to lead that gerraan. Does he know it 
 yet?" 
 
 " I think it was because he knew it that he was in 
 such a hurry to get off to-day in all this gale," an 
 swered Mr. Clark, dryly. 
 
 "You don t mean ? Why, man, he couldn t !" 
 
 answered Dana, vaguely yet suggestively, dropping the 
 soup-ladle with which he had been busying himself. 
 " Why, Clark, he s got to ask Mrs. Atherton or Mrs. 
 Turner, or some one of the committee to lead with him, 
 he s simply got to." 
 
 " Well, you ask Blake what he thinks," was the 
 cool reply. And the entry of the servant put an end 
 to the subject. 
 
 But Blake was not coming, as he had said. The 
 bugles had summoned the garrison to retreat roll- 
 call, and then the officers had scattered to quarters, 
 leaving Blake still pretending to read his paper at 
 the club-room. Muldoon, the attendant, was going 
 about lowering the window-shades, and occasion 
 ally muttering some half-whimsical comment on the 
 storm. He had closed the heavy wooden shutters on 
 the west side of the big barn-like structure and lighted 
 a lamp or two before the sun was fairly down. Now 
 he stopped to touch a match to another that hung 
 nearly over Blake s head, and caught a glimpse of 
 the knitted brows and hollowed cheek behind the 
 paper. 
 
 u Beg pardon, Mr. Blake, but don t you want the 
 late paper, that s a week old. You ain t feeling just 
 right, I m afraid, sir. I ain t seen you looking so bad 
 since Mr. Ray had all his trouble last summer." And 
 
32 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Muldoon s face was full of genuine concern, for, among 
 all the officers, Blake was his pet. 
 
 " Tis grief that s beauty s canker, honest Michael. 
 I ve let concealment, like a bug in a rug, prey on this 
 damask cheek until it s furrowed like a washboard." 
 And, with an attempt at his old airy manner, Blake 
 hurled aside his paper and rose to his feet. " Nothing s 
 the matter with me, Mike, but a bad taste in my 
 mouth. It s a wry face you see I m making, because 
 you gave me bourbon. Halloo ! what s that?" There 
 was instant change in face and attitude. A horse s 
 crunching, plunging hoofs sounded suddenly without. 
 A light, as of hope though half incredulous, shone in 
 his eyes, then faded suddenly away. The east door 
 was forced slowly open, then closed with wrathful bang, 
 and a strange figure stood shivering just within. 
 
 In clinging riding-habit of coarse army cloth ; in a 
 jockey-cap of the same material, with the ear-tabs 
 down and tied beneath the chin ; with a rough fur cape 
 about her shoulders, and long gauntlets of beaver, five 
 sizes too big for her; with a mass of auburn hair 
 tumbling down about her back ; with great big brown 
 eyes, under brows thick and arching; with a face filled 
 with anxiety and battered by the tempest, there stood 
 a tall slip of a girl perhaps fifteen years of age. 
 Blake looked at her in astonishment. 
 
 " Good Lord, Nan ! How did you get here ?" was 
 Muldoon s startled question. 
 
 " Rode. Where s father?" was the brief response. 
 
 " Ain t he home ? He hasn t been near here to 
 day." 
 
 " Don t lie. He drank up what you gave him yes- 
 
Good Lord, Nan ! How did you get here ? was Muldoon s startled 
 question." 
 
 Page 32. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 33 
 
 terday, and he started out first thing this morning for 
 more, and I know it." 
 
 " Indeed, Nan, he hasn t been here at all. I ll leave 
 it to Mr. Blake here. This is old Captain Bryan s 
 girl, lieutenant. She takes mighty good care of the 
 old man, too." 
 
 "If it wasn t for you and this," and her great eyes 
 flashed as she looked wrathfully about, " there would 
 be no need. You get him drunk, Muldoon ; now, 
 where have you hidden him? He s needed home." 
 
 " Nan, if he isn t home, indeed he must have gone 
 to town. I give you my word I ain t seen him at all. 
 Ask Mr. Blake here." 
 
 "Are you Captain Bryan s daughter?" queried 
 Blake, with a kind interest in his eyes, as he stepped 
 forward, removing his cap as he did so. " Indeed, 
 I knew your father very well, and I assure you he 
 hasn t been here; but I ll help you find him right 
 off." 
 
 The half-defiant look upon the girl s face, the 
 anxiety and anger there commingled, slowly gave place 
 to a totally different expression. A flood of crimson 
 swept to her very forehead, as his first words reached 
 her. There was an instant look of wonderment in the 
 big eyes at his tone, soft and courteous as though he 
 spoke to a lady, not to a wild prairie waif like her; 
 then, too, he raised his forage-cap, with its glistening 
 gold sabres, just as he would to the gorgeously-dressed 
 beauties whom she had sometimes watched and envied 
 from afar. She had come prepared for battle ; come 
 determined to drag her old father forth before greater 
 harm could be done, and to hurl reproaches at his 
 
34 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 tempters ; and here at the very outset was disarmed by 
 this gentle knight, long-legged, gaunt, and quixotic, 
 maybe, but almost the first officer she had spoken 
 to for a year, the only one who had ever spoken to 
 her except in tones of pity or indifference. She had 
 almost hated and despised the whole array of them, as 
 she often said. She had fled and hidden herself when 
 ever their gay hunting-parties stopped at the ranch, 
 five miles away up the creek, where her close-fisted old 
 father welcomed them always as customers. She had 
 not set foot within the fort for many a long month, 
 and would not now but for bitter anxiety. And now, 
 what meant this total change in her reception ? 
 
 Utterly careless of her looks as she had forced her 
 entrance upon the scene, the child s face burned with 
 sudden consciousness of her torn and dishevelled attire, 
 her unkempt hair, the dust and dirt that streaked her 
 face and reddened her eyelids. One swift glance she 
 shot up at the tall stranger, then turned suddenly away, 
 burying her face in her arms. 
 
 " Oh, father, father," she moaned. " Then he s lost. 
 He s been drinking, you know he s been drinking. 
 He s wandered off as he did before, and he ll freeze to 
 death to-night. Oh, father, father." 
 
 " Hush, Nan ; hush, child," said Blake, striving to 
 draw her to a seat. " Here, Mulcloon, bring this little 
 woman a glass of good sherry. Why the child s half 
 frozen. Now, look at me, Nan ; we ll find father. 
 Just tell me when he left home; how he was dressed; 
 which way he rode, and I ll take six or eight of our 
 men with overcoats and blankets, and we ll get him 
 home, never you fear, gale or no gale. There, come, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 35 
 
 come, don t cry so, Nan. Drink this, child. Nay, you 
 must. See if any of the men are in the other room 
 there, Muldoon, and send for my first sergeant at once. 
 I ll go up and see Captain Freeman myself." 
 
 And so, half-soothing, half-reasoning with her, he 
 strove to chase away the deep trouble in which the 
 child was plunged. She ceased her tears and sipped 
 at the wine he held to her lips, and looked shyly 
 up into his kindly face, through those long wet 
 lashes. 
 
 " It s getting so dark and cold," she said, and the 
 piteous quivering of her lips began again. " I m so 
 afraid you can t find him." 
 
 " We won t come back until we do, Nan ; but mean 
 time we must look after you. This is no place for you, 
 my child, and I m going to take you right up the road 
 to Mrs. Freeman ; she will take the best kind of care 
 of you." 
 
 " Oh, I can t go," protested the girl, with shudder 
 ing glance at her soiled and grimy attire. " Do let 
 me stay here until you are ready to start." And she 
 shrank in such genuine distress that Blake knew not 
 what to do. 
 
 " Just look after her a few minutes, Muldoon," he 
 cried. "I ll run up to Captain Freeman s. I don t 
 know how to talk to the child," he muttered to him 
 self, as he plunged out into the storm, " but Mrs. Free 
 man will, bless the woman s heart !" And four min 
 utes later, half-breathless, he was in his captain s 
 brightly-lighted parlor, hurriedly telling his story. 
 The children looked up eagerly from the hearth-rug 
 where they were playing. The captain laid aside his 
 
36 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 beloved paper, and Mrs. Freeman s sweet face, all 
 sympathy and interest, gazed up into his. 
 
 " Bring her right here to me," she cried. " Of course 
 we ll be glad to have her. You go and help him, cap 
 tain. I ll go too if you ll let me." 
 
 " No, you stay home. This wind would whirl such 
 a giddy thing off her pins in a -second," laughed her 
 tall husband, as he rose to his feet and strode out into 
 the hall. " We ll get her here all right. How many 
 men do you want, Blake ?" he queried. " It s an awful 
 night for men and horses, but there s no getting out of 
 it. Send Corporal Wales into town to Luke s place 
 the first thing, and have him wire back from there. 
 I ll go and see the colonel, and have the operator in the 
 office. Let another man ride over to the depot at the 
 same time." 
 
 Just about an hour later, while the gale was at its 
 height, there came a fumbling ring at the front door 
 bell of Major Granger s substantial quarters at the big 
 supply-depot. The parlor windows gave forth a bright 
 glare ; a coal-fire roared in the open grate ; the maid 
 servant, who went to answer the bell, remembered that 
 Mrs. Granger looked up inquiringly from the table 
 where she was seated, and said, 
 
 " It is not possible any one could be calling on such 
 a night. Say that the major will be home to-morrow, 
 if any of the men want to see him." 
 
 An instant later the door flew open ; a gust of wind 
 blew out the hall-lamp; there was a shriek of terror 
 from the girl ; a heavy, lunging fall. The maid 
 servant scurried back to the kitchen, from which she 
 had come. Mrs. Granger sprang from her seat, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 37 
 
 startled and alarmed ; her companion made one leap 
 to the hall-way, bent down, and dragged into the light 
 the head and shoulders of a prostrate soldier. Then, 
 with consternation in his tones, he exclaimed, 
 
 " My God ! it s Blake." 
 
 In an instant there was another fall, Mrs. Granger 
 had fainted. 
 
38 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE gale had died away during the night, and the 
 day that followed was bright and radiant. The blast 
 from the Rockies had subsided, but there was a tempest 
 at the fort. 
 
 It must have been about eleven o clock. Half a 
 dozen ladies were busily at work in Mrs. Truscott s 
 cosey parlor. German favors of the daintiest make were 
 being rapidly inspected and pronounced upon by the 
 fair committee appointed for the purpose. The captain 
 and Mr. Ray had appeared an instant at the parlor- 
 door, but were bidden summarily to vanish. Mrs. 
 Raymond was sure that if they saw those favors, the 
 whole garrison would know all about them in less 
 than no time. So the two officers laughingly passed 
 on into the captain s own particular den, where they 
 were presently engaged in earnest talk. Excusing 
 herself a moment, Mrs. Truscott, who really could not 
 let her husband come in or go out without a kiss, 
 slipped quietly through the sitting-room beyond and 
 tapped lightly at the study-door, bent over the captain s 
 handsome head and pressed her lips upon his brow, 
 then turned to the lieutenant. 
 
 " How is Mr. Blake now ?" she asked, in low tone. 
 
 " Resting quietly," answered Ray ; " there s no great 
 harm done. For the present, at least, we want it 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 39 
 
 understood that his horse stumbled, and so stunned 
 him ; but Jack has told you ?" 
 
 " Yes. And is there no trace of his assailant ?" 
 
 "Not a vestige. It s the most mysterious thing. 
 Hollis declares that there wasn t a sound of a scuffle ; 
 but in that gale he couldn t have heard. He and Mrs. 
 Granger were playing cribbage, it seems. Blake him 
 self remembers nothing but that, having thrown the 
 reins over the gate-post, he was just going up the steps 
 when the blow came. Grimes says it was a knotted 
 club that did it, and a club was found not ten yards 
 away. It is a wonder his skull wasn t fractured ; the 
 thick fur cap saved him. I m going again as soon as 
 I see Jack a moment. I ve a letter to write before the 
 stage leaves." 
 
 "Tell her I miss her almost as much as you do," 
 answered Mrs. Truscott, with a sympathetic light in 
 her lovely eyes. "Now I ll leave you together. 
 There s Mrs. Turner just come in." And twining 
 her arms about her husband s neck for a final hug, 
 as he sat in his easy-chair, the blithe young matron 
 departed. 
 
 It was, indeed, Mrs. Turner, and Mrs. Turner in a 
 state of excitement bordering on the explosive. She 
 had not time for the ordinary social greeting. Her 
 eyes were ablaze, her cheeks flushed, her every move 
 ment spasmodic. Fiercely she broke forth, 
 
 " Have you heard the news ? Have you heard the 
 news ?" 
 
 " About Mr. Blake, dear ?" queried Mrs. Raymond, 
 indifferently. " Why, of course, hours ago." 
 
 " Mr. Blake, indeed ! Have you heard the news 
 
40 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 the news the ? Well, I ve no word to express it. 
 
 Have you heard ? But just let me ask you one 
 
 thing. Who should Mr. Hollis have asked to lead 
 our german with him ? Now, answer me that." 
 
 " Why, Mrs. Atherton, or Mrs. Turner, or Mrs. 
 Truscott, or, indeed, I don t know," answered Mrs. 
 Stannard, smilingly, amused at the impetuosity of her 
 near neighbor. " Why do you ask ?" she suddenly 
 inquired, seeing the looks of eager curiosity on the faces 
 of the little circle. 
 
 " Well, of all women hereabouts, who shouldn t he 
 have asked ? Answer me that," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Turner, rising dramatically to her full height and 
 stretching forth her slender arm. There was an in 
 stant of effective tableau. Down dropped the pretty 
 knick-knacks of favors; down dropped busy fingers, 
 reckless of needle-pricks ; half a dozen pairs of wide- 
 open eyes blue, hazel, gray, and brown gazed in wild, 
 half-incredulous suspense into the quivering face of 
 their lively comrade ; and it was Mrs. Freeman who 
 first found voice ; but instant chorus followed. 
 
 "Mrs. Tamer!" 
 
 11 Mrs. Turner ! You can t mean it !" 
 
 " Mrs. Turner ! It simply isn t possible !" 
 
 " Well, of all th !" 
 
 " I declare I shall die !" 
 
 And then every woman in the group threw herself 
 back in her chair and laughed until the tears started ; 
 laughed until the captain strode forth from his den, 
 with whimsical query as to the cause of all this hys 
 terical merriment. Not a name had been mentioned, 
 yet just who it must be seemed to have flashed upon 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 41 
 
 every one of those acute feminine minds at one and the 
 same instant. The little army cottage fairly rang with 
 their peal of hilarity. 
 
 "You saw him last night, Mr. Ray," at last ex 
 claimed Mrs. Turner, as that mystified officer came 
 peering after Truscott. " You saw him last night and 
 talked with him an hour. Why didn t you tell us first 
 thing this morning ?" 
 
 "Tell you what?" queried Mr. Ray, his white teeth 
 gleaming, as he looked in mingled amusement and 
 scrutiny from one face to the other. 
 
 " Why, that Mr. Hollis had asked Mrs. Granger to 
 lead with him." 
 
 " Well, I didn t know, at least, he didn t say any 
 thing about it." 
 
 " But you knew it, did you not?" 
 
 " Why, of cose," says Mr. Ray, in his softest blue- 
 grass ; " I ve known it all along. Anybody who 
 knew Tommy Hawlis at all would have known just 
 what to expect." 
 
 "And you wouldn t give us warning?" 
 
 " Why, certainly not. It wasn t a matter a man 
 could speak of very well, that I can see. If you 
 ladies wanted to choose Hawlis to lead for you twould 
 have been a mighty indelicate piece of business for any 
 one of us to say a word, no matter what we thought. 
 But awnest, now, didn t you just know that that was 
 the first thing he would be apt to do?" And Mr. 
 Ray s dark eyes were twinkling under their heavy 
 brows, in his evident, mischievous delight in the 
 situation. 
 
 " Never dreamed of the possibility of such a thing !" 
 4* 
 
42 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 exclaimed Mrs. Turner. " Now, Fm going right up 
 to Mrs. Atherton s. She s the one that would have 
 him for leader, she and Mrs. Gregg." 
 
 "Don t trouble yourself, Mrs. Turner," laughed 
 Ray. " Here comes her ladyship now, and Mrs. Gregg 
 with her. What wouldn t Blake give to see this fun? 
 he muttered to Truscott. 
 
 " I declare, Mr. Ray, you deserve to be scratched," 
 fiercely vociferated Mrs. Turner, who caught his last 
 words, just as the hall-door flew open and in came 
 the ladies from * the head of the row." 
 
 " Well ! no use asking if you ve heard," exclaimed 
 the foremost, " here s Mrs. Turner. But did you ever 
 did you ever hear anything quite so outrageous? 
 Now, I just knew that he would go and ask her, but 
 what could one say when everybody else was bent on 
 having him to lead." 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Atherton ! I m sure I said everything I 
 could to dissuade you and Mrs. Gregg. You knew 
 who I wanted all the time." 
 
 " Why, Fanny Turner !" burst in Mrs. Gregg. 
 " When I suggested Mr. Clark or Mr. Ray, you 
 scouted the very idea. You said they were both too 
 old and poky. Oh, Mr. Ray, I didn t see you at 
 all." 
 
 "Mrs. Gregg, how can you say such a thing? J 
 wanted Mr. Clark or Mr. Ray or almost anybody to 
 lead all along. Didn t I, Nellie?" appealingly to 
 Mrs. Raymond ; and Mrs. Turner s soft cheeks were 
 flaming high with their battle-colors. 
 
 But Mrs. Raymond, too, was talking vehemently. 
 In fact, by this time four out of the eight women 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE 43 
 
 present held the floor and refused to yield. Under 
 cover of a fire of excited comment and controversy the 
 two men slipped quietly away, leaving the conversa 
 tional whirlpool in full and resistless swing. From 
 unanimous condemnation of their chosen champion and 
 leader the congress had suddenly turned upon his luck 
 less partner. 
 
 "Surely she must have sense enough to know. 
 Surely she declined/ 7 suggested Mrs. Raymond. 
 
 " Not a bit of it ! Accepted, quite as a matter of 
 course," said Mrs. Atherton, sitting very erect. 
 " Hasn t she been the belle here for two years past ? 
 Didn t she look upon it quite as her due? Why," 
 and then as though suddenly overcome by a new and 
 overwhelming sense of the calamitous result of their 
 choice, a did you ever dream of such a possibility? 
 Now, Mrs. Stannard, would you have thought any man 
 
 capable of such such ?" And here the justly 
 
 irate lady broke off helplessly, words failing to express 
 her due sense of the enormity of Tommy s conduct. 
 
 " Well," answered Mrs. Stannard, reflectively, her 
 blue eyes twinkling the while, " I was here, you know, 
 much of the summer, and saw rather more of Mr. 
 Hollis after he returned from leave " 
 
 " Yes, and / heard," burst in Mrs. Turner, " that 
 he got that leave a month after she went to the sea 
 shore, and that he never spent six days of it at home ; 
 he was with her at Seagirt every moment of the time." 
 
 "But really, Mrs. Stannard," persisted the colonel s 
 wife, who already knew not a little of Mrs. Turner s 
 impetuosity of opinion, and wanted something more 
 stable, "you, of course, knew more of Mr. Hollis 
 
44 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 than most of us. Did you actually believe he could 
 
 be such a be so Well, did you suppose he could 
 
 do such a thing as to ignore all the ladies of his own 
 regiment, in their own germaii that they had chosen 
 him to lead, and then go and ask a stranger to lead 
 this german with him? Now, I admit that we who 
 were of the committee decided on him as the leader, 
 but would you could you have suspected his doing 
 such a thing as that ?" 
 
 Mrs. Truscott bent low over her busy needle, but 
 stole an expressive glance at Mrs. Stannard s laughing 
 face. 
 
 " I declare/ exclaimed Mrs. Gregg, " I just believe 
 you two knew all the time and wouldn t tell it." 
 
 " What cpuld I tell ?" laughed Mrs. Stannard. " I 
 hardly knew her at all. But Mr. Hollis, possibly, 
 reasons that it was just what the proprieties in the case 
 demanded. He is but a new-comer, and was selected 
 over all the well real officers of the regiment, so he 
 decided to make a somewhat similar choice." 
 
 "Oh, what an outrageous explanation! Oh, Mrs. 
 Stannard, how can you? I declare, I think you are 
 just enjoying our mortification." These and other ex 
 clamations in swelling chorus greeted the half-mirthful, 
 half- mischievous theory of the major s bonny wife. 
 
 "Well, I know just what I shall tell him!" ex 
 claimed Mrs. Turner. " I know that if he offers to 
 take me out I shall refuse." 
 
 "I declare, I ll never dance with him again," pro 
 tested Mrs. Gregg. " I think his conduct simply ex 
 asperating, and the sooner we tell him the better it 
 will be." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 45 
 
 " You do not mean that now you are going to let 
 him see you disapprove his choice? 77 was Mrs. Stan- 
 nard s anxious inquiry. 
 
 " Indeed I am ! Indeed, I think it s the duty of the 
 ladies of this regiment to let him see how indignant 
 we are." 
 
 " Indeed, I think so too/ declared Mrs. Turner. 
 
 " Indeed, it would serve him right," thought others 
 present; and matters began to look unpleasantly 
 squally for Hollis. 
 
 Mrs. Stannard shook her head doubtfully, and 
 looked at Mrs. Atherton for support. 
 
 " Oh, I knew you wouldn t approve any rebuke," 
 said Mrs. Atherton. 
 
 " No, it would be a great mistake, in my opinion," 
 said Mrs. Stannard, being personally addressed again. 
 "He was formally notified of his selection, as I am 
 told, and given to understand that he was to choose his 
 own partner. Am I not right?" 
 
 " Yes, certainly, that s what I told him," said Mrs. 
 Atherton, somewhat hesitatingly ; " but then who on 
 
 earth would suppose Oh, well, what is the use of 
 
 my saying more on the subject !" And madame threw 
 herself back in the luxurious lounging chair and 
 fanned her flushed cheeks with her handkerchief. 
 
 " Well, she has as formally accepted, so I under 
 stand," continued Mrs. Stannard. " Wasn t that what 
 Mr. Hollis told the colonel ?" 
 
 "Catch her declining such a chance," pouted Mrs. 
 Turner. 
 
 " Yes. Of course the colonel sent for Mr. Hollis 
 this morning to hear his story of this strange accident 
 
46 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 to Mr. Blake last night, and Hollis explained his long 
 visit there by saying that he was going over the figures 
 for the german with Mrs. Granger, who was to lead 
 with him, our german, O misery I" And Mrs. 
 Atherton s eyes were cast heavenward in tragic despair, 
 as once again the full force of their calamity burst 
 upon her. 
 
 " I m afraid that it will only make bad worse to say 
 anything about it to him now," continued the major s 
 wife, after waiting a moment for comparative silence to 
 be restored. Laughter and lamentations were pretty 
 equally matched for the supremacy in that fair conven 
 tion. Even its most indignant member could not 
 but see something, at least, of the comical side of the 
 question. 
 
 " Mrs. Stannard ! You don t mean he would go 
 and tell her? 7 
 
 " Well, do you not think it quite possible after what 
 he has done ?" 
 
 " Oh, he couldn t be such a fool as that/ exclaimed 
 Mrs. Turner. 
 
 "Well, now, it wouldn t surprise me in the least; 
 would it you, Mrs. Truscott ?" said Mrs. Gregg. 
 
 " I hardly know Mr. Hollis at all, and have only 
 met Mrs. Granger once, you know, so I could not 
 express an opinion." 
 
 Wise young woman ! She did not say that bluff old 
 Stannard himself had come bursting in with the news 
 an hour before, apoplectic and shaking with laughter, 
 declaring it was simply a case of retributive justice; 
 but that he and her Jack had solemnly declared there 
 was only one thing left for the ladies to do, and that 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 47 
 
 was, ratify their leader s choice without hesitancy or 
 delay. Any other course meant a sensation of the first 
 magnitude. 
 
 But Mrs. Turner s sad-faced lord had also heard the 
 news at the adjutant s office, where Mr. Billings and 
 other graceless subalterns were splitting their sides 
 over the absurdity of the situation, and had hastened 
 to restrain, if possible, any extraordinary outbreak on 
 the part of his wife, and he had gravely advised her to 
 the same effect and prescribed silence. It was charac 
 teristic of Mrs. Turner that this marital caution should 
 be promptly and contemptuously scouted, and that she 
 rushed forth to spread the tidings forthwith, while poor 
 Turner, with a heavy sigh, wandered over to the 
 troop-office, and buried himself in the muster- and 
 clothing-rolls. 
 
 " Captain Turner says it serves us right, and we ve 
 simply got to stand it. I won t, for one," Mrs. Tur 
 ner presently made herself heard over the hubbub. 
 " The idea of our tamely submitting to such an affront 
 as that !" 
 
 " Well, the colonel thinks so too, and so does Major 
 Stannard, I know," said Mrs. Atherton. " Of course 
 it s hard, but " 
 
 " Hard !" cried Mrs. Gregg ; " why, it s simply 
 awful. I suppose we ve got to accept it ; but, all the 
 same, I mean to give him a hint or two as to what I 
 think." 
 
 " And so do I, though Captain Turner says it s the 
 worst thing we can possibly do." 
 
 " No ; I ll tell you, now," proclaimed Mrs. Atherton, 
 solemnly, " it will never do in the world ; it will be 
 
48 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 utterly unbecoming in any of us, as Mrs. Stannard 
 says, to show the faintest resentment now. Just let 
 the thing go on. Let her lead. Then when it s all 
 over and can t be spoiled any further then we can 
 give Mr. Hollis, perhaps, a quiet piece of our minds." 
 
 This, indeed, might have been wisdom ; but what 
 power can stay the inevitable? It was too much to 
 expect of human nature woman nature, at least 
 that Tommy Hollis should be allowed to live and read 
 no signs in eyes, in gesture, or in tongue of the dis 
 grace that had befallen him. And if nothing had been 
 said to him by one of their number upon the subject, 
 would there not still have been some one to bring 
 something to his ears of his heartless, soulless, senseless 
 conduct ? Even if no man nor woman at the post were 
 to open his eyes to the error of his ways, could it be 
 conceived of a woman in Mrs. Granger s position that 
 she herself would not well know just what her sisters 
 at the garrison must feel at being thus set aside and 
 the crown awarded to her? What was there in the 
 fabled "Judgment of Paris" to equal this modern 
 instance of utter lack of common sense on Tommy s 
 part? 
 
 Fate spared him an explosion until late that day. 
 The interview with the colonel over, he had promptly 
 shaken off his sense of the censure in his commander s 
 grave tones. The colonel could not blame him for not 
 returning to the fort the previous evening through all 
 that gale, neither could he rebuke an officer and a gen 
 tleman for spending hours, as it turned out, at Granger s 
 quarter s at the depot, instead of, as supposed, in town. 
 Hollis promptly explained the change in the situation 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 49 
 
 by saying that not until nearly noon after he had ob 
 tained permission to be absent had he been notified 
 of the honor conferred upon him, and it was necessary 
 that he should lose no time in consulting his fair partner 
 at once. Atherton would say no more just then, but his 
 manner could imply a good deal, even when he was 
 silent. Hollis had frankly stated that he desired to go 
 once more to see Mrs. Granger, so as to discuss further 
 figures, etc., since their conference on the previous even 
 ing was broken up by Blake s mysterious adventure, 
 and the colonel had decided to let him go. Perhaps 
 he thought that under the circumstances Hollis was 
 better out of the garrison than in it. 
 
 And so it resulted that not until after stables did 
 anybody get a chance at him. He came galloping 
 down the bluff, full ten minutes late for his duties, 
 and, all in a glow, rushed up to apologize to his cap 
 tain, who greeted him gruffly enough to chill anybody 
 else but a sub like Tommy. He made himself un 
 usually energetic and officious around the picket-line 
 that evening, as though in reparation for his sin, and 
 bothered the men not a little by diving in between the 
 horses, and giving voluble hints and corrections on 
 methods of grooming to old troopers, who knew ten 
 times as much about their business as Hollis did. He 
 joined the squad of comrades strolling up to the garri 
 son the moment stable-duty was over, and then the fun 
 began. Lieutenant Crane was one of the party, and he 
 never was known to fail to hit a sore spot, and Crane 
 had happened to drop in at the Wilkins s that very 
 afternoon, and, of course, had learned the news. 
 
 " Well, Tomuiy, my boy, have you made your peace 
 c d 5 
 
50 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 with the ladies yet ? It s your first and last appearance 
 as a german-leader, I m told." 
 
 " Shut up, Crane. It s none of your infernal busi 
 ness," growled the quartermaster, who was just behind. 
 But there were too many present who couldn t help en 
 joying the fun a little bit, and Crane was not promptly 
 gagged, as he deserved to be. 
 
 " Why, what s the matter ?" queried Hollis, looking 
 quickly about, and noting the silence that had fallen on 
 the party. The colonel and most of the seniors were 
 trudging along ahead. It was a fun-loving, not to say 
 mischief-loving, crowd into which Tommy had dropped. 
 
 " Oh, nothing of any consequence," grinned Crane. 
 " But if I were in your place I would want to crawl 
 into a knot-hole and pull it after me. You were the 
 idol of all the ladies but a week ago, Tommy; and now, 
 as Blake would put it, there s none so poor to do your 
 reverence anything short of a bad turn." 
 
 " Here, Crane, you needn t take it upon yourself 
 now to represent the ladies," interposed Clark, who 
 couldn t bear him. " Just mind your own affairs, 
 man;" and the quartermaster was evidently reddening 
 angrily. Crane would have flushed, too, at this inter 
 ruption, had his cuticle been capable of showing an 
 honest color, but long and constant practice with the 
 bottle had steeped his visage in a purplish dye. He 
 glowered sulkily at his mentor, but said nothing artic 
 ulate. If there were two men of whom Crane could 
 be said to be afraid, they were Ray and Clark ; one of 
 the two was perpetually snubbing him. So long as the 
 party hung together it was impossible to talk further 
 on that subject. The others saw that Clark was right, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 51 
 
 and called Hoi 1 is aside; but Crane s propensity for 
 mischief was fully aroused, and opposition only made 
 him obstinate. A drink or two at Muldoon s added 
 fuel to the flames, and, catching sight of Hollis coming 
 across the parade the moment retreat roll-call was over, 
 he deliberately hailed him, and, taking his arm in semi- 
 confidential manner, led him along the gravel-path, di 
 rectly towards the little group of garrison ladies, among 
 whom Mrs. Wilkins would have been easily recogniza 
 ble in the dark : her voice was unmistakable. 
 
 "I m a friend of yours, Hollis," said Crane, thickly, 
 "and I don t want to see you making blunders all the 
 time. You ought to know what the ladies think of 
 your giving them all the go-by, and waltzing out 
 side the garrison for a partner. I ve just been telling 
 Mr. Hollis you had a rod in pickle for him, Mrs. 
 Wilkins," said Crane, raising his voice so that all 
 could hear. 
 
 They had been chatting gleefully together but a 
 minute before. They were mostly of the " Riflers," and 
 the doctor s wife was there ; but sure enough, as luck 
 would have it, there were both Mrs. Wilkins and 
 Mrs. Raymond; and just beyond, Mrs. Turner and 
 Mrs. Gregg, returning homeward after a round of 
 calls, where, beyond doubt, Tommy s atrocity had 
 been discussed in all its bearings. 
 
 " Did you, now ?" laughed Mrs. Wilkins, loudly. 
 "And why should I care who he leads with? But 
 you are a pretty fellow, Mr. Hollis, I will say ; and 
 it s proud we are of you. Aren t we, Mrs. Raymond ?" 
 
 " Well, I never meant to say a word about it," hesi 
 tated Mrs. Raymond, knowing well, in the presence 
 
52 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 of ladies of another regiment, this was no place for 
 discussion of such a matter, yet totally unable to resist 
 the longing to make him wince. Her eyes flashed 
 scornfully over his perturbed features, as she added, 
 " It is too soon, of course, to expect Mr. Hollis to 
 abandon old associations ; not that I care." 
 
 Hollis turned redder every instant, and gazed help 
 lessly from one to the other. 
 
 " Here s Mrs. Gregg and Mrs. Turner," exclaimed 
 Mrs. Wilkins. "They re the ones to tell you your 
 sins." But Mrs. Gregg, with a haughty toss of her 
 head and a "good-evening" that seemed to include 
 everybody but Mr. Hollis, passed them by, and trailed 
 on up the walk. Mrs. Turner only slackened speed 
 long enough to say, 
 
 " Well, I do think you are a pretty fellow." 
 
 " For mercy s sake, what do you mean ?" asked Hol 
 lis, springing to her side and walking with her. Mrs. 
 Gregg floated airily away before, her head high in 
 air. Mrs. Turner called to her to wait, but wait she 
 would not. 
 
 "Mrs. Turner, what have I done?" urged Tommy, 
 vaguely hoping that it might be something other than 
 what he feared. 
 
 " The idea of your asking anybody to lead our german 
 for us!" 
 
 " Why, I thought she d be the very one. You see 
 she knows everybody in town." 
 
 " Oh, yes," sarcastically ; " and undoubtedly it was 
 solely on that account you asked her. Very well, Mr. 
 Hollis; but the next time we give a german 
 And Mrs. Turner paused, suggestively. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 53 
 
 "You don t mean the ladies are angry at me?" 
 anxiously pleaded poor Tom. 
 
 " Angry ? Dear me, no ; but if you haven t fallen, 
 like Lucifer, son of the morning, just ask Mrs. Ather- 
 ton ; she s got a blessing for you. Ask well, ask any 
 body in the th what she has said, what any one of 
 them has said, for that matter, what they were all 
 saying at Mrs. Truscott s this morning. 7 
 
 Hollis dropped his under jaw aghast. Somewhere 
 down in the benighted depths of his soul he had already 
 felt that there was something amiss about his asking 
 Mrs. Granger to lead with him, but had brushed it 
 airily aside as a matter of no great consequence. 
 Now, however, things were assuming proportions 
 never yet dreamed of. 
 
 Mrs. Gregg had gone determinately by, setting her 
 foot down upon her longing to pitch into Tommy on 
 her own account. She had loyally intended abiding 
 by Mrs. Atherton s decision, but she could not resist 
 the temptation of holding up, just a little bit, and lis 
 tening to the excited colloquy going on behind her. 
 The next tiling she was called into action. 
 
 "I ll leave it to Mrs. Gregg," said Mrs. Turner, 
 excitedly. "You were there with Mrs. Atherton 
 when she came into the Truscotts . Didn t she say 
 it was the most outrageous tiling she ever heard of?" 
 
 Now, while Mrs. Gregg had virtually promised to 
 say nothing of her own opinion, this by no means im 
 posed silence as to those of others. She could make 
 Hollis wince by cracking Mrs. Atherton s whip over 
 his shoulders. She knew well that Mrs. Turner s ver 
 sion of her ladyship s words was greatly overdrawn ; 
 
54 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 but not more than he deserved. The temptation was 
 too much for her. 
 
 "If she didn t say exactly that," said Mrs. Gregg, "she 
 probably thought every bit of it." And if ever woman s 
 eyes shot actual daggers at a man, Hollis s thick skin 
 would have been riddled like a sieve then and there. 
 
 " Yes, and everybody agreed with her ; and all your 
 friends were there, Mr. Tommy Hollis, and not one 
 would speak up for you/ added Mrs. Turner. 
 
 Hollis looked simply crushed and dazed. " Why, I 
 never dreamed of such a row," he moaned. " What 
 can I do?" 
 
 "Do? YouVe done it!" But just what more 
 might have been said goodness only knows. A door 
 opened close at hand ; a stentorian voice shouted, 
 
 " M riar, come in here !" and Captain Gregg had sum 
 marily called off his better half, who had no idea that 
 he was at home and a probable diviner of what was 
 taking place, and Captain Turner had as quietly stepped 
 up the walk, and, linking his arm in that of his pretty 
 and pouting wife, quickly turned the current of talk as 
 the group of ladies came drifting down to join them. 
 
 But the mischief was done. Hollis called desper 
 ately on one or two of his fair friends in garrison right 
 after dinner ; then ordered his horse and galloped away 
 over the hard, resounding prairie. 
 
 The next morning a large party of ladies in town were 
 shopping and chatting when Mrs. Granger s stylish 
 landau came whirling by. They looked eagerly at one 
 another, then many of them glanced tentatively at her. 
 She passed them by with cold, averted face, and everyone 
 knew what it meant, Tommy had gone and told her all. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE long-expected day had come. The ladies 
 german was no longer a matter of conjecture or prep 
 aration. But, oh, through what trials had not that 
 end been attained and what a whirl of events had been 
 precipitated, all in the space of forty-eight hours, upon 
 the busy garrison. The fierce gale that ushered in the 
 week ; old Bryan s escapade ; his daughter s strange 
 introduction to the th ; the searching party from 
 " F" troop, and the frozen fingers and noses that re 
 sulted; Blake s mysterious mishap, and that equally 
 mysterious mission of Mr. Ray s to Major Granger the 
 moment that grave and spectacled staff-officer returned 
 to his post. These, one and all, would at any other 
 time have proved abundant food for gossip and con 
 jecture. There was the excitement, too, consequent 
 upon news of heavy fighting of the winter column 
 among the mountains far to the north, and the tidings 
 that the wounded were being sent in thither. There 
 was mourning, too, among many soldier-hearts for the 
 brave young lives snuffed out in savage combat. But 
 what what, said the ladies, was all this compared with 
 the terrific social cataclysm that followed Tommy s 
 election as leader of their german? Never was a 
 party of womenkind so nearly distracted as when the 
 shoppers returned from town that memorable afternoon 
 
56 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and precipitated themselves in congress assembled upon 
 the colonel s quarters. 
 
 There was no long speculation as to the cause of the 
 undoubted and undeniable cut given on the public, 
 streets by Mrs. Granger to the fair sisterhood from the 
 fort. Mrs. Waldron, of the Riflers, had already heard 
 from friends in town that no words could do justice to 
 Mrs. Granger s state of mind. Mr. Hollis had in 
 vited her to be his partner for the german, so she had 
 hastened to tell some of the social leaders of the little 
 metropolis; she had accepted; made all her arrange 
 ments, whatever they may have been ; and then he had 
 come to her in deep embarrassment to say that he must 
 ask her to release him from the engagement, and she 
 had just dragged from him what the ladies of the th 
 had said about her. Never had she known such an insult 
 in all her life. Nothing could induce her to attend the 
 german now, or to recognize at any future time any 
 of the ladies of that regiment. She had heard from 
 the Eleventh how rude the men could be, but she never 
 dreamed such conduct possible in civilized women. 
 Of course, her town friends sympathized with her 
 openly and deeply, so long at least as she was present ; 
 and said no end of uncomplimentary things about 
 these new people out at the fort, but as promptly 
 modified their views when discussing the matter with 
 Mrs. Waldron, who was a woman of sense and knew 
 the whole story. 
 
 All the same, that afternoon congress was a stirring 
 affair. 
 
 " They re having a hen convention up at the colo 
 nel s, and there s the very devil to pay," said Mr. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE 57 
 
 Wiikius, bluntly, as he dropped in to inquire how 
 Blake was feeling, and found that lank invalid sitting 
 in an easy-chair, with his long legs sprawled half across 
 the room, his faithful comrades Ray and Truscott sit 
 ting silently by. Nobody laughed, and Wilkins 
 presently came to the conclusion that a convention of 
 another kind was going on right here, and that he was 
 not wanted. Long experience with the trio had taught 
 him respect for their wishes, and he presently took 
 himself away. 
 
 "Did Mrs. Truscott go, Jack?" queried Blake, 
 presently, looking up with his one undamaged eye 
 from under the bandage that encircled his head. 
 
 " No," was the brief answer ; tl she begged off on 
 plea of much to do at home. Mrs. Stannard holds her 
 proxy, if matters come to a vote," he added, with his 
 grave smile. Both he and Ray had early divined 
 that, however humorous the situation might seem to 
 most of the men, there was no fun in it for Blake. 
 He winced at the mere mention of Mrs. Granger s 
 name. 
 
 " Hollis said he wanted to come in and see you this 
 morning, Blake," said Mr. Ray, after a pause. "I 
 told him you were asleep, and that after the german 
 would do." 
 
 " He resigned the leadership, did he ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ; but of course they can t accept," answered 
 Ray. " The Lord preserve them ! what a stampede 
 they re in this moment ! They re no worse off than 
 Granger, though. Wish you could have seen his face 
 when I called, Jack ; Blake s left eye isn t a circum 
 stance for blackness." 
 
58 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Truscott s hand was lifted in silent caution. He sat 
 where Blake s drooping moustache could not entirely 
 hide the lines about his mouth, and he saw what Ray 
 did not, but the latter took the hint. 
 
 " Has Sergeant Winsor got back from the ranch ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 " Yes. Old Bryan is all right now, and I hope it 
 will be a lesson to him. The old skinflint would have 
 frozen stiff in five minutes more if Blake hadn t found 
 him just when he did. Think of his attempting to 
 ride back in the teeth of that gale rather than pay 
 hotel bills for a stay over night. 
 
 " He claims he was thinking of his daughter," said 
 Blake, " so Mrs. Freeman tells me. Isn t she a loving- 
 hearted woman ? You know she is going to send for 
 Nan to come down and spend the night with her ; the 
 child longed so to see the german, and Mrs. Freeman 
 has taken a great fancy to her, and made the old man 
 promise she should come. She and the captain drove 
 up there last evening again." 
 
 " The chaplain tells me," said Truscott, slowly, " that 
 that child has looked after Bryan like a wife ever since 
 her mother died. Just fancy what a hard life it s been ; 
 and in town they will have it he s rich enough to send 
 her to the very best schools in . the East. That girl 
 will be an heiress one of these days, and is absolutely 
 untaught." 
 
 " Why, can t Mrs. Freeman talk the old miser into 
 doing the proper thing by the child ?" asked Kay. " If 
 she can t persuade him, I don t know who can. She s 
 at the conference, isn t she, Jack ?" 
 
 Truscott nodded ; he was tapping his boot-toes with 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 59 
 
 his light walking stick, an old trick of his, and 
 thinking intently. Presently he started up. 
 
 " Well, it is time for me to go homeward. Stop 
 and see me a minute before you move further in this 
 matter, Ray. I ll leave you with Blake awhile now." 
 Then turning to the invalid : "So you really want to 
 go over there to-morrow night, old man, and look on?" 
 
 Blake nodded. He was in one of his rare moods 
 of taciturnity. " Twill be only a looker-on in 
 Vienna/ Jack, through a peep-hole in the flies." 
 
 " There will be several more of us and of our ladies 
 with him, Jack," put in Ray. " Two or three who 
 are in mourning and can t dance, but want to see." 
 
 " Oh, all right," said Truscott ; " I probably shan t 
 dance much, so I ll come in and have a little chat with 
 you. Ah ! the council has adjourned, I see ; now for a 
 report of proceedings." 
 
 But just what took place at that formidable congress 
 no man ever exactly knew. No stenographic reporter 
 being present, and phonographs being unheard of at 
 the time, only verbal testimony could be adduced, and, 
 oddly enough, no two accounts could be made to fully 
 tally. There was no sign of vacillation among the 
 councillors, however, as they came briskly down the 
 road. Mrs. Atherton s carriage was already at her 
 door. Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Gregg quickly bundled 
 themselves into their furs and wraps and came forth, 
 looking very business-like. 
 
 " By Jove ! they re going down to beard the lioness 
 in her den, Jack," laughed Ray, as he followed his tall 
 friend to the door ; and for a moment the two stood 
 there looking at the animated scene up the road, then 
 
60 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Truscott spoke a word or two in low tone and stalked 
 away. In his overcoat of dark. blue, heavily trimmed 
 with fur, the ex-adjutant was already beginning to look 
 bulky. 
 
 " Is it presumptuous to ask the result of the confer 
 ence?" queried he of Mrs. Stannard, who nodded laugh 
 ingly to him as she opened her own door, just beyond. 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " Wait a moment till I have seen Luce," she an 
 swered; "then I am coming in to report to Mrs. 
 Truscott. Perhaps, though, Mrs. Turner will tell you 
 first." 
 
 That Mrs. Turner was dying to tell somebody was 
 evident, for the pretty features of that volatile young 
 woman were darkened by a frown and a pout of won 
 drous dimensions as she came down the walk, fairly 
 bombarding Mrs. Wilkins with explosive comments on 
 something that had ruffled her. The captain, however, 
 had no great desire to satisfy his natural curiosity at 
 such a fount, and would have slipped quietly within 
 doors had she not seen and called to him, 
 
 " Oh, Captain Truscott, wait ! I know Mrs. Truscott 
 will want to hear all about it, and I ll just come in and 
 tell her." 
 
 It was beyond him, of course, to refuse. He opened 
 the door, and there was Mrs. Grace, looking very ex 
 pectant, happy, and bubbling over with laughter. She 
 had heard, and well knew just what was passing in 
 Jack s mind, and so decided to put a stop to all ex 
 tended confidences or calumnies by throwing his big 
 circular over her shoulders, and coming boldly forth 
 and meeting the visitor half-way. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 61 
 
 "I saw the carriage, and Mrs. Atherton and the 
 others getting ready, and couldn t help coming out to 
 wish them good luck and safe return," she laughed. 
 
 " Then, of course, you know what was done ?" said 
 Mrs. Turner, her cheeks a dangerous red. 
 
 " I did not, until I saw the carriage/ 
 
 "But now you understand, of course? Isn t it 
 shameful ? A committee of three to go down on their 
 knees to Mrs. Granger, and beg her to forgive us and 
 come and lead our ball ; and our colonel s wife at the 
 head of it. Oh !" with a stamp of her foot and a 
 vicious biting of her pretty lips. " If your mother 
 were only back with us now, Grace, such things 
 couldn t happen in the th. She wouldn t permit us 
 to be humiliated. 7 
 
 " I can hardly fancy mamma as young enough to 
 take any more active part in a german than that of 
 receiving, 7 said Mrs. Truscott, well knowing how. her 
 mother s imperious disposition had set this very lady s 
 tongue to wagging against her time and again. A peep 
 up into the captain s face was additional incentive to 
 put the younger matron upon her guard. 
 
 " Well, don t you think it s simply monstrous that 
 now that Mrs. Atherton should insist on our all vir 
 tually apologizing to Mrs. Granger, because that high 
 and mighty dame saw fit to cut us ?" 
 
 " Well, do you mean it is solely Mrs. Atherton s 
 doing?" smiled Grace, linking her hands about her 
 husband s stalwart arm and shamelessly drawing close 
 to his side, " publicly cuddling him," as Mrs. Tur 
 ner disdainfully expressed it afterwards. " I m sure 
 I thought that quite a number agreed that there must 
 
62 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 be no misunderstanding whatever, and that it was really 
 her due that the managers should assure her that, so 
 far from resenting, as she was told, they ratified Mr. 
 Hollis s choice." 
 
 "Grace Pelham Truscott! If your mother could 
 
 hear you Well ! What do you think she would 
 
 say, Captain Truscott? Fm sure you had abundant 
 reason to know she could express herself," flashed Mrs. 
 Turner, well knowing that in this allusion to a prom 
 inent landmark in regimental traditions her shaft would 
 find its sting. 
 
 But Truscott s armor of calm superiority seemed im 
 pervious as ever. A grave smile was lurking under his 
 moustache, as he glanced down at the picture of pouting, 
 petulant womanhood before him. 
 
 " Mrs. Pelham would have had no other course in 
 this matter than that which most of the other ladies 
 seem to have taken." 
 
 " Most of them ! Just only those who are under 
 Mrs. Atherton s thumb, and don t dare call their souls 
 their own," exclaimed Mrs. Turner, still full of battle 
 and excitement. " She would have made it lively for Mr. 
 Hollis, though, even if she had to abide by his choice. 
 That s what your mother would have done, Grace." 
 
 "That is quite possible," smiled the captain, irnper- 
 turbably. " In which action I fancy she would have 
 had your entire sympathy. Now here comes our 
 embassy." 
 
 And as he spoke, the colonel s carriage came whirl 
 ing down the road, bearing, bundled in robes and furs, 
 Mrs. Atherton and her two coadjutors of the commit 
 tee who nodded and smiled to Grace as they went 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 63 
 
 spinning by, Mrs. Truscott waving her handkerchief 
 about her bonny head in parting salute ; Mrs. Turner 
 obstinately turning her back. 
 
 " Did you see ?" asked Mrs. Gregg. " She wouldn t 
 even look at us, and she ought to be thankful she 
 doesn t have to go." 
 
 " I m sure I wish none of us had to go," said the 
 colonel s wife, " and I wish we were well out of it. 
 Now, just one word. Of course, she must see us when 
 we send in our cards, and I shall open the subject in 
 stantly, and close it in just as few words as I know how. 
 You needn t laugh, Mrs. Freeman, I can be very concise 
 when I try." 
 
 " Oh, I m laughing with joy that I don t have to do 
 the talking, and shivering with premonition of the 
 freezing she has in store for us." 
 
 " Freeze or no freeze, she s got to come down," were 
 the determined words of the social head of the regi 
 ment, for when that accomplished lady resolved on a 
 point it was apt to be carried, no matter who opposed. 
 And so, just after the trumpets chorused the " retreat," 
 back came the embassy, triumphant, with all eyes upon 
 them. 
 
 " Well ?" said the colonel, as he lifted her ladyship 
 from the carriage, while Coyle, the " striker," lugged out 
 the robes and enabled the chief to unload the other dames. 
 
 " Well, I ll tell you presently. Oh, she had to come 
 down," nodded Mrs. Atherton, sagely, as she saw signs 
 of mirthful question as to the success of her mission 
 quivering about the corners of her husband s hand 
 some mouth. "She just had to. But if you think it 
 fun to thaw out an iceberg, just try Mrs. Granger." 
 
64 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 "Indeed, colonel, we never could have faced her 
 without Mrs. Atherton," said Mrs. Gregg. "She 
 would have withered Mrs. Freeman and me." 
 
 " Yes-s, I know how awe-inspiring my wife can be," 
 laughed the colonel. " Now, my dear, you should in 
 sist on your colleagues coining in and having a glass 
 of sherry in honor of your successful diplomacy." 
 
 "And have the whole post flocking over here in five 
 minutes to get the news, and all the sherry in the 
 house. Colonel, you re wild. Here s Captain Gregg 
 now, and Mr. Billings will be delighted to see Mrs. 
 Freeman home. Won t you, Mr. Billings?" with 
 that confident proprietorship which the colonel s wife 
 must ever feel in a loyal adjutant. 
 
 " I m here for the express purpose," proclaimed Mr. 
 Billings. " If I go home without full details of the 
 result of your mission, Mrs. Billings will boomerang 
 me back here for particulars." 
 
 " Well, Evelyn" (the ladies had been schoolmates, 
 you will understand), "you can tell Mr. Billings ; but 
 mind, not a word elsewhere until we meet to-night." 
 
 And so, as Mrs. Freeman tripped away, escorted by 
 her stanch friend the adjutant, she gave a little shiver 
 of relief and rejoicing. 
 
 " I wouldn t go through another such scene for any 
 thing. Captain Freeman told me just how it would 
 be, but I couldn t believe a woman would be so 
 repellent." 
 
 "What did she do?" queried Mr. Billings, not 
 unnaturally. 
 
 "Nothing. Just stood like a tragedy queen a 
 Mary Stuart and looked at us. Do you know she 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 65 
 
 never asked us to sit down until just as we were 
 going?" 
 
 " Well, she s coming, isn t she ?" 
 
 " Coming ? Yes. Why, the woman has one gown 
 never yet worn, and Mrs. Waldron says she has had it 
 reserved for this, just to utterly paralyze us all. She 
 has to come. There will never be such a chance, here 
 abouts at least, until that gown is entirely out of style ; 
 and I m told it s the loveliest thing ever brought from 
 Paris." 
 
 But here a brace of boisterous, rosy-cheeked children 
 threw themselves upon her from around the corner of 
 her cottage and clamored for their supper. Captain 
 Freeman made his appearance, lounging at the door, 
 and, hugging her babies to her heart, the blissful 
 mamma evidently had no further time for words, and 
 Mr. Billings trudged on along to his own roof-tree, 
 where his better half awaited him. 
 
 " Well, does she lead ?" 
 
 " I m sure I don t know/* answered Mr. Billings, 
 blankly. "She s coming, though," he averred, tri 
 umphantly, unwilling to appear uninformed of the 
 great result. 
 
 "Coming? Of course," was the withering reply. 
 " Any woman knows that. The one thing we want to 
 know is, will she lead? Well, your tea s Avaiting," 
 she added, with despairing sigh. It seems there are 
 just some things which most men are too hopelessly 
 stupid ever to understand. 
 
 But by tattoo that night the result was everywhere 
 known. Mrs. Granger could not but accept the over 
 tures made her in all good faith. She was, indeed, 
 e 6* 
 
66 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 glad to find that she had been misinformed as to the 
 remarks made ; she would be glad to accept the charm 
 ing invitation of the ladies of the th for the german ; 
 but as to leading on that point she must consult her 
 husband. 
 
 " And I just wish you could have seen the air with 
 which she said it," exclaimed Mrs. Gregg. " If ever 
 wifely devotion, injured innocence, and matronly dig 
 nity were thrown into one downward sweep of the 
 lashes, it was there. She d make a fortune on the 
 stage. I wish I had her gifts, of that kind, that is," 
 she added, hastily, for Mrs. Gregg would not have it 
 supposed for an instant she envied any woman her 
 figure. It was a point on which she was easily 
 content. Too easily, said her associates. 
 
 At tattoo Mrs. Granger s note arrived, and Major 
 Granger himself was the bearer. Leaving it in the 
 hands of Mrs. Atherton, saying courteously there was 
 no reply and that he wished to see the colonel, he 
 joined that officer and begged to be shown to the 
 quarters of Lieutenant Blake. The results of tattoo 
 roll-call were just being reported out on the moonlit 
 parade, and no sooner had Mr. Ray made his precise 
 salute and statement of the presence of his troop than 
 the colonel called him to his side. 
 
 " Major Granger is here, and wishes to see Mr. 
 Blake; will you show him over to your quarters?" 
 
 " I will show him over, sir, certainly," said Ray. 
 " This way, major." 
 
 In silence the two officers strode across the level 
 sward, across the frozen acequia and the little parapet 
 of bunch-grass at the edge of the parade, the only place 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 67 
 
 where the snow seemed to settle. Other dark figures 
 were stalking through the dim light towards the long 
 row of brown cottages. One of these the lieutenant 
 hailed in low tone. 
 
 " Oh, Truscott, hold up a moment !" And the tall 
 est of the number held up accordingly, gravely lifting 
 his forage-cap with evident surprise, but without a 
 word, when he saw who was his friend s companion. 
 Silently the three crossed the hard frozen roadway and 
 finally reached the white gate in front of Ray s quar 
 ters. One or two men whom they passed glanced back 
 quickly as they caught sight of the grim, spectacled face 
 between the two brown-moustached troopers, then found 
 it expedient to linger a moment at their own gate-way 
 and look curiously towards Ray s. It was there the 
 trio halted. 
 
 " These are Mr. Blake s quarters," said Mr. Ray, 
 turning sharply and confronting Major Granger at the 
 gate. Like Roderick with Fitz- James, he had led his 
 convoy safe " to Coilautogle Ford," as had been agreed ; 
 but now there was steely menace in his voice. He chal 
 lenged the purpose of his coming, Truscott standing 
 calmly by : 
 
 " And now, what may be your pleasure, major ?" 
 
 " Is Mr. Blake sleeping ?" was the response, as the 
 spectacled eyes gazed fixedly beyond towards the dark 
 door- way, as though ignoring all opposition. 
 
 " Asleep or awake, sir, it makes no difference, as you 
 ought to know. Let rne remind you now in all cour 
 tesy that, after our conversation, there can be no com 
 munication on your part with Mr. Blake except 
 through me." 
 
68 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Pooh !" was the impatient reply ; " I recognize no 
 middlemen in such matters, Mr. Kay, and I want no 
 airs or graces." 
 
 " Pardon me one moment, sir. Words such as you 
 are using only make matters worse. If you have any 
 thing to say or to send to Mr. Blake, Captain Truscott 
 will inform you and well knows that I am designated 
 to receive it. He refuses to see you, sir, in person." 
 
 " By God ! Mr. Ray," was the wrathful answer, 
 as the elder man looked vengeance at his placid oppo 
 nent, " you are mixing yourself in this matter most 
 impudently. I know your damned Kentucky customs, 
 and I won t be governed by them." 
 
 " You will be governed by the customs of gentlemen 
 in like cases, major," was the response, in the same 
 placid, almost pacificatory tone. Ray disdained to take 
 note of personal affronts when handling a matter for a 
 friend. "However little you may be accustomed to 
 them, you will find it necessary to observe these little 
 airs and graces, as you call them, though you do not 
 belong to a combatant branch of the service." 
 
 " I ve been too long in the army to take lessons 
 from young whip-snappers," shouted Granger, in a 
 rage. " If I m not permitted to see Mr. Blake I ll 
 make it my business to herald this matter in a way 
 you ll suffer for. The army shall hear of it." 
 
 " And that portion of it on which you are an encum 
 brance may possibly sympathize with you, sir, but the 
 rest of it won t. Look you here, Granger. You don t 
 fight, it seems, so I shall not tell you just exactly what 
 I think of you ; but the least a man in your position 
 can do is to guard his tongue. You are a regular 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 69 
 
 attendant at church, it seems, though the saints forbid 
 I should call you a Christian ; but I am minded of a 
 bit of the catechism I learned when a boy that strikes 
 me as signally applicable to you in your department : 
 Keep thy hands from picking and stealing, thy tongue 
 from evil speaking, lying, and slandering." 
 
 "You ll rue this, sir. You ll rue it," coughed 
 Granger, hoarse with rage. 
 
 " Don t shake your fist at me, Granger. Keep that 
 for your wife." 
 
 The major recoiled a pace as though struck, then 
 stood and shook and glared at Ray ; but he dropped 
 his hands at once. He seemed choked with rage and 
 unable to speak. 
 
 " Have you more to say, sir ? Did you suppose no 
 one knew ? You poor devil ! Take him away, Jack." 
 And Truscott led the major silent from the scene. Some 
 doors banged up and down the row. " Taps" was float 
 ing out on the still night-air when the official of the 
 staff department was bundled into his ambulance, not 
 her landau, and Truscott passed him out over the 
 sentry-line by the shortest road for home. Granger 
 had attempted one word with the captain, but was cut 
 short. 
 
 " I must decline to discuss the matter with you, sir. 
 It lies between you and Mr. Ray." 
 
 And so the great day of the german was here. It 
 was known that something took place down at Ray s 
 gate the previous night. It was known that 1 Mrs. 
 Granger s ultimatum was that she would attend, but 
 would not dance ; and then at last was the arrangement 
 made that Mr. Hollis should lead alone. 
 
70 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 That night, just as Mr. Tommy was smilingly lead 
 ing forth Mrs. Turner to begin the second figure, just 
 as the full orchestra of the th swung into the magic 
 rhythm and verve of the " New Vienna," the cavalry 
 sergeants stationed by the flag-draped entrance at the 
 lower end of the brilliantly-lighted, beautifully-deco 
 rated room with its fringe of lovely women and at 
 tendant officers, drew back the shrouding folds of the 
 colors, and there she paused as it were at the threshold 
 and seemed to bid them gaze. For a moment lights, 
 flowers, music, partners, all were forgotten. Hoi 1 is 
 and Mrs. Turner, as though transfixed, stood with the 
 rest and gazed, gazed their fill. 
 
 Behind the canvas flies on the stage, a tall slip of a 
 girl, with great brown eyes and hair like a mane of 
 ruddy bronze, gave a gasp of wonderment and delight. 
 " Oh, isn t she beautiful !" and instinctively stretched 
 forth a hand to the tall, pallid officer who was peering 
 through an eye-hole. But he never heard ; never re 
 plied. Again she spoke, then turned, and regarded 
 him wistfully, wonderingly, and then sat down, rest 
 ing her chin on her hand, with a sigh that she herself 
 could not account for; with eyes that never left his 
 face. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 71 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "WASN T that theatrical, madame?" whispered Mrs. 
 Gregg to the colonel s wife the first moment she could 
 reach her ear. 
 
 "Ah, but wasn t it effective?" was the answer. 
 "Did you ever see anything more magnificent than 
 that gown ?" 
 
 " Unless it were the figure and the general effect/ 
 laughed Mr. Ray, who was Mrs. Atherton s escort at 
 the moment. "She s ruined Tommy s figure for 
 him, figure two, I mean, for no one would care to 
 dance until he or she had gone up and done homage." 
 
 "Your friend Mrs. Granger is worth seeing this 
 night, anyhow," said Mrs. Wilkins, boldly, to the 
 leader of the german as the musicians were having 
 their brief rest before beginning the third figure. " It s 
 all Worth though, I suppose." 
 
 " How do you mean ?" asked Mr. Hollis. " I never 
 saw her when she wasn t to be admired." 
 
 " Then it isn t her dress that s all Worth ?" queried 
 the most independent woman in the th, looking with 
 an insolent smile up into the perturbed features of Mr. 
 Hollis. " That s all Worth, anyhow, or I haven t been 
 in Arizona five years for nothing." 
 
 " I m blessed if I can understand you, Mrs. Wilkins. 
 Do you want an introduction ? She s surrounded now." 
 
72 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 And Hollis looked suspiciously into the broad face, 
 half-mischievous, half-quizzical, grinning up into his. 
 
 " Indeed, no, Mr. Hollis. When I do I ll be pre 
 sented in jew form by calling upon her in proprya 
 persony. It s the gown she wears that I most admire, 
 Tommy; but you needn t tell her that, as you did 
 what the other women said. Move on, "VVilkins," she 
 added to her obedient spouse, whose full uniform 
 seemed more than usually snug and unbecoming. 
 " The old man," as he already spoke of himself, was 
 gaining flesh all too rapidly, but wisdom came not 
 with it. 
 
 " What do you want to chaff the boy for, Jane ?" 
 he protested. " Hasn t he worry enough ?" 
 
 "You mind your own concerns, Wilkins. I can 
 take care of mine. It s her ladyship, Mrs. Atherton, I 
 want to salute next. Take me to her." 
 
 But the benevolent design was not carried into effect. 
 "Her ladyship" saw her coming; knew well that the 
 irrepressible tongue of the woman would immortalize 
 itself in some way, and, quickly turning from the 
 group of ladies with whom she was chatting, murmured 
 to Mr. Ray, 
 
 "Quick, take me over to that party of towns 
 people before she can reach us, Mrs. Wilkins, I 
 mean. I know she means to say something horrid. 
 Now you ll be sure and take Mrs. Granger out this 
 next figure." 
 
 "Oh, she ll be led out often, you may depend upon 
 it," said Ray, deftly evading the mandate. " Your 
 commands have been laid upon the whole regiment. 
 The colonel takes her out first, I suppose ?" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 73 
 
 " Certainly. It s arranged that Mr. Hollis starts the 
 next figure with Mrs. Freeman. She takes out the 
 colonel, and he goes at once for her. This night every 
 man in the th must stand by us and make that woman 
 come out of her shell. Afterwards you can do as you 
 please." 
 
 At this instant the music began. All promenaders 
 on the floor, with the strict sense of discipline that per 
 vades a military cotillon, at once sought their places. 
 In the twinkling of an eye the entire space was cleared, 
 and a long rectangle of glistening white canvas shown 
 under the swarm of Chinese lanterns pendent from the 
 flag-draped roof. Both long sides of the room were 
 taken up by the dancers ; the ladies, in their dainty 
 toilets and with fluttering fans, seated, each with her 
 attendant cavalier in full uniform, or the conventional 
 black and white, as he happened to be military or civil 
 by profession. Behind the row of camp-chairs, sacred 
 to the use of the thirty couples in the dance, was a row 
 of seats for lookers-on. Right in front of the stage 
 were the pretty tables, on which were heaped the favors 
 made with such loving hands by the ladies of the regi 
 ment ; and here were seated Mrs. Waldron, of the Riflers, 
 and Mesdames Wilkins and Heath, of the th, who, 
 not being on the dancing-list, had kindly consented to 
 dispense the dainty trifles. Mrs. Wilkins could not be 
 left out in the cold altogether. She was loyal to her 
 regiment, a wonderful hand in helping out with the 
 punch, the supper, etc., and while she was to have ex 
 clusive jurisdiction in the supper-room, still she could 
 not there see the german, and that would never satisfy 
 her. Mrs. Wilkius was a woman who wanted to see 
 B 7 
 
74 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and hear, as well as say, everything. Down at the lower 
 end of the long room a number of officers and visitors 
 stood looking on, while a dozen ladies not dancing were 
 seated in a semicircle, leaving only the clear space that 
 led to the ladies dressing-rooms, that flag-draped arch 
 way guarded by those two splendid-looking troopers. 
 The entrance to the men s room was neither draped nor 
 sentinelled. In there lay the card-tables for those who 
 preferred whist and a quiet smoke. Beyond that the 
 buffet, where Mrs. Atherton s own redoubtable D Orsay 
 a sable dignitary, who had been attached to her house 
 hold for years dispensed champagne-punch with lavish 
 hand. Long before the war he had won the title, when 
 a mere stripling Ethiop, of " Count d Orsay," and had 
 attracted the colonel s attention in the early days of the 
 war by the magnificence of his manner when waiting 
 on the officers who dropped in at the hotel where lie 
 was then a servitor. D Orsay was transferred to the 
 personal staff of the young officer upon his accession to 
 the command of a brigade, and had served with him 
 ever since. The men called him Dorsey. Two trim 
 maids Mrs. Atherton s and Mrs. Freeman s were in 
 attendance at the ladies dressing-room. These rooms, 
 as well as the space partitioned off for card-rooms, etc., 
 were at the southern end of the long wooden barracks, 
 and the windows that gave them light by day were 
 boarded up on the inside, nor was there admission to 
 them except through the main entrance. That the 
 maids, after attending to the wants of the various 
 dames, should spend most of the time close by the 
 draped entrance, peeping through at the dance, whis 
 pering to each other, and making eyes at the sergeants 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 75 
 
 on duty, is recorded here as a probability. The other 
 details are matters of fact, and both had their bearing 
 on the subsequent events of the night. 
 
 At the moment when the music for the third figure 
 began, Mrs. Granger, superbly poised as well as dressed, 
 was waving her fan in slow, graceful movement, and 
 conversing graciously with a party of officers and ladies, 
 prominent among whom were Mrs. Stannard, leaning 
 on Captain Turner s arm, and Mrs. Raymond with 
 Captain Gregg, while several of her friends from town 
 stood admiringly by. If ever she had seen fit to re 
 sent the language of the ladies of the th, as reported 
 to her, not a vestige of her wrath was visible to-night. 
 No more graceful dignity than she had shown when 
 greeting the reception committee could have been pos 
 sible. After the momentary sensation that attended 
 her appearance at the barrier she had laid her hand 
 upon her husband s arm and, with a look as though 
 gently chiding him for having kept her waiting there 
 in that embarrassing way, moved slowly forward as 
 though in search of the officials whom she should first 
 accost. These ladies might almost be said to have 
 rushed upon her in their determination to make her 
 welcome cordial. She was quickly surrounded and, 
 transferring her hand to the arm of Major Waldron, 
 released her spectacled ghost of a spouse with the brief 
 remark, " You have been kept too long waiting for 
 your whist, dear ; I won t detain you now ;" whereat 
 Granger had lost no time in seeking the card-room. 
 Waldron was still at her side when the music began, 
 and at the instant, and before her escort could find her 
 a seat, Hollis and Mrs. Freeman two beautiful dancers 
 
76 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 had spun across the canvas ; the latter, with her red- 
 gold hair all one sheen of ripples and her lovely face 
 half-flushed with the excitement of the moment, had 
 fairly thrown herself out of Tommy s encircling arm. 
 He would have been only too glad to make the circuit 
 of the room with so exquisite a partner, commanding 
 all eyes, Mrs. Granger s included, as he well divined, 
 for he was at his best when on the floor. But Mrs. 
 Freeman was one of the conspirators, and would brook 
 no delay. 
 
 " Just a turn, now, mind," she beamed up into the 
 colonel s face, as she pinned the dainty little fan beside 
 the corps badge on his breast. " Mrs. Atherton says 
 not a moment must be lost." And before the colonel 
 had " half-settled down to his work," as he laughingly 
 expressed it, she had as abruptly left him close to 
 where Mrs. Granger was just gracefully sinking into her 
 seat. 
 
 " This is for her," whispered Mrs. Freeman, thrust 
 ing a little gilded sabre into his hand. " Pin it where 
 the yellow ribbon will show against the lace, not the 
 silk." And then, with glowing cheeks, she threw her 
 self upon her tall husband, who, never dancing him 
 self, could never resist the fascination of watching her. 
 
 With the eyes of half the room upon him, the colonel 
 marched straight to Mrs. Granger, holding the dainty 
 toy to which was pendent a little silver number, 
 that of the th. She looked at him with utter sur 
 prise as he bowed with soldierly grace. 
 
 " The first sabre we lower to-night is in salute to 
 you, madame. May I have the honor ?" 
 
 " Oh, just didn t he do it splendidly ? Didn t I tell 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 77 
 
 you?" said Mrs. Atherton in triumphant delight to 
 Mrs. Stannard. "Come, rise up Mrs. Granger, you 
 are conquered now," she continued behind her fan. 
 And, as any one could see, there was simply nothing 
 for Mrs. Granger but victorious surrender. She had 
 to rise that the colonel might affix her souvenir to the 
 billow of creamy lace upon her breast, but she could 
 not control the wave of crimson that swept to her very 
 brows, and her eyes flashed their pride and pleasure as, 
 with winning smile, she looked up into his face, then 
 placed her hand upon his shoulder. It seemed as 
 though the whole room gave a sigh of relief and satis 
 faction as the colonel s arm slid round her shapely 
 waist, and away they went in long, gliding waltz-step. 
 Nothing but a deep-rooted sense that no demonstration 
 would be appropriate kept down the impulse to applaud. 
 In another moment half a dozen couples were circling 
 and whirling about them, and everybody drew a long 
 breath. It was the sensation of the evening until 
 after supper. 
 
 Clark, the handsome quartermaster, was dancing 
 with Mrs. Gregg, a second choice, though the lady 
 did not know it. He had asked Mrs. Truscott, but 
 that fair young matron had begged to be excused. 
 " We are only going for a little while, just to look on, 
 Jack and I," she said ; but the truth was she actually 
 would not engage herself to any man for even three 
 hours. Jack might get bored and want to go home, 
 or, heavens ! Jack junior might wake up while she 
 was gone, and King Baby was lord of all just now, 
 even the stalwart captain being deposed in his favor. 
 And so, leaning on her husband s arm and standing 
 
 7* 
 
78 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 near the upper end of the room, Grace was a most 
 interested witness of the scene when Clark sprang for 
 ward. His partner was dancing at the moment : 
 
 " Please, Mrs. Truscott, just one turn." 
 
 She would have declined again, dearly though she 
 loved to dance, but her husband bent down and 
 whispered, 
 
 "Yes, dance a few minutes, Grace. I want to slip 
 behind the scenes to Blake." 
 
 " But where will you come for me ?" she pleaded, 
 looking wistfully back with her heavily-lashed eyes. 
 " Remember Mr. Clark has a partner." 
 
 "Mr. Clark s partner is out most of the time," 
 laughed that gentleman, rejoicing that he had his prize. 
 " I ll take you back behind the scenes as soon as we 
 have danced. I want no other fellow to cut in and 
 get you." 
 
 Clark was an admirable waltzer and he loved to 
 dance with Mrs. Truscott, whose slender foot, he swore, 
 was not only the prettiest but the lightest in the regi 
 ment, and they made a perfectly-matched couple as 
 they seemed to float away over the canvas, circling in 
 and out among the other dancers. It was a violation 
 of the strict tenets of the cotillon, perhaps, but there 
 was abundant room, and Tommy Hollis, so far from 
 rebuking Clark for his unauthorized appearance on the 
 floor, made a run from Mrs. Turner s seat and took a 
 slide up alongside. 
 
 " Now, Mrs. Truscott, I speak for the next," he cried. 
 
 " Hush, sir, you re forgetting Mrs. Atherton s in 
 junction. You are to take Mrs. Granger out the very 
 next figure." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 79 
 
 " That s all right, but this one isn t half over. Wait 
 a moment." And with that he whipped out his little 
 silver whistle and signalled the dancers to their seats. 
 "Now just one turn, Mrs. Truscott, while the next 
 couple leads out." She could not refuse. It seemed 
 to be an unwritten law among the officers of the th 
 to make much of Mrs. Truscott, not only on her own 
 account, but because they loved her old father, their 
 former colonel, and did not love her mother, who had 
 vehemently opposed her marrying the man of her 
 choice but subsequently had so far relented towards him 
 and forgiven her as to display an entire willingness to 
 live with them the year round, a visitation which 
 the colonel s daughter was so undutiful as to discourage. 
 She and Mrs. Freeman shared about equally the devo 
 tions of the entire commissioned force, married and 
 single, but no two women in the th cared less for the 
 distinction. They would hardly have been women 
 had it been a matter of indifference. Both were young, 
 lovely in face and form, frank and sweet in manner, 
 and both of them hopelessly in love with their own 
 lords. Just as Mrs. Truscott knew he would, Tommy 
 Hollis swung her down the room and close to where 
 Mrs. Granger sat, like a queen enthroned, with a 
 group of courtiers about her. She was fanning herself 
 with slow, languorous movement, her eyes glowing, her 
 cheeks softly flushed, and listening apparently with rapt 
 attention to the words of Dr. Pease and Captain Ray 
 mond, who were at the moment bending over her. But 
 she lost not a thread in Mrs. Truscott s dainty toilet as 
 she floated by, nor did she fail to note the triumphant 
 expression in the misguided Tommy s face. 
 
80 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 "How charming Mrs. Truscott is to-night," she 
 murmured to Captain Raymond, at the same time fixing 
 her eyes on that young matron with the unmistakable 
 look a woman wears when she wants another to know 
 she is talking about her. 
 
 " She is as charming as she looks," answered Ray 
 mond, briefly ; he somehow did not care to have Mrs. 
 Truscott discussed. " Ah, here comes Captain Gregg 
 to take you out. You are destined to be the belle to 
 night, as usual," said that diplomatic gentleman. 
 
 " Yes, we are all mad with jealousy already, Mrs. 
 Granger," declared Mrs. Raymond, who was deposited 
 alongside by her partner just in time to catch the words. 
 " I ve seen every man in the regiment hovering about 
 you. We never have such attention." 
 
 " I can name three, at least, who haven t been near 
 me," was the laughing reply, " Captain Truscott, Mr. 
 Ray, and Mr. Blake." 
 
 " You don t tell me !" answered Mrs. Raymond, re 
 joicing that there were exceptions after all. "I m sure 
 I thought every man in the room had thrown himself 
 at your feet. I can t imagine why Captain Truscott 
 and Mr. Ray haven t come ; but Mr. Blake isn t here 
 to-night; besides he s one of our intractables, you 
 know." 
 
 " One of your intractables ? Do you mean he is not 
 fond of society?" 
 
 "Oh, no; only he s indifferent. I assure you we 
 all gave up Mr. Blake as a case-hardened bachelor long 
 
 ago." 
 
 " I can understand that as possible anywhere except 
 in the th," was Mrs. Granger s flattering response, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 81 
 
 as Captain Gregg led her to the floor, and she smiled 
 back most winningly over his broad shoulder. 
 
 " Is Mr. Blake still suffering so much that he could 
 not attend ?" she presently asked of Gregg, as they 
 slowly waltzed down the room. 
 
 " Oh, he s getting on all right ; but a man with a 
 black eye doesn t care to show on the floor. Reckon 
 he s in the whist-room by this time, having a quiet 
 game." 
 
 " Mr. Blake in the card -room !" exclaimed Mrs. 
 Granger, looking up in uncontrollable alarm. " No ; 
 no more just now, captain," she continued, disengaging 
 herself from his encircling arm. " I think I ll rest 
 one minute, and could you get me a glass of water ?" 
 She had drawn herself, as she spoke, through the little 
 circle of lookers-on at the lower end of the room 
 nearest the dressing-room. 
 
 " Wouldn t you rather have punch ? It s undeni 
 able, and its a regimental treat to see D Orsay ladle it 
 out. It s right here in the card-room." 
 
 " And do you allow ladies in your card-room in the 
 th ? I m sure your predecessors never did last year." 
 
 "Allow them? Why, certainly! If we didn t, 
 they wouldn t allow us. The ladies just run this regi 
 ment, Mrs. Granger." 
 
 " How lovely for the ladies !" was the reply, while 
 a peculiar smile hovered about the corners of her mouth. 
 " I think I have heard something to that effect. Yes, 
 I will go in just to see the redoubtable D Orsay." 
 
 There were only two parties at the card-table as 
 they entered. Major Granger was seated at the one 
 farthest from the door- way and the punch-bowl. Mrs. 
 
82 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Granger s eyes quickly searched the apartment and 
 peered into the dressing-room beyond. To the men 
 who glanced up from their game she vouchsafed a 
 radiant smile, and then bent low over her husband s 
 shoulder with almost caressing gesture. He looked up 
 quickly, his sallow face lighting with unmistakable 
 pleasure as he gazed at her glowing beauty. 
 
 " I see you are enjoying it all/ he said. 
 
 "Oh, it is simply perfect! The ladies of the th 
 Cavalry have no peers as entertainers," she replied, 
 beaming upon the upturned faces of the major s com 
 panions as she spoke ; and Lieutenant Wilkins sprang 
 to his feet. 
 
 " In the name of the ladies of the th, permit me, 
 madame, to express their appreciation of a compliment 
 from such high authority," he said, in his old-fashioned 
 and ponderous way. "And may I not pledge Mrs. 
 Granger in a glass of our delicious punch?" he added, 
 striding at once from the table to where D Orsay, a 
 sable statue, stood behind the huge bowl of dainty 
 china, Mrs. Atherton s especial pride. Granger 
 scowled malevolently at the interruption to his game ; 
 but Mrs. Granger beamed anew. 
 
 " Lucky for him Mrs. Wilkins is at the far end of 
 the other room," murmured Gregg into the pink ear so 
 close to his blonde moustache. But Mrs. Granger 
 would not hear. She was fascinating Wilkins now. 
 
 " I really thought nothing could tear you enthusi 
 astic whist-players from your game," she laughed. 
 " And are you and Mr. Heath the only gentlemen who 
 care for it ? I supposed there would be half a dozen 
 tables going." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 83 
 
 " Not when our ladies have a ball, raadame. Then 
 every dancing man must do his duty. I m past my 
 dancing days, and the young fellows like the captain 
 here have to do my share for rne. Just a drop more, 
 D Orsay. Madame, the th drinks your health." 
 
 " So Mr. Blake is not a devotee to whist after all/ 
 said Mrs. Granger, as they came forth. " Perhaps he 
 prefers your cavalry pastime of poker." And she 
 glanced up with a face in which merriment and mis 
 chief were at least the surface indications, yet her eyes 
 watched him eagerly. 
 
 " Blake ? Oh, no, he never plays poker. It seems 
 on a decline since Ray quit ; but I never heard of 
 Blake as a pokerist. Blessed if I know what Blake 
 does do to amuse himself when he isn t gabbling or 
 reading Shakespeare. That fellow s a sort of enigma 
 to me. To be sure, I never served with him before 
 this winter, and he wasn t with us in Arizona." 
 
 " In what is he so enigmatical ?" she slowly asked, 
 her eyes downcast at the moment, her voice low. 
 
 " Oh, I don t know. He s a ranting, declamatory, 
 noisy sort of fellow when with the crowd, always 
 spouting poetry or making bad puns and parodies ; has 
 no intimates but Ray and Truscott, and they swear by 
 him, while the rest of us don t seem to get the hang 
 of him. The ladies think they ve got his equation 
 down fine." 
 
 "Pardon me, Captain Gregg, got what?" 
 
 "Pardon me, Mrs. Granger, that is inexcusable 
 slang; it means they think they have sized him up." 
 
 " I see. Got him down and sized him up, and that 
 means ?" 
 
84 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Oh, it means they understand him better than we 
 do." 
 
 " Yes ; and what do the ladies say ?" 
 
 "Why, they think he s been jilted by somebody 
 that he was a good deal in love with, you know." 
 
 " How very romantic ! And has he no particular 
 friends among them? none whom he trusts or talks 
 to?" 
 
 Blake? Not that I know of. Mrs. Stannard, Mrs. 
 Freeman, Mrs. Truscott, I suppose he likes them most. 
 He s in Freeman s troop, you see, and then he and 
 Truscott read together a good deal." 
 
 "Oh, and that reminds me, you re a friend of Mr. 
 Blake s, are you not ?" She looked up eagerly. 
 
 "I? Why, of course. I like him first rate. So 
 does the whole regiment, for that matter." 
 
 " He dropped a little note-book, or something of that 
 kind, when he was at our house the other night, after 
 after his horse fell. Could you give it to him for 
 me? I hardly know whom to ask. You re sure he 
 isn t here? isn t coming?" 
 
 " He certainly isn t here, and it s midnight now. I 
 don t think he ll be over at all. Of course I ll be very 
 glad to give it to him." 
 
 "Then I ll go into the dressing-room a moment and 
 get it," she quickly answered, slipping her hand from 
 his arm ; but at the instant two officers burst through 
 the ring of spectators and made a rush for her, Mr. 
 Hollis winning. 
 
 " Where on earth have you been ?" he exclaimed, 
 looking into her face with glowing eyes. " We want 
 to start the third figure, come." And as all the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 85 
 
 room was watching and waiting, she could but go. 
 Obedient to his signal, the music began at once, and 
 at last Mr. Hollis was leading with Mrs. Granger. 
 
 Behind the scenes on one side of the little stage sat 
 Mrs. Billings with some friends whose recent mourning 
 prevented their attendance on the floor. On the other, 
 in the dim light of a lamp, Nannie Bryan and two 
 girls of her own age daughters of officers of the 
 garrison were peeping through the various eye-holes 
 and chattering volubly. Close at hand sat Lieutenant 
 Blake, silent, and absorbed in the scene in the ball 
 room. Beside him at the moment Truscott was stand 
 ing, his face graver than usual. 
 
 " Never saw Mrs. Truscott looking lovelier than she 
 does to-night, Jack," said Blake at last, feeling that it 
 was time he said something. 
 
 " She seems very well this winter," was the reply ; 
 for Truscott well knew that Blake s thoughts were not 
 of her. " How long will you stay here, Blake ? It is 
 getting to be known that you are looking on." 
 
 " Yes; two or three of our ladies have been in with 
 the customary assurances that it would be simply per 
 fect if it were not for my absence. Pretty figure I d 
 make to-night. I suppose he s playing whist, Jack ?" 
 
 " Yes ; he will not be apt to come out except for 
 supper. Ray will come here to you after this next 
 figure." 
 
 But Blake had ceased to listen. At this moment in 
 excited whispers the young girls near by announced 
 some important event. 
 
 "She s dancing with Mr. Hollis," said one. And 
 Blake s eye was back at its peep-hole. Truscott waited 
 
 8 
 
86 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 one moment in silence and then stepped softly away. 
 Nannie Bryan crept quietly to the camp-stool by Blake s 
 side. 
 
 " If it hadn t been for me and papa you would 
 have been dancing with her yourself, wouldn t you, 
 Mr. Blake?" she whispered, looking sorrowfully up 
 into his wan face. For a moment there was no answer ; 
 then he turned suddenly : 
 
 " I dance with her, Nan ? Not if there wasn t 
 another woman in the wide world !" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 37 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SUPPER-TIME had come and gone. Thanks to the 
 admirable arrangements of the committee, all the guests 
 had been seated at once at long tables set in the adjoin 
 ing building, which was connected with the dancing- 
 hall by a canvas-covered way. The band, too, had 
 been well fed and otherwise comforted, and were now 
 strolling back to their places on the stage, while, over 
 the champagne, the colonel was proposing a toast to 
 the guests of the th, and his honor the mayor of the 
 neighboring municipality was covering himself with 
 glory and the ladies with confusion by lavish allusions 
 to the loveliness and grace of their entertainers. Major 
 Granger, seated near the bottom of one of the long 
 tables, had slipped away, signalling to his boon com 
 panions of the whist-party to follow him. Wilkins 
 nothing loath was quickly at his side, for he could 
 not drink his fill of champagne with the basilisk eyes 
 of his better half upon him, while over at the card- 
 room there was peace and the punch-bowl. But the 
 other two did not so quickly follow. They were promi 
 nent " cattle-growers" from town who could play whist 
 any evening, and who preferred listening to the flow 
 of soul and feasting their eyes on the beauty of the 
 women at the banquet-board. The mayor was in the 
 midst of his peroration as Granger and Wilkins van- 
 
88 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 ished, unnoticed except by one or two dames whose 
 eyes were everywhere, and by the colonel, who saw it 
 with a feeling of relief. As the senior officer present 
 from the supply departments, Granger would possibly 
 have to be called upon for a few remarks, especially 
 as Mrs. Granger had gone in on the colonel s arm, 
 honored above all women, and was now seated at his 
 right. But Atherton did not fancy Granger, and felt 
 sure he would add nothing to the hilarity or spirit of 
 the occasion. 
 
 " I had intended calling on the major next," he mur 
 mured to Mrs. Granger, who had just ceased applaud 
 ing one of the mayor s most eloquent periods, " but I 
 see he has gone. I fear our speeches have bored him. 
 The th isn t very strong in such matters. 7 
 
 " Why, Colonel Atherton ! What could have been 
 more appropriate than your opening words; and I am 
 sure Captain Freeman was delightful." 
 
 "Oh, some of our younger officers would do us 
 credit, no doubt. Blake is our best card, poor fellow ; 
 we miss him to-night, for he never fails to bring down 
 the house. By the way, how fortunate it was, Mrs. 
 Granger, that his horse fell so close to your home. If 
 that had happened out on the prairie he might have 
 frozen before the men could find him. What a fearful 
 night that was !" 
 
 " It was fearful, indeed, colonel Oh, bravo ! 
 
 bravo !" she cried, clapping her richly-jewelled hands, as, 
 with a magnificent bow, his honor concluded a glowing 
 apostrophe to the Juno-like goddess to whom all men 
 do homage, the beauteous consort of the gallant colonel 
 of the ever-glorious th, and took his seat amidst 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 89 
 
 thunders of applause, while Mrs. Atherton, from be 
 hind her fan, glanced in mingled deprecation and 
 merriment at her laughing cronies up and down the 
 sparkling board, yet recovered herself with becoming 
 promptitude when she saw Mrs. Granger s glass and a 
 score of others raised in her honor, and, with mighty 
 blushes, but most gracious smile, she touched hers to 
 the brimming beaker extended by the now triumphant 
 civil magnate. There were shouts for various names 
 to respond for her, " Stannard," "Truscott," "Ray 
 mond," "Ray," "Ray," "Ray." And then it was 
 discovered that Ray was gone. 
 
 " If Blake were only here now," almost groaned the 
 colonel. " There s no one to replace him," he added, as 
 he glanced up and down the long tables, passing in review 
 the array of his officers scattered here and there among 
 the guests. Then somebody began, half ironically, to 
 shout for Hollisj and the towns-people promptly and 
 loudly echoed the cry. It was time for decided meas 
 ures. The colonel knew that, like the Irishman of 
 tradition, Tommy could not open his mouth without 
 putting his foot in it. He caught Raymond s eye, and 
 though that gentleman nodded suggestively towards 
 Truscott, who persistently looked the other way, 
 Atherton would stand no temporizing. Up with you, 
 he signalled, and rapped for order; and Raymond 
 slowly found his feet, and had the consummate good 
 luck to preface his remarks by referring to himself as 
 an unworthy substitute for either one or both of the 
 two gentlemen best known to their friends from town, 
 Messrs. Ray and Blake, who were unavoidably ab 
 sent. Whereat the room resounded again. 
 
 8* 
 
90 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " And has Mr. Blake always been so indispensable 
 a feature in your social gatherings? asked Mrs. 
 Granger, in low tone to the colonel, as Raymond 
 labored on. 
 
 " Ever since I have known him," was the answer. 
 " Although he and I were both comparative strangers 
 to the regiment until within a year or two. I had 
 hardly seen him since the war. He transferred in at 
 the reorganization ; then he didn t go out to Arizona 
 until just as they were coming back ; but he is one of 
 the characters of the service." 
 
 "Eccentric, is he not, at times?" 
 
 " Well, possibly. Oh, but that reminds me, I think 
 I heard that you knew him several years ago." And 
 then it suddenly flashed upon the colonel that the de 
 scription of the meeting that had occurred at Stannard s 
 quarters warranted the belief that Blake had sought to 
 avoid her entirely. He colored at the consciousness of 
 having, even unwittingly, asked an embarrassing ques 
 tion. But Mrs. Granger s lovely eyes were raised with 
 out a shadow. She saw that he was discomfited, and 
 with consummate tact put him at his ease. 
 
 " Yes, we used to meet quite frequently when he 
 was a young officer just entering service, and I just 
 entering society ; and I liked him very much," she 
 answered, frankly. " But that was so long ago I I 
 fancy he has almost forgotten it." And then, alert to 
 everything going on about her, she joined in the ap 
 plause that was mercifully accorded Raymond s effort. 
 Other remarks followed, brief and not over-brilliant, 
 and then Mrs. Atherton gave the signal to rise, and 
 the merry throng came drifting back into the ball-room 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 91 
 
 just as Mr. Ray appeared from the side door leading 
 to the stage, followed by a soldier who bore a big tray 
 laden with empty plates and glasses. 
 
 "You reprobate !" said Mrs. Atherton, shaking are- 
 proving finger at the buoyant young fellow. " Where 
 have you been ? We needed you to respond to the 
 toast in our honor, and you had run and hidden, I 
 verily believe." 
 
 " I was feeding the ladies at the peek-hole," said 
 Ray. "And now I m going to see some of them 
 home." 
 
 " Oh, surely you re not going yet ! You haven t 
 asked Mrs. Granger to dance." 
 
 " I haven t danced with anybody to-night, madame. 
 I m a little lame just now." He hated to refer to the 
 burning pain in his thigh where the Cheyenne bullet 
 had torn its way only six months before ; but, better 
 that than admit that the real reason was that he could 
 not ask a lady to dance when he was on hostile terms 
 with her husband. Mrs. Atherton was all prompt 
 sympathy. 
 
 " Oh, true, I know. And is Mr. Blake there yet ? 
 Did he see it all ?" 
 
 " Yes, but he wants to stay, and the girls won t listen 
 to the idea of going. Old Bryan s daughter looks as 
 though she thought it fairy-land. You ll forgive my 
 going, won t you ?" 
 
 " Yes, if you will just take the two sergeants at the 
 dressing-room door and tell Mrs. Wilkins we want 
 them to have a good supper. I know what you want 
 to go for, sir," she concluded, with a wise nod of her 
 queenly head. " I ve heard all about her, and I think 
 
92 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 it s high time you came and confessed to me." But 
 Ray broke laughing away and signalled to the sergeants 
 to follow him just as Mrs. Granger, leaning on the 
 colonel s arm, reached the flag-draped entrance. 
 
 " I will be gone but a moment," she said, as, fol 
 lowed by Mrs. Raymond, she passed within, leaving a 
 little knot of men grouped about the lower end of the 
 room. Some of these, rightly conjecturing that once 
 assembled in a coterie of their own, the ladies would 
 be busily chatting until the music again struck up, 
 slipped away into the smoking-room. Others gathered 
 in a social chat. Tommy Hollis was flitting ner 
 vously about, eager to begin the next figure, and Ray 
 had just got back from the supper-room, when Mrs. 
 Freeman, with a pale, scared face, suddenly parted the 
 flags at the entrance and peered forth. Ray sprang 
 instantly towards her. He knew that something was 
 wrong. 
 
 " Find Dr. Pease quick and bring him here, but say 
 nothing." 
 
 The doctor, smoking a big cigar, was one of the 
 group gathered about Granger s whist-table, where 
 the game was once more in full swing. Ray placed 
 his hand on his arm and drew him quietly to one 
 side. 
 
 "You are wanted in the ladies dressing-room, quick," 
 he said in low tone. Pease tossed away his cigar and 
 slipped past the jovial party now gathered about the 
 punch-bowl, where his honor, the mayor, was telling a 
 story. Major Granger glanced up a moment, followed 
 him with his eyes, and then tossed out the seven of 
 hearts. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 93 
 
 "No trumps, partner?" quickly asked the civilian, 
 looking at him in surprise. 
 
 "I I beg pardon. I I thought that was a 
 diamond," answered Granger, hastily throwing out 
 the six of diamonds and attempting to withdraw the 
 other card. 
 
 "I claim a revoke," said Lieutenant Wilkins, 
 eagerly. 
 
 " You can t ; your partner hasn t played and the error 
 was rectified in time." 
 
 " Board s a play ! board s a play !" exulted Wilkins, 
 his red face flushing redder, and the punch beginning 
 to show in little beads upon his forehead and in the 
 coating of his tongue, which had thickened percep 
 tibly. " I leave it to any gentleman here." 
 
 "You re wrong, Wilkins. You re right, major. 
 Go on with the game. Do hold your tongue, Patsy." 
 These and other exclamations buzzed about the board. 
 But Granger, ordinarily most precise in play and dog 
 matic and truculent in argument, said no word what 
 ever. He seemed deaf to the discussion and dead to 
 the game. His eyes wandered to the canvas partition 
 that separated them from the ladies dressing-room. 
 Suddenly the colonel entered and came straight to 
 wards him, and one or two men noted that before he 
 spoke a word or had reached the table Granger was on 
 his feet, looking white. 
 
 " Major, Mrs. Granger has had a slight attack of 
 faintness, Possibly you had better go in a moment. 
 I will take your hand. Whose play is it?" he con 
 tinued, coolly taking the vacant chair. 
 
 " Diamonds are trumps, colonel, and I IIPVP just led," 
 
94 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 answered Mr. Ainslie. " Major Granger threw on a 
 heart, but rectified the error before Mr. Frazier played. 
 The lieutenant claims a revoke." 
 
 " Nonsense I" said the colonel. " It was your king, 
 I presume. Lead again." And Wilkins subsided, 
 there was no arguing with the chief. 
 
 But Major Granger did not return, neither did the 
 music begin. A hush had gradually fallen on the 
 assembly. Presently it was known to everybody that 
 Mrs. Granger had " fainted dead away," as Mrs. Tur 
 ner said, and still lay in a swoon. 
 
 " What on earth is she fainting for this time?" added 
 that injured lady. "Is she subject to fits? She 
 dropped like a log the night Mr. Blake stumbled into 
 her hall, and here she goes again. One would think 
 she had done enough to spoil our germaii without this 
 sensational climax." 
 
 But everybody knew Mrs. Turner was wroth at 
 the attention lavished on the major s beautiful wife, 
 and her remarks fell on unappreciative ears. It is 
 very hard to take the part of one woman against 
 another who is manifestly much more beautiful. It 
 was ten minutes or so before she revived, and twenty 
 before the music was resumed and the german went on. 
 Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Raymond remained with her, 
 so did Dr. Pease. Meantime, an orderly had been 
 despatched for the landau. She had insisted on their 
 resuming the dance at once, but the doctor agreed with 
 her that she had best go home. When the carriage 
 was announced she came forth, hooded and wrapped in 
 some white fleecy mantle than which her face could 
 hardly have had a shade more of color. The dance 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 95 
 
 was in full swing, but half a dozen ladies hurried after 
 her to the door, and her pathway was lined with men, 
 eager to express sympathy or to be of service. Mrs. 
 Freeman and Mrs. Raymond, however, did not come 
 forth from the dressing-room until some minutes after 
 she had driven away, and when they did, their answers 
 to thronging questions were constrained. It was Dr. 
 Pease who supported her to the carriage, Granger fol 
 lowing in their wake, somewhat absently saying good 
 night and his thanks for the sympathy expressed on 
 every hand. The colonel himself accompanied the 
 party to the entrance, and the adjutant sprang upon 
 the box beside the driver to pass the carriage over the 
 sentry lines. The doctor handed Mrs. Granger in and 
 quickly took his seat by her side. Granger followed, 
 his back being now to the front. Captain Truscott 
 stepped hastily forth and turned sharply to the left out 
 of the bright glare that shone from the entrance full 
 upon the stylish carriage just as the colonel extended 
 his hand to wish the party good-night. And Truscott 
 was just in time to intercept a tall figure, muffled in 
 an officer s cape, and to bring it to a halt by the brief, 
 stern words : 
 
 " Back, Blake ! Don t you see the colonel ? This 
 will never do." 
 
 And then the landau whirled away. Ten minutes 
 later, when Mrs. Freeman stole behind the scenes to see 
 how her protg&e was getting on, she found Nannie 
 Bryan looking pale and tired ; " ready to go home," 
 she said, though her companions were still alert, 
 devoured with curiosity and interest. What had hap 
 pened to Mrs. Granger? they begged to know. One of 
 
96 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 them fierce little partisan of her regiment that she 
 was thought it a judgment that this sudden stroke of 
 illness had come upon her. Blake had gone, no one 
 knew where or why, unless perhaps it was the silent 
 child who sat there listless and weary. Mrs. Free 
 man danced just once more, then stole quietly away 
 and took her home. She, too, had had enough of 
 that night s german. Something was afloat that 
 she could not fathom, but that made her pure heart 
 ache. 
 
 Just what had taken place can best be gathered from 
 Mrs. Raymond s excited recital. She had followed 
 Mrs. Granger closely as they entered the dressing-room. 
 Both the maids were at the door-way at the moment, 
 and Mrs. Granger had suddenly uttered a cry, rushed 
 forward and picked up from the floor a handsome seal 
 skin sacque. Beside it, half on the floor, half on the 
 chair, was the white mantle she wore over all. Mrs. 
 Granger whisked the sacque from the ground and, with 
 cheeks white as a sheet and eyes that seemed wild with 
 apprehension, had hurriedly examined one pocket after 
 another ; then searched the floor ; then had as hurriedly 
 drawn aside the folds of the great garrison flag that was 
 draped across the room, and then had fallen like one 
 stricken dead. There was a long rent in the canvas 
 behind the flag, and one could look through it into the 
 men s dressing-room beyond. What she had lost, 
 what she had found, what she had seen, no one knew. 
 The maid declared that no one had entered the room 
 during supper, that Mrs. Granger had carefully rolled 
 and folded her mantle around the sealskin sacque when, 
 she arrived and placed it herself upon that camp-chair 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 97 
 
 in the corner. Neither one of them could account for 
 its being found upon the floor, unrolled. 
 
 Another thing that Mrs. Freeman saw and shrank 
 from telling, but that Mrs. Raymond saw and told, 
 was that when Major Granger tendered his arm to his 
 wife to lead her to the carriage, she utterly recoiled 
 from him and turned and almost clung to Dr. Pease. 
 
98 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BREAKFAST was served at a decidedly late hour in 
 most of the households along officers row the day that 
 followed the ladies germau. The colonel and his 
 entire commissioned force, of course, turned out at 
 reveille, as was the rule in the th, and tramped 
 sleepily down to stables. Some of the youngsters, 
 indeed, had not gone to bed at all. It was after 
 three o clock when the last figure ended, and everybody 
 crowded around the reception committee to declare it 
 the most delightful party ever given at the fort, " Ever 
 given in the wide world," said the enthusiastic mayor, 
 as he bowed his adieux to Mrs. Atherton. Hollis, too, 
 came in for his share of congratulation. There was 
 no question as to his ability to lead a cotillon when 
 once fairly started ; and Tommy shook hands with 
 everybody and received his ovation with all proper 
 modesty ; but down in the depths of his heart there 
 was disquietude, if not dismay. Mrs. Granger s sudden 
 illness and early departure from the scene was a source 
 of profound disappointment. Indeed, as he listened to 
 the theories and speculations that fell from the pretty 
 lips of his various partners, it became something even 
 worse. 
 
 " What do I think ?" said Mrs. Wilkins. " It s 
 as plain as the nose on your face, Tommy Hollis 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 99 
 
 There was something in that gorgeous sealskin sacqtie 
 that wasn t intended for her husband, but he s the man 
 that got it. Maybe it was a letter for you, Tommy." 
 
 He was too nervous and excited to go to bed when 
 finally the lights were extinguished and the revellers 
 had strolled homeward across the parade. He knew 
 perfectly well that Mrs. Turner expected him to escort 
 her to her domicile, despite the fact that her lord was 
 patiently waiting in the dressing-room ; but he dreaded 
 the questions she would be sure to ask, and the com 
 ments she would not fail to make. He would not even 
 join the knot of youngsters who made for the club- 
 room as soon as they got out of their dress-coats. 
 Mrs. Wilkins s theory had taken powerful possession of 
 him and he wanted to be alone. 
 
 But there was no dodging the crowd when stable 
 duty was over and the score of officers came strolling 
 up the road, the youngsters all in a body. He had 
 not slept a wink. He had been turning the situation 
 over and over in his mind, and could think of nothing 
 else. He passed in review all the events of his year s 
 acquaintance with Mrs. Granger; her evident preference 
 for his society at the very start ; the delightful winter 
 and spring in which he had been almost always her 
 escort ; her avowed fondness for him as a partner in 
 the dance and on their rides ; then her unexpected 
 journey to the East, and the prolonged stay at the sea 
 shore. He well remembered the lowered voice in which 
 she had made the announcement, and the expression 
 of those lovely gray eyes, as she looked up into his 
 face. 
 
 " It is my husband s wish," she said ; " he thinks I 
 
100 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 need the change. But, are you not coming to the 
 East?" 
 
 Poor Tommy ! He could ill afford it, but this was 
 fascination beyond anything he had ever dreamed of. 
 She was gone when the th came through on their 
 way to the Indian country. She was away all sum 
 mer, and in August he got his leave and spent days 
 with her at the sea-shore. Would he ever forget those 
 moonlit nights when the lazy ground-swell broke boom 
 ing upon the sands, and sent the hissing waters to her 
 very feet, those dainty feet with their wondrous clocked 
 stockings and the high-heeled, tan-colored shoes. People 
 had begun to look at him askance before he was there 
 forty-eight hours ; but what did he care ? He knew 
 no one there and cared to know no one but her, and, 
 as for her, was not her husband s mother there to see 
 that decorum was observed ? It was a resort where 
 women were many and men were few ; where the band 
 played every night at the pavilion, and where many a 
 girl, partnerless, looked on and watched that beautiful 
 Mrs. Granger dance waltz after waltz with the tall, dis 
 tinguished young officer who was so deeply smitten with 
 her. They knew well enough she was only playing 
 with him and revelling in his infatuation. They could 
 see what he could not, that whenever he had to take a 
 few days for the home people other men came down 
 from town and danced in his stead. She had half a 
 dozen devotees who never saw one another, or, if they 
 did, regarded each other only with the pity due an un 
 successful rival. That delicious month all too soon 
 had come to an end. He had gone back to the frontier 
 to accept his desired transfer to the cavalry ; had 
 
CAPTAIN 
 
 ridden to the Black Hills to meet the th on their 
 homeward way, and, when at last she returned from 
 the East, had hastened to throw himself again at her 
 feet, regardless of the coldness and sarcasms of her 
 rightful lord. Had she not told him she shuddered 
 whenever her husband drew near ? Had she not con 
 fided to him that it was a hateful marriage into which 
 the prayers of a beloved father had forced her? Had 
 she not half confessed that only in his society did she 
 find life bearable ? She was so lonely, so wretched, so 
 wronged ; her gay society manner only a mask, behind 
 which in secret she made her moan. How lovely, how 
 pathetic, how ah, yes, how enticing she looked when, 
 as though overwhelmed by the contemplation of her 
 weight of woe, she had sprung from the sofa on which 
 she was reclining, over which he was adoringly bend 
 ing, and, rushing to the mantel, had thrown her lovely 
 arms aloft in tragic despair, then pressed her filmy 
 kerchief to her eyes, while great sobs shook her frame, 
 that willowy, exquisite form. Poor boy ! No won 
 der he rushed with outstretched arms, passionately 
 breathing her name, Madeleine ! and in his wild in 
 fatuation would have clasped her to his breast and said 
 heaven knows what. But no. She knew her role to 
 perfection. The jewelled hand gently but firmly 
 warned him back. With what a world of sweet resigna 
 tion, of appealing helplessness, of trust and confidence, 
 of sadly smiling, hopeless sorrow she murmured, 
 
 " No, don t don t make it harder than I can bear, 
 my one friend." And her tear-wet eyes gazed implor 
 ingly into his, though she let him seize the snowy hand 
 and cover it with his mad kisses. Then, was she not 
 
 9* 
 
102 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 admirable in the sudden change of tone, pose, expres 
 sion, everything with which she went on ? 
 
 " No, Mr. Hollis, honestly, I think you ought not 
 to attempt D Alroy ; Captain Hawtree is very much 
 more your style if you will make up a little. Come 
 in, dear. We re just trying that scene from l Caste/ 
 Now, do it again, Mr. Hollis, and you see if Fm not 
 right, major." And there was that grim, spectacled 
 ghost at the door- way, looking sardonically on. Tommy 
 could only turn all the colors in the spectrum and 
 mutter, " Er er yes, er Caste/ " but thanked God 
 that Granger didn t stay to hear him " read his lines" 
 again. The major went on to the dining-room in those 
 confounded noiseless arctics of his, only remarking that 
 the rehearsal seemed realistic enough to suit the most 
 exacting audience. But she kept gallantly on with 
 her instructions as to the " business" of the part of 
 D Alroy and with laughing comment on his lack of 
 ardor in the role of a lover, until Granger once more 
 slouched through the hall and let himself out the way 
 he had not come in, the front door, and then she 
 dropped, nerveless, into the great arm-chair. 
 
 And yet, with the fatuity of puppyhood, Tommy 
 Hollis galloped back to the garrison believing himself 
 the hero of a romantic and thrilling love-affair with 
 the most beautiful and accomplished woman in the 
 West. When he sought to see her again she whispered 
 caution, 
 
 " Do not try to see me alone any more, just now, 
 not until I tell you." And obedient to her behest he 
 had ceased going thither every day, and yet invented 
 or discovered incessant excuses for dropping in at the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 103 
 
 depot, as all men at the fort could see and all women 
 knew without seeing. Then had come the delicious 
 interview in which he tendered to her the honor of 
 leading the german to be given by the ladies of his 
 own regiment, crowning her queen above them all. 
 Then had followed the strange and startling interrup 
 tion, Blake s plunging fall through the door-way. No 
 wonder she fainted, a woman whose life had been 
 such a nervous strain. Then the next day s visit when 
 he could not see her alone a moment, and then the rue 
 ful interview in which he had to tell her he had re 
 signed the leadership and must ask her to release him. 
 She had simply enchained him the more, for she said 
 no word to him of indignation on heir own account; it 
 was all sorrow that he should have suffered so much 
 for her sake. 
 
 " I must see you talk with you, just a few minutes 
 to-night," she whispered, as they danced together, 
 though her face was averted, smiling upon the lookers- 
 on as she spoke. " Is the side door to the stage open ? 
 Didn t I see Captain Truscott go in there just now? 
 Couldn t we be alone there one minute ?" His heart 
 had bounded with thrilling delight. 
 
 " I ll fix it somehow/ he murmured. 
 
 But fate had fixed it otherwise. Could it be as 
 Mrs. Wilkins had said, it was a letter from him 
 that Granger had captured? He joined the crowd 
 of sleepy, red-eyed youngsters, hoping that in their 
 questions or comments something might be elicited. 
 They were talking of the slit in the canvas partition, 
 but he knew all about that; he had examined it the 
 last thing before putting out the lights. A big bureau 
 
104 CAPTAIN BLAKE. ^ 
 
 stood in the men s dressing-room beyond the card- and 
 punch-room. It was not visible from the table or from 
 where D Orsay presided over the bowl. It was an 
 easy thing for any one with a sharp-pointed knife to 
 slit the canvas any desired distance, slip through, raise* 
 the folds of the flag beyond, and "raid 7 the ladies 
 dressing-room while the maids were engrossed in the 
 scene on the dancing-floor. It could have been done 
 unobserved, and who could have done it but Granger? 
 It was an awfully embarrassing affair. But for Mrs. 
 Raymond nothing really need have been known ; but 
 she had noted Mrs. Granger s impetuous rush to the 
 partition, had seen her raise the folds of the flag, then 
 fall prone to earth, and of course the moment after she, 
 too, had peered in there and had caught sight of the 
 back of a bureau through the long vertical slit. This 
 confirmed her theory that some one had stolen some 
 thing from Mrs. Granger s sacque and she could no 
 more keep it to herself than refuse to listen to some 
 exciting bit of gossip. She had shown it to half a 
 dozen women in less than half a dozen minutes, and 
 before the ball broke up almost every one had been in 
 to take a peep at that mysterious gap. The colonel 
 had looked very grave indeed, and had given Mr. Clark 
 directions to see that it was not disturbed all night. 
 It might be possible to discover what sort of a knife 
 had made the slit, for everybody knew nothing of the 
 kind was in the canvas when that bureau was moved 
 in during the afternoon. The colonel had questioned 
 D Orsay as to the men who had entered the dressing- 
 room. Nearly all of them had, said that dignified 
 servitor, both civilians from town and officers of the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 105 
 
 post. The maids stuck to their sto:y, too, and alto 
 gether a most unpleasant sensation was afloat. Granger 
 might ransack his wife s pockets as much as he pleased 
 outside the garrison. That was none of their busi 
 ness. But when it came to slicing up their partitions 
 and abusing their hospitality in this way, " By gad," 
 said old Stannard, " it s burglary, whoever did it/ 
 And yet when Hollis joined the party the chatter 
 ceased, for they had been discussing the possible object 
 which Granger might have had in view, and Tommy, 
 thirsting for further information, found it impossible to 
 extract a word except in response to direct question. 
 It really seemed to them as though Blake s prophecy 
 had come true, for almost all the officers in the regi 
 ment were feeling that Hollis had indeed made a tre 
 mendous mess of things. 
 
 In silence the party trudged up the slope and came 
 once more in view of the colonel, who had stopped 
 short and was reading a despatch, evidently just 
 brought him by the soldier telegraph operator. He 
 folded it, walked slowly on, accompanied by the major 
 and Captain Freeman. 
 
 "Now what s up?" queried Mr. Dana. "There 
 goes the orderly for Billings. It s a detail of some 
 kind. Tommy, you may have a chance to lead a 
 charge instead of a gerrnan." 
 
 And that it meant something immediate and im 
 portant was apparent from the fact that, instead of 
 turning in at their respective quarters, the colonel and 
 his staff-officer went on together and disappeared within 
 the gloomy portals of the office building. 
 
 "What makes you think it is a detail for a scout?" 
 
106 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 asked Hollis nervously of Mr. Dana, as they stood for 
 a moment to note whether or no the colonel went to 
 the office. 
 
 " You don t read the signs of the times, Lymph ; 
 there were Indians on the Chugwater last week and 
 over at Scott s Bluffs two days ago. There is that 
 convoy of wounded coming down from the Powder 
 River; there is the paymaster s ambulance going up 
 to-day. Three reasons why some of us may look for 
 orders for a winter march. Isn t that so, Hunter?" 
 
 " Sure as shooting, Tommy ; and ten to one it will 
 be you or Corry that ll have to go, and as you re the 
 senior I m betting on you." 
 
 " You don t really mean it, Hunter?" 
 
 " Why, certainly, Lymph. I ll bet you what you 
 like Billings will be down in ten minutes to tell you to 
 get ready." 
 
 Hollis s face was wrapped in gloom. For a moment 
 he stood there looking grievously worried and per 
 plexed ; then, half hesitatingly, he glanced up. 
 
 "But see here, fellows, we re just beginning re 
 hearsals for Caste. We ve got to give that play in 
 three weeks, and I don t see how I can go. Don t you 
 think the colonel would make a change if the stage 
 manager were to tell him ?" 
 
 Dana s ribs ached from the vigorous nudge inflicted 
 by Hunter s elbow. 
 
 " Think ? Why, Tommy, I don t see how he could 
 have the heart to send you off at such a time. Let s 
 see, Blake s to be stage manager, isn t he ? By all 
 means run in and wake him up and tell him of the 
 impending crisis and get him to go to the chief. Oh, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 107 
 
 he ll go," added the youngster, sagely, though hardly 
 able to keep a straight face. And then Mr. Hunter 
 slipped up stairs into the one room the crowded con 
 dition of the garrison restricted him to, and there burst 
 into a guffaw that straightway brought Mr. Iloyce 
 from the adjoining apartment, who joined in the shout 
 of laughter as soon as he heard its cause. But Hollis 
 went drearily to his own quarters. Things were taking 
 a turn he little dreamed of. 
 
 Meantime, the colonel was sitting silently at his desk, 
 conning over the list the adjutant had set before him. 
 At last he stretched forth his hand for the telegram, 
 looked it over once more, then spoke. 
 
 " Strictly, I suppose, Mr. Royce or Mr. Webster 
 should go; neither has yet had a tour of detached 
 duty ; but, on the other hand, they have only recently 
 come in from that country, and it isn t fair to send 
 them right back so long as we have any one else. It 
 lies between Hollis and Corry," he finished, decisively, 
 "and you may tell Mr. Hollis to get ready at once. 7 
 
 "Very well, sir. And the detachment?" 
 
 " From Gregg s troop. Fifteen men will do. Let 
 them take five day s rations from here. They can get 
 what more they want at Fetterman, and then at the 
 cantonment." 
 
 " I don t see why the other posts could not better 
 have sent out the party," said the adjutant, after a 
 moment s silence. 
 
 " Nor do I ; but as things are going," added the 
 colonel, slowly, ii I think perhaps it is just as well. 
 It will take him away for a month." 
 
 The adjutant grinned. " I fear the dramatic associa- 
 
108 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 tion will be sorely afflicted, sir. Mr. Hollis had cast 
 himself for the part of the lover in the play they are 
 about rehearsing." 
 
 "So I had heard/ 7 was the slow reply. And the 
 colonel s moustache was twitching a trifle in sympathy 
 with the corners of his mouth. " I think but for that 
 circumstance we might have given Mr. Corry a chance 
 to distinguish himself. No, sir," he continued, rising 
 with quick, decided movement, " Mr. Hollis goes." 
 
 And when the ladies began to appear at the late 
 breakfast tables along the row, guard-mount was long 
 over, and the news was flitting from house to house 
 that the leader of last night s german was ordered off 
 on some sudden duty the nature of which was not 
 thoroughly understood, and Mrs. Turner, who had not 
 forgiven his defection of the wee sma 7 hours that 
 morning, was ready with her inference and conclusions. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 1Q9 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "HORACE, what do you think Mina says?" 
 Captain Turner was intrenched behind the morn 
 ing paper, that mortal enemy to conjugal confabs. 
 Already had his helpmeet begun to assail him with 
 question and theory as to this sudden detail of Gregg s 
 second lieutenant; and, as was his habit when thus 
 attacked, he had retired behind the columns of The 
 Leader. It was nearly eleven o clock, and he was 
 hungry, poor fellow, for, except the cup of coffee his 
 " striker" had made for him at dawn, not a morsel had 
 passed his lips. The cook had long since offered to 
 bring his breakfast, but he declined, preferring to wait 
 until his wife had slept her fill. She came down at 
 last, languid, sleepy-eyed, with cheeks bereft of the 
 bloom that usually decked them, the pink roses had 
 changed their hue to yellow, with dark circles under 
 her eyes, with tousled hair and a morning-gown that 
 ill became her ; and she had fled precipitately to the 
 kitchen when Mr. Corry suddenly came into the little 
 army parlor to see his captain on some immediate busi 
 ness. She had paraded that young officer about for 
 nearly a month as a new conquest when he first re 
 ported in the fall, but already he had outgrown his 
 leading-strings, and was one of " Mrs. Turner s grad 
 uates" in much less than the usual course. Corry dis- 
 
 10 
 
HO CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 posed of, the captain had waited some minutes longer 
 for breakfast, listening to a Babel of voices in animated 
 colloquy in the kitchen, and at last had ventured to 
 ring the bell. He hated these kitchen gatherings. In 
 the easy-going methods of the frontier it was so handy 
 for Mrs. Freeman s cook to trot in through the hole in 
 the fence to borrow a cupful of sugar, or Mrs. Billings s 
 Ethiopian maid to beg a pat of butter, or Mrs. Heath s 
 " striker" to ask the loan of the skillet " their s was 
 busted," and one and all to spend five minutes or so in 
 making partial payment by the tender of such news or 
 gossip as might have come to them. Many a time, as 
 Turner well knew, the alleged object of the errand was 
 a shallow pretence, a mere cover for the mad desire to 
 be the first to tell some lively piece of scandal. And 
 time and again had he remonstrated with his pretty but 
 petulant spouse to no effect beyond throwing her into 
 a passion of tears and reproaches, and a plea to be sent 
 home to her own people where she was not being per 
 petually nagged for things she could not prevent. 
 "How can I help their coming here and talking?" she 
 indignantly demanded. "You wouldn t have me 
 order them off the premises, would you?" Turner 
 mildly replied that he thought she could at least refuse 
 to listen to these yarns, either from their lips or by 
 transmission through those of her own kitchen goddess. 
 But it always ended in his defeat and his going gloomily 
 off to his troop or to the store that refuge of martial- 
 marital woe feeling sure that his view was the right 
 one, yet helpless in his effort to suppress this long- 
 established back-door " bureau of information." As 
 for Mrs. Turner, she was too volatile to long remember 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. HI 
 
 either his wishes or her own woe. The days were few 
 when she had not some new gossip to bubble over, 
 and, being unable to think of anything else, could not 
 wait to meet her cronies, but had to try its effect on him. 
 It was this that always drove him behind his paper. 
 There was no answer to her question. 
 
 " Horace," she called again. " Do put down that 
 stupid paper a minute." (It was the winter when for 
 weeks we knew not which party would seat its presi 
 dent; when civil war, confusion, and anarchy were 
 staring us in the face, and no man could tell what the 
 day might bring forth.) The captain lay down the 
 details of the exciting debate in the House and strove 
 *.o come back to the affairs of his daily life. 
 
 u What do you suppose Mina says ?" 
 
 " Mina who ?" 
 
 " Why," with a pout, " Mina next door. You know 
 perfectly well who I mean." 
 
 u How should I know what Mina says ?" he asked, 
 gravely. 
 
 " Well, you might at least try and be interested in 
 things that are so interesting to everybody else. I 
 must tell you, if I can t other people." 
 
 Turner sighed. 
 
 " Don t you think you might find something a little 
 more worthy your attention, Fanny?" he asked, 
 sadly. " I do not know what Mina has to say now. 
 I do not want to know, for she has brought more 
 scandal and gossip into this house than any two women 
 along the back yards in this post." He came danger 
 ously near saying something about those of the front 
 yards as well, but checked himself in time. 
 
112 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " I declare, Captain Turner, you just make me wish 
 I d never been born, sometimes, with all these superior 
 airs and morals. I can t help it if people come and tell 
 me things. I must have something to think about? 
 And since you won t talk to me, what can I do?" 
 
 She had him there, poor fellow, and yet it was no 
 fault of his. There was no subject under the canopy 
 of heaven that he knew anything about that afforded 
 her the faintest entertainment. She yawned and 
 looked bored at his best eiforts, yet would be all anima 
 tion in an instant when other men came in or other 
 women were under discussion. 
 
 " Well," he asked, resignedly, " what does Mina 
 say ?" 
 
 " Well, you know her sister worked at Major 
 Granger s before she went to live at Mrs. Pond s in 
 town ?" 
 
 " I confess I did not," said the captain. " In fact, 
 I don t remember ever having heard of her sister 
 before." 
 
 " Well, she did ; and she was with them until Mrs. 
 Granger went East, and she says that Mrs. Granger 
 promised to take her back as soon as she returned from 
 the sea-shore, and so she only took this place at Mrs. 
 Pond s for the time being, and yet when Mrs. Granger 
 came she brought new servants with her, and wouldn t 
 have Annie at all. Wasn t it mean ?" 
 
 " There may have been some reason which we know 
 nothing about." 
 
 " Mrs. Granger would have been wise not to have 
 turned her off in that way. Mina says Annie told 
 her all sorts of things. She says that one night, just 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 113 
 
 before they went East, Mr. Hollis was there in the 
 parlor, and Major Granger came back from town in a 
 rage and ordered him out of the house, and swore he d 
 shoot him if he ever came again, and after he d gone 
 there was an awful scene between him and her. She 
 declared she would never forgive him for such an in 
 sult; said she d go back home at once, and then he 
 told her if she did he d publish some letters he had of 
 her s, and she dared him to, called him a coward and a 
 thief, and then he lost all control of himself and beat 
 her, and she screamed for help, and he tried to gag 
 her. Why, it was perfectly awful ! Think of it, 
 Horace." For the captain was sitting there with an 
 absolutely and exasperatingly wooden expression on 
 his face ; and when Mrs. Turner found him thus un 
 moved by the first presentation of her story, it was her 
 habit to go over its salient details again, accenting 
 every other word. 
 
 "Think ! beat her till she scur-reamed for help, and 
 he gagged her. Wasn t it awful, Horace? And all 
 on Mr. Hollis s account." 
 
 " Awful, yes, as a piece of mendacity. I don t 
 believe a word of it." 
 
 "Well, I do; because I ll tell you," exclaimed 
 Mrs. Turner, waxing forgetful in her anxiety to score 
 a point. " Mina says she went there last week to call 
 on Mrs. Granger s Martha, the new girl, and they re 
 from the same town in the old country, and Martha 
 said if she had known what sort of people she was 
 going to live with she d never have come out with 
 Mrs. Granger in the world no matter what wages she 
 offered. The major was always spying about in her 
 h 10* 
 
114 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 trunks and desk when she was out; and they quar 
 relled fearfully, and he often struck her, and then they 
 wouldn t speak for days, and then he d come in and 
 cry and beg her pardon and swear he loved her to 
 madness and was jealous of every man who looked at 
 her. Oh, I believe it. Don t you ?" 
 
 "I. believe this, Fanny, as I have told you, God 
 knows how often before," said the captain, solemnly, 
 " that it is utterly unbecoming in you or any lady to 
 permit servants to come to you with such infamous 
 stories. You permit my house to be the rendezvous 
 of these wretched tale-bearers despite all I have said 
 and urged." 
 
 " Captain Turner, I think you re too outrageous for 
 anything," protested the lady, springing from the table, 
 her cheeks aflame, her eyes blazing. "I d like to 
 know how I m to prevent people from talking if they 
 want to. I don t ask them here, as you seem to think, 
 /don t want them to come. They just come and then 
 you declare I invite them ; that I herd with servants 
 and live on their scandals, and I ve no doubt you think 
 I m responsible for half the things that are said around 
 the garrison this very minute." (I fear me that if the 
 captain were cross-examined on that point he would 
 have to plead guilty.) " You blame me for everything 
 
 even/thing. Oh, dear oh, dear, I wish " And 
 
 here Mrs. Turner threw herself on the parlor sofa and 
 wept and rocked herself to and fro in plaintive misery. 
 Turner arose and walked slowly up and down the 
 dimly-lighted room, for the shades were not yet raised. 
 
 " I do not accuse you as you say, my child," he sadly 
 spoke, " but I do hold that you have no business what- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 115 
 
 ever to go to your kitchen and listen to these poor 
 creatures " 
 
 "No," she interrupted, "I know Fve no right in 
 my own kitchen or anywhere else," sobbed Mrs. Turner, 
 in withering sarcasm. " I go there simply to see that 
 your coffee is right and your breakfast prepared, and 
 for all this I m lectured like a common felon." 
 
 " Breakfast had been waiting an hour before you 
 came, Fanny," was Turner s answer. " Jane had been 
 in three times to say it was spoiling. You darted out 
 there to avoid being seen by Mr. Corry and never came 
 back until I had rung twice. You were there over 
 ten minutes by the clock, and your voice was quite as 
 audible as the others." He had more to add, but such 
 an array of evidence no right-minded woman could be 
 expected to listen to. Suddenly reminded of these 
 forgotten particulars, Mrs. Turner sprang from the sofa 
 and rushed, sobbing, to the sanctity of her own apart 
 ment, having time for only one arrow before she 
 vehemently locked and bolted the door : 
 
 " God pity me ! And this is the man who swore 
 to love and protect Oh, me ! Oh, me !" 
 
 Turner left his breakfast unfinished and went forth, 
 sighing heavily. Just a door or two beyond, Mrs. 
 Truscott, looking as bonny and blithe as a peach-blos 
 som, was tucking baby Jack into his little carriage, 
 the captain bending over his son and heir and tickling 
 him into one of those toothless smiles that bring such 
 bliss and sunshine into parental hearts, and then the 
 nursemaid trundled the tiny soldier-boy away, and 
 Grace linked her hands about her husband s arm and 
 they stood there together a moment, looking after that 
 
116 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 diminutive entity with eyes that plainly told their story 
 of love and joy and hope unutterable; and Turner 
 stopped short at the gate. He had nowhere in par 
 ticular to go, no duty to call him forth. It was too 
 cold for drill and Mr. Corry was with the troop at 
 horse exercise. Mrs. Truscott caught sight of him, 
 and nodded and smiled brightly, and Turner mechani 
 cally raised his cap and stood watching her, as, after a 
 final long gaze towards the glistening white baby- 
 carriage, she turned back to the open door-way, and, 
 clinging fondly to her husband s arm, and gazing joy 
 ously up into his face, drew him back to their cheery 
 fireside. A lump rose in Turner s throat and a film 
 covered his tired eyes. He glanced one instant at the 
 dormer window on the second floor, where the curtains 
 were still drawn, and at the parlor windows where the 
 shades still shut out all view of the interior. He 
 glanced back towards the rear of the house, where the 
 sound of shrill voices caught his ear, and where " Mina 
 next door" was still gabbling over the fence to his 
 cook. He saw the firelight dancing in the hearth 
 through the white lace curtains that hung at the win 
 dows of his comrade s home, the other half of the 
 brown, clapboarded cottage, but there was no light, 
 no light of any kind in his. He turned slowly, 
 drearily down the road. There stood the store at the 
 gate-way. It was better, at least, than nothing. 
 
 Meantime, the colonel was fuming at head-quarters. 
 It was now after eleven o clock. For thirty minutes 
 a detachment of troopers had been standing in the open 
 space back of the office stamping their feet on the 
 frozen ground and impatiently awaiting the word to 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 117 
 
 mount and be off. In fur caps, gloves, and buffalo 
 overshoes, their nether limbs incased in Indian leggings, 
 the collars of their big overcoats turned up about their 
 ears, their saddles packed with blanket, haversack, and 
 canteen, their carbines slung from the broad black belt, 
 the revolvers peeping from the leathern holsters ; every 
 thing in their guise indicated preparation for a long 
 march northward into the teeth of the wintry bliz 
 zards that swept the wild plains beyond the Platte. 
 Jn vain had messenger after messenger been sent for 
 Mr. Hollis. He had not been found. 
 
 " You are sure you ordered him to start at 10.30," 
 said the colonel to Mr. Billings for the third or fourth 
 time. 
 
 " Perfectly, sir." 
 
 The colonel took a turn or two up and down the 
 office. " And yet Captain Gregg tells me he rode away 
 at nine o clock in the direction of town. Is all Mr. 
 Hollis s baggage in the wagon, sergeant?" 
 
 " Everything, sir. We loaded up at the lieutenant s 
 quarters before he rode away." 
 
 "Then mount your detachment and march on to 
 Lodge Pole. Keep the main road. Mr. Hollis will 
 overtake you." And, glad to be off, the sergeant 
 saluted and hurried out to his men. The colonel, with 
 righteous indignation in his face, returned to his desk. 
 
 It was high noon and the trumpet was pealing mess- 
 I and orderly-call when poor Tommy came galloping into 
 the post, followed by two of the three couriers sent in 
 search of him. Obedient to his orders and with sorely 
 flustered spirit, he hastened to the adjutant s office and 
 was dismounting when the colonel appeared on t,hp rorch. 
 
118 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Never mind dismounting, sir. Keep your saddle. 
 You have lost an hour and a half already, for your 
 command marched long ago. Now, are you ready, or 
 have you still matters to attend to ?" 
 
 " I m all ready, colonel. I declare I d no idea I 
 was so late. I hurried all " 
 
 " Never mind details, Mr. Hollis. You are ready, 
 you say. Then start at once; follow the trail of your 
 men and don t quit it till you overtake them." And 
 with this the chief whirled about and plunged into his 
 sanctum ; and, in mingled relief and wretchedness, 
 Tommy clucked to his steaming horse and trotted 
 around to the rear of the office, then, striking a lope, 
 rode steadily away across the open, rolling prairie to 
 wards the cold, distant ridge-line at the north. It was 
 by no means the march forth he had pictured himself, 
 as making down the length of officer s row, with all the 
 ladies waving him good-by. It was an ignominious 
 exit at best, but he had escaped the terrible rasping he 
 well knew he had deserved, and the colonel had not 
 even asked him where and how he had been so long 
 detained. Mrs. Atherton was just coming forth into 
 the keen, frosty air to try the bracing effect of a stroll 
 in the radiant sunshine, and a chat with some of her 
 friends, as Hollis vanished. One of the messengers 
 threw his horse s reins over the rail across the row and, 
 saluting her as he would an officer, a fashion many of 
 the men had fallen into, handed her a letter. 
 
 " Oh ! Was Mrs. Granger well enough to write?" 
 she exclaimed. " I m so glad. Thank you, Burns. 
 I did not expect an answer for half an hour yet. You 
 must have ridden hard." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 119 
 
 " I did, ma am. The colonel sent me there full 
 gallop, with orders to find Mr. Hollis, and we came 
 back the same way." 
 
 " Oh ! Was Mr. Hollis there ?" 
 
 u Yes, ma am, he was at Major Granger s, and " 
 
 But Mrs. Atherton was already busy reading her 
 letter, and had turned away, walking slowly down the 
 path. 
 
 u How sweet of you, dear Mrs. Atherton, to write to 
 me so early and kindly. Do not worry ; I am quite 
 myself this morning, and only miserable that I should 
 have lost so much of that loveliest of germans, and 
 all for nothing. There has been no robbery of any 
 consequence, such as you feared, and, indeed, I did at 
 first when I saw my ransacked sealskin, and that slit in 
 the canvas. Very possibly the thief was interrupted, 
 for the porte-monnaie I thought was gone, and which 
 contained some valuable papers, was safe in the inner 
 pocket. All he took was a roll of small bills, and 
 that was doubtless his only object. These absurd faint 
 ing spells have come upon me in the most unaccount 
 able way of late, and I feel that I owe you all an apol 
 ogy for having so abominably disturbed the harmony 
 of your lovely party. Do forgive me, and with my 
 love and thanks to you and all who so kindly inquired, 
 I am 
 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 " MADELEINE GRANGER. 
 
 " P.S. May I burden you with this little note for 
 Mr. Blake. Major Granges says the orderly is waiting." 
 
120 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " This little note for Mr. Blake," quoth her ladyship, 
 reflectively, "is somewhat bulkier than mine. Oh! 
 Mr. Billings !" she called, as the adjutant came spin 
 ning along in his usual hurry. "Just give this to 
 Mr. Blake, will you ? I m going in to see Mrs. 
 Gregg." And Billings accordingly banged in at 
 Blake s door; finding that gentleman seated at the 
 centre-table, the bandage still over his eye, puffing 
 away at a brier-root pipe, while Ray was busy writing 
 at the desk. 
 
 " What ho ! my winged mercury. Speak from thy 
 lungs military, bully knight, and say what hast thou," 
 shouted Blake, closing the book on his lap with sudden 
 snap. 
 
 " Note for you from Mrs. Atherton. How are you, 
 old man?" asked the adjutant, tossing the missive on 
 the table. 
 
 " Leave off discourse of disability. I m fit for 
 Hell!" The note went spinning from his fingers, pro 
 jected by a nervous jerk, a quick, convulsive shudder 
 that seemed to shoot through every nerve, the instant 
 he caught sight of the superscription of the billet he 
 had begun so idly to turn over. He sprang from his 
 chair and caught it at the hearth, then stowed it with 
 twitching hands in an inner pocket of his blouse, turn 
 ing his back upon his friends. 
 
 " Well, that s about as frank a confession as I ve 
 heard in a year, Legs," drawled Ray, turning slowly 
 in his chair. " Why ! what s amiss, man ?" he added, 
 with total change of tone, as he quickly left his seat. 
 And then it suddenly dawned on Mr. Billings that 
 there was something there he was not a party to. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 121 
 
 Very probably they never heard his abrupt good-day, 
 or noted his departure. 
 
 Nannie Bryan, with her two new girl-friends, was 
 strolling up the walk as he hurried out, and she looked 
 wistfully into his face while Amy Waldron asked how 
 Mr. Blake was getting on. Turner, too, happened 
 along at the moment, coming back from the store sor 
 rowing over the distressing interview with his wife, 
 and bent on going in to comfort her and make up; 
 but even as he stopped a moment to speak to the ad 
 jutant a door opened up the row; gay, laughing voices 
 were heard in animated chat, Messrs. Dana and Eoyce 
 came forth, Mrs. Turner following them to the porch ; 
 every trace of tears utterly gone, her eyes sparkling, 
 her cheeks glowing, mirth and merriment bubbling 
 from her lips. Turner could hardly believe it the 
 same woman whom he had left an hour agone, plunged 
 in woe and lamentation ; but even now he hardly 
 realized the extent of her recuperative power. She 
 had no more felt all she expressed than she had told 
 him all that Mina next door had revealed. 
 
 And presently Ray came out into the sunshine and 
 went on up towards Truscott s, giving only an absent 
 nod to his friends at Turner s gate, and Blake at last 
 was left alone. He went up into his bed-room, locked 
 and bolted his door, a thing he never had done before, 
 then seated himself by the window and drew forth 
 the little note which had so nearly fallen into the fire. 
 Full five minutes he studied the superscription, turn 
 ing over the dainty missive again and again in his long, 
 slender fingers. At last, though with an effort, he 
 opened and read. 
 
 p 11 
 
122 CAPTAIN SLAKE. 
 
 " GERALD, 
 
 " If you dream what I have perilled, if you bat 
 half suspected what I am daring now for your sake, 
 you could not find it in your heart to treat me with 
 scorn and contempt. I do not plead for forgiveness. 
 I know I wronged you beyond all hope of that ; but 
 you are revenged, for my misery has been complete for 
 years. Ever since your hideous welcome to my roof 
 that night, I have felt that I must see and talk with 
 you, and yesterday I wrote to you, imploringly, telling 
 you what I dare not say again. You have heard of 
 the robbery at the ball. That letter was the only 
 thing taken, and the thief O God, that such dis 
 grace should come to me ! was my husband. There 
 is nothing of which he has not accused me since 
 my return from the East. Gerald, it is a heart 
 broken woman that appeals to you not for for 
 giveness; I dare not ask that; but for mercy. We 
 must meet we shall meet; and when we do, in 
 pity for my suffering, be gentle to me. Some day 
 I will tell you all. Till then, do not judge me too 
 
 harshly. 
 
 " MADELEINE." 
 
 People sometimes compare notes in this world. If 
 Mrs. Atherton and Mr. Blake had but compared these 
 two that came in the one enclosure, very much that 
 afterwards happened might have been avoided. But 
 of course Mr. Gerald Blake never thought of such a 
 thing. On the contrary, he took from a worn old 
 leather writing-case another letter, a worn old letter it 
 was, too; blurred and stained with marks that were 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 123 
 
 not those of time alone ; and this he pored over before, 
 an hour later, he locked them both in that weather- 
 beaten portfolio, stowed it in his trunk, and presently 
 buried his bruised head in his arms and sat there in 
 his dreary room, thinking of by-gone days, mourning 
 a by-gone love. 
 
124 
 
 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IT was one of those rare late winter days that some 
 times dawn upon the eastern slopes of the Rockies. 
 The frosty air was full of ozone, stimulant, and sparkle, 
 and so still and serene that the smoke from every 
 chimney sailed slowly aloft, straight towards the 
 zenith. The sunshine poured down from an unclouded 
 sky, warm, rich, and mellow. The prairie roads were 
 hard and beaten. The prairie sward glistened and 
 glinted with innumerable tiny globules where the sharp 
 touch of the night frosts had fringed every little blade 
 of bunch-grass. Thin, brittle sheets of ice overspread 
 the little pools, where the dancing waters of the 
 acequia had been checked in their rapid flow; and 
 under every pole of the military telegraph line a musi 
 cal hum, like that of some huge single-stringed seolian 
 harp, fell upon the ear. Far to the south the lofty 
 peaks gleamed and shimmered in the radiant sunshine, 
 like huge broad-based cones of purest loaf-sugar ;^ and 
 over to the west the sharp ridge-line of the great divide 
 seemed but half a dozen miles away, though it could 
 not be reached in a long day s march. Except among 
 the heavier clumps of grass and along the trench of 
 the irrigating ditches the snow had made no lodgement, 
 and the prairie, in its snug-fitting jacket of gray-green 
 bunch-grass, lay hard and frozen as the solid ice in the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 125 
 
 shallow reaches of the stream that came chattering 
 down over its stony bed, cold and repellent as an 
 Arctic river. Out on the level flats towards the dis 
 tant town several teams, the Laramie stage, and an am 
 bulance or two bowled briskly along, the horses tossing 
 their heads and capering in sheer enjoyment of so blithe 
 a morning, and up the hard-beaten trail from the depot 
 Mrs. Granger s landau flashed into view, just as the 
 various troops of the th, with fluttering guidons and 
 glistening sabres came dancing up the slopes from the 
 stables in the valley, the men simply could not make 
 their horses walk on such a day, and adjutant s call 
 rang out from the squad of trumpeters stationed in 
 front of the old brown hospital. " In such glorious, 
 faultless weather," said the colonel, " horses and men 
 would be all the better for a brisk battalion drill." 
 Fingers and noses might suffer a trifle at first, but the 
 exercise would soon send the blood bounding through 
 the veins and make it joy to be in saddle. And he 
 was right. Presently, in long extended rank, the six 
 troops were drawn up in line of battle, the sabres 
 flashed their salute to the commanding officer, and be 
 fore many minutes a dozen ladies from the garrison 
 were clustered along the walk in front of the store, 
 .and, while a few gathered about Mrs. Granger s car 
 riage, others walked briskly up and down for warmth 
 and exercise, and all watched with eager interest the 
 rapid manoeuvres of the battalion, heralded by stirring 
 trumpet calls. Mrs. Granger had a friend with her, 
 a Mrs. Morris, from town, and Mrs. Morris was the 
 wife of one of the prominent capitalists of Cheyenne, 
 and a woman eager, as was evident, to make a pleasant 
 
 11* 
 
126 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 impression on those recognized queens of frontier so 
 ciety, the ladies of the th. Most of them knew 
 her, of course. She had called on them all and had 
 attended the famous german with other townsfolk, and 
 was loud in her admiration of the loveliness and grace 
 of these new occupants of the garrison so recently 
 ruled and governed by their predecessors of the Elev 
 enth, whom she had known much better and felt far 
 more at home with. Mrs. Morris was not a pretty 
 woman, but she had a certain pre-eminence among the 
 dames in social circles outside of the post, and was 
 eager to extend her sphere, if possible, to invade the 
 sacred limits of the military bailiwick. She had not 
 hitherto been an intimate of Mrs. Granger s, and 
 women like Mrs. "VValdron were surprised to find them 
 driving together. Many of the officers, obedient to 
 orders from Mrs. Atherton and the lady managers, 
 had been attentive to Mrs. Morris as well as to other 
 townspeople, and she had danced rather bulkily to 
 be sure with most of their number. The cloud that 
 for a time threatened to fall between Mrs. Granger and 
 the regiment had apparently been lifted, for she was 
 all smiles, graciousness and cordiality on meeting the 
 ladies this lovely morning. It was her first appearance 
 at the post since the night of the german, and when 
 the colonel saw her afar off he looked but little 
 pleased. 
 
 Of course many of the ladies of the th had been 
 down to call upon and condole with her, but some had 
 denied themselves that luxury, and this was their first 
 sight of Mrs. Granger since that joyous affair which, 
 up to the time of her melodramatic misadventure, had 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 127 
 
 been so charming a success. Now, it was noted that 
 although they bowed and smiled, and even stopped 
 just a minute to speak to her, one little party there 
 after avoided Mrs. Granger, and of that party Mrs. 
 Athertou and Mrs. Stannard were fair specimens. 
 Blithely, with much silvery laughter and a babble of 
 joyful voices, the fun went on. The regiment was 
 trotting about but a short distance away at the moment, 
 and most of the ladies were now paying very little 
 attention to it. It was facing south and in one long 
 line again, when Mrs. Granger was reminded that it 
 was really time for her to start for town ; she had 
 promised Mrs. Morris to take her in. Her horses had 
 been pawing and snorting impatiently, and Grimsby, 
 her English driver, was having some difficulty in re 
 straining their eagerness. At last, after much bidding 
 adieu and repeated injunctions to be sure to come down 
 and see her, she gave the signal to start, and the spir 
 ited bays whirled away southeastward, passing along in 
 front of the line at a spanking trot which they every 
 moment strove to quicken into a run. 
 
 As luck would have it, the colonel at the moment 
 was facing away from the garrison and looking east 
 ward along his extended line. The men had been 
 doing their best, but in that keen, exhilarating air the 
 horses were almost wild with high spirits, and several 
 of their movements at rapid gait had degenerated into 
 impetuous rushes, almost like those of a flock of sheep, 
 which the troop commanders had labored in vain to 
 prevent. Every time the gait was increased to the 
 gallop some luckless troopers, tugging manfully at the 
 reins, would be whisked away by their plunging steeds, 
 
128 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and, to the colonel s intense disgust, half a dozen hard- 
 mouthed chargers at this very moment were dashing 
 about the prairie in big sweeping circles, despite every 
 effort of their riders to restrain them. 
 
 Determined to keep at the movement until it was 
 properly executed, Atherton once more addressed a few 
 sharp words of caution to the troop leaders and of 
 reproof to the men, and then ordered " fours right/ 7 
 following it instantly with " left front into line, gallop." 
 The next thing Mrs. Granger knew her progress town- 
 ward was blocked by several strong troops of blue- 
 coated cavalry, riding diagonally across her path, and 
 sweeping out towards her startled horses at a plunging 
 gallop. Grimsby quickly whirled his team to the 
 right and headed them across the frozen prairie towards 
 the bluff, hoping to pass around the left flank of the 
 long battalion ; but, pricking up their ears, prancing 
 and plunging, his horses seemed to see, hear, feel 
 nothing but the coming rush of four-footed fellow- 
 creatures; and then Grimsby, in wrath, made the 
 blunder of snatching out his whip and hitting each 
 horse a sharp cut just as the front wheels struck a 
 little acequia. He had risen to his feet, and the start, 
 the jar, the sudden violent swerve were all too much 
 for his balance. Out he went head foremost upon the 
 icy surface, and, released suddenly from the hated 
 restraining reins, with mad bounds away went Mrs. 
 Granger s beautiful team, the landau bounding through 
 space at their cluttering heels. " My God ! They re 
 going straight for the bluff!" was the cry; and the 
 bluff was not four hundred yards away. Mrs. Morris 
 was heard to lift up her voice in one shrill, ear-piercing 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 129 
 
 shriek, at sound of which the dashing steeds set back 
 their ears and fled the faster. The groups of ladies 
 along the walk near the store could only wring their 
 hands and gaze in fascination at the terrible sight, 
 but they had hardly time to picture the impending 
 catastrophe, when all chance of it was banished in a 
 cheer. 
 
 Freeman was officer of the day, and not on drill, 
 his troop commanded by his first lieutenant, Mr. 
 Blake, and, almost before the landau had fairly 
 launched out upon its rush, Blake had put spurs to his 
 charger, thrown aside his sabre, and, leaving the troop 
 to get into line as best it could, "Legs" went tearing 
 after the runaway team, shooting across its track from 
 the rear, and, in big circle, closing in upon the runaway 
 on the " off" side. Almost at the same instant Billy 
 Ray had darted from his place in line he was com 
 manding Buxton s troop in the protracted absence of 
 that officer and, with Dandy s heels fairly spurning 
 the frozen earth, had overtaken him and was close to 
 the hind wheels on the "near" side as he shouted, 
 
 "That s right, Blake. Kound em to the left, 
 slowly now. Sit still, Mrs. Morris ! Don t you dare 
 jump." Another minute, and when they could not 
 have been more than seventy yards from the edge of 
 the bluff that overhung the valley, Blake checked the 
 wild rush of his horse as he passed the reins from the 
 left to his right hand, edged in close to the panting, 
 laboring quadruped, the "off" horse of Mrs. Gran 
 ger s team, and stretched forth his left hand as though 
 to grasp the lines. The maddened beast felt the move 
 and swerved to the left. Blake followed, again leaning 
 
130 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 over. Another swerve was the result, and, in this 
 way, in long sweeping circle, the runaways were gradu 
 ally rounded until, within ten yards of the edge, they 
 were once more heading eastward, parallel with the 
 bluff line, and then Ray s voice was heard, cheery as 
 before, " Now, old man, lay hold." And in another 
 moment four horses were galloping abreast, with Blake 
 and Ray astride of the flankers. Another moment 
 still, and each had grasped the rein nearest him, and 
 then, guiding the team well away from the valley, and 
 over the hard level of the prairie, they gradually 
 brought them down to a choppy canter, then to a trot, 
 and finally, nearing the road, quietly turned into the 
 beaten track back towards the post, where they were 
 presently surrounded with comrades and congratula 
 tions. Grimsby, undamaged except as to his hat and 
 raiment, came running down to meet them. The 
 colonel rode up alongside to praise Mrs. Granger for 
 her pluck in sitting still and uttering no cry, inferen- 
 tially rebuking Mrs. Morris for her insane behavior ; 
 and Mr. Royce galloped out from the store with Doctor 
 Pease s injunction not to attempt to raise Mrs. Gran 
 ger s head until he got there. It seemed to be generally 
 conceded that she must have fainted as a matter of 
 course, but to the surprise of everybody she had done 
 nothing of the kind. Even now, when the danger 
 was all over, and the humbled Grimsby had once more 
 assumed the box and the reins of government, the car 
 riage was made the centre of a group of officers eager 
 to condole with Mrs. Granger on her startling experi 
 ence and to tender their services to escort her home or 
 into the garrison, which latter course they especially 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 131 
 
 urged. And presently who should come tearing up the 
 road from the depot, mounted on a whinnying quarter 
 master s horse, but Granger himself; his eyes wild 
 with apprehension, his spectacles gone, his trousers 
 hitched up half-way to his knees, a picture of mingled 
 discomfort and dismay. Once more she had all the 
 commissioned force of the th about her, while the 
 ladies stood looking on from afar, and the situation was 
 by no means unwelcome as she reclined, most grace 
 fully, properly agitated, pressing her hand to her palpi 
 tating heart and smiling sweetly, faintly around upon 
 them. She could have borne it indefinitely perhaps, 
 but the major, hurriedly, almost incoherently thanking 
 the officers for their sympathy, ordered Grimsby to 
 drive homeward. 
 
 " Not until I have thanked the gentlemen who 
 rescued us," she promptly declared, as she peered 
 eagerly about among the cavaliers on either side. 
 
 " I ll attend to all that, my dear," protested Gran 
 ger ; " but I know what is best for you. Drive back, 
 Grimsby. Whom have I to thank for this great 
 service ?" he asked. 
 
 " Mr. Blake and Mr. Ray, major," was the cool 
 reply of the colonel ; " and they don t seem to be here." 
 Indeed, no sooner was Grimsby back on his perch and 
 the carriage surrounded by their comrades than those 
 two gentlemen had quietly trotted away to their respec 
 tive troops. Granger s face was a picture that would 
 have been hard to paint at this announcement. 
 
 " I must ask you then," he stammered, " to make 
 temporary acknowledgment, as I cannot leave my wife ; 
 she is not strong, and this " But he broke oif 
 
132 CAPTAIN BLAKE, 
 
 abruptly, with blue, quivering lips, and clattered after 
 the carriage. 
 
 " You may dismiss your troops, gentlemen," said the 
 colonel ; " drill is over. Come to the office, Mr. 
 Billings." 
 
 Two days afterwards, as Mr. Ray was sitting on a 
 garrison court, the orderly trumpeter popped in with 
 the mail. Two letters with feminine superscription 
 were handed him, one of which he stowed away in the 
 breast of his coat, the other he opened and idly read. 
 
 " What does this mean, Blakey," he asked, an hour 
 later, when he bolted into the sitting-room which he 
 and his faithful chum enjoyed in common. " Mrs. 
 Morris will be happy to welcome Lieutenant Ray at 
 luncheon to-morrow at one o clock. Very informally/ 
 I suppose you have a similar bid. Fve never called 
 there and I don t know Morris at all. He has never 
 shown any desire to meet either of us, and we ve been 
 here longer than any of the men except Hollis." 
 
 "Well, Hollis went there a great deal. I suppose 
 it is very natural she should want to meet you after 
 your pulling her out of a prospective smash-up," said 
 Blake, turning away as he spoke. 
 
 " Nothing more was necessary than that Morris him 
 self should write a line. He hasn t done that, though 
 Granger has, poor devil !" 
 
 " Morris couldn t ; he isn t home ; went to Omaha 
 several days ago, but returns to-morrow." 
 
 "How did you hear?" asked Ray. "Oh, never 
 
 m i n( l " he broke off suddenly. " Is anybody else 
 
 asked? It seems sort of queer, -just you and me 
 bidden to lunch. I suppose she ll have some one to 
 

 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 133 
 
 meet us, for Hollis says no one is visiting her. He 
 called there last night with Royce, and they re not 
 invited." 
 
 "I suppose she will," was Blake s brief reply. 
 "Then you ll go?" 
 
 " Why, I d rather not, Blake. I don t care to visit 
 women whose husbands don t care to meet me." 
 
 " He hasn t had a chance, Ray, since the runaway." 
 
 " He had a hundred before it, anyhow, and as so 
 many of the prominent men took the trouble to come 
 out and call after last summer s affair, his failure to do 
 so was remarked. Another thing, Blake," and now 
 Ray spoke with a hesitancy very foreign to his nature ; 
 "Is it not likely that if she asks anybody it will be 
 Mrs. Granger?" 
 
 There was a moment s silence. Blake had made his 
 way over to the window, and was leaning against the 
 casement and gazing out upon the wind-swept parade. 
 A light, powdery snow was driving before the blast, 
 for rare indeed were the wintry days when the moun 
 tain pass to the west failed to send its blustering com 
 pliments by the time the sun was at the zenith. The 
 only light in the barrack-like apartment came through 
 those front windows, and even this was tempered by 
 the overhanging roof of the porch in front. Ray stood 
 in the gloom, Blake s tall figure in sharp relief, but 
 his face was hidden. Presently the answer came, 
 
 " Mrs. Granger has been asked, Billy, and says she 
 will not go. But suppose she could, what then ?" 
 
 " Simply this : after our quarrel with Granger, I 
 think we would have no business there." 
 
 " Not after what he has written ?" 
 12 
 
134 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 "No! Not by a Kentucky jugful. See here, old 
 man, the Lord knows I hate to say a word that 
 may sound unkind to a fellow who has stood by me 
 through thick and thin as you have, I wouldn t do it, 
 Blakey, if I didn t think so d d much of you." (As 
 usual, when among his kind and deeply moved, Mr. 
 Ray fell back on the characteristic vernacular.) " I ve 
 no idea of diplomacy. I can t beat round the bush ; 
 but my opinion is just this : Granger called on every 
 officer of the regiment except you and me. He never 
 came near us last summer, though he was often here in 
 the post. The night you sought his quarters to get 
 help for old Bryan you were knocked senseless at his 
 very door, and you had reason to think him responsible 
 for the assault. So far from sending a courteous reply 
 to your letter, he insults you ; says you perfectly well 
 knew he could have nothing to do with the matter, 
 because he was absent at the time, otherwise you 
 wouldn t have presumed to visit his house. It is as 
 blackguardly an affront as I ever heard of; and when 
 I call upon him for the only reparation possible, he 
 threatens us with charges of provoking a duel ; then 
 he comes here and attempts to see you, and I head him 
 off and, with Truscott for a witness, tell him in the 
 language of the church catechism that he is a thief and 
 a liar. You know perfectly well that no tongue in 
 all this neighborhood was so virulent against us last 
 summer as his. You know that he is the fountain- 
 spring of every bit of mean scandal concerning any 
 officer that is put in circulation hereabouts. You know 
 perfectly well that, when our fellows got back from 
 the long, hard campaign, and those farewell dinners 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE, 135 
 
 were given in town, and there was a good deal of fun 
 and frolic, it was that fellow who came up here to 
 Atherton, and went to the general s staff and to the 
 general himself, Fin told, and filled their ears with 
 everything he had heard about one man after another. 
 You know well that he never comes out to this post 
 but that he has something discreditable to tell of some 
 body or other from Sanders, Laramie, Sidney, or Fet- 
 terman whom he has seen at train-time in town. You 
 know well that it was his evidence and persecution 
 that drove poor Moulton out of the service, and that 
 he started the row that killed Jimmy Cramer right 
 here at this post. You know well that half those 
 Black Hills outfits are supplied with odds and ends 
 of government stores that never were bought at public 
 auction. Ask any one of those men where he got 
 those things, and he will grin and wink, and stick his 
 tongue in his cheek. They are sold by Granger s peo 
 ple and Granger knows it, and it was because Moulton 
 knew it and Cramer was catching on that he downed 
 them. He has wealth and influence. He has a dozen 
 men in his employ who will swear to anything he tells 
 them, no doubt ; but, all the same, he s an unmitigated 
 cad. He had to write that letter to you after the run 
 away. He s smart enough to know that public senti 
 ment would be hard against him if he didn t, he begs 
 you to accept his best thanks for so inestimable a ser 
 vice and to let by-gones be by-gones, but what does it 
 amount to? Does he explain the assault? Does he 
 retract or apologize for the insult in the other note? 
 Not a bit of it ! There s only one way in which you 
 and I can meet him, Blakey, and you know it." 
 
136 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " I m not talking about him." 
 
 Another silence. Ray began pacing the floor, then 
 suddenly turned and laid his hand on Blake s shoulder. 
 " Legs, its none of my business, perhaps, but, if you 
 care anything for that for her yet, it s only harming 
 her good name to meet her when you won t recognize 
 her husband. It s only harming yourself to meet 
 her at all." And then Mr. Ray took his forage-cap 
 and went over to Truscott s, leaving Blake still at the 
 window. 
 
 Yes, another note had come from her as Ray sup 
 posed, and this Blake read again, 
 
 "And now I owe you my very life, and yet you 
 avoid me. Gerald Blake, do not crush a heart-broken 
 woman. If I asked anything more than a kind word, 
 one kind look, I would not blame you for holding 
 aloof. I know your sense of honor. I know that it is 
 his insane jealousy and his cowardly conduct that make 
 you treat him with contempt. Do you think I do not 
 know him ten times better and for ten times worse? 
 
 "Gerald, as God is my judge, I felt no terror with 
 death staring me in the face, I almost welcomed it. 
 You saved me. You, the hero of my girlhood, but 
 I will not offend you further. Now listen. I write 
 hurriedly, wildly, incoherently, perhaps, but I have 
 thought this matter out. Remember, for all the past, 
 for all the wrong I did you, I ask no forgiveness. 
 Long ago I knew that what fate had robbed me of 
 your love could never be regained. Now, at the risk 
 of your misunderstanding me, at the risk of your con 
 tempt, I say that your conduct is torture to me. You 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 137 
 
 are a man, strong and self-reliant ; I am a weak, 
 stricken woman, begging only for mercy, begging that 
 I may not be driven to despair by the contempt of the 
 only man who ever held a place in my heart. All I 
 ask is that when we meet in society we meet as friends. 
 People now suppose that it is because of some quarrel 
 with Major Granger you avoid his wife, but he has 
 promised to write to you, begging your forgiveness for 
 his insane language, and asking that you give him at 
 least a semblance of friendship. This done, and he 
 shall do it, you cannot, you surely cannot, find it in 
 your heart to publicly scorn me. Upbraid me, curse 
 me if you will, Gerald, but for God s sake do not shun 
 me. Let us meet as friends. I swear I will not meet 
 you otherwise. 
 
 " Mrs. Morris invites me to luncheon with you and 
 Mr. Ray. Mr. Morris is hurrying home, and her 
 mother will be there; but Gerald, I know you so well 
 that I feel you will not accept if you think I am to 
 be present ; and to-day I write to her declining because 
 I am still so weak and shaken. Is not this proof that 
 I mean to regard your wishes? The bearer will call 
 for an answer to-night. You may trust him im 
 plicitly. Unless you mean to drive me to despair, 
 write me one little word in kindness. 
 
 " MADELEINE." 
 
 For an hour after Ray left the room Mr. Blake sat 
 there deep in thought. Then stable-call sounded, and 
 he shook himself together. Ray came whistling in 
 with the gale, blithe and cheery, his face full of sun 
 shine, yet sprinkled with flakes of snow. 
 
138 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Going to stables, old man ?" he cried. " Come on." 
 
 "One moment, Billy. Did you tell Truscott about 
 the invitation?" 
 
 " Yes. I wanted his opinion, for my own benefit, 
 Blake," was the reply, in much more solemn tone. 
 . " What did he say f 
 
 " He says it would pain the Morrises very much if 
 we did not go, and they are people who deserve every 
 consideration ; and after what you tell me about Mrs. 
 Granger s declining there seems no reason against 
 it, and Fve simply got to go. Here s a note from 
 Morris himself, from Omaha. It seems he knew my 
 sister and Rallston, read it." 
 
 And Blake read. It was a business-man s note, 
 brief, pointed, yet full of earnest gratitude and a hope 
 he had of meeting them under his own roof. Blake 
 returned it silently. 
 
 " Then I suppose we go," was all he said. 
 
 That evening Ray begged him to come and call on 
 somebody and get out of himself for a while; but 
 Blake declined. He had something to attend to, he 
 said, and yet, when first call sounded for tattoo and 
 Ray popped in a moment to see what his chum was 
 about, he found him smoking his brier-root pipe and 
 doing practically nothing. At this moment Hogan 
 came in from the rear room. 
 
 "There s a man out at the back gate, sorr; says he s 
 come for a note from the lootenant." 
 
 " Who is it?" asked Blake, shortly. 
 
 "I can t see him, sorr. He s all bundled up in fur; 
 but it s wan of the depot horses he s ridin , and he talks 
 like a cockney." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 139 
 
 " Tell him there is no answer." 
 
 Hogan vanished. Blake turned sharply away and 
 went out into the hall. Ray, looking anxiously after 
 him, saw as he passed under the hall lamp how white 
 and set his face was. Presently, in again came 
 Hogan. 
 
 "The man says there s a mistake, and could he 
 spake with the lootenant?" 
 
 " I suppose he could if he came in," said Ray. 
 " How is it, Blake ?" he called. 
 
 And Blake s voice came back from the hall, 
 
 f There is no mistake whatever, and there is no 
 answer." 
 
 When Ray went out for his overcoat and for the 
 little hurricane lamp he always carried at night roll- 
 calls, just as the trumpets began to sound the march 
 down the line, he took Blake s long, thin fingers in his 
 strong grasp, gave the limp hand a vigorous squeeze, 
 and then burst forth into the wintry night without a 
 word. 
 
 On the following day the two officers sat in Morris s 
 spacious parlor, listening with such patience as was 
 possible to the voluble assurances of the lady of the 
 house that never, never would she or Mr. Morris for 
 get their heroism or cease to praise their skill. Her 
 mother, a sedate old lady, mercifully deaf, was brought 
 in and presently Morris himself appeared, having just 
 rushed up from the railway-station, saying he could 
 not let even urgent business prevent his hastening to 
 grasp their hands and expressing his heart-felt appreci 
 ation of what they had done for him and his. 
 
 " I must be at the bank in half an hour/ he said, 
 
140 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 as he wrung their hands and looked at his wife. " Isn t 
 lunch ready ?" 
 
 " It will be in one minute," was the answer. And 
 before the minute was over the hall-door was opened 
 and Madeleine Granger, beaming with smiles, cordi 
 ality, and unaffected delight, swept forward, a vision 
 of queenly grace and beauty, greeted her hostess with 
 brief, joyous words, then turned suddenly on Blake, 
 both her white, jewelled hands extended, frankness, 
 gladness, laughing triumph illumining her exquisite 
 face. 
 
 " Ah, Sir Galahad ! Have I caught you at last, you 
 and Mr. Ray? Now, can I not tell you how heartily 
 I thank you ?" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 141 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MRS. FREEMAN was seated in her cosey parlor, a 
 work-basket at one side and a cutting-table on the 
 other. That there should be anything incongruous in 
 the use of the state apartment of the little army home 
 for such purposes never troubled her bonny head a 
 particle. There were only two sleeping-rooms aloft, 
 the children s and her own. There were only two 
 rooms on the ground floor in the house proper, the 
 parlor and the dining-room. The kitchen was in an 
 annex to the cottage. The servants room in an annex 
 to the kitchen. The coal-shed, wood-shed, the trunk- 
 and box-sheds were annexes to the servants quarters, 
 and the cow-shed was an annex attached impartially to 
 the rearmost end of the trunk-room and to the inner 
 side of the high fence of rough, unpainted, weather- 
 warped boarding that separated the premises from the 
 bleak wastes of prairie that stretched far away north 
 ward. The big frontier fort was not yet ten years 
 of age. It had been built at fabulous expense of 
 the cheapest possible materials. .Its diamond-shaped 
 parade had been enclosed on the two adjacent western 
 sides by double cottages for officers quarters with* an 
 imposing pine edifice at the apex for the abode of the 
 colonel commanding. IB the days when most of the 
 commissioned force were bachelors, either by actual 
 
142 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 right and the mercy of Providence, or by brevet and 
 the force of circumstances, it made little difference that 
 four lieutenants were sometimes crammed into quarters 
 intended only for one; but when wives and children 
 began to come, it made a good deal. Then the limited 
 appropriation vouchsafed by an omniscient Congress 
 was strained to the uttermost farthing to eke out a 
 shelter for the lambs thus driven to refuge within gar 
 rison limits, and makeshifts of every buildable descrip 
 tion were tacked on the rear elevations of the brown 
 cottages : " linters" on the flanks of those intended for 
 officers of higher rank; " linters" to the kitchen an 
 nexes, and ramshackle sheds, of every possible shape 
 but shapely, to the sheds already spiked to the main 
 establishment, nails would not have held against the 
 Cheyenne zephyr. Like those interminable structures 
 children sometimes build with cards, there really was 
 a substantial framework to one portion, the original 
 nucleus of the pile, but all the rest was shanty. Man 
 after man the successive commanding officers had 
 striven to effect some degree of improvement and uni 
 formity in the back yards of the garrison, but found 
 that there was a sight even more pitiable to be en 
 countered first, and that was the bill of particulars of 
 the appropriation for repairs of quarters at Fort Rus 
 sell. Man after man the successive post quartermasters 
 had yielded to the importunities of the occupants and 
 furnished plank and scantling, spikes and nails ; and 
 year after year had this pennywise patchwork been 
 going on, until the result was a veritable architectural 
 crazy quilt minus all that makes the quilt .attractive, 
 its bright variety of color. Nothing on earth was ever 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 143 
 
 much more unpicturesque than a rear view of the fort. 
 Mr. Blake, indeed, when righteously exasperated at the 
 conduct of the powers that were in command of the 
 post during the previous summer, had epitomized the 
 situation and perilled his commission by saying that 
 there was only one thing crazier than the head-quarters 
 of Fort Russell, and that was the hind. " And yet," 
 said he, "things are not half as bad behind now as 
 they were before/ which was true despite its likeness 
 to Tom Hood, for a vast improvement had been effected 
 in a single night, so far as appearances were concerned, 
 when the cleansing fires of a conflagration had well- 
 nigh obliterated one side of the diamond and reduced 
 the officers quarters by just a dozen. 
 
 And yet people were happy in those quaint old 
 rookeries, now fast vanishing from the face of the earth ; 
 were even comfortable so long as the short summer 
 lasted ; but when the wintry gales began, threatening 
 to lift the flimsy structures from their iron anchorage, 
 no amount of fuel would keep them warm. All 
 around their bases they were banked with earth, hard 
 rammed and sodded, though the sod refused to sprout. 
 Every knot-hole was plugged. Extra sheets of tar- 
 paper were tacked throughout the interior, and ten 
 thicknesses of the Chicago Times were laid beneath the 
 carpets, the only instance wherein the editorials of that 
 enterprising sheet were ever known to stand between 
 the army and the blasts of adversity. Yet even tar- 
 paper and the Times could not prevail against the 
 Wyoming gales, and despite these vaunted barricades 
 the wind still blew where it listed and we heard the 
 sound thereof many a time and oft to the utter exclu- 
 
144 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 sion of all bugle-calls, and there was nothing but the 
 still small voice of conscience to warn the martial occu 
 pants that reveille and stables were due, and twas time 
 to be up and doing. 
 
 Now, Mrs. Freeman s bright little parlor was as 
 warm and cosey and cheery as any in the post, yet she 
 sat with her dainty, slippered feet close to the big coal 
 stove that cumbered the room, and a thick India shawl 
 was thrown over her shoulders. Within a radius of 
 six or eight feet of the stove all was warm enough. 
 Beyond that limit the biting wind that forced its way 
 through imperceptible cracks and crannies triumphed 
 over the glowing base burner and the carpet was bulged 
 up in the middle like a segment of some big balloon. 
 The children, delving at their lessons in the dining- 
 room beyond, could not resist the temptation of slip 
 ping from their chairs and darting in from time to 
 time and jumping on the huge puff of " Body Brus 
 sels" in hopes of hearing an explosion similar to that 
 produced when smashing an inflated paper bag; but 
 the maternal mandate to return instantly to their seats 
 was the only audible result. 
 
 A sweet homelike picture she made, this dainty bit 
 of wife and motherhood, as she sat there busy with 
 her needlework, yet keeping watchful eye upon the 
 reluctant students of the other room. The red gold 
 of her wealth of hair was tinged with the fierce glow 
 from the anthracite; the soft bloom on her rounded 
 cheek was deepened by the intense heat of the burning 
 mass. She had a pretty, bird-like way of poising her 
 head on one side and surveying her work at each new 
 turn, and her parted lips soft and crimson would 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 145 
 
 close with an air of womanly decision and her bright 
 head nod sagely as she communed with herself upon 
 the probable effect of the garment she was designing. 
 Once in a while she would glance at the clock, as 
 though impatient for some one s coming. Her husband 
 was on court-martial duty, as she knew, and could not 
 be in before the brief recess at noon, when he usually 
 overhauled the children s slates. Once in a while she 
 turned and glanced over her sloping shoulder to the 
 long curve of the road towards the adjutant s office, as 
 though expecting some one from that quarter. None 
 of the sisterhood were abroad on such a day. Femi 
 nine drapery could not stand the buffeting, and locomo 
 tion, except to leeward, was impossible. As the Free- 
 mans lived near the head of the row and next door to 
 Major Waldron, she could not expect a visitor from 
 below, and Mrs. Waldron had her own brood to teach. 
 Between the colonel s quarters and the head of the 
 bend and their own double cottage was a broad open 
 space through which the gale tore madly, as the quiver 
 ing fence bore testimony, and, much as Mrs. Atherton 
 wanted to run over to see Mrs. Freeman on this par 
 ticular morning, she knew she could not make the trip 
 without imminent danger of being blown, like the 
 witches of old, midway 7 twixt the shivering earth and 
 the frowning sky. 
 
 Yet there was one woman, albeit a very young one, 
 whom Mrs. Freeman confidently expected at ten o clock, 
 it was nearly eleven now and she had not come, 
 and this was Nannie Bryan. One of the children was 
 to have a birthday party within the week. They were 
 all growing fond of " Prairie Nan," as some of them 
 o k 13 
 
146 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 had laughingly begun to call her, and Mrs. Freeman s 
 early interest in the untaught and motherless girl 
 seemed to have grown with every week. From having 
 been a stranger in the garrison there was now hardly 
 ever a bright day, no matter how cold, when she did 
 not come galloping on her wiry pony into the west 
 gate past the band quarters, and, waving her joyous 
 hail to the officers about the adjutant s office, would 
 spring from the saddle at Freeman s gate and be right 
 lovingly welcomed by the fair young hostess herself. 
 There were a few among the housewives of the th 
 in those days who were not visible to profane eyes 
 before the noontide bugle ; but Mrs. Freeman was not 
 one. When she came singing down to breakfast at 
 guard-mounting every morning, with her sturdy chil 
 dren dancing on before, she was dressed for the day, 
 and every item of her pretty home toilet was as fresh 
 and trim as it could have been for a reception. If the 
 men of the th had any fault to find, it was that her 
 beautiful hair was almost too carefully arranged, it 
 looked so bewitching when in partial disarray. Bobby 
 Royce, Freeman s junior subaltern, had once said he 
 would give a month s pay if Freeman s house would 
 only take fire at night, " Then there might be a 
 chance of seeing Mrs. Freeman with her hair down." 
 
 " What can possibly keep Nan ?" finally exclaimed 
 the lady of the house, rising from her seat and going 
 to the window, looking first tip the road towards the 
 office, then .down, as though it were just possible she 
 might have been blown beyond the post. The glance 
 down the line was followed by an almost instantaneous 
 retreat. Somebody was coming who stood not high in 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 147 
 
 her good graces; for Mrs. Freeman s .sweet face was as 
 frank as the opinions of our nearest friends. 
 
 Another moment and the clank of a sabre and the 
 stamp of heavy boots were heard on the cold, creak 
 ing piazza, and the snap-bang of the little gong-bell at 
 the door. Ordinarily, when the sers 7 ants were busy, 
 Mrs. Freeman never hesitated to go thither herself. 
 Now she turned, stepped to the kitchen and called the 
 captain s striker. 
 
 "Somebody is at the door, Hansen," she said, in a 
 tone that told volumes to those who knew her. " If 
 he wants to see Captain Freeman, tell him the captain s 
 at the court-room." 
 
 But the visitor did not want to see Captain Free 
 man. In huge fur cap and collar and beaver gaunt 
 lets, in the snug-fitting army overcoat worn in those 
 days, in heavy top boots and girt with sabre-belt, his 
 long moustache stiff with frost and his eyelids red 
 with the cold and wind, a tall officer stamped into the 
 hall and thence into the parlor. At sight of him, 
 down went the children s books, and the two rushed 
 upon him, enthusiastically clasping his legs. 
 
 " Back to your books, instantly ! Obey me now," 
 she said, with infinite sternness of mien, as the young 
 sters looked up amazed and crestfallen. " Do you 
 hear?" she added, with a stamp of the slippered foot; 
 and then with wide-open and reproachful eyes the 
 little ones crept, silent and sorely hurt, away. There 
 was no smile in her eyes as the mother then turned 
 towards, yet not to, her unwanted visitor. She stood 
 bending over her work-basket, never looking at him as 
 she calmly asked, 
 
148 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " You wished to see the captain, Mr. Blake ? Didn t 
 Hansen tell you he was over at the court-room ?" 
 
 " Not a whit, fair lady. Why, look at your carpet ! 
 it would fit a Falstaff. I thought when I helped you 
 nail that down we laid the ghost of every breeze." 
 And Blake took a slide at the wind-swollen mound, 
 never noting the icy manner of his captain s wife, 
 the woman whom he swore by, as he often said. 
 
 "Yes," was her absent reply. "I wonder what s 
 got into it." Almost anything was better than that 
 he should talk of topics nearer home. She had been 
 warned of the purpose of his coming. 
 
 " Wind, empty wind," he ranted. " Ah I have it 
 now : 
 
 The Times are out of joint. Oh, cursed spite 
 That ever I was born to set 
 
 But who on earth could ever set the Times right? 
 Why ! You re looking white and far from well," he 
 cried, with sudden change from his ranting, laughing 
 tone, as he turned and caught sight of her face. 
 "There s nothing wrong, I hope. I just came to ask 
 you to do me a great favor." 
 
 " There s nothing wrong with me, Mr. Blake." But 
 the blue eyes looked coldly and calmly into his anxious 
 face. " Is it about the theatricals you wish to see 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes. You know that since Hollis had to go I ve 
 stepped into his shoes, and all the management falls 
 on my shoulders." 
 
 " I have heard of your stepping into his shoes," she 
 answered, with no unnecessary emphasis, yet the tone 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 149 
 
 brought sudden spasm to his lips and new pain to his 
 smarting eyes. " But you had something to ask of 
 me with regard to the theatricals, Mr. Blake. You 
 know I cannot act." 
 
 " I see you cannot/ he answered slowly, his face 
 sad and changed. " And now, will you tell me the 
 head and front of mine offending ?" 
 
 She stood erect at once and looked him fairly in the 
 eyes, though her voice trembled when she began to 
 speak. 
 
 "I will. I .would not be honest with you if I 
 failed. We have known you longer, my husband and 
 I, than any one else in the regiment. No one was so 
 near to us when we came into the th as you. Cap 
 tain Freeman never rested until he secured your trans 
 fer to his troop, and you well know how true a friend 
 he is. My children love you. We all had the utmost 
 faith in you. A month ago you must have known 
 what the regiment thought of Mr. Hollis because of 
 his devotions to Mrs. Granger, you yourself showed 
 plainly your own disapproval, and yet in this last 
 fortnight you have been her shadow. Everywhere she 
 goes, you go ; where she is not invited and you are, 
 you send regrets. While Major Granger was here 
 you met only occasionally ; since he was summoned to 
 Omaha, ten days ago, you have been her constant 
 companion, her escort to every affair in town, to both 
 the dances here. Mr. Blake, I cannot recognize as a 
 friend a woman who accepts such attentions in her 
 husband s absence, and I cannot respect a man who 
 tenders them." 
 
 She stood there before him, brave, unflinching, like 
 13* 
 
150 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 a little Puritan, though the tears began to gather in 
 her honest eyes. She liked him well, but she was not 
 the woman to shrink from what she deemed the right. 
 She was one of his stanchest friends, but her rule was 
 inflexible. She would uphold one only so long as he 
 or she upheld the right, and when lapsing into wrong 
 doing, yielding to temptation, one look into the mirror 
 of her lustrous eyes would tell the sinner what that 
 pure heart thought. Bob Royce used to say that when 
 he had been doing that which he ought not to have 
 done, the two women whom he could not bear to meet 
 were his mother and Mrs. Freeman. He spoke of the 
 latter s face as his moral barometer. 
 
 For a moment Blake stood in silence, his dark eyes 
 steadfastly regarding those of moistening blue. At 
 last he spoke : 
 
 (t Mrs. Freeman, you are aware, are you not, that I 
 knew Mrs. Granger long before I knew any one in the 
 tli ?" 
 
 " Yes, fully, Mr. Blake ; but it does not alter my 
 view of the matter." 
 
 "And would you have me understand that people 
 are talking of her and of my attentions to her?" 
 
 " Mr. Blake, I am not telling you what other people 
 think or say; I am telling you my own opinion." 
 
 "Most women fortify their criticisms by ample 
 quotations from what everybody says or everybody 
 thinks/" he rejoined, a bitter smile flickering about 
 the corners of his mouth. 
 
 " Oh, you can have anybody else s opinion by ask 
 ing, I presume; but you asked my reasons simply, and 
 I speak only for myself." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 151 
 
 Again there was an instant of silence. Something 
 clown in the depths of his heart seemed pleading with 
 him to pour forth the very truth to this pure-minded, 
 fearless woman, and to beg her counsel, her sympathy. 
 His eyes were full of wistful ness and trouble. She 
 saw it, realized the struggle going on within him, and 
 was touched, yet not one jot nor tittle would she abate 
 of her position. Suddenly there came the sound of a 
 joyous girlish voice without; the outer door flew open, 
 and again the children, who had been straining their 
 ears to catch the barely audible words of the grave 
 colloquy in the parlor, forgot their natural yet innocent 
 curiosity, tumbled with tumultuous welcome into the 
 hall and appeared the next instant hugging Nannie 
 Bryan. 
 
 " I couldn t get here before, Mrs. Freeman," laughed 
 the girl. " Beppo broke out of his stall this morning, 
 and was away over the prairie before any one knew it. 
 It took hours to catch him. Good-morning, Mr. 
 Blake," she added, with shy, sudden glance. " I 
 didn t know you were here. Am I very, very late, 
 Mrs. Freeman?" 
 
 " Better late than never, Nan. Come right to the 
 stove, child ; you must be frozen. Did you ever see 
 such cheeks, Mr. Blake? Look at the glow." And 
 as she spoke her white fingers were unclasping the 
 dingy fur cape and unfastening the strings of the girl s 
 rude riding-cap. Nan s head hung suddenly lower, 
 and the deep flush deepened. But Blake made no 
 answer to the query. Before either the child or her 
 friend and hostess could realize it he had quickly 
 turned and, without one word of farewell, vanished 
 
152 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 from the room. The sabre rattled as its scabbard 
 struck against the balustrade in the narrow hall-way. 
 There was a slain of the door, a click of the latch of 
 the little gate in front, and he was gone. Nannie 
 Bryan, stealing a look into Mrs. Freeman s bonny face, 
 saw that her eyes were wet as with recent tears. 
 
 " Are you sure I m not I m not going to be in 
 your way this morning, Mrs. Freeman?" she faltered. 
 "I m afraid you don t feel well." 
 
 " Indeed you re not in the way, Nannie. Children, 
 what did I tell you ? Go back to your books, and do 
 not dare come to that door again until I call you. Go 
 at once ! No, Nan, I ve been waiting for you to try 
 this on, your party dress. But get warm first." 
 
 " Oh, I m not cold. But I thought you looked as 
 though you had been crying." 
 
 " I ve been scolding Mr. Blake, Nan. It s nothing 
 serious, nothing you would understand." 
 
 But even at the ranch, far up the valley, busy rumor 
 had already been telling the tale. Cowboys who hated 
 Granger ; hunters from town who were only too glad 
 of the chance to gossip of the army people ; scouts and 
 soldiers out for a lark, had all loosened their tongues 
 at Bryan s bar, and the child had indeed heard much 
 she could not understand, yet that gave her vague and 
 bitter distress. She turned away without a word. 
 
 The fire was burning dimly in the big coal-fctove as 
 Blake came striding into the sitting-room he and Ray 
 held in common. He hurled off the heavy furs and 
 slung his sabre clattering into the corner. An old 
 cigar-box half filled with smoking tobacco lay at the 
 edge of the centre-table, and a beaver gauntlet struck 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 153 
 
 and sent it whirling to the floor, scattering the "Lynch- 
 burg sun-dried" all over the ragged carpet. He never 
 noted the mishap, never removed his overcoat, but 
 simply unbuttoning it across the chest, flung himself 
 into a big easy-chair, thrust his booted legs to the 
 hearth, threw his head back on the worn and faded 
 cushion, then covered his smarting eyes with long, 
 slim, quivering hands. He was alone and practically 
 free from interruption. Ray was a member of the 
 general court in session tip at the adjutant s office. He 
 himself was officer of the day, and not until noon 
 would he be compelled to sally forth again unless 
 something unforeseen occurred. He wanted to think, 
 needed to think. 
 
 And sitting there in the dim light of that lonely 
 room Gerald Blake passed in review the days of his 
 life that had been spent within the sphere of this 
 woman s influence, the woman on whose account and 
 for whose sake he was losing the friends he had won 
 in the regiment of his choice. Not ten years had he 
 known her, not one had he really spent by her side. 
 They met first at a quiet resort among the Maryland 
 mountains, she a school-girl attending an invalid 
 aunt; he, just commissioned, devoting to his mother 
 the few weeks of leave accorded to him before going 
 to his regiment. She was but seventeen, and lovely ; 
 he but twenty-two, and the only soldier at the Springs. 
 There were other girls there, lots of them, and 
 some whom his mother fancied far more than she did 
 Madeleine Torrance ; but mothers fancies in matters 
 of that kind have but little weight. The girl gloried 
 in his quickly-won devotion. It was such a triumph 
 
154 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 that she, not yet a debutante, should have at her beck 
 and call the tall young officer who begged for dances 
 night after night, who took her to ride day after day 
 or to walk whenever she could slip away from the 
 querulous invalid who claimed so much of her time. 
 Before the short summer was half over he had gone 
 without a look for the other girls, but madly in love 
 with this radiant young beauty. He had been the 
 happiest of men when his commission reached him. 
 All his hope and ambition had been centred in the 
 military service of his country. He had looked for 
 ward with absolute impatience to joining his regiment, 
 and with something like actual regret to the few weeks 
 which, as was most natural, his mother expected him 
 to spend with her before going. He was her only boy. 
 He had been much indulged, and, as a boy, had been 
 wild, capricious, yet full of loving impulse. He had 
 inherited some of his father s scholarly tastes, and 
 until the soldier craze overcame him had done fairly 
 well at college. But the chance meeting with some 
 young officers and a visit to Fortress Monroe had 
 done the work. Commissions were not hard to win 
 so soon after the great war. His mother and sisters 
 needed no support from him, for, after years of patient 
 toil among his books, the father had died leaving just 
 the old homestead and a modest competence. Blake s 
 first act after winning his lieutenancy was to make 
 over his little share to them, and now he was free to 
 pursue the career he so ardently sought ; yet in less 
 than a fortnight he was fettered by chains that bound 
 his very heart. In June he would have given almost 
 anything to be allowed to go instantly to his new 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 155 
 
 station. In August be would have given almost any 
 thing to stay. In June his mother shuddered at the 
 thought of the coming separation ; in July she would 
 eagerly have bidden him go at once. Beautiful as 
 was Madeleine Torrance, well as she was connected, 
 refined and cultured as were her relatives, and brilliant 
 as she herself promised to be, the intuition of the 
 mother was against her the moment she saw how 
 utterly her son was enthralled. Daughter of an old 
 and distinguished officer of the navy who was even 
 then absent with his ship, motherless for several years, 
 she had spent much of her girlhood under the roof of 
 her father s sister, now helplessly invalided, and re 
 cently had been attending a fashionable school in New 
 York. Before the school-days she had been not diffi 
 cult to control after them she developed a wilfulness 
 that completely baffled the feeble efforts of her pro 
 tector. Mothers and chaperons of other girls at the 
 Springs said that Madeleine was simply allowed to 
 run wild; that it was scandalous to permit her to 
 dance, walk, ride, as she did always with Gerald Blake. 
 Very possibly the girls said so too, though not a few 
 of their number would eagerly have borne her cross 
 of public disapprobation could they have but worn 
 her crown of triumph. Men were scarce, very scarce, 
 at the Springs, and it was shocking indeed that the 
 one officer should be monopolized by one girl not yet 
 "out." But to everything, to whispered words, to 
 averted looks, to even a gentle mother s gentle warning, 
 Blake was deaf or blind. His was an intense nature. 
 He loved or hated with all his strength, and this 
 radiant girl had won him heart and soul. The last 
 
156 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 night at the Springs O heaven, could he ever forget 
 it! clinging to his arm she had gone with him to the 
 little summer-house at the cliff, and there with tears, 
 with sobbing protestations, she had sworn that he could 
 not love her more than she loved him ; that for life or 
 death she was his forever. Oh, how beautiful she was 
 that perfect August night, with the moonlight bathing 
 her softly-flushing cheek ! How exquisite the abandon 
 of her grief as she clung to him in that parting em 
 brace, and gave her warm young lips again and again 
 to his passionate kiss ! 
 
 Life at a frontier post in those old days was bad 
 enough at best, but when a man had left his heart 
 behind him it was little short of hell. How he lived 
 through that first year of his service Blake never quite 
 understood. Wildly in love, yet perfectly trustful, he 
 was at least shielded from the temptations which beset 
 so many youngsters in the days which followed close 
 upon the war. He wrote to her by the hour, for she 
 had compelled her aunt to agree to that at least, though 
 no engagement was to be recognized for the present. 
 He strove hard to feel an interest in his duties, and 
 he held aloof from all companionship that was not 
 worthy of him or her. He had told his mother all 
 his hopes, all his loves, all his wild joy in the love 
 she gave him in return. " God grant that you may be 
 happy, my son/ 7 was all that she could say, but her 
 heart was full of foreboding. Once more the summer 
 came, and once more they met at the Springs, and 
 Blake s heart nearly burst with impatience when, with 
 a month s leave and three months pay in his pocket, 
 he tore away eastward. Three weeks of heaven were 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 157 
 
 his, a happiness such as he had pictured even in 
 his dreams, and then he went back on leaden wings 
 to his distant post, and that winter was her first in 
 Washington society; his first in a mental Gehenna. 
 
 Less than two years from the date of their first 
 meeting he came marching into the supply camp after 
 a two months sharp and trying campaign against the 
 Indians of the southern plains. Mail communication 
 had been sorely interrupted, and his letters had been 
 sent to the cantonment while, with a detachment guard 
 ing Indian prisoners, he was making his eager way 
 across the bleak prairies towards her. He had won 
 distinction the high praise of the official head of the 
 expedition and consent to another leave. The gen 
 eral commanding the department had come forward to 
 meet the prisoners and had promptly granted Blake s 
 application. And now, while on his way to Wash 
 ington to win the old commodore s consent to his en 
 gagement, Blake had telegraphed to have letters meet 
 him at St. Louis, had called there at head-quarters, and 
 was in the office of the chief of staff when there saun 
 tered in a tall man in civilian dress and spectacles, at 
 sight of whom up jumped the department official. 
 
 " Hello, Granger ! When did you leave Wash 
 ington? By Jove, sir, when I saw you there in Janu 
 ary I took it for granted that there you would stay. 
 We re to congratulate you it seems. When is it to 
 be?" 
 
 " Some time in the summer," was the smiling answer. 
 " I m only out on personal business here ; going back 
 to-morrow. Among other things I want you to be 
 one of my groomsmen." 
 
 14 
 
158 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Do it, of course. Oh, let me present Mr. Blake 
 of the th Infantry. He s going on too. Mr. 
 Blake, Major Granger." 
 
 The major turned with a sudden jerk, the oddest 
 kind of a look on his face. The adjutant-general was 
 astonished. 
 
 " Have you met before ?" he asked. 
 
 " Not that I know of/ said Blake, pleasantly, as he 
 proffered a hand, which the major shook with evident 
 constraint and awkwardness, then suddenly bolted 
 from the room, saying he wished to speak to an official 
 just passing the door. 
 
 " Queer fellow that !" said the staff-officer. " I m 
 blessed if I can understand what that lovely girl could 
 see in him to marry except his money. 7 
 
 " Who is she?" asked Blake, indifferently. 
 
 " A daughter of old Commodore Torrance, of the 
 
 navy, Madeleine Torrance. She was a belle last 
 
 Why, man, what s the matter?" 
 
 That night, so far from Blake s steaming eastward, 
 his mother was hurrying to St. Louis fast as train 
 could carry her. The blow had fallen with savage 
 force. Despite warnings, never for an instant had 
 Blake doubted her. And now, until that morning at 
 Stannard s, not once had they met again. Of the letters 
 that were eventually forwarded to the St. Louis hotel, 
 he read just one and sent the others back with un 
 broken seal. There was left no doubt whatever that 
 she had lied to him. 
 
 Then he went back to the plains, and never came in 
 again until two years afterwards when his mother s 
 health demanded it, and then came bereavement and 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 159 
 
 bitter self-reproach. In his blind misery he had shut 
 himself away from the world, from even the gentle and 
 loving mother until it was too late. His sisters lived 
 alone now at the old homestead, and he soon returned 
 to the frontier. Next he secured a transfer to the 
 cavalry, and there was gradual resumption of interest 
 in mundane and professional affairs, a gradual reas- 
 sertion of his own humorous and kindly self. Not 
 with a living soul had he ever spoken of her since his 
 mother s death. Never had he expected to meet, much 
 less to speak to her again, when fate brought him 
 back here to the very station where the th was 
 serving when he first joined it, and where he had good 
 reason to suppose it would not again appear in twenty 
 years. 
 
 Of course he had heard of her from time to time. 
 They went abroad right after the wedding, and went 
 amiss soon after their return. It seems that Granger 
 lost a very heavy sum in a Wall Street deal that 
 promised fabulous returns. It would not have been 
 so bad had he not lost his head at the same time and 
 quarrelled with a partner who had u stood in" with him 
 in cotton deals in Louisiana during the war. The 
 resultant recrimination was such that Granger was 
 exiled from Washington to the frontier, where he re 
 couped himself as best he could. It was about this 
 time that his quarrels with another partner, that of his 
 bosom, became public talk at the capital. His repu 
 tation when he left for the West was that of a man 
 who had escaped by the Scotch verdict, " not proven/ 7 
 and there were cynics who said that therein at least 
 they were well matched. Blake never knew of this, 
 
160 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 at least not until years afterwards. He was old 
 enough, however, to know that in nine cases out often, 
 no matter how madly a woman might profess to love 
 one man, she forgot all about it as soon as she married 
 another, and he had simply resolved to shut her out 
 of his life forever. 
 
 And yet she wrote to him the moment she returned 
 from the East, knowing him to be at Russell. He 
 returned the note to her unopened. She had caught 
 him at Stannard s, and he had escaped. She had 
 written again and again, as we have seen. He had 
 read these letters, but refused to answer. Then she 
 had lured him to the Morris s, and there trapped 
 him. 
 
 How well he recalled her infinite tact and grace that 
 day ! They had gone in to luncheon almost the moment 
 after her arrival, she leaning on Ray s arm, then sit 
 ting next the Kentuckian and winning him in spite 
 of himself before luncheon was half over. She knew 
 all about Dandy, his pet horse. She knew friends and 
 relatives of the girl with whom he was reported to be 
 deeply in love, and to whom he was believed to be 
 engaged. It was simply impossible for him not to be 
 interested in her. Not until Morris had gone to the 
 bank and luncheon was over did she lose for one 
 instant her radiant animation. It was she who made 
 the affair bright and successful. Blake could not talk, 
 could not hear what Mrs. Morris said to him. His 
 ears refused their office, except for the sweet accents he 
 knew so well and had so fondly loved. 
 
 At last was it collusion ? Mrs. Morris led Mr. 
 Ray to the conservatory the only one in town and 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 161 
 
 then to see their new horses. And so they were left 
 in the parlor alone. With quick decision of manner 
 she had risen, closed the door leading to the dining- 
 room, then faced him, not a sign of reproach, anger, 
 or sorrow in her lovely face. With witching grace of 
 manner, smiling confidently, joyously, blithely, up into 
 his eyes, she threw forward both her jewelled hands, 
 exclaiming, 
 
 " Gerald, why should you refuse a woman s friend 
 ship ? Why do you refuse me yours ? If I thought 
 I had not years ago killed every vestige of your love 
 I would not ask this. If you persist in such avoid 
 ance of me you will make me make others believe 
 it is because you still love me. The light went out of 
 my life ten years ago. I have told you the truth. 
 My marriage was forced upon me, Gerald ; but it was 
 a mercy to you. I could never have been a poor 
 man s wife. I threw love to the winds, and took him 
 and his wealth, and got what I deserved, ten years of 
 misery, many years of reproaches, insults, taunts, 
 blows. Yes, Gerald, and those on your account. I 
 make no appeal for pity or compassion. I beg for 
 mercy and you refuse. It s all over, Gerald. You 
 have had your revenge, if you only knew it, a thou 
 sand times over. Come, don t hit a poor fellow who s 
 down, down, down." She was smiling so trustfully 
 up in his dark and averted face, and big tears were 
 trembling on her long, curling lashes. " Come, Gerald, 
 let us be friends. I swear to you I seek nothing more. 
 All that old hope is dead, dead and buried. It isn t 
 in you to crush a weak woman before all her kind, 
 
 to load her with contempt. They all hate me out 
 I 14* 
 
162 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 there at the fort ; you know they do, and I haven t a 
 friend in the world now. I m lonely, heart-sick, hope 
 less, and yet look, Gerald, I am in earnest, and am 
 I quite worth scorning?" 
 
 The eyes of men rest not often on a lovelier picture 
 than made this fair and graceful woman, pleading so 
 humbly through her tears. But though he turned and 
 looked upon her as she urged, he had steeled his heart. 
 Once only had he seen her in tears. There was even 
 contempt in the stern, cold gaze he bent upon her. 
 
 " Mrs. Granger," he said at last, " it seems that in 
 spite of every effort of mine you have brought about 
 this meeting. I cannot feel the faintest wish for even 
 the semblance of your friendship, and cannot believe 
 you sincere in the wish for mine. You have some 
 object in view which is beyond me to fathom." 
 
 " Gerald !" she cried. " Is this you ? you ? Can 
 you say such fearful things to me, of me. My God ! 
 Have I fallen so low ?" 
 
 She broke off as suddenly as she began ; turned with 
 a gasping cry and rushed towards the door leading to 
 the hall. She stumbled at the piano-stool and plunged 
 heavily forward. Down she would have gone but for 
 his quick spring and for his strong arms. Blake never 
 knew just how it happened, how he managed it, or 
 she. For one instant she was clasped to his bounding 
 heart as he rose to his feet. Then she broke from 
 him, burying her face in the filmy handkerchief, sway 
 ing in an uncontrollable agony of grief, and, as she 
 sank upon the sofa, somehow there dangled from the 
 lace-fringed opening of her gown a locket that he had 
 given her ten long years before. He knew it at a 
 
1 Down she would have 
 
 gone but for his quick spring and for his 
 strong arms." 
 
 Page 162. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 1(53 
 
 glance. Her hand seemed suddenly to find it. As 
 though aghast with shame and confusion she turned 
 quickly away and thrust it back into her bosom. 
 Then her frame shook with the violence of her sobs. 
 
 When Mrs. Morris s high-pitched voice was heard 
 a few moments later, Madeleine Granger rose and 
 darted into the dining-room, and Blake followed. 
 
 And now, as he sat here thinking of Mrs. Freeman s 
 words, he recalled every incident of the interviews that 
 succeeded that memorable day. First there had come 
 the major s letter, as she vowed it should, in which 
 Granger now for the first time assured him on his 
 honor as an officer and a gentleman that he was unable 
 to account for the assault at his door-way that night. 
 He would have said as much before had not the letter 
 brought to him by Mr. Kay been so hostile in its tone 
 that his anger was aroused, and he had refused to 
 speak through an intermediary. He thanked him for 
 the inestimable service rendered him, begged that by 
 gones might be by-gones, and that he might have the 
 pleasure of welcoming him to his roof. Ray had 
 scouted the letter as utterly inadequate to meet the 
 situation ; but Blake was more magnanimous. Ray 
 said he had no confidence whatever in Granger s honor 
 either as an officer or a gentleman, and was simply 
 stunned when Blake accepted an invitation to dine at 
 the depot to meet the Morrises. The Turners and 
 Raymonds went at the same time, and Mrs. Turner 
 forgave Mrs. Granger on the. spot, and forgot every 
 thing she had ever said about her the moment she saw 
 the elegance of that dining-room. Then the dinner 
 call had to be paid, and meantime there was a concert 
 
164 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 in town given by a famous company of singers en route 
 to the Pacific coast, and an opera by another one going 
 eastward ; and then a dance at the hotel. Then the 
 Grangers gave a luncheon to some friends from Denver, 
 and four or five bachelors were bidden from the fort. 
 And then there was a candy-pull at the Whitings in 
 town. And then the church fair began, and Mrs. 
 Granger was a " lady patroness," so called. And then 
 there came one of those unaccountably mild spells that 
 sometimes bless those barren eastward slopes in the 
 heart of winter, and there were days of radiant sun 
 shine and southerly breeze, and the ladies came out 
 from town in the saddle, Mrs. Granger looking like 
 a Diana and Mrs. Morris like a dump, and Granger 
 couldn t ride at all. And then he went to Omaha, 
 and had astonished the group at the colonel s the night 
 before he left by exclaiming, " Oh, Blake, Mrs. 
 Granger says if it isn t too much trouble she wishes 
 you would come over and try the new horse I think 
 of buying for her. Fra no judge." It was Blake 
 and Granger now when they addressed each other, and 
 there was much apparent off-hand cordiality. And 
 then such charming little notes were coming every day 
 or so : " Mon ami, If you and Mr. Royce will drop 
 in for luncheon to-day, Mrs. Morris and I will be 
 charmed, We might drive her home later. Sincerely, 
 M. G." all so frank, friendly, unconstrained. Any 
 body could read them. For that matter, anybody could 
 have heard every word that had passed between them 
 since that day in the Morrises dining-room. Who 
 could possibly be less sentimental, more sunshiny, 
 jolly, frank, merry, than Mrs. Granger? The record- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 165 
 
 ing angel of that other and better world, said Blake to 
 himself, could have seen or heard nothing in her that 
 would not bear the strictest scrutiny. It was these 
 terrestrial angels and envious critics at the fort who 
 saw beneath the exquisite polish of the surface and 
 condemned her. 
 
 And as for Blake, was there any reason he should 
 deny himself the pleasure of her society so long as 
 nothing but laughing cordiality ruled their frequent 
 meetings? He was at his best when with her, never 
 more joyous, never more full of mirth and fun. How 
 she applauded his parodies and bemoaned his puns ! 
 What peals of silvery laughter greeted his sallies ! 
 What fun they had at the fair in town ! What glow 
 ing delight in those glorious gallops over the rolling 
 prairies! How admirably her step seemed atuned to 
 his as, after all those years, they waltzed again together 
 in long, gliding measure to the dreamy music of that 
 famous band ! Who could find in the polished and 
 phitonic armor of such a friendship one flaw in which 
 to drive the poisoned point of scandal ? He was too 
 keen an observer not to see and know that his com 
 rades lamented and that his lady friends in the th 
 resented his defection ; but he held that they had no 
 right to misjudge him or her, and so long as no one 
 spoke, so long was there no need for him to defend. 
 But now Mrs. Freeman had spoken, and matters were 
 taking shape that must be met. Down in the depths 
 of his heart he knew that her charge was fully sus 
 tained. He was Mrs. Granger s shadow everywhere. 
 He was bidden everywhere she went. He did send 
 regrets " owing to previous engagements" when bidden 
 
166 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 anywhere where she was not. He thought it amply 
 sufficient that he had such engagements. He did not 
 know what others suspected, that she had early infor 
 mation of every forthcoming dance or dinner or card 
 party at the fort and, on one pretext or another, pre 
 empted his services for that very hour. He did not 
 know that the absent and much lamented Hollis had 
 been manipulated in precisely the same way, and that 
 people were now comparing him with the absent in 
 terms that plainly showed they deemed him much the 
 bigger fool of the two. He was drifting along, fatuous 
 and self-deluded, vainly telling himself the world was 
 not pointing to him in derision. He was stifling the 
 still, small voice ever crying in his heart of hearts and 
 bidding him be a man : cut loose at once and for all 
 from this unhallowed fascination. Once or twice he 
 had roused himself to sudden effort and kept aloof for 
 several hours. The little note that promptly came to 
 the rear door, borne by the English coachman, never 
 made the faintest complaint of this, but claimed his 
 prompt presence on some plea which he could not re 
 sist. And now Mrs. Freeman had raised the veil and 
 he was compelled to look. War against it though he 
 might, her word was true. When a man abandons the 
 society of all other women and is content only in the 
 presence of one it is idle to prate of platonic friendship. 
 Until now he had never dreamed that his chains were 
 welded with tenfold strength, welded all the more 
 firmly because they were welded anew. But the honest 
 little woman with the clear, truthful, fearless eyes had 
 looked straight into his soul and told him that which 
 he could not deny, and he had turned and fled. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 "BLAKE, I thought you were going to give us 
 Still Waters Run Deep/ " said Mr. Royce, a few days 
 later, as the crowd gathered at the club-room on the 
 way back from stables. 
 
 " So did I," was the reply from behind an outspread 
 newspaper, and not another word would Mr. Blake 
 vouchsafe in explanation. 
 
 " Well, but see here. Of course I don t mean to 
 pry into matters that may be none of my business/ 7 
 said Royce, after an embarrassing pause; "but that 
 certainly was the arrangement, and so I announced 
 it in town. Now people want to know why it was 
 changed." 
 
 " Tell them we couldn t give it without Hollis for 
 the heavy villain/ 7 said Blake, still intrenched behind 
 the Times, a paper that he vehemently denounced and 
 as religiously read. 
 
 Royce glanced at Clark and Hunter, who sat there 
 silent listeners. 
 
 " Then it s only postponed until Tommy gets back, 
 is it? And meantime we give Caste because it has 
 no heavy villain?" 
 
 " That s about the size of it/ was the short answer. 
 
 For a moment more no one spoke. Clark was a 
 man, however, who did not propose to allow the matter 
 
168 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 to be so summarily settled. After a moment s hesita 
 tion he moved over to the table where Blake was seated 
 and spoke in low tone. 
 
 " See here, Blake, I ll tell you what I heard in town, 
 from good authority too. I don t mean to say it s true 
 at all, but it will give you an idea of the ingenuity of 
 people in accounting for things that are not fully ex- 
 .plained. It is said that the change had to be made 
 because Mrs. Freeman would not play the part of 
 Mrs. Mildmay if Mrs. Granger was in the cast." 
 
 Blake flushed hotly, but bit his lips and gathered 
 himself before making reply. 
 
 " Mrs. Freeman refused on general principles, Clark. 
 She said she could not act at all." 
 
 " Well, it was a friend of Mrs. Granger s who told 
 me ; and Mrs. Granger is reported to have said she 
 knew that Mrs. Freeman refused because of her." 
 
 " I know better." 
 
 " Did you tell Mrs. Granger the real reason given 
 by Mrs. Freeman ?" asked Clark. 
 
 " I haven t seen Mrs. Granger to speak to since day 
 before yesterday," was the curt answer, and Blake s 
 face was hidden by the paper, which he again raised as 
 though to read. 
 
 " Well, who are in the new cast?" persisted Clark. 
 
 "Mrs. Turner will play Esther, Dana takes 
 D Alroy/ Ross of the infantry Eccles/- he s tiptop 
 too, and I ll see what I can do with l Hautree. r 
 
 "Who ll be < Polly Eccles ?" 
 
 " Mrs. Granger." 
 
 " Mrs. Granger ! Polly Eccles ! Why, I d as soon 
 think of Juno playing Audrey. 7 Mrs. Granger that 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 169 
 
 romping, rollicking hoyden ? Why, man, you wouldn t 
 dare ask her !" 
 
 "All the same she s going to take it." 
 
 "Oh, well, all right. You re manager, and I m 
 satisfied. But it will just astonish this garrison !" And 
 with that the quartermaster turned away and sauntered 
 over to the pool-table, where some of the youngsters 
 were trying to "stick" old Wilkins, and making a 
 failure every time. 
 
 It did astonish the garrison. That night at the 
 colonel s table, where a dozen officers and ladies were 
 dining ; at the houses along the row where the bach 
 elors happened to call ; even over the solemn rubber 
 of whist at the post-surgeon s, the principal topic of 
 conversation was the coming play and Mrs. Granger s 
 surprising acceptance of such a part as that of " Polly 
 Eccles." All manner of theories were advanced in 
 explanation. Mrs. Waldron had seen it played by the 
 Rankins, who had one of the prettiest women in the 
 world to take the role of the merry, romping sister, and 
 who made it really the central figure of the drama; 
 possibly that was Mrs. Granger s idea. Mrs. Atherton, 
 who had been closely studying her brilliant neighbor 
 of the depot, was inclined to the belief that no one at 
 f Russell had yet begun to realize her versatile powers, 
 and that she had accepted a part so apparently un 
 worthy in order to give Fort Russell a genuine sur 
 prise. Old Stannard, who had taken a decided preju 
 dice against the lady, blurted out that his idea was 
 that she would take any part that would keep her 
 coming to the fort, and then, as was invariably the 
 case when he had said a sharp or satirical thing, he 
 H 15 
 
170 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 blushed and looked as though he wished he had held 
 his tongue. Mrs. Turner seemed really to rejoice in 
 the situation. She had of late begun to conceive it 
 the duty of some one in the th to make headway 
 against the social queendom so manifestly held by Mrs. 
 Granger in town and to a certain extent at the fort. 
 There was no gainsaying the fact that, without the 
 faintest apparent effort on that lady s part, the men in 
 stinctively gathered about her at every entertainment, 
 and it was gall and wormwood to Mrs. Turner s soul. 
 She was a woman who would rather have had it said of 
 herself that wherever she went the men thronged to do 
 her homage than that the blessings of the fatherless 
 and the widow were rained upon her path. She was 
 one of those women who, having this desire, resorted 
 to the most threadbare expedients, the most transparent, 
 devices, to bring men to her side. If she had gathered 
 one or two about her, her bright eyes roamed restlessly 
 around in search of more, and no man could come 
 within hail who was not summoned by some such claim 
 as, "Don t you think so, Captain Freeman?" or, "Til 
 leave it to you, Mr. Blake," or, " Here s Mr. Ray, he 
 can tell us." And, being thus summoned by name, the 
 would-be passer-by simply had to stop and take place 
 for a moment at least in the surrounding circle. It 
 was the old, old, dreary device, yet it lives perennial, 
 and the user little dreams how thin, how pitifully 
 thin, tis worn. But now, thought Mrs. Turner, the 
 time had come to down her rival. Surely the interest 
 of the play would centre on that lovely, lovelorn hero 
 ine, and romping " Polly" would be nowhere. She 
 never dreamed the real truth, indeed, who did? It 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 171 
 
 was Madeleine Granger who chose the play, who 
 named the cast, who bade Mr. Blake tender the part 
 of " Esther" to Mrs. Turner. 
 
 " She cannot act," said Blake. 
 
 " She thinks she can, Gerald, and she will jump at 
 the chance," was the answer. And jump she did, 
 quickly as ever she had at a conclusion. 
 
 And so during the week rehearsals were going on 
 every day ; sometimes at the depot, sometimes at the 
 post, and finally at the barrack theatre, and Blake 
 came no more to Freeman s quarters, where every morn 
 ing sat the bonny wife reading aloud with Nannie 
 Bryan. 
 
 The play was to be given on Tuesday night, and 
 Sunday had come. All day long the cold had been 
 intense. The keen blast from the northwest towards 
 sunset died away, and the light on the snow-clad peaks 
 to the south and the tips of the eastward ridges had 
 been simply dazzling. Now in the frosty gloaming 
 the lamps began to twinkle here and there around the 
 big parade, and such men as had to appear out of doors 
 were muffled to the eyes in fur. The few sentries 
 tramped briskly up and down their " guarded land," 
 stamping in their big buffalo overshoes and thrashing 
 their fur gauntlets across their broad chests. 
 
 " Relieve them every hour, Freeman," was the colo 
 nel s order to the officer of the day, as they trudged 
 up from the never-neglected stable duties. "And 
 have them visited frequently to-night lest they become 
 benumbed and fall asleep." 
 
 Over at the big brown hospital the thermometer had 
 registered twenty below at four o clock, and now the 
 
172 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 mercury was slipping down out of sight, and the spirit 
 gauge was hung outside the steward s door. At nine 
 o clock the colonel s orderly went running around from 
 barrack to barrack to say that the men need not turn 
 out for roll-call at tattoo, and at 9.30 that call was 
 sounded by the trumpeter of the guard alone. All 
 over the garrison the big coal-stoves were glowing like 
 so many furnaces, and the anthracite gave up its store 
 of warmth and comfort to scores of grateful mortals 
 huddling about them. Women and children were no 
 where abroad on such a night, and only a few among 
 the bachelors ventured around, though Sunday-evening 
 calls were quite a feature at the post, and many a time 
 the clans gathered about Mrs. Atherton s piano, and 
 the strains of Moody and Sankey were borne to many 
 a listening ear. But this night it seemed too cold for 
 all but the most determined to sally forth, and down 
 at the club-room, around the red-hot globe of glowing 
 coals, four or five young fellows were sipping Muldoon s 
 "hot Scotch" and thanking Providence that it was not 
 their tour for guard. And Blake was there restlessly 
 pacing the floor, ever and anon gazing out of the east 
 window and steadfastly declining anything to drink. 
 
 At last the trumpet sounded the first call for tattoo, 
 and just then Blake started back from the window, 
 took three quick steps towards the east door, then, as 
 though suddenly recollecting himself, halted, stopped 
 an instant at the stove, and then without a word stalked 
 away towards the west door. 
 
 " Where re you going, Legs? There s no roll-call," 
 shouted Clark. 
 
 " I know it," answered Blake, shortly. 
 
CAPTAIN SLAKE. 173 
 
 " Going home? All right. Hold on ; I ll go with 
 you." 
 
 " But I m not/ said Blake, letting himself quickly 
 out into the storm-shed and banging the door behind 
 him. 
 
 " Well, I m going anyway," said Clark, with a laugh. 
 " Poor old Legs ! What a Godsend it would be if we 
 were only ordered back to Arizona for him. Come 
 on, Royce !" 
 
 No one cared to speak of Blake just then, but Clark 
 and Royce followed on out into the keen, sparkling 
 night. A cold moon was hanging low in the west, a 
 mere faint crescent, but aloft the stars fairly blazed in 
 the fathomless vault of the heavens. It was light 
 enough to see all moving objects along the parade, the 
 roadway and the walk, and Blake was nowhere ahead 
 of them. Instinctively, Clark turned as they reached 
 the road and glanced back towards the eastern gate 
 beyond the store. A tall, soldierly figure, muffled in 
 great-coat and furs stood silently there gazing away 
 southeastward across the bleak prairie. Blake, then, 
 had taken the roundabout way to reach his goal. For 
 an instant the quartermaster hesitated, looking wist 
 fully towards the shadowy form. Far beyond it the 
 dim lights of the distant town twinkled across the 
 prairie. More to the southward and nearer at hand a 
 brighter glow came from the westward windows of the 
 great depot. Those two that seemed nearest and 
 brightest were from Granger s quarters ; and suddenly 
 on the floor above, as though the blinds were just 
 thrown open, appeared a third, forming with those 
 below a nearly equilateral triangle. Instantly the 
 
 15* 
 
174 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 tall figure at the gate turned sharply to the south and 
 rapidly disappeared behind the low wooden buildings 
 and in the direction of the stables. 
 
 Royce, too, had halted, as though he desired to look 
 back. Clark linked arms with him and briefly said, 
 " Come on." 
 
 It was nearly eleven o clock when Billy Ray left the 
 Truscotts , where he always spent his Sunday evenings, 
 and came bustling into the sitting-room of his own quar 
 ters, where Hogan had a glowing fire to greet him ; but 
 Blake was missing. It was midnight when the front 
 door softly opened, was closed and locked from the in 
 side ; and Ray, lying snug and warm in his nest with 
 a certain little picture clasped tight to his heart, heard 
 his comrade tiptoeing up the stairs. 
 
 " He doesn t want to see or talk with me," sighed 
 Ray to himself; " I won t worry him by calling." 
 
 It was just after midnight when the officer of the 
 day, anxious about his sentries in that bitter cold, came 
 striding down the bluff, and was promptly, sharply 
 challenged by the muffled trooper who stepped forward 
 from the shadows of the stables. 
 
 "Who comes there?" 
 
 " Officer of the day." 
 
 " Advance, officer of the day, with the countersign." 
 
 Freeman never halted until the muzzle of the car 
 bine was almost at his breast. 
 
 " Winchester," he muttered, in low tone, and then, 
 without waiting for the conventional "Advance, officer 
 of the day," instantly queried, 
 
 " Are you all right, sentry ? Sure you re not freez- 
 ing?" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 175 
 
 " I m all right, sir," was the cheery answer. " I 
 double time every few minutes." 
 
 " How long have you been on ?" 
 
 "Since 11.30, sir. 77 
 
 " Everything all right on your post?" 
 
 " All right, sir. An officer rode in who hadn t the 
 countersign, but I recognized and passed him." 
 
 " An officer !" exclaimed Freeman, in surprise. " On 
 horseback ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir : Lieutenant Blake." 
 
 Captain Freeman suddenly ceased his questions, 
 turned back and tramped up the line until he came to 
 the door of his troop stables. Here he pressed the 
 latch and pushed up a little trap in the main gate, and, 
 bowing low and stepping high, he let himself in and 
 stood erect once more in the long, dimly-lighted gang 
 way between the stalls. There he found his stable 
 sergeant and orderly briskly rubbing down a steam 
 ing horse that had evidently been ridden hard and 
 fast. He knew Blake s charger at a glance, and his 
 face was full of glot>m as he stepped slowly forward. 
 The men stood erect an instant and saluted as they 
 recognized their captain, then resumed their work. 
 
 " Sergeant Jamieson, did you not know it was against 
 the colonel s orders that any government horse should 
 be taken out after taps without his permission or that 
 of the officer of the day. You certainly knew that 
 this was not Lieutenant Blake s private property?" 
 
 "Certainly, sir," answered the English sergeant, 
 again standing erect. "But the lieutenant went out 
 before taps. He sent Hogan down soon after eight to 
 say he might need his horse and to keep him saddled 
 
176 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and ready. Mr. Blake came hurrying down about 
 tattoo, and when he got back the horse looked as though 
 he had run several miles." 
 
 Freeman said nothing more. He paced slowly down 
 the dim corridor, as though glancing at the fastenings 
 of the horses, and seeing that the halter-straps were 
 neither so long that the animal could back out or en 
 tangle himself, or so short as to prevent his lying down 
 with comfort. Most of the horses were already deep 
 in their thick beds of clean fresh straw, and some 
 of them slowly lifted their heads and gazed at him 
 with sleepy eyes ; others were still on their feet, but 
 drowsy and torpid. The captain looked about with 
 pride and satisfaction at the evidences of care on every 
 hand. 
 
 " That ex-hussar is a jewel of a stable sergeant," he 
 thought to himself, " if he was a deserter, as the men 
 say. Odd !" he continued his train of thought, a grim 
 smile curling the lips under that heavy moustache. 
 " Twas a woman who drove him out of the Prince of 
 Wales s cherry pants and into our sky-blue and mus 
 tard. The women are the best recruiting officers we 
 have after all. They send a thousand men into the 
 army every year, and occasionally square matters by 
 driving a fellow out of it. Who ll be the next in the 
 th to go, I wonder ?" 
 
 Once again the sharp, clear challenge of the sentry 
 rang out on the cold night air. The answer was in 
 audible. " Advance and be recognized," was the sen 
 try s order ; and then the little trap-door was suddenly 
 pushed open, a fur-covered head and body came thrust 
 ing through the gap and shooting up to a height of six 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 177 
 
 feet, and the pale, anxious face of Lieutenant Blake 
 was revealed in the dim light of the stable lanterns. 
 
 " Sergeant Jamieson, I ve dropped some letters from 
 my overcoat-pocket ; have you seen anything of them ?" 
 
 " Not a sign, sir," said the sergeant, in his prompt, 
 soldierly way, as he stood erect and raised his hand in 
 salute. " Where does the lieutenant think he dropped 
 them? Here, Murphy, go you and search with the 
 lieutenant. I ll put up the horse." And as the ser 
 geant led the tired bay to his stall, Blake s face turned 
 a shade whiter, and there was unmistakable start and 
 agitation, for there stood the officer of the day, the man 
 of all others in the th who had known him longest, 
 been his stanchest friend, and from whom of late he 
 had drifted almost helplessly away. For an instant 
 no word was spoken. The two men stood there in 
 silence looking at each other, then Freeman held out 
 his hand. 
 
 "What is wrong, Blake, old man? Can t I help 
 you?" 
 
 With something almost like a sob, Blake turned 
 sharply away. 
 
 " Nobody can help me, Freeman. My God ! 
 nobody." 
 
178 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " CASTE" was to be given Tuesday night. Monday 
 evening there was a dress rehearsal and a modified sen 
 sation. It was still sharply cold, and Blake had been 
 at his wits end, apparently, striving all day long to 
 warm that barn-like structure in which the entertain 
 ments of the garrison, social and dramatic, were gener 
 ally given. He had moved two more stoves into the 
 old barracks, a feat which, on account of the narrow 
 ness of the doors, gave no little trouble, and punched 
 two additional stovepipe-holes in the roof, a feat which 
 gave no trouble at all ; and with four fires consuming 
 anthracite at a ruinous rate it was to be supposed that 
 any ordinary building would be reasonably warm. 
 Nevertheless " Polly Eccles" begged to be excused from 
 removing either her sealskin wrap or the " toque" with 
 its coquettish and most becoming adornment. She 
 wore her collar turned up about the throat, too, which 
 was unusual for Mrs. Granger, whose throat was round 
 and white and blue-veined and beautiful, and the 
 lackadaisical, lovelorn " Esther," impersonated by Mrs. 
 Turner, was observed to be in a state of remarkable 
 excitement, both on and off the stage. She forgot her 
 part, needed incessant promptings both as to cues, lines, 
 and " business," and Blake was savagely sarcastic on 
 more than one occasion. Something in Mrs. Granger s 
 appearance seemed to positively fascinate her volatile 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 179 
 
 friend and fellow-actress, for the latter s bright, lus 
 trous eyes followed her every movement. Still, the 
 rehearsal went off rather well in other respects, Blake s 
 haw-haw, heavy swell manner as " Hautree" keeping 
 everybody in a titter, however, and evoking loud ap 
 plause from the audience, which consisted of Major 
 Granger, just back from Omaha, and Captain Turner, 
 who, for reasons best known to himself, had decided to 
 go with his wife, and who managed to keep close to 
 her side whenever she was not actually on the stage. 
 Granger was looking rather more sallow and dyspeptic 
 than ever, and seemed singularly nervous and irritable. 
 Twice, thrice, the exits of " Polly" or " Hautree" brought 
 these two artists into the wings on the same side, and 
 at such moments the manager seemed to lose sight and 
 hearing of the play, for errors went by unremarked, so 
 far as he was concerned, and Ross and Dana had to 
 correct and counsel. At last the rehearsal was over. 
 Mrs. Turner insisted on everybody s coming across the 
 parade to her house for a cup of hot coffee or bouillon. 
 A messenger was sent to the stables for the Grangers 7 
 carriage, which, with blanketed horses, had been stand 
 ing in the stables of Freeman s troop meantime ; and 
 when it was heard at the Turners gate, Mrs. Turner 
 became all eagerness and hospitality. 
 
 u Now, Mrs. Granger, I know Grimsby must be 
 half frozen ; do let him come right into the hall and 
 have some bouillon or coffee before you start. Our 
 man will stand at the horses heads." 
 
 But Mrs. Granger would not listen to it; neither 
 would the major. They must return at once, they pro 
 tested. Even in the parlor Mrs. Granger declined to 
 
180 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 remove her cloak : the carriage, she said, would come 
 instantly. And, indeed, they had barely reached the 
 house before its wheels were heard, and she had hardly 
 time to sip her cup of coffee. Granger hastily led her 
 forth, and almost sharply ordered every one else not to 
 venture out into the cold night air. She was not even 
 seated in the landau when he shouted to the driver, 
 " Go on !" And off went the spirited team. Granger 
 springing to his wife s side as they whirled away. 
 
 No sooner were her guests departed to their various 
 homes than Mrs. Turner dropped on the sofa in a state 
 of apparent collapse, and the captain anxiously inquired 
 what was wrong. 
 
 " I declare I don t know. I m utterly used up and 
 unstrung. Have we any champagne in the house ? I 
 just long for a glass." 
 
 " We have none here, Fan, but I ll trot right down 
 to the club and fetch some," promptly answered the 
 captain, ever eager to humor the fancies of his pretty 
 helpmeet. 
 
 " Oh, I hate to have you go out, way down there 
 in the cold, and yet I do so long for a little Roederer, 
 just a glass." 
 
 "You shall have it in three minutes, dear," said 
 Turner, already struggling into his big overcoat. Then 
 out he darted into the starry night. No sooner was 
 he across the piazza than she sprang from the sofa, 
 fluttered through the dining-room and out into the 
 kitchen, where voices and laughter had been audible 
 for some time. 
 
 " Mina, you told me Grimsby was dismissed, and he 
 was here to-night." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 181 
 
 "No twasu t, Miss Turner; that wasn t Grimsby; 
 that was one of the depot men dressed up in Grimsby s 
 things. He ll never work for the Grangers any more. 
 Maybe you don t believe what I told you, but it s true. 
 You ask Annie; you ask Sergeant Jamieson if that 
 was Grimsby that drove to-night." 
 
 " You said Annie heard all the trouble last night, 
 every bit of it ?" asked Mrs. Turner. 
 
 " She couldn t help hearing it ! Grimsby was drunk 
 and just shouting. Mr. Blake, he didn t talk loud, 
 but she could hear him all the same. The major was 
 the maddest man when he got there, I tell you, 
 Annie says you could have heard him all over the 
 prairie, and it s a wonder Mr. Blake didn t hear her 
 and come back when he tried to choke her. Annie 
 says it s going to be a mighty sight of trouble, for when 
 Grimsby came for his breakfast this morning he just 
 swore he d be even with the Grangers, both of them ; 
 that he could tell things that would bring them both 
 down, and he d do it, too. He came up to the post 
 this afternoon and wanted to see Lieutenant Blake, 
 and Blake " 
 
 "Mr. Blake, Mina," said Mrs. Turner, primly. 
 "You shouldn t speak of gentlemen without giving 
 them their titles." 
 
 " Well, when he cuts up this way with Mrs. Granger 
 I don t see no use for being so mighty polite, and the 
 lieutenant sent Hogan down to tell him to clear out 
 and never show his face at the fort again without his 
 permission ; and he just went by here swearing mad. 
 I heard him. He went out to Bryan s ranch. He 
 didn t go back to the depot neither. He stopped down 
 
 16 
 
182 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 at the stables and had a long talk with that English 
 Sergeant Jamieson. Corporal Murphy told Mrs. Fin- 
 nigan, her that s laundress for L troop, and she 
 told me. And Annie says you can see the black marks 
 on Mrs. Granger s throat this morning just as plain as 
 daylight." 
 
 " But how did Mr. Blake happen to be there such a 
 night? I don t understand," queried Mrs. Turner, her 
 eyes, mouth, and ears all open. 
 
 " She sent for him. Annie says that s what the row 
 was about. Mr. Blake hadn t been there for two days, 
 and when he didn t come yesterday morning she sent 
 Grimsby up with a note, and he swore it was an out 
 rage to send him up in such awful weather. And he 
 began drinking when he got back, said he was frozen, 
 and so when she ordered him to hitch up at nine 
 o clock and drive to the railway depot to meet Major 
 Granger he was drunk, and swore he wouldn t, and 
 dared her to discharge him. Oh, he said awful things ; 
 Annie heard him, and she ran up-stairs Mrs. Granger 
 did with a big lamp from the parlor, and Grimsby 
 stumbled off to the store, and the next thing Mr. 
 Blake came tearing down on horseback. She cried, and 
 he went off to find Grimsby, but could not, and was 
 gone a good while, and came and told her Grimsby was 
 neither anywhere about the depot nor any drinking-bar 
 near it ; he must have gone to town and he d got to 
 follow him; and just as he was going out the major 
 came in. He d got a carriage in town somewhere. 
 
 He was looking blacker than Oh, Annie said it was 
 
 awful. She went in just then with a hod of coal, and 
 he ordered her out, and stamped and swore, and Mrs. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 183 
 
 Granger laughed at first, and then he grabbed her, 
 Annie saw him, and Mrs. Granger screamed and ran 
 to her room and locked the door. Annie says he just 
 stood outside and begged and cried half the night. 
 Of course Mr. Blake, he d gone away the moment 
 after the major came. Annie says that it was long 
 after twelve o clock before he left that door, where he 
 was begging and imploring her to forgive him and let 
 him in " 
 
 But here Miss Mina came to an abrupt stop, crest 
 fallen and dismayed. The dining-room door had sud 
 denly opened, and Mrs. Turner, recalled from the 
 thrilling interest of this tale to a contemplation of her 
 own surroundings, found herself confronted by the sad, 
 reproachful face of her husband. 
 
 " Here is your Roederer, Fan/ 7 he said, quietly, but 
 with a choke in his voice. " It needs no ice. Mina, 
 you should be at home at this hour. Oblige me by 
 going at once and never setting foot under my roof 
 again." 
 
 When a moment later he closed the dining-room 
 door, after seeing his wife safely through, Captain 
 Turner took her hand and led her into the parlor. 
 
 " Fanny/ he said, " you had heard this story before 
 to-night. It had been told you before you went to re 
 hearsal, for I heard that girl s voice in the kitchen. 
 You knew that the Grangers had discharged Grimsby 
 when you urged her to let him come in and get warm, 
 did you not?" 
 
 For all answer she threw herself upon the lounge, 
 and, bursting into tears, rocked to and fro in an ecstasy 
 of melodramatic grief. For several minutes she could 
 
184 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 not speak, and he stood sadly before her looking upon 
 her with eyes in which no sign of anger lived, nothing 
 but pity and infinite sorrow. At last through her sobs 
 and tears she cried, 
 
 " I declare, Captain Turner, it is simply heartless, 
 monstrous in you to shame me so before the servants." 
 And Turner without another word slowly left the 
 room, and once again walked forth into the bitter night. 
 
 It was about eleven o clock. The air was crisp, keen, 
 and still. The crescent moon was hanging over the 
 snow-covered summits far to the west, where ran the 
 ridge-line of the Ilockies. The stars were gleaming 
 in the heavens, and, just as on the previous evening, 
 the lights of the distant town twinkled across the three- 
 mile stretch of prairie ; but all was darkness at the 
 great depot midway between. Turner looked irreso 
 lutely up the row. A little party, merry and joyous, 
 came laughing out into the frosty night air from the 
 colonel s quarters, and half a dozen couples were pres 
 ently walking briskly towards him. He heard Ray s 
 ringing voice, so full of life and hope and gladness, 
 mingling with the silvery tones of some of the ladies. 
 He heard Staunard guffawing over some joke which 
 had been perpetrated at Hollis s expense, and as they 
 drew nearer Mrs. Truscott queried, 
 
 " And where is Mr. Hollis now ? and isn t it time 
 we heard from him again ?" 
 
 Turner was in no mood to meet so gay a party. 
 After one moment of hesitation he faced eastward, and 
 lo ! up the walk from the store came a quartette of 
 jovial bachelors, " the boys" who had been down for 
 a nightcap of Muldoon s hot-Scotch, and were now 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 185 
 
 homeward bound. He cared as little to meet them, 
 and so retracing his steps to his own door, there, too, 
 he halted. What awaited him at his fireside but tears, 
 reproaches, wretchedness? It was useless to attempt 
 to reason with her to point out the shame and un- 
 worthiness of her conduct; to plead with her to give 
 ear to his advice and counsel, or to lay upon her his 
 commands. She would only weep and moan and la 
 ment the cruelty of her fate, the bitterness of her life, 
 all misjudged, misunderstood, miserable, as she declared 
 it to be. No, he turned quickly and walked on the 
 creaking boards, snapping with the cold under his feet, 
 around by the side of his little army home, and so, out 
 upon the frozen, turfless soil of the unsightly back 
 yard. The rear gate stood open, and while he himself 
 was yet in the shadow of his quarters he saw a muffled 
 form pass quickly across the gap, some one going along 
 the line of fence that separated the back yards from 
 the prairie, and some one who was closely hugging that 
 fence as though desirous of being seen by none. It 
 was not a sentry, for the colonel had ordered the dis 
 continuance of the post in the rear of the officers row 
 in such bitter weather. It did not look like a soldier 
 at all. There was still a light burning in his kitchen, 
 where the cook was now finishing the labors which 
 had been discontinued during Mina s entertaining visit. 
 There was the hole in the fence through which that 
 voluble young woman was wont to make her way. 
 He remembered afterwards that, as he strode quickly by, 
 he resolved to have it boarded up on the morrow ; but 
 now he wished to see who this night-prowler could be. 
 Nothing of the kind had been heard of since the pre- 
 
 16* 
 
186 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 vious summer, when there was for a week or so a deli 
 cious mystery, a serenader. A man who would go 
 prowling along the back fence a night like this must 
 needs have powerful incentive. No soldiers, not even 
 the bandsman, would have any excuse for coming that 
 way, and whoever it was there was something stealthy 
 and furtive about his movements. Turner was un 
 armed, but that made no difference to him. A few of 
 his long strides brought him to the gate, and there he 
 could dimly see the line of fence for full a hundred 
 yards either way. Not a living being was in sight. 
 There was but one explanation, he had turned in at a 
 near gate-way. Could it after all have been some one 
 of the officers " strikers" who slept in some little nook 
 or corner under his superior s roof? Was it that Irish 
 scamp, Hogan ? No ; neither in garb nor gait was 
 there anything of the soldier about this fellow. Turn 
 ing eastward, the captain stepped quickly along, entered 
 the next gate and peered keenly about him. The doors 
 of the various sheds were closed. No one was there ; 
 neither was there in the next. It was at the third 
 yard that he stopped short. There were voices in low, 
 excited conversation across the fence, in the yard of the 
 quarters occupied by Ray and Blake, and, beyond all 
 peradventure, one of those voices was Blake s own. 
 And now the other began, a whining, querulous plea 
 in unmistakably cockney accent. 
 
 " Hannythink, capting, hannythink you may say 
 will elp me. Don t let a poor devil be turned hout in 
 the cold without a shilling." 
 
 " Be silent !" interrupted the other voice, Blake s, 
 as Turner whirled impatiently away, unwilling to hear 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 187 
 
 another word of colloquy. " You have threatened, 
 bullied, lied, blackmailed." Turner could not but 
 hear that much as he hurried away. A quick turn to 
 the left carried him beyond ear-shot of further talk in 
 that yard ; but not of what followed. He had gone 
 not a dozen steps when the thud of blows, the rasp of 
 scuffling feet upon the icy ground caught his ear; and 
 as he hastened back one dark form came reeling out of 
 the gate, another followed, lunging viciously. The 
 second it was that slipped and fell, and the first was 
 upon the other in an instant. As Turner leaped to the 
 spot a knife gleamed in the moonlight. With sinewy 
 hand the captain seized the cockney by the coat-collar, 
 and, hurling him back, dealt him one fierce blow that 
 sent him sprawling to earth. Blake was up in an in 
 stant, breathless, but unharmed. 
 
 " Don t hurt him, Turner. That s enough. My 
 God!" he gasped, "you got here just in time. Get 
 up, you hound !" And he gave one contemptuous 
 kick at his fallen adversary. "Get up! Never mind 
 looking for your knife, sir; I ll take care of that. 
 And now, unless you want to be lodged in jail with 
 the charge of attempted murder over your head, unless 
 you want to be lynched by the Irishmen in this post, 
 put a hundred miles between yourself and Cheyenne 
 inside of twelve hours, and never let us hear from you 
 again. Here, you cur, take that and go!" And as 
 he spoke, Blake flung a little wad of bills into the face 
 of the still bewildered coachman, who slowly found 
 his feet, and, merely pausing one moment to shake a 
 clinched fist and mutter one savage curse, the half- 
 drunken fellow went slouching away. 
 
188 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Then Blake and Turner confronted each other. The 
 face of the former pale, haggard, careworn ; that of 
 the latter unutterably sad. 
 
 " What business has that that man going in that 
 direction, Blake ? He should be off to town." 
 
 " He has a buckboard outside the band-quarters, 
 captain, and a man from Bryan s ranch. That is 
 where he says he came from. It seems he had some 
 business with Bryan this evening, and there s where 
 he got his liquor." 
 
 "How happens it he came here to your quarters, 
 and you meet him ? Blake, do you begin to know 
 how people are talking? how you are harming your 
 self and her?" 
 
 Against the rough old board fence Blake leaned 
 wearily. He drew the sleeve of his heavy coat across 
 his eyes, hiding his face, and for a moment made no 
 reply. At last the arm dropped suddenly. 
 
 "Turner," said Blake, striding forward until he 
 stood face to face with the captain, " I know you so 
 well that I need not ask you to keep my confidence. 
 I know nothing of what they say, but can conjecture. 
 I know this, that I am in hell, and that one way or 
 another this thing ends to-morrow night." 
 
 With that he turned sharply away, and the captain, 
 still standing in the cold and darkness, heard him kick 
 in the warped and ill-fitting door that resisted for the 
 instant his entrance to his lonely quarters. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TUESDAY evening the long-expected Tuesday 
 had come, and the post theatre was crowded. Imme 
 diately in front of the little stage with its flaring foot 
 lights the orchestra of the th was seated. Then on 
 camp-stools and low chairs the officers children were 
 chatting together, eager, excited, and full of joyous antici 
 pation. Proud mammas or attentive nurse-maids were 
 close behind their respective broods, the former now 
 bending forward to restrain the impetuosity of some 
 vigorous young soldier or to check the too voluble 
 tongue of the dainty fairy, " the image of her mother," 
 then leaning back and looking over their shoulders to 
 exchange confidences with garrison friends in the row 
 in rear, where were seated mammas whose children 
 were big enough to take care of themselves or so tender 
 in years as to have no interest in the momentous pro 
 ceedings of the evening. Here and there among the 
 dames and damsels were scattered the officers of the 
 post and masculine visitors from the neighborhood. 
 Cheyenne had sent a large contingent of its 6lite, and 
 j Mrs. Morris and her coterie were provided with floral 
 offerings presumably for the benefit of their social 
 idol, Mrs. Granger. For, though she did not know 
 it, as is the case with most of us, pretty Mrs. 
 Turner had no real conception of the opinion enter- 
 
190 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 tained of her by a large section of local society ; and 
 it was not likely that the roses and carnations peeping 
 from Mrs. Morris s lap, the product of her own con 
 servatory, could be intended for any one so distinctly, 
 though unwittingly, unpopular as the self-supposed 
 heroine of the play. Seven or eight rows of chairs 
 extending, except for narrow aisles on each side, en 
 tirely across the hall were thus occupied by the fami 
 lies of the officers and their friends. Then came a 
 row made up of such unsocial creatures as Crane, 
 Carroll, Wilkins, some of the quartermasters and com 
 missary clerks, and other depot employe s. Then row 
 upon row of benches, somewhat raised above the level 
 in front, and here swarmed the wives and children of 
 the non-commissioned officers ; and then the entire 
 lower end of the hall was crowded by the troopers and 
 infantrymen, keen critics and yet warm partisans ; for, 
 as was well known, there were probably a dozen among 
 their number who could " give points" over and over 
 again to any dramatically-inclined mortal among the 
 shoulder-straps. The management had carefully taken 
 up the canvas covering of the floor so that the spotless 
 dancing-surface should not suffer. The flag-draped 
 partitions that had divided off the lower end of the 
 room at the time of the ladies german were all now 
 removed, and every available foot of space in rear of 
 the entrance doors was solidly packed by the boys in 
 blue. The orchestra had already played the overture to 
 Massaniello and received its round of applause, and the 
 leader kept glancing eagerly towards the hand-worn edge 
 of the drop-curtain at the prompter s side, expectant 
 of the signal to start the music which was to usher in 
 
CAPTAIN SLAKE. 101 
 
 act first of Robertson s famous comedy. But, though 
 a hand appeared for an instant, it was hastily with 
 drawn. There was evident cause for delay, and once 
 more the children, who had been hushed in expectation, 
 began their tittering chat. 
 
 " Two to one they re waiting for Mrs. Turner/ 
 whispered Stannard to Mrs. Atherton. "She never 
 was known to be ready on time." 
 
 The colonel, sitting on the other side of his wife 
 and talking at the moment with the Waldrons, glanced 
 at his play-bill and then at his watch. u Fifteen min 
 utes late now," he said ; then looked over his shoulder 
 to where Granger sat, gaunt and spectacled, trying to 
 entertain Mrs. Gregg, who couldn t bear him. 
 
 " You were behind the scenes ten minutes ago, 
 major ; wasn t everything apparently ready then ?" 
 asked Atherton. 
 
 " Apparently, yes, sir. Mrs. Granger was all ready 
 an hour ago. The other ladies seemed all ready too." 
 
 Over at the end of their row Captain Turner was 
 seated chatting in low tone with Freeman, whose bonny 
 wife, with her olive-branches and Nannie Bryan, oc 
 cupied chairs almost in the middle of the second row. 
 Every one was remarking the change that had been 
 effected in "Prairie Nan s" appearance since Mrs. 
 Freeman had begun to take such an interest in her, 
 and to-night the child was positively pretty. Her 
 great tumbling tresses had been gathered up upon her 
 head and fastened there with something like the snood 
 of the Highland maidens ; her rounded cheeks were 
 softly flushed, her big eyes sparkled with animation 
 and interest, and her gown was the most becoming 
 
192 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 thing she had ever been known to wear ; it was entirely 
 new and unquestionably of Mrs. Freeman s designing ; 
 and unquestionably, too, that sweet-faced little woman 
 was proud of her protegee and rejoiced when she was 
 noticed and spoken to, as happened time and again. 
 Even at this moment Mrs. Truscott was bending for 
 ward to say something which heightened the flush of 
 pleasure on the young girl s cheek, and Mr. Ray, who 
 was Mrs. Truscott s escort, Jack being temporarily de 
 tained as officer of the day, nodded smiling approval, 
 saying, 
 
 " You look almost as stunning as you do in the sad 
 dle, Nan. Nobody can beat you there." And this, 
 coming from such authority, seemed to fill her cup of 
 bliss to the brim. 
 
 It was fully twenty minutes after eight. The or 
 chestra was playing a second overture, in obedience to 
 signals from the stage, when Captain Truscott, holding 
 his sabre in his hand so as to prevent its clanking, 
 made his way quietly up the side aisle, and found a 
 chair reserved for him next that of his wife. She 
 looked up into his face with the loving welcome of her 
 expressive eyes, and saw instantly that something out 
 of the common had happened. 
 
 "Anything wrong, Jack?" she whispered, nestling 
 her hand into his, as he removed his glove. 
 
 " Nothing of consequence, dear ; a little trouble 
 among some of the drivers from town. Haven t they 
 begun yet?" 
 
 "No; there s some delay. It will be eleven and 
 later before they finish, will it not?" 
 
 " Yes. Blake said it took over two hours and a 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 193 
 
 half at least, and that, with their inexperience, it would 
 take much more." 
 
 But here the orchestra suddenly ceased ; there was 
 an instant of whirling over the leaves of music, and 
 then, with a flourish of his bow, the leader signalled, 
 and up went the curtain to an accompaniment of a 
 merry, tuneful air. Up it went a few feet at least, 
 then there was a balk. One side hoisted higher than 
 the other, and the painted town of " Irun on the Bi- 
 dassoa" began to roll up askew, whereat there was a 
 titter which increased to a general laugh as Mr. Wil- 
 kins was heard to call out, "Steady there! Dress 
 to the left," and then to a shout of merriment as 
 " the Honorable George D Alroy" briskly entered D. 
 R. 2 E. only to find the curtain descending for a 
 straightening out, whereat he whirled about and came 
 into violent collision with a tall eye-glassed swell, just 
 appearing at the same door. When, after a moment s 
 delay, the curtain was induced to go up straight and 
 the two officers entered in conventional mufti, a the 
 Honorable Mr. D Alroy" could hardly keep his face 
 straight, and the dawdling, languid " Hautree" was ob 
 served to have an unusual flush upon his cheeks. The 
 explanatory dialogue between the love-smitten subal 
 tern and the heavy-swell captain was allowed to go on 
 without other symptoms of interest on the part of the 
 audience than an occasional titter among the children. 
 It was the inebriated " Eccles" who scored the first 
 point, and whose triumphant exit, after securing " the 
 loan of a sov" from " Mr. D Alroy," fairly brought down 
 the house. And then there was a moment of hushed 
 expectation as Mr. Dana a very handsome "D Alroy" 
 i n 17 
 
194 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 he made too announced the coming of the heroine, 
 and a gentle stir of welcoming applause greeted the 
 timid, half-shy, half-joyous entrance of the lovely 
 " Esther." She swept forward as though to greet her 
 lover, halted irresolute at sight of " Hautree," and then 
 forgot them both, and smiled and bowed and smirked, 
 and bowed again, and even essayed a stately Rosina 
 Yokes courtesy in acknowledgment of a greeting 
 which called for no such elaborate response. Anybody 
 could see that the stage-manager was more than vexed. 
 But, oh, why should the simple, modest, poverty- 
 stricken London girl be attired in a tailor-made street 
 suit of the latest fashion? Every woman in the au 
 dience saw the solecism at a glance. 
 
 " I ll bet ten to one that was the cause of the delay," 
 growled Stannard to Mrs. Atherton, after it had been 
 pointed out to him. And he w r as right. She had worn a 
 very different garb at the dress rehearsal the night be 
 fore, and had counted on escaping Blake s managerial 
 eye until after the opening of the first act, and thus ex 
 hibiting the charming toilet just received from the dis 
 tant East; but he had come upon her unawares, and 
 then ensued a scene not down on the bills. Blake 
 insisted that her costume was entirely inappropriate and 
 begged her to change it. Mrs. Turner responded that 
 when she saw what a guy the proper dress made her, 
 she couldn t bring herself to wear it, and would not ; 
 and then " Legs" made his fatal blunder. 
 
 "Good heavens, Mrs. Turner," he had exclaimed, 
 " you looked lovely in it last night, and it was per 
 fectly in accord with Mrs. Granger s, and she looks 
 lovely in hers now. Do send right over and get it." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 195 
 
 But this was just where the shoe pinched. Mrs. 
 Granger did look lovely in her simple but exquisitely- 
 fitting costume. She had a figure whose beauty was 
 actually enhanced by the plainness of her gown ; 
 whereas Mrs. Turner s strong point was her face, not 
 her form, and it took consummate art to make the latter 
 beauteous. .Determined not to appear at a disadvan 
 tage, Mrs. Turner had planned this scheme, and now 
 she would not budge. 
 
 "Oh, yes, I know very well how Mrs. Granger 
 looks, Mr. Blake/ 7 was her spirited reply ; " and 
 though you have eyes for nobody else, other people 
 may not be so indifferent as to how the ladies of our 
 regiment look. I suppose it was Mrs. Granger who 
 sent you here to tell me to change. I simply won t, 
 it s too late, anyhow." 
 
 The overture was nearly finished. Blake despair 
 ingly swallowed the insinuations, but declared Mrs. 
 Granger innocent of any part in the matter. She did 
 not even know of Mi s. Turner s appearance, but. was 
 at this moment helping the maids in reducing the rouge 
 on the cheeks of her loyal friend and admirer, Mrs. 
 Ross, of the infantry, who was to appear as the Mar 
 quise de St. Maur. Blake fairly pleaded with Mrs. 
 Turner, but she was inexorable and even angry. He 
 thought for a moment of summoning Mrs. Atherton 
 behind the scenes to exert her influence, but by this 
 time it was much after eight, and a moment s reflection 
 convinced him that, after all, it was best to let her have 
 her way ; she could not change now inside of half an 
 hour, and, if she were compelled to, would be apt to 
 ruin the performance in some other way. In despera- 
 
196 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 tion he turned and rushed across the stage, where he and 
 Mr. Heath, all ready to go on as "Gerridge," had a 
 moment s sympathetic but explosive conference, and 
 then he summoned " D Alroy," and, with wrath in his 
 heart, rang up the curtain. 
 
 " Not as single spies, but in battalions," he raved, as 
 " D Alroy" nearly upset him in his precipitate retreat 
 after the mishap to the curtain. u It s bad enough at 
 the start ; what will the ending be ?" 
 
 In this moment of his bitter vexation and annoyance 
 a soft white hand, a hand from which all the jewels 
 had been removed, was laid upon his arm, and that 
 lovely, beaming face, all smiles and confidence, looked 
 up into his troubled eyes. 
 
 " Don t worry, Gerald ; we ll make this a success. 
 Do you think I d let it be a failure when it means so 
 much to you?" 
 
 " What a trump you are !" he muttered, hoarsely, 
 longing yet not daring to meet the look in her eyes. 
 They were at the second entrance on the right of the 
 stage at the instant, and Dana had rushed beyond. In 
 the confusion and excitement they were actually un 
 observed. " Pon my soul, I could give it up in dis 
 gust if you weren t here to stand by me !" 
 
 " Don t you know I would do that always, now, 
 Gerald ?" she softly murmured, gazing one moment 
 into his face, then lowering the white lids until the 
 lashes swept her flushed cheeks. 
 
 " All ready, Mr. Blake !" shouted the prompter. 
 
 " Let her go, then, quick ! Come, Dana." But then 
 a fatal impulse seized him and he turned. Both her 
 white hands were quickly outstretched to him, and 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 197 
 
 grasping, he raised them with sudden movement to his 
 burning lips. For the first time in years she heard 
 the half-stifled, the longing, passionate cry, " Made 
 leine!" and then he sprang away. But she stood 
 there, a smile of triumph on her face, as, a moment 
 later, "Hautree" dawdled out upon the stage, his 
 heart bounding in his breast. 
 
 Who in all that audience dreamed of the wheels 
 within wheels, the drama within a drama enacted behind 
 that dingy canvas screen ? Who could have said only 
 a few moments later that the laughing, romping, rosy- 
 cheeked girl, dancing in through the flimsy door-way, 
 her white teeth flashing, her shapely feet pirouetting, her 
 lovely face smiling pertly up into " Hautree s" bewil 
 dered visage, was whispering wantonly to herself, " He 
 loves me ! He loves me ! I have won him back again." 
 
 The town coterie had applauded vigorously at her 
 entrance ; the fort had affably seconded, but a laughing 
 nod was the only recognition. Her silvery voice rang 
 out clear and resonant, compelling their sudden silence. 
 She was through with the brief introductory scene in 
 a moment, and then with infinite gusto fell to chaffing 
 " Hautree." There was a shout of delight from the 
 rear of the hall when " Polly" refused to recognize his 
 rank, scouted the idea of his appearing in that house 
 as a captain, and bade him be corporal or nothing. The 
 children shrieked with merriment over the by-play, 
 where she made him take the kettle by the spout, and 
 there was a rapturous burst of applause from the entire 
 audience when she ordered her now obedient slave to 
 face the door-way, and then commanded, " Forward 
 march !" From that instant the interest of the crowded 
 
 17* 
 
198 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 throng centred on her, and the tailor-made gown, the 
 lackadaisical tremor in Mrs. Turner s voice, the plain 
 tive melancholy in her pretty face were all ineffectual. 
 Not until " Polly " re-entered was there more than a 
 ripple of sympathy or applause, and at the closing 
 scene, just after "D Alroy" had implored "Esther" 
 to be his wife, and Mrs. Turner had thereupon be 
 stowed a liberal allowance of rouge and powder upon 
 the left shoulder of his cutaway, which led to a jovial 
 clapping of hands in the body of the house, it was 
 " Polly" upon whom all eyes were centred as " Eccles" 
 came staggering in. The dash she made to pull down 
 the curtain and hide the sight from the eyes of her 
 bourgeois lover, " Gerridge," simply carried everything 
 by storm. She would have remained in the rear of 
 the stage at the tumultuous recall, Mrs. Turner bowing 
 and smirking at the foot-lights with "D Alroy" at her 
 side, but louder and louder rang the applause, and 
 Blake from behind the scenes shouted to " Eccles" to 
 lead her to the front, and not until then were Mrs. 
 Morris s roses launched at her feet. There was no 
 mistaking for whom they were intended, and " Eccles" 
 scored another hit by the inimitable manner in which 
 he first picked up the flowers, then his hat, and event 
 ually himself. Mrs. Turner s share of the spoils was 
 a little bunch of carnations. 
 
 " Isn t she wonderful ?" " Whoever dreamed she 
 was such an actress ?" were the remarks flying from 
 lip to lip, during the interval between the acts. The 
 ladies from the fort were evidently taken by surprise, 
 while those from town were serenely superior and tri 
 umphant : they knew all about it, as Mrs. Morris 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 199 
 
 promptly claimed. In the general sensation poor Mrs. 
 Turner was totally forgotten. Even the tailor-made 
 gown seemed to escape comment. The orchestra was 
 now playing introduction and all one of Strauss s 
 loveliest waltzes, but the buzz of tongues fairly 
 drowned the melody. Mrs. Freeman had turned and 
 was chatting in low murmur with Mrs. Truscott. Here, 
 at least, was a small section of the audience where the 
 applause had been somewhat less enthusiastic. Jack, 
 bending over behind his wife, beckoned Ray closer. 
 
 "Billy, will you see Mrs. Truscott to the colonel s 
 when the play is out? I will be busy a while." 
 
 "Anything wrong, Jack?" 
 
 " Granger s driver, the new one, was assaulted down 
 at the stables. Nobody knows by whom. He says 
 two men were concerned : one of them wore a soldier s 
 overcoat." 
 
 " Nobody else see it ?" 
 
 " Not a soul. The Grangers came very early, and 
 the quartermaster s stable was deserted. The sentry 
 finally heard his cries, but got there too late. He s 
 badly battered, and we took him over to the hospital." 
 
 "Reckon he must have some suspicion, hasn t he?" 
 
 Yes; he says Grimsby, the discharged man, was 
 the only enemy he had, and no one has seen Grimsby 
 around the post since yesterday. Some of Freeman s 
 men got into an altercation over the matter with the 
 drivers who came out from town, and there came near 
 being a fracas. I ll tell you more next intermission," 
 he closed, as the ladies ceased their chat, and Mrs. 
 Truscott leaned back in her seat. 
 
 But if Mrs. Granger scored a success in the first act, 
 
200 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 it was nothing in comparison with the whirlwind of 
 triumph that attended her at the close of the second. 
 In the scene with " Hautree," when he appears in the 
 uniform of the heavy dragoon, even the other char 
 acters on the stage, " D Alroy" and " Esther," seemed 
 utterly to forget their roles and lose themselves in un 
 wonted admiration of the vivacious " Polly. 77 Nothing 
 in all their rehearsals had prepared them for such a 
 revelation of dramatic power. Her ringing, infectious 
 laughter ; her irresistible fun ; her simulated awe at 
 the appearance of the two dragoons in their regi 
 mentals ; her caperings about the stage, as though 
 mounted astride a prancing charger ; her capital imita 
 tion of the colonel s word of command, as she flourished 
 her folded parasol sabre-fashion ; her perfect execution 
 of the cuts and thrusts (" Gad ! she s had hours of 
 Blake s coaching there," whispered Wilkins) ; and 
 then the grandiloquent address, delivered as though 
 seated in the saddle in front of listening battalions, 
 with all manner of sotto voce appeals to her imaginary 
 steed to stand still, and the interpolated business of 
 almost toppling out of her seat at times and frantic 
 clutchings at her charger s mane and clasping of her 
 arms about the invisible neck. It was simply inimi 
 table. Even Blake could hardly restrain his delight. 
 
 " Why don t you gallop in on horseback like they 
 do at Astley s? Look at me !" she cried, prancing up 
 and down and curvetting across the stage. " Soldiers of 
 France, the eyes of Europe are a-looking at you. The 
 emperor has confidence in you, and expects that every 
 man will do his utmost. The enemy is before you, 
 worse luck ! Your comrades are behind you, all the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 201 
 
 better for them! Go and get killed .for France and 
 glory, and to those who escape the emperor will give 
 a little bit of ribbon. Raise sabaw ! Carree sabaw ! 
 Battalio-o-n ha-a-alt ! Present sabaw ! Carree sabaw ! 
 Forward ; trot ; ma-a-a-rch ! Gallop ; ma-a-a-rch ! 
 Steadee there in the centre! Look where you re going, 
 Finnigan ! Dress back there, Maloney ! Wait for 
 the next command. Now, lads. Touch boot to the 
 centre, cha-a-a-a-rge !" And at that final charge, as she 
 dashed across the stage, her parasol at tierce point, 
 making directly at " Hautree," officers and hundreds of 
 men sprang to their feet, shouting " Bravo !" or cheer 
 ing vociferously. Time and again she had to come 
 forward, breathless, bowing, smiling, looking so sweetly 
 surprised, so unaffectedly grateful at all this demon 
 stration in her honor, Mrs. Turner the while standing 
 helplessly biting her lips and forgetting utterly her own 
 "stage business" in envious contemplation of her now 
 triumphant rival. It was full three minutes before the 
 play could go on, and " Madame la Marquise" twice 
 essayed an entry, only to be driven back by renewed 
 tumult in front. And at last, when the act was finished 
 and the curtain finally went down, after two enthusi 
 astic recalls, in which " Polly" was again showered 
 with roses and carnations, people took a long, long 
 breath and turned to one another. 
 
 " That one scene," said the colonel, " would cover a 
 thousand defects !" and publicly he rose and offered his 
 hand to Granger, who was being overwhelmed with com 
 pliment and congratulation. Then came a message from 
 the green-room to Captain Turner: Mrs. Turner was 
 feeling far from well ; wouldn t he please come to her? 
 
202 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 This intermission proved of unusual length. " Mrs. 
 George D Alroy" should have changed her costume 
 here as she had between the first and second acts, for 
 now she was to represent the impoverished widow. 
 But such was the sense of overwhelming defeat and 
 disappointment, such her bitter consciousness of in 
 feriority to her rival, that poor Mrs. Turner was indeed 
 sick at heart and wanted to go home. In vain Blake, 
 Ross, and Dana implored : it was all useless. In vain 
 Mrs. Granger and Mrs. Ross offered feminine comfort 
 and ministration. She declared it simply impossible 
 to go on again. She was blind with raging headache 
 and too dizzy to stand. Somebody would have to read 
 her part. Then Blake bethought himself of Turner ; 
 and that solemn-faced soldier appeared upon the scene 
 and took in the situation at a glance. Deeply though 
 he sorrowed for her in the depths of her woman s woe, 
 he couldn t sanction defection now. He knew full well 
 the cause of her sudden prostration. 
 
 " You ve simply got to finish, Fanny," he said, in 
 low, stern tone. " I will not allow you to ruin the 
 thing now." And so the despairing lady bounced up 
 to the mirror, and between sobs and reproaches began 
 obliterating the tear-furrows from the flush of her 
 cheeks and renewing the carmine of her twitching lips. 
 Mr. Blake must at least announce to the audience that 
 she was desperately ill, but, determined not to dis 
 appoint her friends, she would stick to her part. 
 Blake, hastily doffing the dragoon dress at this moment 
 in his little dressing-closet on the O. P. side, was duly 
 notified by Turner of her decision. 
 
 " Well, you tell the orchestra to keep on," he shouted ; 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 203 
 
 "and tell the prompter to raise the curtain the moment 
 the music stops. I ll make the announcement/ 
 
 Turner hastened forth to do his bidding, stopping 
 one instant at the door of the ladies dressing-room. 
 Then came a misinterpretation of orders. Blake had 
 just thrust his long legs into the black trousers of his 
 evening suit and his head and arms through their appro 
 priate channels in the dress-shirt, when the assistants, 
 setting the stage for the third act, drove the cottage 
 piano against one of the wings, and the big frame 
 work came toppling over on his canvas den. There 
 was just time to spring from under, and, with the sus 
 penders of his trousers dangling about his heels, a 
 waistcoat in one hand, a collar and white tie in the 
 other, and the shirt hanging au naturel between, Blake 
 had bolted out on the stage, and, utterly engrossed in 
 directions as to repairing damages, never noted the sud 
 den stop of the music, never marked the simultaneous 
 rise of the curtain, never realized the situation until a 
 roar of laughter and frantic and delighted applause 
 saluted his astonished ears. One amazed glance over 
 his shoulder ; one wild leap to " L. 3 E.," and he was 
 out of sight, but far from out of hearing. The curtain 
 was rung down amidst continued roars of laughter. 
 The orchestra was bidden to blaze away again, and the 
 half-hour interlude proved by long odds the merriest 
 episode of the evening. When next, immaculate in 
 evening dress, with his monocle dangling from his 
 forefinger, the stage-manager squeezed through the 
 narrow aperture at the prompter s side, and appeared 
 before the foot-lights, the shouts and stampings and 
 hand-clappings were renewed, and Blake stood there 
 
204 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 bowing and laughing, and, for a time, vainly signalling 
 for silence. Eventually they let him speak. 
 
 " It is with infinite regret the management is com 
 pelled to announce the serious indisposition of our fair 
 leading lady, Mrs. Turner, who has been suffering 
 ever since the performance began ; but such is her 
 spirit and determination that she refuses to succumb, 
 and will finish the play. (Prompt and sympathetic 
 applause, led by Mrs. Atherton.) The management 
 feels it due to her, however, that so cultured and ap 
 preciative an audience should be fully informed of the 
 misfortune which has befallen us all, and to bespeak 
 for itself a moiety of that kindly consideration so 
 readily extended to her. We are keenly conscious 
 (and here his face assumed its expression of preter 
 natural gloom) of our many dramatic shirt-comings, 
 I I mean short-comings (shouts of laughter), yet we 
 find modified comfort in the reflection that t-there can 
 be now no warrant for referring to our effort as a 
 shiftless performance (more laughter), especially in 
 view of the recent and-er-unlooked-for accession to our 
 ahem chemise- en-scene." 
 
 He vanished amidst a chorus of groans, laughter, 
 and applause. 
 
 " I wish I had a cabbage to throw at him," growled 
 Carroll, who hated Blake. 
 
 " Take off your head, me boy," chuckled Wilkins. 
 " Faith ! we d die of the dumps if we were all like you. 
 Whist ! Look at the orderly ! He s got a telegram !" 
 
 The trumpeter of the guard was making his way 
 down the aisle towards the commanding officer, a tall 
 civilian following ; and Stannard, first catching sight 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 205 
 
 of them as they reached the colonel s row, stretched 
 forth his hand, took the despatch, and handed it to 
 Atherton, who opened and read it without change of 
 countenance, yet looked up inquiringly, nodded to the 
 civilian, spoke a word in low tone to his wife, then 
 rose and made his way to the aisle. 
 
 " Your office here being closed," said the messenger, 
 " Laramie called us up in town, and the despatch was 
 so important I got a horse and rode right out." 
 
 " Thank you," answered the colonel. " Let me have 
 two blanks and your pencil a moment." All over the 
 crowded audience dozens of anxious faces watched him 
 as he quickly wrote a few lines on each blank, handed 
 them to the messenger, saying, " Please get those off 
 at once." Then on his way back to his seat, just as 
 the curtain was rising for the third act, he met the in 
 quiring eyes of his adjutant, simply shook his head, 
 and stowed the despatch away in the breast-pocket of 
 his coat. 
 
 But everybody knew that only for some matter of 
 urgent importance would messengers be sent out from 
 town at that hour of the night, and it was this that 
 tempered the ovation to Blake and to Mrs. Granger at 
 the final drop of the curtain, and afterwards as the 
 ladies flocked about her when she came forth from 
 behind the scenes. 
 
 Almost everybody had been bidden to the Athertons 7 
 for creature comfort after the play, and thither now 
 many groups were strolling across the white parade. 
 Snow-clouds had gathered, and a fleecy veil covered 
 the face of the country far as e*ye could see. The 
 moon was hidden, yet her light seemed diffused by the 
 
 18 
 
206 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 softly-drifting crystals. Carriages and a bus or two 
 were loading up for town. Others stood waiting over 
 by the colonel s gate. Mr. Billings, leaving his better 
 half with Royce, had quickly joined his chief in re 
 sponse to a signal, and Atherton and his adjutant 
 stepped to one side. 
 
 At this moment there came forth the heroine of the 
 evening, leaning on her husband s arm, and with all 
 becoming modesty, with frank and joyous acceptance 
 of their congratulations, Mrs. Granger was striving to 
 reply to the host of admirers of both sexes who hovered 
 about her. Blake, following closely and muffled up to 
 the chin in his big overcoat, was laughing, ranting, 
 shaking hands with every man who came up to felici 
 tate him on the great success of the play, and his own 
 happy way of getting out of a comical scrape. He, at 
 least, had seen nothing of the arrival of the messenger 
 from town, and had no premonition of stirring news. 
 Just as the young assistant-surgeon was bowing over 
 Mrs. Granger s extended hand and bidding her good 
 night, the voice of the adjutant was heard. 
 
 "Has Dr. Wright gone?" 
 
 "No, Billings, here! what is it?" asked Wright, 
 straightening up at once. 
 
 " Orders for you to start for Powder River at dawn. 
 There s been a fight up near the cantonment." 
 
 "Hah, physician, heel thyself!" shouted Blake, 
 never at a loss for a misquotation. " Shall I lend you 
 my Smith and Wessons ?" 
 
 "You ll need em yourself, old man," said Billings, 
 in lower tone. " A detachment of twenty men go at 
 same time, you in command." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 207 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FOR ten minutes, at least, hardly anything was 
 spoken of at the colonel s but the fact that Tommy 
 Hollis had had a fight with the Indians and was pain 
 fully, yet not dangerously, wounded. "They must 
 have hit him in the head," proclaimed Mrs. Wilkins, 
 who never lost a chance of a whack at Tommy. Indeed, 
 Bob Royce was heard to mutter under his heavy mous 
 tache, " Well, well, well ; a fool for luck." And yet 
 Hollis was genuinely popular, and, despite the blunders 
 which often exasperated the men, and the devotions to 
 one not of their number which gave umbrage to the 
 women, had hosts of friends in the regiment ; even 
 Mrs. Wilkins liked him for his goodness of heart and 
 willingness to oblige, but she thoroughly hated Mrs. 
 Granger and could not forgive it in Hollis that he 
 should have become her slave. As for Blake, the depth 
 of her indignation knew no bounds; she was only 
 bottling her vengeance, nursing her wrath, and waiting 
 for some favorable moment in which to explode it with 
 telling effect. 
 
 Mrs. Granger s brilliant success of the evening had 
 only served to intensify the feeling the honest woman 
 had so vehemently cherished against her. Even while 
 struck with unwonted admiration of her histrionic 
 powers, not for one instant would Mrs. Wilkins be 
 
208 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 guilty of the weakness of joining in the congratulations 
 and compliments showered upon the belle of the even 
 ing. She even went so far during a lull in the con 
 versation as to distinctly aver in the hearing of Mrs. 
 Granger that, when she saw " Caste" played in New 
 York, the leading lady dressed and acted it very much 
 as Mrs. Turner did. " What a pity she was taken ill ! 
 If it hadn t been for that the play would have been 
 such a success. 7 Not by the faintest tremor in her 
 voice did Mrs. Granger show she felt the stab, but 
 with prompt sympathy she was heard to say that noth 
 ing could have been more unfortunate, for Mrs. Turner 
 had done beautifully at the rehearsals and they had 
 all so depended upon her; and Mrs. Wilkins raged 
 inwardly at the dead failure of her missiles. " I might 
 as well shoot bow-arrows at an ironclad," she muttered 
 to Mrs. Billings, who happened to be alongside at the 
 moment. " Just wait till I catch Blake ; it s him that 
 will squirm." And, surely enough, not ten minutes 
 later the onset occurred. 
 
 Blake was in the wildest and most uncontrollable 
 spirits. The news that he was to march at dawn to 
 take the place of Lieutenant Hollis was known through 
 out the entire company before they had been within the 
 colonel s doors a minute. Everybody was crowding 
 around, mingling congratulations on his success of the 
 evening, with regrets at his enforced departure. Mrs. 
 Granger had heard it on the way over as she strolled 
 along, leaning upon her husband s arm, laughing, chat 
 ting, and most graciously receiving the compliments 
 lavished upon her. Blake, after two minutes brief 
 converse with the adjutant, had gone striding after her 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 209 
 
 fast as bis long legs could carry him, and overtook the 
 group surrounding her within a hundred yards of the 
 colonel s gate. She never appeared to notice either his 
 temporary absence or his return, but the very moment 
 after his voice was heard in jovial reply to the com 
 miseration of some of the party upon his sudden 
 orders, she turned to Granger : 
 
 " You have my fan in your pocket, dear ?" 
 
 " I ? no ! you never gave it to me." 
 
 " How utterly careless of me ! and it is that beauty 
 you bought for me in Paris ! I must have left it in 
 the dressing-room. Let us go back at once." 
 
 " Oh, there s no need of your going," he answered, 
 grimly. " I can find it easy enough if it s there," he 
 added, with odd significance. 
 
 One or two young officers proffered their services, 
 but she would trouble no one. Major Granger knew 
 the fan, and Major Granger went. Another moment 
 and, still keeping up her bright converse with the 
 ladies around her, she had quietly but possessively 
 taken Blake s arm. All the rest of the way, even to 
 the very door, she laughed and chatted, but there she 
 hung back a moment as though looking for her lord. 
 The group passed within the hospitable portals. Others 
 were coming. Billy Ray s glad voice and Mrs. Trus- 
 cott s merry laugh were heard just beyond the hedge. 
 There was barely an instant, but in that instant she had 
 clung to his side and looked wildly up into his face. 
 
 " Gerald ! Gerald ! tell me it is not true ; you re not 
 
 going, not now, not now when " and here she 
 
 stopped abruptly, bowing her queenly head as though 
 shame-stricken. 
 
 o 18* 
 
210 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Yes, at day-break/ 7 he answered low. 
 
 " O my God !" he heard her murmur, as she drooped 
 until the white forehead rested in the fur lapel of his 
 heavy coat. " And I cannot see you cannot tell you, 
 Gerald ?" she implored, looking quickly, eagerly again 
 up into his face. " Where can I write to you ? I must 
 write ! and you address me under cover to Mrs. 
 Morris. Quick ! they re coming." 
 
 Freeman and his wife, Nannie Bryan, Mrs. Truscott, 
 and Ray came laughing through the narrow gate- way 
 at the moment. The Stannards were just behind 
 them. Too late now, whatever that " quick !" may 
 have meant, for her lovely face was upturned to his 
 when she said it. At the sound of footsteps on the 
 creaking board-walk, D Orsay promptly reopened the 
 door, and in the broad streak of light Blake was re 
 vealed, bending double in his effort to find a dropped 
 glove. 
 
 " There it is !" cried Mrs. Granger, blithely. " Ah, 
 good people, we beat you by just a neck. Have 
 you heard that Mr. Hollis was wounded ? Mr. Ray, 
 I condole with you a fight and you not in it. 7 And 
 so, laughing and talking joyously, she passed with them 
 into the brightly-lighted hall. 
 
 For an hour she was the centre of an admiring 
 throng in the Athertons parlor. Never had she 
 seemed more gracious, winning, unaffected. The miss 
 ing fan was found midway between the theatre and the 
 colonel s gate. Granger had tendered it without a 
 word of any kind, and then eagerly assented to a 
 proposition to take a hand at whist with some of the 
 elders in the colonel s den. Blake hovered about her, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 211 
 
 watchful of every glance. His eyes were snapping 
 with excitement ; a deep flush was on his cheek ; his 
 voice and laughter rang through the crowded rooms. 
 Man after man, woman after woman came to congratu 
 late him on the success of the theatricals and his own 
 exploit as manager, and to say how they mourned his 
 having to leave at such a time. To one and all he 
 made laughing, often ranting reply ; but never for a 
 moment did he lose sight of her. At last " the 
 Wilkinses" approached to bid their hostess good-night, 
 and Mrs. Wilkins had had just enough champagne to 
 develop her imp of antagonism to its full extent. She 
 stopped in front of Mrs. Granger and held forth her 
 pudgy hand and looked that lovely matron straight in 
 the eyes. 
 
 " Good-night, Mrs. Granger. Sure, I m glad for 
 your sake you have two strings to your bow now 
 that Blake has to go, you won t be long without 
 Tommy." 
 
 People fairly gasped at the absolute insolence of her 
 manner. Even those who had known her for years and 
 remembered how she had braved woman after woman 
 who strove to patronize her, stood aghast now at this 
 performance. For one instant Mrs. Granger paled and 
 faltered. It was Blake who came to the rescue. He 
 had been closely watching Mrs. Wilkins and felt sure 
 that mischief was brewing. 
 
 " Two strings on her bow ! Only two ? Nay, 
 thou paragon of women, say, rather, two beaux on her 
 string, with a dozen to fall back on if Tommy or I 
 fall off." 
 
 " Faith, she won t break her heart saying good-by to 
 
212 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 you, Mr. Blake; neither will I. It s high time you 
 were going." 
 
 " Then farewell, fair Cruelty," ranted Blake, with 
 melodramatic play of every feature, though his heart 
 raged with wrath against her. Mrs. Granger s silvery 
 laughter glad and infectious rang through the room 
 in a jubilant peal. People could not help joining in. 
 AVhat better way was there of covering a scene so 
 awkward as this might have been ? It only made Mrs. 
 Wilkins more furious. 
 
 " Fm not bidding you good-by, Mr. Blake ; I ll be 
 up to give you my parting blessing as you march, and 
 a hint or two to take along." And she nodded signifi 
 cantly as Wilkins tugged at her buxom arm. 
 
 " J y jy indeed ! thou queen of hearts ! What ! 
 
 " Wilt thou see me ride? 
 And when I am o horseback I will swear 
 I love thee infinitely," 
 
 he declaimed, as amidst shouts of laughter Wilkins led 
 her away. But there was a lull when she had gone. 
 Blake s face was flushed, his forehead beaded, and Mrs. 
 Granger s cheeks were burning. 
 
 Half an hour later the major finished his rubber and 
 came in search of his radiant wife. Most of the party 
 had gone home, but she was still surrounded by a little 
 coterie, eagerly talking over the play, and deftly ques 
 tioning her as to how or where she had acquired such 
 proficiency. 
 
 " There was a time," she frankly said, " when I 
 seriously thought of going on the stage, and I had 
 been studying over a year when I married Major 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE, 213 
 
 Granger. It was that that put an end to it. You 
 know my father was a naval officer who had to live up 
 to every cent of his pay, as we all do, and I would 
 have had nothing when he was taken from me. With 
 the instruction I received I could support myself at any 
 time." 
 
 It was then that Granger came in and said it was 
 time to go, and she received a good-night from the 
 women that was in itself another social triumph. 
 Presently, as she came down-stairs, hooded and cloaked, 
 and was escorted by a little procession to the carriage, 
 the colonel had offered her his arm ; the ladies thronged 
 the door- way and hall ; Granger, Blake, Clark, and 
 Royce followed to the gate, and there sat the driver 
 with a bandaged head. 
 
 "What s the trouble, Reilly?" asked Granger, 
 stopping suddenly. 
 
 "Nothing serious, sir/ 7 promptly spoke Captain 
 Truscott, who was standing by the forward axle. 
 " There was a fight between the drivers at the stables. 
 He s all right, and we had him patched up over at the 
 hospital. I will tell you all we know in the morning." 
 
 But even there men could see that Granger hesitated, 
 hung back, and trembled. His wife was handed in, 
 and Blake stepped quickly around to her side at the 
 open laudau. She stole her hand from under the heavy 
 robes and it was seized in both of his. She bent low 
 one instant and whispered, 
 
 " Gerald, Gerald, come back to me." 
 
 They bundled Granger in, as he seemed still hesi 
 tant ; banged to the door, and Truscott s voice, low- 
 toned but emphatic, was heard saying, " Go on." 
 
214 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 As soon as the carriage disappeared in the darkness 
 the colonel turned to his officer of the day : 
 
 "Come in, Truscott, I want to hear what has 
 happened. Mr. Blake, I will say good-by, as you 
 doubtless have preparations to make; the adjutant will 
 give you your instructions when you start." 
 
 And Atherton extended his hand, which Blake took, 
 held one instant as though he wished to say something, 
 then released with a formal " Good-by, sir. I ll see 
 you fellows later," he added, as he turned away. 
 
 Five hours more and a little column of cavalrymen 
 riding by twos, dressed in buffalo overcoats, fur caps, 
 fur gauntlets, leggings, and heavy " arctics," went 
 winding away against the white background of the 
 northern divide. Nannie Bryan, sitting at the little 
 dormer window of the back room in Freeman s quar 
 ters, while the children were still peacefully sleeping, 
 watched them until they were out of sight and then 
 crept back to bed again and hid her face in the pillow. 
 
 Almost everybody was late putting in an appearance 
 that cold, sparkling morning. The prairie and the 
 broad parade were dazzlingly white in the unclouded 
 sunshine. The guard was mounted without the band, 
 and in heavy overcoats, fur caps and gauntlets. Captain 
 Truscott, as old officer of the day, and Mr. Billings, 
 the adjutant, had to be out at eight o clock, and, indeed, 
 they had been up and out before the dawn to see Blake 
 well started ; and Mrs. Wilkins true to her promise 
 was astir as soon as anybody, and had some steaming 
 hot coffee ready for Blake and his friends as they were 
 going down to the stables. Blake, still wrathful, would 
 have avoided her if he could have done so, but there 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 215 
 
 was no circumventing a woman of her determination. 
 She suddenly opened the door as they came laughing 
 down the gravel walk and bade them enter at once 
 coffee was all ready, and, as Truscott and Billings were 
 glad to accept her hospitality, Blake simply had to go 
 with them; but he took good care that she had no 
 chance to convey the hint or two she had promised him, 
 and they parted with every show of amity. 
 
 Turner, who was new officer of the day, appeared 
 only just as the trumpets began to sound the troop. 
 Mrs. Turner, he explained, had been so ill all night 
 that he had no sleep until towards morning. A new 
 prisoner stood among those at the guard-house as the 
 old and new officers of the day appeared, and Turner 
 looked curiously at him ; he was in civilian dress and 
 wore a heavy frieze overcoat. 
 
 " Who s that ?" he asked of Truscott, as they ap 
 proached the guard. 
 
 " A deserter from the infantry. He was mixed up 
 in the row last night, and Sergeant Carmody recog 
 nized him." 
 
 Taking the report-book from the officer of the guard, 
 Captain Truscott called over the list of prisoners. 
 Each in answering to his name stepped one pace for 
 ward. Finally he came to the last on the page. 
 "Howell," he called. No answer. The man in 
 civilian dress stood fast and simply eyed the tall 
 captain. 
 
 " Answer to your name, sir/ said Truscott, with the 
 grave, quiet dignity his men so well knew. 
 
 " That isn t my name," was the prompt, but surly 
 reply. 
 
216 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " It is the name by which you were known in the 
 d Infantry a year ago," was Truscott s answer, in the 
 same quiet tone. " You were recognized by Sergeant 
 Carmody and two other men who served with you at 
 Fort Steele, where you are said to have deserted." 
 
 " I never saw the sergeant before in my life. I was 
 never in the army, and I am held here against the laws 
 of the land. Somebody ll pay for it as soon as I can 
 consult a lawyer." The men in the old and new guard 
 stood like statues, hardly breathing as they listened to 
 this strange colloquy. The few prisoners half a dozen 
 soldiers undergoing sentence or awaiting trial glanced 
 furtively at one another and eagerly at their new asso 
 ciate ; one of them put his hand up to his face and 
 grinned and whispered to his next neighbor, as the 
 stranger made his threats. 
 
 " Who recognized this man besides yourself, Ser 
 geant Carmody ?" asked the old officer of the day of a 
 tall soldier who stood respectfully by. 
 
 " Higgins and Walters, sir ; both of them were at 
 Steele while he was there. I was up there four days 
 as witness before a general court. Higgins was a pri 
 vate in the d Infantry then, and had known him a 
 year. Walters was in the Second Cavalry and saw him 
 every day for nearly a month. He has grown a beard, 
 sir, but I can t be mistaken in him. I knew him the 
 moment I set eyes on him last night driving Boynton s 
 team." 
 
 Truscott turned again to the prisoner. 
 
 " If you were not in the service at Fort Steele you 
 will certainly be able to establish an alibi. It is my 
 duty to hold you until the commanding officer ex- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 217 
 
 amines the case. You will probably have an oppor 
 tunity of seeing him inside of half an hour. If your 
 name is not Howell, what is it ?" 
 
 " My name s well, no matter what my name is ; I 
 don t care to have it appear on a guard-house list. 
 You ll know what it is soon enough after I see my 
 lawyer." 
 
 " Is there any one in town by whom you can prove 
 the sergeant to be mistaken ?" asked the captain, calmly 
 ignoring the threatening manner of the prisoner. " I 
 can probably save time for you by sending one of my 
 men for him." 
 
 " There s one nearer than town that ll stand my 
 friend," was the answer. 
 
 " And who is that ?" 
 
 " Major Granger." 
 
 " Indeed ! Then you will not have long to wait, sir ; 
 Major Granger will be out here this morning." 
 
 But the major did not come. At noon a messenger 
 rode over to the fort with a note to the colonel a 
 charmingly-worded note, in which Mrs. Granger in 
 formed the commandant of the post that her husband 
 had caught a cold and was advised by the doctor not to 
 leave his room that day, and then she took occasion to 
 thank him and dear Mrs. Atherton for the delightful 
 time she had at their reception after the play. 
 
 The colonel sent for the alleged deserter and ques 
 tioned him in the presence of the three troopers by 
 whom he had been recognized. He stoutly protested 
 that it was a case of mistaken identity. The three men 
 as positively declared it could not be. Atherton 
 pondered a moment. 
 
 K 19 
 
218 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Well, sir, it appears to be three to one against 
 you," he finally said, "and Major Granger cannot 
 come. If you see fit to write him a note telling him 
 of your predicament I will send it at once. If he 
 knows you, as you claim, he can at least send a message 
 to that effect. Will you write? 7 
 
 The stranger looked furtively about him a moment, 
 his eyes roving from window to window as though he 
 longed to make a dash for one of them. Carmody 
 noted it and edged a little to his right, so as to interpose 
 his sturdy frame between the man and any possibility 
 of escape. The guard, too, a wiry little trooper, 
 gripped his carbine tighter and took a single step 
 forward. 
 
 " If I write, it s to Major Granger ; nobody else is 
 to read it," was the answer that came. 
 
 " Nobody desires to," was the colonel s reply. " Mr. 
 Billings, let this man sit at the sergeant-major s desk 
 and write his note, and send a mounted orderly 
 with it." 
 
 At three o clock, when the orderly got back, he had 
 ridden in the teeth of a rising gale ; the sky was over 
 cast ; the snow began to drive again. The soldier dis 
 mounted opposite the colonel s gate and threw the reins 
 over the post ; his horse instantly swung his haunches 
 around to meet the blast, and, with bowed head and his 
 long black tail blowing between his legs,- stood cower 
 ing before the storm. Atherton himself received the 
 note at the door, read it, and sent for the officer of the 
 guard. 
 
 " Mr. Royce" he said, " tell that prisoner Howell 
 that Major Granger denies all knowledge of him. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 219 
 
 And if this storm increases, take in all your sentries 
 except those at the guard-house and stables at four 
 o clock. I will notify the officer of the day." 
 
 At four o clock the snow was driving like a dense 
 white cloud straight across the parade and down 
 towards the east gate. It was all the men could do to 
 make headway up the hill coming back from the stables. 
 At retreat one could not see objects twenty feet away ; 
 one could not breathe facing the gale ; no man could 
 stand up unaided against it, and the roar of the blast 
 was like that of a tornado. At 9.30 the orderly trum 
 peter poked the bell of his instrument out through the 
 door-way of the adjutant s office and sounded tattoo; 
 but no one heard except the sergeant-major. All mili 
 tary duties had been suspended, as though by tacit con 
 sent. The colonel sent no word, for his orderly simply 
 could not have made his way around the garrison. It 
 was time for the second relief of the guard to be posted 
 at 10.30, and Royce told the corporal to take two 
 men down to the stables and stay there with the old 
 sentries all night. It was easy enough to scud before 
 the gale, but impossible to get back. The sentries at 
 the guard-house and stables had been drawn inside be 
 fore dark. Many of the guard had gone without their 
 supper rather than attempt to make their way against 
 the hurricane to the barracks, not more than a hundred 
 yards from them. It was a blizzard of the fiercest 
 description. " No man," said Royce, " could live out 
 doors in so fearful a storm." And yet, in the midst of 
 it all, somewhere about twelve at night, the cry went 
 up at the guard-house that the prisoner Howell had 
 escaped. He was gone, no one knew how or where. 
 
220 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 To say that Mr. Royce was deeply concerned at the 
 loss of his prisoner is putting it very mildly. In view 
 of the possible doubt in the case, the colonel had 
 decided not to confine the man in the cells. He was 
 given a place to sleep, and plenty of warm blankets, in 
 what was known as the garrison prisoners room on the 
 east side of the building. A big coal-stove stood in 
 the middle of the large bare apartment and a wooden 
 shelf or bunk extended around two adjacent sides. A 
 single window at the east gave light to the room in the 
 day-time, a swinging lantern at night. The members 
 of the guard were gathered in a big room separated 
 from this one only by a thin partition of boards, and 
 most of them after nine o clock were soundly sleeping. 
 Mr. Royce was in the office, as it was called, a little 
 box devoted to the use of the subaltern commanding 
 the guard. It was boarded off on the ground floor of 
 a tower-like structure that stood across the road in 
 front of the guard-house and just at the edge of the 
 parade. He was sprawled at full length on an iron 
 bunk, rolled in his buffalo-robe and blankets, when the 
 sergeant of the guard burst without ceremony into the 
 dimly lighted room blown in actually by the gale. 
 He was almost exhausted by the effort to cross that 
 twenty-yard space. As soon as he could recover breath 
 he gasped, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 221 
 
 " Lieutenant, that man HowelPs got away !" 
 
 Royce bounded to his feet, pulled his fur cap down 
 over his ears and eyes, and then, grasping hands, the 
 two men plunged out into the thick of the tempest. 
 So dense was the driving snow that the lights in the 
 guard-house window could not be distinguished. The 
 very first stride took Royce off his feet, and, but for the 
 firm clasp of the big trooper, he would have been 
 blown like a chip down the howling path of the storm. 
 Bending double, they pushed across the hard, dry road 
 way swept clear of snow by the force of the gale, the 
 sergeant edging a little to the windward and towing his 
 slight but plucky commander under his wing, and 
 presently they were whirled up against the wooden 
 portico and drawn inside by alert members of the 
 guard, every one of whom was now awake and excited. 
 The sentry, pacing the corridor in front of the prison 
 room, threw his carbine to " arms port" as Royce 
 panted his first question. 
 
 " Indeed, sir, I m as innocent of his escape as the 
 babe unborn. You couldn t hear a thing, sir, but the 
 roar of the storm ; and the lamp was so dim I couldn t 
 see anything going on." 
 
 Royce kicked open the grated door- way and went in. 
 The two garrison prisoners who were confined awaiting 
 trial started to roll out of their blankets and stand 
 attention. " Lie still, you men," said the officer of the 
 guard, for, despite the big stove nearly red-hot at the 
 globe, the bitter cold came driving through every 
 cranny and chink, and a big mound of snow had 
 already formed under the open window. Where 
 Howeli had made his roost for the night the blankets 
 
 19* 
 
222 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 were artistically rolled so as to look as though a man 
 were still there, but one bar at the aperture had been 
 sawed through, two others bent back ; the glass was 
 cut out without so much as a jagged point anywhere. It 
 was all the work of an expert, and not a trace had he 
 left behind. The two prisoners solemnly declared they 
 were sound asleep and never knew that he had gone 
 until aroused by the cold and snow ; then they had 
 promptly informed the sentry. Royce turned abruptly 
 and made his way to the porch through the groups of 
 eager and excited men, and, in the twinkling of an eye, 
 was whisked by the blast to the east side. Already the 
 snow was banked to a height of eight feet, and had 
 reached the sill of the square window through which 
 the man had forced his way. Every trace was obliter 
 ated, all was utter darkness ten feet from the building, 
 all a mad whirl of wind and snow. It was useless to 
 pursue ; it was impossible to notify either the com 
 manding officer or the officer of the day. A stalwart 
 corporal who essayed to cross the parade was speedily 
 overcome and blown down to the quarters of " B" troop, 
 where he gladly took refuge for the rest of the night. 
 When morning came the gale was at its height, the 
 storm of snow dense and impenetrable. The roadway 
 and the parade were swept clean, but the lee side of 
 every building was banked to the eaves in solid drifts. 
 Not a trumpet call was sounded, for none could have 
 been heard. Communication with town was impossible, 
 for the telegraph wires were down. The first sergeants 
 of the various troops picked out a squad of three 
 or four stout men, loaded them with bread and bacon, 
 and sent them scudding before the gale clown to the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 223 
 
 stables in the valley, with orders to stay and help the 
 orderlies there. The officer of the day, bending double 
 and pulling himself along the picket fence hand over 
 hand a couple of rods at a time, and then turning his 
 back to the storm to recover breath, managed, after ten 
 minutes hard work, to reach the colonel s quarters, not 
 a hundred yards from his own. The drifts were now 
 on a level with the top of the piazza, but he managed 
 to communicate with his chief. He did not know of 
 Howell s escape. It was manifestly impossible to 
 mount another guard, and Captain Turner was told to 
 consider himself and his men on duty for another day, 
 although no actual duty could be performed. The 
 colonel s orderly, who had been relieved at retreat the 
 previous evening, had not gone to the troop barracks at 
 all, but slept in the kitchen. He was sure he could 
 reach the guard-house all right, and so was sent with a 
 note to Lieutenant Royce. He had no difficulty in 
 starting, for the wind was blowing straight towards the 
 tower, but he never could have stopped but for the 
 merciful interposition of Providence and the guard 
 house, against which structure he was flattened out in 
 the course of a minute, with hardly a sound bone, and 
 certainly not a gasp of breath, left in his body. Royce 
 and the sergeant lugged him in and brought him 
 around by dint of some vigorous slapping and rubbing, 
 but there was no such thing as getting him to try the 
 back trip. A woman was ill down among the laun 
 dresses quarters under the bluff, and the assistant sur 
 geon, being anxious on her account, left his quarters 
 and strove to make his way around by the east gate 
 and the line of storehouses. He had no difficulty in 
 
224 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 reaching the gate, but narrowly escaped being blown 
 beyond and out on the wild prairie. Clinging to the 
 fence, he crept until he reached the commissary store 
 house, which was banked to the roof at the gable end ; 
 but he managed to bang at the side window of the 
 office and was hauled in by the sergeant and his clerk. 
 No one else ventured abroad. All that day, all the 
 following night, the storm raged in fury. The back 
 yards of the officers quarters were filled with lowing 
 cattle, driven before the blast from the ranges to the 
 northwest, while hundreds more, unable to reach even 
 such a port, were whirled along to the refuge of the town 
 itself. The frail frame houses rocked and swayed as 
 though any moment they might be torn from their 
 anchorage and sent scattering through space, a cloud 
 of drift-wood, clapboards, and shingles, and women 
 and children, in not a few of them, clung together in 
 dread and terror. Not until forty-eight hours after it 
 began did the hurricane show the faintest sign of abate 
 ment, and then the troopers turned out ; tunnels were 
 dug under the drifts into the colonel s house and the 
 adjutant s office. The second-story windows in many 
 cases were used as means of egress by the occupants of 
 the quarters along the row, and, by devious ways and 
 many a detour, the garrison tramped around to the 
 stables, to find the horses on the west side of the gang 
 ways standing three feet higher than usual on ramps 
 of snow which they had trodden solid as it sifted in, 
 but otherwise apparently well content with the situ 
 ation. They had had plenty to eat and were not 
 troubled with thirst. It was then that the colonel for 
 the first time heard of the escape of the prisoner 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 225 
 
 Howell. He had now been gone some forty hours, and 
 search or pursuit was useless. The snow had ceased 
 entirely by retreat, and the order was given that the 
 entire command should turn out on fatigue duty in the 
 morning, equipped with shovels and any tools that 
 could be utilized in clearing away the drifts. 
 
 And so, on the third day after the famous theatri 
 cals, the officers were gathered together for a comparison 
 of notes and jocular greetings of one another after the 
 enforced separation, and the colonel was standing the 
 centre of a laughing, chatting, jolly group down in the 
 creek valley, while the snow was being pitched out of 
 the stalls, when, winding his way among the drifts 
 and slowly nearing them, a horseman was seen coming 
 along the edge of the bluff. At last he reached the 
 party, and was recognized as an employe" at the depot. 
 Without a word, he handed the colonel a note, which 
 the latter opened and read. 
 
 It was a characteristic of Atherton s that he never 
 gave evidence by any word or sign of the nature of the 
 information conveyed to him in this way. He read it, 
 evidently, twice over, deliberately refolded and handed 
 it to his adjutant, and then turned to the bearer: 
 
 " Have they inquired everywhere in town ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, everywhere, every place the major ever 
 went to, and men have been to every ranch and shack 
 anywhere around us ; no one has seen anything of him 
 since five o clock Wednesday afternoon." 
 
 " Have they inquired all over the depot in every 
 employees house?" 
 
 "Every one, sir, and all the stables have been searched, 
 and storehouses. He didn t take out his horses at all ; 
 
226 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 they are there yet. Reilly was the last man who seen 
 him, sir. He told Reilly at five o clock that he might 
 have to drive to town despite the storm, and told him 
 to be ready in case he sent for him, but he never sent." 
 
 The laughter and chat among the officers had ceased. 
 All were listening in silence to this significant colloquy. 
 The colonel pondered for a moment. 
 
 u I will have an answer ready in quarter of an hour, 
 if you can wait," he said. " Gentlemen, Major Granger 
 has disappeared. He has not been seen since five 
 o clock Wednesday ; but I trust he is only storrn-bound 
 somewhere near us. Captain Freeman, you spoke of 
 sending a man up to Bryan s ranch to get some things 
 for Nannie ; I wish to send a note by him, if you will 
 direct him to report to me. Captain Truscott, if you 
 can conveniently do so, I wish you would ride down 
 and see Mrs. Granger and inquire how we can be of 
 service to her. Mrs. Atherton will go just as soon as 
 we can find a road for an ambulance." And so 
 saying, and with a gesture which called his adjutant to 
 his side, the colonel strode away. 
 
 Truscott turned towards his troop stable to order a 
 horse, and Mr. Ray followed, saying not a word. 
 
 " What do you think of it, major?" presently asked 
 Mr. Carroll of Stannard. 
 
 " Oh, I don t know ; he s probably in town some 
 where, sick. He had a cold on Wednesday and has 
 increased it." 
 
 " Then you think he ll turn up all right, do you ?" 
 pursued Mr. Carroll, when the major turned away as 
 though unwilling to speak further upon the subject. 
 " Well, I d just like to bet Billy Ray doesn t think so, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 227 
 
 and that if his brother-in-law, Rallston, were here there 
 would be a different theory. 
 
 " You be blowed, Carroll !" was the impatient re 
 tort of one of his fellows. " You re forever dreaming 
 melodrama." 
 
 But when Captain Truscott returned from his mission 
 soon after dark and reported the result to the colonel, 
 the latter ordered an ambulance sent up from the quar 
 termaster s corral, and he and Mrs. Atherton, bundled 
 in robes and furs, were driven away to the depot, 
 guided by a couple of mounted men who carried hur 
 ricane lamps. 
 
 The train from the East was several hours late on 
 Sunday, but Atherton was in town at the station to 
 meet a staff-officer from department head-quarters, and 
 together they drove out to the depot, where Mrs. Granger 
 by this time was reported seriously ill, as the result of 
 nervousness and anxiety. Her friend Mrs. Morris had 
 come out from town, bringing with her a trained nurse, 
 and Mrs. Atherton had returned to her home at the 
 post, and was compelled by one lady friend after another 
 to detail her experiences in the house of mourning. 
 There was little to tell, despite the intricate system of 
 cross-examination. Mrs. Granger could only say that 
 after receiving the ill-looking note brought down by a 
 mounted man from the fort, the major had insisted on 
 getting up and writing a reply ; that then he refused 
 to lie down again, and presently had dressed and gone 
 over to his office ; had returned to his room for perhaps 
 twenty minutes, during which time she had not seen 
 him, and then, before she knew his purpose, he had 
 gone forth again ; this time in the teeth of the gale. 
 
228 CAPTAIN BLAKE, 
 
 Reilly had seen him at five o clock, and no one after 
 wards. It had grown very dark before six. 
 
 Meantime, Colonel Rand, of the staff, was busily 
 turning over books, papers, examining the stubs of 
 check-books, etc., in Granger s private office, and on 
 Monday he came up to the fort and sent for Sergeant 
 Carmody, and Troopers Higgins and Walker. He 
 wanted an accurate description of the man Howell. 
 He also got from the girl Annie a photograph of the 
 English driver, Grimsby ; and with these he started 
 for Denver, after having carefully sealed the major s 
 papers and locked them in a safe of which he kept the 
 key. All this, of course, was soon noised abroad, and 
 a thousand theories and speculations were rife. Several 
 of the ladies went down to call at the depot and tender 
 sympathy and condolence, but Mrs. Granger was now 
 so said Mrs. Morris too ill to see anybodv. 
 
 Late Monday afternoon the Laramie stage, instead 
 of keeping the direct road to town, was descried coming 
 in towards the garrison. The officers were just stroll 
 ing up from stables ; the driver tossed a note to the 
 foremost group, and, without slackening speed, whirled 
 off to the left, and the old red rattle-trap went rumbling 
 and clattering off across the prairie. The note was to 
 Freeman from Blake. The blizzard had struck them 
 at Lodgepole Creek and compelled them to stay there 
 under shelter until Saturday morning barely a few 
 hours brisk ride from the fort. Then they had pushed 
 on to the Chugwater, Eagle s Nest, and to Laramie, 
 where he had to go for rations, instead of taking the 
 shorter route to Fetterman, as had been his intention. 
 The up-stage which passed them Sunday brought strange 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 229 
 
 tidings about Major Granger; what did it mean? 
 " Wire the latest news to Fetterman to meet me Tues 
 day night or Wednesday morning." 
 
 And all that Freeman could telegraph when Tuesday 
 came was, that Major Granger was still missing, and 
 Mrs. Granger he saw fit to add was overwhelmed 
 with grief and anxiety. Every effort had been made 
 to find the missing officer meantime. A big force of 
 men had levelled and searched through drift after drift 
 at the depot, and now were exploring in the creek 
 valley beyond. No trains had left the station in town, 
 going in any direction, between 4 P.M. Wednesday 
 and early Saturday morning, so he could not have gone 
 away. The police, the detectives, a number of brother 
 officers, and a corps of enterprising amateurs had all 
 been engaged in the search, but to no avail. Blake 
 telegraphed again from Fetterman on Wednesday, re 
 porting that he was just starting for the cantonment on 
 Powder River, begging that any news might be sent 
 him by wire as far as it could go ; and this message, 
 coming to the house while Freeman was down at stables, 
 was opened by his bonny wife, who sighed as she turned 
 and placed it on the mantel-shelf, and then went into 
 the dining-room where " Prairie Nan" was reading 
 aloud to the children, and bent down and kissed her. 
 
 Snow disappears with singular rapidity on the 
 plateaus and ridges of those high slopes to the east of 
 the Rockies ; it is only in the ravines and couUes that 
 the drifts are so heavy as to withstand for a time the 
 combined forces of the sun and the breeze. A week 
 after the great storm began almost every vestige had 
 faded from the prairie and around the buildings of the 
 
 20 
 
230 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 supply depot, where the drifts had been levelled in the 
 process of the search. Up at the fort huge mounds 
 still stood on the east side of many of the quarters. 
 People rather enjoyed the distinction of pointing them 
 out, with their tunnels, to curious visitors from town ; 
 and, down in the creek valley, a narrow curving rift in 
 the bald prairie, the snow was solid in every cross 
 ravine, and heaped in massive hillocks at every turn 
 and behind every projecting shoulder of bluff. The 
 entire garrison at the fort had worked hard for a couple 
 of days in dumping the snow out of the stables and 
 in cleaning up generally. Then came forty-eight hours 
 of clear skies and moonlit nights, and then, more 
 snow. 
 
 It was Wednesday night. Freeman and Ray had 
 been having a long talk in the latter s quarters, and it 
 was all about Blake, whose telegram from Fetterman 
 had arrived that day, and of Granger, of whom no 
 tidings had been received at all. With all his love for 
 Blake, no one had more sincerely rejoiced in the order 
 that sent him far to the north than his once reckless 
 boon companion, the Kentuckian ; but so loyal was he 
 to his friend that, though he trusted Freeman and 
 thoroughly respected him, he would say no word that 
 might lead the captain to infer that Blake s infatuation 
 for Granger s beautiful wife had ever been a subject 
 of comment between them. But it had ; and a very 
 serious talk it proved, though Blake took his comrade s 
 hand and wrung it hard as they parted. Ray had 
 been up to see him start with his little command and 
 had ridden out a mile or so with him, so as to be the 
 last to say good-by. Now he listened silently to what 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 231 
 
 Freeman had to say on the subject, and, when the cap 
 tain finally bade him good-night, Ray followed to the 
 door. 
 
 Through the veil of softly-falling snow the moon 
 light was diffused, cold and dim, yet of sufficient 
 strength to reveal the outlines and shadows of the 
 barracks, and to render moving objects visible across 
 the parade. Glancing aloft, Ray could even see where 
 hung the silver shield, peering through the fleecy 
 clouds. A light mantle, glistening white, was spread 
 over the ground. The sentries had just called off 
 eleven o clock as Freeman held out his hand : 
 
 " You have rather a better night for your rounds 
 than Turner had a week ago, Billy." 
 
 " Yes, I hope I ll have better luck, too. Fancy 
 losing a prisoner on that night of all others. I wonder 
 what became of that fellow." 
 
 " Can t say. There was no one to interfere with his 
 going wherever he wanted to. Good-night, old man ; 
 pleasant dreams. Oh, when you inspect, just poke 
 your head into my stable, will you, and see if Sergeant 
 Jaruieson s back. He s been a little demoralized since 
 that storm." 
 
 "So Royce was telling me." 
 
 " Yes ; he claimed to know something about the 
 drivers who started the row at the stables the night of 
 the play, and I gave him a pass for town the next 
 morning; there he was storm-bound until Friday 
 night, but he didn t come home until Saturday morning. 
 I could see he had been drinking, but he worked so 
 well clearing out the stables that I said nothing. He 
 got another pass from retreat to reveille for to-night, 
 
232 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 but told me he d be home by one o clock. He went 
 mounted." 
 
 "All right, captain, I ll look after him." 
 
 And so saying, Mr. Ray went back to the letter 
 which he was blissfully writing when Freeman came 
 in. This finished, he scrawled a few lines which he 
 addressed to a Mr. Rallston, Omaha, and had just 
 betaken himself to his big arm-chair, with the idea of 
 having a snooze before sallying forth to visit the guard 
 and sentries, when there came a heavy step upon the 
 porch and a rap at the door. It was a corporal of the 
 guard who entered at his call. 
 
 "The officer of the guard s compliments, sir, and 
 Corporal Buck, just in from pass, says he saw a wagon 
 with two men driving away from the magazine, and he 
 thinks they ve robbed it." 
 
 " Say I ll be over in a minute, and tell my stable ser 
 geant to have Dandy saddled and sent up to the guard 
 house at once," answered Ray, as he pulled on his 
 spurred riding-boots. Two minutes more and he was 
 speeding across the parade. 
 
 The lights were out at the colonel s quarters and at 
 most of those along the row. There was no use in dis 
 turbing anybody, and Ray decided to act on his own 
 responsibility in the matter. He was the senior lieu 
 tenant of the regiment, commanding Captain Boston s 
 troop in the prolonged absence of that officer. The six 
 troop commanders were performing officer-of-the-day 
 duty, while the subalterns, though more numerous, 
 took their turns as officer of the guard a more exacting 
 service, as, except when visiting sentries, they were re 
 quired to remain at the tower night and day. A vast 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 233 
 
 quantity of ordnance stores, arms, ammunition, and 
 equipments of every kind had been sent to the fort dur 
 ing and after the Sioux campaign, the officials of that 
 most level-headed department finding it far easier to 
 ship in bulk from the great arsenal in the East to that 
 distant point, and saddle the labor and responsibility of 
 their distribution upon some poor devil of a cavalry 
 adjutant, already heavily burdened. When enough 
 ammunition had been gathered there to blow the whole 
 post to flinders, the colonel refused to allow it to be 
 kept in the garrison storehouses. " It would simply 
 stultify the efforts of the men in case of fire," he said, 
 and he was perfectly right. A mile from the fort, out 
 on the edge of the creek valley and near the big supply 
 depot, stood a brick magazine. Thither had this great 
 stack of ammunition been transported, and there for a 
 time, night and day, had a corporal and three men of 
 the guard been stationed. But the colonel would not 
 subject his men to the bitter suffering of such duty in such 
 weather, and, as their tent had been blown away by the 
 gale, and they themselves landed, battered, breathless, 
 and half frozen, among the storehouses at the depot, 
 he refused to renew the guard. 
 
 In ten minutes Mr. Ray was loping eastward through 
 the lightly-falling snow, and presently Dandy pulled 
 up in front of the lonely little structure at the edge of 
 the bluff. One glance revealed the truth. The door 
 of boiler-iron had been wrenched from its hinges with 
 crowbars and now hung by the huge padlock ; the vault- 
 like interior was gaping open to the night ; a two-horse 
 wagon had been loaded up and driven away, and, 
 never hesitating a moment, Ray sped eastward, again 
 
 20* 
 
234 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 following the fast disappearing tracks. In quarter of an 
 hour they would be snowed under completely. Around 
 and to the north of the great quadrangle of the depot 
 they led, and Dandy bounded in pursuit, rejoicing, evi 
 dently, in the novelty of this night gallop over the 
 prairie. Straight away to the town they seemed to 
 lead, once clear of the government grounds, and in less 
 than ten minutes more Hay went cantering in through 
 the silent streets of the northwestern suburbs of the 
 frontier city, still following the trail. Twisting around 
 one corner after another, it led into the heart of the 
 town, and here the lights in the saloons, the strains of 
 bacchanalian music, the shouts of midnight revellers, 
 and the frequent passage to and fro of rumbling hacks, 
 might well have thrown him off the trail. But Ray 
 had his own suspicions, and two blocks farther he reined 
 in beside a two-story frame building, on the lower floor 
 of which was a general outfitting shop for ranchmen, 
 miners, and prospectors ; and though all was dark and 
 apparently deserted, there were the recent tracks of a 
 two-horse wagon that had driven close to the wooden 
 sidewalk ; there were the marks of many feet, leading 
 from the point where it had stood to a gate- way in the 
 high wooden fence behind. The wagon had driven 
 away not ten minutes before he came, so he judged, 
 and even as he sat there in saddle studying the situation, 
 that back gate was slowly, cautiously opened, and a 
 man s head appeared one instant, was withdrawn with 
 marvellous speed, and rapid, shuffling footsteps were 
 heard in the rear of the store. Quickly Ray touched 
 Dandy with the spur, darted around to the front of the 
 building, just in time to see a man throw himself into 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 235 
 
 saddle and go tearing away northward fast as a mettle 
 some horse could carry him. " After him, boy !" was 
 the word ; and the beautiful sorrel sped like a deer up 
 the almost deserted street, and in a moment more the 
 two were racing like mad over the snow-covered prai 
 rie, the leading horseman bending low over the pommel 
 and gradually edging in a long sweeping circle around 
 towards the eastern side of the town. 
 
236 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 IT was barely midnight when, after brief questioning 
 of the corporal who had reported the probable robbery, 
 and a few words to Mr. Carroll, who was in command 
 of the guard, Ray had ridden out across the snow- 
 covered prairie, and now the sentries had called off 
 half-past one o clock ; he had not returned, and Carroll 
 began to grow decidedly anxious. Carroll was not a 
 particularly brilliant officer, and in days gone by had 
 seen fit to ally himself with the little clique of Ray- 
 haters, composed of the lower element among the com 
 missioned officers of the th. But the events of the 
 summer, especially of the campaign, had so firmly 
 established the object of their dislike in the respect and 
 affection of the regiment generally, that Crane was 
 about the only man who ever ventured to display a 
 vestige of the feeling that once existed, and, as for 
 Carroll, he was heartily sorry that he had ever been 
 led astray by the sneers and innuendoes of the men who 
 happened to be his earliest associates in the regiment. 
 He had grown to look upon Ray as the incarnation of 
 all that was loyal, daring, and soldierly, and secretly he 
 longed for some way of showing him his regret for the 
 past and his hope for the future. 
 
 But Ray, it must be confessed, was not an easy man 
 to " make up to," as he himself expressed it. He 
 despised Crane, and was barely civil to those who asso- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 237 
 
 elated with him. It was this that led him to " Mr." 
 two or three of the subalterns on all occasions, and 
 never to admit them even to the outer court of com 
 radeship, much less to that of intimacy. In civil life, 
 in all the professions or avocations which do not confer 
 a distinctive title like those of Judge or Doctor, men 
 who desire to show respect to or for their associates 
 rarely fail to use the prefix which in military circles, 
 here or abroad, is the symbol of a very different feeling. 
 When a subaltern officer is " mistered" by his comrades, 
 it simply means that he is not one of them. Nothing 
 would induce Ray to speak to Crane in any other way, 
 and as Carroll had rather cast his lot with that luckless 
 old growler in by-gone days, he was now finding it a 
 difficult matter to cut loose. Blake, who was a leader 
 among the elder subalterns, Bob Royce, who was a 
 leader among the juniors, Dana, Hunter, and Hollis, 
 who was everybody s friend, indeed, Billings, the 
 adjutant, and Clark, the quartermaster, had begun to 
 be cordial to Carroll as soon as he showed a disposition 
 to drop Crane and seek their companionship ; but Ray 
 had not forgiven it that the young man had seen fit to 
 disregard good advice which he himself had given in 
 Arizona, and had clung to Crane when he might have 
 been with better men. Even on this night, therefore, 
 as he rode away, the Kentuckian was cold and formal 
 in his parting words : " I may be gone an hour, Mr. 
 Carroll, and I leave you in charge," was all he cared 
 to say. But now he had been gone over an hour and 
 a half. The snow was falling thicker and thicker, 
 utterly obscuring the pallid disk of the moon, and the 
 officer of the guard, pacing restlessly up and down in 
 
238 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 front of the tower, began to wonder if he ought not to 
 go and arouse the colonel and tell him of Ray s pro 
 longed absence. 
 
 Strictly speaking, he knew that the officer of the 
 day had no business to leave the post at all ; but, ex 
 cept on dark nights or very snowy ones, that magazine 
 was " government property in view" of the sentry at 
 the haystacks, at least, and was, therefore, within the 
 charge of the guard. He did not doubt that the 
 colonel would approve Ray s course in following the 
 trail before the fast- falling snow could obliterate it for 
 ever, but he himself stood in so much awe of his post 
 and regimental commander that he shrank from the 
 idea of going over and awaking him in the dead of 
 night and telling him the officer of the day had left the 
 garrison. Two o clock came and was duly called off 
 by the sentries, and in the hush and silence of the 
 windless night even the cry of the far-away No. 7 
 the easternmost post of all, at the haystacks down the 
 valley sounded clear and shrill to the listening ears 
 on the bluff. Carroll s evident anxiety had infected 
 his men, and the sergeant of the guard, with the cor 
 poral of the relief on post and one or two troopers, 
 stood chatting in low tones under the shelter of the 
 porch. Finally the sergeant stepped briskly across the 
 road, and, bringing his fur gauntlet in salute to the 
 barrel of his carbine, inquired, 
 
 " I beg pardon, sir, but did the lieutenant go armed ?" 
 " He wore his sabre, sergeant, and I presume he had 
 his revolver. Mr. Ray has had too much experience 
 on the frontier to undertake anything of this kind with 
 out his arms." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 239 
 
 " Well, I asked, sir, because Corporal Lenihan says 
 he did not see any holster on his belt, and a man would 
 have little chance with any of that gang in town with 
 out his gun. The men say that the magazine was 
 robbed before we came, and there s more than one place 
 in town where they ll buy anything that can be stolen 
 from here or the depot either." 
 
 " I can t think that Mr. Ray has got into trouble of 
 any kind/ answered Carroll, unwilling to allow the 
 men to see how disturbed he was. " He would hardly 
 attempt any arrest or capture without calling on the 
 police for help, and then there must be a dozen of our 
 men in on pass to-night, and they generally travel in 
 squads." 
 
 " Ay, sir, but they are not permitted to go armed, 
 whereas every tough and gambler and night prowler 
 has a knife or pistol in every boot or sleeve or pocket. 
 They know our fellows have nothing but their fists to 
 depend on ; that s why we have so much trouble. 
 They d be a heap more respectful if we were allowed 
 our weapons. Indeed, sir, I wish two or three of us 
 might ride in and see what s become of the lieutenant." 
 
 But this was more than Mr. Carroll felt authorized 
 to allow unless backed by superior authority. He 
 looked helplessly about him a moment; he could not 
 make up his mind to arouse any of the senior officers 
 of the garrison ; they were all married, and banging 
 or ringing at their doors would certainly disturb the 
 women and children. Clark was a bachelor, and he 
 did not mind routing him out, and he knew that a word 
 would send him, with two or three comrades at his 
 heels, galloping townwards in search of Kay. The 
 
240 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 mysterious disappearance, too, of Major Granger had 
 had its effect in adding to the fears that were possessing 
 him, and he had just about made up his mind to stir 
 up the bachelors roost when two men appeared through 
 the snow, their fur caps and heavy coats covered with 
 the glistening white fleece, and, handing their passes 
 to the sergeant of the guard, reported their return. 
 
 "Did you see or hear anything of Lieutenant Ray ?" 
 asked Carroll. 
 
 " No, sir," was the prompt reply of both, followed 
 by an immediate and anxious question on part of one 
 of them. 
 
 "What s wrong with the lieutenant, sir? I m 
 Hogan, his l striker/ ; 
 
 " Hogan ? Were you on pass ? Well, it s two 
 hours since the lieutenant heard that the magazine had 
 been robbed, and he rode away to investigate it. I m 
 afraid he s followed the trail to town." 
 
 " Then, for the love of God, sir, let me get a horse 
 and go after him. There was something up, and I 
 knowed it as we sat there in the Alhambra taking a 
 drink, sir. There was three men a-sitting at a table 
 near us, and presently another one came in and whis 
 pered to them, and they all got up and went out together 
 in a hurry." 
 
 " What time was this ?" 
 
 " Soon after twelve o clock, sir. We had been to the 
 show, and whin twas over, about eleven, Jerry here, 
 who was with me, saw Sergeant Jamieson on horseback 
 going up a side street, and ran after him. He wanted 
 to borrow a dollar till pay-day; and while I was waiting 
 at the corner two men comes running around, and one 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 241 
 
 of them says, That s him going now/ and the other 
 spoke up and says, i Wait till that damned blue-belly 
 gets through with him. And the moment I heard him 
 speak I knowed twas Grimsby, him that used to drive 
 for Major Granger, and I was for speaking to him, but 
 the moment I stepped out into the light he turned and 
 skipped around the corner where there was a buggy 
 standing, and jumped in and drove off, whipping his 
 horse ; but I could swear it was him, sir. Sure he 
 used to come to our quarters all the time by the back 
 gate with letters for Loot nint Blake. I know there s 
 something wrong, sir," pleaded Hogan, his honest Irish 
 face filled with anxiety and distress. " Can t I ride in 
 with two or three of the boys ?" 
 
 " May I ask Jerry this other man here a question, 
 sir?" interposed the sergeant of the guard, hurriedly. 
 
 " Certainly ; go ahead." 
 
 " What did Sergeant Jamieson say when you asked 
 for the dollar, Murphy ?" 
 
 " Well, furst he said no, he had no money to lend ; 
 but then I told him Hogan and I was broke, and he 
 said, Is Hogan wid you ? says he, and after a little 
 palaver he gave me a half-dollar and said he hadn t any 
 more, but he d lave an order at the half-way house for 
 ould Peter to let us have what we wanted on our way 
 home." 
 
 " Then he said he was coming right back, did he ?" 
 questioned Sergeant Malloy, significantly. 
 
 " He did, and he rode off at wonst like he was going 
 back by the prairie road." 
 
 " And that s the way you came, was it ? out by the 
 half-way house on the prairie ?" 
 L q 21 
 
242 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " It was. Sure we had his word for it that we was 
 to have whatever we wanted there, but divil a soul 
 could be raised. It was all dark and locked and 
 barred, and nobody would come to us but the dog." 
 
 " And that s how you came to come home sober, was 
 it, Murphy ?" said the sergeant. " Well, you might 
 have known better. Sergeant Jamieson and his horse 
 are out yet, lieutenant ; and it s my belief but never 
 mind, sir, I ve no right to speak so." 
 
 " What do you mean ? What are you driving at?" 
 queried Carroll, sharply, as the other men stood in 
 wondering silence. 
 
 " It s just this, sir," and the Irishman brought his 
 furred gauntlet down with resounding whack on the 
 butt of his carbine. " That cockney, Sergeant Jamie- 
 son, knows, all about this night s work, or I m a mutton- 
 head." 
 
 And then, before another word could be said, from 
 far down the creek valley, beyond the stables, beyond 
 the haystacks, there came the faint, sharp crack of a 
 pistol, followed presently by the louder report of a car 
 bine and the shrill cry of the distant sentry, " Corporal 
 of the Gua-a-a-r-d, Number Seven !" In an instant 
 the members of the guard were tumbling out of their 
 blankets and springing for the door in response to 
 Malloy s hoarse shout, " Turn out the guard !" In 
 the same instant Mr. Carroll, followed fyy the corporal 
 and Hogan, made a rush for the edge of the bluff and 
 went bounding down into the dark, snow-shrouded 
 valley. 
 
 But it was a long, long run, and men bundled in 
 heavy overcoats and furs, their feet encased in cum- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 243 
 
 brous " arctics" over cavalry boots, were soon wearied. 
 The corporal gave it up before they were half-way 
 along the line of stables, and Carroll himself was pant 
 ing heavily, while Hogan, unencumbered with belts or 
 accoutrements, had stripped off his overcoat and thrown 
 it aside as he ran, and was now speeding far ahead. 
 The sentry on No. 5 challenged and ordered " Halt !" 
 but Hogan yelled out his name and went spinning 
 along through the snow veil to the utter bewilderment 
 of the guardsman. The next moment Carroll stag 
 gered up almost exhausted. 
 
 "Go with him, No. 5," he panted; "there s trouble 
 there ; Corporal Lenihan will take your post." 
 
 And recognizing the officer of the guard, the sentry 
 promptly darted away after Hogan. Meantime, other 
 shots had been fired. The stable orderly at the corral, 
 startled from a doze by the yell of the nearest sentry, 
 heard the distant crack of the carbine, and, knowing 
 that to be the signal for fire or immediate danger, 
 rushed to the building in which slept the quarter 
 master s men, shouted " Fire !" at the top of his voice, 
 threw open the doors of the shed in which the hook- 
 and ladder truck was kept in readiness, and the next 
 minute, as the employes, half dressed, came tumbling 
 down into the night, they saw the dim forms of two or 
 three men scudding eastward through the snow, and 
 out rolled the light, rattling truck and went spinning 
 after them fast as a dozen stalwart men could pull. 
 The shout of fire was heard by the sentry at the store 
 houses on the bluff, who promptly let drive a shot in 
 mid-air and echoed the cry ; so did the sentry over be 
 hind officers row ; the trumpeter of " B" Troop was 
 
244 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 dragged out of bed by a leather-lunged sergeant, who 
 ordered him to hustle out there and sound the fire call, 
 which the little scamp obeyed to the letter, going back 
 for his boots and breeches only when he had routed out 
 the entire garrison. In less than three minutes the 
 various companies were standing in disciplined silence 
 and solid ranks at their respective stations, waiting for 
 orders, for in the absence of any sign of fire no one 
 knew where to go. The colonel, who always seemed 
 to sleep with one eye and both ears open, and who 
 never went to bed without expecting an alarm of fire 
 somewhere in his great tinder-box of a post, was at his 
 station in the centre of the parade before most of the 
 officers appeared, the adjutant and captains running 
 directly to him for orders, while the subalterns sped 
 across the level plain to join their companies. By this 
 time all sound of shots or shouts had subsided, and as 
 no officer of the day appeared to explain matters, the 
 colonel marched briskly away towards the guard-house, 
 most of his officers following. They were received in 
 due form by the sergeant of the guard, who promptly 
 said, 
 
 " I don t think it s a fire at all, sir. The first alarm 
 was a pistol shot, then a carbine and a yell for the cor 
 poral from No. 7. The officer of the guard with Cor 
 poral Lenihan ran at once, and it was after they got 
 down into the valley that the cry of fire came from the 
 corral, but there s no fire there, sir. I sent Corporal 
 Preusser down at once. He came back and said the 
 truck had run towards the haystacks, and he met the 
 quartermaster as he was coming up the hill. No, sir ; 
 there s some other trouble. Corporal Buck came in at 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 245 
 
 midnight from pass and reported the magazine robbed, 
 and Lieutenant Ray rode down to see about it, and he 
 hasn t got back at all, sir." 
 
 " What time is it now ?" 
 
 " Almost 2.30, sir." 
 
 " Gentlemen, hold your companies where they are for 
 a moment. Major Stannard, you take charge. Send a 
 couple of men with me, sergeant." And so saying, the 
 post commander, with his adjutant, trudged away to 
 the bluff and was soon lost to sight in the darkness. 
 
 Down the slope, down past the open doors of the 
 quartermaster s stables they ploughed their way through 
 the thick, light fleece of snow. The watchman, excited 
 and eager-eyed, touched his cap as they passed, but 
 could tell nothing in response to their inquiry. Neither 
 could the sentries on Nos. 5 and 6. It was not until 
 they had gone nearly half a mile and were at the post 
 of No. 7 among the haystacks, that a couple of lanterns 
 came flitting like will-o -the-wisps through the sifting 
 veil, and presently they met the truckmen, dragging 
 slowly back, chatting in low, excited tones. 
 
 "What was the matter, sergeant?" asked the 
 colonel. 
 
 "I don t just know, sir; the officer of the day has 
 a prisoner, and there s been some stealing at the maga 
 zine and stables. Sergeant Jamieson s shot, I believe, 
 sir." 
 
 A few paces farther and they came upon another 
 group, slowly approaching them. A two-horse wagon, 
 loaded with sacks of oats, was being carefully guided by 
 a couple of members of the guard, for lying on the 
 sacks was a moaning cavalryman. Behind it carne 
 
 21* 
 
246 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Lieutenant Ray, the quartermaster, and the officer of 
 the guard, while Hogaii followed in their track leading 
 Dandy, the only living being in the party apparently 
 utterly unconcerned. It was the officer of the day the 
 colonel accosted : 
 
 " What s the matter, Ray ?" 
 
 " The magazine and Freeman s stables robbed, sir ; 
 Sergeant Jamieson shot in the leg and his horse killed. 
 Rather a long story, colonel, as all three happened at 
 different times and places." 
 
 And then a feeble voice, mingled with many a groan 
 and imprecation, was heard from the wagon : 
 
 " I swear to God, Colonel Atherton, hTrn h I m hin- 
 nocent, sir. The officer of the day accused me of being 
 a conspirator, e did, sir. I was shot doing my duty. 
 O God, men, go gently," he cried, as the springless 
 wagon jolted across a little gully hidden under the 
 snow. 
 
 " With your permission, colonel, I will send Hogan 
 on Dandy for Dr. Pease, and have him examine Jamie- 
 son s hurt here at the stables, and then I can tell you 
 what has taken place." 
 
 " Very good ! Hogan, give my compliments to 
 Major Stannard and tell him to dismiss the command ; 
 you will find Dr. Pease with him, probably. Ask him 
 to come down to the stables." 
 
 Ten minutes more, while the surgeon was looking 
 after his patient at the front end of Freeman s stables, 
 a little group was gathered under the open hatchway 
 at the other, and, having unloaded their human freight, 
 one or two men were tumbling the sacks of oats out of 
 the wagon. Ray s story was briefly told. He had 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 247 
 
 long suspected the proprietors of a certain store as 
 being receivers of property stolen from the post and 
 depot; had followed the trail to within five blocks of 
 the establishment, and, as he expressed it, his " nose 
 the rest of the way ;" had given chase to the man who 
 escaped on horseback, and speedily realized that he 
 could be no other than Freeman s English hussar stable 
 sergeant on his pet horse " Cardigan," one of the fleet 
 est in the th Calvalry. Even through the falling 
 film of snow, Ray was sure he could recognize the 
 peculiar seat, and he knew well there was only one 
 horse that could keep Dandy on a stern-chase more 
 than a minute or two, even with so light a rider as 
 Jamieson. Thrice he shouted his own name, and called 
 to the sergeant to halt, and he thought his voice must 
 have been heard and recognized. But the only answer 
 seemed to be renewed spurring and fresh bursts of 
 speed. A long circular sweep from the north of the 
 town finally brought them over the prairie east of it, 
 and here at last Ray knew he was gaining on his 
 quarry. Again he shouted orders to pull up, and gave 
 his own name ; again the sergeant plied the spur and 
 suddenly disappeared in the railway cut, whither Ray 
 promptly followed, and, just as he expected, found the 
 chase had striven to double on itself and had turned 
 sharply to the right. But the Kentuckian and Dandy 
 had not coursed Jack rabbits for nothing, and the 
 Englishman s ruse only lost him his lead, and with it 
 went his head, for, finding the pursuer almost upon 
 him, he had whipped out a revolver and opened fire as 
 he rode, the last desperate resort of the hunted 
 criminal. 
 
248 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Ray promptly swerved Dandy to the left, so as to 
 bring him on the " near" side of the chase and so baffle 
 his aim ; but even as he turned he felt the wind of 
 a bullet that zipped past his cheek. That was more 
 than a Kentuckian could possibly be expected to stand, 
 and out came his own trusty Colt. Jamieson turned in 
 his saddle and fired again over his bridle-arm, deaf ap 
 parently to Ray s shouts to halt and surrender. Dandy 
 swerved again at the sudden flash so near his nose, and 
 his long springy stride became suddenly short and stiff- 
 legged, and Ray, furious at the fear that his pet was 
 shot and that the scoundrel of a sergeant might escape, 
 aimed deliberately as he could, pulled trigger, heard a 
 yell of pain and dismay from the chase, and then with 
 a bound or two more Freeman s fleetest runner went 
 plunging heavily to earth, hurling his rider into the 
 snow. Ray and Dandy, carried by the impulse of their 
 speed, went a dozen yards or more before they could 
 come down to a trot and rein about in broad circle and 
 return to the crippled and fallen foe. Springing from 
 his horse and leaving him, heaving and panting, to re 
 cover breath, still warily covering the Englishman 
 with his revolver, the officer closed upon him, took 
 away the pistol that had fallen into half a foot of snow 
 from an apparently lifeless hand, then laying hold of 
 the coat-collar proceeded to drag him away from his 
 plunging, stiffening charger, whereat Jamieson sud 
 denly recovered consciousness and began to groan and 
 swear and beg piteously for his life. 
 
 " Shut up, you infernal scoundrel !" was the unfeel 
 ing answer. " I m not going to kill you, though you 
 deserve it." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 249 
 
 " Ho, my Gawd, if it isn t Lieutenant Ray I So 
 help me eaven, sir, I thought it was some of the rob 
 bers." 
 
 "Shut up, I tell you. Don t lie to me. Here, 
 stand up now. You ve only got a clip in the calf of 
 the leg no bone is broken." 
 
 " But hTll bleed to death, sir. So elp me God, lieu 
 tenant, h l thought they d surrounded me. Hi was 
 chasing two of them." 
 
 "Don t lie, I tell you, Jamieson. Give me your 
 handkerchief." 
 
 And sprawling his prisoner once more on his back in 
 the snow, Ray noted where the bullet had clipped 
 through the boot ; carefully cut away the leather with 
 the sergeant s knife and snugly bound the bandanna, 
 about the wound, a groove hardly half an inch deep or 
 two inches long at the back of the calf; hoisted his pro 
 testing prisoner into Dandy s saddle, gave one sorrow 
 ful look at the beautiful bay, now stiffening in the last 
 agony of death ; drew forth his revolver again as 
 though to give him the mercy shot, but reflected that 
 he might need every one of those five charges for his 
 own protection, and then, mildly intimating to Jamie- 
 son that any attempt on his part to escape would result 
 in his being " plugged with lead," took Dandy by the 
 bridle rein and started on the long march for home. 
 They were now on the open prairie some distance south 
 of the town. Jamieson begged to be taken in there and 
 left at the hotel, or, if the lieutenant still suspected him, 
 in the hands of the police ; but to all entreaties Ray 
 turned a deaf ear and trudged away at a brisk walk, 
 Dandy obediently following. Then Jamieson begged to 
 
250 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 be taken to a ranch in the creek valley near at hand, 
 where lived some country folk of his who would dress 
 his wound properly ; but this, too, was denied him, and 
 by quite a wide detour they kept away from town, 
 crossed the stream to the south side when they reached 
 the road and bridge, and then headed along the bluffs 
 for the distant fort. Not quarter of a mile beyond the 
 ranch which Jamieson had mentioned, the sound of 
 rapid hoof-beats and loud voices on the north bank met 
 their ears, and Jamieson grew eager and excited. One 
 second of listening told Kay they were not troopers, 
 and one glance at Jamieson made him suspicious. 
 
 " If you shout for help or utter a sound, my man, 
 it s the last cry you ll give this side of hell," he said, 
 as with his left hand he gripped Dandy s muzzle to 
 repress his desire to neigh, and with the other covered 
 the ex-hussar with his pistol until the party rode on 
 out of hearing. Then he resumed his march, recrossed 
 on the ice to the north side at a shallow pool where the 
 stream had been dammed for a skating rink, and had 
 just got within thirty yards of the haystacks when a 
 two-horse wagon loomed suddenly into view from the 
 south side of the enclosure, at sight of which Jamie- 
 son had loudly cried. 
 
 " 7 Elp, boys, elp, for God s sake, it s Jamieson !" 
 
 " Halt there, you men ! What have you got in that 
 wagon ?" shouted Ray. 
 
 The answer was a furious crack of the whip, a mut 
 tered exclamation, a rush of the horses, a shot from 
 Ray s pistol, at sound of which the driver sprang off 
 and scurried into the darkness, a challenge, and then 
 a shot from the sentry, who suddenly ran around 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 251 
 
 from the north side of the fence, at which the other 
 man disappeared, and then followed the alarm of the 
 garrison. 
 
 In vain Jamieson pleaded that he had discovered the 
 robbery of the magazine and was chasing the robbers 
 when Ray overhauled him. In vain he cried that his 
 wound was killing him. Gruff old Doctor Pease pro 
 nounced it a mere scratch a child would make no fuss 
 over, and the colonel sternly ordered Jamieson to be 
 carried to the guard-house and given a bed there with 
 the hospital steward and a corporal of the guard in 
 charge of him. The adjutant was sent with a couple 
 of men to count the losses and secure the magazine. 
 Hogan was despatched to make some hot tea for his 
 lieutenant. Dandy was being rubbed by assiduous 
 hands at the troop stable, and the colonel and Ray were 
 slowly walking together from the guard-house towards 
 the former s quarters, when Hogan came running forth 
 again, almost breathless, and met them on the parade. 
 
 " Lieutenant, lieutenant !" he cried, " Mr. Blake s 
 room has been busted into and his desk and every 
 thing there robbed too." 
 
252 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THERE was a rallying of the clans at Kay s quarters 
 within the half-hour that followed Hogan s abrupt 
 announcement. Officers who had started for their 
 homes noted the excited manner of the "striker" as 
 he ran to meet the colonel and his lieutenant, and pres 
 ently half a dozen grave-faced men were assembled at 
 the little bachelor den and busily engaged searching 
 the premises for any trace of the marauders. Blake 
 had locked his room after getting out his field kit, and 
 had left the key with Ray, who stowed it in the upper 
 drawer of his bureau. The key was found there un 
 disturbed, apparently unused. But Blake s door had 
 been opened without any difficulty, probably by skele 
 ton keys, as the lock was found thrown back and in 
 perfect order. On the table stood his writing-desk, a 
 big, old-fashioned, rectangular box, brass-bound, and 
 with compartments for stationery and valuable letters, 
 and the conventional secret drawer opened by pulling 
 up a brass pin in the edge of the lower half of the box, 
 about as unreliable a secret-keeper as one s feminine 
 relatives. This desk had been treated with scant cere 
 mony, forced open and hacked, and the contents were 
 scattered about the floor. The bureau-drawers had also 
 been pried open, and handkerchiefs, shirts, collars, and 
 all manner of masculine gear were tumbled about. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 253 
 
 Some scarf-pins, sleeve-buttons, etc., were gone, but 
 nothing of any great value. It was not the hope of 
 a rich haul that tempted any night prowler to invade 
 the bedroom of a bachelor officer, that was never a 
 game worth the candle, let alone the risk. Ray had 
 speedily realized that something very different had 
 lured the thief, and it was he who first seized and 
 searched the secret drawer. A packet of letters that 
 had been there was now missing ; but whether Blake 
 took it with him to the field or whether it had been 
 stolen that night, he could not say. Meantime, the 
 colonel and others had found, half covered by the still 
 falling snow, the foot-tracks of a man leading from 
 the rear gate around to the front porch and back again. 
 Hogan had barred the kitchen door when he went to 
 town at sunset ; and Captain Turner and some of the 
 younger officers followed these tracks out to a point 
 north of the old brown hospital. Here were wheel and 
 hoof marks still faintly discernible through the mantle 
 of snow, apparently those of a single horse and buggy. 
 Meantime, Freeman had lodged his stable orderly in 
 the guard -house, put another sergeant in charge vice 
 the ex-hussar, and had been investigating on his own 
 account. The wagon-load of oats intercepted by Ray 
 was the second that had been stolen from his forage- 
 room that night, in the absence, presumably, of Ser 
 geant Jamieson, and undoubtedly with the connivance 
 of the stable orderly. The same wagon had made an 
 earlier round trip from and to the town, avoiding the 
 sentries by keeping to the south of the stables and hay- 
 yard, and being unheard by reason of the muffling 
 snow. It was Freeman who quietly announced to 
 
 22 
 
254 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Colonel Atherton, as they finally separated to get such 
 rest as was now possible before reveille, 
 
 " This whole thing, sir, is the work of one gang, 
 acting in definite knowledge of affairs at the post, and 
 I cannot make up my mind whether it is composed 
 entirely of soldiers, or whether they have only two or 
 three accomplices here. I have enough evidence to 
 cast grave suspicion on Jamieson. I was going to 
 detail Warren for duty in the stables ten days ago, but 
 he induced me to give this man Mudge a trial, saying 
 he was an expert hostler and horseman ; and he made 
 such a point of it that I yielded against my better 
 judgment, for Mudge came to us with that batch of 
 recruits only last October while we were up in the 
 Hills." 
 
 Immediately after guard-mounting the colonel began 
 his investigation ; and the more he probed the more 
 thoroughly was he satisfied that almost everything had 
 been effected in accordance with a prearranged plan : 
 Jamieson was to be away on pass, so as to know noth 
 ing of the stable robbery ; the magazine was to be 
 opened early enough at night to enable them to get 
 their goods hidden before morning, and Ray s tour was 
 selected, because the perpetrators knew him so well 
 that they felt sure he would come riding down to in 
 vestigate in person, leaving his quarters open to in 
 vasion. No account was taken of Hogan ; he was a 
 heavy sleeper, and was generally early in bed, deaf to 
 any sound until the trumpet-call at dawn. Valuables, 
 the colonel knew, they would not expect to find in the 
 rooms of either Blake or Ray, and Ray s things had 
 hardly been disturbed at all. His desk was untouched. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 255 
 
 It was a question the colonel did not like to ask, but 
 the course of the investigation seemed to demand it, 
 and he sent for Ray. 
 
 " Do you know of anything Mr. Blake had, not of 
 intrinsic value in itself, but that scoundrels could make 
 convertible into money ?" asked Atherton, and he 
 thought to himself, but would not say, " by blackmail, 
 for instance." 
 
 Ray s face showed that he did know, though for a 
 moment he stood in silence, making no reply. 
 
 " I understand your scruples, Mr. Ray, and respect 
 your reticence in the matter, but that is the only theory 
 on which I can account for their robbing his room 
 at all, and if it be the right one, it will not take us 
 long to put our hands on the thief. I have heard 
 that Grimsby frequently came with letters for Mr. 
 Blake by the back way, and I believe it was some one 
 who hoped to use these letters who searched for them 
 last night ; and Hogan says he saw Grimsby with a 
 horse and buggy in town at eleven o clock." 
 
 " Blake very often read to me the contents of those 
 notes brought by Grimsby, colonel," said Ray, promptly. 
 " Nobody could have objected to anything I heard ; and 
 they weren t the kind to be of any use to a black 
 mailer." 
 
 " I do not think they were either, Ray, and I m very 
 glad you say so," replied the colonel, with grave kind 
 ness in his tone. " But the fact of their frequency 
 may have given men of Grimsby ? s character the idea 
 that something could be made of them. Major Granger 
 told me weeks ago that he thoroughly distrusted 
 the man, and meant to discharge him as soon as he 
 
256 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 could find as good a coachman. Now, here is a letter 
 from Colonel Rand. You got to know him well last 
 summer, I believe, and this is not the first time he has 
 had dealings with the Rocky Mountain detective force. 
 He stayed at Denver only one day, and went back at 
 once to head-quarters ; but he tells me that absolutely 
 nothing has been heard of any man even faintly re 
 sembling Granger within the district covered by their 
 detectives. He thinks, and they think, that he never 
 left this neighborhood at all. Colonel Rand further 
 says that your brother-in-law, Mr. Rallston, once had 
 some differences with him about a large contract for 
 horses and mules. Did Mr. Rallston ever tell you of 
 the matter ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ; and while I cannot speak of it without 
 his permission, I have written asking him to go to 
 Colonel Rand and give him all the facts." 
 
 The colonel was silent a moment, his eyes bent closely 
 on the letter before him. Then he wheeled around in 
 his chair : 
 
 " Ray, I feel that in view of Granger s strange dis 
 appearance I ought to hear everything and anything 
 that may throw light on the subject, and my officers 
 should not hide from me anything they may know of 
 the man. Personally and officially I knew next to 
 nothing of him before coming here, and since then, as 
 he was not under my command at all, my relations 
 with him have been those of courtesy only. Since my 
 interviews with Colonel Rand I have learned much 
 that was only rumor before, and that I had treated as 
 baseless slander. But you and Truscott, I understand, 
 would have nothing to do with him ; and he intimated 
 
CAPTAIN SLAKE. 257 
 
 to me that on one occasion you treated him with what 
 he called e the utmost discourtesy/ " 
 
 Ray s head went back on his shoulders and an inch 
 or two higher, the old characteristic sign of smoulder 
 ing wrath. His dark eyes snapped, and a red spot 
 began to burn on each cheek. 
 
 " I practically called him a thief and a liar, Colonel 
 Atherton, if that can be termed great discourtesy, and 
 I meant exactly what I said. It was not a proper 
 thing to do under ordinary circumstances, but Mr. 
 Blake and I both believed that he had instigated the 
 assault upon Blake, and we gave him our reasons and 
 called upon him for an explanation. He treated our 
 letter in contemptuous fashion ; insulted Blake in his 
 reply ; refused to recognize me as Blake s friend or sec 
 ond if it came to such a point ; demanded to see Blake 
 personally afterwards, and then was simply insolent to 
 me when I pointed out to him that Blake refused to 
 see him, and that any communication he had to make 
 must be through me. He was very virulent and in 
 sulting in his reply, and then all that Rallston had told 
 me got the upper hand, so to speak, and I did give him a 
 piece of my mind. If he is dead, I m sorry for having 
 said it ; if he s alive, I ll be very apt to say it again." 
 
 " Well, the major certainly put it very mildly in 
 describing your language," said the colonel, with a 
 quiet smile, " but I infer that you knew whereof you 
 spoke and could prove it. Has Mr. Rallston any 
 theory as to the cause of his disappearance? I un 
 derstand that Mr. Carroll intimated in Major Stan- 
 nard s hearing that if he were here he might be able to 
 throw some light on the matter." 
 r 22* 
 
258 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " I have not heard directly from Rallston in more 
 than a fortnight, colonel. He has been away ; but I 
 look for a letter from him by every mail." 
 
 At this moment the telegraph operator tapped at the 
 door, and, entering, handed the post commander a de 
 spatch. Atherton s lips twitched a little at the corners 
 as he read. Something evidently amused him, for 
 were the opposite the case he would have given no 
 sign. His eyes were twinkling as he looked up at 
 Kay. 
 
 " Hollis has reached Fetterman and wants to come 
 down at once. He was shot in the thigh pretty much 
 as you were last summer. Isn t it rather too soon for 
 him to be undertaking long journeys ?" 
 
 " Hollis s recuperative powers are immense, colonel," 
 answered Ray, his white teeth gleaming. " I am sure 
 it is far pleasanter to spend the days of one s conva 
 lescence here than in hospital at that bleak post. All 
 his lady friends will rally round him, and he ll be 
 dancing again inside of a month if the doctor isn t 
 careful. Any news of Blake, sir ?" 
 
 "Nothing; this is from Hollis himself. He wants 
 to know if a relay of mules can t meet him at the 
 Chugwater to-morrow. I fancy that we should not 
 encourage such feverish haste to get back, but I will 
 see Dr. Pease." 
 
 That evening, though the air was keen and frosty, 
 the entire command marched out and closed on the 
 centre for publication of orders at sunset. The long 
 line of light-blue overcoats six big companies of 
 cavalrymen, recruited to the maximum as the result 
 of the recent Indian hostilities, and four little bands 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 259 
 
 of foot, Waldron s detachment of "the Riflers" 
 formed a force that stretched far across the parade. 
 For a wonder the mountain breeze was lulled ; the flag 
 drooped about its tall white staff, and the chimney- 
 smoke sailed straight aloft. A dozen ladies were 
 promenading briskly up and down the gravel walk, 
 taking the air and chatting with their friends among 
 the officers not on duty. None of the captains were 
 with the battalion, each company being marched to 
 the line by one of its subaltern officers. The trum 
 peters and field-musicians were massed at the right of 
 the line. The adjutant took his station in front of 
 the centre ; the trumpets sounded the retreat, and with 
 the last note the flag came fluttering down, and then 
 the publication of orders began. First, some general 
 court-martial cases were read, the dreary array of pleas, 
 findings, and sentence being listened to in bored silence 
 by the command ; and then, as Mr. Billings stowed 
 away the papers from division head-quarters and pro 
 duced the sheet or two of post orders, he glanced 
 along his line and became instantly aware that many 
 of the men were far more interested in something 
 going on up near the adjutant s office than they were 
 in the fate of Private Mulligan, who, for desertion, 
 was doomed to a couple of years at the Leavenworth 
 prison, or of Trooper Schaatz, who, for getting glori 
 ously drunk on pay-day and " raising Cain" about the 
 quarters, was to labor for no less than three months in 
 charge of the guard. 
 
 " Keep your head and eyes to the front there in the 
 left wing! 7 ordered the adjutant, and went on with 
 his reading, every now and then glancing over the top 
 
260 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 of the page and noting that, though discipline now 
 prevailed and the heads were straight, the eyes kept 
 wandering westward. Before he had finished and 
 announced the detail for the coming day, he knew that 
 somebody had come out behind him and was standing 
 close at hand waiting for him to complete his duty. 
 A moment more and he had dismissed the command 
 and was receiving the reports, and then the orderly of 
 the commanding officer stepped forward and addressed 
 him. The colonel desired the adjutant to come to the 
 office at once ; Major Stannard and Captains Freeman 
 and Truscott had already gone. 
 
 The ladies were still grouped here and there along the 
 walk, many of the officers had joined them on dispers 
 ing after parade, a number of the children whose game 
 of tag had been suspended during the brief ceremony 
 now resumed their noisy, laughing chase; but there 
 was an air of gravity if not apprehension among their 
 elders. Two rough-looking cow ponies in their heavy 
 Mexican saddles stood with drooping heads in front of 
 the office, and the riders had apparently gone inside. 
 Mr. Billings took the short cut, going straight up the 
 parade, and, without a preliminary word with any one, 
 found himself in the presence of his colonel, Major 
 Stannard and the two captains, and of two wiry, 
 weatherbeaten ranchmen, one of whom was old Bryan. 
 
 The colonel was speaking as he entered : " You 
 say that both Howell and Grimsby were there last 
 night?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," spoke the younger of the two ranchmen ; 
 " they were in the old shack at eight o clock ; and there 
 was three or four more men, toughs, every one of 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 261 
 
 them ; but there was no soldiers there. I saw Sergeant 
 Jamieson in town only an hour later." 
 
 "You see, colonel," spoke up old Bryan, " there s 
 dozens of my cattle that we haven t seen hair nor hide 
 of since the storm, and my men have been scouring the 
 whole country to the southeast, and Jim here in fact, 
 all of them had their orders to inquire everywhere. 
 That s how he happened to ride in there. If it had 
 been me, I suppose I d never have got out alive ; but 
 they didn t seem to know him. He s only been with 
 me a few months. He came down from Idaho after 
 the campaign." 
 
 " It seems rather reckless of Howell, as he is called, 
 to have remained around here after escaping from the 
 guard-house," said Atherton, reflectively. 
 
 " Why, Lord bless you, colonel," answered old Bryan. 
 " That fellow says there isn t a guard-house in the army 
 that can hold him five minutes longer than he chooses 
 to stay. He has escaped from that same guard-house 
 once before. I knew him when he was quartermaster s 
 clerk here ten years ago, when they were building the 
 post, sir ; and a smart, capable fellow he was then ; 
 but he got to gambling, then to drinking, and then to 
 stealing, they say, and then he disappeared for a time, 
 and we heard he d gone and listed somewhere. Yet the 
 moment Major Granger came out here and took charge 
 at the depot, this fellow Brooks, or Howell, turned up 
 again, looking sober, but seedy. And damn me I beg 
 your pardon, sir if he didn t get a good position right 
 off. He could have kept it, too, but for drink. And 
 when he drank he would talk and say all sorts of queer 
 things. He used to brag that Granger would make 
 
262 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 him chief clerk any day he chose to ask ; he wouldn t 
 dare refuse him ; for if he did he could have the old 
 man cashiered. He had clerked under him in New 
 Orleans, he said, during the war, and knew all about 
 his cotton business and steamboat contracts, whatever 
 they were. But last year he was drinking so hard 
 Granger had to get rid of him, and a shooting scrape 
 the fellow got into in town settled the business. It 
 was a fair enough fight, I reckon ; but the other man 
 was killed, and Brooks, or Howell, was shot so bad 
 that they thought he d die sure ; and his friends some 
 of this very gang, I reckon got him out of town, and 
 it was given out that he did die and was buried at a 
 ranch over towards the Cache la Poudre. I know 
 they told Granger so, and we all believed it, and the 
 next we knew a sergeant came in here who had been 
 stationed at the post seven years ago, and said Brooks 
 was serving in the d Infantry under the name of 
 Howell, over in California ; and then that very com 
 pany was transferred over here to Fort Steele, and the 
 next I knew was the night of the theatre here, and as 
 we were going home afterwards up to the ranch my 
 driver told me of the row down at the stables, and said 
 that Brooks was there drunk, and that he had picked 
 a fight with Granger s new coachman, and that Captain 
 Truscott had clapped him in the guard-house as a 
 deserter, recognized by Sergeant Carmody. It s the 
 same man, colonel. The more I think of it, sir, the 
 more I suspect that his sudden reappearance here had 
 something to do with Major Granger s going." 
 
 For a moment the silence in the dreary old office was 
 something oppressive. It had begun to grow dark, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 263 
 
 and the orderly, who approached with a lighted lamp, 
 was warned back by a gesture from Captain Freeman, 
 who then arose and shut the door. The colonel, seated 
 at his desk, had listened attentively to every word the 
 grizzled old volunteer had spoken, and was closely 
 studying his flushed and eager face. Everybody knew 
 Bryan s frailty, that he would drink at times, and 
 drink deeply when he drank at all. But one or two 
 lessons in the recent past had served to put him more 
 on guard over himself, and his devoted daughter had 
 done her best. She watched him with the utmost care, 
 and when the first symptoms of intoxication appeared, 
 the keg of whiskey was hidden where he could never 
 find it. And yet, to prevent his riding off to town in 
 search of liquor, she kept a little flask, with which at 
 long intervals she dealt him out a fragrant mixture 
 that tided over the day and got him to bed sober. She 
 would not abolish the keg entirely ; she knew that that 
 would simply result in his being driven from home to 
 seek the destroyer elsewhere. Atherton heard of her 
 pleas to the post- trader to refuse to give the old man 
 drink when he had been drinking at all, and supple 
 mented her request by an effective word. Twice had 
 the old soldier been drugged and then robbed in 
 Cheyenne ; and the gang of sharps and gamblers was 
 ever on the lookout for him. Indeed, if the truth 
 must be told, Bryan was far more distressed by the loss 
 of his money than by Nanny s grief over his inebriety. 
 He was a miser who had hoarded no one knew how 
 much. He owned valuable lots in town ; he owned 
 big herds in the foot-hills ; he lent money at usurious 
 interest, and had a balance in the First National that 
 
264 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 would have made many a penniless subaltern rejoice 
 with exceeding joy could it but be transferred to him. 
 Yet all the time he protested he was poor. He was 
 close and exacting in every bargain. He insisted on 
 lending his cows to the officers in garrison for safe 
 keeping during the winter, the creatures being stall-fed 
 and cared for in exchange for the milk they gave ; and 
 yet at the opening of the spring two or three of those 
 meek and docile mammals would mysteriously dis 
 appear. The back doors and back gates would be 
 found open ; no one knew how. Bryan would be noti 
 fied. His herders would search the other ranges and 
 swear no cows with his brand could be found, and 
 presently the old fellow would come riding into Russell 
 with a long face and a longer bill, and the unwilling 
 victim of his liberality would have to pay twenty-five 
 or thirty dollars for a cow and costs of search, all the 
 time feeling pretty certain that Brindle was placidly 
 cropping the bunch-grass somewhere up among the 
 foot-hills with Bryan s herds ; but he couldn t prove it. 
 It got to be a sort of a proverb at the post. " Don t 
 let Bryan lend you a cow/ was the advice tendered 
 each new arrival among the married officers. And as 
 Blake had heard all about it in the summer, when the 
 old man came in to levy what were called his cattle- 
 taxes on the outgoing regiment, his comrades in the 
 th had been given due warning. " Timeo Danaos et 
 dona ferentes" said he, was the Latin for " Take none o j 
 Dan Bryan s for rent or any other way." There were 
 other ranchmen and neighbors, envious of his increasing 
 wealth and hating him for his miserly ways, who swore 
 that old Captain Dan s loyalty to the flag and the gov- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 265 
 
 eminent in the matter of giving up deserters and re 
 vealing the whereabouts of stolen property was all a 
 delusion and a snare ; that he only surrendered a 
 deserter when sure of the reward, and only told where 
 stolen stores could be found when they were not in his 
 own dug-outs. Certain it is that among the " tough" 
 element which herded about Cheyenne he had a host of 
 enemies, powerful and implacable, and more than once 
 had he been warned that his life would be the penalty 
 for further disclosures. But Bryan now had a dozen 
 stalwart men among his employes, and was grit to the 
 backbone. He simply defied the gang. He had been 
 one of the first to come in and join the searching parties 
 after Granger s disappearance was announced. He was 
 the first to declare that so far from believing that 
 Major Granger had fled because of discoveries of pec 
 ulation and embezzlement, it was his profound convic 
 tion that he had been foully dealt with. 
 
 And so the moment he heard from the lips of his 
 herdsmen that day that Brooks and Grimsby had been 
 at a certain lonely shack, or herdsmen s shelter, down 
 the valley the previous night, old Bryan hastened in to 
 the fort to lay the matter before the post commander. 
 
 " You have done us a great service, Captain Bryan," 
 said Atherton, "and I am under many obligations to 
 you. It is a matter in which we shall have to invoke 
 the aid of the sheriff, for of course we have no right 
 to search the shack. But you heard, I suppose, how 
 fruitless was the search of Einstein s premises to-day ; 
 though Mr. Ray tracked the wagon to their very doors, 
 and they had hundreds of dollars worth of cartridges 
 for which they could show no invoices at all." 
 M 23 
 
266 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Certainly, colonel ; they simply burned the boxes 
 and paper cases, and scattered the other things all over 
 town. As for oats and barley, they bust open the bags 
 and dump them into the general bin, then burn the 
 bags. But I believe if we move at once we can nab 
 the fellows at that shack down the Crow Valley, and 
 to-night s the time." 
 
 " I will wire the sheriff at once, captain, to meet the 
 officer I sent in, and we will lose not a moment. Of 
 course he ll be glad to have your statement and that 
 of your herdsman, but in all earnestness I think you 
 and Jim ought to go no further. These people have 
 threatened your life, I hear; and if it were known 
 that our information came from you, it would only in 
 tensify their desire for revenge. Let us attend to all 
 further details in this matter." 
 
 "Colonel Atherton, Frn an old soldier. I fought 
 alongside of your men at Winchester and Cedar Creek, 
 and no thieving cad can scare me. I owe them fellows 
 more than one grudge now, and I want them to know 
 it was me that set the officers of law on the right 
 track. I want to be there when they surround that 
 shack to-night." 
 
 " But they have confederates everywhere, captain. 
 They have or had associates in this very garrison, I 
 regret to say. You are often at your ranch alone or 
 with only a man or two ; they could easily surprise 
 you, and then I m thinking too for your daughter; 
 how would she fare at the hands of such a crowd ?" 
 
 Old Bryan s face paled. "I ll low that s strong 
 argument, colonel. She won t leave n;e, though. 
 Captain and Mrs. Freeman have been mighty kind to 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 267 
 
 my girl, and kept her here often. She s better bred 
 than I am ; she s she s more like her poor mother." 
 And here he hitched uneasily in his chair and turned 
 his grizzled face away, winking hard ; and there was 
 silence in the room. Then as suddenly he whirled 
 about again : 
 
 " Colonel, I I want you to understand something. 
 It ain t that I grudge the money, it ain t that I 
 wouldn t send her East to school. Fve tried hard to 
 get her to go East. It ain t what people say at all. 
 All I ve got in the world ain t good enough for that 
 little girl of mine. She s stood by me when when 
 I didn t know her." And he bowed his old head and 
 drew his hand over his blinking eyes. " I want her 
 to go, and be educated and be a lady. No ! She is 
 a lady, and her mother was before her; but she just 
 clings to me, and says she never will go, never will 
 leave her old dad, by God !" And here he broke off 
 with a sob and covered his face with a big red ban 
 danna; then rose hastily and tramped over to the 
 window, hiding his face from all. It was a minute or 
 so before he could recover himself, then after vigorous 
 rubbing of his eyes he returned to them. 
 
 "I had to lie to her to get away this time. I said 
 I d be with her again just as soon as I d seen you. 
 But it won t be out there, if Captain Freeman will be 
 so kind as to send over to the ranch for her. The old 
 place can take care of itself to-night. I m going in 
 with the sheriff. I m going to help run that gang to 
 earth ; and, by God, Colonel Atherton, I believe that 
 before another sunrise I ll know what s become of 
 Major Granger." 
 
268 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MRS. FREEMAN S bright little home was rather 
 crowded by the time tattoo was sounded this crisp, 
 starlit evening. Everybody seemed to know that she 
 and the captain had driven away tp Bryan s ranch the 
 moment the old fellow left the garrison to join the sheriff 
 in town, and that " Prairie Nan" was with them when 
 they returned. Nearly everybody was eager to know 
 what Bryan had told the colonel, and Freeman was the 
 only available person from whom the information could 
 be extracted, Truscott having ridden away on some 
 mysterious mission to the depot, and the major and 
 the adjutant being still closeted with their chief. 
 People felt that something had been heard of Major 
 Granger and were incredulous and disappointed when 
 Freeman assured them that not a trace had been 
 discovered. 
 
 " If it wasn t something about Major Granger that 
 kept you all up there so long, then what was it ?" de 
 manded Mrs. Turner, who, after a few days pathetic 
 retirement and seclusion, another day or two of despe 
 rate effort to play the role of patient and uncomplaining 
 suffering, was now with redoubled ardor and interest 
 beginning to " take notice" again. 
 
 "Nothing at all beyond a report from old Bryan 
 that one of his men had found the possible whereabouts 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 269 
 
 of the magazine and stable thieves," answered Free 
 man, good-naturedly. 
 
 " Oh, if all I hear is true, Captain Bryan s people . 
 know a heap more about the way things have been 
 stolen here for years past than Colonel Atherton could 
 find out if he worked a lifetime," began Mrs. Turner, 
 excitedly, though Turner shot his warning glance, and 
 then, stepping to her side, managed to check further 
 flow of eloquence, as Nannie, having discarded her 
 warm wraps, was ushered into the brightly-lighted 
 little parlor. Just now Mrs. Turner s grievance was 
 mainly against the colonel. He had showered honors 
 and attentions on Mrs. Granger, she said, whom every 
 body now, at least, knew in her true light, she was a 
 " professional," and had no business playing with ama 
 teurs and concealing her real self from them until the 
 last moment. She never thought the colonel would 
 have neglected the ladies of his regiment, who had 
 always been so loyal to him, for the sake of of "a mere 
 adventuress." But Mrs. Turner was both indignant 
 and illogical. She could never, of course, be brought to 
 believe that no woman in the th had so fiercely criti 
 cised the colonel s orders and disciplinary methods as 
 herself, and that she was about the last of the lot to 
 rightly set up the claim of loyalty to him; she ignored, 
 of course, the fact that, by her going directly home 
 from the theatricals, all possibility of congratulation 
 or courtesy from the commanding officer had been 
 barred as far as she was concerned. Eager to hear any 
 news that might be abroad, she had insisted on running 
 up to the Freemans at tattoo, and Turner obediently 
 went along, watchful of her every move, and plainly 
 
 23* 
 
270 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 striving to keep her out of mischief. It so happened 
 that the Heaths and some infantry friends had dropped 
 in about the same time, and, always kindly and hospita 
 ble, Mrs. Freeman had not only begged them all to 
 stay and " have a little bite by and by," but she sent 
 out for two of Nan s girl friends in garrison. Some 
 thing must be done, she argued, to keep the child from 
 brooding over her father s absence, which, all too evi 
 dently, Nan believed to be upon some fateful and 
 dangerous errand. 
 
 And so it happened that all was mirth and laughter, 
 feasting and jollity when the summons came. 
 
 Somewhere about eleven o clock the colonel himself 
 appeared at Freeman s quarters and called him out on 
 the veranda. 
 
 " Expecting trouble," said he, " I told the operator 
 to remain at his instrument this evening. This has 
 just come." 
 
 So saying he handed Freeman a despatch, which the 
 latter carried close to the window and read by the 
 bright light from within. It was from the sheriff: 
 
 " Sharp tussle at the shack ; Bryan badly shot ; 
 wants to see his daughter at once ; the doctor is taking 
 him to the depot." 
 
 " How can she go ?" asked the colonel, presently. 
 " Mrs. Freeman and I will take her at once," 
 answered the captain. " Doesn t it look to you as 
 though they had failed to make any arrests ?" 
 
 " I am afraid so. He must have had too small a 
 posse." 
 
 An hour later an anxious group was gathered in the 
 steward s room of the little hospital at the depot. The 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 271 
 
 time had been when all the sick among the army of 
 employes of the supply department had been turned 
 loose on the town or sent up to the post for treatment ; 
 but after the big campaign of 76 the officials had suc 
 ceeded in having a sort of emergency hospital attached 
 to the depot, with a contract doctor and a steward. 
 Never anticipating a determined resistance or any really 
 serious affray, the sheriff had taken with him only two 
 deputies when starting out from town to investigate 
 matters at the shack to which Bryan was so eager to 
 guide him. It lay down in the valley under the shelter 
 of the bluffs nearly a mile west of the business centre 
 of the town and almost as far off the lines of travel. 
 Long it had borne a bad name, but rarely were there 
 more than two or three men gathered about it either by 
 night or day, and the sheriff had so often occasion to 
 go thither with a warrant of some kind that he had 
 grown accustomed to the trip and looked upon it as a 
 useless bore. The colonel s note and Bryan s eagerness 
 had only partially aroused his interest. 
 
 " We won t find anything there," he said ; " those 
 fellows are not fools enough to remain in this neighbor 
 hood, and as for any government property, it s scattered 
 all over Wyoming by this time, and you ll never see 
 hide nor hair of it again." 
 
 But Bryan persisted. The sheriff summoned a brace 
 of deputies ; the party mounted their horses ; rode out 
 westward, then down into the breaks of the stream, 
 and presently came in view of the twinkling lights at 
 the hut. Dismounting there, with the contempt of easy 
 familiarity the sheriff hammered on the door and de 
 manded admission. Shuffling feet, excited whispers, and 
 
272 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 the sound of a scuffle were the immediate replies. Again 
 he hammered with the butt of his Colt. Then all was 
 silence and the light went out. 
 
 Angered now at the defiance to his authority, the 
 sheriff ordered his men to burst in the door. It took 
 hard work and much time. When it suddenly gave 
 way three stalwart men went tumbling blindly into the 
 shack, and found themselves sprawling on the earthen 
 floor, while with a rush and a smothered laugh three or 
 four active fellows had leaped past them into the open 
 air ; had mounted the horses of the sheriff s party, and 
 in the twinkling of an eye were dashing off townwards. 
 One of them old Bryan had essayed to stop, the last 
 and the heaviest built. A pistol flashed in the dark 
 ness. The sheriff, running to the scene, heard the hoof- 
 beats dying away in the distance, and fell flat over the 
 prostrate, bleeding form of the old volunteer. The 
 lights of the great depot shone not far away across the 
 snow-streaked prairie, and thither one of his men ran 
 for the doctor ; thither was old Bryan tenderly borne, 
 while the sheriff, exasperated and chagrined, hurried 
 back to town to find his horses and telegraph to the post. 
 
 And now at midnight the old ranchman lay gasping 
 in the hospital ward. Nannie, white and tearful, but 
 very quiet and self-possessed, was kneeling by his side, 
 wiping the death-dews from his forehead and soothing 
 his agony as best she knew how. Doctor Pease had 
 been summoned down from the fort, and he, too, had 
 shaken his head in answer to the mute appeal in the 
 daughter s big, brimming eyes. The old man was 
 bleeding internally, and there was little hope of his 
 lasting until dawn. He was semi-conscious only. He 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 273 
 
 clung to Nannie with a love that was piteous in its 
 tenderness and intensity. He seemed to think only of 
 and for her. When he could speak at all it was to tell 
 her how now she must go East, go to her mother s people 
 and be a lady, be educated. He implored Mrs. Free 
 man and the captain to continue their goodness to his 
 little girl. 
 
 " I m all she had in the world until you came, and 
 I was worse than a burden to her," he almost sobbed ; 
 " but she ll need for nothing now, if you ll only be a 
 friend to her, ma am," he said, looking imploringly up 
 into Mrs. Freeman s sweet and sympathetic face. 
 
 " Indeed, we ve all learned to love her, captain," was 
 the answer. " Never fear that she ll not be as one of 
 our own." And Freeman, too, whom the bluff old 
 soldier had learned to regard with respect and confi 
 dence, added his assurances to those of his wife. It 
 seemed to comfort Bryan, for he patted Nannie s long, 
 slender hand and soon fell away into a semi-comatose 
 state. Then came delirious intervals, and both the 
 doctors and the steward were needed to restrain him, 
 for he began to toss upon the bed, to struggle with the 
 attendant and to glare at the corners of the room with 
 savage hate in his eyes. 
 
 " Give me that knife," he cried ; " I haven t had a 
 fair show in this fight. You shot me in the dark, you 
 cockney hound ! you and your cowardly pals ! What 
 have you done with your own master ? Where have 
 you hidden Granger, I say? You robbed him, you 
 hounds ! you know you did, and, when he turned on 
 you, killed him. Where have you hidden him, I say? 
 You know, you white-livered scoundrel, you Grimsby. 
 
274 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 You know, damn you ! Don t shoot don t shoot an 
 unarmed man, you coward. Give me that knife, I say." 
 
 And so lie raved and, in his struggles, he wellnigh 
 broke from the attendant s grasp. 
 
 Pease and the younger physician stepped into the 
 adjoining room a moment, when, exhausted, the old 
 man fell back on his pillow, panting and trembling, 
 his long fingers clutching at the bedclothes. Even 
 Nannie, weeping and piteously calling him, could not 
 now command his wandering thoughts. His soul 
 seemed passing away in some wild, fierce dream. He 
 was defying some band of outlaws whose secrets he 
 knew, whose plans he had frustrated ; he was sur 
 rounded by them, death was staring him in the face, 
 but to the bitter end he taunted them with the failure 
 of their schemes and with the fact that he had unearthed 
 their plots and given warning to the authorities. 
 
 " You ll never trap another man, damn you !" he 
 shouted again. " You made Granger your tool, your 
 dupe ; but he was in your toils when he came here. 
 You fellow, you Brooks. You re the man that knifed 
 him. You and Grimsby would have sucked him dry, 
 wouldn t you? But I was on to you I was on to 
 you. You ll get no cash from her either, you infernal 
 blackmailers. I ll warn her, too. Yes, shoot, shoot, 
 if you dare. Where have you hidden his body, I 
 say?" And again he fell back weaker still. Pease 
 knelt and gently forced the stimulant between his 
 setting teeth. 
 
 "Mrs. Granger has sent for me," whispered the 
 depot doctor to his superior. "Shall I tell her?" 
 And he nodded suggestively towards the dying man. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 275 
 
 " Yes, there s no saying how much of this is sus 
 picion, and how much actual knowledge. What do 
 you think, Freeman ?" 
 
 " If it is only raving, there is a volume behind it 
 all," was the answer. " Is there no way of finding 
 out what he does know ?" 
 
 " Too late, Fm afraid. He knows these people well, 
 that s evident ; but I doubt if there is anything more 
 than mere suspicion at the bottom of it all. Didn t the 
 sheriff s deputies say they were going down to search 
 those premises to-night and take a strong posse with 
 them?" 
 
 " Yes, that s why they hurried back to town. Try 
 and coax Nannie into the next room a few moments ; 
 I want to look at him." 
 
 But even Mrs. Freeman could hardly persuade the 
 child to leave her father for a moment. It was only 
 when Freeman lifted her from her knees and almost 
 bore her into the adjoining room that she would con 
 sent to go with him. Bryan was perceptibly grow 
 ing fainter; the violence of his delirium was over, 
 ancl every moment his breath seemed to nutter, 
 shorter and shorter. Pease was doing all his skill 
 could suggest to prolong life and restore him to 
 partial consciousness and strength. So much seemed 
 to depend on his telling them the exact truth and the 
 nature of his knowledge or suspicion. In the steward s 
 room Nannie had been persuaded to sip some tea. 
 Then all was silent in the little wooden hospital, 
 and the child had thrown herself on her knees and 
 buried her face in Mrs. Freeman s lap, when there was 
 a sound of low voices without and footsteps on the 
 
276 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 creaking board-walk. The steward s wife opened the 
 door, and there on the threshold, throwing back her 
 mantle, pallid, heavy-eyed, but beautiful, stood Mrs. 
 Granger. Behind her were Mrs. Morris and the doctor. 
 
 Freeman stepped forward to greet her ; Mrs. Free 
 man flushed, but bowed with quiet courtesy. The new 
 comers paused but a moment at the door-way. Mrs. 
 Granger swept one quick glance round, then in low, 
 awe-stricken tone, inquired, 
 
 " Is there no hope ? Can nothing be done ?" 
 
 Freeman shook his head and pointed to Nan, who 
 was again silently weeping. 
 
 " And yet he knows something perhaps everything 
 of my husband s disappearance. Captain Freeman, 
 I must see him, I must ask, I must know. This 
 suspense is far worse than any truth can be. Is Doctor 
 Pease not with him ?" 
 
 " Doctor Pease is there doing all he can. I am not. 
 at all sure that he really knows anything of the major s 
 disappearance, but he certainly has had some suspicion, 
 Mrs. Granger. He has said nothing that would give 
 any definite idea or clue." 
 
 "He has mentioned Grimsby s name, has he not? 
 and Brooks, that dreadful fellow who seemed to follow 
 him everywhere. Surely he must have some reason 
 for accusing them. Surely he knows while we are 
 groping in the dark." 
 
 And then Pease came from the inner room and took 
 her hand : 
 
 "I fear that if he knew anything at all, Mrs. 
 Granger, it is past finding out. I fear," he whispered, 
 "he can never rally again." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 277 
 
 She covered her face with the white jewelled hands 
 and sank despairingly upon the rude hair-cloth sofa. 
 Mrs. Morris was promptly at her side striving to soothe 
 and cairn her. 
 
 " She has had such an awful week of it, captain," 
 the lady explained to Freeman. " Absolutely no 
 tidings at all, and yet all manner of people coming 
 out from town inquiring for particulars, and all sorts 
 of men coming who pretended they had clues and only 
 wanted money to work them up. She has been nearly 
 distracted, and so friendless through it all," added Mrs. 
 Morris, with a glance of reproach at Mrs. Freeman. 
 
 But Freeman had no time to waste on controversy. 
 He knew well enough that one after another those 
 ladies who had gone from the garrison to tender sym 
 pathy or service had been met at the door by Mrs. 
 Granger s message of thanks, but there was really 
 nothing they could do. The hands of the clock were 
 pointing to quarter of three. Nannie had again stolen 
 back to the side of the dying man, when once more 
 the feeble voice was heard, and Pease came and beck 
 oned. Mrs. Granger started up and followed him be 
 yond the door-way of the other room. Taking his 
 wife s hand Freeman bent over and whispered a few 
 words, then noiselessly stepped into the dimly-lighted 
 chamber. 
 
 Bryan knew his daughter again, and the feeble hand 
 was vainly striving to caress the ringlets that curled 
 about her forehead, while the appealing eyes, dark 
 with the solemn shadow of death, gazed yearningly 
 into her sweet, tearful face. 
 
 "They ll be good to yon, Nan," he whispered. 
 24 
 
278 CAPTAIN BLAKE, 
 
 " You ll be a lady now like your mother, girl ; you 
 won t have no more worry about the old man." 
 
 " Oh, papa ! papa !" she wailed, " stop saying that. 
 Nan loves you so much better than all the wide 
 world." 
 
 " I know," he faintly nodded, " I know ; you were 
 always such a loving daughter, Nannie ; always even 
 
 when I was " And he tried to turn away, as 
 
 though the old shame overpowered him even here at 
 the threshold of another world. It was then that 
 Pease bent over him. 
 
 " Captain," he said, " you have been speaking of 
 Brooks, or Howell, and Grimsby as though they were 
 the men who shot you, and as though they were the 
 men who made away with Major Granger. Tell me 
 what you know." 
 
 " Howell ? no ! I don t know him ; but Brooks 
 
 Brooks ! ay, he s the traitor he s the he s the 
 
 Where s my knife, Nan ? Keep back there from that 
 door, you hounds ! Keep back, I tell you ! I will 
 know what you have hidden behind that shack; I 
 will, if I have to bring all Lararnie County here to 
 hold you. Dig away there, men ! Dig away ! Toss 
 it out ! Toss it out ! Dig into that snow ! Ten feet 
 deep ? Suppose it is ! Suppose it s twenty ! All the 
 more would they pick out just such a place to hide 
 him. Hang on to those fellows, you constables ; that 
 man Brooks will have your own knife in your heart if 
 you re not careful. I know him ; I know the whole 
 gang. They killed him ! They killed him, I tell 
 you, when they couldn t bleed him any more ! Give 
 me that shovel ! You can t dig ! For God s sake, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 279 
 
 make those men work, captain, or send some of the 
 boys down from the fort ! They ll find him ; they ll 
 never give up. It s all banked solid back of the 
 shack banked solid as far as the cooley runs. There s 
 where they ve hid him, and I know it. They ve had 
 a rope around his neck for years, and now at last 
 they ve pulled it." 
 
 He struggled faintly to rise, his eyes glaring with 
 excitement, his tremulous hands outstretched. In vain 
 Nannie clung to one of them and plead with him to 
 speak to her, to forget these terrible visions. Mrs. 
 Granger had stepped forward to the foot of the bed, 
 and with her hands clasped stood gazing into his face, 
 her eyes almost protruding, her mouth half open, 
 trembling in every limb, yet listening eagerly for every 
 word. Pease, closely watching the features of the old 
 soldier, bent over Nannie s kneeling form. Mrs. 
 Freeman had stolen to her husband s side, and the 
 tears were trickling down her cheeks as she stood, 
 never losing sight of her little friend. The attendants 
 were supporting Bryan at the other side of the bed. 
 Mrs. Morris was sniffling audibly at the door. 
 
 "You don t half work," whispered the old man. 
 " You don t half work. Give me the shovel, I say. 
 Didn t I promise the colonel I d find him ? Him and 
 me fought at Winchester together. You wouldn t 
 have me go back on him now. Keep on, I tell you! 
 Keep on there ! Dig dig as if the gold of all Wyo 
 ming was massed in that gulch ! My God ! can t you 
 find nothing ?" 
 
 Outside, slow hoof-beats were coming up the road, 
 but no one heard within. All senses were engrossed 
 
280 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 in the solemn scene before them. Seeing the light in 
 the little hospital, the foremost horseman stopped and 
 held low-toned consultation with the two who followed. 
 Once more the gleam seemed brightening in the old 
 man s eyes. Once more he strove to lift himself from 
 the pillow. 
 
 " Look !" he suddenly cried ; " look ! YouVe got 
 him ! YouVe got it ! Didn t I tell you, colonel ? 
 didn t I say that before another sunrise I d know 
 what what had become of Granger ?" 
 
 And then some one began knocking at the door. It 
 was one of the sheriff s men, who shrank back the 
 moment he caught sight of Mrs. Granger. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 281 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WHEN the command turned out for stables in the 
 wintry dawn of the day that soon broke upon the 
 wide prairie wastes, the word went round from mouth 
 to mouth that old Captain Bryan was killed in an 
 attempt to capture some desperadoes at the shack down 
 the valley near the railway bridge, and that Major 
 Granger s body had been found in the ravine behind 
 the hut, frozen stiff and buried deep in the snow-drifts. 
 But the command did not know the message brought 
 to the colonel by Freeman, that the sheriff s people 
 had found a gaping bullet wound in the right side of 
 the head; the face, hair, and whiskers burned with 
 powder, and the major s own revolver, with one cham 
 ber discharged, lying close by the stiffened right hand. 
 The officials pronounced it a case of suicide, but the 
 coroner s inquest was yet to be held. 
 
 Of the inmates of the shack not a trace was to be 
 found. Just how many men had leaped past the little 
 party of the sheriff no one knew. They had gone 
 with four horses, at all events, and though the horses 
 were found inside of an hour loose in the streets of 
 the town, no sign of their latest riders had been ob 
 tained. The sheriff was " tearing mad." Never before 
 had he found such a formidable party at the shack ; 
 never had they failed to surrender at his demand, and 
 
 24* 
 
282 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 throw open the premises for inspection. It was a new 
 gang, he swore, and suspicion pointed to Brooks, or 
 "Howell," Grimsby, and some of their tough associates. 
 But whither had they vanished ? Every saloon, every 
 dive or den in town was searched, and they hadn t even 
 been heard of. They could have got their own horses 
 and gone away, he knew ; but no stablemen would ad 
 mit having seen or heard anything of their horses. 
 That they should have abandoned those of the sheriff s 
 posse was natural enough. All Wyoming knew that 
 brand ; and, however slow the frontiersman might be 
 to hang a fellow-citizen for shooting a man, there was 
 only the short shrift and sudden cord for him who 
 borrowed his neighbor s horse. 
 
 By noon the coroner s jury had finished its labors in 
 both cases. " Died of gunshot wounds inflicted by 
 person or persons unknown," was the verdict in the 
 case of old Bryan ; and " died of gunshot wounds in 
 flicted by person or persons unknown" was eventually 
 the finding in the other, though for a long time a 
 minority of that intelligent body, the jury, had held 
 out for the additional words, " but with suicidal intent," 
 which would have made the finding most unique and 
 sensational. 
 
 That night a guard of honor stood by the remains 
 of the sturdy old volunteer in the post-hospital at the 
 fort, and a similar detail was tendered at the depot, the 
 residence of the late Major Granger, but was civilly 
 declined. At sunset on the second day a solemn little 
 corUge filed out from the garrison, and the old trooper 
 ranchman was buried with military honors in the little 
 prairie cemetery, and Nannie Bryan, fatherless, mother- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 283 
 
 less, and wellnigh alone in the world, was borne weep 
 ing desolately back to the Freeman s peaceful fireside. 
 When the east-bound express left the station one day 
 later, the remains of the deceased official of the supply 
 department were accorded transportation in the coldest 
 corner of the baggage-car, while his disconsolate relict, 
 superb in her mourning garb, was stowed in the 
 warmest, snuggest state-room of the Pullman sleeper, 
 Mrs. Morris devotedly accompanying her friend as far 
 as Omaha ; several sympathizing towns- and fort-people 
 being present to say adieu, and the last man to bend 
 over her black-gloved hand was Tommy Hollis, who 
 limped in on crutches to say good-by and, in low earnest 
 tones, to promise that he would write to her day after 
 day, even though he knew she would be unequal to 
 answering yet awhile. 
 
 " Two men gone to their last account," said Mrs. 
 Wilkins, as she gazed after the rapidly disappearing 
 train. " Two men gone to their last account, and two 
 women unexpectedly made wealthy in their own right. 
 But there s nayther of them for you, Tommy ; mind 
 that." 
 
 Poor Hollis ! Heaven only knows what hopes in 
 spired him on the tedious, painful three-days journey 
 down from Fetterman, but they were all turned to 
 naught in less than no time. If he thought to pose as 
 the convalescent hero at the fort, that hope proved 
 futile for just two reasons. Wounded officers were not 
 such rarities in the th as to make his an exceptional 
 case at all, and even if there had been a disposition to 
 ignore his blunder anent the ladies german and restore 
 him to high favor again, his very first move on getting 
 
284 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 within hail of the garrison was sufficient to unseat him. 
 He ordered the driver to take him first to the house of 
 mourning at the depot. He had telegraphed his sorrow, 
 his sympathy, his speedy coming from every possible 
 point en route, and had hastened to limp into her adored 
 presence, and had actually been received. 
 
 " I cannot deny a few minutes to that loyal and 
 devoted friend," she had explained to Mrs. Morris. 
 And the few minutes lengthened to nearly an hour be 
 fore he was sent away ; and all Kussell knew by sunset 
 that she had granted Tommy an interview, while deny 
 ing herself to everybody else except Freeman and 
 Truscott, whom she sent for to consult upon her hus 
 band s affairs. 
 
 Pease told Hollis that if he left his quarters and 
 went into town lor any purpose whatever he would not 
 be answerable for the safety of that leg, but Tommy 
 was not to be deterred. He even sought the medico s 
 favorable endorsement upon his application for an im 
 mediate leave of absence, and was bluntly refused. He 
 would eagerly have welcomed the possibility of being 
 her escort eastward, even when he needed assistance 
 more than she did. He sounded the colonel with the 
 suggestion that he, Atherton, should telegraph to de 
 partment head-quarters for permission for the invalided 
 officer to start east at once, and the colonel scouted the 
 idea. He was really seriously the worse for his journey 
 to town to see her off, and was cooped up in his quar 
 ters for nearly a week, and no ladies came to condole 
 with him, though a few sent jellies and delicacies, and 
 " the boys" came in and chaffed him, and Mrs. Wilkins 
 loaded them with messages, inquiries, and cake to carry 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 285 
 
 him. He wrote long letters to the lovely widow, but 
 could expect no replies for a long, long time, as she 
 pathetically had told him. 
 
 And then Annie, who had been the Granger s second 
 girl at the depot, and was now out of employment, 
 came up to the fort, where servants were always scarce, 
 and was presently installed in the place of " Mina 
 Next Door ;" and in turning over her instructions to 
 her friend and countrywoman, Mina doubtless omitted 
 those given by Captain Turner to the effect that she 
 was not to venture through that hole in the fence. 
 Mina had differed with her mistress, and thought she 
 could do better at the Heaths, whose girl had just 
 married Corporal Finucane, and Annie was soon as 
 much at home in Mrs. Turner s kitchen as she had ever 
 been in her own. 
 
 Meantime the late, reluctant spring was breaking. 
 The days were getting longer, warmer, and more laden 
 with the sweet south wind. Tiny little flowerets, snow- 
 white, the Star of Bethlehem, began to peep out 
 among the clumps of bunch-grass ; the snow had 
 softened and moistened the soil and gone its way ; even 
 in the deepest ravines it was disappearing, and only on 
 the lofty peaks far down the Colorado range, and up 
 among the twisting snow-sheds on the great divide to 
 the west, did it still glisten in the sunshine. But the 
 little starry flowers speedily covered the rolling waves 
 of prairie like a snowy fleece, and so long as the sun 
 was high the children and their mothers strolled out 
 over the broad expanse north and east of the post, 
 gathering the dainty blossoms by the handful, and all 
 the garrison seemed rejoicing that the spell of the grim 
 
286 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 frost-king was broken. The ice, too, went whirling out 
 of the swollen stream and banked itself high around 
 the abutments of the railway bridge, where it melted 
 rapidly, and where some truant town boys, not having 
 the fear of territorial school commissioners before their 
 eyes, skylarking about the east pier, came suddenly 
 upon a sight that frightened a few of them into running 
 a mile before they stopped, but only excited the morbid 
 curiosity of the stouter-hearted. A man s hand and 
 arm could be seen among the ice blocks, and, by dint 
 of prying off the uppermost, they came finally upon 
 the grewsome remains of what they decided to be a 
 railway tramp, but which remains were identified by 
 the coroner s witnesses that evening as those of the 
 long missing Grimsby, and Grimsby, too, had been shot 
 through the head. 
 
 No papers, no money, no valuables of any kind were 
 found on the frozen body. The coat and waistcoat 
 were gone ; so were the boots. He had been robbed 
 as well as murdered, and again the jury found the de 
 ceased had come to his death by gunshot wounds in 
 flicted by a person or persons unknown. It was the 
 stereotyped form. 
 
 And then came the detachments back from the field 
 with intimations that it would be well for them to refit 
 as soon as possible for a summer campaign, probably in 
 the Big Horn country. And one afternoon the tele 
 graph clicked the news that Lieutenant Blake with his 
 command would leave Fetterman on their homeward 
 way on the 16th, and might be expected at Russell by 
 the 20th. 
 
 "You may all make up your minds to it now as 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 287 
 
 well as a month later," said Mrs. Atherton ; " I tell 
 you I feel it in the air this regiment is going out on 
 field service the moment the grass is green beyond the 
 Platte. I know the colonel thinks so; and it will 
 never see this post again before the snows fall. Pm 
 going East." 
 
 And so, it seems, were others of the ladies of the 
 th. Mrs. Stannard had long since made up her 
 mind that she and Luce would run in for a visit to the 
 old home they had seen so little of since the early days 
 of the war of the rebellion. Mrs. Freeman had been 
 promising to bring the children to see their devoted 
 grandparents, and now, too, it was time to take Nannie 
 Bryan to her mother s people and see her safely placed 
 in their hands. The Greggs household were only wait 
 ing for the signal for the cavalry to be up and away to 
 take the first train and "start for the States." Mrs. 
 Truscott, secretly though she longed to show her fond 
 old father that phenomenal baby, could not be induced 
 to think of going so long as Jack senior was permitted 
 to stay ; but he and Freeman had been thrown into com 
 munication with Colonel Rand, of department head 
 quarters, quite frequently of late, settling those strangely 
 tangled affairs of Granger s, and Jack said there could 
 be no doubt he would be in the field within the next 
 month. 
 
 " And won t Mr. Ray have difficulty in getting his 
 leave if that be the case ?" asked Mrs. Grace, with 
 womanly anxiety. "Only fancy having that post 
 poned." 
 
 And by " that" Mrs. Truscott meant a certain wed 
 ding in which she was deeply interested ; the wedding 
 
288 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 that was to unite the dearest friend of her school-days 
 to the man of all others in the regiment of whom she 
 and Jack most approved, this same Mr. Ray. 
 
 " I think not, dear. No hostilities of any kind are 
 probable. It is only to occupy the battle-grounds of 
 last year, and scout the country that we are likely to be 
 sent up there. Besides, Ray s captain, Buxton, ought 
 to rejoin by that time, and that will leave two officers 
 with the troop without the first lieutenant. What s 
 more, his promotion may come any day now, and that 
 will take him to Sidney. Oh, no, don t worry your 
 bright head about that. We ll have that wedding in 
 June, though I shan t see it." 
 
 " Neither will I, Jack, without you," said Mrs. 
 Grace, almost tearfully. But Captain Truscott had his 
 own projects on that matter, and wisely kept them to 
 himself. 
 
 It was the very same evening that they had the news 
 of Blake s homeward march that Mrs. Freeman found 
 she desired to communicate something to her liege: 
 " He will be here on Friday, won t he ?" she asked. 
 
 " Yes, Friday afternoon some time. Why ?" 
 
 " Well, you were saying there was no reason why 
 we should not start Saturday. Now, suppose I were to 
 say that we could all be ready Thursday as well as not. 
 Would it make any difference if we went then ?" 
 
 " Why, no ; only I didn t think you would want to 
 go before you had to. I m sure the children don t." 
 
 " It isn t the children ; it isn t of myself I m think 
 ing," she answered, with heightening color. " But I 
 think I know Nannie." 
 
 And Freeman only answered, " Ah, yes, I see." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 289 
 
 And so it happened that when a bearded and bright- 
 eyed Blake came riding in on Friday afternoon to be 
 tumultuously greeted by more than half the occupants 
 of officers 7 row, Captain Freeman was among the first 
 to take him by the hand and bid him cordial welcome. 
 
 " You and Ray are to come in and lunch with me 
 just as you are. I am living en gargon now. The 
 madam and the olive-branches deserted me yesterday." 
 
 " Yes, you ve got to, Blakey," promptly interposed 
 Ray, " for I told Hogan he needn t have anything saved 
 for you, we would lunch with Captain Freeman." 
 
 " Zounds, man ! I d lunch with Caliban himself. 
 Give me but time to lave these road-stained hands. 
 Wilkins, thou witless wight, how is it with thee and 
 thy better half? and thine, Gregg, old man? My 
 heart leaps anew at sight of thee. Oh, hello, Crane, 
 how are you? Excuse me now, fellows, just let me 
 have discourse with mine ancient here. Any letters, 
 Billy ?" he asked in lower tone. 
 
 " Some bills, I reckon, nothing else. I ve forwarded 
 everything that came, up to the 15th. Why didn t 
 you answer my question about the about those private 
 letters you stowed in your desk, Legs ?" 
 
 " Didn t get your letter until just about as we were 
 ordered home. I thought you knew I burned them. 
 There wasn t a thing left in that old trap of a desk 
 that was worth stealing, and, even if I hadn t burned 
 them, you knew they were harmless. Why, you don t 
 suppose I was going in the Indian country with letters 
 that might compromise a woman. You wouldn t have 
 me found dead with such a thing as that about me, 
 would you ?" 
 
 jx t 25 
 
290 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " I wouldn t have you found with her letters about 
 you dead or alive, Legs, and I m glad more glad than 
 I can tell you you re done with it all." And Ray 
 looked almost wistfully, for him, into his companion s 
 face. But Blake turned away. They were just at the 
 little gate at the moment. The group of officers was 
 scattering, some going homeward, some about their 
 garrison duties. Freeman sang out, 
 
 " You come in as soon as you can, will you ? and 
 I ll order luncheon at once." 
 
 Several noisy, rosy-cheeked children precipitated 
 themselves upon the tall lieutenant at this and clung 
 in assorted sizes about his long legs, and Blake demon 
 stratively greeted them one and all. Then Tommy 
 Hollis came swinging up the row on his crutches, show 
 ing every one of his handsome teeth under the dark 
 thatch of his mustache in genial welcome to his erst 
 while persecutor. Tommy could no more cherish ill 
 will or malice than Ray could save money, and Blake 
 shook hands with his very presentable junior, mentally 
 contrasting Tommy s sleek appearance with his own 
 travel-stained garb, and raising a laugh among the 
 comrades again within hearing by a jocular allusion to 
 Hollis s keeping his leg in a sling. 
 
 " Hollis is boning for a sick leave," put in Crane, 
 who, undeterred by the coldness of Blake s greeting to 
 him alone of the entire party, seemed bent on keeping 
 on speaking terms. " He wants to look ill enough to 
 soften the surgeon s heart in the first place, and swell 
 enough to captivate his lady-love in the next." 
 
 "Come in, Hollis; come in and see a fellow," said 
 Blake, with more cordiality than he had ever shown 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 291 
 
 before. " I want to ask you something about that 
 canon where you had your fight, while I m dodging 
 out of these things. Come in, man." 
 
 " Well-1, say hold on a moment and I ll be with 
 you," was the hesitating answer, as Hollis glanced 
 anxiously up the row where the orderly trumpeter 
 could now be seen distributing the mail. 
 
 "Oh, come now," said Blake, who totally ignored 
 Crane and was disengaging himself from the clasping 
 arms of two or three of the more importunate children. 
 "Oh! Is it the mail you re looking for? Expect 
 your leave to-day, Thomas? I ll have to be getting 
 in an early bid for mine, won t I, Billy?" he continued 
 in lower tone, as he passed his arm affectionately 
 around his comrade s square shoulders. " Is the day 
 named yet? June?" 
 
 Ray nodded, then strove to draw his tall friend 
 within the open door-way where Hogan stood, with 
 broad Irish grin upon his face, eager to welcome home 
 the man whom next to his own troop commander he 
 loved and swore by. But some odd load seemed ham 
 pering Blake s reluctant feet. He, too, by this time 
 was looking anxiously towards the coming orderly, who 
 passed Freeman by and stepped briskly towards the 
 group, the packet of letters in his white-gloved hand. 
 Ray could not but mark the deep border of black on 
 the topmost. Entering the gate with precise salute, 
 the young trumpeter passed Hollis by; handed to 
 Blake the letter in the mourning envelope; handed 
 Ray two dainty missives addressed in feminine super 
 scription ; faced about and stopped short where Hollis 
 queer look on his face was gazing stupidly at the 
 
292 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 letter Blake was now stowing in a breast-pocket ; then 
 turning over four or five, he selected two envelopes 
 from near the bottom of the packet, which he handed 
 to the junior lieutenant, and which that gentleman 
 mechanically took, but barely glanced at ; his troubled 
 eyes wandering back to Blake, who was now turning 
 away to enter the house, when Crane burst into a 
 jeering laugh. 
 
 " You re left, Tommy. She won t write to you any 
 more, now that Legs is home." 
 
 Ray was out through the open gate in about a second. 
 For nearly two months he had not spoken to or noticed 
 Crane at all. Now he bristled up to him like a terrier 
 to some thieving hound. 
 
 " You whelp !" he muttered, his fists clinching, his 
 dark eyes flashing. "If you don t want me to throttle 
 you here and now go !" 
 
 " Why ? What in thunder have I said that concerns 
 you ?" mumbled the other. 
 
 "Get out! or, , I ll kick you," was the sole 
 
 reply. And Crane, as usual, went without another 
 word. 
 
 When Eay faced about he found Blake and Hoi 1 is 
 silently regarding each other, one at the edge of the 
 portico, the other not six feet away on the narrow 
 board-walk to the gate. 
 
 " We ll see you later, Tommy," he whispered. " I 
 want Blake at Freeman s at once. Come, Legs." And 
 so saying, he drew his tall companion within and closed 
 the door. For a moment Hollis remained looking 
 blankly after them, then slowly hobbled away, his left 
 foot lifted from the ground. Crane had halted some 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 293 
 
 distance down the row, his face crimson with wrath 
 and mortification. He turned back, seeing Hollis 
 alone. 
 
 " Say, Tommy, I ll kill that fellow Ray some day 
 if he don t quit speaking to me like this. I was only 
 in fun. I didn t mean " 
 
 But it was useless to go further, for with a shrug of 
 his shoulder Hollis passed him by, entered his own 
 quarters, and slammed the door behind him. 
 
 25* 
 
294 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 JUNE came in bright, radiant, and beautiful. True 
 to regimental prophecies, the th had taken the field 
 and was well away northward at the slopes of the Big 
 Horn Range, leaving Russell to its guarding detach 
 ment of " The Riflers," with placid old Waldron in 
 command, with the band of the th to play for them, 
 but otherwise with hardly a yellow stripe to be seen 
 in garrison. Several of the officers quarters were va 
 cated and the domestic Lares and Penates were visited 
 every few days by the temporary post-quartermaster to 
 see that thieves had not broken in and stolen, though 
 this was a matter he could no more prevent than that 
 moth and rust should corrupt. Still, since the mys 
 terious pillaging of Mr. Blake s quarters early in the 
 spring, and soon after the great storm, nothing of the 
 kind had been heard of in garrison. Mr. Foster, 
 Waldron s adjutant, was occupying a room in the 
 Atherton s big house, the colonel being with his regi 
 ment in the field and her ladyship visiting at the sea 
 shore. Another infantry bachelor was similarly guard 
 ing the Stannard s house, and having a supervisory 
 interest in the Truscott s ; Grace and Baby Jack having 
 gone East the day Jack senior marched for the Big 
 Horn. Mrs, Waldron dropped in every day or two to 
 see that the rats were not eating the strings of Mrs. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 295 
 
 Freeman s piano, wondering what she could do if she 
 found they were. A large contingent of the ladies and 
 children of the th still remained at Russell, and were 
 there to bid good-by to Tommy Hollis, who was al 
 lowed a three months leave in which to recuperate, 
 when the surgeon said he was not in condition to ride 
 and so could not go to the summer camp with his regi 
 ment. They were there to welcome Blake when he 
 came trotting back from Fetterman, the second time he 
 had made the trip within three months ; for everybody 
 knew by this time he had a sixty days leave in which 
 to go East and to be best man for Billy Ray, who was 
 to wed Miss Sanford this very month, and a " swell" 
 affair it was to be. Everybody seemed to know that 
 when he reached the post three letters, edged with 
 black, were waiting for him in the adjutant s office, and 
 another came the very day he rode in. What nobody 
 knew, but everybody could conjecture, was the number of 
 letters in that same superscription and mourning guise 
 that had been going up to the Big Horn on the trail 
 of the th in the few weeks that elapsed since that 
 famous corps had marched away. 
 
 Everybody wanted Blake to dine that evening, so 
 that the household which secured him could have 
 " first chop" of all the news from the front, and the 
 undivided bliss of retailing it on the morrow. But 
 though in the blithest, wildest spirits, Blake swore 
 he couldn t dine with anybody. He had all his pack 
 ing to do, and would spend the night at the hotel in 
 town. 
 
 " You needn t ask why I" asseverated Mrs. Wilkins, 
 when the ladies were expressing their opinion, " sure 
 
296 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 it s to spend the evening with her friend Mrs. Morris. 
 Faith, those weeds of hers will be sprouting wedding- 
 blossoras soon enough, though I misdoubt me s.he 11 be 
 fooling Blake again. 7 
 
 There were not a few among the ladies who sorely 
 resented it in Blake that he should pass them by when 
 a few words about the dear ones in the field would 
 have been so much to them. He did make a hur 
 ried call at every house still occupied by the families 
 of his brother officers, and delivered notes or messages 
 intrusted to his care, but this was not what was needed 
 in all cases. Women of Mrs. Turner s stamp especially 
 wanted to get him all to themselves and cross-examine 
 and pry. " Was it so that Mr. Crane was drinking 
 hard again ? "Was it true that there was a game of 
 poker going on all the time ? Was the colonel as ex 
 acting and horrid as he was at the post ?" She was 
 " down on the colonel" now and had been ever since 
 his attentions to Mrs. Granger and his compliments to 
 that lady after the theatricals. "Did Captain Ray 
 mond ever get letters from Mrs. Raymond, now that she 
 was at the Point ?" (How Mrs. Turner envied her !) 
 " Who was Mr. Dana corresponding with ? Wasn t 
 there something behind Mr. Carroll s arrest besides a 
 mere charge of staying back at Fetterman without 
 leave ? He was so attentive to Mrs. Perkins once, you 
 know, and wasn t she there when the regiment went 
 through?" But all this Blake dodged, as he did all 
 inquiry into his own personal plans and affairs, by the 
 laughing, ranting jollity of his replies : He get mar 
 ried ? Heavens, yes ! When he contemplated Ray s 
 happiness it made him long to rest his future in the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 297 
 
 hands of some lovely woman who would pay all his 
 bills, adorn his fireside, furnish his quarters, and other 
 wise show her solid appreciation of his worth. He 
 would throw himself at the feet. of any woman whom 
 he even faintly suspected of any such sentiments. He 
 made his escape from the garrison, laughing, joyous, 
 brimming over with fun and high spirits, up to the 
 last moment they saw him, at least, and nobody really 
 knew any more about his affairs than they did be 
 fore. 
 
 And yet many of them remembered the sudden 
 frown that fell upon his face, the suppressed anger in 
 his tone, when the young infantryman who was officer 
 of the day came to him just after retreat, saying, 
 
 " Oh, Blake, that prisoner, Jamieson, who is awaiting 
 sentence here, begs permission to speak with you a 
 moment before you go/ 
 
 " I decline to see or speak with him, Graham. That 
 man is an incarnate blackguard." 
 
 " Well, he seemed very urgent," said the junior offi 
 cer, slowly, as though excusing himself. " He said 
 there was a matter of great importance to you, and, as 
 we all know he was connected with the gang that 
 robbed the stables and magazine, I thought perhaps he 
 could tell something about the robbery of your own 
 quarters." 
 
 " There was nothing taken worth speaking of, es 
 pecially speaking to such a cad as that, some old 
 sleeve-buttons and a pin or two," was Blake s reply. 
 
 " But," said Mrs. Turner, " we heard there were cer 
 tain letters stolen from a secret drawer." 
 
 " Bless your heart, fair lady ! so did I. I ve heard all 
 
298 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 sorts of things ; but I find it hard to believe them, be 
 cause there weren t any letters in there." 
 
 " Olv well, of course, I didn t know, but that was 
 what everybody said/ 7 was Mrs. Turner s reply. 
 
 " What everybody says is generally what nobody 
 proves, Mrs. Turner/ 7 answered Blake, with unusual 
 gravity, as he raised his hat and turned away. 
 
 There was silence in the party a moment. 
 
 " I do wish there were a law preventing officers from 
 ever appearing in citizens dress/ 7 said Mrs. Waldron, 
 presently, as she looked after Blake, now sauntering 
 up the row by Mrs. Heath s side. " They never look 
 natural out of uniform." 
 
 " It improves Mr. Blake, anyhow," answered Mrs. 
 Turner, whose cheeks were red and whose eyes were 
 wrathful. " If he could wear a longer skirt to his 
 overcoat it would hide still more of his defects. I 
 wish he never wore a uniform. It would be a relief 
 to have him go and marry her and quit the service." 
 
 Mrs. Waldron turned suddenly and looked in sur 
 prise at the flushed features of her neighbor who had 
 spoken with such asperity. Her lips moved as though 
 she would reply; but she curbed the impulse and held 
 her peace. 
 
 It was dark by the time Mr. Blake stepped into the 
 ambulance that was to take him to town, and nobody 
 happened to be there when he started. Possibly this 
 was in accordance with his own wish, for the vehicle 
 had been ordered to " report," as the army expression 
 goes, at his quarters at eight o clock, and there it had 
 been waiting nearly three-quarters of an hour. No 
 one knew just what had become of the lieutenant. He 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 299 
 
 had been seen having quite a long talk with Major 
 Waldron at the major s gate. Thence he had gone to 
 the hospital to see one or two men of the regiment who 
 were convalescing from illness or wounds ; had walked 
 to the doctor s quarters with Pease himself, and thence 
 down to the quartermaster s stables, where the sergeant 
 said he came to give some directions about the care of 
 his horse in his absence. Then he went up the hill 
 towards the guard-house. 
 
 But it was the sergeant of the guard who had a story 
 worth telling the next morning after Blake was gone, 
 and a very " sizable" yarn it was. Just after dark, he 
 said, the lieutenant came to the tower and wished to see 
 the prisoner, Jamieson, and Jamieson was brought out 
 from the cell-room and taken inside the tower, the ser 
 geant and the sentry retiring. In less than three min 
 utes the lieutenant s voice was heard in accents that 
 betrayed wrath and indignation. Every word was dis 
 tinctly audible : " By God, sir !" he almost shouted, 
 " if you were not an enlisted man and a prisoner under 
 guard, I would hammer you into pulp here and now." 
 Then the door was flung violently open. 
 
 " Sergeant, take that scoundrel back to the prison- 
 room," he exclaimed, as he came forth, and without 
 another word to anybody hastened away across the 
 parade. 
 
 And that story, coupled with the fact that he had 
 positively declined to see the man at all when Mr. 
 Graham first asked it, gave people something to think 
 about for several days after his departure. It was the 
 last heard of Blake at Russell for a whole fortnight. 
 Then the absorbing details of the lovely Kay-Sanford 
 
300 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 wedding began coming in, the newspapers first, and 
 the long, enthusiastic letters from Mrs. Stannard after 
 wards ; and now the ladies, at least, had something far 
 more engrossing to occupy their thoughts than the 
 reports of Blake s violent language to the English 
 prisoner. Presently, too, came orders for Jamieson s 
 dishonorable discharge and transfer to a military prison 
 for punishment ; and, with Grimsby dead and buried 
 and Jamieson lodged behind the bars, dressed in a con 
 vict s suit, and the ex-stable orderly of Freeman s 
 troop suffering a similar fate, there was left no military 
 member of the gang of robbers or conspirators of whom 
 the garrison had either knowledge or suspicion except 
 the quondam quartermaster s clerk and subsequent 
 deserter, Burns, alias Howell, whom no man could lay 
 a finger upon, for, despite the best efforts of the detec 
 tives, not a trace of him could be found. 
 
 Yet he was a man concerning whom Mrs. Granger s 
 lawyer, who came out from the East this very month 
 of June, made the most intricate and particular in 
 quiries. 
 
 " Mr. Blake was the life of the wedding-party," 
 wrote Mrs. Stannard. " I never saw him looking so 
 well, never knew him to be more amusing. In his 
 speech at the wedding-supper he fairly outdid himself, 
 and everybody was in shouts of laughter before he fin 
 ished. So many people hoped he would spend two or 
 three days there, at least, and Major Stannard told me 
 the men at the club were delighted with him and had 
 planned a little dinner to be given in his honor the day 
 after the wedding, but he left on an early-morning 
 train, hardly saying good-by to any one, and he did not 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 301 
 
 tell us where he would spend his leave. I do hope he 
 isn t going to but I believe I ll not write anything 
 on that point." 
 
 Yet everybody at Russell seemed to know what Mrs. 
 Stannard meant, and hoped so, too. And now, with 
 most of the garrison up on the distant slopes of the Big 
 Horn, and the Rays on their wedding-tour, and Mrs. 
 Truscott and Baby Jack visiting in the East, and the 
 Stannards spending the summer among the mountains 
 near the old home, and Mrs. Atherton and Mrs. Free 
 man, with the latter s children, at the sea-shore, and no 
 Mrs. Granger at the depot to gossip about, and a new offi 
 cer in charge there, and a new manager up at Bryan s 
 ranch, there fell a cloud over social life at the post, and 
 poor Mrs. Turner yawned and dozed and dawdled 
 through day after day, lamenting that there was ever a 
 need for field service of any kind. It took all the 
 bachelors and beaux and dancing men away, as she had 
 so often complained before. It did not seem to matter 
 so much about the husbands. 
 
 And, then in the midst of all this humdrum, placid, 
 uneventful life, there came sudden orders that took from 
 them in the shape of gallants and defenders even that 
 which they had. First, the trains on the Union Pa 
 cific were crowded with soldiers for a day or two, has 
 tening eastward to protect the great cities against the 
 mob violence that followed close upon the greatest 
 railway strikes the country had ever known. And 
 then, in less than a month, back they came, whirling 
 westward with orders, for the cavalry at least, to march 
 to the heart of the continent and at all hazards to head 
 off and capture a strong band of desperate warriors 
 
302 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 who, magnificently led, were striving to cut their way 
 through a circle of foemen, many of whom would far 
 rather have fought the men who wrought the original 
 wrong. From small beginnings the war assumed pro 
 portions that became startling. The Indians marched 
 and fought as never Indians marched or fought before, 
 and with troops confronting them on every side, though 
 only in skeleton battalions, they had burst through the 
 cordon, crossed the great range, and were now heading 
 for the settlements or the British line, no one could tell 
 which, and every available man was spurred to the dis 
 tant scene. Two weeks of rapid marching it would 
 take to concentrate the th, far up near the head 
 waters of the Elk, and, just as the year before, the offi 
 cers on leave came hurrying from their holiday, 
 Stannard from the mountains, Ray from the arms of 
 his bride, Tommy Hollis from no one knew just 
 where, but he brought no crutches with him, and then 
 the question that was asked by man after man, woman 
 after woman, at the fort was, " Where on earth is Blake ?" 
 Mrs. Morris, who drove out from town quite frequently 
 to hear the band and heed the news, and who was 
 known to be in correspondence with Mrs. Granger, now 
 said to be slowly regaining composure and health at a 
 quiet resort among the Berkshire Hills, was questioned 
 as to whether she had heard anything of that gentle 
 man. " No ! Mrs. Granger had not mentioned him at 
 all." And Mrs. Morris s eyes faltered no more than 
 did her tongue. 
 
 " Blake got a month s extension to his leave/ said 
 the post-adjutant in reply to frequent questioning. " It 
 expires now on the 15th, so he s got to be here or with 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 303 
 
 the regiment in a week. Major Stannard and Ray 
 caught up with the column before it reached the Sweet- 
 water; we got telegrams yesterday. Hollis followed 
 from Green River on the next buckboard, but Blake 
 hasn t been heard of." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Blake s troop is with the Big Horn 
 battalion. He wouldn t go that way at all, would he ?" 
 asked Mrs. Wilkins, kindly. 
 
 " Yes, because everybody knows they will be ordered 
 around to join the regiment at Clark s Fork or Cedar 
 Mountain, somewhere thereabouts, and he could never 
 catch them by following their trail. His best way is 
 to join the Wind River column. He could reach 
 them at old Camp Brown this week, and Billings tele 
 graphed him, as he did to the others, the moment orders 
 came for the campaign." 
 
 " Where was he then ?" 
 
 " His address was care of the Athenaeum Club. I 
 suppose Billings told him about what date they would 
 get away from the Wind River Valley, and he is timing 
 his move accordingly. Perhaps, too, it was not for 
 warded promptly. Blake isn t a fellow to hang back 
 when there s service ahead. I wish to heaven we were 
 mounted, instead of loafing here, guarding a lot of old 
 c commissary stores and things." 
 
 " Mr. Foster ! /heard you ! You corrected yourself 
 too late. You know perfectly well you were going to 
 say a lot of old cats ; and it s us you were thinking of," 
 exclaimed Mrs. Wilkins, in counterfeit dudgeon. 
 
 " I wasn t," protested Foster, reddening, nevertheless, 
 to the roots of his hair; " indeed, I wasn t." 
 
 " Then you meant us when you said a lot of old 
 
304 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 things, you know you did, Mr. Foster," chimed in Mrs. 
 Turner. " Very well, Mr. Foster, I shall know how 
 much to respect your sincerity in the future. If this 
 is a specimen of infantry gallantry, Fm glad we have 
 so little of it." And poor Foster, unable to make him 
 self heard, much less understood, in the face of such 
 upbraiding, beat a quick retreat to his own quarters. 
 
 Yet he was glad to escape. He liked Blake well, 
 and he did not like it that he had failed to appear. He 
 had spoken to nobody but Major Waldron of a fact 
 they both knew, that the command was to begin its 
 northward march from old Camp Brown in forty-eight 
 hours, and that Blake could not now reach it before the 
 start, though by hard riding he might still overtake it, 
 following the trail over the frowning range of the Owl 
 Creek mountains. 
 
 Two days more passed and still no Blake ; on the 
 contrary, there came anxious telegrams from Freeman 
 and Billings just as they were leaving the outermost 
 post : " Have you no news of Blake ? Try to ascertain 
 what is wrong." Waldron telegraphed to the Athe 
 naeum, and the reply stated that Mr. Blake had not 
 been there for a month. All his mail had been sent 
 to Montclair, Maryland, between the 5th and 20th of 
 August, and since then letters were forwarded and de 
 spatches repeated, in compliance with his telegraphic 
 orders, to Denver, Colorado. 
 
 "To Denver !" exclaimed Waldron, in genuine dis 
 may. "Then he must have been within a hundred 
 miles of us when the orders came for the regiment to 
 take the field. That was ten days ago, and he hasn t 
 turned up yet. Foster, either Blake is there so ill that 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 305 
 
 he does not know that this campaign is on and his troop 
 
 in the thick of it, or else Oh, good afternoon, Mrs. 
 
 Morris," said he, with a sweeping bow, as that buxom 
 lady, all smiles and cordiality, drove by with some friends 
 from town in the stylish landau that had once been Mrs. 
 Granger s. " She is beckoning, Foster ; what does she 
 want ?" 
 
 " The carriage is stopping in front of your quarters, 
 sir ; half a dozen ladies are there on the piazza." 
 
 " Well, we ll walk over there, then but no word of 
 this there. As I was saying, I m troubled about 
 Blake. Billings wired twice and Freeman once, and 
 those despatches must have gone right on to Denver 
 after him. He is not the fnan to shirk what promises 
 to be a sharp campaign, especially in face of the news 
 of that ugly fighting west of the range, and then, 
 too, since he lost so much of last year s campaign. It 
 would harm him infinitely if he failed to reach the 
 th in time. Do you know any one in Denver of 
 whom we can make inquiries ?" 
 
 " Nobody better than some of the Rocky Mountain 
 detectives. They would find him in no time if he 
 were there ; and then if he is ill, why, I could run 
 right down to him. But I simply can t believe, major, 
 that he s there, with this campaign going on." And 
 here they reached the landau, about which a number of 
 garrison ladies were already joyfully gathering. It 
 was Mrs. Morris who was speaking : 
 
 u IVe only dropped in for a moment ; I have to 
 
 hurry right back to town. What message shall I take 
 
 for you to Mrs. Granger ? You know she came out to 
 
 Denver some ten days ago to visit Judge Lawrence. 
 
 u 26* 
 
306 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Some tangled matters about the major s estate she has 
 to settle. I m going down there to-morrow. You see 
 I m so anxious to join her again, poor dear, she s had 
 such a sad, sad summer." 
 
 Mechanically the two officers raised their forage-caps 
 as the landau bowled away, but neither spoke. It was 
 Mrs. Turner who first gave utterance to the thought 
 that had taken instant root in every mind. 
 
 " Mrs. Granger in Denver ! Then all this time Mr. 
 Blake was nearer at hand than we supposed." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 3Q7 
 
 CHAPTEE XXL 
 
 JUNE was lovelier still in the Berkshire hills. It 
 was not yet time for the gathering of the devotees of 
 fashion at Lenox, but at one of the quietest and most 
 secluded little nooks close at hand there was ensconced a 
 lovely widow, pathetic, pallid, and languorous ; one 
 whose exquisite face told the story of recent bereave 
 ment ; one who sought no acquaintances, and whose 
 only companion for a time was an elderly dame referred 
 to more frequently by the villagers as " the widow s 
 aunt 7 than by her registered name of Mrs. Morgan. 
 Together these two sad- faced ladies spent hours in the 
 open air and sunshine, clambering among the rocky 
 heights, reading or sketching in shady corners, writing 
 and receiving scores of letters, as the post-mistress was 
 not slow to admit. " Her husband was a major in the 
 army and was killed in the Indian war," explained 
 that village authority, a statement which heightened 
 the halo of romance that seemed from the outset to 
 crown one so beautiful and so early widowed. There 
 were some fashionables at a neighboring hotel, people 
 who were determined to be in the hills during the bliss 
 ful weeks in which society swarmed thither, and who, 
 being unable to afford the expensive preliminary tour 
 of the seaside resorts, had secured their rooms for the 
 season at reduced rates, and were longing for some dis- 
 
308 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 traction or entertainment during the weary days that 
 must elapse before the coming of the leaders and the 
 tide. These had called upon the lovely Mrs. Granger, 
 putting on long faces as they would black gloves for 
 deep mourning, and couching their expressions of in 
 terest and sympathy in that soft, soothing drawl which 
 the sex holds in reserve for such occasions. Some failed 
 to see the lady, but those who were more fortunate de 
 clared her charming, yet so inconsolable that she had 
 begged them in deep emotion not to think her indiffer 
 ent to their sympathy and kindness, but her bereave 
 ment was so recent, so sudden. " Stricken down in the 
 flower of his years." She craved their forgiveness if 
 she failed just now to return visits, and then tears, 
 against which she had been struggling, overcame her 
 utterly. People declared her so grateful, so charmingly 
 apologetic, so sweet, so sad, so pathetic in her resigna 
 tion, so devoted to her husband s memory, so very, very 
 interesting. And the interest was redoubled, if the 
 other attributes were not, when there arrived a tall 
 young gentleman on crutches, and it was presently 
 rumored that he was an officer in the deceased major s 
 own regiment, who had gallantly risked his life to save 
 that of his commander and was desperately wounded 
 in the attempt. Then other versions began to be cir 
 culated. Then all the neighboring hill-sides seemed 
 whispering the story of the devotion of the crippled 
 soldier to the lovely relict of his commander. Ten 
 days did that lovelorn youth hover at her side, but the 
 evenings found him seeking, perforce, other comfort at 
 the hotel. A sociable, a gregarious body was Tom, 
 and when the lady of his heart coyly and chastely de- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 309 
 
 clared that she could not see him after the dews of 
 night began to fall, he was ready to be kindly inter 
 ested in everybody as of old, and as a consequence he 
 was soon pumped dry of all the truth in the matter, 
 and the Rockminster people and the villagers were made 
 ready for other sensations when it leaked out that the 
 major had been mysteriously murdered, not killed in 
 headlong charge upon the foe. Yes, only in the day 
 time was he welcomed at Ferncliff, and then their in 
 terviews were generally under the supervision of the 
 elderly Mrs. Morgan, who, for propriety s sake, seemed 
 ever present ; and then one evening the lieutenant had 
 come in with a rueful face, and called for his bill, which 
 included a breakfast on the morrow of which he did 
 not partake, and with the early train he vanished from 
 view, and in twenty- four hours there arrived another 
 whose appearance was attended by a circumstance the 
 post-mistress did not fail to note, there came no more 
 letters from Ferucliff addressed to Lieutenant Gerald 
 Blake, th U. S. Cavalry, in the field, via Fort 
 Fetterman, Wyoming, then at Fort Russell, Wyoming, 
 then at the Athenaeum Club, New York ; and there 
 came no more daily letters addressed in a bold, dashing 
 hand to Mrs. S. L. Granger, Ferncliif, Berksville, 
 Massachusetts. Other letters in abundance came and 
 went, but the post-mistress well knew that this new 
 comer was the most assiduous of all the fair widow s 
 correspondents, and, if frequency of reply could prove 
 anything, the most favored. By an odd coincidence the 
 clerk at the Rockminster gave Lieutenant Blake the 
 very room recently occupied by his regimental comrade, 
 the lively and lamented Hollis ; but he did not men- 
 
310 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 tion the fact then or thereafter, for the new arrival was 
 as reserved and distant as Hollis had been jovial and 
 approachable. A man among the guests felt sure he 
 had met Mr. Blake in the Maryland mountains long 
 years before, and ventured to introduce himself the night 
 that succeeded the long-legged trooper s arrival. But 
 Mr. Blake, though courteous, did not overflow with 
 cordiality, and plainly showed a desire to be rid of the 
 gentleman s presence. If the lovely widow had denied 
 herself to one suitor in the sweet moonlit evenings of 
 early June, she had no such scruples now when the 
 chaste goddess of the skies was hiding her silvery face 
 until after the midnight hour. The winning man 
 seemed to have come in with the wane of the moon ; 
 and the Rockminster guests and garrison were to a man 
 and woman condemnatory of her conduct as well as of 
 her choice. How shallow a mockery was her plaintive 
 grief! How strange that she should be receiving such 
 attention so soon after her husband s most untimely 
 taking off! Was it indeed untimely? Was it not 
 possible that she had been receiving those same at 
 tentions before, and so heightened, if not hastened, the 
 tragedy ? Blake never came back to the hotel before 
 eleven at night, and then simply took his key and went 
 to bed. He had registered during the last week in 
 June, and as more guests arrived and began to fill up 
 the house in July, there came among them some army 
 people who caught sight of him at the breakfast-table 
 the next morning ; but he passed out without notice of 
 them. Major Dennis, of the artillery, with his wife 
 and daughters, were of the party, and the major in 
 quired at the office. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 31 1 
 
 " Yes, sir, that s Mr. Blake," was the clerk s reply. 
 So the major sent his card ; so did Lieutenant Ay ling, 
 who was devoting himself to one of the daughters ; and 
 when these cards were handed Blake he looked any 
 thing but overjoyed. He came forth from his room 
 arrayed, evidently, for a tramp among the hills, 
 with a pair of field-glasses slung over his shoulder. 
 He greeted them with much apparent cordiality ; was 
 marched in and presented to the ladies, whom he had 
 known as youthful matron and little girls in short 
 dresses ten years before at Old Point Comfort ; chatted 
 nervously a few moments ; then excused himself "An 
 engagement with friends, a walking party, see you all 
 this evening/ 7 and so hurried away. 
 
 But they saw him before evening, and the walking 
 party consisted apparently of but one couple. The 
 major s little contingent started out for a drive to Cas 
 tle Rock, alighted from their wagon at the foot of the 
 ledge, and, clambering up the narrow and tortuous 
 pathway, came suddenly upon Blake and a lovely 
 woman in deep mourning seated on a rustic bench 
 in a bower of leaves. They all seemed to blush at 
 the rencontre, though no one could explain why, 
 and the major fell into a brown study, from which he 
 emerged only half an hour later with the sudden 
 exclamation : 
 
 " I have it, by Jupiter ! I knew I d seen her face 
 before. That was Madeleine Torrance, dear, old Cap 
 tain Torrance s daughter. You remember them at tho 
 Hygeia. Who was it she married ? Some fellow at 
 Washington in the staff." 
 
 " She married Major Granger," answered his wife, 
 
312 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 "and he was killed or something out West last 
 winter." 
 
 That night there was a singular occurrence. This 
 was the 3d of July, and quite a number of people 
 came up to spend the Fourth. The late train was 
 crowded, so were the busses that came up from the sta 
 tion ; but among the arrivals was Lieutenant Hollis, 
 his crutches discarded, but limping along with a heavy 
 stick. He greeted the clerk with the cordiality of an 
 old friend : 
 
 " Say, old man, put me back in the same room I had 
 before, will you?" 
 
 " Sorry, Mr. Hollis, but that s taken. It s occupied 
 by a friend of yours, though ; belongs to your regi 
 ment, I believe, Lieutenant Blake." 
 
 " Lieutenant Blake !" exclaimed Hollis, turning red, 
 then white, then all sorts of colors. "Lieutenant 
 Blake!" he repeated. "Are you sure?" Arid the 
 face that met the surprised gaze of the clerk was filled 
 with actual consternation and perplexity. 
 
 "Why, certainly, Mr. Hollis. He s been here, he 
 came here the day after you left." 
 
 For a moment Hollis stood there as though power 
 less to move, his face getting grayer and grayer, his 
 eyes vacant, his jaw relaxed. Then, as though sud 
 denly aware that he was making an exhibition of him 
 self, he whirled quickly away, and, still half-dazed, 
 wandered out upon the broad piazza and sought the 
 darkest corner. In half an hour, as he did not come 
 in, a bell-boy approached him. 
 
 " Mr. Hollis, sir, supper s most over. The clerk 
 says, don t you want some ?" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 313 
 
 " I believe not. Has-s Mr. Blake got back ? Has 
 he been to supper ?" 
 
 " No-o, sir ; he ain t come ; he don t come in to sup 
 per much." 
 
 Hollis slowly arose and hobbled back into the office. 
 People who had known him came forward to greet him 
 and were concerned to see the pallor of his face. To 
 all inquiries he hurriedly answered he was well enough, 
 only tired ; a little sore from the jolting. 
 
 " That s a double room of Blake s," he said. " Can 
 I not leave my things in there and get a wash before he 
 comes in ?" 
 
 " Why, certainly, Mr. Hollis. I ll send a boy with 
 you. Have your trunk sent in there, too ?" 
 
 " I didn t bring any ; only came up for the Fourth, 
 you know. Just send my bag in there." 
 
 Hollis would have followed the boy, but other sym 
 pathizing inquirers stopped him and he had to speak to 
 ladies in the hall. The boy came back and handed him 
 the key. It was ten minutes before he could break 
 away, and then he hobbled down the familiar corridor, 
 turned sharp to the right at the little passage leading 
 to the old room, and came face to face with a burly 
 man in a full beard. Only one room opened off the 
 short passage Number 27. The stranger saw the in 
 quiry in the lieutenant s eyes. 
 
 " Beg pardon," he spoke, drawling his words some 
 what ; " I was looking for Number 23." 
 
 " You ve passed it, out there in the corridor," said 
 Hollis. And the stranger touched his hat and stepped 
 away. 
 
 Unlocking the door, Hollis unhesitatingly entered, 
 o 27 
 
314 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and, striking a match, lighted the lamp on the dressing- 
 table. Blake s trunk, closed and apparently locked, stood 
 beside it. Some books, papers, neckwear, some studs and 
 collar-buttons, a few cigars, etc., littered the table; 
 other masculine gear was on the bureau. Two or three 
 suits of summer clothing hung in the open wardrobe ; 
 but the drawers of the bureau were closed. Stepping 
 quickly forward, he opened the uppermost. Collars, 
 cuffs, handkerchiefs, neckties, and a lot of letters met 
 his eye, and one or two envelopes, black-bordered, ad 
 dressed in a hand he well knew. His frank, pale face 
 darkened at sight of them. Carefully, scrupulously 
 he pushed them aside until he couid raise the corner 
 and peer under the newspaper which, country-hotel- 
 fashion, was spread over the wooden bottom of the 
 drawer. Higher he lifted and farther he looked until 
 at last his search was rewarded. There lay a couple 
 of sheets of letter paper covered thickly with writing. 
 These he quickly seized and examined. A muttered 
 exclamation, as of relief, fell from his lips. He started 
 to tear them to fragments, but suddenly bethought him 
 that he could not leave those fragments there. Then, 
 carefully he replaced everything in the drawer as he 
 had found it, looking lingeringly at the envelopes ad 
 dressed in that well-known hand. Then he sat him 
 down and pondered a while, mopping his moist fore 
 head, then burying his face in his hands. At last he 
 rose to his feet, carefully closed the drawer and, without 
 touching or disturbing another item of Blake s property, 
 extinguished the light, took his bag and cane, locked the 
 door behind him, and limped painfully back to the office. 
 " Is there any down-train to-night ?" he inquired. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 315 
 
 " Nine-fifty, sir ; but you ve had no supper. You re 
 not going so soon, lieutenant ?" 
 
 " Yes ; I thought to find some friends here, but I 
 hear that they are over at Mahopac. Just send my grip 
 to the station, will you ? and I ll walk." 
 
 Under the beautiful old trees the hard-beaten path 
 way wound. How many a time, with halting gait, yet 
 blithely-beating heart, he had climbed the long ascent 
 that led to the bowered cottage up among the hills be 
 fore him. How wild with hope, with joy and confi 
 dence, had he been when last he made his way under 
 those whispering leaves late that lovely afternoon in 
 June ! The air was heavy with the perfume of roses ; 
 the very birds were stilled by the warmth and languor 
 of the declining day. Hours of the night preceding 
 that last visit he had sat there in the little room 
 writing page after page to her, the woman he had so rap 
 turously loved ; yet nothing he could write seemed fit to 
 lay before her. Page after page was rewritten, some 
 copied, some destroyed ; some which he thought had 
 certain good points he laid aside to re-read ; others, 
 wild and impassioned, he stowed in that upper drawer 
 under the paper, to re-read once more before retiring, to 
 prompt him on the morrow when daring to put his for 
 tune to the test. There they still lay when he returned, 
 stunned, desolate, vaguely feeling that he had been 
 lured and tempted only to be cast aside ; yet so dis 
 armed by her exquisite pathos, her pleading, her tears ; 
 so conquered by her -self-accusation that he had implored 
 her not to think of him and his misery ; not to blame 
 herself. It was all his fault, all his blind infatuation. 
 It was enough for him now that he had won so sweet a 
 
316 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 friendship. It was all he could ask as yet. It was 
 enough to be assured that no other man stood nearer to 
 her heart. He would obey her in everything. He 
 would intrude upon her grief no more just now. 
 
 " Oh, my friend, my friend !" she had said, while 
 the tears dimmed her swimming eyes, " I ought to have 
 known, I ought to have felt, that this must come ; but 
 in my selfish sorrow I did not dream of it. I was so 
 blessed, so strengthened, so ennobled by your trust, 
 your friendship, that I grew to crave it, and to lean 
 upon it. I was so misjudged at the fort. I was so 
 so unhappy in my married life that your brave, strong 
 spirit came between me and despair. I needed such a 
 friend among such foes ; I will need it still more in 
 the future, and I had so counted on you you to stand 
 between me when those women and those men at Rus 
 sell maligned me as they have and as they will. I 
 knew that with you to defend my name they would be 
 silenced, one and all. And now only the other day I 
 heard how the tongues of scandal had coupled our names 
 here, and only yesterday I realized that I must rob 
 myself of my sweetest comfort and bid you go. It is 
 for my good name s sake, my honor, dear friend, dear 
 Tom. 77 And poor Tommy had knelt and kissed the 
 lovely outstretched hand and limped away lamenting, 
 yet loyal to the last. 
 
 And now, returning for one look at the loved face 
 and to search for those mad, paroxysmal pages he had 
 penned and characteristically left, he found Blake had 
 come the day after his departure; had taken his room, 
 and more than taken his place. What to say to him, 
 what to say to her, he had not the remotest idea. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 317 
 
 Some blind force was driving him up the well-beaten 
 pathway that led to her summer home, the dainty 
 refuge she had chosen. It lacked but half an hour to 
 train-time, but he had wellnigh forgotten that. Per 
 haps all he hoped for was one look at the vine-clad 
 walls that sheltered her. 
 
 He reached at last the wicket gate, stilling as much 
 as he could the sound of his halting step and heavy 
 cane. The windows of the little cottage were open ; 
 a bright light burned at the reading-table in the parlor; 
 there sat Mrs. Morgan absorbed in a book. No one 
 else was visible. He leaned against the great elm, 
 deep in the shadows of the overhanging branches. 
 Where was she? Where were they? The answer 
 came soon enough. Slow-pacing footfalls caught his 
 ear the swish of a woman s trailing skirt upon the 
 loose gravel. Almost before he was aware of it, they 
 were upon him here at the little gate and about to 
 enter. They were returning, evidently, from a stroll. 
 The forms were dim and shadowy until they came be 
 tween him and the light ; then Blake s deep voice was 
 heard, soft, low, and fond. 
 
 " One moment, my own." 
 
 And Hollis saw him bend over her ; saw her queenly 
 head thrown back ; saw that her glorious eyes were up 
 lifted to his worshipping face ; saw her twine her arms 
 about his neck ; saw that their lips met in long, linger 
 ing kiss ; and then, his arm about her waist, her grace 
 ful form nestling in his embrace, they moved slowly to 
 the cottage, and, with a gasp and stifled sob, poor 
 Tommy turned away. He had seen more than enough. 
 He never thought to look upon her face again. 
 
 27* 
 
318 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 That night, about eleven, Mr. Blake returned to the 
 Rockingham, walked straight to the office and asked for 
 his key. It was handed him with a couple of letters. 
 He took them and hastened to his room. In three 
 minutes he was back. 
 
 " Come with me at once," he spoke in low, stern 
 tone, though his lips were twitching with excitement. 
 " Everything has been ransacked, and I am robbed. 7 
 
 " Mr. Blake ! It isn t possible," exclaimed the 
 clerk. " Never has such a thing happened here." But 
 Blake s only answer was, " Come and see," as he 
 hastened away, the clerk at his heels. 
 
 The trunk was found burst open ; the tray was out 
 upon the floor ; the contents were scattered about. The 
 bureau drawer had been ransacked. The whole room 
 was in confusion. 
 
 " How on earth could the man have entered ? Not 
 by that window, surely ; it s too far from the ground. 
 It must have been the door, and yet, what thief would 
 dare pass the length of that corridor. Has anybody 
 been here from the office ? any servant ? any bell-boy ?" 
 asked Blake, hunting as he poke among his plundered 
 possessions. 
 
 " Every servant in the house has been with us years, 
 Mr. Blake. It was no employee of ours. Tell me 
 quick what is gone ?" 
 
 " I can t tell," said Blake, slowly ; " can t tell yet, 
 at least, everything is in such confusion. I had no 
 valuables here to speak of, nothing but letters and 
 papers. Some of them I cannot find." 
 
 " Has nothing been stolen, sir, no jewelry, money?" 
 
 " Nothing. I had nothing except what you see there 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 319 
 
 and what is in the safe. It was not that the scoundrel 
 wanted. Not that that he has taken," exclaimed the 
 lieutenant, now on his knees among the scattered 
 papers. " Has any one been here ?" asked he, suddenly. 
 u Has any one had access to the room ?" 
 
 " Only one man, Mr. Blake ; but we supposed he 
 was an intimate friend of yours, Lieutenant Hollis." 
 
 "What?" exclaimed Blake, springing to his feet. 
 " What ! In God s name, man, think what you are 
 saying. Mr. Hollis here ? in my room ? to-night? 
 
 " Yes, sir, he came on the up train at seven-thirty, 
 and asked to go into your room to put on a clean collar 
 before supper." 
 
 " Where is he now ?" interrupted Blake, hoarsely. 
 "Where is he now?" 
 
 " Gone, sir ; on the nine-fifty south, over an hour ago. 
 My heavens, lieutenant, I hope I hope there s nothing 
 wrong. I supposed he was a friend of yours, and 
 everybody thought him a gentleman. It isn t too 
 late, sir. I can telegraph down the road and have him 
 arrested almost anywhere. Let me go and call Mr. 
 Lord, the proprietor ; he isn t asleep yet," and the clerk 
 started for the door. 
 
 * No, stop !" called Blake, rousing himself from the 
 half-stupor into which he was plunged. " Come back, 
 come back and promise me not one word of this to 
 a soul not one word to anybody, high or low. Prom 
 ise me." 
 
 And with the morrow s sun Blake, too, was speeding 
 away, leaving only a hurried note to explain. 
 
320 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE night train that bore Mr. Hollis southward 
 was not crowded by any means, a fact that enabled him 
 to get into a seat by himself and to barricade the unoc 
 cupied end of it with his satchel. The most sociable 
 of men ordinarily, and eager to make himself agreeable 
 to anybody and everybody, he felt now that the world 
 had indeed betrayed him and that he was a wronged 
 and defrauded man. His eyes having been at last 
 opened, and having seen for himself the depth of the 
 woman s duplicity, he recalled the many insinuations 
 at her expense made by the ladies of the two regiments 
 in which he had served, and the very broad hints 
 poured into his unwilling ears by Mrs. "Wilkins. 
 " Peggy O Dowd !" Mrs. Granger had laughingly ex 
 claimed when he confided to that lovely charmer the 
 gist of one of the allegations laid by Mrs. Wilkins at 
 her door. Beyond that she was something Irish, 
 Tommy had no idea who Peggy O Dowd might be. 
 He never read, if he could help himself, even the daily 
 papers, than which no greater proof of his intellectual 
 short-comings can be adduced ; but he laughed because 
 she laughed, and he knew it must be something witty 
 that she had said. 
 
 But now with all his sorely wounded heart he wished 
 that he had given some heed to Peggy s recent warning 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 321 
 
 that he would better look twice before he " lept wance." 
 Mrs. Wilkins had actually scouted the idea of Mrs. 
 Granger s really caring for anybody but herself. She 
 craved admiration, adulation, worship, passion, perhaps, 
 as an actress craves applause, yet, having won it, cares 
 naught for the source from which it came. " If any 
 man ever had a place in what she called her heart/ 
 said Mrs. Wilkins, " it was our Leggy Blake when he 
 was young and good-look un ;" but she d thrown him 
 over before ; she was playing with him now, and she d 
 throw him over, or any other man, for the next that 
 came along. " She can no more be content without 
 somebody making love to her than Crane can without 
 whiskey," was her final clincher. But Tommy thought 
 he understood her far better than Mrs. Wilkins ever 
 could. How was that coarse, practical woman of the 
 world to know of the depth of pathos, patience, resig 
 nation, of sweet Christian charity and forgiveness that 
 lay beneath that polished surface ? How could any 
 one at Russell begin to know the suffering of her home- 
 life, wedded to that cold, unsympathetic, soulless man 
 of money who chilled her enthusiasm, rebuked her 
 charity, repelled her confidences, rewarded her wifely 
 constancy with cruel sarcasm, dared to reply to her 
 gentle pleadings with brutal blows. How lovely, how 
 saintlike she was that night when she drew from him 
 the unkind things the sisterhood at Russell had said 
 about her ! How exquisite a picture she made as she 
 sat there, her hands meekly clasped, her sweet, sweet 
 face downcast, two great tears trickling slowly down 
 the velvet of her rounded cheeks ; unresentful, un 
 complaining. How incomparable she was when she 
 
322 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 started to her feet, the majesty of misjudged and 
 wounded womanhood in her mien, " verd incessu patuit 
 dea" a goddess in her walk, indeed, as she paced one 
 moment the carpeted floor, then turning suddenly upon 
 him, smiling winsomely through her tears, throwing 
 back her lovely head, she held forth both her hands 
 with such impulsive gesture : " There ! we ll think no 
 more about it. It is hard to be so so misunderstood ; 
 but it is childish of me to mind it. How foolish, 
 when I know well it is only because I have so much 
 that they have not, because you are so loyally my 
 friend." Tom worshipped her, as indeed who would 
 not ? He had gone back fully determined to have a 
 good talk with Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Turner and 
 Mrs. Raymond, and bring them to their senses. He 
 even contemplated going to Mrs. Atherton and Mrs. 
 Stannard, and assuring them how utterly mistaken peo 
 ple were in supposing Mrs. Granger heartless and vain 
 and shallow. If they only knew how gentle and for 
 giving she had been towards them, surely they would 
 relent. He had even gone so far as to attempt a begin 
 ning with Mrs. Turner ; but that lady had promptly 
 snubbed him with the remark that the subject was one 
 that didn t interest her in the least, which was not true, 
 although it was effective. He had even ventured on a 
 word or two to Mrs. Wilkins, who burst out laughing 
 in his face, and Tom couldn t stand ridicule. 
 
 And now to-night, as he sat by the open window, 
 looking drearily out, not to note the shadowy land 
 scape or the village lights that went flashing by, but 
 solely because he could not bear to talk with any one, 
 he was going over all these mournful reminiscences; 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 323 
 
 recalling all the warnings he had received, and wondering 
 why it was that he had never made her speak of Blake, 
 yet never realizing, even now, how like putty he had 
 been twisted in her pretty fingers. And so, plunged 
 in melancholy, he shut himself out from the world 
 that but the month before had seemed so bright and 
 beautiful, so full of love and gladness. One after 
 another the occupants of the car sprawled themselves 
 at length upon their seats and sought such slumber as 
 the rushing train could afford them, and still poor 
 Tommy sat there at his open window, gazing blankly 
 out into the summer night and marvelling that the 
 stars could shine so brightly when darkness impene 
 trable had settled down upon his life. At last, weary 
 and desolate, he crossed his arms over the back of the 
 seat before him, bowed his head, and wondered where 
 to go when he reached the city. He could not bear 
 the old haunts now. Where, how could he spend 
 the glorious Fourth and get away from the rest of the 
 world ? 
 
 The train had come to a stop, with the lights of the 
 great city reflected in the southern sky. Three or four 
 belated travellers jumped aboard. An out-bound ex 
 press went rushing by as once again their own got 
 under way, and presently he heard the voice of the 
 brakeman accosting some one in rear of him. 
 
 " You got on at Berksville, I think, sir ? Is this 
 despatch for you ?" 
 
 Berksville ! Even now he could not hear the name 
 without a thrill. Anybody coming from or going to 
 the spot were she lived and moved possessed an almost 
 tragic interest to him. He turned and saw a heavily- 
 
324 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 built man of middle age, with smooth-shaven face and 
 heavily-bowed spectacles, opening the brown envelope 
 of the telegraph company. He seemed merely to 
 glance at its contents and then looked up at the brake- 
 man. 
 
 "Oh, ah ! I beg pardon, I was half asleep. I 
 thought you said this was for me. I sometimes get 
 despatches when travelling. I m very sorry, but it s 
 not mine/ 7 
 
 And then, before he could settle back as though to 
 resume his nap, Hollis had caught a quick glance from 
 his eye and had noted the heavy mould of his neck 
 and shoulders. There was something familiar about 
 them, but it was the despatch he was thinking of. 
 Could she already have learned of his being there? 
 Could she have anything to say? Was it a recall? 
 The brakeman, perturbed and troubled that he should 
 have given the despatch to the wrong man, saw the ex 
 pectancy in Tommy s eye and hastened to him : 
 
 "Are you Mr. Hollis, sir? That gentleman over 
 there opened it before I could ask him his name. He 
 got on at Berksville. I m very sorry." 
 
 But Hollis hardly heard him. He had seized and 
 was staring blankly at the paper. 
 
 " Lieutenant T. P. Hollis, U. S. Army, on No. 12. 
 " Will follow by first train. Do not fail to meet me 
 at Hoffman House at noon, 4th." 
 
 " GERALD BLAKE." 
 
 The man who had read the message, who had 
 boarded the train at the last moment at Berksville, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 325 
 
 whom be had never noticed at all before, was narrowly 
 watching him now, his soft felt hat pulled down almost 
 over his nose. " Do not fail to meet me at Hoffman 
 House at noon." Hollis pondered over the words, un 
 able to comprehend their meaning. Of all men on 
 earth, the one whom he least desired now or ever here 
 after to meet was Gerald Blake her lover, her accepted, 
 his successful rival. Yet how could he explain refusal 
 or neglect ? He had no engagement, nowhere to go, 
 nothing to prevent. When the train rolled into the 
 vast and dimly-lighted station he tossed his bag into 
 a cab and bade the sleepy driver take him to the 
 Hoffman forthwith. He never saw that the man in 
 the seat behind him had left the car at a station far 
 up-town. 
 
 The sleepless night had told upon him. He was 
 lying on his bed next day, half dressed and more than 
 half asleep, when there came the sound of footsteps 
 and a sudden rap at the door, just as the city clocks 
 were chiming twelve. 
 
 "Come in," he shouted, quickly turning over. The 
 door was opened, and there, with white, angry face, 
 stood Blake. Something in his very look checked the 
 greeting that, despite himself and from force of habit, 
 was on Tommy s lips. 
 
 " That will do ; you can go," said his visitor to the 
 bell-boy, who still hovered by, expectant of orders for 
 the bar and concomitant quarters for himself. The 
 youngster turned resentfully. Blake watched him until 
 he reached the end of the corridor, entered, closed the 
 door behind him, glanced doubtfully at the open tran 
 som, and then turned on his waiting comrade. 
 
 28 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Hollis, I did not know that you were a damned 
 scoundrel." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" was all the younger officer, 
 amazed, could say. 
 
 " I mean that you robbed my trunk last night, and 
 that I have come for those letters." 
 
 Stupefaction was the only word for it now. Hollis 
 sat at the edge of the bed, thrusting his feet in his 
 slippers ; his collar and cuffs, coat and waistcoat dis 
 carded ; he was gazing up at the other s white, men 
 acing face, as though he thought him bereft of his senses. 
 It was a moment before he could speak at all, then he 
 stammered, 
 
 " Upon my soul, Blake, I believe you re crazy." 
 
 "No temporizing, Hollis! By God, I begin to 
 see through that Russell robbery at last ! Dare you 
 tell me you took no letters from my trunk last night?" 
 
 " What the devil do you mean by accusing me, 
 Blake? I took nothing but what was my own, not 
 yours." 
 
 And then, maddened by heaven only knows what 
 feelings of wrath and indignation, Gerald Blake made 
 one of the worst mistakes of his life. Perhaps he had 
 hoped that Hollis would deny any and all knowledge 
 of the act. Perhaps he was crazed by this tacit admis 
 sion of a blackguardly crime. He hurled himself 
 full upon the sitting figure, grasping savagely at the 
 brawny brown throat, and in an instant, without 
 a word, cry or sound but gasping breath and low, 
 hoarse, inarticulate murmur, the two men were 
 clinched in a desperate struggle. Wrath, fury, and 
 the tlan of attack gave Blake the first advantage, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 327 
 
 and Hollis, utterly taken by surprise, was under 
 neath. For an instant it seemed as though the latter 
 would still have protested and reasoned, but Blake s 
 fist had dealt one swift blow as Hollis thrust it from 
 his throat ; and now it was battle, and battle in mad 
 earnest. In another moment it developed that the older 
 officer was no match at all for the lithe, agile, muscular 
 West-Pointer, whose every sinew seemed of steel, even 
 in that crippled leg. A moment of hoarse panting, of 
 fierce blows, of savage grapple, and then, with a crash 
 that shook the windows and the floor, Blake was hurled 
 backwards against the marble washstand and thence to 
 the sill beyond, and there he lay, white, limp, and 
 motionless. 
 
 Breathless, Hollis stood one moment glaring upon 
 his prostrate foe, amaze and wrath contending for the 
 mastery. Never heeding the blood streaming from the 
 now-re-opened wound in his thigh, and drenching a 
 towel with water, he knelt and raised the humbled 
 head. His hand was instantly covered with the hot 
 flow from a deep cut at the base of the skull. Terri 
 fied, he sprang to his feet, pulled a bell-cord, and when 
 the porter appeared bade him summon the house phy 
 sician at once. It was ten minutes before the doctor 
 came. Meantime, growing fainter every moment, 
 Hollis had wrought in vain, Blake lay stunned and 
 apparently lifeless. Hollis could barely gasp the story 
 to the physician. 
 
 " We are old friends and comrades/ he said. " I 
 believe he is crazy. He rushed in here ten minutes 
 ago and fiercely attacked me, and this is the result." 
 
 That night both men were patients in the care of 
 
328 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 the physician, who presently sent a note to the post- 
 surgeon at Governor s Island. The end of the week 
 found Hollis sufficiently restored to be limping around 
 again ; but it was a fortnight before Mr. Blake was 
 allowed to sit up at all and read his letters. 
 
 Meantime, when five days passed by at Berks ville, 
 other people besides the lovely widow began to wonder 
 why no letters came from Blake. Mrs. Granger, 
 alarmed beyond expression, had at last telegraphed to 
 the Athenaeum, and the next day brought her a reply : 
 
 " Mr. Blake has been ill, but doing well. Letter by 
 mail." It was signed Athenaeum Club, but when the 
 mail was brought to her on the following day there 
 was no letter from that point. There was one from her 
 lawyer, which she set aside ; there was one from Mrs. 
 Morris, which was also passed over. The third was 
 addressed in the familiar hand of Mr. Hollis, and she 
 opened it with an odd sensation at heart, something 
 akin to foreboding. 
 
 HOFFMAN HOUSE, NEW YORK, July 10, 1877. 
 
 " You are doubtless anxious about Mr. Blake, and, 
 there being no one else available, I write to say that 
 your letters to him are here, and that he will reply as 
 soon he is a little stronger. He fell, striking the back 
 of his head and sustaining an ugly cut; was knocked 
 senseless and lost much blood before the doctor reached 
 him, so that for several days he has been cautioned 
 to keep very quiet. Doctor Griffin, of the army, is 
 attending him, and pronounces him out of all danger, 
 though weak. Friends are close at hand, so that he 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 329 
 
 wants for nothing they can give. I shall remain so 
 long as I can be of use, and if I can serve you in any 
 way, please do not hesitate to call upon 
 
 " Yours, most obediently, 
 
 " THOMAS P. HOLLIS." 
 
 Mrs. Granger turned white when she read this. 
 " Then, despite my prohibition, Gerald must have told 
 him, and he was here that night, as people said." She 
 grew whiter still as she read her lawyer s letter. 
 
 " It may be necessary for you to come to Denver. I 
 have had consultation with Judge Lawrence, but the 
 parties refuse to communicate with him and they re 
 iterate their demands. We probably could lay hands 
 upon them by setting the detectives on their track, but 
 your instructions are imperative, no arrests to be 
 made. There is still nothing to be heard of the man 
 Brooks. He has disappeared entirely." 
 
 She turned and took from her desk another note, re 
 ceived two days before, postmarked New York, and 
 written in a clerkly hand, though evidently disguised. 
 It was brief enough : 
 
 " Either that money must be in our hands within 
 the coming month or the proofs of his murder at your 
 instigation, of her existence, and your letters to your 
 lover, Blake, will be given to the world." 
 
 " My God !" she moaned, " and I have no one to 
 advise, no one to aid me." 
 
 When, a fortnight later, Mr. Blake was considered 
 well enough to be allowed to travel, Hollis had dis 
 appeared from the scene. Some letters addressed to 
 the latter were returned to the writer at Berksville, he 
 
 28* 
 
330 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 having given no directions as to the forwarding of mail. 
 Letters in similar envelopes and superscription were 
 carried up to Mr. Blake s room from time to time, and 
 presently brief notes were despatched in reply. About 
 the 20th of July two ladies arrived one morning, were 
 received with much courtesy by Doctor Griffin, and 
 shown to their rooms. Later Blake was assisted down 
 into the parlor and had a long interview with the 
 younger and fairer one the dame in the deep, deep 
 mourning. Doctor Griffin found him rather worse as 
 a result, and cautioned him to remain quietly in his 
 room for another day or two. 
 
 " Mountain air is what you re needing, now/ 7 said 
 Griffin, " and absolute freedom from excitement." 
 
 The ladies returned to Berksville, and then it was 
 noted that Mrs. Granger seemed looking far from well. 
 She was pallid and harassed. The sketching tours 
 were abandoned. The men, who came up Sundays, and 
 only saw her in church, thought her saint-like in her 
 loveliness and devotion. The women, who had been 
 there through week after week, thought her anything 
 but saint-like, and that devotion was what she lacked 
 the devotion of a lover. Nobody was surprised to hear 
 that the beautiful widow found the air oppressive now 
 and desired to sublet her cottage. A tenant for August 
 and September was easily found. They packed their 
 trunks and flitted away, and Mrs. Hagadorn, the post 
 mistress, said their letters were forwarded to Mont- 
 clair, somewhere in the Blue Ridge. Early in August 
 Blake applied for a month s extension to his leave and 
 got it. The ladies were by this time safely installed 
 in the roomy old resort where, ten long years before, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 331 
 
 he had met and worshipped Madeleine Torrance, and 
 thither was he bidden to come and worship anew. 
 Here he spent a fortnight of bliss, slowly regaining 
 strength, basking all day long in the love-light in 
 those glorious eyes, yet marvelling at her pallor and 
 nervousness, her fits of abstraction. And late in the 
 month a letter came whose contents she did not show 
 him, but he found her prostrate and weeping. 
 
 " Gerald ! Gerald !" she cried, " they say I had him 
 murdered that I might marry you. They say they 
 have a host of witnesses and that only money will 
 stop their -tongues, only money will buy back those 
 mad letters. Judge Lawrence bids me come to Denver 
 at once." 
 
 And though he knew no letter written during 
 Granger s life was among those stolen from his trunk, 
 and though he implored her to let the lawyers place 
 detectives on the track and run the scoundrels to earth, 
 and declared it all a villanous blackmailing scheme, 
 she shrank, she said, from the shame and scandal their 
 arrest would surely bring about. She must go, go and 
 buy them off. She had known for nearly three weeks 
 now that the letters were indeed in the possession of 
 some unscrupulous foes ; for the missives that came in 
 the clerkly hand were filled with quotations of her own 
 words. She had forbidden him to employ detectives 
 to trace the robber, whom he now believed to be none 
 other than one of the Brooks 7 gang ; for in his conva 
 lescence the doctor had given him a brief, cold note from 
 Hollis, in which the latter told him that all he had 
 taken from the room was the page or two he himself 
 had written and left under the paper in the upper 
 
332 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 drawer ; but that, now that he knew of the robbery 
 that must have occurred after he left, he had written 
 Mr. Lord about the burly, bearded stranger whom he 
 found in the passage-way, and of the burly, spectacled 
 stranger who went down with him on the train. Mr. 
 Lord and the clerk had both written Blake that this 
 man was undoubtedly the thief. He had not even 
 registered, but had sauntered in among the other guests, 
 apparently looking for friends ; had inspected the reg 
 ister and key-board, and had disappeared as suddenly 
 as he came. Hollis told Blake that no apology need 
 be tendered. He knew of nothing now that could 
 atone for the wrong Blake had done him. The severe 
 injuries the latter had sustained were his own fault. 
 
 The time had been when Blake believed that the 
 love and companionship of that exquisite woman would 
 make him forget the world. She loved him. She had 
 promised to be his wife just so soon as her affairs could 
 be disentangled and the conventional period of 
 mourning be over. And yet he was vaguely troubled, 
 Bitterly he moaned his mad injustice to Hollis. Rue 
 fully he sought for some comrade to make peace between 
 them. He longed for Ray, whom Hollis enthusiastic 
 ally believed in, but Ray was away on his wedding- 
 tour, " doing" the Thousand Isles and lower St. Law 
 rence. He could not intrude on the honeymoon joys 
 with trouble such as this. He could not tell Ray what 
 had happened without announcing the existence of an 
 understanding, if not an engagement, between him and 
 Granger s widow, and this she forbade, and he, too, 
 shrank from, for the simple reason that he knew how 
 Ray would regard the matter. A few months agone 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 333 
 
 and he would have looked with joy upon the prospect 
 of being her escort anywhere. Now he looked with 
 ill-concealed anxiety to see whether any one whom he 
 knew was on the train that bore them westward. Mrs. 
 Morgan was fatigued and begged to stop over one night 
 in St. Louis, but Blake urged them on. They were in 
 Denver, she at the Lawrence s, he at the hotel, on 
 the 28th, and the next day, following a clue furnished 
 her by her legal adviser, Blake pushed out westward 
 over the range to Leadville. 
 
 " They will not deal with any one they do not know, 
 Gerald," she had said. " You alone can help me ; you 
 alone can save me from life-long misery, or I would 
 not let you go." 
 
 " Watch the despatches," he said to her in reply. 
 " Those Indians are coming across the Rockies near the 
 Yellowstone Park. If they do, the th will go sure, 
 and I must be with them. Get all telegrams that 
 come for me and repeat instantly anything from the 
 regiment." 
 
 She promised, and he was gone ; gone, and within 
 twenty-four hours not one, but three despatches were in 
 her hands, repeated from New York. 
 
 " We take the field at once," they said. " Where 
 will you join us?" asked Billings. "Your horse and 
 field-kit with us," said Freeman. "You can catch us 
 on the wing." "Ray leaves New York, Pennsylvania 
 road, Thursday night; Stannard meets him Pittsburg. 
 Wire them," was Billings next message. She could 
 repeat these to him and they would reach him within 
 the next day or two ; but she hid them from sight of 
 all. 
 
334 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Five days passed, then came a hurried line : " I have 
 just seen a Denver paper, saying troops from Cheyenne 
 and elsewhere had been sent to the field. Your letters 
 make no mention of it. Wire me at once whether you 
 have examined all mail and telegrams. Are you sure 
 there are no orders from Russell ?" And still she de 
 layed reply, until there came on the morrow an imper 
 ative despatch : 
 
 " I must give up the search and return instantly, un 
 less you wire there are no despatches for me." 
 
 And then she telegraphed : " No orders whatever. 
 Have you not succeeded ? Offer more, if need be." 
 
 Late at night, five days afterwards, hollow-eyed, 
 haggard and covered with dust, a traveller strode 
 into the office of the hotel in Denver. A young gen 
 tleman in civilian dress sprang forward to meet him. 
 
 " Blake, old man, where on earth have you been ? 
 We thought you must be ill, and Waldron sent me 
 down to hunt for you. They told us your despatches 
 were forwarded here." 
 
 " Has the th gone ?" asked Blake, white to his 
 lips. 
 
 "Gone? Heavens, yes, man! They ll be out of 
 all reach now " 
 
 "Where are my telegrams?" interrupted Blake, 
 turning fiercely on the clerk. 
 
 " We gave them, three of them, to the lady who 
 came with Judge Lawrence. Her name was Mrs. " 
 
 " Hush," said Blake. " That s that s enough." 
 
 And then Mr. Foster saw that something was indeed 
 wrong ; for his tall friend sank helplessly into a chair. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 335 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE campaign was over and, so far as the th 
 was concerned, it seemed almost before it began. In 
 stead of swooping down into the wild and beautiful 
 valleys that opened towards the storied Big Horn 
 from the west, the hunted foe had turned northeast 
 ward, and, with marvelous pluck and skill, forced 
 their way far down into the lowlands of the Yellow 
 stone, thence northward towards the border. Couriers, 
 recalling Atherton and the th, reached them only 
 when they had penetrated to the very confines of the Na 
 tional Park, and then came the long, long homeward 
 march. Leisurely now they wound through the wild 
 and picturesque valleys of the Ishawooa, the Gray 
 Bull, the Meeyero. Magnificent were the frowning, 
 storm-capped peaks at the west ; bold and precipitous 
 the divides between the rushing streams ; glorious the 
 sweep of mountain scenery on every side, as the 
 returning troopers rode buoyantly along. Once more 
 the guidons fluttered across the Owl Creek range ; once 
 more the camp-fires twinkled in the Wind River 
 Valley ; once more the sturdy horses quenched their 
 thirst in the foaming Popo Agie, then breasted the 
 lofty barrier bluffs that shut off the valley of the 
 Sweetwater beyond. Long dusty days they jogged 
 eastward over the old Mormon trail, following the 
 
336 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 lead of their soldier colonel, to whom every bend was 
 familiar. By DeviPs Gate and Independence Rock 
 their standard floated on its homeward way. Once 
 more they plunged into the rushing waters of the 
 Platte; once more they sighted from afar the bare 
 brown roofs and walls of Fetterman, perched on its 
 barren height, ugly, forbidding, yet ever hospitable. 
 Again the long column plashed through La Prele and 
 La Bonte", streams so well known to the old trappers and 
 voyageurs, and the bivouac fires gleamed in the mirror 
 faces of the rock-framed pools. Again they swung 
 their broad-brimmed hats and cheered the familiar 
 sight of the old Laramie stage, lunging down the 
 Chug water bluffs, only two days 7 march from home ; 
 and all along the way, night after night, there had 
 been wondering talk as to how it was and why it was 
 that Gerald Blake had never joined. He who was 
 once the life of every camp-fire, the centre of every 
 group, the jolliest, merriest of all their number, why 
 was he silent, why was he absent now ? 
 
 When Atherton chose to keep his own counsel no 
 man need try to coax him to speak. Stannard, Free 
 man and Ray were in sore perplexity. They were 
 deeply attached to Blake, yet seemed powerless to serve 
 him now in the black blight that had come upon his 
 name. Atherton simply would not talk of the matter 
 at all. It must wait, he said, until they had reached 
 the winter station. Fierce and desperate fighting had 
 taken place. Many a gallant officer and man had 
 been laid low. The th had only by accident failed 
 to get its share of the dance. There was every proba 
 bility when they took the field that they would be as 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 337 
 
 sharply engaged as were the detachments that grappled 
 with the Indian on his way. No soldier who valued 
 his honor or his good name could afford to hang back ; 
 yet throughout the th to-day it was well understood 
 that Gerald Blake was only a few hours ride from 
 them when the summons came ; that, while Stannard, 
 Ray and Hollis had fairly rushed to join their com 
 rades from the far-distant East, Blake, who that very 
 day was known to have been in Denver and expectant 
 of despatches from his regiment, had seen fit to remain 
 in hiding and send no word whatever until a fortnight 
 after. It was known that Atherton had received a 
 despatch from him among the papers brought by 
 courier just about as they reached Cedar Mountain, 
 just a day or so before they turned back, and that 
 Atherton had directed Mr. Billings to notify Blake 
 that he might return to Russell, his services would 
 not be required with the column, or words to that 
 effect. Letters which came from Russell and met 
 them on their homeward way said that Blake event 
 ually arrived there, but that no one saw anything of 
 him, he seemed simply stunned. Stannard, Ray and 
 Freeman again stood stanchly by their friend and de 
 clared that they felt certain everything would be 
 explained. The colonel had intimated that everything 
 would have to be explained the moment they got back 
 to Russell. Billings would not speak of the matter 
 at all, he could not, being adjutant; he only knew 
 that Blake had followed the regiment as far as Old 
 Camp Brown and was trying to get forward from there 
 when the orders came recalling them from the field. 
 The Indian scouts who were entrusted with the 
 p w 29 
 
338 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 despatches took four days to catch the regiment and 
 six days to get back to Brown, where poor Blake had 
 fretted himself into a fever and was under the doctor s 
 care. "Pills 77 would not let him see the adjutant s 
 formal reply until two days after the Indians brought 
 it. Then he shipped him down by easy stages to 
 Stambaugh, Atlantic, and Big Sandy, and so on back 
 to Russell. " He was a sick man after he came to 
 Brown/ 7 said the doctor ; " but all right, physically, at 
 least, when he reached there. 7 
 
 " What stampedes everybody, 77 said Clark, " is the 
 fact that Legs 7 got the telegrams sent by Billings and 
 Freeman, and yet made no reply. 77 
 
 Every man was grave and sad when the case was 
 discussed, but there was one who, looking grave and 
 sad and several years older, could not be dragged into 
 the faintest expression unfavorable to Blake. He even 
 went so far as to declare that it was his belief that 
 Blake never got those telegrams until too late. And 
 that man was Tommy Hollis. 
 
 Freeman and Ray shook hands with Tom and 
 thanked him and begged him to tell them how he 
 knew ; but Tommy would not. He turned red, stam 
 mered, and said he really didn t know, couldn t prove 
 it, but, all the same, he would be willing to bet. Not 
 until they reached Camp Brown on their homeward 
 way did the letters from Russell meet them with the 
 significant news that Mrs. Granger was at Denver all 
 this time; and then men stopped conjecturing the 
 cause of Blake s detention. 
 
 But the days were blacker still for Blake when the 
 dear old regiment hove in sight over the distant divide 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 339 
 
 to the north, and the band went far out on the prairie 
 to meet them, and the whole post turned out to bid 
 them welcome. He had sought Major Waldron s per 
 mission to go forward to the Chugwater and join them 
 there, and, to his dismay, Waldron hemmed and 
 hawed and was visibly disconcerted, but finally stam 
 mered out, 
 
 " I m heartily sorry I cannot say yes, Mr. Blake ; 
 but in point of fact, Colonel Atherton thinks you 
 should not see the regiment until he has seen you, 
 which will be just as soon as he arrives." 
 
 Blake shut himself in his room, and there Ray 
 rushed and found him ; there that night Stannard, 
 Freeman, and Truscott came to counsel and sympathize, 
 but he could not be comforted. Asked if the de 
 spatches had not reached him in time, he said they had 
 reached Denver before any one but the colonel and 
 Billings had started. He could have caught the com 
 mand by the 2d or 3d of September, but for but for 
 his own fault; he had failed to make proper provision 
 to have those messages forwarded to him. He was 
 out towards Leadville when they reached Denver. 
 
 The colonel was very cold and formal. He had a 
 theory of his own after learning that Mrs. Granger 
 had been at Denver all the time. He asked Blake 
 how it was that other letters were forwarded to him 
 unerringly, and that these most important despatches 
 were withheld. The question was point-blank. 
 
 " I can only reply, sir, that they did not reach me," 
 was Blake s answer, " and that the fault was entirely 
 my own." 
 
 But Atherton felt that there was something back of 
 
340 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 all this. He had heard from Mr. Foster that the 
 clerk at the hotel had delivered those despatches to 
 somebody who came with Judge Lawrence, and Ather- 
 ton believed that somebody to be Mrs. Granger. He 
 believed further that this charming Delilah had be 
 trayed the man whose infatuation for her was such 
 that it compelled him to silence now when his own 
 honor demanded speech. Atherton saw that Blake 
 could not defend himself except by dragging her name 
 into the case. He liked him none the less because he 
 would not take refuge behind a woman s wrong ; but 
 all the same he felt that the discipline and integrity of 
 the regiment demanded that Blake should be given a 
 lesson, that he should be put and kept under the ban 
 for the time being. And so, considering it no case for 
 arrest or charges, he plainly and properly and sternly 
 censured the senior lieutenant for his failure to join 
 them for the field. 
 
 The man, it may be remarked, who was most scan 
 dalized by Blake s conduct was Mr. Crane. 
 
 "Do you mean he isn t going to demand a court 
 of inquiry?" asked that sensitive gentleman. "If it 
 was me I d never rest till I d had one," he declared. 
 Whereat the " youngsters" laughed. 
 
 But even to his intimates poor " Legs" had made no 
 mention of her name. One and all, the gentlemen of 
 the regiment felt that he was right. No matter how 
 deep the censure, he could seek no vindication; he 
 must simply bear his load in patience until opportunity 
 was afforded him to redeem himself. Stannard and 
 Freeman, Truscott and Ray had a quiet consultation ; 
 had decided that while he must be made to feel that 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 341 
 
 their faith and friendship was not staggered in the 
 least, the course he had chosen was doubtless the true 
 one, to bear his burden and to make no moan. They 
 would see to it that no one was allowed to impugn his 
 motives in holding back ; but even to themselves they 
 mourned his supposedly hopeless and unconquerable 
 passion for Granger s widow. They wondered whether 
 now he would not break with her for good and all. 
 Devoutly they hoped that he might. 
 
 And then Captain Ray had to hurry on to his troop, 
 and as soon as he had seen them safely housed for the 
 winter he applied for permission to return to his status 
 of " absent with leave," which leave he had thrown to 
 the winds when the regiment took the field. Truscott, 
 too, got a long leave and went East to join Grace and 
 baby Jack, and Freeman, to his huge delight, and almost 
 everybody s satisfaction (Nobody can ever do any 
 thing or get anything in the army without somebody s 
 being to use a newspaper expression "disgruntled") 
 Freeman was summoned to staff duty at division head 
 quarters, a most deserved compliment. Stannard was 
 ordered to take command of a new post being built up 
 among the hills. Buxton, the senior captain, returned 
 from recruiting service and took the Freeman s quar 
 ters, and to Blake, at least, the whole social atmosphere 
 of Russell had undergone a change very much for the 
 worse. The j oiliest, merriest fellow of the old days 
 went silently about his duties as commander of Free 
 man s troop ; withdrew from the bachelor mess, not 
 without earnest protests from Clark and Dana and 
 Hunter, and kept house all by himself, living in a 
 desolation of spirit that no one even faintly conceived ; 
 
 29* 
 
342 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 for no one knew how deep, how very deep, was the 
 wound that laid him low. 
 
 In speaking of the night on which he had found 
 Blake in Denver, Mr. Foster said to Waldron that he 
 had evidently just arrived from the mining camp; that 
 he had been away nearly a fortnight; that nothing 
 could describe his dismay and distress when he heard 
 that it was too late to overtake the troops. " There 
 was no train north until noon next day," said Foster, 
 " and he was nearly mad with nervousness and trouble." 
 He did not go to bed, but paced the floor most of the 
 night; Foster heard him, and, when morning came, 
 having shaved and changed his dress, he was still look 
 ing terribly ill. But even Foster knew nothing of what 
 took place in those weary hours that dragged by while 
 they were waiting for the northward train. With a 
 little packet, sealed and corded, in his hand, Blake had 
 gone to Judge Lawrence s and asked for Mrs. Granger. 
 He was shown into the parlor, and in two minutes, for 
 she had received telegraphic notice of his coming, she 
 came fluttering down, closed the hall-door behind her, 
 all aglow with joy, gratitude, relief, delight ; had turned 
 as though to throw herself in his arms, but she stopped 
 and the color fled instantly from her face, the light 
 died from her eyes ; she read discovery in the first 
 glance at his face. 
 
 " Gerald !" she managed to falter, " what what has 
 
 happened ? Why do you " But he checked her 
 
 with uplifted hand. 
 
 " Let me report the end of my mission," he said, in 
 tones that trembled far more than he wished, though 
 
 / o 
 
 his voice was deep and stern. " Here are your letters ; 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 343 
 
 no money was needed. On this score, at least on my 
 account, you can never be disquieted again. So my 
 trust has been fulfilled. And now what have you to 
 say of yours ? Where are those despatches ?" 
 
 "Do not speak to me like this? You terrify me, 
 Gerald. In God s name, what does it mean ? Of 
 what do you accuse me ?" 
 
 " Of betraying me, of compassing my dishonor and 
 disgrace; of lying, in fact. Where are those orders?" 
 
 " Gerald, I swear to you there came no orders. I 
 told you the truth no orders whatsoever." 
 
 " Those despatches, then ; those summonses to the 
 field with my regiment, where this very day, for aught 
 I know, they are battling with the Indians and jeering 
 at me for my desertion. Where have you hidden 
 them ? Why ? My God, Madeleine, why did you not 
 forward them ?" 
 
 " Gerald, Gerald !" she cried, sinking on her knees, 
 the ready tears starting to her eyes, " I swear to you I 
 meant no wrong. They were not orders; they did not 
 even bid you come. You were on leave. You did 
 not have to go, and I knew that if you saw them you 
 would be restless, unhappy. You would want to leave 
 me, Gerald, and I loved you, needed you so. Oh, 
 darling, don t blame me !" 
 
 But he never drew nearer, never stooped to raise her. 
 One moment he was silent, then once more he spoke : 
 
 " How can you look me in the* face and lie ? I 
 warned you that the th would almost surely go. I 
 warned you those despatches were almost sure to come. 
 You promised you promised to send them at once, 
 and you broke your word utterly, as you have broken 
 
344 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 me. Where are those despatches, I say? I want 
 them and at once." 
 
 " Gerald, on ray sacred word, they were not impor 
 tant. They said nothing about your coming. One 
 was from Captain Freeman, and the other from the 
 adjutant, merely to tell what routes some officers would 
 take. You could not mean you did not mean that 
 when I was here, in desperation, almost, over these 
 troubles, that you would leave me ; you on whom I 
 had learned to lean you for whose sake I have suffered 
 such calumny, curses, blows ; you whom I loved so- 
 so wildly? Oh, how could you, how can you, be so 
 cruel !" And now she had risen and thrown herself 
 weeping upon the sofa upon one end of it, leaving 
 ample room for him to come and surrender and con 
 sole ; but he never moved. He waited sternly until 
 she had ceased her sobs and peeped up over the 
 handkerchief to note their effect, wondering at his 
 silence. 
 
 l< I have no time for further words now. I go at 
 once to join the regiment, wherever it is. Surely those 
 despatches contain some instructions. What have you 
 done with them ?" 
 
 " I haven t them, Gerald. I read them, and when 
 you wired that you were coming at once, I supposed 
 others had reached you. You didn t say you had 
 recovered the letters. You " 
 
 " I said exactly what we agreed I should say if suc 
 cessful in that quest. I got the letters a week ago. 
 It was other matters that kept me there. I was on the 
 track of that man Brooks, and I believe that I could 
 have jailed him ; but it s too late now. Where are 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 345 
 
 my despatches ? In God s name get them. You have 
 done harm enough." 
 
 " I thought there was no further use of them, and 
 I burned them, Gerald. Indeed, indeed, I meant no 
 wrong. 7 
 
 One moment, just one moment more he stood there 
 quivering, his face ashen in its pallor, then, with sud 
 den turn, he sprang to the door, out to the hall, out 
 into the sunshine of the open street. " To the Western 
 Union office, quick," she heard him order his driver, as 
 he jumped into the cab that stood at the curb, and away 
 sped the team, she peering at them from the parlor 
 window. 
 
 But when the cab whirled around the corner and 
 disappeared from sight, she bent and picked up from 
 the floor the precious packet of letters, wiped the tears 
 from her eyes, broke the seals and strings, turned the 
 contents over with rapid, though trembling fingers. 
 She had verified them before she ran up-stairs to Mrs. 
 Morris, for that lady said so long afterwards, after 
 they, too, had parted ; but that, as Kipling says, is 
 another story. 
 
 When a woman knows herself to be very much to 
 blame, it is not an unusual device to appear very much 
 aggrieved and to attempt to put the other party on the 
 defensive and in the wrong. Especially is this the 
 case with a woman of Mrs. Granger s stamp. At 
 such times she retires to a semi-seclusion, and suffers 
 and writes pathetic notes reciting her wrongs, and 
 attempts to extort an explanation from the person 
 really aggrieved, instead of hastening to make amends 
 herself. I have even known one or two persons re- 
 
346 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 ferred to in society as men, to do pretty much the same 
 thing. Mrs. Granger, in pursuance of this policy, wrote 
 reproachfully to Blake. What she intended to do was 
 to fetch him back to her feet again, humble and peni 
 tent. That she had done him bitter wrong was some 
 thing she could not for an instant admit. Of course, 
 if he got those messages he would be stupid enough to 
 feel called upon to throw up any other avocation and 
 make a dash for that very much over-rated corps, the 
 th, and just now she had urgent need of his services. 
 He perhaps could get those letters back and possibly 
 silence her anonymous persecutors, some of them, at 
 all events, if nobody else could. There were others of 
 whom she had never yet spoken to Blake. The death 
 of Grimsby was a matter of boundless relief to her. 
 There would come no more demands from him for 
 hush-money. If only she could feel sure he had not 
 told all he knew to that venomous girl Annie, Annie, 
 whom Mrs. Morris declared to be even now in service 
 out at the fort, where people were ready to believe any 
 ill of her widowed and desolate self. She had no hope 
 of Blake s hearing anything of the whereabouts of the 
 scoundrel whom of all others she most feared, that 
 fellow Brooks, who knew the secret of her husband s 
 peculations in the past and other matters, and who, if her 
 bribes were discontinued, might tell the whole story and 
 present the proofs that would rob her of more than 
 half the worldly goods with which the major had en 
 dowed her. She needed it all so very much more than 
 the government. She did not know that Blake had 
 succeeded in securing an interview with that very party. 
 The hush-money, which had been- systematically paid 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 347 
 
 during the major s life, she would gladly continue, pro 
 vided it would ensure silence : but the gang, or what 
 ever it was, had trebled, quadrupled the demands and 
 threatened her personally with direful exposures if 
 denied. Brooks, she knew, would keep out of the way, 
 but his associates in crime might not be easily placated, 
 and Gerald, being hot-tempered, might perchance put 
 one or two of them out of the way. They, perhaps, 
 might put an end to him, a tragic possibility, but one 
 she seldom allowed herself to contemplate. Still, if 
 worst came to the worst, was it not better that he should 
 die in her service than in that of an ungrateful republic ? 
 Mrs. Granger, it must be confessed, thought so. 
 
 He had been successful, then, in so far as the recovery 
 of her letters was concerned, but she needed to know 
 much more, and he had gone without telling her how 
 he had obtained the packet, whom he had seen, or what 
 she might expect from Brooks in the future. It re 
 doubled her desire to hear from Blake, and the reproach 
 and protestation in her letters was indeed pathetic. 
 But a fortnight passed ; no answer came ; Mrs. Morris 
 went home to Cheyenne and wrote that Mr. Blake was 
 ill at some obscure point far up in the Wind River 
 Valley ; two weeks later that he had returned to Russell 
 and the th was coming home. Then Mrs. Granger 
 wrote again. She implored him to come to her, if only 
 for an hour. She had no excuse for longer stay at the 
 Lawrences. She must return to the East. She could 
 not go without one kind word from him. Her heart 
 was breaking at the thought of his anger and injustice, 
 and of all the troubles in which she was involved, and 
 she no longer had him to help and sustain her. Other 
 
348 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 demands had been coming in. More money was the 
 cry, and she dare not tell Judge Lawrence, for fear that 
 he would insist on legal process. She even humbled 
 herself and said that she was beginning to hear some 
 thing of the troubles in which he was involved, and 
 for which she feared that in her blind misery she had 
 been much to blame. She was beginning to see it all 
 now. Would he not come to her? forgive her, and 
 let her love, her undying devotion make amends for 
 the sorrows of the past? Judge Lawrence had been 
 to see Colonel Rand, and had extracted from him the 
 acknowledgment that no case could be made by the 
 government against the estate of Major Granger, except 
 for a few trivial amounts which she would be only too 
 glad to pay. She would sell out all the western prop 
 erty at once. She would be independent, could live 
 abroad, anywhere away from the horrible, haunting 
 scenes of her life with that cold and cruel man. She 
 was ready to brave the opinion of the world, and be 
 her Gerald s wife and go with him to the end of crea 
 tion ; but not to face the coterie around Cheyenne. 
 Why could he not cut loose, once and for all, from the 
 hollow, heartless, soulless associates by whom he was 
 surrounded, by whom he was never appreciated, by 
 whom she heard he was even now coldly treated. Her 
 heart raged with indignation at the idea of those men 
 and women at Russell daring to sit in judgment on 
 him, her hero, her defender, her noble Gerald. "I 
 must leave here within the week," she wrote, " so answer 
 me, Gerald, if only a single line." 
 
 And so the line was sent, and with it by express a 
 little packet with her recent letters. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 349 
 
 The days later came stirring news. The Indians in 
 the valley of the Porcupine, two hundred miles away, 
 had risen against their agent. He begged for troops 
 at once. The guard of infantry could protect him, but 
 would be powerless to arrest the leaders of the outbreak. 
 Two troops from Russell must go at once, said the 
 orders ; and so a biting winter expedition was before 
 them, with every probability of sharp battle as addi 
 tional incident. Even as people at the post were de 
 ploring the corning of the order and wondering who 
 would have to go, Mrs. Turner came tearing out from 
 town with the tidings which dwarfed in" her mind the 
 news of further field duty, Mrs. Granger was com 
 ing up from Denver to spend a few days with Mrs. 
 Morris, " on account of important business," before re 
 turning to the East. 
 
 Within ten minutes of the time the orders came 
 everybody seemed to know that Gregg s troop stood 
 first for detached service on the roster, and would 
 probably have to go ; and Gregg s face was very grave 
 as he walked homeward from the office. Many knew 
 that before long the resounding knocker on Gregg s front 
 door would be entitled to its muffling knot of white 
 ribbon, and that it would be hard news indeed, now, for 
 Mrs. Gregg, if the captain were compelled to leave her. 
 
 Blake, coming over from his company quarters all 
 alone, as he preferred to be of late, changed color when 
 Clark told him the news of the emeute. Instantly, 
 however, with kindling eye and quick step, he started 
 to head off Gregg, who had almost reached his home. 
 
 " They say it s your troop, Gregg. It won t be if 
 I can help it. I want to go. 
 
 80 
 
350 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 The colonel was already in his office, and thither 
 hastened Blake. Before sunset the orders were issued. 
 Before sunrise the little detachment was on its way, 
 Blake riding at the head of Freeman s troop. And 
 everybody knew that he had begged to go in place of 
 old Gregg, and all at Russell rejoiced, not that he had 
 gone from them, but from her. No one dreamed how 
 many moons it would be before Gerald Blake came 
 back to them again. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 351 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 AGAIN the snow-clouds hovered over the bleak and 
 barren hill-sides; the little tufts of buffalo-grass shiv 
 ered in the biting wind ; the sentries turned out in 
 their winter overcoats and fur gauntlets, and the broad 
 surface of the parade, with the bordering road-way, 
 was hard and solid as the bed-rock far beneath. Again 
 the monotonous routine of garrison life, unchanging, 
 uneventful, yet not always placid, had fallen to the lot 
 of the th. 
 
 " People are stupid at Russell this year," said a certain 
 fair Cheyennese ; " you ought to have been here last 
 season when we had hops and germans and theatricals. 
 There was such a charming set at the fort then ; but 
 it has all broken up. The colonel s in mourning, the 
 Freemans and Truscotts and Stannards are gone, Mr. 
 Ray is married, so of course he is more than gone, Mr. 
 Blake is off at some awful cantonment among the 
 Indians, and Mr. Hollis, who used to be the very life 
 of our society, doesn t go anywhere. We invited him 
 to Thanksgiving dinner, but he wouldn t come. He 
 said he was on guard, but we heard later that it wasn t 
 his detail at all, he exchanged tours with somebody 
 else. A year ago he was always getting up dances and 
 calling on everybody here in town ; now he never comes 
 in at all." The lady thought it was very strange, 
 
352 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 that is, she said she thought so ; but perhaps all this 
 was simply to extract an opinion from Mrs. Morris, 
 who was present. Down in the depths of her con 
 sciousness the speaker felt well assured of the cause of 
 Tommy Hollis s temporary retirement from metropoli 
 tan society. Thanksgiving day had come and gone ; 
 Mrs. Granger had come and stayed. 
 
 Whatsoever might have been the important business 
 that brought her once more to the scene of her social 
 triumphs and domestic sorrows, it must be admitted 
 that she succeeded in baffling the good people, both in 
 or out of the army, who were sufficiently interested in 
 her movements to speculate as to the motives. Those 
 who scouted the explanation of business and declared 
 she had come to recapture Blake, and would go now 
 that he was settled beyond her reach, were silenced by 
 the fact that, instead of going, she sent for certain 
 trunks that had been checked through and proceeded 
 to unpack them and make herself at home at the 
 Morrises. Then it transpired that Morris brought a 
 distinguished lawyer to call upon the lovely widow, 
 and they had a long, long consultation. Then the 
 lawyer got to coming without Morris, but evidently 
 with his knowledge and approval. The legal luminary 
 was a widower, a man prominent in political affairs 
 and eminent in his profession. It began to be rumored 
 that certain knotty questions regarding Granger s title 
 to valuable property were being unravelled by this 
 gentleman with a celerity and dash that put Judge 
 Lawrence s more conservative methods in the shade. 
 Then Morris, the banker, rubbed his hands and 
 chuckled when people sounded him as to the widow s 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 353 
 
 financial hopes and prospects, but would say nothing 
 definite, yet looked untold thousands. Week after 
 week the fair subject of all this engrossing talk lin 
 gered under the banker s hospitable roof, and Mrs. 
 Morris revelled in the enhanced interest of her own 
 social position. Of course the ladies from Kussell 
 came and called. Of course all society people in 
 Cheyenne did likewise, and the manner of Mrs. 
 Granger to one and all whom she received was simply 
 charming, " so gentle and so sweet, so pathetic, yet in 
 no wise intrusive about her troubles." The new rector 
 of the little parish was presently warmly interested in 
 her. Such patience and resignation in her deep afflic 
 tion was something positively edifying. The rector s 
 young wife thought with him, for the first month, at 
 least, and fought with him the next. 
 
 " If that woman is to have anything to do with the 
 Christmas-tree, I simply want nothing to do with it," 
 was the spirited ultimatum laid down, and by this 
 time the little lady had many sympathizers. There is 
 only one social position harder to fill than that of a 
 minister s wife. The woman who can succeed in pleas 
 ing everybody as "the lady of the commanding officer 
 in a bustling garrison could charm the most discordant 
 parish that ever squabbled. 
 
 Mrs. Granger was a regular attendant at every ser 
 vice from the day of her arrival. Her lovely face 
 under the widow s cap attracted instantly the attention 
 of the brilliant young churchman who had chosen the 
 far frontier for his earliest efforts, who was of a family 
 distinguished and wealthy, who had means and ability 
 both, yet had gladly taken the little parish where 
 x 30* 
 
354 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 lambs were few and the black sheep swarmed in every 
 fold, eager to try his metal against the devil and all 
 his works as exemplified in a wild Western town, 
 where he was told he would have hardly anything to 
 deal with but sinners, scoffers, and soldiers. Fore 
 warned, forearmed, he had come to fight the good fight, 
 a Christian warrior proud to battle for the banner of 
 the cross ; thirsting to measure steel with the destroyer ; 
 burning for opportunity to grapple with the henchmen 
 of the world, the flesh, and the devil wheresoever found. 
 Cheery, kindly, full of high courage, he explored the 
 streets and the market-places and the stalls of the 
 money-changers, looking every man in the eye ; ready 
 with outstretched hand and cordial word to help the 
 helpless ; ready to kneel at the side of the brawling 
 sinner, dying with boots on his feet and curses on his 
 lips ; eager to shield and succor the fatherless and 
 widow ; to give up his own substance and beg of the 
 bounty of others for the sake of the hungering little 
 ones, bereaved and destitute ; daring to face disease 
 and pestilence that he might bear the word of God 
 and the gifts of men to the sorely stricken ; shunning 
 no danger, dreading no sneer, facing the foe with a 
 heart brave, buoyant, and enthusiastic ; winning, despite 
 their sullen selves, the respect and confidence of hard 
 ened men, winning welcome and smiles in faces long 
 set to sneer, winning the love and trust of little chil 
 dren who clung to him on his way, clamoring for a 
 romp or a story. In three months from the time he 
 came the little parish church would not begin to hold 
 the throngs that gathered to hear him tell the old, 
 sweet story. Rough men touched their battered hats 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 355 
 
 when they met him on his daily rounds. Reckless 
 women hushed their shrill laughter and hid their 
 painted cheeks when the rector passed them by. Rois 
 tering groups, clustering at the saloon doors, gulped 
 down their ribald basphemy at his approach, and many 
 a fierce brawl was nipped in the bud at the mere 
 whisper, " The parson s coming." Professional and 
 business men who had long since ceased to think of 
 church as a portion of their Sunday lives, went home 
 week after week wondering over the strength and 
 sweetness in the young churchman s words, and doubling 
 their contributions to the parish funds. Jim McManus, 
 half-owner of the Alhambra, and once a terror in the 
 town, was known to have given the lot whereon now 
 stood the Sunday-school and chapel. It was an edify 
 ing sight to see Jim, with an enormous cluster diamond 
 breastpin in the snowy bosom of a " boiled shirt," 
 slinking into the rearmost pew on Thanksgiving night 
 when the children had their song service. Perhaps 
 no one but the rector knew how that gambler s heart 
 was bound up in two motherless little girls who sang 
 like cherubs at the altar, and on whose hitherto 
 neglected heads the minister s white hands lingered as 
 fondly as on that of the judge s only child. All the 
 town could tell of the patience, the courage, the faith, 
 the goodness of this young soldier s work, of the force 
 and pathos of his pleadings. He was the man of men 
 in the frontier community, the observed of all ob 
 servers, the honored of his kind, the enthusiastic 
 admiration of the women. Strong, spotless, pure in 
 heart, stanch in purpose, thrice armed in the justice 
 of his cause against all the works of darkness, rejoic- 
 
356 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 ing in his success, humbly and earnestly grateful to 
 the God who had granted him the victory over so 
 many foes, ever seeking on every side some new emis 
 sary of the flesh and the devil to dare and down, he 
 found it where last he looked for such a tiling, in 
 the angelic face that gazed up at him with swimming 
 eyes Sunday after Sunday from beneath that widow s 
 cap. 
 
 His wife had called and was fascinated. " She is so 
 lovely in her bereavement," said the little lady, who as 
 yet knew naught of the blissful particulars of that inner 
 life at the depot, "and the tears stood in her eyes when 
 she told me how your sermon last Sunday had helped 
 her." The rector s wife called twice again before he 
 himself had time to go, and she was simply daft in 
 her enthusiasm for this new-found friend before 
 ever he knew her at all. Then it transpired that her 
 sorrows, the sad trials of her life, had conspired to 
 undermine the childlike faith that had once been hers. 
 She wanted to believe, ah, heaven ! she longed to 
 believe there was balm in Gilead, there was indeed a 
 pitying, loving Saviour in whom peace and rest might 
 be found forever. She needed so much, so much a 
 strong soul to lean on, a guide to follow, a teacher to 
 inspire. All that had been denied her in the unhappy 
 past of which she so shrank from speaking. For a 
 fortnight the rector and his wife were equally fer 
 vently interested in the work of snatching this fair 
 brand from the burning; then as his augmented, 
 the lady s ardor began to cool, and in December, 
 Mr. Hughes found, most unaccountably, that he was 
 going it alone. Yes, Mrs. Hughes admitted she had 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 357 
 
 urged him to devote some time and attention to her 
 new and fascinating friend. But, she concluded with 
 feminine inconsequence, she never meant that he should 
 devote all. Hughes well knew by this time that it 
 was to her and for her, this fair widow, that he was 
 preaching every Sunday, and that never for an instant 
 did that sweet, serious face falter in its absorbed 
 upward gaze, even when the lovely eyes, as was some 
 times the case, became humid with tears. But he 
 never realized the extent of his danger until there 
 came a Sunday in December when her place was 
 vacant. Neither she nor Mrs. Morris came to church, 
 and, to his dismay, the rector found his thoughts wan 
 dered from the beauty of the sacred service and flut 
 tered, on the wings of heaven knows what sentimental 
 fancy, to her wherever she might be, and far away, 
 far away from the God whom he adored. 
 
 There were already many stanch adherents of the 
 young rector out at the fort. He had begun his min 
 istrations in the early summer after the battalion had 
 gone to the Big Horn, and when the post was compara 
 tively deserted ; but he was in the heyday of his prime 
 and popularity on their return, and presently it got to 
 be the thing for many of the officers and most of the 
 ladies to go in every Sunday to attend service at St. 
 Paul s. Men and women, they too felt the power of 
 his discourse and recognized the depth of his faith 
 and hope and charity. The Athertons became deeply 
 interested in the church work, the Heaths and Ray 
 monds were devoted members of the fold. Mrs. Turner 
 was piety personified when it became cold enough to 
 wear her sealskin cloak, the only one in garrison, 
 
358 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 though a sacque or two could sometimes be seen 
 That cloak had cost Turner many a sleepless night 
 and all his Arizona savings. The Waldrons never 
 missed a Sunday when it did not storm, and every one 
 became devoted to Mr. Hughes, fond of Mrs. Hughes, 
 and duly and properly scandalized when it dawned 
 upon all church-going Russell that Mrs. Granger, 
 bereft of the husband and lovers she once owned in 
 the army, was now setting her widow s cap to fascinate 
 this brave and gifted soldier of the church militant, 
 and he a married man. It was then that the ladies 
 thought it time to tell Mrs. Hughes the widow s story, 
 and Mrs. Hughes lost no time in transmitting it to 
 her lord ; but it was all unavailing, Mrs. Granger 
 had told her story herself, and a far more pathetic and 
 touching recital it was than that with which her ene 
 mies would have compassed her round about while her 
 friends and lovers stood afar off. Mr. Hughes knew 
 there must be a mistake. She had been thoughtless, 
 unsuspecting, betrayed by injudicious friends, per 
 haps, but designing ? Oh, no, no ! that were im 
 possible. 
 
 Mrs. Morris came to Sunday-school that afternoon, 
 and then the rector learned the cause of Mrs. Granger s 
 absence from divine service that lovely, bracing wintry 
 morn. She was seriously ill and unnerved. A most 
 distressing thing had happened the previous evening. 
 Mr. Morris and herself had gone to attend a little 
 sociable in the neighborhood and Mrs. Granger had 
 remained at home, protesting that she would be any 
 thing but lonely. She expected visitors from the fort, 
 she said, and here the rector reddened with the con- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 359 
 
 sciousuess that no visitors came from the fort or else 
 where during the half-hour he had spent at her side 
 until compelled to go about other matters. Just before 
 ten o clock, and after he had gone, there came a ring 
 at the bell, and the servant admitted a tall gentleman, 
 she said, in a military overcoat, who decided that he 
 would not send his card up. " Tell Mrs. Granger an 
 old friend is in the parlor," were his directions, and 
 Mrs. Granger had presently descended, full of pleasant 
 anticipation, no doubt, and there found, she said, an entire 
 stranger, who gravely told her that he brought a letter 
 of introduction, and, with an insolent smile, handed 
 her an abusive and outrageous letter from a bitter 
 enemy of her husband. It was a demand for money, 
 a large sum, and coupled with threats that she would 
 be brought to ruin if it were not paid. She ordered 
 the man to leave the house, and he laughed at her. 
 She called for help, and the maid-servant was afraid 
 to go. She strove to run to the front door to call, but 
 he interposed and fairly dragged her back into the 
 parlor. Then she had fainted from fright and distress, 
 and when she came to, the terrified servant was with 
 her and the man and letter gone. Such was Mrs. 
 Morris s recital. 
 
 Hughes went around with Mrs. Morris to see her 
 after Sunday-school, and Mrs. Hughes, with compressed 
 lips, walked home alone. Mrs. Granger was re 
 clining on the lounge in her own room, lovely in her 
 dainty wrapper and in the pathetic pallor of her 
 face. 
 
 " It is so, so good of you to come to me, my friend," 
 she murmured, extending to him the soft white hand. 
 
360 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Mrs. Granger s way of holding forth her hand to the 
 men whom she was desirous of fascinating or whom 
 she had already enmeshed was something suggestive. 
 It so differed from the way in which it was ex 
 tended to a woman. She stretched forth her arm to 
 its full length, the white hand drooping from the 
 slender wrist, yet uplifted high, for all the world as 
 though to say " Take me to your lips." But Hughes 
 read no such invitation. His warning had come as he 
 stood in the face of God and his congregation that 
 very day. He had come only to comfort and advise. 
 His face was well-nigh as white as her s, for he had 
 been looking squarely at his sin. He had come to get a 
 complete description of her visitor, that he might set the 
 detectives on his track. But her account of him and that 
 given by the servant were decidedly conflicting. What 
 was more, she upbraided Mrs. Morris for speaking of 
 it. She begged that Mr. Hughes should take no steps. 
 She refused to send for and consult her lawyer. She 
 had been frightened ; she was nervous and unstrung, 
 she said ; but the rascal was gone, gone far away she 
 felt sure, baffled in his hopes of extracting money, and 
 would probably never trouble her again. A day or 
 two would make her perfectly well, she said, smiling 
 up into his eyes with sweet, sweet sadness and again 
 holding forth her hand. "But please, please say no 
 more, say nothing about it; I wish to forget it 
 utterly." 
 
 Yet late that Sunday night the lamps burned in her 
 room, as watchful eyes could see, and the very next 
 day Lieutenant Hollis, with trembling fingers and a 
 strange, puzzled look in his face, received a letter by 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 361 
 
 mail. He knew the superscription at once. It was 
 brief, but it stirred him to his very soul. 
 
 " If ever I needed your strong arm I need it now. 
 Distress, even danger, is about me on every side. In 
 all this world I have no one to turn to but you. Come 
 to me for God s sake ! 
 
 "MADELEINE G." 
 
 81 
 
362 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXV. 
 
 EVENTS came crowding thickly as the holidays 
 drew nigh. Mrs. Granger was looking paler than 
 before and more pathetic. " She had much to worry 
 her," explained Mrs. Morris, whose sympathy was 
 voluble. "She has been utterly misjudged and 
 wronged. People at the fort were bad enough, but 
 we expected it of them where the women were all 
 jealous of her; but I never thought that my friends 
 here in town would be so ready to turn upon her, as 
 it seems they are. What has she done ? Was there 
 anything strange in that a man so intellectual and 
 grand as Mr. Hughes should be glad of frequent 
 opportunity to meet and commune with a woman so 
 gifted as Mrs. Granger? Was it strange that she, a 
 woman who has been through such suffering and sor 
 row, whose faith was ebbing away, should eagerly 
 grasp the outstretched hand of a man so inspired as 
 our new rector ? Was it not only natural, but per 
 fectly right and proper, that she should welcome the 
 frequent visits of her spiritual pastor and master ? 
 Would anything have been thought of it had not Mrs. 
 Hughes been so young, so foolish, so jealous ; and had 
 not designing women, who wanted to stir up trouble, 
 gone to her with cruel stories and wormed her own 
 confidences out of her and made false deductions from 
 what she said, and spread abroad scandalous reports 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 363 
 
 she never for an instant would have authorized ?" 
 The fact that Mr. Hughes had visited Mrs. Granger 
 and administered spiritual consolation on three or four 
 occasions when Mrs. Hughes believed him to be pay 
 ing parochial calls on parties far less attractive, and 
 that she learned the truth from other lips than those 
 of her husband, had led to a storm of tears and re 
 proaches on the little woman s part ; and, though he 
 gravely and gently reproved her and told her that she 
 wronged him by her suspicion, the rector could not 
 improve her opinion of Mrs. Granger, and could not 
 justify the concealment to himself. It was true that 
 he had been to see the other parties, and had only spent 
 a few moments in serious but semi-confidential talk 
 with the fairest lamb of his flock, a lamb who was 
 quite as old as he, but had by no means ceased to skip. 
 It was true that of late he had been too absorbed and 
 occupied to tell his wife of all his troubles and doings 
 and visits in the glad, buoyant way in which he had 
 begun during the earlier days of their married life. 
 She was only a sweet-natured, simple-hearted, pure- 
 minded girl who loved him devotedly and utterly, and 
 wanted to be loved as absorbingly, even though she was 
 not his intellectual equal by any means. It was true 
 that he shrank from telling her of his visits to Mrs. 
 Granger, because she was unreasonably and absurdly 
 jealous of her and most unjustly suspicious of his 
 motives. It was enough for him that he was pure of 
 purpose, and that the fatherless and the widow, in one 
 person, stood sorely in need of his ministrations. But 
 now the matter had assumed proportions which were 
 becoming alarming. 
 
364 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 "Everybody is talking about it," sobbed Mrs. 
 Hughes, with pathetic and perhaps pardonable exagger 
 ation. " She makes trouble everywhere she goes and 
 always in this way. You re a man whom everybody 
 wants to know, everybody admires and respects and 
 looks up to, and she just craves your attention because 
 it flatters her vanity and makes people talk and makes 
 other people envious of her. I d-d-don t believe a 
 word about her needing your advice a-a-and help and 
 prayers at all ; that s only her way of luring you on 
 and making people see you are d-d -d -devoted to her." 
 
 In vain Hughes chided, soothed, pointed out to her 
 how uncharitable it all was. Mrs. Hughes was not 
 particularly brilliant, as had been said of her, but she 
 was determined, and, whatsoever the men might think, 
 it is to be feared that most of the women were so 
 prejudiced as to side with the minister s bonny little 
 wife against the major s beautiful widow. Many were 
 already giving the latter the cold shoulder, and Mrs. 
 Morris was not difficult as a means of filtering infor 
 mation. Mrs. Granger soon heard all about it. Need 
 less to say she suspected it before. 
 
 " I think, if you won t mind, dear Mr. Hughes, that 
 I will retire from the Christmas-tree committee," she 
 said to him that night, with downcast eyes. " Straws 
 show which way the wind blows, and all sorts of little 
 straws have blown my way lately. It it isn t that 
 I lack interest ; but I cannot consent to be in any one s 
 way. I will not involve you, who have been so kind 
 when most I needed kindness, in perplexity or trouble. 
 Don t ask me to tell you what I know," she said, look 
 ing up with the sweet, sad smile, that tearful smile 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 365 
 
 that so distracted the souls of men, " but I know I 
 am right. I know it will be for the best." 
 
 " Mrs. Granger !" he burst in, with unusual impetu 
 osity, " indeed I cannot consent " But she held forth 
 
 her lily-white hands both hands and checked him. 
 
 " No, no, dear friend. Let us not blame nor censure 
 nor bring further trouble. I am not angry. I think 
 perhaps had I been reared as most of these that I too 
 should have been narrow and easily moved to think ill 
 of my kind. I feel no rancor whatever, despite the 
 hard things some some women have said who knew 
 me, I once fondly hoped, far better. 77 
 
 " Who have spoken ill of you ? Of what have they 
 accused you ?" he demanded. 
 
 " Hush !" She raised her finger with a half-playful 
 gesture as though with that tapering digit she would 
 close his lips. " Hush ! Let us say no more. Some 
 day, perhaps, when I come again they will think more 
 kindly of me. It is a beautiful world after all, for 
 you have taught me where to look for strength and 
 comfort. I am glad if only for a time to have met 
 and known you." 
 
 " Only for a time ? Why, Mrs. Granger, you speak 
 as though you meant to go away at once, and I thought 
 you would stay until all this sad business of yours was 
 settled." 
 
 Again the sweet, sad smile. 
 
 " Ah, my friend, it is not I who will go, I have to 
 stay, but it is you who will feel compelled to discon 
 tinue these these prized visits. Mr. Hughes, tell me 
 truly, has not your wife upbraided you ?" 
 
 " My wife is young and little experienced in the ways 
 
 31* 
 
366 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 of the world, and she has been annoyed by injudicious 
 talk." 
 
 " Ah, I know, I know, and I had so hoped to keep 
 her friendship, she interested me so very much, but 
 lean see ; I can see how we have been misjudged. It 
 is hard to have to give up what is so much to me, but, 
 dear friend you are my friend? you will be what 
 ever happens?" 
 
 " How can you ask ? Always, always, Mrs. 
 Granger/ 7 he sturdily answered, as again the white 
 hands were extended to him, the fair head drooped 
 pathetically on that heaving bosom, and then, luckily 
 perhaps, Mrs. Morris came bustling down the stairs, 
 saying tea was ready and that Mr. Hughes really must 
 stay. But the minister was in no mood for muffins. 
 He was glad to take his hat and go. 
 
 The Christmas-tree committee was divided against 
 itself, and almost sure to fall. Mrs. Granger s with 
 drawal was announced with unnecessary emphasis by 
 Mrs. Morris, who plainly intimated that " some people 
 had been making remarks," which remark itself brought 
 on a general engagement. Mrs. Hughes went home 
 aghast. Here was something she had not contemplated 
 and knew not how to announce to her husband ; 
 but tell him she had to, and matters were not mended 
 by his grave reply that he had feared that the 
 unkind and undeserved remarks at Mrs. Granger s 
 expense would precipitate just such a catastrophe. Ah 
 me ! how many generals have we who could pick to 
 pieces another man s plan of campaign, yet never 
 succeed with one of their own ! How many doctors 
 have we who are potent in every malady but those 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 367 
 
 which are personal ! How many of our clergy are 
 ministers of grace indeed, spreading abroad the gospel 
 of peace with effort unflagging, but saving no leaf for 
 home consumption ! How many a man can regulate 
 the affairs of state, of commerce, of the world at large, 
 anything, but the tongue of his wife ! Mrs. Hughes 
 was sure she could have said nothing at all at which 
 Mrs. Granger should take offence. She even proposed 
 putting on her bonnet then and there and going around 
 and telling Mrs. Granger just what she had said, and, 
 believing it to be the speediest way to end the war, the 
 rector opposed no objection. Mrs. Hughes pluckily 
 went, but the interview never took place. Mrs. 
 Granger received her instantly, even sweetly, and 
 presented a tall young officer whom Mrs. Hughes had 
 occasionally seen at the fort or on horseback in the 
 streets, a man whose name she perfectly well knew, but 
 had least expected to encounter there, Mr. Ho 11 is. 
 
 Two or three people had already commented on the 
 fact that this young gentleman had suddenly renewed 
 his visits to the lady whom for months he had seemed 
 entirely to shun, and there were evidences of preoccu 
 pation in his manner and of agitation in hers at this 
 very moment. Mrs. Hughes was pleasantly welcomed, 
 though constrainedly, by Mrs. Morris. Then who 
 should arrive but Mr. Leavitt, Lawyer Leavitt, as they 
 termed him locally, and the lawyer and the soldier 
 shook hands somewhat grimly, she thought, and then 
 she found there was a consultation of some kind going 
 on, and, without a word upon the subject to Mrs. 
 Morris, the rector s wife made her adieux. That ended 
 the effort. 
 
368 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Meantime there had been what Mr. Wilkins pro 
 nounced the " quarest" row they ever had at the fort. 
 It was principally remarkable, or, as Wilkins called 
 it, " quare," because of the fact that Mrs. Wilkins was 
 not in it. She had the facts at her fingers ends, how 
 ever, and, somewhat in the inverse order of their 
 occurrence, they were simply these. 
 
 Colonel Atherton said that the girls Mina and Annie 
 must leave the garrison forthwith. They were given 
 half a day in which to pack up and go. Captain 
 Turner had had the wool pulled over his eyes for the 
 fiftieth time by his pretty wife, and Mina had been 
 given a harbor under his roof at the intercession of 
 Mrs. Turner after she had been summarily discharged 
 by the Heaths. Mrs. Heath was a woman who hated 
 gossip as much as Mrs. Turner seemed to love it. She 
 traced a new story about Mrs. Granger and Mr. Hollis 
 back through Mrs. Gregg to Mrs. Turner (who pro 
 tested she had never believed a word of it, and never 
 would have mentioned it for the world if she had 
 known it would have been repeated), and, through 
 Mrs. Turner to her own back door, as Mrs. Heath 
 already suspected, and there to Mina. In ten minutes 
 Mina was weeping in Mrs. Turner s kitchen and 
 telling there her woful story of injustice and wrong. 
 She had been discharged forthwith. Mrs. Turner 
 considered Mrs. Heath s action a reflection on her own 
 conduct. She had one servant and really needed no 
 more ; but that evening she convinced Turner that 
 household work was breaking her down. He promptly 
 offered to go in town and advertise for additional help. 
 Then Mrs. Turner said she wanted Mina, a smart, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 369 
 
 capable girl, of whom Mrs. Heath had spoken in 
 very high terms, but Mina had determined a month 
 ago that she could not get along with Mrs. Heath. 
 Mrs. Heath was very exacting and the children a great 
 care. Mina never could get along with children. 
 Turner told his wife that if Mrs. Heath were entirely 
 willing to let the girl go he would not interpose objec 
 tion. " Only," said he, dubiously, " she used to talk 
 so much." 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Heath s perfectly willing," interrupted 
 Mrs. Turner. " What she wants in a girl is entirely 
 different from what I want." And even in making it 
 Mrs. Turner little realized the truth of that statement. 
 But Mina was no sooner lodged under the new roof 
 than she exulted in her triumph and boasted herself 
 accordingly. Both Mr. and Mrs. Heath thought it 
 utterly improper that a girl discharged by them for 
 being the inventor of scandalous stories should be at 
 once taken up by another family ; but they said nothing 
 on the subject. Accidentally, however, the ladies met 
 and a spirited controversy occurred, though Mrs. Heath 
 kept her tongue and temper under excellent control. 
 Wilkius got hold of the matter in some way the 
 usual way, presumably just as Hollis came back from 
 town, flushed and excited from a visit, the object of 
 which he mentioned to no one, the visit made in 
 compliance with her note ; and Wilkins told Hollis, 
 "just to devil him" as he expressed it, of the story 
 afloat, and of Mrs. Turner s having harbored the girl 
 whom the Heaths had so promptly discharged. Hollis 
 was full of wrath and perturbation. He went at once 
 to the colonel with the whole story. The colonel ques- 
 y 
 
370 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 tioned Turner and Heath, told Turner the facts in the 
 case, and poor Turner left the office with a face sadder, 
 sallower, older than ever, to say to his wife that he 
 knew she had deceived him again. Mrs. Turner, as 
 was customary on such occasions, took refuge in com 
 plete prostration and bed. 
 
 But before the stage called for Mina and her trunk 
 that young woman had unloaded the whole responsi 
 bility for the tale on her friend Annie s shoulders, 
 Annie, who had lived with the Grangers and knew 
 whereof she spoke ; and, so far from denying this, 
 Annie sullenly admitted that she had told Mina, and 
 with reason. She left the garrison with the other tale 
 bearer and some outspoken maledictions, and then went 
 straight to Mrs. Granger when she got to town. 
 
 Two days afterwards Mr. Hollis took the Black 
 Hills stage, a seven days leave having been granted 
 him on account of urgent personal business. Every 
 body at the post supposed he had taken the east-bound 
 train. Even the colonel was amazed when old " Black 
 Bill," coming down from an inspecting tour, blurted 
 out, 
 
 " I saw Hollis at Hat Creek. What in blazes is he 
 doing up that way?" 
 
 But there was consternation at Russell in another 
 day when the next news came. 
 
 " CANTONMENT ON THE PORCUPINE, December 20, 187-. 
 " COMMANDING OFFICER 
 
 " TH CAVALRY, FORT RUSSELL : 
 
 "Lieutenant Hollis shot by desperadoes at Custer 
 City. Have captured deserter Howell. 
 
 (Signed) " BUXTON." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 371 
 
 As a result of further interchange of telegrams, 
 Colonel Atherton decided that his assistant surgeon 
 could be spared to go up at once. Blake wired Bil 
 lings that Hollis s condition was alarming, and that the 
 contract doctor with them was nervous. He was a 
 very young practitioner, and this was his first experi 
 ence with gunshot wounds, proof positive that he had 
 lived but little of his life on the frontier. Authority 
 was quickly obtained to send Doctor Grimes to the 
 scene, and Grimes wired to town to secure a seat in the 
 Black Hills stage. In three hours he was away ; and 
 his surprise was indeed extreme to find among his fel 
 low-passengers Lawyer Leavitt, Mrs. Granger, and the 
 recently-discharged servant, Annie. 
 
372 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THEKE had been a week of clear, cold weather, fol 
 lowing upon the heels of a snow-fall that had mantled 
 the broad valley of the South Cheyenne in glistening 
 white. Far over to the north and west, where lay the 
 Black Hills of Dakota, only the gloomy forests of 
 pine, clustering thick along the hill-sides, remained to 
 warrant the sombre name given to the range by savage 
 warriors many a generation before. All the valleys 
 were deeply drifted, all the bleak hill-sides thickly 
 coated ; and here on the southward slope, in the shel 
 tered rift where the Porcupine gurgled along under its 
 double coat of ice and snow, the log huts of the can 
 tonment were banked to their very eaves, and the 
 Indian lodges, farther down the stream, peeped from 
 the white coverlet with all their dirt and squalor inten 
 sified by the contrast. Cavalry horses stood in comfort 
 under the improvised shelter of logs, brush, and pine 
 boughs, and waxed fat and soft and lazy and more and 
 more unfit for work so sure to come with the spring. 
 But the Indian ponies, hardy and half-starved, lived 
 their customary out-of-door life, and seemed just as 
 ready for devilment of any kind as their dawdling, 
 frowzy masters. 
 
 And here in the utter isolation of his life, shut off 
 from companionship of almost every kind, for his 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 373 
 
 junior, Royce, had gone on leave, and Buxtofl, his 
 senior, he never liked at all, Gerald Blake was serving 
 his self-imposed sentence. Here Buxton ate, slept, 
 growled, and swore, rarely, if ever, getting into saddle 
 even when the weather was fine and the gray, frost- 
 rimed, springy tuft seemed to invite horse and rider 
 to vigorous gallop. Here, with the weekly coming of 
 the mail for his sole diversion, the senior alternately 
 marvelled and sneered at the fact that Blake had no 
 complaints to make, no favors to ask except that of an 
 occasional hunting-trip over in the Hills. Elk, bear, 
 and black-tailed deer were to be had for the searching, 
 and Blake, at least once a fortnight, would slip away 
 with Hogan, his faithful henchman, and a brace of 
 Ogallalla guides ; take abundant robes, blankets, and 
 provender along on the Indian travois, and spend three or 
 four days hunting among the very valleys where, in the 
 autumn of the previous year, full of high hope, health, 
 and spirits, he had come to meet the regiment on its 
 return from the campaign, he and Tommy Hollis, 
 who had not spoken to him, except when compelled to 
 on duty, since their reappearance at Russell in Octo 
 ber, Tommy whom he now knew he had outrageously 
 wronged. 
 
 And on whose account and in what a cause? 
 
 Blake would hunt from dawn to nightfall, clamber 
 ing resolutely among those silent hills, following his 
 crouching, cat-like guides. He would purposely wear 
 himself out, physically, that sleep might soothe him 
 in the long watches of the night. Yet many an hour 
 he lay silent, suffering heaven only knows what sor 
 rows, living over the months of that mad relapse into 
 
 32 
 
374 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 the old infatuation, realizing at last how she had lured 
 and reconquered him, knowing how false she had been, 
 how reckless of his honor and good name, how utterly 
 cold-blooded and selfish. The sight of the originals 
 of those despatches which he obtained at the Denver 
 office after that last interview with her, was all that was 
 needed to prove to him how recreant she had been to 
 her trust, how faithless to her promise and to him. 
 When he sent that final note and her package of letters, 
 he had told her in terms that were positive, even 
 blunt, that never again, willingly, would he set eyes 
 on her, and when she, spurred thereby to a descent 
 upon his defences, was announced as coming at once to 
 Cheyenne, he bethought him of Saint Anthony and " the 
 sweet blue eyes" even the ascetic dare not encounter, 
 and fled to the very wilds of the West, where by no 
 possibility, thought he, could she follow him. 
 
 One starlit, silent night, when hardly a breath of 
 air stirred the branches overhead, he lay with his 
 moccasined feet outstretched to the camp-fire, thinking 
 of the last night he had spent on this very spot. That 
 was the night that he was boot-bombarded out of the 
 camp of the th, and had run, laughing, breathless, 
 all fun and jollity, to the little fire where Stannard, 
 Truscott, and Ray were still quietly chatting, and had 
 there heard, as though in prophecy, of the order that 
 would bring him face to face with the woman who had 
 tricked him long years ago. He recalled all the reso 
 lutions made on the homeward march and, with bitter, 
 bitter humiliation, how one and all had been under 
 mined and blown into thin air. He wondered whether 
 Hollis were now enjoying the field abandoned to his use, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 375 
 
 basking in her smiles and becoming every day more 
 and more entangled in the web she knew so well how 
 to weave. He could do Tommy a genuine service now 
 by putting him on his guard, but he knew perfectly 
 well ToPimy would not be put. Did not Ray, did not 
 Mrs. Wilkins try to do the same by him all through 
 the winter and spring, and had not he scouted their 
 warnings as prejudiced and unjust, even in face of 
 all her base betrayal of him so many years before? 
 How he wished there were some way, however, in 
 which Hollis s passion-blinded eyes might be opened 
 to the real character of the woman ! How he wished 
 that there were only some way, some way in which to 
 make amends to him for the brutal wrong he had done 
 him so short a time ago ! 
 
 And now the moon came peeping over the eastward 
 heights and throwing the shadows of the pines, black, 
 rigid, and unbending, upon the silvery surface of the 
 opposite slopes. How cold and still the face of the 
 wintry night ! How pure and calm ! How passionless 
 and serene, yet how dazzling in radiance ! The fever 
 and turmoil in his breast, the gnawing pain at heart, as 
 though shamed by the peace of all surrounding nature, 
 seemed at last sinking into slumber. Close at hand, 
 under the pines, the horses were drowsing. Hogan, 
 soundest of sleepers, lay at the opposite side of the fire ; 
 beyond him the Indian guides and their shaggy dogs. 
 It was one of these that suddenly lifted up a sulky head 
 and began to growl. In an instant its companion was 
 on its feet and both were snarling and alert. Blake 
 listened for the sound of snapping twigs to account for 
 their warning, but for a moment all was still ; then, 
 
376 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 however, came the challenge of a chorus of angry 
 barks. The Indians huddled out of their blankets and, 
 crouching, peered across the shining valley, then 
 eagerly signalled to Blake. The next instant there 
 came the muffled sound of cantering hoofs, and before 
 Blake could rise to his feet a horseman reined up close 
 at hand with cheery, confident hail. 
 
 " Can any of you gentlemen tell me the quickest 
 way to Ouster ? Fve got off the trail somehow." 
 And there, the moonlight beaming on his genial, kindly 
 face, sat Tommy Hollis. For an instant there was no 
 reply. Blake was slowly finding himself; Hogan was 
 only beginning to wake ; the Indians, of course, said 
 not a word. " Fm sorry to disturb you," went on the 
 speaker, whose horse glanced wistfully about as though 
 hopeful of rest and supper. " But perhaps it was your 
 trail I followed instead of the road. Our stage was stalled 
 down towards the Gap, first one that tried to come 
 through, you know, since the storm, and I had an en 
 gagement at Ouster, and hired this plug and came ahead. 
 Knew you must be white men when I saw the tent." 
 By this time Blake stood erect : 
 "It is I, Hollis; don t you know me?" 
 " Blake !" was the answer, low-toned, amazed, even 
 angry. 
 
 " Yes, Blake. The last man you expected to see, 
 perhaps. Certainly, I never thought to see you ; yet 
 it is of you I have been thinking for an hour past. 
 Dismount, won t you ?" 
 
 " No," answered Hollis, with cold constraint, as he 
 reined back. " No, I am due at Ouster now, and wish 
 to go on ahead. You can direct me, I suppose ?" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 377 
 
 " Yes ; but, Hollis, it s a good ten miles from here, 
 the trail is deep in snow, and I want to speak with 
 you more than any man I know/ 7 
 
 " I think I know what you wish to say/ was the 
 cold reply, u and I may as well tell you that there s no 
 man I care less to speak to at all." 
 
 " For heaven s sake, Hollis, don t let us both be 
 fools ! I was, and I wronged you brutally ; but in 
 sackcloth and ashes have I mourned it ever since. 
 Don t deny me the right to make amends." 
 
 " It isn t that," said Hollis, slowly. " If that were 
 all I would have forgotten it by this time. I m not 
 the man to bear malice for open attack. That account 
 was squared long ago. It is the stab in the dark 
 the assault one can never be prepared to meet that I 
 hate in any man." 
 
 " What on earth do you mean, Hollis ? Of what 
 do you accuse me? I swear I never wronged you in 
 my life, knowingly, except in that one thing." 
 
 " You did, Blake ; you wronged me in the meanest 
 way one man can wrong another," answered Hollis, his 
 white face twitching with emotion. " The man who 
 intrigues against another and fills the ears of a woman 
 with contemptible lies, teaches her to believe all 
 manner of ill of him, and breaks off a long-standing 
 friendship " 
 
 "Hush!" said Blake, uplifting his hand. "Come 
 here to one side. Lie down, Hogan, we shan t need 
 you. Down, you two," he motioned to the Indians. 
 Then, his hand on the bridle-rein, Blake turned as if to 
 lead the horse away, but Hollis angrily jerked it loose. 
 
 "It s useless, Blake; I have heard the whole story 
 32* 
 
378 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 from her lips within the past week. You took ad 
 vantage of my absence last spring to sow seeds of dis 
 trust by hints and insinuations. You found she wrote 
 to me later, and then you began systematically to paint 
 me a villain in her sight. When you found her stanch 
 in her friendship, then you dared to tell her I bragged of 
 my intimacy with her and exhibited her letters " 
 
 " Stop, man ! Who told you this, and when ?" 
 
 " Who ? The woman you insulted at Denver. The 
 woman you strove to ruin because she refused to marry 
 you. The woman whom you estranged from me until 
 this last week, by God ! when she gave me all the 
 details of your infernal " 
 
 " That s enough, Hollis. Go no further. Do you 
 mean that Mrs. Granger told you this of me? Do 
 you mean that you believe it ?" 
 
 " Believe it ? She has yet, and offered to show me 
 when I was fool enough to doubt at first the very 
 words in which you sneered at me. But for dragging 
 her name into misery, by God ! you or I would have 
 to quit this regiment or this world. Stand aside and 
 let me go I" 
 
 White, almost, as the snow at his feet, Blake stood 
 there silently looking up into the furious face of the 
 younger man who had lashed himself into this torrent of 
 passion. For an instant he did not speak, then, as an 
 impatient gesture warned him Hollis meant to break 
 away, he stepped quickly to his side. 
 
 " Listen to me, man !" he said. " As God is my 
 judge, and as I stand here at your side, I say to you 
 that never have I spoken, never have I written one 
 word to blacken your name in her sight. I tell you 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 379 
 
 solemnly, Hollis, she is tricking you as she has twice 
 utterly played false to me." 
 
 But Holl is would hear no more. A fierce cry to 
 his horse, a savage dig with the spur, and he had 
 whirled about and gone lunging back along the trail, 
 the way he came, braving the solitude, the wintry 
 wastes, the snow-shrouded trails of the desolate hills, 
 rather than stay one instant longer and hear her name 
 defiled, her word derided. 
 
 " Follow the lieutenant," said Blake to Hogan, as 
 soon as he could recover himself. " Start him on the 
 Ouster trail, he cannot miss it in this moonlight; 
 and then come back." 
 
 But there was no more sleep for Blake that night. 
 It was barely eight o clock when Hollis rode rnadly 
 away. It was barely dawn when the furious bark 
 ing of the dogs announced the sudden coming of a 
 stranger, a stalwart frontiersman, who rode straight to 
 the fire. 
 
 " Lieutenant Blake here ?" he said. " Your friend, 
 Lieutenant Hollis, had a shooting-match with Dick 
 Brooks at the stage-house a few hours ago, and I m 
 going for the doctor over at the cantonment. He told 
 me you were here. I reckon he s a goner, but he s a 
 plucky one. Brooks s winged." 
 
 Three hours more and Blake was bending over the 
 rude bed on which lay his visitor of the previous 
 night, while a sheriff s officer stood guard, with Hogan 
 in reserve, at the hut where Mr. Brooks was submit 
 ting to the dressing of his wounds, never knowing that 
 he had been recognized at once as the deserter and 
 escaped prisoner, Howell. 
 
380 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 There were but few witnesses who could throw the 
 faintest light upon the affray. The proprietor of the 
 rude hotel at the stage station knew neither party, and 
 could only say that the man called Brooks had come 
 down from the direction of Rapid City the day pre 
 vious, accompanied by another stranger. They had 
 stabled their horses and strolled about the place ; that 
 Brooks was annoyed when told that there was little or 
 no chance of the stage coming up from the south on 
 account of the heavy drifts, and had fidgeted about the 
 premises until quite late at night, and then had gone 
 reluctantly to the room assigned him, while his com 
 panion wandered over to the " faro layout" across the 
 street. 
 
 "Just about eleven o clock this other gentleman," 
 said the host, " rode in from the south and put up his 
 horse ; he said he had had a hard time getting across the 
 range, and immediately inquired if any one was waiting 
 for him, a man named Baker, and just then this man 
 Brooks came in from the room he had at the back of 
 the house, and the two stood and looked at each other 
 a moment without saying a word ; then the new-comer 
 spoke slowly : i I m looking for a man named Baker, 
 but it seems to me Fve seen you somewhere before. 
 * You ve never seen me that I know of/ said Brooks, 
 who is a thick-set fellow with a sandy beard, and I 
 don t know who you are ; but I was to meet a gentle 
 man from Cheyenne. Your name is ? My name 
 
 is Hollis. Suppose we step outside into the moon 
 light where we can talk quietly. And so they had 
 gone. It didn t seem more than five minutes," said 
 the landlord, " before the pistols began to crack." He 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 381 
 
 peeped out to see who was shooting this time, and there 
 were the two strangers, the tall young fellow following 
 up the burly one, who was dodging and firing and 
 falling back. The men came tumbling out from the 
 faro game when they heard the shots, and just then 
 the heavy man, Brooks, stumbled over something and 
 fell full length, and his pistol was hurled away, and 
 what does the young fellow do but throw away his too, 
 and then make a spring and grab the fallen one at the 
 throat. Just then the man that came in with Brooks 
 ran across the street, put his pistol close to the young 
 gentleman s side and fired. " Shot him from behind, 
 by God !" said the landlord, " and that was the end of 
 it. We lifted him up and carried him in here, and 
 some of the boys led Brooks, or Baker, whatever his 
 name is, away, and the next I knew some one came and 
 said the fellow who shot the lieutenant had gone 
 away saddled his horse and skipped. Mr. Hollis 
 was himself long enough to tell us who he was and 
 where to send for the surgeon and where to find you," 
 said he, addressing Blake. " And the boys they just 
 made up their minds Brooks shouldn t leave, though 
 he tried to go as soon as he heard the soldiers were 
 coming." 
 
 Such was the proprietor s story to Blake, who, in 
 sore distress, returned to the bedside, where Hollis lay 
 moaning and unconscious. 
 
 Already the fever seemed setting in. Another mes 
 senger was sent on the trail of the first with a note to 
 Buxton, giving in brief these details, and stating that 
 Hogan had recognized in Brooks the man Howell who 
 broke jail at Russell, where he had been arrested as a 
 
382 CAPTAIN .BLAKE. 
 
 deserter. Buxton, as has been seen, lost no time in 
 wiring the news, but it was late at night before the 
 young doctor reached the scene, and by that time 
 Hollis had been some twenty-four hours with only 
 such surgery as Blake and the Black Killers could 
 devise. After all, they were not more distressed and 
 worried than was the professional. The wound had 
 been bandaged and the flow of blood checked before 
 even Blake arrived, and in the feverish state of the 
 patient the doctor dare not attempt to probe for the 
 bullet. He eagerly assented to Blake s suggestion that 
 they telegraph to Laramie or Russell for a surgeon. 
 A sergeant and four men had come with orders to 
 arrest Ho well and convey him to the cantonment, but 
 by this time Howell was himself very weak from loss 
 of blood, for Hollis had shot him through the right 
 arm and thigh, and in a condition of physical and 
 mental excitement that alarmed the doctor and led to 
 his declaring it might be death to the prisoner to move 
 him at all. By this time, too, he knew that he was 
 under guard, and had begged to see Lieutenant Blake ; 
 but Blake would not leave the bedside of his comrade. 
 Then Brooks dictated a dispatch to be sent to Chey 
 enne, and it went almost as soon as that from Buxton, 
 which had to be carried a score of miles by courier be 
 fore reaching a telegraph station. 
 
 It was to Mrs. Granger, care of Banker Morris, 
 Cheyenne. 
 
 " Betrayed and shot by your agent. Money needed 
 at Custer instantly, or the truth will out. Send Annie 
 with it. 
 
 " Signed, R. BROOKS." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 383 
 
 Even as Mrs. Granger, with staring eyes, was reading 
 this despatch, in came, breathless, Mrs. Morris with the 
 news that Tommy Hollis had been shot dead by des 
 peradoes in the Hills.* The effect of the double an 
 nouncement was immediate. She gasped, stared wildly 
 at her friend an instant, clutched at the empty air and 
 fainted away. Revived by Mrs. Morris s skillful min 
 istrations, she had been assisted to her room, whither in 
 ten minutes Leavitt was summoned to her presence ; and 
 then, amid tears and ejaculations and tragic wringing 
 of hands and parading up and down the floor, she con 
 fided to him a story that he never even faintly suspected 
 before, and that made his gloomy face grow black. 
 Like almost every other man who had come under the 
 influence of his client s fascinations, the lawyer had 
 begun to feel a sentimental interest in the lovely widow. 
 It was too late, perhaps, to save her from the conse 
 quences of so important a concealment from her pro 
 fessional adviser ; but, as he left the house to make his 
 hurried preparations, he devoutly thanked heaven it was 
 not too late to save himself. 
 
 " There is but one thing to do," he had gravely, 
 even sternly, told her : " we must reach him before 
 before he is gone. Where can that girl Annie be 
 found?" 
 
384 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 " You have but a few hours to live, Brooks ; the 
 doctors bid me tell you so. It is useless for you to 
 hope. Tell the truth now. You have sworn all 
 along that your sister was still alive. Where is she ?" 
 
 It was Leavitt who spoke, and the cold, measured 
 words fell like a sentence upon the wretch who lay 
 clutching at the bed-clothes and glaring at the solemn 
 faces grouped about him. The sheriff stood at the 
 door-way ; Doctor Grimes was at the foot of the bed, 
 closely scanning the patient s twitching face ; the girl 
 Annie, a comely young woman, was kneeling and 
 holding the fevered head upon her arm, glancing ner 
 vously around from face to face, her eyes red and 
 swollen from excessive weeping. 
 
 Brooks turned piteously to Grimes. For three days 
 the wounded man had furiously raged at any one who 
 suggested the faintest possibility of a fatal termina 
 tion to the case. All along, since the high fever first 
 asserted itself, the younger physician had seemed grave 
 and anxious ; and when Grimes arrived and could 
 spare a little time from his proper patient, the con 
 dition of Brooks was almost definitely settled, both 
 doctors feared blood-poisoning. Annie had been ad 
 mitted to the room immediately upon her arrival, and 
 had thrown herself weeping upon her knees, clasping 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 the stricken man s hand in her own and calling him 
 husband. They would not take her away ; indeed, 
 Brooks seemed somewhat soothed by her presence, 
 though at first he peevishly rebuked her tears and 
 stoutly assured her he would soon be up and well. 
 Leavitt was later accorded a private interview with 
 him, which left the patient more fretful and feverish, 
 even furious with anger. Loudly he maintained that 
 all he had told Mrs. Granger was true and she knew 
 it, and Mrs. Granger was too much prostrated by 
 the fatigue of her long journey by stage to approach 
 him at all, unless, perchance, he had a different story 
 to tell. 
 
 When warned that he was disbelieved, and when it 
 was first intimated to him that he might not recover, 
 he called them liars and robbers ; he refused to believe 
 there was danger ; refused to modify his statement in 
 the least. The terrible whip he had held over the 
 head of Granger for years had only been partially 
 conjectured, and now, as revealed to Leavitt after vigor 
 ous cross-questioning of Mrs. Granger, of Brooks and 
 Annie, was practically as follows : Years before, while 
 stationed in the South, Granger had married the sister 
 of this very clerk ; it was a secret marriage ; it was 
 not entirely a voluntary affair on Granger s part; it 
 was followed by strife and misery and sin. She re 
 mained there a pensioner when he came away, and 
 there Granger s spies were left to watch her. As the 
 price of his own silence, Brooks demanded and got 
 through Granger s influence a clerkship, which soon 
 took him North. While he was away ample proof 
 was furnished the major of the infidelity of the woman 
 R z 83 
 
386 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 who was entitled to bear his name; but before he 
 could cast her off through the courts she had vanished 
 from the scene, and the next thing that came was the 
 well-authenticated report of her death. Few people 
 knew anything of the marriage. Her sudden demise 
 had brought him release without the scandal and pub 
 licity of legal proceedings, and now, doubly-freed, 
 Granger soon met and eagerly paid his court to Made 
 leine Torrance, and almost the first man he encoun 
 tered on his transfer to the West was this same clerk, 
 destitute and dissipated, but armed with letters proving 
 Mrs. Granger the first to be still alive, her own let 
 ters written within the month. 
 
 Granger was simply appalled. He loved after his 
 fashion the beautiful woman whom he had so proudly 
 introduced as his wife ; he rejoiced in the attention she 
 received, even though he soon grew madly jealous of 
 more than one of her admirers. By this time he had 
 learned all the old story of her engagement to Blake, 
 though she had laughed it off as a school-girl affair. 
 But, in some way, she had gradually become acquainted 
 with many of the rumors with regard to his past life, 
 both personal and official. What maddened him was 
 the consciousness that she not only cared nothing for 
 him, but had openly told him that she held him in 
 contempt. The story of their occasional quarrels and 
 of his having struck her were founded on fact, though 
 only on one occasion had he ever been goaded into a 
 blow. Brooks demanded for himself employment at 
 the depot, and for his sister the payment through him 
 of a certain sum of money every month. She had run 
 away from New Orleans with her lover when con- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 387 
 
 vinced that her crime was known, and Brooks assured 
 the major she had lived with that party several years 
 until his sudden death left her penniless. She had 
 eagerly lent herself to the plan of deceiving her hus 
 band by the story of her death. She really loved the 
 young Southerner who had tempted her away ; indeed, 
 she had been on the point of marrying him at the out 
 break of the Rebellion, when a lover s quarrel inter 
 posed, and in a huff he enlisted in the Tigers and 
 went with Dick Taylor s brigade to the Shenandoah 
 Valley. After the occupation of New Orleans by the 
 Union forces, she and her mother were left without 
 means or protection. Brooks, the brother, was in the 
 Confederate service as a junior officer, but was captured 
 at Fort St. Philip, and, being smart and unscrupulous, 
 gave his parole not to serve again with the gray 
 battalions, where he had every chance of being killed, 
 but in a more practical way he took up arms against 
 the United States as an understrapper in the great sup 
 ply depot in New Orleans, where a man of his knowl 
 edge and address could find abundant opportunity of 
 despoiling the Egyptians. The sister was then in the 
 heyday of her attractions, dark, vivacious, wild as a 
 hawk, and perfectly willing to accept the attentions 
 Granger and others lavished upon her, since they were 
 accompanied by reckless expenditure of money at 
 her capricious will. All through the war the major 
 was stationed in the Crescent City, was married to her 
 late in 64, six months before the surrender at Ap- 
 pomattox, and not long before the return of the lover of 
 her girlhood days. The latter would have scorned and 
 avoided her, but this was a case where not man, but 
 
388 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 woman, proposed. She and Granger had quarrelled 
 from the start. He had lavished money on her when 
 she was free to choose, but denied it now that she was 
 bound. When summoned North he left her to her 
 own devices, and was in nowise surprised at her de 
 fection. He thanked God as piously as he knew how 
 when he heard she was dead, and now he was aghast, 
 for Brooks coolly told him she would indeed have left 
 him unmolested forever if her lover had lived ; but 
 after several blissful years in Texas the ex-Confederate 
 captain had suddenly died, leaving her with three 
 children, but otherwise destitute. " She empowers me 
 to say that her silence can be bought," said Brooks to 
 Granger, and named the terms. 
 
 And with this mill-stone about his neck, Granger 
 lived his first year at the depot, while Brooks was be 
 having so outrageously that the major s name was con 
 stantly being involved. Every " rounder 7 in Cheyenne 
 knew that month after month Brooks was spending 
 much more than double his pay. It became evident 
 that he was not only embezzling the money paid for his 
 sister, but that he had still other sources of supply. 
 Granger had already detected him in selling forage and 
 other property to freighting and cattle " outfits." At 
 last, after a violent quarrel with Mrs. Granger, and 
 nerved to desperation, the major had summarily dis 
 charged the fellow and dared him to do his worst, 
 simply assuring him that he would kill him if he 
 showed his face around the depot again, and then blow 
 his own brains out if he found that the scoundrel had 
 betrayed him. As this latter course would effectually 
 cut off his main source of revenue, Brooks was indeed 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 389 
 
 alarmed. He implored his brother-in-law not to punish 
 him, and then offered for a large sum in cash to sur 
 render his sister s letters; Granger refused, shrewdly 
 asking what was the use, since Brooks could easily 
 supply himself with others just like those already 
 exhibited. 
 
 Meantime the girl Annie had come to live at the 
 depot in the Grangers household. She was young, 
 good-looking, giddy, and Brooks saw that she might be 
 made very useful. He made love to her ; had secret 
 meetings with her in the dark shadows of the great 
 deserted buildings after her evening work was done. 
 She was soon completely fascinated, despite the fact that 
 Grimsby, the Englishman, had been paying her quite 
 devoted attention and had offered marriage. Annie was 
 a born gossip and chatter-box, but no fool. Brooks 
 actually became enamored of her comely face and 
 form ; but not until a civil magistrate had sealed the 
 compact would she be further deluded. Then, though 
 he soon began to neglect and ill-treat her, she was 
 loyally obedient to his every wish, except perhaps when 
 chatting with her half-sister Mina, when the passion 
 for gossip and the possession of startling and sen 
 sational topics overcame her sense of duty ; but even 
 from Mina she concealed the fact of her alliance with 
 Brooks. 
 
 Finding, at last, that he had gone too far ; that 
 Granger, maddened, hounded, bled, blackmailed, was 
 now so desperate that at any moment he might indeed 
 precipitate a catastrophe, expose him as a thief and 
 forger which he readily could do and possibly blow 
 his own brains out, Brooks played his last card. 
 
 33* 
 
390 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Granger dared him to produce his sister, and refused to 
 furnish more money until he did. It was useless to 
 attempt to bleed him further, but there was Mrs. 
 Granger. He began by anonymous letters, which 
 Annie left where her mistress must find them. Then 
 he ventured to the depot one night when he knew 
 Granger to be in town, and the moment her visitors 
 had departed demanded audience, and boldly told her 
 that she must secure his restoration to his position as 
 clerk and her husband s assurance that he should not 
 be prosecuted, or she was a ruined woman. Mrs. 
 Granger was both angered and agitated at first, but 
 speedily grew calm, and even interested, when it ap 
 peared that it was not her honor he threatened to 
 undermine, but her husband s. He told of the proofs 
 he had of the major s peculations in the South. She 
 treated him with cool contempt : " All that was in 
 vestigated, sir, and he was acquitted." At last, furious 
 at her calm and his own failure, Brooks burst forth 
 with the announcement that she was not even Granger s 
 wife. Here, too, he failed. She was now calm, cold, 
 and contemptuous. He referred possibly to the fact 
 that Major Granger had had some absurd connection 
 with some obscure woman in New Orleans during the 
 war days ; she knew all about that. " The woman was 
 my sister," was the next announcement of Brooks, " and 
 I witnessed the marriage, as did others who are still 
 alive." But even now Mrs. Granger did not wince. 
 
 "That is of no especial importance," said she; 
 "this-er lady died long years ago." 
 
 " Your husband lied to you," said Brooks. " He 
 knew all along she was alive; to this very day she is 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 391 
 
 his pensioner, lie her sole support/ Then indeed Mrs. 
 Granger had gasped and clutched her chair. 
 
 " That is false, every word of it," was her answer. 
 
 " It is true, every syllable," was his. " Here are 
 letters from her, written this very year. In ten days, 
 yes, in six, I can produce her in Cheyenne, and with 
 his child." 
 
 Then of a sudden the major s voice was heard with 
 out. Brooks stripped three letters from a package he 
 took from his pocket : " Read these," he said. i( I 
 will be here to-morrow night for your answer." 
 
 But before the morrow night came there was a 
 gambling row in town, and Brooks, ex-clerk, was borne 
 away by his friends to the Cache la Poudre, while a 
 coroner s jury sat on the other party to the row, and 
 this time brought in a square verdict. The victim was 
 a popular gambler ; the victor, the aggressor in the 
 fight, was regarded with deep disfavor. Having lost his 
 position under the government, he was not now a use 
 ful member of society. Fuel and forage and other 
 such things no longer were attainable at rates far 
 below the market quotations. The jury found the 
 deceased came to his death at the hands of Brooks, 
 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. 
 
 " I was shot then twice as bad as I am this time," 
 raved Brooks, as he told of this episode, " and I got 
 well in a few weeks, just as I ll get well now; only, 
 damn those soldiers who swore I was a deserter. I 
 wasn t. I did go to the Pacific coast and wrote to 
 Granger from there, and he sent me money for nearly a 
 year provided I d stay away ; but I was fool enough to 
 go back. I heard that fellow Grimsby was making up 
 
392 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 to Annie again, and I went and I got there to the 
 depot that night it blew so horribly, and, sure enough, 
 there was Grimsby sitting in the kitchen with her and 
 making eyes at her until I was mad enough to shoot 
 him. I watched until he came out, then tackled him 
 at the barn and nearly choked him to death before he 
 could beg. Then he swore that he thought I was 
 dead ; that he meant honestly by her ; that Mrs. 
 Granger had brought other servants from the East 
 and tried to get rid of Annie, but that he had in 
 duced Mrs. Granger to take Annie back, but that 
 Annie must have known all along I was alive and 
 she had played me false. There was a gentleman at 
 the fort had taken a fancy to her, Grimsby said, a 
 tall, fine-looking fellow, a Lieutenant Hollis, and he 
 made her presents and came to see her evenings when 
 Granger or his wife and Martha, the other girl, were 
 away ; she let him know when she d be alone." 
 
 Brooks knew the lieutenant by sight, since Hollis 
 came to the fort not long before the latter had to leave, 
 and Hollis did not know Brooks at all ; and just then, 
 while Grimsby was talking to him, a horse neighed at 
 the gate, and the Englishman said : " By God, there 
 he is now." " I sprang up, releasing him," said 
 Brooks; "and there, sure enough, in the dim light of 
 the lamps, I could see a tall officer hurrying through 
 the gate. He came round to the side, looked in at the 
 kitchen window, but Annie had gone up stairs ; then 
 I was sure it was her he was after. I d been drinking, 
 and when he turned I picked up the first thing that 
 stood there by the carriage-shed and went for him. 
 He sprang to the front entrance and was just reaching 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 393 
 
 the bell when I struck him one blow, and then, to my 
 horror, saw it wasn t Hollis at all. I had to skip for 
 town at once, where some fellows I knew gave me 
 shelter. I was afraid I might have killed him. 
 Lieutenant Blake knows who it was. Where is he, 
 doctor ?" 
 
 " He is with Mr. Hollis," answered Grimes, glanc 
 ing anxiously at the lawyer. " Do you need more ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 " Much more. He hasn t told half ; he doesn t un 
 derstand he has no chance of living. He s lying yet 
 in some things," was the low-toned answer. 
 
 Annie was sobbing again and bent over to kiss the; 
 fevered face : " You knew I couldn t be wicked when 
 I loved you so, Dick," she moaned. " Why did you 
 believe him?" 
 
 " Damn him ! I paid him off well afterwards, even 
 though " 
 
 " Hush, Dick, hush," she interrupted, putting her 
 hand on his mouth ; " don t speak of that." 
 
 " Yes, let him speak," demanded Leavitt. " There 
 is more he must tell. First, though, where is your 
 sister now, Brooks ?" 
 
 " Where you ll never find her so long as I live. I m 
 her agent. I ve got her power of attorney. You 
 can t make me believe I m dying. You re leagued 
 against me in the hope of extorting a confession ; but 
 it s truth I m telling you. Ask her ; ask the woman 
 who calls herself Mrs. Granger if it isn t truth. She 
 has paid me well to keep her secret, but not half 
 enough. The jig s up now, I suppose, since she has 
 been fool enough to tell her lawyer. She might have 
 
394 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 enjoyed her name and her wealth the rest of her life 
 if she hadn t been such an idiot. I only ask reason 
 able allowance. He was willing enough to give me 
 fifteen hundred a year until I got into trouble there. 
 He had me watched and threatened and then defied any 
 revelations I might make ; but the moment I put those 
 letters in her hands he was gone. That s what made 
 her go to the sea-shore and stay all last summer ; but 
 she was a fool there : instead of giving those letters 
 back to me or even burning them, she kept them to 
 taunt him with, to hold over him when he forbade her 
 dancing or going with other men, those young fellows 
 out at the fort. He searched her desks and trunks and 
 drawers, Annie saw him, Annie knows, trying to 
 find those letters and others that he believed she got from 
 Lieutenant Hollis ; she never left them out of her 
 sight until the night of that big party up there at the 
 fort; she had them in the inner pocket of that seal 
 skin jacket, Annie knew it, and he knew they must 
 be there. He didn t know what else he d find, though, 
 when he slashed through that canvas and searched her 
 pockets. He got three letters his rightful wife had 
 written to me ; he found a long one his bogus wife had 
 written to Lieutenant Blake, her old lover, and an 
 awful row they had that night when they got home, 
 Annie heard it all. After that it was just hell and 
 repeat." But here a fit of coughing choked his utter 
 ance, and Grimes signalled to the lawyer that he must 
 talk no more. 
 
 But by nightfall the bold defiance and the mad rav 
 ing were ended. Brooks at last seemed to realize that 
 he was going fast. Doctor Grimes had been away 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 395 
 
 much of the day; two patients demanded his attention 
 now. Annie, weeping afresh, had told her pitiful tale 
 in response to the stern demands of the lawyer. 
 Brooks was forever urging her to gain possession of 
 any letters her mistress might have received either from 
 Hollis or Blake. In the low cunning of the fellow he 
 could never rid himself of the idea that she was carry 
 ing on a love-affair, the proofs of which, once in his 
 hands, would enable him to blackmail her to his heart s 
 content. He had, indeed, enlisted on the Pacific coast 
 under the name of Howell, after a protracted spree of 
 drink and gaming had left him destitute. He kept up 
 his threatening letters, sending them through Sergeant 
 Jamieson and the Einsteins in town, the firm that so 
 sorely tempted the stable sergeants at the fort and had 
 compassed the downfall of the ex-hussar. There was 
 a gang of six or eight, Annie tearfully admitted ; she 
 had implored her lover to have no more to do with 
 them, but it was useless ; he was deep in the toils. 
 She was mad with fear when Brooks reappeared one 
 night at the depot and tapped at the window. He 
 was always jealous of Grimsby, and half afraid of him, 
 too, for Grimsby could not but know many of his 
 secrets. Grimsby knew nothing of her marriage, 
 though, and kept persecuting her with his suit, and 
 then got to drinking because she refused him. Then 
 he, too, began threatening Mrs. Granger, and talking 
 about the letters that he used to carry for her to the 
 fort; and when he was discharged, what did he do but 
 go right to Lieutenant Blake when he was drunk, 
 thinking to induce him to intercede to get him restored 
 to his job, and when Blake refused he grew reckless 
 
396 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and impudent, and said things about him and Mrs. 
 Granger that led to Mr. Blake s thrashing him ; 
 Grimsby told her about it. He was taken into the gang 
 after his discharge from the Grangers service by the 
 Einsteins at Jamieson s request ; and then Brooks 
 came back again on being assured in town that there 
 would be no further trouble about his shooting scrape 
 if he could raise a thousand dollars to tf fix" certain 
 officials. She was frightened at his coming, because 
 Granger had found out more of his crimes, and so he 
 dare not show himself at the depot ; but Annie met 
 him in town whensoever he demanded, and there he 
 grew reckless and began drinking again, and threatened 
 to kill Reilly, who had been taken as driver in place 
 of Grimsby, for it was Reilly who betrayed him to 
 the major. He went out to the fort the night of the 
 theatricals and attacked Reilly there, and was recog 
 nized as a deserter and imprisoned. He wrote to 
 Granger to come at once and get him out or else he 
 would tell everything he knew ; no answer reached 
 him. He was furious . against the major when he 
 sawed himself out that awful night, and, scudding 
 before the gale, made his way down the valley to the 
 shack ; that was the night the major disappeared, and 
 she never again saw Granger or Grimsby alive. 
 
 And here she was summoned to the bedside of the 
 dying man. He was face to face at last with the dread 
 conqueror. He was utterly broken down. So long as 
 a vestige of hope remained he had stood firm in his 
 denials. Now his story was gasped in short whispered 
 sentences to their straining ears. It was a weird and 
 villanous tale, and practically as follows : 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 397 
 
 There were five of them at the shack when he got 
 there at midnight, for Granger had made his way 
 thither the instant it was dark, in order to consult with 
 Einstein and the others, with a view to establishing an 
 alibi or something that would get Brooks out of the 
 guard-house and enable them to start him away ; but 
 Granger never dreamed of Brooks s escape that night 
 any more than that he himself could get back to the 
 depot in face of that blizzard. Brooks was mad with 
 rage and suffering when he reached the hut and found 
 him sitting there at midnight, pleading, actually plead 
 ing, with Jamieson and Grimsby and Einstein, and 
 Einstein was jeering at him, taunting him, showing 
 him the letters Lieutenant Blake had dropped at the 
 stables that spoke of others that she had written to 
 him, the letter that Jamieson had found and yet de 
 nied having seen. Brooks must have been mad that 
 night, crazy, in fact ; for he filled up with whiskey 
 and joined in the taunts at Granger s expense. They 
 had him at their mercy ; he could not escape ; they 
 tortured him with their sneers and insults, but it was 
 not until Grimsby had got recklessly, madly drunk 
 that the tragedy came. They had united in a demand 
 that he should sign a paper pledging himself to make 
 certain monthly payments to each and every one of the 
 party, and when he refused, and they assured him every 
 thing should be made public, Brooks, who saw the 
 agony and despair on his face, fearing that they might 
 drive him to suicide and so rob him of the perquisites he 
 had so long undividedly enjoyed Brooks interposed, 
 and a new quarrel ensued between Grimsby and him 
 self; the next thing he knew pistols were out, Granger 
 
 84 
 
398 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 had fired one shot, just one, when down he went on his 
 face; someone s bullet had done the work. The major 
 lay there in the shack, stone dead. They had killed 
 the goose that laid the golden egg. 
 
 Then horror had settled upon them. Brooks was 
 crazed with fear of discovery. They dragged the body 
 out iD the course of an hour, hid it in the rapidly- 
 filling ravine back of the hut, and swore each other 
 to secrecy. Grirnsby begged Einstein for money to get 
 away with, but he would not give a cent. He would 
 pay, he said, liberally for goods as before, and that 
 meant more robbery. They decided on the magazine 
 and Freeman s stable, and Brooks determined to raid 
 Blake s room for letters which Annie was sure Mrs. 
 Granger no longer had, but had given to him to secrete 
 for her. The robbery was successsful, except that Brooks 
 found nothing and Jamieson was caught. They knew 
 he would not peach, but Grimsby s share of the 
 plunder was small ; his nerve was gone ; he was aghast 
 when the papers announced a large reward was to be 
 offered for the discovery of Major Granger ; he talked 
 wildly of his fears, and then declared he could not bear 
 the suspense any longer, he must get away ; but Brooks 
 charged him with intention of turning State s evidence ; 
 a desperate quarrel followed, a fight, and Grimsby 
 was tossed into the swollen creek, a corpse, with a 
 bullet through the brain. 
 
 " I swear I never fired the shot that killed Granger," 
 moaned Brooks ; " but Grimsby would have sworn I 
 did. It was a fair fight I had with the Englishman ; 
 one or the other had to go; it was his life or mine." 
 
 And so the gang was thinned out badly, Jamieson 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 399 
 
 and the stable orderly jailed, Grirnsby dead, and 
 Granger lying there in the snow behind the shack; 
 the others were in hiding, waiting for money from 
 Einstein, the night after Grimsby was killed. Brooks 
 had been nervous all day, drinking, and when the sheriff 
 surrounded the shack that night and they slipped out he 
 was the hindermost. Old Bryan grabbed him in the 
 dark. 
 
 " I didn t know him from Adam that night," gasped 
 Brooks ; " but fire I had to, and that made another, 
 but the last. They got me away somehow, and I hid 
 in Einstein s garret nearly two weeks." And that 
 summer he traced and followed Mrs. Granger, and she 
 paid some money, but not what he demanded ; still 
 she held those letters of his sister s, and if anything 
 happened to them or to her, so much of his capital was 
 gone. Annie had told him that Blake had them ; that 
 he kept them for her, and it was Blake she loved and 
 meant to marry. That made Brooks rob Blake s room 
 at Berksville. " I didn t get poor Julia s letters," he 
 said ; " but I did get a package of Mrs. Granger s to 
 him, and that gave me a new hold. I demanded more 
 money of her, and she put him on my track instead of 
 a lawyer. I know her now, though I didn t then. I 
 was up near Leadville, and little by little got to drink 
 ing and gambling again, and one morning I woke up 
 in a strange room, feeling horribly rocky. I knew I 
 must have been dead drunk the night before, and then 
 it flashed over me that I had been robbed ; but my 
 money was all right ; the packet in my left breast 
 pocket was there; th3 packet in the right was thinned 
 out to five letters, one of them a new note. It said, 
 
400 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 You got drunk last night and I took care of you, 
 also of a package of letters belonging to me/ Noth 
 ing else was disturbed. And then I found that Biake 
 had been there nearly a week, watching me. It was 
 the only way he could ever have got those letters with 
 out a fight or exposure; in either case her name was 
 blasted. I got crazy with rage at being outwitted by 
 that cavalry lieutenant, who, however, never dreamed 
 what he had left behind, my sister s letters. He never 
 seemed to notice them, or, if he did, he couldn t have 
 known anything about who she was. He only took 
 the packet addressed to him in Mrs. Granger s hand. 
 Then I followed her up to Cheyenne and threatened 
 immediate exposure unless a big sum was paid at once, 
 and I was recognized there by some fellows who had an 
 old grudge against me ; I had to run for the Hills, but 
 from Dead wood I demanded instant payment; and then 
 came a letter promising everything, and begging me 
 to meet her agent at Ouster ; he would inquire for a 
 Mr. Baker. I went, and there came this young fellow 
 Hollis. He had no more come to pay than you have ; 
 he had come to demand the surrender of those letters 
 from Julia. He was her dupe, poor fellow. I had no 
 grudge against him. I warned him not to make 
 trouble. I didn t want to hurt him ; indeed, I tried to 
 get away. I didn t kill him ; it was another man who 
 fired that awful shot ; but it was Mrs. Granger, by 
 God ! it was Mrs. Granger who murdered him and me." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 4Q1 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THAT night the wind began moaning among the 
 pines again and whistling through the crannies and 
 knot-holes in the flimsy old frame structure. There 
 was gloom and silence throughout the sparse frontier 
 settlement. One or two prospectors and stage hands 
 loafed about the bar across the way and grimly eyed 
 each new-comer from the direction of the little tavern, 
 where a couple of soldiers sauntered up and down be 
 fore the door and where the office lights burned dimly. 
 From an upper window there had come, soon after 
 nightfall, the sound of a woman s wailing, loud and 
 desolate ; a wail of grief and wrath combined, like the 
 cry of some wild hunted animal whose young has been 
 slain before her very eyes. A hanger-on about the 
 office had nodded in response to the muttered question 
 of one of the troopers as he came forth and lunged 
 across the snow-heaped road to the red glare of the 
 opposite bar. A tall officer, with pale, bearded face, 
 presently stepped from the door- way, at sight of whom 
 the blue overcoats had become statuesque, and the fur- 
 gloved hands gone up in salute. 
 
 " You men go in and get your supper," was the 
 
 quiet order. " I shall have a despatch to send to the 
 
 cantonment in an hour." Then he began pacing slowly 
 
 up and down in the darkness, his head bent upon his 
 
 aa 34* 
 
402 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 breast, his hands clasped behind him. One of the 
 employes of the stage company, lolling against the 
 stable-door a few yards below, slouched up the walk 
 and accosted him. 
 
 "That feller s gone, I suppose, lieutenant? 7 
 
 Mr. Blake bowed assent, but went slowly on. As 
 he returned, the roan queried again, 
 
 "How s the other? the gentleman in the back 
 room." 
 
 " The doctors say it is simply wonderful that he has 
 held out so long." 
 
 " Ain t there no hope for the young feller? He s a 
 good one." 
 
 Blake slowly shook his head and continued his sol 
 emn promenade. He seemed to have grown a year 
 older in these few days of anxiety and care. The loud 
 wailing above had given place to a moaning plaint, as 
 though the girl had wearied of her very outcries. The 
 door again opened and Leavitt came grimly forth, his 
 lips compressed, his brow clouded. Blake turned 
 sharply about and evidently sought to avoid him. 
 The lawyer looked after the tall officer a moment ; 
 glanced upward at the hurrying, lead-colored clouds 
 and at the snow-flakes slanting down. 
 
 "Will the stage go south to-night?" he asked the 
 stableman, who was softly whistling. The man, with 
 ostentatious deliberation, finished his tune, looking un 
 concernedly up the road. 
 
 " No reason she shouldn t that I know of." 
 
 " How soon ?" 
 
 " O-oh, in about two hours." 
 
 " I want three places inside." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 403 
 
 " Well, you ll have to ask the boss, then." 
 
 Gerald Blake had caught the last words and turned 
 sharply about. The next moment he stepped forward 
 and accosted the lawyer. 
 
 " Pardon me, Mr. Leavitt, does your entire party 
 return to-night ?" 
 
 " Provided we can secure seats, and I am told there 
 is little southward travel just now," was the calm 
 reply. " The stage stops here to change horses, I be 
 lieve, so we have time to get ready after it comes in." 
 
 " Will you excuse my inquiring, sir, whether your 
 client knows that Lieutenant Hollis is not likely to 
 live through the night ?" 
 
 " Mrs. Granger has heard of the gentleman s pre 
 carious condition with keen sorrow. She has been 
 constant and solicitous in her inquiries, but she is 
 powerless to help. She is even in the way here, and 
 you ll admit this is hardly a congenial spot for a lady 
 to spend another night in." 
 
 " But one moment, Mr. Leavitt," and Blake s face 
 was very pale and his lips tremulous. " My friend 
 came here on a desperate mission in her behalf, if not 
 actually at her request. He is sleeping under the in 
 fluence of morphine now. He has been unconscious 
 much of the day, yet he has heard she was coming, and 
 he longs to see her. If he should recover consciousness 
 again and ask for her, I would not like to have to tell 
 him she had been here and had gone." 
 
 Leavitt was silent a moment. Even to the cold 
 blooded, pragmatical man of the law there was an 
 appeal in Blake s words he could not face without a 
 qualm. 
 
404 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 "The situation is most distressing," he said, after 
 a pause. " I am not at liberty to explain why, but, 
 just as my client s interests demanded that we should 
 lose no time in coming here when the tidings of this 
 man s desperate condition reached us, so is it that her 
 interests require her to leave now. Everything that 
 can be accomplished by her coming is now effected, 
 everything that can be, that is, and it is best she 
 should go. If there was anything she could do, or if 
 there is anything she could send, to alleviate the suffer 
 ings of her unfortunate young friend, doubtless she 
 will be very glad." 
 
 " By heaven ! Mr. Leavitt. It is not possible that 
 Mrs. Granger knows how critical his condition is, and 
 that she is going away knowing it. Has she do you 
 mean she has consented to go at once this evening ?" 
 
 " Certainly, Mr. Blake. She is advised by Doctor 
 Grimes that the sooner she gets home the better. In 
 her highly morbid and sensitive condition the sights and 
 sounds around this wretched spot bring back all too 
 sharply the tragedy which so recently blighted her life. 
 She may break down any moment." 
 
 But Blake would hear no more. Turning sharply, 
 he burst his impetuous way into the office and asked 
 for Grimes; and Grimes had been called to the bed 
 side of Mr. Hollis, who was moaning in delirium, the 
 attendant said. He sought and found the other doctor, 
 and of him he demanded if he could see Mrs. Granger 
 at once. A look of surprise came into the physician s 
 face. 
 
 " Til ask presently, Blake," he said. " She is sooth 
 ing and comforting that maid of hers just now, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 405 
 
 getting her ready for the journey. The girl was the 
 wife of that man Brooks, as you probably know by 
 this time. Queer how some women can mourn a fellow 
 who has done nothing but abuse and neglect them !" 
 
 It was half an hour before the answer came. Mrs. 
 Granger declared herself so prostrate, so agitated, that 
 it would be impossible for her to see any one but her 
 medical and legal advisers. Would Mr. Blake write a 
 note ? She would be glad to read anything her friends 
 might wish to say in her distress. 
 
 And there, in that creaking shed, in that snow-swept 
 valley among the hills of Dakota, Gerald Blake made 
 his last formal appeal, wrote his last letter to the 
 woman who had been the love and glory of his younger 
 life. 
 
 " He is hovering between life and death. His life 
 hangs on a thread, and his every word is of you, his 
 every thought is for you. He has been buoyed up 
 only by the wild hope of seeing you ; for the doctor 
 told him God forgive the blunder ! you were com 
 ing. When he recovers consciousness, and I know 
 that he will, and finds you have gone without one word, 
 look, or touch for the man who risked his life, his good 
 name, everything he had in the world, in your service, 
 it will kill him. 
 
 "GERALD BLAKE." 
 
 And this note he took to the door of her room, 
 knocked loudly, and handed in. 
 
 An hour later there came a summons from Grimes. 
 Hollis was rousing, had asked for him, and Blake, 
 
406 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 who had been feverishly pacing the pathway without, 
 hastened to the bed whereon lay the wasting form of 
 his comrade ; and the light of recognition was in poor 
 Tommy s eyes, a feeble hand crept forth and a ghost 
 of the old smile seemed to flicker for an instant on 
 his face. 
 
 " Blake, old man, you ve been sticking to me like a 
 
 like " and Hollis paused. Simile was only one 
 
 of his many weaknesses now. 
 
 "Like a burr burr burrother, Tommy, as Dun 
 dreary would say," grinned Blake, with twitching 
 mouth, as he took the wasted hand in his warm brown 
 palms. He winked hard to drive back the tears. He 
 bit into his lip to still its quivering. " How goes it 
 now, my lad ? Feel more like yourself after your 
 nap?" 
 
 " Legs, I ve been dreaming, I reckon, dreaming I 
 heard a woman crying over me. Has she got here ?" 
 
 " All dreaming, Tom. Nobody s going to do any 
 crying over you for many a long year, if Grimes and 
 I can help it. Think you could drink a little some 
 thing? 
 
 A weary shake of the head. 
 
 " But, Blake, didn t they wire she d get here, or 
 was coming here with Grimes? Surely I heard that." 
 
 "Must have dreamed it, Tommy. I don t know 
 who could have been fool enough to tell you that." 
 He drew one hand and hid his eyes an instant, and 
 from this covert glared at Grimes, lurking back by 
 the doorway where Hollis could not see him. The 
 door creaked on its hinges. Grimes softly slipped 
 away. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 407 
 
 " It seems so late, Legs. When did Grimes come?" 
 ."Oh, while you were asleep; more than four hours 
 ago" God forgive me the lie ! more than twenty- 
 four," groaned poor Blake to himself. 
 
 " But, honest Didn t I really hear a woman cry 
 ing? Is he all right that man Brooks?" 
 
 " He s all right, Tommy. Don t you worry." 
 
 " I should hate to die with his death to answer for, 
 too, Blake. But it wouldn t have been murder. You 
 know what a scoundrel he was. She told you, didn t 
 she?" 
 
 " Worst kind of a whelp, from all I heard, 
 Tommy." 
 
 " He told me when I demanded those letters that 
 he d given them all to you at Leadville, Blake ; but I 
 knew he was lying. Think of the awful position in 
 which she was placed. You can t blame her now, 
 Blake, though you did at Denver ; that s what made 
 me so angry. I suppose the rest was only poking fun 
 at me, though I took it so much to heart." 
 
 " Tommy, I never poked fun at you, to her, at 
 least, in all my life. I never, before God, never 
 said anything you accused me of the other day." 
 
 " Perhaps she misunderstood," was the weary reply. 
 " She has had horrible suffering. You might have 
 spared a woman such a blow, even if you were hurt, 
 Legs." 
 
 " What blow, Tommy ? Look here, old boy, that 
 medicine s gone to your head. I mustn t let you talk 
 too much ; you ll get flighty again." And Blake looked 
 wistfully to the door. His lips moved as though he 
 would whisper " Grimes," but Grimes had stolen away. 
 
408 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " No, Legs, I m clear-headed enough ; only so weak. 
 They ve got him where he can t escape, have they ?" 
 
 " You bet they have !" 
 
 " And the letters, his sister s letters ?" 
 
 " I never heard about them, Tom. What have they 
 to do with it ?" 
 
 "Why, yes, Blake; the letters his sister, the first 
 Mrs. Granger, wrote, those that threatened her." 
 
 Far up the road there came the sound of loud-crack 
 ing whip. Over the moan of the wind rose the distant 
 rumble of wheels. 
 
 " The stage ?" whispered Hollis, an eager light in 
 his eyes. 
 
 " The stage from the north, man ! But what do you 
 mean ? What first Mrs. Granger ?" 
 
 " Why, his wife, the one that ran away from him 
 in New Orleans Brooks s sister, you know. She told 
 you all about it Madeleine at Denver when that 
 fellow tried to make her suppose his sister would tell 
 the truth at last. She d been alive all those years. 
 Madeleine told you, for she said that you answered 
 that it was all true, and that you believed that she d 
 known it all along ; that she knew it when she threw 
 you over and married Granger." 
 
 " Hollis ! Are you mad ?" 
 
 " Mad ? no ! Here s her letter to him bidding him 
 meet me here and give me his sister s letters. It s 
 blood-stained now. Read it. It s one thing I got 
 from him, at least." 
 
 But Hollis never noted the staring eyes and livid 
 face before him, as Blake strove to read those hurried 
 lines, penned in the hand he knew and had loved so well. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 409 
 
 Out in the passage-way the stairs began to creak. 
 Some one was coming down. Aloft there was heard 
 the sound of suppressed sobbing the swish of a 
 woman s trailing skirts. Without, the jovial sound 
 of the driver s voice hailing the knot of loungers, the 
 plunging hoofs of the mettlesome team, the clatter of 
 the stage as it drew up in front of the station, the 
 greetings of sturdy Black Hillers, one to another, as 
 the few passengers tumbled out and went in search of 
 creature comfort. Blake sprang to his feet. 
 
 " Hollis, dear old fellow, I know nothing of this. 
 She never told me of any such affair. I never in the 
 world said such things as you tell me I was accused 
 of. You must have dreamed that, Tommy ! She 
 couldn t have said that of me !" 
 
 " She did, Legs. I believed it ; but I can t now, 
 when you deny it. Then he s got that woman s letters 
 yet. You you must get them, old man, for she ll be 
 here soon, and I m all out of the fight now." 
 
 Blake never stopped to answer. Two strides took 
 him to the door. Two women, one heavily veiled, the 
 other bowed and weeping, were going down the narrow 
 stairway, Leavitt in assiduous attendance, Grimes fol 
 lowing. They never turned at the foot of the stairs, 
 as he still hoped one, at least, might do. The loung 
 ers at the office drew silently back. Leavitt led his 
 charges straight to the entrance and forth into the 
 windy night where the new team was being quickly 
 buckled in. Already the driver was clambering to his 
 perch. Blake fairly sprang along the narrow hall. 
 
 " Grimes, go in there to Hollis ; I must leave him a 
 moment ; I must speak with this this lady." 
 s 35 
 
410 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Mr. Blake, I protest," interposed Leavitt, as the 
 tall officer stepped to the side of the veiled woman who 
 clung closer to the lawyer s arm. " Mrs. Granger has 
 undergone far too much agitation and fatigue. She 
 cannot be further molested." 
 
 But Blake would not listen. 
 
 " Answer me, Mrs. Granger," he said, with stern 
 emphasis. "If ever man was done to death in a 
 woman s cause, here lies poor Hollis, craving only one 
 word from you. He is conscious. He has told me 
 the whole story. He knows that you were to be here 
 this day. I adjure you, do not go until you have seen 
 him." But she only shrank and looked appealingly to 
 her legal friend. 
 
 " Answer me, Mrs. Granger !" Blake again de 
 manded. 
 
 "Oh, how can you reproach me?" she almost 
 moaned. " I begged him not to come. I warned him 
 against such a rash undertaking. I made him promise 
 he would not do so. He disobeyed me. I would do 
 anything anything that would be of the faintest use; 
 but my physician forbids. The stage waits," she pite- 
 ously faltered. 
 
 " The stage waits ! Yes, and you are actress to the 
 last. Here, by heaven, is one letter you have forgotten, 
 the letter you yourself wrote, bidding that scoundrel 
 not to fail to meet your agent here the agent you 
 try to deny to me. What agent had you but poor 
 Hollis whom you have murdered ? I pray heaven ] 
 may never set eyes on you again. Go ! In God s 
 name, go !" 
 
 "Mr. Blake" said Leavitt, fiercely, "this lady is 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 411 
 
 under my protection, and such language is not to be 
 tolerated ! Annie, stop that whimpering and help your 
 mistress in. Come, Mrs. Granger, come." 
 
 And so, between them, they bundled their frail, 
 shrinking charge into the dark interior. The girl 
 would have turned again for one last look at the dim 
 lights in the upper window, where lay the form of the 
 man she loved, but Leavitt almost roughly seized and 
 thrust her to the step, forcing her to follow her mis 
 tress, then sprang after them without another word. 
 The landlord banged to the door and sharply turned 
 the latch. 
 
 " Quick, now ! Jim," he called to the driver. Evi 
 dently the host had had his instructions. Crack went 
 the whip ; the bays plunged at their collars, and, with 
 sudden jerk, the old red stage bowled away down the 
 frozen road ; and Gerald Blake stood there, ankle-deep 
 in the snow, gazing after the dim, twinkling lights, 
 with that crushed and blood-stained letter in his hand 
 and a look on his thin and careworn face that was not 
 good to see. 
 
 The last faint rattle of bit and trace-chain, the last 
 faint rumble of wheels, died away in the darkness. 
 The little knot of loungers drifted apart, some into the 
 office, some over to the lighted bar, and still the tall 
 soldier stood there, gazing fixedly down the road. Then, 
 when every sound was hushed except the clink of 
 glasses across the way, he drew from an inner pocket 
 a case of worn, faded leather; took therefrom, after 
 some effort, an old-fashioned ferrotype, smoothed out 
 and stowed in its place the letter he had held in his 
 hand, then raised the picture to the light streaming 
 
412 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 from the office window. One instant there smiled at 
 him the lovely face of a girl with soft gray eyes and a 
 mass of wavy hair. Then, with sudden, fierce gesture, 
 it was bent, twisted, crushed, creased, doubled into 
 dozens of disfiguring folds, until not a semblance of 
 itself remained ; then hurled into a rut in the icy road 
 and ground beneath his heavy boot-heel. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 413 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 SUMMER-TIDE again, and how the vines and the 
 little shade-trees have grown since August last ! Surely 
 this is Mrs. Stannard s piazza. Here are grouped half 
 a dozen of the ladies of the garrison. They have 
 changed but slightly since last we saw them, for array 
 women seem to have found that for which de Leon 
 sought in vain the magic fount of youth eternal. 
 There are strands of gray above Mrs. Waldron s kindly 
 eyes. There are those who dare to say that Mrs. 
 Freeman s lovely face has lost a trifle of its bloom 
 that Mrs. Truscott s golden-brown hair has parted 
 with something of its sheen and shimmer and is now a 
 duller brown. There are even those who dare to hint 
 that that exquisite blonde, Mrs. Hay, is growing stout, 
 and that the Worth dresses she brought over from 
 Paris the year after that lovely wedding are utterly 
 useless to her, even now. Mrs. Wilkins, whose laugh 
 we can hear over there on the colonel s piazza, is 
 unquestionably stouter; but a jollier creature never 
 lived, nor one much more thoroughly popular. That 
 laugh of hers can be heard half-way down the line, 
 and every one feels like echoing, for hearts are light 
 and joyous now, for the th, which has been away 
 for months, is coming home. Mrs. Stannard s smile 
 is something that reflects the gladness of her heart, 
 
 35* 
 
414 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 even as the sunshine dances from the ripples of a sum 
 mer lake. Who could stop to note that the lines about 
 her mobile lips were just a trifle deeper? Mrs. 
 Truscott s glorious eyes are even lovelier than when 
 first they gazed along the serried line of the th at arid 
 old Camp Sandy. She and Mrs. Freeman are deep in 
 a comparison of notes on needlework, at which both 
 are engaged, yet every now and then their watchful 
 glances are directed across the road to where, in noisy 
 glee, the youngsters of the garrison are flying about, 
 even boy Jack toddling around with a croquet mallet 
 in tow. There is no trace discernible of advancing 
 years among these fair matrons of the frontier, unless it 
 be in the accessions that have come to their ranks; for 
 here come two or three who were not known at Russell 
 in " the summer of our discontent/ 7 as Mrs. Turner had 
 called it. Poor Mrs. Turner ! They were speaking 
 of her but a moment ago. Two big tears are even now 
 clinging to the long lashes of Mrs. Raymond s dark 
 eyes. It is three years, not one, since Mrs. Turner 
 essayed the rdle of Mrs. George d Alroy in the tailor- 
 made suit, and those three years have brought their 
 changes. Odd ! There have been no theatricals in all 
 that time. " Caste" was the final essay of the dramatic 
 club of the th for many a year. They have been 
 talking of that, too. It is a perfect afternoon, late on 
 a cloudless August day. Even the Cheyenne zephyr 
 eeems drowsing somewhere up among the gorges to the 
 west, and the sunshine pours down in splendor and 
 radiance upon the gray-green carpet of the parade, 
 glints and sparkles from the new white railings of the 
 band-stand, and intensifies and brightens the colors in 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 415 
 
 the great garrison flag which Waldron loveliest and 
 most thoughtful of commanding officers, say all the 
 ladies has ordered displayed to-day, in honor of the 
 news that he is soon to be called upon to fall back to 
 second place, for Atherton and the th are homeward 
 bound. Out at the stand the bandsmen have been 
 playing delicious music. Here about the parade are 
 gathered the many vehicles from town. Here on some 
 of the piazzas some, at least, of the ladies who drove 
 out to hear the music have been made welcome and are 
 cosily chatting with their garrison friends. Here is 
 our old acquaintance, Mrs. Morris, who has brought 
 her sweet young neighbor, the rector s wife, to return 
 some calls at the post, and everybody has been remark 
 ing how much Mrs. Hughes was benefited by her 
 sojourn at the sea-shore the year before, and no one 
 ever mentions how liberally the fort had contributed to 
 the fund that made that expensive trip a possibility. 
 Hughes is still the stalwart soldier of the cross, cease 
 less as ever in his fight against the world, the flesh, and 
 the devil, and he knows more about the wiles of the 
 latter than he did three years ago. 
 
 Most of the carriages are halted by the roadside. 
 All of them, in deference to post custom, refrain from 
 noisy or rapid motion while the band performs ; but 
 several of the number take a quiet, and one of them a 
 showy, trot. around the big quadrangle during the in 
 terlude. A very " swell" equipage is this that comes 
 bowling up the road at the instant. Two gorgeous bays, 
 with heads held very high by suspicious check-reins, 
 high steppers and splendidly matched ; their harness 
 gleams with polish ; the buckles, chains and bosses with 
 
416 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 glistening plate. The reins are snowy white ; the open 
 wagon is a gem. Two women sit on the high front 
 seat ; a small tiger in top-boots and cockaded hat on the 
 back. She who holds the ribbons and drives with 
 practised hand is a Juno, a superbly handsome woman. 
 She who sits by her side is an admirable foil. Lower 
 down the road, as they pass, two officers rise and raise 
 their caps, then subside into their chairs. The response 
 to their salute is a bow and smile that make a combina 
 tion irresistible, certainly indescribable, all grace, all 
 graciousness. The fair driver converses perpetually 
 with her prim, precise companion. Her lips very dis 
 tinctly can be seen in rapid, ceaseless motion, but her 
 eyes keep wary watch of her horses ears and of every 
 window, door, gateway, and piazza along the row. She 
 misses nothing that can be seen. 
 
 " Color and horses heads both too high to be natu 
 ral/ remarks one of the subsiding soldiers, as the team 
 goes by. 
 
 " Yes ; but look at that figure ; handsomer than ever, 
 by Jove !" 
 
 Up the row Mrs. Morris and Mrs. Hughes are just 
 coming forth from the Stannards hospitable doorway, 
 within which they have been refreshed with tea. They 
 have another call to make, and yet, before they go, 
 many adieux to pay to the fair coterie gathered on the 
 gallery. All have risen, and the visitors, laughing and 
 chatting, have just reached the gate and are sallying 
 forth when this stylish team comes prancing up the 
 road. Both ladies instantly whirl about and bethink 
 themselves of something that they had forgotten to say. 
 Their backs are towards the road as the wagon flashes 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 417 
 
 by, its gracious charioteer bending far forward, bowing 
 with a sweeping inclination of the queenly form and 
 a smile that is winsomeness itself, though necessarily 
 somewhat comprehensive and prolonged. Some of the 
 ladies at the Stannards pleasantly bow. Two or three 
 smile, though rather vaguely. Some are engrossed in 
 conversation and do not see the lady at all, until she 
 has gone by. Then Mrs. Morris takes her departure, 
 and there is a moment s silence. Some lovely eyes peep 
 through the interlacing vine-leaves after the glistening 
 equipage, and watch the repetition of the bow and smile, 
 as the vehicle whirls by the colonel s gate, and then 
 note the speed and action of the beautiful team as it 
 goes spinning around towards the tower. 
 
 " She does drive beautifully," says Mrs. Raymond, 
 at last, with a half sigh. " And isn t it marvellous 
 how little she is altered, after all she has gone through ! 
 Did you notice how Mrs. Morris turned her back, 
 and Mrs. Hughes ?" 
 
 " Oh ! Mrs. Morris never speaks to her at all, and 
 Mrs. Hughes cannot bear her, though, of course, as 
 the rector s wife, she has to be polite," declares one fair 
 authority who knows whereof she speaks. " It was 
 her flirtation with Mr. Morris that brought Lawyer 
 Leavitt to his knees. I don t believe he wanted to 
 marry her at first ; but when she began fascinating the 
 banker it was too much for the squire, as it was for 
 the banker s wife. It serves that glum old piece of 
 parchment just right. They say he treated his first 
 wife shamefully, and now he is being led with a ring 
 in his nose." 
 
 " Well, now, do you know I rather like Mr. Leavitt, 
 bb 
 
418 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and we certainly ought to feel a sense of obligation to 
 him," chimed in Mrs. Stannard, laughing. " She might 
 have married in the th, and then where would we 
 have been ?" 
 
 " Indeed, she wouldn t have stayed in the th !" 
 promptly asserts a young and impulsive matron. " She 
 would never go knocking about from pillar to post, 
 even with the loveliest regiment that ever was made. 
 The th would do to flirt with, perhaps, and Fve no 
 doubt when they get back she ll be setting her traps 
 for some of them again." 
 
 " You don t suppose any of them will pay her any 
 attention now, Mrs. Dana, after such experiences as 
 well, as Captain Blake and poor Mr. Hollis had ?" 
 
 " Oh, I don t know ; men are such fools sometimes." 
 
 Men are. There s no doubt about it, Mrs. Dana, 
 and for shallower women than Madeleine Granger 
 Leavitt. If she ever cared for anybody besides herself, 
 it was, as Mrs. Wilkins more than once had said, for 
 Leggy Blake when he was young and " good lookun." 
 But that was years ago, and even Blake had long since 
 ceased his attentions in that quarter. Perhaps it was 
 the long illness that followed his winter at the canton 
 ment that so changed the whilom devotee. Blake was 
 very low for several weeks, and Billy Ray came back 
 from the East, and went up to the Hills and fetched 
 his old chum and comrade down to Sidney ; and almost 
 the first experience Marion Sanford, Mrs. Ray, enjoyed 
 in her new army home was that of nursing her husband s 
 devoted friend and comrade back to health and strength 
 again. It took many a week to make much of him, 
 and then the doctors had recommended a long sea- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 419 
 
 voyage. And so it was that " Legs" went abroad and 
 had his long voyage and afterwards spent part of the 
 winter in Riviera, knocking about for a few months 
 with the Freemans, and that was the best thing, up 
 to this time, that ever happened to Blake. 
 
 Again the stylish team comes flashing up the drive. 
 This time the officers on the veranda do not rise 
 and bow, but simply touch their caps. They note 
 with quiet amusement, however, the elaborate perfec 
 tion of the bow, the profound inclination, the enchant 
 ing smile with which Mrs. Leavitt favors a little party 
 of four just strolling up from the lower end of the 
 garrison. The backs of this quartette are towards the 
 equipage as it advances. They have to glance over 
 their left shoulders to see it. The glance is a tribute 
 to the appointment of Mrs. Leavitt s new " turnout," 
 perhaps, but it necessarily includes the occupant. Two 
 young officers raise their caps, the foremost with no 
 inclination of the head whatever. Two young and 
 lovely women bow with evident deference to the de 
 mands of the situation; but the bows prompt Mr. Fos 
 ter, the rearmost of the two officers, to remark to himself 
 that if Muldoon had put half as much ice in the 
 lemonade of which they had just been partaking, the 
 refreshment would have been far more palatable. But 
 the fair charioteer gives no sign of distress. Again, 
 left shoulder leading, with the graceful head turned still 
 farther towards the four, she bends low; she smiles 
 sweetly ; she recovers with slow, languorous grace ; 
 then skilfully brings her prancing team to a walk and 
 guides them into a vacant space close to the railing, 
 and becomes absorbed at once in joyous chat with her 
 
420 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 companion and in the music of the band. She hears 
 a sudden bubbling of irrepressible laughter from the 
 two fair girls she has passed. She notes unerringly 
 how quickly it is suppressed. She knows full well 
 that Foster has said something ridiculous at her ex 
 pense, but still she gives no sign. The boy in his 
 jovial way has merely sought to impress the ladies 
 with his wit. He refers to that sweeping salutation as 
 a " left forward fours left" sort of bow. There is noth 
 ing either malicious or harmful in it, but every breath 
 seems to bear to the tortured woman s ears only malice, 
 only hatred and contempt. Such things crowd into 
 and fill to overflowing the bitter cup she quaffs with 
 every hour of her life. In public she is forever 
 smiling, except at church ; and even there, mingling 
 with the mien of rapt devotion, the corners of her soft, 
 rosy lips twitch upwards like those in the earlier 
 pictures of that arch dissembler, Talleyrand. 
 
 The ladies at Mrs. Stannard s hear the sudden burst 
 of laughter, and there is a not unnatural craning of 
 necks. It is a bride who comes. There is no dissent 
 ing voice to Mrs. Raymond s declaration that Mrs. 
 Hayne is simply exquisite. She comes tripping happily 
 along, leaning on her husband s arm. He is a resolute- 
 looking young fellow with steely blue eyes, clear-cut 
 features, and "grit" and character in every motion. 
 The officers again raise their caps and bow with pleas 
 ant greeting to the charming group under the vine- 
 covered porch. Mrs. Hayne s sweet face is wreathed 
 in smiles. " We ll stop on the way back. We re going 
 up to Mrs. Atherton s," is the answer to the pressing 
 invitation to come in at once. All eyes are on them 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 421 
 
 as the four move blithely by. The tall, slender, 
 elegantly-dressed girl, with the wonderful brown eyes 
 and brows and sweeping lashes, glances backward over 
 her shoulder and kisses her hand to Mrs. Freeman, 
 who is peering lovingly at her through the vines. 
 
 " I do not wonder that Mr. Foster is madly in love 
 with her," is presently the remark of Mrs. Raymond. 
 " I declare, I m almost ready to do battle with you, 
 Mrs. Waldron. You did more than anybody to make 
 that other match and win Nellie Travers for the Riflers, 
 and now now I m awfully afraid Mr. Foster will pre 
 vail before the th gets back, and we ll lose another 
 prize." 
 
 " Do you think she cares anything for him, Mrs. 
 Freeman?" asks one young wife and mother, with 
 beaming eyes. 
 
 Mrs. Freeman is bending over that dainty needle 
 work. 
 
 " She certainly has told me nothing about it," is the 
 decided answer, while the fair speaker cocks her head 
 on one side, smooths the pattern upon her knee, and 
 regards it critically. 
 
 " Are they going to stay much longer her uncle 
 and aunt, I mean ?" asks Mrs. Dana. " I do want 
 to help entertain them in some way, but how can I, 
 with only one room and a kitchen ? If she were to 
 marry Mr. Foster, now, they would have to get along 
 with even less, unless they rebuilt those quarters across 
 the parade." 
 
 " Nonsense ! They could live in one of the lovely 
 houses her guardian is building on that property in 
 town. They could live in a dozen places if they liked, 
 
 36 
 
422 CAPTAIN BLAKL. 
 
 and he would be a goose to stay in the army," is Mrs. 
 Raymond s reply. 
 
 " Mrs. Freeman. Did you ever hear how such a 
 queer character as old Bryan ever succeeded in marry 
 ing into so why superior a family? Mr. Crawford 
 and his wife are charming." 
 
 "Yes; you see we got to know them quite well 
 after taking Nannie East with us, and, being together 
 quite a while abroad, Mr. Crawford told Captain Free 
 man a good deal about the matter. His sister was a 
 mere school-girl when she fell in love with Bryan, who 
 was a very fine-looking man in those days, and almost 
 the only young one in the village where they lived. 
 She was well educated, but he was a clerk in the village 
 store, and fully fifteen years older than herself; yet it 
 was a love-match. The Crawfords were opposed to it 
 at first, but they were very poor then, and Bryan was 
 soon to have a share in the business. He was bound 
 to make money, even if he was illiterate. They were 
 married and lived there until the war broke out. Mr. 
 Bryan had gone out West, buying lands in Nebraska 
 about that time, but by and by he got the war fever and 
 served all through in the cavalry. Then he gave up 
 his business East and moved out here before the railway 
 was half built; but he had aged very rapidly, and 
 seemed to have no thought for anything but money- 
 making for years, except when he was on those period 
 ical sprees of his. It took poor Mrs. Bryan away from 
 her home and kindred, but it made Nannie rich." 
 
 And is this possible? Is the tall, graceful girl 
 standing there at the Athertons gate the " Prairie 
 Nan" who so often came galloping by in that shabby 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 423 
 
 riding habit, frontier- made, not four years agone ? 
 Mrs. Atherton is taking in every item of her toilet at 
 this moment, with eyes that express infinite apprecia 
 tion and undoubted pleasure. She thoroughly approves 
 of Nan. She is one of her stanchest friends. What will 
 not two years under foreign masters do for a girl, she 
 thinks, even girls who cannot compare with Nannie? 
 So once again the " prairie waif," as she still laugh 
 ingly speaks of herself, is revisiting the scenes of her 
 girlhood. While her uncle is busy with contractors 
 and lawyers in town and Mrs. Crawford is returning 
 or accepting hospitalities, both in garrison and city life, 
 Nannie spends long days riding or driving about the 
 valley of the Crow, with two or three devoted young 
 " doughboys" to choose from as escorts, with pretty 
 Mrs. Hayne for a new friend, with kindly, cordial, 
 loving greeting from dozens of faces that brighten at 
 her coming, and with almost a mother s love beaming 
 upon her from Mrs. Freeman s soulful eyes. It is to 
 her arms she comes fluttering every night when the last 
 visitors have gone. No one half knows the depth of 
 the confidence, the love and trust and faith she has 
 learned to rest in this wise and winsome friend the 
 first woman in all the th to welcome her, a child, 
 motherless and bowed with grief and anxiety, to the 
 shelter of her roof, to the sweet sympathy of her pure 
 and loving heart. Nannie Bryan thinks Mrs. Freeman 
 the best and most beautiful woman in all the world. 
 Mrs. Freeman holds Nannie off at arms length, as this 
 very evening she enters arrayed for a little dance at the 
 hop-room, and marvels at the changes wrought even 
 since their winter in the Riviera. 
 
424 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 If Nannie Bryan could but see herself as others see 
 her, is her mental comment, who could blame her if 
 vanity became a besetting sin ? The girl s lovely eyes 
 are suffused, a blush of shy delight has mantled her 
 smiling face. She cannot help reading the admiration 
 in Mrs. Freeman s gaze. 
 
 "You like me in this dress?" she questions. There 
 is no verbal reply. Mrs. Freeman s eyes are beginning 
 to swim unaccountably. She looks fixedly in Nannie s 
 face, after one emphatic little nod of assent. She has 
 something on her mind. 
 
 " Why do you wear that locket with this dress, Nan ? 
 Does it quite accord ?" 
 
 " No-o, but " A deeper blush, a droop of the 
 
 beautiful head, then a sudden shrug of the pretty white 
 shoulders, a nervous little laugh, a half-sigh. " It s 
 only a fancy, I suppose. You remember I got it at 
 Nice." 
 
 But Mrs. Freeman feels rather sorry for Foster, even 
 though he is to be Nannie Bryan s escort to-night. 
 
 Yes, the th are coming home. They have been 
 widely scattered during the summer s scouting. The 
 colonel with the entire command had expected a moun 
 tain camp and a season of field manoeuvres in which 
 all should take part. But first one battalion had to be 
 hurried off to Southern Idaho to look after some tur 
 bulent spirits among the Bannocks. Turner and Gregg, 
 Truscott and Ray had trotted westward on this mission, 
 with old Stannard at their head. Then came orders to 
 send two troops out along the Little Missouri, to co 
 operate with the cavalry from the North in looking 
 after the Sioux hunting-parties. Another troop was 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 425 
 
 detached to escort the division commander on a tour 
 through the Yellowstone, and still another to scout 
 the southwestern slopes of the Big Horn. Freeman and 
 Blake were of the escort, when there met them far up 
 in the Wind River valley, just as they were in sight of 
 old Camp Brown, a Shoshone Indian with a despatch. 
 It contained tidings at which Freeman choked a 
 moment, and then, with husky voice and suspicious 
 moisture in his eyes, turned to the tall lieutenant riding 
 at the head of the leading platoon. 
 
 " Blake, old man, you ve got your troop. Turner s 
 troubles are over at last." 
 
 Blake s long face grew longer and sadder as Free 
 man gave the brief details. In reloading his own 
 pistol in his tent at evening Turner had unaccountably 
 dropped it and Nellie Turner was a widow before the 
 news could reach her. Poor Mrs. Turner ! She had 
 lived so long in garrison that the army had become her 
 home. Fair and shallow and frivolous, she had led 
 a butterfly sort of existence, living only for the day, 
 dreaming of little beyond dress and gayety. Turner 
 had never had anything beyond his salary. They had 
 laid not up for the rainy day so sure to come. Indeed, 
 he was never fairly out of debt. And now she had 
 nothing but that slender pension. All her life, petted, 
 spoiled, allowed her own way like some capricious child, 
 she could not even realize the gravity of her situation. 
 It was characteristic of her that when, after several 
 weeks prostration at the fort, she started for Massa 
 chusetts, Mrs. Turner declared she could not think 
 of travelling without a maid, and Mrs. Raymond s 
 Jennie, who longed to get back to the far East, saw 
 
 36* 
 
426 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 here a chance of going at somebody else s expense and 
 seized it. Many and many a time had the pretty 
 woman s thoughtless tongue been the means of stirring 
 social troubles at the various posts where she had 
 flourished. Many a more genuine woman had cause 
 to regard her with distrust, if not, at times, with 
 aversion. But that was all buried and forgotten now. 
 " Death, the great reconciler," had indeed interposed, 
 and those gentle-hearted women vied with one another 
 in deeds of loving care and thoughtfulness. Even now, 
 nearly three months after the catastrophe that left her 
 widowed and desolate, there were some whose eyes 
 would fill to overflowing when Mrs. Turner s name 
 was spoken. There were many who would weep as 
 they read the forlorn and heart-sick letters she wrote 
 them from the humble home where now she was drag 
 ging out her helpless, hopeless widowhood. Inert and 
 idle as her hands had ever been, there was absolutely 
 nothing to which she could turn them now. She never 
 dreamed that the draft old Waldron handed her 
 Heaven forgive him the lie ! represented far more than 
 double the sum her furniture and household effects had 
 brought. She was even heard to intimate that she had 
 been grievously swindled in the sale. Freeman and 
 Truscott had lost no time in sending their cheques. 
 Mrs. Truscott and Mrs. Ray had had a sympathetic 
 little conference over the generous sum the latter insisted 
 on handing to the major for the benefit of the stricken 
 woman. And not one of all their number, not one of 
 those gentle hearts, had failed to contribute substantially 
 in some way or other to Mrs. Turner s comfort or sup 
 port. They missed her sadly now that she was gone. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 427 
 
 And Blake was now commander of the chestnut 
 sorrels, Turner s old troop. He was away from it, to 
 be sure, and far up on the Yellowstone when his orders 
 came; for, though the general had offered to relieve 
 him at once from duty with the escort, Blake preferred 
 to spend the summer in a glorious ride through the 
 wild mountains than in a monotonous camp at the 
 Bannock Agency. No further trouble was looked for, 
 and he longed to see the wonderful country through 
 which the th had marched in 77 on the campaign 
 that he had been cheated out of. Not once since that 
 windy night among the Hills had he exchanged one 
 word with Madeleine Granger. They met they had 
 to meet after his resumption of duty and her return 
 from that protracted wedding-tour ; but, though her 
 bow and smile were as undauntedly radiant as ever, his 
 response was formality itself. People at the fort were 
 much surprised one day when Lawyer Leavitt drove 
 out in his buggy and knocked at Blake s quarters. 
 They did not know what Truscott knew, that " the 
 squire" had written Mr. Blake to call upon him at his 
 office when he happened to be in town, and that Blake 
 had formally replied that he did not propose visiting 
 town for that purpose, and if matters were of importance 
 to Mr. Leavitt, possibly he could find time to call upon 
 Mr. Blake at the post. But even Truscott did not 
 know did not dream what it was the lawyer had to 
 beg of the soldier, a favor over which the former 
 stumbled pitifully in the asking. Mr. Leavitt desired 
 him to promise that he would never allude to the letter 
 written by Mrs. Granger to Brooks appointing the 
 meeting at Ouster, nor to the absurd claim made by 
 
428 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 that person on behalf of his alleged sister. And Blake 
 calmly replied that he declined to bind himself by any 
 promises. The lawyer argued and pleaded, but in vain. 
 Blake simply bowed him to the door. 
 
 Nevertheless, it was a matter he never referred to. 
 
 Late this very August evening, just as a little group 
 came strolling away from the Athertons gate, there 
 strode across the parade, from the direction of the 
 guard-house, a tall, soldierly-looking fellow in the fa 
 miliar scouting dress of the cavalry. He was heading 
 for the adjutant s office, but at the sound of the clink 
 of the infantry sword worn by one of the officers in 
 the party, followed by a murmur of conversation and 
 soft laughter, he veered to the right and came speedily 
 within hailing distance. There were just six in the 
 party : Mrs. Freeman and Mr. Graham were leading ; 
 Mrs. Hayne, clinging bride-like to her husband s arm, 
 came next, and, dawdling rearmost with evident intent 
 to make the short walk long as possible, Mr. Foster 
 was escorting Nannie Bryan. All three couples were 
 brought to sudden stop by a joyous call from across 
 the road, and the next instant Gerald Blake had leaped 
 to Mrs. Freeman s side, and there was a babel of ex 
 clamatory welcome and greeting : " How on earth 
 did you get here?" "Where did you come from?" 
 " Where did you leave the troop ?" " Where are the 
 rest of them?" "Why, what a surprise!" "We 
 knew, of course, you would be coming some time, but 
 supposed it would be around by rail and that you 
 would give us due warning." And so, in the excite 
 ment of the reunion with old friends and in the hubbub 
 of question and answer, Blake never noticed what Mrs. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 429 
 
 Freeman saw at once, that Nannie Bryan and her 
 escort held aloof. But Foster had marked with sur 
 prise the instant Blake s voice was heard, and his own 
 impulse was to move forward and greet him, that it 
 was his fair companion who drew back that her hand 
 tightened its clasp on his arm. One moment a fond, 
 foolish hope thrilled through him that she thought to 
 keep him there because of the joy she had in his un 
 divided attention, because of her reluctance to permit 
 others to break in upon their happy chat. But it died 
 away the next moment, when he saw that her eyes were 
 fixed on the dim figure of the new-comer, when he 
 noted that her ears were deaf to every voice but Blake s. 
 
 " I was sent with paymaster s escort to the Hills," 
 he heard " Legs" explaining, " and thence homeward. 
 Fve left our prisoner at the guard-house, Graham. 
 Who s post-adjutant?" And then Foster had to come 
 forward, because three voices summoned him. But he 
 might as well have remained in the background. Offi 
 cial matters were uttterly forgotten the instant Nannie 
 Bryan, blushing and with an odd little tremor in her 
 voice, held out her hand and said 
 
 " Don t you know me, Mr. Blake ?" 
 
 Not for half an hour more, not until after the 
 Hay lies had left them and gone home, not until Graham 
 had gone over to the guard-house and back, and Blake 
 had told them all the news of Freeman and the troop, 
 and it was evident that Mrs. Freeman was burning 
 with eagerness to read the letters he had brought her 
 but was too considerate of her guests to even peep 
 within ; not, in fact, until he had sat there practically 
 speechless for over twenty minutes, listening to talk of 
 
430 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 absorbing interest to everybody but him, poor fellow ! 
 did Foster realize that he were best away. Then 
 Blake, too, would have gone, but Mrs. Freeman whis 
 pered, " Wait, 7 and Foster bowed himself off the piazza 
 and was lost sight of before his footsteps were out of 
 hearing. This was a complication of which he had 
 not even dreamed. 
 
 "Now come into the parlor," gleefully laughed Mrs. 
 Freeman ; " come right in." 
 
 " But, fair Lady Griselda, is not this marked remit 
 tance of your general rule ? Never before within my 
 recollection has any man been bidden within these 
 portals at such an hour." 
 
 " Hush, Mr. Blake," was the imperious reply. " It 
 isn t on your account at all. I m simply dying to read 
 my letters, and I want you to entertain Nan while I 
 do it." But she could have hugged herself with de 
 light happy little schemer that she was as she slipped 
 away to the children s bedside and left Blake standing 
 under the hanging lamp, where there was indeed but 
 scanty room, and gazing with eyes full of mingled 
 wonderment and pleasure at the tall and beautiful girl 
 whom he had last seen in the Riviera. 
 
 Later that night, when he had gone, Mrs. Freeman 
 turned to her lovely friend and protegee : 
 
 " Nannie Bryan, what have you done with your 
 locket?" 
 
 " Did you not intimate that it did not quite match 
 my gown, Mrs. Freeman ?" was the arch response. 
 
 " And did you not, despite my criticism, wear it all 
 the evening long until he came? You sly-boots! Do 
 you suppose I have forgotten the day he bought it, just 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 431 
 
 after our visit to the fleet at Villefranche? You 
 wouldn t let him see that you wore it, Miss Nan. 
 What does that mean ?" 
 
 Wl ereat Miss Bryan simply turned and ran away 
 up the stair. She would be interviwed no further on 
 that subject. 
 
 Next morning, as old Waldron was coming forth 
 from his doorway, he greeted with evident delight the 
 tall, bronzed, bearded captain of cavalry who sprang 
 to meet him, looking marvellously alert and well in the 
 new fatigue uniform, on the shoulders of which were 
 glistening for the first time the double silver bars. 
 
 " Blake, old fellow, how glad I am to welcome you ! 
 What a ride you have had ! And Foster tells me that 
 you go West to join your troop at once, and that you 
 caught that blackguard, Jamieson." 
 
 " Caught him up in the Hills, sir, close to Dead wood, 
 where he has been, it seems, ever since his escape from 
 prison. But it was not alone as an escaped convict 
 we seized him, or as accessory to Granger s murder." 
 
 "No! What else ?" 
 
 " It was he who shot Mr. Hollis. The identifica 
 tion is complete." 
 
 " By Jove ! that is a capture worth the making. 
 There was a garrison yarn of some tremendous denun 
 ciation you gave him just before starting East. He was 
 sent to prison some three years ago ; what was all that 
 about?" 
 
 " That was about still another matter, sir," replied 
 Blake, reddening through the bronze of his face. 
 "You vaguely remember, I think, the robbing of 
 Freeman s stable, though you happened to be away for 
 
432 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 a while on general court yourself. I can only say that 
 the rowing I gave him was for a very different affair. It 
 involved a woman s name, and I believed him a liar." 
 
 The band had taken its station on the parade. Mr. 
 Foster and the acting sergeant-major were at the edge 
 of the road waiting for the sergeants to finish the brief 
 inspection of their details over at the Riflers barracks. 
 The adjutant glanced quickly up the row, searching the 
 line of piazzas for a tall, graceful form that had ap 
 peared regularly every bright morning for several days 
 past at the Freemans door- way just at the sounding of 
 first call for guard-mounting. Yes ; she was there now, 
 she and her charming hostess and friend ; but he could 
 not see her face. Between Nannie Bryan and himself 
 there stood the tall figure of Gerald Blake. 
 
 Ten minutes later, as the young adjutant finished the 
 brief inspection of the guard and came marching out 
 to the front, he noted that the lady of his love was 
 leaning on the gate, her face shaded by her parasol, her 
 head drooping ; her attitude was one of rapt attention, 
 for Blake, too, was leaning on the gate and talking 
 eagerly, and Mrs. Freeman had come over to the 
 next piazza, a manoauvre which not only left the two 
 together, but headed off the possibility of interruption 
 from that direction. Mrs. Freeman was capable of 
 flights of generalship. 
 
 There was a lovely waltz the band of the th used 
 to play in those days, an old German " lied," with a 
 sweet, mournful, sobbing strain running through every 
 bar, and Nannie Bryan, dancing with Foster but the 
 night before, had pronounced it exquisite. She had 
 heard it in Vienna, and had there learned its name, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 433 
 
 " The Loved and Lost/ 7 and Foster had thought it a 
 dainty little bit of sentiment to have the band play it 
 for her this morning, and had so ordered. A dozen 
 feminine heads could be seen appreciatively nodding in 
 time to the lovely melody as the band trooped up and 
 down in front of the Httle guard, but Miss Nan seemed 
 listening to no other music than the martial basso can- 
 tante of her trooper friend. A tall, gray-haired captain 
 of infantry received the salute of the guard as new 
 officer of the day, and, dispensing with the march in 
 review, sent the little squad of a dozen men direct to 
 its post, he and Mr. Graham following. Foster re 
 turned sword with a snap and marched straight to 
 where Blake and his fair companion were standing. 
 Intent only on heading off feminine raiders, Mrs. Free 
 man had left that approach unguarded, and Foster bore 
 down upon the all-unconscious couple. 
 
 " Good-morning, Miss Bryan/ 7 was the sudden salu 
 tation. "Did you recognize the waltz?" 
 
 She looked up in absolute consternation. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Fo ter ! I m so sorry. I was talking. 
 I " 
 
 Poor Nannie! She couldn t tell even a white lie 
 with a face that turned so deep a red ; but there was 
 no need. Foster never halted an instant, but mutely 
 accepted his sentence as he hurried on to the office. 
 The lete-a-tete was brought to immediate end, however. 
 Dismayed at her preoccupation, indignant at herself, 
 Nannie brushed through the gate, declaring she must 
 see Mrs. Hayne a moment, and that Captain Blake must 
 go at once and pay his respects to Mrs. Stannard and 
 the other ladies of the th, some of whom, rest as- 
 T cc 37 
 
434 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 sured, were already on the veranda and had seen him 
 and marked his absorbed manner. And not ten min 
 utes later, Blake, with something of his old genial self, 
 at least, was seated in Mrs. Truscott s pretty parlor, 
 with boy Jack on his knee, and with three fair matrons 
 of the th laughing at his sallies and mentally noting 
 the great improvement in his appearance, when there 
 came a sharp rap at the door. It was the orderly from 
 the office, who came to say with the major s compliments 
 that he desired to see Captain Blake as soon as he had 
 finished breakfast. 
 
 " How can a man finish what he hasn t begun ?" 
 laughed Blake, as he quickly arose. " I ll see what s 
 wanted, Mrs. Truscott, and be back in five minutes. 
 Jump ! Jack Junior." 
 
 It seems that Mrs. Truscott was to entertain half a 
 dozen of the ladies that morning, for Marion Ray was 
 to return to Sidney on the afternoon train, in order to 
 get everything ready for her lord s home-coming. Mrs. 
 Freeman, with Nannie Bryan and Mrs. Hayne, came 
 beaming in but a moment after Blake had hurried away. 
 Lucky fellow ! It had been decided, though this was 
 to have been a ladies affair, that an exception should 
 be made in his case, because he had to start westward 
 that very day. Mrs. Freeman had sent word of his 
 arrival as soon as she believed Mrs. Truscott was astir 
 in the morning. 
 
 Ten minutes passed, and he did not come. Fifteen, 
 and the breakfast was being ruined. 
 
 " We will take our seats," said the hostess, " and 
 scold the one masculine representative of the th when 
 he finally appears." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 435 
 
 Bat Mrs. Stannard s blue eyes were clouding with 
 anxiety. 
 
 " I do not like it," she said, peering forth from the 
 window. " You saw last evening s paper about the 
 Indians at the Black Rock Agency ?" 
 
 " Why, yes, Mrs. Stannard ; but that is out of this 
 department. Surely the th would not be called on 
 after all they ve had to do/ exclaimed Mrs. Ray, with 
 paling face. 
 
 " Ah ! It is never a question of what they have 
 done in the army, but just at this moment Luce s 
 battalion our four troops happen to be the nearest 
 cavalry to the scene, and we know what that por 
 tends." 
 
 The hall-door opened hastily. It was Mrs. Raymond 
 who entered, flushed and tearful. 
 
 " Such dreadful news !" she said. " Mrs. Atherton 
 has just told me. The Indians have murdered the 
 people at the agency, and they re coming towards the 
 railway. All our regiment are ordered to meet them. 
 Oh, Mrs. Freeman ! You at least are lucky, for your 
 husband is too far away." 
 
 And then breakfast was forgotten. The table was 
 deserted. One and all the fair, anxious faces gathered 
 about the next comer, Mrs. Atherton, who entered, 
 despatch in hand. 
 
 ".Think of it! Think of it!" she cried. "The 
 Mertons with their charming party of tourists, who 
 were here two weeks ago, are camping in the North 
 Park at this moment without an idea of the danger !" 
 
 " Oh, is there no way of warning them ?" was the 
 shuddering question. 
 
43 6 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " Well, scouts rode this morning from Castle Dome, 
 the nearest station. But, think of the distance, and 
 then what good will it do? The Indians will be upon 
 them before they can get out of the Park ; and just 
 think of Mrs. Merton and those poor girls! 7 
 
 A horseman flashed by the window at the instant, 
 the galloping hoofs spurning the gravel. " It s Captain 
 Blake, 7 she said. " A special train is going at once 
 with every man we can possibly mount. 7 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 437 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " CUT Off, and Either Killed or Captured !" " The 
 Last News of Captain Blake !" Such were the head 
 lines of the morning paper that brought weeping and 
 desolation to more than one household in the stricken 
 garrison one bright September day a week later. All 
 over the broad, smiling landscape, all over that tum 
 bling sea of prairie, far on every side there shone 
 the radiance of peace and harmony. Cattle browsed 
 placidly in the sheltered " swales" where the bunch- 
 grass grew thickest. Children romped and laughed 
 on the parade ; stages and freight wagons went lumber 
 ing by to the northward ; the trains on the railway 
 wound, puffing, up the long tortuous grade to the west 
 ward summit. But on what scenes of tragedy had 
 they not gazed, those serene, snow-capped peaks to the 
 south ! On what scenes of battle and massacre and 
 terror had not these mute witnesses, the nearer heights 
 to the West, looked down during the last few days, 
 while here, nestling at their feet, lay this broad prairie 
 fortress, smiling in the sunshine as though no cloud 
 had ever cast its veiling shadow athwart its guarded 
 lines. Murder most foul within its very gates. Assas 
 sination in the peaceful, placid valley, where the stream 
 went softly babbling now. Storm and tempest, strife 
 
 87* 
 
438 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and sudden death all had marred its recent history. 
 And yet from one scene after another the old fort 
 seemed to rally like the battling skirmish-line to the 
 merry music of its own trumpets, ready undauntedly 
 to face each coming foe. Never had life seemed blither, 
 brighter, dearer than the August morn when Blake and 
 Nannie Bryan stood there at the Freernans gate, and 
 those bonny soldier wives, up and down the line, were 
 donning their smiles and silk attire to meet him at 
 Mrs. Truscott s. Then the lords they loved were home 
 ward bound. Now, once more, the chargers were sniff 
 ing the sulphur-laden breeze along the mountain range, 
 and the carbines ringing their death-shots among the 
 echoing crags. Then this joyous band of women had 
 gathered to surround and capture the new captain and 
 restored favorite, since he had cast aside all old idola 
 tries and knew no other goddesses but of their number. 
 But what manner of band was this that held him im 
 prisoned many a league away? Riding post-haste, the 
 couriers had warned the tourist party of their peril, and 
 guided them, abandoning their camp, backwards across 
 the range; and the Indians who sought to follow and 
 capture were grappled midway by Gerald Blake and 
 the little force that had galloped at his heels. " Every 
 man whom they could possibly mount." There rode 
 Pet Hayne, his steel-blue eyes ablaze. There rode 
 young Foster, eager to welcome brevet or bullet either 
 this time; anything was better than lagging there at 
 Russell now. There followed a motley score of Riflers, 
 straddling their unaccustomed steeds, but envied of all 
 their comrades who were trudging manfully fifty miles 
 behind. "There would have been a dozen dough- 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 439 
 
 boys to every horse," said the major, with tears in his 
 eyes, " could the horses have toted more than one." 
 
 Far ahead, far out into the glorious Park country, 
 the little band had lunged, rescuing the tourists in the 
 nick of time. Then, revengefully, the whole tribe had 
 turned and swarmed on them on Blake Blake, who 
 had but forty men, all told. And there he lay battling 
 among the boulders in the Yampah gorge, and not 
 a rescuing comrade within possibility of hail. No 
 wonder sweet young Mrs. Hayne lay terror-stricken at 
 the post and that the women thronged at her door to 
 minister and console. No wonder Mrs. Ray postponed 
 her homeward journey, that she might be here where 
 first news would come, where she could be " near Will" 
 if anything went wrong. No wonder the wives of 
 those who rode with bluff old Stannard clung to one 
 another now in sympathy, deeper even than they ever 
 felt before. Every one knew that he, with Gregg 
 and Truscott and Billy Ray, with half a dozen eager 
 subalterns and two hundred gallant men, was spur 
 ring hard to reach the scene; that there would be 
 ringing music when those brave boys came riding into 
 battle-line. But men s hearts sank at the thought 
 of the hours that must elapse before they could hope 
 to get in range of the besieged, and soft eyes filled 
 with tears of dread and anguish. What would then 
 the death harvest be? Yes, even at Mrs. Freeman s 
 there were tears and prayers and long night vigils, 
 even when that unconscionable woman, at least, should 
 have been thanking heaven her captain had been sent 
 so far away that there was no hope of his recall. 
 
 " Stannard s battalion crossed the Wolf River at day- 
 
440 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 break/ said the despatches, " with Blake still fifty miles 
 away ! The tourists are safe at Outranks ranch." 
 
 That night the round moon rises, silvering all the 
 wild beauty of a gorge that is like some Highland glen 
 transplanted from the very heart of the Trosachs. 
 Down in the depths of the deep ravine, in ceaseless 
 rush, a mountain torrent is brawling over its rocky bed, 
 and here and there its foaming reaches glisten ghostly 
 white in the radiance, and again, bursting over some 
 granite barrier, it tosses a sparkling wreath of spray 
 into the branches of overhanging pine. Out on the 
 cliff-side to the west the growth is thick half-way to 
 the crest; then, from this dark foliage of the slopes, 
 there spring straight towards the glistening vault of the 
 heavens great columns of red sandstone, bold, vertical, 
 palisaded, with black rents here and there in their scarred 
 faces, rents that the eye cannot penetrate in their depth 
 and gloom. Here on the hither the eastern side of 
 the gorge the ascent is more gradual and is thickly 
 covered with pine and strewn with boulders ; yet from 
 this jutting point in the general rise one can see for 
 fully a mile up the twisting gorge towards the south. 
 There it narrows and is shouldered out of sight in the 
 frowning front of the range. Turning about and look 
 ing northward, the eye roams over an expanse of valley 
 opening out to billowy, treeless uplands, perhaps five 
 miles away. It is the northern entrance to the old 
 Manitou Pass through the Snow-Cloud Rano-e. It is 
 
 o o 
 
 the pass through which the tourists, led by two faithful 
 guides, came fleeing in dismay three days before, aban 
 doning their rich camp to the coming foe as desperate 
 travellers over snow-clad steppes toss backwards their 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 441 
 
 very garments to check and baffle the wolves snapping 
 at their heels. It is the pass through which there 
 burst upon the trail not six hours later a furious baud 
 of savages, drunk with blood and spoil, exulting in 
 the thought that a few hours 7 gallop must overhaul the 
 pale faces, burdened as they are with helpless women. 
 Before nightfall their exultant hundred will have sur 
 rounded that huddling dozen, and then death to the 
 men ! but, look well to it lest ill-aimed bullet rob 
 the Indian brave of madder delight than even the 
 scalp-dance in the glorious revel to come. God ! What 
 fate for those fair, dainty women ! What horror for 
 husband and father to contemplate ! 
 
 But this is a pass long to be remembered and be 
 moaned among the survivors in the savage tribe. Just 
 before the leaders, lashing their bounding ponies down 
 the trail, had come in sight of the open stretch of roll 
 ing country, spreading far to the north, there rode into 
 the narrow glen a grimy, dust-covered band of perhaps 
 twoscore soldiers on groaning and exhausted steeds. 
 Some of these poor brutes break down before they can 
 reach the banks of the foaming stream. All the others 
 thrust deep their muzzles in the swirling waters and 
 drink their fill. Then, on again they go. He who 
 leads the party is tall, stalwart, bearded. He rides to 
 day as though he never lived out of the saddle. They 
 who follow are worn, haggard, many of them sore, yet 
 all grimly determined. Not more than five carry the 
 carbine, all the rest are armed with the long Springfield 
 of the infantry. These are the " Riflers" almost to a 
 soul. They represent what is left of the eager command 
 sent by special train under Blake, with orders to spare 
 
442 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 neither horse nor man, to stop for nothing, to "get 
 there at all hazards" and rescue those hapless tourists. 
 
 And here, at the very foot of the Pass at its north 
 ward mouth they have met. No time for more than 
 brief congratulation. On with you ! you who have 
 women to shield. Haste them northward, fast as their 
 strength permits! The Indians that get through that 
 Pass in pursuit have got to win it first. Now come on, 
 Riflers ! Come on, lads ! We ve five miles farther 
 to go before we reach the point to block them. 
 
 Blake thanks God for the hunting trips that filled 
 those few bitter years. No mountaineer, no frontiers 
 man, can tell him anything about the Snow-Cloud 
 Range. Some of the horses can barely stagger farther ; 
 but, heaven be praised ! they who have fallen are 
 sacrificed in a glorious cause. The fugitives are safe so 
 far. Now to make their escape a certainty ! To re 
 main with them out here in the open uplands means 
 only to invite attack from overwhelming force where 
 defence is next to impossible. There is but one solu 
 tion to the problem, seize that pass where it is walled, 
 narrow and precipitous, where mounted Indians cannot 
 get around, and then hold it like grim death till the 
 end whatever it be. 
 
 And here, in the narrowest part of the gorge, the 
 grapple came. Down went the ponies and the leaders 
 before the sudden fire that flashed from rock and tree. 
 Back reeled those Avho were spared, dismaying the 
 surging column in their wake. Then came the slow, 
 stealthy Indian approach. Then the real trial of the 
 brave fellows who had stemmed the rush of ten times 
 their little force and now must fight for their own lives. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 443 
 
 Every hour they hold the warriors here the jaded 
 refugees are speeding farther towards safety and sup 
 ports. They have got the Indians huddled in the 
 gorge, but every man knows full well that though the 
 fleet ponies cannot scale the heights around them, the 
 Indians can and will ; and, balked of their chosen prey, 
 now far to the north, will fight like devils to revenge 
 themselves on those who have slain their best and 
 bravest. 
 
 And desperate fighting it has been. A few hours told 
 the savages how trivial was the force that held them ; 
 but through them they could not break ; every trial 
 brought disaster ; around them they could not go un 
 less they left the precious ponies behind. They raged 
 at the thought of being baffled by the white soldiers. 
 Slowly they had accomplished " the surround. " One 
 by one Blake s poor horses were shot down from the 
 heights, and Jay stiffening there in a festering heap 
 where they had been huddled near the stream. One 
 by one Blake s men were picked off or driven from the 
 rocks assigned them, until, twenty-four hours after the 
 initial triumph, the tall leader found himself compelled 
 to leave his four dead comrades where they lay, though 
 covered deep with rocks, and to order a simultaneous 
 dash down through the pines and boulders to this very 
 point jutting out from the eastern slope, half a mile 
 away. In the dead of night the little band stole from 
 their lair, and, with the loss of but one more, reached 
 the new stronghold. " And here, lads," said Blake, 
 " we ll rule the roost till Stannard comes." 
 
 Then came another twenty-four hours, when no man 
 could move hand or foot from his lurking-place but 
 
444 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 the bullets came whizzing by. And now Blake is 
 indeed sorely troubled. Pet Hayne is shot through 
 both thighs and lies there pale, but uncomplaining. 
 Foster has had a " close call." Four men are wounded, 
 and they are suffering, for every drop of water is gone. 
 " If only it prove clouded and dark as last night," he 
 sighs to himself, "then we may slip down and re-fill 
 the canteens." 
 
 But this night comes on at last, a vision of heavenly 
 radiance. The moon rises in cloudless splendor and 
 sails slowly towards the zenith in a sky that knows not 
 a wisp of vapor. It is the third night of their vigil. 
 
 They rode in nearly forty strong. They are crouch 
 ing here " not thirty weak," grins Blake, as he bends 
 anxiously over Hayne. " Pet, old man, you and your 
 Riflers and your l long Toms have carried off all the 
 honors this trip. What a Godsend it was we happened 
 to be there together. Can you hold out a day or so all 
 right?" 
 
 Hayne set his teeth. 
 
 " Fve got to, Legs ; so have we all. Stannard 
 will be here in forty hours or so. How s Foster ?" 
 
 " Huffy. He will hardly speak to me now. I told 
 him what he saw was mirage ; it couldn t be anything 
 else, and warned him not to excite the men with false 
 hopes, it would deter efforts to sneak down for water." 
 
 " Where is he now ?" asks Hayne, faintly. 
 
 " Oh, back at his roost on t other side. He and a 
 dozen men watch that crest-line across the gorge. It s 
 a mighty long shot from there, but the Indians have 
 managed to send four of my best men to grass besides 
 you, old man, and the bullets come singing close in 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 445 
 
 from there. We ve got em foul on this side, though ; 
 they can t touch us except by a rush which will cost 
 them too much. Lord ! what a powwow they ve 
 been having over the dead already ; but for the 
 last hour, why they ve been as still as Gregg s 
 catawba." 
 
 Hayne grins painfully. Even here, with death on 
 every side, Blake s grim spirit of fun will crop to the 
 surface. Gregg had made quite a talk in the regiment 
 when he came from recruiting service about the won 
 derful wine he had been drinking. Afterwards he had 
 ordered six cases of a man who applied to him by mail 
 and who turned out to be a fraud, as did his wine, 
 which, when uncorked with infinite flourish, proved to 
 be a watered imitation of the brand the captain so en 
 thusiastically praised. 
 
 " My God ! I d give ten dollars for a sip even of 
 that to-night," groans poor Blake to himself, a moment 
 later, as the feeble moan of a sorely wounded soldier 
 comes to his ears. 
 
 "Can I do anything to make you easier, Horton?" 
 he whispers, going over and kneeling by the man. 
 
 " For the love of God, captain, water !" 
 
 Blake springs to his feet, dashing his hand across his 
 eyes. " By heaven, lad, you shall have it," he mutters. 
 " I can t stand this. There hasn t been a thimbleful 
 since noon." 
 
 Bending low, he flits from tree to tree, from rock to 
 rock, keeping in the deep shadows, dodging every 
 moonlit space until he reaches the westward edge of 
 the jutting bluff. Here, pallid and wan, two more of 
 the wounded are lying under the trees, and he kneels 
 
 38 
 
146 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 to answer the mute, but imploring, appeal in their 
 fevered eyes. 
 
 " Never fear, lads ; if you don t have water soon it 
 shall not be for lack of trying. Are you in much 
 pain, sergeant?" he asks the bearded Rifler, who is 
 stretched upon a saddle-blanket under a stunted pine. 
 
 " A twinge or two, sir. But what hurts most is that 
 I can t answer the shots from over yonder." And his 
 left hand points across the deep and frowning gorge to 
 the rocky battlements that overlook them as they hug 
 their hiding-places on the spur. 
 
 " I feel that worse than you do, sergeant. You fel 
 lows with your long Toms 7 have kept down that fire 
 as we never could, and," he mutters to himself, "we 
 can t afford to waste a shot now. Our cartridges are 
 almost gone. Let me have both your canteens, 
 men." 
 
 "Why, who s going to make the try, sir?" asks the 
 sergeant. 
 
 "I ll name him presently. A dozen would volun 
 teer, but they have been forbidden so long as that fire 
 continues as sharp as it is. What do you think their 
 silence means ?" And as he asks, Blake is slinging the 
 canteen straps over his shoulder. 
 
 " Lieutenant Foster crawled over here a bit ago, sir, 
 with the same question. He thinks they re holding 
 a council of some kind. There s plenty of them there, 
 though. All you ve got to do is to strike a light among 
 the trees here, or venture out along that ledge where the 
 moonlight shines, and the whole crest will blaze with 
 shots. Where, in God s name, do they get all their 
 ammunition, sir?" 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 447 
 
 "Where they always have and always will, from 
 their traders and these money-making white settlers 
 damn them! Hello! what s wanted now?" 
 
 A quick, low whistle sounds farther to the right. 
 Rifle in hand, Blake goes crouching through the pines, 
 darting from one shadow to the next. A few seconds 
 bring him to the northern edge, at a point commanding 
 a perfect view of the gradually widening valley as well 
 as of the palisaded rocks across the gorge. Here, 
 kneeling under the eastern side of a big boulder, he 
 finds Mr. Foster, field-glasses in hand. Blake crawls 
 to his side. 
 
 " What s up this time?" 
 
 " What I said was up before, sir," is the almost sul 
 len reply. " Take this glass and squint out there to 
 the north. Our trail comes around the front of that 
 butte. Horsemen were moving along it just now." 
 
 Blake, stretched at full length, raises himself on both 
 elbows and gazes long and earnestly. At last he 
 lowers the glass. 
 
 "You cannot wish it were our people more than I 
 do, Foster ; but it is simply impossible that the bat 
 talion could reach us before to-morrow some time ; yet 
 you were possessed with the idea it was in sight from 
 here at sundown." 
 
 " I didn t say the battalion, Captain Blake. I said 
 then and say now that, just as the brightest rays fell on 
 the west side of a ridge way off there to the north, I 
 saw what I believed to have been a troop of horse coming 
 across in column of twos. It lasted but a few seconds 
 and faded away ; but I m not dreaming, if I am dry. 
 And just before I whistled I saw the same thing down 
 
448 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 yonder in that big patch of moonlight, a troop of 
 ghosts, perhaps, only I don t believe in spooks." 
 
 " I can see nothing ; but you may be right, youngster. 
 God knows I hope you are, and that I m wrong ; but 
 it can be none of Stannard s people, and what else is 
 there to hope for ? Now, where are your canteens ?" 
 
 "Back yonder among the pines, sir; but there s no 
 use squeezing them." 
 
 " I want some, all the same ; then I want you and 
 three of your men to cover me as much as you. possibly 
 can." 
 
 " Why, you re not going, captain ? Surely, that isn t 
 your business." 
 
 " It happens to be this time. It s simply a question 
 of legs. Mine have been the butt of you Riflers so long 
 that they ought to be crippled ; but I can outrun and out- 
 climb the best of you to-night, and I mean to prove it." 
 "You couldn t if you hadn t saddle-galled the whole 
 gang of us, riding two hundred miles on your con 
 demned plugs. There s more of us disabled by the 
 infernal things than by bullets. If I could run or 
 walk ten yards, you shouldn t go." And Foster shakes 
 his head, dejectedly. 
 
 " Nobody need know anything about it, Foster, be 
 yond yourself, at least until they begin shooting. Now, 
 here s my plan. It s about three hundred yards down 
 there to the water from this ledge. It would be useless 
 to try it just now, for there s no moving object an In 
 dian can t see so long as there s any light ; but in half 
 an hour or so the moon will be throwing the shadow of 
 this bluff so that by going back to that clump of pines 
 yonder I can creep in shadow along right under us here 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 449 
 
 clown to within a hundred yards of that pool above the 
 fall. Of course, they have watchers out all along the 
 timber at the stream, and both above and below us ; but 
 there s no force down there to speak of. Most of the 
 ponies have been led back and are up on top of the 
 plateau at this moment. The beggars know we can t 
 get away afoot, even if we could break through on this 
 side. I count on getting down that far without being 
 seen ; then I ll sneak for it to the pool, fill the canteens, 
 and wriggle back. If they see me and open fire, keep 
 them off as well as you can. I ll show them a pair of 
 heels up the hill-side." 
 
 Foster would again protest, but Blake shuts off 
 further opportunity by slipping backwards from the 
 ledge, and in another moment he is among the pines, 
 quietly stringing the canteens over his shoulder, choos 
 ing those on which the covering is still intact, and thus 
 diminishing the chance of rattling. Once again he 
 cautiously makes his way over to the opposite side of 
 his little fortress, avoiding the spot where Hayne is 
 patiently lying, and keeping away, as much as possible, 
 from the stations of the men. He does not wnt them 
 to know of his hazardous attempt. And at last he has 
 succeeded in gaining a point where, looking westward, 
 he can see that already the northern face of the project 
 ing bluff is almost entirely in shadow. Long since 
 he has discarded boots and spurs and thrust his feet 
 into light moccasins. Now, with nine canteens strung 
 about him, he slowly and cautiously begins the descent. 
 "Eight was about all a fellow could skip with up such 
 a hill/ 7 he had muttered, " but I ll take one more and 
 make it nine for luck." 
 
 dd 38* 
 
450 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Lightly now, stepping as though on eggs, and fear 
 ful of the faintest sound, steadying himself by the 
 branches of the stunted trees, and keeping ever within 
 the shadows, he goes crouching from rock to rock, from 
 tree to tree, and at last finds himself at the western 
 foot of the steep bluff, on whose crest his little party 
 is ensconced. The moon, still on her upward climb, 
 throws the shadows of the bold spur well down the 
 more gradual slope before him, but he pauses a moment 
 to reconnoitre. Another hundred yards, probably, he 
 may hope to venture without discovery from the lurk 
 ing foe. After that, broad moonlit spaces interpose 
 between the shadows and the cool, rushing torrent in 
 the gorge. Heavens ! how tantalizing is its music 
 now ! How torturing to the poor fellows lying fevered 
 there upon the bluff, praying for even one drop of blessed 
 moisture from the wealth it is tossing over those sense 
 less rocks. Another time how he could have revelled 
 in the scene before him : the moonlight glinting on 
 those lofty palisades across the deep ravine and silver 
 ing every boulder, spur, and tree-top, forming such con 
 trast with the long black shadows thrown across the 
 nearer slope, the deep gloom of every crevice and 
 recess on the other side ; but to-night nature is leagued 
 with her savage children against the alien pale-face. 
 Anywhere, everywhere among those opposite shadows 
 the enemy may be in hiding. No man can prophesy 
 from what point the flame may leap and speed the 
 deadly bullet. If it were only cloudy, only reasonably 
 dark, Blake might reach the tumbling waters unob 
 served ; but it is almost as light as day. 
 
 No time to waste. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 451 
 
 11 If it wer done, when tis done, then twere well 
 It were done quickly," 
 
 he mutters to himself, old habits cropping to the sur 
 face now. He loosens his hold on the branch of a 
 little pine, bends low, his right hand grasping the re 
 volver in case he comes suddenly upon the hidden foe, 
 and then goes scudding down the slope, making for a 
 tree at the edge of the shadow, a tree that bends 
 almost double like himself. No matter if the canteens 
 clink a little now, the roar of the water is near enough 
 to deaden the sound. 
 
 Another minute and, unmolested thus far, he has 
 reached this gnarled and stunted oak, and now only a 
 hundred yards farther he can see the white spray of 
 the torrent sparkling in the moonlight, and a back 
 ward glance reveals the outline of the bold bluff, like 
 some sturdy castle, double the distance and in rear of 
 him. Now for the sternest work of all. Something 
 tugging at his heartstrings seems to bid Gerald Blake 
 look back over his life, bid him lift to heaven a prayer 
 for the soul that any instant now may be set free from 
 its earthly tenement and floating through space illimit 
 able to the presence of its Maker. But even that 
 thought he stifles. No time for overhauling the past. 
 "Act, act in the living present," he mutters. "And 
 God help me to help those poor fellows up the heights. " 
 
 Out to the edge of the tree s shadow he crouches, 
 then drops upon his knees. Some one is moving on 
 the trail below. More than some one, three, four, 
 five, he counts five ghostly shadows springing noise 
 lessly down the ravine, Indians beyond question. They 
 
452 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 are afoot, which is unusual. They are hastening north 
 ward. What does it mean ? Can it be that Foster is 
 right? Can it be that comrades are coming, that the 
 Indian watchers have spied them, and that now all 
 hands are slipping away to ambuscade them as they 
 enter the gorge? Even as he kneels, his heart thump 
 ing hard, his knees and hands trembling with excite 
 ment, Blake catches sight of three more warriors hurry 
 ing in pursuit of the first. It can mean nothing else. 
 It must mean that they are speeding down to trap the 
 coming force, whatever it may be. Warning must 
 reach it, or the would-be rescuers will be dead men. 
 First, then, water for the wounded, then signals for their 
 coming friends. 
 
 Still crouching, he runs nimbly down the slope; he 
 picks the shortest line from bush to bush ; he half 
 slides, half leaps down the steeper bank as he nears the 
 stream, and one minute more, all a-tremble, he has 
 reached the edge of a deep pool just above the fall, has 
 plunged his hands and face into the cool water, drink 
 ing long, deep draughts, and then, hardly stopping to 
 unsling them, flat upon a broad shelving rock he is 
 thrusting his canteens under water, laying, meantime, 
 his ready revolver by his side. Two minutes suffice 
 to fill them, to thrust home the stoppers, and then, 
 dripping, he rises to his feet, and taking up his pistol, 
 with one swift glance around, strides quickly back the 
 way he came. Not ten steps has he gone when there 
 is a whish as of the wing of a night-hawk past his 
 ears; a second more a sharp "spang," and another 
 whiz tell him that one canteen has been struck. Some 
 thing flits across his eyes in the moonlight, and at the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 453 
 
 same instant there flashes through his brain the expla 
 nation arrows! He is seen ; his pursuers are close at 
 hand. They dare not use fire-arms, for fear of spoiling 
 the ambuscade below. They mean to bring him down 
 with their feathered shafts. One instant more and 
 Blake, zigzagging right and left, though hampered by 
 his pounding canteens, goes springing up the hill-side 
 like a born Apache. The next moment three warriors 
 leap from cover in pursuit. He is burdened ; they are 
 free. They come skimming up the slope, swift almost 
 as their own arrows, and when Blake reaches the partial 
 shelter of the big tree he goes down in a heap, pierced 
 through and through the left thigh, rolls on his back, 
 takes deliberate aim at the nearmost Indian, who, crouch 
 ing, is just setting another arrow ; and then the crags 
 echo the loud bang of his Colt and resound to his sten 
 torian shout, 
 
 " This way, Foster ! This way, lads !" 
 Zip ! comes another arrow through the branches. 
 Bang goes the Colt a second time, answered by a 
 guttural cry below and by a rattling volley of carbines 
 and a cheer of defiance and exultation from above. 
 Again he aims and fires. Again he shouts his rallying 
 call. And then, tearing down the steep decline, he 
 hears his fellows coming. He hears Foster s brave 
 young voice, hailing, "Where are you, Blake?" He 
 hears the loud ring of shot after shot close at hand. 
 He hears the sudden crashing volley far down the 
 ravine; a glorious burst of distant cheers; a rattling 
 fusillade, a crash of a hundred hoofs. He hears loud, 
 joyous, welcoming shouts around him ; defiant, furious 
 war-whoops across the fire-flashing shadows of the 
 
454 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 gorge. He is conscious of a louder singing in his ear, 
 of a swimming of the head, of a deadly faintn ess creep 
 ing over him, despite his every effort. He hears a rush 
 as of thunder up the trail across the stream. He real 
 izes that bearded horsemen are plunging through, over, 
 across, and then panting up the slopes, greeted by mad 
 cheers from the bluff above and from the Riflers rush 
 ing to his support. He dimly realizes that a tall, 
 stalwart soldier has thrown himself from saddle to his 
 side and is clasping him in a pair of brawny arms. 
 And then everything seems to fade utterly away as he 
 murmurs, 
 
 " Tommy Hollis, you ve got more lives than a d>)zen 
 cats." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 455 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE days of jubilee bad come at last. The nights 
 of vigil and prayer and dread anxiety were gone. 
 Once more the old fort was merry with music and 
 cheery voices, for the th were home for good. What 
 wondrous welcome had they when the long column of 
 bearded troopers, stalwart and sun-tanned, rode jaunt 
 ily into the post; the very horses pricking up their 
 ears and looking as though they recognized every bat 
 tered chimney and wind-racked gable. The band 
 played its most rollicking marches. The women and 
 children from " Sudsville" fairly screamed with de 
 light as, one after another, some familiar and beloved 
 face could be distinguished through the dust that coated 
 the war-worn features. Over across the parade, along 
 the verandas, the ladies were gathered in joyous bevies, 
 while the little ones, gayly dressed in holiday garb, 
 danced and shouted with impatient glee. The long 
 line formed once more on the old, well-known parade. 
 The colonel said brief word of commendation to his 
 men. The standard was duly conveyed to head-quar 
 ters. The troops were dismissed to stables, and then 
 came the rush of officers to the waiting groups along 
 the row. A dozen, carriages and vehicles of various 
 sorts had driven out from town, and many of them ac 
 companied the regiment on its march from the railway 
 
456 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 station. There was little time now to pay attention to 
 the occupants, but no one who looked could fail to re 
 mark the elegance of Mrs. Leavitt s toilet and equi 
 page, even though there were women who raved at her 
 in their hearts when she deliberately drove up in front 
 of the quarters and reined in across the way, directly 
 over against the group gathered at the Stannards gate. 
 That being a central position, most of the officers rode 
 thither at once, and Mrs. Leavitt s manoauvre placed 
 her conspicuously between these home-coming warriors 
 and the " ladies of their love." Hers, therefore, was 
 the first smile, hers the first welcoming voice, hers the 
 first beaming face to greet them, and Mrs. Wilkins 
 hardly had a word with which to hail her burly liege, 
 such was the wrath and volubility of her denunciation 
 of this utterly indecorous proceeding. True, not a 
 man checked the rapid trot of his horse or paused to 
 speak with her. There was a general doffing of the 
 battered campaign hats and a few perfunctory bobs of 
 the head ; but one and all they hastened on, even the 
 bachelors, for the moment old Stanuard caught sight 
 of Mrs. Leavitt he seemed to divine her object. " Well, 
 if that woman hasn t the cheek of a cat. Don t stop, 
 whatever you do," he muttered, as he touched his 
 charger with the spur. And so even " the boys" rode 
 briskly by, some few of the officers making a conspic 
 uously wide detour, am] one of these was Tommy Hol- 
 lis, whom the garrison was ready to welcome with open 
 arms. 
 
 "With weeping and with laughter," indeed, again 
 and again had the tale been told of Tommy s exploit 
 on the Yampah trail. A long, toilsome march had 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 457 
 
 Stannard made, even before he crossed the railway. 
 Horses and men were grievously worn, when from flee 
 ing settlers he learned how Blake with his little band 
 lay beleaguered in the Manitou Pass, hemmed in by 
 the whole insurgent band. It was impossible with 
 jaded horses to greatly increase the speed, though Stan 
 nard meant to march night and day. But, as luck 
 would have it, one troop had been detached and had 
 had a two-days rest at the railway. Gregg s horses, 
 therefore, were comparatively fresh, and Hollis eagerly 
 sought permission to mount forty light-weight troopers 
 upon them, to leave behind their blankets, side-lines, 
 every weighty or cumbrous item except arms and am 
 munition, and to make a forced march to the relief of 
 Blake. Hollis, too, had taken to hunting since his 
 slow convalescence from what, three years before, had 
 been considered a fatal wound. He knew the country 
 well, and was sure he could make his way to Blake, 
 and that, once together, they could stand off the foe 
 until Stannard and the battalion could reach them. 
 The veteran major never hesitated an instant. Gregg s 
 heavy men turned over their fresh horses to the two- 
 score featherweights selected by the four troop com 
 manders, and half an hour later, with hearty Godspeed 
 from all, away went Hollis, disappearing in a cloud of 
 dust far down the road, leaving the battalion to come 
 jogging sturdily after. All the livelong day they al 
 ternated walk, trot, and gallop, stopping only to water 
 at the few streams they crossed, and just at sunset the 
 little band, armed to the teeth and ready for anything, 
 rode across the last divide and came in sight of the 
 dark rift in the Snow-Cloud range, 
 u 39 
 
458 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 " There s the Manitou !" shouted Hollis to his men ; 
 and again they quickened the gait. It was no mirage, 
 therefore, on the northern sky that Foster had seen ; 
 nor were they ghosts who flitted through the moonlit 
 patch two hours later. Knowing well that his coming 
 would be watched, Hollis had here thrown forward a 
 small advance-guard and moved with caution, scouting 
 every defile and searching every grove until the sud 
 den sound of firing up the pass told him he was within 
 rifle-range of his comrades. Then all else was for 
 gotten, and one impetuous rush carried him through. 
 An hour s sharp fighting had followed his dash, but 
 Blake and his precious canteens were carefully borne 
 to the rocky fortress up the heights. Then Riflers and 
 troopers united, and, with abundant ammunition now, 
 they turned fiercely on the foe, and, though the Indians 
 hung all about them another long day until Stannard s 
 guidons came fluttering into view and Billy Ray s 
 skirmish-line sent the painted devils tumbling over 
 the eastern ridge, the besiegers were only too glad to 
 keep at a distance, and content themselves with pot 
 shots from the crest across the gorge. 
 
 And then with another day the ambulances reached 
 them, and the wounded were tenderly and carefully 
 borne down the hill-side and trundled off by slow 
 marches to the railway, and so back to Russell, where 
 loving hearts and hands awaited their coming; where 
 the women folk in congress assembled decided that it 
 was Captain Blake s misfortune, and not entirely his 
 fault, that he had no devoted wife to nurse and care 
 for him, as had his gallant comrade Hayne. And so 
 they invaded his bachelor den and put it in habitable 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 459 
 
 and attractive shape hours before the train with the 
 wounded arrived ; and thither the long-legged patient 
 was borne; and there he was nursed and coddled, and 
 fed with every dainty feminine ingenuity could devise ; 
 and there he lay propped up on the sofa, with two or 
 three charming visitors to read or talk to him every 
 afternoon; and there he scrawled facetious notes to 
 Hayne, whose wound was far more severe, and sent 
 them by his " Milesian Mercury," as he called Hogan. 
 And there every evening, when Doctor Pease would per 
 mit, the officers would drop in for an hour s chat, and 
 with every day the patient s spirits soared higher and 
 higher, and people began to remark how like the old 
 Blake he was again. Between himself and Ross of 
 the Riflers, who was as marked a specimen of the stout 
 and burly type as Blake was of the long and spare, 
 the fire of chaff was incessant. For years the former 
 had reviled the slender shanks of his trooper friend, 
 and now Blake triumphantly demanded what he had 
 to say, since they had proved invaluable in such a 
 crisis. Ross responded that in Blake s exploit, where 
 invisibility was a prime requisite, such legs would cer 
 tainly " fill the bill," though they could never by any 
 possibility fill anything else. Blake pronounced the 
 episode a just retribution on his " doughboy" detractors, 
 and provoked a groan of dismay by immediate reference 
 to his case as a modern instance of the laws of retali 
 ation. "Here s Legs TaglioniV himself!" he de 
 clared, a verbal contortion which, to the credit of 
 his hearers, only a few of them understood and only 
 one appreciated at its full value, Doctor Pease, who 
 instantly ordered the patient on half-diet for the 
 
460 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 week to come. Ross used to stop at the hall and 
 affably ask how fared it with " the lean and slippered 
 pantaloon," and Blake, unable to leave his sofa or re 
 clining chair, would hurl slippers and Shakespeare at 
 him through the door- way ; and thus were they engaged 
 one lovely sunshiny morning just before the th came 
 home, when Ross, dodging an old shoe and deprecating 
 a distorted quotation, nearly tumbled over two fair 
 ladies entering, jelly-laden, and one of these was Mrs. 
 Freeman. Ross presently found, as he had occasion 
 ally before, that he was needed elsewhere. 
 
 Warm and beautiful were the mornings of that early 
 October, and there was gladness unspeakable in every 
 face along the familiar old row in the week that fol 
 lowed the th s return. All the livelong day the 
 officers were busily occupied straightening out the 
 troops after the dusty summer s campaign. Colonel, 
 majors, captains, and subalterns were at work till even 
 ing gunfire, excepting only those who, like Blake and 
 Hayne, were invalided and could only be nursed and 
 made much of. And these were halcyon days for 
 " Legs," especially after he was well enough to hobble 
 about the post and choose his own company, for then 
 it transpired that he was spending morning after morn 
 ing in Mrs. Freeman s pretty parlor, while the children 
 were at their studies and the fair hostess was " on 
 household cares intent." And the ladies who came 
 bustling in would stop short at the parlor door and 
 say " Oh !" or " Ah !" in tone and manner most signifi 
 cant, and then declare they had merely come to see 
 Mrs. Freeman just a minute, and would trot up-stairs 
 or out into the dining-room, or even invade the kitchen, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. \\ 
 
 after the manner of intimate acquaintanceship on the 
 frontier ; and Mrs. Freeman herself was looking even 
 blither, bonnier, happier than ever, with such a merry 
 and mysterious sparkle in her eyes, such ready dim 
 pling smiles, such sage noddings of the head, when she 
 and Mrs. Atherton got together for a semi-occasional 
 conference. And the Crawfords had gone on to Cali 
 fornia to look after certain interests that that successful 
 business-man had acquired in the land of gold and 
 grape and orange ; but Nannie Bryan had thought she 
 would rather stay with dear Mrs. Freeman until their 
 return, for Mrs. Freeman could not bear to let her go. 
 And they were gone all October, and did not re 
 appear at Russell until after the snowflakes and the 
 whistling gales began to warn the garrison that the 
 long, long winter would soon be upon them ; and even 
 these warnings brought no dismay to the army colony. 
 Once again the evening dances were in full blast. 
 Once again the theatricals were organized with Tommy 
 Hollis " Helpful Tommy" as manager and director. 
 Once again the bachelors led off with the opening ball, 
 and the neighboring garrisons were bidden, and there 
 was solemn conference among the youngsters as to the 
 distribution of invitations in town, and it was decided 
 that Judge and Mrs. Leavitt could not be omitted from 
 the list, despite the fact that there was war between 
 them and the Morrises, estrangement between them 
 and the rector, and strained relations between them 
 and almost every household at the post. It was hoped 
 she would not come. It was predicted that she 
 would ; and the prediction was well founded. She 
 appeared in a gown that made the women gasp with 
 
 39* 
 
462 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 admiration. She never looked more radiant, more 
 brilliantly beautiful. She was grace, gayety, joyous- 
 ness personified. She danced untiringly, sometimes 
 with Foster, with Graham, Webster, and Corry, tvho 
 as givers of the feast were in honor bound to see that 
 proper attention was paid to every guest, but mainly 
 with a new-comer in Cheyenne, a tall young civilian 
 from the far East, who had embarked in the cattle 
 trade, and who had speedily fallen a victim to her fas 
 cinations, and was now her very shadow ; a youth who 
 scowled and bit his nails when she was dancing with 
 her soldier-partners, and who rather too evidently 
 allowed Mrs. Atherton and others to see that in asking 
 them for waltz or gallop he was acting under instruc 
 tions. Mrs. Atherton smiled benignly upon him and 
 told him she was so sorry he was too late, but every 
 thing was taken. But she and Mrs. Gregg, who were 
 receiving for " the boys," were simply irreproachable in 
 the greeting they gave the Leavitts when they came, 
 and in the apparent reluctance of their parting when, 
 leaning upon the judicial arm, and with her embryo 
 cattle-grower in attendance, madame said good-night 
 soon after the german began. To the unspoken relief 
 of everybody she had declined to dance it, so Hull is 
 might just as well have led, after all. As it was, he 
 seemed completely happy in having Mrs. Freeman for 
 a partner ; and time and again that night men came to 
 Freeman to say that never had they seen her looking 
 so blithe and well, when what they thought and what 
 they said to themselves and one another was that never 
 had she looked so lovely. The tall dragoon s eyes 
 glistened as he watched her, and well they might. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 463 
 
 There was a similar look in Jack Truscott s bronzed 
 face. There was almost the same light in Pet Hayne s 
 blue eyes, as he lay in a reclining chair at the lower 
 end of the hall. There was something of the same 
 expression in " Leggy" Blake s lined visage, as he sat 
 beside his fellow-invalid. Probably each man was 
 trying not to show the worship that filled his heart. 
 Three of them were utterly in love with their own 
 wives, and one at last had realized that, despite his 
 years of thraldom, he had learned to love anew, and 
 this time with an intensity, with a passion and rever 
 ence and tenderness and humility that seemed at times 
 to overpower him. What had he, almost twice her 
 years, battered in service and stained with the knowl 
 edge of that old and shameful servitude, to offer one 
 so pure and radiant as the fair young girl about whom 
 all the men were clustering to-night. Mrs. Granger 
 Leavitt, who had made her adieux all smiles and radi 
 ance, spoke not one word to her gloomy lord upon the 
 homeward drive. She had heard the rumors that were 
 afloat. She read the transformation in her whilom 
 lover s eyes, and knew that now, at last, her power 
 with him was gone forever. 
 
 And all through that joyous evening it was some 
 thing worth noting that every few minutes there would 
 be a cluster of fair women about those reclining chairs 
 at the end of the hall where sat, like sultans euthroned, 
 the two wounded officers. The "Cripples Delight" 
 Blake had dubbed their corner. Mrs. Hayne was one 
 of the loveliest of lovely pictures at the ball, and, 
 " troopers and plodders" both, the young officers hov 
 ered about her pleading for dances. Her fair face was 
 
464 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 flushed, her eyes sparkling with pleasure; yet after 
 every number she would find a way to guide her part 
 ner to that corner where Pet reclined upon his cush 
 ions, and there to bend over to assure herself he was 
 not getting wearied. She would promise no dance after 
 midnight, which hour Pease had fixed as the limit of 
 his patient s stay, and Colonel Atherton s own easy 
 carriage was at the door to bear them homewards when, 
 with half the men in the room about them, and Doctor 
 Grimes in close attendance, the young infantryman and 
 his charming bride withdrew. But Blake was further 
 advanced in his recovery and was accorded longer stay, 
 and there he sat for another hour watching the mazes 
 of that lovely german and trying not to show that he 
 was watching, with his heart in his eyes, the tall, grace 
 ful, exquisite girl whom Mr. Clark was so lucky as to 
 have for partner. All through the evening Blake and 
 Hayne had been holding a genuine levee, but now that 
 Hayne was gone and the german was fairly begun, and 
 many of the elders among the townsfolk had retired, 
 and many among the older officers had betaken them 
 selves to whist, " Legs" was left more to himself, and 
 was silently, wistfully gazing on the animated scene. 
 What memories came surging up in his mind as he 
 looked along the brightly-lighted hall, with all its mar 
 tial blazonry of flags and bayonets, guidons and sabres, 
 trumpets and drums. How well he recalled the first 
 time he saw it so decorated. It was the night before 
 he marched with Billy Ray and that big detachment 
 of recruits to meet the th at the close of the Sioux 
 campaign. It was the night ah, well he remembered 
 it when Kay had stepped forward under that very 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 465 
 
 chandelier where Miss Sanford was standing with all 
 that bevy of beaux about her, and had borne her away, 
 practically, for good and all. She, the belle and beauty 
 of the season, had learned to love his gallant friend 
 and was glad to share his lot and be a soldier s wife. 
 Blake, shading his eyes with his hand, could almost 
 fancy he saw them now, gliding slowly about the room, 
 her lovely face suffused, her eyes downcast, and his so 
 full of hope and resolution. He could see them as 
 they turned suddenly to that very door-way where 
 Ray snatched his cavalry cape from the chair, and to 
 gether they vanished from the hall, followed by the 
 sweet, plaintive strains of Immortellen. He could see 
 the radiance in Billy s face when, ten minutes later, they 
 reappeared, and the shy, tremulous joy in hers. He re 
 membered vividly the clasp of his comrade s hand that, 
 the moment they were alone, told the whole glad story. 
 What infinite happiness had been Ray s ! What per 
 fect recompense for all the trials and trouble of his 
 past ! Why could not he too find such joy to crown 
 his life ? God knows he had had suffering as keen as 
 Ray ; but, ah, how different had been their lives ! 
 What hope could he have with all the humiliating story 
 of that first love, that long, wasted love, staring him 
 in the face ? He did not dare think of that and then 
 of Nannie Bryan. How well he recalled the first night 
 the child had sat by his side, peeping through that c:tn- 
 vas screen upon the brilliant german of three years 
 ago ; he, absorbed in watching Madeleine Granger and 
 utterly ignoring the slender girl who gazed so piteously 
 in his face, as though begging forgiveness for having 
 unwittingly cost him the privilege of dancing with the 
 
466 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 belle of the ball. Heavens, how the recollection stung 
 him ! He looked upon the old familiar stage and be 
 thought him of still another night, that night of min 
 gled mirth and madness, of exasperation at one inbtant, 
 of thrilling and delirious triumph the next. He could 
 hear that siren voice even at this moment, as with her 
 soft warm lips so close to his face she murmured, 
 "Don t you know I would do that always now?" He 
 shuddered, actually shuddered, at the recollection, and 
 instinctively covered his face with his hand. 
 
 The next thing Blake knew, a charming woman was 
 bending over him. There was a sudden outburst, an 
 irrepressible clapping of hands, for Mrs. Atherton, 
 instead of carrying to some dancing man her favor 
 a little silver bell, was smilingly pinning it on the 
 breast of Blake s uniform. 
 
 " There, sir, you shan t sit here looking tired and 
 wistful, if I can help it. I m only sorry you can t 
 dance ; so is somebody else I know of," said her lady 
 ship, as with sage and significant nods she surveyed her 
 work and laughingly waved her handkerchief to the 
 applauding throng. Blake seized her hand and 
 straightened up in his chair, all the old gladness of 
 his nature summoned to instant life by the womanly 
 tact and sympathy. 
 
 " I ll kiss thy foot. I ll swear myself thy subject," 
 he declaimed, as he gazed up into her laughing eyes, 
 and then, before he could bend forward to press his 
 lips in homage upon the dainty glove, Mrs. Freeman 
 was at his side. She, too, was busily affixing another 
 tiny bell upon his breast. In ten minutes Blake dis 
 covered, to his huge delight, that the ladies of the th 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 467 
 
 were making him the hero of the evening ; for, one 
 after another, they came to decorate him with their 
 pretty favors, and presently their example was fol 
 lowed oy the girls from town. By the time the fourth 
 figure was finished, Blake s uniform was all rainbowed 
 with fluttering ribbon and sparkling with bells and 
 fans. Tommy Hollis was the only man who could 
 begin to compete with him, and still he was not happy, 
 for one sweet girl had held aloof. 
 
 " Blake," said old Pease, as the dancers were prom 
 enading the room before the fifth figure began, " twas 
 time for you to go two hours ago. Now, go you ve 
 got to. The ambulance is waiting, and so am I." 
 
 Blake rose reluctant. He glanced quickly about 
 the crowded room, though he knew she was not there. 
 He had seen her but a moment before disappearing 
 with Mrs. Freeman and their partners for a stroll upon 
 the piazza without the same door through which Ray 
 and Marion Sanford had vanished that memorable 
 night so long ago. It was Clark whose arm Miss 
 Nan had taken, whose cavalry circular was even now 
 wrapped about her pretty shoulders. Blake limped 
 painfully away at the doctor s side, striving to reach 
 that door unnoticed. He did not want to have to say 
 good-night to any one. If go he must, he would slink 
 away unseen. 
 
 "Get my cape, will you, Doc?" he said. "Til go 
 right to the door." 
 
 But there stood some town carriages instead of the 
 ambulance. To reach the latter he had to hobble a 
 dozen yards further up the narrow porch, to go 
 straight towards those chatting groups of fair women 
 
468 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 and attendant cavaliers. He heard Mrs. Wilkins s 
 jovial voice and Mrs. Truscott s happy laughter. He 
 caught sight of Mrs. Freeman s bonny face, the light 
 that streamed from a window gleaming through the 
 red gold of her hair, and then, just behind her, came 
 the lovely girlish face, the tall slender form he had 
 grown to worship. Sadly for a moment he gazed 
 upon her, and then, sudden and all in an instant, a 
 swift, wild hope, an almost delirious joy possessed 
 him. Plainly he saw that as they reached the window 
 she had stooped and peered into the hall directly 
 towards the corner where he had been sitting all the 
 evening. Plainly he saw the quick, sudden change 
 that overspread her radiant face. Plainly he saw that 
 she had stopped short, swept the room with anxious, 
 searching glance, and then, as though conscious of this 
 self-betrayal, had as quickly recovered herself and 
 taken her escort s arm. 
 
 " Shall we go in, Mrs. Freeman ?" he heard her say. 
 " It must be time for the next figure." And then 
 Blake held forth a trembling hand. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Blake !" cried Mrs. Freeman, ignoring 
 the recent double bars and clinging to the title of their 
 years of friendship. " Surely you re not going yet and 
 and," with odd irrelevance, " Nannie s last ball. I 
 hadn t dreamed of such a thing !" 
 
 " But it s after two and high time we were going as 
 well," quoth Freeman who suddenly appeared. " Blake, 
 suppose you give these women folks a lift in the am 
 bulance. I will fetch their wraps; and, just wait in 
 the house until I come, and we ll have a glass of Clic 
 quot to wind up with." 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 469 
 
 What marvels of contrariety some women are ! At 
 any other time would not Mrs. Freeman have pleaded 
 for just one more dance? Would not so young and 
 enthusiastic a maiden as Nannie Bryan have begged to 
 be allowed to finish that most delightful german ? How 
 was it, why was it that the latter should have hung 
 there shy and silent? that Mrs. Freeman, who had 
 been the picture of animation and life and health all the 
 evening, should suddenly discover that she was really 
 tired ? She had no idea it was anywhere near so late. 
 It was scandalous. Here the Crawfords would be 
 back from California on the morrow ; and Nan would 
 be looking pale and dragged, instead of the blooming 
 maid they had left. It would never do. In vain 
 Hollis pleaded ; she bade him go and finish the german 
 with some of those pretty girls and indefatigable dancers 
 from town. She sprang lightly into the ambulance, 
 told her husband to say good-night for them, summoned 
 Nannie to follow, then Clark and Pease between them 
 boosted their silent friend into the dark interior. 
 " Drive to Captain Freeman s," said the doctor ; and 
 how it happened Blake never quite could tell, but he 
 found himself seated by Nannie Bryan s side, well for 
 ward in the gloomy vehicle, and Mrs. Freeman had 
 slid sidewise along the opposite cushion and had en 
 gaged Clark in animated chat the moment he tumbled 
 aboard. Away rattled the ambulance on its jog around 
 the big quadrangle. Merrily rippled the laughing, 
 ceaseless chatter at the open end. Mrs. Freeman was 
 covering Clark with blushes and confusion, engrossing 
 his entire attention by the liveliest possible fire of ac 
 cusation about his cruelty to that pretty little Miss 
 
 40 
 
470 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Thureton, -,he rector s niece, whom he had plainly fas 
 cinated on her arrival, the week before, and as totally 
 neglected this night of nights. There was nothing to 
 prevent Blake s having a word of his own with the 
 sweet girl at his side ; but, though his heart was beat 
 ing hard, his lips were stilled. Womanlike, it was Nan 
 who first overcame the dangerous silence. 
 
 " I thought we would be there for another figure/ 
 she faltered, presently. "But you were so covered 
 with decorations, I suppose there was hardly room for 
 more." He was silent still. He bit his lip to stifle 
 the words he longed to say, that though from every 
 other hand he had received sweet and gracious tribute, 
 it was all as nothing worth, because one touch had been 
 withheld. What right, what right had he to speak of 
 love to her? 
 
 Her head had drooped ; her eyes were downcast as 
 she spoke and still were lowered, but his silence pained 
 her. Timidly she glanced up in his face. She could 
 not bear the thought that he was angered, that she 
 had given him pain. No one on earth had ever 
 dreamed how Nannie Bryan s girlish heart had long 
 since learned to twine its tendrils about the tall and 
 sad-faced soldier, almost the first officer she ever 
 knew, the very first as she used to say who had ever 
 spoken to her " like a lady." Even Mrs. Freeman, 
 loving her well and knowing her as she did, only par 
 tially read her secret. The tears, unbidden, were start 
 ing to her eyes. How could she make him understand 
 that it was not because she had not longed to add her 
 tribute to the rest that she had held aloof? How could 
 he know how rainy, many times she had striven to 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 471 
 
 muster up courage to trip quickly to his chair and pin 
 her little knot of ribbon on his breast ; yet time after 
 time her resolution failed her. She could not do it, 
 and now he felt it ; was hurt and disappointed in her, 
 and she so soon to leave ; so soon to go back to the 
 East and see her tall soldier friend no more. 
 
 " You are not angry with me, are you, Mr. Blake ?" 
 she pleaded, softly. " Indeed, I did want so much to 
 come and give you a favor, but I could not there, and 
 yet I really meant to the very next figure." Heaven I 
 Could mortal man withstand so sweet a penitent, so 
 fond and fair a pleader ? 
 
 "What s the matter there, Rorke?" shouts the 
 quartermaster at this juncture, as the ambulance lurches 
 suddenly to one side. " Drive steady, man." 
 
 " It s them murthering mules, sorr ; they d shy at 
 
 a ," and the rest of Rorke s explanation is lost 
 
 between a resounding and ostentatious crack of the 
 whip and a coincident thickness of utterance. A wild 
 jerk of the vehicle results that topples its occupants 
 rearwards, and, as Nannie Bryan is leaning towards 
 him anyway, a wealth of curling tresses comes sweep 
 ing to Blake s very lips, mingling with his dark and 
 drooping moustache ; an unseen, but beautiful and 
 beloved face is flung upon his breast. Quick as a flash 
 his arm is thrown about the slender form and holds it 
 close. For a moment the ambulance reels and sways 
 as the outraged animals dash along the roadway. 
 Clark springs through the narrow space between the 
 parallel seats, tears aside the front screen, and grasps 
 the reins, roughly shoving the bewildered driver to one 
 side. Mrs. Freeman, uttering no sound, clings pluck- 
 
472 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 ily to the rail with both hands. Nannie Bryan, whose 
 heart is bounding with the sweetest terror it ever 
 knew, has nothing to cling to but Blake. And as for 
 Blake, surely he might have found something else to 
 cling to ; but then it was so very dark. One moment 
 more of mad mingling of fright and ecstasy, and then 
 Clark s strong hand and commanding voice have con 
 trolled the frantic mules. The ambulance reins up 
 at Freeman s gate. Mrs. Freeman, unassisted, springs 
 lightly to the ground, and somehow somehow in the 
 darkness and confusion Nannie Bryan s glowing face is 
 for one moment uplifted and her sweet, warm lips are 
 fettered by one long, fervent kiss, the first she ever 
 knew. 
 
 " Blast you, Rorke !" storms the quartermaster, as 
 the ladies scurry within the gate. " I ve never been so 
 close to Hades in my life." 
 
 " Bless you, Rorke !" murmurs Blake. " I ve never 
 been so close to heaven." 
 
 What wondrous times we had at the old fort over 
 that engagement ! What wondrous joy shone in 
 Blake s sparkling eyes and rang in the music of his 
 voice ! What wealth of congratulation poured in upon 
 him from every side, and how indignant was Nannie 
 Bryan afterwards because some people said all the 
 congratulation should go to him. Old Buxton, who 
 had been promoted to another regiment, had of course 
 something mean to say when he wrote. Indeed, there 
 were younger men who thought that Blake, like Ray, 
 had far more luck than he deserved. But Blake dis 
 armed all such commentators by prompt asseveration 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 473 
 
 that no fellow began to know that better than he. 
 Mrs. Wilkins, who had declined an invitation to a re 
 ception to be given to Judge and Mrs. Leavitt in 
 town, reconsidered when the engagement was finally 
 announced, in order that she might have the infinite 
 comfort of being the first to proclaim it to that lady, 
 and a very telling feat she made of it. For weeks 
 after Nannie was spirited away by her returning rela 
 tives, Captain and Mrs. Freeman were the only ones 
 who knew the truth, howsoever much it may have been 
 suspected. But the Crawfords were anything but 
 reconciled to the idea at first. Uncle Fred, in fact, 
 was fairly stunned when he received Blake s manly 
 letter. He looked upon Nannie only as a child. He 
 was even disposed to consider Blake, whom he had 
 only casually met, a fortune-hunter, who had taken 
 advantage of her tender years ; and there was a serious 
 breach between these two, caused by the fact of Craw 
 ford s writing that her fortune was nowhere near what 
 people supposed, and that most of it was in unproduc 
 tive ranch property and real estate. Leg s answer to 
 this letter made the avuncular eyes pop in their sockets. 
 The captain got a month s leave, stopped at Sidney 
 long enough to see Billy Ray and Marion and open 
 his heart to them; then on he went to Pennsylvania, 
 bringing bliss and surprise unspeakable to Nan, whom 
 he strove to keep in ignorance of her guardian s letter, 
 but whose clear eyes saw at once that something was 
 wrong. 
 
 . ..." I cannot get thine uncle s love, 
 Therefore no more turn me to him, sweet Nan," 
 40* 
 
474 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 he parodied, striving hard to laugh off her anxious 
 query; but presently she came at him with point-blank 
 questions that he could not dodge, and learned at last 
 the nature of Mr. Crawford s missive. And then how 
 the mountain breezes blew and the wild West came 
 storming in upon that sacred study, wherein sat the 
 master of the house at his books, all unconscious of the 
 wrath to come. " It was like one of your Cheyenne 
 zephyrs." said he afterwards ; " I never thought to hear 
 the like from our precious Nan." He had planned to 
 take her abroad for another year, that she might recover 
 from this sudden and romantic fancy, as he supposed 
 it. But when in a storm of indignation and reproaches 
 and tears she poured forth her heart and told him she 
 had just loved Gerald Blake ever since she was a chit 
 of fifteen, ever since that awful night when he went 
 hunting the prairie for poor father, and was nearly 
 killed, all for her sake, and now to think that her kith 
 and kin should so insult him! Go abroad? No! 
 Wait a year and think it over? No ! And the pretty 
 foot came down with a stamp that shook the lamp 
 shades and shattered his every purpose. She would have 
 waited, had he been just and kind to Gerald. She 
 would have been docile and obedient as they could 
 wish, had Uncle Fred behaved even civilly to him ; but 
 now now that he had seen fit to write so scandalous, 
 shameful, outrageous a letter to the man she loved, she 
 would marry him the instant he claimed her, and if 
 they strove to come between them again she d go to 
 dear Mrs. Freeman until Gerald could be ready for 
 her. There at least was a home ; there was love ; there 
 was sympathy ! " Heavens and earth !" said Crawford, 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 475 
 
 as he told the tale to Atherton in the spring ; " I used 
 to wonder what Muldoon meant when he said Miss 
 Nan could blow a man sky-high if she thought he was 
 leading her father astray, but never until that day did 
 I begin to know what a tongue and temper she had 
 when aroused." Poor Crawford ! Nan s was not the 
 only flagellation he received that day. When she 
 rushed to her room in a passion of tears, Aunt Effie 
 had of course followed, wondering, and sympathized 
 and investigated and heard the story of her husband s 
 letter to Blake, and then she, too, " came down like the 
 wolf on the fold/ and the sum and substance of her 
 remarks were that she didn t dream that he could have 
 been such an idiot. Why had he not consulted her 
 before writing to Captain Blake? She knew all along 
 that Nan would never listen to any other lover on 
 earth. How many a man is there on whose eloquence 
 hundreds of his kind hang fascinated, whose "dictum 7 
 dozens back with every dollar they can raise, whose sword 
 has carved the way to fame and fortune, and whose 
 self-confidence might well be almost boundless, but for 
 the candid counterbalance of his wife s opinion. Craw 
 ford meekly begged them mercy these irate women 
 who would not come down to tea, and ruefully and 
 obediently went off and called for Captain Blake at 
 the hotel. 
 
 And so with the Christmas holidays came the formal 
 announcement of Blake s engagement, which every one 
 suspected, but which none could prove. And all the 
 winter long the sunshine poured in cloudless flood upon 
 his pathway and shone reflected in his glowing face; 
 and with the springtide Mrs. Freeman fairly seemed 
 
476 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 to bubble over with business and bliss. All the new 
 furniture was coming, all the carpets, curtains, rugs, 
 and portieres ; and she and Mrs. Atherton were spend 
 ing hours every day ordering the long-legged captain 
 this way and that, banishing all relics of bachelor occu 
 pation from his den and beautifying, as only wome.M 
 can, the home of the coming bride ; for now, as Mr. 
 Crawford expressed it, Nan had broken out in a new 
 place and taken the bit in her teeth again. The day 
 for the wedding had been duly set. It had all been 
 arranged th at Blake was to apply for three months 
 leave of absence, and on the first of June he and " Help 
 ful Tommy v were to go East; and Captain and Mrs. 
 Freeman, with the children, were to start from Russell ; 
 and Captain and Mrs. Ray, with little Sanford, were 
 to join them at Sidney ; and Blake and Nannie were to 
 be married at the Crawfords cosey home. But, in army 
 life, no man knows what a day may bring forth. 
 " Hold your regiment in readiness for a summer in the 
 field" was the confidential notification that came to 
 Atherton late in April, and it was speedily known that, 
 though hostilities were not feared, the th was to pa 
 trol and guard the beautiful park region where the red 
 man rode in triumph but the year before, and so pro 
 tect the emigrant and settler now moving in. Ray and 
 Freeman could not hope to get a leave. Blake and 
 Hoi Us could not ask for more than a fortnight, and 
 even as " Legs" was lamenting the changed prospects 
 there came to Mrs. Freeman a letter from Nan that 
 caused that fair matron infinite delight. Its counter 
 part that came to Blake made his dark eyes glisten. 
 " I know you will not coine without the captain," 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 477 
 
 she wrote, " and rny mind is made up. After all, this 
 is not my home. Am I not still your Prairie Nan, 
 dear Mrs. Freeman ? Is not my real home out there 
 at the old ranch, in full view of the grand, snow-clad 
 peaks, and almost under the shadow of the flag at dear 
 old Eussell ? What sort of wedding would it be to 
 Gerald if Captain Ray and Mr. Hollis were denied 
 him ? What to me if you and dear Captain Freeman 
 and my precious Dot and Harry could not be among 
 the first to wish me joy ? And then there is another 
 reason, I ll tell you some day ; but uncle has yielded 
 he simply had to and I m coming to be married there, 
 as you, dearest, sweetest, truest friend, once said I should 
 be, and in three weeks we leave for Cheyenne." 
 
 What was the other reason ? 
 
 Four times that winter had Blake declined invita 
 tions to parties which Mrs. Leavitt was expected to at 
 tend in town. Thrice had letters come to him which 
 he returned unopened to the writer. One brilliant 
 Sunday morning, as he stepped from the church door at 
 Mrs. Freeman s side, a laughing voice accosted him, 
 and Mrs. Leavitt was at his elbow. 
 
 u Pray forgive me, Mrs. Leavitt/ she said, all win 
 ning smiles, " but, like other men, our captain forgets 
 old friends in new-found bliss. Gerald, in answering 
 my last note you did not think to tell me one thing, 
 what shall I do with that little packet I have of yours ? 
 Do you prefer to send for it, or shall I express it to 
 your fiancee f 
 
 Blake stopped short, astounded for an instant, though 
 her words left her meaning in no doubt. Mrs. Free 
 man, startled, speechless, looked first at the fair, inso- 
 
478 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 lently smiling woman who now turned and confronted 
 her escort, and then at his stern, wrathful face. His 
 eyes seemed to blaze. His lips quivered under the 
 long, drooping moustache, but in a moment he recovered 
 himself, and with infinite politeness, with almost airy 
 grace, he raised his hat. 
 
 " Will you really be guided by my wishes in the 
 matter, Mrs. Leavitt ?" 
 
 " Assuredly, Gerald," she answered, with radiant, 
 winsome mien. " Why else should I ask ?" 
 
 "Then will you oblige me by sending it direct to 
 Miss Bryan ? You have her address, as I happen to 
 know." Again he raised his hat, and without another 
 glance handed Mrs. Freeman to the carriage and took 
 his seat by her side. And so it happened that Mrs. 
 Freeman half divined that other reason before Nannie 
 Bryan ever told her. The packet, duly forwarded by 
 express, contained some trinkets and two old letters 
 which Gerald Blake had written to the sender, with 
 Mrs. Leavitt s congratulations, and within another 
 week, unopened, they were in the captain s hands. He 
 had long since told Nan the whole direful story, and 
 Mrs. Leavitt s bolt fell harmless to the ground. Even 
 when she knew that there were two men who held a 
 secret that could crush her, she dared to aim this blow, 
 for well she reasoned that, come what might, neither 
 Blake nor Hollis would ever stoop to tell the story of 
 that other wife whose silence cost her wretched lord so 
 much more than the prize w r as worth. 
 
 " But I wish to be married right here before her 
 very face," said Nannie, with flashing eyes, as she told 
 the story to Mrs. Freeman afterwards. 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 479 
 
 " And it shall be just the loveliest wedding ever 
 seen at an army post/ 7 was Mrs. Freeman s answer. 
 
 Well, if it wasn t, no blame can attach to the host of 
 loving friends who crowded to do her honor. Early in 
 the winter the new "administration building" had been 
 finished, with one long apartment designed for chapel, 
 school-, or hop-room, and here for several days the 
 quartermaster had his carpenters at work, putting up, 
 framing, and rearranging the aisles and seats. Mean 
 time, far out among the foot-hills, brawny troopers had 
 been hewing down the only trees that could preserve 
 their green, and the post-wagons came in laden with 
 pine and cedar branches. And then all Monday and 
 Tuesday of the last week in May dozens of fair hands 
 and stalwart arms had been busily at work, " Help 
 ful Tommy" in the van. And huge boxes of smilax 
 had been shipped from Denver, and all the bright-hued 
 guidons had been pressed into service, and scores of 
 glittering sabres and hundreds of cavalry plumes, and 
 the Crawfords were guests of Colonel and Mrs. Ather- 
 ton, and the Kays had come to spend the joyous week 
 with the Truscotts. Nannie had her old room at the 
 Freemans , where she gave audience to almost every 
 woman at the post. How could they help crowding to 
 see the lovely things that made up that wonderful 
 trousseau ! Trunks and boxes blocked up every spare 
 inch in the hall- way, but proved no barrier to sight 
 seers so enthusiastic, and only at odd intervals, brief, 
 stolen seconds not minutes could Blake catch even a 
 word with his fair fiancee. 
 
 " Was ever a man so utterly in the way ?" protested 
 Mrs. Freeman. " Do go home, go somewhere, any- 
 
480 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 where, and leave us in peace. You are going to have 
 her all to yourself after Wednesday ; for mercy s sake, 
 be rational now. Can t you see how much we have to 
 do ?" Blake couldn t by any means ; but what man 
 ever could or ever did understand those ante-nuptial 
 ceremonies which are so indispensable to the other sex, 
 and which usually result in the prostration of the bride 
 elect? Day after day, from morn till late at night, she 
 was besieged by feminine visitors ; army girls not yet 
 engaged, but wildly enthusiastic and sympathetic ; girls 
 who would come in at guard-mount and hang about 
 her until tattoo ; girls from town who, uninvited, would 
 come out " to spend the day and help ;" young matrons 
 and old from town and garrison, and one and all had 
 to see the contents of those trunks and boxes, and feel 
 the texture and exclaim over the sheen of silk or hue of 
 ribbon, and gasp over the bewildering patterns of the 
 laces and embroidery ; and the army homestead echoed 
 with superlatives, and nothing was distinguishable 
 above the general chorus of "sweet," " exquisite," 
 "too lovely," "perfectly beautiful," "simply heavenly," 
 and similar explosives lavished on the various items of 
 the bewildering array that Aunt Effie s taste and Uncle 
 Fred s prodigality had heaped upon their beloved Nan ; 
 and Freeman spent most of his unoccupied hours, 
 which were few enough, whimsically describing the 
 domestic chaos to his chums at the store ; and as for 
 Blake, Blake fluttered about the post "like a hen with 
 her head cut off," said Foster, nervous, restless, excited, 
 irrepressible, and utterly absurd. One thing had been 
 resolved upon, neither Nan nor her blissful groom 
 was to be allowed to set foot in the chapel until the 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 481 
 
 decorations were complete ; neither one was to be al 
 lowed to see it until the moment of the ceremony. 
 
 " How on earth do you suppose I can see it, then ?" 
 asked Blake. " My head is aswim already." But Mrs. 
 Atherton was in charge, and not an inch of her posi 
 tion would she abandon. Wednesday noon had been 
 settled upon as the time, the new chapel as the place, 
 and Mr. Hughes as the officiating priest. The rector 
 had at first demurred. He thought the wedding should 
 come off at his own little sanctuary in town, but it was 
 promptly pointed out to him that it would not begin 
 to hold the invited guests, and could not be decorated 
 as was desired. Mrs. Morris assured her Cheyenne 
 cronies that she had it from the best authority that the 
 real reason was that if the wedding came off at the 
 church they could not well exclude Mrs. Leavitt from 
 her pew, should she be brazen enough to insist on com 
 ing; but Mrs. Morris was stupefied when told that 
 Mrs. Leavitt had just received the most gorgeous toilet 
 to be worn on that occasion, and that Judge and Mrs. 
 Leavitl s invitation included both the ceremony and 
 the reception. This, said Mrs. Morris, was simply in 
 credible. But she was not half as much amazed as was 
 Madeleine Leavitt herself when that invitation came. 
 Was it possible that the packet she had sent had failed 
 to reach its destination ? She could not call upon the 
 bride-elect and inquire, because she was visiting at the 
 Freemans , and Mrs. Freeman would never recognize 
 her, except by a cold and distant bow, and had never 
 crossed her threshold since the early days at the depot. 
 But just about ten days before the wedding Mrs. Craw 
 ford and Miss Bryan were reported making certain 
 
 Y // 41 
 
482 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 visits in town, and Madeleine Leavitt sallied forth to 
 play her last card. They met in Major Thorpe s par 
 lor, where the paymaster s wife was holding court. 
 Mrs. Crawford freezingly -acknowledged Mrs. Leavitt s 
 enchanting smile of greeting, and Nannie s big brown 
 eyes flashed a challenge that would have daunted 
 women less determined. It would have been easy to 
 avoid further meeting, but the blood of the Bryans was 
 up, and Nan deliberately threw herself in Mrs. Leav 
 itt s way. 
 
 " It is the first opportunity I have had of tendering 
 .my congratulations in person, Miss Bryan," said the 
 elder lady, with that indescribable smile, but with a 
 lazy, dangerous drawl in her words. " Yet I think you 
 received them with the little packet I sent you, did 
 you not?" And from under the white lids with their 
 long, sweeping lashes she fixes her hungry eyes upon 
 the fair, flushing face. She had thought to down a rival 
 so young, so inexperienced; but she never dreamed 
 the fight in Nannie Bryan s blood until this day, and 
 never dared it afterwards. 
 
 " Receive them, Mrs. Leavitt? Oh, yes, and passed 
 them on with the packet to Captain Blake. You know 
 he had told me all about it long before." 
 
 " Pretty good for a girl not out of her teens !" 
 boomed old Stannard when told the story that night ; 
 for at least three women had breathlessly heard and 
 eagerly repeated the words. It was conceded on all 
 sides that Mrs. Leavitt had met with signal and dis 
 astrous defeat in the very first round. There were 
 dozens of good people both in town and at the fort 
 who held that after that episode it would be simply 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 483 
 
 impossible to invite her to the wedding. But a judge 
 of the Federal Court was not a personage to be ignored. 
 
 " And what is more/ 7 said Nannie to her aunt and to 
 Mrs. Freeman, " if Mrs. Atherton has no objection to 
 receiving her in her parlors, I simply want her to see 
 our wedding." And so the matter was settled. 
 
 And then that wondrous Wednesday came, with a 
 soft breeze blowing gently from the south, as though 
 the blustering gales, that time and again had buffeted 
 the girlish form, had now withdrawn their winged 
 furies, that naught but peace and gladness and smiling 
 sunshine should attend her wedding morn. And 
 long before noon the carriages began coming out across 
 the prairie, and ladies in charming toilets were flitting 
 from house to house, and officers in full uniform began 
 to appear upon the piazzas, and a throng of nurse 
 maids, children, and womenfolk from "Sudsville" to 
 gather about the chapel doors, where six-foot troopers 
 guarded the way and suffered none to enter until the 
 appointed time. And by and by the ushers, too, began 
 to cluster at the door and to peep in and exclaim, " By 
 Jove !" after the manner of men whose adjectives were 
 unequal to the task of description. And Foster, 
 though he wore the willow, had put a brave face upon 
 his secret disappointment and turned out as one of the 
 selected six. And over on their barrack-porch Blake s 
 troop were mustering in their brightest garb, and here 
 and there among the Riflers, soldierly fellows in the 
 neat, dark blue, belted and gloved, were gathering 
 into squads ; for Blake declared that every man who 
 had stood by him in the stirring hours at the Manitou 
 should be with him in the joyous ceremony of the 
 
484 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 day. And under the broad awning of tent-flies 
 stretched from curb to chapel door the carriage-loads 
 from town were received upon the arms of waiting 
 officers and marched between the statuesque sentries 
 and into the bower-like interior, where they were shown 
 to seats already designated, and where they exchanged 
 appreciative nods and commentaries on the beauty 
 of the decorations. And was it collusion ? Mrs. 
 Granger Leavitt on Corry s arm was conducted to one 
 of the seats well up the aisle, where smilingly she sig 
 nalled to her following liege to enter first, that she 
 might sit at the very end nearest the bridal party. 
 And here she stood a moment displaying another 
 gorgeous gown, and sweetly, smilingly arching her eye 
 brows and distributing nods and greetings about the hall. 
 And then the post people began to reach the entrance, 
 and to be escorted to their places, and there were mur 
 murs of admiration when the Truscotts and their 
 guests, the Rays, came in together, preceded by Master 
 Jack convoying little Sandy, who was just about able 
 to toddle ; and if Mrs. Ray had grown a trifle stouter, 
 the new toilet disguised the fact astonishingly. And 
 Mrs. Leavitt s eyes devoured each item of that gown, 
 even when she comprehended both the captains in a 
 ravishing smile. And presently, one after another, all 
 the families of the garrison were ushered in, and the 
 clink of sword and rattle of scabbard could be heard 
 on every side, and the children were eagerly huddling 
 together and whispering, and everybody was looking 
 about and exchanging greetings, and exclaiming over 
 the beauty of the scene and the marvellous change 
 wrought in the appearance of the long spare room ; 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 485 
 
 and then the martial tramp of marching feet oculd be 
 heard, and in came the column of sturdy soldiery, 
 " doughboys" and dragoons united, the same fellows 
 who fought so fiercely to hold the pass till Stannard s 
 coming. And so, little by little as the minute hand 
 crept round towards twelve, every nook and corner 
 except the aisle and chancel had its eager occupants, 
 and who that saw it could forget the picture ? 
 
 Overhead and on every side, fastened to light invisible 
 scaffolding, the ceilings and the walls were hidden in a 
 bower of pine and cedar and evergreen, the sombre 
 coloring tempered and contrasted by the brilliant hues 
 of dozens of cavalry guidons, gay flags of silk and 
 bunting, and glittering stars and crosses formed by the 
 flashing steel of hundreds of sabres. Festoons of 
 evergreen hung in graceful loops from every window 
 to the beams in the vaulted roof. Forward, towards 
 the extemporized chancel railing, hidden in smilax and 
 studded with cavalry plumes, a light archway had been 
 thrown, covered thickly with its coating of twigs and 
 evergreen, and the clinging tendrils of vine. Knots 
 of bridal ribbon in purest white looped back the thick 
 festoons that hung about the arch and displayed to 
 view a raised dais or platform, carpeted with richest 
 green. Here and there and everywhere around the 
 chancel peeped clusters of yellow roses and the yellow 
 ripples of the troopers 7 plumes. Back of the chancel, 
 against the westward wall, upon a solid bank of green, 
 was the badge of the regiment with its number and 
 the letter of Blake s troop, all formed from glistening 
 spurs that had been polished like mirrors by whole 
 companies of enthusiastic soldiers. Stacks of the 
 
486 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 Kiflers arms, suspending polished belts and pouches, 
 stood on both sides of the chancel and. peeped from the 
 bower of green. Copper bugles and brazen trumpets 
 hung glittering from the leafy archway; and, under 
 the great device of the crossed sabres, flanked by silken 
 guidons, stood the standard of the th. 
 
 And now of a sudden there comes a burst of melody. 
 The band of the regiment, stationed without the can 
 vas portals, crashes full upon the ear in the wondrous 
 harmonies of Wagner. There is immediate turning of 
 eyes towards the wide open doors. Mrs. Freeman, 
 lovely in a soft, creamy toilet, comes flushed and smil 
 ing up the aisle, leaning on Jier tall husband s arm, 
 and slips into the seat next the Athertons nearest the 
 chancel rail. Mr. Hughes, the rector, emerges from 
 behind the leafy screen and advances to the edge of the 
 dais. An instant latter Blake appears, stalking forth 
 from the opposite side, and, his dark eyes aglow, his 
 / ace very white, takes his stand so near to Mrs. Free 
 man that she can almost hear the thumping of his 
 heart. Just behind him, as best man, and, of course, 
 in full-dress uniform, is Tommy Hollis, and Tom 
 smiles blandly over the assemblage, as much at home 
 as the groom is at sea. Blake bites at his moustache on 
 one side, at his upper lip on the other, shifts from the 
 right foot to the left, loses control of his hands, and 
 looks for the moment the picture of desolation. Louder 
 and more joyous rings the music from without, and 
 now it floats into the rhythmic strains of the wedding 
 march from Lohengrin, during the murmur of excited 
 joy with which the assemblage greets the coming bride. 
 First there is a bonny little pair, a brave-faced boy 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 487 
 
 and girl, both with deep blue eyes and fair waving 
 hair, hers falling in shimmering wavelets down her 
 back. Straight and well and bravely they march, 
 stepping like little soldiers in perfect time to the stir 
 ring strains, and Freeman s eyes, that never blinked 
 through all the sulphur clouds of Chickamauga s 
 fiercest hour, glisten " with that wet badge of weak 
 humanity" that seems ready to overflow in the softer 
 orbs of the fair wife and mother who stands at his 
 side. Dot and Harry are indeed there to lead their 
 beloved Prairie Nan to her waiting groom, and they 
 glance quickly up into the father s face as they reach 
 their stations, confident of the " well done " that 
 trembles on his lips. He turns abruptly and scowls at 
 the stack of rifles in front, ashamed of his momentary 
 weakness, forgetful that " there are no faces truer than 
 those that are so washed." Mr. Corry comes next, 
 escorting Amy Waldron, the major s eldest daughter, 
 who has rapturously embraced the opportunity of ap 
 pearing for the first time in a long dress as Nannie s maid 
 of honor. And Mr. Foster has given Mrs. Crawford 
 his arm, and the other ushers hang back well down the 
 aisle, because there is not room for more in a tableau 
 that would be effective. And then, leaning on her 
 uncle s arm, her lovely veiled head gently bent, but the 
 soft, brown eyes looking straight before her, comes our 
 prairie flower, and all else is forgotten as people gaze 
 upon her. Blake steps forward with extended hand, 
 looking solemn as an owl when all the time his heart 
 is bounding, and as she quits her guardian s arm and 
 puts her slender, white-gloved hand in his, her soft 
 eyes beam upon him, the flush deepens on her rounded 
 
488 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 cheek and a tremulous little smile plays an instant 
 about her lips. To his unspeakable relief, Blake at 
 last can turn his back upon the congregation and face 
 only the white-robed priest. He hears as in a daze 
 the opening words of the beautiful service. He can 
 not help thinking just how Billy Ray looked how 
 long ago it seems now when he in his turn faced the 
 music and seemed to challenge any man living now to 
 speak or else forever hold his peace. He is astonished 
 to find the needed words "I will" imbedded so far 
 down in his throat that only by supreme effort does he 
 resurrect them ere it is too late. He marvels at Nan s 
 composure, though he notes the tremor in the sweet, 
 bell-like tone of her voice. He has a half-defined idea 
 that perhaps at the very last moment Crawford will 
 revoke, and is immeasurably relieved when that gen 
 tleman steps promptly forward to give the bride 
 away. The basso cantante that made the Manitou 
 resound with his rallying-cry is only a husky shadow 
 of itself to-day, as he blindly follows Mr. Hughes in 
 the solemn giving of his troth. Not until he comes 
 to "love and to cherish until death us do part" does 
 its ring and resonance return. He half turns and 
 looks into her softly flushing face, as again her silvery 
 tones seem to quiver over the hushed and reverent 
 throng. He wishes for the thousandth time he had the 
 man by the throat who introduced that paragraph in 
 the matrimonial tactics that prescribes that he should 
 audibly endow with all his worldly goods the fair girl 
 who stands there by his side. He could swear that 
 some of those graceless boys are winking at each other 
 at this very instant, and he longs to punch Ross s thick 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 489 
 
 head. He vows he ll do it, too. Even in this solemn 
 moment he cannot shut out the recollection of the chaf 
 fing the youngsters have indulged in on that score, but 
 the reverent tones of Mr. Hughes recall him to 
 worthier thoughts as the words of that beautiful 
 prayer fall upon his ear. He hears with something 
 akin to awe the solemn announcement, " They are man 
 and wife." He totally forgets to unhook his sabre 
 when they kneel to receive that most beautiful of all 
 blessings in the ritual. The clattering thing gets in 
 his way just as Ray had bet him that it would unless 
 Tommy Hollis thought to whisper the command " Pre 
 pare to mount." And then there comes a solemn 
 pause, and then a rustling and rising, a glorious flood 
 of melody from without as the band bursts into that 
 loveliest march of Mendelssohn s. He finds his feet 
 somehow, but has utterly lost his head. Hughes is 
 holding forth a cordial hand. Nannie is smiling up 
 into his glowing eyes. He faces about in obedience to 
 her signal and confronts again the gazing throng. No 
 need to bother himself on their account, for all eyes 
 are fixed on her, not him all, save one pair, brilliant 
 and beautiful and heavily-lashed, and almost the first 
 thing that arrests his half-bewildered gaze is this intent, 
 almost scornful, look in Madeleine Leavittfs insolently 
 smiling face. Nothing could have been more oppor 
 tune ! In one instant every nerve is braced, every 
 faculty alert. Pride, love, joy, happiness ineffable, 
 beam in his speaking face as he bends one look beneath 
 the flimsy veil now backward thrown, and then with 
 elastic step he leads his sweet wife, blushing and beau 
 tiful, down that guarded aisle, a lane of fair, fond faces, 
 
490 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 of smiling, shining eyes, of stalwart, soldierly men, of 
 loyal, steadfast friends, rich with welcome for his bonny 
 bride, and so out into the music and the sunshine of 
 the early summertide beyond. 
 
 And now the clans are gathered at the colonel s, and 
 all the bidden guests are marshalled there to tender 
 their congratulations, and Blake s wits begin slowly to 
 reassemble in his whirling brain, and he has time to 
 note how infinitely lovely Nannie looks in her bridal 
 garb, and then to lead her to their station at the upper 
 end of the double parlor, and to grip Tommy Hollis s 
 hand with both hands, and to whisper a word in Mrs. 
 Freeman s little pink ear that makes her soft eyes 
 dance. And then, as Hollis aligns the party in semi 
 circle, and first of all the colonel and his radiant wife 
 step forward to tender their felicitations, and the rapidly- 
 arriving guests are ranged by the ushers in column of 
 twos, there is a general ripple of delight as the regi 
 mental commander bends gravely forward and presses 
 his lips on Nannie s soft and rounded cheek. 
 
 " Welcome to the th, Mrs. Blake," he smilingly 
 .says ; and so for the first time is she hailed by her new 
 name. 
 
 " Welcome to the th, Nan, dear," echoes Freeman, 
 who happens to be the next man, as he, too, bends and 
 kisses her. 
 
 " Welcome to all our hearts, Nan, darling," mur 
 murs Mrs. Freeman, as for an instant the two clasp 
 and cling to each other and part with swimming eyes. 
 
 " Welcome, thrice welcome to the th, Mrs. Blake," 
 exclaims Hollis, darting from his place by Amy Wal- 
 dron s side. " Of course in the same way, I mean," 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 491 
 
 he laughs, as he, too, would have bent and kissed the 
 flushing cheek ; but Mrs. Freeman interposes : 
 
 " Indeed you shan t, sir. Every man in the regi- 
 meni will be wanting to next." 
 
 " Will be wanting to ! Heavens ! they want to now," 
 is Tommy s quick rejoinder. " Why did Freeman 
 begin if there wasn t enough to go round?" But 
 Tommy has to give way to the Stannards and Wal- 
 drons, who will brook no longer delay, and then come 
 Jack Truscott and his lovely wife. 
 
 " Surely I can bid you welcome to the old regiment, 
 Nan," says Mrs. Grace, " since I was almost born and 
 reared under the standard." And Mrs. Ray has charm 
 ing congratulations for her Will s devoted friend and 
 his sweet bride ; and how those fellows wring Blake s 
 firm hands, and how they look into each other s eyes, 
 as man after man they come to wish him joy. And 
 what laughter and mirth there is when Mrs. Wilkins 
 calls him " Jurrld," and reminds him that she s always 
 been like a mother to him. And Mrs. Wilkins is by 
 no means the only one whose voice is lowered and 
 whose eyes are eager and alert when Mrs. Leavitt 
 comes beaming through the crowd, leaning on Foster s 
 arm. Infinite is the grace with which she bends for 
 ward to clasp the hand of the bride ; bewitching is her 
 smile. 
 
 " Need I say how heartily I wish you joy ?" she 
 exclaims, and then, with sudden turn, " and you, too, 
 Captain Gerald ; you luckiest of men !" Nan receives 
 her greeting with an ease that charms all lookers-on. 
 She is talking laughingly with Mrs. Hayne as the 
 judge s stately dame draws nigh; she is laughing still 
 
492 CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 when she bends to acknowledge Mrs. Leavitt s honeyed 
 words. She laughs blithely, looking straight in those 
 half- veiled eyes, answering, 
 
 "Need I tell you how fully I appreciate your kind 
 wishes? Gerald, dear, Mrs. Leavitt." And then, 
 laughing still, she turns back to Mrs. Hayne, who, 
 being a young woman of equal nerve and spirit, could 
 have hugged her then and there. 
 
 But Blake s fingers will not even close upon the hand 
 she extends to his. Hollis, watching her coming, has 
 slipped away, ostensibly to fetch a glass of water for 
 Miss Amy, who needs nothing of the kind. Blake 
 bows low before the woman who had once enthralled 
 him, merely taking her hand and murmuring her 
 name, turns instantly to her husband who follows 
 grimly in her wake, and gives to him a really friendly 
 greeting. 
 
 " Judge, Fm glad to see you with us. Foster, please 
 present Mrs. Leavitt to Mr. and Mrs. Crawford," and 
 turns quickly away to welcome the next comer, while 
 Madeleine passes on, looking winsomely into Foster s 
 face and smiling, indomitably smiling; while the band, 
 stationed now on the grass-plat just outside the parlor 
 windows, begins witchingly the Lorelei prelude to " Am 
 Schonen Rhein." Smilingly, graciously, she makes the 
 round of the wedding-party, exchanging bright sallies 
 and distributing flattering words to every listening ear. 
 And then she releases Foster and resumes her hus 
 band s arm, and so, gradually, she makes her tri 
 umphant way to the lower end of the crowded rooms, 
 and out into the hall beyond. Still laughing, chatting, 
 all grace and gladness, she guides him to the open 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 493 
 
 door, and so on to where her carriage waits. She will 
 not stay to take part in the wedding- feast. Not until 
 the eastern gate is passed and the open prairie is before 
 them, the joyous garrison left behind, does that 
 indomitable smile follow such joy as ever lived in her 
 selfish heart, and, vanishing, gives place to black- 
 browed envy and dejection. 
 
 And now the laughing throng is gathered about the 
 colonel s board or scattered all around the halls and 
 doorway, and every voice is stilled but one, and all 
 ears are intent as, glass in hand, Atherton says his 
 brief, soldierly but telling words, bidding the newly- 
 wedded pair God-speed. And on every side they are 
 drinking Nannie s health and happiness, and every 
 man is calling for Blake. Slowly he rises by her side, 
 a film in his honest eyes, a tremor in his earnest voice. 
 For an instant he seems to falter, as though he knew 
 not how to begin, but one look down into her face, so 
 full of joy and hope and pride and confidence, sends 
 the blood a-tingle through his veins and nerves him to 
 his task. Time and again he has ranted for them, 
 jibed and jested and won their laughter and applause ; 
 but he cannot jest to-day. His heart is full to over 
 flowing. 
 
 " You don t know how many things I long to say to 
 you ; if you did you never would have called on me to 
 speak ; but much as you have suffered from my traves 
 ties in the past, you need this time have no fear. You 
 have borne with me so many a long year, one and all, 
 in fair weather and foul, through good report and ill. 
 You have been the most indulgent friends, and some 
 of you" and here his eyes soften as they fall for an 
 
 42 
 
494 -CAPTAIN BLAKE. 
 
 instant on Mrs. Freeman s face " the best ami truest 
 friends man could ever hope to have, and, long as I 
 may live, I shall love to recall these last two years at 
 Russell. I have never known such pride in the dear 
 old th, such fellowship and affection for any other 
 regiment as I feel, and ought to feel, for our comrades 
 of the Riflers. But, as for those who are our help 
 meets here, the fondest words man ever wrote or 
 dreamed would fail me in the tribute that my heart 
 would pay. Time and again in the old days we gath 
 ered about the camp-fires and drank to sweethearts and 
 wives. Time was when woman in becoming wife 
 seemed to forfeit forevermore the tender name of 
 sweetheart, but where to-day are women sweethearts 
 longer? where are there faces that grow lovelier with 
 every coming year? where are there wives who win 
 with every changing season new love, new reverence, 
 new devotion from their lords as do those in our very 
 midst, where they are ever sweethearts and wives in 
 one. With wistful eyes I ve watched the happiness of 
 many a comrade, never dreaming that the day was 
 soon to come when in all our broad land there would 
 live no man whom I could envy. And now at last I 
 can indeed see and know and 
 
 " Bless the light given, 
 
 To lead me to " life s late achievement," 
 
 in her whom you know so fondly and so well it would 
 be useless for me to tell of her perfections. Only this, 
 that as my heart wells up in gratitude to you for all 
 the friendship and sympathy and forgiveness that have 
 
CAPTAIN BLAKE. 495 
 
 sustained me in the past, it seems to throb the very 
 words of Valentine, 
 
 " Why, man, she is mine own : 
 And I as rich in having such a jewel, 
 As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl. " 
 
 " Who ever dreamed that Blake could be serious for 
 a moment?" asks Mrs. Wilkins, i;i her neighbor s ear, 
 the moment the long round of applause has sufficiently 
 subsided to permit her query to be heard. 
 
 " I did," says Mrs. Freeman, stoutly. " He has a 
 heart as tender and a nature as deep as any man I 
 know, and Nan has found it, and will hold it, too." 
 
 They say she has. There is silver in the thinning 
 threads of his dark hair. There are deeper lines about 
 the twinkling, humorous eyes. It is ten long years 
 since that glorious day when they drove forth from the 
 old east gate with all the garrison showering rice and 
 slippers and blessings on their heads. There is many 
 a new face in the quarters of the th. There are 
 some that can never grow old, for they live in memory 
 alone. But in all their wanderings from point to point, 
 each station has seemed brighter, dearer than the last, 
 for Blake looks ever out upon the changing world as 
 though he saw it through younger eyes, the deep, 
 serene, and lustrous eyes of his devoted wife. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
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