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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/20082-8.txt b/20082-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..405535c --- /dev/null +++ b/20082-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6172 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Warrior Gap, 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: Warrior Gap + A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68. + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: December 10, 2006 [EBook #20082] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARRIOR GAP *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + Warrior Gap + + A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68. + + BY GENERAL CHARLES KING, U. S. A. + +AUTHOR OF "Fort Frayne," "An Army Wife," "Trumpeter Fred," "Found in the +Philippines," "A Wounded Name," "Noble Blood and a West Point Parallel," +"A Garrison Tangle," etc., etc. + + + + + THE HOBART COMPANY, + New York City. + + Copyrighted 1898, by + F. Tennyson Neely. + + Copyrighted, 1901, by + The Hobart Company. + + + + +WARRIOR GAP. + + + + +1. + + +Riding at ease in the lazy afternoon sunshine a single troop of cavalry +was threading its way in long column of twos through the bold and +beautiful foothills of the Big Horn. Behind them, glinting in the +slanting rays, Cloud Peak, snow clad still although it was late in May, +towered above the pine-crested summits of the range. To the right and +left of the winding trail bare shoulders of bluff, covered only by the +dense carpet of bunch grass, jutted out into the comparative level of +the eastward plain. A clear, cold, sparkling stream, on whose banks the +little command had halted for a noontide rest, went rollicking away +northeastward, and many a veteran trooper looked longingly, even +regretfully, after it, and then cast a gloomy glance over the barren and +desolate stretch ahead. Far as the eye could reach in that direction the +earth waves heaved and rolled in unrelieved monotony to the very sky +line, save where here and there along the slopes black herds or +scattered dots of buffalo were grazing unvexed by hunters red or white, +for this was thirty years ago, when, in countless thousands, the bison +covered the westward prairies, and there were officers who forbade their +senseless slaughter to make food only for the worthless, prowling +coyotes. No wonder the trooper hated to leave the foothills of the +mountains, with the cold, clear trout streams and the bracing air, to +take to long days' marching over dull waste and treeless prairie, +covered only by sage brush, rent and torn by dry ravines, shadeless, +springless, almost waterless, save where in unwholesome hollows dull +pools of stagnant water still held out against the sun, or, further +still southeast among the "breaks" of the many forks of the South +Cheyenne, on the sandy flats men dug for water for their suffering +horses, yet shrank from drinking it themselves lest their lips should +crack and bleed through the shriveling touch of the alkali. + +Barely two years a commissioned officer, the young lieutenant at the +head of column rode buoyantly along, caring little for the landscape, +since with every traversed mile he found himself just that much nearer +home. Twenty-five summers, counting this one coming, had rolled over his +curly head, and each one had seemed brighter, happier than the last, all +but the one he spent as a hard-worked "plebe" at the military academy. +His graduation summer two years previous was a glory to him, as well as +to a pretty sister, young and enthusiastic enough to think a brother in +the regulars, just out of West Point, something to be made much of, and +Jessie Dean had lost no opportunity of spoiling her soldier or of +wearying her school friends through telling of his manifold perfections. +He was a manly, stalwart, handsome fellow as young graduates go, and old +ones wish they might go over again. He was a fond and not too teasing +kind of brother. He wasn't the brightest fellow in the class by thirty +odd, and had barely scraped through one or two of his examinations, but +Jessie proudly pointed to the fact that much more than half the class +had "scraped off" entirely, and therefore that those who succeeded in +getting through at all were paragons, especially Brother Marshall. But +girls at that school had brothers of their own, girls who had never seen +West Point or had the cadet fever, and were not impressed with young +officers as painted by so indulgent a sister. Most of the girls had +tired of Jessie's talks, and some had told her so, but there was one who +had been sympathetic from the start--a far Western, friendless sort of +girl she was when first she entered school, uncouthly dressed, +wretchedly homesick and anything but companionable, and yet Jessie +Dean's kind heart had warmed to this friendless waif and she became her +champion, her ally, and later, much to her genuine surprise, almost her +idol. It presently transpired that "the Pappoose," as the girls +nicknamed her because it was learned that she had been rocked in an +Indian cradle and had long worn moccasins instead of shoes (which +accounted for her feet being so much finer in their shape than those of +her fellows), was quick and intelligent beyond her years, that, though +apparently hopelessly behind in all their studies at the start, and +provoking ridicule and sneers during the many weeks of her loneliness +and home-longing, she suddenly began settling to her work with grim +determination, surprising her teachers and amazing her mates by the vim +and originality of her methods, and, before the end of the year, +climbing for the laurels with a mental strength and agility that put +other efforts to the blush. Then came weeks of bliss spent with a doting +father at Niagara, the seashore and the Point--a dear old dad as ill at +ease in Eastern circles as his daughter had been at first at school, +until he found himself welcomed with open arms to the officers' +mess-rooms at the Point, for John Folsom was as noted a frontiersman as +ever trod the plains, a man old officers of the cavalry and infantry +knew and honored as "a square trader" in the Indian country--a man whom +the Indians themselves loved and trusted far and wide, and when a man +has won the trust and faith of an Indian let him grapple it to his +breast as a treasure worth the having, great even as "the heart love of +a child." Sioux, Shoshone and Cheyenne, they would turn to "Old John" in +their councils, their dealings, their treaties, their perplexities, for +when he said a thing was right and square their doubts were gone, and +there at the Point the now well-to-do old trader met men who had known +him in by-gone days at Laramie and Omaha, and there his pretty +schoolgirl daughter met her bosom friend's big brother Marshall, a first +classman in all his glory, dancing with damsels in society, while she +was but a maiden shy in short dresses. Oh, how Jess had longed to be of +that party to the Point, but her home was in the far West, her father +long dead and buried, her mother an invalid, and the child was needed +there. Earnestly had old Folsom written, begging that she who had been +so kind to his little girl should be allowed to visit the seashore and +the Point with him and "Pappoose," as he laughingly referred to her, +adopting the school name given by the girls; but they were proud people, +were the Deans, and poor and sensitive. They thanked Mr. Folsom warmly. +"Jessie was greatly needed at her home this summer," was the answer; but +Folsom somehow felt it was because they dreaded to accept courtesies +they could not repay in kind. + +"As if I could ever repay Jess for all the loving kindness to my little +girl in her loneliness," said he. No, there was no delicious visiting +with Pappoose that summer, but with what eager interest had she not +devoured the letters telling of the wonderful sights the little far +Westerner saw--the ocean, the great Niagara, the beautiful Point in the +heart of the Highlands, but, above all, that crowned monarch, that +plumed knight, that incomparable big brother, Cadet Captain Marshall +Dean. Yes, he had come to call the very evening of their arrival. He had +escorted them out, Papa and Pappoose, to hear the band playing on the +Plain. He had made her take his arm, "a schoolgirl in short dresses," +and promenaded with her up and down the beautiful, shaded walks, +thronged with ladies, officers and cadets, while some old cronies took +father away to the mess for a julep, and Mr. Dean had introduced some +young girls, professors' daughters, and they had come and taken her +driving and to tea, and she had seen him every day, many times a day, at +guard mounting, drill, pontooning or parade, or on the hotel piazzas, +but only to look at or speak to for a minute, for of course she was +"only a child," and there were dozens of society girls, young ladies, to +whom he had to be attentive, especially a very stylish Miss Brockway, +from New York, with whom he walked and danced a great deal, and whom the +other girls tried to tease about him. Pappoose didn't write it in so +many words, but Jessie, reading those letters between the lines and +every which way, could easily divine that Pappoose didn't fancy Miss +Brockway at all. And then had come a wonderful day, a wonderful thing, +into the schoolgirl's life. No less than twelve pages did +sixteen-year-old Pappoose take to tell it, and when a girl finds time to +write a twelve-page letter from the Point she has more to tell than she +can possibly contain. Mr. Dean had actually invited her--_her_, Elinor +Merchant Folsom--Winona, as they called her when she was a toddler among +the tepees of the Sioux--Pappoose as the girls had named her at +school--"Nell," as Jessie called her--sweetest name of all despite the +ring of sadness that ever hangs about it--and Daddy had actually smiled +and approved her going to the midweek hop on a cadet captain's broad +chevroned arm, and she had worn her prettiest white gown, and the girls +had brought her roses, and Mr. Dean had called for her before all the +big girls, and she had gone off with him, radiant, and he had actually +made out her card for her, and taken three dances himself, and had +presented such pleasant fellows--first classmen and "yearlings." There +was Mr. Billings, the cadet adjutant, and Mr. Ray, who was a cadet +sergeant "out on furlough" and kept back, but such a beautiful dancer, +and there was the first captain, such a witty, brilliant fellow, who +only danced square dances, and several cadet corporals, all hop +managers, in their red sashes. Why, she was just the proudest girl in +the room! And when the drum beat and the hop broke up she couldn't +believe she'd been there an hour and three-quarters, and then Mr. Dean +escorted her back to the hotel, and Daddy had smiled and looked on and +told him he must come into the cavalry when he graduated next June, and +he'd show him the Sioux country and Pappoose would teach him the Indian +dances. It was all simply lovely. Of course she knew it was all due to +Jessie that her splendid big brother should give up a whole evening from +his lady friends. (Miss Brockway spoke so patronizingly to her in the +hall when the girls were all talking together after the cadets had +scurried away to answer tattoo roll-call.) Of course she understood that +if it hadn't been for Jessie none of the cadets would have taken the +slightest notice of her, a mere chit, with three years of school still +ahead of her. But all the same it was something to live over and over +again, and dream of over and over again, and the seashore seemed very +stupid after the Point. Next year--next June--when Marshall graduated +Jessie was to go and see that wonderful spot, and go she did with +Pappoose, too, and though it was all as beautiful as Pappoose had +described, and the scene and the music and the parades and all were +splendid, there was no deliriously lovely hop, for in those days there +could be no dancing in the midst of examinations. There was only the one +great ball given by the second to the graduating class, and Marshall had +so many, many other and older girls to dance with and say good-by to he +had only time for a few words with his sister and her shy, silent little +friend with the big brown eyes to whom he had been so kind the previous +summer, when there were three hops a week and not so many hoppers in +long dresses. Still, Marshall had one dance with each and introduced +nice boys from the lower classes, and it was all very well, only not +what Pappoose had painted, and Jessie couldn't help thinking and saying +it might all have been so much sweeter if it hadn't been for that odious +Miss Brockway, about whom Marshall hovered altogether too much, but, +like the little Indian the girls sometimes said she was, Pappoose looked +on and said nothing. + +All the same, Mr. Dean had had a glorious graduation summer of it, +though Jessie saw too little of him, and Pappoose nothing at all after +the breakup of the class. In September the girls returned to school, +friends as close as ever, even though a little cloud overshadowed the +hitherto unbroken confidences, and Marshall joined the cavalry, as old +Folsom had suggested, and took to the saddle, the prairie, the bivouac, +and buffalo hunt as though native and to the manner born. They were +building the Union Pacific then, and he and his troop, with dozens of +others scattered along the line, were busy scouting the neighborhood, +guarding the surveyors, the engineers, and finally the track-layers, for +the jealous red men swarmed in myriads all along the way, lacking only +unanimity, organization, and leadership to enable them to defeat the +enterprise. And then when the whistling engines passed the forks of the +Platte and began to climb up the long slope of the Rockies to Cheyenne +and Sherman Pass, the trouble and disaffection spread to tribes far more +numerous and powerful further to the north and northwest; and there rose +above the hordes of warriors a chief whose name became the synonym for +deep rooted and determined hostility to the whites--Machpealota (Red +Cloud)--and old John Folsom, he whom the Indians loved and trusted, grew +anxious and troubled, and went from post to post with words of warning +on his tongue. + +"Gentlemen," he said to the commissioners who came to treat with the +Sioux whose hunting grounds adjoined the line of the railway, "it's all +very well to have peace with these people here. It is wise to cultivate +the friendship of such chiefs as Spotted Tail and +Old-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses but there are irreconcilables beyond them, +far more numerous and powerful, who are planning, preaching war this +minute. Watch Red Cloud, Red Dog, Little Big Man. Double, treble your +garrisons at the posts along the Big Horn; get your women and children +out of them, or else abandon the forts entirely. I know those warriors +well. They outnumber you twenty to one. Reinforce your garrisons without +delay or get out of that country, one of the two. Draw everything south +of the Platte while yet there is time." + +But wiseacres at Washington said the Indians were peaceable, and all +that was needed was a new post and another little garrison at Warrior +Gap, in the eastward foothills of the range. Eight hundred thousand +dollars would build it, "provided the labor of the troops was utilized," +and leave a good margin for the contractors and "the Bureau." And it was +to escort the quartermaster and engineer officer and an aide-de-camp on +preliminary survey that "C" Troop of the cavalry, Captain Brooks +commanding, had been sent on the march from the North Platte at Frayne +to the headwaters of the Powder River in the Hills, and with it went its +new first lieutenant, Marshall Dean. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Promotion was rapid in the cavalry in those days, so soon after the war. +Indians contributed largely to the general move, but there were other +causes, too. Dean had served little over a year as second lieutenant in +a troop doing duty along the lower Platte, when vacancies occurring gave +him speedy and unlooked-for lift. He had met Mr. Folsom only once. The +veteran trader had embarked much of his capital in business at Gate City +beyond the Rockies, but officers from Fort Emory, close to the new +frontier town, occasionally told him he had won a stanch friend in that +solid citizen. + +"You ought to get transferred to Emory," they said. "Here's the band, +half a dozen pretty girls, hops twice a week, hunts and picnics all +through the spring and summer in the mountains, fishing _ad libitum_, +and lots of fun all the year around." But Dean's ears were oddly deaf. A +classmate let fall the observation that it was because of a New York +girl who had jilted him that Dean had forsworn society and stuck to a +troop in the field: but men who knew and served with the young fellow +found him an enthusiast in his profession, passionately fond of cavalry +life in the open, a bold rider, a keen shot and a born hunter. Up with +the dawn day after day, in saddle long hours, scouting the divides and +ridges, stalking antelope and black-tail deer, chasing buffalo, he lived +a life that hardened every muscle, bronzed the skin, cleared the eye and +brain, and gave to even monotonous existence a "verve" and zest the +dawdlers in those old-time garrisons never knew. + +All the long summer of the year after his graduation, from mid-April +until November, he never once slept beneath a wooden roof, and more +often than not the sky was his only canopy. That summer, too, Jessie +spent at home, Pappoose with her most of the time, and one year more +would finish them at the reliable old Ohio school. By that time Folsom's +handsome new home would be in readiness to receive his daughter at Gate +City. By that time, too, Marshall might hope to have a leave and come in +to Illinois to welcome his sister and gladden his mother's eyes. But +until then, the boy had said to himself, he'd stick to the field, and +the troop that had the roughest work to do was the one that best suited +him, and so it had happened that by the second spring of his service in +the regiment no subaltern was held in higher esteem by senior officers +or regarded with more envy by the lazy ones among the juniors than the +young graduate, for those, too, were days in which graduates were few +and far between, except in higher grades. Twice had he ridden in the +dead of winter the devious trail through the Medicine Bow range to +Frayne. Once already had he been sent the long march to and from the Big +Horn, and when certain officers were ordered to the mountains early in +the spring to locate the site of the new post at Warrior Gap, Brooks's +troop, as has been said, went along as escort and Brooks caught mountain +fever in the Hills, or some such ailment, and made the home trip in the +ambulance, leaving the active command of "C" Troop to his subaltern. + +With the selection of the site Dean had nothing to do. Silently he +looked on as the quartermaster, the engineer, and a staff officer from +Omaha paced off certain lines, took shots with their instruments at +neighboring heights, and sampled the sparkling waters of the Fork. Two +companies of infantry, sent down from further posts along the northern +slopes of the range, had stacked their arms and pitched their "dog +tents," and vigilant vedettes and sentries peered over every commanding +height and ridge to secure the invaders against surprise. Invaders they +certainly were from the Indian point of view, for this was Indian Story +Land, the most prized, the most beautiful, the most prolific in fish and +game in all the continent. Never had the red man clung with such +tenacity to any section of his hunting grounds as did the Northern Sioux +to this, the north and northeast watershed of the Big Horn Range. Old +Indian fighters among the men shook their heads when the quartermaster +selected a level bench as the site on which to begin the stockade that +was to enclose the officers' quarters and the barracks, storehouse and +magazine, and ominously they glanced at one another and then at the +pine-skirted ridge that rose, sharp and sudden, against the sky, not +four hundred yards away, dominating the site entirely. + +"I shouldn't like the job of clearing away the gang of Indians that +might seize that ridge," said Dean, when later asked by the engineer +what he thought of it, and Dean had twice by that time been called upon +to help "hustle" Indians out of threatening positions, and knew whereof +he spoke. + +"I shouldn't worry over things you're never likely to have to do," said +the quartermaster, with sarcastic emphasis, and he was a man who never +yet had had to face a foeman in the field, and Dean said nothing more, +but felt right well he had no friend in Major Burleigh. + +They left the infantry there to guard the site and protect the gang of +woodchoppers set to work at once, then turned their faces homeward. They +had spent four days and nights at the Gap, and the more the youngster +saw of the rotund quartermaster the less he cared to cultivate him. A +portly, heavily built man was he, some forty years of age, a widower, +whose children were at their mother's old home in the far East, a +business man with a keen eye for opportunities and investments, a fellow +who was reputed to have stock in a dozen mines and kindred enterprises, +a knowing hand who drove fast horses and owned quite a stable, a sharp +hand who played a thriving game of poker, and had no compunctions as to +winning. Officers at Emory were fighting shy of him. He played too big a +game for their small pay and pockets, and the men with whom he took his +pleasure were big contractors or well-known "sports" and gamblers, who +in those days thronged the frontier towns and most men did them homage. +But on this trip Burleigh had no big gamblers along and missed his +evening game, and, once arrived at camp along the Fork, he had "roped +in" some of the infantry officers, but Brooks and the engineer declined +to play, and so had Dean from the very start. + +"All true cavalrymen ought to be able to take a hand at poker," sneered +Burleigh, at the first night's camp, for here was a pigeon really worth +the plucking, thought he. Dean's life in the field had been so simple +and inexpensive that he had saved much of his slender pay; but, what +Burleigh did not know, he had sent much of it home to mother and Jess. + +"I know several men who would have been the better for leaving it +alone," responded Dean very quietly. They rubbed each other the wrong +way from the very start, and this was bad for the boy, for in those +days, when army morals were less looked after than they are now, men of +Burleigh's stamp, with the means to entertain and the station to enable +them to do it, had often the ear of officers from headquarters, and more +things were told at such times to generals and colonels about their +young men than the victims ever suspected. Burleigh was a man of +position and influence, and knew it. Dean was a youngster without +either, and did not realize it. He had made an enemy of the +quartermaster on the trip and could not but know it. Yet, conscious that +he had said nothing that was wrong, he felt no disquiet. + +And now, homeward bound, he was jogging contentedly along at the head of +the troop. Scouts and flankers signaled "all clear." Not a hostile +Indian had they seen since leaving the Gap. The ambulances with a little +squad of troopers had hung on a few moments at the noon camp, hitching +slowly and leisurely that their passengers might longer enjoy their post +prandial siesta in the last shade they would see until they reached +Cantonment Reno, a long day's ride away. Presently the lively mule teams +would come along the winding trail at spanking trot. Then the troop +would open out to right and left and let them take the lead, giving the +dust in exchange, and once more the rapid march would begin. + +It was four P. M. when the shadows of the mules' ears and heads +came jerking into view beside him, and, guiding his horse to the right, +Dean loosed rein and prepared to trot by the open doorway of the stout, +black-covered wagon. The young engineer officer, sitting on the front +seat, nodded cordially to the cavalryman. He had known and liked him at +the Point. He had sympathized with him in the vague difference with the +quartermaster. He had had to listen to sneering things Burleigh was +telling the aide-de-camp about young linesmen in general and Dean in +particular, stocking the staff officer with opinions which he hoped and +intended should reach the department commander's ears. The engineer +disbelieved, but was in no position to disprove. His station was at +Omaha, far from the scene of cavalry exploits in fort or field. +Burleigh's office and depot were in this new, crowded, bustling frontier +town, filled with temptation to men so far removed from the influences +of home and civilization, and Burleigh doubtless saw and knew much to +warrant his generalities. But he knew no wrong of Dean, for that young +soldier, as has been said, had spent all but a few mid-winter months at +hard, vigorous work in the field, had been to Gate City and Fort Emory +only twice, and then under orders that called for prompt return to +Frayne. Any man with an eye for human nature could see at a glance, as +Dean saw, that both the aid and his big friend, the quartermaster, had +been exchanging comments at the boy's expense. He had shouted a cheery +salutation to the engineer in answer to his friendly nod, then turned in +saddle and looked squarely at the two on the back seat, and the +constraint in their manner, the almost sullen look in their faces, told +the story without words. + +It nettled Dean--frank, outspoken, straightforward as he had always +been. He hated any species of backbiting, and he had heard of Burleigh +as an adept in the art, and a man to be feared. Signaling to his +sergeant to keep the column opened out, as the prairie was almost level +now on every side, he rode swiftly on, revolving in his mind how to meet +and checkmate Burleigh's insidious moves, for instinctively he felt he +was already at work. The general in command in those days was not a +field soldier by any means. His office was far away at the banks of the +Missouri, and all he knew of what was actually going on in his +department he derived from official written reports; much that was +neither official nor reliable he learned from officers of Burleigh's +stamp, and Dean had never yet set eyes on him. In the engineer he felt +he had a friend on whom he could rely, and he determined to seek his +counsel at the campfire that very night, meantime to hold his peace. + +They were trotting through a shallow depression at the moment, the two +spring-wagons guarded and escorted by some thirty dusty, hardy-looking +troopers. In the second, the yellow ambulance, Brooks was stretched at +length, taking it easy, an attendant jogging alongside. Behind them came +a third, a big quartermaster's wagon, drawn by six mules and loaded with +tentage and rations. Out some three hundred yards to the right and left +rode little squads as flankers. Out beyond them, further still, often +cut off from view by low waves of prairie, were individual troopers +riding as lookouts, while far to the front, full six hundred yards, +three or four others, spreading over the front on each side of the +twisting trail, moved rapidly from crest to crest, always carefully +scanning the country ahead before riding up to the summit. And now, as +Dean's eyes turned from his charges to look along the sky line to the +east, he saw sudden sign of excitement and commotion at the front. A +sergeant, riding with two troopers midway between him and those foremost +scouts, was eagerly signaling to him with his broad-brimmed hat. Three +of the black dots along the gently rising slope far ahead had leaped +from their mounts and were slowly crawling forward, while one of them, +his horse turned adrift and contentedly nibbling at the buffalo grass, +was surely signaling that there was mischief ahead. + +In an instant the lieutenant was galloping out to the front, cautioning +the driver to come on slowly. Presently he overhauled the sergeant and +bade him follow, and together the four men darted on up the gradual +incline until within ten yards of where the leaders' horses were +placidly grazing. There they threw themselves from saddle; one of the +men took the reins of the four horses while Dean and the other two, +unslinging carbine and crouching low, went hurriedly on up the slope +until they came within a few yards of the nearest scout. + +"Indians!" he called to them as soon as they were within earshot. "But +they don't seem to be on lookout for us at all. They're fooling with +some buffalo over here." + +Crawling to the crest, leaving his hat behind, Dean peered over into the +swale beyond and this was what he saw. + +Half a mile away to the east the low, concave sweep of the prairie was +cut by the jagged banks and curves of a watercourse which drained the +melting snows in earlier spring. Along the further bank a dozen buffalo +were placidly grazing, unconscious of the fact that in the shallow, dry +ravine itself half a dozen young Indians--Sioux, apparently--were +lurking, awaiting the nearer coming of the herd, whose leaders, at +least, were gradually approaching the edge. Away down to the northeast, +toward the distant Powder River, the shallow stream bed trended, and, +following the pointing finger of the scout who crawled to his side, Dean +gazed and saw a confused mass of slowly moving objects, betrayed for +miles by the light cloud of dust that hovered over them, covering many +an acre of the prairie, stretching far away down the vale. Even before +he could unsling his field glass and gaze, his plains-craft told him +what was slowly, steadily approaching, as though to cross his front--an +Indian village, a big one, on the move to the mountains, bound perhaps +for the famous racecourse of the Sioux, a grand amphitheater in the +southern hills. + +And even as they gazed, two tiny jets of flame and smoke shot from the +ravine edge there below them, and before the dull reports could reach +their ears the foremost bison dropped on his knees and then rolled over +on the sod; and then came the order, at sound of which, back among the +halted troopers, every carbine leaped from its socket. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Down along the building railway in the valley or the Platte there had +been two years of frequent encounter with small bands of Indians. Down +along the Smoky Hill, in Kansas, the Cheyennes were ever giving trouble. +Even around Laramie and Frayne, on the North Platte, settlers and +soldiers had been murdered, as well as one or two officers, caught alone +out hunting, and the Indians were, of course, the perpetrators. +Nevertheless, it had been the policy of the leaders of the Northern +Sioux to avoid any meeting in force and to deny the complicity of their +people in the crimes committed. Supply trains to Reno, Kearney and C. F. +Smith, the Big Horn posts of the Bozeman Trail went to and fro with +guards of only moderate size. Officers had taken their wives and +children to these far-away stations. The stockades were filled with +soldiers' families. Big bands of Indians roamed the lovely valleys of +the Piney, the Tongue, and Rosebud, near at hand, and rode into full +view of the wary sentries at the stockades, yet made no hostile +demonstration. Officers and men went far up the rocky cañons of the +hills in search of fish or game, and came back unmolested. Escorts +reported that they sometimes marched all day long side by side with +hunting bands of Sioux, a mile away; and often little parties, squaws +and boys and young men, would ride confidently over and beg for sugar, +coffee, hardtack--anything, and ride off with their plunder in the best +of spirits and with all apparent good feeling. And yet the great +war-chief of the Brulés--Sintogaliska--Spotted Tail, the white man's +friend, gave solemn warning not to trust the Ogallallas. "Red Cloud's +heart is bad," he said. "He and his people are moving from the +reservations to the mountains. They mean trouble." Old traders like +Folsom heard and heeded, and Folsom himself hastened to Fort Frayne the +very week that Burleigh and his escort left for Warrior Gap. Visiting at +the ranch of his son in a beautiful nook behind the Medicine Bow +Mountains, the veteran trader heard tidings from an Indian brave that +filled him with apprehension, and he hurried to the fort. + +"Is it true," he asked, "that the government means to establish a post +at Warrior Gap? Is it true that Major Burleigh has gone thither?" And +when told that it was and that only Captain Brooks's troop had gone as +escort, Folsom's agitation was extreme. "Colonel," said he, to the post +commander, "solemnly I have tried to warn the general of the danger of +that move. I have told him that all the northern tribes are leaguing +now, that they have determined to keep to themselves the Big Horn +country and the valleys to the north. It will take five thousand men to +hold those three posts against the Sioux, and you've barely got five +hundred. I warn you that any attempt to start another post up there will +bring Red Cloud and all his people to the spot. Their scouts are +watching like hawks even now. Iron Spear came to me at my son's ranch +last night and told me not ten warriors were left at the reservation. +They are all gone, and the war dances are on in every valley from the +Black Hills to the Powder. For heaven's sake send half your garrison up +to Reno after Brooks. You are safe here. They won't molest you south of +the Platte, at least not now. All they ask is that you build no more +forts in the Big Horn." + +But the colonel could not act without authority. Telegraph there was +none then. What Folsom said was of sufficient importance to warrant his +hurrying off a courier to Laramie, fully one hundred miles southeast, +and ordering a troop to scout across the wild wastes to the north, while +Folsom himself, unable to master his anxiety, decided to accompany the +command sent out toward Cantonment Reno. He long had had influence with +the Ogallallas. Even now Red Cloud might listen if he could but find +him. The matter was of such urgency he could not refrain. And so with +the gray troop of the cavalry, setting forth within an hour of his +coming, rode the old trader whom the Indians had so long sworn by, and +he started none too soon. + +Reno was some ninety miles away, and not until late the next evening did +the grays reach the lonely post. Not a sign of hostile Indian had been +seen or heard, said the officer in command. Small bands of hunters were +out toward Pumpkin Butte two days before.--Yes, Ogallallas--and a +scouting party, working down the valley of the Powder, had met no band +at all, though trails were numerous. They were now patroling toward the +Big Horn. Perhaps there'd be a courier in to-morrow. Better get a good +night's rest meantime, he said. But all the same he doubled his guards +and ordered extra vigilance, for all men knew John Folsom, and when +Folsom was anxious on the Indian question it was time to look alive. +Daybreak came without a sign, but Folsom could not rest. The grays had +no authority to go beyond Reno, but such was his anxiety that it was +decided to hold the troop at the cantonment for a day or two. Meantime, +despite his years, Folsom decided to push on for the Gap. All efforts to +dissuade him were in vain. With him rode Baptiste, a half-breed +Frenchman whose mother was an Ogallalla squaw, and "Bat" had served him +many a year. Their canteens were filled, their saddle-pouches packed. +They led along an extra mule, with camp equipage, and shook hands +gravely with the officers ere they rode away. "All depends," said +Folsom, "on whether Red Cloud is hereabouts in person. If he is and I +can get his ear I can probably stave off trouble long enough to get +those people at the Gap back to Kearney, or over here. They're goners if +they attempt to stay there and build that post. If you don't have word +from us in two days, send for all the troops the government can raise. +It will take every mother's son they've got to whip the Sioux when once +they're leagued together." + +"But our men have the new breech-loaders now, Mr. Folsom," said the +officers. "The Indians have only old percussion-cap rifles, and not too +many of them." + +"But there are twenty warriors to every soldier," was the answer, "and +all are fighting men." + +They watched the pair until they disappeared far to the west. All day +long the lookouts searched the horizon. All that night the sentries +listened for hoof-beats on the Bozeman road, but only the weird chorus +of the coyotes woke the echoes of the dark prairie. Dawn of the second +day came, and, unable to bear suspense, the major sent a little party, +mounted on their fleetest horses, to scour the prairies at least halfway +to the foothills of the Big Horn, and just at nightfall they came +back--three at least--galloping like mad, their mounts a mass of foam. +Folsom's dread was well founded. Red Cloud, with heaven only knew how +many warriors, had camped on Crazy Woman's Fork within the past three +days, and gone on up stream. He might have met and fought the troops +sent out three days before. He must have met the troops dispatched to +Warrior Gap. + +And this last, at least, he had done. For a few seconds after the fall +of the buffalo bull, the watchers on the distant ridge lay still, except +that Dean, turning slightly, called to the orderly trumpeter, who had +come trotting out after the troop commander, and was now halted and +afoot some twenty yards down the slope. "Go back, Bryan," he ordered. +"Halt the ambulances. Notify Captain Brooks that there are lots of +Indians ahead, and have the sergeant deploy the men at once." Then he +turned back and with his field glass studied the party along the ravine. + +"They can't have seen us, can they, lieutenant?" muttered the trooper +nearest him. + +But Dean's young face was grave and clouded. Certainly the Indians acted +as though they were totally unaware of the presence of troops, but the +more he thought the more he knew that no big body of Sioux would be +traveling across country at so critical a time (country, too, that was +conquered as this was from their enemies, the Crows), without vigilant +scouts afar out on front and flank. The more he thought the more he knew +that even as early as three o'clock those keen-eyed fellows must have +sighted his little column, conspicuous as it was because of its wagons. +Beyond question, he told himself, the chief of the band or village so +steadily approaching from the northeast had full information of their +presence, and was coming confidently ahead. What had he to fear? Even +though the blood of settlers and soldiers might still be red upon the +hands of his braves, even though fresh scalps might be dangling at this +moment from their shields, what mattered it? Did he not know that the +safeguard of the Indian Bureau spread like the wing of a protecting +angel over him and his people, forbidding troops to molest or open fire +unless they themselves were attacked? Did he not laugh in his ragged +shirt sleeve at the policy of the white fool who would permit the red +enemy to ride boldly up to his soldiers, count their numbers, inspect +their array, satisfy himself as to their armament and readiness, then +calculate the chances, and, if he thought the force too strong, ride on +his way with only a significant gesture in parting insult? If, on the +contrary, he found it weak then he could turn loose his braves, +surround, massacre and scalp, and swear before the commissioners sent +out to investigate next moon that he and his people knew nothing about +the matter--nothing, at least, that they could be induced to tell. + +One moment more Dean watched and waited. Two of the Indians in the +ravine were busily reloading their rifles. Two others were aiming over +the bank, for, with the strange stupidity of their kind, the other +buffalo, even when startled by the shot, had never sought safety in +flight, but were now sniffing the odor of blood on the tainted air, and +slowly, wonderingly drawing near the stricken leader as though to ask +what ailed him. Obedient and docile, the Indian ponies stood with +drooping heads, hidden under the shelter of the steep banks. Nearer and +nearer came the big black animals, bulky, stupid, fatuous; the foremost +lowered a huge head to sniff at the blood oozing from the shoulder of +the dying bull, then two more shots puffed out from the ravine, the huge +head tossed suddenly in air, and the ungainly brute started and +staggered, whirled about and darted a few yards away, then plunged on +its knees, and the next moment, startled at some sight the soldier +watchers could not see, the black band was seized with sudden panic, and +darted like mad into the depths of the watercourse, disappeared one +moment from sight, then, suddenly reappearing, came laboring up the +hither side, straight for the crest on which they lay, a dozen black, +bounding, panting beasts thundering over the ground, followed by half a +dozen darting Indian ponies, each with his lithe red rider scurrying in +pursuit. + +"Out of the way, men! Don't fire!" shouted Dean. And, scrambling back +toward their horses, the lieutenant and his men drew away from the front +of the charging herd, invisible as yet to the halted troop and to the +occupants of the ambulance, whose eager heads could be seen poked out at +the side doors of the leading vehicle, as though watching for the cause +of the sudden halt. + +And then a thing happened that at least one man saw and fortunately +remembered later. Bryan, the trumpeter, with jabbing heels and flapping +arms, was tearing back toward the troop at the moment at the top speed +of his gray charger, already so near that he was shouting to the +sergeant in the lead. By this time, too, that veteran trooper, with the +quick sense of duty that seemed to inspire the war-time sergeant, had +jumped his little column "front into line" to meet the unseen danger; so +that now, with carbines advanced, some thirty blue jackets were aligned +in the loose fighting order of the prairies in front of the foremost +wagon. The sight of the distant officer and men tumbling hurriedly back +and to one side, out of the way presumably of some swiftly-coming peril, +acted like magic on the line. Carbines were quickly brought to ready, +the gun locks crackling in chorus as the horses pranced and snorted. But +it had a varying effect on the occupants of the leading wagon. The shout +of "Indians" from Bryan's lips, the sight of scurry on the ridge ahead +brought the engineer and aide-de-camp springing out, rifle in hand, to +take their manly part in the coming fray. It should have brought Major +Burleigh too, but that appropriately named non-combatant never showed +outside. An instant more and to the sound of rising thunder, before the +astonished eyes of the cavalry line there burst into view, full tear for +safety, the uncouth, yet marvelously swift-running leaders of the little +herd. The whole dozen came flying across the sky line and down the +gentle slope, heading well around to the left of the line of troopers, +while sticking to their flanks like red nettles half a dozen young +warriors rode like the wind on their nimble ponies, cracking away with +revolver or rifle in savage joy in the glorious sport. Too much for +Burleigh's nerve was the combination of sounds, thunder of hoofs and +sputter of shots, for when a cheer of sympathetic delight went up from +the soldier line at sight of the chase, and the young engineer sprang to +the door of the ambulance to help the major out, he found him a limp and +ghastly heap, quivering with terror in the bottom of the wagon, looking +for all the world as if he were trying to crawl under the seat. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Away to the left of the little command tore the quarry and the chase. +Out on the rolling prairie, barely four hundred yards from where the +ambulance and mules were backed into a tangle of traces and whiffletrees +and fear-stricken creatures, another buffalo had dropped in a heap; a +swarthy rider had tumbled off his pony, cut a slash or two with +ever-ready knife, and then, throwing a bead bedizened left leg over his +eager little mount, had gone lashing away after his fellows, not without +a jeering slap at the baited soldiery. Then, in almost less time than it +takes to tell it, the pursued and pursuers had vanished from sight over +a low ridge a mile to the north. "Only a hunting party!" said one or two +nervous recruits, with a gulp of relief. "Only a hunting party," gasped +Burleigh, as presently he heaved himself up from the floor, "and I +thought I'd never find that damned gun of mine. All this fuss for +nothing!" he continued, his lips still blue and quivering. "That green +youngster up there in front hasn't learned the first principles of +plains-craft yet. Here, Brooks," he added loudly, "it's high time you +were looking after this sub of yours," and Brooks, despite his illness, +was indeed working out of the back door of his yellow trundle bed at the +moment, and looking anxiously about. But the engineer stood pale and +quiet, coolly studying the flustered growler, and when Burleigh's +shifting eyes sought that young scientist's face, what he read +there--and Burleigh was no fool--told him he would be wise to change the +tune. The aid had pushed out in front of the troop and was signaling to +Dean, once more in saddle and scanning through his glass the big band +afar down the valley. + +"Take my horse, sir," said the sergeant, dismounting, and the officer +thanked him and rode swiftly out to join the young commander at the +front. Together they gazed and consulted and still no signal came to +resume the advance. Then the troopers saw the staff officer make a broad +sweep with his right arm to the south, and in a moment Dean's hat was +uplifted and waved well out in that direction. "Drop carbine," growled +the sergeant. "By twos again. Incline to the right. Damn the Sioux, I +say! Have we got to circle five miles around their hunting ground for +fear of hurting their feelings. Come on. Jimmy," he added to the driver +of the leading wagon. Jimmy responded with vigorous language at the +expense of his lead mules. The quartermaster and engineer silently +scrambled in; the ambulance started with a jerk and away went the party +off to the right of the trail, the wagons jolting a bit now over the +uneven clumps of bunch grass. + +But once well up at the summit of the low divide the command reined in +for a look at the great Indian cavalcade swarming in the northeastward +valley, and covering its grassy surface still a good mile away. Out from +among the dingy mass came galloping half a dozen young braves, followed +by as many squaws. The former soon spread out over the billowy surface, +some following the direction of the chase, some bounding on south west +ward as though confident of finding what they sought the moment they +reached the nearest ridge; some riding straight to the point where lay +the carcasses of the earliest victims of the hunt. Here in full view of +the soldiery, but vouchsafing them no glance nor greeting whatever, two +young warriors reined in their lively ponies and disdainfully turned +their backs upon the spectators on the divide, while the squaws, with +shrill laugh and chatter, rolled from their saddles and began the +drudgery of their lot--skinning and cutting up the buffalos slaughtered +by their lords. + +"Don't you see," sneered Burleigh, "it's nothing but a village out for a +hunt--nothing in God's world to get stampeded about. We've had all this +show of warlike preparation for nothing." But he turned away again as he +caught the steady look in the engineer's blue eyes, and shouted to his +more appreciative friend, the aide-de-camp: "Well, pardner, haven't we +fooled away enough time here, or have we got to wait the pleasure of +people that never saw Indians before?" + +Dean flushed crimson at the taunt. He well knew for whom it was meant. +He was indignant enough by this time to speak for himself, but the +aide-de-camp saved him the trouble. + +"I requested Mr. Dean to halt a few moments, Burleigh. It is necessary I +should know what band this is, and how many are out." + +"Well, be quick about it," snapped the quartermaster, "I want to get to +Reno before midnight, and at this rate we won't make it in a week." + +A sergeant who could speak a little Sioux came riding back to the camp, +a grin on his sun-blistered face. "Well, sergeant, what'd he say?" asked +the staff officer. + +"He said would I plaze to go to hell, sorr," was the prompt response. + +"Won't he tell who they are?" + +"He won't, sorr. He says we know widout askin', which is thrue, sorr. +They're Ogallallas to a man, barrin' the squaws and pappooses, wid ould +Red Cloud himself." + +"How'd you find out if they wouldn't talk?" asked the staff officer +impatiently. + +"'Twas the bucks wouldn't talk--except in swear wurruds. I wasted no +time on them, sorr. I gave the first squaw the last hardtack in me +saddle-bags and tould her was it Machpealota, and she said it was, and +he was wid Box Karesha--that's ould Folsom--not six hour ago, an' +Folsom's gone back to the cantonment." + +"Then the quicker we skip the better," were the aide-de-camp's words. +"Get us to Reno fast as you can, Dean. Strike for the road again as soon +as we're well beyond their buffalo. Now for it! There's something behind +all this bogus hunt business, and Folsom knows what it is." + +And every mile of the way, until thick darkness settled down over the +prairie, there was something behind the trooper cavalcade--several +somethings--wary red men, young and wiry, who never let themselves be +seen, yet followed on over wave after wave of prairie to look to it that +no man went back from that column to carry the news of their presence to +the little battalion left in charge of the new post at Warrior Gap. + +It was the dark of the moon, or, as the Indians say, "the nights the +moon is sleeping in his lodge," and by ten P. M. the skies were +overcast. Only here and there a twinkling star was visible, and only +where some trooper struck a light for his pipe could a hand be seen in +front of the face. The ambulance mules that had kept their steady jog +during the late afternoon and the long gloaming that followed still +seemed able to maintain the gait, and even the big, lumbering wagon at +the rear came briskly on under the tug of its triple span, but in the +intense darkness the guides at the head of the column kept losing the +road, and the bumping of the wagons would reveal the fact, and a halt +would be ordered, men would dismount and go bending and crouching and +feeling their way over the almost barren surface, hunting among the sage +brush for the double furrow of the trail. Matches innumerable were +consumed, and minutes of valuable time, and the quartermaster waxed +fretful and impatient, and swore that his mules could find their way +where the troopers couldn't, and finally, after the trail had been lost +and found half a dozen times, old Brooks was badgered into telling Dean +to let the ambulance take the lead. The driver shirked at once. + +"There's no tellin' where we'll fetch up," said he. "Those mules can't +see the trail if a man can't. Take their harness off and turn 'em loose, +an' I suppose they can find their way to the post, but sure as you turn +them loose when they've got somethin' on 'em, or behind 'em, and the +doggone cussedness of the creatures will prompt them to smash things." + +But the quartermaster said he'd tried it with those very mules, between +Emory and Medicine Bow a dozen times, and he'd risk it. The driver could +get off his seat if he wanted to, and run alongside, but he'd stay where +he was. + +"Let me out, please," said the engineer, and jumped to the ground, and +then the cavalcade pushed on again. The driver, as ordered by an +employer whom he dare not disobey, let the reins drop on the mules' +backs, the troopers falling behind, the yellow ambulance and the big +baggage wagon bringing up the rear. + +Then, with a horseman on each side, the mules were persuaded to push on +again, and then when fairly started Burleigh called to the troopers to +fall back, so that the mules should not, as he expressed it, "be +influenced." "Leave them to themselves and they can get along all +right," said he, "but mix them up with the horses, and they want them to +take all the responsibility." + +And now the command was barely crawling. Brooks, heavy, languid with +splitting headache, lay in feverish torpor in his ambulance, asking only +to be let alone. The engineer, a subaltern as yet, felt that he had no +right attempting to advise men like Burleigh, who proclaimed himself an +old campaigner. The aide-de-camp was getting both sleepy and impatient, +but he, too, was much the quartermaster's junior in rank. As for Dean, +he had no volition whatever. "Escort the party," were his orders, and +that meant that he must govern the movements of his horses and men by +the wishes of the senior staff official. And so they jogged along +perhaps twenty minutes more, and then there was a sudden splutter and +plunge and stumble ahead, a sharp pull on the traces, a marvelously +quick jerk back on the reins that threw the wheel team on their +haunches, and thereby saved the "outfit," for when men and matches were +hurried to the front the lead mules were discovered kicking and +splashing in a mud hole. They were not only off the road by a dozen +yards, but over a bank two feet high. + +And this last pound broke the back of Burleigh's obstinacy. It was +nearly midnight anyway. The best thing to be done was unhitch, unsaddle +and bivouac until the gray light of dawn came peering over the eastward +prairie, which in that high latitude and "long-day" month would be soon +after three. Then they could push on to Reno. + +Not until nearly eight o'clock in the morning, therefore, did they heave +in sight of the low belt of dingy green that told of the presence of a +stream still long miles away; and here, knowing himself to be out of +danger, the major bade the weary escort march in at a walk while he +hurried on. In fifteen minutes the black-hooded wagon was twisting and +turning over the powdery road a good mile ahead, its dust rising high +over the sage-covered desert, while the other two, with the +dust-begrimed troopers, jogged sturdily on. Loring, the young engineer, +had waved a cordial good-by to his old cadet acquaintance. "See you +later, old man," he cried. Stone, the aide-de-camp, nodded and said, +"Take care of yourself," and Burleigh said nothing at all. He was +wondering what he could do to muzzle Loring in case that gifted young +graduate were moved to tell what the quartermaster actually did when he +heard the rush and firing out at the front on the road from Warrior Gap. + +But when at last the black wagon bowled in at the stockaded quadrangle +and discharged its occupants at the hut of the major commanding, there +were tidings of such import to greet them that Burleigh turned +yellow-white again at thought of the perils they had escaped. + +"My God, man!" cried the post commander, as he came hurrying out to meet +the party, "we've been in a blue funk about you fellows for two whole +days. Did you see any Indians?" + +"See any Indians!" said Burleigh, rallying to the occasion as became a +man who knew how to grasp an opportunity. "We stood off the whole Sioux +nation over toward Crazy Woman's Fork. There were enough to cover the +country, red and black, for a dozen miles. We sighted them yesterday +about four o'clock and there were enough around us to eat us alive, but +we just threw out skirmish lines and marched steadily ahead, so they +thought best not to bother us. They're shy of our breech loaders, damn +'em! That's all that kept them at respectful distance." + +The major's face as he listened took on a puzzled, perturbed look. He +did not wish to say anything that might reflect on the opinions of so +influential a man as the depot quartermaster at Gate City, but it was +plain that there was a train of thought rumbling through his mind that +would collide with Burleigh's column of events unless he were spared the +need of answering questions. "Let me tell you briefly what's happened," +he said. "Red Cloud and his whole band are out on the warpath. They +killed two couriers, half-breeds, I sent out to find Thornton's troop +that was scouting the Dry Fork. The man we sent to find you and give you +warning hasn't got back at all. We've had double sentries for three days +and nights. The only souls to get in from the northwest since our +fellows were run back last night are old Folsom and Baptiste. Folsom had +a talk with Red Cloud, and tried to induce him to turn back. He's beset +with the idea that the old villain is plotting a general massacre along +the Big Horn. He looks like a ghost. He says if we had five thousand +soldiers up there there'd hardly be enough. You know the Sioux have +sworn by him for years, and he thought he could coax Red Cloud to keep +away, but all the old villain would promise was to hold his young men +back ten days or so until Folsom could get the general to order the +Warrior Gap plan abandoned. If the troops are there Folsom says it's all +up with them. Red Cloud can rally all the Northern tribes, and it's only +because of Folsom's influence, at least I fancy so--that--that they +didn't attack you." + +"Where is Folsom?" growled Burleigh, as he shook the powdery cloud from +his linen duster and followed the major within his darkened door, while +other officers hospitably led the aid and engineer into the adjoining +hut. + +"Gone right on to Frayne. The old fellow will wear himself out, I'm +afraid. He says he must get in telegraphic communication with Omaha +before he's four days older. My heaven, man, it was a narrow squeak you +had! It's God's mercy Folsom saw Red Cloud before he saw you." + +"Oh, pshaw!" said the quartermaster, turning over a little packet of +letters awaiting him in the commanding officer's sanctum. "We could have +given a good account of ourselves, I reckon. Brooks is down with fever, +and young Dean got rattled, or something like it. He's new at the +business and easily scared, you know; so I practically had to take +command. They'll be along in an hour or so, and--a word in your ear. If +Brooks has to remain on sick report you'd better put somebody in command +of that troop that's had--er--er--experience." + +The post commander looked genuinely troubled. "Why, Burleigh, we've all +taken quite a shine to Dean. I know the officers in his regiment think a +heap of him; the seniors do, at least." + +But Burleigh, with big eyes, was glaring at a letter he had selected, +opened, and was hurriedly reading. His face was yellowing again, under +the blister of sun and alkali. + +"What's amiss?" queried his friend. "Nothing wrong, I hope. Why, +Burleigh, man! Here, let me help you!" he cried in alarm, for the +quartermaster was sinking into a chair. + +"You can help me!" he gasped. "Get me fresh mules and escort. My God! I +must start for Frayne at once. Some whisky, please." And the letter +dropped from his trembling hands and lay there unnoticed on the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Mid June had come, and there was the very devil to pay--so said the +scouts and soldiers up along the Big Horn. But scouts and soldiers were +far removed from the States and cities where news was manufactured, and +those were days in which our Indian outbreaks were described in the +press long after, instead of before, their occurrence. Such couriers as +had got through to Frayne brought dispatches from the far-isolated posts +along that beautiful range, insisting that the Sioux were swarming in +every valley. Such dispatches, when wired to Washington and "referred" +to the Department of the Interior and re-referred to the head of the +Indian Bureau, were scoffed at as sensational. + +"Our agents report the Indians peaceably assembled at their +reservations. None are missing at the weekly distribution of supplies +except those who are properly accounted for as out on their annual +hunt." "The officers," said the papers, "seem to see red Indians in +every bush," and unpleasant things were hinted at the officers as a +consequence. + +Indians there certainly were in other sections, and they were +unquestionably "raising the devil" along the Smoky Hill and the Southern +Plains, and there the Interior Department insisted that troops in strong +force should be sent. So, too, along the line of the Union Pacific. +Officials were still nervous. Troops of cavalry camped at intervals of +forty miles along the line between Kearney and Julesburg, and even +beyond. At Washington and the great cities of the East, therefore, there +was no anxiety as to the possible fate of those little garrisons, with +their helpless charge of women and children away up in the heart of the +Sioux country. But at Laramie and Frayne and Emory, the nearest frontier +posts; at Cheyenne, Omaha and Gate City the anxiety was great. When John +Folsom said the Indians meant a war of extermination people west of the +Missouri said: "Withdraw those garrisons while there is yet time or else +send five thousand troops to help them." But people east of the Missouri +said: "Who the devil is John Folsom? What does he know about it? Here's +what the Indian agents say, and that's enough," and people east of the +Missouri being vastly in the majority, neither were the garrisons +relieved nor the reinforcements sent. What was worse, John Folsom's +urgent advice that they discontinue at once all work at Warrior Gap and +send the troops and laborers back to Reno was pooh-poohed. + +"The contracts have been let and signed. The material is all on its way. +We can't hack out now," said the officials. "Send runners to Red Cloud +and get him in for a talk. Promise him lots of presents. Yes, if he must +have them, tell him he shall have breech-loaders and copper cartridges, +like the soldiers--to shoot buffalo with, of course. Promise him pretty +much anything to be good and keep his hands off a little longer till we +get that fort and the new agency buildings finished, and then let him do +what he likes." + +Such were the instructions given the commissioners and interpreters +hurried through Gate City and Frayne, and on up to Reno just within the +limit fixed by Folsom. Red Cloud and his chiefs came in accordingly, +arrayed in pomp, paint and finery; shook hands grimly with the +representatives of the Great Father, critically scanned the proffered +gifts, disdainfully rejected the muzzle-loading rifles and old dragoon +horse-pistols heaped before him. "Got heap better," was his comment, and +nothing but brand new breech-loaders would serve his purpose. Promise +them and he'd see what could be done to restrain his young men. But they +were "pretty mad," he said, and couldn't be relied upon to keep the +peace unless sure of getting better arms and ammunition to help them +break it next time. It was only temporizing. It was only encouraging the +veteran war-chief in his visions of power and control. The commissioners +came back beaming, "Everything satisfactorily arranged. Red Cloud and +his people are only out for a big hunt." But officers whose wives and +children prayed fearfully at night within the puny wooden stockades, and +listened trembling to the howls and tom-toms of the dancing Indians +around the council fires in the neighboring valleys, wished to heaven +they had left those dear ones in safety at their Eastern homes--wished +to heaven they could send them thither now, but well knew that it was +too late. Only as single spies, riding by night, hiding by day, were +couriers able to get through from the Big Horn to the Platte. Of scouts +and soldiers sent at different times since the middle of May, seven were +missing, and never, except through vague boastings of the Indians, were +heard of again. + +"It is a treacherous truce, I tell you," said Folsom, with grave, +anxious face, to the colonel commanding Fort Emory. "I have known Red +Cloud twenty years. He's only waiting a few weeks to see if the +government will be fool enough to send them breech-loaders. If it does, +he'll be all the better able to fight a little later on. If it doesn't +he will make it his _casus belli_." + +And the veteran colonel listened, looked grave, and said he had done his +utmost to convince his superiors. He could do no more. + +It was nearly three hundred miles by the winding mountain road from Gate +City to Warrior Gap. Over hill and dale and mountain pass the road ran +to Frayne, thence, fording the North Platte, the wagon trains, heavily +guarded, had to drag over miles of dreary desert, over shadeless slopes +and divides to the dry wash of the Powder, and by roads deep in alkali +dust and sage brush to Cantonment Reno, where far to the west the grand +range loomed up against the sky--another long day's march away to the +nearest foothills, to the nearest drinkable water, and then, forty miles +further still, in the heart of the grand pine-covered heights, was the +rock-bound gateway to a lovely park region within, called by the Sioux +some wild combination of almost unpronounceable syllables, which, freely +translated, gave us Warrior Gap, and there at last accounts, +strengthened by detachments from Frayne and Reno, the little command of +fort builders worked away, ax in hand, rifle at hand, subjected every +hour to alarm from the vedettes and pickets posted thickly all about +them, pickets who were sometimes found stone dead at their posts, +transfixed with arrows, scalped and mutilated, and yet not once had +Indians in any force been seen by officers or man about the spot since +the day Red Cloud's whole array passed Brooks's troop on the Reno trail, +peaceably hunting buffalo. "An' divil a sowl in in the outfit," said old +Sergeant Shaughnessy, "that hadn't his tongue in his cheek." + +For three months that hard-worked troop had been afield, and the time +had passed and gone when its young first lieutenant had hoped for a +leave to go home and see the mother and Jess. His captain was still +ailing and unfit for duty in saddle. He could not and would not ask for +leave at such a time, and yet at the very moment when he was most +earnestly and faithfully doing his whole duty at the front, slander was +busy with his name long miles at the rear. + +Something was amiss with Burleigh, said his cronies at Gate City. He had +come hurrying back from the hills, had spent a day in his office and not +a cent at the club, had taken the night express unbeknown to anybody but +his chief clerk, and gone hurrying eastward. It was a time when his +services were needed at the depot, too. Supplies, stores, all manner of +material were being freighted from Gate City over the range to the +Platte and beyond, yet he had wired for authority to hasten to Chicago +on urgent personal affairs, got it and disappeared. A young regimental +quartermaster was ordered in from Emory to take charge of shipments and +sign invoices during Burleigh's temporary absence, and the only other +officer whom Burleigh had seen and talked with before his start was the +venerable post commander. One after another the few cavalry troops +(companies) on duty at Emory had been sent afield until now only one was +left, and three days after Burleigh started there came a dispatch from +department headquarters directing the sending of that one to Frayne at +once. Captain Brooks's troop, owing to the continued illness of its +commander, would be temporarily withdrawn and sent back to Emory to +replace it. + +Marshall Dean did not know whether to be glad or sorry. Soldier from top +to toe, he was keenly enjoying the command of his troop. He gloried in +mountain scouting, and was in his element when astride a spirited horse. +Then, too, the air was throbbing with rumors of Indian depredations +along the northward trails, and everything pointed to serious outbreak +any moment, and when it came he longed to be on hand to take his share +and win his name, for with such a troop his chances were better for +honors and distinctions than those of any youngster he knew. Therefore +he longed to keep afield. On the other hand the visit paid by Jessie's +school friend, little "Pappoose" Folsom, was to be returned in kind. +John Folsom had begged and their mother had consented that after a week +at home Jess should accompany her beloved friend on a visit to her far +western home. They would be escorted as far as Omaha, and there Folsom +himself would meet them. His handsome house was ready, and, so said +friends who had been invited to the housewarming, particularly well +stocked as to larder and cellar. There was just one thing on which Gate +City gossips were enabled to dilate that was not entirely satisfactory +to Folsom's friends, and that was the new presiding goddess of the +establishment. + +"What on earth does John Folsom want of a housekeeper?" asked the +helpmates of his friends at Fort Emory, and in the bustling, busy town. +"Why don't he marry again?" queried those who would gladly have seen +some unprovided sister, niece or daughter thus cozily disposed of. It +was years since Elinor's mother's death, and yet John Folsom seemed to +mourn her as fondly as ever, and except in mid-winter, barely a month +went by in which he did not make his pilgrimage to her never-neglected +grave. Yet, despite his vigorous years in saddle, sunshine or storm, and +his thorough love for outdoor life, Folsom, now well over fifty, could +no longer so lightly bear the hard life of the field. He was amazed to +see how his sleepless dash to head off Red Cloud, and his days and +nights of gallop back, had told upon him. Women at Fort Emory who looked +with approving eyes on his ruddy face and trim, erect figure, all so +eloquent of health, and who possibly contemplated, too, his solid bank +account, and that fast-building house, the finest in Gate City, had been +telling him all winter long he ought to have a companion--an elder guide +for Miss Elinor on her return; he ought to have some one to preside at +his table; and honest John had promptly answered: "Why, Nell will do all +that," which necessitated their hinting that although Miss Folsom would +be a young lady in years, she was only a child in experience, and would +be much the better for some one who could take a mother's place. "No one +could do that," said John, with sudden swimming of his eyes, and that +put as sudden a stop to their schemings, for the time at least, but only +for the time. Taking counsel together, and thinking how lovely it would +be now if Mr. Folsom would only see how much there was in this unmarried +damsel, or that widowed dame, the coterie at Emory again returned to the +subject, until John, in his perplexity, got the idea that propriety +demanded that he should have a housekeeper against his daughter's +coming, and then he did go and do, in his masculine stupidity, just +exactly what they couldn't have had him do for worlds--invite a woman, +of whom none of their number had ever heard, to come from Omaha and take +the domestic management of his hearth and home. All he knew of her was +what he heard there. She was the widow of a volunteer officer who had +died of disease contracted during the war. She was childless, almost +destitute, accomplished, and so devoted to her church duties. She was +interesting and refined, and highly educated. He heard the eulogiums +pronounced by the good priest and some of his flock, and Mrs. Fletcher, +a substantial person of some forty years at least, was duly installed. + +Fort Emory was filled with women folk and consternation--most of the men +being afield. The seething question of the hour was whether they should +call on her, whether she was to be received at the fort, whether she was +to be acknowledged and recognized at all, and then came, _mirabile +dictu_, a great government official from Washington to inspect the Union +Pacific and make speeches at various points along the road, and Mrs. +Fletcher, mind you, walked to church the very next Sunday on the +Honorable Secretary's arm, sat by his side when he drove out to hear the +band at Emory, and received with him on the colonel's veranda, and that +settled it. Received and acknowledged and visited she had to be. She +might well prove a woman worth knowing. + +Within a fortnight she had made the new homestead blossom like the rose. +Within a month everything was in perfect order for the reception of +Elinor and her school friend--a busy, anxious month, in which Folsom was +flitting to and fro to Reno and Frayne, as we have seen; to Hal's ranch +in the Medicine Bow, to Rawhide and Laramie, and the reservations in +Northwestern Nebraska; and it so happened that he was away the night +Major Burleigh, on his way to the depot, dropped in to inquire if he +could see Mr. Folsom a moment on important business. The servant said he +was not in town--had gone, she thought, to Omaha. She would inquire of +Mrs. Fletcher, and meantime would the major step inside? Step inside, +and stand wonderingly at the threshold of the pretty parlor he did; and +then there was a rustle of silken skirts on the floor above, and, as he +turned to listen, his haggard, careworn face took on a look something +like that which overspread it the night he got the letter at +Reno--something that told of bewilderment and perplexity as a quiet, +modulated voice told the servant to tell the gentleman Mr. Folsom might +not return for several days. Burleigh had no excuse to linger, none to +ask to hear that voice again; yet as he slowly descended the steps its +accents were still strangely ringing in his ears. Where on earth had he +heard that voice before? + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The quartermaster's depot at Gate City was little more than a big +corral, with a double row of low, wooden sheds for the storing of +clothing, camp and garrison equipage. There was a blacksmith and wagon +repair shop, and a brick office building. Some cottage quarters for the +officer in charge and his clerks, corral master, etc., stood close at +hand, while most of the employees lived in town outside the gates. A +single-track spur connected the depot with the main line of the Union +Pacific only five hundred yards away, and the command at Fort Emory, on +the bluff above the rapid stream, furnished, much to its disgust, the +necessary guard. A much bigger "plant" was in contemplation near a +larger post and town on the east side of the great divide, and neither +Fort Emory nor its charge--the quartermaster's depot--was considered +worth keeping in repair, except such as could be accomplished "by the +labor of troops," which was why, when he wasn't fighting Indians, the +frontier soldier of that day was mainly occupied in doing the odd jobs +of a day laborer, without the recompense of one, or his privilege of +quitting if he didn't like the job. That he should know little of drill +and less of parade was, therefore, not to be wondered at. + +But what he didn't know about guard duty was hardly worth knowing. He +had prisoners and property of every conceivable kind--Indians, horse +thieves, thugs and deserters, magazines and medicines, mules and +munitions of war. Everything had to be guarded. The fort lay a mile to +the west of and two hundred feet higher than the railway hotel in the +heart of the town. It looked down upon the self-styled city, and most of +its womenkind did the same on the citizens, who were, it must be owned, +a rather mixed lot. The sudden discovery of gold in the neighboring +foothills, the fact that it promised to be the site of the division car +shops and roundhouse, that the trails to the Upper Platte, the +Sweetwater, the Park country to the south, and the rich game regions of +the Medicine Bow all centered there, and that stages left no less than +twice a week for some of those points, and the whole land was alive with +explorers for a hundred miles around--all had tended to give Gate City a +remarkable boom. Cheyenne and Laramie, thriving frontier towns with +coroners' offices in full blast from one week's end to the other, and a +double force on duty Sundays, confessed to and exhibited pardonable +jealousy. Yet there was wisdom in the warning of an old friend and +fellow frontiersman, who said to Folsom, "You are throwing yourself and +your money away, John. There's nothing in those gold stones, there's +nothing in that yawp about the machine shops; all those yarns were +started by U. P. fellows with corner lots to sell. The bottom will drop +out of that place inside of a year and leave you stranded." + +All the same had Folsom bought big blocks and built his home there. It +was the nearest town of promise to Hal Folsom's wild but beautiful home +in the hills, and, almost as he loved Nell, his bonny daughter, did the +old trader love his stalwart son. Born a wild Westerner, reared among +the Sioux with only Indians or army boys for playmates, and precious +little choice in point of savagery between them, Hal had grown up a +natural horseman with a love for and knowledge of the animal that is +accorded to few. His ambition in life was to own a stock farm. All the +education he had in the world he owed to the kindness of loving-hearted +army women at Laramie, women who befriended him when well-nigh +broken-hearted by his mother's death. Early he had pitched his tent on +the very spot for a ranchman's homestead, early he had fallen in love +with an army girl, who married the strapping frontiersman and was now +the proud mistress of the new and promising stock farm nestling in the +valley of the Laramie, a devoted wife and mother. The weekly stage to +the railway was the event of their placid days except when some of the +officers and ladies would come from either of the neighboring posts and +spend a week with her and Hal. From being a delicate, consumptive child, +Mrs. Hal had developed into a buxom woman with exuberant health and +spirits. Life to her might have some little monotony, but few cares; +many placid joys, but only one great dread--Indians. John Folsom, her +fond father-in-law, was a man all Indians trusted and most of them +loved. Hal Folsom, her husband, had many a trusted and devoted friend +among the Sioux, but he had also enemies, and Indian enmity, like Indian +love, dies hard. As boy he had sometimes triumphed in games and sports +over the champions of the villages. As youth he had more than once found +favor in the dark eyes that looked coldly on fiercer, fonder claimants, +and one girl of the Ogallallas had turned from her kith and kin, spurned +more than one red lover to seek the young trader when he left the +reservation to build his own nest in the Medicine Bow, and they told a +story as pathetic as that of the favorite daughter of old Sintogaliska, +chief of the Brulé Sioux, who pined and died at Laramie when she heard +that the soldier she loved had come back from the far East with a +pale-faced bride. There were red men of the Ogallallas to whom the name +of Hal Folsom was a taunt and insult to this day, men whom his father +had vainly sought to appease, and they were Burning Star, the lover, and +two younger braves, the brothers of the girl they swore that Hal had +lured away. + +South of the Platte, as it rolled past Frayne and Laramie, those Indians +were bound by treaty not to go. North of the Platte Hal Folsom was +warned never again to venture. These were stories which were well known +to the parents of the girl he wooed and won, but which probably were not +fully explained to her. Now, even behind the curtain of that sheltering +river, with its flanking forts, even behind the barrier of the mountains +of the Medicine Bow, she often woke at night and clutched her baby to +her breast when the yelping of the coyotes came rising on the wind. +There was no woman in Wyoming to whom war with Red Cloud's people bore +such dread possibility as to Hal Folsom's wife. + +And so when Marshall Dean came riding in one glad June morning, bronzed, +and tanned, and buoyant, and tossed his reins to the orderly who trotted +at his heels, while the troop dismounted and watered at the stream, Mrs. +Folsom's heart was gladdened by his confident and joyous bearing. Twice, +thrice he had seen Red Cloud and all his braves, and there was nothing, +said he, to worry about. "Ugly, of course they are; got some imaginary +grievances and talk big about the warpath. Why, what show would those +fellows have with their old squirrel rifles and gas-pipe Springfields +against our new breech-loaders? They know it as well as we do. It's all +a bluff, Mrs. Folsom. You mark my words," said he, and really the boy +believed it. Frequent contact in the field with the red warriors +inspires one with little respect for their skill or prowess until that +contact becomes hostile, then it's time to keep every sense on guard and +leave no point uncovered. + +"But what if the Indian Bureau should let them have breech-loaders?" she +anxiously asked. "You know that is Red Cloud's demand." + +"Oh," said Dean, with confidence born of inexperience in the Bureau +ways, "they couldn't be such fools. Besides, if they do," he added +hopefully, "you'll see my troop come trotting back full tilt. Now, I'm +counting on a good time at Emory, and on bringing your sister and mine +up here to see you." + +"It will be just lovely," said Mrs. Hal, with a woman's natural but +unspoken comparison between the simplicity of her ranch toilet and the +probable elegancies of the young ladies' Eastern costumes. "They'll find +us very primitive up here in the mountains, I'm afraid; but if they like +scenery and horseback riding and fishing there's nothing like it." + +"Oh, they're coming sure. Jessie's letters tell me that's one of the big +treats Mr. Folsom has promised them. Just think, they should be along +this week, and I shall be stationed so near them at Emory--of all places +in the world." + +"How long is it since you have seen Elinor--'Pappoose,' as your sister +calls her," asked Mrs. Hal, following the train of womanly thought then +drifting through her head, as she set before her visitor a brimming +goblet of buttermilk. + +"Two years. She was at the Point a day or two the summer of our +graduation," he answered carelessly. "A real little Indian girl she was, +too, so dark and shy and silent, yet I heard Professor M----'s daughters +and others speak of her later; she pleased them so much, and Jessie +thinks there's no girl like her." + +"And you haven't seen her since--not even her picture?" asked Mrs. Hal, +rising from her easy-chair. "Just let me show you the one she sent Hal +last week. I think there's a surprise in store for you, young man," was +her mental addition, as she tripped within doors. + +The nurse girl, a half-breed, one of the numerous progeny of the French +trappers and explorers who had married among the Sioux, was hushing the +burly little son and heir to sleep in his Indian cradle, crooning some +song about the fireflies and and Heecha, the big-eyed owl, and the +mother stooped to press her lips upon the rounded cheek and to flick +away a tear-drop, for Hal 2d had roared lustily when ordered to his +noonday nap. Away to the northward the heavily wooded heights seemed +tipped by fleecy, summer clouds, and off to the northeast Laramie Peak +thrust his dense crop of pine and scrub oak above the mass of snowy +vapor that floated lazily across that grim-visaged southward scarp. The +drowsy hum of insects, the plash of cool, running waters fell softly on +the ear. Under the shade of willow and cottonwood cattle and horses were +lazily switching at the swarm of gnats and flies or dozing through the +heated hours of the day. Out on the level flat beyond the corral the +troopers had unsaddled, and the chargers, many of them stopping to roll +in equine ecstasy upon the turf, were being driven out in one big herd +to graze. Without and within the ranch everything seemed to speak of +peace and security. The master rode the range long miles away in search +of straying cattle, leaving his loved ones without thought of danger. +The solemn treaty that bound the Sioux to keep to the north of the +Platte stood sole sentinel over his vine and fig tree. True there had +been one or two instances of depredation, but they could be fastened on +no particular band, and all the chiefs, even defiant Red Cloud, and +insolent, swaggering Little Big Man, denied all knowledge of the +perpetrators. Spotted Tail, it was known, would severely punish any of +his people who transgressed, but he could do nothing with the +Ogallallas. Now they were not two hundred miles away to the north, their +ranks swollen by accessions from all the disaffected villages and +turbulent young braves of the swarming bands along the Missouri and +Yellowstone, and if their demands were resisted by the government, or +worse, if they were permitted to have breech-loaders or magazine rifles, +then just coming into use, no shadow of doubt remained that war to the +knife would follow. Then how long would it be before they came charging +down across the Platte, east or west of Frayne, and raiding those new +ranches in the Laramie Valley? + +Reassuring as he meant his words to be, Marshall Dean himself looked +anxiously about at the unprotected walls. Not even the customary +"dugout" or underground refuge seemed to have been prepared. Almost +every homestead, big or little, of those days, had its tunnel from the +cellar to a dugout near at hand, stocked with provisions and water and +provided with loopholes commanding the neighborhood, and herein the +besieged could take refuge and stand off the Indians until help should +come from the nearest frontier fort. "The name of Folsom is our +safeguard," said Mrs. Hal, in her happy honeymoon days, but that was +before the mother told her of the threats of Burning Star or the story +of the Ogallalla girl he vainly loved. "All that happened so long ago," +she murmured, when at last the tale was told. But Hal should have known, +if she did not, that, even when it seems to sleep, Indian vengeance is +but gaining force and fury. + +Presently Mrs. Hall came tripping forth again, a little _carte de +visite_ in her hand, a smile of no little significance on her lips. +"Now, Mr. Dean, will you tell me what you think of that for a pappoose?" + +And with wonderment in his eyes the young officer stood and held it and +gazed. + +There stood Pappoose, to be sure, but what a change! The little maiden +with the dark braids of hair hanging far below her waist had developed +into a tall, slender girl, with clear-cut, oval face, crowned by a mass +of dark tresses. Her heavy, low-arching brows spanned the thoughtful, +deep, dark-brown eyes that seemed to speak the soul within, and the +beautiful face was lighted up with a smile that showed just a peep of +faultless white teeth, gleaming through the warm curves of her soft, +sensitive lips. The form was exquisitely rounded, yet supple and erect. + +"Hasn't Jessie written you of how Nell has grown and improved?" said +Mrs. Hall, with a woman's quick note of the admiration and surprise in +Dean's regard. + +"She must have," was the answer, "I'm sure she has, but perhaps I +thought it schoolgirl rhapsody--perhaps I had too many other things to +think of." + +"Perhaps you'll find it superseding these too many things, Mr. Soldier +Boy," was Mrs. Hal's mental comment. "Now, sir, if you've gazed enough +perhaps you'll tell me your plans," and she stretched forth a reclaiming +hand. + +But he hung on to the prize. "Let me keep it a minute," he pleaded. +"It's the loveliest thing I've seen in months." + +And, studying his absorbed face, she yielded, her eyebrows arching, a +pretty smile of feminine triumph about her lips, and neither noticed the +non-commissioned officer hurrying within the gate, nor that half the men +in "C" Troop at their bivouac along the stream were on their feet and +gazing to northeast, that far down the valley a horseman was speeding +like the wind, that little puffs of smoke were rising from the crests of +the grand landmark of the range and floating into the blue of the +heavens. Both started to their feet at the abrupt announcement. + +"Lieutenant, there are smoke signals on Lar'mie Peak." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Lieutenant Dean's orders required that he should march his troop without +unnecessary delay to Fork Emory, there to take station relieving Troop +"F," ordered to change to Frayne, which meant, in so many words, to take +the field. Captain Brooks, still wrestling with the fever, had retired +to his quarters at the old frontier fort that stood so long on the +bluffs overlooking the fords of the Platte. The surgeon said he must +remain in bed at least a week, so meantime the troop packed up, sent its +wagons ahead over the range, bade God speed to "F" as it passed through +_en route_ to the front, exchanged a volley of chaff and chewing tobacco +over the parting game of "freeze out" fought to a finish on many an +outspread saddle blanket, then, jogged on toward Gate City, making wide +_détour_ at the suggestion of the field officer in command at Frayne, +that they might scout the Laramie plains and see that all was well at +Folsom's ranch. This _détour_ was duly reported to the peppery veteran +at Fort Emory, an old colonel whose command was by this time reduced +from "headquarters, field, staff and band," six companies of infantry +and four troops of cavalry, to the band and two desperately overworked +companies of foot. "Two nights in bed" were all his men could hope for, +and sometimes no more than one, so grievous was the guard duty. Hence +"old Pecksniff," his adjutant and quartermaster and his two remaining +companies saw fit to take it as most unkind in Lieutenant-Colonel Ford +to authorize that diversion of Dean's, and highly improper on Dean's +part to attempt it. By this time, too, there was in circulation at Emory +a story that this transfer of "C" to interior lines and away from +probable contact with the Sioux was not so much that it had done far +more than its share of that arduous work, completely using up its +captain, as that, now the captain was used up, the authorities had their +doubts as to the "nerve" of the lieutenant in temporary command. A +fellow who didn't care to come to Emory and preferred rough duty up +along the Platte must be lacking in some essential particular, thought +the women folk, and at the very moment that Marshall Dean sat there at +Hal Folsom's ranch, as brave and hardy and capable a young officer as +ever forded the Platte, looking forward with pleasurable anticipations +to those days to come at Emory, with Jessie--Jessie and, of course, +Pappoose--so close at hand in town, there was gaining ground at the post +an impression that the safety of the board of officers sent to choose +the site of the new Big Horn post had been imperiled by Dean's weakening +at a critical moment in presence of a band of probably hostile Sioux. +Burleigh had plainly intimated as much to his chief clerk and Colonel +Stevens, and when Loring and Stone came through a day or two later and +questions were asked about that meeting, the aide-de-camp gave it as +distinctly to be understood that he had practically assumed command, +Dean's inexperience being manifest, and his own prompt measures had +extricated the little detachment from a most delicate and dangerous +position. The engineer, let it be said, did not hear this statement, and +the aid was very careful not to make it in his presence. He was a +comparative stranger and as no one presumed to question him, he +volunteered no information. + +Planning to bivouac until dawn of the next day at Folsom's, Dean had +then intended to reach Fort Emory in three easy marches. He was anxious +to bring his horses in in best possible condition, despite all their +hard service; yet now, barely two o'clock on this hot June afternoon, +came most unlooked-for, most importunate interruption to his plans. +Springing to the gate at the sergeant's summons, he first directed his +gaze to the distant peak, recognized instantly the nature of the smoke +puffs there rising, then turned for explanation to the swift-riding +courier, whose horse's heels were making the dust fly from the sun-dried +soil. One or two ranch hands, with anxious faces, came hastening over +from the corral. The darkey cook rushed up from the kitchen, rifle in +hand. Plainly these fellows were well used to war's alarms. Mrs. Folsom, +with staring eyes and dreadful anxiety in her face, gazed only at the +hurrying courier, clinging the while to the pillar of the portico, as +though needing support. The smoke puffs on the mountain, the dust-cloud +back of the tearing rider were symptoms enough for Dean. + +"Get in your herd, sergeant!" he shouted at the top of his voice; and +over the rushing of the Laramie his words reached the rousing bivouac, +and saddle blankets were sent swinging in air in signal to the distant +guards, and within a few seconds every horse was headed for home; and +then, to the sound of excited voices was added the rising thunder of +scores of bounding hoofs, as, all in a dust-cloud of their own, the +sixty chargers came galloping in, ears erect, eyes ablaze, nostrils +wide, manes and tails streaming in the breeze, guided by their eager +guards full tilt for camp. Out ran their riders, bridles in hand, to +meet and check them, every horse when within a few yards of his master +seeming to settle on his haunches and plow up the turf in the sudden +effort to check his speed, long months of service on the plains and in +the heart of Indian land having taught them in times of alarm or peril +that the quicker they reached the guiding hand and bore, each, his +soldier on his back, the quicker would vanish the common foe. Even +before the panting steed of the headlong courier came within hailing +distance of the ranch, half the horses in the troop were caught and the +bits were rattling between their teeth; then, as the messenger tore +along the gentle slope that led to the gateway, his wearied horse +laboring painfully at the rise, Mrs. Folsom recognized one of her +husband's herdsmen, a man who had lived long years in Wyoming and could +be unnerved by no false alarm, and her voice went up in a shriek of fear +as she read the tidings in his almost ghastly face. + +"Where is Hal?" she screamed. "Oh, what has happened?" + +"He's safe," was the answering call, as the rider waved a reassuring +hand, but at the instant he bent low. "Thank God, you're here, +lieutenant," he gasped. "Mount quick. Hal's corralled two miles out +there under the butte--Sioux!" And then they saw that he was swooning, +that the blood was streaming down the left thigh and leg, and before +hand could help him, he rolled senseless, doubled up in the dust at his +horse's feet, and the weary creature never even started. + +"Saddle up, men!" rang the order across the stream. And then while +strong arms lifted and bore the wounded herdsman to the porch, Dean +turned to the wailing mistress, who, white-faced and terror-stricken, +was wringing her hands and moaning and running wildly up and down the +walk and calling for some one to go and save her husband. Dean almost +bore her to a chair and bade her fear nothing. He and his men would lose +not a moment. On the floor at her feet lay the little card photograph, +and Dean, hardly thinking what he did, stooped, picked it up and placed +it in the pocket of his hunting shirt, just as the trumpeter on his +plunging gray reached the gate, Dean's big, handsome charger trotting +swiftly alongside. In an instant the lieutenant was in saddle, in +another second a trooper galloped up with his belt and carbine. Already +the men were leading into line across the stream, and, bidding the +trumpeter tell Sergeant Shaughnessy to follow at speed, the young +officer struck spur to his horse and, carbine in hand, a single trooper +at his heels, away he darted down the valley, "C" Troop, splashing +through the ford a moment later, took the direct road past the stockade +of the corral, disappeared from sight a moment behind that wooden +fortification, and, when next it hove in view, it was galloping front +into line far down the Laramie, then once more vanished behind its +curtain of dust. + +"Two miles out there under the butte," was the only indication the young +officer had of the scene of the fight, for fight he knew it must be, and +even as he went bounding down the valley he recalled the story of the +Indian girl, the threats of Burning Star, the vowed vengeance of her +brothers. Could it be that, taking advantage of this raid of Red Cloud, +far from all the reservations, far from possibility of detection by +count of prying agents, the three had induced a gang of daring, +devil-may-care young warriors to slip away from the Big Horn with them +and, riding stealthily away from the beaten trails, to ford the Platte +beyond the ken of watchful eyes at Frayne and sneak through the mountain +range to the beautiful, fertile valley beyond, and there lie in wait for +Hal Folsom or for those he loved? What was to prevent? Well they knew +the exact location of his ranch. They had fished and sported all about +it in boy days--days when the soldiers and the Sioux were all good +friends, days before the mistaken policy of a post commander had led to +an attack upon a peaceful band, and that to the annihilation of the +attacking party. From that fatal day of the Grattan massacre ten years +before, there had been no real truce with the Sioux, and now was +opportunity afforded for a long-plotted revenge. Dean wondered Folsom +had not looked for it instead of sleeping in fancied security. + +A mile nearer the butte and, glancing back, he could see his faithful +men come bounding in his tracks. A mile ahead, rising abruptly from the +general level, a little knoll or butte jutted out beyond the shoulders +of the foothills and stood sentinel within three hundred yards of the +stream. On the near--the westward--side, nothing could be seen of horse +or man. Something told him he would find the combatants beyond--that +dead or alive, Hal Folsom would be there awaiting him. A glance at the +commanding height and the ridge that connected it with the tumbling, +wooded hills to the north, convinced him that at this moment some of the +foe were lurking there, watching the westward valley, and by this time +they knew full well of the coming of the cavalry to the rescue. By this +time, more than likely, they were scurrying off to the mountains again, +returning the way they came, with a start of at least two miles. + +"With or without the coveted scalps?" he wondered. Thus far he had been +riding straight for the butte. The road wound along and disappeared +behind him, but there was no sense in following the road. "Pursue and +punish," was the thing to be done. Surely not more than a dozen were in +the band, else that courier could never have hoped to get in, wounded as +he was. The Indians were too few in number to dare follow to the ranch, +guarded as, by almost God-given luck, it happened to be through the +unlooked-for presence of the troops. No, it was a small band, though a +daring one. Its lookout had surely warned it by this time of his coming, +and by this time, too, all save one or two who rode the fleetest ponies +and lingered probably for a parting shot at the foremost of the chase, +had scampered away behind the curtain of that ridge. Therefore, in long +curve, never checking his magnificent stride, Dean guided his bounding +bay to the left--the northeast--and headed for the lowest point of the +divide. + +And then it all occurred to him too that he was far in front of his men, +too far to be of use to them and just far enough to be an easy prey for +the lurking foe. Then, too, it occurred to him that he must not leave +the ranch unprotected. Already he was within long rifle range of the +height; already probably some beady eye was glancing through the sights, +and the deadly tube was covering him as he came bounding on. Three +hundred yards more and his life probably wouldn't be worth a dollar in +Confederate money, and wisely the young leader began to draw rein, and, +turning in saddle, signaled to his single companion, laboring along one +hundred yards behind, to hasten to join him. Presently the trooper came +spurring up, a swarthy young German, but though straining every nerve +the troop was still a mile away. + +"Ride back, Wegner, and tell the sergeant to take ten men around that +side--the south side of the bluff," and he pointed with his hand; "the +rest to come straight to me." + +Oh, well was it for Dean that he checked his speed, and as the young +dragoon went sputtering back, that he himself drew rein and waited for +the coming of his men. Suddenly from far out along the ridge in front, +from the very crest there leaped a jet or two of fire and smoke. Two +little spurts of dust and turf flew up from the prairie sod a dozen +yards in front, a rifle bullet went singing off through the sunny air, +Rabb, his handsome bay, pawed the ground and switched about, and up on +the crest, riding boldly in full view, two lithe, naked, painted +warriors, war bonnets trailing over their ponies' croups, yelling shrill +insult and derision, went tearing away northward, one of them pausing +long enough to wave some ragged object on high, and give one ringing, +exultant whoop ere he disappeared from view. + +"It's a scalp, lieutenant," shouted the foremost sergeant as he came +lunging up to join his chief. "They've got one, anyhow." + +"Come on, then, and we'll get it back," was the only answer, as with +nearly thirty troopers stringing out behind them, the two launched out +in chase. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Obedient to his orders the Irish sergeant, with a little squad at his +heels, had kept straight on. A few minutes later, rounding the bluff at +the gallop, eyes flashing over the field in front of them, the party +went racing out over the turf and came in full view of the scene of the +fight. Five hundred yards further down stream was a deep bend in the +Laramie. Close to the water's edge two horses lay stretched upon the +ground, stone dead. Out on the open prairie lay an Indian pony still +kicking in his dying agony, and as the soldiers came sweeping into view +two men rose up from behind the low bank of the stream and swung their +hats--Hal Folsom and one of his hands safe, unwounded, yet with a look +in their gray faces that told of recent mortal peril. + +"We're all right! Go on after them. They've run off a dozen of my best +horses," said Folsom, "and I'm afraid they cut off Jake." + +"No! Jake reached the ranch all right--leastwise somebody did," said +Shaughnessy. "That's how we got the news. They got somebody, or else +they were only bluffing when they waved that scalp. How many were +there?" + +"At least a dozen--too many for you to tackle. Where's the rest of the +troop?" + +"Close at their heels. The lieutenant led them right over the ridge. +Listen!" + +Yes, far up in the foothills, faint and clear, the sounds of the chase +could now be heard. Dean's men were closing on the fleeing warriors, for +every little while the silence of the range was broken by the crack of +rifle or carbine. Shaughnessy's fellows began to fidget and look eagerly +thither, and he read their wish. "Two of you stay with Mr. Folsom," he +said, "and the rest come with me. There's nothing we can do here, is +there? Sure, you're not hit?" + +"No, go on! Give 'em hell and get back my horses. I'd go with you, but +they've killed what horses they couldn't drive. All safe at the ranch?" + +Shaughnessy nodded as he spurred away. "We'll be gettin' the lieutenant +a brevet for this," said he, "if we can only close up with those +blackguards." And these were the words Folsom carried back with him, as, +mounting a willing trooper's horse, he galloped homeward to reassure his +wife, thanking God for the opportune coming of the little command, yet +swearing with close compressed lips at the ill-starred work of the day. +Thus far he had striven to keep from her all knowledge of the threats of +the Ogallallas, although he knew she must have heard of them. He had +believed himself secure so far back from the Platte. He had done +everything in his power to placate Red Cloud and the chiefs--to convince +his former friends that he had never enticed poor Lizette, as Baptiste +had called the child, from her home and people. They held he should +never have left her, though she had accused him of no wrong. Burning +Star, in his jealous rage, hated him, because he believed that but for +love of the paleface Lizette would have listened to his wooing, and +Folsom's conscience could not acquit him of having seen her preference +and of leading her on. He could not speak of her to his wife without +shame and remorse. He had no idea what could have been her fate, for the +poor girl had disappeared from the face of the earth, and now, at last, +this day had proved to him the threats of her lover and her brothers +were not idle. He had had so narrow a squeak for his life, so sharp and +sudden and hard a fight for it that, now that the peril was over, his +nerve began to give way, his strong hands to tremble. Armed with +breech-loaders, he and his two friends had been able to stand off the +attacking party, killing two ponies, and emptying, they felt sure, two +saddles; but little by little the Indians were working around their +position, and would have crawled upon them within an hour or two but for +Jake's daring ride for help and the blessed coming of the blue-coats in +the nick of time. Folsom swore he'd never forget their services this +day. + +And as he cantered homeward he could still hear the distant firing dying +away in the mountains to the north. "Give 'em hell, Dean!" he muttered +through his set teeth. "They're showing fight even when you've got 'em +on the run. I wonder what that means?" + +Not until another day was he to know. Late on the evening of the attack, +while he was seated with his wife by Jake's bedside, half a dozen +troopers, two of them wounded and all with worn-out horses, came +drifting back to camp. Twice, said they, had the fleeing Indians made a +stand to cover the slow retreat of one or two evidently sorely stricken, +but so closely were they pressed that at last they had been forced to +abandon one of their number, who died, sending his last vengeful shot +through the lieutenant's hunting shirt, yet only grazing the skin. Dean, +with most of the men, pushed on in pursuit, determined never to desist +so long as there was light, but these who returned could not keep up. + +Leaving the dead body of the young brave where it lay among the rocks, +they slowly journeyed back to camp. No further tidings came, and at +daybreak Folsom, with two ranchmen and a trooper, rode out on the trail +to round up the horses the Indians had been compelled to drop. Mrs. Hal +clung sobbing to him, unable to control her fears, but he chided her +gently and bade her see that Jake lacked no care or comfort. The brave +fellow was sore and feverish, but in no great danger now. Five miles out +in the foothills they came upon the horses wandering placidly back to +the valley, but Folsom kept on. Four miles further he and a single +ranchman with him came upon three troopers limping along afoot, their +horses killed in the running fight, and one of these, grateful for a +long pull at Folsom's flask, turned back and showed them the body of the +fallen brave. One look was enough for Hal and the comrade with him. +"Don't let my wife know--who it was," he had muttered to his friend. "It +would only make her more nervous." There lay Chaska, Lizette's eldest +brother, and well Hal Folsom knew _that_ death would never go unavenged. + +"If ever a time comes when I can do you a good turn, lieutenant," said +he that afternoon as, worn out with long hours of pursuit and scout, the +troop was encountered slowly marching back to the Laramie, "I'll do it +if it costs me the whole ranch." But Dean smiled and said they wouldn't' +have missed that chance even for the ranch. What a blessed piece of luck +it was that the commanding officer at Frayne had bidden him take that +route instead of the direct road to Gate City! He had sent men riding in +to both posts on the Platte, with penciled lines telling of the Indian +raid and its results. Once well covered by darkness the little band had +easily escaped their pursuers, and were now safe across the river and +well ahead of all possibility of successful pursuit. But if anything +were needed to prove the real temper of the Sioux the authorities had +it. Now was the time to grapple that Ogallalla tribe and bring it to +terms before it could be reinforced by half the young men in the +villages of the northern plains. The Platte, of course, would be +patrolled by a strong force of cavalry for some weeks to come, and no +new foray need be dreaded yet awhile. Red Cloud's people would "lay low" +and watch the effect of this exploit before attempting another. If the +White Father "got mad" and ordered "heap soldiers" there to punish them, +then they must disavow all participation in the affair, even though one +of their best young braves was prominent in the outrage, and had paid +for the luxury with his life--even though Burning Star was trying to +hide the fresh scar of a rifle bullet along his upper arm. Together Dean +and Folsom rode back to the ranch, and another night was spent there +before the troop was sufficiently rested to push on to Emory. + +"Remember this, lieutenant," said Folsom again, as he pressed his hand +at parting, "there's nothing too good for you and "C" Troop at my home. +If ever you need a friend you'll find one here." + +And the time was coming when Marshall Dean would need all that he could +muster. + +Two days later--still a march away from Emory--a courier overtook him +with a letter from his late post commander: "Your vigorous pursuit and +prompt, soldierly action have added to the fine record already made and +merit hearty commendation." The cordial words brought sunshine to his +heart. How proud Jess would be, and mother! He had not had a word from +either for over a week. The latter, though far from strong, was content +at home in the loving care of her sister, and in the hope that he would +soon obtain the leave of absence so long anticipated, and, after Jess's +brief visit to Pappoose's new home, would come to gladden the eyes of +kith and kin, but mother's most of all, bringing Jessie with him. Little +hope of leave of absence was there now, and less was he the man to ask +it with such troubles looming up all along the line of frontier posts to +the north. But at least there would be the joy of seeing Jess in a few +days and showing her his troop--her and Pappoose. How wonderfully that +little schoolgirl must have grown and developed! How beautiful a girl +she must now be if that photograph was no flatterer! By the way, where +was that photo? What had he done with it? For the first time in four +days he remembered his picking it up when Mrs. Hal Folsom collapsed at +sight of Jake's swooning. Down in the depths of the side pocket of his +heavy blue flannel hunting shirt he found it, crumpled a bit, and all +its lower left-hand corner bent and blackened and crushed, Chaska's last +shot that tore its way so close below the young soldier's bounding +heart, just nipping and searing the skin, had left its worst mark on +that dainty _carte de visite_. In that same pocket, too, was another +packet--a letter which had been picked up on the floor of the hut at +Reno after Burleigh left--one for which the major had searched in vain, +for it was underneath a lot of newspapers. "You take that after him," +said the cantonment commander, as Dean followed with the troop next day, +and little dreamed what it contained. + +That very day, in the heavy, old-fashioned sleeping-cars of the Union +Pacific, two young girls were seated in their section on the northward +side. One, a dark-eyed, radiant beauty, gazed out over the desolate +slopes and far-reaching stretches of prairie and distant lines of bald +bluff, with delight in her dancing eyes. The other, a winsome maid of +nineteen, looked on with mild wonderment, not unmixed with +disappointment she would gladly have hidden. To Elinor the scenes of her +childhood were dear and welcome; to Jessie there was too much that was +somber, too little that was inviting. But presently, as the long train +rolled slowly to the platform of a rude wooden station building, there +came a sight at which the eyes of both girls danced in eager interest--a +row of "A" tents on the open prairie, a long line of horses tethered to +the picket ropes, groups of stalwart, sunburned men in rough blue garb, +a silken guidon flapping by the tents of the officers. It was one of +half a dozen such camps of detached troops they had been passing ever +since breakfast time--the camps of isolated little commands guarding the +new railway on the climb to Cheyenne. Papa, with one or two cronies, was +playing "old sledge" in the smoking compartment. At a big station a few +miles back two men in the uniform of officers boarded the car, one of +them burly, rotund, and sallow. He was shown to the section just in +front of the girls, and at Pappoose he stared--stared long and hard, so +that she bit her lip and turned nervously away. The porter dusted the +seat and disposed of the hand luggage and hung about the new arrivals in +adulation. The burly man was evidently a personage of importance, and +his shoulder straps indicated that he was a major of the general staff. +The other, who followed somewhat diffidently, was a young lieutenant of +infantry, whose trim frock-coat snugly fitted his slender figure. + +"Ah, sit down here, Mr.--Mr. Loomis," said the major patronizingly. "So +you are going up to the Big Horn. Well, sir, I hope we shall hear good +accounts of you. There's a splendid field for officers of the right +sort--there--and opportunities for distinction--every day." + +At sound of the staff officer's voice there roused up from the opposite +section, where he had been dozing over a paper, a man of middle age, +slim, athletic, with heavy mustache and imperial, just beginning to turn +gray, with deep-set eyes under bushy brows, and a keen, shrewd face, +rather deeply lined. There was a look of dissipation there, a shade of +shabbiness about his clothes, a rakish cut to the entire personality +that had caused Folsom to glance distrustfully at him more than once the +previous afternoon, and to meet with coldness the tentatives permissible +in fellow travelers. The stranger's morning had been lonesome. Now he +held his newspaper where it would partly shield his face, yet permit his +watching the officers across the aisle. And something in his stealthy +scrutiny attracted Pappoose. + +"Yes," continued the major, "I have seen a great deal of that country, +and Mr. Dean, of whom you spoke, was attached to the troop escorting our +commission. He is hardly--I regret to have to say it--er--what you +imagine. We were, to put it mildly, much disappointed in his conduct the +day of our meeting with the Sioux." + +A swift, surprised glance passed between the girls, a pained look shot +into the lieutenant's face, but before the major could go on the man +across the aisle arose and bent over him with extended hand. + +"Ah, Burleigh, I thought I knew the voice." But the hand was not +grasped. The major was drawing back, his face growing yellow-white with +some strange dismay. + +"You don't seem sure of my identity. Let me refresh your memory, +Burleigh. I am Captain Newhall. I see you need a drink, major--I'll take +one with you." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +For nearly a week after the home-coming of his beloved daughter John +Folsom was too happy in her presence to give much thought to other +matters. By the end of that week, however, the honest old Westerner +found anxieties thickening about him. There were forty-eight hours of +undimmed rejoicing. Elinor was so radiant, so fond, and had grown, so +said the proud father to himself, and so said others, so wondrously +lovely. His eyes followed her every movement. He found himself negligent +of her gentle little friend and guest, Jessie Dean, to whom he had vowed +to be a second father, and such a friend as she had been to his Pappoose +when, a homesick, sad-eyed child, she entered upon her schooldays. +Elinor herself had to chide him, and with contrition and dismay he +admitted his fault, and then for hours nothing could exceed his +hospitable attentions to Jessie, who, sorely disappointed because +Marshall was not there to meet her, was growing anxious as no tidings +came from him. Two whole days the damsels spent in going over the new +house, exclaiming over papa's lavish preparations, but wishing presently +that Mrs. Fletcher were not quite so much in evidence, here, there, and +everywhere. Only when bedtime came and they could nestle in one or other +of their connecting rooms were they secure from interruption, and even +then it presently appeared they could not talk confidentially as of old. +Folsom had taken them driving each afternoon, he himself handling the +reins over his handsome bays, Elinor at his side the first time, and +Jessie, with Mrs. Fletcher, occupying the rear seat. But this, Elinor +whispered to him, was not as it should be. Her guest should have the +seat of honor. So, next day, Jessie was handed to the front and Mrs. +Fletcher and Pappoose were placed in rear, and in this order they bowled +round the fort and listened to the band and talked with several of the +women and one or two officers, but these latter could tell nothing about +Lieutenant Dean except that they had been expecting him for two days--he +having taken the long way home, which both Jessie and Pappoose +considered odd under the circumstances, though neither said so and +nobody thought to explain. But the morning of the third day "Miss +Folsom"--as the veteran was amazed to hear his daughter addressed, yet +on reflection concluded that he'd be tempted to kick any man who +addressed her otherwise--seized a favorable opportunity and whisked her +fond father into a corner of his library, and there gave him to +understand that in Eastern circles the housekeeper might sometimes, +perhaps, accompany the young ladies when they were going shopping, or +the like, alone, but that when escorted by papa it was quite +unnecessary. It was in fact not at all conventional. + +"Bless my soul!" said Folsom. "I supposed that was what she was for. +What did these women mean by telling me I must have a, companion--a +guide--etc.?" + +"They meant, you blessed Daddy, that they wished to provide you +with--one of their number, and me--with something I do not want. If Mrs. +Fletcher is to be housekeeper I have nothing to say, but--don't you +think your big daughter old enough and wise enough to select her own +companions? Daddy dear," she continued, after a little pause, and +nestling close to him with a pathetic look in the big brown eyes, her +lips twitching a bit, "I know how loving and thoughtful you have been in +all this, and I wouldn't have you think me ungrateful, but--did you +believe I was always going to be a little girl? What do you suppose I +studied housekeeping for at school? Mrs. Fletcher is engaged, I presume, +and I can't ask you to undo that now, but I wish you had written to me +first. However, if you don't mind, there's somebody I'd rather you would +invite to take the fourth seat to-day, and then you can have Pappoose +beside you, if you wish." + +"Why, of course, sweetheart, any one you like." + +"Lieutenant Loomis, then, Daddy--the officer we met on the train. Jessie +likes him and he's such a friend of her brother--the only one we have +yet seen who seems to know him at all. Then you could ask him to dinner, +too." + +Folsom's face was a study. Doubt and perplexity both were twitching in +the little muscles about his lips. + +"We met three officers, did we not, Elinor, and I had thought--somewhat +of--asking the major and his guest. He said he wished to call. He was +here while we were driving yesterday. I met him later." + +"Yes, I saw his card," was the hurried, indifferent answer. "But they +are not like Mr. Loomis. Daddy, I did not at all like that Captain +Newhall, or--for that matter----" + +"They both seemed prodigiously struck with you," said Folsom, in +misguided confidence yet pardonable pride. "They've done, nothing but +talk to me about you ever since." + +"They did nothing but talk to me all the way over the mountains, except +when they were out taking what I have reason to believe was an +occasional drink, Daddy mine. Jess had Mr. Loomis to herself. They have +found your weak spot, Daddy. They know you love to talk of your +daughter. You have only known Major Burleigh a little while, is it not +so?" + +"Only within the year, perhaps, though of course I've heard of him a +great deal." + +"And this Captain Newhall, whose regiment is in Louisiana while he's out +here on leave--I thought officers went East when they got leave." + +"Newhall says he's out here looking over some mining schemes. He has +money to invest, I believe." + +"He should invest some money in a traveling suit, Daddy dear. That coat +and his linen seemed woefully out of condition. Gentlemen are not +careless about such matters." + +"Oh, he explained that his trunks were delayed in Omaha or somewhere, +and were coming along next train. I own I was prejudiced against him, +too, but of course if he's a friend and guest of Burleigh's he--he must +be all right. He's staying with him at the depot." + +"And you've got to invite them to dinner?" asked Miss Folsom, after +another pause, during which she had been thinking deeply. + +"Not if you don't want it, pet. Of course they'll expect it. Army +officers are hospitable, you know, Burleigh has asked me to dine with +him a dozen times, though I've only been there once." + +"Then you'll have to invite him, Daddy," was the answer, with quick +decision. "Only, just wait for a day or two. Captain Newhall was going +right out to the mines, he said, and there may be others we'd be glad to +have. Jessie's brother ought to be here any hour." + +"Yes," said Folsom dubiously. "I've been thinking about him--I've been +wishing----" + +But he hesitated and faltered and could not meet the deep brown eyes, so +full of searching inquiry and keen intelligence. + +"You've been thinking--what, Daddy?" she asked, and now her slender +hands were on his shoulders and she was turning him so that she could +study his face. "You have been hearing something you do not wish us to +know, Daddy dear. I heard Major Burleigh say something to Mr. Loomis +about--about Lieutenant Dean, and I know Mr. Loomis did not like it, and +Jessie and I can't believe it. Father, where is he? Why doesn't he come? +Why do these--these people at the fort hem and haw and hesitate when +they speak about him? Jessie is getting so troubled." + +"_I'm_ getting troubled, daughter," answered Folsom impulsively. "I +never met a likelier young fellow or one that promised to make a better +officer. He may be all right, too, only it isn't so much what they _do_ +say as what they don't say that troubles me. Burleigh here and old +Stevens out at the fort and one or two others I've asked about him. +Burleigh says he 'lost his nerve' when they met Red Cloud's big band. A +boy might be excused for that so long as he didn't misbehave. It was big +responsibility for a young lieutenant. But these people, as you speak of +them out at the fort, really know very little about Dean. Burleigh says +he's in a position that enables him to know so much more about the +character and habits of the young officers." + +"Surely he can say nothing against Mr. Dean!" exclaimed Pappoose, +looking up with quick indignation in her brown eyes. "No one knows how +good and generous he has been to Jessie and his mother." + +They were standing at the moment in the corner of the library farthest +from the doorway. The front windows opened to the north, giving a fine +view of the rolling hills rising higher and higher and looking down upon +the grass-grown slopes spread out at their feet, criss-crossed and +traversed by hard-beaten roads and trails. Immediately in front of the +house Folsom had seeded and watered and coaxed into semblance of a lawn +the best turf to be had in that section of Wyoming, and inclosed it in a +spick and span white picket fence. The main road between the fort and +the railway station passed directly in front of his gate. The side +window of the cozy room looked out to the west over the valley of a +rushing stream, once rich in trout, but now much infested by the mules +from Burleigh's corral, which lay half a mile away to the southeast, out +of sight of Folsom's house except from the upper windows. Eager to stock +the library with standard works against his daughter's coming, the old +trader had consulted a friend among the officers and had sent a lavish +order to a house in Chicago. Books, therefore, were there in plenty on +the handsome shelves, and they were not ill-chosen either, but it was +Mrs. Fletcher who pointed out how stiff and angular everything looked, +who introduced the easy lounge, the soft rugs, the heavy hanging +portières of costly Navajo blankets. It was her deft touch that draped +the curtains at the windows and softened and beautified the lines the +hand of man would have left crude and repellent. And that library had +been her favorite haunt; but since the coming of the girls Mrs. Fletcher +had seemed to retire to her own room aloft, and to spend no time below +stairs that was not demanded by her household duties. Now as the father +and daughter were talking earnestly together, they heard Mrs. Fletcher +moving about overhead as though looking over the work of the housemaid. +Jessie had gone to her own room to write a short letter to her mother. +Major Burleigh was to come at 10.30 to drive them out to Pinnacle Butte, +a sharp, rocky height far across the valley, from the summit of which a +wonderful view was to be obtained. It lacked but five minutes of the +time and suddenly Mrs. Fletcher's voice was heard on the floor above. It +was a well-modulated voice, gentle and controlled, with a clear, vibrant +ring in it that made the words distinctly audible to the hearers below. + +"The major's carriage is coming up the street, Miss Dean. There are two +officers." + +"Two!" exclaimed Jess, starting to her feet, thinking only of her +brother. "Oh! I wonder if--" And then they heard her go pit-a-pat +through the hall to the front of the house, heard Mrs. Fletcher more +deliberately follow, heard presently the beat of horses' hoofs on the +hard roadway, and the whir of coining wheels. "I'll go out to meet them, +Elinor--I'll--I'll talk to you more about this some other time. You +don't care to go on this ride this morning one bit, do you dear?" he +added uneasily. + +"No, father; frankly, I don't--but he has been polite to you and +attentive to us. There's no help for it." + +And so Folsom went alone to the door to meet his visitors on the porch +without, and did not hear, did not see Mrs. Fletcher, who came hastily +down the stairs, her face singularly pale, a glitter of excitement in +her eyes. On tiptoe she hastened along the broad hall, reaching the +library door just as Folsom stepped out on the porch. On tiptoe she +darted in, closed the door behind her, almost rushed to the north +window, and there grasping the curtain she crouched, heedless of the +possibility of observation, and for half a minute clung and crouched and +stared. Then, as Folsom's genial, powerful voice was heard in welcoming +accents, and heavy footsteps came along the broad board walk, the woman +straightened suddenly and, noiseless as before, hurried back across the +room and came face to face with the daughter of the house. + +"Oh, Miss Folsom!" she faltered, her bosom heaving in violent agitation. +"I did not know you were here. I--excuse me--" and hastened out of the +room and up the winding stairs. + +"Pappoose" never hesitated. Coolly, quickly, she stepped to the window. +Major Burleigh had just reached the top step and was exchanging greeting +with his host. The stylish team and glistening wagon were just spinning +away. + +"It'll be back in five minutes," she, heard the quartermaster explain to +her father. "Newhall has to meet come people coming in by stage from +Green River. I thought I'd rather spend the time here." + +And on the back seat, affably waving his hand in adieu, and jauntily +lifting his rakish forage cap in salutation general to any of the young +ladies who might be watching, sat the gentleman whose regiment was in +Louisiana while he was up here on leave looking after mining +investments. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +"Three mortal hours," said Miss Folsom to her fond little school friend +and chum that afternoon, "have I had to sit or stroll with or listen to +Major Burleigh. I never once was able to enjoy the view. What made him +hurry us away from the northeast point, do you suppose?" + +"Did you notice that, Nell? I did, too, and I was so interested in the +view. Away up toward Laramie Peak I could see something through the +glasses that looked like a lot of little ants crawling along together. +It was just after that--just after we looked through the glass, that he +marched us round to the other side. The view toward Green River isn't +half as pretty." + +"And now he's telling some interminable story to father over their +cigars. What shall we do if he hangs on? Father will have to ask him to +drive with us to the fort, and there won't be room." + +"Unless Mrs. Fletcher gives up her seat," said Jessie demurely. + +"Mrs. Fletcher isn't going. A very different person takes her seat +to-day, Jess. Father left a note for Mr. Loomis at the hotel and he +accepted. Now you see why I don't want Major Burleigh." + +It was then long after three o'clock. At five they were to start and +Jessie could hardly curb her impatience. The mail from Frayne, so said +Folsom, would arrive that evening, and then surely there would be news +of Marshall. They had slipped away to their rooms after the bountiful +luncheon served on their return, in order, as "Pappoose" expressed it, +that the gentlemen might have their cigars in peace. Mrs. Fletcher, +after seeing that everything was prepared, had directed the servant to +say to Mr. Folsom, on the return of the party, that she would prefer not +to appear, and would be glad to keep her room, as she did not feel it at +all necessary for the housekeeper to meet strangers, and Folsom felt a +sense of relief. It was so much sweeter not to have any presiding genius +other than Pappoose, not that he was forgetful of Mrs. Fletcher's merits +and services--which were great--but it was plain to see that his +daughter would have been happier had no such office existed as that +created for this deserving and destitute widow. At three Miss Folsom had +gone and tapped at the lady's door--her room was in the third story +overlooking the street--and was very civilly assured that Mrs. Fletcher +stood in need of nothing, but, being wearied, she would like a little +sleep. No, she did not even care for a cup of tea. Yet Elinor felt +confident that the voice that replied to her inquiries came neither from +the bed nor the lounge, but from the direction of the front window. + +At three the cigars were smoked out and the host and his guest were in +the library. It was Folsom's custom, when a possible thing, to take a +brief nap after the midday meal, and Elinor felt sure he would be glad +of the opportunity now, if Burleigh would only go, but Burleigh +wouldn't. In monotonous monologue his voice came floating up to the +second floor, drowsy, unbroken in its soporific flow, and the girls +themselves, after the morning's drive in the clear, bracing air, felt as +though forty winks would be a blessing. Could it be that Burleigh +lingered on in hopes of their reappearance below? Might it not be that +if relief came not speedily Papa Folsom would yield to the spell and +fall asleep in his easy-chair? Was it not Miss Folsom's duty to descend +and take the burden of entertainment off those elder shoulders? These +thoughts oppressed the girl, and starting up, she cried: + +"It's simply wicked of me staying here and letting poor papa be bored to +death. Do come down, Jess, dear, unless you're dreadfully sleepy. He +acts just as though he intended never to go." + +And Jess promised reluctantly to come down in ten minutes, if he didn't +leave; but she hated him, and had hated him ever since he spoke so of +Marshall in the car three days before. + +The upper hall had been quite dark when Miss Folsom went up to inquire +how Mrs. Fletcher was just after luncheon. The door to her little room +was tightly closed. The blinds in all the other rooms aloft were drawn +against the glare of the sunshine in the cloudless atmosphere; yet now, +as Pappoose stepped suddenly out upon the landing, she was surprised to +see that the upper floor was much lighter than when she went up half an +hour earlier. The maid had not gone thither from the kitchen, and Mrs. +Fletcher wished to doze. Who, then, could have opened both blind and +door and let in that flood of light? Impulsively the active girl flew up +the winding stairs to the third story, and some one suddenly withdrew +from the balcony rail, and an instant later, as Miss Folsom reached the +top, all became dark again. Mrs. Fletcher's door had unquestionably been +open, and was now shut to. She must have been out there listening, and +gravely the young girl asked herself what it meant--Mrs. Fletcher's +agitation in the library that morning as she peered out at the major's +wagon; her absence from luncheon on account, as she pleaded, of not +desiring to appear when company was present; and now, despite her desire +to sleep, her vigil at the third-floor landing, where she was surely +listening to the sounds from below. + +Pondering over the facts, Elinor Folsom slowly retraced her steps and +went downstairs. She reached the library none too soon. Old John's eyes +were closed, and he was slowly toppling, over come with sleep. The sound +of her cheery voice aroused him, and he started, guilty and crestfallen. + +Burleigh's heavy face brightened visibly at her coming. He cared no more +for music than does a cat, but eagerly followed her across the broad +hall into the parlor when she suggested showing him the beautiful piano +papa had given her; and old John, blessing her, lurched for the sofa, +buried his hot head in a pillow, and was asleep in ten seconds. Major +Burleigh was alone with the lovely daughter of the veteran trader. He +was a man of the world; she an unsophisticated girl just out of +school--so said Burleigh, albeit a most charming one; and he, who had +monopolized her time the entire morning, bore down once more upon his +prize. + +She had seated herself at the piano, and her long, taper fingers were +rippling over the keys. She knew full well he did not care what she +played, and as for herself she did not care just then to play at all. +She was thinking of his insinuation at Marshall Dean's expense. She was +still pondering over Mrs. Fletcher's stealthy scrutiny of the +quartermaster's team. On these two accounts, and no other, he was +possessed of certain interest in Elinor's dark-brown eyes, and they were +studying him coolly, searchingly, as he drew a chair near the piano +stool, and seated himself and met her look with a broad, encouraging +smile. + +Trill and ripple, ripple and trill her white fingers raced over the +keyboard. + +"I'm sure you know this waltz, major," she was saying. "They played it +beautifully at the Point two summers ago." + +"I--ah, yes, it's a charming composition--charming, though I don't +recall it's name just now." + +"This? why it's one of Godfrey's--'The Hilda,' don't you know? I'm sure +you waltz, major." + +"I--ah, used to, yes. I was very fond of a waltz," answered Burleigh, +whose best efforts in that line could result in nothing better than a +waddle. "But of late years I--I--since my bereavement--have practically +withdrawn from society." Then, with a languishing smile, he added, "I +shall be tempted to re-enter the list now," and the major drew his chair +nearer by full an inch, and prepared to be further "killing." + +"Jessie dances divinely," said Miss Folsom. "She simply floats round a +room. You should see her waltz with her brother, Major Burleigh. They +might be waltzing here this very minute if he were only home. What can +have detained him, do you think?" + +"I wish I knew," said the quartermaster slowly. "It makes those who +are--ah--his friends, you know, anxious in more ways than one, because +there is--er--nothing to warrant delay--nothing to--excuse it. He +should, in fact, have been at his post, where his troop is sorely +needed, full four days ago," and Burleigh looked heavy with portent. + +"Is it not possible that he has found something along the lower +Laramie--something where his troop is needed much more than here doing +stable guard?" + +"How can it be possible?" said Burleigh. "The only thing to warrant his +delay would be Indians, and there are none south of the Platte; or horse +thieves, and they hung the last of the gang three months ago. Mr. Dean, +I--ah--regret to say, is fonder of fishing and hunting than of his +legitimate duties, and this, I fear, is why he is not here to welcome +his sister." + +The piano went rippling on, but the brown eyes kept up their steady +gaze. In the deep bass chords now her slender fingers were entangled. +Slowly and thoughtfully the rich melody swung in the proud waltz rhythm +through the airy room and floated out upon the summer breeze. A little +line was setting deep between the dark, arching eyebrows, a symptom +Pappoose's schoolmates had learned to note as a signal for danger, but +Burleigh knew her not, as yet. + +"It is odd," said she dreamily, "that at the Point the officers spoke so +highly of Mr. Dean, and here you seem to think so differently of him. It +is a deep disappointment to his sister that he is not here; but, do you +know, major, we were saying only this morning before you came that there +was some excellent reason for his delay, and we'd know it within another +day." + +"Oh, ah--er--of course I hope so. I think, pardon me, that that must be +a messenger from my office now," for spurred boot-heels were coming +briskly up the wooden walk. There was a bounding step on the piazza, a +ring at the bell. The servant bustled through the hall and threw open +the door. It was not a messenger from the depot, but a stalwart, +sunburnt man in rough ranch garb, who whipped off his broad-brimmed hat +and stood abashed within the hall as he asked for Mr. Folsom. + +And all of a sudden over went the piano-stool with a crash, and out into +the hall, joyous, bounding, light as a fairy, a vision of dark, girlish +beauty, went Pappoose. + +"Why, Ned Lannion!" she cried, as she seized the swarthy young fellow's +hands and shook them up and down "Don't you know me--Winona that used to +be? Why, how well you look! When did you leave the ranch? How did you +leave them? Is Hal here--or coming?" + +And at sound of her voice old Folsom had started up from his sofa and +came trotting out into the hall, just roused from his sleep, and +blinking a bit as he, too, held forth cordial, welcoming hands. It was a +moment before they could let Ned tell his story, and then it came by +jerks. + +"We left there early yesterday morning, mum. They're all well now, 'cept +Jake, and he'll come out all right, but we had a close call. A war party +of Sioux jumped as Wednesday afternoon, and they'd a got away with us +but for Lieutenant Dean and his troop. They come along just in time----" + +"Ned!" gasped Elinor, "you don't mean they attacked the ranch?" + +"No'me. We was down the Lar'mie--rounding up horses. There was a dozen +bucks in the party. It's the first time they've come across in a year +that I know of, and they won't be apt to try it again. We shot two of +'em and the cavalry drove 'em a running fight, so hard that they had to +leave one of their wounded behind them. He died in a minute. It +was--" and then Ned Lannion gulped and stumbled and choked in +embarrassment. + +"Who was it?" demanded Mr. Folsom, his rugged face pale and twitching, +his eyes full of anxiety. + +"Chaska, sir. _You_ know." + +Folsom gripped him by the shoulder. "And Burning Star--did you see him? +Was he there?" + +"Yes, sir; but those boys of Lieutenant Dean's gave them a lickin' +they'll never forget. The ranch is safe as if it was here in Gate City, +only Hal he couldn't come himself, and he knowed you'd be anxious for +full particulars, so he sent me in with the cavalry. They're out at the +fort now." + +"Jessie!" cried Elinor, in delight that overmastered the emotion with +which she had listened to the tale of her brother's recent peril. +Marshall's here--almost home. It's just as we said, Jess. Do come down. +He was there just in time to save my brother's life--to drive the +Indians back to the river. Come quick--I want to hug you!" And her dark +eyes, flashing with joy and excitement, danced full upon the bulky form +of the major, slowly issuing from the parlor door, then beyond as she +went bounding by him, all eagerness to clasp her bonny friend in her +arms, and shower her with congratulations. And so it happened that both +the girls were at the rear of the hall entwined in each other's arms at +the foot of the stairs when the ranchman answered Folsom's next +question, and then broke out with the abrupt announcement, "I never see +a young officer handle his men better. We'd all been in hell by this +time if it wasn't for him, yet, by God, sir, the moment he got into the +post they clapped him in arrest." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +That evening, when John Folsom, half an hour earlier than the stipulated +time, drove the girls and their friend, Lieutenant Loomis, out to the +fort, Major Burleigh was left to his own devices, and his face plainly +showed that he was far from pleased with the way things were going. The +news that Marshall Dean had been placed in arrest by order of the +commanding officer of Fort Emory, following as it did close on the heels +of the tidings of that young officer's prompt and soldierly handling of +the crisis at the ranch, made Folsom boil over with wrath. His first +word was one of caution, however. "Hush!" he said, "Speak low. Yonder +stands his sister. The girls must not know yet." Then, leading the way +into the library and closing the door behind them, he demanded all +particulars Lannion could give him, which were few enough. + +"The lieutenant halted the troop outside the post," said the indignant +ranchman, "had it dismount there while he rode on in to report to the +commanding officer for instructions. The colonel was taking his nap +after lunch, and the adjutant was at the office, and what does he do but +get up from his desk solemn-like, and when the lieutenant says 'I report +the arrival of Troop "C" at the post, sir,' the adjutant didn't answer a +word, but reached out and got his sabre and began buckling it around +him, and then he put on his cap and gloves, and says he, 'Lieutenant +Dean, I'm sorry, but my instructions are to place you in close arrest, +by order of Colonel Stevens.' Why, you could have knocked me down with +the kick of a gopher I was so dumfounded! The lieutenant he didn't say +anything for a minute, but turned white and looked like he could have +knocked the top of the adjutant's head off. 'An officer will be sent to +take charge of the troop,' said the adjutant, 'an' I suppose you'd +better confine yourself to your tent, as the colonel means to have them +camp there a day or two, until he hears from Captain Brooks as to +quarters.' 'Well, will you have the goodness to say what charges have +been laid against me?' said Mr. Dean, and the adjutant hemmed, and +hawed, and 'lowed that the colonel hadn't formerly drawn 'em up yet, but +that a copy would be served on him as soon as they were ready." + +"Then I said I'd go right in and find you, and that's all I know." + +And then it was that Folsom turned on Burleigh, with gloom in his eye, +and said: "By the Eternal, Major Burleigh, I hope you've had nothing to +do with this!" + +"Nothing in the world, I assure you, Mr. Folsom, I--I deeply regret it. +Though, as I have told you, I can hardly be surprised, after what has +been said, and--d what I have seen." But the major could not squarely +meet the gaze in the keen eyes of the old trader, nor could the latter +conceal his suspicions. "I know you wish to hear all the particulars of +the affair at the ranch from this gentleman," said the major uneasily, +"so I will leave you with him for the present," and backing out into the +hall he turned to the foot of the winding staircase where Elinor had met +her friend. The girls were still there, their faces clouded with +surprise and anxiety. It was an opportunity not to be lost. + +"Pray do not be troubled, Miss Folsom," said Burleigh, advancing upon +them with outstretched hand, "er, Mr. Folsom merely wants to hear +further details from Lannion. I wish to extend my congratulations to you +and, ah, this young lady, first upon the fortunate escape of _your_ +brother," and he bowed over his distended stomach to Elinor, "and second +upon the part played by _yours_," and he repeated the bow to Jess, who, +however, shrank away from the extended hand. "It will go far to +counteract the stories that I--ah, er--believe you know about--that were +in circulation, and most unjustly, doubtless, at--er--his expense." + +"Who put them in circulation, Major Burleigh?" asked Pappoose, her brown +eyes studying his face as unflinchingly as had her father's gaze a +moment before. + +"That, my dear young lady I--er--cannot surmise. They are mostly +imaginative, I dare say." + +But Miss Folsom looked unmollified, Miss Dean agitated, and Burleigh +himself had many a reason for feeling ill at ease. Just at the time of +all others when he most desired to stand on good terms with the +well-to-do old trader and his charming daughter he found himself the +object of distrust. He was thinking hard and far from hopefully as a +moment later he hastened down the street. + +"Tell them to send up my buggy, quick," were his orders as he stepped +within his office doorway. Then lowering his voice, "Has Captain Newhall +returned?" he asked the chief clerk. + +"The captain was here, sir. Left word he needed to take the first +train--freight or construction, it made no difference--to Cheyenne and +expected to find a letter or package from you, and there's two telegrams +in from Department Headquarters on your desk, sir." + +The major turned thither with solemn face, and read them both, his back +to his subordinate, his face to the light, and growing grayer every +moment. One was a curt notification that ten thousand dollars would be +needed at once at Warrior Gap to pay contractors and workmen, and +directing him to send the amount from the funds in his keeping. The +other read as follows: + +"Have all transportation put in readiness for immediate field service. +Every wheel may be needed." + +This he tossed carelessly aside. Over the first he pondered deeply, his +yellow-white face growing dark and haggard. + +Ten thousand dollars to be sent at once to Warrior Gap! Workmen's pay! +Who could have predicted that? Who could have given such an order? Who +would have imagined payment would have to be made before July, when some +reasonable amount of work had been done? What could laborers do with +their money up there, even if they had it? It was preposterous! It was +risky to attempt to send it. But what was infinitely worse--for him--it +was impossible. The money was practically already gone, but--not to +Warrior Gap. + +Those were days when inspectors' visits were like those of other angels, +few and far between. The railway was only just finished across the great +divide of the Black Hills of Wyoming. Only as far as Cheyenne was there +a time schedule for trains, and that--far more honored in the breach +than the observance. Passengers bound west of that sinfully thriving +town were luckier, as a rule, if they went by stage. Those were days, +too, in which a depot quartermaster with a drove of government mules and +a corral full of public vehicles at his command was a monarch in the +eyes of the early settlers; and when, added to these high-priced +luxuries, he had on deposit in various banks from Chicago to Cheyenne, +and even here at Gate City, thousands of dollars in government +greenbacks expendible on his check for all manner of purposes, from +officers' mileage accounts to the day laborer's wages, from bills for +the roofing of barracks and quarters to the setting of a single +horseshoe, from the purchase of forage and fuel for the dozen military +posts within range of his supply trains down to a can of axle grease. +Every one knew Burleigh's horses and habits were far more costly than +his pay would permit. Everybody supposed he had big returns from mines +and stocks and other investments. Nobody knew just what his investments +were, and only he knew how few they were and how unprofitable they had +become. Those were days when, as now, disbursing officers were forbidden +to gamble, but when, not as now, the law was a dead letter. Burleigh had +gambled for years; had, with little remorse, ruined more than one man, +and yet stood now awe-stricken and dismayed and wronged by Fate, since +luck had turned at last against him. Large sums had been lost to players +inexorable as he himself had been. Large sums had been diverted from the +government channels in his charge, some to pay his so-called debts of +honor, some to cover abstractions from other funds, "robbing Peter to +pay Paul," some to silence people who knew too much; some, ay, most of +it, in fact, to cover margins, and once money gets started on that grade +it slips through one's fingers like quicksilver. At the very moment when +Anson Burleigh's envious cronies were telling each other he stood far +ahead of the world, the figures were telling him he stood some twenty +thousand dollars behind it, and that, too, when he was confronted by two +imperative calls for spot cash, one for ten thousand to go to Warrior +Gap, another for a sum almost as big to "stake" a man who never yet had +turned an honest penny, yet held the quartermaster where he dare not say +so--where indeed he dare not say no. + +"If you haven't it you know where you can get it--where you have often +got it before, and where you'd better get it before it's too late;" +these were words said to him that very morning, in tones so low that +none but he could bear; yet they were ringing in his head now like the +boom of some tolling bell. Time was when he had taken government money +and turned it into handsome profit through the brokers of San Francisco +and Chicago. But, as Mr. John Oakhurst remarked, "There's only one thing +certain about luck, and that is it's bound to change," and change it +had, and left him face to face with calamity and dishonor. Where was he +to raise the ten thousand dollars that must be sent to the post +quartermaster at Warrior Gap? The end of the fiscal year was close at +hand. He dare not further divert funds from one appropriation to cover +shortages in another. He could borrow from the banks, with a good +endorser, but what endorser was there good enough but John Folsom?--the +last man now whom he could bear to have suspect that he was in straits. +Folsom was reported to be worth two hundred thousand dollars, and that +lovely girl would inherit half his fortune. There lived within his +circle no man, no woman in whose esteem Burleigh so longed to stand +high, and he had blundered at the start. Damn that young cub who dared +to lecture him on the evils of poker! Was a boy lieutenant to shame him +before officers of the general's staff and expect to go unwhipped? Was +that butt-headed subaltern to be the means of ruining his prospects +right here and now when he stood so sorely in need of aid? Was the devil +himself in league against him, that that boy's sister should turn out to +be the closest friend old Folsom's daughter ever had--a girl to whom +father and daughter both were devoted, and through her were doubtless +interested in the very man he had been plotting to pull down? Burleigh +savagely ground his teeth together. + +"Go and hurry that buggy," he ordered, as he crushed the sheet of paper +on which he had been nervously figuring. Then, springing up, he began +pacing his office with impatient stride. A clerk glanced quickly up from +his desk, watched him one moment with attentive eye, and looked +significantly at his neighbor. "Old man's getting worse rattled every +day," was the comment, as the crash of wheels through loose gravel +announced the coming of the buggy, and Burleigh hastened out, labored +into his seat, and took the whip and reins. The blooded mare in the +shafts darted forward at the instant, but he gathered and drew her in, +the nervous creature almost settling on her haunches. + +"Say to Captain Newhall when he gets back-that I'll see him this +evening," called Burleigh over his shoulder. "Now, damn you, _go_--if +you want to!" and the lash fell on the glistening, quivering flank, and +with her head pointed for the hard, open prairie, the pretty creature +sped like mad over the smooth roadway and whirled the light buggy out +past the scattered wooden tenements of the exterior limits of the +frontier town--the tall white staff, tipped by its patch of color +flapping in the mountain breeze, and the dingy wooden buildings on the +distant bluff whirling into view as he spun around the corner where the +village lost itself in the prairie; and there, long reaches ahead of +him, just winding up the ascent to the post was a stylish team and trap. +John Folsom and the girls had taken an early start and got ahead of him. + +Old Stevens was up and about as Folsom's carriage drove swiftly through +the garrison and passed straight out by the northeast gate. "I'll be +back to see you in a moment," shouted the old driver smilelessly, as he +shot by the lonely colonel, going, papers in hand to his office, and +Stevens well knew he was in for trouble. Already the story was blazing +about the post that nothing but the timely arrival of Dean and his men +had saved Folsom's ranch, and Folsom's people. Already the men, +wondering and indignant at their young leader's arrest, were shouting +over the sutler's bar their pæans in his praise, and their denunciation +of his treatment. Over the meeting of sister and brother at the latter's +little tent let us draw a veil. He stepped forth in a moment and bade +his other visitors welcome, shook hands eagerly with Loomis and urged +their coming in, but he never passed from under the awning or "fly," and +Folsom well knew the reason. + +"Jump out, daughter," he said to Pappoose, and Loomis assisted her to +alight and led her straight up to Dean, and for the first time in those +two years the ex-cadet captain and the whilom little schoolgirl with the +heavy braids of hair looked into each other's eyes, and in Dean's there +was amaze and at least momentary delight. He still wore his field rig, +and the rent in the dark-blue flannel shirt was still apparent. He was +clasping Miss Folsom's hand and looking straight into the big dark eyes +that were so unusually soft and humid, when Jessie's voice was heard as +she came springing forth from the tent: + +"Look, Nell, look! Your picture!" she cried, as with the bullet-marked +_carte de visite_ in her hand she flitted straight to her friend. + +"Why, where did this come from?" asked Miss Folsom in surprise, "and +what's happened to it?--all creased and black there!" Then both the +girls and Loomis looked to him for explanation, while Folsom drove away, +and even through the bronze and tan the boy was blushing. + +"I--borrowed it for a minute--at the ranch just as Jake came in wounded, +and there was no time to return it, you know. We had to gallop right +out." + +"Then--you had it with you in the Indian fight?" cried Jess, in +thrilling excitement. "Really? Oh, Nell! How I wish it were mine. But +how'd it get so blackened there--and crushed? You haven't told us." + +"Tell you some other time, Jess. Don't crowd a fellow," he laughed. But +when his eyes stole their one quick glance at Elinor, standing there in +silence, he saw the color creeping up like sunset glow all over her +beautiful face as she turned quickly away. Lannion had told them of the +close shave the lieutenant had had and the havoc played by that bullet +in the breast pocket of his hunting shirt. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Meantime "Old Peeksniff," as commentators of the day among the graceless +subs were won't to call Colonel Stevens, was having his bad quarter of +an hour. Leaving his team with the orderly, John Folsom had stamped into +his presence unannounced, and after his own vigorous fashion opened the +ball as follows: + +"Stevens, what in the devil has that young fellow done to deserve +arrest?" + +"Oh, ah, shut the door, Mr. Adjutant," said the commanding officer, +apprehensively, to his staff officer, "and--d I desire to confer with +Mr. Folsom a moment," whereat the adjutant took the hint and then hied +himself out of the room. + +"Now, ah, in the first place, Mr. Folsom this is rather a long and--d +painful story. I'm--m--ah, ah--in a peculiar position." + +"For God's sake talk like a man and not like Burleigh," broke in the old +trader impulsively. "I've known you off and on over twenty years, and +you never used to talk in this asinine way until you got to running with +him. Come right to the point--What crime is young Dean charged with? +Those girls of mine will have to know it. They will know he's in arrest. +What can I tell them?" + +"Crime--ah--is hardly the word, Folsom. There has been a +misunderstanding of orders, in short, and he was placed under arrest +before--ah--before I had been furnished with a mass of information that +should have been sent to me before." + +"Well, what fault is that of his? See here, man, you don't mean to say +it is because he didn't get here three days ago? That's no crime, and I +haven't knocked around with the army the last forty years not to know +the regulations in such matters. Do you mean without ever hearing what +kept him and what splendid, spirited service he rendered there along the +Laramie, that you've humiliated that fine young fellow and put him in +arrest?" + +Pecksniff whirled around in his chair. "Really now, Mr. Folsom, I can't +permit you to instruct me in my military duties. You have no conception +of the way in which I've been ignored and misled in this matter. There +are collateral circumstances brought about, er--forced on me in fact, by +injudicious friends of this young man, and he--he must blame them--he +must blame them, not me. Now if you'll permit me to glance over this +mass of matter, I can the sooner do justice in the premises." And over +his goggles the colonel looked pleadingly up into his visitor's irate +features. + +"Read all you like, but be quick about it," was the angry rejoinder. "I +want to take that boy back with me to town and confront him with one of +his accusers this very day--the man I believe, by the ghost of Jim +Bridger, is at the bottom of the whole business!" and Folsom flopped +heavily and disgustedly into a chair, at sound of a rap at the door, +which opened an inch and the adjutant's nose became visible at the +crack. + +"Major Burleigh, sir, would like to see you." + +"And I'd like to see Major Burleigh!" stormed Folsom, springing to his +feet. Commanding officers of the Stevens stamp had no terrors for him. +He had known his man too long. + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" cried Pecksniff, "I can have no disturbance now +over this unfortunate matter. Really, Mr. Folsom, I cannot permit my +office to be the scene of any--of any----" + +But his words wandered aimlessly away into space as he discovered he had +no listener. Folsom, finding that the major had apparently changed his +mind and was not coming in, had changed his plan and was going out. He +overtook Burleigh on the boardwalk in front and went straight to the +point. + +"Major Burleigh, you told me a short time ago that you had nothing to do +with the allegations against this young gentleman who was placed in +arrest here this afternoon, yet I learn from my own daughter that you +spoke of him to a brother officer of his in terms of disparagement the +day you got aboard the car at Sidney. Mr. Loomis corroborates it and so +does Miss Dean. I've heard of two other instances of your speaking +sneeringly of him. Now I ask you as man to man what it is you have to +tell? He has saved the lives of my son, his wife and child, and the +people of the ranch, and by the Eternal I'm his friend and mean to see +justice done him!" + +Burleigh listened with solemn face and with no attempt to interrupt. He +waited patiently until Folsom came to a full stop before he spoke at +all. Then his voice was eloquent of undeserved rebuke--of infinite +sympathy. "Mr. Folsom," he said, "it would be useless for me to deny +that before I knew your charming daughter or her--ah--very interesting +friend I did speak in their presence--ah--incautiously, perhaps, of Mr. +Dean, but it was in continuance of a conversation begun before we +boarded the car, and what I said was more in sorrow than in criticism. +The young gentleman had attracted my attention--my +favorable--ah--opinion on the up trip to the Big Horn, and I +was--ah--simply disappointed in his conduct on the way back. It was +perhaps due to--ah--inexperience only, and my whole object in coming +here in haste this afternoon was to bear testimony to his ability and +zeal as a troop commander, and to urge--ah--Colonel Stevens to +reconsider his action and restore him at once to duty. I had hoped, sir, +to be here--ah--ahead of you and to have driven him in my buggy--ah--to +meet you, but I am disappointed--I am disappointed in more ways than +one." + +Folsom stood and wiped his streaming face, and looked the speaker square +in the eye, and Burleigh stood the scrutiny with unlooked-for nerve. +Long years at the poker-table had given him command of his features, and +the faculty of appearing the personification of serene confidence in his +"hand," when the twitching of a nerve might cost a thousand dollars. +Folsom was no match for him in such a game. Little by little the anger +and suspicion faded from his eyes, and a shame-faced look crept into +them. Had he really so misjudged, so wronged this gentleman? Certainly +there was every appearance of genuine sympathy and feeling in Burleigh's +benevolent features. Certainly he was here almost as soon as he himself +had come, and very possibly for the same purpose. It was all that old +fool Pecksniff's doing after all. Folsom had known him for years and +always as more or less of an ass--a man of so little judgment that, +though a major in the line at the outbreak of the war, he had never been +trusted with a command in the field, and here he was now a full colonel +with only three companies left him. Burleigh saw his bluff was telling, +and he took courage. + +"Come with me," he said, "and let me reassure you," and the doors of the +commanding officer's sanctum opened at once to the omnipotent disburser +of government good things, Folsom following at his heels. "Colonel +Stevens," he began, the moment he was inside, and before the colonel +could speak at all, "in a moment of exasperation and extreme +nervous--ah--depression the night I--er--started East so hurriedly +after a most exhausting journey from the Big Horn, I spoke disparagingly +of the action of Lieutenant Dean in face of the Indians the day we met +Red Cloud's band, but on mature reflection I am convinced I misjudged +him. I have been thinking it all over. I recall how vigilant and dutiful +he was at all times, and my object in hurrying out here to-day, +at--ah--almost the instant I heard of his arrest, was to put in the best +words I could think of in his behalf--to--ah--urge you to reconsider +your action, especially in view of all the--e--ah--encomiums passed upon +his conduct in this recent raid on the Laramie." + +The colonel whirled around upon him as he had on Folsom. "Major +Burleigh," he began, "I call you to witness that I am the most abused +man in the army. Here am I, sir, thirty-five years in service, a full +colonel, with a war record with the regulars that should command +respect, absolutely ignored by these mushroom generals at Omaha and +elsewhere--stripped of my command and kept in ignorance of the movements +of my subordinates. Why, sir," he continued, lashing himself on, as he +rose from his chair, "here's my junior at Frayne giving orders to my +troop, sir; presumes to send them scouting the Laramie bottoms, when +every man is needed here, and then, when, as it happens, my officer and +his men get into a fight and drive the Indians, to whom does he report, +sir? Not to me, sir--not to his legitimate commander, but he sends +couriers to Laramie and to Frayne, and ignores me entirely." + +A light dawned on Burleigh in an instant. Well he knew that Dean's +reasons for sending couriers to those guard posts of the Platte were to +warn them that a war party had crossed into their territory, and was now +in flight. There was nothing to be gained by sending a man galloping +back to the line of the railway seventy-five miles to the rear--no +earthly reason for his doing so. But the fact that he had sent runners +to officers junior in rank to Stevens, and had not sent one to him, +fairly "stuck in the crop" of the captious old commander, and he had +determined to give the youngster a lesson. But now the mail was in, and +dispatches from various quarters, and a telegram from Omaha directing +him to convey to Lieutenant Dean the thanks and congratulations of the +general commanding the department, who had just received full +particulars by wire from Cheyenne, and Stevens was glad enough to drop +the game, and Burleigh equally glad of this chance to impress Folsom +with the sense of his influence, as well as of his justice. + +"I admit all you say, colonel. I have long--ah--considered you most +unfairly treated, but really--ah--in this case of Lieutenant Dean's, it +is, as I said before, inexperience and--ah--the result of-ah--er--not +unnatural loss of--er--balance at a most exciting time. A word +of--ah--admonition, if you will pardon my suggestion, all he probably +needs, for he has really behaved very well--ah--surprisingly well in +conducting this--ah--pursuit." + +And so was it settled that later the colonel was to see Mr. Dean, and +admonish accordingly, but that meantime the adjutant should go and +whisper in his ear that his arrest was ended, and all would be explained +later, thereby releasing him before the girls discovered the fact that +he was confined to his tent. + +But the adjutant came too late. The tearful eyes of one, the flushed and +anxious faces of both damsels, and the set look in the eyes of both the +young officers at Dean's tent, as the adjutant approached, told him the +cat was out of the bag. "The explanation cannot be made too promptly for +me, sir," said Dean, as he received the colonel's message and permitted +the adjutant to depart without presenting him to the two prettiest girls +he had seen in a year. "Now, Loomis, just as quick as possible I want +you to go with me to that man Burleigh. I'll cram his words down his +throat." + +"Hush, Dean, of course, I'll stand by you! But--both girls are looking. +Wait until to-morrow." + +How many a project for the morrow is dwarfed or drowned by events +unlooked for--unsuspected at the time! Not ten minutes later Folsom and +Burleigh came strolling together to the little tent. Ashamed of his +apparently unjust accusation, Folsom had begged the quartermaster's +pardon and insisted on his coming with him and seeing the young people +before driving back to town. The horses were being groomed at the picket +line. The western sun was low. Long shadows were thrown out over the +sward and the air was full of life and exhilaration. The somber fears +that had oppressed the quartermaster an hour earlier were retiring +before a hope that then he dare not entertain. + +"You--you stood by me like a trump, Burleigh," old Folsom was saying, +"even after I'd abused you like a thief. If I can ever do you a good +turn don't you fail to let me know." + +And Burleigh was thinking then and there how desperately in need of a +good turn he stood that minute. What if Folsom would back him? What +if---- + +But as they came in full view of the picket line beyond the row of +tents, the major's eagerly searching gaze was rewarded by a sight that +gave him sudden pause. Halted and examining with almost professional +interest the good points of a handsome little bay, Lieutenant Loomis and +Jessie Dean were in animated chat. Halted and facing each other, he with +glowing admiration in his frank blue eyes, she with shy pleasure in her +joyous face, Dean and Elinor Folsom stood absorbed in some reminiscence +of which he was talking eagerly. Neither saw the coming pair. Neither +heard the rapid beat of bounding hoofs nearing them in eager haste. +Neither noted that a horseman reined in, threw himself from saddle and +handed Burleigh a telegraphic message which, with trembling hands, he +opened and then read with starting eyes. + +"My heaven, Folsom!" he cried. "I ought to have known something was +coming when I got orders to have every mule and wheel ready. +Everything's to be rushed to the Big Horn at once. Just as you +predicted, Red Cloud's band has broken loose. There's been a devil of a +fight not eighty miles from Frayne!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +And now indeed came for Marshall Dean a time in which he could see a +divided duty. A camp of woodchoppers in one of the deep, sequestered +valleys of the mountains had been suddenly set upon by a host of mounted +Indians that seemed, like the warriors born of the dragon's teeth, to +spring up from the earth, and yelling like fiends bore down upon the +little guard. Happily for the woodchoppers, but unluckily for Lo, the +commander was a cool-headed veteran of the late war who had listened +time and again to yells as frantic and had withstood charge after charge +ten times as determined. Most unluckily for Lo the infantry company was +armed with the new Springfield breech-loader, and when the band came +exultantly on, having, as they supposed, drawn the fire when full four +hundred yards away, they were confounded by the lively crackle and +sputter of rifles along the timber in front of them, toppling many a +dashing warrior to earth and strewing the ground with slaughtered +ponies. That charge failed, but they rallied in furious force. There +were only forty soldiers: they had five hundred braves, so on they came +again from three different points, and again did Powell's sheltered blue +coats scatter them like red autumn leaves before the storm. Thrice and +four times did they essay to stampede the soldiers and sweep off their +own dead and wounded, and each time were they soundly thrashed, thanks +to cool courage and the new breech-loaders. And Red Cloud, cursing his +medicine men, drew off his baffled braves and the hills that night +resounded to their vengeful war-whoops and echoed back the wailing of +the Indian women mourning over the slain. "All well enough so far, +lads," cried Folsom, when he heard the news. "Machpealota is unmasked. +It's war to the knife now, so for God's sake send all the troops you can +muster to the aid of those already up there in the Big Horn. Next time +he hits he'll have all the Northern Sioux at his back, you mark my +words!" + +But, who the devil is John Folsom? said the Bureau again. Arrest Red +Cloud. Bring his band in prisoners, were the orders to the agents, and +the agents called for troops to go and do their bidding. It's one thing, +as I've had occasion to say before, to stand off with breech-loaders a +thousand Indians armed only with old percussion cap muskets, squirrel +rifles, bows, clubs and lances; it's another thing for soldiers armed +even with the best the market affords, to march into an Indian position +and arrest an Indian chief. There were not soldiers enough north of the +Platte to do it, and the War Department knew it if the Bureau didn't. +Hence the mustering in force along the river, and the mounting in hot +haste of perhaps ten more troops and companies, nowhere near enough for +the work in hand, but all the nation had within a month's march that +could possibly be spared from other work and work more important. + +And there was wrath at Emory, where the colonel found himself ordered to +send all his transportation to Frayne forthwith, and all his remaining +troops except one of foot. "Damnation! I've only got two companies of +foot," he screamed, in the shrill treble of piping senility. "And they +mean to rob me of my cavalry, too! 'C' troop is ordered to be held in +readiness for special service." + +The transportation, consisting of three wagons and two ambulances, with +the somber company of infantry, started next day, however, and Dean, +with eager expectancy kept his men in camp, cooked rations ready, +ammunition pouches filled, arms and equipments overhauled and in perfect +order, horses examined and reshod, ready for the word that might come +any minute and carry him--he knew not whither. Folsom and the girls had +to drive back to dinner without him. Despite the permission sent by the +colonel, he would not leave his troop and go in town. So back they came +in the soft moonlight and spent a long, lovely summer evening with him, +while the band played melodiously in the fort inclosure, and the stars +twinkled over the peaks of the Rockies in the southern skies. Folsom +spent the hours wiring to Omaha and conferring with such officers as he +could reach. They thought the lesson given Red Cloud would end the +business. He knew it would only begin it. Burleigh, saying that he must +give personal attention to the selection of the teams and wagons, spent +the early evening in his corral, but sent word to Folsom that he hoped +to see him in the morning on business of great importance. He had other +hopes, too, one of them being that now the order to send that big sum in +currency to the new stockade would be revoked. He had lost no time in +suggesting to the chief quartermaster of the department the extreme +hazard. He quoted Folsom as saying that before we could send one hundred +men to Warrior Gap Red Cloud could call five thousand, and the chief +quartermaster, being a man of method and a stranger to the frontier +said, as said the Bureau "Who the devil is John Folsom? Do as you are +told." But that answer only came the following day. Meantime there was +respite and hope. + +Long lived that beautiful evening in the memory of four young hearts. A +sweet south wind had been gently playing all day and left the night warm +and fragrant of the pines and cedars in the mountain parks. All Fort +Emory seemed made up of women and children now, for such few soldiers as +were left, barring the bandsmen, were packing or helping pack and store +about the barracks. From soon after eight until nearly ten the musicians +occupied their sheltered wooden kiosk on the parade, and filled the air +with sweet strains of waltz or song or stirring martial melody. + +For an hour, with Elinor Folsom on his arm, young Dean was strolling up +and down the moonlit walk, marveling over the beauty of her dark, yet +winsome face, and Loomis and Jessie, stanch friends already, sauntered +after them. For a time the merry chat went on unbroken. They were +talking of that never-to-be-forgotten visit to the Point--Pappoose's +first--and of the hop to which the tall cadet captain took the timid +schoolgirl, and of her hop card and the distinguished names it bore, as +names ran in the old days of the battalion; of Ray, who danced so +beautifully and rode so well--he was with the --th cavalry now somewhere +along the U. P., said Dean--and of Billings the cadet adjutant; he was +with a light battery in Louisiana. "Where this Captain Newhall is +stationed," interrupted Pappoose, with quick, upward look. "I wonder if +he knows him, Mr. Dean." + +"He doesn't like him, I'll venture to say," said Dean, "if Newhall +doesn't suit you and Jessie, and I'm sure I shan't." And then they went +on to talk of the lovely dance music they had at the Point that +summer, and how bewitchingly Elsen used to play that pretty +galop--"Puckwudjies"--the very thing for a moonlit night. One could +almost see the Indian fairies dancing about their tiny fires. + +"It was that galop--my first at West Point--that I danced with Cadet +Captain Dean," said Pappoose, looking blithely up into his steadfast +eyes. "You've no idea what a proud girl I was!" They were at the upper +end of the parade at the moment. The kiosk was only fifty yards away, +its band lights sparkling under the canopy, the moonlight glinting on +the smooth surface of the dancing floor that an indulgent post commander +had had placed there. Half a dozen young garrison girls, arm in arm and +by twos, were strolling about its waxen face awaiting the next piece; +and some of them had been importuning the leader, for at the moment, +soft and rippling, sweet and thrilling, quick and witching, the +exquisite opening strains of "Puckwudjies" floated out upon the night. + +"Oh, Jess! Listen!" cried Elinor in ecstasy and surprise, as she turned +back with quickly beating heart. + +"No, no, indeed!" replied her soldier escort, with a throb in his breast +that echoed and overmastered that in her own. "No time to listen--come! +It was your first galop at the Point--let it be our first in Wyoming." +And in a moment more the tall, lithe, supple, slender forms were gliding +about the dancing-floor in perfect time to the lovely music, but now her +dark eyes could not meet the fire in the blue. Following their lead, +Loomis and Jessie joined the dance. Other couples from along the row +hastened to the scene. In five minutes a lively hop was on at Emory, and +when at last, breathing a little hurriedly and with heightened color, +Elinor Folsom glanced up into his joyous and beaming face--"You had +forgotten that galop, Mr. Dean," she archly said, but down went the dark +eyes again at his fervent reply. + +"Yes, I admit it; but so long as I live I'll never forget this." + +Small wonder was it that when Burleigh came driving out at tattoo for a +brief conference with the colonel, his sallow face took on a darker +shade as he suddenly caught sight of that couple standing at the moment +apart from the dancers, seeing neither them nor him, hearing for the +moment no music but that which trembled in the tones of his deep voice, +for Elinor was strangely silent. + +"Marshall Dean," whispered Jessie that night, as she hugged him before +being lifted to her seat, "tell me true, wasn't Pappoose's picture in +your heart pocket? Didn't that bullet crease it?" + +"Promise on your honor not to tell, Jess," he whispered. + +She nodded delightedly. + +"Yes, and what's more, it's there now!" + +Early on the morrow came further news. Troops from Steele and Bridger +were on the move, but no word came for the cavalry at Emory, and +Marshall Dean, hitherto most eager for field service, learned with joy +he felt ashamed to own that he had still another day to spend in the +society of Jessie and her friend. But how much of that elation Jessie +could have claimed as due to her every sister whose brother is in love +can better tell than I. At eight they came driving out to hear the band +at guard-mounting, though to old Pecksniff's pathetic sorrow he could +mount only twelve men all told. That ceremony over, they watched with +kindling eyes the sharp drill of Marshall's troop; that soldierly young +commander, one may feel well assured, showing his men, his horses, and +himself off to the best of his ability, as who would not have done under +such scrutiny as that. Loomis was with them, but Elinor drove, for her +father had urgent business, he said, and must remain at his office. +Major Burleigh, he added, was to meet him, whereat the girls were +silent. + +"If you could have beard the major pleading with that cantankerous old +fool at the fort in Marshall's behalf you would get over your wrath at +Burleigh just as I did," said Folsom, to both, apparently, and still +neither answered. Burleigh was evidently _persona non grata_ in the eyes +of both. "He tells me Captain Newhall is still here, waiting for a train +to be made up to run back to Cheyenne. I'm afraid I'll have to ask him +to bring the captain to dinner to-day. Do you think Mr. Dean will care +to come?" he asked. + +"I think he would rather not leave camp," said Jessie slowly. "Orders +may come any minute, he says." + +"Yes, I suppose so," answered Folsom, vaguely relieved. Something told +him there was antagonism between the young fellow and Burleigh that +would be apt to involve Newhall, too. "I'll ask them both, if you don't +very much mind," he went on, whispering to Elinor. "And will you tell +Mrs. Fletcher? How is she this morning?" + +"Just as usual, papa. She says she has rather violent headaches once in +a while, and she thinks it prudent to keep her room to-day. But I can +attend to everything." Indeed, thought the daughter, she wished she had +it all to do. + +And so Folsom had gone to meet Burleigh, and the girls had planned, at +least Jessie had, that Marshall after drill should ride beside them into +town and have a chat in the parlor while she wrote to mother in the +library. But a thing happened that no one could have foreseen. Just +before drill was over and while they were still watching it from their +seats in the covered wagon, a buggy drove up alongside and Major +Burleigh jumped out, gave the reins to his companion and bade him come +to him as soon as he had finished what he wished to do at the sutler's. +The major's face was perturbed, that of his companion looked black and +ugly. It was Captain Newhall, and something was amiss. The latter barely +tipped his hat in driving away, the former heaved a sigh of relief, then +turned to greet the girls. + +Ten minutes passed in constraint and awkwardness. Burleigh felt that he +was unwelcome, but his eyes were fixed in fascination on Elinor Folsom, +and he could not go. Presently drill was dismissed, and Dean, all aglow, +came galloping up, his orderly trumpeter following. Not until he had +joyously greeted both the girls did he see who was standing by the +forward wheel on the opposite side. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Dean," said Burleigh affably. "I never saw that troop +look so well." + +"Good-morning, sir," said Dean coldly. Then turned to speak again to +Miss Folsom when the buggy came whirring back. + +"He isn't here, Burleigh," said the occupant petulantly. "He's in town, +and you've got to find him right off. Come on!" + +Burleigh turned livid. "Captain Newhall," he said, "you fail to notice I +am with friends." + +"They are friends who will be glad to get rid of you, then," replied the +stranger thickly, and it was easy to see that he had been drinking. All +the same Burleigh went. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Another day Dean and Troop "C" were held in camp awaiting orders for +special service, and no orders came. "Old Pecksniff" had an eye for +pretty girls, a trait by no means rare in soldiers old or young, and +prettier girls than Pappoose and Jessie he had never met. Mrs. Stevens +was accordingly bidden to invite them to luncheon that very day, and +Dean and Loomis were of the party, as were other young people of the +post, and, despite the rising war clouds in the north and the recent +unpleasantness at Emory and an odd manner indicative of suppressed +excitement on part of both Dean and Loomis, a very joyous time they had +until the damsels Had to drive home to dress for dinner. Folsom had +named six as the hour. Burleigh, Newhall and the two boys were mentioned +as his guests. Burleigh accepted for self and partner, Loomis for +himself, with mental reservation. Dean at once had begged to be excused. +After the morning's disappearance of Burleigh and "Surly," as Miss +Folsom promptly named the pair, Marshall had ridden into Gate City at +the side of the Folsom carriage, and was welcomed by the old trader +himself, who looked pained when told he could not attend the dinner. +"Surely Colonel Stevens will let you off," said Folsom, but that +obviously was not the reason. + +"I'm the only officer with my troop," said Dean, "and so cannot ask." + +But when Folsom took his daughter in his arms a little later and +inquired whether there were not some graver cause behind the one +assigned, Elinor calmly answered that she thought there was, and that +the cause was Major Burleigh. + +"But, daughter dear," said he, "that's just one reason I wish to bring +them together. Then Dean could see how pleasantly disposed the major +is," and he was amazed when she replied: + +"Major Burleigh may be pleasantly disposed, but Mr. Dean is not, by any +means, nor would I be were I in his place, papa." + +"My child," said he, "what do you know about it?" + +"Everything that Jessie knows, besides what we heard on the train. +Mar--Mr. Dean told her of several things Major Burleigh had said and +done to his discredit, and no wonder he declines to dine with a man who +has deliberately maligned him." + +"I wish I had thought of that," said Folsom, his knotty hands deep in +the pockets of his loose-fitting trousers. "I saw Burleigh this morning +on some business, and he seemed to want to help Dean along. What took +him out to the fort, do you suppose?" + +"I don't know," she answered gravely. "He had Captain Newhall with him, +in quest of somebody who wasn't there." + +"Ah, yes, Griggs, the sutler. I heard of it," interposed Folsom, +fingering his watchchain. + +"Very possibly. The captain was ugly and rude in manner and Major +Burleigh very much embarrassed. Indeed, Daddy dear, I should not be +greatly surprised if others of your party failed to come." + +"Burleigh, do you mean, or his queer guest?" + +But Pappoose did not reply. She seemed listening intently, and then with +swift, sudden movement darted across to the heavy Navajo blanket +portière that hung at the doorway of a little room back of the library. +Her voice was far from cordial as she asked: + +"Were you looking for any one, Mrs. Fletcher? I thought you were in your +room." + +"For Mr. Folsom, please, when he is at leisure," was the answer, in +unruffled tones. "I believe it easier to take active part in the +preparations than to lie there thinking." + +At one the girls were to lunch at the fort, as has been said, and it was +time for them to dress. There were other matters on which Elinor much +wished to talk with her father and, with more reluctance than she had +yet experienced, she left him to hear what Mrs. Fletcher might have to +say. The conference was brief enough, whatever its nature, for presently +his voice was heard at the foot of the stairs. + +"I'm going over to the depot a few minutes, Daught. I wish to see +Burleigh. Don't wait for me. Start whenever you are ready. Where do the +boys meet you?" + +"Here, Daddy, at half-past twelve." + +It was high noon now, and the ruddy-faced old fellow grew redder as the +summer sun beat down on his gray head, but he strode sturdily down the +broad avenue that led to the heart of the bustling new town, turned to +the right at the first cross street beyond his own big block, and ten +minutes' brisk tramp brought him to the gateway of Burleigh's stockaded +inclosure. Two or three employees lounging about the gate were gazing +curiously within. Silently they let him pass them by, but a sound of +angry voices rose upon the heated air. Just within the gate stood the +orderly trumpeter holding two horses by the reins, one of them Marshall +Dean's, and a sudden idea occurred to Folsom as he glanced at the open +windows of the office building. There was no mistaking the speaker +within. It was Burleigh. + +"Leave my office instantly, sir, or I'll prefer charges that will +stick----" + +"Not till I've said what I came to say, Major Burleigh. I've abundant +evidence of what you've been saying at my expense. You asserted that I +lost my nerve the day we met Red Cloud's band--you who never dared get +out of the ambulance until the danger was over. It's common talk in the +troop. At Frayne, at Reno, and here at Emory you have maligned me just +as you did in the cars to my friend here, Mr. Loomis, and in hearing of +my sister. I will not accept your denial nor will I leave your office +till you swallow your words." + +"Then, by God, I'll have you thrown out, you young whipsnapper!" + +And then Folsom, with fear at his heart, ran around to the doorway to +interpose. He came too late. There was a sound of a furious scuffle +within, a rattling of chairs, a crunching of feet on sanded floor, and +as he sprang up the steps he saw Dean easily squirming out from the +grasp of some member of the clerical force, who, at his master's +bidding, had thrown himself upon the young officer, who then deftly +tripped his heels from under him and dropped him on the floor, while +Loomis confronted the others who would have made some show of obeying +orders. And then there was the whirr of a whip-lash, a crack and snap +and swish, and a red welt shot across Burleigh's livid face as he +himself staggered back to his desk. With raging tongue and frantic oath +he leaped out again, a leveled pistol in his hand, but even before he +could pull trigger, or Folsom interpose, Loomis's stick came down like a +flash on the outstretched wrist, and the pistol clattered to the floor. + +"Good God, boys! what are you doing?" cried the trader, as he hurled +himself between them. "Stop this instantly. Sit down, Burleigh. Come +out, Dean--come out at once! And you, too, Loomis." + +"I'm entirely ready--now," said the cavalry lieutenant, though his eyes +were flaming and his lips were rigid. "But whenever Major Burleigh wants +to finish this he can find me," and with these words he backed slowly to +the door, face to the panting and disordered foe. + +"Finish this! you young hound, I'll finish you!" screamed Burleigh, as +he shook his clinched fist at the retiring pair. + +"Go, boys, go!" implored Folsom. "I'll see you by and by. No--no--sit +still, Burleigh. Don't you speak. This must stop right here." + +And so the old man's counsels prevailed, and the two friends, with +grave, pallid, but determined faces, came out into the sunshine, and +with much deliberation and somewhat ostentatious calm proceeded to where +the orderly waited with the horses. + +"You will see--the ladies out to camp, Loomis?" asked Dean. "I must +gallop on ahead." + +"Ay, ay, go on, I reckon----" + +But on this scene there suddenly appeared a third party, in the partial +guise of an officer and the grip of Bacchus. Lurching down the office +steps, with flushed face and bloodshot eyes, came Captain Newhall. + +"Gen'l'm'n," said he thickly, "le'm 'ntroduce m'self. Haven't th' honor +y'r 'quain's. I'm Ca'm New(hic)'ll. Cap'n N-n-(hic)oohaul (this cost +prodigious effort and much balancing), an'--an' you sherv'd that f'ler +per-per-flicky ri'. He's dam scoun'rl--gen'lemen--an' ole frien' mine." + +For an instant he stood swaying unsteadily, with half-extended hand. For +an instant the two young officers gazed at him in contempt, then turned +abruptly away. + +"Good Lord, Marshall," said Loomis, as they cleared the gate, "if that's +the only approbation this day's work will bring us what will the results +be? You served him right, no doubt, but--" and an ominous shake of the +head wound up the sentence. + +"But or no but," said Dean, "it's done now, and I'd do it again." + +There was no dinner party at Folsom's that evening. At two a messenger +trotted out to the post with a note for Miss Folsom to apprise her of +the fact, and without a word or change of color she put it into her +pocket. The garrison girls were bent on having them spend the afternoon, +but presently Miss Folsom found a moment in which to signal to Jess, and +at three they were driving home. + +"You will surely come out this evening and hear the music and have a +dance," were the parting salutations, as with skillful hands the young +girl took up the reins. + +"We hope to," was her smiling answer. Jess was clinging to her brother's +hand as he stood by the wheel, and Loomis had already clambered in +beside her. + +"Please come, Marshall," pleaded Jessie; but he shook his head. + +"I must be at camp this evening, sister mine. We go to stables in an +hour. You will come back, Loomis?" + +"As soon as I've seen--" and a significant nod supplied the ellipsis. + +Something ominous was in the wind and both girls knew it. Loomis, +usually gay and chatty, was oddly silent, as the light, covered wagon +sped swiftly homeward. Beside the fair charioteer sat a young officer of +the infantry who, vastly rejoicing that Dean could not go, had +laughingly possessed himself of the vacant place, and to him Miss Folsom +had to talk. But they parted from their escorts at the gate and hastened +within doors. Just as Elinor expected, papa had not come home. It was +nearly six when she saw him striding slowly and thoughtfully up the +road, and she met him at the gate. + +"Tell me what has happened, Daddy," was her quiet greeting, as she +linked her hands over his burly arm, and looking into her uplifted, +thoughtful eyes, so full of intelligence and deep affection, he bent and +kissed her cheek. + +"By Jove, daughter, I believe it's the best thing I can do. Come into +the library." + +That night the moon beamed brightly down on the wide-spreading valley, +glinting on the peaks, still snow-tipped, far in the southern sky, and +softening the rugged faces of the nearer range, black with their +clustering beard of spruce and pine. The band played sweetly on the +broad parade until after the tattoo drums had echoed over the plains and +the garrison belles strolled aimlessly in the elfin light--all nature so +lavishly inviting, yet so little valued now that nearly every man was +gone. Out in the camp of "C" Troop men were flitting swiftly to and fro, +horses were starting and stamping at the picket ropes, eager eyes and +tilted ears inquiring the cause of all this stir and bustle among the +tents. In front of the canvas home of the young commander a grave-faced +group had gathered, two gentle girls among them, one with tear-dimmed +eyes. Old Folsom stood apart in murmured conference with Griggs, the +sutler. The regimental quartermaster was deep in consultation with Dean, +the two officers pacing slowly up and down. One or two young people from +the garrison had spent a few minutes earlier in the evening striving to +be interesting to the girls; but Jessie's tearful eyes and Miss Folsom's +grave manner proved hint sufficient to induce them to withdraw, each +bidding Dean good night, safe journey and speedy return, and the +hand-clasps were kind and cordial. The colonel himself had paid a brief +visit to camp, his adjutant in attendance, and had given Mr. Dean ten +minutes of talk concerning a country Dean knew all about, but that +"Pecksniff" had never seen. "It is a responsibility I own I should have +expected to see placed on older shoulders," said he, "but prudence +and--and, let me suggest, cool-headedness--will probably carry you +through. You will be ready to start----" + +"Ready now, sir, so far as that's concerned; but we start at three." + +"Oh, ah--yes, of course--well--ah--it leaves me practically with no +command, but I'll hope to have you back, Mr. Dean. Good-by." Then as he +passed Folsom the colonel whispered: "That's ten thousand dollars as +good as thrown away." + +"Ten thousand dollars!" answered the trader in reply. "What do you +mean?" + +"That's what those boys are to run the gauntlet with. My--ah--protests +are entirely unavailing." + +For a moment Folsom stood there dumb. "Do you mean," he finally cried, +"that--that it's beyond Frayne that they're going--that it's money +they're to take?" + +"Hush! Certainly, but it mustn't be known. Every road agent in Wyoming +would be out, and every Indian from the Platte to Hudson's Bay would be +on the watch. He's to take ten men and slip through. The money comes out +from Burleigh to-night." + +The colonel turned away, and, beckoning to his staff officer to join us, +stumped onward to the garrison. The prolonged wail of the bugle, aided +by the rising night wind, sent the solemn strains of taps sailing down +the dimly-lighted valley, and with staring eyes old Folsom stood gazing +after the departing officers, then whirled about toward the tents. There +in front of Dean stood Pappoose, her hands clasped lightly over the hilt +of the saber the "striker" had leaned against the lid of the mess chest +but a moment before, her lovely face smiling up into the owner's. + +"You'll come back by way of Hal's, won't you?" she was blithely saying. +"Perhaps I can coax father to take us there to meet you." + +"By heaven, Burleigh," muttered the old trader to himself, "are you the +deepest man I ever met, or only the most infernal scoundrel?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +A sleepless night had old John Folsom, and with the sun he was up again +and hurriedly dressing. Noiseless as he strove to be he was discovered, +for as he issued from his room into the dim light of the upper hall +there stood Pappoose. + +"Poor Jess has been awake an hour," said she. "We've been trying to see +the troop through the glass. They must have started before daybreak, for +there's nothing on the road to Frayne." + +"It disappears over the divide three miles out," he answered vaguely, +and conscious that her clear eyes were studying his face. "I didn't +sleep well either. We shall be having news from Hal to-day, and the mail +rider comes down from Frayne." + +She had thrown about her a long, loose wrapper, and her lustrous hair +tumbled like a brown-black torrent down over her shoulders and back. +Steadfastly the brown eyes followed his every move. + +"It is hours to breakfast time, Daddy dear; let me make you some coffee +before you go out." + +"What? Who said I was going out?" he asked, forcing a smile; then, more +gravely: "I'll be back in thirty minutes, dear, but wait a moment I +cannot. I want to catch a man before he can possibly ride away." + +He bent and kissed her hurriedly, and went briskly down the stairs. In +the lower hall he suddenly struck a parlor match that flared up and +illumined the winding staircase to the third story. Some thought as +sudden prompted her to glance aloft just in time to catch a glimpse of a +woman's face withdrawing swiftly over the balcony rail. In her hatred of +anything that savored of spying the girl could have called aloud a +demand to know what Mrs. Fletcher wanted, but strange things were in the +wind, as she was learning, and something whispered silence. Slowly she +returned to Jessie's side, and together once more they searched with the +glasses the distant trail that, distinctly visible now in the slant of +the morning sun, twisted up the northward slopes on the winding way to +Frayne. Not a whiff of dust could they see. + +Meantime John Folsom strode swiftly down the well-known path to the +quartermaster's depot, a tumult of suspicion and conjecture whirling in +his brain. As he walked he recalled the many hints and stories that had +come to his ears of Burleigh's antecedents elsewhere and his +associations here. With all his reputation for enterprise and wealth, +there were "shady" tales of gambling transactions and salted mines and +watered stocks that attached perhaps more directly to the men with whom +he foregathered than to him. "A man is known by the company he keeps," +said Folsom, and Burleigh's cronies, until Folsom came to settle in Gate +City, had been almost exclusively among the "sharps," gamblers, and +their kindred, the projectors and prospectors ever preying on the unwary +on the outer wave of progress. Within the past six months he had seen +much of him, for Burleigh was full of business enterprises, had large +investments everywhere, was lavish in invitation and suggestion, was +profuse in offers of aid of any kind if aid were wanted. He had gone so +far as to say that he knew from experience how with his wealth tied up +in real estate and mines a man often found himself in need of a few +thousands in spot cash, and as Folsom was buying and building, if at any +time he found himself a little short and needed ten or twenty thousand +say, why, Burleigh's bank account was at his service, etc. It all +sounded large and liberal, and Folsom, whose lot for years had been cast +with a somewhat threadbare array of army people, content with little, +impecunious but honest, he wondered what manner of martial man this was. +Burleigh did not loudly boast of his wealth and influence, but impressed +in some ponderous way his hearers with a sense of both. Yet, ever since +that run to Warrior Gap, a change had come over Burleigh. He talked more +of mines and money and showed less, and now, only yesterday, when the +old man's heart had mellowed to him because he had first held him wholly +to blame for Dean's arrest and later found him pleading for the young +fellow's release, a strange thing had happened. Burleigh confided to him +that he had a simply fabulous opportunity--a chance to buy out a mine +that experts secretly told him was what years later he would have called +a "bonanza," but that in the late sixties was locally known as a +"Shanghai." Twenty-five thousand dollars would do the trick, but his +money was tied up. Would Folsom go in with him, put up twelve thousand +five hundred, and Burleigh would do the rest? Folsom had been bitten by +too many mines that yielded only rattlesnakes, and he couldn't be lured. +Then, said Burleigh, wouldn't Folsom go on his note, so that he could +borrow at the bank? Folsom seldom went on anybody's note. It was as bad +as mining. He begged off, and left Burleigh disappointed, but not +disconcerted. "I can raise it without trouble," said he, "but it may +take forty-eight hours to get the cash here, and I thought you would be +glad to be let in on the ground floor." + +"I've been let in to too many floors, major," said he. "You'll have to +excuse me." And so Burleigh, with his Louisiana captain, had driven off +to the fort, where Newhall asked for Griggs and was importunate, nor did +Griggs's whisky, freely tendered to all comers of the commissioned +class, tend to assuage his desire. Back had they gone to town, and then +came the cataclysm of noon. + +In broad daylight, at his official desk, in the presence and hearing of +officers, civilians and enlisted men, as the soldier lawyers would have +it, a staff official of high rank had been cowhided by a cavalry +subaltern, and that subaltern, of all others, the only brother of +Folsom's fair guest, Jessie Dean--the boy who had saved the lives of +Folsom's son and his son's imperiled household, and had thereby endeared +himself to him as had no other young soldier in the service. And now, +what fate was staring him in the face? Released from arrest but a day or +so before upon the appeal of the officer whom he had so soon thereafter +violently assaulted, Marshall Dean had committed one of the gravest +crimes against the provisions of the Mutiny Act. Without warrant or +excuse he had struck, threatened, assaulted, etc., a superior officer, +who was in the discharge of his duty at the time. No matter what the +provocation--and in this case it would be held grossly inadequate--there +could be only one sentence--summary dismissal from the army. Just as +sure as shooting, if Burleigh preferred charges that boy was ruined. + +And for mortal hours that afternoon it looked as though nothing could +hold Burleigh's hand. The man was livid with wrath. First he would have +the youngster's blood, and then he'd dismiss him. Folsom pointed out +that he couldn't well do both, and by two o'clock it simmered down to a +demand for instant court-martial. Burleigh wrote a furious telegram to +Omaha. He had been murderously assaulted in his office by Lieutenant +Dean. He demanded his immediate arrest and trial. Folsom pleaded with +him to withhold it. Every possible _amende_ would be made, but no! +Indeed, not until nearly four o'clock could Folsom succeed in the last +resort at his disposal. At that hour he had lent the quartermaster +fifteen thousand dollars on his unindorsed note of hand, on condition +that no proceedings whatever should be taken against Mr. Dean, Folsom +guaranteeing that every _amende_ should be made that fair arbitration +could possibly dictate. He had even gone alone to the bank and brought +the cash on Burleigh's representation that it might hurt his credit to +appear as a borrower. He had even pledged his word that the transaction +should be kept between themselves. + +And then there had been a scene with that drunken wretch Newhall. What +possible hold had he on Burleigh that he should be allowed to come +reeling and storming into the office and demanding money and lots of +money--this, too, in the presence of total strangers? And Burleigh had +actually paid him then and there some hundreds of dollars, to the +stupefaction of the fellow--who had come for a row. They got him away +somehow, glad to go, possibly, with his unexpected wealth, and Burleigh +had explained that that poor devil, when he could be persuaded to swear +off, was one of the bravest and most efficient officers in the service, +that he was well to do, only his money, too, was tied up in mines; but +what was of more account than anything else, he had devotedly and at +risk of his own life from infection nursed his brother officer Burleigh +through the awful epidemic of yellow fever in New Orleans in '67. He had +saved Burleigh's life, "so how can I go back on him now," said he. + +All this was the old trader revolving in mind as he hastened to the +depot, all this and more. For two days Marshall Dean and "C" troop had +stood ready for special service. Rumor had it that the old general +himself had determined to take the field and was on his way to Gate +City. It was possibly to escort him and his staff the troop was ordered +kept prepared to move at a moment's notice. On Burleigh's desk was a +batch of telegrams from Department Headquarters. Two came in during +their long conference in the afternoon, and the quartermaster had +lowered his hand long enough from that lurid welt on his sallow cheek to +hurriedly write two or three in reply. One Folsom felt sure was sent in +cipher. Two days before, Burleigh had urged him to protest as vehemently +as he could against the sending of any money or any small detachment up +to the Big Horn, and protested he had strenuously. Two days before, +Burleigh said it was as bad as murder to order a paymaster or disbursing +officer to the Hills with anything less than a battalion to escort him, +and yet within four hours after he was put in possession of nearly all +the paper currency in the local bank a secret order was issued sending +Lieutenant Dean with ten picked men to slip through the passes to the +Platte, away from the beaten road, and up to ten P.M. Dean himself was +kept in ignorance of his further destination or the purpose of his +going. Not until half-past ten was a sealed package placed in his hands +by the post quartermaster, who had himself received it from Major +Burleigh and then and there the young officer was bidden by Colonel +Stevens, as the medium of the department commander, to ride with all +haste commensurate with caution, to ford the Sweetwater above its +junction with the Platte, to travel by night if need be and hide by day +if he could, to let no man or woman know the purpose of his going or the +destination of his journey, but to land that package safe at Warrior Gap +before the moon should wane. + +And all this Burleigh must have known when he, John Folsom, shook his +hand at parting after tea that evening, and had then gone hopefully to +drive his girls to Emory to see his soldier boy, and found him busy with +the sudden orders, received not ten minutes before their coming. +Something in Burleigh's almost tremulous anxiety to get that money in +the morning, his ill-disguised chagrin at Folsom's refusal, something in +the eagerness with which, despite the furious denunciation of the moment +before, he jumped at Folsom's offer to put up the needed money if he +would withhold the threatened charges--all came back to the veteran now +and had continued to keep him thinking during the night. Could it be +that Burleigh stood in need of all this money to cover other sums that +he had misapplied? Could it be that he had planned this sudden sending +of young Dean on a desperate mission in revenge that he could not take +officially? There were troops at Frayne going forward in strong force +within the week. There were other officers within call, a dozen of them, +who had done nowhere near the amount of field service performed by Dean. +He, a troop commander just in from long and toilsome marches and from +perilous duty, had practically been relieved from the command of his +troop, told to take ten men and run the gauntlet through the swarming +Sioux. The more Folsom thought the more he believed that he had grave +reason for his suspicion, and reason equally grave for calling on the +quartermaster for explanation. He reached the corral gate. It was +locked, but a little postern in the stockade let him through. One or two +sleepy hands appeared about the stables, but the office was deserted. +Straight to Burleigh's quarters he went and banged at the door. It took +three bangs to bring a servant. + +"I wish to see your master at once. Tell him I am here," and as the +servant slowly shambled up the stairs, Folsom entered the sitting-room. +A desk near the window was open and its contents littered about. The +drawers in a heavy bookcase were open and papers were strewn upon the +floor. The folding doors to the dining-room were open. Decanters, +goblets, cigar stumps and heel taps were scattered over the table. Guest +or host, or both, had left things in riotous shape. Then down came the +servant, a scared look in his eyes. + +"The major isn't in, sir. His bed hasn't been occupied, an' the +captain's gone, too. Their uniforms are there, though." + +Five minutes later, on a borrowed horse, John Folsom was galloping like +mad for home. A door in the high board fence at the rear of his house +shot open just as he was darting through the lane that led to the +stable. A woman's form appeared in the gap--the last thing that he saw +for a dozen hours, for the horse shied violently, hurling the rider +headlong to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +At three o'clock in the morning, while the stars were still bright in +the eastern sky, the little party of troopers, Dean at the irhead, had +ridden away from the twinkling lights of camp, and long before sunrise +had crossed the first divide to the north, and alternating trot, lope +and walk had put miles between them and Fort Emory before the drums of +the infantry beat the call for guard mounting. + +At ten o'clock the party halted under some spreading willows, deep in a +cleft of the bold, high hills that rolled away toward the Sweetwater +valley. Horses were unsaddled and picketed out to graze. A little cook +fire was started close to the spring that fed the tiny brook, trickling +away down the narrow ravine, and in a few moments the aroma of coffee +and of appetizing slices of bacon greeted the welcoming nostrils of the +hungry men. The sun that had risen clear and dazzling was now obscured +by heavy masses of clouds, and time and again Dean cast anxious eyes +aloft, for a storm seemed sweeping eastward from the distant Wahsatch +range, and long before the little command had dived downward from the +heights into the depths of this wild, romantic and contracted valley, +all the rolling upland toward Green River, far to the west, lay under +the pall of heavy and forbidding banks of hurrying vapor. Coffee and +breakfast finished, Dean climbed the steep bluff overhanging the spring, +a faithful sergeant following, and what he saw was sufficient to +determine immediate action. + +"Saddle up. We'll push ahead at once." + +For an instant the veteran trooper looked dissent, but discipline +prevailed. + +"The lieutenant knows that Carey's not in yet," he ventured to say, as +he started back down the narrow game trail which they had climbed. + +"Yes; but yonder he comes and so does the storm. We can't be caught in +this cañon in case of a hard rain. Let Carey have some coffee and a +bite, if he feels well enough. Then we'll push on." + +Ordinarily when making summer marches over the range, the first "water +camp" on the Sweetwater trail was here at Cañon Springs. On the road to +Frayne, which crossed the brook ten miles to the east, all wagon trains +and troops not on forced march made similar camp. In the case of +scouting detachments or little parties sent out from Emory, it was +always customary to spend the first night and make the first camp on the +Box Elder at furthermost, then to push on, ready and refreshed, the +following day. Dean well knew that to get the best work out of his +horses he should start easily, and up to nine o'clock he had fully +intended to make the usual camp at the Springs. But once before, within +a few years, a big scouting party camping in the gorge of the Box Elder +had been surprised by one of those sudden, sweeping storms, and before +they could strike tents, pack up and move to higher ground, the stream +took matters into its own hands and spared them all further trouble on +that score, distributing camp and garrison equipage for long leagues +away to the east. Two miles back, trooper Carey, who had been +complaining of severe cramp and pain in the stomach, begged to be +allowed to fall out and rest awhile. He was a reliable old soldier when +whisky was not winning the upper hand, and this time whisky was not at +fault. A dose of Jamaica ginger was the only thing their field +pharmacopoeia provided, and Carey rolled out of his saddle and doubled +up among the rocks with his hands on the pit of his stomach, grimacing. + +"Go back if you think best, or come ahead and catch us at the Springs if +well enough," were the orders left him, while the men pushed on, and +now, as the lieutenant said, Carey was coming himself. Some of the party +were already dozing when the sergeant's sharp order "Saddle up" was +given, but a glance at the lowering sky explained it all, and every man +was standing to horse and ready when the missing trooper came jogging in +among them, white, peaked, but determined. A look of mingled +disappointment and relief appeared on his face as he saw the +preparations for the start, but his only comment was, "I can make it, +sir," as he saluted his young commander. Less than two hours from the +time they unsaddled, therefore, the troopers once more mounted, and, +following their leader, filed away down the winding gorge. Presently +there came the low rumble of thunder, and a sweep of the rising wind. +"Trot," said Dean, and without other word the little column quickened +the pace. + +The ravine grew wider soon and far less tortuous, but was still a narrow +and dangerous spot. For a mile or two from the Springs its course was +nearly east of north, then it bore away to the northeast, and the +Sweetwater trail abruptly left it and went winding up a cleft in the +hills to the west. Just as they reached this point the heavens opened +and the clouds descended in a deluge of rain. Out came the ponchos, +unstrapped from the saddle, and every man's head popped through the slit +as the shiny black "shedwater" settled down on his shoulders. + +"That outfit behind us will get a soaking if it has been fool enough to +follow down to the Springs," said Carey to the sergeant, as they began +the pull up the slippery trail. + +"What outfit?" asked Dean, turning in the saddle and looking back in +surprise. + +A blinding flash of lightning, followed almost on the instant by the +crack and roar of thunder, put summary stop to talk of any kind. Men and +horses bowed their heads before the deluge and the rain ran in streams +from the manes and tails. The ascending path turned quickly into a +running brook and the black forms of steeds and riders struggled +sidewise up the grass-grown slopes in search of higher ground. The +heavens had turned inky black. The gloomy ravine grew dark as night. +Flash after flash the lightning split the gloom. Every second or two +trooper faces gleamed ghastly in the dazzling glare, then as suddenly +vanished. Horses slipped or stumbled painfully and, man after man, the +riders followed the example of the young soldier in the lead and, +dismounting, led their dripping beasts farther up the steep incline. +Halfway to the summit, peering through the wind-swept sheets of rain, a +palisaded clump of rocks jutted out from the heights and, after a hard +climb, the little band found partial shelter from the driving storm, and +huddled, awe-stricken, at their base. Still the lightning played and the +thunder cannonaded with awful resonance from crag to crag down the deep +gorge from which they had clambered, evidently none too soon, for +presently, far down the black depths, they could see the Box Elder, +under a white wreath of foam, tearing in fury down its narrow bed. + +"Beg pardon, lieutenant," shouted the veteran sergeant in the young +commander's ear, even in that moment never forgetting the habitual +salute, "but if I didn't see the reason for that sudden order to saddle +I more than see it now. We would have been drowned like rats down there +in the gulch." + +"I'm wondering if anybody _has_ drowned like rats," shouted Dean, in +reply. "Carey says another party was just behind us. Who could they be?" + +But for answer came another vivid, dazzling flash that for an instant +blinded all eyes. "By God! but that's a stunner!" gasped a big trooper, +and then followed the deafening bang and crash of the thunder, and its +echoes went booming and reverberating from earth to heaven and rolling +away, peal after peal, down the bluff-bound cañon. For a moment no other +sound could be heard; then, as it died away and the rain came swashing +down in fresh deluge, Carey's voice overmastered the storm. + +"That's struck something, sir, right around yonder by the Springs. God +help that outfit that came a-gallopin' after me!" + +"What was it? Which way were they coming?" Dean managed to ask. + +"Right along the bluff, sir, to the east. Seemed like they was ridin' +over from the old camp on the Frayne road. There was twenty-five or +thirty of 'em, I should say, coming at a lope." + +"Cavalry?" asked Dean, a queer look in his face. + +"No, sir. They rode dispersed like. They was a mile away when I sighted +them, and it was gittin' so black then I don't think they saw me at all. +They were 'bout off yonder, half a mile east of the Springs when I +dipped down into the ravine, and what seemed queer was that two of them +galloped to the edge, dismounted, and were peering down into the gorge +like so many Indians, just as though they didn't want to be seen. I was +goin' to tell the lieutenant 'bout it first thing if I had found our +fellows off their guard, but you were all mounted and just starting." + +Instinctively Dean put forth his hand under the dripping poncho and +tugged at the straps of his off saddle-bag. No need for dread on that +score. The bulky package, wrapped, sealed and corded, was bulging out of +the side of his field pouch till it looked as though he had crammed a +cavalry boot into its maw. + +"Thirty men--mounted?--no wagons or--anything?" he anxiously asked. + +"Full thirty, sir, and every man armed with rifle as far as I could +see," said Carey, "and if it was us they was after, they'd have had us +at their mercy down in that pocket at the Springs." + +A shout from one of the men attracted the attention of the leaders. The +storm had spent its force and gone rolling away eastward. The thunder +was rumbling far over toward the now invisible crest of the Black Hills +of Wyoming. The rain sheets had given place to trickling downpour. A dim +light was stealing into the blackness of the gorge. Louder and fiercer +roared the Box Elder, lashing its banks with foam. And then came the cry +again. + +"I tell you it is, by God! for there goes another!" + +All eyes followed the direction of the pointing finger. All eyes saw, +even though dimly, the saddled form of a horse plunging and struggling +in the flood, making vain effort to clamber out, then whirling +helplessly away--swept out of sight around the shoulder of bluff, and +borne on down the tossing waves of the torrent. Men mean no irreverence +when they call upon their Maker at such times, even in soldier oath. It +is awe, not blasphemy. + +"By God, lieutenant, that's what we'd a been doing but for your order." +It was the sergeant who spoke. + +And at that very hour there was excitement at Fort Emory. At eight +o'clock the colonel was on his piazza looking with gloomy eyes over the +distant rows of empty barracks. The drum-major with the band at his +heels came stalking out over the grassy parade, and the post adjutant, +girt with sash and sword-belt, stood in front of his office awaiting the +sergeant-major, who was unaccountably delayed. Reduced to a shadow, the +garrison at Fort Emory might reasonably have been excused, by this time, +from the ceremony of mounting a guard, consisting practically of ten +privates, three of whom wore the cavalry jacket; but old "Pecksniff" was +determined to keep up some show of state. He could have no parade or +review, but at least he could require his guard to be mounted with all +the pomp and ceremony possible. He would have ordered his officers out +in epaulets and the full dress "Kossuth" hat of the period, but epaulets +had been discarded during the war and not yet resumed on the far +frontier. So the rank and file alone were called upon to appear in the +black-feathered oddity a misguided staff had designed as the headgear of +the array. "Pecksniff's" half-dozen doughboys, therefore, with their +attendant sergeants and corporals in the old fashioned frock and felt, +and a still smaller squad of troopers in yellow-trimmed jackets and +brass-mounted forage caps, were drawn up at the edge of the parade +awaiting the further signal of adjutant's call, while the adjutant +himself swore savagely and sent the orderly on the run for the +sergeant-major. When that clock-governed functionary was missing +something indeed must be going wrong. + +Presently the orderly came running back. + +"Sergeant Dineen isn't home, sir, and his wife says he hasn't been back +since the lieutenant sent him in town with the last dispatch." + +"Tell the first sergeant of "B" Company, then, to act as sergeant-major +at once," said the adjutant, and hurried over to his colonel. "Dineen's +not back, sir," he reported at the gate. "Can anything be wrong?" + +"I ordered him to bring with him the answer to my dispatch to the +general, who wired to me from the railway depot at Cheyenne. Probably +he's been waiting for that, and the general's away somewhere. We ought +to have an operator here day and night," said Pecksniff petulantly. But +the irritation in his eyes gave way to anxiety when at that moment the +sutler's buggy was seen dashing into the garrison at headlong speed, his +smart trotter urged almost to a run. Griggs reined up with no little +hard pulling at the colonel's gate, and they could see a dozen yards off +that his face was pale. + +"Have you any idea, colonel," he began the moment the officers reached +him, "where Major Burleigh can be? He left the depot somewhere about +three o'clock this morning with that Captain Newhall. He hasn't returned +and can't be found. Your sergeant-major was waylaid and robbed some time +after midnight, and John Folsom was picked up senseless in the alley +back of his house two hours ago. What does it all mean?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +That storm-burst along the range had turned for twenty-four hours every +mountain stream into a foaming torrent for a hundred miles. Not a bridge +remained along the Platte. Not a ford was fordable within two days' +march of either Emory or Frayne. Not a courier crossed the Box Elder, +going either way, until the flood went down, and then it transpired that +a tide in the affairs of men had also turned, and that there was trouble +ahead for some who had thought to find plain sailing. For two days +watchers along the lower Box Elder dragged out upon the shallows the +bodies of horses that once upon a time might have borne the "U. S." +brand, but were not girthed with cavalry saddles now. Nor were there +lacking other bodies to prove that the victims of the sudden storm were +not Uncle Sam's men, much as two, at least, of the drowned had been +wanted by Federal authorities but a week before. What the denizens of +Gate City and Fort Emory dreaded and expected to bear was that Dean and +his little party had been caught in the trap. But, living or dead, not a +sign of them remained along the storm-swept ravine. What most people of +Gate City and Fort Emory could not understand was the evidence that a +big gang of horse thieves, desperadoes and renegades had suddenly +appeared about the new town, had spurred away northward in the night, +had kept the Frayne road till they reached the Box Elder, riding hard +long after sun-up, and there, reinforced, they had gone westward to the +Sweetwater trail, and, old frontiersmen though they were, had been +caught in the whirl of water at Cañon Springs, losing two of their +number and at least a dozen of their horses. What could have lured them +into that gloomy rift at such a time? What inspiration had led Dean out +of it? + +Singly or in little squads, many of them afoot, bedraggled, silent, +chagrined, the "outfit," described by Trooper Carey had slunk away from +the neighborhood of the Box Elder as soon as the storm subsided. +Solemnly, as befitted soldiers, silent and and alert despite their +dripping accoutrements, the little detachment of cavalry had pushed +ahead, riding by compass over the drenched uplands, steering for the +Sweetwater. Late in the afternoon the skies had cleared, the sun came +out, and they camped in a bunch of cottonwoods on the old Casper trail +and slept the sleep of the just and the weary. Early next day they +hastened on, reaching the usually shallow stream, with Devil's Gate only +a few miles away, before the setting of a second sun. Here they feasted +and rested well, and before the dawn was fairly red on the third day out +from Emory they were breasting the turbid waters and by noon had left +the valley far to the south and were well out toward the Big Horn +country, where it behooved them to look warily ahead, for from every +ridge, though far to the west of their probable raiding ground, Dean and +his men could expect to encounter scouting parties of the Indians at any +moment, and one false step meant death. + +The third night passed without alarm, though every eye and ear was +strained. The morning of the fourth day dawned and the sun soon tinged +the misty mountain tops to the far north, and Dean saw before him an +open rolling country, over which it would be impossible to march without +attracting Indian eyes, if Indian eyes there were within twenty miles. +And with proper caution he ordered his men to keep in concealment, +horses grazing under guard in a deep depression near a stream, men +dozing soundly by turns until the twilight came, and then the +stars--their night lights for a long, long march. Dawn of the fifth day +found them huddled in a deep ravine of the southern foothills, with +Warrior Gap not thirty miles away, and now, indeed, was prudence +necessary, for the faint light showed the fresh prints of innumerable +pony hoofs on every side. They were close on Machpealota's lurking +braves. Which would see the other first? + +It must have been somewhere toward five o'clock in the afternoon that +Dean, searching with his field glass the sunlit slopes far out to the +east, heard the voice of his sergeant close at hand and turned to +answer. Up to this moment, beyond the pony tracks, not a sign had they +seen of hostile Indians, but the buffalo that had appeared in scattered +herds along their line of march were shy and scary, and old hands said +that that meant they had recently been hunted hard. Moreover, this was +not a section favored of the buffalo. There was much alkali and sage +brush along their trail, and only here and there in scanty patches any +of the rich, nutritious bunch grass which the roving animals so eagerly +sought. The day had been hot and almost cloudless. The shimmer of heat +along the lazy roll of the land to the south had often baffled their +blinking eyes. But now the sun was well to the west, and the refraction +seemed diminishing, and away over to the northeast a dull-colored cloud +seemed slowly rising beyond the ridges. It was this that Sergeant Bruce +was studying when he murmured to his young commander: + +"I think that means a big herd on the run, sir, and if so Indians +started them." + +One or two troopers, dozing close at hand, sprawled full length upon the +ground, with their faces buried in, or hidden by, their blue-sleeved +arms, slowly rolled over and came crouching up alongside. Dean dropped +his glasses and peered in the direction indicated by his comrade of +humbler rank. Dust cloud it was beyond a doubt, and a long peep through +the binocular proved that it was slowly sailing across the horizon in a +northerly direction. Did that mean that the red hunters were driving the +great quarry toward the village of the Sioux, or that the young men were +out in force, and with the full complement of squaws and ponies, were +slaughtering on the run. If the former, then Dean and his party would be +wise to turn eastward and cross the trail of the chase. If the latter +they would stand better chance of slipping through to the Gap by pushing +northward, deeper in among the pine-crested heights. + +Behind the watchers, well down in the ravine, the horses were placidly +nibbling at the scant herbage, or lazily sprawling in the sun, each +animal securely hoppled, and all carefully guarded by the single +trooper, whose own mount, ready saddled, circled within the limits of +the stout lariat, looped about his master's wrist. All spoke of caution, +of lively sense of danger and responsibility, for they of the little +detachment were picked men, who had ridden the warpath too long not to +realize that there was no such thing as trusting to luck in the heart of +the Indian country, especially when Machpealota with his Ogallalla +braves was out for business. The cautious movements of the group along +the bank had quickly been noted by the wakeful ones among the troopers, +and presently the entire party, excepting only the herd guard, had +crouched up alongside, and with the comradeship born of such perilous +service, were now discussing the situation in low, confidential tones. + +For half an hour they lay there, studying the signs to the northeast. +The dun colored cloud hung low over the earth for a distance of several +miles. The herd was evidently one of unusual size even for those days +when the buffalo swarmed in countless thousands, and finally the +sergeant spoke again. + +"It's a big hunt, lieutenant. Whatever may be going on about the Gap +they've found time to send out young men enough to round up most of the +buffalo north of the Platte and drive them in toward the mountains. It's +combining pleasure with business. They don't feel strong enough in +number, perhaps, to make another attempt on troops armed with +breech-loaders, so while they're waiting until their reinforcements +come, or their own breech-loaders, they are herding the buffalo where +they can get them when they want them later on. We are in big luck that +no stragglers are anywhere around us; if they were it wouldn't take such +fellows long to spy us out." + +Dean swept the ridge line with his glass. No sign of life nearer than +that far-away, betraying dust cloud. No symptom of danger anywhere +within their ken. He was thinking at the moment of that precious package +in his saddle-bags and the colonel's words impressing him with the sense +of responsibility the night they parted at Fort Emory. To-morrow, by +sunrise, if fortune favored him, he could turn it over to the commanding +officer at the new stockade, and then if the Indians were not gathered +in force about the post and actually hostile, he could slip out again at +night and make swift dash for the Platte and the homeward way, and then +within the week rejoin his sister at Fort Emory--his sister and +"Pappoose." Never before had the Indian pet name carried such +significance as now. Night and day those soft, dark eyes--that beautiful +face--haunted his thoughts and filled his young heart with new and +passionate longing. It was hard to have to leave the spot her presence +made enchanted ground. Nothing but the spur of duty, the thrill of +soldier achievement and stirring venture could have reconciled him to +that unwelcome order. + +In one week now, if fortune favored and heaven spared, he could hope to +look again into the eyes that had so enchained him, but if there should +interpose the sterner lot of the frontier, if the Sioux should learn of +his presence, he who had thwarted Burning Star and the brothers of poor +Lizette in their schemes of vengeance, he at whose door the Ogallallas +must by this time have laid the death of one of their foremost braves, +then indeed would there be no hope of getting back without a battle +royal. There was only one chance of safety--that the Indians should not +discover their presence. If they did and realized who the intruders +were, Jessie Dean might look in vain for her brother's return. Pappoose +would never hear the love words that, trembling on his lips the night he +left her, had been poured out only to that unresponsive picture. Two +ways there were in which the Indians could know of his presence. One by +being informed through some half-breed spy, lurking about Frayne; but +then who would be dastard enough to send such word? The other by being +seen and recognized by some of the Ogallalla band, and thus far he +believed they had come undetected, and it was now after five +o'clock--after five o'clock and all was well. In a few hours they could +again be on their starlit way. With the morrow they should be safely +within the gates of the new stockade at Warrior Gap. + +Turning with hope and relief in his face to speak to Sergeant Bruce, who +lay there at his elbow, he saw the blue-sleeved arm stretching forth in +warning to lie low, and with grave eyes the veteran was gazing straight +at a little butte that rose from the rolling surface not more than half +a mile away to the southeast. + +"Lieutenant," he whispered, "there are Indians back of that hill at this +minute, and it isn't buffalo they're laying for." + +Dean was brave. He had been tried and his mettle was assured, and yet he +felt the sudden chill that coursed his veins. "How can they have seen +us," he murmured. + +"May have struck our trail out to the southwest," said Bruce slowly, "or +they may have been told of our coming and are stalking us. They've got a +heavy score to settle with this troop, you know." + +For a moment only the breathing of the little party could be heard. All +eyes were fixed upon the distant mound. At last Dean spoke again. + +"When did you see them first and how many are there?" + +"Near ten minutes ago. I saw something fluttering swift along the sky +line just beyond that divide to the south. It skimmed like a bird, all +but the quick bobbing up and down that made me sure there was a +galloping pony under it. Then another skimmed along. It was the bunch of +feathers and red flannel on their lances, and my belief is that they +struck our trail back here somewhere, and that there's only a small +party, and they don't know just who we are and they want to find out." + +"You're right. Look!" was Dean's sudden answer, for at the very instant +there rode boldly, calmly into full view two young Indians, who with +cool deliberation came jogging on at gentle speed, straight toward the +concealed bivouac of the troopers. Instantly Bruce reached for his +carbine, and two or three of the men went sliding or crouching backward +down the slope as though in quest of their arms. Full eight hundred +yards away were the riders at the moment, coming side by side in +apparent unconcern. + +"Don't," muttered Dean, with hand outstretched. "They look anything but +hostile." + +"That's when they're most likely to be full of hell, sir," was the +prompt answer. "See! others are watching behind that knoll," and indeed +as Bruce declared, a feather-decked head or two could be detected +through the glass, peering over the summit. + +"Warn them to halt, then," cried Dean. "But we cannot fire unless they +provoke it." + +Bruce was on his feet in a second. Standing erect and facing straight +toward the coming pair, he raised his right hand, palm to the front, to +the full length of his arm, and slowly motioned "stand." Every plainsman +knows the signal. In well-acted surprise, the Indians reined their +ponies flat back, and, shading their eyes with their hands a moment, +remained motionless. Then, as with one accord, each tossed aside his +rifle, and one of them further lifted high and displayed a revolver. +This, too, he tossed out on the turf, and now with both arms bare and +extended on high, with empty hands outspread, they slowly advanced as +though saying "See, we are without arms. We come as brothers." + +But the sergeant never hesitated. Almost on tiptoe he repeated the +signal "halt," and half-turned imploringly to his officer. + +"It's all a bluff, sir. They want to crawl upon us, see who and how many +we are. Let some of us fire warning shots or come they will, and the +moment they find out who we are, away they'll ride to bring Red Cloud +and all his bucks about our ears." + +"I cannot fire," was the answer. "That's their flag of truce and we must +not ignore it. Let them come, sergeant; I'll meet them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Remonstrance on part of his men would have been a violation of their +rules of order. Obedient to the lieutenant's instructions, Sergeant +Bruce, with evident reluctance, lowered his hand. Whoever these Indians +were they well understood the principles that governed civilized +warfare. They well knew that the white soldiers would respect a flag of +truce, though in their own vernacular they referred to the sacred emblem +only as a "fool flag," and sometimes used it, as did the Modocs five +years later, to lure officers into ambush and deliberately murder them. +They knew the white soldiers would take no advantage of foemen gathered +for a conference or parley, and thus far the Sioux themselves had +observed the custom which the Modocs basely violated when in cold blood +they slaughtered General Canby and the peace commissioners sent to treat +with them. Confidently, therefore, came the two young warriors, but as +Dean raised himself from the ground and was about to step forward, the +sergeant spoke: + +"Beg pardon, sir, but these fellows know all our officers. They would +recognize you at once. The word would go to Red Cloud faster than any +pony could gallop. Let me meet them, or let one of the men." + +The ponies were coming at the lope now, and not an instant was to be +lost. The safety of his command might possibly depend on their not being +recognized as of the troop before whose carbines Chaska, brother to +Lizette, had met his death. + +"Perhaps you're right," said Dean. "Halt them again. Conroy, you go with +Sergeant Bruce." + +Eagerly a young trooper, carbine in hand, sprang up and stood by the +sergeant's side as the latter repeated his warning signal. Obediently, +yet not too promptly, showing evident desire to get where they could +peer over into the ravine and count the number of the white men and +horses, the Indians again drew rein, this time barely one hundred yards +away. Then Bruce and Conroy, holding up their emptied hands, strode +forward along the grassy slope, making the further sign, "Dismount." + +In those days few of our cavalry wore, when on Indian campaign, the +forage-cap with its crossed sabres and distinguishing letters. Nothing +in the dress or accoutrements of the two men thus advancing to meet the +Indian emissaries would give to the latter any clew as to the troop or +regiment to which they belonged. Could they see the horses, however, the +matter would be settled at once. The U. S. brand, with that of the +number of the regiment and letter of the troop showed on every cavalry +mount in the service, and the Ogallallas knew the earmarks of two, at +least, of our cavalry regiments in '68 as well as they did the cut of +their own hair. But in the modesty of the non-commissioned officer Bruce +had underrated his own prominence in Indian eyes. Not only did these +keen observers know every officer by sight, and have for him some +distinguishing name of their own, but many a trooper, easily singled out +from his fellows because of his stature, or the color of his hair, or +some other physical peculiarity, was as well known as his captain or +lieutenant, and Bruce, ex-trooper of the Scots Greys, and now a model +sergeant of Yankee cavalry, was already a marked man in the eyes of the +southern Sioux. Brulé, Minneconjou and Ogallalla knew him well--his +aquiline beak, to which the men would sometimes slyly allude, having won +him the Indian appellative of Posh Kopee or Big Nose. + +Before the two parties came within fifty yards of each other, therefore, +watchers along the ravine saw the quick exchange of significant glances +between the young braves. "Twig that?" whispered Trooper Blaine, in low, +emphatic tone. "Those fellows know 'Scotty' just as well as we do." + +All the same, leaving their trained ponies to nibble at the scanty bunch +grass, the two came straight forward with extended hands and cordial +"How, colah!" on their lips, one of them adding, in agency English, +"Want talk chief. Indian poor. Heap sick." (And here he clasped his +stomach with both hands.) "Want coffee, sugar, bread." + +"All right," said Bruce promptly, noting the while how the roving black +eyes searched the edge of the ravine. "Stay here. Don't come nearer. You +got buffalo meat?" + +A grunt was the reply of one, a guttural "Buffalo, yes," the answer of +the other. + +"Bring tongues, then," and Bruce touched his own. "Five," and he threw +forward the outspread right hand, rapidly touching in succession the +thumb and four fingers. "We give both hands full--coffee, sugar, +hardtack," and Bruce illustrated as he spoke. "That's all!" he finished +abruptly, with the well-known Indian sign that plainly tells "I have +spoken--there is nothing more to say," then calmly turned his back and, +bidding Conroy follow, started to return to his comrades at the ravine. + +But Indian diplomacy was unsatisfied. The Sioux had found "Big Nose" to +be one of the soldiers in the field. He, at least, was of the hated +troop that fought and chased Burning Star and killed Chaska. The trail +told them there were nearly a dozen in the party, all on shod horses, +with two in lead-spare mounts or pack-horses, doubtless--so they had +extra rations and had come far; but why were they going this way, so far +west of the usual road to the Big Horn posts? Why were they so few in +number? Where were the rest? Why were they hiding here in the ravine, +instead of marching? Answer to this last question was easy enough. It +was to keep out of sight of Indian eyes and needed no excuse. There was +something behind this mysterious presence of ten or twelve soldiers in +the southern foothills, and Machpealota would expect of his scouts full +information, hence the instant movement on the part of one of the two +braves to follow. + +Impressively, Bruce turned again and waved him back. "Go, get buffalo +tongue," said he, "or no trade. Keep away from our tepees," and he drew +with his spurred boot-heel a jagged line across the turf. "Your side," +said he, indicating the slope to the southeast of the line. "This--ours. +That's all!" And this time the Indian knew he must come no nearer. + +"I've got 'em talking trade, lieutenant," reported Bruce, the instant he +reached Dean's side. "We don't need the tongues, but we've got more +coffee and sugar than we are apt to want, and at least we can keep them +interested until dark, then we can slip away. Of course, they've sent +word to their main body that we're over here, but I believe they can't +come in force before night." + +"They knew you, sergeant, and they know it is probably our troop," said +he. "There must be only a small party near us. Make your trade, but +while you're doing it we'll saddle. I mean to get out of this and into +the thick of the timber before they can surround us. Stand 'em off, now, +while we get ready." + +Promises must be kept when made to an Indian, even if they are otherwise +sometimes broken. In ten minutes, with coffee, sugar and hardtack in +their hands, the sergeant and his comrades were back at the front. One +brave was still there, the other had vanished. Five minutes, neither +party saying a word, the troopers waited; then Bruce turned to Conroy. +"I knew they had nothing to trade. Take this sack with you and fall +back. Tell our fellows to keep me well covered till I follow." The +instant the soldier started with the sack swung over his shoulder, the +Indian, who had been squatted on the turf, sprang up and began rapid +expostulation in fluent Ogallalla. "It's no use, young man," interposed +Bruce. "Your chum there has no buffalo tongues, and he knew it. Here's +some hardtack for you," and he spread one liberally with sugar and +handed it to the ever-receptive paw, outstretched to grasp it. A glance +over the shoulder showed that Conroy was nearly at the edge. Then, +quietly, Bruce, too, began to retire. He had not got ten paces, still +facing his unwelcome visitor, when the Indian gave a shrill, sudden cry +and tossed up his hands. Not a second too soon Bruce turned and darted +for cover. The Indian flung himself flat on the turf and rolled away +into a depression where he could find partial shelter from bullets from +the ravine, whence he evidently looked for them, and out from behind the +knoll, bridles held high, "quirts" lashing at their ponies' flanks, +darted half a dozen painted savages, tearing down upon the spot at the +top speed of their agile mounts. Only two men remained on watch at the +moment, Dean and one trooper. Most of the others, already in saddle, +were filing away up the game trail that threaded the windings of the +ravine, the two lead horses with them, while a few yards behind the +young officer and his comrade, halfway down the reverse slope, two +others, afoot, handled the reins of their own horses and those of the +lieutenant and men still held at the edge. It was an exciting moment. +Bruce had only a hundred yards to run before he could get under cover, +and there was no chance of their hitting him at that range, yet a puff +of smoke rose from the knoll, and a bullet, nearly spent, came tumbling +and singing up the turf, and the dashing warriors, yelling wildly, +applauded the shot. Bruce took matters coolly. Leaping behind the +shelter of the ledge, he reached for his carbine, and in a moment more, +as the pursuing Indians came lashing within long range, four seasoned +cavalry carbines, each with a keen eye at the sight and a steady finger +at the trip, were leveled on the coming foe. Dean's young heart beat +hard, it must be owned, for hitherto the Indians had been fighting in +retreat or on the defensive, while now they came as though confident of +success; but there was soldier exultation and something like savage joy +mingling with the thrill of excitement. + +"There's more behind those beggars, sir," growled Conroy, a veteran at +Indian work, "but they'll sheer off when they get within three hundred +yards." On they came, shields and lances dangling, ponies on the keen +jump, feathers and pennons streaming on the wind. But, just as Conroy +said, no sooner was Bruce safely under cover and they felt themselves +drawing within dangerous range than, fan-like, they opened out to right +and left, and, yelling still like fiends, veered in wide circle from +their line of attack, and ducking over their ponies' shoulders, clinging +with one leg to the upright part of the cantle, they seemed to invite +the fire of their white foe--and got it. A daring fellow in the lead +came streaking slantwise across the front, as though aiming to pick up +the comrade lurking in the dip of the prairie-like slope, and Conroy's +carbine was the first to bark, followed almost instantly by Dean's. The +scurrying pony threw up his wall-eyed head and lashed with his feathered +tail, evidently hit, but not checked, for under the whip he rushed +gamely on until another bullet, whistling within a foot of his neck, +warned the red rider that he was far too close for safety, for with +halting gait the pony turned and labored off the field, and presently +was seen to be staggering. "Score one for our side," laughed the +Irishman, in glee. "Now's your time, sergeant." + +But Bruce, reloading, was gazing sternly at the distant knoll. The other +warriors, riding right and left, were now chasing crosswise over the +billowy slopes, keeping up a fire of taunt and chaff and shrill +war-cries, but never again venturing within three hundred yards--never +wasting a shot. + +"I thought so," suddenly cried the sergeant. "They're signaling from the +knoll. They never would have attacked with so few, unless there were +dozens more within sight. Now's our time, lieutenant. We can mount and +ride like hell to the timber--I beg your pardon, sir," he broke off +suddenly. "I didn't mean to say what the lieutenant should do." + +"No apologies," laughed Dean, his eyes snapping with the vim of the +fight. "Glad you see the truth of what I said. Come on. Mount quickly, +men." + +Two minutes more and the entire party of blue-coats were spurring +swiftly northward up the winding gorge, the pack-horses lumbering +alongside. Eagerly Dean and Bruce in the lead looked right and left for +a game trail leading up the slope, for well they knew that the moment +their reinforcements came the warriors would dash into the ravine and, +finding their antagonists fled, would pursue along the banks. It would +never do to be caught in such a trap. A gallop of a quarter of a mile +and, off to the right, a branch ravine opened out to higher ground, and +into this the leaders dove and, checking speed, rode at the trot until +the ascent grew steep. Five minutes more and they were well up toward +the head of the gulch and presently found themselves nearly on a level +with the hillsides about them. Here, too, were scattered pine-trees and +a few scrub-oak. The timber, then, was close at hand. Signaling halt to +the climbing column, Dean and Bruce, springing from saddle, scrambled up +the bank to their right and peered cautiously back down over the +tumbling waves of the foothills, and what they saw was enough to blanch +the cheek of even veteran Indian fighters. + +Far over to the east, beyond an intervening ridge and under the dun +cloud of dust, the earth was black for miles with herds of running +buffalo. Far down to the southeast, here, there and everywhere over the +land, the slopes were dotted with little knots of Indian braves--they +could be nothing else--all riding like mad, coming straight toward them. +Machpealota probably had launched his whole force on the trail of the +luckless troopers. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +That night there was rejoicing at the new stockade. For over a week not +a courier had managed to slip through in either direction. Alarmed for +the safety of the little garrison, the commanding officer of the post +away up at the gorge of the Big Horn River had sent two troops of +cavalry to scout the slopes of the mountains and look into the state of +affairs at Warrior Gap. They found countless fresh pony tracks all along +the foothills east of the Greasy Grass and in the valleys of the many +forks of the Deje Agie--the Crow name for Tongue River--but not an +Indian did they see. They marched in among the welcoming officers and +men at the bustling post to find themselves hailed as heroes. "We've +been cut off from the world for at least ten days," said the commandant. +"Our couriers have been killed, captured or driven back. Even our +half-breed scouts refuse to make further trial. They say Red Cloud's +people cover the land in every direction. Our woodchoppers only work +under heavy guard. The contractors, freighters and workmen threaten to +strike unless they get their money. The sutler refuses them further +credit. The quartermaster has paid out every cent and says his +requisition for ten thousand dollars was ordered filled, and the money +ought to have been here a week ago. All will have to stop if the money +doesn't come. We're safe enough. The Sioux don't dare come within range +of our breech-loaders. But we can't finish the barracks in time for +winter at this rate." + +A stout-hearted soldier was the commanding officer at Warrior Gap. He +had with him now four strong companies of infantry and a troop of horse. +He had, he said, but one anxiety, so far as holding the fort was +concerned--some few of the officers and quite a number of the soldiers, +as has been told, were burdened with their wives and children. If these +could only be moved under strong guard to Frayne on the Platte, he could +snap his fingers in the face of Red Cloud and his whole gang until they +too got breech-loaders. "It's only a question of time!" said he. "Sooner +or later the Interior Department will be fool enough to arm the redskins +all over the land with magazine rifles, and then there will be lively +work for the war office. Any day," said he, further, "we may expect the +coming of a whole regiment from the Platte posts, and then Mr. Lo will +have to light out. Meantime, if we hadn't this trouble about the +workmen, and could get rid of the women and children, we'd be all +right." + +So back to the Big Horn rode the squadron to report all safe at Warrior +Gap, barring the blockade, and almost on the same date out there started +from Laramie, on the long march up the Platte and over across the +sage-covered deserts, a strong force of foot and dragoons; and up from +the Sweetwater, far to the southwest, came this venturesome little party +of ten, bringing the much-demanded money, and all the while, with his +far-riding, far-seeing scouts in every direction, Machpealota, perched +in the mountains back of the building post, warily watched the +dispositions and daily work, and laid his plans accordingly. Not a +warrior was permitted to show himself near the stockade, but in a +sleepless cordon, five miles out, they surrounded the Gap. Not a +messenger had managed to elude their vigilance by day, not one had +succeeded in slipping into the little camp by night. Yet, with every +succeeding morn the choppers and fatigue parties pushed farther out from +the stockade, in growing sense of security, and the Indians let them +come. + +Full a week before the Laramie column could possibly reach the +mountains, however, Red Cloud was warned of their coming, their numbers, +and composition--so many horse soldiers, so many "heap walks." +Unmolested, the squadron from Fort C. F. Smith, the Big Horn River post, +was permitted to retrace its steps. In fancied safety, born of +confidence in that wonderful new breech-loader, the little command at +the Gap was lulled to indifference to their surroundings. Then, sending +large numbers of his young men to round up the buffalo toward the +Platte, but keeping still his stern and vengeful eye upon the prey +almost at his feet, the red chief made his final and fatal plans. + + * * * * * + +There came a cloudless morning when the cavalry troop escorted a young +officer up the rocky heights to the west, finding everywhere indications +of recent Indian occupancy, but not a redskin barred their way. Without +opposition of any kind, without so much as a glimpse of the foe, were +they permitted to climb to Signal Rock, and from that point, with +powerful glasses, the officers swept the glorious range of foothills, +the deep valley of the Tongue, the banks of the Piney and the Crazy +Woman, the far-spreading upland prairie rolling away like some heaving +ocean suddenly turned to earth, east and southeast to the dim horizon, +and there they saw, or thought they saw, full explanation of their +recent freedom from alarm of any kind. There to the south, full thirty +miles away, the land was overlaid by a dull, heavy, dun-colored cloud, +and traversed by black streaks or blotches that were recognized at once +as running buffalo. Red Cloud and his braves then were drawn away in +search of other game, and, light of heart and foot, the troopers trotted +back to the waiting stockade, to meet there late that evening, as the +weird tattoo of the drums and fifes was echoing back from the rocky +heights, the first messenger through in nearly fifteen days-a half-breed +Sioux from the distant posts along the Platte, bearing a written message +from the commanding officer at Frayne, which the veteran commandant at +Warrior Gap read with infinite comfort: + +"Seven companies of infantry and three more troops of cavalry are on the +way and should reach you by Saturday week. The General seems thoroughly +alive to the situation, and we, too, are hoping for orders to move out +and help you give that infernal old scoundrel the thrashing he deserves. +All has been quiet hereabouts since that one party made its dash on Hal +Folsom's ranch. Of course you know the story of Lizette, and of course +Red Cloud must have known that Burning Star was head devil in that +enterprise, though Chaska was the victim. I take much comfort in the +fact that it was I who sent young Dean and his troop round by way of the +Laramie. Folsom and his people would have been murdered to a man if I +hadn't, and yet I hear that absurd old ass at Emory put Dean in arrest +for not coming directly home. Pecksniff should have been retired ten +years ago--for imbecility. + +"We had a tremendous storm in the mountains to the south two days ago, +and a courier has just galloped out from Emory, inquiring for news of +Dean. It seems he was sent with a big sum in currency for your +quartermaster, and ordered to slip through by way of the Sweetwater, as +Red Cloud was known to be covering the direct road. Somehow it leaked +out before he started, and a gang of desperadoes gathered to jump him at +Cañon Springs. The storm jumped them, for two of their dead and a dozen +horses were rolled out on the flats. Dean must have got through all +right, for Bat saw their trail fifteen miles above us. Of course, he'll +have to make night marches; but, unless Red Cloud gets wind of his +coming and corrals him, he should reach you almost as soon as this. +Michel, the bearer, has your dispatches and orders. Retained copies are +here. Good luck, old man, and may we meet within the fortnight and wind +up Red Cloud once and for all time." + +This was all, but more than enough. Riding night and day in wide détour, +Michel had made his way to the lately beleaguered spot, and what he +brought was joyous news, indeed. Within the coming week the post would +have no more to fear. Within a day or two the contractors, then, would +have their money, and that would tap the sutler's stores and joy would +reign supreme. Enviously the soldiers eyed the artisans. Not for weeks +could their paymaster be looked for, while the funds for the civilians +might reach them on the morrow, provided Red Cloud did not interfere. He +couldn't and wouldn't, said the commander, because he and his braves +were all off to the southeast, hunting buffalo. He could and might, said +Michel that night at ten o'clock, after taps had sent the garrison to +bed, for by the time he left Frayne there were other riders up from Gate +City and all that garrison had learned that Lieutenant Dean was taking +something like fifty thousand dollars in greenbacks up to the Gap, with +only ten men to guard it, and Major Burleigh was wild with anxiety lest +he shouldn't get through, and had been nearly crazy since he heard of +Dean's narrow escape at Cañon Springs. The officer of the day who heard +this story took it, with the teller, to the post commander, and that +veteran sat up late and cross-questioned long. Michel's English might be +broken, but not his statement. The last arrival at Frayne before he left +was one of Major Burleigh's own men from Gate City. He said the General +and his staff were expected at Emory the next day, investigating +matters, for old Stevens had got stampeded because his sergeant-major +was assaulted and old Mr. Folsom knocked out and a drunken captain by +the name of Newhall had been making trouble, and it had all told on +Major Burleigh, who had taken to his bed with nervous prostration. + +So, while the garrison went to rest happy, the commanding officer waked +long, and finally slept soundly and might have slept late, but that just +at dawn, full half an hour before the time for reveille, there came a +sharp knocking at the door of his log-hut, and the imperative voice of +the officer of the day. + +"Colonel! colonel, I say! There's sharp firing out here in the hills to +the south!" + +The peaks to the west were just tinging with purple and red, reflected +from the eastward sky, and a faint light was beginning to steal down +into the deep valley in which the cantonment lay sleeping, when the +veteran commander came hurrying out, half-dressed, and hied him, with +his attendant officer, to the southern angle of the stockade. There on +the narrow ledge or platform built under the sharp tops of the upright +logs, were grouped the silent, grave-faced guard, a dozen men intently +listening. Thither presently came running others of the officers or men, +suddenly awakened by sense of something unusual going on. Far away among +the wooded heights to the south, echoing from the rocky palisades to the +west, could be heard the pop, pop of distant musketry, punctuated +sometimes with louder bang as of large caliber rifles closer at hand. +Little time was there in which to hazard opinion as to the cause. One or +two men, faint-hearted at the thought of the peril of Indian battle and +hopeful of influencing the judgment of their superiors, began the murmur +of "Big hunt," "Buffalo drive," etc., glancing furtively at the colonel +the while as though to observe the effect. But an imperative "Silence, +you idiots!" from the officer of the day put sudden end to their +conjectures. Only a moment did the commander listen. Then, quick and +startling, came the order, "Sound to arms!" and within the minute the +stirring peal of the cavalry trumpet was answered by the hoarse thunder +of the snare-drum, beating the long roll. Out from their "dog tents" and +half-finished log huts came the bewildered men. Often as the alarm had +sounded on the frontier there was a thrill and ring about it this time +that told of action close at hand. Out from the little huts, hurrying +into their frock coats and belting on their swords as they glared about +them for the cause of the uproar, came the officers, old and young, most +of them veterans of many hard-fought fields of the war days--one or two, +only, youngsters fresh from the Point. At many a doorway and unglazed +window appeared the pallid faces of women and children, some of them +weeping in mingled fright and distress. In front of the log guardhouse +the sergeant quickly formed the two reliefs not on post. On their +designated parades the companies rapidly fell in, while stern-voiced +non-commissioned officers rebuked the laggards and aided them into their +belts, and each first sergeant took rapid note of his men. No need to +call the roll, a skulker would have been detected and kicked into the +ranks at the instant. Over under the rough board shelter of the +quartermaster's employees the workmen came tumbling out in shirt +sleeves, many of them running to the nearest officer and begging for a +gun and a place in the fight, for now the firing was loud and lively. +Down by the swift-flowing stream the tethered horses of the cavalry +plunged and neighed in excitement, and the mules in the quartermaster's +corral set up their irrepressible bray. For five minutes there was +clamor, but no confusion. Then disciplined silence reigned again, all +but the nearing volleying at the south. Presently, at rapid trot the +cavalry, some fifty strong, came clattering up the stony trail from the +stream, and with carbines advanced disappeared through the main gateway +in a cloud of dust. Two companies were told off to man the loopholes of +the stockade. Two others under the command of a senior captain faced by +the right flank, and in double-quick time danced away in the wake of the +cavalry. Eagerly the watchers climbed the wooden walls or to the tower +of the half-finished guardhouse, and, as the red light strengthened in +the east and the mountain sides became revealed, studied with their +glasses or with straining eyes the southward vista through the hills. +They saw the troop form line to the front at the gallop as it swept out +over the open ground four hundred yards away, saw its flankers scurry to +the nearest shoulder of bluff, saw their excited signals and +gesticulations, and presently a sheaf of skirmishers shot forward from +the advancing line and breasted the low ridge eight hundred yards out +from the fort, and then there came floating back the sound of ringing, +tumultuous cheer as the skirmishers reached the crest and darted +headlong at some unseen object beyond, and after them went the reserve, +cheering too. And now the sound of firing became fierce and incessant, +and messengers came galloping back to the commander of the steadily +advancing infantry, and they, too, were seen to throw forward heavy +skirmish lines and then resume the march. And then, down over the ridge +came a little knot of horsemen, made up of three men riding close +together, the outer ones supporting between them the comrade in the +center. Before they were within four hundred yards the young adjutant, +gazing through his glasses at the colonel's side, exclaimed: "It's +Dean--dead or wounded!" and one of the surgeons rushed forward to meet +the party. "He's weak, sir, almost gone from loss of blood," exclaimed +Trooper Conroy, himself bleeding from a gash along the cheek. A faint +smile drifted over the young fellow's pallid face, as the adjutant, too, +galloped up. A feeble hand indicated the bulging saddle pocket. A faint +voice faltered, "There's ten thousand dollars in that packet. We had to +fight our way through," and then the brave blue eyes closed and strong +arms lifted the almost lifeless form from the saddle as Marshall swooned +away. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +A day had dawned on the Big Horn never to be forgotten by those who +watched the conflict from the stockade, never to be recalled by those +who went forth to fight. Broad daylight had come and the sun was peeping +over the far horizon as strong arms bore the unconscious officer within +the post, and the commander eagerly questioned the men who came with +him. Their story was quickly told. They had fled before overpowering +numbers of the Sioux the night before, had made their way through the +timber in the darkness and come ahead all night, groping their way from +ridge to ridge until at the peep of day they found themselves in sight +of familiar landmarks, and could see the gleam of the waters of the Fork +dancing away under the dawn. And then, as they essayed to ride on they +found the Indians all around them. Whichever way they turned the foe +appeared, but only in scattered parties and small numbers. Not once did +more than half a dozen appear in sight, and then confident of speedy +succor from the fort, they had decided to make a dash for it, and so +rode boldly out into the open. But now a score of warriors popped up and +barred the way, while others far out at flank or rear kept up long range +fire. One man was shot through the body and fainted and had to be borne +along. Then the lieutenant was shot in the leg, but no one knew it until +they saw his boot was running over with blood, and he was growing +ghastly white, even though he kept encouraging and directing. But when +at last the cavalry met them and brushed the Indians away from the +front, Captain Drum, who rode at their head, ordered Mr. Dean taken +right into the post while he dashed on to punish the Sioux, "and he is +giving them hell, too," said the excited trooper, "for there couldn't +have been more than a hundred Indians all told." + +Ah, not in sight, perhaps, poor lads!--not in sight of horse, foot or +fort; for if there were only a hundred, how came it that the fire grew +fiercer still, and that presently every musket in the infantry skirmish +line, too, was blazing on the foe. By this time cavalry and infantry +both had disappeared over the curtaining ridge, and the colonel's face +grew grave and haggard as he listened. Three-fifths of his little +garrison were out there battling against unknown numbers. They had gone +to rescue the detachment and bring it safely in. That rescue was +accomplished. The precious package for which so much had been risked was +here--but what detained the command? Why did they not return? Beyond +doubt far more Indians were out there now than when first the firing +began. "Gallop out, Mr. Adjutant, and tell the major to withdraw his +line and fall back on the stockade," was the order--and with a lump in +his throat the young officer mounted again and started. He was a pet in +the garrison, only in his second year of commission. They saw him gallop +through the gate, saw him ride gallantly straight for the curtaining +ridge beyond which the smoke was rising heavily now, saw him breasting +the slope, his orderly following, saw him almost reach it, and then +suddenly the prairie seemed to jet fire. The foremost horse reared, +plunged, and went rolling over and over. They saw--plainly saw through +their glasses, and a shriek of agony and horror went up from among the +women at the sight--half a dozen painted savages spring out from behind +the ledge, some on pony back, some afoot, and bear down on the stricken +form of the slender young rider now feebly striving to rise from the +turf; saw the empty hand outstretched, imploring mercy; saw jabbing +lances and brandished war-clubs pinning the helpless boy to earth and +beating in the bared, defenseless head; saw the orderly dragged from +under his struggling horse and butchered by his leader's side; saw the +bloody knives at work tearing away the hot red scalps, then ripping off +the blood-soaked clothing, and, to the music of savage shouts of glee +and triumph, hacking, hewing, mutilating the poor remains, reckless of +the bullets that came buzzing along the turf from the score of +Springfields turned loose at the instant among the loopholes of the +stockade. It was eight hundred yards away in the dazzling light of the +rising sun. Old Springfields did not carry as do the modern arms. +Soldiers of those days were not taught accurate shooting as they are +now. It was too far for anything but chance, and all within a minute or +two the direful tragedy was over, and the red warriors had darted back +behind the ridge from which they came. + +"My God! sir," gasped the officer who stood at the side of the +awe-stricken post commander, "I believe it's Red Cloud's entire band, +and they've got our poor boys surrounded! Can't we send help?" + +"Send help! Merciful heaven, man, who's to help us? Who's to protect +these poor women and children if we go? I have but two companies left. +It's what those fiends are hoping--have been planning--that I'll send +out my last man to the aid of those already gone, and then they'll dart +in on the fort, and what will become of these?" + +Great drops of sweat were pouring down the colonel's face as he turned +and pointed to the huts where now, clinging to one another in terror, +many poor wives and children were gathered, and the air was filled with +the sobbing of the little ones. Up from the stockade came two young +officers, their faces set and rigid, their eyes blazing. "In God's name, +colonel," cried the foremost, "let me take my men and clear that ridge +so that our people can get back. One charge will do it, sir." + +But solemnly the commander uplifted his hand. "Listen," said he, "the +battle is receding. They are driving our poor fellows southward, away +from us. They are massed between them and us. It would only be playing +into their hands, my boy. It's too late to help. Our duty now is here." + +"But good God, sir! I can't stay without raising a hand to help. I +beg--I implore!" + +"Go back to your post at once, sir. You may be needed any minute. Look +there! Now!" + +And as he spoke the colonel pointed to the southeast. Over the scene +beyond the divide to the south hung the bank of pale-blue smoke. Out on +the slope lay the ghastly remains of the young adjutant and his faithful +comrade who, not ten minutes before, had galloped forth in obedience to +their orders and met their soldier fate. Out to the southeast the ridge +fell gradually away into the general level of the rolling prairie, and +there, full a thousand yards distant, there suddenly darted into view +three horsemen, troopers evidently, spurring madly for home. + +"They've cut their way through! Thank God!" almost screamed the +spectators at the parapet. But their exultation died an instant later. +Over the ridge, in swift pursuit came a dozen painted, feathered braves, +their ponies racing at lightning speed, their arrows and bullets +whizzing along the line of flight. The horse of the foremost trooper was +staggering, and suddenly went plunging headlong, sending his rider +sprawling far out on the turf. He was up in a second, dire peril nerving +him to desperate effort. His comrades veered at his cry for help and +glanced back over their shoulders. One, unnerved at sight of the dashing +foemen in pursuit, clapped spurs again, and bending low, rode madly on. +The other, gallant fellow! reined about in wide, sweeping circle, and +turned back to meet his running comrade. They saw him bend to lend a +helping hand, saw him bend still lower as three of the Indians leaped +from their ponies and, kneeling, loosed their rifles all at once; saw +him topple out of saddle, and his stricken horse, with flapping rein, +trot aimlessly about a moment before he, too, went floundering in his +tracks; saw the other soldier turn to face his fate by his dying +comrade's side, fighting to the last, overwhelmed and borne down by the +rush of red warriors. Strong men turned aside in agony, unable to look +on and see the rest--the brutal, pitiless clubbing and stabbing, the +fearful hacking of lance and knife--but others still, in the fascination +of horror, gazed helplessly through the smoke drifting upward from the +blazing loopholes, and once a feeble cheer broke forth as one shot took +effect and a yelling Indian stretched out dead upon the sward. Then for +a brief moment all eyes centered on the sole survivor who came sweeping +down the slope, straight for the stockade. Almost it seemed as though he +might yet escape, despite the fact that his horse, too, was lurching and +stumbling and his pursuers were gaining rapidly, defiant of the fire of +the little fort. Reckless of order and discipline, a dozen soldiers +nearest the gate rushed out upon the open bench, shouting encouragement +and sending long range, chance shots. But with every stride the fleeing +steed grew weaker, stumbled painfully and slackened speed, and soon they +saw him slowing down despite the frantic jabbing of the spurs, and with +drooped head and bleeding nostrils giving up the fight. And then, at +sound of the triumphant yells and jeers of his pursuers, the poor wretch +in saddle threw one fearful glance behind him, one despairing look +toward the comrades and the refuge still a quarter of a mile away, and +with shaking hand he turned the brown revolver on his own temple and +pulled trigger, and then went tumbling earthward, a corpse. There at +least was one scalp the Sioux could covet in vain, for with shouts of +vengeance, the little squad of infantry, deaf to all orders or the +clamor of the bugle recall, dashed out over the level bench, firing +furiously as they ran, and, whether from the superstitious awe with +which the Indians view the suicide, or the dread of close combat with +the gallant band of blue-coats, the mounted warriors turned and scurried +away across the prairie, and were presently out of range beyond the +ridge again. Then, and not till they had reached and lifted and borne +the lifeless form of the trooper, did the little party condescend to +answer the repeated summons from the fort. Then at last they slowly +returned, unrebuked, for no man had the heart to chide their daring. + +Only once more was there further sight of the one-sided battle. Half a +mile or more beyond the bare divide there rose against the southern sky +a bold, oblong height or butte, studded with bowlders and stunted pine, +and watchers at the fort became aware as the sun climbed higher that the +smoke cloud, thinning gradually but perceptibly, was slowly drifting +thither. The fire, too, grew faint and scattering. The war-whoops rang +and re-echoed among the rocks, but all sound of cheering had long since +died away. At last, an hour after the fury of the fight began, the +colonel, gazing in speechless grief, through his field-glass, muttered +to the officer at his side: + +"Some of them are still left. They are fighting for their lives along +that butte." + +Only a few, though. One by one the dark dots among the bowlders ceased +to stir and move about. Little by little the fire slackened, and all but +occasional scattered shots died utterly away. Then other forms, +feathered and bedizened, were seen rushing in numbers up the distant +hillside, and that meant all was over, and the brutal knives were busily +at work. Little by little all sound of conflict, all sight of +combatants, disappeared entirely, and the unclouded sunshine streamed +down upon a scene on which the silence of death indeed had fallen. When +at last, late that afternoon, the watchers reported a vast body of +Indians drifting away eastward toward the distant Powder River, and +venturesome scouts stole out to reconnoiter, backed by skirmish lines +from the stricken post, they found the grassy slopes beyond that +curtaining ridge one broad field of death, strewn with the stripped and +hacked and mangled forms of those who had so gallantly dashed forth to +the aid of comrade soldiery at the break of day, so torn and mutilated +and disfigured that only a limited few were ever identified. Officers +and men, one after another, had died in their tracks, victims of Red +Cloud and the Ogallalla Sioux. + +And all for what? Late that night the quartermaster in wild agitation +sought his colonel's door, a package in his hands. "For God's sake, sir, +look at this!" he cried. + +The cords had just been cut, the seals just broken, the stout paper +carefully opened and the contents of the precious packet exposed to +view. It held no money at all, nothing but layer on layer of waste and +worthless paper! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +A week went by at Fort Emory, and not a word came back from Dean. The +furious storm that swept the hills and swelled the rivers was the talk +of every army post within two hundred miles, while in the gambling halls +and saloons of Laramie, Cheyenne and Gate City men spoke of it in low +tones and with bated breath. If ever the bolts of heaven were launched +to defeat a foul crime it was right there at Cañon Springs, for the +story was all over Wyoming by this time how the worst gang of cutthroats +that ever infested the wide West had galloped in strong force to that +wild, sequestered nook to murder Dean and his whole party of the hated +"blue bellies," if need be, but at all hazards to get the precious +package in his charge. Fifty thousand dollars in government greenbacks +it contained, if Hank Birdsall, their chosen leader, could be believed, +and hitherto he had never led them astray. He swore that he had the +"straight tip," and that every man who took honest part in the fight, +that was sure to ensue, should have his square one thousand dollars. +Thirty to ten, surrounding the soldiers along the bluffs on every side, +they counted on easy victory. But the warning thunder had been enough +for the young troop leader, and prompted him to break camp and get out +of the gorge. They were starting when Birdsall's scouts peered over the +bank and the outlaw ordered instant pursuit, just in time to meet the +fury of the flood and to see some of his fellows drowned like rats in a +sewer. + +But who betrayed the secret? What officer or government employé revealed +the fact that Dean was going with so much treasure?--and what could have +been his object? Birdsall had taken to the mountains and was beyond +pursuit. "Shorty," one of his men, rescued from drowning by the mail +carrier and escort coming down from Frayne, confessed the plot and the +General was now at Emory investigating. Major Burleigh had taken to his +bed. Captain Newhall was reported gone to Denver. Old John Folsom lay +with bandaged head and blinded eyes in a darkened room, assiduously +nursed by Pappoose and Jessie, who in turn were devotedly attended by +Mrs. Fletcher. Possessed of some strange nervous excitement, this +energetic woman was tireless in her effort to be of use. Minus ten of +their very best, "C" Troop still camped at Emory, the General holding it +for possible escort duty, and, to his huge delight, young Loomis was +assigned to command it until Dean should return. There came a day when +the news arrived from Frayne that the Laramie column had crossed the +Platte and marched on for the Big Horn, and then John Folsom began to +mend and was allowed to sit up, and told the doctor he had need to see +Major Burleigh without delay, but Burleigh could not leave his bed, said +the physician in attendance--a very different practitioner from +Folsom's--and the old man began to fret and fume, and asked for writing +materials. He wrote Burleigh a note, and the doctor forbade his +patient's reading anything. Major Burleigh, said he, was a very sick +man, and in a wretchedly nervous condition. Serious consequences were +feared unless utter quiet could be assured. + +Then Folsom was pronounced well enough to be taken out for a drive, and +he and Pappoose had the back seat together, while Jessie, with Harry +Loomis to drive, sat in front, and Jess was shy and happy, for Loomis +had plainly lost his heart to his comrade's pretty sister. Marshall had +now been gone nine days and could soon be expected home, said everybody, +for with a big force going up there the Indians would scatter and "the +boys" would have no trouble coming back. And so this lovely summer +afternoon every one seemed bright and joyous at the fort, listening to +the band and wondering, some of the party at least, how much longer it +would be before they could hope to hear from the absent, when there +arose sudden sounds of suppressed commotion in the camp of "C" Troop. A +courier was coming like mad on the road from Frayne--a courier whose +panting horse reined up a minute, with heaving flanks, in the midst of +the thronging men, and all the troop turned white and still at the news +the rider briefly told:--three companies at Warrior Gap were massacred +by the Sioux, one hundred and seventy men in all, including Sergeant +Bruce and all "C" Troop's men but Conroy and Garret, who had cut their +way through with Lieutenant Dean and were safe inside the stockade, +though painfully wounded. This appalling story the girls heard with +faces blanched with horror. Passionate weeping came to Jessie's relief, +but Pappoose shed never a tear. The courier's dispatches were taken in +to the colonel, and Folsom, trembling with mingled weakness and +excitement, followed. + +It was an impressive scene as the old soldier read the sad details to +the rapidly growing group of weeping women, for that was Emory's +garrison now, while the official reports were hurried on to catch the +General on his way to Cheyenne. Some one warned the band leader, and the +musicians marched away to quarters. Some one bore the news to town where +the flags over the hotel and the one newspaper office were at once +lowered to half staff, although that at Emory, true to official +etiquette and tradition, remained until further orders at the peak, +despite the fact that two of the annihilated companies were from that +very post. Some one bore the news to Burleigh's quarters at the depot, +and, despite assertions that the major could see no one and must not be +agitated or disturbed, disturbed and agitated he was beyond +per-adventure. Excitedly the sick man sprang from his bed at the tidings +of the massacre and began penning a letter. Then he summoned a young +clerk from his office and told him he had determined to get up at once, +as now every energy of the government would doubtless be put forth to +bring the Sioux to terms. It was the young clerk who a few weeks back +had remarked to a fellow employé how "rattled" the old man was getting. +The major's doctor was not about. The major began dictating letters to +various officials as he rapidly dressed, and what happened can best be +told in the clerk's own words: "For a man too sick to see any one two +hours before," said he, "the major had wonderful recuperative powers, +but they didn't last. He was in the midst of a letter to the chief +quartermaster and had got as far as to say, 'The deplorable and tragic +fate of Lieutenant Dean points, of course, to the loss of the large sum +intrusted to him,' when I looked up and said, 'Why, Lieutenant Dean +ain't dead, major; he got in all right,' and he stared at me a minute as +if I had stabbed him. His face turned yellow-white and down he went like +a log--had a fit I s'pose. Then I ran for help, and then the doctor came +and hustled everybody out." + +But not till late that night did these details reach "Old Pecksniff" at +the post. A solemn time was that veteran having, for many of the women +were almost in hysterics and all were in deep distress. Two of their +number, wives of officers, were widowed by the catastrophe, and one lay +senseless for hours. It was almost dark when Mr. Folsom and the girls +drove homeward, and his face was lined and haggard. Pappoose nestled +fondly, silently at his side, holding his hand and closely scanning his +features, as though striving to read his thoughts. Jessie, comforted now +by the knowledge that Marshall was rapidly recovering, and the words of +praise bestowed upon him in the colonel's letters, was nevertheless in +deep anxiety as to the future. The assurance that the Sioux, even in +their overwhelming numbers, would not attack a stockade, was not +sufficient. Marshall would be on duty again within a very few days, the +colonel said. His wounds would heal within the week, and it was only +loss of so much blood that had prostrated him. Within a few days, then, +her loved brother would be in saddle and in the field against the +Indians. Who could assure her they would not have another pitched +battle? Who could say that the fate that befell the garrison at Warrior +Gap might not await the troop when next it rode away? And poor Jess had +other anxieties, too, by this time. Loomis was burning with eagerness +for orders to lead it instantly to join the field column, and importuned +Colonel Stevens, even in the midst of all the grief and shock of the +early evening. Almost angrily the veteran colonel bade him attend to his +assigned duties and not demand others. "C" Troop should not with his +advice and consent be sent north of the Platte. "First thing you know, +sir, after they've got all the troops up along the Big Horn you'll see +the Sioux in force this side of the river, murdering right and left, and +not a company to oppose them. No, sir, more than enough of that troop +have already been sacrificed! The rest shall stay here." + +And well was it, for one and all, that "Old Pecksniff" held firm to his +decision. It was one of his lucid intervals. + +Late that evening, after ten o'clock, there came the sound of hoof-beats +on the hard road and the crack of the long-lashed mule-whip, and the +fort ambulance clattered up to Folsom's gate, and the colonel himself, +his adjutant by his side, came nervously up the gravel walk. Folsom met +them at his door. Instinctively he felt that something new and startling +was added to the catalogue of the day's disastrous tidings. Pecksniff's +face was eloquent of gravest concern, mingled with irrepressible +excitement. + +"Let me see you in private, quick," he said. "Mr.--Ah--Mr. Adjutant, +will you kindly remain in the parlor," and, taking Folsom by the elbow, +Pecksniff led impetuously into the library. The girls had gone aloft +only a moment before, but, dreading news of further evil, Pappoose came +fluttering down. + +"Go in and welcome the adjutant, dear," said Folsom hurriedly. "The +colonel and I have some matters to talk of." Obediently she turned at +once, and, glancing up the stairs, noted that Mrs. Fletcher's door must +have been suddenly opened, for the light from her room was now streaming +on the third-floor balusters. Listening again! What could be the secret +of that woman's intense watchfulness? In the parlor the young staff +officer was pacing up and down, but his face lighted at sight of Elinor. + +"Do you know--Is there anything new?--anything worse?" she quickly +asked, as she gave her slim young hand. + +"Not concerning our people," was the significant answer. "But I fear +there's more excitement coming." + +Barely waiting for Elinor to withdraw, "Pecksniff" had turned on Folsom. +"You know I opposed the sending of that party? You know it was all +ordered on Burleigh's urging and representations, do you not?" + +"Yes, I heard so," said Folsom. "What then?" + +"You know he planned the whole business--sent 'em around by Cañon +Springs and the Sweetwater?" + +"Yes, I heard that, too," said Folsom, still wondering. + +"You know some one must have put that Birdsall gang on the scent, and +that Burleigh has had alleged nerve prostration ever since, and has been +too ill to see any one or to leave his bed." + +"Yes, so we were told." + +"Well, he's well enough to be up and away--God knows where, and here is +the reason--just in from the north," and, trembling with excitement, +Pecksniff pointed to the closing paragraph of the letter in his hand: + + "Cords, seals and wrapping were intact when handed to the + quartermaster, but the contents were nothing but worthless paper. + It must have been so when given to Lieutenant Dean." + +Folsom's eyes were popping from his head. He sank into a chair, gazing +up in consternation. + +"Don't you see, man!" said Pecksniff, "some one in the depot is short +ten thousand dollars or so. Some one hoped to cover this shortage in +just this way--to send a little squad with a bogus package, and then +turn loose the biggest gang of ruffians in the country. They would have +got it but for the storm at Cañon Springs, and no one would have been +the wiser. They couldn't have got it without a murderous fight. No one +would ever dare confess his complicity in it. No statement of theirs +that there wasn't a cent in the sack could ever be believed. Some one's +shortage would be covered and his reputation saved. The plot failed, and +God's mercy was over Dean's young head. He'd 'a been murdered or ruined +if the plan worked--and now Burleigh's gone!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +Yes, Burleigh was gone, and there was confusion at the depot. At six the +doctor had come forth from his room, saying he was better, but must not +be disturbed. At seven the major, carrying a satchel, had appeared at +his office, where two clerks were smoking their pipes, innocent of all +thought of their employer's coming. It was after hours. They had no +business there at the time. Smoking was prohibited in the office, yet it +was the major who seemed most embarrassed at the unexpected meeting. It +was the major who hastily withdrew. He was traced to the railway, and it +was speedily found that he had sent word to the division superintendent +that the General had telegraphed for him to join him at once at +Cheyenne, and a special engine and caboose would be needed. At a quarter +past seven this had started full speed. It was eleven when the discovery +was made. Meantime Folsom and Stevens had consulted together. Folsom had +told of the large sum he had loaned Burleigh and the conditions +attached, and between them a dispatch, concisely setting forth their +suspicions, was sent the General at Cheyenne, with orders to "rush," as +they were determined if possible to head off the fugitive at that point. +Back came the wire ten minutes before midnight that the General had left +Cheyenne for Laramie by stage that evening, and must now be near the +Chugwater and far from telegraphic communication. Then Stevens wired the +sheriff at Cheyenne and the commanding officer of the new post of Fort +Russell to stop Burleigh at all hazards, and at two in the morning the +answer came that the major had reached Cheyenne about midnight and they +would search everywhere for him. That was the last until long after the +rising of another sun. + +Events and excitements, alarms and rumors followed each other with +startling rapidity during the day. In glaring headlines the local paper +published the details of the massacre at the Gap, lauding the valor and +devotion of the soldiers, but heaping abuse upon the commander of the +post, who, with other troops at his disposal, had looked on and lifted +no hand to aid them. Later, of course, it was proved that the veteran +had foiled old Red Cloud's villainous plan to lure the whole garrison +into the open country and there surround and slowly annihilate it, while +then, or at their leisure later, his chosen ones should set fire to the +unprotected stockade and bear off those of the women or children whose +years did not commend them to the mercy of the hatchet. Soldiers and +thinking men soon saw the colonel was right and that the only mistake he +had made was in allowing any of the garrison to go forth at all. But +this verdict was not published, except long after as unimportant news +and in some obscure corner. The Laramie column, so the news ran, was +hastening down the Powder River to strike Red Cloud. The Indians would +be severely punished, etc., etc. But old Folsom's face grew whiter yet +as he read that such orders had been sent and that the General himself +was now at Laramie directing matters. "In God's name," urged he, "if you +have any influence with the General, tell him not to send a foot column +chasing horsemen anywhere, and above all not to follow down the Powder. +Next thing you know Red Cloud and all his young men will have slipped +around their flank and come galloping back to the Platte, leaving the +old men and women and worn-out ponies to make tracks for the 'heap +walks' to follow." + +And Stevens listened dumbly. Influence he had never had. Folsom might be +right, but it was a matter in which he was powerless. When a depot +quartermaster, said he, could dictate the policy that should govern the +command of a colonel of the fighting force, there was no use in +remonstrance. Noon came and no news from the Cheyenne sheriff. The +commanding officer at Russell wired that he, too, was stripped of his +troops and had not even a cavalry courier to send after the General with +the startling news that Major Burleigh had vanished with large sums, it +was believed, in his possession. At one o'clock came tidings of the +fugitive. He, together with two other men, had spent the late hours of +the night at the lodgings of one of the party in Cheyenne, and at dawn +had driven away in a "rig" hired at a local stable, ostensibly to follow +the General to Laramie. They had kept the road northwestward on leaving +town--were seen passing along the prairie beyond Fort Russell, but +deputies, sworn in at once and sent in pursuit, came back to say the rig +had never gone as far as Lodge Pole. At six P. M. came further tidings. +Lieutenant Loring, engineer officer of the department, had reached +Cheyenne and was in consultation with the commanding officer at Russell. +The rig had been found at Sloan's ranch, far up Crow Creek, where the +party had taken horses and ridden westward into the Black Hills. In +anticipation of a big reward, the sheriff had deputies out in pursuit. +From such information as they could gather it was learned that the name +of one of the parties gone with Burleigh was Newhall, who claimed to be +a captain in the army, "out there looking after investments"--a captain +who was too busy, however, to go and see the few fellows of his cloth at +the new post and who was not known to them by sight at all. The +engineer, Mr. Loring, was making minute inquiries about this fellow, for +the description given him had excited not a little of his interest. + +And so the sun of the second day went down on Gate City and Emory, and +everybody knew Burleigh was gone. The wildest rumors were afloat, and +while all Fort Emory was in mourning over the tragedy at Warrior Gap, +everybody in town seemed more vividly concerned in Burleigh and the +cause of his sudden flight. As yet only certain army officers and Mr. +Folsom knew of the startling discovery at the stockade--that the package +was a bogus affair throughout. But all Gate City knew Burleigh had drawn +large sums from the local bank, many citizens had heard that John Folsom +was several thousand dollars the poorer for his sudden going, and all +interest was centered in the coming from Chicago of an expert, summoned +by wire, to open the huge office safe at the quartermaster's depot The +keys had gone with Burleigh. At the last moment, after loading up with +all the cash his own private safe contained, for that was found open and +practically empty in its corner of his sitting-room, and when he had +evidently gone to the office to get the funds there stored, he was +confounded by the sight of the two employés. He could have ordered them +to leave and then helped himself, but conscience had made a coward of +him, even more than nature. He saw accusers in every face, and fled. +Burleigh had lost his nerve. + +Two days went by and excitement was at its height. All manner of evil +report of Burleigh was now afloat. The story of the bogus package had +been noised abroad through later messengers and dispatches from the Gap. +Lieutenant Loring had come to Fort Emory under the instructions of the +department commander, and what those instructions were no man could find +out from the reticent young officer. If ever a youth seemed capable of +hearing everything and telling nothing it was this scientist of a +distinguished corps that frontiersmen knew too little of. What puzzled +Folsom and old Pecksniff was the persistence with which he followed up +his inquiries about Captain Newhall. He even sought an interview with +Pappoose and asked her to describe the rakish traveler who had so +unfavorably impressed her. She was looking her loveliest that evening. +Jessie was radiant once more. A long letter had come from Marshall--sad +because of the fate that had befallen his companions, stern because of +the evidence of the deep-laid plot that so nearly made him a victim, but +modestly glad of the official commendation he had received, and +rejoicing over the surgeon's promise that he would be well enough to +make the march with a command ordered back to Frayne. Red Cloud's people +had scattered far and wide, said he. "God grant they may not turn back +to the south." He was coming home. He would soon be there. The papers +had told their readers this very morning that the General had plainly +said his force was too small to risk further assault upon the Sioux. +Alarmed at the result of its policy, the Bureau had recommended +immediate abandonment of Warrior Gap and the withdrawal of the troops +from the Big Horn country. The War Department, therefore, had to hold +its hand. The Indians had had by long, long odds the best of the fight, +and perhaps would be content to let well enough alone. All this had +tended to bring hope to the hearts of most of the girls, and Loring's +welcome was the more cordial because of this and because of his now +known championship of Marshall's cause. From being a fellow under the +ban of suspicion and the cloud of official censure, Marshall Dean was +blossoming out as a hero. It was late in the evening when Folsom brought +the young engineer from the hotel and found Elinor and Jessie in the +music-room, with Pecksniff's adjutant and Loomis in devoted attendance. +It was nearly eleven when the officers left--two returning to the fort, +Loring lingering for a word with Folsom at the gate. The night was still +and breathless. The stars gleamed brilliantly aloft, but the moon was +young and had early gone to bed. A window in the third story softly +opened, as the two men stopped for their brief conference--the one so +young-looking, sturdy and alert, despite the frost of so many winters; +the other so calm and judicial, despite his youth. + +"Up to this afternoon at five no trace of them has been found," said +Loring. "Day after to-morrow that safe-opener should reach us. If you +have influence with Colonel Stevens you should urge him to have a guard +at the quartermaster's depot, even if he has to strip the fort. The +General cannot be reached by wire." + +"Why?" asked Folsom, looking up in alarm. "You don't suppose he'd come +back to rob his own office?" + +"He is not the man to take a risk, but there are those with him not so +careful, and the hand that sent Birdsall's gang in chase of Dean could +send them here, with the safe-key. Those few clerks and employés would +be no match for them." + +"By heaven, I believe you're right!" cried Folsom. "Which way are you +going now?" + +"Back to the hotel by way of the depot," was the answer. "Will you go?" + +"One moment. I do not travel about just now without a gun," said Folsom, +stepping within doors, and even the low sound of their voices died away +and all was still as a desert. The old trader did not return at once. +Something detained him--Miss Folsom, probably, reasoned the engineer, as +he stood there leaning on the gate. Aloft a blind creaked audibly, and, +gazing upward, Loring saw a dark, shadowy shutter at the third-story +window swing slowly in. There was no wind to move it. Why should human +hands be so stealthy? Then a dim light shone through the slats, and the +shade was raised, and, while calmly watching the performance, Loring +became aware of a dim, faint, far-away click of horse's hoofs at the +gallop, coming from the north. + +"If that were from the eastward, now," thought he, "it might bring +stirring news." But the sound died away after a moment, as though the +rider had dived into sandy soil. + +Just then Folsom reappeared, "I had to explain to my daughter. She is +most reluctant to have me go out at night just now." + +"Naturally," said Loring calmly. "And have you been way up to the third +story? I suppose Miss Folsom has gone to her room." + +"The girls have, both of them--but not to the third story. That's Mrs. +Fletcher's room." + +"Ah, yes. The woman, I believe, who accidentally scared your horse and +threw you?" + +"The very one!" he answered. "I'm blessed if I know what should have +taken her out at that hour. She says she needed air and a walk, but why +should she have chosen the back-gate and the alley as a way to air and +sunshine?" + +"Would you mind taking me through that way?" asked the engineer +suddenly. "It's the short cut to the depot, I understand." + +"Why, certainly. I hadn't thought of that," said Folsom. "Come right +on." + +And so, while the hoof-beats up the road grew louder, the two turned +quickly back to the rear of the big frame house. "That coming horse +brings news," muttered Loring to himself, as he turned the corner. "We +can head him off, but I want to see this situation first." + +Looking away southeastward from the porch of Folsom's homestead, one +could see in the daytime a vista of shingled roofs and open yards, a +broad valley, with a corral and inclosures on the southern edge of the +town, but not a tree. To-night only dim black shadows told where roof +and chimney stood, and not a sign could they see of the depot. Loring +curiously gazed aloft at the rear and side windows of the third story. +"They command quite a view, I suppose," said he, and even as he spoke +the sash of the southeast room was softly raised, the blind swung +slightly outward. That woman watching and listening again! And it was +she whose sudden and startling appearance at the rear gate had led to +Folsom's throw so early the morning Burleigh and his mysterious friend +were found missing from their quarters just after dawn--the very morning +Dean, with his treasure package and little escort, rode forth from Emory +on that perilous mission--the very morning that Birdsall and his +murderous gang set forth from Gate City in pursuit. + +And now those hoof-beats up the road were coming closer, and Folsom, +too, could hear and was listening, even while studying Loring's face. +Suddenly a faint gleam shot across the darkness overhead. Glancing +quickly upward, both men, deep in shadow, saw that the eastern window on +the southern side was lighted up. Out in the alleyway, low yet clear, a +whistle sounded--twice. Then came cautious footsteps down the back +stairs. The bolt of the rear door was carefully drawn. A woman's form, +tall and shrouded in a long cloak, came swiftly forth and sped down the +garden walk to that rear gate. "Come on, quick!" murmured the engineer, +and on tiptoe, wondering, the two men followed. They saw her halt at the +barred gate. Low, yet distinct she spoke a single name: "George!" And +without, in the alley, a voice answered: "I'm here! open, quick!" + +"Swear that you are alone!" + +"Oh, stop that damned nonsense! Of course I'm alone!" was the sullen +reply, and at the sound of the voice Loring seemed fairly to quiver. The +gate was unbarred. A man's form, slender and shadowy, squeezed in and +seemed peering cautiously about. "You got my note?" he began. "You know +what's happened?" + +But a woman's muffled scream was the answer. With a spring like a cat +Loring threw himself on the intruder and bore him down. In an instant +Folsom had barred the gate, and the woman, moaning, fell upon her knees. + +"Mercy! Mercy!" she cried. "It is all my fault. I sent for him." + +"Take your hands off, damn you, or you'll pay for this!" cried the +undermost man. "I'm Captain Newhall, of the army!" + +"You're a thief!" answered Loring, through his set teeth. "Hand over the +key of that safe!" + +The sound of hoof-beats at the front had suddenly ceased. There was a +sputter and scurry in the alley behind. Full half a dozen horses must +have gone tearing away to the east. Other lights were popping in the +windows now. Folsom's household was alarmed. Attracted by the scream and +the sound of scuffle, a man came hurrying toward them from the front. + +"Halt! Who are you?" challenged Folsom, covering him with his revolver. + +"Don't shoot. I'm Ned Lannion--just in from the ranch. Have you heard +anything of Hal, sir?" + +"Of Hal?" gasped Folsom, dropping his pistol in dismay. "In God's name, +what's wrong?" + +"God only knows, sir. Mrs. Hal's nigh crazy. He's been gone two days." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Five days later the women and children from Warrior Gap, most of them +bereaved, all of them unnerved by the experiences of that awful day, +arrived at old Fort Frayne, escorted by a strong command of infantry and +all that was left of the cavalry troop at the stockade. A sad procession +it was as it slowly forded the Platte and ascended the winding road to +the post, where sorrowing, sympathetic army women met and ministered to +them. With them, too, came such of the wounded as could be moved, and at +the head of the little squad of horse rode Lieutenant Dean, whom the +post commander and several officers greeted almost effusively. + +Yet almost the first question was, "Did you see any Indians?" + +"Not one," answered Dean. "They seem to have drawn away from the Big +Horn road entirely. Why do you ask?" he added anxiously. + +"There were signal fires out at Eagle Butte last night, and I've just +had a letter from old Folsom at the ranch on the Laramie. He begs us to +send a guard at once, and I haven't a horseman. There's been the devil +to pay at young Folsom's place." + +Dean's face went a shade paler. "What's happened?" he asked. + +"A dozen of his best horses run off by Birdsall's gang, probably to +replace those they lost in the flood, and Hal himself was shot and left +for dead in the hills. He'd have died but for an Ogallalla girl and a +couple of half-breeds who had a hunting lodge out near the Peak. There +are letters for you at the office." + +There were two--one from Loomis, at Emory; one from Jessie, of all +places in the world, at Folsom's ranch. This he read first. + + "We got here late night before last, after such an exciting + journey, Marshall dear," said she, "and I can't begin to tell you + all the strange things that have happened, for Mr. Folsom says the + messenger must start for Fort Frayne in twenty minutes. That + villain, Major Burleigh, who dared to speak ill of you, turned out + to be as bad as I ever said he was. They haven't caught him yet, + but they've got Captain Newhall. Mr. Folsom and Mr. Loring did + that--caught him in the backyard of our house, down by the gate, + and in some way Mrs. Fletcher induced him to come there, for he had + the key of the safe at the quartermaster's depot, and was going to + get the money Major Burleigh dared not take when he fled. I can't + understand it at all, and Pappoose doesn't like to talk about it. + But Mr. Folsom was robbed of lots of money by Major Burleigh. Mrs. + Fletcher is mixed up in it in such a queer way, I can't explain + how. She was nearly crazy when we came away, and Mr. Folsom was so + good and kind to her, left a nurse with her, and made her stay at + the house, although she wanted to pack her things and go to the + hotel or the jail, she didn't care which; but he wouldn't let her. + + "And right in the midst of it all Ned Lannion, who came with news + before, galloped in to tell how Halbert Folsom had been missing two + days and Mrs. Folsom was crazy with fear, so Mr. Folsom left + Lieutenant Loring to attend to all the matters about the robbery + and started at once for the ranch, and Pappoose, of course, + insisted on going with him, and I would not be left behind. And + here we are. Now I can see the hills where you had the fight and + wore Elinor's picture, and it was right out there among them that + Halbert was found. Horse thieves had run off his best horses--the + same gang of murderers that, they say, planned to trap you and that + you outwitted. Oh! Marshall, was ever a girl so proud of her + brother!--and they shot Hal and he was found and taken care of by + some Indian people, tame ones, and one was a girl, Lizette, who had + fallen in love with him four years ago. Wasn't it romantic? And + she's gone again, but Hal is safe here, although Mrs. Folsom is + more than half-crazy, and now old Mr. Folsom is worried to death, + and says we must start back for home to-morrow. It's seventy-five + miles and we don't want to go at all--only I'm so eager to see you, + and I heard--at least Mr. Loomis told me you'd be back any day, and + he has your troop till you come, and he's so fond of you--Oh, + here's Pappoose to say this must go at once." + +The colonel sat watching the young fellow as he read. "Bad news, Dean?" +he queried. + +"Every kind of news, sir. It's all a whirl. The devil seems to have +broken loose in Wyoming. Let me skim through Loomis' note. + + "DEAR DEAN: In case the letter sent yesterday passes you + on the way, I add a line to say that if ever I said a mean thing + about Loring when we were in the corps, I take it back. I thought + him a prig when we wore the gray. He rather 'held us under' anyhow, + being a class ahead, you know, but the way he has panned out here + and wiped up Wyoming with the only men I ever knew that tried to + wrong you is simply wonderful. He's nabbed three of the Birdsall + gang and is away now after Burleigh. The news from Folsom's ranch + is more reassuring. Hal was shot by horsethieves who were running + off stock, and was found and taken care of by friendly Indians, but + Mrs. Hal had an awful scare and sent for the old man, who went, of + course--both young ladies going with him. They were miles away + before we knew it at the fort. I tried to pursuade old Pecksniff + that he ought to let me go with twenty troopers to guard the ranch + and scout the Laramie, and he threatened to put me in arrest. Of + all the double-dashed, pig-headed old idiots he's the worst. I + don't want people at the ranch to be scared, but if the Sioux only + would make some demonstration this way that would give me a chance. + I'd try to earn a little of the reputation that you're winning, old + boy, and no man knows better how much you deserve it than + + "Your friend and classmate, HANK L." + + "P. S.--Loring took ten of the troop into the Black Hills to beat + up Burleigh, but he said if they struck Indian sign he meant to + make for Folsom's ranch. Now, if we could only meet there!" + +The sun was well down at the west. The day's march had been long and +tedious, as only cavalry marches are when long wagon trains have to be +escorted. Dean had not yet fully recovered strength, but anxiety lent +him energy. + +"If Mr. Folsom says there is need of cavalry guard at the Laramie, it is +because he dreads an other Indian visit, colonel. I have nine men in +good shape. Our horses are fresh, or will be after a few hours' rest. +May I push on to-night?" + +And to the young soldier's surprise the elder placed a trembling hand +upon his shoulder and looked him earnestly in the eyes. "Dean, my boy, +it's my belief you cannot start too soon. Do you know who Lizette is?" + +"I've heard the story," said Marshall briefly. "She must have been +hovering about there for some time." + +"Yes, and now her people know it, and it will rekindle their hatred. The +moment I heard of this I sent old Bat to watch the crossing at La Bonté. +Not an hour ago this came in by the hand of his boy," and the colonel +held out a scrap of paper. It a rude pictograph, a rough sketch, +map-like, of a winding river--another and smaller one separated from the +first by a chain of mountains. The larger one was decorated by a +flag-pole with stars and stripes at the top and a figure with musket and +bayonet at the bottom. The smaller one by a little house, with smoke +issuing from the chimney, and a woman beside it. Above all, its head +over the mountains pointing toward the house, its tail extending north +of the bigger stream, was a comet--the "totem" or sign of the Ogallalla +lover of Lizette. The story was told at a glance. Burning Star was +already south of the Platte and lurking in the mountains near Folsom's +ranch. + +That night, toward ten o'clock, an anxious council was held. Halbert +Folsom, fevered by his severe wound, was lying half-unconscious on his +bed, his unhappy wife wandering aimlessly about at times, wringing her +hands and weeping, evidently unbalanced by the terrors that had beset +her of late and the tidings of that awful Indian revenge along the Big +Horn. Silent, helpful, almost commanding, Elinor spent the hours +sometimes at her brother's bedside, then at that of her sister-in-law +when the poor creature could be induced to lie still a moment. The burly +little son and heir, long since sound asleep in his cradle, was watched +over by Jessie, whose heart fluttered in dread she dare not say of what. +Twice that afternoon she had seen whispered conferences between old +Folsom and Lannion. She knew that for some better reason than that he +was overpersuaded by Pappoose, Mr. Folsom had not carried out his +project of sending them back to Gate City. She saw that he made frequent +visits to the cellar and had changed the arrangement of the air ports. +She noted that the few ranch hands hung about the premises all day, +their rifles ever within reach, and that often Mr. Folsom took the +glasses and searched the road to Frayne. She saw that earth was being +heaped up in places against the ranch where the walls were thin or made +of boarding. She saw that water and provisions were being stored in the +cellar, and she knew that it could all mean only one thing--that the +Indians were again in force in the neighborhood, and that an Indian +siege was imminent. + +And all this time Pappoose, though very brave, was so still and so +intent upon her duties. Even when supper was served for the ranch people +in the kitchen that evening, as the sun went down, Jess noted that two +of the men kept constantly in saddle, riding round the buildings and +anxiously scanning the open prairie on every side. There were only six +men, all told now, including Folsom (of course not counting Hal, who was +defenseless), altogether too small a number to successfully protect so +large a knot of buildings against an insidious and powerful foe, and +even of these six there were two who seemed so unstrung by tidings of +the massacre as to be nearly nerveless. + +Darkness settled down upon the valley, and, though calm and collected, +Folsom seemed oppressed by the deepest anxiety. Every now and then he +would step forth into the night and make a circuit of the buildings, +exchange a word in low tone with some invisible guardian, for, heavily +armed, the employés were gathered at the main building, and the wife and +children of the chief herdsman were assigned to a room under its roof. +Particularly did Folsom pet and encourage the dogs, two of them splendid +mastiffs in whom Hal took unusual pride. Then he would return to his +son's bedside, bend anxiously over him and lay a loving hand on +Pappoose's lustrous hair. It must have been ten o'clock and a night wind +was rising, making the occasional cry of the coyotes even more weird and +querulous, when they heard the sudden, fierce challenge of Trooper, the +keenest, finest of the mastiffs, and instantly his bark was echoed by +the rush and scurry of every canine on the place. The men on the porch +sprang to their feet and Folsom hastened out to join them. The dogs had +charged in the darkness toward the northeast, and somewhere out in that +direction were now all furiously barking. Aloft the skies were heavily +clouded. The moon was banked and not a glimmer of light shone on earth +or heaven. Suddenly, afar out over the prairie, beyond where the dogs +were challenging, there was heard the sound of a pony's neigh, an eager +appeal for welcome and shelter, and Folsom sprang confidently forward, +his powerful tones calling off the dogs. They came back, growling, +sniffing, only half-satisfied, still bristling at the unseen visitor. +"War ponies never neigh," said Folsom. "Who are you, brothers--friends?" +he called, in the Sioux tongue, and a faint voice answered from the +darkness, a pony came loping dimly into view, almost running over him, +and in another minute an Indian girl, trembling with fear and +exhaustion, had toppled from the saddle and clasped the old trader's +hand. + +"Good God! Lizette," he cried, "you again? What is wrong?" for her head +was drooping, her knees giving way beneath her, as the poor child +whispered her answer: + +"Sioux coming--plenty braves! Hide--quick!" + +And Folsom bore her in his arms within. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Never unless sure of its ground and the weakness of the adversary does +the modern Indian band attack at night. Folsom and his people well knew +that. Yet not five minutes after the Indian girl, faint with exhaustion +and dread, was carried within doors, the big mastiff challenged again. +The dogs charged furiously out to the northeast and would not be +recalled. For nearly half an hour they kept up their angry clamor. Time +and again during the night, suspicious and excited, they dashed out +again and again, and once one of them, venturing further than his +fellows, broke suddenly into loud cries of mingled pain and rage, and +when at last he came whining piteously back to the ranch it was found +that he was bleeding from a gash along the flank, where an Indian arrow +had seared him. Only by fits and starts did any man sleep. Hour after +hour Folsom's little garrison was on the alert. The women had all been +moved to the deep, dry cellar, Mrs. Hal moaning over her baby, utterly +unnerved, Jessie silent, but white and tremulous; the herdsman's wife, +an Amazon, demanded the right to have a gun and fight by her husband's +side; Lizette, the Indian girl, faint and starved, asked nothing but to +be allowed to crouch at the door of the room where Halbert lay, fevered +and unconscious, and Pappoose, scorning danger, flitted from her +brother's bedside to her father's log-barricade at the east porch. In +dread anxiety the hours dragged by, and at last Lannion reached forth +his hand and pulled the shirt sleeve of his comrade Jake, half-dozing at +his side. In an instant the latter was kneeling at his post. "What is +it?" he queried, and Lannion, pointing to the first faint, pallid gleam +in the eastern sky, whispered: "Time to be up, man. It's coming." + +For half an hour, except for the rushing of the Laramie, a silence +almost unearthly had brooded over the prairie, and even the dogs seemed +lulled to sleep. But now, as the cold light crept slowly over the +distant range, and a soft flush began to overspread the pallor of the +dawn, far out over the valley the yelp of a coyote began again and all +men strained their ears and listened, while strong hands grabbed the +growling dogs and pinned them to earth, for, beginning at the east, the +cry was taken up on every side. Folsom's ranch seemed beleaguered by the +gaunt, half-famished wolves of the upland prairies. "Look to your +sights, now, men! Down into the cellar, Pappoose!" exclaimed Folsom, +kindling with fierce excitement. "I've been the friend of all that tribe +for thirty years, but when they break faith with me and mine that ends +it! Look to your sights and make every shot count!" he cautioned, as he +made the rounds of the little shelters thrown up during the past two +days. "We can stand off a hundred of 'em if you only keep your grit." + +Again the clamor as of coyotes ceased. It was only the Indian signal +"Ready," and every ranchman knew that with the rising sun, if not +before, the swoop would come. Again as the light broadened the dogs were +loosed and presently were challenging all four points of the compass. +The unseen foe was on every hand. + +Perched as it was on a little rise, the ranch stood forth conspicuous +over the valley. At the foot of the slope to the south lay the corral +and some of the buildings, about one hundred yards away, where the +shallow Laramie curled and lapped beneath their walls, and now the dogs +seemed to concentrate their attention on that side. Folsom, rifle in +hand, was kneeling on the porch, listening intently. Two of the hands +were with him. Jake and Lannion, experienced and reliable, had been +given independent posts on the other front, and just as objects could be +dimly recognized along the flats, there burst upon the ears of the +little garrison a sudden chorus of exultant yells. A tongue of flame +leaped upward from beyond the huts lately occupied by the ranchmen. The +half-used haystacks caught and held one moment the fiery messenger, and +then in a broad glare that reddened the flood of the Laramie for miles +and lighted up the ranch like a sunburst, gave forth a huge column of +blaze and smoke that could be seen far over the Black Hills of Wyoming, +and all the valley seemed to spring to instant life. On every side arose +the stirring war-cry of the Sioux, the swift beat of pony hoofs, the +ring of rifle, and brave John Folsom's heart sank within him as he +realized that here was no mere marauding party, but a powerful band +organized for deliberate vengeance. The Laramie plains were alive with +darting, yelling, painted horsemen, circling about the ranch, hemming it +in, cutting it off from the world. + +The bullets came whistling through the morning air, biting fiercely into +the solid logs, spattering the chinking, smashing pane after pane. Some +of the dogs came howling and whining back for shelter, though the +mastiffs held their ground, fiercely barking and bounding about, despite +the whistles and calls from the besieged who sought to save them to the +last, but not once as yet had the ranch replied with a shot. Down in the +cellar women clung together or clasped their wailing children and +listened fearfully to the clamor. In Hal's room the fevered sufferer +awoke from his stupor and, demanding his rifle, struggled to rise from +the bed, and there John Folsom found Pappoose, pale and determined, +bending over her weakened brother and holding him down almost as she +could have overpowered a child. Lifting his son in his strong arms, he +bore him to the cellar and laid him upon a couch of buffalo robes. +"Watch him here, my child," he said, as he clasped her in his arms one +moment. "But on no account let any one show above ground now. There are +more of them than I thought, yet there is hope for us. Somebody is +vexing them down the Laramie." + +Bounding up the steps, the veteran was almost back at his post upon the +porch when there came a sound that seemed to give the lie to his last +words and that froze the hope that had risen in his breast--the sudden +rumble and thunder of at least two hundred hoofs, the charging yell of +an Indian band, the sputter and bang of rifles close at hand, and then a +rush of feet, as, with faces agonized by fear, three of the men came +darting within. "It's all up! There's a million Indians!" they cried. +Two of the demoralized fellows plunged into the passage that led to the +cellar. One burst into childish wailing and clung to Folsom's knees. + +"Let go, you coward!" yelled the old man in fury, as he kicked himself +loose, then went bounding out upon the porch. God, what a sight! +Sweeping up the gentle slope, brandishing rifles and lances and +war-clubs, racing for their hapless prey, came fifty Ogallallas, Burning +Star among the leaders. Bullets could not stop them now. The two men who +had stood to their posts knelt grim and desperate, and Lannion's last +shot took effect. Within fifty yards of the walls Burning Star's rushing +pony went down on his nose, and in the fury of his pace, turned sudden +and complete somersault, crushing his red rider under him, and +stretching him senseless on the turf. An inspiration, almost God given, +seemed to flash upon the old trader at the instant. Bareheaded, in his +shirt sleeves, throwing upward and forward his empty hands, he sprang +out as though to meet and rebuke his assailants. "Hold!" he cried, in +the tongue he knew so well "Are my brothers crazed? Look! I am no enemy +It is your friend! It is old John!" And even in the rage of their +charge, many Indians at sight of him veered to right and left; many +reined up short within ten paces of the unarmed man; two sprang from +their ponies and threw themselves between him and their brethren, +shouting to be heard. And then in the midst of furious discussion, some +Indians crying out for the blood of all at the ranch in revenge for +Chaska, some demanding instant surrender of every woman there in +expiation for Lizette, some urging that old John be given respectful +hearing, but held prisoner, there came lashing into their midst a young +brave, crying aloud and pointing down the now well-lighted valley where, +darting about a mile away, a few Indians were evidently striving to head +off the coming of some hostile force. Leaving two or three of their +number trying to restore consciousness to the stricken chief, and a +dozen, Folsom's advocates among them, to hold possession of the ranch, +away scurried most of the warriors at top speed to the aid of their +outlying scouts. + +Meantime, under cover of the fierce argument, Jake and Lannion had +managed to crawl back within the building. Folsom himself, in such calm +as he could command, stood silent while his captors wrangled. The +warriors who pleaded for him were Standing Elk, a sub chief of note, +whose long attachment to Folsom was based on kindnesses shown him when a +young man, the other was Young-Shows-the-Road, son of a chief who had +guided more than one party of whites through the lands of the Sioux +before the bitterness of war arose between the races. They had loved +Folsom for years and would not desert him now in the face of popular +clamor. Yet even their influence would have failed but for the sound +that told of hotter conflict still among the foothills along the +opposite side of the valley. With straining ears, Folsom listened, hope +and fear alternating in his breast. The mingling yells and volleying +told that the issue was in doubt. Man after man of his captors galloped +away until not half a dozen were left. Now, Jake and Lannion could have +shot them down and borne him within, but to what good? Escape from the +ranch itself was impossible! Such action would only intensify the Indian +hate and make more horrible the Indian vengeance. For twenty minutes the +clamor continued, then seemed to die gradually away, and, with fury in +their faces, back at full gallop came a dozen of the braves. One glance +was enough. They had penned their foe among the rocks, but not without +the loss of several at least of their band, for the foremost rode with +brandished war-club straight at Folsom, and despite the leap of his two +champions to save, felled the old trader with one stunning blow, then +gave the savage order to burn the ranch. + +By this time the sun was just peering into the valley. The smoke and +flame from the corral were dying or drifting away. Eagerly half a dozen +young braves rushed for faggots and kindling with which to do his +bidding, and a cry of despair went up from within the walls. Recklessly +now Lannion and his comrade opened fire from the loopholes and shot down +two of the dancing furies without, sending every other Indian to the +nearest cover. But the arrows that came whistling speedily were +firebrands. The besiegers gained in force with every moment. Poor old +Folsom, slowly regaining senses as he lay bound and helpless down by the +stream, whither his captors had borne him, heard the jeers and shouts of +triumph with which the Indians within the corral were rapidly making +their fire darts, when suddenly there rose on the morning air a sound +that stilled all others, a sound to which the Indians listened in +superstitious awe, a sound that stopped the hands that sought to burn +out the besieged and paralyzed just long enough all inspiration of +attack. Some of the Indians, indeed, dropped their arms, others sprang +to the ponies as though to take to flight. It was the voice of Lizette, +chanting the death song of the Sioux. + +An hour later, once more in force, the band was gathered for its rush +upon the ranch. Jake, gallant fellow, lay bleeding at his post. Hope of +every kind was well-nigh dead. The silence without was only portent of +the storm so soon to burst. Pappoose, grasping her brother's rifle, +crouched facing the narrow entrance to the cellar. Jessie clung to the +baby, for Mrs. Hal, only dimly conscious, was moaning by her husband's +side, while Lizette in silence was kneeling, watching them with strange +glitter in her eyes. Suddenly she started, and with hand to ear, +listened intently. Then she sprang to an air port and crouched there, +quivering. Then again the ground began to tremble under the distant +thunder of pony feet, louder and louder every second. Again came the +rush of the Indian braves, but with it no exultant yell, only cries of +warning, and as this sound swept over and beyond their walls, there +followed another, the distant, deep-throated trooper cheer, the crack of +carbine, the rising thunder of the cavalry gallop, and then the voice of +Ned Lannion rang jubilantly over the dull clamor. + +"Up! Up, everybody! Thank God, it's Dean and the boys!" + + * * * * * + +Long years after, in the camps and stockades and the growing towns of +the far West that almost marvelous rescue was the theme of many an +hour's talk. The number of men who took part in it, the number of hardy +fellows who personally guided the troops or else stood shoulder to +shoulder with Ned Lannion at the last triumphant moment, increased so +rapidly with the growing moons that in time the only wonder was that +anything was left of the Sioux. Official records, however, limited the +number of officers and men engaged to a select few, consisting entirely +of Lieutenant Loring, United States Engineers, Lieutenant Loomis, --th +Infantry, a few men from scattered troops, "pickups" at Frayne and +Emory, with Lieutenant Marshall Dean and fifty rank and file of Company +"C." + +Loring, it will be remembered, had taken a small detachment from Emory +and gone into the hills in search of Burleigh. Loomis, fretting at the +fort, was later electrified by a most grudgingly given order to march to +the Laramie and render such aid as might be required by the engineer +officer of the department. Dean, with only fifteen men all told, had +dashed from Frayne straight for the ranch, and, marching all night, had +come in sight of the valley just as it was lighted afar to the eastward +by the glare of the burning buildings. "We thought it was all over," +said he, as he lay there weak and languid, a few days later, for the +wound reopened in the rush of the fight, "but we rode on to the Laramie, +and there, God be thanked! fell in with Loomis here and "C" Troop, +heading for the fire. No words can tell you our joy when we found the +ranch still standing and some forty Sioux getting ready for the final +dash. That running fight, past the old home, and down the valley where +we stirred up Loring's besiegers and sent them whirling too--why, I'd +give a fortune, if I had it, to live it over again!" + +But Loring, after all, had the most thrilling story to tell--of how he +wormed a clew to Burleigh's hiding place out of a captured outlaw and +beat up the party in a nook of the hills, nabbed the major asleep, but +was warned that all the Birdsall "outfit" would rally to the rescue, and +so sent a courier to Emory for "C" Troop, and, making wide _détour_ to +avoid the gang, ran slap into the Sioux in the act of firing Folsom's +ranch. Then he had to take to the rocks in the fight that followed, and +had a desperate siege of a few hours, even Burleigh having to handle a +gun and fight for his life. "I spotted him for a coward that day we +stumbled on Red Cloud's band up by the Big Horn. You remember it, Dean, +I thought him a villain when I learned how he was trying to undermine +you. Time proved him a thief and a scoundrel, but, peace to his ashes, +he died like a gentleman after all, with two Indian bullets through him, +and just as rescue came. He had time to make full confession, and it was +all pretty much as I suspected. The note Dean picked up at Reno, that so +stampeded him, told how a blackmailing scoundrel was on his way to Emory +to expose him unless headed off by further huge payments. It was the +fellow who called himself Newhall." + +"The fellow who gave the tip to Birdsall's people?" said old Folsom at +this juncture, raising a bandaged head from his daughter's lap. "Who was +he, really?" + +"Burleigh knew all the time and I suspected the moment I heard Miss +Folsom's description, and was certain the instant I laid eyes on him. He +was a rascally captain cashiered at Yuma the year before, and I was +judge advocate of the court." + +"And Mrs. Fletcher?" asked Pappoose, extending one hand to Jess, while +the other smoothed the gray curls on her fathers forehead. + +"Mrs. Fletcher was his deserted wife, one of those women who have known +better days." + +The ranch is still there, or was twenty years ago, but even then the +Sioux were said to raise more hair in the neighborhood than Folsom did +cattle. The old trader had been gathered to his fathers, and Mrs. Hal to +hers, for she broke down utterly after the events of '68. Neither +Pappoose nor Jessie cared to revisit the spot for some time, yet, oddly +enough, both have done so more than once. The first time its chronicler +ever saw it was in company with a stalwart young captain of horse and +his dark-eyed, beautiful wife nine years after the siege. Hal met us, a +shy, silent fellow, despite his inches. "Among other things," said he, +"Lieutenant and Mrs. Loomis are coming next week. I wish you might all +be here to meet them." + +"I know," said Mrs. Dean, "we are to meet at Cheyenne. But, Hal, where's +your wife?" + +He looked shyer still. "She don't like to meet folks unless----" + +"There's no unless about it," said the lady with all her old decision as +she sprang from the ambulance, and presently reappeared, leading by the +hand, reluctant, yet not all unhappy, Lizette. Some people said Hal +Folsom had no business to marry an Indian girl before his wife was dead +three years, but all who knew Lizette said he did perfectly right, at +least Pappoose did, and that settled it. As for Loring--But that's +enough for one story. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Warrior Gap, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARRIOR GAP *** + +***** This file should be named 20082-8.txt or 20082-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/0/8/20082/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +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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A.. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Warrior Gap, 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: Warrior Gap + A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68. + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: December 10, 2006 [EBook #20082] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARRIOR GAP *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + + + +<h1>Warrior Gap</h1> + +<h3>A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68.</h3> + +<h2>BY GENERAL CHARLES KING, U. S. A.</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF "Fort Frayne," "An Army Wife," "Trumpeter Fred," "Found in the +Philippines," "A Wounded Name," "Noble Blood and a West Point Parallel," +"A Garrison Tangle," etc., etc.</h4> + +<h4>THE HOBART COMPANY,<br /> +New York City.</h4> + + +<h4>Copyrighted 1898, by<br /> +F. Tennyson Neely.</h4> + +<h4>Copyrighted, 1901, by<br /> +The Hobart Company.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WARRIOR GAP.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>Riding at ease in the lazy afternoon sunshine a single troop of cavalry +was threading its way in long column of twos through the bold and +beautiful foothills of the Big Horn. Behind them, glinting in the +slanting rays, Cloud Peak, snow clad still although it was late in May, +towered above the pine-crested summits of the range. To the right and +left of the winding trail bare shoulders of bluff, covered only by the +dense carpet of bunch grass, jutted out into the comparative level of +the eastward plain. A clear, cold, sparkling stream, on whose banks the +little command had halted for a noontide rest, went rollicking away +northeastward, and many a veteran trooper looked longingly, even +regretfully, after it, and then cast a gloomy glance over the barren and +desolate stretch ahead. Far as the eye could reach in that direction the +earth waves heaved and rolled in unrelieved monotony to the very sky +line, save where here and there along the slopes black herds or +scattered dots of buffalo were grazing unvexed by hunters red or white, +for this was thirty years ago, when, in countless thousands, the bison +covered the westward prairies, and there were officers who forbade their +senseless slaughter to make food only for the worthless, prowling +coyotes. No wonder the trooper hated to leave the foothills of the +mountains, with the cold, clear trout streams and the bracing air, to +take to long days' marching over dull waste and treeless prairie, +covered only by sage brush, rent and torn by dry ravines, shadeless, +springless, almost waterless, save where in unwholesome hollows dull +pools of stagnant water still held out against the sun, or, further +still southeast among the "breaks" of the many forks of the South +Cheyenne, on the sandy flats men dug for water for their suffering +horses, yet shrank from drinking it themselves lest their lips should +crack and bleed through the shriveling touch of the alkali.</p> + +<p>Barely two years a commissioned officer, the young lieutenant at the +head of column rode buoyantly along, caring little for the landscape, +since with every traversed mile he found himself just that much nearer +home. Twenty-five summers, counting this one coming, had rolled over his +curly head, and each one had seemed brighter, happier than the last, all +but the one he spent as a hard-worked "plebe" at the military academy. +His graduation summer two years previous was a glory to him, as well as +to a pretty sister, young and enthusiastic enough to think a brother in +the regulars, just out of West Point, something to be made much of, and +Jessie Dean had lost no opportunity of spoiling her soldier or of +wearying her school friends through telling of his manifold perfections. +He was a manly, stalwart, handsome fellow as young graduates go, and old +ones wish they might go over again. He was a fond and not too teasing +kind of brother. He wasn't the brightest fellow in the class by thirty +odd, and had barely scraped through one or two of his examinations, but +Jessie proudly pointed to the fact that much more than half the class +had "scraped off" entirely, and therefore that those who succeeded in +getting through at all were paragons, especially Brother Marshall. But +girls at that school had brothers of their own, girls who had never seen +West Point or had the cadet fever, and were not impressed with young +officers as painted by so indulgent a sister. Most of the girls had +tired of Jessie's talks, and some had told her so, but there was one who +had been sympathetic from the start—a far Western, friendless sort of +girl she was when first she entered school, uncouthly dressed, +wretchedly homesick and anything but companionable, and yet Jessie +Dean's kind heart had warmed to this friendless waif and she became her +champion, her ally, and later, much to her genuine surprise, almost her +idol. It presently transpired that "the Pappoose," as the girls +nicknamed her because it was learned that she had been rocked in an +Indian cradle and had long worn moccasins instead of shoes (which +accounted for her feet being so much finer in their shape than those of +her fellows), was quick and intelligent beyond her years, that, though +apparently hopelessly behind in all their studies at the start, and +provoking ridicule and sneers during the many weeks of her loneliness +and home-longing, she suddenly began settling to her work with grim +determination, surprising her teachers and amazing her mates by the vim +and originality of her methods, and, before the end of the year, +climbing for the laurels with a mental strength and agility that put +other efforts to the blush. Then came weeks of bliss spent with a doting +father at Niagara, the seashore and the Point—a dear old dad as ill at +ease in Eastern circles as his daughter had been at first at school, +until he found himself welcomed with open arms to the officers' +mess-rooms at the Point, for John Folsom was as noted a frontiersman as +ever trod the plains, a man old officers of the cavalry and infantry +knew and honored as "a square trader" in the Indian country—a man whom +the Indians themselves loved and trusted far and wide, and when a man +has won the trust and faith of an Indian let him grapple it to his +breast as a treasure worth the having, great even as "the heart love of +a child." Sioux, Shoshone and Cheyenne, they would turn to "Old John" in +their councils, their dealings, their treaties, their perplexities, for +when he said a thing was right and square their doubts were gone, and +there at the Point the now well-to-do old trader met men who had known +him in by-gone days at Laramie and Omaha, and there his pretty +schoolgirl daughter met her bosom friend's big brother Marshall, a first +classman in all his glory, dancing with damsels in society, while she +was but a maiden shy in short dresses. Oh, how Jess had longed to be of +that party to the Point, but her home was in the far West, her father +long dead and buried, her mother an invalid, and the child was needed +there. Earnestly had old Folsom written, begging that she who had been +so kind to his little girl should be allowed to visit the seashore and +the Point with him and "Pappoose," as he laughingly referred to her, +adopting the school name given by the girls; but they were proud people, +were the Deans, and poor and sensitive. They thanked Mr. Folsom warmly. +"Jessie was greatly needed at her home this summer," was the answer; but +Folsom somehow felt it was because they dreaded to accept courtesies +they could not repay in kind.</p> + +<p>"As if I could ever repay Jess for all the loving kindness to my little +girl in her loneliness," said he. No, there was no delicious visiting +with Pappoose that summer, but with what eager interest had she not +devoured the letters telling of the wonderful sights the little far +Westerner saw—the ocean, the great Niagara, the beautiful Point in the +heart of the Highlands, but, above all, that crowned monarch, that +plumed knight, that incomparable big brother, Cadet Captain Marshall +Dean. Yes, he had come to call the very evening of their arrival. He had +escorted them out, Papa and Pappoose, to hear the band playing on the +Plain. He had made her take his arm, "a schoolgirl in short dresses," +and promenaded with her up and down the beautiful, shaded walks, +thronged with ladies, officers and cadets, while some old cronies took +father away to the mess for a julep, and Mr. Dean had introduced some +young girls, professors' daughters, and they had come and taken her +driving and to tea, and she had seen him every day, many times a day, at +guard mounting, drill, pontooning or parade, or on the hotel piazzas, +but only to look at or speak to for a minute, for of course she was +"only a child," and there were dozens of society girls, young ladies, to +whom he had to be attentive, especially a very stylish Miss Brockway, +from New York, with whom he walked and danced a great deal, and whom the +other girls tried to tease about him. Pappoose didn't write it in so +many words, but Jessie, reading those letters between the lines and +every which way, could easily divine that Pappoose didn't fancy Miss +Brockway at all. And then had come a wonderful day, a wonderful thing, +into the schoolgirl's life. No less than twelve pages did +sixteen-year-old Pappoose take to tell it, and when a girl finds time to +write a twelve-page letter from the Point she has more to tell than she +can possibly contain. Mr. Dean had actually invited her—<i>her</i>, Elinor +Merchant Folsom—Winona, as they called her when she was a toddler among +the tepees of the Sioux—Pappoose as the girls had named her at +school—"Nell," as Jessie called her—sweetest name of all despite the +ring of sadness that ever hangs about it—and Daddy had actually smiled +and approved her going to the midweek hop on a cadet captain's broad +chevroned arm, and she had worn her prettiest white gown, and the girls +had brought her roses, and Mr. Dean had called for her before all the +big girls, and she had gone off with him, radiant, and he had actually +made out her card for her, and taken three dances himself, and had +presented such pleasant fellows—first classmen and "yearlings." There +was Mr. Billings, the cadet adjutant, and Mr. Ray, who was a cadet +sergeant "out on furlough" and kept back, but such a beautiful dancer, +and there was the first captain, such a witty, brilliant fellow, who +only danced square dances, and several cadet corporals, all hop +managers, in their red sashes. Why, she was just the proudest girl in +the room! And when the drum beat and the hop broke up she couldn't +believe she'd been there an hour and three-quarters, and then Mr. Dean +escorted her back to the hotel, and Daddy had smiled and looked on and +told him he must come into the cavalry when he graduated next June, and +he'd show him the Sioux country and Pappoose would teach him the Indian +dances. It was all simply lovely. Of course she knew it was all due to +Jessie that her splendid big brother should give up a whole evening from +his lady friends. (Miss Brockway spoke so patronizingly to her in the +hall when the girls were all talking together after the cadets had +scurried away to answer tattoo roll-call.) Of course she understood that +if it hadn't been for Jessie none of the cadets would have taken the +slightest notice of her, a mere chit, with three years of school still +ahead of her. But all the same it was something to live over and over +again, and dream of over and over again, and the seashore seemed very +stupid after the Point. Next year—next June—when Marshall graduated +Jessie was to go and see that wonderful spot, and go she did with +Pappoose, too, and though it was all as beautiful as Pappoose had +described, and the scene and the music and the parades and all were +splendid, there was no deliriously lovely hop, for in those days there +could be no dancing in the midst of examinations. There was only the one +great ball given by the second to the graduating class, and Marshall had +so many, many other and older girls to dance with and say good-by to he +had only time for a few words with his sister and her shy, silent little +friend with the big brown eyes to whom he had been so kind the previous +summer, when there were three hops a week and not so many hoppers in +long dresses. Still, Marshall had one dance with each and introduced +nice boys from the lower classes, and it was all very well, only not +what Pappoose had painted, and Jessie couldn't help thinking and saying +it might all have been so much sweeter if it hadn't been for that odious +Miss Brockway, about whom Marshall hovered altogether too much, but, +like the little Indian the girls sometimes said she was, Pappoose looked +on and said nothing.</p> + +<p>All the same, Mr. Dean had had a glorious graduation summer of it, +though Jessie saw too little of him, and Pappoose nothing at all after +the breakup of the class. In September the girls returned to school, +friends as close as ever, even though a little cloud overshadowed the +hitherto unbroken confidences, and Marshall joined the cavalry, as old +Folsom had suggested, and took to the saddle, the prairie, the bivouac, +and buffalo hunt as though native and to the manner born. They were +building the Union Pacific then, and he and his troop, with dozens of +others scattered along the line, were busy scouting the neighborhood, +guarding the surveyors, the engineers, and finally the track-layers, for +the jealous red men swarmed in myriads all along the way, lacking only +unanimity, organization, and leadership to enable them to defeat the +enterprise. And then when the whistling engines passed the forks of the +Platte and began to climb up the long slope of the Rockies to Cheyenne +and Sherman Pass, the trouble and disaffection spread to tribes far more +numerous and powerful further to the north and northwest; and there rose +above the hordes of warriors a chief whose name became the synonym for +deep rooted and determined hostility to the whites—Machpealota (Red +Cloud)—and old John Folsom, he whom the Indians loved and trusted, grew +anxious and troubled, and went from post to post with words of warning +on his tongue.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he said to the commissioners who came to treat with the +Sioux whose hunting grounds adjoined the line of the railway, "it's all +very well to have peace with these people here. It is wise to cultivate +the friendship of such chiefs as Spotted Tail and +Old-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses but there are irreconcilables beyond them, +far more numerous and powerful, who are planning, preaching war this +minute. Watch Red Cloud, Red Dog, Little Big Man. Double, treble your +garrisons at the posts along the Big Horn; get your women and children +out of them, or else abandon the forts entirely. I know those warriors +well. They outnumber you twenty to one. Reinforce your garrisons without +delay or get out of that country, one of the two. Draw everything south +of the Platte while yet there is time."</p> + +<p>But wiseacres at Washington said the Indians were peaceable, and all +that was needed was a new post and another little garrison at Warrior +Gap, in the eastward foothills of the range. Eight hundred thousand +dollars would build it, "provided the labor of the troops was utilized," +and leave a good margin for the contractors and "the Bureau." And it was +to escort the quartermaster and engineer officer and an aide-de-camp on +preliminary survey that "C" Troop of the cavalry, Captain Brooks +commanding, had been sent on the march from the North Platte at Frayne +to the headwaters of the Powder River in the Hills, and with it went its +new first lieutenant, Marshall Dean.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>Promotion was rapid in the cavalry in those days, so soon after the war. +Indians contributed largely to the general move, but there were other +causes, too. Dean had served little over a year as second lieutenant in +a troop doing duty along the lower Platte, when vacancies occurring gave +him speedy and unlooked-for lift. He had met Mr. Folsom only once. The +veteran trader had embarked much of his capital in business at Gate City +beyond the Rockies, but officers from Fort Emory, close to the new +frontier town, occasionally told him he had won a stanch friend in that +solid citizen.</p> + +<p>"You ought to get transferred to Emory," they said. "Here's the band, +half a dozen pretty girls, hops twice a week, hunts and picnics all +through the spring and summer in the mountains, fishing <i>ad libitum</i>, +and lots of fun all the year around." But Dean's ears were oddly deaf. A +classmate let fall the observation that it was because of a New York +girl who had jilted him that Dean had forsworn society and stuck to a +troop in the field: but men who knew and served with the young fellow +found him an enthusiast in his profession, passionately fond of cavalry +life in the open, a bold rider, a keen shot and a born hunter. Up with +the dawn day after day, in saddle long hours, scouting the divides and +ridges, stalking antelope and black-tail deer, chasing buffalo, he lived +a life that hardened every muscle, bronzed the skin, cleared the eye and +brain, and gave to even monotonous existence a "verve" and zest the +dawdlers in those old-time garrisons never knew.</p> + +<p>All the long summer of the year after his graduation, from mid-April +until November, he never once slept beneath a wooden roof, and more +often than not the sky was his only canopy. That summer, too, Jessie +spent at home, Pappoose with her most of the time, and one year more +would finish them at the reliable old Ohio school. By that time Folsom's +handsome new home would be in readiness to receive his daughter at Gate +City. By that time, too, Marshall might hope to have a leave and come in +to Illinois to welcome his sister and gladden his mother's eyes. But +until then, the boy had said to himself, he'd stick to the field, and +the troop that had the roughest work to do was the one that best suited +him, and so it had happened that by the second spring of his service in +the regiment no subaltern was held in higher esteem by senior officers +or regarded with more envy by the lazy ones among the juniors than the +young graduate, for those, too, were days in which graduates were few +and far between, except in higher grades. Twice had he ridden in the +dead of winter the devious trail through the Medicine Bow range to +Frayne. Once already had he been sent the long march to and from the Big +Horn, and when certain officers were ordered to the mountains early in +the spring to locate the site of the new post at Warrior Gap, Brooks's +troop, as has been said, went along as escort and Brooks caught mountain +fever in the Hills, or some such ailment, and made the home trip in the +ambulance, leaving the active command of "C" Troop to his subaltern.</p> + +<p>With the selection of the site Dean had nothing to do. Silently he +looked on as the quartermaster, the engineer, and a staff officer from +Omaha paced off certain lines, took shots with their instruments at +neighboring heights, and sampled the sparkling waters of the Fork. Two +companies of infantry, sent down from further posts along the northern +slopes of the range, had stacked their arms and pitched their "dog +tents," and vigilant vedettes and sentries peered over every commanding +height and ridge to secure the invaders against surprise. Invaders they +certainly were from the Indian point of view, for this was Indian Story +Land, the most prized, the most beautiful, the most prolific in fish and +game in all the continent. Never had the red man clung with such +tenacity to any section of his hunting grounds as did the Northern Sioux +to this, the north and northeast watershed of the Big Horn Range. Old +Indian fighters among the men shook their heads when the quartermaster +selected a level bench as the site on which to begin the stockade that +was to enclose the officers' quarters and the barracks, storehouse and +magazine, and ominously they glanced at one another and then at the +pine-skirted ridge that rose, sharp and sudden, against the sky, not +four hundred yards away, dominating the site entirely.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't like the job of clearing away the gang of Indians that +might seize that ridge," said Dean, when later asked by the engineer +what he thought of it, and Dean had twice by that time been called upon +to help "hustle" Indians out of threatening positions, and knew whereof +he spoke.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't worry over things you're never likely to have to do," said +the quartermaster, with sarcastic emphasis, and he was a man who never +yet had had to face a foeman in the field, and Dean said nothing more, +but felt right well he had no friend in Major Burleigh.</p> + +<p>They left the infantry there to guard the site and protect the gang of +woodchoppers set to work at once, then turned their faces homeward. They +had spent four days and nights at the Gap, and the more the youngster +saw of the rotund quartermaster the less he cared to cultivate him. A +portly, heavily built man was he, some forty years of age, a widower, +whose children were at their mother's old home in the far East, a +business man with a keen eye for opportunities and investments, a fellow +who was reputed to have stock in a dozen mines and kindred enterprises, +a knowing hand who drove fast horses and owned quite a stable, a sharp +hand who played a thriving game of poker, and had no compunctions as to +winning. Officers at Emory were fighting shy of him. He played too big a +game for their small pay and pockets, and the men with whom he took his +pleasure were big contractors or well-known "sports" and gamblers, who +in those days thronged the frontier towns and most men did them homage. +But on this trip Burleigh had no big gamblers along and missed his +evening game, and, once arrived at camp along the Fork, he had "roped +in" some of the infantry officers, but Brooks and the engineer declined +to play, and so had Dean from the very start.</p> + +<p>"All true cavalrymen ought to be able to take a hand at poker," sneered +Burleigh, at the first night's camp, for here was a pigeon really worth +the plucking, thought he. Dean's life in the field had been so simple +and inexpensive that he had saved much of his slender pay; but, what +Burleigh did not know, he had sent much of it home to mother and Jess.</p> + +<p>"I know several men who would have been the better for leaving it +alone," responded Dean very quietly. They rubbed each other the wrong +way from the very start, and this was bad for the boy, for in those +days, when army morals were less looked after than they are now, men of +Burleigh's stamp, with the means to entertain and the station to enable +them to do it, had often the ear of officers from headquarters, and more +things were told at such times to generals and colonels about their +young men than the victims ever suspected. Burleigh was a man of +position and influence, and knew it. Dean was a youngster without +either, and did not realize it. He had made an enemy of the +quartermaster on the trip and could not but know it. Yet, conscious that +he had said nothing that was wrong, he felt no disquiet.</p> + +<p>And now, homeward bound, he was jogging contentedly along at the head of +the troop. Scouts and flankers signaled "all clear." Not a hostile +Indian had they seen since leaving the Gap. The ambulances with a little +squad of troopers had hung on a few moments at the noon camp, hitching +slowly and leisurely that their passengers might longer enjoy their post +prandial siesta in the last shade they would see until they reached +Cantonment Reno, a long day's ride away. Presently the lively mule teams +would come along the winding trail at spanking trot. Then the troop +would open out to right and left and let them take the lead, giving the +dust in exchange, and once more the rapid march would begin.</p> + +<p>It was four <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> when the shadows of the mules' ears and heads +came jerking into view beside him, and, guiding his horse to the right, +Dean loosed rein and prepared to trot by the open doorway of the stout, +black-covered wagon. The young engineer officer, sitting on the front +seat, nodded cordially to the cavalryman. He had known and liked him at +the Point. He had sympathized with him in the vague difference with the +quartermaster. He had had to listen to sneering things Burleigh was +telling the aide-de-camp about young linesmen in general and Dean in +particular, stocking the staff officer with opinions which he hoped and +intended should reach the department commander's ears. The engineer +disbelieved, but was in no position to disprove. His station was at +Omaha, far from the scene of cavalry exploits in fort or field. +Burleigh's office and depot were in this new, crowded, bustling frontier +town, filled with temptation to men so far removed from the influences +of home and civilization, and Burleigh doubtless saw and knew much to +warrant his generalities. But he knew no wrong of Dean, for that young +soldier, as has been said, had spent all but a few mid-winter months at +hard, vigorous work in the field, had been to Gate City and Fort Emory +only twice, and then under orders that called for prompt return to +Frayne. Any man with an eye for human nature could see at a glance, as +Dean saw, that both the aid and his big friend, the quartermaster, had +been exchanging comments at the boy's expense. He had shouted a cheery +salutation to the engineer in answer to his friendly nod, then turned in +saddle and looked squarely at the two on the back seat, and the +constraint in their manner, the almost sullen look in their faces, told +the story without words.</p> + +<p>It nettled Dean—frank, outspoken, straightforward as he had always +been. He hated any species of backbiting, and he had heard of Burleigh +as an adept in the art, and a man to be feared. Signaling to his +sergeant to keep the column opened out, as the prairie was almost level +now on every side, he rode swiftly on, revolving in his mind how to meet +and checkmate Burleigh's insidious moves, for instinctively he felt he +was already at work. The general in command in those days was not a +field soldier by any means. His office was far away at the banks of the +Missouri, and all he knew of what was actually going on in his +department he derived from official written reports; much that was +neither official nor reliable he learned from officers of Burleigh's +stamp, and Dean had never yet set eyes on him. In the engineer he felt +he had a friend on whom he could rely, and he determined to seek his +counsel at the campfire that very night, meantime to hold his peace.</p> + +<p>They were trotting through a shallow depression at the moment, the two +spring-wagons guarded and escorted by some thirty dusty, hardy-looking +troopers. In the second, the yellow ambulance, Brooks was stretched at +length, taking it easy, an attendant jogging alongside. Behind them came +a third, a big quartermaster's wagon, drawn by six mules and loaded with +tentage and rations. Out some three hundred yards to the right and left +rode little squads as flankers. Out beyond them, further still, often +cut off from view by low waves of prairie, were individual troopers +riding as lookouts, while far to the front, full six hundred yards, +three or four others, spreading over the front on each side of the +twisting trail, moved rapidly from crest to crest, always carefully +scanning the country ahead before riding up to the summit. And now, as +Dean's eyes turned from his charges to look along the sky line to the +east, he saw sudden sign of excitement and commotion at the front. A +sergeant, riding with two troopers midway between him and those foremost +scouts, was eagerly signaling to him with his broad-brimmed hat. Three +of the black dots along the gently rising slope far ahead had leaped +from their mounts and were slowly crawling forward, while one of them, +his horse turned adrift and contentedly nibbling at the buffalo grass, +was surely signaling that there was mischief ahead.</p> + +<p>In an instant the lieutenant was galloping out to the front, cautioning +the driver to come on slowly. Presently he overhauled the sergeant and +bade him follow, and together the four men darted on up the gradual +incline until within ten yards of where the leaders' horses were +placidly grazing. There they threw themselves from saddle; one of the +men took the reins of the four horses while Dean and the other two, +unslinging carbine and crouching low, went hurriedly on up the slope +until they came within a few yards of the nearest scout.</p> + +<p>"Indians!" he called to them as soon as they were within earshot. "But +they don't seem to be on lookout for us at all. They're fooling with +some buffalo over here."</p> + +<p>Crawling to the crest, leaving his hat behind, Dean peered over into the +swale beyond and this was what he saw.</p> + +<p>Half a mile away to the east the low, concave sweep of the prairie was +cut by the jagged banks and curves of a watercourse which drained the +melting snows in earlier spring. Along the further bank a dozen buffalo +were placidly grazing, unconscious of the fact that in the shallow, dry +ravine itself half a dozen young Indians—Sioux, apparently—were +lurking, awaiting the nearer coming of the herd, whose leaders, at +least, were gradually approaching the edge. Away down to the northeast, +toward the distant Powder River, the shallow stream bed trended, and, +following the pointing finger of the scout who crawled to his side, Dean +gazed and saw a confused mass of slowly moving objects, betrayed for +miles by the light cloud of dust that hovered over them, covering many +an acre of the prairie, stretching far away down the vale. Even before +he could unsling his field glass and gaze, his plains-craft told him +what was slowly, steadily approaching, as though to cross his front—an +Indian village, a big one, on the move to the mountains, bound perhaps +for the famous racecourse of the Sioux, a grand amphitheater in the +southern hills.</p> + +<p>And even as they gazed, two tiny jets of flame and smoke shot from the +ravine edge there below them, and before the dull reports could reach +their ears the foremost bison dropped on his knees and then rolled over +on the sod; and then came the order, at sound of which, back among the +halted troopers, every carbine leaped from its socket.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>Down along the building railway in the valley or the Platte there had +been two years of frequent encounter with small bands of Indians. Down +along the Smoky Hill, in Kansas, the Cheyennes were ever giving trouble. +Even around Laramie and Frayne, on the North Platte, settlers and +soldiers had been murdered, as well as one or two officers, caught alone +out hunting, and the Indians were, of course, the perpetrators. +Nevertheless, it had been the policy of the leaders of the Northern +Sioux to avoid any meeting in force and to deny the complicity of their +people in the crimes committed. Supply trains to Reno, Kearney and C. F. +Smith, the Big Horn posts of the Bozeman Trail went to and fro with +guards of only moderate size. Officers had taken their wives and +children to these far-away stations. The stockades were filled with +soldiers' families. Big bands of Indians roamed the lovely valleys of +the Piney, the Tongue, and Rosebud, near at hand, and rode into full +view of the wary sentries at the stockades, yet made no hostile +demonstration. Officers and men went far up the rocky cañons of the +hills in search of fish or game, and came back unmolested. Escorts +reported that they sometimes marched all day long side by side with +hunting bands of Sioux, a mile away; and often little parties, squaws +and boys and young men, would ride confidently over and beg for sugar, +coffee, hardtack—anything, and ride off with their plunder in the best +of spirits and with all apparent good feeling. And yet the great +war-chief of the Brulés—Sintogaliska—Spotted Tail, the white man's +friend, gave solemn warning not to trust the Ogallallas. "Red Cloud's +heart is bad," he said. "He and his people are moving from the +reservations to the mountains. They mean trouble." Old traders like +Folsom heard and heeded, and Folsom himself hastened to Fort Frayne the +very week that Burleigh and his escort left for Warrior Gap. Visiting at +the ranch of his son in a beautiful nook behind the Medicine Bow +Mountains, the veteran trader heard tidings from an Indian brave that +filled him with apprehension, and he hurried to the fort.</p> + +<p>"Is it true," he asked, "that the government means to establish a post +at Warrior Gap? Is it true that Major Burleigh has gone thither?" And +when told that it was and that only Captain Brooks's troop had gone as +escort, Folsom's agitation was extreme. "Colonel," said he, to the post +commander, "solemnly I have tried to warn the general of the danger of +that move. I have told him that all the northern tribes are leaguing +now, that they have determined to keep to themselves the Big Horn +country and the valleys to the north. It will take five thousand men to +hold those three posts against the Sioux, and you've barely got five +hundred. I warn you that any attempt to start another post up there will +bring Red Cloud and all his people to the spot. Their scouts are +watching like hawks even now. Iron Spear came to me at my son's ranch +last night and told me not ten warriors were left at the reservation. +They are all gone, and the war dances are on in every valley from the +Black Hills to the Powder. For heaven's sake send half your garrison up +to Reno after Brooks. You are safe here. They won't molest you south of +the Platte, at least not now. All they ask is that you build no more +forts in the Big Horn."</p> + +<p>But the colonel could not act without authority. Telegraph there was +none then. What Folsom said was of sufficient importance to warrant his +hurrying off a courier to Laramie, fully one hundred miles southeast, +and ordering a troop to scout across the wild wastes to the north, while +Folsom himself, unable to master his anxiety, decided to accompany the +command sent out toward Cantonment Reno. He long had had influence with +the Ogallallas. Even now Red Cloud might listen if he could but find +him. The matter was of such urgency he could not refrain. And so with +the gray troop of the cavalry, setting forth within an hour of his +coming, rode the old trader whom the Indians had so long sworn by, and +he started none too soon.</p> + +<p>Reno was some ninety miles away, and not until late the next evening did +the grays reach the lonely post. Not a sign of hostile Indian had been +seen or heard, said the officer in command. Small bands of hunters were +out toward Pumpkin Butte two days before.—Yes, Ogallallas—and a +scouting party, working down the valley of the Powder, had met no band +at all, though trails were numerous. They were now patroling toward the +Big Horn. Perhaps there'd be a courier in to-morrow. Better get a good +night's rest meantime, he said. But all the same he doubled his guards +and ordered extra vigilance, for all men knew John Folsom, and when +Folsom was anxious on the Indian question it was time to look alive. +Daybreak came without a sign, but Folsom could not rest. The grays had +no authority to go beyond Reno, but such was his anxiety that it was +decided to hold the troop at the cantonment for a day or two. Meantime, +despite his years, Folsom decided to push on for the Gap. All efforts to +dissuade him were in vain. With him rode Baptiste, a half-breed +Frenchman whose mother was an Ogallalla squaw, and "Bat" had served him +many a year. Their canteens were filled, their saddle-pouches packed. +They led along an extra mule, with camp equipage, and shook hands +gravely with the officers ere they rode away. "All depends," said +Folsom, "on whether Red Cloud is hereabouts in person. If he is and I +can get his ear I can probably stave off trouble long enough to get +those people at the Gap back to Kearney, or over here. They're goners if +they attempt to stay there and build that post. If you don't have word +from us in two days, send for all the troops the government can raise. +It will take every mother's son they've got to whip the Sioux when once +they're leagued together."</p> + +<p>"But our men have the new breech-loaders now, Mr. Folsom," said the +officers. "The Indians have only old percussion-cap rifles, and not too +many of them."</p> + +<p>"But there are twenty warriors to every soldier," was the answer, "and +all are fighting men."</p> + +<p>They watched the pair until they disappeared far to the west. All day +long the lookouts searched the horizon. All that night the sentries +listened for hoof-beats on the Bozeman road, but only the weird chorus +of the coyotes woke the echoes of the dark prairie. Dawn of the second +day came, and, unable to bear suspense, the major sent a little party, +mounted on their fleetest horses, to scour the prairies at least halfway +to the foothills of the Big Horn, and just at nightfall they came +back—three at least—galloping like mad, their mounts a mass of foam. +Folsom's dread was well founded. Red Cloud, with heaven only knew how +many warriors, had camped on Crazy Woman's Fork within the past three +days, and gone on up stream. He might have met and fought the troops +sent out three days before. He must have met the troops dispatched to +Warrior Gap.</p> + +<p>And this last, at least, he had done. For a few seconds after the fall +of the buffalo bull, the watchers on the distant ridge lay still, except +that Dean, turning slightly, called to the orderly trumpeter, who had +come trotting out after the troop commander, and was now halted and +afoot some twenty yards down the slope. "Go back, Bryan," he ordered. +"Halt the ambulances. Notify Captain Brooks that there are lots of +Indians ahead, and have the sergeant deploy the men at once." Then he +turned back and with his field glass studied the party along the ravine.</p> + +<p>"They can't have seen us, can they, lieutenant?" muttered the trooper +nearest him.</p> + +<p>But Dean's young face was grave and clouded. Certainly the Indians acted +as though they were totally unaware of the presence of troops, but the +more he thought the more he knew that no big body of Sioux would be +traveling across country at so critical a time (country, too, that was +conquered as this was from their enemies, the Crows), without vigilant +scouts afar out on front and flank. The more he thought the more he knew +that even as early as three o'clock those keen-eyed fellows must have +sighted his little column, conspicuous as it was because of its wagons. +Beyond question, he told himself, the chief of the band or village so +steadily approaching from the northeast had full information of their +presence, and was coming confidently ahead. What had he to fear? Even +though the blood of settlers and soldiers might still be red upon the +hands of his braves, even though fresh scalps might be dangling at this +moment from their shields, what mattered it? Did he not know that the +safeguard of the Indian Bureau spread like the wing of a protecting +angel over him and his people, forbidding troops to molest or open fire +unless they themselves were attacked? Did he not laugh in his ragged +shirt sleeve at the policy of the white fool who would permit the red +enemy to ride boldly up to his soldiers, count their numbers, inspect +their array, satisfy himself as to their armament and readiness, then +calculate the chances, and, if he thought the force too strong, ride on +his way with only a significant gesture in parting insult? If, on the +contrary, he found it weak then he could turn loose his braves, +surround, massacre and scalp, and swear before the commissioners sent +out to investigate next moon that he and his people knew nothing about +the matter—nothing, at least, that they could be induced to tell.</p> + +<p>One moment more Dean watched and waited. Two of the Indians in the +ravine were busily reloading their rifles. Two others were aiming over +the bank, for, with the strange stupidity of their kind, the other +buffalo, even when startled by the shot, had never sought safety in +flight, but were now sniffing the odor of blood on the tainted air, and +slowly, wonderingly drawing near the stricken leader as though to ask +what ailed him. Obedient and docile, the Indian ponies stood with +drooping heads, hidden under the shelter of the steep banks. Nearer and +nearer came the big black animals, bulky, stupid, fatuous; the foremost +lowered a huge head to sniff at the blood oozing from the shoulder of +the dying bull, then two more shots puffed out from the ravine, the huge +head tossed suddenly in air, and the ungainly brute started and +staggered, whirled about and darted a few yards away, then plunged on +its knees, and the next moment, startled at some sight the soldier +watchers could not see, the black band was seized with sudden panic, and +darted like mad into the depths of the watercourse, disappeared one +moment from sight, then, suddenly reappearing, came laboring up the +hither side, straight for the crest on which they lay, a dozen black, +bounding, panting beasts thundering over the ground, followed by half a +dozen darting Indian ponies, each with his lithe red rider scurrying in +pursuit.</p> + +<p>"Out of the way, men! Don't fire!" shouted Dean. And, scrambling back +toward their horses, the lieutenant and his men drew away from the front +of the charging herd, invisible as yet to the halted troop and to the +occupants of the ambulance, whose eager heads could be seen poked out at +the side doors of the leading vehicle, as though watching for the cause +of the sudden halt.</p> + +<p>And then a thing happened that at least one man saw and fortunately +remembered later. Bryan, the trumpeter, with jabbing heels and flapping +arms, was tearing back toward the troop at the moment at the top speed +of his gray charger, already so near that he was shouting to the +sergeant in the lead. By this time, too, that veteran trooper, with the +quick sense of duty that seemed to inspire the war-time sergeant, had +jumped his little column "front into line" to meet the unseen danger; so +that now, with carbines advanced, some thirty blue jackets were aligned +in the loose fighting order of the prairies in front of the foremost +wagon. The sight of the distant officer and men tumbling hurriedly back +and to one side, out of the way presumably of some swiftly-coming peril, +acted like magic on the line. Carbines were quickly brought to ready, +the gun locks crackling in chorus as the horses pranced and snorted. But +it had a varying effect on the occupants of the leading wagon. The shout +of "Indians" from Bryan's lips, the sight of scurry on the ridge ahead +brought the engineer and aide-de-camp springing out, rifle in hand, to +take their manly part in the coming fray. It should have brought Major +Burleigh too, but that appropriately named non-combatant never showed +outside. An instant more and to the sound of rising thunder, before the +astonished eyes of the cavalry line there burst into view, full tear for +safety, the uncouth, yet marvelously swift-running leaders of the little +herd. The whole dozen came flying across the sky line and down the +gentle slope, heading well around to the left of the line of troopers, +while sticking to their flanks like red nettles half a dozen young +warriors rode like the wind on their nimble ponies, cracking away with +revolver or rifle in savage joy in the glorious sport. Too much for +Burleigh's nerve was the combination of sounds, thunder of hoofs and +sputter of shots, for when a cheer of sympathetic delight went up from +the soldier line at sight of the chase, and the young engineer sprang to +the door of the ambulance to help the major out, he found him a limp and +ghastly heap, quivering with terror in the bottom of the wagon, looking +for all the world as if he were trying to crawl under the seat.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>Away to the left of the little command tore the quarry and the chase. +Out on the rolling prairie, barely four hundred yards from where the +ambulance and mules were backed into a tangle of traces and whiffletrees +and fear-stricken creatures, another buffalo had dropped in a heap; a +swarthy rider had tumbled off his pony, cut a slash or two with +ever-ready knife, and then, throwing a bead bedizened left leg over his +eager little mount, had gone lashing away after his fellows, not without +a jeering slap at the baited soldiery. Then, in almost less time than it +takes to tell it, the pursued and pursuers had vanished from sight over +a low ridge a mile to the north. "Only a hunting party!" said one or two +nervous recruits, with a gulp of relief. "Only a hunting party," gasped +Burleigh, as presently he heaved himself up from the floor, "and I +thought I'd never find that damned gun of mine. All this fuss for +nothing!" he continued, his lips still blue and quivering. "That green +youngster up there in front hasn't learned the first principles of +plains-craft yet. Here, Brooks," he added loudly, "it's high time you +were looking after this sub of yours," and Brooks, despite his illness, +was indeed working out of the back door of his yellow trundle bed at the +moment, and looking anxiously about. But the engineer stood pale and +quiet, coolly studying the flustered growler, and when Burleigh's +shifting eyes sought that young scientist's face, what he read +there—and Burleigh was no fool—told him he would be wise to change the +tune. The aid had pushed out in front of the troop and was signaling to +Dean, once more in saddle and scanning through his glass the big band +afar down the valley.</p> + +<p>"Take my horse, sir," said the sergeant, dismounting, and the officer +thanked him and rode swiftly out to join the young commander at the +front. Together they gazed and consulted and still no signal came to +resume the advance. Then the troopers saw the staff officer make a broad +sweep with his right arm to the south, and in a moment Dean's hat was +uplifted and waved well out in that direction. "Drop carbine," growled +the sergeant. "By twos again. Incline to the right. Damn the Sioux, I +say! Have we got to circle five miles around their hunting ground for +fear of hurting their feelings. Come on. Jimmy," he added to the driver +of the leading wagon. Jimmy responded with vigorous language at the +expense of his lead mules. The quartermaster and engineer silently +scrambled in; the ambulance started with a jerk and away went the party +off to the right of the trail, the wagons jolting a bit now over the +uneven clumps of bunch grass.</p> + +<p>But once well up at the summit of the low divide the command reined in +for a look at the great Indian cavalcade swarming in the northeastward +valley, and covering its grassy surface still a good mile away. Out from +among the dingy mass came galloping half a dozen young braves, followed +by as many squaws. The former soon spread out over the billowy surface, +some following the direction of the chase, some bounding on south west +ward as though confident of finding what they sought the moment they +reached the nearest ridge; some riding straight to the point where lay +the carcasses of the earliest victims of the hunt. Here in full view of +the soldiery, but vouchsafing them no glance nor greeting whatever, two +young warriors reined in their lively ponies and disdainfully turned +their backs upon the spectators on the divide, while the squaws, with +shrill laugh and chatter, rolled from their saddles and began the +drudgery of their lot—skinning and cutting up the buffalos slaughtered +by their lords.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see," sneered Burleigh, "it's nothing but a village out for a +hunt—nothing in God's world to get stampeded about. We've had all this +show of warlike preparation for nothing." But he turned away again as he +caught the steady look in the engineer's blue eyes, and shouted to his +more appreciative friend, the aide-de-camp: "Well, pardner, haven't we +fooled away enough time here, or have we got to wait the pleasure of +people that never saw Indians before?"</p> + +<p>Dean flushed crimson at the taunt. He well knew for whom it was meant. +He was indignant enough by this time to speak for himself, but the +aide-de-camp saved him the trouble.</p> + +<p>"I requested Mr. Dean to halt a few moments, Burleigh. It is necessary I +should know what band this is, and how many are out."</p> + +<p>"Well, be quick about it," snapped the quartermaster, "I want to get to +Reno before midnight, and at this rate we won't make it in a week."</p> + +<p>A sergeant who could speak a little Sioux came riding back to the camp, +a grin on his sun-blistered face. "Well, sergeant, what'd he say?" asked +the staff officer.</p> + +<p>"He said would I plaze to go to hell, sorr," was the prompt response.</p> + +<p>"Won't he tell who they are?"</p> + +<p>"He won't, sorr. He says we know widout askin', which is thrue, sorr. +They're Ogallallas to a man, barrin' the squaws and pappooses, wid ould +Red Cloud himself."</p> + +<p>"How'd you find out if they wouldn't talk?" asked the staff officer +impatiently.</p> + +<p>"'Twas the bucks wouldn't talk—except in swear wurruds. I wasted no +time on them, sorr. I gave the first squaw the last hardtack in me +saddle-bags and tould her was it Machpealota, and she said it was, and +he was wid Box Karesha—that's ould Folsom—not six hour ago, an' +Folsom's gone back to the cantonment."</p> + +<p>"Then the quicker we skip the better," were the aide-de-camp's words. +"Get us to Reno fast as you can, Dean. Strike for the road again as soon +as we're well beyond their buffalo. Now for it! There's something behind +all this bogus hunt business, and Folsom knows what it is."</p> + +<p>And every mile of the way, until thick darkness settled down over the +prairie, there was something behind the trooper cavalcade—several +somethings—wary red men, young and wiry, who never let themselves be +seen, yet followed on over wave after wave of prairie to look to it that +no man went back from that column to carry the news of their presence to +the little battalion left in charge of the new post at Warrior Gap.</p> + +<p>It was the dark of the moon, or, as the Indians say, "the nights the +moon is sleeping in his lodge," and by ten <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> the skies were +overcast. Only here and there a twinkling star was visible, and only +where some trooper struck a light for his pipe could a hand be seen in +front of the face. The ambulance mules that had kept their steady jog +during the late afternoon and the long gloaming that followed still +seemed able to maintain the gait, and even the big, lumbering wagon at +the rear came briskly on under the tug of its triple span, but in the +intense darkness the guides at the head of the column kept losing the +road, and the bumping of the wagons would reveal the fact, and a halt +would be ordered, men would dismount and go bending and crouching and +feeling their way over the almost barren surface, hunting among the sage +brush for the double furrow of the trail. Matches innumerable were +consumed, and minutes of valuable time, and the quartermaster waxed +fretful and impatient, and swore that his mules could find their way +where the troopers couldn't, and finally, after the trail had been lost +and found half a dozen times, old Brooks was badgered into telling Dean +to let the ambulance take the lead. The driver shirked at once.</p> + +<p>"There's no tellin' where we'll fetch up," said he. "Those mules can't +see the trail if a man can't. Take their harness off and turn 'em loose, +an' I suppose they can find their way to the post, but sure as you turn +them loose when they've got somethin' on 'em, or behind 'em, and the +doggone cussedness of the creatures will prompt them to smash things."</p> + +<p>But the quartermaster said he'd tried it with those very mules, between +Emory and Medicine Bow a dozen times, and he'd risk it. The driver could +get off his seat if he wanted to, and run alongside, but he'd stay where +he was.</p> + +<p>"Let me out, please," said the engineer, and jumped to the ground, and +then the cavalcade pushed on again. The driver, as ordered by an +employer whom he dare not disobey, let the reins drop on the mules' +backs, the troopers falling behind, the yellow ambulance and the big +baggage wagon bringing up the rear.</p> + +<p>Then, with a horseman on each side, the mules were persuaded to push on +again, and then when fairly started Burleigh called to the troopers to +fall back, so that the mules should not, as he expressed it, "be +influenced." "Leave them to themselves and they can get along all +right," said he, "but mix them up with the horses, and they want them to +take all the responsibility."</p> + +<p>And now the command was barely crawling. Brooks, heavy, languid with +splitting headache, lay in feverish torpor in his ambulance, asking only +to be let alone. The engineer, a subaltern as yet, felt that he had no +right attempting to advise men like Burleigh, who proclaimed himself an +old campaigner. The aide-de-camp was getting both sleepy and impatient, +but he, too, was much the quartermaster's junior in rank. As for Dean, +he had no volition whatever. "Escort the party," were his orders, and +that meant that he must govern the movements of his horses and men by +the wishes of the senior staff official. And so they jogged along +perhaps twenty minutes more, and then there was a sudden splutter and +plunge and stumble ahead, a sharp pull on the traces, a marvelously +quick jerk back on the reins that threw the wheel team on their +haunches, and thereby saved the "outfit," for when men and matches were +hurried to the front the lead mules were discovered kicking and +splashing in a mud hole. They were not only off the road by a dozen +yards, but over a bank two feet high.</p> + +<p>And this last pound broke the back of Burleigh's obstinacy. It was +nearly midnight anyway. The best thing to be done was unhitch, unsaddle +and bivouac until the gray light of dawn came peering over the eastward +prairie, which in that high latitude and "long-day" month would be soon +after three. Then they could push on to Reno.</p> + +<p>Not until nearly eight o'clock in the morning, therefore, did they heave +in sight of the low belt of dingy green that told of the presence of a +stream still long miles away; and here, knowing himself to be out of +danger, the major bade the weary escort march in at a walk while he +hurried on. In fifteen minutes the black-hooded wagon was twisting and +turning over the powdery road a good mile ahead, its dust rising high +over the sage-covered desert, while the other two, with the +dust-begrimed troopers, jogged sturdily on. Loring, the young engineer, +had waved a cordial good-by to his old cadet acquaintance. "See you +later, old man," he cried. Stone, the aide-de-camp, nodded and said, +"Take care of yourself," and Burleigh said nothing at all. He was +wondering what he could do to muzzle Loring in case that gifted young +graduate were moved to tell what the quartermaster actually did when he +heard the rush and firing out at the front on the road from Warrior Gap.</p> + +<p>But when at last the black wagon bowled in at the stockaded quadrangle +and discharged its occupants at the hut of the major commanding, there +were tidings of such import to greet them that Burleigh turned +yellow-white again at thought of the perils they had escaped.</p> + +<p>"My God, man!" cried the post commander, as he came hurrying out to meet +the party, "we've been in a blue funk about you fellows for two whole +days. Did you see any Indians?"</p> + +<p>"See any Indians!" said Burleigh, rallying to the occasion as became a +man who knew how to grasp an opportunity. "We stood off the whole Sioux +nation over toward Crazy Woman's Fork. There were enough to cover the +country, red and black, for a dozen miles. We sighted them yesterday +about four o'clock and there were enough around us to eat us alive, but +we just threw out skirmish lines and marched steadily ahead, so they +thought best not to bother us. They're shy of our breech loaders, damn +'em! That's all that kept them at respectful distance."</p> + +<p>The major's face as he listened took on a puzzled, perturbed look. He +did not wish to say anything that might reflect on the opinions of so +influential a man as the depot quartermaster at Gate City, but it was +plain that there was a train of thought rumbling through his mind that +would collide with Burleigh's column of events unless he were spared the +need of answering questions. "Let me tell you briefly what's happened," +he said. "Red Cloud and his whole band are out on the warpath. They +killed two couriers, half-breeds, I sent out to find Thornton's troop +that was scouting the Dry Fork. The man we sent to find you and give you +warning hasn't got back at all. We've had double sentries for three days +and nights. The only souls to get in from the northwest since our +fellows were run back last night are old Folsom and Baptiste. Folsom had +a talk with Red Cloud, and tried to induce him to turn back. He's beset +with the idea that the old villain is plotting a general massacre along +the Big Horn. He looks like a ghost. He says if we had five thousand +soldiers up there there'd hardly be enough. You know the Sioux have +sworn by him for years, and he thought he could coax Red Cloud to keep +away, but all the old villain would promise was to hold his young men +back ten days or so until Folsom could get the general to order the +Warrior Gap plan abandoned. If the troops are there Folsom says it's all +up with them. Red Cloud can rally all the Northern tribes, and it's only +because of Folsom's influence, at least I fancy so—that—that they +didn't attack you."</p> + +<p>"Where is Folsom?" growled Burleigh, as he shook the powdery cloud from +his linen duster and followed the major within his darkened door, while +other officers hospitably led the aid and engineer into the adjoining +hut.</p> + +<p>"Gone right on to Frayne. The old fellow will wear himself out, I'm +afraid. He says he must get in telegraphic communication with Omaha +before he's four days older. My heaven, man, it was a narrow squeak you +had! It's God's mercy Folsom saw Red Cloud before he saw you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, pshaw!" said the quartermaster, turning over a little packet of +letters awaiting him in the commanding officer's sanctum. "We could have +given a good account of ourselves, I reckon. Brooks is down with fever, +and young Dean got rattled, or something like it. He's new at the +business and easily scared, you know; so I practically had to take +command. They'll be along in an hour or so, and—a word in your ear. If +Brooks has to remain on sick report you'd better put somebody in command +of that troop that's had—er—er—experience."</p> + +<p>The post commander looked genuinely troubled. "Why, Burleigh, we've all +taken quite a shine to Dean. I know the officers in his regiment think a +heap of him; the seniors do, at least."</p> + +<p>But Burleigh, with big eyes, was glaring at a letter he had selected, +opened, and was hurriedly reading. His face was yellowing again, under +the blister of sun and alkali.</p> + +<p>"What's amiss?" queried his friend. "Nothing wrong, I hope. Why, +Burleigh, man! Here, let me help you!" he cried in alarm, for the +quartermaster was sinking into a chair.</p> + +<p>"You can help me!" he gasped. "Get me fresh mules and escort. My God! I +must start for Frayne at once. Some whisky, please." And the letter +dropped from his trembling hands and lay there unnoticed on the floor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>Mid June had come, and there was the very devil to pay—so said the +scouts and soldiers up along the Big Horn. But scouts and soldiers were +far removed from the States and cities where news was manufactured, and +those were days in which our Indian outbreaks were described in the +press long after, instead of before, their occurrence. Such couriers as +had got through to Frayne brought dispatches from the far-isolated posts +along that beautiful range, insisting that the Sioux were swarming in +every valley. Such dispatches, when wired to Washington and "referred" +to the Department of the Interior and re-referred to the head of the +Indian Bureau, were scoffed at as sensational.</p> + +<p>"Our agents report the Indians peaceably assembled at their +reservations. None are missing at the weekly distribution of supplies +except those who are properly accounted for as out on their annual +hunt." "The officers," said the papers, "seem to see red Indians in +every bush," and unpleasant things were hinted at the officers as a +consequence.</p> + +<p>Indians there certainly were in other sections, and they were +unquestionably "raising the devil" along the Smoky Hill and the Southern +Plains, and there the Interior Department insisted that troops in strong +force should be sent. So, too, along the line of the Union Pacific. +Officials were still nervous. Troops of cavalry camped at intervals of +forty miles along the line between Kearney and Julesburg, and even +beyond. At Washington and the great cities of the East, therefore, there +was no anxiety as to the possible fate of those little garrisons, with +their helpless charge of women and children away up in the heart of the +Sioux country. But at Laramie and Frayne and Emory, the nearest frontier +posts; at Cheyenne, Omaha and Gate City the anxiety was great. When John +Folsom said the Indians meant a war of extermination people west of the +Missouri said: "Withdraw those garrisons while there is yet time or else +send five thousand troops to help them." But people east of the Missouri +said: "Who the devil is John Folsom? What does he know about it? Here's +what the Indian agents say, and that's enough," and people east of the +Missouri being vastly in the majority, neither were the garrisons +relieved nor the reinforcements sent. What was worse, John Folsom's +urgent advice that they discontinue at once all work at Warrior Gap and +send the troops and laborers back to Reno was pooh-poohed.</p> + +<p>"The contracts have been let and signed. The material is all on its way. +We can't hack out now," said the officials. "Send runners to Red Cloud +and get him in for a talk. Promise him lots of presents. Yes, if he must +have them, tell him he shall have breech-loaders and copper cartridges, +like the soldiers—to shoot buffalo with, of course. Promise him pretty +much anything to be good and keep his hands off a little longer till we +get that fort and the new agency buildings finished, and then let him do +what he likes."</p> + +<p>Such were the instructions given the commissioners and interpreters +hurried through Gate City and Frayne, and on up to Reno just within the +limit fixed by Folsom. Red Cloud and his chiefs came in accordingly, +arrayed in pomp, paint and finery; shook hands grimly with the +representatives of the Great Father, critically scanned the proffered +gifts, disdainfully rejected the muzzle-loading rifles and old dragoon +horse-pistols heaped before him. "Got heap better," was his comment, and +nothing but brand new breech-loaders would serve his purpose. Promise +them and he'd see what could be done to restrain his young men. But they +were "pretty mad," he said, and couldn't be relied upon to keep the +peace unless sure of getting better arms and ammunition to help them +break it next time. It was only temporizing. It was only encouraging the +veteran war-chief in his visions of power and control. The commissioners +came back beaming, "Everything satisfactorily arranged. Red Cloud and +his people are only out for a big hunt." But officers whose wives and +children prayed fearfully at night within the puny wooden stockades, and +listened trembling to the howls and tom-toms of the dancing Indians +around the council fires in the neighboring valleys, wished to heaven +they had left those dear ones in safety at their Eastern homes—wished +to heaven they could send them thither now, but well knew that it was +too late. Only as single spies, riding by night, hiding by day, were +couriers able to get through from the Big Horn to the Platte. Of scouts +and soldiers sent at different times since the middle of May, seven were +missing, and never, except through vague boastings of the Indians, were +heard of again.</p> + +<p>"It is a treacherous truce, I tell you," said Folsom, with grave, +anxious face, to the colonel commanding Fort Emory. "I have known Red +Cloud twenty years. He's only waiting a few weeks to see if the +government will be fool enough to send them breech-loaders. If it does, +he'll be all the better able to fight a little later on. If it doesn't +he will make it his <i>casus belli</i>."</p> + +<p>And the veteran colonel listened, looked grave, and said he had done his +utmost to convince his superiors. He could do no more.</p> + +<p>It was nearly three hundred miles by the winding mountain road from Gate +City to Warrior Gap. Over hill and dale and mountain pass the road ran +to Frayne, thence, fording the North Platte, the wagon trains, heavily +guarded, had to drag over miles of dreary desert, over shadeless slopes +and divides to the dry wash of the Powder, and by roads deep in alkali +dust and sage brush to Cantonment Reno, where far to the west the grand +range loomed up against the sky—another long day's march away to the +nearest foothills, to the nearest drinkable water, and then, forty miles +further still, in the heart of the grand pine-covered heights, was the +rock-bound gateway to a lovely park region within, called by the Sioux +some wild combination of almost unpronounceable syllables, which, freely +translated, gave us Warrior Gap, and there at last accounts, +strengthened by detachments from Frayne and Reno, the little command of +fort builders worked away, ax in hand, rifle at hand, subjected every +hour to alarm from the vedettes and pickets posted thickly all about +them, pickets who were sometimes found stone dead at their posts, +transfixed with arrows, scalped and mutilated, and yet not once had +Indians in any force been seen by officers or man about the spot since +the day Red Cloud's whole array passed Brooks's troop on the Reno trail, +peaceably hunting buffalo. "An' divil a sowl in in the outfit," said old +Sergeant Shaughnessy, "that hadn't his tongue in his cheek."</p> + +<p>For three months that hard-worked troop had been afield, and the time +had passed and gone when its young first lieutenant had hoped for a +leave to go home and see the mother and Jess. His captain was still +ailing and unfit for duty in saddle. He could not and would not ask for +leave at such a time, and yet at the very moment when he was most +earnestly and faithfully doing his whole duty at the front, slander was +busy with his name long miles at the rear.</p> + +<p>Something was amiss with Burleigh, said his cronies at Gate City. He had +come hurrying back from the hills, had spent a day in his office and not +a cent at the club, had taken the night express unbeknown to anybody but +his chief clerk, and gone hurrying eastward. It was a time when his +services were needed at the depot, too. Supplies, stores, all manner of +material were being freighted from Gate City over the range to the +Platte and beyond, yet he had wired for authority to hasten to Chicago +on urgent personal affairs, got it and disappeared. A young regimental +quartermaster was ordered in from Emory to take charge of shipments and +sign invoices during Burleigh's temporary absence, and the only other +officer whom Burleigh had seen and talked with before his start was the +venerable post commander. One after another the few cavalry troops +(companies) on duty at Emory had been sent afield until now only one was +left, and three days after Burleigh started there came a dispatch from +department headquarters directing the sending of that one to Frayne at +once. Captain Brooks's troop, owing to the continued illness of its +commander, would be temporarily withdrawn and sent back to Emory to +replace it.</p> + +<p>Marshall Dean did not know whether to be glad or sorry. Soldier from top +to toe, he was keenly enjoying the command of his troop. He gloried in +mountain scouting, and was in his element when astride a spirited horse. +Then, too, the air was throbbing with rumors of Indian depredations +along the northward trails, and everything pointed to serious outbreak +any moment, and when it came he longed to be on hand to take his share +and win his name, for with such a troop his chances were better for +honors and distinctions than those of any youngster he knew. Therefore +he longed to keep afield. On the other hand the visit paid by Jessie's +school friend, little "Pappoose" Folsom, was to be returned in kind. +John Folsom had begged and their mother had consented that after a week +at home Jess should accompany her beloved friend on a visit to her far +western home. They would be escorted as far as Omaha, and there Folsom +himself would meet them. His handsome house was ready, and, so said +friends who had been invited to the housewarming, particularly well +stocked as to larder and cellar. There was just one thing on which Gate +City gossips were enabled to dilate that was not entirely satisfactory +to Folsom's friends, and that was the new presiding goddess of the +establishment.</p> + +<p>"What on earth does John Folsom want of a housekeeper?" asked the +helpmates of his friends at Fort Emory, and in the bustling, busy town. +"Why don't he marry again?" queried those who would gladly have seen +some unprovided sister, niece or daughter thus cozily disposed of. It +was years since Elinor's mother's death, and yet John Folsom seemed to +mourn her as fondly as ever, and except in mid-winter, barely a month +went by in which he did not make his pilgrimage to her never-neglected +grave. Yet, despite his vigorous years in saddle, sunshine or storm, and +his thorough love for outdoor life, Folsom, now well over fifty, could +no longer so lightly bear the hard life of the field. He was amazed to +see how his sleepless dash to head off Red Cloud, and his days and +nights of gallop back, had told upon him. Women at Fort Emory who looked +with approving eyes on his ruddy face and trim, erect figure, all so +eloquent of health, and who possibly contemplated, too, his solid bank +account, and that fast-building house, the finest in Gate City, had been +telling him all winter long he ought to have a companion—an elder guide +for Miss Elinor on her return; he ought to have some one to preside at +his table; and honest John had promptly answered: "Why, Nell will do all +that," which necessitated their hinting that although Miss Folsom would +be a young lady in years, she was only a child in experience, and would +be much the better for some one who could take a mother's place. "No one +could do that," said John, with sudden swimming of his eyes, and that +put as sudden a stop to their schemings, for the time at least, but only +for the time. Taking counsel together, and thinking how lovely it would +be now if Mr. Folsom would only see how much there was in this unmarried +damsel, or that widowed dame, the coterie at Emory again returned to the +subject, until John, in his perplexity, got the idea that propriety +demanded that he should have a housekeeper against his daughter's +coming, and then he did go and do, in his masculine stupidity, just +exactly what they couldn't have had him do for worlds—invite a woman, +of whom none of their number had ever heard, to come from Omaha and take +the domestic management of his hearth and home. All he knew of her was +what he heard there. She was the widow of a volunteer officer who had +died of disease contracted during the war. She was childless, almost +destitute, accomplished, and so devoted to her church duties. She was +interesting and refined, and highly educated. He heard the eulogiums +pronounced by the good priest and some of his flock, and Mrs. Fletcher, +a substantial person of some forty years at least, was duly installed.</p> + +<p>Fort Emory was filled with women folk and consternation—most of the men +being afield. The seething question of the hour was whether they should +call on her, whether she was to be received at the fort, whether she was +to be acknowledged and recognized at all, and then came, <i>mirabile +dictu</i>, a great government official from Washington to inspect the Union +Pacific and make speeches at various points along the road, and Mrs. +Fletcher, mind you, walked to church the very next Sunday on the +Honorable Secretary's arm, sat by his side when he drove out to hear the +band at Emory, and received with him on the colonel's veranda, and that +settled it. Received and acknowledged and visited she had to be. She +might well prove a woman worth knowing.</p> + +<p>Within a fortnight she had made the new homestead blossom like the rose. +Within a month everything was in perfect order for the reception of +Elinor and her school friend—a busy, anxious month, in which Folsom was +flitting to and fro to Reno and Frayne, as we have seen; to Hal's ranch +in the Medicine Bow, to Rawhide and Laramie, and the reservations in +Northwestern Nebraska; and it so happened that he was away the night +Major Burleigh, on his way to the depot, dropped in to inquire if he +could see Mr. Folsom a moment on important business. The servant said he +was not in town—had gone, she thought, to Omaha. She would inquire of +Mrs. Fletcher, and meantime would the major step inside? Step inside, +and stand wonderingly at the threshold of the pretty parlor he did; and +then there was a rustle of silken skirts on the floor above, and, as he +turned to listen, his haggard, careworn face took on a look something +like that which overspread it the night he got the letter at +Reno—something that told of bewilderment and perplexity as a quiet, +modulated voice told the servant to tell the gentleman Mr. Folsom might +not return for several days. Burleigh had no excuse to linger, none to +ask to hear that voice again; yet as he slowly descended the steps its +accents were still strangely ringing in his ears. Where on earth had he +heard that voice before?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>The quartermaster's depot at Gate City was little more than a big +corral, with a double row of low, wooden sheds for the storing of +clothing, camp and garrison equipage. There was a blacksmith and wagon +repair shop, and a brick office building. Some cottage quarters for the +officer in charge and his clerks, corral master, etc., stood close at +hand, while most of the employees lived in town outside the gates. A +single-track spur connected the depot with the main line of the Union +Pacific only five hundred yards away, and the command at Fort Emory, on +the bluff above the rapid stream, furnished, much to its disgust, the +necessary guard. A much bigger "plant" was in contemplation near a +larger post and town on the east side of the great divide, and neither +Fort Emory nor its charge—the quartermaster's depot—was considered +worth keeping in repair, except such as could be accomplished "by the +labor of troops," which was why, when he wasn't fighting Indians, the +frontier soldier of that day was mainly occupied in doing the odd jobs +of a day laborer, without the recompense of one, or his privilege of +quitting if he didn't like the job. That he should know little of drill +and less of parade was, therefore, not to be wondered at.</p> + +<p>But what he didn't know about guard duty was hardly worth knowing. He +had prisoners and property of every conceivable kind—Indians, horse +thieves, thugs and deserters, magazines and medicines, mules and +munitions of war. Everything had to be guarded. The fort lay a mile to +the west of and two hundred feet higher than the railway hotel in the +heart of the town. It looked down upon the self-styled city, and most of +its womenkind did the same on the citizens, who were, it must be owned, +a rather mixed lot. The sudden discovery of gold in the neighboring +foothills, the fact that it promised to be the site of the division car +shops and roundhouse, that the trails to the Upper Platte, the +Sweetwater, the Park country to the south, and the rich game regions of +the Medicine Bow all centered there, and that stages left no less than +twice a week for some of those points, and the whole land was alive with +explorers for a hundred miles around—all had tended to give Gate City a +remarkable boom. Cheyenne and Laramie, thriving frontier towns with +coroners' offices in full blast from one week's end to the other, and a +double force on duty Sundays, confessed to and exhibited pardonable +jealousy. Yet there was wisdom in the warning of an old friend and +fellow frontiersman, who said to Folsom, "You are throwing yourself and +your money away, John. There's nothing in those gold stones, there's +nothing in that yawp about the machine shops; all those yarns were +started by U. P. fellows with corner lots to sell. The bottom will drop +out of that place inside of a year and leave you stranded."</p> + +<p>All the same had Folsom bought big blocks and built his home there. It +was the nearest town of promise to Hal Folsom's wild but beautiful home +in the hills, and, almost as he loved Nell, his bonny daughter, did the +old trader love his stalwart son. Born a wild Westerner, reared among +the Sioux with only Indians or army boys for playmates, and precious +little choice in point of savagery between them, Hal had grown up a +natural horseman with a love for and knowledge of the animal that is +accorded to few. His ambition in life was to own a stock farm. All the +education he had in the world he owed to the kindness of loving-hearted +army women at Laramie, women who befriended him when well-nigh +broken-hearted by his mother's death. Early he had pitched his tent on +the very spot for a ranchman's homestead, early he had fallen in love +with an army girl, who married the strapping frontiersman and was now +the proud mistress of the new and promising stock farm nestling in the +valley of the Laramie, a devoted wife and mother. The weekly stage to +the railway was the event of their placid days except when some of the +officers and ladies would come from either of the neighboring posts and +spend a week with her and Hal. From being a delicate, consumptive child, +Mrs. Hal had developed into a buxom woman with exuberant health and +spirits. Life to her might have some little monotony, but few cares; +many placid joys, but only one great dread—Indians. John Folsom, her +fond father-in-law, was a man all Indians trusted and most of them +loved. Hal Folsom, her husband, had many a trusted and devoted friend +among the Sioux, but he had also enemies, and Indian enmity, like Indian +love, dies hard. As boy he had sometimes triumphed in games and sports +over the champions of the villages. As youth he had more than once found +favor in the dark eyes that looked coldly on fiercer, fonder claimants, +and one girl of the Ogallallas had turned from her kith and kin, spurned +more than one red lover to seek the young trader when he left the +reservation to build his own nest in the Medicine Bow, and they told a +story as pathetic as that of the favorite daughter of old Sintogaliska, +chief of the Brulé Sioux, who pined and died at Laramie when she heard +that the soldier she loved had come back from the far East with a +pale-faced bride. There were red men of the Ogallallas to whom the name +of Hal Folsom was a taunt and insult to this day, men whom his father +had vainly sought to appease, and they were Burning Star, the lover, and +two younger braves, the brothers of the girl they swore that Hal had +lured away.</p> + +<p>South of the Platte, as it rolled past Frayne and Laramie, those Indians +were bound by treaty not to go. North of the Platte Hal Folsom was +warned never again to venture. These were stories which were well known +to the parents of the girl he wooed and won, but which probably were not +fully explained to her. Now, even behind the curtain of that sheltering +river, with its flanking forts, even behind the barrier of the mountains +of the Medicine Bow, she often woke at night and clutched her baby to +her breast when the yelping of the coyotes came rising on the wind. +There was no woman in Wyoming to whom war with Red Cloud's people bore +such dread possibility as to Hal Folsom's wife.</p> + +<p>And so when Marshall Dean came riding in one glad June morning, bronzed, +and tanned, and buoyant, and tossed his reins to the orderly who trotted +at his heels, while the troop dismounted and watered at the stream, Mrs. +Folsom's heart was gladdened by his confident and joyous bearing. Twice, +thrice he had seen Red Cloud and all his braves, and there was nothing, +said he, to worry about. "Ugly, of course they are; got some imaginary +grievances and talk big about the warpath. Why, what show would those +fellows have with their old squirrel rifles and gas-pipe Springfields +against our new breech-loaders? They know it as well as we do. It's all +a bluff, Mrs. Folsom. You mark my words," said he, and really the boy +believed it. Frequent contact in the field with the red warriors +inspires one with little respect for their skill or prowess until that +contact becomes hostile, then it's time to keep every sense on guard and +leave no point uncovered.</p> + +<p>"But what if the Indian Bureau should let them have breech-loaders?" she +anxiously asked. "You know that is Red Cloud's demand."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Dean, with confidence born of inexperience in the Bureau +ways, "they couldn't be such fools. Besides, if they do," he added +hopefully, "you'll see my troop come trotting back full tilt. Now, I'm +counting on a good time at Emory, and on bringing your sister and mine +up here to see you."</p> + +<p>"It will be just lovely," said Mrs. Hal, with a woman's natural but +unspoken comparison between the simplicity of her ranch toilet and the +probable elegancies of the young ladies' Eastern costumes. "They'll find +us very primitive up here in the mountains, I'm afraid; but if they like +scenery and horseback riding and fishing there's nothing like it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're coming sure. Jessie's letters tell me that's one of the big +treats Mr. Folsom has promised them. Just think, they should be along +this week, and I shall be stationed so near them at Emory—of all places +in the world."</p> + +<p>"How long is it since you have seen Elinor—'Pappoose,' as your sister +calls her," asked Mrs. Hal, following the train of womanly thought then +drifting through her head, as she set before her visitor a brimming +goblet of buttermilk.</p> + +<p>"Two years. She was at the Point a day or two the summer of our +graduation," he answered carelessly. "A real little Indian girl she was, +too, so dark and shy and silent, yet I heard Professor M——'s daughters +and others speak of her later; she pleased them so much, and Jessie +thinks there's no girl like her."</p> + +<p>"And you haven't seen her since—not even her picture?" asked Mrs. Hal, +rising from her easy-chair. "Just let me show you the one she sent Hal +last week. I think there's a surprise in store for you, young man," was +her mental addition, as she tripped within doors.</p> + +<p>The nurse girl, a half-breed, one of the numerous progeny of the French +trappers and explorers who had married among the Sioux, was hushing the +burly little son and heir to sleep in his Indian cradle, crooning some +song about the fireflies and and Heecha, the big-eyed owl, and the +mother stooped to press her lips upon the rounded cheek and to flick +away a tear-drop, for Hal 2d had roared lustily when ordered to his +noonday nap. Away to the northward the heavily wooded heights seemed +tipped by fleecy, summer clouds, and off to the northeast Laramie Peak +thrust his dense crop of pine and scrub oak above the mass of snowy +vapor that floated lazily across that grim-visaged southward scarp. The +drowsy hum of insects, the plash of cool, running waters fell softly on +the ear. Under the shade of willow and cottonwood cattle and horses were +lazily switching at the swarm of gnats and flies or dozing through the +heated hours of the day. Out on the level flat beyond the corral the +troopers had unsaddled, and the chargers, many of them stopping to roll +in equine ecstasy upon the turf, were being driven out in one big herd +to graze. Without and within the ranch everything seemed to speak of +peace and security. The master rode the range long miles away in search +of straying cattle, leaving his loved ones without thought of danger. +The solemn treaty that bound the Sioux to keep to the north of the +Platte stood sole sentinel over his vine and fig tree. True there had +been one or two instances of depredation, but they could be fastened on +no particular band, and all the chiefs, even defiant Red Cloud, and +insolent, swaggering Little Big Man, denied all knowledge of the +perpetrators. Spotted Tail, it was known, would severely punish any of +his people who transgressed, but he could do nothing with the +Ogallallas. Now they were not two hundred miles away to the north, their +ranks swollen by accessions from all the disaffected villages and +turbulent young braves of the swarming bands along the Missouri and +Yellowstone, and if their demands were resisted by the government, or +worse, if they were permitted to have breech-loaders or magazine rifles, +then just coming into use, no shadow of doubt remained that war to the +knife would follow. Then how long would it be before they came charging +down across the Platte, east or west of Frayne, and raiding those new +ranches in the Laramie Valley?</p> + +<p>Reassuring as he meant his words to be, Marshall Dean himself looked +anxiously about at the unprotected walls. Not even the customary +"dugout" or underground refuge seemed to have been prepared. Almost +every homestead, big or little, of those days, had its tunnel from the +cellar to a dugout near at hand, stocked with provisions and water and +provided with loopholes commanding the neighborhood, and herein the +besieged could take refuge and stand off the Indians until help should +come from the nearest frontier fort. "The name of Folsom is our +safeguard," said Mrs. Hal, in her happy honeymoon days, but that was +before the mother told her of the threats of Burning Star or the story +of the Ogallalla girl he vainly loved. "All that happened so long ago," +she murmured, when at last the tale was told. But Hal should have known, +if she did not, that, even when it seems to sleep, Indian vengeance is +but gaining force and fury.</p> + +<p>Presently Mrs. Hall came tripping forth again, a little <i>carte de +visite</i> in her hand, a smile of no little significance on her lips. +"Now, Mr. Dean, will you tell me what you think of that for a pappoose?"</p> + +<p>And with wonderment in his eyes the young officer stood and held it and +gazed.</p> + +<p>There stood Pappoose, to be sure, but what a change! The little maiden +with the dark braids of hair hanging far below her waist had developed +into a tall, slender girl, with clear-cut, oval face, crowned by a mass +of dark tresses. Her heavy, low-arching brows spanned the thoughtful, +deep, dark-brown eyes that seemed to speak the soul within, and the +beautiful face was lighted up with a smile that showed just a peep of +faultless white teeth, gleaming through the warm curves of her soft, +sensitive lips. The form was exquisitely rounded, yet supple and erect.</p> + +<p>"Hasn't Jessie written you of how Nell has grown and improved?" said +Mrs. Hall, with a woman's quick note of the admiration and surprise in +Dean's regard.</p> + +<p>"She must have," was the answer, "I'm sure she has, but perhaps I +thought it schoolgirl rhapsody—perhaps I had too many other things to +think of."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'll find it superseding these too many things, Mr. Soldier +Boy," was Mrs. Hal's mental comment. "Now, sir, if you've gazed enough +perhaps you'll tell me your plans," and she stretched forth a reclaiming +hand.</p> + +<p>But he hung on to the prize. "Let me keep it a minute," he pleaded. +"It's the loveliest thing I've seen in months."</p> + +<p>And, studying his absorbed face, she yielded, her eyebrows arching, a +pretty smile of feminine triumph about her lips, and neither noticed the +non-commissioned officer hurrying within the gate, nor that half the men +in "C" Troop at their bivouac along the stream were on their feet and +gazing to northeast, that far down the valley a horseman was speeding +like the wind, that little puffs of smoke were rising from the crests of +the grand landmark of the range and floating into the blue of the +heavens. Both started to their feet at the abrupt announcement.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant, there are smoke signals on Lar'mie Peak."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>Lieutenant Dean's orders required that he should march his troop without +unnecessary delay to Fork Emory, there to take station relieving Troop +"F," ordered to change to Frayne, which meant, in so many words, to take +the field. Captain Brooks, still wrestling with the fever, had retired +to his quarters at the old frontier fort that stood so long on the +bluffs overlooking the fords of the Platte. The surgeon said he must +remain in bed at least a week, so meantime the troop packed up, sent its +wagons ahead over the range, bade God speed to "F" as it passed through +<i>en route</i> to the front, exchanged a volley of chaff and chewing tobacco +over the parting game of "freeze out" fought to a finish on many an +outspread saddle blanket, then, jogged on toward Gate City, making wide +<i>détour</i> at the suggestion of the field officer in command at Frayne, +that they might scout the Laramie plains and see that all was well at +Folsom's ranch. This <i>détour</i> was duly reported to the peppery veteran +at Fort Emory, an old colonel whose command was by this time reduced +from "headquarters, field, staff and band," six companies of infantry +and four troops of cavalry, to the band and two desperately overworked +companies of foot. "Two nights in bed" were all his men could hope for, +and sometimes no more than one, so grievous was the guard duty. Hence +"old Pecksniff," his adjutant and quartermaster and his two remaining +companies saw fit to take it as most unkind in Lieutenant-Colonel Ford +to authorize that diversion of Dean's, and highly improper on Dean's +part to attempt it. By this time, too, there was in circulation at Emory +a story that this transfer of "C" to interior lines and away from +probable contact with the Sioux was not so much that it had done far +more than its share of that arduous work, completely using up its +captain, as that, now the captain was used up, the authorities had their +doubts as to the "nerve" of the lieutenant in temporary command. A +fellow who didn't care to come to Emory and preferred rough duty up +along the Platte must be lacking in some essential particular, thought +the women folk, and at the very moment that Marshall Dean sat there at +Hal Folsom's ranch, as brave and hardy and capable a young officer as +ever forded the Platte, looking forward with pleasurable anticipations +to those days to come at Emory, with Jessie—Jessie and, of course, +Pappoose—so close at hand in town, there was gaining ground at the post +an impression that the safety of the board of officers sent to choose +the site of the new Big Horn post had been imperiled by Dean's weakening +at a critical moment in presence of a band of probably hostile Sioux. +Burleigh had plainly intimated as much to his chief clerk and Colonel +Stevens, and when Loring and Stone came through a day or two later and +questions were asked about that meeting, the aide-de-camp gave it as +distinctly to be understood that he had practically assumed command, +Dean's inexperience being manifest, and his own prompt measures had +extricated the little detachment from a most delicate and dangerous +position. The engineer, let it be said, did not hear this statement, and +the aid was very careful not to make it in his presence. He was a +comparative stranger and as no one presumed to question him, he +volunteered no information.</p> + +<p>Planning to bivouac until dawn of the next day at Folsom's, Dean had +then intended to reach Fort Emory in three easy marches. He was anxious +to bring his horses in in best possible condition, despite all their +hard service; yet now, barely two o'clock on this hot June afternoon, +came most unlooked-for, most importunate interruption to his plans. +Springing to the gate at the sergeant's summons, he first directed his +gaze to the distant peak, recognized instantly the nature of the smoke +puffs there rising, then turned for explanation to the swift-riding +courier, whose horse's heels were making the dust fly from the sun-dried +soil. One or two ranch hands, with anxious faces, came hastening over +from the corral. The darkey cook rushed up from the kitchen, rifle in +hand. Plainly these fellows were well used to war's alarms. Mrs. Folsom, +with staring eyes and dreadful anxiety in her face, gazed only at the +hurrying courier, clinging the while to the pillar of the portico, as +though needing support. The smoke puffs on the mountain, the dust-cloud +back of the tearing rider were symptoms enough for Dean.</p> + +<p>"Get in your herd, sergeant!" he shouted at the top of his voice; and +over the rushing of the Laramie his words reached the rousing bivouac, +and saddle blankets were sent swinging in air in signal to the distant +guards, and within a few seconds every horse was headed for home; and +then, to the sound of excited voices was added the rising thunder of +scores of bounding hoofs, as, all in a dust-cloud of their own, the +sixty chargers came galloping in, ears erect, eyes ablaze, nostrils +wide, manes and tails streaming in the breeze, guided by their eager +guards full tilt for camp. Out ran their riders, bridles in hand, to +meet and check them, every horse when within a few yards of his master +seeming to settle on his haunches and plow up the turf in the sudden +effort to check his speed, long months of service on the plains and in +the heart of Indian land having taught them in times of alarm or peril +that the quicker they reached the guiding hand and bore, each, his +soldier on his back, the quicker would vanish the common foe. Even +before the panting steed of the headlong courier came within hailing +distance of the ranch, half the horses in the troop were caught and the +bits were rattling between their teeth; then, as the messenger tore +along the gentle slope that led to the gateway, his wearied horse +laboring painfully at the rise, Mrs. Folsom recognized one of her +husband's herdsmen, a man who had lived long years in Wyoming and could +be unnerved by no false alarm, and her voice went up in a shriek of fear +as she read the tidings in his almost ghastly face.</p> + +<p>"Where is Hal?" she screamed. "Oh, what has happened?"</p> + +<p>"He's safe," was the answering call, as the rider waved a reassuring +hand, but at the instant he bent low. "Thank God, you're here, +lieutenant," he gasped. "Mount quick. Hal's corralled two miles out +there under the butte—Sioux!" And then they saw that he was swooning, +that the blood was streaming down the left thigh and leg, and before +hand could help him, he rolled senseless, doubled up in the dust at his +horse's feet, and the weary creature never even started.</p> + +<p>"Saddle up, men!" rang the order across the stream. And then while +strong arms lifted and bore the wounded herdsman to the porch, Dean +turned to the wailing mistress, who, white-faced and terror-stricken, +was wringing her hands and moaning and running wildly up and down the +walk and calling for some one to go and save her husband. Dean almost +bore her to a chair and bade her fear nothing. He and his men would lose +not a moment. On the floor at her feet lay the little card photograph, +and Dean, hardly thinking what he did, stooped, picked it up and placed +it in the pocket of his hunting shirt, just as the trumpeter on his +plunging gray reached the gate, Dean's big, handsome charger trotting +swiftly alongside. In an instant the lieutenant was in saddle, in +another second a trooper galloped up with his belt and carbine. Already +the men were leading into line across the stream, and, bidding the +trumpeter tell Sergeant Shaughnessy to follow at speed, the young +officer struck spur to his horse and, carbine in hand, a single trooper +at his heels, away he darted down the valley, "C" Troop, splashing +through the ford a moment later, took the direct road past the stockade +of the corral, disappeared from sight a moment behind that wooden +fortification, and, when next it hove in view, it was galloping front +into line far down the Laramie, then once more vanished behind its +curtain of dust.</p> + +<p>"Two miles out there under the butte," was the only indication the young +officer had of the scene of the fight, for fight he knew it must be, and +even as he went bounding down the valley he recalled the story of the +Indian girl, the threats of Burning Star, the vowed vengeance of her +brothers. Could it be that, taking advantage of this raid of Red Cloud, +far from all the reservations, far from possibility of detection by +count of prying agents, the three had induced a gang of daring, +devil-may-care young warriors to slip away from the Big Horn with them +and, riding stealthily away from the beaten trails, to ford the Platte +beyond the ken of watchful eyes at Frayne and sneak through the mountain +range to the beautiful, fertile valley beyond, and there lie in wait for +Hal Folsom or for those he loved? What was to prevent? Well they knew +the exact location of his ranch. They had fished and sported all about +it in boy days—days when the soldiers and the Sioux were all good +friends, days before the mistaken policy of a post commander had led to +an attack upon a peaceful band, and that to the annihilation of the +attacking party. From that fatal day of the Grattan massacre ten years +before, there had been no real truce with the Sioux, and now was +opportunity afforded for a long-plotted revenge. Dean wondered Folsom +had not looked for it instead of sleeping in fancied security.</p> + +<p>A mile nearer the butte and, glancing back, he could see his faithful +men come bounding in his tracks. A mile ahead, rising abruptly from the +general level, a little knoll or butte jutted out beyond the shoulders +of the foothills and stood sentinel within three hundred yards of the +stream. On the near—the westward—side, nothing could be seen of horse +or man. Something told him he would find the combatants beyond—that +dead or alive, Hal Folsom would be there awaiting him. A glance at the +commanding height and the ridge that connected it with the tumbling, +wooded hills to the north, convinced him that at this moment some of the +foe were lurking there, watching the westward valley, and by this time +they knew full well of the coming of the cavalry to the rescue. By this +time, more than likely, they were scurrying off to the mountains again, +returning the way they came, with a start of at least two miles.</p> + +<p>"With or without the coveted scalps?" he wondered. Thus far he had been +riding straight for the butte. The road wound along and disappeared +behind him, but there was no sense in following the road. "Pursue and +punish," was the thing to be done. Surely not more than a dozen were in +the band, else that courier could never have hoped to get in, wounded as +he was. The Indians were too few in number to dare follow to the ranch, +guarded as, by almost God-given luck, it happened to be through the +unlooked-for presence of the troops. No, it was a small band, though a +daring one. Its lookout had surely warned it by this time of his coming, +and by this time, too, all save one or two who rode the fleetest ponies +and lingered probably for a parting shot at the foremost of the chase, +had scampered away behind the curtain of that ridge. Therefore, in long +curve, never checking his magnificent stride, Dean guided his bounding +bay to the left—the northeast—and headed for the lowest point of the +divide.</p> + +<p>And then it all occurred to him too that he was far in front of his men, +too far to be of use to them and just far enough to be an easy prey for +the lurking foe. Then, too, it occurred to him that he must not leave +the ranch unprotected. Already he was within long rifle range of the +height; already probably some beady eye was glancing through the sights, +and the deadly tube was covering him as he came bounding on. Three +hundred yards more and his life probably wouldn't be worth a dollar in +Confederate money, and wisely the young leader began to draw rein, and, +turning in saddle, signaled to his single companion, laboring along one +hundred yards behind, to hasten to join him. Presently the trooper came +spurring up, a swarthy young German, but though straining every nerve +the troop was still a mile away.</p> + +<p>"Ride back, Wegner, and tell the sergeant to take ten men around that +side—the south side of the bluff," and he pointed with his hand; "the +rest to come straight to me."</p> + +<p>Oh, well was it for Dean that he checked his speed, and as the young +dragoon went sputtering back, that he himself drew rein and waited for +the coming of his men. Suddenly from far out along the ridge in front, +from the very crest there leaped a jet or two of fire and smoke. Two +little spurts of dust and turf flew up from the prairie sod a dozen +yards in front, a rifle bullet went singing off through the sunny air, +Rabb, his handsome bay, pawed the ground and switched about, and up on +the crest, riding boldly in full view, two lithe, naked, painted +warriors, war bonnets trailing over their ponies' croups, yelling shrill +insult and derision, went tearing away northward, one of them pausing +long enough to wave some ragged object on high, and give one ringing, +exultant whoop ere he disappeared from view.</p> + +<p>"It's a scalp, lieutenant," shouted the foremost sergeant as he came +lunging up to join his chief. "They've got one, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Come on, then, and we'll get it back," was the only answer, as with +nearly thirty troopers stringing out behind them, the two launched out +in chase.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>Obedient to his orders the Irish sergeant, with a little squad at his +heels, had kept straight on. A few minutes later, rounding the bluff at +the gallop, eyes flashing over the field in front of them, the party +went racing out over the turf and came in full view of the scene of the +fight. Five hundred yards further down stream was a deep bend in the +Laramie. Close to the water's edge two horses lay stretched upon the +ground, stone dead. Out on the open prairie lay an Indian pony still +kicking in his dying agony, and as the soldiers came sweeping into view +two men rose up from behind the low bank of the stream and swung their +hats—Hal Folsom and one of his hands safe, unwounded, yet with a look +in their gray faces that told of recent mortal peril.</p> + +<p>"We're all right! Go on after them. They've run off a dozen of my best +horses," said Folsom, "and I'm afraid they cut off Jake."</p> + +<p>"No! Jake reached the ranch all right—leastwise somebody did," said +Shaughnessy. "That's how we got the news. They got somebody, or else +they were only bluffing when they waved that scalp. How many were +there?"</p> + +<p>"At least a dozen—too many for you to tackle. Where's the rest of the +troop?"</p> + +<p>"Close at their heels. The lieutenant led them right over the ridge. +Listen!"</p> + +<p>Yes, far up in the foothills, faint and clear, the sounds of the chase +could now be heard. Dean's men were closing on the fleeing warriors, for +every little while the silence of the range was broken by the crack of +rifle or carbine. Shaughnessy's fellows began to fidget and look eagerly +thither, and he read their wish. "Two of you stay with Mr. Folsom," he +said, "and the rest come with me. There's nothing we can do here, is +there? Sure, you're not hit?"</p> + +<p>"No, go on! Give 'em hell and get back my horses. I'd go with you, but +they've killed what horses they couldn't drive. All safe at the ranch?"</p> + +<p>Shaughnessy nodded as he spurred away. "We'll be gettin' the lieutenant +a brevet for this," said he, "if we can only close up with those +blackguards." And these were the words Folsom carried back with him, as, +mounting a willing trooper's horse, he galloped homeward to reassure his +wife, thanking God for the opportune coming of the little command, yet +swearing with close compressed lips at the ill-starred work of the day. +Thus far he had striven to keep from her all knowledge of the threats of +the Ogallallas, although he knew she must have heard of them. He had +believed himself secure so far back from the Platte. He had done +everything in his power to placate Red Cloud and the chiefs—to convince +his former friends that he had never enticed poor Lizette, as Baptiste +had called the child, from her home and people. They held he should +never have left her, though she had accused him of no wrong. Burning +Star, in his jealous rage, hated him, because he believed that but for +love of the paleface Lizette would have listened to his wooing, and +Folsom's conscience could not acquit him of having seen her preference +and of leading her on. He could not speak of her to his wife without +shame and remorse. He had no idea what could have been her fate, for the +poor girl had disappeared from the face of the earth, and now, at last, +this day had proved to him the threats of her lover and her brothers +were not idle. He had had so narrow a squeak for his life, so sharp and +sudden and hard a fight for it that, now that the peril was over, his +nerve began to give way, his strong hands to tremble. Armed with +breech-loaders, he and his two friends had been able to stand off the +attacking party, killing two ponies, and emptying, they felt sure, two +saddles; but little by little the Indians were working around their +position, and would have crawled upon them within an hour or two but for +Jake's daring ride for help and the blessed coming of the blue-coats in +the nick of time. Folsom swore he'd never forget their services this +day.</p> + +<p>And as he cantered homeward he could still hear the distant firing dying +away in the mountains to the north. "Give 'em hell, Dean!" he muttered +through his set teeth. "They're showing fight even when you've got 'em +on the run. I wonder what that means?"</p> + +<p>Not until another day was he to know. Late on the evening of the attack, +while he was seated with his wife by Jake's bedside, half a dozen +troopers, two of them wounded and all with worn-out horses, came +drifting back to camp. Twice, said they, had the fleeing Indians made a +stand to cover the slow retreat of one or two evidently sorely stricken, +but so closely were they pressed that at last they had been forced to +abandon one of their number, who died, sending his last vengeful shot +through the lieutenant's hunting shirt, yet only grazing the skin. Dean, +with most of the men, pushed on in pursuit, determined never to desist +so long as there was light, but these who returned could not keep up.</p> + +<p>Leaving the dead body of the young brave where it lay among the rocks, +they slowly journeyed back to camp. No further tidings came, and at +daybreak Folsom, with two ranchmen and a trooper, rode out on the trail +to round up the horses the Indians had been compelled to drop. Mrs. Hal +clung sobbing to him, unable to control her fears, but he chided her +gently and bade her see that Jake lacked no care or comfort. The brave +fellow was sore and feverish, but in no great danger now. Five miles out +in the foothills they came upon the horses wandering placidly back to +the valley, but Folsom kept on. Four miles further he and a single +ranchman with him came upon three troopers limping along afoot, their +horses killed in the running fight, and one of these, grateful for a +long pull at Folsom's flask, turned back and showed them the body of the +fallen brave. One look was enough for Hal and the comrade with him. +"Don't let my wife know—who it was," he had muttered to his friend. "It +would only make her more nervous." There lay Chaska, Lizette's eldest +brother, and well Hal Folsom knew <i>that</i> death would never go unavenged.</p> + +<p>"If ever a time comes when I can do you a good turn, lieutenant," said +he that afternoon as, worn out with long hours of pursuit and scout, the +troop was encountered slowly marching back to the Laramie, "I'll do it +if it costs me the whole ranch." But Dean smiled and said they wouldn't' +have missed that chance even for the ranch. What a blessed piece of luck +it was that the commanding officer at Frayne had bidden him take that +route instead of the direct road to Gate City! He had sent men riding in +to both posts on the Platte, with penciled lines telling of the Indian +raid and its results. Once well covered by darkness the little band had +easily escaped their pursuers, and were now safe across the river and +well ahead of all possibility of successful pursuit. But if anything +were needed to prove the real temper of the Sioux the authorities had +it. Now was the time to grapple that Ogallalla tribe and bring it to +terms before it could be reinforced by half the young men in the +villages of the northern plains. The Platte, of course, would be +patrolled by a strong force of cavalry for some weeks to come, and no +new foray need be dreaded yet awhile. Red Cloud's people would "lay low" +and watch the effect of this exploit before attempting another. If the +White Father "got mad" and ordered "heap soldiers" there to punish them, +then they must disavow all participation in the affair, even though one +of their best young braves was prominent in the outrage, and had paid +for the luxury with his life—even though Burning Star was trying to +hide the fresh scar of a rifle bullet along his upper arm. Together Dean +and Folsom rode back to the ranch, and another night was spent there +before the troop was sufficiently rested to push on to Emory.</p> + +<p>"Remember this, lieutenant," said Folsom again, as he pressed his hand +at parting, "there's nothing too good for you and "C" Troop at my home. +If ever you need a friend you'll find one here."</p> + +<p>And the time was coming when Marshall Dean would need all that he could +muster.</p> + +<p>Two days later—still a march away from Emory—a courier overtook him +with a letter from his late post commander: "Your vigorous pursuit and +prompt, soldierly action have added to the fine record already made and +merit hearty commendation." The cordial words brought sunshine to his +heart. How proud Jess would be, and mother! He had not had a word from +either for over a week. The latter, though far from strong, was content +at home in the loving care of her sister, and in the hope that he would +soon obtain the leave of absence so long anticipated, and, after Jess's +brief visit to Pappoose's new home, would come to gladden the eyes of +kith and kin, but mother's most of all, bringing Jessie with him. Little +hope of leave of absence was there now, and less was he the man to ask +it with such troubles looming up all along the line of frontier posts to +the north. But at least there would be the joy of seeing Jess in a few +days and showing her his troop—her and Pappoose. How wonderfully that +little schoolgirl must have grown and developed! How beautiful a girl +she must now be if that photograph was no flatterer! By the way, where +was that photo? What had he done with it? For the first time in four +days he remembered his picking it up when Mrs. Hal Folsom collapsed at +sight of Jake's swooning. Down in the depths of the side pocket of his +heavy blue flannel hunting shirt he found it, crumpled a bit, and all +its lower left-hand corner bent and blackened and crushed, Chaska's last +shot that tore its way so close below the young soldier's bounding +heart, just nipping and searing the skin, had left its worst mark on +that dainty <i>carte de visite</i>. In that same pocket, too, was another +packet—a letter which had been picked up on the floor of the hut at +Reno after Burleigh left—one for which the major had searched in vain, +for it was underneath a lot of newspapers. "You take that after him," +said the cantonment commander, as Dean followed with the troop next day, +and little dreamed what it contained.</p> + +<p>That very day, in the heavy, old-fashioned sleeping-cars of the Union +Pacific, two young girls were seated in their section on the northward +side. One, a dark-eyed, radiant beauty, gazed out over the desolate +slopes and far-reaching stretches of prairie and distant lines of bald +bluff, with delight in her dancing eyes. The other, a winsome maid of +nineteen, looked on with mild wonderment, not unmixed with +disappointment she would gladly have hidden. To Elinor the scenes of her +childhood were dear and welcome; to Jessie there was too much that was +somber, too little that was inviting. But presently, as the long train +rolled slowly to the platform of a rude wooden station building, there +came a sight at which the eyes of both girls danced in eager interest—a +row of "A" tents on the open prairie, a long line of horses tethered to +the picket ropes, groups of stalwart, sunburned men in rough blue garb, +a silken guidon flapping by the tents of the officers. It was one of +half a dozen such camps of detached troops they had been passing ever +since breakfast time—the camps of isolated little commands guarding the +new railway on the climb to Cheyenne. Papa, with one or two cronies, was +playing "old sledge" in the smoking compartment. At a big station a few +miles back two men in the uniform of officers boarded the car, one of +them burly, rotund, and sallow. He was shown to the section just in +front of the girls, and at Pappoose he stared—stared long and hard, so +that she bit her lip and turned nervously away. The porter dusted the +seat and disposed of the hand luggage and hung about the new arrivals in +adulation. The burly man was evidently a personage of importance, and +his shoulder straps indicated that he was a major of the general staff. +The other, who followed somewhat diffidently, was a young lieutenant of +infantry, whose trim frock-coat snugly fitted his slender figure.</p> + +<p>"Ah, sit down here, Mr.—Mr. Loomis," said the major patronizingly. "So +you are going up to the Big Horn. Well, sir, I hope we shall hear good +accounts of you. There's a splendid field for officers of the right +sort—there—and opportunities for distinction—every day."</p> + +<p>At sound of the staff officer's voice there roused up from the opposite +section, where he had been dozing over a paper, a man of middle age, +slim, athletic, with heavy mustache and imperial, just beginning to turn +gray, with deep-set eyes under bushy brows, and a keen, shrewd face, +rather deeply lined. There was a look of dissipation there, a shade of +shabbiness about his clothes, a rakish cut to the entire personality +that had caused Folsom to glance distrustfully at him more than once the +previous afternoon, and to meet with coldness the tentatives permissible +in fellow travelers. The stranger's morning had been lonesome. Now he +held his newspaper where it would partly shield his face, yet permit his +watching the officers across the aisle. And something in his stealthy +scrutiny attracted Pappoose.</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued the major, "I have seen a great deal of that country, +and Mr. Dean, of whom you spoke, was attached to the troop escorting our +commission. He is hardly—I regret to have to say it—er—what you +imagine. We were, to put it mildly, much disappointed in his conduct the +day of our meeting with the Sioux."</p> + +<p>A swift, surprised glance passed between the girls, a pained look shot +into the lieutenant's face, but before the major could go on the man +across the aisle arose and bent over him with extended hand.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Burleigh, I thought I knew the voice." But the hand was not +grasped. The major was drawing back, his face growing yellow-white with +some strange dismay.</p> + +<p>"You don't seem sure of my identity. Let me refresh your memory, +Burleigh. I am Captain Newhall. I see you need a drink, major—I'll take +one with you."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>For nearly a week after the home-coming of his beloved daughter John +Folsom was too happy in her presence to give much thought to other +matters. By the end of that week, however, the honest old Westerner +found anxieties thickening about him. There were forty-eight hours of +undimmed rejoicing. Elinor was so radiant, so fond, and had grown, so +said the proud father to himself, and so said others, so wondrously +lovely. His eyes followed her every movement. He found himself negligent +of her gentle little friend and guest, Jessie Dean, to whom he had vowed +to be a second father, and such a friend as she had been to his Pappoose +when, a homesick, sad-eyed child, she entered upon her schooldays. +Elinor herself had to chide him, and with contrition and dismay he +admitted his fault, and then for hours nothing could exceed his +hospitable attentions to Jessie, who, sorely disappointed because +Marshall was not there to meet her, was growing anxious as no tidings +came from him. Two whole days the damsels spent in going over the new +house, exclaiming over papa's lavish preparations, but wishing presently +that Mrs. Fletcher were not quite so much in evidence, here, there, and +everywhere. Only when bedtime came and they could nestle in one or other +of their connecting rooms were they secure from interruption, and even +then it presently appeared they could not talk confidentially as of old. +Folsom had taken them driving each afternoon, he himself handling the +reins over his handsome bays, Elinor at his side the first time, and +Jessie, with Mrs. Fletcher, occupying the rear seat. But this, Elinor +whispered to him, was not as it should be. Her guest should have the +seat of honor. So, next day, Jessie was handed to the front and Mrs. +Fletcher and Pappoose were placed in rear, and in this order they bowled +round the fort and listened to the band and talked with several of the +women and one or two officers, but these latter could tell nothing about +Lieutenant Dean except that they had been expecting him for two days—he +having taken the long way home, which both Jessie and Pappoose +considered odd under the circumstances, though neither said so and +nobody thought to explain. But the morning of the third day "Miss +Folsom"—as the veteran was amazed to hear his daughter addressed, yet +on reflection concluded that he'd be tempted to kick any man who +addressed her otherwise—seized a favorable opportunity and whisked her +fond father into a corner of his library, and there gave him to +understand that in Eastern circles the housekeeper might sometimes, +perhaps, accompany the young ladies when they were going shopping, or +the like, alone, but that when escorted by papa it was quite +unnecessary. It was in fact not at all conventional.</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul!" said Folsom. "I supposed that was what she was for. +What did these women mean by telling me I must have a, companion—a +guide—etc.?"</p> + +<p>"They meant, you blessed Daddy, that they wished to provide you +with—one of their number, and me—with something I do not want. If Mrs. +Fletcher is to be housekeeper I have nothing to say, but—don't you +think your big daughter old enough and wise enough to select her own +companions? Daddy dear," she continued, after a little pause, and +nestling close to him with a pathetic look in the big brown eyes, her +lips twitching a bit, "I know how loving and thoughtful you have been in +all this, and I wouldn't have you think me ungrateful, but—did you +believe I was always going to be a little girl? What do you suppose I +studied housekeeping for at school? Mrs. Fletcher is engaged, I presume, +and I can't ask you to undo that now, but I wish you had written to me +first. However, if you don't mind, there's somebody I'd rather you would +invite to take the fourth seat to-day, and then you can have Pappoose +beside you, if you wish."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course, sweetheart, any one you like."</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Loomis, then, Daddy—the officer we met on the train. Jessie +likes him and he's such a friend of her brother—the only one we have +yet seen who seems to know him at all. Then you could ask him to dinner, +too."</p> + +<p>Folsom's face was a study. Doubt and perplexity both were twitching in +the little muscles about his lips.</p> + +<p>"We met three officers, did we not, Elinor, and I had thought—somewhat +of—asking the major and his guest. He said he wished to call. He was +here while we were driving yesterday. I met him later."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw his card," was the hurried, indifferent answer. "But they +are not like Mr. Loomis. Daddy, I did not at all like that Captain +Newhall, or—for that matter——"</p> + +<p>"They both seemed prodigiously struck with you," said Folsom, in +misguided confidence yet pardonable pride. "They've done, nothing but +talk to me about you ever since."</p> + +<p>"They did nothing but talk to me all the way over the mountains, except +when they were out taking what I have reason to believe was an +occasional drink, Daddy mine. Jess had Mr. Loomis to herself. They have +found your weak spot, Daddy. They know you love to talk of your +daughter. You have only known Major Burleigh a little while, is it not +so?"</p> + +<p>"Only within the year, perhaps, though of course I've heard of him a +great deal."</p> + +<p>"And this Captain Newhall, whose regiment is in Louisiana while he's out +here on leave—I thought officers went East when they got leave."</p> + +<p>"Newhall says he's out here looking over some mining schemes. He has +money to invest, I believe."</p> + +<p>"He should invest some money in a traveling suit, Daddy dear. That coat +and his linen seemed woefully out of condition. Gentlemen are not +careless about such matters."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he explained that his trunks were delayed in Omaha or somewhere, +and were coming along next train. I own I was prejudiced against him, +too, but of course if he's a friend and guest of Burleigh's he—he must +be all right. He's staying with him at the depot."</p> + +<p>"And you've got to invite them to dinner?" asked Miss Folsom, after +another pause, during which she had been thinking deeply.</p> + +<p>"Not if you don't want it, pet. Of course they'll expect it. Army +officers are hospitable, you know, Burleigh has asked me to dine with +him a dozen times, though I've only been there once."</p> + +<p>"Then you'll have to invite him, Daddy," was the answer, with quick +decision. "Only, just wait for a day or two. Captain Newhall was going +right out to the mines, he said, and there may be others we'd be glad to +have. Jessie's brother ought to be here any hour."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Folsom dubiously. "I've been thinking about him—I've been +wishing——"</p> + +<p>But he hesitated and faltered and could not meet the deep brown eyes, so +full of searching inquiry and keen intelligence.</p> + +<p>"You've been thinking—what, Daddy?" she asked, and now her slender +hands were on his shoulders and she was turning him so that she could +study his face. "You have been hearing something you do not wish us to +know, Daddy dear. I heard Major Burleigh say something to Mr. Loomis +about—about Lieutenant Dean, and I know Mr. Loomis did not like it, and +Jessie and I can't believe it. Father, where is he? Why doesn't he come? +Why do these—these people at the fort hem and haw and hesitate when +they speak about him? Jessie is getting so troubled."</p> + +<p>"<i>I'm</i> getting troubled, daughter," answered Folsom impulsively. "I +never met a likelier young fellow or one that promised to make a better +officer. He may be all right, too, only it isn't so much what they <i>do</i> +say as what they don't say that troubles me. Burleigh here and old +Stevens out at the fort and one or two others I've asked about him. +Burleigh says he 'lost his nerve' when they met Red Cloud's big band. A +boy might be excused for that so long as he didn't misbehave. It was big +responsibility for a young lieutenant. But these people, as you speak of +them out at the fort, really know very little about Dean. Burleigh says +he's in a position that enables him to know so much more about the +character and habits of the young officers."</p> + +<p>"Surely he can say nothing against Mr. Dean!" exclaimed Pappoose, +looking up with quick indignation in her brown eyes. "No one knows how +good and generous he has been to Jessie and his mother."</p> + +<p>They were standing at the moment in the corner of the library farthest +from the doorway. The front windows opened to the north, giving a fine +view of the rolling hills rising higher and higher and looking down upon +the grass-grown slopes spread out at their feet, criss-crossed and +traversed by hard-beaten roads and trails. Immediately in front of the +house Folsom had seeded and watered and coaxed into semblance of a lawn +the best turf to be had in that section of Wyoming, and inclosed it in a +spick and span white picket fence. The main road between the fort and +the railway station passed directly in front of his gate. The side +window of the cozy room looked out to the west over the valley of a +rushing stream, once rich in trout, but now much infested by the mules +from Burleigh's corral, which lay half a mile away to the southeast, out +of sight of Folsom's house except from the upper windows. Eager to stock +the library with standard works against his daughter's coming, the old +trader had consulted a friend among the officers and had sent a lavish +order to a house in Chicago. Books, therefore, were there in plenty on +the handsome shelves, and they were not ill-chosen either, but it was +Mrs. Fletcher who pointed out how stiff and angular everything looked, +who introduced the easy lounge, the soft rugs, the heavy hanging +portières of costly Navajo blankets. It was her deft touch that draped +the curtains at the windows and softened and beautified the lines the +hand of man would have left crude and repellent. And that library had +been her favorite haunt; but since the coming of the girls Mrs. Fletcher +had seemed to retire to her own room aloft, and to spend no time below +stairs that was not demanded by her household duties. Now as the father +and daughter were talking earnestly together, they heard Mrs. Fletcher +moving about overhead as though looking over the work of the housemaid. +Jessie had gone to her own room to write a short letter to her mother. +Major Burleigh was to come at 10.30 to drive them out to Pinnacle Butte, +a sharp, rocky height far across the valley, from the summit of which a +wonderful view was to be obtained. It lacked but five minutes of the +time and suddenly Mrs. Fletcher's voice was heard on the floor above. It +was a well-modulated voice, gentle and controlled, with a clear, vibrant +ring in it that made the words distinctly audible to the hearers below.</p> + +<p>"The major's carriage is coming up the street, Miss Dean. There are two +officers."</p> + +<p>"Two!" exclaimed Jess, starting to her feet, thinking only of her +brother. "Oh! I wonder if—" And then they heard her go pit-a-pat +through the hall to the front of the house, heard Mrs. Fletcher more +deliberately follow, heard presently the beat of horses' hoofs on the +hard roadway, and the whir of coining wheels. "I'll go out to meet them, +Elinor—I'll—I'll talk to you more about this some other time. You +don't care to go on this ride this morning one bit, do you dear?" he +added uneasily.</p> + +<p>"No, father; frankly, I don't—but he has been polite to you and +attentive to us. There's no help for it."</p> + +<p>And so Folsom went alone to the door to meet his visitors on the porch +without, and did not hear, did not see Mrs. Fletcher, who came hastily +down the stairs, her face singularly pale, a glitter of excitement in +her eyes. On tiptoe she hastened along the broad hall, reaching the +library door just as Folsom stepped out on the porch. On tiptoe she +darted in, closed the door behind her, almost rushed to the north +window, and there grasping the curtain she crouched, heedless of the +possibility of observation, and for half a minute clung and crouched and +stared. Then, as Folsom's genial, powerful voice was heard in welcoming +accents, and heavy footsteps came along the broad board walk, the woman +straightened suddenly and, noiseless as before, hurried back across the +room and came face to face with the daughter of the house.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Folsom!" she faltered, her bosom heaving in violent agitation. +"I did not know you were here. I—excuse me—" and hastened out of the +room and up the winding stairs.</p> + +<p>"Pappoose" never hesitated. Coolly, quickly, she stepped to the window. +Major Burleigh had just reached the top step and was exchanging greeting +with his host. The stylish team and glistening wagon were just spinning +away.</p> + +<p>"It'll be back in five minutes," she, heard the quartermaster explain to +her father. "Newhall has to meet come people coming in by stage from +Green River. I thought I'd rather spend the time here."</p> + +<p>And on the back seat, affably waving his hand in adieu, and jauntily +lifting his rakish forage cap in salutation general to any of the young +ladies who might be watching, sat the gentleman whose regiment was in +Louisiana while he was up here on leave looking after mining +investments.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>"Three mortal hours," said Miss Folsom to her fond little school friend +and chum that afternoon, "have I had to sit or stroll with or listen to +Major Burleigh. I never once was able to enjoy the view. What made him +hurry us away from the northeast point, do you suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Did you notice that, Nell? I did, too, and I was so interested in the +view. Away up toward Laramie Peak I could see something through the +glasses that looked like a lot of little ants crawling along together. +It was just after that—just after we looked through the glass, that he +marched us round to the other side. The view toward Green River isn't +half as pretty."</p> + +<p>"And now he's telling some interminable story to father over their +cigars. What shall we do if he hangs on? Father will have to ask him to +drive with us to the fort, and there won't be room."</p> + +<p>"Unless Mrs. Fletcher gives up her seat," said Jessie demurely.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Fletcher isn't going. A very different person takes her seat +to-day, Jess. Father left a note for Mr. Loomis at the hotel and he +accepted. Now you see why I don't want Major Burleigh."</p> + +<p>It was then long after three o'clock. At five they were to start and +Jessie could hardly curb her impatience. The mail from Frayne, so said +Folsom, would arrive that evening, and then surely there would be news +of Marshall. They had slipped away to their rooms after the bountiful +luncheon served on their return, in order, as "Pappoose" expressed it, +that the gentlemen might have t­heir cigars in peace. Mrs. Fletcher, +after seeing that everything was prepared, had directed the servant to +say to Mr. Folsom, on the return of the party, that she would prefer not +to appear, and would be glad to keep her room, as she did not feel it at +all necessary for the housekeeper to meet strangers, and Folsom felt a +sense of relief. It was so much sweeter not to have any presiding genius +other than Pappoose, not that he was forgetful of Mrs. Fletcher's merits +and services—which were great—but it was plain to see that his +daughter would have been happier had no such office existed as that +created for this deserving and destitute widow. At three Miss Folsom had +gone and tapped at the lady's door—her room was in the third story +overlooking the street—and was very civilly assured that Mrs. Fletcher +stood in need of nothing, but, being wearied, she would like a little +sleep. No, she did not even care for a cup of tea. Yet Elinor felt +confident that the voice that replied to her inquiries came neither from +the bed nor the lounge, but from the direction of the front window.</p> + +<p>At three the cigars were smoked out and the host and his guest were in +the library. It was Folsom's custom, when a possible thing, to take a +brief nap after the midday meal, and Elinor felt sure he would be glad +of the opportunity now, if Burleigh would only go, but Burleigh +wouldn't. In monotonous monologue his voice came floating up to the +second floor, drowsy, unbroken in its soporific flow, and the girls +themselves, after the morning's drive in the clear, bracing air, felt as +though forty winks would be a blessing. Could it be that Burleigh +lingered on in hopes of their reappearance below? Might it not be that +if relief came not speedily Papa Folsom would yield to the spell and +fall asleep in his easy-chair? Was it not Miss Folsom's duty to descend +and take the burden of entertainment off those elder shoulders? These +thoughts oppressed the girl, and starting up, she cried:</p> + +<p>"It's simply wicked of me staying here and letting poor papa be bored to +death. Do come down, Jess, dear, unless you're dreadfully sleepy. He +acts just as though he intended never to go."</p> + +<p>And Jess promised reluctantly to come down in ten minutes, if he didn't +leave; but she hated him, and had hated him ever since he spoke so of +Marshall in the car three days before.</p> + +<p>The upper hall had been quite dark when Miss Folsom went up to inquire +how Mrs. Fletcher was just after luncheon. The door to her little room +was tightly closed. The blinds in all the other rooms aloft were drawn +against the glare of the sunshine in the cloudless atmosphere; yet now, +as Pappoose stepped suddenly out upon the landing, she was surprised to +see that the upper floor was much lighter than when she went up half an +hour earlier. The maid had not gone thither from the kitchen, and Mrs. +Fletcher wished to doze. Who, then, could have opened both blind and +door and let in that flood of light? Impulsively the active girl flew up +the winding stairs to the third story, and some one suddenly withdrew +from the balcony rail, and an instant later, as Miss Folsom reached the +top, all became dark again. Mrs. Fletcher's door had unquestionably been +open, and was now shut to. She must have been out there listening, and +gravely the young girl asked herself what it meant—Mrs. Fletcher's +agitation in the library that morning as she peered out at the major's +wagon; her absence from luncheon on account, as she pleaded, of not +desiring to appear when company was present; and now, despite her desire +to sleep, her vigil at the third-floor landing, where she was surely +listening to the sounds from below.</p> + +<p>Pondering over the facts, Elinor Folsom slowly retraced her steps and +went downstairs. She reached the library none too soon. Old John's eyes +were closed, and he was slowly toppling, over come with sleep. The sound +of her cheery voice aroused him, and he started, guilty and crestfallen.</p> + +<p>Burleigh's heavy face brightened visibly at her coming. He cared no more +for music than does a cat, but eagerly followed her across the broad +hall into the parlor when she suggested showing him the beautiful piano +papa had given her; and old John, blessing her, lurched for the sofa, +buried his hot head in a pillow, and was asleep in ten seconds. Major +Burleigh was alone with the lovely daughter of the veteran trader. He +was a man of the world; she an unsophisticated girl just out of +school—so said Burleigh, albeit a most charming one; and he, who had +monopolized her time the entire morning, bore down once more upon his +prize.</p> + +<p>She had seated herself at the piano, and her long, taper fingers were +rippling over the keys. She knew full well he did not care what she +played, and as for herself she did not care just then to play at all. +She was thinking of his insinuation at Marshall Dean's expense. She was +still pondering over Mrs. Fletcher's stealthy scrutiny of the +quartermaster's team. On these two accounts, and no other, he was +possessed of certain interest in Elinor's dark-brown eyes, and they were +studying him coolly, searchingly, as he drew a chair near the piano +stool, and seated himself and met her look with a broad, encouraging +smile.</p> + +<p>Trill and ripple, ripple and trill her white fingers raced over the +keyboard.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you know this waltz, major," she was saying. "They played it +beautifully at the Point two summers ago."</p> + +<p>"I—ah, yes, it's a charming composition—charming, though I don't +recall it's name just now."</p> + +<p>"This? why it's one of Godfrey's—'The Hilda,' don't you know? I'm sure +you waltz, major."</p> + +<p>"I—ah, used to, yes. I was very fond of a waltz," answered Burleigh, +whose best efforts in that line could result in nothing better than a +waddle. "But of late years I—I—since my bereavement—have practically +withdrawn from society." Then, with a languishing smile, he added, "I +shall be tempted to re-enter the list now," and the major drew his chair +nearer by full an inch, and prepared to be further "killing."</p> + +<p>"Jessie dances divinely," said Miss Folsom. "She simply floats round a +room. You should see her waltz with her brother, Major Burleigh. They +might be waltzing here this very minute if he were only home. What can +have detained him, do you think?"</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew," said the quartermaster slowly. "It makes those who +are—ah—his friends, you know, anxious in more ways than one, because +there is—er—nothing to warrant delay—nothing to—excuse it. He +should, in fact, have been at his post, where his troop is sorely +needed, full four days ago," and Burleigh looked heavy with portent.</p> + +<p>"Is it not possible that he has found something along the lower +Laramie—something where his troop is needed much more than here doing +stable guard?"</p> + +<p>"How can it be possible?" said Burleigh. "The only thing to warrant his +delay would be Indians, and there are none south of the Platte; or horse +thieves, and they hung the last of the gang three months ago. Mr. Dean, +I—ah—regret to say, is fonder of fishing and hunting than of his +legitimate duties, and this, I fear, is why he is not here to welcome +his sister."</p> + +<p>The piano went rippling on, but the brown eyes kept up their steady +gaze. In the deep bass chords now her slender fingers were entangled. +Slowly and thoughtfully the rich melody swung in the proud waltz rhythm +through the airy room and floated out upon the summer breeze. A little +line was setting deep between the dark, arching eyebrows, a symptom +Pappoose's schoolmates had learned to note as a signal for danger, but +Burleigh knew her not, as yet.</p> + +<p>"It is odd," said she dreamily, "that at the Point the officers spoke so +highly of Mr. Dean, and here you seem to think so differently of him. It +is a deep disappointment to his sister that he is not here; but, do you +know, major, we were saying only this morning before you came that there +was some excellent reason for his delay, and we'd know it within another +day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ah—er—of course I hope so. I think, pardon me, that that must be +a messenger from my office now," for spurred boot-heels were coming +briskly up the wooden walk. There was a bounding step on the piazza, a +ring at the bell. The servant bustled through the hall and threw open +the door. It was not a messenger from the depot, but a stalwart, +sunburnt man in rough ranch garb, who whipped off his broad-brimmed hat +and stood abashed within the hall as he asked for Mr. Folsom.</p> + +<p>And all of a sudden over went the piano-stool with a crash, and out into +the hall, joyous, bounding, light as a fairy, a vision of dark, girlish +beauty, went Pappoose.</p> + +<p>"Why, Ned Lannion!" she cried, as she seized the swarthy young fellow's +hands and shook them up and down "Don't you know me—Winona that used to +be? Why, how well you look! When did you leave the ranch? How did you +leave them? Is Hal here—or coming?"</p> + +<p>And at sound of her voice old Folsom had started up from his sofa and +came trotting out into the hall, just roused from his sleep, and +blinking a bit as he, too, held forth cordial, welcoming hands. It was a +moment before they could let Ned tell his story, and then it came by +jerks.</p> + +<p>"We left there early yesterday morning, mum. They're all well now, 'cept +Jake, and he'll come out all right, but we had a close call. A war party +of Sioux jumped as Wednesday afternoon, and they'd a got away with us +but for Lieutenant Dean and his troop. They come along just in time——"</p> + +<p>"Ned!" gasped Elinor, "you don't mean they attacked the ranch?"</p> + +<p>"No'me. We was down the Lar'mie—rounding up horses. There was a dozen +bucks in the party. It's the first time they've come across in a year +that I know of, and they won't be apt to try it again. We shot two of +'em and the cavalry drove 'em a running fight, so hard that they had to +leave one of their wounded behind them. He died in a minute. It +was—" and then Ned Lannion gulped and stumbled and choked in +embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Who was it?" demanded Mr. Folsom, his rugged face pale and twitching, +his eyes full of anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Chaska, sir. <i>You</i> know."</p> + +<p>Folsom gripped him by the shoulder. "And Burning Star—did you see him? +Was he there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; but those boys of Lieutenant Dean's gave them a lickin' +they'll never forget. The ranch is safe as if it was here in Gate City, +only Hal he couldn't come himself, and he knowed you'd be anxious for +full particulars, so he sent me in with the cavalry. They're out at the +fort now."</p> + +<p>"Jessie!" cried Elinor, in delight that overmastered the emotion with +which she had listened to the tale of her brother's recent peril. +Marshall's here—almost home. It's just as we said, Jess. Do come down. +He was there just in time to save my brother's life—to drive the +Indians back to the river. Come quick—I want to hug you!" And her dark +eyes, flashing with joy and excitement, danced full upon the bulky form +of the major, slowly issuing from the parlor door, then beyond as she +went bounding by him, all eagerness to clasp her bonny friend in her +arms, and shower her with congratulations. And so it happened that both +the girls were at the rear of the hall entwined in each other's arms at +the foot of the stairs when the ranchman answered Folsom's next +question, and then broke out with the abrupt announcement, "I never see +a young officer handle his men better. We'd all been in hell by this +time if it wasn't for him, yet, by God, sir, the moment he got into the +post they clapped him in arrest."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>That evening, when John Folsom, half an hour earlier than the stipulated +time, drove the girls and their friend, Lieutenant Loomis, out to the +fort, Major Burleigh was left to his own devices, and his face plainly +showed that he was far from pleased with the way things were going. The +news that Marshall Dean had been placed in arrest by order of the +commanding officer of Fort Emory, following as it did close on the heels +of the tidings of that young officer's prompt and soldierly handling of +the crisis at the ranch, made Folsom boil over with wrath. His first +word was one of caution, however. "Hush!" he said, "Speak low. Yonder +stands his sister. The girls must not know yet." Then, leading the way +into the library and closing the door behind them, he demanded all +particulars Lannion could give him, which were few enough.</p> + +<p>"The lieutenant halted the troop outside the post," said the indignant +ranchman, "had it dismount there while he rode on in to report to the +commanding officer for instructions. The colonel was taking his nap +after lunch, and the adjutant was at the office, and what does he do but +get up from his desk solemn-like, and when the lieutenant says 'I report +the arrival of Troop "C" at the post, sir,' the adjutant didn't answer a +word, but reached out and got his sabre and began buckling it around +him, and then he put on his cap and gloves, and says he, 'Lieutenant +Dean, I'm sorry, but my instructions are to place you in close arrest, +by order of Colonel Stevens.' Why, you could have knocked me down with +the kick of a gopher I was so dumfounded! The lieutenant he didn't say +anything for a minute, but turned white and looked like he could have +knocked the top of the adjutant's head off. 'An officer will be sent to +take charge of the troop,' said the adjutant, 'an' I suppose you'd +better confine yourself to your tent, as the colonel means to have them +camp there a day or two, until he hears from Captain Brooks as to +quarters.' 'Well, will you have the goodness to say what charges have +been laid against me?' said Mr. Dean, and the adjutant hemmed, and +hawed, and 'lowed that the colonel hadn't formerly drawn 'em up yet, but +that a copy would be served on him as soon as they were ready."</p> + +<p>"Then I said I'd go right in and find you, and that's all I know."</p> + +<p>And then it was that Folsom turned on Burleigh, with gloom in his eye, +and said: "By the Eternal, Major Burleigh, I hope you've had nothing to +do with this!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing in the world, I assure you, Mr. Folsom, I—I deeply regret it. +Though, as I have told you, I can hardly be surprised, after what has +been said, and—d what I have seen." But the major could not squarely +meet the gaze in the keen eyes of the old trader, nor could the latter +conceal his suspicions. "I know you wish to hear all the particulars of +the affair at the ranch from this gentleman," said the major uneasily, +"so I will leave you with him for the present," and backing out into the +hall he turned to the foot of the winding staircase where Elinor had met +her friend. The girls were still there, their faces clouded with +surprise and anxiety. It was an opportunity not to be lost.</p> + +<p>"Pray do not be troubled, Miss Folsom," said Burleigh, advancing upon +them with outstretched hand, "er, Mr. Folsom merely wants to hear +further details from Lannion. I wish to extend my congratulations to you +and, ah, this young lady, first upon the fortunate escape of <i>your</i> +brother," and he bowed over his distended stomach to Elinor, "and second +upon the part played by <i>yours</i>," and he repeated the bow to Jess, who, +however, shrank away from the extended hand. "It will go far to +counteract the stories that I—ah, er—believe you know about—that were +in circulation, and most unjustly, doubtless, at—er—his expense."</p> + +<p>"Who put them in circulation, Major Burleigh?" asked Pappoose, her brown +eyes studying his face as unflinchingly as had her father's gaze a +moment before.</p> + +<p>"That, my dear young lady I—er—cannot surmise. They are mostly +imaginative, I dare say."</p> + +<p>But Miss Folsom looked unmollified, Miss Dean agitated, and Burleigh +himself had many a reason for feeling ill at ease. Just at the time of +all others when he most desired to stand on good terms with the +well-to-do old trader and his charming daughter he found himself the +object of distrust. He was thinking hard and far from hopefully as a +moment later he hastened down the street.</p> + +<p>"Tell them to send up my buggy, quick," were his orders as he stepped +within his office doorway. Then lowering his voice, "Has Captain Newhall +returned?" he asked the chief clerk.</p> + +<p>"The captain was here, sir. Left word he needed to take the first +train—freight or construction, it made no difference—to Cheyenne and +expected to find a letter or package from you, and there's two telegrams +in from Department Headquarters on your desk, sir."</p> + +<p>The major turned thither with solemn face, and read them both, his back +to his subordinate, his face to the light, and growing grayer every +moment. One was a curt notification that ten thousand dollars would be +needed at once at Warrior Gap to pay contractors and workmen, and +directing him to send the amount from the funds in his keeping. The +other read as follows:</p> + +<p>"Have all transportation put in readiness for immediate field service. +Every wheel may be needed."</p> + +<p>This he tossed carelessly aside. Over the first he pondered deeply, his +yellow-white face growing dark and haggard.</p> + +<p>Ten thousand dollars to be sent at once to Warrior Gap! Workmen's pay! +Who could have predicted that? Who could have given such an order? Who +would have imagined payment would have to be made before July, when some +reasonable amount of work had been done? What could laborers do with +their money up there, even if they had it? It was preposterous! It was +risky to attempt to send it. But what was infinitely worse—for him—it +was impossible. The money was practically already gone, but—not to +Warrior Gap.</p> + +<p>Those were days when inspectors' visits were like those of other angels, +few and far between. The railway was only just finished across the great +divide of the Black Hills of Wyoming. Only as far as Cheyenne was there +a time schedule for trains, and that—far more honored in the breach +than the observance. Passengers bound west of that sinfully thriving +town were luckier, as a rule, if they went by stage. Those were days, +too, in which a depot quartermaster with a drove of government mules and +a corral full of public vehicles at his command was a monarch in the +eyes of the early settlers; and when, added to these high-priced +luxuries, he had on deposit in various banks from Chicago to Cheyenne, +and even here at Gate City, thousands of dollars in government +greenbacks expendible on his check for all manner of purposes, from +officers' mileage accounts to the day laborer's wages, from bills for +the roofing of barracks and quarters to the setting of a single +horseshoe, from the purchase of forage and fuel for the dozen military +posts within range of his supply trains down to a can of axle grease. +Every one knew Burleigh's horses and habits were far more costly than +his pay would permit. Everybody supposed he had big returns from mines +and stocks and other investments. Nobody knew just what his investments +were, and only he knew how few they were and how unprofitable they had +become. Those were days when, as now, disbursing officers were forbidden +to gamble, but when, not as now, the law was a dead letter. Burleigh had +gambled for years; had, with little remorse, ruined more than one man, +and yet stood now awe-stricken and dismayed and wronged by Fate, since +luck had turned at last against him. Large sums had been lost to players +inexorable as he himself had been. Large sums had been diverted from the +government channels in his charge, some to pay his so-called debts of +honor, some to cover abstractions from other funds, "robbing Peter to +pay Paul," some to silence people who knew too much; some, ay, most of +it, in fact, to cover margins, and once money gets started on that grade +it slips through one's fingers like quicksilver. At the very moment when +Anson Burleigh's envious cronies were telling each other he stood far +ahead of the world, the figures were telling him he stood some twenty +thousand dollars behind it, and that, too, when he was confronted by two +imperative calls for spot cash, one for ten thousand to go to Warrior +Gap, another for a sum almost as big to "stake" a man who never yet had +turned an honest penny, yet held the quartermaster where he dare not say +so—where indeed he dare not say no.</p> + +<p>"If you haven't it you know where you can get it—where you have often +got it before, and where you'd better get it before it's too late;" +these were words said to him that very morning, in tones so low that +none but he could bear; yet they were ringing in his head now like the +boom of some tolling bell. Time was when he had taken government money +and turned it into handsome profit through the brokers of San Francisco +and Chicago. But, as Mr. John Oakhurst remarked, "There's only one thing +certain about luck, and that is it's bound to change," and change it +had, and left him face to face with calamity and dishonor. Where was he +to raise the ten thousand dollars that must be sent to the post +quartermaster at Warrior Gap? The end of the fiscal year was close at +hand. He dare not further divert funds from one appropriation to cover +shortages in another. He could borrow from the banks, with a good +endorser, but what endorser was there good enough but John Folsom?—the +last man now whom he could bear to have suspect that he was in straits. +Folsom was reported to be worth two hundred thousand dollars, and that +lovely girl would inherit half his fortune. There lived within his +circle no man, no woman in whose esteem Burleigh so longed to stand +high, and he had blundered at the start. Damn that young cub who dared +to lecture him on the evils of poker! Was a boy lieutenant to shame him +before officers of the general's staff and expect to go unwhipped? Was +that butt-headed subaltern to be the means of ruining his prospects +right here and now when he stood so sorely in need of aid? Was the devil +himself in league against him, that that boy's sister should turn out to +be the closest friend old Folsom's daughter ever had—a girl to whom +father and daughter both were devoted, and through her were doubtless +interested in the very man he had been plotting to pull down? Burleigh +savagely ground his teeth together.</p> + +<p>"Go and hurry that buggy," he ordered, as he crushed the sheet of paper +on which he had been nervously figuring. Then, springing up, he began +pacing his office with impatient stride. A clerk glanced quickly up from +his desk, watched him one moment with attentive eye, and looked +significantly at his neighbor. "Old man's getting worse rattled every +day," was the comment, as the crash of wheels through loose gravel +announced the coming of the buggy, and Burleigh hastened out, labored +into his seat, and took the whip and reins. The blooded mare in the +shafts darted forward at the instant, but he gathered and drew her in, +the nervous creature almost settling on her haunches.</p> + +<p>"Say to Captain Newhall when he gets back-that I'll see him this +evening," called Burleigh over his shoulder. "Now, damn you, <i>go</i>—if +you want to!" and the lash fell on the glistening, quivering flank, and +with her head pointed for the hard, open prairie, the pretty creature +sped like mad over the smooth roadway and whirled the light buggy out +past the scattered wooden tenements of the exterior limits of the +frontier town—the tall white staff, tipped by its patch of color +flapping in the mountain breeze, and the dingy wooden buildings on the +distant bluff whirling into view as he spun around the corner where the +village lost itself in the prairie; and there, long reaches ahead of +him, just winding up the ascent to the post was a stylish team and trap. +John Folsom and the girls had taken an early start and got ahead of him.</p> + +<p>Old Stevens was up and about as Folsom's carriage drove swiftly through +the garrison and passed straight out by the northeast gate. "I'll be +back to see you in a moment," shouted the old driver smilelessly, as he +shot by the lonely colonel, going, papers in hand to his office, and +Stevens well knew he was in for trouble. Already the story was blazing +about the post that nothing but the timely arrival of Dean and his men +had saved Folsom's ranch, and Folsom's people. Already the men, +wondering and indignant at their young leader's arrest, were shouting +over the sutler's bar their pæans in his praise, and their denunciation +of his treatment. Over the meeting of sister and brother at the latter's +little tent let us draw a veil. He stepped forth in a moment and bade +his other visitors welcome, shook hands eagerly with Loomis and urged +their coming in, but he never passed from under the awning or "fly," and +Folsom well knew the reason.</p> + +<p>"Jump out, daughter," he said to Pappoose, and Loomis assisted her to +alight and led her straight up to Dean, and for the first time in those +two years the ex-cadet captain and the whilom little schoolgirl with the +heavy braids of hair looked into each other's eyes, and in Dean's there +was amaze and at least momentary delight. He still wore his field rig, +and the rent in the dark-blue flannel shirt was still apparent. He was +clasping Miss Folsom's hand and looking straight into the big dark eyes +that were so unusually soft and humid, when Jessie's voice was heard as +she came springing forth from the tent:</p> + +<p>"Look, Nell, look! Your picture!" she cried, as with the bullet-marked +<i>carte de visite</i> in her hand she flitted straight to her friend.</p> + +<p>"Why, where did this come from?" asked Miss Folsom in surprise, "and +what's happened to it?—all creased and black there!" Then both the +girls and Loomis looked to him for explanation, while Folsom drove away, +and even through the bronze and tan the boy was blushing.</p> + +<p>"I—borrowed it for a minute—at the ranch just as Jake came in wounded, +and there was no time to return it, you know. We had to gallop right +out."</p> + +<p>"Then—you had it with you in the Indian fight?" cried Jess, in +thrilling excitement. "Really? Oh, Nell! How I wish it were mine. But +how'd it get so blackened there—and crushed? You haven't told us."</p> + +<p>"Tell you some other time, Jess. Don't crowd a fellow," he laughed. But +when his eyes stole their one quick glance at Elinor, standing there in +silence, he saw the color creeping up like sunset glow all over her +beautiful face as she turned quickly away. Lannion had told them of the +close shave the lieutenant had had and the havoc played by that bullet +in the breast pocket of his hunting shirt.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>Meantime "Old Peeksniff," as commentators of the day among the graceless +subs were won't to call Colonel Stevens, was having his bad quarter of +an hour. Leaving his team with the orderly, John Folsom had stamped into +his presence unannounced, and after his own vigorous fashion opened the +ball as follows:</p> + +<p>"Stevens, what in the devil has that young fellow done to deserve +arrest?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, ah, shut the door, Mr. Adjutant," said the commanding officer, +apprehensively, to his staff officer, "and—d I desire to confer with +Mr. Folsom a moment," whereat the adjutant took the hint and then hied +himself out of the room.</p> + +<p>"Now, ah, in the first place, Mr. Folsom this is rather a long and—d +painful story. I'm—m—ah, ah—in a peculiar position."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake talk like a man and not like Burleigh," broke in the old +trader impulsively. "I've known you off and on over twenty years, and +you never used to talk in this asinine way until you got to running with +him. Come right to the point—What crime is young Dean charged with? +Those girls of mine will have to know it. They will know he's in arrest. +What can I tell them?"</p> + +<p>"Crime—ah—is hardly the word, Folsom. There has been a +misunderstanding of orders, in short, and he was placed under arrest +before—ah—before I had been furnished with a mass of information that +should have been sent to me before."</p> + +<p>"Well, what fault is that of his? See here, man, you don't mean to say +it is because he didn't get here three days ago? That's no crime, and I +haven't knocked around with the army the last forty years not to know +the regulations in such matters. Do you mean without ever hearing what +kept him and what splendid, spirited service he rendered there along the +Laramie, that you've humiliated that fine young fellow and put him in +arrest?"</p> + +<p>Pecksniff whirled around in his chair. "Really now, Mr. Folsom, I can't +permit you to instruct me in my military duties. You have no conception +of the way in which I've been ignored and misled in this matter. There +are collateral circumstances brought about, er—forced on me in fact, by +injudicious friends of this young man, and he—he must blame them—he +must blame them, not me. Now if you'll permit me to glance over this +mass of matter, I can the sooner do justice in the premises." And over +his goggles the colonel looked pleadingly up into his visitor's irate +features.</p> + +<p>"Read all you like, but be quick about it," was the angry rejoinder. "I +want to take that boy back with me to town and confront him with one of +his accusers this very day—the man I believe, by the ghost of Jim +Bridger, is at the bottom of the whole business!" and Folsom flopped +heavily and disgustedly into a chair, at sound of a rap at the door, +which opened an inch and the adjutant's nose became visible at the +crack.</p> + +<p>"Major Burleigh, sir, would like to see you."</p> + +<p>"And I'd like to see Major Burleigh!" stormed Folsom, springing to his +feet. Commanding officers of the Stevens stamp had no terrors for him. +He had known his man too long.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" cried Pecksniff, "I can have no disturbance now +over this unfortunate matter. Really, Mr. Folsom, I cannot permit my +office to be the scene of any—of any——"</p> + +<p>But his words wandered aimlessly away into space as he discovered he had +no listener. Folsom, finding that the major had apparently changed his +mind and was not coming in, had changed his plan and was going out. He +overtook Burleigh on the boardwalk in front and went straight to the +point.</p> + +<p>"Major Burleigh, you told me a short time ago that you had nothing to do +with the allegations against this young gentleman who was placed in +arrest here this afternoon, yet I learn from my own daughter that you +spoke of him to a brother officer of his in terms of disparagement the +day you got aboard the car at Sidney. Mr. Loomis corroborates it and so +does Miss Dean. I've heard of two other instances of your speaking +sneeringly of him. Now I ask you as man to man what it is you have to +tell? He has saved the lives of my son, his wife and child, and the +people of the ranch, and by the Eternal I'm his friend and mean to see +justice done him!"</p> + +<p>Burleigh listened with solemn face and with no attempt to interrupt. He +waited patiently until Folsom came to a full stop before he spoke at +all. Then his voice was eloquent of undeserved rebuke—of infinite +sympathy. "Mr. Folsom," he said, "it would be useless for me to deny +that before I knew your charming daughter or her—ah—very interesting +friend I did speak in their presence—ah—incautiously, perhaps, of Mr. +Dean, but it was in continuance of a conversation begun before we +boarded the car, and what I said was more in sorrow than in criticism. +The young gentleman had attracted my attention—my +favorable—ah—opinion on the up trip to the Big Horn, and I +was—ah—simply disappointed in his conduct on the way back. It was +perhaps due to—ah—inexperience only, and my whole object in coming +here in haste this afternoon was to bear testimony to his ability and +zeal as a troop commander, and to urge—ah—Colonel Stevens to +reconsider his action and restore him at once to duty. I had hoped, sir, +to be here—ah—ahead of you and to have driven him in my buggy—ah—to +meet you, but I am disappointed—I am disappointed in more ways than +one."</p> + +<p>Folsom stood and wiped his streaming face, and looked the speaker square +in the eye, and Burleigh stood the scrutiny with unlooked-for nerve. +Long years at the poker-table had given him command of his features, and +the faculty of appearing the personification of serene confidence in his +"hand," when the twitching of a nerve might cost a thousand dollars. +Folsom was no match for him in such a game. Little by little the anger +and suspicion faded from his eyes, and a shame-faced look crept into +them. Had he really so misjudged, so wronged this gentleman? Certainly +there was every appearance of genuine sympathy and feeling in Burleigh's +benevolent features. Certainly he was here almost as soon as he himself +had come, and very possibly for the same purpose. It was all that old +fool Pecksniff's doing after all. Folsom had known him for years and +always as more or less of an ass—a man of so little judgment that, +though a major in the line at the outbreak of the war, he had never been +trusted with a command in the field, and here he was now a full colonel +with only three companies left him. Burleigh saw his bluff was telling, +and he took courage.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," he said, "and let me reassure you," and the doors of the +commanding officer's sanctum opened at once to the omnipotent disburser +of government good things, Folsom following at his heels. "Colonel +Stevens," he began, the moment he was inside, and before the colonel +could speak at all, "in a moment of exasperation and extreme +nervous—ah—depression the night I—er—started East so hurriedly +after a most exhausting journey from the Big Horn, I spoke disparagingly +of the action of Lieutenant Dean in face of the Indians the day we met +Red Cloud's band, but on mature reflection I am convinced I misjudged +him. I have been thinking it all over. I recall how vigilant and dutiful +he was at all times, and my object in hurrying out here to-day, +at—ah—almost the instant I heard of his arrest, was to put in the best +words I could think of in his behalf—to—ah—urge you to reconsider +your action, especially in view of all the—e—ah—encomiums passed upon +his conduct in this recent raid on the Laramie."</p> + +<p>The colonel whirled around upon him as he had on Folsom. "Major +Burleigh," he began, "I call you to witness that I am the most abused +man in the army. Here am I, sir, thirty-five years in service, a full +colonel, with a war record with the regulars that should command +respect, absolutely ignored by these mushroom generals at Omaha and +elsewhere—stripped of my command and kept in ignorance of the movements +of my subordinates. Why, sir," he continued, lashing himself on, as he +rose from his chair, "here's my junior at Frayne giving orders to my +troop, sir; presumes to send them scouting the Laramie bottoms, when +every man is needed here, and then, when, as it happens, my officer and +his men get into a fight and drive the Indians, to whom does he report, +sir? Not to me, sir—not to his legitimate commander, but he sends +couriers to Laramie and to Frayne, and ignores me entirely."</p> + +<p>A light dawned on Burleigh in an instant. Well he knew that Dean's +reasons for sending couriers to those guard posts of the Platte were to +warn them that a war party had crossed into their territory, and was now +in flight. There was nothing to be gained by sending a man galloping +back to the line of the railway seventy-five miles to the rear—no +earthly reason for his doing so. But the fact that he had sent runners +to officers junior in rank to Stevens, and had not sent one to him, +fairly "stuck in the crop" of the captious old commander, and he had +determined to give the youngster a lesson. But now the mail was in, and +dispatches from various quarters, and a telegram from Omaha directing +him to convey to Lieutenant Dean the thanks and congratulations of the +general commanding the department, who had just received full +particulars by wire from Cheyenne, and Stevens was glad enough to drop +the game, and Burleigh equally glad of this chance to impress Folsom +with the sense of his influence, as well as of his justice.</p> + +<p>"I admit all you say, colonel. I have long—ah—considered you most +unfairly treated, but really—ah—in this case of Lieutenant Dean's, it +is, as I said before, inexperience and—ah—the result of-ah—er—not +unnatural loss of—er—balance at a most exciting time. A word +of—ah—admonition, if you will pardon my suggestion, all he probably +needs, for he has really behaved very well—ah—surprisingly well in +conducting this—ah—pursuit."</p> + +<p>And so was it settled that later the colonel was to see Mr. Dean, and +admonish accordingly, but that meantime the adjutant should go and +whisper in his ear that his arrest was ended, and all would be explained +later, thereby releasing him before the girls discovered the fact that +he was confined to his tent.</p> + +<p>But the adjutant came too late. The tearful eyes of one, the flushed and +anxious faces of both damsels, and the set look in the eyes of both the +young officers at Dean's tent, as the adjutant approached, told him the +cat was out of the bag. "The explanation cannot be made too promptly for +me, sir," said Dean, as he received the colonel's message and permitted +the adjutant to depart without presenting him to the two prettiest girls +he had seen in a year. "Now, Loomis, just as quick as possible I want +you to go with me to that man Burleigh. I'll cram his words down his +throat."</p> + +<p>"Hush, Dean, of course, I'll stand by you! But—both girls are looking. +Wait until to-morrow."</p> + +<p>How many a project for the morrow is dwarfed or drowned by events +unlooked for—unsuspected at the time! Not ten minutes later Folsom and +Burleigh came strolling together to the little tent. Ashamed of his +apparently unjust accusation, Folsom had begged the quartermaster's +pardon and insisted on his coming with him and seeing the young people +before driving back to town. The horses were being groomed at the picket +line. The western sun was low. Long shadows were thrown out over the +sward and the air was full of life and exhilaration. The somber fears +that had oppressed the quartermaster an hour earlier were retiring +before a hope that then he dare not entertain.</p> + +<p>"You—you stood by me like a trump, Burleigh," old Folsom was saying, +"even after I'd abused you like a thief. If I can ever do you a good +turn don't you fail to let me know."</p> + +<p>And Burleigh was thinking then and there how desperately in need of a +good turn he stood that minute. What if Folsom would back him? What +if——</p> + +<p>But as they came in full view of the picket line beyond the row of +tents, the major's eagerly searching gaze was rewarded by a sight that +gave him sudden pause. Halted and examining with almost professional +interest the good points of a handsome little bay, Lieutenant Loomis and +Jessie Dean were in animated chat. Halted and facing each other, he with +glowing admiration in his frank blue eyes, she with shy pleasure in her +joyous face, Dean and Elinor Folsom stood absorbed in some reminiscence +of which he was talking eagerly. Neither saw the coming pair. Neither +heard the rapid beat of bounding hoofs nearing them in eager haste. +Neither noted that a horseman reined in, threw himself from saddle and +handed Burleigh a telegraphic message which, with trembling hands, he +opened and then read with starting eyes.</p> + +<p>"My heaven, Folsom!" he cried. "I ought to have known something was +coming when I got orders to have every mule and wheel ready. +Everything's to be rushed to the Big Horn at once. Just as you +predicted, Red Cloud's band has broken loose. There's been a devil of a +fight not eighty miles from Frayne!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>And now indeed came for Marshall Dean a time in which he could see a +divided duty. A camp of woodchoppers in one of the deep, sequestered +valleys of the mountains had been suddenly set upon by a host of mounted +Indians that seemed, like the warriors born of the dragon's teeth, to +spring up from the earth, and yelling like fiends bore down upon the +little guard. Happily for the woodchoppers, but unluckily for Lo, the +commander was a cool-headed veteran of the late war who had listened +time and again to yells as frantic and had withstood charge after charge +ten times as determined. Most unluckily for Lo the infantry company was +armed with the new Springfield breech-loader, and when the band came +exultantly on, having, as they supposed, drawn the fire when full four +hundred yards away, they were confounded by the lively crackle and +sputter of rifles along the timber in front of them, toppling many a +dashing warrior to earth and strewing the ground with slaughtered +ponies. That charge failed, but they rallied in furious force. There +were only forty soldiers: they had five hundred braves, so on they came +again from three different points, and again did Powell's sheltered blue +coats scatter them like red autumn leaves before the storm. Thrice and +four times did they essay to stampede the soldiers and sweep off their +own dead and wounded, and each time were they soundly thrashed, thanks +to cool courage and the new breech-loaders. And Red Cloud, cursing his +medicine men, drew off his baffled braves and the hills that night +resounded to their vengeful war-whoops and echoed back the wailing of +the Indian women mourning over the slain. "All well enough so far, +lads," cried Folsom, when he heard the news. "Machpealota is unmasked. +It's war to the knife now, so for God's sake send all the troops you can +muster to the aid of those already up there in the Big Horn. Next time +he hits he'll have all the Northern Sioux at his back, you mark my +words!"</p> + +<p>But, who the devil is John Folsom? said the Bureau again. Arrest Red +Cloud. Bring his band in prisoners, were the orders to the agents, and +the agents called for troops to go and do their bidding. It's one thing, +as I've had occasion to say before, to stand off with breech-loaders a +thousand Indians armed only with old percussion cap muskets, squirrel +rifles, bows, clubs and lances; it's another thing for soldiers armed +even with the best the market affords, to march into an Indian position +and arrest an Indian chief. There were not soldiers enough north of the +Platte to do it, and the War Department knew it if the Bureau didn't. +Hence the mustering in force along the river, and the mounting in hot +haste of perhaps ten more troops and companies, nowhere near enough for +the work in hand, but all the nation had within a month's march that +could possibly be spared from other work and work more important.</p> + +<p>And there was wrath at Emory, where the colonel found himself ordered to +send all his transportation to Frayne forthwith, and all his remaining +troops except one of foot. "Damnation! I've only got two companies of +foot," he screamed, in the shrill treble of piping senility. "And they +mean to rob me of my cavalry, too! 'C' troop is ordered to be held in +readiness for special service."</p> + +<p>The transportation, consisting of three wagons and two ambulances, with +the somber company of infantry, started next day, however, and Dean, +with eager expectancy kept his men in camp, cooked rations ready, +ammunition pouches filled, arms and equipments overhauled and in perfect +order, horses examined and reshod, ready for the word that might come +any minute and carry him—he knew not whither. Folsom and the girls had +to drive back to dinner without him. Despite the permission sent by the +colonel, he would not leave his troop and go in town. So back they came +in the soft moonlight and spent a long, lovely summer evening with him, +while the band played melodiously in the fort inclosure, and the stars +twinkled over the peaks of the Rockies in the southern skies. Folsom +spent the hours wiring to Omaha and conferring with such officers as he +could reach. They thought the lesson given Red Cloud would end the +business. He knew it would only begin it. Burleigh, saying that he must +give personal attention to the selection of the teams and wagons, spent +the early evening in his corral, but sent word to Folsom that he hoped +to see him in the morning on business of great importance. He had other +hopes, too, one of them being that now the order to send that big sum in +currency to the new stockade would be revoked. He had lost no time in +suggesting to the chief quartermaster of the department the extreme +hazard. He quoted Folsom as saying that before we could send one hundred +men to Warrior Gap Red Cloud could call five thousand, and the chief +quartermaster, being a man of method and a stranger to the frontier +said, as said the Bureau "Who the devil is John Folsom? Do as you are +told." But that answer only came the following day. Meantime there was +respite and hope.</p> + +<p>Long lived that beautiful evening in the memory of four young hearts. A +sweet south wind had been gently playing all day and left the night warm +and fragrant of the pines and cedars in the mountain parks. All Fort +Emory seemed made up of women and children now, for such few soldiers as +were left, barring the bandsmen, were packing or helping pack and store +about the barracks. From soon after eight until nearly ten the musicians +occupied their sheltered wooden kiosk on the parade, and filled the air +with sweet strains of waltz or song or stirring martial melody.</p> + +<p>For an hour, with Elinor Folsom on his arm, young Dean was strolling up +and down the moonlit walk, marveling over the beauty of her dark, yet +winsome face, and Loomis and Jessie, stanch friends already, sauntered +after them. For a time the merry chat went on unbroken. They were +talking of that never-to-be-forgotten visit to the Point—Pappoose's +first—and of the hop to which the tall cadet captain took the timid +schoolgirl, and of her hop card and the distinguished names it bore, as +names ran in the old days of the battalion; of Ray, who danced so +beautifully and rode so well—he was with the —th cavalry now somewhere +along the U. P., said Dean—and of Billings the cadet adjutant; he was +with a light battery in Louisiana. "Where this Captain Newhall is +stationed," interrupted Pappoose, with quick, upward look. "I wonder if +he knows him, Mr. Dean."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't like him, I'll venture to say," said Dean, "if Newhall +doesn't suit you and Jessie, and I'm sure I shan't." And then they went +on to talk of the lovely dance music they had at the Point that +summer, and how bewitchingly Elsen used to play that pretty +galop—"Puckwudjies"—the very thing for a moonlit night. One could +almost see the Indian fairies dancing about their tiny fires.</p> + +<p>"It was that galop—my first at West Point—that I danced with Cadet +Captain Dean," said Pappoose, looking blithely up into his steadfast +eyes. "You've no idea what a proud girl I was!" They were at the upper +end of the parade at the moment. The kiosk was only fifty yards away, +its band lights sparkling under the canopy, the moonlight glinting on +the smooth surface of the dancing floor that an indulgent post commander +had had placed there. Half a dozen young garrison girls, arm in arm and +by twos, were strolling about its waxen face awaiting the next piece; +and some of them had been importuning the leader, for at the moment, +soft and rippling, sweet and thrilling, quick and witching, the +exquisite opening strains of "Puckwudjies" floated out upon the night.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jess! Listen!" cried Elinor in ecstasy and surprise, as she turned +back with quickly beating heart.</p> + +<p>"No, no, indeed!" replied her soldier escort, with a throb in his breast +that echoed and overmastered that in her own. "No time to listen—come! +It was your first galop at the Point—let it be our first in Wyoming." +And in a moment more the tall, lithe, supple, slender forms were gliding +about the dancing-floor in perfect time to the lovely music, but now her +dark eyes could not meet the fire in the blue. Following their lead, +Loomis and Jessie joined the dance. Other couples from along the row +hastened to the scene. In five minutes a lively hop was on at Emory, and +when at last, breathing a little hurriedly and with heightened color, +Elinor Folsom glanced up into his joyous and beaming face—"You had +forgotten that galop, Mr. Dean," she archly said, but down went the dark +eyes again at his fervent reply.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I admit it; but so long as I live I'll never forget this."</p> + +<p>Small wonder was it that when Burleigh came driving out at tattoo for a +brief conference with the colonel, his sallow face took on a darker +shade as he suddenly caught sight of that couple standing at the moment +apart from the dancers, seeing neither them nor him, hearing for the +moment no music but that which trembled in the tones of his deep voice, +for Elinor was strangely silent.</p> + +<p>"Marshall Dean," whispered Jessie that night, as she hugged him before +being lifted to her seat, "tell me true, wasn't Pappoose's picture in +your heart pocket? Didn't that bullet crease it?"</p> + +<p>"Promise on your honor not to tell, Jess," he whispered.</p> + +<p>She nodded delightedly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and what's more, it's there now!"</p> + +<p>Early on the morrow came further news. Troops from Steele and Bridger +were on the move, but no word came for the cavalry at Emory, and +Marshall Dean, hitherto most eager for field service, learned with joy +he felt ashamed to own that he had still another day to spend in the +society of Jessie and her friend. But how much of that elation Jessie +could have claimed as due to her every sister whose brother is in love +can better tell than I. At eight they came driving out to hear the band +at guard-mounting, though to old Pecksniff's pathetic sorrow he could +mount only twelve men all told. That ceremony over, they watched with +kindling eyes the sharp drill of Marshall's troop; that soldierly young +commander, one may feel well assured, showing his men, his horses, and +himself off to the best of his ability, as who would not have done under +such scrutiny as that. Loomis was with them, but Elinor drove, for her +father had urgent business, he said, and must remain at his office. +Major Burleigh, he added, was to meet him, whereat the girls were +silent.</p> + +<p>"If you could have beard the major pleading with that cantankerous old +fool at the fort in Marshall's behalf you would get over your wrath at +Burleigh just as I did," said Folsom, to both, apparently, and still +neither answered. Burleigh was evidently <i>persona non grata</i> in the eyes +of both. "He tells me Captain Newhall is still here, waiting for a train +to be made up to run back to Cheyenne. I'm afraid I'll have to ask him +to bring the captain to dinner to-day. Do you think Mr. Dean will care +to come?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I think he would rather not leave camp," said Jessie slowly. "Orders +may come any minute, he says."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose so," answered Folsom, vaguely relieved. Something told +him there was antagonism between the young fellow and Burleigh that +would be apt to involve Newhall, too. "I'll ask them both, if you don't +very much mind," he went on, whispering to Elinor. "And will you tell +Mrs. Fletcher? How is she this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Just as usual, papa. She says she has rather violent headaches once in +a while, and she thinks it prudent to keep her room to-day. But I can +attend to everything." Indeed, thought the daughter, she wished she had +it all to do.</p> + +<p>And so Folsom had gone to meet Burleigh, and the girls had planned, at +least Jessie had, that Marshall after drill should ride beside them into +town and have a chat in the parlor while she wrote to mother in the +library. But a thing happened that no one could have foreseen. Just +before drill was over and while they were still watching it from their +seats in the covered wagon, a buggy drove up alongside and Major +Burleigh jumped out, gave the reins to his companion and bade him come +to him as soon as he had finished what he wished to do at the sutler's. +The major's face was perturbed, that of his companion looked black and +ugly. It was Captain Newhall, and something was amiss. The latter barely +tipped his hat in driving away, the former heaved a sigh of relief, then +turned to greet the girls.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes passed in constraint and awkwardness. Burleigh felt that he +was unwelcome, but his eyes were fixed in fascination on Elinor Folsom, +and he could not go. Presently drill was dismissed, and Dean, all aglow, +came galloping up, his orderly trumpeter following. Not until he had +joyously greeted both the girls did he see who was standing by the +forward wheel on the opposite side.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, Mr. Dean," said Burleigh affably. "I never saw that troop +look so well."</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, sir," said Dean coldly. Then turned to speak again to +Miss Folsom when the buggy came whirring back.</p> + +<p>"He isn't here, Burleigh," said the occupant petulantly. "He's in town, +and you've got to find him right off. Come on!"</p> + +<p>Burleigh turned livid. "Captain Newhall," he said, "you fail to notice I +am with friends."</p> + +<p>"They are friends who will be glad to get rid of you, then," replied the +stranger thickly, and it was easy to see that he had been drinking. All +the same Burleigh went.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>Another day Dean and Troop "C" were held in camp awaiting orders for +special service, and no orders came. "Old Pecksniff" had an eye for +pretty girls, a trait by no means rare in soldiers old or young, and +prettier girls than Pappoose and Jessie he had never met. Mrs. Stevens +was accordingly bidden to invite them to luncheon that very day, and +Dean and Loomis were of the party, as were other young people of the +post, and, despite the rising war clouds in the north and the recent +unpleasantness at Emory and an odd manner indicative of suppressed +excitement on part of both Dean and Loomis, a very joyous time they had +until the damsels Had to drive home to dress for dinner. Folsom had +named six as the hour. Burleigh, Newhall and the two boys were mentioned +as his guests. Burleigh accepted for self and partner, Loomis for +himself, with mental reservation. Dean at once had begged to be excused. +After the morning's disappearance of Burleigh and "Surly," as Miss +Folsom promptly named the pair, Marshall had ridden into Gate City at +the side of the Folsom carriage, and was welcomed by the old trader +himself, who looked pained when told he could not attend the dinner. +"Surely Colonel Stevens will let you off," said Folsom, but that +obviously was not the reason.</p> + +<p>"I'm the only officer with my troop," said Dean, "and so cannot ask."</p> + +<p>But when Folsom took his daughter in his arms a little later and +inquired whether there were not some graver cause behind the one +assigned, Elinor calmly answered that she thought there was, and that +the cause was Major Burleigh.</p> + +<p>"But, daughter dear," said he, "that's just one reason I wish to bring +them together. Then Dean could see how pleasantly disposed the major +is," and he was amazed when she replied:</p> + +<p>"Major Burleigh may be pleasantly disposed, but Mr. Dean is not, by any +means, nor would I be were I in his place, papa."</p> + +<p>"My child," said he, "what do you know about it?"</p> + +<p>"Everything that Jessie knows, besides what we heard on the train. +Mar—Mr. Dean told her of several things Major Burleigh had said and +done to his discredit, and no wonder he declines to dine with a man who +has deliberately maligned him."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had thought of that," said Folsom, his knotty hands deep in +the pockets of his loose-fitting trousers. "I saw Burleigh this morning +on some business, and he seemed to want to help Dean along. What took +him out to the fort, do you suppose?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," she answered gravely. "He had Captain Newhall with him, +in quest of somebody who wasn't there."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, Griggs, the sutler. I heard of it," interposed Folsom, +fingering his watchchain.</p> + +<p>"Very possibly. The captain was ugly and rude in manner and Major +Burleigh very much embarrassed. Indeed, Daddy dear, I should not be +greatly surprised if others of your party failed to come."</p> + +<p>"Burleigh, do you mean, or his queer guest?"</p> + +<p>But Pappoose did not reply. She seemed listening intently, and then with +swift, sudden movement darted across to the heavy Navajo blanket +portière that hung at the doorway of a little room back of the library. +Her voice was far from cordial as she asked:</p> + +<p>"Were you looking for any one, Mrs. Fletcher? I thought you were in your +room."</p> + +<p>"For Mr. Folsom, please, when he is at leisure," was the answer, in +unruffled tones. "I believe it easier to take active part in the +preparations than to lie there thinking."</p> + +<p>At one the girls were to lunch at the fort, as has been said, and it was +time for them to dress. There were other matters on which Elinor much +wished to talk with her father and, with more reluctance than she had +yet experienced, she left him to hear what Mrs. Fletcher might have to +say. The conference was brief enough, whatever its nature, for presently +his voice was heard at the foot of the stairs.</p> + +<p>"I'm going over to the depot a few minutes, Daught. I wish to see +Burleigh. Don't wait for me. Start whenever you are ready. Where do the +boys meet you?"</p> + +<p>"Here, Daddy, at half-past twelve."</p> + +<p>It was high noon now, and the ruddy-faced old fellow grew redder as the +summer sun beat down on his gray head, but he strode sturdily down the +broad avenue that led to the heart of the bustling new town, turned to +the right at the first cross street beyond his own big block, and ten +minutes' brisk tramp brought him to the gateway of Burleigh's stockaded +inclosure. Two or three employees lounging about the gate were gazing +curiously within. Silently they let him pass them by, but a sound of +angry voices rose upon the heated air. Just within the gate stood the +orderly trumpeter holding two horses by the reins, one of them Marshall +Dean's, and a sudden idea occurred to Folsom as he glanced at the open +windows of the office building. There was no mistaking the speaker +within. It was Burleigh.</p> + +<p>"Leave my office instantly, sir, or I'll prefer charges that will +stick——"</p> + +<p>"Not till I've said what I came to say, Major Burleigh. I've abundant +evidence of what you've been saying at my expense. You asserted that I +lost my nerve the day we met Red Cloud's band—you who never dared get +out of the ambulance until the danger was over. It's common talk in the +troop. At Frayne, at Reno, and here at Emory you have maligned me just +as you did in the cars to my friend here, Mr. Loomis, and in hearing of +my sister. I will not accept your denial nor will I leave your office +till you swallow your words."</p> + +<p>"Then, by God, I'll have you thrown out, you young whipsnapper!"</p> + +<p>And then Folsom, with fear at his heart, ran around to the doorway to +interpose. He came too late. There was a sound of a furious scuffle +within, a rattling of chairs, a crunching of feet on sanded floor, and +as he sprang up the steps he saw Dean easily squirming out from the +grasp of some member of the clerical force, who, at his master's +bidding, had thrown himself upon the young officer, who then deftly +tripped his heels from under him and dropped him on the floor, while +Loomis confronted the others who would have made some show of obeying +orders. And then there was the whirr of a whip-lash, a crack and snap +and swish, and a red welt shot across Burleigh's livid face as he +himself staggered back to his desk. With raging tongue and frantic oath +he leaped out again, a leveled pistol in his hand, but even before he +could pull trigger, or Folsom interpose, Loomis's stick came down like a +flash on the outstretched wrist, and the pistol clattered to the floor.</p> + +<p>"Good God, boys! what are you doing?" cried the trader, as he hurled +himself between them. "Stop this instantly. Sit down, Burleigh. Come +out, Dean—come out at once! And you, too, Loomis."</p> + +<p>"I'm entirely ready—now," said the cavalry lieutenant, though his eyes +were flaming and his lips were rigid. "But whenever Major Burleigh wants +to finish this he can find me," and with these words he backed slowly to +the door, face to the panting and disordered foe.</p> + +<p>"Finish this! you young hound, I'll finish you!" screamed Burleigh, as +he shook his clinched fist at the retiring pair.</p> + +<p>"Go, boys, go!" implored Folsom. "I'll see you by and by. No—no—sit +still, Burleigh. Don't you speak. This must stop right here."</p> + +<p>And so the old man's counsels prevailed, and the two friends, with +grave, pallid, but determined faces, came out into the sunshine, and +with much deliberation and somewhat ostentatious calm proceeded to where +the orderly waited with the horses.</p> + +<p>"You will see—the ladies out to camp, Loomis?" asked Dean. "I must +gallop on ahead."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, go on, I reckon——"</p> + +<p>But on this scene there suddenly appeared a third party, in the partial +guise of an officer and the grip of Bacchus. Lurching down the office +steps, with flushed face and bloodshot eyes, came Captain Newhall.</p> + +<p>"Gen'l'm'n," said he thickly, "le'm 'ntroduce m'self. Haven't th' honor +y'r 'quain's. I'm Ca'm New(hic)'ll. Cap'n N-n-(hic)oohaul (this cost +prodigious effort and much balancing), an'—an' you sherv'd that f'ler +per-per-flicky ri'. He's dam scoun'rl—gen'lemen—an' ole frien' mine."</p> + +<p>For an instant he stood swaying unsteadily, with half-extended hand. For +an instant the two young officers gazed at him in contempt, then turned +abruptly away.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord, Marshall," said Loomis, as they cleared the gate, "if that's +the only approbation this day's work will bring us what will the results +be? You served him right, no doubt, but—" and an ominous shake of the +head wound up the sentence.</p> + +<p>"But or no but," said Dean, "it's done now, and I'd do it again."</p> + +<p>There was no dinner party at Folsom's that evening. At two a messenger +trotted out to the post with a note for Miss Folsom to apprise her of +the fact, and without a word or change of color she put it into her +pocket. The garrison girls were bent on having them spend the afternoon, +but presently Miss Folsom found a moment in which to signal to Jess, and +at three they were driving home.</p> + +<p>"You will surely come out this evening and hear the music and have a +dance," were the parting salutations, as with skillful hands the young +girl took up the reins.</p> + +<p>"We hope to," was her smiling answer. Jess was clinging to her brother's +hand as he stood by the wheel, and Loomis had already clambered in +beside her.</p> + +<p>"Please come, Marshall," pleaded Jessie; but he shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I must be at camp this evening, sister mine. We go to stables in an +hour. You will come back, Loomis?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as I've seen—" and a significant nod supplied the ellipsis.</p> + +<p>Something ominous was in the wind and both girls knew it. Loomis, +usually gay and chatty, was oddly silent, as the light, covered wagon +sped swiftly homeward. Beside the fair charioteer sat a young officer of +the infantry who, vastly rejoicing that Dean could not go, had +laughingly possessed himself of the vacant place, and to him Miss Folsom +had to talk. But they parted from their escorts at the gate and hastened +within doors. Just as Elinor expected, papa had not come home. It was +nearly six when she saw him striding slowly and thoughtfully up the +road, and she met him at the gate.</p> + +<p>"Tell me what has happened, Daddy," was her quiet greeting, as she +linked her hands over his burly arm, and looking into her uplifted, +thoughtful eyes, so full of intelligence and deep affection, he bent and +kissed her cheek.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, daughter, I believe it's the best thing I can do. Come into +the library."</p> + +<p>That night the moon beamed brightly down on the wide-spreading valley, +glinting on the peaks, still snow-tipped, far in the southern sky, and +softening the rugged faces of the nearer range, black with their +clustering beard of spruce and pine. The band played sweetly on the +broad parade until after the tattoo drums had echoed over the plains and +the garrison belles strolled aimlessly in the elfin light—all nature so +lavishly inviting, yet so little valued now that nearly every man was +gone. Out in the camp of "C" Troop men were flitting swiftly to and fro, +horses were starting and stamping at the picket ropes, eager eyes and +tilted ears inquiring the cause of all this stir and bustle among the +tents. In front of the canvas home of the young commander a grave-faced +group had gathered, two gentle girls among them, one with tear-dimmed +eyes. Old Folsom stood apart in murmured conference with Griggs, the +sutler. The regimental quartermaster was deep in consultation with Dean, +the two officers pacing slowly up and down. One or two young people from +the garrison had spent a few minutes earlier in the evening striving to +be interesting to the girls; but Jessie's tearful eyes and Miss Folsom's +grave manner proved hint sufficient to induce them to withdraw, each +bidding Dean good night, safe journey and speedy return, and the +hand-clasps were kind and cordial. The colonel himself had paid a brief +visit to camp, his adjutant in attendance, and had given Mr. Dean ten +minutes of talk concerning a country Dean knew all about, but that +"Pecksniff" had never seen. "It is a responsibility I own I should have +expected to see placed on older shoulders," said he, "but prudence +and—and, let me suggest, cool-headedness—will probably carry you +through. You will be ready to start——"</p> + +<p>"Ready now, sir, so far as that's concerned; but we start at three."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ah—yes, of course—well—ah—it leaves me practically with no +command, but I'll hope to have you back, Mr. Dean. Good-by." Then as he +passed Folsom the colonel whispered: "That's ten thousand dollars as +good as thrown away."</p> + +<p>"Ten thousand dollars!" answered the trader in reply. "What do you +mean?"</p> + +<p>"That's what those boys are to run the gauntlet with. My—ah—protests +are entirely unavailing."</p> + +<p>For a moment Folsom stood there dumb. "Do you mean," he finally cried, +"that—that it's beyond Frayne that they're going—that it's money +they're to take?"</p> + +<p>"Hush! Certainly, but it mustn't be known. Every road agent in Wyoming +would be out, and every Indian from the Platte to Hudson's Bay would be +on the watch. He's to take ten men and slip through. The money comes out +from Burleigh to-night."</p> + +<p>The colonel turned away, and, beckoning to his staff officer to join us, +stumped onward to the garrison. The prolonged wail of the bugle, aided +by the rising night wind, sent the solemn strains of taps sailing down +the dimly-lighted valley, and with staring eyes old Folsom stood gazing +after the departing officers, then whirled about toward the tents. There +in front of Dean stood Pappoose, her hands clasped lightly over the hilt +of the saber the "striker" had leaned against the lid of the mess chest +but a moment before, her lovely face smiling up into the owner's.</p> + +<p>"You'll come back by way of Hal's, won't you?" she was blithely saying. +"Perhaps I can coax father to take us there to meet you."</p> + +<p>"By heaven, Burleigh," muttered the old trader to himself, "are you the +deepest man I ever met, or only the most infernal scoundrel?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<p>A sleepless night had old John Folsom, and with the sun he was up again +and hurriedly dressing. Noiseless as he strove to be he was discovered, +for as he issued from his room into the dim light of the upper hall +there stood Pappoose.</p> + +<p>"Poor Jess has been awake an hour," said she. "We've been trying to see +the troop through the glass. They must have started before daybreak, for +there's nothing on the road to Frayne."</p> + +<p>"It disappears over the divide three miles out," he answered vaguely, +and conscious that her clear eyes were studying his face. "I didn't +sleep well either. We shall be having news from Hal to-day, and the mail +rider comes down from Frayne."</p> + +<p>She had thrown about her a long, loose wrapper, and her lustrous hair +tumbled like a brown-black torrent down over her shoulders and back. +Steadfastly the brown eyes followed his every move.</p> + +<p>"It is hours to breakfast time, Daddy dear; let me make you some coffee +before you go out."</p> + +<p>"What? Who said I was going out?" he asked, forcing a smile; then, more +gravely: "I'll be back in thirty minutes, dear, but wait a moment I +cannot. I want to catch a man before he can possibly ride away."</p> + +<p>He bent and kissed her hurriedly, and went briskly down the stairs. In +the lower hall he suddenly struck a parlor match that flared up and +illumined the winding staircase to the third story. Some thought as +sudden prompted her to glance aloft just in time to catch a glimpse of a +woman's face withdrawing swiftly over the balcony rail. In her hatred of +anything that savored of spying the girl could have called aloud a +demand to know what Mrs. Fletcher wanted, but strange things were in the +wind, as she was learning, and something whispered silence. Slowly she +returned to Jessie's side, and together once more they searched with the +glasses the distant trail that, distinctly visible now in the slant of +the morning sun, twisted up the northward slopes on the winding way to +Frayne. Not a whiff of dust could they see.</p> + +<p>Meantime John Folsom strode swiftly down the well-known path to the +quartermaster's depot, a tumult of suspicion and conjecture whirling in +his brain. As he walked he recalled the many hints and stories that had +come to his ears of Burleigh's antecedents elsewhere and his +associations here. With all his reputation for enterprise and wealth, +there were "shady" tales of gambling transactions and salted mines and +watered stocks that attached perhaps more directly to the men with whom +he foregathered than to him. "A man is known by the company he keeps," +said Folsom, and Burleigh's cronies, until Folsom came to settle in Gate +City, had been almost exclusively among the "sharps," gamblers, and +their kindred, the projectors and prospectors ever preying on the unwary +on the outer wave of progress. Within the past six months he had seen +much of him, for Burleigh was full of business enterprises, had large +investments everywhere, was lavish in invitation and suggestion, was +profuse in offers of aid of any kind if aid were wanted. He had gone so +far as to say that he knew from experience how with his wealth tied up +in real estate and mines a man often found himself in need of a few +thousands in spot cash, and as Folsom was buying and building, if at any +time he found himself a little short and needed ten or twenty thousand +say, why, Burleigh's bank account was at his service, etc. It all +sounded large and liberal, and Folsom, whose lot for years had been cast +with a somewhat threadbare array of army people, content with little, +impecunious but honest, he wondered what manner of martial man this was. +Burleigh did not loudly boast of his wealth and influence, but impressed +in some ponderous way his hearers with a sense of both. Yet, ever since +that run to Warrior Gap, a change had come over Burleigh. He talked more +of mines and money and showed less, and now, only yesterday, when the +old man's heart had mellowed to him because he had first held him wholly +to blame for Dean's arrest and later found him pleading for the young +fellow's release, a strange thing had happened. Burleigh confided to him +that he had a simply fabulous opportunity—a chance to buy out a mine +that experts secretly told him was what years later he would have called +a "bonanza," but that in the late sixties was locally known as a +"Shanghai." Twenty-five thousand dollars would do the trick, but his +money was tied up. Would Folsom go in with him, put up twelve thousand +five hundred, and Burleigh would do the rest? Folsom had been bitten by +too many mines that yielded only rattlesnakes, and he couldn't be lured. +Then, said Burleigh, wouldn't Folsom go on his note, so that he could +borrow at the bank? Folsom seldom went on anybody's note. It was as bad +as mining. He begged off, and left Burleigh disappointed, but not +disconcerted. "I can raise it without trouble," said he, "but it may +take forty-eight hours to get the cash here, and I thought you would be +glad to be let in on the ground floor."</p> + +<p>"I've been let in to too many floors, major," said he. "You'll have to +excuse me." And so Burleigh, with his Louisiana captain, had driven off +to the fort, where Newhall asked for Griggs and was importunate, nor did +Griggs's whisky, freely tendered to all comers of the commissioned +class, tend to assuage his desire. Back had they gone to town, and then +came the cataclysm of noon.</p> + +<p>In broad daylight, at his official desk, in the presence and hearing of +officers, civilians and enlisted men, as the soldier lawyers would have +it, a staff official of high rank had been cowhided by a cavalry +subaltern, and that subaltern, of all others, the only brother of +Folsom's fair guest, Jessie Dean—the boy who had saved the lives of +Folsom's son and his son's imperiled household, and had thereby endeared +himself to him as had no other young soldier in the service. And now, +what fate was staring him in the face? Released from arrest but a day or +so before upon the appeal of the officer whom he had so soon thereafter +violently assaulted, Marshall Dean had committed one of the gravest +crimes against the provisions of the Mutiny Act. Without warrant or +excuse he had struck, threatened, assaulted, etc., a superior officer, +who was in the discharge of his duty at the time. No matter what the +provocation—and in this case it would be held grossly inadequate—there +could be only one sentence—summary dismissal from the army. Just as +sure as shooting, if Burleigh preferred charges that boy was ruined.</p> + +<p>And for mortal hours that afternoon it looked as though nothing could +hold Burleigh's hand. The man was livid with wrath. First he would have +the youngster's blood, and then he'd dismiss him. Folsom pointed out +that he couldn't well do both, and by two o'clock it simmered down to a +demand for instant court-martial. Burleigh wrote a furious telegram to +Omaha. He had been murderously assaulted in his office by Lieutenant +Dean. He demanded his immediate arrest and trial. Folsom pleaded with +him to withhold it. Every possible <i>amende</i> would be made, but no! +Indeed, not until nearly four o'clock could Folsom succeed in the last +resort at his disposal. At that hour he had lent the quartermaster +fifteen thousand dollars on his unindorsed note of hand, on condition +that no proceedings whatever should be taken against Mr. Dean, Folsom +guaranteeing that every <i>amende</i> should be made that fair arbitration +could possibly dictate. He had even gone alone to the bank and brought +the cash on Burleigh's representation that it might hurt his credit to +appear as a borrower. He had even pledged his word that the transaction +should be kept between themselves.</p> + +<p>And then there had been a scene with that drunken wretch Newhall. What +possible hold had he on Burleigh that he should be allowed to come +reeling and storming into the office and demanding money and lots of +money—this, too, in the presence of total strangers? And Burleigh had +actually paid him then and there some hundreds of dollars, to the +stupefaction of the fellow—who had come for a row. They got him away +somehow, glad to go, possibly, with his unexpected wealth, and Burleigh +had explained that that poor devil, when he could be persuaded to swear +off, was one of the bravest and most efficient officers in the service, +that he was well to do, only his money, too, was tied up in mines; but +what was of more account than anything else, he had devotedly and at +risk of his own life from infection nursed his brother officer Burleigh +through the awful epidemic of yellow fever in New Orleans in '67. He had +saved Burleigh's life, "so how can I go back on him now," said he.</p> + +<p>All this was the old trader revolving in mind as he hastened to the +depot, all this and more. For two days Marshall Dean and "C" troop had +stood ready for special service. Rumor had it that the old general +himself had determined to take the field and was on his way to Gate +City. It was possibly to escort him and his staff the troop was ordered +kept prepared to move at a moment's notice. On Burleigh's desk was a +batch of telegrams from Department Headquarters. Two came in during +their long conference in the afternoon, and the quartermaster had +lowered his hand long enough from that lurid welt on his sallow cheek to +hurriedly write two or three in reply. One Folsom felt sure was sent in +cipher. Two days before, Burleigh had urged him to protest as vehemently +as he could against the sending of any money or any small detachment up +to the Big Horn, and protested he had strenuously. Two days before, +Burleigh said it was as bad as murder to order a paymaster or disbursing +officer to the Hills with anything less than a battalion to escort him, +and yet within four hours after he was put in possession of nearly all +the paper currency in the local bank a secret order was issued sending +Lieutenant Dean with ten picked men to slip through the passes to the +Platte, away from the beaten road, and up to ten P.M. Dean himself was +kept in ignorance of his further destination or the purpose of his +going. Not until half-past ten was a sealed package placed in his hands +by the post quartermaster, who had himself received it from Major +Burleigh and then and there the young officer was bidden by Colonel +Stevens, as the medium of the department commander, to ride with all +haste commensurate with caution, to ford the Sweetwater above its +junction with the Platte, to travel by night if need be and hide by day +if he could, to let no man or woman know the purpose of his going or the +destination of his journey, but to land that package safe at Warrior Gap +before the moon should wane.</p> + +<p>And all this Burleigh must have known when he, John Folsom, shook his +hand at parting after tea that evening, and had then gone hopefully to +drive his girls to Emory to see his soldier boy, and found him busy with +the sudden orders, received not ten minutes before their coming. +Something in Burleigh's almost tremulous anxiety to get that money in +the morning, his ill-disguised chagrin at Folsom's refusal, something in +the eagerness with which, despite the furious denunciation of the moment +before, he jumped at Folsom's offer to put up the needed money if he +would withhold the threatened charges—all came back to the veteran now +and had continued to keep him thinking during the night. Could it be +that Burleigh stood in need of all this money to cover other sums that +he had misapplied? Could it be that he had planned this sudden sending +of young Dean on a desperate mission in revenge that he could not take +officially? There were troops at Frayne going forward in strong force +within the week. There were other officers within call, a dozen of them, +who had done nowhere near the amount of field service performed by Dean. +He, a troop commander just in from long and toilsome marches and from +perilous duty, had practically been relieved from the command of his +troop, told to take ten men and run the gauntlet through the swarming +Sioux. The more Folsom thought the more he believed that he had grave +reason for his suspicion, and reason equally grave for calling on the +quartermaster for explanation. He reached the corral gate. It was +locked, but a little postern in the stockade let him through. One or two +sleepy hands appeared about the stables, but the office was deserted. +Straight to Burleigh's quarters he went and banged at the door. It took +three bangs to bring a servant.</p> + +<p>"I wish to see your master at once. Tell him I am here," and as the +servant slowly shambled up the stairs, Folsom entered the sitting-room. +A desk near the window was open and its contents littered about. The +drawers in a heavy bookcase were open and papers were strewn upon the +floor. The folding doors to the dining-room were open. Decanters, +goblets, cigar stumps and heel taps were scattered over the table. Guest +or host, or both, had left things in riotous shape. Then down came the +servant, a scared look in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"The major isn't in, sir. His bed hasn't been occupied, an' the +captain's gone, too. Their uniforms are there, though."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later, on a borrowed horse, John Folsom was galloping like +mad for home. A door in the high board fence at the rear of his house +shot open just as he was darting through the lane that led to the +stable. A woman's form appeared in the gap—the last thing that he saw +for a dozen hours, for the horse shied violently, hurling the rider +headlong to the ground.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + + +<p>At three o'clock in the morning, while the stars were still bright in +the eastern sky, the little party of troopers, Dean at the irhead, had +ridden away from the twinkling lights of camp, and long before sunrise +had crossed the first divide to the north, and alternating trot, lope +and walk had put miles between them and Fort Emory before the drums of +the infantry beat the call for guard mounting.</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock the party halted under some spreading willows, deep in a +cleft of the bold, high hills that rolled away toward the Sweetwater +valley. Horses were unsaddled and picketed out to graze. A little cook +fire was started close to the spring that fed the tiny brook, trickling +away down the narrow ravine, and in a few moments the aroma of coffee +and of appetizing slices of bacon greeted the welcoming nostrils of the +hungry men. The sun that had risen clear and dazzling was now obscured +by heavy masses of clouds, and time and again Dean cast anxious eyes +aloft, for a storm seemed sweeping eastward from the distant Wahsatch +range, and long before the little command had dived downward from the +heights into the depths of this wild, romantic and contracted valley, +all the rolling upland toward Green River, far to the west, lay under +the pall of heavy and forbidding banks of hurrying vapor. Coffee and +breakfast finished, Dean climbed the steep bluff overhanging the spring, +a faithful sergeant following, and what he saw was sufficient to +determine immediate action.</p> + +<p>"Saddle up. We'll push ahead at once."</p> + +<p>For an instant the veteran trooper looked dissent, but discipline +prevailed.</p> + +<p>"The lieutenant knows that Carey's not in yet," he ventured to say, as +he started back down the narrow game trail which they had climbed.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but yonder he comes and so does the storm. We can't be caught in +this cañon in case of a hard rain. Let Carey have some coffee and a +bite, if he feels well enough. Then we'll push on."</p> + +<p>Ordinarily when making summer marches over the range, the first "water +camp" on the Sweetwater trail was here at Cañon Springs. On the road to +Frayne, which crossed the brook ten miles to the east, all wagon trains +and troops not on forced march made similar camp. In the case of +scouting detachments or little parties sent out from Emory, it was +always customary to spend the first night and make the first camp on the +Box Elder at furthermost, then to push on, ready and refreshed, the +following day. Dean well knew that to get the best work out of his +horses he should start easily, and up to nine o'clock he had fully +intended to make the usual camp at the Springs. But once before, within +a few years, a big scouting party camping in the gorge of the Box Elder +had been surprised by one of those sudden, sweeping storms, and before +they could strike tents, pack up and move to higher ground, the stream +took matters into its own hands and spared them all further trouble on +that score, distributing camp and garrison equipage for long leagues +away to the east. Two miles back, trooper Carey, who had been +complaining of severe cramp and pain in the stomach, begged to be +allowed to fall out and rest awhile. He was a reliable old soldier when +whisky was not winning the upper hand, and this time whisky was not at +fault. A dose of Jamaica ginger was the only thing their field +pharmacopoeia provided, and Carey rolled out of his saddle and doubled +up among the rocks with his hands on the pit of his stomach, grimacing.</p> + +<p>"Go back if you think best, or come ahead and catch us at the Springs if +well enough," were the orders left him, while the men pushed on, and +now, as the lieutenant said, Carey was coming himself. Some of the party +were already dozing when the sergeant's sharp order "Saddle up" was +given, but a glance at the lowering sky explained it all, and every man +was standing to horse and ready when the missing trooper came jogging in +among them, white, peaked, but determined. A look of mingled +disappointment and relief appeared on his face as he saw the +preparations for the start, but his only comment was, "I can make it, +sir," as he saluted his young commander. Less than two hours from the +time they unsaddled, therefore, the troopers once more mounted, and, +following their leader, filed away down the winding gorge. Presently +there came the low rumble of thunder, and a sweep of the rising wind. +"Trot," said Dean, and without other word the little column quickened +the pace.</p> + +<p>The ravine grew wider soon and far less tortuous, but was still a narrow +and dangerous spot. For a mile or two from the Springs its course was +nearly east of north, then it bore away to the northeast, and the +Sweetwater trail abruptly left it and went winding up a cleft in the +hills to the west. Just as they reached this point the heavens opened +and the clouds descended in a deluge of rain. Out came the ponchos, +unstrapped from the saddle, and every man's head popped through the slit +as the shiny black "shedwater" settled down on his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"That outfit behind us will get a soaking if it has been fool enough to +follow down to the Springs," said Carey to the sergeant, as they began +the pull up the slippery trail.</p> + +<p>"What outfit?" asked Dean, turning in the saddle and looking back in +surprise.</p> + +<p>A blinding flash of lightning, followed almost on the instant by the +crack and roar of thunder, put summary stop to talk of any kind. Men and +horses bowed their heads before the deluge and the rain ran in streams +from the manes and tails. The ascending path turned quickly into a +running brook and the black forms of steeds and riders struggled +sidewise up the grass-grown slopes in search of higher ground. The +heavens had turned inky black. The gloomy ravine grew dark as night. +Flash after flash the lightning split the gloom. Every second or two +trooper faces gleamed ghastly in the dazzling glare, then as suddenly +vanished. Horses slipped or stumbled painfully and, man after man, the +riders followed the example of the young soldier in the lead and, +dismounting, led their dripping beasts farther up the steep incline. +Halfway to the summit, peering through the wind-swept sheets of rain, a +palisaded clump of rocks jutted out from the heights and, after a hard +climb, the little band found partial shelter from the driving storm, and +huddled, awe-stricken, at their base. Still the lightning played and the +thunder cannonaded with awful resonance from crag to crag down the deep +gorge from which they had clambered, evidently none too soon, for +presently, far down the black depths, they could see the Box Elder, +under a white wreath of foam, tearing in fury down its narrow bed.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, lieutenant," shouted the veteran sergeant in the young +commander's ear, even in that moment never forgetting the habitual +salute, "but if I didn't see the reason for that sudden order to saddle +I more than see it now. We would have been drowned like rats down there +in the gulch."</p> + +<p>"I'm wondering if anybody <i>has</i> drowned like rats," shouted Dean, in +reply. "Carey says another party was just behind us. Who could they be?"</p> + +<p>But for answer came another vivid, dazzling flash that for an instant +blinded all eyes. "By God! but that's a stunner!" gasped a big trooper, +and then followed the deafening bang and crash of the thunder, and its +echoes went booming and reverberating from earth to heaven and rolling +away, peal after peal, down the bluff-bound cañon. For a moment no other +sound could be heard; then, as it died away and the rain came swashing +down in fresh deluge, Carey's voice overmastered the storm.</p> + +<p>"That's struck something, sir, right around yonder by the Springs. God +help that outfit that came a-gallopin' after me!"</p> + +<p>"What was it? Which way were they coming?" Dean managed to ask.</p> + +<p>"Right along the bluff, sir, to the east. Seemed like they was ridin' +over from the old camp on the Frayne road. There was twenty-five or +thirty of 'em, I should say, coming at a lope."</p> + +<p>"Cavalry?" asked Dean, a queer look in his face.</p> + +<p>"No, sir. They rode dispersed like. They was a mile away when I sighted +them, and it was gittin' so black then I don't think they saw me at all. +They were 'bout off yonder, half a mile east of the Springs when I +dipped down into the ravine, and what seemed queer was that two of them +galloped to the edge, dismounted, and were peering down into the gorge +like so many Indians, just as though they didn't want to be seen. I was +goin' to tell the lieutenant 'bout it first thing if I had found our +fellows off their guard, but you were all mounted and just starting."</p> + +<p>Instinctively Dean put forth his hand under the dripping poncho and +tugged at the straps of his off saddle-bag. No need for dread on that +score. The bulky package, wrapped, sealed and corded, was bulging out of +the side of his field pouch till it looked as though he had crammed a +cavalry boot into its maw.</p> + +<p>"Thirty men—mounted?—no wagons or—anything?" he anxiously asked.</p> + +<p>"Full thirty, sir, and every man armed with rifle as far as I could +see," said Carey, "and if it was us they was after, they'd have had us +at their mercy down in that pocket at the Springs."</p> + +<p>A shout from one of the men attracted the attention of the leaders. The +storm had spent its force and gone rolling away eastward. The thunder +was rumbling far over toward the now invisible crest of the Black Hills +of Wyoming. The rain sheets had given place to trickling downpour. A dim +light was stealing into the blackness of the gorge. Louder and fiercer +roared the Box Elder, lashing its banks with foam. And then came the cry +again.</p> + +<p>"I tell you it is, by God! for there goes another!"</p> + +<p>All eyes followed the direction of the pointing finger. All eyes saw, +even though dimly, the saddled form of a horse plunging and struggling +in the flood, making vain effort to clamber out, then whirling +helplessly away—swept out of sight around the shoulder of bluff, and +borne on down the tossing waves of the torrent. Men mean no irreverence +when they call upon their Maker at such times, even in soldier oath. It +is awe, not blasphemy.</p> + +<p>"By God, lieutenant, that's what we'd a been doing but for your order." +It was the sergeant who spoke.</p> + +<p>And at that very hour there was excitement at Fort Emory. At eight +o'clock the colonel was on his piazza looking with gloomy eyes over the +distant rows of empty barracks. The drum-major with the band at his +heels came stalking out over the grassy parade, and the post adjutant, +girt with sash and sword-belt, stood in front of his office awaiting the +sergeant-major, who was unaccountably delayed. Reduced to a shadow, the +garrison at Fort Emory might reasonably have been excused, by this time, +from the ceremony of mounting a guard, consisting practically of ten +privates, three of whom wore the cavalry jacket; but old "Pecksniff" was +determined to keep up some show of state. He could have no parade or +review, but at least he could require his guard to be mounted with all +the pomp and ceremony possible. He would have ordered his officers out +in epaulets and the full dress "Kossuth" hat of the period, but epaulets +had been discarded during the war and not yet resumed on the far +frontier. So the rank and file alone were called upon to appear in the +black-feathered oddity a misguided staff had designed as the headgear of +the array. "Pecksniff's" half-dozen doughboys, therefore, with their +attendant sergeants and corporals in the old fashioned frock and felt, +and a still smaller squad of troopers in yellow-trimmed jackets and +brass-mounted forage caps, were drawn up at the edge of the parade +awaiting the further signal of adjutant's call, while the adjutant +himself swore savagely and sent the orderly on the run for the +sergeant-major. When that clock-governed functionary was missing +something indeed must be going wrong.</p> + +<p>Presently the orderly came running back.</p> + +<p>"Sergeant Dineen isn't home, sir, and his wife says he hasn't been back +since the lieutenant sent him in town with the last dispatch."</p> + +<p>"Tell the first sergeant of "B" Company, then, to act as sergeant-major +at once," said the adjutant, and hurried over to his colonel. "Dineen's +not back, sir," he reported at the gate. "Can anything be wrong?"</p> + +<p>"I ordered him to bring with him the answer to my dispatch to the +general, who wired to me from the railway depot at Cheyenne. Probably +he's been waiting for that, and the general's away somewhere. We ought +to have an operator here day and night," said Pecksniff petulantly. But +the irritation in his eyes gave way to anxiety when at that moment the +sutler's buggy was seen dashing into the garrison at headlong speed, his +smart trotter urged almost to a run. Griggs reined up with no little +hard pulling at the colonel's gate, and they could see a dozen yards off +that his face was pale.</p> + +<p>"Have you any idea, colonel," he began the moment the officers reached +him, "where Major Burleigh can be? He left the depot somewhere about +three o'clock this morning with that Captain Newhall. He hasn't returned +and can't be found. Your sergeant-major was waylaid and robbed some time +after midnight, and John Folsom was picked up senseless in the alley +back of his house two hours ago. What does it all mean?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + + +<p>That storm-burst along the range had turned for twenty-four hours every +mountain stream into a foaming torrent for a hundred miles. Not a bridge +remained along the Platte. Not a ford was fordable within two days' +march of either Emory or Frayne. Not a courier crossed the Box Elder, +going either way, until the flood went down, and then it transpired that +a tide in the affairs of men had also turned, and that there was trouble +ahead for some who had thought to find plain sailing. For two days +watchers along the lower Box Elder dragged out upon the shallows the +bodies of horses that once upon a time might have borne the "U. S." +brand, but were not girthed with cavalry saddles now. Nor were there +lacking other bodies to prove that the victims of the sudden storm were +not Uncle Sam's men, much as two, at least, of the drowned had been +wanted by Federal authorities but a week before. What the denizens of +Gate City and Fort Emory dreaded and expected to bear was that Dean and +his little party had been caught in the trap. But, living or dead, not a +sign of them remained along the storm-swept ravine. What most people of +Gate City and Fort Emory could not understand was the evidence that a +big gang of horse thieves, desperadoes and renegades had suddenly +appeared about the new town, had spurred away northward in the night, +had kept the Frayne road till they reached the Box Elder, riding hard +long after sun-up, and there, reinforced, they had gone westward to the +Sweetwater trail, and, old frontiersmen though they were, had been +caught in the whirl of water at Cañon Springs, losing two of their +number and at least a dozen of their horses. What could have lured them +into that gloomy rift at such a time? What inspiration had led Dean out +of it?</p> + +<p>Singly or in little squads, many of them afoot, bedraggled, silent, +chagrined, the "outfit," described by Trooper Carey had slunk away from +the neighborhood of the Box Elder as soon as the storm subsided. +Solemnly, as befitted soldiers, silent and and alert despite their +dripping accoutrements, the little detachment of cavalry had pushed +ahead, riding by compass over the drenched uplands, steering for the +Sweetwater. Late in the afternoon the skies had cleared, the sun came +out, and they camped in a bunch of cottonwoods on the old Casper trail +and slept the sleep of the just and the weary. Early next day they +hastened on, reaching the usually shallow stream, with Devil's Gate only +a few miles away, before the setting of a second sun. Here they feasted +and rested well, and before the dawn was fairly red on the third day out +from Emory they were breasting the turbid waters and by noon had left +the valley far to the south and were well out toward the Big Horn +country, where it behooved them to look warily ahead, for from every +ridge, though far to the west of their probable raiding ground, Dean and +his men could expect to encounter scouting parties of the Indians at any +moment, and one false step meant death.</p> + +<p>The third night passed without alarm, though every eye and ear was +strained. The morning of the fourth day dawned and the sun soon tinged +the misty mountain tops to the far north, and Dean saw before him an +open rolling country, over which it would be impossible to march without +attracting Indian eyes, if Indian eyes there were within twenty miles. +And with proper caution he ordered his men to keep in concealment, +horses grazing under guard in a deep depression near a stream, men +dozing soundly by turns until the twilight came, and then the +stars—their night lights for a long, long march. Dawn of the fifth day +found them huddled in a deep ravine of the southern foothills, with +Warrior Gap not thirty miles away, and now, indeed, was prudence +necessary, for the faint light showed the fresh prints of innumerable +pony hoofs on every side. They were close on Machpealota's lurking +braves. Which would see the other first?</p> + +<p>It must have been somewhere toward five o'clock in the afternoon that +Dean, searching with his field glass the sunlit slopes far out to the +east, heard the voice of his sergeant close at hand and turned to +answer. Up to this moment, beyond the pony tracks, not a sign had they +seen of hostile Indians, but the buffalo that had appeared in scattered +herds along their line of march were shy and scary, and old hands said +that that meant they had recently been hunted hard. Moreover, this was +not a section favored of the buffalo. There was much alkali and sage +brush along their trail, and only here and there in scanty patches any +of the rich, nutritious bunch grass which the roving animals so eagerly +sought. The day had been hot and almost cloudless. The shimmer of heat +along the lazy roll of the land to the south had often baffled their +blinking eyes. But now the sun was well to the west, and the refraction +seemed diminishing, and away over to the northeast a dull-colored cloud +seemed slowly rising beyond the ridges. It was this that Sergeant Bruce +was studying when he murmured to his young commander:</p> + +<p>"I think that means a big herd on the run, sir, and if so Indians +started them."</p> + +<p>One or two troopers, dozing close at hand, sprawled full length upon the +ground, with their faces buried in, or hidden by, their blue-sleeved +arms, slowly rolled over and came crouching up alongside. Dean dropped +his glasses and peered in the direction indicated by his comrade of +humbler rank. Dust cloud it was beyond a doubt, and a long peep through +the binocular proved that it was slowly sailing across the horizon in a +northerly direction. Did that mean that the red hunters were driving the +great quarry toward the village of the Sioux, or that the young men were +out in force, and with the full complement of squaws and ponies, were +slaughtering on the run. If the former, then Dean and his party would be +wise to turn eastward and cross the trail of the chase. If the latter +they would stand better chance of slipping through to the Gap by pushing +northward, deeper in among the pine-crested heights.</p> + +<p>Behind the watchers, well down in the ravine, the horses were placidly +nibbling at the scant herbage, or lazily sprawling in the sun, each +animal securely hoppled, and all carefully guarded by the single +trooper, whose own mount, ready saddled, circled within the limits of +the stout lariat, looped about his master's wrist. All spoke of caution, +of lively sense of danger and responsibility, for they of the little +detachment were picked men, who had ridden the warpath too long not to +realize that there was no such thing as trusting to luck in the heart of +the Indian country, especially when Machpealota with his Ogallalla +braves was out for business. The cautious movements of the group along +the bank had quickly been noted by the wakeful ones among the troopers, +and presently the entire party, excepting only the herd guard, had +crouched up alongside, and with the comradeship born of such perilous +service, were now discussing the situation in low, confidential tones.</p> + +<p>For half an hour they lay there, studying the signs to the northeast. +The dun colored cloud hung low over the earth for a distance of several +miles. The herd was evidently one of unusual size even for those days +when the buffalo swarmed in countless thousands, and finally the +sergeant spoke again.</p> + +<p>"It's a big hunt, lieutenant. Whatever may be going on about the Gap +they've found time to send out young men enough to round up most of the +buffalo north of the Platte and drive them in toward the mountains. It's +combining pleasure with business. They don't feel strong enough in +number, perhaps, to make another attempt on troops armed with +breech-loaders, so while they're waiting until their reinforcements +come, or their own breech-loaders, they are herding the buffalo where +they can get them when they want them later on. We are in big luck that +no stragglers are anywhere around us; if they were it wouldn't take such +fellows long to spy us out."</p> + +<p>Dean swept the ridge line with his glass. No sign of life nearer than +that far-away, betraying dust cloud. No symptom of danger anywhere +within their ken. He was thinking at the moment of that precious package +in his saddle-bags and the colonel's words impressing him with the sense +of responsibility the night they parted at Fort Emory. To-morrow, by +sunrise, if fortune favored him, he could turn it over to the commanding +officer at the new stockade, and then if the Indians were not gathered +in force about the post and actually hostile, he could slip out again at +night and make swift dash for the Platte and the homeward way, and then +within the week rejoin his sister at Fort Emory—his sister and +"Pappoose." Never before had the Indian pet name carried such +significance as now. Night and day those soft, dark eyes—that beautiful +face—haunted his thoughts and filled his young heart with new and +passionate longing. It was hard to have to leave the spot her presence +made enchanted ground. Nothing but the spur of duty, the thrill of +soldier achievement and stirring venture could have reconciled him to +that unwelcome order.</p> + +<p>In one week now, if fortune favored and heaven spared, he could hope to +look again into the eyes that had so enchained him, but if there should +interpose the sterner lot of the frontier, if the Sioux should learn of +his presence, he who had thwarted Burning Star and the brothers of poor +Lizette in their schemes of vengeance, he at whose door the Ogallallas +must by this time have laid the death of one of their foremost braves, +then indeed would there be no hope of getting back without a battle +royal. There was only one chance of safety—that the Indians should not +discover their presence. If they did and realized who the intruders +were, Jessie Dean might look in vain for her brother's return. Pappoose +would never hear the love words that, trembling on his lips the night he +left her, had been poured out only to that unresponsive picture. Two +ways there were in which the Indians could know of his presence. One by +being informed through some half-breed spy, lurking about Frayne; but +then who would be dastard enough to send such word? The other by being +seen and recognized by some of the Ogallalla band, and thus far he +believed they had come undetected, and it was now after five +o'clock—after five o'clock and all was well. In a few hours they could +again be on their starlit way. With the morrow they should be safely +within the gates of the new stockade at Warrior Gap.</p> + +<p>Turning with hope and relief in his face to speak to Sergeant Bruce, who +lay there at his elbow, he saw the blue-sleeved arm stretching forth in +warning to lie low, and with grave eyes the veteran was gazing straight +at a little butte that rose from the rolling surface not more than half +a mile away to the southeast.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant," he whispered, "there are Indians back of that hill at this +minute, and it isn't buffalo they're laying for."</p> + +<p>Dean was brave. He had been tried and his mettle was assured, and yet he +felt the sudden chill that coursed his veins. "How can they have seen +us," he murmured.</p> + +<p>"May have struck our trail out to the southwest," said Bruce slowly, "or +they may have been told of our coming and are stalking us. They've got a +heavy score to settle with this troop, you know."</p> + +<p>For a moment only the breathing of the little party could be heard. All +eyes were fixed upon the distant mound. At last Dean spoke again.</p> + +<p>"When did you see them first and how many are there?"</p> + +<p>"Near ten minutes ago. I saw something fluttering swift along the sky +line just beyond that divide to the south. It skimmed like a bird, all +but the quick bobbing up and down that made me sure there was a +galloping pony under it. Then another skimmed along. It was the bunch of +feathers and red flannel on their lances, and my belief is that they +struck our trail back here somewhere, and that there's only a small +party, and they don't know just who we are and they want to find out."</p> + +<p>"You're right. Look!" was Dean's sudden answer, for at the very instant +there rode boldly, calmly into full view two young Indians, who with +cool deliberation came jogging on at gentle speed, straight toward the +concealed bivouac of the troopers. Instantly Bruce reached for his +carbine, and two or three of the men went sliding or crouching backward +down the slope as though in quest of their arms. Full eight hundred +yards away were the riders at the moment, coming side by side in +apparent unconcern.</p> + +<p>"Don't," muttered Dean, with hand outstretched. "They look anything but +hostile."</p> + +<p>"That's when they're most likely to be full of hell, sir," was the +prompt answer. "See! others are watching behind that knoll," and indeed +as Bruce declared, a feather-decked head or two could be detected +through the glass, peering over the summit.</p> + +<p>"Warn them to halt, then," cried Dean. "But we cannot fire unless they +provoke it."</p> + +<p>Bruce was on his feet in a second. Standing erect and facing straight +toward the coming pair, he raised his right hand, palm to the front, to +the full length of his arm, and slowly motioned "stand." Every plainsman +knows the signal. In well-acted surprise, the Indians reined their +ponies flat back, and, shading their eyes with their hands a moment, +remained motionless. Then, as with one accord, each tossed aside his +rifle, and one of them further lifted high and displayed a revolver. +This, too, he tossed out on the turf, and now with both arms bare and +extended on high, with empty hands outspread, they slowly advanced as +though saying "See, we are without arms. We come as brothers."</p> + +<p>But the sergeant never hesitated. Almost on tiptoe he repeated the +signal "halt," and half-turned imploringly to his officer.</p> + +<p>"It's all a bluff, sir. They want to crawl upon us, see who and how many +we are. Let some of us fire warning shots or come they will, and the +moment they find out who we are, away they'll ride to bring Red Cloud +and all his bucks about our ears."</p> + +<p>"I cannot fire," was the answer. "That's their flag of truce and we must +not ignore it. Let them come, sergeant; I'll meet them."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + + +<p>Remonstrance on part of his men would have been a violation of their +rules of order. Obedient to the lieutenant's instructions, Sergeant +Bruce, with evident reluctance, lowered his hand. Whoever these Indians +were they well understood the principles that governed civilized +warfare. They well knew that the white soldiers would respect a flag of +truce, though in their own vernacular they referred to the sacred emblem +only as a "fool flag," and sometimes used it, as did the Modocs five +years later, to lure officers into ambush and deliberately murder them. +They knew the white soldiers would take no advantage of foemen gathered +for a conference or parley, and thus far the Sioux themselves had +observed the custom which the Modocs basely violated when in cold blood +they slaughtered General Canby and the peace commissioners sent to treat +with them. Confidently, therefore, came the two young warriors, but as +Dean raised himself from the ground and was about to step forward, the +sergeant spoke:</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, sir, but these fellows know all our officers. They would +recognize you at once. The word would go to Red Cloud faster than any +pony could gallop. Let me meet them, or let one of the men."</p> + +<p>The ponies were coming at the lope now, and not an instant was to be +lost. The safety of his command might possibly depend on their not being +recognized as of the troop before whose carbines Chaska, brother to +Lizette, had met his death.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you're right," said Dean. "Halt them again. Conroy, you go with +Sergeant Bruce."</p> + +<p>Eagerly a young trooper, carbine in hand, sprang up and stood by the +sergeant's side as the latter repeated his warning signal. Obediently, +yet not too promptly, showing evident desire to get where they could +peer over into the ravine and count the number of the white men and +horses, the Indians again drew rein, this time barely one hundred yards +away. Then Bruce and Conroy, holding up their emptied hands, strode +forward along the grassy slope, making the further sign, "Dismount."</p> + +<p>In those days few of our cavalry wore, when on Indian campaign, the +forage-cap with its crossed sabres and distinguishing letters. Nothing +in the dress or accoutrements of the two men thus advancing to meet the +Indian emissaries would give to the latter any clew as to the troop or +regiment to which they belonged. Could they see the horses, however, the +matter would be settled at once. The U. S. brand, with that of the +number of the regiment and letter of the troop showed on every cavalry +mount in the service, and the Ogallallas knew the earmarks of two, at +least, of our cavalry regiments in '68 as well as they did the cut of +their own hair. But in the modesty of the non-commissioned officer Bruce +had underrated his own prominence in Indian eyes. Not only did these +keen observers know every officer by sight, and have for him some +distinguishing name of their own, but many a trooper, easily singled out +from his fellows because of his stature, or the color of his hair, or +some other physical peculiarity, was as well known as his captain or +lieutenant, and Bruce, ex-trooper of the Scots Greys, and now a model +sergeant of Yankee cavalry, was already a marked man in the eyes of the +southern Sioux. Brulé, Minneconjou and Ogallalla knew him well—his +aquiline beak, to which the men would sometimes slyly allude, having won +him the Indian appellative of Posh Kopee or Big Nose.</p> + +<p>Before the two parties came within fifty yards of each other, therefore, +watchers along the ravine saw the quick exchange of significant glances +between the young braves. "Twig that?" whispered Trooper Blaine, in low, +emphatic tone. "Those fellows know 'Scotty' just as well as we do."</p> + +<p>All the same, leaving their trained ponies to nibble at the scanty bunch +grass, the two came straight forward with extended hands and cordial +"How, colah!" on their lips, one of them adding, in agency English, +"Want talk chief. Indian poor. Heap sick." (And here he clasped his +stomach with both hands.) "Want coffee, sugar, bread."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Bruce promptly, noting the while how the roving black +eyes searched the edge of the ravine. "Stay here. Don't come nearer. You +got buffalo meat?"</p> + +<p>A grunt was the reply of one, a guttural "Buffalo, yes," the answer of +the other.</p> + +<p>"Bring tongues, then," and Bruce touched his own. "Five," and he threw +forward the outspread right hand, rapidly touching in succession the +thumb and four fingers. "We give both hands full—coffee, sugar, +hardtack," and Bruce illustrated as he spoke. "That's all!" he finished +abruptly, with the well-known Indian sign that plainly tells "I have +spoken—there is nothing more to say," then calmly turned his back and, +bidding Conroy follow, started to return to his comrades at the ravine.</p> + +<p>But Indian diplomacy was unsatisfied. The Sioux had found "Big Nose" to +be one of the soldiers in the field. He, at least, was of the hated +troop that fought and chased Burning Star and killed Chaska. The trail +told them there were nearly a dozen in the party, all on shod horses, +with two in lead-spare mounts or pack-horses, doubtless—so they had +extra rations and had come far; but why were they going this way, so far +west of the usual road to the Big Horn posts? Why were they so few in +number? Where were the rest? Why were they hiding here in the ravine, +instead of marching? Answer to this last question was easy enough. It +was to keep out of sight of Indian eyes and needed no excuse. There was +something behind this mysterious presence of ten or twelve soldiers in +the southern foothills, and Machpealota would expect of his scouts full +information, hence the instant movement on the part of one of the two +braves to follow.</p> + +<p>Impressively, Bruce turned again and waved him back. "Go, get buffalo +tongue," said he, "or no trade. Keep away from our tepees," and he drew +with his spurred boot-heel a jagged line across the turf. "Your side," +said he, indicating the slope to the southeast of the line. "This—ours. +That's all!" And this time the Indian knew he must come no nearer.</p> + +<p>"I've got 'em talking trade, lieutenant," reported Bruce, the instant he +reached Dean's side. "We don't need the tongues, but we've got more +coffee and sugar than we are apt to want, and at least we can keep them +interested until dark, then we can slip away. Of course, they've sent +word to their main body that we're over here, but I believe they can't +come in force before night."</p> + +<p>"They knew you, sergeant, and they know it is probably our troop," said +he. "There must be only a small party near us. Make your trade, but +while you're doing it we'll saddle. I mean to get out of this and into +the thick of the timber before they can surround us. Stand 'em off, now, +while we get ready."</p> + +<p>Promises must be kept when made to an Indian, even if they are otherwise +sometimes broken. In ten minutes, with coffee, sugar and hardtack in +their hands, the sergeant and his comrades were back at the front. One +brave was still there, the other had vanished. Five minutes, neither +party saying a word, the troopers waited; then Bruce turned to Conroy. +"I knew they had nothing to trade. Take this sack with you and fall +back. Tell our fellows to keep me well covered till I follow." The +instant the soldier started with the sack swung over his shoulder, the +Indian, who had been squatted on the turf, sprang up and began rapid +expostulation in fluent Ogallalla. "It's no use, young man," interposed +Bruce. "Your chum there has no buffalo tongues, and he knew it. Here's +some hardtack for you," and he spread one liberally with sugar and +handed it to the ever-receptive paw, outstretched to grasp it. A glance +over the shoulder showed that Conroy was nearly at the edge. Then, +quietly, Bruce, too, began to retire. He had not got ten paces, still +facing his unwelcome visitor, when the Indian gave a shrill, sudden cry +and tossed up his hands. Not a second too soon Bruce turned and darted +for cover. The Indian flung himself flat on the turf and rolled away +into a depression where he could find partial shelter from bullets from +the ravine, whence he evidently looked for them, and out from behind the +knoll, bridles held high, "quirts" lashing at their ponies' flanks, +darted half a dozen painted savages, tearing down upon the spot at the +top speed of their agile mounts. Only two men remained on watch at the +moment, Dean and one trooper. Most of the others, already in saddle, +were filing away up the game trail that threaded the windings of the +ravine, the two lead horses with them, while a few yards behind the +young officer and his comrade, halfway down the reverse slope, two +others, afoot, handled the reins of their own horses and those of the +lieutenant and men still held at the edge. It was an exciting moment. +Bruce had only a hundred yards to run before he could get under cover, +and there was no chance of their hitting him at that range, yet a puff +of smoke rose from the knoll, and a bullet, nearly spent, came tumbling +and singing up the turf, and the dashing warriors, yelling wildly, +applauded the shot. Bruce took matters coolly. Leaping behind the +shelter of the ledge, he reached for his carbine, and in a moment more, +as the pursuing Indians came lashing within long range, four seasoned +cavalry carbines, each with a keen eye at the sight and a steady finger +at the trip, were leveled on the coming foe. Dean's young heart beat +hard, it must be owned, for hitherto the Indians had been fighting in +retreat or on the defensive, while now they came as though confident of +success; but there was soldier exultation and something like savage joy +mingling with the thrill of excitement.</p> + +<p>"There's more behind those beggars, sir," growled Conroy, a veteran at +Indian work, "but they'll sheer off when they get within three hundred +yards." On they came, shields and lances dangling, ponies on the keen +jump, feathers and pennons streaming on the wind. But, just as Conroy +said, no sooner was Bruce safely under cover and they felt themselves +drawing within dangerous range than, fan-like, they opened out to right +and left, and, yelling still like fiends, veered in wide circle from +their line of attack, and ducking over their ponies' shoulders, clinging +with one leg to the upright part of the cantle, they seemed to invite +the fire of their white foe—and got it. A daring fellow in the lead +came streaking slantwise across the front, as though aiming to pick up +the comrade lurking in the dip of the prairie-like slope, and Conroy's +carbine was the first to bark, followed almost instantly by Dean's. The +scurrying pony threw up his wall-eyed head and lashed with his feathered +tail, evidently hit, but not checked, for under the whip he rushed +gamely on until another bullet, whistling within a foot of his neck, +warned the red rider that he was far too close for safety, for with +halting gait the pony turned and labored off the field, and presently +was seen to be staggering. "Score one for our side," laughed the +Irishman, in glee. "Now's your time, sergeant."</p> + +<p>But Bruce, reloading, was gazing sternly at the distant knoll. The other +warriors, riding right and left, were now chasing crosswise over the +billowy slopes, keeping up a fire of taunt and chaff and shrill +war-cries, but never again venturing within three hundred yards—never +wasting a shot.</p> + +<p>"I thought so," suddenly cried the sergeant. "They're signaling from the +knoll. They never would have attacked with so few, unless there were +dozens more within sight. Now's our time, lieutenant. We can mount and +ride like hell to the timber—I beg your pardon, sir," he broke off +suddenly. "I didn't mean to say what the lieutenant should do."</p> + +<p>"No apologies," laughed Dean, his eyes snapping with the vim of the +fight. "Glad you see the truth of what I said. Come on. Mount quickly, +men."</p> + +<p>Two minutes more and the entire party of blue-coats were spurring +swiftly northward up the winding gorge, the pack-horses lumbering +alongside. Eagerly Dean and Bruce in the lead looked right and left for +a game trail leading up the slope, for well they knew that the moment +their reinforcements came the warriors would dash into the ravine and, +finding their antagonists fled, would pursue along the banks. It would +never do to be caught in such a trap. A gallop of a quarter of a mile +and, off to the right, a branch ravine opened out to higher ground, and +into this the leaders dove and, checking speed, rode at the trot until +the ascent grew steep. Five minutes more and they were well up toward +the head of the gulch and presently found themselves nearly on a level +with the hillsides about them. Here, too, were scattered pine-trees and +a few scrub-oak. The timber, then, was close at hand. Signaling halt to +the climbing column, Dean and Bruce, springing from saddle, scrambled up +the bank to their right and peered cautiously back down over the +tumbling waves of the foothills, and what they saw was enough to blanch +the cheek of even veteran Indian fighters.</p> + +<p>Far over to the east, beyond an intervening ridge and under the dun +cloud of dust, the earth was black for miles with herds of running +buffalo. Far down to the southeast, here, there and everywhere over the +land, the slopes were dotted with little knots of Indian braves—they +could be nothing else—all riding like mad, coming straight toward them. +Machpealota probably had launched his whole force on the trail of the +luckless troopers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + + +<p>That night there was rejoicing at the new stockade. For over a week not +a courier had managed to slip through in either direction. Alarmed for +the safety of the little garrison, the commanding officer of the post +away up at the gorge of the Big Horn River had sent two troops of +cavalry to scout the slopes of the mountains and look into the state of +affairs at Warrior Gap. They found countless fresh pony tracks all along +the foothills east of the Greasy Grass and in the valleys of the many +forks of the Deje Agie—the Crow name for Tongue River—but not an +Indian did they see. They marched in among the welcoming officers and +men at the bustling post to find themselves hailed as heroes. "We've +been cut off from the world for at least ten days," said the commandant. +"Our couriers have been killed, captured or driven back. Even our +half-breed scouts refuse to make further trial. They say Red Cloud's +people cover the land in every direction. Our woodchoppers only work +under heavy guard. The contractors, freighters and workmen threaten to +strike unless they get their money. The sutler refuses them further +credit. The quartermaster has paid out every cent and says his +requisition for ten thousand dollars was ordered filled, and the money +ought to have been here a week ago. All will have to stop if the money +doesn't come. We're safe enough. The Sioux don't dare come within range +of our breech-loaders. But we can't finish the barracks in time for +winter at this rate."</p> + +<p>A stout-hearted soldier was the commanding officer at Warrior Gap. He +had with him now four strong companies of infantry and a troop of horse. +He had, he said, but one anxiety, so far as holding the fort was +concerned—some few of the officers and quite a number of the soldiers, +as has been told, were burdened with their wives and children. If these +could only be moved under strong guard to Frayne on the Platte, he could +snap his fingers in the face of Red Cloud and his whole gang until they +too got breech-loaders. "It's only a question of time!" said he. "Sooner +or later the Interior Department will be fool enough to arm the redskins +all over the land with magazine rifles, and then there will be lively +work for the war office. Any day," said he, further, "we may expect the +coming of a whole regiment from the Platte posts, and then Mr. Lo will +have to light out. Meantime, if we hadn't this trouble about the +workmen, and could get rid of the women and children, we'd be all +right."</p> + +<p>So back to the Big Horn rode the squadron to report all safe at Warrior +Gap, barring the blockade, and almost on the same date out there started +from Laramie, on the long march up the Platte and over across the +sage-covered deserts, a strong force of foot and dragoons; and up from +the Sweetwater, far to the southwest, came this venturesome little party +of ten, bringing the much-demanded money, and all the while, with his +far-riding, far-seeing scouts in every direction, Machpealota, perched +in the mountains back of the building post, warily watched the +dispositions and daily work, and laid his plans accordingly. Not a +warrior was permitted to show himself near the stockade, but in a +sleepless cordon, five miles out, they surrounded the Gap. Not a +messenger had managed to elude their vigilance by day, not one had +succeeded in slipping into the little camp by night. Yet, with every +succeeding morn the choppers and fatigue parties pushed farther out from +the stockade, in growing sense of security, and the Indians let them +come.</p> + +<p>Full a week before the Laramie column could possibly reach the +mountains, however, Red Cloud was warned of their coming, their numbers, +and composition—so many horse soldiers, so many "heap walks." +Unmolested, the squadron from Fort C. F. Smith, the Big Horn River post, +was permitted to retrace its steps. In fancied safety, born of +confidence in that wonderful new breech-loader, the little command at +the Gap was lulled to indifference to their surroundings. Then, sending +large numbers of his young men to round up the buffalo toward the +Platte, but keeping still his stern and vengeful eye upon the prey +almost at his feet, the red chief made his final and fatal plans.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There came a cloudless morning when the cavalry troop escorted a young +officer up the rocky heights to the west, finding everywhere indications +of recent Indian occupancy, but not a redskin barred their way. Without +opposition of any kind, without so much as a glimpse of the foe, were +they permitted to climb to Signal Rock, and from that point, with +powerful glasses, the officers swept the glorious range of foothills, +the deep valley of the Tongue, the banks of the Piney and the Crazy +Woman, the far-spreading upland prairie rolling away like some heaving +ocean suddenly turned to earth, east and southeast to the dim horizon, +and there they saw, or thought they saw, full explanation of their +recent freedom from alarm of any kind. There to the south, full thirty +miles away, the land was overlaid by a dull, heavy, dun-colored cloud, +and traversed by black streaks or blotches that were recognized at once +as running buffalo. Red Cloud and his braves then were drawn away in +search of other game, and, light of heart and foot, the troopers trotted +back to the waiting stockade, to meet there late that evening, as the +weird tattoo of the drums and fifes was echoing back from the rocky +heights, the first messenger through in nearly fifteen days-a half-breed +Sioux from the distant posts along the Platte, bearing a written message +from the commanding officer at Frayne, which the veteran commandant at +Warrior Gap read with infinite comfort:</p> + +<p>"Seven companies of infantry and three more troops of cavalry are on the +way and should reach you by Saturday week. The General seems thoroughly +alive to the situation, and we, too, are hoping for orders to move out +and help you give that infernal old scoundrel the thrashing he deserves. +All has been quiet hereabouts since that one party made its dash on Hal +Folsom's ranch. Of course you know the story of Lizette, and of course +Red Cloud must have known that Burning Star was head devil in that +enterprise, though Chaska was the victim. I take much comfort in the +fact that it was I who sent young Dean and his troop round by way of the +Laramie. Folsom and his people would have been murdered to a man if I +hadn't, and yet I hear that absurd old ass at Emory put Dean in arrest +for not coming directly home. Pecksniff should have been retired ten +years ago—for imbecility.</p> + +<p>"We had a tremendous storm in the mountains to the south two days ago, +and a courier has just galloped out from Emory, inquiring for news of +Dean. It seems he was sent with a big sum in currency for your +quartermaster, and ordered to slip through by way of the Sweetwater, as +Red Cloud was known to be covering the direct road. Somehow it leaked +out before he started, and a gang of desperadoes gathered to jump him at +Cañon Springs. The storm jumped them, for two of their dead and a dozen +horses were rolled out on the flats. Dean must have got through all +right, for Bat saw their trail fifteen miles above us. Of course, he'll +have to make night marches; but, unless Red Cloud gets wind of his +coming and corrals him, he should reach you almost as soon as this. +Michel, the bearer, has your dispatches and orders. Retained copies are +here. Good luck, old man, and may we meet within the fortnight and wind +up Red Cloud once and for all time."</p> + +<p>This was all, but more than enough. Riding night and day in wide détour, +Michel had made his way to the lately beleaguered spot, and what he +brought was joyous news, indeed. Within the coming week the post would +have no more to fear. Within a day or two the contractors, then, would +have their money, and that would tap the sutler's stores and joy would +reign supreme. Enviously the soldiers eyed the artisans. Not for weeks +could their paymaster be looked for, while the funds for the civilians +might reach them on the morrow, provided Red Cloud did not interfere. He +couldn't and wouldn't, said the commander, because he and his braves +were all off to the southeast, hunting buffalo. He could and might, said +Michel that night at ten o'clock, after taps had sent the garrison to +bed, for by the time he left Frayne there were other riders up from Gate +City and all that garrison had learned that Lieutenant Dean was taking +something like fifty thousand dollars in greenbacks up to the Gap, with +only ten men to guard it, and Major Burleigh was wild with anxiety lest +he shouldn't get through, and had been nearly crazy since he heard of +Dean's narrow escape at Cañon Springs. The officer of the day who heard +this story took it, with the teller, to the post commander, and that +veteran sat up late and cross-questioned long. Michel's English might be +broken, but not his statement. The last arrival at Frayne before he left +was one of Major Burleigh's own men from Gate City. He said the General +and his staff were expected at Emory the next day, investigating +matters, for old Stevens had got stampeded because his sergeant-major +was assaulted and old Mr. Folsom knocked out and a drunken captain by +the name of Newhall had been making trouble, and it had all told on +Major Burleigh, who had taken to his bed with nervous prostration.</p> + +<p>So, while the garrison went to rest happy, the commanding officer waked +long, and finally slept soundly and might have slept late, but that just +at dawn, full half an hour before the time for reveille, there came a +sharp knocking at the door of his log-hut, and the imperative voice of +the officer of the day.</p> + +<p>"Colonel! colonel, I say! There's sharp firing out here in the hills to +the south!"</p> + +<p>The peaks to the west were just tinging with purple and red, reflected +from the eastward sky, and a faint light was beginning to steal down +into the deep valley in which the cantonment lay sleeping, when the +veteran commander came hurrying out, half-dressed, and hied him, with +his attendant officer, to the southern angle of the stockade. There on +the narrow ledge or platform built under the sharp tops of the upright +logs, were grouped the silent, grave-faced guard, a dozen men intently +listening. Thither presently came running others of the officers or men, +suddenly awakened by sense of something unusual going on. Far away among +the wooded heights to the south, echoing from the rocky palisades to the +west, could be heard the pop, pop of distant musketry, punctuated +sometimes with louder bang as of large caliber rifles closer at hand. +Little time was there in which to hazard opinion as to the cause. One or +two men, faint-hearted at the thought of the peril of Indian battle and +hopeful of influencing the judgment of their superiors, began the murmur +of "Big hunt," "Buffalo drive," etc., glancing furtively at the colonel +the while as though to observe the effect. But an imperative "Silence, +you idiots!" from the officer of the day put sudden end to their +conjectures. Only a moment did the commander listen. Then, quick and +startling, came the order, "Sound to arms!" and within the minute the +stirring peal of the cavalry trumpet was answered by the hoarse thunder +of the snare-drum, beating the long roll. Out from their "dog tents" and +half-finished log huts came the bewildered men. Often as the alarm had +sounded on the frontier there was a thrill and ring about it this time +that told of action close at hand. Out from the little huts, hurrying +into their frock coats and belting on their swords as they glared about +them for the cause of the uproar, came the officers, old and young, most +of them veterans of many hard-fought fields of the war days—one or two, +only, youngsters fresh from the Point. At many a doorway and unglazed +window appeared the pallid faces of women and children, some of them +weeping in mingled fright and distress. In front of the log guardhouse +the sergeant quickly formed the two reliefs not on post. On their +designated parades the companies rapidly fell in, while stern-voiced +non-commissioned officers rebuked the laggards and aided them into their +belts, and each first sergeant took rapid note of his men. No need to +call the roll, a skulker would have been detected and kicked into the +ranks at the instant. Over under the rough board shelter of the +quartermaster's employees the workmen came tumbling out in shirt +sleeves, many of them running to the nearest officer and begging for a +gun and a place in the fight, for now the firing was loud and lively. +Down by the swift-flowing stream the tethered horses of the cavalry +plunged and neighed in excitement, and the mules in the quartermaster's +corral set up their irrepressible bray. For five minutes there was +clamor, but no confusion. Then disciplined silence reigned again, all +but the nearing volleying at the south. Presently, at rapid trot the +cavalry, some fifty strong, came clattering up the stony trail from the +stream, and with carbines advanced disappeared through the main gateway +in a cloud of dust. Two companies were told off to man the loopholes of +the stockade. Two others under the command of a senior captain faced by +the right flank, and in double-quick time danced away in the wake of the +cavalry. Eagerly the watchers climbed the wooden walls or to the tower +of the half-finished guardhouse, and, as the red light strengthened in +the east and the mountain sides became revealed, studied with their +glasses or with straining eyes the southward vista through the hills. +They saw the troop form line to the front at the gallop as it swept out +over the open ground four hundred yards away, saw its flankers scurry to +the nearest shoulder of bluff, saw their excited signals and +gesticulations, and presently a sheaf of skirmishers shot forward from +the advancing line and breasted the low ridge eight hundred yards out +from the fort, and then there came floating back the sound of ringing, +tumultuous cheer as the skirmishers reached the crest and darted +headlong at some unseen object beyond, and after them went the reserve, +cheering too. And now the sound of firing became fierce and incessant, +and messengers came galloping back to the commander of the steadily +advancing infantry, and they, too, were seen to throw forward heavy +skirmish lines and then resume the march. And then, down over the ridge +came a little knot of horsemen, made up of three men riding close +together, the outer ones supporting between them the comrade in the +center. Before they were within four hundred yards the young adjutant, +gazing through his glasses at the colonel's side, exclaimed: "It's +Dean—dead or wounded!" and one of the surgeons rushed forward to meet +the party. "He's weak, sir, almost gone from loss of blood," exclaimed +Trooper Conroy, himself bleeding from a gash along the cheek. A faint +smile drifted over the young fellow's pallid face, as the adjutant, too, +galloped up. A feeble hand indicated the bulging saddle pocket. A faint +voice faltered, "There's ten thousand dollars in that packet. We had to +fight our way through," and then the brave blue eyes closed and strong +arms lifted the almost lifeless form from the saddle as Marshall swooned +away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + + +<p>A day had dawned on the Big Horn never to be forgotten by those who +watched the conflict from the stockade, never to be recalled by those +who went forth to fight. Broad daylight had come and the sun was peeping +over the far horizon as strong arms bore the unconscious officer within +the post, and the commander eagerly questioned the men who came with +him. Their story was quickly told. They had fled before overpowering +numbers of the Sioux the night before, had made their way through the +timber in the darkness and come ahead all night, groping their way from +ridge to ridge until at the peep of day they found themselves in sight +of familiar landmarks, and could see the gleam of the waters of the Fork +dancing away under the dawn. And then, as they essayed to ride on they +found the Indians all around them. Whichever way they turned the foe +appeared, but only in scattered parties and small numbers. Not once did +more than half a dozen appear in sight, and then confident of speedy +succor from the fort, they had decided to make a dash for it, and so +rode boldly out into the open. But now a score of warriors popped up and +barred the way, while others far out at flank or rear kept up long range +fire. One man was shot through the body and fainted and had to be borne +along. Then the lieutenant was shot in the leg, but no one knew it until +they saw his boot was running over with blood, and he was growing +ghastly white, even though he kept encouraging and directing. But when +at last the cavalry met them and brushed the Indians away from the +front, Captain Drum, who rode at their head, ordered Mr. Dean taken +right into the post while he dashed on to punish the Sioux, "and he is +giving them hell, too," said the excited trooper, "for there couldn't +have been more than a hundred Indians all told."</p> + +<p>Ah, not in sight, perhaps, poor lads!—not in sight of horse, foot or +fort; for if there were only a hundred, how came it that the fire grew +fiercer still, and that presently every musket in the infantry skirmish +line, too, was blazing on the foe. By this time cavalry and infantry +both had disappeared over the curtaining ridge, and the colonel's face +grew grave and haggard as he listened. Three-fifths of his little +garrison were out there battling against unknown numbers. They had gone +to rescue the detachment and bring it safely in. That rescue was +accomplished. The precious package for which so much had been risked was +here—but what detained the command? Why did they not return? Beyond +doubt far more Indians were out there now than when first the firing +began. "Gallop out, Mr. Adjutant, and tell the major to withdraw his +line and fall back on the stockade," was the order—and with a lump in +his throat the young officer mounted again and started. He was a pet in +the garrison, only in his second year of commission. They saw him gallop +through the gate, saw him ride gallantly straight for the curtaining +ridge beyond which the smoke was rising heavily now, saw him breasting +the slope, his orderly following, saw him almost reach it, and then +suddenly the prairie seemed to jet fire. The foremost horse reared, +plunged, and went rolling over and over. They saw—plainly saw through +their glasses, and a shriek of agony and horror went up from among the +women at the sight—half a dozen painted savages spring out from behind +the ledge, some on pony back, some afoot, and bear down on the stricken +form of the slender young rider now feebly striving to rise from the +turf; saw the empty hand outstretched, imploring mercy; saw jabbing +lances and brandished war-clubs pinning the helpless boy to earth and +beating in the bared, defenseless head; saw the orderly dragged from +under his struggling horse and butchered by his leader's side; saw the +bloody knives at work tearing away the hot red scalps, then ripping off +the blood-soaked clothing, and, to the music of savage shouts of glee +and triumph, hacking, hewing, mutilating the poor remains, reckless of +the bullets that came buzzing along the turf from the score of +Springfields turned loose at the instant among the loopholes of the +stockade. It was eight hundred yards away in the dazzling light of the +rising sun. Old Springfields did not carry as do the modern arms. +Soldiers of those days were not taught accurate shooting as they are +now. It was too far for anything but chance, and all within a minute or +two the direful tragedy was over, and the red warriors had darted back +behind the ridge from which they came.</p> + +<p>"My God! sir," gasped the officer who stood at the side of the +awe-stricken post commander, "I believe it's Red Cloud's entire band, +and they've got our poor boys surrounded! Can't we send help?"</p> + +<p>"Send help! Merciful heaven, man, who's to help us? Who's to protect +these poor women and children if we go? I have but two companies left. +It's what those fiends are hoping—have been planning—that I'll send +out my last man to the aid of those already gone, and then they'll dart +in on the fort, and what will become of these?"</p> + +<p>Great drops of sweat were pouring down the colonel's face as he turned +and pointed to the huts where now, clinging to one another in terror, +many poor wives and children were gathered, and the air was filled with +the sobbing of the little ones. Up from the stockade came two young +officers, their faces set and rigid, their eyes blazing. "In God's name, +colonel," cried the foremost, "let me take my men and clear that ridge +so that our people can get back. One charge will do it, sir."</p> + +<p>But solemnly the commander uplifted his hand. "Listen," said he, "the +battle is receding. They are driving our poor fellows southward, away +from us. They are massed between them and us. It would only be playing +into their hands, my boy. It's too late to help. Our duty now is here."</p> + +<p>"But good God, sir! I can't stay without raising a hand to help. I +beg—I implore!"</p> + +<p>"Go back to your post at once, sir. You may be needed any minute. Look +there! Now!"</p> + +<p>And as he spoke the colonel pointed to the southeast. Over the scene +beyond the divide to the south hung the bank of pale-blue smoke. Out on +the slope lay the ghastly remains of the young adjutant and his faithful +comrade who, not ten minutes before, had galloped forth in obedience to +their orders and met their soldier fate. Out to the southeast the ridge +fell gradually away into the general level of the rolling prairie, and +there, full a thousand yards distant, there suddenly darted into view +three horsemen, troopers evidently, spurring madly for home.</p> + +<p>"They've cut their way through! Thank God!" almost screamed the +spectators at the parapet. But their exultation died an instant later. +Over the ridge, in swift pursuit came a dozen painted, feathered braves, +their ponies racing at lightning speed, their arrows and bullets +whizzing along the line of flight. The horse of the foremost trooper was +staggering, and suddenly went plunging headlong, sending his rider +sprawling far out on the turf. He was up in a second, dire peril nerving +him to desperate effort. His comrades veered at his cry for help and +glanced back over their shoulders. One, unnerved at sight of the dashing +foemen in pursuit, clapped spurs again, and bending low, rode madly on. +The other, gallant fellow! reined about in wide, sweeping circle, and +turned back to meet his running comrade. They saw him bend to lend a +helping hand, saw him bend still lower as three of the Indians leaped +from their ponies and, kneeling, loosed their rifles all at once; saw +him topple out of saddle, and his stricken horse, with flapping rein, +trot aimlessly about a moment before he, too, went floundering in his +tracks; saw the other soldier turn to face his fate by his dying +comrade's side, fighting to the last, overwhelmed and borne down by the +rush of red warriors. Strong men turned aside in agony, unable to look +on and see the rest—the brutal, pitiless clubbing and stabbing, the +fearful hacking of lance and knife—but others still, in the fascination +of horror, gazed helplessly through the smoke drifting upward from the +blazing loopholes, and once a feeble cheer broke forth as one shot took +effect and a yelling Indian stretched out dead upon the sward. Then for +a brief moment all eyes centered on the sole survivor who came sweeping +down the slope, straight for the stockade. Almost it seemed as though he +might yet escape, despite the fact that his horse, too, was lurching and +stumbling and his pursuers were gaining rapidly, defiant of the fire of +the little fort. Reckless of order and discipline, a dozen soldiers +nearest the gate rushed out upon the open bench, shouting encouragement +and sending long range, chance shots. But with every stride the fleeing +steed grew weaker, stumbled painfully and slackened speed, and soon they +saw him slowing down despite the frantic jabbing of the spurs, and with +drooped head and bleeding nostrils giving up the fight. And then, at +sound of the triumphant yells and jeers of his pursuers, the poor wretch +in saddle threw one fearful glance behind him, one despairing look +toward the comrades and the refuge still a quarter of a mile away, and +with shaking hand he turned the brown revolver on his own temple and +pulled trigger, and then went tumbling earthward, a corpse. There at +least was one scalp the Sioux could covet in vain, for with shouts of +vengeance, the little squad of infantry, deaf to all orders or the +clamor of the bugle recall, dashed out over the level bench, firing +furiously as they ran, and, whether from the superstitious awe with +which the Indians view the suicide, or the dread of close combat with +the gallant band of blue-coats, the mounted warriors turned and scurried +away across the prairie, and were presently out of range beyond the +ridge again. Then, and not till they had reached and lifted and borne +the lifeless form of the trooper, did the little party condescend to +answer the repeated summons from the fort. Then at last they slowly +returned, unrebuked, for no man had the heart to chide their daring.</p> + +<p>Only once more was there further sight of the one-sided battle. Half a +mile or more beyond the bare divide there rose against the southern sky +a bold, oblong height or butte, studded with bowlders and stunted pine, +and watchers at the fort became aware as the sun climbed higher that the +smoke cloud, thinning gradually but perceptibly, was slowly drifting +thither. The fire, too, grew faint and scattering. The war-whoops rang +and re-echoed among the rocks, but all sound of cheering had long since +died away. At last, an hour after the fury of the fight began, the +colonel, gazing in speechless grief, through his field-glass, muttered +to the officer at his side:</p> + +<p>"Some of them are still left. They are fighting for their lives along +that butte."</p> + +<p>Only a few, though. One by one the dark dots among the bowlders ceased +to stir and move about. Little by little the fire slackened, and all but +occasional scattered shots died utterly away. Then other forms, +feathered and bedizened, were seen rushing in numbers up the distant +hillside, and that meant all was over, and the brutal knives were busily +at work. Little by little all sound of conflict, all sight of +combatants, disappeared entirely, and the unclouded sunshine streamed +down upon a scene on which the silence of death indeed had fallen. When +at last, late that afternoon, the watchers reported a vast body of +Indians drifting away eastward toward the distant Powder River, and +venturesome scouts stole out to reconnoiter, backed by skirmish lines +from the stricken post, they found the grassy slopes beyond that +curtaining ridge one broad field of death, strewn with the stripped and +hacked and mangled forms of those who had so gallantly dashed forth to +the aid of comrade soldiery at the break of day, so torn and mutilated +and disfigured that only a limited few were ever identified. Officers +and men, one after another, had died in their tracks, victims of Red +Cloud and the Ogallalla Sioux.</p> + +<p>And all for what? Late that night the quartermaster in wild agitation +sought his colonel's door, a package in his hands. "For God's sake, sir, +look at this!" he cried.</p> + +<p>The cords had just been cut, the seals just broken, the stout paper +carefully opened and the contents of the precious packet exposed to +view. It held no money at all, nothing but layer on layer of waste and +worthless paper!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + + +<p>A week went by at Fort Emory, and not a word came back from Dean. The +furious storm that swept the hills and swelled the rivers was the talk +of every army post within two hundred miles, while in the gambling halls +and saloons of Laramie, Cheyenne and Gate City men spoke of it in low +tones and with bated breath. If ever the bolts of heaven were launched +to defeat a foul crime it was right there at Cañon Springs, for the +story was all over Wyoming by this time how the worst gang of cutthroats +that ever infested the wide West had galloped in strong force to that +wild, sequestered nook to murder Dean and his whole party of the hated +"blue bellies," if need be, but at all hazards to get the precious +package in his charge. Fifty thousand dollars in government greenbacks +it contained, if Hank Birdsall, their chosen leader, could be believed, +and hitherto he had never led them astray. He swore that he had the +"straight tip," and that every man who took honest part in the fight, +that was sure to ensue, should have his square one thousand dollars. +Thirty to ten, surrounding the soldiers along the bluffs on every side, +they counted on easy victory. But the warning thunder had been enough +for the young troop leader, and prompted him to break camp and get out +of the gorge. They were starting when Birdsall's scouts peered over the +bank and the outlaw ordered instant pursuit, just in time to meet the +fury of the flood and to see some of his fellows drowned like rats in a +sewer.</p> + +<p>But who betrayed the secret? What officer or government employé revealed +the fact that Dean was going with so much treasure?—and what could have +been his object? Birdsall had taken to the mountains and was beyond +pursuit. "Shorty," one of his men, rescued from drowning by the mail +carrier and escort coming down from Frayne, confessed the plot and the +General was now at Emory investigating. Major Burleigh had taken to his +bed. Captain Newhall was reported gone to Denver. Old John Folsom lay +with bandaged head and blinded eyes in a darkened room, assiduously +nursed by Pappoose and Jessie, who in turn were devotedly attended by +Mrs. Fletcher. Possessed of some strange nervous excitement, this +energetic woman was tireless in her effort to be of use. Minus ten of +their very best, "C" Troop still camped at Emory, the General holding it +for possible escort duty, and, to his huge delight, young Loomis was +assigned to command it until Dean should return. There came a day when +the news arrived from Frayne that the Laramie column had crossed the +Platte and marched on for the Big Horn, and then John Folsom began to +mend and was allowed to sit up, and told the doctor he had need to see +Major Burleigh without delay, but Burleigh could not leave his bed, said +the physician in attendance—a very different practitioner from +Folsom's—and the old man began to fret and fume, and asked for writing +materials. He wrote Burleigh a note, and the doctor forbade his +patient's reading anything. Major Burleigh, said he, was a very sick +man, and in a wretchedly nervous condition. Serious consequences were +feared unless utter quiet could be assured.</p> + +<p>Then Folsom was pronounced well enough to be taken out for a drive, and +he and Pappoose had the back seat together, while Jessie, with Harry +Loomis to drive, sat in front, and Jess was shy and happy, for Loomis +had plainly lost his heart to his comrade's pretty sister. Marshall had +now been gone nine days and could soon be expected home, said everybody, +for with a big force going up there the Indians would scatter and "the +boys" would have no trouble coming back. And so this lovely summer +afternoon every one seemed bright and joyous at the fort, listening to +the band and wondering, some of the party at least, how much longer it +would be before they could hope to hear from the absent, when there +arose sudden sounds of suppressed commotion in the camp of "C" Troop. A +courier was coming like mad on the road from Frayne—a courier whose +panting horse reined up a minute, with heaving flanks, in the midst of +the thronging men, and all the troop turned white and still at the news +the rider briefly told:—three companies at Warrior Gap were massacred +by the Sioux, one hundred and seventy men in all, including Sergeant +Bruce and all "C" Troop's men but Conroy and Garret, who had cut their +way through with Lieutenant Dean and were safe inside the stockade, +though painfully wounded. This appalling story the girls heard with +faces blanched with horror. Passionate weeping came to Jessie's relief, +but Pappoose shed never a tear. The courier's dispatches were taken in +to the colonel, and Folsom, trembling with mingled weakness and +excitement, followed.</p> + +<p>It was an impressive scene as the old soldier read the sad details to +the rapidly growing group of weeping women, for that was Emory's +garrison now, while the official reports were hurried on to catch the +General on his way to Cheyenne. Some one warned the band leader, and the +musicians marched away to quarters. Some one bore the news to town where +the flags over the hotel and the one newspaper office were at once +lowered to half staff, although that at Emory, true to official +etiquette and tradition, remained until further orders at the peak, +despite the fact that two of the annihilated companies were from that +very post. Some one bore the news to Burleigh's quarters at the depot, +and, despite assertions that the major could see no one and must not be +agitated or disturbed, disturbed and agitated he was beyond +per-adventure. Excitedly the sick man sprang from his bed at the tidings +of the massacre and began penning a letter. Then he summoned a young +clerk from his office and told him he had determined to get up at once, +as now every energy of the government would doubtless be put forth to +bring the Sioux to terms. It was the young clerk who a few weeks back +had remarked to a fellow employé how "rattled" the old man was getting. +The major's doctor was not about. The major began dictating letters to +various officials as he rapidly dressed, and what happened can best be +told in the clerk's own words: "For a man too sick to see any one two +hours before," said he, "the major had wonderful recuperative powers, +but they didn't last. He was in the midst of a letter to the chief +quartermaster and had got as far as to say, 'The deplorable and tragic +fate of Lieutenant Dean points, of course, to the loss of the large sum +intrusted to him,' when I looked up and said, 'Why, Lieutenant Dean +ain't dead, major; he got in all right,' and he stared at me a minute as +if I had stabbed him. His face turned yellow-white and down he went like +a log—had a fit I s'pose. Then I ran for help, and then the doctor came +and hustled everybody out."</p> + +<p>But not till late that night did these details reach "Old Pecksniff" at +the post. A solemn time was that veteran having, for many of the women +were almost in hysterics and all were in deep distress. Two of their +number, wives of officers, were widowed by the catastrophe, and one lay +senseless for hours. It was almost dark when Mr. Folsom and the girls +drove homeward, and his face was lined and haggard. Pappoose nestled +fondly, silently at his side, holding his hand and closely scanning his +features, as though striving to read his thoughts. Jessie, comforted now +by the knowledge that Marshall was rapidly recovering, and the words of +praise bestowed upon him in the colonel's letters, was nevertheless in +deep anxiety as to the future. The assurance that the Sioux, even in +their overwhelming numbers, would not attack a stockade, was not +sufficient. Marshall would be on duty again within a very few days, the +colonel said. His wounds would heal within the week, and it was only +loss of so much blood that had prostrated him. Within a few days, then, +her loved brother would be in saddle and in the field against the +Indians. Who could assure her they would not have another pitched +battle? Who could say that the fate that befell the garrison at Warrior +Gap might not await the troop when next it rode away? And poor Jess had +other anxieties, too, by this time. Loomis was burning with eagerness +for orders to lead it instantly to join the field column, and importuned +Colonel Stevens, even in the midst of all the grief and shock of the +early evening. Almost angrily the veteran colonel bade him attend to his +assigned duties and not demand others. "C" Troop should not with his +advice and consent be sent north of the Platte. "First thing you know, +sir, after they've got all the troops up along the Big Horn you'll see +the Sioux in force this side of the river, murdering right and left, and +not a company to oppose them. No, sir, more than enough of that troop +have already been sacrificed! The rest shall stay here."</p> + +<p>And well was it, for one and all, that "Old Pecksniff" held firm to his +decision. It was one of his lucid intervals.</p> + +<p>Late that evening, after ten o'clock, there came the sound of hoof-beats +on the hard road and the crack of the long-lashed mule-whip, and the +fort ambulance clattered up to Folsom's gate, and the colonel himself, +his adjutant by his side, came nervously up the gravel walk. Folsom met +them at his door. Instinctively he felt that something new and startling +was added to the catalogue of the day's disastrous tidings. Pecksniff's +face was eloquent of gravest concern, mingled with irrepressible +excitement.</p> + +<p>"Let me see you in private, quick," he said. "Mr.—Ah—Mr. Adjutant, +will you kindly remain in the parlor," and, taking Folsom by the elbow, +Pecksniff led impetuously into the library. The girls had gone aloft +only a moment before, but, dreading news of further evil, Pappoose came +fluttering down.</p> + +<p>"Go in and welcome the adjutant, dear," said Folsom hurriedly. "The +colonel and I have some matters to talk of." Obediently she turned at +once, and, glancing up the stairs, noted that Mrs. Fletcher's door must +have been suddenly opened, for the light from her room was now streaming +on the third-floor balusters. Listening again! What could be the secret +of that woman's intense watchfulness? In the parlor the young staff +officer was pacing up and down, but his face lighted at sight of Elinor.</p> + +<p>"Do you know—Is there anything new?—anything worse?" she quickly +asked, as she gave her slim young hand.</p> + +<p>"Not concerning our people," was the significant answer. "But I fear +there's more excitement coming."</p> + +<p>Barely waiting for Elinor to withdraw, "Pecksniff" had turned on Folsom. +"You know I opposed the sending of that party? You know it was all +ordered on Burleigh's urging and representations, do you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I heard so," said Folsom. "What then?"</p> + +<p>"You know he planned the whole business—sent 'em around by Cañon +Springs and the Sweetwater?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I heard that, too," said Folsom, still wondering.</p> + +<p>"You know some one must have put that Birdsall gang on the scent, and +that Burleigh has had alleged nerve prostration ever since, and has been +too ill to see any one or to leave his bed."</p> + +<p>"Yes, so we were told."</p> + +<p>"Well, he's well enough to be up and away—God knows where, and here is +the reason—just in from the north," and, trembling with excitement, +Pecksniff pointed to the closing paragraph of the letter in his hand:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cords, seals and wrapping were intact when handed to the +quartermaster, but the contents were nothing but worthless paper. +It must have been so when given to Lieutenant Dean."</p></div> + +<p>Folsom's eyes were popping from his head. He sank into a chair, gazing +up in consternation.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see, man!" said Pecksniff, "some one in the depot is short +ten thousand dollars or so. Some one hoped to cover this shortage in +just this way—to send a little squad with a bogus package, and then +turn loose the biggest gang of ruffians in the country. They would have +got it but for the storm at Cañon Springs, and no one would have been +the wiser. They couldn't have got it without a murderous fight. No one +would ever dare confess his complicity in it. No statement of theirs +that there wasn't a cent in the sack could ever be believed. Some one's +shortage would be covered and his reputation saved. The plot failed, and +God's mercy was over Dean's young head. He'd 'a been murdered or ruined +if the plan worked—and now Burleigh's gone!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + + +<p>Yes, Burleigh was gone, and there was confusion at the depot. At six the +doctor had come forth from his room, saying he was better, but must not +be disturbed. At seven the major, carrying a satchel, had appeared at +his office, where two clerks were smoking their pipes, innocent of all +thought of their employer's coming. It was after hours. They had no +business there at the time. Smoking was prohibited in the office, yet it +was the major who seemed most embarrassed at the unexpected meeting. It +was the major who hastily withdrew. He was traced to the railway, and it +was speedily found that he had sent word to the division superintendent +that the General had telegraphed for him to join him at once at +Cheyenne, and a special engine and caboose would be needed. At a quarter +past seven this had started full speed. It was eleven when the discovery +was made. Meantime Folsom and Stevens had consulted together. Folsom had +told of the large sum he had loaned Burleigh and the conditions +attached, and between them a dispatch, concisely setting forth their +suspicions, was sent the General at Cheyenne, with orders to "rush," as +they were determined if possible to head off the fugitive at that point. +Back came the wire ten minutes before midnight that the General had left +Cheyenne for Laramie by stage that evening, and must now be near the +Chugwater and far from telegraphic communication. Then Stevens wired the +sheriff at Cheyenne and the commanding officer of the new post of Fort +Russell to stop Burleigh at all hazards, and at two in the morning the +answer came that the major had reached Cheyenne about midnight and they +would search everywhere for him. That was the last until long after the +rising of another sun.</p> + +<p>Events and excitements, alarms and rumors followed each other with +startling rapidity during the day. In glaring headlines the local paper +published the details of the massacre at the Gap, lauding the valor and +devotion of the soldiers, but heaping abuse upon the commander of the +post, who, with other troops at his disposal, had looked on and lifted +no hand to aid them. Later, of course, it was proved that the veteran +had foiled old Red Cloud's villainous plan to lure the whole garrison +into the open country and there surround and slowly annihilate it, while +then, or at their leisure later, his chosen ones should set fire to the +unprotected stockade and bear off those of the women or children whose +years did not commend them to the mercy of the hatchet. Soldiers and +thinking men soon saw the colonel was right and that the only mistake he +had made was in allowing any of the garrison to go forth at all. But +this verdict was not published, except long after as unimportant news +and in some obscure corner. The Laramie column, so the news ran, was +hastening down the Powder River to strike Red Cloud. The Indians would +be severely punished, etc., etc. But old Folsom's face grew whiter yet +as he read that such orders had been sent and that the General himself +was now at Laramie directing matters. "In God's name," urged he, "if you +have any influence with the General, tell him not to send a foot column +chasing horsemen anywhere, and above all not to follow down the Powder. +Next thing you know Red Cloud and all his young men will have slipped +around their flank and come galloping back to the Platte, leaving the +old men and women and worn-out ponies to make tracks for the 'heap +walks' to follow."</p> + +<p>And Stevens listened dumbly. Influence he had never had. Folsom might be +right, but it was a matter in which he was powerless. When a depot +quartermaster, said he, could dictate the policy that should govern the +command of a colonel of the fighting force, there was no use in +remonstrance. Noon came and no news from the Cheyenne sheriff. The +commanding officer at Russell wired that he, too, was stripped of his +troops and had not even a cavalry courier to send after the General with +the startling news that Major Burleigh had vanished with large sums, it +was believed, in his possession. At one o'clock came tidings of the +fugitive. He, together with two other men, had spent the late hours of +the night at the lodgings of one of the party in Cheyenne, and at dawn +had driven away in a "rig" hired at a local stable, ostensibly to follow +the General to Laramie. They had kept the road northwestward on leaving +town—were seen passing along the prairie beyond Fort Russell, but +deputies, sworn in at once and sent in pursuit, came back to say the rig +had never gone as far as Lodge Pole. At six P. M. came further tidings. +Lieutenant Loring, engineer officer of the department, had reached +Cheyenne and was in consultation with the commanding officer at Russell. +The rig had been found at Sloan's ranch, far up Crow Creek, where the +party had taken horses and ridden westward into the Black Hills. In +anticipation of a big reward, the sheriff had deputies out in pursuit. +From such information as they could gather it was learned that the name +of one of the parties gone with Burleigh was Newhall, who claimed to be +a captain in the army, "out there looking after investments"—a captain +who was too busy, however, to go and see the few fellows of his cloth at +the new post and who was not known to them by sight at all. The +engineer, Mr. Loring, was making minute inquiries about this fellow, for +the description given him had excited not a little of his interest.</p> + +<p>And so the sun of the second day went down on Gate City and Emory, and +everybody knew Burleigh was gone. The wildest rumors were afloat, and +while all Fort Emory was in mourning over the tragedy at Warrior Gap, +everybody in town seemed more vividly concerned in Burleigh and the +cause of his sudden flight. As yet only certain army officers and Mr. +Folsom knew of the startling discovery at the stockade—that the package +was a bogus affair throughout. But all Gate City knew Burleigh had drawn +large sums from the local bank, many citizens had heard that John Folsom +was several thousand dollars the poorer for his sudden going, and all +interest was centered in the coming from Chicago of an expert, summoned +by wire, to open the huge office safe at the quartermaster's depot The +keys had gone with Burleigh. At the last moment, after loading up with +all the cash his own private safe contained, for that was found open and +practically empty in its corner of his sitting-room, and when he had +evidently gone to the office to get the funds there stored, he was +confounded by the sight of the two employés. He could have ordered them +to leave and then helped himself, but conscience had made a coward of +him, even more than nature. He saw accusers in every face, and fled. +Burleigh had lost his nerve.</p> + +<p>Two days went by and excitement was at its height. All manner of evil +report of Burleigh was now afloat. The story of the bogus package had +been noised abroad through later messengers and dispatches from the Gap. +Lieutenant Loring had come to Fort Emory under the instructions of the +department commander, and what those instructions were no man could find +out from the reticent young officer. If ever a youth seemed capable of +hearing everything and telling nothing it was this scientist of a +distinguished corps that frontiersmen knew too little of. What puzzled +Folsom and old Pecksniff was the persistence with which he followed up +his inquiries about Captain Newhall. He even sought an interview with +Pappoose and asked her to describe the rakish traveler who had so +unfavorably impressed her. She was looking her loveliest that evening. +Jessie was radiant once more. A long letter had come from Marshall—sad +because of the fate that had befallen his companions, stern because of +the evidence of the deep-laid plot that so nearly made him a victim, but +modestly glad of the official commendation he had received, and +rejoicing over the surgeon's promise that he would be well enough to +make the march with a command ordered back to Frayne. Red Cloud's people +had scattered far and wide, said he. "God grant they may not turn back +to the south." He was coming home. He would soon be there. The papers +had told their readers this very morning that the General had plainly +said his force was too small to risk further assault upon the Sioux. +Alarmed at the result of its policy, the Bureau had recommended +immediate abandonment of Warrior Gap and the withdrawal of the troops +from the Big Horn country. The War Department, therefore, had to hold +its hand. The Indians had had by long, long odds the best of the fight, +and perhaps would be content to let well enough alone. All this had +tended to bring hope to the hearts of most of the girls, and Loring's +welcome was the more cordial because of this and because of his now +known championship of Marshall's cause. From being a fellow under the +ban of suspicion and the cloud of official censure, Marshall Dean was +blossoming out as a hero. It was late in the evening when Folsom brought +the young engineer from the hotel and found Elinor and Jessie in the +music-room, with Pecksniff's adjutant and Loomis in devoted attendance. +It was nearly eleven when the officers left—two returning to the fort, +Loring lingering for a word with Folsom at the gate. The night was still +and breathless. The stars gleamed brilliantly aloft, but the moon was +young and had early gone to bed. A window in the third story softly +opened, as the two men stopped for their brief conference—the one so +young-looking, sturdy and alert, despite the frost of so many winters; +the other so calm and judicial, despite his youth.</p> + +<p>"Up to this afternoon at five no trace of them has been found," said +Loring. "Day after to-morrow that safe-opener should reach us. If you +have influence with Colonel Stevens you should urge him to have a guard +at the quartermaster's depot, even if he has to strip the fort. The +General cannot be reached by wire."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Folsom, looking up in alarm. "You don't suppose he'd come +back to rob his own office?"</p> + +<p>"He is not the man to take a risk, but there are those with him not so +careful, and the hand that sent Birdsall's gang in chase of Dean could +send them here, with the safe-key. Those few clerks and employés would +be no match for them."</p> + +<p>"By heaven, I believe you're right!" cried Folsom. "Which way are you +going now?"</p> + +<p>"Back to the hotel by way of the depot," was the answer. "Will you go?"</p> + +<p>"One moment. I do not travel about just now without a gun," said Folsom, +stepping within doors, and even the low sound of their voices died away +and all was still as a desert. The old trader did not return at once. +Something detained him—Miss Folsom, probably, reasoned the engineer, as +he stood there leaning on the gate. Aloft a blind creaked audibly, and, +gazing upward, Loring saw a dark, shadowy shutter at the third-story +window swing slowly in. There was no wind to move it. Why should human +hands be so stealthy? Then a dim light shone through the slats, and the +shade was raised, and, while calmly watching the performance, Loring +became aware of a dim, faint, far-away click of horse's hoofs at the +gallop, coming from the north.</p> + +<p>"If that were from the eastward, now," thought he, "it might bring +stirring news." But the sound died away after a moment, as though the +rider had dived into sandy soil.</p> + +<p>Just then Folsom reappeared, "I had to explain to my daughter. She is +most reluctant to have me go out at night just now."</p> + +<p>"Naturally," said Loring calmly. "And have you been way up to the third +story? I suppose Miss Folsom has gone to her room."</p> + +<p>"The girls have, both of them—but not to the third story. That's Mrs. +Fletcher's room."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes. The woman, I believe, who accidentally scared your horse and +threw you?"</p> + +<p>"The very one!" he answered. "I'm blessed if I know what should have +taken her out at that hour. She says she needed air and a walk, but why +should she have chosen the back-gate and the alley as a way to air and +sunshine?"</p> + +<p>"Would you mind taking me through that way?" asked the engineer +suddenly. "It's the short cut to the depot, I understand."</p> + +<p>"Why, certainly. I hadn't thought of that," said Folsom. "Come right +on."</p> + +<p>And so, while the hoof-beats up the road grew louder, the two turned +quickly back to the rear of the big frame house. "That coming horse +brings news," muttered Loring to himself, as he turned the corner. "We +can head him off, but I want to see this situation first."</p> + +<p>Looking away southeastward from the porch of Folsom's homestead, one +could see in the daytime a vista of shingled roofs and open yards, a +broad valley, with a corral and inclosures on the southern edge of the +town, but not a tree. To-night only dim black shadows told where roof +and chimney stood, and not a sign could they see of the depot. Loring +curiously gazed aloft at the rear and side windows of the third story. +"They command quite a view, I suppose," said he, and even as he spoke +the sash of the southeast room was softly raised, the blind swung +slightly outward. That woman watching and listening again! And it was +she whose sudden and startling appearance at the rear gate had led to +Folsom's throw so early the morning Burleigh and his mysterious friend +were found missing from their quarters just after dawn—the very morning +Dean, with his treasure package and little escort, rode forth from Emory +on that perilous mission—the very morning that Birdsall and his +murderous gang set forth from Gate City in pursuit.</p> + +<p>And now those hoof-beats up the road were coming closer, and Folsom, +too, could hear and was listening, even while studying Loring's face. +Suddenly a faint gleam shot across the darkness overhead. Glancing +quickly upward, both men, deep in shadow, saw that the eastern window on +the southern side was lighted up. Out in the alleyway, low yet clear, a +whistle sounded—twice. Then came cautious footsteps down the back +stairs. The bolt of the rear door was carefully drawn. A woman's form, +tall and shrouded in a long cloak, came swiftly forth and sped down the +garden walk to that rear gate. "Come on, quick!" murmured the engineer, +and on tiptoe, wondering, the two men followed. They saw her halt at the +barred gate. Low, yet distinct she spoke a single name: "George!" And +without, in the alley, a voice answered: "I'm here! open, quick!"</p> + +<p>"Swear that you are alone!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, stop that damned nonsense! Of course I'm alone!" was the sullen +reply, and at the sound of the voice Loring seemed fairly to quiver. The +gate was unbarred. A man's form, slender and shadowy, squeezed in and +seemed peering cautiously about. "You got my note?" he began. "You know +what's happened?"</p> + +<p>But a woman's muffled scream was the answer. With a spring like a cat +Loring threw himself on the intruder and bore him down. In an instant +Folsom had barred the gate, and the woman, moaning, fell upon her knees.</p> + +<p>"Mercy! Mercy!" she cried. "It is all my fault. I sent for him."</p> + +<p>"Take your hands off, damn you, or you'll pay for this!" cried the +undermost man. "I'm Captain Newhall, of the army!"</p> + +<p>"You're a thief!" answered Loring, through his set teeth. "Hand over the +key of that safe!"</p> + +<p>The sound of hoof-beats at the front had suddenly ceased. There was a +sputter and scurry in the alley behind. Full half a dozen horses must +have gone tearing away to the east. Other lights were popping in the +windows now. Folsom's household was alarmed. Attracted by the scream and +the sound of scuffle, a man came hurrying toward them from the front.</p> + +<p>"Halt! Who are you?" challenged Folsom, covering him with his revolver.</p> + +<p>"Don't shoot. I'm Ned Lannion—just in from the ranch. Have you heard +anything of Hal, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Of Hal?" gasped Folsom, dropping his pistol in dismay. "In God's name, +what's wrong?"</p> + +<p>"God only knows, sir. Mrs. Hal's nigh crazy. He's been gone two days."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + + +<p>Five days later the women and children from Warrior Gap, most of them +bereaved, all of them unnerved by the experiences of that awful day, +arrived at old Fort Frayne, escorted by a strong command of infantry and +all that was left of the cavalry troop at the stockade. A sad procession +it was as it slowly forded the Platte and ascended the winding road to +the post, where sorrowing, sympathetic army women met and ministered to +them. With them, too, came such of the wounded as could be moved, and at +the head of the little squad of horse rode Lieutenant Dean, whom the +post commander and several officers greeted almost effusively.</p> + +<p>Yet almost the first question was, "Did you see any Indians?"</p> + +<p>"Not one," answered Dean. "They seem to have drawn away from the Big +Horn road entirely. Why do you ask?" he added anxiously.</p> + +<p>"There were signal fires out at Eagle Butte last night, and I've just +had a letter from old Folsom at the ranch on the Laramie. He begs us to +send a guard at once, and I haven't a horseman. There's been the devil +to pay at young Folsom's place."</p> + +<p>Dean's face went a shade paler. "What's happened?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"A dozen of his best horses run off by Birdsall's gang, probably to +replace those they lost in the flood, and Hal himself was shot and left +for dead in the hills. He'd have died but for an Ogallalla girl and a +couple of half-breeds who had a hunting lodge out near the Peak. There +are letters for you at the office."</p> + +<p>There were two—one from Loomis, at Emory; one from Jessie, of all +places in the world, at Folsom's ranch. This he read first.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We got here late night before last, after such an exciting +journey, Marshall dear," said she, "and I can't begin to tell you +all the strange things that have happened, for Mr. Folsom says the +messenger must start for Fort Frayne in twenty minutes. That +villain, Major Burleigh, who dared to speak ill of you, turned out +to be as bad as I ever said he was. They haven't caught him yet, +but they've got Captain Newhall. Mr. Folsom and Mr. Loring did +that—caught him in the backyard of our house, down by the gate, +and in some way Mrs. Fletcher induced him to come there, for he had +the key of the safe at the quartermaster's depot, and was going to +get the money Major Burleigh dared not take when he fled. I can't +understand it at all, and Pappoose doesn't like to talk about it. +But Mr. Folsom was robbed of lots of money by Major Burleigh. Mrs. +Fletcher is mixed up in it in such a queer way, I can't explain +how. She was nearly crazy when we came away, and Mr. Folsom was so +good and kind to her, left a nurse with her, and made her stay at +the house, although she wanted to pack her things and go to the +hotel or the jail, she didn't care which; but he wouldn't let her.</p> + +<p>"And right in the midst of it all Ned Lannion, who came with news +before, galloped in to tell how Halbert Folsom had been missing two +days and Mrs. Folsom was crazy with fear, so Mr. Folsom left +Lieutenant Loring to attend to all the matters about the robbery +and started at once for the ranch, and Pappoose, of course, +insisted on going with him, and I would not be left behind. And +here we are. Now I can see the hills where you had the fight and +wore Elinor's picture, and it was right out there among them that +Halbert was found. Horse thieves had run off his best horses—the +same gang of murderers that, they say, planned to trap you and that +you outwitted. Oh! Marshall, was ever a girl so proud of her +brother!—and they shot Hal and he was found and taken care of by +some Indian people, tame ones, and one was a girl, Lizette, who had +fallen in love with him four years ago. Wasn't it romantic? And +she's gone again, but Hal is safe here, although Mrs. Folsom is +more than half-crazy, and now old Mr. Folsom is worried to death, +and says we must start back for home to-morrow. It's seventy-five +miles and we don't want to go at all—only I'm so eager to see you, +and I heard—at least Mr. Loomis told me you'd be back any day, and +he has your troop till you come, and he's so fond of you—Oh, +here's Pappoose to say this must go at once."</p></div> + +<p>The colonel sat watching the young fellow as he read. "Bad news, Dean?" +he queried.</p> + +<p>"Every kind of news, sir. It's all a whirl. The devil seems to have +broken loose in Wyoming. Let me skim through Loomis' note.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Dean</span>: In case the letter sent yesterday passes you +on the way, I add a line to say that if ever I said a mean thing +about Loring when we were in the corps, I take it back. I thought +him a prig when we wore the gray. He rather 'held us under' anyhow, +being a class ahead, you know, but the way he has panned out here +and wiped up Wyoming with the only men I ever knew that tried to +wrong you is simply wonderful. He's nabbed three of the Birdsall +gang and is away now after Burleigh. The news from Folsom's ranch +is more reassuring. Hal was shot by horsethieves who were running +off stock, and was found and taken care of by friendly Indians, but +Mrs. Hal had an awful scare and sent for the old man, who went, of +course—both young ladies going with him. They were miles away +before we knew it at the fort. I tried to pursuade old Pecksniff +that he ought to let me go with twenty troopers to guard the ranch +and scout the Laramie, and he threatened to put me in arrest. Of +all the double-dashed, pig-headed old idiots he's the worst. I +don't want people at the ranch to be scared, but if the Sioux only +would make some demonstration this way that would give me a chance. +I'd try to earn a little of the reputation that you're winning, old +boy, and no man knows better how much you deserve it than</p> + +<p>"Your friend and classmate, <span class="smcap">Hank</span> L."</p> + +<p>"P. S.—Loring took ten of the troop into the Black Hills to beat +up Burleigh, but he said if they struck Indian sign he meant to +make for Folsom's ranch. Now, if we could only meet there!"</p></div> + +<p>The sun was well down at the west. The day's march had been long and +tedious, as only cavalry marches are when long wagon trains have to be +escorted. Dean had not yet fully recovered strength, but anxiety lent +him energy.</p> + +<p>"If Mr. Folsom says there is need of cavalry guard at the Laramie, it is +because he dreads an other Indian visit, colonel. I have nine men in +good shape. Our horses are fresh, or will be after a few hours' rest. +May I push on to-night?"</p> + +<p>And to the young soldier's surprise the elder placed a trembling hand +upon his shoulder and looked him earnestly in the eyes. "Dean, my boy, +it's my belief you cannot start too soon. Do you know who Lizette is?"</p> + +<p>"I've heard the story," said Marshall briefly. "She must have been +hovering about there for some time."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and now her people know it, and it will rekindle their hatred. The +moment I heard of this I sent old Bat to watch the crossing at La Bonté. +Not an hour ago this came in by the hand of his boy," and the colonel +held out a scrap of paper. It a rude pictograph, a rough sketch, +map-like, of a winding river—another and smaller one separated from the +first by a chain of mountains. The larger one was decorated by a +flag-pole with stars and stripes at the top and a figure with musket and +bayonet at the bottom. The smaller one by a little house, with smoke +issuing from the chimney, and a woman beside it. Above all, its head +over the mountains pointing toward the house, its tail extending north +of the bigger stream, was a comet—the "totem" or sign of the Ogallalla +lover of Lizette. The story was told at a glance. Burning Star was +already south of the Platte and lurking in the mountains near Folsom's +ranch.</p> + +<p>That night, toward ten o'clock, an anxious council was held. Halbert +Folsom, fevered by his severe wound, was lying half-unconscious on his +bed, his unhappy wife wandering aimlessly about at times, wringing her +hands and weeping, evidently unbalanced by the terrors that had beset +her of late and the tidings of that awful Indian revenge along the Big +Horn. Silent, helpful, almost commanding, Elinor spent the hours +sometimes at her brother's bedside, then at that of her sister-in-law +when the poor creature could be induced to lie still a moment. The burly +little son and heir, long since sound asleep in his cradle, was watched +over by Jessie, whose heart fluttered in dread she dare not say of what. +Twice that afternoon she had seen whispered conferences between old +Folsom and Lannion. She knew that for some better reason than that he +was overpersuaded by Pappoose, Mr. Folsom had not carried out his +project of sending them back to Gate City. She saw that he made frequent +visits to the cellar and had changed the arrangement of the air ports. +She noted that the few ranch hands hung about the premises all day, +their rifles ever within reach, and that often Mr. Folsom took the +glasses and searched the road to Frayne. She saw that earth was being +heaped up in places against the ranch where the walls were thin or made +of boarding. She saw that water and provisions were being stored in the +cellar, and she knew that it could all mean only one thing—that the +Indians were again in force in the neighborhood, and that an Indian +siege was imminent.</p> + +<p>And all this time Pappoose, though very brave, was so still and so +intent upon her duties. Even when supper was served for the ranch people +in the kitchen that evening, as the sun went down, Jess noted that two +of the men kept constantly in saddle, riding round the buildings and +anxiously scanning the open prairie on every side. There were only six +men, all told now, including Folsom (of course not counting Hal, who was +defenseless), altogether too small a number to successfully protect so +large a knot of buildings against an insidious and powerful foe, and +even of these six there were two who seemed so unstrung by tidings of +the massacre as to be nearly nerveless.</p> + +<p>Darkness settled down upon the valley, and, though calm and collected, +Folsom seemed oppressed by the deepest anxiety. Every now and then he +would step forth into the night and make a circuit of the buildings, +exchange a word in low tone with some invisible guardian, for, heavily +armed, the employés were gathered at the main building, and the wife and +children of the chief herdsman were assigned to a room under its roof. +Particularly did Folsom pet and encourage the dogs, two of them splendid +mastiffs in whom Hal took unusual pride. Then he would return to his +son's bedside, bend anxiously over him and lay a loving hand on +Pappoose's lustrous hair. It must have been ten o'clock and a night wind +was rising, making the occasional cry of the coyotes even more weird and +querulous, when they heard the sudden, fierce challenge of Trooper, the +keenest, finest of the mastiffs, and instantly his bark was echoed by +the rush and scurry of every canine on the place. The men on the porch +sprang to their feet and Folsom hastened out to join them. The dogs had +charged in the darkness toward the northeast, and somewhere out in that +direction were now all furiously barking. Aloft the skies were heavily +clouded. The moon was banked and not a glimmer of light shone on earth +or heaven. Suddenly, afar out over the prairie, beyond where the dogs +were challenging, there was heard the sound of a pony's neigh, an eager +appeal for welcome and shelter, and Folsom sprang confidently forward, +his powerful tones calling off the dogs. They came back, growling, +sniffing, only half-satisfied, still bristling at the unseen visitor. +"War ponies never neigh," said Folsom. "Who are you, brothers—friends?" +he called, in the Sioux tongue, and a faint voice answered from the +darkness, a pony came loping dimly into view, almost running over him, +and in another minute an Indian girl, trembling with fear and +exhaustion, had toppled from the saddle and clasped the old trader's +hand.</p> + +<p>"Good God! Lizette," he cried, "you again? What is wrong?" for her head +was drooping, her knees giving way beneath her, as the poor child +whispered her answer:</p> + +<p>"Sioux coming—plenty braves! Hide—quick!"</p> + +<p>And Folsom bore her in his arms within.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + + +<p>Never unless sure of its ground and the weakness of the adversary does +the modern Indian band attack at night. Folsom and his people well knew +that. Yet not five minutes after the Indian girl, faint with exhaustion +and dread, was carried within doors, the big mastiff challenged again. +The dogs charged furiously out to the northeast and would not be +recalled. For nearly half an hour they kept up their angry clamor. Time +and again during the night, suspicious and excited, they dashed out +again and again, and once one of them, venturing further than his +fellows, broke suddenly into loud cries of mingled pain and rage, and +when at last he came whining piteously back to the ranch it was found +that he was bleeding from a gash along the flank, where an Indian arrow +had seared him. Only by fits and starts did any man sleep. Hour after +hour Folsom's little garrison was on the alert. The women had all been +moved to the deep, dry cellar, Mrs. Hal moaning over her baby, utterly +unnerved, Jessie silent, but white and tremulous; the herdsman's wife, +an Amazon, demanded the right to have a gun and fight by her husband's +side; Lizette, the Indian girl, faint and starved, asked nothing but to +be allowed to crouch at the door of the room where Halbert lay, fevered +and unconscious, and Pappoose, scorning danger, flitted from her +brother's bedside to her father's log-barricade at the east porch. In +dread anxiety the hours dragged by, and at last Lannion reached forth +his hand and pulled the shirt sleeve of his comrade Jake, half-dozing at +his side. In an instant the latter was kneeling at his post. "What is +it?" he queried, and Lannion, pointing to the first faint, pallid gleam +in the eastern sky, whispered: "Time to be up, man. It's coming."</p> + +<p>For half an hour, except for the rushing of the Laramie, a silence +almost unearthly had brooded over the prairie, and even the dogs seemed +lulled to sleep. But now, as the cold light crept slowly over the +distant range, and a soft flush began to overspread the pallor of the +dawn, far out over the valley the yelp of a coyote began again and all +men strained their ears and listened, while strong hands grabbed the +growling dogs and pinned them to earth, for, beginning at the east, the +cry was taken up on every side. Folsom's ranch seemed beleaguered by the +gaunt, half-famished wolves of the upland prairies. "Look to your +sights, now, men! Down into the cellar, Pappoose!" exclaimed Folsom, +kindling with fierce excitement. "I've been the friend of all that tribe +for thirty years, but when they break faith with me and mine that ends +it! Look to your sights and make every shot count!" he cautioned, as he +made the rounds of the little shelters thrown up during the past two +days. "We can stand off a hundred of 'em if you only keep your grit."</p> + +<p>Again the clamor as of coyotes ceased. It was only the Indian signal +"Ready," and every ranchman knew that with the rising sun, if not +before, the swoop would come. Again as the light broadened the dogs were +loosed and presently were challenging all four points of the compass. +The unseen foe was on every hand.</p> + +<p>Perched as it was on a little rise, the ranch stood forth conspicuous +over the valley. At the foot of the slope to the south lay the corral +and some of the buildings, about one hundred yards away, where the +shallow Laramie curled and lapped beneath their walls, and now the dogs +seemed to concentrate their attention on that side. Folsom, rifle in +hand, was kneeling on the porch, listening intently. Two of the hands +were with him. Jake and Lannion, experienced and reliable, had been +given independent posts on the other front, and just as objects could be +dimly recognized along the flats, there burst upon the ears of the +little garrison a sudden chorus of exultant yells. A tongue of flame +leaped upward from beyond the huts lately occupied by the ranchmen. The +half-used haystacks caught and held one moment the fiery messenger, and +then in a broad glare that reddened the flood of the Laramie for miles +and lighted up the ranch like a sunburst, gave forth a huge column of +blaze and smoke that could be seen far over the Black Hills of Wyoming, +and all the valley seemed to spring to instant life. On every side arose +the stirring war-cry of the Sioux, the swift beat of pony hoofs, the +ring of rifle, and brave John Folsom's heart sank within him as he +realized that here was no mere marauding party, but a powerful band +organized for deliberate vengeance. The Laramie plains were alive with +darting, yelling, painted horsemen, circling about the ranch, hemming it +in, cutting it off from the world.</p> + +<p>The bullets came whistling through the morning air, biting fiercely into +the solid logs, spattering the chinking, smashing pane after pane. Some +of the dogs came howling and whining back for shelter, though the +mastiffs held their ground, fiercely barking and bounding about, despite +the whistles and calls from the besieged who sought to save them to the +last, but not once as yet had the ranch replied with a shot. Down in the +cellar women clung together or clasped their wailing children and +listened fearfully to the clamor. In Hal's room the fevered sufferer +awoke from his stupor and, demanding his rifle, struggled to rise from +the bed, and there John Folsom found Pappoose, pale and determined, +bending over her weakened brother and holding him down almost as she +could have overpowered a child. Lifting his son in his strong arms, he +bore him to the cellar and laid him upon a couch of buffalo robes. +"Watch him here, my child," he said, as he clasped her in his arms one +moment. "But on no account let any one show above ground now. There are +more of them than I thought, yet there is hope for us. Somebody is +vexing them down the Laramie."</p> + +<p>Bounding up the steps, the veteran was almost back at his post upon the +porch when there came a sound that seemed to give the lie to his last +words and that froze the hope that had risen in his breast—the sudden +rumble and thunder of at least two hundred hoofs, the charging yell of +an Indian band, the sputter and bang of rifles close at hand, and then a +rush of feet, as, with faces agonized by fear, three of the men came +darting within. "It's all up! There's a million Indians!" they cried. +Two of the demoralized fellows plunged into the passage that led to the +cellar. One burst into childish wailing and clung to Folsom's knees.</p> + +<p>"Let go, you coward!" yelled the old man in fury, as he kicked himself +loose, then went bounding out upon the porch. God, what a sight! +Sweeping up the gentle slope, brandishing rifles and lances and +war-clubs, racing for their hapless prey, came fifty Ogallallas, Burning +Star among the leaders. Bullets could not stop them now. The two men who +had stood to their posts knelt grim and desperate, and Lannion's last +shot took effect. Within fifty yards of the walls Burning Star's rushing +pony went down on his nose, and in the fury of his pace, turned sudden +and complete somersault, crushing his red rider under him, and +stretching him senseless on the turf. An inspiration, almost God given, +seemed to flash upon the old trader at the instant. Bareheaded, in his +shirt sleeves, throwing upward and forward his empty hands, he sprang +out as though to meet and rebuke his assailants. "Hold!" he cried, in +the tongue he knew so well "Are my brothers crazed? Look! I am no enemy +It is your friend! It is old John!" And even in the rage of their +charge, many Indians at sight of him veered to right and left; many +reined up short within ten paces of the unarmed man; two sprang from +their ponies and threw themselves between him and their brethren, +shouting to be heard. And then in the midst of furious discussion, some +Indians crying out for the blood of all at the ranch in revenge for +Chaska, some demanding instant surrender of every woman there in +expiation for Lizette, some urging that old John be given respectful +hearing, but held prisoner, there came lashing into their midst a young +brave, crying aloud and pointing down the now well-lighted valley where, +darting about a mile away, a few Indians were evidently striving to head +off the coming of some hostile force. Leaving two or three of their +number trying to restore consciousness to the stricken chief, and a +dozen, Folsom's advocates among them, to hold possession of the ranch, +away scurried most of the warriors at top speed to the aid of their +outlying scouts.</p> + +<p>Meantime, under cover of the fierce argument, Jake and Lannion had +managed to crawl back within the building. Folsom himself, in such calm +as he could command, stood silent while his captors wrangled. The +warriors who pleaded for him were Standing Elk, a sub chief of note, +whose long attachment to Folsom was based on kindnesses shown him when a +young man, the other was Young-Shows-the-Road, son of a chief who had +guided more than one party of whites through the lands of the Sioux +before the bitterness of war arose between the races. They had loved +Folsom for years and would not desert him now in the face of popular +clamor. Yet even their influence would have failed but for the sound +that told of hotter conflict still among the foothills along the +opposite side of the valley. With straining ears, Folsom listened, hope +and fear alternating in his breast. The mingling yells and volleying +told that the issue was in doubt. Man after man of his captors galloped +away until not half a dozen were left. Now, Jake and Lannion could have +shot them down and borne him within, but to what good? Escape from the +ranch itself was impossible! Such action would only intensify the Indian +hate and make more horrible the Indian vengeance. For twenty minutes the +clamor continued, then seemed to die gradually away, and, with fury in +their faces, back at full gallop came a dozen of the braves. One glance +was enough. They had penned their foe among the rocks, but not without +the loss of several at least of their band, for the foremost rode with +brandished war-club straight at Folsom, and despite the leap of his two +champions to save, felled the old trader with one stunning blow, then +gave the savage order to burn the ranch.</p> + +<p>By this time the sun was just peering into the valley. The smoke and +flame from the corral were dying or drifting away. Eagerly half a dozen +young braves rushed for faggots and kindling with which to do his +bidding, and a cry of despair went up from within the walls. Recklessly +now Lannion and his comrade opened fire from the loopholes and shot down +two of the dancing furies without, sending every other Indian to the +nearest cover. But the arrows that came whistling speedily were +firebrands. The besiegers gained in force with every moment. Poor old +Folsom, slowly regaining senses as he lay bound and helpless down by the +stream, whither his captors had borne him, heard the jeers and shouts of +triumph with which the Indians within the corral were rapidly making +their fire darts, when suddenly there rose on the morning air a sound +that stilled all others, a sound to which the Indians listened in +superstitious awe, a sound that stopped the hands that sought to burn +out the besieged and paralyzed just long enough all inspiration of +attack. Some of the Indians, indeed, dropped their arms, others sprang +to the ponies as though to take to flight. It was the voice of Lizette, +chanting the death song of the Sioux.</p> + +<p>An hour later, once more in force, the band was gathered for its rush +upon the ranch. Jake, gallant fellow, lay bleeding at his post. Hope of +every kind was well-nigh dead. The silence without was only portent of +the storm so soon to burst. Pappoose, grasping her brother's rifle, +crouched facing the narrow entrance to the cellar. Jessie clung to the +baby, for Mrs. Hal, only dimly conscious, was moaning by her husband's +side, while Lizette in silence was kneeling, watching them with strange +glitter in her eyes. Suddenly she started, and with hand to ear, +listened intently. Then she sprang to an air port and crouched there, +quivering. Then again the ground began to tremble under the distant +thunder of pony feet, louder and louder every second. Again came the +rush of the Indian braves, but with it no exultant yell, only cries of +warning, and as this sound swept over and beyond their walls, there +followed another, the distant, deep-throated trooper cheer, the crack of +carbine, the rising thunder of the cavalry gallop, and then the voice of +Ned Lannion rang jubilantly over the dull clamor.</p> + +<p>"Up! Up, everybody! Thank God, it's Dean and the boys!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Long years after, in the camps and stockades and the growing towns of +the far West that almost marvelous rescue was the theme of many an +hour's talk. The number of men who took part in it, the number of hardy +fellows who personally guided the troops or else stood shoulder to +shoulder with Ned Lannion at the last triumphant moment, increased so +rapidly with the growing moons that in time the only wonder was that +anything was left of the Sioux. Official records, however, limited the +number of officers and men engaged to a select few, consisting entirely +of Lieutenant Loring, United States Engineers, Lieutenant Loomis, —th +Infantry, a few men from scattered troops, "pickups" at Frayne and +Emory, with Lieutenant Marshall Dean and fifty rank and file of Company +"C."</p> + +<p>Loring, it will be remembered, had taken a small detachment from Emory +and gone into the hills in search of Burleigh. Loomis, fretting at the +fort, was later electrified by a most grudgingly given order to march to +the Laramie and render such aid as might be required by the engineer +officer of the department. Dean, with only fifteen men all told, had +dashed from Frayne straight for the ranch, and, marching all night, had +come in sight of the valley just as it was lighted afar to the eastward +by the glare of the burning buildings. "We thought it was all over," +said he, as he lay there weak and languid, a few days later, for the +wound reopened in the rush of the fight, "but we rode on to the Laramie, +and there, God be thanked! fell in with Loomis here and "C" Troop, +heading for the fire. No words can tell you our joy when we found the +ranch still standing and some forty Sioux getting ready for the final +dash. That running fight, past the old home, and down the valley where +we stirred up Loring's besiegers and sent them whirling too—why, I'd +give a fortune, if I had it, to live it over again!"</p> + +<p>But Loring, after all, had the most thrilling story to tell—of how he +wormed a clew to Burleigh's hiding place out of a captured outlaw and +beat up the party in a nook of the hills, nabbed the major asleep, but +was warned that all the Birdsall "outfit" would rally to the rescue, and +so sent a courier to Emory for "C" Troop, and, making wide <i>détour</i> to +avoid the gang, ran slap into the Sioux in the act of firing Folsom's +ranch. Then he had to take to the rocks in the fight that followed, and +had a desperate siege of a few hours, even Burleigh having to handle a +gun and fight for his life. "I spotted him for a coward that day we +stumbled on Red Cloud's band up by the Big Horn. You remember it, Dean, +I thought him a villain when I learned how he was trying to undermine +you. Time proved him a thief and a scoundrel, but, peace to his ashes, +he died like a gentleman after all, with two Indian bullets through him, +and just as rescue came. He had time to make full confession, and it was +all pretty much as I suspected. The note Dean picked up at Reno, that so +stampeded him, told how a blackmailing scoundrel was on his way to Emory +to expose him unless headed off by further huge payments. It was the +fellow who called himself Newhall."</p> + +<p>"The fellow who gave the tip to Birdsall's people?" said old Folsom at +this juncture, raising a bandaged head from his daughter's lap. "Who was +he, really?"</p> + +<p>"Burleigh knew all the time and I suspected the moment I heard Miss +Folsom's description, and was certain the instant I laid eyes on him. He +was a rascally captain cashiered at Yuma the year before, and I was +judge advocate of the court."</p> + +<p>"And Mrs. Fletcher?" asked Pappoose, extending one hand to Jess, while +the other smoothed the gray curls on her fathers forehead.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Fletcher was his deserted wife, one of­ those women who have known +better days."</p> + +<p>The ranch is still there, or was twenty years ago, but even then the +Sioux were said to raise more hair in the neighborhood than Folsom did +cattle. The old trader had been gathered to his fathers, and Mrs. Hal to +hers, for she broke down utterly after the events of '68. Neither +Pappoose nor Jessie cared to revisit the spot for some time, yet, oddly +enough, both have done so more than once. The first time its chronicler +ever saw it was in company with a stalwart young captain of horse and +his dark-eyed, beautiful wife nine years after the siege. Hal met us, a +shy, silent fellow, despite his inches. "Among other things," said he, +"Lieutenant and Mrs. Loomis are coming next week. I wish you might all +be here to meet them."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Mrs. Dean, "we are to meet at Cheyenne. But, Hal, where's +your wife?"</p> + +<p>He looked shyer still. "She don't like to meet folks unless——"</p> + +<p>"There's no unless about it," said the lady with all her old decision as +she sprang from the ambulance, and presently reappeared, leading by the +hand, reluctant, yet not all unhappy, Lizette. Some people said Hal +Folsom had no business to marry an Indian girl before his wife was dead +three years, but all who knew Lizette said he did perfectly right, at +least Pappoose did, and that settled it. As for Loring—But that's +enough for one story.</p> + + +<p>THE END.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Warrior Gap, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARRIOR GAP *** + +***** This file should be named 20082-h.htm or 20082-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/0/8/20082/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +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: Warrior Gap + A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68. + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: December 10, 2006 [EBook #20082] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARRIOR GAP *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + Warrior Gap + + A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68. + + BY GENERAL CHARLES KING, U. S. A. + +AUTHOR OF "Fort Frayne," "An Army Wife," "Trumpeter Fred," "Found in the +Philippines," "A Wounded Name," "Noble Blood and a West Point Parallel," +"A Garrison Tangle," etc., etc. + + + + + THE HOBART COMPANY, + New York City. + + Copyrighted 1898, by + F. Tennyson Neely. + + Copyrighted, 1901, by + The Hobart Company. + + + + +WARRIOR GAP. + + + + +1. + + +Riding at ease in the lazy afternoon sunshine a single troop of cavalry +was threading its way in long column of twos through the bold and +beautiful foothills of the Big Horn. Behind them, glinting in the +slanting rays, Cloud Peak, snow clad still although it was late in May, +towered above the pine-crested summits of the range. To the right and +left of the winding trail bare shoulders of bluff, covered only by the +dense carpet of bunch grass, jutted out into the comparative level of +the eastward plain. A clear, cold, sparkling stream, on whose banks the +little command had halted for a noontide rest, went rollicking away +northeastward, and many a veteran trooper looked longingly, even +regretfully, after it, and then cast a gloomy glance over the barren and +desolate stretch ahead. Far as the eye could reach in that direction the +earth waves heaved and rolled in unrelieved monotony to the very sky +line, save where here and there along the slopes black herds or +scattered dots of buffalo were grazing unvexed by hunters red or white, +for this was thirty years ago, when, in countless thousands, the bison +covered the westward prairies, and there were officers who forbade their +senseless slaughter to make food only for the worthless, prowling +coyotes. No wonder the trooper hated to leave the foothills of the +mountains, with the cold, clear trout streams and the bracing air, to +take to long days' marching over dull waste and treeless prairie, +covered only by sage brush, rent and torn by dry ravines, shadeless, +springless, almost waterless, save where in unwholesome hollows dull +pools of stagnant water still held out against the sun, or, further +still southeast among the "breaks" of the many forks of the South +Cheyenne, on the sandy flats men dug for water for their suffering +horses, yet shrank from drinking it themselves lest their lips should +crack and bleed through the shriveling touch of the alkali. + +Barely two years a commissioned officer, the young lieutenant at the +head of column rode buoyantly along, caring little for the landscape, +since with every traversed mile he found himself just that much nearer +home. Twenty-five summers, counting this one coming, had rolled over his +curly head, and each one had seemed brighter, happier than the last, all +but the one he spent as a hard-worked "plebe" at the military academy. +His graduation summer two years previous was a glory to him, as well as +to a pretty sister, young and enthusiastic enough to think a brother in +the regulars, just out of West Point, something to be made much of, and +Jessie Dean had lost no opportunity of spoiling her soldier or of +wearying her school friends through telling of his manifold perfections. +He was a manly, stalwart, handsome fellow as young graduates go, and old +ones wish they might go over again. He was a fond and not too teasing +kind of brother. He wasn't the brightest fellow in the class by thirty +odd, and had barely scraped through one or two of his examinations, but +Jessie proudly pointed to the fact that much more than half the class +had "scraped off" entirely, and therefore that those who succeeded in +getting through at all were paragons, especially Brother Marshall. But +girls at that school had brothers of their own, girls who had never seen +West Point or had the cadet fever, and were not impressed with young +officers as painted by so indulgent a sister. Most of the girls had +tired of Jessie's talks, and some had told her so, but there was one who +had been sympathetic from the start--a far Western, friendless sort of +girl she was when first she entered school, uncouthly dressed, +wretchedly homesick and anything but companionable, and yet Jessie +Dean's kind heart had warmed to this friendless waif and she became her +champion, her ally, and later, much to her genuine surprise, almost her +idol. It presently transpired that "the Pappoose," as the girls +nicknamed her because it was learned that she had been rocked in an +Indian cradle and had long worn moccasins instead of shoes (which +accounted for her feet being so much finer in their shape than those of +her fellows), was quick and intelligent beyond her years, that, though +apparently hopelessly behind in all their studies at the start, and +provoking ridicule and sneers during the many weeks of her loneliness +and home-longing, she suddenly began settling to her work with grim +determination, surprising her teachers and amazing her mates by the vim +and originality of her methods, and, before the end of the year, +climbing for the laurels with a mental strength and agility that put +other efforts to the blush. Then came weeks of bliss spent with a doting +father at Niagara, the seashore and the Point--a dear old dad as ill at +ease in Eastern circles as his daughter had been at first at school, +until he found himself welcomed with open arms to the officers' +mess-rooms at the Point, for John Folsom was as noted a frontiersman as +ever trod the plains, a man old officers of the cavalry and infantry +knew and honored as "a square trader" in the Indian country--a man whom +the Indians themselves loved and trusted far and wide, and when a man +has won the trust and faith of an Indian let him grapple it to his +breast as a treasure worth the having, great even as "the heart love of +a child." Sioux, Shoshone and Cheyenne, they would turn to "Old John" in +their councils, their dealings, their treaties, their perplexities, for +when he said a thing was right and square their doubts were gone, and +there at the Point the now well-to-do old trader met men who had known +him in by-gone days at Laramie and Omaha, and there his pretty +schoolgirl daughter met her bosom friend's big brother Marshall, a first +classman in all his glory, dancing with damsels in society, while she +was but a maiden shy in short dresses. Oh, how Jess had longed to be of +that party to the Point, but her home was in the far West, her father +long dead and buried, her mother an invalid, and the child was needed +there. Earnestly had old Folsom written, begging that she who had been +so kind to his little girl should be allowed to visit the seashore and +the Point with him and "Pappoose," as he laughingly referred to her, +adopting the school name given by the girls; but they were proud people, +were the Deans, and poor and sensitive. They thanked Mr. Folsom warmly. +"Jessie was greatly needed at her home this summer," was the answer; but +Folsom somehow felt it was because they dreaded to accept courtesies +they could not repay in kind. + +"As if I could ever repay Jess for all the loving kindness to my little +girl in her loneliness," said he. No, there was no delicious visiting +with Pappoose that summer, but with what eager interest had she not +devoured the letters telling of the wonderful sights the little far +Westerner saw--the ocean, the great Niagara, the beautiful Point in the +heart of the Highlands, but, above all, that crowned monarch, that +plumed knight, that incomparable big brother, Cadet Captain Marshall +Dean. Yes, he had come to call the very evening of their arrival. He had +escorted them out, Papa and Pappoose, to hear the band playing on the +Plain. He had made her take his arm, "a schoolgirl in short dresses," +and promenaded with her up and down the beautiful, shaded walks, +thronged with ladies, officers and cadets, while some old cronies took +father away to the mess for a julep, and Mr. Dean had introduced some +young girls, professors' daughters, and they had come and taken her +driving and to tea, and she had seen him every day, many times a day, at +guard mounting, drill, pontooning or parade, or on the hotel piazzas, +but only to look at or speak to for a minute, for of course she was +"only a child," and there were dozens of society girls, young ladies, to +whom he had to be attentive, especially a very stylish Miss Brockway, +from New York, with whom he walked and danced a great deal, and whom the +other girls tried to tease about him. Pappoose didn't write it in so +many words, but Jessie, reading those letters between the lines and +every which way, could easily divine that Pappoose didn't fancy Miss +Brockway at all. And then had come a wonderful day, a wonderful thing, +into the schoolgirl's life. No less than twelve pages did +sixteen-year-old Pappoose take to tell it, and when a girl finds time to +write a twelve-page letter from the Point she has more to tell than she +can possibly contain. Mr. Dean had actually invited her--_her_, Elinor +Merchant Folsom--Winona, as they called her when she was a toddler among +the tepees of the Sioux--Pappoose as the girls had named her at +school--"Nell," as Jessie called her--sweetest name of all despite the +ring of sadness that ever hangs about it--and Daddy had actually smiled +and approved her going to the midweek hop on a cadet captain's broad +chevroned arm, and she had worn her prettiest white gown, and the girls +had brought her roses, and Mr. Dean had called for her before all the +big girls, and she had gone off with him, radiant, and he had actually +made out her card for her, and taken three dances himself, and had +presented such pleasant fellows--first classmen and "yearlings." There +was Mr. Billings, the cadet adjutant, and Mr. Ray, who was a cadet +sergeant "out on furlough" and kept back, but such a beautiful dancer, +and there was the first captain, such a witty, brilliant fellow, who +only danced square dances, and several cadet corporals, all hop +managers, in their red sashes. Why, she was just the proudest girl in +the room! And when the drum beat and the hop broke up she couldn't +believe she'd been there an hour and three-quarters, and then Mr. Dean +escorted her back to the hotel, and Daddy had smiled and looked on and +told him he must come into the cavalry when he graduated next June, and +he'd show him the Sioux country and Pappoose would teach him the Indian +dances. It was all simply lovely. Of course she knew it was all due to +Jessie that her splendid big brother should give up a whole evening from +his lady friends. (Miss Brockway spoke so patronizingly to her in the +hall when the girls were all talking together after the cadets had +scurried away to answer tattoo roll-call.) Of course she understood that +if it hadn't been for Jessie none of the cadets would have taken the +slightest notice of her, a mere chit, with three years of school still +ahead of her. But all the same it was something to live over and over +again, and dream of over and over again, and the seashore seemed very +stupid after the Point. Next year--next June--when Marshall graduated +Jessie was to go and see that wonderful spot, and go she did with +Pappoose, too, and though it was all as beautiful as Pappoose had +described, and the scene and the music and the parades and all were +splendid, there was no deliriously lovely hop, for in those days there +could be no dancing in the midst of examinations. There was only the one +great ball given by the second to the graduating class, and Marshall had +so many, many other and older girls to dance with and say good-by to he +had only time for a few words with his sister and her shy, silent little +friend with the big brown eyes to whom he had been so kind the previous +summer, when there were three hops a week and not so many hoppers in +long dresses. Still, Marshall had one dance with each and introduced +nice boys from the lower classes, and it was all very well, only not +what Pappoose had painted, and Jessie couldn't help thinking and saying +it might all have been so much sweeter if it hadn't been for that odious +Miss Brockway, about whom Marshall hovered altogether too much, but, +like the little Indian the girls sometimes said she was, Pappoose looked +on and said nothing. + +All the same, Mr. Dean had had a glorious graduation summer of it, +though Jessie saw too little of him, and Pappoose nothing at all after +the breakup of the class. In September the girls returned to school, +friends as close as ever, even though a little cloud overshadowed the +hitherto unbroken confidences, and Marshall joined the cavalry, as old +Folsom had suggested, and took to the saddle, the prairie, the bivouac, +and buffalo hunt as though native and to the manner born. They were +building the Union Pacific then, and he and his troop, with dozens of +others scattered along the line, were busy scouting the neighborhood, +guarding the surveyors, the engineers, and finally the track-layers, for +the jealous red men swarmed in myriads all along the way, lacking only +unanimity, organization, and leadership to enable them to defeat the +enterprise. And then when the whistling engines passed the forks of the +Platte and began to climb up the long slope of the Rockies to Cheyenne +and Sherman Pass, the trouble and disaffection spread to tribes far more +numerous and powerful further to the north and northwest; and there rose +above the hordes of warriors a chief whose name became the synonym for +deep rooted and determined hostility to the whites--Machpealota (Red +Cloud)--and old John Folsom, he whom the Indians loved and trusted, grew +anxious and troubled, and went from post to post with words of warning +on his tongue. + +"Gentlemen," he said to the commissioners who came to treat with the +Sioux whose hunting grounds adjoined the line of the railway, "it's all +very well to have peace with these people here. It is wise to cultivate +the friendship of such chiefs as Spotted Tail and +Old-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses but there are irreconcilables beyond them, +far more numerous and powerful, who are planning, preaching war this +minute. Watch Red Cloud, Red Dog, Little Big Man. Double, treble your +garrisons at the posts along the Big Horn; get your women and children +out of them, or else abandon the forts entirely. I know those warriors +well. They outnumber you twenty to one. Reinforce your garrisons without +delay or get out of that country, one of the two. Draw everything south +of the Platte while yet there is time." + +But wiseacres at Washington said the Indians were peaceable, and all +that was needed was a new post and another little garrison at Warrior +Gap, in the eastward foothills of the range. Eight hundred thousand +dollars would build it, "provided the labor of the troops was utilized," +and leave a good margin for the contractors and "the Bureau." And it was +to escort the quartermaster and engineer officer and an aide-de-camp on +preliminary survey that "C" Troop of the cavalry, Captain Brooks +commanding, had been sent on the march from the North Platte at Frayne +to the headwaters of the Powder River in the Hills, and with it went its +new first lieutenant, Marshall Dean. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Promotion was rapid in the cavalry in those days, so soon after the war. +Indians contributed largely to the general move, but there were other +causes, too. Dean had served little over a year as second lieutenant in +a troop doing duty along the lower Platte, when vacancies occurring gave +him speedy and unlooked-for lift. He had met Mr. Folsom only once. The +veteran trader had embarked much of his capital in business at Gate City +beyond the Rockies, but officers from Fort Emory, close to the new +frontier town, occasionally told him he had won a stanch friend in that +solid citizen. + +"You ought to get transferred to Emory," they said. "Here's the band, +half a dozen pretty girls, hops twice a week, hunts and picnics all +through the spring and summer in the mountains, fishing _ad libitum_, +and lots of fun all the year around." But Dean's ears were oddly deaf. A +classmate let fall the observation that it was because of a New York +girl who had jilted him that Dean had forsworn society and stuck to a +troop in the field: but men who knew and served with the young fellow +found him an enthusiast in his profession, passionately fond of cavalry +life in the open, a bold rider, a keen shot and a born hunter. Up with +the dawn day after day, in saddle long hours, scouting the divides and +ridges, stalking antelope and black-tail deer, chasing buffalo, he lived +a life that hardened every muscle, bronzed the skin, cleared the eye and +brain, and gave to even monotonous existence a "verve" and zest the +dawdlers in those old-time garrisons never knew. + +All the long summer of the year after his graduation, from mid-April +until November, he never once slept beneath a wooden roof, and more +often than not the sky was his only canopy. That summer, too, Jessie +spent at home, Pappoose with her most of the time, and one year more +would finish them at the reliable old Ohio school. By that time Folsom's +handsome new home would be in readiness to receive his daughter at Gate +City. By that time, too, Marshall might hope to have a leave and come in +to Illinois to welcome his sister and gladden his mother's eyes. But +until then, the boy had said to himself, he'd stick to the field, and +the troop that had the roughest work to do was the one that best suited +him, and so it had happened that by the second spring of his service in +the regiment no subaltern was held in higher esteem by senior officers +or regarded with more envy by the lazy ones among the juniors than the +young graduate, for those, too, were days in which graduates were few +and far between, except in higher grades. Twice had he ridden in the +dead of winter the devious trail through the Medicine Bow range to +Frayne. Once already had he been sent the long march to and from the Big +Horn, and when certain officers were ordered to the mountains early in +the spring to locate the site of the new post at Warrior Gap, Brooks's +troop, as has been said, went along as escort and Brooks caught mountain +fever in the Hills, or some such ailment, and made the home trip in the +ambulance, leaving the active command of "C" Troop to his subaltern. + +With the selection of the site Dean had nothing to do. Silently he +looked on as the quartermaster, the engineer, and a staff officer from +Omaha paced off certain lines, took shots with their instruments at +neighboring heights, and sampled the sparkling waters of the Fork. Two +companies of infantry, sent down from further posts along the northern +slopes of the range, had stacked their arms and pitched their "dog +tents," and vigilant vedettes and sentries peered over every commanding +height and ridge to secure the invaders against surprise. Invaders they +certainly were from the Indian point of view, for this was Indian Story +Land, the most prized, the most beautiful, the most prolific in fish and +game in all the continent. Never had the red man clung with such +tenacity to any section of his hunting grounds as did the Northern Sioux +to this, the north and northeast watershed of the Big Horn Range. Old +Indian fighters among the men shook their heads when the quartermaster +selected a level bench as the site on which to begin the stockade that +was to enclose the officers' quarters and the barracks, storehouse and +magazine, and ominously they glanced at one another and then at the +pine-skirted ridge that rose, sharp and sudden, against the sky, not +four hundred yards away, dominating the site entirely. + +"I shouldn't like the job of clearing away the gang of Indians that +might seize that ridge," said Dean, when later asked by the engineer +what he thought of it, and Dean had twice by that time been called upon +to help "hustle" Indians out of threatening positions, and knew whereof +he spoke. + +"I shouldn't worry over things you're never likely to have to do," said +the quartermaster, with sarcastic emphasis, and he was a man who never +yet had had to face a foeman in the field, and Dean said nothing more, +but felt right well he had no friend in Major Burleigh. + +They left the infantry there to guard the site and protect the gang of +woodchoppers set to work at once, then turned their faces homeward. They +had spent four days and nights at the Gap, and the more the youngster +saw of the rotund quartermaster the less he cared to cultivate him. A +portly, heavily built man was he, some forty years of age, a widower, +whose children were at their mother's old home in the far East, a +business man with a keen eye for opportunities and investments, a fellow +who was reputed to have stock in a dozen mines and kindred enterprises, +a knowing hand who drove fast horses and owned quite a stable, a sharp +hand who played a thriving game of poker, and had no compunctions as to +winning. Officers at Emory were fighting shy of him. He played too big a +game for their small pay and pockets, and the men with whom he took his +pleasure were big contractors or well-known "sports" and gamblers, who +in those days thronged the frontier towns and most men did them homage. +But on this trip Burleigh had no big gamblers along and missed his +evening game, and, once arrived at camp along the Fork, he had "roped +in" some of the infantry officers, but Brooks and the engineer declined +to play, and so had Dean from the very start. + +"All true cavalrymen ought to be able to take a hand at poker," sneered +Burleigh, at the first night's camp, for here was a pigeon really worth +the plucking, thought he. Dean's life in the field had been so simple +and inexpensive that he had saved much of his slender pay; but, what +Burleigh did not know, he had sent much of it home to mother and Jess. + +"I know several men who would have been the better for leaving it +alone," responded Dean very quietly. They rubbed each other the wrong +way from the very start, and this was bad for the boy, for in those +days, when army morals were less looked after than they are now, men of +Burleigh's stamp, with the means to entertain and the station to enable +them to do it, had often the ear of officers from headquarters, and more +things were told at such times to generals and colonels about their +young men than the victims ever suspected. Burleigh was a man of +position and influence, and knew it. Dean was a youngster without +either, and did not realize it. He had made an enemy of the +quartermaster on the trip and could not but know it. Yet, conscious that +he had said nothing that was wrong, he felt no disquiet. + +And now, homeward bound, he was jogging contentedly along at the head of +the troop. Scouts and flankers signaled "all clear." Not a hostile +Indian had they seen since leaving the Gap. The ambulances with a little +squad of troopers had hung on a few moments at the noon camp, hitching +slowly and leisurely that their passengers might longer enjoy their post +prandial siesta in the last shade they would see until they reached +Cantonment Reno, a long day's ride away. Presently the lively mule teams +would come along the winding trail at spanking trot. Then the troop +would open out to right and left and let them take the lead, giving the +dust in exchange, and once more the rapid march would begin. + +It was four P. M. when the shadows of the mules' ears and heads +came jerking into view beside him, and, guiding his horse to the right, +Dean loosed rein and prepared to trot by the open doorway of the stout, +black-covered wagon. The young engineer officer, sitting on the front +seat, nodded cordially to the cavalryman. He had known and liked him at +the Point. He had sympathized with him in the vague difference with the +quartermaster. He had had to listen to sneering things Burleigh was +telling the aide-de-camp about young linesmen in general and Dean in +particular, stocking the staff officer with opinions which he hoped and +intended should reach the department commander's ears. The engineer +disbelieved, but was in no position to disprove. His station was at +Omaha, far from the scene of cavalry exploits in fort or field. +Burleigh's office and depot were in this new, crowded, bustling frontier +town, filled with temptation to men so far removed from the influences +of home and civilization, and Burleigh doubtless saw and knew much to +warrant his generalities. But he knew no wrong of Dean, for that young +soldier, as has been said, had spent all but a few mid-winter months at +hard, vigorous work in the field, had been to Gate City and Fort Emory +only twice, and then under orders that called for prompt return to +Frayne. Any man with an eye for human nature could see at a glance, as +Dean saw, that both the aid and his big friend, the quartermaster, had +been exchanging comments at the boy's expense. He had shouted a cheery +salutation to the engineer in answer to his friendly nod, then turned in +saddle and looked squarely at the two on the back seat, and the +constraint in their manner, the almost sullen look in their faces, told +the story without words. + +It nettled Dean--frank, outspoken, straightforward as he had always +been. He hated any species of backbiting, and he had heard of Burleigh +as an adept in the art, and a man to be feared. Signaling to his +sergeant to keep the column opened out, as the prairie was almost level +now on every side, he rode swiftly on, revolving in his mind how to meet +and checkmate Burleigh's insidious moves, for instinctively he felt he +was already at work. The general in command in those days was not a +field soldier by any means. His office was far away at the banks of the +Missouri, and all he knew of what was actually going on in his +department he derived from official written reports; much that was +neither official nor reliable he learned from officers of Burleigh's +stamp, and Dean had never yet set eyes on him. In the engineer he felt +he had a friend on whom he could rely, and he determined to seek his +counsel at the campfire that very night, meantime to hold his peace. + +They were trotting through a shallow depression at the moment, the two +spring-wagons guarded and escorted by some thirty dusty, hardy-looking +troopers. In the second, the yellow ambulance, Brooks was stretched at +length, taking it easy, an attendant jogging alongside. Behind them came +a third, a big quartermaster's wagon, drawn by six mules and loaded with +tentage and rations. Out some three hundred yards to the right and left +rode little squads as flankers. Out beyond them, further still, often +cut off from view by low waves of prairie, were individual troopers +riding as lookouts, while far to the front, full six hundred yards, +three or four others, spreading over the front on each side of the +twisting trail, moved rapidly from crest to crest, always carefully +scanning the country ahead before riding up to the summit. And now, as +Dean's eyes turned from his charges to look along the sky line to the +east, he saw sudden sign of excitement and commotion at the front. A +sergeant, riding with two troopers midway between him and those foremost +scouts, was eagerly signaling to him with his broad-brimmed hat. Three +of the black dots along the gently rising slope far ahead had leaped +from their mounts and were slowly crawling forward, while one of them, +his horse turned adrift and contentedly nibbling at the buffalo grass, +was surely signaling that there was mischief ahead. + +In an instant the lieutenant was galloping out to the front, cautioning +the driver to come on slowly. Presently he overhauled the sergeant and +bade him follow, and together the four men darted on up the gradual +incline until within ten yards of where the leaders' horses were +placidly grazing. There they threw themselves from saddle; one of the +men took the reins of the four horses while Dean and the other two, +unslinging carbine and crouching low, went hurriedly on up the slope +until they came within a few yards of the nearest scout. + +"Indians!" he called to them as soon as they were within earshot. "But +they don't seem to be on lookout for us at all. They're fooling with +some buffalo over here." + +Crawling to the crest, leaving his hat behind, Dean peered over into the +swale beyond and this was what he saw. + +Half a mile away to the east the low, concave sweep of the prairie was +cut by the jagged banks and curves of a watercourse which drained the +melting snows in earlier spring. Along the further bank a dozen buffalo +were placidly grazing, unconscious of the fact that in the shallow, dry +ravine itself half a dozen young Indians--Sioux, apparently--were +lurking, awaiting the nearer coming of the herd, whose leaders, at +least, were gradually approaching the edge. Away down to the northeast, +toward the distant Powder River, the shallow stream bed trended, and, +following the pointing finger of the scout who crawled to his side, Dean +gazed and saw a confused mass of slowly moving objects, betrayed for +miles by the light cloud of dust that hovered over them, covering many +an acre of the prairie, stretching far away down the vale. Even before +he could unsling his field glass and gaze, his plains-craft told him +what was slowly, steadily approaching, as though to cross his front--an +Indian village, a big one, on the move to the mountains, bound perhaps +for the famous racecourse of the Sioux, a grand amphitheater in the +southern hills. + +And even as they gazed, two tiny jets of flame and smoke shot from the +ravine edge there below them, and before the dull reports could reach +their ears the foremost bison dropped on his knees and then rolled over +on the sod; and then came the order, at sound of which, back among the +halted troopers, every carbine leaped from its socket. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Down along the building railway in the valley or the Platte there had +been two years of frequent encounter with small bands of Indians. Down +along the Smoky Hill, in Kansas, the Cheyennes were ever giving trouble. +Even around Laramie and Frayne, on the North Platte, settlers and +soldiers had been murdered, as well as one or two officers, caught alone +out hunting, and the Indians were, of course, the perpetrators. +Nevertheless, it had been the policy of the leaders of the Northern +Sioux to avoid any meeting in force and to deny the complicity of their +people in the crimes committed. Supply trains to Reno, Kearney and C. F. +Smith, the Big Horn posts of the Bozeman Trail went to and fro with +guards of only moderate size. Officers had taken their wives and +children to these far-away stations. The stockades were filled with +soldiers' families. Big bands of Indians roamed the lovely valleys of +the Piney, the Tongue, and Rosebud, near at hand, and rode into full +view of the wary sentries at the stockades, yet made no hostile +demonstration. Officers and men went far up the rocky canons of the +hills in search of fish or game, and came back unmolested. Escorts +reported that they sometimes marched all day long side by side with +hunting bands of Sioux, a mile away; and often little parties, squaws +and boys and young men, would ride confidently over and beg for sugar, +coffee, hardtack--anything, and ride off with their plunder in the best +of spirits and with all apparent good feeling. And yet the great +war-chief of the Brules--Sintogaliska--Spotted Tail, the white man's +friend, gave solemn warning not to trust the Ogallallas. "Red Cloud's +heart is bad," he said. "He and his people are moving from the +reservations to the mountains. They mean trouble." Old traders like +Folsom heard and heeded, and Folsom himself hastened to Fort Frayne the +very week that Burleigh and his escort left for Warrior Gap. Visiting at +the ranch of his son in a beautiful nook behind the Medicine Bow +Mountains, the veteran trader heard tidings from an Indian brave that +filled him with apprehension, and he hurried to the fort. + +"Is it true," he asked, "that the government means to establish a post +at Warrior Gap? Is it true that Major Burleigh has gone thither?" And +when told that it was and that only Captain Brooks's troop had gone as +escort, Folsom's agitation was extreme. "Colonel," said he, to the post +commander, "solemnly I have tried to warn the general of the danger of +that move. I have told him that all the northern tribes are leaguing +now, that they have determined to keep to themselves the Big Horn +country and the valleys to the north. It will take five thousand men to +hold those three posts against the Sioux, and you've barely got five +hundred. I warn you that any attempt to start another post up there will +bring Red Cloud and all his people to the spot. Their scouts are +watching like hawks even now. Iron Spear came to me at my son's ranch +last night and told me not ten warriors were left at the reservation. +They are all gone, and the war dances are on in every valley from the +Black Hills to the Powder. For heaven's sake send half your garrison up +to Reno after Brooks. You are safe here. They won't molest you south of +the Platte, at least not now. All they ask is that you build no more +forts in the Big Horn." + +But the colonel could not act without authority. Telegraph there was +none then. What Folsom said was of sufficient importance to warrant his +hurrying off a courier to Laramie, fully one hundred miles southeast, +and ordering a troop to scout across the wild wastes to the north, while +Folsom himself, unable to master his anxiety, decided to accompany the +command sent out toward Cantonment Reno. He long had had influence with +the Ogallallas. Even now Red Cloud might listen if he could but find +him. The matter was of such urgency he could not refrain. And so with +the gray troop of the cavalry, setting forth within an hour of his +coming, rode the old trader whom the Indians had so long sworn by, and +he started none too soon. + +Reno was some ninety miles away, and not until late the next evening did +the grays reach the lonely post. Not a sign of hostile Indian had been +seen or heard, said the officer in command. Small bands of hunters were +out toward Pumpkin Butte two days before.--Yes, Ogallallas--and a +scouting party, working down the valley of the Powder, had met no band +at all, though trails were numerous. They were now patroling toward the +Big Horn. Perhaps there'd be a courier in to-morrow. Better get a good +night's rest meantime, he said. But all the same he doubled his guards +and ordered extra vigilance, for all men knew John Folsom, and when +Folsom was anxious on the Indian question it was time to look alive. +Daybreak came without a sign, but Folsom could not rest. The grays had +no authority to go beyond Reno, but such was his anxiety that it was +decided to hold the troop at the cantonment for a day or two. Meantime, +despite his years, Folsom decided to push on for the Gap. All efforts to +dissuade him were in vain. With him rode Baptiste, a half-breed +Frenchman whose mother was an Ogallalla squaw, and "Bat" had served him +many a year. Their canteens were filled, their saddle-pouches packed. +They led along an extra mule, with camp equipage, and shook hands +gravely with the officers ere they rode away. "All depends," said +Folsom, "on whether Red Cloud is hereabouts in person. If he is and I +can get his ear I can probably stave off trouble long enough to get +those people at the Gap back to Kearney, or over here. They're goners if +they attempt to stay there and build that post. If you don't have word +from us in two days, send for all the troops the government can raise. +It will take every mother's son they've got to whip the Sioux when once +they're leagued together." + +"But our men have the new breech-loaders now, Mr. Folsom," said the +officers. "The Indians have only old percussion-cap rifles, and not too +many of them." + +"But there are twenty warriors to every soldier," was the answer, "and +all are fighting men." + +They watched the pair until they disappeared far to the west. All day +long the lookouts searched the horizon. All that night the sentries +listened for hoof-beats on the Bozeman road, but only the weird chorus +of the coyotes woke the echoes of the dark prairie. Dawn of the second +day came, and, unable to bear suspense, the major sent a little party, +mounted on their fleetest horses, to scour the prairies at least halfway +to the foothills of the Big Horn, and just at nightfall they came +back--three at least--galloping like mad, their mounts a mass of foam. +Folsom's dread was well founded. Red Cloud, with heaven only knew how +many warriors, had camped on Crazy Woman's Fork within the past three +days, and gone on up stream. He might have met and fought the troops +sent out three days before. He must have met the troops dispatched to +Warrior Gap. + +And this last, at least, he had done. For a few seconds after the fall +of the buffalo bull, the watchers on the distant ridge lay still, except +that Dean, turning slightly, called to the orderly trumpeter, who had +come trotting out after the troop commander, and was now halted and +afoot some twenty yards down the slope. "Go back, Bryan," he ordered. +"Halt the ambulances. Notify Captain Brooks that there are lots of +Indians ahead, and have the sergeant deploy the men at once." Then he +turned back and with his field glass studied the party along the ravine. + +"They can't have seen us, can they, lieutenant?" muttered the trooper +nearest him. + +But Dean's young face was grave and clouded. Certainly the Indians acted +as though they were totally unaware of the presence of troops, but the +more he thought the more he knew that no big body of Sioux would be +traveling across country at so critical a time (country, too, that was +conquered as this was from their enemies, the Crows), without vigilant +scouts afar out on front and flank. The more he thought the more he knew +that even as early as three o'clock those keen-eyed fellows must have +sighted his little column, conspicuous as it was because of its wagons. +Beyond question, he told himself, the chief of the band or village so +steadily approaching from the northeast had full information of their +presence, and was coming confidently ahead. What had he to fear? Even +though the blood of settlers and soldiers might still be red upon the +hands of his braves, even though fresh scalps might be dangling at this +moment from their shields, what mattered it? Did he not know that the +safeguard of the Indian Bureau spread like the wing of a protecting +angel over him and his people, forbidding troops to molest or open fire +unless they themselves were attacked? Did he not laugh in his ragged +shirt sleeve at the policy of the white fool who would permit the red +enemy to ride boldly up to his soldiers, count their numbers, inspect +their array, satisfy himself as to their armament and readiness, then +calculate the chances, and, if he thought the force too strong, ride on +his way with only a significant gesture in parting insult? If, on the +contrary, he found it weak then he could turn loose his braves, +surround, massacre and scalp, and swear before the commissioners sent +out to investigate next moon that he and his people knew nothing about +the matter--nothing, at least, that they could be induced to tell. + +One moment more Dean watched and waited. Two of the Indians in the +ravine were busily reloading their rifles. Two others were aiming over +the bank, for, with the strange stupidity of their kind, the other +buffalo, even when startled by the shot, had never sought safety in +flight, but were now sniffing the odor of blood on the tainted air, and +slowly, wonderingly drawing near the stricken leader as though to ask +what ailed him. Obedient and docile, the Indian ponies stood with +drooping heads, hidden under the shelter of the steep banks. Nearer and +nearer came the big black animals, bulky, stupid, fatuous; the foremost +lowered a huge head to sniff at the blood oozing from the shoulder of +the dying bull, then two more shots puffed out from the ravine, the huge +head tossed suddenly in air, and the ungainly brute started and +staggered, whirled about and darted a few yards away, then plunged on +its knees, and the next moment, startled at some sight the soldier +watchers could not see, the black band was seized with sudden panic, and +darted like mad into the depths of the watercourse, disappeared one +moment from sight, then, suddenly reappearing, came laboring up the +hither side, straight for the crest on which they lay, a dozen black, +bounding, panting beasts thundering over the ground, followed by half a +dozen darting Indian ponies, each with his lithe red rider scurrying in +pursuit. + +"Out of the way, men! Don't fire!" shouted Dean. And, scrambling back +toward their horses, the lieutenant and his men drew away from the front +of the charging herd, invisible as yet to the halted troop and to the +occupants of the ambulance, whose eager heads could be seen poked out at +the side doors of the leading vehicle, as though watching for the cause +of the sudden halt. + +And then a thing happened that at least one man saw and fortunately +remembered later. Bryan, the trumpeter, with jabbing heels and flapping +arms, was tearing back toward the troop at the moment at the top speed +of his gray charger, already so near that he was shouting to the +sergeant in the lead. By this time, too, that veteran trooper, with the +quick sense of duty that seemed to inspire the war-time sergeant, had +jumped his little column "front into line" to meet the unseen danger; so +that now, with carbines advanced, some thirty blue jackets were aligned +in the loose fighting order of the prairies in front of the foremost +wagon. The sight of the distant officer and men tumbling hurriedly back +and to one side, out of the way presumably of some swiftly-coming peril, +acted like magic on the line. Carbines were quickly brought to ready, +the gun locks crackling in chorus as the horses pranced and snorted. But +it had a varying effect on the occupants of the leading wagon. The shout +of "Indians" from Bryan's lips, the sight of scurry on the ridge ahead +brought the engineer and aide-de-camp springing out, rifle in hand, to +take their manly part in the coming fray. It should have brought Major +Burleigh too, but that appropriately named non-combatant never showed +outside. An instant more and to the sound of rising thunder, before the +astonished eyes of the cavalry line there burst into view, full tear for +safety, the uncouth, yet marvelously swift-running leaders of the little +herd. The whole dozen came flying across the sky line and down the +gentle slope, heading well around to the left of the line of troopers, +while sticking to their flanks like red nettles half a dozen young +warriors rode like the wind on their nimble ponies, cracking away with +revolver or rifle in savage joy in the glorious sport. Too much for +Burleigh's nerve was the combination of sounds, thunder of hoofs and +sputter of shots, for when a cheer of sympathetic delight went up from +the soldier line at sight of the chase, and the young engineer sprang to +the door of the ambulance to help the major out, he found him a limp and +ghastly heap, quivering with terror in the bottom of the wagon, looking +for all the world as if he were trying to crawl under the seat. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Away to the left of the little command tore the quarry and the chase. +Out on the rolling prairie, barely four hundred yards from where the +ambulance and mules were backed into a tangle of traces and whiffletrees +and fear-stricken creatures, another buffalo had dropped in a heap; a +swarthy rider had tumbled off his pony, cut a slash or two with +ever-ready knife, and then, throwing a bead bedizened left leg over his +eager little mount, had gone lashing away after his fellows, not without +a jeering slap at the baited soldiery. Then, in almost less time than it +takes to tell it, the pursued and pursuers had vanished from sight over +a low ridge a mile to the north. "Only a hunting party!" said one or two +nervous recruits, with a gulp of relief. "Only a hunting party," gasped +Burleigh, as presently he heaved himself up from the floor, "and I +thought I'd never find that damned gun of mine. All this fuss for +nothing!" he continued, his lips still blue and quivering. "That green +youngster up there in front hasn't learned the first principles of +plains-craft yet. Here, Brooks," he added loudly, "it's high time you +were looking after this sub of yours," and Brooks, despite his illness, +was indeed working out of the back door of his yellow trundle bed at the +moment, and looking anxiously about. But the engineer stood pale and +quiet, coolly studying the flustered growler, and when Burleigh's +shifting eyes sought that young scientist's face, what he read +there--and Burleigh was no fool--told him he would be wise to change the +tune. The aid had pushed out in front of the troop and was signaling to +Dean, once more in saddle and scanning through his glass the big band +afar down the valley. + +"Take my horse, sir," said the sergeant, dismounting, and the officer +thanked him and rode swiftly out to join the young commander at the +front. Together they gazed and consulted and still no signal came to +resume the advance. Then the troopers saw the staff officer make a broad +sweep with his right arm to the south, and in a moment Dean's hat was +uplifted and waved well out in that direction. "Drop carbine," growled +the sergeant. "By twos again. Incline to the right. Damn the Sioux, I +say! Have we got to circle five miles around their hunting ground for +fear of hurting their feelings. Come on. Jimmy," he added to the driver +of the leading wagon. Jimmy responded with vigorous language at the +expense of his lead mules. The quartermaster and engineer silently +scrambled in; the ambulance started with a jerk and away went the party +off to the right of the trail, the wagons jolting a bit now over the +uneven clumps of bunch grass. + +But once well up at the summit of the low divide the command reined in +for a look at the great Indian cavalcade swarming in the northeastward +valley, and covering its grassy surface still a good mile away. Out from +among the dingy mass came galloping half a dozen young braves, followed +by as many squaws. The former soon spread out over the billowy surface, +some following the direction of the chase, some bounding on south west +ward as though confident of finding what they sought the moment they +reached the nearest ridge; some riding straight to the point where lay +the carcasses of the earliest victims of the hunt. Here in full view of +the soldiery, but vouchsafing them no glance nor greeting whatever, two +young warriors reined in their lively ponies and disdainfully turned +their backs upon the spectators on the divide, while the squaws, with +shrill laugh and chatter, rolled from their saddles and began the +drudgery of their lot--skinning and cutting up the buffalos slaughtered +by their lords. + +"Don't you see," sneered Burleigh, "it's nothing but a village out for a +hunt--nothing in God's world to get stampeded about. We've had all this +show of warlike preparation for nothing." But he turned away again as he +caught the steady look in the engineer's blue eyes, and shouted to his +more appreciative friend, the aide-de-camp: "Well, pardner, haven't we +fooled away enough time here, or have we got to wait the pleasure of +people that never saw Indians before?" + +Dean flushed crimson at the taunt. He well knew for whom it was meant. +He was indignant enough by this time to speak for himself, but the +aide-de-camp saved him the trouble. + +"I requested Mr. Dean to halt a few moments, Burleigh. It is necessary I +should know what band this is, and how many are out." + +"Well, be quick about it," snapped the quartermaster, "I want to get to +Reno before midnight, and at this rate we won't make it in a week." + +A sergeant who could speak a little Sioux came riding back to the camp, +a grin on his sun-blistered face. "Well, sergeant, what'd he say?" asked +the staff officer. + +"He said would I plaze to go to hell, sorr," was the prompt response. + +"Won't he tell who they are?" + +"He won't, sorr. He says we know widout askin', which is thrue, sorr. +They're Ogallallas to a man, barrin' the squaws and pappooses, wid ould +Red Cloud himself." + +"How'd you find out if they wouldn't talk?" asked the staff officer +impatiently. + +"'Twas the bucks wouldn't talk--except in swear wurruds. I wasted no +time on them, sorr. I gave the first squaw the last hardtack in me +saddle-bags and tould her was it Machpealota, and she said it was, and +he was wid Box Karesha--that's ould Folsom--not six hour ago, an' +Folsom's gone back to the cantonment." + +"Then the quicker we skip the better," were the aide-de-camp's words. +"Get us to Reno fast as you can, Dean. Strike for the road again as soon +as we're well beyond their buffalo. Now for it! There's something behind +all this bogus hunt business, and Folsom knows what it is." + +And every mile of the way, until thick darkness settled down over the +prairie, there was something behind the trooper cavalcade--several +somethings--wary red men, young and wiry, who never let themselves be +seen, yet followed on over wave after wave of prairie to look to it that +no man went back from that column to carry the news of their presence to +the little battalion left in charge of the new post at Warrior Gap. + +It was the dark of the moon, or, as the Indians say, "the nights the +moon is sleeping in his lodge," and by ten P. M. the skies were +overcast. Only here and there a twinkling star was visible, and only +where some trooper struck a light for his pipe could a hand be seen in +front of the face. The ambulance mules that had kept their steady jog +during the late afternoon and the long gloaming that followed still +seemed able to maintain the gait, and even the big, lumbering wagon at +the rear came briskly on under the tug of its triple span, but in the +intense darkness the guides at the head of the column kept losing the +road, and the bumping of the wagons would reveal the fact, and a halt +would be ordered, men would dismount and go bending and crouching and +feeling their way over the almost barren surface, hunting among the sage +brush for the double furrow of the trail. Matches innumerable were +consumed, and minutes of valuable time, and the quartermaster waxed +fretful and impatient, and swore that his mules could find their way +where the troopers couldn't, and finally, after the trail had been lost +and found half a dozen times, old Brooks was badgered into telling Dean +to let the ambulance take the lead. The driver shirked at once. + +"There's no tellin' where we'll fetch up," said he. "Those mules can't +see the trail if a man can't. Take their harness off and turn 'em loose, +an' I suppose they can find their way to the post, but sure as you turn +them loose when they've got somethin' on 'em, or behind 'em, and the +doggone cussedness of the creatures will prompt them to smash things." + +But the quartermaster said he'd tried it with those very mules, between +Emory and Medicine Bow a dozen times, and he'd risk it. The driver could +get off his seat if he wanted to, and run alongside, but he'd stay where +he was. + +"Let me out, please," said the engineer, and jumped to the ground, and +then the cavalcade pushed on again. The driver, as ordered by an +employer whom he dare not disobey, let the reins drop on the mules' +backs, the troopers falling behind, the yellow ambulance and the big +baggage wagon bringing up the rear. + +Then, with a horseman on each side, the mules were persuaded to push on +again, and then when fairly started Burleigh called to the troopers to +fall back, so that the mules should not, as he expressed it, "be +influenced." "Leave them to themselves and they can get along all +right," said he, "but mix them up with the horses, and they want them to +take all the responsibility." + +And now the command was barely crawling. Brooks, heavy, languid with +splitting headache, lay in feverish torpor in his ambulance, asking only +to be let alone. The engineer, a subaltern as yet, felt that he had no +right attempting to advise men like Burleigh, who proclaimed himself an +old campaigner. The aide-de-camp was getting both sleepy and impatient, +but he, too, was much the quartermaster's junior in rank. As for Dean, +he had no volition whatever. "Escort the party," were his orders, and +that meant that he must govern the movements of his horses and men by +the wishes of the senior staff official. And so they jogged along +perhaps twenty minutes more, and then there was a sudden splutter and +plunge and stumble ahead, a sharp pull on the traces, a marvelously +quick jerk back on the reins that threw the wheel team on their +haunches, and thereby saved the "outfit," for when men and matches were +hurried to the front the lead mules were discovered kicking and +splashing in a mud hole. They were not only off the road by a dozen +yards, but over a bank two feet high. + +And this last pound broke the back of Burleigh's obstinacy. It was +nearly midnight anyway. The best thing to be done was unhitch, unsaddle +and bivouac until the gray light of dawn came peering over the eastward +prairie, which in that high latitude and "long-day" month would be soon +after three. Then they could push on to Reno. + +Not until nearly eight o'clock in the morning, therefore, did they heave +in sight of the low belt of dingy green that told of the presence of a +stream still long miles away; and here, knowing himself to be out of +danger, the major bade the weary escort march in at a walk while he +hurried on. In fifteen minutes the black-hooded wagon was twisting and +turning over the powdery road a good mile ahead, its dust rising high +over the sage-covered desert, while the other two, with the +dust-begrimed troopers, jogged sturdily on. Loring, the young engineer, +had waved a cordial good-by to his old cadet acquaintance. "See you +later, old man," he cried. Stone, the aide-de-camp, nodded and said, +"Take care of yourself," and Burleigh said nothing at all. He was +wondering what he could do to muzzle Loring in case that gifted young +graduate were moved to tell what the quartermaster actually did when he +heard the rush and firing out at the front on the road from Warrior Gap. + +But when at last the black wagon bowled in at the stockaded quadrangle +and discharged its occupants at the hut of the major commanding, there +were tidings of such import to greet them that Burleigh turned +yellow-white again at thought of the perils they had escaped. + +"My God, man!" cried the post commander, as he came hurrying out to meet +the party, "we've been in a blue funk about you fellows for two whole +days. Did you see any Indians?" + +"See any Indians!" said Burleigh, rallying to the occasion as became a +man who knew how to grasp an opportunity. "We stood off the whole Sioux +nation over toward Crazy Woman's Fork. There were enough to cover the +country, red and black, for a dozen miles. We sighted them yesterday +about four o'clock and there were enough around us to eat us alive, but +we just threw out skirmish lines and marched steadily ahead, so they +thought best not to bother us. They're shy of our breech loaders, damn +'em! That's all that kept them at respectful distance." + +The major's face as he listened took on a puzzled, perturbed look. He +did not wish to say anything that might reflect on the opinions of so +influential a man as the depot quartermaster at Gate City, but it was +plain that there was a train of thought rumbling through his mind that +would collide with Burleigh's column of events unless he were spared the +need of answering questions. "Let me tell you briefly what's happened," +he said. "Red Cloud and his whole band are out on the warpath. They +killed two couriers, half-breeds, I sent out to find Thornton's troop +that was scouting the Dry Fork. The man we sent to find you and give you +warning hasn't got back at all. We've had double sentries for three days +and nights. The only souls to get in from the northwest since our +fellows were run back last night are old Folsom and Baptiste. Folsom had +a talk with Red Cloud, and tried to induce him to turn back. He's beset +with the idea that the old villain is plotting a general massacre along +the Big Horn. He looks like a ghost. He says if we had five thousand +soldiers up there there'd hardly be enough. You know the Sioux have +sworn by him for years, and he thought he could coax Red Cloud to keep +away, but all the old villain would promise was to hold his young men +back ten days or so until Folsom could get the general to order the +Warrior Gap plan abandoned. If the troops are there Folsom says it's all +up with them. Red Cloud can rally all the Northern tribes, and it's only +because of Folsom's influence, at least I fancy so--that--that they +didn't attack you." + +"Where is Folsom?" growled Burleigh, as he shook the powdery cloud from +his linen duster and followed the major within his darkened door, while +other officers hospitably led the aid and engineer into the adjoining +hut. + +"Gone right on to Frayne. The old fellow will wear himself out, I'm +afraid. He says he must get in telegraphic communication with Omaha +before he's four days older. My heaven, man, it was a narrow squeak you +had! It's God's mercy Folsom saw Red Cloud before he saw you." + +"Oh, pshaw!" said the quartermaster, turning over a little packet of +letters awaiting him in the commanding officer's sanctum. "We could have +given a good account of ourselves, I reckon. Brooks is down with fever, +and young Dean got rattled, or something like it. He's new at the +business and easily scared, you know; so I practically had to take +command. They'll be along in an hour or so, and--a word in your ear. If +Brooks has to remain on sick report you'd better put somebody in command +of that troop that's had--er--er--experience." + +The post commander looked genuinely troubled. "Why, Burleigh, we've all +taken quite a shine to Dean. I know the officers in his regiment think a +heap of him; the seniors do, at least." + +But Burleigh, with big eyes, was glaring at a letter he had selected, +opened, and was hurriedly reading. His face was yellowing again, under +the blister of sun and alkali. + +"What's amiss?" queried his friend. "Nothing wrong, I hope. Why, +Burleigh, man! Here, let me help you!" he cried in alarm, for the +quartermaster was sinking into a chair. + +"You can help me!" he gasped. "Get me fresh mules and escort. My God! I +must start for Frayne at once. Some whisky, please." And the letter +dropped from his trembling hands and lay there unnoticed on the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Mid June had come, and there was the very devil to pay--so said the +scouts and soldiers up along the Big Horn. But scouts and soldiers were +far removed from the States and cities where news was manufactured, and +those were days in which our Indian outbreaks were described in the +press long after, instead of before, their occurrence. Such couriers as +had got through to Frayne brought dispatches from the far-isolated posts +along that beautiful range, insisting that the Sioux were swarming in +every valley. Such dispatches, when wired to Washington and "referred" +to the Department of the Interior and re-referred to the head of the +Indian Bureau, were scoffed at as sensational. + +"Our agents report the Indians peaceably assembled at their +reservations. None are missing at the weekly distribution of supplies +except those who are properly accounted for as out on their annual +hunt." "The officers," said the papers, "seem to see red Indians in +every bush," and unpleasant things were hinted at the officers as a +consequence. + +Indians there certainly were in other sections, and they were +unquestionably "raising the devil" along the Smoky Hill and the Southern +Plains, and there the Interior Department insisted that troops in strong +force should be sent. So, too, along the line of the Union Pacific. +Officials were still nervous. Troops of cavalry camped at intervals of +forty miles along the line between Kearney and Julesburg, and even +beyond. At Washington and the great cities of the East, therefore, there +was no anxiety as to the possible fate of those little garrisons, with +their helpless charge of women and children away up in the heart of the +Sioux country. But at Laramie and Frayne and Emory, the nearest frontier +posts; at Cheyenne, Omaha and Gate City the anxiety was great. When John +Folsom said the Indians meant a war of extermination people west of the +Missouri said: "Withdraw those garrisons while there is yet time or else +send five thousand troops to help them." But people east of the Missouri +said: "Who the devil is John Folsom? What does he know about it? Here's +what the Indian agents say, and that's enough," and people east of the +Missouri being vastly in the majority, neither were the garrisons +relieved nor the reinforcements sent. What was worse, John Folsom's +urgent advice that they discontinue at once all work at Warrior Gap and +send the troops and laborers back to Reno was pooh-poohed. + +"The contracts have been let and signed. The material is all on its way. +We can't hack out now," said the officials. "Send runners to Red Cloud +and get him in for a talk. Promise him lots of presents. Yes, if he must +have them, tell him he shall have breech-loaders and copper cartridges, +like the soldiers--to shoot buffalo with, of course. Promise him pretty +much anything to be good and keep his hands off a little longer till we +get that fort and the new agency buildings finished, and then let him do +what he likes." + +Such were the instructions given the commissioners and interpreters +hurried through Gate City and Frayne, and on up to Reno just within the +limit fixed by Folsom. Red Cloud and his chiefs came in accordingly, +arrayed in pomp, paint and finery; shook hands grimly with the +representatives of the Great Father, critically scanned the proffered +gifts, disdainfully rejected the muzzle-loading rifles and old dragoon +horse-pistols heaped before him. "Got heap better," was his comment, and +nothing but brand new breech-loaders would serve his purpose. Promise +them and he'd see what could be done to restrain his young men. But they +were "pretty mad," he said, and couldn't be relied upon to keep the +peace unless sure of getting better arms and ammunition to help them +break it next time. It was only temporizing. It was only encouraging the +veteran war-chief in his visions of power and control. The commissioners +came back beaming, "Everything satisfactorily arranged. Red Cloud and +his people are only out for a big hunt." But officers whose wives and +children prayed fearfully at night within the puny wooden stockades, and +listened trembling to the howls and tom-toms of the dancing Indians +around the council fires in the neighboring valleys, wished to heaven +they had left those dear ones in safety at their Eastern homes--wished +to heaven they could send them thither now, but well knew that it was +too late. Only as single spies, riding by night, hiding by day, were +couriers able to get through from the Big Horn to the Platte. Of scouts +and soldiers sent at different times since the middle of May, seven were +missing, and never, except through vague boastings of the Indians, were +heard of again. + +"It is a treacherous truce, I tell you," said Folsom, with grave, +anxious face, to the colonel commanding Fort Emory. "I have known Red +Cloud twenty years. He's only waiting a few weeks to see if the +government will be fool enough to send them breech-loaders. If it does, +he'll be all the better able to fight a little later on. If it doesn't +he will make it his _casus belli_." + +And the veteran colonel listened, looked grave, and said he had done his +utmost to convince his superiors. He could do no more. + +It was nearly three hundred miles by the winding mountain road from Gate +City to Warrior Gap. Over hill and dale and mountain pass the road ran +to Frayne, thence, fording the North Platte, the wagon trains, heavily +guarded, had to drag over miles of dreary desert, over shadeless slopes +and divides to the dry wash of the Powder, and by roads deep in alkali +dust and sage brush to Cantonment Reno, where far to the west the grand +range loomed up against the sky--another long day's march away to the +nearest foothills, to the nearest drinkable water, and then, forty miles +further still, in the heart of the grand pine-covered heights, was the +rock-bound gateway to a lovely park region within, called by the Sioux +some wild combination of almost unpronounceable syllables, which, freely +translated, gave us Warrior Gap, and there at last accounts, +strengthened by detachments from Frayne and Reno, the little command of +fort builders worked away, ax in hand, rifle at hand, subjected every +hour to alarm from the vedettes and pickets posted thickly all about +them, pickets who were sometimes found stone dead at their posts, +transfixed with arrows, scalped and mutilated, and yet not once had +Indians in any force been seen by officers or man about the spot since +the day Red Cloud's whole array passed Brooks's troop on the Reno trail, +peaceably hunting buffalo. "An' divil a sowl in in the outfit," said old +Sergeant Shaughnessy, "that hadn't his tongue in his cheek." + +For three months that hard-worked troop had been afield, and the time +had passed and gone when its young first lieutenant had hoped for a +leave to go home and see the mother and Jess. His captain was still +ailing and unfit for duty in saddle. He could not and would not ask for +leave at such a time, and yet at the very moment when he was most +earnestly and faithfully doing his whole duty at the front, slander was +busy with his name long miles at the rear. + +Something was amiss with Burleigh, said his cronies at Gate City. He had +come hurrying back from the hills, had spent a day in his office and not +a cent at the club, had taken the night express unbeknown to anybody but +his chief clerk, and gone hurrying eastward. It was a time when his +services were needed at the depot, too. Supplies, stores, all manner of +material were being freighted from Gate City over the range to the +Platte and beyond, yet he had wired for authority to hasten to Chicago +on urgent personal affairs, got it and disappeared. A young regimental +quartermaster was ordered in from Emory to take charge of shipments and +sign invoices during Burleigh's temporary absence, and the only other +officer whom Burleigh had seen and talked with before his start was the +venerable post commander. One after another the few cavalry troops +(companies) on duty at Emory had been sent afield until now only one was +left, and three days after Burleigh started there came a dispatch from +department headquarters directing the sending of that one to Frayne at +once. Captain Brooks's troop, owing to the continued illness of its +commander, would be temporarily withdrawn and sent back to Emory to +replace it. + +Marshall Dean did not know whether to be glad or sorry. Soldier from top +to toe, he was keenly enjoying the command of his troop. He gloried in +mountain scouting, and was in his element when astride a spirited horse. +Then, too, the air was throbbing with rumors of Indian depredations +along the northward trails, and everything pointed to serious outbreak +any moment, and when it came he longed to be on hand to take his share +and win his name, for with such a troop his chances were better for +honors and distinctions than those of any youngster he knew. Therefore +he longed to keep afield. On the other hand the visit paid by Jessie's +school friend, little "Pappoose" Folsom, was to be returned in kind. +John Folsom had begged and their mother had consented that after a week +at home Jess should accompany her beloved friend on a visit to her far +western home. They would be escorted as far as Omaha, and there Folsom +himself would meet them. His handsome house was ready, and, so said +friends who had been invited to the housewarming, particularly well +stocked as to larder and cellar. There was just one thing on which Gate +City gossips were enabled to dilate that was not entirely satisfactory +to Folsom's friends, and that was the new presiding goddess of the +establishment. + +"What on earth does John Folsom want of a housekeeper?" asked the +helpmates of his friends at Fort Emory, and in the bustling, busy town. +"Why don't he marry again?" queried those who would gladly have seen +some unprovided sister, niece or daughter thus cozily disposed of. It +was years since Elinor's mother's death, and yet John Folsom seemed to +mourn her as fondly as ever, and except in mid-winter, barely a month +went by in which he did not make his pilgrimage to her never-neglected +grave. Yet, despite his vigorous years in saddle, sunshine or storm, and +his thorough love for outdoor life, Folsom, now well over fifty, could +no longer so lightly bear the hard life of the field. He was amazed to +see how his sleepless dash to head off Red Cloud, and his days and +nights of gallop back, had told upon him. Women at Fort Emory who looked +with approving eyes on his ruddy face and trim, erect figure, all so +eloquent of health, and who possibly contemplated, too, his solid bank +account, and that fast-building house, the finest in Gate City, had been +telling him all winter long he ought to have a companion--an elder guide +for Miss Elinor on her return; he ought to have some one to preside at +his table; and honest John had promptly answered: "Why, Nell will do all +that," which necessitated their hinting that although Miss Folsom would +be a young lady in years, she was only a child in experience, and would +be much the better for some one who could take a mother's place. "No one +could do that," said John, with sudden swimming of his eyes, and that +put as sudden a stop to their schemings, for the time at least, but only +for the time. Taking counsel together, and thinking how lovely it would +be now if Mr. Folsom would only see how much there was in this unmarried +damsel, or that widowed dame, the coterie at Emory again returned to the +subject, until John, in his perplexity, got the idea that propriety +demanded that he should have a housekeeper against his daughter's +coming, and then he did go and do, in his masculine stupidity, just +exactly what they couldn't have had him do for worlds--invite a woman, +of whom none of their number had ever heard, to come from Omaha and take +the domestic management of his hearth and home. All he knew of her was +what he heard there. She was the widow of a volunteer officer who had +died of disease contracted during the war. She was childless, almost +destitute, accomplished, and so devoted to her church duties. She was +interesting and refined, and highly educated. He heard the eulogiums +pronounced by the good priest and some of his flock, and Mrs. Fletcher, +a substantial person of some forty years at least, was duly installed. + +Fort Emory was filled with women folk and consternation--most of the men +being afield. The seething question of the hour was whether they should +call on her, whether she was to be received at the fort, whether she was +to be acknowledged and recognized at all, and then came, _mirabile +dictu_, a great government official from Washington to inspect the Union +Pacific and make speeches at various points along the road, and Mrs. +Fletcher, mind you, walked to church the very next Sunday on the +Honorable Secretary's arm, sat by his side when he drove out to hear the +band at Emory, and received with him on the colonel's veranda, and that +settled it. Received and acknowledged and visited she had to be. She +might well prove a woman worth knowing. + +Within a fortnight she had made the new homestead blossom like the rose. +Within a month everything was in perfect order for the reception of +Elinor and her school friend--a busy, anxious month, in which Folsom was +flitting to and fro to Reno and Frayne, as we have seen; to Hal's ranch +in the Medicine Bow, to Rawhide and Laramie, and the reservations in +Northwestern Nebraska; and it so happened that he was away the night +Major Burleigh, on his way to the depot, dropped in to inquire if he +could see Mr. Folsom a moment on important business. The servant said he +was not in town--had gone, she thought, to Omaha. She would inquire of +Mrs. Fletcher, and meantime would the major step inside? Step inside, +and stand wonderingly at the threshold of the pretty parlor he did; and +then there was a rustle of silken skirts on the floor above, and, as he +turned to listen, his haggard, careworn face took on a look something +like that which overspread it the night he got the letter at +Reno--something that told of bewilderment and perplexity as a quiet, +modulated voice told the servant to tell the gentleman Mr. Folsom might +not return for several days. Burleigh had no excuse to linger, none to +ask to hear that voice again; yet as he slowly descended the steps its +accents were still strangely ringing in his ears. Where on earth had he +heard that voice before? + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The quartermaster's depot at Gate City was little more than a big +corral, with a double row of low, wooden sheds for the storing of +clothing, camp and garrison equipage. There was a blacksmith and wagon +repair shop, and a brick office building. Some cottage quarters for the +officer in charge and his clerks, corral master, etc., stood close at +hand, while most of the employees lived in town outside the gates. A +single-track spur connected the depot with the main line of the Union +Pacific only five hundred yards away, and the command at Fort Emory, on +the bluff above the rapid stream, furnished, much to its disgust, the +necessary guard. A much bigger "plant" was in contemplation near a +larger post and town on the east side of the great divide, and neither +Fort Emory nor its charge--the quartermaster's depot--was considered +worth keeping in repair, except such as could be accomplished "by the +labor of troops," which was why, when he wasn't fighting Indians, the +frontier soldier of that day was mainly occupied in doing the odd jobs +of a day laborer, without the recompense of one, or his privilege of +quitting if he didn't like the job. That he should know little of drill +and less of parade was, therefore, not to be wondered at. + +But what he didn't know about guard duty was hardly worth knowing. He +had prisoners and property of every conceivable kind--Indians, horse +thieves, thugs and deserters, magazines and medicines, mules and +munitions of war. Everything had to be guarded. The fort lay a mile to +the west of and two hundred feet higher than the railway hotel in the +heart of the town. It looked down upon the self-styled city, and most of +its womenkind did the same on the citizens, who were, it must be owned, +a rather mixed lot. The sudden discovery of gold in the neighboring +foothills, the fact that it promised to be the site of the division car +shops and roundhouse, that the trails to the Upper Platte, the +Sweetwater, the Park country to the south, and the rich game regions of +the Medicine Bow all centered there, and that stages left no less than +twice a week for some of those points, and the whole land was alive with +explorers for a hundred miles around--all had tended to give Gate City a +remarkable boom. Cheyenne and Laramie, thriving frontier towns with +coroners' offices in full blast from one week's end to the other, and a +double force on duty Sundays, confessed to and exhibited pardonable +jealousy. Yet there was wisdom in the warning of an old friend and +fellow frontiersman, who said to Folsom, "You are throwing yourself and +your money away, John. There's nothing in those gold stones, there's +nothing in that yawp about the machine shops; all those yarns were +started by U. P. fellows with corner lots to sell. The bottom will drop +out of that place inside of a year and leave you stranded." + +All the same had Folsom bought big blocks and built his home there. It +was the nearest town of promise to Hal Folsom's wild but beautiful home +in the hills, and, almost as he loved Nell, his bonny daughter, did the +old trader love his stalwart son. Born a wild Westerner, reared among +the Sioux with only Indians or army boys for playmates, and precious +little choice in point of savagery between them, Hal had grown up a +natural horseman with a love for and knowledge of the animal that is +accorded to few. His ambition in life was to own a stock farm. All the +education he had in the world he owed to the kindness of loving-hearted +army women at Laramie, women who befriended him when well-nigh +broken-hearted by his mother's death. Early he had pitched his tent on +the very spot for a ranchman's homestead, early he had fallen in love +with an army girl, who married the strapping frontiersman and was now +the proud mistress of the new and promising stock farm nestling in the +valley of the Laramie, a devoted wife and mother. The weekly stage to +the railway was the event of their placid days except when some of the +officers and ladies would come from either of the neighboring posts and +spend a week with her and Hal. From being a delicate, consumptive child, +Mrs. Hal had developed into a buxom woman with exuberant health and +spirits. Life to her might have some little monotony, but few cares; +many placid joys, but only one great dread--Indians. John Folsom, her +fond father-in-law, was a man all Indians trusted and most of them +loved. Hal Folsom, her husband, had many a trusted and devoted friend +among the Sioux, but he had also enemies, and Indian enmity, like Indian +love, dies hard. As boy he had sometimes triumphed in games and sports +over the champions of the villages. As youth he had more than once found +favor in the dark eyes that looked coldly on fiercer, fonder claimants, +and one girl of the Ogallallas had turned from her kith and kin, spurned +more than one red lover to seek the young trader when he left the +reservation to build his own nest in the Medicine Bow, and they told a +story as pathetic as that of the favorite daughter of old Sintogaliska, +chief of the Brule Sioux, who pined and died at Laramie when she heard +that the soldier she loved had come back from the far East with a +pale-faced bride. There were red men of the Ogallallas to whom the name +of Hal Folsom was a taunt and insult to this day, men whom his father +had vainly sought to appease, and they were Burning Star, the lover, and +two younger braves, the brothers of the girl they swore that Hal had +lured away. + +South of the Platte, as it rolled past Frayne and Laramie, those Indians +were bound by treaty not to go. North of the Platte Hal Folsom was +warned never again to venture. These were stories which were well known +to the parents of the girl he wooed and won, but which probably were not +fully explained to her. Now, even behind the curtain of that sheltering +river, with its flanking forts, even behind the barrier of the mountains +of the Medicine Bow, she often woke at night and clutched her baby to +her breast when the yelping of the coyotes came rising on the wind. +There was no woman in Wyoming to whom war with Red Cloud's people bore +such dread possibility as to Hal Folsom's wife. + +And so when Marshall Dean came riding in one glad June morning, bronzed, +and tanned, and buoyant, and tossed his reins to the orderly who trotted +at his heels, while the troop dismounted and watered at the stream, Mrs. +Folsom's heart was gladdened by his confident and joyous bearing. Twice, +thrice he had seen Red Cloud and all his braves, and there was nothing, +said he, to worry about. "Ugly, of course they are; got some imaginary +grievances and talk big about the warpath. Why, what show would those +fellows have with their old squirrel rifles and gas-pipe Springfields +against our new breech-loaders? They know it as well as we do. It's all +a bluff, Mrs. Folsom. You mark my words," said he, and really the boy +believed it. Frequent contact in the field with the red warriors +inspires one with little respect for their skill or prowess until that +contact becomes hostile, then it's time to keep every sense on guard and +leave no point uncovered. + +"But what if the Indian Bureau should let them have breech-loaders?" she +anxiously asked. "You know that is Red Cloud's demand." + +"Oh," said Dean, with confidence born of inexperience in the Bureau +ways, "they couldn't be such fools. Besides, if they do," he added +hopefully, "you'll see my troop come trotting back full tilt. Now, I'm +counting on a good time at Emory, and on bringing your sister and mine +up here to see you." + +"It will be just lovely," said Mrs. Hal, with a woman's natural but +unspoken comparison between the simplicity of her ranch toilet and the +probable elegancies of the young ladies' Eastern costumes. "They'll find +us very primitive up here in the mountains, I'm afraid; but if they like +scenery and horseback riding and fishing there's nothing like it." + +"Oh, they're coming sure. Jessie's letters tell me that's one of the big +treats Mr. Folsom has promised them. Just think, they should be along +this week, and I shall be stationed so near them at Emory--of all places +in the world." + +"How long is it since you have seen Elinor--'Pappoose,' as your sister +calls her," asked Mrs. Hal, following the train of womanly thought then +drifting through her head, as she set before her visitor a brimming +goblet of buttermilk. + +"Two years. She was at the Point a day or two the summer of our +graduation," he answered carelessly. "A real little Indian girl she was, +too, so dark and shy and silent, yet I heard Professor M----'s daughters +and others speak of her later; she pleased them so much, and Jessie +thinks there's no girl like her." + +"And you haven't seen her since--not even her picture?" asked Mrs. Hal, +rising from her easy-chair. "Just let me show you the one she sent Hal +last week. I think there's a surprise in store for you, young man," was +her mental addition, as she tripped within doors. + +The nurse girl, a half-breed, one of the numerous progeny of the French +trappers and explorers who had married among the Sioux, was hushing the +burly little son and heir to sleep in his Indian cradle, crooning some +song about the fireflies and and Heecha, the big-eyed owl, and the +mother stooped to press her lips upon the rounded cheek and to flick +away a tear-drop, for Hal 2d had roared lustily when ordered to his +noonday nap. Away to the northward the heavily wooded heights seemed +tipped by fleecy, summer clouds, and off to the northeast Laramie Peak +thrust his dense crop of pine and scrub oak above the mass of snowy +vapor that floated lazily across that grim-visaged southward scarp. The +drowsy hum of insects, the plash of cool, running waters fell softly on +the ear. Under the shade of willow and cottonwood cattle and horses were +lazily switching at the swarm of gnats and flies or dozing through the +heated hours of the day. Out on the level flat beyond the corral the +troopers had unsaddled, and the chargers, many of them stopping to roll +in equine ecstasy upon the turf, were being driven out in one big herd +to graze. Without and within the ranch everything seemed to speak of +peace and security. The master rode the range long miles away in search +of straying cattle, leaving his loved ones without thought of danger. +The solemn treaty that bound the Sioux to keep to the north of the +Platte stood sole sentinel over his vine and fig tree. True there had +been one or two instances of depredation, but they could be fastened on +no particular band, and all the chiefs, even defiant Red Cloud, and +insolent, swaggering Little Big Man, denied all knowledge of the +perpetrators. Spotted Tail, it was known, would severely punish any of +his people who transgressed, but he could do nothing with the +Ogallallas. Now they were not two hundred miles away to the north, their +ranks swollen by accessions from all the disaffected villages and +turbulent young braves of the swarming bands along the Missouri and +Yellowstone, and if their demands were resisted by the government, or +worse, if they were permitted to have breech-loaders or magazine rifles, +then just coming into use, no shadow of doubt remained that war to the +knife would follow. Then how long would it be before they came charging +down across the Platte, east or west of Frayne, and raiding those new +ranches in the Laramie Valley? + +Reassuring as he meant his words to be, Marshall Dean himself looked +anxiously about at the unprotected walls. Not even the customary +"dugout" or underground refuge seemed to have been prepared. Almost +every homestead, big or little, of those days, had its tunnel from the +cellar to a dugout near at hand, stocked with provisions and water and +provided with loopholes commanding the neighborhood, and herein the +besieged could take refuge and stand off the Indians until help should +come from the nearest frontier fort. "The name of Folsom is our +safeguard," said Mrs. Hal, in her happy honeymoon days, but that was +before the mother told her of the threats of Burning Star or the story +of the Ogallalla girl he vainly loved. "All that happened so long ago," +she murmured, when at last the tale was told. But Hal should have known, +if she did not, that, even when it seems to sleep, Indian vengeance is +but gaining force and fury. + +Presently Mrs. Hall came tripping forth again, a little _carte de +visite_ in her hand, a smile of no little significance on her lips. +"Now, Mr. Dean, will you tell me what you think of that for a pappoose?" + +And with wonderment in his eyes the young officer stood and held it and +gazed. + +There stood Pappoose, to be sure, but what a change! The little maiden +with the dark braids of hair hanging far below her waist had developed +into a tall, slender girl, with clear-cut, oval face, crowned by a mass +of dark tresses. Her heavy, low-arching brows spanned the thoughtful, +deep, dark-brown eyes that seemed to speak the soul within, and the +beautiful face was lighted up with a smile that showed just a peep of +faultless white teeth, gleaming through the warm curves of her soft, +sensitive lips. The form was exquisitely rounded, yet supple and erect. + +"Hasn't Jessie written you of how Nell has grown and improved?" said +Mrs. Hall, with a woman's quick note of the admiration and surprise in +Dean's regard. + +"She must have," was the answer, "I'm sure she has, but perhaps I +thought it schoolgirl rhapsody--perhaps I had too many other things to +think of." + +"Perhaps you'll find it superseding these too many things, Mr. Soldier +Boy," was Mrs. Hal's mental comment. "Now, sir, if you've gazed enough +perhaps you'll tell me your plans," and she stretched forth a reclaiming +hand. + +But he hung on to the prize. "Let me keep it a minute," he pleaded. +"It's the loveliest thing I've seen in months." + +And, studying his absorbed face, she yielded, her eyebrows arching, a +pretty smile of feminine triumph about her lips, and neither noticed the +non-commissioned officer hurrying within the gate, nor that half the men +in "C" Troop at their bivouac along the stream were on their feet and +gazing to northeast, that far down the valley a horseman was speeding +like the wind, that little puffs of smoke were rising from the crests of +the grand landmark of the range and floating into the blue of the +heavens. Both started to their feet at the abrupt announcement. + +"Lieutenant, there are smoke signals on Lar'mie Peak." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Lieutenant Dean's orders required that he should march his troop without +unnecessary delay to Fork Emory, there to take station relieving Troop +"F," ordered to change to Frayne, which meant, in so many words, to take +the field. Captain Brooks, still wrestling with the fever, had retired +to his quarters at the old frontier fort that stood so long on the +bluffs overlooking the fords of the Platte. The surgeon said he must +remain in bed at least a week, so meantime the troop packed up, sent its +wagons ahead over the range, bade God speed to "F" as it passed through +_en route_ to the front, exchanged a volley of chaff and chewing tobacco +over the parting game of "freeze out" fought to a finish on many an +outspread saddle blanket, then, jogged on toward Gate City, making wide +_detour_ at the suggestion of the field officer in command at Frayne, +that they might scout the Laramie plains and see that all was well at +Folsom's ranch. This _detour_ was duly reported to the peppery veteran +at Fort Emory, an old colonel whose command was by this time reduced +from "headquarters, field, staff and band," six companies of infantry +and four troops of cavalry, to the band and two desperately overworked +companies of foot. "Two nights in bed" were all his men could hope for, +and sometimes no more than one, so grievous was the guard duty. Hence +"old Pecksniff," his adjutant and quartermaster and his two remaining +companies saw fit to take it as most unkind in Lieutenant-Colonel Ford +to authorize that diversion of Dean's, and highly improper on Dean's +part to attempt it. By this time, too, there was in circulation at Emory +a story that this transfer of "C" to interior lines and away from +probable contact with the Sioux was not so much that it had done far +more than its share of that arduous work, completely using up its +captain, as that, now the captain was used up, the authorities had their +doubts as to the "nerve" of the lieutenant in temporary command. A +fellow who didn't care to come to Emory and preferred rough duty up +along the Platte must be lacking in some essential particular, thought +the women folk, and at the very moment that Marshall Dean sat there at +Hal Folsom's ranch, as brave and hardy and capable a young officer as +ever forded the Platte, looking forward with pleasurable anticipations +to those days to come at Emory, with Jessie--Jessie and, of course, +Pappoose--so close at hand in town, there was gaining ground at the post +an impression that the safety of the board of officers sent to choose +the site of the new Big Horn post had been imperiled by Dean's weakening +at a critical moment in presence of a band of probably hostile Sioux. +Burleigh had plainly intimated as much to his chief clerk and Colonel +Stevens, and when Loring and Stone came through a day or two later and +questions were asked about that meeting, the aide-de-camp gave it as +distinctly to be understood that he had practically assumed command, +Dean's inexperience being manifest, and his own prompt measures had +extricated the little detachment from a most delicate and dangerous +position. The engineer, let it be said, did not hear this statement, and +the aid was very careful not to make it in his presence. He was a +comparative stranger and as no one presumed to question him, he +volunteered no information. + +Planning to bivouac until dawn of the next day at Folsom's, Dean had +then intended to reach Fort Emory in three easy marches. He was anxious +to bring his horses in in best possible condition, despite all their +hard service; yet now, barely two o'clock on this hot June afternoon, +came most unlooked-for, most importunate interruption to his plans. +Springing to the gate at the sergeant's summons, he first directed his +gaze to the distant peak, recognized instantly the nature of the smoke +puffs there rising, then turned for explanation to the swift-riding +courier, whose horse's heels were making the dust fly from the sun-dried +soil. One or two ranch hands, with anxious faces, came hastening over +from the corral. The darkey cook rushed up from the kitchen, rifle in +hand. Plainly these fellows were well used to war's alarms. Mrs. Folsom, +with staring eyes and dreadful anxiety in her face, gazed only at the +hurrying courier, clinging the while to the pillar of the portico, as +though needing support. The smoke puffs on the mountain, the dust-cloud +back of the tearing rider were symptoms enough for Dean. + +"Get in your herd, sergeant!" he shouted at the top of his voice; and +over the rushing of the Laramie his words reached the rousing bivouac, +and saddle blankets were sent swinging in air in signal to the distant +guards, and within a few seconds every horse was headed for home; and +then, to the sound of excited voices was added the rising thunder of +scores of bounding hoofs, as, all in a dust-cloud of their own, the +sixty chargers came galloping in, ears erect, eyes ablaze, nostrils +wide, manes and tails streaming in the breeze, guided by their eager +guards full tilt for camp. Out ran their riders, bridles in hand, to +meet and check them, every horse when within a few yards of his master +seeming to settle on his haunches and plow up the turf in the sudden +effort to check his speed, long months of service on the plains and in +the heart of Indian land having taught them in times of alarm or peril +that the quicker they reached the guiding hand and bore, each, his +soldier on his back, the quicker would vanish the common foe. Even +before the panting steed of the headlong courier came within hailing +distance of the ranch, half the horses in the troop were caught and the +bits were rattling between their teeth; then, as the messenger tore +along the gentle slope that led to the gateway, his wearied horse +laboring painfully at the rise, Mrs. Folsom recognized one of her +husband's herdsmen, a man who had lived long years in Wyoming and could +be unnerved by no false alarm, and her voice went up in a shriek of fear +as she read the tidings in his almost ghastly face. + +"Where is Hal?" she screamed. "Oh, what has happened?" + +"He's safe," was the answering call, as the rider waved a reassuring +hand, but at the instant he bent low. "Thank God, you're here, +lieutenant," he gasped. "Mount quick. Hal's corralled two miles out +there under the butte--Sioux!" And then they saw that he was swooning, +that the blood was streaming down the left thigh and leg, and before +hand could help him, he rolled senseless, doubled up in the dust at his +horse's feet, and the weary creature never even started. + +"Saddle up, men!" rang the order across the stream. And then while +strong arms lifted and bore the wounded herdsman to the porch, Dean +turned to the wailing mistress, who, white-faced and terror-stricken, +was wringing her hands and moaning and running wildly up and down the +walk and calling for some one to go and save her husband. Dean almost +bore her to a chair and bade her fear nothing. He and his men would lose +not a moment. On the floor at her feet lay the little card photograph, +and Dean, hardly thinking what he did, stooped, picked it up and placed +it in the pocket of his hunting shirt, just as the trumpeter on his +plunging gray reached the gate, Dean's big, handsome charger trotting +swiftly alongside. In an instant the lieutenant was in saddle, in +another second a trooper galloped up with his belt and carbine. Already +the men were leading into line across the stream, and, bidding the +trumpeter tell Sergeant Shaughnessy to follow at speed, the young +officer struck spur to his horse and, carbine in hand, a single trooper +at his heels, away he darted down the valley, "C" Troop, splashing +through the ford a moment later, took the direct road past the stockade +of the corral, disappeared from sight a moment behind that wooden +fortification, and, when next it hove in view, it was galloping front +into line far down the Laramie, then once more vanished behind its +curtain of dust. + +"Two miles out there under the butte," was the only indication the young +officer had of the scene of the fight, for fight he knew it must be, and +even as he went bounding down the valley he recalled the story of the +Indian girl, the threats of Burning Star, the vowed vengeance of her +brothers. Could it be that, taking advantage of this raid of Red Cloud, +far from all the reservations, far from possibility of detection by +count of prying agents, the three had induced a gang of daring, +devil-may-care young warriors to slip away from the Big Horn with them +and, riding stealthily away from the beaten trails, to ford the Platte +beyond the ken of watchful eyes at Frayne and sneak through the mountain +range to the beautiful, fertile valley beyond, and there lie in wait for +Hal Folsom or for those he loved? What was to prevent? Well they knew +the exact location of his ranch. They had fished and sported all about +it in boy days--days when the soldiers and the Sioux were all good +friends, days before the mistaken policy of a post commander had led to +an attack upon a peaceful band, and that to the annihilation of the +attacking party. From that fatal day of the Grattan massacre ten years +before, there had been no real truce with the Sioux, and now was +opportunity afforded for a long-plotted revenge. Dean wondered Folsom +had not looked for it instead of sleeping in fancied security. + +A mile nearer the butte and, glancing back, he could see his faithful +men come bounding in his tracks. A mile ahead, rising abruptly from the +general level, a little knoll or butte jutted out beyond the shoulders +of the foothills and stood sentinel within three hundred yards of the +stream. On the near--the westward--side, nothing could be seen of horse +or man. Something told him he would find the combatants beyond--that +dead or alive, Hal Folsom would be there awaiting him. A glance at the +commanding height and the ridge that connected it with the tumbling, +wooded hills to the north, convinced him that at this moment some of the +foe were lurking there, watching the westward valley, and by this time +they knew full well of the coming of the cavalry to the rescue. By this +time, more than likely, they were scurrying off to the mountains again, +returning the way they came, with a start of at least two miles. + +"With or without the coveted scalps?" he wondered. Thus far he had been +riding straight for the butte. The road wound along and disappeared +behind him, but there was no sense in following the road. "Pursue and +punish," was the thing to be done. Surely not more than a dozen were in +the band, else that courier could never have hoped to get in, wounded as +he was. The Indians were too few in number to dare follow to the ranch, +guarded as, by almost God-given luck, it happened to be through the +unlooked-for presence of the troops. No, it was a small band, though a +daring one. Its lookout had surely warned it by this time of his coming, +and by this time, too, all save one or two who rode the fleetest ponies +and lingered probably for a parting shot at the foremost of the chase, +had scampered away behind the curtain of that ridge. Therefore, in long +curve, never checking his magnificent stride, Dean guided his bounding +bay to the left--the northeast--and headed for the lowest point of the +divide. + +And then it all occurred to him too that he was far in front of his men, +too far to be of use to them and just far enough to be an easy prey for +the lurking foe. Then, too, it occurred to him that he must not leave +the ranch unprotected. Already he was within long rifle range of the +height; already probably some beady eye was glancing through the sights, +and the deadly tube was covering him as he came bounding on. Three +hundred yards more and his life probably wouldn't be worth a dollar in +Confederate money, and wisely the young leader began to draw rein, and, +turning in saddle, signaled to his single companion, laboring along one +hundred yards behind, to hasten to join him. Presently the trooper came +spurring up, a swarthy young German, but though straining every nerve +the troop was still a mile away. + +"Ride back, Wegner, and tell the sergeant to take ten men around that +side--the south side of the bluff," and he pointed with his hand; "the +rest to come straight to me." + +Oh, well was it for Dean that he checked his speed, and as the young +dragoon went sputtering back, that he himself drew rein and waited for +the coming of his men. Suddenly from far out along the ridge in front, +from the very crest there leaped a jet or two of fire and smoke. Two +little spurts of dust and turf flew up from the prairie sod a dozen +yards in front, a rifle bullet went singing off through the sunny air, +Rabb, his handsome bay, pawed the ground and switched about, and up on +the crest, riding boldly in full view, two lithe, naked, painted +warriors, war bonnets trailing over their ponies' croups, yelling shrill +insult and derision, went tearing away northward, one of them pausing +long enough to wave some ragged object on high, and give one ringing, +exultant whoop ere he disappeared from view. + +"It's a scalp, lieutenant," shouted the foremost sergeant as he came +lunging up to join his chief. "They've got one, anyhow." + +"Come on, then, and we'll get it back," was the only answer, as with +nearly thirty troopers stringing out behind them, the two launched out +in chase. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Obedient to his orders the Irish sergeant, with a little squad at his +heels, had kept straight on. A few minutes later, rounding the bluff at +the gallop, eyes flashing over the field in front of them, the party +went racing out over the turf and came in full view of the scene of the +fight. Five hundred yards further down stream was a deep bend in the +Laramie. Close to the water's edge two horses lay stretched upon the +ground, stone dead. Out on the open prairie lay an Indian pony still +kicking in his dying agony, and as the soldiers came sweeping into view +two men rose up from behind the low bank of the stream and swung their +hats--Hal Folsom and one of his hands safe, unwounded, yet with a look +in their gray faces that told of recent mortal peril. + +"We're all right! Go on after them. They've run off a dozen of my best +horses," said Folsom, "and I'm afraid they cut off Jake." + +"No! Jake reached the ranch all right--leastwise somebody did," said +Shaughnessy. "That's how we got the news. They got somebody, or else +they were only bluffing when they waved that scalp. How many were +there?" + +"At least a dozen--too many for you to tackle. Where's the rest of the +troop?" + +"Close at their heels. The lieutenant led them right over the ridge. +Listen!" + +Yes, far up in the foothills, faint and clear, the sounds of the chase +could now be heard. Dean's men were closing on the fleeing warriors, for +every little while the silence of the range was broken by the crack of +rifle or carbine. Shaughnessy's fellows began to fidget and look eagerly +thither, and he read their wish. "Two of you stay with Mr. Folsom," he +said, "and the rest come with me. There's nothing we can do here, is +there? Sure, you're not hit?" + +"No, go on! Give 'em hell and get back my horses. I'd go with you, but +they've killed what horses they couldn't drive. All safe at the ranch?" + +Shaughnessy nodded as he spurred away. "We'll be gettin' the lieutenant +a brevet for this," said he, "if we can only close up with those +blackguards." And these were the words Folsom carried back with him, as, +mounting a willing trooper's horse, he galloped homeward to reassure his +wife, thanking God for the opportune coming of the little command, yet +swearing with close compressed lips at the ill-starred work of the day. +Thus far he had striven to keep from her all knowledge of the threats of +the Ogallallas, although he knew she must have heard of them. He had +believed himself secure so far back from the Platte. He had done +everything in his power to placate Red Cloud and the chiefs--to convince +his former friends that he had never enticed poor Lizette, as Baptiste +had called the child, from her home and people. They held he should +never have left her, though she had accused him of no wrong. Burning +Star, in his jealous rage, hated him, because he believed that but for +love of the paleface Lizette would have listened to his wooing, and +Folsom's conscience could not acquit him of having seen her preference +and of leading her on. He could not speak of her to his wife without +shame and remorse. He had no idea what could have been her fate, for the +poor girl had disappeared from the face of the earth, and now, at last, +this day had proved to him the threats of her lover and her brothers +were not idle. He had had so narrow a squeak for his life, so sharp and +sudden and hard a fight for it that, now that the peril was over, his +nerve began to give way, his strong hands to tremble. Armed with +breech-loaders, he and his two friends had been able to stand off the +attacking party, killing two ponies, and emptying, they felt sure, two +saddles; but little by little the Indians were working around their +position, and would have crawled upon them within an hour or two but for +Jake's daring ride for help and the blessed coming of the blue-coats in +the nick of time. Folsom swore he'd never forget their services this +day. + +And as he cantered homeward he could still hear the distant firing dying +away in the mountains to the north. "Give 'em hell, Dean!" he muttered +through his set teeth. "They're showing fight even when you've got 'em +on the run. I wonder what that means?" + +Not until another day was he to know. Late on the evening of the attack, +while he was seated with his wife by Jake's bedside, half a dozen +troopers, two of them wounded and all with worn-out horses, came +drifting back to camp. Twice, said they, had the fleeing Indians made a +stand to cover the slow retreat of one or two evidently sorely stricken, +but so closely were they pressed that at last they had been forced to +abandon one of their number, who died, sending his last vengeful shot +through the lieutenant's hunting shirt, yet only grazing the skin. Dean, +with most of the men, pushed on in pursuit, determined never to desist +so long as there was light, but these who returned could not keep up. + +Leaving the dead body of the young brave where it lay among the rocks, +they slowly journeyed back to camp. No further tidings came, and at +daybreak Folsom, with two ranchmen and a trooper, rode out on the trail +to round up the horses the Indians had been compelled to drop. Mrs. Hal +clung sobbing to him, unable to control her fears, but he chided her +gently and bade her see that Jake lacked no care or comfort. The brave +fellow was sore and feverish, but in no great danger now. Five miles out +in the foothills they came upon the horses wandering placidly back to +the valley, but Folsom kept on. Four miles further he and a single +ranchman with him came upon three troopers limping along afoot, their +horses killed in the running fight, and one of these, grateful for a +long pull at Folsom's flask, turned back and showed them the body of the +fallen brave. One look was enough for Hal and the comrade with him. +"Don't let my wife know--who it was," he had muttered to his friend. "It +would only make her more nervous." There lay Chaska, Lizette's eldest +brother, and well Hal Folsom knew _that_ death would never go unavenged. + +"If ever a time comes when I can do you a good turn, lieutenant," said +he that afternoon as, worn out with long hours of pursuit and scout, the +troop was encountered slowly marching back to the Laramie, "I'll do it +if it costs me the whole ranch." But Dean smiled and said they wouldn't' +have missed that chance even for the ranch. What a blessed piece of luck +it was that the commanding officer at Frayne had bidden him take that +route instead of the direct road to Gate City! He had sent men riding in +to both posts on the Platte, with penciled lines telling of the Indian +raid and its results. Once well covered by darkness the little band had +easily escaped their pursuers, and were now safe across the river and +well ahead of all possibility of successful pursuit. But if anything +were needed to prove the real temper of the Sioux the authorities had +it. Now was the time to grapple that Ogallalla tribe and bring it to +terms before it could be reinforced by half the young men in the +villages of the northern plains. The Platte, of course, would be +patrolled by a strong force of cavalry for some weeks to come, and no +new foray need be dreaded yet awhile. Red Cloud's people would "lay low" +and watch the effect of this exploit before attempting another. If the +White Father "got mad" and ordered "heap soldiers" there to punish them, +then they must disavow all participation in the affair, even though one +of their best young braves was prominent in the outrage, and had paid +for the luxury with his life--even though Burning Star was trying to +hide the fresh scar of a rifle bullet along his upper arm. Together Dean +and Folsom rode back to the ranch, and another night was spent there +before the troop was sufficiently rested to push on to Emory. + +"Remember this, lieutenant," said Folsom again, as he pressed his hand +at parting, "there's nothing too good for you and "C" Troop at my home. +If ever you need a friend you'll find one here." + +And the time was coming when Marshall Dean would need all that he could +muster. + +Two days later--still a march away from Emory--a courier overtook him +with a letter from his late post commander: "Your vigorous pursuit and +prompt, soldierly action have added to the fine record already made and +merit hearty commendation." The cordial words brought sunshine to his +heart. How proud Jess would be, and mother! He had not had a word from +either for over a week. The latter, though far from strong, was content +at home in the loving care of her sister, and in the hope that he would +soon obtain the leave of absence so long anticipated, and, after Jess's +brief visit to Pappoose's new home, would come to gladden the eyes of +kith and kin, but mother's most of all, bringing Jessie with him. Little +hope of leave of absence was there now, and less was he the man to ask +it with such troubles looming up all along the line of frontier posts to +the north. But at least there would be the joy of seeing Jess in a few +days and showing her his troop--her and Pappoose. How wonderfully that +little schoolgirl must have grown and developed! How beautiful a girl +she must now be if that photograph was no flatterer! By the way, where +was that photo? What had he done with it? For the first time in four +days he remembered his picking it up when Mrs. Hal Folsom collapsed at +sight of Jake's swooning. Down in the depths of the side pocket of his +heavy blue flannel hunting shirt he found it, crumpled a bit, and all +its lower left-hand corner bent and blackened and crushed, Chaska's last +shot that tore its way so close below the young soldier's bounding +heart, just nipping and searing the skin, had left its worst mark on +that dainty _carte de visite_. In that same pocket, too, was another +packet--a letter which had been picked up on the floor of the hut at +Reno after Burleigh left--one for which the major had searched in vain, +for it was underneath a lot of newspapers. "You take that after him," +said the cantonment commander, as Dean followed with the troop next day, +and little dreamed what it contained. + +That very day, in the heavy, old-fashioned sleeping-cars of the Union +Pacific, two young girls were seated in their section on the northward +side. One, a dark-eyed, radiant beauty, gazed out over the desolate +slopes and far-reaching stretches of prairie and distant lines of bald +bluff, with delight in her dancing eyes. The other, a winsome maid of +nineteen, looked on with mild wonderment, not unmixed with +disappointment she would gladly have hidden. To Elinor the scenes of her +childhood were dear and welcome; to Jessie there was too much that was +somber, too little that was inviting. But presently, as the long train +rolled slowly to the platform of a rude wooden station building, there +came a sight at which the eyes of both girls danced in eager interest--a +row of "A" tents on the open prairie, a long line of horses tethered to +the picket ropes, groups of stalwart, sunburned men in rough blue garb, +a silken guidon flapping by the tents of the officers. It was one of +half a dozen such camps of detached troops they had been passing ever +since breakfast time--the camps of isolated little commands guarding the +new railway on the climb to Cheyenne. Papa, with one or two cronies, was +playing "old sledge" in the smoking compartment. At a big station a few +miles back two men in the uniform of officers boarded the car, one of +them burly, rotund, and sallow. He was shown to the section just in +front of the girls, and at Pappoose he stared--stared long and hard, so +that she bit her lip and turned nervously away. The porter dusted the +seat and disposed of the hand luggage and hung about the new arrivals in +adulation. The burly man was evidently a personage of importance, and +his shoulder straps indicated that he was a major of the general staff. +The other, who followed somewhat diffidently, was a young lieutenant of +infantry, whose trim frock-coat snugly fitted his slender figure. + +"Ah, sit down here, Mr.--Mr. Loomis," said the major patronizingly. "So +you are going up to the Big Horn. Well, sir, I hope we shall hear good +accounts of you. There's a splendid field for officers of the right +sort--there--and opportunities for distinction--every day." + +At sound of the staff officer's voice there roused up from the opposite +section, where he had been dozing over a paper, a man of middle age, +slim, athletic, with heavy mustache and imperial, just beginning to turn +gray, with deep-set eyes under bushy brows, and a keen, shrewd face, +rather deeply lined. There was a look of dissipation there, a shade of +shabbiness about his clothes, a rakish cut to the entire personality +that had caused Folsom to glance distrustfully at him more than once the +previous afternoon, and to meet with coldness the tentatives permissible +in fellow travelers. The stranger's morning had been lonesome. Now he +held his newspaper where it would partly shield his face, yet permit his +watching the officers across the aisle. And something in his stealthy +scrutiny attracted Pappoose. + +"Yes," continued the major, "I have seen a great deal of that country, +and Mr. Dean, of whom you spoke, was attached to the troop escorting our +commission. He is hardly--I regret to have to say it--er--what you +imagine. We were, to put it mildly, much disappointed in his conduct the +day of our meeting with the Sioux." + +A swift, surprised glance passed between the girls, a pained look shot +into the lieutenant's face, but before the major could go on the man +across the aisle arose and bent over him with extended hand. + +"Ah, Burleigh, I thought I knew the voice." But the hand was not +grasped. The major was drawing back, his face growing yellow-white with +some strange dismay. + +"You don't seem sure of my identity. Let me refresh your memory, +Burleigh. I am Captain Newhall. I see you need a drink, major--I'll take +one with you." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +For nearly a week after the home-coming of his beloved daughter John +Folsom was too happy in her presence to give much thought to other +matters. By the end of that week, however, the honest old Westerner +found anxieties thickening about him. There were forty-eight hours of +undimmed rejoicing. Elinor was so radiant, so fond, and had grown, so +said the proud father to himself, and so said others, so wondrously +lovely. His eyes followed her every movement. He found himself negligent +of her gentle little friend and guest, Jessie Dean, to whom he had vowed +to be a second father, and such a friend as she had been to his Pappoose +when, a homesick, sad-eyed child, she entered upon her schooldays. +Elinor herself had to chide him, and with contrition and dismay he +admitted his fault, and then for hours nothing could exceed his +hospitable attentions to Jessie, who, sorely disappointed because +Marshall was not there to meet her, was growing anxious as no tidings +came from him. Two whole days the damsels spent in going over the new +house, exclaiming over papa's lavish preparations, but wishing presently +that Mrs. Fletcher were not quite so much in evidence, here, there, and +everywhere. Only when bedtime came and they could nestle in one or other +of their connecting rooms were they secure from interruption, and even +then it presently appeared they could not talk confidentially as of old. +Folsom had taken them driving each afternoon, he himself handling the +reins over his handsome bays, Elinor at his side the first time, and +Jessie, with Mrs. Fletcher, occupying the rear seat. But this, Elinor +whispered to him, was not as it should be. Her guest should have the +seat of honor. So, next day, Jessie was handed to the front and Mrs. +Fletcher and Pappoose were placed in rear, and in this order they bowled +round the fort and listened to the band and talked with several of the +women and one or two officers, but these latter could tell nothing about +Lieutenant Dean except that they had been expecting him for two days--he +having taken the long way home, which both Jessie and Pappoose +considered odd under the circumstances, though neither said so and +nobody thought to explain. But the morning of the third day "Miss +Folsom"--as the veteran was amazed to hear his daughter addressed, yet +on reflection concluded that he'd be tempted to kick any man who +addressed her otherwise--seized a favorable opportunity and whisked her +fond father into a corner of his library, and there gave him to +understand that in Eastern circles the housekeeper might sometimes, +perhaps, accompany the young ladies when they were going shopping, or +the like, alone, but that when escorted by papa it was quite +unnecessary. It was in fact not at all conventional. + +"Bless my soul!" said Folsom. "I supposed that was what she was for. +What did these women mean by telling me I must have a, companion--a +guide--etc.?" + +"They meant, you blessed Daddy, that they wished to provide you +with--one of their number, and me--with something I do not want. If Mrs. +Fletcher is to be housekeeper I have nothing to say, but--don't you +think your big daughter old enough and wise enough to select her own +companions? Daddy dear," she continued, after a little pause, and +nestling close to him with a pathetic look in the big brown eyes, her +lips twitching a bit, "I know how loving and thoughtful you have been in +all this, and I wouldn't have you think me ungrateful, but--did you +believe I was always going to be a little girl? What do you suppose I +studied housekeeping for at school? Mrs. Fletcher is engaged, I presume, +and I can't ask you to undo that now, but I wish you had written to me +first. However, if you don't mind, there's somebody I'd rather you would +invite to take the fourth seat to-day, and then you can have Pappoose +beside you, if you wish." + +"Why, of course, sweetheart, any one you like." + +"Lieutenant Loomis, then, Daddy--the officer we met on the train. Jessie +likes him and he's such a friend of her brother--the only one we have +yet seen who seems to know him at all. Then you could ask him to dinner, +too." + +Folsom's face was a study. Doubt and perplexity both were twitching in +the little muscles about his lips. + +"We met three officers, did we not, Elinor, and I had thought--somewhat +of--asking the major and his guest. He said he wished to call. He was +here while we were driving yesterday. I met him later." + +"Yes, I saw his card," was the hurried, indifferent answer. "But they +are not like Mr. Loomis. Daddy, I did not at all like that Captain +Newhall, or--for that matter----" + +"They both seemed prodigiously struck with you," said Folsom, in +misguided confidence yet pardonable pride. "They've done, nothing but +talk to me about you ever since." + +"They did nothing but talk to me all the way over the mountains, except +when they were out taking what I have reason to believe was an +occasional drink, Daddy mine. Jess had Mr. Loomis to herself. They have +found your weak spot, Daddy. They know you love to talk of your +daughter. You have only known Major Burleigh a little while, is it not +so?" + +"Only within the year, perhaps, though of course I've heard of him a +great deal." + +"And this Captain Newhall, whose regiment is in Louisiana while he's out +here on leave--I thought officers went East when they got leave." + +"Newhall says he's out here looking over some mining schemes. He has +money to invest, I believe." + +"He should invest some money in a traveling suit, Daddy dear. That coat +and his linen seemed woefully out of condition. Gentlemen are not +careless about such matters." + +"Oh, he explained that his trunks were delayed in Omaha or somewhere, +and were coming along next train. I own I was prejudiced against him, +too, but of course if he's a friend and guest of Burleigh's he--he must +be all right. He's staying with him at the depot." + +"And you've got to invite them to dinner?" asked Miss Folsom, after +another pause, during which she had been thinking deeply. + +"Not if you don't want it, pet. Of course they'll expect it. Army +officers are hospitable, you know, Burleigh has asked me to dine with +him a dozen times, though I've only been there once." + +"Then you'll have to invite him, Daddy," was the answer, with quick +decision. "Only, just wait for a day or two. Captain Newhall was going +right out to the mines, he said, and there may be others we'd be glad to +have. Jessie's brother ought to be here any hour." + +"Yes," said Folsom dubiously. "I've been thinking about him--I've been +wishing----" + +But he hesitated and faltered and could not meet the deep brown eyes, so +full of searching inquiry and keen intelligence. + +"You've been thinking--what, Daddy?" she asked, and now her slender +hands were on his shoulders and she was turning him so that she could +study his face. "You have been hearing something you do not wish us to +know, Daddy dear. I heard Major Burleigh say something to Mr. Loomis +about--about Lieutenant Dean, and I know Mr. Loomis did not like it, and +Jessie and I can't believe it. Father, where is he? Why doesn't he come? +Why do these--these people at the fort hem and haw and hesitate when +they speak about him? Jessie is getting so troubled." + +"_I'm_ getting troubled, daughter," answered Folsom impulsively. "I +never met a likelier young fellow or one that promised to make a better +officer. He may be all right, too, only it isn't so much what they _do_ +say as what they don't say that troubles me. Burleigh here and old +Stevens out at the fort and one or two others I've asked about him. +Burleigh says he 'lost his nerve' when they met Red Cloud's big band. A +boy might be excused for that so long as he didn't misbehave. It was big +responsibility for a young lieutenant. But these people, as you speak of +them out at the fort, really know very little about Dean. Burleigh says +he's in a position that enables him to know so much more about the +character and habits of the young officers." + +"Surely he can say nothing against Mr. Dean!" exclaimed Pappoose, +looking up with quick indignation in her brown eyes. "No one knows how +good and generous he has been to Jessie and his mother." + +They were standing at the moment in the corner of the library farthest +from the doorway. The front windows opened to the north, giving a fine +view of the rolling hills rising higher and higher and looking down upon +the grass-grown slopes spread out at their feet, criss-crossed and +traversed by hard-beaten roads and trails. Immediately in front of the +house Folsom had seeded and watered and coaxed into semblance of a lawn +the best turf to be had in that section of Wyoming, and inclosed it in a +spick and span white picket fence. The main road between the fort and +the railway station passed directly in front of his gate. The side +window of the cozy room looked out to the west over the valley of a +rushing stream, once rich in trout, but now much infested by the mules +from Burleigh's corral, which lay half a mile away to the southeast, out +of sight of Folsom's house except from the upper windows. Eager to stock +the library with standard works against his daughter's coming, the old +trader had consulted a friend among the officers and had sent a lavish +order to a house in Chicago. Books, therefore, were there in plenty on +the handsome shelves, and they were not ill-chosen either, but it was +Mrs. Fletcher who pointed out how stiff and angular everything looked, +who introduced the easy lounge, the soft rugs, the heavy hanging +portieres of costly Navajo blankets. It was her deft touch that draped +the curtains at the windows and softened and beautified the lines the +hand of man would have left crude and repellent. And that library had +been her favorite haunt; but since the coming of the girls Mrs. Fletcher +had seemed to retire to her own room aloft, and to spend no time below +stairs that was not demanded by her household duties. Now as the father +and daughter were talking earnestly together, they heard Mrs. Fletcher +moving about overhead as though looking over the work of the housemaid. +Jessie had gone to her own room to write a short letter to her mother. +Major Burleigh was to come at 10.30 to drive them out to Pinnacle Butte, +a sharp, rocky height far across the valley, from the summit of which a +wonderful view was to be obtained. It lacked but five minutes of the +time and suddenly Mrs. Fletcher's voice was heard on the floor above. It +was a well-modulated voice, gentle and controlled, with a clear, vibrant +ring in it that made the words distinctly audible to the hearers below. + +"The major's carriage is coming up the street, Miss Dean. There are two +officers." + +"Two!" exclaimed Jess, starting to her feet, thinking only of her +brother. "Oh! I wonder if--" And then they heard her go pit-a-pat +through the hall to the front of the house, heard Mrs. Fletcher more +deliberately follow, heard presently the beat of horses' hoofs on the +hard roadway, and the whir of coining wheels. "I'll go out to meet them, +Elinor--I'll--I'll talk to you more about this some other time. You +don't care to go on this ride this morning one bit, do you dear?" he +added uneasily. + +"No, father; frankly, I don't--but he has been polite to you and +attentive to us. There's no help for it." + +And so Folsom went alone to the door to meet his visitors on the porch +without, and did not hear, did not see Mrs. Fletcher, who came hastily +down the stairs, her face singularly pale, a glitter of excitement in +her eyes. On tiptoe she hastened along the broad hall, reaching the +library door just as Folsom stepped out on the porch. On tiptoe she +darted in, closed the door behind her, almost rushed to the north +window, and there grasping the curtain she crouched, heedless of the +possibility of observation, and for half a minute clung and crouched and +stared. Then, as Folsom's genial, powerful voice was heard in welcoming +accents, and heavy footsteps came along the broad board walk, the woman +straightened suddenly and, noiseless as before, hurried back across the +room and came face to face with the daughter of the house. + +"Oh, Miss Folsom!" she faltered, her bosom heaving in violent agitation. +"I did not know you were here. I--excuse me--" and hastened out of the +room and up the winding stairs. + +"Pappoose" never hesitated. Coolly, quickly, she stepped to the window. +Major Burleigh had just reached the top step and was exchanging greeting +with his host. The stylish team and glistening wagon were just spinning +away. + +"It'll be back in five minutes," she, heard the quartermaster explain to +her father. "Newhall has to meet come people coming in by stage from +Green River. I thought I'd rather spend the time here." + +And on the back seat, affably waving his hand in adieu, and jauntily +lifting his rakish forage cap in salutation general to any of the young +ladies who might be watching, sat the gentleman whose regiment was in +Louisiana while he was up here on leave looking after mining +investments. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +"Three mortal hours," said Miss Folsom to her fond little school friend +and chum that afternoon, "have I had to sit or stroll with or listen to +Major Burleigh. I never once was able to enjoy the view. What made him +hurry us away from the northeast point, do you suppose?" + +"Did you notice that, Nell? I did, too, and I was so interested in the +view. Away up toward Laramie Peak I could see something through the +glasses that looked like a lot of little ants crawling along together. +It was just after that--just after we looked through the glass, that he +marched us round to the other side. The view toward Green River isn't +half as pretty." + +"And now he's telling some interminable story to father over their +cigars. What shall we do if he hangs on? Father will have to ask him to +drive with us to the fort, and there won't be room." + +"Unless Mrs. Fletcher gives up her seat," said Jessie demurely. + +"Mrs. Fletcher isn't going. A very different person takes her seat +to-day, Jess. Father left a note for Mr. Loomis at the hotel and he +accepted. Now you see why I don't want Major Burleigh." + +It was then long after three o'clock. At five they were to start and +Jessie could hardly curb her impatience. The mail from Frayne, so said +Folsom, would arrive that evening, and then surely there would be news +of Marshall. They had slipped away to their rooms after the bountiful +luncheon served on their return, in order, as "Pappoose" expressed it, +that the gentlemen might have t-heir cigars in peace. Mrs. Fletcher, +after seeing that everything was prepared, had directed the servant to +say to Mr. Folsom, on the return of the party, that she would prefer not +to appear, and would be glad to keep her room, as she did not feel it at +all necessary for the housekeeper to meet strangers, and Folsom felt a +sense of relief. It was so much sweeter not to have any presiding genius +other than Pappoose, not that he was forgetful of Mrs. Fletcher's merits +and services--which were great--but it was plain to see that his +daughter would have been happier had no such office existed as that +created for this deserving and destitute widow. At three Miss Folsom had +gone and tapped at the lady's door--her room was in the third story +overlooking the street--and was very civilly assured that Mrs. Fletcher +stood in need of nothing, but, being wearied, she would like a little +sleep. No, she did not even care for a cup of tea. Yet Elinor felt +confident that the voice that replied to her inquiries came neither from +the bed nor the lounge, but from the direction of the front window. + +At three the cigars were smoked out and the host and his guest were in +the library. It was Folsom's custom, when a possible thing, to take a +brief nap after the midday meal, and Elinor felt sure he would be glad +of the opportunity now, if Burleigh would only go, but Burleigh +wouldn't. In monotonous monologue his voice came floating up to the +second floor, drowsy, unbroken in its soporific flow, and the girls +themselves, after the morning's drive in the clear, bracing air, felt as +though forty winks would be a blessing. Could it be that Burleigh +lingered on in hopes of their reappearance below? Might it not be that +if relief came not speedily Papa Folsom would yield to the spell and +fall asleep in his easy-chair? Was it not Miss Folsom's duty to descend +and take the burden of entertainment off those elder shoulders? These +thoughts oppressed the girl, and starting up, she cried: + +"It's simply wicked of me staying here and letting poor papa be bored to +death. Do come down, Jess, dear, unless you're dreadfully sleepy. He +acts just as though he intended never to go." + +And Jess promised reluctantly to come down in ten minutes, if he didn't +leave; but she hated him, and had hated him ever since he spoke so of +Marshall in the car three days before. + +The upper hall had been quite dark when Miss Folsom went up to inquire +how Mrs. Fletcher was just after luncheon. The door to her little room +was tightly closed. The blinds in all the other rooms aloft were drawn +against the glare of the sunshine in the cloudless atmosphere; yet now, +as Pappoose stepped suddenly out upon the landing, she was surprised to +see that the upper floor was much lighter than when she went up half an +hour earlier. The maid had not gone thither from the kitchen, and Mrs. +Fletcher wished to doze. Who, then, could have opened both blind and +door and let in that flood of light? Impulsively the active girl flew up +the winding stairs to the third story, and some one suddenly withdrew +from the balcony rail, and an instant later, as Miss Folsom reached the +top, all became dark again. Mrs. Fletcher's door had unquestionably been +open, and was now shut to. She must have been out there listening, and +gravely the young girl asked herself what it meant--Mrs. Fletcher's +agitation in the library that morning as she peered out at the major's +wagon; her absence from luncheon on account, as she pleaded, of not +desiring to appear when company was present; and now, despite her desire +to sleep, her vigil at the third-floor landing, where she was surely +listening to the sounds from below. + +Pondering over the facts, Elinor Folsom slowly retraced her steps and +went downstairs. She reached the library none too soon. Old John's eyes +were closed, and he was slowly toppling, over come with sleep. The sound +of her cheery voice aroused him, and he started, guilty and crestfallen. + +Burleigh's heavy face brightened visibly at her coming. He cared no more +for music than does a cat, but eagerly followed her across the broad +hall into the parlor when she suggested showing him the beautiful piano +papa had given her; and old John, blessing her, lurched for the sofa, +buried his hot head in a pillow, and was asleep in ten seconds. Major +Burleigh was alone with the lovely daughter of the veteran trader. He +was a man of the world; she an unsophisticated girl just out of +school--so said Burleigh, albeit a most charming one; and he, who had +monopolized her time the entire morning, bore down once more upon his +prize. + +She had seated herself at the piano, and her long, taper fingers were +rippling over the keys. She knew full well he did not care what she +played, and as for herself she did not care just then to play at all. +She was thinking of his insinuation at Marshall Dean's expense. She was +still pondering over Mrs. Fletcher's stealthy scrutiny of the +quartermaster's team. On these two accounts, and no other, he was +possessed of certain interest in Elinor's dark-brown eyes, and they were +studying him coolly, searchingly, as he drew a chair near the piano +stool, and seated himself and met her look with a broad, encouraging +smile. + +Trill and ripple, ripple and trill her white fingers raced over the +keyboard. + +"I'm sure you know this waltz, major," she was saying. "They played it +beautifully at the Point two summers ago." + +"I--ah, yes, it's a charming composition--charming, though I don't +recall it's name just now." + +"This? why it's one of Godfrey's--'The Hilda,' don't you know? I'm sure +you waltz, major." + +"I--ah, used to, yes. I was very fond of a waltz," answered Burleigh, +whose best efforts in that line could result in nothing better than a +waddle. "But of late years I--I--since my bereavement--have practically +withdrawn from society." Then, with a languishing smile, he added, "I +shall be tempted to re-enter the list now," and the major drew his chair +nearer by full an inch, and prepared to be further "killing." + +"Jessie dances divinely," said Miss Folsom. "She simply floats round a +room. You should see her waltz with her brother, Major Burleigh. They +might be waltzing here this very minute if he were only home. What can +have detained him, do you think?" + +"I wish I knew," said the quartermaster slowly. "It makes those who +are--ah--his friends, you know, anxious in more ways than one, because +there is--er--nothing to warrant delay--nothing to--excuse it. He +should, in fact, have been at his post, where his troop is sorely +needed, full four days ago," and Burleigh looked heavy with portent. + +"Is it not possible that he has found something along the lower +Laramie--something where his troop is needed much more than here doing +stable guard?" + +"How can it be possible?" said Burleigh. "The only thing to warrant his +delay would be Indians, and there are none south of the Platte; or horse +thieves, and they hung the last of the gang three months ago. Mr. Dean, +I--ah--regret to say, is fonder of fishing and hunting than of his +legitimate duties, and this, I fear, is why he is not here to welcome +his sister." + +The piano went rippling on, but the brown eyes kept up their steady +gaze. In the deep bass chords now her slender fingers were entangled. +Slowly and thoughtfully the rich melody swung in the proud waltz rhythm +through the airy room and floated out upon the summer breeze. A little +line was setting deep between the dark, arching eyebrows, a symptom +Pappoose's schoolmates had learned to note as a signal for danger, but +Burleigh knew her not, as yet. + +"It is odd," said she dreamily, "that at the Point the officers spoke so +highly of Mr. Dean, and here you seem to think so differently of him. It +is a deep disappointment to his sister that he is not here; but, do you +know, major, we were saying only this morning before you came that there +was some excellent reason for his delay, and we'd know it within another +day." + +"Oh, ah--er--of course I hope so. I think, pardon me, that that must be +a messenger from my office now," for spurred boot-heels were coming +briskly up the wooden walk. There was a bounding step on the piazza, a +ring at the bell. The servant bustled through the hall and threw open +the door. It was not a messenger from the depot, but a stalwart, +sunburnt man in rough ranch garb, who whipped off his broad-brimmed hat +and stood abashed within the hall as he asked for Mr. Folsom. + +And all of a sudden over went the piano-stool with a crash, and out into +the hall, joyous, bounding, light as a fairy, a vision of dark, girlish +beauty, went Pappoose. + +"Why, Ned Lannion!" she cried, as she seized the swarthy young fellow's +hands and shook them up and down "Don't you know me--Winona that used to +be? Why, how well you look! When did you leave the ranch? How did you +leave them? Is Hal here--or coming?" + +And at sound of her voice old Folsom had started up from his sofa and +came trotting out into the hall, just roused from his sleep, and +blinking a bit as he, too, held forth cordial, welcoming hands. It was a +moment before they could let Ned tell his story, and then it came by +jerks. + +"We left there early yesterday morning, mum. They're all well now, 'cept +Jake, and he'll come out all right, but we had a close call. A war party +of Sioux jumped as Wednesday afternoon, and they'd a got away with us +but for Lieutenant Dean and his troop. They come along just in time----" + +"Ned!" gasped Elinor, "you don't mean they attacked the ranch?" + +"No'me. We was down the Lar'mie--rounding up horses. There was a dozen +bucks in the party. It's the first time they've come across in a year +that I know of, and they won't be apt to try it again. We shot two of +'em and the cavalry drove 'em a running fight, so hard that they had to +leave one of their wounded behind them. He died in a minute. It +was--" and then Ned Lannion gulped and stumbled and choked in +embarrassment. + +"Who was it?" demanded Mr. Folsom, his rugged face pale and twitching, +his eyes full of anxiety. + +"Chaska, sir. _You_ know." + +Folsom gripped him by the shoulder. "And Burning Star--did you see him? +Was he there?" + +"Yes, sir; but those boys of Lieutenant Dean's gave them a lickin' +they'll never forget. The ranch is safe as if it was here in Gate City, +only Hal he couldn't come himself, and he knowed you'd be anxious for +full particulars, so he sent me in with the cavalry. They're out at the +fort now." + +"Jessie!" cried Elinor, in delight that overmastered the emotion with +which she had listened to the tale of her brother's recent peril. +Marshall's here--almost home. It's just as we said, Jess. Do come down. +He was there just in time to save my brother's life--to drive the +Indians back to the river. Come quick--I want to hug you!" And her dark +eyes, flashing with joy and excitement, danced full upon the bulky form +of the major, slowly issuing from the parlor door, then beyond as she +went bounding by him, all eagerness to clasp her bonny friend in her +arms, and shower her with congratulations. And so it happened that both +the girls were at the rear of the hall entwined in each other's arms at +the foot of the stairs when the ranchman answered Folsom's next +question, and then broke out with the abrupt announcement, "I never see +a young officer handle his men better. We'd all been in hell by this +time if it wasn't for him, yet, by God, sir, the moment he got into the +post they clapped him in arrest." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +That evening, when John Folsom, half an hour earlier than the stipulated +time, drove the girls and their friend, Lieutenant Loomis, out to the +fort, Major Burleigh was left to his own devices, and his face plainly +showed that he was far from pleased with the way things were going. The +news that Marshall Dean had been placed in arrest by order of the +commanding officer of Fort Emory, following as it did close on the heels +of the tidings of that young officer's prompt and soldierly handling of +the crisis at the ranch, made Folsom boil over with wrath. His first +word was one of caution, however. "Hush!" he said, "Speak low. Yonder +stands his sister. The girls must not know yet." Then, leading the way +into the library and closing the door behind them, he demanded all +particulars Lannion could give him, which were few enough. + +"The lieutenant halted the troop outside the post," said the indignant +ranchman, "had it dismount there while he rode on in to report to the +commanding officer for instructions. The colonel was taking his nap +after lunch, and the adjutant was at the office, and what does he do but +get up from his desk solemn-like, and when the lieutenant says 'I report +the arrival of Troop "C" at the post, sir,' the adjutant didn't answer a +word, but reached out and got his sabre and began buckling it around +him, and then he put on his cap and gloves, and says he, 'Lieutenant +Dean, I'm sorry, but my instructions are to place you in close arrest, +by order of Colonel Stevens.' Why, you could have knocked me down with +the kick of a gopher I was so dumfounded! The lieutenant he didn't say +anything for a minute, but turned white and looked like he could have +knocked the top of the adjutant's head off. 'An officer will be sent to +take charge of the troop,' said the adjutant, 'an' I suppose you'd +better confine yourself to your tent, as the colonel means to have them +camp there a day or two, until he hears from Captain Brooks as to +quarters.' 'Well, will you have the goodness to say what charges have +been laid against me?' said Mr. Dean, and the adjutant hemmed, and +hawed, and 'lowed that the colonel hadn't formerly drawn 'em up yet, but +that a copy would be served on him as soon as they were ready." + +"Then I said I'd go right in and find you, and that's all I know." + +And then it was that Folsom turned on Burleigh, with gloom in his eye, +and said: "By the Eternal, Major Burleigh, I hope you've had nothing to +do with this!" + +"Nothing in the world, I assure you, Mr. Folsom, I--I deeply regret it. +Though, as I have told you, I can hardly be surprised, after what has +been said, and--d what I have seen." But the major could not squarely +meet the gaze in the keen eyes of the old trader, nor could the latter +conceal his suspicions. "I know you wish to hear all the particulars of +the affair at the ranch from this gentleman," said the major uneasily, +"so I will leave you with him for the present," and backing out into the +hall he turned to the foot of the winding staircase where Elinor had met +her friend. The girls were still there, their faces clouded with +surprise and anxiety. It was an opportunity not to be lost. + +"Pray do not be troubled, Miss Folsom," said Burleigh, advancing upon +them with outstretched hand, "er, Mr. Folsom merely wants to hear +further details from Lannion. I wish to extend my congratulations to you +and, ah, this young lady, first upon the fortunate escape of _your_ +brother," and he bowed over his distended stomach to Elinor, "and second +upon the part played by _yours_," and he repeated the bow to Jess, who, +however, shrank away from the extended hand. "It will go far to +counteract the stories that I--ah, er--believe you know about--that were +in circulation, and most unjustly, doubtless, at--er--his expense." + +"Who put them in circulation, Major Burleigh?" asked Pappoose, her brown +eyes studying his face as unflinchingly as had her father's gaze a +moment before. + +"That, my dear young lady I--er--cannot surmise. They are mostly +imaginative, I dare say." + +But Miss Folsom looked unmollified, Miss Dean agitated, and Burleigh +himself had many a reason for feeling ill at ease. Just at the time of +all others when he most desired to stand on good terms with the +well-to-do old trader and his charming daughter he found himself the +object of distrust. He was thinking hard and far from hopefully as a +moment later he hastened down the street. + +"Tell them to send up my buggy, quick," were his orders as he stepped +within his office doorway. Then lowering his voice, "Has Captain Newhall +returned?" he asked the chief clerk. + +"The captain was here, sir. Left word he needed to take the first +train--freight or construction, it made no difference--to Cheyenne and +expected to find a letter or package from you, and there's two telegrams +in from Department Headquarters on your desk, sir." + +The major turned thither with solemn face, and read them both, his back +to his subordinate, his face to the light, and growing grayer every +moment. One was a curt notification that ten thousand dollars would be +needed at once at Warrior Gap to pay contractors and workmen, and +directing him to send the amount from the funds in his keeping. The +other read as follows: + +"Have all transportation put in readiness for immediate field service. +Every wheel may be needed." + +This he tossed carelessly aside. Over the first he pondered deeply, his +yellow-white face growing dark and haggard. + +Ten thousand dollars to be sent at once to Warrior Gap! Workmen's pay! +Who could have predicted that? Who could have given such an order? Who +would have imagined payment would have to be made before July, when some +reasonable amount of work had been done? What could laborers do with +their money up there, even if they had it? It was preposterous! It was +risky to attempt to send it. But what was infinitely worse--for him--it +was impossible. The money was practically already gone, but--not to +Warrior Gap. + +Those were days when inspectors' visits were like those of other angels, +few and far between. The railway was only just finished across the great +divide of the Black Hills of Wyoming. Only as far as Cheyenne was there +a time schedule for trains, and that--far more honored in the breach +than the observance. Passengers bound west of that sinfully thriving +town were luckier, as a rule, if they went by stage. Those were days, +too, in which a depot quartermaster with a drove of government mules and +a corral full of public vehicles at his command was a monarch in the +eyes of the early settlers; and when, added to these high-priced +luxuries, he had on deposit in various banks from Chicago to Cheyenne, +and even here at Gate City, thousands of dollars in government +greenbacks expendible on his check for all manner of purposes, from +officers' mileage accounts to the day laborer's wages, from bills for +the roofing of barracks and quarters to the setting of a single +horseshoe, from the purchase of forage and fuel for the dozen military +posts within range of his supply trains down to a can of axle grease. +Every one knew Burleigh's horses and habits were far more costly than +his pay would permit. Everybody supposed he had big returns from mines +and stocks and other investments. Nobody knew just what his investments +were, and only he knew how few they were and how unprofitable they had +become. Those were days when, as now, disbursing officers were forbidden +to gamble, but when, not as now, the law was a dead letter. Burleigh had +gambled for years; had, with little remorse, ruined more than one man, +and yet stood now awe-stricken and dismayed and wronged by Fate, since +luck had turned at last against him. Large sums had been lost to players +inexorable as he himself had been. Large sums had been diverted from the +government channels in his charge, some to pay his so-called debts of +honor, some to cover abstractions from other funds, "robbing Peter to +pay Paul," some to silence people who knew too much; some, ay, most of +it, in fact, to cover margins, and once money gets started on that grade +it slips through one's fingers like quicksilver. At the very moment when +Anson Burleigh's envious cronies were telling each other he stood far +ahead of the world, the figures were telling him he stood some twenty +thousand dollars behind it, and that, too, when he was confronted by two +imperative calls for spot cash, one for ten thousand to go to Warrior +Gap, another for a sum almost as big to "stake" a man who never yet had +turned an honest penny, yet held the quartermaster where he dare not say +so--where indeed he dare not say no. + +"If you haven't it you know where you can get it--where you have often +got it before, and where you'd better get it before it's too late;" +these were words said to him that very morning, in tones so low that +none but he could bear; yet they were ringing in his head now like the +boom of some tolling bell. Time was when he had taken government money +and turned it into handsome profit through the brokers of San Francisco +and Chicago. But, as Mr. John Oakhurst remarked, "There's only one thing +certain about luck, and that is it's bound to change," and change it +had, and left him face to face with calamity and dishonor. Where was he +to raise the ten thousand dollars that must be sent to the post +quartermaster at Warrior Gap? The end of the fiscal year was close at +hand. He dare not further divert funds from one appropriation to cover +shortages in another. He could borrow from the banks, with a good +endorser, but what endorser was there good enough but John Folsom?--the +last man now whom he could bear to have suspect that he was in straits. +Folsom was reported to be worth two hundred thousand dollars, and that +lovely girl would inherit half his fortune. There lived within his +circle no man, no woman in whose esteem Burleigh so longed to stand +high, and he had blundered at the start. Damn that young cub who dared +to lecture him on the evils of poker! Was a boy lieutenant to shame him +before officers of the general's staff and expect to go unwhipped? Was +that butt-headed subaltern to be the means of ruining his prospects +right here and now when he stood so sorely in need of aid? Was the devil +himself in league against him, that that boy's sister should turn out to +be the closest friend old Folsom's daughter ever had--a girl to whom +father and daughter both were devoted, and through her were doubtless +interested in the very man he had been plotting to pull down? Burleigh +savagely ground his teeth together. + +"Go and hurry that buggy," he ordered, as he crushed the sheet of paper +on which he had been nervously figuring. Then, springing up, he began +pacing his office with impatient stride. A clerk glanced quickly up from +his desk, watched him one moment with attentive eye, and looked +significantly at his neighbor. "Old man's getting worse rattled every +day," was the comment, as the crash of wheels through loose gravel +announced the coming of the buggy, and Burleigh hastened out, labored +into his seat, and took the whip and reins. The blooded mare in the +shafts darted forward at the instant, but he gathered and drew her in, +the nervous creature almost settling on her haunches. + +"Say to Captain Newhall when he gets back-that I'll see him this +evening," called Burleigh over his shoulder. "Now, damn you, _go_--if +you want to!" and the lash fell on the glistening, quivering flank, and +with her head pointed for the hard, open prairie, the pretty creature +sped like mad over the smooth roadway and whirled the light buggy out +past the scattered wooden tenements of the exterior limits of the +frontier town--the tall white staff, tipped by its patch of color +flapping in the mountain breeze, and the dingy wooden buildings on the +distant bluff whirling into view as he spun around the corner where the +village lost itself in the prairie; and there, long reaches ahead of +him, just winding up the ascent to the post was a stylish team and trap. +John Folsom and the girls had taken an early start and got ahead of him. + +Old Stevens was up and about as Folsom's carriage drove swiftly through +the garrison and passed straight out by the northeast gate. "I'll be +back to see you in a moment," shouted the old driver smilelessly, as he +shot by the lonely colonel, going, papers in hand to his office, and +Stevens well knew he was in for trouble. Already the story was blazing +about the post that nothing but the timely arrival of Dean and his men +had saved Folsom's ranch, and Folsom's people. Already the men, +wondering and indignant at their young leader's arrest, were shouting +over the sutler's bar their paeans in his praise, and their denunciation +of his treatment. Over the meeting of sister and brother at the latter's +little tent let us draw a veil. He stepped forth in a moment and bade +his other visitors welcome, shook hands eagerly with Loomis and urged +their coming in, but he never passed from under the awning or "fly," and +Folsom well knew the reason. + +"Jump out, daughter," he said to Pappoose, and Loomis assisted her to +alight and led her straight up to Dean, and for the first time in those +two years the ex-cadet captain and the whilom little schoolgirl with the +heavy braids of hair looked into each other's eyes, and in Dean's there +was amaze and at least momentary delight. He still wore his field rig, +and the rent in the dark-blue flannel shirt was still apparent. He was +clasping Miss Folsom's hand and looking straight into the big dark eyes +that were so unusually soft and humid, when Jessie's voice was heard as +she came springing forth from the tent: + +"Look, Nell, look! Your picture!" she cried, as with the bullet-marked +_carte de visite_ in her hand she flitted straight to her friend. + +"Why, where did this come from?" asked Miss Folsom in surprise, "and +what's happened to it?--all creased and black there!" Then both the +girls and Loomis looked to him for explanation, while Folsom drove away, +and even through the bronze and tan the boy was blushing. + +"I--borrowed it for a minute--at the ranch just as Jake came in wounded, +and there was no time to return it, you know. We had to gallop right +out." + +"Then--you had it with you in the Indian fight?" cried Jess, in +thrilling excitement. "Really? Oh, Nell! How I wish it were mine. But +how'd it get so blackened there--and crushed? You haven't told us." + +"Tell you some other time, Jess. Don't crowd a fellow," he laughed. But +when his eyes stole their one quick glance at Elinor, standing there in +silence, he saw the color creeping up like sunset glow all over her +beautiful face as she turned quickly away. Lannion had told them of the +close shave the lieutenant had had and the havoc played by that bullet +in the breast pocket of his hunting shirt. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Meantime "Old Peeksniff," as commentators of the day among the graceless +subs were won't to call Colonel Stevens, was having his bad quarter of +an hour. Leaving his team with the orderly, John Folsom had stamped into +his presence unannounced, and after his own vigorous fashion opened the +ball as follows: + +"Stevens, what in the devil has that young fellow done to deserve +arrest?" + +"Oh, ah, shut the door, Mr. Adjutant," said the commanding officer, +apprehensively, to his staff officer, "and--d I desire to confer with +Mr. Folsom a moment," whereat the adjutant took the hint and then hied +himself out of the room. + +"Now, ah, in the first place, Mr. Folsom this is rather a long and--d +painful story. I'm--m--ah, ah--in a peculiar position." + +"For God's sake talk like a man and not like Burleigh," broke in the old +trader impulsively. "I've known you off and on over twenty years, and +you never used to talk in this asinine way until you got to running with +him. Come right to the point--What crime is young Dean charged with? +Those girls of mine will have to know it. They will know he's in arrest. +What can I tell them?" + +"Crime--ah--is hardly the word, Folsom. There has been a +misunderstanding of orders, in short, and he was placed under arrest +before--ah--before I had been furnished with a mass of information that +should have been sent to me before." + +"Well, what fault is that of his? See here, man, you don't mean to say +it is because he didn't get here three days ago? That's no crime, and I +haven't knocked around with the army the last forty years not to know +the regulations in such matters. Do you mean without ever hearing what +kept him and what splendid, spirited service he rendered there along the +Laramie, that you've humiliated that fine young fellow and put him in +arrest?" + +Pecksniff whirled around in his chair. "Really now, Mr. Folsom, I can't +permit you to instruct me in my military duties. You have no conception +of the way in which I've been ignored and misled in this matter. There +are collateral circumstances brought about, er--forced on me in fact, by +injudicious friends of this young man, and he--he must blame them--he +must blame them, not me. Now if you'll permit me to glance over this +mass of matter, I can the sooner do justice in the premises." And over +his goggles the colonel looked pleadingly up into his visitor's irate +features. + +"Read all you like, but be quick about it," was the angry rejoinder. "I +want to take that boy back with me to town and confront him with one of +his accusers this very day--the man I believe, by the ghost of Jim +Bridger, is at the bottom of the whole business!" and Folsom flopped +heavily and disgustedly into a chair, at sound of a rap at the door, +which opened an inch and the adjutant's nose became visible at the +crack. + +"Major Burleigh, sir, would like to see you." + +"And I'd like to see Major Burleigh!" stormed Folsom, springing to his +feet. Commanding officers of the Stevens stamp had no terrors for him. +He had known his man too long. + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" cried Pecksniff, "I can have no disturbance now +over this unfortunate matter. Really, Mr. Folsom, I cannot permit my +office to be the scene of any--of any----" + +But his words wandered aimlessly away into space as he discovered he had +no listener. Folsom, finding that the major had apparently changed his +mind and was not coming in, had changed his plan and was going out. He +overtook Burleigh on the boardwalk in front and went straight to the +point. + +"Major Burleigh, you told me a short time ago that you had nothing to do +with the allegations against this young gentleman who was placed in +arrest here this afternoon, yet I learn from my own daughter that you +spoke of him to a brother officer of his in terms of disparagement the +day you got aboard the car at Sidney. Mr. Loomis corroborates it and so +does Miss Dean. I've heard of two other instances of your speaking +sneeringly of him. Now I ask you as man to man what it is you have to +tell? He has saved the lives of my son, his wife and child, and the +people of the ranch, and by the Eternal I'm his friend and mean to see +justice done him!" + +Burleigh listened with solemn face and with no attempt to interrupt. He +waited patiently until Folsom came to a full stop before he spoke at +all. Then his voice was eloquent of undeserved rebuke--of infinite +sympathy. "Mr. Folsom," he said, "it would be useless for me to deny +that before I knew your charming daughter or her--ah--very interesting +friend I did speak in their presence--ah--incautiously, perhaps, of Mr. +Dean, but it was in continuance of a conversation begun before we +boarded the car, and what I said was more in sorrow than in criticism. +The young gentleman had attracted my attention--my +favorable--ah--opinion on the up trip to the Big Horn, and I +was--ah--simply disappointed in his conduct on the way back. It was +perhaps due to--ah--inexperience only, and my whole object in coming +here in haste this afternoon was to bear testimony to his ability and +zeal as a troop commander, and to urge--ah--Colonel Stevens to +reconsider his action and restore him at once to duty. I had hoped, sir, +to be here--ah--ahead of you and to have driven him in my buggy--ah--to +meet you, but I am disappointed--I am disappointed in more ways than +one." + +Folsom stood and wiped his streaming face, and looked the speaker square +in the eye, and Burleigh stood the scrutiny with unlooked-for nerve. +Long years at the poker-table had given him command of his features, and +the faculty of appearing the personification of serene confidence in his +"hand," when the twitching of a nerve might cost a thousand dollars. +Folsom was no match for him in such a game. Little by little the anger +and suspicion faded from his eyes, and a shame-faced look crept into +them. Had he really so misjudged, so wronged this gentleman? Certainly +there was every appearance of genuine sympathy and feeling in Burleigh's +benevolent features. Certainly he was here almost as soon as he himself +had come, and very possibly for the same purpose. It was all that old +fool Pecksniff's doing after all. Folsom had known him for years and +always as more or less of an ass--a man of so little judgment that, +though a major in the line at the outbreak of the war, he had never been +trusted with a command in the field, and here he was now a full colonel +with only three companies left him. Burleigh saw his bluff was telling, +and he took courage. + +"Come with me," he said, "and let me reassure you," and the doors of the +commanding officer's sanctum opened at once to the omnipotent disburser +of government good things, Folsom following at his heels. "Colonel +Stevens," he began, the moment he was inside, and before the colonel +could speak at all, "in a moment of exasperation and extreme +nervous--ah--depression the night I--er--started East so hurriedly +after a most exhausting journey from the Big Horn, I spoke disparagingly +of the action of Lieutenant Dean in face of the Indians the day we met +Red Cloud's band, but on mature reflection I am convinced I misjudged +him. I have been thinking it all over. I recall how vigilant and dutiful +he was at all times, and my object in hurrying out here to-day, +at--ah--almost the instant I heard of his arrest, was to put in the best +words I could think of in his behalf--to--ah--urge you to reconsider +your action, especially in view of all the--e--ah--encomiums passed upon +his conduct in this recent raid on the Laramie." + +The colonel whirled around upon him as he had on Folsom. "Major +Burleigh," he began, "I call you to witness that I am the most abused +man in the army. Here am I, sir, thirty-five years in service, a full +colonel, with a war record with the regulars that should command +respect, absolutely ignored by these mushroom generals at Omaha and +elsewhere--stripped of my command and kept in ignorance of the movements +of my subordinates. Why, sir," he continued, lashing himself on, as he +rose from his chair, "here's my junior at Frayne giving orders to my +troop, sir; presumes to send them scouting the Laramie bottoms, when +every man is needed here, and then, when, as it happens, my officer and +his men get into a fight and drive the Indians, to whom does he report, +sir? Not to me, sir--not to his legitimate commander, but he sends +couriers to Laramie and to Frayne, and ignores me entirely." + +A light dawned on Burleigh in an instant. Well he knew that Dean's +reasons for sending couriers to those guard posts of the Platte were to +warn them that a war party had crossed into their territory, and was now +in flight. There was nothing to be gained by sending a man galloping +back to the line of the railway seventy-five miles to the rear--no +earthly reason for his doing so. But the fact that he had sent runners +to officers junior in rank to Stevens, and had not sent one to him, +fairly "stuck in the crop" of the captious old commander, and he had +determined to give the youngster a lesson. But now the mail was in, and +dispatches from various quarters, and a telegram from Omaha directing +him to convey to Lieutenant Dean the thanks and congratulations of the +general commanding the department, who had just received full +particulars by wire from Cheyenne, and Stevens was glad enough to drop +the game, and Burleigh equally glad of this chance to impress Folsom +with the sense of his influence, as well as of his justice. + +"I admit all you say, colonel. I have long--ah--considered you most +unfairly treated, but really--ah--in this case of Lieutenant Dean's, it +is, as I said before, inexperience and--ah--the result of-ah--er--not +unnatural loss of--er--balance at a most exciting time. A word +of--ah--admonition, if you will pardon my suggestion, all he probably +needs, for he has really behaved very well--ah--surprisingly well in +conducting this--ah--pursuit." + +And so was it settled that later the colonel was to see Mr. Dean, and +admonish accordingly, but that meantime the adjutant should go and +whisper in his ear that his arrest was ended, and all would be explained +later, thereby releasing him before the girls discovered the fact that +he was confined to his tent. + +But the adjutant came too late. The tearful eyes of one, the flushed and +anxious faces of both damsels, and the set look in the eyes of both the +young officers at Dean's tent, as the adjutant approached, told him the +cat was out of the bag. "The explanation cannot be made too promptly for +me, sir," said Dean, as he received the colonel's message and permitted +the adjutant to depart without presenting him to the two prettiest girls +he had seen in a year. "Now, Loomis, just as quick as possible I want +you to go with me to that man Burleigh. I'll cram his words down his +throat." + +"Hush, Dean, of course, I'll stand by you! But--both girls are looking. +Wait until to-morrow." + +How many a project for the morrow is dwarfed or drowned by events +unlooked for--unsuspected at the time! Not ten minutes later Folsom and +Burleigh came strolling together to the little tent. Ashamed of his +apparently unjust accusation, Folsom had begged the quartermaster's +pardon and insisted on his coming with him and seeing the young people +before driving back to town. The horses were being groomed at the picket +line. The western sun was low. Long shadows were thrown out over the +sward and the air was full of life and exhilaration. The somber fears +that had oppressed the quartermaster an hour earlier were retiring +before a hope that then he dare not entertain. + +"You--you stood by me like a trump, Burleigh," old Folsom was saying, +"even after I'd abused you like a thief. If I can ever do you a good +turn don't you fail to let me know." + +And Burleigh was thinking then and there how desperately in need of a +good turn he stood that minute. What if Folsom would back him? What +if---- + +But as they came in full view of the picket line beyond the row of +tents, the major's eagerly searching gaze was rewarded by a sight that +gave him sudden pause. Halted and examining with almost professional +interest the good points of a handsome little bay, Lieutenant Loomis and +Jessie Dean were in animated chat. Halted and facing each other, he with +glowing admiration in his frank blue eyes, she with shy pleasure in her +joyous face, Dean and Elinor Folsom stood absorbed in some reminiscence +of which he was talking eagerly. Neither saw the coming pair. Neither +heard the rapid beat of bounding hoofs nearing them in eager haste. +Neither noted that a horseman reined in, threw himself from saddle and +handed Burleigh a telegraphic message which, with trembling hands, he +opened and then read with starting eyes. + +"My heaven, Folsom!" he cried. "I ought to have known something was +coming when I got orders to have every mule and wheel ready. +Everything's to be rushed to the Big Horn at once. Just as you +predicted, Red Cloud's band has broken loose. There's been a devil of a +fight not eighty miles from Frayne!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +And now indeed came for Marshall Dean a time in which he could see a +divided duty. A camp of woodchoppers in one of the deep, sequestered +valleys of the mountains had been suddenly set upon by a host of mounted +Indians that seemed, like the warriors born of the dragon's teeth, to +spring up from the earth, and yelling like fiends bore down upon the +little guard. Happily for the woodchoppers, but unluckily for Lo, the +commander was a cool-headed veteran of the late war who had listened +time and again to yells as frantic and had withstood charge after charge +ten times as determined. Most unluckily for Lo the infantry company was +armed with the new Springfield breech-loader, and when the band came +exultantly on, having, as they supposed, drawn the fire when full four +hundred yards away, they were confounded by the lively crackle and +sputter of rifles along the timber in front of them, toppling many a +dashing warrior to earth and strewing the ground with slaughtered +ponies. That charge failed, but they rallied in furious force. There +were only forty soldiers: they had five hundred braves, so on they came +again from three different points, and again did Powell's sheltered blue +coats scatter them like red autumn leaves before the storm. Thrice and +four times did they essay to stampede the soldiers and sweep off their +own dead and wounded, and each time were they soundly thrashed, thanks +to cool courage and the new breech-loaders. And Red Cloud, cursing his +medicine men, drew off his baffled braves and the hills that night +resounded to their vengeful war-whoops and echoed back the wailing of +the Indian women mourning over the slain. "All well enough so far, +lads," cried Folsom, when he heard the news. "Machpealota is unmasked. +It's war to the knife now, so for God's sake send all the troops you can +muster to the aid of those already up there in the Big Horn. Next time +he hits he'll have all the Northern Sioux at his back, you mark my +words!" + +But, who the devil is John Folsom? said the Bureau again. Arrest Red +Cloud. Bring his band in prisoners, were the orders to the agents, and +the agents called for troops to go and do their bidding. It's one thing, +as I've had occasion to say before, to stand off with breech-loaders a +thousand Indians armed only with old percussion cap muskets, squirrel +rifles, bows, clubs and lances; it's another thing for soldiers armed +even with the best the market affords, to march into an Indian position +and arrest an Indian chief. There were not soldiers enough north of the +Platte to do it, and the War Department knew it if the Bureau didn't. +Hence the mustering in force along the river, and the mounting in hot +haste of perhaps ten more troops and companies, nowhere near enough for +the work in hand, but all the nation had within a month's march that +could possibly be spared from other work and work more important. + +And there was wrath at Emory, where the colonel found himself ordered to +send all his transportation to Frayne forthwith, and all his remaining +troops except one of foot. "Damnation! I've only got two companies of +foot," he screamed, in the shrill treble of piping senility. "And they +mean to rob me of my cavalry, too! 'C' troop is ordered to be held in +readiness for special service." + +The transportation, consisting of three wagons and two ambulances, with +the somber company of infantry, started next day, however, and Dean, +with eager expectancy kept his men in camp, cooked rations ready, +ammunition pouches filled, arms and equipments overhauled and in perfect +order, horses examined and reshod, ready for the word that might come +any minute and carry him--he knew not whither. Folsom and the girls had +to drive back to dinner without him. Despite the permission sent by the +colonel, he would not leave his troop and go in town. So back they came +in the soft moonlight and spent a long, lovely summer evening with him, +while the band played melodiously in the fort inclosure, and the stars +twinkled over the peaks of the Rockies in the southern skies. Folsom +spent the hours wiring to Omaha and conferring with such officers as he +could reach. They thought the lesson given Red Cloud would end the +business. He knew it would only begin it. Burleigh, saying that he must +give personal attention to the selection of the teams and wagons, spent +the early evening in his corral, but sent word to Folsom that he hoped +to see him in the morning on business of great importance. He had other +hopes, too, one of them being that now the order to send that big sum in +currency to the new stockade would be revoked. He had lost no time in +suggesting to the chief quartermaster of the department the extreme +hazard. He quoted Folsom as saying that before we could send one hundred +men to Warrior Gap Red Cloud could call five thousand, and the chief +quartermaster, being a man of method and a stranger to the frontier +said, as said the Bureau "Who the devil is John Folsom? Do as you are +told." But that answer only came the following day. Meantime there was +respite and hope. + +Long lived that beautiful evening in the memory of four young hearts. A +sweet south wind had been gently playing all day and left the night warm +and fragrant of the pines and cedars in the mountain parks. All Fort +Emory seemed made up of women and children now, for such few soldiers as +were left, barring the bandsmen, were packing or helping pack and store +about the barracks. From soon after eight until nearly ten the musicians +occupied their sheltered wooden kiosk on the parade, and filled the air +with sweet strains of waltz or song or stirring martial melody. + +For an hour, with Elinor Folsom on his arm, young Dean was strolling up +and down the moonlit walk, marveling over the beauty of her dark, yet +winsome face, and Loomis and Jessie, stanch friends already, sauntered +after them. For a time the merry chat went on unbroken. They were +talking of that never-to-be-forgotten visit to the Point--Pappoose's +first--and of the hop to which the tall cadet captain took the timid +schoolgirl, and of her hop card and the distinguished names it bore, as +names ran in the old days of the battalion; of Ray, who danced so +beautifully and rode so well--he was with the --th cavalry now somewhere +along the U. P., said Dean--and of Billings the cadet adjutant; he was +with a light battery in Louisiana. "Where this Captain Newhall is +stationed," interrupted Pappoose, with quick, upward look. "I wonder if +he knows him, Mr. Dean." + +"He doesn't like him, I'll venture to say," said Dean, "if Newhall +doesn't suit you and Jessie, and I'm sure I shan't." And then they went +on to talk of the lovely dance music they had at the Point that +summer, and how bewitchingly Elsen used to play that pretty +galop--"Puckwudjies"--the very thing for a moonlit night. One could +almost see the Indian fairies dancing about their tiny fires. + +"It was that galop--my first at West Point--that I danced with Cadet +Captain Dean," said Pappoose, looking blithely up into his steadfast +eyes. "You've no idea what a proud girl I was!" They were at the upper +end of the parade at the moment. The kiosk was only fifty yards away, +its band lights sparkling under the canopy, the moonlight glinting on +the smooth surface of the dancing floor that an indulgent post commander +had had placed there. Half a dozen young garrison girls, arm in arm and +by twos, were strolling about its waxen face awaiting the next piece; +and some of them had been importuning the leader, for at the moment, +soft and rippling, sweet and thrilling, quick and witching, the +exquisite opening strains of "Puckwudjies" floated out upon the night. + +"Oh, Jess! Listen!" cried Elinor in ecstasy and surprise, as she turned +back with quickly beating heart. + +"No, no, indeed!" replied her soldier escort, with a throb in his breast +that echoed and overmastered that in her own. "No time to listen--come! +It was your first galop at the Point--let it be our first in Wyoming." +And in a moment more the tall, lithe, supple, slender forms were gliding +about the dancing-floor in perfect time to the lovely music, but now her +dark eyes could not meet the fire in the blue. Following their lead, +Loomis and Jessie joined the dance. Other couples from along the row +hastened to the scene. In five minutes a lively hop was on at Emory, and +when at last, breathing a little hurriedly and with heightened color, +Elinor Folsom glanced up into his joyous and beaming face--"You had +forgotten that galop, Mr. Dean," she archly said, but down went the dark +eyes again at his fervent reply. + +"Yes, I admit it; but so long as I live I'll never forget this." + +Small wonder was it that when Burleigh came driving out at tattoo for a +brief conference with the colonel, his sallow face took on a darker +shade as he suddenly caught sight of that couple standing at the moment +apart from the dancers, seeing neither them nor him, hearing for the +moment no music but that which trembled in the tones of his deep voice, +for Elinor was strangely silent. + +"Marshall Dean," whispered Jessie that night, as she hugged him before +being lifted to her seat, "tell me true, wasn't Pappoose's picture in +your heart pocket? Didn't that bullet crease it?" + +"Promise on your honor not to tell, Jess," he whispered. + +She nodded delightedly. + +"Yes, and what's more, it's there now!" + +Early on the morrow came further news. Troops from Steele and Bridger +were on the move, but no word came for the cavalry at Emory, and +Marshall Dean, hitherto most eager for field service, learned with joy +he felt ashamed to own that he had still another day to spend in the +society of Jessie and her friend. But how much of that elation Jessie +could have claimed as due to her every sister whose brother is in love +can better tell than I. At eight they came driving out to hear the band +at guard-mounting, though to old Pecksniff's pathetic sorrow he could +mount only twelve men all told. That ceremony over, they watched with +kindling eyes the sharp drill of Marshall's troop; that soldierly young +commander, one may feel well assured, showing his men, his horses, and +himself off to the best of his ability, as who would not have done under +such scrutiny as that. Loomis was with them, but Elinor drove, for her +father had urgent business, he said, and must remain at his office. +Major Burleigh, he added, was to meet him, whereat the girls were +silent. + +"If you could have beard the major pleading with that cantankerous old +fool at the fort in Marshall's behalf you would get over your wrath at +Burleigh just as I did," said Folsom, to both, apparently, and still +neither answered. Burleigh was evidently _persona non grata_ in the eyes +of both. "He tells me Captain Newhall is still here, waiting for a train +to be made up to run back to Cheyenne. I'm afraid I'll have to ask him +to bring the captain to dinner to-day. Do you think Mr. Dean will care +to come?" he asked. + +"I think he would rather not leave camp," said Jessie slowly. "Orders +may come any minute, he says." + +"Yes, I suppose so," answered Folsom, vaguely relieved. Something told +him there was antagonism between the young fellow and Burleigh that +would be apt to involve Newhall, too. "I'll ask them both, if you don't +very much mind," he went on, whispering to Elinor. "And will you tell +Mrs. Fletcher? How is she this morning?" + +"Just as usual, papa. She says she has rather violent headaches once in +a while, and she thinks it prudent to keep her room to-day. But I can +attend to everything." Indeed, thought the daughter, she wished she had +it all to do. + +And so Folsom had gone to meet Burleigh, and the girls had planned, at +least Jessie had, that Marshall after drill should ride beside them into +town and have a chat in the parlor while she wrote to mother in the +library. But a thing happened that no one could have foreseen. Just +before drill was over and while they were still watching it from their +seats in the covered wagon, a buggy drove up alongside and Major +Burleigh jumped out, gave the reins to his companion and bade him come +to him as soon as he had finished what he wished to do at the sutler's. +The major's face was perturbed, that of his companion looked black and +ugly. It was Captain Newhall, and something was amiss. The latter barely +tipped his hat in driving away, the former heaved a sigh of relief, then +turned to greet the girls. + +Ten minutes passed in constraint and awkwardness. Burleigh felt that he +was unwelcome, but his eyes were fixed in fascination on Elinor Folsom, +and he could not go. Presently drill was dismissed, and Dean, all aglow, +came galloping up, his orderly trumpeter following. Not until he had +joyously greeted both the girls did he see who was standing by the +forward wheel on the opposite side. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Dean," said Burleigh affably. "I never saw that troop +look so well." + +"Good-morning, sir," said Dean coldly. Then turned to speak again to +Miss Folsom when the buggy came whirring back. + +"He isn't here, Burleigh," said the occupant petulantly. "He's in town, +and you've got to find him right off. Come on!" + +Burleigh turned livid. "Captain Newhall," he said, "you fail to notice I +am with friends." + +"They are friends who will be glad to get rid of you, then," replied the +stranger thickly, and it was easy to see that he had been drinking. All +the same Burleigh went. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Another day Dean and Troop "C" were held in camp awaiting orders for +special service, and no orders came. "Old Pecksniff" had an eye for +pretty girls, a trait by no means rare in soldiers old or young, and +prettier girls than Pappoose and Jessie he had never met. Mrs. Stevens +was accordingly bidden to invite them to luncheon that very day, and +Dean and Loomis were of the party, as were other young people of the +post, and, despite the rising war clouds in the north and the recent +unpleasantness at Emory and an odd manner indicative of suppressed +excitement on part of both Dean and Loomis, a very joyous time they had +until the damsels Had to drive home to dress for dinner. Folsom had +named six as the hour. Burleigh, Newhall and the two boys were mentioned +as his guests. Burleigh accepted for self and partner, Loomis for +himself, with mental reservation. Dean at once had begged to be excused. +After the morning's disappearance of Burleigh and "Surly," as Miss +Folsom promptly named the pair, Marshall had ridden into Gate City at +the side of the Folsom carriage, and was welcomed by the old trader +himself, who looked pained when told he could not attend the dinner. +"Surely Colonel Stevens will let you off," said Folsom, but that +obviously was not the reason. + +"I'm the only officer with my troop," said Dean, "and so cannot ask." + +But when Folsom took his daughter in his arms a little later and +inquired whether there were not some graver cause behind the one +assigned, Elinor calmly answered that she thought there was, and that +the cause was Major Burleigh. + +"But, daughter dear," said he, "that's just one reason I wish to bring +them together. Then Dean could see how pleasantly disposed the major +is," and he was amazed when she replied: + +"Major Burleigh may be pleasantly disposed, but Mr. Dean is not, by any +means, nor would I be were I in his place, papa." + +"My child," said he, "what do you know about it?" + +"Everything that Jessie knows, besides what we heard on the train. +Mar--Mr. Dean told her of several things Major Burleigh had said and +done to his discredit, and no wonder he declines to dine with a man who +has deliberately maligned him." + +"I wish I had thought of that," said Folsom, his knotty hands deep in +the pockets of his loose-fitting trousers. "I saw Burleigh this morning +on some business, and he seemed to want to help Dean along. What took +him out to the fort, do you suppose?" + +"I don't know," she answered gravely. "He had Captain Newhall with him, +in quest of somebody who wasn't there." + +"Ah, yes, Griggs, the sutler. I heard of it," interposed Folsom, +fingering his watchchain. + +"Very possibly. The captain was ugly and rude in manner and Major +Burleigh very much embarrassed. Indeed, Daddy dear, I should not be +greatly surprised if others of your party failed to come." + +"Burleigh, do you mean, or his queer guest?" + +But Pappoose did not reply. She seemed listening intently, and then with +swift, sudden movement darted across to the heavy Navajo blanket +portiere that hung at the doorway of a little room back of the library. +Her voice was far from cordial as she asked: + +"Were you looking for any one, Mrs. Fletcher? I thought you were in your +room." + +"For Mr. Folsom, please, when he is at leisure," was the answer, in +unruffled tones. "I believe it easier to take active part in the +preparations than to lie there thinking." + +At one the girls were to lunch at the fort, as has been said, and it was +time for them to dress. There were other matters on which Elinor much +wished to talk with her father and, with more reluctance than she had +yet experienced, she left him to hear what Mrs. Fletcher might have to +say. The conference was brief enough, whatever its nature, for presently +his voice was heard at the foot of the stairs. + +"I'm going over to the depot a few minutes, Daught. I wish to see +Burleigh. Don't wait for me. Start whenever you are ready. Where do the +boys meet you?" + +"Here, Daddy, at half-past twelve." + +It was high noon now, and the ruddy-faced old fellow grew redder as the +summer sun beat down on his gray head, but he strode sturdily down the +broad avenue that led to the heart of the bustling new town, turned to +the right at the first cross street beyond his own big block, and ten +minutes' brisk tramp brought him to the gateway of Burleigh's stockaded +inclosure. Two or three employees lounging about the gate were gazing +curiously within. Silently they let him pass them by, but a sound of +angry voices rose upon the heated air. Just within the gate stood the +orderly trumpeter holding two horses by the reins, one of them Marshall +Dean's, and a sudden idea occurred to Folsom as he glanced at the open +windows of the office building. There was no mistaking the speaker +within. It was Burleigh. + +"Leave my office instantly, sir, or I'll prefer charges that will +stick----" + +"Not till I've said what I came to say, Major Burleigh. I've abundant +evidence of what you've been saying at my expense. You asserted that I +lost my nerve the day we met Red Cloud's band--you who never dared get +out of the ambulance until the danger was over. It's common talk in the +troop. At Frayne, at Reno, and here at Emory you have maligned me just +as you did in the cars to my friend here, Mr. Loomis, and in hearing of +my sister. I will not accept your denial nor will I leave your office +till you swallow your words." + +"Then, by God, I'll have you thrown out, you young whipsnapper!" + +And then Folsom, with fear at his heart, ran around to the doorway to +interpose. He came too late. There was a sound of a furious scuffle +within, a rattling of chairs, a crunching of feet on sanded floor, and +as he sprang up the steps he saw Dean easily squirming out from the +grasp of some member of the clerical force, who, at his master's +bidding, had thrown himself upon the young officer, who then deftly +tripped his heels from under him and dropped him on the floor, while +Loomis confronted the others who would have made some show of obeying +orders. And then there was the whirr of a whip-lash, a crack and snap +and swish, and a red welt shot across Burleigh's livid face as he +himself staggered back to his desk. With raging tongue and frantic oath +he leaped out again, a leveled pistol in his hand, but even before he +could pull trigger, or Folsom interpose, Loomis's stick came down like a +flash on the outstretched wrist, and the pistol clattered to the floor. + +"Good God, boys! what are you doing?" cried the trader, as he hurled +himself between them. "Stop this instantly. Sit down, Burleigh. Come +out, Dean--come out at once! And you, too, Loomis." + +"I'm entirely ready--now," said the cavalry lieutenant, though his eyes +were flaming and his lips were rigid. "But whenever Major Burleigh wants +to finish this he can find me," and with these words he backed slowly to +the door, face to the panting and disordered foe. + +"Finish this! you young hound, I'll finish you!" screamed Burleigh, as +he shook his clinched fist at the retiring pair. + +"Go, boys, go!" implored Folsom. "I'll see you by and by. No--no--sit +still, Burleigh. Don't you speak. This must stop right here." + +And so the old man's counsels prevailed, and the two friends, with +grave, pallid, but determined faces, came out into the sunshine, and +with much deliberation and somewhat ostentatious calm proceeded to where +the orderly waited with the horses. + +"You will see--the ladies out to camp, Loomis?" asked Dean. "I must +gallop on ahead." + +"Ay, ay, go on, I reckon----" + +But on this scene there suddenly appeared a third party, in the partial +guise of an officer and the grip of Bacchus. Lurching down the office +steps, with flushed face and bloodshot eyes, came Captain Newhall. + +"Gen'l'm'n," said he thickly, "le'm 'ntroduce m'self. Haven't th' honor +y'r 'quain's. I'm Ca'm New(hic)'ll. Cap'n N-n-(hic)oohaul (this cost +prodigious effort and much balancing), an'--an' you sherv'd that f'ler +per-per-flicky ri'. He's dam scoun'rl--gen'lemen--an' ole frien' mine." + +For an instant he stood swaying unsteadily, with half-extended hand. For +an instant the two young officers gazed at him in contempt, then turned +abruptly away. + +"Good Lord, Marshall," said Loomis, as they cleared the gate, "if that's +the only approbation this day's work will bring us what will the results +be? You served him right, no doubt, but--" and an ominous shake of the +head wound up the sentence. + +"But or no but," said Dean, "it's done now, and I'd do it again." + +There was no dinner party at Folsom's that evening. At two a messenger +trotted out to the post with a note for Miss Folsom to apprise her of +the fact, and without a word or change of color she put it into her +pocket. The garrison girls were bent on having them spend the afternoon, +but presently Miss Folsom found a moment in which to signal to Jess, and +at three they were driving home. + +"You will surely come out this evening and hear the music and have a +dance," were the parting salutations, as with skillful hands the young +girl took up the reins. + +"We hope to," was her smiling answer. Jess was clinging to her brother's +hand as he stood by the wheel, and Loomis had already clambered in +beside her. + +"Please come, Marshall," pleaded Jessie; but he shook his head. + +"I must be at camp this evening, sister mine. We go to stables in an +hour. You will come back, Loomis?" + +"As soon as I've seen--" and a significant nod supplied the ellipsis. + +Something ominous was in the wind and both girls knew it. Loomis, +usually gay and chatty, was oddly silent, as the light, covered wagon +sped swiftly homeward. Beside the fair charioteer sat a young officer of +the infantry who, vastly rejoicing that Dean could not go, had +laughingly possessed himself of the vacant place, and to him Miss Folsom +had to talk. But they parted from their escorts at the gate and hastened +within doors. Just as Elinor expected, papa had not come home. It was +nearly six when she saw him striding slowly and thoughtfully up the +road, and she met him at the gate. + +"Tell me what has happened, Daddy," was her quiet greeting, as she +linked her hands over his burly arm, and looking into her uplifted, +thoughtful eyes, so full of intelligence and deep affection, he bent and +kissed her cheek. + +"By Jove, daughter, I believe it's the best thing I can do. Come into +the library." + +That night the moon beamed brightly down on the wide-spreading valley, +glinting on the peaks, still snow-tipped, far in the southern sky, and +softening the rugged faces of the nearer range, black with their +clustering beard of spruce and pine. The band played sweetly on the +broad parade until after the tattoo drums had echoed over the plains and +the garrison belles strolled aimlessly in the elfin light--all nature so +lavishly inviting, yet so little valued now that nearly every man was +gone. Out in the camp of "C" Troop men were flitting swiftly to and fro, +horses were starting and stamping at the picket ropes, eager eyes and +tilted ears inquiring the cause of all this stir and bustle among the +tents. In front of the canvas home of the young commander a grave-faced +group had gathered, two gentle girls among them, one with tear-dimmed +eyes. Old Folsom stood apart in murmured conference with Griggs, the +sutler. The regimental quartermaster was deep in consultation with Dean, +the two officers pacing slowly up and down. One or two young people from +the garrison had spent a few minutes earlier in the evening striving to +be interesting to the girls; but Jessie's tearful eyes and Miss Folsom's +grave manner proved hint sufficient to induce them to withdraw, each +bidding Dean good night, safe journey and speedy return, and the +hand-clasps were kind and cordial. The colonel himself had paid a brief +visit to camp, his adjutant in attendance, and had given Mr. Dean ten +minutes of talk concerning a country Dean knew all about, but that +"Pecksniff" had never seen. "It is a responsibility I own I should have +expected to see placed on older shoulders," said he, "but prudence +and--and, let me suggest, cool-headedness--will probably carry you +through. You will be ready to start----" + +"Ready now, sir, so far as that's concerned; but we start at three." + +"Oh, ah--yes, of course--well--ah--it leaves me practically with no +command, but I'll hope to have you back, Mr. Dean. Good-by." Then as he +passed Folsom the colonel whispered: "That's ten thousand dollars as +good as thrown away." + +"Ten thousand dollars!" answered the trader in reply. "What do you +mean?" + +"That's what those boys are to run the gauntlet with. My--ah--protests +are entirely unavailing." + +For a moment Folsom stood there dumb. "Do you mean," he finally cried, +"that--that it's beyond Frayne that they're going--that it's money +they're to take?" + +"Hush! Certainly, but it mustn't be known. Every road agent in Wyoming +would be out, and every Indian from the Platte to Hudson's Bay would be +on the watch. He's to take ten men and slip through. The money comes out +from Burleigh to-night." + +The colonel turned away, and, beckoning to his staff officer to join us, +stumped onward to the garrison. The prolonged wail of the bugle, aided +by the rising night wind, sent the solemn strains of taps sailing down +the dimly-lighted valley, and with staring eyes old Folsom stood gazing +after the departing officers, then whirled about toward the tents. There +in front of Dean stood Pappoose, her hands clasped lightly over the hilt +of the saber the "striker" had leaned against the lid of the mess chest +but a moment before, her lovely face smiling up into the owner's. + +"You'll come back by way of Hal's, won't you?" she was blithely saying. +"Perhaps I can coax father to take us there to meet you." + +"By heaven, Burleigh," muttered the old trader to himself, "are you the +deepest man I ever met, or only the most infernal scoundrel?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +A sleepless night had old John Folsom, and with the sun he was up again +and hurriedly dressing. Noiseless as he strove to be he was discovered, +for as he issued from his room into the dim light of the upper hall +there stood Pappoose. + +"Poor Jess has been awake an hour," said she. "We've been trying to see +the troop through the glass. They must have started before daybreak, for +there's nothing on the road to Frayne." + +"It disappears over the divide three miles out," he answered vaguely, +and conscious that her clear eyes were studying his face. "I didn't +sleep well either. We shall be having news from Hal to-day, and the mail +rider comes down from Frayne." + +She had thrown about her a long, loose wrapper, and her lustrous hair +tumbled like a brown-black torrent down over her shoulders and back. +Steadfastly the brown eyes followed his every move. + +"It is hours to breakfast time, Daddy dear; let me make you some coffee +before you go out." + +"What? Who said I was going out?" he asked, forcing a smile; then, more +gravely: "I'll be back in thirty minutes, dear, but wait a moment I +cannot. I want to catch a man before he can possibly ride away." + +He bent and kissed her hurriedly, and went briskly down the stairs. In +the lower hall he suddenly struck a parlor match that flared up and +illumined the winding staircase to the third story. Some thought as +sudden prompted her to glance aloft just in time to catch a glimpse of a +woman's face withdrawing swiftly over the balcony rail. In her hatred of +anything that savored of spying the girl could have called aloud a +demand to know what Mrs. Fletcher wanted, but strange things were in the +wind, as she was learning, and something whispered silence. Slowly she +returned to Jessie's side, and together once more they searched with the +glasses the distant trail that, distinctly visible now in the slant of +the morning sun, twisted up the northward slopes on the winding way to +Frayne. Not a whiff of dust could they see. + +Meantime John Folsom strode swiftly down the well-known path to the +quartermaster's depot, a tumult of suspicion and conjecture whirling in +his brain. As he walked he recalled the many hints and stories that had +come to his ears of Burleigh's antecedents elsewhere and his +associations here. With all his reputation for enterprise and wealth, +there were "shady" tales of gambling transactions and salted mines and +watered stocks that attached perhaps more directly to the men with whom +he foregathered than to him. "A man is known by the company he keeps," +said Folsom, and Burleigh's cronies, until Folsom came to settle in Gate +City, had been almost exclusively among the "sharps," gamblers, and +their kindred, the projectors and prospectors ever preying on the unwary +on the outer wave of progress. Within the past six months he had seen +much of him, for Burleigh was full of business enterprises, had large +investments everywhere, was lavish in invitation and suggestion, was +profuse in offers of aid of any kind if aid were wanted. He had gone so +far as to say that he knew from experience how with his wealth tied up +in real estate and mines a man often found himself in need of a few +thousands in spot cash, and as Folsom was buying and building, if at any +time he found himself a little short and needed ten or twenty thousand +say, why, Burleigh's bank account was at his service, etc. It all +sounded large and liberal, and Folsom, whose lot for years had been cast +with a somewhat threadbare array of army people, content with little, +impecunious but honest, he wondered what manner of martial man this was. +Burleigh did not loudly boast of his wealth and influence, but impressed +in some ponderous way his hearers with a sense of both. Yet, ever since +that run to Warrior Gap, a change had come over Burleigh. He talked more +of mines and money and showed less, and now, only yesterday, when the +old man's heart had mellowed to him because he had first held him wholly +to blame for Dean's arrest and later found him pleading for the young +fellow's release, a strange thing had happened. Burleigh confided to him +that he had a simply fabulous opportunity--a chance to buy out a mine +that experts secretly told him was what years later he would have called +a "bonanza," but that in the late sixties was locally known as a +"Shanghai." Twenty-five thousand dollars would do the trick, but his +money was tied up. Would Folsom go in with him, put up twelve thousand +five hundred, and Burleigh would do the rest? Folsom had been bitten by +too many mines that yielded only rattlesnakes, and he couldn't be lured. +Then, said Burleigh, wouldn't Folsom go on his note, so that he could +borrow at the bank? Folsom seldom went on anybody's note. It was as bad +as mining. He begged off, and left Burleigh disappointed, but not +disconcerted. "I can raise it without trouble," said he, "but it may +take forty-eight hours to get the cash here, and I thought you would be +glad to be let in on the ground floor." + +"I've been let in to too many floors, major," said he. "You'll have to +excuse me." And so Burleigh, with his Louisiana captain, had driven off +to the fort, where Newhall asked for Griggs and was importunate, nor did +Griggs's whisky, freely tendered to all comers of the commissioned +class, tend to assuage his desire. Back had they gone to town, and then +came the cataclysm of noon. + +In broad daylight, at his official desk, in the presence and hearing of +officers, civilians and enlisted men, as the soldier lawyers would have +it, a staff official of high rank had been cowhided by a cavalry +subaltern, and that subaltern, of all others, the only brother of +Folsom's fair guest, Jessie Dean--the boy who had saved the lives of +Folsom's son and his son's imperiled household, and had thereby endeared +himself to him as had no other young soldier in the service. And now, +what fate was staring him in the face? Released from arrest but a day or +so before upon the appeal of the officer whom he had so soon thereafter +violently assaulted, Marshall Dean had committed one of the gravest +crimes against the provisions of the Mutiny Act. Without warrant or +excuse he had struck, threatened, assaulted, etc., a superior officer, +who was in the discharge of his duty at the time. No matter what the +provocation--and in this case it would be held grossly inadequate--there +could be only one sentence--summary dismissal from the army. Just as +sure as shooting, if Burleigh preferred charges that boy was ruined. + +And for mortal hours that afternoon it looked as though nothing could +hold Burleigh's hand. The man was livid with wrath. First he would have +the youngster's blood, and then he'd dismiss him. Folsom pointed out +that he couldn't well do both, and by two o'clock it simmered down to a +demand for instant court-martial. Burleigh wrote a furious telegram to +Omaha. He had been murderously assaulted in his office by Lieutenant +Dean. He demanded his immediate arrest and trial. Folsom pleaded with +him to withhold it. Every possible _amende_ would be made, but no! +Indeed, not until nearly four o'clock could Folsom succeed in the last +resort at his disposal. At that hour he had lent the quartermaster +fifteen thousand dollars on his unindorsed note of hand, on condition +that no proceedings whatever should be taken against Mr. Dean, Folsom +guaranteeing that every _amende_ should be made that fair arbitration +could possibly dictate. He had even gone alone to the bank and brought +the cash on Burleigh's representation that it might hurt his credit to +appear as a borrower. He had even pledged his word that the transaction +should be kept between themselves. + +And then there had been a scene with that drunken wretch Newhall. What +possible hold had he on Burleigh that he should be allowed to come +reeling and storming into the office and demanding money and lots of +money--this, too, in the presence of total strangers? And Burleigh had +actually paid him then and there some hundreds of dollars, to the +stupefaction of the fellow--who had come for a row. They got him away +somehow, glad to go, possibly, with his unexpected wealth, and Burleigh +had explained that that poor devil, when he could be persuaded to swear +off, was one of the bravest and most efficient officers in the service, +that he was well to do, only his money, too, was tied up in mines; but +what was of more account than anything else, he had devotedly and at +risk of his own life from infection nursed his brother officer Burleigh +through the awful epidemic of yellow fever in New Orleans in '67. He had +saved Burleigh's life, "so how can I go back on him now," said he. + +All this was the old trader revolving in mind as he hastened to the +depot, all this and more. For two days Marshall Dean and "C" troop had +stood ready for special service. Rumor had it that the old general +himself had determined to take the field and was on his way to Gate +City. It was possibly to escort him and his staff the troop was ordered +kept prepared to move at a moment's notice. On Burleigh's desk was a +batch of telegrams from Department Headquarters. Two came in during +their long conference in the afternoon, and the quartermaster had +lowered his hand long enough from that lurid welt on his sallow cheek to +hurriedly write two or three in reply. One Folsom felt sure was sent in +cipher. Two days before, Burleigh had urged him to protest as vehemently +as he could against the sending of any money or any small detachment up +to the Big Horn, and protested he had strenuously. Two days before, +Burleigh said it was as bad as murder to order a paymaster or disbursing +officer to the Hills with anything less than a battalion to escort him, +and yet within four hours after he was put in possession of nearly all +the paper currency in the local bank a secret order was issued sending +Lieutenant Dean with ten picked men to slip through the passes to the +Platte, away from the beaten road, and up to ten P.M. Dean himself was +kept in ignorance of his further destination or the purpose of his +going. Not until half-past ten was a sealed package placed in his hands +by the post quartermaster, who had himself received it from Major +Burleigh and then and there the young officer was bidden by Colonel +Stevens, as the medium of the department commander, to ride with all +haste commensurate with caution, to ford the Sweetwater above its +junction with the Platte, to travel by night if need be and hide by day +if he could, to let no man or woman know the purpose of his going or the +destination of his journey, but to land that package safe at Warrior Gap +before the moon should wane. + +And all this Burleigh must have known when he, John Folsom, shook his +hand at parting after tea that evening, and had then gone hopefully to +drive his girls to Emory to see his soldier boy, and found him busy with +the sudden orders, received not ten minutes before their coming. +Something in Burleigh's almost tremulous anxiety to get that money in +the morning, his ill-disguised chagrin at Folsom's refusal, something in +the eagerness with which, despite the furious denunciation of the moment +before, he jumped at Folsom's offer to put up the needed money if he +would withhold the threatened charges--all came back to the veteran now +and had continued to keep him thinking during the night. Could it be +that Burleigh stood in need of all this money to cover other sums that +he had misapplied? Could it be that he had planned this sudden sending +of young Dean on a desperate mission in revenge that he could not take +officially? There were troops at Frayne going forward in strong force +within the week. There were other officers within call, a dozen of them, +who had done nowhere near the amount of field service performed by Dean. +He, a troop commander just in from long and toilsome marches and from +perilous duty, had practically been relieved from the command of his +troop, told to take ten men and run the gauntlet through the swarming +Sioux. The more Folsom thought the more he believed that he had grave +reason for his suspicion, and reason equally grave for calling on the +quartermaster for explanation. He reached the corral gate. It was +locked, but a little postern in the stockade let him through. One or two +sleepy hands appeared about the stables, but the office was deserted. +Straight to Burleigh's quarters he went and banged at the door. It took +three bangs to bring a servant. + +"I wish to see your master at once. Tell him I am here," and as the +servant slowly shambled up the stairs, Folsom entered the sitting-room. +A desk near the window was open and its contents littered about. The +drawers in a heavy bookcase were open and papers were strewn upon the +floor. The folding doors to the dining-room were open. Decanters, +goblets, cigar stumps and heel taps were scattered over the table. Guest +or host, or both, had left things in riotous shape. Then down came the +servant, a scared look in his eyes. + +"The major isn't in, sir. His bed hasn't been occupied, an' the +captain's gone, too. Their uniforms are there, though." + +Five minutes later, on a borrowed horse, John Folsom was galloping like +mad for home. A door in the high board fence at the rear of his house +shot open just as he was darting through the lane that led to the +stable. A woman's form appeared in the gap--the last thing that he saw +for a dozen hours, for the horse shied violently, hurling the rider +headlong to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +At three o'clock in the morning, while the stars were still bright in +the eastern sky, the little party of troopers, Dean at the irhead, had +ridden away from the twinkling lights of camp, and long before sunrise +had crossed the first divide to the north, and alternating trot, lope +and walk had put miles between them and Fort Emory before the drums of +the infantry beat the call for guard mounting. + +At ten o'clock the party halted under some spreading willows, deep in a +cleft of the bold, high hills that rolled away toward the Sweetwater +valley. Horses were unsaddled and picketed out to graze. A little cook +fire was started close to the spring that fed the tiny brook, trickling +away down the narrow ravine, and in a few moments the aroma of coffee +and of appetizing slices of bacon greeted the welcoming nostrils of the +hungry men. The sun that had risen clear and dazzling was now obscured +by heavy masses of clouds, and time and again Dean cast anxious eyes +aloft, for a storm seemed sweeping eastward from the distant Wahsatch +range, and long before the little command had dived downward from the +heights into the depths of this wild, romantic and contracted valley, +all the rolling upland toward Green River, far to the west, lay under +the pall of heavy and forbidding banks of hurrying vapor. Coffee and +breakfast finished, Dean climbed the steep bluff overhanging the spring, +a faithful sergeant following, and what he saw was sufficient to +determine immediate action. + +"Saddle up. We'll push ahead at once." + +For an instant the veteran trooper looked dissent, but discipline +prevailed. + +"The lieutenant knows that Carey's not in yet," he ventured to say, as +he started back down the narrow game trail which they had climbed. + +"Yes; but yonder he comes and so does the storm. We can't be caught in +this canon in case of a hard rain. Let Carey have some coffee and a +bite, if he feels well enough. Then we'll push on." + +Ordinarily when making summer marches over the range, the first "water +camp" on the Sweetwater trail was here at Canon Springs. On the road to +Frayne, which crossed the brook ten miles to the east, all wagon trains +and troops not on forced march made similar camp. In the case of +scouting detachments or little parties sent out from Emory, it was +always customary to spend the first night and make the first camp on the +Box Elder at furthermost, then to push on, ready and refreshed, the +following day. Dean well knew that to get the best work out of his +horses he should start easily, and up to nine o'clock he had fully +intended to make the usual camp at the Springs. But once before, within +a few years, a big scouting party camping in the gorge of the Box Elder +had been surprised by one of those sudden, sweeping storms, and before +they could strike tents, pack up and move to higher ground, the stream +took matters into its own hands and spared them all further trouble on +that score, distributing camp and garrison equipage for long leagues +away to the east. Two miles back, trooper Carey, who had been +complaining of severe cramp and pain in the stomach, begged to be +allowed to fall out and rest awhile. He was a reliable old soldier when +whisky was not winning the upper hand, and this time whisky was not at +fault. A dose of Jamaica ginger was the only thing their field +pharmacopoeia provided, and Carey rolled out of his saddle and doubled +up among the rocks with his hands on the pit of his stomach, grimacing. + +"Go back if you think best, or come ahead and catch us at the Springs if +well enough," were the orders left him, while the men pushed on, and +now, as the lieutenant said, Carey was coming himself. Some of the party +were already dozing when the sergeant's sharp order "Saddle up" was +given, but a glance at the lowering sky explained it all, and every man +was standing to horse and ready when the missing trooper came jogging in +among them, white, peaked, but determined. A look of mingled +disappointment and relief appeared on his face as he saw the +preparations for the start, but his only comment was, "I can make it, +sir," as he saluted his young commander. Less than two hours from the +time they unsaddled, therefore, the troopers once more mounted, and, +following their leader, filed away down the winding gorge. Presently +there came the low rumble of thunder, and a sweep of the rising wind. +"Trot," said Dean, and without other word the little column quickened +the pace. + +The ravine grew wider soon and far less tortuous, but was still a narrow +and dangerous spot. For a mile or two from the Springs its course was +nearly east of north, then it bore away to the northeast, and the +Sweetwater trail abruptly left it and went winding up a cleft in the +hills to the west. Just as they reached this point the heavens opened +and the clouds descended in a deluge of rain. Out came the ponchos, +unstrapped from the saddle, and every man's head popped through the slit +as the shiny black "shedwater" settled down on his shoulders. + +"That outfit behind us will get a soaking if it has been fool enough to +follow down to the Springs," said Carey to the sergeant, as they began +the pull up the slippery trail. + +"What outfit?" asked Dean, turning in the saddle and looking back in +surprise. + +A blinding flash of lightning, followed almost on the instant by the +crack and roar of thunder, put summary stop to talk of any kind. Men and +horses bowed their heads before the deluge and the rain ran in streams +from the manes and tails. The ascending path turned quickly into a +running brook and the black forms of steeds and riders struggled +sidewise up the grass-grown slopes in search of higher ground. The +heavens had turned inky black. The gloomy ravine grew dark as night. +Flash after flash the lightning split the gloom. Every second or two +trooper faces gleamed ghastly in the dazzling glare, then as suddenly +vanished. Horses slipped or stumbled painfully and, man after man, the +riders followed the example of the young soldier in the lead and, +dismounting, led their dripping beasts farther up the steep incline. +Halfway to the summit, peering through the wind-swept sheets of rain, a +palisaded clump of rocks jutted out from the heights and, after a hard +climb, the little band found partial shelter from the driving storm, and +huddled, awe-stricken, at their base. Still the lightning played and the +thunder cannonaded with awful resonance from crag to crag down the deep +gorge from which they had clambered, evidently none too soon, for +presently, far down the black depths, they could see the Box Elder, +under a white wreath of foam, tearing in fury down its narrow bed. + +"Beg pardon, lieutenant," shouted the veteran sergeant in the young +commander's ear, even in that moment never forgetting the habitual +salute, "but if I didn't see the reason for that sudden order to saddle +I more than see it now. We would have been drowned like rats down there +in the gulch." + +"I'm wondering if anybody _has_ drowned like rats," shouted Dean, in +reply. "Carey says another party was just behind us. Who could they be?" + +But for answer came another vivid, dazzling flash that for an instant +blinded all eyes. "By God! but that's a stunner!" gasped a big trooper, +and then followed the deafening bang and crash of the thunder, and its +echoes went booming and reverberating from earth to heaven and rolling +away, peal after peal, down the bluff-bound canon. For a moment no other +sound could be heard; then, as it died away and the rain came swashing +down in fresh deluge, Carey's voice overmastered the storm. + +"That's struck something, sir, right around yonder by the Springs. God +help that outfit that came a-gallopin' after me!" + +"What was it? Which way were they coming?" Dean managed to ask. + +"Right along the bluff, sir, to the east. Seemed like they was ridin' +over from the old camp on the Frayne road. There was twenty-five or +thirty of 'em, I should say, coming at a lope." + +"Cavalry?" asked Dean, a queer look in his face. + +"No, sir. They rode dispersed like. They was a mile away when I sighted +them, and it was gittin' so black then I don't think they saw me at all. +They were 'bout off yonder, half a mile east of the Springs when I +dipped down into the ravine, and what seemed queer was that two of them +galloped to the edge, dismounted, and were peering down into the gorge +like so many Indians, just as though they didn't want to be seen. I was +goin' to tell the lieutenant 'bout it first thing if I had found our +fellows off their guard, but you were all mounted and just starting." + +Instinctively Dean put forth his hand under the dripping poncho and +tugged at the straps of his off saddle-bag. No need for dread on that +score. The bulky package, wrapped, sealed and corded, was bulging out of +the side of his field pouch till it looked as though he had crammed a +cavalry boot into its maw. + +"Thirty men--mounted?--no wagons or--anything?" he anxiously asked. + +"Full thirty, sir, and every man armed with rifle as far as I could +see," said Carey, "and if it was us they was after, they'd have had us +at their mercy down in that pocket at the Springs." + +A shout from one of the men attracted the attention of the leaders. The +storm had spent its force and gone rolling away eastward. The thunder +was rumbling far over toward the now invisible crest of the Black Hills +of Wyoming. The rain sheets had given place to trickling downpour. A dim +light was stealing into the blackness of the gorge. Louder and fiercer +roared the Box Elder, lashing its banks with foam. And then came the cry +again. + +"I tell you it is, by God! for there goes another!" + +All eyes followed the direction of the pointing finger. All eyes saw, +even though dimly, the saddled form of a horse plunging and struggling +in the flood, making vain effort to clamber out, then whirling +helplessly away--swept out of sight around the shoulder of bluff, and +borne on down the tossing waves of the torrent. Men mean no irreverence +when they call upon their Maker at such times, even in soldier oath. It +is awe, not blasphemy. + +"By God, lieutenant, that's what we'd a been doing but for your order." +It was the sergeant who spoke. + +And at that very hour there was excitement at Fort Emory. At eight +o'clock the colonel was on his piazza looking with gloomy eyes over the +distant rows of empty barracks. The drum-major with the band at his +heels came stalking out over the grassy parade, and the post adjutant, +girt with sash and sword-belt, stood in front of his office awaiting the +sergeant-major, who was unaccountably delayed. Reduced to a shadow, the +garrison at Fort Emory might reasonably have been excused, by this time, +from the ceremony of mounting a guard, consisting practically of ten +privates, three of whom wore the cavalry jacket; but old "Pecksniff" was +determined to keep up some show of state. He could have no parade or +review, but at least he could require his guard to be mounted with all +the pomp and ceremony possible. He would have ordered his officers out +in epaulets and the full dress "Kossuth" hat of the period, but epaulets +had been discarded during the war and not yet resumed on the far +frontier. So the rank and file alone were called upon to appear in the +black-feathered oddity a misguided staff had designed as the headgear of +the array. "Pecksniff's" half-dozen doughboys, therefore, with their +attendant sergeants and corporals in the old fashioned frock and felt, +and a still smaller squad of troopers in yellow-trimmed jackets and +brass-mounted forage caps, were drawn up at the edge of the parade +awaiting the further signal of adjutant's call, while the adjutant +himself swore savagely and sent the orderly on the run for the +sergeant-major. When that clock-governed functionary was missing +something indeed must be going wrong. + +Presently the orderly came running back. + +"Sergeant Dineen isn't home, sir, and his wife says he hasn't been back +since the lieutenant sent him in town with the last dispatch." + +"Tell the first sergeant of "B" Company, then, to act as sergeant-major +at once," said the adjutant, and hurried over to his colonel. "Dineen's +not back, sir," he reported at the gate. "Can anything be wrong?" + +"I ordered him to bring with him the answer to my dispatch to the +general, who wired to me from the railway depot at Cheyenne. Probably +he's been waiting for that, and the general's away somewhere. We ought +to have an operator here day and night," said Pecksniff petulantly. But +the irritation in his eyes gave way to anxiety when at that moment the +sutler's buggy was seen dashing into the garrison at headlong speed, his +smart trotter urged almost to a run. Griggs reined up with no little +hard pulling at the colonel's gate, and they could see a dozen yards off +that his face was pale. + +"Have you any idea, colonel," he began the moment the officers reached +him, "where Major Burleigh can be? He left the depot somewhere about +three o'clock this morning with that Captain Newhall. He hasn't returned +and can't be found. Your sergeant-major was waylaid and robbed some time +after midnight, and John Folsom was picked up senseless in the alley +back of his house two hours ago. What does it all mean?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +That storm-burst along the range had turned for twenty-four hours every +mountain stream into a foaming torrent for a hundred miles. Not a bridge +remained along the Platte. Not a ford was fordable within two days' +march of either Emory or Frayne. Not a courier crossed the Box Elder, +going either way, until the flood went down, and then it transpired that +a tide in the affairs of men had also turned, and that there was trouble +ahead for some who had thought to find plain sailing. For two days +watchers along the lower Box Elder dragged out upon the shallows the +bodies of horses that once upon a time might have borne the "U. S." +brand, but were not girthed with cavalry saddles now. Nor were there +lacking other bodies to prove that the victims of the sudden storm were +not Uncle Sam's men, much as two, at least, of the drowned had been +wanted by Federal authorities but a week before. What the denizens of +Gate City and Fort Emory dreaded and expected to bear was that Dean and +his little party had been caught in the trap. But, living or dead, not a +sign of them remained along the storm-swept ravine. What most people of +Gate City and Fort Emory could not understand was the evidence that a +big gang of horse thieves, desperadoes and renegades had suddenly +appeared about the new town, had spurred away northward in the night, +had kept the Frayne road till they reached the Box Elder, riding hard +long after sun-up, and there, reinforced, they had gone westward to the +Sweetwater trail, and, old frontiersmen though they were, had been +caught in the whirl of water at Canon Springs, losing two of their +number and at least a dozen of their horses. What could have lured them +into that gloomy rift at such a time? What inspiration had led Dean out +of it? + +Singly or in little squads, many of them afoot, bedraggled, silent, +chagrined, the "outfit," described by Trooper Carey had slunk away from +the neighborhood of the Box Elder as soon as the storm subsided. +Solemnly, as befitted soldiers, silent and and alert despite their +dripping accoutrements, the little detachment of cavalry had pushed +ahead, riding by compass over the drenched uplands, steering for the +Sweetwater. Late in the afternoon the skies had cleared, the sun came +out, and they camped in a bunch of cottonwoods on the old Casper trail +and slept the sleep of the just and the weary. Early next day they +hastened on, reaching the usually shallow stream, with Devil's Gate only +a few miles away, before the setting of a second sun. Here they feasted +and rested well, and before the dawn was fairly red on the third day out +from Emory they were breasting the turbid waters and by noon had left +the valley far to the south and were well out toward the Big Horn +country, where it behooved them to look warily ahead, for from every +ridge, though far to the west of their probable raiding ground, Dean and +his men could expect to encounter scouting parties of the Indians at any +moment, and one false step meant death. + +The third night passed without alarm, though every eye and ear was +strained. The morning of the fourth day dawned and the sun soon tinged +the misty mountain tops to the far north, and Dean saw before him an +open rolling country, over which it would be impossible to march without +attracting Indian eyes, if Indian eyes there were within twenty miles. +And with proper caution he ordered his men to keep in concealment, +horses grazing under guard in a deep depression near a stream, men +dozing soundly by turns until the twilight came, and then the +stars--their night lights for a long, long march. Dawn of the fifth day +found them huddled in a deep ravine of the southern foothills, with +Warrior Gap not thirty miles away, and now, indeed, was prudence +necessary, for the faint light showed the fresh prints of innumerable +pony hoofs on every side. They were close on Machpealota's lurking +braves. Which would see the other first? + +It must have been somewhere toward five o'clock in the afternoon that +Dean, searching with his field glass the sunlit slopes far out to the +east, heard the voice of his sergeant close at hand and turned to +answer. Up to this moment, beyond the pony tracks, not a sign had they +seen of hostile Indians, but the buffalo that had appeared in scattered +herds along their line of march were shy and scary, and old hands said +that that meant they had recently been hunted hard. Moreover, this was +not a section favored of the buffalo. There was much alkali and sage +brush along their trail, and only here and there in scanty patches any +of the rich, nutritious bunch grass which the roving animals so eagerly +sought. The day had been hot and almost cloudless. The shimmer of heat +along the lazy roll of the land to the south had often baffled their +blinking eyes. But now the sun was well to the west, and the refraction +seemed diminishing, and away over to the northeast a dull-colored cloud +seemed slowly rising beyond the ridges. It was this that Sergeant Bruce +was studying when he murmured to his young commander: + +"I think that means a big herd on the run, sir, and if so Indians +started them." + +One or two troopers, dozing close at hand, sprawled full length upon the +ground, with their faces buried in, or hidden by, their blue-sleeved +arms, slowly rolled over and came crouching up alongside. Dean dropped +his glasses and peered in the direction indicated by his comrade of +humbler rank. Dust cloud it was beyond a doubt, and a long peep through +the binocular proved that it was slowly sailing across the horizon in a +northerly direction. Did that mean that the red hunters were driving the +great quarry toward the village of the Sioux, or that the young men were +out in force, and with the full complement of squaws and ponies, were +slaughtering on the run. If the former, then Dean and his party would be +wise to turn eastward and cross the trail of the chase. If the latter +they would stand better chance of slipping through to the Gap by pushing +northward, deeper in among the pine-crested heights. + +Behind the watchers, well down in the ravine, the horses were placidly +nibbling at the scant herbage, or lazily sprawling in the sun, each +animal securely hoppled, and all carefully guarded by the single +trooper, whose own mount, ready saddled, circled within the limits of +the stout lariat, looped about his master's wrist. All spoke of caution, +of lively sense of danger and responsibility, for they of the little +detachment were picked men, who had ridden the warpath too long not to +realize that there was no such thing as trusting to luck in the heart of +the Indian country, especially when Machpealota with his Ogallalla +braves was out for business. The cautious movements of the group along +the bank had quickly been noted by the wakeful ones among the troopers, +and presently the entire party, excepting only the herd guard, had +crouched up alongside, and with the comradeship born of such perilous +service, were now discussing the situation in low, confidential tones. + +For half an hour they lay there, studying the signs to the northeast. +The dun colored cloud hung low over the earth for a distance of several +miles. The herd was evidently one of unusual size even for those days +when the buffalo swarmed in countless thousands, and finally the +sergeant spoke again. + +"It's a big hunt, lieutenant. Whatever may be going on about the Gap +they've found time to send out young men enough to round up most of the +buffalo north of the Platte and drive them in toward the mountains. It's +combining pleasure with business. They don't feel strong enough in +number, perhaps, to make another attempt on troops armed with +breech-loaders, so while they're waiting until their reinforcements +come, or their own breech-loaders, they are herding the buffalo where +they can get them when they want them later on. We are in big luck that +no stragglers are anywhere around us; if they were it wouldn't take such +fellows long to spy us out." + +Dean swept the ridge line with his glass. No sign of life nearer than +that far-away, betraying dust cloud. No symptom of danger anywhere +within their ken. He was thinking at the moment of that precious package +in his saddle-bags and the colonel's words impressing him with the sense +of responsibility the night they parted at Fort Emory. To-morrow, by +sunrise, if fortune favored him, he could turn it over to the commanding +officer at the new stockade, and then if the Indians were not gathered +in force about the post and actually hostile, he could slip out again at +night and make swift dash for the Platte and the homeward way, and then +within the week rejoin his sister at Fort Emory--his sister and +"Pappoose." Never before had the Indian pet name carried such +significance as now. Night and day those soft, dark eyes--that beautiful +face--haunted his thoughts and filled his young heart with new and +passionate longing. It was hard to have to leave the spot her presence +made enchanted ground. Nothing but the spur of duty, the thrill of +soldier achievement and stirring venture could have reconciled him to +that unwelcome order. + +In one week now, if fortune favored and heaven spared, he could hope to +look again into the eyes that had so enchained him, but if there should +interpose the sterner lot of the frontier, if the Sioux should learn of +his presence, he who had thwarted Burning Star and the brothers of poor +Lizette in their schemes of vengeance, he at whose door the Ogallallas +must by this time have laid the death of one of their foremost braves, +then indeed would there be no hope of getting back without a battle +royal. There was only one chance of safety--that the Indians should not +discover their presence. If they did and realized who the intruders +were, Jessie Dean might look in vain for her brother's return. Pappoose +would never hear the love words that, trembling on his lips the night he +left her, had been poured out only to that unresponsive picture. Two +ways there were in which the Indians could know of his presence. One by +being informed through some half-breed spy, lurking about Frayne; but +then who would be dastard enough to send such word? The other by being +seen and recognized by some of the Ogallalla band, and thus far he +believed they had come undetected, and it was now after five +o'clock--after five o'clock and all was well. In a few hours they could +again be on their starlit way. With the morrow they should be safely +within the gates of the new stockade at Warrior Gap. + +Turning with hope and relief in his face to speak to Sergeant Bruce, who +lay there at his elbow, he saw the blue-sleeved arm stretching forth in +warning to lie low, and with grave eyes the veteran was gazing straight +at a little butte that rose from the rolling surface not more than half +a mile away to the southeast. + +"Lieutenant," he whispered, "there are Indians back of that hill at this +minute, and it isn't buffalo they're laying for." + +Dean was brave. He had been tried and his mettle was assured, and yet he +felt the sudden chill that coursed his veins. "How can they have seen +us," he murmured. + +"May have struck our trail out to the southwest," said Bruce slowly, "or +they may have been told of our coming and are stalking us. They've got a +heavy score to settle with this troop, you know." + +For a moment only the breathing of the little party could be heard. All +eyes were fixed upon the distant mound. At last Dean spoke again. + +"When did you see them first and how many are there?" + +"Near ten minutes ago. I saw something fluttering swift along the sky +line just beyond that divide to the south. It skimmed like a bird, all +but the quick bobbing up and down that made me sure there was a +galloping pony under it. Then another skimmed along. It was the bunch of +feathers and red flannel on their lances, and my belief is that they +struck our trail back here somewhere, and that there's only a small +party, and they don't know just who we are and they want to find out." + +"You're right. Look!" was Dean's sudden answer, for at the very instant +there rode boldly, calmly into full view two young Indians, who with +cool deliberation came jogging on at gentle speed, straight toward the +concealed bivouac of the troopers. Instantly Bruce reached for his +carbine, and two or three of the men went sliding or crouching backward +down the slope as though in quest of their arms. Full eight hundred +yards away were the riders at the moment, coming side by side in +apparent unconcern. + +"Don't," muttered Dean, with hand outstretched. "They look anything but +hostile." + +"That's when they're most likely to be full of hell, sir," was the +prompt answer. "See! others are watching behind that knoll," and indeed +as Bruce declared, a feather-decked head or two could be detected +through the glass, peering over the summit. + +"Warn them to halt, then," cried Dean. "But we cannot fire unless they +provoke it." + +Bruce was on his feet in a second. Standing erect and facing straight +toward the coming pair, he raised his right hand, palm to the front, to +the full length of his arm, and slowly motioned "stand." Every plainsman +knows the signal. In well-acted surprise, the Indians reined their +ponies flat back, and, shading their eyes with their hands a moment, +remained motionless. Then, as with one accord, each tossed aside his +rifle, and one of them further lifted high and displayed a revolver. +This, too, he tossed out on the turf, and now with both arms bare and +extended on high, with empty hands outspread, they slowly advanced as +though saying "See, we are without arms. We come as brothers." + +But the sergeant never hesitated. Almost on tiptoe he repeated the +signal "halt," and half-turned imploringly to his officer. + +"It's all a bluff, sir. They want to crawl upon us, see who and how many +we are. Let some of us fire warning shots or come they will, and the +moment they find out who we are, away they'll ride to bring Red Cloud +and all his bucks about our ears." + +"I cannot fire," was the answer. "That's their flag of truce and we must +not ignore it. Let them come, sergeant; I'll meet them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Remonstrance on part of his men would have been a violation of their +rules of order. Obedient to the lieutenant's instructions, Sergeant +Bruce, with evident reluctance, lowered his hand. Whoever these Indians +were they well understood the principles that governed civilized +warfare. They well knew that the white soldiers would respect a flag of +truce, though in their own vernacular they referred to the sacred emblem +only as a "fool flag," and sometimes used it, as did the Modocs five +years later, to lure officers into ambush and deliberately murder them. +They knew the white soldiers would take no advantage of foemen gathered +for a conference or parley, and thus far the Sioux themselves had +observed the custom which the Modocs basely violated when in cold blood +they slaughtered General Canby and the peace commissioners sent to treat +with them. Confidently, therefore, came the two young warriors, but as +Dean raised himself from the ground and was about to step forward, the +sergeant spoke: + +"Beg pardon, sir, but these fellows know all our officers. They would +recognize you at once. The word would go to Red Cloud faster than any +pony could gallop. Let me meet them, or let one of the men." + +The ponies were coming at the lope now, and not an instant was to be +lost. The safety of his command might possibly depend on their not being +recognized as of the troop before whose carbines Chaska, brother to +Lizette, had met his death. + +"Perhaps you're right," said Dean. "Halt them again. Conroy, you go with +Sergeant Bruce." + +Eagerly a young trooper, carbine in hand, sprang up and stood by the +sergeant's side as the latter repeated his warning signal. Obediently, +yet not too promptly, showing evident desire to get where they could +peer over into the ravine and count the number of the white men and +horses, the Indians again drew rein, this time barely one hundred yards +away. Then Bruce and Conroy, holding up their emptied hands, strode +forward along the grassy slope, making the further sign, "Dismount." + +In those days few of our cavalry wore, when on Indian campaign, the +forage-cap with its crossed sabres and distinguishing letters. Nothing +in the dress or accoutrements of the two men thus advancing to meet the +Indian emissaries would give to the latter any clew as to the troop or +regiment to which they belonged. Could they see the horses, however, the +matter would be settled at once. The U. S. brand, with that of the +number of the regiment and letter of the troop showed on every cavalry +mount in the service, and the Ogallallas knew the earmarks of two, at +least, of our cavalry regiments in '68 as well as they did the cut of +their own hair. But in the modesty of the non-commissioned officer Bruce +had underrated his own prominence in Indian eyes. Not only did these +keen observers know every officer by sight, and have for him some +distinguishing name of their own, but many a trooper, easily singled out +from his fellows because of his stature, or the color of his hair, or +some other physical peculiarity, was as well known as his captain or +lieutenant, and Bruce, ex-trooper of the Scots Greys, and now a model +sergeant of Yankee cavalry, was already a marked man in the eyes of the +southern Sioux. Brule, Minneconjou and Ogallalla knew him well--his +aquiline beak, to which the men would sometimes slyly allude, having won +him the Indian appellative of Posh Kopee or Big Nose. + +Before the two parties came within fifty yards of each other, therefore, +watchers along the ravine saw the quick exchange of significant glances +between the young braves. "Twig that?" whispered Trooper Blaine, in low, +emphatic tone. "Those fellows know 'Scotty' just as well as we do." + +All the same, leaving their trained ponies to nibble at the scanty bunch +grass, the two came straight forward with extended hands and cordial +"How, colah!" on their lips, one of them adding, in agency English, +"Want talk chief. Indian poor. Heap sick." (And here he clasped his +stomach with both hands.) "Want coffee, sugar, bread." + +"All right," said Bruce promptly, noting the while how the roving black +eyes searched the edge of the ravine. "Stay here. Don't come nearer. You +got buffalo meat?" + +A grunt was the reply of one, a guttural "Buffalo, yes," the answer of +the other. + +"Bring tongues, then," and Bruce touched his own. "Five," and he threw +forward the outspread right hand, rapidly touching in succession the +thumb and four fingers. "We give both hands full--coffee, sugar, +hardtack," and Bruce illustrated as he spoke. "That's all!" he finished +abruptly, with the well-known Indian sign that plainly tells "I have +spoken--there is nothing more to say," then calmly turned his back and, +bidding Conroy follow, started to return to his comrades at the ravine. + +But Indian diplomacy was unsatisfied. The Sioux had found "Big Nose" to +be one of the soldiers in the field. He, at least, was of the hated +troop that fought and chased Burning Star and killed Chaska. The trail +told them there were nearly a dozen in the party, all on shod horses, +with two in lead-spare mounts or pack-horses, doubtless--so they had +extra rations and had come far; but why were they going this way, so far +west of the usual road to the Big Horn posts? Why were they so few in +number? Where were the rest? Why were they hiding here in the ravine, +instead of marching? Answer to this last question was easy enough. It +was to keep out of sight of Indian eyes and needed no excuse. There was +something behind this mysterious presence of ten or twelve soldiers in +the southern foothills, and Machpealota would expect of his scouts full +information, hence the instant movement on the part of one of the two +braves to follow. + +Impressively, Bruce turned again and waved him back. "Go, get buffalo +tongue," said he, "or no trade. Keep away from our tepees," and he drew +with his spurred boot-heel a jagged line across the turf. "Your side," +said he, indicating the slope to the southeast of the line. "This--ours. +That's all!" And this time the Indian knew he must come no nearer. + +"I've got 'em talking trade, lieutenant," reported Bruce, the instant he +reached Dean's side. "We don't need the tongues, but we've got more +coffee and sugar than we are apt to want, and at least we can keep them +interested until dark, then we can slip away. Of course, they've sent +word to their main body that we're over here, but I believe they can't +come in force before night." + +"They knew you, sergeant, and they know it is probably our troop," said +he. "There must be only a small party near us. Make your trade, but +while you're doing it we'll saddle. I mean to get out of this and into +the thick of the timber before they can surround us. Stand 'em off, now, +while we get ready." + +Promises must be kept when made to an Indian, even if they are otherwise +sometimes broken. In ten minutes, with coffee, sugar and hardtack in +their hands, the sergeant and his comrades were back at the front. One +brave was still there, the other had vanished. Five minutes, neither +party saying a word, the troopers waited; then Bruce turned to Conroy. +"I knew they had nothing to trade. Take this sack with you and fall +back. Tell our fellows to keep me well covered till I follow." The +instant the soldier started with the sack swung over his shoulder, the +Indian, who had been squatted on the turf, sprang up and began rapid +expostulation in fluent Ogallalla. "It's no use, young man," interposed +Bruce. "Your chum there has no buffalo tongues, and he knew it. Here's +some hardtack for you," and he spread one liberally with sugar and +handed it to the ever-receptive paw, outstretched to grasp it. A glance +over the shoulder showed that Conroy was nearly at the edge. Then, +quietly, Bruce, too, began to retire. He had not got ten paces, still +facing his unwelcome visitor, when the Indian gave a shrill, sudden cry +and tossed up his hands. Not a second too soon Bruce turned and darted +for cover. The Indian flung himself flat on the turf and rolled away +into a depression where he could find partial shelter from bullets from +the ravine, whence he evidently looked for them, and out from behind the +knoll, bridles held high, "quirts" lashing at their ponies' flanks, +darted half a dozen painted savages, tearing down upon the spot at the +top speed of their agile mounts. Only two men remained on watch at the +moment, Dean and one trooper. Most of the others, already in saddle, +were filing away up the game trail that threaded the windings of the +ravine, the two lead horses with them, while a few yards behind the +young officer and his comrade, halfway down the reverse slope, two +others, afoot, handled the reins of their own horses and those of the +lieutenant and men still held at the edge. It was an exciting moment. +Bruce had only a hundred yards to run before he could get under cover, +and there was no chance of their hitting him at that range, yet a puff +of smoke rose from the knoll, and a bullet, nearly spent, came tumbling +and singing up the turf, and the dashing warriors, yelling wildly, +applauded the shot. Bruce took matters coolly. Leaping behind the +shelter of the ledge, he reached for his carbine, and in a moment more, +as the pursuing Indians came lashing within long range, four seasoned +cavalry carbines, each with a keen eye at the sight and a steady finger +at the trip, were leveled on the coming foe. Dean's young heart beat +hard, it must be owned, for hitherto the Indians had been fighting in +retreat or on the defensive, while now they came as though confident of +success; but there was soldier exultation and something like savage joy +mingling with the thrill of excitement. + +"There's more behind those beggars, sir," growled Conroy, a veteran at +Indian work, "but they'll sheer off when they get within three hundred +yards." On they came, shields and lances dangling, ponies on the keen +jump, feathers and pennons streaming on the wind. But, just as Conroy +said, no sooner was Bruce safely under cover and they felt themselves +drawing within dangerous range than, fan-like, they opened out to right +and left, and, yelling still like fiends, veered in wide circle from +their line of attack, and ducking over their ponies' shoulders, clinging +with one leg to the upright part of the cantle, they seemed to invite +the fire of their white foe--and got it. A daring fellow in the lead +came streaking slantwise across the front, as though aiming to pick up +the comrade lurking in the dip of the prairie-like slope, and Conroy's +carbine was the first to bark, followed almost instantly by Dean's. The +scurrying pony threw up his wall-eyed head and lashed with his feathered +tail, evidently hit, but not checked, for under the whip he rushed +gamely on until another bullet, whistling within a foot of his neck, +warned the red rider that he was far too close for safety, for with +halting gait the pony turned and labored off the field, and presently +was seen to be staggering. "Score one for our side," laughed the +Irishman, in glee. "Now's your time, sergeant." + +But Bruce, reloading, was gazing sternly at the distant knoll. The other +warriors, riding right and left, were now chasing crosswise over the +billowy slopes, keeping up a fire of taunt and chaff and shrill +war-cries, but never again venturing within three hundred yards--never +wasting a shot. + +"I thought so," suddenly cried the sergeant. "They're signaling from the +knoll. They never would have attacked with so few, unless there were +dozens more within sight. Now's our time, lieutenant. We can mount and +ride like hell to the timber--I beg your pardon, sir," he broke off +suddenly. "I didn't mean to say what the lieutenant should do." + +"No apologies," laughed Dean, his eyes snapping with the vim of the +fight. "Glad you see the truth of what I said. Come on. Mount quickly, +men." + +Two minutes more and the entire party of blue-coats were spurring +swiftly northward up the winding gorge, the pack-horses lumbering +alongside. Eagerly Dean and Bruce in the lead looked right and left for +a game trail leading up the slope, for well they knew that the moment +their reinforcements came the warriors would dash into the ravine and, +finding their antagonists fled, would pursue along the banks. It would +never do to be caught in such a trap. A gallop of a quarter of a mile +and, off to the right, a branch ravine opened out to higher ground, and +into this the leaders dove and, checking speed, rode at the trot until +the ascent grew steep. Five minutes more and they were well up toward +the head of the gulch and presently found themselves nearly on a level +with the hillsides about them. Here, too, were scattered pine-trees and +a few scrub-oak. The timber, then, was close at hand. Signaling halt to +the climbing column, Dean and Bruce, springing from saddle, scrambled up +the bank to their right and peered cautiously back down over the +tumbling waves of the foothills, and what they saw was enough to blanch +the cheek of even veteran Indian fighters. + +Far over to the east, beyond an intervening ridge and under the dun +cloud of dust, the earth was black for miles with herds of running +buffalo. Far down to the southeast, here, there and everywhere over the +land, the slopes were dotted with little knots of Indian braves--they +could be nothing else--all riding like mad, coming straight toward them. +Machpealota probably had launched his whole force on the trail of the +luckless troopers. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +That night there was rejoicing at the new stockade. For over a week not +a courier had managed to slip through in either direction. Alarmed for +the safety of the little garrison, the commanding officer of the post +away up at the gorge of the Big Horn River had sent two troops of +cavalry to scout the slopes of the mountains and look into the state of +affairs at Warrior Gap. They found countless fresh pony tracks all along +the foothills east of the Greasy Grass and in the valleys of the many +forks of the Deje Agie--the Crow name for Tongue River--but not an +Indian did they see. They marched in among the welcoming officers and +men at the bustling post to find themselves hailed as heroes. "We've +been cut off from the world for at least ten days," said the commandant. +"Our couriers have been killed, captured or driven back. Even our +half-breed scouts refuse to make further trial. They say Red Cloud's +people cover the land in every direction. Our woodchoppers only work +under heavy guard. The contractors, freighters and workmen threaten to +strike unless they get their money. The sutler refuses them further +credit. The quartermaster has paid out every cent and says his +requisition for ten thousand dollars was ordered filled, and the money +ought to have been here a week ago. All will have to stop if the money +doesn't come. We're safe enough. The Sioux don't dare come within range +of our breech-loaders. But we can't finish the barracks in time for +winter at this rate." + +A stout-hearted soldier was the commanding officer at Warrior Gap. He +had with him now four strong companies of infantry and a troop of horse. +He had, he said, but one anxiety, so far as holding the fort was +concerned--some few of the officers and quite a number of the soldiers, +as has been told, were burdened with their wives and children. If these +could only be moved under strong guard to Frayne on the Platte, he could +snap his fingers in the face of Red Cloud and his whole gang until they +too got breech-loaders. "It's only a question of time!" said he. "Sooner +or later the Interior Department will be fool enough to arm the redskins +all over the land with magazine rifles, and then there will be lively +work for the war office. Any day," said he, further, "we may expect the +coming of a whole regiment from the Platte posts, and then Mr. Lo will +have to light out. Meantime, if we hadn't this trouble about the +workmen, and could get rid of the women and children, we'd be all +right." + +So back to the Big Horn rode the squadron to report all safe at Warrior +Gap, barring the blockade, and almost on the same date out there started +from Laramie, on the long march up the Platte and over across the +sage-covered deserts, a strong force of foot and dragoons; and up from +the Sweetwater, far to the southwest, came this venturesome little party +of ten, bringing the much-demanded money, and all the while, with his +far-riding, far-seeing scouts in every direction, Machpealota, perched +in the mountains back of the building post, warily watched the +dispositions and daily work, and laid his plans accordingly. Not a +warrior was permitted to show himself near the stockade, but in a +sleepless cordon, five miles out, they surrounded the Gap. Not a +messenger had managed to elude their vigilance by day, not one had +succeeded in slipping into the little camp by night. Yet, with every +succeeding morn the choppers and fatigue parties pushed farther out from +the stockade, in growing sense of security, and the Indians let them +come. + +Full a week before the Laramie column could possibly reach the +mountains, however, Red Cloud was warned of their coming, their numbers, +and composition--so many horse soldiers, so many "heap walks." +Unmolested, the squadron from Fort C. F. Smith, the Big Horn River post, +was permitted to retrace its steps. In fancied safety, born of +confidence in that wonderful new breech-loader, the little command at +the Gap was lulled to indifference to their surroundings. Then, sending +large numbers of his young men to round up the buffalo toward the +Platte, but keeping still his stern and vengeful eye upon the prey +almost at his feet, the red chief made his final and fatal plans. + + * * * * * + +There came a cloudless morning when the cavalry troop escorted a young +officer up the rocky heights to the west, finding everywhere indications +of recent Indian occupancy, but not a redskin barred their way. Without +opposition of any kind, without so much as a glimpse of the foe, were +they permitted to climb to Signal Rock, and from that point, with +powerful glasses, the officers swept the glorious range of foothills, +the deep valley of the Tongue, the banks of the Piney and the Crazy +Woman, the far-spreading upland prairie rolling away like some heaving +ocean suddenly turned to earth, east and southeast to the dim horizon, +and there they saw, or thought they saw, full explanation of their +recent freedom from alarm of any kind. There to the south, full thirty +miles away, the land was overlaid by a dull, heavy, dun-colored cloud, +and traversed by black streaks or blotches that were recognized at once +as running buffalo. Red Cloud and his braves then were drawn away in +search of other game, and, light of heart and foot, the troopers trotted +back to the waiting stockade, to meet there late that evening, as the +weird tattoo of the drums and fifes was echoing back from the rocky +heights, the first messenger through in nearly fifteen days-a half-breed +Sioux from the distant posts along the Platte, bearing a written message +from the commanding officer at Frayne, which the veteran commandant at +Warrior Gap read with infinite comfort: + +"Seven companies of infantry and three more troops of cavalry are on the +way and should reach you by Saturday week. The General seems thoroughly +alive to the situation, and we, too, are hoping for orders to move out +and help you give that infernal old scoundrel the thrashing he deserves. +All has been quiet hereabouts since that one party made its dash on Hal +Folsom's ranch. Of course you know the story of Lizette, and of course +Red Cloud must have known that Burning Star was head devil in that +enterprise, though Chaska was the victim. I take much comfort in the +fact that it was I who sent young Dean and his troop round by way of the +Laramie. Folsom and his people would have been murdered to a man if I +hadn't, and yet I hear that absurd old ass at Emory put Dean in arrest +for not coming directly home. Pecksniff should have been retired ten +years ago--for imbecility. + +"We had a tremendous storm in the mountains to the south two days ago, +and a courier has just galloped out from Emory, inquiring for news of +Dean. It seems he was sent with a big sum in currency for your +quartermaster, and ordered to slip through by way of the Sweetwater, as +Red Cloud was known to be covering the direct road. Somehow it leaked +out before he started, and a gang of desperadoes gathered to jump him at +Canon Springs. The storm jumped them, for two of their dead and a dozen +horses were rolled out on the flats. Dean must have got through all +right, for Bat saw their trail fifteen miles above us. Of course, he'll +have to make night marches; but, unless Red Cloud gets wind of his +coming and corrals him, he should reach you almost as soon as this. +Michel, the bearer, has your dispatches and orders. Retained copies are +here. Good luck, old man, and may we meet within the fortnight and wind +up Red Cloud once and for all time." + +This was all, but more than enough. Riding night and day in wide detour, +Michel had made his way to the lately beleaguered spot, and what he +brought was joyous news, indeed. Within the coming week the post would +have no more to fear. Within a day or two the contractors, then, would +have their money, and that would tap the sutler's stores and joy would +reign supreme. Enviously the soldiers eyed the artisans. Not for weeks +could their paymaster be looked for, while the funds for the civilians +might reach them on the morrow, provided Red Cloud did not interfere. He +couldn't and wouldn't, said the commander, because he and his braves +were all off to the southeast, hunting buffalo. He could and might, said +Michel that night at ten o'clock, after taps had sent the garrison to +bed, for by the time he left Frayne there were other riders up from Gate +City and all that garrison had learned that Lieutenant Dean was taking +something like fifty thousand dollars in greenbacks up to the Gap, with +only ten men to guard it, and Major Burleigh was wild with anxiety lest +he shouldn't get through, and had been nearly crazy since he heard of +Dean's narrow escape at Canon Springs. The officer of the day who heard +this story took it, with the teller, to the post commander, and that +veteran sat up late and cross-questioned long. Michel's English might be +broken, but not his statement. The last arrival at Frayne before he left +was one of Major Burleigh's own men from Gate City. He said the General +and his staff were expected at Emory the next day, investigating +matters, for old Stevens had got stampeded because his sergeant-major +was assaulted and old Mr. Folsom knocked out and a drunken captain by +the name of Newhall had been making trouble, and it had all told on +Major Burleigh, who had taken to his bed with nervous prostration. + +So, while the garrison went to rest happy, the commanding officer waked +long, and finally slept soundly and might have slept late, but that just +at dawn, full half an hour before the time for reveille, there came a +sharp knocking at the door of his log-hut, and the imperative voice of +the officer of the day. + +"Colonel! colonel, I say! There's sharp firing out here in the hills to +the south!" + +The peaks to the west were just tinging with purple and red, reflected +from the eastward sky, and a faint light was beginning to steal down +into the deep valley in which the cantonment lay sleeping, when the +veteran commander came hurrying out, half-dressed, and hied him, with +his attendant officer, to the southern angle of the stockade. There on +the narrow ledge or platform built under the sharp tops of the upright +logs, were grouped the silent, grave-faced guard, a dozen men intently +listening. Thither presently came running others of the officers or men, +suddenly awakened by sense of something unusual going on. Far away among +the wooded heights to the south, echoing from the rocky palisades to the +west, could be heard the pop, pop of distant musketry, punctuated +sometimes with louder bang as of large caliber rifles closer at hand. +Little time was there in which to hazard opinion as to the cause. One or +two men, faint-hearted at the thought of the peril of Indian battle and +hopeful of influencing the judgment of their superiors, began the murmur +of "Big hunt," "Buffalo drive," etc., glancing furtively at the colonel +the while as though to observe the effect. But an imperative "Silence, +you idiots!" from the officer of the day put sudden end to their +conjectures. Only a moment did the commander listen. Then, quick and +startling, came the order, "Sound to arms!" and within the minute the +stirring peal of the cavalry trumpet was answered by the hoarse thunder +of the snare-drum, beating the long roll. Out from their "dog tents" and +half-finished log huts came the bewildered men. Often as the alarm had +sounded on the frontier there was a thrill and ring about it this time +that told of action close at hand. Out from the little huts, hurrying +into their frock coats and belting on their swords as they glared about +them for the cause of the uproar, came the officers, old and young, most +of them veterans of many hard-fought fields of the war days--one or two, +only, youngsters fresh from the Point. At many a doorway and unglazed +window appeared the pallid faces of women and children, some of them +weeping in mingled fright and distress. In front of the log guardhouse +the sergeant quickly formed the two reliefs not on post. On their +designated parades the companies rapidly fell in, while stern-voiced +non-commissioned officers rebuked the laggards and aided them into their +belts, and each first sergeant took rapid note of his men. No need to +call the roll, a skulker would have been detected and kicked into the +ranks at the instant. Over under the rough board shelter of the +quartermaster's employees the workmen came tumbling out in shirt +sleeves, many of them running to the nearest officer and begging for a +gun and a place in the fight, for now the firing was loud and lively. +Down by the swift-flowing stream the tethered horses of the cavalry +plunged and neighed in excitement, and the mules in the quartermaster's +corral set up their irrepressible bray. For five minutes there was +clamor, but no confusion. Then disciplined silence reigned again, all +but the nearing volleying at the south. Presently, at rapid trot the +cavalry, some fifty strong, came clattering up the stony trail from the +stream, and with carbines advanced disappeared through the main gateway +in a cloud of dust. Two companies were told off to man the loopholes of +the stockade. Two others under the command of a senior captain faced by +the right flank, and in double-quick time danced away in the wake of the +cavalry. Eagerly the watchers climbed the wooden walls or to the tower +of the half-finished guardhouse, and, as the red light strengthened in +the east and the mountain sides became revealed, studied with their +glasses or with straining eyes the southward vista through the hills. +They saw the troop form line to the front at the gallop as it swept out +over the open ground four hundred yards away, saw its flankers scurry to +the nearest shoulder of bluff, saw their excited signals and +gesticulations, and presently a sheaf of skirmishers shot forward from +the advancing line and breasted the low ridge eight hundred yards out +from the fort, and then there came floating back the sound of ringing, +tumultuous cheer as the skirmishers reached the crest and darted +headlong at some unseen object beyond, and after them went the reserve, +cheering too. And now the sound of firing became fierce and incessant, +and messengers came galloping back to the commander of the steadily +advancing infantry, and they, too, were seen to throw forward heavy +skirmish lines and then resume the march. And then, down over the ridge +came a little knot of horsemen, made up of three men riding close +together, the outer ones supporting between them the comrade in the +center. Before they were within four hundred yards the young adjutant, +gazing through his glasses at the colonel's side, exclaimed: "It's +Dean--dead or wounded!" and one of the surgeons rushed forward to meet +the party. "He's weak, sir, almost gone from loss of blood," exclaimed +Trooper Conroy, himself bleeding from a gash along the cheek. A faint +smile drifted over the young fellow's pallid face, as the adjutant, too, +galloped up. A feeble hand indicated the bulging saddle pocket. A faint +voice faltered, "There's ten thousand dollars in that packet. We had to +fight our way through," and then the brave blue eyes closed and strong +arms lifted the almost lifeless form from the saddle as Marshall swooned +away. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +A day had dawned on the Big Horn never to be forgotten by those who +watched the conflict from the stockade, never to be recalled by those +who went forth to fight. Broad daylight had come and the sun was peeping +over the far horizon as strong arms bore the unconscious officer within +the post, and the commander eagerly questioned the men who came with +him. Their story was quickly told. They had fled before overpowering +numbers of the Sioux the night before, had made their way through the +timber in the darkness and come ahead all night, groping their way from +ridge to ridge until at the peep of day they found themselves in sight +of familiar landmarks, and could see the gleam of the waters of the Fork +dancing away under the dawn. And then, as they essayed to ride on they +found the Indians all around them. Whichever way they turned the foe +appeared, but only in scattered parties and small numbers. Not once did +more than half a dozen appear in sight, and then confident of speedy +succor from the fort, they had decided to make a dash for it, and so +rode boldly out into the open. But now a score of warriors popped up and +barred the way, while others far out at flank or rear kept up long range +fire. One man was shot through the body and fainted and had to be borne +along. Then the lieutenant was shot in the leg, but no one knew it until +they saw his boot was running over with blood, and he was growing +ghastly white, even though he kept encouraging and directing. But when +at last the cavalry met them and brushed the Indians away from the +front, Captain Drum, who rode at their head, ordered Mr. Dean taken +right into the post while he dashed on to punish the Sioux, "and he is +giving them hell, too," said the excited trooper, "for there couldn't +have been more than a hundred Indians all told." + +Ah, not in sight, perhaps, poor lads!--not in sight of horse, foot or +fort; for if there were only a hundred, how came it that the fire grew +fiercer still, and that presently every musket in the infantry skirmish +line, too, was blazing on the foe. By this time cavalry and infantry +both had disappeared over the curtaining ridge, and the colonel's face +grew grave and haggard as he listened. Three-fifths of his little +garrison were out there battling against unknown numbers. They had gone +to rescue the detachment and bring it safely in. That rescue was +accomplished. The precious package for which so much had been risked was +here--but what detained the command? Why did they not return? Beyond +doubt far more Indians were out there now than when first the firing +began. "Gallop out, Mr. Adjutant, and tell the major to withdraw his +line and fall back on the stockade," was the order--and with a lump in +his throat the young officer mounted again and started. He was a pet in +the garrison, only in his second year of commission. They saw him gallop +through the gate, saw him ride gallantly straight for the curtaining +ridge beyond which the smoke was rising heavily now, saw him breasting +the slope, his orderly following, saw him almost reach it, and then +suddenly the prairie seemed to jet fire. The foremost horse reared, +plunged, and went rolling over and over. They saw--plainly saw through +their glasses, and a shriek of agony and horror went up from among the +women at the sight--half a dozen painted savages spring out from behind +the ledge, some on pony back, some afoot, and bear down on the stricken +form of the slender young rider now feebly striving to rise from the +turf; saw the empty hand outstretched, imploring mercy; saw jabbing +lances and brandished war-clubs pinning the helpless boy to earth and +beating in the bared, defenseless head; saw the orderly dragged from +under his struggling horse and butchered by his leader's side; saw the +bloody knives at work tearing away the hot red scalps, then ripping off +the blood-soaked clothing, and, to the music of savage shouts of glee +and triumph, hacking, hewing, mutilating the poor remains, reckless of +the bullets that came buzzing along the turf from the score of +Springfields turned loose at the instant among the loopholes of the +stockade. It was eight hundred yards away in the dazzling light of the +rising sun. Old Springfields did not carry as do the modern arms. +Soldiers of those days were not taught accurate shooting as they are +now. It was too far for anything but chance, and all within a minute or +two the direful tragedy was over, and the red warriors had darted back +behind the ridge from which they came. + +"My God! sir," gasped the officer who stood at the side of the +awe-stricken post commander, "I believe it's Red Cloud's entire band, +and they've got our poor boys surrounded! Can't we send help?" + +"Send help! Merciful heaven, man, who's to help us? Who's to protect +these poor women and children if we go? I have but two companies left. +It's what those fiends are hoping--have been planning--that I'll send +out my last man to the aid of those already gone, and then they'll dart +in on the fort, and what will become of these?" + +Great drops of sweat were pouring down the colonel's face as he turned +and pointed to the huts where now, clinging to one another in terror, +many poor wives and children were gathered, and the air was filled with +the sobbing of the little ones. Up from the stockade came two young +officers, their faces set and rigid, their eyes blazing. "In God's name, +colonel," cried the foremost, "let me take my men and clear that ridge +so that our people can get back. One charge will do it, sir." + +But solemnly the commander uplifted his hand. "Listen," said he, "the +battle is receding. They are driving our poor fellows southward, away +from us. They are massed between them and us. It would only be playing +into their hands, my boy. It's too late to help. Our duty now is here." + +"But good God, sir! I can't stay without raising a hand to help. I +beg--I implore!" + +"Go back to your post at once, sir. You may be needed any minute. Look +there! Now!" + +And as he spoke the colonel pointed to the southeast. Over the scene +beyond the divide to the south hung the bank of pale-blue smoke. Out on +the slope lay the ghastly remains of the young adjutant and his faithful +comrade who, not ten minutes before, had galloped forth in obedience to +their orders and met their soldier fate. Out to the southeast the ridge +fell gradually away into the general level of the rolling prairie, and +there, full a thousand yards distant, there suddenly darted into view +three horsemen, troopers evidently, spurring madly for home. + +"They've cut their way through! Thank God!" almost screamed the +spectators at the parapet. But their exultation died an instant later. +Over the ridge, in swift pursuit came a dozen painted, feathered braves, +their ponies racing at lightning speed, their arrows and bullets +whizzing along the line of flight. The horse of the foremost trooper was +staggering, and suddenly went plunging headlong, sending his rider +sprawling far out on the turf. He was up in a second, dire peril nerving +him to desperate effort. His comrades veered at his cry for help and +glanced back over their shoulders. One, unnerved at sight of the dashing +foemen in pursuit, clapped spurs again, and bending low, rode madly on. +The other, gallant fellow! reined about in wide, sweeping circle, and +turned back to meet his running comrade. They saw him bend to lend a +helping hand, saw him bend still lower as three of the Indians leaped +from their ponies and, kneeling, loosed their rifles all at once; saw +him topple out of saddle, and his stricken horse, with flapping rein, +trot aimlessly about a moment before he, too, went floundering in his +tracks; saw the other soldier turn to face his fate by his dying +comrade's side, fighting to the last, overwhelmed and borne down by the +rush of red warriors. Strong men turned aside in agony, unable to look +on and see the rest--the brutal, pitiless clubbing and stabbing, the +fearful hacking of lance and knife--but others still, in the fascination +of horror, gazed helplessly through the smoke drifting upward from the +blazing loopholes, and once a feeble cheer broke forth as one shot took +effect and a yelling Indian stretched out dead upon the sward. Then for +a brief moment all eyes centered on the sole survivor who came sweeping +down the slope, straight for the stockade. Almost it seemed as though he +might yet escape, despite the fact that his horse, too, was lurching and +stumbling and his pursuers were gaining rapidly, defiant of the fire of +the little fort. Reckless of order and discipline, a dozen soldiers +nearest the gate rushed out upon the open bench, shouting encouragement +and sending long range, chance shots. But with every stride the fleeing +steed grew weaker, stumbled painfully and slackened speed, and soon they +saw him slowing down despite the frantic jabbing of the spurs, and with +drooped head and bleeding nostrils giving up the fight. And then, at +sound of the triumphant yells and jeers of his pursuers, the poor wretch +in saddle threw one fearful glance behind him, one despairing look +toward the comrades and the refuge still a quarter of a mile away, and +with shaking hand he turned the brown revolver on his own temple and +pulled trigger, and then went tumbling earthward, a corpse. There at +least was one scalp the Sioux could covet in vain, for with shouts of +vengeance, the little squad of infantry, deaf to all orders or the +clamor of the bugle recall, dashed out over the level bench, firing +furiously as they ran, and, whether from the superstitious awe with +which the Indians view the suicide, or the dread of close combat with +the gallant band of blue-coats, the mounted warriors turned and scurried +away across the prairie, and were presently out of range beyond the +ridge again. Then, and not till they had reached and lifted and borne +the lifeless form of the trooper, did the little party condescend to +answer the repeated summons from the fort. Then at last they slowly +returned, unrebuked, for no man had the heart to chide their daring. + +Only once more was there further sight of the one-sided battle. Half a +mile or more beyond the bare divide there rose against the southern sky +a bold, oblong height or butte, studded with bowlders and stunted pine, +and watchers at the fort became aware as the sun climbed higher that the +smoke cloud, thinning gradually but perceptibly, was slowly drifting +thither. The fire, too, grew faint and scattering. The war-whoops rang +and re-echoed among the rocks, but all sound of cheering had long since +died away. At last, an hour after the fury of the fight began, the +colonel, gazing in speechless grief, through his field-glass, muttered +to the officer at his side: + +"Some of them are still left. They are fighting for their lives along +that butte." + +Only a few, though. One by one the dark dots among the bowlders ceased +to stir and move about. Little by little the fire slackened, and all but +occasional scattered shots died utterly away. Then other forms, +feathered and bedizened, were seen rushing in numbers up the distant +hillside, and that meant all was over, and the brutal knives were busily +at work. Little by little all sound of conflict, all sight of +combatants, disappeared entirely, and the unclouded sunshine streamed +down upon a scene on which the silence of death indeed had fallen. When +at last, late that afternoon, the watchers reported a vast body of +Indians drifting away eastward toward the distant Powder River, and +venturesome scouts stole out to reconnoiter, backed by skirmish lines +from the stricken post, they found the grassy slopes beyond that +curtaining ridge one broad field of death, strewn with the stripped and +hacked and mangled forms of those who had so gallantly dashed forth to +the aid of comrade soldiery at the break of day, so torn and mutilated +and disfigured that only a limited few were ever identified. Officers +and men, one after another, had died in their tracks, victims of Red +Cloud and the Ogallalla Sioux. + +And all for what? Late that night the quartermaster in wild agitation +sought his colonel's door, a package in his hands. "For God's sake, sir, +look at this!" he cried. + +The cords had just been cut, the seals just broken, the stout paper +carefully opened and the contents of the precious packet exposed to +view. It held no money at all, nothing but layer on layer of waste and +worthless paper! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +A week went by at Fort Emory, and not a word came back from Dean. The +furious storm that swept the hills and swelled the rivers was the talk +of every army post within two hundred miles, while in the gambling halls +and saloons of Laramie, Cheyenne and Gate City men spoke of it in low +tones and with bated breath. If ever the bolts of heaven were launched +to defeat a foul crime it was right there at Canon Springs, for the +story was all over Wyoming by this time how the worst gang of cutthroats +that ever infested the wide West had galloped in strong force to that +wild, sequestered nook to murder Dean and his whole party of the hated +"blue bellies," if need be, but at all hazards to get the precious +package in his charge. Fifty thousand dollars in government greenbacks +it contained, if Hank Birdsall, their chosen leader, could be believed, +and hitherto he had never led them astray. He swore that he had the +"straight tip," and that every man who took honest part in the fight, +that was sure to ensue, should have his square one thousand dollars. +Thirty to ten, surrounding the soldiers along the bluffs on every side, +they counted on easy victory. But the warning thunder had been enough +for the young troop leader, and prompted him to break camp and get out +of the gorge. They were starting when Birdsall's scouts peered over the +bank and the outlaw ordered instant pursuit, just in time to meet the +fury of the flood and to see some of his fellows drowned like rats in a +sewer. + +But who betrayed the secret? What officer or government employe revealed +the fact that Dean was going with so much treasure?--and what could have +been his object? Birdsall had taken to the mountains and was beyond +pursuit. "Shorty," one of his men, rescued from drowning by the mail +carrier and escort coming down from Frayne, confessed the plot and the +General was now at Emory investigating. Major Burleigh had taken to his +bed. Captain Newhall was reported gone to Denver. Old John Folsom lay +with bandaged head and blinded eyes in a darkened room, assiduously +nursed by Pappoose and Jessie, who in turn were devotedly attended by +Mrs. Fletcher. Possessed of some strange nervous excitement, this +energetic woman was tireless in her effort to be of use. Minus ten of +their very best, "C" Troop still camped at Emory, the General holding it +for possible escort duty, and, to his huge delight, young Loomis was +assigned to command it until Dean should return. There came a day when +the news arrived from Frayne that the Laramie column had crossed the +Platte and marched on for the Big Horn, and then John Folsom began to +mend and was allowed to sit up, and told the doctor he had need to see +Major Burleigh without delay, but Burleigh could not leave his bed, said +the physician in attendance--a very different practitioner from +Folsom's--and the old man began to fret and fume, and asked for writing +materials. He wrote Burleigh a note, and the doctor forbade his +patient's reading anything. Major Burleigh, said he, was a very sick +man, and in a wretchedly nervous condition. Serious consequences were +feared unless utter quiet could be assured. + +Then Folsom was pronounced well enough to be taken out for a drive, and +he and Pappoose had the back seat together, while Jessie, with Harry +Loomis to drive, sat in front, and Jess was shy and happy, for Loomis +had plainly lost his heart to his comrade's pretty sister. Marshall had +now been gone nine days and could soon be expected home, said everybody, +for with a big force going up there the Indians would scatter and "the +boys" would have no trouble coming back. And so this lovely summer +afternoon every one seemed bright and joyous at the fort, listening to +the band and wondering, some of the party at least, how much longer it +would be before they could hope to hear from the absent, when there +arose sudden sounds of suppressed commotion in the camp of "C" Troop. A +courier was coming like mad on the road from Frayne--a courier whose +panting horse reined up a minute, with heaving flanks, in the midst of +the thronging men, and all the troop turned white and still at the news +the rider briefly told:--three companies at Warrior Gap were massacred +by the Sioux, one hundred and seventy men in all, including Sergeant +Bruce and all "C" Troop's men but Conroy and Garret, who had cut their +way through with Lieutenant Dean and were safe inside the stockade, +though painfully wounded. This appalling story the girls heard with +faces blanched with horror. Passionate weeping came to Jessie's relief, +but Pappoose shed never a tear. The courier's dispatches were taken in +to the colonel, and Folsom, trembling with mingled weakness and +excitement, followed. + +It was an impressive scene as the old soldier read the sad details to +the rapidly growing group of weeping women, for that was Emory's +garrison now, while the official reports were hurried on to catch the +General on his way to Cheyenne. Some one warned the band leader, and the +musicians marched away to quarters. Some one bore the news to town where +the flags over the hotel and the one newspaper office were at once +lowered to half staff, although that at Emory, true to official +etiquette and tradition, remained until further orders at the peak, +despite the fact that two of the annihilated companies were from that +very post. Some one bore the news to Burleigh's quarters at the depot, +and, despite assertions that the major could see no one and must not be +agitated or disturbed, disturbed and agitated he was beyond +per-adventure. Excitedly the sick man sprang from his bed at the tidings +of the massacre and began penning a letter. Then he summoned a young +clerk from his office and told him he had determined to get up at once, +as now every energy of the government would doubtless be put forth to +bring the Sioux to terms. It was the young clerk who a few weeks back +had remarked to a fellow employe how "rattled" the old man was getting. +The major's doctor was not about. The major began dictating letters to +various officials as he rapidly dressed, and what happened can best be +told in the clerk's own words: "For a man too sick to see any one two +hours before," said he, "the major had wonderful recuperative powers, +but they didn't last. He was in the midst of a letter to the chief +quartermaster and had got as far as to say, 'The deplorable and tragic +fate of Lieutenant Dean points, of course, to the loss of the large sum +intrusted to him,' when I looked up and said, 'Why, Lieutenant Dean +ain't dead, major; he got in all right,' and he stared at me a minute as +if I had stabbed him. His face turned yellow-white and down he went like +a log--had a fit I s'pose. Then I ran for help, and then the doctor came +and hustled everybody out." + +But not till late that night did these details reach "Old Pecksniff" at +the post. A solemn time was that veteran having, for many of the women +were almost in hysterics and all were in deep distress. Two of their +number, wives of officers, were widowed by the catastrophe, and one lay +senseless for hours. It was almost dark when Mr. Folsom and the girls +drove homeward, and his face was lined and haggard. Pappoose nestled +fondly, silently at his side, holding his hand and closely scanning his +features, as though striving to read his thoughts. Jessie, comforted now +by the knowledge that Marshall was rapidly recovering, and the words of +praise bestowed upon him in the colonel's letters, was nevertheless in +deep anxiety as to the future. The assurance that the Sioux, even in +their overwhelming numbers, would not attack a stockade, was not +sufficient. Marshall would be on duty again within a very few days, the +colonel said. His wounds would heal within the week, and it was only +loss of so much blood that had prostrated him. Within a few days, then, +her loved brother would be in saddle and in the field against the +Indians. Who could assure her they would not have another pitched +battle? Who could say that the fate that befell the garrison at Warrior +Gap might not await the troop when next it rode away? And poor Jess had +other anxieties, too, by this time. Loomis was burning with eagerness +for orders to lead it instantly to join the field column, and importuned +Colonel Stevens, even in the midst of all the grief and shock of the +early evening. Almost angrily the veteran colonel bade him attend to his +assigned duties and not demand others. "C" Troop should not with his +advice and consent be sent north of the Platte. "First thing you know, +sir, after they've got all the troops up along the Big Horn you'll see +the Sioux in force this side of the river, murdering right and left, and +not a company to oppose them. No, sir, more than enough of that troop +have already been sacrificed! The rest shall stay here." + +And well was it, for one and all, that "Old Pecksniff" held firm to his +decision. It was one of his lucid intervals. + +Late that evening, after ten o'clock, there came the sound of hoof-beats +on the hard road and the crack of the long-lashed mule-whip, and the +fort ambulance clattered up to Folsom's gate, and the colonel himself, +his adjutant by his side, came nervously up the gravel walk. Folsom met +them at his door. Instinctively he felt that something new and startling +was added to the catalogue of the day's disastrous tidings. Pecksniff's +face was eloquent of gravest concern, mingled with irrepressible +excitement. + +"Let me see you in private, quick," he said. "Mr.--Ah--Mr. Adjutant, +will you kindly remain in the parlor," and, taking Folsom by the elbow, +Pecksniff led impetuously into the library. The girls had gone aloft +only a moment before, but, dreading news of further evil, Pappoose came +fluttering down. + +"Go in and welcome the adjutant, dear," said Folsom hurriedly. "The +colonel and I have some matters to talk of." Obediently she turned at +once, and, glancing up the stairs, noted that Mrs. Fletcher's door must +have been suddenly opened, for the light from her room was now streaming +on the third-floor balusters. Listening again! What could be the secret +of that woman's intense watchfulness? In the parlor the young staff +officer was pacing up and down, but his face lighted at sight of Elinor. + +"Do you know--Is there anything new?--anything worse?" she quickly +asked, as she gave her slim young hand. + +"Not concerning our people," was the significant answer. "But I fear +there's more excitement coming." + +Barely waiting for Elinor to withdraw, "Pecksniff" had turned on Folsom. +"You know I opposed the sending of that party? You know it was all +ordered on Burleigh's urging and representations, do you not?" + +"Yes, I heard so," said Folsom. "What then?" + +"You know he planned the whole business--sent 'em around by Canon +Springs and the Sweetwater?" + +"Yes, I heard that, too," said Folsom, still wondering. + +"You know some one must have put that Birdsall gang on the scent, and +that Burleigh has had alleged nerve prostration ever since, and has been +too ill to see any one or to leave his bed." + +"Yes, so we were told." + +"Well, he's well enough to be up and away--God knows where, and here is +the reason--just in from the north," and, trembling with excitement, +Pecksniff pointed to the closing paragraph of the letter in his hand: + + "Cords, seals and wrapping were intact when handed to the + quartermaster, but the contents were nothing but worthless paper. + It must have been so when given to Lieutenant Dean." + +Folsom's eyes were popping from his head. He sank into a chair, gazing +up in consternation. + +"Don't you see, man!" said Pecksniff, "some one in the depot is short +ten thousand dollars or so. Some one hoped to cover this shortage in +just this way--to send a little squad with a bogus package, and then +turn loose the biggest gang of ruffians in the country. They would have +got it but for the storm at Canon Springs, and no one would have been +the wiser. They couldn't have got it without a murderous fight. No one +would ever dare confess his complicity in it. No statement of theirs +that there wasn't a cent in the sack could ever be believed. Some one's +shortage would be covered and his reputation saved. The plot failed, and +God's mercy was over Dean's young head. He'd 'a been murdered or ruined +if the plan worked--and now Burleigh's gone!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +Yes, Burleigh was gone, and there was confusion at the depot. At six the +doctor had come forth from his room, saying he was better, but must not +be disturbed. At seven the major, carrying a satchel, had appeared at +his office, where two clerks were smoking their pipes, innocent of all +thought of their employer's coming. It was after hours. They had no +business there at the time. Smoking was prohibited in the office, yet it +was the major who seemed most embarrassed at the unexpected meeting. It +was the major who hastily withdrew. He was traced to the railway, and it +was speedily found that he had sent word to the division superintendent +that the General had telegraphed for him to join him at once at +Cheyenne, and a special engine and caboose would be needed. At a quarter +past seven this had started full speed. It was eleven when the discovery +was made. Meantime Folsom and Stevens had consulted together. Folsom had +told of the large sum he had loaned Burleigh and the conditions +attached, and between them a dispatch, concisely setting forth their +suspicions, was sent the General at Cheyenne, with orders to "rush," as +they were determined if possible to head off the fugitive at that point. +Back came the wire ten minutes before midnight that the General had left +Cheyenne for Laramie by stage that evening, and must now be near the +Chugwater and far from telegraphic communication. Then Stevens wired the +sheriff at Cheyenne and the commanding officer of the new post of Fort +Russell to stop Burleigh at all hazards, and at two in the morning the +answer came that the major had reached Cheyenne about midnight and they +would search everywhere for him. That was the last until long after the +rising of another sun. + +Events and excitements, alarms and rumors followed each other with +startling rapidity during the day. In glaring headlines the local paper +published the details of the massacre at the Gap, lauding the valor and +devotion of the soldiers, but heaping abuse upon the commander of the +post, who, with other troops at his disposal, had looked on and lifted +no hand to aid them. Later, of course, it was proved that the veteran +had foiled old Red Cloud's villainous plan to lure the whole garrison +into the open country and there surround and slowly annihilate it, while +then, or at their leisure later, his chosen ones should set fire to the +unprotected stockade and bear off those of the women or children whose +years did not commend them to the mercy of the hatchet. Soldiers and +thinking men soon saw the colonel was right and that the only mistake he +had made was in allowing any of the garrison to go forth at all. But +this verdict was not published, except long after as unimportant news +and in some obscure corner. The Laramie column, so the news ran, was +hastening down the Powder River to strike Red Cloud. The Indians would +be severely punished, etc., etc. But old Folsom's face grew whiter yet +as he read that such orders had been sent and that the General himself +was now at Laramie directing matters. "In God's name," urged he, "if you +have any influence with the General, tell him not to send a foot column +chasing horsemen anywhere, and above all not to follow down the Powder. +Next thing you know Red Cloud and all his young men will have slipped +around their flank and come galloping back to the Platte, leaving the +old men and women and worn-out ponies to make tracks for the 'heap +walks' to follow." + +And Stevens listened dumbly. Influence he had never had. Folsom might be +right, but it was a matter in which he was powerless. When a depot +quartermaster, said he, could dictate the policy that should govern the +command of a colonel of the fighting force, there was no use in +remonstrance. Noon came and no news from the Cheyenne sheriff. The +commanding officer at Russell wired that he, too, was stripped of his +troops and had not even a cavalry courier to send after the General with +the startling news that Major Burleigh had vanished with large sums, it +was believed, in his possession. At one o'clock came tidings of the +fugitive. He, together with two other men, had spent the late hours of +the night at the lodgings of one of the party in Cheyenne, and at dawn +had driven away in a "rig" hired at a local stable, ostensibly to follow +the General to Laramie. They had kept the road northwestward on leaving +town--were seen passing along the prairie beyond Fort Russell, but +deputies, sworn in at once and sent in pursuit, came back to say the rig +had never gone as far as Lodge Pole. At six P. M. came further tidings. +Lieutenant Loring, engineer officer of the department, had reached +Cheyenne and was in consultation with the commanding officer at Russell. +The rig had been found at Sloan's ranch, far up Crow Creek, where the +party had taken horses and ridden westward into the Black Hills. In +anticipation of a big reward, the sheriff had deputies out in pursuit. +From such information as they could gather it was learned that the name +of one of the parties gone with Burleigh was Newhall, who claimed to be +a captain in the army, "out there looking after investments"--a captain +who was too busy, however, to go and see the few fellows of his cloth at +the new post and who was not known to them by sight at all. The +engineer, Mr. Loring, was making minute inquiries about this fellow, for +the description given him had excited not a little of his interest. + +And so the sun of the second day went down on Gate City and Emory, and +everybody knew Burleigh was gone. The wildest rumors were afloat, and +while all Fort Emory was in mourning over the tragedy at Warrior Gap, +everybody in town seemed more vividly concerned in Burleigh and the +cause of his sudden flight. As yet only certain army officers and Mr. +Folsom knew of the startling discovery at the stockade--that the package +was a bogus affair throughout. But all Gate City knew Burleigh had drawn +large sums from the local bank, many citizens had heard that John Folsom +was several thousand dollars the poorer for his sudden going, and all +interest was centered in the coming from Chicago of an expert, summoned +by wire, to open the huge office safe at the quartermaster's depot The +keys had gone with Burleigh. At the last moment, after loading up with +all the cash his own private safe contained, for that was found open and +practically empty in its corner of his sitting-room, and when he had +evidently gone to the office to get the funds there stored, he was +confounded by the sight of the two employes. He could have ordered them +to leave and then helped himself, but conscience had made a coward of +him, even more than nature. He saw accusers in every face, and fled. +Burleigh had lost his nerve. + +Two days went by and excitement was at its height. All manner of evil +report of Burleigh was now afloat. The story of the bogus package had +been noised abroad through later messengers and dispatches from the Gap. +Lieutenant Loring had come to Fort Emory under the instructions of the +department commander, and what those instructions were no man could find +out from the reticent young officer. If ever a youth seemed capable of +hearing everything and telling nothing it was this scientist of a +distinguished corps that frontiersmen knew too little of. What puzzled +Folsom and old Pecksniff was the persistence with which he followed up +his inquiries about Captain Newhall. He even sought an interview with +Pappoose and asked her to describe the rakish traveler who had so +unfavorably impressed her. She was looking her loveliest that evening. +Jessie was radiant once more. A long letter had come from Marshall--sad +because of the fate that had befallen his companions, stern because of +the evidence of the deep-laid plot that so nearly made him a victim, but +modestly glad of the official commendation he had received, and +rejoicing over the surgeon's promise that he would be well enough to +make the march with a command ordered back to Frayne. Red Cloud's people +had scattered far and wide, said he. "God grant they may not turn back +to the south." He was coming home. He would soon be there. The papers +had told their readers this very morning that the General had plainly +said his force was too small to risk further assault upon the Sioux. +Alarmed at the result of its policy, the Bureau had recommended +immediate abandonment of Warrior Gap and the withdrawal of the troops +from the Big Horn country. The War Department, therefore, had to hold +its hand. The Indians had had by long, long odds the best of the fight, +and perhaps would be content to let well enough alone. All this had +tended to bring hope to the hearts of most of the girls, and Loring's +welcome was the more cordial because of this and because of his now +known championship of Marshall's cause. From being a fellow under the +ban of suspicion and the cloud of official censure, Marshall Dean was +blossoming out as a hero. It was late in the evening when Folsom brought +the young engineer from the hotel and found Elinor and Jessie in the +music-room, with Pecksniff's adjutant and Loomis in devoted attendance. +It was nearly eleven when the officers left--two returning to the fort, +Loring lingering for a word with Folsom at the gate. The night was still +and breathless. The stars gleamed brilliantly aloft, but the moon was +young and had early gone to bed. A window in the third story softly +opened, as the two men stopped for their brief conference--the one so +young-looking, sturdy and alert, despite the frost of so many winters; +the other so calm and judicial, despite his youth. + +"Up to this afternoon at five no trace of them has been found," said +Loring. "Day after to-morrow that safe-opener should reach us. If you +have influence with Colonel Stevens you should urge him to have a guard +at the quartermaster's depot, even if he has to strip the fort. The +General cannot be reached by wire." + +"Why?" asked Folsom, looking up in alarm. "You don't suppose he'd come +back to rob his own office?" + +"He is not the man to take a risk, but there are those with him not so +careful, and the hand that sent Birdsall's gang in chase of Dean could +send them here, with the safe-key. Those few clerks and employes would +be no match for them." + +"By heaven, I believe you're right!" cried Folsom. "Which way are you +going now?" + +"Back to the hotel by way of the depot," was the answer. "Will you go?" + +"One moment. I do not travel about just now without a gun," said Folsom, +stepping within doors, and even the low sound of their voices died away +and all was still as a desert. The old trader did not return at once. +Something detained him--Miss Folsom, probably, reasoned the engineer, as +he stood there leaning on the gate. Aloft a blind creaked audibly, and, +gazing upward, Loring saw a dark, shadowy shutter at the third-story +window swing slowly in. There was no wind to move it. Why should human +hands be so stealthy? Then a dim light shone through the slats, and the +shade was raised, and, while calmly watching the performance, Loring +became aware of a dim, faint, far-away click of horse's hoofs at the +gallop, coming from the north. + +"If that were from the eastward, now," thought he, "it might bring +stirring news." But the sound died away after a moment, as though the +rider had dived into sandy soil. + +Just then Folsom reappeared, "I had to explain to my daughter. She is +most reluctant to have me go out at night just now." + +"Naturally," said Loring calmly. "And have you been way up to the third +story? I suppose Miss Folsom has gone to her room." + +"The girls have, both of them--but not to the third story. That's Mrs. +Fletcher's room." + +"Ah, yes. The woman, I believe, who accidentally scared your horse and +threw you?" + +"The very one!" he answered. "I'm blessed if I know what should have +taken her out at that hour. She says she needed air and a walk, but why +should she have chosen the back-gate and the alley as a way to air and +sunshine?" + +"Would you mind taking me through that way?" asked the engineer +suddenly. "It's the short cut to the depot, I understand." + +"Why, certainly. I hadn't thought of that," said Folsom. "Come right +on." + +And so, while the hoof-beats up the road grew louder, the two turned +quickly back to the rear of the big frame house. "That coming horse +brings news," muttered Loring to himself, as he turned the corner. "We +can head him off, but I want to see this situation first." + +Looking away southeastward from the porch of Folsom's homestead, one +could see in the daytime a vista of shingled roofs and open yards, a +broad valley, with a corral and inclosures on the southern edge of the +town, but not a tree. To-night only dim black shadows told where roof +and chimney stood, and not a sign could they see of the depot. Loring +curiously gazed aloft at the rear and side windows of the third story. +"They command quite a view, I suppose," said he, and even as he spoke +the sash of the southeast room was softly raised, the blind swung +slightly outward. That woman watching and listening again! And it was +she whose sudden and startling appearance at the rear gate had led to +Folsom's throw so early the morning Burleigh and his mysterious friend +were found missing from their quarters just after dawn--the very morning +Dean, with his treasure package and little escort, rode forth from Emory +on that perilous mission--the very morning that Birdsall and his +murderous gang set forth from Gate City in pursuit. + +And now those hoof-beats up the road were coming closer, and Folsom, +too, could hear and was listening, even while studying Loring's face. +Suddenly a faint gleam shot across the darkness overhead. Glancing +quickly upward, both men, deep in shadow, saw that the eastern window on +the southern side was lighted up. Out in the alleyway, low yet clear, a +whistle sounded--twice. Then came cautious footsteps down the back +stairs. The bolt of the rear door was carefully drawn. A woman's form, +tall and shrouded in a long cloak, came swiftly forth and sped down the +garden walk to that rear gate. "Come on, quick!" murmured the engineer, +and on tiptoe, wondering, the two men followed. They saw her halt at the +barred gate. Low, yet distinct she spoke a single name: "George!" And +without, in the alley, a voice answered: "I'm here! open, quick!" + +"Swear that you are alone!" + +"Oh, stop that damned nonsense! Of course I'm alone!" was the sullen +reply, and at the sound of the voice Loring seemed fairly to quiver. The +gate was unbarred. A man's form, slender and shadowy, squeezed in and +seemed peering cautiously about. "You got my note?" he began. "You know +what's happened?" + +But a woman's muffled scream was the answer. With a spring like a cat +Loring threw himself on the intruder and bore him down. In an instant +Folsom had barred the gate, and the woman, moaning, fell upon her knees. + +"Mercy! Mercy!" she cried. "It is all my fault. I sent for him." + +"Take your hands off, damn you, or you'll pay for this!" cried the +undermost man. "I'm Captain Newhall, of the army!" + +"You're a thief!" answered Loring, through his set teeth. "Hand over the +key of that safe!" + +The sound of hoof-beats at the front had suddenly ceased. There was a +sputter and scurry in the alley behind. Full half a dozen horses must +have gone tearing away to the east. Other lights were popping in the +windows now. Folsom's household was alarmed. Attracted by the scream and +the sound of scuffle, a man came hurrying toward them from the front. + +"Halt! Who are you?" challenged Folsom, covering him with his revolver. + +"Don't shoot. I'm Ned Lannion--just in from the ranch. Have you heard +anything of Hal, sir?" + +"Of Hal?" gasped Folsom, dropping his pistol in dismay. "In God's name, +what's wrong?" + +"God only knows, sir. Mrs. Hal's nigh crazy. He's been gone two days." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Five days later the women and children from Warrior Gap, most of them +bereaved, all of them unnerved by the experiences of that awful day, +arrived at old Fort Frayne, escorted by a strong command of infantry and +all that was left of the cavalry troop at the stockade. A sad procession +it was as it slowly forded the Platte and ascended the winding road to +the post, where sorrowing, sympathetic army women met and ministered to +them. With them, too, came such of the wounded as could be moved, and at +the head of the little squad of horse rode Lieutenant Dean, whom the +post commander and several officers greeted almost effusively. + +Yet almost the first question was, "Did you see any Indians?" + +"Not one," answered Dean. "They seem to have drawn away from the Big +Horn road entirely. Why do you ask?" he added anxiously. + +"There were signal fires out at Eagle Butte last night, and I've just +had a letter from old Folsom at the ranch on the Laramie. He begs us to +send a guard at once, and I haven't a horseman. There's been the devil +to pay at young Folsom's place." + +Dean's face went a shade paler. "What's happened?" he asked. + +"A dozen of his best horses run off by Birdsall's gang, probably to +replace those they lost in the flood, and Hal himself was shot and left +for dead in the hills. He'd have died but for an Ogallalla girl and a +couple of half-breeds who had a hunting lodge out near the Peak. There +are letters for you at the office." + +There were two--one from Loomis, at Emory; one from Jessie, of all +places in the world, at Folsom's ranch. This he read first. + + "We got here late night before last, after such an exciting + journey, Marshall dear," said she, "and I can't begin to tell you + all the strange things that have happened, for Mr. Folsom says the + messenger must start for Fort Frayne in twenty minutes. That + villain, Major Burleigh, who dared to speak ill of you, turned out + to be as bad as I ever said he was. They haven't caught him yet, + but they've got Captain Newhall. Mr. Folsom and Mr. Loring did + that--caught him in the backyard of our house, down by the gate, + and in some way Mrs. Fletcher induced him to come there, for he had + the key of the safe at the quartermaster's depot, and was going to + get the money Major Burleigh dared not take when he fled. I can't + understand it at all, and Pappoose doesn't like to talk about it. + But Mr. Folsom was robbed of lots of money by Major Burleigh. Mrs. + Fletcher is mixed up in it in such a queer way, I can't explain + how. She was nearly crazy when we came away, and Mr. Folsom was so + good and kind to her, left a nurse with her, and made her stay at + the house, although she wanted to pack her things and go to the + hotel or the jail, she didn't care which; but he wouldn't let her. + + "And right in the midst of it all Ned Lannion, who came with news + before, galloped in to tell how Halbert Folsom had been missing two + days and Mrs. Folsom was crazy with fear, so Mr. Folsom left + Lieutenant Loring to attend to all the matters about the robbery + and started at once for the ranch, and Pappoose, of course, + insisted on going with him, and I would not be left behind. And + here we are. Now I can see the hills where you had the fight and + wore Elinor's picture, and it was right out there among them that + Halbert was found. Horse thieves had run off his best horses--the + same gang of murderers that, they say, planned to trap you and that + you outwitted. Oh! Marshall, was ever a girl so proud of her + brother!--and they shot Hal and he was found and taken care of by + some Indian people, tame ones, and one was a girl, Lizette, who had + fallen in love with him four years ago. Wasn't it romantic? And + she's gone again, but Hal is safe here, although Mrs. Folsom is + more than half-crazy, and now old Mr. Folsom is worried to death, + and says we must start back for home to-morrow. It's seventy-five + miles and we don't want to go at all--only I'm so eager to see you, + and I heard--at least Mr. Loomis told me you'd be back any day, and + he has your troop till you come, and he's so fond of you--Oh, + here's Pappoose to say this must go at once." + +The colonel sat watching the young fellow as he read. "Bad news, Dean?" +he queried. + +"Every kind of news, sir. It's all a whirl. The devil seems to have +broken loose in Wyoming. Let me skim through Loomis' note. + + "DEAR DEAN: In case the letter sent yesterday passes you + on the way, I add a line to say that if ever I said a mean thing + about Loring when we were in the corps, I take it back. I thought + him a prig when we wore the gray. He rather 'held us under' anyhow, + being a class ahead, you know, but the way he has panned out here + and wiped up Wyoming with the only men I ever knew that tried to + wrong you is simply wonderful. He's nabbed three of the Birdsall + gang and is away now after Burleigh. The news from Folsom's ranch + is more reassuring. Hal was shot by horsethieves who were running + off stock, and was found and taken care of by friendly Indians, but + Mrs. Hal had an awful scare and sent for the old man, who went, of + course--both young ladies going with him. They were miles away + before we knew it at the fort. I tried to pursuade old Pecksniff + that he ought to let me go with twenty troopers to guard the ranch + and scout the Laramie, and he threatened to put me in arrest. Of + all the double-dashed, pig-headed old idiots he's the worst. I + don't want people at the ranch to be scared, but if the Sioux only + would make some demonstration this way that would give me a chance. + I'd try to earn a little of the reputation that you're winning, old + boy, and no man knows better how much you deserve it than + + "Your friend and classmate, HANK L." + + "P. S.--Loring took ten of the troop into the Black Hills to beat + up Burleigh, but he said if they struck Indian sign he meant to + make for Folsom's ranch. Now, if we could only meet there!" + +The sun was well down at the west. The day's march had been long and +tedious, as only cavalry marches are when long wagon trains have to be +escorted. Dean had not yet fully recovered strength, but anxiety lent +him energy. + +"If Mr. Folsom says there is need of cavalry guard at the Laramie, it is +because he dreads an other Indian visit, colonel. I have nine men in +good shape. Our horses are fresh, or will be after a few hours' rest. +May I push on to-night?" + +And to the young soldier's surprise the elder placed a trembling hand +upon his shoulder and looked him earnestly in the eyes. "Dean, my boy, +it's my belief you cannot start too soon. Do you know who Lizette is?" + +"I've heard the story," said Marshall briefly. "She must have been +hovering about there for some time." + +"Yes, and now her people know it, and it will rekindle their hatred. The +moment I heard of this I sent old Bat to watch the crossing at La Bonte. +Not an hour ago this came in by the hand of his boy," and the colonel +held out a scrap of paper. It a rude pictograph, a rough sketch, +map-like, of a winding river--another and smaller one separated from the +first by a chain of mountains. The larger one was decorated by a +flag-pole with stars and stripes at the top and a figure with musket and +bayonet at the bottom. The smaller one by a little house, with smoke +issuing from the chimney, and a woman beside it. Above all, its head +over the mountains pointing toward the house, its tail extending north +of the bigger stream, was a comet--the "totem" or sign of the Ogallalla +lover of Lizette. The story was told at a glance. Burning Star was +already south of the Platte and lurking in the mountains near Folsom's +ranch. + +That night, toward ten o'clock, an anxious council was held. Halbert +Folsom, fevered by his severe wound, was lying half-unconscious on his +bed, his unhappy wife wandering aimlessly about at times, wringing her +hands and weeping, evidently unbalanced by the terrors that had beset +her of late and the tidings of that awful Indian revenge along the Big +Horn. Silent, helpful, almost commanding, Elinor spent the hours +sometimes at her brother's bedside, then at that of her sister-in-law +when the poor creature could be induced to lie still a moment. The burly +little son and heir, long since sound asleep in his cradle, was watched +over by Jessie, whose heart fluttered in dread she dare not say of what. +Twice that afternoon she had seen whispered conferences between old +Folsom and Lannion. She knew that for some better reason than that he +was overpersuaded by Pappoose, Mr. Folsom had not carried out his +project of sending them back to Gate City. She saw that he made frequent +visits to the cellar and had changed the arrangement of the air ports. +She noted that the few ranch hands hung about the premises all day, +their rifles ever within reach, and that often Mr. Folsom took the +glasses and searched the road to Frayne. She saw that earth was being +heaped up in places against the ranch where the walls were thin or made +of boarding. She saw that water and provisions were being stored in the +cellar, and she knew that it could all mean only one thing--that the +Indians were again in force in the neighborhood, and that an Indian +siege was imminent. + +And all this time Pappoose, though very brave, was so still and so +intent upon her duties. Even when supper was served for the ranch people +in the kitchen that evening, as the sun went down, Jess noted that two +of the men kept constantly in saddle, riding round the buildings and +anxiously scanning the open prairie on every side. There were only six +men, all told now, including Folsom (of course not counting Hal, who was +defenseless), altogether too small a number to successfully protect so +large a knot of buildings against an insidious and powerful foe, and +even of these six there were two who seemed so unstrung by tidings of +the massacre as to be nearly nerveless. + +Darkness settled down upon the valley, and, though calm and collected, +Folsom seemed oppressed by the deepest anxiety. Every now and then he +would step forth into the night and make a circuit of the buildings, +exchange a word in low tone with some invisible guardian, for, heavily +armed, the employes were gathered at the main building, and the wife and +children of the chief herdsman were assigned to a room under its roof. +Particularly did Folsom pet and encourage the dogs, two of them splendid +mastiffs in whom Hal took unusual pride. Then he would return to his +son's bedside, bend anxiously over him and lay a loving hand on +Pappoose's lustrous hair. It must have been ten o'clock and a night wind +was rising, making the occasional cry of the coyotes even more weird and +querulous, when they heard the sudden, fierce challenge of Trooper, the +keenest, finest of the mastiffs, and instantly his bark was echoed by +the rush and scurry of every canine on the place. The men on the porch +sprang to their feet and Folsom hastened out to join them. The dogs had +charged in the darkness toward the northeast, and somewhere out in that +direction were now all furiously barking. Aloft the skies were heavily +clouded. The moon was banked and not a glimmer of light shone on earth +or heaven. Suddenly, afar out over the prairie, beyond where the dogs +were challenging, there was heard the sound of a pony's neigh, an eager +appeal for welcome and shelter, and Folsom sprang confidently forward, +his powerful tones calling off the dogs. They came back, growling, +sniffing, only half-satisfied, still bristling at the unseen visitor. +"War ponies never neigh," said Folsom. "Who are you, brothers--friends?" +he called, in the Sioux tongue, and a faint voice answered from the +darkness, a pony came loping dimly into view, almost running over him, +and in another minute an Indian girl, trembling with fear and +exhaustion, had toppled from the saddle and clasped the old trader's +hand. + +"Good God! Lizette," he cried, "you again? What is wrong?" for her head +was drooping, her knees giving way beneath her, as the poor child +whispered her answer: + +"Sioux coming--plenty braves! Hide--quick!" + +And Folsom bore her in his arms within. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Never unless sure of its ground and the weakness of the adversary does +the modern Indian band attack at night. Folsom and his people well knew +that. Yet not five minutes after the Indian girl, faint with exhaustion +and dread, was carried within doors, the big mastiff challenged again. +The dogs charged furiously out to the northeast and would not be +recalled. For nearly half an hour they kept up their angry clamor. Time +and again during the night, suspicious and excited, they dashed out +again and again, and once one of them, venturing further than his +fellows, broke suddenly into loud cries of mingled pain and rage, and +when at last he came whining piteously back to the ranch it was found +that he was bleeding from a gash along the flank, where an Indian arrow +had seared him. Only by fits and starts did any man sleep. Hour after +hour Folsom's little garrison was on the alert. The women had all been +moved to the deep, dry cellar, Mrs. Hal moaning over her baby, utterly +unnerved, Jessie silent, but white and tremulous; the herdsman's wife, +an Amazon, demanded the right to have a gun and fight by her husband's +side; Lizette, the Indian girl, faint and starved, asked nothing but to +be allowed to crouch at the door of the room where Halbert lay, fevered +and unconscious, and Pappoose, scorning danger, flitted from her +brother's bedside to her father's log-barricade at the east porch. In +dread anxiety the hours dragged by, and at last Lannion reached forth +his hand and pulled the shirt sleeve of his comrade Jake, half-dozing at +his side. In an instant the latter was kneeling at his post. "What is +it?" he queried, and Lannion, pointing to the first faint, pallid gleam +in the eastern sky, whispered: "Time to be up, man. It's coming." + +For half an hour, except for the rushing of the Laramie, a silence +almost unearthly had brooded over the prairie, and even the dogs seemed +lulled to sleep. But now, as the cold light crept slowly over the +distant range, and a soft flush began to overspread the pallor of the +dawn, far out over the valley the yelp of a coyote began again and all +men strained their ears and listened, while strong hands grabbed the +growling dogs and pinned them to earth, for, beginning at the east, the +cry was taken up on every side. Folsom's ranch seemed beleaguered by the +gaunt, half-famished wolves of the upland prairies. "Look to your +sights, now, men! Down into the cellar, Pappoose!" exclaimed Folsom, +kindling with fierce excitement. "I've been the friend of all that tribe +for thirty years, but when they break faith with me and mine that ends +it! Look to your sights and make every shot count!" he cautioned, as he +made the rounds of the little shelters thrown up during the past two +days. "We can stand off a hundred of 'em if you only keep your grit." + +Again the clamor as of coyotes ceased. It was only the Indian signal +"Ready," and every ranchman knew that with the rising sun, if not +before, the swoop would come. Again as the light broadened the dogs were +loosed and presently were challenging all four points of the compass. +The unseen foe was on every hand. + +Perched as it was on a little rise, the ranch stood forth conspicuous +over the valley. At the foot of the slope to the south lay the corral +and some of the buildings, about one hundred yards away, where the +shallow Laramie curled and lapped beneath their walls, and now the dogs +seemed to concentrate their attention on that side. Folsom, rifle in +hand, was kneeling on the porch, listening intently. Two of the hands +were with him. Jake and Lannion, experienced and reliable, had been +given independent posts on the other front, and just as objects could be +dimly recognized along the flats, there burst upon the ears of the +little garrison a sudden chorus of exultant yells. A tongue of flame +leaped upward from beyond the huts lately occupied by the ranchmen. The +half-used haystacks caught and held one moment the fiery messenger, and +then in a broad glare that reddened the flood of the Laramie for miles +and lighted up the ranch like a sunburst, gave forth a huge column of +blaze and smoke that could be seen far over the Black Hills of Wyoming, +and all the valley seemed to spring to instant life. On every side arose +the stirring war-cry of the Sioux, the swift beat of pony hoofs, the +ring of rifle, and brave John Folsom's heart sank within him as he +realized that here was no mere marauding party, but a powerful band +organized for deliberate vengeance. The Laramie plains were alive with +darting, yelling, painted horsemen, circling about the ranch, hemming it +in, cutting it off from the world. + +The bullets came whistling through the morning air, biting fiercely into +the solid logs, spattering the chinking, smashing pane after pane. Some +of the dogs came howling and whining back for shelter, though the +mastiffs held their ground, fiercely barking and bounding about, despite +the whistles and calls from the besieged who sought to save them to the +last, but not once as yet had the ranch replied with a shot. Down in the +cellar women clung together or clasped their wailing children and +listened fearfully to the clamor. In Hal's room the fevered sufferer +awoke from his stupor and, demanding his rifle, struggled to rise from +the bed, and there John Folsom found Pappoose, pale and determined, +bending over her weakened brother and holding him down almost as she +could have overpowered a child. Lifting his son in his strong arms, he +bore him to the cellar and laid him upon a couch of buffalo robes. +"Watch him here, my child," he said, as he clasped her in his arms one +moment. "But on no account let any one show above ground now. There are +more of them than I thought, yet there is hope for us. Somebody is +vexing them down the Laramie." + +Bounding up the steps, the veteran was almost back at his post upon the +porch when there came a sound that seemed to give the lie to his last +words and that froze the hope that had risen in his breast--the sudden +rumble and thunder of at least two hundred hoofs, the charging yell of +an Indian band, the sputter and bang of rifles close at hand, and then a +rush of feet, as, with faces agonized by fear, three of the men came +darting within. "It's all up! There's a million Indians!" they cried. +Two of the demoralized fellows plunged into the passage that led to the +cellar. One burst into childish wailing and clung to Folsom's knees. + +"Let go, you coward!" yelled the old man in fury, as he kicked himself +loose, then went bounding out upon the porch. God, what a sight! +Sweeping up the gentle slope, brandishing rifles and lances and +war-clubs, racing for their hapless prey, came fifty Ogallallas, Burning +Star among the leaders. Bullets could not stop them now. The two men who +had stood to their posts knelt grim and desperate, and Lannion's last +shot took effect. Within fifty yards of the walls Burning Star's rushing +pony went down on his nose, and in the fury of his pace, turned sudden +and complete somersault, crushing his red rider under him, and +stretching him senseless on the turf. An inspiration, almost God given, +seemed to flash upon the old trader at the instant. Bareheaded, in his +shirt sleeves, throwing upward and forward his empty hands, he sprang +out as though to meet and rebuke his assailants. "Hold!" he cried, in +the tongue he knew so well "Are my brothers crazed? Look! I am no enemy +It is your friend! It is old John!" And even in the rage of their +charge, many Indians at sight of him veered to right and left; many +reined up short within ten paces of the unarmed man; two sprang from +their ponies and threw themselves between him and their brethren, +shouting to be heard. And then in the midst of furious discussion, some +Indians crying out for the blood of all at the ranch in revenge for +Chaska, some demanding instant surrender of every woman there in +expiation for Lizette, some urging that old John be given respectful +hearing, but held prisoner, there came lashing into their midst a young +brave, crying aloud and pointing down the now well-lighted valley where, +darting about a mile away, a few Indians were evidently striving to head +off the coming of some hostile force. Leaving two or three of their +number trying to restore consciousness to the stricken chief, and a +dozen, Folsom's advocates among them, to hold possession of the ranch, +away scurried most of the warriors at top speed to the aid of their +outlying scouts. + +Meantime, under cover of the fierce argument, Jake and Lannion had +managed to crawl back within the building. Folsom himself, in such calm +as he could command, stood silent while his captors wrangled. The +warriors who pleaded for him were Standing Elk, a sub chief of note, +whose long attachment to Folsom was based on kindnesses shown him when a +young man, the other was Young-Shows-the-Road, son of a chief who had +guided more than one party of whites through the lands of the Sioux +before the bitterness of war arose between the races. They had loved +Folsom for years and would not desert him now in the face of popular +clamor. Yet even their influence would have failed but for the sound +that told of hotter conflict still among the foothills along the +opposite side of the valley. With straining ears, Folsom listened, hope +and fear alternating in his breast. The mingling yells and volleying +told that the issue was in doubt. Man after man of his captors galloped +away until not half a dozen were left. Now, Jake and Lannion could have +shot them down and borne him within, but to what good? Escape from the +ranch itself was impossible! Such action would only intensify the Indian +hate and make more horrible the Indian vengeance. For twenty minutes the +clamor continued, then seemed to die gradually away, and, with fury in +their faces, back at full gallop came a dozen of the braves. One glance +was enough. They had penned their foe among the rocks, but not without +the loss of several at least of their band, for the foremost rode with +brandished war-club straight at Folsom, and despite the leap of his two +champions to save, felled the old trader with one stunning blow, then +gave the savage order to burn the ranch. + +By this time the sun was just peering into the valley. The smoke and +flame from the corral were dying or drifting away. Eagerly half a dozen +young braves rushed for faggots and kindling with which to do his +bidding, and a cry of despair went up from within the walls. Recklessly +now Lannion and his comrade opened fire from the loopholes and shot down +two of the dancing furies without, sending every other Indian to the +nearest cover. But the arrows that came whistling speedily were +firebrands. The besiegers gained in force with every moment. Poor old +Folsom, slowly regaining senses as he lay bound and helpless down by the +stream, whither his captors had borne him, heard the jeers and shouts of +triumph with which the Indians within the corral were rapidly making +their fire darts, when suddenly there rose on the morning air a sound +that stilled all others, a sound to which the Indians listened in +superstitious awe, a sound that stopped the hands that sought to burn +out the besieged and paralyzed just long enough all inspiration of +attack. Some of the Indians, indeed, dropped their arms, others sprang +to the ponies as though to take to flight. It was the voice of Lizette, +chanting the death song of the Sioux. + +An hour later, once more in force, the band was gathered for its rush +upon the ranch. Jake, gallant fellow, lay bleeding at his post. Hope of +every kind was well-nigh dead. The silence without was only portent of +the storm so soon to burst. Pappoose, grasping her brother's rifle, +crouched facing the narrow entrance to the cellar. Jessie clung to the +baby, for Mrs. Hal, only dimly conscious, was moaning by her husband's +side, while Lizette in silence was kneeling, watching them with strange +glitter in her eyes. Suddenly she started, and with hand to ear, +listened intently. Then she sprang to an air port and crouched there, +quivering. Then again the ground began to tremble under the distant +thunder of pony feet, louder and louder every second. Again came the +rush of the Indian braves, but with it no exultant yell, only cries of +warning, and as this sound swept over and beyond their walls, there +followed another, the distant, deep-throated trooper cheer, the crack of +carbine, the rising thunder of the cavalry gallop, and then the voice of +Ned Lannion rang jubilantly over the dull clamor. + +"Up! Up, everybody! Thank God, it's Dean and the boys!" + + * * * * * + +Long years after, in the camps and stockades and the growing towns of +the far West that almost marvelous rescue was the theme of many an +hour's talk. The number of men who took part in it, the number of hardy +fellows who personally guided the troops or else stood shoulder to +shoulder with Ned Lannion at the last triumphant moment, increased so +rapidly with the growing moons that in time the only wonder was that +anything was left of the Sioux. Official records, however, limited the +number of officers and men engaged to a select few, consisting entirely +of Lieutenant Loring, United States Engineers, Lieutenant Loomis, --th +Infantry, a few men from scattered troops, "pickups" at Frayne and +Emory, with Lieutenant Marshall Dean and fifty rank and file of Company +"C." + +Loring, it will be remembered, had taken a small detachment from Emory +and gone into the hills in search of Burleigh. Loomis, fretting at the +fort, was later electrified by a most grudgingly given order to march to +the Laramie and render such aid as might be required by the engineer +officer of the department. Dean, with only fifteen men all told, had +dashed from Frayne straight for the ranch, and, marching all night, had +come in sight of the valley just as it was lighted afar to the eastward +by the glare of the burning buildings. "We thought it was all over," +said he, as he lay there weak and languid, a few days later, for the +wound reopened in the rush of the fight, "but we rode on to the Laramie, +and there, God be thanked! fell in with Loomis here and "C" Troop, +heading for the fire. No words can tell you our joy when we found the +ranch still standing and some forty Sioux getting ready for the final +dash. That running fight, past the old home, and down the valley where +we stirred up Loring's besiegers and sent them whirling too--why, I'd +give a fortune, if I had it, to live it over again!" + +But Loring, after all, had the most thrilling story to tell--of how he +wormed a clew to Burleigh's hiding place out of a captured outlaw and +beat up the party in a nook of the hills, nabbed the major asleep, but +was warned that all the Birdsall "outfit" would rally to the rescue, and +so sent a courier to Emory for "C" Troop, and, making wide _detour_ to +avoid the gang, ran slap into the Sioux in the act of firing Folsom's +ranch. Then he had to take to the rocks in the fight that followed, and +had a desperate siege of a few hours, even Burleigh having to handle a +gun and fight for his life. "I spotted him for a coward that day we +stumbled on Red Cloud's band up by the Big Horn. You remember it, Dean, +I thought him a villain when I learned how he was trying to undermine +you. Time proved him a thief and a scoundrel, but, peace to his ashes, +he died like a gentleman after all, with two Indian bullets through him, +and just as rescue came. He had time to make full confession, and it was +all pretty much as I suspected. The note Dean picked up at Reno, that so +stampeded him, told how a blackmailing scoundrel was on his way to Emory +to expose him unless headed off by further huge payments. It was the +fellow who called himself Newhall." + +"The fellow who gave the tip to Birdsall's people?" said old Folsom at +this juncture, raising a bandaged head from his daughter's lap. "Who was +he, really?" + +"Burleigh knew all the time and I suspected the moment I heard Miss +Folsom's description, and was certain the instant I laid eyes on him. He +was a rascally captain cashiered at Yuma the year before, and I was +judge advocate of the court." + +"And Mrs. Fletcher?" asked Pappoose, extending one hand to Jess, while +the other smoothed the gray curls on her fathers forehead. + +"Mrs. Fletcher was his deserted wife, one of- those women who have known +better days." + +The ranch is still there, or was twenty years ago, but even then the +Sioux were said to raise more hair in the neighborhood than Folsom did +cattle. The old trader had been gathered to his fathers, and Mrs. Hal to +hers, for she broke down utterly after the events of '68. Neither +Pappoose nor Jessie cared to revisit the spot for some time, yet, oddly +enough, both have done so more than once. The first time its chronicler +ever saw it was in company with a stalwart young captain of horse and +his dark-eyed, beautiful wife nine years after the siege. Hal met us, a +shy, silent fellow, despite his inches. "Among other things," said he, +"Lieutenant and Mrs. Loomis are coming next week. I wish you might all +be here to meet them." + +"I know," said Mrs. Dean, "we are to meet at Cheyenne. But, Hal, where's +your wife?" + +He looked shyer still. "She don't like to meet folks unless----" + +"There's no unless about it," said the lady with all her old decision as +she sprang from the ambulance, and presently reappeared, leading by the +hand, reluctant, yet not all unhappy, Lizette. Some people said Hal +Folsom had no business to marry an Indian girl before his wife was dead +three years, but all who knew Lizette said he did perfectly right, at +least Pappoose did, and that settled it. As for Loring--But that's +enough for one story. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Warrior Gap, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARRIOR GAP *** + +***** This file should be named 20082.txt or 20082.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/0/8/20082/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +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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