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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:55:26 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19330-8.txt b/19330-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..843c1d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/19330-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8783 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Apache Princess, by Charles King + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Apache Princess + A Tale of the Indian Frontier + +Author: Charles King + +Illustrator: Frederic Remington and Edwin Willard Deming + +Release Date: September 19, 2006 [EBook #19330] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN APACHE PRINCESS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: THE FIGHT IN THE CAÑON] + + + + AN APACHE + PRINCESS + + _A Tale of the Indian Frontier_ + + + + BY + + GENERAL CHARLES KING + + AUTHOR OF "A DAUGHTER OF THE SIOUX," "THE COLONEL'S + DAUGHTER," "FORT FRAYNE," "AN ARMY WIFE," ETC., ETC. + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS BY + + FREDERIC REMINGTON + + _and_ + + EDWIN WILLARD DEMING + + + + + NEW YORK + THE HOBART COMPANY + 1903 + + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, + BY + THE HOBART COMPANY. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MEETING BY THE WATERS, + +CHAPTER II + +SCOT VERSUS SAXON, + +CHAPTER III + +MOCCASIN TRACKS, + +CHAPTER IV + +A STRICKEN SENTRY, + +CHAPTER V + +THE CAPTAIN'S DEFIANCE, + +CHAPTER VI + +A FIND IN THE SANDS, + +CHAPTER VII + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT," + +CHAPTER VIII + +"APACHE KNIVES DIG DEEP," + +CHAPTER IX + +A CARPET KNIGHT, INDEED, + +CHAPTER X + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE NIGHT" AGAIN, + +CHAPTER XI + +A STOP--BY WIRE, + +CHAPTER XII + +FIRE! + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHOSE LETTERS? + +CHAPTER XIV + +AUNT JANET BRAVED, + +CHAPTER XV + +A CALL FOR HELP, + +CHAPTER XVI + +A RETURN TO COMMAND, + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STRANGE COMING, + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A STRANGER GOING, + +CHAPTER XIX + +BESIEGED, + +CHAPTER XX + +WHERE IS ANGELA? + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUR VANISHED PRINCESS, + +CHAPTER XXII + +SUSPENSE, + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AN APACHE QUEEN, + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MEETING AT SANDY, + +CHAPTER XXV + +RESCUE REQUITED, + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"WOMAN-WALK-NO-MORE," + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE PARTING BY THE WATERS, + +_L'ENVOI_ + + * * * * * + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +FRONTISPIECE + +"NOW HALTING, DROPPING ON ONE KNEE TO FIRE," + +"BLAKELY LED 'EM ACROSS NO. 4'S POST," + +THE FIGHT IN THE CAÑON, + +"INDIAN SIGNALS BEYOND POSSIBILITY OF A DOUBT," + +"THEN SLOWLY, THEY SAW HER RAISE HER RIGHT HAND, +STILL CAUTIOUSLY HOLDING THE LITTLE MIRROR," + +"THEY HUSTLED HER PONY INTO A RAVINE," + +"NATZIE WRENCHED HER HAND FROM THAT OF BLAKELY, +AND WITH THE SPRING OF A TIGRESS BOUNDED AWAY," + + * * * * * + + + + +AN APACHE PRINCESS + +CHAPTER I + +THE MEETING BY THE WATERS + + +Under the willows at the edge of the pool a young girl sat +daydreaming, though the day was nearly done. All in the valley was +wrapped in shadow, though the cliffs and turrets across the stream +were resplendent in a radiance of slanting sunshine. Not a cloud +tempered the fierce glare of the arching heavens or softened the sharp +outline of neighboring peak or distant mountain chain. Not a whisper +of breeze stirred the drooping foliage along the sandy shores or +ruffled the liquid mirror surface. Not a sound, save drowsy hum of +beetle or soft murmur of rippling waters, among the pebbly shallows +below, broke the vast silence of the scene. The snow cap, gleaming at +the northern horizon, lay one hundred miles away and looked but an +easy one-day march. The black upheavals of the Matitzal, barring the +southward valley, stood sullen and frowning along the Verde, jealous +of the westward range that threw their rugged gorges into early shade. +Above and below the still and placid pool and but a few miles distant, +the pine-fringed, rocky hillsides came shouldering close to the +stream, but fell away, forming a deep, semicircular basin toward the +west, at the hub of which stood bolt-upright a tall, snowy flagstaff, +its shred of bunting hanging limp and lifeless from the peak, and in +the dull, dirt-colored buildings of adobe, ranged in rigid lines about +the dull brown, flat-topped _mesa_, a thousand yards up stream above +the pool, drowsed a little band of martial exiles, stationed here to +keep the peace 'twixt scattered settlers and swarthy, swarming +Apaches. The fort was their soldier home; the solitary girl a +soldier's daughter. + +She could hardly have been eighteen. Her long, slim figure, in its +clinging riding habit, betrayed, despite roundness and supple grace, a +certain immaturity. Her hands and feet were long and slender. Her +sun-tanned cheek and neck were soft and rounded. Her mouth was +delicately chiseled and the lips were pink as the heart of a +Bridesmaid rose, but, being firmly closed, told no tale of the teeth +within, without a peep at which one knew not whether the beauty of the +sweet young face was really made or marred. Eyes, eyebrows, lashes, +and a wealth of tumbling tresses of rich golden brown were all superb, +but who could tell what might be the picture when she opened those +pretty, curving lips to speak or smile? Speak she did not, even to the +greyhounds stretched sprawling in the warm sands at her feet. Smile +she could not, for the young heart was sore troubled. + +Back in the thick of the willows she had left her pony, blinking +lazily and switching his long tail to rid his flanks of humming +insects, but never mustering energy enough to stamp a hoof or strain +a thread of his horsehair _riata_. Both the long, lean, sprawling +hounds lolled their red, dripping tongues and panted in the sullen +heat. Even the girl herself, nervous at first and switching with her +dainty whip at the crumbling sands and pacing restlessly to and fro, +had yielded gradually to the drooping influences of the hour and, +seated on a rock, had buried her chin in the palm of her hand, and, +with eyes no longer vagrant and searching, had drifted away into +maiden dreamland. Full thirty minutes had she been there waiting for +something, or somebody, and it, or he, had not appeared. + +Yet somebody else was there and close at hand. The shadow of the +westward heights had gradually risen to the crest of the rocky cliffs +across the stream. A soft, prolonged call of distant trumpet summoned +homeward, for the coming night, the scattered herds and herd guards of +the post, and, rising with a sigh of disappointment, the girl turned +toward her now impatient pony when her ear caught the sound of a +smothered hand-clap, and, whirling about in swift hope and surprise, +her face once more darkened at sight of an Indian girl, Apache +unquestionably, crouching in the leafy covert of the opposite willows +and pointing silently down stream. For a moment, without love or fear +in the eyes of either, the white girl and the brown gazed at each +other across the intervening water mirror and spoke no word. Then, +slowly, the former approached the brink, looked in the direction +indicated by the little dingy index and saw nothing to warrant the +recall. Moreover, she was annoyed to think that all this time, +perhaps, the Indian girl had been lurking in that sheltering grove and +stealthily watching her. Once more she turned away, this time with a +toss of her head that sent the russet-brown tresses tumbling about her +slim back and shoulders, and at once the hand-clap was repeated, low, +but imperative, and Tonto, the biggest of the two big hounds, uplifted +one ear and growled a challenge. + +"What do you want?" questioned the white girl, across the estranging +waters. + +For answer the brown girl placed her left forefinger on her lips, and +again distinctly pointed to a little clump of willows a dozen rods +below, but on the westward side. + +"Do you mean--someone's coming?" queried the first. + +"Sh-sh-sh!" answered the second softly, then pointed again, and +pointed eagerly. + +The soldier's daughter glanced about her, uncertainly, a moment, then +slowly, cautiously made her way along the sandy brink in the direction +indicated, gathering the folds of her long skirt in her gauntleted +hand and stepping lightly in her slender moccasins. A moment or two, +and she had reached the edge of a dense little copse and peered +cautiously within. The Indian girl was right. Somebody lay there, +apparently asleep, and the fair young intruder recoiled in obvious +confusion, if not dismay. For a moment she stood with fluttering heart +and parting lips that now permitted reassuring glimpse of pearly +white teeth. For a moment she seemed on the verge of panicky retreat, +but little by little regained courage and self-poise. What was there +to fear in a sleeping soldier anyhow? She knew who it was at a glance. +She could, if she would, whisper his name. Indeed, she had been +whispering it many a time, day and night, these last two weeks +until--until certain things about him had come to her ears that made +her shrink in spite of herself from this handsome, petted young +soldier, this Adonis of her father's troop, Neil Blakely, lieutenant +of cavalry. + +"The Bugologist," they called him in cardroom circles at the "store," +where men were fiercely intolerant of other pursuits than poker, for +which pastime Mr. Blakely had no use whatever--no more use than had +its votaries for him. He was a dreamy sort of fellow, with big blue +eyes and a fair skin that were in themselves sufficient to stir the +rancor of born frontiersmen, and they of Arizona in the days of old +were an exaggeration of the type in general circulation on the Plains. +He was something of a dandy in dress, another thing they loathed; +something of a purist in speech, which was affectation unpardonable; +something of a dissenter as to drink, appreciative of "Cucumungo" and +claret, but distrustful of whisky--another thing to call down scorn +illimitable from the elect of the mining camps and packing "outfits." +But all these disqualifications might have been overlooked had the +lieutenant displayed even a faint preference for poker. "The Lord +loveth a cheerful giver--or loser" was the creed of the cardroom +circle at the store, but beyond a casual or smiling peep at the game +from the safe distance of the doorway, Mr. Blakely had vouchsafed no +interest in affairs of that character. To the profane disgust of Bill +Hyde, chief packer, and the malevolent, if veiled, criticism of +certain "sporty" fellow soldiers, Blakely preferred to spend his +leisure hours riding up and down the valley, with a butterfly net over +his shoulders and a japanned tin box slung at his back, searching for +specimens that were scarce as the Scriptures among his commentators. + +Even on this hot October afternoon he had started on his entomological +work, but, finding little encouragement and resting a while in the +shade, he had dozed away on a sandy couch, his head on his arms, his +broad-brimmed hat over his face, his shapely legs outstretched in +lazy, luxurious enjoyment, his tall and slender form, arrayed in cool +white blouse and trousers, really a goodly thing to behold. This day, +too, he must have come afoot, but his net and box lay there beside +him, and his hunt had been without profit, for both were apparently +empty. Possibly he had devoted but little time to netting insects. +Possibly he had thought to encounter bigger game. If so his zest in +the sport must have been but languid, since he had so soon yielded to +the drowsy influences of the day. There was resentment in the heart of +the girl as this occurred to her, even though it would have angered +her the more had anyone suggested she had come in hope of seeing or +speaking with him. + +And yet, down in the bottom of her heart, she knew that just such a +hope had held her there even to the hour of recall. She knew that, +since opportunities for meeting him within the garrison were limited, +she had deliberately chosen to ride alone, and farther than she had +ever ridden alone before, in hope of meeting him without. She knew +that in the pursuit of his winged prey he never sought the open _mesa_ +or the ravines and gorges of the foothills. Only along the stream were +they--and he--to be found. Only along the stream, therefore, had she +this day ridden and, failing to see aught of him, had dismounted to +think in quiet by the pool, so she told herself, but incidentally to +wait and watch for him; and now she had found him, neither watching +nor waiting, but in placid unconcern and slumber. + +One reason why they met so seldom in garrison was that her father did +not like him in the least. The captain was a veteran soldier, +self-taught and widely honored, risen from the ranks. The lieutenant +was a man of gentle breeding and of college education, a soldier by +choice, or caprice, yet quite able at any time to quit the service and +live a life of ease, for he had, they said, abundant means of his own. +He had been first lieutenant of that troop at least five years, not +five months of which had he served on duty with it. First one general, +then another, had needed him as aide-de-camp, and when, on his own +application, he had been relieved from staff duty to enable him to +accompany his regiment to this then distant and inhospitable land, he +had little more than reached Camp Sandy when he was sent by the +department commander to investigate some irregularity at the Apache +reservation up the valley, and then, all unsoliciting, he had been +placed in charge pending the coming of a new agent to replace the +impeached one going home under guard, and the captain said things +about his subaltern's always seeking "fancy duty" that were natural, +yet unjust--things that reached Mr. Blakely in exaggerated form, and +that angered him against his senior to the extent of open rupture. +Then Blakely took the mountain fever at the agency, thereby still +further delaying his return to troop duty, and then began another +complication, for the contract doctor, though skillful in his +treatment, was less assiduous in nursing than were the wife of the +newly arrived agent and her young companion Lola, daughter of the +agency interpreter and his Apache-Yuma wife. + +When well enough to attempt light duty again, the lieutenant had +rejoined at Sandy, and, almost the first face to greet him on his +arrival was one he had never seen before and never forgot +thereafter--the sweet, laughing, winsome face of Angela Wren, his +captain's only child. + +The regiment had marched into Arizona overland, few of the wives and +daughters with it. Angela, motherless since her seventh year, was at +school in the distant East, together with the daughters of the colonel +then commanding the regiment. They were older; were "finishing" that +summer, and had amazed that distinguished officer by demanding to be +allowed to join him with their mother. When they left the school +Angela could stand it no longer. She both telegraphed and wrote, +begging piteously to be permitted to accompany them on the long +journey by way of San Francisco, and so it had finally been settled. +The colonel's household were now at regimental headquarters up at +Prescott, and Angela was quite happy at Camp Sandy. She had been there +barely four weeks when Neil Blakely, pale, fragile-looking, and still +far from strong, went to report for duty at his captain's quarters and +was met at the threshold by his captain's daughter. + +Expecting a girl friend, Kate Sanders, from "down the row," she had +rushed to welcome her, and well-nigh precipitated herself upon a +stranger in the natty undress uniform of the cavalry. Her instant +blush was something beautiful to see. Blakely said the proper things +to restore tranquillity; smilingly asked for her father, his captain; +and, while waiting for that warrior to finish shaving and come down to +receive him, was entertained by Miss Wren in the little army parlor. +Looking into her wondrous eyes and happy, blushing face, he forgot +that there was rancor between his troop commander and himself, until +the captain's stiff, unbending greeting reminded him. Thoughtless +people at the post, however, were laughing over the situation a week +thereafter. Neil Blakely, a squire of dames in San Francisco and other +cities when serving on staff duty, a society "swell" and clubman, had +obviously become deeply interested in this blithe young army girl, +without a cent to her name--with nothing but her beauty, native grace, +and sweet, sunshiny nature to commend her. And everyone hitherto had +said Neil Blakely would never marry in the army. + +And there was one woman at Sandy who saw the symptoms with jealous and +jaundiced eyes--Clarice, wife of the major then commanding the little +"four-company" garrison. Other women took much to heart the fact that +Major Plume had cordially invited Blakely, on his return from the +agency, to be their guest until he could get settled in his own +quarters. The Plumes had rooms to spare--and no children. The major was +twelve years older than his wife, but women said it often looked the +other way. Mrs. Plume had aged very rapidly after his sojourn on +recruiting duty in St. Louis. Frontier commissariat and cooking played +hob with her digestion, said the major. Frontier winds and water dealt +havoc to her complexion, said the women. But both complexion and +digestion seemed to "take a brace," as irreverent youth expressed it, +when Neil Blakely came to Sandy and the major's roof. True, he stayed +but six and thirty hours and then moved into his own domicile--quarters +No. 7--after moving out a most reluctant junior. Major Plume and Mrs. +Plume had expected him, they were so kind as to say, to choose a vacant +half set, excellent for bachelor purposes, under the roof that sheltered +Captain Wren, Captain Wren's maiden sister and housekeeper, and Angela, +the captain's daughter. This set adjoined the major's big central house, +its south windows looking into the major's north gallery. "It would be +so neighborly and nice," said Mrs. Plume. Instead, however, Mr. Blakely +stood upon his prerogative as a senior subaltern and "ranked out" Mr. +and Mrs. Bridger and baby, and these otherwise gentle folk, evicted and +aggrieved, knowing naught of Blakely from previous association, and +seeing no reason why he should wish to be at the far end of the row +instead of the middle, with his captain, where he properly belonged, +deemed themselves the objects of wanton and capricious treatment at his +hands, and resented it according to their opportunities. Bridger, being +a soldier and subordinate, had to take it out in soliloquy and +swear-words, but his impetuous little helpmate--being a woman, a wife +and mother, set both wits and tongue to work, and heaven help the man +when woman has both to turn upon him! In refusing the room and windows +that looked full-face into those of Mrs. Plume, Blakely had nettled her. +In selecting the quarters occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Bridger he had +slightly inconvenienced and sorely vexed the latter. With no +incumbrances whatever, with fine professional record, with personal +traits and reputation to make him enviable, with comparative wealth and, +as a rule, superlative health, Blakely started on his career as a +subaltern at Sandy with three serious handicaps,--the disfavor of his +captain, who knew and loved him little,--the prejudice of Mrs. Bridger, +who knew and loved him not at all,--and the jealous pique of Mrs. Plume, +who had known and loved him, possibly, too well. + +There was little duty doing at Sandy at the time whereof we write. Men +rose at dawn and sent the horses forth to graze all day in the +foothills under heavy guard. It was too hot for drills, with the +mercury sizzling at the hundred mark. Indian prisoners did the +"police" work about the post; and men and women dozed and wilted in +the shade until the late afternoon recall. Then Sandy woke up and +energetically stabled, drilled, paraded under arms at sunset, mounted +guard immediately thereafter, dined in spotless white; then rode, +drove, flirted, danced, gossiped, made mirth, melody, or monotonous +plaint till nearly midnight; then slept until the dawn of another day. + +Indians there were in the wilds of the Mogollon to the southeast, and, +sometimes at rare intervals straying from the big reservation up the +valley, they scared the scattered settlers of the Agua Fria and the +Hassayampa; but Sandy rarely knew of them except as prisoners. Not a +hostile shot had been fired in the surrounding mountains for at least +six months, so nobody felt the least alarm, and many only languid +interest, when the white-coated officers reported the result of sunset +roll-call and inspection, and, saluting Major Plume, the captain of +"C" Troop announced in tones he meant should be heard along the row: +"Mr. Blakely, sir, is absent!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SCOT VERSUS SAXON + + +Three women were seated at the moment on the front veranda of the +major's quarters--Mrs. Plume, Miss Janet Wren, the captain's sister, +and little Mrs. Bridger. The first named had been intently watching +the officers as, after the dismissal of their companies at the +barracks, they severally joined the post commander, who had been +standing on the barren level of the parade, well out toward the +flagstaff, his adjutant beside him. To her the abrupt announcement +caused no surprise. She had seen that Mr. Blakely was not with his +troop. The jeweled hands slightly twitched, but her voice had the +requisite and conventional drawl as she turned to Miss Wren: "Chasing +some new butterfly, I suppose, and got lost. A--what time did--Angela +return?" + +"Hours ago, I fancy. She was dressed when I returned from hospital. +Sergeant Leary seems worse to-day." + +"That was nearly six," dreamily persisted Mrs. Plume. "I happened to +be at the side window." In the pursuit of knowledge Mrs. Plume adhered +to the main issue and ignored the invalid sergeant, whose slow +convalescence had stirred the sympathies of the captain's sister. + +"Yes, it was nearly that when Angela dismounted," softly said Mrs. +Bridger. "I heard Punch galloping away to his stable." + +"Why, Mrs. Bridger, are you sure?" And the spinster of forty-five +turned sharply on the matron of less than half her years. "She had on +her white muslin when she came to the head of the stairs to answer +me." + +Mrs. Bridger could not be mistaken. It was Angela's habit when she +returned from her rides to dismount at the rear gateway; give Punch +his _congé_ with a pat or two of the hand; watch him a moment as he +tore gleefully away, round to the stables to the westward of the big +quadrangle; then to go to her room and dress for the evening, coming +down an hour later, looking fresh and sweet and dainty as a dewy +Mermet. As a rule she rode without other escort than the hounds, for +her father would not go until the sun was very low and would not let +her go with Blakely or Duane, the only bachelor troop officers then at +Sandy. He had nothing against Duane, but, having set his seal against +the other, felt it necessary to include them both. As a rule, +therefore, she started about four, alone, and was home an hour later. +Five young maidens dwelt that year in officers' row, daughters of the +regiments,--for it was a mixed command and not a big one,--two +companies each of infantry and cavalry, after the manner of the early +70's. Angela knew all four girls, of course, and had formed an +intimacy with one--one who only cared to ride in the cool of the +bright evenings when the officers took the hounds jack-rabbit hunting +up the valley. Twice a week, when Luna served, they held these +moonlit meets, and galloping at that hour, though more dangerous to +necks, was less so to complexions. As a rule, too, Angela and Punch +contented themselves with a swift scurry round the reservation, with +frequent fordings of the stream for the joy it gave them both. They +were rarely out of sight of the sentries and never in any appreciable +danger. No Apache with hostile intent ventured near enough to Sandy to +risk reprisals. Miners, prospectors, and ranchmen were few in numbers, +but, far and wide they knew the captain's bonny daughter, and, like +the men of her father's troop, would have risked their lives to do her +a service. Their aversions as to Sandy were centered in the other sex. + +Aunt Janet, therefore, had some reason for doubting the report of Mrs. +Bridger. It was so unlike Angela to be so very late returning, +although, now that Mrs. Bridger had mentioned it, she, too, remembered +hearing the rapid thud of Punch's galloping hoofs homeward bound, as +was she, at 5.45. Yet, barely five minutes thereafter, Angela, who +usually spent half an hour splashing in her tub, appeared full +panoplied, apparently, at the head of the stairs upon her aunt's +arrival, and was even now somewhere down the row, hobnobbing with Kate +Sanders. That Lieutenant Blakely should have missed retreat roll-call +was in itself no very serious matter. "Slept through at his quarters, +perhaps," said Plume. "He'll turn up in time for dinner." In fine the +major's indifference struck the captain as an evidence of official +weakness, reprehensible in a commander charged with the discipline of +a force on hostile soil. What Wren intended was that Plume should be +impressed by his formal word and manner, and direct the adjutant to +look up the derelict instanter. As no such action was taken, however, +he felt it due to himself to speak again. A just man was Wren, and +faithful to the core in his own discharge of duty. What he could not +abide was negligence on part of officer or man, on part of superior or +inferior, and he sought to "stiffen" Plume forthwith. + +"If he isn't in his quarters, shall I send a party out in search, +sir?" + +"Who? Blakely? Dear, no, Wren! What for?" returned the post commander, +obviously nettled. "I fancy he'll not thank you for even searching his +quarters. You may stumble over his big museum in the dark and smash +things. No, let him alone. If he isn't here for dinner, I'll 'tend to +it myself." + +And so, rebuffed, as it happened, by an officer much his inferior in +point of experience and somewhat in years, Wren silently and stiffly +saluted and turned away. Virtually he had been given to understand +that his suggestion was impertinent. He reached his quarters, +therefore, in no pleasant mood, and found his sister waiting for him +with Duty in her clear and shining eyes. + +A woman of many a noble trait was Janet Wren,--a woman who had done a +world of good to those in sickness, sorrow, or other adversity, a +woman of boundless faith in herself and her opinions, but not too much +hope or charity for others. The blood of the Scotch Covenanters was +in her veins, for her mother had been born and bred in the shadow of +the kirk and lived and died in the shadow of the cross. A woman with a +mission was Janet, and one who went at it unflinchingly. She had loved +her brother always, yet disapproved his marriage to so young and +unformed a woman as was his wife. Later, she had deprecated from the +start the soldier spirit, fierce in his Highland blood, that tore him +from the teachings of their gentle mother and her beloved meenister, +took him from his fair young wife when most she needed him and sent +him straightway into the ranks of the one Highland regiment in the +Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His gallant colonel fell +at First Bull Run, and Sergeant Wren fought over his body to the +fervent admiration of the Southerners who captured both. The first War +Secretary, mourning a beloved brother and grateful to his defender, +commissioned the latter in the regulars at once and, on his return +from Libby, Wren joined the army as a first lieutenant. With genuine +Scottish thrift, his slender pay had been hoarded for him, and his now +motherless little one, by that devoted sister, and when, a captain at +the close of the war, he came to clasp his daughter to his heart, he +found himself possessed of a few hundreds more than fell to the lot of +most of his associates. It was then that Janet, motherless herself, +had stepped into the management of her brother's army home, and sought +to dominate in that as she had in everything else from early girlhood. +Wren loved her fondly, but he, too, had a will. They had many a +clash. It was this, indeed, that led to Angela's going so early to an +Eastern school. We are all paragons of wisdom in the management of +other people's children. It is in dealing with our own our limitations +are so obvious. Fond as she had become of Angela's sweet young mother, +it must be owned that whom Janet loved in this way she often +chastened. Neighbors swore it was not grief, nor illness, half so much +as sister-in-law, that wore the gentle spirit to the snapping-point. +The great strong heart of the soldier was well-nigh broken at his +loss, and Janet, who had never seen him shed a tear since early +boyhood, stood for once, at least, in awe and trembling at sight of +his awful grief. Time and nature played their part and brought him, +gradually, resignation, but never genuine solace. He turned to little +Angela with almost passionate love and tenderness. He would, mayhap, +have spoiled her had not frontier service kept him so much afield that +it was Janet who really reared her,--but not according to the strict +letter of her law. Wren knew well what that was and forbade. + +Misfortunes came to Janet Wren while yet a comely woman of +thirty-five. She could have married, and married well, a comrade +captain in her brother's regiment; but him, at least, she held to be +her own, and, loving him with genuine fervor and devotion, she sought +to turn him in all things to her serious views of life, its manifold +duties and responsibilities. She had her ideal of what a man should +be--a monarch among other men, but one knowing no God but her God, no +creed but her creed, no master but Duty, no mistress but herself, and +no weakness whatsoever. A braver, simpler, kinder soul than her +captain there dwelt not in the service of his country, but he loved +his pipe, his song, his dogs, his horses, his troop, and certain +soldier ways that, during his convalescence from wounds, she had not +had opportunity to observe. She had nursed him back to life and love +and, unwittingly, to his former harmless habits. These all she would +have had him forswear, not for her sake so much, she said, but because +they were in themselves sinful and beneath him. She sought to train +him down too fine for the rugged metal of the veteran soldier, and the +fabric snapped in her hands. She had sent him forth sore-hearted over +her ceaseless importunity. She had told him he must not only give up +all his ways, but, if he would make her happy, he must put the words +of Ruth into his mouth, and that ended it. He transferred into another +corps when she broke with him; carried his sore heart to the Southern +plains, and fell in savage battle within another month. + +Not long thereafter her little fortune, invested according to the +views of a spiritual rather than a temporal adviser,--and much against +her brother's wishes,--went the way of riches that have wings, and +now, dependent solely upon him, welcomed to his home and fireside, she +nevertheless strove to dominate as of yore. He had had to tell her +Angela could not and should not be subjected to such restraints as the +sister would have prescribed, but so long as he was the sole victim +he whimsically bore it without vehement protest. "Convert me all you +can, Janet, dear," he said, "but don't try to reform the whole +regiment. It's past praying for." + +Now, when other women whispered to her that while Mrs. Plume had been +a belle in St. Louis and Mr. Blakely a young society beau, the +magnitude of their flirtation had well-nigh stopped her marriage, Miss +Wren saw opportunity for her good offices and, so far from avoiding, +she sought the society of the major's brooding wife. She even felt a +twinge of disappointment when the young officer appeared, and after +the initial thirty-six hours under the commander's roof, rarely went +thither at all. She knew her brother disapproved of him, and thought +it to be because of moral, not military, obliquity. She saw with +instant apprehension his quick interest in Angela and the child's +almost unconscious response. With the solemn conviction of the maiden +who, until past the meridian, had never loved, she looked on Angela as +far too young and immature to think of marrying, yet too shallow, vain +and frivolous, too corrupted, in fact, by that pernicious society +school--not to shrink from flirtations that might mean nothing to the +man but would be damnation to the girl. Even the name of this big, +blue-eyed, fair-skinned young votary of science had much about it that +made her fairly bristle, for she had once been described as an +"austere vestal" by Lieutenant Blake, of the regiment preceding them +at Sandy, the ----th Cavalry--and a mutual friend had told her all +about it--another handicap for Blakely. She had grown, it must be +admitted, somewhat gaunt and forbidding in these later years, a thing +that had stirred certain callow wits to differentiate between the +Misses Wren as Angela and Angular, which, hearing, some few women +reproved but all repeated. Miss Wren, the sister, was in fine a woman +widely honored but little sought. It was Angela that all Camp Sandy +would have met with open arms. + +"R-r-robert," began Miss Wren, as the captain unclasped his saber belt +and turned it over to Mickel, his German "striker." She would have +proceeded further, but he held up a warning hand. He had come homeward +angering and ill at ease. Disliking Blakely from the first, a +"ballroom soldier," as he called him, and alienated from him later, he +had heard still further whisperings of the devotions of a chieftain's +daughter at the agency, above all, of the strange infatuation of the +major's wife, and these had warranted, in his opinion, warning words +to his senior subaltern in refusing that gentleman's request to ride +with Angela. "I object to any such attentions--to any meetings +whatsoever," said he, but sooner than give the real reason, added +lamely, "My daughter is too young." Now he thought he saw impending +duty in his sister's somber eyes and poise. He knew it when she began +by rolling her r's--it was so like their childhood's spiritual guide +and mentor, MacTaggart, erstwhile of the "Auld Licht" persuasion, and +a power. + +"Wait a bit, Janet," said he. "Mickel, get my horse and tell Sergeant +Strang to send me a mounted orderly." Then, as Mickel dropped the +saber in the open doorway and departed, he turned upon her. + +"Where's Angela?" said he, "and what was she doing out after recall? +The stable sergeant says 'twas six when Punch came home." + +"R-r-robert, it is of that I wish to speak to you, and before she +comes to dinner. Hush! She's coming now." + +Down the row of shaded wooden porticos, at the major's next door, at +Dr. Graham's, the Scotch surgeon and Wren's especial friend and crony, +at the Lynns' and Sanders's beyond, little groups of women and +children in cool evening garb, and officers in white, were gathered in +merry, laughing chat. Nowhere, save in the eyes of one woman at the +commanding officer's, and here at Wren's, seemed there anything +ominous in the absence of this officer so lately come to join them. +The voice of Angela, glad and ringing, fell upon the father's ears in +sudden joy. Who could associate shame or subterfuge with tones so +charged with merriment? The face of Angela, coming suddenly round the +corner from the side veranda, beamed instantly upon him, sweet, +trusting and welcoming, then slowly shadowed at sight of the set +expression about his mouth, and the rigid, uncompromising, determined +sorrow in the features of her aunt. + +Before she could utter a word, the father questioned: + +"Angela, my child, have you seen Mr. Blakely this afternoon?" + +One moment her big eyes clouded, but unflinchingly they met his gaze. +Then, something in the stern scrutiny of her aunt's regard stirred all +that was mutinous within her; yet there was an irrepressible twitching +about the corners of the rosy mouth, a twinkle about the big brown +eyes that should have given them pause, even as she demurely answered: + +"Yes." + +"When?" demanded the soldier, his muscular hand clutching ominously at +the wooden rail; his jaw setting squarely. "When--and where?" + +But now the merriment with which she had begun changed slowly at sight +of the repressed fury in his rugged Gaelic face. She, too, was +trembling as she answered: + +"Just after recall--down at the pool." + +For an instant he stood glaring, incredulous. "At the pool! You! My +bairnie!" Then, with sudden outburst of passionate wrath, "Go to your +room!" said he. + +"But listen--father, dear," she began, imploringly. For answer he +seized her slender arm in almost brutal grasp and fairly hurled her +within the doorway. "Not a word!" he ground between his clinched +teeth. "Go instantly!" Then, slamming the door upon her, he whirled +about as though to seek his sister's face, and saw beyond her, +rounding the corner of the northwest set of quarters, coming in from +the _mesa_ roadway at the back, the tall, white figure of the missing +man. + +Another moment and Lieutenant Blakely, in the front room of his +quarters, looking pale and strange, was being pounced upon with eager +questioning by Duane, his junior, when the wooden steps and veranda +creaked under a quick, heavy, ominous tread, and, with livid face and +clinching hands, the troop commander came striding in. + +"Mr. Blakely," said he, his voice deep with wrath and tremulous with +passion, "I told you three days ago my daughter and you must not meet, +and--you know why! To-day you lured her to a rendezvous outside the +post--" + +"Captain Wren!" + +"Don't lie! I say you lured her, for my lass would never have met +you--" + +"You shall _un_say it, sir," was Blakely's instant rejoinder. "Are you +mad--or what? I never set eyes on your daughter to-day--until a moment +ago." + +And then the voice of young Duane was uplifted, shouting for help. +With a crash, distinctly heard out on the parade, Wren had struck his +junior down. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MOCCASIN TRACKS + + +When Mr. Blakely left the post that afternoon he went afoot. When he +returned, just after the sounding of retreat, he came in saddle. +Purposely he avoided the road that led in front of the long line of +officers' quarters and chose instead the water-wagon track along the +rear. People among the laundresses' quarters, south of the _mesa_ on +which stood the quadrangular inclosure of Camp Sandy, eyed him +curiously as he ambled through on his borrowed pony; but he looked +neither to right nor left and hurried on in obvious discomposure. He +was looking pale and very tired, said the saddler sergeant's wife, an +hour later, when all the garrison was agog with the story of Wren's +mad assault. He never seemed to see the two or three soldiers, men of +family, who rose and saluted as he passed, and not an officer in the +regiment was more exact or scrupulous in his recognition of such +soldier courtesy as Blakely had ever been. They wondered, therefore, +at his strange abstraction. They wondered more, looking after him, +when, just as his stumbling pony reached the crest, the rider reined +him in and halted short in evident embarrassment. They could not see +what he saw--two young girls in gossamer gowns of white, with arms +entwining each other's waists, their backs toward him, slowly pacing +northward up the _mesa_ and to the right of the road. Some old croquet +arches, balls, and mallets lay scattered about, long since abandoned +to dry rot and disuse, and, so absorbed were the damsels in their +confidential chat,--bubbling over, too, with merry laughter,--they +gave no heed to these until one, the taller of the pair, catching her +slippered foot in the stiff, unyielding wire, plunged forward and +fell, nearly dragging her companion with her. Blakely, who had hung +back, drove his barbless heels into the pony's flanks, sent him +lurching forward, and in less than no time was out of saddle and +aiding her to rise, laughing so hard she, for a moment, could not +speak or thank him. Save to flowing skirt, there was not the faintest +damage, yet his eyes, his voice, his almost tremulous touch were all +suggestive of deep concern, before, once more mounting, he raised his +broad-brimmed hat and bade them reluctant good-night. Kate Sanders ran +scurrying home an instant later, but Angela's big and shining eyes +followed him every inch of the way until he once more dismounted at +the upper end of the row and, looking back, saw her and waved his hat, +whereat she ran, blushing, smiling, and not a little wondering, +flustered and happy, into the gallery of their own quarters and the +immediate presence of her father. Blakely, meanwhile, had summoned his +servant: + +"Take this pony at once to Mr. Hart," said he, "and say I'll be back +again as soon as I've seen the commanding officer." + +When Downs, the messenger, returned to the house about half an hour +later, it was to find his master prostrate and bleeding on the bed in +his room, Dr. Graham and the hospital attendant working over him, the +major and certain of his officers, with gloomy faces and muttering +tongues, conferring on the piazza in front, and one of the +lieutenant's precious cases of bugs and butterflies a wreck of +shattered glass. More than half the officers of the post were present. +A bevy of women and girls had gathered in the dusk some distance down +the row. The wondering Milesian whispered inquiry of silent soldiers +lingering about the house, but the gruff voice of Sergeant Clancy bade +them go about their business. Not until nearly an hour later was it +generally known that Captain Wren had been escorted to his quarters by +the post adjutant and ordered to remain therein in close arrest. + +If some older and more experienced officer than Duane had been there +perhaps the matter would not have proved so tragic, but the latter was +utterly unstrung by Wren's furious attack and the unlooked-for result. +Without warning of any kind, the burly Scot had launched his big fist +straight at Blakely's jaw, and sent the slender, still fever-weakened +form crashing through a case of specimens, reducing it to splinters +that cruelly cut and tore the bruised and senseless face. A corporal +of the guard, marching his relief in rear of the quarters at the +moment, every door and window being open, heard the crash, the wild +cry for help, rushed in, with his men at his heels, and found the +captain standing stunned and ghastly, with the sweat starting from his +brow, staring down at the result of his fearful work. From the front +Captain Sanders and his amazed lieutenant came hurrying. Together they +lifted the stricken and bleeding man to his bed in the back room and +started a soldier for the doctor on the run. The sight of this man, +speeding down the row, bombarded all the way with questions he could +not stop to answer, startled every soul along that westward-facing +front, and sent men and women streaming up the line toward Blakely's +quarters at the north end. The doctor fairly brushed them from his +path and Major Plume had no easy task persuading the tearful, pallid +groups of army wives and daughters to retire to the neighboring +quarters. Janet Wren alone refused point-blank. She would not go +without first seeing her brother. It was she who took the arm of the +awed, bewildered, shame-and conscience-stricken man and led him, with +bowed and humbled head, the adjutant aiding on the other side, back to +the door he had so sternly closed upon his only child, and that now as +summarily shut on him. Dr. Graham had pronounced the young officer's +injuries serious, and the post commander was angry to the very core. + +One woman there was who, with others, had aimlessly hastened up the +line, and who seemed now verging on hysterics--the major's wife. It +was Mrs. Graham who rebukefully sent her own braw young brood +scurrying homeward through the gathering dusk, and then possessed +herself of Mrs. Plume. "The shock has unnerved you," she charitably, +soothingly whispered: "Come away with me," but the major's wife +refused to go. Hart, the big post trader, had just reached the spot, +driving up in his light buckboard. His usually jovial face was full of +sympathy and trouble. He could not believe the news, he said. Mr. +Blakely had been with him so short a time beforehand and was coming +down again at once, so Downs, the striker, told him, when some soldier +ran in to say the lieutenant had been half killed by Captain Wren. +Plume heard him talking and came down the low steps to meet and confer +with him, while the others, men and women, listened eagerly, expectant +of developments. Then Hart became visibly embarrassed. Yes, Mr. +Blakely had come up from below and begged the loan of a pony, saying +he must get to the post at once to see Major Plume. Hadn't he seen the +major? No! Then Hart's embarrassment increased. Yes, something had +happened. Blakely had told him, and in fact they--he--all of them had +something very important on hand. He didn't know what to do now, with +Mr. Blakely unable to speak, and, to the manifest disappointment of +the swift-gathering group, Hart finally begged the major to step aside +with him a moment and he would tell him what he knew. All eyes +followed them, then followed the major as he came hurrying back with +heightened color and went straight to Dr. Graham at the sufferer's +side. "Can I speak with him? Is he well enough to answer a question or +two?" he asked, and the doctor shook his head. "Then, by the Lord, +I'll have to wire to Prescott!" said Plume, and left the room at +once. "What is it?" feebly queried the patient, now half-conscious. +But the doctor answered only "Hush! No talking now, Mr. Blakely," and +bade the others leave the room and let him get to sleep. + +But tattoo had not sounded that still and starlit evening when a +strange story was in circulation about the post, brought up from the +trader's store by pack-train hands who said they were there when Mr. +Blakely came in and asked for Hart--"wanted him right away, bad," was +the way they put it. Then it transpired that Mr. Blakely had found no +sport at bug-hunting and had fallen into a doze while waiting for +winged insects, and when he woke it was to make a startling +discovery--his beautiful Geneva watch had disappeared from one pocket +and a flat note case, carried in an inner breast pocket of his white +duck blouse, and containing about one hundred dollars, was also gone. +Some vagrant soldier, possibly, or some "hard-luck outfit" of +prospectors, probably, had come upon him sleeping, and had made way +with his few valuables. Two soldiers had been down stream, fishing for +what they called Tonto trout, but they were looked up instantly and +proved to be men above suspicion. Two prospectors had been at Hart's, +nooning, and had ridden off down stream toward three o'clock. _There_ +was a clew worth following, and certain hangers-on about the trader's, +"layin' fer a job," had casually hinted at the prospect of a game down +at Snicker's--a ranch five miles below. Here, too, was something worth +investigating. If Blakely had been robbed, as now seemed more than +likely, Camp Sandy felt that the perpetrator must still be close at +hand and of the packer or prospector class. + +But before the ranks were broken, after the roll-call, then invariably +held at half-past nine, Hart came driving back in a buckboard, with a +lantern and a passenger, the latter one of the keenest trailers among +the sergeants of Captain Sanders' troop, and Sanders was with the +major as the man sprang from the wagon and stood at salute. + +"Found anything, sergeant?" asked Plume. + +"Not a boot track, sir, but the lieutenant's own." + +"No tracks at all--in that soft sand!" exclaimed the major, +disappointed and unbelieving. His wife had come slowly forward from +within doors, and, bending slightly toward them, stood listening. + +"No boot tracks, sir. There's others though--Tonto moccasins!" + +Plume stood bewildered. "By Jove! I never thought of that!" said he, +turning presently on his second troop commander. "But who ever heard +of Apaches taking a man's watch and leaving--him?" + +"If the major will look," said the sergeant, quietly producing a +scouting notebook such as was then issued by the engineer department, +"I measured 'em and made rough copies here. There was _two_, sir. Both +came, both went, by the path through the willows up stream. We didn't +have time to follow. One is longer and slimmer than the other. If I +may make so bold, sir, I'd have a guard down there to-night to keep +people away; otherwise the tracks may be spoiled before morning." + +"Take three men and go yourself," said the major promptly. "See +anything of any of the lieutenant's property? Mr. Hart told you, +didn't he?" Plume was studying the sergeant's pencil sketches, by the +light of the trader's lantern, as he spoke, a curious, puzzled look on +his soldierly face. + +"Saw where the box had lain in the sand, sir, but no trace of the +net," and Sergeant Shannon was thinking less of these matters than of +his sketches. There was something he thought the major ought to see, +and presently he saw. + +"Why, sergeant, these may be Tonto moccasin tracks, but not grown +men's. They are mere boys, aren't they?" + +"Mere girls, sir." + +There was a sound of rustling skirts upon the bare piazza. Plume +glanced impatiently over his shoulder. Mrs. Plume had vanished into +the unlighted hallway. + +"That would account for their taking the net," said he thoughtfully, +"but what on earth would the guileless Tonto maiden do with a watch or +with greenbacks? They wouldn't dare show with them at the agency! How +far did you follow the tracks?" + +"Only a rod or two. Once in the willows they can't well quit them till +they reach the shallows above the pool, sir. We can guard there +to-night and begin trailing at dawn." + +"So be it then!" and presently the conference closed. + +Seated on the adjoining gallery, alone and in darkness, stricken and +sorrowing, a woman had been silently observant of the meeting, and +had heard occasional snatches of the talk. Presently she rose; softly +entered the house and listened at a closed door on the northward +side--Captain Wren's own room. An hour previous, tortured between his +own thoughts and her well-meant, but unwelcome efforts to cheer him, +he had begged to be left alone, and had closed his door against all +comers. + +Now, she as softly ascended the narrow stairway and paused for a +moment at another door, also closed. Listening a while, she knocked, +timidly, hesitatingly, but no answer came. After a while, noiselessly, +she turned the knob and entered. + +A dim light was burning on a little table by the white bedside. A +long, slim figure, white-robed and in all the abandon of girlish +grief, was lying, face downward, on the bed. Tangled masses of hair +concealed much of the neck and shoulders, but, bending over, Miss Wren +could partially see the flushed and tear-wet cheek pillowed on one +slender white arm. Exhausted by long weeping, Angela at last had +dropped to sleep, but the little hand that peeped from under the +thick, tumbling tresses still clung to an odd and unfamiliar +object--something the older woman had seen only at a distance +before--something she gazed at in startled fascination this strange +and solemn night--a slender, long-handled butterfly net of filmy +gauze. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A STRICKEN SENTRY + + +Sentry duty at Camp Sandy along in '75 had not been allowed to bear +too heavily on its little garrison. There was nothing worth stealing +about the place, said Plume, and no pawn-shop handy. Of course there +were government horses and mules, food and forage, arms and +ammunition, but these were the days of soldier supremacy in that arid +and distant land, and soldiers had a summary way of settling with +marauders that was discouraging to enterprise. Larceny was therefore +little known until the law, with its delays and circumventions, took +root in the virgin soil, and people at such posts as Sandy seldom shut +and rarely locked their doors, even by night. Windows were closed and +blanketed by day against the blazing sun and torrid heat, but, soon +after nightfall, every door and window was usually opened wide and +often kept so all the night long, in order that the cooler air, +settling down from _mesa_ and mountain, might drift through every room +and hallway, licking up the starting dew upon the smooth, rounded +surface of the huge _ollas_, the porous water jars that hung suspended +on every porch, and wafting comfort to the heated brows of the lightly +covered sleepers within. Pyjamas were then unknown in army circles, +else even the single sheet that covered the drowsing soldier might +have been dispensed with. + +Among the quarters occupied by married men, both in officers' row and +Sudsville under the plateau, doors were of little account in a +community where the only intruder to be feared was heat, and so it had +resulted that while the corrals, stables, and storehouses had their +guards, only a single sentry paced the long length of the eastward +side of the post, a single pair of eyes and a single rifle barrel +being deemed amply sufficient to protect against possible prowlers the +rear yards and entrances of the row. The westward front of the +officers' homes stood in plain view, on bright nights at least, of the +sentry at the guard-house, and needed no other protector. On dark +nights it was supposed to look out for itself. + +A lonely time of it, as a rule, had No. 5, the "backyard sentry," but +this October night he lacked not for sensation. Lights burned until +very late in many of the quarters, while at Captain Wren's and +Lieutenant Blakely's people were up and moving about until long after +midnight. Of course No. 5 had heard all about the dreadful affair of +the early evening. What he and his fellows puzzled over was the +probable cause of Captain Wren's furious assault upon his subaltern. +Many a theory was afloat, Duane, with unlooked-for discretion, having +held his tongue as to the brief conversation that preceded the blow. +It was after eleven when the doctor paid his last visit for the night, +and the attendant came out on the rear porch for a pitcher of cool +water from the _olla_. It was long after twelve when the light in the +upstairs room at Captain Wren's was turned low, and for two hours +thereafter, with bowed head, the captain himself paced nervously up +and down, wearing in the soft and sandy soil a mournful pathway +parallel with his back porch. It was after three, noted Private +Mullins, of that first relief, when from the rear door of the major's +quarters there emerged two forms in feminine garb, and, there being no +hindering fences, away they hastened in the dim starlight, past +Wren's, Cutler's, Westervelt's, and Truman's quarters until they were +swallowed up in the general gloom about Lieutenant Blakely's. Private +Mullins could not say for certain whether they had entered the rear +door or gone around under the deep shadows of the veranda. When next +he saw them, fifteen minutes later, coming as swiftly and silently +back, Mullins was wondering whether he ought not to challenge and have +them account for themselves. His orders were to allow inmates of the +officers' quarters to pass in or out at night without challenge, +provided he "recognized them to be such." Now, Mullins felt morally +certain that these two were Mrs. Plume and Mrs. Plume's vivacious +maid, a French-Canadian damsel, much admired and sought in soldier +circles at the post, but Mullins had not seen their faces and could +rightfully insist it was his duty and prerogative to do so. The +question was, how would the "commanding officer's lady" like and take +it? Mullins therefore shook his head. "I hadn't the nerve," as he +expressed it, long afterwards. But no such frailty oppressed the +occupant of the adjoining house. Just as the two had reached the rear +of Wren's quarters, and were barely fifty steps from safety, the +captain himself, issuing again from the doorway, suddenly appeared +upon the scene, and in low, but imperative tone accosted them. "_Who_ +are you?" said he, bending eagerly, sternly over them. One quick look +he gave, and, almost instantly recoiling, exclaimed "Mrs. Plume! I +beg--" Then, as though with sudden recollection, "No, madam, I do +_not_ beg your pardon," and, turning on his heel, abruptly left them. +Without a word, but with the arm of the maid supporting, the taller +woman sped swiftly across the narrow intervening space and was lost +again within the shadows of her husband's home. + +Private Mullins, silent and probably unseen witness of this episode, +slowly tossed his rifle from the port to the shoulder; shook his +puzzled head; stared a moment at the dim figure of Captain Wren again +in the starlit morning, nervously tramping up and down his narrow +limit; then mechanically sauntered down the roadway, pondering much +over what he had seen and heard during the brief period of his early +morning watch. Reaching the south, the lower, end of his post, he +turned again. He had but ten minutes left of his two-hour tramp. The +second relief was due to start at 3.30, and should reach him at 3.35. +He was wondering would the officer of the day "come nosin' round" +within that time, asking him his orders, and was everything all right +on his post? And had he observed anything unusual? There was Captain +Wren, like a caged tiger, tramping up and down behind his quarters. +At least he had been, for now he had disappeared. There were, or +rather had been, the two ladies in long cloaks flitting in the shadows +from the major's quarters to those of the invalid lieutenant. Mullins +certainly did not wish to speak about them to any official visitor, +whatever he might whisper later to Norah Shaughnessy, the saddler +sergeant's daughter--Norah, who was nurse girl at the Trumans', and +knew all the ins and outs of social life at Sandy--Norah, at whose +window, under the north gable, he gazed with love in his eyes as he +made his every round. He was a good soldier, was Mullins, but glad +this night to get off post. Through the gap between the second and +third quarters he saw the lights at the guard-house and could faintly +see the black silhouette of armed men in front of them. The relief was +forming sharp on time, and presently Corporal Donovan would be +bringing Trooper Schultz, of "C" Troop, straight across the parade in +search of him. The major so allowed his sentry on No. 5 to be relieved +at night. Mullins thanked the saints with pious fervor that no more +ladies would be like to flit across his vision, that night at least, +when, dimly through the dusk, against the spangled northern sky, he +sighted another figure crouching across the upper end of his post and +making straight for the lighted entrance at the rear of the +lieutenant's quarters. Someone else, then, had interest at +Blakely's--someone coming stealthily from without. A minute later +certain wakeful ears were startled by a moaning cry for aid. + +Just what happened, and how it happened, within the minute, led to +conflicting stories on the morrow. First man examined by Major Plume +was Lieutenant Truman of the Infantry, who happened to be officer of +the day. He had been over at Blakely's about midnight, he said; had +found the patient sleeping under the influence of soothing medicine, +and, after a whispered word with Todd, the hospital attendant, had +tiptoed out again, encountering Downs, the lieutenant's striker, in +the darkness on the rear porch. Downs said he was that excited he +couldn't sleep at all, and Mr. Truman had come to the conclusion that +Downs's excitement was due, in large part, to local influences totally +disconnected with the affairs of the early evening. Downs was an +Irishman who loved the "craytur," and had been known to resort to +unconventional methods of getting it. At twelve o'clock, said Mr. +Truman, the striker had obviously been priming. Now Plume's standing +orders were that no liquor should be sold to Downs at the store and +none to other soldiers except in "pony" glasses and for use on the +spot. None could be carried away unconsumed. The only legitimate +spirits, therefore, to which Downs could have access were those in +Blakely's locked closet--spirits hitherto used only in the +preservation of specimens, and though probably not much worse than the +whisky sold at the store, disdainfully referred to by votaries as +"Blakely's bug juice." Mr. Truman, therefore, demanded of Downs the +possession of the lieutenant's keys, and, with aggrieved dignity of +mien, Downs had referred him to the doctor, whose suspicions had been +earlier aroused. Intending to visit his sentries after the change of +guard at 1.30, Truman had thrown himself into a reclining chair in his +little parlor, while Mrs. Truman and the little Trumans slumbered +peacefully aloft. After reading an hour or so the lieutenant fell into +a doze from which he awoke with a start. Mrs. Truman was bending over +him. Mrs. Truman had been aroused by hearing voices in cautious, yet +excited, colloquy in the shadows of Blakely's back porch. She felt +sure that Downs was one and thought from the sound that he must be +intoxicated, so Truman shuffled out to see, and somebody, bending +double in the dusk, scurried away at his approach. He heard rather +than saw. But there was Downs, at least, slinking back into the house, +and him Truman halted and accosted. "Who was that with you?" he asked, +and Downs thickly swore he hadn't seen a soul. But all the while Downs +was clumsily stuffing something into a side pocket, and Truman, +seizing his hand, dragged it forth into the light. It was one of the +hospital six-ounce bottles, bearing a label indicative of glycerine +lotion, but the color of the contained fluid belied the label. A sniff +was sufficient. "Who gave you this whisky?" was the next demand, and +Downs declared 'twas a hospital "messager" that brought it over, +thinking the lieutenant might need it. Truman, filled with wrath, had +dragged Downs into the dimly lighted room to the rear of that in which +lay Lieutenant Blakely, and was there upbraiding and investigating +when startled by the stifled cry that, rising suddenly on the night +from the open _mesa_ just without, had so alarmed so many in the +garrison. Of what had led to it he had then no more idea than the +dead. + +Corporal Donovan, next examined, said he was marching Schultz over to +relieve Mullins on No. 5, just after half-past three, and heading for +the short cut between the quarters of Captains Wren and Cutler, which +was about where No. 5 generally met the relief, when, just as they +were halfway between the flagstaff and the row, Schultz began to limp +and said there must be a pebble in his boot. So they halted. Schultz +kicked off his boot and shook it upside down, and, while he was +tugging at it again, they both heard a sort of gurgling, gasping cry +out on the _mesa_. Of course Donovan started and ran that way, leaving +Schultz to follow, and, just back of Captain Westervelt's, the third +house from the northward end, he almost collided with Lieutenant +Truman, officer of the day, who ordered him to run for Dr. Graham and +fetch him up to Lieutenant Blakely's quick. So of what had taken place +he, too, was ignorant until later. + +It was the hospital attendant, Todd, whose story came next and brought +Plume to his feet with consternation in his eyes. Todd said he had +been sitting at the lieutenant's bedside when, somewhere about three +o'clock, he had to go out and tell Downs to make less noise. Downs was +completely upset by the catastrophe to his officer and, somehow, had +got a few comforting drinks stowed away, and these had started him to +singing some confounded Irish keen that grated on Todd's nerves. He +was afraid it would disturb the patient and he was about to go out +and remonstrate when the singing stopped and presently he heard +Downs's voice in excited conversation. Then a woman's voice in low, +urgent, persuasive whisper became faintly audible, and this surprised +Todd beyond expression. He had thought to go and take a look and see +who it could be, when there was a sudden swish of skirts and scurry of +feet, and then Mr. Truman's voice was heard. Then there was some kind +of sharp talk from the lieutenant to Downs, and then, in a sort of a +lull, there came that uncanny cry out on the _mesa_, and, stopping +only long enough to see that the lieutenant was not roused or +disturbed, Todd hastened forth. One or two dim figures, dark and +shadowy, were just visible on the eastward _mesa_, barely ten paces +away, and thither the attendant ran. Downs, lurching heavily, was just +ahead of him. Together they came upon a little group. Somebody went +running southward--Lieutenant Truman, as Todd learned later--hurrying +for the doctor. A soldier equipped as a sentry lay moaning on the +sand, clasping a bloody hand to his side, and over him, stern, silent, +but agitated, bent Captain Wren. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CAPTAIN'S DEFIANCE + + +Within ten minutes of Todd's arrival at the spot the soft sands of the +_mesa_ were tramped into bewildering confusion by dozens of trooper +boots. The muffled sound of excited voices, so soon after the +startling affair of the earlier evening, and hurrying footfalls +following, had roused almost every household along the row and brought +to the spot half the officers on duty at the post. A patrol of the +guard had come in double time, and soldiers had been sent at speed to +the hospital for a stretcher. Dr. Graham had lost no moment of time in +reaching the stricken sentry. Todd had been sent back to Blakely's +bedside and Downs to fetch a lantern. They found the latter, five +minutes later, stumbling about the Trumans' kitchen, weeping for that +which was lost, and the sergeant of the guard collared and cuffed him +over to the guard-house--one witness, at least, out of the way. At +four o'clock the doctor was working over his exhausted and unconscious +patient at the hospital. Mullins had been stabbed twice, and +dangerously, and half a dozen men with lanterns were hunting about the +bloody sands where the faithful fellow had dropped, looking for a +weapon or a clew, and probably trampling out all possibility of +finding either. Major Plume, through Mr. Doty, his adjutant, had felt +it necessary to remind Captain Wren that an officer in close arrest +had no right to be away from his quarters. Late in the evening, it +seems, Dr. Graham had represented to the post commander that the +captain was in so nervous and overwrought a condition, and so +distressed, that as a physician he recommended his patient be allowed +the limits of the space adjoining his quarters in which to walk off +his superabundant excitement. Graham had long been the friend of +Captain Wren and was his friend as well as physician now, even though +deploring his astounding outbreak, but Graham had other things to +demand his attention as night wore on, and there was no one to speak +for Wren when the young adjutant, a subaltern of infantry, with +unnecessary significance of tone and manner, suggested the captain's +immediate return to his proper quarters. Wren bowed his head and went +in stunned and stubborn silence. It had never occurred to him for a +moment, when he heard that half-stifled, agonized cry for help, that +there could be the faintest criticism of his rushing to the sentry's +aid. Still less had it occurred to him that other significance, and +damning significance, might attach to his presence on the spot, but, +being first to reach the fallen man, he was found kneeling over him +within thirty seconds of the alarm. Not another living creature was in +sight when the first witnesses came running to the spot. Both Truman +and Todd could swear to that. + +In the morning, therefore, the orderly came with the customary +compliments to say to Captain Wren that the post commander desired to +see him at the office. + +It was then nearly nine o'clock. Wren had had a sleepless night and +was in consultation with Dr. Graham when the summons came. "Ask that +Captain Sanders be sent for at once," said the surgeon, as he pressed +his comrade patient's hand. "The major has his adjutant and clerk and +possibly some other officers. You should have at least one friend." + +"I understand," briefly answered Wren, as he stepped to the hallway to +get his sun hat. "I wish it might be you." The orderly was already +speeding back to the office at the south end of the brown rectangle of +adobe and painted pine, but Janet Wren, ministering, according to her +lights, to Angela in the little room aloft, had heard the message and +was coming down. Taller and more angular than ever she looked as, with +flowing gown, she slowly descended the narrow stairway. + +"I have just succeeded in getting her to sleep," she murmured. "She +has been dreadfully agitated ever since awakened by the voices and the +running this morning, and she must have cried herself to sleep last +night. R-r-r-obert, would it not be well for you to see her when she +wakes? She does not know--I could not tell her--that you are under +arrest." + +Graham looked more "dour" than did his friend of the line. Privately +he was wondering how poor Angela could get to sleep at all with Aunt +Janet there to soothe her. The worst time to teach a moral lesson, +with any hope of good effect, is when the recipient is suffering from +sense of utter injustice and wrong, yet must perforce listen. But it +is a favorite occasion with the "ower guid." Janet thought it would be +a long step in the right direction to bring her headstrong niece to +the belief that all the trouble was the direct result of her having +sought, against her father's wishes, a meeting with Mr. Blakely. True, +Janet had now some doubt that such had been the case, but, in what she +felt was only stubborn pride, her niece refused all explanation. +"Father would not hear me at the time," she sobbed. "I am condemned +without a chance to defend myself or--him." Yet Janet loved the bonny +child devotedly and would go through fire and water to serve her best +interests, only those best interests must be as Janet saw them. That +anything very serious might result as a consequence of her brother's +violent assault on Blakely, she had never yet imagined. That further +complications had arisen which might blacken his record she never +could credit for a moment. Mullins lay still unconscious, and not +until he recovered strength was he to talk with or see anyone. Graham +had given faint hope of recovery, and declared that everything +depended on his patient's having no serious fever or setback. In a few +days he might be able to tell his story. Then the mystery as to his +assailant would be cleared in a breath. Janet had taken deep offense +that the commanding officer should have sent her brother into close +arrest without first hearing of the extreme provocation. "It is an +utterly unheard-of proceeding," said she, "this confining of an +officer and gentleman without investigation of the affair," and she +glared at Graham, uncomprehending, when, with impatient shrug of his +big shoulders, he asked her what had they done, between them, to +Angela. It was his wife put him up to saying that, she reasoned, for +Janet's Calvinistic dogmas as to daughters in their teens were ever at +variance with the views of her gentle neighbor. If Angela had been +harshly dealt with, undeserving, it was Angela's duty to say so and to +say why, said Janet. Meantime, her first care was her wronged and +misjudged brother. Gladly would she have gone to the office with him +and stood proudly by his side in presence of his oppressor, could such +a thing be permitted. She marveled that Robert should now show so +little of tenderness for her who had served him loyally, if +masterfully, so very long. He merely laid his hand on hers and said he +had been summoned to the commanding officer's, then went forth into +the light and left her. + +Major Plume was seated at his desk, thoughtful and perplexed. Up at +regimental headquarters at Prescott Wren was held in high esteem, and +the major's brief telegraphic message had called forth anxious inquiry +and something akin to veiled disapprobation. Headquarters could not +see how it was possible for Wren to assault Lieutenant Blakely without +some grave reason. Had Plume investigated? No, but that was coming +now, he said to himself, as Wren entered and stood in silence before +him. + +The little office had barely room for the desks of the commander and +his adjutant and the table on which were spread the files of general +orders from various superior headquarters--regimental, department, +division, the army, and the War Secretary. No curtains adorned the +little windows, front and rear. No rug or carpet vexed the warping +floor. Three chairs, kitchen pattern, stood against the pine partition +that shut off the sight, but by no means the hearing, of the three +clerks scratching at their flat-topped desks in the adjoining den. +Maps of the United States, of the Military Division of the Pacific, +and of the Territory, as far as known and surveyed, hung about the +wooden walls. Blue-prints and photographs of scout maps, made by their +predecessors of the ----th Cavalry in the days of the Crook campaigns, +were scattered with the order files about the table. But of pictures, +ornamentation, or relief of any kind the gloomy box was destitute as +the dun-colored flat of the parade. Official severity spoke in every +feature of the forbidding office as well as in those of the major +commanding. + +There was striking contrast, too, between the man at the desk and the +man on the rack before him. Plume had led a life devoid of anxiety or +care. Soldiering he took serenely. He liked it, so long as no grave +hardship threatened. He had done reasonably good service at corps +headquarters during the Civil War; had been commissioned captain in +the regulars in '61, and held no vexatious command at any time +perhaps, until this that took him to far-away Arizona. Plume was a +gentlemanly fellow and no bad garrison soldier. He really shone on +parade and review at such fine stations as Leavenworth and Riley, but +had never had to bother with mountain scouting or long-distance Indian +chasing on the plains. He had a comfortable income outside his pay, +and when he was wedded, at the end of her fourth season in society, to +a prominent, if just a trifle _passée_ belle, people thought him a +more than lucky man, until the regiment was sent to Arizona and he to +Sandy. Gossip said he went to General Sherman with appeal for some +detaining duty, whereupon that bluff and most outspoken warrior +exclaimed: "What, what, what! Not want to go with the regiment? Why, +here's Blakely begging to be relieved from Terry's staff because he's +mad to go." And this, said certain St. Louis commentators, settled it, +for Mrs. Plume declared for Arizona. + +Well garbed, groomed, and fed was Plume, a handsome, soldierly figure. +Very cool and placid was his look in the spotless white that even then +by local custom had become official dress for Sandy; but beneath the +snowy surface his heart beat with grave disquiet as he studied the +strong, rugged, somber face of the soldier on the floor. + +Wren was tall and gaunt and growing gray. His face was deeply lined; +his close-cropped beard was silver-stranded; his arms and legs were +long and sinewy and powerful; his chest and shoulders burly; his +regimental dress had not the cut and finish of the commander's. Too +much of bony wrist and hand was in evidence, too little of grace and +curve. But, though he stood rigidly at attention, with all semblance +of respect and subordination, the gleam in his deep-set eyes, the +twitch of the long fingers, told of keen and pent-up feeling, and he +looked the senior soldier squarely in the face. A sergeant, standing +by the adjutant's desk, tiptoed out into the clerk's room and closed +the door behind him, then set himself to listen. Young Doty, the +adjutant, fiddled nervously with his pen and tried to go on signing +papers, but failed. It was for Plume to break the awkward silence, and +he did not quite know how. Captain Westervelt, quietly entering at the +moment, bowed to the major and took a chair. He had evidently been +sent for. + +"Captain Wren," presently said Plume, his fingers trembling a bit as +they played with the paper folder, "I have felt constrained to send +for you to inquire still further into last night's affair--or affairs. +I need not tell you that you may decline to answer if you consider +your interests are--involved. I had hoped this painful matter might be +so explained as to--as to obviate the necessity of extreme measures, +but your second appearance close to Mr. Blakely's quarters, under all +the circumstances, was so--so extraordinary that I am compelled to +call for explanation, if you have one you care to offer." + +For a moment Wren stood staring at his commander in amaze. He had +expected to be offered opportunity to state the circumstances leading +to his now deeply deplored attack on Mr. Blakely, and to decline the +offer on the ground that he should have been given that opportunity +before being submitted to the humiliation of arrest. He had intended +to refuse all overtures, to invite trial by court-martial or +investigation by the inspector general, but by no manner of means to +plead for reconsideration now; and here was the post commander, with +whom he had never served until they came to Sandy, a man who hadn't +begun to see the service, the battles, and campaigns that had fallen +to his lot, virtually accusing him of further misdemeanor, when he had +only rushed to save or succor. He forgot all about Sanders or other +witnesses. He burst forth impetuously: + +"Extraordinary, sir! It would have been most extraordinary if I hadn't +gone with all speed when I heard that cry for help." + +Plume looked up in sudden joy. "You mean to tell me you didn't--you +weren't there till after--the cry?" + +Wren's stern Scottish face was a sight to see. "Of what can you +possibly be thinking, Major Plume?" he demanded, slowly now, for wrath +was burning within him, and yet he strove for self-control. He had had +a lesson and a sore one. + +"I will answer that--a little later, Captain Wren," said Plume, rising +from his seat, rejoicing in the new light now breaking upon him. +Westervelt, too, had gasped a sigh of relief. No man had ever known +Wren to swerve a hair's breadth from the truth. "At this moment time +is precious if the real criminal is to be caught at all. You were +first to reach the sentry. Had you seen no one else?" + +In the dead silence that ensued within the room the sputter of hoofs +without broke harshly on the ear. Then came spurred boot heels on the +hollow, heat-dried boarding, but not a sound from the lips of Captain +Wren. The rugged face, twitching with pent-up indignation the moment +before, was now slowly turning gray. Plume stood facing him in growing +wonder and new suspicion. + +"You heard me, did you not? I asked you did you see anyone else +during--along the sentry post when you went out?" + +A fringed gauntlet reached in at the doorway and tapped. Sergeant +Shannon, straight as a pine, stood expectant of summons to enter and +his face spoke eloquently of important tidings, but the major waved +him away, and, marveling, he slowly backed to the edge of the porch. + +"Surely you can answer that, Captain Wren," said Plume, his clear-cut, +handsome face filled with mingled anxiety and annoy. "Surely you +_should_ answer, or--" + +The ellipsis was suggestive, but impotent. After a painful moment came +the response: + +"Or--take the consequences, major?" Then slowly--"Very well, sir--I +must take them." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A FIND IN THE SANDS + + +The late afternoon of an eventful day had come to camp Sandy--just +such another day, from a meteorological viewpoint, as that on which +this story opened nearly twenty-four hours earlier by the shadows on +the eastward cliffs. At Tuesday's sunset the garrison was yawning with +the _ennui_ born of monotonous and uneventful existence. As +Wednesday's sunset drew nigh and the mountain shadows overspread the +valley, even to the opposite crests of the distant Mogollon, the +garrison was athrill with suppressed excitement, for half a dozen +things had happened since the flag went up at reveille. + +In the first place Captain Wren's arrest had been confirmed and Plume +had wired department headquarters, in reply to somewhat urgent query, +that there were several counts in his indictment of the captain, any +one of which was sufficient to demand a trial by court-martial, but he +wished, did Plume, for personal and official reasons that the general +commanding should send his own inspector down to judge for himself. + +The post sergeant major and the three clerks had heard with sufficient +distinctness every word that passed between the major and the accused +captain, and, there being at Sandy some three hundred inquisitive +souls, thirsting for truth and light, it could hardly be expected of +this quartette that it should preserve utter silence even though +silence had been enjoined by the adjutant. It was told all over the +post long before noon that Wren had been virtually accused of being +the sentry's assailant as well as Lieutenant Blakely's. It was +whispered that, in some insane fury against the junior officer, Wren +had again, toward 3.30, breaking his arrest, gone up the row with the +idea of once more entering Blakely's house and possibly again +attacking him. It was believed that the sentry had seen and +interposed, and that, enraged at being balked by an enlisted man, Wren +had drawn a knife and stabbed him. True, no knife had been found +anywhere about the spot, and Wren had never been known to carry one. +But now a dozen men, armed with rakes, were systematically going over +the ground under the vigilant eye of Sergeant Shannon--Shannon, who +had heard the brief, emphatic interview between the major and the +troop commander and who had been almost immediately sent forth to +supervise this search, despite the fact that he had but just returned +from the conduct of another, the result of which he imparted to the +ears of only two men, Plume, the post commander, and Doty, his amazed +and bewildered adjutant. But Shannon had with him a trio of troopers, +one of whom, at least, had not been proof against inquisitive probing, +for the second sensation of the day was the story that one of the two +pairs of moccasin tracks, among the yielding sands of the willow +copse, led from where Mr. Blakely had been dozing to where the pony +Punch had been drowsing in the shade, for there they were lost, as the +maker had evidently mounted and ridden away. All Sandy knew that Punch +had no other rider than pretty Angela Wren. + +A third story, too, was whispered in half a dozen homes, and was going +wild about the garrison, to the effect that Captain Wren, when accused +of being Mullins's assailant, had virtually declared that he had seen +other persons prowling on the sentry's post and that they, not he, +were the guilty ones; but when bidden to name or describe them, Wren +had either failed or refused; some said one, some said the other, and +the prevalent belief in Sudsville circles, as well as in the barracks, +was that Captain Wren was going crazy over his troubles. And now there +were women, ay, and men, too, though they spake with bated breath, who +had uncanny things to say of Angela--the captain's only child. + +And this it was that led to sensation No. 4--a wordy battle of the +first magnitude between the next-door neighbor of the saddler sergeant +and no less a champion of maiden probity than Norah Shaughnessy--the +saddler sergeant's buxom daughter. All the hours since early morning +Norah had been in a state of nerves so uncontrollable that Mrs. +Truman--who knew of Norah's fondness for Mullins and marveled not that +Mullins always preferred the loneliness and isolation of the post on +No. 5--decided toward noon to send the girl home to her mother for a +day or so, and Norah thankfully went, and threw herself upon her +mother's ample breast and sobbed aloud. It was an hour before she +could control herself, and her agitation was such that others came to +minister to her. Of course there was just one explanation--Norah was +in love with Mullins and well-nigh crazed with grief over his untimely +taking off, for later reports from the hospital were most depressing. +This, at least, was sufficient explanation until late in the +afternoon. Then, restored to partial composure, the girl was sitting +up and being fanned in the shade of her father's roof-tree, when +roused by the voice of the next-door neighbor before mentioned--Mrs. +Quinn, long time laundress of Captain Sanders's troop and jealous as +to Wren's, was telling what _she_ had heard of Shannon's discoveries, +opining that both Captain Wren and the captain's daughter deserved +investigation. "No wan need tell _me_ there was others prowling about +Mullins's post at three in the marnin.' As for Angela--" But here Miss +Shaughnessy bounded from the wooden settee, and, with amazing vim and +vigor, sailed spontaneously into Mrs. Quinn. + +"No wan need tell _you_--ye say! No wan need tell _you_, ye +black-tongued scandlum! Well, then, _I_ tell ye Captain Wren did see +others prowlin' on poor Pat Mullins's post an' others than him saw +them too. Go you to the meejer, soon as ye like and say _I_ saw them, +and if Captain Wren won't tell their names there's them that will." + +The shrill tones of the infuriated girl were plainly audible all over +the flats whereon were huddled the little cabins of log and adobe +assigned as quarters to the few married men among the soldiery. These +were the halcyon days of the old army when each battery, troop, or +company was entitled to four laundresses and each laundress to one +ration. Old and young, there were at least fifty pairs of ears within +easy range of the battle that raged forthwith, the noise of which +reached even to the shaded precincts of the trader's store three +hundred yards away. It was impossible that such a flat-footed +statement as Norah's should not be borne to the back doors of "The +Row" and, repeated then from lip to lip, should soon be told to +certain of the officers. Sanders heard it as he came in from stable +duty, and Dr. Graham felt confident that it had been repeated under +the major's roof when at 6 P. M. the post commander desired his +professional services in behalf of Mrs. Plume, who had become +unaccountably, if not seriously, ill. + +Graham had but just returned from a grave conference with Wren, and +his face had little look of the family physician as he reluctantly +obeyed the summons. As another of the auld licht school of Scotch +Presbyterians, he also had conceived deep-rooted prejudice to that +frivolous French aide-de-camp of the major's wife. The girl did dance +and flirt and ogle to perfection, and half a dozen strapping sergeants +were now at sword's points all on account of this objectionable Eliza. +Graham, of course, had heard with his ears and fathomed with his +understanding the first reports of Wren's now famous reply to his +commanding officer; and though Wren would admit no more to him than +he had to the major, Graham felt confident that the major's wife was +one of the mysterious persons seen by Wren, and declared by Norah, in +the dim starlight of the early morning, lurking along the post of No. +5. Graham had no doubt that Elise was the other. The man most +concerned in the case, the major himself, was perhaps the only one at +sunset who never seemed to suspect that Mrs. Plume could have been in +any way connected with the affair. He met the doctor with a world of +genuine anxiety in his eyes. + +"My wife," said he, "is of a highly sensitive organization, and she +has been completely upset by this succession of scandalous affairs. +She and Blakely were great friends at St. Louis three years ago; +indeed, many people were kind enough to couple their names before our +marriage. I wish you could--quiet her," and the sounds from aloft, +where madame was nervously pacing her room, gave point to the +suggestion. Graham climbed the narrow stairs and tapped at the north +door on the landing. It was opened by Elise, whose big, black eyes +were dilated with excitement, while Mrs. Plume, her blonde hair +tumbling down her back, her _peignoir_ decidedly rumpled and her +general appearance disheveled, was standing in mid-floor, wringing her +jeweled hands. "She looks like sixty," was the doctor's inward remark, +"and is probably not twenty-six." + +Her first question jarred upon his rugged senses. + +"Dr. Graham, when will Mr. Blakely be able to see--or read?" + +"Not for a day or two. The stitches must heal before the bandages can +come off his eyes. Even then, Mrs. Plume, he should not be disturbed," +was the uncompromising answer. + +"Is that wretch, Downs, sober yet?" she demanded, standing and +confronting him, her whole form quivering with strong, half-suppressed +emotion. + +"The wretch is sobering," answered Graham gravely. "And now, madame, +I'll trouble you to take a chair. Do you," with a glance of grim +disfavor, "need this girl for the moment? If not, she might as well +retire." + +"I need my maid, Dr. Graham, and I told Major Plume distinctly I did +not need you," was the impulsive reply, as the lady strove against the +calm, masterful grasp he laid on her wrist. + +"That's as may be, Mrs. Plume. We're often blind to our best +interests. Be seated a moment, then I'll let you tramp the soles of +your feet off, if you so desire." And so he practically pulled her +into a chair; Elise, glaring the while, stood spitefully looking on. +The antipathy was mutual. + +"You've slept too little of late, Mrs. Plume," continued the doctor, +lucklessly hitting the mark with a home shot instantly resented, for +the lady was on her feet again. + +"Sleep! People do nothing but sleep in this woebegone hole!" she +cried. "I've had sleep enough to last a lifetime. What I want is to +wake--wake out of this horrible nightmare! Dr. Graham, you are a +friend of Captain Wren's. What under heaven possessed him, with his +brutal strength, to assault so sick a man as Mr. Blakely? What +possible pretext could he assert?" And again she was straining at her +imprisoned hand and seeking to free herself, Graham calmly studying +her the while, as he noted the feverish pulse. Not half an hour +earlier he had been standing beside the sick bed of a fair young girl, +one sorely weighted now with grave anxieties, yet who lay patient and +uncomplaining, rarely speaking a word. They had not told the half of +the web of accusation that now enmeshed her father's feet, but what +had been revealed to her was more than enough to banish every thought +of self or suffering and to fill her fond heart with instant and +loving care for him. No one, not even Janet, was present during the +interview between father and child that followed. Graham found him +later locked in his own room, reluctant to admit even him, and +lingering long before he opened the door; but even then the +tear-stains stood on his furrowed face, and the doctor knew he had +been sobbing his great heart out over the picture of his child--the +child he had so harshly judged and sentenced, all unheard. Graham had +gone to him, after seeing Angela, with censure on his tongue, but he +never spoke the words. He saw there was no longer need. + +"Let the lassie lie still the day," said he, "with Kate, perhaps, to +read to her. Your sister might not choose a cheering book. Then +perhaps we'll have her riding Punch again to-morrow." But Graham did +not smile when meeting Janet by the parlor door. + +He was thinking of the contrast in these two, his patients, as with +professional calm he studied the troubled features of the major's wife +when the voice of Sergeant Shannon was heard in the lower hall, +inquiring for the major, and in an instant Plume had joined him. In +that instant, too, Elise had sped, cat-like, to the door, and Mrs. +Plume had followed. Possibly for this reason the major led the +sergeant forth upon the piazza and the conversation took place in +tones inaudible to those within the house; but, in less than a minute, +the doctor's name was called and Graham went down. + +"Look at this," said Plume. "They raked it out of the sand close to +where Mullins was lying." And the major held forth an object that +gleamed in the last rays of the slanting sunshine. It was Blakely's +beautiful watch. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT" + + +The dawn of another cloudless day was breaking and the dim lights at +the guard-house and the hospital burned red and bleary across the +sandy level of the parade. The company cooks were already at their +ranges, and a musician of the guard had been sent to rouse his fellows +in the barracks, for the old-style reveille still held good at many a +post in Arizona, before the drum and fife were almost entirely +abandoned in favor of the harsher bugle, by the infantry of our +scattered little army. Plume loved tradition. At West Point, where he +had often visited in younger days, and at all the "old-time" +garrisons, the bang of the morning gun and the simultaneous crash of +the drums were the military means devised to stir the soldier from his +sleep. Then, his brief ablutions were conducted to the accompaniment +of the martial strains of the field musicians, alternating the sweet +airs of Moore and Burns, the lyrics of Ireland and Auld Reekie, with +quicksteps from popular Yankee melodies of the day, winding up with a +grand flourish at the foot of the flagstaff, to whose summit the flag +had started at the first alarum; then a rush into rattling "double +quick" that summoned the laggards to scurry into the silently forming +ranks, and finally, with one emphatic rataplan, the morning concert +abruptly closed and the gruff voices of the first sergeants, in +swift-running monotone, were heard calling the roll of their shadowy +companies, and, thoroughly roused, the garrison "broke ranks" for the +long routine of the day. + +We have changed all that, and not for the better. A solitary trumpeter +steps forth from the guard-house or adjutant's office and, at the +appointed time, drones a long, dispiriting strain known to the drill +books as "Assembly of the Trumpeters," and to the army at large as +"First Call." Unassisted by other effort, it would rouse nobody, but +from far and near the myriad dogs of the post--"mongrel, hound, and +cur of low degree"--lift up their canine voices in some indefinable +sympathy and stir the winds of the morning with their mournful yowls. +Then, when all the garrison gets up cursing and all necessity for +rousing is ended, the official reveille begins, sounded by the +combined trumpeters, and so, uncheered by concord of sweet sounds, the +soldier begins his day. + +The two infantry companies at Sandy, at the time whereof we tell, were of +an honored old regiment that had fought with Worth at Monterey--one whose +scamps of drum boys and fifers had got their teachings from predecessors +whose nimble fingers had trilled the tunes of old under the walls of the +Bishop's Palace and in the resounding Halls of the Montezumas. Plume and +Cutler loved their joyous, rhythmical strains, and would gladly have kept +the cavalry clarions for purely cavalry calls; but reveille and +guard-mounting were the only ones where this was practicable, and an odd +thing had become noticeable. Apache Indians sometimes stopped their ears, +and always looked impolite, when the brazen trumpets sounded close at hand; +whereas they would squat on the sun-kissed sands and listen in stolid, +unmurmuring bliss to every note of the fife and drum. Members of the guard +were always sure of sympathetic spectators during the one regular +ceremony--guard-mounting--held just after sunset, for the Apache prisoners +at the guard-house begged to be allowed to remain without the prison room +until a little after the "retreat" visit of the officer of the day, and, +roosting along the guard-house porch, to gaze silently forth at the little +band of soldiery in the center of the parade, and there to listen as +silently to the music of the fife and drum. The moment it was all over they +would rise without waiting for directions, and shuffle stolidly back to +their hot wooden walls. They had had the one intellectual treat of the day. +The savage breast was soothed for the time being, and Plume had come to the +conclusion that, aside from the fact that his Indian prisoners were better +fed than when on their native heath, the Indian prison pen at Sandy was not +the place of penance the department commander had intended. Accessions +became so frequent; discharges so very few. + +Then there was another symptom: Sentries on the north and east front, +Nos. 4 and 5, had been a bit startled at first at seeing, soon after +dawn, shadowy forms rising slowly from the black depths of the valley, +hovering uncertainly along the edge of the _mesa_ until they could +make out the lone figure of the morning watcher, then slowly, +cautiously, and with gestures of amity and suppliance, drawing +gradually nearer. Sturdy Germans and mercurial Celts were, at the +start, disposed to "shoo" away these specters as being hostile, or at +least incongruous. But officers and men were soon made to see it was +to hear the morning music these children of the desert flocked so +early. The agency lay but twenty miles distant. The reservation lines +came no nearer; but the fame of the invader's big maple tom-tom (we +wore still the deep, resonant drum of Bunker Hill and Waterloo, of +Jemappes, Saratoga, and Chapultepec, not the modern rattle pan +borrowed from Prussia), and the trill of his magical pipe had spread +abroad throughout Apache land to the end that no higher reward for +good behavior could be given by the agent to his swarthy charges than +the begged-for _papel_ permitting them, in lumps of twenty, to trudge +through the evening shades to the outskirts of the soldier castle on +the _mesa_, there to wait the long night through until the soft +tinting of the eastward heavens and the twitter of the birdlings in +the willows along the stream, gave them courage to begin their timid +approach. + +And this breathless October morning was no exception. The sentry on +the northward line, No. 4, had recognized and passed the post surgeon +soon after four o'clock, hastening to hospital in response to a +summons from an anxious nurse. Mullins seemed far too feverish. No. 4 +as well as No. 5 had noted how long the previous evening Shannon and +his men kept raking and searching about the _mesa_ where Mullins was +stabbed in the early morning, and they were in no mood to allow +strangers to near them unchallenged. The first shadowy forms to show +at the edge had dropped back abashed at the harsh reception accorded +them. Four's infantry rifle and Five's cavalry carbine had been +leveled at the very first to appear, and stern voices had said things +the Apache could neither translate nor misunderstand. The would-be +audience of the morning concert ducked and waited. With more light the +sentry might be more kind. The evening previous six new prisoners had +been sent down under strong guard by the agent, swelling the list at +Sandy to thirty-seven and causing Plume to set his teeth--and an extra +sentry. Now, as the dawn grew broader and the light clear and strong, +Four and Five were surprised, if not startled, to see that not twenty, +but probably forty Apaches, with a sprinkling of squaws, were hovering +all along the _mesa_, mutely watching for the signaled permission to +come in. Five, at least, considered the symptom one of sufficient +gravity to warrant report to higher authority, and full ten minutes +before the time for reveille to begin, his voice went echoing over the +arid parade in a long-draw, yet imperative "Corporal of the Gua-a-rd, +No. 5!" + +Whereat there were symptoms of panic among the dingy white-shirted, +dingy white-turbaned watchers along the edge, and a man in snowy white +fatigue coat, pacing restlessly up and down in rear, this time, of the +major's quarters, whirled suddenly about and strode out on the +_mesa_, gazing northward in the direction of the sound. It was Plume +himself, and Plume had had a sleepless night. + +At tattoo, by his own act and direction, the major had still further +strained the situation. The discovery of Blakely's watch, buried +loosely in the sands barely ten feet from where the sentry fell, had +seemed to him a matter of such significance that, as Graham maintained +an expression of professional gravity and hazarded no explanation, the +major sent for the three captains still on duty, Cutler, Sanders, and +Westervelt, and sought their views. One after another each picked up +and closely examined the watch, within and without, as though +expectant of finding somewhere concealed about its mechanism full +explanation of its mysterious goings and comings. Then in turn, with +like gravity, each declared he had no theory to offer, unless, said +Sanders, Mr. Blakely was utterly mistaken in supposing he had been +robbed at the pool. Mr. Blakely had the watch somewhere about him when +he dismounted, and then joggled it into the sands, where it soon was +trampled under foot. Sanders admitted that Blakely was a man not often +mistaken, and that the loss reported to the post trader of the flat +notebook was probably correct. But no one could be got to see, much +less to say, that Wren was in the slightest degree connected with the +temporary disappearance of the watch. Yet by this time Plume had some +such theory of his own. + +Sometime during the previous night, along toward morning, he had +sleepily asked his wife, who was softly moving about the room, to +give him a little water. The "monkey" stood usually on the window +sill, its cool and dewy surface close to his hand; but he remembered +later that she did not then approach the window--did not immediately +bring him the glass. He had retired very late, yet was hardly +surprised to find her wide awake and more than usually nervous. She +explained by saying Elise had been quite ill, was still suffering, and +might need her services again. She could not think, she said, of +sending for Dr. Graham after all he had had to vex him. It must have +been quite a long while after, so soundly had Plume slept, when she +bent over him and said something was amiss and Mr. Doty was at the +front door waiting for him to come down. He felt oddly numb and heavy +and stupid as he hastily dressed, but Doty's tidings, that Mullins had +been stabbed on post, pulled him together, as it were, and, merely +running back to his room for his canvas shoes, he was speedily at the +scene. Mrs. Plume, when briefly told what had happened, had covered +her face with her hands and buried face and all in the pillow, +shuddering. At breakfast-time Plume himself had taken her tea and +toast, both mistress and maid being still on the invalid list, and, +bending affectionately over her, he had suggested her taking this very +light refreshment and then a nap. Graham, he said, should come and +prescribe for Elise. But madame was feverishly anxious. "What will be +the outcome? What will happen to--Captain Wren?" she asked. + +Plume would not say just what, but he would certainly have to stand +court-martial, said he. Mrs. Plume shuddered more. What good would +that do? How much better it would be to suppress everything than set +such awful scandal afloat. The matter was now in the hands of the +department commander, said Plume, and would have to take its course. +Then, in some way, from her saying how ill the captain was looking, +Plume gathered the impression that she had seen him since his arrest, +and asked the question point-blank. Yes, she admitted,--from the +window,--while she was helping Elise. Where was he? What was he doing? +Plume had asked, all interest now, for that must have been very late, +in fact, well toward morning. "Oh, nothing especial, just looking at +his watch," she thought, "he probably couldn't sleep." Yes, she was +sure he was looking at his watch. + +Then, as luck would have it, late in the day, when the mail came down +from Prescott, there was a little package for Captain Wren, expressed, +and Doty signed the receipt and sent it by the orderly. "What was it?" +asked Plume. "His watch, sir," was the brief answer. "He sent it up +last month for repairs." And Mrs. Plume at nine that night, knowing +nothing of this, yet surprised at her husband's pertinacity, stuck to +her story. She was sure Wren was consulting or winding or doing +something with a watch, and, sorely perplexed and marveling much at +the reticence of his company commanders, who seemed to know something +they would not speak of, Wren sent for Doty. He had decided on another +interview with Wren. + +Meanwhile "the Bugologist" had been lying patiently in his cot, +saying little or nothing, in obedience to the doctor's orders, but +thinking who knows what. Duane and Doty occasionally tiptoed in to +glance inquiry at the fanning attendant, and then tiptoed out. Mullins +had been growing worse and was a very sick man. Downs, the wretch, was +painfully, ruefully, remorsefully sobered over at the post of the +guard, and of Graham's feminine patients the one most in need, +perhaps, of his ministration was giving the least trouble. While Aunt +Janet paced restlessly about the lower floor, stopping occasionally to +listen at the portal of her brother, Angela Wren lay silent and only +sometimes sighing, with faithful Kate Sanders reading in low tone by +the bedside. + +The captains had gone back to their quarters, conferring in subdued +voices. Plume, with his unhappy young adjutant, was seated on the +veranda, striving to frame his message to Wren, when the crack of a +whip, the crunching of hoofs and wheels, sounded at the north end of +the row, and down at swift trot came a spanking, four-mule team and +Concord wagon. It meant but one thing, the arrival of the general's +staff inspector straight from Prescott. + +It was the very thing Plume had urged by telegraph, yet the very fact +that Colonel Byrne was here went to prove that the chief was far from +satisfied that the major's diagnosis was the right one. With soldierly +alacrity, however, Plume sprang forward to welcome the coming +dignitary, giving his hand to assist him from the dark interior into +the light. Then he drew back in some chagrin. The voice of Colonel +Byrne was heard, jovial and reassuring, but the face and form first to +appear were those of Mr. Wayne Daly, the new Indian agent at the +Apache reservation. Coming by the winding way of Cherry Creek, the +colonel must have found means to wire ahead, then to pick up this +civil functionary some distance up the valley, and to have some +conference with him before ever reaching the major's bailiwick. This +was not good, said Plume. All the same, he led them into his cozy army +parlor, bade his Chinese servant get abundant supper forthwith, and, +while the two were shown to the spare room to remove the dust of miles +of travel, once more returned to the front piazza and his adjutant. + +"Captain Wren, sir," said the young officer at once, "begs to be +allowed to see Colonel Byrne this evening. He states that his reasons +are urgent." + +"Captain Wren shall have every opportunity to see Colonel Byrne in due +season," was the answer. "It is not to be expected that Colonel Byrne +will see him until after he has seen the post commander. Then it will +probably be too late," and that austere reply, intended to reach the +ears of the applicant, steeled the Scotchman's heart against his +commander and made him merciless. + +The "conference of the powers" was indeed protracted until long after +10.30, yet, to Plume's surprise, the colonel at its close said he +believed he would go, if Plume had no objection, and see Wren in +person and at once. "You see, Plume, the general thinks highly of the +old Scot. He has known him ever since First Bull Run and, in fact, I +am instructed to hear what Wren may have to say. I hope you will not +misinterpret the motive." + +"Oh, not at all--not at all!" answered the major, obviously ill +pleased, however, and already nettled that, against all precedent, +certain of the Apache prisoners had been ordered turned out as late as +10 P. M. for interview with the agent. It would leave him alone, too, +for as much as half an hour, and the very air seemed surcharged with +intrigue against the might, majesty, power, and dominion of the post +commander. Byrne, a soldier of the old school, might do his best to +convince the major that in no wise was the confidence of the general +commanding abated, but every symptom spoke of something to the +contrary. "I should like, too, to see Dr. Graham to-night," said the +official inquisitor ere he quitted the piazza to go to Wren's next +door. "He will be here to meet you on your return," said Plume, with +just a bit of stateliness, of ruffled dignity in manner, and turned +once more within the hallway to summon his smiling Chinaman. + +Something rustling at the head of the stairs caused him to look up +quickly. Something dim and white was hovering, drooping, over the +balustrade, and, springing aloft, he found his wife in a half-fainting +condition, Elise, the invalid, sputtering vehemently in French and +making vigorous effort to pull her away. Plume had left her at 8.30, +apparently sleeping at last under the influence of Graham's medicine. +Yet here she was again. He lifted her in his arms and laid her upon +the broad, white bed. "Clarice, my child," he said, "you _must_ be +quiet. You must not leave your bed. I am sending for Graham and he +will come to us at once." + +"I _will_ not see him! He _shall_ not see me!" she burst in wildly. +"The man maddens me with his--his insolence." + +"Clarice!" + +"Oh, I mean it! He and his brother Scot, between them--they would +infuriate a--saint," and she was writhing in nervous contortions. + +"But, Clarice, how?" + +"But, monsieur, no!" interposed Elise, bending over, glass in hand. +"Madame will but sip of this--Madame will be tranquil." And the major +felt himself thrust aside. "Madame must not talk to-night. It is too +much." + +But madame would talk. Madame would know where Colonel Byrne was gone, +whether he was to be permitted to see Captain Wren and Dr. Graham, and +that wretch Downs. Surely the commanding officer must have _some_ +rights. Surely it was no time for investigation--_this_ hour of the +night. Five minutes earlier Plume was of the same way of thinking. Now +he believed his wife delirious. + +"See to her a moment, Elise," said he, breaking loose from the clasp +of the long, bejeweled fingers, and, scurrying down the stairs, he +came face to face with Dr. Graham. + +"I was coming for you," said he, at sight of the rugged, somber face. +"Mrs. Plume--" + +"I heard--at least I comprehend," answered Graham, with uplifted hand. +"The lady is in a highly nervous state, and my presence does not tend +to soothe her. The remedies I left will take effect in time. Leave her +to that waiting woman; she best understands her." + +"But she's almost raving, man. I never knew a woman to behave like +that." + +"Ye're not long married, major," answered Graham. "Come into the air a +bit," and, taking his commander's arm, the surgeon swept him up the +starlit row, then over toward the guard-house, and kept him half an +hour watching the strange interview between Mr. Daly, the agent, and +half a dozen gaunt, glittering-eyed Apaches, from whom he was striving +to get some admission or information, with Arahawa, "Washington +Charley," as interpreter. One after another the six had shaken their +frowsy heads. They admitted nothing--knew nothing. + +"What do you make of it all?" queried Plume. + +"Something's wrang at the reservation," answered Graham. "There mostly +is. Daly thinks there's running to and fro between the Tontos in the +Sierra Ancha country and his wards above here. He thinks there's more +out than there should be--and more a-going. What'd you find, Daly?" he +added, as the agent joined them, mechanically wiping his brow. +Moisture there was none. It evaporated fast as the pores exuded. + +"They know well enough, damn them!" said the new official. "But they +think I can be stood off. I'll nail 'em yet--to-morrow," he added. +"But could you send a scout at once to the Tonto basin?" and Daly +turned eagerly to the post commander. + +Plume reflected. Whom could he send? Men there were in plenty, +dry-rotting at the post for lack of something to limber their joints; +but officers to lead? There was the rub! Thirty troopers, twenty +Apache Mohave guides, a pack train and one or, at most, two officers +made up the usual complement of such expeditions. Men, mounts, scouts, +mules and packers, all, were there at his behest; but, with Wren in +arrest, Sanders and Lynn back but a week from a long prod through the +Black Mesa country far as Fort Apache, Blakely invalided and Duane a +boy second lieutenant, his choice of cavalry officers was limited. It +never occurred to him to look beyond. + +"What's the immediate need of a scout?" said he. + +"To break up the traffic that's going on--and the rancherias they must +have somewhere down there. If we don't, I'll not answer for another +month." Daly might be new to the neighborhood, but not to the +business. + +"I'll confer with Colonel Byrne," answered Plume guardedly. And Byrne +was waiting for them, a tall, dark shadow in the black depths of the +piazza. Graham would have edged away and gone to his own den, but +Plume held to him. There was something he needed to say, yet could not +until the agent had retired. Daly saw,--perhaps he had already imbibed +something of the situation,--and was not slow to seek his room. Plume +took the little kerosene lamp; hospitably led the way; made the +customary tender of a "night-cap," and polite regrets he had no ice +to offer therewith; left his unwonted guest with courteous good-night +and cast an eye aloft as he came through the hall. All there was dark +and still, though he doubted much that Graham's sedatives had yet +prevailed. He had left the two men opposite the doorway. He found them +at the south end of the piazza, their heads together. They +straightened up to perfunctory talk about the Medical Director, his +drastic methods and inflammable ways; but the mirth was forced, the +humor far too dry. Then silence fell. Then Plume invaded it: + +"How'd you find Wren--mentally?" he presently asked. He felt that an +opening of some kind was necessary. + +"Sound," was the colonel's answer, slow and sententious. "Of course he +is much--concerned." + +"About--his case? Ah, will you smoke, colonel?" + +"About Blakely. I believe not, Plume; it's late." + +Plume struck a light on the sole of his natty boot. "One would suppose +he would feel very natural anxiety as to the predicament in which he +has placed himself," he ventured. + +"Wren worries much over Blakely's injuries, which accident made far +more serious than he would have inflicted, major, even had he had the +grounds for violence that he thought he had. Blakely was not the only +sufferer, and is not the only cause, of his deep contrition. Wren +tells me that he was even harsher to Angela. But that is all a family +matter." The colonel was speaking slowly, thoughtfully. + +"But--these later affairs--that Wren couldn't explain--or wouldn't." +Plume's voice and color both were rising. + +"Couldn't is the just word, major, and couldn't especially--to you," +was the significant reply. + +Plume rose from his chair and stood a moment, trembling not a little +and his fingers twitching. "You mean--" he huskily began. + +"I mean this, my friend," said Byrne gently, as he, too, arose, "and I +have asked Graham, another friend, to be here--that Wren would not +defend himself to you by even mentioning--others, and might not have +revealed the truth even to me had he been the only one cognizant of +it. But, Plume, _others_ saw what he saw, and what is now known to +many people on the post. Others than Wren were abroad that night. One +other was being carefully, tenderly brought home--_led_ home--to your +roof. You did not know--Mrs. Plume was a somnambulist?" + +In the dead silence that ensued the colonel put forth a pitying hand +as though to stay and support the younger soldier, the post commander. +Plume stood, swaying a bit, and staring. Presently he strove to speak, +but choked in the effort. + +"It's the only proper explanation," said Graham, and between them they +led the major within doors. + +And this is how it happened that he, instead of Wren, was pacing +miserably up and down in the gathering dawn, when the sentry startled +all waking Sandy with his cry for the corporal. This is how, far ahead +of the corporal, the post commander reached the alarmed soldier, with +demand to know the cause; and, even by the time he came, the cause had +vanished from sight. + +"Apaches, sir, by the dozen,--all along the edge of the _mesa_," +stammered No. 5. He could have convinced the corporal without fear or +thought of ridicule, but his voice lacked confidence when he stood +challenged by his commanding officer. Plume heard with instant +suspicion. He was in no shape for judicial action. + +"Apaches!" This in high disdain. "Trash, man! Because one sentry has a +scuffle with some night prowler is the next to lose his nerve? You're +scared by shadows, Hunt. That's what's the matter with you!" + +It "brought to" a veteran trooper with a round turn. Hunt had served +his fourth enlistment, had "worn out four blankets" in the regiment, +and was not to be accused of scare. + +"Let the major see for himself, then," he answered sturdily. "Come in +here, you!" he called aloud. "Come, the whole gang of ye. The +concert's beginning!" Then, slowly along the eastward edge there began +to creep into view black polls bound with dirty white, black crops +untrammeled by any binding. Then, swift from the west, came running +footfalls, the corporal with a willing comrade or two, wondering was +Five in further danger. There, silent and regretful, stood the post +commander, counting in surprise the score of scarecrow forms now +plainly visible, sitting, standing, or squatting along the _mesa_ +edge. Northernmost in view, nearly opposite Blakely's quarters, were +two, detached from the general assembly, yet clinging close +together--two slender figures, gowned, and it was at these the agent +Daly was staring, as he, too, came running to the spot. + +"Major Plume," cried he, panting, "I want those girls arrested, at +once!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"APACHE KNIVES DIG DEEP!" + + +At five o'clock of this cloudless October morning Colonel Montgomery +Byrne, "of the old Army, sir," was reviling the fates that had set him +the task of unraveling such a skein as he found at Sandy. At six he +was blessing the stars that sent him. Awakened, much before his usual +hour, by half-heard murmur of scurry and excitement, so quickly +suppressed he believed it all a dream, he was thinking, half drowsily, +all painfully, of the duty devolving on him for the day, and wishing +himself well out of it, when the dream became real, the impression +vivid. His watch told him reveille should now be sounding. His ears +told him the sounds he heard were not those of reveille, yet something +had roused the occupants of Officers' Row, and then, all on a sudden, +instead of the sweet strains of "The Dawn of the Day" or "Bonnie Lass +o' Gawrie" there burst upon the morning air, harsh and blustering, the +alarum of the Civil War days, the hoarse uproar of the drum thundering +the long roll, while above all rang the loud clamor of the cavalry +trumpet sounding "To Horse." + + "Fitz James was brave, but to his heart + The life blood leaped with sudden start." + +Byrne sprang from his bed. He was a soldier, battle-tried, but this +meant something utterly new to him in war, for, mingling with the +gathering din, he heard the shriek of terror-stricken women. Daly's +bed was empty. The agent was gone. Elise aloft was jabbering _patois_ +at her dazed and startled mistress. Suey, the Chinaman, came +clattering in, all flapping legs and arms and pigtail, his face livid, +his eyes staring. "Patcheese! Patcheese!" he squealed, and dove under +the nearest bed. Then Byrne, shinning into boots and breeches and +shunning his coat, grabbed his revolver and rushed for the door. + +Across the parade, out of their barracks the "doughboys" came +streaming, no man of them dressed for inspection, but rather, like +sailors, stripped for a fight; and, never waiting to form ranks, but +following the lead of veteran sergeants and the signals or orders of +officers somewhere along the line, went sprinting straight for the +eastward _mesa_. From the cavalry barracks, the northward sets, the +troopers, too, were flowing, but these were turned stableward, back of +the post, and Byrne, with his nightshirt flying wide open, wider than +his eyes, bolted round through the space between the quarters of Plume +and Wren, catching sight of the arrested captain standing grim and +gaunt on his back piazza, and ran with the foremost sergeants to the +edge of the plateau, where, in his cool white garb, stood Plume, +shouting orders to those beneath. + +There, down in the Sandy bottom, was explanation of it all. Two +soldiers were bending over a prostrate form in civilian dress. Two +swarthy Apaches, one on his face, the other, ten rods away, writhing +on his side, lay weltering in blood. Out along the sandy barren and +among the clumps of mezquite and greasewood, perhaps as many as ten +soldiers, members of the guard, were scattering in rude skirmish +order; now halting and dropping on one knee to fire, now rushing +forward; while into the willows, that swept in wide concave around the +flat, a number of forms in dirty white, or nothing at all but +streaming breechclout, were just disappearing. + +Northward, too, beyond the post of No. 4, other little squads and +parties could be faintly seen scurrying away for the shelter of the +willows, and as Byrne reached the major's side, with the +to-be-expected query "Whatinhell'sthematter?" the last of the fleeing +Apaches popped out of sight, and Plume turned toward him in mingled +wrath and disgust: + +"That--ass of an agent!" was all he could say, as he pointed to the +prostrate figure in pepper and salt. + +Byrne half slid, half stumbled down the bank and bent over the wounded +man. Dead he was not, for, with both hands clasped to his breast, Daly +was cradling from side to side and saying things of Apaches totally +unbecoming an Indian agent and a man of God. "But who did it? and +how?--and why?" demanded Byrne of the ministering soldiers. + +[Illustration: "NOW HALTING, DROPPING ON ONE KNEE TO FIRE"] + +"Tried to 'rest two Patchie girls, sir," answered the first, +straightening up and saluting, "and her feller wouldn't stand it, I +reckon. Knifed the agent and Craney, too. Yonder's the feller." + +Yonder lay, face downward, as described, a sinewy young brave of the +Apache Mohave band, his newer, cleaner shirt and his gayly ornamented +sash and headgear telling of superior rank and station among his kind. +With barely a glance at Craney, squatted beside a bush, and with teeth +and hands knotting a kerchief about a bleeding arm, Byrne bent over +the Apache and turned the face to the light. + +"Good God!" he cried, at the instant, "it's Quonathay--Raven Shield! +Why, _you_ know him, corporal!"--this to Casey, of Wren's troop, +running to his side. "Son of old Chief Quonahelka! I wouldn't have had +this happen for all the girls on the reservation. Who were they? Why +did he try to arrest them? Here! I'll have to ask him--stabbed or +not!" And, anxious and angering, the colonel hastened over toward the +agent, now being slowly aided to his feet. Plume, too, had come +sidelong down the sandy bank with Cutler, of the infantry, asking +where he should put in his men. "Oh, just deploy across the flats to +stand off any possible attack," said Plume. "Don't cross the Sandy, +and, damn it all! get a bugler out and sound recall!" For now the +sound of distant shots came echoing back from the eastward cliffs. The +pursuit had spread beyond the stream. "I don't want any more of those +poor devils hurt. There's mischief enough already," he concluded. + +"I should say so," echoed the colonel. "What was the matter, Mr. +Daly? Whom did you seek to arrest?--and why?" + +"Almost any of 'em," groaned Daly. "There were a dozen there I'd +refused passes to come again this week. They were here in defiance of +my orders, and I thought to take that girl Natzie,--she that led Lola +off,--back to her father at the agency. It would have been a good +lesson. Of course she fought and scratched. Next thing I knew a dozen +of 'em were atop of us--some water, for God's sake!--and lift me out +of this!" + +Then with grave and watch-worn face, Graham came hurrying to the spot, +all the way over from Mullins's bedside at the hospital and breathing +hard. Dour indeed was the look he gave the groaning agent, now gulping +at a gourd held to his pale lips by one of the men. The policy of +Daly's predecessor had been to feather his own nest and let the Indian +shift for himself, and this had led to his final overthrow. Daly, +however, had come direct from the care of a tribe of the Pueblo +persuasion, peace-loving and tillers of the soil, meek as the Pimas +and Maricopas, natives who fawned when he frowned and cringed at the +crack of his whip. These he had successfully, and not dishonestly, +ruled, but that very experience had unfitted him for duty over the +mountain Apache, who cringed no more than did the lordly Sioux or +Cheyenne, and truckled to no man less than a tribal chief. Blakely, +the soldier, cool, fearless, and resolute, but scrupulously just, they +believed in and feared; but this new blusterer only made them laugh, +until he scandalized them by wholesale arrest and punishment. Then +their childlike merriment changed swiftly to furious and scowling +hate,--to open defiance, and finally, when he dared lay hands on a +chosen daughter of the race, to mutiny and the knife. Graham, serving +his third year in the valley, had seen the crisis coming and sought to +warn the man. But what should an army doctor know of an Apache Indian? +said Daly, and, fatuous in his own conceit, the crisis found him +unprepared. + +"Go you for a stretcher," said the surgeon, after a quick look into +the livid face. "Lay him down gently there," and kneeling, busied +himself with opening a way to the wound. Out over the flats swung the +long skirmish line, picturesque in the variety of its undress, Cutler +striding vociferous in its wake, while a bugler ran himself out of +breath, far to the eastward front, to puff feeble and abortive breath +into unresponsive copper. And still the same flutter of distant, +scattering shots came drifting back from the brakes and cañons in the +rocky wilds beyond the stream. The guard still pursued and the Indians +still led, but they who knew anything well knew it could not be long +before the latter turned on the scattering chase, and Byrne strode +about, fuming with anxiety. "Thank God!" he cried, as a prodigious +clatter of hoofs, on hollow and resounding wood, told of cavalry +coming across the _acequia_, and Sanders galloped round the sandy +point in search of the foe--or orders. "Thank God! Here, +Sanders--pardon me, major, there isn't an instant to lose--Rush your +men right on to the front there! Spread well out, but don't fire a +shot unless attacked in force! Get those--chasing idiots and bring +them in! By God, sir, we'll have an Indian war on our hands as it is!" +And Sanders nodded and dug spurs to his troop horse, and sang out: +"Left front into line--gallop!" and the rest was lost in a cloud of +dust and the blare of cavalry trumpet. + +Then the colonel turned to Plume, standing now silent and sore +troubled. "It was the quickest way," he said apologetically. +"Ordinarily I should have given the order through you, of course. But +those beggars are armed to a man. They left their guns in the crevices +of yonder rocks, probably, when they came for the morning music. We +must have no fight over this unless they force it. I wish to heaven we +hadn't killed--these two," and ruefully he looked at the stark +forms--the dead lover of Natzie, the gasping tribesman just beyond, +dying, knife in hand. "The general has been trying to curb Daly for +the last ten days," continued he, "and warned him he'd bring on +trouble. The interpreter split with him on Monday last, and there's +been mischief brewing ever since. If only we could have kept Blakely +there--all this row would have been averted!" + +If only, indeed! was Plume thinking, as eagerly, anxiously he scanned +the eastward shore, rising jagged, rocky, and forbidding from the +willows of the stream bed. If only, indeed! Not only all this row of +which Byrne had seen so much, but all this other row, this row within +a row, this intricacy of mishaps and misery that involved the social +universe of Camp Sandy, of which as yet the colonel, presumably, knew +so very little; of which, as post commander, Plume had yet to tell +him! An orderly came running with a field glass and a scrap of paper. +Plume glanced at the latter, a pencil scrawl of his wife's inseparable +companion, and, for aught he knew, confidante. "Madame," he could make +out, and "_affreusement_" something, but it was enough. The orderly +supplemented: "Leece, sir, says the lady is very bad--" + +"Go to her, Plume," with startling promptitude cried the colonel. +"I'll look to everything here. It's all coming out right," for with a +tantara--tantara-ra-ra Sanders's troop, spreading far and wide, were +scrambling up the shaly slopes a thousand yards away. "Go to your wife +and tell her the danger's over," and, with hardly another glance at +the moaning agent, now being limply hoisted on a hospital stretcher, +thankfully the major went. "The lady's very bad, is she?" growled +Byrne, in fierce aside to Graham. "That French hag sometimes speaks +truth, in spite of herself. How d'you find him?" This with a toss of +the head toward the vanishing stretcher. + +"Bad likewise. These Apache knives dig deep. There's Mullins now--" + +"Think _that_ was Apache?" glared Byrne, with sudden light in his +eyes, for Wren had told his troubles--all. + +"Apache _knife_--yes." + +"What the devil do you mean, Graham?" and the veteran soldier, who +knew and liked the surgeon, whirled again on him with eyes that looked +not like at all. + +The doctor turned, his somber gaze following the now distant figure of +the post commander, struggling painfully up the yielding sand of the +steep slope to the plateau. The stretcher bearers and attendants were +striding away to hospital with the now unconscious burden. The few +men, lingering close at hand, were grouped about the dead Apaches. The +gathering watchers along the bank were beyond earshot. Staff officer +and surgeon were practically alone and the latter answered: + +"I mean, sir, that if that Apache knife had been driven in by an +Apache warrior, Mullins would have been dead long hours ago--which he +isn't." + +Byrne turned a shade grayer. + +"Could _she_ have done that?" he asked, with one sideward jerk of his +head toward the major's quarters. + +"I'm not saying," quoth the Scot. "I'm asking was there anyone else?" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A CARPET KNIGHT, INDEED + + +The flag at Camp Sandy drooped from the peak. Except by order it never +hung halfway. The flag at the agency fluttered no higher than the +cross-trees, telling that Death had loved some shining mark and had +not sued in vain. Under this symbol of mourning, far up the valley, +the interpreter was telling to a circle of dark, sullen, and +unresponsive faces a fact that every Apache knew before. Under the +full-masted flag at the post, a civilian servant of the nation lay +garbed for burial. Poor Daly had passed away with hardly a chance to +tell his tale, with only a loving, weeping woman or two to mourn him. +Over the camp the shadow of death tempered the dazzling sunshine, for +all Sandy felt the strain and spoke only with sorrow. He meant well, +did Daly, that was accorded him now. He only lacked "savvy" said they +who had dwelt long in the land of Apache. + +Over at the hospital two poor women wept, and twice their number +strove to soothe. Janet Wren and Mrs. Graham were there, as ever, when +sorrow and trouble came. Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Cutler, too, were +hovering about the mourners, doing what they could, and the hospital +matron, busy day and night of late, had never left her patient until +he needed her no more, and then had turned to minister to those he +left behind--the widow and the fatherless. Over on the shaded verandas +other women met and murmured in the soft, sympathetic drawl +appropriate to funereal occasion, and men nodded silently to each +other. Death was something these latter saw so frequently it brought +but little of terror. Other things were happening of far greater +moment that they could not fathom at all. + +Captain Wren, after four days of close arrest, had been released by +the order of Major Plume himself, who, pending action on his +application for leave of absence, had gone on sick report and secluded +himself within his quarters. It was rumored that Mrs. Plume was +seriously ill, so ill, indeed, she had to be denied to every one of +the sympathizing women who called, even to Janet, sister of their +soldier next-door neighbor, but recently a military prisoner, yet now, +by law and custom, commander of the post. + +Several things had conspired to bring about this condition of affairs. +Byrne, to begin with, had been closely questioning Shannon, and had +reached certain conclusions with regard to the stabbing of Mullins +that were laid before Plume, already stunned by the knowledge that, +sleeping as his friendly advisers declared, or waking, as his inner +consciousness would have it, Clarice, his young and still beautiful +wife, had left her pillow and gone by night toward the northern limit +of the line of quarters. If Wren were tried, or even accused, that +fact would be the first urged in his defense. Plume's stern +accusation of Elise had evoked from her nothing but a voluble storm of +protest. Madame was ill, sleepless, nervous--had gone forth to walk +away her nervousness. She, Elise, had gone in search and brought her +home. Downs, the wretch, when as stoutly questioned, declared he had +been blind drunk; saw nobody, knew nothing, and must have taken the +lieutenant's whisky. Plume shrank from asking Norah questions. He +could not bring himself to talking of his wife to the girl of the +laundresses' quarters, but he knew now that he must drop that much of +the case against Wren. + +Then came the final blow. Byrne had gone to the agency, making every +effort through runners, with promises of immunity, to coax back the +renegades to the reservation, and so avert another Apache war. Plume, +in sore perplexity, was praying for the complete restoration of +Mullins--the only thing that could avert investigation--when, as he +entered his office the morning of this eventful day, Doty's young face +was eloquent with news. + +One of the first things done by Lieutenant Blakely when permitted by +Dr. Graham to sit and speak, was to dictate a letter to the post +adjutant, the original of which, together with the archives of Camp +Sandy, was long since buried among the hidden treasures of the War +Department. The following is a copy of the paper placed by Mr. Doty in +the major's hands even before he could reach his desk: + + CAMP SANDY, A. T., + + October --, 187-- + + LIEUTENANT J. J. DOTY, + + 8th U. S. Infantry, + + Post Adjutant. + + + _Sir_: I have the honor to submit for the consideration of + the post commander, the following: + + Shortly after retreat on the --th inst. I was suddenly + accosted in my quarters by Captain Robert Wren, ----th + Cavalry, and accused of an act of treachery to him;--an + accusation which called forth instant and indignant denial. + He had, as I now have cause to know, most excellent reason + for believing his charge to be true, and the single blow he + dealt me was the result of intense and natural wrath. That + the consequences were so serious he could not have foreseen. + + As the man most injured in the affair, I earnestly ask that + no charges be preferred. Were we in civil life I should + refuse to prosecute, and, if the case be brought before a + court-martial it will probably fail--for lack of evidence. + + + Very Respectfully, + + Your Obedient Servant, + + NEIL D. BLAKELY, + + 1st Lieut., ----th Cavalry. + +Now, Doty had been known to hold his tongue when a harmful story might +be spread, but he could no more suppress his rejoicing over this than +he could the impulse to put it in slang. "Say, aint this just a +corker?" said this ingenuous youth, as he spread it on his desk for +Graham's grimly gleaming eyes. Plume had read it in dull, apathetic, +unseeing fashion. It was the morning after the Apache _emeute_. Plume +had stared hard at his adjutant a moment, then, whipping up the sun +hat that he had dropped on his desk, and merely saying, "I'll +return--shortly," had sped to his darkened quarters and not for an +hour had he reappeared. Then the first thing he asked for was that +letter of Mr. Blakely's, which, this time, he read with lips +compressed and twitching a bit at the corners. Then he called for a +telegraph blank and sent a wire to intercept Byrne at the agency. "I +shall turn over command to Wren at noon. I'm too ill for further +duty," was all he said. Byrne read the rest between the lines. + +But Graham went straightway to the quarters of Captain Wren, a rough +pencil copy of that most unusual paper in his hand. "R-robert Wren," +said he, as he entered, unknocking and unannounced, "will ye listen to +this? Nay, Angela, lass, don't go." When strongly moved, as we have +seen, our doctor dropped to the borderland of dialect. + +In the dim light from the shaded windows he had not at first seen the +girl. She was seated on a footstool, her hands on her father's knee, +her fond face gazing up into his, and that strong, bony hand of his +resting on her head and toying with the ribbon, the "snood," as he +loved to call it, with which she bound her abundant tresses. At sound +of the doctor's voice, Janet, ever apprehensive of ill, had come forth +from the dining room, silver brush and towel in hand, and stood at the +doorway, gazing austerely. She could not yet forgive her brother's +friend his condemnation of her methods as concerned her brother's +child. Angela, rising to her full height, stood with one hand on the +back of her father's chair, the other began softly stroking the +grizzled crop from his furrowed forehead. + +No one spoke a word as Graham began and slowly, to the uttermost +line, read his draft of Blakely's missive. No one spoke for a moment +after he had finished. Angela, with parted lips and dilated eyes, had +stood at first drinking in each syllable, then, with heaving bosom, +she slowly turned, her left hand falling by her side. Wren sat in +silence, his deep-set eyes glowering on the grim reader, a dazed look +on his rugged face. Then he reached up and drew the slim, tremulous +hand from his forehead and snuggled it against his stubbly cheek, and +still he could not speak. Janet slowly backed away into the darkness +of the dining room. The situation had softening tendencies and Janet's +nature revolted at sentiment. It was Graham's voice that again broke +the silence. + +"For a vain carpet knight, 'whose best boast was to wear a braid of +his fair lady's hair,' it strikes me our butterfly chaser has some +points of a gentleman," said he, slowly folding his paper. "I might +say more," he continued presently, retiring toward the hall. Then, +pausing at the doorway, "but I won't," he concluded, and abruptly +vanished. + +An hour later, when Janet in person went to answer a knock at the +door, she glanced in at the parlor as she passed, and that peep +revealed Angela again seated on her footstool, with her bonny head +pillowed on her father's knee, his hand again toying with the glossy +tresses, and both father and child looked up, expectant. Yes, there +stood the young adjutant, officially equipped with belt and sword and +spotless gloves. "Can I see the captain?" he asked, lifting his natty +_kepi_, and the captain arose and strode to the door. + +"Major Plume presents his compliments--and this letter, sir," +stammered the youth, blushing, too, at sight of Angela, beaming on him +from the parlor door. "And--you're in command, sir. The major has gone +on sick report." + +That evening a solemn _cortège_ filed away down the winding road to +the northward flats and took the route to the little cemetery, almost +all the garrison following to the grave all that was mortal of the +hapless agent. Byrne, returned from the agency, was there to represent +the general commanding the department. Wren stalked solemnly beside +him as commander of the post. Even the women followed, tripping +daintily through the sand. Graham watched them from the porch of the +post hospital. He could not long leave Mullins, tossing in fever and +delirium. He had but recently left Lieutenant Blakely, sitting up and +placidly busying himself in patching butterfly wings, and Blakely had +even come to the front door to look at the distant gathering of +decorous mourners. But the bandaged head was withdrawn as two tall, +feminine forms came gravely up the row, one so prim and almost +antique, the other so lithe and lissome. He retreated to the front +room, and with the one available eye at the veiled window, followed +her, the latter, until the white flowing skirt was swept from the +field of his vision. He had stood but a few hours previous on the spot +where he had received that furious blow five nights before, and this +time, with cordial grasp, had taken the huge hand that dealt it +between his white and slender palms. "Forgive us our trespasses as we +forgive those," Wren had murmured, as he read the deeply regretful +words of his late accuser and commander, for had not he in his turn, +and without delay, also to eat humble pie? There was something almost +pathetic in the attitude of the big soldier as he came to the darkened +room and stood before his junior and subordinate, but the latter had +stilled the broken, clumsy, faltering words with which this strong, +masterful man was striving to make amend for bitter wrong. "I won't +listen to more, Captain Wren," he said. "You had reasons I never +dreamed of--then. Our eyes have been opened" (one of his was still +closed). "You have said more than enough. Let us start afresh +now--with better understanding." + +"It--it is generous in you, Blakely. I misjudged +everything--everybody, and now,--well, you know there are still +Hotspurs in the service. I'm thinking some man may be ass enough to +say you got a blow without resenting--" + +Blakely smiled, a contorted and disunited smile, perhaps, and one much +trammeled by adhesive plaster. Yet there was placid unconcern in the +visible lines of his pale face. "I think I shall know how to answer," +said he. And so for the day, and without mention of the name uppermost +in the thoughts of each, the two had parted--for the first time as +friends. + +But the night was yet to come. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT" AGAIN + + +So swift had been the succession of events since the first day of the +week, few of the social set at Sandy could quite realize, much less +fathom, all that had happened, and as they gathered on the verandas, +in the cool of the evening after Daly's funeral, the trend of talk was +all one way. A man who might have thrown light on certain matters at +issue had been spirited away, and there were women quite ready to vow +it was done simply to get him beyond range of their questioning. +Sergeant Shannon had been sent to the agency on some mission +prescribed by Colonel Byrne. It was almost the last order issued by +Major Plume before turning over the command. + +Byrne himself still lingered at the post, "watching the situation," as +it was understood, and in constant telegraphic correspondence with the +general at Prescott and the commander of the little guard over the +agency buildings at the reservation--Lieutenant Bridger, of the +Infantry. With a sergeant and twenty men that young officer had been +dispatched to that point immediately after the alarming and +unlooked-for catastrophe of the reveille outbreak. Catastrophe was +what Byrne called it, and he meant what he said, not so much because +it had cost the life of Daly, the agent, whose mistaken zeal had +precipitated the whole misunderstanding, but rather because of the +death of two such prominent young warriors as "Shield" and his friend, +who had fallen after dealing the fatal blow to him who had laid +violent hands, so they regarded it, on two young girls, one a +chieftain's daughter and both objects of reverent and savagely +sentimental interest. "If war doesn't come at once," said Byrne, "it +will be because the Apache has a new sense or a deep-laid scheme. Look +out for him." + +No news as yet had come from the runners sent forth in search of the +scattered fugitives, who would soon be flocking together again in the +fastnesses of the Mogollon to the east or the Red Rock country +northward--the latter probably, as being nearer their friends at the +reservation and farther from the few renegade Tontos lurking in the +mountains toward Fort Apache. Byrne's promise to the wanderers, sent +by these runners, was to the effect that they would be safe from any +prosecution if they would return at once to the agency and report +themselves to the interpreter and the lieutenant commanding the guard. +He would not, he said, be answerable for what might happen if they +persisted in remaining at large. But when it was found that, so far +from any coming in, there were many going out, and that Natzie's +father and brother had already gone, Byrne's stout heart sank. The +message came by wire from the agency not long after the return of the +funeral party, and while the evening was yet young. He sent at once +for Wren, and, seated on the major's front piazza, with an orderly +hovering just out of earshot, and with many an eye anxiously watching +them along the row, the two veterans were holding earnest conference. +Major Plume was at the bedside of his wife, so said Graham when he +came down about eight. Mrs. Plume, he continued, was at least no +worse, but very nervous. Then he took himself back to the hospital. + +Another topic of talk along the line was Blakely's watch and its +strange recovery, and many were the efforts to learn what Blakely +himself had to say about it. The officers, nearly all of them, of +course, had been at intervals to see Blakely and inquire if there were +not something that they could do, this being the conventional and +proper thing, and they who talked with him, with hardly an exception, +led up to the matter of the watch and wished to know how he accounted +for its being there on the post of No. 5. It was observed that, upon +this topic and the stabbing of Private Mullins, Mr. Blakely was oddly +reticent. He had nothing whatever to suggest as explanation of either +matter. The watch was taken from the inner pocket of his thin white +coat as he lay asleep at the pool, of this he felt confident, but by +whom he would not pretend to say. Everybody knew by this time that +Angela Wren had seen him sleeping, and had, in a spirit of playful +mischief, fetched away his butterfly net, but who would accuse Angela +of taking his watch and money? Of course such things had been, said +one or two wise heads, but--not with girls like Angela. + +But who could say what, all this while, Angela herself was thinking? +Once upon a time it had been the way of our young folk well over the +North and West to claim forfeit in the game of "Catching the weasel +asleep." There had been communities, indeed, and before co-education +became a fad at certain of our great universities, wherein the maid +caught napping could hold it no sin against watchful swain, or even +against her, that he then and there imprinted on her lips a kiss. On +the other hand, the swain found sleeping might not always expect a +kiss, but must pay the penalty, a pair of dainty gloves. Many a +forfeit, both lip and glove, had there been claimed and allowed in +army days whereof we write, and Angela, stealing upon Blakely as he +dozed beneath the willows, and liking him well and deploring her +father's pronounced aversion to him--perhaps even resenting it an +undutiful bit--had found it impossible to resist the temptation to +softly disengage that butterfly net from the loosely clasping fingers, +and swiftly, stealthily, delightedly to scamper away with it against +his waking. It was of this very exploit, never dreaming of the fateful +consequences, she and Kate Sanders were so blissfully bubbling over, +fairly shaking with maiden merriment when the despoiled victim, +homeward bound, caught sight of them upon the _mesa_. Ten minutes +more, and in full force she had been made to feel the blow of her +father's fierce displeasure. Twenty minutes more, and, under the blow +of her father's furious wrath, Blakely had been felled like a log. + +When with elongated face and exaggerated gloom of manner Aunt Janet +came to make her realize the awful consequences of her crime, Angela's +first impulse had been to cry out against her father's unreasoning +rage. When she learned that he was in close arrest,--to be tried, +doubtless, for his mad assault,--in utter revulsion of feeling, in +love and tenderness, in grief and contrition inexpressible, she had +thrown herself at his feet and, clasping his knees, had sobbed her +heart out in imploring his forgiveness for what she called her wicked, +heedless, heartless conduct. No one saw that blessed meeting, that +scene of mutual forgiveness, of sweet reconciliation; too sweet and +serene, indeed, for Janet's stern and Calvinistic mold. + +Are we ever quite content, I wonder, that others' bairnies should be +so speedily, so entirely, forgiven? All because of this had all +Janet's manifestations of sympathy for Robert to be tempered with a +fine reserve. As for Angela, it would never do to let the child so +soon forget that this should be an awful lesson. Aunt Janet's manner, +therefore, when, butterfly net in hand, she required of her niece full +explanation of the presence in the room of this ravished trophy, was +something fraught with far too much of future punishment, of wrath +eternal. Even in her chastened mood Angela's spirit stood _en garde_. +"I have told father everything, auntie," she declared. "I leave it all +to him," and bore in silence the comments, without the utterance of +which the elder vestal felt she could not conscientiously quit the +field. "Bold," "immodest," "unmaidenly," "wanton," were a choice few +of Aunt Janet's expletives, and these were unresented. But when she +concluded with "I shall send this--thing to him at once, with my +personal apologies for the act of an irresponsible child," up sprang +Angela with rebellion flashing from her eyes. She had suffered +punishment as a woman. She would not now be treated as a child. To +Janet's undisguised amaze and disapprobation, Wren decided that Angela +herself should send both apology and net. It was the first missive of +the kind she had ever written, but, even so, she would not submit it +for either advice or criticism--even though its composition cost her +many hours and tears and sheets of paper. No one but the recipient had +so much as a peep at it, but when Blakely read it a grave smile +lighted his pallid and still bandaged face. He stowed the little note +in his desk, and presently took it out and read it again, and still +again, and then it went slowly into the inner pocket of his white sack +coat and was held there, while he, the wearer, slowly paced up and +down the veranda late in the starlit night. This was the evening of +Daly's funeral, the evening of the day on which he and his captain had +shaken hands and were to start afresh with better understanding. + +Young Duane was officer of the day and, after the tattoo inspection of +his little guard, had gone for a few minutes to the hospital where +Mullins lay muttering and tossing in his feverish sleep; then, meeting +Wren and Graham on the way, had tramped over to call on Blakely, +thinking, perhaps, to chat a while and learn something. Soon after +"taps" was sounded, however, the youngster joined the little group +gossiping in guarded tones on the porch at Captain Sanders', far down +the row, and, in response to question, said that "Bugs"--that being +Blakely's briefest _nom de guerre_--must be convalescing rapidly, he +"had no use for his friends," and, as the lad seemed somewhat ruffled +and resentful, what more natural than that he should be called upon +for explanation? Sanders and his wife were present, and Mrs. Bridger, +very much alive with inquiry and not a little malicious interest. +Kate, too, was of the party, and Doty, the adjutant, and Mesdames +Cutler and Westervelt--it was so gloomy and silent, said these latter, +at their end of the row. Much of the talk had been about Mrs. Plume's +illness and her "sleep-walking act," as it had been referred to, and +many had thought, but few had spoken, of her possible presence on the +post of No. 5 about the time that No. 5 was stabbed. They knew _she_ +couldn't have done it, of course, but then how strange that she should +have been there at all! The story had gained balloon-like expanse by +this time, and speculation was more than rife. But here was Duane with +a new grievance which, when put into Duane's English, reduced itself +to this: "Why, it was like as if Bugs wanted to get rid of me and +expected somebody else," and this they well remembered later. Nobody +else was observed going to Blakely's front door, at least, but at +eleven o'clock he himself could still be dimly heard and seen pacing +steadily up and down his piazza, apparently alone and deep in thought. +His lights, too, were turned down, a new man from the troop having +asked for and assumed the duties formerly devolving on the wretch +Downs, now doing time within the garrison prison. Before eleven, +however, this new martial domestic had gone upstairs to bed and +Blakely was all alone, which was as he wished it, for he had things to +plan and other things to think of that lifted him above the +possibility of loneliness. + +Down the line of officers' quarters only in two or three houses could +lights be seen. Darkness reigned at Plume's, where Byrne was still +rooming. Darkness reigned at Wren's and Graham's, despite the fact +that the lords of these manors were still abroad, both at the bedside +of Trooper Mullins. A dozen people were gathered by this time at +Sanders'. All the other verandas, except Blakely's with its solitary +watcher, seemed deserted. To these idlers of the soft and starlit +night, sitting bareheaded about the gallery and chatting in the +friendly way of the frontier, there came presently a young soldier +from the direction of the adjutant's office at the south end. "The +night operator," he explained. "Two dispatches have just come for +Colonel Byrne, and I thought maybe--" + +"No, Cassidy," said Doty. "The colonel is at his quarters. Dispatch, +is it? Perhaps I'd better go with you," and, rising, the young officer +led the way, entering on tiptoe the hall of the middle house where, +far back on a table, a lamp was burning low. Tapping at an inner door, +he was bidden to enter. Byrne was in bed, a single sheet over his +burly form, but he lay wide awake. He took the first dispatch and tore +it open eagerly. It was from Bridger at the agency: + + Runners just in say Natzie and Lola had turned back from + trail to Montezuma Well, refusing to go further from their + dead. Can probably be found if party go at dawn or sooner. + Alchisay with them. More Indians surely going out from here. + +Byrne's brow contracted and his lips compressed, but he gave no other +sign. "Is Captain Wren still up?" he briefly asked, as he reached for +the other dispatch. + +"Over at the hospital, sir," said Doty, and watched this famous +campaigner's face as he ripped open the second brown envelope. This +time he was half out of bed before he could have half finished even +that brief message. It was from the general: + + News of trouble must have reached Indians at San Carlos. + Much excitement there and at Apache. Shall start for Camp + McDowell to-morrow as soon as I have seen Plume. He should + come early. + +The colonel was in his slippers and inexpressibles in less than no +time, but Plume aloft had heard the muffled sounds from the lower +floor, and was down in a moment. Without a word Byrne handed him the +second message and waited until he had read, then asked: "Can you +start at dawn?" + +"I can start now," was the instant reply. "Our best team can make it +in ten hours. Order out the Concord, Mr. Doty." And Doty vanished. + +"But Mrs. Plume--" began the colonel tentatively. + +"Mrs. Plume simply needs quiet and to be let alone," was the joyless +answer. "I think perhaps--I am rather in the way." + +"Well, I know the general will appreciate your promptness. I--did not +know you had asked to see him," and Byrne looked up from under his +shaggy brows. + +"I hadn't exactly, but my letter intimated as much. There is so very +much I--I cannot write about--that of course he's bound to hear,--I +don't mean you, Colonel Byrne,--and he ought to know the--facts. Now +I'll get ready at once and--see you before starting." + +"Better take an escort, Plume." + +"One man on driver's seat. That's all, sir. I'll come in presently, in +case you have anything to send," said Plume, and hurried again +upstairs. + +It was barely midnight when Plume's big black wagon, the Concord, all +spring and hickory, as said the post quartermaster, went whirling away +behind its strapping team of four huge Missouri mules. It was 12.30 by +the guard-house clock and the call of the sentries when Wren came home +to find Angela, her long, luxuriant hair tumbling down over her soft, +white wrapper, waiting for him at the front door. From her window she +had seen him coming; had noted the earlier departure of the wagon; had +heard the voice of Major Plume bidding good-by, and wondered what it +meant--this midnight start of the senior officer of the post. She had +been sitting there silent, studying the glittering stars, and +wondering would there be an answer to her note? Would he be able to +write just yet? Was there reason, really, why he _should_ write, after +all that had passed? Somehow she felt that write he certainly would, +and soon, and the thought kept her from sleeping. It was because she +was anxious about Mullins, so she told herself and told her father, +that she had gone fluttering down to meet him at the door. But no +sooner had he answered, "Still delirious and yet holding his own," +than she asked where and why Major Plume had gone. + +"The general wired for him," answered Wren. "And what is my tall +girlie doing, spiering from windows this time of night? Go to bed, +child." She may be losing beauty sleep, but not her beauty, thought he +fondly, as she as fondly kissed him and turned to obey. Then came a +heavy footfall on the gallery without, and a dark form, erect and +soldierly, stood between them and the dim lights of the guard-house. +It was a corporal of the guard. + +"No. 4, sir, reports he heard shots--two--way up the valley." + +"Good God!" Wren began, then throttled the expletive half spoken. +Could they have dared waylay the major--and so close to the post? A +moment more and he was hurrying over to his troop quarters; five +minutes, and a sergeant and ten men were running with him to the +stables; ten, and a dozen horses, swiftly saddled, were being led into +the open starlight; fifteen, and they were away at a lunging bronco +lope, a twisting column of twos along the sandy road, leaving the +garrison to wake and wonder. Three, four, five miles they sped, past +Boulder Point, past Rattlesnake Hill, and still no sign of anything +amiss, no symptom of night-raiding Apache, for indeed the Apache +dreads the dark. Thrice the sergeant had sprung from his horse, +lighted a match, and studied the trail. On and on had gone the mules +and wagon without apparent break or interruption, until, far beyond +the bluff that hid the road from sight of all at Sandy, they had begun +the long, tortuous climb of the divide to Cherry Creek. No. 4 might +have heard shots, but, if intended for the wagon, they had been +harmless. It was long after one when Wren gave the word to put back to +the post, and as they remounted and took the homeward trail, they rode +for the first five minutes almost directly east, and, as they ascended +a little slant of hillside, the sergeant in advance reined suddenly +in. "Look there!" said he. + +Far over among the rocky heights beyond the valley, hidden from the +south from Sandy by precipitous cliffs that served almost as a +reflector toward the reservation, a bright blaze had shot suddenly +heavenward--a signal fire of the Apache. Some of them, then, were in +the heart of that most intractable region, not ten miles northeast of +the post, and signaling to their fellows; but the major must have +slipped safely through. + +Sending his horse to stable with the detachment, Wren had found No. 4 +well over toward the east end of his post, almost to the angle with +that of No. 5. "Watch well for signal fires or prowlers to-night," he +ordered. "Have you seen any?" + +"No signal fires, sir," answered the sentry. "Welch, who was on before +me, thought he heard shots--" + +"I know," answered Wren impatiently. "There was nothing in it. But we +did see a signal fire over to the northeast, so they are around us, +and some may be creeping close in to see what we're doing, though I +doubt it. You've seen nothing?" + +"Well, no, sir; we can't see much of anything, it's so dark. But +there's a good many of the post people up and moving about, excited, I +suppose. There were lights there at the lieutenant's, Mr. Blakely's, a +while ago, and--voices." No. 4 pointed to the dark gable end barely +forty yards away. + +"That's simple enough," said Wren. "People would naturally come up to +this end to see what had become of us, why we had gone, etc. They +heard of it, I dare say, and some were probably startled." + +"Yes, sir, it sounded like--somebody cryin'." + +Wren was turning away. "What?" he suddenly asked. + +No. 4 repeated his statement. Wren pondered a moment, started to +speak, to question further, but checked himself and trudged +thoughtfully away through the yielding sand. The nearest path led past +the first quarters, Blakely's, on the eastward side, and as the +captain neared the house he stopped short. Somewhere in the shadows of +the back porch low, murmuring voices were faintly audible. One, in +excited tone, was not that of a man, and as Wren stood, uncertain and +surprised, the rear door was quickly opened and against the faint +light from within two dark forms were projected. One, the taller, he +recognized beyond doubt as that of Neil Blakely; the other he did not +recognize at all. But he had heard the tone of the voice. He knew the +form to be, beyond doubt, that of a young and slender woman. Then +together the shadows disappeared within and the door was closed behind +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A STOP--BY WIRE + + +Three days later the infantry guard of the garrison were in sole +charge. Wren and Sanders, with nearly fifty troopers apiece, had taken +the field in compliance with telegraphic orders from Prescott. The +general had established field headquarters temporarily at Camp +McDowell, down the Verde Valley, and under his somewhat distant +supervision four or five little columns of horse, in single file, were +boring into the fastnesses of the Mogollon and the Tonto Basin. The +runners had been unsuccessful. The renegades would not return. Half a +dozen little nomad bands, forever out from the reservation, had +eagerly welcomed these malcontents and the news they bore that two of +their young braves had been murdered while striving to defend Natzie +and Lola. It furnished all that was needed as excuse for instant +descent upon the settlers in the deep valleys north of the Rio Salado, +and, all unsuspecting, all unprepared, several of these had met their +doom. Relentless war was already begun, and the general lost no time +in starting his horsemen after the hostiles. Meantime the infantry +companies, at the scattered posts and camps, were left to "hold the +fort," to protect the women, children, and property, and Neil Blakely, +a sore-hearted man because forbidden by the surgeon to attempt to go, +was chafing, fuming, and retarding his recovery at his lonely +quarters. The men whom he most liked were gone, and the few among the +women who might have been his friends seemed now to stand afar off. +Something, he knew not what, had turned garrison sentiment against +him. + +For a day or two, so absorbed was he in his chagrin over Graham's +verdict and the general's telegraphic orders in the case, Mr. Blakely +never knew or noticed that anything else was amiss. Then, too, there +had been no opportunity of meeting garrison folk except the few +officers who dropped in to inquire civilly how he was progressing. The +bandages were off, but the plaster still disfigured one side of his +face and neck. He could not go forth and seek society. There was +really only one girl at the post whose society he cared to seek. He +had his books and his bugs, and that, said Mrs. Bridger, was "all he +demanded and more than he deserved." To think that the very room so +recently sacred to the son and heir should be transformed into what +that irate little woman called a "beetle shop"! It was one of Mr. +Blakely's unpardonable sins in the eyes of the sex that he found so +much to interest him in a pursuit that neither interested nor included +them. A man with brains and a bank account had no right to live alone, +said Mrs. Sanders, she having a daughter of marriageable age, if only +moderately prepossessing. All this had the women to complain of in him +before the cataclysm that, for the time at least, had played havoc +with his good looks. All this he knew and bore with philosophic and +whimsical stoicism. But all this and more could not account for the +phenomenon of averted eyes and constrained, if not freezing, manner +when, in the dusk of the late autumn evening, issuing suddenly from +his quarters, he came face to face with a party of four young women +under escort of the post adjutant--Mrs. Bridger and Mrs. Truman +foremost of the four and first to receive his courteous, yet half +embarrassed, greeting. They had to stop for half a second, as they +later said, because really he confronted them, all unsuspected. But +the other two, Kate Sanders and Mina Westervelt, with bowed heads and +without a word, scurried by him and passed on down the line. Doty +explained hurriedly that they had been over to the post hospital to +inquire for Mullins and were due at the Sanders' now for music, +whereupon Blakely begged pardon for even the brief detention, and, +raising his cap, went on out to the sentry post of No. 4 to study the +dark and distant upheavals in the Red Rock country, where, almost +every night of late, the signal fires of the Apaches were reported. +Not until he was again alone did he realize that he had been almost +frigidly greeted by those who spoke at all. It set him to thinking. + +Mrs. Plume was still confined to her room. The major had returned from +Prescott and, despite the fact that the regiment was afield and a +clash with the hostiles imminent, was packing up preparatory to a +move. Books, papers, and pictures were being stored in chests, big and +little, that he had had made for such emergencies. It was evident +that he was expecting orders for change of station or extended leave, +and they who went so far as to question the grave-faced soldier, who +seemed to have grown ten years older in the last ten days, had to be +content with the brief, guarded reply that Mrs. Plume had never been +well since she set foot in Arizona, and even though he returned, she +would not. He was taking her, he said, to San Francisco. Of this +unhappy woman's nocturnal expedition the others seldom spoke now and +only with bated breath. "Sleep-walking, of course!" said everybody, no +matter what everybody might think. But, now that Major Plume knew that +in her sleep his wife had wandered up the row to the very door--the +back door--of Mr. Blakely's quarters, was it not strange that he had +taken no pains to prevent a recurrence of so compromising an +excursion, for strange stories were afloat. Sentry No. 4 had heard and +told of a feminine voice, "somebody cryin' like" in the darkness of +midnight about Blakely's, and Norah Shaughnessy--returned to her +duties at the Trumans', yet worrying over the critical condition of +her trooper lover, and losing thereby much needed sleep--had gained +some new and startling information. One night she had heard, another +night she had dimly seen, a visitor received at Blakely's back door, +and that visitor a woman, with a shawl about her head. Norah told her +mistress, who very properly bade her never refer to it again to a +soul, and very promptly referred to it herself to several souls, one +of them Janet Wren. Janet, still virtuously averse to Blakely, laid +the story before her brother the very day he started on the warpath, +and Janet was startled to see that she was telling him no news +whatever. "Then, indeed," said she, "it is high time the major took +his wife away," and Wren sternly bade her hold her peace, she knew not +what she was saying! But, said Camp Sandy, who could it have been but +Mrs. Plume or, possibly, Elise? Once or twice in its checkered past +Camp Sandy had had its romance, its mystery, indeed its scandals, but +this was something that put in the shade all previous episodes; this +shook Sandy to its very foundation, and this, despite her brother's +prohibition, Janet Wren felt it her duty to detail in full to Angela. + +To do her justice, it should be said that Miss Wren had striven +valiantly against the impulse,--had indeed mastered it for several +hours,--but the sight of the vivid blush, the eager joy in the sweet +young face when Blakely's new "striker" handed in a note addressed to +Miss Angela Wren, proved far too potent a factor in the undoing of +that magnanimous resolve. The girl fled with her prize, instanter, to +her room, and thither, as she did not reappear, the aunt betook +herself within the hour. The note itself was neither long nor +effusive--merely a bright, cordial, friendly missive, protesting +against the idea that any apology had been due. There was but one line +which could be considered even mildly significant. "The little net," +wrote Blakely, "has now a value that it never had before." Yet Angela +was snuggling that otherwise unimportant billet to her cheek when the +creaking stairway told her portentously of a solemn coming. Ten +minutes more and the note was lying neglected on the bureau, and +Angela stood at her window, gazing out over dreary miles of almost +desert landscape, of rock and shale and sand and cactus, with eyes +from which the light had fled, and a new, strange trouble biting at +her girlish heart. Confound No. 4--and Norah Shaughnessy! + +It had been arranged that when the Plumes were ready to start, Mrs. +Daly and her daughter, the newly widowed and the fatherless, should be +sent up to Prescott and thence across the desert to Ehrenberg, on the +Colorado. While no hostile Apaches had been seen west of the Verde +Valley, there were traces that told that they were watching the road +as far at least as the Agua Fria, and a sergeant and six men had been +chosen to go as escort to the little convoy. It had been supposed that +Plume would prefer to start in the morning and go as far as Stemmer's +ranch, in the Agua Fria Valley, and there rest his invalid wife until +another day, thus breaking the fifty-mile stage through the mountains. +To the surprise of everybody, the Dalys were warned to be in readiness +to start at five in the morning, and to go through to Prescott that +day. At five in the morning, therefore, the quartermaster's ambulance +was at the post trader's house, where the recently bereaved ones had +been harbored since poor Daly's death, and there, with their generous +host, was the widow's former patient, Blakely, full of sympathy and +solicitude, come to say good-bye. Plume's own Concord appeared almost +at the instant in front of his quarters, and presently Mrs. Plume, +veiled and obviously far from strong, came forth leaning on her +husband's arm, and closely followed by Elise. Then, despite the early +hour, and to the dismay of Plume, who had planned to start without +farewell demonstration of any kind, lights were blinking in almost +every house along the row, and a flock of women, some tender and +sympathetic, some morbidly curious, had gathered to wish the major's +wife a pleasant journey and a speedy recovery. They loved her not at +all, and liked her none too well, but she was ill and sorrowing, so +that was enough. Elise they could not bear, yet even Elise came in for +a kindly word or two. Mrs. Graham was there, big-hearted and brimming +over with helpful suggestion, burdened also with a basket of dainties. +Captain and Mrs. Cutler, Captain and Mrs. Westervelt, the Trumans +both, Doty, the young adjutant, Janet Wren, of course, and the ladies +of the cavalry, the major's regiment, without exception, were on hand +to bid the major and his wife good-bye. Angela Wren was not feeling +well, explained her aunt, and Mr. Neil Blakely was conspicuous by his +absence. + +It had been observed that, during those few days of hurried packing +and preparation, Major Plume had not once gone to Blakely's quarters. +True, he had visited only Dr. Graham, and had begged him to explain +that anxiety on account of Mrs. Plume prevented his making the round +of farewell calls; but that he was thoughtful of others to the last +was shown in this: Plume had asked Captain Cutler, commander of the +post, to order the release of that wretch Downs. "He has been +punished quite sufficiently, I think," said Plume, "and as I was +instrumental in his arrest I ask his liberation." At tattoo, +therefore, the previous evening "the wretch" had been returned to +duty, and at five in the morning was found hovering about the major's +quarters. When invited by the sergeant of the guard to explain, he +replied, quite civilly for him, that it was to say good-by to Elise. +"Me and her," said he, "has been good friends." + +Presumably he had had his opportunity at the kitchen door before the +start, but still he lingered, feigning professional interest in the +condition of the sleek mules that were to haul the Concord over fifty +miles of rugged road, up hill and down dale before the setting of the +sun. Then, while the officers and ladies clustered thick on one side +of the black vehicle, Downs sidled to the other, and the big black +eyes of the Frenchwoman peered down at him a moment as she leaned +toward him, and, with a whispered word, slyly dropped a little folded +packet into his waiting palm. Then, as though impatient, Plume shouted +"All right. Go on!" The Concord whirled away, and something like a +sigh of relief went up from assembled Sandy, as the first kiss of the +rising sun lighted on the bald pate of Squaw Peak, huge sentinel of +the valley, looming from the darkness and shadows and the mists of the +shallow stream that slept in many a silent pool along its massive, +rocky base. With but a few hurried, embarrassed words, Clarice Plume +had said adieu to Sandy, thinking never to see it again. They stood +and watched her past the one unlighted house, the northernmost along +the row. They knew not that Mr. Blakely was at the moment bidding +adieu to others in far humbler station. They only noted that, even at +the last, he was not there to wave a good-by to the woman who had once +so influenced his life. Slowly then the little group dissolved and +drifted away. She had gone unchallenged of any authority, though the +fate of Mullins still hung in the balance. Obviously, then, it was not +she whom Byrne's report had implicated, if indeed that report had +named anybody. There had been no occasion for a coroner and jury. +There would have been neither coroner nor jury to serve, had they been +called for. Camp Sandy stood in a little world of its own, the only +civil functionary within forty miles being a ranchman, dwelling seven +miles down stream, who held some Territorial warrant as a justice of +the peace. + +But Norah Shaughnessy, from the gable window of the Trumans' quarters, +shook a hard-clinching Irish fist and showered malediction after the +swiftly speeding ambulance. "Wan 'o ye," she sobbed, "dealt Pat +Mullins a coward and cruel blow, and I'll know which, as soon as ever +that poor bye can spake the truth." She would have said it to that +hated Frenchwoman herself, had not mother and mistress both forbade +her leaving the room until the Plumes were gone. + +Three trunks had been stacked up and secured on the hanging rack at +the rear of the Concord. Others, with certain chests and boxes, had +been loaded into one big wagon and sent ahead. The ambulance, with +the Dalys and the little escort of seven horsemen, awaited the rest of +the convoy on the northward flats, and the cloud of their combined +dust hung long on the scarred flanks as the first rays of the rising +sun came gilding the rocks at Boulder Point, and what was left of the +garrison at Sandy turned out for reveille. + +That evening, for the first time since his injury, Mr. Blakely took +his horse and rode away southward in the soft moonlight, and had not +returned when tattoo sounded. The post trader, coming up with the +latest San Francisco papers, said he had stopped a moment to ask at +the store whether Schandein, the ranchman justice of the peace before +referred to, had recently visited the post. + +That evening, too, for the first time since his dangerous wound, +Trooper Mullins awoke from his long delirium, weak as a little child; +asked for Norah, and what in the world was the matter with him--in bed +and bandages, and Dr. Graham, looking into the poor lad's dim, +half-opening eyes, sent a messenger to Captain Cutler's quarters to +ask would the captain come at once to hospital. This was at nine +o'clock. + +Less than two hours later a mounted orderly set forth with dispatches +from the temporary post commander to Colonel Byrne at Prescott. A wire +from that point about sundown had announced the safe arrival of the +party from Camp Sandy. The answer, sent at ten o'clock, broke up the +game of whist at the quarters of the inspector general. Byrne, the +recipient, gravely read it, backed from the table, and vainly strove +not to see the anxious inquiry in the eyes of Major Plume, his guest. +But Plume cornered him. + +"From Sandy?" he asked. "May I read it?" + +Byrne hesitated just one moment, then placed the paper in his junior's +hand. Plume read, turned very white, and the paper fell from his +trembling fingers. The message merely said: + + Mullins recovering and quite rational, though very weak. He + says two women were his assailants. Courier with dispatches + at once. + + (Signed) CUTLER, Commanding. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FIRE! + + +"It was not so much his wounds as his weakness," Dr. Graham was +saying, later still that autumn night, "that led to my declaring +Blakely unfit to take the field. He would have gone in spite of me, +but for the general's order. He has gone now in spite of me, and no +one knows where." + +It was then nearly twelve o'clock, and "the Bugologist" was still +abroad. Dinner, as usual since his mishap, had been sent over to him +from the officers' mess soon after sunset. His horse, or rather the +troop horse designated for his use, had been fed and groomed in the +late afternoon, and then saddled at seven o'clock and brought over to +the rear of the quarters by a stable orderly. + +There had been some demur at longer sending Blakely's meals from mess, +now reduced to an actual membership of two. Sandy was a "much married" +post in the latter half of the 70's, the bachelors of the commissioned +list being only three, all told,--Blakely, and Duane of the Horse, and +Doty of the Foot. With these was Heartburn, the contract doctor, and +now Duane and the doctor were out in the mountains and Blakely on sick +report, yet able to be about. Doty thought him able to come to mess. +Blakely, thinking he looked much worse than he felt, thanks to his +plastered jowl, stood on his rights in the matter and would not go. +There had been some demur on part of the stable sergeant of Wren's +troop as to sending over the horse. Few officers brought eastern-bred +horses to Arizona in those days. The bronco was best suited to the +work. An officer on duty could take out the troop horse assigned to +his use any hour before taps and no questions asked; but the sergeant +told Mr. Blakely's messenger that the lieutenant wasn't for duty, and +it might make trouble. It did. Captain Cutler sent for old Murray, the +veteran sergeant, and asked him did he not know his orders. He had +allowed a horse to be sent to a sick man--an officer not on duty--and +one the doctor had warned against exercise for quite a time, at least. +And now the officer was gone, so was the horse, and Cutler, being +sorely torn up by the revelations of the evening and dread of ill +befalling Blakely, was so injudicious as to hint to a soldier who had +worn chevrons much longer than he, Cutler, had worn shoulder-straps, +that the next thing to go would probably be his sergeant's bars, +whereat Murray went red to the roots of his hair--which "continued the +march" of the color,--and said, with a snap of his jaws, that he got +those chevrons, as he did his orders, from his troop commander. A +court might order them stricken off, but a captain couldn't, other +than his own. For which piece of impudence the veteran went +straightway to Sudsville in close arrest. Corporal Bolt was ordered to +take over his keys and the charge of the stables until the return of +Captain Wren, also this order--that no government horse should be sent +to Lieutenant Blakely hereafter until the lieutenant was declared by +the post surgeon fit for duty. + +There were left at the post, of each of the two cavalry troops, about +a dozen men to care for the stables, the barracks, and property. Seven +of these had gone with the convoy to Prescott, and, when Cutler +ordered half a dozen horsemen out at midnight to follow Blakely's +trail and try to find him, they had to draw on both troop stables, and +one of the designated men was the wretch Downs,--and Downs was not in +his bunk,--not anywhere about the quarters or corrals. It was nearly +one by the time the party started down the sandy road to the south, +Hart and his buckboard and a sturdy brace of mules joining them as +they passed the store. "We may need to bring him back in this," said +he, to Corporal Quirk. + +"An' what did ye fetch to bring him _to_ wid?" asked the corporal. +Hart touched lightly the breast of his coat, then clucked to his team. +"Faith, there's more than wan way of tappin' it then," said Quirk, but +the cavalcade moved on. + +The crescent moon had long since sunk behind the westward range, and +trailing was something far too slow and tedious. They spurred, +therefore, for the nearest ranch, five miles down stream, making their +first inquiry there. The inmates were slow to arise, but quick to +answer. Blakely had neither been seen nor heard of. Downs they didn't +wish to know at all. Indians hadn't been near the lower valley since +the "break" at the post the previous week. One of the inmates declared +he had ridden alone from Camp McDowell within three days, and there +wasn't a 'Patchie west of the Matitzal. Hart did all the questioning. +He was a business man and a brother. Soldiers, the ranchmen didn't +like--soldiers set too much value on government property. + +The trail ran but a few hundred yards east of the stream, and close to +the adobe walls of the ranch. Strom, the proprietor, got out his +lantern and searched below the point where the little troop had turned +off. No recent hoof-track, southbound, was visible. "He couldn't have +come this far," said he. "Better put back!" Put back they did, and by +the aid of Hart's lantern found the fresh trail of a government-shod +horse, turning to the east nearly two miles toward home. Quirk said a +bad word or two; borrowed the lantern and thoughtfully included the +flask; bade his men follow in file and plunged through the underbrush +in dogged pursuit. Hart and his team now could not follow. They waited +over half an hour without sign or sound from the trailers, then drove +swiftly back to the post. There was a light in the telegraph office, +and thither Hart went in a hurry. Lieutenant Doty, combining the +duties of adjutant and officer of the day, was up and making the +rounds. The sentries had just called off three o'clock. + +"Had your trouble for nothing, Hart," hailed the youngster cheerily. +"Where're the men?" + +"Followed his trail--turned to the east three miles below here," +answered the trader. + +"Three miles _below_! Why, man, he wasn't below. He met them up Beaver +Creek, an' brought 'em in." + +"Brought who in?" asked Hart, dropping his whip. "I don't understand." + +"Why, the scouts, or runners! Wren sent 'em in. He's had a sharp fight +up the mountains beyond Snow Lake. Three men wounded. You couldn't +have gone a mile before Blakely led 'em across No. 4's post. Ahorah +and another chap--'Patchie-Mohaves. We clicked the news up to Prescott +over an hour ago." + +The tin reflector at the office window threw the light of the +glass-framed candle straight upon Hart's rubicund face, and that face +was a study. He faltered a bit before he asked: + +"Did Blakely seem all right?--not used up, I mean?" + +"Seemed weak and tired, but the man is mad to go and join his troop +now--wants to go right out with Ahorah in the morning, and Captain +Cutler says no. Oh, they had quite a row!" + +They had had rather more than quite a row, if truth were told. Doty +had heard only a bit of it. Cutler had been taken by surprise when the +Bugologist appeared, two strange, wiry Apaches at his heels, and at +first had contented himself with reading Wren's dispatch, repeating it +over the wires to Prescott. Then he turned on Blakely, silently, +wearily waiting, seated at Doty's desk, and on the two Apaches, +silently, stolidly waiting, squatted on the floor. Cutler wished to +know how Blakely knew these couriers were coming, and how he came to +leave the post without permission. For a moment the lieutenant simply +gazed at him, unanswering, but when the senior somewhat sharply +repeated the question, in part, Blakely almost as sharply answered: "I +did not know they were coming nor that there was wrong in my going. +Major Plume required nothing of the kind when we were merely going out +for a ride." + +[Illustration: "BLAKELY LED 'EM ACROSS NO. 4'S POST"] + +This nettled Cutler. He had always said that Plume was lax, and here +was proof of it. "I might have wanted you--I _did_ want you, hours +ago, Mr. Blakely, and even Major Plume would not countenance his +officers spending the greater part of the night away from the post, +especially on a government horse," and there had Cutler the whip hand +of the scientist, and Blakely had sense enough to see it, yet not +sense enough to accept. He was nervous and irritable, as well as +tired. Graham had told him he was too weak to ride, yet he had gone, +not thinking, of course, to be gone so long, but gone deliberately, +and without asking the consent of the post commander. "My finding the +runners was an accident," he said, with some little asperity of tone +and manner. "In fact, I didn't find them. They found me. I had known +them both at the reservation. Have I your permission, sir"--this with +marked emphasis--"to take them for something to eat. They are very +hungry,--have come far, and wish to start early and rejoin Captain +Wren,--as I do, too." + +"They will start when _I_ am ready, Mr. Blakely," said Cutler, "and +you certainly will not start before. In point of fact, sir, you may +not be allowed to start at all." + +It was now Blakely's turn to redden to the brows. "You surely will not +prevent my going to join my troop, now that it is in contact with the +enemy," said he. "All I need is a few hours' sleep. I can start at +seven." + +"You cannot, with my consent, Mr. Blakely," said the captain dryly. +"There are reasons, in fact, why you can't leave here for any purpose +unless the general himself give contrary orders. Matters have come up +that--you'll probably have to explain." + +And here Doty entered, hearing only the captain's last. At sight of +his adjutant the captain stopped short in his reprimand. "See to it +that these runners have a good supper, Mr. Doty," said Cutler. "Stir +up my company cook, if need be, but take them with you now." Then, +turning again on Blakely, "The doctor wishes you to go to bed at once, +Mr. Blakely, and I will see you in the morning, but no more riding +away without permission," he concluded, and thereby closed the +interview. He had, indeed, other things to say to, and inquire of, +Blakely, but not until he had further consulted Graham. He confidently +expected the coming day would bring instructions from headquarters to +hold both Blakely and Trooper Downs at the post, as a result of his +dispatches, based on the revelation of poor Pat Mullins. But Downs, +forewarned, perhaps, had slipped into hiding somewhere--an old trick +of his, when punishment was imminent. It might be two or three days +before Downs turned up again, if indeed he turned up at all, but +Blakely was here and could be held. Hence the "horse order" of the +earlier evening. + +It was nearly two when Blakely reached his quarters, rebuffed and +stung. He was so nervous, however, that, in spite of serious fatigue, +he found it for over an hour impossible to sleep. He turned out his +light and lay in the dark, and the atmosphere of the room seemed +heavily charged with rank tobacco. His new "striker" had sat up, it +seems, keeping faithful vigil against his master's return, but, as the +hours wore on, had solaced himself with pipe after pipe, and wandering +about to keep awake. Most of the time, he declared, he had spent in a +big rocking chair on the porch at the side door, but the scent of the +weed and of that veteran pipe permeated the entire premises, and the +Bugologist hated dead tobacco. He got up and tore down the blanket +screen at the side windows and opened all the doors wide and tried his +couch again, and still he wooed the drowsy god in vain. "Nor poppy nor +mandragora" had he to soothe him. Instead there were new and anxious +thoughts to vex, and so another half hour he tossed and tumbled, and +when at last he seemed dropping to the borderland, perhaps, of dreams, +he thought he must be ailing again and in need of new bandages or +cooling drink or something, for the muffled footfalls, betrayed by +creaking pine rather than by other sound, told him drowsily that the +attendant or somebody, cautioned not to disturb him, was moving +slowly across the room. He might have been out on the side porch to +get cool water from the _olla_, but he needn't be so confoundedly slow +and cautious, though he couldn't help the creaking. Then, what could +the attendant want in the front room, where were still so many of the +precious glass cases unharmed, and the Bugologist's favorite books and +his big desk, littered with papers, etc.? Blakely thought to hail and +warn him against moving about among those brittle glass things, but +reflected that he, the new man, had done the reshifting under his, +Blakely's, supervision, and knew just where each item was placed and +how to find the passage way between them. It really was a trifle +intricate. How could he have gone into the spare room at Captain +Wren's, and there made his home as--she--Mrs. Plume had first +suggested? There would not have been room for half his plunder, to say +nothing of himself. "What on earth can Nixon want?" he sleepily asked +himself, "fumbling about there among those cases? Was that a crack or +a snap?" It sounded like both, a splitting of glass, a wrenching of +lock spring or something. "Be careful there!" he managed to call. No +answer. Perhaps it was some one of the big hounds, then, wandering +restlessly about at night. They often did, and--why, yes, that would +account for it. Doors and windows were all wide open here, what was to +prevent? Still, Blakely wished he hadn't extinguished his lamp. He +might then have explored. The sound ceased entirely for a moment, and, +now that he was quite awake, he remembered that the hospital attendant +was no longer with him. Then the sounds must have been made by the +striker or the hounds. Blakely had no dogs of his own. Indeed they +were common property at the post, most of them handed down with the +rest of the public goods and chattels by their predecessors of the ----th. +At all events, he felt far too languid, inert, weak, indifferent or +something. If the striker, he had doubtless come down for cool water. If +the hounds, they were in search of something to eat, and in either case +why bother about it? The incident had so far distracted his thoughts +from the worries of the night that now, at last and in good earnest, he +was dropping to sleep. + +But in less than twenty minutes he was broad awake again, with sudden +start--gasping, suffocating, listening in amaze to a volley of +snapping and cracking, half-smothered, from the adjoining room. He +sprang from his bed with a cry of alarm and flung himself through a +thick, hot veil of eddying, yet invisible, smoke, straight for the +communicating doorway, and was brought up standing by banging his head +against the resounding pine, tight shut instead of open as he had left +it, and refusing to yield to furious battering. It was locked, bolted, +or barred from the other side. Blindly he turned and rushed for the +side porch and the open air, stumbling against the striker as the +latter came clattering headlong down from aloft. Then together they +rushed to the parlor window, now cracking and splitting from the +furious heat within. A volume of black fume came belching forth, +driven and lashed by ruddy tongues of flame within, and their shouts +for aid went up on the wings of the dawn, and the infantry sentry on +the eastward post came running to see; caught one glimpse of the glare +at that southward window; bang went his rifle with a ring that came +echoing back from the opposite cliffs, as all Camp Sandy sprang from +its bed in answer to the stentorian shout "Fire! No. 5!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHOSE LETTERS? + + +There is something about a night alarm of fire at a military post that +borders on the thrilling. In the days whereof we write the buildings +were not the substantial creations of brick and stone to be seen +to-day, and those of the scattered "camps" and stations in that arid, +sun-scorched land of Arizona were tinder boxes of the flimsiest and +most inflammable kind. + +It could hardly have been a minute from the warning shot and yell of +No. 5--repeated right and left by other sentries and echoed by No. 1 +at the guard-house--before bugle and trumpet were blaring their fierce +alarm, and the hoarse roar of the drum was rousing the inmates of the +infantry barracks. Out they came, tumbling pell-mell into the +accustomed ranks, confronted by the sight of Blakely's quarters one +broad sheet of flame. With incredible speed the blaze had burst forth +from the front room on the lower floor; leaped from window to window, +from ledge to ledge; fastened instantly on overhanging roof, and the +shingled screen of the veranda; had darted up the dry wooden stairway, +devouring banister, railing, and snapping pine floor, and then, +billowing forth from every crack, crevice, and casement of the upper +floor streamed hissing and crackling on the blackness that precedes +the dawn, a magnificent glare that put to shame the feeble signal +fires lately gleaming in the mountains. Luckily there was no +wind--there never was a wind at Sandy--and the flames leaped straight +for the zenith, lashing their way into the huge black pillar of smoke +cloud sailing aloft to the stars. + +Under their sergeants, running in disciplined order, one company had +sped for the water wagon and were now slowly trundling that unwieldy +vehicle, pushing, pulling, straining at the wheels, from its night +berth close to the corrals. Rushing like mad, in no order at all, the +men of the other company came tearing across the open parade, and were +faced and halted far out in front of officers' row by Blakely himself, +barefooted and clad only in his pyjamas, but all alive with vim and +energy. + +"Back, men! back for your blankets!" he cried. "Bring ladders and +buckets! Back with you, lively!" They seemed to catch his meaning at +the instant. His soldier home with everything it contained was doomed. +Nothing could save it. But there stood the next quarters,--Truman's +and Westervelt's double set,--and in the intense heat that must +speedily develop, it might well be that the dry, resinous woodwork +that framed the adobe would blaze forth on its own account and spread +a conflagration down the line. Already Mrs. Truman, with Norah and the +children, was being hurried down to the doctor's, while Truman +himself, with the aid of two or three neighboring "strikers," had +stripped the beds of their single blanket and, bucketing these with +water, was slashing at the veranda roof and cornice along the +northward side. + +Somebody came with a short ladder, and in another moment three or four +adventurous spirits, led by Blakely and Truman, were scrambling about +the veranda roof, their hands and faces glowing in the gathering heat, +spreading blankets over the shingling and cornice. In five minutes all +that was left of Blakely's little homestead was gone up in smoke and +fierce, furious heat and flame, but the daring and well-directed +effort of the garrison had saved the rest of the line. In ten minutes +nothing but a heap of glowing beams and embers, within four crumbling +walls of adobe, remained of the "beetle shop." Bugs, butterflies, +books, chests, desk, trunks, furniture, papers, and such martial +paraphernalia as a subaltern might require in that desert land, had +been reduced to ashes before their owner's eyes. He had not saved so +much as a shoe. His watch, lying on the table by his bedside, a silk +handkerchief, and a little scrap of a note, written in girlish hand +and carried temporarily in the breast pocket, were the only items he +had managed to bring with him into the open air. He was still gasping, +gagging, half-strangling, when Captain Cutler accosted him to know if +he could give the faintest explanation of the starting of so strange +and perilous a fire, and Blakely, remembering the stealthy footsteps +and that locked or bolted door, could not but say he believed it +incendiary, yet could think of no possible motive. + +It was daybreak as the little group of spectators, women and children +of the garrison, began to break up and return to their homes, all +talking excitedly, all intolerant of the experiences of others, and +centered solely in the narrative of their own. Leaving a dozen men +with buckets, readily filled from the acequia which turned the old +water wheel just across the post of No. 4, and sending the big water +wagon down to the stream for another liquid load, the infantry went +back to their barracks and early coffee. The drenched blankets, one by +one, were stripped from the gable end of Truman's quarters, every +square inch of the paint thereon being now a patch of tiny blisters, +and there, as the dawn broadened and the pallid light took on again a +tinge of rose, the officers gathered about Blakely in his scorched and +soaked pyjamas, extending both condolence and congratulation. + +"The question is, Blakely," remarked Captain Westervelt dryly, "will +you go to Frisco to refit now, or wait till Congress reimburses?" +whereat the scientist was observed to smile somewhat ruefully. "The +question is, Bugs," burst in young Doty irrepressibly, "will you wear +this rig, or Apache full dress, when you ride after Wren? The runners +start at six," whereat even the rueful smile was observed to vanish, +and without answer Blakely turned away, stepping gingerly into the +heated sand with his bare white feet. + +"Don't bother about dousing anything else, sergeant," said he +presently, to the soldier supervising the work of the bucket squad. +"The iron box should be under what's left of my desk--about there," +and he indicated a charred and steaming heap, visible through a gap in +the doubly baked adobe that had once been the side window. "Lug that +out as soon as you can cool things off. I'll probably be back by that +time." Then, turning again to the group of officers, and ignoring +Doty--Blakely addressed himself to the senior. + +"Captain Cutler," said he, "I can fit myself out at the troop quarters +with everything I need for the field, at least, and wire to San +Francisco for what I shall need when we return. I shall be ready to go +with Ahorah at six." + +There was a moment of silence. Embarrassment showed plainly in almost +every face. When Cutler spoke it was with obvious effort. Everybody +realized that Blakely, despite severe personal losses, had been the +directing head in checking the progress of the flames. Truman had +borne admirable part, but Blakely was at once leader and actor. He +deserved well of his commander. He was still far from strong. He was +weak and weary. His hands and face were scorched and in places +blistered, yet, turning his back on the ruins of his treasures, he +desired to go at once to join his comrades in the presence of the +enemy. He had missed every previous opportunity of sharing perils and +battle with them. He could afford such loss as that no longer, in view +of what he knew had been said. He had every right, so thought they +all, to go, yet Cutler hesitated. When at last he spoke it was to +temporize. + +"You're in no condition for field work, Mr. Blakely," said he. "The +doctor has so assured me, and just now things are taking such shape +I--need you here." + +"You will permit me to appeal by wire, sir?" queried Blakely, standing +attention in his bedraggled night garb, and forcing himself to a +semblance of respect that he was far from feeling. + +"I--I will consult Dr. Graham and let you know," was the captain's +awkward reply. + +Two hours later Neil Blakely, in a motley dress made up of collections +from the troop and trader's stores--a combination costume of blue +flannel shirt, bandanna kerchief, cavalry trousers with machine-made +saddle piece, Tonto moccasins and leggings, fringed gauntlets and a +broad-brimmed white felt hat, strode into the messroom in quest of +eggs and coffee. Doty had been there and vanished. Sick call was +sounding and Graham was stalking across the parade in the direction of +the hospital, too far away to be reached by human voice, unless +uplifted to the pitch of attracting the whole garrison. The telegraph +operator had just clicked off the last of half a dozen messages +scrawled by the lieutenant--orders on San Francisco furnishers for the +new outfit demanded by the occasion, etc., but Captain Cutler was +still mured within his own quarters, declining to see Mr. Blakely +until ready to come to the office. Ahorah and his swarthy partner were +already gone, "started even before six," said the acting sergeant +major, and Blakely was fuming with impatience and sense of something +much amiss. Doty was obviously dodging him, there could be no doubt +of that, for the youngster was between two fires, the post commander's +positive orders on one hand and Blakely's urgent pleadings on the +other. + +Over at "C" Troop's quarters was the lieutenant's saddle, ready packed +with blanket, greatcoat, and bulging saddle-bags. Over in "C" Troop's +stables was Deltchay--the lieutenant's bronco charger, ready fed and +groomed, wondering why he was kept in when the other horses were out +at graze. With the saddle kit were the troop carbine and revolver, +Blakely's personal arms being now but stockless tubes of seared and +blistered steel. Back of "C" Troop's quarters lolled a half-breed +Mexican packer, with a brace of mules, one girt with saddle, the other +in shrouding aparejo--diamond-hitched, both borrowed from the post +trader with whom Blakely's note of hand was good as a government four +per cent.--all ready to follow the lieutenant to the field whither +right and duty called him. There, too, was Nixon, the new "striker," +new clad as was his master, and full panoplied for the field, yet +bemoaning the loss of soldier treasures whose value was never fully +realized until they were irrevocably gone. Six o'clock, six-thirty, +six-forty-five and even seven sped by and still there came no summons +to join the soldier master. There had come instead, when Nixon urged +that he be permitted to lead forth both his own troop horse and +Deltchay, the brief, but significant reply: "Shut yer gab, Nixon. +There's no horse goes till the captain says so!" + +At seven o'clock, at last, the post commander came forth from his +doorway; saw across the glaring level of the parade the form of Mr. +Blakely impatiently pacing the veranda at the adjutant's office, and, +instead of going thither, as was his wont, Captain Cutler turned the +other way and strode swiftly to the hospital, where Graham met him at +the bedside of Trooper patient Patrick Mullins. "How is he?" queried +Cutler. + +"Sleeping--thank God--and not to be wakened," was the Scotchman's +answer. "He had a bad time of it during the fire." + +"What am I to tell Blakely?" demanded Cutler, seeking strength for his +faltering hand. "You're bound to help me now, Graham." + +"Let him go and you _may_ make it worse," said the doctor, with a +clamp of his grizzled jaws. "Hold him here and you're sure to." + +"Can't you, as post surgeon, tell him he isn't fit to ride?" + +"Not when he rides the first half of the night and puts out a nasty +fire the last. Can't you, as post commander, tell him you forbid his +going till you hear from Byrne and investigate the fire?" If Graham +had no patience with a frail woman, he had nothing but contempt for a +weak man. "If he's bound to be up and doing something, though," he +added, "send him out with a squad of men and orders to hunt for +Downs." + +Cutler had never even thought of it. Downs was still missing. No one +had seen him. His haunts had been searched to no purpose. His horse +was still with the herd. One man, the sergeant of the guard, the +previous day, had marked the brief farewell between the missing man +and the parting maid--had seen the woman's gloved hand stealthily put +forth and the little folded packet passed to the soldier's ready palm. +What that paper contained no man ventured to conjecture. Cutler and +Graham, notified by Sergeant Kenna of what he had seen, puzzled over +it in vain. Norah Shaughnessy could perhaps unravel it, thought the +doctor, but he did not say. + +Cutler came forth from the shaded depths of the broad hallway to face +the dazzling glare of the morning sunshine, and the pale, stern, +reproachful features of the homeless lieutenant, who simply raised his +hand in salute and said: "I've been ready two hours, sir, and the +runners are long gone." + +"Too long and too far for you to catch them now," said Cutler, +catching at another straw. "And there is far more important matter +here. Mr. Blakely, I want that man Downs followed, found, and brought +back to this post, and you're the only man to do it. Take a dozen +troopers, if necessary, and set about it, sir, at once." + +A soldier was at the moment hurrying past the front of the hospital, a +grimy-looking packet in his hand. Hearing the voice of Captain Cutler, +he turned, saw Lieutenant Blakely standing there at attention, saw +that, as the captain finished, Blakely still remained a moment as +though about to speak--saw that he seemed a trifle dazed or stunned. +Cutler marked it, too. "This is imperative and immediate, Mr. +Blakely," said he, not unkindly. "Pull yourself together if you are +fit to go at all, and lose no more time." With that he started away. +Graham had come to the doorway, but Blakely never seemed to see him. +Instead he suddenly roused and, turning sharp, sprang down the wooden +steps as though to overtake the captain, when the soldier, saluting, +held forth the dingy packet. + +"It was warped out of all shape, sir," said he. "The blacksmith pried +out the lid wid a crowbar. The books are singed and soaked and the +packages charred--all but this." + +It fell apart as it passed from hand to hand, and a lot of letters, +smoke-stained, scorched at the edges, and some of them soaking wet, +also two or three _carte de visite_ photographs, were scattered on the +sand. Both men bobbed in haste to gather them up, and Graham came +hurriedly down to help. As Blakely straightened again he swayed and +staggered slightly, and the doctor grasped him by the arm, a sudden +clutch that perhaps shook loose some of the recovered papers from the +long, slim fingers. At all events, a few went suddenly back to earth, +and, as Cutler turned, wondering what was amiss, he saw Blakely, with +almost ashen face, supported by the doctor's sturdy arm to a seat on +the edge of the piazza; saw, as he quickly retraced his steps, a sweet +and smiling woman's face looking up at him out of the trampled sands, +and, even as he stooped to recover the pretty photograph, though it +looked far younger, fairer, and more winsome than ever he had seen it, +Cutler knew the face at once. It was that of Clarice, wife of Major +Plume. Whose, then, were those scattered letters? + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AUNT JANET BRAVED + + +Nightfall of a weary day had come. Camp Sandy, startled from sleep in +the dark hour before the dawn, had found topic for much exciting talk, +and was getting tired as the twilight waned. No word had come from the +party sent in search of Downs, now deemed a deserter. No sign of him +had been found about the post. No explanation had occurred to either +Cutler or Graham of the parting between Elise and the late "striker." +She had never been known to notice or favor him in any way before. Her +smiles and coquetries had been lavished on the sergeants. In Downs +there was nothing whatsoever to attract her. It was not likely she had +given him money, said Cutler, because he was about the post all that +day after the Plumes' departure and with never a sign of inebriety. He +could not himself buy whisky, but among the ranchmen, packers, and +prospectors forever hanging about the post there were plenty ready to +play middleman for anyone who could supply the cash, and in this way +were the orders of the post commander made sometimes abortive. Downs +was gone, that was certain, and the question was, which way? + +A sergeant and two men had taken the Prescott road; followed it to +Dick's Ranch, in the Cherry Creek Valley, and were assured the missing +man had never gone that way. Dick was himself a veteran trooper of +the ----th. He had invested his savings in this little estate and +settled thereon to grow up with the country--the Stannards' winsome +Millie having accepted a life interest in him and his modest property. +They knew every man riding that trail, from the daily mail messenger +to the semi-occasional courier. Their own regiment had gone, but they +had warm interest in its successors. They knew Downs, had known him +ever since his younger days when, a trig young Irish-Englishman, some +Londoner's discharged valet, he had 'listed in the cavalry, as he +expressed it, to reform. A model of temperance, soberness, and +chastity was Downs between times, and his gifts as groom of the +chambers, as well as groom of the stables, made him, when a model, +invaluable to bachelor officers in need of a competent soldier +servant. In days just after the great war he had won fame and money as +a light rider. It was then that Lieutenant Blake had dubbed him +"Epsom" Downs, and well-nigh quarreled with his chum, Lieutenant Ray, +over the question of proprietorship when the two were sent to separate +stations and Downs was "striking" for both. Downs settled the matter +by getting on a seven-days' drunk, squandering both fame and money, +and, though forgiven the scriptural seventy times seven (during which +term of years his name was changed to Ups and Downs), finally +forfeited the favor of both these indulgent masters and became +thereafter simply Downs, with no ups of sufficient length to restore +the average--much less to redeem him. And yet, when eventually +"bobtailed" out of the ----th, he had turned up at the old arsenal +recruiting depot at St. Louis, clean-shaven, neat, deft-handed, +helpful, to the end that an optimistic troop commander "took him on +again," in the belief that a reform had indeed been inaugurated. But, +like most good soldiers, the commander referred to knew little of +politics or potables, otherwise he would have set less store by the +strength of the reform movement and more by that of the potations. +Downs went so far on the highroad to heaven this time as to drink +nothing until his first payday. Meantime, as his captain's mercury, +messenger, and general utility man, moving much in polite society at +the arsenal and in town, he was frequently to be seen about +Headquarters of the Army, then established by General Sherman as far +as possible from Washington and as close to the heart of St. Louis. He +learned something of the ins and outs of social life in the gay city, +heard much theory and little truth about the time that Lieutenant +Blakely, returning suddenly thereto after an absence of two months, +during which time frequent letters had passed between him and Clarice +Latrobe, found that Major Plume had been her shadow for weeks, her +escort to dance after dance, her companion riding, driving, dining day +after day. Something of this Blakely had heard in letters from +friends. Little or nothing thereof had he heard from her. The public +never knew what passed between them (Elise, her maid, was better +informed). But Blakely within the day left town again, and within the +week there appeared the announcement of her forthcoming marriage, +Plume the presumably happy man. Downs got full the first payday after +his re-enlistment, as has been said, and drunk, as in duty bound, at +the major's "swagger" wedding. It was after this episode he fell +utterly from grace and went forth to the frontier irreclaimably +"Downs." It was a seven-days' topic of talk at Sandy that Lieutenant +Blakely, when acting Indian agent at the reservation, should have +accepted the services of this unpromising specimen as "striker." It +was a seven-weeks' wonder that Downs kept the pact, and sober as a +judge, from the hour he joined the Bugologist to the night that +self-contained young officer was sent crashing into his beetle show +under the impact of Wren's furious fist. Then came the last pound that +broke the back of Downs' wavering resolution, and now had come--what? +The sergeant and party rode back from Dick's to tell Captain Cutler +the deserter had not taken the Cherry Creek road. Another party just +in reported similarly that he had not taken the old, abandoned Grief +Hill trail. Still another returned from down-stream ranches to say he +could not have taken that route without being seen--and he had not +been seen. Ranchman Strom would swear to that because Downs was in his +debt for value received in shape of whisky, and Strom was rabid at the +idea of his getting away. In fine, as nothing but Downs was missing, +it became a matter of speculation along toward tattoo as to whether +Downs could have taken anything at all--except possibly his own life. + +Cutler was now desirous of questioning Blakely at length, and +obtaining his views and theories as to Downs, for Cutler believed that +Blakely had certain well-defined views which he was keeping to +himself. Between these two, however, had grown an unbridgeable gulf. +Dr. Graham had declared at eight o'clock that morning that Mr. Blakely +was still so weak that he ought not to go with the searching parties, +and on receipt of this dictum Captain Cutler had issued his, to wit, +that Blakely should not go either in search of Downs or in pursuit of +Captain Wren. It stung Blakely and angered him even against Graham, +steeling him against the post commander. Each of these gentlemen +begged him to make his temporary home under his roof, and Blakely +would not. "Major Plume's quarters are now vacant, then," said Cutler +to Graham. "If he won't come to you or to me, let him take a room +there." This, too, Blakely refused. He reddened, what is more, at the +suggestion. He sent Nixon down to Mr. Hart's, the trader's, to ask if +he could occupy a spare room there, and when Hart said, yes, most +certainly, Cutler reddened in turn when told of it, and sent +Lieutenant Doty, the adjutant, to say that the post commander could +not "consent to an officer's occupying quarters outside the garrison +when there was abundant room within." Then came Truman and Westervelt +to beg Blakely to come to them. Then came a note from Mrs. Sanders, +reminding him that, as an officer of the cavalry, it would be casting +reflections on his own corps to go and dwell with aliens. "Captain +Sanders would never forgive me," said she, "if you did not take our +spare room. Indeed, I shall feel far safer with a man in the house now +that we are having fires and Indian out-breaks and prisoners escaping +and all that sort of thing. _Do_ come, Mr. Blakely." And in that blue +flannel shirt and the trooper trousers and bandanna neckerchief, +Blakely went and thanked her; sent for Nixon and his saddle-bags, and +with such patience as was possible settled down forthwith. Truth to +tell it was high time he settled somewhere, for excitement, exposure, +physical ill, and mental torment had told upon him severely. At +sunset, as he seemed too miserable to leave his room and come to the +dining table, Mrs. Sanders sent for the doctor, and reluctantly +Blakely let him in. + +That evening, just after tattoo had sounded, Kate Sanders and Angela +were having murmured conference on the Wrens' veranda. Aunt Janet had +gone to hospital to carry unimpeachable jelly to the several patients +and dubious words of cheer. Jelly they absorbed with much avidity and +her words with meek resignation. Mullins, she thought, after his +dreadful experience and close touch with death, must be in receptive +mood and repentant of his sins. Of just what sins to repent poor Pat +might still be unsettled in his mind. It was sufficient that he had +them, as all soldiers must have, said Miss Wren, and now that his +brain seemed clearing and the fever gone and he was too weak and +helpless to resist, the time seemed ripe for the sowing of good seed, +and Janet went to sow. + +But there by Mullins's bed, all unabashed at Janet's marked +disapprobation, sat Norah Shaughnessy. There, in flannel shirt and +trooper trousers and bandanna neckerchief, pale, but collected, stood +the objectionable Mr. Blakely. He was bending over, saying something +to Mullins, as she halted in the open doorway, and Blakely, looking +quickly up, went with much civility to greet and escort her within. To +his courteous, "Good-evening, Miss Wren, may I relieve you of your +basket?" she returned prompt negative and, honoring him with no +further notice, stood and gazed with Miss Shaughnessy at the +focus--Miss Shaughnessy who, after one brief glance, turned a broad +Irish back on the intruder at the doorway and resumed her murmuring to +Mullins. + +"Is the doctor here--or Steward Griffin?" spoke the lady, to the room +at large, looking beyond the lieutenant and toward the single soldier +attendant present. + +"The doctor and the steward are both at home just now, Miss Wren," +said Blakely. "May I offer you a chair?" + +Miss Wren preferred to stand. + +"I wish to speak with Steward Griffin," said she again. "Can you go +for him?" this time obviously limiting her language to the attendant +himself, and carefully excluding Mr. Blakely from the field of her +recognition. The attendant dumbly shook his head. So Aunt Janet tried +again. + +"Norah, _you_ know where the steward lives, will you--" But Blakely +saw rebellion awake again in Ireland and interposed. + +"The steward shall be here at once, Miss Wren," said he, and tiptoed +away. The lady's doubtful eye turned and followed him a moment, then +slowly she permitted herself to enter. Griffin, heading for the +dispensary at the moment and apprised of her visit, came hurrying in. +Blakely, pondering over the few words Mullins had faintly spoken, +walked slowly over toward the line. His talk with Graham had in a +measure stilled the spirit of rancor that had possessed him earlier in +the day. Graham, at least, was stanch and steadfast, not a weathercock +like Cutler. Graham had given him soothing medicine and advised his +strolling a while in the open air--he had slept so much of the +stifling afternoon--and now, hearing the sound of women's voices on +the dark veranda nearest him, he veered to the left, passed around the +blackened ruin of his own quarters and down along the rear of the line +just as the musician of the guard was sounding "Lights Out"--"Taps." + +And then a sudden thought occurred to him. Sentries began challenging +at taps. He was close to the post of No. 5. He could even see the +shadowy form of the sentry slowly pacing toward him, and here he stood +in the garb of a private soldier instead of his official dress. It +caused him quickly to veer again, to turn to his right, the west, and +to enter the open space between the now deserted quarters of the +permanent commander and those of Captain Wren adjoining them to the +north. Another moment and he stopped short. Girlish voices, low and +murmurous, fell upon his ear. In a moment he had recognized them. "It +won't take me two minutes, Angela. I'll go and get it now," were the +first words distinctly heard, and, with a rustle of skirts, Kate +Sanders bounded lightly from the piazza to the sands and disappeared +around the corner of the major's quarters, going in the direction of +her home. For the first time in many eventful days Blakely stood +almost within touch of the girl whose little note was even then +nestling in an inner pocket, and they were alone. + +"Miss Angela!" + +Gently he spoke her name, but the effect was startling. She had been +reclining in a hammock, and at sound of his voice struggled suddenly +to a sitting posture, a low cry on her lips. In some strange way, in +the darkness, the fright, confusion,--whatever it may have been,--she +lost her balance and her seat. The hammock whirled from under her, and +with exasperating thump, unharmed but wrathful, the girl was tumbled +to the resounding floor. Blakely sprang to her aid, but she was up in +the split of a second, scorning, or not seeing, his eager, +outstretched hand. + +"My--Miss Angela!" he began, all anxiety and distress, "I hope you're +not hurt," and the outstretched hands were trembling. + +"I _know_ I'm not," was the uncompromising reply, "not in the least; +startled--that's all! Gentlemen don't usually come upon one that +way--in the dark." She was panting a bit, but striving bravely, +angrily, to be calm and cool--icy cool. + +"Nor would I have come that way," then, stupidly, "had I known you +were--here. Forgive me." + +How could she, after that? She had no wish to see him, so she had +schooled herself. She would decline to see him, were he to ask for her +at the door; but, not for an instant did she wish to hear that he did +not wish to see her, yet he had haplessly, brusquely said he wouldn't +have come had he known she was there. It was her duty to leave him, +instantly. It was her desire first to punish him. + +"My aunt is not at home," she began, the frost of the Sierras in her +tone. + +"I just left her, a moment ago, at the hospital," said he, steadfastly +ignoring her repellent tone. Indeed, if anything, the tone rejoiced +him, for it told a tale she would not have told for realms and +empires. He was ten years older and had lived. "But--forgive me," he +went on, "you are trembling, Miss Angela." She was, and loathed +herself, and promptly denied it. He gravely placed a chair. "You fell +heavily, and it must have jarred you. Please sit down," and stepping +to the _olla_, "let me bring you some water." + +She was weak. Her knees, her hands, were shaking as they never shook +before. He had seen her aunt at the hospital. He had left her aunt +there without a moment's delay that he might hasten to see her, +Angela. He was here and bending over her, with brimming gourd of cool +spring water. Nay, more, with one hand he pressed it to her lips, with +the other he held his handkerchief so that the drops might not fall +upon her gown. He was bending over her, so close she could hear, she +thought, the swift beating of his heart. She knew that if what Aunt +Janet had told, and her father had seen, of him were true, she would +rather die than suffer a touch of his hand. Yet one hand had touched +her, gently, yet firmly, as he helped her to the chair, and the touch +she loathed was sweet to her in spite of herself. From the moment of +their first meeting this man had done what no other man had done +before--spoken to her and treated her as a grown woman, with a man's +admiration in his fine blue eyes, with deference in word and chivalric +grace in manner. And in spite of the mean things whispered about +him--about him and--anybody, she had felt her young heart going out to +him, her buoyant, joyous, healthful nature opening and expanding in +the sunshine of his presence. And now he had come to seek her, after +all the peril and excitement and trouble he had undergone, and now, +all loverlike tenderness and concern, was bending over her and +murmuring to her, his deep voice almost as tremulous as her hand. Oh, +it couldn't be true that he--cared for--was interested in--that woman, +the major's wife! Not that she _ought_ to care one way or another, +except that it was so despicable--so unlike him. Yet she had promised +herself--had virtually promised her father--that she would hold far +aloof from this man, and here he stood, so close that their +heart-beats almost intermingled, and he was telling her that he wished +she had kept and never returned the little butterfly net, for now, +when it had won a value it never before had known, it was his fate to +lose it. "And now," he said, "I hope to be sent to-morrow to join your +father in the field, and I wish to tell you that, whenever I go, I +shall first come to see what you may have to send to him. Will you--be +here, Miss Angela?" + +For a moment--silence. She was thinking of her duty to her father, of +her implied promise, of all that Janet had told her, and so thinking +could not for the moment answer--could not meet his earnest gaze. Dark +as it was she felt, rather than saw, the glow of his deep blue eyes. +She could not mistake the tenderness of his tone. She had so believed +in him. He seemed so far above the callow, vapid, empty-headed +youngsters the other girls were twittering about from morn till night. +She felt that she believed in him now, no matter what had been said or +who had said it. She felt that if he would but say it was all a +mistake--that no woman had crossed his threshold, all Camp Sandy might +swear to the truth of the story, and she would laugh at it. But how +could she ask such a thing of him? Her cheeks took fire at the +thought. It was he who broke the silence. + +"Something has happened to break your faith in me, Miss Angela," said +he, with instant gravity. "I certainly had it--I _know_ I had it--not +a week ago"; and now he had dropped to a seat in the swaying hammock, +and with calm strength and will bent toward her and compelled her +attention. "I have a right to know, as matters stand. Will you tell +me, or must I wait until I see your father?" With that Neil Blakely +actually sought to take her hand. She whipped it behind her at the +instant. "Will you tell me?" he repeated, bending closer. + +From down the line, dancing along the wooden veranda, came the sound +of swift footfalls--Kate Sanders hurrying back. Another moment and it +would be too late. The denial she longed to hear from his lips might +never be spoken. If spoken at all it must be here and now, yet how +could she--how could _she_ ask _him_? + +"I will tell you, Mr. Blakely." The words came from the window of the +darkened parlor, close at hand. The voice was that of Janet Wren, +austere and uncompromising. "I got here in time to hear your +question--I will answer for my niece--" + +"Aunt Janet--No!" + +"Be quiet, Angela. Mr. Blakely, it is because this child's father saw, +and I heard of, that which makes you unworthy the faith of a young, +pure-hearted girl. Who was the--the creature to whom you opened your +door last Wednesday midnight?" + +Kate Sanders, singing softly, blithely, came tripping along the +major's deserted veranda, her fresh young voice, glad, yet subdued, +caroling the words of a dear old song that Parepa had made loved and +famous full ten years before: + + "And as he lingered by her side, + In spite of his comrade's warning + The old, old story was told again + At five o'clock in the morning." + +Then came sudden silence, as springing to the sandy ground, the singer +reached the Wrens' veranda and saw the dim form of Mr. Blakely, +standing silently confronting a still dimmer form, faintly visible at +the side window against the soft, tempered light of the hanging lamp +in the hall. + +"Who was the creature?" I repeat, were the strange words, in Miss +Wren's most telling tone, that brought Kate Sanders to a halt, +startled, silent. + +Then Blakely answered: "Some day I shall tell Miss Angela, madam, but +never--you. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A CALL FOR HELP + + +That night the wire across the mountains to Prescott was long alive +with news, and there was little rest for operator, adjutant, or +commanding officer at Sandy. Colonel Byrne, it seems, had lost +telegraphic touch with his chief, who, quitting Camp McDowell, had +personally taken the field somewhere over in the Tonto Basin beyond +the Matitzal Range, and Byrne had the cares of a continent on his +hands. Three of the five commands out in the field had had sharp +encounters with the foe. Official business itself was sufficiently +engrossing, but there were other matters assuming grave proportions. +Mrs. Plume had developed a feverish anxiety to hie on to the Pacific +and out of Arizona just at a time when, as her husband had to tell +her, it was impossible for him, and impolitic for her, to go. Matters +at Sandy, he explained, were in tangled shape. Mullins partially +restored, but still, as Plume assured her, utterly out of his head, +had declared that his assailants were women; and other witnesses, +Plume would not give names, had positively asserted that Elise had +been seen along the sentry post just about the time the stabbing +occurred. Everything now, said he, must depend on Captain Wren, who +was known to have seen and spoken to Elise, and who could probably +testify that she returned to their roof before the tragic affair of +the night. But Wren was now away up in the mountains beyond Snow Lake +and might be going far over through Sunset Pass to the Colorado +Chiquito. Meantime he, Plume, was responsible for Elise, in duty bound +to keep her there to face any accuser. In her nervous, semi-hysterical +state the wife could not well be told how much she, too, was involved. +It was not necessary. She knew--all Fort Whipple, as Prescott's +military post was called, knew all about the fire that had destroyed +the "beetle shop" and Blakely's belongings. Elise, in wild excitement, +had rushed to her mistress with that news and the further information +that Downs was gone and could not be found. This latter fact, indeed, +they learned before Plume ever heard of it--and made no mention of it +in his presence. + +"I shall have to run down to Sandy again," said Byrne, to Plume. "Keep +up your heart and--watch that Frenchwoman. The jade!" And with the +following day he was bounding and bumping down the stony road that led +from the breezy, pine-crested heights about headquarters to the sandy +flats and desert rocks and ravines fifty miles to the east and +twenty-five hundred feet below. "Shall be with you after dark," he +wired Cutler, who was having a bad quarter of an hour on his own +account, and wishing all Sandy to the devil. It had transpired that +Strom's rival ranchman, a little farther down the valley, was short +just one horse and set of horse equipments. He had made no complaint. +He had accused nobody. He had never failed in the past to appear at +Sandy with charge of theft and demand for damages at the expense of +the soldiery whenever he missed an item, big or little--and sometimes +when he didn't miss a thing. But now he came not at all, and Cutler +jumped at the explanation: he had sold that steed, and Downs, the +deserter, was the purchaser. Downs must have had money to aid in his +escape. Downs must have received it from someone eager to get him out +of the way. It might well be Elise, for who else would trust him? and +Downs must be striking for the south, after wide _détour_. No use now +to chase him. The wire was the only thing with which to round him up, +so the stage stations on the Gila route, and the scattered army posts, +were all notified of the desertion, and Downs's description, with all +his imperfections, was flashed far and wide over the Territory. He +could no more hope to escape than fly on the wings of night. He would +be cut off or run down long before he could reach Mexico; that is, he +_would_ be if only troopers got after him. The civil list of Arizona +in 1875 was of peculiar constitution. It stood ready at any time to +resolve itself into a modification of the old-day underground +railways, and help spirit off soldier criminals, first thoughtfully +relieving them of care and responsibility for any surplus funds in +their possession. + +And with Downs gone one way, Wren's troop gone another, and Blakely +here clamoring to follow, Cutler was mentally torn out of shape. He +believed it his duty to hold Blakely at least until the colonel came, +and he lacked the "sand" to tell him so. + +From Wren not another word had been received direct, but Bridger at +the agency had sent word that the Indians there were constantly in +receipt of news from the hostiles that filled them with excitement. +Wren, at last accounts, had gone into the mountains south of Sunset +Pass toward Chevlon's Fork, and his trail was doubtless watched to +head off couriers or cut down stragglers. Blakely's appeal to be +allowed to follow and join his troop had been declared foolish, and +the attempt foolhardy, by Captain Cutler. This and not the real reason +was given, coupled of course, with the doctor's dictum. But even +Graham had begun to think Blakely would be the better for anything +that would take him away from a station where life had been one swift +succession of ills and mishaps. + +And even Graham did not dream how sorely Blakely had been hit. Nor +could he account for the access of nervous irritability that possessed +his patient all the livelong day, while waiting, as they all were, for +the coming of Colonel Byrne. Mrs. Sanders declared to Mrs. Graham her +private impression that he was on the verge of prostration, although, +making an effort, Blakely had appeared at breakfast after an early +morning walk, had been most courteous, gentle, and attentive to her +and to her wholesome, if not actually homely, Kate. How the mother's +heart yearned over that sweet-natured, sallow-faced child! But after +breakfast Blakely had wandered off again and was out on the _mesa_, +peering through a pair of borrowed glasses over the dreary eastward +landscape and up and down the deep valley. "How oddly are we +constituted!" said Mrs. Sanders. "If I only had his money, I'd never +be wearing my heart out in this desert land." She was not the only +army wife and mother that should have married a stockbroker--anything +rather than a soldier. + +The whole post knew by noon that Byrne was coming, and waited with +feverish impatience. Byrne was the power that would put an end to the +doubts and distractions, decide who stabbed Pat Mullins, who set fire +to the "beetle shop," where Epsom Downs had gone, and could even +settle, possibly, the long-doubtful question, "Who struck Billy +Patterson?" Sandy believed in Byrne as it did in no one since the days +of General Crook. With two exceptions, all Sandy society was out on +the parade, the porticoes, or the northward bluff, as the sun went +down. These two were the Misses Wren. "Angela," said Miss Janet, "is +keeping her room to-day, and pretending to keep her temper"--this to +Kate Sanders, who had twice sought admission, despite a girlish awe +of, if not aversion to, this same Aunt Janet. + +"But don't you think she'd like to see me just a little while, Miss +Wren?" the girl inquired, her hand caressing the sleek head of one of +the big hounds as she spoke. Hounds were other objects of Miss Wren's +disfavor. "Lazy, pilfering brutes," she called them, when after hours +of almost incredible labor and ingenious effort they had managed to +tear down, and to pieces, a haunch of venison she had slung to the +rafters of the back porch. "You can come in, Kate, provided you keep +out the dogs," was her ungracious answer, "and I'll go see. I think +she's sleeping now, and ought not to be disturbed." + +"Then I won't disturb her," was Miss Sanders's prompt reply, as she +turned away and would have gone, but the elder restrained her. Janet +did not wish the girl to go at all. She knew Angela had asked for her, +and doubtless longed to see her; and now, having administered her +feline scratch and made Kate feel the weight of her disapproval, she +was quite ready to promote the very interview she had verbally +condemned. Perhaps Miss Sanders saw and knew this and preferred to +worry Miss Wren as much as possible. At all events, only with +reluctance did she obey the summons to wait a minute, and stood with a +pout on her lips as the spinster vanished in the gloom of the hallway. +Angela could not have been asleep, for her voice was audible in an +instant. "Come up, Kate," she feebly cried, just as Aunt Janet had +begun her little sermon, and the sermon had to stop, for Kate Sanders +came, and neither lass was in mood to listen to pious exhortation. +Moreover, they made it manifest to Aunt Janet that there would be no +interchange of confidences until she withdrew. "You are not to talk +yourselves into a pitch of excitement," said she. "Angela must sleep +to-night to make up for the hours she lost--thanks to the abominable +remarks of that hardened young man." With that, after a pull at the +curtain, a soothing thump or two at Angela's pillow, and the muttered +wish that the coming colonel were empowered to arrest recalcitrant +nieces as well as insubordinate subs, she left them to their own +devices. They were still in eager, almost breathless chat when the +crack of whip and sputter of hoofs and wheels through gravelly sands +told that the inspector's ambulance had come. Was it likely that +Angela could sleep until she heard the probable result of the +inspector's coming? + +He was closeted first with Cutler. Then Dr. Graham was sent for, and +the three walked over to the hospital, just as the musicians were +forming for tattoo. They were at Mullins's bedside, with the steward +and attendants outside, when taps went wailing out upon the night. +There were five minutes of talk with that still bewildered patient. +Then Byrne desired to see Mr. Blakely at once and alone. Cutler +surrendered his office to the department inspector, and thither the +lieutenant was summoned. Mrs. Sanders, with Mrs. Truman, was keeping +little Mrs. Bridger company at the moment, and Blakely bowed +courteously to the three in passing by. + +"Even in that rough dress," said Mrs. Sanders reflectively, as her +eyes followed the tall, straight figure over the moonlit parade, "he +is a most distinguished looking man." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Bridger, still unappeased. "If he were a Sioux, I +suppose they'd call him 'Man-In-Love-With-His-Legs.'" Blakely heard +the bubble of laughter that followed him on his way, and wished that +he, too, felt in mood as merry. The acting sergeant major, a clerk, +and young Cassidy, the soldier telegraph operator, seated at the +westward end of the rough board porch of the adjutant's office, arose +and saluted as he entered. Byrne had sent every possible hearer out of +the building. + +Five minutes the conference lasted, no sound coming from within. +Cutler and Graham, with Captain Westervelt, sat waiting on the porch +of the doctor's quarters, Mrs. Graham being busy with her progeny +aloft. Others of the officers and families were also on the piazzas, +or strolling slowly up and down the pathway, but all eyes wandered +from time to time toward the dim light at the office. All was dark at +the barracks. All was hushed and still about the post. The sentry call +for half-past ten was still some minutes' distant, when one of the +three seated figures at the end of the office porch was seen to rise. +Then the other two started to their feet. The first hastened to the +door and began to knock. So breathless was the night that over on the +verandas the imperative thumping could be distinctly heard, and +everyone ceased talk and listened. Then, in answer to some query from +within, the voice of young Cassidy was uplifted. + +"I beg pardon, sir, but that's the agency calling me, and it's hurry." + +They saw the door open from within; saw the soldier admitted and the +door closed after him; saw the two men waiting standing and expectant, +no longer content to resume their chat. For three minutes of suspense +there came no further sound. Then the door was again thrown open, and +both Byrne and Blakely came hurrying out. In the memory of the +earliest inhabitant never had Sandy seen the colonel walk so fast. +Together they came striding straight toward Cutler's, and the captain +arose and went to meet them, foreboding in his soul. Graham and +Westervelt, restrained by discipline, held back. The women and younger +officers, hushed by anxiety, gazed at the swift-coming pair in dread +and fascination. There was a moment of muttered conference with the +commanding officer, some hurried words, then Blakely was seen to +spring away, to be recalled by Cutler, to start a second time, only to +be again recalled. Then Cutler, shouting, "Mr. Doty, I need you!" +hurried away toward the office, and Blakely, fairly running, sped +straight for the barracks of Wren's troop. Only Byrne was left to +answer the storm of question that burst upon him all at once, women +thronging about him from all along the line. + +"We have news from the agency," said he. "It is from Indian runners, +and may not be reliable--some rumor of a sharp fight near Sunset +Pass." + +"Are there particulars, colonel--anybody killed or wounded?" It was +Mrs. Sanders who spoke, her face very pale. + +"We cannot know--as yet. It is all an Indian story. Mr. Blakely is +going at once to investigate," was the guarded answer. But Mrs. +Sanders knew, as well as a dozen others, that there _were_ +particulars--that somebody had been killed or wounded, for Indian +stories to that effect had been found singularly reliable. It was +Wren's troop that had gone to Sunset Pass, and here was Wren's sister +with question in her eye, and at sight of her the colonel turned and +hurried back to headquarters, following the post commander. + +Another moment and Blakely, in the broad light streaming suddenly from +the office room of Wren's troop, came speeding straight across the +parade again in the direction of Sanders's quarters, next to the last +at the southward end of the row. They sought, of course, to intercept +him, and saw that his face was pale, though his manner was as composed +as ever. To every question he had but one thing to say: "Colonel Byrne +and the captain know all that I do--and more. Ask them." But this he +said with obvious wish to be questioned no further,--said it gently, +but most firmly,--and then, with scant apology, passed on. Five +minutes more and Nixon was lugging out the lieutenant's field kit on +the Sanders's porch, and Blakely, reappearing, went straight up the +row to Wren's. It was now after 10.30, but he never hesitated. Miss +Janet, watching him from the midst of her friends, saw him stride, +unhesitatingly, straight to the door and knock. She followed +instantly, but, before she could reach the steps, Kate Sanders, with +wonder in her eyes, stood faltering before him. + +"Will you say to Miss Angela that I have come as I promised? I am +going at once to--join the troop. Can I see her?" he asked. + +"She isn't well, Mr. Blakely. She hasn't left her room to-day." And +Miss Sanders began herself to tremble, for up the steps came the +resolute lady of the house, whom seeing, Mr. Blakely honored with a +civil bow, but with not a word. + +"I will hear your message, Mr. Blakely," said Miss Wren, pallid, too, +and filled with wordless anxiety, but determined none the less. + +"Miss Sanders has heard it, madam," was the uncompromising answer. +"Will you see Miss Angela, please?" This again to Kate--and, without +another word, she went. + +"Mr. Blakely," began the lady impressively, "almost the last thing my +brother said to me before leaving the post was that he wished no +meetings between you and Angela. Why do you pursue her? Do you wish to +compel me to take her away?" + +For a moment he was silent. Then, "It is I who must go, Miss Wren," +was the answer, and she, who expected resentment, looked at him in +surprise, so gentle, so sorrowing was his tone. "I had hoped to bear +her message, but shall intrude no more. If the news that came to-night +should be confirmed--and only in that event--say to her, if you +please, that I shall do my best to find her father." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A RETURN TO COMMAND + + +With but a single orderly at his back, Mr. Blakely had left Camp Sandy +late at night; had reached the agency, twenty miles up stream, two +hours before the dawn and found young Bridger waiting for him. They +had not even a reliable interpreter now. Arahawa, "Washington +Charley," had been sent to the general at Camp McDowell. Lola's +father, with others of her kin, had taken Apache leave and gone in +search of the missing girl. But between the sign language and the +_patois_ of the mountains, a strange mixture of Spanish, English, and +Tonto Apache, the officers had managed, with the aid of their men, to +gather explanation of the fierce excitement prevailing all that +previous day among the Indians at the agency. There had been another +fight, a chase, a scattering of both pursuers and pursued. Most of the +troops were at last accounts camping in the rocks near Sunset Pass. +Two had been killed, several were wounded, three were missing, lost to +everybody. Even the Apaches swore they knew not where they were--a +sergeant, a trumpeter, and "Gran Capitan" himself--Captain Wren. + +In the paling starlight of the coming day Blakely and Bridger plied +the reluctant Indians with questions in every form possible with +their limited knowledge of the sign language. Blakely, having spent so +many years on staff duty, had too little knowledge of practical +service in the field. Bridger was but a beginner at best. Together +they had decided on their course. A wire was sent to Sandy saying that +from all they could gather the rumors were probably true, but urging +that couriers be sent for Dick, the Cherry Creek settler, and Wales +Arnold, another pioneer who had lived long in Apache land and owned a +ranch on the little Beaver. They could get more out of the Indians +than could these soldiers. It would be hours after dawn before either +Dick or his fellow frontiersman could arrive. Meanwhile Sandy must +bear the suspense as well as it might. The next wire came from Bridger +at nine o'clock: + + Arnold arrived hour ago. Examined six. Says stories probably + true. Confident Wren not killed. + +For answer Byrne wired that a detachment of a dozen men with three +packers had marched at five o'clock to report to Blakely for such duty +as he might require, and the answer came within the minute: + + Blakely gone. Started for Snow Lake 4.30. Left orders + detachment follow. Took orderly and two Apache Yuma scouts. + +Byrne, Cutler, and Graham read with grave and anxious faces, but said +very little. It was Blakely's way. + +And that was the last heard of the Bugologist for as much as a week. + +Meantime there was a painful situation at Fort Whipple, away up in +"the hills." Major Plume, eager on his wife's account to get her to +the seashore--"Monterey or Santa Barbara," said the sapient medical +director--and ceaselessly importuned by her and viciously nagged by +Elise, found himself bound to the spot. So long as Mullins stuck to +his story Plume knew it would never do for him to leave. "A day or two +more and he may abate or amend his statement," wrote Graham. Indeed, +if Norah Shaughnessy were not there to prompt--to prop--his memory, +Graham thought it like enough that even now the soldier would have +wavered. But never a jot or tittle had Mullins been shaken from the +original statement. + +"There was two women," he said, "wid their shawls over their heads," +and those two, refusing to halt at his demand, had been overtaken and +one of them seized, to his bitter cost, for the other had driven a +keen-bladed knife through his ribs, even as he sought to examine his +captive. "They wouldn't spake," said he, "so what could I do but pull +the shawl from the face of her to see could she be recognized?" Then +came the fierce, cat-like spring of the taller of the two. Then the +well-nigh fatal thrust. What afterwards became of the women he could +say no more than the dead. Norah might rave about its being the +Frenchwoman that did it to protect the major's lady--this he spoke in +whispered confidence and only in reply to direct question--but it +wouldn't be for the likes of him to preshume. Mullins, it seems, was a +soldier of the old school. + +Then came fresh and dire anxiety at Sandy. Four days after Blakely's +start there appeared two swarthy runners from the way of Beaver Creek. +They bore a missive scrawled on the paper lining of a cracker box, and +it read about as follows: + + CAMP IN SUNSET PASS, November 3d. + + COMMANDING OFFICER, CAMP SANDY: + + + Scouting parties returning find no trace of Captain Wren and + Sergeant Carmody, but we shall persevere. Indians lurking + all about us make it difficult. Shall be needing rations in + four days. All wounded except Flynn doing fairly well. Hope + couriers sent you on 30th and 31st reached you safely. + +The dispatch was in the handwriting of Benson, a trooper of good +education, often detailed for clerical work. It was signed "Brewster, +Sergeant." + +Who then were the couriers, and what had become of them? What fate had +attended Blakely in his lonely and perilous ride? What man or pair of +men could pierce that cordon of Indians lurking all around them and +reach the beleaguered command? What need to speculate on the fate of +the earlier couriers anyway? Only Indians could hope to outwit Indians +in such a case. It was madness to expect white men to get through. It +was madness for Blakely to attempt it. Yet Blakely was gone beyond +recall, perhaps beyond redemption. From him, and from the detachment +that was sent by Bridger to follow his trail, not a word had come of +any kind. Asked if they had seen or heard anything of such parties, +the Indian couriers stolidly shook their heads. They had followed the +old Wingate road all the way until in sight of the valley. Then, +scrambling through a rocky labyrinth, impossible for hoof or wheel, +had made a short cut to the head waters of the Beaver. Now Blakely, +riding from the agency eastward slowly, should have found that Wingate +trail before the setting of the first day's sun, and his followers +could not have been far behind. It began to look as though the +Bugologist had never reached the road. It began to be whispered about +the post that Wren and his luckless companions might never be found at +all. Kate Sanders had ceased her song. She was now with Angela day and +night. + +One hope, a vague one, remained beside that of hearing from the +baker's dozen that rode on Blakely's trail. Just as soon as Byrne +received the Indian story concerning Wren's disappearance, he sent +runners eastward on the track of Sanders's troop, with written advice +to that officer to drop anything he might be doing along the Black +Mesa and, turning northward, to make his way through a country +hitherto untrod by white man, between Baker's Butte at the south and +the Sunset Mountains at the north. He was ordered to scout the cañon +of Chevlon's Fork, and to look for sign on every side until, somewhere +among the "tanks" in the solid rock about the mountain gateway known +as Sunset Pass, he should join hands with the survivors of Webb's +troop, nursing their wounded and guarding the new-made graves of their +dead. Under such energetic supervision as that of Captain Sanders it +was believed that even Apache Yuma scouts could be made to accomplish +something, and that new heart would be given Wren's dispirited men. +By this time, too, if Blakely had not fallen into the hands of the +Apaches, he should have been joined by the intended escort, and, thus +strengthened, could either push on to the pass, or, if surrounded, +take up some strong position among the rocks and stand off his +assailants until found by his fellow-soldiers under Sanders. Moreover, +Byrne had caused report of the situation to be sent to the general via +Camp McDowell, and felt sure he would lose no time in directing the +scouting columns to head for the Sunset country. Scattered as were the +hostile Apaches, it was apparent that they were in greater force +northward, opposite the old reservation, than along the Mogollon Range +southeast of it. There was hope, activity, animation, among the little +camps and garrisons toward the broad valley of the Gila as the early +days of November wore away. Only here at Sandy was there suspense as +well as deep despond. + +It was a starlit Sunday morning that Blakely rode away eastward from +the agency. It was Wednesday night when Sergeant Brewster's runners +came, and never a wink of sleep had they or their inquisitors until +Thursday was ushered in. It was Saturday night again, a week from the +night Neil Blakely strove to see and say good-by to Angela Wren. It +was high time other runners came from Brewster, unless they, too, had +been cut off, as must have been the fate of their forerunners. All +drills had been suspended at Sandy; all duty subordinated to guard. +Cutler had practically abolished the daily details, had doubled his +sentries, had established outlying pickets, and was even bent on +throwing up intrenchments or at least digging rifle pits, lest the +Apaches should feel so "cocky" over their temporary successes as to +essay an attack on the post. Byrne smiled and said they would hardly +try that, but he approved the pickets. It was noted that for nearly a +week,--not since Blakely's start from the agency,--no signal fires had +been seen in the Red Rock country or about the reservation. Mr. +Truman, acting as post quartermaster, had asked for additional men to +protect his little herd, for the sergeant in charge declared that, +twice, long-distance shots had come from far away up the bouldered +heights to the west. The daily mail service had been abandoned, so +nervous had the carrier become, and now, twice each week, a corporal +and two men rode the rugged trail, thus far without seeing a sign of +Apaches. The wire, too, was undisturbed, but an atmosphere of alarm +and dread clung about the scattered ranches even as far as the Agua +Fria to the west, and the few officials left at Prescott found it +impossible to reassure the settlers, who, quitting their new homes, +had either clustered about some favored ranch for general defense or, +"packing" to Fort Whipple, were clamoring there for protection with +which to return to and occupy their abandoned roofs. + +And all this, said Byrne, between his set teeth, because a bumptious +agent sought to lay forceful hands upon the daughter of a chief. Poor +Daly! He had paid dearly for that essay. As for Natzie, and her shadow +Lola, neither one had been again seen. They might indeed have dropped +back from Montezuma Well after the first wild stampede, but only +fruitless search had the soldiers made for them. Even their own +people, said Bridger, at the agency, were either the biggest liars +that ever lived or the poorest trailers. The Apaches swore the girls +could not be found. "I'll bet Sergeant Shannon could nail them," said +Hart, the trader, when told of the general denial among the Indians. +But Shannon was far away from the field column, leading his moccasined +comrades afoot and in single file long, wearisome climbs up jagged +cliffs or through deep cañons, where unquestionably the foe had been +in numbers but the day before, yet now they were gone. Shannon might +well be needed at the far front, now that most of the Apache scouts +had proved timid or worthless, but Byrne wished he had him closer +home. + +It was the Saturday night following the coming of the runners with +confirmation of the grewsome Indian stories. Colonel Byrne, with +Graham, Cutler, and Westervelt, had been at the office half an hour in +consultation when, to the surprise of every soul at Sandy, a four-mule +team and Concord wagon came bowling briskly into the post, and Major +Plume, dust-covered and grave, marched into the midst of the +conference and briefly said: "Gentlemen, I return to resume command." + +Nobody had a word to say beyond that of welcome. It was manifestly the +proper thing for him to do. Unable, in face of the stories afloat, to +take his wife away, his proper place in the pressing emergency was at +his post in command. + +To Colonel Byrne, who guardedly and somewhat dubiously asked, "How +about Mrs. Plume and that--French thing?" the major's answer was +prompt: + +"Both at Fort Whipple and in--good hands," said he. "My wife realizes +that my duty is here, and, though her recovery may be retarded, she +declares she will remain there or even join me. She, in fact, was so +insistent that I should bring her back with me that it embarrassed me +somewhat. I vetoed it, however." + +Byrne gazed at him from under his shaggy eyebrows. "H'm," said he, "I +fancied she had shaken the dust of Sandy from her shoes for good and +all--that she hoped never to come back." + +"I, too," answered Plume ingenuously. "She hated the very mention of +it,--this is between ourselves,--until this week. Now she says her +place is here with me, no matter how she may suffer," and the major +seemed to dwell with pride on this new evidence of his wife's +devotion. It was, indeed, an unusual symptom, and Byrne had to try +hard to look credulous, which Plume appreciated and hurried on: + +"Elise, of course, seemed bent on talking her out of it, but, with +Wren and Blakely both missing, I could not hesitate. I had to come. +Oh, captain, is Truman still acting quartermaster?" this to Cutler. +"He has the keys of my house, I suppose." + +And so by tattoo the major was once more harbored under his old roof +and full of business. From Byrne and his associates he quickly +gathered all particulars in their possession. He agreed with them +that another day must bring tidings from the east or prove that the +Apaches had surrounded and perhaps cut down every man of the command. +He listened eagerly to the details Byrne and others were able to give +him. He believed, by the time "taps" came, he had already settled on a +plan for another relief column, and he sent for Truman, the +quartermaster. + +"Truman," said he, "how much of a pack train have you got left?" + +"Hardly a mule, sir. Two expeditions out from this post swallows up +pretty much everything." + +"Very true; yet I may have to find a dozen packs before we get half +through this business. The ammunition is in your hands, too, isn't it? +Where do you keep it?" and the major turned and gazed out in the +starlight. + +"Only place I got, sir--quartermaster's storehouse," and Truman eyed +his commander doubtfully. + +"Well, I'm squeamish about such things as that," said the major, +looking even graver, "especially since this fire here. By the way, was +much of Blakely's property--er--rescued--or recovered?" + +"Very little, sir. Blakely lost pretty much everything, except some +papers in an iron box--the box that was warped all out of shape." + +"Where is it now?" asked Plume, tugging at the strap of a dressing +case and laying it open on the broad window-seat. + +"In my quarters, under my bed, sir." + +"Isn't that rather--unsafe?" asked Plume. "Think how quick _he_ was +burned out." + +"Best I can do, sir. But he said it contained little of value, mainly +letters and memoranda. No valuables at all, in fact. The lock wouldn't +work, so the blacksmith strap-ironed it for him. That prevents it +being opened by anyone, you know, who hasn't the proper tools." + +"I see," said Plume reflectively. "It seems rather unusual to take +such precaution with things of no value. I suppose Blakely knows his +own business, however. Thank you very much Truman. Good-night." + +"I suppose he did, at least, when he had the blacksmith iron that +box," thought Truman, as he trudged away. "He did, at any rate, when +he made me promise to keep it with the utmost care. Not even you can +have it, Major Plume, although you are the post commander." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STRANGE COMING + + +With one orderly and a pair of Apache Yuma scouts, Neil Blakely had +set forth in hopes of making his way to Snow Lake, far up in the range +to the east. The orderly was all very well,--like most of his fellows, +game, true, and tried,--but few were the leaders who had any faith in +Apache Yumas. Of those Indians whom General Crook had successively +conquered, then turned to valuable use, the Hualpais had done well and +proved reliable; the Apache Mohaves had served since '73, and in scout +after scout and many a skirmish had proved loyal and worthy allies +against the fierce, intractable Tontos, many of whom had never yet +come in to an agency or accepted the bounty of the government. Even a +certain few of these Tontos had proffered fealty and been made useful +as runners and trailers against the recalcitrants of their own band. +But the Apache Yumas, their mountain blood tainted by the cross with +the slothful bands of the arid, desert flats of the lower Colorado, +had won a bad name from the start, and deserved it. They feared the +Tontos, who had thrashed them again and again, despoiled them of their +plunder, walked away with their young women, insulted and jeered at +their young men. Except when backed by the braves of other bands, +therefore, the Apache Yumas were fearful and timorous on the trail. +Once they had broken and run before a mere handful of Tontos, leaving +a wounded officer to his fate. Once, when scaling the Black Mesa +toward this very Snow Lake, they had whimpered and begged to be sent +home, declaring no enemy was there in hiding, when the peaks were +found alive with Tontos. The Red Rock country and the northward spurs +of the Mogollon seemed fraught with some strange, superstitious terror +in their eyes, and if the "nerve" of a dozen would desert them when +ordered east of the Verde, what could be expected of Blakely's two? No +wonder, then, the elders at Sandy were sorely troubled! + +But the Bugologist had nothing else to choose from. All the reliable, +seasoned scouts were already gone with the various field columns. Only +Apache Yumas remained, and only the least promising of the Apache +Yumas at that. Bridger remembered how reluctantly these two had obeyed +the summons to go. "If they don't sneak away and come back swearing +they have lost the lieutenant, I'm a gopher," said he, and gave orders +accordingly to have them hauled before him should they reappear. +Confidently he looked to see or hear of them as again lurking about +the commissary storehouse after the manner of their people, beggars to +the backbone. But the week went by without a sign of them. "There's +only one thing to explain that," said he. "They've either deserted to +the enemy or been cut off and killed." What, then, had become of +Blakely? What fate had befallen Wren? + +By this time, late Saturday night, acting for the department commander +now lost somewhere in the mountains, Byrne had re-enforced the guards +at the agency and the garrison at Sandy with infantry drawn from Fort +Whipple at Prescott, for thither the Apaches would never venture. The +untrammeled and sovereign citizen had his own way of treating the +obnoxious native to the soil. + +By this time, too, further word should have come from some of the +field columns, Sanders's especially. But though runners had reached +the post bearing brief dispatches from the general, showing that he +and the troops from the more southerly posts were closing in on the +wild haunts of the Tontos about Chevlon's Fork, not a sign had come +from this energetic troop commander, not another line from Sergeant +Brewster or his men, and there were women at Camp Sandy now nearly mad +with sleepless dread and watching. "It means," said Byrne, "that the +hostiles are between us and those commands. It means that couriers +can't get through, that's all. I'm betting the commands are safe +enough. They are too strong to be attacked." But Byrne was silent as +to Blakely; he was dumb as to Wren. He was growing haggard with +anxiety and care and inability to assure or comfort. The belated +rations needed by Brewster's party, packed on mules hurried down from +Prescott, were to start at dawn for Sunset Pass under stout infantry +guard, and they, too, would probably be swallowed up in the +mountains. The ranch people down the valley, fearful of raiding +Apaches, had abandoned their homes, and, driving their stock before +them, had taken refuge in the emptied corrals of the cavalry. Even +Hart, the veteran trader, seemed losing his nerve under the strain, +for when such intrepid frontiersmen as Wales Arnold declared it +reckless to venture across the Sandy, and little scouting parties were +greeted with long-range shots from hidden foe, it boded ill for all +dwellers without the walls of the fort. For the first time in the +annals of Camp Sandy, Hart had sandbagged his lower story, and he and +his retainers practically slept upon their arms. + +It was after midnight. Lights still burned dimly at the guard-house, +the adjutant's office, and over at the quarters of the commanding +officer, where Byrne and Plume were in consultation. There were +sleepless eyes in every house along the line. Truman had not turned in +at all. Pondering over his brief talk with the returned commander, he +had gone to the storehouse to expedite the packing of Brewster's +rations, and then it occurred to him to drop in a moment at the +hospital. In all the dread and excitement of the past two days, Pat +Mullins had been well-nigh forgotten. The attendant greeted him at the +entrance. Truman, as he approached, could see him standing at the +broad open doorway, apparently staring out through the starlight +toward the black and distant outlines of the eastward mountains. +Mullins at least was sleeping and seemed rapidly recovering, said he, +in answer to Truman's muttered query. "Major Plume," he added, "was +over to see him a while ago, but I told the major Pat was asleep." +Truman listened without comment, but noted none the less and lingered. +"You were looking out to the east," he said. "Seen any lights or +fire?" + +"Not I, sir. But the sentry there on No. 4 had the corporal out just +now. He's seen or heard something, and they've moved over toward No. +5's post." + +Truman followed. How happened it that when Byrne and Plume had so much +to talk of the latter could find time to come away over to the +hospital to inquire for a patient? And there! the call for half-past +twelve had started at the guard-house and rung out from the stables +and corrals. It was Four's turn to take it up now. Presently he did, +but neither promptly nor with confidence. There were new men on the +relief just down from Fort Whipple and strange to Sandy and its +surroundings; but surely, said Truman, they should not have been +assigned to Four and Five, the exposed or dangerous posts, so long as +there were other men, old-timers at Sandy, to take these stations. No. +4's "A-all's well" sounded more like a wail of remonstrance at his +loneliness and isolation. It was a new voice, too, for in those days +officers knew not only the face, but the voice, of every man in the +little command, and--could Truman be mistaken--he thought he heard a +subdued titter from the black shadows of his own quarters, and turned +his course thither to investigate. Five's shout went up at the +instant, loud, confident, almost boastful, as though in rebuke of +Four's timidity, and, as Truman half expected, there was the corporal +of the guard leaning on his rifle, close to the veranda steps, and so +absorbed he never heard the officer approach until the lieutenant +sharply hailed: + +"Who's that on No. 4?" + +"One of 'C' Company's fellers, sir," answered the watcher, coming to +his senses and attention at the instant. "Just down from Prescott, and +thinks he sees ghosts or Indians every minute. Nearly shot one of the +hounds a moment ago." + +"You shouldn't put him on that post--" + +"I didn't sir," was the prompt rejoinder. "'Twas the sergeant. He said +'twould do him good, but the man's really scared, lieutenant. Thought +I'd better stay near him a bit." + +Across the black and desolate ruin of Blakely's quarters, and well out +on the northward _mesa_, they could dimly discern the form of the +unhappy sentry pacing uneasily along his lonely beat, pausing and +turning every moment as though fearful of crouching assailant. Even +among these veteran infantrymen left at Sandy, that northeast corner +had had an uncanny name ever since the night of Pat Mullins's +mysterious stabbing. Many a man would gladly have shunned sentry duty +at that point, but none dare confess to it. Partly as a precaution, +partly as protection to his sentries, the temporary commander had +early in the week sent out a big "fatigue" detail, with knives and +hatchets to slice away every clump of sage or greasewood that could +shelter a prowling Apache for a hundred yards out from the line. But +the man now on No. 4 was palpably nervous and distressed, in spite of +this fact. Truman watched him a moment in mingled compassion and +amusement, and was just turning aside to enter his open doorway when +the corporal held up a warning hand. + +Through the muffling sand of the roadway in rear of the quarters, a +tall, dark figure was moving straight and swift toward the post of No. +4, and so far within that of No. 5 as to escape the latter's +challenge. The corporal sprung his rifle to the hollow of his arm and +started the next instant, sped noiselessly a few yards in pursuit, +then abruptly halted. "It's the major, sir," said he, embarrassed, as +Truman joined him again. "Gad, I hope No. 4 won't fire!" + +Fire he did not, but his challenge came with a yell. +"W-whocomesthere?"--three words as one and that through chattering +teeth. + +"Commanding officer," they heard Plume clearly answer, then in lower +tone, but distinctly rebukeful. "What on earth's the matter, No. 4? +You called off very badly. Anything disturbing you out here?" + +The sentry's answer was a mumble of mingled confusion and distress. +How could he own to his post commander that he was scared? No. 5 now +was to be seen swiftly coming up the eastward front so as to be within +supporting or hearing distance--curiosity, not sympathy, impelling; +and so there were no less than five men, four of them old and tried +soldiers, all within fifty yards of the angle made by the two sentry +beats, all wide awake, yet not one of their number could later tell +just what started it. All on a sudden, down in Sudsville, down among +the southward quarters of the line, the hounds went rushing forth, +barking and baying excitedly, one and all heading for the brink of the +eastward _mesa_, yet halting short as though afraid to approach it +nearer, and then, darting up and down, barking, sniffing, challenging +angrily, they kept up their fierce alarm. Somebody or something was +out there in the darkness, perhaps at the very edge of the bluff, and +the dogs dare go no further. Even when the corporal, followed by No. +5, came running down the post, the hounds hung back, bristling and +savage, yet fearful. Corporal Foote cocked his rifle and went +crouching forward through the gloom, but the voice of the major was +heard: + +"Don't go out there, corporal. Call for the guard," as he hurried in +to his quarters in search of his revolver. Truman by this time had run +for his own arms and together they reappeared on the post of No. 5, as +a sergeant, with half a dozen men, came panting from across the +parade, swift running to the scene. + +"No. 4 would have it that there were Indians, or somebody skulking +about him when I was examining him a moment ago," said Plume +hurriedly. "Shut up, you brutes!" he yelled angrily at the nearest +hounds. "Scatter your men forward there, sergeant, and see if we can +find anything." Other men were coming, too, by this time, and a +lantern was dancing out from Doty's quarters. Byrne, pyjama-clad and +in slippered feet, shuffled out to join the party as the guard, with +rifles at ready, bored their way out to the front, the dogs still +suspiciously sniffing and growling. For a moment or two no explanation +offered. The noise was gradually quieting down. Then from far out to +the right front rose the shout: "Come here with that lantern!" and all +hands started at the sound. + +Old Shaughnessy, saddler sergeant, was the first on the spot with a +light. All Sudsville seemed up and astir. Some of the women, even, had +begun to show at the narrow doorways. Corporal Foote and two of the +guard were bending over some object huddled in the sand. Together they +turned it over and tugged it into semblance of human shape, for the +thing had been shrouded in what proved to be a ragged cavalry blanket. +Senseless, yet feebly breathing and moaning, half-clad in tattered +skirt and a coarsely made _camisa_ such as was worn by peon women of +the humblest class, with blood-stained bandages concealing much of the +face and head, a young Indian woman was lifted toward the light. A +soldier started on the run for Dr. Graham; another to the laundresses' +homes for water. Others, still, with the lanterns now coming flitting +down the low bluff, began searching through the sands for further +sign, and found it within the minute--sign of a shod horse and of +moccasined feet,--moccasins not of Tonto, but of Yuma make, said +Byrne, after a moment's survey. + +Rough, yet tender, hands bore the poor creature to the nearest +shelter--Shaughnessy's quarters. Keen, eager eyes and bending forms +followed hoof and foot prints to the ford. Two Indians, evidently, had +lately issued, dripping, from the stream; one leading an eager horse, +for it had been dancing sidewise as they neared the post, the other, +probably sustaining the helpless burden on its back. Two Indians had +then re-entered the swift waters, almost at the point of emergence, +one leading a reluctant, resisting animal, for it had struggled and +plunged and set its fore feet against the effort. The other Indian had +probably mounted as they neared the brink. Already they must be a good +distance away on the other side, rendering pursuit probably useless. +Already the explanation of their coming was apparent. The woman had +been hurt or wounded when far from her tribe, and the Indians with her +were those who had learned the white man's ways, knew that he warred +not on women and would give this stricken creature care and comfort, +food and raiment and relieve them of all such trouble. It was easy to +account for their bringing her to Sandy and dropping her at the white +man's door, but how came they by a shod horse that knew the spot and +strove to break from them at the stables--strove hard against again +being driven away? Mrs. Shaughnessy, volubly haranguing all within +hearing as the searchers returned from the ford, was telling how she +was lying awake, worrin' about Norah and Pat Mullins and the boys that +had gone afield (owing her six weeks' wash) when she heard a dull +trampin' like and what sounded like horses' stifled squeal (doubtless +the leading Indian had gripped the nostrils to prevent the eager +neigh), and then, said she, all the dogs roused up and rushed out, +howling. + +And then came a cry from within the humble doorway, where merciful +hands were ministering to the suffering savage, and Plume started at +the sound and glared at Byrne, and men stood hushed and startled and +amazed, for the voice was that of Norah and the words were strange +indeed: + +"Fur the love of hivin, look what she had in her girdle! Shure it's +Leese's own scarf, I tell ye--the Frenchwoman at the major's!" + +And Byrne thought it high time to enter and take possession. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A STRANGER GOING + + +At the first faint flush of dawn the little train of pack mules, with +the rations for the beleaguered command at Sunset Pass, was started on +its stony path. Once out of the valley of the Beaver it must clamber +over range after range and stumble through deep and tortuous cañons. A +road there was--the old trail by Snow Lake, thence through the famous +Pass and the Sunset crossing of the Colorado Chiquito to old Fort +Wingate. It wormed its way out of the valley of the broader stream +some miles further to the north and in face of the Red Rock country to +the northeast, but it had not been traveled in safety for a year. Both +Byrne and Plume believed it beset with peril, watched from ambush by +invisible foes who could be relied upon to lurk in hiding until the +train was within easy range, then, with sudden volley, to pick off the +officers and prominent sergeants and, in the inevitable confusion, +aided by their goatlike agility, to make good their escape. Thirty +sturdy soldiers of the infantry under a veteran captain marched as +escort, with Plume's orders to push through to the relief of Sergeant +Brewster's command, and to send back Indian runners with full account +of the situation. The relief of Wren's company accomplished, the next +thing was to be a search for Wren himself, then a determined effort to +find Blakely, and all the time to keep a lookout for Sanders's troop +that must be somewhere north of Chevlon's Fork, as well as for the two +or three little columns that should be breaking their way through the +unblazed wilderness, under the personal direction of the general +himself. Captain Stout and his party were out of sight up the Beaver +before the red eye of the morning came peering over the jagged heights +to the east, and looking in upon a garrison whose eyes were equally +red and bleary through lack of sleep--a garrison worn and haggard +through anxiety and distress gravely augmented by the events of the +night. All Sandy had been up and astir within five minutes after Norah +Shaughnessy's startling cry, and all Sandy asked with bated breath the +same question: How on earth happened it that this wounded waif of the +Apaches, this unknown Indian girl, dropped senseless at their doorway +in the dead hours of the night, should have in her possession the very +scarf worn by Mrs. Plume's nurse-companion, the Frenchwoman Elise, as +she came forth with her mistress to drive away from Sandy, as was her +hope, forever. + +Prominent among those who had hastened down to Sudsville, after the +news of this discovery had gone buzzing through the line of officers' +quarters, was Janet Wren. Kate Sanders was staying with Angela, for +the girls seemed to find comfort in each other's presence and society. +Both had roused at sound of the clamor and were up and half dressed +when a passing hospital attendant hurriedly shouted to Miss Wren the +tidings. The girls, too, would have gone, but Aunt Janet sternly bade +them remain indoors. She would investigate, she said, and bring them +all information. + +Dozens of the men were still hovering about old Shaughnessy's quarters +as the tall, gaunt form of the captain's sister came stalking through +the crowd, making straight for the doorway. The two senior officers, +Byrne and Plume, were, in low tones, interrogating Norah. Plume had +been shown the scarf and promptly seconded Norah. He knew it at +once--knew that, as Elise came forth that dismal morning and passed +under the light in the hall, she had this very scarf round her +throat--this that had been found upon the person of a wounded and +senseless girl. He remembered now that as the sun climbed higher and +the air grew warmer the day of their swift flight to Prescott, Elise +had thrown open her traveling sack, and he noticed that the scarf had +been discarded. He did not see it anywhere about the Concord, but that +proved nothing. She might easily have slipped it into her bag or under +the cushions of the seat. Both he and Byrne, therefore, watched with +no little interest when, after a brief glance at the feverish and +wounded Indian girl, moaning in the cot in Mrs. Shaughnessy's room, +Miss Wren returned to the open air, bearing the scarf with her. One +moment she studied it, under the dull gleam of the lantern of the +sergeant of the guard, and then slowly spoke: + +"Gentlemen, I have seen this worn by Elise and I believe I know how +it came to find its way back here--and it does not brighten the +situation. From our piazza, the morning of Major Plume's start for +Prescott, I could plainly see Downs hanging about the wagon. It +started suddenly, as perhaps you remember, and as it rolled away +something went fluttering to the ground behind. Everybody was looking +after the Concord at the moment--everybody but Downs, who quickly +stooped, picked up the thing, and turned hurriedly away. I believe he +had this scarf when he deserted and that he has fallen into the hands +of the Apaches." + +Byrne looked at the post commander without speaking. The color had +mounted one moment to the major's face, then left him pallid as +before. The hunted, haggard, weary look about his eyes had deepened. +That was all. The longer he lived, the longer he served about this +woebegone spot in mid Arizona, the more he realized the influence for +evil that handmaid of Shaitan seemed to exert over his vain, shallow, +yet beautiful and beloved wife. Against it he had wrought and pleaded +in vain. Elise had been with them since her babyhood, was his wife's +almost indignant reply. Elise had been faithful to her--devoted to her +all her life. Elise was indispensable; the only being that kept her +from going mad with home-sickness and misery in that God-forsaken +clime. Sobs and tears wound up each interview and, like many a +stronger man, Plume had succumbed. It might, indeed, be cruel to rob +her of Elise, the last living link that bound her to the blessed +memories of her childhood, and he only mildly strove to point out to +her how oddly, yet persistently, her good name had suffered through +the words and deeds of this flighty, melodramatic Frenchwoman. +Something of her baleful influence he had seen and suspected before +ever they came to their exile, but here at Sandy, with full force he +realized the extent of her machinations. Clarice was not the woman to +go prowling about the quarters in the dead hours of the night, no +matter how nervous and sleepless at home. Clarice was not the woman to +be having back-door conferences with the servants of other households, +much less the "striker" of an officer with whose name hers, as a +maiden, had once been linked. He recalled with a shudder the events of +the night that sent the soldier Mullins to hospital, robbed of his +wits, if not of his life. He recalled with dread the reluctant +admissions of the doctor and of Captain Wren. Sleep-walking, indeed! +Clarice never elsewhere at any time had shown somnambulistic symptoms. +It was Elise beyond doubt who had lured her forth for some purpose he +could neither foil nor fathom. It was Elise who kept up this +discreditable and mysterious commerce with Downs,--something that had +culminated in the burning of Blakely's home, with who knows what +evidence,--something that had terminated only with Downs's mad +desertion and probable death. All this and more went flashing through +his mind as Miss Wren finished her brief and significant story, and it +dawned upon him that, whatever it might be to others, the death of +Downs--to him, and to her whom he loved and whose honor he +cherished--was anything but a calamity, a thing to mourn. Too +generous to say the words, he yet turned with lightened heart and met +Byrne's searching eyes, then those of Miss Wren now fixed upon him +with austere challenge, as though she would say the flight and fate of +this friendless soldier were crimes to be laid only at his door. + +Byrne saw the instant distress in his comrade's face, and, glancing +from him to her, almost in the same instant saw the inciting cause. +Byrne had one article of faith if he lacked the needful thirty-nine. +Women had no place in official affairs, no right to meddle in official +matters, and what he said on the spur of his rising resentment was +intended for her, though spoken to him. "So Downs skipped eastward, +did he, and the Apaches got him! Well, Plume, that saves us a +hanging." And Miss Wren turned away in wrath unspeakable. + +That Downs had "skipped eastward" received further confirmation with +the coming day, when Wales Arnold rode into the fort from a personally +conducted scout up the Beaver. Riding out with Captain Stout's party, +he had paid a brief visit to his, for the time, abandoned ranch, and +was surprised to find there, unmolested, the two persons and all the +property he had left the day he hurried wife and household to the +shelter of the garrison. The two persons were half-breed José and his +Hualpai squaw. They had been with the Arnolds five long years, were +known to all the Apaches, and had ever been in highest favor with them +because of the liberality with which they dispensed the _largesse_ of +their employer. Never went an Indian empty-stomached from their door. +All the stock Wales had time to gather he had driven in to Sandy. All +that was left José had found and corraled. Just one quadruped was +missing--Arnold's old mustang saddler, Dobbin. José said he had been +gone from the first and with him an old bridle and saddle. No Indian +took him, said he. It was a soldier. He had found "government boot +tracks" in the sand. Then Downs and Dobbin had gone together, but only +Dobbin might they ever look to see again. + +It had been arranged between Byrne and Captain Stout that the little +relief column should rest in a deep cañon beyond the springs from +which the Beaver took its source, and, later in the afternoon, push on +again on the long, stony climb toward the plateau of the upper +Mogollon. There stood, about twenty-five miles out from the post on a +bee line to the northeast, a sharp, rocky peak just high enough above +the fringing pines and cedars to be distinctly visible by day from the +crest of the nearest foothills west of the flagstaff. Along the sunset +face of this gleaming _picacho_ there was a shelf or ledge that had +often been used by the Apaches for signaling purposes; the renegades +communicating with their kindred about the agency up the valley. +Invisible from the level of Camp Sandy, these fires by night, or smoke +and flashes by day, reached only those for whom they were +intended--the Apaches at the reservation; but Stout, who had known the +neighborhood since '65, had suggested that lookouts equipped with +binoculars be placed on the high ground back of the post. Inferior to +the savage in the craft, we had no code of smoke, fire, or, at that +time, even sun-flash signal, but it was arranged that one blaze was to +mean "Unmolested thus far." Two blazes, a few yards apart, would mean +"Important news by runner." In the latter event Plume was to push out +forty or fifty men in dispersed order to meet and protect the runner +in case he should be followed, or possibly headed off, by hostile +tribesmen. Only six Indian allies had gone with Stout and he had eyed +them with marked suspicion and disfavor. They, too, were Apache Yumas. +The day wore on slowly, somberly. All sound of life, melody, or +merriment had died out at Camp Sandy. Even the hounds seemed to feel +that a cloud of disaster hung over the garrison. Only at rare +intervals some feminine shape flitted along the line of deserted +verandas--some woman on a mission of mercy to some mourning, +sore-troubled sister among the scattered households. For several hours +before high noon the wires from Prescott had been hot with demand for +news, and with messages from Byrne or Plume to department +headquarters. At meridian, however, there came a lull, and at 2 P. M. +a break. Somewhere to the west the line was snapped and down. At 2.15 +two linesmen galloped forth to find and repair damages, half a dozen +"doughboys" on a buckboard going as guard. Otherwise, all day long, no +soldier left the post, and when darkness settled down, the anxious +operator, seated at his keyboard, was still unable to wake the spirit +of the gleaming copper thread that spanned the westward wilderness. + +All Sandy was wakeful, out on the broad parade, or the officers' +verandas, and gazing as one man or woman at the bold, black upheaval a +mile behind the post, at whose summit twinkled a tiny star, a single +lantern, telling of the vigil of Plume's watchers. If Stout made even +fair time he should have reached the _picacho_ at dusk, and now it was +nearly nine and not a glimmer of fire had been seen at the appointed +rendezvous. Nine passed and 9.15, and at 9.30 the fifes and drums of +the Eighth turned out and began the long, weird complaint of the +tattoo. Nobody wished to go to bed. Why not sound reveille and let +them sit up all night, if they chose? It was far better than tossing +sleepless through the long hours to the dawn. It was nearly time for +"taps"--lights out--when a yell went up from the parade and all Sandy +started to its feet. All on a sudden the spark at the lookout bluff +began violently to dance, and a dozen men tore out of garrison, eager +to hear the news. They were met halfway by a sprinting corporal, whom +they halted with eager demand for his news. "_Two_ blazes!" he panted, +"two! I must get in to the major at once!" Five minutes more the +Assembly, not Taps, was sounding. Plume was sending forth his fifty +rescuers, and with them, impatient for tidings from the far front, +went Byrne, the major himself following as soon as he could change to +riding dress. The last seen of the little command was the glinting of +the starlight on the gun barrels as they forded the rippling stream +and took the trail up the narrow, winding valley of the Beaver. + +It was then a little after ten o'clock. The wire to Prescott was still +unresponsive. Nothing had been heard from the linesmen and their +escort, indicating that the break was probably far over as the Agua +Fria. Not a sign, except Stout's signal blazes at the _picacho_, had +been gathered from the front. Camp Sandy was cut off from the world, +and the actual garrison left to guard the post and protect the women, +children and the sick as eleven o'clock drew nigh, was exactly forty +men of the fighting force. It was believed that Stout's couriers would +make the homeward run, very nearly, by the route the pack-train took +throughout the day, and if they succeeded in evading hostile scouts or +parties, would soon appear about some of the breaks of the upper +Beaver. Thither, therefore, with all possible speed Plume had directed +his men, promising Mrs. Sanders, as he rode away, that the moment a +runner was encountered he would send a light rider at the gallop, on +his own good horse--that not a moment should be lost in bearing them +the news. + +But midnight came without a sign. Long before that hour, as though by +common impulse, almost all the women of the garrison had gathered +about Truman's quarters, now the northernmost of the row and in plain +view of the confluence of the Sandy and the Beaver. Dr. Graham, who +had been swinging to and fro between the limits of the Shaughnessys' +and the hospital, stopped to speak with them a moment and gently drew +Angela to one side. His grave and rugged face was sweet in its +tenderness as he looked down into her brimming eyes. "Can you not be +content at home, my child?" he murmured. "You seem like one of my own +bairns, Angela, now that your brave father is afield, and I want to +have his bonnie daughter looking her best against the home-coming. +Surely Aunt Janet will bring you the news the moment any comes, and +I'll bid Kate Sanders bide with you!" + +No, she would not--she could not go home. Like every other soul in all +Camp Sandy she seemed to long to be just there. Some few had even gone +out further, beyond the sentries, to the point of the low bluff, and +there, chatting only in whispers, huddled together, listening in +anxiety inexpressible for the muffled sound of galloping hoofs on soft +and sandy shore. No, she _dare_ not, for within the four walls of that +little white room what dreams and visions had the girl not seen? and, +wakening shuddering, had clung to faithful Kate and sobbed her heart +out in those clasping, tender, loyal arms. No beauty, indeed, was +Kate, as even her fond mother ruefully admitted, but there was that in +her great, gentle, unselfish heart that made her beloved by one and +all. Yet Kate had pleaded with Angela in vain. Some strange, forceful +mood had seized the girl and steeled and strengthened her against even +Janet Wren's authority. She would not leave the little band of +watchers. She was there when, toward half-past twelve, at last the +message came. Plume's own horse came tearing through the flood, and +panting, reeking, trembling into their midst, and his rider, little +Fifer Lanigan, of Company "C," sprang from saddle and thrust his +dispatch into Truman's outstretched hand. + +With women and children crowding about him, and men running to the +scene from every side, by the light of a lantern held in a soldier's +shaking hand, he read aloud the contents: + + "BIVOUAC AT PICACHO, 9 P. M. + + "C. O. CAMP SANDY: + + "Reached this point after hard march, but no active + opposition, at 8 P. M. First party sent to build fire on + ledge driven in by hostiles. Corporal Welch shot through + left side--serious. Threw out skirmishers and drove them off + after some firing, and about 9.20 came suddenly upon Indian + boy crouching among rocks, who held up folded paper which I + have read and forward herewith. We shall, of course, turn + toward Snow Lake, taking boy as guide. March at 3 A. M. Will + do everything possible to reach Wren on time. + + (Signed) "STOUT, Commanding." + +Within was another slip, grimy and with dark stains. And Truman's +voice well-nigh failed him as he read: + + "November --th. + + "C. O. CAMP SANDY: + + "Through a friendly Apache who was with me at the + reservation I learned that Captain Wren was lying wounded, + cut off from his troop and with only four of his men, in a + cañon southwest of Snow Lake. With Indian for guide we + succeeded reaching him second night, but are now surrounded, + nearly out of ammunition and rations. Three more of our + party are wounded and one, Trooper Kent, killed. If not + rushed can hold out perhaps three days more, but Wren sorely + needs surgical aid. + + (Signed) "BLAKELY." + +That was all. The Bugologist with his one orderly, and apparently +without the Apache Yuma scouts, had gone straightway to the rescue of +Wren. Now all were cut off and surrounded by a wily foe that counted +on, sooner or later, overcoming and annihilating them, and even by the +time the Indian runner slipped out (some faithful spirit won by +Blakely's kindness and humanity when acting agent), the defense had +been reduced just one-half. Thank God that Stout with his supplies and +stalwart followers was not more than two days' march away, and was +going straightway to the rescue! + +It was nearly two when Plume and his half-hundred came drifting back +to the garrison, and even then some few of the watchers were along the +bluff. Janet Wren, having at last seen pale-faced, silent Angela to +her room and bed, with Kate Sanders on guard, had again gone forth to +extract such further information as Major Plume might have. Even at +that hour men were at work in the corrals, fitting saddles to half a +dozen spare horses,--about all that were left at the post,--and Miss +Wren learned that Colonel Byrne, with an orderly or two, had remained +at Arnold's ranch,--that Arnold himself, with six horsemen from the +post, was to set forth at four, join the colonel at dawn, and together +all were to push forward on the trail of Stout's command, hoping to +overtake them by nightfall. She whispered this to sleepless Kate on +her return to the house, for Angela, exhausted with grief and long +suspense, had fallen, apparently, into deep and dreamless slumber. + +But the end of that eventful night was not yet. Arnold and his +sextette slipped away soon after four o'clock, and about 4.50 there +came a banging at the major's door. It was the telegraph operator. The +wire was patched at last, and the first message was to the effect that +the guard had been fired on in Cherry Creek cañon--that Private +Forrest was sorely wounded and lying at Dick's deserted ranch, with +two of their number to care for him. Could they possibly send a +surgeon at once? + +There was no one to go but Graham. His patients at the post were doing +fairly well, but there wasn't a horse for him to ride. "No matter," +said he, "I'll borrow Punch. He's needing exercise these days." So +Punch was ordered man-saddled and brought forthwith. The orderly came +back in ten minutes. "Punch aint there, sir," said he. "He's been gone +over half an hour." + +"Gone? Gone where? Gone how?" asked Graham in amaze. + +"Gone with Miss Angela, sir. She saddled him herself and rode away not +twenty minutes after Arnold's party left. The sentries say she +followed up the Beaver." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BESIEGED + + +Deep down in a ragged cleft of the desert, with shelving rock and +giant bowlder on every side, without a sign of leaf, or sprig of +grass, or tendril of tiny creeping plant, a little party of haggard, +hunted men lay in hiding and in the silence of exhaustion and despond, +awaiting the inevitable. Bulging outward overhead, like the counter of +some huge battleship, a great mass of solid granite heaved unbroken +above them, forming a recess or cave, in which they were secure +against arrow, shot, or stone from the crest of the lofty, almost +vertical walls of the vast and gloomy cañon. Well back under this +natural shelter, basined in the hollowed rock, a blessed pool of fair +water lay unwrinkled by even a flutter of breeze. Relic of the early +springtime and the melting snows, it had been caught and imprisoned +here after the gradually failing stream had trickled itself into +nothingness. One essential, one comfort then had not been denied the +beleaguered few, but it was about the only one. Water for drink, for +fevered wounds and burning throats, they had in abundance; but the +last "hardtack" had been shared, the last scrap of bacon long since +devoured. Of the once-abundant rations only coffee grains were left. +Of the cartridge-crammed "thimble belts," with which they had entered +the cañon and the Apache trap, only three contained so much as a +single copper cylinder, stopped by its forceful lead. These three +belonged to troopers, two of whom, at least, would never have use for +them again. One of these, poor Jerry Kent, lay buried beneath the +little cairn of rocks in still another cavelike recess a dozen yards +away, hidden there by night, when prowling Apaches could not see the +sorrowing burial party and crush them with bowlders heaved over the +precipice above, or shoot them down with whistling lead or +steel-tipped arrow from some safe covert in the rocky walls. + +Cut off from their comrades while scouting a side ravine, Captain Wren +and his quartette of troopers had made stiff and valiant fight against +such of the Indians as permitted hand or head to show from behind the +rocks. They had felt confident that Sergeant Brewster and the main +body would speedily miss them, or hear the sound of firing and turn +back _au secours_, but sounds are queerly carried in such a maze of +deep and tortuous clefts as seamed the surface in every conceivable +direction through the wild basin of the Colorado. Brewster's rearmost +files declared long after that never the faintest whisper of affray +had reached their ears, already half deadened by fatigue and the +ceaseless crash of iron-shod hoofs on shingly rock. As for Brewster +himself, he was able to establish that Wren's own orders were to "push +ahead" and try to make Sunset Pass by nightfall, while the captain, +with such horses as seemed freshest, scouted right and left wherever +possible. The last seen of Jerry Kent, it later transpired, was when +he came riding after them to say the captain had gone into the mouth +of the gorge opening to the west, and the last message borne from the +commander to the troop came through Jerry Kent to Sergeant Dusold, who +brought up the rear. They had passed the mouths of half a dozen +ravines within the hour, some on one side, some on the other, and +Dusold "passed the word" by sending Corporal Slater clattering up the +cañon, skirting the long drawn-out column of files until, far in the +lead, he could overtake the senior sergeant and deliver his message. +Later, when Brewster rode back with all but the little guard left over +his few broken-down men and mounts in Sunset Pass, Dusold could +confidently locate in his own mind the exact spot where Kent overtook +him; but Dusold was a drill-book dragoon of the Prussian school, +consummately at home on review or parade, but all at sea, so to speak, +in the mountains. They never found a trace of their loved leader. The +clefts they scouted were all on the wrong side. + +And so it happened that relief came not, that one after another the +five horses fell, pierced with missiles or crushed and stunned by +rocks crashing down from above, that Kent himself was shot through the +brain, and Wren skewered through the arm by a Tonto shaft, and plugged +with a round rifle ball in the shoulder. Sergeant Carmody bound up his +captain's wound as best he could, and by rare good luck, keeping up a +bold front, and answering every shot, they fought their way to this +little refuge in the rocks, and there, behind improvised barricades or +bowlders, "stood off" their savage foe, hoping rescue might soon reach +them. + +But Wren was nearly wild from wounds and fever when the third day came +and no sign of the troop. Another man had been hit and stung, and +though not seriously wounded, like a burnt child, he now shunned the +fire and became, perforce, an ineffective. Their scanty store of +rations was gone entirely. Sergeant Carmody and his alternate watchers +were worn out from lack of sleep when, in the darkness of midnight, a +low hail in their own tongue came softly through the dead +silence,--the voice of Lieutenant Blakely cautioning, "Don't fire, +Wren. It's the Bugologist," and in another moment he and his orderly +afoot, in worn Apache moccasins, but equipped with crammed haversacks +and ammunition belts, were being welcomed by the besieged. There was +little of the emotional and nothing of the melodramatic about it. It +was, if anything, rather commonplace. Wren was flighty and disposed to +give orders for an immediate attack in force on the enemy's works, to +which the sergeant, his lips trembling just a bit, responded with +prompt salute: "Very good, sir, just as quick as the men can finish +supper. Loot'nent Blakely's compliments, sir, and he'll be ready in +ten minutes," for Blakely and his man, seeing instantly the condition +of things, had freshened the little fire and begun unloading supplies. +Solalay, their Indian guide, after piloting them through the woodland +southwest of Snow Lake, had pointed out the cañon, bidden them follow +it and, partly in the sign language, partly in Spanish, partly in the +few Apache terms that Blakely had learned during his agency days, +managed to make them understand that Wren was to be found some five +miles further on, and that most of the besieging Tontos were on the +heights above or in the cañon below. Few would be encountered, if any, +on the up-stream side. Then, promising to take the horses and the +mules to Camp Sandy, he had left them. He dared go no farther toward +the warring Apaches. They would suspect and butcher him without mercy. + +But Solalay had not gone without promise of further aid. Natzie's +younger brother, Alchisay, had recently come to him with a message +from her, and should be coming with another. Solalay thought he could +find the boy and send him to them to be used as a courier. Blakely's +opportune coming had cheered not a little the flagging defense, but, +not until forty-eight hours thereafter, by which time their condition +had become almost desperate and the foe almost daring, did the lithe, +big-eyed, swarthy little Apache reach them. Blakely knew him +instantly, wrote his dispatch and bade the boy go with all speed, with +the result we know. "Three more of our party are wounded," he had +written, but had not chosen to say that one of them was himself. + +A solemn sight was this that met the eyes of the Bugologist, as +Carmody roused him from a fitful sleep, with the murmured words, +"Almost light, sir. They'll be on us soon as they can see." Deep in +under the overhang and close to the pool lay one poor fellow whose +swift, gasping breath told all too surely that the Indian bullet had +found fatal billet in his wasting form. It was Chalmers, a young +Southerner, driven by poverty at home and prospect of adventure abroad +to seek service in the cavalry. It was practically his first campaign, +and in all human probability his last. Consciousness had left him +hours ago, and his vagrant spirit was fast loosing every earthly bond, +and already, in fierce dreamings, at war with unseen and savage foe +over their happy hunting grounds in the great Beyond. Near him, +equally sheltered, yet further toward the dim and pallid light, lay +Wren, his strong Scotch features pinched and drawn with pain and loss +of blood and lack of food. Fever there was little left, there was so +little left for it to live upon. Weak and helpless as a child in arms +he lay, inert and silent. There was nothing he could do. Never a +quarter hour had passed since he had been forced to lie there that +some one of his devoted men had not bathed his forehead and cooled his +burning wounds with abundant flow of blessed water. Twice since his +gradual return to consciousness had he asked for Blakely, and had +bidden him sit and tell him of Sandy, asking for tidings of Angela, +and faltering painfully as he bethought himself of the last +instructions he had given. How could Blakely be supposed to know aught +of her or of the household bidden to treat him practically as a +stranger? Now, he thought it grand that the Bugologist had thrown all +consideration of peril to the wind and had hastened to their aid to +share their desperate fortunes. But Wren knew not how to tell of it. +He took courage and hope when Blakely spoke of Solalay's loyalty, of +young Alchisay's daring visit and his present mission. Apaches of his +band had been known to traverse sixty miles a day over favorable +ground, and Alchisay, even through such a labyrinth of rock, ravine, +and precipice, should not make less than thirty. Within forty-eight +hours of his start the boy ought to reach the Sandy valley, and surely +no moment would then be lost in sending troops to find and rescue +them. But four days and nights, said Blakely to himself, was the least +time in which they could reasonably hope for help, and now only the +third night had gone,--gone with their supplies of every kind. A few +hours more and the sun would be blazing in upon even the dank depths +of the cañon for his midday stare. A few minutes more and the Apaches, +too, would be up and blazing on their own account. "Keep well under +shelter," were Blakely's murmured orders to the few men, even as the +first, faint breath of the dawn came floating from the broader reaches +far down the rocky gorge. + +In front of their cavelike refuge, just under the shelving mass +overhead, heaped in a regular semicircle, a rude parapet of rocks gave +shelter to the troopers guarding the approaches. Little loopholes had +been left, three looking down and two northward up the dark and tortuous +rift. In each of these a loaded carbine lay in readiness. So well chosen +was the spot that for one hundred yards southeastward--down stream--the +narrow gorge was commanded by the fire of the defense, while above, for +nearly eighty, from wall to wall, the approach was similarly swept. No +rush was therefore possible on part of the Apaches without every +probability of their losing two or three of the foremost. The Apache +lacks the magnificent daring of the Sioux or Cheyenne. He is a fighter +from ambush; he risks nothing for glory's sake; he is a monarch in craft +and guile, but no hero in open battle. For nearly a week now, day after +day, the position of the defenders had been made almost terrible by the +fierce bombardment to which it had been subjected, of huge stones or +bowlders sent thundering down the almost precipitous walls, then +bounding from ledge to ledge, or glancing from solid, sloping face +diving, finally, with fearful crash into the rocky bed at the bottom, +sending a shower of fragments hurtling in every direction, oft +dislodging some section of parapet, yet never reaching the depths of the +cave. Add to this nerve-racking siege work the instant, spiteful flash +of barbed arrow or zip and crack of bullet when hat or hand of one of +the defenders was for a second exposed, and it is not difficult to fancy +the wear and tear on even the stoutest heart in the depleted little +band. + +And still they set their watch and steeled their nerves, and in dogged +silence took their station as the pallid light grew roseate on the +cliffs above them. And with dull and wearied, yet wary, eyes, each +soldier scanned every projecting rock or point that could give shelter +to lurking foe, and all the time the brown muzzles of the carbines +were trained low along the stream bed. No shot could now be thrown +away at frowsy turban or flaunting rag along the cliffs. The rush was +the one thing they had to dread and drive back. It was God's mercy the +Apache dared not charge in the dark. + +[Illustration: THE FIGHT IN THE CAÑON] + +Lighter grew the deep gorge and lighter still, and soon in glorious +radiance the morning sunshine blazed on the lofty battlements far +overhead, and every moment the black shadow on the westward wall, +visible to the defense long rifle-shot southeastward, gave gradual way +before the rising day god, and from the broader open reaches beyond the +huge granite shoulder, around which wound the cañon, and from the +sun-kissed heights, a blessed warmth stole softly in, grateful +inexpressibly to their chilled and stiffened limbs. And still, despite +the growing hours, neither shot nor sign came from the accustomed haunts +of the surrounding foe. Six o'clock was marked by Blakely's watch. Six +o'clock and seven, and the low moan from the lips of poor young +Chalmers, or the rattle of some pebble dislodged by the foot of +crouching guardian, or some murmured word from man to man,--some word of +wonderment at the unlooked for lull in Apache siege operations,--was the +only sound to break the almost deathlike silence of the morning. There +was one other, far up among the stunted, shriveled pines and cedars that +jutted from the opposite heights. They could hear at intervals a weird, +mournful note, a single whistling call in dismal minor, but it brought +no new significance. Every day of their undesired and enforced sojourn, +every hour of the interminable day, that raven-like, hermit bird of the +Sierras had piped his unmelodious signal to some distant feathered +fellow, and sent a chill to the heart of more than one war-tried +soldier. There was never a man in Arizona wilds that did not hate the +sound of it. And yet, as eight o'clock was noted and still no sight or +sound of assailant came, Sergeant Carmody turned a wearied, aching eye +from his loophole and muttered to the officer crouching close beside +him: "I could wring the neck of the lot of those infernal cat crows, +sir, but I'll thank God if we hear no worse sound this day." + +Blakely rose to his feet and wearily leaned upon the breastworks, +peering cautiously over. Yesterday the sight of a scouting hat would +have brought instant whiz of arrow, but not a missile saluted him now. +One arm, his left, was rudely bandaged and held in a sling, a rifle +ball from up the cliff, glancing from the inner face of the parapet, +had torn savagely through muscle and sinew, but mercifully scored +neither artery nor bone. An arrow, whizzing blindly through a +southward loophole, had grazed his cheek, ripping a straight red seam +far back as the lobe of the ear, which had been badly torn. Blakely +had little the look of a squire of dames as, thus maimed and scarred +and swathed in blood-stained cotton, he peered down the deep and +shadowy cleft and searched with eyes keen, if yet unskilled, every +visible section of the opposite wall. What could their silence mean? +Had they found other game, pitifully small in numbers as these +besieged, and gone to butcher them, knowing well that, hampered by +their wounded, these, their earlier victims, could not hope to escape? +Had they got warning of the approach of some strong force of +soldiery--Brewster scouting in search of them, or may be Sanders +himself? Had they slipped away, therefore, and could the besieged dare +to creep forth and shout, signal, or even fire away two or three of +these last precious cartridges in hopes of catching the ear of +searching comrades? + +Wren, exhausted, had apparently dropped into a fitful doze. His eyes +were shut, his lips were parted, his long, lean fingers twitched at +times as a tremor seemed to shoot through his entire frame. Another +day like the last or at worst like this, without food or nourishment, +and even such rugged strength as had been his would be taxed to the +utmost. There might be no to-morrow for the sturdy soldier who had so +gallantly served his adopted country, his chosen flag. As for +Chalmers, the summons was already come. Far from home and those who +most loved and would sorely grieve for him, the brave lad was dying. +Carmody, kneeling by his side, but the moment before had looked up +mutely in his young commander's face, and his swimming, sorrowing eyes +had told the story. + +Nine o'clock had come without a symptom of alarm or enemy from +without, yet death had invaded the lonely refuge in the rocks, +claiming one victim as his tribute for the day and setting his seal +upon still another, the prospective sacrifice for the dismal morrow, +and Blakely could stand the awful strain no longer. + +"Sergeant," said he, "I must know what this means. We must have help +for the captain before this sun goes down, or he may be gone before we +know it." + +And Carmody looked him in the face and answered: "I am strong yet and +unhurt. Let me make the try, sir. Some of our fellows must be scouting +near us, or these beggars wouldn't have quit. I can find the boys, if +anyone can." + +Blakely turned and gazed one moment into the deep and dark recess +where lay his wounded and the dying. The morning wind had freshened a +bit, and a low, murmurous song, nature's Æolian, came softly from the +swaying pine and stunted oak and juniper far on high. The whiff that +swept to their nostrils from the lower depths of the cañon told its +own grewsome tale. There, scattered along the stream bed, lay the +festering remains of their four-footed comrades, first victims of the +ambuscade. Death lurked about their refuge then on every side, and was +even invading their little fortress. Was this to be the end, after +all? Was there neither help nor hope from any source? + +Turning once again, a murmured prayer upon his lips, Blakely started +at sight of Carmody. With one hand uplifted, as though to caution +silence, the other concaved at his ear, the sergeant was bending +eagerly forward, his eyes dilating, his frame fairly quivering. Then, +on a sudden, up he sprang and swung his hat about his head. "Firing, +sir! Firing, sure!" he cried. Another second, and with a gasp and moan +he sank to earth transfixed; a barbed arrow, whizzing from unseen +space, had pierced him through and through. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +WHERE IS ANGELA? + + +For a moment as they drew under shelter the stricken form of the +soldier, there was nothing the defense could do but dodge. Then, +leaving him at the edge of the pool, and kicking before them the one +cowed and cowering shirker of the little band, Blakely and the single +trooper still unhit, crept back to the rocky parapet, secured a +carbine each and knelt, staring up the opposite wall in search of the +foe. And not a sign of Apache could they see. + +Yet the very slant of the arrow as it pierced the young soldier, the +new angle at which the bullets bounded from the stony crest, the +lower, flatter flight of the barbed missiles that struck fire from the +flinty rampart, all told the same story. The Indians during the hours +of darkness, even while dreading to charge, had managed to crawl, +snake-like, to lower levels along the cliff and to creep closer up the +stream bed, and with stealthy, noiseless hands to rear little shelters +of stone, behind which they were now crouching invisible and secure. +With the illimitable patience of their savage training they had then +waited, minute after minute, hour after hour, until, lulled at last +into partial belief that their deadly foe had slipped away, some of +the defenders should be emboldened to venture into view, and then one +well-aimed volley at the signal from the leader's rifle, and the +vengeful shafts of those who had as yet only the native weapon, would +fall like lightning stroke upon the rash ones, and that would end it. +Catlike they had crouched and watched since early dawn. Catlike they +had played the old game of apparent weariness of the sport, of +forgetfulness of their prey and tricked their guileless victims into +hope and self-exposure, then swooped again, and the gallant lad whose +last offer and effort had been to set forth in desperate hope of +bringing relief to the suffering, had paid for his valor with his +life. One arrow at least had gone swift and true, one shaft that, +launched, perhaps, two seconds too soon for entire success, had barely +anticipated the leader's signal and spoiled the scheme of bagging all +the game. Blakely's dive to save his fallen comrade had just saved his +own head, for rock chips and spattering lead flew on every side, +scratching, but not seriously wounding him. + +And then, when they "thought on vengeance" and the three brown muzzles +swept the opposite wall, there followed a moment of utter silence, +broken only by the faint gasping of the dying man. "Creep back to +Carmody, you," muttered Blakely to the trembling lad beside him. "You +are of no account here unless they try to charge. Give him water, +quick." Then to Stern, his one unhurt man, "You heard what he said +about distant firing. Did you hear it?" + +"Not I, sir, but I believe _they_ did--an' be damned to them!" And +Stern's eyes never left the opposite cliff, though his ears were +strained to catch the faintest sound from the lower cañon. It was +there they last had seen the troop. It was from that direction help +should come. "Watch them, but don't waste a shot, man. I must speak to +Carmody," said Blakely, under his breath, as he backed on hands and +knees, a painful process when one is sore wounded. Trembling, +whimpering like whipped child, the poor, spiritless lad sent to the +aid of the stricken and heroic, crouched by the sergeant's side, +vainly striving to pour water from a clumsy canteen between the +sufferer's pallid lips. Carmody presently sucked eagerly at the +cooling water, and even in his hour of dissolution seemed far the +stronger, sturdier of the two--seemed to feel so infinite a pity for +his shaken comrade. Bleeding internally, as was evident, transfixed by +the cruel shaft they did not dare attempt to withdraw, even if the +barbed steel would permit, and drooping fainter with each swift +moment, he was still conscious, still brave and uncomplaining. His +dimmed and mournful eyes looked up in mute appeal to his young +commander. He knew that he was going fast, and that whatever rescue +might come to these, his surviving fellow-soldiers, there would be +none for him; and yet in his supreme moment he seemed to read the +question on Blakely's lips, and his words, feeble and broken, were +framed to answer. + +"Couldn't--you hear 'em, lieutenant?" he gasped. "I can't +be--mistaken. I know--the old--Springfield _sure_! I heard 'em way +off--south--a dozen shots," and then a spasm of agony choked him, and +he turned, writhing, to hide the anguish on his face. Blakely grasped +the dying soldier's hand, already cold and limp and nerveless, and +then his own voice seemed, too, to break and falter. + +"Don't try to talk, Carmody; don't try! Of course you are right. It +must be some of our people. They'll reach us soon. Then we'll have the +doctor and can help you. Those saddle-bags!" he said, turning sharply +to the whimpering creature kneeling by them, and the lad drew hand +across his streaming eyes and passed the worn leather pouches. From +one of them Blakely drew forth a flask, poured some brandy into its +cup and held it to the soldier's lips. Carmody swallowed almost +eagerly. He seemed to crave a little longer lease of life. There was +something tugging at his heartstrings, and presently he turned slowly, +painfully again. "Lieutenant," he gasped, "I'm not scared to die--this +way anyhow. There's no one to care--but the boys--but there's one +thing"--and now the stimulant seemed to reach the failing heart and +give him faint, fluttering strength--"there's one thing I ought--I +ought to tell. You've been solid with the boys--you're square, and I'm +not--I haven't always been. Lieutenant--I was on guard--the night of +the fire--and Elise, you know--the French girl--she--she's got most +all I saved--most all I--won, but she was trickin' me--all the time, +lieutenant--me and Downs that's gone--and others. She didn't care. +You--you aint the only one I--I--" + +"Lieutenant!" came in excited whisper, the voice of Stern, and there +at his post in front of the cave he knelt, signaling urgently. +"Lieutenant, quick!" + +"One minute, Carmody! I've got to go. Tell me a little later." But +with dying strength Carmody clung to his hand. + +"I must tell you, lieutenant--now. It wasn't Downs's fault. She--she +made--" + +"Lieutenant, quick! for God's sake! They're coming!" cried the voice +of the German soldier at the wall, and wrenching his wrist from the +clasp of the dying man, Blakely sprang recklessly to his feet and to +the mouth of the cave just as Stern's carbine broke the stillness with +resounding roar. Half a dozen rifles barked their instant echo among +the rocks. From up the hillside rose a yell of savage hate and another +of warning. Then from behind their curtaining rocks half a dozen dusky +forms, their dirty white breechclouts streaming behind them, sprang +suddenly into view and darted, with goatlike ease and agility, +zigzagging up the eastward wall. It was a foolish thing to do, but +Blakely followed with a wasted shot, aimed one handed from the +shoulder, before he could regain command of his judgment. In thirty +seconds the cliff was as bare of Apaches as but the moment before it +had been dotted. Something, in the moment when their savage plans and +triumph seemed secure, had happened to alarm the entire party. With +warning shouts and signals they were scurrying out of the deep ravine, +scattering, apparently, northward. But even as they fled to higher +ground there was order and method in their retreat. While several of +their number clambered up the steep, an equal number lurked in their +covert, and Blakely's single shot was answered instantly by half a +dozen, the bullets striking and splashing on the rocks, the arrows +bounding or glancing furiously. Stern ducked within, out of the storm. +Blakely, flattening like hunted squirrel close to the parapet, flung +down his empty carbine and strove to reach another, lying loaded at +the southward loophole, and at the outstretched hand there whizzed an +arrow from aloft whose guiding feather fairly seared the skin, so +close came the barbed messenger. Then up the height rang out a shrill +cry, some word of command in a voice that had a familiar tang to it, +and that was almost instantly obeyed, for, under cover of sharp, +well-aimed fire from aloft, from the shelter of projecting rock or +stranded bowlder, again there leaped into sight a few scattered, +sinewy forms that rushed in bewildering zigzag up the steep, until +safe beyond their supports, when they, too, vanished, and again the +cliff stood barren of Apache foemen as the level of the garrison +parade. It was science in savage warfare against which the drill book +of the cavalry taught no method whatsoever. Another minute and even +the shots had ceased. One glimpse more had Blakely of dingy, trailing +breechclouts, fluttering in the breeze now stirring the fringing pines +and cedars, and all that was left of the late besiegers came +clattering down the rocks in the shape of an Indian shield. Stern +would have scrambled out to nab it, but was ordered down. "Back, you +idiot, or they'll have you next!" And then they heard the feeble +voice of Wren, pleading for water and demanding to be lifted to the +light. The uproar of the final volley had roused him from an almost +deathlike stupor, and he lay staring, uncomprehending, at Carmody, +whose glazing eyes were closed, whose broken words had ceased. The +poor fellow was drifting away into the shadows with his story still +untold. + +"Watch here, Stern, but keep under cover," cried Blakely. "I'll see to +the captain. Listen for any shot or sound, but hold your fire," and +then he turned to his barely conscious senior and spoke to him as he +would to a helpless child. Again he poured a little brandy in his cup. +Again he held it to ashen lips and presently saw the faint flutter of +reviving strength. "Lie still just a moment or two, Wren," he murmured +soothingly. "Lie still. Somebody's coming. The troop is not far off. +You'll soon have help and home and--Angela"--even then his tongue +faltered at her name. And Wren heard and with eager eyes questioned +imploringly. The quivering lips repeated huskily the name of the child +he loved. "Angela--where?" + +"Home--safe--where you shall be soon, old fellow, only--brace up now. +I must speak one moment with Carmody," and to Carmody eagerly he +turned. "You were speaking of Elise and the fire--of Downs, sergeant +----" His words were slow and clear and distinct, for the soldier had +drifted far away and must be recalled. "Tell me again. What was it?" + +But only faint, swift gasping answered him. Carmody either heard not, +or, hearing, was already past all possibility of reply. "Speak to me, +Carmody. Tell me what I can do for you?" he repeated. "What word to +Elise?" He thought the name might rouse him, and it did. A feeble hand +was uplifted, just an inch or two. The eyelids slowly fluttered, and +the dim, almost lifeless eyes looked pathetically up into those of the +young commander. There was a moment of almost breathless silence, +broken only by a faint moan from Wren's tortured lips and the childish +whimpering of that other--the half-crazed, terror-stricken soldier. + +"Elise," came the whisper, barely audible, as Carmody strove to lift his +head, "she--promised"--but the head sank back on Blakely's knee. Stern +was shouting at the stone gate--shouting and springing to his feet and +swinging his old scouting hat and gazing wildly down the cañon. "For +God's sake hush, man!" cried the lieutenant. "I must hear Carmody." But +Stern was past further shouting now. Sinking on his knees, he was +sobbing aloud. Scrambling out into the daylight of the opening, but +still shrinking within its shelter, the half-crazed, half-broken soldier +stood stretching forth his arms and calling wild words down the echoing +gorge, where sounds of shouting, lusty-lunged, and a ringing order or +two, and then the clamor of carbine shots, told of the coming of rescue +and new life and hope, and food and friends, and still Blakely knelt and +circled that dying head with the one arm left him, and pleaded and +besought--even commanded. But never again would word or order stir the +soldier's willing pulse. The sergeant and his story had drifted +together beyond the veil, and Blakely, slowly rising, found the lighted +entrance swimming dizzily about him, first level and then up-ended; +found himself sinking, whither he neither knew nor cared; found the +cañon filling with many voices, the sound of hurrying feet and then of +many rushing waters, and then--how was it that all was dark without the +cave, and lighted--lantern-lighted--here within? They had had no +lantern, no candle. Here were both, and here was a familiar face--old +Heartburn's--bending reassuringly over Wren, and someone was ----. Why, +where was Carmody? Gone! And but a moment ago that dying head was there +on his knee, and then it was daylight, too, and now--why, it must be +after nightfall, else why these lanterns? And then old Heartburn came +bending over him in turn, and then came a rejoiceful word: + +"Hello, Bugs! Well, it _is_ high time you woke up! Here, take a swig +of this!" + +Blakely drank and sat up presently, dazed, and Heartburn went on with +his cheery talk. "One of you men out there call Captain Stout. Tell +him Mr. Blakely's up and asking for him," and, feeling presently a +glow of warmth coursing in his veins, the Bugologist roused to a +sitting posture and began to mumble questions. And then a burly shadow +appeared at the entrance, black against the ruddy firelight in the +cañon without, where other forms began to appear. Down on his knee +came Stout to clasp his one available hand and even clap him on the +back and send unwelcome jar through his fevered, swollen arm. "Good +boy, Bugs! You're coming round famously. We'll start you back to Sandy +in the morning, you and Wren, for nursing, petting, and all that sort +of thing. They are lashing the saplings now for your litters, and +we've sent for Graham, too, and he'll meet you on the the way, while +we shove on after Shield's people." + +"Shield--Raven Shield?" queried Blakely, still half dazed. "Shield was +killed--at Sandy," and yet there was the memory of the voice he knew +and heard in this very cañon. + +"Shield, yes; and now his brother heads them. Didn't he send his card +down to you, after the donicks, and be damned to him? You foregathered +with both of them at the agency. Oh, they're all alike, Bugs, once +they're started on the warpath. Now we must get you out into the open +for a while. The air's better." + +And so, an hour later, his arm carefully dressed and bandaged, +comforted by needed food and fragrant tea and the news that Wren was +reviving under the doctor's ministrations, and would surely mend and +recover, Blakely lay propped by the fire and heard the story of +Stout's rush through the wilderness to their succor. Never waiting for +the dawn, after a few hours' rest at Beaver Spring, the sturdy +doughboys had eagerly followed their skilled and trusted leader all +the hours from eleven, stumbling, but never halting even for rest or +rations, and at last had found the trail four miles below in the +depths of the cañon. There some scattering shots had met them, arrow +and rifle both, from up the heights, and an effort was made to delay +their progress. Wearied and footsore though were his men, they had +driven the scurrying foe from rock to rock and then, in a lull that +followed, had heard the distant sound of firing that told them whither +to follow on. Only one man, Stern, was able to give them coherent word +or welcome when at last they came, for Chalmers and Carmody lay dead, +Wren in a stupor, Blakely in a deathlike swoon, and "that poor chap +yonder" loony and hysterical as a crazy man. Thank God they had not, +as they had first intended, waited for the break of day. + +Another dawn and Stout and most of his men had pushed on after the +Apaches and in quest of the troop at Sunset Pass. By short stages the +soldiers left in charge were to move the wounded homeward. By noon +these latter were halted under the willows by a little stream. The +guards were busy filling canteens and watering pack mules, when the +single sentry threw his rifle to the position of "ready" and the gun +lock clicked loud. Over the stony ridge to the west, full a thousand +yards away, came a little band of riders in single file, four men in +all. Wren was sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. Blakely, feverish and +excited, was wide awake. Mercifully the former never heard the first +question asked by the leading rider--Arnold, the ranchman--as he came +jogging into the noonday bivouac. Stone, sergeant commanding, had run +forward to meet and acquaint him with the condition of the rescued +men. "Got there in time then, thank God!" he cried, as wearily he +flung himself out of saddle and glanced quickly about him. There lay +Wren, senseless and still between the lashed ribs of his litter. There +lay Blakely, smiling feebly and striving to hold forth a wasted hand, +but Arnold saw it not. Swiftly his eyes flitted from face to face, +from man to man, then searched the little knot of mules, sidelined and +nibbling at the stunted herbage in the glen. "I don't see Punch," he +faltered. "Wh-where's Miss Angela?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUR VANISHED PRINCESS + + +Then came a story told in fierce and excited whisperings, Arnold the +speaker, prompted sometimes by his companions; Stone, and the few +soldiers grouped about him, awe-stricken and dismayed. Blakely had +started up from his litter, his face white with an awful dread, +listening in wordless agony. + +At six the previous morning, loping easily out from Sandy, Arnold's +people had reached the ranch and found the veteran colonel with his +orderlies impatiently waiting for them. These latter had had abundant +food and coffee and the colonel was fuming with impatience to move, +but Arnold's people had started on empty stomachs, counting on a +hearty breakfast at the ranch. José could have it ready in short +order. So Byrne, with his men, mounted and rode ahead on the trail of +the infantry, saying the rest could overtake him before he reached the +rocky and dangerous path over the first range. For a few miles the +Beaver Valley was fairly wide and open. Not twenty minutes later, as +Arnold's comrades sat on the porch on the north side of the house, +they heard swift hoof-beats, and wondered who could be coming now. +But, without an instant's pause, the rider had galloped by, and one of +the men, hurrying to the corner of the ranch, was amazed to see the +lithe, slender form of Angela Wren speeding her pet pony like the wind +up the sandy trail. Arnold refused to believe at first, but his eyes +speedily told him the same story. He had barely a glimpse of her +before she was out of sight around a grove of willows up the stream. +"Galloping to catch the colonel," said he, and such was his belief. +Angela, he reasoned, had hastened after them to send some message of +love to her wounded father, and had perhaps caught sight of the trio +far out in the lead. Arnold felt sure that they would meet her coming +back, sure that there was no danger for her, with Byrne and his +fellows well out to the front. They finished their breakfast, +therefore, reset their saddles, mounted and rode for an hour toward +the Mogollon and still the pony tracks led them on, overlying those of +the colonel's party. Then they got among the rocks and only at +intervals found hoof-prints; but, far up along the range, caught sight +of the three horsemen, and so, kept on. It was after ten when at last +they overtook the leaders, and then, to their consternation, Angela +Wren was not with them. They had neither seen nor heard of her, and +Byrne was aghast when told that, alone and without a guide, she had +ridden in among the foothills of those desolate, pathless mountains. +"The girl is mad," said he, "and yet it's like her to seek to reach +her father." + +Instantly they divided forces to search for her. Gorges and cañons +innumerable seamed the westward face of this wild spur of the Sierras, +and, by the merest luck in the world, one of Arnold's men, spurring +along a stony ridge, caught sight of a girlish form far across a deep +ravine, and quickly fired two shots in signal that he had "sighted" +the chase. It brought Arnold and two of his men to the spot and, +threading their way, sometimes afoot and leading their steeds, +sometimes in saddle and urging them through the labyrinth of bowlders, +they followed on. At noon they had lost not only all sight of her, but +of their comrades, nor had they seen the latter since. Byrne and his +orderlies, with three of the party that "pulled out" from Sandy with +Arnold in the morning, had disappeared. Again and again they fired +their Henrys, hoping for answering signal, or perhaps to attract +Angela's attention. All doubt as to her purpose was now ended. Mad she +might be, but determined she was, and had deliberately dodged past +them at the Beaver, fearing opposition to her project. At two, +moreover, they found that she could "trail" as well as they, for among +the stunted cedars at the crest of a steep divide, they found the +print of the stout brogans worn by their infantry comrades, and, down +among the rocks of the next ravine, crushed bits of hardtack by a +"tank" in the hillside. She had stopped there long enough at least to +water Punch, then pushed on again. + +Once more they saw her, not three miles ahead at four o'clock, just +entering a little clump of pines at the top of a steep acclivity. They +fired their rifles and shouted loud in hopes of halting her, but all +to no purpose. Night came down and compelled them to bivouac. They +built a big fire to guide the wanderers, but morning broke without +sign of them; so on they went, for now, away from the rocks the trail +was often distinct, and once again they found the pony hoof-prints and +thanked God. At seven by Arnold's watch, among the breaks across a +steep divide they found another tank, more crumbs, a grain sack with +some scattered barley, more hardtack and the last trace of Angela. +Arnold's hand shook, as did his voice, as he drew forth a little +fluttering ribbon--the "snood" poor Wren so loved to see binding his +child's luxuriant hair. + +They reasoned she had stopped here to feed and water her pony, and had +probably bathed her face and flung loose her hair and forgotten later +the binding ribbon. They believed she had followed on after Stout's +hard-marching company. It was easy to trail. They counted on finding +her when they found her father, and now here lay Wren unconscious of +her loss, and Blakely, realizing it all--cruelly, feverishly realizing +it--yet so weakened by his wounds as to be almost powerless to march +or mount and go in search of her. + +No question now as to the duty immediately before them. In twenty +minutes the pack mules were again strapped between the saplings, the +little command was slowly climbing toward the westward heights, with +Arnold and two of his friends scouting the rough trail and hillsides, +firing at long intervals and listening in suspense almost intolerable +for some answering signal. The other of their number had volunteered +to follow Stout over the plateau toward the Pass and acquaint him with +the latest news. + +While the sun was still high in the heavens, far to the northward, +they faintly heard or thought they heard two rifle shots. At four +o'clock, as they toiled through a tangle of rock and stunted pine, +Arnold, riding well to the front, came suddenly out upon a bare ledge +from which he could look over a wild, wide sweep of mountain side, +stretching leagues to north and south, and there his keen and +practiced eye was greeted by a sight that thrilled him with dread +unspeakable. Dread, not for himself or his convoy of wounded, but +dread for Angela. Jutting, from the dark fringe of pines along a +projecting bluff, perhaps four miles away, little puffs or clouds of +smoke, each separate and distinct, were sailing straight aloft in the +pulseless air--Indian signals beyond possibility of doubt. Some +Apaches, then, were still hovering about the range overlooking the +broad valley of the Sandy, some of the bands then were prowling in the +mountains between the scouting troops and the garrisoned post. Some +must have been watching this very trail, in hopes of intercepting +couriers or stragglers, some _must_ have seen and seized poor Angela. + +He had sprung from saddle and leveled his old field glass at the +distant promontory, so absorbed in his search he did not note the +coming of the little column. The litter bearing Blakely foremost of +the four had halted close beside him, and Blakely's voice, weak and +strained, yet commanding, suddenly startled him with demand to be told +what he saw, and Arnold merely handed him the glass and pointed. The +last of the faint smoke puffs was just soaring into space, making +four still in sight. Blakely never even took the binocular. He had +seen enough by the unaided eye. + +[Illustration: "INDIAN SIGNALS BEYOND POSSIBILITY OF A DOUBT"] + +With uplifted hand the sergeant had checked the coming of the next +litter, Wren's, and those that followed it. One of the wounded men, +the poor lad crazed by the perils of the siege, was alert and begging +for more water, but Wren was happily lost to the world in swoon or +slumber. To the soldier bending over him he seemed scarcely breathing. +Presently they were joined by two of Arnold's party who had been +searching out on the left flank. They, too, had seen, and the three +were now in low-toned conference. Blakely for the moment was unnoted, +forgotten. + +"That tank--where we found the ribbon--was just about two miles +yonder," said Arnold, pointing well down the rugged slope toward the +southwest, where other rocky, pine-fringed heights barred the view to +the distant Sandy. "Surely the colonel or some of his fellows must be +along here. Ride ahead a hundred yards or so and fire a couple of +shots," this to one of his men, who silently reined his tired bronco +into the rude trail among the pine cones and disappeared. The others +waited. Presently came the half-smothered sound of a shot and a +half-stifled cry from the rearmost litter. Every such shock meant new +terror to that poor lad, but Wren never stirred. Half a minute passed +without another sound than faint and distant echo; then faint, and not +so distant, came another sound, a prolonged shout, and presently +another, and then a horseman hove in sight among the trees across a +nearly mile-wide dip. Arnold and his friends rode on to meet him, +leaving the litters at the crest. In five minutes one of the riders +reappeared and called: "It's Horn, of the orderlies. He reports +Colonel Byrne just ahead. Come on!" and turning, dove back down the +twisted trail. + +The colonel might have been just ahead when last seen, but when they +reached the tank he was far aloft again, scouting from another height +to the northward, and while the orderly went on to find and tell him, +Arnold and his grave-faced comrade dismounted there to await the +coming of the litters. Graver were the faces even than before. The +news that had met them was most ominous. Two of those who searched +with Colonel Byrne had found pony tracks leading northward--leading in +the very direction in which they had seen the smoke. There was no +other pony shoe in the Sandy valley. It could be none other than +Angela's little friend and comrade--Punch. + +And this news they told to Blakely as the foremost litter came. He +listened with hardly a word of comment; then asked for his scouting +notebook. He was sitting up now. They helped him from his springy +couch to a seat on the rocks, and gave him a cup of the cold water. +One by one the other litters were led into the little amphitheater and +unlashed. Everyone seemed to know that here must be the bivouac for +the night, their abiding place for another day, perhaps, unless they +should find the captain's daughter. They spoke, when they spoke at +all, in muffled tones, these rough, war-worn men of the desert and +the mountain. They bent over the wounded with sorrowing eyes, and +wondered why no surgeon had come out to meet them. Heartburn, of +course, had done his best, dressing and rebandaging the wounds at +dawn, but then he had to go on with Stout and the company, while one +of the Apache Yumas was ordered to dodge his way in to Sandy, with a +letter urging that Graham be sent out to follow the trail and meet the +returning party. + +Meanwhile the sun had dropped behind the westward heights; the night +would soon be coming down, chill and overcast. Byrne was still away, +but he couldn't miss the tank, said one of the troopers who had ridden +with him. Twice during the morning they had all met there and then +gone forth again, searching--searching. Punch's little hoof-tracks, +cutting through a sandy bit in the northward ravine, had drawn them +all that way, but nothing further had been found. His horse, too, said +the orderly, was lame and failing, so he had been bidden to wait by +the water and watch for couriers either from the front or out from the +post. Byrne was one of those never-give-up men, and they all knew him. + +Barley was served out to the animals, a little fire lighted, lookouts +were stationed, and presently their soldier supper was ready, and +still Blakely said nothing. He had written three notes or letters, one +of which seemed to give him no little trouble, for one after another +he thrust two leaves into the fire and started afresh. At length they +were ready, and he signaled to Arnold. "You can count, I think, on +Graham's getting here within a few hours," said he. "Meantime you're +as good a surgeon as I need. Help me on with this sling." And still +they did not fathom his purpose. He was deathly pale, and his eyes +were eloquent of dread unspeakable, but he seemed to have forgotten +pain, fever, and prostration. Arnold, in the silent admiration of the +frontier, untied the support, unloosed the bandages, and together they +redressed the ugly wound. Then presently the Bugologist stood feebly +upon his feet and looked about him. It was growing darker, and not +another sound had come from Byrne. + +"Start one of your men into Sandy at once," said Blakely, to the +sergeant, and handed him a letter addressed to Major Plume. "He will +probably meet the doctor before reaching the Beaver. These other two +I'll tell you what to do with later. Now, who has the best horse?" + +Arnold stared. Sergeant Stone quickly turned and saluted. "The +lieutenant is not thinking of mounting, I hope," said he. + +Blakely did not even answer. He was studying the orderly's bay. Stiff +and a little lame he might be, but, refreshed and strengthened by +abundant barley, he was a better weight-carrier than the other, and +Blakely had weight. "Saddle your horse, Horn," said he, "and fasten on +those saddle-bags of mine." + +"But, lieutenant," ventured Arnold, "you are in no shape to ride +anything but that litter. Whatever you think of doing, let me do." + +"What I am thinking of doing nobody else can do," said Blakely. "What +you can do is, keep these two letters till I call for them. If at the +end of a week I fail to call, deliver them as addressed and to nobody +else. Now, before dark I must reach that point younder," and he +indicated the spot where in the blaze of the westering sun a mass of +rock towered high above the fringing pine and mournful shadows at its +base, a glistening landmark above the general gloom at the lower level +and at that hour of the afternoon. "Now," he added quietly, "you can +help me into saddle." + +"But for God's sake, lieutenant, let some of us ride with you," +pleaded Arnold. "If Colonel Byrne was here he'd never let you go." + +"Colonel Byrne is not here, and I command, I believe," was the brief, +uncompromising answer. "And no man rides with me because, with another +man, I'd never find what I'm in search of." For a moment he bent over +Wren, a world of wordless care, dread, and yet determination in his +pale face. Arnold saw his wearied eyes close a moment, his lips move +as though in petition, then he suddenly turned. "Let me have that +ribbon," said he bluntly, and without a word Arnold surrendered it. +Stone held the reluctant horse, Arnold helped the wounded soldier into +the saddle. "Don't worry about me--any of you," said Blakely, in brief +farewell. "Good-night," and with that he rode away. + +Arnold and the men stood gazing after him. "Grit clean through," said +the ranchman, through his set teeth, for a light was dawning on him, +as he pondered over Blakely's words. "May the Lord grant I don't have +to deliver these!" Then he looked at the superscriptions. One letter +was addressed to Captain, or Miss Janet, Wren--the other to Mrs. +Plume. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SUSPENSE + + +Sandy again. Four of the days stipulated by Lieutenant Blakely had run +their course. The fifth was ushered in, and from the moment he rode +away from the bivouac at the tanks no word had come from the +Bugologist, no further trace of Angela. In all its history the +garrison had known no gloom like this. The hospital was filled with +wounded. An extra surgeon and attendants had come down from Prescott, +but Graham was sturdily in charge. Of his several patients Wren +probably was now causing him the sorest anxiety, for the captain had +been grievously wounded and was pitiably weak. Now, when aroused at +times from the lassitude and despond in which he lay, Wren would +persist in asking for Angela, and, not daring to tell him the truth, +Janet, Calvinist that she was to the very core, had to do fearful +violence to her feelings and lie. By the advice of bluff old Byrne and +the active connivance of the post commander, they had actually, these +stern Scotch Presbyterians, settled on this as the deception to be +practiced--that Angela had been drooping so sadly from anxiety and +dread she had been taken quite ill, and Dr. Graham had declared she +must be sent up to Prescott, or some equally high mountain resort, +there to rest and recuperate. She was in good hands, said these +arch-conspirators. She might be coming home any day. As for the troop +and the campaign, he mustn't talk or worry or think about them. The +general, with his big field columns, had had no personal contact with +the Indians. They had scattered before him into the wild country +toward the great Colorado, where Stout, with his hickory-built +footmen, and Brewster, with most of Wren's troop, were stirring up +Apaches night and day, while Sanders and others were steadily driving +on toward the old Wingate road. Stout had found Brewster beleaguered, +but safe and sound, with no more men killed and few seriously wounded. +They had communicated with Sanders's side scouts, and were finding and +following fresh trails with every day, when Stout was surprised to +receive orders to drop pursuit and start with Brewster's fellows and +to scout the west face of the mountains from the Beaver to the heights +opposite the old Indian reservation. There was a stirring scene at +bivouac when that order came, and with it the explanation that Angela +Wren had vanished and was probably captured; that Blakely had followed +and was probably killed. "They might shoot Blakely in fair fight," +said Stout, who knew him, and knew the veneration that lived for him +in the hearts of the Indian leaders, "but they at least would never +butcher him in cold blood. Their unrestrained young men might do it." +Stout's awful dread, like that of every man and woman at Sandy, and +every soldier in the field, was for Angela. The news, too, had been +rushed to the general, and his orders were instant. "Find the chiefs +in the field," said he to his interpreter and guide. "Find Shield's +people, and say that if a hair of her head is injured I shall hunt +them down, braves, women, and children--I shall hunt them anyhow until +they surrender her unharmed." + +But the Apaches were used to being hunted, and some of them really +liked the game. It was full of exhilaration and excitement, and not a +few chances to hunt and hit back. The threat conveyed no terror to the +renegades. It was to the Indians at the reservation that the tidings +brought dismay, yet even there, so said young Bridger, leaders and +followers swore they had no idea where the white maiden could be, much +less the young chief. They, the peaceable and the poor servants of the +great Father at Washington, had no dealings with these others, his +foes. + +About the post, where gloom and dread unspeakable prevailed, there was +no longer the fear of possible attack. The Indian prisoners in the +guard-house had dropped their truculent, defiant manner, and become +again sullen and apathetic. The down-stream settlers had returned to +their ranches and reported things undisturbed. Even the horse that had +been missing and charged to Downs had been accounted for. They found +him grazing placidly about the old pasture, with the rope halter +trailing, Indian-knotted, from his neck, and his gray hide still +showing stains of blood about the mane and withers. They wondered was +it on this old stager the Apaches had borne the wounded girl to the +garrison--she who still lay under the roof of Mother Shaughnessy, +timidly visited at times by big-eyed, shy little Indian maids from the +reservation, who would speak no word that Sudsville could understand, +and few that even Wales Arnold could interpret. All they would or +could divulge was that she was the daughter of old Eskiminzin, who was +out in the mountains, and that she had been wounded "over there," and +they pointed eastward. By whom and under what circumstances they swore +they knew not, much less did they know of Downs, or of how she chanced +to have the scarf once worn by the Frenchwoman Elise. + +Then Arnold's wife and brood had gone back to their home up the +Beaver, while he himself returned to the search for Angela and for +Blakely. But those four days had passed without a word of hope. In +little squads a dozen parties were scouring the rugged cañons and +cliffs for signs, and finding nothing. Hours each day Plume would come +to the watchers on the bluff to ask if no courier had been sighted. +Hours each night the sentries strained their eyes for signal fires. +Graham, slaving with his sick and wounded, saw how haggard and worn +the commander was growing, and spoke a word of caution. Something told +him it was not all on account of those woeful conditions at the front. +From several sources came the word that Mrs. Plume was in a state +bordering on hysteric at department headquarters, where sympathetic +women strove vainly to comfort and soothe her. It was then that Elise +became a center of interest, for Elise was snapping with electric +force and energy. "It is that they will assassinate madame--these +monsters," she declared. "It is imperative, it is of absolute need, +that madame be taken to the sea, and these wretches, unfeeling, they +forbid her to depart." Madame herself, it would seem, so said those +who had speech with her, declared she longed to be again with her +husband at Sandy. Then it was Elise who demanded that they should +move. Elise was mad to go--Elise, who took a turn of her own, a +screaming fit, when the news came of the relief of Wren's little +force, of the death of their brave sergeant, of the strange tale that, +before dying, Carmody had breathed a confession to Lieutenant Blakely, +which Blakely had reduced to writing before he set forth on his own +hapless mission. It was Mrs. Plume's turn now to have to play nurse +and comforter, and to strive to soothe, even to the extent of +promising that Elise should be permitted to start by the very next +stage to the distant sea, but when it came to securing passage, and in +feverish, nervous haste the Frenchwoman had packed her chosen +belongings into the one little trunk the stage people would consent to +carry, lo! there came to her a messenger from headquarters where +Colonel Byrne, grim, silent, saturnine, was again in charge. Any +attempt on her part to leave would result in her being turned over at +once to the civil authorities, and Elise understood and raved, but +risked not going to jail. Mullins, nursed by his devoted Norah, was +sitting up each day now, and had been seen by Colonel Byrne as that +veteran passed through, ten pounds lighter of frame and heavier of +heart than when he set forth, and Mullins had persisted in the story +that he had been set upon and stabbed by two women opposite Lieutenant +Blakely's quarters. What two had been seen out there that night but +Clarice Plume and her Gallic shadow, Elise? + +Meantime Aunt Janet was "looking ghastly," said the ladies along that +somber line of quarters, and something really ought to be done. Just +what that something should be no two could unite in deciding, but +really Major Plume or Dr. Graham ought to see that, if something +wasn't done, she would break down under the awful strain. She had +grown ten years older in five days, they declared--was turning +fearfully gray, and they were sure she never slept a wink. Spoken to +on this score, poor Miss Wren was understood to say she not only could +not sleep, but she did not wish to. Had she kept awake and watched +Angela, as was her duty, the child could never have succeeded in her +wild escapade. The "child," by the way, had displayed rare +generalship, as speedily became known. She must have made her few +preparations without a betraying sound, for even Kate Sanders, in the +same room, was never aroused--Kate, who was now well-night +heartbroken. They found that Angela had crept downstairs in her +stockings, and had put on her riding moccasins and leggings at the +kitchen steps. There, in the sand, were the tracks of her long, +slender feet. They found that she had taken with her a roomy +hunting-pouch that hung usually in her father's den. She had filled +it, apparently, with food,--tea, sugar, even lemons, for half a dozen +of this precious and hoarded fruit had disappeared. Punch, too, had +been provided for. She had "packed" a half-bushel of barley from the +stables. There was no one to say Miss Angela nay. She might have +ridden off with the flag itself and no sentry would more than think of +stopping her. Just what fate had befallen her no one dare suggest. The +one thing, the only one, that roused a vestige of hope was that +Lieutenant Blakely had gone _alone_ on what was thought to be her +trail. + +Now here was a curious condition of things. If anyone had been asked +to name the most popular officer at Sandy, there would have been no +end of discussion. Perhaps the choice would have lain between Sanders, +Cutler, and old Westervelt--good and genial men. Asked to name the +least popular officer, and, though men, and women, too, would have +shrunk from saying it, the name that would have occurred to almost all +was that of Blakely. And why? Simply because he stood alone, +self-poised, self-reliant, said his few friends, "self-centered and +self_ish_," said more than Mrs. Bridger, whereas a more generous man +had never served at Sandy. That, however, they had yet to learn. But +when a man goes his way in the world, meddling with no one else's +business, and never mentioning his own, courteous and civil, but never +intimate, studying a good deal but saying little, asking no favors and +granting few, perhaps because seldom asked, the chances are he will +win the name of being cold, indifferent, even repellent, "too high, +mighty, and superior." His very virtues become a fault, for men and +women love best those who are human like themselves, however they may +respect. Among the troopers Blakely was as yet something of an enigma. +His manner of speaking to them was unlike that of most of his +fellows--it was grave, courteous, dignified, never petulant or +irritable. In those old cavalry days most men better fancied something +more demonstrative. "I like to see an officer flare up and--say +things," said a veteran sergeant. "This here bug-catcher is too damned +cold-blooded." They respected him, yes; yet they little understood and +less loved him. They had known him too short a time. + +But among the Indians Blakely was a demi-god. Grave, unruffled, +scrupulously exact in word and deed, he made them trust him. Brave, +calm, quick in moments of peril, he made them admire him. How +fearlessly he had stepped into the midst of that half-frenzied +sextette, _tiswin_ drunk, and disarmed Kwonagietah and two of his +fellow-revelers! How instant had been his punishment of that raging, +rampant, mutinous old medicine man, 'Skiminzin, who dared to threaten +him and the agency! (That episode only long years after reached the +ears of the Indian Advancement Association in the imaginative East.) +How gently and skillfully he had ministered to Shield's younger +brother, and to the children of old Chief Toyah! It was this, in fact, +that won the hate and envy of 'Skiminzin. How lavish was Blakely's +bounty to the aged and to the little ones, and Indians love their +children infinitely! The hatred or distrust of Indian man or woman, +once incurred, is venomous and lasting. The trust, above all the +gratitude, of the wild race, once fairly won, is to the full as +stable. Nothing will shake it. There are those who say the love of an +Indian girl, once given, surpasses that of her Circassian sister, and +Bridger now was learning new stories of the Bugologist with every day +of his progress in Apache lore. He had even dared to bid his impulsive +little wife "go slow," should she ever again be tempted to say +spiteful things of Blakely. "If what old Toyah tells me is true," said +he, "and I believe him, Hualpai or Apache Mohave, there isn't a decent +Indian in this part of Arizona that wouldn't give his own scalp to +save Blakely." Mrs. Bridger did not tell this at the time, for she had +said too much the other way; but, on this fifth day of our hero's +absence, there came tidings that unloosed her lips. + +Just at sunset an Indian runner rode in on one of Arnold's horses, and +bearing a dispatch for Major Plume. It was from that sturdy +campaigner, Captain Stout, who knew every mile of the old trail +through Sunset Pass long years before even the ----th Cavalry,--the +predecessors of Plume, and Wren, and Sanders,--and what Stout said no +man along the Sandy ever bade him swear to. + + "Surprised small band, Tontos, at dawn to-day. They had + saddle blanket marked 'W. A.' [Wales Arnold], and hat and + underclothing marked 'Downs.' Indian boy prisoner says Downs + was caught just after the 'big burning' at Camp Sandy + [Lieutenant Blakely's quarters]. He says that Alchisay, + Blakely's boy courier, was with them two days before, and + told him Apache Mohaves had more of Downs's things, and that + a white chief's daughter was over there in the Red Rocks. + Sanders, with three troops, is east of us and searching that + way now. This boy says Alchisay knew that Natzie and Lola + had been hiding not far from Willow Tank on the Beaver + trail--our route--but had fled from there same time Angela + disappeared. Against her own people Natzie would protect + Blakely, even were they demanding his life in turn for her + Indian lover, Shield's. If these girls can be tracked and + found, I believe you will have found Blakely and will find + Angela." + +That night, after being fed and comforted until even an Indian could +eat no more, the messenger, a young Apache Mohave, wanted _papel_ to +go to the agency, but Plume had other plans. "Take him down to +Shaughnessy's," said he to Truman, "and see if he knows that girl." So +take him they did, and at sight of his swarthy face the girl had given +a low cry of sudden, eager joy; then, as though reading warning in his +glance, turned her face away and would not talk. It was the play of +almost every Apache to understand no English whatever, yet Truman +could have sworn she understood when he asked her if she could guess +where Angela was in hiding. The Indian lad had shaken his head and +declared he knew nothing. The girl was dumb. Mrs. Bridger happened in +a moment later, coming down with Mrs. Sanders to see how the strange +patient was progressing. They stood in silence a moment, listening to +Truman's murmured words. Then Mrs. Bridger suddenly spoke. "Ask her if +she knows Natzie's cave," said she. "Natzie's cave," she repeated, +with emphasis, and the Indian girl guilelessly shook her head, and +then turned and covered her face with her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AN APACHE QUEEN + + +In the slant of the evening sunshine a young girl, an Indian, was +crouching among the bare rocks at the edge of a steep and rugged +descent. One tawny little hand, shapely in spite of scratches, was +uplifted to her brows, shading her keen and restless eyes against the +glare. In the other hand, the right, she held a little, circular +pocket-mirror, cased in brass, and held it well down in the shade. +Only the tangle of her thick, black hair and the top of her head could +be seen from the westward side. Her slim young body was clothed in a +dark-blue, well-made garment, half sack, half skirt, with long, loose +trousers of the same material. There was fanciful embroidery of bead +and thread about the throat. There was something un-Indian about the +cut and fashion of the garments that suggested civilized and feminine +supervision. The very way she wore her hair, parted and rolling back, +instead of tumbling in thick, barbaric "bang" into her eyes, spoke of +other than savage teaching; and the dainty make of her moccasins; the +soft, pliant folds of the leggins that fell, Apache fashion, about her +ankles, all told, with their beadwork and finish, that this was no +unsought girl of the tribespeople. Even the sudden gesture with which, +never looking back, she cautioned some follower to keep down, spoke +significantly of rank and authority. It was a chief's daughter that +knelt peering intently over the ledge of rocks toward the black +shadows of the opposite slope. It was Natzie, child of a warrior +leader revered among his people, though no longer spared to guide +them--Natzie, who eagerly, anxiously searched the length of the dark +gorge for sign or signal, and warned her companion to come no further. + +Over the gloomy depths, a mile away about a jutting point, three or +four buzzards were slowly circling, disturbed, yet determined. Over +the broad valley that extended for miles toward the westward range of +heights, the mantle of twilight was slowly creeping, as in his +expressive sign language the Indian spreads his extended hands, palms +down, drawing and smoothing imaginary blanket, the robe of night, over +the face of nature. Far to the northward, from some point along the +face of the heights, a fringe of smoke was drifting in the soft breeze +sweeping down the valley from the farther Sierras. Wild, untrodden, +undesired of man, the wilderness lay outspread--miles and miles of +gloom and desolation, save where some lofty scarp of glistening rock, +jutting from among the scattered growth of dark-hued pine and cedar, +caught the brilliant rays of the declining sun. + +Behind the spot where Natzie knelt, the general slope was broken by a +narrow ledge or platform, bowlder-strewn--from which, almost +vertically, rose the rocky scarp again. Among the sturdy, stunted fir +trees, bearding the rugged face, frowned a deep fissure, dark as a +wolf den, and, just in front of it, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, crouched +Lola--Natzie's shadow. Rarely in reservation days, until after Blakely +came as agent, were they ever seen apart, and now, in these days of +exile and alarm, they were not divided. Under a spreading cedar, close +to the opening, a tiny fire glowed in a crevice of the rocks, sending +forth no betraying smoke. About it were some rude utensils, a pot or +two, a skillet, an earthen _olla_, big enough to hold perhaps three +gallons, two bowls of woven grass, close plaited, almost, as the +famous fiber of Panama. In one of these was heaped a store of +_piñons_, in the other a handful or two of wild plums. Sign of +civilization, except a battered tin teapot, there was none, yet +presently was there heard a sound that told of Anglo-Saxon +presence--the soft voice of a girl in low-toned, sweet-worded +song--song so murmurous it might have been inaudible save in the +intense stillness of that almost breathless evening--song so low that +the Indian girl, intent in her watch at the edge of the cliff, seemed +not to hear at all. It was Lola who heard and turned impatiently, a +black frown in her snapping eyes, and a lithe young Indian lad, +hitherto unseen, dropped noiselessly from a perch somewhere above them +and, filling a gourd at the _olla_, bent and disappeared in the narrow +crevice back of the curtain of firs. The low song ceased gradually, +softly, as a mother ceases her crooning lullaby, lest the very lack of +the love-notes stir the drowsing baby brain to sudden waking. + +With the last words barely whispered the low voice died away. The +Indian lad came forth into the light again, empty-handed; plucked at +Lola's gown, pointed to Natzie, for the moment forgotten, now urgently +beckoning. Bending low, they ran to her. She was pointing across the +deep gorge that opened a way to the southward. Something far down +toward its yawning mouth had caught her eager eye, and grasping the +arm of the lad with fingers that twitched and burned, she whispered in +the Apache tongue: + +"They're coming." + +One long look the boy gave in the direction pointed, then, backing +away from the edge, he quickly swept away a Navajo blanket that hung +from the protruding branches of a low cedar, letting the broad light +into the cavelike space beyond. There, on a hard couch of rock, skin, +and blanket, lay a fevered form in rough scouting dress. There, with +pinched cheeks, and eyes that heavily opened, dull and suffused, lay +the soldier officer who had ridden forth to rescue and to save, +himself now a crippled and helpless captive. Beside him, wringing out +a wet handkerchief and spreading it on the burning forehead, knelt +Angela. The girls who faced each other for the first time at the +pool--the daughter of the Scotch-American captain--the daughter of the +Apache Mohave chief--were again brought into strange companionship +over the unconscious form of the soldier Blakely. + +[Illustration: "THEN SLOWLY THEY SAW HER RAISE HER RIGHT HAND, STILL +CAUTIOUSLY HOLDING THE LITTLE MIRROR"] + +Resentful of the sudden glare that caused her patient to shrink and +toss complainingly, Angela glanced up almost in rebuke, but was +stilled by the look and attitude of the young savage. He stood with +forefinger on his closed lips, bending excitedly toward her. He was +cautioning her to make no sound, even while his very coming brought +disturbance to her first thought--her fevered patient. Then, seeing +both rebuke and question in her big, troubled eyes, the young Indian +removed his finger and spoke two words: "Patchie come," and, rising, +she followed him out to the flat in front. + +Natzie at the moment was still crouching close to the edge, gazing +intently over, one little brown hand nervously grasping the branch of +a stunted cedar, the other as nervously clutching the mirror. So +utterly absorbed was she that the hiss of warning, or perhaps of +hatred, with which Lola greeted the sudden coming of Angela, seemed to +fall unnoted on her ears. Lola, her black eyes snapping and her lips +compressed, glanced up at the white girl almost in fury. Natzie, +paying no heed whatever to what was occurring about her, knelt +breathless at her post, watching, eagerly watching. Then, slowly, they +saw her raise her right hand, still cautiously holding the little +mirror, face downward, and at sight of this the Apache boy could +scarcely control his trembling, and Lola, turning about, spoke some +furious words, in low, intense tone, that made him shrink back toward +the screen. Then the wild girl glared again at Angela, as though the +sight of her were unbearable, and, with as furious a gesture, sought +to drive her, too, again to the refuge of the dark cleft, but Angela +never stirred. Paying no heed to Lola, the daughter of the soldier +gazed only at the daughter of the chief, at Natzie, whose hand was +now level with the surface of the rock. The next instant, far to the +northwest flashed a slender beam of dazzling light, another--another. +An interval of a second or two, and still another flash. Angela could +see the tiny, nebulous dot, like will-'o-the-wisp, dancing far over +among the rocks across a gloomy gorge. She had never seen it before, +but knew it at a glance. The Indian girl was signaling to some of her +father's people far over toward the great reservation, and the tale +she told was that danger menaced. Angela could not know that it told +still more,--that danger menaced not only Natzie, daughter of one +warrior chief, and the chosen of another now among their heroic +dead--it threatened those whom she was pledged to protect, even +against her own people. + +Somewhere down that deep and frowning rift to the southwest, Indian +guides were leading their brethren on the trail of these refugees +among the upper rocks. Somewhere, far over among the uplands to the +northwest, other tribesfolk, her own kith and kin, were lurking, and +these the Indian girl was summoning with all speed to her aid. + +And in the slant of that same glaring sunshine, not four miles away, +toiling upward along a rocky slope, following the faint sign here and +there of Apache moccasin, a little command of hardy, war-worn men had +nearly reached the crest when their leader signaled backward to the +long column of files, and, obedient to the excited gestures of the +young Hualpai guide, climbed to his side and gazed intently over. +What he saw on a lofty point of rocks, well away from the tortuous +"breaks" through which they had made most of their wearying marches +from the upper Beaver, brought the light of hope, the fire of battle, +to his somber eyes. "Send Arnold up here," he shouted to the men +below, and Arnold came, clambering past rock and bowlder until he +reached the captain's side, took one look in the direction indicated, +and brought his brown hand down with resounding swat on the butt of +his rifle. "Treed 'em!" said he exultantly; then, with doubtful, +backward glance along the crouching file of weary men, some sitting +now and fanning with their broad-brimmed hats, he turned again to the +captain and anxiously inquired: "Can we make it before dark?" + +"We must make it!" simply answered Stout. + +And then, far over among the heights between them and the reservation, +there went suddenly aloft--one, two, three--compact little puffs of +bluish smoke. Someone was answering signals flashed from the rocky +point--someone who, though far away, was promising aid. + +"Let's be the first to reach them, lads," said Stout, himself a +wearied man. And with that they slowly rose and went stumbling upward. +The prize was worth their every effort, and hope was leading on. + +An hour later, with barely half the distance traversed, so steep and +rocky, so wild and winding, was the way, with the sun now tangent to +the distant range afar across the valley, they faintly heard a sound +that spurred them on--two shots in quick succession from unseen +depths below the lofty point. And now they took the Indian jog trot. +There was business ahead. + +Between them and that gleaming promontory now lay a comparatively open +valley, less cumbered with bowlders than were the ridges and ravines +through which they had come, less obstructed, too, with stunted trees. +Here was opportunity for horsemen, hitherto denied, and Stout called +on Brewster and his score of troopers, who for hours had been towing +their tired steeds at the rear of column. "Mount and push ahead!" said +he. "You are Wren's own men. It is fitting you should get there +first." + +"Won't the captain ride with us--now?" asked the nearest sergeant. + +"Not if it robs a man of his mount," was the answer. Yet there was +longing in his eye and all men saw it. He had led them day after day, +trudging afoot, because his own lads could not ride. Indeed, there had +been few hours when any horse could safely bear a rider. There came +half a dozen offers now. "I'll tramp afoot if the captain 'll only +take my horse," said more than one man. + +And so the captain was with them, as with darkness settling down they +neared the great cliff towering against the southeastward sky. Then +suddenly they realized they were guided thither only just in time to +raise a well-nigh fatal siege. Thundering down the mountain side a big +bowlder came tearing its way, launched from the very point that had +been the landmark of their eager coming, and with the downward +crashing of the rock there burst a yell of fury. + +Midway up the steep incline, among the straggling timber, two lithe +young Indians were seen bounding out of a little gully, only just in +time to escape. Two or three others, farther aloft, darted around a +shoulder of cliff as though scurrying out of sight. From the edge of +the precipice the crack of a revolver was followed by a second, and +then by a scream. "Dismount!" cried Brewster, as he saw the captain +throw himself from his horse; then, leaving only two or three to +gather in their now excited steeds, snapping their carbines to full +cock, with blazing eyes and firm-set lips, the chosen band began their +final climb. "Don't bunch. Spread out right and left," were the only +cautions, and then in long, irregular line, up the mountain steep they +clambered, hope and duty still leading on, the last faint light of the +November evening showing them their rocky way. Now, renegadoes, it is +fight or flee for your lives! + +Perhaps a hundred yards farther up the jagged face the leaders came +upon an incline so steep that, like the Tontos above them, they were +forced to edge around to the southward, whither their comrades +followed. Presently, issuing from the shelter of the pines, they came +upon a bare and bowlder-dotted patch to cross which brought them +plainly into view of the heights above, and almost instantly under +fire. Shot after shot, to which they could make no reply, spat and +flattened on the rocks about them, but, dodging and ducking +instinctively, they pressed swiftly on. Once more within the partial +shelter of the pines across the open, they again resumed the climb, +coming suddenly upon a sight that fairly spurred them. There, feet +upward among the bowlders, stiff and swollen in death, lay all that +the lynxes had left of a cavalry horse. Close at hand was the battered +troop saddle. Caught in the bushes a few rods above was the folded +blanket, and, lodged in a crevice, still higher, lay the felt-covered +canteen, stenciled with the number and letter of Wren's own troop. It +was the horse of the orderly, Horn--the horse on which the Bugologist +had ridden away in search of Angela Wren. It was all the rescuers +needed to tell them they were now on the trail of both, and now the +carbines barked in earnest at every flitting glimpse of the foe, +sending the wary Tontos skipping and scurrying southward. And, at +last, breathless, panting, well-nigh exhausted, the active leaders +found themselves halting at a narrow, twisting little game trail, +winding diagonally up the slope, with that gray scarp of granite +jutting from the mountain side barely one hundred yards farther; and, +waving from its crest, swung by unseen hands, some white, fluttering +object, faintly seen in the gathering dusk, beckoned them on. The last +shots fired at the last Indians seen gleamed red in the autumn +gloaming. They, the rescuers, had reached their tryst only just as +night and darkness shrouded the westward valley. The last man up had +to grope his way, and long before that last man reached the ledge the +cheering word was passed from the foremost climber: "Both here, boys, +and safe!" + +An hour later brought old Heartburn to the scene, scrambling up with +the other footmen, and speedily was he kneeling by the fevered +officer's side. The troopers had been sent back to their horses. Only +Stout, the doctor, Wales Arnold, and one or two sergeants remained at +the ledge, with rescued Angela, the barely conscious patient, and +their protectors, the Indian girls. Already the boy had been hurried +off with a dispatch to Sandy, and now dull, apathetic, and sullen, +Lola sat shrouded in her blanket, while Arnold, with the little Apache +dialect he knew, was striving to get from Natzie some explanation of +her daring and devotion. + +Between tears and laughter, Angela told her story. It was much as they +had conjectured. Mad with anxiety on her father's account, she said, +she had determined to reach him and nurse him. She felt sure that, +with so many troops out between the post and the scene of action, +there was less danger of her being caught by Indians than of being +turned back by her own people. She had purposely dashed by the ranch, +fearing opposition, had purposely kept behind Colonel Byrne's party +until she found a way of slipping round and past them where she could +feel sure of speedily regaining the trail. She had encountered neither +friend nor foe until, just as she would have ridden away from the +Willow Tanks, she was suddenly confronted by Natzie, Lola, and two +young Apaches. Natzie eagerly gesticulated, exclaiming, "Apaches, +Apaches," and pointing ahead up the trail, and, though she could +speak no English, convincing Angela that she was in desperate danger. +The others were scowling and hateful, but completely under Natzie's +control, and between them they hustled her pony into a ravine leading +to the north and led him along for hours, Angela, powerless to +prevent, riding helplessly on. At last they made her dismount, and +then came a long, fearful climb afoot, up the steepest trail she had +ever known, until it brought her here. And here, she could not tell +how many nights afterwards--it seemed weeks, so had the days and hours +dragged--here, while she slept at last the sleep of exhaustion, they +had brought Mr. Blakely. He lay there in raging fever when she was +awakened that very morning by Natzie's crying in her ear some words +that sounded like: _"Hermano viene_! _Hermano viene_!" + +[Illustration: "THEY HUSTLED HER PONY INTO A RAVINE"] + +Stout had listened with absorbing interest and to the very last word. +Then, as one who heard at length full explanation of what he had +deemed incredible, his hand went out and clutched that of Arnold, +while his deep eyes, full of infinite pity, turned to where poor +Natzie crouched, watching silently and in utter self-forgetfulness the +doctor's ministrations. + +"Wales," he muttered, "that settles the whole business. Whatever you +do,--don't let that poor girl know that--they"--and now he warily +glanced toward Angela--"they--are _not_ brother and sister." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MEETING AT SANDY + + +December, and the noonday sun at Sandy still beat hotly on the barren +level of the parade. The fierce and sudden campaign seemed ended, for +the time, at least, as only in scattered remnants could the renegade +Indians be found. Eastward from the Agua Fria to the Chiquito, and +northward from the Salado to the very cliffs of the grand cañon, the +hard-worked troopers had scoured the wild and mountainous country, +striking hard whenever they found a hostile band, striving ever, +through interpreters and runners, to bring the nervous and suspicious +tribes to listen to reason and to return to their reservations. This +for long days, however, seemed impossible. The tragic death of Raven +Shield, most popular of the young chiefs, struck down, as they +claimed, when he was striving only to defend Natzie, daughter of a +revered leader, had stirred the savages to furious reprisals, and +nothing but the instant action of the troops in covering the valley +had saved the scattered settlers from universal massacre. Enough had +been done by one band alone to thrill the West with horror, but these +had fled southward into Mexico and were safe beyond the border. The +settlers were slowly creeping back now to their abandoned homes, and +one after another the little field detachments were marching to their +accustomed stations. Sandy was filling up again with something besides +the broken down and wounded. + +First to come in was Stout's triumphant half hundred, the happiest +family of horse and foot, commingled, ever seen upon the Pacific +slope, for their proud lot it had been to reach and rescue Angela, +beloved daughter of the regiment, and Blakely, who had well-nigh +sacrificed himself in the effort to find and save her. Stout and his +thirty "doughboys," Brewster, the sergeant, with his twenty troopers, +had been welcomed by the entire community as the heroes of the brief +campaign, but Stout would none of their adulation. + +"There is the one you should thank and bless," said he, his eyes +turning to where stood Natzie, sad and silent, watching the attendants +who were lifting Neil Blakely from the litter to the porch of the +commanding officer. + +They had brought her in with them, Lola and Alchisay as well--the last +two scowling and sullen, but ruled by the chieftain's daughter. They +had loaded her with praise and thanks, but she paid no heed. Two hours +after Stout and his troopers had reached the cliff and driven away the +murderous band of renegades--Tontos and Apache Yumas--bent on stealing +her captives, there had come a little party of her own kindred in +answer to her signals, but these would have been much too late. +Blakely would have been butchered. Angela and her benefactors, too, +would probably have been the victims of their captors. Natzie could +look for no mercy from them now. Through Wales Arnold, the captain and +his men had little by little learned the story of Natzie's devotion. +In the eyes of her father, her brother, her people, Blakely was +greater even than the famous big chief, Crook, the Gray Fox, who had +left them, ordered to other duties but the year gone by. Blakely had +quickly righted the wrongs done them by a thieving agent. Blakely had +given fair trial to and saved the life of Mariano, that fiery brother, +who, ironed by the former agent's orders, had with his shackled hands +struck down his persecutor and then escaped. Blakely had won their +undying gratitude, and Stout and Arnold saw now why it was that one +young brave, at least, could not share the love his people bore for +_Gran Capitan Blanco_--that one was Quonothay--the Chief Raven Shield. +They saw now why poor Natzie had no heart to give her Indian lover. +They saw now why it was that Natzie wandered from the agency and +hovered for some days before the outbreak there around the post. It +was to be near the young white chief whom she well-nigh worshiped, +whom she had been accustomed to see every day of her life during his +duties at the agency. They saw now why it was the savage girl had +dared the vengeance of the Apaches by the rescue of Angela. She +believed her to be Blakely's sister, yet they could not give the +reason why. They knew very little of Neil Blakely, but what they did +know made them doubt that he could ever have been the one at fault. +Over this problem both ranchman and soldier, Arnold and Stout, looked +grave indeed. It was not like Blakely that he should make a victim of +this young Indian girl. She was barely sixteen, said Arnold, who knew +her people well. She had never been alone with Blakely, said her +kinsfolk, who came that night in answer to her signals. She had saved +Angela, believing her to be Blakely's own blood, had led her to her +own mountain refuge, and then, confident that Blakely would make +search for it and for his sister, had gone forth and found him, +already half-dazed with fever and exhaustion, and had striven to lead +his staggering horse up that precipitous trail. It was the poor +brute's last climb. Blakely she managed to bring in safety to her +lofty eerie. The horse had fallen, worn out in the effort, and died on +the rocks below. She had roused Angela with what she thought would be +joyful tidings, even though she saw that her hero was desperately ill. +She thought, of course, the white girl knew the few words of Spanish +that she could speak. All this was made evident to Arnold and Stout, +partly through Natzie's young brother, who had helped to find and +support the white chief, partly through the girl herself. It was +evident to Arnold, too, that up to the time of their coming nothing +had happened to undeceive Natzie as to that relationship. They tried +to induce her to return to the agency, although her father and brother +were still somewhere with the hostile bands, but she would not, she +would go with them to Sandy, and they could not deny her. More than +once on that rough march of three days they found themselves asking +what would the waking be. Angela, daughter of civilization, under safe +escort, had been sent on ahead, close following the courier who +scurried homeward with the news. Natzie, daughter of the wilderness, +could not be driven from the sight of Blakely's litter. The dumb, +patient, pathetic appeal of her great soft eyes, as she watched every +look in the doctor's face, was something wonderful to see. But now, at +last, the fevered sufferer was home, still only semi-conscious, being +borne within the walls of the major's quarters, and she who had saved +him, slaved for him, dared for him, could only mutely gaze after his +prostrate and wasted form as it disappeared within the darkened +hallway in the arms of his men. Then came a light step bounding along +the veranda--then came Angela, no longer clad in the riding garb in +which hitherto Natzie had seen her, but in cool and shimmering white, +with gladness and gratitude in her beautiful eyes, with welcome and +protection in her extended hand, and the Indian girl looked strangely +from her to the dark hallway within which her white hero had +disappeared, and shrank back from the proffered touch. If this was the +soldier's sister should not she now be at the soldier's side? Had she +other lodge than that which gave him shelter, now that his own was +burned? Angela saw for the first time aversion, question, suspicion in +the great black eyes from which the softness and the pleading had +suddenly fled. Then, rebuffed, disturbed, and troubled, she turned to +Arnold, who would gladly have slipped away. + +"Can't _you_ make her understand, Mr. Arnold?" she pleaded. "I don't +know a word of her language, and I so want to be her friend--so want +to take her to my home!" + +And then the frontiersman did a thing for which, when she heard of it +one sunset later, his better half said words of him and to him that +overstepped all bounds of parliamentary usage, and that only a wife +would dare to employ. With the blundering stupidity of his sex, poor +Arnold "settled things" for many a day and well-nigh ruined the +sweetest romance that Sandy had ever seen the birth of. + +"Ah, Miss Angela! only one place will ever be home to Natzie now. Her +eyes will tell you that." + +And already, regardless of anything these women of the white chiefs +might think or say, unafraid save of seeing him no more, unashamed +save of being where she could not heed his every look or call or +gesture, the daughter of the mountain and the desert stood gazing +again after the vanished form her eyes long months had worshiped, and +the daughter of the schools and civilization stood flushing one-half +moment, then slowly paling, as, without another glance or effort, she +turned silently away. Kate Sanders it was who sprang quickly after her +and encircled the slender waist with her fond and clasping arm. + +That night the powers of all Camp Sandy were exhausted in effort to +suitably provide for Natzie and her two companions. Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. +Bridger, even Mother Shaughnessy and Norah pleaded successively with +this princess of the wilderness, and pleaded in vain. Food and +shelter elsewhere they proffered in abundance. Natzie sat stubbornly +at the major's steps, and sadly at first, and angrily later, shook her +head to every proposition. Then they brought food, and Lola and +Alchisay ate greedily. Natzie would hardly taste a morsel. Every time +Plume or Graham or a soldier nurse came forth her mournful eyes would +study his face as though imploring news of the sufferer, who lay +unconscious of her vigil, if not of her existence. Graham's treatment +was beginning to tell, and Blakely was sleeping the sleep of the just. +They had not let him know of the poor girl's presence at the door. +They would not let her in for fear he might awake and see her, and ask +the reason of her coming. They would not send or take her away, for +all Sandy was alive with the strange story of her devotion. The +question on almost every lip was "How is this to end?" + +At tattoo there came a Mexican woman from one of the down-stream +ranches, sent in by the post trader, who said she could speak the +Apache-Mohave language sufficiently well to make Natzie understand the +situation, and this frontier linguist strove earnestly. Natzie +understood every word she said, was her report, but could not be made +to understand that she ought to go. In the continued absence of Mrs. +Plume, both the major and the post surgeon had requested of Mrs. +Graham that she should come over for a while and "see what she could +do," and, leaving her own sturdy bairnies, the good, motherly soul had +come and presided over this diplomatic interview, proposing various +plans for Natzie's disposition for the night. And other ladies +hovering about had been sympathetically suggestive, but the Indian +girl had turned deaf ear to everything that would even temporarily +take her from her self-appointed station. At ten o'clock Mother +Shaughnessy, after hanging uneasily about the porch a moment or two, +gave muttered voice to a suggestion that other women had shrunk from +mentioning: + +"Has she been tould Miss Angela and--him--is no kin at all, at all?" + +"I don't want her told," said Mrs. Graham briefly. + +And so Natzie was still there, sitting sleepless in the soft and +radiant moonlight, when toward twelve o'clock Graham came forth from +his last visit for the night, and she lifted up her head and looked +him dumbly in the face,--dumbly, yet imploring a word of hope or +comfort,--and it was more than the soft-hearted Scot could bear. +"Major," said he, as he gently laid a big hand upon the black and +tangled wealth of hair, "that lad in yonder would have been beyond the +ken of civilization days ago if it hadn't been for this little savage. +I'm thinking he'll sleep none the worse for her watching over him. +Todd's there for the night, the same that attended him before, and she +won't be strange with him--or I'm mistaken." + +"Why?" asked Plume, mystified. + +"I'm not saying, until Blakely talks for himself. For one reason I +don't _know_. For another, _he's_ the man to tell, if anybody," and a +toss of the head toward the dark doorway told who was meant by "he." + +"D'you mean you'd have this girl squatting there by Blakely's bedside +the rest of the night?" asked the commander, ruffled in spirit. +"What's to prevent her singing their confounded death song, or +invoking heathen spirits, or knifing us all, for that matter?" + +"What was to prevent her from knifing the Bugologist and Angela both, +when she had 'em?" was the sturdy reply. "The girl's a theoretical +heathen, but a practical Christian. Come with us, Natzie," he +finished, one hand extended to aid her to rise, the other pointing to +the open doorway. She was on her feet in an instant, and, silently +signing her companions to stay, followed the doctor into the house. + +And so it happened that when Blakely wakened, hours later, the sight +that met him, dimly comprehending, was that of a blue-coated soldier +snoozing in a reclining chair, a blue-blanketed Indian girl seated on +the floor near the foot of his bed, looking with all her soul in her +gaze straight into his wondering eyes. At his low whisper, "Natzie," +she sprang to her feet without word or sound; seized the thin white +hand tremulously extended toward her, and, pillowing her cheek upon +it, knelt humbly by the bedside, her black hair streaming to the +floor. A pathetic picture it made in the dim light of the newborn day, +forcing itself through the shrouded windows, and Major Plume, restless +and astir the hour before reveille, stood unnoted a moment at the +doorway, then strode back through the hall and summoned from the +adjoining veranda another sleepless watcher, gratefully breathing the +fragrance of the cool, morning air; and presently two dim forms had +softly tiptoed to that open portal, and now stood gazing within until +their eyes should triumph over the uncertain light--the post commander +in his trim-fitting undress uniform, the tall and angular shape of +Wren's elderly sister--the "austere vestal" herself. It may have been +a mere twitch of the slim fingers under her tawny cheek that caused +Natzie to lift her eyes in search of those of her hero and her +protector. Instantly her own gaze, startled, was turned straight to +the door. Then in another second she had sprung to her feet, and with +fury in her face and attitude confronted the intruders. As she did so +the sudden movement detached some object that hung within the breast +of her loose-fitting sack--something bright and gleaming that +clattered to the floor, falling close to the feet of the drowsing +attendant, while another--a thin, circular case of soft leather, +half-rolled, half-bounded toward the unwelcome visitors at the door. + +Todd, roused to instant action at sight of the post commander, bent +quickly and nabbed the first. The girl herself darted after the +second, whereat the attendant, misjudging her motive, dreading danger +to his betters or rebuke to himself, sprang upon her as she stooped, +and dropping his first prize, dared to seize the Apache girl with both +hands at the throat. There was a warning cry from the bed, a flash of +steel through one slanting ray of sunshine, a shriek from the lips of +Janet Wren, and with a stifled moan the luckless soldier sank in his +tracks, while Natzie, the chieftain's daughter, a dripping blade in +her uplifted hand, a veritable picture of fury, stood in savage +triumph over him, her flashing eyes fixed upon the amazed commander, +as though daring him, too, to lay hostile hands upon her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RESCUE REQUITED + + +A change had come over the spirit of Camp Sandy's dream. The garrison +that had gone to bed the previous night, leaving Natzie silent, +watchful, wistful at the post commander's door, had hardly a thought +that was not full of sympathy and admiration for her. Even women who +could not find it possible to speak of her probable relations with +Neil Blakely dwelt much in thought and word upon her superb devotion +and her generosity. That he had encouraged her passionate and almost +savage love for him there were few to doubt, whatsoever they might +find it possible to say. That men and women both regarded her as, +beyond compare, the heroic figure of the campaign there was none to +gainsay. Even those who could not or did not talk of her at all felt +that such was the garrison verdict. There were no men, and but few +women, who would have condemned the doctor's act in leading her to +Blakely's bedside. Sandy had spoken of her all that wonderful evening +only to praise. It woke to hear the first tidings of the new day, and +to ask only What was the cause?--What had led to her wild, swift +vengeance? for Todd had in turn been carried to hospital, a +sore-stricken man. The night before Natzie was held a queen: now she +was held a captive. + +It all happened so suddenly that even Plume, who witnessed the entire +incident, could not coherently explain it. Reveille was just over and +the men were going to breakfast when the major's voice was heard +shouting for the guard. Graham, first man to reach the scene, had +collided with Janet Wren, whimpering and unnerved, as he bounded into +the hallway. His first thought was that Plume's prophecy about the +knifing had come true, and that Blakely was the victim. His first +sight, when his eyes could do their office in that darkened room, was +of Blakely wresting something from the grasp of the Indian girl, whose +gaze was now riveted on that writhing object on the floor. + +"See to him, doctor," he heard Blakely say, in feeble, but commanding +tone. "I will see to her." But Blakely was soon in no condition to see +to her or to anybody. The flicker of strength that came to him for a +second or two at sight of the tragedy, left him as suddenly--left him +feebler than before. He had no voice with which to protest when the +stretchermen, who bore away poor Todd, were followed instantly by +stout guardsmen who bore away Natzie. The dignity of the chieftain's +daughter had vanished now. She had no knife with which to deal death +to these new and most reluctant assailants--Graham found it under +Blakely's pillow, long hours later. But, with all her savage, lissome +strength she scratched and struck and struggled. It took three of +their burliest to carry her away, and they did it with shame-hidden +faces, while rude comrades chaffed and jeered and even shouted +laughing encouragement to the girl, whose screams of rage had drawn +all Camp Sandy to the scene. One doctor, two men, and the steward went +with their groaning burden one way to the hospital. One officer, one +sergeant, and half a dozen men had all they could do to take their +raging charge another way to the guard-house. Ah, Plume, you might +have spared that brave girl such indignity! But, where one face +followed the wounded man with sympathetic eyes, there were twenty that +never turned from the Indian girl until her screams were deadened by +the prison doors. + +"She stabbed a soldier who meant her no harm," was Plume's sullen and +stubborn answer to all appeals, for good and gentle women went to him, +begging permission to go to her. It angered him presently to the +extent of repeating his words with needless emphasis and additions +when Mother Shaughnessy came to make her special appeal. Shure she had +learned how to care for these poor creatures, was her claim, along o' +having little Paquita on her hands so many days, "and now that poor +girl beyant will be screaming herself into fits!" + +"Let her scream," said Plume, unstrung and shaken, "but hold you your +tongue or I'll find a separate cell for you. No woman shall be knifing +my men, and go unpunished, if I can help it," and so saying he turned +wrathfully from her. + +"Heard you that now?" stormed Mother Shaughnessy, as he strode away. +"Who but he has helped his women to go unpunished--" and the words +were out and heard before the sergeant major could spring and silence +her. Before another day they were echoing all over the post--were on +their way to Prescott, even, and meeting, almost at the northward +gateway, the very women the raging laundress meant. Of her own free +will Clarice Plume was once again at Sandy, bringing with her, sorely +against the will of either, but because a stronger will would have it +so--and sent his guards to see to it--a cowed and scared and +semi-silent companion of whom much ill was spoken now about the +garrison--Elise Lebrun. + +The news threw Norah Shaughnessy nearly into spasms. "'Twas she that +knifed Pat Mullins!" she cried. "'Twas she drove poor Downs to dhrink +and desartion. 'Twas she set Carmody and Shannon to cuttin' each +other's throats"--which was news to a garrison that had seen the +process extend no further than to each other's acquaintance. And more +and stormier words the girl went on to say concerning the commander's +household until Mullins himself mildly interposed. But all these +things were being told about the garrison, from which Lola and +Alchisay had fled in terror to spread the tidings that their princess +was a prisoner behind the bars. These were things that were being +told, too, to the men of Sanders's returning troop before they were +fairly unsaddled at the stables; and that night, before ever he sought +his soldier pillow, Shannon had been to "C" Troop's quarters in search +of Trooper Stern and had wrung from him all that he could tell of +Carmody's last fight on earth--of his last words to Lieutenant +Blakely. + +Meantime a sorely troubled man was Major Plume. That his wife would +have to return to Sandy he had learned from the lips of Colonel Byrne +himself. Her own good name had been involved, and could only be +completely cleared when Wren and Blakely were sufficiently recovered +to testify, and when Mullins should be so thoroughly restored as to be +fit for close cross-examination. Plume could in no wise connect his +beloved wife with either the murderous assault on Mullins or the +mysterious firing of Blakely's quarters, but he knew that Sandy could +not so readily acquit her, even though it might saddle the actual deed +upon her instrument--Elise. He had ordered that Blakely should be +brought to his own quarters because there he could not be reached by +any who were unacceptable to himself, the post commander. There were +many things he wished to know about and from Blakely's lips alone. He +could not stoop to talk with other men about the foibles of his wife. +He knew that iron box in Truman's care contained papers, letters, or +_something_ of deep interest to her. He knew full well now that, at +some time in the not far distant past, Blakely himself had been of +deep interest to her and she to Blakely. He had Blakely's last letter +to himself, written just before the lonely start in quest of Angela, +but that letter made no reference to the contents of the box or to +anything concerning their past. He had heard that Wales Arnold had +been intrusted with letters for Blakely to Clarice, his wife, and to +Captain, or Miss Janet Wren. Arnold had not been entirely silent on +the subject. He did not too much like the major, and rather rejoiced +in this opportunity to show his independence of him. Plume had gone so +far as to ask Arnold whether such letters had been intrusted to him, +and Wales said, yes; but, now that Blakely was safely back and +probably going to pull through, he should return the letters to the +writer as soon as the writer was well enough to appreciate what was +being done. Last, but not least, Plume had picked up near the door in +Blakely's room the circular, nearly flat, leather-covered case which +had dropped, apparently, from Natzie's gown, and, as it had neither +lock nor latch, Plume had opened it to examine its contents. + +To his surprise it contained a beautifully executed miniature, a +likeness of a fair young girl, with soft blue eyes and heavy, arching +brows, a delicately molded face and mouth and chin, all framed in a +tumbling mass of tawny hair. It was the face of a child of twelve or +thirteen, one that he had never seen and of whom he knew nothing. +Neither cover, backing, nor case of the miniature gave the faintest +clew as to its original or as to its ownership. What was Natzie doing +with this?--and to whom did it belong? A little study satisfied him +there was something familiar in the face, yet he could not place it. + +The very night of her coming, therefore, he told his wife the story +and handed her the portrait. One glance was enough. "I know it, yes," +said Mrs. Plume, "though I, too, have never seen her. She died the +winter after it was taken. It is Mr. Blakely's sister, Ethel," and +Mrs. Plume sat gazing at the sweet girl features, with strange +emotion in her aging face. There was something--some story--behind all +this that Plume could not fathom, and it nettled him. Perhaps he, too, +was yielding to a fit of nerves. Elise, the maid, had been remanded to +her room, and could be heard moving about with heavy, yet uncertain +tread. "She is right over Blakely," quoth the major impatiently. "Why +can't the girl be quiet?" + +"Why did you bring him _here_, then?" was the weary answer. "I cannot +control Elise. They have treated her most cruelly." + +"There are things you cannot explain and that she must," said he, and +then, to change the subject, stretched forth his hand to take again +the picture. She drew it back one moment, then, remembering, +surrendered it. + +"You saw this in--St. Louis, I suppose," said he awkwardly. He never +could bear to refer to those days--the days before he had come into +her life. + +"Not that perhaps, but the photograph from which it was probably +painted. She was his only sister. He was educating her in the East." +And again her thoughts were drifting back to those St. Louis days, +when, but for the girl sister he so loved, she and Neil Blakely had +been well-nigh inseparable. Someone had said then, she remembered, +that she was jealous even of that love. + +And now again her husband was gazing fixedly at the portrait, a light +coming into his lined and anxious face. Blakely had always carried +this miniature with him, for he now remembered that the agent, Daly, +had spoken of it. Natzie and others might well have seen it at the +reservation. The agent's wife had often seen it and had spoken of his +sorrow for the sister he had lost. The picture, she said, stood often +on his little camp table. Every Indian who entered his tent knew it +and saw it. Why, surely; Natzie, too, mused the major, and then aloud: + +"I can see now what we have all been puzzling over. Angela Wren might +well have looked like this--four years ago." + +"There is not the faintest resemblance," said Clarice, promptly rising +and quitting the room. + +It developed with another day that Mrs. Plume had no desire to see +Miss Wren, the younger. She expressed none, indeed, when policy and +the manners of good society really required it. Miss Janet had come in +with Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Sanders to call upon the wife of the +commanding officer and say what words of welcome were possible as +appropriate to her return. "And Angela," said Janet, for reasons of +her own, "will be coming later." There was no response, nor was there +to the next tentative. The ladies thought Mrs. Plume should join +forces with them and take Natzie out of the single cell she occupied. +"Can she not be locked at the hospital, under the eye of the matron, +with double sentries? It is hard to think of her barred in that +hideous place with Apache prisoners and rude men all about her." But +again was Mrs. Plume unresponsive. She would say no word of interest +in either Angela or Natzie. At the moment when her husband was in +melting mood and when a hint from her lips would have secured the +partial release of the Indian girl, the hint was withheld. It would +have been better for her, for her husband, for more than one brave lad +on guard, had the major's wife seen fit to speak, but she would not. + +So that evening brought release that, in itself, brought much relief +to the commanding officer and the friends who still stood by him. + +Thirty-six hours now had Natzie been a prisoner behind the bars, and +no one of those we know had seen her face. At tattoo the drums and +fifes began their sweet, old-fashioned soldier tunes. The guard turned +out; the officer of the day buckled his belt with a sigh and started +forth to inspect, just as the foremost soldiers appeared on the porch +in front, buttoning their coats and adjusting their belts and slings. +Half their number began to form ranks; the other half "stood by," +within the main room, to pass out the prisoners, many of whom wore a +clanking chain. All on a sudden there arose a wild clamor--shouts, +scuffling, the thunder of iron upon resounding woodwork, hoarse +orders, curses, shrieks, a yell for help, a shot, a mad scurry of many +feet, furious cries of "Head 'em off!" "Shoot!" "No, no, don't shoot! +You'll kill our own!" A dim cloud of ghostly, shadowy forms went +tearing away down the slope toward the south. There followed a +tremendous rush of troop after troop, company after company,--the +whole force of Camp Sandy in uproarious pursuit,--until in the dim +starlight the barren flats below the post, the willow patches along +the stream, the plashing waters of the ford, the still and glassy +surface of the shadowy pool, were speedily all alive with dark and +darting forms intermingled in odd confusion. From the eastward side, +from officers' row, Plume and his white-coated subordinates hastened +to the southward face, realizing instantly what must have +occurred--the long-prophesied rush of Apache prisoners for freedom. +Yet how hopeless, how mad, how utterly absurd was the effort! What +earthly chance had they--poor, manacled, shackled, ball-burdened +wretches--to escape from two hundred fleet-footed, unhampered, +stalwart young soldiery, rejoicing really in the fun and excitement of +the thing? One after another the shackled fugitives were run down and +overhauled, some not half across the parade, some in the shadows of +the office and storehouses, some down among the shrubbery toward the +lighted store, some among the shanties of Sudsville, some, lightest +weighted of all, far away as the lower pool, and so one after another, +the grimy, sullen, swarthy lot were slowly lugged back to the unsavory +precincts wherein, for long weeks and months, they had slept or +stealthily communed through the hours of the night. Three or four had +been cut or slashed. Three or four soldiers had serious hurts, +scratches or bruises as their fruits of the affray. But after all, the +malefactors, miscreants, and incorrigibles of the Apache tribe had +profited little by their wild and defiant essay--profited little, that +is, if personal freedom was what they sought. + +But was it? said wise heads of the garrison, as they looked the +situation over. Shannon and some of his ilk were doing much +independent trailing by aid of their lanterns. Taps should have been +sounded at ten, but wasn't by any means, for "lights out" was the last +thing to be thought of. Little by little it dawned upon Plume and his +supporters that, instead of scattering, as Indian tactics demanded on +all previous exploits of the kind, there had been one grand, concerted +rush to the southward--planned, doubtless, for the purpose of drawing +the whole garrison thither in pursuit, while three pairs of moccasined +feet slipped swiftly around to the rear of the guard-house, out beyond +the dim corrals, and around to a point back of "C" Troop stables, +where other little hoofs had been impatiently tossing up the sands +until suddenly loosed and sent bounding away to where the North Star +hung low over the sheeny white mantle of San Francisco mountain. +Natzie, the girl queen, was gone from the guard-house: Punch, the Lady +Angela's pet pony, was gone from the corral, and who would say there +had not been collusion? + +"One thing is certain," said the grave-faced post commander, as, with +his officers, he left the knot of troopers and troopers' wives +hovering late about the guard-house, "one thing is certain; with +Wren's own troopers hot on the heels of Angela's pony we'll have our +Apache princess back, sure as the morning sun." + +"Like hell!" said Mother Shaughnessy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"WOMAN-WALK-NO-MORE" + + +More morning suns than could be counted in the field of the flag had +come, and gone, but not a sign of Natzie. Wren's own troopers, hot on +Punch's flashing heels, were cooling their own as best they could +through the arid days that followed. Wren himself was now recovered +sufficiently to be told of much that had been going on,--not all,--and +it was Angela who constantly hovered about him, for Janet was taking a +needed rest. Blakely, too, was on the mend, sitting up hours of every +day and "being very lovely" in manner to all the Sanders household, +for thither had he demanded to be moved even sooner than it was +prudent to move him at all. Go he would, and Graham had to order it. +Pat Mullins was once again "for duty." Even Todd, the bewildered +victim of Natzie's knife, was stretching his legs on the hospital +porch. There had come a lull in all martial proceedings at the post, +and only two sensations. One of these latter was the formal +investigation by the inspector general of the conditions surrounding +the stabbing at Camp Sandy of Privates Mullins and Todd of the ----th +U. S. Cavalry. The other was the discovery, one bright, brilliant, +winter morning that Natzie's friend and savior, Angela's Punch, was +back in his stall, looking every bit as saucy and "fit" as ever he did +in his life. What surprised many folk in the garrison was that it +surprised Angela not at all. "I thought Punch would come back," said +she, in demure unconcern, and the girls at least, began to understand, +and were wild to question. Only Kate Sanders, however, knew how +welcome was the pet pony's coming. But what had come that was far from +welcome was a coldness between Angela and Kate Sanders. + +Byrne himself had arrived, and the "inquisition" had begun. No +examinations under oath, no laborious recordings of question and +answer, no crowd of curious listeners. The veteran inspector took each +man in turn and heard his tale and jotted down his notes, and, where +he thought it wise, cross-questioned over and again. One after +another, Truman and Todd, Wren and Mullins, told their stories, +bringing forth little that was new beyond the fact that Todd was sure +it was Elise he heard that night "jabbering with Downs" on Blakely's +porch. Todd felt sure that it was she who brought him whisky, and +Byrne let him prattle on. It was not evidence, yet it might lead the +way to light. In like manner was Mullins sure now "'Twas two ladies" +stabbed him when he would have striven to stop the foremost. Byrne +asked did he think they were ladies when first he set eyes on them, +and Pat owned up that he thought it was some of the girls from +Sudsville; it might even be Norah as one of them, coming home late +from the laundresses' quarters, and trying to play him a trick. He +owned to it that he grabbed the foremost, seeing at that moment no +other, and thinking to win the forfeit of a kiss, and Byrne gravely +assured him 'twas no shame in it, so long as Norah never found it out. + +But Byrne asked Plume two questions that puzzled and worried him +greatly. How much whisky had he missed? and how much opium could have +been given him the night of Mrs. Plume's unconscious escapade? The +major well remembered that his demijohn had grown suddenly light, and +that he had found himself surprisingly heavy, dull, and drowsy. The +retrospect added to his gloom and depression. Byrne had not reoccupied +his old room at Plume's, now that madame and Elise were once more +under the major's roof, and even in extending the customary +invitation, Plume felt confident that Byrne could not and should not +accept. The position he had taken with regard to Elise, her ladyship's +companion and confidante, was sufficient in itself to make him, in the +eyes of that lady, an unacceptable guest, but it never occurred to +her, although it had to Plume, that there might be even deeper +reasons. Then, too, the relations between the commander and the +inspector, although each was scrupulously courteous, were now +necessarily strained. Plume could not but feel that his conduct of +post affairs was in a measure a matter of scrutiny. He knew that his +treatment of Natzie was disapproved by nine out of ten of his command. +He felt, rather than knew, that some of his people had connived at her +escape, and though that escape had been a relief to everybody at +Sandy, the manner of her taking off was to him a mystery and a +rankling sore. + +Last man to be examined was Blakely, and now indeed there was light. +He had been sitting up each day for several hours; his wounds were +healing well; the fever and prostration that ensued had left him weak +and very thin and pale, but he had the soldier's best medicine--the +consciousness of duties thoroughly and well performed. He knew that, +though Wren might carry his personal antipathy to the extent of +official injustice, as officers higher in rank than Wren have been +known to do, the truth concerning the recent campaign must come to +light, and his connection therewith be made a matter of record, as it +was already a matter of fact. Wren had not yet submitted his written +report. Wren and the post commander were still on terms severely +official; but, to the few brother officers with whom the captain +talked at all upon the stirring events through which he and his troop +had so recently passed, he had made little mention of Blakely. Not so, +however, the men; not so Wales Arnold, the ranchman. To hear these +worthies talk, the Bugologist, next to "Princess Natzie," was the +central figure of the Red Rock campaign--the one officer, "where all +had done so well," whose deeds merited conspicuous mention. Byrne knew +this better than Wren. Plume knew it not as well as Byrne, perhaps. +Sanders, Lynn, and Duane had heard the soldier stories in a dozen +ways, and it stung them that their regimental comrade should so +doggedly refuse to open his lips and give Blakely his due. It is not +silence that usually hurts a man, it is speech; yet here was a case to +the contrary. + +Now just in proportion as the Wrens would have nothing to say in +praise of Blakely, the Sanders household would have nothing _but_ +praise to say. Kate's honest heart was hot with anger at Angela, +because the girl shrank from the subject as she would from evil +speaking, lying, and slandering, and here again, to paraphrase the +Irishman, too much heat had produced the coldness already referred to. +Sanders scoffed at the idea of Natzie's infatuation being sufficient +ground for family ostracism. "If there is a man alive who owes more +than Wren does to Blakely, I'm a crab," said he, "and as soon as he's +well enough to listen to straight talk he'll get it from me." "If +there's a girl in America as heartless as Angela Wren," said Mrs. +Sanders, "I hope I never shall have to meet her." But then Mrs. +Sanders, as we know, had ever been jealous of Angela on account of her +own true-hearted Kate, who refused to say one word on the subject +beyond what she said to Angela herself. And now they had propped their +patient in his reclining-chair and arranged the little table for "the +inquisitor general," as Mrs. Bridger preferred to refer to him, and +left them alone together behind closed doors, and had then gone forth +to find that all Camp Sandy seemed to wait with bated breath for the +outcome of that interview. + +Sooner than was believed possible it came. An hour, probably, before +they thought the colonel could have gathered all he wished to know, +that officer was on the front piazza and sending an orderly to the +adjutant's office. Then came Major Plume, with quick and nervous step. +There was a two-minute conference on the piazza; then both officers +vanished within, were gone five minutes, and then Plume reappeared +alone, went straight to his home, and slammed the door behind him, a +solecism rarely known at Sandy, and presently on the hot and pulseless +air there arose the sound of shrill protestation in strange +vernacular. Even Wren heard the voice, and found something reminiscent +in the sound of weeping and wailing that followed. The performer was +unquestionably Elise--she that had won the ponderous, yet descriptive, +Indian name "Woman-Walk-in-the-Night." + +And while this episode was still unexpired the orderly went for +Lieutenant Truman, and Truman, with two orderlies, for a box, a bulky +little chest, strapped heavily with iron, and this they lugged into +Sanders's hall and came out heated and mystified. Three hours later, +close-veiled and in droopy desolation, "Mademoiselle Lebrun" was +bundled into a waiting ambulance and started under sufficient escort, +and the care of the hospital matron, _en route_ for Prescott, while +Dr. Graham was summoned to attend Mrs. Plume, and grimly went. "The +mean part of the whole business," said Mrs. Bridger, "is that nobody +knows _what_ it means." There was no one along the line, except poor +Mrs. Plume, to regret that sudden and enforced departure, but there +was regret universal all over the post when it was learned, still +later in the afternoon, that one of the best soldiers and sergeants +in the entire garrison had taken the horse of one of the herd guard +and galloped away on the trail of the banished one. Sergeant Shannon, +at sunset parade, was reported absent without leave. + +Major Plume had come forth from his quarters at the sounding of the +retreat, accurately dressed as ever, white-gloved, and wearing his +saber. He seemed to realize that all eyes would be upon him. He had, +indeed, been tempted again to turn over the command to the senior +captain, but wisely thought better of it, and determined to face the +music. He looked very sad and gray, however. He returned scrupulously +the salute of the four company commanders as, in turn, each came +forward to report the result of the evening roll-call; Cutler and +Westervelt first, their companies being the nearest, then Lieutenant +Lynn, temporarily in charge of Wren's troop, its captain and first +lieutenant being still "on sick report." The sight of this young +officer set the major to thinking of that evening not so many moons +agone when Captain Wren himself appeared and in resonant, far-carrying +tone announced "Lieutenant Blakely, sir, is absent." He had been +thinking much of Blakely through the solemn afternoon, as he wandered +nervously about his darkened quarters, sometimes tiptoeing to the +bedside of his feebly moaning, petulant wife, sometimes pacing the +library and hall. He had been again for half an hour closeted with +Byrne and the Bugologist, certain letters being under inspection. He +hardly heard the young officer, Lynn, as he said "Troop 'C,' all +present, sir." He was looking beyond him at Captain Sanders, coming +striding over the barren parade, with import in his eye. Plume felt +that there was trouble ahead before ever Sanders reached the +prescribed six paces, halted, raised his hand in salute, and, just as +did Wren on that earlier occasion, announced in tones intended to be +heard over and beyond the post commander: "Sergeant Shannon, sir, with +one government horse, absent without leave." + +Plume went a shade white, and bit his lips before he could steady +himself to question. Well he knew that this new devilment was due in +some way to that spirit of evil so long harbored by his wife, and +suffered by himself. All the story of the strife she had stirred in +the garrison had reached him days before. Downs's drunkenness and +desertion, beyond doubt, were chargeable to her, as well as another +and worse crime, unless all indications were at fault. Then there was +the breach between Carmody and Shannon, formerly stanch friends and +comrades, and now Carmody lay buried beneath the rocks in Bear Cañon, +and Shannon, as gallant and useful a sergeant as ever served, had +thrown to the winds his record of the past and his hopes for the +future, and gone in mad pursuit of a worthless hoyden. And all because +Clarice would have that woman with her wherever she might go. + +"When did this happen?" he presently asked. + +"Just after stable call, sir. The horses were all returned to the +corral except the herd guard's. The men marched over, as usual, with +their halters. Shannon fell out as they entered the gate, took young +Bennett's rein as he stood ready to lead in after them, mounted and +rode round back of the wall, leaving Bennett so surprised that he +didn't know what to say. He never suspected anything wrong until +Shannon failed to reappear. Then he followed round back of the corral, +found the sergeant's stable frock lying halfway out toward the bluff, +and saw a streak of dust toward Bowlder Point. Then he came and +reported." + +Plume, after a moment's silence, turned abruptly. He had suffered much +that day, and to think of his wife lying stricken and whimpering, +professing herself a sorely injured woman because compelled at last to +part with her maid, angered him beyond the point of toleration. +Tossing his saber to the China boy, he went straightway aloft, failing +to note in the dim light that two soft-hearted sympathizers were +cooing by the gentle sufferer's side. + +"Well, Clarice," he broke in abruptly, "we are never to hear the end +of that she-cat's doings! My best sergeant has stolen a horse and gone +galloping after her." It is always our best we lose when our better +half is to blame, nor is it the way of brutal man to minimize the +calamity on such occasions. It did not better matters that her +much-wronged ladyship should speedily reply: "It's a wonder you don't +charge the Indian outbreak to poor Elise. I don't believe she had a +thing to do with your sergeant's stealing." + +"You wouldn't believe she stole my whisky and gave it to Downs, though +you admitted she told you she had to go back that night for something +she'd dropped. You wouldn't believe she married that rascally gambler +at St. Louis before her first husband was out of the way! You shielded +and swore by her, and brought her out here, and all the time the +proofs were here in Blakely's hands. It was _she_, I suppose, who +broke off--" + +But here, indeed, was it high time to break off. The visitors were now +visibly rising in all proper embarrassment, for Mrs. Plume had started +up, with staring eyes. "Proofs!" she cried, "in Blakely's hands! Why, +she told me--my own letters!--my--" And then brutal man was brought to +his senses and made to see how heartless and cruel was his conduct, +for Mrs. Plume went into a fit and Mrs. Lynn for the doctor. + +That was a wild night at Sandy. Two young matrons had made up their +minds that it was shameful to leave poor Mrs. Plume without anybody to +listen to her, when she might so long for sympathetic hearers, and +have so much to tell. They had entered as soon as the major came forth +and, softly tapping at the stricken one's door, had been with her +barely five minutes when he came tearing back, and all this tremendous +scene occurred before they could put in a word to prevent, which, of +course, they were dying to do. But what _hadn't_ they heard in that +swift moment! Between the two of them--and Mrs. Bridger was the +other--their agitation was such that it all had to be told. Then, like +the measles, one revelation led to another, but it was several days +before the garrison settled down in possession of an array of facts +sufficient to keep it in gossip for many a month. Meanwhile, many a +change had come over the scene. + +At Prescott, then the Territorial capital, Elise Layton, _née_ Lebrun, +was held without bail because it couldn't be had, charged with +obtaining money under false pretenses, bigamy as a side issue, and +arson as a possible backstop. The sleep-walking theory, as advanced in +favor of Mrs. Plume, had been reluctantly abandoned, it appearing +that, however dazed and "doped" she may have been through the +treatment of that deft-fingered, unscrupulous maid, she was +sufficiently wide awake to know well whither she had gone at that +woman's urging, to make a last effort to recover certain letters of +vital importance. At Blakely's door Clarice had "lost her nerve" and +insisted on returning, but not so Elise. She went again, and had +well-nigh gotten Downs drunk enough to do as she demanded. Frankly, +sadly, Plume went to Blakely, told him of his wife's admissions, and +asked him what papers of hers he retained. For a moment Blakely had +blazed with indignation, but Plume's sorrow, and utter innocence of +wrong intent, stilled his wrath and led to his answer: "Every letter +of Mrs. Plume's I burned before she was married, and I so assured her. +She herself wrote asking me to burn rather than return them, but there +were letters and papers I could not burn, brought to me by a poor +devil that woman Elise had married, tricked into jail, and then +deserted. He disappeared afterward, and even Pinkerton's people +haven't been able to find him. Those papers are his property. You and +Colonel Byrne are the only men who have seen them, though they were +somewhat exposed just after the fire. She made three attempts to get +me to give them up to her. Then, I believe, she strove to get Downs to +steal them, and gave him the money with which to desert and bring them +to her. He couldn't get into the iron box; couldn't lug it out, and +somehow, probably, set fire to the place, scratching matches in there. +Perhaps she even persuaded him to do that as a last resort. He knew I +could get out safely. At all events, he was scared out of his wits and +deserted with what he had. It was in trying to make his way eastward +by the Wingate road that there came the last of poor Ups and Downs." + +And so the story of this baleful influence over a weak, half-drugged +girl, her mistress, became known to Plume and gradually to others. It +was easy for Elise to make her believe that, in spite of the word of a +gentleman, her impulsive love letters were still held by Blakely +because he had never forgiven her. It was Elise, indeed, who had +roused her jealousy and had done her best to break that engagement +with Blakely and to lead to the match with the handsome and devoted +major. Intrigue and lying were as the breath of the woman's nostrils. +She lived in them. But Sandy was never to see her again. +"Woman-Walk-in-the-Night" was "Woman-Walk-no-More." + +And now the friendless creature stood charged with more crimes than +would fill the meager space of a Territorial jail, and yet the one +originally laid at her door, though never publicly announced, was now +omitted entirely--that of assault with deadly weapon, possibly with +intent to kill. Even Mother Shaughnessy and Norah were silenced, and +Pat Mullins put to confusion. Even the latest punctured patient at the +hospital, Private Todd, had to serve as evidence in behalf of Elise, +for Graham, post surgeon, had calmly declared that the same weapon +that so nearly killed Pat Mullins had as nearly and neatly done the +deed for Todd--the keen Apache knife of Princess Natzie. + +"The heathen child was making her usual night visit to her white +lover," said Wren grimly, having in mind the womanly shape he had seen +that starlit morning at Blakely's rear door. + +"You're right in one guess, R-robert Wren," was the prompt answer of +his friend and fellow Scot, who glared at Janet rather than his +convalescent as he spoke. "And ye're wrang in twanty. She _was_ +tryin', and didn't know the way. She _was_ tryin', for she had his +watch and pocketbook. You're wrang if ye think she was ever there +before or after. The slut you saw cryin' at his back door was that +quean Elise, an' ye well know there was no love lost between them. Go +say yer prayers, man, for every wicked thought ye've had of him--or of +that poor child. Between them they saved your Angela!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE PARTING BY THE WATERS + + +"Some day I may tell Miss Angela--but never you," had Mr. Blakely +said, before setting forth on his perilous essay to find Angela's +father, and with native tenacity Miss Wren the elder had remembered +the words and nourished her wrath. It was strange, indeed, that Plume, +an officer and a gentleman, should have bethought him of the "austere +vestal" as a companion witness to Blakely's supposed iniquity; but, +between these two natures,--one strong, one weak,--there had sprung up +the strange sympathy that is born of a common, deep-rooted, yet +ill-defined antipathy--one for which neither she nor he could yet give +good reason, and of which each was secretly ashamed. Each, for reasons +of her or his own, cordially disliked the Bugologist, and each could +not but welcome evidence to warrant such dislike. It is human nature. +Janet Wren had strong convictions that the man was immoral, if for no +other reason than that he obviously sought Angela and as obviously +avoided her. Janet had believed him capable of carrying on a _liaison_ +with the dame who had jilted him, and had had to see that theory +crushed. Then she would have it that, if not the mistress, he dallied +with the maid, and when it began to transpire that virulent hatred was +the only passion felt for him by that baffling and detestable +daughter of Belial, there came actual joy to the soul of the +Scotchwoman that, after all, her intuition had not been at fault. He +was immoral as she would have him, even more so, for he had taken base +advantage of the young and presumably innocent. She craved some proof, +and Plume knew it, and, seeing her there alone in her dejection, had +bidden her come and look--with the result described. + +His own feeling toward Blakely is difficult to explain. Kind friends +had told him at St. Louis how inseparable had been Clarice and this +very superior young officer. She had admitted to him the "flirtation," +but denied all regard for Blakely, yet Plume speedily found her moody, +fitful, and unhappy, and made up his mind that Blakely was at the +bottom of it. Her desire to go to far-away Arizona could have no other +explanation. And though in no way whatever, by look, word, or deed, +had Blakely transgressed the strictest rule in his bearing toward the +major's wife, both major and wife became incensed at him,--Plume +because he believed the Bugologist still cherished a tender passion +for his wife--or she for him; Clarice, it must be owned, because she +knew well he did not. Plume sought to find a flaw in his subordinate's +moral armor to warrant the aversion that he felt, and was balked at +every turn. It was with joy almost fierce he discovered what he +thought to be proof that the subaltern was no saint, and, never +stopping to give his better nature time to rise and rebuke him, he had +summoned Janet. It was to sting Blakely, more than to punish the girl, +he had ordered Natzie to the guard-room. Then, as the hours wore on +and he realized how contemptible had been his conduct, the sense of +shame well-nigh crushed him, and though it galled him to think that +some of his own kind, probably, had connived at Natzie's escape, he +thanked God the girl was gone. And now having convinced herself that +here at last she had positive proof of Mr. Blakely's depravity, Aunt +Janet had not scrupled to bear it to Angela, with sharp and surprising +result. A good girl, a dutiful girl, was Angela, as we have seen, but +she, too, had her share of fighting Scotch blood and a bent for revolt +that needed only a reason. For days Aunt Janet had bidden her shun the +young man, first naming Mrs. Plume and then Elsie as the cause and +corespondent. One after another Graham had demolished these +possibilities, to the end that even Wren was ashamed of his unworthy +suspicions. Then it was Natzie who was the prey of Blakely's +immorality, and for that, Janet declared, quite as much as for +stabbing the soldier, the girl had been sent to the cells. It was late +in the day when she managed to find Angela away from her father, who, +realizing what Natzie had done and suffered to save his own ewe lamb, +was now in keen distress of mind because powerless to raise a hand to +aid her. He wondered that Angela seemed so unresponsive--that she did +not flare up in protest at such degrading punishment for the girl who +had saved her life. He little knew how his daughter's heart was +burning within her. He never dreamed that she, too, was +suffering--torn by conflicting emotions. It was a sore thing to find +that in her benefactress lived an unsuspected rival. + +Just before sunset she had left him and gone to her room to change her +dress for the evening, and Janet's first swoop was upon her brother. +Once before during the exciting day she had had a moment to herself +and him. She had so constantly fanned the flame of his belief in +Blakely's gallantries as even to throttle the sense of gratitude he +felt, and, in spite of herself, that she felt for that officer's +daring and successful services during the campaign. She felt, and he +felt, that they must disapprove of Blakely--must stamp out any nascent +regard that Angela might cherish for him, and to this end would never +in her presence admit that he had been instrumental in the rescue of +his captain, much less his captain's daughter. Hurriedly Janet had +told him what she and Plume had seen, and left him to ponder over it. +Now she came to induce him to bid her tell it all to Angela. "Now +that, that other--affair--seems disproved," said she, "she'll be +thinking there's no reason why she shouldn't be thinking of him," and +dejectedly the Scotchman bade her do as seemed best. Women, he +reasoned, could better read each other's hearts. + +And so Janet had gone and had thought to shock, and had most +impressively detailed what she had witnessed--I fear me Janet scrupled +not to embroider a bit, so much is permissible to the "unco guid" when +so very much is at stake. And Angela went on brushing out her +beautiful hair without a sign of emotion. To the scandal of Scotch +maidenhood she seemed unimpressed by the depravity of the pair. To the +surprise of Aunt Janet she heard her without interruption to the +uttermost word, and then--wished to know if Aunt Janet thought the +major would let her send Natzie something for supper. + +Whatever the girl may have thought of this new and possible +complication, she determined that no soul should read that it cost her +a pang. She declined to discuss it. She did what she had not done +before that day--went forth in search of Kate Sanders. Aunt Janet was +astonished that her niece should wish to send food to that--that +trollop. What would she have thought could she have heard what passed +a few moments later? In the dusk and the gloaming Kate Sanders was in +conversation on the side veranda with a tall sergeant of her father's +troop. "Ask her?" Kate was saying. "Of course I'll ask her. Why, here +she comes now!" Will it be believed that Sergeant Shannon wished Miss +Angela's permission to "take Punch out for a little exercise," a thing +he had never ventured to ask before, and that Angela Wren eagerly +said, "Yes." Poor Shannon! He did not know that night how soon he +would be borrowing a horse on his own account, nor that two brave +girls would nearly cry their eyes out over it, when they were barely +on speaking terms. + +Of him there came sad news but the day after his crack-brained, +Quixotic essay. Infatuated with Elise, and believing in her promise to +marry him, he had placed his savings in her hands, even as had Downs +and Carmody. He had heard the story of her visiting Blakely by night, +and scouted it. He heard, in a maze of astonishment, that she was +being sent to Prescott under guard for delivery to the civil +authorities, and taking the first horse he could lay hands on, he +galloped in chase. He had overtaken the ambulance on Cherry Creek, and +with moving tears she had besought him to save her. Faithful to their +trust, the guard had to interpose, but, late at night, they reached +Stemmer's ranch; were met there by a relief guard sent down by Captain +Stout; and the big sergeant who came in charge, with special +instructions from Stout's own lips, was a new king who knew not +Joseph, and who sternly bade Shannon keep his distance. Hot words +followed, for the trooper sergeant would stand no hectoring from an +equal in rank. Shannon's heart was already lost, and now he lost his +head. He struck a fellow-sergeant who stood charged with an important +duty, and even his own comrades could not interpose when the +infantrymen threw themselves upon the raging Irish soldier and +hammered him hard before they could subdue and bind him, but bind him +they did. Sadly the trooper guard went back to Sandy, bringing the +"borrowed" horse and the bad news that Shannon had been arrested for +assaulting Sergeant Bull, and all men knew that court-martial and +disgrace must follow. It was Shannon's last run on the road he knew so +well. Soldiers of rank came forward to plead for him and bear witness +to his worth and services, and the general commanding remitted most of +the sentence, restoring to him everything the court had decreed +forfeited except the chevrons. They had to go, yet could soon be +regained. But no man could restore to him the pride and self-respect +that went when he realized that he was only one of several plucked and +deluded victims of a female sharper. While the Frenchwoman ogled and +languished behind the bars, Shannon wandered out into the world again, +a deserter from the troop he was ashamed to face, an unfollowed, +unsought fugitive among the mining camps in the Sierras. "Three stout +soldiers stricken from the rolls--two of them gone to their last +account," mused poor Plume, as at last he led his unhappy wife away to +the sea, "and all the work of one woman!" + +Yes, Mrs. Plume was gone now for good and all, her devoted, yet +sore-hearted major with her, and Wren was sufficiently recovered to be +up and taking the air on his veranda, where Sanders sometimes stopped +to see him, and "pass the time of day," but cut his visits short and +spoke of everything but what was uppermost in his mind, because his +better half persuaded him that only ill would come from preaching. +Then, late one wonderful day, the interesting invalid, Mr. Neil +Blakely himself, was "paraded" upon the piazza in the Sanders's +special reclining-chair, and Kate and Mrs. Sanders beamed, while +nearly all society at the post came and purred and congratulated and +took sidelong glances up the row to where Angela but a while before +was reading to her grim old father, but where the father now read +alone, for Angela had gone, as was her custom at the hour, to her own +little room, and thither did Janet conceive it her duty to follow, +and there to investigate. + +"It won't be long now before that young man will be hobbling around +the post, I suppose. How do you expect to avoid him?" said the elder +maiden, looking with uncompromising austerity at her niece. Angela as +before had just shaken loose her wealth of billowy tresses and was +carefully brushing them. She did not turn from the contemplation of +her double in the mirror before her; she did not hesitate in her +reply. It was brief, calm, and to the point. + +"I shall not avoid him." + +"Angela! And after all I--your father and I--have told you!" And Aunt +Janet began to bristle. + +"Two-thirds of what you told me, Aunt Janet, proved to be without +foundation. Now I doubt--the rest of it." And Aunt Janet saw the big +eyes beginning to fill; saw the twitching at the corners of the soft, +sensitive lips; saw the trembling of the slender, white hand, and the +ominous tapping of the slender, shapely foot, but there wasn't a +symptom of fear or flinching. The blood of the Wrens was up for +battle. The child was a woman grown. The day of revolt had come at +last. + +"Angela Wr-r-ren!" rolled Aunt Janet. "D'you mean you're going to +_see_ him?--speak to him?" + +"I'm going to see him and--thank him, Aunt Janet." And now the girl +had turned and faced the astounded woman at the door. "You may spare +yourself any words upon the subject." + +The captain was seated in loneliness and mental perturbation just +where Angela had left him, but no longer pretending to read. His back +was toward the southern end of the row. He had not even seen the cause +of the impromptu reception at the Sanders's. He read what was taking +place when Angela began to lose her voice, to stumble over her words; +and, peering at her under his bushy eyebrows, he saw that the face he +loved was flushing, that her young bosom was swiftly rising and +falling, the beautiful brown eyes wandering from the page. Even before +the glad voices from below came ringing to his ears, he read in his +daughter's face the tumult in her guileless heart, and then she +suddenly caught herself and hurried back to the words that seemed +swimming in space before her. But the effort was vain. Rising quickly, +and with brave effort steadying her voice, she said, "I'll run and +dress now, father, dear," and was gone, leaving him to face the +problem thrust upon him. Had he known that Janet, too, had heard from +the covert of the screened and shaded window of the little parlor, and +then that she had followed, he would have shouted for his German +"striker" and sent a mandate to his sister that she could not fail to +understand. He did not know that she had been with Angela until he +heard her footstep and saw her face at the hall doorway. She had not +even to roll her r's before the story was told. + +Two days now he had lived in much distress of mind. Before quitting +the post Major Plume had laboriously gone the rounds, saying good-by +to every officer and lady. Two officers he had asked to see +alone--the captain and first lieutenant of Troop "C." Janet knew of +this, and should have known it meant amende and reconciliation, +perhaps revelation, but because her brother saw fit to sit and ponder, +she saw fit to cling unflinchingly to her preconceived ideas and to +act according to them. With Graham she was exceeding wroth for daring +to defend such persons as Lieutenant Blakely and "that Indian squaw." +It was akin to opposing weak-minded theories to positive knowledge of +facts. She had seen with her own eyes the ignorant, but no less +abandoned, creature kneeling at Blakely's bedside, her black head +pillowed close to his breast. She had seen her spring up in fury at +being caught--what else could have so enraged her that she should seek +to knife the intruders? argued Janet. She believed, or professed to +believe, that but for the vigilance of poor Todd, now quite happy in +his convalescence, the young savage would have murdered both the major +and herself. She did not care what Dr. Graham said. She had seen, and +seeing, with Janet, was believing. + +But she knew her brother well, and knew that since Graham's impetuous +outbreak he had been wavering sadly, and since Plume's parting visit +had been plunged in a mental slough of doubt and distress. Once before +his stubborn Scotch nature had had to strike its colors and surrender +to his own subaltern, and now the same struggle was on again, for what +Plume said, and said in presence of grim old Graham, fairly startled +him: + +"You are not the only one to whom I owe amende and apology, Captain +Wren. I wronged you, when you were shielding--my wife--at no little +cost to yourself. I wronged Blakely in several ways, and I have had to +go and tell him so and beg his pardon. The meanest thing I ever did +was bringing Miss Wren in there to spy on him, unless it was in +sending that girl to the guard-house. I'd beg her pardon, too, if she +could be found. Yes, I see you look glum, Wren, but we've all been +wrong, I reckon. There's no mystery about it now." + +And then Plume told his tale and Wren meekly listened. It might well +be, said he, that Natzie loved Blakely. All her people did. She had +been watching him from the willows as he slept that day at the pool. +He had forbidden her following him, forbidden her coming to the post, +and she feared to wake him, yet when she saw the two prospectors, that +had been at Hart's, ride over toward the sleeping officer she was +startled. She saw them watching, whispering together. Then they rode +down and tied their horses among the trees a hundred yards below, and +came crouching along the bank. She was up in an instant and over the +stream at the shallows, and that scared them off long enough to let +her reach him. Even then she dare not wake him for fear of his anger +at her disobedience, but his coat was open, his watch and wallet easy +to take. She quickly seized them--the little picture-case being within +the wallet at the moment--and sped back to her covert. Then Angela had +come cantering down the sandy road; had gone on down stream, passing +even the prowling prospectors, and after a few minutes had returned +and dismounted among the willows above where Blakely lay--Angela whom +poor Natzie believed to be Blakely's sister. Natzie supposed her +looking for her brother, and wondered why she waited. Natzie finally +signaled and pointed when she saw that Angela was going in +disappointment at not finding him. Natzie witnessed Angela's theft of +the net and her laughing ride away. By this time the prospectors had +given up and gone about their business, and then, while she was +wondering how best to restore the property, Lola and Alchisay had come +with the annoying news that the agent was angered and had sent +trailers after her. They were even then only a little way up stream. +The three then made a run for the rocks to the east, and there +remained in hiding. That night Natzie had done her best to find her +way to Blakely with the property, and the rest they knew. The watch +was dropped in the struggle on the _mesa_ when Mullins was stabbed, +the picture-case that morning at the major's quarters. + +"Was it Blakely told you all this, sir?" Wren had asked, still +wrong-headed and suspicious. + +"No, Wren. It was I told Blakely. All this was given me by Lola's +father, the interpreter, back from Chevlon's Fork only yesterday. I +sent him to try to persuade Natzie and her kinsfolk to return. I have +promised them immunity." + +Then Plume and Graham had gone, leaving Wren to brood and ponder, and +this had he been doing two mortal days and nights without definite +result, and now came Janet to bring things to a head. In grim and +ominous silence he listened to her recital, saying never a word until +her final appeal: + +"R-r-robert, is our girlie going daft, do you think? She solemnly said +to me--to me--but a minute ago, 'I mean to go to him myself--and thank +him!'" + +And solemnly the soldier looked up from his reclining-chair and +studied his sister's amazed and anxious face. Then he took her thin, +white hand between his own thin, brown paws and patted it gently. She +recoiled slowly as she saw contrition, not condemnation, in his +blinking eyes. + +"God forgive us all, Janet! It's what I ought to have done days ago." + + * * * * * + +Another cloudless afternoon had come, and, under the willows at the +edge of the pool, a young girl sat daydreaming, though the day was +nearly done. All in the valley was wrapped in shadow, though the +cliffs and turrets across the stream were resplendent in a radiance of +slanting sunshine. Not a whisper of breeze stirred the drooping +foliage along the sandy shores, or ruffled the liquid mirror surface. +Not a sound, save drowsy hum of beetle or soft murmur of rippling +waters among the pebbly shadows below, broke the vast silence of the +scene. Just where Angela was seated that October day on which our +story opened, she was seated now, with the greyhounds stretched +sprawling in the warm sands at her feet, with Punch blinking lazily +and switching his long tail in the thick of the willows. + +And somebody else was there, close at hand. The shadows of the +westward heights had gradually risen to the crest of the rocky cliffs +across the stream. A soft, prolonged call of distant trumpet summoned +homeward for the coming night the scattered herds and herd guards of +the post, and, rising suddenly, her hand upon a swift-throbbing heart, +her red lips parted in eagerness or excitement uncontrollable, Angela +stood intently listening. Over among the thickets across the pool the +voice of an Indian girl was uplifted in some weird, uncanny song. The +voice was shrill, yet not unmusical. The song was savage, yet not +lacking some crude harmony. She could not see the singer, but she +knew. Natzie's people had returned to the agency, accepting the olive +branch that Plume had tendered them--Natzie herself was here. + +At the first sound of the uplifted voice an Apache boy, crouching in +the shrubbery at the edge of the pool, rose quickly to his feet, and, +swift and noiseless, stole away into the thicket. If he thought to +conceal himself or his purpose his caution was needless. Angela +neither saw nor heard him. Neither was it the song nor the singer that +now arrested her attention. So still was the air, so deep was the +silence of nature, that even on such sandy roads and bridlepaths as +traversed the winding valley, the faintest hoof-beat was carried far. +Another horse, another rider, was quickly coming. Tonto, the big hound +nearest her, lifted his shapely head and listened a moment, then went +bounding away through the willows, followed swiftly by his mate. They +knew the hoof-beats, and joyously ran to meet and welcome the rider. +Angela knew them quite as well, but could neither run to meet, nor +could she fly. + +Only twice, as yet, had she opportunity to see or to thank Neil +Blakely, and a week had passed since her straightforward challenge to +Aunt Janet. As soon as he could walk unaided, save by his stick, Wren +had gone stumping down the line to Sanders's quarters and asked for +Mr. Blakely, with whom he had an uninterrupted talk of half an hour. +Within two days thereafter Mr. Blakely in person returned the call, +being received with awful state and solemnity by Miss Wren herself. +Angela, summoned by her father's voice, came flitting down a moment +later, and there in the little army parlor, where first she had sought +to "entertain" him until the captain should appear, our Angela was +once again brought face to face with him who had meanwhile risked his +life in the effort to rescue her father, and again in the effort to +find and rescue her. A fine blush mantled her winsome face as she +entered, and, without a glance at Janet, went straightway to their +visitor, with extended hand. + +"I am so glad to see you again, Mr. Blakely," she bravely began. "I +have--so much--to thank you--" but her brown eyes fell before the fire +in the blue and her whole being thrilled at the fervor of his +handclasp. She drew her hand away, the color mounting higher, then +snuggled to her father's side with intent to take his arm; but, +realizing suddenly how her own was trembling, grasped instead the back +of a chair. Blakely was saying something, she knew not what, nor could +she ever recall much that anyone said during the brief ten minutes of +his stay, for there sat Aunt Janet, bolt upright, after the fashion of +fifty years gone by, a formidable picture indeed, and Angela wondered +that anyone could say anything at all. + +Next time they met she was riding home and he sat on the south veranda +with Mrs. Sanders and Kate. She would have ridden by with just a nod +and smile; but, at sight of her, he "hobbled" down the steps and came +hurriedly out to speak, whereupon Mrs. Sanders, who knew much better, +followed to "help him," as she said. "Help, indeed!" quoth angry Kate, +usually most dutiful of daughters. "You'd only hinder!" But even that +presence had not stopped his saying: "The doctor promises I may ride +Hart's single-footer in a day or two, Miss Angela, and then--" + +And now it was a "single-footer" coming, the only one at Sandy. Of +course it might be Hart, not Blakely, and yet Blakely had seen her as +she rode away. It was Blakely's voice--how seldom she had heard, yet +how well she knew it! answering the joyous welcome of the hounds. It +was Blakely who came riding straight in among the willows, a radiance +in his thin and lately pallid face--Blakely who quickly, yet +awkwardly, dismounted, for it still caused him pain, and then, +forgetful of his horse, came instantly to her as she stood there, +smiling, yet tremulous. The hand that sought hers fairly shook, but +that, said Angela, though she well knew better, might have been from +weakness or from riding. For a moment he did not speak. It was she who +began. She thought he should know at once. + +"Did you--hear her singing--too?" she hazarded. + +"Hear?--Who?" he replied, grudgingly letting go the hand because it +pulled with such determination. + +"Why--Natzie, I suppose. At least--I haven't seen her," she stammered, +her cheeks all crimson now. + +"Natzie, indeed!" he answered, in surprise, turning slowly and +studying the opposite willows. "It is only a day or two since they +came in. I thought she'd soon be down." Obviously her coming caused +him neither embarrassment nor concern. "She still has a notecase of +mine. I suppose you heard?" And his clear blue eyes were fastened on +her lovely, downcast face. + +"Something. Not much," she answered, drawing back a little, for he +stood so close to her she could have heard the beating of his +heart--but for her own. All was silence over there in the opposite +willows, but so it was the day Natzie had so suddenly appeared from +nowhere, and he saw the hurried glance she sent across the pool. + +"Has she worried you?" he began, "has she been--" spying, he was going +to say, and she knew it, and grew redder still with vexation. Natzie +could claim at least that she was not without a shining example had +she come there to spy, but Blakely had that to say to her that +deserved undivided attention, and there is a time when even one's +preserver and greatest benefactor may be _de trop_. + +"Will you wait--one moment?" he suddenly asked. "I'll go to the rocks +yonder and call her," and then, almost as suddenly, the voice was +again uplifted in the same weird, barbaric song, and the singer had +gone from the depths of the opposite thicket and was somewhere farther +up stream, still hidden from their gaze--still, possibly, ignorant of +Angela's presence. The brown eyes were at the moment following the +tall, white form, moving slowly through the winding, faintly-worn +pathway toward the upper shallows where, like stepping stones, the big +rocks stretched from shore to shore, and she was startled to note that +the moment the song began he stopped short a second or two, listened +intently, then almost sprang forward in his haste to reach the +crossing. Another minute and he was out of sight among the shrubbery. +Another, and she heard the single shot of a revolver, and there he +stood at the rocky point, a smoking pistol in his hand. Instantly the +song ceased, and then his voice was uplifted, calling, "Natzie! +Natzie!" With breathless interest Angela gazed and, presently, parting +the shrubbery with her little brown hands, the Indian girl stepped +forth into the light and stood in silence, her great black eyes fixed +mournfully upon him. Could this be their mountain princess--the +daring, the resolute, the commanding? Could this be the fierce, +lissome, panther-like creature before whose blow two of their stoutest +men had fallen? There was dejection inexpressible in her very +attitude. There was no longer bravery or adornment in her dress. There +was no more of queen--of chieftain's daughter--in this downcast child +of the desert. + +He called again, "Natzie," and held forth his hand. Her head had +drooped upon her breast, but, once again, she looked upon him, and +then, with one slow, hesitant, backward glance about her, stepped +forward, her little, moccasined feet flitting from rock to rock across +the murmuring shallows until she stood before him. Then he spoke, but +she only shook her head and let it droop again, her hands passively +clasping. He knew too little of her tongue to plead with her. He knew, +perhaps, too little of womankind to appreciate what he was doing. +Finding words useless, he gently took her hand and drew her with him, +and passively she obeyed, and for a moment they disappeared from +Angela's view. Then presently the tall, white form came again in +sight, slowly leading the unresisting child, until, in another moment, +they stepped within the little open space among the willows. At the +same instant Angela arose, and the daughter of the soldier and the +daughter of the savage, the one with timid yet hopeful welcome and +greeting in her lovely face, the other with sudden amaze, scorn, +passion, and jealous fury in her burning eyes, stood a breathless +moment confronted. Then, all in a second, with one half-stifled, +inarticulate cry, Natzie wrenched her hand from that of Blakely, and, +with the spring of a tigress, bounded away. Just at the edge of the +pool she halted, whirled about, tore from her bosom a flat, oblong +packet and hurled it at his feet; then, with the dart of a +frightened deer, drove through the northward willows. Angela saw her +run blindly up the bank, leaping thence to the rocks below, bounding +from one to another with the wild grace of the antelope. Another +instant and she had reached the opposite shore, and there, tossing her +arms wildly above her head, her black tresses streaming behind her, +with a cry that was almost a scream, she plunged into the heart of the +thicket; the stubborn branches closed behind her, and our Apache queen +was gone. As they met, so had they parted, by the waters of the pool. + +[Illustration: "NATZIE WRENCHED HER HAND FROM THAT OF BLAKELY, AND +WITH THE SPRING OF A TIGRESS BOUNDED AWAY"] + +When Blakely turned again to Angela she, too, was gone. He found her a +little later, her arms twined about her pony's neck, her face buried +in his mane, and sobbing as though her heart would break. + +On a soft, starlit evening within the week, no longer weeping, but +leaning on Blakely's arm, Angela stood at the edge of the bluff, +looking far out over the Red Rock country to the northeast. The sentry +had reported a distant signal fire, and several of the younger people +had strolled out to see. Whatever it was that had caused the report +had vanished by the time they reached the post, so, presently, Kate +Sanders started the homeward move, and now even the sentry had +disappeared in the darkness. When Angela, too, would have returned, +his arm restrained. She knew it would. She knew he had not spoken that +evening at the willows because of her tears. She knew he had been +patient, forbearing, gentle, yet well she knew he meant now to speak +and wait no longer. + +"Do you remember," he began, "when I said that some day I should tell +you--but never your aunt--who it was that came to my quarters that +night--and why she came?" and though she sought to remove her hand +from his arm he would not let it go. + +"You _did_ tell me," she answered, her eyelids drooping. + +"I _did_!--when?" + +Though the face was downcast, the sensitive lips began to quiver with +merriment and mischief. + +"The same day you took me for--your mother--and asked me to sing for +you." + +"Angela!" he cried, in amaze, and turning quickly toward her, "What +can you mean?" + +"Just what I say. You began as though I were your sister, then your +mother. I think, perhaps, if we'd had another hour together it would +have been grandmother." She was shaking with suppressed laughter now, +or was it violent trembling, for his heart, like hers, was bounding. + +"I must indeed have been delirious," he answered now, not laughing, +not even smiling. He had possessed himself of that other hand, despite +its fluttering effort. His voice was deep and grave and tremulous. "I +called you anything but what I most longed to call you--what I pray +God I may call you, Angela--my wife!" + + + + +L'ENVOI + + +There was a wedding at Sandy that winter when Pat Mullins took his +discharge, and his land warrant, and a claim up the Beaver, and Norah +Shaughnessy to wife. There was another, many a mile from Sandy, when +the May blossoms were showering in the orchard of a fair old homestead +in the distant East, and then Neil Blakely took his bride to see "the +land of the leal" after the little peep at the lands that now she +shared with him. There is one room in the beautiful old Colonial +mansion that they soon learned to call "father's," in anticipation of +the time when he should retire and come to hang the old saber on the +older mantel and spend his declining years with them. There is +another, sacred to Aunt Janet, where she was often welcomed, a woman +long since reconciled to Angela's once "obnoxious," but ever devoted +admirer. There were some points in which Aunt Janet suffered sore. She +had views of her own upon the rearing and management of children, and +these views she did at first oppose to those of Angela, but not for +long. In this, as in her choice of a husband, Angela had to read her +declaration of independence to the elder woman. + +There is another room filled with relics of their frontier +days,--Indian weapons, blankets, beadwork,--and among these, in a +sort of shrine of its own, there hangs a portrait made by a famous +artist from a little tintype, taken by some wandering photographer +about the old Apache reservation. Wren wrote them, ere the regiment +left Arizona, that she who had been their rescuer, and then so long +disappeared, finally wedded a young brave of the Chiricahua band and +went with him to Mexico. That portrait is the only relic they have of +a never forgotten benefactress--Natzie, their Apache Princess. + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + + + + +A DAUGHTER _of the_ SIOUX + +By GENERAL CHARLES KING + +A Tale of the Indian Frontier + +Illustrations by Frederic Remington and Edwin Willard Deming + + * * * * * + +SOME PRESS NOTES + +The Chicago Daily News + + A stronger story than any he has written for many years. + + +The Philadelphia Item + + A genuinely delightful tale, clean, wholesome, thoroughly + enjoyable.... + + +The Baltimore American + + Is full of interest, and equals, if not surpasses, his best + previous efforts. + + +The Portland (Me.) Press + + This captivating novel is quite perfect of its kind and + there is not one dull line from start to finish. + + +The Burlington Hawkeye + + Is one of General King's best works and withal a most + entertaining and fascinating story of army life. + + +The San Francisco Chronicle + + The story is full of life and movement, and all the details + of army life are described with that perfect knowledge which + carries conviction to the reader. + +The Cleveland Leader + + It is the strongest and most entertaining story he has + written for many a day.... It gets a grip on the reader in + the first chapters and holds it to the end. + + +The World, New York City + + A soldier's story told with a soldier's swing.... Is + capitally illustrated and has a particularly handsome and + tasteful cover portrait of the heroine in colors. + + +The Pittsburg Leader + + There is a naturalness about the story that makes it of + decided interest, and every one who reads it will lay the + book down with a feeling of regret that the end has been + reached so soon. + + +The Minneapolis Tribune + + Is the best piece of work General King has given his + admiring public in a long time. Is full of incident and + romance, and its central theme contains a dramatic power + worthy of subject and author. + + +The Literary World + + To General King we are deeply indebted for much information + concerning family life at fort and trading post. In these + days of the problem novel and the yellow journal, it is a + mental pleasure and a moral profit to read of men who are in + love with their own wives, of women who adore their own + husbands. + + * * * * * + +PRICE, $1.50 + +FOR SALE EVERYWHERE OR SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE BY + + * * * * * + +LOW PRICED POPULAR EDITIONS OF THE + +EARLIER + +MILITARY NOVELS + +OF + +GEN. CHARLES KING + +IN ENTIRELY NEW BINDINGS + + +LIST OF TITLES + + +FOUND IN THE PHILIPPINES +A GARRISON TANGLE +AN ARMY WIFE +NOBLE BLOOD +FORT FRAYNE +WARRIOR GAP +A WOUNDED NAME +TRUMPETER FRED + + * * * * * + +_Retail Price, 50 Cents_ + +FOR SALE EVERYWHERE OR SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE BY + + * * * * * + +THE HOBART COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + +114 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK CITY + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Apache Princess, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN APACHE PRINCESS *** + +***** This file should be named 19330-8.txt or 19330-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/3/19330/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Apache Princess + A Tale of the Indian Frontier + +Author: Charles King + +Illustrator: Frederic Remington and Edwin Willard Deming + +Release Date: September 19, 2006 [EBook #19330] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN APACHE PRINCESS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<div class="center"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" width="500" height="708" /></div> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_01" id="pic_01"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_01.jpg" width="500" height="785" alt="The fight in the cañon" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">The fight in the cañon</span> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div class="center"><img src="images/image_09.jpg" alt="Front Page" width="400" height="672" /></div> +<p> </p> + +<h1>AN APACHE<br /> +PRINCESS</h1> + +<h3><i>A Tale of the Indian Frontier</i></h3> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>GENERAL CHARLES KING</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF "A DAUGHTER OF THE SIOUX," "THE COLONEL'S<br /> + + DAUGHTER," "FORT FRAYNE," "AN ARMY WIFE,"<br /> + +ETC., ETC.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h4>ILLUSTRATIONS BY</h4> + <h2>FREDERIC REMINGTON</h2> + <h4><i>and</i></h4> + <h2>EDWIN WILLARD DEMING</h2> + + <p> </p> + <p> </p> + <p> </p> + + + + <h4>NEW YORK</h4> +<h3>THE HOBART COMPANY</h3> +<h3>1903</h3> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1903, +BY +THE HOBART COMPANY. +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">The Meeting by the Waters</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_I">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Scot Versus Saxon</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_II">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Moccasin Tracks</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_III">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">A Stricken Sentry</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">The Captain's Defiance</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_V">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">A Find in the Sands</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">"<span class="smcap">Woman-Walk-in-the-Night</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">"<span class="smcap">Apache Knives Dig Deep</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">A Carpet Knight, Indeed</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">"<span class="smcap">Woman-Walk-in-the Night" Again</span>,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">A Stop—by Wire</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Fire</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">!</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII </a></td> + </tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">Whose Letters</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">?</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">Aunt Janet Braved</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">A Call for Help</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">A Return to Command</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">A Strange Coming</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">A Stranger Going</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a></td> + </tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">Besieged</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">Where is Angela</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">?</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">Our Vanished Princess</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">Suspense</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">An Apache Queen</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV </a></td> + </tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">The Meeting at Sandy</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">Rescue Requited</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">"<span class="smcap">Woman-Walk-No-More</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII </a></td> + </tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">The Parting by the Waters</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i><a href="#LENVOI">L'ENVOI</a></i></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + +<table summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td></td><td class="tocpg">Page</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_01">Frontispiece</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_02">"<span class="smcap">Now Halting, Dropping on One Knee to Fire</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_03">"<span class="smcap">Blakely Led 'Em across No. 4's Post</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_04">The Fight in the Cañon</a></span><a href="#pic_04">,</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_05">"<span class="smcap">Indian Signals beyond Possibility of a Doubt</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_06">"<span class="smcap">Then slowly, They Saw Her Raise Her Right Hand, +Still Cautiously Holding the Little Mirror</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_07">"<span class="smcap">They Hustled Her Pony into a Ravine</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_08">"<span class="smcap">Natzie Wrenched Her Hand from that of Blakely, +and with the Spring of a Tigress Bounded away</span>,"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_324">324</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN APACHE PRINCESS</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE MEETING BY THE WATERS</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_21.jpg" alt="U" width="47" height="50" /></div> +<p>nder the willows at the edge of the pool a young girl sat +daydreaming, though the day was nearly done. All in the valley was +wrapped in shadow, though the cliffs and turrets across the stream +were resplendent in a radiance of slanting sunshine. Not a cloud +tempered the fierce glare of the arching heavens or softened the sharp +outline of neighboring peak or distant mountain chain. Not a whisper +of breeze stirred the drooping foliage along the sandy shores or +ruffled the liquid mirror surface. Not a sound, save drowsy hum of +beetle or soft murmur of rippling waters, among the pebbly shallows +below, broke the vast silence of the scene. The snow cap, gleaming at +the northern horizon, lay one hundred miles away and looked but an +easy one-day march. The black upheavals of the Matitzal, barring the +southward valley, stood sullen and frowning along the Verde, jealous +of the westward range that threw their rugged gorges into early shade. +Above and below the still and placid pool and but a few miles distant, +the pine-fringed, rocky hillsides came shouldering close to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +stream, but fell away, forming a deep, semicircular basin toward the +west, at the hub of which stood bolt-upright a tall, snowy flagstaff, +its shred of bunting hanging limp and lifeless from the peak, and in +the dull, dirt-colored buildings of adobe, ranged in rigid lines about +the dull brown, flat-topped <i>mesa</i>, a thousand yards up stream above +the pool, drowsed a little band of martial exiles, stationed here to +keep the peace 'twixt scattered settlers and swarthy, swarming +Apaches. The fort was their soldier home; the solitary girl a +soldier's daughter.</p> + +<p>She could hardly have been eighteen. Her long, slim figure, in its +clinging riding habit, betrayed, despite roundness and supple grace, a +certain immaturity. Her hands and feet were long and slender. Her +sun-tanned cheek and neck were soft and rounded. Her mouth was +delicately chiseled and the lips were pink as the heart of a +Bridesmaid rose, but, being firmly closed, told no tale of the teeth +within, without a peep at which one knew not whether the beauty of the +sweet young face was really made or marred. Eyes, eyebrows, lashes, +and a wealth of tumbling tresses of rich golden brown were all superb, +but who could tell what might be the picture when she opened those +pretty, curving lips to speak or smile? Speak she did not, even to the +greyhounds stretched sprawling in the warm sands at her feet. Smile +she could not, for the young heart was sore troubled.</p> + +<p>Back in the thick of the willows she had left her pony, blinking +lazily and switching his long tail to rid his flanks of humming +insects, but never mustering energy enough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> to stamp a hoof or strain +a thread of his horsehair <i>riata</i>. Both the long, lean, sprawling +hounds lolled their red, dripping tongues and panted in the sullen +heat. Even the girl herself, nervous at first and switching with her +dainty whip at the crumbling sands and pacing restlessly to and fro, +had yielded gradually to the drooping influences of the hour and, +seated on a rock, had buried her chin in the palm of her hand, and, +with eyes no longer vagrant and searching, had drifted away into +maiden dreamland. Full thirty minutes had she been there waiting for +something, or somebody, and it, or he, had not appeared.</p> + +<p>Yet somebody else was there and close at hand. The shadow of the +westward heights had gradually risen to the crest of the rocky cliffs +across the stream. A soft, prolonged call of distant trumpet summoned +homeward, for the coming night, the scattered herds and herd guards of +the post, and, rising with a sigh of disappointment, the girl turned +toward her now impatient pony when her ear caught the sound of a +smothered hand-clap, and, whirling about in swift hope and surprise, +her face once more darkened at sight of an Indian girl, Apache +unquestionably, crouching in the leafy covert of the opposite willows +and pointing silently down stream. For a moment, without love or fear +in the eyes of either, the white girl and the brown gazed at each +other across the intervening water mirror and spoke no word. Then, +slowly, the former approached the brink, looked in the direction +indicated by the little dingy index and saw nothing to warrant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> the +recall. Moreover, she was annoyed to think that all this time, +perhaps, the Indian girl had been lurking in that sheltering grove and +stealthily watching her. Once more she turned away, this time with a +toss of her head that sent the russet-brown tresses tumbling about her +slim back and shoulders, and at once the hand-clap was repeated, low, +but imperative, and Tonto, the biggest of the two big hounds, uplifted +one ear and growled a challenge.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" questioned the white girl, across the estranging +waters.</p> + +<p>For answer the brown girl placed her left forefinger on her lips, and +again distinctly pointed to a little clump of willows a dozen rods +below, but on the westward side.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean—someone's coming?" queried the first.</p> + +<p>"Sh-sh-sh!" answered the second softly, then pointed again, and +pointed eagerly.</p> + +<p>The soldier's daughter glanced about her, uncertainly, a moment, then +slowly, cautiously made her way along the sandy brink in the direction +indicated, gathering the folds of her long skirt in her gauntleted +hand and stepping lightly in her slender moccasins. A moment or two, +and she had reached the edge of a dense little copse and peered +cautiously within. The Indian girl was right. Somebody lay there, +apparently asleep, and the fair young intruder recoiled in obvious +confusion, if not dismay. For a moment she stood with fluttering heart +and parting lips that now permitted reassuring glimpse of pearly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +white teeth. For a moment she seemed on the verge of panicky retreat, +but little by little regained courage and self-poise. What was there +to fear in a sleeping soldier anyhow? She knew who it was at a glance. +She could, if she would, whisper his name. Indeed, she had been +whispering it many a time, day and night, these last two weeks +until—until certain things about him had come to her ears that made +her shrink in spite of herself from this handsome, petted young +soldier, this Adonis of her father's troop, Neil Blakely, lieutenant +of cavalry.</p> + +<p>"The Bugologist," they called him in cardroom circles at the "store," +where men were fiercely intolerant of other pursuits than poker, for +which pastime Mr. Blakely had no use whatever—no more use than had +its votaries for him. He was a dreamy sort of fellow, with big blue +eyes and a fair skin that were in themselves sufficient to stir the +rancor of born frontiersmen, and they of Arizona in the days of old +were an exaggeration of the type in general circulation on the Plains. +He was something of a dandy in dress, another thing they loathed; +something of a purist in speech, which was affectation unpardonable; +something of a dissenter as to drink, appreciative of "Cucumungo" and +claret, but distrustful of whisky—another thing to call down scorn +illimitable from the elect of the mining camps and packing "outfits." +But all these disqualifications might have been overlooked had the +lieutenant displayed even a faint preference for poker. "The Lord +loveth a cheerful giver—or loser" was the creed of the cardroom +circle at the store, but beyond a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> casual or smiling peep at the game +from the safe distance of the doorway, Mr. Blakely had vouchsafed no +interest in affairs of that character. To the profane disgust of Bill +Hyde, chief packer, and the malevolent, if veiled, criticism of +certain "sporty" fellow soldiers, Blakely preferred to spend his +leisure hours riding up and down the valley, with a butterfly net over +his shoulders and a japanned tin box slung at his back, searching for +specimens that were scarce as the Scriptures among his commentators.</p> + +<p>Even on this hot October afternoon he had started on his entomological +work, but, finding little encouragement and resting a while in the +shade, he had dozed away on a sandy couch, his head on his arms, his +broad-brimmed hat over his face, his shapely legs outstretched in +lazy, luxurious enjoyment, his tall and slender form, arrayed in cool +white blouse and trousers, really a goodly thing to behold. This day, +too, he must have come afoot, but his net and box lay there beside +him, and his hunt had been without profit, for both were apparently +empty. Possibly he had devoted but little time to netting insects. +Possibly he had thought to encounter bigger game. If so his zest in +the sport must have been but languid, since he had so soon yielded to +the drowsy influences of the day. There was resentment in the heart of +the girl as this occurred to her, even though it would have angered +her the more had anyone suggested she had come in hope of seeing or +speaking with him.</p> + +<p>And yet, down in the bottom of her heart, she knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> that just such a +hope had held her there even to the hour of recall. She knew that, +since opportunities for meeting him within the garrison were limited, +she had deliberately chosen to ride alone, and farther than she had +ever ridden alone before, in hope of meeting him without. She knew +that in the pursuit of his winged prey he never sought the open <i>mesa</i> +or the ravines and gorges of the foothills. Only along the stream were +they—and he—to be found. Only along the stream, therefore, had she +this day ridden and, failing to see aught of him, had dismounted to +think in quiet by the pool, so she told herself, but incidentally to +wait and watch for him; and now she had found him, neither watching +nor waiting, but in placid unconcern and slumber.</p> + +<p>One reason why they met so seldom in garrison was that her father did +not like him in the least. The captain was a veteran soldier, +self-taught and widely honored, risen from the ranks. The lieutenant +was a man of gentle breeding and of college education, a soldier by +choice, or caprice, yet quite able at any time to quit the service and +live a life of ease, for he had, they said, abundant means of his own. +He had been first lieutenant of that troop at least five years, not +five months of which had he served on duty with it. First one general, +then another, had needed him as aide-de-camp, and when, on his own +application, he had been relieved from staff duty to enable him to +accompany his regiment to this then distant and inhospitable land, he +had little more than reached Camp Sandy when he was sent by the +department com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>mander to investigate some irregularity at the Apache +reservation up the valley, and then, all unsoliciting, he had been +placed in charge pending the coming of a new agent to replace the +impeached one going home under guard, and the captain said things +about his subaltern's always seeking "fancy duty" that were natural, +yet unjust—things that reached Mr. Blakely in exaggerated form, and +that angered him against his senior to the extent of open rupture. +Then Blakely took the mountain fever at the agency, thereby still +further delaying his return to troop duty, and then began another +complication, for the contract doctor, though skillful in his +treatment, was less assiduous in nursing than were the wife of the +newly arrived agent and her young companion Lola, daughter of the +agency interpreter and his Apache-Yuma wife.</p> + +<p>When well enough to attempt light duty again, the lieutenant had +rejoined at Sandy, and, almost the first face to greet him on his +arrival was one he had never seen before and never forgot +thereafter—the sweet, laughing, winsome face of Angela Wren, his +captain's only child.</p> + +<p>The regiment had marched into Arizona overland, few of the wives and +daughters with it. Angela, motherless since her seventh year, was at +school in the distant East, together with the daughters of the colonel +then commanding the regiment. They were older; were "finishing" that +summer, and had amazed that distinguished officer by demanding to be +allowed to join him with their mother. When they left the school +Angela could stand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> it no longer. She both telegraphed and wrote, +begging piteously to be permitted to accompany them on the long +journey by way of San Francisco, and so it had finally been settled. +The colonel's household were now at regimental headquarters up at +Prescott, and Angela was quite happy at Camp Sandy. She had been there +barely four weeks when Neil Blakely, pale, fragile-looking, and still +far from strong, went to report for duty at his captain's quarters and +was met at the threshold by his captain's daughter.</p> + +<p>Expecting a girl friend, Kate Sanders, from "down the row," she had +rushed to welcome her, and well-nigh precipitated herself upon a +stranger in the natty undress uniform of the cavalry. Her instant +blush was something beautiful to see. Blakely said the proper things +to restore tranquillity; smilingly asked for her father, his captain; +and, while waiting for that warrior to finish shaving and come down to +receive him, was entertained by Miss Wren in the little army parlor. +Looking into her wondrous eyes and happy, blushing face, he forgot +that there was rancor between his troop commander and himself, until +the captain's stiff, unbending greeting reminded him. Thoughtless +people at the post, however, were laughing over the situation a week +thereafter. Neil Blakely, a squire of dames in San Francisco and other +cities when serving on staff duty, a society "swell" and clubman, had +obviously become deeply interested in this blithe young army girl, +without a cent to her name—with nothing but her beauty, native grace, +and sweet, sunshiny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> nature to commend her. And everyone hitherto had +said Neil Blakely would never marry in the army.</p> + +<p>And there was one woman at Sandy who saw the symptoms with jealous and +jaundiced eyes—Clarice, wife of the major then commanding the little +"four-company" garrison. Other women took much to heart the fact that +Major Plume had cordially invited Blakely, on his return from the +agency, to be their guest until he could get settled in his own +quarters. The Plumes had rooms to spare—and no children. The major +was twelve years older than his wife, but women said it often looked +the other way. Mrs. Plume had aged very rapidly after his sojourn on +recruiting duty in St. Louis. Frontier commissariat and cooking played +hob with her digestion, said the major. Frontier winds and water dealt +havoc to her complexion, said the women. But both complexion and +digestion seemed to "take a brace," as irreverent youth expressed it, +when Neil Blakely came to Sandy and the major's roof. True, he stayed +but six and thirty hours and then moved into his own +domicile—quarters No. 7—after moving out a most reluctant junior. +Major Plume and Mrs. Plume had expected him, they were so kind as to +say, to choose a vacant half set, excellent for bachelor purposes, +under the roof that sheltered Captain Wren, Captain Wren's maiden +sister and housekeeper, and Angela, the captain's daughter. This set +adjoined the major's big central house, its south windows looking into +the major's north gallery. "It would be so neighborly and nice," said +Mrs. Plume. Instead, however, Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> Blakely stood upon his prerogative +as a senior subaltern and "ranked out" Mr. and Mrs. Bridger and baby, +and these otherwise gentle folk, evicted and aggrieved, knowing naught +of Blakely from previous association, and seeing no reason why he +should wish to be at the far end of the row instead of the middle, +with his captain, where he properly belonged, deemed themselves the +objects of wanton and capricious treatment at his hands, and resented +it according to their opportunities. Bridger, being a soldier and +subordinate, had to take it out in soliloquy and swear-words, but his +impetuous little helpmate—being a woman, a wife and mother, set both +wits and tongue to work, and heaven help the man when woman has both +to turn upon him! In refusing the room and windows that looked +full-face into those of Mrs. Plume, Blakely had nettled her. In +selecting the quarters occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Bridger he had +slightly inconvenienced and sorely vexed the latter. With no +incumbrances whatever, with fine professional record, with personal +traits and reputation to make him enviable, with comparative wealth +and, as a rule, superlative health, Blakely started on his career as a +subaltern at Sandy with three serious handicaps,—the disfavor of his +captain, who knew and loved him little,—the prejudice of Mrs. +Bridger, who knew and loved him not at all,—and the jealous pique of +Mrs. Plume, who had known and loved him, possibly, too well.</p> + +<p>There was little duty doing at Sandy at the time whereof we write. Men +rose at dawn and sent the horses forth to graze all day in the +foothills under heavy guard. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> was too hot for drills, with the +mercury sizzling at the hundred mark. Indian prisoners did the +"police" work about the post; and men and women dozed and wilted in +the shade until the late afternoon recall. Then Sandy woke up and +energetically stabled, drilled, paraded under arms at sunset, mounted +guard immediately thereafter, dined in spotless white; then rode, +drove, flirted, danced, gossiped, made mirth, melody, or monotonous +plaint till nearly midnight; then slept until the dawn of another day.</p> + +<p>Indians there were in the wilds of the Mogollon to the southeast, and, +sometimes at rare intervals straying from the big reservation up the +valley, they scared the scattered settlers of the Agua Fria and the +Hassayampa; but Sandy rarely knew of them except as prisoners. Not a +hostile shot had been fired in the surrounding mountains for at least +six months, so nobody felt the least alarm, and many only languid +interest, when the white-coated officers reported the result of sunset +roll-call and inspection, and, saluting Major Plume, the captain of +"C" Troop announced in tones he meant should be heard along the row: +"Mr. Blakely, sir, is absent!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>SCOT VERSUS SAXON</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hree women were seated at the moment on the front veranda of the +major's quarters—Mrs. Plume, Miss Janet Wren, the captain's sister, +and little Mrs. Bridger. The first named had been intently watching +the officers as, after the dismissal of their companies at the +barracks, they severally joined the post commander, who had been +standing on the barren level of the parade, well out toward the +flagstaff, his adjutant beside him. To her the abrupt announcement +caused no surprise. She had seen that Mr. Blakely was not with his +troop. The jeweled hands slightly twitched, but her voice had the +requisite and conventional drawl as she turned to Miss Wren: "Chasing +some new butterfly, I suppose, and got lost. A—what time did—Angela +return?"</p> + +<p>"Hours ago, I fancy. She was dressed when I returned from hospital. +Sergeant Leary seems worse to-day."</p> + +<p>"That was nearly six," dreamily persisted Mrs. Plume. "I happened to +be at the side window." In the pursuit of knowledge Mrs. Plume adhered +to the main issue and ignored the invalid sergeant, whose slow +convalescence had stirred the sympathies of the captain's sister.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, it was nearly that when Angela dismounted," softly said Mrs. +Bridger. "I heard Punch galloping away to his stable."</p> + +<p>"Why, Mrs. Bridger, are you sure?" And the spinster of forty-five +turned sharply on the matron of less than half her years. "She had on +her white muslin when she came to the head of the stairs to answer +me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bridger could not be mistaken. It was Angela's habit when she +returned from her rides to dismount at the rear gateway; give Punch +his <i>congé</i> with a pat or two of the hand; watch him a moment as he +tore gleefully away, round to the stables to the westward of the big +quadrangle; then to go to her room and dress for the evening, coming +down an hour later, looking fresh and sweet and dainty as a dewy +Mermet. As a rule she rode without other escort than the hounds, for +her father would not go until the sun was very low and would not let +her go with Blakely or Duane, the only bachelor troop officers then at +Sandy. He had nothing against Duane, but, having set his seal against +the other, felt it necessary to include them both. As a rule, +therefore, she started about four, alone, and was home an hour later. +Five young maidens dwelt that year in officers' row, daughters of the +regiments,—for it was a mixed command and not a big one,—two +companies each of infantry and cavalry, after the manner of the early +70's. Angela knew all four girls, of course, and had formed an +intimacy with one—one who only cared to ride in the cool of the +bright evenings when the officers took the hounds jack-rabbit hunting +up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> valley. Twice a week, when Luna served, they held these +moonlit meets, and galloping at that hour, though more dangerous to +necks, was less so to complexions. As a rule, too, Angela and Punch +contented themselves with a swift scurry round the reservation, with +frequent fordings of the stream for the joy it gave them both. They +were rarely out of sight of the sentries and never in any appreciable +danger. No Apache with hostile intent ventured near enough to Sandy to +risk reprisals. Miners, prospectors, and ranchmen were few in numbers, +but, far and wide they knew the captain's bonny daughter, and, like +the men of her father's troop, would have risked their lives to do her +a service. Their aversions as to Sandy were centered in the other sex.</p> + +<p>Aunt Janet, therefore, had some reason for doubting the report of Mrs. +Bridger. It was so unlike Angela to be so very late returning, +although, now that Mrs. Bridger had mentioned it, she, too, remembered +hearing the rapid thud of Punch's galloping hoofs homeward bound, as +was she, at 5.45. Yet, barely five minutes thereafter, Angela, who +usually spent half an hour splashing in her tub, appeared full +panoplied, apparently, at the head of the stairs upon her aunt's +arrival, and was even now somewhere down the row, hobnobbing with Kate +Sanders. That Lieutenant Blakely should have missed retreat roll-call +was in itself no very serious matter. "Slept through at his quarters, +perhaps," said Plume. "He'll turn up in time for dinner." In fine the +major's indifference struck the captain as an evidence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> official +weakness, reprehensible in a commander charged with the discipline of +a force on hostile soil. What Wren intended was that Plume should be +impressed by his formal word and manner, and direct the adjutant to +look up the derelict instanter. As no such action was taken, however, +he felt it due to himself to speak again. A just man was Wren, and +faithful to the core in his own discharge of duty. What he could not +abide was negligence on part of officer or man, on part of superior or +inferior, and he sought to "stiffen" Plume forthwith.</p> + +<p>"If he isn't in his quarters, shall I send a party out in search, +sir?"</p> + +<p>"Who? Blakely? Dear, no, Wren! What for?" returned the post commander, +obviously nettled. "I fancy he'll not thank you for even searching his +quarters. You may stumble over his big museum in the dark and smash +things. No, let him alone. If he isn't here for dinner, I'll 'tend to +it myself."</p> + +<p>And so, rebuffed, as it happened, by an officer much his inferior in +point of experience and somewhat in years, Wren silently and stiffly +saluted and turned away. Virtually he had been given to understand +that his suggestion was impertinent. He reached his quarters, +therefore, in no pleasant mood, and found his sister waiting for him +with Duty in her clear and shining eyes.</p> + +<p>A woman of many a noble trait was Janet Wren,—a woman who had done a +world of good to those in sickness, sorrow, or other adversity, a +woman of boundless faith in herself and her opinions, but not too much +hope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> or charity for others. The blood of the Scotch Covenanters was +in her veins, for her mother had been born and bred in the shadow of +the kirk and lived and died in the shadow of the cross. A woman with a +mission was Janet, and one who went at it unflinchingly. She had loved +her brother always, yet disapproved his marriage to so young and +unformed a woman as was his wife. Later, she had deprecated from the +start the soldier spirit, fierce in his Highland blood, that tore him +from the teachings of their gentle mother and her beloved meenister, +took him from his fair young wife when most she needed him and sent +him straightway into the ranks of the one Highland regiment in the +Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His gallant colonel fell +at First Bull Run, and Sergeant Wren fought over his body to the +fervent admiration of the Southerners who captured both. The first War +Secretary, mourning a beloved brother and grateful to his defender, +commissioned the latter in the regulars at once and, on his return +from Libby, Wren joined the army as a first lieutenant. With genuine +Scottish thrift, his slender pay had been hoarded for him, and his now +motherless little one, by that devoted sister, and when, a captain at +the close of the war, he came to clasp his daughter to his heart, he +found himself possessed of a few hundreds more than fell to the lot of +most of his associates. It was then that Janet, motherless herself, +had stepped into the management of her brother's army home, and sought +to dominate in that as she had in everything else from early girlhood. +Wren<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> loved her fondly, but he, too, had a will. They had many a +clash. It was this, indeed, that led to Angela's going so early to an +Eastern school. We are all paragons of wisdom in the management of +other people's children. It is in dealing with our own our limitations +are so obvious. Fond as she had become of Angela's sweet young mother, +it must be owned that whom Janet loved in this way she often +chastened. Neighbors swore it was not grief, nor illness, half so much +as sister-in-law, that wore the gentle spirit to the snapping-point. +The great strong heart of the soldier was well-nigh broken at his +loss, and Janet, who had never seen him shed a tear since early +boyhood, stood for once, at least, in awe and trembling at sight of +his awful grief. Time and nature played their part and brought him, +gradually, resignation, but never genuine solace. He turned to little +Angela with almost passionate love and tenderness. He would, mayhap, +have spoiled her had not frontier service kept him so much afield that +it was Janet who really reared her,—but not according to the strict +letter of her law. Wren knew well what that was and forbade.</p> + +<p>Misfortunes came to Janet Wren while yet a comely woman of +thirty-five. She could have married, and married well, a comrade +captain in her brother's regiment; but him, at least, she held to be +her own, and, loving him with genuine fervor and devotion, she sought +to turn him in all things to her serious views of life, its manifold +duties and responsibilities. She had her ideal of what a man should +be—a monarch among other men, but one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> knowing no God but her God, no +creed but her creed, no master but Duty, no mistress but herself, and +no weakness whatsoever. A braver, simpler, kinder soul than her +captain there dwelt not in the service of his country, but he loved +his pipe, his song, his dogs, his horses, his troop, and certain +soldier ways that, during his convalescence from wounds, she had not +had opportunity to observe. She had nursed him back to life and love +and, unwittingly, to his former harmless habits. These all she would +have had him forswear, not for her sake so much, she said, but because +they were in themselves sinful and beneath him. She sought to train +him down too fine for the rugged metal of the veteran soldier, and the +fabric snapped in her hands. She had sent him forth sore-hearted over +her ceaseless importunity. She had told him he must not only give up +all his ways, but, if he would make her happy, he must put the words +of Ruth into his mouth, and that ended it. He transferred into another +corps when she broke with him; carried his sore heart to the Southern +plains, and fell in savage battle within another month.</p> + +<p>Not long thereafter her little fortune, invested according to the +views of a spiritual rather than a temporal adviser,—and much against +her brother's wishes,—went the way of riches that have wings, and +now, dependent solely upon him, welcomed to his home and fireside, she +nevertheless strove to dominate as of yore. He had had to tell her +Angela could not and should not be subjected to such restraints as the +sister would have prescribed, but so long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> as he was the sole victim +he whimsically bore it without vehement protest. "Convert me all you +can, Janet, dear," he said, "but don't try to reform the whole +regiment. It's past praying for."</p> + +<p>Now, when other women whispered to her that while Mrs. Plume had been +a belle in St. Louis and Mr. Blakely a young society beau, the +magnitude of their flirtation had well-nigh stopped her marriage, Miss +Wren saw opportunity for her good offices and, so far from avoiding, +she sought the society of the major's brooding wife. She even felt a +twinge of disappointment when the young officer appeared, and after +the initial thirty-six hours under the commander's roof, rarely went +thither at all. She knew her brother disapproved of him, and thought +it to be because of moral, not military, obliquity. She saw with +instant apprehension his quick interest in Angela and the child's +almost unconscious response. With the solemn conviction of the maiden +who, until past the meridian, had never loved, she looked on Angela as +far too young and immature to think of marrying, yet too shallow, vain +and frivolous, too corrupted, in fact, by that pernicious society +school—not to shrink from flirtations that might mean nothing to the +man but would be damnation to the girl. Even the name of this big, +blue-eyed, fair-skinned young votary of science had much about it that +made her fairly bristle, for she had once been described as an +"austere vestal" by Lieutenant Blake, of the regiment preceding them +at Sandy, the ——th Cavalry—and a mutual friend had told her all +about it—another handicap for Blakely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> She had grown, it must be +admitted, somewhat gaunt and forbidding in these later years, a thing +that had stirred certain callow wits to differentiate between the +Misses Wren as Angela and Angular, which, hearing, some few women +reproved but all repeated. Miss Wren, the sister, was in fine a woman +widely honored but little sought. It was Angela that all Camp Sandy +would have met with open arms.</p> + +<p>"R-r-robert," began Miss Wren, as the captain unclasped his saber belt +and turned it over to Mickel, his German "striker." She would have +proceeded further, but he held up a warning hand. He had come homeward +angering and ill at ease. Disliking Blakely from the first, a +"ballroom soldier," as he called him, and alienated from him later, he +had heard still further whisperings of the devotions of a chieftain's +daughter at the agency, above all, of the strange infatuation of the +major's wife, and these had warranted, in his opinion, warning words +to his senior subaltern in refusing that gentleman's request to ride +with Angela. "I object to any such attentions—to any meetings +whatsoever," said he, but sooner than give the real reason, added +lamely, "My daughter is too young." Now he thought he saw impending +duty in his sister's somber eyes and poise. He knew it when she began +by rolling her r's—it was so like their childhood's spiritual guide +and mentor, MacTaggart, erstwhile of the "Auld Licht" persuasion, and +a power.</p> + +<p>"Wait a bit, Janet," said he. "Mickel, get my horse and tell Sergeant +Strang to send me a mounted orderly."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> Then, as Mickel dropped the +saber in the open doorway and departed, he turned upon her.</p> + +<p>"Where's Angela?" said he, "and what was she doing out after recall? +The stable sergeant says 'twas six when Punch came home."</p> + +<p>"R-r-robert, it is of that I wish to speak to you, and before she +comes to dinner. Hush! She's coming now."</p> + +<p>Down the row of shaded wooden porticos, at the major's next door, at +Dr. Graham's, the Scotch surgeon and Wren's especial friend and crony, +at the Lynns' and Sanders's beyond, little groups of women and +children in cool evening garb, and officers in white, were gathered in +merry, laughing chat. Nowhere, save in the eyes of one woman at the +commanding officer's, and here at Wren's, seemed there anything +ominous in the absence of this officer so lately come to join them. +The voice of Angela, glad and ringing, fell upon the father's ears in +sudden joy. Who could associate shame or subterfuge with tones so +charged with merriment? The face of Angela, coming suddenly round the +corner from the side veranda, beamed instantly upon him, sweet, +trusting and welcoming, then slowly shadowed at sight of the set +expression about his mouth, and the rigid, uncompromising, determined +sorrow in the features of her aunt.</p> + +<p>Before she could utter a word, the father questioned:</p> + +<p>"Angela, my child, have you seen Mr. Blakely this afternoon?"</p> + +<p>One moment her big eyes clouded, but unflinchingly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> they met his gaze. +Then, something in the stern scrutiny of her aunt's regard stirred all +that was mutinous within her; yet there was an irrepressible twitching +about the corners of the rosy mouth, a twinkle about the big brown +eyes that should have given them pause, even as she demurely answered:</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"When?" demanded the soldier, his muscular hand clutching ominously at +the wooden rail; his jaw setting squarely. "When—and where?"</p> + +<p>But now the merriment with which she had begun changed slowly at sight +of the repressed fury in his rugged Gaelic face. She, too, was +trembling as she answered:</p> + +<p>"Just after recall—down at the pool."</p> + +<p>For an instant he stood glaring, incredulous. "At the pool! You! My +bairnie!" Then, with sudden outburst of passionate wrath, "Go to your +room!" said he.</p> + +<p>"But listen—father, dear," she began, imploringly. For answer he +seized her slender arm in almost brutal grasp and fairly hurled her +within the doorway. "Not a word!" he ground between his clinched +teeth. "Go instantly!" Then, slamming the door upon her, he whirled +about as though to seek his sister's face, and saw beyond her, +rounding the corner of the northwest set of quarters, coming in from +the <i>mesa</i> roadway at the back, the tall, white figure of the missing +man.</p> + +<p>Another moment and Lieutenant Blakely, in the front room of his +quarters, looking pale and strange, was being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> pounced upon with eager +questioning by Duane, his junior, when the wooden steps and veranda +creaked under a quick, heavy, ominous tread, and, with livid face and +clinching hands, the troop commander came striding in.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blakely," said he, his voice deep with wrath and tremulous with +passion, "I told you three days ago my daughter and you must not meet, +and—you know why! To-day you lured her to a rendezvous outside the +post—"</p> + +<p>"Captain Wren!"</p> + +<p>"Don't lie! I say you lured her, for my lass would never have met +you—"</p> + +<p>"You shall <i>un</i>say it, sir," was Blakely's instant rejoinder. "Are you +mad—or what? I never set eyes on your daughter to-day—until a moment +ago."</p> + +<p>And then the voice of young Duane was uplifted, shouting for help. +With a crash, distinctly heard out on the parade, Wren had struck his +junior down.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>MOCCASIN TRACKS</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_19.jpg" alt="W" width="69" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen Mr. Blakely left the post that afternoon he went afoot. When he +returned, just after the sounding of retreat, he came in saddle. +Purposely he avoided the road that led in front of the long line of +officers' quarters and chose instead the water-wagon track along the +rear. People among the laundresses' quarters, south of the <i>mesa</i> on +which stood the quadrangular inclosure of Camp Sandy, eyed him +curiously as he ambled through on his borrowed pony; but he looked +neither to right nor left and hurried on in obvious discomposure. He +was looking pale and very tired, said the saddler sergeant's wife, an +hour later, when all the garrison was agog with the story of Wren's +mad assault. He never seemed to see the two or three soldiers, men of +family, who rose and saluted as he passed, and not an officer in the +regiment was more exact or scrupulous in his recognition of such +soldier courtesy as Blakely had ever been. They wondered, therefore, +at his strange abstraction. They wondered more, looking after him, +when, just as his stumbling pony reached the crest, the rider reined +him in and halted short in evident embarrassment. They could not see +what he saw—two young girls in gossamer gowns of white, with arms +entwining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> each other's waists, their backs toward him, slowly pacing +northward up the <i>mesa</i> and to the right of the road. Some old croquet +arches, balls, and mallets lay scattered about, long since abandoned +to dry rot and disuse, and, so absorbed were the damsels in their +confidential chat,—bubbling over, too, with merry laughter,—they +gave no heed to these until one, the taller of the pair, catching her +slippered foot in the stiff, unyielding wire, plunged forward and +fell, nearly dragging her companion with her. Blakely, who had hung +back, drove his barbless heels into the pony's flanks, sent him +lurching forward, and in less than no time was out of saddle and +aiding her to rise, laughing so hard she, for a moment, could not +speak or thank him. Save to flowing skirt, there was not the faintest +damage, yet his eyes, his voice, his almost tremulous touch were all +suggestive of deep concern, before, once more mounting, he raised his +broad-brimmed hat and bade them reluctant good-night. Kate Sanders ran +scurrying home an instant later, but Angela's big and shining eyes +followed him every inch of the way until he once more dismounted at +the upper end of the row and, looking back, saw her and waved his hat, +whereat she ran, blushing, smiling, and not a little wondering, +flustered and happy, into the gallery of their own quarters and the +immediate presence of her father. Blakely, meanwhile, had summoned his +servant:</p> + +<p>"Take this pony at once to Mr. Hart," said he, "and say I'll be back +again as soon as I've seen the commanding officer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Downs, the messenger, returned to the house about half an hour +later, it was to find his master prostrate and bleeding on the bed in +his room, Dr. Graham and the hospital attendant working over him, the +major and certain of his officers, with gloomy faces and muttering +tongues, conferring on the piazza in front, and one of the +lieutenant's precious cases of bugs and butterflies a wreck of +shattered glass. More than half the officers of the post were present. +A bevy of women and girls had gathered in the dusk some distance down +the row. The wondering Milesian whispered inquiry of silent soldiers +lingering about the house, but the gruff voice of Sergeant Clancy bade +them go about their business. Not until nearly an hour later was it +generally known that Captain Wren had been escorted to his quarters by +the post adjutant and ordered to remain therein in close arrest.</p> + +<p>If some older and more experienced officer than Duane had been there +perhaps the matter would not have proved so tragic, but the latter was +utterly unstrung by Wren's furious attack and the unlooked-for result. +Without warning of any kind, the burly Scot had launched his big fist +straight at Blakely's jaw, and sent the slender, still fever-weakened +form crashing through a case of specimens, reducing it to splinters +that cruelly cut and tore the bruised and senseless face. A corporal +of the guard, marching his relief in rear of the quarters at the +moment, every door and window being open, heard the crash, the wild +cry for help, rushed in, with his men at his heels,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> and found the +captain standing stunned and ghastly, with the sweat starting from his +brow, staring down at the result of his fearful work. From the front +Captain Sanders and his amazed lieutenant came hurrying. Together they +lifted the stricken and bleeding man to his bed in the back room and +started a soldier for the doctor on the run. The sight of this man, +speeding down the row, bombarded all the way with questions he could +not stop to answer, startled every soul along that westward-facing +front, and sent men and women streaming up the line toward Blakely's +quarters at the north end. The doctor fairly brushed them from his +path and Major Plume had no easy task persuading the tearful, pallid +groups of army wives and daughters to retire to the neighboring +quarters. Janet Wren alone refused point-blank. She would not go +without first seeing her brother. It was she who took the arm of the +awed, bewildered, shame-and conscience-stricken man and led him, with +bowed and humbled head, the adjutant aiding on the other side, back to +the door he had so sternly closed upon his only child, and that now as +summarily shut on him. Dr. Graham had pronounced the young officer's +injuries serious, and the post commander was angry to the very core.</p> + +<p>One woman there was who, with others, had aimlessly hastened up the +line, and who seemed now verging on hysterics—the major's wife. It +was Mrs. Graham who rebukefully sent her own braw young brood +scurrying homeward through the gathering dusk, and then possessed +herself of Mrs. Plume. "The shock has unnerved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> you," she charitably, +soothingly whispered: "Come away with me," but the major's wife +refused to go. Hart, the big post trader, had just reached the spot, +driving up in his light buckboard. His usually jovial face was full of +sympathy and trouble. He could not believe the news, he said. Mr. +Blakely had been with him so short a time beforehand and was coming +down again at once, so Downs, the striker, told him, when some soldier +ran in to say the lieutenant had been half killed by Captain Wren. +Plume heard him talking and came down the low steps to meet and confer +with him, while the others, men and women, listened eagerly, expectant +of developments. Then Hart became visibly embarrassed. Yes, Mr. +Blakely had come up from below and begged the loan of a pony, saying +he must get to the post at once to see Major Plume. Hadn't he seen the +major? No! Then Hart's embarrassment increased. Yes, something had +happened. Blakely had told him, and in fact they—he—all of them had +something very important on hand. He didn't know what to do now, with +Mr. Blakely unable to speak, and, to the manifest disappointment of +the swift-gathering group, Hart finally begged the major to step aside +with him a moment and he would tell him what he knew. All eyes +followed them, then followed the major as he came hurrying back with +heightened color and went straight to Dr. Graham at the sufferer's +side. "Can I speak with him? Is he well enough to answer a question or +two?" he asked, and the doctor shook his head. "Then, by the Lord, +I'll have to wire to Prescott!" said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> Plume, and left the room at +once. "What is it?" feebly queried the patient, now half-conscious. +But the doctor answered only "Hush! No talking now, Mr. Blakely," and +bade the others leave the room and let him get to sleep.</p> + +<p>But tattoo had not sounded that still and starlit evening when a +strange story was in circulation about the post, brought up from the +trader's store by pack-train hands who said they were there when Mr. +Blakely came in and asked for Hart—"wanted him right away, bad," was +the way they put it. Then it transpired that Mr. Blakely had found no +sport at bug-hunting and had fallen into a doze while waiting for +winged insects, and when he woke it was to make a startling +discovery—his beautiful Geneva watch had disappeared from one pocket +and a flat note case, carried in an inner breast pocket of his white +duck blouse, and containing about one hundred dollars, was also gone. +Some vagrant soldier, possibly, or some "hard-luck outfit" of +prospectors, probably, had come upon him sleeping, and had made way +with his few valuables. Two soldiers had been down stream, fishing for +what they called Tonto trout, but they were looked up instantly and +proved to be men above suspicion. Two prospectors had been at Hart's, +nooning, and had ridden off down stream toward three o'clock. <i>There</i> +was a clew worth following, and certain hangers-on about the trader's, +"layin' fer a job," had casually hinted at the prospect of a game down +at Snicker's—a ranch five miles below. Here, too, was something worth +investigating. If Blakely had been robbed, as now seemed more than +likely, Camp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> Sandy felt that the perpetrator must still be close at +hand and of the packer or prospector class.</p> + +<p>But before the ranks were broken, after the roll-call, then invariably +held at half-past nine, Hart came driving back in a buckboard, with a +lantern and a passenger, the latter one of the keenest trailers among +the sergeants of Captain Sanders' troop, and Sanders was with the +major as the man sprang from the wagon and stood at salute.</p> + +<p>"Found anything, sergeant?" asked Plume.</p> + +<p>"Not a boot track, sir, but the lieutenant's own."</p> + +<p>"No tracks at all—in that soft sand!" exclaimed the major, +disappointed and unbelieving. His wife had come slowly forward from +within doors, and, bending slightly toward them, stood listening.</p> + +<p>"No boot tracks, sir. There's others though—Tonto moccasins!"</p> + +<p>Plume stood bewildered. "By Jove! I never thought of that!" said he, +turning presently on his second troop commander. "But who ever heard +of Apaches taking a man's watch and leaving—him?"</p> + +<p>"If the major will look," said the sergeant, quietly producing a +scouting notebook such as was then issued by the engineer department, +"I measured 'em and made rough copies here. There was <i>two</i>, sir. Both +came, both went, by the path through the willows up stream. We didn't +have time to follow. One is longer and slimmer than the other. If I +may make so bold, sir, I'd have a guard down there to-night to keep +people away; otherwise the tracks may be spoiled before morning."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Take three men and go yourself," said the major promptly. "See +anything of any of the lieutenant's property? Mr. Hart told you, +didn't he?" Plume was studying the sergeant's pencil sketches, by the +light of the trader's lantern, as he spoke, a curious, puzzled look on +his soldierly face.</p> + +<p>"Saw where the box had lain in the sand, sir, but no trace of the +net," and Sergeant Shannon was thinking less of these matters than of +his sketches. There was something he thought the major ought to see, +and presently he saw.</p> + +<p>"Why, sergeant, these may be Tonto moccasin tracks, but not grown +men's. They are mere boys, aren't they?"</p> + +<p>"Mere girls, sir."</p> + +<p>There was a sound of rustling skirts upon the bare piazza. Plume +glanced impatiently over his shoulder. Mrs. Plume had vanished into +the unlighted hallway.</p> + +<p>"That would account for their taking the net," said he thoughtfully, +"but what on earth would the guileless Tonto maiden do with a watch or +with greenbacks? They wouldn't dare show with them at the agency! How +far did you follow the tracks?"</p> + +<p>"Only a rod or two. Once in the willows they can't well quit them till +they reach the shallows above the pool, sir. We can guard there +to-night and begin trailing at dawn."</p> + +<p>"So be it then!" and presently the conference closed.</p> + +<p>Seated on the adjoining gallery, alone and in darkness, stricken and +sorrowing, a woman had been silently ob<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>servant of the meeting, and +had heard occasional snatches of the talk. Presently she rose; softly +entered the house and listened at a closed door on the northward +side—Captain Wren's own room. An hour previous, tortured between his +own thoughts and her well-meant, but unwelcome efforts to cheer him, +he had begged to be left alone, and had closed his door against all +comers.</p> + +<p>Now, she as softly ascended the narrow stairway and paused for a +moment at another door, also closed. Listening a while, she knocked, +timidly, hesitatingly, but no answer came. After a while, noiselessly, +she turned the knob and entered.</p> + +<p>A dim light was burning on a little table by the white bedside. A +long, slim figure, white-robed and in all the abandon of girlish +grief, was lying, face downward, on the bed. Tangled masses of hair +concealed much of the neck and shoulders, but, bending over, Miss Wren +could partially see the flushed and tear-wet cheek pillowed on one +slender white arm. Exhausted by long weeping, Angela at last had +dropped to sleep, but the little hand that peeped from under the +thick, tumbling tresses still clung to an odd and unfamiliar +object—something the older woman had seen only at a distance +before—something she gazed at in startled fascination this strange +and solemn night—a slender, long-handled butterfly net of filmy +gauze.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A STRICKEN SENTRY</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_16.jpg" alt="S" width="35" height="50" /></div> +<p>entry duty at Camp Sandy along in '75 had not been allowed to bear +too heavily on its little garrison. There was nothing worth stealing +about the place, said Plume, and no pawn-shop handy. Of course there +were government horses and mules, food and forage, arms and +ammunition, but these were the days of soldier supremacy in that arid +and distant land, and soldiers had a summary way of settling with +marauders that was discouraging to enterprise. Larceny was therefore +little known until the law, with its delays and circumventions, took +root in the virgin soil, and people at such posts as Sandy seldom shut +and rarely locked their doors, even by night. Windows were closed and +blanketed by day against the blazing sun and torrid heat, but, soon +after nightfall, every door and window was usually opened wide and +often kept so all the night long, in order that the cooler air, +settling down from <i>mesa</i> and mountain, might drift through every room +and hallway, licking up the starting dew upon the smooth, rounded +surface of the huge <i>ollas</i>, the porous water jars that hung suspended +on every porch, and wafting comfort to the heated brows of the lightly +covered sleepers within. Pyjamas were then unknown in army circles, +else even the single sheet that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> covered the drowsing soldier might +have been dispensed with.</p> + +<p>Among the quarters occupied by married men, both in officers' row and +Sudsville under the plateau, doors were of little account in a +community where the only intruder to be feared was heat, and so it had +resulted that while the corrals, stables, and storehouses had their +guards, only a single sentry paced the long length of the eastward +side of the post, a single pair of eyes and a single rifle barrel +being deemed amply sufficient to protect against possible prowlers the +rear yards and entrances of the row. The westward front of the +officers' homes stood in plain view, on bright nights at least, of the +sentry at the guard-house, and needed no other protector. On dark +nights it was supposed to look out for itself.</p> + +<p>A lonely time of it, as a rule, had No. 5, the "backyard sentry," but +this October night he lacked not for sensation. Lights burned until +very late in many of the quarters, while at Captain Wren's and +Lieutenant Blakely's people were up and moving about until long after +midnight. Of course No. 5 had heard all about the dreadful affair of +the early evening. What he and his fellows puzzled over was the +probable cause of Captain Wren's furious assault upon his subaltern. +Many a theory was afloat, Duane, with unlooked-for discretion, having +held his tongue as to the brief conversation that preceded the blow. +It was after eleven when the doctor paid his last visit for the night, +and the attendant came out on the rear porch for a pitcher of cool +water from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> <i>olla</i>. It was long after twelve when the light in the +upstairs room at Captain Wren's was turned low, and for two hours +thereafter, with bowed head, the captain himself paced nervously up +and down, wearing in the soft and sandy soil a mournful pathway +parallel with his back porch. It was after three, noted Private +Mullins, of that first relief, when from the rear door of the major's +quarters there emerged two forms in feminine garb, and, there being no +hindering fences, away they hastened in the dim starlight, past +Wren's, Cutler's, Westervelt's, and Truman's quarters until they were +swallowed up in the general gloom about Lieutenant Blakely's. Private +Mullins could not say for certain whether they had entered the rear +door or gone around under the deep shadows of the veranda. When next +he saw them, fifteen minutes later, coming as swiftly and silently +back, Mullins was wondering whether he ought not to challenge and have +them account for themselves. His orders were to allow inmates of the +officers' quarters to pass in or out at night without challenge, +provided he "recognized them to be such." Now, Mullins felt morally +certain that these two were Mrs. Plume and Mrs. Plume's vivacious +maid, a French-Canadian damsel, much admired and sought in soldier +circles at the post, but Mullins had not seen their faces and could +rightfully insist it was his duty and prerogative to do so. The +question was, how would the "commanding officer's lady" like and take +it? Mullins therefore shook his head. "I hadn't the nerve," as he +expressed it, long afterwards. But no such frailty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> oppressed the +occupant of the adjoining house. Just as the two had reached the rear +of Wren's quarters, and were barely fifty steps from safety, the +captain himself, issuing again from the doorway, suddenly appeared +upon the scene, and in low, but imperative tone accosted them. "<i>Who</i> +are you?" said he, bending eagerly, sternly over them. One quick look +he gave, and, almost instantly recoiling, exclaimed "Mrs. Plume! I +beg—" Then, as though with sudden recollection, "No, madam, I do +<i>not</i> beg your pardon," and, turning on his heel, abruptly left them. +Without a word, but with the arm of the maid supporting, the taller +woman sped swiftly across the narrow intervening space and was lost +again within the shadows of her husband's home.</p> + +<p>Private Mullins, silent and probably unseen witness of this episode, +slowly tossed his rifle from the port to the shoulder; shook his +puzzled head; stared a moment at the dim figure of Captain Wren again +in the starlit morning, nervously tramping up and down his narrow +limit; then mechanically sauntered down the roadway, pondering much +over what he had seen and heard during the brief period of his early +morning watch. Reaching the south, the lower, end of his post, he +turned again. He had but ten minutes left of his two-hour tramp. The +second relief was due to start at 3.30, and should reach him at 3.35. +He was wondering would the officer of the day "come nosin' round" +within that time, asking him his orders, and was everything all right +on his post? And had he observed anything unusual? There was Captain +Wren,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> like a caged tiger, tramping up and down behind his quarters. +At least he had been, for now he had disappeared. There were, or +rather had been, the two ladies in long cloaks flitting in the shadows +from the major's quarters to those of the invalid lieutenant. Mullins +certainly did not wish to speak about them to any official visitor, +whatever he might whisper later to Norah Shaughnessy, the saddler +sergeant's daughter—Norah, who was nurse girl at the Trumans', and +knew all the ins and outs of social life at Sandy—Norah, at whose +window, under the north gable, he gazed with love in his eyes as he +made his every round. He was a good soldier, was Mullins, but glad +this night to get off post. Through the gap between the second and +third quarters he saw the lights at the guard-house and could faintly +see the black silhouette of armed men in front of them. The relief was +forming sharp on time, and presently Corporal Donovan would be +bringing Trooper Schultz, of "C" Troop, straight across the parade in +search of him. The major so allowed his sentry on No. 5 to be relieved +at night. Mullins thanked the saints with pious fervor that no more +ladies would be like to flit across his vision, that night at least, +when, dimly through the dusk, against the spangled northern sky, he +sighted another figure crouching across the upper end of his post and +making straight for the lighted entrance at the rear of the +lieutenant's quarters. Someone else, then, had interest at +Blakely's—someone coming stealthily from without. A minute later +certain wakeful ears were startled by a moaning cry for aid.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just what happened, and how it happened, within the minute, led to +conflicting stories on the morrow. First man examined by Major Plume +was Lieutenant Truman of the Infantry, who happened to be officer of +the day. He had been over at Blakely's about midnight, he said; had +found the patient sleeping under the influence of soothing medicine, +and, after a whispered word with Todd, the hospital attendant, had +tiptoed out again, encountering Downs, the lieutenant's striker, in +the darkness on the rear porch. Downs said he was that excited he +couldn't sleep at all, and Mr. Truman had come to the conclusion that +Downs's excitement was due, in large part, to local influences totally +disconnected with the affairs of the early evening. Downs was an +Irishman who loved the "craytur," and had been known to resort to +unconventional methods of getting it. At twelve o'clock, said Mr. +Truman, the striker had obviously been priming. Now Plume's standing +orders were that no liquor should be sold to Downs at the store and +none to other soldiers except in "pony" glasses and for use on the +spot. None could be carried away unconsumed. The only legitimate +spirits, therefore, to which Downs could have access were those in +Blakely's locked closet—spirits hitherto used only in the +preservation of specimens, and though probably not much worse than the +whisky sold at the store, disdainfully referred to by votaries as +"Blakely's bug juice." Mr. Truman, therefore, demanded of Downs the +possession of the lieutenant's keys, and, with aggrieved dignity of +mien, Downs had referred him to the doctor, whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> suspicions had been +earlier aroused. Intending to visit his sentries after the change of +guard at 1.30, Truman had thrown himself into a reclining chair in his +little parlor, while Mrs. Truman and the little Trumans slumbered +peacefully aloft. After reading an hour or so the lieutenant fell into +a doze from which he awoke with a start. Mrs. Truman was bending over +him. Mrs. Truman had been aroused by hearing voices in cautious, yet +excited, colloquy in the shadows of Blakely's back porch. She felt +sure that Downs was one and thought from the sound that he must be +intoxicated, so Truman shuffled out to see, and somebody, bending +double in the dusk, scurried away at his approach. He heard rather +than saw. But there was Downs, at least, slinking back into the house, +and him Truman halted and accosted. "Who was that with you?" he asked, +and Downs thickly swore he hadn't seen a soul. But all the while Downs +was clumsily stuffing something into a side pocket, and Truman, +seizing his hand, dragged it forth into the light. It was one of the +hospital six-ounce bottles, bearing a label indicative of glycerine +lotion, but the color of the contained fluid belied the label. A sniff +was sufficient. "Who gave you this whisky?" was the next demand, and +Downs declared 'twas a hospital "messager" that brought it over, +thinking the lieutenant might need it. Truman, filled with wrath, had +dragged Downs into the dimly lighted room to the rear of that in which +lay Lieutenant Blakely, and was there upbraiding and investigating +when startled by the stifled cry that, rising suddenly on the night +from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> the open <i>mesa</i> just without, had so alarmed so many in the +garrison. Of what had led to it he had then no more idea than the +dead.</p> + +<p>Corporal Donovan, next examined, said he was marching Schultz over to +relieve Mullins on No. 5, just after half-past three, and heading for +the short cut between the quarters of Captains Wren and Cutler, which +was about where No. 5 generally met the relief, when, just as they +were halfway between the flagstaff and the row, Schultz began to limp +and said there must be a pebble in his boot. So they halted. Schultz +kicked off his boot and shook it upside down, and, while he was +tugging at it again, they both heard a sort of gurgling, gasping cry +out on the <i>mesa</i>. Of course Donovan started and ran that way, leaving +Schultz to follow, and, just back of Captain Westervelt's, the third +house from the northward end, he almost collided with Lieutenant +Truman, officer of the day, who ordered him to run for Dr. Graham and +fetch him up to Lieutenant Blakely's quick. So of what had taken place +he, too, was ignorant until later.</p> + +<p>It was the hospital attendant, Todd, whose story came next and brought +Plume to his feet with consternation in his eyes. Todd said he had +been sitting at the lieutenant's bedside when, somewhere about three +o'clock, he had to go out and tell Downs to make less noise. Downs was +completely upset by the catastrophe to his officer and, somehow, had +got a few comforting drinks stowed away, and these had started him to +singing some confounded Irish keen that grated on Todd's nerves. He +was afraid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> it would disturb the patient and he was about to go out +and remonstrate when the singing stopped and presently he heard +Downs's voice in excited conversation. Then a woman's voice in low, +urgent, persuasive whisper became faintly audible, and this surprised +Todd beyond expression. He had thought to go and take a look and see +who it could be, when there was a sudden swish of skirts and scurry of +feet, and then Mr. Truman's voice was heard. Then there was some kind +of sharp talk from the lieutenant to Downs, and then, in a sort of a +lull, there came that uncanny cry out on the <i>mesa</i>, and, stopping +only long enough to see that the lieutenant was not roused or +disturbed, Todd hastened forth. One or two dim figures, dark and +shadowy, were just visible on the eastward <i>mesa</i>, barely ten paces +away, and thither the attendant ran. Downs, lurching heavily, was just +ahead of him. Together they came upon a little group. Somebody went +running southward—Lieutenant Truman, as Todd learned later—hurrying +for the doctor. A soldier equipped as a sentry lay moaning on the +sand, clasping a bloody hand to his side, and over him, stern, silent, +but agitated, bent Captain Wren.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE CAPTAIN'S DEFIANCE</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_19.jpg" alt="W" width="69" height="50" /></div> +<p>ithin ten minutes of Todd's arrival at the spot the soft sands of the +<i>mesa</i> were tramped into bewildering confusion by dozens of trooper +boots. The muffled sound of excited voices, so soon after the +startling affair of the earlier evening, and hurrying footfalls +following, had roused almost every household along the row and brought +to the spot half the officers on duty at the post. A patrol of the +guard had come in double time, and soldiers had been sent at speed to +the hospital for a stretcher. Dr. Graham had lost no moment of time in +reaching the stricken sentry. Todd had been sent back to Blakely's +bedside and Downs to fetch a lantern. They found the latter, five +minutes later, stumbling about the Trumans' kitchen, weeping for that +which was lost, and the sergeant of the guard collared and cuffed him +over to the guard-house—one witness, at least, out of the way. At +four o'clock the doctor was working over his exhausted and unconscious +patient at the hospital. Mullins had been stabbed twice, and +dangerously, and half a dozen men with lanterns were hunting about the +bloody sands where the faithful fellow had dropped, looking for a +weapon or a clew, and probably trampling out all possibility of +finding either. Major<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> Plume, through Mr. Doty, his adjutant, had felt +it necessary to remind Captain Wren that an officer in close arrest +had no right to be away from his quarters. Late in the evening, it +seems, Dr. Graham had represented to the post commander that the +captain was in so nervous and overwrought a condition, and so +distressed, that as a physician he recommended his patient be allowed +the limits of the space adjoining his quarters in which to walk off +his superabundant excitement. Graham had long been the friend of +Captain Wren and was his friend as well as physician now, even though +deploring his astounding outbreak, but Graham had other things to +demand his attention as night wore on, and there was no one to speak +for Wren when the young adjutant, a subaltern of infantry, with +unnecessary significance of tone and manner, suggested the captain's +immediate return to his proper quarters. Wren bowed his head and went +in stunned and stubborn silence. It had never occurred to him for a +moment, when he heard that half-stifled, agonized cry for help, that +there could be the faintest criticism of his rushing to the sentry's +aid. Still less had it occurred to him that other significance, and +damning significance, might attach to his presence on the spot, but, +being first to reach the fallen man, he was found kneeling over him +within thirty seconds of the alarm. Not another living creature was in +sight when the first witnesses came running to the spot. Both Truman +and Todd could swear to that.</p> + +<p>In the morning, therefore, the orderly came with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> customary +compliments to say to Captain Wren that the post commander desired to +see him at the office.</p> + +<p>It was then nearly nine o'clock. Wren had had a sleepless night and +was in consultation with Dr. Graham when the summons came. "Ask that +Captain Sanders be sent for at once," said the surgeon, as he pressed +his comrade patient's hand. "The major has his adjutant and clerk and +possibly some other officers. You should have at least one friend."</p> + +<p>"I understand," briefly answered Wren, as he stepped to the hallway to +get his sun hat. "I wish it might be you." The orderly was already +speeding back to the office at the south end of the brown rectangle of +adobe and painted pine, but Janet Wren, ministering, according to her +lights, to Angela in the little room aloft, had heard the message and +was coming down. Taller and more angular than ever she looked as, with +flowing gown, she slowly descended the narrow stairway.</p> + +<p>"I have just succeeded in getting her to sleep," she murmured. "She +has been dreadfully agitated ever since awakened by the voices and the +running this morning, and she must have cried herself to sleep last +night. R-r-r-obert, would it not be well for you to see her when she +wakes? She does not know—I could not tell her—that you are under +arrest."</p> + +<p>Graham looked more "dour" than did his friend of the line. Privately +he was wondering how poor Angela could get to sleep at all with Aunt +Janet there to soothe her. The worst time to teach a moral lesson, +with any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> hope of good effect, is when the recipient is suffering from +sense of utter injustice and wrong, yet must perforce listen. But it +is a favorite occasion with the "ower guid." Janet thought it would be +a long step in the right direction to bring her headstrong niece to +the belief that all the trouble was the direct result of her having +sought, against her father's wishes, a meeting with Mr. Blakely. True, +Janet had now some doubt that such had been the case, but, in what she +felt was only stubborn pride, her niece refused all explanation. +"Father would not hear me at the time," she sobbed. "I am condemned +without a chance to defend myself or—him." Yet Janet loved the bonny +child devotedly and would go through fire and water to serve her best +interests, only those best interests must be as Janet saw them. That +anything very serious might result as a consequence of her brother's +violent assault on Blakely, she had never yet imagined. That further +complications had arisen which might blacken his record she never +could credit for a moment. Mullins lay still unconscious, and not +until he recovered strength was he to talk with or see anyone. Graham +had given faint hope of recovery, and declared that everything +depended on his patient's having no serious fever or setback. In a few +days he might be able to tell his story. Then the mystery as to his +assailant would be cleared in a breath. Janet had taken deep offense +that the commanding officer should have sent her brother into close +arrest without first hearing of the extreme provocation. "It is an +utterly unheard-of proceeding," said she, "this confining of an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +officer and gentleman without investigation of the affair," and she +glared at Graham, uncomprehending, when, with impatient shrug of his +big shoulders, he asked her what had they done, between them, to +Angela. It was his wife put him up to saying that, she reasoned, for +Janet's Calvinistic dogmas as to daughters in their teens were ever at +variance with the views of her gentle neighbor. If Angela had been +harshly dealt with, undeserving, it was Angela's duty to say so and to +say why, said Janet. Meantime, her first care was her wronged and +misjudged brother. Gladly would she have gone to the office with him +and stood proudly by his side in presence of his oppressor, could such +a thing be permitted. She marveled that Robert should now show so +little of tenderness for her who had served him loyally, if +masterfully, so very long. He merely laid his hand on hers and said he +had been summoned to the commanding officer's, then went forth into +the light and left her.</p> + +<p>Major Plume was seated at his desk, thoughtful and perplexed. Up at +regimental headquarters at Prescott Wren was held in high esteem, and +the major's brief telegraphic message had called forth anxious inquiry +and something akin to veiled disapprobation. Headquarters could not +see how it was possible for Wren to assault Lieutenant Blakely without +some grave reason. Had Plume investigated? No, but that was coming +now, he said to himself, as Wren entered and stood in silence before +him.</p> + +<p>The little office had barely room for the desks of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> commander and +his adjutant and the table on which were spread the files of general +orders from various superior headquarters—regimental, department, +division, the army, and the War Secretary. No curtains adorned the +little windows, front and rear. No rug or carpet vexed the warping +floor. Three chairs, kitchen pattern, stood against the pine partition +that shut off the sight, but by no means the hearing, of the three +clerks scratching at their flat-topped desks in the adjoining den. +Maps of the United States, of the Military Division of the Pacific, +and of the Territory, as far as known and surveyed, hung about the +wooden walls. Blue-prints and photographs of scout maps, made by their +predecessors of the ——th Cavalry in the days of the Crook campaigns, +were scattered with the order files about the table. But of pictures, +ornamentation, or relief of any kind the gloomy box was destitute as +the dun-colored flat of the parade. Official severity spoke in every +feature of the forbidding office as well as in those of the major +commanding.</p> + +<p>There was striking contrast, too, between the man at the desk and the +man on the rack before him. Plume had led a life devoid of anxiety or +care. Soldiering he took serenely. He liked it, so long as no grave +hardship threatened. He had done reasonably good service at corps +headquarters during the Civil War; had been commissioned captain in +the regulars in '61, and held no vexatious command at any time +perhaps, until this that took him to far-away Arizona. Plume was a +gentlemanly fellow and no bad garrison soldier. He really shone on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +parade and review at such fine stations as Leavenworth and Riley, but +had never had to bother with mountain scouting or long-distance Indian +chasing on the plains. He had a comfortable income outside his pay, +and when he was wedded, at the end of her fourth season in society, to +a prominent, if just a trifle <i>passée</i> belle, people thought him a +more than lucky man, until the regiment was sent to Arizona and he to +Sandy. Gossip said he went to General Sherman with appeal for some +detaining duty, whereupon that bluff and most outspoken warrior +exclaimed: "What, what, what! Not want to go with the regiment? Why, +here's Blakely begging to be relieved from Terry's staff because he's +mad to go." And this, said certain St. Louis commentators, settled it, +for Mrs. Plume declared for Arizona.</p> + +<p>Well garbed, groomed, and fed was Plume, a handsome, soldierly figure. +Very cool and placid was his look in the spotless white that even then +by local custom had become official dress for Sandy; but beneath the +snowy surface his heart beat with grave disquiet as he studied the +strong, rugged, somber face of the soldier on the floor.</p> + +<p>Wren was tall and gaunt and growing gray. His face was deeply lined; +his close-cropped beard was silver-stranded; his arms and legs were +long and sinewy and powerful; his chest and shoulders burly; his +regimental dress had not the cut and finish of the commander's. Too +much of bony wrist and hand was in evidence, too little of grace and +curve. But, though he stood rigidly at at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>tention, with all semblance +of respect and subordination, the gleam in his deep-set eyes, the +twitch of the long fingers, told of keen and pent-up feeling, and he +looked the senior soldier squarely in the face. A sergeant, standing +by the adjutant's desk, tiptoed out into the clerk's room and closed +the door behind him, then set himself to listen. Young Doty, the +adjutant, fiddled nervously with his pen and tried to go on signing +papers, but failed. It was for Plume to break the awkward silence, and +he did not quite know how. Captain Westervelt, quietly entering at the +moment, bowed to the major and took a chair. He had evidently been +sent for.</p> + +<p>"Captain Wren," presently said Plume, his fingers trembling a bit as +they played with the paper folder, "I have felt constrained to send +for you to inquire still further into last night's affair—or affairs. +I need not tell you that you may decline to answer if you consider +your interests are—involved. I had hoped this painful matter might be +so explained as to—as to obviate the necessity of extreme measures, +but your second appearance close to Mr. Blakely's quarters, under all +the circumstances, was so—so extraordinary that I am compelled to +call for explanation, if you have one you care to offer."</p> + +<p>For a moment Wren stood staring at his commander in amaze. He had +expected to be offered opportunity to state the circumstances leading +to his now deeply deplored attack on Mr. Blakely, and to decline the +offer on the ground that he should have been given that opportunity +before being submitted to the humiliation of arrest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> He had intended +to refuse all overtures, to invite trial by court-martial or +investigation by the inspector general, but by no manner of means to +plead for reconsideration now; and here was the post commander, with +whom he had never served until they came to Sandy, a man who hadn't +begun to see the service, the battles, and campaigns that had fallen +to his lot, virtually accusing him of further misdemeanor, when he had +only rushed to save or succor. He forgot all about Sanders or other +witnesses. He burst forth impetuously:</p> + +<p>"Extraordinary, sir! It would have been most extraordinary if I hadn't +gone with all speed when I heard that cry for help."</p> + +<p>Plume looked up in sudden joy. "You mean to tell me you didn't—you +weren't there till after—the cry?"</p> + +<p>Wren's stern Scottish face was a sight to see. "Of what can you +possibly be thinking, Major Plume?" he demanded, slowly now, for wrath +was burning within him, and yet he strove for self-control. He had had +a lesson and a sore one.</p> + +<p>"I will answer that—a little later, Captain Wren," said Plume, rising +from his seat, rejoicing in the new light now breaking upon him. +Westervelt, too, had gasped a sigh of relief. No man had ever known +Wren to swerve a hair's breadth from the truth. "At this moment time +is precious if the real criminal is to be caught at all. You were +first to reach the sentry. Had you seen no one else?"</p> + +<p>In the dead silence that ensued within the room the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> sputter of hoofs +without broke harshly on the ear. Then came spurred boot heels on the +hollow, heat-dried boarding, but not a sound from the lips of Captain +Wren. The rugged face, twitching with pent-up indignation the moment +before, was now slowly turning gray. Plume stood facing him in growing +wonder and new suspicion.</p> + +<p>"You heard me, did you not? I asked you did you see anyone else +during—along the sentry post when you went out?"</p> + +<p>A fringed gauntlet reached in at the doorway and tapped. Sergeant +Shannon, straight as a pine, stood expectant of summons to enter and +his face spoke eloquently of important tidings, but the major waved +him away, and, marveling, he slowly backed to the edge of the porch.</p> + +<p>"Surely you can answer that, Captain Wren," said Plume, his clear-cut, +handsome face filled with mingled anxiety and annoy. "Surely you +<i>should</i> answer, or—"</p> + +<p>The ellipsis was suggestive, but impotent. After a painful moment came +the response:</p> + +<p>"Or—take the consequences, major?" Then slowly—"Very well, sir—I +must take them."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A FIND IN THE SANDS</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he late afternoon of an eventful day had come to camp Sandy—just +such another day, from a meteorological viewpoint, as that on which +this story opened nearly twenty-four hours earlier by the shadows on +the eastward cliffs. At Tuesday's sunset the garrison was yawning with +the <i>ennui</i> born of monotonous and uneventful existence. As +Wednesday's sunset drew nigh and the mountain shadows overspread the +valley, even to the opposite crests of the distant Mogollon, the +garrison was athrill with suppressed excitement, for half a dozen +things had happened since the flag went up at reveille.</p> + +<p>In the first place Captain Wren's arrest had been confirmed and Plume +had wired department headquarters, in reply to somewhat urgent query, +that there were several counts in his indictment of the captain, any +one of which was sufficient to demand a trial by court-martial, but he +wished, did Plume, for personal and official reasons that the general +commanding should send his own inspector down to judge for himself.</p> + +<p>The post sergeant major and the three clerks had heard with sufficient +distinctness every word that passed between the major and the accused +captain, and, there being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> at Sandy some three hundred inquisitive +souls, thirsting for truth and light, it could hardly be expected of +this quartette that it should preserve utter silence even though +silence had been enjoined by the adjutant. It was told all over the +post long before noon that Wren had been virtually accused of being +the sentry's assailant as well as Lieutenant Blakely's. It was +whispered that, in some insane fury against the junior officer, Wren +had again, toward 3.30, breaking his arrest, gone up the row with the +idea of once more entering Blakely's house and possibly again +attacking him. It was believed that the sentry had seen and +interposed, and that, enraged at being balked by an enlisted man, Wren +had drawn a knife and stabbed him. True, no knife had been found +anywhere about the spot, and Wren had never been known to carry one. +But now a dozen men, armed with rakes, were systematically going over +the ground under the vigilant eye of Sergeant Shannon—Shannon, who +had heard the brief, emphatic interview between the major and the +troop commander and who had been almost immediately sent forth to +supervise this search, despite the fact that he had but just returned +from the conduct of another, the result of which he imparted to the +ears of only two men, Plume, the post commander, and Doty, his amazed +and bewildered adjutant. But Shannon had with him a trio of troopers, +one of whom, at least, had not been proof against inquisitive probing, +for the second sensation of the day was the story that one of the two +pairs of moccasin tracks, among the yielding sands of the willow +copse, led from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> where Mr. Blakely had been dozing to where the pony +Punch had been drowsing in the shade, for there they were lost, as the +maker had evidently mounted and ridden away. All Sandy knew that Punch +had no other rider than pretty Angela Wren.</p> + +<p>A third story, too, was whispered in half a dozen homes, and was going +wild about the garrison, to the effect that Captain Wren, when accused +of being Mullins's assailant, had virtually declared that he had seen +other persons prowling on the sentry's post and that they, not he, +were the guilty ones; but when bidden to name or describe them, Wren +had either failed or refused; some said one, some said the other, and +the prevalent belief in Sudsville circles, as well as in the barracks, +was that Captain Wren was going crazy over his troubles. And now there +were women, ay, and men, too, though they spake with bated breath, who +had uncanny things to say of Angela—the captain's only child.</p> + +<p>And this it was that led to sensation No. 4—a wordy battle of the +first magnitude between the next-door neighbor of the saddler sergeant +and no less a champion of maiden probity than Norah Shaughnessy—the +saddler sergeant's buxom daughter. All the hours since early morning +Norah had been in a state of nerves so uncontrollable that Mrs. +Truman—who knew of Norah's fondness for Mullins and marveled not that +Mullins always preferred the loneliness and isolation of the post on +No. 5—decided toward noon to send the girl home to her mother for a +day or so, and Norah thankfully went, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> threw herself upon her +mother's ample breast and sobbed aloud. It was an hour before she +could control herself, and her agitation was such that others came to +minister to her. Of course there was just one explanation—Norah was +in love with Mullins and well-nigh crazed with grief over his untimely +taking off, for later reports from the hospital were most depressing. +This, at least, was sufficient explanation until late in the +afternoon. Then, restored to partial composure, the girl was sitting +up and being fanned in the shade of her father's roof-tree, when +roused by the voice of the next-door neighbor before mentioned—Mrs. +Quinn, long time laundress of Captain Sanders's troop and jealous as +to Wren's, was telling what <i>she</i> had heard of Shannon's discoveries, +opining that both Captain Wren and the captain's daughter deserved +investigation. "No wan need tell <i>me</i> there was others prowling about +Mullins's post at three in the marnin.' As for Angela—" But here Miss +Shaughnessy bounded from the wooden settee, and, with amazing vim and +vigor, sailed spontaneously into Mrs. Quinn.</p> + +<p>"No wan need tell <i>you</i>—ye say! No wan need tell <i>you</i>, ye +black-tongued scandlum! Well, then, <i>I</i> tell ye Captain Wren did see +others prowlin' on poor Pat Mullins's post an' others than him saw +them too. Go you to the meejer, soon as ye like and say <i>I</i> saw them, +and if Captain Wren won't tell their names there's them that will."</p> + +<p>The shrill tones of the infuriated girl were plainly audible all over +the flats whereon were huddled the little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> cabins of log and adobe +assigned as quarters to the few married men among the soldiery. These +were the halcyon days of the old army when each battery, troop, or +company was entitled to four laundresses and each laundress to one +ration. Old and young, there were at least fifty pairs of ears within +easy range of the battle that raged forthwith, the noise of which +reached even to the shaded precincts of the trader's store three +hundred yards away. It was impossible that such a flat-footed +statement as Norah's should not be borne to the back doors of "The +Row" and, repeated then from lip to lip, should soon be told to +certain of the officers. Sanders heard it as he came in from stable +duty, and Dr. Graham felt confident that it had been repeated under +the major's roof when at 6 <span class="smcap">p. m.</span> the post commander desired his +professional services in behalf of Mrs. Plume, who had become +unaccountably, if not seriously, ill.</p> + +<p>Graham had but just returned from a grave conference with Wren, and +his face had little look of the family physician as he reluctantly +obeyed the summons. As another of the auld licht school of Scotch +Presbyterians, he also had conceived deep-rooted prejudice to that +frivolous French aide-de-camp of the major's wife. The girl did dance +and flirt and ogle to perfection, and half a dozen strapping sergeants +were now at sword's points all on account of this objectionable Eliza. +Graham, of course, had heard with his ears and fathomed with his +understanding the first reports of Wren's now famous reply to his +commanding officer; and though Wren would admit no more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> to him than +he had to the major, Graham felt confident that the major's wife was +one of the mysterious persons seen by Wren, and declared by Norah, in +the dim starlight of the early morning, lurking along the post of No. +5. Graham had no doubt that Elise was the other. The man most +concerned in the case, the major himself, was perhaps the only one at +sunset who never seemed to suspect that Mrs. Plume could have been in +any way connected with the affair. He met the doctor with a world of +genuine anxiety in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"My wife," said he, "is of a highly sensitive organization, and she +has been completely upset by this succession of scandalous affairs. +She and Blakely were great friends at St. Louis three years ago; +indeed, many people were kind enough to couple their names before our +marriage. I wish you could—quiet her," and the sounds from aloft, +where madame was nervously pacing her room, gave point to the +suggestion. Graham climbed the narrow stairs and tapped at the north +door on the landing. It was opened by Elise, whose big, black eyes +were dilated with excitement, while Mrs. Plume, her blonde hair +tumbling down her back, her <i>peignoir</i> decidedly rumpled and her +general appearance disheveled, was standing in mid-floor, wringing her +jeweled hands. "She looks like sixty," was the doctor's inward remark, +"and is probably not twenty-six."</p> + +<p>Her first question jarred upon his rugged senses.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Graham, when will Mr. Blakely be able to see—or read?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not for a day or two. The stitches must heal before the bandages can +come off his eyes. Even then, Mrs. Plume, he should not be disturbed," +was the uncompromising answer.</p> + +<p>"Is that wretch, Downs, sober yet?" she demanded, standing and +confronting him, her whole form quivering with strong, half-suppressed +emotion.</p> + +<p>"The wretch is sobering," answered Graham gravely. "And now, madame, +I'll trouble you to take a chair. Do you," with a glance of grim +disfavor, "need this girl for the moment? If not, she might as well +retire."</p> + +<p>"I need my maid, Dr. Graham, and I told Major Plume distinctly I did +not need you," was the impulsive reply, as the lady strove against the +calm, masterful grasp he laid on her wrist.</p> + +<p>"That's as may be, Mrs. Plume. We're often blind to our best +interests. Be seated a moment, then I'll let you tramp the soles of +your feet off, if you so desire." And so he practically pulled her +into a chair; Elise, glaring the while, stood spitefully looking on. +The antipathy was mutual.</p> + +<p>"You've slept too little of late, Mrs. Plume," continued the doctor, +lucklessly hitting the mark with a home shot instantly resented, for +the lady was on her feet again.</p> + +<p>"Sleep! People do nothing but sleep in this woebegone hole!" she +cried. "I've had sleep enough to last a lifetime. What I want is to +wake—wake out of this horrible nightmare! Dr. Graham, you are a +friend of Captain Wren's. What under heaven possessed him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> with his +brutal strength, to assault so sick a man as Mr. Blakely? What +possible pretext could he assert?" And again she was straining at her +imprisoned hand and seeking to free herself, Graham calmly studying +her the while, as he noted the feverish pulse. Not half an hour +earlier he had been standing beside the sick bed of a fair young girl, +one sorely weighted now with grave anxieties, yet who lay patient and +uncomplaining, rarely speaking a word. They had not told the half of +the web of accusation that now enmeshed her father's feet, but what +had been revealed to her was more than enough to banish every thought +of self or suffering and to fill her fond heart with instant and +loving care for him. No one, not even Janet, was present during the +interview between father and child that followed. Graham found him +later locked in his own room, reluctant to admit even him, and +lingering long before he opened the door; but even then the +tear-stains stood on his furrowed face, and the doctor knew he had +been sobbing his great heart out over the picture of his child—the +child he had so harshly judged and sentenced, all unheard. Graham had +gone to him, after seeing Angela, with censure on his tongue, but he +never spoke the words. He saw there was no longer need.</p> + +<p>"Let the lassie lie still the day," said he, "with Kate, perhaps, to +read to her. Your sister might not choose a cheering book. Then +perhaps we'll have her riding Punch again to-morrow." But Graham did +not smile when meeting Janet by the parlor door.</p> + +<p>He was thinking of the contrast in these two, his pa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>tients, as with +professional calm he studied the troubled features of the major's wife +when the voice of Sergeant Shannon was heard in the lower hall, +inquiring for the major, and in an instant Plume had joined him. In +that instant, too, Elise had sped, cat-like, to the door, and Mrs. +Plume had followed. Possibly for this reason the major led the +sergeant forth upon the piazza and the conversation took place in +tones inaudible to those within the house; but, in less than a minute, +the doctor's name was called and Graham went down.</p> + +<p>"Look at this," said Plume. "They raked it out of the sand close to +where Mullins was lying." And the major held forth an object that +gleamed in the last rays of the slanting sunshine. It was Blakely's +beautiful watch.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT"</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he dawn of another cloudless day was breaking and the dim lights at +the guard-house and the hospital burned red and bleary across the +sandy level of the parade. The company cooks were already at their +ranges, and a musician of the guard had been sent to rouse his fellows +in the barracks, for the old-style reveille still held good at many a +post in Arizona, before the drum and fife were almost entirely +abandoned in favor of the harsher bugle, by the infantry of our +scattered little army. Plume loved tradition. At West Point, where he +had often visited in younger days, and at all the "old-time" +garrisons, the bang of the morning gun and the simultaneous crash of +the drums were the military means devised to stir the soldier from his +sleep. Then, his brief ablutions were conducted to the accompaniment +of the martial strains of the field musicians, alternating the sweet +airs of Moore and Burns, the lyrics of Ireland and Auld Reekie, with +quicksteps from popular Yankee melodies of the day, winding up with a +grand flourish at the foot of the flagstaff, to whose summit the flag +had started at the first alarum; then a rush into rattling "double +quick" that summoned the laggards to scurry into the silently forming +ranks, and finally, with one emphatic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> rataplan, the morning concert +abruptly closed and the gruff voices of the first sergeants, in +swift-running monotone, were heard calling the roll of their shadowy +companies, and, thoroughly roused, the garrison "broke ranks" for the +long routine of the day.</p> + +<p>We have changed all that, and not for the better. A solitary trumpeter +steps forth from the guard-house or adjutant's office and, at the +appointed time, drones a long, dispiriting strain known to the drill +books as "Assembly of the Trumpeters," and to the army at large as +"First Call." Unassisted by other effort, it would rouse nobody, but +from far and near the myriad dogs of the post—"mongrel, hound, and +cur of low degree"—lift up their canine voices in some indefinable +sympathy and stir the winds of the morning with their mournful yowls. +Then, when all the garrison gets up cursing and all necessity for +rousing is ended, the official reveille begins, sounded by the +combined trumpeters, and so, uncheered by concord of sweet sounds, the +soldier begins his day.</p> + +<p>The two infantry companies at Sandy, at the time whereof we tell, were +of an honored old regiment that had fought with Worth at Monterey—one +whose scamps of drum boys and fifers had got their teachings from +predecessors whose nimble fingers had trilled the tunes of old under +the walls of the Bishop's Palace and in the resounding Halls of the +Montezumas. Plume and Cutler loved their joyous, rhythmical strains, +and would gladly have kept the cavalry clarions for purely cavalry +calls; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>but reveille and guard-mounting were the only ones where this +was practicable, and an odd thing had become noticeable. Apache +Indians sometimes stopped their ears, and always looked impolite, when +the brazen trumpets sounded close at hand; whereas they would squat on +the sun-kissed sands and listen in stolid, unmurmuring bliss to every +note of the fife and drum. Members of the guard were always sure of +sympathetic spectators during the one regular +ceremony—guard-mounting—held just after sunset, for the Apache +prisoners at the guard-house begged to be allowed to remain without +the prison room until a little after the "retreat" visit of the +officer of the day, and, roosting along the guard-house porch, to gaze +silently forth at the little band of soldiery in the center of the +parade, and there to listen as silently to the music of the fife and +drum. The moment it was all over they would rise without waiting for +directions, and shuffle stolidly back to their hot wooden walls. They +had had the one intellectual treat of the day. The savage breast was +soothed for the time being, and Plume had come to the conclusion that, +aside from the fact that his Indian prisoners were better fed than +when on their native heath, the Indian prison pen at Sandy was not the +place of penance the department commander had intended. Accessions +became so frequent; discharges so very few.</p> + +<p>Then there was another symptom: Sentries on the north and east front, +Nos. 4 and 5, had been a bit startled at first at seeing, soon after +dawn, shadowy forms rising slowly from the black depths of the valley, +hovering uncertainly along the edge of the <i>mesa</i> until they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> could +make out the lone figure of the morning watcher, then slowly, +cautiously, and with gestures of amity and suppliance, drawing +gradually nearer. Sturdy Germans and mercurial Celts were, at the +start, disposed to "shoo" away these specters as being hostile, or at +least incongruous. But officers and men were soon made to see it was +to hear the morning music these children of the desert flocked so +early. The agency lay but twenty miles distant. The reservation lines +came no nearer; but the fame of the invader's big maple tom-tom (we +wore still the deep, resonant drum of Bunker Hill and Waterloo, of +Jemappes, Saratoga, and Chapultepec, not the modern rattle pan +borrowed from Prussia), and the trill of his magical pipe had spread +abroad throughout Apache land to the end that no higher reward for +good behavior could be given by the agent to his swarthy charges than +the begged-for <i>papel</i> permitting them, in lumps of twenty, to trudge +through the evening shades to the outskirts of the soldier castle on +the <i>mesa</i>, there to wait the long night through until the soft +tinting of the eastward heavens and the twitter of the birdlings in +the willows along the stream, gave them courage to begin their timid +approach.</p> + +<p>And this breathless October morning was no exception. The sentry on +the northward line, No. 4, had recognized and passed the post surgeon +soon after four o'clock, hastening to hospital in response to a +summons from an anxious nurse. Mullins seemed far too feverish. No. 4 +as well as No. 5 had noted how long the previous evening Shannon and +his men kept raking and searching about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> the <i>mesa</i> where Mullins was +stabbed in the early morning, and they were in no mood to allow +strangers to near them unchallenged. The first shadowy forms to show +at the edge had dropped back abashed at the harsh reception accorded +them. Four's infantry rifle and Five's cavalry carbine had been +leveled at the very first to appear, and stern voices had said things +the Apache could neither translate nor misunderstand. The would-be +audience of the morning concert ducked and waited. With more light the +sentry might be more kind. The evening previous six new prisoners had +been sent down under strong guard by the agent, swelling the list at +Sandy to thirty-seven and causing Plume to set his teeth—and an extra +sentry. Now, as the dawn grew broader and the light clear and strong, +Four and Five were surprised, if not startled, to see that not twenty, +but probably forty Apaches, with a sprinkling of squaws, were hovering +all along the <i>mesa</i>, mutely watching for the signaled permission to +come in. Five, at least, considered the symptom one of sufficient +gravity to warrant report to higher authority, and full ten minutes +before the time for reveille to begin, his voice went echoing over the +arid parade in a long-draw, yet imperative "Corporal of the Gua-a-rd, +No. 5!"</p> + +<p>Whereat there were symptoms of panic among the dingy white-shirted, +dingy white-turbaned watchers along the edge, and a man in snowy white +fatigue coat, pacing restlessly up and down in rear, this time, of the +major's quarters, whirled suddenly about and strode out on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +<i>mesa</i>, gazing northward in the direction of the sound. It was Plume +himself, and Plume had had a sleepless night.</p> + +<p>At tattoo, by his own act and direction, the major had still further +strained the situation. The discovery of Blakely's watch, buried +loosely in the sands barely ten feet from where the sentry fell, had +seemed to him a matter of such significance that, as Graham maintained +an expression of professional gravity and hazarded no explanation, the +major sent for the three captains still on duty, Cutler, Sanders, and +Westervelt, and sought their views. One after another each picked up +and closely examined the watch, within and without, as though +expectant of finding somewhere concealed about its mechanism full +explanation of its mysterious goings and comings. Then in turn, with +like gravity, each declared he had no theory to offer, unless, said +Sanders, Mr. Blakely was utterly mistaken in supposing he had been +robbed at the pool. Mr. Blakely had the watch somewhere about him when +he dismounted, and then joggled it into the sands, where it soon was +trampled under foot. Sanders admitted that Blakely was a man not often +mistaken, and that the loss reported to the post trader of the flat +notebook was probably correct. But no one could be got to see, much +less to say, that Wren was in the slightest degree connected with the +temporary disappearance of the watch. Yet by this time Plume had some +such theory of his own.</p> + +<p>Sometime during the previous night, along toward morning, he had +sleepily asked his wife, who was softly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>moving about the room, to +give him a little water. The "monkey" stood usually on the window +sill, its cool and dewy surface close to his hand; but he remembered +later that she did not then approach the window—did not immediately +bring him the glass. He had retired very late, yet was hardly +surprised to find her wide awake and more than usually nervous. She +explained by saying Elise had been quite ill, was still suffering, and +might need her services again. She could not think, she said, of +sending for Dr. Graham after all he had had to vex him. It must have +been quite a long while after, so soundly had Plume slept, when she +bent over him and said something was amiss and Mr. Doty was at the +front door waiting for him to come down. He felt oddly numb and heavy +and stupid as he hastily dressed, but Doty's tidings, that Mullins had +been stabbed on post, pulled him together, as it were, and, merely +running back to his room for his canvas shoes, he was speedily at the +scene. Mrs. Plume, when briefly told what had happened, had covered +her face with her hands and buried face and all in the pillow, +shuddering. At breakfast-time Plume himself had taken her tea and +toast, both mistress and maid being still on the invalid list, and, +bending affectionately over her, he had suggested her taking this very +light refreshment and then a nap. Graham, he said, should come and +prescribe for Elise. But madame was feverishly anxious. "What will be +the outcome? What will happen to—Captain Wren?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Plume would not say just what, but he would certainly have to stand +court-martial, said he. Mrs. Plume shud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>dered more. What good would +that do? How much better it would be to suppress everything than set +such awful scandal afloat. The matter was now in the hands of the +department commander, said Plume, and would have to take its course. +Then, in some way, from her saying how ill the captain was looking, +Plume gathered the impression that she had seen him since his arrest, +and asked the question point-blank. Yes, she admitted,—from the +window,—while she was helping Elise. Where was he? What was he doing? +Plume had asked, all interest now, for that must have been very late, +in fact, well toward morning. "Oh, nothing especial, just looking at +his watch," she thought, "he probably couldn't sleep." Yes, she was +sure he was looking at his watch.</p> + +<p>Then, as luck would have it, late in the day, when the mail came down +from Prescott, there was a little package for Captain Wren, expressed, +and Doty signed the receipt and sent it by the orderly. "What was it?" +asked Plume. "His watch, sir," was the brief answer. "He sent it up +last month for repairs." And Mrs. Plume at nine that night, knowing +nothing of this, yet surprised at her husband's pertinacity, stuck to +her story. She was sure Wren was consulting or winding or doing +something with a watch, and, sorely perplexed and marveling much at +the reticence of his company commanders, who seemed to know something +they would not speak of, Wren sent for Doty. He had decided on another +interview with Wren.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile "the Bugologist" had been lying patiently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> in his cot, +saying little or nothing, in obedience to the doctor's orders, but +thinking who knows what. Duane and Doty occasionally tiptoed in to +glance inquiry at the fanning attendant, and then tiptoed out. Mullins +had been growing worse and was a very sick man. Downs, the wretch, was +painfully, ruefully, remorsefully sobered over at the post of the +guard, and of Graham's feminine patients the one most in need, +perhaps, of his ministration was giving the least trouble. While Aunt +Janet paced restlessly about the lower floor, stopping occasionally to +listen at the portal of her brother, Angela Wren lay silent and only +sometimes sighing, with faithful Kate Sanders reading in low tone by +the bedside.</p> + +<p>The captains had gone back to their quarters, conferring in subdued +voices. Plume, with his unhappy young adjutant, was seated on the +veranda, striving to frame his message to Wren, when the crack of a +whip, the crunching of hoofs and wheels, sounded at the north end of +the row, and down at swift trot came a spanking, four-mule team and +Concord wagon. It meant but one thing, the arrival of the general's +staff inspector straight from Prescott.</p> + +<p>It was the very thing Plume had urged by telegraph, yet the very fact +that Colonel Byrne was here went to prove that the chief was far from +satisfied that the major's diagnosis was the right one. With soldierly +alacrity, however, Plume sprang forward to welcome the coming +dignitary, giving his hand to assist him from the dark interior into +the light. Then he drew back in some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> chagrin. The voice of Colonel +Byrne was heard, jovial and reassuring, but the face and form first to +appear were those of Mr. Wayne Daly, the new Indian agent at the +Apache reservation. Coming by the winding way of Cherry Creek, the +colonel must have found means to wire ahead, then to pick up this +civil functionary some distance up the valley, and to have some +conference with him before ever reaching the major's bailiwick. This +was not good, said Plume. All the same, he led them into his cozy army +parlor, bade his Chinese servant get abundant supper forthwith, and, +while the two were shown to the spare room to remove the dust of miles +of travel, once more returned to the front piazza and his adjutant.</p> + +<p>"Captain Wren, sir," said the young officer at once, "begs to be +allowed to see Colonel Byrne this evening. He states that his reasons +are urgent."</p> + +<p>"Captain Wren shall have every opportunity to see Colonel Byrne in due +season," was the answer. "It is not to be expected that Colonel Byrne +will see him until after he has seen the post commander. Then it will +probably be too late," and that austere reply, intended to reach the +ears of the applicant, steeled the Scotchman's heart against his +commander and made him merciless.</p> + +<p>The "conference of the powers" was indeed protracted until long after +10.30, yet, to Plume's surprise, the colonel at its close said he +believed he would go, if Plume had no objection, and see Wren in +person and at once. "You see, Plume, the general thinks highly of the +old Scot. He has known him ever since First Bull Run and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> in fact, I +am instructed to hear what Wren may have to say. I hope you will not +misinterpret the motive."</p> + +<p>"Oh, not at all—not at all!" answered the major, obviously ill +pleased, however, and already nettled that, against all precedent, +certain of the Apache prisoners had been ordered turned out as late as +10 <span class="smcap">p. m.</span> for interview with the agent. It would leave him alone, too, +for as much as half an hour, and the very air seemed surcharged with +intrigue against the might, majesty, power, and dominion of the post +commander. Byrne, a soldier of the old school, might do his best to +convince the major that in no wise was the confidence of the general +commanding abated, but every symptom spoke of something to the +contrary. "I should like, too, to see Dr. Graham to-night," said the +official inquisitor ere he quitted the piazza to go to Wren's next +door. "He will be here to meet you on your return," said Plume, with +just a bit of stateliness, of ruffled dignity in manner, and turned +once more within the hallway to summon his smiling Chinaman.</p> + +<p>Something rustling at the head of the stairs caused him to look up +quickly. Something dim and white was hovering, drooping, over the +balustrade, and, springing aloft, he found his wife in a half-fainting +condition, Elise, the invalid, sputtering vehemently in French and +making vigorous effort to pull her away. Plume had left her at 8.30, +apparently sleeping at last under the influence of Graham's medicine. +Yet here she was again. He lifted her in his arms and laid her upon +the broad, white bed. "Clarice, my child," he said, "you <i>must</i> be +quiet. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> must not leave your bed. I am sending for Graham and he +will come to us at once."</p> + +<p>"I <i>will</i> not see him! He <i>shall</i> not see me!" she burst in wildly. +"The man maddens me with his—his insolence."</p> + +<p>"Clarice!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I mean it! He and his brother Scot, between them—they would +infuriate a—saint," and she was writhing in nervous contortions.</p> + +<p>"But, Clarice, how?"</p> + +<p>"But, monsieur, no!" interposed Elise, bending over, glass in hand. +"Madame will but sip of this—Madame will be tranquil." And the major +felt himself thrust aside. "Madame must not talk to-night. It is too +much."</p> + +<p>But madame would talk. Madame would know where Colonel Byrne was gone, +whether he was to be permitted to see Captain Wren and Dr. Graham, and +that wretch Downs. Surely the commanding officer must have <i>some</i> +rights. Surely it was no time for investigation—<i>this</i> hour of the +night. Five minutes earlier Plume was of the same way of thinking. Now +he believed his wife delirious.</p> + +<p>"See to her a moment, Elise," said he, breaking loose from the clasp +of the long, bejeweled fingers, and, scurrying down the stairs, he +came face to face with Dr. Graham.</p> + +<p>"I was coming for you," said he, at sight of the rugged, somber face. +"Mrs. Plume—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I heard—at least I comprehend," answered Graham, with uplifted hand. +"The lady is in a highly nervous state, and my presence does not tend +to soothe her. The remedies I left will take effect in time. Leave her +to that waiting woman; she best understands her."</p> + +<p>"But she's almost raving, man. I never knew a woman to behave like +that."</p> + +<p>"Ye're not long married, major," answered Graham. "Come into the air a +bit," and, taking his commander's arm, the surgeon swept him up the +starlit row, then over toward the guard-house, and kept him half an +hour watching the strange interview between Mr. Daly, the agent, and +half a dozen gaunt, glittering-eyed Apaches, from whom he was striving +to get some admission or information, with Arahawa, "Washington +Charley," as interpreter. One after another the six had shaken their +frowsy heads. They admitted nothing—knew nothing.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of it all?" queried Plume.</p> + +<p>"Something's wrang at the reservation," answered Graham. "There mostly +is. Daly thinks there's running to and fro between the Tontos in the +Sierra Ancha country and his wards above here. He thinks there's more +out than there should be—and more a-going. What'd you find, Daly?" he +added, as the agent joined them, mechanically wiping his brow. +Moisture there was none. It evaporated fast as the pores exuded.</p> + +<p>"They know well enough, damn them!" said the new official. "But they +think I can be stood off. I'll nail 'em yet—to-morrow," he added. +"But could you send<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> a scout at once to the Tonto basin?" and Daly +turned eagerly to the post commander.</p> + +<p>Plume reflected. Whom could he send? Men there were in plenty, +dry-rotting at the post for lack of something to limber their joints; +but officers to lead? There was the rub! Thirty troopers, twenty +Apache Mohave guides, a pack train and one or, at most, two officers +made up the usual complement of such expeditions. Men, mounts, scouts, +mules and packers, all, were there at his behest; but, with Wren in +arrest, Sanders and Lynn back but a week from a long prod through the +Black Mesa country far as Fort Apache, Blakely invalided and Duane a +boy second lieutenant, his choice of cavalry officers was limited. It +never occurred to him to look beyond.</p> + +<p>"What's the immediate need of a scout?" said he.</p> + +<p>"To break up the traffic that's going on—and the rancherias they must +have somewhere down there. If we don't, I'll not answer for another +month." Daly might be new to the neighborhood, but not to the +business.</p> + +<p>"I'll confer with Colonel Byrne," answered Plume guardedly. And Byrne +was waiting for them, a tall, dark shadow in the black depths of the +piazza. Graham would have edged away and gone to his own den, but +Plume held to him. There was something he needed to say, yet could not +until the agent had retired. Daly saw,—perhaps he had already imbibed +something of the situation,—and was not slow to seek his room. Plume +took the little kerosene lamp; hospitably led the way; made the +cus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>tomary tender of a "night-cap," and polite regrets he had no ice +to offer therewith; left his unwonted guest with courteous good-night +and cast an eye aloft as he came through the hall. All there was dark +and still, though he doubted much that Graham's sedatives had yet +prevailed. He had left the two men opposite the doorway. He found them +at the south end of the piazza, their heads together. They +straightened up to perfunctory talk about the Medical Director, his +drastic methods and inflammable ways; but the mirth was forced, the +humor far too dry. Then silence fell. Then Plume invaded it:</p> + +<p>"How'd you find Wren—mentally?" he presently asked. He felt that an +opening of some kind was necessary.</p> + +<p>"Sound," was the colonel's answer, slow and sententious. "Of course he +is much—concerned."</p> + +<p>"About—his case? Ah, will you smoke, colonel?"</p> + +<p>"About Blakely. I believe not, Plume; it's late."</p> + +<p>Plume struck a light on the sole of his natty boot. "One would suppose +he would feel very natural anxiety as to the predicament in which he +has placed himself," he ventured.</p> + +<p>"Wren worries much over Blakely's injuries, which accident made far +more serious than he would have inflicted, major, even had he had the +grounds for violence that he thought he had. Blakely was not the only +sufferer, and is not the only cause, of his deep contrition. Wren +tells me that he was even harsher to Angela. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> that is all a family +matter." The colonel was speaking slowly, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"But—these later affairs—that Wren couldn't explain—or wouldn't." +Plume's voice and color both were rising.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't is the just word, major, and couldn't especially—to you," +was the significant reply.</p> + +<p>Plume rose from his chair and stood a moment, trembling not a little +and his fingers twitching. "You mean—" he huskily began.</p> + +<p>"I mean this, my friend," said Byrne gently, as he, too, arose, "and I +have asked Graham, another friend, to be here—that Wren would not +defend himself to you by even mentioning—others, and might not have +revealed the truth even to me had he been the only one cognizant of +it. But, Plume, <i>others</i> saw what he saw, and what is now known to +many people on the post. Others than Wren were abroad that night. One +other was being carefully, tenderly brought home—<i>led</i> home—to your +roof. You did not know—Mrs. Plume was a somnambulist?"</p> + +<p>In the dead silence that ensued the colonel put forth a pitying hand +as though to stay and support the younger soldier, the post commander. +Plume stood, swaying a bit, and staring. Presently he strove to speak, +but choked in the effort.</p> + +<p>"It's the only proper explanation," said Graham, and between them they +led the major within doors.</p> + +<p>And this is how it happened that he, instead of Wren,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> was pacing +miserably up and down in the gathering dawn, when the sentry startled +all waking Sandy with his cry for the corporal. This is how, far ahead +of the corporal, the post commander reached the alarmed soldier, with +demand to know the cause; and, even by the time he came, the cause had +vanished from sight.</p> + +<p>"Apaches, sir, by the dozen,—all along the edge of the <i>mesa</i>," +stammered No. 5. He could have convinced the corporal without fear or +thought of ridicule, but his voice lacked confidence when he stood +challenged by his commanding officer. Plume heard with instant +suspicion. He was in no shape for judicial action.</p> + +<p>"Apaches!" This in high disdain. "Trash, man! Because one sentry has a +scuffle with some night prowler is the next to lose his nerve? You're +scared by shadows, Hunt. That's what's the matter with you!"</p> + +<p>It "brought to" a veteran trooper with a round turn. Hunt had served +his fourth enlistment, had "worn out four blankets" in the regiment, +and was not to be accused of scare.</p> + +<p>"Let the major see for himself, then," he answered sturdily. "Come in +here, you!" he called aloud. "Come, the whole gang of ye. The +concert's beginning!" Then, slowly along the eastward edge there began +to creep into view black polls bound with dirty white, black crops +untrammeled by any binding. Then, swift from the west, came running +footfalls, the corporal with a willing comrade or two, wondering was +Five in further danger. There, silent and regretful, stood the post +com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>mander, counting in surprise the score of scarecrow forms now +plainly visible, sitting, standing, or squatting along the <i>mesa</i> +edge. Northernmost in view, nearly opposite Blakely's quarters, were +two, detached from the general assembly, yet clinging close +together—two slender figures, gowned, and it was at these the agent +Daly was staring, as he, too, came running to the spot.</p> + +<p>"Major Plume," cried he, panting, "I want those girls arrested, at +once!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>"APACHE KNIVES DIG DEEP!"</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_13.jpg" alt="A" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>t five o'clock of this cloudless October morning Colonel Montgomery +Byrne, "of the old Army, sir," was reviling the fates that had set him +the task of unraveling such a skein as he found at Sandy. At six he +was blessing the stars that sent him. Awakened, much before his usual +hour, by half-heard murmur of scurry and excitement, so quickly +suppressed he believed it all a dream, he was thinking, half drowsily, +all painfully, of the duty devolving on him for the day, and wishing +himself well out of it, when the dream became real, the impression +vivid. His watch told him reveille should now be sounding. His ears +told him the sounds he heard were not those of reveille, yet something +had roused the occupants of Officers' Row, and then, all on a sudden, +instead of the sweet strains of "The Dawn of the Day" or "Bonnie Lass +o' Gawrie" there burst upon the morning air, harsh and blustering, the +alarum of the Civil War days, the hoarse uproar of the drum thundering +the long roll, while above all rang the loud clamor of the cavalry +trumpet sounding "To Horse."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fitz James was brave, but to his heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The life blood leaped with sudden start."<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Byrne sprang from his bed. He was a soldier, battle-tried, but this +meant something utterly new to him in war, for, mingling with the +gathering din, he heard the shriek of terror-stricken women. Daly's +bed was empty. The agent was gone. Elise aloft was jabbering <i>patois</i> +at her dazed and startled mistress. Suey, the Chinaman, came +clattering in, all flapping legs and arms and pigtail, his face livid, +his eyes staring. "Patcheese! Patcheese!" he squealed, and dove under +the nearest bed. Then Byrne, shinning into boots and breeches and +shunning his coat, grabbed his revolver and rushed for the door.</p> + +<p>Across the parade, out of their barracks the "doughboys" came +streaming, no man of them dressed for inspection, but rather, like +sailors, stripped for a fight; and, never waiting to form ranks, but +following the lead of veteran sergeants and the signals or orders of +officers somewhere along the line, went sprinting straight for the +eastward <i>mesa</i>. From the cavalry barracks, the northward sets, the +troopers, too, were flowing, but these were turned stableward, back of +the post, and Byrne, with his nightshirt flying wide open, wider than +his eyes, bolted round through the space between the quarters of Plume +and Wren, catching sight of the arrested captain standing grim and +gaunt on his back piazza, and ran with the foremost sergeants to the +edge of the plateau, where, in his cool white garb, stood Plume, +shouting orders to those beneath.</p> + +<p>There, down in the Sandy bottom, was explanation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> it all. Two +soldiers were bending over a prostrate form in civilian dress. Two +swarthy Apaches, one on his face, the other, ten rods away, writhing +on his side, lay weltering in blood. Out along the sandy barren and +among the clumps of mezquite and greasewood, perhaps as many as ten +soldiers, members of the guard, were scattering in rude skirmish +order; now halting and dropping on one knee to fire, now rushing +forward; while into the willows, that swept in wide concave around the +flat, a number of forms in dirty white, or nothing at all but +streaming breechclout, were just disappearing.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="pic_02" id="pic_02"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_02.jpg" width="600" height="423" alt=""Now halting, dropping on one knee to fire"" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">"Now halting, dropping on one knee to fire"</span> +</div> + +<p>Northward, too, beyond the post of No. 4, other little squads and +parties could be faintly seen scurrying away for the shelter of the +willows, and as Byrne reached the major's side, with the +to-be-expected query "Whatinhell'sthematter?" the last of the fleeing +Apaches popped out of sight, and Plume turned toward him in mingled +wrath and disgust:</p> + +<p>"That—ass of an agent!" was all he could say, as he pointed to the +prostrate figure in pepper and salt.</p> + +<p>Byrne half slid, half stumbled down the bank and bent over the wounded +man. Dead he was not, for, with both hands clasped to his breast, Daly +was cradling from side to side and saying things of Apaches totally +unbecoming an Indian agent and a man of God. "But who did it? and +how?—and why?" demanded Byrne of the ministering soldiers.</p> + + + +<p>"Tried to 'rest two Patchie girls, sir," answered the first, +straightening up and saluting, "and her feller <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>wouldn't stand it, I +reckon. Knifed the agent and Craney, too. Yonder's the feller."</p> + +<p>Yonder lay, face downward, as described, a sinewy young brave of the +Apache Mohave band, his newer, cleaner shirt and his gayly ornamented +sash and headgear telling of superior rank and station among his kind. +With barely a glance at Craney, squatted beside a bush, and with teeth +and hands knotting a kerchief about a bleeding arm, Byrne bent over +the Apache and turned the face to the light.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" he cried, at the instant, "it's Quonathay—Raven Shield! +Why, <i>you</i> know him, corporal!"—this to Casey, of Wren's troop, +running to his side. "Son of old Chief Quonahelka! I wouldn't have had +this happen for all the girls on the reservation. Who were they? Why +did he try to arrest them? Here! I'll have to ask him—stabbed or +not!" And, anxious and angering, the colonel hastened over toward the +agent, now being slowly aided to his feet. Plume, too, had come +sidelong down the sandy bank with Cutler, of the infantry, asking +where he should put in his men. "Oh, just deploy across the flats to +stand off any possible attack," said Plume. "Don't cross the Sandy, +and, damn it all! get a bugler out and sound recall!" For now the +sound of distant shots came echoing back from the eastward cliffs. The +pursuit had spread beyond the stream. "I don't want any more of those +poor devils hurt. There's mischief enough already," he concluded.</p> + +<p>"I should say so," echoed the colonel. "What was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> the matter, Mr. +Daly? Whom did you seek to arrest?—and why?"</p> + +<p>"Almost any of 'em," groaned Daly. "There were a dozen there I'd +refused passes to come again this week. They were here in defiance of +my orders, and I thought to take that girl Natzie,—she that led Lola +off,—back to her father at the agency. It would have been a good +lesson. Of course she fought and scratched. Next thing I knew a dozen +of 'em were atop of us—some water, for God's sake!—and lift me out +of this!"</p> + +<p>Then with grave and watch-worn face, Graham came hurrying to the spot, +all the way over from Mullins's bedside at the hospital and breathing +hard. Dour indeed was the look he gave the groaning agent, now gulping +at a gourd held to his pale lips by one of the men. The policy of +Daly's predecessor had been to feather his own nest and let the Indian +shift for himself, and this had led to his final overthrow. Daly, +however, had come direct from the care of a tribe of the Pueblo +persuasion, peace-loving and tillers of the soil, meek as the Pimas +and Maricopas, natives who fawned when he frowned and cringed at the +crack of his whip. These he had successfully, and not dishonestly, +ruled, but that very experience had unfitted him for duty over the +mountain Apache, who cringed no more than did the lordly Sioux or +Cheyenne, and truckled to no man less than a tribal chief. Blakely, +the soldier, cool, fearless, and resolute, but scrupulously just, they +believed in and feared; but this new blusterer only made them laugh, +until he scandalized them by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> wholesale arrest and punishment. Then +their childlike merriment changed swiftly to furious and scowling +hate,—to open defiance, and finally, when he dared lay hands on a +chosen daughter of the race, to mutiny and the knife. Graham, serving +his third year in the valley, had seen the crisis coming and sought to +warn the man. But what should an army doctor know of an Apache Indian? +said Daly, and, fatuous in his own conceit, the crisis found him +unprepared.</p> + +<p>"Go you for a stretcher," said the surgeon, after a quick look into +the livid face. "Lay him down gently there," and kneeling, busied +himself with opening a way to the wound. Out over the flats swung the +long skirmish line, picturesque in the variety of its undress, Cutler +striding vociferous in its wake, while a bugler ran himself out of +breath, far to the eastward front, to puff feeble and abortive breath +into unresponsive copper. And still the same flutter of distant, +scattering shots came drifting back from the brakes and cañons in the +rocky wilds beyond the stream. The guard still pursued and the Indians +still led, but they who knew anything well knew it could not be long +before the latter turned on the scattering chase, and Byrne strode +about, fuming with anxiety. "Thank God!" he cried, as a prodigious +clatter of hoofs, on hollow and resounding wood, told of cavalry +coming across the <i>acequia</i>, and Sanders galloped round the sandy +point in search of the foe—or orders. "Thank God! Here, +Sanders—pardon me, major, there isn't an instant to lose—Rush your +men right on to the front there!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> Spread well out, but don't fire a +shot unless attacked in force! Get those—chasing idiots and bring +them in! By God, sir, we'll have an Indian war on our hands as it is!" +And Sanders nodded and dug spurs to his troop horse, and sang out: +"Left front into line—gallop!" and the rest was lost in a cloud of +dust and the blare of cavalry trumpet.</p> + +<p>Then the colonel turned to Plume, standing now silent and sore +troubled. "It was the quickest way," he said apologetically. +"Ordinarily I should have given the order through you, of course. But +those beggars are armed to a man. They left their guns in the crevices +of yonder rocks, probably, when they came for the morning music. We +must have no fight over this unless they force it. I wish to heaven we +hadn't killed—these two," and ruefully he looked at the stark +forms—the dead lover of Natzie, the gasping tribesman just beyond, +dying, knife in hand. "The general has been trying to curb Daly for +the last ten days," continued he, "and warned him he'd bring on +trouble. The interpreter split with him on Monday last, and there's +been mischief brewing ever since. If only we could have kept Blakely +there—all this row would have been averted!"</p> + +<p>If only, indeed! was Plume thinking, as eagerly, anxiously he scanned +the eastward shore, rising jagged, rocky, and forbidding from the +willows of the stream bed. If only, indeed! Not only all this row of +which Byrne had seen so much, but all this other row, this row within +a row, this intricacy of mishaps and misery that involved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> the social +universe of Camp Sandy, of which as yet the colonel, presumably, knew +so very little; of which, as post commander, Plume had yet to tell +him! An orderly came running with a field glass and a scrap of paper. +Plume glanced at the latter, a pencil scrawl of his wife's inseparable +companion, and, for aught he knew, confidante. "Madame," he could make +out, and "<i>affreusement</i>" something, but it was enough. The orderly +supplemented: "Leece, sir, says the lady is very bad—"</p> + +<p>"Go to her, Plume," with startling promptitude cried the colonel. +"I'll look to everything here. It's all coming out right," for with a +tantara—tantara-ra-ra Sanders's troop, spreading far and wide, were +scrambling up the shaly slopes a thousand yards away. "Go to your wife +and tell her the danger's over," and, with hardly another glance at +the moaning agent, now being limply hoisted on a hospital stretcher, +thankfully the major went. "The lady's very bad, is she?" growled +Byrne, in fierce aside to Graham. "That French hag sometimes speaks +truth, in spite of herself. How d'you find him?" This with a toss of +the head toward the vanishing stretcher.</p> + +<p>"Bad likewise. These Apache knives dig deep. There's Mullins now—"</p> + +<p>"Think <i>that</i> was Apache?" glared Byrne, with sudden light in his +eyes, for Wren had told his troubles—all.</p> + +<p>"Apache <i>knife</i>—yes."</p> + +<p>"What the devil do you mean, Graham?" and the veteran soldier, who +knew and liked the surgeon, whirled again on him with eyes that looked +not like at all.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>The doctor turned, his somber gaze following the now distant figure of +the post commander, struggling painfully up the yielding sand of the +steep slope to the plateau. The stretcher bearers and attendants were +striding away to hospital with the now unconscious burden. The few +men, lingering close at hand, were grouped about the dead Apaches. The +gathering watchers along the bank were beyond earshot. Staff officer +and surgeon were practically alone and the latter answered:</p> + +<p>"I mean, sir, that if that Apache knife had been driven in by an +Apache warrior, Mullins would have been dead long hours ago—which he +isn't."</p> + +<p>Byrne turned a shade grayer.</p> + +<p>"Could <i>she</i> have done that?" he asked, with one sideward jerk of his +head toward the major's quarters.</p> + +<p>"I'm not saying," quoth the Scot. "I'm asking was there anyone else?"</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A CARPET KNIGHT, INDEED</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he flag at Camp Sandy drooped from the peak. Except by order it never +hung halfway. The flag at the agency fluttered no higher than the +cross-trees, telling that Death had loved some shining mark and had +not sued in vain. Under this symbol of mourning, far up the valley, +the interpreter was telling to a circle of dark, sullen, and +unresponsive faces a fact that every Apache knew before. Under the +full-masted flag at the post, a civilian servant of the nation lay +garbed for burial. Poor Daly had passed away with hardly a chance to +tell his tale, with only a loving, weeping woman or two to mourn him. +Over the camp the shadow of death tempered the dazzling sunshine, for +all Sandy felt the strain and spoke only with sorrow. He meant well, +did Daly, that was accorded him now. He only lacked "savvy" said they +who had dwelt long in the land of Apache.</p> + +<p>Over at the hospital two poor women wept, and twice their number +strove to soothe. Janet Wren and Mrs. Graham were there, as ever, when +sorrow and trouble came. Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Cutler, too, were +hovering about the mourners, doing what they could, and the hospital +matron, busy day and night of late, had never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> left her patient until +he needed her no more, and then had turned to minister to those he +left behind—the widow and the fatherless. Over on the shaded verandas +other women met and murmured in the soft, sympathetic drawl +appropriate to funereal occasion, and men nodded silently to each +other. Death was something these latter saw so frequently it brought +but little of terror. Other things were happening of far greater +moment that they could not fathom at all.</p> + +<p>Captain Wren, after four days of close arrest, had been released by +the order of Major Plume himself, who, pending action on his +application for leave of absence, had gone on sick report and secluded +himself within his quarters. It was rumored that Mrs. Plume was +seriously ill, so ill, indeed, she had to be denied to every one of +the sympathizing women who called, even to Janet, sister of their +soldier next-door neighbor, but recently a military prisoner, yet now, +by law and custom, commander of the post.</p> + +<p>Several things had conspired to bring about this condition of affairs. +Byrne, to begin with, had been closely questioning Shannon, and had +reached certain conclusions with regard to the stabbing of Mullins +that were laid before Plume, already stunned by the knowledge that, +sleeping as his friendly advisers declared, or waking, as his inner +consciousness would have it, Clarice, his young and still beautiful +wife, had left her pillow and gone by night toward the northern limit +of the line of quarters. If Wren were tried, or even accused, that +fact would be the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> first urged in his defense. Plume's stern +accusation of Elise had evoked from her nothing but a voluble storm of +protest. Madame was ill, sleepless, nervous—had gone forth to walk +away her nervousness. She, Elise, had gone in search and brought her +home. Downs, the wretch, when as stoutly questioned, declared he had +been blind drunk; saw nobody, knew nothing, and must have taken the +lieutenant's whisky. Plume shrank from asking Norah questions. He +could not bring himself to talking of his wife to the girl of the +laundresses' quarters, but he knew now that he must drop that much of +the case against Wren.</p> + +<p>Then came the final blow. Byrne had gone to the agency, making every +effort through runners, with promises of immunity, to coax back the +renegades to the reservation, and so avert another Apache war. Plume, +in sore perplexity, was praying for the complete restoration of +Mullins—the only thing that could avert investigation—when, as he +entered his office the morning of this eventful day, Doty's young face +was eloquent with news.</p> + +<p>One of the first things done by Lieutenant Blakely when permitted by +Dr. Graham to sit and speak, was to dictate a letter to the post +adjutant, the original of which, together with the archives of Camp +Sandy, was long since buried among the hidden treasures of the War +Department. The following is a copy of the paper placed by Mr. Doty in +the major's hands even before he could reach his desk:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">Camp Sandy</span>, A. T.,</p> + +<p class="sig">October —, 187—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant J. J. Doty</span>,</p> + +<p class="sig1">8th U. S. Infantry,</p> + +<p class="sig2">Post Adjutant.</p> + + +<p><i>Sir</i>: I have the honor to submit for the consideration of +the post commander, the following:</p> + +<p>Shortly after retreat on the —th inst. I was suddenly +accosted in my quarters by Captain Robert Wren, ——th +Cavalry, and accused of an act of treachery to him;—an +accusation which called forth instant and indignant denial. +He had, as I now have cause to know, most excellent reason +for believing his charge to be true, and the single blow he +dealt me was the result of intense and natural wrath. That +the consequences were so serious he could not have foreseen.</p> + +<p>As the man most injured in the affair, I earnestly ask that +no charges be preferred. Were we in civil life I should +refuse to prosecute, and, if the case be brought before a +court-martial it will probably fail—for lack of evidence.</p> + + +<p class="sig4">Very Respectfully,</p> + +<p class="sig5">Your Obedient Servant,</p> + +<p class="sig6"><span class="smcap">Neil D. Blakely</span>,</p> + +<p class="sig3">1st Lieut., ——th Cavalry.</p> +</div> + +<p>Now, Doty had been known to hold his tongue when a harmful story might +be spread, but he could no more suppress his rejoicing over this than +he could the impulse to put it in slang. "Say, aint this just a +corker?" said this ingenuous youth, as he spread it on his desk for +Graham's grimly gleaming eyes. Plume had read it in dull, apathetic, +unseeing fashion. It was the morning after the Apache <i>emeute</i>. Plume +had stared hard at his adjutant a moment, then, whipping up the sun +hat that he had dropped on his desk, and merely saying, "I'll +return—shortly," had sped to his darkened quarters and not for an +hour had he reappeared. Then the first thing he asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> for was that +letter of Mr. Blakely's, which, this time, he read with lips +compressed and twitching a bit at the corners. Then he called for a +telegraph blank and sent a wire to intercept Byrne at the agency. "I +shall turn over command to Wren at noon. I'm too ill for further +duty," was all he said. Byrne read the rest between the lines.</p> + +<p>But Graham went straightway to the quarters of Captain Wren, a rough +pencil copy of that most unusual paper in his hand. "R-robert Wren," +said he, as he entered, unknocking and unannounced, "will ye listen to +this? Nay, Angela, lass, don't go." When strongly moved, as we have +seen, our doctor dropped to the borderland of dialect.</p> + +<p>In the dim light from the shaded windows he had not at first seen the +girl. She was seated on a footstool, her hands on her father's knee, +her fond face gazing up into his, and that strong, bony hand of his +resting on her head and toying with the ribbon, the "snood," as he +loved to call it, with which she bound her abundant tresses. At sound +of the doctor's voice, Janet, ever apprehensive of ill, had come forth +from the dining room, silver brush and towel in hand, and stood at the +doorway, gazing austerely. She could not yet forgive her brother's +friend his condemnation of her methods as concerned her brother's +child. Angela, rising to her full height, stood with one hand on the +back of her father's chair, the other began softly stroking the +grizzled crop from his furrowed forehead.</p> + +<p>No one spoke a word as Graham began and slowly, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> the uttermost +line, read his draft of Blakely's missive. No one spoke for a moment +after he had finished. Angela, with parted lips and dilated eyes, had +stood at first drinking in each syllable, then, with heaving bosom, +she slowly turned, her left hand falling by her side. Wren sat in +silence, his deep-set eyes glowering on the grim reader, a dazed look +on his rugged face. Then he reached up and drew the slim, tremulous +hand from his forehead and snuggled it against his stubbly cheek, and +still he could not speak. Janet slowly backed away into the darkness +of the dining room. The situation had softening tendencies and Janet's +nature revolted at sentiment. It was Graham's voice that again broke +the silence.</p> + +<p>"For a vain carpet knight, 'whose best boast was to wear a braid of +his fair lady's hair,' it strikes me our butterfly chaser has some +points of a gentleman," said he, slowly folding his paper. "I might +say more," he continued presently, retiring toward the hall. Then, +pausing at the doorway, "but I won't," he concluded, and abruptly +vanished.</p> + +<p>An hour later, when Janet in person went to answer a knock at the +door, she glanced in at the parlor as she passed, and that peep +revealed Angela again seated on her footstool, with her bonny head +pillowed on her father's knee, his hand again toying with the glossy +tresses, and both father and child looked up, expectant. Yes, there +stood the young adjutant, officially equipped with belt and sword and +spotless gloves. "Can I see the captain?" he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> asked, lifting his natty +<i>kepi</i>, and the captain arose and strode to the door.</p> + +<p>"Major Plume presents his compliments—and this letter, sir," +stammered the youth, blushing, too, at sight of Angela, beaming on him +from the parlor door. "And—you're in command, sir. The major has gone +on sick report."</p> + +<p>That evening a solemn <i>cortège</i> filed away down the winding road to +the northward flats and took the route to the little cemetery, almost +all the garrison following to the grave all that was mortal of the +hapless agent. Byrne, returned from the agency, was there to represent +the general commanding the department. Wren stalked solemnly beside +him as commander of the post. Even the women followed, tripping +daintily through the sand. Graham watched them from the porch of the +post hospital. He could not long leave Mullins, tossing in fever and +delirium. He had but recently left Lieutenant Blakely, sitting up and +placidly busying himself in patching butterfly wings, and Blakely had +even come to the front door to look at the distant gathering of +decorous mourners. But the bandaged head was withdrawn as two tall, +feminine forms came gravely up the row, one so prim and almost +antique, the other so lithe and lissome. He retreated to the front +room, and with the one available eye at the veiled window, followed +her, the latter, until the white flowing skirt was swept from the +field of his vision. He had stood but a few hours previous on the spot +where he had received that furious blow five nights before, and this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +time, with cordial grasp, had taken the huge hand that dealt it +between his white and slender palms. "Forgive us our trespasses as we +forgive those," Wren had murmured, as he read the deeply regretful +words of his late accuser and commander, for had not he in his turn, +and without delay, also to eat humble pie? There was something almost +pathetic in the attitude of the big soldier as he came to the darkened +room and stood before his junior and subordinate, but the latter had +stilled the broken, clumsy, faltering words with which this strong, +masterful man was striving to make amend for bitter wrong. "I won't +listen to more, Captain Wren," he said. "You had reasons I never +dreamed of—then. Our eyes have been opened" (one of his was still +closed). "You have said more than enough. Let us start afresh +now—with better understanding."</p> + +<p>"It—it is generous in you, Blakely. I misjudged +everything—everybody, and now,—well, you know there are still +Hotspurs in the service. I'm thinking some man may be ass enough to +say you got a blow without resenting—"</p> + +<p>Blakely smiled, a contorted and disunited smile, perhaps, and one much +trammeled by adhesive plaster. Yet there was placid unconcern in the +visible lines of his pale face. "I think I shall know how to answer," +said he. And so for the day, and without mention of the name uppermost +in the thoughts of each, the two had parted—for the first time as +friends.</p> + +<p>But the night was yet to come.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT" AGAIN</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_16.jpg" alt="S" width="35" height="50" /></div> +<p>o swift had been the succession of events since the first day of the +week, few of the social set at Sandy could quite realize, much less +fathom, all that had happened, and as they gathered on the verandas, +in the cool of the evening after Daly's funeral, the trend of talk was +all one way. A man who might have thrown light on certain matters at +issue had been spirited away, and there were women quite ready to vow +it was done simply to get him beyond range of their questioning. +Sergeant Shannon had been sent to the agency on some mission +prescribed by Colonel Byrne. It was almost the last order issued by +Major Plume before turning over the command.</p> + +<p>Byrne himself still lingered at the post, "watching the situation," as +it was understood, and in constant telegraphic correspondence with the +general at Prescott and the commander of the little guard over the +agency buildings at the reservation—Lieutenant Bridger, of the +Infantry. With a sergeant and twenty men that young officer had been +dispatched to that point immediately after the alarming and +unlooked-for catastrophe of the reveille outbreak. Catastrophe was +what Byrne called it, and he meant what he said, not so much because +it had cost the life of Daly, the agent, whose mistaken zeal had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +precipitated the whole misunderstanding, but rather because of the +death of two such prominent young warriors as "Shield" and his friend, +who had fallen after dealing the fatal blow to him who had laid +violent hands, so they regarded it, on two young girls, one a +chieftain's daughter and both objects of reverent and savagely +sentimental interest. "If war doesn't come at once," said Byrne, "it +will be because the Apache has a new sense or a deep-laid scheme. Look +out for him."</p> + +<p>No news as yet had come from the runners sent forth in search of the +scattered fugitives, who would soon be flocking together again in the +fastnesses of the Mogollon to the east or the Red Rock country +northward—the latter probably, as being nearer their friends at the +reservation and farther from the few renegade Tontos lurking in the +mountains toward Fort Apache. Byrne's promise to the wanderers, sent +by these runners, was to the effect that they would be safe from any +prosecution if they would return at once to the agency and report +themselves to the interpreter and the lieutenant commanding the guard. +He would not, he said, be answerable for what might happen if they +persisted in remaining at large. But when it was found that, so far +from any coming in, there were many going out, and that Natzie's +father and brother had already gone, Byrne's stout heart sank. The +message came by wire from the agency not long after the return of the +funeral party, and while the evening was yet young. He sent at once +for Wren, and, seated on the major's front piazza, with an orderly +hovering just out of earshot, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> with many an eye anxiously watching +them along the row, the two veterans were holding earnest conference. +Major Plume was at the bedside of his wife, so said Graham when he +came down about eight. Mrs. Plume, he continued, was at least no +worse, but very nervous. Then he took himself back to the hospital.</p> + +<p>Another topic of talk along the line was Blakely's watch and its +strange recovery, and many were the efforts to learn what Blakely +himself had to say about it. The officers, nearly all of them, of +course, had been at intervals to see Blakely and inquire if there were +not something that they could do, this being the conventional and +proper thing, and they who talked with him, with hardly an exception, +led up to the matter of the watch and wished to know how he accounted +for its being there on the post of No. 5. It was observed that, upon +this topic and the stabbing of Private Mullins, Mr. Blakely was oddly +reticent. He had nothing whatever to suggest as explanation of either +matter. The watch was taken from the inner pocket of his thin white +coat as he lay asleep at the pool, of this he felt confident, but by +whom he would not pretend to say. Everybody knew by this time that +Angela Wren had seen him sleeping, and had, in a spirit of playful +mischief, fetched away his butterfly net, but who would accuse Angela +of taking his watch and money? Of course such things had been, said +one or two wise heads, but—not with girls like Angela.</p> + +<p>But who could say what, all this while, Angela herself was thinking? +Once upon a time it had been the way of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> our young folk well over the +North and West to claim forfeit in the game of "Catching the weasel +asleep." There had been communities, indeed, and before co-education +became a fad at certain of our great universities, wherein the maid +caught napping could hold it no sin against watchful swain, or even +against her, that he then and there imprinted on her lips a kiss. On +the other hand, the swain found sleeping might not always expect a +kiss, but must pay the penalty, a pair of dainty gloves. Many a +forfeit, both lip and glove, had there been claimed and allowed in +army days whereof we write, and Angela, stealing upon Blakely as he +dozed beneath the willows, and liking him well and deploring her +father's pronounced aversion to him—perhaps even resenting it an +undutiful bit—had found it impossible to resist the temptation to +softly disengage that butterfly net from the loosely clasping fingers, +and swiftly, stealthily, delightedly to scamper away with it against +his waking. It was of this very exploit, never dreaming of the fateful +consequences, she and Kate Sanders were so blissfully bubbling over, +fairly shaking with maiden merriment when the despoiled victim, +homeward bound, caught sight of them upon the <i>mesa</i>. Ten minutes +more, and in full force she had been made to feel the blow of her +father's fierce displeasure. Twenty minutes more, and, under the blow +of her father's furious wrath, Blakely had been felled like a log.</p> + +<p>When with elongated face and exaggerated gloom of manner Aunt Janet +came to make her realize the awful consequences of her crime, Angela's +first impulse had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> to cry out against her father's unreasoning +rage. When she learned that he was in close arrest,—to be tried, +doubtless, for his mad assault,—in utter revulsion of feeling, in +love and tenderness, in grief and contrition inexpressible, she had +thrown herself at his feet and, clasping his knees, had sobbed her +heart out in imploring his forgiveness for what she called her wicked, +heedless, heartless conduct. No one saw that blessed meeting, that +scene of mutual forgiveness, of sweet reconciliation; too sweet and +serene, indeed, for Janet's stern and Calvinistic mold.</p> + +<p>Are we ever quite content, I wonder, that others' bairnies should be +so speedily, so entirely, forgiven? All because of this had all +Janet's manifestations of sympathy for Robert to be tempered with a +fine reserve. As for Angela, it would never do to let the child so +soon forget that this should be an awful lesson. Aunt Janet's manner, +therefore, when, butterfly net in hand, she required of her niece full +explanation of the presence in the room of this ravished trophy, was +something fraught with far too much of future punishment, of wrath +eternal. Even in her chastened mood Angela's spirit stood <i>en garde</i>. +"I have told father everything, auntie," she declared. "I leave it all +to him," and bore in silence the comments, without the utterance of +which the elder vestal felt she could not conscientiously quit the +field. "Bold," "immodest," "unmaidenly," "wanton," were a choice few +of Aunt Janet's expletives, and these were unresented. But when she +concluded with "I shall send this—thing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> him at once, with my +personal apologies for the act of an irresponsible child," up sprang +Angela with rebellion flashing from her eyes. She had suffered +punishment as a woman. She would not now be treated as a child. To +Janet's undisguised amaze and disapprobation, Wren decided that Angela +herself should send both apology and net. It was the first missive of +the kind she had ever written, but, even so, she would not submit it +for either advice or criticism—even though its composition cost her +many hours and tears and sheets of paper. No one but the recipient had +so much as a peep at it, but when Blakely read it a grave smile +lighted his pallid and still bandaged face. He stowed the little note +in his desk, and presently took it out and read it again, and still +again, and then it went slowly into the inner pocket of his white sack +coat and was held there, while he, the wearer, slowly paced up and +down the veranda late in the starlit night. This was the evening of +Daly's funeral, the evening of the day on which he and his captain had +shaken hands and were to start afresh with better understanding.</p> + +<p>Young Duane was officer of the day and, after the tattoo inspection of +his little guard, had gone for a few minutes to the hospital where +Mullins lay muttering and tossing in his feverish sleep; then, meeting +Wren and Graham on the way, had tramped over to call on Blakely, +thinking, perhaps, to chat a while and learn something. Soon after +"taps" was sounded, however, the youngster joined the little group +gossiping in guarded tones on the porch at Captain Sanders', far down +the row, and, in re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>sponse to question, said that "Bugs"—that being +Blakely's briefest <i>nom de guerre</i>—must be convalescing rapidly, he +"had no use for his friends," and, as the lad seemed somewhat ruffled +and resentful, what more natural than that he should be called upon +for explanation? Sanders and his wife were present, and Mrs. Bridger, +very much alive with inquiry and not a little malicious interest. +Kate, too, was of the party, and Doty, the adjutant, and Mesdames +Cutler and Westervelt—it was so gloomy and silent, said these latter, +at their end of the row. Much of the talk had been about Mrs. Plume's +illness and her "sleep-walking act," as it had been referred to, and +many had thought, but few had spoken, of her possible presence on the +post of No. 5 about the time that No. 5 was stabbed. They knew <i>she</i> +couldn't have done it, of course, but then how strange that she should +have been there at all! The story had gained balloon-like expanse by +this time, and speculation was more than rife. But here was Duane with +a new grievance which, when put into Duane's English, reduced itself +to this: "Why, it was like as if Bugs wanted to get rid of me and +expected somebody else," and this they well remembered later. Nobody +else was observed going to Blakely's front door, at least, but at +eleven o'clock he himself could still be dimly heard and seen pacing +steadily up and down his piazza, apparently alone and deep in thought. +His lights, too, were turned down, a new man from the troop having +asked for and assumed the duties formerly devolving on the wretch +Downs, now doing time within the garrison prison. Be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>fore eleven, +however, this new martial domestic had gone upstairs to bed and +Blakely was all alone, which was as he wished it, for he had things to +plan and other things to think of that lifted him above the +possibility of loneliness.</p> + +<p>Down the line of officers' quarters only in two or three houses could +lights be seen. Darkness reigned at Plume's, where Byrne was still +rooming. Darkness reigned at Wren's and Graham's, despite the fact +that the lords of these manors were still abroad, both at the bedside +of Trooper Mullins. A dozen people were gathered by this time at +Sanders'. All the other verandas, except Blakely's with its solitary +watcher, seemed deserted. To these idlers of the soft and starlit +night, sitting bareheaded about the gallery and chatting in the +friendly way of the frontier, there came presently a young soldier +from the direction of the adjutant's office at the south end. "The +night operator," he explained. "Two dispatches have just come for +Colonel Byrne, and I thought maybe—"</p> + +<p>"No, Cassidy," said Doty. "The colonel is at his quarters. Dispatch, +is it? Perhaps I'd better go with you," and, rising, the young officer +led the way, entering on tiptoe the hall of the middle house where, +far back on a table, a lamp was burning low. Tapping at an inner door, +he was bidden to enter. Byrne was in bed, a single sheet over his +burly form, but he lay wide awake. He took the first dispatch and tore +it open eagerly. It was from Bridger at the agency:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Runners just in say Natzie and Lola had turned back from +trail to Montezuma Well, refusing to go further from their +dead. Can probably be found if party go at dawn or sooner. +Alchisay with them. More Indians surely going out from here.</p></div> + +<p>Byrne's brow contracted and his lips compressed, but he gave no other +sign. "Is Captain Wren still up?" he briefly asked, as he reached for +the other dispatch.</p> + +<p>"Over at the hospital, sir," said Doty, and watched this famous +campaigner's face as he ripped open the second brown envelope. This +time he was half out of bed before he could have half finished even +that brief message. It was from the general:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>News of trouble must have reached Indians at San Carlos. +Much excitement there and at Apache. Shall start for Camp +McDowell to-morrow as soon as I have seen Plume. He should +come early.</p></div> + +<p>The colonel was in his slippers and inexpressibles in less than no +time, but Plume aloft had heard the muffled sounds from the lower +floor, and was down in a moment. Without a word Byrne handed him the +second message and waited until he had read, then asked: "Can you +start at dawn?"</p> + +<p>"I can start now," was the instant reply. "Our best team can make it +in ten hours. Order out the Concord, Mr. Doty." And Doty vanished.</p> + +<p>"But Mrs. Plume—" began the colonel tentatively.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Plume simply needs quiet and to be let alone," was the joyless +answer. "I think perhaps—I am rather in the way."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I know the general will appreciate your promptness. I—did not +know you had asked to see him," and Byrne looked up from under his +shaggy brows.</p> + +<p>"I hadn't exactly, but my letter intimated as much. There is so very +much I—I cannot write about—that of course he's bound to hear,—I +don't mean you, Colonel Byrne,—and he ought to know the—facts. Now +I'll get ready at once and—see you before starting."</p> + +<p>"Better take an escort, Plume."</p> + +<p>"One man on driver's seat. That's all, sir. I'll come in presently, in +case you have anything to send," said Plume, and hurried again +upstairs.</p> + +<p>It was barely midnight when Plume's big black wagon, the Concord, all +spring and hickory, as said the post quartermaster, went whirling away +behind its strapping team of four huge Missouri mules. It was 12.30 by +the guard-house clock and the call of the sentries when Wren came home +to find Angela, her long, luxuriant hair tumbling down over her soft, +white wrapper, waiting for him at the front door. From her window she +had seen him coming; had noted the earlier departure of the wagon; had +heard the voice of Major Plume bidding good-by, and wondered what it +meant—this midnight start of the senior officer of the post. She had +been sitting there silent, studying the glittering stars, and +wondering would there be an answer to her note? Would he be able to +write just yet? Was there reason, really, why he <i>should</i> write, after +all that had passed? Somehow she felt that write he certainly would, +and soon, and the thought kept her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> from sleeping. It was because she +was anxious about Mullins, so she told herself and told her father, +that she had gone fluttering down to meet him at the door. But no +sooner had he answered, "Still delirious and yet holding his own," +than she asked where and why Major Plume had gone.</p> + +<p>"The general wired for him," answered Wren. "And what is my tall +girlie doing, spiering from windows this time of night? Go to bed, +child." She may be losing beauty sleep, but not her beauty, thought he +fondly, as she as fondly kissed him and turned to obey. Then came a +heavy footfall on the gallery without, and a dark form, erect and +soldierly, stood between them and the dim lights of the guard-house. +It was a corporal of the guard.</p> + +<p>"No. 4, sir, reports he heard shots—two—way up the valley."</p> + +<p>"Good God!" Wren began, then throttled the expletive half spoken. +Could they have dared waylay the major—and so close to the post? A +moment more and he was hurrying over to his troop quarters; five +minutes, and a sergeant and ten men were running with him to the +stables; ten, and a dozen horses, swiftly saddled, were being led into +the open starlight; fifteen, and they were away at a lunging bronco +lope, a twisting column of twos along the sandy road, leaving the +garrison to wake and wonder. Three, four, five miles they sped, past +Boulder Point, past Rattlesnake Hill, and still no sign of anything +amiss, no symptom of night-raiding Apache, for in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>deed the Apache +dreads the dark. Thrice the sergeant had sprung from his horse, +lighted a match, and studied the trail. On and on had gone the mules +and wagon without apparent break or interruption, until, far beyond +the bluff that hid the road from sight of all at Sandy, they had begun +the long, tortuous climb of the divide to Cherry Creek. No. 4 might +have heard shots, but, if intended for the wagon, they had been +harmless. It was long after one when Wren gave the word to put back to +the post, and as they remounted and took the homeward trail, they rode +for the first five minutes almost directly east, and, as they ascended +a little slant of hillside, the sergeant in advance reined suddenly +in. "Look there!" said he.</p> + +<p>Far over among the rocky heights beyond the valley, hidden from the +south from Sandy by precipitous cliffs that served almost as a +reflector toward the reservation, a bright blaze had shot suddenly +heavenward—a signal fire of the Apache. Some of them, then, were in +the heart of that most intractable region, not ten miles northeast of +the post, and signaling to their fellows; but the major must have +slipped safely through.</p> + +<p>Sending his horse to stable with the detachment, Wren had found No. 4 +well over toward the east end of his post, almost to the angle with +that of No. 5. "Watch well for signal fires or prowlers to-night," he +ordered. "Have you seen any?"</p> + +<p>"No signal fires, sir," answered the sentry. "Welch, who was on before +me, thought he heard shots—"</p> + +<p>"I know," answered Wren impatiently. "There was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> nothing in it. But we +did see a signal fire over to the northeast, so they are around us, +and some may be creeping close in to see what we're doing, though I +doubt it. You've seen nothing?"</p> + +<p>"Well, no, sir; we can't see much of anything, it's so dark. But +there's a good many of the post people up and moving about, excited, I +suppose. There were lights there at the lieutenant's, Mr. Blakely's, a +while ago, and—voices." No. 4 pointed to the dark gable end barely +forty yards away.</p> + +<p>"That's simple enough," said Wren. "People would naturally come up to +this end to see what had become of us, why we had gone, etc. They +heard of it, I dare say, and some were probably startled."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, it sounded like—somebody cryin'."</p> + +<p>Wren was turning away. "What?" he suddenly asked.</p> + +<p>No. 4 repeated his statement. Wren pondered a moment, started to +speak, to question further, but checked himself and trudged +thoughtfully away through the yielding sand. The nearest path led past +the first quarters, Blakely's, on the eastward side, and as the +captain neared the house he stopped short. Somewhere in the shadows of +the back porch low, murmuring voices were faintly audible. One, in +excited tone, was not that of a man, and as Wren stood, uncertain and +surprised, the rear door was quickly opened and against the faint +light from within two dark forms were projected. One, the taller, he +recognized beyond doubt as that of Neil Blakely; the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> other he did not +recognize at all. But he had heard the tone of the voice. He knew the +form to be, beyond doubt, that of a young and slender woman. Then +together the shadows disappeared within and the door was closed behind +them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A STOP—BY WIRE</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hree days later the infantry guard of the garrison were in sole +charge. Wren and Sanders, with nearly fifty troopers apiece, had taken +the field in compliance with telegraphic orders from Prescott. The +general had established field headquarters temporarily at Camp +McDowell, down the Verde Valley, and under his somewhat distant +supervision four or five little columns of horse, in single file, were +boring into the fastnesses of the Mogollon and the Tonto Basin. The +runners had been unsuccessful. The renegades would not return. Half a +dozen little nomad bands, forever out from the reservation, had +eagerly welcomed these malcontents and the news they bore that two of +their young braves had been murdered while striving to defend Natzie +and Lola. It furnished all that was needed as excuse for instant +descent upon the settlers in the deep valleys north of the Rio Salado, +and, all unsuspecting, all unprepared, several of these had met their +doom. Relentless war was already begun, and the general lost no time +in starting his horsemen after the hostiles. Meantime the infantry +companies, at the scattered posts and camps, were left to "hold the +fort," to protect the women, children, and property, and Neil Blakely, +a sore-hearted man because for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>bidden by the surgeon to attempt to go, +was chafing, fuming, and retarding his recovery at his lonely +quarters. The men whom he most liked were gone, and the few among the +women who might have been his friends seemed now to stand afar off. +Something, he knew not what, had turned garrison sentiment against +him.</p> + +<p>For a day or two, so absorbed was he in his chagrin over Graham's +verdict and the general's telegraphic orders in the case, Mr. Blakely +never knew or noticed that anything else was amiss. Then, too, there +had been no opportunity of meeting garrison folk except the few +officers who dropped in to inquire civilly how he was progressing. The +bandages were off, but the plaster still disfigured one side of his +face and neck. He could not go forth and seek society. There was +really only one girl at the post whose society he cared to seek. He +had his books and his bugs, and that, said Mrs. Bridger, was "all he +demanded and more than he deserved." To think that the very room so +recently sacred to the son and heir should be transformed into what +that irate little woman called a "beetle shop"! It was one of Mr. +Blakely's unpardonable sins in the eyes of the sex that he found so +much to interest him in a pursuit that neither interested nor included +them. A man with brains and a bank account had no right to live alone, +said Mrs. Sanders, she having a daughter of marriageable age, if only +moderately prepossessing. All this had the women to complain of in him +before the cataclysm that, for the time at least, had played havoc +with his good looks. All this he knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> and bore with philosophic and +whimsical stoicism. But all this and more could not account for the +phenomenon of averted eyes and constrained, if not freezing, manner +when, in the dusk of the late autumn evening, issuing suddenly from +his quarters, he came face to face with a party of four young women +under escort of the post adjutant—Mrs. Bridger and Mrs. Truman +foremost of the four and first to receive his courteous, yet half +embarrassed, greeting. They had to stop for half a second, as they +later said, because really he confronted them, all unsuspected. But +the other two, Kate Sanders and Mina Westervelt, with bowed heads and +without a word, scurried by him and passed on down the line. Doty +explained hurriedly that they had been over to the post hospital to +inquire for Mullins and were due at the Sanders' now for music, +whereupon Blakely begged pardon for even the brief detention, and, +raising his cap, went on out to the sentry post of No. 4 to study the +dark and distant upheavals in the Red Rock country, where, almost +every night of late, the signal fires of the Apaches were reported. +Not until he was again alone did he realize that he had been almost +frigidly greeted by those who spoke at all. It set him to thinking.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Plume was still confined to her room. The major had returned from +Prescott and, despite the fact that the regiment was afield and a +clash with the hostiles imminent, was packing up preparatory to a +move. Books, papers, and pictures were being stored in chests, big and +little, that he had had made for such emergencies. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> evident +that he was expecting orders for change of station or extended leave, +and they who went so far as to question the grave-faced soldier, who +seemed to have grown ten years older in the last ten days, had to be +content with the brief, guarded reply that Mrs. Plume had never been +well since she set foot in Arizona, and even though he returned, she +would not. He was taking her, he said, to San Francisco. Of this +unhappy woman's nocturnal expedition the others seldom spoke now and +only with bated breath. "Sleep-walking, of course!" said everybody, no +matter what everybody might think. But, now that Major Plume knew that +in her sleep his wife had wandered up the row to the very door—the +back door—of Mr. Blakely's quarters, was it not strange that he had +taken no pains to prevent a recurrence of so compromising an +excursion, for strange stories were afloat. Sentry No. 4 had heard and +told of a feminine voice, "somebody cryin' like" in the darkness of +midnight about Blakely's, and Norah Shaughnessy—returned to her +duties at the Trumans', yet worrying over the critical condition of +her trooper lover, and losing thereby much needed sleep—had gained +some new and startling information. One night she had heard, another +night she had dimly seen, a visitor received at Blakely's back door, +and that visitor a woman, with a shawl about her head. Norah told her +mistress, who very properly bade her never refer to it again to a +soul, and very promptly referred to it herself to several souls, one +of them Janet Wren. Janet, still virtuously averse to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> Blakely, laid +the story before her brother the very day he started on the warpath, +and Janet was startled to see that she was telling him no news +whatever. "Then, indeed," said she, "it is high time the major took +his wife away," and Wren sternly bade her hold her peace, she knew not +what she was saying! But, said Camp Sandy, who could it have been but +Mrs. Plume or, possibly, Elise? Once or twice in its checkered past +Camp Sandy had had its romance, its mystery, indeed its scandals, but +this was something that put in the shade all previous episodes; this +shook Sandy to its very foundation, and this, despite her brother's +prohibition, Janet Wren felt it her duty to detail in full to Angela.</p> + +<p>To do her justice, it should be said that Miss Wren had striven +valiantly against the impulse,—had indeed mastered it for several +hours,—but the sight of the vivid blush, the eager joy in the sweet +young face when Blakely's new "striker" handed in a note addressed to +Miss Angela Wren, proved far too potent a factor in the undoing of +that magnanimous resolve. The girl fled with her prize, instanter, to +her room, and thither, as she did not reappear, the aunt betook +herself within the hour. The note itself was neither long nor +effusive—merely a bright, cordial, friendly missive, protesting +against the idea that any apology had been due. There was but one line +which could be considered even mildly significant. "The little net," +wrote Blakely, "has now a value that it never had before." Yet Angela +was snuggling that otherwise unimportant billet to her cheek when the +creaking stairway<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> told her portentously of a solemn coming. Ten +minutes more and the note was lying neglected on the bureau, and +Angela stood at her window, gazing out over dreary miles of almost +desert landscape, of rock and shale and sand and cactus, with eyes +from which the light had fled, and a new, strange trouble biting at +her girlish heart. Confound No. 4—and Norah Shaughnessy!</p> + +<p>It had been arranged that when the Plumes were ready to start, Mrs. +Daly and her daughter, the newly widowed and the fatherless, should be +sent up to Prescott and thence across the desert to Ehrenberg, on the +Colorado. While no hostile Apaches had been seen west of the Verde +Valley, there were traces that told that they were watching the road +as far at least as the Agua Fria, and a sergeant and six men had been +chosen to go as escort to the little convoy. It had been supposed that +Plume would prefer to start in the morning and go as far as Stemmer's +ranch, in the Agua Fria Valley, and there rest his invalid wife until +another day, thus breaking the fifty-mile stage through the mountains. +To the surprise of everybody, the Dalys were warned to be in readiness +to start at five in the morning, and to go through to Prescott that +day. At five in the morning, therefore, the quartermaster's ambulance +was at the post trader's house, where the recently bereaved ones had +been harbored since poor Daly's death, and there, with their generous +host, was the widow's former patient, Blakely, full of sympathy and +solicitude, come to say good-bye. Plume's own Concord appeared almost +at the instant in front of his quarters,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> and presently Mrs. Plume, +veiled and obviously far from strong, came forth leaning on her +husband's arm, and closely followed by Elise. Then, despite the early +hour, and to the dismay of Plume, who had planned to start without +farewell demonstration of any kind, lights were blinking in almost +every house along the row, and a flock of women, some tender and +sympathetic, some morbidly curious, had gathered to wish the major's +wife a pleasant journey and a speedy recovery. They loved her not at +all, and liked her none too well, but she was ill and sorrowing, so +that was enough. Elise they could not bear, yet even Elise came in for +a kindly word or two. Mrs. Graham was there, big-hearted and brimming +over with helpful suggestion, burdened also with a basket of dainties. +Captain and Mrs. Cutler, Captain and Mrs. Westervelt, the Trumans +both, Doty, the young adjutant, Janet Wren, of course, and the ladies +of the cavalry, the major's regiment, without exception, were on hand +to bid the major and his wife good-bye. Angela Wren was not feeling +well, explained her aunt, and Mr. Neil Blakely was conspicuous by his +absence.</p> + +<p>It had been observed that, during those few days of hurried packing +and preparation, Major Plume had not once gone to Blakely's quarters. +True, he had visited only Dr. Graham, and had begged him to explain +that anxiety on account of Mrs. Plume prevented his making the round +of farewell calls; but that he was thoughtful of others to the last +was shown in this: Plume had asked Captain Cutler, commander of the +post, to order the re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>lease of that wretch Downs. "He has been +punished quite sufficiently, I think," said Plume, "and as I was +instrumental in his arrest I ask his liberation." At tattoo, +therefore, the previous evening "the wretch" had been returned to +duty, and at five in the morning was found hovering about the major's +quarters. When invited by the sergeant of the guard to explain, he +replied, quite civilly for him, that it was to say good-by to Elise. +"Me and her," said he, "has been good friends."</p> + +<p>Presumably he had had his opportunity at the kitchen door before the +start, but still he lingered, feigning professional interest in the +condition of the sleek mules that were to haul the Concord over fifty +miles of rugged road, up hill and down dale before the setting of the +sun. Then, while the officers and ladies clustered thick on one side +of the black vehicle, Downs sidled to the other, and the big black +eyes of the Frenchwoman peered down at him a moment as she leaned +toward him, and, with a whispered word, slyly dropped a little folded +packet into his waiting palm. Then, as though impatient, Plume shouted +"All right. Go on!" The Concord whirled away, and something like a +sigh of relief went up from assembled Sandy, as the first kiss of the +rising sun lighted on the bald pate of Squaw Peak, huge sentinel of +the valley, looming from the darkness and shadows and the mists of the +shallow stream that slept in many a silent pool along its massive, +rocky base. With but a few hurried, embarrassed words, Clarice Plume +had said adieu to Sandy, thinking never to see it again. They stood +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> watched her past the one unlighted house, the northernmost along +the row. They knew not that Mr. Blakely was at the moment bidding +adieu to others in far humbler station. They only noted that, even at +the last, he was not there to wave a good-by to the woman who had once +so influenced his life. Slowly then the little group dissolved and +drifted away. She had gone unchallenged of any authority, though the +fate of Mullins still hung in the balance. Obviously, then, it was not +she whom Byrne's report had implicated, if indeed that report had +named anybody. There had been no occasion for a coroner and jury. +There would have been neither coroner nor jury to serve, had they been +called for. Camp Sandy stood in a little world of its own, the only +civil functionary within forty miles being a ranchman, dwelling seven +miles down stream, who held some Territorial warrant as a justice of +the peace.</p> + +<p>But Norah Shaughnessy, from the gable window of the Trumans' quarters, +shook a hard-clinching Irish fist and showered malediction after the +swiftly speeding ambulance. "Wan 'o ye," she sobbed, "dealt Pat +Mullins a coward and cruel blow, and I'll know which, as soon as ever +that poor bye can spake the truth." She would have said it to that +hated Frenchwoman herself, had not mother and mistress both forbade +her leaving the room until the Plumes were gone.</p> + +<p>Three trunks had been stacked up and secured on the hanging rack at +the rear of the Concord. Others, with certain chests and boxes, had +been loaded into one big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> wagon and sent ahead. The ambulance, with +the Dalys and the little escort of seven horsemen, awaited the rest of +the convoy on the northward flats, and the cloud of their combined +dust hung long on the scarred flanks as the first rays of the rising +sun came gilding the rocks at Boulder Point, and what was left of the +garrison at Sandy turned out for reveille.</p> + +<p>That evening, for the first time since his injury, Mr. Blakely took +his horse and rode away southward in the soft moonlight, and had not +returned when tattoo sounded. The post trader, coming up with the +latest San Francisco papers, said he had stopped a moment to ask at +the store whether Schandein, the ranchman justice of the peace before +referred to, had recently visited the post.</p> + +<p>That evening, too, for the first time since his dangerous wound, +Trooper Mullins awoke from his long delirium, weak as a little child; +asked for Norah, and what in the world was the matter with him—in bed +and bandages, and Dr. Graham, looking into the poor lad's dim, +half-opening eyes, sent a messenger to Captain Cutler's quarters to +ask would the captain come at once to hospital. This was at nine +o'clock.</p> + +<p>Less than two hours later a mounted orderly set forth with dispatches +from the temporary post commander to Colonel Byrne at Prescott. A wire +from that point about sundown had announced the safe arrival of the +party from Camp Sandy. The answer, sent at ten o'clock, broke up the +game of whist at the quarters of the inspec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>tor general. Byrne, the +recipient, gravely read it, backed from the table, and vainly strove +not to see the anxious inquiry in the eyes of Major Plume, his guest. +But Plume cornered him.</p> + +<p>"From Sandy?" he asked. "May I read it?"</p> + +<p>Byrne hesitated just one moment, then placed the paper in his junior's +hand. Plume read, turned very white, and the paper fell from his +trembling fingers. The message merely said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Mullins recovering and quite rational, though very weak. He +says two women were his assailants. Courier with dispatches +at once.</p> + +<p class="sig4">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Cutler</span>, Commanding.</p> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>FIRE!</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_22.jpg" alt="I" width="34" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was not so much his wounds as his weakness," Dr. Graham was +saying, later still that autumn night, "that led to my declaring +Blakely unfit to take the field. He would have gone in spite of me, +but for the general's order. He has gone now in spite of me, and no +one knows where."</p> + +<p>It was then nearly twelve o'clock, and "the Bugologist" was still +abroad. Dinner, as usual since his mishap, had been sent over to him +from the officers' mess soon after sunset. His horse, or rather the +troop horse designated for his use, had been fed and groomed in the +late afternoon, and then saddled at seven o'clock and brought over to +the rear of the quarters by a stable orderly.</p> + +<p>There had been some demur at longer sending Blakely's meals from mess, +now reduced to an actual membership of two. Sandy was a "much married" +post in the latter half of the 70's, the bachelors of the commissioned +list being only three, all told,—Blakely, and Duane of the Horse, and +Doty of the Foot. With these was Heartburn, the contract doctor, and +now Duane and the doctor were out in the mountains and Blakely on sick +report, yet able to be about. Doty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> thought him able to come to mess. +Blakely, thinking he looked much worse than he felt, thanks to his +plastered jowl, stood on his rights in the matter and would not go. +There had been some demur on part of the stable sergeant of Wren's +troop as to sending over the horse. Few officers brought eastern-bred +horses to Arizona in those days. The bronco was best suited to the +work. An officer on duty could take out the troop horse assigned to +his use any hour before taps and no questions asked; but the sergeant +told Mr. Blakely's messenger that the lieutenant wasn't for duty, and +it might make trouble. It did. Captain Cutler sent for old Murray, the +veteran sergeant, and asked him did he not know his orders. He had +allowed a horse to be sent to a sick man—an officer not on duty—and +one the doctor had warned against exercise for quite a time, at least. +And now the officer was gone, so was the horse, and Cutler, being +sorely torn up by the revelations of the evening and dread of ill +befalling Blakely, was so injudicious as to hint to a soldier who had +worn chevrons much longer than he, Cutler, had worn shoulder-straps, +that the next thing to go would probably be his sergeant's bars, +whereat Murray went red to the roots of his hair—which "continued the +march" of the color,—and said, with a snap of his jaws, that he got +those chevrons, as he did his orders, from his troop commander. A +court might order them stricken off, but a captain couldn't, other +than his own. For which piece of impudence the veteran went +straightway to Sudsville in close arrest. Corporal Bolt was ordered to +take over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> his keys and the charge of the stables until the return of +Captain Wren, also this order—that no government horse should be sent +to Lieutenant Blakely hereafter until the lieutenant was declared by +the post surgeon fit for duty.</p> + +<p>There were left at the post, of each of the two cavalry troops, about +a dozen men to care for the stables, the barracks, and property. Seven +of these had gone with the convoy to Prescott, and, when Cutler +ordered half a dozen horsemen out at midnight to follow Blakely's +trail and try to find him, they had to draw on both troop stables, and +one of the designated men was the wretch Downs,—and Downs was not in +his bunk,—not anywhere about the quarters or corrals. It was nearly +one by the time the party started down the sandy road to the south, +Hart and his buckboard and a sturdy brace of mules joining them as +they passed the store. "We may need to bring him back in this," said +he, to Corporal Quirk.</p> + +<p>"An' what did ye fetch to bring him <i>to</i> wid?" asked the corporal. +Hart touched lightly the breast of his coat, then clucked to his team. +"Faith, there's more than wan way of tappin' it then," said Quirk, but +the cavalcade moved on.</p> + +<p>The crescent moon had long since sunk behind the westward range, and +trailing was something far too slow and tedious. They spurred, +therefore, for the nearest ranch, five miles down stream, making their +first inquiry there. The inmates were slow to arise, but quick to +answer. Blakely had neither been seen nor heard of.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> Downs they didn't +wish to know at all. Indians hadn't been near the lower valley since +the "break" at the post the previous week. One of the inmates declared +he had ridden alone from Camp McDowell within three days, and there +wasn't a 'Patchie west of the Matitzal. Hart did all the questioning. +He was a business man and a brother. Soldiers, the ranchmen didn't +like—soldiers set too much value on government property.</p> + +<p>The trail ran but a few hundred yards east of the stream, and close to +the adobe walls of the ranch. Strom, the proprietor, got out his +lantern and searched below the point where the little troop had turned +off. No recent hoof-track, southbound, was visible. "He couldn't have +come this far," said he. "Better put back!" Put back they did, and by +the aid of Hart's lantern found the fresh trail of a government-shod +horse, turning to the east nearly two miles toward home. Quirk said a +bad word or two; borrowed the lantern and thoughtfully included the +flask; bade his men follow in file and plunged through the underbrush +in dogged pursuit. Hart and his team now could not follow. They waited +over half an hour without sign or sound from the trailers, then drove +swiftly back to the post. There was a light in the telegraph office, +and thither Hart went in a hurry. Lieutenant Doty, combining the +duties of adjutant and officer of the day, was up and making the +rounds. The sentries had just called off three o'clock.</p> + +<p>"Had your trouble for nothing, Hart," hailed the youngster cheerily. +"Where're the men?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Followed his trail—turned to the east three miles below here," +answered the trader.</p> + +<p>"Three miles <i>below</i>! Why, man, he wasn't below. He met them up Beaver +Creek, an' brought 'em in."</p> + +<p>"Brought who in?" asked Hart, dropping his whip. "I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"Why, the scouts, or runners! Wren sent 'em in. He's had a sharp fight +up the mountains beyond Snow Lake. Three men wounded. You couldn't +have gone a mile before Blakely led 'em across No. 4's post. Ahorah +and another chap—'Patchie-Mohaves. We clicked the news up to Prescott +over an hour ago."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="pic_03" id="pic_03"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_03.jpg" width="600" height="426" alt=""Blakely led 'em across no. 4's post"" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">"Blakely led 'em across no. 4's post"</span> +</div> + + +<p>The tin reflector at the office window threw the light of the +glass-framed candle straight upon Hart's rubicund face, and that face +was a study. He faltered a bit before he asked:</p> + +<p>"Did Blakely seem all right?—not used up, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"Seemed weak and tired, but the man is mad to go and join his troop +now—wants to go right out with Ahorah in the morning, and Captain +Cutler says no. Oh, they had quite a row!"</p> + +<p>They had had rather more than quite a row, if truth were told. Doty +had heard only a bit of it. Cutler had been taken by surprise when the +Bugologist appeared, two strange, wiry Apaches at his heels, and at +first had contented himself with reading Wren's dispatch, repeating it +over the wires to Prescott. Then he turned on Blakely, silently, +wearily waiting, seated at Doty's desk, and on the two Apaches, +silently, stolidly waiting, squatted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>on the floor. Cutler wished to +know how Blakely knew these couriers were coming, and how he came to +leave the post without permission. For a moment the lieutenant simply +gazed at him, unanswering, but when the senior somewhat sharply +repeated the question, in part, Blakely almost as sharply answered: "I +did not know they were coming nor that there was wrong in my going. +Major Plume required nothing of the kind when we were merely going out +for a ride."</p> + + +<p>This nettled Cutler. He had always said that Plume was lax, and here +was proof of it. "I might have wanted you—I <i>did</i> want you, hours +ago, Mr. Blakely, and even Major Plume would not countenance his +officers spending the greater part of the night away from the post, +especially on a government horse," and there had Cutler the whip hand +of the scientist, and Blakely had sense enough to see it, yet not +sense enough to accept. He was nervous and irritable, as well as +tired. Graham had told him he was too weak to ride, yet he had gone, +not thinking, of course, to be gone so long, but gone deliberately, +and without asking the consent of the post commander. "My finding the +runners was an accident," he said, with some little asperity of tone +and manner. "In fact, I didn't find them. They found me. I had known +them both at the reservation. Have I your permission, sir"—this with +marked emphasis—"to take them for something to eat. They are very +hungry,—have come far, and wish to start early and rejoin Captain +Wren,—as I do, too."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They will start when <i>I</i> am ready, Mr. Blakely," said Cutler, "and +you certainly will not start before. In point of fact, sir, you may +not be allowed to start at all."</p> + +<p>It was now Blakely's turn to redden to the brows. "You surely will not +prevent my going to join my troop, now that it is in contact with the +enemy," said he. "All I need is a few hours' sleep. I can start at +seven."</p> + +<p>"You cannot, with my consent, Mr. Blakely," said the captain dryly. +"There are reasons, in fact, why you can't leave here for any purpose +unless the general himself give contrary orders. Matters have come up +that—you'll probably have to explain."</p> + +<p>And here Doty entered, hearing only the captain's last. At sight of +his adjutant the captain stopped short in his reprimand. "See to it +that these runners have a good supper, Mr. Doty," said Cutler. "Stir +up my company cook, if need be, but take them with you now." Then, +turning again on Blakely, "The doctor wishes you to go to bed at once, +Mr. Blakely, and I will see you in the morning, but no more riding +away without permission," he concluded, and thereby closed the +interview. He had, indeed, other things to say to, and inquire of, +Blakely, but not until he had further consulted Graham. He confidently +expected the coming day would bring instructions from headquarters to +hold both Blakely and Trooper Downs at the post, as a result of his +dispatches, based on the revelation of poor Pat Mullins. But Downs, +forewarned, perhaps, had slipped into hiding somewhere—an old trick +of his, when punishment was imminent. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> might be two or three days +before Downs turned up again, if indeed he turned up at all, but +Blakely was here and could be held. Hence the "horse order" of the +earlier evening.</p> + +<p>It was nearly two when Blakely reached his quarters, rebuffed and +stung. He was so nervous, however, that, in spite of serious fatigue, +he found it for over an hour impossible to sleep. He turned out his +light and lay in the dark, and the atmosphere of the room seemed +heavily charged with rank tobacco. His new "striker" had sat up, it +seems, keeping faithful vigil against his master's return, but, as the +hours wore on, had solaced himself with pipe after pipe, and wandering +about to keep awake. Most of the time, he declared, he had spent in a +big rocking chair on the porch at the side door, but the scent of the +weed and of that veteran pipe permeated the entire premises, and the +Bugologist hated dead tobacco. He got up and tore down the blanket +screen at the side windows and opened all the doors wide and tried his +couch again, and still he wooed the drowsy god in vain. "Nor poppy nor +mandragora" had he to soothe him. Instead there were new and anxious +thoughts to vex, and so another half hour he tossed and tumbled, and +when at last he seemed dropping to the borderland, perhaps, of dreams, +he thought he must be ailing again and in need of new bandages or +cooling drink or something, for the muffled footfalls, betrayed by +creaking pine rather than by other sound, told him drowsily that the +attendant or somebody, cautioned not to disturb him, was moving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +slowly across the room. He might have been out on the side porch to +get cool water from the <i>olla</i>, but he needn't be so confoundedly slow +and cautious, though he couldn't help the creaking. Then, what could +the attendant want in the front room, where were still so many of the +precious glass cases unharmed, and the Bugologist's favorite books and +his big desk, littered with papers, etc.? Blakely thought to hail and +warn him against moving about among those brittle glass things, but +reflected that he, the new man, had done the reshifting under his, +Blakely's, supervision, and knew just where each item was placed and +how to find the passage way between them. It really was a trifle +intricate. How could he have gone into the spare room at Captain +Wren's, and there made his home as—she—Mrs. Plume had first +suggested? There would not have been room for half his plunder, to say +nothing of himself. "What on earth can Nixon want?" he sleepily asked +himself, "fumbling about there among those cases? Was that a crack or +a snap?" It sounded like both, a splitting of glass, a wrenching of +lock spring or something. "Be careful there!" he managed to call. No +answer. Perhaps it was some one of the big hounds, then, wandering +restlessly about at night. They often did, and—why, yes, that would +account for it. Doors and windows were all wide open here, what was to +prevent? Still, Blakely wished he hadn't extinguished his lamp. He +might then have explored. The sound ceased entirely for a moment, and, +now that he was quite awake, he remembered that the hospital attendant +was no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> longer with him. Then the sounds must have been made by the +striker or the hounds. Blakely had no dogs of his own. Indeed they +were common property at the post, most of them handed down with the +rest of the public goods and chattels by their predecessors of the +----th. At all events, he felt far too languid, inert, weak, +indifferent or something. If the striker, he had doubtless come down +for cool water. If the hounds, they were in search of something to +eat, and in either case why bother about it? The incident had so far +distracted his thoughts from the worries of the night that now, at +last and in good earnest, he was dropping to sleep.</p> + +<p>But in less than twenty minutes he was broad awake again, with sudden +start—gasping, suffocating, listening in amaze to a volley of +snapping and cracking, half-smothered, from the adjoining room. He +sprang from his bed with a cry of alarm and flung himself through a +thick, hot veil of eddying, yet invisible, smoke, straight for the +communicating doorway, and was brought up standing by banging his head +against the resounding pine, tight shut instead of open as he had left +it, and refusing to yield to furious battering. It was locked, bolted, +or barred from the other side. Blindly he turned and rushed for the +side porch and the open air, stumbling against the striker as the +latter came clattering headlong down from aloft. Then together they +rushed to the parlor window, now cracking and splitting from the +furious heat within. A volume of black fume came belching <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>forth, +driven and lashed by ruddy tongues of flame within, and their shouts +for aid went up on the wings of the dawn, and the infantry sentry on +the eastward post came running to see; caught one glimpse of the glare +at that southward window; bang went his rifle with a ring that came +echoing back from the opposite cliffs, as all Camp Sandy sprang from +its bed in answer to the stentorian shout "Fire! No. 5!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>WHOSE LETTERS?</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here is something about a night alarm of fire at a military post that +borders on the thrilling. In the days whereof we write the buildings +were not the substantial creations of brick and stone to be seen +to-day, and those of the scattered "camps" and stations in that arid, +sun-scorched land of Arizona were tinder boxes of the flimsiest and +most inflammable kind.</p> + +<p>It could hardly have been a minute from the warning shot and yell of +No. 5—repeated right and left by other sentries and echoed by No. 1 +at the guard-house—before bugle and trumpet were blaring their fierce +alarm, and the hoarse roar of the drum was rousing the inmates of the +infantry barracks. Out they came, tumbling pell-mell into the +accustomed ranks, confronted by the sight of Blakely's quarters one +broad sheet of flame. With incredible speed the blaze had burst forth +from the front room on the lower floor; leaped from window to window, +from ledge to ledge; fastened instantly on overhanging roof, and the +shingled screen of the veranda; had darted up the dry wooden stairway, +devouring banister, railing, and snapping pine floor, and then, +billowing forth from every crack, crevice, and casement of the upper +floor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> streamed hissing and crackling on the blackness that precedes +the dawn, a magnificent glare that put to shame the feeble signal +fires lately gleaming in the mountains. Luckily there was no +wind—there never was a wind at Sandy—and the flames leaped straight +for the zenith, lashing their way into the huge black pillar of smoke +cloud sailing aloft to the stars.</p> + +<p>Under their sergeants, running in disciplined order, one company had +sped for the water wagon and were now slowly trundling that unwieldy +vehicle, pushing, pulling, straining at the wheels, from its night +berth close to the corrals. Rushing like mad, in no order at all, the +men of the other company came tearing across the open parade, and were +faced and halted far out in front of officers' row by Blakely himself, +barefooted and clad only in his pyjamas, but all alive with vim and +energy.</p> + +<p>"Back, men! back for your blankets!" he cried. "Bring ladders and +buckets! Back with you, lively!" They seemed to catch his meaning at +the instant. His soldier home with everything it contained was doomed. +Nothing could save it. But there stood the next quarters,—Truman's +and Westervelt's double set,—and in the intense heat that must +speedily develop, it might well be that the dry, resinous woodwork +that framed the adobe would blaze forth on its own account and spread +a conflagration down the line. Already Mrs. Truman, with Norah and the +children, was being hurried down to the doctor's, while Truman +himself, with the aid of two or three neighboring "strikers," had +stripped the beds of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> their single blanket and, bucketing these with +water, was slashing at the veranda roof and cornice along the +northward side.</p> + +<p>Somebody came with a short ladder, and in another moment three or four +adventurous spirits, led by Blakely and Truman, were scrambling about +the veranda roof, their hands and faces glowing in the gathering heat, +spreading blankets over the shingling and cornice. In five minutes all +that was left of Blakely's little homestead was gone up in smoke and +fierce, furious heat and flame, but the daring and well-directed +effort of the garrison had saved the rest of the line. In ten minutes +nothing but a heap of glowing beams and embers, within four crumbling +walls of adobe, remained of the "beetle shop." Bugs, butterflies, +books, chests, desk, trunks, furniture, papers, and such martial +paraphernalia as a subaltern might require in that desert land, had +been reduced to ashes before their owner's eyes. He had not saved so +much as a shoe. His watch, lying on the table by his bedside, a silk +handkerchief, and a little scrap of a note, written in girlish hand +and carried temporarily in the breast pocket, were the only items he +had managed to bring with him into the open air. He was still gasping, +gagging, half-strangling, when Captain Cutler accosted him to know if +he could give the faintest explanation of the starting of so strange +and perilous a fire, and Blakely, remembering the stealthy footsteps +and that locked or bolted door, could not but say he believed it +incendiary, yet could think of no possible motive.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was daybreak as the little group of spectators, women and children +of the garrison, began to break up and return to their homes, all +talking excitedly, all intolerant of the experiences of others, and +centered solely in the narrative of their own. Leaving a dozen men +with buckets, readily filled from the acequia which turned the old +water wheel just across the post of No. 4, and sending the big water +wagon down to the stream for another liquid load, the infantry went +back to their barracks and early coffee. The drenched blankets, one by +one, were stripped from the gable end of Truman's quarters, every +square inch of the paint thereon being now a patch of tiny blisters, +and there, as the dawn broadened and the pallid light took on again a +tinge of rose, the officers gathered about Blakely in his scorched and +soaked pyjamas, extending both condolence and congratulation.</p> + +<p>"The question is, Blakely," remarked Captain Westervelt dryly, "will +you go to Frisco to refit now, or wait till Congress reimburses?" +whereat the scientist was observed to smile somewhat ruefully. "The +question is, Bugs," burst in young Doty irrepressibly, "will you wear +this rig, or Apache full dress, when you ride after Wren? The runners +start at six," whereat even the rueful smile was observed to vanish, +and without answer Blakely turned away, stepping gingerly into the +heated sand with his bare white feet.</p> + +<p>"Don't bother about dousing anything else, sergeant," said he +presently, to the soldier supervising the work of the bucket squad. +"The iron box should be under what's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> left of my desk—about there," +and he indicated a charred and steaming heap, visible through a gap in +the doubly baked adobe that had once been the side window. "Lug that +out as soon as you can cool things off. I'll probably be back by that +time." Then, turning again to the group of officers, and ignoring +Doty—Blakely addressed himself to the senior.</p> + +<p>"Captain Cutler," said he, "I can fit myself out at the troop quarters +with everything I need for the field, at least, and wire to San +Francisco for what I shall need when we return. I shall be ready to go +with Ahorah at six."</p> + +<p>There was a moment of silence. Embarrassment showed plainly in almost +every face. When Cutler spoke it was with obvious effort. Everybody +realized that Blakely, despite severe personal losses, had been the +directing head in checking the progress of the flames. Truman had +borne admirable part, but Blakely was at once leader and actor. He +deserved well of his commander. He was still far from strong. He was +weak and weary. His hands and face were scorched and in places +blistered, yet, turning his back on the ruins of his treasures, he +desired to go at once to join his comrades in the presence of the +enemy. He had missed every previous opportunity of sharing perils and +battle with them. He could afford such loss as that no longer, in view +of what he knew had been said. He had every right, so thought they +all, to go, yet Cutler hesitated. When at last he spoke it was to +temporize.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're in no condition for field work, Mr. Blakely," said he. "The +doctor has so assured me, and just now things are taking such shape +I—need you here."</p> + +<p>"You will permit me to appeal by wire, sir?" queried Blakely, standing +attention in his bedraggled night garb, and forcing himself to a +semblance of respect that he was far from feeling.</p> + +<p>"I—I will consult Dr. Graham and let you know," was the captain's +awkward reply.</p> + +<p>Two hours later Neil Blakely, in a motley dress made up of collections +from the troop and trader's stores—a combination costume of blue +flannel shirt, bandanna kerchief, cavalry trousers with machine-made +saddle piece, Tonto moccasins and leggings, fringed gauntlets and a +broad-brimmed white felt hat, strode into the messroom in quest of +eggs and coffee. Doty had been there and vanished. Sick call was +sounding and Graham was stalking across the parade in the direction of +the hospital, too far away to be reached by human voice, unless +uplifted to the pitch of attracting the whole garrison. The telegraph +operator had just clicked off the last of half a dozen messages +scrawled by the lieutenant—orders on San Francisco furnishers for the +new outfit demanded by the occasion, etc., but Captain Cutler was +still mured within his own quarters, declining to see Mr. Blakely +until ready to come to the office. Ahorah and his swarthy partner were +already gone, "started even before six," said the acting sergeant +major, and Blakely was fuming with impatience and sense of something +much amiss. Doty was obviously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> dodging him, there could be no doubt +of that, for the youngster was between two fires, the post commander's +positive orders on one hand and Blakely's urgent pleadings on the +other.</p> + +<p>Over at "C" Troop's quarters was the lieutenant's saddle, ready packed +with blanket, greatcoat, and bulging saddle-bags. Over in "C" Troop's +stables was Deltchay—the lieutenant's bronco charger, ready fed and +groomed, wondering why he was kept in when the other horses were out +at graze. With the saddle kit were the troop carbine and revolver, +Blakely's personal arms being now but stockless tubes of seared and +blistered steel. Back of "C" Troop's quarters lolled a half-breed +Mexican packer, with a brace of mules, one girt with saddle, the other +in shrouding aparejo—diamond-hitched, both borrowed from the post +trader with whom Blakely's note of hand was good as a government four +per cent.—all ready to follow the lieutenant to the field whither +right and duty called him. There, too, was Nixon, the new "striker," +new clad as was his master, and full panoplied for the field, yet +bemoaning the loss of soldier treasures whose value was never fully +realized until they were irrevocably gone. Six o'clock, six-thirty, +six-forty-five and even seven sped by and still there came no summons +to join the soldier master. There had come instead, when Nixon urged +that he be permitted to lead forth both his own troop horse and +Deltchay, the brief, but significant reply: "Shut yer gab, Nixon. +There's no horse goes till the captain says so!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> + +<p>At seven o'clock, at last, the post commander came forth from his +doorway; saw across the glaring level of the parade the form of Mr. +Blakely impatiently pacing the veranda at the adjutant's office, and, +instead of going thither, as was his wont, Captain Cutler turned the +other way and strode swiftly to the hospital, where Graham met him at +the bedside of Trooper patient Patrick Mullins. "How is he?" queried +Cutler.</p> + +<p>"Sleeping—thank God—and not to be wakened," was the Scotchman's +answer. "He had a bad time of it during the fire."</p> + +<p>"What am I to tell Blakely?" demanded Cutler, seeking strength for his +faltering hand. "You're bound to help me now, Graham."</p> + +<p>"Let him go and you <i>may</i> make it worse," said the doctor, with a +clamp of his grizzled jaws. "Hold him here and you're sure to."</p> + +<p>"Can't you, as post surgeon, tell him he isn't fit to ride?"</p> + +<p>"Not when he rides the first half of the night and puts out a nasty +fire the last. Can't you, as post commander, tell him you forbid his +going till you hear from Byrne and investigate the fire?" If Graham +had no patience with a frail woman, he had nothing but contempt for a +weak man. "If he's bound to be up and doing something, though," he +added, "send him out with a squad of men and orders to hunt for +Downs."</p> + +<p>Cutler had never even thought of it. Downs was still missing. No one +had seen him. His haunts had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> searched to no purpose. His horse +was still with the herd. One man, the sergeant of the guard, the +previous day, had marked the brief farewell between the missing man +and the parting maid—had seen the woman's gloved hand stealthily put +forth and the little folded packet passed to the soldier's ready palm. +What that paper contained no man ventured to conjecture. Cutler and +Graham, notified by Sergeant Kenna of what he had seen, puzzled over +it in vain. Norah Shaughnessy could perhaps unravel it, thought the +doctor, but he did not say.</p> + +<p>Cutler came forth from the shaded depths of the broad hallway to face +the dazzling glare of the morning sunshine, and the pale, stern, +reproachful features of the homeless lieutenant, who simply raised his +hand in salute and said: "I've been ready two hours, sir, and the +runners are long gone."</p> + +<p>"Too long and too far for you to catch them now," said Cutler, +catching at another straw. "And there is far more important matter +here. Mr. Blakely, I want that man Downs followed, found, and brought +back to this post, and you're the only man to do it. Take a dozen +troopers, if necessary, and set about it, sir, at once."</p> + +<p>A soldier was at the moment hurrying past the front of the hospital, a +grimy-looking packet in his hand. Hearing the voice of Captain Cutler, +he turned, saw Lieutenant Blakely standing there at attention, saw +that, as the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>captain finished, Blakely still remained a moment as +though about to speak—saw that he seemed a trifle dazed or stunned. +Cutler marked it, too. "This is imperative and immediate, Mr. +Blakely," said he, not unkindly. "Pull yourself together if you are +fit to go at all, and lose no more time." With that he started away. +Graham had come to the doorway, but Blakely never seemed to see him. +Instead he suddenly roused and, turning sharp, sprang down the wooden +steps as though to overtake the captain, when the soldier, saluting, +held forth the dingy packet.</p> + +<p>"It was warped out of all shape, sir," said he. "The blacksmith pried +out the lid wid a crowbar. The books are singed and soaked and the +packages charred—all but this."</p> + +<p>It fell apart as it passed from hand to hand, and a lot of letters, +smoke-stained, scorched at the edges, and some of them soaking wet, +also two or three <i>carte de visite</i> photographs, were scattered on the +sand. Both men bobbed in haste to gather them up, and Graham came +hurriedly down to help. As Blakely straightened again he swayed and +staggered slightly, and the doctor grasped him by the arm, a sudden +clutch that perhaps shook loose some of the recovered papers from the +long, slim fingers. At all events, a few went suddenly back to earth, +and, as Cutler turned, wondering what was amiss, he saw Blakely, with +almost ashen face, supported by the doctor's sturdy arm to a seat on +the edge of the piazza; saw, as he quickly retraced his steps, a sweet +and smiling woman's face looking up at him out of the trampled sands, +and, even as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> stooped to recover the pretty photograph, though it +looked far younger, fairer, and more winsome than ever he had seen it, +Cutler knew the face at once. It was that of Clarice, wife of Major +Plume. Whose, then, were those scattered letters?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>AUNT JANET BRAVED</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_20.jpg" alt="N" width="57" height="50" /></div> +<p>ightfall of a weary day had come. Camp Sandy, startled from sleep in +the dark hour before the dawn, had found topic for much exciting talk, +and was getting tired as the twilight waned. No word had come from the +party sent in search of Downs, now deemed a deserter. No sign of him +had been found about the post. No explanation had occurred to either +Cutler or Graham of the parting between Elise and the late "striker." +She had never been known to notice or favor him in any way before. Her +smiles and coquetries had been lavished on the sergeants. In Downs +there was nothing whatsoever to attract her. It was not likely she had +given him money, said Cutler, because he was about the post all that +day after the Plumes' departure and with never a sign of inebriety. He +could not himself buy whisky, but among the ranchmen, packers, and +prospectors forever hanging about the post there were plenty ready to +play middleman for anyone who could supply the cash, and in this way +were the orders of the post commander made sometimes abortive. Downs +was gone, that was certain, and the question was, which way?</p> + +<p>A sergeant and two men had taken the Prescott road; followed it to +Dick's Ranch, in the Cherry Creek Valley, and were assured the missing +man had never gone that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> way. Dick was himself a veteran trooper of +the ——th. He had invested his savings in this little estate and +settled thereon to grow up with the country—the Stannards' winsome +Millie having accepted a life interest in him and his modest property. +They knew every man riding that trail, from the daily mail messenger +to the semi-occasional courier. Their own regiment had gone, but they +had warm interest in its successors. They knew Downs, had known him +ever since his younger days when, a trig young Irish-Englishman, some +Londoner's discharged valet, he had 'listed in the cavalry, as he +expressed it, to reform. A model of temperance, soberness, and +chastity was Downs between times, and his gifts as groom of the +chambers, as well as groom of the stables, made him, when a model, +invaluable to bachelor officers in need of a competent soldier +servant. In days just after the great war he had won fame and money as +a light rider. It was then that Lieutenant Blake had dubbed him +"Epsom" Downs, and well-nigh quarreled with his chum, Lieutenant Ray, +over the question of proprietorship when the two were sent to separate +stations and Downs was "striking" for both. Downs settled the matter +by getting on a seven-days' drunk, squandering both fame and money, +and, though forgiven the scriptural seventy times seven (during which +term of years his name was changed to Ups and Downs), finally +forfeited the favor of both these indulgent masters and became +thereafter simply Downs, with no ups of sufficient length to restore +the average—much less to redeem him. And yet, when eventually +"bob<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>tailed" out of the ——th, he had turned up at the old arsenal +recruiting depot at St. Louis, clean-shaven, neat, deft-handed, +helpful, to the end that an optimistic troop commander "took him on +again," in the belief that a reform had indeed been inaugurated. But, +like most good soldiers, the commander referred to knew little of +politics or potables, otherwise he would have set less store by the +strength of the reform movement and more by that of the potations. +Downs went so far on the highroad to heaven this time as to drink +nothing until his first payday. Meantime, as his captain's mercury, +messenger, and general utility man, moving much in polite society at +the arsenal and in town, he was frequently to be seen about +Headquarters of the Army, then established by General Sherman as far +as possible from Washington and as close to the heart of St. Louis. He +learned something of the ins and outs of social life in the gay city, +heard much theory and little truth about the time that Lieutenant +Blakely, returning suddenly thereto after an absence of two months, +during which time frequent letters had passed between him and Clarice +Latrobe, found that Major Plume had been her shadow for weeks, her +escort to dance after dance, her companion riding, driving, dining day +after day. Something of this Blakely had heard in letters from +friends. Little or nothing thereof had he heard from her. The public +never knew what passed between them (Elise, her maid, was better +informed). But Blakely within the day left town again, and within the +week there appeared the announcement of her forthcom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>ing marriage, +Plume the presumably happy man. Downs got full the first payday after +his re-enlistment, as has been said, and drunk, as in duty bound, at +the major's "swagger" wedding. It was after this episode he fell +utterly from grace and went forth to the frontier irreclaimably +"Downs." It was a seven-days' topic of talk at Sandy that Lieutenant +Blakely, when acting Indian agent at the reservation, should have +accepted the services of this unpromising specimen as "striker." It +was a seven-weeks' wonder that Downs kept the pact, and sober as a +judge, from the hour he joined the Bugologist to the night that +self-contained young officer was sent crashing into his beetle show +under the impact of Wren's furious fist. Then came the last pound that +broke the back of Downs' wavering resolution, and now had come—what? +The sergeant and party rode back from Dick's to tell Captain Cutler +the deserter had not taken the Cherry Creek road. Another party just +in reported similarly that he had not taken the old, abandoned Grief +Hill trail. Still another returned from down-stream ranches to say he +could not have taken that route without being seen—and he had not +been seen. Ranchman Strom would swear to that because Downs was in his +debt for value received in shape of whisky, and Strom was rabid at the +idea of his getting away. In fine, as nothing but Downs was missing, +it became a matter of speculation along toward tattoo as to whether +Downs could have taken anything at all—except possibly his own life.</p> + +<p>Cutler was now desirous of questioning Blakely at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> length, and +obtaining his views and theories as to Downs, for Cutler believed that +Blakely had certain well-defined views which he was keeping to +himself. Between these two, however, had grown an unbridgeable gulf. +Dr. Graham had declared at eight o'clock that morning that Mr. Blakely +was still so weak that he ought not to go with the searching parties, +and on receipt of this dictum Captain Cutler had issued his, to wit, +that Blakely should not go either in search of Downs or in pursuit of +Captain Wren. It stung Blakely and angered him even against Graham, +steeling him against the post commander. Each of these gentlemen +begged him to make his temporary home under his roof, and Blakely +would not. "Major Plume's quarters are now vacant, then," said Cutler +to Graham. "If he won't come to you or to me, let him take a room +there." This, too, Blakely refused. He reddened, what is more, at the +suggestion. He sent Nixon down to Mr. Hart's, the trader's, to ask if +he could occupy a spare room there, and when Hart said, yes, most +certainly, Cutler reddened in turn when told of it, and sent +Lieutenant Doty, the adjutant, to say that the post commander could +not "consent to an officer's occupying quarters outside the garrison +when there was abundant room within." Then came Truman and Westervelt +to beg Blakely to come to them. Then came a note from Mrs. Sanders, +reminding him that, as an officer of the cavalry, it would be casting +reflections on his own corps to go and dwell with aliens. "Captain +Sanders would never forgive me," said she, "if you did not take our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +spare room. Indeed, I shall feel far safer with a man in the house now +that we are having fires and Indian out-breaks and prisoners escaping +and all that sort of thing. <i>Do</i> come, Mr. Blakely." And in that blue +flannel shirt and the trooper trousers and bandanna neckerchief, +Blakely went and thanked her; sent for Nixon and his saddle-bags, and +with such patience as was possible settled down forthwith. Truth to +tell it was high time he settled somewhere, for excitement, exposure, +physical ill, and mental torment had told upon him severely. At +sunset, as he seemed too miserable to leave his room and come to the +dining table, Mrs. Sanders sent for the doctor, and reluctantly +Blakely let him in.</p> + +<p>That evening, just after tattoo had sounded, Kate Sanders and Angela +were having murmured conference on the Wrens' veranda. Aunt Janet had +gone to hospital to carry unimpeachable jelly to the several patients +and dubious words of cheer. Jelly they absorbed with much avidity and +her words with meek resignation. Mullins, she thought, after his +dreadful experience and close touch with death, must be in receptive +mood and repentant of his sins. Of just what sins to repent poor Pat +might still be unsettled in his mind. It was sufficient that he had +them, as all soldiers must have, said Miss Wren, and now that his +brain seemed clearing and the fever gone and he was too weak and +helpless to resist, the time seemed ripe for the sowing of good seed, +and Janet went to sow.</p> + +<p>But there by Mullins's bed, all unabashed at Janet's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> marked +disapprobation, sat Norah Shaughnessy. There, in flannel shirt and +trooper trousers and bandanna neckerchief, pale, but collected, stood +the objectionable Mr. Blakely. He was bending over, saying something +to Mullins, as she halted in the open doorway, and Blakely, looking +quickly up, went with much civility to greet and escort her within. To +his courteous, "Good-evening, Miss Wren, may I relieve you of your +basket?" she returned prompt negative and, honoring him with no +further notice, stood and gazed with Miss Shaughnessy at the +focus—Miss Shaughnessy who, after one brief glance, turned a broad +Irish back on the intruder at the doorway and resumed her murmuring to +Mullins.</p> + +<p>"Is the doctor here—or Steward Griffin?" spoke the lady, to the room +at large, looking beyond the lieutenant and toward the single soldier +attendant present.</p> + +<p>"The doctor and the steward are both at home just now, Miss Wren," +said Blakely. "May I offer you a chair?"</p> + +<p>Miss Wren preferred to stand.</p> + +<p>"I wish to speak with Steward Griffin," said she again. "Can you go +for him?" this time obviously limiting her language to the attendant +himself, and carefully excluding Mr. Blakely from the field of her +recognition. The attendant dumbly shook his head. So Aunt Janet tried +again.</p> + +<p>"Norah, <i>you</i> know where the steward lives, will you—" But Blakely +saw rebellion awake again in Ireland and interposed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The steward shall be here at once, Miss Wren," said he, and tiptoed +away. The lady's doubtful eye turned and followed him a moment, then +slowly she permitted herself to enter. Griffin, heading for the +dispensary at the moment and apprised of her visit, came hurrying in. +Blakely, pondering over the few words Mullins had faintly spoken, +walked slowly over toward the line. His talk with Graham had in a +measure stilled the spirit of rancor that had possessed him earlier in +the day. Graham, at least, was stanch and steadfast, not a weathercock +like Cutler. Graham had given him soothing medicine and advised his +strolling a while in the open air—he had slept so much of the +stifling afternoon—and now, hearing the sound of women's voices on +the dark veranda nearest him, he veered to the left, passed around the +blackened ruin of his own quarters and down along the rear of the line +just as the musician of the guard was sounding "Lights Out"—"Taps."</p> + +<p>And then a sudden thought occurred to him. Sentries began challenging +at taps. He was close to the post of No. 5. He could even see the +shadowy form of the sentry slowly pacing toward him, and here he stood +in the garb of a private soldier instead of his official dress. It +caused him quickly to veer again, to turn to his right, the west, and +to enter the open space between the now deserted quarters of the +permanent commander and those of Captain Wren adjoining them to the +north. Another moment and he stopped short. Girlish voices, low and +murmurous, fell upon his ear. In a moment he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> recognized them. "It +won't take me two minutes, Angela. I'll go and get it now," were the +first words distinctly heard, and, with a rustle of skirts, Kate +Sanders bounded lightly from the piazza to the sands and disappeared +around the corner of the major's quarters, going in the direction of +her home. For the first time in many eventful days Blakely stood +almost within touch of the girl whose little note was even then +nestling in an inner pocket, and they were alone.</p> + +<p>"Miss Angela!"</p> + +<p>Gently he spoke her name, but the effect was startling. She had been +reclining in a hammock, and at sound of his voice struggled suddenly +to a sitting posture, a low cry on her lips. In some strange way, in +the darkness, the fright, confusion,—whatever it may have been,—she +lost her balance and her seat. The hammock whirled from under her, and +with exasperating thump, unharmed but wrathful, the girl was tumbled +to the resounding floor. Blakely sprang to her aid, but she was up in +the split of a second, scorning, or not seeing, his eager, +outstretched hand.</p> + +<p>"My—Miss Angela!" he began, all anxiety and distress, "I hope you're +not hurt," and the outstretched hands were trembling.</p> + +<p>"I <i>know</i> I'm not," was the uncompromising reply, "not in the least; +startled—that's all! Gentlemen don't usually come upon one that +way—in the dark." She was panting a bit, but striving bravely, +angrily, to be calm and cool—icy cool.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nor would I have come that way," then, stupidly, "had I known you +were—here. Forgive me."</p> + +<p>How could she, after that? She had no wish to see him, so she had +schooled herself. She would decline to see him, were he to ask for her +at the door; but, not for an instant did she wish to hear that he did +not wish to see her, yet he had haplessly, brusquely said he wouldn't +have come had he known she was there. It was her duty to leave him, +instantly. It was her desire first to punish him.</p> + +<p>"My aunt is not at home," she began, the frost of the Sierras in her +tone.</p> + +<p>"I just left her, a moment ago, at the hospital," said he, steadfastly +ignoring her repellent tone. Indeed, if anything, the tone rejoiced +him, for it told a tale she would not have told for realms and +empires. He was ten years older and had lived. "But—forgive me," he +went on, "you are trembling, Miss Angela." She was, and loathed +herself, and promptly denied it. He gravely placed a chair. "You fell +heavily, and it must have jarred you. Please sit down," and stepping +to the <i>olla</i>, "let me bring you some water."</p> + +<p>She was weak. Her knees, her hands, were shaking as they never shook +before. He had seen her aunt at the hospital. He had left her aunt +there without a moment's delay that he might hasten to see her, +Angela. He was here and bending over her, with brimming gourd of cool +spring water. Nay, more, with one hand he pressed it to her lips, with +the other he held his handkerchief so that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> drops might not fall +upon her gown. He was bending over her, so close she could hear, she +thought, the swift beating of his heart. She knew that if what Aunt +Janet had told, and her father had seen, of him were true, she would +rather die than suffer a touch of his hand. Yet one hand had touched +her, gently, yet firmly, as he helped her to the chair, and the touch +she loathed was sweet to her in spite of herself. From the moment of +their first meeting this man had done what no other man had done +before—spoken to her and treated her as a grown woman, with a man's +admiration in his fine blue eyes, with deference in word and chivalric +grace in manner. And in spite of the mean things whispered about +him—about him and—anybody, she had felt her young heart going out to +him, her buoyant, joyous, healthful nature opening and expanding in +the sunshine of his presence. And now he had come to seek her, after +all the peril and excitement and trouble he had undergone, and now, +all loverlike tenderness and concern, was bending over her and +murmuring to her, his deep voice almost as tremulous as her hand. Oh, +it couldn't be true that he—cared for—was interested in—that woman, +the major's wife! Not that she <i>ought</i> to care one way or another, +except that it was so despicable—so unlike him. Yet she had promised +herself—had virtually promised her father—that she would hold far +aloof from this man, and here he stood, so close that their +heart-beats almost intermingled, and he was telling her that he wished +she had kept and never returned the little butterfly net, for now, +when it had won a value it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> never before had known, it was his fate to +lose it. "And now," he said, "I hope to be sent to-morrow to join your +father in the field, and I wish to tell you that, whenever I go, I +shall first come to see what you may have to send to him. Will you—be +here, Miss Angela?"</p> + +<p>For a moment—silence. She was thinking of her duty to her father, of +her implied promise, of all that Janet had told her, and so thinking +could not for the moment answer—could not meet his earnest gaze. Dark +as it was she felt, rather than saw, the glow of his deep blue eyes. +She could not mistake the tenderness of his tone. She had so believed +in him. He seemed so far above the callow, vapid, empty-headed +youngsters the other girls were twittering about from morn till night. +She felt that she believed in him now, no matter what had been said or +who had said it. She felt that if he would but say it was all a +mistake—that no woman had crossed his threshold, all Camp Sandy might +swear to the truth of the story, and she would laugh at it. But how +could she ask such a thing of him? Her cheeks took fire at the +thought. It was he who broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"Something has happened to break your faith in me, Miss Angela," said +he, with instant gravity. "I certainly had it—I <i>know</i> I had it—not +a week ago"; and now he had dropped to a seat in the swaying hammock, +and with calm strength and will bent toward her and compelled her +attention. "I have a right to know, as matters stand. Will you tell +me, or must I wait until I see your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>father?" With that Neil Blakely +actually sought to take her hand. She whipped it behind her at the +instant. "Will you tell me?" he repeated, bending closer.</p> + +<p>From down the line, dancing along the wooden veranda, came the sound +of swift footfalls—Kate Sanders hurrying back. Another moment and it +would be too late. The denial she longed to hear from his lips might +never be spoken. If spoken at all it must be here and now, yet how +could she—how could <i>she</i> ask <i>him</i>?</p> + +<p>"I will tell you, Mr. Blakely." The words came from the window of the +darkened parlor, close at hand. The voice was that of Janet Wren, +austere and uncompromising. "I got here in time to hear your +question—I will answer for my niece—"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Janet—No!"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, Angela. Mr. Blakely, it is because this child's father saw, +and I heard of, that which makes you unworthy the faith of a young, +pure-hearted girl. Who was the—the creature to whom you opened your +door last Wednesday midnight?"</p> + +<p>Kate Sanders, singing softly, blithely, came tripping along the +major's deserted veranda, her fresh young voice, glad, yet subdued, +caroling the words of a dear old song that Parepa had made loved and +famous full ten years before:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And as he lingered by her side,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In spite of his comrade's warning<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The old, old story was told again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At five o'clock in the morning."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then came sudden silence, as springing to the sandy ground, the singer +reached the Wrens' veranda and saw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> the dim form of Mr. Blakely, +standing silently confronting a still dimmer form, faintly visible at +the side window against the soft, tempered light of the hanging lamp +in the hall.</p> + +<p>"Who was the creature?" I repeat, were the strange words, in Miss +Wren's most telling tone, that brought Kate Sanders to a halt, +startled, silent.</p> + +<p>Then Blakely answered: "Some day I shall tell Miss Angela, madam, but +never—you. Good-night."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A CALL FOR HELP</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hat night the wire across the mountains to Prescott was long alive +with news, and there was little rest for operator, adjutant, or +commanding officer at Sandy. Colonel Byrne, it seems, had lost +telegraphic touch with his chief, who, quitting Camp McDowell, had +personally taken the field somewhere over in the Tonto Basin beyond +the Matitzal Range, and Byrne had the cares of a continent on his +hands. Three of the five commands out in the field had had sharp +encounters with the foe. Official business itself was sufficiently +engrossing, but there were other matters assuming grave proportions. +Mrs. Plume had developed a feverish anxiety to hie on to the Pacific +and out of Arizona just at a time when, as her husband had to tell +her, it was impossible for him, and impolitic for her, to go. Matters +at Sandy, he explained, were in tangled shape. Mullins partially +restored, but still, as Plume assured her, utterly out of his head, +had declared that his assailants were women; and other witnesses, +Plume would not give names, had positively asserted that Elise had +been seen along the sentry post just about the time the stabbing +occurred. Everything now, said he, must depend on Captain Wren, who +was known to have seen and spoken to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> Elise, and who could probably +testify that she returned to their roof before the tragic affair of +the night. But Wren was now away up in the mountains beyond Snow Lake +and might be going far over through Sunset Pass to the Colorado +Chiquito. Meantime he, Plume, was responsible for Elise, in duty bound +to keep her there to face any accuser. In her nervous, semi-hysterical +state the wife could not well be told how much she, too, was involved. +It was not necessary. She knew—all Fort Whipple, as Prescott's +military post was called, knew all about the fire that had destroyed +the "beetle shop" and Blakely's belongings. Elise, in wild excitement, +had rushed to her mistress with that news and the further information +that Downs was gone and could not be found. This latter fact, indeed, +they learned before Plume ever heard of it—and made no mention of it +in his presence.</p> + +<p>"I shall have to run down to Sandy again," said Byrne, to Plume. "Keep +up your heart and—watch that Frenchwoman. The jade!" And with the +following day he was bounding and bumping down the stony road that led +from the breezy, pine-crested heights about headquarters to the sandy +flats and desert rocks and ravines fifty miles to the east and +twenty-five hundred feet below. "Shall be with you after dark," he +wired Cutler, who was having a bad quarter of an hour on his own +account, and wishing all Sandy to the devil. It had transpired that +Strom's rival ranchman, a little farther down the valley, was short +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>just one horse and set of horse equipments. He had made no complaint. +He had accused nobody. He had never failed in the past to appear at +Sandy with charge of theft and demand for damages at the expense of +the soldiery whenever he missed an item, big or little—and sometimes +when he didn't miss a thing. But now he came not at all, and Cutler +jumped at the explanation: he had sold that steed, and Downs, the +deserter, was the purchaser. Downs must have had money to aid in his +escape. Downs must have received it from someone eager to get him out +of the way. It might well be Elise, for who else would trust him? and +Downs must be striking for the south, after wide <i>détour</i>. No use now +to chase him. The wire was the only thing with which to round him up, +so the stage stations on the Gila route, and the scattered army posts, +were all notified of the desertion, and Downs's description, with all +his imperfections, was flashed far and wide over the Territory. He +could no more hope to escape than fly on the wings of night. He would +be cut off or run down long before he could reach Mexico; that is, he +<i>would</i> be if only troopers got after him. The civil list of Arizona +in 1875 was of peculiar constitution. It stood ready at any time to +resolve itself into a modification of the old-day underground +railways, and help spirit off soldier criminals, first thoughtfully +relieving them of care and responsibility for any surplus funds in +their possession.</p> + +<p>And with Downs gone one way, Wren's troop gone another, and Blakely +here clamoring to follow, Cutler was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>mentally torn out of shape. He +believed it his duty to hold Blakely at least until the colonel came, +and he lacked the "sand" to tell him so.</p> + +<p>From Wren not another word had been received direct, but Bridger at +the agency had sent word that the Indians there were constantly in +receipt of news from the hostiles that filled them with excitement. +Wren, at last accounts, had gone into the mountains south of Sunset +Pass toward Chevlon's Fork, and his trail was doubtless watched to +head off couriers or cut down stragglers. Blakely's appeal to be +allowed to follow and join his troop had been declared foolish, and +the attempt foolhardy, by Captain Cutler. This and not the real reason +was given, coupled of course, with the doctor's dictum. But even +Graham had begun to think Blakely would be the better for anything +that would take him away from a station where life had been one swift +succession of ills and mishaps.</p> + +<p>And even Graham did not dream how sorely Blakely had been hit. Nor +could he account for the access of nervous irritability that possessed +his patient all the livelong day, while waiting, as they all were, for +the coming of Colonel Byrne. Mrs. Sanders declared to Mrs. Graham her +private impression that he was on the verge of prostration, although, +making an effort, Blakely had appeared at breakfast after an early +morning walk, had been most courteous, gentle, and attentive to her +and to her wholesome, if not actually homely, Kate. How the mother's +heart yearned over that sweet-natured, sallow-faced child! But after +breakfast Blakely had wandered off again and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> was out on the <i>mesa</i>, +peering through a pair of borrowed glasses over the dreary eastward +landscape and up and down the deep valley. "How oddly are we +constituted!" said Mrs. Sanders. "If I only had his money, I'd never +be wearing my heart out in this desert land." She was not the only +army wife and mother that should have married a stockbroker—anything +rather than a soldier.</p> + +<p>The whole post knew by noon that Byrne was coming, and waited with +feverish impatience. Byrne was the power that would put an end to the +doubts and distractions, decide who stabbed Pat Mullins, who set fire +to the "beetle shop," where Epsom Downs had gone, and could even +settle, possibly, the long-doubtful question, "Who struck Billy +Patterson?" Sandy believed in Byrne as it did in no one since the days +of General Crook. With two exceptions, all Sandy society was out on +the parade, the porticoes, or the northward bluff, as the sun went +down. These two were the Misses Wren. "Angela," said Miss Janet, "is +keeping her room to-day, and pretending to keep her temper"—this to +Kate Sanders, who had twice sought admission, despite a girlish awe +of, if not aversion to, this same Aunt Janet.</p> + +<p>"But don't you think she'd like to see me just a little while, Miss +Wren?" the girl inquired, her hand caressing the sleek head of one of +the big hounds as she spoke. Hounds were other objects of Miss Wren's +disfavor. "Lazy, pilfering brutes," she called them, when after hours +of almost incredible labor and ingenious effort they had managed to +tear down, and to pieces, a haunch of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> venison she had slung to the +rafters of the back porch. "You can come in, Kate, provided you keep +out the dogs," was her ungracious answer, "and I'll go see. I think +she's sleeping now, and ought not to be disturbed."</p> + +<p>"Then I won't disturb her," was Miss Sanders's prompt reply, as she +turned away and would have gone, but the elder restrained her. Janet +did not wish the girl to go at all. She knew Angela had asked for her, +and doubtless longed to see her; and now, having administered her +feline scratch and made Kate feel the weight of her disapproval, she +was quite ready to promote the very interview she had verbally +condemned. Perhaps Miss Sanders saw and knew this and preferred to +worry Miss Wren as much as possible. At all events, only with +reluctance did she obey the summons to wait a minute, and stood with a +pout on her lips as the spinster vanished in the gloom of the hallway. +Angela could not have been asleep, for her voice was audible in an +instant. "Come up, Kate," she feebly cried, just as Aunt Janet had +begun her little sermon, and the sermon had to stop, for Kate Sanders +came, and neither lass was in mood to listen to pious exhortation. +Moreover, they made it manifest to Aunt Janet that there would be no +interchange of confidences until she withdrew. "You are not to talk +yourselves into a pitch of excitement," said she. "Angela must sleep +to-night to make up for the hours she lost—thanks to the abominable +remarks of that hardened young man." With that, after a pull at the +curtain, a soothing thump or two at Angela's pillow, and the muttered +wish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> that the coming colonel were empowered to arrest recalcitrant +nieces as well as insubordinate subs, she left them to their own +devices. They were still in eager, almost breathless chat when the +crack of whip and sputter of hoofs and wheels through gravelly sands +told that the inspector's ambulance had come. Was it likely that +Angela could sleep until she heard the probable result of the +inspector's coming?</p> + +<p>He was closeted first with Cutler. Then Dr. Graham was sent for, and +the three walked over to the hospital, just as the musicians were +forming for tattoo. They were at Mullins's bedside, with the steward +and attendants outside, when taps went wailing out upon the night. +There were five minutes of talk with that still bewildered patient. +Then Byrne desired to see Mr. Blakely at once and alone. Cutler +surrendered his office to the department inspector, and thither the +lieutenant was summoned. Mrs. Sanders, with Mrs. Truman, was keeping +little Mrs. Bridger company at the moment, and Blakely bowed +courteously to the three in passing by.</p> + +<p>"Even in that rough dress," said Mrs. Sanders reflectively, as her +eyes followed the tall, straight figure over the moonlit parade, "he +is a most distinguished looking man."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Bridger, still unappeased. "If he were a Sioux, I +suppose they'd call him 'Man-In-Love-With-His-Legs.'" Blakely heard +the bubble of laughter that followed him on his way, and wished that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>he, too, felt in mood as merry. The acting sergeant major, a clerk, +and young Cassidy, the soldier telegraph operator, seated at the +westward end of the rough board porch of the adjutant's office, arose +and saluted as he entered. Byrne had sent every possible hearer out of +the building.</p> + +<p>Five minutes the conference lasted, no sound coming from within. +Cutler and Graham, with Captain Westervelt, sat waiting on the porch +of the doctor's quarters, Mrs. Graham being busy with her progeny +aloft. Others of the officers and families were also on the piazzas, +or strolling slowly up and down the pathway, but all eyes wandered +from time to time toward the dim light at the office. All was dark at +the barracks. All was hushed and still about the post. The sentry call +for half-past ten was still some minutes' distant, when one of the +three seated figures at the end of the office porch was seen to rise. +Then the other two started to their feet. The first hastened to the +door and began to knock. So breathless was the night that over on the +verandas the imperative thumping could be distinctly heard, and +everyone ceased talk and listened. Then, in answer to some query from +within, the voice of young Cassidy was uplifted.</p> + +<p>"I beg pardon, sir, but that's the agency calling me, and it's hurry."</p> + +<p>They saw the door open from within; saw the soldier admitted and the +door closed after him; saw the two men waiting standing and expectant, +no longer content to resume <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>their chat. For three minutes of suspense +there came no further sound. Then the door was again thrown open, and +both Byrne and Blakely came hurrying out. In the memory of the +earliest inhabitant never had Sandy seen the colonel walk so fast. +Together they came striding straight toward Cutler's, and the captain +arose and went to meet them, foreboding in his soul. Graham and +Westervelt, restrained by discipline, held back. The women and younger +officers, hushed by anxiety, gazed at the swift-coming pair in dread +and fascination. There was a moment of muttered conference with the +commanding officer, some hurried words, then Blakely was seen to +spring away, to be recalled by Cutler, to start a second time, only to +be again recalled. Then Cutler, shouting, "Mr. Doty, I need you!" +hurried away toward the office, and Blakely, fairly running, sped +straight for the barracks of Wren's troop. Only Byrne was left to +answer the storm of question that burst upon him all at once, women +thronging about him from all along the line.</p> + +<p>"We have news from the agency," said he. "It is from Indian runners, +and may not be reliable—some rumor of a sharp fight near Sunset +Pass."</p> + +<p>"Are there particulars, colonel—anybody killed or wounded?" It was +Mrs. Sanders who spoke, her face very pale.</p> + +<p>"We cannot know—as yet. It is all an Indian story. Mr. Blakely is +going at once to investigate," was the guarded answer. But Mrs. +Sanders knew, as well as a dozen others, that there <i>were</i> +particulars—that somebody had been killed or wounded, for Indian +stories to that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> effect had been found singularly reliable. It was +Wren's troop that had gone to Sunset Pass, and here was Wren's sister +with question in her eye, and at sight of her the colonel turned and +hurried back to headquarters, following the post commander.</p> + +<p>Another moment and Blakely, in the broad light streaming suddenly from +the office room of Wren's troop, came speeding straight across the +parade again in the direction of Sanders's quarters, next to the last +at the southward end of the row. They sought, of course, to intercept +him, and saw that his face was pale, though his manner was as composed +as ever. To every question he had but one thing to say: "Colonel Byrne +and the captain know all that I do—and more. Ask them." But this he +said with obvious wish to be questioned no further,—said it gently, +but most firmly,—and then, with scant apology, passed on. Five +minutes more and Nixon was lugging out the lieutenant's field kit on +the Sanders's porch, and Blakely, reappearing, went straight up the +row to Wren's. It was now after 10.30, but he never hesitated. Miss +Janet, watching him from the midst of her friends, saw him stride, +unhesitatingly, straight to the door and knock. She followed +instantly, but, before she could reach the steps, Kate Sanders, with +wonder in her eyes, stood faltering before him.</p> + +<p>"Will you say to Miss Angela that I have come as I promised? I am +going at once to—join the troop. Can I see her?" he asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p><p>"She isn't well, Mr. Blakely. She hasn't left her room to-day." And +Miss Sanders began herself to tremble, for up the steps came the +resolute lady of the house, whom seeing, Mr. Blakely honored with a +civil bow, but with not a word.</p> + +<p>"I will hear your message, Mr. Blakely," said Miss Wren, pallid, too, +and filled with wordless anxiety, but determined none the less.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sanders has heard it, madam," was the uncompromising answer. +"Will you see Miss Angela, please?" This again to Kate—and, without +another word, she went.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blakely," began the lady impressively, "almost the last thing my +brother said to me before leaving the post was that he wished no +meetings between you and Angela. Why do you pursue her? Do you wish to +compel me to take her away?"</p> + +<p>For a moment he was silent. Then, "It is I who must go, Miss Wren," +was the answer, and she, who expected resentment, looked at him in +surprise, so gentle, so sorrowing was his tone. "I had hoped to bear +her message, but shall intrude no more. If the news that came to-night +should be confirmed—and only in that event—say to her, if you +please, that I shall do my best to find her father."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>A RETURN TO COMMAND</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_19.jpg" alt="W" width="69" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ith but a single orderly at his back, Mr. Blakely had left Camp Sandy +late at night; had reached the agency, twenty miles up stream, two +hours before the dawn and found young Bridger waiting for him. They +had not even a reliable interpreter now. Arahawa, "Washington +Charley," had been sent to the general at Camp McDowell. Lola's +father, with others of her kin, had taken Apache leave and gone in +search of the missing girl. But between the sign language and the +<i>patois</i> of the mountains, a strange mixture of Spanish, English, and +Tonto Apache, the officers had managed, with the aid of their men, to +gather explanation of the fierce excitement prevailing all that +previous day among the Indians at the agency. There had been another +fight, a chase, a scattering of both pursuers and pursued. Most of the +troops were at last accounts camping in the rocks near Sunset Pass. +Two had been killed, several were wounded, three were missing, lost to +everybody. Even the Apaches swore they knew not where they were—a +sergeant, a trumpeter, and "Gran Capitan" himself—Captain Wren.</p> + +<p>In the paling starlight of the coming day Blakely and Bridger plied +the reluctant Indians with questions in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> every form possible with +their limited knowledge of the sign language. Blakely, having spent so +many years on staff duty, had too little knowledge of practical +service in the field. Bridger was but a beginner at best. Together +they had decided on their course. A wire was sent to Sandy saying that +from all they could gather the rumors were probably true, but urging +that couriers be sent for Dick, the Cherry Creek settler, and Wales +Arnold, another pioneer who had lived long in Apache land and owned a +ranch on the little Beaver. They could get more out of the Indians +than could these soldiers. It would be hours after dawn before either +Dick or his fellow frontiersman could arrive. Meanwhile Sandy must +bear the suspense as well as it might. The next wire came from Bridger +at nine o'clock:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Arnold arrived hour ago. Examined six. Says stories probably +true. Confident Wren not killed.</p></div> + +<p>For answer Byrne wired that a detachment of a dozen men with three +packers had marched at five o'clock to report to Blakely for such duty +as he might require, and the answer came within the minute:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Blakely gone. Started for Snow Lake 4.30. Left orders +detachment follow. Took orderly and two Apache Yuma scouts.</p></div> + +<p>Byrne, Cutler, and Graham read with grave and anxious faces, but said +very little. It was Blakely's way.</p> + +<p>And that was the last heard of the Bugologist for as much as a week.</p> + +<p>Meantime there was a painful situation at Fort Whip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>ple, away up in +"the hills." Major Plume, eager on his wife's account to get her to +the seashore—"Monterey or Santa Barbara," said the sapient medical +director—and ceaselessly importuned by her and viciously nagged by +Elise, found himself bound to the spot. So long as Mullins stuck to +his story Plume knew it would never do for him to leave. "A day or two +more and he may abate or amend his statement," wrote Graham. Indeed, +if Norah Shaughnessy were not there to prompt—to prop—his memory, +Graham thought it like enough that even now the soldier would have +wavered. But never a jot or tittle had Mullins been shaken from the +original statement.</p> + +<p>"There was two women," he said, "wid their shawls over their heads," +and those two, refusing to halt at his demand, had been overtaken and +one of them seized, to his bitter cost, for the other had driven a +keen-bladed knife through his ribs, even as he sought to examine his +captive. "They wouldn't spake," said he, "so what could I do but pull +the shawl from the face of her to see could she be recognized?" Then +came the fierce, cat-like spring of the taller of the two. Then the +well-nigh fatal thrust. What afterwards became of the women he could +say no more than the dead. Norah might rave about its being the +Frenchwoman that did it to protect the major's lady—this he spoke in +whispered confidence and only in reply to direct question—but it +wouldn't be for the likes of him to preshume. Mullins, it seems, was a +soldier of the old school.</p> + +<p>Then came fresh and dire anxiety at Sandy. Four<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> days after Blakely's +start there appeared two swarthy runners from the way of Beaver Creek. +They bore a missive scrawled on the paper lining of a cracker box, and +it read about as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="sig5"><span class="smcap">Camp in Sunset Pass</span>, November 3d.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Commanding Officer, Camp Sandy</span>:</p> + + +<p>Scouting parties returning find no trace of Captain Wren and +Sergeant Carmody, but we shall persevere. Indians lurking +all about us make it difficult. Shall be needing rations in +four days. All wounded except Flynn doing fairly well. Hope +couriers sent you on 30th and 31st reached you safely.</p></div> + +<p>The dispatch was in the handwriting of Benson, a trooper of good +education, often detailed for clerical work. It was signed "Brewster, +Sergeant."</p> + +<p>Who then were the couriers, and what had become of them? What fate had +attended Blakely in his lonely and perilous ride? What man or pair of +men could pierce that cordon of Indians lurking all around them and +reach the beleaguered command? What need to speculate on the fate of +the earlier couriers anyway? Only Indians could hope to outwit Indians +in such a case. It was madness to expect white men to get through. It +was madness for Blakely to attempt it. Yet Blakely was gone beyond +recall, perhaps beyond redemption. From him, and from the detachment +that was sent by Bridger to follow his trail, not a word had come of +any kind. Asked if they had seen or heard anything of such parties, +the Indian couriers stolidly shook their heads. They had followed the +old Wingate road all the way until in sight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>of the valley. Then, +scrambling through a rocky labyrinth, impossible for hoof or wheel, +had made a short cut to the head waters of the Beaver. Now Blakely, +riding from the agency eastward slowly, should have found that Wingate +trail before the setting of the first day's sun, and his followers +could not have been far behind. It began to look as though the +Bugologist had never reached the road. It began to be whispered about +the post that Wren and his luckless companions might never be found at +all. Kate Sanders had ceased her song. She was now with Angela day and +night.</p> + +<p>One hope, a vague one, remained beside that of hearing from the +baker's dozen that rode on Blakely's trail. Just as soon as Byrne +received the Indian story concerning Wren's disappearance, he sent +runners eastward on the track of Sanders's troop, with written advice +to that officer to drop anything he might be doing along the Black +Mesa and, turning northward, to make his way through a country +hitherto untrod by white man, between Baker's Butte at the south and +the Sunset Mountains at the north. He was ordered to scout the cañon +of Chevlon's Fork, and to look for sign on every side until, somewhere +among the "tanks" in the solid rock about the mountain gateway known +as Sunset Pass, he should join hands with the survivors of Webb's +troop, nursing their wounded and guarding the new-made graves of their +dead. Under such energetic supervision as that of Captain Sanders it +was believed that even Apache Yuma scouts could be made to accomplish +something, and that new heart would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>be given Wren's dispirited men. +By this time, too, if Blakely had not fallen into the hands of the +Apaches, he should have been joined by the intended escort, and, thus +strengthened, could either push on to the pass, or, if surrounded, +take up some strong position among the rocks and stand off his +assailants until found by his fellow-soldiers under Sanders. Moreover, +Byrne had caused report of the situation to be sent to the general via +Camp McDowell, and felt sure he would lose no time in directing the +scouting columns to head for the Sunset country. Scattered as were the +hostile Apaches, it was apparent that they were in greater force +northward, opposite the old reservation, than along the Mogollon Range +southeast of it. There was hope, activity, animation, among the little +camps and garrisons toward the broad valley of the Gila as the early +days of November wore away. Only here at Sandy was there suspense as +well as deep despond.</p> + +<p>It was a starlit Sunday morning that Blakely rode away eastward from +the agency. It was Wednesday night when Sergeant Brewster's runners +came, and never a wink of sleep had they or their inquisitors until +Thursday was ushered in. It was Saturday night again, a week from the +night Neil Blakely strove to see and say good-by to Angela Wren. It +was high time other runners came from Brewster, unless they, too, had +been cut off, as must have been the fate of their forerunners. All +drills had been suspended at Sandy; all duty subordinated to guard. +Cutler had practically abolished the daily details, had doubled his +sentries, had established outlying pickets, and was even bent on +throwing up intrench<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>ments or at least digging rifle pits, lest the +Apaches should feel so "cocky" over their temporary successes as to +essay an attack on the post. Byrne smiled and said they would hardly +try that, but he approved the pickets. It was noted that for nearly a +week,—not since Blakely's start from the agency,—no signal fires had +been seen in the Red Rock country or about the reservation. Mr. +Truman, acting as post quartermaster, had asked for additional men to +protect his little herd, for the sergeant in charge declared that, +twice, long-distance shots had come from far away up the bouldered +heights to the west. The daily mail service had been abandoned, so +nervous had the carrier become, and now, twice each week, a corporal +and two men rode the rugged trail, thus far without seeing a sign of +Apaches. The wire, too, was undisturbed, but an atmosphere of alarm +and dread clung about the scattered ranches even as far as the Agua +Fria to the west, and the few officials left at Prescott found it +impossible to reassure the settlers, who, quitting their new homes, +had either clustered about some favored ranch for general defense or, +"packing" to Fort Whipple, were clamoring there for protection with +which to return to and occupy their abandoned roofs.</p> + +<p>And all this, said Byrne, between his set teeth, because a bumptious +agent sought to lay forceful hands upon the daughter of a chief. Poor +Daly! He had paid dearly for that essay. As for Natzie, and her shadow +Lola, neither one had been again seen. They might indeed have dropped +back from Montezuma Well after the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> wild stampede, but only +fruitless search had the soldiers made for them. Even their own +people, said Bridger, at the agency, were either the biggest liars +that ever lived or the poorest trailers. The Apaches swore the girls +could not be found. "I'll bet Sergeant Shannon could nail them," said +Hart, the trader, when told of the general denial among the Indians. +But Shannon was far away from the field column, leading his moccasined +comrades afoot and in single file long, wearisome climbs up jagged +cliffs or through deep cañons, where unquestionably the foe had been +in numbers but the day before, yet now they were gone. Shannon might +well be needed at the far front, now that most of the Apache scouts +had proved timid or worthless, but Byrne wished he had him closer +home.</p> + +<p>It was the Saturday night following the coming of the runners with +confirmation of the grewsome Indian stories. Colonel Byrne, with +Graham, Cutler, and Westervelt, had been at the office half an hour in +consultation when, to the surprise of every soul at Sandy, a four-mule +team and Concord wagon came bowling briskly into the post, and Major +Plume, dust-covered and grave, marched into the midst of the +conference and briefly said: "Gentlemen, I return to resume command."</p> + +<p>Nobody had a word to say beyond that of welcome. It was manifestly the +proper thing for him to do. Unable, in face of the stories afloat, to +take his wife away, his proper place in the pressing emergency was at +his post in command.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>To Colonel Byrne, who guardedly and somewhat dubiously asked, "How +about Mrs. Plume and that—French thing?" the major's answer was +prompt:</p> + +<p>"Both at Fort Whipple and in—good hands," said he. "My wife realizes +that my duty is here, and, though her recovery may be retarded, she +declares she will remain there or even join me. She, in fact, was so +insistent that I should bring her back with me that it embarrassed me +somewhat. I vetoed it, however."</p> + +<p>Byrne gazed at him from under his shaggy eyebrows. "H'm," said he, "I +fancied she had shaken the dust of Sandy from her shoes for good and +all—that she hoped never to come back."</p> + +<p>"I, too," answered Plume ingenuously. "She hated the very mention of +it,—this is between ourselves,—until this week. Now she says her +place is here with me, no matter how she may suffer," and the major +seemed to dwell with pride on this new evidence of his wife's +devotion. It was, indeed, an unusual symptom, and Byrne had to try +hard to look credulous, which Plume appreciated and hurried on:</p> + +<p>"Elise, of course, seemed bent on talking her out of it, but, with +Wren and Blakely both missing, I could not hesitate. I had to come. +Oh, captain, is Truman still acting quartermaster?" this to Cutler. +"He has the keys of my house, I suppose."</p> + +<p>And so by tattoo the major was once more harbored under his old roof +and full of business. From Byrne and his associates he quickly +gathered all particulars in their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> possession. He agreed with them +that another day must bring tidings from the east or prove that the +Apaches had surrounded and perhaps cut down every man of the command. +He listened eagerly to the details Byrne and others were able to give +him. He believed, by the time "taps" came, he had already settled on a +plan for another relief column, and he sent for Truman, the +quartermaster.</p> + +<p>"Truman," said he, "how much of a pack train have you got left?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly a mule, sir. Two expeditions out from this post swallows up +pretty much everything."</p> + +<p>"Very true; yet I may have to find a dozen packs before we get half +through this business. The ammunition is in your hands, too, isn't it? +Where do you keep it?" and the major turned and gazed out in the +starlight.</p> + +<p>"Only place I got, sir—quartermaster's storehouse," and Truman eyed +his commander doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm squeamish about such things as that," said the major, +looking even graver, "especially since this fire here. By the way, was +much of Blakely's property—er—rescued—or recovered?"</p> + +<p>"Very little, sir. Blakely lost pretty much everything, except some +papers in an iron box—the box that was warped all out of shape."</p> + +<p>"Where is it now?" asked Plume, tugging at the strap of a dressing +case and laying it open on the broad window-seat.</p> + +<p>"In my quarters, under my bed, sir."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Isn't that rather—unsafe?" asked Plume. "Think how quick <i>he</i> was +burned out."</p> + +<p>"Best I can do, sir. But he said it contained little of value, mainly +letters and memoranda. No valuables at all, in fact. The lock wouldn't +work, so the blacksmith strap-ironed it for him. That prevents it +being opened by anyone, you know, who hasn't the proper tools."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Plume reflectively. "It seems rather unusual to take +such precaution with things of no value. I suppose Blakely knows his +own business, however. Thank you very much Truman. Good-night."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he did, at least, when he had the blacksmith iron that +box," thought Truman, as he trudged away. "He did, at any rate, when +he made me promise to keep it with the utmost care. Not even you can +have it, Major Plume, although you are the post commander."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A STRANGE COMING</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_19.jpg" alt="W" width="69" height="50" /></div> +<p>ith one orderly and a pair of Apache Yuma scouts, Neil Blakely had +set forth in hopes of making his way to Snow Lake, far up in the range +to the east. The orderly was all very well,—like most of his fellows, +game, true, and tried,—but few were the leaders who had any faith in +Apache Yumas. Of those Indians whom General Crook had successively +conquered, then turned to valuable use, the Hualpais had done well and +proved reliable; the Apache Mohaves had served since '73, and in scout +after scout and many a skirmish had proved loyal and worthy allies +against the fierce, intractable Tontos, many of whom had never yet +come in to an agency or accepted the bounty of the government. Even a +certain few of these Tontos had proffered fealty and been made useful +as runners and trailers against the recalcitrants of their own band. +But the Apache Yumas, their mountain blood tainted by the cross with +the slothful bands of the arid, desert flats of the lower Colorado, +had won a bad name from the start, and deserved it. They feared the +Tontos, who had thrashed them again and again, despoiled them of their +plunder, walked away with their young women, insulted and jeered at +their young men. Except when backed by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> braves of other bands, +therefore, the Apache Yumas were fearful and timorous on the trail. +Once they had broken and run before a mere handful of Tontos, leaving +a wounded officer to his fate. Once, when scaling the Black Mesa +toward this very Snow Lake, they had whimpered and begged to be sent +home, declaring no enemy was there in hiding, when the peaks were +found alive with Tontos. The Red Rock country and the northward spurs +of the Mogollon seemed fraught with some strange, superstitious terror +in their eyes, and if the "nerve" of a dozen would desert them when +ordered east of the Verde, what could be expected of Blakely's two? No +wonder, then, the elders at Sandy were sorely troubled!</p> + +<p>But the Bugologist had nothing else to choose from. All the reliable, +seasoned scouts were already gone with the various field columns. Only +Apache Yumas remained, and only the least promising of the Apache +Yumas at that. Bridger remembered how reluctantly these two had obeyed +the summons to go. "If they don't sneak away and come back swearing +they have lost the lieutenant, I'm a gopher," said he, and gave orders +accordingly to have them hauled before him should they reappear. +Confidently he looked to see or hear of them as again lurking about +the commissary storehouse after the manner of their people, beggars to +the backbone. But the week went by without a sign of them. "There's +only one thing to explain that," said he. "They've either deserted to +the enemy or been cut off and killed." What,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> then, had become of +Blakely? What fate had befallen Wren?</p> + +<p>By this time, late Saturday night, acting for the department commander +now lost somewhere in the mountains, Byrne had re-enforced the guards +at the agency and the garrison at Sandy with infantry drawn from Fort +Whipple at Prescott, for thither the Apaches would never venture. The +untrammeled and sovereign citizen had his own way of treating the +obnoxious native to the soil.</p> + +<p>By this time, too, further word should have come from some of the +field columns, Sanders's especially. But though runners had reached +the post bearing brief dispatches from the general, showing that he +and the troops from the more southerly posts were closing in on the +wild haunts of the Tontos about Chevlon's Fork, not a sign had come +from this energetic troop commander, not another line from Sergeant +Brewster or his men, and there were women at Camp Sandy now nearly mad +with sleepless dread and watching. "It means," said Byrne, "that the +hostiles are between us and those commands. It means that couriers +can't get through, that's all. I'm betting the commands are safe +enough. They are too strong to be attacked." But Byrne was silent as +to Blakely; he was dumb as to Wren. He was growing haggard with +anxiety and care and inability to assure or comfort. The belated +rations needed by Brewster's party, packed on mules hurried down from +Prescott, were to start at dawn for Sunset Pass under stout infantry +guard, and they, too, would probably be swallowed up in the +moun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>tains. The ranch people down the valley, fearful of raiding +Apaches, had abandoned their homes, and, driving their stock before +them, had taken refuge in the emptied corrals of the cavalry. Even +Hart, the veteran trader, seemed losing his nerve under the strain, +for when such intrepid frontiersmen as Wales Arnold declared it +reckless to venture across the Sandy, and little scouting parties were +greeted with long-range shots from hidden foe, it boded ill for all +dwellers without the walls of the fort. For the first time in the +annals of Camp Sandy, Hart had sandbagged his lower story, and he and +his retainers practically slept upon their arms.</p> + +<p>It was after midnight. Lights still burned dimly at the guard-house, +the adjutant's office, and over at the quarters of the commanding +officer, where Byrne and Plume were in consultation. There were +sleepless eyes in every house along the line. Truman had not turned in +at all. Pondering over his brief talk with the returned commander, he +had gone to the storehouse to expedite the packing of Brewster's +rations, and then it occurred to him to drop in a moment at the +hospital. In all the dread and excitement of the past two days, Pat +Mullins had been well-nigh forgotten. The attendant greeted him at the +entrance. Truman, as he approached, could see him standing at the +broad open doorway, apparently staring out through the starlight +toward the black and distant outlines of the eastward mountains. +Mullins at least was sleeping and seemed rapidly recovering, said he, +in answer to Truman's muttered query. "Major Plume,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> he added, "was +over to see him a while ago, but I told the major Pat was asleep." +Truman listened without comment, but noted none the less and lingered. +"You were looking out to the east," he said. "Seen any lights or +fire?"</p> + +<p>"Not I, sir. But the sentry there on No. 4 had the corporal out just +now. He's seen or heard something, and they've moved over toward No. +5's post."</p> + +<p>Truman followed. How happened it that when Byrne and Plume had so much +to talk of the latter could find time to come away over to the +hospital to inquire for a patient? And there! the call for half-past +twelve had started at the guard-house and rung out from the stables +and corrals. It was Four's turn to take it up now. Presently he did, +but neither promptly nor with confidence. There were new men on the +relief just down from Fort Whipple and strange to Sandy and its +surroundings; but surely, said Truman, they should not have been +assigned to Four and Five, the exposed or dangerous posts, so long as +there were other men, old-timers at Sandy, to take these stations. No. +4's "A-all's well" sounded more like a wail of remonstrance at his +loneliness and isolation. It was a new voice, too, for in those days +officers knew not only the face, but the voice, of every man in the +little command, and—could Truman be mistaken—he thought he heard a +subdued titter from the black shadows of his own quarters, and turned +his course thither to investigate. Five's shout went up at the +instant, loud, confident, almost boastful, as though in re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>buke of +Four's timidity, and, as Truman half expected, there was the corporal +of the guard leaning on his rifle, close to the veranda steps, and so +absorbed he never heard the officer approach until the lieutenant +sharply hailed:</p> + +<p>"Who's that on No. 4?"</p> + +<p>"One of 'C' Company's fellers, sir," answered the watcher, coming to +his senses and attention at the instant. "Just down from Prescott, and +thinks he sees ghosts or Indians every minute. Nearly shot one of the +hounds a moment ago."</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't put him on that post—"</p> + +<p>"I didn't sir," was the prompt rejoinder. "'Twas the sergeant. He said +'twould do him good, but the man's really scared, lieutenant. Thought +I'd better stay near him a bit."</p> + +<p>Across the black and desolate ruin of Blakely's quarters, and well out +on the northward <i>mesa</i>, they could dimly discern the form of the +unhappy sentry pacing uneasily along his lonely beat, pausing and +turning every moment as though fearful of crouching assailant. Even +among these veteran infantrymen left at Sandy, that northeast corner +had had an uncanny name ever since the night of Pat Mullins's +mysterious stabbing. Many a man would gladly have shunned sentry duty +at that point, but none dare confess to it. Partly as a precaution, +partly as protection to his sentries, the temporary commander had +early in the week sent out a big "fatigue" detail, with knives and +hatchets to slice away every clump of sage or greasewood that could +shelter a prowling Apache<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> for a hundred yards out from the line. But +the man now on No. 4 was palpably nervous and distressed, in spite of +this fact. Truman watched him a moment in mingled compassion and +amusement, and was just turning aside to enter his open doorway when +the corporal held up a warning hand.</p> + +<p>Through the muffling sand of the roadway in rear of the quarters, a +tall, dark figure was moving straight and swift toward the post of No. +4, and so far within that of No. 5 as to escape the latter's +challenge. The corporal sprung his rifle to the hollow of his arm and +started the next instant, sped noiselessly a few yards in pursuit, +then abruptly halted. "It's the major, sir," said he, embarrassed, as +Truman joined him again. "Gad, I hope No. 4 won't fire!"</p> + +<p>Fire he did not, but his challenge came with a yell. +"W-whocomesthere?"—three words as one and that through chattering +teeth.</p> + +<p>"Commanding officer," they heard Plume clearly answer, then in lower +tone, but distinctly rebukeful. "What on earth's the matter, No. 4? +You called off very badly. Anything disturbing you out here?"</p> + +<p>The sentry's answer was a mumble of mingled confusion and distress. +How could he own to his post commander that he was scared? No. 5 now +was to be seen swiftly coming up the eastward front so as to be within +supporting or hearing distance—curiosity, not sympathy, impelling; +and so there were no less than five men, four of them old and tried +soldiers, all within fifty yards of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> angle made by the two sentry +beats, all wide awake, yet not one of their number could later tell +just what started it. All on a sudden, down in Sudsville, down among +the southward quarters of the line, the hounds went rushing forth, +barking and baying excitedly, one and all heading for the brink of the +eastward <i>mesa</i>, yet halting short as though afraid to approach it +nearer, and then, darting up and down, barking, sniffing, challenging +angrily, they kept up their fierce alarm. Somebody or something was +out there in the darkness, perhaps at the very edge of the bluff, and +the dogs dare go no further. Even when the corporal, followed by No. +5, came running down the post, the hounds hung back, bristling and +savage, yet fearful. Corporal Foote cocked his rifle and went +crouching forward through the gloom, but the voice of the major was +heard:</p> + +<p>"Don't go out there, corporal. Call for the guard," as he hurried in +to his quarters in search of his revolver. Truman by this time had run +for his own arms and together they reappeared on the post of No. 5, as +a sergeant, with half a dozen men, came panting from across the +parade, swift running to the scene.</p> + +<p>"No. 4 would have it that there were Indians, or somebody skulking +about him when I was examining him a moment ago," said Plume +hurriedly. "Shut up, you brutes!" he yelled angrily at the nearest +hounds. "Scatter your men forward there, sergeant, and see if we can +find anything." Other men were coming, too, by this time, and a +lantern was dancing out from Doty's quar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>ters. Byrne, pyjama-clad and +in slippered feet, shuffled out to join the party as the guard, with +rifles at ready, bored their way out to the front, the dogs still +suspiciously sniffing and growling. For a moment or two no explanation +offered. The noise was gradually quieting down. Then from far out to +the right front rose the shout: "Come here with that lantern!" and all +hands started at the sound.</p> + +<p>Old Shaughnessy, saddler sergeant, was the first on the spot with a +light. All Sudsville seemed up and astir. Some of the women, even, had +begun to show at the narrow doorways. Corporal Foote and two of the +guard were bending over some object huddled in the sand. Together they +turned it over and tugged it into semblance of human shape, for the +thing had been shrouded in what proved to be a ragged cavalry blanket. +Senseless, yet feebly breathing and moaning, half-clad in tattered +skirt and a coarsely made <i>camisa</i> such as was worn by peon women of +the humblest class, with blood-stained bandages concealing much of the +face and head, a young Indian woman was lifted toward the light. A +soldier started on the run for Dr. Graham; another to the laundresses' +homes for water. Others, still, with the lanterns now coming flitting +down the low bluff, began searching through the sands for further +sign, and found it within the minute—sign of a shod horse and of +moccasined feet,—moccasins not of Tonto, but of Yuma make, said +Byrne, after a moment's survey.</p> + +<p>Rough, yet tender, hands bore the poor creature to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> nearest +shelter—Shaughnessy's quarters. Keen, eager eyes and bending forms +followed hoof and foot prints to the ford. Two Indians, evidently, had +lately issued, dripping, from the stream; one leading an eager horse, +for it had been dancing sidewise as they neared the post, the other, +probably sustaining the helpless burden on its back. Two Indians had +then re-entered the swift waters, almost at the point of emergence, +one leading a reluctant, resisting animal, for it had struggled and +plunged and set its fore feet against the effort. The other Indian had +probably mounted as they neared the brink. Already they must be a good +distance away on the other side, rendering pursuit probably useless. +Already the explanation of their coming was apparent. The woman had +been hurt or wounded when far from her tribe, and the Indians with her +were those who had learned the white man's ways, knew that he warred +not on women and would give this stricken creature care and comfort, +food and raiment and relieve them of all such trouble. It was easy to +account for their bringing her to Sandy and dropping her at the white +man's door, but how came they by a shod horse that knew the spot and +strove to break from them at the stables—strove hard against again +being driven away? Mrs. Shaughnessy, volubly haranguing all within +hearing as the searchers returned from the ford, was telling how she +was lying awake, worrin' about Norah and Pat Mullins and the boys that +had gone afield (owing her six weeks' wash) when she heard a dull +trampin' like and what sounded like horses' stifled squeal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> (doubtless +the leading Indian had gripped the nostrils to prevent the eager +neigh), and then, said she, all the dogs roused up and rushed out, +howling.</p> + +<p>And then came a cry from within the humble doorway, where merciful +hands were ministering to the suffering savage, and Plume started at +the sound and glared at Byrne, and men stood hushed and startled and +amazed, for the voice was that of Norah and the words were strange +indeed:</p> + +<p>"Fur the love of hivin, look what she had in her girdle! Shure it's +Leese's own scarf, I tell ye—the Frenchwoman at the major's!"</p> + +<p>And Byrne thought it high time to enter and take possession.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>A STRANGER GOING</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_13.jpg" alt="A" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>t the first faint flush of dawn the little train of pack mules, with +the rations for the beleaguered command at Sunset Pass, was started on +its stony path. Once out of the valley of the Beaver it must clamber +over range after range and stumble through deep and tortuous cañons. A +road there was—the old trail by Snow Lake, thence through the famous +Pass and the Sunset crossing of the Colorado Chiquito to old Fort +Wingate. It wormed its way out of the valley of the broader stream +some miles further to the north and in face of the Red Rock country to +the northeast, but it had not been traveled in safety for a year. Both +Byrne and Plume believed it beset with peril, watched from ambush by +invisible foes who could be relied upon to lurk in hiding until the +train was within easy range, then, with sudden volley, to pick off the +officers and prominent sergeants and, in the inevitable confusion, +aided by their goatlike agility, to make good their escape. Thirty +sturdy soldiers of the infantry under a veteran captain marched as +escort, with Plume's orders to push through to the relief of Sergeant +Brewster's command, and to send back Indian runners with full account +of the situation. The relief of Wren's company accomplished, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> next +thing was to be a search for Wren himself, then a determined effort to +find Blakely, and all the time to keep a lookout for Sanders's troop +that must be somewhere north of Chevlon's Fork, as well as for the two +or three little columns that should be breaking their way through the +unblazed wilderness, under the personal direction of the general +himself. Captain Stout and his party were out of sight up the Beaver +before the red eye of the morning came peering over the jagged heights +to the east, and looking in upon a garrison whose eyes were equally +red and bleary through lack of sleep—a garrison worn and haggard +through anxiety and distress gravely augmented by the events of the +night. All Sandy had been up and astir within five minutes after Norah +Shaughnessy's startling cry, and all Sandy asked with bated breath the +same question: How on earth happened it that this wounded waif of the +Apaches, this unknown Indian girl, dropped senseless at their doorway +in the dead hours of the night, should have in her possession the very +scarf worn by Mrs. Plume's nurse-companion, the Frenchwoman Elise, as +she came forth with her mistress to drive away from Sandy, as was her +hope, forever.</p> + +<p>Prominent among those who had hastened down to Sudsville, after the +news of this discovery had gone buzzing through the line of officers' +quarters, was Janet Wren. Kate Sanders was staying with Angela, for +the girls seemed to find comfort in each other's presence and society. +Both had roused at sound of the clamor and were up and half dressed +when a passing hospital at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>tendant hurriedly shouted to Miss Wren the +tidings. The girls, too, would have gone, but Aunt Janet sternly bade +them remain indoors. She would investigate, she said, and bring them +all information.</p> + +<p>Dozens of the men were still hovering about old Shaughnessy's quarters +as the tall, gaunt form of the captain's sister came stalking through +the crowd, making straight for the doorway. The two senior officers, +Byrne and Plume, were, in low tones, interrogating Norah. Plume had +been shown the scarf and promptly seconded Norah. He knew it at +once—knew that, as Elise came forth that dismal morning and passed +under the light in the hall, she had this very scarf round her +throat—this that had been found upon the person of a wounded and +senseless girl. He remembered now that as the sun climbed higher and +the air grew warmer the day of their swift flight to Prescott, Elise +had thrown open her traveling sack, and he noticed that the scarf had +been discarded. He did not see it anywhere about the Concord, but that +proved nothing. She might easily have slipped it into her bag or under +the cushions of the seat. Both he and Byrne, therefore, watched with +no little interest when, after a brief glance at the feverish and +wounded Indian girl, moaning in the cot in Mrs. Shaughnessy's room, +Miss Wren returned to the open air, bearing the scarf with her. One +moment she studied it, under the dull gleam of the lantern of the +sergeant of the guard, and then slowly spoke:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, I have seen this worn by Elise and I be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>lieve I know how +it came to find its way back here—and it does not brighten the +situation. From our piazza, the morning of Major Plume's start for +Prescott, I could plainly see Downs hanging about the wagon. It +started suddenly, as perhaps you remember, and as it rolled away +something went fluttering to the ground behind. Everybody was looking +after the Concord at the moment—everybody but Downs, who quickly +stooped, picked up the thing, and turned hurriedly away. I believe he +had this scarf when he deserted and that he has fallen into the hands +of the Apaches."</p> + +<p>Byrne looked at the post commander without speaking. The color had +mounted one moment to the major's face, then left him pallid as +before. The hunted, haggard, weary look about his eyes had deepened. +That was all. The longer he lived, the longer he served about this +woebegone spot in mid Arizona, the more he realized the influence for +evil that handmaid of Shaitan seemed to exert over his vain, shallow, +yet beautiful and beloved wife. Against it he had wrought and pleaded +in vain. Elise had been with them since her babyhood, was his wife's +almost indignant reply. Elise had been faithful to her—devoted to her +all her life. Elise was indispensable; the only being that kept her +from going mad with home-sickness and misery in that God-forsaken +clime. Sobs and tears wound up each interview and, like many a +stronger man, Plume had succumbed. It might, indeed, be cruel to rob +her of Elise, the last living link that bound her to the blessed +memories of her childhood, and he only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> mildly strove to point out to +her how oddly, yet persistently, her good name had suffered through +the words and deeds of this flighty, melodramatic Frenchwoman. +Something of her baleful influence he had seen and suspected before +ever they came to their exile, but here at Sandy, with full force he +realized the extent of her machinations. Clarice was not the woman to +go prowling about the quarters in the dead hours of the night, no +matter how nervous and sleepless at home. Clarice was not the woman to +be having back-door conferences with the servants of other households, +much less the "striker" of an officer with whose name hers, as a +maiden, had once been linked. He recalled with a shudder the events of +the night that sent the soldier Mullins to hospital, robbed of his +wits, if not of his life. He recalled with dread the reluctant +admissions of the doctor and of Captain Wren. Sleep-walking, indeed! +Clarice never elsewhere at any time had shown somnambulistic symptoms. +It was Elise beyond doubt who had lured her forth for some purpose he +could neither foil nor fathom. It was Elise who kept up this +discreditable and mysterious commerce with Downs,—something that had +culminated in the burning of Blakely's home, with who knows what +evidence,—something that had terminated only with Downs's mad +desertion and probable death. All this and more went flashing through +his mind as Miss Wren finished her brief and significant story, and it +dawned upon him that, whatever it might be to others, the death of +Downs—to him, and to her whom he loved and whose honor he +cher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>ished—was anything but a calamity, a thing to mourn. Too +generous to say the words, he yet turned with lightened heart and met +Byrne's searching eyes, then those of Miss Wren now fixed upon him +with austere challenge, as though she would say the flight and fate of +this friendless soldier were crimes to be laid only at his door.</p> + +<p>Byrne saw the instant distress in his comrade's face, and, glancing +from him to her, almost in the same instant saw the inciting cause. +Byrne had one article of faith if he lacked the needful thirty-nine. +Women had no place in official affairs, no right to meddle in official +matters, and what he said on the spur of his rising resentment was +intended for her, though spoken to him. "So Downs skipped eastward, +did he, and the Apaches got him! Well, Plume, that saves us a +hanging." And Miss Wren turned away in wrath unspeakable.</p> + +<p>That Downs had "skipped eastward" received further confirmation with +the coming day, when Wales Arnold rode into the fort from a personally +conducted scout up the Beaver. Riding out with Captain Stout's party, +he had paid a brief visit to his, for the time, abandoned ranch, and +was surprised to find there, unmolested, the two persons and all the +property he had left the day he hurried wife and household to the +shelter of the garrison. The two persons were half-breed José and his +Hualpai squaw. They had been with the Arnolds five long years, were +known to all the Apaches, and had ever been in highest favor with them +because of the liberality with which they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> dispensed the <i>largesse</i> of +their employer. Never went an Indian empty-stomached from their door. +All the stock Wales had time to gather he had driven in to Sandy. All +that was left José had found and corraled. Just one quadruped was +missing—Arnold's old mustang saddler, Dobbin. José said he had been +gone from the first and with him an old bridle and saddle. No Indian +took him, said he. It was a soldier. He had found "government boot +tracks" in the sand. Then Downs and Dobbin had gone together, but only +Dobbin might they ever look to see again.</p> + +<p>It had been arranged between Byrne and Captain Stout that the little +relief column should rest in a deep cañon beyond the springs from +which the Beaver took its source, and, later in the afternoon, push on +again on the long, stony climb toward the plateau of the upper +Mogollon. There stood, about twenty-five miles out from the post on a +bee line to the northeast, a sharp, rocky peak just high enough above +the fringing pines and cedars to be distinctly visible by day from the +crest of the nearest foothills west of the flagstaff. Along the sunset +face of this gleaming <i>picacho</i> there was a shelf or ledge that had +often been used by the Apaches for signaling purposes; the renegades +communicating with their kindred about the agency up the valley. +Invisible from the level of Camp Sandy, these fires by night, or smoke +and flashes by day, reached only those for whom they were +intended—the Apaches at the reservation; but Stout, who had known the +neighborhood since '65, had suggested that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> lookouts equipped with +binoculars be placed on the high ground back of the post. Inferior to +the savage in the craft, we had no code of smoke, fire, or, at that +time, even sun-flash signal, but it was arranged that one blaze was to +mean "Unmolested thus far." Two blazes, a few yards apart, would mean +"Important news by runner." In the latter event Plume was to push out +forty or fifty men in dispersed order to meet and protect the runner +in case he should be followed, or possibly headed off, by hostile +tribesmen. Only six Indian allies had gone with Stout and he had eyed +them with marked suspicion and disfavor. They, too, were Apache Yumas. +The day wore on slowly, somberly. All sound of life, melody, or +merriment had died out at Camp Sandy. Even the hounds seemed to feel +that a cloud of disaster hung over the garrison. Only at rare +intervals some feminine shape flitted along the line of deserted +verandas—some woman on a mission of mercy to some mourning, +sore-troubled sister among the scattered households. For several hours +before high noon the wires from Prescott had been hot with demand for +news, and with messages from Byrne or Plume to department +headquarters. At meridian, however, there came a lull, and at 2 <span class="smcap">p. m.</span> +a break. Somewhere to the west the line was snapped and down. At 2.15 +two linesmen galloped forth to find and repair damages, half a dozen +"doughboys" on a buckboard going as guard. Otherwise, all day long, no +soldier left the post, and when darkness settled down, the anxious +operator, seated at his keyboard, was still un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>able to wake the spirit +of the gleaming copper thread that spanned the westward wilderness.</p> + +<p>All Sandy was wakeful, out on the broad parade, or the officers' +verandas, and gazing as one man or woman at the bold, black upheaval a +mile behind the post, at whose summit twinkled a tiny star, a single +lantern, telling of the vigil of Plume's watchers. If Stout made even +fair time he should have reached the <i>picacho</i> at dusk, and now it was +nearly nine and not a glimmer of fire had been seen at the appointed +rendezvous. Nine passed and 9.15, and at 9.30 the fifes and drums of +the Eighth turned out and began the long, weird complaint of the +tattoo. Nobody wished to go to bed. Why not sound reveille and let +them sit up all night, if they chose? It was far better than tossing +sleepless through the long hours to the dawn. It was nearly time for +"taps"—lights out—when a yell went up from the parade and all Sandy +started to its feet. All on a sudden the spark at the lookout bluff +began violently to dance, and a dozen men tore out of garrison, eager +to hear the news. They were met halfway by a sprinting corporal, whom +they halted with eager demand for his news. "<i>Two</i> blazes!" he panted, +"two! I must get in to the major at once!" Five minutes more the +Assembly, not Taps, was sounding. Plume was sending forth his fifty +rescuers, and with them, impatient for tidings from the far front, +went Byrne, the major himself following as soon as he could change to +riding dress. The last seen of the little command was the glinting of +the starlight on the gun barrels as they forded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> the rippling stream +and took the trail up the narrow, winding valley of the Beaver.</p> + +<p>It was then a little after ten o'clock. The wire to Prescott was still +unresponsive. Nothing had been heard from the linesmen and their +escort, indicating that the break was probably far over as the Agua +Fria. Not a sign, except Stout's signal blazes at the <i>picacho</i>, had +been gathered from the front. Camp Sandy was cut off from the world, +and the actual garrison left to guard the post and protect the women, +children and the sick as eleven o'clock drew nigh, was exactly forty +men of the fighting force. It was believed that Stout's couriers would +make the homeward run, very nearly, by the route the pack-train took +throughout the day, and if they succeeded in evading hostile scouts or +parties, would soon appear about some of the breaks of the upper +Beaver. Thither, therefore, with all possible speed Plume had directed +his men, promising Mrs. Sanders, as he rode away, that the moment a +runner was encountered he would send a light rider at the gallop, on +his own good horse—that not a moment should be lost in bearing them +the news.</p> + +<p>But midnight came without a sign. Long before that hour, as though by +common impulse, almost all the women of the garrison had gathered +about Truman's quarters, now the northernmost of the row and in plain +view of the confluence of the Sandy and the Beaver. Dr. Graham, who +had been swinging to and fro between the limits of the Shaughnessys' +and the hospital, stopped to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> speak with them a moment and gently drew +Angela to one side. His grave and rugged face was sweet in its +tenderness as he looked down into her brimming eyes. "Can you not be +content at home, my child?" he murmured. "You seem like one of my own +bairns, Angela, now that your brave father is afield, and I want to +have his bonnie daughter looking her best against the home-coming. +Surely Aunt Janet will bring you the news the moment any comes, and +I'll bid Kate Sanders bide with you!"</p> + +<p>No, she would not—she could not go home. Like every other soul in all +Camp Sandy she seemed to long to be just there. Some few had even gone +out further, beyond the sentries, to the point of the low bluff, and +there, chatting only in whispers, huddled together, listening in +anxiety inexpressible for the muffled sound of galloping hoofs on soft +and sandy shore. No, she <i>dare</i> not, for within the four walls of that +little white room what dreams and visions had the girl not seen? and, +wakening shuddering, had clung to faithful Kate and sobbed her heart +out in those clasping, tender, loyal arms. No beauty, indeed, was +Kate, as even her fond mother ruefully admitted, but there was that in +her great, gentle, unselfish heart that made her beloved by one and +all. Yet Kate had pleaded with Angela in vain. Some strange, forceful +mood had seized the girl and steeled and strengthened her against even +Janet Wren's authority. She would not leave the little band of +watchers. She was there when, toward half-past twelve, at last the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +message came. Plume's own horse came tearing through the flood, and +panting, reeking, trembling into their midst, and his rider, little +Fifer Lanigan, of Company "C," sprang from saddle and thrust his +dispatch into Truman's outstretched hand.</p> + +<p>With women and children crowding about him, and men running to the +scene from every side, by the light of a lantern held in a soldier's +shaking hand, he read aloud the contents:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="sig5">"<span class="smcap">Bivouac at Picacho, 9 p. m.</span></p> + +<p>"C. O. <span class="smcap">Camp Sandy</span>:</p> + + +<p>"Reached this point after hard march, but no active +opposition, at 8 <span class="smcap">p. m.</span> First party sent to build fire on +ledge driven in by hostiles. Corporal Welch shot through +left side—serious. Threw out skirmishers and drove them off +after some firing, and about 9.20 came suddenly upon Indian +boy crouching among rocks, who held up folded paper which I +have read and forward herewith. We shall, of course, turn +toward Snow Lake, taking boy as guide. March at 3 A. M. Will +do everything possible to reach Wren on time.</p> + +<p class="sig6">(Signed) "<span class="smcap">Stout</span>, Commanding."</p> +</div> + +<p>Within was another slip, grimy and with dark stains. And Truman's +voice well-nigh failed him as he read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="sig3">"November —th.</p> + +<p>"C. O. <span class="smcap">Camp Sandy</span>:</p> + + +<p>"Through a friendly Apache who was with me at the +reservation I learned that Captain Wren was lying wounded, +cut off from his troop and with only four of his men, in a +cañon southwest of Snow Lake. With Indian for guide we +succeeded reaching him second night, but are now surrounded, +nearly out of ammunition and rations. Three more of our +party are wounded and one, Trooper Kent, killed. If not +rushed can hold out perhaps three days more, but Wren sorely +needs surgical aid.</p> + +<p class="sig">(Signed) "<span class="smcap">Blakely</span>."</p> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + +<p>That was all. The Bugologist with his one orderly, and apparently +without the Apache Yuma scouts, had gone straightway to the rescue of +Wren. Now all were cut off and surrounded by a wily foe that counted +on, sooner or later, overcoming and annihilating them, and even by the +time the Indian runner slipped out (some faithful spirit won by +Blakely's kindness and humanity when acting agent), the defense had +been reduced just one-half. Thank God that Stout with his supplies and +stalwart followers was not more than two days' march away, and was +going straightway to the rescue!</p> + +<p>It was nearly two when Plume and his half-hundred came drifting back +to the garrison, and even then some few of the watchers were along the +bluff. Janet Wren, having at last seen pale-faced, silent Angela to +her room and bed, with Kate Sanders on guard, had again gone forth to +extract such further information as Major Plume might have. Even at +that hour men were at work in the corrals, fitting saddles to half a +dozen spare horses,—about all that were left at the post,—and Miss +Wren learned that Colonel Byrne, with an orderly or two, had remained +at Arnold's ranch,—that Arnold himself, with six horsemen from the +post, was to set forth at four, join the colonel at dawn, and together +all were to push forward on the trail of Stout's command, hoping to +overtake them by nightfall. She whispered this to sleepless Kate on +her return to the house, for Angela, exhausted with grief and long +suspense, had fallen, apparently, into deep and dreamless slumber.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the end of that eventful night was not yet. Arnold and his +sextette slipped away soon after four o'clock, and about 4.50 there +came a banging at the major's door. It was the telegraph operator. The +wire was patched at last, and the first message was to the effect that +the guard had been fired on in Cherry Creek cañon—that Private +Forrest was sorely wounded and lying at Dick's deserted ranch, with +two of their number to care for him. Could they possibly send a +surgeon at once?</p> + +<p>There was no one to go but Graham. His patients at the post were doing +fairly well, but there wasn't a horse for him to ride. "No matter," +said he, "I'll borrow Punch. He's needing exercise these days." So +Punch was ordered man-saddled and brought forthwith. The orderly came +back in ten minutes. "Punch aint there, sir," said he. "He's been gone +over half an hour."</p> + +<p>"Gone? Gone where? Gone how?" asked Graham in amaze.</p> + +<p>"Gone with Miss Angela, sir. She saddled him herself and rode away not +twenty minutes after Arnold's party left. The sentries say she +followed up the Beaver."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>BESIEGED</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_14.jpg" alt="D" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>eep down in a ragged cleft of the desert, with shelving rock and +giant bowlder on every side, without a sign of leaf, or sprig of +grass, or tendril of tiny creeping plant, a little party of haggard, +hunted men lay in hiding and in the silence of exhaustion and despond, +awaiting the inevitable. Bulging outward overhead, like the counter of +some huge battleship, a great mass of solid granite heaved unbroken +above them, forming a recess or cave, in which they were secure +against arrow, shot, or stone from the crest of the lofty, almost +vertical walls of the vast and gloomy cañon. Well back under this +natural shelter, basined in the hollowed rock, a blessed pool of fair +water lay unwrinkled by even a flutter of breeze. Relic of the early +springtime and the melting snows, it had been caught and imprisoned +here after the gradually failing stream had trickled itself into +nothingness. One essential, one comfort then had not been denied the +beleaguered few, but it was about the only one. Water for drink, for +fevered wounds and burning throats, they had in abundance; but the +last "hardtack" had been shared, the last scrap of bacon long since +devoured. Of the once-abundant rations only coffee grains were left. +Of the cartridge-crammed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> "thimble belts," with which they had entered +the cañon and the Apache trap, only three contained so much as a +single copper cylinder, stopped by its forceful lead. These three +belonged to troopers, two of whom, at least, would never have use for +them again. One of these, poor Jerry Kent, lay buried beneath the +little cairn of rocks in still another cavelike recess a dozen yards +away, hidden there by night, when prowling Apaches could not see the +sorrowing burial party and crush them with bowlders heaved over the +precipice above, or shoot them down with whistling lead or +steel-tipped arrow from some safe covert in the rocky walls.</p> + +<p>Cut off from their comrades while scouting a side ravine, Captain Wren +and his quartette of troopers had made stiff and valiant fight against +such of the Indians as permitted hand or head to show from behind the +rocks. They had felt confident that Sergeant Brewster and the main +body would speedily miss them, or hear the sound of firing and turn +back <i>au secours</i>, but sounds are queerly carried in such a maze of +deep and tortuous clefts as seamed the surface in every conceivable +direction through the wild basin of the Colorado. Brewster's rearmost +files declared long after that never the faintest whisper of affray +had reached their ears, already half deadened by fatigue and the +ceaseless crash of iron-shod hoofs on shingly rock. As for Brewster +himself, he was able to establish that Wren's own orders were to "push +ahead" and try to make Sunset Pass by nightfall, while the captain, +with such horses as seemed freshest, scouted right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> and left wherever +possible. The last seen of Jerry Kent, it later transpired, was when +he came riding after them to say the captain had gone into the mouth +of the gorge opening to the west, and the last message borne from the +commander to the troop came through Jerry Kent to Sergeant Dusold, who +brought up the rear. They had passed the mouths of half a dozen +ravines within the hour, some on one side, some on the other, and +Dusold "passed the word" by sending Corporal Slater clattering up the +cañon, skirting the long drawn-out column of files until, far in the +lead, he could overtake the senior sergeant and deliver his message. +Later, when Brewster rode back with all but the little guard left over +his few broken-down men and mounts in Sunset Pass, Dusold could +confidently locate in his own mind the exact spot where Kent overtook +him; but Dusold was a drill-book dragoon of the Prussian school, +consummately at home on review or parade, but all at sea, so to speak, +in the mountains. They never found a trace of their loved leader. The +clefts they scouted were all on the wrong side.</p> + +<p>And so it happened that relief came not, that one after another the +five horses fell, pierced with missiles or crushed and stunned by +rocks crashing down from above, that Kent himself was shot through the +brain, and Wren skewered through the arm by a Tonto shaft, and plugged +with a round rifle ball in the shoulder. Sergeant Carmody bound up his +captain's wound as best he could, and by rare good luck, keeping up a +bold front, and answer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>ing every shot, they fought their way to this +little refuge in the rocks, and there, behind improvised barricades or +bowlders, "stood off" their savage foe, hoping rescue might soon reach +them.</p> + +<p>But Wren was nearly wild from wounds and fever when the third day came +and no sign of the troop. Another man had been hit and stung, and +though not seriously wounded, like a burnt child, he now shunned the +fire and became, perforce, an ineffective. Their scanty store of +rations was gone entirely. Sergeant Carmody and his alternate watchers +were worn out from lack of sleep when, in the darkness of midnight, a +low hail in their own tongue came softly through the dead +silence,—the voice of Lieutenant Blakely cautioning, "Don't fire, +Wren. It's the Bugologist," and in another moment he and his orderly +afoot, in worn Apache moccasins, but equipped with crammed haversacks +and ammunition belts, were being welcomed by the besieged. There was +little of the emotional and nothing of the melodramatic about it. It +was, if anything, rather commonplace. Wren was flighty and disposed to +give orders for an immediate attack in force on the enemy's works, to +which the sergeant, his lips trembling just a bit, responded with +prompt salute: "Very good, sir, just as quick as the men can finish +supper. Loot'nent Blakely's compliments, sir, and he'll be ready in +ten minutes," for Blakely and his man, seeing instantly the condition +of things, had freshened the little fire and begun unloading supplies. +Solalay, their Indian guide, after piloting them through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> woodland +southwest of Snow Lake, had pointed out the cañon, bidden them follow +it and, partly in the sign language, partly in Spanish, partly in the +few Apache terms that Blakely had learned during his agency days, +managed to make them understand that Wren was to be found some five +miles further on, and that most of the besieging Tontos were on the +heights above or in the cañon below. Few would be encountered, if any, +on the up-stream side. Then, promising to take the horses and the +mules to Camp Sandy, he had left them. He dared go no farther toward +the warring Apaches. They would suspect and butcher him without mercy.</p> + +<p>But Solalay had not gone without promise of further aid. Natzie's +younger brother, Alchisay, had recently come to him with a message +from her, and should be coming with another. Solalay thought he could +find the boy and send him to them to be used as a courier. Blakely's +opportune coming had cheered not a little the flagging defense, but, +not until forty-eight hours thereafter, by which time their condition +had become almost desperate and the foe almost daring, did the lithe, +big-eyed, swarthy little Apache reach them. Blakely knew him +instantly, wrote his dispatch and bade the boy go with all speed, with +the result we know. "Three more of our party are wounded," he had +written, but had not chosen to say that one of them was himself.</p> + +<p>A solemn sight was this that met the eyes of the Bugologist, as +Carmody roused him from a fitful sleep, with the murmured words, +"Almost light, sir. They'll be on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> us soon as they can see." Deep in +under the overhang and close to the pool lay one poor fellow whose +swift, gasping breath told all too surely that the Indian bullet had +found fatal billet in his wasting form. It was Chalmers, a young +Southerner, driven by poverty at home and prospect of adventure abroad +to seek service in the cavalry. It was practically his first campaign, +and in all human probability his last. Consciousness had left him +hours ago, and his vagrant spirit was fast loosing every earthly bond, +and already, in fierce dreamings, at war with unseen and savage foe +over their happy hunting grounds in the great Beyond. Near him, +equally sheltered, yet further toward the dim and pallid light, lay +Wren, his strong Scotch features pinched and drawn with pain and loss +of blood and lack of food. Fever there was little left, there was so +little left for it to live upon. Weak and helpless as a child in arms +he lay, inert and silent. There was nothing he could do. Never a +quarter hour had passed since he had been forced to lie there that +some one of his devoted men had not bathed his forehead and cooled his +burning wounds with abundant flow of blessed water. Twice since his +gradual return to consciousness had he asked for Blakely, and had +bidden him sit and tell him of Sandy, asking for tidings of Angela, +and faltering painfully as he bethought himself of the last +instructions he had given. How could Blakely be supposed to know aught +of her or of the household bidden to treat him practically as a +stranger? Now, he thought it grand that the Bugologist had thrown all +consideration of peril to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> the wind and had hastened to their aid to +share their desperate fortunes. But Wren knew not how to tell of it. +He took courage and hope when Blakely spoke of Solalay's loyalty, of +young Alchisay's daring visit and his present mission. Apaches of his +band had been known to traverse sixty miles a day over favorable +ground, and Alchisay, even through such a labyrinth of rock, ravine, +and precipice, should not make less than thirty. Within forty-eight +hours of his start the boy ought to reach the Sandy valley, and surely +no moment would then be lost in sending troops to find and rescue +them. But four days and nights, said Blakely to himself, was the least +time in which they could reasonably hope for help, and now only the +third night had gone,—gone with their supplies of every kind. A few +hours more and the sun would be blazing in upon even the dank depths +of the cañon for his midday stare. A few minutes more and the Apaches, +too, would be up and blazing on their own account. "Keep well under +shelter," were Blakely's murmured orders to the few men, even as the +first, faint breath of the dawn came floating from the broader reaches +far down the rocky gorge.</p> + +<p>In front of their cavelike refuge, just under the shelving mass +overhead, heaped in a regular semicircle, a rude parapet of rocks gave +shelter to the troopers guarding the approaches. Little loopholes had +been left, three looking down and two northward up the dark and +tortuous rift. In each of these a loaded carbine lay in readiness. So +well chosen was the spot that for one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> hundred yards +southeastward—down stream—the narrow gorge was commanded by the fire +of the defense, while above, for nearly eighty, from wall to wall, the +approach was similarly swept. No rush was therefore possible on part +of the Apaches without every probability of their losing two or three +of the foremost. The Apache lacks the magnificent daring of the Sioux +or Cheyenne. He is a fighter from ambush; he risks nothing for glory's +sake; he is a monarch in craft and guile, but no hero in open battle. +For nearly a week now, day after day, the position of the defenders +had been made almost terrible by the fierce bombardment to which it +had been subjected, of huge stones or bowlders sent thundering down +the almost precipitous walls, then bounding from ledge to ledge, or +glancing from solid, sloping face diving, finally, with fearful crash +into the rocky bed at the bottom, sending a shower of fragments +hurtling in every direction, oft dislodging some section of parapet, +yet never reaching the depths of the cave. Add to this nerve-racking +siege work the instant, spiteful flash of barbed arrow or zip and +crack of bullet when hat or hand of one of the defenders was for a +second exposed, and it is not difficult to fancy the wear and tear on +even the stoutest heart in the depleted little band.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_04" id="pic_04"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_04.jpg" width="500" height="790" alt="The fight in the cañon" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">The fight in the cañon</span> +</div> + +<p>And still they set their watch and steeled their nerves, and in dogged +silence took their station as the pallid light grew roseate on the +cliffs above them. And with dull and wearied, yet wary, eyes, each +soldier scanned every projecting rock or point that could give shelter +to lurking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>foe, and all the time the brown muzzles of the carbines +were trained low along the stream bed. No shot could now be thrown +away at frowsy turban or flaunting rag along the cliffs. The rush was +the one thing they had to dread and drive back. It was God's mercy the +Apache dared not charge in the dark.</p> + + + +<p>Lighter grew the deep gorge and lighter still, and soon in glorious +radiance the morning sunshine blazed on the lofty battlements far +overhead, and every moment the black shadow on the westward wall, +visible to the defense long rifle-shot southeastward, gave gradual way +before the rising day god, and from the broader open reaches beyond +the huge granite shoulder, around which wound the cañon, and from the +sun-kissed heights, a blessed warmth stole softly in, grateful +inexpressibly to their chilled and stiffened limbs. And still, despite +the growing hours, neither shot nor sign came from the accustomed +haunts of the surrounding foe. Six o'clock was marked by Blakely's +watch. Six o'clock and seven, and the low moan from the lips of poor +young Chalmers, or the rattle of some pebble dislodged by the foot of +crouching guardian, or some murmured word from man to man,—some word +of wonderment at the unlooked for lull in Apache siege +operations,—was the only sound to break the almost deathlike silence +of the morning. There was one other, far up among the stunted, +shriveled pines and cedars that jutted from the opposite heights. They +could hear at intervals a weird, mournful note, a single whistling +call in dismal minor, but it brought no new sig<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>nificance. Every day +of their undesired and enforced sojourn, every hour of the +interminable day, that raven-like, hermit bird of the Sierras had +piped his unmelodious signal to some distant feathered fellow, and +sent a chill to the heart of more than one war-tried soldier. There +was never a man in Arizona wilds that did not hate the sound of it. +And yet, as eight o'clock was noted and still no sight or sound of +assailant came, Sergeant Carmody turned a wearied, aching eye from his +loophole and muttered to the officer crouching close beside him: "I +could wring the neck of the lot of those infernal cat crows, sir, but +I'll thank God if we hear no worse sound this day."</p> + +<p>Blakely rose to his feet and wearily leaned upon the breastworks, +peering cautiously over. Yesterday the sight of a scouting hat would +have brought instant whiz of arrow, but not a missile saluted him now. +One arm, his left, was rudely bandaged and held in a sling, a rifle +ball from up the cliff, glancing from the inner face of the parapet, +had torn savagely through muscle and sinew, but mercifully scored +neither artery nor bone. An arrow, whizzing blindly through a +southward loophole, had grazed his cheek, ripping a straight red seam +far back as the lobe of the ear, which had been badly torn. Blakely +had little the look of a squire of dames as, thus maimed and scarred +and swathed in blood-stained cotton, he peered down the deep and +shadowy cleft and searched with eyes keen, if yet unskilled, every +visible section of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>the opposite wall. What could their silence mean? +Had they found other game, pitifully small in numbers as these +besieged, and gone to butcher them, knowing well that, hampered by +their wounded, these, their earlier victims, could not hope to escape? +Had they got warning of the approach of some strong force of +soldiery—Brewster scouting in search of them, or may be Sanders +himself? Had they slipped away, therefore, and could the besieged dare +to creep forth and shout, signal, or even fire away two or three of +these last precious cartridges in hopes of catching the ear of +searching comrades?</p> + +<p>Wren, exhausted, had apparently dropped into a fitful doze. His eyes +were shut, his lips were parted, his long, lean fingers twitched at +times as a tremor seemed to shoot through his entire frame. Another +day like the last or at worst like this, without food or nourishment, +and even such rugged strength as had been his would be taxed to the +utmost. There might be no to-morrow for the sturdy soldier who had so +gallantly served his adopted country, his chosen flag. As for +Chalmers, the summons was already come. Far from home and those who +most loved and would sorely grieve for him, the brave lad was dying. +Carmody, kneeling by his side, but the moment before had looked up +mutely in his young commander's face, and his swimming, sorrowing eyes +had told the story.</p> + +<p>Nine o'clock had come without a symptom of alarm or enemy from +without, yet death had invaded the lonely refuge in the rocks, +claiming one victim as his tribute for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> the day and setting his seal +upon still another, the prospective sacrifice for the dismal morrow, +and Blakely could stand the awful strain no longer.</p> + +<p>"Sergeant," said he, "I must know what this means. We must have help +for the captain before this sun goes down, or he may be gone before we +know it."</p> + +<p>And Carmody looked him in the face and answered: "I am strong yet and +unhurt. Let me make the try, sir. Some of our fellows must be scouting +near us, or these beggars wouldn't have quit. I can find the boys, if +anyone can."</p> + +<p>Blakely turned and gazed one moment into the deep and dark recess +where lay his wounded and the dying. The morning wind had freshened a +bit, and a low, murmurous song, nature's Æolian, came softly from the +swaying pine and stunted oak and juniper far on high. The whiff that +swept to their nostrils from the lower depths of the cañon told its +own grewsome tale. There, scattered along the stream bed, lay the +festering remains of their four-footed comrades, first victims of the +ambuscade. Death lurked about their refuge then on every side, and was +even invading their little fortress. Was this to be the end, after +all? Was there neither help nor hope from any source?</p> + +<p>Turning once again, a murmured prayer upon his lips, Blakely started +at sight of Carmody. With one hand uplifted, as though to caution +silence, the other concaved at his ear, the sergeant was bending +eagerly forward, his eyes dilating, his frame fairly quivering. Then, +on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> sudden, up he sprang and swung his hat about his head. "Firing, +sir! Firing, sure!" he cried. Another second, and with a gasp and moan +he sank to earth transfixed; a barbed arrow, whizzing from unseen +space, had pierced him through and through.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>WHERE IS ANGELA?</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_18.jpg" alt="F" width="44" height="50" /></div> +<p>or a moment as they drew under shelter the stricken form of the +soldier, there was nothing the defense could do but dodge. Then, +leaving him at the edge of the pool, and kicking before them the one +cowed and cowering shirker of the little band, Blakely and the single +trooper still unhit, crept back to the rocky parapet, secured a +carbine each and knelt, staring up the opposite wall in search of the +foe. And not a sign of Apache could they see.</p> + +<p>Yet the very slant of the arrow as it pierced the young soldier, the +new angle at which the bullets bounded from the stony crest, the +lower, flatter flight of the barbed missiles that struck fire from the +flinty rampart, all told the same story. The Indians during the hours +of darkness, even while dreading to charge, had managed to crawl, +snake-like, to lower levels along the cliff and to creep closer up the +stream bed, and with stealthy, noiseless hands to rear little shelters +of stone, behind which they were now crouching invisible and secure. +With the illimitable patience of their savage training they had then +waited, minute after minute, hour after hour, until, lulled at last +into partial belief that their deadly foe had slipped away, some of +the defenders should be emboldened to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> venture into view, and then one +well-aimed volley at the signal from the leader's rifle, and the +vengeful shafts of those who had as yet only the native weapon, would +fall like lightning stroke upon the rash ones, and that would end it. +Catlike they had crouched and watched since early dawn. Catlike they +had played the old game of apparent weariness of the sport, of +forgetfulness of their prey and tricked their guileless victims into +hope and self-exposure, then swooped again, and the gallant lad whose +last offer and effort had been to set forth in desperate hope of +bringing relief to the suffering, had paid for his valor with his +life. One arrow at least had gone swift and true, one shaft that, +launched, perhaps, two seconds too soon for entire success, had barely +anticipated the leader's signal and spoiled the scheme of bagging all +the game. Blakely's dive to save his fallen comrade had just saved his +own head, for rock chips and spattering lead flew on every side, +scratching, but not seriously wounding him.</p> + +<p>And then, when they "thought on vengeance" and the three brown muzzles +swept the opposite wall, there followed a moment of utter silence, +broken only by the faint gasping of the dying man. "Creep back to +Carmody, you," muttered Blakely to the trembling lad beside him. "You +are of no account here unless they try to charge. Give him water, +quick." Then to Stern, his one unhurt man, "You heard what he said +about distant firing. Did you hear it?"</p> + +<p>"Not I, sir, but I believe <i>they</i> did—an' be damned to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> them!" And +Stern's eyes never left the opposite cliff, though his ears were +strained to catch the faintest sound from the lower cañon. It was +there they last had seen the troop. It was from that direction help +should come. "Watch them, but don't waste a shot, man. I must speak to +Carmody," said Blakely, under his breath, as he backed on hands and +knees, a painful process when one is sore wounded. Trembling, +whimpering like whipped child, the poor, spiritless lad sent to the +aid of the stricken and heroic, crouched by the sergeant's side, +vainly striving to pour water from a clumsy canteen between the +sufferer's pallid lips. Carmody presently sucked eagerly at the +cooling water, and even in his hour of dissolution seemed far the +stronger, sturdier of the two—seemed to feel so infinite a pity for +his shaken comrade. Bleeding internally, as was evident, transfixed by +the cruel shaft they did not dare attempt to withdraw, even if the +barbed steel would permit, and drooping fainter with each swift +moment, he was still conscious, still brave and uncomplaining. His +dimmed and mournful eyes looked up in mute appeal to his young +commander. He knew that he was going fast, and that whatever rescue +might come to these, his surviving fellow-soldiers, there would be +none for him; and yet in his supreme moment he seemed to read the +question on Blakely's lips, and his words, feeble and broken, were +framed to answer.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't—you hear 'em, lieutenant?" he gasped. "I can't +be—mistaken. I know—the old—Springfield <i>sure</i>! I heard 'em way +off—south—a dozen shots," and then a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> spasm of agony choked him, and +he turned, writhing, to hide the anguish on his face. Blakely grasped +the dying soldier's hand, already cold and limp and nerveless, and +then his own voice seemed, too, to break and falter.</p> + +<p>"Don't try to talk, Carmody; don't try! Of course you are right. It +must be some of our people. They'll reach us soon. Then we'll have the +doctor and can help you. Those saddle-bags!" he said, turning sharply +to the whimpering creature kneeling by them, and the lad drew hand +across his streaming eyes and passed the worn leather pouches. From +one of them Blakely drew forth a flask, poured some brandy into its +cup and held it to the soldier's lips. Carmody swallowed almost +eagerly. He seemed to crave a little longer lease of life. There was +something tugging at his heartstrings, and presently he turned slowly, +painfully again. "Lieutenant," he gasped, "I'm not scared to die—this +way anyhow. There's no one to care—but the boys—but there's one +thing"—and now the stimulant seemed to reach the failing heart and +give him faint, fluttering strength—"there's one thing I ought—I +ought to tell. You've been solid with the boys—you're square, and I'm +not—I haven't always been. Lieutenant—I was on guard—the night of +the fire—and Elise, you know—the French girl—she—she's got most +all I saved—most all I—won, but she was trickin' me—all the time, +lieutenant—me and Downs that's gone—and others. She didn't care. +You—you aint the only one I—I—"</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant!" came in excited whisper, the voice of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> Stern, and there +at his post in front of the cave he knelt, signaling urgently. +"Lieutenant, quick!"</p> + +<p>"One minute, Carmody! I've got to go. Tell me a little later." But +with dying strength Carmody clung to his hand.</p> + +<p>"I must tell you, lieutenant—now. It wasn't Downs's fault. She—she +made—"</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant, quick! for God's sake! They're coming!" cried the voice +of the German soldier at the wall, and wrenching his wrist from the +clasp of the dying man, Blakely sprang recklessly to his feet and to +the mouth of the cave just as Stern's carbine broke the stillness with +resounding roar. Half a dozen rifles barked their instant echo among +the rocks. From up the hillside rose a yell of savage hate and another +of warning. Then from behind their curtaining rocks half a dozen dusky +forms, their dirty white breechclouts streaming behind them, sprang +suddenly into view and darted, with goatlike ease and agility, +zigzagging up the eastward wall. It was a foolish thing to do, but +Blakely followed with a wasted shot, aimed one handed from the +shoulder, before he could regain command of his judgment. In thirty +seconds the cliff was as bare of Apaches as but the moment before it +had been dotted. Something, in the moment when their savage plans and +triumph seemed secure, had happened to alarm the entire party. With +warning shouts and signals they were scurrying out of the deep ravine, +scattering, apparently, northward. But even as they fled to higher +ground there was order and method in their re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>treat. While several of +their number clambered up the steep, an equal number lurked in their +covert, and Blakely's single shot was answered instantly by half a +dozen, the bullets striking and splashing on the rocks, the arrows +bounding or glancing furiously. Stern ducked within, out of the storm. +Blakely, flattening like hunted squirrel close to the parapet, flung +down his empty carbine and strove to reach another, lying loaded at +the southward loophole, and at the outstretched hand there whizzed an +arrow from aloft whose guiding feather fairly seared the skin, so +close came the barbed messenger. Then up the height rang out a shrill +cry, some word of command in a voice that had a familiar tang to it, +and that was almost instantly obeyed, for, under cover of sharp, +well-aimed fire from aloft, from the shelter of projecting rock or +stranded bowlder, again there leaped into sight a few scattered, +sinewy forms that rushed in bewildering zigzag up the steep, until +safe beyond their supports, when they, too, vanished, and again the +cliff stood barren of Apache foemen as the level of the garrison +parade. It was science in savage warfare against which the drill book +of the cavalry taught no method whatsoever. Another minute and even +the shots had ceased. One glimpse more had Blakely of dingy, trailing +breechclouts, fluttering in the breeze now stirring the fringing pines +and cedars, and all that was left of the late besiegers came +clattering down the rocks in the shape of an Indian shield. Stern +would have scrambled out to nab it, but was ordered down. "Back, you +idiot, or they'll have you next!" And then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> they heard the feeble +voice of Wren, pleading for water and demanding to be lifted to the +light. The uproar of the final volley had roused him from an almost +deathlike stupor, and he lay staring, uncomprehending, at Carmody, +whose glazing eyes were closed, whose broken words had ceased. The +poor fellow was drifting away into the shadows with his story still +untold.</p> + +<p>"Watch here, Stern, but keep under cover," cried Blakely. "I'll see to +the captain. Listen for any shot or sound, but hold your fire," and +then he turned to his barely conscious senior and spoke to him as he +would to a helpless child. Again he poured a little brandy in his cup. +Again he held it to ashen lips and presently saw the faint flutter of +reviving strength. "Lie still just a moment or two, Wren," he murmured +soothingly. "Lie still. Somebody's coming. The troop is not far off. +You'll soon have help and home and—Angela"—even then his tongue +faltered at her name. And Wren heard and with eager eyes questioned +imploringly. The quivering lips repeated huskily the name of the child +he loved. "Angela—where?"</p> + +<p>"Home—safe—where you shall be soon, old fellow, only—brace up now. +I must speak one moment with Carmody," and to Carmody eagerly he +turned. "You were speaking of Elise and the fire—of Downs, sergeant +----" His words were slow and clear and distinct, for the soldier had +drifted far away and must be recalled. "Tell me again. What was it?"</p> + +<p>But only faint, swift gasping answered him. Carmody<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> either heard not, +or, hearing, was already past all possibility of reply. "Speak to me, +Carmody. Tell me what I can do for you?" he repeated. "What word to +Elise?" He thought the name might rouse him, and it did. A feeble hand +was uplifted, just an inch or two. The eyelids slowly fluttered, and +the dim, almost lifeless eyes looked pathetically up into those of the +young commander. There was a moment of almost breathless silence, +broken only by a faint moan from Wren's tortured lips and the childish +whimpering of that other—the half-crazed, terror-stricken soldier.</p> + +<p>"Elise," came the whisper, barely audible, as Carmody strove to lift +his head, "she—promised"—but the head sank back on Blakely's knee. +Stern was shouting at the stone gate—shouting and springing to his +feet and swinging his old scouting hat and gazing wildly down the +cañon. "For God's sake hush, man!" cried the lieutenant. "I must hear +Carmody." But Stern was past further shouting now. Sinking on his +knees, he was sobbing aloud. Scrambling out into the daylight of the +opening, but still shrinking within its shelter, the half-crazed, +half-broken soldier stood stretching forth his arms and calling wild +words down the echoing gorge, where sounds of shouting, lusty-lunged, +and a ringing order or two, and then the clamor of carbine shots, told +of the coming of rescue and new life and hope, and food and friends, +and still Blakely knelt and circled that dying head with the one arm +left him, and pleaded and besought—even commanded. But never again +would word or order stir the soldier's willing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> pulse. The sergeant +and his story had drifted together beyond the veil, and Blakely, +slowly rising, found the lighted entrance swimming dizzily about him, +first level and then up-ended; found himself sinking, whither he +neither knew nor cared; found the cañon filling with many voices, the +sound of hurrying feet and then of many rushing waters, and then—how +was it that all was dark without the cave, and +lighted—lantern-lighted—here within? They had had no lantern, no +candle. Here were both, and here was a familiar face—old +Heartburn's—bending reassuringly over Wren, and someone was —— Why, +where was Carmody? Gone! And but a moment ago that dying head was +there on his knee, and then it was daylight, too, and now—why, it +must be after nightfall, else why these lanterns? And then old +Heartburn came bending over him in turn, and then came a rejoiceful +word:</p> + +<p>"Hello, Bugs! Well, it <i>is</i> high time you woke up! Here, take a swig +of this!"</p> + +<p>Blakely drank and sat up presently, dazed, and Heartburn went on with +his cheery talk. "One of you men out there call Captain Stout. Tell +him Mr. Blakely's up and asking for him," and, feeling presently a +glow of warmth coursing in his veins, the Bugologist roused to a +sitting posture and began to mumble questions. And then a burly shadow +appeared at the entrance, black against the ruddy firelight in the +cañon without, where other forms began to appear. Down on his knee +came Stout to clasp his one available hand and even clap him on the +back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> and send unwelcome jar through his fevered, swollen arm. "Good +boy, Bugs! You're coming round famously. We'll start you back to Sandy +in the morning, you and Wren, for nursing, petting, and all that sort +of thing. They are lashing the saplings now for your litters, and +we've sent for Graham, too, and he'll meet you on the the way, while +we shove on after Shield's people."</p> + +<p>"Shield—Raven Shield?" queried Blakely, still half dazed. "Shield was +killed—at Sandy," and yet there was the memory of the voice he knew +and heard in this very cañon.</p> + +<p>"Shield, yes; and now his brother heads them. Didn't he send his card +down to you, after the donicks, and be damned to him? You foregathered +with both of them at the agency. Oh, they're all alike, Bugs, once +they're started on the warpath. Now we must get you out into the open +for a while. The air's better."</p> + +<p>And so, an hour later, his arm carefully dressed and bandaged, +comforted by needed food and fragrant tea and the news that Wren was +reviving under the doctor's ministrations, and would surely mend and +recover, Blakely lay propped by the fire and heard the story of +Stout's rush through the wilderness to their succor. Never waiting for +the dawn, after a few hours' rest at Beaver Spring, the sturdy +doughboys had eagerly followed their skilled and trusted leader all +the hours from eleven, stumbling, but never halting even for rest or +rations, and at last had found the trail four miles below in the +depths of the cañon. There some scattering shots had met them, arrow +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> rifle both, from up the heights, and an effort was made to delay +their progress. Wearied and footsore though were his men, they had +driven the scurrying foe from rock to rock and then, in a lull that +followed, had heard the distant sound of firing that told them whither +to follow on. Only one man, Stern, was able to give them coherent word +or welcome when at last they came, for Chalmers and Carmody lay dead, +Wren in a stupor, Blakely in a deathlike swoon, and "that poor chap +yonder" loony and hysterical as a crazy man. Thank God they had not, +as they had first intended, waited for the break of day.</p> + +<p>Another dawn and Stout and most of his men had pushed on after the +Apaches and in quest of the troop at Sunset Pass. By short stages the +soldiers left in charge were to move the wounded homeward. By noon +these latter were halted under the willows by a little stream. The +guards were busy filling canteens and watering pack mules, when the +single sentry threw his rifle to the position of "ready" and the gun +lock clicked loud. Over the stony ridge to the west, full a thousand +yards away, came a little band of riders in single file, four men in +all. Wren was sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. Blakely, feverish and +excited, was wide awake. Mercifully the former never heard the first +question asked by the leading rider—Arnold, the ranchman—as he came +jogging into the noonday bivouac. Stone, sergeant commanding, had run +forward to meet and acquaint him with the condition of the rescued +men. "Got there in time then, thank God!" he cried, as wearily he +flung himself out of saddle and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> glanced quickly about him. There lay +Wren, senseless and still between the lashed ribs of his litter. There +lay Blakely, smiling feebly and striving to hold forth a wasted hand, +but Arnold saw it not. Swiftly his eyes flitted from face to face, +from man to man, then searched the little knot of mules, sidelined and +nibbling at the stunted herbage in the glen. "I don't see Punch," he +faltered. "Wh-where's Miss Angela?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>OUR VANISHED PRINCESS</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen came a story told in fierce and excited whisperings, Arnold the +speaker, prompted sometimes by his companions; Stone, and the few +soldiers grouped about him, awe-stricken and dismayed. Blakely had +started up from his litter, his face white with an awful dread, +listening in wordless agony.</p> + +<p>At six the previous morning, loping easily out from Sandy, Arnold's +people had reached the ranch and found the veteran colonel with his +orderlies impatiently waiting for them. These latter had had abundant +food and coffee and the colonel was fuming with impatience to move, +but Arnold's people had started on empty stomachs, counting on a +hearty breakfast at the ranch. José could have it ready in short +order. So Byrne, with his men, mounted and rode ahead on the trail of +the infantry, saying the rest could overtake him before he reached the +rocky and dangerous path over the first range. For a few miles the +Beaver Valley was fairly wide and open. Not twenty minutes later, as +Arnold's comrades sat on the porch on the north side of the house, +they heard swift hoof-beats, and wondered who could be coming now. +But, without an instant's pause, the rider had galloped by, and one of +the men, hurrying to the corner of the ranch,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> was amazed to see the +lithe, slender form of Angela Wren speeding her pet pony like the wind +up the sandy trail. Arnold refused to believe at first, but his eyes +speedily told him the same story. He had barely a glimpse of her +before she was out of sight around a grove of willows up the stream. +"Galloping to catch the colonel," said he, and such was his belief. +Angela, he reasoned, had hastened after them to send some message of +love to her wounded father, and had perhaps caught sight of the trio +far out in the lead. Arnold felt sure that they would meet her coming +back, sure that there was no danger for her, with Byrne and his +fellows well out to the front. They finished their breakfast, +therefore, reset their saddles, mounted and rode for an hour toward +the Mogollon and still the pony tracks led them on, overlying those of +the colonel's party. Then they got among the rocks and only at +intervals found hoof-prints; but, far up along the range, caught sight +of the three horsemen, and so, kept on. It was after ten when at last +they overtook the leaders, and then, to their consternation, Angela +Wren was not with them. They had neither seen nor heard of her, and +Byrne was aghast when told that, alone and without a guide, she had +ridden in among the foothills of those desolate, pathless mountains. +"The girl is mad," said he, "and yet it's like her to seek to reach +her father."</p> + +<p>Instantly they divided forces to search for her. Gorges and cañons +innumerable seamed the westward face of this wild spur of the Sierras, +and, by the merest luck in the world, one of Arnold's men, spurring +along a stony ridge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> caught sight of a girlish form far across a deep +ravine, and quickly fired two shots in signal that he had "sighted" +the chase. It brought Arnold and two of his men to the spot and, +threading their way, sometimes afoot and leading their steeds, +sometimes in saddle and urging them through the labyrinth of bowlders, +they followed on. At noon they had lost not only all sight of her, but +of their comrades, nor had they seen the latter since. Byrne and his +orderlies, with three of the party that "pulled out" from Sandy with +Arnold in the morning, had disappeared. Again and again they fired +their Henrys, hoping for answering signal, or perhaps to attract +Angela's attention. All doubt as to her purpose was now ended. Mad she +might be, but determined she was, and had deliberately dodged past +them at the Beaver, fearing opposition to her project. At two, +moreover, they found that she could "trail" as well as they, for among +the stunted cedars at the crest of a steep divide, they found the +print of the stout brogans worn by their infantry comrades, and, down +among the rocks of the next ravine, crushed bits of hardtack by a +"tank" in the hillside. She had stopped there long enough at least to +water Punch, then pushed on again.</p> + +<p>Once more they saw her, not three miles ahead at four o'clock, just +entering a little clump of pines at the top of a steep acclivity. They +fired their rifles and shouted loud in hopes of halting her, but all +to no purpose. Night came down and compelled them to bivouac. They +built a big fire to guide the wanderers, but morning broke with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>out +sign of them; so on they went, for now, away from the rocks the trail +was often distinct, and once again they found the pony hoof-prints and +thanked God. At seven by Arnold's watch, among the breaks across a +steep divide they found another tank, more crumbs, a grain sack with +some scattered barley, more hardtack and the last trace of Angela. +Arnold's hand shook, as did his voice, as he drew forth a little +fluttering ribbon—the "snood" poor Wren so loved to see binding his +child's luxuriant hair.</p> + +<p>They reasoned she had stopped here to feed and water her pony, and had +probably bathed her face and flung loose her hair and forgotten later +the binding ribbon. They believed she had followed on after Stout's +hard-marching company. It was easy to trail. They counted on finding +her when they found her father, and now here lay Wren unconscious of +her loss, and Blakely, realizing it all—cruelly, feverishly realizing +it—yet so weakened by his wounds as to be almost powerless to march +or mount and go in search of her.</p> + +<p>No question now as to the duty immediately before them. In twenty +minutes the pack mules were again strapped between the saplings, the +little command was slowly climbing toward the westward heights, with +Arnold and two of his friends scouting the rough trail and hillsides, +firing at long intervals and listening in suspense almost intolerable +for some answering signal. The other of their number had volunteered +to follow Stout over the plateau toward the Pass and acquaint him with +the latest news.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_05" id="pic_05"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_05.jpg" width="500" height="708" alt=""Indian signals beyond possibility of a doubt"" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">"Indian signals beyond possibility of a doubt"</span> +</div> + +<p>While the sun was still high in the heavens, far to the northward, +they faintly heard or thought they heard two rifle shots. At four +o'clock, as they toiled through a tangle of rock and stunted pine, +Arnold, riding well to the front, came suddenly out upon a bare ledge +from which he could look over a wild, wide sweep of mountain side, +stretching leagues to north and south, and there his keen and +practiced eye was greeted by a sight that thrilled him with dread +unspeakable. Dread, not for himself or his convoy of wounded, but +dread for Angela. Jutting, from the dark fringe of pines along a +projecting bluff, perhaps four miles away, little puffs or clouds of +smoke, each separate and distinct, were sailing straight aloft in the +pulseless air—Indian signals beyond possibility of doubt. Some +Apaches, then, were still hovering about the range overlooking the +broad valley of the Sandy, some of the bands then were prowling in the +mountains between the scouting troops and the garrisoned post. Some +must have been watching this very trail, in hopes of intercepting +couriers or stragglers, some <i>must</i> have seen and seized poor Angela.</p> + +<p>He had sprung from saddle and leveled his old field glass at the +distant promontory, so absorbed in his search he did not note the +coming of the little column. The litter bearing Blakely foremost of +the four had halted close beside him, and Blakely's voice, weak and +strained, yet commanding, suddenly startled him with demand to be told +what he saw, and Arnold merely handed him the glass and pointed. The +last of the faint smoke puffs was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>just soaring into space, making +four still in sight. Blakely never even took the binocular. He had +seen enough by the unaided eye.</p> + + + +<p>With uplifted hand the sergeant had checked the coming of the next +litter, Wren's, and those that followed it. One of the wounded men, +the poor lad crazed by the perils of the siege, was alert and begging +for more water, but Wren was happily lost to the world in swoon or +slumber. To the soldier bending over him he seemed scarcely breathing. +Presently they were joined by two of Arnold's party who had been +searching out on the left flank. They, too, had seen, and the three +were now in low-toned conference. Blakely for the moment was unnoted, +forgotten.</p> + +<p>"That tank—where we found the ribbon—was just about two miles +yonder," said Arnold, pointing well down the rugged slope toward the +southwest, where other rocky, pine-fringed heights barred the view to +the distant Sandy. "Surely the colonel or some of his fellows must be +along here. Ride ahead a hundred yards or so and fire a couple of +shots," this to one of his men, who silently reined his tired bronco +into the rude trail among the pine cones and disappeared. The others +waited. Presently came the half-smothered sound of a shot and a +half-stifled cry from the rearmost litter. Every such shock meant new +terror to that poor lad, but Wren never stirred. Half a minute passed +without another sound than faint and distant echo; then faint, and not +so distant, came another sound, a prolonged shout, and presently +another, and then a horseman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> hove in sight among the trees across a +nearly mile-wide dip. Arnold and his friends rode on to meet him, +leaving the litters at the crest. In five minutes one of the riders +reappeared and called: "It's Horn, of the orderlies. He reports +Colonel Byrne just ahead. Come on!" and turning, dove back down the +twisted trail.</p> + +<p>The colonel might have been just ahead when last seen, but when they +reached the tank he was far aloft again, scouting from another height +to the northward, and while the orderly went on to find and tell him, +Arnold and his grave-faced comrade dismounted there to await the +coming of the litters. Graver were the faces even than before. The +news that had met them was most ominous. Two of those who searched +with Colonel Byrne had found pony tracks leading northward—leading in +the very direction in which they had seen the smoke. There was no +other pony shoe in the Sandy valley. It could be none other than +Angela's little friend and comrade—Punch.</p> + +<p>And this news they told to Blakely as the foremost litter came. He +listened with hardly a word of comment; then asked for his scouting +notebook. He was sitting up now. They helped him from his springy +couch to a seat on the rocks, and gave him a cup of the cold water. +One by one the other litters were led into the little amphitheater and +unlashed. Everyone seemed to know that here must be the bivouac for +the night, their abiding place for another day, perhaps, unless they +should find the captain's daughter. They spoke, when they spoke at +all, in muffled tones, these rough, war-worn men of the desert and +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> mountain. They bent over the wounded with sorrowing eyes, and +wondered why no surgeon had come out to meet them. Heartburn, of +course, had done his best, dressing and rebandaging the wounds at +dawn, but then he had to go on with Stout and the company, while one +of the Apache Yumas was ordered to dodge his way in to Sandy, with a +letter urging that Graham be sent out to follow the trail and meet the +returning party.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the sun had dropped behind the westward heights; the night +would soon be coming down, chill and overcast. Byrne was still away, +but he couldn't miss the tank, said one of the troopers who had ridden +with him. Twice during the morning they had all met there and then +gone forth again, searching—searching. Punch's little hoof-tracks, +cutting through a sandy bit in the northward ravine, had drawn them +all that way, but nothing further had been found. His horse, too, said +the orderly, was lame and failing, so he had been bidden to wait by +the water and watch for couriers either from the front or out from the +post. Byrne was one of those never-give-up men, and they all knew him.</p> + +<p>Barley was served out to the animals, a little fire lighted, lookouts +were stationed, and presently their soldier supper was ready, and +still Blakely said nothing. He had written three notes or letters, one +of which seemed to give him no little trouble, for one after another +he thrust two leaves into the fire and started afresh. At length they +were ready, and he signaled to Arnold. "You can count, I think, on +Graham's getting here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> within a few hours," said he. "Meantime you're +as good a surgeon as I need. Help me on with this sling." And still +they did not fathom his purpose. He was deathly pale, and his eyes +were eloquent of dread unspeakable, but he seemed to have forgotten +pain, fever, and prostration. Arnold, in the silent admiration of the +frontier, untied the support, unloosed the bandages, and together they +redressed the ugly wound. Then presently the Bugologist stood feebly +upon his feet and looked about him. It was growing darker, and not +another sound had come from Byrne.</p> + +<p>"Start one of your men into Sandy at once," said Blakely, to the +sergeant, and handed him a letter addressed to Major Plume. "He will +probably meet the doctor before reaching the Beaver. These other two +I'll tell you what to do with later. Now, who has the best horse?"</p> + +<p>Arnold stared. Sergeant Stone quickly turned and saluted. "The +lieutenant is not thinking of mounting, I hope," said he.</p> + +<p>Blakely did not even answer. He was studying the orderly's bay. Stiff +and a little lame he might be, but, refreshed and strengthened by +abundant barley, he was a better weight-carrier than the other, and +Blakely had weight. "Saddle your horse, Horn," said he, "and fasten on +those saddle-bags of mine."</p> + +<p>"But, lieutenant," ventured Arnold, "you are in no shape to ride +anything but that litter. Whatever you think of doing, let me do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What I am thinking of doing nobody else can do," said Blakely. "What +you can do is, keep these two letters till I call for them. If at the +end of a week I fail to call, deliver them as addressed and to nobody +else. Now, before dark I must reach that point younder," and he +indicated the spot where in the blaze of the westering sun a mass of +rock towered high above the fringing pine and mournful shadows at its +base, a glistening landmark above the general gloom at the lower level +and at that hour of the afternoon. "Now," he added quietly, "you can +help me into saddle."</p> + +<p>"But for God's sake, lieutenant, let some of us ride with you," +pleaded Arnold. "If Colonel Byrne was here he'd never let you go."</p> + +<p>"Colonel Byrne is not here, and I command, I believe," was the brief, +uncompromising answer. "And no man rides with me because, with another +man, I'd never find what I'm in search of." For a moment he bent over +Wren, a world of wordless care, dread, and yet determination in his +pale face. Arnold saw his wearied eyes close a moment, his lips move +as though in petition, then he suddenly turned. "Let me have that +ribbon," said he bluntly, and without a word Arnold surrendered it. +Stone held the reluctant horse, Arnold helped the wounded soldier into +the saddle. "Don't worry about me—any of you," said Blakely, in brief +farewell. "Good-night," and with that he rode away.</p> + +<p>Arnold and the men stood gazing after him. "Grit clean through," said +the ranchman, through his set teeth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> for a light was dawning on him, +as he pondered over Blakely's words. "May the Lord grant I don't have +to deliver these!" Then he looked at the superscriptions. One letter +was addressed to Captain, or Miss Janet, Wren—the other to Mrs. +Plume.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>SUSPENSE</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_16.jpg" alt="S" width="35" height="50" /></div> +<p>andy again. Four of the days stipulated by Lieutenant Blakely had run +their course. The fifth was ushered in, and from the moment he rode +away from the bivouac at the tanks no word had come from the +Bugologist, no further trace of Angela. In all its history the +garrison had known no gloom like this. The hospital was filled with +wounded. An extra surgeon and attendants had come down from Prescott, +but Graham was sturdily in charge. Of his several patients Wren +probably was now causing him the sorest anxiety, for the captain had +been grievously wounded and was pitiably weak. Now, when aroused at +times from the lassitude and despond in which he lay, Wren would +persist in asking for Angela, and, not daring to tell him the truth, +Janet, Calvinist that she was to the very core, had to do fearful +violence to her feelings and lie. By the advice of bluff old Byrne and +the active connivance of the post commander, they had actually, these +stern Scotch Presbyterians, settled on this as the deception to be +practiced—that Angela had been drooping so sadly from anxiety and +dread she had been taken quite ill, and Dr. Graham had declared she +must be sent up to Prescott, or some equally high mountain resort, +there to rest and recuperate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> She was in good hands, said these +arch-conspirators. She might be coming home any day. As for the troop +and the campaign, he mustn't talk or worry or think about them. The +general, with his big field columns, had had no personal contact with +the Indians. They had scattered before him into the wild country +toward the great Colorado, where Stout, with his hickory-built +footmen, and Brewster, with most of Wren's troop, were stirring up +Apaches night and day, while Sanders and others were steadily driving +on toward the old Wingate road. Stout had found Brewster beleaguered, +but safe and sound, with no more men killed and few seriously wounded. +They had communicated with Sanders's side scouts, and were finding and +following fresh trails with every day, when Stout was surprised to +receive orders to drop pursuit and start with Brewster's fellows and +to scout the west face of the mountains from the Beaver to the heights +opposite the old Indian reservation. There was a stirring scene at +bivouac when that order came, and with it the explanation that Angela +Wren had vanished and was probably captured; that Blakely had followed +and was probably killed. "They might shoot Blakely in fair fight," +said Stout, who knew him, and knew the veneration that lived for him +in the hearts of the Indian leaders, "but they at least would never +butcher him in cold blood. Their unrestrained young men might do it." +Stout's awful dread, like that of every man and woman at Sandy, and +every soldier in the field, was for Angela. The news, too, had been +rushed to the general, and his orders were instant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> "Find the chiefs +in the field," said he to his interpreter and guide. "Find Shield's +people, and say that if a hair of her head is injured I shall hunt +them down, braves, women, and children—I shall hunt them anyhow until +they surrender her unharmed."</p> + +<p>But the Apaches were used to being hunted, and some of them really +liked the game. It was full of exhilaration and excitement, and not a +few chances to hunt and hit back. The threat conveyed no terror to the +renegades. It was to the Indians at the reservation that the tidings +brought dismay, yet even there, so said young Bridger, leaders and +followers swore they had no idea where the white maiden could be, much +less the young chief. They, the peaceable and the poor servants of the +great Father at Washington, had no dealings with these others, his +foes.</p> + +<p>About the post, where gloom and dread unspeakable prevailed, there was +no longer the fear of possible attack. The Indian prisoners in the +guard-house had dropped their truculent, defiant manner, and become +again sullen and apathetic. The down-stream settlers had returned to +their ranches and reported things undisturbed. Even the horse that had +been missing and charged to Downs had been accounted for. They found +him grazing placidly about the old pasture, with the rope halter +trailing, Indian-knotted, from his neck, and his gray hide still +showing stains of blood about the mane and withers. They wondered was +it on this old stager the Apaches had borne the wounded girl to the +garrison—she who still lay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> under the roof of Mother Shaughnessy, +timidly visited at times by big-eyed, shy little Indian maids from the +reservation, who would speak no word that Sudsville could understand, +and few that even Wales Arnold could interpret. All they would or +could divulge was that she was the daughter of old Eskiminzin, who was +out in the mountains, and that she had been wounded "over there," and +they pointed eastward. By whom and under what circumstances they swore +they knew not, much less did they know of Downs, or of how she chanced +to have the scarf once worn by the Frenchwoman Elise.</p> + +<p>Then Arnold's wife and brood had gone back to their home up the +Beaver, while he himself returned to the search for Angela and for +Blakely. But those four days had passed without a word of hope. In +little squads a dozen parties were scouring the rugged cañons and +cliffs for signs, and finding nothing. Hours each day Plume would come +to the watchers on the bluff to ask if no courier had been sighted. +Hours each night the sentries strained their eyes for signal fires. +Graham, slaving with his sick and wounded, saw how haggard and worn +the commander was growing, and spoke a word of caution. Something told +him it was not all on account of those woeful conditions at the front. +From several sources came the word that Mrs. Plume was in a state +bordering on hysteric at department headquarters, where sympathetic +women strove vainly to comfort and soothe her. It was then that Elise +became a center of interest, for Elise was snapping with electric +force and energy. "It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> is that they will assassinate madame—these +monsters," she declared. "It is imperative, it is of absolute need, +that madame be taken to the sea, and these wretches, unfeeling, they +forbid her to depart." Madame herself, it would seem, so said those +who had speech with her, declared she longed to be again with her +husband at Sandy. Then it was Elise who demanded that they should +move. Elise was mad to go—Elise, who took a turn of her own, a +screaming fit, when the news came of the relief of Wren's little +force, of the death of their brave sergeant, of the strange tale that, +before dying, Carmody had breathed a confession to Lieutenant Blakely, +which Blakely had reduced to writing before he set forth on his own +hapless mission. It was Mrs. Plume's turn now to have to play nurse +and comforter, and to strive to soothe, even to the extent of +promising that Elise should be permitted to start by the very next +stage to the distant sea, but when it came to securing passage, and in +feverish, nervous haste the Frenchwoman had packed her chosen +belongings into the one little trunk the stage people would consent to +carry, lo! there came to her a messenger from headquarters where +Colonel Byrne, grim, silent, saturnine, was again in charge. Any +attempt on her part to leave would result in her being turned over at +once to the civil authorities, and Elise understood and raved, but +risked not going to jail. Mullins, nursed by his devoted Norah, was +sitting up each day now, and had been seen by Colonel Byrne as that +veteran passed through, ten pounds lighter of frame and heavier of +heart than when he set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> forth, and Mullins had persisted in the story +that he had been set upon and stabbed by two women opposite Lieutenant +Blakely's quarters. What two had been seen out there that night but +Clarice Plume and her Gallic shadow, Elise?</p> + +<p>Meantime Aunt Janet was "looking ghastly," said the ladies along that +somber line of quarters, and something really ought to be done. Just +what that something should be no two could unite in deciding, but +really Major Plume or Dr. Graham ought to see that, if something +wasn't done, she would break down under the awful strain. She had +grown ten years older in five days, they declared—was turning +fearfully gray, and they were sure she never slept a wink. Spoken to +on this score, poor Miss Wren was understood to say she not only could +not sleep, but she did not wish to. Had she kept awake and watched +Angela, as was her duty, the child could never have succeeded in her +wild escapade. The "child," by the way, had displayed rare +generalship, as speedily became known. She must have made her few +preparations without a betraying sound, for even Kate Sanders, in the +same room, was never aroused—Kate, who was now well-night +heartbroken. They found that Angela had crept downstairs in her +stockings, and had put on her riding moccasins and leggings at the +kitchen steps. There, in the sand, were the tracks of her long, +slender feet. They found that she had taken with her a roomy +hunting-pouch that hung usually in her father's den. She had filled +it, apparently, with food,—tea, sugar, even lemons, for half a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> dozen +of this precious and hoarded fruit had disappeared. Punch, too, had +been provided for. She had "packed" a half-bushel of barley from the +stables. There was no one to say Miss Angela nay. She might have +ridden off with the flag itself and no sentry would more than think of +stopping her. Just what fate had befallen her no one dare suggest. The +one thing, the only one, that roused a vestige of hope was that +Lieutenant Blakely had gone <i>alone</i> on what was thought to be her +trail.</p> + +<p>Now here was a curious condition of things. If anyone had been asked +to name the most popular officer at Sandy, there would have been no +end of discussion. Perhaps the choice would have lain between Sanders, +Cutler, and old Westervelt—good and genial men. Asked to name the +least popular officer, and, though men, and women, too, would have +shrunk from saying it, the name that would have occurred to almost all +was that of Blakely. And why? Simply because he stood alone, +self-poised, self-reliant, said his few friends, "self-centered and +self<i>ish</i>," said more than Mrs. Bridger, whereas a more generous man +had never served at Sandy. That, however, they had yet to learn. But +when a man goes his way in the world, meddling with no one else's +business, and never mentioning his own, courteous and civil, but never +intimate, studying a good deal but saying little, asking no favors and +granting few, perhaps because seldom asked, the chances are he will +win the name of being cold, indifferent, even repellent, "too high, +mighty, and superior." His very virtues become a fault, for men and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +women love best those who are human like themselves, however they may +respect. Among the troopers Blakely was as yet something of an enigma. +His manner of speaking to them was unlike that of most of his +fellows—it was grave, courteous, dignified, never petulant or +irritable. In those old cavalry days most men better fancied something +more demonstrative. "I like to see an officer flare up and—say +things," said a veteran sergeant. "This here bug-catcher is too damned +cold-blooded." They respected him, yes; yet they little understood and +less loved him. They had known him too short a time.</p> + +<p>But among the Indians Blakely was a demi-god. Grave, unruffled, +scrupulously exact in word and deed, he made them trust him. Brave, +calm, quick in moments of peril, he made them admire him. How +fearlessly he had stepped into the midst of that half-frenzied +sextette, <i>tiswin</i> drunk, and disarmed Kwonagietah and two of his +fellow-revelers! How instant had been his punishment of that raging, +rampant, mutinous old medicine man, 'Skiminzin, who dared to threaten +him and the agency! (That episode only long years after reached the +ears of the Indian Advancement Association in the imaginative East.) +How gently and skillfully he had ministered to Shield's younger +brother, and to the children of old Chief Toyah! It was this, in fact, +that won the hate and envy of 'Skiminzin. How lavish was Blakely's +bounty to the aged and to the little ones, and Indians love their +children infinitely! The hatred or distrust of Indian man or woman, +once incurred, is venomous and lasting. The trust, above<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> all the +gratitude, of the wild race, once fairly won, is to the full as +stable. Nothing will shake it. There are those who say the love of an +Indian girl, once given, surpasses that of her Circassian sister, and +Bridger now was learning new stories of the Bugologist with every day +of his progress in Apache lore. He had even dared to bid his impulsive +little wife "go slow," should she ever again be tempted to say +spiteful things of Blakely. "If what old Toyah tells me is true," said +he, "and I believe him, Hualpai or Apache Mohave, there isn't a decent +Indian in this part of Arizona that wouldn't give his own scalp to +save Blakely." Mrs. Bridger did not tell this at the time, for she had +said too much the other way; but, on this fifth day of our hero's +absence, there came tidings that unloosed her lips.</p> + +<p>Just at sunset an Indian runner rode in on one of Arnold's horses, and +bearing a dispatch for Major Plume. It was from that sturdy +campaigner, Captain Stout, who knew every mile of the old trail +through Sunset Pass long years before even the ——th Cavalry,—the +predecessors of Plume, and Wren, and Sanders,—and what Stout said no +man along the Sandy ever bade him swear to.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Surprised small band, Tontos, at dawn to-day. They had +saddle blanket marked 'W. A.' [Wales Arnold], and hat and +underclothing marked 'Downs.' Indian boy prisoner says Downs +was caught just after the 'big burning' at Camp Sandy +[Lieutenant Blakely's quarters]. He says that Alchisay, +Blakely's boy courier, was with them two days before, and +told him Apache Mohaves had more of Downs's things, and that +a white chief's daughter was over there in the Red Rocks. +Sanders, with three troops, is east of us and searching that +way now. This boy says<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> Alchisay knew that Natzie and Lola +had been hiding not far from Willow Tank on the Beaver +trail—our route—but had fled from there same time Angela +disappeared. Against her own people Natzie would protect +Blakely, even were they demanding his life in turn for her +Indian lover, Shield's. If these girls can be tracked and +found, I believe you will have found Blakely and will find +Angela."</p></div> + +<p>That night, after being fed and comforted until even an Indian could +eat no more, the messenger, a young Apache Mohave, wanted <i>papel</i> to +go to the agency, but Plume had other plans. "Take him down to +Shaughnessy's," said he to Truman, "and see if he knows that girl." So +take him they did, and at sight of his swarthy face the girl had given +a low cry of sudden, eager joy; then, as though reading warning in his +glance, turned her face away and would not talk. It was the play of +almost every Apache to understand no English whatever, yet Truman +could have sworn she understood when he asked her if she could guess +where Angela was in hiding. The Indian lad had shaken his head and +declared he knew nothing. The girl was dumb. Mrs. Bridger happened in +a moment later, coming down with Mrs. Sanders to see how the strange +patient was progressing. They stood in silence a moment, listening to +Truman's murmured words. Then Mrs. Bridger suddenly spoke. "Ask her if +she knows Natzie's cave," said she. "Natzie's cave," she repeated, +with emphasis, and the Indian girl guilelessly shook her head, and +then turned and covered her face with her hands.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>AN APACHE QUEEN</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_15.jpg" alt="I" width="26" height="50" /></div> + +<p>n the slant of the evening sunshine a young girl, an Indian, was +crouching among the bare rocks at the edge of a steep and rugged +descent. One tawny little hand, shapely in spite of scratches, was +uplifted to her brows, shading her keen and restless eyes against the +glare. In the other hand, the right, she held a little, circular +pocket-mirror, cased in brass, and held it well down in the shade. +Only the tangle of her thick, black hair and the top of her head could +be seen from the westward side. Her slim young body was clothed in a +dark-blue, well-made garment, half sack, half skirt, with long, loose +trousers of the same material. There was fanciful embroidery of bead +and thread about the throat. There was something un-Indian about the +cut and fashion of the garments that suggested civilized and feminine +supervision. The very way she wore her hair, parted and rolling back, +instead of tumbling in thick, barbaric "bang" into her eyes, spoke of +other than savage teaching; and the dainty make of her moccasins; the +soft, pliant folds of the leggins that fell, Apache fashion, about her +ankles, all told, with their beadwork and finish, that this was no +unsought girl of the tribespeople. Even the sudden gesture with which, +never looking back, she cautioned some fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>lower to keep down, spoke +significantly of rank and authority. It was a chief's daughter that +knelt peering intently over the ledge of rocks toward the black +shadows of the opposite slope. It was Natzie, child of a warrior +leader revered among his people, though no longer spared to guide +them—Natzie, who eagerly, anxiously searched the length of the dark +gorge for sign or signal, and warned her companion to come no further.</p> + +<p>Over the gloomy depths, a mile away about a jutting point, three or +four buzzards were slowly circling, disturbed, yet determined. Over +the broad valley that extended for miles toward the westward range of +heights, the mantle of twilight was slowly creeping, as in his +expressive sign language the Indian spreads his extended hands, palms +down, drawing and smoothing imaginary blanket, the robe of night, over +the face of nature. Far to the northward, from some point along the +face of the heights, a fringe of smoke was drifting in the soft breeze +sweeping down the valley from the farther Sierras. Wild, untrodden, +undesired of man, the wilderness lay outspread—miles and miles of +gloom and desolation, save where some lofty scarp of glistening rock, +jutting from among the scattered growth of dark-hued pine and cedar, +caught the brilliant rays of the declining sun.</p> + +<p>Behind the spot where Natzie knelt, the general slope was broken by a +narrow ledge or platform, bowlder-strewn—from which, almost +vertically, rose the rocky scarp again. Among the sturdy, stunted fir +trees, bearding the rugged face, frowned a deep fissure, dark as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +wolf den, and, just in front of it, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, crouched +Lola—Natzie's shadow. Rarely in reservation days, until after Blakely +came as agent, were they ever seen apart, and now, in these days of +exile and alarm, they were not divided. Under a spreading cedar, close +to the opening, a tiny fire glowed in a crevice of the rocks, sending +forth no betraying smoke. About it were some rude utensils, a pot or +two, a skillet, an earthen <i>olla</i>, big enough to hold perhaps three +gallons, two bowls of woven grass, close plaited, almost, as the +famous fiber of Panama. In one of these was heaped a store of +<i>piñons</i>, in the other a handful or two of wild plums. Sign of +civilization, except a battered tin teapot, there was none, yet +presently was there heard a sound that told of Anglo-Saxon +presence—the soft voice of a girl in low-toned, sweet-worded +song—song so murmurous it might have been inaudible save in the +intense stillness of that almost breathless evening—song so low that +the Indian girl, intent in her watch at the edge of the cliff, seemed +not to hear at all. It was Lola who heard and turned impatiently, a +black frown in her snapping eyes, and a lithe young Indian lad, +hitherto unseen, dropped noiselessly from a perch somewhere above them +and, filling a gourd at the <i>olla</i>, bent and disappeared in the narrow +crevice back of the curtain of firs. The low song ceased gradually, +softly, as a mother ceases her crooning lullaby, lest the very lack of +the love-notes stir the drowsing baby brain to sudden waking.</p> + +<p>With the last words barely whispered the low voice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> died away. The +Indian lad came forth into the light again, empty-handed; plucked at +Lola's gown, pointed to Natzie, for the moment forgotten, now urgently +beckoning. Bending low, they ran to her. She was pointing across the +deep gorge that opened a way to the southward. Something far down +toward its yawning mouth had caught her eager eye, and grasping the +arm of the lad with fingers that twitched and burned, she whispered in +the Apache tongue:</p> + +<p>"They're coming."</p> + +<p>One long look the boy gave in the direction pointed, then, backing +away from the edge, he quickly swept away a Navajo blanket that hung +from the protruding branches of a low cedar, letting the broad light +into the cavelike space beyond. There, on a hard couch of rock, skin, +and blanket, lay a fevered form in rough scouting dress. There, with +pinched cheeks, and eyes that heavily opened, dull and suffused, lay +the soldier officer who had ridden forth to rescue and to save, +himself now a crippled and helpless captive. Beside him, wringing out +a wet handkerchief and spreading it on the burning forehead, knelt +Angela. The girls who faced each other for the first time at the +pool—the daughter of the Scotch-American captain—the daughter of the +Apache Mohave chief—were again brought into strange companionship +over the unconscious form of the soldier Blakely.</p> + + + +<p>Resentful of the sudden glare that caused her patient to shrink and +toss complainingly, Angela glanced up almost in rebuke, but was +stilled by the look and attitude <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>of the young savage. He stood with +forefinger on his closed lips, bending excitedly toward her. He was +cautioning her to make no sound, even while his very coming brought +disturbance to her first thought—her fevered patient. Then, seeing +both rebuke and question in her big, troubled eyes, the young Indian +removed his finger and spoke two words: "Patchie come," and, rising, +she followed him out to the flat in front.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_06" id="pic_06"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_06.jpg" width="500" height="725" alt=""Then slowly they saw her raise her right hand, still +cautiously holding the little mirror"" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">"Then slowly they saw her raise her right hand, still +cautiously holding the little mirror"</span> +</div> + +<p>Natzie at the moment was still crouching close to the edge, gazing +intently over, one little brown hand nervously grasping the branch of +a stunted cedar, the other as nervously clutching the mirror. So +utterly absorbed was she that the hiss of warning, or perhaps of +hatred, with which Lola greeted the sudden coming of Angela, seemed to +fall unnoted on her ears. Lola, her black eyes snapping and her lips +compressed, glanced up at the white girl almost in fury. Natzie, +paying no heed whatever to what was occurring about her, knelt +breathless at her post, watching, eagerly watching. Then, slowly, they +saw her raise her right hand, still cautiously holding the little +mirror, face downward, and at sight of this the Apache boy could +scarcely control his trembling, and Lola, turning about, spoke some +furious words, in low, intense tone, that made him shrink back toward +the screen. Then the wild girl glared again at Angela, as though the +sight of her were unbearable, and, with as furious a gesture, sought +to drive her, too, again to the refuge of the dark cleft, but Angela +never stirred. Paying no heed to Lola, the daughter of the soldier +gazed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> only at the daughter of the chief, at Natzie, whose hand was +now level with the surface of the rock. The next instant, far to the +northwest flashed a slender beam of dazzling light, another—another. +An interval of a second or two, and still another flash. Angela could +see the tiny, nebulous dot, like will-'o-the-wisp, dancing far over +among the rocks across a gloomy gorge. She had never seen it before, +but knew it at a glance. The Indian girl was signaling to some of her +father's people far over toward the great reservation, and the tale +she told was that danger menaced. Angela could not know that it told +still more,—that danger menaced not only Natzie, daughter of one +warrior chief, and the chosen of another now among their heroic +dead—it threatened those whom she was pledged to protect, even +against her own people.</p> + +<p>Somewhere down that deep and frowning rift to the southwest, Indian +guides were leading their brethren on the trail of these refugees +among the upper rocks. Somewhere, far over among the uplands to the +northwest, other tribesfolk, her own kith and kin, were lurking, and +these the Indian girl was summoning with all speed to her aid.</p> + +<p>And in the slant of that same glaring sunshine, not four miles away, +toiling upward along a rocky slope, following the faint sign here and +there of Apache moccasin, a little command of hardy, war-worn men had +nearly reached the crest when their leader signaled backward to the +long column of files, and, obedient to the excited gestures of the +young Hualpai guide, climbed to his side<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> and gazed intently over. +What he saw on a lofty point of rocks, well away from the tortuous +"breaks" through which they had made most of their wearying marches +from the upper Beaver, brought the light of hope, the fire of battle, +to his somber eyes. "Send Arnold up here," he shouted to the men +below, and Arnold came, clambering past rock and bowlder until he +reached the captain's side, took one look in the direction indicated, +and brought his brown hand down with resounding swat on the butt of +his rifle. "Treed 'em!" said he exultantly; then, with doubtful, +backward glance along the crouching file of weary men, some sitting +now and fanning with their broad-brimmed hats, he turned again to the +captain and anxiously inquired: "Can we make it before dark?"</p> + +<p>"We must make it!" simply answered Stout.</p> + +<p>And then, far over among the heights between them and the reservation, +there went suddenly aloft—one, two, three—compact little puffs of +bluish smoke. Someone was answering signals flashed from the rocky +point—someone who, though far away, was promising aid.</p> + +<p>"Let's be the first to reach them, lads," said Stout, himself a +wearied man. And with that they slowly rose and went stumbling upward. +The prize was worth their every effort, and hope was leading on.</p> + +<p>An hour later, with barely half the distance traversed, so steep and +rocky, so wild and winding, was the way, with the sun now tangent to +the distant range afar across the valley, they faintly heard a sound +that spurred them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> on—two shots in quick succession from unseen +depths below the lofty point. And now they took the Indian jog trot. +There was business ahead.</p> + +<p>Between them and that gleaming promontory now lay a comparatively open +valley, less cumbered with bowlders than were the ridges and ravines +through which they had come, less obstructed, too, with stunted trees. +Here was opportunity for horsemen, hitherto denied, and Stout called +on Brewster and his score of troopers, who for hours had been towing +their tired steeds at the rear of column. "Mount and push ahead!" said +he. "You are Wren's own men. It is fitting you should get there +first."</p> + +<p>"Won't the captain ride with us—now?" asked the nearest sergeant.</p> + +<p>"Not if it robs a man of his mount," was the answer. Yet there was +longing in his eye and all men saw it. He had led them day after day, +trudging afoot, because his own lads could not ride. Indeed, there had +been few hours when any horse could safely bear a rider. There came +half a dozen offers now. "I'll tramp afoot if the captain 'll only +take my horse," said more than one man.</p> + +<p>And so the captain was with them, as with darkness settling down they +neared the great cliff towering against the southeastward sky. Then +suddenly they realized they were guided thither only just in time to +raise a well-nigh fatal siege. Thundering down the mountain side a big +bowlder came tearing its way, launched from the very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> point that had +been the landmark of their eager coming, and with the downward +crashing of the rock there burst a yell of fury.</p> + +<p>Midway up the steep incline, among the straggling timber, two lithe +young Indians were seen bounding out of a little gully, only just in +time to escape. Two or three others, farther aloft, darted around a +shoulder of cliff as though scurrying out of sight. From the edge of +the precipice the crack of a revolver was followed by a second, and +then by a scream. "Dismount!" cried Brewster, as he saw the captain +throw himself from his horse; then, leaving only two or three to +gather in their now excited steeds, snapping their carbines to full +cock, with blazing eyes and firm-set lips, the chosen band began their +final climb. "Don't bunch. Spread out right and left," were the only +cautions, and then in long, irregular line, up the mountain steep they +clambered, hope and duty still leading on, the last faint light of the +November evening showing them their rocky way. Now, renegadoes, it is +fight or flee for your lives!</p> + +<p>Perhaps a hundred yards farther up the jagged face the leaders came +upon an incline so steep that, like the Tontos above them, they were +forced to edge around to the southward, whither their comrades +followed. Presently, issuing from the shelter of the pines, they came +upon a bare and bowlder-dotted patch to cross which brought them +plainly into view of the heights above, and almost instantly under +fire. Shot after shot, to which they could make no reply, spat and +flattened on the rocks about them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> but, dodging and ducking +instinctively, they pressed swiftly on. Once more within the partial +shelter of the pines across the open, they again resumed the climb, +coming suddenly upon a sight that fairly spurred them. There, feet +upward among the bowlders, stiff and swollen in death, lay all that +the lynxes had left of a cavalry horse. Close at hand was the battered +troop saddle. Caught in the bushes a few rods above was the folded +blanket, and, lodged in a crevice, still higher, lay the felt-covered +canteen, stenciled with the number and letter of Wren's own troop. It +was the horse of the orderly, Horn—the horse on which the Bugologist +had ridden away in search of Angela Wren. It was all the rescuers +needed to tell them they were now on the trail of both, and now the +carbines barked in earnest at every flitting glimpse of the foe, +sending the wary Tontos skipping and scurrying southward. And, at +last, breathless, panting, well-nigh exhausted, the active leaders +found themselves halting at a narrow, twisting little game trail, +winding diagonally up the slope, with that gray scarp of granite +jutting from the mountain side barely one hundred yards farther; and, +waving from its crest, swung by unseen hands, some white, fluttering +object, faintly seen in the gathering dusk, beckoned them on. The last +shots fired at the last Indians seen gleamed red in the autumn +gloaming. They, the rescuers, had reached their tryst only just as +night and darkness shrouded the westward valley. The last man up had +to grope his way, and long before that last man reached the ledge the +cheering word was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> passed from the foremost climber: "Both here, boys, +and safe!"</p> + +<p>An hour later brought old Heartburn to the scene, scrambling up with +the other footmen, and speedily was he kneeling by the fevered +officer's side. The troopers had been sent back to their horses. Only +Stout, the doctor, Wales Arnold, and one or two sergeants remained at +the ledge, with rescued Angela, the barely conscious patient, and +their protectors, the Indian girls. Already the boy had been hurried +off with a dispatch to Sandy, and now dull, apathetic, and sullen, +Lola sat shrouded in her blanket, while Arnold, with the little Apache +dialect he knew, was striving to get from Natzie some explanation of +her daring and devotion.</p> + +<p>Between tears and laughter, Angela told her story. It was much as they +had conjectured. Mad with anxiety on her father's account, she said, +she had determined to reach him and nurse him. She felt sure that, +with so many troops out between the post and the scene of action, +there was less danger of her being caught by Indians than of being +turned back by her own people. She had purposely dashed by the ranch, +fearing opposition, had purposely kept behind Colonel Byrne's party +until she found a way of slipping round and past them where she could +feel sure of speedily regaining the trail. She had encountered neither +friend nor foe until, just as she would have ridden away from the +Willow Tanks, she was suddenly confronted by Natzie, Lola, and two +young Apaches. Natzie eagerly gesticulated, exclaiming, "Apaches, +Apaches,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> and pointing ahead up the trail, and, though she could +speak no English, convincing Angela that she was in desperate danger. +The others were scowling and hateful, but completely under Natzie's +control, and between them they hustled her pony into a ravine leading +to the north and led him along for hours, Angela, powerless to +prevent, riding helplessly on. At last they made her dismount, and +then came a long, fearful climb afoot, up the steepest trail she had +ever known, until it brought her here. And here, she could not tell +how many nights afterwards—it seemed weeks, so had the days and hours +dragged—here, while she slept at last the sleep of exhaustion, they +had brought Mr. Blakely. He lay there in raging fever when she was +awakened that very morning by Natzie's crying in her ear some words +that sounded like: <i>"Hermano viene</i>! <i>Hermano viene</i>!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_07" id="pic_07"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_07.jpg" width="500" height="699" alt=""They hustled her pony into a ravine"" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">"They hustled her pony into a ravine"</span> +</div> + + +<p>Stout had listened with absorbing interest and to the very last word. +Then, as one who heard at length full explanation of what he had +deemed incredible, his hand went out and clutched that of Arnold, +while his deep eyes, full of infinite pity, turned to where poor +Natzie crouched, watching silently and in utter self-forgetfulness the +doctor's ministrations.</p> + +<p>"Wales," he muttered, "that settles the whole business. Whatever you +do,—don't let that poor girl know that—they"—and now he warily +glanced toward Angela—"they—are <i>not</i> brother and sister."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE MEETING AT SANDY</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_14.jpg" alt="D" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ecember, and the noonday sun at Sandy still beat hotly on the barren +level of the parade. The fierce and sudden campaign seemed ended, for +the time, at least, as only in scattered remnants could the renegade +Indians be found. Eastward from the Agua Fria to the Chiquito, and +northward from the Salado to the very cliffs of the grand cañon, the +hard-worked troopers had scoured the wild and mountainous country, +striking hard whenever they found a hostile band, striving ever, +through interpreters and runners, to bring the nervous and suspicious +tribes to listen to reason and to return to their reservations. This +for long days, however, seemed impossible. The tragic death of Raven +Shield, most popular of the young chiefs, struck down, as they +claimed, when he was striving only to defend Natzie, daughter of a +revered leader, had stirred the savages to furious reprisals, and +nothing but the instant action of the troops in covering the valley +had saved the scattered settlers from universal massacre. Enough had +been done by one band alone to thrill the West with horror, but these +had fled southward into Mexico and were safe beyond the border. The +settlers were slowly creeping back now to their abandoned homes, and +one after another the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> little field detachments were marching to their +accustomed stations. Sandy was filling up again with something besides +the broken down and wounded.</p> + +<p>First to come in was Stout's triumphant half hundred, the happiest +family of horse and foot, commingled, ever seen upon the Pacific +slope, for their proud lot it had been to reach and rescue Angela, +beloved daughter of the regiment, and Blakely, who had well-nigh +sacrificed himself in the effort to find and save her. Stout and his +thirty "doughboys," Brewster, the sergeant, with his twenty troopers, +had been welcomed by the entire community as the heroes of the brief +campaign, but Stout would none of their adulation.</p> + +<p>"There is the one you should thank and bless," said he, his eyes +turning to where stood Natzie, sad and silent, watching the attendants +who were lifting Neil Blakely from the litter to the porch of the +commanding officer.</p> + +<p>They had brought her in with them, Lola and Alchisay as well—the last +two scowling and sullen, but ruled by the chieftain's daughter. They +had loaded her with praise and thanks, but she paid no heed. Two hours +after Stout and his troopers had reached the cliff and driven away the +murderous band of renegades—Tontos and Apache Yumas—bent on stealing +her captives, there had come a little party of her own kindred in +answer to her signals, but these would have been much too late. +Blakely would have been butchered. Angela and her benefactors, too, +would probably have been the victims of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>their captors. Natzie could +look for no mercy from them now. Through Wales Arnold, the captain and +his men had little by little learned the story of Natzie's devotion. +In the eyes of her father, her brother, her people, Blakely was +greater even than the famous big chief, Crook, the Gray Fox, who had +left them, ordered to other duties but the year gone by. Blakely had +quickly righted the wrongs done them by a thieving agent. Blakely had +given fair trial to and saved the life of Mariano, that fiery brother, +who, ironed by the former agent's orders, had with his shackled hands +struck down his persecutor and then escaped. Blakely had won their +undying gratitude, and Stout and Arnold saw now why it was that one +young brave, at least, could not share the love his people bore for +<i>Gran Capitan Blanco</i>—that one was Quonothay—the Chief Raven Shield. +They saw now why poor Natzie had no heart to give her Indian lover. +They saw now why it was that Natzie wandered from the agency and +hovered for some days before the outbreak there around the post. It +was to be near the young white chief whom she well-nigh worshiped, +whom she had been accustomed to see every day of her life during his +duties at the agency. They saw now why it was the savage girl had +dared the vengeance of the Apaches by the rescue of Angela. She +believed her to be Blakely's sister, yet they could not give the +reason why. They knew very little of Neil Blakely, but what they did +know made them doubt that he could ever have been the one at fault. +Over this problem both ranchman and soldier, Arnold and Stout, looked +grave indeed. It was not like Blakely that he should make a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> victim of +this young Indian girl. She was barely sixteen, said Arnold, who knew +her people well. She had never been alone with Blakely, said her +kinsfolk, who came that night in answer to her signals. She had saved +Angela, believing her to be Blakely's own blood, had led her to her +own mountain refuge, and then, confident that Blakely would make +search for it and for his sister, had gone forth and found him, +already half-dazed with fever and exhaustion, and had striven to lead +his staggering horse up that precipitous trail. It was the poor +brute's last climb. Blakely she managed to bring in safety to her +lofty eerie. The horse had fallen, worn out in the effort, and died on +the rocks below. She had roused Angela with what she thought would be +joyful tidings, even though she saw that her hero was desperately ill. +She thought, of course, the white girl knew the few words of Spanish +that she could speak. All this was made evident to Arnold and Stout, +partly through Natzie's young brother, who had helped to find and +support the white chief, partly through the girl herself. It was +evident to Arnold, too, that up to the time of their coming nothing +had happened to undeceive Natzie as to that relationship. They tried +to induce her to return to the agency, although her father and brother +were still somewhere with the hostile bands, but she would not, she +would go with them to Sandy, and they could not deny her. More than +once on that rough march of three days they found themselves asking +what would the waking be. Angela, daughter of civilization, under safe +escort, had been sent on ahead,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> close following the courier who +scurried homeward with the news. Natzie, daughter of the wilderness, +could not be driven from the sight of Blakely's litter. The dumb, +patient, pathetic appeal of her great soft eyes, as she watched every +look in the doctor's face, was something wonderful to see. But now, at +last, the fevered sufferer was home, still only semi-conscious, being +borne within the walls of the major's quarters, and she who had saved +him, slaved for him, dared for him, could only mutely gaze after his +prostrate and wasted form as it disappeared within the darkened +hallway in the arms of his men. Then came a light step bounding along +the veranda—then came Angela, no longer clad in the riding garb in +which hitherto Natzie had seen her, but in cool and shimmering white, +with gladness and gratitude in her beautiful eyes, with welcome and +protection in her extended hand, and the Indian girl looked strangely +from her to the dark hallway within which her white hero had +disappeared, and shrank back from the proffered touch. If this was the +soldier's sister should not she now be at the soldier's side? Had she +other lodge than that which gave him shelter, now that his own was +burned? Angela saw for the first time aversion, question, suspicion in +the great black eyes from which the softness and the pleading had +suddenly fled. Then, rebuffed, disturbed, and troubled, she turned to +Arnold, who would gladly have slipped away.</p> + +<p>"Can't <i>you</i> make her understand, Mr. Arnold?" she pleaded. "I don't +know a word of her language, and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> so want to be her friend—so want +to take her to my home!"</p> + +<p>And then the frontiersman did a thing for which, when she heard of it +one sunset later, his better half said words of him and to him that +overstepped all bounds of parliamentary usage, and that only a wife +would dare to employ. With the blundering stupidity of his sex, poor +Arnold "settled things" for many a day and well-nigh ruined the +sweetest romance that Sandy had ever seen the birth of.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Miss Angela! only one place will ever be home to Natzie now. Her +eyes will tell you that."</p> + +<p>And already, regardless of anything these women of the white chiefs +might think or say, unafraid save of seeing him no more, unashamed +save of being where she could not heed his every look or call or +gesture, the daughter of the mountain and the desert stood gazing +again after the vanished form her eyes long months had worshiped, and +the daughter of the schools and civilization stood flushing one-half +moment, then slowly paling, as, without another glance or effort, she +turned silently away. Kate Sanders it was who sprang quickly after her +and encircled the slender waist with her fond and clasping arm.</p> + +<p>That night the powers of all Camp Sandy were exhausted in effort to +suitably provide for Natzie and her two companions. Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. +Bridger, even Mother Shaughnessy and Norah pleaded successively with +this princess of the wilderness, and pleaded in vain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> Food and +shelter elsewhere they proffered in abundance. Natzie sat stubbornly +at the major's steps, and sadly at first, and angrily later, shook her +head to every proposition. Then they brought food, and Lola and +Alchisay ate greedily. Natzie would hardly taste a morsel. Every time +Plume or Graham or a soldier nurse came forth her mournful eyes would +study his face as though imploring news of the sufferer, who lay +unconscious of her vigil, if not of her existence. Graham's treatment +was beginning to tell, and Blakely was sleeping the sleep of the just. +They had not let him know of the poor girl's presence at the door. +They would not let her in for fear he might awake and see her, and ask +the reason of her coming. They would not send or take her away, for +all Sandy was alive with the strange story of her devotion. The +question on almost every lip was "How is this to end?"</p> + +<p>At tattoo there came a Mexican woman from one of the down-stream +ranches, sent in by the post trader, who said she could speak the +Apache-Mohave language sufficiently well to make Natzie understand the +situation, and this frontier linguist strove earnestly. Natzie +understood every word she said, was her report, but could not be made +to understand that she ought to go. In the continued absence of Mrs. +Plume, both the major and the post surgeon had requested of Mrs. +Graham that she should come over for a while and "see what she could +do," and, leaving her own sturdy bairnies, the good, motherly soul had +come and presided over this diplomatic interview, propos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>ing various +plans for Natzie's disposition for the night. And other ladies +hovering about had been sympathetically suggestive, but the Indian +girl had turned deaf ear to everything that would even temporarily +take her from her self-appointed station. At ten o'clock Mother +Shaughnessy, after hanging uneasily about the porch a moment or two, +gave muttered voice to a suggestion that other women had shrunk from +mentioning:</p> + +<p>"Has she been tould Miss Angela and—him—is no kin at all, at all?"</p> + +<p>"I don't want her told," said Mrs. Graham briefly.</p> + +<p>And so Natzie was still there, sitting sleepless in the soft and +radiant moonlight, when toward twelve o'clock Graham came forth from +his last visit for the night, and she lifted up her head and looked +him dumbly in the face,—dumbly, yet imploring a word of hope or +comfort,—and it was more than the soft-hearted Scot could bear. +"Major," said he, as he gently laid a big hand upon the black and +tangled wealth of hair, "that lad in yonder would have been beyond the +ken of civilization days ago if it hadn't been for this little savage. +I'm thinking he'll sleep none the worse for her watching over him. +Todd's there for the night, the same that attended him before, and she +won't be strange with him—or I'm mistaken."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Plume, mystified.</p> + +<p>"I'm not saying, until Blakely talks for himself. For one reason I +don't <i>know</i>. For another, <i>he's</i> the man to tell, if anybody," and a +toss of the head toward the dark doorway told who was meant by "he."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></p> + +<p>"D'you mean you'd have this girl squatting there by Blakely's bedside +the rest of the night?" asked the commander, ruffled in spirit. +"What's to prevent her singing their confounded death song, or +invoking heathen spirits, or knifing us all, for that matter?"</p> + +<p>"What was to prevent her from knifing the Bugologist and Angela both, +when she had 'em?" was the sturdy reply. "The girl's a theoretical +heathen, but a practical Christian. Come with us, Natzie," he +finished, one hand extended to aid her to rise, the other pointing to +the open doorway. She was on her feet in an instant, and, silently +signing her companions to stay, followed the doctor into the house.</p> + +<p>And so it happened that when Blakely wakened, hours later, the sight +that met him, dimly comprehending, was that of a blue-coated soldier +snoozing in a reclining chair, a blue-blanketed Indian girl seated on +the floor near the foot of his bed, looking with all her soul in her +gaze straight into his wondering eyes. At his low whisper, "Natzie," +she sprang to her feet without word or sound; seized the thin white +hand tremulously extended toward her, and, pillowing her cheek upon +it, knelt humbly by the bedside, her black hair streaming to the +floor. A pathetic picture it made in the dim light of the newborn day, +forcing itself through the shrouded windows, and Major Plume, restless +and astir the hour before reveille, stood unnoted a moment at the +doorway, then strode back through the hall and summoned from the +adjoining veranda another sleepless watcher, gratefully breathing the +fra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>grance of the cool, morning air; and presently two dim forms had +softly tiptoed to that open portal, and now stood gazing within until +their eyes should triumph over the uncertain light—the post commander +in his trim-fitting undress uniform, the tall and angular shape of +Wren's elderly sister—the "austere vestal" herself. It may have been +a mere twitch of the slim fingers under her tawny cheek that caused +Natzie to lift her eyes in search of those of her hero and her +protector. Instantly her own gaze, startled, was turned straight to +the door. Then in another second she had sprung to her feet, and with +fury in her face and attitude confronted the intruders. As she did so +the sudden movement detached some object that hung within the breast +of her loose-fitting sack—something bright and gleaming that +clattered to the floor, falling close to the feet of the drowsing +attendant, while another—a thin, circular case of soft leather, +half-rolled, half-bounded toward the unwelcome visitors at the door.</p> + +<p>Todd, roused to instant action at sight of the post commander, bent +quickly and nabbed the first. The girl herself darted after the +second, whereat the attendant, misjudging her motive, dreading danger +to his betters or rebuke to himself, sprang upon her as she stooped, +and dropping his first prize, dared to seize the Apache girl with both +hands at the throat. There was a warning cry from the bed, a flash of +steel through one slanting ray of sunshine, a shriek from the lips of +Janet Wren, and with a stifled moan the luckless soldier sank in his +tracks, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> Natzie, the chieftain's daughter, a dripping blade in +her uplifted hand, a veritable picture of fury, stood in savage +triumph over him, her flashing eyes fixed upon the amazed commander, +as though daring him, too, to lay hostile hands upon her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>RESCUE REQUITED</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_13.jpg" alt="A" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p> change had come over the spirit of Camp Sandy's dream. The garrison +that had gone to bed the previous night, leaving Natzie silent, +watchful, wistful at the post commander's door, had hardly a thought +that was not full of sympathy and admiration for her. Even women who +could not find it possible to speak of her probable relations with +Neil Blakely dwelt much in thought and word upon her superb devotion +and her generosity. That he had encouraged her passionate and almost +savage love for him there were few to doubt, whatsoever they might +find it possible to say. That men and women both regarded her as, +beyond compare, the heroic figure of the campaign there was none to +gainsay. Even those who could not or did not talk of her at all felt +that such was the garrison verdict. There were no men, and but few +women, who would have condemned the doctor's act in leading her to +Blakely's bedside. Sandy had spoken of her all that wonderful evening +only to praise. It woke to hear the first tidings of the new day, and +to ask only What was the cause?—What had led to her wild, swift +vengeance? for Todd had in turn been carried to hospital, a +sore-stricken man. The night before Natzie was held a queen: now she +was held a captive.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> + +<p>It all happened so suddenly that even Plume, who witnessed the entire +incident, could not coherently explain it. Reveille was just over and +the men were going to breakfast when the major's voice was heard +shouting for the guard. Graham, first man to reach the scene, had +collided with Janet Wren, whimpering and unnerved, as he bounded into +the hallway. His first thought was that Plume's prophecy about the +knifing had come true, and that Blakely was the victim. His first +sight, when his eyes could do their office in that darkened room, was +of Blakely wresting something from the grasp of the Indian girl, whose +gaze was now riveted on that writhing object on the floor.</p> + +<p>"See to him, doctor," he heard Blakely say, in feeble, but commanding +tone. "I will see to her." But Blakely was soon in no condition to see +to her or to anybody. The flicker of strength that came to him for a +second or two at sight of the tragedy, left him as suddenly—left him +feebler than before. He had no voice with which to protest when the +stretchermen, who bore away poor Todd, were followed instantly by +stout guardsmen who bore away Natzie. The dignity of the chieftain's +daughter had vanished now. She had no knife with which to deal death +to these new and most reluctant assailants—Graham found it under +Blakely's pillow, long hours later. But, with all her savage, lissome +strength she scratched and struck and struggled. It took three of +their burliest to carry her away, and they did it with shame-hidden +faces, while rude comrades chaffed and jeered and even shouted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +laughing encouragement to the girl, whose screams of rage had drawn +all Camp Sandy to the scene. One doctor, two men, and the steward went +with their groaning burden one way to the hospital. One officer, one +sergeant, and half a dozen men had all they could do to take their +raging charge another way to the guard-house. Ah, Plume, you might +have spared that brave girl such indignity! But, where one face +followed the wounded man with sympathetic eyes, there were twenty that +never turned from the Indian girl until her screams were deadened by +the prison doors.</p> + +<p>"She stabbed a soldier who meant her no harm," was Plume's sullen and +stubborn answer to all appeals, for good and gentle women went to him, +begging permission to go to her. It angered him presently to the +extent of repeating his words with needless emphasis and additions +when Mother Shaughnessy came to make her special appeal. Shure she had +learned how to care for these poor creatures, was her claim, along o' +having little Paquita on her hands so many days, "and now that poor +girl beyant will be screaming herself into fits!"</p> + +<p>"Let her scream," said Plume, unstrung and shaken, "but hold you your +tongue or I'll find a separate cell for you. No woman shall be knifing +my men, and go unpunished, if I can help it," and so saying he turned +wrathfully from her.</p> + +<p>"Heard you that now?" stormed Mother Shaughnessy, as he strode away. +"Who but he has helped his women to go unpunished—" and the words +were out and heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> before the sergeant major could spring and silence +her. Before another day they were echoing all over the post—were on +their way to Prescott, even, and meeting, almost at the northward +gateway, the very women the raging laundress meant. Of her own free +will Clarice Plume was once again at Sandy, bringing with her, sorely +against the will of either, but because a stronger will would have it +so—and sent his guards to see to it—a cowed and scared and +semi-silent companion of whom much ill was spoken now about the +garrison—Elise Lebrun.</p> + +<p>The news threw Norah Shaughnessy nearly into spasms. "'Twas she that +knifed Pat Mullins!" she cried. "'Twas she drove poor Downs to dhrink +and desartion. 'Twas she set Carmody and Shannon to cuttin' each +other's throats"—which was news to a garrison that had seen the +process extend no further than to each other's acquaintance. And more +and stormier words the girl went on to say concerning the commander's +household until Mullins himself mildly interposed. But all these +things were being told about the garrison, from which Lola and +Alchisay had fled in terror to spread the tidings that their princess +was a prisoner behind the bars. These were things that were being +told, too, to the men of Sanders's returning troop before they were +fairly unsaddled at the stables; and that night, before ever he sought +his soldier pillow, Shannon had been to "C" Troop's quarters in search +of Trooper Stern and had wrung from him all that he could tell of +Carmody's last fight on earth—of his last words to Lieutenant +Blakely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p> + +<p>Meantime a sorely troubled man was Major Plume. That his wife would +have to return to Sandy he had learned from the lips of Colonel Byrne +himself. Her own good name had been involved, and could only be +completely cleared when Wren and Blakely were sufficiently recovered +to testify, and when Mullins should be so thoroughly restored as to be +fit for close cross-examination. Plume could in no wise connect his +beloved wife with either the murderous assault on Mullins or the +mysterious firing of Blakely's quarters, but he knew that Sandy could +not so readily acquit her, even though it might saddle the actual deed +upon her instrument—Elise. He had ordered that Blakely should be +brought to his own quarters because there he could not be reached by +any who were unacceptable to himself, the post commander. There were +many things he wished to know about and from Blakely's lips alone. He +could not stoop to talk with other men about the foibles of his wife. +He knew that iron box in Truman's care contained papers, letters, or +<i>something</i> of deep interest to her. He knew full well now that, at +some time in the not far distant past, Blakely himself had been of +deep interest to her and she to Blakely. He had Blakely's last letter +to himself, written just before the lonely start in quest of Angela, +but that letter made no reference to the contents of the box or to +anything concerning their past. He had heard that Wales Arnold had +been intrusted with letters for Blakely to Clarice, his wife, and to +Captain, or Miss Janet Wren. Arnold had not been entirely silent on +the subject. He did not too much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> like the major, and rather rejoiced +in this opportunity to show his independence of him. Plume had gone so +far as to ask Arnold whether such letters had been intrusted to him, +and Wales said, yes; but, now that Blakely was safely back and +probably going to pull through, he should return the letters to the +writer as soon as the writer was well enough to appreciate what was +being done. Last, but not least, Plume had picked up near the door in +Blakely's room the circular, nearly flat, leather-covered case which +had dropped, apparently, from Natzie's gown, and, as it had neither +lock nor latch, Plume had opened it to examine its contents.</p> + +<p>To his surprise it contained a beautifully executed miniature, a +likeness of a fair young girl, with soft blue eyes and heavy, arching +brows, a delicately molded face and mouth and chin, all framed in a +tumbling mass of tawny hair. It was the face of a child of twelve or +thirteen, one that he had never seen and of whom he knew nothing. +Neither cover, backing, nor case of the miniature gave the faintest +clew as to its original or as to its ownership. What was Natzie doing +with this?—and to whom did it belong? A little study satisfied him +there was something familiar in the face, yet he could not place it.</p> + +<p>The very night of her coming, therefore, he told his wife the story +and handed her the portrait. One glance was enough. "I know it, yes," +said Mrs. Plume, "though I, too, have never seen her. She died the +winter after it was taken. It is Mr. Blakely's sister, Ethel," and +Mrs. Plume sat gazing at the sweet girl features, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> strange +emotion in her aging face. There was something—some story—behind all +this that Plume could not fathom, and it nettled him. Perhaps he, too, +was yielding to a fit of nerves. Elise, the maid, had been remanded to +her room, and could be heard moving about with heavy, yet uncertain +tread. "She is right over Blakely," quoth the major impatiently. "Why +can't the girl be quiet?"</p> + +<p>"Why did you bring him <i>here</i>, then?" was the weary answer. "I cannot +control Elise. They have treated her most cruelly."</p> + +<p>"There are things you cannot explain and that she must," said he, and +then, to change the subject, stretched forth his hand to take again +the picture. She drew it back one moment, then, remembering, +surrendered it.</p> + +<p>"You saw this in—St. Louis, I suppose," said he awkwardly. He never +could bear to refer to those days—the days before he had come into +her life.</p> + +<p>"Not that perhaps, but the photograph from which it was probably +painted. She was his only sister. He was educating her in the East." +And again her thoughts were drifting back to those St. Louis days, +when, but for the girl sister he so loved, she and Neil Blakely had +been well-nigh inseparable. Someone had said then, she remembered, +that she was jealous even of that love.</p> + +<p>And now again her husband was gazing fixedly at the portrait, a light +coming into his lined and anxious face. Blakely had always carried +this miniature with him, for he now remembered that the agent, Daly, +had spoken of it. Natzie and others might well have seen it at the +reser<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>vation. The agent's wife had often seen it and had spoken of his +sorrow for the sister he had lost. The picture, she said, stood often +on his little camp table. Every Indian who entered his tent knew it +and saw it. Why, surely; Natzie, too, mused the major, and then aloud:</p> + +<p>"I can see now what we have all been puzzling over. Angela Wren might +well have looked like this—four years ago."</p> + +<p>"There is not the faintest resemblance," said Clarice, promptly rising +and quitting the room.</p> + +<p>It developed with another day that Mrs. Plume had no desire to see +Miss Wren, the younger. She expressed none, indeed, when policy and +the manners of good society really required it. Miss Janet had come in +with Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Sanders to call upon the wife of the +commanding officer and say what words of welcome were possible as +appropriate to her return. "And Angela," said Janet, for reasons of +her own, "will be coming later." There was no response, nor was there +to the next tentative. The ladies thought Mrs. Plume should join +forces with them and take Natzie out of the single cell she occupied. +"Can she not be locked at the hospital, under the eye of the matron, +with double sentries? It is hard to think of her barred in that +hideous place with Apache prisoners and rude men all about her." But +again was Mrs. Plume unresponsive. She would say no word of interest +in either Angela or Natzie. At the moment when her husband was in +melting mood and when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> a hint from her lips would have secured the +partial release of the Indian girl, the hint was withheld. It would +have been better for her, for her husband, for more than one brave lad +on guard, had the major's wife seen fit to speak, but she would not.</p> + +<p>So that evening brought release that, in itself, brought much relief +to the commanding officer and the friends who still stood by him.</p> + +<p>Thirty-six hours now had Natzie been a prisoner behind the bars, and +no one of those we know had seen her face. At tattoo the drums and +fifes began their sweet, old-fashioned soldier tunes. The guard turned +out; the officer of the day buckled his belt with a sigh and started +forth to inspect, just as the foremost soldiers appeared on the porch +in front, buttoning their coats and adjusting their belts and slings. +Half their number began to form ranks; the other half "stood by," +within the main room, to pass out the prisoners, many of whom wore a +clanking chain. All on a sudden there arose a wild clamor—shouts, +scuffling, the thunder of iron upon resounding woodwork, hoarse +orders, curses, shrieks, a yell for help, a shot, a mad scurry of many +feet, furious cries of "Head 'em off!" "Shoot!" "No, no, don't shoot! +You'll kill our own!" A dim cloud of ghostly, shadowy forms went +tearing away down the slope toward the south. There followed a +tremendous rush of troop after troop, company after company,—the +whole force of Camp Sandy in uproarious pursuit,—until in the dim +starlight the barren flats below the post, the willow patches along +the stream, the plashing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> waters of the ford, the still and glassy +surface of the shadowy pool, were speedily all alive with dark and +darting forms intermingled in odd confusion. From the eastward side, +from officers' row, Plume and his white-coated subordinates hastened +to the southward face, realizing instantly what must have +occurred—the long-prophesied rush of Apache prisoners for freedom. +Yet how hopeless, how mad, how utterly absurd was the effort! What +earthly chance had they—poor, manacled, shackled, ball-burdened +wretches—to escape from two hundred fleet-footed, unhampered, +stalwart young soldiery, rejoicing really in the fun and excitement of +the thing? One after another the shackled fugitives were run down and +overhauled, some not half across the parade, some in the shadows of +the office and storehouses, some down among the shrubbery toward the +lighted store, some among the shanties of Sudsville, some, lightest +weighted of all, far away as the lower pool, and so one after another, +the grimy, sullen, swarthy lot were slowly lugged back to the unsavory +precincts wherein, for long weeks and months, they had slept or +stealthily communed through the hours of the night. Three or four had +been cut or slashed. Three or four soldiers had serious hurts, +scratches or bruises as their fruits of the affray. But after all, the +malefactors, miscreants, and incorrigibles of the Apache tribe had +profited little by their wild and defiant essay—profited little, that +is, if personal freedom was what they sought.</p> + +<p>But was it? said wise heads of the garrison, as they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> looked the +situation over. Shannon and some of his ilk were doing much +independent trailing by aid of their lanterns. Taps should have been +sounded at ten, but wasn't by any means, for "lights out" was the last +thing to be thought of. Little by little it dawned upon Plume and his +supporters that, instead of scattering, as Indian tactics demanded on +all previous exploits of the kind, there had been one grand, concerted +rush to the southward—planned, doubtless, for the purpose of drawing +the whole garrison thither in pursuit, while three pairs of moccasined +feet slipped swiftly around to the rear of the guard-house, out beyond +the dim corrals, and around to a point back of "C" Troop stables, +where other little hoofs had been impatiently tossing up the sands +until suddenly loosed and sent bounding away to where the North Star +hung low over the sheeny white mantle of San Francisco mountain. +Natzie, the girl queen, was gone from the guard-house: Punch, the Lady +Angela's pet pony, was gone from the corral, and who would say there +had not been collusion?</p> + +<p>"One thing is certain," said the grave-faced post commander, as, with +his officers, he left the knot of troopers and troopers' wives +hovering late about the guard-house, "one thing is certain; with +Wren's own troopers hot on the heels of Angela's pony we'll have our +Apache princess back, sure as the morning sun."</p> + +<p>"Like hell!" said Mother Shaughnessy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>"WOMAN-WALK-NO-MORE"</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_12.jpg" alt="M" width="61" height="50" /></div> +<p>ore morning suns than could be counted in the field of the flag had +come, and gone, but not a sign of Natzie. Wren's own troopers, hot on +Punch's flashing heels, were cooling their own as best they could +through the arid days that followed. Wren himself was now recovered +sufficiently to be told of much that had been going on,—not all,—and +it was Angela who constantly hovered about him, for Janet was taking a +needed rest. Blakely, too, was on the mend, sitting up hours of every +day and "being very lovely" in manner to all the Sanders household, +for thither had he demanded to be moved even sooner than it was +prudent to move him at all. Go he would, and Graham had to order it. +Pat Mullins was once again "for duty." Even Todd, the bewildered +victim of Natzie's knife, was stretching his legs on the hospital +porch. There had come a lull in all martial proceedings at the post, +and only two sensations. One of these latter was the formal +investigation by the inspector general of the conditions surrounding +the stabbing at Camp Sandy of Privates Mullins and Todd of the ——th +U. S. Cavalry. The other was the discovery, one bright, brilliant, +winter morning that Natzie's friend and savior, Angela's Punch, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +back in his stall, looking every bit as saucy and "fit" as ever he did +in his life. What surprised many folk in the garrison was that it +surprised Angela not at all. "I thought Punch would come back," said +she, in demure unconcern, and the girls at least, began to understand, +and were wild to question. Only Kate Sanders, however, knew how +welcome was the pet pony's coming. But what had come that was far from +welcome was a coldness between Angela and Kate Sanders.</p> + +<p>Byrne himself had arrived, and the "inquisition" had begun. No +examinations under oath, no laborious recordings of question and +answer, no crowd of curious listeners. The veteran inspector took each +man in turn and heard his tale and jotted down his notes, and, where +he thought it wise, cross-questioned over and again. One after +another, Truman and Todd, Wren and Mullins, told their stories, +bringing forth little that was new beyond the fact that Todd was sure +it was Elise he heard that night "jabbering with Downs" on Blakely's +porch. Todd felt sure that it was she who brought him whisky, and +Byrne let him prattle on. It was not evidence, yet it might lead the +way to light. In like manner was Mullins sure now "'Twas two ladies" +stabbed him when he would have striven to stop the foremost. Byrne +asked did he think they were ladies when first he set eyes on them, +and Pat owned up that he thought it was some of the girls from +Sudsville; it might even be Norah as one of them, coming home late +from the laundresses' quarters, and trying to play him a trick. He +owned to it that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> grabbed the foremost, seeing at that moment no +other, and thinking to win the forfeit of a kiss, and Byrne gravely +assured him 'twas no shame in it, so long as Norah never found it out.</p> + +<p>But Byrne asked Plume two questions that puzzled and worried him +greatly. How much whisky had he missed? and how much opium could have +been given him the night of Mrs. Plume's unconscious escapade? The +major well remembered that his demijohn had grown suddenly light, and +that he had found himself surprisingly heavy, dull, and drowsy. The +retrospect added to his gloom and depression. Byrne had not reoccupied +his old room at Plume's, now that madame and Elise were once more +under the major's roof, and even in extending the customary +invitation, Plume felt confident that Byrne could not and should not +accept. The position he had taken with regard to Elise, her ladyship's +companion and confidante, was sufficient in itself to make him, in the +eyes of that lady, an unacceptable guest, but it never occurred to +her, although it had to Plume, that there might be even deeper +reasons. Then, too, the relations between the commander and the +inspector, although each was scrupulously courteous, were now +necessarily strained. Plume could not but feel that his conduct of +post affairs was in a measure a matter of scrutiny. He knew that his +treatment of Natzie was disapproved by nine out of ten of his command. +He felt, rather than knew, that some of his people had connived at her +escape, and though that escape had been a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> relief to everybody at +Sandy, the manner of her taking off was to him a mystery and a +rankling sore.</p> + +<p>Last man to be examined was Blakely, and now indeed there was light. +He had been sitting up each day for several hours; his wounds were +healing well; the fever and prostration that ensued had left him weak +and very thin and pale, but he had the soldier's best medicine—the +consciousness of duties thoroughly and well performed. He knew that, +though Wren might carry his personal antipathy to the extent of +official injustice, as officers higher in rank than Wren have been +known to do, the truth concerning the recent campaign must come to +light, and his connection therewith be made a matter of record, as it +was already a matter of fact. Wren had not yet submitted his written +report. Wren and the post commander were still on terms severely +official; but, to the few brother officers with whom the captain +talked at all upon the stirring events through which he and his troop +had so recently passed, he had made little mention of Blakely. Not so, +however, the men; not so Wales Arnold, the ranchman. To hear these +worthies talk, the Bugologist, next to "Princess Natzie," was the +central figure of the Red Rock campaign—the one officer, "where all +had done so well," whose deeds merited conspicuous mention. Byrne knew +this better than Wren. Plume knew it not as well as Byrne, perhaps. +Sanders, Lynn, and Duane had heard the soldier stories in a dozen +ways, and it stung them that their regimental comrade should so +doggedly refuse to open his lips and give Blakely his due.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> It is not +silence that usually hurts a man, it is speech; yet here was a case to +the contrary.</p> + +<p>Now just in proportion as the Wrens would have nothing to say in +praise of Blakely, the Sanders household would have nothing <i>but</i> +praise to say. Kate's honest heart was hot with anger at Angela, +because the girl shrank from the subject as she would from evil +speaking, lying, and slandering, and here again, to paraphrase the +Irishman, too much heat had produced the coldness already referred to. +Sanders scoffed at the idea of Natzie's infatuation being sufficient +ground for family ostracism. "If there is a man alive who owes more +than Wren does to Blakely, I'm a crab," said he, "and as soon as he's +well enough to listen to straight talk he'll get it from me." "If +there's a girl in America as heartless as Angela Wren," said Mrs. +Sanders, "I hope I never shall have to meet her." But then Mrs. +Sanders, as we know, had ever been jealous of Angela on account of her +own true-hearted Kate, who refused to say one word on the subject +beyond what she said to Angela herself. And now they had propped their +patient in his reclining-chair and arranged the little table for "the +inquisitor general," as Mrs. Bridger preferred to refer to him, and +left them alone together behind closed doors, and had then gone forth +to find that all Camp Sandy seemed to wait with bated breath for the +outcome of that interview.</p> + +<p>Sooner than was believed possible it came. An hour, probably, before +they thought the colonel could have gathered all he wished to know, +that officer was on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> front piazza and sending an orderly to the +adjutant's office. Then came Major Plume, with quick and nervous step. +There was a two-minute conference on the piazza; then both officers +vanished within, were gone five minutes, and then Plume reappeared +alone, went straight to his home, and slammed the door behind him, a +solecism rarely known at Sandy, and presently on the hot and pulseless +air there arose the sound of shrill protestation in strange +vernacular. Even Wren heard the voice, and found something reminiscent +in the sound of weeping and wailing that followed. The performer was +unquestionably Elise—she that had won the ponderous, yet descriptive, +Indian name "Woman-Walk-in-the-Night."</p> + +<p>And while this episode was still unexpired the orderly went for +Lieutenant Truman, and Truman, with two orderlies, for a box, a bulky +little chest, strapped heavily with iron, and this they lugged into +Sanders's hall and came out heated and mystified. Three hours later, +close-veiled and in droopy desolation, "Mademoiselle Lebrun" was +bundled into a waiting ambulance and started under sufficient escort, +and the care of the hospital matron, <i>en route</i> for Prescott, while +Dr. Graham was summoned to attend Mrs. Plume, and grimly went. "The +mean part of the whole business," said Mrs. Bridger, "is that nobody +knows <i>what</i> it means." There was no one along the line, except poor +Mrs. Plume, to regret that sudden and enforced departure, but there +was regret universal all over the post when it was learned, still +later in the afternoon, that one of the best soldiers and sergeants +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> the entire garrison had taken the horse of one of the herd guard +and galloped away on the trail of the banished one. Sergeant Shannon, +at sunset parade, was reported absent without leave.</p> + +<p>Major Plume had come forth from his quarters at the sounding of the +retreat, accurately dressed as ever, white-gloved, and wearing his +saber. He seemed to realize that all eyes would be upon him. He had, +indeed, been tempted again to turn over the command to the senior +captain, but wisely thought better of it, and determined to face the +music. He looked very sad and gray, however. He returned scrupulously +the salute of the four company commanders as, in turn, each came +forward to report the result of the evening roll-call; Cutler and +Westervelt first, their companies being the nearest, then Lieutenant +Lynn, temporarily in charge of Wren's troop, its captain and first +lieutenant being still "on sick report." The sight of this young +officer set the major to thinking of that evening not so many moons +agone when Captain Wren himself appeared and in resonant, far-carrying +tone announced "Lieutenant Blakely, sir, is absent." He had been +thinking much of Blakely through the solemn afternoon, as he wandered +nervously about his darkened quarters, sometimes tiptoeing to the +bedside of his feebly moaning, petulant wife, sometimes pacing the +library and hall. He had been again for half an hour closeted with +Byrne and the Bugologist, certain letters being under inspection. He +hardly heard the young officer, Lynn, as he said "Troop 'C,' all +present, sir." He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> was looking beyond him at Captain Sanders, coming +striding over the barren parade, with import in his eye. Plume felt +that there was trouble ahead before ever Sanders reached the +prescribed six paces, halted, raised his hand in salute, and, just as +did Wren on that earlier occasion, announced in tones intended to be +heard over and beyond the post commander: "Sergeant Shannon, sir, with +one government horse, absent without leave."</p> + +<p>Plume went a shade white, and bit his lips before he could steady +himself to question. Well he knew that this new devilment was due in +some way to that spirit of evil so long harbored by his wife, and +suffered by himself. All the story of the strife she had stirred in +the garrison had reached him days before. Downs's drunkenness and +desertion, beyond doubt, were chargeable to her, as well as another +and worse crime, unless all indications were at fault. Then there was +the breach between Carmody and Shannon, formerly stanch friends and +comrades, and now Carmody lay buried beneath the rocks in Bear Cañon, +and Shannon, as gallant and useful a sergeant as ever served, had +thrown to the winds his record of the past and his hopes for the +future, and gone in mad pursuit of a worthless hoyden. And all because +Clarice would have that woman with her wherever she might go.</p> + +<p>"When did this happen?" he presently asked.</p> + +<p>"Just after stable call, sir. The horses were all returned to the +corral except the herd guard's. The men marched over, as usual, with +their halters. Shannon fell out as they entered the gate, took young +Bennett's rein<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> as he stood ready to lead in after them, mounted and +rode round back of the wall, leaving Bennett so surprised that he +didn't know what to say. He never suspected anything wrong until +Shannon failed to reappear. Then he followed round back of the corral, +found the sergeant's stable frock lying halfway out toward the bluff, +and saw a streak of dust toward Bowlder Point. Then he came and +reported."</p> + +<p>Plume, after a moment's silence, turned abruptly. He had suffered much +that day, and to think of his wife lying stricken and whimpering, +professing herself a sorely injured woman because compelled at last to +part with her maid, angered him beyond the point of toleration. +Tossing his saber to the China boy, he went straightway aloft, failing +to note in the dim light that two soft-hearted sympathizers were +cooing by the gentle sufferer's side.</p> + +<p>"Well, Clarice," he broke in abruptly, "we are never to hear the end +of that she-cat's doings! My best sergeant has stolen a horse and gone +galloping after her." It is always our best we lose when our better +half is to blame, nor is it the way of brutal man to minimize the +calamity on such occasions. It did not better matters that her +much-wronged ladyship should speedily reply: "It's a wonder you don't +charge the Indian outbreak to poor Elise. I don't believe she had a +thing to do with your sergeant's stealing."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't believe she stole my whisky and gave it to Downs, though +you admitted she told you she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> to go back that night for something +she'd dropped. You wouldn't believe she married that rascally gambler +at St. Louis before her first husband was out of the way! You shielded +and swore by her, and brought her out here, and all the time the +proofs were here in Blakely's hands. It was <i>she</i>, I suppose, who +broke off—"</p> + +<p>But here, indeed, was it high time to break off. The visitors were now +visibly rising in all proper embarrassment, for Mrs. Plume had started +up, with staring eyes. "Proofs!" she cried, "in Blakely's hands! Why, +she told me—my own letters!—my—" And then brutal man was brought to +his senses and made to see how heartless and cruel was his conduct, +for Mrs. Plume went into a fit and Mrs. Lynn for the doctor.</p> + +<p>That was a wild night at Sandy. Two young matrons had made up their +minds that it was shameful to leave poor Mrs. Plume without anybody to +listen to her, when she might so long for sympathetic hearers, and +have so much to tell. They had entered as soon as the major came forth +and, softly tapping at the stricken one's door, had been with her +barely five minutes when he came tearing back, and all this tremendous +scene occurred before they could put in a word to prevent, which, of +course, they were dying to do. But what <i>hadn't</i> they heard in that +swift moment! Between the two of them—and Mrs. Bridger was the +other—their agitation was such that it all had to be told. Then, like +the measles, one revelation led to another, but it was several days +before the garrison settled down in possession of an array of facts +sufficient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> to keep it in gossip for many a month. Meanwhile, many a +change had come over the scene.</p> + +<p>At Prescott, then the Territorial capital, Elise Layton, <i>née</i> Lebrun, +was held without bail because it couldn't be had, charged with +obtaining money under false pretenses, bigamy as a side issue, and +arson as a possible backstop. The sleep-walking theory, as advanced in +favor of Mrs. Plume, had been reluctantly abandoned, it appearing +that, however dazed and "doped" she may have been through the +treatment of that deft-fingered, unscrupulous maid, she was +sufficiently wide awake to know well whither she had gone at that +woman's urging, to make a last effort to recover certain letters of +vital importance. At Blakely's door Clarice had "lost her nerve" and +insisted on returning, but not so Elise. She went again, and had +well-nigh gotten Downs drunk enough to do as she demanded. Frankly, +sadly, Plume went to Blakely, told him of his wife's admissions, and +asked him what papers of hers he retained. For a moment Blakely had +blazed with indignation, but Plume's sorrow, and utter innocence of +wrong intent, stilled his wrath and led to his answer: "Every letter +of Mrs. Plume's I burned before she was married, and I so assured her. +She herself wrote asking me to burn rather than return them, but there +were letters and papers I could not burn, brought to me by a poor +devil that woman Elise had married, tricked into jail, and then +deserted. He disappeared afterward, and even Pinkerton's people +haven't been able to find him. Those papers are his property. You and +Colonel Byrne are the only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> men who have seen them, though they were +somewhat exposed just after the fire. She made three attempts to get +me to give them up to her. Then, I believe, she strove to get Downs to +steal them, and gave him the money with which to desert and bring them +to her. He couldn't get into the iron box; couldn't lug it out, and +somehow, probably, set fire to the place, scratching matches in there. +Perhaps she even persuaded him to do that as a last resort. He knew I +could get out safely. At all events, he was scared out of his wits and +deserted with what he had. It was in trying to make his way eastward +by the Wingate road that there came the last of poor Ups and Downs."</p> + +<p>And so the story of this baleful influence over a weak, half-drugged +girl, her mistress, became known to Plume and gradually to others. It +was easy for Elise to make her believe that, in spite of the word of a +gentleman, her impulsive love letters were still held by Blakely +because he had never forgiven her. It was Elise, indeed, who had +roused her jealousy and had done her best to break that engagement +with Blakely and to lead to the match with the handsome and devoted +major. Intrigue and lying were as the breath of the woman's nostrils. +She lived in them. But Sandy was never to see her again. +"Woman-Walk-in-the-Night" was "Woman-Walk-no-More."</p> + +<p>And now the friendless creature stood charged with more crimes than +would fill the meager space of a Territorial jail, and yet the one +originally laid at her door,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> though never publicly announced, was now +omitted entirely—that of assault with deadly weapon, possibly with +intent to kill. Even Mother Shaughnessy and Norah were silenced, and +Pat Mullins put to confusion. Even the latest punctured patient at the +hospital, Private Todd, had to serve as evidence in behalf of Elise, +for Graham, post surgeon, had calmly declared that the same weapon +that so nearly killed Pat Mullins had as nearly and neatly done the +deed for Todd—the keen Apache knife of Princess Natzie.</p> + +<p>"The heathen child was making her usual night visit to her white +lover," said Wren grimly, having in mind the womanly shape he had seen +that starlit morning at Blakely's rear door.</p> + +<p>"You're right in one guess, R-robert Wren," was the prompt answer of +his friend and fellow Scot, who glared at Janet rather than his +convalescent as he spoke. "And ye're wrang in twanty. She <i>was</i> +tryin', and didn't know the way. She <i>was</i> tryin', for she had his +watch and pocketbook. You're wrang if ye think she was ever there +before or after. The slut you saw cryin' at his back door was that +quean Elise, an' ye well know there was no love lost between them. Go +say yer prayers, man, for every wicked thought ye've had of him—or of +that poor child. Between them they saved your Angela!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE PARTING BY THE WATERS</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_11.jpg" alt="S" width="45" height="50" /></div> +<p>ome day I may tell Miss Angela—but never you," had Mr. Blakely +said, before setting forth on his perilous essay to find Angela's +father, and with native tenacity Miss Wren the elder had remembered +the words and nourished her wrath. It was strange, indeed, that Plume, +an officer and a gentleman, should have bethought him of the "austere +vestal" as a companion witness to Blakely's supposed iniquity; but, +between these two natures,—one strong, one weak,—there had sprung up +the strange sympathy that is born of a common, deep-rooted, yet +ill-defined antipathy—one for which neither she nor he could yet give +good reason, and of which each was secretly ashamed. Each, for reasons +of her or his own, cordially disliked the Bugologist, and each could +not but welcome evidence to warrant such dislike. It is human nature. +Janet Wren had strong convictions that the man was immoral, if for no +other reason than that he obviously sought Angela and as obviously +avoided her. Janet had believed him capable of carrying on a <i>liaison</i> +with the dame who had jilted him, and had had to see that theory +crushed. Then she would have it that, if not the mistress, he dallied +with the maid, and when it began to transpire that virulent hatred was +the only passion felt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> for him by that baffling and detestable +daughter of Belial, there came actual joy to the soul of the +Scotchwoman that, after all, her intuition had not been at fault. He +was immoral as she would have him, even more so, for he had taken base +advantage of the young and presumably innocent. She craved some proof, +and Plume knew it, and, seeing her there alone in her dejection, had +bidden her come and look—with the result described.</p> + +<p>His own feeling toward Blakely is difficult to explain. Kind friends +had told him at St. Louis how inseparable had been Clarice and this +very superior young officer. She had admitted to him the "flirtation," +but denied all regard for Blakely, yet Plume speedily found her moody, +fitful, and unhappy, and made up his mind that Blakely was at the +bottom of it. Her desire to go to far-away Arizona could have no other +explanation. And though in no way whatever, by look, word, or deed, +had Blakely transgressed the strictest rule in his bearing toward the +major's wife, both major and wife became incensed at him,—Plume +because he believed the Bugologist still cherished a tender passion +for his wife—or she for him; Clarice, it must be owned, because she +knew well he did not. Plume sought to find a flaw in his subordinate's +moral armor to warrant the aversion that he felt, and was balked at +every turn. It was with joy almost fierce he discovered what he +thought to be proof that the subaltern was no saint, and, never +stopping to give his better nature time to rise and rebuke him, he had +summoned Janet. It was to sting Blakely, more than to punish the girl, +he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> had ordered Natzie to the guard-room. Then, as the hours wore on +and he realized how contemptible had been his conduct, the sense of +shame well-nigh crushed him, and though it galled him to think that +some of his own kind, probably, had connived at Natzie's escape, he +thanked God the girl was gone. And now having convinced herself that +here at last she had positive proof of Mr. Blakely's depravity, Aunt +Janet had not scrupled to bear it to Angela, with sharp and surprising +result. A good girl, a dutiful girl, was Angela, as we have seen, but +she, too, had her share of fighting Scotch blood and a bent for revolt +that needed only a reason. For days Aunt Janet had bidden her shun the +young man, first naming Mrs. Plume and then Elsie as the cause and +corespondent. One after another Graham had demolished these +possibilities, to the end that even Wren was ashamed of his unworthy +suspicions. Then it was Natzie who was the prey of Blakely's +immorality, and for that, Janet declared, quite as much as for +stabbing the soldier, the girl had been sent to the cells. It was late +in the day when she managed to find Angela away from her father, who, +realizing what Natzie had done and suffered to save his own ewe lamb, +was now in keen distress of mind because powerless to raise a hand to +aid her. He wondered that Angela seemed so unresponsive—that she did +not flare up in protest at such degrading punishment for the girl who +had saved her life. He little knew how his daughter's heart was +burning within her. He never dreamed that she, too, was +suffering—torn by conflicting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> emotions. It was a sore thing to find +that in her benefactress lived an unsuspected rival.</p> + +<p>Just before sunset she had left him and gone to her room to change her +dress for the evening, and Janet's first swoop was upon her brother. +Once before during the exciting day she had had a moment to herself +and him. She had so constantly fanned the flame of his belief in +Blakely's gallantries as even to throttle the sense of gratitude he +felt, and, in spite of herself, that she felt for that officer's +daring and successful services during the campaign. She felt, and he +felt, that they must disapprove of Blakely—must stamp out any nascent +regard that Angela might cherish for him, and to this end would never +in her presence admit that he had been instrumental in the rescue of +his captain, much less his captain's daughter. Hurriedly Janet had +told him what she and Plume had seen, and left him to ponder over it. +Now she came to induce him to bid her tell it all to Angela. "Now +that, that other—affair—seems disproved," said she, "she'll be +thinking there's no reason why she shouldn't be thinking of him," and +dejectedly the Scotchman bade her do as seemed best. Women, he +reasoned, could better read each other's hearts.</p> + +<p>And so Janet had gone and had thought to shock, and had most +impressively detailed what she had witnessed—I fear me Janet scrupled +not to embroider a bit, so much is permissible to the "unco guid" when +so very much is at stake. And Angela went on brushing out her +beautiful hair without a sign of emotion. To the scandal of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> Scotch +maidenhood she seemed unimpressed by the depravity of the pair. To the +surprise of Aunt Janet she heard her without interruption to the +uttermost word, and then—wished to know if Aunt Janet thought the +major would let her send Natzie something for supper.</p> + +<p>Whatever the girl may have thought of this new and possible +complication, she determined that no soul should read that it cost her +a pang. She declined to discuss it. She did what she had not done +before that day—went forth in search of Kate Sanders. Aunt Janet was +astonished that her niece should wish to send food to that—that +trollop. What would she have thought could she have heard what passed +a few moments later? In the dusk and the gloaming Kate Sanders was in +conversation on the side veranda with a tall sergeant of her father's +troop. "Ask her?" Kate was saying. "Of course I'll ask her. Why, here +she comes now!" Will it be believed that Sergeant Shannon wished Miss +Angela's permission to "take Punch out for a little exercise," a thing +he had never ventured to ask before, and that Angela Wren eagerly +said, "Yes." Poor Shannon! He did not know that night how soon he +would be borrowing a horse on his own account, nor that two brave +girls would nearly cry their eyes out over it, when they were barely +on speaking terms.</p> + +<p>Of him there came sad news but the day after his crack-brained, +Quixotic essay. Infatuated with Elise, and believing in her promise to +marry him, he had placed his savings in her hands, even as had Downs +and Car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>mody. He had heard the story of her visiting Blakely by night, +and scouted it. He heard, in a maze of astonishment, that she was +being sent to Prescott under guard for delivery to the civil +authorities, and taking the first horse he could lay hands on, he +galloped in chase. He had overtaken the ambulance on Cherry Creek, and +with moving tears she had besought him to save her. Faithful to their +trust, the guard had to interpose, but, late at night, they reached +Stemmer's ranch; were met there by a relief guard sent down by Captain +Stout; and the big sergeant who came in charge, with special +instructions from Stout's own lips, was a new king who knew not +Joseph, and who sternly bade Shannon keep his distance. Hot words +followed, for the trooper sergeant would stand no hectoring from an +equal in rank. Shannon's heart was already lost, and now he lost his +head. He struck a fellow-sergeant who stood charged with an important +duty, and even his own comrades could not interpose when the +infantrymen threw themselves upon the raging Irish soldier and +hammered him hard before they could subdue and bind him, but bind him +they did. Sadly the trooper guard went back to Sandy, bringing the +"borrowed" horse and the bad news that Shannon had been arrested for +assaulting Sergeant Bull, and all men knew that court-martial and +disgrace must follow. It was Shannon's last run on the road he knew so +well. Soldiers of rank came forward to plead for him and bear witness +to his worth and services, and the general commanding remitted most of +the sentence, restoring to him every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>thing the court had decreed +forfeited except the chevrons. They had to go, yet could soon be +regained. But no man could restore to him the pride and self-respect +that went when he realized that he was only one of several plucked and +deluded victims of a female sharper. While the Frenchwoman ogled and +languished behind the bars, Shannon wandered out into the world again, +a deserter from the troop he was ashamed to face, an unfollowed, +unsought fugitive among the mining camps in the Sierras. "Three stout +soldiers stricken from the rolls—two of them gone to their last +account," mused poor Plume, as at last he led his unhappy wife away to +the sea, "and all the work of one woman!"</p> + +<p>Yes, Mrs. Plume was gone now for good and all, her devoted, yet +sore-hearted major with her, and Wren was sufficiently recovered to be +up and taking the air on his veranda, where Sanders sometimes stopped +to see him, and "pass the time of day," but cut his visits short and +spoke of everything but what was uppermost in his mind, because his +better half persuaded him that only ill would come from preaching. +Then, late one wonderful day, the interesting invalid, Mr. Neil +Blakely himself, was "paraded" upon the piazza in the Sanders's +special reclining-chair, and Kate and Mrs. Sanders beamed, while +nearly all society at the post came and purred and congratulated and +took sidelong glances up the row to where Angela but a while before +was reading to her grim old father, but where the father now read +alone, for Angela had gone, as was her custom at the hour, to her own +little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> room, and thither did Janet conceive it her duty to follow, +and there to investigate.</p> + +<p>"It won't be long now before that young man will be hobbling around +the post, I suppose. How do you expect to avoid him?" said the elder +maiden, looking with uncompromising austerity at her niece. Angela as +before had just shaken loose her wealth of billowy tresses and was +carefully brushing them. She did not turn from the contemplation of +her double in the mirror before her; she did not hesitate in her +reply. It was brief, calm, and to the point.</p> + +<p>"I shall not avoid him."</p> + +<p>"Angela! And after all I—your father and I—have told you!" And Aunt +Janet began to bristle.</p> + +<p>"Two-thirds of what you told me, Aunt Janet, proved to be without +foundation. Now I doubt—the rest of it." And Aunt Janet saw the big +eyes beginning to fill; saw the twitching at the corners of the soft, +sensitive lips; saw the trembling of the slender, white hand, and the +ominous tapping of the slender, shapely foot, but there wasn't a +symptom of fear or flinching. The blood of the Wrens was up for +battle. The child was a woman grown. The day of revolt had come at +last.</p> + +<p>"Angela Wr-r-ren!" rolled Aunt Janet. "D'you mean you're going to +<i>see</i> him?—speak to him?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to see him and—thank him, Aunt Janet." And now the girl +had turned and faced the astounded woman at the door. "You may spare +yourself any words upon the subject."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> + +<p>The captain was seated in loneliness and mental perturbation just +where Angela had left him, but no longer pretending to read. His back +was toward the southern end of the row. He had not even seen the cause +of the impromptu reception at the Sanders's. He read what was taking +place when Angela began to lose her voice, to stumble over her words; +and, peering at her under his bushy eyebrows, he saw that the face he +loved was flushing, that her young bosom was swiftly rising and +falling, the beautiful brown eyes wandering from the page. Even before +the glad voices from below came ringing to his ears, he read in his +daughter's face the tumult in her guileless heart, and then she +suddenly caught herself and hurried back to the words that seemed +swimming in space before her. But the effort was vain. Rising quickly, +and with brave effort steadying her voice, she said, "I'll run and +dress now, father, dear," and was gone, leaving him to face the +problem thrust upon him. Had he known that Janet, too, had heard from +the covert of the screened and shaded window of the little parlor, and +then that she had followed, he would have shouted for his German +"striker" and sent a mandate to his sister that she could not fail to +understand. He did not know that she had been with Angela until he +heard her footstep and saw her face at the hall doorway. She had not +even to roll her r's before the story was told.</p> + +<p>Two days now he had lived in much distress of mind. Before quitting +the post Major Plume had laboriously gone the rounds, saying good-by +to every officer and lady.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> Two officers he had asked to see +alone—the captain and first lieutenant of Troop "C." Janet knew of +this, and should have known it meant amende and reconciliation, +perhaps revelation, but because her brother saw fit to sit and ponder, +she saw fit to cling unflinchingly to her preconceived ideas and to +act according to them. With Graham she was exceeding wroth for daring +to defend such persons as Lieutenant Blakely and "that Indian squaw." +It was akin to opposing weak-minded theories to positive knowledge of +facts. She had seen with her own eyes the ignorant, but no less +abandoned, creature kneeling at Blakely's bedside, her black head +pillowed close to his breast. She had seen her spring up in fury at +being caught—what else could have so enraged her that she should seek +to knife the intruders? argued Janet. She believed, or professed to +believe, that but for the vigilance of poor Todd, now quite happy in +his convalescence, the young savage would have murdered both the major +and herself. She did not care what Dr. Graham said. She had seen, and +seeing, with Janet, was believing.</p> + +<p>But she knew her brother well, and knew that since Graham's impetuous +outbreak he had been wavering sadly, and since Plume's parting visit +had been plunged in a mental slough of doubt and distress. Once before +his stubborn Scotch nature had had to strike its colors and surrender +to his own subaltern, and now the same struggle was on again, for what +Plume said, and said in presence of grim old Graham, fairly startled +him:</p> + +<p>"You are not the only one to whom I owe amende<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> and apology, Captain +Wren. I wronged you, when you were shielding—my wife—at no little +cost to yourself. I wronged Blakely in several ways, and I have had to +go and tell him so and beg his pardon. The meanest thing I ever did +was bringing Miss Wren in there to spy on him, unless it was in +sending that girl to the guard-house. I'd beg her pardon, too, if she +could be found. Yes, I see you look glum, Wren, but we've all been +wrong, I reckon. There's no mystery about it now."</p> + +<p>And then Plume told his tale and Wren meekly listened. It might well +be, said he, that Natzie loved Blakely. All her people did. She had +been watching him from the willows as he slept that day at the pool. +He had forbidden her following him, forbidden her coming to the post, +and she feared to wake him, yet when she saw the two prospectors, that +had been at Hart's, ride over toward the sleeping officer she was +startled. She saw them watching, whispering together. Then they rode +down and tied their horses among the trees a hundred yards below, and +came crouching along the bank. She was up in an instant and over the +stream at the shallows, and that scared them off long enough to let +her reach him. Even then she dare not wake him for fear of his anger +at her disobedience, but his coat was open, his watch and wallet easy +to take. She quickly seized them—the little picture-case being within +the wallet at the moment—and sped back to her covert. Then Angela had +come cantering down the sandy road; had gone on down stream, passing +even the prowling prospectors, and after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> a few minutes had returned +and dismounted among the willows above where Blakely lay—Angela whom +poor Natzie believed to be Blakely's sister. Natzie supposed her +looking for her brother, and wondered why she waited. Natzie finally +signaled and pointed when she saw that Angela was going in +disappointment at not finding him. Natzie witnessed Angela's theft of +the net and her laughing ride away. By this time the prospectors had +given up and gone about their business, and then, while she was +wondering how best to restore the property, Lola and Alchisay had come +with the annoying news that the agent was angered and had sent +trailers after her. They were even then only a little way up stream. +The three then made a run for the rocks to the east, and there +remained in hiding. That night Natzie had done her best to find her +way to Blakely with the property, and the rest they knew. The watch +was dropped in the struggle on the <i>mesa</i> when Mullins was stabbed, +the picture-case that morning at the major's quarters.</p> + +<p>"Was it Blakely told you all this, sir?" Wren had asked, still +wrong-headed and suspicious.</p> + +<p>"No, Wren. It was I told Blakely. All this was given me by Lola's +father, the interpreter, back from Chevlon's Fork only yesterday. I +sent him to try to persuade Natzie and her kinsfolk to return. I have +promised them immunity."</p> + +<p>Then Plume and Graham had gone, leaving Wren to brood and ponder, and +this had he been doing two mortal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> days and nights without definite +result, and now came Janet to bring things to a head. In grim and +ominous silence he listened to her recital, saying never a word until +her final appeal:</p> + +<p>"R-r-robert, is our girlie going daft, do you think? She solemnly said +to me—to me—but a minute ago, 'I mean to go to him myself—and thank +him!'"</p> + +<p>And solemnly the soldier looked up from his reclining-chair and +studied his sister's amazed and anxious face. Then he took her thin, +white hand between his own thin, brown paws and patted it gently. She +recoiled slowly as she saw contrition, not condemnation, in his +blinking eyes.</p> + +<p>"God forgive us all, Janet! It's what I ought to have done days ago."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Another cloudless afternoon had come, and, under the willows at the +edge of the pool, a young girl sat daydreaming, though the day was +nearly done. All in the valley was wrapped in shadow, though the +cliffs and turrets across the stream were resplendent in a radiance of +slanting sunshine. Not a whisper of breeze stirred the drooping +foliage along the sandy shores, or ruffled the liquid mirror surface. +Not a sound, save drowsy hum of beetle or soft murmur of rippling +waters among the pebbly shadows below, broke the vast silence of the +scene. Just where Angela was seated that October day on which our +story opened, she was seated now, with the greyhounds stretched +sprawling in the warm sands at her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> feet, with Punch blinking lazily +and switching his long tail in the thick of the willows.</p> + +<p>And somebody else was there, close at hand. The shadows of the +westward heights had gradually risen to the crest of the rocky cliffs +across the stream. A soft, prolonged call of distant trumpet summoned +homeward for the coming night the scattered herds and herd guards of +the post, and, rising suddenly, her hand upon a swift-throbbing heart, +her red lips parted in eagerness or excitement uncontrollable, Angela +stood intently listening. Over among the thickets across the pool the +voice of an Indian girl was uplifted in some weird, uncanny song. The +voice was shrill, yet not unmusical. The song was savage, yet not +lacking some crude harmony. She could not see the singer, but she +knew. Natzie's people had returned to the agency, accepting the olive +branch that Plume had tendered them—Natzie herself was here.</p> + +<p>At the first sound of the uplifted voice an Apache boy, crouching in +the shrubbery at the edge of the pool, rose quickly to his feet, and, +swift and noiseless, stole away into the thicket. If he thought to +conceal himself or his purpose his caution was needless. Angela +neither saw nor heard him. Neither was it the song nor the singer that +now arrested her attention. So still was the air, so deep was the +silence of nature, that even on such sandy roads and bridlepaths as +traversed the winding valley, the faintest hoof-beat was carried far. +Another horse, another rider, was quickly coming. Tonto, the big hound +nearest her, lifted his shapely head and listened a mo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>ment, then went +bounding away through the willows, followed swiftly by his mate. They +knew the hoof-beats, and joyously ran to meet and welcome the rider. +Angela knew them quite as well, but could neither run to meet, nor +could she fly.</p> + +<p>Only twice, as yet, had she opportunity to see or to thank Neil +Blakely, and a week had passed since her straightforward challenge to +Aunt Janet. As soon as he could walk unaided, save by his stick, Wren +had gone stumping down the line to Sanders's quarters and asked for +Mr. Blakely, with whom he had an uninterrupted talk of half an hour. +Within two days thereafter Mr. Blakely in person returned the call, +being received with awful state and solemnity by Miss Wren herself. +Angela, summoned by her father's voice, came flitting down a moment +later, and there in the little army parlor, where first she had sought +to "entertain" him until the captain should appear, our Angela was +once again brought face to face with him who had meanwhile risked his +life in the effort to rescue her father, and again in the effort to +find and rescue her. A fine blush mantled her winsome face as she +entered, and, without a glance at Janet, went straightway to their +visitor, with extended hand.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad to see you again, Mr. Blakely," she bravely began. "I +have—so much—to thank you—" but her brown eyes fell before the fire +in the blue and her whole being thrilled at the fervor of his +handclasp. She drew her hand away, the color mounting higher, then +snuggled to her father's side with intent to take his arm;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> but, +realizing suddenly how her own was trembling, grasped instead the back +of a chair. Blakely was saying something, she knew not what, nor could +she ever recall much that anyone said during the brief ten minutes of +his stay, for there sat Aunt Janet, bolt upright, after the fashion of +fifty years gone by, a formidable picture indeed, and Angela wondered +that anyone could say anything at all.</p> + +<p>Next time they met she was riding home and he sat on the south veranda +with Mrs. Sanders and Kate. She would have ridden by with just a nod +and smile; but, at sight of her, he "hobbled" down the steps and came +hurriedly out to speak, whereupon Mrs. Sanders, who knew much better, +followed to "help him," as she said. "Help, indeed!" quoth angry Kate, +usually most dutiful of daughters. "You'd only hinder!" But even that +presence had not stopped his saying: "The doctor promises I may ride +Hart's single-footer in a day or two, Miss Angela, and then—"</p> + +<p>And now it was a "single-footer" coming, the only one at Sandy. Of +course it might be Hart, not Blakely, and yet Blakely had seen her as +she rode away. It was Blakely's voice—how seldom she had heard, yet +how well she knew it! answering the joyous welcome of the hounds. It +was Blakely who came riding straight in among the willows, a radiance +in his thin and lately pallid face—Blakely who quickly, yet +awkwardly, dismounted, for it still caused him pain, and then, +forgetful of his horse, came instantly to her as she stood there, +smiling, yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> tremulous. The hand that sought hers fairly shook, but +that, said Angela, though she well knew better, might have been from +weakness or from riding. For a moment he did not speak. It was she who +began. She thought he should know at once.</p> + +<p>"Did you—hear her singing—too?" she hazarded.</p> + +<p>"Hear?—Who?" he replied, grudgingly letting go the hand because it +pulled with such determination.</p> + +<p>"Why—Natzie, I suppose. At least—I haven't seen her," she stammered, +her cheeks all crimson now.</p> + +<p>"Natzie, indeed!" he answered, in surprise, turning slowly and +studying the opposite willows. "It is only a day or two since they +came in. I thought she'd soon be down." Obviously her coming caused +him neither embarrassment nor concern. "She still has a notecase of +mine. I suppose you heard?" And his clear blue eyes were fastened on +her lovely, downcast face.</p> + +<p>"Something. Not much," she answered, drawing back a little, for he +stood so close to her she could have heard the beating of his +heart—but for her own. All was silence over there in the opposite +willows, but so it was the day Natzie had so suddenly appeared from +nowhere, and he saw the hurried glance she sent across the pool.</p> + +<p>"Has she worried you?" he began, "has she been—" spying, he was going +to say, and she knew it, and grew redder still with vexation. Natzie +could claim at least that she was not without a shining example had +she come there to spy, but Blakely had that to say to her that +deserved undivided attention, and there is a time when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> even one's +preserver and greatest benefactor may be <i>de trop</i>.</p> + +<p>"Will you wait—one moment?" he suddenly asked. "I'll go to the rocks +yonder and call her," and then, almost as suddenly, the voice was +again uplifted in the same weird, barbaric song, and the singer had +gone from the depths of the opposite thicket and was somewhere farther +up stream, still hidden from their gaze—still, possibly, ignorant of +Angela's presence. The brown eyes were at the moment following the +tall, white form, moving slowly through the winding, faintly-worn +pathway toward the upper shallows where, like stepping stones, the big +rocks stretched from shore to shore, and she was startled to note that +the moment the song began he stopped short a second or two, listened +intently, then almost sprang forward in his haste to reach the +crossing. Another minute and he was out of sight among the shrubbery. +Another, and she heard the single shot of a revolver, and there he +stood at the rocky point, a smoking pistol in his hand. Instantly the +song ceased, and then his voice was uplifted, calling, "Natzie! +Natzie!" With breathless interest Angela gazed and, presently, parting +the shrubbery with her little brown hands, the Indian girl stepped +forth into the light and stood in silence, her great black eyes fixed +mournfully upon him. Could this be their mountain princess—the +daring, the resolute, the commanding? Could this be the fierce, +lissome, panther-like creature before whose blow two of their stoutest +men had fallen? There was dejection inexpressible in her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> very +attitude. There was no longer bravery or adornment in her dress. There +was no more of queen—of chieftain's daughter—in this downcast child +of the desert.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="pic_08" id="pic_08"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_08.jpg" width="600" height="430" alt=""Natzie wrenched her hand from that of Blakely, and +with the spring of a tigress bounded away"" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">"Natzie wrenched her hand from that of Blakely, and +with the spring of a tigress bounded away"</span> +</div> + +<p>He called again, "Natzie," and held forth his hand. Her head had +drooped upon her breast, but, once again, she looked upon him, and +then, with one slow, hesitant, backward glance about her, stepped +forward, her little, moccasined feet flitting from rock to rock across +the murmuring shallows until she stood before him. Then he spoke, but +she only shook her head and let it droop again, her hands passively +clasping. He knew too little of her tongue to plead with her. He knew, +perhaps, too little of womankind to appreciate what he was doing. +Finding words useless, he gently took her hand and drew her with him, +and passively she obeyed, and for a moment they disappeared from +Angela's view. Then presently the tall, white form came again in +sight, slowly leading the unresisting child, until, in another moment, +they stepped within the little open space among the willows. At the +same instant Angela arose, and the daughter of the soldier and the +daughter of the savage, the one with timid yet hopeful welcome and +greeting in her lovely face, the other with sudden amaze, scorn, +passion, and jealous fury in her burning eyes, stood a breathless +moment confronted. Then, all in a second, with one half-stifled, +inarticulate cry, Natzie wrenched her hand from that of Blakely, and, +with the spring of a tigress, bounded away. Just at the edge of the +pool she halted, whirled about, tore from her bosom a flat, oblong +packet and hurled it at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>his feet; then, with the dart of a +frightened deer, drove through the northward willows. Angela saw her +run blindly up the bank, leaping thence to the rocks below, bounding +from one to another with the wild grace of the antelope. Another +instant and she had reached the opposite shore, and there, tossing her +arms wildly above her head, her black tresses streaming behind her, +with a cry that was almost a scream, she plunged into the heart of the +thicket; the stubborn branches closed behind her, and our Apache queen +was gone. As they met, so had they parted, by the waters of the pool.</p> + + + +<p>When Blakely turned again to Angela she, too, was gone. He found her a +little later, her arms twined about her pony's neck, her face buried +in his mane, and sobbing as though her heart would break.</p> + +<p>On a soft, starlit evening within the week, no longer weeping, but +leaning on Blakely's arm, Angela stood at the edge of the bluff, +looking far out over the Red Rock country to the northeast. The sentry +had reported a distant signal fire, and several of the younger people +had strolled out to see. Whatever it was that had caused the report +had vanished by the time they reached the post, so, presently, Kate +Sanders started the homeward move, and now even the sentry had +disappeared in the darkness. When Angela, too, would have returned, +his arm restrained. She knew it would. She knew he had not spoken that +evening at the willows because of her tears. She knew he had been +patient, forbearing, gentle, yet well she knew he meant now to speak +and wait no longer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you remember," he began, "when I said that some day I should tell +you—but never your aunt—who it was that came to my quarters that +night—and why she came?" and though she sought to remove her hand +from his arm he would not let it go.</p> + +<p>"You <i>did</i> tell me," she answered, her eyelids drooping.</p> + +<p>"I <i>did</i>!—when?"</p> + +<p>Though the face was downcast, the sensitive lips began to quiver with +merriment and mischief.</p> + +<p>"The same day you took me for—your mother—and asked me to sing for +you."</p> + +<p>"Angela!" he cried, in amaze, and turning quickly toward her, "What +can you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Just what I say. You began as though I were your sister, then your +mother. I think, perhaps, if we'd had another hour together it would +have been grandmother." She was shaking with suppressed laughter now, +or was it violent trembling, for his heart, like hers, was bounding.</p> + +<p>"I must indeed have been delirious," he answered now, not laughing, +not even smiling. He had possessed himself of that other hand, despite +its fluttering effort. His voice was deep and grave and tremulous. "I +called you anything but what I most longed to call you—what I pray +God I may call you, Angela—my wife!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LENVOI" id="LENVOI"></a>L'ENVOI</h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_17.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was a wedding at Sandy that winter when Pat Mullins took his +discharge, and his land warrant, and a claim up the Beaver, and Norah +Shaughnessy to wife. There was another, many a mile from Sandy, when +the May blossoms were showering in the orchard of a fair old homestead +in the distant East, and then Neil Blakely took his bride to see "the +land of the leal" after the little peep at the lands that now she +shared with him. There is one room in the beautiful old Colonial +mansion that they soon learned to call "father's," in anticipation of +the time when he should retire and come to hang the old saber on the +older mantel and spend his declining years with them. There is +another, sacred to Aunt Janet, where she was often welcomed, a woman +long since reconciled to Angela's once "obnoxious," but ever devoted +admirer. There were some points in which Aunt Janet suffered sore. She +had views of her own upon the rearing and management of children, and +these views she did at first oppose to those of Angela, but not for +long. In this, as in her choice of a husband, Angela had to read her +declaration of independence to the elder woman.</p> + +<p>There is another room filled with relics of their frontier +days,—Indian weapons, blankets, beadwork,—and among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> these, in a +sort of shrine of its own, there hangs a portrait made by a famous +artist from a little tintype, taken by some wandering photographer +about the old Apache reservation. Wren wrote them, ere the regiment +left Arizona, that she who had been their rescuer, and then so long +disappeared, finally wedded a young brave of the Chiricahua band and +went with him to Mexico. That portrait is the only relic they have of +a never forgotten benefactress—Natzie, their Apache Princess.</p> + + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="smcap">A Daughter</span> <i>of the</i> <span class="smcap">Sioux</span></h2> + +<h3>By GENERAL CHARLES KING</h3> +<h4>A Tale of the Indian Frontier</h4> +<h3>Illustrations by Frederic Remington and Edwin Willard Deming</h3> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>SOME PRESS NOTES</h3> +<p><b>The Chicago Daily News</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A stronger story than any he has written for many years. </p></div> + + +<p><b>The Philadelphia Item</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A genuinely delightful tale, clean, wholesome, thoroughly +enjoyable.... </p></div> + + +<p><b>The Baltimore American</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Is full of interest, and equals, if not surpasses, his best +previous efforts. </p></div> + + +<p><b>The Portland (Me.) Press</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This captivating novel is quite perfect of its kind and +there is not one dull line from start to finish. </p></div> + + +<p><b>The Burlington Hawkeye</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Is one of General King's best works and withal a most +entertaining and fascinating story of army life. </p></div> + + +<p><b>The San Francisco Chronicle</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The story is full of life and movement, and all the details +of army life are described with that perfect knowledge which +carries conviction to the reader. </p></div> + +<p><b>The Cleveland Leader</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It is the strongest and most entertaining story he has +written for many a day.... It gets a grip on the reader in +the first chapters and holds it to the end. </p></div> + + +<p><b>The World, New York City</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A soldier's story told with a soldier's swing.... Is +capitally illustrated and has a particularly handsome and +tasteful cover portrait of the heroine in colors. </p></div> + + +<p><b>The Pittsburg Leader</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>There is a naturalness about the story that makes it of +decided interest, and every one who reads it will lay the +book down with a feeling of regret that the end has been +reached so soon. </p></div> + + +<p><b>The Minneapolis Tribune</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Is the best piece of work General King has given his +admiring public in a long time. Is full of incident and +romance, and its central theme contains a dramatic power +worthy of subject and author. </p></div> + +<p><b>The Literary World</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>To General King we are deeply indebted for much information +concerning family life at fort and trading post. In these +days of the problem novel and the yellow journal, it is a +mental pleasure and a moral profit to read of men who are in +love with their own wives, of women who adore their own +husbands. </p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p class="center">PRICE, $1.50</p> + +<p class="center">FOR SALE EVERYWHERE OR SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE BY</p> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h4>LOW PRICED POPULAR EDITIONS OF THE</h4> +<h4>EARLIER</h4> +<h3>MILITARY NOVELS</h3> +<h4>OF</h4> +<h2><span class="smcap">Gen. Charles King</span></h2> +<h4>IN ENTIRELY NEW BINDINGS</h4> +<p class="center">LIST OF TITLES</p> + +<ul> +<li>FOUND IN THE PHILIPPINES</li> +<li>A GARRISON TANGLE</li> +<li>AN ARMY WIFE</li> +<li>NOBLE BLOOD</li> +<li>FORT FRAYNE</li> +<li>WARRIOR GAP</li> +<li>A WOUNDED NAME</li> +<li>TRUMPETER FRED</li> +</ul> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p class="center"><i>Retail Price, 50 Cents</i></p> + +<p class="center">FOR SALE EVERYWHERE OR SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE BY</p> +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h3>THE HOBART COMPANY</h3> +<h4>PUBLISHERS</h4> +<p class="center"><b>114 Fifth Avenue</b> <span class="smcap"><b>New York City</b></span></p> +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Apache Princess, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN APACHE PRINCESS *** + +***** This file should be named 19330-h.htm or 19330-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/3/19330/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Apache Princess + A Tale of the Indian Frontier + +Author: Charles King + +Illustrator: Frederic Remington and Edwin Willard Deming + +Release Date: September 19, 2006 [EBook #19330] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN APACHE PRINCESS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: THE FIGHT IN THE CANON] + + + + AN APACHE + PRINCESS + + _A Tale of the Indian Frontier_ + + + + BY + + GENERAL CHARLES KING + + AUTHOR OF "A DAUGHTER OF THE SIOUX," "THE COLONEL'S + DAUGHTER," "FORT FRAYNE," "AN ARMY WIFE," ETC., ETC. + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS BY + + FREDERIC REMINGTON + + _and_ + + EDWIN WILLARD DEMING + + + + + NEW YORK + THE HOBART COMPANY + 1903 + + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, + BY + THE HOBART COMPANY. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MEETING BY THE WATERS, + +CHAPTER II + +SCOT VERSUS SAXON, + +CHAPTER III + +MOCCASIN TRACKS, + +CHAPTER IV + +A STRICKEN SENTRY, + +CHAPTER V + +THE CAPTAIN'S DEFIANCE, + +CHAPTER VI + +A FIND IN THE SANDS, + +CHAPTER VII + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT," + +CHAPTER VIII + +"APACHE KNIVES DIG DEEP," + +CHAPTER IX + +A CARPET KNIGHT, INDEED, + +CHAPTER X + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE NIGHT" AGAIN, + +CHAPTER XI + +A STOP--BY WIRE, + +CHAPTER XII + +FIRE! + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHOSE LETTERS? + +CHAPTER XIV + +AUNT JANET BRAVED, + +CHAPTER XV + +A CALL FOR HELP, + +CHAPTER XVI + +A RETURN TO COMMAND, + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STRANGE COMING, + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A STRANGER GOING, + +CHAPTER XIX + +BESIEGED, + +CHAPTER XX + +WHERE IS ANGELA? + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUR VANISHED PRINCESS, + +CHAPTER XXII + +SUSPENSE, + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AN APACHE QUEEN, + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MEETING AT SANDY, + +CHAPTER XXV + +RESCUE REQUITED, + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"WOMAN-WALK-NO-MORE," + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE PARTING BY THE WATERS, + +_L'ENVOI_ + + * * * * * + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +FRONTISPIECE + +"NOW HALTING, DROPPING ON ONE KNEE TO FIRE," + +"BLAKELY LED 'EM ACROSS NO. 4'S POST," + +THE FIGHT IN THE CANON, + +"INDIAN SIGNALS BEYOND POSSIBILITY OF A DOUBT," + +"THEN SLOWLY, THEY SAW HER RAISE HER RIGHT HAND, +STILL CAUTIOUSLY HOLDING THE LITTLE MIRROR," + +"THEY HUSTLED HER PONY INTO A RAVINE," + +"NATZIE WRENCHED HER HAND FROM THAT OF BLAKELY, +AND WITH THE SPRING OF A TIGRESS BOUNDED AWAY," + + * * * * * + + + + +AN APACHE PRINCESS + +CHAPTER I + +THE MEETING BY THE WATERS + + +Under the willows at the edge of the pool a young girl sat +daydreaming, though the day was nearly done. All in the valley was +wrapped in shadow, though the cliffs and turrets across the stream +were resplendent in a radiance of slanting sunshine. Not a cloud +tempered the fierce glare of the arching heavens or softened the sharp +outline of neighboring peak or distant mountain chain. Not a whisper +of breeze stirred the drooping foliage along the sandy shores or +ruffled the liquid mirror surface. Not a sound, save drowsy hum of +beetle or soft murmur of rippling waters, among the pebbly shallows +below, broke the vast silence of the scene. The snow cap, gleaming at +the northern horizon, lay one hundred miles away and looked but an +easy one-day march. The black upheavals of the Matitzal, barring the +southward valley, stood sullen and frowning along the Verde, jealous +of the westward range that threw their rugged gorges into early shade. +Above and below the still and placid pool and but a few miles distant, +the pine-fringed, rocky hillsides came shouldering close to the +stream, but fell away, forming a deep, semicircular basin toward the +west, at the hub of which stood bolt-upright a tall, snowy flagstaff, +its shred of bunting hanging limp and lifeless from the peak, and in +the dull, dirt-colored buildings of adobe, ranged in rigid lines about +the dull brown, flat-topped _mesa_, a thousand yards up stream above +the pool, drowsed a little band of martial exiles, stationed here to +keep the peace 'twixt scattered settlers and swarthy, swarming +Apaches. The fort was their soldier home; the solitary girl a +soldier's daughter. + +She could hardly have been eighteen. Her long, slim figure, in its +clinging riding habit, betrayed, despite roundness and supple grace, a +certain immaturity. Her hands and feet were long and slender. Her +sun-tanned cheek and neck were soft and rounded. Her mouth was +delicately chiseled and the lips were pink as the heart of a +Bridesmaid rose, but, being firmly closed, told no tale of the teeth +within, without a peep at which one knew not whether the beauty of the +sweet young face was really made or marred. Eyes, eyebrows, lashes, +and a wealth of tumbling tresses of rich golden brown were all superb, +but who could tell what might be the picture when she opened those +pretty, curving lips to speak or smile? Speak she did not, even to the +greyhounds stretched sprawling in the warm sands at her feet. Smile +she could not, for the young heart was sore troubled. + +Back in the thick of the willows she had left her pony, blinking +lazily and switching his long tail to rid his flanks of humming +insects, but never mustering energy enough to stamp a hoof or strain +a thread of his horsehair _riata_. Both the long, lean, sprawling +hounds lolled their red, dripping tongues and panted in the sullen +heat. Even the girl herself, nervous at first and switching with her +dainty whip at the crumbling sands and pacing restlessly to and fro, +had yielded gradually to the drooping influences of the hour and, +seated on a rock, had buried her chin in the palm of her hand, and, +with eyes no longer vagrant and searching, had drifted away into +maiden dreamland. Full thirty minutes had she been there waiting for +something, or somebody, and it, or he, had not appeared. + +Yet somebody else was there and close at hand. The shadow of the +westward heights had gradually risen to the crest of the rocky cliffs +across the stream. A soft, prolonged call of distant trumpet summoned +homeward, for the coming night, the scattered herds and herd guards of +the post, and, rising with a sigh of disappointment, the girl turned +toward her now impatient pony when her ear caught the sound of a +smothered hand-clap, and, whirling about in swift hope and surprise, +her face once more darkened at sight of an Indian girl, Apache +unquestionably, crouching in the leafy covert of the opposite willows +and pointing silently down stream. For a moment, without love or fear +in the eyes of either, the white girl and the brown gazed at each +other across the intervening water mirror and spoke no word. Then, +slowly, the former approached the brink, looked in the direction +indicated by the little dingy index and saw nothing to warrant the +recall. Moreover, she was annoyed to think that all this time, +perhaps, the Indian girl had been lurking in that sheltering grove and +stealthily watching her. Once more she turned away, this time with a +toss of her head that sent the russet-brown tresses tumbling about her +slim back and shoulders, and at once the hand-clap was repeated, low, +but imperative, and Tonto, the biggest of the two big hounds, uplifted +one ear and growled a challenge. + +"What do you want?" questioned the white girl, across the estranging +waters. + +For answer the brown girl placed her left forefinger on her lips, and +again distinctly pointed to a little clump of willows a dozen rods +below, but on the westward side. + +"Do you mean--someone's coming?" queried the first. + +"Sh-sh-sh!" answered the second softly, then pointed again, and +pointed eagerly. + +The soldier's daughter glanced about her, uncertainly, a moment, then +slowly, cautiously made her way along the sandy brink in the direction +indicated, gathering the folds of her long skirt in her gauntleted +hand and stepping lightly in her slender moccasins. A moment or two, +and she had reached the edge of a dense little copse and peered +cautiously within. The Indian girl was right. Somebody lay there, +apparently asleep, and the fair young intruder recoiled in obvious +confusion, if not dismay. For a moment she stood with fluttering heart +and parting lips that now permitted reassuring glimpse of pearly +white teeth. For a moment she seemed on the verge of panicky retreat, +but little by little regained courage and self-poise. What was there +to fear in a sleeping soldier anyhow? She knew who it was at a glance. +She could, if she would, whisper his name. Indeed, she had been +whispering it many a time, day and night, these last two weeks +until--until certain things about him had come to her ears that made +her shrink in spite of herself from this handsome, petted young +soldier, this Adonis of her father's troop, Neil Blakely, lieutenant +of cavalry. + +"The Bugologist," they called him in cardroom circles at the "store," +where men were fiercely intolerant of other pursuits than poker, for +which pastime Mr. Blakely had no use whatever--no more use than had +its votaries for him. He was a dreamy sort of fellow, with big blue +eyes and a fair skin that were in themselves sufficient to stir the +rancor of born frontiersmen, and they of Arizona in the days of old +were an exaggeration of the type in general circulation on the Plains. +He was something of a dandy in dress, another thing they loathed; +something of a purist in speech, which was affectation unpardonable; +something of a dissenter as to drink, appreciative of "Cucumungo" and +claret, but distrustful of whisky--another thing to call down scorn +illimitable from the elect of the mining camps and packing "outfits." +But all these disqualifications might have been overlooked had the +lieutenant displayed even a faint preference for poker. "The Lord +loveth a cheerful giver--or loser" was the creed of the cardroom +circle at the store, but beyond a casual or smiling peep at the game +from the safe distance of the doorway, Mr. Blakely had vouchsafed no +interest in affairs of that character. To the profane disgust of Bill +Hyde, chief packer, and the malevolent, if veiled, criticism of +certain "sporty" fellow soldiers, Blakely preferred to spend his +leisure hours riding up and down the valley, with a butterfly net over +his shoulders and a japanned tin box slung at his back, searching for +specimens that were scarce as the Scriptures among his commentators. + +Even on this hot October afternoon he had started on his entomological +work, but, finding little encouragement and resting a while in the +shade, he had dozed away on a sandy couch, his head on his arms, his +broad-brimmed hat over his face, his shapely legs outstretched in +lazy, luxurious enjoyment, his tall and slender form, arrayed in cool +white blouse and trousers, really a goodly thing to behold. This day, +too, he must have come afoot, but his net and box lay there beside +him, and his hunt had been without profit, for both were apparently +empty. Possibly he had devoted but little time to netting insects. +Possibly he had thought to encounter bigger game. If so his zest in +the sport must have been but languid, since he had so soon yielded to +the drowsy influences of the day. There was resentment in the heart of +the girl as this occurred to her, even though it would have angered +her the more had anyone suggested she had come in hope of seeing or +speaking with him. + +And yet, down in the bottom of her heart, she knew that just such a +hope had held her there even to the hour of recall. She knew that, +since opportunities for meeting him within the garrison were limited, +she had deliberately chosen to ride alone, and farther than she had +ever ridden alone before, in hope of meeting him without. She knew +that in the pursuit of his winged prey he never sought the open _mesa_ +or the ravines and gorges of the foothills. Only along the stream were +they--and he--to be found. Only along the stream, therefore, had she +this day ridden and, failing to see aught of him, had dismounted to +think in quiet by the pool, so she told herself, but incidentally to +wait and watch for him; and now she had found him, neither watching +nor waiting, but in placid unconcern and slumber. + +One reason why they met so seldom in garrison was that her father did +not like him in the least. The captain was a veteran soldier, +self-taught and widely honored, risen from the ranks. The lieutenant +was a man of gentle breeding and of college education, a soldier by +choice, or caprice, yet quite able at any time to quit the service and +live a life of ease, for he had, they said, abundant means of his own. +He had been first lieutenant of that troop at least five years, not +five months of which had he served on duty with it. First one general, +then another, had needed him as aide-de-camp, and when, on his own +application, he had been relieved from staff duty to enable him to +accompany his regiment to this then distant and inhospitable land, he +had little more than reached Camp Sandy when he was sent by the +department commander to investigate some irregularity at the Apache +reservation up the valley, and then, all unsoliciting, he had been +placed in charge pending the coming of a new agent to replace the +impeached one going home under guard, and the captain said things +about his subaltern's always seeking "fancy duty" that were natural, +yet unjust--things that reached Mr. Blakely in exaggerated form, and +that angered him against his senior to the extent of open rupture. +Then Blakely took the mountain fever at the agency, thereby still +further delaying his return to troop duty, and then began another +complication, for the contract doctor, though skillful in his +treatment, was less assiduous in nursing than were the wife of the +newly arrived agent and her young companion Lola, daughter of the +agency interpreter and his Apache-Yuma wife. + +When well enough to attempt light duty again, the lieutenant had +rejoined at Sandy, and, almost the first face to greet him on his +arrival was one he had never seen before and never forgot +thereafter--the sweet, laughing, winsome face of Angela Wren, his +captain's only child. + +The regiment had marched into Arizona overland, few of the wives and +daughters with it. Angela, motherless since her seventh year, was at +school in the distant East, together with the daughters of the colonel +then commanding the regiment. They were older; were "finishing" that +summer, and had amazed that distinguished officer by demanding to be +allowed to join him with their mother. When they left the school +Angela could stand it no longer. She both telegraphed and wrote, +begging piteously to be permitted to accompany them on the long +journey by way of San Francisco, and so it had finally been settled. +The colonel's household were now at regimental headquarters up at +Prescott, and Angela was quite happy at Camp Sandy. She had been there +barely four weeks when Neil Blakely, pale, fragile-looking, and still +far from strong, went to report for duty at his captain's quarters and +was met at the threshold by his captain's daughter. + +Expecting a girl friend, Kate Sanders, from "down the row," she had +rushed to welcome her, and well-nigh precipitated herself upon a +stranger in the natty undress uniform of the cavalry. Her instant +blush was something beautiful to see. Blakely said the proper things +to restore tranquillity; smilingly asked for her father, his captain; +and, while waiting for that warrior to finish shaving and come down to +receive him, was entertained by Miss Wren in the little army parlor. +Looking into her wondrous eyes and happy, blushing face, he forgot +that there was rancor between his troop commander and himself, until +the captain's stiff, unbending greeting reminded him. Thoughtless +people at the post, however, were laughing over the situation a week +thereafter. Neil Blakely, a squire of dames in San Francisco and other +cities when serving on staff duty, a society "swell" and clubman, had +obviously become deeply interested in this blithe young army girl, +without a cent to her name--with nothing but her beauty, native grace, +and sweet, sunshiny nature to commend her. And everyone hitherto had +said Neil Blakely would never marry in the army. + +And there was one woman at Sandy who saw the symptoms with jealous and +jaundiced eyes--Clarice, wife of the major then commanding the little +"four-company" garrison. Other women took much to heart the fact that +Major Plume had cordially invited Blakely, on his return from the +agency, to be their guest until he could get settled in his own +quarters. The Plumes had rooms to spare--and no children. The major was +twelve years older than his wife, but women said it often looked the +other way. Mrs. Plume had aged very rapidly after his sojourn on +recruiting duty in St. Louis. Frontier commissariat and cooking played +hob with her digestion, said the major. Frontier winds and water dealt +havoc to her complexion, said the women. But both complexion and +digestion seemed to "take a brace," as irreverent youth expressed it, +when Neil Blakely came to Sandy and the major's roof. True, he stayed +but six and thirty hours and then moved into his own domicile--quarters +No. 7--after moving out a most reluctant junior. Major Plume and Mrs. +Plume had expected him, they were so kind as to say, to choose a vacant +half set, excellent for bachelor purposes, under the roof that sheltered +Captain Wren, Captain Wren's maiden sister and housekeeper, and Angela, +the captain's daughter. This set adjoined the major's big central house, +its south windows looking into the major's north gallery. "It would be +so neighborly and nice," said Mrs. Plume. Instead, however, Mr. Blakely +stood upon his prerogative as a senior subaltern and "ranked out" Mr. +and Mrs. Bridger and baby, and these otherwise gentle folk, evicted and +aggrieved, knowing naught of Blakely from previous association, and +seeing no reason why he should wish to be at the far end of the row +instead of the middle, with his captain, where he properly belonged, +deemed themselves the objects of wanton and capricious treatment at his +hands, and resented it according to their opportunities. Bridger, being +a soldier and subordinate, had to take it out in soliloquy and +swear-words, but his impetuous little helpmate--being a woman, a wife +and mother, set both wits and tongue to work, and heaven help the man +when woman has both to turn upon him! In refusing the room and windows +that looked full-face into those of Mrs. Plume, Blakely had nettled her. +In selecting the quarters occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Bridger he had +slightly inconvenienced and sorely vexed the latter. With no +incumbrances whatever, with fine professional record, with personal +traits and reputation to make him enviable, with comparative wealth and, +as a rule, superlative health, Blakely started on his career as a +subaltern at Sandy with three serious handicaps,--the disfavor of his +captain, who knew and loved him little,--the prejudice of Mrs. Bridger, +who knew and loved him not at all,--and the jealous pique of Mrs. Plume, +who had known and loved him, possibly, too well. + +There was little duty doing at Sandy at the time whereof we write. Men +rose at dawn and sent the horses forth to graze all day in the +foothills under heavy guard. It was too hot for drills, with the +mercury sizzling at the hundred mark. Indian prisoners did the +"police" work about the post; and men and women dozed and wilted in +the shade until the late afternoon recall. Then Sandy woke up and +energetically stabled, drilled, paraded under arms at sunset, mounted +guard immediately thereafter, dined in spotless white; then rode, +drove, flirted, danced, gossiped, made mirth, melody, or monotonous +plaint till nearly midnight; then slept until the dawn of another day. + +Indians there were in the wilds of the Mogollon to the southeast, and, +sometimes at rare intervals straying from the big reservation up the +valley, they scared the scattered settlers of the Agua Fria and the +Hassayampa; but Sandy rarely knew of them except as prisoners. Not a +hostile shot had been fired in the surrounding mountains for at least +six months, so nobody felt the least alarm, and many only languid +interest, when the white-coated officers reported the result of sunset +roll-call and inspection, and, saluting Major Plume, the captain of +"C" Troop announced in tones he meant should be heard along the row: +"Mr. Blakely, sir, is absent!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SCOT VERSUS SAXON + + +Three women were seated at the moment on the front veranda of the +major's quarters--Mrs. Plume, Miss Janet Wren, the captain's sister, +and little Mrs. Bridger. The first named had been intently watching +the officers as, after the dismissal of their companies at the +barracks, they severally joined the post commander, who had been +standing on the barren level of the parade, well out toward the +flagstaff, his adjutant beside him. To her the abrupt announcement +caused no surprise. She had seen that Mr. Blakely was not with his +troop. The jeweled hands slightly twitched, but her voice had the +requisite and conventional drawl as she turned to Miss Wren: "Chasing +some new butterfly, I suppose, and got lost. A--what time did--Angela +return?" + +"Hours ago, I fancy. She was dressed when I returned from hospital. +Sergeant Leary seems worse to-day." + +"That was nearly six," dreamily persisted Mrs. Plume. "I happened to +be at the side window." In the pursuit of knowledge Mrs. Plume adhered +to the main issue and ignored the invalid sergeant, whose slow +convalescence had stirred the sympathies of the captain's sister. + +"Yes, it was nearly that when Angela dismounted," softly said Mrs. +Bridger. "I heard Punch galloping away to his stable." + +"Why, Mrs. Bridger, are you sure?" And the spinster of forty-five +turned sharply on the matron of less than half her years. "She had on +her white muslin when she came to the head of the stairs to answer +me." + +Mrs. Bridger could not be mistaken. It was Angela's habit when she +returned from her rides to dismount at the rear gateway; give Punch +his _conge_ with a pat or two of the hand; watch him a moment as he +tore gleefully away, round to the stables to the westward of the big +quadrangle; then to go to her room and dress for the evening, coming +down an hour later, looking fresh and sweet and dainty as a dewy +Mermet. As a rule she rode without other escort than the hounds, for +her father would not go until the sun was very low and would not let +her go with Blakely or Duane, the only bachelor troop officers then at +Sandy. He had nothing against Duane, but, having set his seal against +the other, felt it necessary to include them both. As a rule, +therefore, she started about four, alone, and was home an hour later. +Five young maidens dwelt that year in officers' row, daughters of the +regiments,--for it was a mixed command and not a big one,--two +companies each of infantry and cavalry, after the manner of the early +70's. Angela knew all four girls, of course, and had formed an +intimacy with one--one who only cared to ride in the cool of the +bright evenings when the officers took the hounds jack-rabbit hunting +up the valley. Twice a week, when Luna served, they held these +moonlit meets, and galloping at that hour, though more dangerous to +necks, was less so to complexions. As a rule, too, Angela and Punch +contented themselves with a swift scurry round the reservation, with +frequent fordings of the stream for the joy it gave them both. They +were rarely out of sight of the sentries and never in any appreciable +danger. No Apache with hostile intent ventured near enough to Sandy to +risk reprisals. Miners, prospectors, and ranchmen were few in numbers, +but, far and wide they knew the captain's bonny daughter, and, like +the men of her father's troop, would have risked their lives to do her +a service. Their aversions as to Sandy were centered in the other sex. + +Aunt Janet, therefore, had some reason for doubting the report of Mrs. +Bridger. It was so unlike Angela to be so very late returning, +although, now that Mrs. Bridger had mentioned it, she, too, remembered +hearing the rapid thud of Punch's galloping hoofs homeward bound, as +was she, at 5.45. Yet, barely five minutes thereafter, Angela, who +usually spent half an hour splashing in her tub, appeared full +panoplied, apparently, at the head of the stairs upon her aunt's +arrival, and was even now somewhere down the row, hobnobbing with Kate +Sanders. That Lieutenant Blakely should have missed retreat roll-call +was in itself no very serious matter. "Slept through at his quarters, +perhaps," said Plume. "He'll turn up in time for dinner." In fine the +major's indifference struck the captain as an evidence of official +weakness, reprehensible in a commander charged with the discipline of +a force on hostile soil. What Wren intended was that Plume should be +impressed by his formal word and manner, and direct the adjutant to +look up the derelict instanter. As no such action was taken, however, +he felt it due to himself to speak again. A just man was Wren, and +faithful to the core in his own discharge of duty. What he could not +abide was negligence on part of officer or man, on part of superior or +inferior, and he sought to "stiffen" Plume forthwith. + +"If he isn't in his quarters, shall I send a party out in search, +sir?" + +"Who? Blakely? Dear, no, Wren! What for?" returned the post commander, +obviously nettled. "I fancy he'll not thank you for even searching his +quarters. You may stumble over his big museum in the dark and smash +things. No, let him alone. If he isn't here for dinner, I'll 'tend to +it myself." + +And so, rebuffed, as it happened, by an officer much his inferior in +point of experience and somewhat in years, Wren silently and stiffly +saluted and turned away. Virtually he had been given to understand +that his suggestion was impertinent. He reached his quarters, +therefore, in no pleasant mood, and found his sister waiting for him +with Duty in her clear and shining eyes. + +A woman of many a noble trait was Janet Wren,--a woman who had done a +world of good to those in sickness, sorrow, or other adversity, a +woman of boundless faith in herself and her opinions, but not too much +hope or charity for others. The blood of the Scotch Covenanters was +in her veins, for her mother had been born and bred in the shadow of +the kirk and lived and died in the shadow of the cross. A woman with a +mission was Janet, and one who went at it unflinchingly. She had loved +her brother always, yet disapproved his marriage to so young and +unformed a woman as was his wife. Later, she had deprecated from the +start the soldier spirit, fierce in his Highland blood, that tore him +from the teachings of their gentle mother and her beloved meenister, +took him from his fair young wife when most she needed him and sent +him straightway into the ranks of the one Highland regiment in the +Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His gallant colonel fell +at First Bull Run, and Sergeant Wren fought over his body to the +fervent admiration of the Southerners who captured both. The first War +Secretary, mourning a beloved brother and grateful to his defender, +commissioned the latter in the regulars at once and, on his return +from Libby, Wren joined the army as a first lieutenant. With genuine +Scottish thrift, his slender pay had been hoarded for him, and his now +motherless little one, by that devoted sister, and when, a captain at +the close of the war, he came to clasp his daughter to his heart, he +found himself possessed of a few hundreds more than fell to the lot of +most of his associates. It was then that Janet, motherless herself, +had stepped into the management of her brother's army home, and sought +to dominate in that as she had in everything else from early girlhood. +Wren loved her fondly, but he, too, had a will. They had many a +clash. It was this, indeed, that led to Angela's going so early to an +Eastern school. We are all paragons of wisdom in the management of +other people's children. It is in dealing with our own our limitations +are so obvious. Fond as she had become of Angela's sweet young mother, +it must be owned that whom Janet loved in this way she often +chastened. Neighbors swore it was not grief, nor illness, half so much +as sister-in-law, that wore the gentle spirit to the snapping-point. +The great strong heart of the soldier was well-nigh broken at his +loss, and Janet, who had never seen him shed a tear since early +boyhood, stood for once, at least, in awe and trembling at sight of +his awful grief. Time and nature played their part and brought him, +gradually, resignation, but never genuine solace. He turned to little +Angela with almost passionate love and tenderness. He would, mayhap, +have spoiled her had not frontier service kept him so much afield that +it was Janet who really reared her,--but not according to the strict +letter of her law. Wren knew well what that was and forbade. + +Misfortunes came to Janet Wren while yet a comely woman of +thirty-five. She could have married, and married well, a comrade +captain in her brother's regiment; but him, at least, she held to be +her own, and, loving him with genuine fervor and devotion, she sought +to turn him in all things to her serious views of life, its manifold +duties and responsibilities. She had her ideal of what a man should +be--a monarch among other men, but one knowing no God but her God, no +creed but her creed, no master but Duty, no mistress but herself, and +no weakness whatsoever. A braver, simpler, kinder soul than her +captain there dwelt not in the service of his country, but he loved +his pipe, his song, his dogs, his horses, his troop, and certain +soldier ways that, during his convalescence from wounds, she had not +had opportunity to observe. She had nursed him back to life and love +and, unwittingly, to his former harmless habits. These all she would +have had him forswear, not for her sake so much, she said, but because +they were in themselves sinful and beneath him. She sought to train +him down too fine for the rugged metal of the veteran soldier, and the +fabric snapped in her hands. She had sent him forth sore-hearted over +her ceaseless importunity. She had told him he must not only give up +all his ways, but, if he would make her happy, he must put the words +of Ruth into his mouth, and that ended it. He transferred into another +corps when she broke with him; carried his sore heart to the Southern +plains, and fell in savage battle within another month. + +Not long thereafter her little fortune, invested according to the +views of a spiritual rather than a temporal adviser,--and much against +her brother's wishes,--went the way of riches that have wings, and +now, dependent solely upon him, welcomed to his home and fireside, she +nevertheless strove to dominate as of yore. He had had to tell her +Angela could not and should not be subjected to such restraints as the +sister would have prescribed, but so long as he was the sole victim +he whimsically bore it without vehement protest. "Convert me all you +can, Janet, dear," he said, "but don't try to reform the whole +regiment. It's past praying for." + +Now, when other women whispered to her that while Mrs. Plume had been +a belle in St. Louis and Mr. Blakely a young society beau, the +magnitude of their flirtation had well-nigh stopped her marriage, Miss +Wren saw opportunity for her good offices and, so far from avoiding, +she sought the society of the major's brooding wife. She even felt a +twinge of disappointment when the young officer appeared, and after +the initial thirty-six hours under the commander's roof, rarely went +thither at all. She knew her brother disapproved of him, and thought +it to be because of moral, not military, obliquity. She saw with +instant apprehension his quick interest in Angela and the child's +almost unconscious response. With the solemn conviction of the maiden +who, until past the meridian, had never loved, she looked on Angela as +far too young and immature to think of marrying, yet too shallow, vain +and frivolous, too corrupted, in fact, by that pernicious society +school--not to shrink from flirtations that might mean nothing to the +man but would be damnation to the girl. Even the name of this big, +blue-eyed, fair-skinned young votary of science had much about it that +made her fairly bristle, for she had once been described as an +"austere vestal" by Lieutenant Blake, of the regiment preceding them +at Sandy, the ----th Cavalry--and a mutual friend had told her all +about it--another handicap for Blakely. She had grown, it must be +admitted, somewhat gaunt and forbidding in these later years, a thing +that had stirred certain callow wits to differentiate between the +Misses Wren as Angela and Angular, which, hearing, some few women +reproved but all repeated. Miss Wren, the sister, was in fine a woman +widely honored but little sought. It was Angela that all Camp Sandy +would have met with open arms. + +"R-r-robert," began Miss Wren, as the captain unclasped his saber belt +and turned it over to Mickel, his German "striker." She would have +proceeded further, but he held up a warning hand. He had come homeward +angering and ill at ease. Disliking Blakely from the first, a +"ballroom soldier," as he called him, and alienated from him later, he +had heard still further whisperings of the devotions of a chieftain's +daughter at the agency, above all, of the strange infatuation of the +major's wife, and these had warranted, in his opinion, warning words +to his senior subaltern in refusing that gentleman's request to ride +with Angela. "I object to any such attentions--to any meetings +whatsoever," said he, but sooner than give the real reason, added +lamely, "My daughter is too young." Now he thought he saw impending +duty in his sister's somber eyes and poise. He knew it when she began +by rolling her r's--it was so like their childhood's spiritual guide +and mentor, MacTaggart, erstwhile of the "Auld Licht" persuasion, and +a power. + +"Wait a bit, Janet," said he. "Mickel, get my horse and tell Sergeant +Strang to send me a mounted orderly." Then, as Mickel dropped the +saber in the open doorway and departed, he turned upon her. + +"Where's Angela?" said he, "and what was she doing out after recall? +The stable sergeant says 'twas six when Punch came home." + +"R-r-robert, it is of that I wish to speak to you, and before she +comes to dinner. Hush! She's coming now." + +Down the row of shaded wooden porticos, at the major's next door, at +Dr. Graham's, the Scotch surgeon and Wren's especial friend and crony, +at the Lynns' and Sanders's beyond, little groups of women and +children in cool evening garb, and officers in white, were gathered in +merry, laughing chat. Nowhere, save in the eyes of one woman at the +commanding officer's, and here at Wren's, seemed there anything +ominous in the absence of this officer so lately come to join them. +The voice of Angela, glad and ringing, fell upon the father's ears in +sudden joy. Who could associate shame or subterfuge with tones so +charged with merriment? The face of Angela, coming suddenly round the +corner from the side veranda, beamed instantly upon him, sweet, +trusting and welcoming, then slowly shadowed at sight of the set +expression about his mouth, and the rigid, uncompromising, determined +sorrow in the features of her aunt. + +Before she could utter a word, the father questioned: + +"Angela, my child, have you seen Mr. Blakely this afternoon?" + +One moment her big eyes clouded, but unflinchingly they met his gaze. +Then, something in the stern scrutiny of her aunt's regard stirred all +that was mutinous within her; yet there was an irrepressible twitching +about the corners of the rosy mouth, a twinkle about the big brown +eyes that should have given them pause, even as she demurely answered: + +"Yes." + +"When?" demanded the soldier, his muscular hand clutching ominously at +the wooden rail; his jaw setting squarely. "When--and where?" + +But now the merriment with which she had begun changed slowly at sight +of the repressed fury in his rugged Gaelic face. She, too, was +trembling as she answered: + +"Just after recall--down at the pool." + +For an instant he stood glaring, incredulous. "At the pool! You! My +bairnie!" Then, with sudden outburst of passionate wrath, "Go to your +room!" said he. + +"But listen--father, dear," she began, imploringly. For answer he +seized her slender arm in almost brutal grasp and fairly hurled her +within the doorway. "Not a word!" he ground between his clinched +teeth. "Go instantly!" Then, slamming the door upon her, he whirled +about as though to seek his sister's face, and saw beyond her, +rounding the corner of the northwest set of quarters, coming in from +the _mesa_ roadway at the back, the tall, white figure of the missing +man. + +Another moment and Lieutenant Blakely, in the front room of his +quarters, looking pale and strange, was being pounced upon with eager +questioning by Duane, his junior, when the wooden steps and veranda +creaked under a quick, heavy, ominous tread, and, with livid face and +clinching hands, the troop commander came striding in. + +"Mr. Blakely," said he, his voice deep with wrath and tremulous with +passion, "I told you three days ago my daughter and you must not meet, +and--you know why! To-day you lured her to a rendezvous outside the +post--" + +"Captain Wren!" + +"Don't lie! I say you lured her, for my lass would never have met +you--" + +"You shall _un_say it, sir," was Blakely's instant rejoinder. "Are you +mad--or what? I never set eyes on your daughter to-day--until a moment +ago." + +And then the voice of young Duane was uplifted, shouting for help. +With a crash, distinctly heard out on the parade, Wren had struck his +junior down. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MOCCASIN TRACKS + + +When Mr. Blakely left the post that afternoon he went afoot. When he +returned, just after the sounding of retreat, he came in saddle. +Purposely he avoided the road that led in front of the long line of +officers' quarters and chose instead the water-wagon track along the +rear. People among the laundresses' quarters, south of the _mesa_ on +which stood the quadrangular inclosure of Camp Sandy, eyed him +curiously as he ambled through on his borrowed pony; but he looked +neither to right nor left and hurried on in obvious discomposure. He +was looking pale and very tired, said the saddler sergeant's wife, an +hour later, when all the garrison was agog with the story of Wren's +mad assault. He never seemed to see the two or three soldiers, men of +family, who rose and saluted as he passed, and not an officer in the +regiment was more exact or scrupulous in his recognition of such +soldier courtesy as Blakely had ever been. They wondered, therefore, +at his strange abstraction. They wondered more, looking after him, +when, just as his stumbling pony reached the crest, the rider reined +him in and halted short in evident embarrassment. They could not see +what he saw--two young girls in gossamer gowns of white, with arms +entwining each other's waists, their backs toward him, slowly pacing +northward up the _mesa_ and to the right of the road. Some old croquet +arches, balls, and mallets lay scattered about, long since abandoned +to dry rot and disuse, and, so absorbed were the damsels in their +confidential chat,--bubbling over, too, with merry laughter,--they +gave no heed to these until one, the taller of the pair, catching her +slippered foot in the stiff, unyielding wire, plunged forward and +fell, nearly dragging her companion with her. Blakely, who had hung +back, drove his barbless heels into the pony's flanks, sent him +lurching forward, and in less than no time was out of saddle and +aiding her to rise, laughing so hard she, for a moment, could not +speak or thank him. Save to flowing skirt, there was not the faintest +damage, yet his eyes, his voice, his almost tremulous touch were all +suggestive of deep concern, before, once more mounting, he raised his +broad-brimmed hat and bade them reluctant good-night. Kate Sanders ran +scurrying home an instant later, but Angela's big and shining eyes +followed him every inch of the way until he once more dismounted at +the upper end of the row and, looking back, saw her and waved his hat, +whereat she ran, blushing, smiling, and not a little wondering, +flustered and happy, into the gallery of their own quarters and the +immediate presence of her father. Blakely, meanwhile, had summoned his +servant: + +"Take this pony at once to Mr. Hart," said he, "and say I'll be back +again as soon as I've seen the commanding officer." + +When Downs, the messenger, returned to the house about half an hour +later, it was to find his master prostrate and bleeding on the bed in +his room, Dr. Graham and the hospital attendant working over him, the +major and certain of his officers, with gloomy faces and muttering +tongues, conferring on the piazza in front, and one of the +lieutenant's precious cases of bugs and butterflies a wreck of +shattered glass. More than half the officers of the post were present. +A bevy of women and girls had gathered in the dusk some distance down +the row. The wondering Milesian whispered inquiry of silent soldiers +lingering about the house, but the gruff voice of Sergeant Clancy bade +them go about their business. Not until nearly an hour later was it +generally known that Captain Wren had been escorted to his quarters by +the post adjutant and ordered to remain therein in close arrest. + +If some older and more experienced officer than Duane had been there +perhaps the matter would not have proved so tragic, but the latter was +utterly unstrung by Wren's furious attack and the unlooked-for result. +Without warning of any kind, the burly Scot had launched his big fist +straight at Blakely's jaw, and sent the slender, still fever-weakened +form crashing through a case of specimens, reducing it to splinters +that cruelly cut and tore the bruised and senseless face. A corporal +of the guard, marching his relief in rear of the quarters at the +moment, every door and window being open, heard the crash, the wild +cry for help, rushed in, with his men at his heels, and found the +captain standing stunned and ghastly, with the sweat starting from his +brow, staring down at the result of his fearful work. From the front +Captain Sanders and his amazed lieutenant came hurrying. Together they +lifted the stricken and bleeding man to his bed in the back room and +started a soldier for the doctor on the run. The sight of this man, +speeding down the row, bombarded all the way with questions he could +not stop to answer, startled every soul along that westward-facing +front, and sent men and women streaming up the line toward Blakely's +quarters at the north end. The doctor fairly brushed them from his +path and Major Plume had no easy task persuading the tearful, pallid +groups of army wives and daughters to retire to the neighboring +quarters. Janet Wren alone refused point-blank. She would not go +without first seeing her brother. It was she who took the arm of the +awed, bewildered, shame-and conscience-stricken man and led him, with +bowed and humbled head, the adjutant aiding on the other side, back to +the door he had so sternly closed upon his only child, and that now as +summarily shut on him. Dr. Graham had pronounced the young officer's +injuries serious, and the post commander was angry to the very core. + +One woman there was who, with others, had aimlessly hastened up the +line, and who seemed now verging on hysterics--the major's wife. It +was Mrs. Graham who rebukefully sent her own braw young brood +scurrying homeward through the gathering dusk, and then possessed +herself of Mrs. Plume. "The shock has unnerved you," she charitably, +soothingly whispered: "Come away with me," but the major's wife +refused to go. Hart, the big post trader, had just reached the spot, +driving up in his light buckboard. His usually jovial face was full of +sympathy and trouble. He could not believe the news, he said. Mr. +Blakely had been with him so short a time beforehand and was coming +down again at once, so Downs, the striker, told him, when some soldier +ran in to say the lieutenant had been half killed by Captain Wren. +Plume heard him talking and came down the low steps to meet and confer +with him, while the others, men and women, listened eagerly, expectant +of developments. Then Hart became visibly embarrassed. Yes, Mr. +Blakely had come up from below and begged the loan of a pony, saying +he must get to the post at once to see Major Plume. Hadn't he seen the +major? No! Then Hart's embarrassment increased. Yes, something had +happened. Blakely had told him, and in fact they--he--all of them had +something very important on hand. He didn't know what to do now, with +Mr. Blakely unable to speak, and, to the manifest disappointment of +the swift-gathering group, Hart finally begged the major to step aside +with him a moment and he would tell him what he knew. All eyes +followed them, then followed the major as he came hurrying back with +heightened color and went straight to Dr. Graham at the sufferer's +side. "Can I speak with him? Is he well enough to answer a question or +two?" he asked, and the doctor shook his head. "Then, by the Lord, +I'll have to wire to Prescott!" said Plume, and left the room at +once. "What is it?" feebly queried the patient, now half-conscious. +But the doctor answered only "Hush! No talking now, Mr. Blakely," and +bade the others leave the room and let him get to sleep. + +But tattoo had not sounded that still and starlit evening when a +strange story was in circulation about the post, brought up from the +trader's store by pack-train hands who said they were there when Mr. +Blakely came in and asked for Hart--"wanted him right away, bad," was +the way they put it. Then it transpired that Mr. Blakely had found no +sport at bug-hunting and had fallen into a doze while waiting for +winged insects, and when he woke it was to make a startling +discovery--his beautiful Geneva watch had disappeared from one pocket +and a flat note case, carried in an inner breast pocket of his white +duck blouse, and containing about one hundred dollars, was also gone. +Some vagrant soldier, possibly, or some "hard-luck outfit" of +prospectors, probably, had come upon him sleeping, and had made way +with his few valuables. Two soldiers had been down stream, fishing for +what they called Tonto trout, but they were looked up instantly and +proved to be men above suspicion. Two prospectors had been at Hart's, +nooning, and had ridden off down stream toward three o'clock. _There_ +was a clew worth following, and certain hangers-on about the trader's, +"layin' fer a job," had casually hinted at the prospect of a game down +at Snicker's--a ranch five miles below. Here, too, was something worth +investigating. If Blakely had been robbed, as now seemed more than +likely, Camp Sandy felt that the perpetrator must still be close at +hand and of the packer or prospector class. + +But before the ranks were broken, after the roll-call, then invariably +held at half-past nine, Hart came driving back in a buckboard, with a +lantern and a passenger, the latter one of the keenest trailers among +the sergeants of Captain Sanders' troop, and Sanders was with the +major as the man sprang from the wagon and stood at salute. + +"Found anything, sergeant?" asked Plume. + +"Not a boot track, sir, but the lieutenant's own." + +"No tracks at all--in that soft sand!" exclaimed the major, +disappointed and unbelieving. His wife had come slowly forward from +within doors, and, bending slightly toward them, stood listening. + +"No boot tracks, sir. There's others though--Tonto moccasins!" + +Plume stood bewildered. "By Jove! I never thought of that!" said he, +turning presently on his second troop commander. "But who ever heard +of Apaches taking a man's watch and leaving--him?" + +"If the major will look," said the sergeant, quietly producing a +scouting notebook such as was then issued by the engineer department, +"I measured 'em and made rough copies here. There was _two_, sir. Both +came, both went, by the path through the willows up stream. We didn't +have time to follow. One is longer and slimmer than the other. If I +may make so bold, sir, I'd have a guard down there to-night to keep +people away; otherwise the tracks may be spoiled before morning." + +"Take three men and go yourself," said the major promptly. "See +anything of any of the lieutenant's property? Mr. Hart told you, +didn't he?" Plume was studying the sergeant's pencil sketches, by the +light of the trader's lantern, as he spoke, a curious, puzzled look on +his soldierly face. + +"Saw where the box had lain in the sand, sir, but no trace of the +net," and Sergeant Shannon was thinking less of these matters than of +his sketches. There was something he thought the major ought to see, +and presently he saw. + +"Why, sergeant, these may be Tonto moccasin tracks, but not grown +men's. They are mere boys, aren't they?" + +"Mere girls, sir." + +There was a sound of rustling skirts upon the bare piazza. Plume +glanced impatiently over his shoulder. Mrs. Plume had vanished into +the unlighted hallway. + +"That would account for their taking the net," said he thoughtfully, +"but what on earth would the guileless Tonto maiden do with a watch or +with greenbacks? They wouldn't dare show with them at the agency! How +far did you follow the tracks?" + +"Only a rod or two. Once in the willows they can't well quit them till +they reach the shallows above the pool, sir. We can guard there +to-night and begin trailing at dawn." + +"So be it then!" and presently the conference closed. + +Seated on the adjoining gallery, alone and in darkness, stricken and +sorrowing, a woman had been silently observant of the meeting, and +had heard occasional snatches of the talk. Presently she rose; softly +entered the house and listened at a closed door on the northward +side--Captain Wren's own room. An hour previous, tortured between his +own thoughts and her well-meant, but unwelcome efforts to cheer him, +he had begged to be left alone, and had closed his door against all +comers. + +Now, she as softly ascended the narrow stairway and paused for a +moment at another door, also closed. Listening a while, she knocked, +timidly, hesitatingly, but no answer came. After a while, noiselessly, +she turned the knob and entered. + +A dim light was burning on a little table by the white bedside. A +long, slim figure, white-robed and in all the abandon of girlish +grief, was lying, face downward, on the bed. Tangled masses of hair +concealed much of the neck and shoulders, but, bending over, Miss Wren +could partially see the flushed and tear-wet cheek pillowed on one +slender white arm. Exhausted by long weeping, Angela at last had +dropped to sleep, but the little hand that peeped from under the +thick, tumbling tresses still clung to an odd and unfamiliar +object--something the older woman had seen only at a distance +before--something she gazed at in startled fascination this strange +and solemn night--a slender, long-handled butterfly net of filmy +gauze. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A STRICKEN SENTRY + + +Sentry duty at Camp Sandy along in '75 had not been allowed to bear +too heavily on its little garrison. There was nothing worth stealing +about the place, said Plume, and no pawn-shop handy. Of course there +were government horses and mules, food and forage, arms and +ammunition, but these were the days of soldier supremacy in that arid +and distant land, and soldiers had a summary way of settling with +marauders that was discouraging to enterprise. Larceny was therefore +little known until the law, with its delays and circumventions, took +root in the virgin soil, and people at such posts as Sandy seldom shut +and rarely locked their doors, even by night. Windows were closed and +blanketed by day against the blazing sun and torrid heat, but, soon +after nightfall, every door and window was usually opened wide and +often kept so all the night long, in order that the cooler air, +settling down from _mesa_ and mountain, might drift through every room +and hallway, licking up the starting dew upon the smooth, rounded +surface of the huge _ollas_, the porous water jars that hung suspended +on every porch, and wafting comfort to the heated brows of the lightly +covered sleepers within. Pyjamas were then unknown in army circles, +else even the single sheet that covered the drowsing soldier might +have been dispensed with. + +Among the quarters occupied by married men, both in officers' row and +Sudsville under the plateau, doors were of little account in a +community where the only intruder to be feared was heat, and so it had +resulted that while the corrals, stables, and storehouses had their +guards, only a single sentry paced the long length of the eastward +side of the post, a single pair of eyes and a single rifle barrel +being deemed amply sufficient to protect against possible prowlers the +rear yards and entrances of the row. The westward front of the +officers' homes stood in plain view, on bright nights at least, of the +sentry at the guard-house, and needed no other protector. On dark +nights it was supposed to look out for itself. + +A lonely time of it, as a rule, had No. 5, the "backyard sentry," but +this October night he lacked not for sensation. Lights burned until +very late in many of the quarters, while at Captain Wren's and +Lieutenant Blakely's people were up and moving about until long after +midnight. Of course No. 5 had heard all about the dreadful affair of +the early evening. What he and his fellows puzzled over was the +probable cause of Captain Wren's furious assault upon his subaltern. +Many a theory was afloat, Duane, with unlooked-for discretion, having +held his tongue as to the brief conversation that preceded the blow. +It was after eleven when the doctor paid his last visit for the night, +and the attendant came out on the rear porch for a pitcher of cool +water from the _olla_. It was long after twelve when the light in the +upstairs room at Captain Wren's was turned low, and for two hours +thereafter, with bowed head, the captain himself paced nervously up +and down, wearing in the soft and sandy soil a mournful pathway +parallel with his back porch. It was after three, noted Private +Mullins, of that first relief, when from the rear door of the major's +quarters there emerged two forms in feminine garb, and, there being no +hindering fences, away they hastened in the dim starlight, past +Wren's, Cutler's, Westervelt's, and Truman's quarters until they were +swallowed up in the general gloom about Lieutenant Blakely's. Private +Mullins could not say for certain whether they had entered the rear +door or gone around under the deep shadows of the veranda. When next +he saw them, fifteen minutes later, coming as swiftly and silently +back, Mullins was wondering whether he ought not to challenge and have +them account for themselves. His orders were to allow inmates of the +officers' quarters to pass in or out at night without challenge, +provided he "recognized them to be such." Now, Mullins felt morally +certain that these two were Mrs. Plume and Mrs. Plume's vivacious +maid, a French-Canadian damsel, much admired and sought in soldier +circles at the post, but Mullins had not seen their faces and could +rightfully insist it was his duty and prerogative to do so. The +question was, how would the "commanding officer's lady" like and take +it? Mullins therefore shook his head. "I hadn't the nerve," as he +expressed it, long afterwards. But no such frailty oppressed the +occupant of the adjoining house. Just as the two had reached the rear +of Wren's quarters, and were barely fifty steps from safety, the +captain himself, issuing again from the doorway, suddenly appeared +upon the scene, and in low, but imperative tone accosted them. "_Who_ +are you?" said he, bending eagerly, sternly over them. One quick look +he gave, and, almost instantly recoiling, exclaimed "Mrs. Plume! I +beg--" Then, as though with sudden recollection, "No, madam, I do +_not_ beg your pardon," and, turning on his heel, abruptly left them. +Without a word, but with the arm of the maid supporting, the taller +woman sped swiftly across the narrow intervening space and was lost +again within the shadows of her husband's home. + +Private Mullins, silent and probably unseen witness of this episode, +slowly tossed his rifle from the port to the shoulder; shook his +puzzled head; stared a moment at the dim figure of Captain Wren again +in the starlit morning, nervously tramping up and down his narrow +limit; then mechanically sauntered down the roadway, pondering much +over what he had seen and heard during the brief period of his early +morning watch. Reaching the south, the lower, end of his post, he +turned again. He had but ten minutes left of his two-hour tramp. The +second relief was due to start at 3.30, and should reach him at 3.35. +He was wondering would the officer of the day "come nosin' round" +within that time, asking him his orders, and was everything all right +on his post? And had he observed anything unusual? There was Captain +Wren, like a caged tiger, tramping up and down behind his quarters. +At least he had been, for now he had disappeared. There were, or +rather had been, the two ladies in long cloaks flitting in the shadows +from the major's quarters to those of the invalid lieutenant. Mullins +certainly did not wish to speak about them to any official visitor, +whatever he might whisper later to Norah Shaughnessy, the saddler +sergeant's daughter--Norah, who was nurse girl at the Trumans', and +knew all the ins and outs of social life at Sandy--Norah, at whose +window, under the north gable, he gazed with love in his eyes as he +made his every round. He was a good soldier, was Mullins, but glad +this night to get off post. Through the gap between the second and +third quarters he saw the lights at the guard-house and could faintly +see the black silhouette of armed men in front of them. The relief was +forming sharp on time, and presently Corporal Donovan would be +bringing Trooper Schultz, of "C" Troop, straight across the parade in +search of him. The major so allowed his sentry on No. 5 to be relieved +at night. Mullins thanked the saints with pious fervor that no more +ladies would be like to flit across his vision, that night at least, +when, dimly through the dusk, against the spangled northern sky, he +sighted another figure crouching across the upper end of his post and +making straight for the lighted entrance at the rear of the +lieutenant's quarters. Someone else, then, had interest at +Blakely's--someone coming stealthily from without. A minute later +certain wakeful ears were startled by a moaning cry for aid. + +Just what happened, and how it happened, within the minute, led to +conflicting stories on the morrow. First man examined by Major Plume +was Lieutenant Truman of the Infantry, who happened to be officer of +the day. He had been over at Blakely's about midnight, he said; had +found the patient sleeping under the influence of soothing medicine, +and, after a whispered word with Todd, the hospital attendant, had +tiptoed out again, encountering Downs, the lieutenant's striker, in +the darkness on the rear porch. Downs said he was that excited he +couldn't sleep at all, and Mr. Truman had come to the conclusion that +Downs's excitement was due, in large part, to local influences totally +disconnected with the affairs of the early evening. Downs was an +Irishman who loved the "craytur," and had been known to resort to +unconventional methods of getting it. At twelve o'clock, said Mr. +Truman, the striker had obviously been priming. Now Plume's standing +orders were that no liquor should be sold to Downs at the store and +none to other soldiers except in "pony" glasses and for use on the +spot. None could be carried away unconsumed. The only legitimate +spirits, therefore, to which Downs could have access were those in +Blakely's locked closet--spirits hitherto used only in the +preservation of specimens, and though probably not much worse than the +whisky sold at the store, disdainfully referred to by votaries as +"Blakely's bug juice." Mr. Truman, therefore, demanded of Downs the +possession of the lieutenant's keys, and, with aggrieved dignity of +mien, Downs had referred him to the doctor, whose suspicions had been +earlier aroused. Intending to visit his sentries after the change of +guard at 1.30, Truman had thrown himself into a reclining chair in his +little parlor, while Mrs. Truman and the little Trumans slumbered +peacefully aloft. After reading an hour or so the lieutenant fell into +a doze from which he awoke with a start. Mrs. Truman was bending over +him. Mrs. Truman had been aroused by hearing voices in cautious, yet +excited, colloquy in the shadows of Blakely's back porch. She felt +sure that Downs was one and thought from the sound that he must be +intoxicated, so Truman shuffled out to see, and somebody, bending +double in the dusk, scurried away at his approach. He heard rather +than saw. But there was Downs, at least, slinking back into the house, +and him Truman halted and accosted. "Who was that with you?" he asked, +and Downs thickly swore he hadn't seen a soul. But all the while Downs +was clumsily stuffing something into a side pocket, and Truman, +seizing his hand, dragged it forth into the light. It was one of the +hospital six-ounce bottles, bearing a label indicative of glycerine +lotion, but the color of the contained fluid belied the label. A sniff +was sufficient. "Who gave you this whisky?" was the next demand, and +Downs declared 'twas a hospital "messager" that brought it over, +thinking the lieutenant might need it. Truman, filled with wrath, had +dragged Downs into the dimly lighted room to the rear of that in which +lay Lieutenant Blakely, and was there upbraiding and investigating +when startled by the stifled cry that, rising suddenly on the night +from the open _mesa_ just without, had so alarmed so many in the +garrison. Of what had led to it he had then no more idea than the +dead. + +Corporal Donovan, next examined, said he was marching Schultz over to +relieve Mullins on No. 5, just after half-past three, and heading for +the short cut between the quarters of Captains Wren and Cutler, which +was about where No. 5 generally met the relief, when, just as they +were halfway between the flagstaff and the row, Schultz began to limp +and said there must be a pebble in his boot. So they halted. Schultz +kicked off his boot and shook it upside down, and, while he was +tugging at it again, they both heard a sort of gurgling, gasping cry +out on the _mesa_. Of course Donovan started and ran that way, leaving +Schultz to follow, and, just back of Captain Westervelt's, the third +house from the northward end, he almost collided with Lieutenant +Truman, officer of the day, who ordered him to run for Dr. Graham and +fetch him up to Lieutenant Blakely's quick. So of what had taken place +he, too, was ignorant until later. + +It was the hospital attendant, Todd, whose story came next and brought +Plume to his feet with consternation in his eyes. Todd said he had +been sitting at the lieutenant's bedside when, somewhere about three +o'clock, he had to go out and tell Downs to make less noise. Downs was +completely upset by the catastrophe to his officer and, somehow, had +got a few comforting drinks stowed away, and these had started him to +singing some confounded Irish keen that grated on Todd's nerves. He +was afraid it would disturb the patient and he was about to go out +and remonstrate when the singing stopped and presently he heard +Downs's voice in excited conversation. Then a woman's voice in low, +urgent, persuasive whisper became faintly audible, and this surprised +Todd beyond expression. He had thought to go and take a look and see +who it could be, when there was a sudden swish of skirts and scurry of +feet, and then Mr. Truman's voice was heard. Then there was some kind +of sharp talk from the lieutenant to Downs, and then, in a sort of a +lull, there came that uncanny cry out on the _mesa_, and, stopping +only long enough to see that the lieutenant was not roused or +disturbed, Todd hastened forth. One or two dim figures, dark and +shadowy, were just visible on the eastward _mesa_, barely ten paces +away, and thither the attendant ran. Downs, lurching heavily, was just +ahead of him. Together they came upon a little group. Somebody went +running southward--Lieutenant Truman, as Todd learned later--hurrying +for the doctor. A soldier equipped as a sentry lay moaning on the +sand, clasping a bloody hand to his side, and over him, stern, silent, +but agitated, bent Captain Wren. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CAPTAIN'S DEFIANCE + + +Within ten minutes of Todd's arrival at the spot the soft sands of the +_mesa_ were tramped into bewildering confusion by dozens of trooper +boots. The muffled sound of excited voices, so soon after the +startling affair of the earlier evening, and hurrying footfalls +following, had roused almost every household along the row and brought +to the spot half the officers on duty at the post. A patrol of the +guard had come in double time, and soldiers had been sent at speed to +the hospital for a stretcher. Dr. Graham had lost no moment of time in +reaching the stricken sentry. Todd had been sent back to Blakely's +bedside and Downs to fetch a lantern. They found the latter, five +minutes later, stumbling about the Trumans' kitchen, weeping for that +which was lost, and the sergeant of the guard collared and cuffed him +over to the guard-house--one witness, at least, out of the way. At +four o'clock the doctor was working over his exhausted and unconscious +patient at the hospital. Mullins had been stabbed twice, and +dangerously, and half a dozen men with lanterns were hunting about the +bloody sands where the faithful fellow had dropped, looking for a +weapon or a clew, and probably trampling out all possibility of +finding either. Major Plume, through Mr. Doty, his adjutant, had felt +it necessary to remind Captain Wren that an officer in close arrest +had no right to be away from his quarters. Late in the evening, it +seems, Dr. Graham had represented to the post commander that the +captain was in so nervous and overwrought a condition, and so +distressed, that as a physician he recommended his patient be allowed +the limits of the space adjoining his quarters in which to walk off +his superabundant excitement. Graham had long been the friend of +Captain Wren and was his friend as well as physician now, even though +deploring his astounding outbreak, but Graham had other things to +demand his attention as night wore on, and there was no one to speak +for Wren when the young adjutant, a subaltern of infantry, with +unnecessary significance of tone and manner, suggested the captain's +immediate return to his proper quarters. Wren bowed his head and went +in stunned and stubborn silence. It had never occurred to him for a +moment, when he heard that half-stifled, agonized cry for help, that +there could be the faintest criticism of his rushing to the sentry's +aid. Still less had it occurred to him that other significance, and +damning significance, might attach to his presence on the spot, but, +being first to reach the fallen man, he was found kneeling over him +within thirty seconds of the alarm. Not another living creature was in +sight when the first witnesses came running to the spot. Both Truman +and Todd could swear to that. + +In the morning, therefore, the orderly came with the customary +compliments to say to Captain Wren that the post commander desired to +see him at the office. + +It was then nearly nine o'clock. Wren had had a sleepless night and +was in consultation with Dr. Graham when the summons came. "Ask that +Captain Sanders be sent for at once," said the surgeon, as he pressed +his comrade patient's hand. "The major has his adjutant and clerk and +possibly some other officers. You should have at least one friend." + +"I understand," briefly answered Wren, as he stepped to the hallway to +get his sun hat. "I wish it might be you." The orderly was already +speeding back to the office at the south end of the brown rectangle of +adobe and painted pine, but Janet Wren, ministering, according to her +lights, to Angela in the little room aloft, had heard the message and +was coming down. Taller and more angular than ever she looked as, with +flowing gown, she slowly descended the narrow stairway. + +"I have just succeeded in getting her to sleep," she murmured. "She +has been dreadfully agitated ever since awakened by the voices and the +running this morning, and she must have cried herself to sleep last +night. R-r-r-obert, would it not be well for you to see her when she +wakes? She does not know--I could not tell her--that you are under +arrest." + +Graham looked more "dour" than did his friend of the line. Privately +he was wondering how poor Angela could get to sleep at all with Aunt +Janet there to soothe her. The worst time to teach a moral lesson, +with any hope of good effect, is when the recipient is suffering from +sense of utter injustice and wrong, yet must perforce listen. But it +is a favorite occasion with the "ower guid." Janet thought it would be +a long step in the right direction to bring her headstrong niece to +the belief that all the trouble was the direct result of her having +sought, against her father's wishes, a meeting with Mr. Blakely. True, +Janet had now some doubt that such had been the case, but, in what she +felt was only stubborn pride, her niece refused all explanation. +"Father would not hear me at the time," she sobbed. "I am condemned +without a chance to defend myself or--him." Yet Janet loved the bonny +child devotedly and would go through fire and water to serve her best +interests, only those best interests must be as Janet saw them. That +anything very serious might result as a consequence of her brother's +violent assault on Blakely, she had never yet imagined. That further +complications had arisen which might blacken his record she never +could credit for a moment. Mullins lay still unconscious, and not +until he recovered strength was he to talk with or see anyone. Graham +had given faint hope of recovery, and declared that everything +depended on his patient's having no serious fever or setback. In a few +days he might be able to tell his story. Then the mystery as to his +assailant would be cleared in a breath. Janet had taken deep offense +that the commanding officer should have sent her brother into close +arrest without first hearing of the extreme provocation. "It is an +utterly unheard-of proceeding," said she, "this confining of an +officer and gentleman without investigation of the affair," and she +glared at Graham, uncomprehending, when, with impatient shrug of his +big shoulders, he asked her what had they done, between them, to +Angela. It was his wife put him up to saying that, she reasoned, for +Janet's Calvinistic dogmas as to daughters in their teens were ever at +variance with the views of her gentle neighbor. If Angela had been +harshly dealt with, undeserving, it was Angela's duty to say so and to +say why, said Janet. Meantime, her first care was her wronged and +misjudged brother. Gladly would she have gone to the office with him +and stood proudly by his side in presence of his oppressor, could such +a thing be permitted. She marveled that Robert should now show so +little of tenderness for her who had served him loyally, if +masterfully, so very long. He merely laid his hand on hers and said he +had been summoned to the commanding officer's, then went forth into +the light and left her. + +Major Plume was seated at his desk, thoughtful and perplexed. Up at +regimental headquarters at Prescott Wren was held in high esteem, and +the major's brief telegraphic message had called forth anxious inquiry +and something akin to veiled disapprobation. Headquarters could not +see how it was possible for Wren to assault Lieutenant Blakely without +some grave reason. Had Plume investigated? No, but that was coming +now, he said to himself, as Wren entered and stood in silence before +him. + +The little office had barely room for the desks of the commander and +his adjutant and the table on which were spread the files of general +orders from various superior headquarters--regimental, department, +division, the army, and the War Secretary. No curtains adorned the +little windows, front and rear. No rug or carpet vexed the warping +floor. Three chairs, kitchen pattern, stood against the pine partition +that shut off the sight, but by no means the hearing, of the three +clerks scratching at their flat-topped desks in the adjoining den. +Maps of the United States, of the Military Division of the Pacific, +and of the Territory, as far as known and surveyed, hung about the +wooden walls. Blue-prints and photographs of scout maps, made by their +predecessors of the ----th Cavalry in the days of the Crook campaigns, +were scattered with the order files about the table. But of pictures, +ornamentation, or relief of any kind the gloomy box was destitute as +the dun-colored flat of the parade. Official severity spoke in every +feature of the forbidding office as well as in those of the major +commanding. + +There was striking contrast, too, between the man at the desk and the +man on the rack before him. Plume had led a life devoid of anxiety or +care. Soldiering he took serenely. He liked it, so long as no grave +hardship threatened. He had done reasonably good service at corps +headquarters during the Civil War; had been commissioned captain in +the regulars in '61, and held no vexatious command at any time +perhaps, until this that took him to far-away Arizona. Plume was a +gentlemanly fellow and no bad garrison soldier. He really shone on +parade and review at such fine stations as Leavenworth and Riley, but +had never had to bother with mountain scouting or long-distance Indian +chasing on the plains. He had a comfortable income outside his pay, +and when he was wedded, at the end of her fourth season in society, to +a prominent, if just a trifle _passee_ belle, people thought him a +more than lucky man, until the regiment was sent to Arizona and he to +Sandy. Gossip said he went to General Sherman with appeal for some +detaining duty, whereupon that bluff and most outspoken warrior +exclaimed: "What, what, what! Not want to go with the regiment? Why, +here's Blakely begging to be relieved from Terry's staff because he's +mad to go." And this, said certain St. Louis commentators, settled it, +for Mrs. Plume declared for Arizona. + +Well garbed, groomed, and fed was Plume, a handsome, soldierly figure. +Very cool and placid was his look in the spotless white that even then +by local custom had become official dress for Sandy; but beneath the +snowy surface his heart beat with grave disquiet as he studied the +strong, rugged, somber face of the soldier on the floor. + +Wren was tall and gaunt and growing gray. His face was deeply lined; +his close-cropped beard was silver-stranded; his arms and legs were +long and sinewy and powerful; his chest and shoulders burly; his +regimental dress had not the cut and finish of the commander's. Too +much of bony wrist and hand was in evidence, too little of grace and +curve. But, though he stood rigidly at attention, with all semblance +of respect and subordination, the gleam in his deep-set eyes, the +twitch of the long fingers, told of keen and pent-up feeling, and he +looked the senior soldier squarely in the face. A sergeant, standing +by the adjutant's desk, tiptoed out into the clerk's room and closed +the door behind him, then set himself to listen. Young Doty, the +adjutant, fiddled nervously with his pen and tried to go on signing +papers, but failed. It was for Plume to break the awkward silence, and +he did not quite know how. Captain Westervelt, quietly entering at the +moment, bowed to the major and took a chair. He had evidently been +sent for. + +"Captain Wren," presently said Plume, his fingers trembling a bit as +they played with the paper folder, "I have felt constrained to send +for you to inquire still further into last night's affair--or affairs. +I need not tell you that you may decline to answer if you consider +your interests are--involved. I had hoped this painful matter might be +so explained as to--as to obviate the necessity of extreme measures, +but your second appearance close to Mr. Blakely's quarters, under all +the circumstances, was so--so extraordinary that I am compelled to +call for explanation, if you have one you care to offer." + +For a moment Wren stood staring at his commander in amaze. He had +expected to be offered opportunity to state the circumstances leading +to his now deeply deplored attack on Mr. Blakely, and to decline the +offer on the ground that he should have been given that opportunity +before being submitted to the humiliation of arrest. He had intended +to refuse all overtures, to invite trial by court-martial or +investigation by the inspector general, but by no manner of means to +plead for reconsideration now; and here was the post commander, with +whom he had never served until they came to Sandy, a man who hadn't +begun to see the service, the battles, and campaigns that had fallen +to his lot, virtually accusing him of further misdemeanor, when he had +only rushed to save or succor. He forgot all about Sanders or other +witnesses. He burst forth impetuously: + +"Extraordinary, sir! It would have been most extraordinary if I hadn't +gone with all speed when I heard that cry for help." + +Plume looked up in sudden joy. "You mean to tell me you didn't--you +weren't there till after--the cry?" + +Wren's stern Scottish face was a sight to see. "Of what can you +possibly be thinking, Major Plume?" he demanded, slowly now, for wrath +was burning within him, and yet he strove for self-control. He had had +a lesson and a sore one. + +"I will answer that--a little later, Captain Wren," said Plume, rising +from his seat, rejoicing in the new light now breaking upon him. +Westervelt, too, had gasped a sigh of relief. No man had ever known +Wren to swerve a hair's breadth from the truth. "At this moment time +is precious if the real criminal is to be caught at all. You were +first to reach the sentry. Had you seen no one else?" + +In the dead silence that ensued within the room the sputter of hoofs +without broke harshly on the ear. Then came spurred boot heels on the +hollow, heat-dried boarding, but not a sound from the lips of Captain +Wren. The rugged face, twitching with pent-up indignation the moment +before, was now slowly turning gray. Plume stood facing him in growing +wonder and new suspicion. + +"You heard me, did you not? I asked you did you see anyone else +during--along the sentry post when you went out?" + +A fringed gauntlet reached in at the doorway and tapped. Sergeant +Shannon, straight as a pine, stood expectant of summons to enter and +his face spoke eloquently of important tidings, but the major waved +him away, and, marveling, he slowly backed to the edge of the porch. + +"Surely you can answer that, Captain Wren," said Plume, his clear-cut, +handsome face filled with mingled anxiety and annoy. "Surely you +_should_ answer, or--" + +The ellipsis was suggestive, but impotent. After a painful moment came +the response: + +"Or--take the consequences, major?" Then slowly--"Very well, sir--I +must take them." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A FIND IN THE SANDS + + +The late afternoon of an eventful day had come to camp Sandy--just +such another day, from a meteorological viewpoint, as that on which +this story opened nearly twenty-four hours earlier by the shadows on +the eastward cliffs. At Tuesday's sunset the garrison was yawning with +the _ennui_ born of monotonous and uneventful existence. As +Wednesday's sunset drew nigh and the mountain shadows overspread the +valley, even to the opposite crests of the distant Mogollon, the +garrison was athrill with suppressed excitement, for half a dozen +things had happened since the flag went up at reveille. + +In the first place Captain Wren's arrest had been confirmed and Plume +had wired department headquarters, in reply to somewhat urgent query, +that there were several counts in his indictment of the captain, any +one of which was sufficient to demand a trial by court-martial, but he +wished, did Plume, for personal and official reasons that the general +commanding should send his own inspector down to judge for himself. + +The post sergeant major and the three clerks had heard with sufficient +distinctness every word that passed between the major and the accused +captain, and, there being at Sandy some three hundred inquisitive +souls, thirsting for truth and light, it could hardly be expected of +this quartette that it should preserve utter silence even though +silence had been enjoined by the adjutant. It was told all over the +post long before noon that Wren had been virtually accused of being +the sentry's assailant as well as Lieutenant Blakely's. It was +whispered that, in some insane fury against the junior officer, Wren +had again, toward 3.30, breaking his arrest, gone up the row with the +idea of once more entering Blakely's house and possibly again +attacking him. It was believed that the sentry had seen and +interposed, and that, enraged at being balked by an enlisted man, Wren +had drawn a knife and stabbed him. True, no knife had been found +anywhere about the spot, and Wren had never been known to carry one. +But now a dozen men, armed with rakes, were systematically going over +the ground under the vigilant eye of Sergeant Shannon--Shannon, who +had heard the brief, emphatic interview between the major and the +troop commander and who had been almost immediately sent forth to +supervise this search, despite the fact that he had but just returned +from the conduct of another, the result of which he imparted to the +ears of only two men, Plume, the post commander, and Doty, his amazed +and bewildered adjutant. But Shannon had with him a trio of troopers, +one of whom, at least, had not been proof against inquisitive probing, +for the second sensation of the day was the story that one of the two +pairs of moccasin tracks, among the yielding sands of the willow +copse, led from where Mr. Blakely had been dozing to where the pony +Punch had been drowsing in the shade, for there they were lost, as the +maker had evidently mounted and ridden away. All Sandy knew that Punch +had no other rider than pretty Angela Wren. + +A third story, too, was whispered in half a dozen homes, and was going +wild about the garrison, to the effect that Captain Wren, when accused +of being Mullins's assailant, had virtually declared that he had seen +other persons prowling on the sentry's post and that they, not he, +were the guilty ones; but when bidden to name or describe them, Wren +had either failed or refused; some said one, some said the other, and +the prevalent belief in Sudsville circles, as well as in the barracks, +was that Captain Wren was going crazy over his troubles. And now there +were women, ay, and men, too, though they spake with bated breath, who +had uncanny things to say of Angela--the captain's only child. + +And this it was that led to sensation No. 4--a wordy battle of the +first magnitude between the next-door neighbor of the saddler sergeant +and no less a champion of maiden probity than Norah Shaughnessy--the +saddler sergeant's buxom daughter. All the hours since early morning +Norah had been in a state of nerves so uncontrollable that Mrs. +Truman--who knew of Norah's fondness for Mullins and marveled not that +Mullins always preferred the loneliness and isolation of the post on +No. 5--decided toward noon to send the girl home to her mother for a +day or so, and Norah thankfully went, and threw herself upon her +mother's ample breast and sobbed aloud. It was an hour before she +could control herself, and her agitation was such that others came to +minister to her. Of course there was just one explanation--Norah was +in love with Mullins and well-nigh crazed with grief over his untimely +taking off, for later reports from the hospital were most depressing. +This, at least, was sufficient explanation until late in the +afternoon. Then, restored to partial composure, the girl was sitting +up and being fanned in the shade of her father's roof-tree, when +roused by the voice of the next-door neighbor before mentioned--Mrs. +Quinn, long time laundress of Captain Sanders's troop and jealous as +to Wren's, was telling what _she_ had heard of Shannon's discoveries, +opining that both Captain Wren and the captain's daughter deserved +investigation. "No wan need tell _me_ there was others prowling about +Mullins's post at three in the marnin.' As for Angela--" But here Miss +Shaughnessy bounded from the wooden settee, and, with amazing vim and +vigor, sailed spontaneously into Mrs. Quinn. + +"No wan need tell _you_--ye say! No wan need tell _you_, ye +black-tongued scandlum! Well, then, _I_ tell ye Captain Wren did see +others prowlin' on poor Pat Mullins's post an' others than him saw +them too. Go you to the meejer, soon as ye like and say _I_ saw them, +and if Captain Wren won't tell their names there's them that will." + +The shrill tones of the infuriated girl were plainly audible all over +the flats whereon were huddled the little cabins of log and adobe +assigned as quarters to the few married men among the soldiery. These +were the halcyon days of the old army when each battery, troop, or +company was entitled to four laundresses and each laundress to one +ration. Old and young, there were at least fifty pairs of ears within +easy range of the battle that raged forthwith, the noise of which +reached even to the shaded precincts of the trader's store three +hundred yards away. It was impossible that such a flat-footed +statement as Norah's should not be borne to the back doors of "The +Row" and, repeated then from lip to lip, should soon be told to +certain of the officers. Sanders heard it as he came in from stable +duty, and Dr. Graham felt confident that it had been repeated under +the major's roof when at 6 P. M. the post commander desired his +professional services in behalf of Mrs. Plume, who had become +unaccountably, if not seriously, ill. + +Graham had but just returned from a grave conference with Wren, and +his face had little look of the family physician as he reluctantly +obeyed the summons. As another of the auld licht school of Scotch +Presbyterians, he also had conceived deep-rooted prejudice to that +frivolous French aide-de-camp of the major's wife. The girl did dance +and flirt and ogle to perfection, and half a dozen strapping sergeants +were now at sword's points all on account of this objectionable Eliza. +Graham, of course, had heard with his ears and fathomed with his +understanding the first reports of Wren's now famous reply to his +commanding officer; and though Wren would admit no more to him than +he had to the major, Graham felt confident that the major's wife was +one of the mysterious persons seen by Wren, and declared by Norah, in +the dim starlight of the early morning, lurking along the post of No. +5. Graham had no doubt that Elise was the other. The man most +concerned in the case, the major himself, was perhaps the only one at +sunset who never seemed to suspect that Mrs. Plume could have been in +any way connected with the affair. He met the doctor with a world of +genuine anxiety in his eyes. + +"My wife," said he, "is of a highly sensitive organization, and she +has been completely upset by this succession of scandalous affairs. +She and Blakely were great friends at St. Louis three years ago; +indeed, many people were kind enough to couple their names before our +marriage. I wish you could--quiet her," and the sounds from aloft, +where madame was nervously pacing her room, gave point to the +suggestion. Graham climbed the narrow stairs and tapped at the north +door on the landing. It was opened by Elise, whose big, black eyes +were dilated with excitement, while Mrs. Plume, her blonde hair +tumbling down her back, her _peignoir_ decidedly rumpled and her +general appearance disheveled, was standing in mid-floor, wringing her +jeweled hands. "She looks like sixty," was the doctor's inward remark, +"and is probably not twenty-six." + +Her first question jarred upon his rugged senses. + +"Dr. Graham, when will Mr. Blakely be able to see--or read?" + +"Not for a day or two. The stitches must heal before the bandages can +come off his eyes. Even then, Mrs. Plume, he should not be disturbed," +was the uncompromising answer. + +"Is that wretch, Downs, sober yet?" she demanded, standing and +confronting him, her whole form quivering with strong, half-suppressed +emotion. + +"The wretch is sobering," answered Graham gravely. "And now, madame, +I'll trouble you to take a chair. Do you," with a glance of grim +disfavor, "need this girl for the moment? If not, she might as well +retire." + +"I need my maid, Dr. Graham, and I told Major Plume distinctly I did +not need you," was the impulsive reply, as the lady strove against the +calm, masterful grasp he laid on her wrist. + +"That's as may be, Mrs. Plume. We're often blind to our best +interests. Be seated a moment, then I'll let you tramp the soles of +your feet off, if you so desire." And so he practically pulled her +into a chair; Elise, glaring the while, stood spitefully looking on. +The antipathy was mutual. + +"You've slept too little of late, Mrs. Plume," continued the doctor, +lucklessly hitting the mark with a home shot instantly resented, for +the lady was on her feet again. + +"Sleep! People do nothing but sleep in this woebegone hole!" she +cried. "I've had sleep enough to last a lifetime. What I want is to +wake--wake out of this horrible nightmare! Dr. Graham, you are a +friend of Captain Wren's. What under heaven possessed him, with his +brutal strength, to assault so sick a man as Mr. Blakely? What +possible pretext could he assert?" And again she was straining at her +imprisoned hand and seeking to free herself, Graham calmly studying +her the while, as he noted the feverish pulse. Not half an hour +earlier he had been standing beside the sick bed of a fair young girl, +one sorely weighted now with grave anxieties, yet who lay patient and +uncomplaining, rarely speaking a word. They had not told the half of +the web of accusation that now enmeshed her father's feet, but what +had been revealed to her was more than enough to banish every thought +of self or suffering and to fill her fond heart with instant and +loving care for him. No one, not even Janet, was present during the +interview between father and child that followed. Graham found him +later locked in his own room, reluctant to admit even him, and +lingering long before he opened the door; but even then the +tear-stains stood on his furrowed face, and the doctor knew he had +been sobbing his great heart out over the picture of his child--the +child he had so harshly judged and sentenced, all unheard. Graham had +gone to him, after seeing Angela, with censure on his tongue, but he +never spoke the words. He saw there was no longer need. + +"Let the lassie lie still the day," said he, "with Kate, perhaps, to +read to her. Your sister might not choose a cheering book. Then +perhaps we'll have her riding Punch again to-morrow." But Graham did +not smile when meeting Janet by the parlor door. + +He was thinking of the contrast in these two, his patients, as with +professional calm he studied the troubled features of the major's wife +when the voice of Sergeant Shannon was heard in the lower hall, +inquiring for the major, and in an instant Plume had joined him. In +that instant, too, Elise had sped, cat-like, to the door, and Mrs. +Plume had followed. Possibly for this reason the major led the +sergeant forth upon the piazza and the conversation took place in +tones inaudible to those within the house; but, in less than a minute, +the doctor's name was called and Graham went down. + +"Look at this," said Plume. "They raked it out of the sand close to +where Mullins was lying." And the major held forth an object that +gleamed in the last rays of the slanting sunshine. It was Blakely's +beautiful watch. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT" + + +The dawn of another cloudless day was breaking and the dim lights at +the guard-house and the hospital burned red and bleary across the +sandy level of the parade. The company cooks were already at their +ranges, and a musician of the guard had been sent to rouse his fellows +in the barracks, for the old-style reveille still held good at many a +post in Arizona, before the drum and fife were almost entirely +abandoned in favor of the harsher bugle, by the infantry of our +scattered little army. Plume loved tradition. At West Point, where he +had often visited in younger days, and at all the "old-time" +garrisons, the bang of the morning gun and the simultaneous crash of +the drums were the military means devised to stir the soldier from his +sleep. Then, his brief ablutions were conducted to the accompaniment +of the martial strains of the field musicians, alternating the sweet +airs of Moore and Burns, the lyrics of Ireland and Auld Reekie, with +quicksteps from popular Yankee melodies of the day, winding up with a +grand flourish at the foot of the flagstaff, to whose summit the flag +had started at the first alarum; then a rush into rattling "double +quick" that summoned the laggards to scurry into the silently forming +ranks, and finally, with one emphatic rataplan, the morning concert +abruptly closed and the gruff voices of the first sergeants, in +swift-running monotone, were heard calling the roll of their shadowy +companies, and, thoroughly roused, the garrison "broke ranks" for the +long routine of the day. + +We have changed all that, and not for the better. A solitary trumpeter +steps forth from the guard-house or adjutant's office and, at the +appointed time, drones a long, dispiriting strain known to the drill +books as "Assembly of the Trumpeters," and to the army at large as +"First Call." Unassisted by other effort, it would rouse nobody, but +from far and near the myriad dogs of the post--"mongrel, hound, and +cur of low degree"--lift up their canine voices in some indefinable +sympathy and stir the winds of the morning with their mournful yowls. +Then, when all the garrison gets up cursing and all necessity for +rousing is ended, the official reveille begins, sounded by the +combined trumpeters, and so, uncheered by concord of sweet sounds, the +soldier begins his day. + +The two infantry companies at Sandy, at the time whereof we tell, were of +an honored old regiment that had fought with Worth at Monterey--one whose +scamps of drum boys and fifers had got their teachings from predecessors +whose nimble fingers had trilled the tunes of old under the walls of the +Bishop's Palace and in the resounding Halls of the Montezumas. Plume and +Cutler loved their joyous, rhythmical strains, and would gladly have kept +the cavalry clarions for purely cavalry calls; but reveille and +guard-mounting were the only ones where this was practicable, and an odd +thing had become noticeable. Apache Indians sometimes stopped their ears, +and always looked impolite, when the brazen trumpets sounded close at hand; +whereas they would squat on the sun-kissed sands and listen in stolid, +unmurmuring bliss to every note of the fife and drum. Members of the guard +were always sure of sympathetic spectators during the one regular +ceremony--guard-mounting--held just after sunset, for the Apache prisoners +at the guard-house begged to be allowed to remain without the prison room +until a little after the "retreat" visit of the officer of the day, and, +roosting along the guard-house porch, to gaze silently forth at the little +band of soldiery in the center of the parade, and there to listen as +silently to the music of the fife and drum. The moment it was all over they +would rise without waiting for directions, and shuffle stolidly back to +their hot wooden walls. They had had the one intellectual treat of the day. +The savage breast was soothed for the time being, and Plume had come to the +conclusion that, aside from the fact that his Indian prisoners were better +fed than when on their native heath, the Indian prison pen at Sandy was not +the place of penance the department commander had intended. Accessions +became so frequent; discharges so very few. + +Then there was another symptom: Sentries on the north and east front, +Nos. 4 and 5, had been a bit startled at first at seeing, soon after +dawn, shadowy forms rising slowly from the black depths of the valley, +hovering uncertainly along the edge of the _mesa_ until they could +make out the lone figure of the morning watcher, then slowly, +cautiously, and with gestures of amity and suppliance, drawing +gradually nearer. Sturdy Germans and mercurial Celts were, at the +start, disposed to "shoo" away these specters as being hostile, or at +least incongruous. But officers and men were soon made to see it was +to hear the morning music these children of the desert flocked so +early. The agency lay but twenty miles distant. The reservation lines +came no nearer; but the fame of the invader's big maple tom-tom (we +wore still the deep, resonant drum of Bunker Hill and Waterloo, of +Jemappes, Saratoga, and Chapultepec, not the modern rattle pan +borrowed from Prussia), and the trill of his magical pipe had spread +abroad throughout Apache land to the end that no higher reward for +good behavior could be given by the agent to his swarthy charges than +the begged-for _papel_ permitting them, in lumps of twenty, to trudge +through the evening shades to the outskirts of the soldier castle on +the _mesa_, there to wait the long night through until the soft +tinting of the eastward heavens and the twitter of the birdlings in +the willows along the stream, gave them courage to begin their timid +approach. + +And this breathless October morning was no exception. The sentry on +the northward line, No. 4, had recognized and passed the post surgeon +soon after four o'clock, hastening to hospital in response to a +summons from an anxious nurse. Mullins seemed far too feverish. No. 4 +as well as No. 5 had noted how long the previous evening Shannon and +his men kept raking and searching about the _mesa_ where Mullins was +stabbed in the early morning, and they were in no mood to allow +strangers to near them unchallenged. The first shadowy forms to show +at the edge had dropped back abashed at the harsh reception accorded +them. Four's infantry rifle and Five's cavalry carbine had been +leveled at the very first to appear, and stern voices had said things +the Apache could neither translate nor misunderstand. The would-be +audience of the morning concert ducked and waited. With more light the +sentry might be more kind. The evening previous six new prisoners had +been sent down under strong guard by the agent, swelling the list at +Sandy to thirty-seven and causing Plume to set his teeth--and an extra +sentry. Now, as the dawn grew broader and the light clear and strong, +Four and Five were surprised, if not startled, to see that not twenty, +but probably forty Apaches, with a sprinkling of squaws, were hovering +all along the _mesa_, mutely watching for the signaled permission to +come in. Five, at least, considered the symptom one of sufficient +gravity to warrant report to higher authority, and full ten minutes +before the time for reveille to begin, his voice went echoing over the +arid parade in a long-draw, yet imperative "Corporal of the Gua-a-rd, +No. 5!" + +Whereat there were symptoms of panic among the dingy white-shirted, +dingy white-turbaned watchers along the edge, and a man in snowy white +fatigue coat, pacing restlessly up and down in rear, this time, of the +major's quarters, whirled suddenly about and strode out on the +_mesa_, gazing northward in the direction of the sound. It was Plume +himself, and Plume had had a sleepless night. + +At tattoo, by his own act and direction, the major had still further +strained the situation. The discovery of Blakely's watch, buried +loosely in the sands barely ten feet from where the sentry fell, had +seemed to him a matter of such significance that, as Graham maintained +an expression of professional gravity and hazarded no explanation, the +major sent for the three captains still on duty, Cutler, Sanders, and +Westervelt, and sought their views. One after another each picked up +and closely examined the watch, within and without, as though +expectant of finding somewhere concealed about its mechanism full +explanation of its mysterious goings and comings. Then in turn, with +like gravity, each declared he had no theory to offer, unless, said +Sanders, Mr. Blakely was utterly mistaken in supposing he had been +robbed at the pool. Mr. Blakely had the watch somewhere about him when +he dismounted, and then joggled it into the sands, where it soon was +trampled under foot. Sanders admitted that Blakely was a man not often +mistaken, and that the loss reported to the post trader of the flat +notebook was probably correct. But no one could be got to see, much +less to say, that Wren was in the slightest degree connected with the +temporary disappearance of the watch. Yet by this time Plume had some +such theory of his own. + +Sometime during the previous night, along toward morning, he had +sleepily asked his wife, who was softly moving about the room, to +give him a little water. The "monkey" stood usually on the window +sill, its cool and dewy surface close to his hand; but he remembered +later that she did not then approach the window--did not immediately +bring him the glass. He had retired very late, yet was hardly +surprised to find her wide awake and more than usually nervous. She +explained by saying Elise had been quite ill, was still suffering, and +might need her services again. She could not think, she said, of +sending for Dr. Graham after all he had had to vex him. It must have +been quite a long while after, so soundly had Plume slept, when she +bent over him and said something was amiss and Mr. Doty was at the +front door waiting for him to come down. He felt oddly numb and heavy +and stupid as he hastily dressed, but Doty's tidings, that Mullins had +been stabbed on post, pulled him together, as it were, and, merely +running back to his room for his canvas shoes, he was speedily at the +scene. Mrs. Plume, when briefly told what had happened, had covered +her face with her hands and buried face and all in the pillow, +shuddering. At breakfast-time Plume himself had taken her tea and +toast, both mistress and maid being still on the invalid list, and, +bending affectionately over her, he had suggested her taking this very +light refreshment and then a nap. Graham, he said, should come and +prescribe for Elise. But madame was feverishly anxious. "What will be +the outcome? What will happen to--Captain Wren?" she asked. + +Plume would not say just what, but he would certainly have to stand +court-martial, said he. Mrs. Plume shuddered more. What good would +that do? How much better it would be to suppress everything than set +such awful scandal afloat. The matter was now in the hands of the +department commander, said Plume, and would have to take its course. +Then, in some way, from her saying how ill the captain was looking, +Plume gathered the impression that she had seen him since his arrest, +and asked the question point-blank. Yes, she admitted,--from the +window,--while she was helping Elise. Where was he? What was he doing? +Plume had asked, all interest now, for that must have been very late, +in fact, well toward morning. "Oh, nothing especial, just looking at +his watch," she thought, "he probably couldn't sleep." Yes, she was +sure he was looking at his watch. + +Then, as luck would have it, late in the day, when the mail came down +from Prescott, there was a little package for Captain Wren, expressed, +and Doty signed the receipt and sent it by the orderly. "What was it?" +asked Plume. "His watch, sir," was the brief answer. "He sent it up +last month for repairs." And Mrs. Plume at nine that night, knowing +nothing of this, yet surprised at her husband's pertinacity, stuck to +her story. She was sure Wren was consulting or winding or doing +something with a watch, and, sorely perplexed and marveling much at +the reticence of his company commanders, who seemed to know something +they would not speak of, Wren sent for Doty. He had decided on another +interview with Wren. + +Meanwhile "the Bugologist" had been lying patiently in his cot, +saying little or nothing, in obedience to the doctor's orders, but +thinking who knows what. Duane and Doty occasionally tiptoed in to +glance inquiry at the fanning attendant, and then tiptoed out. Mullins +had been growing worse and was a very sick man. Downs, the wretch, was +painfully, ruefully, remorsefully sobered over at the post of the +guard, and of Graham's feminine patients the one most in need, +perhaps, of his ministration was giving the least trouble. While Aunt +Janet paced restlessly about the lower floor, stopping occasionally to +listen at the portal of her brother, Angela Wren lay silent and only +sometimes sighing, with faithful Kate Sanders reading in low tone by +the bedside. + +The captains had gone back to their quarters, conferring in subdued +voices. Plume, with his unhappy young adjutant, was seated on the +veranda, striving to frame his message to Wren, when the crack of a +whip, the crunching of hoofs and wheels, sounded at the north end of +the row, and down at swift trot came a spanking, four-mule team and +Concord wagon. It meant but one thing, the arrival of the general's +staff inspector straight from Prescott. + +It was the very thing Plume had urged by telegraph, yet the very fact +that Colonel Byrne was here went to prove that the chief was far from +satisfied that the major's diagnosis was the right one. With soldierly +alacrity, however, Plume sprang forward to welcome the coming +dignitary, giving his hand to assist him from the dark interior into +the light. Then he drew back in some chagrin. The voice of Colonel +Byrne was heard, jovial and reassuring, but the face and form first to +appear were those of Mr. Wayne Daly, the new Indian agent at the +Apache reservation. Coming by the winding way of Cherry Creek, the +colonel must have found means to wire ahead, then to pick up this +civil functionary some distance up the valley, and to have some +conference with him before ever reaching the major's bailiwick. This +was not good, said Plume. All the same, he led them into his cozy army +parlor, bade his Chinese servant get abundant supper forthwith, and, +while the two were shown to the spare room to remove the dust of miles +of travel, once more returned to the front piazza and his adjutant. + +"Captain Wren, sir," said the young officer at once, "begs to be +allowed to see Colonel Byrne this evening. He states that his reasons +are urgent." + +"Captain Wren shall have every opportunity to see Colonel Byrne in due +season," was the answer. "It is not to be expected that Colonel Byrne +will see him until after he has seen the post commander. Then it will +probably be too late," and that austere reply, intended to reach the +ears of the applicant, steeled the Scotchman's heart against his +commander and made him merciless. + +The "conference of the powers" was indeed protracted until long after +10.30, yet, to Plume's surprise, the colonel at its close said he +believed he would go, if Plume had no objection, and see Wren in +person and at once. "You see, Plume, the general thinks highly of the +old Scot. He has known him ever since First Bull Run and, in fact, I +am instructed to hear what Wren may have to say. I hope you will not +misinterpret the motive." + +"Oh, not at all--not at all!" answered the major, obviously ill +pleased, however, and already nettled that, against all precedent, +certain of the Apache prisoners had been ordered turned out as late as +10 P. M. for interview with the agent. It would leave him alone, too, +for as much as half an hour, and the very air seemed surcharged with +intrigue against the might, majesty, power, and dominion of the post +commander. Byrne, a soldier of the old school, might do his best to +convince the major that in no wise was the confidence of the general +commanding abated, but every symptom spoke of something to the +contrary. "I should like, too, to see Dr. Graham to-night," said the +official inquisitor ere he quitted the piazza to go to Wren's next +door. "He will be here to meet you on your return," said Plume, with +just a bit of stateliness, of ruffled dignity in manner, and turned +once more within the hallway to summon his smiling Chinaman. + +Something rustling at the head of the stairs caused him to look up +quickly. Something dim and white was hovering, drooping, over the +balustrade, and, springing aloft, he found his wife in a half-fainting +condition, Elise, the invalid, sputtering vehemently in French and +making vigorous effort to pull her away. Plume had left her at 8.30, +apparently sleeping at last under the influence of Graham's medicine. +Yet here she was again. He lifted her in his arms and laid her upon +the broad, white bed. "Clarice, my child," he said, "you _must_ be +quiet. You must not leave your bed. I am sending for Graham and he +will come to us at once." + +"I _will_ not see him! He _shall_ not see me!" she burst in wildly. +"The man maddens me with his--his insolence." + +"Clarice!" + +"Oh, I mean it! He and his brother Scot, between them--they would +infuriate a--saint," and she was writhing in nervous contortions. + +"But, Clarice, how?" + +"But, monsieur, no!" interposed Elise, bending over, glass in hand. +"Madame will but sip of this--Madame will be tranquil." And the major +felt himself thrust aside. "Madame must not talk to-night. It is too +much." + +But madame would talk. Madame would know where Colonel Byrne was gone, +whether he was to be permitted to see Captain Wren and Dr. Graham, and +that wretch Downs. Surely the commanding officer must have _some_ +rights. Surely it was no time for investigation--_this_ hour of the +night. Five minutes earlier Plume was of the same way of thinking. Now +he believed his wife delirious. + +"See to her a moment, Elise," said he, breaking loose from the clasp +of the long, bejeweled fingers, and, scurrying down the stairs, he +came face to face with Dr. Graham. + +"I was coming for you," said he, at sight of the rugged, somber face. +"Mrs. Plume--" + +"I heard--at least I comprehend," answered Graham, with uplifted hand. +"The lady is in a highly nervous state, and my presence does not tend +to soothe her. The remedies I left will take effect in time. Leave her +to that waiting woman; she best understands her." + +"But she's almost raving, man. I never knew a woman to behave like +that." + +"Ye're not long married, major," answered Graham. "Come into the air a +bit," and, taking his commander's arm, the surgeon swept him up the +starlit row, then over toward the guard-house, and kept him half an +hour watching the strange interview between Mr. Daly, the agent, and +half a dozen gaunt, glittering-eyed Apaches, from whom he was striving +to get some admission or information, with Arahawa, "Washington +Charley," as interpreter. One after another the six had shaken their +frowsy heads. They admitted nothing--knew nothing. + +"What do you make of it all?" queried Plume. + +"Something's wrang at the reservation," answered Graham. "There mostly +is. Daly thinks there's running to and fro between the Tontos in the +Sierra Ancha country and his wards above here. He thinks there's more +out than there should be--and more a-going. What'd you find, Daly?" he +added, as the agent joined them, mechanically wiping his brow. +Moisture there was none. It evaporated fast as the pores exuded. + +"They know well enough, damn them!" said the new official. "But they +think I can be stood off. I'll nail 'em yet--to-morrow," he added. +"But could you send a scout at once to the Tonto basin?" and Daly +turned eagerly to the post commander. + +Plume reflected. Whom could he send? Men there were in plenty, +dry-rotting at the post for lack of something to limber their joints; +but officers to lead? There was the rub! Thirty troopers, twenty +Apache Mohave guides, a pack train and one or, at most, two officers +made up the usual complement of such expeditions. Men, mounts, scouts, +mules and packers, all, were there at his behest; but, with Wren in +arrest, Sanders and Lynn back but a week from a long prod through the +Black Mesa country far as Fort Apache, Blakely invalided and Duane a +boy second lieutenant, his choice of cavalry officers was limited. It +never occurred to him to look beyond. + +"What's the immediate need of a scout?" said he. + +"To break up the traffic that's going on--and the rancherias they must +have somewhere down there. If we don't, I'll not answer for another +month." Daly might be new to the neighborhood, but not to the +business. + +"I'll confer with Colonel Byrne," answered Plume guardedly. And Byrne +was waiting for them, a tall, dark shadow in the black depths of the +piazza. Graham would have edged away and gone to his own den, but +Plume held to him. There was something he needed to say, yet could not +until the agent had retired. Daly saw,--perhaps he had already imbibed +something of the situation,--and was not slow to seek his room. Plume +took the little kerosene lamp; hospitably led the way; made the +customary tender of a "night-cap," and polite regrets he had no ice +to offer therewith; left his unwonted guest with courteous good-night +and cast an eye aloft as he came through the hall. All there was dark +and still, though he doubted much that Graham's sedatives had yet +prevailed. He had left the two men opposite the doorway. He found them +at the south end of the piazza, their heads together. They +straightened up to perfunctory talk about the Medical Director, his +drastic methods and inflammable ways; but the mirth was forced, the +humor far too dry. Then silence fell. Then Plume invaded it: + +"How'd you find Wren--mentally?" he presently asked. He felt that an +opening of some kind was necessary. + +"Sound," was the colonel's answer, slow and sententious. "Of course he +is much--concerned." + +"About--his case? Ah, will you smoke, colonel?" + +"About Blakely. I believe not, Plume; it's late." + +Plume struck a light on the sole of his natty boot. "One would suppose +he would feel very natural anxiety as to the predicament in which he +has placed himself," he ventured. + +"Wren worries much over Blakely's injuries, which accident made far +more serious than he would have inflicted, major, even had he had the +grounds for violence that he thought he had. Blakely was not the only +sufferer, and is not the only cause, of his deep contrition. Wren +tells me that he was even harsher to Angela. But that is all a family +matter." The colonel was speaking slowly, thoughtfully. + +"But--these later affairs--that Wren couldn't explain--or wouldn't." +Plume's voice and color both were rising. + +"Couldn't is the just word, major, and couldn't especially--to you," +was the significant reply. + +Plume rose from his chair and stood a moment, trembling not a little +and his fingers twitching. "You mean--" he huskily began. + +"I mean this, my friend," said Byrne gently, as he, too, arose, "and I +have asked Graham, another friend, to be here--that Wren would not +defend himself to you by even mentioning--others, and might not have +revealed the truth even to me had he been the only one cognizant of +it. But, Plume, _others_ saw what he saw, and what is now known to +many people on the post. Others than Wren were abroad that night. One +other was being carefully, tenderly brought home--_led_ home--to your +roof. You did not know--Mrs. Plume was a somnambulist?" + +In the dead silence that ensued the colonel put forth a pitying hand +as though to stay and support the younger soldier, the post commander. +Plume stood, swaying a bit, and staring. Presently he strove to speak, +but choked in the effort. + +"It's the only proper explanation," said Graham, and between them they +led the major within doors. + +And this is how it happened that he, instead of Wren, was pacing +miserably up and down in the gathering dawn, when the sentry startled +all waking Sandy with his cry for the corporal. This is how, far ahead +of the corporal, the post commander reached the alarmed soldier, with +demand to know the cause; and, even by the time he came, the cause had +vanished from sight. + +"Apaches, sir, by the dozen,--all along the edge of the _mesa_," +stammered No. 5. He could have convinced the corporal without fear or +thought of ridicule, but his voice lacked confidence when he stood +challenged by his commanding officer. Plume heard with instant +suspicion. He was in no shape for judicial action. + +"Apaches!" This in high disdain. "Trash, man! Because one sentry has a +scuffle with some night prowler is the next to lose his nerve? You're +scared by shadows, Hunt. That's what's the matter with you!" + +It "brought to" a veteran trooper with a round turn. Hunt had served +his fourth enlistment, had "worn out four blankets" in the regiment, +and was not to be accused of scare. + +"Let the major see for himself, then," he answered sturdily. "Come in +here, you!" he called aloud. "Come, the whole gang of ye. The +concert's beginning!" Then, slowly along the eastward edge there began +to creep into view black polls bound with dirty white, black crops +untrammeled by any binding. Then, swift from the west, came running +footfalls, the corporal with a willing comrade or two, wondering was +Five in further danger. There, silent and regretful, stood the post +commander, counting in surprise the score of scarecrow forms now +plainly visible, sitting, standing, or squatting along the _mesa_ +edge. Northernmost in view, nearly opposite Blakely's quarters, were +two, detached from the general assembly, yet clinging close +together--two slender figures, gowned, and it was at these the agent +Daly was staring, as he, too, came running to the spot. + +"Major Plume," cried he, panting, "I want those girls arrested, at +once!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"APACHE KNIVES DIG DEEP!" + + +At five o'clock of this cloudless October morning Colonel Montgomery +Byrne, "of the old Army, sir," was reviling the fates that had set him +the task of unraveling such a skein as he found at Sandy. At six he +was blessing the stars that sent him. Awakened, much before his usual +hour, by half-heard murmur of scurry and excitement, so quickly +suppressed he believed it all a dream, he was thinking, half drowsily, +all painfully, of the duty devolving on him for the day, and wishing +himself well out of it, when the dream became real, the impression +vivid. His watch told him reveille should now be sounding. His ears +told him the sounds he heard were not those of reveille, yet something +had roused the occupants of Officers' Row, and then, all on a sudden, +instead of the sweet strains of "The Dawn of the Day" or "Bonnie Lass +o' Gawrie" there burst upon the morning air, harsh and blustering, the +alarum of the Civil War days, the hoarse uproar of the drum thundering +the long roll, while above all rang the loud clamor of the cavalry +trumpet sounding "To Horse." + + "Fitz James was brave, but to his heart + The life blood leaped with sudden start." + +Byrne sprang from his bed. He was a soldier, battle-tried, but this +meant something utterly new to him in war, for, mingling with the +gathering din, he heard the shriek of terror-stricken women. Daly's +bed was empty. The agent was gone. Elise aloft was jabbering _patois_ +at her dazed and startled mistress. Suey, the Chinaman, came +clattering in, all flapping legs and arms and pigtail, his face livid, +his eyes staring. "Patcheese! Patcheese!" he squealed, and dove under +the nearest bed. Then Byrne, shinning into boots and breeches and +shunning his coat, grabbed his revolver and rushed for the door. + +Across the parade, out of their barracks the "doughboys" came +streaming, no man of them dressed for inspection, but rather, like +sailors, stripped for a fight; and, never waiting to form ranks, but +following the lead of veteran sergeants and the signals or orders of +officers somewhere along the line, went sprinting straight for the +eastward _mesa_. From the cavalry barracks, the northward sets, the +troopers, too, were flowing, but these were turned stableward, back of +the post, and Byrne, with his nightshirt flying wide open, wider than +his eyes, bolted round through the space between the quarters of Plume +and Wren, catching sight of the arrested captain standing grim and +gaunt on his back piazza, and ran with the foremost sergeants to the +edge of the plateau, where, in his cool white garb, stood Plume, +shouting orders to those beneath. + +There, down in the Sandy bottom, was explanation of it all. Two +soldiers were bending over a prostrate form in civilian dress. Two +swarthy Apaches, one on his face, the other, ten rods away, writhing +on his side, lay weltering in blood. Out along the sandy barren and +among the clumps of mezquite and greasewood, perhaps as many as ten +soldiers, members of the guard, were scattering in rude skirmish +order; now halting and dropping on one knee to fire, now rushing +forward; while into the willows, that swept in wide concave around the +flat, a number of forms in dirty white, or nothing at all but +streaming breechclout, were just disappearing. + +Northward, too, beyond the post of No. 4, other little squads and +parties could be faintly seen scurrying away for the shelter of the +willows, and as Byrne reached the major's side, with the +to-be-expected query "Whatinhell'sthematter?" the last of the fleeing +Apaches popped out of sight, and Plume turned toward him in mingled +wrath and disgust: + +"That--ass of an agent!" was all he could say, as he pointed to the +prostrate figure in pepper and salt. + +Byrne half slid, half stumbled down the bank and bent over the wounded +man. Dead he was not, for, with both hands clasped to his breast, Daly +was cradling from side to side and saying things of Apaches totally +unbecoming an Indian agent and a man of God. "But who did it? and +how?--and why?" demanded Byrne of the ministering soldiers. + +[Illustration: "NOW HALTING, DROPPING ON ONE KNEE TO FIRE"] + +"Tried to 'rest two Patchie girls, sir," answered the first, +straightening up and saluting, "and her feller wouldn't stand it, I +reckon. Knifed the agent and Craney, too. Yonder's the feller." + +Yonder lay, face downward, as described, a sinewy young brave of the +Apache Mohave band, his newer, cleaner shirt and his gayly ornamented +sash and headgear telling of superior rank and station among his kind. +With barely a glance at Craney, squatted beside a bush, and with teeth +and hands knotting a kerchief about a bleeding arm, Byrne bent over +the Apache and turned the face to the light. + +"Good God!" he cried, at the instant, "it's Quonathay--Raven Shield! +Why, _you_ know him, corporal!"--this to Casey, of Wren's troop, +running to his side. "Son of old Chief Quonahelka! I wouldn't have had +this happen for all the girls on the reservation. Who were they? Why +did he try to arrest them? Here! I'll have to ask him--stabbed or +not!" And, anxious and angering, the colonel hastened over toward the +agent, now being slowly aided to his feet. Plume, too, had come +sidelong down the sandy bank with Cutler, of the infantry, asking +where he should put in his men. "Oh, just deploy across the flats to +stand off any possible attack," said Plume. "Don't cross the Sandy, +and, damn it all! get a bugler out and sound recall!" For now the +sound of distant shots came echoing back from the eastward cliffs. The +pursuit had spread beyond the stream. "I don't want any more of those +poor devils hurt. There's mischief enough already," he concluded. + +"I should say so," echoed the colonel. "What was the matter, Mr. +Daly? Whom did you seek to arrest?--and why?" + +"Almost any of 'em," groaned Daly. "There were a dozen there I'd +refused passes to come again this week. They were here in defiance of +my orders, and I thought to take that girl Natzie,--she that led Lola +off,--back to her father at the agency. It would have been a good +lesson. Of course she fought and scratched. Next thing I knew a dozen +of 'em were atop of us--some water, for God's sake!--and lift me out +of this!" + +Then with grave and watch-worn face, Graham came hurrying to the spot, +all the way over from Mullins's bedside at the hospital and breathing +hard. Dour indeed was the look he gave the groaning agent, now gulping +at a gourd held to his pale lips by one of the men. The policy of +Daly's predecessor had been to feather his own nest and let the Indian +shift for himself, and this had led to his final overthrow. Daly, +however, had come direct from the care of a tribe of the Pueblo +persuasion, peace-loving and tillers of the soil, meek as the Pimas +and Maricopas, natives who fawned when he frowned and cringed at the +crack of his whip. These he had successfully, and not dishonestly, +ruled, but that very experience had unfitted him for duty over the +mountain Apache, who cringed no more than did the lordly Sioux or +Cheyenne, and truckled to no man less than a tribal chief. Blakely, +the soldier, cool, fearless, and resolute, but scrupulously just, they +believed in and feared; but this new blusterer only made them laugh, +until he scandalized them by wholesale arrest and punishment. Then +their childlike merriment changed swiftly to furious and scowling +hate,--to open defiance, and finally, when he dared lay hands on a +chosen daughter of the race, to mutiny and the knife. Graham, serving +his third year in the valley, had seen the crisis coming and sought to +warn the man. But what should an army doctor know of an Apache Indian? +said Daly, and, fatuous in his own conceit, the crisis found him +unprepared. + +"Go you for a stretcher," said the surgeon, after a quick look into +the livid face. "Lay him down gently there," and kneeling, busied +himself with opening a way to the wound. Out over the flats swung the +long skirmish line, picturesque in the variety of its undress, Cutler +striding vociferous in its wake, while a bugler ran himself out of +breath, far to the eastward front, to puff feeble and abortive breath +into unresponsive copper. And still the same flutter of distant, +scattering shots came drifting back from the brakes and canons in the +rocky wilds beyond the stream. The guard still pursued and the Indians +still led, but they who knew anything well knew it could not be long +before the latter turned on the scattering chase, and Byrne strode +about, fuming with anxiety. "Thank God!" he cried, as a prodigious +clatter of hoofs, on hollow and resounding wood, told of cavalry +coming across the _acequia_, and Sanders galloped round the sandy +point in search of the foe--or orders. "Thank God! Here, +Sanders--pardon me, major, there isn't an instant to lose--Rush your +men right on to the front there! Spread well out, but don't fire a +shot unless attacked in force! Get those--chasing idiots and bring +them in! By God, sir, we'll have an Indian war on our hands as it is!" +And Sanders nodded and dug spurs to his troop horse, and sang out: +"Left front into line--gallop!" and the rest was lost in a cloud of +dust and the blare of cavalry trumpet. + +Then the colonel turned to Plume, standing now silent and sore +troubled. "It was the quickest way," he said apologetically. +"Ordinarily I should have given the order through you, of course. But +those beggars are armed to a man. They left their guns in the crevices +of yonder rocks, probably, when they came for the morning music. We +must have no fight over this unless they force it. I wish to heaven we +hadn't killed--these two," and ruefully he looked at the stark +forms--the dead lover of Natzie, the gasping tribesman just beyond, +dying, knife in hand. "The general has been trying to curb Daly for +the last ten days," continued he, "and warned him he'd bring on +trouble. The interpreter split with him on Monday last, and there's +been mischief brewing ever since. If only we could have kept Blakely +there--all this row would have been averted!" + +If only, indeed! was Plume thinking, as eagerly, anxiously he scanned +the eastward shore, rising jagged, rocky, and forbidding from the +willows of the stream bed. If only, indeed! Not only all this row of +which Byrne had seen so much, but all this other row, this row within +a row, this intricacy of mishaps and misery that involved the social +universe of Camp Sandy, of which as yet the colonel, presumably, knew +so very little; of which, as post commander, Plume had yet to tell +him! An orderly came running with a field glass and a scrap of paper. +Plume glanced at the latter, a pencil scrawl of his wife's inseparable +companion, and, for aught he knew, confidante. "Madame," he could make +out, and "_affreusement_" something, but it was enough. The orderly +supplemented: "Leece, sir, says the lady is very bad--" + +"Go to her, Plume," with startling promptitude cried the colonel. +"I'll look to everything here. It's all coming out right," for with a +tantara--tantara-ra-ra Sanders's troop, spreading far and wide, were +scrambling up the shaly slopes a thousand yards away. "Go to your wife +and tell her the danger's over," and, with hardly another glance at +the moaning agent, now being limply hoisted on a hospital stretcher, +thankfully the major went. "The lady's very bad, is she?" growled +Byrne, in fierce aside to Graham. "That French hag sometimes speaks +truth, in spite of herself. How d'you find him?" This with a toss of +the head toward the vanishing stretcher. + +"Bad likewise. These Apache knives dig deep. There's Mullins now--" + +"Think _that_ was Apache?" glared Byrne, with sudden light in his +eyes, for Wren had told his troubles--all. + +"Apache _knife_--yes." + +"What the devil do you mean, Graham?" and the veteran soldier, who +knew and liked the surgeon, whirled again on him with eyes that looked +not like at all. + +The doctor turned, his somber gaze following the now distant figure of +the post commander, struggling painfully up the yielding sand of the +steep slope to the plateau. The stretcher bearers and attendants were +striding away to hospital with the now unconscious burden. The few +men, lingering close at hand, were grouped about the dead Apaches. The +gathering watchers along the bank were beyond earshot. Staff officer +and surgeon were practically alone and the latter answered: + +"I mean, sir, that if that Apache knife had been driven in by an +Apache warrior, Mullins would have been dead long hours ago--which he +isn't." + +Byrne turned a shade grayer. + +"Could _she_ have done that?" he asked, with one sideward jerk of his +head toward the major's quarters. + +"I'm not saying," quoth the Scot. "I'm asking was there anyone else?" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A CARPET KNIGHT, INDEED + + +The flag at Camp Sandy drooped from the peak. Except by order it never +hung halfway. The flag at the agency fluttered no higher than the +cross-trees, telling that Death had loved some shining mark and had +not sued in vain. Under this symbol of mourning, far up the valley, +the interpreter was telling to a circle of dark, sullen, and +unresponsive faces a fact that every Apache knew before. Under the +full-masted flag at the post, a civilian servant of the nation lay +garbed for burial. Poor Daly had passed away with hardly a chance to +tell his tale, with only a loving, weeping woman or two to mourn him. +Over the camp the shadow of death tempered the dazzling sunshine, for +all Sandy felt the strain and spoke only with sorrow. He meant well, +did Daly, that was accorded him now. He only lacked "savvy" said they +who had dwelt long in the land of Apache. + +Over at the hospital two poor women wept, and twice their number +strove to soothe. Janet Wren and Mrs. Graham were there, as ever, when +sorrow and trouble came. Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Cutler, too, were +hovering about the mourners, doing what they could, and the hospital +matron, busy day and night of late, had never left her patient until +he needed her no more, and then had turned to minister to those he +left behind--the widow and the fatherless. Over on the shaded verandas +other women met and murmured in the soft, sympathetic drawl +appropriate to funereal occasion, and men nodded silently to each +other. Death was something these latter saw so frequently it brought +but little of terror. Other things were happening of far greater +moment that they could not fathom at all. + +Captain Wren, after four days of close arrest, had been released by +the order of Major Plume himself, who, pending action on his +application for leave of absence, had gone on sick report and secluded +himself within his quarters. It was rumored that Mrs. Plume was +seriously ill, so ill, indeed, she had to be denied to every one of +the sympathizing women who called, even to Janet, sister of their +soldier next-door neighbor, but recently a military prisoner, yet now, +by law and custom, commander of the post. + +Several things had conspired to bring about this condition of affairs. +Byrne, to begin with, had been closely questioning Shannon, and had +reached certain conclusions with regard to the stabbing of Mullins +that were laid before Plume, already stunned by the knowledge that, +sleeping as his friendly advisers declared, or waking, as his inner +consciousness would have it, Clarice, his young and still beautiful +wife, had left her pillow and gone by night toward the northern limit +of the line of quarters. If Wren were tried, or even accused, that +fact would be the first urged in his defense. Plume's stern +accusation of Elise had evoked from her nothing but a voluble storm of +protest. Madame was ill, sleepless, nervous--had gone forth to walk +away her nervousness. She, Elise, had gone in search and brought her +home. Downs, the wretch, when as stoutly questioned, declared he had +been blind drunk; saw nobody, knew nothing, and must have taken the +lieutenant's whisky. Plume shrank from asking Norah questions. He +could not bring himself to talking of his wife to the girl of the +laundresses' quarters, but he knew now that he must drop that much of +the case against Wren. + +Then came the final blow. Byrne had gone to the agency, making every +effort through runners, with promises of immunity, to coax back the +renegades to the reservation, and so avert another Apache war. Plume, +in sore perplexity, was praying for the complete restoration of +Mullins--the only thing that could avert investigation--when, as he +entered his office the morning of this eventful day, Doty's young face +was eloquent with news. + +One of the first things done by Lieutenant Blakely when permitted by +Dr. Graham to sit and speak, was to dictate a letter to the post +adjutant, the original of which, together with the archives of Camp +Sandy, was long since buried among the hidden treasures of the War +Department. The following is a copy of the paper placed by Mr. Doty in +the major's hands even before he could reach his desk: + + CAMP SANDY, A. T., + + October --, 187-- + + LIEUTENANT J. J. DOTY, + + 8th U. S. Infantry, + + Post Adjutant. + + + _Sir_: I have the honor to submit for the consideration of + the post commander, the following: + + Shortly after retreat on the --th inst. I was suddenly + accosted in my quarters by Captain Robert Wren, ----th + Cavalry, and accused of an act of treachery to him;--an + accusation which called forth instant and indignant denial. + He had, as I now have cause to know, most excellent reason + for believing his charge to be true, and the single blow he + dealt me was the result of intense and natural wrath. That + the consequences were so serious he could not have foreseen. + + As the man most injured in the affair, I earnestly ask that + no charges be preferred. Were we in civil life I should + refuse to prosecute, and, if the case be brought before a + court-martial it will probably fail--for lack of evidence. + + + Very Respectfully, + + Your Obedient Servant, + + NEIL D. BLAKELY, + + 1st Lieut., ----th Cavalry. + +Now, Doty had been known to hold his tongue when a harmful story might +be spread, but he could no more suppress his rejoicing over this than +he could the impulse to put it in slang. "Say, aint this just a +corker?" said this ingenuous youth, as he spread it on his desk for +Graham's grimly gleaming eyes. Plume had read it in dull, apathetic, +unseeing fashion. It was the morning after the Apache _emeute_. Plume +had stared hard at his adjutant a moment, then, whipping up the sun +hat that he had dropped on his desk, and merely saying, "I'll +return--shortly," had sped to his darkened quarters and not for an +hour had he reappeared. Then the first thing he asked for was that +letter of Mr. Blakely's, which, this time, he read with lips +compressed and twitching a bit at the corners. Then he called for a +telegraph blank and sent a wire to intercept Byrne at the agency. "I +shall turn over command to Wren at noon. I'm too ill for further +duty," was all he said. Byrne read the rest between the lines. + +But Graham went straightway to the quarters of Captain Wren, a rough +pencil copy of that most unusual paper in his hand. "R-robert Wren," +said he, as he entered, unknocking and unannounced, "will ye listen to +this? Nay, Angela, lass, don't go." When strongly moved, as we have +seen, our doctor dropped to the borderland of dialect. + +In the dim light from the shaded windows he had not at first seen the +girl. She was seated on a footstool, her hands on her father's knee, +her fond face gazing up into his, and that strong, bony hand of his +resting on her head and toying with the ribbon, the "snood," as he +loved to call it, with which she bound her abundant tresses. At sound +of the doctor's voice, Janet, ever apprehensive of ill, had come forth +from the dining room, silver brush and towel in hand, and stood at the +doorway, gazing austerely. She could not yet forgive her brother's +friend his condemnation of her methods as concerned her brother's +child. Angela, rising to her full height, stood with one hand on the +back of her father's chair, the other began softly stroking the +grizzled crop from his furrowed forehead. + +No one spoke a word as Graham began and slowly, to the uttermost +line, read his draft of Blakely's missive. No one spoke for a moment +after he had finished. Angela, with parted lips and dilated eyes, had +stood at first drinking in each syllable, then, with heaving bosom, +she slowly turned, her left hand falling by her side. Wren sat in +silence, his deep-set eyes glowering on the grim reader, a dazed look +on his rugged face. Then he reached up and drew the slim, tremulous +hand from his forehead and snuggled it against his stubbly cheek, and +still he could not speak. Janet slowly backed away into the darkness +of the dining room. The situation had softening tendencies and Janet's +nature revolted at sentiment. It was Graham's voice that again broke +the silence. + +"For a vain carpet knight, 'whose best boast was to wear a braid of +his fair lady's hair,' it strikes me our butterfly chaser has some +points of a gentleman," said he, slowly folding his paper. "I might +say more," he continued presently, retiring toward the hall. Then, +pausing at the doorway, "but I won't," he concluded, and abruptly +vanished. + +An hour later, when Janet in person went to answer a knock at the +door, she glanced in at the parlor as she passed, and that peep +revealed Angela again seated on her footstool, with her bonny head +pillowed on her father's knee, his hand again toying with the glossy +tresses, and both father and child looked up, expectant. Yes, there +stood the young adjutant, officially equipped with belt and sword and +spotless gloves. "Can I see the captain?" he asked, lifting his natty +_kepi_, and the captain arose and strode to the door. + +"Major Plume presents his compliments--and this letter, sir," +stammered the youth, blushing, too, at sight of Angela, beaming on him +from the parlor door. "And--you're in command, sir. The major has gone +on sick report." + +That evening a solemn _cortege_ filed away down the winding road to +the northward flats and took the route to the little cemetery, almost +all the garrison following to the grave all that was mortal of the +hapless agent. Byrne, returned from the agency, was there to represent +the general commanding the department. Wren stalked solemnly beside +him as commander of the post. Even the women followed, tripping +daintily through the sand. Graham watched them from the porch of the +post hospital. He could not long leave Mullins, tossing in fever and +delirium. He had but recently left Lieutenant Blakely, sitting up and +placidly busying himself in patching butterfly wings, and Blakely had +even come to the front door to look at the distant gathering of +decorous mourners. But the bandaged head was withdrawn as two tall, +feminine forms came gravely up the row, one so prim and almost +antique, the other so lithe and lissome. He retreated to the front +room, and with the one available eye at the veiled window, followed +her, the latter, until the white flowing skirt was swept from the +field of his vision. He had stood but a few hours previous on the spot +where he had received that furious blow five nights before, and this +time, with cordial grasp, had taken the huge hand that dealt it +between his white and slender palms. "Forgive us our trespasses as we +forgive those," Wren had murmured, as he read the deeply regretful +words of his late accuser and commander, for had not he in his turn, +and without delay, also to eat humble pie? There was something almost +pathetic in the attitude of the big soldier as he came to the darkened +room and stood before his junior and subordinate, but the latter had +stilled the broken, clumsy, faltering words with which this strong, +masterful man was striving to make amend for bitter wrong. "I won't +listen to more, Captain Wren," he said. "You had reasons I never +dreamed of--then. Our eyes have been opened" (one of his was still +closed). "You have said more than enough. Let us start afresh +now--with better understanding." + +"It--it is generous in you, Blakely. I misjudged +everything--everybody, and now,--well, you know there are still +Hotspurs in the service. I'm thinking some man may be ass enough to +say you got a blow without resenting--" + +Blakely smiled, a contorted and disunited smile, perhaps, and one much +trammeled by adhesive plaster. Yet there was placid unconcern in the +visible lines of his pale face. "I think I shall know how to answer," +said he. And so for the day, and without mention of the name uppermost +in the thoughts of each, the two had parted--for the first time as +friends. + +But the night was yet to come. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"WOMAN-WALK-IN-THE-NIGHT" AGAIN + + +So swift had been the succession of events since the first day of the +week, few of the social set at Sandy could quite realize, much less +fathom, all that had happened, and as they gathered on the verandas, +in the cool of the evening after Daly's funeral, the trend of talk was +all one way. A man who might have thrown light on certain matters at +issue had been spirited away, and there were women quite ready to vow +it was done simply to get him beyond range of their questioning. +Sergeant Shannon had been sent to the agency on some mission +prescribed by Colonel Byrne. It was almost the last order issued by +Major Plume before turning over the command. + +Byrne himself still lingered at the post, "watching the situation," as +it was understood, and in constant telegraphic correspondence with the +general at Prescott and the commander of the little guard over the +agency buildings at the reservation--Lieutenant Bridger, of the +Infantry. With a sergeant and twenty men that young officer had been +dispatched to that point immediately after the alarming and +unlooked-for catastrophe of the reveille outbreak. Catastrophe was +what Byrne called it, and he meant what he said, not so much because +it had cost the life of Daly, the agent, whose mistaken zeal had +precipitated the whole misunderstanding, but rather because of the +death of two such prominent young warriors as "Shield" and his friend, +who had fallen after dealing the fatal blow to him who had laid +violent hands, so they regarded it, on two young girls, one a +chieftain's daughter and both objects of reverent and savagely +sentimental interest. "If war doesn't come at once," said Byrne, "it +will be because the Apache has a new sense or a deep-laid scheme. Look +out for him." + +No news as yet had come from the runners sent forth in search of the +scattered fugitives, who would soon be flocking together again in the +fastnesses of the Mogollon to the east or the Red Rock country +northward--the latter probably, as being nearer their friends at the +reservation and farther from the few renegade Tontos lurking in the +mountains toward Fort Apache. Byrne's promise to the wanderers, sent +by these runners, was to the effect that they would be safe from any +prosecution if they would return at once to the agency and report +themselves to the interpreter and the lieutenant commanding the guard. +He would not, he said, be answerable for what might happen if they +persisted in remaining at large. But when it was found that, so far +from any coming in, there were many going out, and that Natzie's +father and brother had already gone, Byrne's stout heart sank. The +message came by wire from the agency not long after the return of the +funeral party, and while the evening was yet young. He sent at once +for Wren, and, seated on the major's front piazza, with an orderly +hovering just out of earshot, and with many an eye anxiously watching +them along the row, the two veterans were holding earnest conference. +Major Plume was at the bedside of his wife, so said Graham when he +came down about eight. Mrs. Plume, he continued, was at least no +worse, but very nervous. Then he took himself back to the hospital. + +Another topic of talk along the line was Blakely's watch and its +strange recovery, and many were the efforts to learn what Blakely +himself had to say about it. The officers, nearly all of them, of +course, had been at intervals to see Blakely and inquire if there were +not something that they could do, this being the conventional and +proper thing, and they who talked with him, with hardly an exception, +led up to the matter of the watch and wished to know how he accounted +for its being there on the post of No. 5. It was observed that, upon +this topic and the stabbing of Private Mullins, Mr. Blakely was oddly +reticent. He had nothing whatever to suggest as explanation of either +matter. The watch was taken from the inner pocket of his thin white +coat as he lay asleep at the pool, of this he felt confident, but by +whom he would not pretend to say. Everybody knew by this time that +Angela Wren had seen him sleeping, and had, in a spirit of playful +mischief, fetched away his butterfly net, but who would accuse Angela +of taking his watch and money? Of course such things had been, said +one or two wise heads, but--not with girls like Angela. + +But who could say what, all this while, Angela herself was thinking? +Once upon a time it had been the way of our young folk well over the +North and West to claim forfeit in the game of "Catching the weasel +asleep." There had been communities, indeed, and before co-education +became a fad at certain of our great universities, wherein the maid +caught napping could hold it no sin against watchful swain, or even +against her, that he then and there imprinted on her lips a kiss. On +the other hand, the swain found sleeping might not always expect a +kiss, but must pay the penalty, a pair of dainty gloves. Many a +forfeit, both lip and glove, had there been claimed and allowed in +army days whereof we write, and Angela, stealing upon Blakely as he +dozed beneath the willows, and liking him well and deploring her +father's pronounced aversion to him--perhaps even resenting it an +undutiful bit--had found it impossible to resist the temptation to +softly disengage that butterfly net from the loosely clasping fingers, +and swiftly, stealthily, delightedly to scamper away with it against +his waking. It was of this very exploit, never dreaming of the fateful +consequences, she and Kate Sanders were so blissfully bubbling over, +fairly shaking with maiden merriment when the despoiled victim, +homeward bound, caught sight of them upon the _mesa_. Ten minutes +more, and in full force she had been made to feel the blow of her +father's fierce displeasure. Twenty minutes more, and, under the blow +of her father's furious wrath, Blakely had been felled like a log. + +When with elongated face and exaggerated gloom of manner Aunt Janet +came to make her realize the awful consequences of her crime, Angela's +first impulse had been to cry out against her father's unreasoning +rage. When she learned that he was in close arrest,--to be tried, +doubtless, for his mad assault,--in utter revulsion of feeling, in +love and tenderness, in grief and contrition inexpressible, she had +thrown herself at his feet and, clasping his knees, had sobbed her +heart out in imploring his forgiveness for what she called her wicked, +heedless, heartless conduct. No one saw that blessed meeting, that +scene of mutual forgiveness, of sweet reconciliation; too sweet and +serene, indeed, for Janet's stern and Calvinistic mold. + +Are we ever quite content, I wonder, that others' bairnies should be +so speedily, so entirely, forgiven? All because of this had all +Janet's manifestations of sympathy for Robert to be tempered with a +fine reserve. As for Angela, it would never do to let the child so +soon forget that this should be an awful lesson. Aunt Janet's manner, +therefore, when, butterfly net in hand, she required of her niece full +explanation of the presence in the room of this ravished trophy, was +something fraught with far too much of future punishment, of wrath +eternal. Even in her chastened mood Angela's spirit stood _en garde_. +"I have told father everything, auntie," she declared. "I leave it all +to him," and bore in silence the comments, without the utterance of +which the elder vestal felt she could not conscientiously quit the +field. "Bold," "immodest," "unmaidenly," "wanton," were a choice few +of Aunt Janet's expletives, and these were unresented. But when she +concluded with "I shall send this--thing to him at once, with my +personal apologies for the act of an irresponsible child," up sprang +Angela with rebellion flashing from her eyes. She had suffered +punishment as a woman. She would not now be treated as a child. To +Janet's undisguised amaze and disapprobation, Wren decided that Angela +herself should send both apology and net. It was the first missive of +the kind she had ever written, but, even so, she would not submit it +for either advice or criticism--even though its composition cost her +many hours and tears and sheets of paper. No one but the recipient had +so much as a peep at it, but when Blakely read it a grave smile +lighted his pallid and still bandaged face. He stowed the little note +in his desk, and presently took it out and read it again, and still +again, and then it went slowly into the inner pocket of his white sack +coat and was held there, while he, the wearer, slowly paced up and +down the veranda late in the starlit night. This was the evening of +Daly's funeral, the evening of the day on which he and his captain had +shaken hands and were to start afresh with better understanding. + +Young Duane was officer of the day and, after the tattoo inspection of +his little guard, had gone for a few minutes to the hospital where +Mullins lay muttering and tossing in his feverish sleep; then, meeting +Wren and Graham on the way, had tramped over to call on Blakely, +thinking, perhaps, to chat a while and learn something. Soon after +"taps" was sounded, however, the youngster joined the little group +gossiping in guarded tones on the porch at Captain Sanders', far down +the row, and, in response to question, said that "Bugs"--that being +Blakely's briefest _nom de guerre_--must be convalescing rapidly, he +"had no use for his friends," and, as the lad seemed somewhat ruffled +and resentful, what more natural than that he should be called upon +for explanation? Sanders and his wife were present, and Mrs. Bridger, +very much alive with inquiry and not a little malicious interest. +Kate, too, was of the party, and Doty, the adjutant, and Mesdames +Cutler and Westervelt--it was so gloomy and silent, said these latter, +at their end of the row. Much of the talk had been about Mrs. Plume's +illness and her "sleep-walking act," as it had been referred to, and +many had thought, but few had spoken, of her possible presence on the +post of No. 5 about the time that No. 5 was stabbed. They knew _she_ +couldn't have done it, of course, but then how strange that she should +have been there at all! The story had gained balloon-like expanse by +this time, and speculation was more than rife. But here was Duane with +a new grievance which, when put into Duane's English, reduced itself +to this: "Why, it was like as if Bugs wanted to get rid of me and +expected somebody else," and this they well remembered later. Nobody +else was observed going to Blakely's front door, at least, but at +eleven o'clock he himself could still be dimly heard and seen pacing +steadily up and down his piazza, apparently alone and deep in thought. +His lights, too, were turned down, a new man from the troop having +asked for and assumed the duties formerly devolving on the wretch +Downs, now doing time within the garrison prison. Before eleven, +however, this new martial domestic had gone upstairs to bed and +Blakely was all alone, which was as he wished it, for he had things to +plan and other things to think of that lifted him above the +possibility of loneliness. + +Down the line of officers' quarters only in two or three houses could +lights be seen. Darkness reigned at Plume's, where Byrne was still +rooming. Darkness reigned at Wren's and Graham's, despite the fact +that the lords of these manors were still abroad, both at the bedside +of Trooper Mullins. A dozen people were gathered by this time at +Sanders'. All the other verandas, except Blakely's with its solitary +watcher, seemed deserted. To these idlers of the soft and starlit +night, sitting bareheaded about the gallery and chatting in the +friendly way of the frontier, there came presently a young soldier +from the direction of the adjutant's office at the south end. "The +night operator," he explained. "Two dispatches have just come for +Colonel Byrne, and I thought maybe--" + +"No, Cassidy," said Doty. "The colonel is at his quarters. Dispatch, +is it? Perhaps I'd better go with you," and, rising, the young officer +led the way, entering on tiptoe the hall of the middle house where, +far back on a table, a lamp was burning low. Tapping at an inner door, +he was bidden to enter. Byrne was in bed, a single sheet over his +burly form, but he lay wide awake. He took the first dispatch and tore +it open eagerly. It was from Bridger at the agency: + + Runners just in say Natzie and Lola had turned back from + trail to Montezuma Well, refusing to go further from their + dead. Can probably be found if party go at dawn or sooner. + Alchisay with them. More Indians surely going out from here. + +Byrne's brow contracted and his lips compressed, but he gave no other +sign. "Is Captain Wren still up?" he briefly asked, as he reached for +the other dispatch. + +"Over at the hospital, sir," said Doty, and watched this famous +campaigner's face as he ripped open the second brown envelope. This +time he was half out of bed before he could have half finished even +that brief message. It was from the general: + + News of trouble must have reached Indians at San Carlos. + Much excitement there and at Apache. Shall start for Camp + McDowell to-morrow as soon as I have seen Plume. He should + come early. + +The colonel was in his slippers and inexpressibles in less than no +time, but Plume aloft had heard the muffled sounds from the lower +floor, and was down in a moment. Without a word Byrne handed him the +second message and waited until he had read, then asked: "Can you +start at dawn?" + +"I can start now," was the instant reply. "Our best team can make it +in ten hours. Order out the Concord, Mr. Doty." And Doty vanished. + +"But Mrs. Plume--" began the colonel tentatively. + +"Mrs. Plume simply needs quiet and to be let alone," was the joyless +answer. "I think perhaps--I am rather in the way." + +"Well, I know the general will appreciate your promptness. I--did not +know you had asked to see him," and Byrne looked up from under his +shaggy brows. + +"I hadn't exactly, but my letter intimated as much. There is so very +much I--I cannot write about--that of course he's bound to hear,--I +don't mean you, Colonel Byrne,--and he ought to know the--facts. Now +I'll get ready at once and--see you before starting." + +"Better take an escort, Plume." + +"One man on driver's seat. That's all, sir. I'll come in presently, in +case you have anything to send," said Plume, and hurried again +upstairs. + +It was barely midnight when Plume's big black wagon, the Concord, all +spring and hickory, as said the post quartermaster, went whirling away +behind its strapping team of four huge Missouri mules. It was 12.30 by +the guard-house clock and the call of the sentries when Wren came home +to find Angela, her long, luxuriant hair tumbling down over her soft, +white wrapper, waiting for him at the front door. From her window she +had seen him coming; had noted the earlier departure of the wagon; had +heard the voice of Major Plume bidding good-by, and wondered what it +meant--this midnight start of the senior officer of the post. She had +been sitting there silent, studying the glittering stars, and +wondering would there be an answer to her note? Would he be able to +write just yet? Was there reason, really, why he _should_ write, after +all that had passed? Somehow she felt that write he certainly would, +and soon, and the thought kept her from sleeping. It was because she +was anxious about Mullins, so she told herself and told her father, +that she had gone fluttering down to meet him at the door. But no +sooner had he answered, "Still delirious and yet holding his own," +than she asked where and why Major Plume had gone. + +"The general wired for him," answered Wren. "And what is my tall +girlie doing, spiering from windows this time of night? Go to bed, +child." She may be losing beauty sleep, but not her beauty, thought he +fondly, as she as fondly kissed him and turned to obey. Then came a +heavy footfall on the gallery without, and a dark form, erect and +soldierly, stood between them and the dim lights of the guard-house. +It was a corporal of the guard. + +"No. 4, sir, reports he heard shots--two--way up the valley." + +"Good God!" Wren began, then throttled the expletive half spoken. +Could they have dared waylay the major--and so close to the post? A +moment more and he was hurrying over to his troop quarters; five +minutes, and a sergeant and ten men were running with him to the +stables; ten, and a dozen horses, swiftly saddled, were being led into +the open starlight; fifteen, and they were away at a lunging bronco +lope, a twisting column of twos along the sandy road, leaving the +garrison to wake and wonder. Three, four, five miles they sped, past +Boulder Point, past Rattlesnake Hill, and still no sign of anything +amiss, no symptom of night-raiding Apache, for indeed the Apache +dreads the dark. Thrice the sergeant had sprung from his horse, +lighted a match, and studied the trail. On and on had gone the mules +and wagon without apparent break or interruption, until, far beyond +the bluff that hid the road from sight of all at Sandy, they had begun +the long, tortuous climb of the divide to Cherry Creek. No. 4 might +have heard shots, but, if intended for the wagon, they had been +harmless. It was long after one when Wren gave the word to put back to +the post, and as they remounted and took the homeward trail, they rode +for the first five minutes almost directly east, and, as they ascended +a little slant of hillside, the sergeant in advance reined suddenly +in. "Look there!" said he. + +Far over among the rocky heights beyond the valley, hidden from the +south from Sandy by precipitous cliffs that served almost as a +reflector toward the reservation, a bright blaze had shot suddenly +heavenward--a signal fire of the Apache. Some of them, then, were in +the heart of that most intractable region, not ten miles northeast of +the post, and signaling to their fellows; but the major must have +slipped safely through. + +Sending his horse to stable with the detachment, Wren had found No. 4 +well over toward the east end of his post, almost to the angle with +that of No. 5. "Watch well for signal fires or prowlers to-night," he +ordered. "Have you seen any?" + +"No signal fires, sir," answered the sentry. "Welch, who was on before +me, thought he heard shots--" + +"I know," answered Wren impatiently. "There was nothing in it. But we +did see a signal fire over to the northeast, so they are around us, +and some may be creeping close in to see what we're doing, though I +doubt it. You've seen nothing?" + +"Well, no, sir; we can't see much of anything, it's so dark. But +there's a good many of the post people up and moving about, excited, I +suppose. There were lights there at the lieutenant's, Mr. Blakely's, a +while ago, and--voices." No. 4 pointed to the dark gable end barely +forty yards away. + +"That's simple enough," said Wren. "People would naturally come up to +this end to see what had become of us, why we had gone, etc. They +heard of it, I dare say, and some were probably startled." + +"Yes, sir, it sounded like--somebody cryin'." + +Wren was turning away. "What?" he suddenly asked. + +No. 4 repeated his statement. Wren pondered a moment, started to +speak, to question further, but checked himself and trudged +thoughtfully away through the yielding sand. The nearest path led past +the first quarters, Blakely's, on the eastward side, and as the +captain neared the house he stopped short. Somewhere in the shadows of +the back porch low, murmuring voices were faintly audible. One, in +excited tone, was not that of a man, and as Wren stood, uncertain and +surprised, the rear door was quickly opened and against the faint +light from within two dark forms were projected. One, the taller, he +recognized beyond doubt as that of Neil Blakely; the other he did not +recognize at all. But he had heard the tone of the voice. He knew the +form to be, beyond doubt, that of a young and slender woman. Then +together the shadows disappeared within and the door was closed behind +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A STOP--BY WIRE + + +Three days later the infantry guard of the garrison were in sole +charge. Wren and Sanders, with nearly fifty troopers apiece, had taken +the field in compliance with telegraphic orders from Prescott. The +general had established field headquarters temporarily at Camp +McDowell, down the Verde Valley, and under his somewhat distant +supervision four or five little columns of horse, in single file, were +boring into the fastnesses of the Mogollon and the Tonto Basin. The +runners had been unsuccessful. The renegades would not return. Half a +dozen little nomad bands, forever out from the reservation, had +eagerly welcomed these malcontents and the news they bore that two of +their young braves had been murdered while striving to defend Natzie +and Lola. It furnished all that was needed as excuse for instant +descent upon the settlers in the deep valleys north of the Rio Salado, +and, all unsuspecting, all unprepared, several of these had met their +doom. Relentless war was already begun, and the general lost no time +in starting his horsemen after the hostiles. Meantime the infantry +companies, at the scattered posts and camps, were left to "hold the +fort," to protect the women, children, and property, and Neil Blakely, +a sore-hearted man because forbidden by the surgeon to attempt to go, +was chafing, fuming, and retarding his recovery at his lonely +quarters. The men whom he most liked were gone, and the few among the +women who might have been his friends seemed now to stand afar off. +Something, he knew not what, had turned garrison sentiment against +him. + +For a day or two, so absorbed was he in his chagrin over Graham's +verdict and the general's telegraphic orders in the case, Mr. Blakely +never knew or noticed that anything else was amiss. Then, too, there +had been no opportunity of meeting garrison folk except the few +officers who dropped in to inquire civilly how he was progressing. The +bandages were off, but the plaster still disfigured one side of his +face and neck. He could not go forth and seek society. There was +really only one girl at the post whose society he cared to seek. He +had his books and his bugs, and that, said Mrs. Bridger, was "all he +demanded and more than he deserved." To think that the very room so +recently sacred to the son and heir should be transformed into what +that irate little woman called a "beetle shop"! It was one of Mr. +Blakely's unpardonable sins in the eyes of the sex that he found so +much to interest him in a pursuit that neither interested nor included +them. A man with brains and a bank account had no right to live alone, +said Mrs. Sanders, she having a daughter of marriageable age, if only +moderately prepossessing. All this had the women to complain of in him +before the cataclysm that, for the time at least, had played havoc +with his good looks. All this he knew and bore with philosophic and +whimsical stoicism. But all this and more could not account for the +phenomenon of averted eyes and constrained, if not freezing, manner +when, in the dusk of the late autumn evening, issuing suddenly from +his quarters, he came face to face with a party of four young women +under escort of the post adjutant--Mrs. Bridger and Mrs. Truman +foremost of the four and first to receive his courteous, yet half +embarrassed, greeting. They had to stop for half a second, as they +later said, because really he confronted them, all unsuspected. But +the other two, Kate Sanders and Mina Westervelt, with bowed heads and +without a word, scurried by him and passed on down the line. Doty +explained hurriedly that they had been over to the post hospital to +inquire for Mullins and were due at the Sanders' now for music, +whereupon Blakely begged pardon for even the brief detention, and, +raising his cap, went on out to the sentry post of No. 4 to study the +dark and distant upheavals in the Red Rock country, where, almost +every night of late, the signal fires of the Apaches were reported. +Not until he was again alone did he realize that he had been almost +frigidly greeted by those who spoke at all. It set him to thinking. + +Mrs. Plume was still confined to her room. The major had returned from +Prescott and, despite the fact that the regiment was afield and a +clash with the hostiles imminent, was packing up preparatory to a +move. Books, papers, and pictures were being stored in chests, big and +little, that he had had made for such emergencies. It was evident +that he was expecting orders for change of station or extended leave, +and they who went so far as to question the grave-faced soldier, who +seemed to have grown ten years older in the last ten days, had to be +content with the brief, guarded reply that Mrs. Plume had never been +well since she set foot in Arizona, and even though he returned, she +would not. He was taking her, he said, to San Francisco. Of this +unhappy woman's nocturnal expedition the others seldom spoke now and +only with bated breath. "Sleep-walking, of course!" said everybody, no +matter what everybody might think. But, now that Major Plume knew that +in her sleep his wife had wandered up the row to the very door--the +back door--of Mr. Blakely's quarters, was it not strange that he had +taken no pains to prevent a recurrence of so compromising an +excursion, for strange stories were afloat. Sentry No. 4 had heard and +told of a feminine voice, "somebody cryin' like" in the darkness of +midnight about Blakely's, and Norah Shaughnessy--returned to her +duties at the Trumans', yet worrying over the critical condition of +her trooper lover, and losing thereby much needed sleep--had gained +some new and startling information. One night she had heard, another +night she had dimly seen, a visitor received at Blakely's back door, +and that visitor a woman, with a shawl about her head. Norah told her +mistress, who very properly bade her never refer to it again to a +soul, and very promptly referred to it herself to several souls, one +of them Janet Wren. Janet, still virtuously averse to Blakely, laid +the story before her brother the very day he started on the warpath, +and Janet was startled to see that she was telling him no news +whatever. "Then, indeed," said she, "it is high time the major took +his wife away," and Wren sternly bade her hold her peace, she knew not +what she was saying! But, said Camp Sandy, who could it have been but +Mrs. Plume or, possibly, Elise? Once or twice in its checkered past +Camp Sandy had had its romance, its mystery, indeed its scandals, but +this was something that put in the shade all previous episodes; this +shook Sandy to its very foundation, and this, despite her brother's +prohibition, Janet Wren felt it her duty to detail in full to Angela. + +To do her justice, it should be said that Miss Wren had striven +valiantly against the impulse,--had indeed mastered it for several +hours,--but the sight of the vivid blush, the eager joy in the sweet +young face when Blakely's new "striker" handed in a note addressed to +Miss Angela Wren, proved far too potent a factor in the undoing of +that magnanimous resolve. The girl fled with her prize, instanter, to +her room, and thither, as she did not reappear, the aunt betook +herself within the hour. The note itself was neither long nor +effusive--merely a bright, cordial, friendly missive, protesting +against the idea that any apology had been due. There was but one line +which could be considered even mildly significant. "The little net," +wrote Blakely, "has now a value that it never had before." Yet Angela +was snuggling that otherwise unimportant billet to her cheek when the +creaking stairway told her portentously of a solemn coming. Ten +minutes more and the note was lying neglected on the bureau, and +Angela stood at her window, gazing out over dreary miles of almost +desert landscape, of rock and shale and sand and cactus, with eyes +from which the light had fled, and a new, strange trouble biting at +her girlish heart. Confound No. 4--and Norah Shaughnessy! + +It had been arranged that when the Plumes were ready to start, Mrs. +Daly and her daughter, the newly widowed and the fatherless, should be +sent up to Prescott and thence across the desert to Ehrenberg, on the +Colorado. While no hostile Apaches had been seen west of the Verde +Valley, there were traces that told that they were watching the road +as far at least as the Agua Fria, and a sergeant and six men had been +chosen to go as escort to the little convoy. It had been supposed that +Plume would prefer to start in the morning and go as far as Stemmer's +ranch, in the Agua Fria Valley, and there rest his invalid wife until +another day, thus breaking the fifty-mile stage through the mountains. +To the surprise of everybody, the Dalys were warned to be in readiness +to start at five in the morning, and to go through to Prescott that +day. At five in the morning, therefore, the quartermaster's ambulance +was at the post trader's house, where the recently bereaved ones had +been harbored since poor Daly's death, and there, with their generous +host, was the widow's former patient, Blakely, full of sympathy and +solicitude, come to say good-bye. Plume's own Concord appeared almost +at the instant in front of his quarters, and presently Mrs. Plume, +veiled and obviously far from strong, came forth leaning on her +husband's arm, and closely followed by Elise. Then, despite the early +hour, and to the dismay of Plume, who had planned to start without +farewell demonstration of any kind, lights were blinking in almost +every house along the row, and a flock of women, some tender and +sympathetic, some morbidly curious, had gathered to wish the major's +wife a pleasant journey and a speedy recovery. They loved her not at +all, and liked her none too well, but she was ill and sorrowing, so +that was enough. Elise they could not bear, yet even Elise came in for +a kindly word or two. Mrs. Graham was there, big-hearted and brimming +over with helpful suggestion, burdened also with a basket of dainties. +Captain and Mrs. Cutler, Captain and Mrs. Westervelt, the Trumans +both, Doty, the young adjutant, Janet Wren, of course, and the ladies +of the cavalry, the major's regiment, without exception, were on hand +to bid the major and his wife good-bye. Angela Wren was not feeling +well, explained her aunt, and Mr. Neil Blakely was conspicuous by his +absence. + +It had been observed that, during those few days of hurried packing +and preparation, Major Plume had not once gone to Blakely's quarters. +True, he had visited only Dr. Graham, and had begged him to explain +that anxiety on account of Mrs. Plume prevented his making the round +of farewell calls; but that he was thoughtful of others to the last +was shown in this: Plume had asked Captain Cutler, commander of the +post, to order the release of that wretch Downs. "He has been +punished quite sufficiently, I think," said Plume, "and as I was +instrumental in his arrest I ask his liberation." At tattoo, +therefore, the previous evening "the wretch" had been returned to +duty, and at five in the morning was found hovering about the major's +quarters. When invited by the sergeant of the guard to explain, he +replied, quite civilly for him, that it was to say good-by to Elise. +"Me and her," said he, "has been good friends." + +Presumably he had had his opportunity at the kitchen door before the +start, but still he lingered, feigning professional interest in the +condition of the sleek mules that were to haul the Concord over fifty +miles of rugged road, up hill and down dale before the setting of the +sun. Then, while the officers and ladies clustered thick on one side +of the black vehicle, Downs sidled to the other, and the big black +eyes of the Frenchwoman peered down at him a moment as she leaned +toward him, and, with a whispered word, slyly dropped a little folded +packet into his waiting palm. Then, as though impatient, Plume shouted +"All right. Go on!" The Concord whirled away, and something like a +sigh of relief went up from assembled Sandy, as the first kiss of the +rising sun lighted on the bald pate of Squaw Peak, huge sentinel of +the valley, looming from the darkness and shadows and the mists of the +shallow stream that slept in many a silent pool along its massive, +rocky base. With but a few hurried, embarrassed words, Clarice Plume +had said adieu to Sandy, thinking never to see it again. They stood +and watched her past the one unlighted house, the northernmost along +the row. They knew not that Mr. Blakely was at the moment bidding +adieu to others in far humbler station. They only noted that, even at +the last, he was not there to wave a good-by to the woman who had once +so influenced his life. Slowly then the little group dissolved and +drifted away. She had gone unchallenged of any authority, though the +fate of Mullins still hung in the balance. Obviously, then, it was not +she whom Byrne's report had implicated, if indeed that report had +named anybody. There had been no occasion for a coroner and jury. +There would have been neither coroner nor jury to serve, had they been +called for. Camp Sandy stood in a little world of its own, the only +civil functionary within forty miles being a ranchman, dwelling seven +miles down stream, who held some Territorial warrant as a justice of +the peace. + +But Norah Shaughnessy, from the gable window of the Trumans' quarters, +shook a hard-clinching Irish fist and showered malediction after the +swiftly speeding ambulance. "Wan 'o ye," she sobbed, "dealt Pat +Mullins a coward and cruel blow, and I'll know which, as soon as ever +that poor bye can spake the truth." She would have said it to that +hated Frenchwoman herself, had not mother and mistress both forbade +her leaving the room until the Plumes were gone. + +Three trunks had been stacked up and secured on the hanging rack at +the rear of the Concord. Others, with certain chests and boxes, had +been loaded into one big wagon and sent ahead. The ambulance, with +the Dalys and the little escort of seven horsemen, awaited the rest of +the convoy on the northward flats, and the cloud of their combined +dust hung long on the scarred flanks as the first rays of the rising +sun came gilding the rocks at Boulder Point, and what was left of the +garrison at Sandy turned out for reveille. + +That evening, for the first time since his injury, Mr. Blakely took +his horse and rode away southward in the soft moonlight, and had not +returned when tattoo sounded. The post trader, coming up with the +latest San Francisco papers, said he had stopped a moment to ask at +the store whether Schandein, the ranchman justice of the peace before +referred to, had recently visited the post. + +That evening, too, for the first time since his dangerous wound, +Trooper Mullins awoke from his long delirium, weak as a little child; +asked for Norah, and what in the world was the matter with him--in bed +and bandages, and Dr. Graham, looking into the poor lad's dim, +half-opening eyes, sent a messenger to Captain Cutler's quarters to +ask would the captain come at once to hospital. This was at nine +o'clock. + +Less than two hours later a mounted orderly set forth with dispatches +from the temporary post commander to Colonel Byrne at Prescott. A wire +from that point about sundown had announced the safe arrival of the +party from Camp Sandy. The answer, sent at ten o'clock, broke up the +game of whist at the quarters of the inspector general. Byrne, the +recipient, gravely read it, backed from the table, and vainly strove +not to see the anxious inquiry in the eyes of Major Plume, his guest. +But Plume cornered him. + +"From Sandy?" he asked. "May I read it?" + +Byrne hesitated just one moment, then placed the paper in his junior's +hand. Plume read, turned very white, and the paper fell from his +trembling fingers. The message merely said: + + Mullins recovering and quite rational, though very weak. He + says two women were his assailants. Courier with dispatches + at once. + + (Signed) CUTLER, Commanding. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FIRE! + + +"It was not so much his wounds as his weakness," Dr. Graham was +saying, later still that autumn night, "that led to my declaring +Blakely unfit to take the field. He would have gone in spite of me, +but for the general's order. He has gone now in spite of me, and no +one knows where." + +It was then nearly twelve o'clock, and "the Bugologist" was still +abroad. Dinner, as usual since his mishap, had been sent over to him +from the officers' mess soon after sunset. His horse, or rather the +troop horse designated for his use, had been fed and groomed in the +late afternoon, and then saddled at seven o'clock and brought over to +the rear of the quarters by a stable orderly. + +There had been some demur at longer sending Blakely's meals from mess, +now reduced to an actual membership of two. Sandy was a "much married" +post in the latter half of the 70's, the bachelors of the commissioned +list being only three, all told,--Blakely, and Duane of the Horse, and +Doty of the Foot. With these was Heartburn, the contract doctor, and +now Duane and the doctor were out in the mountains and Blakely on sick +report, yet able to be about. Doty thought him able to come to mess. +Blakely, thinking he looked much worse than he felt, thanks to his +plastered jowl, stood on his rights in the matter and would not go. +There had been some demur on part of the stable sergeant of Wren's +troop as to sending over the horse. Few officers brought eastern-bred +horses to Arizona in those days. The bronco was best suited to the +work. An officer on duty could take out the troop horse assigned to +his use any hour before taps and no questions asked; but the sergeant +told Mr. Blakely's messenger that the lieutenant wasn't for duty, and +it might make trouble. It did. Captain Cutler sent for old Murray, the +veteran sergeant, and asked him did he not know his orders. He had +allowed a horse to be sent to a sick man--an officer not on duty--and +one the doctor had warned against exercise for quite a time, at least. +And now the officer was gone, so was the horse, and Cutler, being +sorely torn up by the revelations of the evening and dread of ill +befalling Blakely, was so injudicious as to hint to a soldier who had +worn chevrons much longer than he, Cutler, had worn shoulder-straps, +that the next thing to go would probably be his sergeant's bars, +whereat Murray went red to the roots of his hair--which "continued the +march" of the color,--and said, with a snap of his jaws, that he got +those chevrons, as he did his orders, from his troop commander. A +court might order them stricken off, but a captain couldn't, other +than his own. For which piece of impudence the veteran went +straightway to Sudsville in close arrest. Corporal Bolt was ordered to +take over his keys and the charge of the stables until the return of +Captain Wren, also this order--that no government horse should be sent +to Lieutenant Blakely hereafter until the lieutenant was declared by +the post surgeon fit for duty. + +There were left at the post, of each of the two cavalry troops, about +a dozen men to care for the stables, the barracks, and property. Seven +of these had gone with the convoy to Prescott, and, when Cutler +ordered half a dozen horsemen out at midnight to follow Blakely's +trail and try to find him, they had to draw on both troop stables, and +one of the designated men was the wretch Downs,--and Downs was not in +his bunk,--not anywhere about the quarters or corrals. It was nearly +one by the time the party started down the sandy road to the south, +Hart and his buckboard and a sturdy brace of mules joining them as +they passed the store. "We may need to bring him back in this," said +he, to Corporal Quirk. + +"An' what did ye fetch to bring him _to_ wid?" asked the corporal. +Hart touched lightly the breast of his coat, then clucked to his team. +"Faith, there's more than wan way of tappin' it then," said Quirk, but +the cavalcade moved on. + +The crescent moon had long since sunk behind the westward range, and +trailing was something far too slow and tedious. They spurred, +therefore, for the nearest ranch, five miles down stream, making their +first inquiry there. The inmates were slow to arise, but quick to +answer. Blakely had neither been seen nor heard of. Downs they didn't +wish to know at all. Indians hadn't been near the lower valley since +the "break" at the post the previous week. One of the inmates declared +he had ridden alone from Camp McDowell within three days, and there +wasn't a 'Patchie west of the Matitzal. Hart did all the questioning. +He was a business man and a brother. Soldiers, the ranchmen didn't +like--soldiers set too much value on government property. + +The trail ran but a few hundred yards east of the stream, and close to +the adobe walls of the ranch. Strom, the proprietor, got out his +lantern and searched below the point where the little troop had turned +off. No recent hoof-track, southbound, was visible. "He couldn't have +come this far," said he. "Better put back!" Put back they did, and by +the aid of Hart's lantern found the fresh trail of a government-shod +horse, turning to the east nearly two miles toward home. Quirk said a +bad word or two; borrowed the lantern and thoughtfully included the +flask; bade his men follow in file and plunged through the underbrush +in dogged pursuit. Hart and his team now could not follow. They waited +over half an hour without sign or sound from the trailers, then drove +swiftly back to the post. There was a light in the telegraph office, +and thither Hart went in a hurry. Lieutenant Doty, combining the +duties of adjutant and officer of the day, was up and making the +rounds. The sentries had just called off three o'clock. + +"Had your trouble for nothing, Hart," hailed the youngster cheerily. +"Where're the men?" + +"Followed his trail--turned to the east three miles below here," +answered the trader. + +"Three miles _below_! Why, man, he wasn't below. He met them up Beaver +Creek, an' brought 'em in." + +"Brought who in?" asked Hart, dropping his whip. "I don't understand." + +"Why, the scouts, or runners! Wren sent 'em in. He's had a sharp fight +up the mountains beyond Snow Lake. Three men wounded. You couldn't +have gone a mile before Blakely led 'em across No. 4's post. Ahorah +and another chap--'Patchie-Mohaves. We clicked the news up to Prescott +over an hour ago." + +The tin reflector at the office window threw the light of the +glass-framed candle straight upon Hart's rubicund face, and that face +was a study. He faltered a bit before he asked: + +"Did Blakely seem all right?--not used up, I mean?" + +"Seemed weak and tired, but the man is mad to go and join his troop +now--wants to go right out with Ahorah in the morning, and Captain +Cutler says no. Oh, they had quite a row!" + +They had had rather more than quite a row, if truth were told. Doty +had heard only a bit of it. Cutler had been taken by surprise when the +Bugologist appeared, two strange, wiry Apaches at his heels, and at +first had contented himself with reading Wren's dispatch, repeating it +over the wires to Prescott. Then he turned on Blakely, silently, +wearily waiting, seated at Doty's desk, and on the two Apaches, +silently, stolidly waiting, squatted on the floor. Cutler wished to +know how Blakely knew these couriers were coming, and how he came to +leave the post without permission. For a moment the lieutenant simply +gazed at him, unanswering, but when the senior somewhat sharply +repeated the question, in part, Blakely almost as sharply answered: "I +did not know they were coming nor that there was wrong in my going. +Major Plume required nothing of the kind when we were merely going out +for a ride." + +[Illustration: "BLAKELY LED 'EM ACROSS NO. 4'S POST"] + +This nettled Cutler. He had always said that Plume was lax, and here +was proof of it. "I might have wanted you--I _did_ want you, hours +ago, Mr. Blakely, and even Major Plume would not countenance his +officers spending the greater part of the night away from the post, +especially on a government horse," and there had Cutler the whip hand +of the scientist, and Blakely had sense enough to see it, yet not +sense enough to accept. He was nervous and irritable, as well as +tired. Graham had told him he was too weak to ride, yet he had gone, +not thinking, of course, to be gone so long, but gone deliberately, +and without asking the consent of the post commander. "My finding the +runners was an accident," he said, with some little asperity of tone +and manner. "In fact, I didn't find them. They found me. I had known +them both at the reservation. Have I your permission, sir"--this with +marked emphasis--"to take them for something to eat. They are very +hungry,--have come far, and wish to start early and rejoin Captain +Wren,--as I do, too." + +"They will start when _I_ am ready, Mr. Blakely," said Cutler, "and +you certainly will not start before. In point of fact, sir, you may +not be allowed to start at all." + +It was now Blakely's turn to redden to the brows. "You surely will not +prevent my going to join my troop, now that it is in contact with the +enemy," said he. "All I need is a few hours' sleep. I can start at +seven." + +"You cannot, with my consent, Mr. Blakely," said the captain dryly. +"There are reasons, in fact, why you can't leave here for any purpose +unless the general himself give contrary orders. Matters have come up +that--you'll probably have to explain." + +And here Doty entered, hearing only the captain's last. At sight of +his adjutant the captain stopped short in his reprimand. "See to it +that these runners have a good supper, Mr. Doty," said Cutler. "Stir +up my company cook, if need be, but take them with you now." Then, +turning again on Blakely, "The doctor wishes you to go to bed at once, +Mr. Blakely, and I will see you in the morning, but no more riding +away without permission," he concluded, and thereby closed the +interview. He had, indeed, other things to say to, and inquire of, +Blakely, but not until he had further consulted Graham. He confidently +expected the coming day would bring instructions from headquarters to +hold both Blakely and Trooper Downs at the post, as a result of his +dispatches, based on the revelation of poor Pat Mullins. But Downs, +forewarned, perhaps, had slipped into hiding somewhere--an old trick +of his, when punishment was imminent. It might be two or three days +before Downs turned up again, if indeed he turned up at all, but +Blakely was here and could be held. Hence the "horse order" of the +earlier evening. + +It was nearly two when Blakely reached his quarters, rebuffed and +stung. He was so nervous, however, that, in spite of serious fatigue, +he found it for over an hour impossible to sleep. He turned out his +light and lay in the dark, and the atmosphere of the room seemed +heavily charged with rank tobacco. His new "striker" had sat up, it +seems, keeping faithful vigil against his master's return, but, as the +hours wore on, had solaced himself with pipe after pipe, and wandering +about to keep awake. Most of the time, he declared, he had spent in a +big rocking chair on the porch at the side door, but the scent of the +weed and of that veteran pipe permeated the entire premises, and the +Bugologist hated dead tobacco. He got up and tore down the blanket +screen at the side windows and opened all the doors wide and tried his +couch again, and still he wooed the drowsy god in vain. "Nor poppy nor +mandragora" had he to soothe him. Instead there were new and anxious +thoughts to vex, and so another half hour he tossed and tumbled, and +when at last he seemed dropping to the borderland, perhaps, of dreams, +he thought he must be ailing again and in need of new bandages or +cooling drink or something, for the muffled footfalls, betrayed by +creaking pine rather than by other sound, told him drowsily that the +attendant or somebody, cautioned not to disturb him, was moving +slowly across the room. He might have been out on the side porch to +get cool water from the _olla_, but he needn't be so confoundedly slow +and cautious, though he couldn't help the creaking. Then, what could +the attendant want in the front room, where were still so many of the +precious glass cases unharmed, and the Bugologist's favorite books and +his big desk, littered with papers, etc.? Blakely thought to hail and +warn him against moving about among those brittle glass things, but +reflected that he, the new man, had done the reshifting under his, +Blakely's, supervision, and knew just where each item was placed and +how to find the passage way between them. It really was a trifle +intricate. How could he have gone into the spare room at Captain +Wren's, and there made his home as--she--Mrs. Plume had first +suggested? There would not have been room for half his plunder, to say +nothing of himself. "What on earth can Nixon want?" he sleepily asked +himself, "fumbling about there among those cases? Was that a crack or +a snap?" It sounded like both, a splitting of glass, a wrenching of +lock spring or something. "Be careful there!" he managed to call. No +answer. Perhaps it was some one of the big hounds, then, wandering +restlessly about at night. They often did, and--why, yes, that would +account for it. Doors and windows were all wide open here, what was to +prevent? Still, Blakely wished he hadn't extinguished his lamp. He +might then have explored. The sound ceased entirely for a moment, and, +now that he was quite awake, he remembered that the hospital attendant +was no longer with him. Then the sounds must have been made by the +striker or the hounds. Blakely had no dogs of his own. Indeed they +were common property at the post, most of them handed down with the +rest of the public goods and chattels by their predecessors of the ----th. +At all events, he felt far too languid, inert, weak, indifferent or +something. If the striker, he had doubtless come down for cool water. If +the hounds, they were in search of something to eat, and in either case +why bother about it? The incident had so far distracted his thoughts +from the worries of the night that now, at last and in good earnest, he +was dropping to sleep. + +But in less than twenty minutes he was broad awake again, with sudden +start--gasping, suffocating, listening in amaze to a volley of +snapping and cracking, half-smothered, from the adjoining room. He +sprang from his bed with a cry of alarm and flung himself through a +thick, hot veil of eddying, yet invisible, smoke, straight for the +communicating doorway, and was brought up standing by banging his head +against the resounding pine, tight shut instead of open as he had left +it, and refusing to yield to furious battering. It was locked, bolted, +or barred from the other side. Blindly he turned and rushed for the +side porch and the open air, stumbling against the striker as the +latter came clattering headlong down from aloft. Then together they +rushed to the parlor window, now cracking and splitting from the +furious heat within. A volume of black fume came belching forth, +driven and lashed by ruddy tongues of flame within, and their shouts +for aid went up on the wings of the dawn, and the infantry sentry on +the eastward post came running to see; caught one glimpse of the glare +at that southward window; bang went his rifle with a ring that came +echoing back from the opposite cliffs, as all Camp Sandy sprang from +its bed in answer to the stentorian shout "Fire! No. 5!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHOSE LETTERS? + + +There is something about a night alarm of fire at a military post that +borders on the thrilling. In the days whereof we write the buildings +were not the substantial creations of brick and stone to be seen +to-day, and those of the scattered "camps" and stations in that arid, +sun-scorched land of Arizona were tinder boxes of the flimsiest and +most inflammable kind. + +It could hardly have been a minute from the warning shot and yell of +No. 5--repeated right and left by other sentries and echoed by No. 1 +at the guard-house--before bugle and trumpet were blaring their fierce +alarm, and the hoarse roar of the drum was rousing the inmates of the +infantry barracks. Out they came, tumbling pell-mell into the +accustomed ranks, confronted by the sight of Blakely's quarters one +broad sheet of flame. With incredible speed the blaze had burst forth +from the front room on the lower floor; leaped from window to window, +from ledge to ledge; fastened instantly on overhanging roof, and the +shingled screen of the veranda; had darted up the dry wooden stairway, +devouring banister, railing, and snapping pine floor, and then, +billowing forth from every crack, crevice, and casement of the upper +floor streamed hissing and crackling on the blackness that precedes +the dawn, a magnificent glare that put to shame the feeble signal +fires lately gleaming in the mountains. Luckily there was no +wind--there never was a wind at Sandy--and the flames leaped straight +for the zenith, lashing their way into the huge black pillar of smoke +cloud sailing aloft to the stars. + +Under their sergeants, running in disciplined order, one company had +sped for the water wagon and were now slowly trundling that unwieldy +vehicle, pushing, pulling, straining at the wheels, from its night +berth close to the corrals. Rushing like mad, in no order at all, the +men of the other company came tearing across the open parade, and were +faced and halted far out in front of officers' row by Blakely himself, +barefooted and clad only in his pyjamas, but all alive with vim and +energy. + +"Back, men! back for your blankets!" he cried. "Bring ladders and +buckets! Back with you, lively!" They seemed to catch his meaning at +the instant. His soldier home with everything it contained was doomed. +Nothing could save it. But there stood the next quarters,--Truman's +and Westervelt's double set,--and in the intense heat that must +speedily develop, it might well be that the dry, resinous woodwork +that framed the adobe would blaze forth on its own account and spread +a conflagration down the line. Already Mrs. Truman, with Norah and the +children, was being hurried down to the doctor's, while Truman +himself, with the aid of two or three neighboring "strikers," had +stripped the beds of their single blanket and, bucketing these with +water, was slashing at the veranda roof and cornice along the +northward side. + +Somebody came with a short ladder, and in another moment three or four +adventurous spirits, led by Blakely and Truman, were scrambling about +the veranda roof, their hands and faces glowing in the gathering heat, +spreading blankets over the shingling and cornice. In five minutes all +that was left of Blakely's little homestead was gone up in smoke and +fierce, furious heat and flame, but the daring and well-directed +effort of the garrison had saved the rest of the line. In ten minutes +nothing but a heap of glowing beams and embers, within four crumbling +walls of adobe, remained of the "beetle shop." Bugs, butterflies, +books, chests, desk, trunks, furniture, papers, and such martial +paraphernalia as a subaltern might require in that desert land, had +been reduced to ashes before their owner's eyes. He had not saved so +much as a shoe. His watch, lying on the table by his bedside, a silk +handkerchief, and a little scrap of a note, written in girlish hand +and carried temporarily in the breast pocket, were the only items he +had managed to bring with him into the open air. He was still gasping, +gagging, half-strangling, when Captain Cutler accosted him to know if +he could give the faintest explanation of the starting of so strange +and perilous a fire, and Blakely, remembering the stealthy footsteps +and that locked or bolted door, could not but say he believed it +incendiary, yet could think of no possible motive. + +It was daybreak as the little group of spectators, women and children +of the garrison, began to break up and return to their homes, all +talking excitedly, all intolerant of the experiences of others, and +centered solely in the narrative of their own. Leaving a dozen men +with buckets, readily filled from the acequia which turned the old +water wheel just across the post of No. 4, and sending the big water +wagon down to the stream for another liquid load, the infantry went +back to their barracks and early coffee. The drenched blankets, one by +one, were stripped from the gable end of Truman's quarters, every +square inch of the paint thereon being now a patch of tiny blisters, +and there, as the dawn broadened and the pallid light took on again a +tinge of rose, the officers gathered about Blakely in his scorched and +soaked pyjamas, extending both condolence and congratulation. + +"The question is, Blakely," remarked Captain Westervelt dryly, "will +you go to Frisco to refit now, or wait till Congress reimburses?" +whereat the scientist was observed to smile somewhat ruefully. "The +question is, Bugs," burst in young Doty irrepressibly, "will you wear +this rig, or Apache full dress, when you ride after Wren? The runners +start at six," whereat even the rueful smile was observed to vanish, +and without answer Blakely turned away, stepping gingerly into the +heated sand with his bare white feet. + +"Don't bother about dousing anything else, sergeant," said he +presently, to the soldier supervising the work of the bucket squad. +"The iron box should be under what's left of my desk--about there," +and he indicated a charred and steaming heap, visible through a gap in +the doubly baked adobe that had once been the side window. "Lug that +out as soon as you can cool things off. I'll probably be back by that +time." Then, turning again to the group of officers, and ignoring +Doty--Blakely addressed himself to the senior. + +"Captain Cutler," said he, "I can fit myself out at the troop quarters +with everything I need for the field, at least, and wire to San +Francisco for what I shall need when we return. I shall be ready to go +with Ahorah at six." + +There was a moment of silence. Embarrassment showed plainly in almost +every face. When Cutler spoke it was with obvious effort. Everybody +realized that Blakely, despite severe personal losses, had been the +directing head in checking the progress of the flames. Truman had +borne admirable part, but Blakely was at once leader and actor. He +deserved well of his commander. He was still far from strong. He was +weak and weary. His hands and face were scorched and in places +blistered, yet, turning his back on the ruins of his treasures, he +desired to go at once to join his comrades in the presence of the +enemy. He had missed every previous opportunity of sharing perils and +battle with them. He could afford such loss as that no longer, in view +of what he knew had been said. He had every right, so thought they +all, to go, yet Cutler hesitated. When at last he spoke it was to +temporize. + +"You're in no condition for field work, Mr. Blakely," said he. "The +doctor has so assured me, and just now things are taking such shape +I--need you here." + +"You will permit me to appeal by wire, sir?" queried Blakely, standing +attention in his bedraggled night garb, and forcing himself to a +semblance of respect that he was far from feeling. + +"I--I will consult Dr. Graham and let you know," was the captain's +awkward reply. + +Two hours later Neil Blakely, in a motley dress made up of collections +from the troop and trader's stores--a combination costume of blue +flannel shirt, bandanna kerchief, cavalry trousers with machine-made +saddle piece, Tonto moccasins and leggings, fringed gauntlets and a +broad-brimmed white felt hat, strode into the messroom in quest of +eggs and coffee. Doty had been there and vanished. Sick call was +sounding and Graham was stalking across the parade in the direction of +the hospital, too far away to be reached by human voice, unless +uplifted to the pitch of attracting the whole garrison. The telegraph +operator had just clicked off the last of half a dozen messages +scrawled by the lieutenant--orders on San Francisco furnishers for the +new outfit demanded by the occasion, etc., but Captain Cutler was +still mured within his own quarters, declining to see Mr. Blakely +until ready to come to the office. Ahorah and his swarthy partner were +already gone, "started even before six," said the acting sergeant +major, and Blakely was fuming with impatience and sense of something +much amiss. Doty was obviously dodging him, there could be no doubt +of that, for the youngster was between two fires, the post commander's +positive orders on one hand and Blakely's urgent pleadings on the +other. + +Over at "C" Troop's quarters was the lieutenant's saddle, ready packed +with blanket, greatcoat, and bulging saddle-bags. Over in "C" Troop's +stables was Deltchay--the lieutenant's bronco charger, ready fed and +groomed, wondering why he was kept in when the other horses were out +at graze. With the saddle kit were the troop carbine and revolver, +Blakely's personal arms being now but stockless tubes of seared and +blistered steel. Back of "C" Troop's quarters lolled a half-breed +Mexican packer, with a brace of mules, one girt with saddle, the other +in shrouding aparejo--diamond-hitched, both borrowed from the post +trader with whom Blakely's note of hand was good as a government four +per cent.--all ready to follow the lieutenant to the field whither +right and duty called him. There, too, was Nixon, the new "striker," +new clad as was his master, and full panoplied for the field, yet +bemoaning the loss of soldier treasures whose value was never fully +realized until they were irrevocably gone. Six o'clock, six-thirty, +six-forty-five and even seven sped by and still there came no summons +to join the soldier master. There had come instead, when Nixon urged +that he be permitted to lead forth both his own troop horse and +Deltchay, the brief, but significant reply: "Shut yer gab, Nixon. +There's no horse goes till the captain says so!" + +At seven o'clock, at last, the post commander came forth from his +doorway; saw across the glaring level of the parade the form of Mr. +Blakely impatiently pacing the veranda at the adjutant's office, and, +instead of going thither, as was his wont, Captain Cutler turned the +other way and strode swiftly to the hospital, where Graham met him at +the bedside of Trooper patient Patrick Mullins. "How is he?" queried +Cutler. + +"Sleeping--thank God--and not to be wakened," was the Scotchman's +answer. "He had a bad time of it during the fire." + +"What am I to tell Blakely?" demanded Cutler, seeking strength for his +faltering hand. "You're bound to help me now, Graham." + +"Let him go and you _may_ make it worse," said the doctor, with a +clamp of his grizzled jaws. "Hold him here and you're sure to." + +"Can't you, as post surgeon, tell him he isn't fit to ride?" + +"Not when he rides the first half of the night and puts out a nasty +fire the last. Can't you, as post commander, tell him you forbid his +going till you hear from Byrne and investigate the fire?" If Graham +had no patience with a frail woman, he had nothing but contempt for a +weak man. "If he's bound to be up and doing something, though," he +added, "send him out with a squad of men and orders to hunt for +Downs." + +Cutler had never even thought of it. Downs was still missing. No one +had seen him. His haunts had been searched to no purpose. His horse +was still with the herd. One man, the sergeant of the guard, the +previous day, had marked the brief farewell between the missing man +and the parting maid--had seen the woman's gloved hand stealthily put +forth and the little folded packet passed to the soldier's ready palm. +What that paper contained no man ventured to conjecture. Cutler and +Graham, notified by Sergeant Kenna of what he had seen, puzzled over +it in vain. Norah Shaughnessy could perhaps unravel it, thought the +doctor, but he did not say. + +Cutler came forth from the shaded depths of the broad hallway to face +the dazzling glare of the morning sunshine, and the pale, stern, +reproachful features of the homeless lieutenant, who simply raised his +hand in salute and said: "I've been ready two hours, sir, and the +runners are long gone." + +"Too long and too far for you to catch them now," said Cutler, +catching at another straw. "And there is far more important matter +here. Mr. Blakely, I want that man Downs followed, found, and brought +back to this post, and you're the only man to do it. Take a dozen +troopers, if necessary, and set about it, sir, at once." + +A soldier was at the moment hurrying past the front of the hospital, a +grimy-looking packet in his hand. Hearing the voice of Captain Cutler, +he turned, saw Lieutenant Blakely standing there at attention, saw +that, as the captain finished, Blakely still remained a moment as +though about to speak--saw that he seemed a trifle dazed or stunned. +Cutler marked it, too. "This is imperative and immediate, Mr. +Blakely," said he, not unkindly. "Pull yourself together if you are +fit to go at all, and lose no more time." With that he started away. +Graham had come to the doorway, but Blakely never seemed to see him. +Instead he suddenly roused and, turning sharp, sprang down the wooden +steps as though to overtake the captain, when the soldier, saluting, +held forth the dingy packet. + +"It was warped out of all shape, sir," said he. "The blacksmith pried +out the lid wid a crowbar. The books are singed and soaked and the +packages charred--all but this." + +It fell apart as it passed from hand to hand, and a lot of letters, +smoke-stained, scorched at the edges, and some of them soaking wet, +also two or three _carte de visite_ photographs, were scattered on the +sand. Both men bobbed in haste to gather them up, and Graham came +hurriedly down to help. As Blakely straightened again he swayed and +staggered slightly, and the doctor grasped him by the arm, a sudden +clutch that perhaps shook loose some of the recovered papers from the +long, slim fingers. At all events, a few went suddenly back to earth, +and, as Cutler turned, wondering what was amiss, he saw Blakely, with +almost ashen face, supported by the doctor's sturdy arm to a seat on +the edge of the piazza; saw, as he quickly retraced his steps, a sweet +and smiling woman's face looking up at him out of the trampled sands, +and, even as he stooped to recover the pretty photograph, though it +looked far younger, fairer, and more winsome than ever he had seen it, +Cutler knew the face at once. It was that of Clarice, wife of Major +Plume. Whose, then, were those scattered letters? + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AUNT JANET BRAVED + + +Nightfall of a weary day had come. Camp Sandy, startled from sleep in +the dark hour before the dawn, had found topic for much exciting talk, +and was getting tired as the twilight waned. No word had come from the +party sent in search of Downs, now deemed a deserter. No sign of him +had been found about the post. No explanation had occurred to either +Cutler or Graham of the parting between Elise and the late "striker." +She had never been known to notice or favor him in any way before. Her +smiles and coquetries had been lavished on the sergeants. In Downs +there was nothing whatsoever to attract her. It was not likely she had +given him money, said Cutler, because he was about the post all that +day after the Plumes' departure and with never a sign of inebriety. He +could not himself buy whisky, but among the ranchmen, packers, and +prospectors forever hanging about the post there were plenty ready to +play middleman for anyone who could supply the cash, and in this way +were the orders of the post commander made sometimes abortive. Downs +was gone, that was certain, and the question was, which way? + +A sergeant and two men had taken the Prescott road; followed it to +Dick's Ranch, in the Cherry Creek Valley, and were assured the missing +man had never gone that way. Dick was himself a veteran trooper of +the ----th. He had invested his savings in this little estate and +settled thereon to grow up with the country--the Stannards' winsome +Millie having accepted a life interest in him and his modest property. +They knew every man riding that trail, from the daily mail messenger +to the semi-occasional courier. Their own regiment had gone, but they +had warm interest in its successors. They knew Downs, had known him +ever since his younger days when, a trig young Irish-Englishman, some +Londoner's discharged valet, he had 'listed in the cavalry, as he +expressed it, to reform. A model of temperance, soberness, and +chastity was Downs between times, and his gifts as groom of the +chambers, as well as groom of the stables, made him, when a model, +invaluable to bachelor officers in need of a competent soldier +servant. In days just after the great war he had won fame and money as +a light rider. It was then that Lieutenant Blake had dubbed him +"Epsom" Downs, and well-nigh quarreled with his chum, Lieutenant Ray, +over the question of proprietorship when the two were sent to separate +stations and Downs was "striking" for both. Downs settled the matter +by getting on a seven-days' drunk, squandering both fame and money, +and, though forgiven the scriptural seventy times seven (during which +term of years his name was changed to Ups and Downs), finally +forfeited the favor of both these indulgent masters and became +thereafter simply Downs, with no ups of sufficient length to restore +the average--much less to redeem him. And yet, when eventually +"bobtailed" out of the ----th, he had turned up at the old arsenal +recruiting depot at St. Louis, clean-shaven, neat, deft-handed, +helpful, to the end that an optimistic troop commander "took him on +again," in the belief that a reform had indeed been inaugurated. But, +like most good soldiers, the commander referred to knew little of +politics or potables, otherwise he would have set less store by the +strength of the reform movement and more by that of the potations. +Downs went so far on the highroad to heaven this time as to drink +nothing until his first payday. Meantime, as his captain's mercury, +messenger, and general utility man, moving much in polite society at +the arsenal and in town, he was frequently to be seen about +Headquarters of the Army, then established by General Sherman as far +as possible from Washington and as close to the heart of St. Louis. He +learned something of the ins and outs of social life in the gay city, +heard much theory and little truth about the time that Lieutenant +Blakely, returning suddenly thereto after an absence of two months, +during which time frequent letters had passed between him and Clarice +Latrobe, found that Major Plume had been her shadow for weeks, her +escort to dance after dance, her companion riding, driving, dining day +after day. Something of this Blakely had heard in letters from +friends. Little or nothing thereof had he heard from her. The public +never knew what passed between them (Elise, her maid, was better +informed). But Blakely within the day left town again, and within the +week there appeared the announcement of her forthcoming marriage, +Plume the presumably happy man. Downs got full the first payday after +his re-enlistment, as has been said, and drunk, as in duty bound, at +the major's "swagger" wedding. It was after this episode he fell +utterly from grace and went forth to the frontier irreclaimably +"Downs." It was a seven-days' topic of talk at Sandy that Lieutenant +Blakely, when acting Indian agent at the reservation, should have +accepted the services of this unpromising specimen as "striker." It +was a seven-weeks' wonder that Downs kept the pact, and sober as a +judge, from the hour he joined the Bugologist to the night that +self-contained young officer was sent crashing into his beetle show +under the impact of Wren's furious fist. Then came the last pound that +broke the back of Downs' wavering resolution, and now had come--what? +The sergeant and party rode back from Dick's to tell Captain Cutler +the deserter had not taken the Cherry Creek road. Another party just +in reported similarly that he had not taken the old, abandoned Grief +Hill trail. Still another returned from down-stream ranches to say he +could not have taken that route without being seen--and he had not +been seen. Ranchman Strom would swear to that because Downs was in his +debt for value received in shape of whisky, and Strom was rabid at the +idea of his getting away. In fine, as nothing but Downs was missing, +it became a matter of speculation along toward tattoo as to whether +Downs could have taken anything at all--except possibly his own life. + +Cutler was now desirous of questioning Blakely at length, and +obtaining his views and theories as to Downs, for Cutler believed that +Blakely had certain well-defined views which he was keeping to +himself. Between these two, however, had grown an unbridgeable gulf. +Dr. Graham had declared at eight o'clock that morning that Mr. Blakely +was still so weak that he ought not to go with the searching parties, +and on receipt of this dictum Captain Cutler had issued his, to wit, +that Blakely should not go either in search of Downs or in pursuit of +Captain Wren. It stung Blakely and angered him even against Graham, +steeling him against the post commander. Each of these gentlemen +begged him to make his temporary home under his roof, and Blakely +would not. "Major Plume's quarters are now vacant, then," said Cutler +to Graham. "If he won't come to you or to me, let him take a room +there." This, too, Blakely refused. He reddened, what is more, at the +suggestion. He sent Nixon down to Mr. Hart's, the trader's, to ask if +he could occupy a spare room there, and when Hart said, yes, most +certainly, Cutler reddened in turn when told of it, and sent +Lieutenant Doty, the adjutant, to say that the post commander could +not "consent to an officer's occupying quarters outside the garrison +when there was abundant room within." Then came Truman and Westervelt +to beg Blakely to come to them. Then came a note from Mrs. Sanders, +reminding him that, as an officer of the cavalry, it would be casting +reflections on his own corps to go and dwell with aliens. "Captain +Sanders would never forgive me," said she, "if you did not take our +spare room. Indeed, I shall feel far safer with a man in the house now +that we are having fires and Indian out-breaks and prisoners escaping +and all that sort of thing. _Do_ come, Mr. Blakely." And in that blue +flannel shirt and the trooper trousers and bandanna neckerchief, +Blakely went and thanked her; sent for Nixon and his saddle-bags, and +with such patience as was possible settled down forthwith. Truth to +tell it was high time he settled somewhere, for excitement, exposure, +physical ill, and mental torment had told upon him severely. At +sunset, as he seemed too miserable to leave his room and come to the +dining table, Mrs. Sanders sent for the doctor, and reluctantly +Blakely let him in. + +That evening, just after tattoo had sounded, Kate Sanders and Angela +were having murmured conference on the Wrens' veranda. Aunt Janet had +gone to hospital to carry unimpeachable jelly to the several patients +and dubious words of cheer. Jelly they absorbed with much avidity and +her words with meek resignation. Mullins, she thought, after his +dreadful experience and close touch with death, must be in receptive +mood and repentant of his sins. Of just what sins to repent poor Pat +might still be unsettled in his mind. It was sufficient that he had +them, as all soldiers must have, said Miss Wren, and now that his +brain seemed clearing and the fever gone and he was too weak and +helpless to resist, the time seemed ripe for the sowing of good seed, +and Janet went to sow. + +But there by Mullins's bed, all unabashed at Janet's marked +disapprobation, sat Norah Shaughnessy. There, in flannel shirt and +trooper trousers and bandanna neckerchief, pale, but collected, stood +the objectionable Mr. Blakely. He was bending over, saying something +to Mullins, as she halted in the open doorway, and Blakely, looking +quickly up, went with much civility to greet and escort her within. To +his courteous, "Good-evening, Miss Wren, may I relieve you of your +basket?" she returned prompt negative and, honoring him with no +further notice, stood and gazed with Miss Shaughnessy at the +focus--Miss Shaughnessy who, after one brief glance, turned a broad +Irish back on the intruder at the doorway and resumed her murmuring to +Mullins. + +"Is the doctor here--or Steward Griffin?" spoke the lady, to the room +at large, looking beyond the lieutenant and toward the single soldier +attendant present. + +"The doctor and the steward are both at home just now, Miss Wren," +said Blakely. "May I offer you a chair?" + +Miss Wren preferred to stand. + +"I wish to speak with Steward Griffin," said she again. "Can you go +for him?" this time obviously limiting her language to the attendant +himself, and carefully excluding Mr. Blakely from the field of her +recognition. The attendant dumbly shook his head. So Aunt Janet tried +again. + +"Norah, _you_ know where the steward lives, will you--" But Blakely +saw rebellion awake again in Ireland and interposed. + +"The steward shall be here at once, Miss Wren," said he, and tiptoed +away. The lady's doubtful eye turned and followed him a moment, then +slowly she permitted herself to enter. Griffin, heading for the +dispensary at the moment and apprised of her visit, came hurrying in. +Blakely, pondering over the few words Mullins had faintly spoken, +walked slowly over toward the line. His talk with Graham had in a +measure stilled the spirit of rancor that had possessed him earlier in +the day. Graham, at least, was stanch and steadfast, not a weathercock +like Cutler. Graham had given him soothing medicine and advised his +strolling a while in the open air--he had slept so much of the +stifling afternoon--and now, hearing the sound of women's voices on +the dark veranda nearest him, he veered to the left, passed around the +blackened ruin of his own quarters and down along the rear of the line +just as the musician of the guard was sounding "Lights Out"--"Taps." + +And then a sudden thought occurred to him. Sentries began challenging +at taps. He was close to the post of No. 5. He could even see the +shadowy form of the sentry slowly pacing toward him, and here he stood +in the garb of a private soldier instead of his official dress. It +caused him quickly to veer again, to turn to his right, the west, and +to enter the open space between the now deserted quarters of the +permanent commander and those of Captain Wren adjoining them to the +north. Another moment and he stopped short. Girlish voices, low and +murmurous, fell upon his ear. In a moment he had recognized them. "It +won't take me two minutes, Angela. I'll go and get it now," were the +first words distinctly heard, and, with a rustle of skirts, Kate +Sanders bounded lightly from the piazza to the sands and disappeared +around the corner of the major's quarters, going in the direction of +her home. For the first time in many eventful days Blakely stood +almost within touch of the girl whose little note was even then +nestling in an inner pocket, and they were alone. + +"Miss Angela!" + +Gently he spoke her name, but the effect was startling. She had been +reclining in a hammock, and at sound of his voice struggled suddenly +to a sitting posture, a low cry on her lips. In some strange way, in +the darkness, the fright, confusion,--whatever it may have been,--she +lost her balance and her seat. The hammock whirled from under her, and +with exasperating thump, unharmed but wrathful, the girl was tumbled +to the resounding floor. Blakely sprang to her aid, but she was up in +the split of a second, scorning, or not seeing, his eager, +outstretched hand. + +"My--Miss Angela!" he began, all anxiety and distress, "I hope you're +not hurt," and the outstretched hands were trembling. + +"I _know_ I'm not," was the uncompromising reply, "not in the least; +startled--that's all! Gentlemen don't usually come upon one that +way--in the dark." She was panting a bit, but striving bravely, +angrily, to be calm and cool--icy cool. + +"Nor would I have come that way," then, stupidly, "had I known you +were--here. Forgive me." + +How could she, after that? She had no wish to see him, so she had +schooled herself. She would decline to see him, were he to ask for her +at the door; but, not for an instant did she wish to hear that he did +not wish to see her, yet he had haplessly, brusquely said he wouldn't +have come had he known she was there. It was her duty to leave him, +instantly. It was her desire first to punish him. + +"My aunt is not at home," she began, the frost of the Sierras in her +tone. + +"I just left her, a moment ago, at the hospital," said he, steadfastly +ignoring her repellent tone. Indeed, if anything, the tone rejoiced +him, for it told a tale she would not have told for realms and +empires. He was ten years older and had lived. "But--forgive me," he +went on, "you are trembling, Miss Angela." She was, and loathed +herself, and promptly denied it. He gravely placed a chair. "You fell +heavily, and it must have jarred you. Please sit down," and stepping +to the _olla_, "let me bring you some water." + +She was weak. Her knees, her hands, were shaking as they never shook +before. He had seen her aunt at the hospital. He had left her aunt +there without a moment's delay that he might hasten to see her, +Angela. He was here and bending over her, with brimming gourd of cool +spring water. Nay, more, with one hand he pressed it to her lips, with +the other he held his handkerchief so that the drops might not fall +upon her gown. He was bending over her, so close she could hear, she +thought, the swift beating of his heart. She knew that if what Aunt +Janet had told, and her father had seen, of him were true, she would +rather die than suffer a touch of his hand. Yet one hand had touched +her, gently, yet firmly, as he helped her to the chair, and the touch +she loathed was sweet to her in spite of herself. From the moment of +their first meeting this man had done what no other man had done +before--spoken to her and treated her as a grown woman, with a man's +admiration in his fine blue eyes, with deference in word and chivalric +grace in manner. And in spite of the mean things whispered about +him--about him and--anybody, she had felt her young heart going out to +him, her buoyant, joyous, healthful nature opening and expanding in +the sunshine of his presence. And now he had come to seek her, after +all the peril and excitement and trouble he had undergone, and now, +all loverlike tenderness and concern, was bending over her and +murmuring to her, his deep voice almost as tremulous as her hand. Oh, +it couldn't be true that he--cared for--was interested in--that woman, +the major's wife! Not that she _ought_ to care one way or another, +except that it was so despicable--so unlike him. Yet she had promised +herself--had virtually promised her father--that she would hold far +aloof from this man, and here he stood, so close that their +heart-beats almost intermingled, and he was telling her that he wished +she had kept and never returned the little butterfly net, for now, +when it had won a value it never before had known, it was his fate to +lose it. "And now," he said, "I hope to be sent to-morrow to join your +father in the field, and I wish to tell you that, whenever I go, I +shall first come to see what you may have to send to him. Will you--be +here, Miss Angela?" + +For a moment--silence. She was thinking of her duty to her father, of +her implied promise, of all that Janet had told her, and so thinking +could not for the moment answer--could not meet his earnest gaze. Dark +as it was she felt, rather than saw, the glow of his deep blue eyes. +She could not mistake the tenderness of his tone. She had so believed +in him. He seemed so far above the callow, vapid, empty-headed +youngsters the other girls were twittering about from morn till night. +She felt that she believed in him now, no matter what had been said or +who had said it. She felt that if he would but say it was all a +mistake--that no woman had crossed his threshold, all Camp Sandy might +swear to the truth of the story, and she would laugh at it. But how +could she ask such a thing of him? Her cheeks took fire at the +thought. It was he who broke the silence. + +"Something has happened to break your faith in me, Miss Angela," said +he, with instant gravity. "I certainly had it--I _know_ I had it--not +a week ago"; and now he had dropped to a seat in the swaying hammock, +and with calm strength and will bent toward her and compelled her +attention. "I have a right to know, as matters stand. Will you tell +me, or must I wait until I see your father?" With that Neil Blakely +actually sought to take her hand. She whipped it behind her at the +instant. "Will you tell me?" he repeated, bending closer. + +From down the line, dancing along the wooden veranda, came the sound +of swift footfalls--Kate Sanders hurrying back. Another moment and it +would be too late. The denial she longed to hear from his lips might +never be spoken. If spoken at all it must be here and now, yet how +could she--how could _she_ ask _him_? + +"I will tell you, Mr. Blakely." The words came from the window of the +darkened parlor, close at hand. The voice was that of Janet Wren, +austere and uncompromising. "I got here in time to hear your +question--I will answer for my niece--" + +"Aunt Janet--No!" + +"Be quiet, Angela. Mr. Blakely, it is because this child's father saw, +and I heard of, that which makes you unworthy the faith of a young, +pure-hearted girl. Who was the--the creature to whom you opened your +door last Wednesday midnight?" + +Kate Sanders, singing softly, blithely, came tripping along the +major's deserted veranda, her fresh young voice, glad, yet subdued, +caroling the words of a dear old song that Parepa had made loved and +famous full ten years before: + + "And as he lingered by her side, + In spite of his comrade's warning + The old, old story was told again + At five o'clock in the morning." + +Then came sudden silence, as springing to the sandy ground, the singer +reached the Wrens' veranda and saw the dim form of Mr. Blakely, +standing silently confronting a still dimmer form, faintly visible at +the side window against the soft, tempered light of the hanging lamp +in the hall. + +"Who was the creature?" I repeat, were the strange words, in Miss +Wren's most telling tone, that brought Kate Sanders to a halt, +startled, silent. + +Then Blakely answered: "Some day I shall tell Miss Angela, madam, but +never--you. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A CALL FOR HELP + + +That night the wire across the mountains to Prescott was long alive +with news, and there was little rest for operator, adjutant, or +commanding officer at Sandy. Colonel Byrne, it seems, had lost +telegraphic touch with his chief, who, quitting Camp McDowell, had +personally taken the field somewhere over in the Tonto Basin beyond +the Matitzal Range, and Byrne had the cares of a continent on his +hands. Three of the five commands out in the field had had sharp +encounters with the foe. Official business itself was sufficiently +engrossing, but there were other matters assuming grave proportions. +Mrs. Plume had developed a feverish anxiety to hie on to the Pacific +and out of Arizona just at a time when, as her husband had to tell +her, it was impossible for him, and impolitic for her, to go. Matters +at Sandy, he explained, were in tangled shape. Mullins partially +restored, but still, as Plume assured her, utterly out of his head, +had declared that his assailants were women; and other witnesses, +Plume would not give names, had positively asserted that Elise had +been seen along the sentry post just about the time the stabbing +occurred. Everything now, said he, must depend on Captain Wren, who +was known to have seen and spoken to Elise, and who could probably +testify that she returned to their roof before the tragic affair of +the night. But Wren was now away up in the mountains beyond Snow Lake +and might be going far over through Sunset Pass to the Colorado +Chiquito. Meantime he, Plume, was responsible for Elise, in duty bound +to keep her there to face any accuser. In her nervous, semi-hysterical +state the wife could not well be told how much she, too, was involved. +It was not necessary. She knew--all Fort Whipple, as Prescott's +military post was called, knew all about the fire that had destroyed +the "beetle shop" and Blakely's belongings. Elise, in wild excitement, +had rushed to her mistress with that news and the further information +that Downs was gone and could not be found. This latter fact, indeed, +they learned before Plume ever heard of it--and made no mention of it +in his presence. + +"I shall have to run down to Sandy again," said Byrne, to Plume. "Keep +up your heart and--watch that Frenchwoman. The jade!" And with the +following day he was bounding and bumping down the stony road that led +from the breezy, pine-crested heights about headquarters to the sandy +flats and desert rocks and ravines fifty miles to the east and +twenty-five hundred feet below. "Shall be with you after dark," he +wired Cutler, who was having a bad quarter of an hour on his own +account, and wishing all Sandy to the devil. It had transpired that +Strom's rival ranchman, a little farther down the valley, was short +just one horse and set of horse equipments. He had made no complaint. +He had accused nobody. He had never failed in the past to appear at +Sandy with charge of theft and demand for damages at the expense of +the soldiery whenever he missed an item, big or little--and sometimes +when he didn't miss a thing. But now he came not at all, and Cutler +jumped at the explanation: he had sold that steed, and Downs, the +deserter, was the purchaser. Downs must have had money to aid in his +escape. Downs must have received it from someone eager to get him out +of the way. It might well be Elise, for who else would trust him? and +Downs must be striking for the south, after wide _detour_. No use now +to chase him. The wire was the only thing with which to round him up, +so the stage stations on the Gila route, and the scattered army posts, +were all notified of the desertion, and Downs's description, with all +his imperfections, was flashed far and wide over the Territory. He +could no more hope to escape than fly on the wings of night. He would +be cut off or run down long before he could reach Mexico; that is, he +_would_ be if only troopers got after him. The civil list of Arizona +in 1875 was of peculiar constitution. It stood ready at any time to +resolve itself into a modification of the old-day underground +railways, and help spirit off soldier criminals, first thoughtfully +relieving them of care and responsibility for any surplus funds in +their possession. + +And with Downs gone one way, Wren's troop gone another, and Blakely +here clamoring to follow, Cutler was mentally torn out of shape. He +believed it his duty to hold Blakely at least until the colonel came, +and he lacked the "sand" to tell him so. + +From Wren not another word had been received direct, but Bridger at +the agency had sent word that the Indians there were constantly in +receipt of news from the hostiles that filled them with excitement. +Wren, at last accounts, had gone into the mountains south of Sunset +Pass toward Chevlon's Fork, and his trail was doubtless watched to +head off couriers or cut down stragglers. Blakely's appeal to be +allowed to follow and join his troop had been declared foolish, and +the attempt foolhardy, by Captain Cutler. This and not the real reason +was given, coupled of course, with the doctor's dictum. But even +Graham had begun to think Blakely would be the better for anything +that would take him away from a station where life had been one swift +succession of ills and mishaps. + +And even Graham did not dream how sorely Blakely had been hit. Nor +could he account for the access of nervous irritability that possessed +his patient all the livelong day, while waiting, as they all were, for +the coming of Colonel Byrne. Mrs. Sanders declared to Mrs. Graham her +private impression that he was on the verge of prostration, although, +making an effort, Blakely had appeared at breakfast after an early +morning walk, had been most courteous, gentle, and attentive to her +and to her wholesome, if not actually homely, Kate. How the mother's +heart yearned over that sweet-natured, sallow-faced child! But after +breakfast Blakely had wandered off again and was out on the _mesa_, +peering through a pair of borrowed glasses over the dreary eastward +landscape and up and down the deep valley. "How oddly are we +constituted!" said Mrs. Sanders. "If I only had his money, I'd never +be wearing my heart out in this desert land." She was not the only +army wife and mother that should have married a stockbroker--anything +rather than a soldier. + +The whole post knew by noon that Byrne was coming, and waited with +feverish impatience. Byrne was the power that would put an end to the +doubts and distractions, decide who stabbed Pat Mullins, who set fire +to the "beetle shop," where Epsom Downs had gone, and could even +settle, possibly, the long-doubtful question, "Who struck Billy +Patterson?" Sandy believed in Byrne as it did in no one since the days +of General Crook. With two exceptions, all Sandy society was out on +the parade, the porticoes, or the northward bluff, as the sun went +down. These two were the Misses Wren. "Angela," said Miss Janet, "is +keeping her room to-day, and pretending to keep her temper"--this to +Kate Sanders, who had twice sought admission, despite a girlish awe +of, if not aversion to, this same Aunt Janet. + +"But don't you think she'd like to see me just a little while, Miss +Wren?" the girl inquired, her hand caressing the sleek head of one of +the big hounds as she spoke. Hounds were other objects of Miss Wren's +disfavor. "Lazy, pilfering brutes," she called them, when after hours +of almost incredible labor and ingenious effort they had managed to +tear down, and to pieces, a haunch of venison she had slung to the +rafters of the back porch. "You can come in, Kate, provided you keep +out the dogs," was her ungracious answer, "and I'll go see. I think +she's sleeping now, and ought not to be disturbed." + +"Then I won't disturb her," was Miss Sanders's prompt reply, as she +turned away and would have gone, but the elder restrained her. Janet +did not wish the girl to go at all. She knew Angela had asked for her, +and doubtless longed to see her; and now, having administered her +feline scratch and made Kate feel the weight of her disapproval, she +was quite ready to promote the very interview she had verbally +condemned. Perhaps Miss Sanders saw and knew this and preferred to +worry Miss Wren as much as possible. At all events, only with +reluctance did she obey the summons to wait a minute, and stood with a +pout on her lips as the spinster vanished in the gloom of the hallway. +Angela could not have been asleep, for her voice was audible in an +instant. "Come up, Kate," she feebly cried, just as Aunt Janet had +begun her little sermon, and the sermon had to stop, for Kate Sanders +came, and neither lass was in mood to listen to pious exhortation. +Moreover, they made it manifest to Aunt Janet that there would be no +interchange of confidences until she withdrew. "You are not to talk +yourselves into a pitch of excitement," said she. "Angela must sleep +to-night to make up for the hours she lost--thanks to the abominable +remarks of that hardened young man." With that, after a pull at the +curtain, a soothing thump or two at Angela's pillow, and the muttered +wish that the coming colonel were empowered to arrest recalcitrant +nieces as well as insubordinate subs, she left them to their own +devices. They were still in eager, almost breathless chat when the +crack of whip and sputter of hoofs and wheels through gravelly sands +told that the inspector's ambulance had come. Was it likely that +Angela could sleep until she heard the probable result of the +inspector's coming? + +He was closeted first with Cutler. Then Dr. Graham was sent for, and +the three walked over to the hospital, just as the musicians were +forming for tattoo. They were at Mullins's bedside, with the steward +and attendants outside, when taps went wailing out upon the night. +There were five minutes of talk with that still bewildered patient. +Then Byrne desired to see Mr. Blakely at once and alone. Cutler +surrendered his office to the department inspector, and thither the +lieutenant was summoned. Mrs. Sanders, with Mrs. Truman, was keeping +little Mrs. Bridger company at the moment, and Blakely bowed +courteously to the three in passing by. + +"Even in that rough dress," said Mrs. Sanders reflectively, as her +eyes followed the tall, straight figure over the moonlit parade, "he +is a most distinguished looking man." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Bridger, still unappeased. "If he were a Sioux, I +suppose they'd call him 'Man-In-Love-With-His-Legs.'" Blakely heard +the bubble of laughter that followed him on his way, and wished that +he, too, felt in mood as merry. The acting sergeant major, a clerk, +and young Cassidy, the soldier telegraph operator, seated at the +westward end of the rough board porch of the adjutant's office, arose +and saluted as he entered. Byrne had sent every possible hearer out of +the building. + +Five minutes the conference lasted, no sound coming from within. +Cutler and Graham, with Captain Westervelt, sat waiting on the porch +of the doctor's quarters, Mrs. Graham being busy with her progeny +aloft. Others of the officers and families were also on the piazzas, +or strolling slowly up and down the pathway, but all eyes wandered +from time to time toward the dim light at the office. All was dark at +the barracks. All was hushed and still about the post. The sentry call +for half-past ten was still some minutes' distant, when one of the +three seated figures at the end of the office porch was seen to rise. +Then the other two started to their feet. The first hastened to the +door and began to knock. So breathless was the night that over on the +verandas the imperative thumping could be distinctly heard, and +everyone ceased talk and listened. Then, in answer to some query from +within, the voice of young Cassidy was uplifted. + +"I beg pardon, sir, but that's the agency calling me, and it's hurry." + +They saw the door open from within; saw the soldier admitted and the +door closed after him; saw the two men waiting standing and expectant, +no longer content to resume their chat. For three minutes of suspense +there came no further sound. Then the door was again thrown open, and +both Byrne and Blakely came hurrying out. In the memory of the +earliest inhabitant never had Sandy seen the colonel walk so fast. +Together they came striding straight toward Cutler's, and the captain +arose and went to meet them, foreboding in his soul. Graham and +Westervelt, restrained by discipline, held back. The women and younger +officers, hushed by anxiety, gazed at the swift-coming pair in dread +and fascination. There was a moment of muttered conference with the +commanding officer, some hurried words, then Blakely was seen to +spring away, to be recalled by Cutler, to start a second time, only to +be again recalled. Then Cutler, shouting, "Mr. Doty, I need you!" +hurried away toward the office, and Blakely, fairly running, sped +straight for the barracks of Wren's troop. Only Byrne was left to +answer the storm of question that burst upon him all at once, women +thronging about him from all along the line. + +"We have news from the agency," said he. "It is from Indian runners, +and may not be reliable--some rumor of a sharp fight near Sunset +Pass." + +"Are there particulars, colonel--anybody killed or wounded?" It was +Mrs. Sanders who spoke, her face very pale. + +"We cannot know--as yet. It is all an Indian story. Mr. Blakely is +going at once to investigate," was the guarded answer. But Mrs. +Sanders knew, as well as a dozen others, that there _were_ +particulars--that somebody had been killed or wounded, for Indian +stories to that effect had been found singularly reliable. It was +Wren's troop that had gone to Sunset Pass, and here was Wren's sister +with question in her eye, and at sight of her the colonel turned and +hurried back to headquarters, following the post commander. + +Another moment and Blakely, in the broad light streaming suddenly from +the office room of Wren's troop, came speeding straight across the +parade again in the direction of Sanders's quarters, next to the last +at the southward end of the row. They sought, of course, to intercept +him, and saw that his face was pale, though his manner was as composed +as ever. To every question he had but one thing to say: "Colonel Byrne +and the captain know all that I do--and more. Ask them." But this he +said with obvious wish to be questioned no further,--said it gently, +but most firmly,--and then, with scant apology, passed on. Five +minutes more and Nixon was lugging out the lieutenant's field kit on +the Sanders's porch, and Blakely, reappearing, went straight up the +row to Wren's. It was now after 10.30, but he never hesitated. Miss +Janet, watching him from the midst of her friends, saw him stride, +unhesitatingly, straight to the door and knock. She followed +instantly, but, before she could reach the steps, Kate Sanders, with +wonder in her eyes, stood faltering before him. + +"Will you say to Miss Angela that I have come as I promised? I am +going at once to--join the troop. Can I see her?" he asked. + +"She isn't well, Mr. Blakely. She hasn't left her room to-day." And +Miss Sanders began herself to tremble, for up the steps came the +resolute lady of the house, whom seeing, Mr. Blakely honored with a +civil bow, but with not a word. + +"I will hear your message, Mr. Blakely," said Miss Wren, pallid, too, +and filled with wordless anxiety, but determined none the less. + +"Miss Sanders has heard it, madam," was the uncompromising answer. +"Will you see Miss Angela, please?" This again to Kate--and, without +another word, she went. + +"Mr. Blakely," began the lady impressively, "almost the last thing my +brother said to me before leaving the post was that he wished no +meetings between you and Angela. Why do you pursue her? Do you wish to +compel me to take her away?" + +For a moment he was silent. Then, "It is I who must go, Miss Wren," +was the answer, and she, who expected resentment, looked at him in +surprise, so gentle, so sorrowing was his tone. "I had hoped to bear +her message, but shall intrude no more. If the news that came to-night +should be confirmed--and only in that event--say to her, if you +please, that I shall do my best to find her father." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A RETURN TO COMMAND + + +With but a single orderly at his back, Mr. Blakely had left Camp Sandy +late at night; had reached the agency, twenty miles up stream, two +hours before the dawn and found young Bridger waiting for him. They +had not even a reliable interpreter now. Arahawa, "Washington +Charley," had been sent to the general at Camp McDowell. Lola's +father, with others of her kin, had taken Apache leave and gone in +search of the missing girl. But between the sign language and the +_patois_ of the mountains, a strange mixture of Spanish, English, and +Tonto Apache, the officers had managed, with the aid of their men, to +gather explanation of the fierce excitement prevailing all that +previous day among the Indians at the agency. There had been another +fight, a chase, a scattering of both pursuers and pursued. Most of the +troops were at last accounts camping in the rocks near Sunset Pass. +Two had been killed, several were wounded, three were missing, lost to +everybody. Even the Apaches swore they knew not where they were--a +sergeant, a trumpeter, and "Gran Capitan" himself--Captain Wren. + +In the paling starlight of the coming day Blakely and Bridger plied +the reluctant Indians with questions in every form possible with +their limited knowledge of the sign language. Blakely, having spent so +many years on staff duty, had too little knowledge of practical +service in the field. Bridger was but a beginner at best. Together +they had decided on their course. A wire was sent to Sandy saying that +from all they could gather the rumors were probably true, but urging +that couriers be sent for Dick, the Cherry Creek settler, and Wales +Arnold, another pioneer who had lived long in Apache land and owned a +ranch on the little Beaver. They could get more out of the Indians +than could these soldiers. It would be hours after dawn before either +Dick or his fellow frontiersman could arrive. Meanwhile Sandy must +bear the suspense as well as it might. The next wire came from Bridger +at nine o'clock: + + Arnold arrived hour ago. Examined six. Says stories probably + true. Confident Wren not killed. + +For answer Byrne wired that a detachment of a dozen men with three +packers had marched at five o'clock to report to Blakely for such duty +as he might require, and the answer came within the minute: + + Blakely gone. Started for Snow Lake 4.30. Left orders + detachment follow. Took orderly and two Apache Yuma scouts. + +Byrne, Cutler, and Graham read with grave and anxious faces, but said +very little. It was Blakely's way. + +And that was the last heard of the Bugologist for as much as a week. + +Meantime there was a painful situation at Fort Whipple, away up in +"the hills." Major Plume, eager on his wife's account to get her to +the seashore--"Monterey or Santa Barbara," said the sapient medical +director--and ceaselessly importuned by her and viciously nagged by +Elise, found himself bound to the spot. So long as Mullins stuck to +his story Plume knew it would never do for him to leave. "A day or two +more and he may abate or amend his statement," wrote Graham. Indeed, +if Norah Shaughnessy were not there to prompt--to prop--his memory, +Graham thought it like enough that even now the soldier would have +wavered. But never a jot or tittle had Mullins been shaken from the +original statement. + +"There was two women," he said, "wid their shawls over their heads," +and those two, refusing to halt at his demand, had been overtaken and +one of them seized, to his bitter cost, for the other had driven a +keen-bladed knife through his ribs, even as he sought to examine his +captive. "They wouldn't spake," said he, "so what could I do but pull +the shawl from the face of her to see could she be recognized?" Then +came the fierce, cat-like spring of the taller of the two. Then the +well-nigh fatal thrust. What afterwards became of the women he could +say no more than the dead. Norah might rave about its being the +Frenchwoman that did it to protect the major's lady--this he spoke in +whispered confidence and only in reply to direct question--but it +wouldn't be for the likes of him to preshume. Mullins, it seems, was a +soldier of the old school. + +Then came fresh and dire anxiety at Sandy. Four days after Blakely's +start there appeared two swarthy runners from the way of Beaver Creek. +They bore a missive scrawled on the paper lining of a cracker box, and +it read about as follows: + + CAMP IN SUNSET PASS, November 3d. + + COMMANDING OFFICER, CAMP SANDY: + + + Scouting parties returning find no trace of Captain Wren and + Sergeant Carmody, but we shall persevere. Indians lurking + all about us make it difficult. Shall be needing rations in + four days. All wounded except Flynn doing fairly well. Hope + couriers sent you on 30th and 31st reached you safely. + +The dispatch was in the handwriting of Benson, a trooper of good +education, often detailed for clerical work. It was signed "Brewster, +Sergeant." + +Who then were the couriers, and what had become of them? What fate had +attended Blakely in his lonely and perilous ride? What man or pair of +men could pierce that cordon of Indians lurking all around them and +reach the beleaguered command? What need to speculate on the fate of +the earlier couriers anyway? Only Indians could hope to outwit Indians +in such a case. It was madness to expect white men to get through. It +was madness for Blakely to attempt it. Yet Blakely was gone beyond +recall, perhaps beyond redemption. From him, and from the detachment +that was sent by Bridger to follow his trail, not a word had come of +any kind. Asked if they had seen or heard anything of such parties, +the Indian couriers stolidly shook their heads. They had followed the +old Wingate road all the way until in sight of the valley. Then, +scrambling through a rocky labyrinth, impossible for hoof or wheel, +had made a short cut to the head waters of the Beaver. Now Blakely, +riding from the agency eastward slowly, should have found that Wingate +trail before the setting of the first day's sun, and his followers +could not have been far behind. It began to look as though the +Bugologist had never reached the road. It began to be whispered about +the post that Wren and his luckless companions might never be found at +all. Kate Sanders had ceased her song. She was now with Angela day and +night. + +One hope, a vague one, remained beside that of hearing from the +baker's dozen that rode on Blakely's trail. Just as soon as Byrne +received the Indian story concerning Wren's disappearance, he sent +runners eastward on the track of Sanders's troop, with written advice +to that officer to drop anything he might be doing along the Black +Mesa and, turning northward, to make his way through a country +hitherto untrod by white man, between Baker's Butte at the south and +the Sunset Mountains at the north. He was ordered to scout the canon +of Chevlon's Fork, and to look for sign on every side until, somewhere +among the "tanks" in the solid rock about the mountain gateway known +as Sunset Pass, he should join hands with the survivors of Webb's +troop, nursing their wounded and guarding the new-made graves of their +dead. Under such energetic supervision as that of Captain Sanders it +was believed that even Apache Yuma scouts could be made to accomplish +something, and that new heart would be given Wren's dispirited men. +By this time, too, if Blakely had not fallen into the hands of the +Apaches, he should have been joined by the intended escort, and, thus +strengthened, could either push on to the pass, or, if surrounded, +take up some strong position among the rocks and stand off his +assailants until found by his fellow-soldiers under Sanders. Moreover, +Byrne had caused report of the situation to be sent to the general via +Camp McDowell, and felt sure he would lose no time in directing the +scouting columns to head for the Sunset country. Scattered as were the +hostile Apaches, it was apparent that they were in greater force +northward, opposite the old reservation, than along the Mogollon Range +southeast of it. There was hope, activity, animation, among the little +camps and garrisons toward the broad valley of the Gila as the early +days of November wore away. Only here at Sandy was there suspense as +well as deep despond. + +It was a starlit Sunday morning that Blakely rode away eastward from +the agency. It was Wednesday night when Sergeant Brewster's runners +came, and never a wink of sleep had they or their inquisitors until +Thursday was ushered in. It was Saturday night again, a week from the +night Neil Blakely strove to see and say good-by to Angela Wren. It +was high time other runners came from Brewster, unless they, too, had +been cut off, as must have been the fate of their forerunners. All +drills had been suspended at Sandy; all duty subordinated to guard. +Cutler had practically abolished the daily details, had doubled his +sentries, had established outlying pickets, and was even bent on +throwing up intrenchments or at least digging rifle pits, lest the +Apaches should feel so "cocky" over their temporary successes as to +essay an attack on the post. Byrne smiled and said they would hardly +try that, but he approved the pickets. It was noted that for nearly a +week,--not since Blakely's start from the agency,--no signal fires had +been seen in the Red Rock country or about the reservation. Mr. +Truman, acting as post quartermaster, had asked for additional men to +protect his little herd, for the sergeant in charge declared that, +twice, long-distance shots had come from far away up the bouldered +heights to the west. The daily mail service had been abandoned, so +nervous had the carrier become, and now, twice each week, a corporal +and two men rode the rugged trail, thus far without seeing a sign of +Apaches. The wire, too, was undisturbed, but an atmosphere of alarm +and dread clung about the scattered ranches even as far as the Agua +Fria to the west, and the few officials left at Prescott found it +impossible to reassure the settlers, who, quitting their new homes, +had either clustered about some favored ranch for general defense or, +"packing" to Fort Whipple, were clamoring there for protection with +which to return to and occupy their abandoned roofs. + +And all this, said Byrne, between his set teeth, because a bumptious +agent sought to lay forceful hands upon the daughter of a chief. Poor +Daly! He had paid dearly for that essay. As for Natzie, and her shadow +Lola, neither one had been again seen. They might indeed have dropped +back from Montezuma Well after the first wild stampede, but only +fruitless search had the soldiers made for them. Even their own +people, said Bridger, at the agency, were either the biggest liars +that ever lived or the poorest trailers. The Apaches swore the girls +could not be found. "I'll bet Sergeant Shannon could nail them," said +Hart, the trader, when told of the general denial among the Indians. +But Shannon was far away from the field column, leading his moccasined +comrades afoot and in single file long, wearisome climbs up jagged +cliffs or through deep canons, where unquestionably the foe had been +in numbers but the day before, yet now they were gone. Shannon might +well be needed at the far front, now that most of the Apache scouts +had proved timid or worthless, but Byrne wished he had him closer +home. + +It was the Saturday night following the coming of the runners with +confirmation of the grewsome Indian stories. Colonel Byrne, with +Graham, Cutler, and Westervelt, had been at the office half an hour in +consultation when, to the surprise of every soul at Sandy, a four-mule +team and Concord wagon came bowling briskly into the post, and Major +Plume, dust-covered and grave, marched into the midst of the +conference and briefly said: "Gentlemen, I return to resume command." + +Nobody had a word to say beyond that of welcome. It was manifestly the +proper thing for him to do. Unable, in face of the stories afloat, to +take his wife away, his proper place in the pressing emergency was at +his post in command. + +To Colonel Byrne, who guardedly and somewhat dubiously asked, "How +about Mrs. Plume and that--French thing?" the major's answer was +prompt: + +"Both at Fort Whipple and in--good hands," said he. "My wife realizes +that my duty is here, and, though her recovery may be retarded, she +declares she will remain there or even join me. She, in fact, was so +insistent that I should bring her back with me that it embarrassed me +somewhat. I vetoed it, however." + +Byrne gazed at him from under his shaggy eyebrows. "H'm," said he, "I +fancied she had shaken the dust of Sandy from her shoes for good and +all--that she hoped never to come back." + +"I, too," answered Plume ingenuously. "She hated the very mention of +it,--this is between ourselves,--until this week. Now she says her +place is here with me, no matter how she may suffer," and the major +seemed to dwell with pride on this new evidence of his wife's +devotion. It was, indeed, an unusual symptom, and Byrne had to try +hard to look credulous, which Plume appreciated and hurried on: + +"Elise, of course, seemed bent on talking her out of it, but, with +Wren and Blakely both missing, I could not hesitate. I had to come. +Oh, captain, is Truman still acting quartermaster?" this to Cutler. +"He has the keys of my house, I suppose." + +And so by tattoo the major was once more harbored under his old roof +and full of business. From Byrne and his associates he quickly +gathered all particulars in their possession. He agreed with them +that another day must bring tidings from the east or prove that the +Apaches had surrounded and perhaps cut down every man of the command. +He listened eagerly to the details Byrne and others were able to give +him. He believed, by the time "taps" came, he had already settled on a +plan for another relief column, and he sent for Truman, the +quartermaster. + +"Truman," said he, "how much of a pack train have you got left?" + +"Hardly a mule, sir. Two expeditions out from this post swallows up +pretty much everything." + +"Very true; yet I may have to find a dozen packs before we get half +through this business. The ammunition is in your hands, too, isn't it? +Where do you keep it?" and the major turned and gazed out in the +starlight. + +"Only place I got, sir--quartermaster's storehouse," and Truman eyed +his commander doubtfully. + +"Well, I'm squeamish about such things as that," said the major, +looking even graver, "especially since this fire here. By the way, was +much of Blakely's property--er--rescued--or recovered?" + +"Very little, sir. Blakely lost pretty much everything, except some +papers in an iron box--the box that was warped all out of shape." + +"Where is it now?" asked Plume, tugging at the strap of a dressing +case and laying it open on the broad window-seat. + +"In my quarters, under my bed, sir." + +"Isn't that rather--unsafe?" asked Plume. "Think how quick _he_ was +burned out." + +"Best I can do, sir. But he said it contained little of value, mainly +letters and memoranda. No valuables at all, in fact. The lock wouldn't +work, so the blacksmith strap-ironed it for him. That prevents it +being opened by anyone, you know, who hasn't the proper tools." + +"I see," said Plume reflectively. "It seems rather unusual to take +such precaution with things of no value. I suppose Blakely knows his +own business, however. Thank you very much Truman. Good-night." + +"I suppose he did, at least, when he had the blacksmith iron that +box," thought Truman, as he trudged away. "He did, at any rate, when +he made me promise to keep it with the utmost care. Not even you can +have it, Major Plume, although you are the post commander." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STRANGE COMING + + +With one orderly and a pair of Apache Yuma scouts, Neil Blakely had +set forth in hopes of making his way to Snow Lake, far up in the range +to the east. The orderly was all very well,--like most of his fellows, +game, true, and tried,--but few were the leaders who had any faith in +Apache Yumas. Of those Indians whom General Crook had successively +conquered, then turned to valuable use, the Hualpais had done well and +proved reliable; the Apache Mohaves had served since '73, and in scout +after scout and many a skirmish had proved loyal and worthy allies +against the fierce, intractable Tontos, many of whom had never yet +come in to an agency or accepted the bounty of the government. Even a +certain few of these Tontos had proffered fealty and been made useful +as runners and trailers against the recalcitrants of their own band. +But the Apache Yumas, their mountain blood tainted by the cross with +the slothful bands of the arid, desert flats of the lower Colorado, +had won a bad name from the start, and deserved it. They feared the +Tontos, who had thrashed them again and again, despoiled them of their +plunder, walked away with their young women, insulted and jeered at +their young men. Except when backed by the braves of other bands, +therefore, the Apache Yumas were fearful and timorous on the trail. +Once they had broken and run before a mere handful of Tontos, leaving +a wounded officer to his fate. Once, when scaling the Black Mesa +toward this very Snow Lake, they had whimpered and begged to be sent +home, declaring no enemy was there in hiding, when the peaks were +found alive with Tontos. The Red Rock country and the northward spurs +of the Mogollon seemed fraught with some strange, superstitious terror +in their eyes, and if the "nerve" of a dozen would desert them when +ordered east of the Verde, what could be expected of Blakely's two? No +wonder, then, the elders at Sandy were sorely troubled! + +But the Bugologist had nothing else to choose from. All the reliable, +seasoned scouts were already gone with the various field columns. Only +Apache Yumas remained, and only the least promising of the Apache +Yumas at that. Bridger remembered how reluctantly these two had obeyed +the summons to go. "If they don't sneak away and come back swearing +they have lost the lieutenant, I'm a gopher," said he, and gave orders +accordingly to have them hauled before him should they reappear. +Confidently he looked to see or hear of them as again lurking about +the commissary storehouse after the manner of their people, beggars to +the backbone. But the week went by without a sign of them. "There's +only one thing to explain that," said he. "They've either deserted to +the enemy or been cut off and killed." What, then, had become of +Blakely? What fate had befallen Wren? + +By this time, late Saturday night, acting for the department commander +now lost somewhere in the mountains, Byrne had re-enforced the guards +at the agency and the garrison at Sandy with infantry drawn from Fort +Whipple at Prescott, for thither the Apaches would never venture. The +untrammeled and sovereign citizen had his own way of treating the +obnoxious native to the soil. + +By this time, too, further word should have come from some of the +field columns, Sanders's especially. But though runners had reached +the post bearing brief dispatches from the general, showing that he +and the troops from the more southerly posts were closing in on the +wild haunts of the Tontos about Chevlon's Fork, not a sign had come +from this energetic troop commander, not another line from Sergeant +Brewster or his men, and there were women at Camp Sandy now nearly mad +with sleepless dread and watching. "It means," said Byrne, "that the +hostiles are between us and those commands. It means that couriers +can't get through, that's all. I'm betting the commands are safe +enough. They are too strong to be attacked." But Byrne was silent as +to Blakely; he was dumb as to Wren. He was growing haggard with +anxiety and care and inability to assure or comfort. The belated +rations needed by Brewster's party, packed on mules hurried down from +Prescott, were to start at dawn for Sunset Pass under stout infantry +guard, and they, too, would probably be swallowed up in the +mountains. The ranch people down the valley, fearful of raiding +Apaches, had abandoned their homes, and, driving their stock before +them, had taken refuge in the emptied corrals of the cavalry. Even +Hart, the veteran trader, seemed losing his nerve under the strain, +for when such intrepid frontiersmen as Wales Arnold declared it +reckless to venture across the Sandy, and little scouting parties were +greeted with long-range shots from hidden foe, it boded ill for all +dwellers without the walls of the fort. For the first time in the +annals of Camp Sandy, Hart had sandbagged his lower story, and he and +his retainers practically slept upon their arms. + +It was after midnight. Lights still burned dimly at the guard-house, +the adjutant's office, and over at the quarters of the commanding +officer, where Byrne and Plume were in consultation. There were +sleepless eyes in every house along the line. Truman had not turned in +at all. Pondering over his brief talk with the returned commander, he +had gone to the storehouse to expedite the packing of Brewster's +rations, and then it occurred to him to drop in a moment at the +hospital. In all the dread and excitement of the past two days, Pat +Mullins had been well-nigh forgotten. The attendant greeted him at the +entrance. Truman, as he approached, could see him standing at the +broad open doorway, apparently staring out through the starlight +toward the black and distant outlines of the eastward mountains. +Mullins at least was sleeping and seemed rapidly recovering, said he, +in answer to Truman's muttered query. "Major Plume," he added, "was +over to see him a while ago, but I told the major Pat was asleep." +Truman listened without comment, but noted none the less and lingered. +"You were looking out to the east," he said. "Seen any lights or +fire?" + +"Not I, sir. But the sentry there on No. 4 had the corporal out just +now. He's seen or heard something, and they've moved over toward No. +5's post." + +Truman followed. How happened it that when Byrne and Plume had so much +to talk of the latter could find time to come away over to the +hospital to inquire for a patient? And there! the call for half-past +twelve had started at the guard-house and rung out from the stables +and corrals. It was Four's turn to take it up now. Presently he did, +but neither promptly nor with confidence. There were new men on the +relief just down from Fort Whipple and strange to Sandy and its +surroundings; but surely, said Truman, they should not have been +assigned to Four and Five, the exposed or dangerous posts, so long as +there were other men, old-timers at Sandy, to take these stations. No. +4's "A-all's well" sounded more like a wail of remonstrance at his +loneliness and isolation. It was a new voice, too, for in those days +officers knew not only the face, but the voice, of every man in the +little command, and--could Truman be mistaken--he thought he heard a +subdued titter from the black shadows of his own quarters, and turned +his course thither to investigate. Five's shout went up at the +instant, loud, confident, almost boastful, as though in rebuke of +Four's timidity, and, as Truman half expected, there was the corporal +of the guard leaning on his rifle, close to the veranda steps, and so +absorbed he never heard the officer approach until the lieutenant +sharply hailed: + +"Who's that on No. 4?" + +"One of 'C' Company's fellers, sir," answered the watcher, coming to +his senses and attention at the instant. "Just down from Prescott, and +thinks he sees ghosts or Indians every minute. Nearly shot one of the +hounds a moment ago." + +"You shouldn't put him on that post--" + +"I didn't sir," was the prompt rejoinder. "'Twas the sergeant. He said +'twould do him good, but the man's really scared, lieutenant. Thought +I'd better stay near him a bit." + +Across the black and desolate ruin of Blakely's quarters, and well out +on the northward _mesa_, they could dimly discern the form of the +unhappy sentry pacing uneasily along his lonely beat, pausing and +turning every moment as though fearful of crouching assailant. Even +among these veteran infantrymen left at Sandy, that northeast corner +had had an uncanny name ever since the night of Pat Mullins's +mysterious stabbing. Many a man would gladly have shunned sentry duty +at that point, but none dare confess to it. Partly as a precaution, +partly as protection to his sentries, the temporary commander had +early in the week sent out a big "fatigue" detail, with knives and +hatchets to slice away every clump of sage or greasewood that could +shelter a prowling Apache for a hundred yards out from the line. But +the man now on No. 4 was palpably nervous and distressed, in spite of +this fact. Truman watched him a moment in mingled compassion and +amusement, and was just turning aside to enter his open doorway when +the corporal held up a warning hand. + +Through the muffling sand of the roadway in rear of the quarters, a +tall, dark figure was moving straight and swift toward the post of No. +4, and so far within that of No. 5 as to escape the latter's +challenge. The corporal sprung his rifle to the hollow of his arm and +started the next instant, sped noiselessly a few yards in pursuit, +then abruptly halted. "It's the major, sir," said he, embarrassed, as +Truman joined him again. "Gad, I hope No. 4 won't fire!" + +Fire he did not, but his challenge came with a yell. +"W-whocomesthere?"--three words as one and that through chattering +teeth. + +"Commanding officer," they heard Plume clearly answer, then in lower +tone, but distinctly rebukeful. "What on earth's the matter, No. 4? +You called off very badly. Anything disturbing you out here?" + +The sentry's answer was a mumble of mingled confusion and distress. +How could he own to his post commander that he was scared? No. 5 now +was to be seen swiftly coming up the eastward front so as to be within +supporting or hearing distance--curiosity, not sympathy, impelling; +and so there were no less than five men, four of them old and tried +soldiers, all within fifty yards of the angle made by the two sentry +beats, all wide awake, yet not one of their number could later tell +just what started it. All on a sudden, down in Sudsville, down among +the southward quarters of the line, the hounds went rushing forth, +barking and baying excitedly, one and all heading for the brink of the +eastward _mesa_, yet halting short as though afraid to approach it +nearer, and then, darting up and down, barking, sniffing, challenging +angrily, they kept up their fierce alarm. Somebody or something was +out there in the darkness, perhaps at the very edge of the bluff, and +the dogs dare go no further. Even when the corporal, followed by No. +5, came running down the post, the hounds hung back, bristling and +savage, yet fearful. Corporal Foote cocked his rifle and went +crouching forward through the gloom, but the voice of the major was +heard: + +"Don't go out there, corporal. Call for the guard," as he hurried in +to his quarters in search of his revolver. Truman by this time had run +for his own arms and together they reappeared on the post of No. 5, as +a sergeant, with half a dozen men, came panting from across the +parade, swift running to the scene. + +"No. 4 would have it that there were Indians, or somebody skulking +about him when I was examining him a moment ago," said Plume +hurriedly. "Shut up, you brutes!" he yelled angrily at the nearest +hounds. "Scatter your men forward there, sergeant, and see if we can +find anything." Other men were coming, too, by this time, and a +lantern was dancing out from Doty's quarters. Byrne, pyjama-clad and +in slippered feet, shuffled out to join the party as the guard, with +rifles at ready, bored their way out to the front, the dogs still +suspiciously sniffing and growling. For a moment or two no explanation +offered. The noise was gradually quieting down. Then from far out to +the right front rose the shout: "Come here with that lantern!" and all +hands started at the sound. + +Old Shaughnessy, saddler sergeant, was the first on the spot with a +light. All Sudsville seemed up and astir. Some of the women, even, had +begun to show at the narrow doorways. Corporal Foote and two of the +guard were bending over some object huddled in the sand. Together they +turned it over and tugged it into semblance of human shape, for the +thing had been shrouded in what proved to be a ragged cavalry blanket. +Senseless, yet feebly breathing and moaning, half-clad in tattered +skirt and a coarsely made _camisa_ such as was worn by peon women of +the humblest class, with blood-stained bandages concealing much of the +face and head, a young Indian woman was lifted toward the light. A +soldier started on the run for Dr. Graham; another to the laundresses' +homes for water. Others, still, with the lanterns now coming flitting +down the low bluff, began searching through the sands for further +sign, and found it within the minute--sign of a shod horse and of +moccasined feet,--moccasins not of Tonto, but of Yuma make, said +Byrne, after a moment's survey. + +Rough, yet tender, hands bore the poor creature to the nearest +shelter--Shaughnessy's quarters. Keen, eager eyes and bending forms +followed hoof and foot prints to the ford. Two Indians, evidently, had +lately issued, dripping, from the stream; one leading an eager horse, +for it had been dancing sidewise as they neared the post, the other, +probably sustaining the helpless burden on its back. Two Indians had +then re-entered the swift waters, almost at the point of emergence, +one leading a reluctant, resisting animal, for it had struggled and +plunged and set its fore feet against the effort. The other Indian had +probably mounted as they neared the brink. Already they must be a good +distance away on the other side, rendering pursuit probably useless. +Already the explanation of their coming was apparent. The woman had +been hurt or wounded when far from her tribe, and the Indians with her +were those who had learned the white man's ways, knew that he warred +not on women and would give this stricken creature care and comfort, +food and raiment and relieve them of all such trouble. It was easy to +account for their bringing her to Sandy and dropping her at the white +man's door, but how came they by a shod horse that knew the spot and +strove to break from them at the stables--strove hard against again +being driven away? Mrs. Shaughnessy, volubly haranguing all within +hearing as the searchers returned from the ford, was telling how she +was lying awake, worrin' about Norah and Pat Mullins and the boys that +had gone afield (owing her six weeks' wash) when she heard a dull +trampin' like and what sounded like horses' stifled squeal (doubtless +the leading Indian had gripped the nostrils to prevent the eager +neigh), and then, said she, all the dogs roused up and rushed out, +howling. + +And then came a cry from within the humble doorway, where merciful +hands were ministering to the suffering savage, and Plume started at +the sound and glared at Byrne, and men stood hushed and startled and +amazed, for the voice was that of Norah and the words were strange +indeed: + +"Fur the love of hivin, look what she had in her girdle! Shure it's +Leese's own scarf, I tell ye--the Frenchwoman at the major's!" + +And Byrne thought it high time to enter and take possession. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A STRANGER GOING + + +At the first faint flush of dawn the little train of pack mules, with +the rations for the beleaguered command at Sunset Pass, was started on +its stony path. Once out of the valley of the Beaver it must clamber +over range after range and stumble through deep and tortuous canons. A +road there was--the old trail by Snow Lake, thence through the famous +Pass and the Sunset crossing of the Colorado Chiquito to old Fort +Wingate. It wormed its way out of the valley of the broader stream +some miles further to the north and in face of the Red Rock country to +the northeast, but it had not been traveled in safety for a year. Both +Byrne and Plume believed it beset with peril, watched from ambush by +invisible foes who could be relied upon to lurk in hiding until the +train was within easy range, then, with sudden volley, to pick off the +officers and prominent sergeants and, in the inevitable confusion, +aided by their goatlike agility, to make good their escape. Thirty +sturdy soldiers of the infantry under a veteran captain marched as +escort, with Plume's orders to push through to the relief of Sergeant +Brewster's command, and to send back Indian runners with full account +of the situation. The relief of Wren's company accomplished, the next +thing was to be a search for Wren himself, then a determined effort to +find Blakely, and all the time to keep a lookout for Sanders's troop +that must be somewhere north of Chevlon's Fork, as well as for the two +or three little columns that should be breaking their way through the +unblazed wilderness, under the personal direction of the general +himself. Captain Stout and his party were out of sight up the Beaver +before the red eye of the morning came peering over the jagged heights +to the east, and looking in upon a garrison whose eyes were equally +red and bleary through lack of sleep--a garrison worn and haggard +through anxiety and distress gravely augmented by the events of the +night. All Sandy had been up and astir within five minutes after Norah +Shaughnessy's startling cry, and all Sandy asked with bated breath the +same question: How on earth happened it that this wounded waif of the +Apaches, this unknown Indian girl, dropped senseless at their doorway +in the dead hours of the night, should have in her possession the very +scarf worn by Mrs. Plume's nurse-companion, the Frenchwoman Elise, as +she came forth with her mistress to drive away from Sandy, as was her +hope, forever. + +Prominent among those who had hastened down to Sudsville, after the +news of this discovery had gone buzzing through the line of officers' +quarters, was Janet Wren. Kate Sanders was staying with Angela, for +the girls seemed to find comfort in each other's presence and society. +Both had roused at sound of the clamor and were up and half dressed +when a passing hospital attendant hurriedly shouted to Miss Wren the +tidings. The girls, too, would have gone, but Aunt Janet sternly bade +them remain indoors. She would investigate, she said, and bring them +all information. + +Dozens of the men were still hovering about old Shaughnessy's quarters +as the tall, gaunt form of the captain's sister came stalking through +the crowd, making straight for the doorway. The two senior officers, +Byrne and Plume, were, in low tones, interrogating Norah. Plume had +been shown the scarf and promptly seconded Norah. He knew it at +once--knew that, as Elise came forth that dismal morning and passed +under the light in the hall, she had this very scarf round her +throat--this that had been found upon the person of a wounded and +senseless girl. He remembered now that as the sun climbed higher and +the air grew warmer the day of their swift flight to Prescott, Elise +had thrown open her traveling sack, and he noticed that the scarf had +been discarded. He did not see it anywhere about the Concord, but that +proved nothing. She might easily have slipped it into her bag or under +the cushions of the seat. Both he and Byrne, therefore, watched with +no little interest when, after a brief glance at the feverish and +wounded Indian girl, moaning in the cot in Mrs. Shaughnessy's room, +Miss Wren returned to the open air, bearing the scarf with her. One +moment she studied it, under the dull gleam of the lantern of the +sergeant of the guard, and then slowly spoke: + +"Gentlemen, I have seen this worn by Elise and I believe I know how +it came to find its way back here--and it does not brighten the +situation. From our piazza, the morning of Major Plume's start for +Prescott, I could plainly see Downs hanging about the wagon. It +started suddenly, as perhaps you remember, and as it rolled away +something went fluttering to the ground behind. Everybody was looking +after the Concord at the moment--everybody but Downs, who quickly +stooped, picked up the thing, and turned hurriedly away. I believe he +had this scarf when he deserted and that he has fallen into the hands +of the Apaches." + +Byrne looked at the post commander without speaking. The color had +mounted one moment to the major's face, then left him pallid as +before. The hunted, haggard, weary look about his eyes had deepened. +That was all. The longer he lived, the longer he served about this +woebegone spot in mid Arizona, the more he realized the influence for +evil that handmaid of Shaitan seemed to exert over his vain, shallow, +yet beautiful and beloved wife. Against it he had wrought and pleaded +in vain. Elise had been with them since her babyhood, was his wife's +almost indignant reply. Elise had been faithful to her--devoted to her +all her life. Elise was indispensable; the only being that kept her +from going mad with home-sickness and misery in that God-forsaken +clime. Sobs and tears wound up each interview and, like many a +stronger man, Plume had succumbed. It might, indeed, be cruel to rob +her of Elise, the last living link that bound her to the blessed +memories of her childhood, and he only mildly strove to point out to +her how oddly, yet persistently, her good name had suffered through +the words and deeds of this flighty, melodramatic Frenchwoman. +Something of her baleful influence he had seen and suspected before +ever they came to their exile, but here at Sandy, with full force he +realized the extent of her machinations. Clarice was not the woman to +go prowling about the quarters in the dead hours of the night, no +matter how nervous and sleepless at home. Clarice was not the woman to +be having back-door conferences with the servants of other households, +much less the "striker" of an officer with whose name hers, as a +maiden, had once been linked. He recalled with a shudder the events of +the night that sent the soldier Mullins to hospital, robbed of his +wits, if not of his life. He recalled with dread the reluctant +admissions of the doctor and of Captain Wren. Sleep-walking, indeed! +Clarice never elsewhere at any time had shown somnambulistic symptoms. +It was Elise beyond doubt who had lured her forth for some purpose he +could neither foil nor fathom. It was Elise who kept up this +discreditable and mysterious commerce with Downs,--something that had +culminated in the burning of Blakely's home, with who knows what +evidence,--something that had terminated only with Downs's mad +desertion and probable death. All this and more went flashing through +his mind as Miss Wren finished her brief and significant story, and it +dawned upon him that, whatever it might be to others, the death of +Downs--to him, and to her whom he loved and whose honor he +cherished--was anything but a calamity, a thing to mourn. Too +generous to say the words, he yet turned with lightened heart and met +Byrne's searching eyes, then those of Miss Wren now fixed upon him +with austere challenge, as though she would say the flight and fate of +this friendless soldier were crimes to be laid only at his door. + +Byrne saw the instant distress in his comrade's face, and, glancing +from him to her, almost in the same instant saw the inciting cause. +Byrne had one article of faith if he lacked the needful thirty-nine. +Women had no place in official affairs, no right to meddle in official +matters, and what he said on the spur of his rising resentment was +intended for her, though spoken to him. "So Downs skipped eastward, +did he, and the Apaches got him! Well, Plume, that saves us a +hanging." And Miss Wren turned away in wrath unspeakable. + +That Downs had "skipped eastward" received further confirmation with +the coming day, when Wales Arnold rode into the fort from a personally +conducted scout up the Beaver. Riding out with Captain Stout's party, +he had paid a brief visit to his, for the time, abandoned ranch, and +was surprised to find there, unmolested, the two persons and all the +property he had left the day he hurried wife and household to the +shelter of the garrison. The two persons were half-breed Jose and his +Hualpai squaw. They had been with the Arnolds five long years, were +known to all the Apaches, and had ever been in highest favor with them +because of the liberality with which they dispensed the _largesse_ of +their employer. Never went an Indian empty-stomached from their door. +All the stock Wales had time to gather he had driven in to Sandy. All +that was left Jose had found and corraled. Just one quadruped was +missing--Arnold's old mustang saddler, Dobbin. Jose said he had been +gone from the first and with him an old bridle and saddle. No Indian +took him, said he. It was a soldier. He had found "government boot +tracks" in the sand. Then Downs and Dobbin had gone together, but only +Dobbin might they ever look to see again. + +It had been arranged between Byrne and Captain Stout that the little +relief column should rest in a deep canon beyond the springs from +which the Beaver took its source, and, later in the afternoon, push on +again on the long, stony climb toward the plateau of the upper +Mogollon. There stood, about twenty-five miles out from the post on a +bee line to the northeast, a sharp, rocky peak just high enough above +the fringing pines and cedars to be distinctly visible by day from the +crest of the nearest foothills west of the flagstaff. Along the sunset +face of this gleaming _picacho_ there was a shelf or ledge that had +often been used by the Apaches for signaling purposes; the renegades +communicating with their kindred about the agency up the valley. +Invisible from the level of Camp Sandy, these fires by night, or smoke +and flashes by day, reached only those for whom they were +intended--the Apaches at the reservation; but Stout, who had known the +neighborhood since '65, had suggested that lookouts equipped with +binoculars be placed on the high ground back of the post. Inferior to +the savage in the craft, we had no code of smoke, fire, or, at that +time, even sun-flash signal, but it was arranged that one blaze was to +mean "Unmolested thus far." Two blazes, a few yards apart, would mean +"Important news by runner." In the latter event Plume was to push out +forty or fifty men in dispersed order to meet and protect the runner +in case he should be followed, or possibly headed off, by hostile +tribesmen. Only six Indian allies had gone with Stout and he had eyed +them with marked suspicion and disfavor. They, too, were Apache Yumas. +The day wore on slowly, somberly. All sound of life, melody, or +merriment had died out at Camp Sandy. Even the hounds seemed to feel +that a cloud of disaster hung over the garrison. Only at rare +intervals some feminine shape flitted along the line of deserted +verandas--some woman on a mission of mercy to some mourning, +sore-troubled sister among the scattered households. For several hours +before high noon the wires from Prescott had been hot with demand for +news, and with messages from Byrne or Plume to department +headquarters. At meridian, however, there came a lull, and at 2 P. M. +a break. Somewhere to the west the line was snapped and down. At 2.15 +two linesmen galloped forth to find and repair damages, half a dozen +"doughboys" on a buckboard going as guard. Otherwise, all day long, no +soldier left the post, and when darkness settled down, the anxious +operator, seated at his keyboard, was still unable to wake the spirit +of the gleaming copper thread that spanned the westward wilderness. + +All Sandy was wakeful, out on the broad parade, or the officers' +verandas, and gazing as one man or woman at the bold, black upheaval a +mile behind the post, at whose summit twinkled a tiny star, a single +lantern, telling of the vigil of Plume's watchers. If Stout made even +fair time he should have reached the _picacho_ at dusk, and now it was +nearly nine and not a glimmer of fire had been seen at the appointed +rendezvous. Nine passed and 9.15, and at 9.30 the fifes and drums of +the Eighth turned out and began the long, weird complaint of the +tattoo. Nobody wished to go to bed. Why not sound reveille and let +them sit up all night, if they chose? It was far better than tossing +sleepless through the long hours to the dawn. It was nearly time for +"taps"--lights out--when a yell went up from the parade and all Sandy +started to its feet. All on a sudden the spark at the lookout bluff +began violently to dance, and a dozen men tore out of garrison, eager +to hear the news. They were met halfway by a sprinting corporal, whom +they halted with eager demand for his news. "_Two_ blazes!" he panted, +"two! I must get in to the major at once!" Five minutes more the +Assembly, not Taps, was sounding. Plume was sending forth his fifty +rescuers, and with them, impatient for tidings from the far front, +went Byrne, the major himself following as soon as he could change to +riding dress. The last seen of the little command was the glinting of +the starlight on the gun barrels as they forded the rippling stream +and took the trail up the narrow, winding valley of the Beaver. + +It was then a little after ten o'clock. The wire to Prescott was still +unresponsive. Nothing had been heard from the linesmen and their +escort, indicating that the break was probably far over as the Agua +Fria. Not a sign, except Stout's signal blazes at the _picacho_, had +been gathered from the front. Camp Sandy was cut off from the world, +and the actual garrison left to guard the post and protect the women, +children and the sick as eleven o'clock drew nigh, was exactly forty +men of the fighting force. It was believed that Stout's couriers would +make the homeward run, very nearly, by the route the pack-train took +throughout the day, and if they succeeded in evading hostile scouts or +parties, would soon appear about some of the breaks of the upper +Beaver. Thither, therefore, with all possible speed Plume had directed +his men, promising Mrs. Sanders, as he rode away, that the moment a +runner was encountered he would send a light rider at the gallop, on +his own good horse--that not a moment should be lost in bearing them +the news. + +But midnight came without a sign. Long before that hour, as though by +common impulse, almost all the women of the garrison had gathered +about Truman's quarters, now the northernmost of the row and in plain +view of the confluence of the Sandy and the Beaver. Dr. Graham, who +had been swinging to and fro between the limits of the Shaughnessys' +and the hospital, stopped to speak with them a moment and gently drew +Angela to one side. His grave and rugged face was sweet in its +tenderness as he looked down into her brimming eyes. "Can you not be +content at home, my child?" he murmured. "You seem like one of my own +bairns, Angela, now that your brave father is afield, and I want to +have his bonnie daughter looking her best against the home-coming. +Surely Aunt Janet will bring you the news the moment any comes, and +I'll bid Kate Sanders bide with you!" + +No, she would not--she could not go home. Like every other soul in all +Camp Sandy she seemed to long to be just there. Some few had even gone +out further, beyond the sentries, to the point of the low bluff, and +there, chatting only in whispers, huddled together, listening in +anxiety inexpressible for the muffled sound of galloping hoofs on soft +and sandy shore. No, she _dare_ not, for within the four walls of that +little white room what dreams and visions had the girl not seen? and, +wakening shuddering, had clung to faithful Kate and sobbed her heart +out in those clasping, tender, loyal arms. No beauty, indeed, was +Kate, as even her fond mother ruefully admitted, but there was that in +her great, gentle, unselfish heart that made her beloved by one and +all. Yet Kate had pleaded with Angela in vain. Some strange, forceful +mood had seized the girl and steeled and strengthened her against even +Janet Wren's authority. She would not leave the little band of +watchers. She was there when, toward half-past twelve, at last the +message came. Plume's own horse came tearing through the flood, and +panting, reeking, trembling into their midst, and his rider, little +Fifer Lanigan, of Company "C," sprang from saddle and thrust his +dispatch into Truman's outstretched hand. + +With women and children crowding about him, and men running to the +scene from every side, by the light of a lantern held in a soldier's +shaking hand, he read aloud the contents: + + "BIVOUAC AT PICACHO, 9 P. M. + + "C. O. CAMP SANDY: + + "Reached this point after hard march, but no active + opposition, at 8 P. M. First party sent to build fire on + ledge driven in by hostiles. Corporal Welch shot through + left side--serious. Threw out skirmishers and drove them off + after some firing, and about 9.20 came suddenly upon Indian + boy crouching among rocks, who held up folded paper which I + have read and forward herewith. We shall, of course, turn + toward Snow Lake, taking boy as guide. March at 3 A. M. Will + do everything possible to reach Wren on time. + + (Signed) "STOUT, Commanding." + +Within was another slip, grimy and with dark stains. And Truman's +voice well-nigh failed him as he read: + + "November --th. + + "C. O. CAMP SANDY: + + "Through a friendly Apache who was with me at the + reservation I learned that Captain Wren was lying wounded, + cut off from his troop and with only four of his men, in a + canon southwest of Snow Lake. With Indian for guide we + succeeded reaching him second night, but are now surrounded, + nearly out of ammunition and rations. Three more of our + party are wounded and one, Trooper Kent, killed. If not + rushed can hold out perhaps three days more, but Wren sorely + needs surgical aid. + + (Signed) "BLAKELY." + +That was all. The Bugologist with his one orderly, and apparently +without the Apache Yuma scouts, had gone straightway to the rescue of +Wren. Now all were cut off and surrounded by a wily foe that counted +on, sooner or later, overcoming and annihilating them, and even by the +time the Indian runner slipped out (some faithful spirit won by +Blakely's kindness and humanity when acting agent), the defense had +been reduced just one-half. Thank God that Stout with his supplies and +stalwart followers was not more than two days' march away, and was +going straightway to the rescue! + +It was nearly two when Plume and his half-hundred came drifting back +to the garrison, and even then some few of the watchers were along the +bluff. Janet Wren, having at last seen pale-faced, silent Angela to +her room and bed, with Kate Sanders on guard, had again gone forth to +extract such further information as Major Plume might have. Even at +that hour men were at work in the corrals, fitting saddles to half a +dozen spare horses,--about all that were left at the post,--and Miss +Wren learned that Colonel Byrne, with an orderly or two, had remained +at Arnold's ranch,--that Arnold himself, with six horsemen from the +post, was to set forth at four, join the colonel at dawn, and together +all were to push forward on the trail of Stout's command, hoping to +overtake them by nightfall. She whispered this to sleepless Kate on +her return to the house, for Angela, exhausted with grief and long +suspense, had fallen, apparently, into deep and dreamless slumber. + +But the end of that eventful night was not yet. Arnold and his +sextette slipped away soon after four o'clock, and about 4.50 there +came a banging at the major's door. It was the telegraph operator. The +wire was patched at last, and the first message was to the effect that +the guard had been fired on in Cherry Creek canon--that Private +Forrest was sorely wounded and lying at Dick's deserted ranch, with +two of their number to care for him. Could they possibly send a +surgeon at once? + +There was no one to go but Graham. His patients at the post were doing +fairly well, but there wasn't a horse for him to ride. "No matter," +said he, "I'll borrow Punch. He's needing exercise these days." So +Punch was ordered man-saddled and brought forthwith. The orderly came +back in ten minutes. "Punch aint there, sir," said he. "He's been gone +over half an hour." + +"Gone? Gone where? Gone how?" asked Graham in amaze. + +"Gone with Miss Angela, sir. She saddled him herself and rode away not +twenty minutes after Arnold's party left. The sentries say she +followed up the Beaver." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BESIEGED + + +Deep down in a ragged cleft of the desert, with shelving rock and +giant bowlder on every side, without a sign of leaf, or sprig of +grass, or tendril of tiny creeping plant, a little party of haggard, +hunted men lay in hiding and in the silence of exhaustion and despond, +awaiting the inevitable. Bulging outward overhead, like the counter of +some huge battleship, a great mass of solid granite heaved unbroken +above them, forming a recess or cave, in which they were secure +against arrow, shot, or stone from the crest of the lofty, almost +vertical walls of the vast and gloomy canon. Well back under this +natural shelter, basined in the hollowed rock, a blessed pool of fair +water lay unwrinkled by even a flutter of breeze. Relic of the early +springtime and the melting snows, it had been caught and imprisoned +here after the gradually failing stream had trickled itself into +nothingness. One essential, one comfort then had not been denied the +beleaguered few, but it was about the only one. Water for drink, for +fevered wounds and burning throats, they had in abundance; but the +last "hardtack" had been shared, the last scrap of bacon long since +devoured. Of the once-abundant rations only coffee grains were left. +Of the cartridge-crammed "thimble belts," with which they had entered +the canon and the Apache trap, only three contained so much as a +single copper cylinder, stopped by its forceful lead. These three +belonged to troopers, two of whom, at least, would never have use for +them again. One of these, poor Jerry Kent, lay buried beneath the +little cairn of rocks in still another cavelike recess a dozen yards +away, hidden there by night, when prowling Apaches could not see the +sorrowing burial party and crush them with bowlders heaved over the +precipice above, or shoot them down with whistling lead or +steel-tipped arrow from some safe covert in the rocky walls. + +Cut off from their comrades while scouting a side ravine, Captain Wren +and his quartette of troopers had made stiff and valiant fight against +such of the Indians as permitted hand or head to show from behind the +rocks. They had felt confident that Sergeant Brewster and the main +body would speedily miss them, or hear the sound of firing and turn +back _au secours_, but sounds are queerly carried in such a maze of +deep and tortuous clefts as seamed the surface in every conceivable +direction through the wild basin of the Colorado. Brewster's rearmost +files declared long after that never the faintest whisper of affray +had reached their ears, already half deadened by fatigue and the +ceaseless crash of iron-shod hoofs on shingly rock. As for Brewster +himself, he was able to establish that Wren's own orders were to "push +ahead" and try to make Sunset Pass by nightfall, while the captain, +with such horses as seemed freshest, scouted right and left wherever +possible. The last seen of Jerry Kent, it later transpired, was when +he came riding after them to say the captain had gone into the mouth +of the gorge opening to the west, and the last message borne from the +commander to the troop came through Jerry Kent to Sergeant Dusold, who +brought up the rear. They had passed the mouths of half a dozen +ravines within the hour, some on one side, some on the other, and +Dusold "passed the word" by sending Corporal Slater clattering up the +canon, skirting the long drawn-out column of files until, far in the +lead, he could overtake the senior sergeant and deliver his message. +Later, when Brewster rode back with all but the little guard left over +his few broken-down men and mounts in Sunset Pass, Dusold could +confidently locate in his own mind the exact spot where Kent overtook +him; but Dusold was a drill-book dragoon of the Prussian school, +consummately at home on review or parade, but all at sea, so to speak, +in the mountains. They never found a trace of their loved leader. The +clefts they scouted were all on the wrong side. + +And so it happened that relief came not, that one after another the +five horses fell, pierced with missiles or crushed and stunned by +rocks crashing down from above, that Kent himself was shot through the +brain, and Wren skewered through the arm by a Tonto shaft, and plugged +with a round rifle ball in the shoulder. Sergeant Carmody bound up his +captain's wound as best he could, and by rare good luck, keeping up a +bold front, and answering every shot, they fought their way to this +little refuge in the rocks, and there, behind improvised barricades or +bowlders, "stood off" their savage foe, hoping rescue might soon reach +them. + +But Wren was nearly wild from wounds and fever when the third day came +and no sign of the troop. Another man had been hit and stung, and +though not seriously wounded, like a burnt child, he now shunned the +fire and became, perforce, an ineffective. Their scanty store of +rations was gone entirely. Sergeant Carmody and his alternate watchers +were worn out from lack of sleep when, in the darkness of midnight, a +low hail in their own tongue came softly through the dead +silence,--the voice of Lieutenant Blakely cautioning, "Don't fire, +Wren. It's the Bugologist," and in another moment he and his orderly +afoot, in worn Apache moccasins, but equipped with crammed haversacks +and ammunition belts, were being welcomed by the besieged. There was +little of the emotional and nothing of the melodramatic about it. It +was, if anything, rather commonplace. Wren was flighty and disposed to +give orders for an immediate attack in force on the enemy's works, to +which the sergeant, his lips trembling just a bit, responded with +prompt salute: "Very good, sir, just as quick as the men can finish +supper. Loot'nent Blakely's compliments, sir, and he'll be ready in +ten minutes," for Blakely and his man, seeing instantly the condition +of things, had freshened the little fire and begun unloading supplies. +Solalay, their Indian guide, after piloting them through the woodland +southwest of Snow Lake, had pointed out the canon, bidden them follow +it and, partly in the sign language, partly in Spanish, partly in the +few Apache terms that Blakely had learned during his agency days, +managed to make them understand that Wren was to be found some five +miles further on, and that most of the besieging Tontos were on the +heights above or in the canon below. Few would be encountered, if any, +on the up-stream side. Then, promising to take the horses and the +mules to Camp Sandy, he had left them. He dared go no farther toward +the warring Apaches. They would suspect and butcher him without mercy. + +But Solalay had not gone without promise of further aid. Natzie's +younger brother, Alchisay, had recently come to him with a message +from her, and should be coming with another. Solalay thought he could +find the boy and send him to them to be used as a courier. Blakely's +opportune coming had cheered not a little the flagging defense, but, +not until forty-eight hours thereafter, by which time their condition +had become almost desperate and the foe almost daring, did the lithe, +big-eyed, swarthy little Apache reach them. Blakely knew him +instantly, wrote his dispatch and bade the boy go with all speed, with +the result we know. "Three more of our party are wounded," he had +written, but had not chosen to say that one of them was himself. + +A solemn sight was this that met the eyes of the Bugologist, as +Carmody roused him from a fitful sleep, with the murmured words, +"Almost light, sir. They'll be on us soon as they can see." Deep in +under the overhang and close to the pool lay one poor fellow whose +swift, gasping breath told all too surely that the Indian bullet had +found fatal billet in his wasting form. It was Chalmers, a young +Southerner, driven by poverty at home and prospect of adventure abroad +to seek service in the cavalry. It was practically his first campaign, +and in all human probability his last. Consciousness had left him +hours ago, and his vagrant spirit was fast loosing every earthly bond, +and already, in fierce dreamings, at war with unseen and savage foe +over their happy hunting grounds in the great Beyond. Near him, +equally sheltered, yet further toward the dim and pallid light, lay +Wren, his strong Scotch features pinched and drawn with pain and loss +of blood and lack of food. Fever there was little left, there was so +little left for it to live upon. Weak and helpless as a child in arms +he lay, inert and silent. There was nothing he could do. Never a +quarter hour had passed since he had been forced to lie there that +some one of his devoted men had not bathed his forehead and cooled his +burning wounds with abundant flow of blessed water. Twice since his +gradual return to consciousness had he asked for Blakely, and had +bidden him sit and tell him of Sandy, asking for tidings of Angela, +and faltering painfully as he bethought himself of the last +instructions he had given. How could Blakely be supposed to know aught +of her or of the household bidden to treat him practically as a +stranger? Now, he thought it grand that the Bugologist had thrown all +consideration of peril to the wind and had hastened to their aid to +share their desperate fortunes. But Wren knew not how to tell of it. +He took courage and hope when Blakely spoke of Solalay's loyalty, of +young Alchisay's daring visit and his present mission. Apaches of his +band had been known to traverse sixty miles a day over favorable +ground, and Alchisay, even through such a labyrinth of rock, ravine, +and precipice, should not make less than thirty. Within forty-eight +hours of his start the boy ought to reach the Sandy valley, and surely +no moment would then be lost in sending troops to find and rescue +them. But four days and nights, said Blakely to himself, was the least +time in which they could reasonably hope for help, and now only the +third night had gone,--gone with their supplies of every kind. A few +hours more and the sun would be blazing in upon even the dank depths +of the canon for his midday stare. A few minutes more and the Apaches, +too, would be up and blazing on their own account. "Keep well under +shelter," were Blakely's murmured orders to the few men, even as the +first, faint breath of the dawn came floating from the broader reaches +far down the rocky gorge. + +In front of their cavelike refuge, just under the shelving mass +overhead, heaped in a regular semicircle, a rude parapet of rocks gave +shelter to the troopers guarding the approaches. Little loopholes had +been left, three looking down and two northward up the dark and tortuous +rift. In each of these a loaded carbine lay in readiness. So well chosen +was the spot that for one hundred yards southeastward--down stream--the +narrow gorge was commanded by the fire of the defense, while above, for +nearly eighty, from wall to wall, the approach was similarly swept. No +rush was therefore possible on part of the Apaches without every +probability of their losing two or three of the foremost. The Apache +lacks the magnificent daring of the Sioux or Cheyenne. He is a fighter +from ambush; he risks nothing for glory's sake; he is a monarch in craft +and guile, but no hero in open battle. For nearly a week now, day after +day, the position of the defenders had been made almost terrible by the +fierce bombardment to which it had been subjected, of huge stones or +bowlders sent thundering down the almost precipitous walls, then +bounding from ledge to ledge, or glancing from solid, sloping face +diving, finally, with fearful crash into the rocky bed at the bottom, +sending a shower of fragments hurtling in every direction, oft +dislodging some section of parapet, yet never reaching the depths of the +cave. Add to this nerve-racking siege work the instant, spiteful flash +of barbed arrow or zip and crack of bullet when hat or hand of one of +the defenders was for a second exposed, and it is not difficult to fancy +the wear and tear on even the stoutest heart in the depleted little +band. + +And still they set their watch and steeled their nerves, and in dogged +silence took their station as the pallid light grew roseate on the +cliffs above them. And with dull and wearied, yet wary, eyes, each +soldier scanned every projecting rock or point that could give shelter +to lurking foe, and all the time the brown muzzles of the carbines +were trained low along the stream bed. No shot could now be thrown +away at frowsy turban or flaunting rag along the cliffs. The rush was +the one thing they had to dread and drive back. It was God's mercy the +Apache dared not charge in the dark. + +[Illustration: THE FIGHT IN THE CANON] + +Lighter grew the deep gorge and lighter still, and soon in glorious +radiance the morning sunshine blazed on the lofty battlements far +overhead, and every moment the black shadow on the westward wall, +visible to the defense long rifle-shot southeastward, gave gradual way +before the rising day god, and from the broader open reaches beyond the +huge granite shoulder, around which wound the canon, and from the +sun-kissed heights, a blessed warmth stole softly in, grateful +inexpressibly to their chilled and stiffened limbs. And still, despite +the growing hours, neither shot nor sign came from the accustomed haunts +of the surrounding foe. Six o'clock was marked by Blakely's watch. Six +o'clock and seven, and the low moan from the lips of poor young +Chalmers, or the rattle of some pebble dislodged by the foot of +crouching guardian, or some murmured word from man to man,--some word of +wonderment at the unlooked for lull in Apache siege operations,--was the +only sound to break the almost deathlike silence of the morning. There +was one other, far up among the stunted, shriveled pines and cedars that +jutted from the opposite heights. They could hear at intervals a weird, +mournful note, a single whistling call in dismal minor, but it brought +no new significance. Every day of their undesired and enforced sojourn, +every hour of the interminable day, that raven-like, hermit bird of the +Sierras had piped his unmelodious signal to some distant feathered +fellow, and sent a chill to the heart of more than one war-tried +soldier. There was never a man in Arizona wilds that did not hate the +sound of it. And yet, as eight o'clock was noted and still no sight or +sound of assailant came, Sergeant Carmody turned a wearied, aching eye +from his loophole and muttered to the officer crouching close beside +him: "I could wring the neck of the lot of those infernal cat crows, +sir, but I'll thank God if we hear no worse sound this day." + +Blakely rose to his feet and wearily leaned upon the breastworks, +peering cautiously over. Yesterday the sight of a scouting hat would +have brought instant whiz of arrow, but not a missile saluted him now. +One arm, his left, was rudely bandaged and held in a sling, a rifle +ball from up the cliff, glancing from the inner face of the parapet, +had torn savagely through muscle and sinew, but mercifully scored +neither artery nor bone. An arrow, whizzing blindly through a +southward loophole, had grazed his cheek, ripping a straight red seam +far back as the lobe of the ear, which had been badly torn. Blakely +had little the look of a squire of dames as, thus maimed and scarred +and swathed in blood-stained cotton, he peered down the deep and +shadowy cleft and searched with eyes keen, if yet unskilled, every +visible section of the opposite wall. What could their silence mean? +Had they found other game, pitifully small in numbers as these +besieged, and gone to butcher them, knowing well that, hampered by +their wounded, these, their earlier victims, could not hope to escape? +Had they got warning of the approach of some strong force of +soldiery--Brewster scouting in search of them, or may be Sanders +himself? Had they slipped away, therefore, and could the besieged dare +to creep forth and shout, signal, or even fire away two or three of +these last precious cartridges in hopes of catching the ear of +searching comrades? + +Wren, exhausted, had apparently dropped into a fitful doze. His eyes +were shut, his lips were parted, his long, lean fingers twitched at +times as a tremor seemed to shoot through his entire frame. Another +day like the last or at worst like this, without food or nourishment, +and even such rugged strength as had been his would be taxed to the +utmost. There might be no to-morrow for the sturdy soldier who had so +gallantly served his adopted country, his chosen flag. As for +Chalmers, the summons was already come. Far from home and those who +most loved and would sorely grieve for him, the brave lad was dying. +Carmody, kneeling by his side, but the moment before had looked up +mutely in his young commander's face, and his swimming, sorrowing eyes +had told the story. + +Nine o'clock had come without a symptom of alarm or enemy from +without, yet death had invaded the lonely refuge in the rocks, +claiming one victim as his tribute for the day and setting his seal +upon still another, the prospective sacrifice for the dismal morrow, +and Blakely could stand the awful strain no longer. + +"Sergeant," said he, "I must know what this means. We must have help +for the captain before this sun goes down, or he may be gone before we +know it." + +And Carmody looked him in the face and answered: "I am strong yet and +unhurt. Let me make the try, sir. Some of our fellows must be scouting +near us, or these beggars wouldn't have quit. I can find the boys, if +anyone can." + +Blakely turned and gazed one moment into the deep and dark recess +where lay his wounded and the dying. The morning wind had freshened a +bit, and a low, murmurous song, nature's AEolian, came softly from the +swaying pine and stunted oak and juniper far on high. The whiff that +swept to their nostrils from the lower depths of the canon told its +own grewsome tale. There, scattered along the stream bed, lay the +festering remains of their four-footed comrades, first victims of the +ambuscade. Death lurked about their refuge then on every side, and was +even invading their little fortress. Was this to be the end, after +all? Was there neither help nor hope from any source? + +Turning once again, a murmured prayer upon his lips, Blakely started +at sight of Carmody. With one hand uplifted, as though to caution +silence, the other concaved at his ear, the sergeant was bending +eagerly forward, his eyes dilating, his frame fairly quivering. Then, +on a sudden, up he sprang and swung his hat about his head. "Firing, +sir! Firing, sure!" he cried. Another second, and with a gasp and moan +he sank to earth transfixed; a barbed arrow, whizzing from unseen +space, had pierced him through and through. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +WHERE IS ANGELA? + + +For a moment as they drew under shelter the stricken form of the +soldier, there was nothing the defense could do but dodge. Then, +leaving him at the edge of the pool, and kicking before them the one +cowed and cowering shirker of the little band, Blakely and the single +trooper still unhit, crept back to the rocky parapet, secured a +carbine each and knelt, staring up the opposite wall in search of the +foe. And not a sign of Apache could they see. + +Yet the very slant of the arrow as it pierced the young soldier, the +new angle at which the bullets bounded from the stony crest, the +lower, flatter flight of the barbed missiles that struck fire from the +flinty rampart, all told the same story. The Indians during the hours +of darkness, even while dreading to charge, had managed to crawl, +snake-like, to lower levels along the cliff and to creep closer up the +stream bed, and with stealthy, noiseless hands to rear little shelters +of stone, behind which they were now crouching invisible and secure. +With the illimitable patience of their savage training they had then +waited, minute after minute, hour after hour, until, lulled at last +into partial belief that their deadly foe had slipped away, some of +the defenders should be emboldened to venture into view, and then one +well-aimed volley at the signal from the leader's rifle, and the +vengeful shafts of those who had as yet only the native weapon, would +fall like lightning stroke upon the rash ones, and that would end it. +Catlike they had crouched and watched since early dawn. Catlike they +had played the old game of apparent weariness of the sport, of +forgetfulness of their prey and tricked their guileless victims into +hope and self-exposure, then swooped again, and the gallant lad whose +last offer and effort had been to set forth in desperate hope of +bringing relief to the suffering, had paid for his valor with his +life. One arrow at least had gone swift and true, one shaft that, +launched, perhaps, two seconds too soon for entire success, had barely +anticipated the leader's signal and spoiled the scheme of bagging all +the game. Blakely's dive to save his fallen comrade had just saved his +own head, for rock chips and spattering lead flew on every side, +scratching, but not seriously wounding him. + +And then, when they "thought on vengeance" and the three brown muzzles +swept the opposite wall, there followed a moment of utter silence, +broken only by the faint gasping of the dying man. "Creep back to +Carmody, you," muttered Blakely to the trembling lad beside him. "You +are of no account here unless they try to charge. Give him water, +quick." Then to Stern, his one unhurt man, "You heard what he said +about distant firing. Did you hear it?" + +"Not I, sir, but I believe _they_ did--an' be damned to them!" And +Stern's eyes never left the opposite cliff, though his ears were +strained to catch the faintest sound from the lower canon. It was +there they last had seen the troop. It was from that direction help +should come. "Watch them, but don't waste a shot, man. I must speak to +Carmody," said Blakely, under his breath, as he backed on hands and +knees, a painful process when one is sore wounded. Trembling, +whimpering like whipped child, the poor, spiritless lad sent to the +aid of the stricken and heroic, crouched by the sergeant's side, +vainly striving to pour water from a clumsy canteen between the +sufferer's pallid lips. Carmody presently sucked eagerly at the +cooling water, and even in his hour of dissolution seemed far the +stronger, sturdier of the two--seemed to feel so infinite a pity for +his shaken comrade. Bleeding internally, as was evident, transfixed by +the cruel shaft they did not dare attempt to withdraw, even if the +barbed steel would permit, and drooping fainter with each swift +moment, he was still conscious, still brave and uncomplaining. His +dimmed and mournful eyes looked up in mute appeal to his young +commander. He knew that he was going fast, and that whatever rescue +might come to these, his surviving fellow-soldiers, there would be +none for him; and yet in his supreme moment he seemed to read the +question on Blakely's lips, and his words, feeble and broken, were +framed to answer. + +"Couldn't--you hear 'em, lieutenant?" he gasped. "I can't +be--mistaken. I know--the old--Springfield _sure_! I heard 'em way +off--south--a dozen shots," and then a spasm of agony choked him, and +he turned, writhing, to hide the anguish on his face. Blakely grasped +the dying soldier's hand, already cold and limp and nerveless, and +then his own voice seemed, too, to break and falter. + +"Don't try to talk, Carmody; don't try! Of course you are right. It +must be some of our people. They'll reach us soon. Then we'll have the +doctor and can help you. Those saddle-bags!" he said, turning sharply +to the whimpering creature kneeling by them, and the lad drew hand +across his streaming eyes and passed the worn leather pouches. From +one of them Blakely drew forth a flask, poured some brandy into its +cup and held it to the soldier's lips. Carmody swallowed almost +eagerly. He seemed to crave a little longer lease of life. There was +something tugging at his heartstrings, and presently he turned slowly, +painfully again. "Lieutenant," he gasped, "I'm not scared to die--this +way anyhow. There's no one to care--but the boys--but there's one +thing"--and now the stimulant seemed to reach the failing heart and +give him faint, fluttering strength--"there's one thing I ought--I +ought to tell. You've been solid with the boys--you're square, and I'm +not--I haven't always been. Lieutenant--I was on guard--the night of +the fire--and Elise, you know--the French girl--she--she's got most +all I saved--most all I--won, but she was trickin' me--all the time, +lieutenant--me and Downs that's gone--and others. She didn't care. +You--you aint the only one I--I--" + +"Lieutenant!" came in excited whisper, the voice of Stern, and there +at his post in front of the cave he knelt, signaling urgently. +"Lieutenant, quick!" + +"One minute, Carmody! I've got to go. Tell me a little later." But +with dying strength Carmody clung to his hand. + +"I must tell you, lieutenant--now. It wasn't Downs's fault. She--she +made--" + +"Lieutenant, quick! for God's sake! They're coming!" cried the voice +of the German soldier at the wall, and wrenching his wrist from the +clasp of the dying man, Blakely sprang recklessly to his feet and to +the mouth of the cave just as Stern's carbine broke the stillness with +resounding roar. Half a dozen rifles barked their instant echo among +the rocks. From up the hillside rose a yell of savage hate and another +of warning. Then from behind their curtaining rocks half a dozen dusky +forms, their dirty white breechclouts streaming behind them, sprang +suddenly into view and darted, with goatlike ease and agility, +zigzagging up the eastward wall. It was a foolish thing to do, but +Blakely followed with a wasted shot, aimed one handed from the +shoulder, before he could regain command of his judgment. In thirty +seconds the cliff was as bare of Apaches as but the moment before it +had been dotted. Something, in the moment when their savage plans and +triumph seemed secure, had happened to alarm the entire party. With +warning shouts and signals they were scurrying out of the deep ravine, +scattering, apparently, northward. But even as they fled to higher +ground there was order and method in their retreat. While several of +their number clambered up the steep, an equal number lurked in their +covert, and Blakely's single shot was answered instantly by half a +dozen, the bullets striking and splashing on the rocks, the arrows +bounding or glancing furiously. Stern ducked within, out of the storm. +Blakely, flattening like hunted squirrel close to the parapet, flung +down his empty carbine and strove to reach another, lying loaded at +the southward loophole, and at the outstretched hand there whizzed an +arrow from aloft whose guiding feather fairly seared the skin, so +close came the barbed messenger. Then up the height rang out a shrill +cry, some word of command in a voice that had a familiar tang to it, +and that was almost instantly obeyed, for, under cover of sharp, +well-aimed fire from aloft, from the shelter of projecting rock or +stranded bowlder, again there leaped into sight a few scattered, +sinewy forms that rushed in bewildering zigzag up the steep, until +safe beyond their supports, when they, too, vanished, and again the +cliff stood barren of Apache foemen as the level of the garrison +parade. It was science in savage warfare against which the drill book +of the cavalry taught no method whatsoever. Another minute and even +the shots had ceased. One glimpse more had Blakely of dingy, trailing +breechclouts, fluttering in the breeze now stirring the fringing pines +and cedars, and all that was left of the late besiegers came +clattering down the rocks in the shape of an Indian shield. Stern +would have scrambled out to nab it, but was ordered down. "Back, you +idiot, or they'll have you next!" And then they heard the feeble +voice of Wren, pleading for water and demanding to be lifted to the +light. The uproar of the final volley had roused him from an almost +deathlike stupor, and he lay staring, uncomprehending, at Carmody, +whose glazing eyes were closed, whose broken words had ceased. The +poor fellow was drifting away into the shadows with his story still +untold. + +"Watch here, Stern, but keep under cover," cried Blakely. "I'll see to +the captain. Listen for any shot or sound, but hold your fire," and +then he turned to his barely conscious senior and spoke to him as he +would to a helpless child. Again he poured a little brandy in his cup. +Again he held it to ashen lips and presently saw the faint flutter of +reviving strength. "Lie still just a moment or two, Wren," he murmured +soothingly. "Lie still. Somebody's coming. The troop is not far off. +You'll soon have help and home and--Angela"--even then his tongue +faltered at her name. And Wren heard and with eager eyes questioned +imploringly. The quivering lips repeated huskily the name of the child +he loved. "Angela--where?" + +"Home--safe--where you shall be soon, old fellow, only--brace up now. +I must speak one moment with Carmody," and to Carmody eagerly he +turned. "You were speaking of Elise and the fire--of Downs, sergeant +----" His words were slow and clear and distinct, for the soldier had +drifted far away and must be recalled. "Tell me again. What was it?" + +But only faint, swift gasping answered him. Carmody either heard not, +or, hearing, was already past all possibility of reply. "Speak to me, +Carmody. Tell me what I can do for you?" he repeated. "What word to +Elise?" He thought the name might rouse him, and it did. A feeble hand +was uplifted, just an inch or two. The eyelids slowly fluttered, and +the dim, almost lifeless eyes looked pathetically up into those of the +young commander. There was a moment of almost breathless silence, +broken only by a faint moan from Wren's tortured lips and the childish +whimpering of that other--the half-crazed, terror-stricken soldier. + +"Elise," came the whisper, barely audible, as Carmody strove to lift his +head, "she--promised"--but the head sank back on Blakely's knee. Stern +was shouting at the stone gate--shouting and springing to his feet and +swinging his old scouting hat and gazing wildly down the canon. "For +God's sake hush, man!" cried the lieutenant. "I must hear Carmody." But +Stern was past further shouting now. Sinking on his knees, he was +sobbing aloud. Scrambling out into the daylight of the opening, but +still shrinking within its shelter, the half-crazed, half-broken soldier +stood stretching forth his arms and calling wild words down the echoing +gorge, where sounds of shouting, lusty-lunged, and a ringing order or +two, and then the clamor of carbine shots, told of the coming of rescue +and new life and hope, and food and friends, and still Blakely knelt and +circled that dying head with the one arm left him, and pleaded and +besought--even commanded. But never again would word or order stir the +soldier's willing pulse. The sergeant and his story had drifted +together beyond the veil, and Blakely, slowly rising, found the lighted +entrance swimming dizzily about him, first level and then up-ended; +found himself sinking, whither he neither knew nor cared; found the +canon filling with many voices, the sound of hurrying feet and then of +many rushing waters, and then--how was it that all was dark without the +cave, and lighted--lantern-lighted--here within? They had had no +lantern, no candle. Here were both, and here was a familiar face--old +Heartburn's--bending reassuringly over Wren, and someone was ----. Why, +where was Carmody? Gone! And but a moment ago that dying head was there +on his knee, and then it was daylight, too, and now--why, it must be +after nightfall, else why these lanterns? And then old Heartburn came +bending over him in turn, and then came a rejoiceful word: + +"Hello, Bugs! Well, it _is_ high time you woke up! Here, take a swig +of this!" + +Blakely drank and sat up presently, dazed, and Heartburn went on with +his cheery talk. "One of you men out there call Captain Stout. Tell +him Mr. Blakely's up and asking for him," and, feeling presently a +glow of warmth coursing in his veins, the Bugologist roused to a +sitting posture and began to mumble questions. And then a burly shadow +appeared at the entrance, black against the ruddy firelight in the +canon without, where other forms began to appear. Down on his knee +came Stout to clasp his one available hand and even clap him on the +back and send unwelcome jar through his fevered, swollen arm. "Good +boy, Bugs! You're coming round famously. We'll start you back to Sandy +in the morning, you and Wren, for nursing, petting, and all that sort +of thing. They are lashing the saplings now for your litters, and +we've sent for Graham, too, and he'll meet you on the the way, while +we shove on after Shield's people." + +"Shield--Raven Shield?" queried Blakely, still half dazed. "Shield was +killed--at Sandy," and yet there was the memory of the voice he knew +and heard in this very canon. + +"Shield, yes; and now his brother heads them. Didn't he send his card +down to you, after the donicks, and be damned to him? You foregathered +with both of them at the agency. Oh, they're all alike, Bugs, once +they're started on the warpath. Now we must get you out into the open +for a while. The air's better." + +And so, an hour later, his arm carefully dressed and bandaged, +comforted by needed food and fragrant tea and the news that Wren was +reviving under the doctor's ministrations, and would surely mend and +recover, Blakely lay propped by the fire and heard the story of +Stout's rush through the wilderness to their succor. Never waiting for +the dawn, after a few hours' rest at Beaver Spring, the sturdy +doughboys had eagerly followed their skilled and trusted leader all +the hours from eleven, stumbling, but never halting even for rest or +rations, and at last had found the trail four miles below in the +depths of the canon. There some scattering shots had met them, arrow +and rifle both, from up the heights, and an effort was made to delay +their progress. Wearied and footsore though were his men, they had +driven the scurrying foe from rock to rock and then, in a lull that +followed, had heard the distant sound of firing that told them whither +to follow on. Only one man, Stern, was able to give them coherent word +or welcome when at last they came, for Chalmers and Carmody lay dead, +Wren in a stupor, Blakely in a deathlike swoon, and "that poor chap +yonder" loony and hysterical as a crazy man. Thank God they had not, +as they had first intended, waited for the break of day. + +Another dawn and Stout and most of his men had pushed on after the +Apaches and in quest of the troop at Sunset Pass. By short stages the +soldiers left in charge were to move the wounded homeward. By noon +these latter were halted under the willows by a little stream. The +guards were busy filling canteens and watering pack mules, when the +single sentry threw his rifle to the position of "ready" and the gun +lock clicked loud. Over the stony ridge to the west, full a thousand +yards away, came a little band of riders in single file, four men in +all. Wren was sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. Blakely, feverish and +excited, was wide awake. Mercifully the former never heard the first +question asked by the leading rider--Arnold, the ranchman--as he came +jogging into the noonday bivouac. Stone, sergeant commanding, had run +forward to meet and acquaint him with the condition of the rescued +men. "Got there in time then, thank God!" he cried, as wearily he +flung himself out of saddle and glanced quickly about him. There lay +Wren, senseless and still between the lashed ribs of his litter. There +lay Blakely, smiling feebly and striving to hold forth a wasted hand, +but Arnold saw it not. Swiftly his eyes flitted from face to face, +from man to man, then searched the little knot of mules, sidelined and +nibbling at the stunted herbage in the glen. "I don't see Punch," he +faltered. "Wh-where's Miss Angela?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUR VANISHED PRINCESS + + +Then came a story told in fierce and excited whisperings, Arnold the +speaker, prompted sometimes by his companions; Stone, and the few +soldiers grouped about him, awe-stricken and dismayed. Blakely had +started up from his litter, his face white with an awful dread, +listening in wordless agony. + +At six the previous morning, loping easily out from Sandy, Arnold's +people had reached the ranch and found the veteran colonel with his +orderlies impatiently waiting for them. These latter had had abundant +food and coffee and the colonel was fuming with impatience to move, +but Arnold's people had started on empty stomachs, counting on a +hearty breakfast at the ranch. Jose could have it ready in short +order. So Byrne, with his men, mounted and rode ahead on the trail of +the infantry, saying the rest could overtake him before he reached the +rocky and dangerous path over the first range. For a few miles the +Beaver Valley was fairly wide and open. Not twenty minutes later, as +Arnold's comrades sat on the porch on the north side of the house, +they heard swift hoof-beats, and wondered who could be coming now. +But, without an instant's pause, the rider had galloped by, and one of +the men, hurrying to the corner of the ranch, was amazed to see the +lithe, slender form of Angela Wren speeding her pet pony like the wind +up the sandy trail. Arnold refused to believe at first, but his eyes +speedily told him the same story. He had barely a glimpse of her +before she was out of sight around a grove of willows up the stream. +"Galloping to catch the colonel," said he, and such was his belief. +Angela, he reasoned, had hastened after them to send some message of +love to her wounded father, and had perhaps caught sight of the trio +far out in the lead. Arnold felt sure that they would meet her coming +back, sure that there was no danger for her, with Byrne and his +fellows well out to the front. They finished their breakfast, +therefore, reset their saddles, mounted and rode for an hour toward +the Mogollon and still the pony tracks led them on, overlying those of +the colonel's party. Then they got among the rocks and only at +intervals found hoof-prints; but, far up along the range, caught sight +of the three horsemen, and so, kept on. It was after ten when at last +they overtook the leaders, and then, to their consternation, Angela +Wren was not with them. They had neither seen nor heard of her, and +Byrne was aghast when told that, alone and without a guide, she had +ridden in among the foothills of those desolate, pathless mountains. +"The girl is mad," said he, "and yet it's like her to seek to reach +her father." + +Instantly they divided forces to search for her. Gorges and canons +innumerable seamed the westward face of this wild spur of the Sierras, +and, by the merest luck in the world, one of Arnold's men, spurring +along a stony ridge, caught sight of a girlish form far across a deep +ravine, and quickly fired two shots in signal that he had "sighted" +the chase. It brought Arnold and two of his men to the spot and, +threading their way, sometimes afoot and leading their steeds, +sometimes in saddle and urging them through the labyrinth of bowlders, +they followed on. At noon they had lost not only all sight of her, but +of their comrades, nor had they seen the latter since. Byrne and his +orderlies, with three of the party that "pulled out" from Sandy with +Arnold in the morning, had disappeared. Again and again they fired +their Henrys, hoping for answering signal, or perhaps to attract +Angela's attention. All doubt as to her purpose was now ended. Mad she +might be, but determined she was, and had deliberately dodged past +them at the Beaver, fearing opposition to her project. At two, +moreover, they found that she could "trail" as well as they, for among +the stunted cedars at the crest of a steep divide, they found the +print of the stout brogans worn by their infantry comrades, and, down +among the rocks of the next ravine, crushed bits of hardtack by a +"tank" in the hillside. She had stopped there long enough at least to +water Punch, then pushed on again. + +Once more they saw her, not three miles ahead at four o'clock, just +entering a little clump of pines at the top of a steep acclivity. They +fired their rifles and shouted loud in hopes of halting her, but all +to no purpose. Night came down and compelled them to bivouac. They +built a big fire to guide the wanderers, but morning broke without +sign of them; so on they went, for now, away from the rocks the trail +was often distinct, and once again they found the pony hoof-prints and +thanked God. At seven by Arnold's watch, among the breaks across a +steep divide they found another tank, more crumbs, a grain sack with +some scattered barley, more hardtack and the last trace of Angela. +Arnold's hand shook, as did his voice, as he drew forth a little +fluttering ribbon--the "snood" poor Wren so loved to see binding his +child's luxuriant hair. + +They reasoned she had stopped here to feed and water her pony, and had +probably bathed her face and flung loose her hair and forgotten later +the binding ribbon. They believed she had followed on after Stout's +hard-marching company. It was easy to trail. They counted on finding +her when they found her father, and now here lay Wren unconscious of +her loss, and Blakely, realizing it all--cruelly, feverishly realizing +it--yet so weakened by his wounds as to be almost powerless to march +or mount and go in search of her. + +No question now as to the duty immediately before them. In twenty +minutes the pack mules were again strapped between the saplings, the +little command was slowly climbing toward the westward heights, with +Arnold and two of his friends scouting the rough trail and hillsides, +firing at long intervals and listening in suspense almost intolerable +for some answering signal. The other of their number had volunteered +to follow Stout over the plateau toward the Pass and acquaint him with +the latest news. + +While the sun was still high in the heavens, far to the northward, +they faintly heard or thought they heard two rifle shots. At four +o'clock, as they toiled through a tangle of rock and stunted pine, +Arnold, riding well to the front, came suddenly out upon a bare ledge +from which he could look over a wild, wide sweep of mountain side, +stretching leagues to north and south, and there his keen and +practiced eye was greeted by a sight that thrilled him with dread +unspeakable. Dread, not for himself or his convoy of wounded, but +dread for Angela. Jutting, from the dark fringe of pines along a +projecting bluff, perhaps four miles away, little puffs or clouds of +smoke, each separate and distinct, were sailing straight aloft in the +pulseless air--Indian signals beyond possibility of doubt. Some +Apaches, then, were still hovering about the range overlooking the +broad valley of the Sandy, some of the bands then were prowling in the +mountains between the scouting troops and the garrisoned post. Some +must have been watching this very trail, in hopes of intercepting +couriers or stragglers, some _must_ have seen and seized poor Angela. + +He had sprung from saddle and leveled his old field glass at the +distant promontory, so absorbed in his search he did not note the +coming of the little column. The litter bearing Blakely foremost of +the four had halted close beside him, and Blakely's voice, weak and +strained, yet commanding, suddenly startled him with demand to be told +what he saw, and Arnold merely handed him the glass and pointed. The +last of the faint smoke puffs was just soaring into space, making +four still in sight. Blakely never even took the binocular. He had +seen enough by the unaided eye. + +[Illustration: "INDIAN SIGNALS BEYOND POSSIBILITY OF A DOUBT"] + +With uplifted hand the sergeant had checked the coming of the next +litter, Wren's, and those that followed it. One of the wounded men, +the poor lad crazed by the perils of the siege, was alert and begging +for more water, but Wren was happily lost to the world in swoon or +slumber. To the soldier bending over him he seemed scarcely breathing. +Presently they were joined by two of Arnold's party who had been +searching out on the left flank. They, too, had seen, and the three +were now in low-toned conference. Blakely for the moment was unnoted, +forgotten. + +"That tank--where we found the ribbon--was just about two miles +yonder," said Arnold, pointing well down the rugged slope toward the +southwest, where other rocky, pine-fringed heights barred the view to +the distant Sandy. "Surely the colonel or some of his fellows must be +along here. Ride ahead a hundred yards or so and fire a couple of +shots," this to one of his men, who silently reined his tired bronco +into the rude trail among the pine cones and disappeared. The others +waited. Presently came the half-smothered sound of a shot and a +half-stifled cry from the rearmost litter. Every such shock meant new +terror to that poor lad, but Wren never stirred. Half a minute passed +without another sound than faint and distant echo; then faint, and not +so distant, came another sound, a prolonged shout, and presently +another, and then a horseman hove in sight among the trees across a +nearly mile-wide dip. Arnold and his friends rode on to meet him, +leaving the litters at the crest. In five minutes one of the riders +reappeared and called: "It's Horn, of the orderlies. He reports +Colonel Byrne just ahead. Come on!" and turning, dove back down the +twisted trail. + +The colonel might have been just ahead when last seen, but when they +reached the tank he was far aloft again, scouting from another height +to the northward, and while the orderly went on to find and tell him, +Arnold and his grave-faced comrade dismounted there to await the +coming of the litters. Graver were the faces even than before. The +news that had met them was most ominous. Two of those who searched +with Colonel Byrne had found pony tracks leading northward--leading in +the very direction in which they had seen the smoke. There was no +other pony shoe in the Sandy valley. It could be none other than +Angela's little friend and comrade--Punch. + +And this news they told to Blakely as the foremost litter came. He +listened with hardly a word of comment; then asked for his scouting +notebook. He was sitting up now. They helped him from his springy +couch to a seat on the rocks, and gave him a cup of the cold water. +One by one the other litters were led into the little amphitheater and +unlashed. Everyone seemed to know that here must be the bivouac for +the night, their abiding place for another day, perhaps, unless they +should find the captain's daughter. They spoke, when they spoke at +all, in muffled tones, these rough, war-worn men of the desert and +the mountain. They bent over the wounded with sorrowing eyes, and +wondered why no surgeon had come out to meet them. Heartburn, of +course, had done his best, dressing and rebandaging the wounds at +dawn, but then he had to go on with Stout and the company, while one +of the Apache Yumas was ordered to dodge his way in to Sandy, with a +letter urging that Graham be sent out to follow the trail and meet the +returning party. + +Meanwhile the sun had dropped behind the westward heights; the night +would soon be coming down, chill and overcast. Byrne was still away, +but he couldn't miss the tank, said one of the troopers who had ridden +with him. Twice during the morning they had all met there and then +gone forth again, searching--searching. Punch's little hoof-tracks, +cutting through a sandy bit in the northward ravine, had drawn them +all that way, but nothing further had been found. His horse, too, said +the orderly, was lame and failing, so he had been bidden to wait by +the water and watch for couriers either from the front or out from the +post. Byrne was one of those never-give-up men, and they all knew him. + +Barley was served out to the animals, a little fire lighted, lookouts +were stationed, and presently their soldier supper was ready, and +still Blakely said nothing. He had written three notes or letters, one +of which seemed to give him no little trouble, for one after another +he thrust two leaves into the fire and started afresh. At length they +were ready, and he signaled to Arnold. "You can count, I think, on +Graham's getting here within a few hours," said he. "Meantime you're +as good a surgeon as I need. Help me on with this sling." And still +they did not fathom his purpose. He was deathly pale, and his eyes +were eloquent of dread unspeakable, but he seemed to have forgotten +pain, fever, and prostration. Arnold, in the silent admiration of the +frontier, untied the support, unloosed the bandages, and together they +redressed the ugly wound. Then presently the Bugologist stood feebly +upon his feet and looked about him. It was growing darker, and not +another sound had come from Byrne. + +"Start one of your men into Sandy at once," said Blakely, to the +sergeant, and handed him a letter addressed to Major Plume. "He will +probably meet the doctor before reaching the Beaver. These other two +I'll tell you what to do with later. Now, who has the best horse?" + +Arnold stared. Sergeant Stone quickly turned and saluted. "The +lieutenant is not thinking of mounting, I hope," said he. + +Blakely did not even answer. He was studying the orderly's bay. Stiff +and a little lame he might be, but, refreshed and strengthened by +abundant barley, he was a better weight-carrier than the other, and +Blakely had weight. "Saddle your horse, Horn," said he, "and fasten on +those saddle-bags of mine." + +"But, lieutenant," ventured Arnold, "you are in no shape to ride +anything but that litter. Whatever you think of doing, let me do." + +"What I am thinking of doing nobody else can do," said Blakely. "What +you can do is, keep these two letters till I call for them. If at the +end of a week I fail to call, deliver them as addressed and to nobody +else. Now, before dark I must reach that point younder," and he +indicated the spot where in the blaze of the westering sun a mass of +rock towered high above the fringing pine and mournful shadows at its +base, a glistening landmark above the general gloom at the lower level +and at that hour of the afternoon. "Now," he added quietly, "you can +help me into saddle." + +"But for God's sake, lieutenant, let some of us ride with you," +pleaded Arnold. "If Colonel Byrne was here he'd never let you go." + +"Colonel Byrne is not here, and I command, I believe," was the brief, +uncompromising answer. "And no man rides with me because, with another +man, I'd never find what I'm in search of." For a moment he bent over +Wren, a world of wordless care, dread, and yet determination in his +pale face. Arnold saw his wearied eyes close a moment, his lips move +as though in petition, then he suddenly turned. "Let me have that +ribbon," said he bluntly, and without a word Arnold surrendered it. +Stone held the reluctant horse, Arnold helped the wounded soldier into +the saddle. "Don't worry about me--any of you," said Blakely, in brief +farewell. "Good-night," and with that he rode away. + +Arnold and the men stood gazing after him. "Grit clean through," said +the ranchman, through his set teeth, for a light was dawning on him, +as he pondered over Blakely's words. "May the Lord grant I don't have +to deliver these!" Then he looked at the superscriptions. One letter +was addressed to Captain, or Miss Janet, Wren--the other to Mrs. +Plume. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SUSPENSE + + +Sandy again. Four of the days stipulated by Lieutenant Blakely had run +their course. The fifth was ushered in, and from the moment he rode +away from the bivouac at the tanks no word had come from the +Bugologist, no further trace of Angela. In all its history the +garrison had known no gloom like this. The hospital was filled with +wounded. An extra surgeon and attendants had come down from Prescott, +but Graham was sturdily in charge. Of his several patients Wren +probably was now causing him the sorest anxiety, for the captain had +been grievously wounded and was pitiably weak. Now, when aroused at +times from the lassitude and despond in which he lay, Wren would +persist in asking for Angela, and, not daring to tell him the truth, +Janet, Calvinist that she was to the very core, had to do fearful +violence to her feelings and lie. By the advice of bluff old Byrne and +the active connivance of the post commander, they had actually, these +stern Scotch Presbyterians, settled on this as the deception to be +practiced--that Angela had been drooping so sadly from anxiety and +dread she had been taken quite ill, and Dr. Graham had declared she +must be sent up to Prescott, or some equally high mountain resort, +there to rest and recuperate. She was in good hands, said these +arch-conspirators. She might be coming home any day. As for the troop +and the campaign, he mustn't talk or worry or think about them. The +general, with his big field columns, had had no personal contact with +the Indians. They had scattered before him into the wild country +toward the great Colorado, where Stout, with his hickory-built +footmen, and Brewster, with most of Wren's troop, were stirring up +Apaches night and day, while Sanders and others were steadily driving +on toward the old Wingate road. Stout had found Brewster beleaguered, +but safe and sound, with no more men killed and few seriously wounded. +They had communicated with Sanders's side scouts, and were finding and +following fresh trails with every day, when Stout was surprised to +receive orders to drop pursuit and start with Brewster's fellows and +to scout the west face of the mountains from the Beaver to the heights +opposite the old Indian reservation. There was a stirring scene at +bivouac when that order came, and with it the explanation that Angela +Wren had vanished and was probably captured; that Blakely had followed +and was probably killed. "They might shoot Blakely in fair fight," +said Stout, who knew him, and knew the veneration that lived for him +in the hearts of the Indian leaders, "but they at least would never +butcher him in cold blood. Their unrestrained young men might do it." +Stout's awful dread, like that of every man and woman at Sandy, and +every soldier in the field, was for Angela. The news, too, had been +rushed to the general, and his orders were instant. "Find the chiefs +in the field," said he to his interpreter and guide. "Find Shield's +people, and say that if a hair of her head is injured I shall hunt +them down, braves, women, and children--I shall hunt them anyhow until +they surrender her unharmed." + +But the Apaches were used to being hunted, and some of them really +liked the game. It was full of exhilaration and excitement, and not a +few chances to hunt and hit back. The threat conveyed no terror to the +renegades. It was to the Indians at the reservation that the tidings +brought dismay, yet even there, so said young Bridger, leaders and +followers swore they had no idea where the white maiden could be, much +less the young chief. They, the peaceable and the poor servants of the +great Father at Washington, had no dealings with these others, his +foes. + +About the post, where gloom and dread unspeakable prevailed, there was +no longer the fear of possible attack. The Indian prisoners in the +guard-house had dropped their truculent, defiant manner, and become +again sullen and apathetic. The down-stream settlers had returned to +their ranches and reported things undisturbed. Even the horse that had +been missing and charged to Downs had been accounted for. They found +him grazing placidly about the old pasture, with the rope halter +trailing, Indian-knotted, from his neck, and his gray hide still +showing stains of blood about the mane and withers. They wondered was +it on this old stager the Apaches had borne the wounded girl to the +garrison--she who still lay under the roof of Mother Shaughnessy, +timidly visited at times by big-eyed, shy little Indian maids from the +reservation, who would speak no word that Sudsville could understand, +and few that even Wales Arnold could interpret. All they would or +could divulge was that she was the daughter of old Eskiminzin, who was +out in the mountains, and that she had been wounded "over there," and +they pointed eastward. By whom and under what circumstances they swore +they knew not, much less did they know of Downs, or of how she chanced +to have the scarf once worn by the Frenchwoman Elise. + +Then Arnold's wife and brood had gone back to their home up the +Beaver, while he himself returned to the search for Angela and for +Blakely. But those four days had passed without a word of hope. In +little squads a dozen parties were scouring the rugged canons and +cliffs for signs, and finding nothing. Hours each day Plume would come +to the watchers on the bluff to ask if no courier had been sighted. +Hours each night the sentries strained their eyes for signal fires. +Graham, slaving with his sick and wounded, saw how haggard and worn +the commander was growing, and spoke a word of caution. Something told +him it was not all on account of those woeful conditions at the front. +From several sources came the word that Mrs. Plume was in a state +bordering on hysteric at department headquarters, where sympathetic +women strove vainly to comfort and soothe her. It was then that Elise +became a center of interest, for Elise was snapping with electric +force and energy. "It is that they will assassinate madame--these +monsters," she declared. "It is imperative, it is of absolute need, +that madame be taken to the sea, and these wretches, unfeeling, they +forbid her to depart." Madame herself, it would seem, so said those +who had speech with her, declared she longed to be again with her +husband at Sandy. Then it was Elise who demanded that they should +move. Elise was mad to go--Elise, who took a turn of her own, a +screaming fit, when the news came of the relief of Wren's little +force, of the death of their brave sergeant, of the strange tale that, +before dying, Carmody had breathed a confession to Lieutenant Blakely, +which Blakely had reduced to writing before he set forth on his own +hapless mission. It was Mrs. Plume's turn now to have to play nurse +and comforter, and to strive to soothe, even to the extent of +promising that Elise should be permitted to start by the very next +stage to the distant sea, but when it came to securing passage, and in +feverish, nervous haste the Frenchwoman had packed her chosen +belongings into the one little trunk the stage people would consent to +carry, lo! there came to her a messenger from headquarters where +Colonel Byrne, grim, silent, saturnine, was again in charge. Any +attempt on her part to leave would result in her being turned over at +once to the civil authorities, and Elise understood and raved, but +risked not going to jail. Mullins, nursed by his devoted Norah, was +sitting up each day now, and had been seen by Colonel Byrne as that +veteran passed through, ten pounds lighter of frame and heavier of +heart than when he set forth, and Mullins had persisted in the story +that he had been set upon and stabbed by two women opposite Lieutenant +Blakely's quarters. What two had been seen out there that night but +Clarice Plume and her Gallic shadow, Elise? + +Meantime Aunt Janet was "looking ghastly," said the ladies along that +somber line of quarters, and something really ought to be done. Just +what that something should be no two could unite in deciding, but +really Major Plume or Dr. Graham ought to see that, if something +wasn't done, she would break down under the awful strain. She had +grown ten years older in five days, they declared--was turning +fearfully gray, and they were sure she never slept a wink. Spoken to +on this score, poor Miss Wren was understood to say she not only could +not sleep, but she did not wish to. Had she kept awake and watched +Angela, as was her duty, the child could never have succeeded in her +wild escapade. The "child," by the way, had displayed rare +generalship, as speedily became known. She must have made her few +preparations without a betraying sound, for even Kate Sanders, in the +same room, was never aroused--Kate, who was now well-night +heartbroken. They found that Angela had crept downstairs in her +stockings, and had put on her riding moccasins and leggings at the +kitchen steps. There, in the sand, were the tracks of her long, +slender feet. They found that she had taken with her a roomy +hunting-pouch that hung usually in her father's den. She had filled +it, apparently, with food,--tea, sugar, even lemons, for half a dozen +of this precious and hoarded fruit had disappeared. Punch, too, had +been provided for. She had "packed" a half-bushel of barley from the +stables. There was no one to say Miss Angela nay. She might have +ridden off with the flag itself and no sentry would more than think of +stopping her. Just what fate had befallen her no one dare suggest. The +one thing, the only one, that roused a vestige of hope was that +Lieutenant Blakely had gone _alone_ on what was thought to be her +trail. + +Now here was a curious condition of things. If anyone had been asked +to name the most popular officer at Sandy, there would have been no +end of discussion. Perhaps the choice would have lain between Sanders, +Cutler, and old Westervelt--good and genial men. Asked to name the +least popular officer, and, though men, and women, too, would have +shrunk from saying it, the name that would have occurred to almost all +was that of Blakely. And why? Simply because he stood alone, +self-poised, self-reliant, said his few friends, "self-centered and +self_ish_," said more than Mrs. Bridger, whereas a more generous man +had never served at Sandy. That, however, they had yet to learn. But +when a man goes his way in the world, meddling with no one else's +business, and never mentioning his own, courteous and civil, but never +intimate, studying a good deal but saying little, asking no favors and +granting few, perhaps because seldom asked, the chances are he will +win the name of being cold, indifferent, even repellent, "too high, +mighty, and superior." His very virtues become a fault, for men and +women love best those who are human like themselves, however they may +respect. Among the troopers Blakely was as yet something of an enigma. +His manner of speaking to them was unlike that of most of his +fellows--it was grave, courteous, dignified, never petulant or +irritable. In those old cavalry days most men better fancied something +more demonstrative. "I like to see an officer flare up and--say +things," said a veteran sergeant. "This here bug-catcher is too damned +cold-blooded." They respected him, yes; yet they little understood and +less loved him. They had known him too short a time. + +But among the Indians Blakely was a demi-god. Grave, unruffled, +scrupulously exact in word and deed, he made them trust him. Brave, +calm, quick in moments of peril, he made them admire him. How +fearlessly he had stepped into the midst of that half-frenzied +sextette, _tiswin_ drunk, and disarmed Kwonagietah and two of his +fellow-revelers! How instant had been his punishment of that raging, +rampant, mutinous old medicine man, 'Skiminzin, who dared to threaten +him and the agency! (That episode only long years after reached the +ears of the Indian Advancement Association in the imaginative East.) +How gently and skillfully he had ministered to Shield's younger +brother, and to the children of old Chief Toyah! It was this, in fact, +that won the hate and envy of 'Skiminzin. How lavish was Blakely's +bounty to the aged and to the little ones, and Indians love their +children infinitely! The hatred or distrust of Indian man or woman, +once incurred, is venomous and lasting. The trust, above all the +gratitude, of the wild race, once fairly won, is to the full as +stable. Nothing will shake it. There are those who say the love of an +Indian girl, once given, surpasses that of her Circassian sister, and +Bridger now was learning new stories of the Bugologist with every day +of his progress in Apache lore. He had even dared to bid his impulsive +little wife "go slow," should she ever again be tempted to say +spiteful things of Blakely. "If what old Toyah tells me is true," said +he, "and I believe him, Hualpai or Apache Mohave, there isn't a decent +Indian in this part of Arizona that wouldn't give his own scalp to +save Blakely." Mrs. Bridger did not tell this at the time, for she had +said too much the other way; but, on this fifth day of our hero's +absence, there came tidings that unloosed her lips. + +Just at sunset an Indian runner rode in on one of Arnold's horses, and +bearing a dispatch for Major Plume. It was from that sturdy +campaigner, Captain Stout, who knew every mile of the old trail +through Sunset Pass long years before even the ----th Cavalry,--the +predecessors of Plume, and Wren, and Sanders,--and what Stout said no +man along the Sandy ever bade him swear to. + + "Surprised small band, Tontos, at dawn to-day. They had + saddle blanket marked 'W. A.' [Wales Arnold], and hat and + underclothing marked 'Downs.' Indian boy prisoner says Downs + was caught just after the 'big burning' at Camp Sandy + [Lieutenant Blakely's quarters]. He says that Alchisay, + Blakely's boy courier, was with them two days before, and + told him Apache Mohaves had more of Downs's things, and that + a white chief's daughter was over there in the Red Rocks. + Sanders, with three troops, is east of us and searching that + way now. This boy says Alchisay knew that Natzie and Lola + had been hiding not far from Willow Tank on the Beaver + trail--our route--but had fled from there same time Angela + disappeared. Against her own people Natzie would protect + Blakely, even were they demanding his life in turn for her + Indian lover, Shield's. If these girls can be tracked and + found, I believe you will have found Blakely and will find + Angela." + +That night, after being fed and comforted until even an Indian could +eat no more, the messenger, a young Apache Mohave, wanted _papel_ to +go to the agency, but Plume had other plans. "Take him down to +Shaughnessy's," said he to Truman, "and see if he knows that girl." So +take him they did, and at sight of his swarthy face the girl had given +a low cry of sudden, eager joy; then, as though reading warning in his +glance, turned her face away and would not talk. It was the play of +almost every Apache to understand no English whatever, yet Truman +could have sworn she understood when he asked her if she could guess +where Angela was in hiding. The Indian lad had shaken his head and +declared he knew nothing. The girl was dumb. Mrs. Bridger happened in +a moment later, coming down with Mrs. Sanders to see how the strange +patient was progressing. They stood in silence a moment, listening to +Truman's murmured words. Then Mrs. Bridger suddenly spoke. "Ask her if +she knows Natzie's cave," said she. "Natzie's cave," she repeated, +with emphasis, and the Indian girl guilelessly shook her head, and +then turned and covered her face with her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AN APACHE QUEEN + + +In the slant of the evening sunshine a young girl, an Indian, was +crouching among the bare rocks at the edge of a steep and rugged +descent. One tawny little hand, shapely in spite of scratches, was +uplifted to her brows, shading her keen and restless eyes against the +glare. In the other hand, the right, she held a little, circular +pocket-mirror, cased in brass, and held it well down in the shade. +Only the tangle of her thick, black hair and the top of her head could +be seen from the westward side. Her slim young body was clothed in a +dark-blue, well-made garment, half sack, half skirt, with long, loose +trousers of the same material. There was fanciful embroidery of bead +and thread about the throat. There was something un-Indian about the +cut and fashion of the garments that suggested civilized and feminine +supervision. The very way she wore her hair, parted and rolling back, +instead of tumbling in thick, barbaric "bang" into her eyes, spoke of +other than savage teaching; and the dainty make of her moccasins; the +soft, pliant folds of the leggins that fell, Apache fashion, about her +ankles, all told, with their beadwork and finish, that this was no +unsought girl of the tribespeople. Even the sudden gesture with which, +never looking back, she cautioned some follower to keep down, spoke +significantly of rank and authority. It was a chief's daughter that +knelt peering intently over the ledge of rocks toward the black +shadows of the opposite slope. It was Natzie, child of a warrior +leader revered among his people, though no longer spared to guide +them--Natzie, who eagerly, anxiously searched the length of the dark +gorge for sign or signal, and warned her companion to come no further. + +Over the gloomy depths, a mile away about a jutting point, three or +four buzzards were slowly circling, disturbed, yet determined. Over +the broad valley that extended for miles toward the westward range of +heights, the mantle of twilight was slowly creeping, as in his +expressive sign language the Indian spreads his extended hands, palms +down, drawing and smoothing imaginary blanket, the robe of night, over +the face of nature. Far to the northward, from some point along the +face of the heights, a fringe of smoke was drifting in the soft breeze +sweeping down the valley from the farther Sierras. Wild, untrodden, +undesired of man, the wilderness lay outspread--miles and miles of +gloom and desolation, save where some lofty scarp of glistening rock, +jutting from among the scattered growth of dark-hued pine and cedar, +caught the brilliant rays of the declining sun. + +Behind the spot where Natzie knelt, the general slope was broken by a +narrow ledge or platform, bowlder-strewn--from which, almost +vertically, rose the rocky scarp again. Among the sturdy, stunted fir +trees, bearding the rugged face, frowned a deep fissure, dark as a +wolf den, and, just in front of it, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, crouched +Lola--Natzie's shadow. Rarely in reservation days, until after Blakely +came as agent, were they ever seen apart, and now, in these days of +exile and alarm, they were not divided. Under a spreading cedar, close +to the opening, a tiny fire glowed in a crevice of the rocks, sending +forth no betraying smoke. About it were some rude utensils, a pot or +two, a skillet, an earthen _olla_, big enough to hold perhaps three +gallons, two bowls of woven grass, close plaited, almost, as the +famous fiber of Panama. In one of these was heaped a store of +_pinons_, in the other a handful or two of wild plums. Sign of +civilization, except a battered tin teapot, there was none, yet +presently was there heard a sound that told of Anglo-Saxon +presence--the soft voice of a girl in low-toned, sweet-worded +song--song so murmurous it might have been inaudible save in the +intense stillness of that almost breathless evening--song so low that +the Indian girl, intent in her watch at the edge of the cliff, seemed +not to hear at all. It was Lola who heard and turned impatiently, a +black frown in her snapping eyes, and a lithe young Indian lad, +hitherto unseen, dropped noiselessly from a perch somewhere above them +and, filling a gourd at the _olla_, bent and disappeared in the narrow +crevice back of the curtain of firs. The low song ceased gradually, +softly, as a mother ceases her crooning lullaby, lest the very lack of +the love-notes stir the drowsing baby brain to sudden waking. + +With the last words barely whispered the low voice died away. The +Indian lad came forth into the light again, empty-handed; plucked at +Lola's gown, pointed to Natzie, for the moment forgotten, now urgently +beckoning. Bending low, they ran to her. She was pointing across the +deep gorge that opened a way to the southward. Something far down +toward its yawning mouth had caught her eager eye, and grasping the +arm of the lad with fingers that twitched and burned, she whispered in +the Apache tongue: + +"They're coming." + +One long look the boy gave in the direction pointed, then, backing +away from the edge, he quickly swept away a Navajo blanket that hung +from the protruding branches of a low cedar, letting the broad light +into the cavelike space beyond. There, on a hard couch of rock, skin, +and blanket, lay a fevered form in rough scouting dress. There, with +pinched cheeks, and eyes that heavily opened, dull and suffused, lay +the soldier officer who had ridden forth to rescue and to save, +himself now a crippled and helpless captive. Beside him, wringing out +a wet handkerchief and spreading it on the burning forehead, knelt +Angela. The girls who faced each other for the first time at the +pool--the daughter of the Scotch-American captain--the daughter of the +Apache Mohave chief--were again brought into strange companionship +over the unconscious form of the soldier Blakely. + +[Illustration: "THEN SLOWLY THEY SAW HER RAISE HER RIGHT HAND, STILL +CAUTIOUSLY HOLDING THE LITTLE MIRROR"] + +Resentful of the sudden glare that caused her patient to shrink and +toss complainingly, Angela glanced up almost in rebuke, but was +stilled by the look and attitude of the young savage. He stood with +forefinger on his closed lips, bending excitedly toward her. He was +cautioning her to make no sound, even while his very coming brought +disturbance to her first thought--her fevered patient. Then, seeing +both rebuke and question in her big, troubled eyes, the young Indian +removed his finger and spoke two words: "Patchie come," and, rising, +she followed him out to the flat in front. + +Natzie at the moment was still crouching close to the edge, gazing +intently over, one little brown hand nervously grasping the branch of +a stunted cedar, the other as nervously clutching the mirror. So +utterly absorbed was she that the hiss of warning, or perhaps of +hatred, with which Lola greeted the sudden coming of Angela, seemed to +fall unnoted on her ears. Lola, her black eyes snapping and her lips +compressed, glanced up at the white girl almost in fury. Natzie, +paying no heed whatever to what was occurring about her, knelt +breathless at her post, watching, eagerly watching. Then, slowly, they +saw her raise her right hand, still cautiously holding the little +mirror, face downward, and at sight of this the Apache boy could +scarcely control his trembling, and Lola, turning about, spoke some +furious words, in low, intense tone, that made him shrink back toward +the screen. Then the wild girl glared again at Angela, as though the +sight of her were unbearable, and, with as furious a gesture, sought +to drive her, too, again to the refuge of the dark cleft, but Angela +never stirred. Paying no heed to Lola, the daughter of the soldier +gazed only at the daughter of the chief, at Natzie, whose hand was +now level with the surface of the rock. The next instant, far to the +northwest flashed a slender beam of dazzling light, another--another. +An interval of a second or two, and still another flash. Angela could +see the tiny, nebulous dot, like will-'o-the-wisp, dancing far over +among the rocks across a gloomy gorge. She had never seen it before, +but knew it at a glance. The Indian girl was signaling to some of her +father's people far over toward the great reservation, and the tale +she told was that danger menaced. Angela could not know that it told +still more,--that danger menaced not only Natzie, daughter of one +warrior chief, and the chosen of another now among their heroic +dead--it threatened those whom she was pledged to protect, even +against her own people. + +Somewhere down that deep and frowning rift to the southwest, Indian +guides were leading their brethren on the trail of these refugees +among the upper rocks. Somewhere, far over among the uplands to the +northwest, other tribesfolk, her own kith and kin, were lurking, and +these the Indian girl was summoning with all speed to her aid. + +And in the slant of that same glaring sunshine, not four miles away, +toiling upward along a rocky slope, following the faint sign here and +there of Apache moccasin, a little command of hardy, war-worn men had +nearly reached the crest when their leader signaled backward to the +long column of files, and, obedient to the excited gestures of the +young Hualpai guide, climbed to his side and gazed intently over. +What he saw on a lofty point of rocks, well away from the tortuous +"breaks" through which they had made most of their wearying marches +from the upper Beaver, brought the light of hope, the fire of battle, +to his somber eyes. "Send Arnold up here," he shouted to the men +below, and Arnold came, clambering past rock and bowlder until he +reached the captain's side, took one look in the direction indicated, +and brought his brown hand down with resounding swat on the butt of +his rifle. "Treed 'em!" said he exultantly; then, with doubtful, +backward glance along the crouching file of weary men, some sitting +now and fanning with their broad-brimmed hats, he turned again to the +captain and anxiously inquired: "Can we make it before dark?" + +"We must make it!" simply answered Stout. + +And then, far over among the heights between them and the reservation, +there went suddenly aloft--one, two, three--compact little puffs of +bluish smoke. Someone was answering signals flashed from the rocky +point--someone who, though far away, was promising aid. + +"Let's be the first to reach them, lads," said Stout, himself a +wearied man. And with that they slowly rose and went stumbling upward. +The prize was worth their every effort, and hope was leading on. + +An hour later, with barely half the distance traversed, so steep and +rocky, so wild and winding, was the way, with the sun now tangent to +the distant range afar across the valley, they faintly heard a sound +that spurred them on--two shots in quick succession from unseen +depths below the lofty point. And now they took the Indian jog trot. +There was business ahead. + +Between them and that gleaming promontory now lay a comparatively open +valley, less cumbered with bowlders than were the ridges and ravines +through which they had come, less obstructed, too, with stunted trees. +Here was opportunity for horsemen, hitherto denied, and Stout called +on Brewster and his score of troopers, who for hours had been towing +their tired steeds at the rear of column. "Mount and push ahead!" said +he. "You are Wren's own men. It is fitting you should get there +first." + +"Won't the captain ride with us--now?" asked the nearest sergeant. + +"Not if it robs a man of his mount," was the answer. Yet there was +longing in his eye and all men saw it. He had led them day after day, +trudging afoot, because his own lads could not ride. Indeed, there had +been few hours when any horse could safely bear a rider. There came +half a dozen offers now. "I'll tramp afoot if the captain 'll only +take my horse," said more than one man. + +And so the captain was with them, as with darkness settling down they +neared the great cliff towering against the southeastward sky. Then +suddenly they realized they were guided thither only just in time to +raise a well-nigh fatal siege. Thundering down the mountain side a big +bowlder came tearing its way, launched from the very point that had +been the landmark of their eager coming, and with the downward +crashing of the rock there burst a yell of fury. + +Midway up the steep incline, among the straggling timber, two lithe +young Indians were seen bounding out of a little gully, only just in +time to escape. Two or three others, farther aloft, darted around a +shoulder of cliff as though scurrying out of sight. From the edge of +the precipice the crack of a revolver was followed by a second, and +then by a scream. "Dismount!" cried Brewster, as he saw the captain +throw himself from his horse; then, leaving only two or three to +gather in their now excited steeds, snapping their carbines to full +cock, with blazing eyes and firm-set lips, the chosen band began their +final climb. "Don't bunch. Spread out right and left," were the only +cautions, and then in long, irregular line, up the mountain steep they +clambered, hope and duty still leading on, the last faint light of the +November evening showing them their rocky way. Now, renegadoes, it is +fight or flee for your lives! + +Perhaps a hundred yards farther up the jagged face the leaders came +upon an incline so steep that, like the Tontos above them, they were +forced to edge around to the southward, whither their comrades +followed. Presently, issuing from the shelter of the pines, they came +upon a bare and bowlder-dotted patch to cross which brought them +plainly into view of the heights above, and almost instantly under +fire. Shot after shot, to which they could make no reply, spat and +flattened on the rocks about them, but, dodging and ducking +instinctively, they pressed swiftly on. Once more within the partial +shelter of the pines across the open, they again resumed the climb, +coming suddenly upon a sight that fairly spurred them. There, feet +upward among the bowlders, stiff and swollen in death, lay all that +the lynxes had left of a cavalry horse. Close at hand was the battered +troop saddle. Caught in the bushes a few rods above was the folded +blanket, and, lodged in a crevice, still higher, lay the felt-covered +canteen, stenciled with the number and letter of Wren's own troop. It +was the horse of the orderly, Horn--the horse on which the Bugologist +had ridden away in search of Angela Wren. It was all the rescuers +needed to tell them they were now on the trail of both, and now the +carbines barked in earnest at every flitting glimpse of the foe, +sending the wary Tontos skipping and scurrying southward. And, at +last, breathless, panting, well-nigh exhausted, the active leaders +found themselves halting at a narrow, twisting little game trail, +winding diagonally up the slope, with that gray scarp of granite +jutting from the mountain side barely one hundred yards farther; and, +waving from its crest, swung by unseen hands, some white, fluttering +object, faintly seen in the gathering dusk, beckoned them on. The last +shots fired at the last Indians seen gleamed red in the autumn +gloaming. They, the rescuers, had reached their tryst only just as +night and darkness shrouded the westward valley. The last man up had +to grope his way, and long before that last man reached the ledge the +cheering word was passed from the foremost climber: "Both here, boys, +and safe!" + +An hour later brought old Heartburn to the scene, scrambling up with +the other footmen, and speedily was he kneeling by the fevered +officer's side. The troopers had been sent back to their horses. Only +Stout, the doctor, Wales Arnold, and one or two sergeants remained at +the ledge, with rescued Angela, the barely conscious patient, and +their protectors, the Indian girls. Already the boy had been hurried +off with a dispatch to Sandy, and now dull, apathetic, and sullen, +Lola sat shrouded in her blanket, while Arnold, with the little Apache +dialect he knew, was striving to get from Natzie some explanation of +her daring and devotion. + +Between tears and laughter, Angela told her story. It was much as they +had conjectured. Mad with anxiety on her father's account, she said, +she had determined to reach him and nurse him. She felt sure that, +with so many troops out between the post and the scene of action, +there was less danger of her being caught by Indians than of being +turned back by her own people. She had purposely dashed by the ranch, +fearing opposition, had purposely kept behind Colonel Byrne's party +until she found a way of slipping round and past them where she could +feel sure of speedily regaining the trail. She had encountered neither +friend nor foe until, just as she would have ridden away from the +Willow Tanks, she was suddenly confronted by Natzie, Lola, and two +young Apaches. Natzie eagerly gesticulated, exclaiming, "Apaches, +Apaches," and pointing ahead up the trail, and, though she could +speak no English, convincing Angela that she was in desperate danger. +The others were scowling and hateful, but completely under Natzie's +control, and between them they hustled her pony into a ravine leading +to the north and led him along for hours, Angela, powerless to +prevent, riding helplessly on. At last they made her dismount, and +then came a long, fearful climb afoot, up the steepest trail she had +ever known, until it brought her here. And here, she could not tell +how many nights afterwards--it seemed weeks, so had the days and hours +dragged--here, while she slept at last the sleep of exhaustion, they +had brought Mr. Blakely. He lay there in raging fever when she was +awakened that very morning by Natzie's crying in her ear some words +that sounded like: _"Hermano viene_! _Hermano viene_!" + +[Illustration: "THEY HUSTLED HER PONY INTO A RAVINE"] + +Stout had listened with absorbing interest and to the very last word. +Then, as one who heard at length full explanation of what he had +deemed incredible, his hand went out and clutched that of Arnold, +while his deep eyes, full of infinite pity, turned to where poor +Natzie crouched, watching silently and in utter self-forgetfulness the +doctor's ministrations. + +"Wales," he muttered, "that settles the whole business. Whatever you +do,--don't let that poor girl know that--they"--and now he warily +glanced toward Angela--"they--are _not_ brother and sister." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MEETING AT SANDY + + +December, and the noonday sun at Sandy still beat hotly on the barren +level of the parade. The fierce and sudden campaign seemed ended, for +the time, at least, as only in scattered remnants could the renegade +Indians be found. Eastward from the Agua Fria to the Chiquito, and +northward from the Salado to the very cliffs of the grand canon, the +hard-worked troopers had scoured the wild and mountainous country, +striking hard whenever they found a hostile band, striving ever, +through interpreters and runners, to bring the nervous and suspicious +tribes to listen to reason and to return to their reservations. This +for long days, however, seemed impossible. The tragic death of Raven +Shield, most popular of the young chiefs, struck down, as they +claimed, when he was striving only to defend Natzie, daughter of a +revered leader, had stirred the savages to furious reprisals, and +nothing but the instant action of the troops in covering the valley +had saved the scattered settlers from universal massacre. Enough had +been done by one band alone to thrill the West with horror, but these +had fled southward into Mexico and were safe beyond the border. The +settlers were slowly creeping back now to their abandoned homes, and +one after another the little field detachments were marching to their +accustomed stations. Sandy was filling up again with something besides +the broken down and wounded. + +First to come in was Stout's triumphant half hundred, the happiest +family of horse and foot, commingled, ever seen upon the Pacific +slope, for their proud lot it had been to reach and rescue Angela, +beloved daughter of the regiment, and Blakely, who had well-nigh +sacrificed himself in the effort to find and save her. Stout and his +thirty "doughboys," Brewster, the sergeant, with his twenty troopers, +had been welcomed by the entire community as the heroes of the brief +campaign, but Stout would none of their adulation. + +"There is the one you should thank and bless," said he, his eyes +turning to where stood Natzie, sad and silent, watching the attendants +who were lifting Neil Blakely from the litter to the porch of the +commanding officer. + +They had brought her in with them, Lola and Alchisay as well--the last +two scowling and sullen, but ruled by the chieftain's daughter. They +had loaded her with praise and thanks, but she paid no heed. Two hours +after Stout and his troopers had reached the cliff and driven away the +murderous band of renegades--Tontos and Apache Yumas--bent on stealing +her captives, there had come a little party of her own kindred in +answer to her signals, but these would have been much too late. +Blakely would have been butchered. Angela and her benefactors, too, +would probably have been the victims of their captors. Natzie could +look for no mercy from them now. Through Wales Arnold, the captain and +his men had little by little learned the story of Natzie's devotion. +In the eyes of her father, her brother, her people, Blakely was +greater even than the famous big chief, Crook, the Gray Fox, who had +left them, ordered to other duties but the year gone by. Blakely had +quickly righted the wrongs done them by a thieving agent. Blakely had +given fair trial to and saved the life of Mariano, that fiery brother, +who, ironed by the former agent's orders, had with his shackled hands +struck down his persecutor and then escaped. Blakely had won their +undying gratitude, and Stout and Arnold saw now why it was that one +young brave, at least, could not share the love his people bore for +_Gran Capitan Blanco_--that one was Quonothay--the Chief Raven Shield. +They saw now why poor Natzie had no heart to give her Indian lover. +They saw now why it was that Natzie wandered from the agency and +hovered for some days before the outbreak there around the post. It +was to be near the young white chief whom she well-nigh worshiped, +whom she had been accustomed to see every day of her life during his +duties at the agency. They saw now why it was the savage girl had +dared the vengeance of the Apaches by the rescue of Angela. She +believed her to be Blakely's sister, yet they could not give the +reason why. They knew very little of Neil Blakely, but what they did +know made them doubt that he could ever have been the one at fault. +Over this problem both ranchman and soldier, Arnold and Stout, looked +grave indeed. It was not like Blakely that he should make a victim of +this young Indian girl. She was barely sixteen, said Arnold, who knew +her people well. She had never been alone with Blakely, said her +kinsfolk, who came that night in answer to her signals. She had saved +Angela, believing her to be Blakely's own blood, had led her to her +own mountain refuge, and then, confident that Blakely would make +search for it and for his sister, had gone forth and found him, +already half-dazed with fever and exhaustion, and had striven to lead +his staggering horse up that precipitous trail. It was the poor +brute's last climb. Blakely she managed to bring in safety to her +lofty eerie. The horse had fallen, worn out in the effort, and died on +the rocks below. She had roused Angela with what she thought would be +joyful tidings, even though she saw that her hero was desperately ill. +She thought, of course, the white girl knew the few words of Spanish +that she could speak. All this was made evident to Arnold and Stout, +partly through Natzie's young brother, who had helped to find and +support the white chief, partly through the girl herself. It was +evident to Arnold, too, that up to the time of their coming nothing +had happened to undeceive Natzie as to that relationship. They tried +to induce her to return to the agency, although her father and brother +were still somewhere with the hostile bands, but she would not, she +would go with them to Sandy, and they could not deny her. More than +once on that rough march of three days they found themselves asking +what would the waking be. Angela, daughter of civilization, under safe +escort, had been sent on ahead, close following the courier who +scurried homeward with the news. Natzie, daughter of the wilderness, +could not be driven from the sight of Blakely's litter. The dumb, +patient, pathetic appeal of her great soft eyes, as she watched every +look in the doctor's face, was something wonderful to see. But now, at +last, the fevered sufferer was home, still only semi-conscious, being +borne within the walls of the major's quarters, and she who had saved +him, slaved for him, dared for him, could only mutely gaze after his +prostrate and wasted form as it disappeared within the darkened +hallway in the arms of his men. Then came a light step bounding along +the veranda--then came Angela, no longer clad in the riding garb in +which hitherto Natzie had seen her, but in cool and shimmering white, +with gladness and gratitude in her beautiful eyes, with welcome and +protection in her extended hand, and the Indian girl looked strangely +from her to the dark hallway within which her white hero had +disappeared, and shrank back from the proffered touch. If this was the +soldier's sister should not she now be at the soldier's side? Had she +other lodge than that which gave him shelter, now that his own was +burned? Angela saw for the first time aversion, question, suspicion in +the great black eyes from which the softness and the pleading had +suddenly fled. Then, rebuffed, disturbed, and troubled, she turned to +Arnold, who would gladly have slipped away. + +"Can't _you_ make her understand, Mr. Arnold?" she pleaded. "I don't +know a word of her language, and I so want to be her friend--so want +to take her to my home!" + +And then the frontiersman did a thing for which, when she heard of it +one sunset later, his better half said words of him and to him that +overstepped all bounds of parliamentary usage, and that only a wife +would dare to employ. With the blundering stupidity of his sex, poor +Arnold "settled things" for many a day and well-nigh ruined the +sweetest romance that Sandy had ever seen the birth of. + +"Ah, Miss Angela! only one place will ever be home to Natzie now. Her +eyes will tell you that." + +And already, regardless of anything these women of the white chiefs +might think or say, unafraid save of seeing him no more, unashamed +save of being where she could not heed his every look or call or +gesture, the daughter of the mountain and the desert stood gazing +again after the vanished form her eyes long months had worshiped, and +the daughter of the schools and civilization stood flushing one-half +moment, then slowly paling, as, without another glance or effort, she +turned silently away. Kate Sanders it was who sprang quickly after her +and encircled the slender waist with her fond and clasping arm. + +That night the powers of all Camp Sandy were exhausted in effort to +suitably provide for Natzie and her two companions. Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. +Bridger, even Mother Shaughnessy and Norah pleaded successively with +this princess of the wilderness, and pleaded in vain. Food and +shelter elsewhere they proffered in abundance. Natzie sat stubbornly +at the major's steps, and sadly at first, and angrily later, shook her +head to every proposition. Then they brought food, and Lola and +Alchisay ate greedily. Natzie would hardly taste a morsel. Every time +Plume or Graham or a soldier nurse came forth her mournful eyes would +study his face as though imploring news of the sufferer, who lay +unconscious of her vigil, if not of her existence. Graham's treatment +was beginning to tell, and Blakely was sleeping the sleep of the just. +They had not let him know of the poor girl's presence at the door. +They would not let her in for fear he might awake and see her, and ask +the reason of her coming. They would not send or take her away, for +all Sandy was alive with the strange story of her devotion. The +question on almost every lip was "How is this to end?" + +At tattoo there came a Mexican woman from one of the down-stream +ranches, sent in by the post trader, who said she could speak the +Apache-Mohave language sufficiently well to make Natzie understand the +situation, and this frontier linguist strove earnestly. Natzie +understood every word she said, was her report, but could not be made +to understand that she ought to go. In the continued absence of Mrs. +Plume, both the major and the post surgeon had requested of Mrs. +Graham that she should come over for a while and "see what she could +do," and, leaving her own sturdy bairnies, the good, motherly soul had +come and presided over this diplomatic interview, proposing various +plans for Natzie's disposition for the night. And other ladies +hovering about had been sympathetically suggestive, but the Indian +girl had turned deaf ear to everything that would even temporarily +take her from her self-appointed station. At ten o'clock Mother +Shaughnessy, after hanging uneasily about the porch a moment or two, +gave muttered voice to a suggestion that other women had shrunk from +mentioning: + +"Has she been tould Miss Angela and--him--is no kin at all, at all?" + +"I don't want her told," said Mrs. Graham briefly. + +And so Natzie was still there, sitting sleepless in the soft and +radiant moonlight, when toward twelve o'clock Graham came forth from +his last visit for the night, and she lifted up her head and looked +him dumbly in the face,--dumbly, yet imploring a word of hope or +comfort,--and it was more than the soft-hearted Scot could bear. +"Major," said he, as he gently laid a big hand upon the black and +tangled wealth of hair, "that lad in yonder would have been beyond the +ken of civilization days ago if it hadn't been for this little savage. +I'm thinking he'll sleep none the worse for her watching over him. +Todd's there for the night, the same that attended him before, and she +won't be strange with him--or I'm mistaken." + +"Why?" asked Plume, mystified. + +"I'm not saying, until Blakely talks for himself. For one reason I +don't _know_. For another, _he's_ the man to tell, if anybody," and a +toss of the head toward the dark doorway told who was meant by "he." + +"D'you mean you'd have this girl squatting there by Blakely's bedside +the rest of the night?" asked the commander, ruffled in spirit. +"What's to prevent her singing their confounded death song, or +invoking heathen spirits, or knifing us all, for that matter?" + +"What was to prevent her from knifing the Bugologist and Angela both, +when she had 'em?" was the sturdy reply. "The girl's a theoretical +heathen, but a practical Christian. Come with us, Natzie," he +finished, one hand extended to aid her to rise, the other pointing to +the open doorway. She was on her feet in an instant, and, silently +signing her companions to stay, followed the doctor into the house. + +And so it happened that when Blakely wakened, hours later, the sight +that met him, dimly comprehending, was that of a blue-coated soldier +snoozing in a reclining chair, a blue-blanketed Indian girl seated on +the floor near the foot of his bed, looking with all her soul in her +gaze straight into his wondering eyes. At his low whisper, "Natzie," +she sprang to her feet without word or sound; seized the thin white +hand tremulously extended toward her, and, pillowing her cheek upon +it, knelt humbly by the bedside, her black hair streaming to the +floor. A pathetic picture it made in the dim light of the newborn day, +forcing itself through the shrouded windows, and Major Plume, restless +and astir the hour before reveille, stood unnoted a moment at the +doorway, then strode back through the hall and summoned from the +adjoining veranda another sleepless watcher, gratefully breathing the +fragrance of the cool, morning air; and presently two dim forms had +softly tiptoed to that open portal, and now stood gazing within until +their eyes should triumph over the uncertain light--the post commander +in his trim-fitting undress uniform, the tall and angular shape of +Wren's elderly sister--the "austere vestal" herself. It may have been +a mere twitch of the slim fingers under her tawny cheek that caused +Natzie to lift her eyes in search of those of her hero and her +protector. Instantly her own gaze, startled, was turned straight to +the door. Then in another second she had sprung to her feet, and with +fury in her face and attitude confronted the intruders. As she did so +the sudden movement detached some object that hung within the breast +of her loose-fitting sack--something bright and gleaming that +clattered to the floor, falling close to the feet of the drowsing +attendant, while another--a thin, circular case of soft leather, +half-rolled, half-bounded toward the unwelcome visitors at the door. + +Todd, roused to instant action at sight of the post commander, bent +quickly and nabbed the first. The girl herself darted after the +second, whereat the attendant, misjudging her motive, dreading danger +to his betters or rebuke to himself, sprang upon her as she stooped, +and dropping his first prize, dared to seize the Apache girl with both +hands at the throat. There was a warning cry from the bed, a flash of +steel through one slanting ray of sunshine, a shriek from the lips of +Janet Wren, and with a stifled moan the luckless soldier sank in his +tracks, while Natzie, the chieftain's daughter, a dripping blade in +her uplifted hand, a veritable picture of fury, stood in savage +triumph over him, her flashing eyes fixed upon the amazed commander, +as though daring him, too, to lay hostile hands upon her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RESCUE REQUITED + + +A change had come over the spirit of Camp Sandy's dream. The garrison +that had gone to bed the previous night, leaving Natzie silent, +watchful, wistful at the post commander's door, had hardly a thought +that was not full of sympathy and admiration for her. Even women who +could not find it possible to speak of her probable relations with +Neil Blakely dwelt much in thought and word upon her superb devotion +and her generosity. That he had encouraged her passionate and almost +savage love for him there were few to doubt, whatsoever they might +find it possible to say. That men and women both regarded her as, +beyond compare, the heroic figure of the campaign there was none to +gainsay. Even those who could not or did not talk of her at all felt +that such was the garrison verdict. There were no men, and but few +women, who would have condemned the doctor's act in leading her to +Blakely's bedside. Sandy had spoken of her all that wonderful evening +only to praise. It woke to hear the first tidings of the new day, and +to ask only What was the cause?--What had led to her wild, swift +vengeance? for Todd had in turn been carried to hospital, a +sore-stricken man. The night before Natzie was held a queen: now she +was held a captive. + +It all happened so suddenly that even Plume, who witnessed the entire +incident, could not coherently explain it. Reveille was just over and +the men were going to breakfast when the major's voice was heard +shouting for the guard. Graham, first man to reach the scene, had +collided with Janet Wren, whimpering and unnerved, as he bounded into +the hallway. His first thought was that Plume's prophecy about the +knifing had come true, and that Blakely was the victim. His first +sight, when his eyes could do their office in that darkened room, was +of Blakely wresting something from the grasp of the Indian girl, whose +gaze was now riveted on that writhing object on the floor. + +"See to him, doctor," he heard Blakely say, in feeble, but commanding +tone. "I will see to her." But Blakely was soon in no condition to see +to her or to anybody. The flicker of strength that came to him for a +second or two at sight of the tragedy, left him as suddenly--left him +feebler than before. He had no voice with which to protest when the +stretchermen, who bore away poor Todd, were followed instantly by +stout guardsmen who bore away Natzie. The dignity of the chieftain's +daughter had vanished now. She had no knife with which to deal death +to these new and most reluctant assailants--Graham found it under +Blakely's pillow, long hours later. But, with all her savage, lissome +strength she scratched and struck and struggled. It took three of +their burliest to carry her away, and they did it with shame-hidden +faces, while rude comrades chaffed and jeered and even shouted +laughing encouragement to the girl, whose screams of rage had drawn +all Camp Sandy to the scene. One doctor, two men, and the steward went +with their groaning burden one way to the hospital. One officer, one +sergeant, and half a dozen men had all they could do to take their +raging charge another way to the guard-house. Ah, Plume, you might +have spared that brave girl such indignity! But, where one face +followed the wounded man with sympathetic eyes, there were twenty that +never turned from the Indian girl until her screams were deadened by +the prison doors. + +"She stabbed a soldier who meant her no harm," was Plume's sullen and +stubborn answer to all appeals, for good and gentle women went to him, +begging permission to go to her. It angered him presently to the +extent of repeating his words with needless emphasis and additions +when Mother Shaughnessy came to make her special appeal. Shure she had +learned how to care for these poor creatures, was her claim, along o' +having little Paquita on her hands so many days, "and now that poor +girl beyant will be screaming herself into fits!" + +"Let her scream," said Plume, unstrung and shaken, "but hold you your +tongue or I'll find a separate cell for you. No woman shall be knifing +my men, and go unpunished, if I can help it," and so saying he turned +wrathfully from her. + +"Heard you that now?" stormed Mother Shaughnessy, as he strode away. +"Who but he has helped his women to go unpunished--" and the words +were out and heard before the sergeant major could spring and silence +her. Before another day they were echoing all over the post--were on +their way to Prescott, even, and meeting, almost at the northward +gateway, the very women the raging laundress meant. Of her own free +will Clarice Plume was once again at Sandy, bringing with her, sorely +against the will of either, but because a stronger will would have it +so--and sent his guards to see to it--a cowed and scared and +semi-silent companion of whom much ill was spoken now about the +garrison--Elise Lebrun. + +The news threw Norah Shaughnessy nearly into spasms. "'Twas she that +knifed Pat Mullins!" she cried. "'Twas she drove poor Downs to dhrink +and desartion. 'Twas she set Carmody and Shannon to cuttin' each +other's throats"--which was news to a garrison that had seen the +process extend no further than to each other's acquaintance. And more +and stormier words the girl went on to say concerning the commander's +household until Mullins himself mildly interposed. But all these +things were being told about the garrison, from which Lola and +Alchisay had fled in terror to spread the tidings that their princess +was a prisoner behind the bars. These were things that were being +told, too, to the men of Sanders's returning troop before they were +fairly unsaddled at the stables; and that night, before ever he sought +his soldier pillow, Shannon had been to "C" Troop's quarters in search +of Trooper Stern and had wrung from him all that he could tell of +Carmody's last fight on earth--of his last words to Lieutenant +Blakely. + +Meantime a sorely troubled man was Major Plume. That his wife would +have to return to Sandy he had learned from the lips of Colonel Byrne +himself. Her own good name had been involved, and could only be +completely cleared when Wren and Blakely were sufficiently recovered +to testify, and when Mullins should be so thoroughly restored as to be +fit for close cross-examination. Plume could in no wise connect his +beloved wife with either the murderous assault on Mullins or the +mysterious firing of Blakely's quarters, but he knew that Sandy could +not so readily acquit her, even though it might saddle the actual deed +upon her instrument--Elise. He had ordered that Blakely should be +brought to his own quarters because there he could not be reached by +any who were unacceptable to himself, the post commander. There were +many things he wished to know about and from Blakely's lips alone. He +could not stoop to talk with other men about the foibles of his wife. +He knew that iron box in Truman's care contained papers, letters, or +_something_ of deep interest to her. He knew full well now that, at +some time in the not far distant past, Blakely himself had been of +deep interest to her and she to Blakely. He had Blakely's last letter +to himself, written just before the lonely start in quest of Angela, +but that letter made no reference to the contents of the box or to +anything concerning their past. He had heard that Wales Arnold had +been intrusted with letters for Blakely to Clarice, his wife, and to +Captain, or Miss Janet Wren. Arnold had not been entirely silent on +the subject. He did not too much like the major, and rather rejoiced +in this opportunity to show his independence of him. Plume had gone so +far as to ask Arnold whether such letters had been intrusted to him, +and Wales said, yes; but, now that Blakely was safely back and +probably going to pull through, he should return the letters to the +writer as soon as the writer was well enough to appreciate what was +being done. Last, but not least, Plume had picked up near the door in +Blakely's room the circular, nearly flat, leather-covered case which +had dropped, apparently, from Natzie's gown, and, as it had neither +lock nor latch, Plume had opened it to examine its contents. + +To his surprise it contained a beautifully executed miniature, a +likeness of a fair young girl, with soft blue eyes and heavy, arching +brows, a delicately molded face and mouth and chin, all framed in a +tumbling mass of tawny hair. It was the face of a child of twelve or +thirteen, one that he had never seen and of whom he knew nothing. +Neither cover, backing, nor case of the miniature gave the faintest +clew as to its original or as to its ownership. What was Natzie doing +with this?--and to whom did it belong? A little study satisfied him +there was something familiar in the face, yet he could not place it. + +The very night of her coming, therefore, he told his wife the story +and handed her the portrait. One glance was enough. "I know it, yes," +said Mrs. Plume, "though I, too, have never seen her. She died the +winter after it was taken. It is Mr. Blakely's sister, Ethel," and +Mrs. Plume sat gazing at the sweet girl features, with strange +emotion in her aging face. There was something--some story--behind all +this that Plume could not fathom, and it nettled him. Perhaps he, too, +was yielding to a fit of nerves. Elise, the maid, had been remanded to +her room, and could be heard moving about with heavy, yet uncertain +tread. "She is right over Blakely," quoth the major impatiently. "Why +can't the girl be quiet?" + +"Why did you bring him _here_, then?" was the weary answer. "I cannot +control Elise. They have treated her most cruelly." + +"There are things you cannot explain and that she must," said he, and +then, to change the subject, stretched forth his hand to take again +the picture. She drew it back one moment, then, remembering, +surrendered it. + +"You saw this in--St. Louis, I suppose," said he awkwardly. He never +could bear to refer to those days--the days before he had come into +her life. + +"Not that perhaps, but the photograph from which it was probably +painted. She was his only sister. He was educating her in the East." +And again her thoughts were drifting back to those St. Louis days, +when, but for the girl sister he so loved, she and Neil Blakely had +been well-nigh inseparable. Someone had said then, she remembered, +that she was jealous even of that love. + +And now again her husband was gazing fixedly at the portrait, a light +coming into his lined and anxious face. Blakely had always carried +this miniature with him, for he now remembered that the agent, Daly, +had spoken of it. Natzie and others might well have seen it at the +reservation. The agent's wife had often seen it and had spoken of his +sorrow for the sister he had lost. The picture, she said, stood often +on his little camp table. Every Indian who entered his tent knew it +and saw it. Why, surely; Natzie, too, mused the major, and then aloud: + +"I can see now what we have all been puzzling over. Angela Wren might +well have looked like this--four years ago." + +"There is not the faintest resemblance," said Clarice, promptly rising +and quitting the room. + +It developed with another day that Mrs. Plume had no desire to see +Miss Wren, the younger. She expressed none, indeed, when policy and +the manners of good society really required it. Miss Janet had come in +with Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Sanders to call upon the wife of the +commanding officer and say what words of welcome were possible as +appropriate to her return. "And Angela," said Janet, for reasons of +her own, "will be coming later." There was no response, nor was there +to the next tentative. The ladies thought Mrs. Plume should join +forces with them and take Natzie out of the single cell she occupied. +"Can she not be locked at the hospital, under the eye of the matron, +with double sentries? It is hard to think of her barred in that +hideous place with Apache prisoners and rude men all about her." But +again was Mrs. Plume unresponsive. She would say no word of interest +in either Angela or Natzie. At the moment when her husband was in +melting mood and when a hint from her lips would have secured the +partial release of the Indian girl, the hint was withheld. It would +have been better for her, for her husband, for more than one brave lad +on guard, had the major's wife seen fit to speak, but she would not. + +So that evening brought release that, in itself, brought much relief +to the commanding officer and the friends who still stood by him. + +Thirty-six hours now had Natzie been a prisoner behind the bars, and +no one of those we know had seen her face. At tattoo the drums and +fifes began their sweet, old-fashioned soldier tunes. The guard turned +out; the officer of the day buckled his belt with a sigh and started +forth to inspect, just as the foremost soldiers appeared on the porch +in front, buttoning their coats and adjusting their belts and slings. +Half their number began to form ranks; the other half "stood by," +within the main room, to pass out the prisoners, many of whom wore a +clanking chain. All on a sudden there arose a wild clamor--shouts, +scuffling, the thunder of iron upon resounding woodwork, hoarse +orders, curses, shrieks, a yell for help, a shot, a mad scurry of many +feet, furious cries of "Head 'em off!" "Shoot!" "No, no, don't shoot! +You'll kill our own!" A dim cloud of ghostly, shadowy forms went +tearing away down the slope toward the south. There followed a +tremendous rush of troop after troop, company after company,--the +whole force of Camp Sandy in uproarious pursuit,--until in the dim +starlight the barren flats below the post, the willow patches along +the stream, the plashing waters of the ford, the still and glassy +surface of the shadowy pool, were speedily all alive with dark and +darting forms intermingled in odd confusion. From the eastward side, +from officers' row, Plume and his white-coated subordinates hastened +to the southward face, realizing instantly what must have +occurred--the long-prophesied rush of Apache prisoners for freedom. +Yet how hopeless, how mad, how utterly absurd was the effort! What +earthly chance had they--poor, manacled, shackled, ball-burdened +wretches--to escape from two hundred fleet-footed, unhampered, +stalwart young soldiery, rejoicing really in the fun and excitement of +the thing? One after another the shackled fugitives were run down and +overhauled, some not half across the parade, some in the shadows of +the office and storehouses, some down among the shrubbery toward the +lighted store, some among the shanties of Sudsville, some, lightest +weighted of all, far away as the lower pool, and so one after another, +the grimy, sullen, swarthy lot were slowly lugged back to the unsavory +precincts wherein, for long weeks and months, they had slept or +stealthily communed through the hours of the night. Three or four had +been cut or slashed. Three or four soldiers had serious hurts, +scratches or bruises as their fruits of the affray. But after all, the +malefactors, miscreants, and incorrigibles of the Apache tribe had +profited little by their wild and defiant essay--profited little, that +is, if personal freedom was what they sought. + +But was it? said wise heads of the garrison, as they looked the +situation over. Shannon and some of his ilk were doing much +independent trailing by aid of their lanterns. Taps should have been +sounded at ten, but wasn't by any means, for "lights out" was the last +thing to be thought of. Little by little it dawned upon Plume and his +supporters that, instead of scattering, as Indian tactics demanded on +all previous exploits of the kind, there had been one grand, concerted +rush to the southward--planned, doubtless, for the purpose of drawing +the whole garrison thither in pursuit, while three pairs of moccasined +feet slipped swiftly around to the rear of the guard-house, out beyond +the dim corrals, and around to a point back of "C" Troop stables, +where other little hoofs had been impatiently tossing up the sands +until suddenly loosed and sent bounding away to where the North Star +hung low over the sheeny white mantle of San Francisco mountain. +Natzie, the girl queen, was gone from the guard-house: Punch, the Lady +Angela's pet pony, was gone from the corral, and who would say there +had not been collusion? + +"One thing is certain," said the grave-faced post commander, as, with +his officers, he left the knot of troopers and troopers' wives +hovering late about the guard-house, "one thing is certain; with +Wren's own troopers hot on the heels of Angela's pony we'll have our +Apache princess back, sure as the morning sun." + +"Like hell!" said Mother Shaughnessy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"WOMAN-WALK-NO-MORE" + + +More morning suns than could be counted in the field of the flag had +come, and gone, but not a sign of Natzie. Wren's own troopers, hot on +Punch's flashing heels, were cooling their own as best they could +through the arid days that followed. Wren himself was now recovered +sufficiently to be told of much that had been going on,--not all,--and +it was Angela who constantly hovered about him, for Janet was taking a +needed rest. Blakely, too, was on the mend, sitting up hours of every +day and "being very lovely" in manner to all the Sanders household, +for thither had he demanded to be moved even sooner than it was +prudent to move him at all. Go he would, and Graham had to order it. +Pat Mullins was once again "for duty." Even Todd, the bewildered +victim of Natzie's knife, was stretching his legs on the hospital +porch. There had come a lull in all martial proceedings at the post, +and only two sensations. One of these latter was the formal +investigation by the inspector general of the conditions surrounding +the stabbing at Camp Sandy of Privates Mullins and Todd of the ----th +U. S. Cavalry. The other was the discovery, one bright, brilliant, +winter morning that Natzie's friend and savior, Angela's Punch, was +back in his stall, looking every bit as saucy and "fit" as ever he did +in his life. What surprised many folk in the garrison was that it +surprised Angela not at all. "I thought Punch would come back," said +she, in demure unconcern, and the girls at least, began to understand, +and were wild to question. Only Kate Sanders, however, knew how +welcome was the pet pony's coming. But what had come that was far from +welcome was a coldness between Angela and Kate Sanders. + +Byrne himself had arrived, and the "inquisition" had begun. No +examinations under oath, no laborious recordings of question and +answer, no crowd of curious listeners. The veteran inspector took each +man in turn and heard his tale and jotted down his notes, and, where +he thought it wise, cross-questioned over and again. One after +another, Truman and Todd, Wren and Mullins, told their stories, +bringing forth little that was new beyond the fact that Todd was sure +it was Elise he heard that night "jabbering with Downs" on Blakely's +porch. Todd felt sure that it was she who brought him whisky, and +Byrne let him prattle on. It was not evidence, yet it might lead the +way to light. In like manner was Mullins sure now "'Twas two ladies" +stabbed him when he would have striven to stop the foremost. Byrne +asked did he think they were ladies when first he set eyes on them, +and Pat owned up that he thought it was some of the girls from +Sudsville; it might even be Norah as one of them, coming home late +from the laundresses' quarters, and trying to play him a trick. He +owned to it that he grabbed the foremost, seeing at that moment no +other, and thinking to win the forfeit of a kiss, and Byrne gravely +assured him 'twas no shame in it, so long as Norah never found it out. + +But Byrne asked Plume two questions that puzzled and worried him +greatly. How much whisky had he missed? and how much opium could have +been given him the night of Mrs. Plume's unconscious escapade? The +major well remembered that his demijohn had grown suddenly light, and +that he had found himself surprisingly heavy, dull, and drowsy. The +retrospect added to his gloom and depression. Byrne had not reoccupied +his old room at Plume's, now that madame and Elise were once more +under the major's roof, and even in extending the customary +invitation, Plume felt confident that Byrne could not and should not +accept. The position he had taken with regard to Elise, her ladyship's +companion and confidante, was sufficient in itself to make him, in the +eyes of that lady, an unacceptable guest, but it never occurred to +her, although it had to Plume, that there might be even deeper +reasons. Then, too, the relations between the commander and the +inspector, although each was scrupulously courteous, were now +necessarily strained. Plume could not but feel that his conduct of +post affairs was in a measure a matter of scrutiny. He knew that his +treatment of Natzie was disapproved by nine out of ten of his command. +He felt, rather than knew, that some of his people had connived at her +escape, and though that escape had been a relief to everybody at +Sandy, the manner of her taking off was to him a mystery and a +rankling sore. + +Last man to be examined was Blakely, and now indeed there was light. +He had been sitting up each day for several hours; his wounds were +healing well; the fever and prostration that ensued had left him weak +and very thin and pale, but he had the soldier's best medicine--the +consciousness of duties thoroughly and well performed. He knew that, +though Wren might carry his personal antipathy to the extent of +official injustice, as officers higher in rank than Wren have been +known to do, the truth concerning the recent campaign must come to +light, and his connection therewith be made a matter of record, as it +was already a matter of fact. Wren had not yet submitted his written +report. Wren and the post commander were still on terms severely +official; but, to the few brother officers with whom the captain +talked at all upon the stirring events through which he and his troop +had so recently passed, he had made little mention of Blakely. Not so, +however, the men; not so Wales Arnold, the ranchman. To hear these +worthies talk, the Bugologist, next to "Princess Natzie," was the +central figure of the Red Rock campaign--the one officer, "where all +had done so well," whose deeds merited conspicuous mention. Byrne knew +this better than Wren. Plume knew it not as well as Byrne, perhaps. +Sanders, Lynn, and Duane had heard the soldier stories in a dozen +ways, and it stung them that their regimental comrade should so +doggedly refuse to open his lips and give Blakely his due. It is not +silence that usually hurts a man, it is speech; yet here was a case to +the contrary. + +Now just in proportion as the Wrens would have nothing to say in +praise of Blakely, the Sanders household would have nothing _but_ +praise to say. Kate's honest heart was hot with anger at Angela, +because the girl shrank from the subject as she would from evil +speaking, lying, and slandering, and here again, to paraphrase the +Irishman, too much heat had produced the coldness already referred to. +Sanders scoffed at the idea of Natzie's infatuation being sufficient +ground for family ostracism. "If there is a man alive who owes more +than Wren does to Blakely, I'm a crab," said he, "and as soon as he's +well enough to listen to straight talk he'll get it from me." "If +there's a girl in America as heartless as Angela Wren," said Mrs. +Sanders, "I hope I never shall have to meet her." But then Mrs. +Sanders, as we know, had ever been jealous of Angela on account of her +own true-hearted Kate, who refused to say one word on the subject +beyond what she said to Angela herself. And now they had propped their +patient in his reclining-chair and arranged the little table for "the +inquisitor general," as Mrs. Bridger preferred to refer to him, and +left them alone together behind closed doors, and had then gone forth +to find that all Camp Sandy seemed to wait with bated breath for the +outcome of that interview. + +Sooner than was believed possible it came. An hour, probably, before +they thought the colonel could have gathered all he wished to know, +that officer was on the front piazza and sending an orderly to the +adjutant's office. Then came Major Plume, with quick and nervous step. +There was a two-minute conference on the piazza; then both officers +vanished within, were gone five minutes, and then Plume reappeared +alone, went straight to his home, and slammed the door behind him, a +solecism rarely known at Sandy, and presently on the hot and pulseless +air there arose the sound of shrill protestation in strange +vernacular. Even Wren heard the voice, and found something reminiscent +in the sound of weeping and wailing that followed. The performer was +unquestionably Elise--she that had won the ponderous, yet descriptive, +Indian name "Woman-Walk-in-the-Night." + +And while this episode was still unexpired the orderly went for +Lieutenant Truman, and Truman, with two orderlies, for a box, a bulky +little chest, strapped heavily with iron, and this they lugged into +Sanders's hall and came out heated and mystified. Three hours later, +close-veiled and in droopy desolation, "Mademoiselle Lebrun" was +bundled into a waiting ambulance and started under sufficient escort, +and the care of the hospital matron, _en route_ for Prescott, while +Dr. Graham was summoned to attend Mrs. Plume, and grimly went. "The +mean part of the whole business," said Mrs. Bridger, "is that nobody +knows _what_ it means." There was no one along the line, except poor +Mrs. Plume, to regret that sudden and enforced departure, but there +was regret universal all over the post when it was learned, still +later in the afternoon, that one of the best soldiers and sergeants +in the entire garrison had taken the horse of one of the herd guard +and galloped away on the trail of the banished one. Sergeant Shannon, +at sunset parade, was reported absent without leave. + +Major Plume had come forth from his quarters at the sounding of the +retreat, accurately dressed as ever, white-gloved, and wearing his +saber. He seemed to realize that all eyes would be upon him. He had, +indeed, been tempted again to turn over the command to the senior +captain, but wisely thought better of it, and determined to face the +music. He looked very sad and gray, however. He returned scrupulously +the salute of the four company commanders as, in turn, each came +forward to report the result of the evening roll-call; Cutler and +Westervelt first, their companies being the nearest, then Lieutenant +Lynn, temporarily in charge of Wren's troop, its captain and first +lieutenant being still "on sick report." The sight of this young +officer set the major to thinking of that evening not so many moons +agone when Captain Wren himself appeared and in resonant, far-carrying +tone announced "Lieutenant Blakely, sir, is absent." He had been +thinking much of Blakely through the solemn afternoon, as he wandered +nervously about his darkened quarters, sometimes tiptoeing to the +bedside of his feebly moaning, petulant wife, sometimes pacing the +library and hall. He had been again for half an hour closeted with +Byrne and the Bugologist, certain letters being under inspection. He +hardly heard the young officer, Lynn, as he said "Troop 'C,' all +present, sir." He was looking beyond him at Captain Sanders, coming +striding over the barren parade, with import in his eye. Plume felt +that there was trouble ahead before ever Sanders reached the +prescribed six paces, halted, raised his hand in salute, and, just as +did Wren on that earlier occasion, announced in tones intended to be +heard over and beyond the post commander: "Sergeant Shannon, sir, with +one government horse, absent without leave." + +Plume went a shade white, and bit his lips before he could steady +himself to question. Well he knew that this new devilment was due in +some way to that spirit of evil so long harbored by his wife, and +suffered by himself. All the story of the strife she had stirred in +the garrison had reached him days before. Downs's drunkenness and +desertion, beyond doubt, were chargeable to her, as well as another +and worse crime, unless all indications were at fault. Then there was +the breach between Carmody and Shannon, formerly stanch friends and +comrades, and now Carmody lay buried beneath the rocks in Bear Canon, +and Shannon, as gallant and useful a sergeant as ever served, had +thrown to the winds his record of the past and his hopes for the +future, and gone in mad pursuit of a worthless hoyden. And all because +Clarice would have that woman with her wherever she might go. + +"When did this happen?" he presently asked. + +"Just after stable call, sir. The horses were all returned to the +corral except the herd guard's. The men marched over, as usual, with +their halters. Shannon fell out as they entered the gate, took young +Bennett's rein as he stood ready to lead in after them, mounted and +rode round back of the wall, leaving Bennett so surprised that he +didn't know what to say. He never suspected anything wrong until +Shannon failed to reappear. Then he followed round back of the corral, +found the sergeant's stable frock lying halfway out toward the bluff, +and saw a streak of dust toward Bowlder Point. Then he came and +reported." + +Plume, after a moment's silence, turned abruptly. He had suffered much +that day, and to think of his wife lying stricken and whimpering, +professing herself a sorely injured woman because compelled at last to +part with her maid, angered him beyond the point of toleration. +Tossing his saber to the China boy, he went straightway aloft, failing +to note in the dim light that two soft-hearted sympathizers were +cooing by the gentle sufferer's side. + +"Well, Clarice," he broke in abruptly, "we are never to hear the end +of that she-cat's doings! My best sergeant has stolen a horse and gone +galloping after her." It is always our best we lose when our better +half is to blame, nor is it the way of brutal man to minimize the +calamity on such occasions. It did not better matters that her +much-wronged ladyship should speedily reply: "It's a wonder you don't +charge the Indian outbreak to poor Elise. I don't believe she had a +thing to do with your sergeant's stealing." + +"You wouldn't believe she stole my whisky and gave it to Downs, though +you admitted she told you she had to go back that night for something +she'd dropped. You wouldn't believe she married that rascally gambler +at St. Louis before her first husband was out of the way! You shielded +and swore by her, and brought her out here, and all the time the +proofs were here in Blakely's hands. It was _she_, I suppose, who +broke off--" + +But here, indeed, was it high time to break off. The visitors were now +visibly rising in all proper embarrassment, for Mrs. Plume had started +up, with staring eyes. "Proofs!" she cried, "in Blakely's hands! Why, +she told me--my own letters!--my--" And then brutal man was brought to +his senses and made to see how heartless and cruel was his conduct, +for Mrs. Plume went into a fit and Mrs. Lynn for the doctor. + +That was a wild night at Sandy. Two young matrons had made up their +minds that it was shameful to leave poor Mrs. Plume without anybody to +listen to her, when she might so long for sympathetic hearers, and +have so much to tell. They had entered as soon as the major came forth +and, softly tapping at the stricken one's door, had been with her +barely five minutes when he came tearing back, and all this tremendous +scene occurred before they could put in a word to prevent, which, of +course, they were dying to do. But what _hadn't_ they heard in that +swift moment! Between the two of them--and Mrs. Bridger was the +other--their agitation was such that it all had to be told. Then, like +the measles, one revelation led to another, but it was several days +before the garrison settled down in possession of an array of facts +sufficient to keep it in gossip for many a month. Meanwhile, many a +change had come over the scene. + +At Prescott, then the Territorial capital, Elise Layton, _nee_ Lebrun, +was held without bail because it couldn't be had, charged with +obtaining money under false pretenses, bigamy as a side issue, and +arson as a possible backstop. The sleep-walking theory, as advanced in +favor of Mrs. Plume, had been reluctantly abandoned, it appearing +that, however dazed and "doped" she may have been through the +treatment of that deft-fingered, unscrupulous maid, she was +sufficiently wide awake to know well whither she had gone at that +woman's urging, to make a last effort to recover certain letters of +vital importance. At Blakely's door Clarice had "lost her nerve" and +insisted on returning, but not so Elise. She went again, and had +well-nigh gotten Downs drunk enough to do as she demanded. Frankly, +sadly, Plume went to Blakely, told him of his wife's admissions, and +asked him what papers of hers he retained. For a moment Blakely had +blazed with indignation, but Plume's sorrow, and utter innocence of +wrong intent, stilled his wrath and led to his answer: "Every letter +of Mrs. Plume's I burned before she was married, and I so assured her. +She herself wrote asking me to burn rather than return them, but there +were letters and papers I could not burn, brought to me by a poor +devil that woman Elise had married, tricked into jail, and then +deserted. He disappeared afterward, and even Pinkerton's people +haven't been able to find him. Those papers are his property. You and +Colonel Byrne are the only men who have seen them, though they were +somewhat exposed just after the fire. She made three attempts to get +me to give them up to her. Then, I believe, she strove to get Downs to +steal them, and gave him the money with which to desert and bring them +to her. He couldn't get into the iron box; couldn't lug it out, and +somehow, probably, set fire to the place, scratching matches in there. +Perhaps she even persuaded him to do that as a last resort. He knew I +could get out safely. At all events, he was scared out of his wits and +deserted with what he had. It was in trying to make his way eastward +by the Wingate road that there came the last of poor Ups and Downs." + +And so the story of this baleful influence over a weak, half-drugged +girl, her mistress, became known to Plume and gradually to others. It +was easy for Elise to make her believe that, in spite of the word of a +gentleman, her impulsive love letters were still held by Blakely +because he had never forgiven her. It was Elise, indeed, who had +roused her jealousy and had done her best to break that engagement +with Blakely and to lead to the match with the handsome and devoted +major. Intrigue and lying were as the breath of the woman's nostrils. +She lived in them. But Sandy was never to see her again. +"Woman-Walk-in-the-Night" was "Woman-Walk-no-More." + +And now the friendless creature stood charged with more crimes than +would fill the meager space of a Territorial jail, and yet the one +originally laid at her door, though never publicly announced, was now +omitted entirely--that of assault with deadly weapon, possibly with +intent to kill. Even Mother Shaughnessy and Norah were silenced, and +Pat Mullins put to confusion. Even the latest punctured patient at the +hospital, Private Todd, had to serve as evidence in behalf of Elise, +for Graham, post surgeon, had calmly declared that the same weapon +that so nearly killed Pat Mullins had as nearly and neatly done the +deed for Todd--the keen Apache knife of Princess Natzie. + +"The heathen child was making her usual night visit to her white +lover," said Wren grimly, having in mind the womanly shape he had seen +that starlit morning at Blakely's rear door. + +"You're right in one guess, R-robert Wren," was the prompt answer of +his friend and fellow Scot, who glared at Janet rather than his +convalescent as he spoke. "And ye're wrang in twanty. She _was_ +tryin', and didn't know the way. She _was_ tryin', for she had his +watch and pocketbook. You're wrang if ye think she was ever there +before or after. The slut you saw cryin' at his back door was that +quean Elise, an' ye well know there was no love lost between them. Go +say yer prayers, man, for every wicked thought ye've had of him--or of +that poor child. Between them they saved your Angela!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE PARTING BY THE WATERS + + +"Some day I may tell Miss Angela--but never you," had Mr. Blakely +said, before setting forth on his perilous essay to find Angela's +father, and with native tenacity Miss Wren the elder had remembered +the words and nourished her wrath. It was strange, indeed, that Plume, +an officer and a gentleman, should have bethought him of the "austere +vestal" as a companion witness to Blakely's supposed iniquity; but, +between these two natures,--one strong, one weak,--there had sprung up +the strange sympathy that is born of a common, deep-rooted, yet +ill-defined antipathy--one for which neither she nor he could yet give +good reason, and of which each was secretly ashamed. Each, for reasons +of her or his own, cordially disliked the Bugologist, and each could +not but welcome evidence to warrant such dislike. It is human nature. +Janet Wren had strong convictions that the man was immoral, if for no +other reason than that he obviously sought Angela and as obviously +avoided her. Janet had believed him capable of carrying on a _liaison_ +with the dame who had jilted him, and had had to see that theory +crushed. Then she would have it that, if not the mistress, he dallied +with the maid, and when it began to transpire that virulent hatred was +the only passion felt for him by that baffling and detestable +daughter of Belial, there came actual joy to the soul of the +Scotchwoman that, after all, her intuition had not been at fault. He +was immoral as she would have him, even more so, for he had taken base +advantage of the young and presumably innocent. She craved some proof, +and Plume knew it, and, seeing her there alone in her dejection, had +bidden her come and look--with the result described. + +His own feeling toward Blakely is difficult to explain. Kind friends +had told him at St. Louis how inseparable had been Clarice and this +very superior young officer. She had admitted to him the "flirtation," +but denied all regard for Blakely, yet Plume speedily found her moody, +fitful, and unhappy, and made up his mind that Blakely was at the +bottom of it. Her desire to go to far-away Arizona could have no other +explanation. And though in no way whatever, by look, word, or deed, +had Blakely transgressed the strictest rule in his bearing toward the +major's wife, both major and wife became incensed at him,--Plume +because he believed the Bugologist still cherished a tender passion +for his wife--or she for him; Clarice, it must be owned, because she +knew well he did not. Plume sought to find a flaw in his subordinate's +moral armor to warrant the aversion that he felt, and was balked at +every turn. It was with joy almost fierce he discovered what he +thought to be proof that the subaltern was no saint, and, never +stopping to give his better nature time to rise and rebuke him, he had +summoned Janet. It was to sting Blakely, more than to punish the girl, +he had ordered Natzie to the guard-room. Then, as the hours wore on +and he realized how contemptible had been his conduct, the sense of +shame well-nigh crushed him, and though it galled him to think that +some of his own kind, probably, had connived at Natzie's escape, he +thanked God the girl was gone. And now having convinced herself that +here at last she had positive proof of Mr. Blakely's depravity, Aunt +Janet had not scrupled to bear it to Angela, with sharp and surprising +result. A good girl, a dutiful girl, was Angela, as we have seen, but +she, too, had her share of fighting Scotch blood and a bent for revolt +that needed only a reason. For days Aunt Janet had bidden her shun the +young man, first naming Mrs. Plume and then Elsie as the cause and +corespondent. One after another Graham had demolished these +possibilities, to the end that even Wren was ashamed of his unworthy +suspicions. Then it was Natzie who was the prey of Blakely's +immorality, and for that, Janet declared, quite as much as for +stabbing the soldier, the girl had been sent to the cells. It was late +in the day when she managed to find Angela away from her father, who, +realizing what Natzie had done and suffered to save his own ewe lamb, +was now in keen distress of mind because powerless to raise a hand to +aid her. He wondered that Angela seemed so unresponsive--that she did +not flare up in protest at such degrading punishment for the girl who +had saved her life. He little knew how his daughter's heart was +burning within her. He never dreamed that she, too, was +suffering--torn by conflicting emotions. It was a sore thing to find +that in her benefactress lived an unsuspected rival. + +Just before sunset she had left him and gone to her room to change her +dress for the evening, and Janet's first swoop was upon her brother. +Once before during the exciting day she had had a moment to herself +and him. She had so constantly fanned the flame of his belief in +Blakely's gallantries as even to throttle the sense of gratitude he +felt, and, in spite of herself, that she felt for that officer's +daring and successful services during the campaign. She felt, and he +felt, that they must disapprove of Blakely--must stamp out any nascent +regard that Angela might cherish for him, and to this end would never +in her presence admit that he had been instrumental in the rescue of +his captain, much less his captain's daughter. Hurriedly Janet had +told him what she and Plume had seen, and left him to ponder over it. +Now she came to induce him to bid her tell it all to Angela. "Now +that, that other--affair--seems disproved," said she, "she'll be +thinking there's no reason why she shouldn't be thinking of him," and +dejectedly the Scotchman bade her do as seemed best. Women, he +reasoned, could better read each other's hearts. + +And so Janet had gone and had thought to shock, and had most +impressively detailed what she had witnessed--I fear me Janet scrupled +not to embroider a bit, so much is permissible to the "unco guid" when +so very much is at stake. And Angela went on brushing out her +beautiful hair without a sign of emotion. To the scandal of Scotch +maidenhood she seemed unimpressed by the depravity of the pair. To the +surprise of Aunt Janet she heard her without interruption to the +uttermost word, and then--wished to know if Aunt Janet thought the +major would let her send Natzie something for supper. + +Whatever the girl may have thought of this new and possible +complication, she determined that no soul should read that it cost her +a pang. She declined to discuss it. She did what she had not done +before that day--went forth in search of Kate Sanders. Aunt Janet was +astonished that her niece should wish to send food to that--that +trollop. What would she have thought could she have heard what passed +a few moments later? In the dusk and the gloaming Kate Sanders was in +conversation on the side veranda with a tall sergeant of her father's +troop. "Ask her?" Kate was saying. "Of course I'll ask her. Why, here +she comes now!" Will it be believed that Sergeant Shannon wished Miss +Angela's permission to "take Punch out for a little exercise," a thing +he had never ventured to ask before, and that Angela Wren eagerly +said, "Yes." Poor Shannon! He did not know that night how soon he +would be borrowing a horse on his own account, nor that two brave +girls would nearly cry their eyes out over it, when they were barely +on speaking terms. + +Of him there came sad news but the day after his crack-brained, +Quixotic essay. Infatuated with Elise, and believing in her promise to +marry him, he had placed his savings in her hands, even as had Downs +and Carmody. He had heard the story of her visiting Blakely by night, +and scouted it. He heard, in a maze of astonishment, that she was +being sent to Prescott under guard for delivery to the civil +authorities, and taking the first horse he could lay hands on, he +galloped in chase. He had overtaken the ambulance on Cherry Creek, and +with moving tears she had besought him to save her. Faithful to their +trust, the guard had to interpose, but, late at night, they reached +Stemmer's ranch; were met there by a relief guard sent down by Captain +Stout; and the big sergeant who came in charge, with special +instructions from Stout's own lips, was a new king who knew not +Joseph, and who sternly bade Shannon keep his distance. Hot words +followed, for the trooper sergeant would stand no hectoring from an +equal in rank. Shannon's heart was already lost, and now he lost his +head. He struck a fellow-sergeant who stood charged with an important +duty, and even his own comrades could not interpose when the +infantrymen threw themselves upon the raging Irish soldier and +hammered him hard before they could subdue and bind him, but bind him +they did. Sadly the trooper guard went back to Sandy, bringing the +"borrowed" horse and the bad news that Shannon had been arrested for +assaulting Sergeant Bull, and all men knew that court-martial and +disgrace must follow. It was Shannon's last run on the road he knew so +well. Soldiers of rank came forward to plead for him and bear witness +to his worth and services, and the general commanding remitted most of +the sentence, restoring to him everything the court had decreed +forfeited except the chevrons. They had to go, yet could soon be +regained. But no man could restore to him the pride and self-respect +that went when he realized that he was only one of several plucked and +deluded victims of a female sharper. While the Frenchwoman ogled and +languished behind the bars, Shannon wandered out into the world again, +a deserter from the troop he was ashamed to face, an unfollowed, +unsought fugitive among the mining camps in the Sierras. "Three stout +soldiers stricken from the rolls--two of them gone to their last +account," mused poor Plume, as at last he led his unhappy wife away to +the sea, "and all the work of one woman!" + +Yes, Mrs. Plume was gone now for good and all, her devoted, yet +sore-hearted major with her, and Wren was sufficiently recovered to be +up and taking the air on his veranda, where Sanders sometimes stopped +to see him, and "pass the time of day," but cut his visits short and +spoke of everything but what was uppermost in his mind, because his +better half persuaded him that only ill would come from preaching. +Then, late one wonderful day, the interesting invalid, Mr. Neil +Blakely himself, was "paraded" upon the piazza in the Sanders's +special reclining-chair, and Kate and Mrs. Sanders beamed, while +nearly all society at the post came and purred and congratulated and +took sidelong glances up the row to where Angela but a while before +was reading to her grim old father, but where the father now read +alone, for Angela had gone, as was her custom at the hour, to her own +little room, and thither did Janet conceive it her duty to follow, +and there to investigate. + +"It won't be long now before that young man will be hobbling around +the post, I suppose. How do you expect to avoid him?" said the elder +maiden, looking with uncompromising austerity at her niece. Angela as +before had just shaken loose her wealth of billowy tresses and was +carefully brushing them. She did not turn from the contemplation of +her double in the mirror before her; she did not hesitate in her +reply. It was brief, calm, and to the point. + +"I shall not avoid him." + +"Angela! And after all I--your father and I--have told you!" And Aunt +Janet began to bristle. + +"Two-thirds of what you told me, Aunt Janet, proved to be without +foundation. Now I doubt--the rest of it." And Aunt Janet saw the big +eyes beginning to fill; saw the twitching at the corners of the soft, +sensitive lips; saw the trembling of the slender, white hand, and the +ominous tapping of the slender, shapely foot, but there wasn't a +symptom of fear or flinching. The blood of the Wrens was up for +battle. The child was a woman grown. The day of revolt had come at +last. + +"Angela Wr-r-ren!" rolled Aunt Janet. "D'you mean you're going to +_see_ him?--speak to him?" + +"I'm going to see him and--thank him, Aunt Janet." And now the girl +had turned and faced the astounded woman at the door. "You may spare +yourself any words upon the subject." + +The captain was seated in loneliness and mental perturbation just +where Angela had left him, but no longer pretending to read. His back +was toward the southern end of the row. He had not even seen the cause +of the impromptu reception at the Sanders's. He read what was taking +place when Angela began to lose her voice, to stumble over her words; +and, peering at her under his bushy eyebrows, he saw that the face he +loved was flushing, that her young bosom was swiftly rising and +falling, the beautiful brown eyes wandering from the page. Even before +the glad voices from below came ringing to his ears, he read in his +daughter's face the tumult in her guileless heart, and then she +suddenly caught herself and hurried back to the words that seemed +swimming in space before her. But the effort was vain. Rising quickly, +and with brave effort steadying her voice, she said, "I'll run and +dress now, father, dear," and was gone, leaving him to face the +problem thrust upon him. Had he known that Janet, too, had heard from +the covert of the screened and shaded window of the little parlor, and +then that she had followed, he would have shouted for his German +"striker" and sent a mandate to his sister that she could not fail to +understand. He did not know that she had been with Angela until he +heard her footstep and saw her face at the hall doorway. She had not +even to roll her r's before the story was told. + +Two days now he had lived in much distress of mind. Before quitting +the post Major Plume had laboriously gone the rounds, saying good-by +to every officer and lady. Two officers he had asked to see +alone--the captain and first lieutenant of Troop "C." Janet knew of +this, and should have known it meant amende and reconciliation, +perhaps revelation, but because her brother saw fit to sit and ponder, +she saw fit to cling unflinchingly to her preconceived ideas and to +act according to them. With Graham she was exceeding wroth for daring +to defend such persons as Lieutenant Blakely and "that Indian squaw." +It was akin to opposing weak-minded theories to positive knowledge of +facts. She had seen with her own eyes the ignorant, but no less +abandoned, creature kneeling at Blakely's bedside, her black head +pillowed close to his breast. She had seen her spring up in fury at +being caught--what else could have so enraged her that she should seek +to knife the intruders? argued Janet. She believed, or professed to +believe, that but for the vigilance of poor Todd, now quite happy in +his convalescence, the young savage would have murdered both the major +and herself. She did not care what Dr. Graham said. She had seen, and +seeing, with Janet, was believing. + +But she knew her brother well, and knew that since Graham's impetuous +outbreak he had been wavering sadly, and since Plume's parting visit +had been plunged in a mental slough of doubt and distress. Once before +his stubborn Scotch nature had had to strike its colors and surrender +to his own subaltern, and now the same struggle was on again, for what +Plume said, and said in presence of grim old Graham, fairly startled +him: + +"You are not the only one to whom I owe amende and apology, Captain +Wren. I wronged you, when you were shielding--my wife--at no little +cost to yourself. I wronged Blakely in several ways, and I have had to +go and tell him so and beg his pardon. The meanest thing I ever did +was bringing Miss Wren in there to spy on him, unless it was in +sending that girl to the guard-house. I'd beg her pardon, too, if she +could be found. Yes, I see you look glum, Wren, but we've all been +wrong, I reckon. There's no mystery about it now." + +And then Plume told his tale and Wren meekly listened. It might well +be, said he, that Natzie loved Blakely. All her people did. She had +been watching him from the willows as he slept that day at the pool. +He had forbidden her following him, forbidden her coming to the post, +and she feared to wake him, yet when she saw the two prospectors, that +had been at Hart's, ride over toward the sleeping officer she was +startled. She saw them watching, whispering together. Then they rode +down and tied their horses among the trees a hundred yards below, and +came crouching along the bank. She was up in an instant and over the +stream at the shallows, and that scared them off long enough to let +her reach him. Even then she dare not wake him for fear of his anger +at her disobedience, but his coat was open, his watch and wallet easy +to take. She quickly seized them--the little picture-case being within +the wallet at the moment--and sped back to her covert. Then Angela had +come cantering down the sandy road; had gone on down stream, passing +even the prowling prospectors, and after a few minutes had returned +and dismounted among the willows above where Blakely lay--Angela whom +poor Natzie believed to be Blakely's sister. Natzie supposed her +looking for her brother, and wondered why she waited. Natzie finally +signaled and pointed when she saw that Angela was going in +disappointment at not finding him. Natzie witnessed Angela's theft of +the net and her laughing ride away. By this time the prospectors had +given up and gone about their business, and then, while she was +wondering how best to restore the property, Lola and Alchisay had come +with the annoying news that the agent was angered and had sent +trailers after her. They were even then only a little way up stream. +The three then made a run for the rocks to the east, and there +remained in hiding. That night Natzie had done her best to find her +way to Blakely with the property, and the rest they knew. The watch +was dropped in the struggle on the _mesa_ when Mullins was stabbed, +the picture-case that morning at the major's quarters. + +"Was it Blakely told you all this, sir?" Wren had asked, still +wrong-headed and suspicious. + +"No, Wren. It was I told Blakely. All this was given me by Lola's +father, the interpreter, back from Chevlon's Fork only yesterday. I +sent him to try to persuade Natzie and her kinsfolk to return. I have +promised them immunity." + +Then Plume and Graham had gone, leaving Wren to brood and ponder, and +this had he been doing two mortal days and nights without definite +result, and now came Janet to bring things to a head. In grim and +ominous silence he listened to her recital, saying never a word until +her final appeal: + +"R-r-robert, is our girlie going daft, do you think? She solemnly said +to me--to me--but a minute ago, 'I mean to go to him myself--and thank +him!'" + +And solemnly the soldier looked up from his reclining-chair and +studied his sister's amazed and anxious face. Then he took her thin, +white hand between his own thin, brown paws and patted it gently. She +recoiled slowly as she saw contrition, not condemnation, in his +blinking eyes. + +"God forgive us all, Janet! It's what I ought to have done days ago." + + * * * * * + +Another cloudless afternoon had come, and, under the willows at the +edge of the pool, a young girl sat daydreaming, though the day was +nearly done. All in the valley was wrapped in shadow, though the +cliffs and turrets across the stream were resplendent in a radiance of +slanting sunshine. Not a whisper of breeze stirred the drooping +foliage along the sandy shores, or ruffled the liquid mirror surface. +Not a sound, save drowsy hum of beetle or soft murmur of rippling +waters among the pebbly shadows below, broke the vast silence of the +scene. Just where Angela was seated that October day on which our +story opened, she was seated now, with the greyhounds stretched +sprawling in the warm sands at her feet, with Punch blinking lazily +and switching his long tail in the thick of the willows. + +And somebody else was there, close at hand. The shadows of the +westward heights had gradually risen to the crest of the rocky cliffs +across the stream. A soft, prolonged call of distant trumpet summoned +homeward for the coming night the scattered herds and herd guards of +the post, and, rising suddenly, her hand upon a swift-throbbing heart, +her red lips parted in eagerness or excitement uncontrollable, Angela +stood intently listening. Over among the thickets across the pool the +voice of an Indian girl was uplifted in some weird, uncanny song. The +voice was shrill, yet not unmusical. The song was savage, yet not +lacking some crude harmony. She could not see the singer, but she +knew. Natzie's people had returned to the agency, accepting the olive +branch that Plume had tendered them--Natzie herself was here. + +At the first sound of the uplifted voice an Apache boy, crouching in +the shrubbery at the edge of the pool, rose quickly to his feet, and, +swift and noiseless, stole away into the thicket. If he thought to +conceal himself or his purpose his caution was needless. Angela +neither saw nor heard him. Neither was it the song nor the singer that +now arrested her attention. So still was the air, so deep was the +silence of nature, that even on such sandy roads and bridlepaths as +traversed the winding valley, the faintest hoof-beat was carried far. +Another horse, another rider, was quickly coming. Tonto, the big hound +nearest her, lifted his shapely head and listened a moment, then went +bounding away through the willows, followed swiftly by his mate. They +knew the hoof-beats, and joyously ran to meet and welcome the rider. +Angela knew them quite as well, but could neither run to meet, nor +could she fly. + +Only twice, as yet, had she opportunity to see or to thank Neil +Blakely, and a week had passed since her straightforward challenge to +Aunt Janet. As soon as he could walk unaided, save by his stick, Wren +had gone stumping down the line to Sanders's quarters and asked for +Mr. Blakely, with whom he had an uninterrupted talk of half an hour. +Within two days thereafter Mr. Blakely in person returned the call, +being received with awful state and solemnity by Miss Wren herself. +Angela, summoned by her father's voice, came flitting down a moment +later, and there in the little army parlor, where first she had sought +to "entertain" him until the captain should appear, our Angela was +once again brought face to face with him who had meanwhile risked his +life in the effort to rescue her father, and again in the effort to +find and rescue her. A fine blush mantled her winsome face as she +entered, and, without a glance at Janet, went straightway to their +visitor, with extended hand. + +"I am so glad to see you again, Mr. Blakely," she bravely began. "I +have--so much--to thank you--" but her brown eyes fell before the fire +in the blue and her whole being thrilled at the fervor of his +handclasp. She drew her hand away, the color mounting higher, then +snuggled to her father's side with intent to take his arm; but, +realizing suddenly how her own was trembling, grasped instead the back +of a chair. Blakely was saying something, she knew not what, nor could +she ever recall much that anyone said during the brief ten minutes of +his stay, for there sat Aunt Janet, bolt upright, after the fashion of +fifty years gone by, a formidable picture indeed, and Angela wondered +that anyone could say anything at all. + +Next time they met she was riding home and he sat on the south veranda +with Mrs. Sanders and Kate. She would have ridden by with just a nod +and smile; but, at sight of her, he "hobbled" down the steps and came +hurriedly out to speak, whereupon Mrs. Sanders, who knew much better, +followed to "help him," as she said. "Help, indeed!" quoth angry Kate, +usually most dutiful of daughters. "You'd only hinder!" But even that +presence had not stopped his saying: "The doctor promises I may ride +Hart's single-footer in a day or two, Miss Angela, and then--" + +And now it was a "single-footer" coming, the only one at Sandy. Of +course it might be Hart, not Blakely, and yet Blakely had seen her as +she rode away. It was Blakely's voice--how seldom she had heard, yet +how well she knew it! answering the joyous welcome of the hounds. It +was Blakely who came riding straight in among the willows, a radiance +in his thin and lately pallid face--Blakely who quickly, yet +awkwardly, dismounted, for it still caused him pain, and then, +forgetful of his horse, came instantly to her as she stood there, +smiling, yet tremulous. The hand that sought hers fairly shook, but +that, said Angela, though she well knew better, might have been from +weakness or from riding. For a moment he did not speak. It was she who +began. She thought he should know at once. + +"Did you--hear her singing--too?" she hazarded. + +"Hear?--Who?" he replied, grudgingly letting go the hand because it +pulled with such determination. + +"Why--Natzie, I suppose. At least--I haven't seen her," she stammered, +her cheeks all crimson now. + +"Natzie, indeed!" he answered, in surprise, turning slowly and +studying the opposite willows. "It is only a day or two since they +came in. I thought she'd soon be down." Obviously her coming caused +him neither embarrassment nor concern. "She still has a notecase of +mine. I suppose you heard?" And his clear blue eyes were fastened on +her lovely, downcast face. + +"Something. Not much," she answered, drawing back a little, for he +stood so close to her she could have heard the beating of his +heart--but for her own. All was silence over there in the opposite +willows, but so it was the day Natzie had so suddenly appeared from +nowhere, and he saw the hurried glance she sent across the pool. + +"Has she worried you?" he began, "has she been--" spying, he was going +to say, and she knew it, and grew redder still with vexation. Natzie +could claim at least that she was not without a shining example had +she come there to spy, but Blakely had that to say to her that +deserved undivided attention, and there is a time when even one's +preserver and greatest benefactor may be _de trop_. + +"Will you wait--one moment?" he suddenly asked. "I'll go to the rocks +yonder and call her," and then, almost as suddenly, the voice was +again uplifted in the same weird, barbaric song, and the singer had +gone from the depths of the opposite thicket and was somewhere farther +up stream, still hidden from their gaze--still, possibly, ignorant of +Angela's presence. The brown eyes were at the moment following the +tall, white form, moving slowly through the winding, faintly-worn +pathway toward the upper shallows where, like stepping stones, the big +rocks stretched from shore to shore, and she was startled to note that +the moment the song began he stopped short a second or two, listened +intently, then almost sprang forward in his haste to reach the +crossing. Another minute and he was out of sight among the shrubbery. +Another, and she heard the single shot of a revolver, and there he +stood at the rocky point, a smoking pistol in his hand. Instantly the +song ceased, and then his voice was uplifted, calling, "Natzie! +Natzie!" With breathless interest Angela gazed and, presently, parting +the shrubbery with her little brown hands, the Indian girl stepped +forth into the light and stood in silence, her great black eyes fixed +mournfully upon him. Could this be their mountain princess--the +daring, the resolute, the commanding? Could this be the fierce, +lissome, panther-like creature before whose blow two of their stoutest +men had fallen? There was dejection inexpressible in her very +attitude. There was no longer bravery or adornment in her dress. There +was no more of queen--of chieftain's daughter--in this downcast child +of the desert. + +He called again, "Natzie," and held forth his hand. Her head had +drooped upon her breast, but, once again, she looked upon him, and +then, with one slow, hesitant, backward glance about her, stepped +forward, her little, moccasined feet flitting from rock to rock across +the murmuring shallows until she stood before him. Then he spoke, but +she only shook her head and let it droop again, her hands passively +clasping. He knew too little of her tongue to plead with her. He knew, +perhaps, too little of womankind to appreciate what he was doing. +Finding words useless, he gently took her hand and drew her with him, +and passively she obeyed, and for a moment they disappeared from +Angela's view. Then presently the tall, white form came again in +sight, slowly leading the unresisting child, until, in another moment, +they stepped within the little open space among the willows. At the +same instant Angela arose, and the daughter of the soldier and the +daughter of the savage, the one with timid yet hopeful welcome and +greeting in her lovely face, the other with sudden amaze, scorn, +passion, and jealous fury in her burning eyes, stood a breathless +moment confronted. Then, all in a second, with one half-stifled, +inarticulate cry, Natzie wrenched her hand from that of Blakely, and, +with the spring of a tigress, bounded away. Just at the edge of the +pool she halted, whirled about, tore from her bosom a flat, oblong +packet and hurled it at his feet; then, with the dart of a +frightened deer, drove through the northward willows. Angela saw her +run blindly up the bank, leaping thence to the rocks below, bounding +from one to another with the wild grace of the antelope. Another +instant and she had reached the opposite shore, and there, tossing her +arms wildly above her head, her black tresses streaming behind her, +with a cry that was almost a scream, she plunged into the heart of the +thicket; the stubborn branches closed behind her, and our Apache queen +was gone. As they met, so had they parted, by the waters of the pool. + +[Illustration: "NATZIE WRENCHED HER HAND FROM THAT OF BLAKELY, AND +WITH THE SPRING OF A TIGRESS BOUNDED AWAY"] + +When Blakely turned again to Angela she, too, was gone. He found her a +little later, her arms twined about her pony's neck, her face buried +in his mane, and sobbing as though her heart would break. + +On a soft, starlit evening within the week, no longer weeping, but +leaning on Blakely's arm, Angela stood at the edge of the bluff, +looking far out over the Red Rock country to the northeast. The sentry +had reported a distant signal fire, and several of the younger people +had strolled out to see. Whatever it was that had caused the report +had vanished by the time they reached the post, so, presently, Kate +Sanders started the homeward move, and now even the sentry had +disappeared in the darkness. When Angela, too, would have returned, +his arm restrained. She knew it would. She knew he had not spoken that +evening at the willows because of her tears. She knew he had been +patient, forbearing, gentle, yet well she knew he meant now to speak +and wait no longer. + +"Do you remember," he began, "when I said that some day I should tell +you--but never your aunt--who it was that came to my quarters that +night--and why she came?" and though she sought to remove her hand +from his arm he would not let it go. + +"You _did_ tell me," she answered, her eyelids drooping. + +"I _did_!--when?" + +Though the face was downcast, the sensitive lips began to quiver with +merriment and mischief. + +"The same day you took me for--your mother--and asked me to sing for +you." + +"Angela!" he cried, in amaze, and turning quickly toward her, "What +can you mean?" + +"Just what I say. You began as though I were your sister, then your +mother. I think, perhaps, if we'd had another hour together it would +have been grandmother." She was shaking with suppressed laughter now, +or was it violent trembling, for his heart, like hers, was bounding. + +"I must indeed have been delirious," he answered now, not laughing, +not even smiling. He had possessed himself of that other hand, despite +its fluttering effort. His voice was deep and grave and tremulous. "I +called you anything but what I most longed to call you--what I pray +God I may call you, Angela--my wife!" + + + + +L'ENVOI + + +There was a wedding at Sandy that winter when Pat Mullins took his +discharge, and his land warrant, and a claim up the Beaver, and Norah +Shaughnessy to wife. There was another, many a mile from Sandy, when +the May blossoms were showering in the orchard of a fair old homestead +in the distant East, and then Neil Blakely took his bride to see "the +land of the leal" after the little peep at the lands that now she +shared with him. There is one room in the beautiful old Colonial +mansion that they soon learned to call "father's," in anticipation of +the time when he should retire and come to hang the old saber on the +older mantel and spend his declining years with them. There is +another, sacred to Aunt Janet, where she was often welcomed, a woman +long since reconciled to Angela's once "obnoxious," but ever devoted +admirer. There were some points in which Aunt Janet suffered sore. She +had views of her own upon the rearing and management of children, and +these views she did at first oppose to those of Angela, but not for +long. In this, as in her choice of a husband, Angela had to read her +declaration of independence to the elder woman. + +There is another room filled with relics of their frontier +days,--Indian weapons, blankets, beadwork,--and among these, in a +sort of shrine of its own, there hangs a portrait made by a famous +artist from a little tintype, taken by some wandering photographer +about the old Apache reservation. Wren wrote them, ere the regiment +left Arizona, that she who had been their rescuer, and then so long +disappeared, finally wedded a young brave of the Chiricahua band and +went with him to Mexico. That portrait is the only relic they have of +a never forgotten benefactress--Natzie, their Apache Princess. + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + + + + +A DAUGHTER _of the_ SIOUX + +By GENERAL CHARLES KING + +A Tale of the Indian Frontier + +Illustrations by Frederic Remington and Edwin Willard Deming + + * * * * * + +SOME PRESS NOTES + +The Chicago Daily News + + A stronger story than any he has written for many years. + + +The Philadelphia Item + + A genuinely delightful tale, clean, wholesome, thoroughly + enjoyable.... + + +The Baltimore American + + Is full of interest, and equals, if not surpasses, his best + previous efforts. + + +The Portland (Me.) Press + + This captivating novel is quite perfect of its kind and + there is not one dull line from start to finish. + + +The Burlington Hawkeye + + Is one of General King's best works and withal a most + entertaining and fascinating story of army life. + + +The San Francisco Chronicle + + The story is full of life and movement, and all the details + of army life are described with that perfect knowledge which + carries conviction to the reader. + +The Cleveland Leader + + It is the strongest and most entertaining story he has + written for many a day.... It gets a grip on the reader in + the first chapters and holds it to the end. + + +The World, New York City + + A soldier's story told with a soldier's swing.... Is + capitally illustrated and has a particularly handsome and + tasteful cover portrait of the heroine in colors. + + +The Pittsburg Leader + + There is a naturalness about the story that makes it of + decided interest, and every one who reads it will lay the + book down with a feeling of regret that the end has been + reached so soon. + + +The Minneapolis Tribune + + Is the best piece of work General King has given his + admiring public in a long time. Is full of incident and + romance, and its central theme contains a dramatic power + worthy of subject and author. + + +The Literary World + + To General King we are deeply indebted for much information + concerning family life at fort and trading post. In these + days of the problem novel and the yellow journal, it is a + mental pleasure and a moral profit to read of men who are in + love with their own wives, of women who adore their own + husbands. + + * * * * * + +PRICE, $1.50 + +FOR SALE EVERYWHERE OR SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE BY + + * * * * * + +LOW PRICED POPULAR EDITIONS OF THE + +EARLIER + +MILITARY NOVELS + +OF + +GEN. CHARLES KING + +IN ENTIRELY NEW BINDINGS + + +LIST OF TITLES + + +FOUND IN THE PHILIPPINES +A GARRISON TANGLE +AN ARMY WIFE +NOBLE BLOOD +FORT FRAYNE +WARRIOR GAP +A WOUNDED NAME +TRUMPETER FRED + + * * * * * + +_Retail Price, 50 Cents_ + +FOR SALE EVERYWHERE OR SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE BY + + * * * * * + +THE HOBART COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + +114 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK CITY + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Apache Princess, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN APACHE PRINCESS *** + +***** This file should be named 19330.txt or 19330.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/3/19330/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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