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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/37415-8.txt b/37415-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..42cba9f --- /dev/null +++ b/37415-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2627 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Trumpeter Fred, 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: Trumpeter Fred + A Story of the Plains + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: September 13, 2011 [EBook #37415] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUMPETER FRED *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, David E. Brown and 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.) + + + + + + + + + + TRUMPETER FRED + + + + + [Illustration: CAPT. CHARLES KING, U. S. A.] + + + + + TRUMPETER FRED + + _A STORY OF THE PLAINS_ + + BY + CAPTAIN CHARLES KING, U. S. A. + + AUTHOR OF "FORT FRAYNE," "AN ARMY + WIFE," ETC. + + _ILLUSTRATED_ + + + F. TENNYSON NEELY + PUBLISHER + NEW YORK CHICAGO + + 1896 + + + Copyright, 1896, + BY + F. TENNYSON NEELY + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. A DANGEROUS MISSION, 17 + +II. THE OATH OF ENLISTMENT, 26 + +III. A ROBBER IN CAMP, 40 + +IV. SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES, 47 + +V. TRAILING THE TRAITOR, 56 + +VI. CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE, 67 + +VII. TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES, 75 + +VIII. LOYAL FRIENDS, 87 + +IX. LURKING FOES, 101 + +X. IN SUSPENSE, 113 + +XI. HEMMED IN BY SAVAGE FOES, 124 + +XII. MYSTERIOUS HOOF-PRINTS, 135 + +XIII. AWAY TO THE RESCUE! 148 + +XIV. INNOCENT OR GUILTY, 164 + +XV. COURT-MARTIAL, 179 + +XVI. PRISON AND PROMOTION, 188 + + + + + [Illustration: TRUMPETER FRED.] + + + + +TRUMPETER FRED. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A DANGEROUS MISSION. + + +There were only thirty in all that night when the troop reached the +Niobrara and unsaddled along the grassy banks. Rather slim numbers for +the duty to be performed, and with the captain away, too. Not that the +men had lack of confidence in Lieutenant Blunt, but it was practically +his first summer at Indian campaigning, and, however well a young +soldier may have studied strategy and grand tactics at West Point, it is +something very different that is needed in fighting these wild warriors +of our prairies and mountains. Blunt was brave and spirited, they all +knew that; but in point of experience even Trumpeter Fred was his +superior. All along the dusty trail, for an hour before they reached the +ford, the tracks of the Indian ponies had been thickly scattered. A war +party of at least fifty had evidently gone trotting down stream not six +hours before the soldiers rode in to water their tired and thirsty +steeds. No comrades were known to be nearer at hand than the garrison at +Fort Laramie, fifty long miles away, or those guarding the post of Fort +Robinson, right in the heart of the Indian country, and in the very +midst of the treacherous tribes along White River. And yet, under its +second lieutenant and with only twenty-nine "rank and file," here was +"B" Troop ordered to bivouac at the Niobrara crossing, and despite the +fact that all the country was alive with war parties of the Sioux, to +wait there for further orders. + +"Only twenty-nine men all told and a small boy," said Sergeant Dawson, +who was forever trying to plague that little trumpeter. It was by no +means fair to Fred Waller, either, for while he was somewhat undersized +for his fifteen years, his carbine and his Colt's revolver were just as +big and just as effective as those of any man in the troop, and he knew +how to use them, no matter how hard the "Springfield" kicked. He rode +one of the tallest horses, too, and sat him well and firmly, +notwithstanding all his furious plunging and "buckings," the day that +Dawson slipped the thorny sprig of a wild rosebush under the saddle +blanket. + +From the first sergeant down to the newest recruit, all the men had +grown fond of little Fred in that year of rough scouting and campaigning +around old Red Cloud's reservation--all of them, that is to say, with +the possible exception of Dawson, who annoyed him in many ways when the +officers or first sergeant did not happen to be near, and who sometimes +spoke sneeringly of him to such of the troopers as would listen, but +these were very few in number. + +Fred was the only son of brave old Sergeant Waller, who had served with +the regiment all over the plains before the great war of the rebellion, +and who had been its standard-bearer in many a sharp fight and stirring +charge in Virginia. Now he carried two bullet wounds, and on his bronzed +cheek a long white seam, a saber scar, as mementoes of Beverly Ford, +Winchester, and Five Forks, and through the efforts of his war +commanders a comfortable berth as ordnance sergeant had been secured for +him at one of the big frontier posts along the railway. Fred was the +pride of the old soldier's heart, and nothing would do but that he, too, +must be a trooper. The boy was born far out across the plains in sight +of the Chihuahua Mountains, had followed the regiment in his mother's +arms up the valley of the Rio Grande to the Albuquerque, then eastward +along the Indian-haunted Smoky Hill route to Leavenworth. When the great +war burst upon the nation little Fred was just beginning to toddle about +the whitewashed walls of the laundresses' quarters--his father was +Corporal Waller then--and his baby eyes were big as saucers when he was +carried aboard of a big steamship and paddled down the muddy Missouri +and around by Cairo and up the winding Ohio to Cincinnati. He was even +more astonished at the railway cars that bore the soldiers and a few +women and children eastward and finally landed them at Carlisle. There +at the old cavalry barracks the little fellow grew to lusty boyhood, +while his father was bearing the blue and gold standard through battle +after battle on the Virginia soil. And when the war was over and the +regiment was hurried out to "the plains," and again to protect the +settlers, the emigrants, and the railway builders from the ceaseless +assaults of the painted Indians, little Fred went along, and his soldier +education was fairly begun. + +Old Waller was now first sergeant of "B" troop. The regimental +commander and most of the officers were greatly interested in the +laughing, sun-tanned, blue-eyed boy, who rode day after day on his wiry +Indian pony along the flanks of the column, scorning, though barely +seven years old, to stay in the wagons with the women and children. +Everybody had a jolly word of greeting for Fred, and kind-hearted +Captain Blaine set his "company tailor" to work, and presently there was +made for the boy a natty little cavalry jacket and a tiny pair of yellow +chevrons. "Corporal Fred" they called him then, and, though he strove +hard not to show it, grim old Sergeant Waller was evidently as proud +and pleased as the child. He taught the little man to "stand attention" +and bring up his chubby brown hand in salute whenever an officer passed +by, and most scrupulously was that salute returned. He early placed the +boy under the instruction of the veteran chief trumpeter, and made him +practice with the musicians as soon as he was "big enough to blow," as +he expressed it. And then, too (for there were no army schools, or +schoolmasters in those days), regularly as the day came round and the +sergeant's morning duties were done, he had his boy at his knee, book or +slate in hand, patiently teaching him the little that he knew himself, +and wistfully looking for some better instructor. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE OATH OF ENLISTMENT. + + +It was while stationed at old Fort Sanders that Waller's enthusiastic +devotion to his new captain and his captain's family began. The former +troop commander was ordered to the retired list, broken down by wounds, +and the senior lieutenant stepped into his place. Waller bade farewell +to his old captain with tear-dimmed eyes--they had served together for +over fifteen years--and with much inward misgiving, but not the +faintest outward show thereof, saluted the new arrival, a young officer +but a soldier through and through; it was not a week before the sergeant +had fully satisfied himself as to that. Presently the new captain's +family reached the fort and took up their abode; a fair-haired, +blue-eyed young mother with two children, a boy and a girl, the eldest +being three years younger than Fred; and then began another and strong +interest. + +That very winter scarlet fever devastated the fort. Few children escaped +the scourge. There were a dozen little graves in the cemetery out on the +prairie when the long winter came to an end. There were two or three +larger graves, and one of these held all that was mortal of Fred's +loving mother; he and his stern, sad-faced father were now alone in the +world. + +And Captain Charlton's little household had not been spared. It was +among the officers' quarters that the pestilence had first appeared. +Frank and Florence Charlton were among the children earliest stricken. +The servants fled the house, as frontier servants will, and their place +was promptly supplied by Mrs. Waller. She and her husband would listen +to no remonstrance, and Mrs. Charlton, overwhelmed with care and dread, +was only too glad to have the strong, cheery army woman's help. Over the +little brown cottage the shadow of death hovered for days before it was +lifted and borne away, and when at last all danger was over and all was +again all hope and peace the sergeant's wife went back to her own humble +roof across the parade, and there suddenly sickened and died. When the +scourge was finally swept from the garrison and the soft winds began to +blow from the South, the stricken old soldier was glad of the chance to +go with his troop into the field-service, and was almost happy in one +thing. Mrs. Charlton had taken his boy as one of her own, and each day +she was teaching him faithfully and well. When the troop rode away from +Sanders Fred was left behind to occupy a little room under the +captain's roof. "Remember, sir, you are sergeant of the guard, and that +house and that household are your special charge for all summer long," +were Waller's parting words to his boy. + +Regularly as the mail reached the troop during its summer scouting +Captain Charlton's home missives had their messages for Sergeant Waller; +and soon, to his unspeakable joy, letters all his own, addressed in a +round boyish hand that grew firmer every week, began to come as his +share of the welcome package. Never would he presume to ask for news, +yet the captain was not slow to notice how old Waller was sure to be +busy close at hand when the home letters came, and prompt to answer, +and with soldierly salute to stand erect before his young commander and +strive not to show the pride and delight that tingled in every vein at +the glowing words in which Mrs. Charlton told of his boy's rapid +progress and his devotion to her and the children. His lip would quiver +uncontrollably and his eyes fill; his hand might tremble as it touched +the brim of his scouting hat, but the salute was precise as ever. + + [Illustration: ADDRESSED IN A ROUND BOYISH HAND.] + +"I thank the captain, and beg to thank the captain's kind lady," was his +invariable formula on such occasions. "I hope the boy will always do his +duty." + +And then he would face about and stride away with his head very high in +the air and his eyes blinking hard, and almost immediately his voice +would be heard sternly berating some trooper whose horse had tangled +himself in his lariat, or whose "kit" was not stowed in proper shape +about the saddle. It was his way of striving to hide the joy those +messages brought him, and the men were quick to see through it all, and +little "Reddy" Mulligan, reprimanded for the third time within a +fort-night, started a laugh all through the bivouac by his whimsical +protest: + +"It's more good news you've been getting from Fred, sergeant, dear; +isn't it now? Faith, I wish he'd play ye a thrick wanst in a while, like +other byes. Maybe thin I'd be mintioned to the captain for a +corporalship." And for once the veteran turned his back on the laughing +troop conscious of defeat. + +In '74 old Waller changed the yellow stripes and diamond of the first +sergeantcy for the crimson and the star of the ordnance, and the +troopers, one and all, said good-by to him with infinite regret. Perhaps +Dawson, who was next in rank, may be excepted. He confidently expected +to be promoted in Waller's place. But though a dashing soldier and a +smart non-commissioned officer, he was not the stanch, reliable man the +captain needed, and proved it by celebrating Waller's promotion in a +very boisterous and unseemly manner. It was plain that he had been +drinking heavily, and though Captain Charlton saved him from arrest and +court-martial he would not promote him, and plainly, though privately, +told him why. The troop knew it was for this reason, but Dawson swore it +was all on account of Waller's influence against him when Sergeant +Graham was named in regimental orders as the old veteran's successor. + +That same summer, with firm hand and glistening eyes, Waller signed his +consent to the enlistment of his son as trumpeter in the old troop. How +he watched the boy's glowing face as the oath of enlistment, so often +lightly spoken, was solemnly repeated, and Fred was bound to the +service of his country. How he trembled from head to foot when, but a +few weeks afterward and in the dead of night, Charlton and his men +hurried forth to intercept a band of Indians who had swooped down upon +the herders south of Laramie Peak. Waller could hardly buckle the +cantle-straps of Fred's saddle as the little fellow, all eagerness, was +bustling about his horse in the dim light of the stable lanterns. Yet +when the captain and Lieutenant Rayburn came trotting briskly down the +roadway and the men were silently "leading into line," it was the old +sergeant's hand that grasped the boy's left foot and swung him lightly +into his seat. + +"Whatever happens, sir, mind you keep close to the captain," was his +parting injunction to his boy. Then his heels came together with the old +cavalry "click" and his twitching fingers were stiffened as they went +suddenly up in salute to Mr. Rayburn, who bent down from his saddle to +say that they would try and take good care of Fred. But Waller answered: + +"I thank the lieutenant. The boy is a soldier now, sir. He must take his +chances with the rest." Then with one lingering clasp of the trumpeter's +hand, "Join your captain," he ordered, and turned away into the +darkness. + +But the sentry on No. 6 bore witness to the fact that the ordnance +sergeant never went to bed again all that night, and the men sent to +unload and store the ammunition that came next day from Rock Island +Arsenal declared that old Waller was gruffer than ever. All the next +night too, he was awake, waiting, watching for tidings from the North. +Nothing came until sunset of the second day, just as the whole command +was turning out for retreat parade, and then Corporal Rock rode in with +dispatches and trotted straight to where the commanding officer was +standing in front of the adjutant's office. All eyes were upon him as he +threw himself from the saddle and handed the packet to the colonel. Half +a dozen officers hastened to join their commander as he tore it open. +The piazzas of the officers' quarters were quickly alive with ladies and +children, breathlessly eager to hear the news. The colonel's orderly was +seen hastening to the surgeon's house--that looked ominous--then Rock +remounted; trotted to Captain Charlton's gate, where Mrs. Charlton was +tremblingly awaiting him. "It's all right, ma'am," he hastened to say. +"Leastwise the captain's safe, but Mulligan is shot--and Ryan and +Sergeant Frazer." She hurried in the house with the precious letter he +placed in her hands, and while several ladies hastened to join her, the +messenger returned to the office. + +All this while Sergeant Waller had stood like a statue under the tall +white flag-staff where the non-commissioned staff assembled at retreat, +watching every move with dry, aching eyes, and a face gray as his +mustache. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A ROBBER IN CAMP. + + +The trumpet played the retreat, the sunset gun thundered its good-night +to the god of day; the adjutant hurried over and received the reports of +the companies, the staff, and band, and then a messenger came running to +them: "Mrs. Charlton wants you, Sergeant Waller. Fred's all safe, but +they had a sharp fight." + +The old man could not trust himself to speak. "Listen to this, +sergeant," exclaimed Mrs. Charlton, as she hurried through the little +group of ladies at her doorway, and looked up in his face with +tear-dimmed eyes: + + "Tell Waller that in a running fight of four miles Fred rode close + at my heels and no man could have shown more spirit or less fear. I + am sure it was a shot from his carbine that tumbled one war pony + into the Laramie; and every call he had to sound rang out clear as a + bell. I'm proud of the boy." + +Waller's face was twitching and working; he cleared his throat and tried +to speak; he dashed his hand across his eyes and ground his heels into +the gravel of the walk; he heard the kind and gentle voices of the +ladies joining in the chorus of congratulation, but he could not see +their faces; a mist had risen before his eyes. Even the old formula, "I +thank the captain's lady," had deserted him. He mumbled some +inarticulate words, and then, in dread of disastrous breakdown, turned +suddenly away and strode across the drive. More than one woman was in +tears. There was not a ripple of faintest laughter when it was seen that +in his blindness the old sergeant had collided with the tree box at the +edge of the acequia. Straight to his humble quarters he went; but they +were beautiful to him, radiant with the light of joy, pride, gratitude, +and love that beamed and burnt in his honest heart. + +And now, a year later, all the cavalry was in the field. Gold had +tempted explorers and miners innumerable to the Black Hills of +Dakota--Indian land by solemn treaty. The Government warned the invaders +back, but to no purpose. The Indians swarmed from the agencies and +massacred all whom they could overpower. Charlton's troop had early been +hurried up to Red Cloud, and now with others was engaged in the perilous +work of patrolling the trails around the Indian haunts. + +Two months of hard and most exciting work had they had, and still the +troubles were not over; and then just after the paymaster with his iron +safe and bristling escort had paid the outlying posts a visit, and +Captain Charlton had been ordered in with him to attend a court-martial +at Fort Laramie, there came a week that no man in "B" troop ever forgot. + +Mr. Rayburn had been wounded and was in the hospital at Fort Robinson. +Twenty of the men were away on escort duty, and so it happened that only +young Lieutenant Blunt and about thirty troopers were left at the camp +just west of the Agency. Fearful that the money, "burning" as it always +does in the soldiers' pockets, would tempt his men to gamble or drink +and get into mischief around the crowded post, Charlton had ordered that +the troop should march at once to the Niobrara and wait there for his +return. It was known, of course, that many Indian bands were out, and it +promised to be adventurous. It was Mr. Blunt's first independent +command, too, and he felt a trifle nervous. All went well, however, +until the morning of the second day, when Sergeant Graham excitedly +called his young commander, his face clouded with dismay. + +"Lieutenant," he cried, "Sergeant Dawson and several men were robbed +last night. The money's clean gone!" + +Blunt was out of his blanket in an instant. "How much is missing?" he +asked. + +"I can't tell yet, sir--a good deal. But that is not the worst of it." + +"What on earth could be worse?" + +"Trumpeter Waller's gone, sir--deserted; taken his horse, arms, and +everything!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. + + +Lieutenant Blunt's position on this bright July morning was most +embarrassing. Personally he had known the pet trumpeter of "B" troop +less than a year; for, as was said in the previous chapter, in point of +actual experience on the frontier the boy was the superior of the young +West Pointer, who had joined only the preceding autumn. Finding young +Fred so great a favorite among the officers and men, Mr. Blunt was +quite ready to accept the general verdict, although his first impression +of the youngster was that he was a trifle spoiled. On the other hand no +other man in the troop had so favorably impressed the new officer as the +"left principal guide," Sergeant Dawson, whose dashing horsemanship, +fine figure and carriage, and sharp, soldierly ways had attracted his +attention at the first outset. Then Dawson's manner to him was so +scrupulously deferential and soldierly on all occasions--sometimes the +old war-worn sergeants would be a trifle supercilious with green +subalterns--that Blunt's moderate amount of vanity was touched. He was +always glad, when his turn came round as officer of the guard, to find +Sergeant Dawson on the detail, and he recalled, when he came to think +over the events of his first half year with the regiment that very +summer, that it was when on guard he began to imagine Fred Waller was +"somewhat spoiled." Twice the boy "marched on" as orderly trumpeter when +he and Dawson were on the guard detail for the day, and both times the +sergeant had found fault with the musician, and had most respectfully +and diplomatically, but in that semi-confidential manner which shrewd +old soldiers so well know how to assume to very young subalterns, given +Mr. Blunt to understand that the boy "needed looking after." Months +later, when Blunt and Rayburn were discussing the probabilities of +promotion, when the sergeant-major of the regiment took his discharge +and there was lively competition among the soldiers for this, the finest +non-commissioned post in the regiment, Blunt warmly advocated Dawson's +claim. "He is the nattiest sergeant in the whole command," he said, "and +the smartest one I know." + +"Oh, yes!" answered Rayburn with a certain superiority of manner and a +quiet sarcasm that provoked the junior officer; "there's no question +about Dawson's smartness. One after another every 'plebe' in the +regiment starts in with the same enthusiasm about Dawson. I had it +myself about eight years ago. But the trouble with him is he isn't a +stayer; he can't stand prosperity." + +But Blunt preferred to hold to his own views and his faith in the second +sergeant of the troop. And so it happened that on this eventful morning +he sent Sergeant Graham at once to investigate as to the amounts stolen +during the night, and directed that Sergeant Dawson, who was in command +of the herd and picket guard, should come to him immediately. + +The sun was just rising above the low treeless ridges on the horizon as +the lieutenant stood erect and looked about him. Close at hand the +Niobrara--"the Running Water"--was brawling over its stony shallows, and +the smoke of tiny cook-fires was floating upward into the keen, crisp, +morning air. Northward the slopes were bare and treeless, too, but +closely carpeted with the dense growth of buffalo grass. Only a few +yards out from the bivouac, hoppled and sidelined, the troop horses were +cropping the still juicy herbage, and three or four soldiers, carbine in +hand and garbed in their light-blue overcoats, were posted well out +beyond the herd on every side, watching the valley far and near for any +signs of Indian coming. Below the bivouac, and further from the Laramie +road, was an old log hut, once used as a ranch and "bar" for thirsty +souls traversing the well-worn way to the reservation; but the tide of +travel had first shifted to the Sidney route, and then been stemmed +entirely, so far as the line to or near the agencies was concerned, and +the proprietor had taken himself and his fiery poison to better-paying +fields. Far away to the southwest the blue cone of Laramie Peak stood +boldly against the sky. Nearer at hand, though a day's ride away, old +Rawhide Butte rose sturdily from the midst of surrounding prairie +slopes. Upstream, among some sparse cottonwood, a bit of ruddy color +among the branches caught the lieutenant's quick eye. Some Indian +brave, wrapped in his blanket, had been laid to rest there out of reach +of the snarling coyotes, one of whom could be dimly discerned slinking +away under the bank, just out of easy rifle range. + +Off to the south lay the same bold, barren, desolate-looking expanse of +rolling prairie. Blunt could not suppress a shudder as he thought of the +terrible risk the boy had run in his mad break for the settlements +beyond the Platte. Of course he could go nowhere else. North, east, and +west, all was Indian land, and no lone white man could live there. Of +course he was making for the cattle ranges and settlements in Nebraska. +Such at least were the lieutenant's theories. He had spent only one year +on the frontier, but had been there long enough to know that among the +cowboys, ranchmen, and especially among the "riff-raff" ever hanging +about the small towns and settlements, a deserter from the army was apt +to be welcomed and protected, if he had money, arms, or a good horse. +Once plundered of all he possessed, the luckless fellow might then be +turned over to the nearest post and the authorized reward of thirty +dollars claimed for his apprehension; but if well armed and sober, the +deserter had little trouble in making his way through the toughest +mining camps and settlements. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +TRAILING THE TRAITOR. + + +Fred Waller knew all the Valley of the North Platte as well as he did +the trails around Sanders and Red buttes, and if he could succeed in +eluding the Indian war parties, he would have no difficulty in fording +the river, or swimming if necessary; and, with the start he must have +had, his light weight, and powerful horse, it would be next to +impossible to catch him, even if they could follow his trail. Besides, +were they not ordered to remain at the Niobrara until Charlton's return? +The more Mr. Blunt thought of the matter the more worried and perplexed +he became. Anywhere else he might have sent a sergeant with a couple of +men in pursuit, but here it would be exposing them to almost certain +death. It was some minutes before Sergeant Dawson came in answer to the +summons. Blunt could see the troopers gathered about the first sergeant, +excitedly discussing the affair and bemoaning their individual losses. +Graham was noting the amounts on a slip of paper, and his fine face was +pale with distress. "Is that all now, men?" he asked as he completed +the list, then sharply turned away, and once more approached his young +commander. + +"Lieutenant," he said, halting and raising his hand in salute, "it isn't +quite so bad as I feared, but bad enough. Sergeant Farron, Corporal +Watts, and I are the principal losers, besides Sergeant Dawson. Three of +the men who went into the Agency on pass just after we were paid had +left most of their money with me, and that is gone. I had it with my own +in the flat wallet I always carried in the inside pocket of my +hunting-shirt. You can see, sir, how it was done," and the sergeant +displayed a long clean cut through the Indian tanned buckskin. "It took +a sharp knife and a light hand to do that, for I'm not a heavy sleeper. +Farron, Watts, and I were sleeping side by side just over there on the +bank, and they heard nothing all the night. But will the lieutenant look +at this handkerchief, sir? Is it chloroformed? I feel dull and heavy, as +though I had been drugged. He couldn't have got it from me any other +way." + +Blunt took the bandanna and sniffed it cautiously, and then turned it +over and curiously inspected it. There was certainly an odor of +chloroform about it--a strong odor. + +"Whose is this?" he asked. "I do not remember seeing any of the men +wearing one like this." + +"None of them own it, sir. I've asked the whole party but Sergeant +Dawson and the men on guard. They have these cheap red things for sale +at the store there at the Red Cloud Agency, but none of the troop have I +ever seen wearing them; they are too small for neck handkerchiefs. +Dawson is out yet, trying to locate the trail. I've sent Robbins for +him," and the sergeant looked anxiously away southward, searching the +prairie with a world of pain and trouble in his eyes. + +"What could possibly have induced the boy to turn scoundrel all at +once?" asked the lieutenant. "It will break his old father's heart." + +"I can't account for it, sir. He has been as honest and square as a boy +could be ever since his enlistment; but the men tell me that he has been +spending a good deal of time over in the post whenever we camped there, +and I am afraid, from what Donovan says, that he has been gambling with +the young fellows at the band quarters. There's a hard lot in there, I'm +told; and the old hands encourage the boys to get all they can out of +strangers, and then they turn to and fleece the boys. It is about four +hundred dollars he has taken. A man knows that will last but a little +while on the frontier, but to a boy it seems a big pile." + +Then, rapidly approaching, the bounding hoofs of a troop horse were +heard. Blunt eagerly turned and saw Sergeant Dawson galloping toward +them down the north bank. Reining in so suddenly as almost to throw his +panting bay upon his haunches, he vaulted lightly to the ground and +stood before the lieutenant, his face beaded with sweat and his eyes +glaring. + +"Which way has he gone? could you tell?" + +"Yes, sir, I trailed him out across the prairie yonder for three hundred +yards or so. Then he took the Laramie road, and there the hoof tracks +are all confused; but I knew he would never keep that line very long, +and I'm almost certain I found the place where he turned off--a mile +beyond the ford and well over the bluffs." + +"Turned south toward the Sidney route?" + +"Yes, sir, as though he was going to skirt the road a while, then make +for Scott's Bluffs, keeping well west of the Sidney stage route. If he +got on that he'd be likely to meet Captain Forrest's troop, sir." + +"But you were in charge of the guard, sergeant. How came it that your +sentries and you could let a man slip out with his horse and everything? +The night was still, and they ought to have heard, even if they couldn't +see." + +"It was dark as pitch, lieutenant; the new moon was down before eleven +o'clock; and as for hearing, the horses were uneasy and stamping or +snorting all the while from midnight until two o'clock. Either they +sniffed Indians, or the coyotes startled them. Then, the stream makes +such a noise over the rocks, sir; and the lieutenant will remember we +had no sentries out across the stream. The Indians couldn't stampede the +herd from that direction." + +"But how could he get his horse out from the herd without----" + +"It wasn't there, sir," broke in the trooper, eager to defend himself +against the imputation of carelessness or neglect. "Sergeant Graham will +bear me out, sir, that Trumpeter Waller has been allowed to lariat his +horse close by where he slept, and sometimes he'd loop the lariat by a +light cord to his wrist. The captain allowed it, sir, and I supposed +that the lieutenant would not care to change the captain's orders. Last +night he slept, or rather made down his blanket and drove his picket-pin +at the lower edge of the bivouac, sir, down there by that point; and +Private Donovan tells me he moved still further down after dark. We +could hear his horse whinnying a while--he didn't like being so far from +the others. It's my belief, sir, he waited until all was quiet, and took +some time when I was out on the prairie visiting the sentries to slip up +the bank to where Sergeant Graham was sleeping, make his haul of the +money, and then ride for all that he was worth as soon as he had got +beyond ear-shot. It was easy enough to slip away through the stream +without being heard." + +"He has left his saddle-bags, blanket, and everything that was heavy, +except his arms, behind him," said Graham moodily. + +"And you really think that he has stolen the money and is trying to +escape?" questioned the lieutenant. + +"Indeed, sir," answered Dawson almost tearfully, "I don't know what to +think. I hate to believe it of the boy we were all so fond of, though I +used to plague him sometimes, just in fun--but I don't know what else to +think. The men say that he has been a little wild at times, since he got +from under the old man's care. But I don't know, sir; I wouldn't be apt +to know what was going on in the barrack there at Robinson." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. + + +Blunt turned sorrowfully away and began to pace slowly up and down the +bank. Near at hand over a little camp-fire his coffee pot was bubbling +and hissing enticingly, but even the aroma of his accustomed morning +beverage failed to attract him. What was he to do? What could he do? +Ordered to remain there to escort the captain safely to Red Cloud, on +his return from the court, it was impossible to pursue. Equally unwise +would it be to send a small squad. Waller had taken his life in his +hands when he rode away through the night, but he could cross the +Rawhide and be in comparative safety, so far as the Indian attack was +concerned, by sunrise of this day. Now that daylight had come, Blunt +well knew that every stretch of prairie from the Platte to the White +River would be thoroughly searched by keen and eager eyes, and death +would be the very least that any small party of whites could expect. He +knew perfectly well that already he and his little troop were being +closely scrutinized from the distant ridges. Had he not seen in the +tepees of the Cheyennes, but the week before, as many as three pairs of +binocular field-glasses? and had not Colonel Randall told him they knew +their use and value as well as anyone? If there was only some way of +getting word to Captain Charlton at Laramie. There ran the single wire +of the military telegraph, but there was neither office nor station +nearer than Red Cloud Agency. No man in the troop would thank him for +being ordered to go either way with dispatches, though he knew the order +would be obeyed. Silently and gloomily, instead of with their usual +cheery alacrity, the men had got to work with their curry-combs and +brushes and were touching up their horses while waiting for their own +breakfast; and presently Blunt's orderly came forward, holding a tin +cup of steaming coffee. + +"Won't the lieutenant drink a little of this, sir, and try a bite of +bacon? There isn't much appetite in the troop this morning, sir, but it +ain't so much because the money's gone. I've known the old sergeant and +the boy nigh unto ten years now, sir, an' I never thought it would come +to this." + +Blunt thanked the soldier and sat down at the edge of the rushing +stream, sipping his coffee and trying to think what to do. The drink +warmed his blood and cheered him up a trifle. Ordering his horse to be +saddled, he mounted and, taking his rifle, rode through the Niobrara and +out upon the open prairie on the other side. It was not long before he +found the hoof-tracks made the night before, and, without knowing why, +he slowly followed them out toward the low ridge at the southwest. For +ten minutes he went at a quiet walk and with downward-searching eyes as +he reached the road, striving to decide which hoof-prints were made by +Waller's horse. + +Suddenly, back at camp he heard the ringing report of a cavalry carbine +borne on the rising breeze, and, whirling about, saw that they were +signaling to him. Putting spurs to his steed he galloped full tilt for +the ford, and then for the first time saw the cause of the excitement. +Far up on the opposite slope, and jogging easily down toward the troop, +came an Indian pony and an Indian rider, but not in war-paint and +feathers. As Mr. Blunt plunged through the stream he recognized the +young half-breed scout known to all of the soldiers as "Little Bat," and +Bat, without a word, rode up and handed him a letter. It was from the +commanding officer at Fort Robinson, and very much to the point. It read +somewhat as follows: + + "Captain Charlton telegraphs that he will be detained several days. + Meantime you are needed here, as the Indians are again quitting the + reservations in large numbers. Move immediately upon receipt of + this." + + [Illustration: JOGGING ALONG AT AN EASY PACE.] + +That evening therefore the little troop once more rode down the valley +of the White River, the "Smoking Earth" as the Indians called it, and by +sunset were camped at Red Cloud. In much distress of mind Mr. Blunt +called upon the commanding officer to tell him of the disappearance of +the money and his trumpeter, and to ask the colonel's advice as to the +proper course for him to pursue. It was agreed that telegrams should be +sent at once to the captain at Fort Laramie and to the commanding +officer at Sidney barracks on the railway, notifying them of the crime +and the desertion. Blunt begged for a moment's delay until he could hear +from Sergeant Graham, whom he had sent to make certain investigations, +and long before tattoo the sergeant came--and with him the hospital +steward. + +"Lieutenant, the store-keeper says he sold just such a handkerchief as +that to Trumpeter Waller last week, and the steward can tell about the +chloroform." + +Both officers looked inquiringly at the steward. + +"Yes, sir, it was pay day that young Waller handed me a penciled note +from Sergeant Graham, saying that he had a bad tooth-ache and asking for +a little chloroform, and I gave it to him." + +"I never wrote such a note, sir, and never sent him on such a message," +said Graham. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES. + + +Bad news travels fast. Captain Charlton at Fort Laramie was stunned by +the tidings flashed to him by telegraph from Red Cloud. Despite the +array of damaging evidence, he could not bring himself to believe that +Fred Waller was a thief: but he was sore at heart when he thought of the +misery and sorrow the news must bring to the dear ones at his army +home--above all to the proud old sergeant, whose life seemed almost +bound up in the boy. Well knowing that it could only be a day or two +before the story would make its way to the posts along the railroad, and +would reach Sanders, doubtless, in a more exaggerated form, the captain +decided to warn his wife at once, and by the stage leaving that very +night a letter went in to Cheyenne, and thence by train over the great +"divide" of the Rockies to Fort Sanders, giving to Mrs. Charlton all +particulars thus far received, but charging her to say nothing until +further tidings. + + "I cannot believe it [wrote he], and am going at once to join the + troop and make full investigation. Meantime I have written by the + same mail to Major Edwards, who commands at Sidney barracks, to make + every effort to trace the boy, should he have come south of the + Platte; and you must be sure to see, when the news reaches Sanders, + that the sergeant is assured of my disbelief in the whole story, and + of my determination that Fred shall have justice done him. It will + be several days before you can hear from me again." + +And the news reached Sanders, as he feared, all too soon. Telegraph +offices "leaked" on the frontier in those days. The operators at the +military stations were all enlisted men, who were not bound by the +regulations of the Western Union, and who could not keep to themselves +every item of personal interest. The Sidney office wired mysterious +inquiries to Sanders; Sanders insisted on knowing what it meant, and +presently Laramie, Sanders, Sidney, Russell, Red Cloud, and even Chug +Water were clicking away in confidential discussion over the +extraordinary theft and flight. And Mrs. Charlton's letter came none too +early to save old Waller from despair. It was a woman, a gabbling +laundress, who first told him of the rumor, and Mrs. Charlton saw him +hastening to the telegraph office just as she had finished reading the +letter. + +"Mr. Nelson, quick!" she called to a young officer just passing the +gate. "Stop Sergeant Waller at once. Don't let him go to the office. +Make him come here to me. He will hear and obey you." + +And Mr. Nelson touched his cap, leaped lightly across the acequia, and +his powerful young voice was heard thundering, "Sergeant Waller!" in +peremptory tones across the parade. "Sergeant Waller!" echoed a half +dozen voices as the loungers on barrack porches took up the cry, +"Lieutenant Nelson wants you!" and the soldier instinct prevailed, the +old man turned and hastened toward the officers' quarters. + +"What is it, Mrs. Charlton," asked Nelson. "Has there been another +fight? Is Fred killed? It will break the old man's heart." + +"Oh, Mr. Nelson! I can't tell you about it yet!" she almost wailed. +"There's bad news, and I'm afraid the old man has heard it. Stay here, +near me a moment, can you? Oh, look at his face! Look at his face! He +has heard." + +White, livid, trembling from head to foot, the old soldier hurried +toward the young officer and dumbly raised his hand in the mechanical +salute. + +"It is Mrs. Charlton who wants you, sergeant," said Mr. Nelson kindly. +"Go to her," and without a word the veteran passed in at the gate. + + [Illustration: HE RAISED HIS HANDS AND PRESSED THEM TO HIS EYES.] + +She held forth her hand, her eyes brimming with tears. Instinctively he +halted, the old respect and reverence for "captain's lady" checking +the wild torrent of grief and anxiety, but she caught him by the arm and +led him wondering and submissive, yet overwhelmed with cruel dread, into +her cool and darkened parlor. There, with wild, imploring eyes, the old +man half stretched forth two palsied hands, his forage cap falling +unheaded to the floor, his whole frame shaking. + +"Don't give way, sergeant; don't believe it!" she cried, and at her +first words a look as of horror came into the stricken old face, and the +hands clasped together in piteous appeal. "Listen to what the captain +says. His letter has just come, and I was sure, when I saw you, that +someone had told you the rumor. Captain Charlton will not believe a +word of it. He was at Laramie on court-martial or it would not have +happened. He has hurried back to Red Cloud to investigate, and he +declares that Fred shall have justice done him. I'll never believe +it--never! Why, we would trust him with anything we owned." + +"I--I thank the captain. I thank Mrs. Charlton," he brokenly replied. +"It's stunned like I am." He raised his hands and pressed them against +his eyes, and one of them was lowered suddenly, feebly groping for +support. She seized his arm and strove to lead him to a sofa. "You must +sit down, sergeant," she said. + +"No, ma'am, no!" he protested, straightening himself with a violent +effort. "Now, may I hear what it is they say against my boy, ma'am? I +want every word. Don't be afraid, ma'am, I can bear it." + +Then, with infinite sympathy and pity, she told him, softening every +detail, suggesting an explanation for every circumstance that pointed to +his guilt; and all the time the old man stood there, his eyes, filled +with dumb anguish, fixed upon her face, his hands clasped together as +though in entreaty, his fingers twitching nervously. At every new and +damaging detail, condone or explain it though she would, he shuddered as +though smitten with a sharp, painful spasm; but when it came to Fred's +midnight disappearance--horse, arms, and all--in the heart of the Indian +country, stealing away from his comrades in the shadow of disgrace and +crime, the old man groaned aloud and buried his face in his hands. Some +time he stood there, reeling, yet resisting her efforts to draw him to a +seat. She pleaded with him hurriedly, impulsively, yet he seemed not to +hear. At last with one long shivering sigh, he suddenly straightened up +and faced her. His hands fell by his side. He cleared his throat and +strove to speak: + +"You've been good to me, ma'am--so good"--and here he choked, and for a +moment could not go on--"and to my boy"--at last he finished, with +impulsive rush of words. "I know how they're sometimes tempted. I know +how, more than once, the little fellow would be led away by the roughs +in the troop, just to worry me; but he never hid a thing from me, ma'am, +never; and if he's in trouble now he would tell me the whole truth, even +if it broke us both down. I'll not believe it till I see him, ma'am; but +I must go--I must go until I find my boy." + +Blinded with tears, Mrs. Charlton could hardly see the swaying, +grief-bowed old soldier as he left the house; but Nelson was waiting +close at hand, and stepped forward and took his place by the sergeant's +side. + +"I don't know what the trouble is," he said, "but I'm going as far as +the headquarters with you, and if there is anything on earth I can do to +help you, do not fail to tell me." + +That night, with a week's furlough and a letter from his post commander +to Major Edwards at Sidney, old Sergeant Waller was jolting eastward in +the caboose of a freight train. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LOYAL FRIENDS. + + +It was on Friday morning, at daybreak, that the desertion of Trumpeter +Waller was reported to Lieutenant Blunt. It was Friday night that the +telegrams were sent to Laramie and that Charlton's letter left by stage. +It was Saturday afternoon just before parade that the mail was +distributed at Fort Sanders; and that very evening, before Major Edwards +had received and had time to read his letter from the West, the +sergeant had started on his long and fatiguing journey. All night long +in sleepless misery he sat in a corner of the caboose, occasionally +rising and tramping unsteadily to and fro. At Cheyenne a delay of half +an hour occurred, and he left the train and paced restlessly up and down +the platform under the freight sheds. He dared not go down to the +lighted offices and the crowded passenger station just below him. It +seemed as though everyone knew of Fred's story by this time. He could +see the gleam of forage-cap ornaments and the glint of army buttons +among the people at the dépot, and knew there were several officers and +soldiers there. Never before had he known what it was to shrink from +facing any man on earth; but to-night, though he almost starved for +further news from his boy, he could not bring himself to meet them and +ask. + +Along toward morning, at Pine Bluffs, a herdsman got aboard, and what he +had to say was of startling interest. Hitherto the Indian war parties +had kept well to the north of the Platte, "but" said he, "ever since +Friday the Sidney road has been swarming with them--both sides of the +river--and they are killing everything white they can lay their hands +on." + +"My God!" thought Waller, "and Fred must be in the very midst of them. +Better so," he added, "if indeed he can be guilty." The herder had +evidently been sorely frightened by all he heard, and he was hurrying to +Sidney to join a party of cattle-men who were camping there. He had been +drinking too, and took more and more as the night wore on, and became +maudlin in his talk. It was nine o'clock on Sunday morning when they +reached Sidney station, and the first thing that old Waller saw was a +strong concord wagon with a four-mule team and an army driver. Two +infantry soldiers with their rifles and girt with cartridge-belts were +standing close at hand. Two officers were stowing their rifles inside +the wagon, and an orderly was strapping the tarpaulin over the light +luggage in the "boot." One of the officers the sergeant knew +instantly--an aid-de-camp of the commanding general. The other was older +in years and bore on his cap the insignia of the staff. The younger +officer saw him before he could step into the office, and Sergeant +Waller knew it--knew too, with the quickness of thought, that he had +heard of Fred's disappearance and presumable crime. He could have shrunk +from meeting his superiors in the shadow of this bitter sorrow and +disgrace. Even while he could not accept the belief that his boy was +actually a deserter and a thief, he knew full well what other men must +think. But Captain Cross was a cavalryman himself, and had known old +Waller for years. He dropped his rifle, came straight forward, and took +him by the hand. + +"Sergeant, I don't believe it of your boy; I've known his father too +long," was all he said, as he pressed the veteran's hand. Poor old +Waller, worn with anguish, long vigil, and utter lack of food of any +kind, was now so weak that he could only, with the utmost difficulty, +choke back the sobs that shook his frame. Speak he dare not; he would +have broken down. Cross led him to the lunch room at the station and +made him swallow a cup of coffee, then gently questioned him as to what +he knew. + +"We go at once to Red Cloud--Colonel Gaines and I--and maybe on the +road I shall hear something of him. Sergeant, rest assured your son +shall have fair play," said the aid-de-camp, as he was about to turn +away. + +"But, captain--I beg pardon, sir," broke in Waller hurriedly, in almost +the first words he had spoken. "Where is your escort? Surely you won't +take this route without one?" + +"There isn't a trooper at Sidney, sergeant. We have a couple of +infantrymen in the wagon and another on a mule. That's the best we can +do, and we've got no time to spare. We must be at Red Cloud to-morrow, +and this is the shortest line." + +"But, sir, haven't you heard? The Sioux are out in force and all along +the road, both above and below the Platte. There's a herder on the train +who told us. He got aboard at Pine Bluffs this morning." + +"I can hardly believe that," answered Cross. "Captain Forrest with the +Grays is scouting south of Red Cloud. Captain Wallace was ordered to +watch the fords along the Platte on this line; Captain Charlton is +out--or at least the whole troop has been, and there are three more. +Surely Major Edwards would know over at the barracks, if the Indians +were anywhere between us and the river,--we'll get an escort from +Captain Wallace the other side,--but he has not heard a word." + +"But I beg the captain to hear what the man says, sir," urged Sergeant +Waller. "He's been drinking, but he tells the same story, practically, +that he told us when he got aboard. Let me find him, sir." + +And find him he did, even more maudlin and thick-tongued by this time, +and evidently determined to make the most of his dramatic story for the +benefit of the two officers and swarm of interested lookers-on. He only +succeeded in inspiring the colonel with mingled incredulity and disgust. + +"I don't believe a word of it," he said to Captain Cross. "And we are +losing valuable time. We must start at once." + +An hour later this peaceful Sabbath morning, the sergeant stood, cap in +hand, before Major Edwards on the veranda of his pleasant quarters. Two +pretty children were playing with a big, shaggy, lazy staghound, pulling +his ears and tormenting him in various ways; a pleasant-faced lady came +forth, sunshade and prayer book in hand, and at sight of her the little +ones reluctantly rose and bade good-by to their four-footed friend, and +the party started slowly away across the green parade to the post +chapel, nodding and smiling to the spruce orderly, who stood +respectfully aside to let them pass. Mrs. Edwards glanced quickly and +sympathetically into the sergeant's sad face as he stood there before +her husband's easy-chair. She knew well what it all meant, but there was +nothing for her to say. Small parties of infantry officers and of ladies +and children joined them on the way to the humble wooden sanctuary; the +soft notes of the bugle were sounding church call; a warm gentle breeze +from the southern plains stirred the folds of the big flag; the sunshine +was joyous and brilliant, and all spoke of peace, order, and +contentment. Yet there stood Waller with almost bursting heart; and +yonder, only a few miles across the grassy ridge to the north, rode that +little party of officers and men to almost certain death. + +The major looked up as he finished reading the letter placed in his +hands. + +"I have no words to tell you of my sympathy and sorrow, sergeant. Of +course you know my plain duty in the matter. The sheriff has been +notified, and two of his deputies already have gone out to search. He +would hardly be mad enough to come anywhere near us, if guilty. But if +he is taken he will be held here under my charge, and I will see that +you have every proper opportunity of visiting him. The adjutant tells me +you had heard something of the Indians being south of the Platte. What +was it?" + +"A man who boarded our train at the Bluffs, sir. He claimed to have had +to ride hard for his life yesterday afternoon, and that there were +scores of the Sioux this side of the river. I took him to Colonel Gaines +and Captain Cross, sir; but the man had been drinking so much that they +distrusted him entirely. They left the station before I started for the +barracks, sir." + +The major sat thoughtfully gazing out across the parade a moment; then +answered: + +"We have had no rumors of anything of the kind, and they would be almost +sure to come this way to us, if anyone heard of such stories. There are +no settlers along the road, after leaving the springs, out here until +you reach the Platte. I can hardly believe it, but we'll see what can +be got from the man when he sobers up. Now the sergeant-major will go +with you to the quarters, and I will see you later in the day." + +But later in the day that promise was forgotten in an excitement of far +greater magnitude. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LURKING FOES. + + +Church was over. The bugler had just sounded mess call, and the soldiers +in their neat "undress" uniform were just going in to dinner, when a man +on a "cow pony"--one of those wiry, active little steeds so much in use +around the cattle-herd--came full speed into the garrison and threw +himself from the saddle at Major Edwards' gate. It was the telegraph +operator at the railway station. In his hands were two brown envelopes, +and Major Edwards, as he stepped forward to meet him, saw in his face +the tell-tale look of a bearer of bad news. + +"I've no idea whose horse that is, major. There were a half dozen of 'em +in front of a saloon there in town, and I jumped on the first I saw. +These have just come--one from Laramie, one from Omaha. I dropped +everything at the office to fetch them to you." + +Edwards tore open first one and then the other. The first read: + + "Couriers in front of Captain Wallace report large war parties along + the Platte, and some across, raiding the Sidney road. Four + teamsters killed, scalped, and mutilated three miles south of river. + Bodies found. Warn back everybody attempting to go that way." + +The second was from the office of the department commander himself: + + "Indians in force south of Platte, on Sidney road. If Colonel Gaines + and Captain Cross have started, send couriers at once to recall + them." + +The major's face was dark with dismay. + +"They have been gone nearly four hours," he exclaimed. "Even if I had +swift riders ready, who could catch them in time?" + +"I've been a trooper all my life, sir," came sudden answer. "Give me a +horse and carbine and let me go." + +The major might have known 'twas Sergeant Waller. + + +True to his word, and arranging with the officers of the court-martial +to return in case his further testimony was required, Captain Charlton +set forth at daybreak on Saturday, intending to push straight through to +Red Cloud as fast as mules could drag or horses bear him. To the +Niobrara crossing the road was hard and smooth, when once they cleared +the sandy wastes of the Platte bottom. He had a capital team, a light +ambulance, and a little squad of seasoned troopers to go with him as +escort. It was a drive of nearly ninety miles, but he proposed resting +his animals an hour at the Niobrara, another hour at sunset; feeding and +watering carefully each time, and so keeping on to the old Agency until +he reached his troop late at night. + +No danger was to be apprehended until the party got beyond the Rawhide, +and not very much until they were across the Niobrara, but Charlton and +his half a dozen troopers had been over each inch of the ground time and +again, and very little did they dread the Sioux. + +After midday the little party had halted close beside the spot where +Blunt's detachment had made their bivouac so short a time before. Here +were the ashes of their cook-fires and the countless hoof-prints of the +horses. Here, too, was the trail in double file, leading away northward +across the prairie--a short cut to the Red Cloud road. Charlton followed +it with his keen eyes, and noted with a smile how straight a line its +young leader must have made for the "dip" in the grassy ridge a mile +away, through which ran the hard, beaten track. Blunt prided himself on +these little points of soldiership, as the captain well remembered, and +when charged with guiding at the head of a column, was pretty sure to +fix his eyes on some distant landmark and steer for that, with little +regard for what might be going on at the rear. + +The ambulance mules, tethered about the tongue, were busily crunching +their liberal measure of oats. Each cavalry horse, too, buried his nose +deep in the shimmering pile his rider had carefully poured for him upon +the dry side of the saddle-blanket. The men were contentedly eating +their hard-tack and bacon and drinking their coffee from huge tin cups +with the relish of old frontiersmen. One trooper, a few yards away out +on the prairie, kept vigilant watch. Pondering deeply over the strange +and unaccountable charge that had been laid at his young trumpeter's +door, the captain was slowly pacing down the bank, puffing away at the +briar root pipe that was the constant companion of his scouting days. +Suddenly he heard the sentry call, and, turning, saw him pointing to the +ground at his feet. + +"What is it, Horton?" he asked, going over toward him. + +"Pony tracks, sir. The Indians have been nosing around here since our +men left." + +There were the prints of some half a dozen little unshod hoofs dotting +the sandy hollows in the low ground near the stream, and easily +traceable among the clumps of buffalo grass beyond. Charlton could see +where they had gathered in one spot, as though their riders were then in +consultation, and then scattered once more along the bank. Two hundred +yards away stood the lonely log cabin, all that was left of what had +been the ranch, and following the trail, the captain presently found +himself nearing it. Two tracks seemed to lead straight thither, and +before he reached it were joined by several more. Close to the abandoned +hut the ground was worn smooth and hard; yet in the hollows were +accumulations of dust blown from the roadway up the stream. Around here +the pony tracks were thick, and just within the gaping doorway were +footprints in the dust--some of spurred bootheels and broad soles, one +still more recent of Sioux moccasins. Through the solid log walls two +small square windows had been cut and narrow slits for rifles, in the +days when the occupants had frequent occasion to defend their prairie +castle. The opening to the subterranean "keep" was yawning under the +eastern wall, its wooden cover having long since been broken up for +fuel. Charlton stood for a moment within the blackened and dusty +doorway, and glanced curiously around him. + +Except for the new footprints it looked very much as it did when he had +first taken occasion to inspect the interior, earlier in the summer. +There was nothing left that anyone could carry away, and he wondered why +the Indians should have troubled themselves to dismount and prowl +about. An Indian hates a house on general principles, and enters one +only when he expects to make something by it. Those recent boot-prints, +nearly effaced by the moccasins, were doubtless those of some of Blunt's +party. Curiosity had prompted some time-killing trooper to stroll out +here and take a look at the place. The sunshine streaming in at the open +doorway made a brilliant oblong square upon the earthen floor and +lighted up the grimy interior. The steps cut down to the dark "dugout" +were crumbling away, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet +into the passage leading to the underground fortress, where as a final +resort in an Indian siege the little garrison could take refuge. A +lantern or a candle would show the way, but Charlton had neither. Taking +out his match-case, however, he bent down, struck a light, and peered +in. Somebody had done the same thing within the last day or two, for +there were the stub ends of two matches just like his in the dust at the +bottom of the steps, and there, too--yes, he lighted another match and +studied it carefully--there was the print of cavalry boots going in and +coming out again. Whoever was his predecessor, he had more curiosity +than the captain. Charlton had seen prairie "dugout" forts before, and +did not care to waste time now. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN SUSPENSE. + + +Returning to the open sunshine he made the circuit of the house, and on +the north side stopped and studied with an interest he had not felt +before. A stout post was still standing on that side, and to the post a +cavalry horse had been tethered within two days, and stood there long +enough to paw and trample the gravel all around it. Charlton was +cavalryman enough to read in every sign that the steed had been most +unwillingly detained. In evident impatience he had twisted twice and +again around that stubborn bullet-scarred stump, and the troop commander +could almost see him, pawing vigorously, tugging at his "halter-shank," +and plunging about his hated but relentless jailer, and neighing loudly +in hopes of calling back his departing friends. Charlton felt sure that, +as the troop rode away, some one of the men had remained here some +little time. + +A hundred yards across the prairie was the "double file" trail of the +detachment on its straight line for the ridge, and here, only a little +distance out, were the hoof-prints of a troop horse both coming and +going. Even more interested now, the captain went some distance out +across the prairie, and still he found them. Leaving the hut and +following to overtake the troop, the horse had instantly taken the +gallop; the prints settled that. But what struck Captain Charlton as +strange was that the other tracks, those which were made by the same +horse in coming to the hut, were still to be found far out toward the +northeast. It was evident, then, that the rider had not turned back from +the command until it had marched some distance from the Niobrara; that +he had not gone back to the bank where they had been in camp, as would +have been the case had he lost or left something behind, but had come +here to this abandoned hovel southeast of the trail. Now, what did that +mean? One other thing the captain did not fail to note; that horse had +cast a shoe. + +Late as it was when he reached the camp on White River that night--after +midnight, as it proved--Charlton found his young lieutenant up, and +anxiously awaiting him. When the horses had all been cared for, and the +two officers were alone near their tents, almost the first question +asked by the captain was: + +"Did you give any man permission to ride back after you left the +Niobrara Friday morning?" + +"No, sir," answered Blunt in some surprise. "No one asked, and every +man was in his place when we made our first halt." + +Immediately after reveille on Sunday morning, a good hour before the sun +was high enough to peep over the tall white crags to the east of the +little camp, the two officers were out at the line, superintending the +grooming of the horses. Fifty men were now present for duty, and fifty +active steeds were tethered there at the picket rope, nipping at each +other's noses or nibbling at the rope itself, and pricking up their ears +as the captain stopped to pat or to speak to one after another of his +pets. Always particularly careful of his horses, Captain Charlton on +this bright sunshiny morning was noting especially the condition of +their feet. Every one of those two hundred hoofs were keenly scrutinized +as he passed along the line. But there was nothing unusual in this--he +never let a week go by without it. + +"You seem to have had a number reshod within the last few hours, +sergeant," he said to Graham, as he stopped at the end of the line. + +"Yes, sir, I looked them all over yesterday morning. Every shoe is snug +and ready now, in case we have to go out. Seven horses were reshod +yesterday, and over twenty had the old shoes tacked on." + +Grooming over, each trooper vaulted on to the bare back of his horse and +rode in orderly column down to the running stream, and still Charlton +stood there, silently watching his men and noting the condition of their +steeds. Blunt was bustling about his duties, every now and then looking +over at his soldierly captain. Something told him that the troop +commander had made a discovery or two that had set him to thinking. He +was even more silent than usual. + +At seven o'clock, after a refreshing dip in a pool under the willows +close at hand, the two officers were seated on their camp-stools and +breakfasting at the lid of the mess chest. Over among the brown +buildings of the post, half a mile away, the bugles were sounding mess +call and the infantry people were waking up to the duties of the day. +Down the valley, still farther to the east, the smoke was curling from +the tiny fires among the Indian tepees, and scores of ponies were +grazing out along the slopes, watched by little urchins in picturesque +but dirty tatters. All was very still and peaceful. Even the hulking +squaws and old men loafing about the Agency store-houses were silent, +and patiently waiting for the coming of the clerk with his keys of +office. One or two young braves rode by the camp, shrouded in their +dark-blue blankets, and apparently careless of any change in the +condition of affairs, yet never failing to note that there were fifty +horses and soldiers ready for duty there in camp. + +Their breakfast finished, Charlton said that he must go at once to the +office of the post commander over in garrison, and that he might be +detained some hours. "It will be well to keep the men here, Blunt, for +we may be needed any moment." + +And yet, as he was riding away with his orderly, Charlton stopped to +listen to what Sergeant Graham had to say. + +"Sergeant Dawson and Private Donovan wanted particularly to go over to +the post for a few hours this morning, and so did some of the others, +but I told them that the captain's orders were we should all stay at +camp, we were almost sure to be wanted. They were all satisfied, sir, +but Dawson and Donovan, who made quite a point of it, and I said I would +carry their request to the captain." And to Blunt's surprise, as well as +that of Sergeant Graham, the captain coolly nodded. + +"Very well. They've both been doing hard work of late. Tell them to keep +their ears open for 'boots and saddles'; otherwise they may stay until +noon. After dinner, perhaps, I will give others a chance to turn." + +Fifteen minutes later Captain Charlton was in consultation with the post +commander, and after guard mounting they returned to the colonel's +house, where a tall infantry soldier, the provost sergeant, was awaiting +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HEMMED IN BY SAVAGE FOES. + + +Back at the cavalry camp there was no little subdued chat and wonderment +among the troopers. Lounging in the shade of the trees along the stream, +and puffing away at their pipes, playing cards, as soldiers will, and +poking fun at one another in rough, good-natured ways, the men were yet +full of the one absorbing theme--Fred Waller's most unaccountable +disappearance and the loss of so much of their hard-earned money. + +"I would have bet any amount," said Corporal Wright, "that when the old +man"--the captain is always the "old man" to his troops--"got back he +would ride over Sergeant Dawson roughshod for letting Waller slip away +on his guard; but I listened to him this morning and he talked to him +just like a Dutch uncle. I tell you Dawson felt a heap better after it +was over. He said the captain never blamed him at all." + +Noon came, so did an orderly telling Mr. Blunt that the captain wished +to see him over at the telegraph office, and to order the horses fed at +once. Forty-eight big portions of oats were poured from the sacks +forthwith. Dawson and Donovan were not yet back. + +"Leave theirs out," said Sergeant Graham, "they'll be back presently. +This means business again, and no mistake. Where's the trouble now, I +wonder?" + +Shall we look and see? Far to the south, far beyond the bold bluffs of +the White River, far beyond the swift waters of the Niobrara,--"L'Eau +qui Court" of the old French trapper,--far across the swirling flood of +the North Platte, and dotting the northward slopes, swarms of naked, +brilliantly painted red warriors in their long, trailing war bonnets of +eagle's feathers are darting about on nimble ponies, or, crouching prone +along the ridges, are eagerly watching a dust-cloud coming northward on +the Sidney road. Behind them, between them and the Platte, are the +weltering mutilated bodies of half a dozen herders and teamsters, and +the smoking ruins of their big freight-wagons. Like the tiger's taste of +blood, the savage triumph in the death of their hapless foes has tempted +them far beyond their accustomed limits. Knowing the cavalry to be +scouting only north of the Platte, they have made a wide detour and +swooped around to this danger-haunted road, eagerly watching for the +coming of other white men, who, like the last, should be ignorant of +their presence and too few in number to cope with such a foe. Here along +the ridge north of the little "Branch" of the Platte, half a hundred +young warriors crouch and wait. Farther back, equally vigilant, other +bands are hiding among the breaks and ravines near the river, while +their scouts keep vigilant watch for the coming of cavalry. Forrest's +Grays and Wallace's Sorrels cannot be more than a day's ride away, and +will be hurrying for the road the moment they know that the Indians have +slipped around them. Wallace, up the Platte, has already heard. + +It is three o'clock this hot, still Sunday afternoon, and they have been +six hours out from Sidney, driving swiftly and steadily northward, when, +as they reach the summit of a high ridge and stop to breathe their +panting team, Colonel Gaines takes a long look through his field glass. +Just in front is the shallow valley of the little stream now called the +"Pumpkinseed" though pumpkins were unheard-of features in the landscape +of fifteen years ago. + +Off to their right front, several miles away, lie the low, broad bottom +lands of the Platte. Across the Pumpkinseed, a mile distant, another +ridge, like the one on which they halted, only not so high; to the +westward a tumbling sea of prairie upland--all buttes, ridges, ravines, +coulées--but not a living soul is anywhere in sight. Far as his +practiced eye can sweep the horizon and the broad lowlands of the Platte +not a sign of living, moving object can Colonel Gaines detect. Turning +around, he trains his glass upon the tortuous road they had been +following, and along which the dust is slowly settling in their wake. +Something seems to attract his gaze, for he holds the binocle steadily +toward the south. Naturally Captain Cross and the two soldiers follow +with their eyes; the third infantryman has dismounted, and is +readjusting the girths of his saddle. + +"What is it?" asks Cross. + +"I can't make out," is the reply, "Something is kicking up a dust there, +some miles behind us. A horseman, I should say, though I've seen nobody. +Wait a few minutes. He's down in a swale now, whoever it is." + + [Illustration: HE TOOK A LONG LOOK THROUGH HIS GLASSES.] + +Everybody turns to look and listen. Those were days when such a thing +as a single horseman following in pursuit had a meaning that is lacking +now. + +Three, four minutes they wait in silence; then the colonel suddenly +exclaims: + +"I have him--a mere dot yet!" + +Presently he lowers his glasses, and dusts the lenses with his +handkerchief. His face is graver. + +"Whoever that is, he is riding for all he is worth," he says. "I half +believe he wants to catch us." + +Another long look. Utter silence in the party. A mule in the wheel team +gives an impatient shake of his entire system, and chains, tugs, and +swing-bars all rattle noisily. + +"Quiet there, you fool!" growls the driver angrily, and with a +threatening sweep of his long whip-lash. Then the silence becomes +intense again, and every man strains his eyes over the prairie slopes +shimmering in the heat of the July sun. Suddenly an exclamation bursts +from two or three pairs of bearded lips. Far away, but in plain sight in +that rare atmosphere, a speck of a horseman darts into view over a +distant ridge, sweeps down the slope at full gallop, and plunges out of +sight again in a low dip of the rolling surface. + +"No man rides like that unless there is mischief abroad," mutters Cross, +as he swings out of the wagon to the ground. "Give me my rifle, +Murray." + +Then, sudden as thunderclap from summer sky, with wild, shrill clamor, +with thunder of hoofs, and sputter of rapid shots; with yell and taunt +and hideous war cry, from the very ground itself, from behind every +little ridge; up from the ravines, down from the prairie buttes; hurling +upon them in mad, raging race, there flashes into sight of their +startled eyes a horde of painted savages. + +"The Sioux! The Sioux!" yells the driver, as he leaps from his box. + +"Hang on to your mules!" shouts Cross. "Down with you, men! Fire slow! +They'll veer when they get in closer. Now!" + +Bang! goes Cross' piece. Bang! bang! the rifles of the nearest +soldiers. The mules plunge wildly, and are tangled in an instant in the +traces. Over goes the wagon with a crash. Bang goes Gaines' big +Springfield as he coolly spreads himself on the ground. An Indian pony +stumbles and hurls his rider on the turf, and Cross gives an exultant +cheer. Yet all the same he knows full well that now it is life or death. +The little party is hemmed in by a host of savage foes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MYSTERIOUS HOOF-PRINTS. + + +It was Saturday night that, from far up the Platte, the news came to +Captain Wallace of the dash made by the Sioux for the Sidney road. For +two days previous he had been hunting Indians upstream toward the +Rawhide, and had found a perfect network of pony tracks and had had some +very distant glimpses of flitting warriors. His scouts had told him that +the Sioux and Cheyennes were swarming over the country to the northwest +of him, and that none had appeared to the east. It was his business, +therefore, to move against them, and move he did, trusting that Forrest +and the Grays would be alert along the southern verge of the +reservations that no formidable parties could slip southward in his +absence. + +But this was simply part and parcel of the Indian scheme. Having lured +him two days' march away from the Sidney crossing, these enterprising +warriors kept him occupied, while their confederates, making a wide +detour around Forrest, slipped across the Platte and swooped down upon +the poor fellows with the freight wagons. Only one of their number +managed to escape, and he, madly riding westward, came upon some +herdsmen who promptly joined him in his flight. They had seen the +cavalry going up the north bank a day or two before, and they never drew +rein until they found them. Wallace at once sent couriers westward to +Fort Laramie with the news, and at break of day started downstream with +his whole troop. They had not marched five miles before they came upon +the hoof-prints of a single horse, and just beyond the point where these +hoofprints crossed their trail, the tracks of half a dozen Indian ponies +met their eager eyes. One old sergeant, reining out of column to the +right, followed the shod tracks over to the river bank, and a +lieutenant spurred out and joined him when he signaled with his +broad-brimmed scouting hat. The rest of the troop moved stolidly ahead. + +Presently the young officer overtook the column and reined in beside his +captain. + +"Where did they go, Park?" + +"Straight into the stream, sir, and evidently to the other side. +Sergeant Brooks says 'twas a troop horse with a light rider, and that he +had to swim across. The river is six feet deep out there, but it was his +only way of escape. The Indians couldn't have been far behind, and yet +they didn't follow. Their tracks turn down the bank on this side. Brooks +is following them now." + +"Who on earth could have come through here at such a time? Why, the +country has been running over with Indians!" + +"That's what puzzles me, sir, but Brooks says there is no mistake. It's +the cavalry shoe, of course. It's just after pay day at Robinson. Could +it have been a deserter?" + +"No man in his senses would have dared such a thing," is the impatient +answer. "It may be some other infernal trick to get us away from our +legitimate business. What we've got to do is reach that Sidney road by +sunset. By Jove! if I'm court-martialed for this business, it won't +surprise me." And the captain's horse evidently felt the sudden grip of +the knees, for he took a sudden spurt and set most of the troop at the +nerve-wearing jog-trot. Mr. Park said nothing more, but for the life of +him he could not help thinking of those lone hoofprints and of that +solitary rider. Who could he be? + +It is time we got back to him. Only one man or boy, known to us at +least, could have come that way. It was Trumpeter Fred. + +Daybreak Friday had found him a few miles south of the Niobrara, and +close to the Laramie road. At noon Friday he had halted at the Rawhide +to rest his horse and take a bite of luncheon, but all his young soul +was athrill with eagerness; every faculty was alert. Warned of the +recent presence of Indians on every side, he was yet seeking to gain +the Platte before nightfall; cross to the south bank, where there was +comparative safety; ride southeastward until his horse was exhausted, +picket him where grass and water were near at hand, sleep till dawn +again, and then push on. He must reach the Sidney road before Sunday +morning and strike it far below the river. + +But here, as he neared the valley, a sight had met his eyes which made +his young heart leap. The banks of the Rawhide were dotted here and +there by fresh pony tracks, and, coming from the distant ridges to the +east, they had gone in as though to water, and then turned down toward +the Platte, the very way he wanted to go. An hour, with his horse +hidden behind him in a shallow ravine, Fred Waller was lying prone upon +the ground, and peering over a ridge into the low, level wastes +stretching far to the southeast, bordering the Platte to the very +horizon. What most attracted his gaze was a little dust cloud, miles +away downstream, into which tiny black dots were moving, with other +little dots scurrying about at some distance from the main cluster. No +need to tell him they were Indians. + + [Illustration: FLAT ON THE GROUND WAS PEERING OVER THE RIDGE.] + +It was some minutes before he could determine which way they were really +going, but when he finally saw that they were bound down the valley, the +boy's heart beat high with hope. He could venture down to the Platte +as soon as they had passed entirely out of sight, and find some place to +cross well to the west of them. An hour he waited and still they were in +view. Then they seemed to disappear in a little clump of timber. He +waited fifteen to twenty minutes, and they were still there. Then it +suddenly dawned upon him that the whole band were resting in the shade +while their scouts searched the neighborhood. He was five or six miles +from the river, and every inch of ground in front was open. He knew well +that their eyes were keener than his, and should he make a dash for it +they would certainly see and give chase. What he could not detect, and +did not dream of, was that miles still further away down the Platte +another dust cloud was slowly advancing--Wallace's troop coming +upstream--and their scouts were watching that. + +At last, after another hour of anxiety, he determined to slip away +westward, go up the Rawhide a few miles until he could gain the shelter +of some low-lying ridges, crossing the stream, and making a wide +circuit, sweep around to the Platte. He might still reach it before dark +and find a ford, or at least a place to swim across; he could trust "Big +Jim" for that. But even as he would have put this plan in execution, he +saw to his dismay a new move among the warriors. Four little dots came +riding from the timber and pushing back up the valley. These were only +the advance. In half an hour the whole band came jogging leisurely out +of the shadows, and little dots farther east came streaking across the +flats to join them. Fred saw that the whole war party was now retracing +its steps and coming back upstream, and that now, if he waited, he might +pursue his original intention of crossing at the shallows, ten miles +below the mouth of the Rawhide. And so, patiently and pluckily, he kept +his ground,--"Big Jim" contentedly filling himself with buffalo grass +the while,--and not until the sun was low in the west did Fred realize +their real intent. Just as the scouts, far in advance of the main +party, reached the winding banks of the Rawhide, they seemed to hold +brief consultation; one of them plunged through to the western side, the +other three turned and came straight toward the watching boy. + +Great Heavens! It meant that the whole party was coming up the Rawhide, +and before dark would find and follow his track. Fred's first impulse +was to mount, and giving Jim the spurs, ride on the wings of the wind +back to the north--back to the Niobrara, where he had left the troop in +bivouac. There at least was safety, for they could not trail him in the +dark. But the second thought covered him with shame. Go back--go back +now! Never, so long as he had a chance for life and hope. Away from +here, and instantly, he must speed on his mission, and in another moment +his girth was tightened, and "Big Jim," astonished, was racing away +eastward, but keeping the sheltered ridge between him and the Platte. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +AWAY TO THE RESCUE! + + +That night Fred Waller slept fitfully on the open prairie, with "Big +Jim" tethered close at hand. Saturday morning found him ten miles to the +east and ten miles further from the river than the point where he +watched the Sioux the previous evening. Hungry and worn with anxiety as +he was, the poor boy's heart sank within him when he cautiously peered +over the ridge into the valley. After an early morning ride, he saw the +dust clouds near the stream, and felt that he was still cut off. Noon +was near when, far as he could see up or down, the valley was clear; and +then creeping out from his lair, he again mounted and rode straight for +the Platte. Warily he watched in every direction, but no intruders came. +He was spurring over the flats only a mile from the river before the +first sign of pursuit was made. Then, far back toward the bluffs he had +left, Fred spied a little party of warriors coming after him full tilt. +Never stopping for more than one glance he gave Jim the rein, urging him +to full speed; marked, as he flashed across it only a few hundred yards +from the bank, the trail of a cavalry command going up the valley and +wondered whose it could be; then he and Jim went crashing through the +gravel at the water's edge and plunged boldly into the running stream. +Deeper and deeper brave old Jim pushed in until the waters foamed about +his broad and muscular breast; then Fred threw himself from the saddle, +and keeping tight hold of the pommel and steadying his carbine with the +same hand, "Swim for it, old man!" he shouted to his gallant horse, and +in another minute he and Jim were floating with the current, yet rapidly +nearing the other shore. Three minutes and, dripping wet but safe, they +were scrambling up the south bank and speeding away over the bounding +turf with the baffled pursuers still two miles behind. + +And these were the tracks that Wallace found as he came hurrying back +downstream. + +Saturday again Fred Waller and his faithful horse spent on the open +prairie, for in the darkness he found it impossible to make his way. The +moon was gone by one o'clock, and her light had been all too faint +before. But Sunday, just a little after noon, he had come in sight of +the goal he had sought through such infinite pluck and peril--the Sidney +road; and as he gazed at it from afar, peering at it as usual from +behind a sheltering bluff, his heart sank into his boots. He had come +too late; there on that distant trail were the tiny columns of blue +smoke floating skyward which told of burning wagons, now in crumbling +ruins. Worse than that, here close at hand, over on the other side of +the long, shallow swale, were twoscore Indian warriors in all their +barbaric finery, excitedly watching the coming of other victims. + +With a moan of anguish Fred Waller marked, a mile beyond and rapidly +approaching them, a four-mule ambulance with a single soldier cantering +along behind. + +"Oh, my God, my God!" he groaned aloud. "I am too late, after all." + +But the wagon halted on the distant hills. The Indians, absorbed in +their cat-like watch, were eagerly gesticulating and excitedly pointing +to some object far beyond. Several of their numbers lashed their ponies +into a tearing gallop and sped away in wide circuit to the southward, +keeping the bluffs between them and the wagon. Others followed part of +the distance. He knew the maneuver well; already they were planning the +surround. In helpless agony he watched, for he was powerless to +aid--powerless even to warn. He seized his ready carbine, loosened the +cartridges in his belt, and looked eagerly to Jim's girths. Then once +again he faced the southeast, and saw, far away across the waves of +prairie, a little puff of dust and a little black dot--a rider--coming +full tilt in the wake of the wagon. + +"Who can it be?" he wondered. "Can he possibly know of this ambuscade?" + +All too late! A sudden flashing signal from the leader, and all at an +instant with trailing feathers, with war cry and the thunder of a +hundred hoofs, the painted band has whirled across the ridge in front +and is down in the dip beyond. Every Indian has vanished from his view +and whirled into sight of the victims on the crest beyond. + +In an instant, too, Fred Waller is in saddle, and spurring on to the +ridge which they have just left, and then once more he reins in where +he can just peer over the crest. He notes with a cheer of joy that the +charge is checked--that the Indians have veered off and are now dashing +in a great circle around the central point on the height beyond. He sees +the wild stampede and tangle of the mules, the overthrow of the +ambulance; the quick, cool, resolute reply of the attacked. He marks +with a glow of mad delight, of reviving hope, that there is not a woman +or child with the party. + +"Thank God!" he cries aloud, "It isn't Mrs. Charlton." He waves his hat +with exultation as he sees a pony stumbling in death upon the prairie, +and his rider limping painfully away; he knows now that they are +soldiers, holding their own for at least a time, and that all depends on +getting aid for them before nightfall. Far up the valley on the other +side he had marked at noon a dust-cloud sailing slowly toward him. It +must be the Sorrels or the Grays, hastening back to clear the Sidney +road. Here is the thing to do: gallop back, recross the river, meet and +guide them to the rescue. There is still time to get them here before +the sun goes down--if only the besieged can hold out that long. + + [Illustration: IN FULL FLIGHT.] + +One more glance he takes at the stirring picture before him, longing to +drive a shot at the nearest Indians, and as he gazes there comes +staggering, laboring into sight from around a point of bluff beyond the +beleaguered party, a horse all foam and blood, who goes plunging to +earth only a few yards away from the ambulance, and rolls stiffening and +quivering in his death agony; but the gray-haired old rider has leaped +safely to the ground, and his carbine flashed its instant defiance at +the yelling foe. Even at that distance there is no mistaking the +well-known form. Fred Waller's wondering eyes have recognized at +once--his father. + +Now indeed he speeds away for help! Now indeed, has Jim to run for more +than life! Turning his back upon the thrilling scene, the little +trumpeter goes like a prairie gale, whirling back to the valley of the +Platte. + + * * * * * + +The sun is sinking behind the bluffs, and its last rays fall on a +bullet-riddled ambulance; on the stiffening bodies of a half dozen +slaughtered animals--a horse and some mules; on a grim, determined +little band of soldiers--two of them sorely wounded. The red shafts +gleam on a litter of empty cartridge-shells and tinge the canvas top of +the overturned wagon. Out on the rolling prairie several hundred yards +away, the turf is dotted here and there by Indian ponies, the innocent +victims of this savage warfare. Such Indian braves as have fallen have +long since been picked up by their raging comrades and borne away. +Despite their numbers, never once yet have the savages managed to reach +the defenders. Time and again they have swooped down in charge only to +be met by cool, well-aimed shots that tumbled some of their numbers to +the turf and sent the others veering and yelling into the old familiar +circle. At last they are trying the expedient of long-range shots from +different points of the compass, hoping to kill or cripple the whole +party by sundown. The bullets clip the turf and scatter the dust all +over the ridge. There is practically no shelter, for the ground is too +hard to dig. Old Sergeant Waller is prostrate with a bullet through the +thigh. Colonel Gaines has bound his handkerchief tightly around his arm. +The driver lies flat on his face--dead. Every now and then the others +turn longing eyes southward, hoping for some sign of infantry coming +from the post, so many a mile away. They know well that Edwards will +have levied on every wagon in Sidney to bring them; but not a whiff of +dust-cloud do they see. One of the soldiers gives a low moan and clasps +his hands to his side; and Cross mutters between his set teeth, "Five +minutes more of this will settle it." + +But what means this sudden scurry and excitement among the besiegers? +Why do they crowd and clamor there at the north? What can they see over +that ridge beyond the little stream? Presently others join them. Then +more and more. Then there are whoops of rage; a few ill-aimed, +scattering shots. Three or four of the red men ride daringly, tauntingly +down, as though to resume the attack, and shout vile epithets in vilest +English in response to the shots with which they are greeted, and then +they too go riding away. "Lie down, you idiots!" yells Captain Cross to +the two soldiers who would spring up to cheer, but a moment more and +even the wounded wave their feeble hands and join in the triumphant +shout. The ridge is cleared of every vestige of the foe. The warriors +go speeding away eastward toward the Platte. Far out over the prairie, +to the northeast, a troop of blue horsemen are driving in pursuit, and, +over the neighboring crest, come a half dozen friendly forms and faces, +spurring their foam-flecked horses in the race. + +"Look up, sergeant! Look up, old man! Here's Fred himself. Didn't I tell +you he was no deserter?" It was Cross' voice, and it is Cross' strong +arm that lifts the wondering, trembling veteran to his feet. The young +fellow has leaped from his horse and is springing toward them. With +wondrous look of relief, of inexpressible joy, of gratitude beyond all +words, of almost Heaven-born rapture mingling with the sunshine in his +old face, the sergeant stretches forth his trembling arms and cries +aloud, "My boy! my boy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +INNOCENT OR GUILTY. + + +The provost sergeant at Fort Robinson is a man who has seen and heard a +great deal in the course of his army life, and who has the enviable +faculty of knowing everything that is going on around him, without +appearing to know anything at all. It had been his duty, a day or two +previous, to expel from the limits of the reservation a rascally pack of +gamblers--a species of two-legged prairie wolf that in the rough old +days on the frontier followed every movement of the Army paymasters, and +lured and trapped the soldiers until every cent of their money was gone. +In point of number the gamblers were strong enough to take care of +themselves in case of Indian attack, yet rarely did they venture far +from the protection of the nearest troops. Driven out of post and +forbidden to return, they had simply camped with their whole "outfit" at +the lower edge of the military reservation, where the laws of the State +of Nebraska and not the orders of Uncle Sam took precedence. And here +they "set up shop" again, and had a game going in full blast this very +sunshiny Sunday morning, and the provost sergeant knew all about it. He +also knew by ten o'clock that Sergeant Dawson and Private Patsy Donovan +of Charlton's troop, with some adventurous spirits from the garrison, +were down there, "bucking their luck" against the tricks of these +skilled practitioners; and it was not hard to predict what the result +would be. + +"Shall I take a file of the guard and fetch them back, sir?" he asked +the colonel commanding, and that gentleman glanced inquiringly at his +cavalry friend. + +"How say you, captain?" Charlton reflected a moment and then replied: + +"No, colonel. I should say let them have all the rope they choose to +take. I can get them when they are needed. You are sure about their +whereabouts on Tuesday and Wednesday nights?" he asked, turning to the +sergeant. + +"Perfectly, sir; and just what they lost and how much they owed the +quartermaster's gang when they left." + +"Just see where they are at noon then, and let me know," and the provost +sergeant went his way, leaving the officers in consultation. + +At noon the soldier telegrapher came hurrying to the colonel and handed +him a dispatch. + +"I feared as much," said the old soldier as he handed the paper to +Captain Charlton. "This means work for you at once. Let us go to the +office; there will be dispatches from Omaha presently. Isn't it strange +that no one at Sidney should have heard of the Indians getting over the +Platte?" + +At two o'clock Charlton's troop was in saddle, with only three familiar +faces missing from the line. In the new excitement the men had ceased to +speak of Trumpeter Fred. What puzzled them now was the absence of Dawson +and Donovan. A sergeant sent into the garrison, to warn them that the +troop was to march at once, came back to say that he had searched every +stable and corral; the horses were nowhere about the post or the Agency +stores, and men on guard said that they had seen the two troopers riding +away down White River soon after one o'clock, and they had not come +back. And when Graham reported them absent to Captain Charlton, as the +latter in his familiar scouting costume rode out to take command, the +whole troop was amazed that their leader seemed to treat it as a matter +of no consequence whatever. He returned the sergeant's salute and +inquired: + +"Every horse fed and watered?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Every man got two days' hard bread and bacon?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How much ammunition?" + +"Eighty rounds carbine per man--twenty revolver, sir." + +"Very good, sergeant;" and this brief colloquy ended, the sergeant +reined about and rode to the right flank. "Prepare to mount--mount!" +ordered the captain. "Form ranks!" and without further delay, "Fours +right--march!" and away they went up the lonely valley, along the +winding water, breaking into columns of twos and riding "at ease" the +moment they had passed the point where the post commander and a little +knot of officers had assembled to bid them God-speed. Captain Charlton +bent down from his saddle to grasp the colonel's extended hand and +whisper a few words in his ear. The colonel nodded appreciatively. "They +can't escape," he answered low, and then, watched by friendly eyes in +that little group until out of sight, and by fierce and lurking spies +until darkness shrouded them from view, the troop rode jauntily on its +mission; Charlton and Blunt in murmured consultation in the lead, and +forty-eight stalwart troopers confidently and unquestioningly following +in their tracks. Who cared that an all-night ride through Indian-haunted +wilds was before them? It was an old, old story to every man. + +Were there "ghost lights" on the Niobrara that night? The Indian spies +could swear by the deeds of their ancestors that the troop soon climbed +out of the valley of the White River and rode briskly southward by the +Sidney trail, and that every man was in his place in column when +they wound down in the "Running Water" flats at twilight. Yet +hours afterward, far to the west, miles away at the Laramie +crossing, there were twinkling, dancing, "firefly" gleams--like +will-o'-the-wisps--through the chinks and loop-holes of that old log +hut, and when morning came the ground was stamped with a fresh impress +of half a dozen set of hoof tracks--shod horses, not Indian ponies this +time. + +It must have meant "bad medicine" for the Sioux, for when morning came +all the bands that had been so confidently raiding the trails through +the settlements found themselves compelled to seek the shelter of their +reservations. From Laramie to Sidney the stalwart infantry came marching +to the scene, and from east, north, and west the cavalry came trotting, +troop after troop, to hem in and head them off. The very band that +ventured south of the Platte and killed in cold blood those helpless +teamsters, and then sought the destruction of Gaines and his men, +fleeing now before Wallace's troops, were met and soundly thrashed by +our friends of Company B, with Captain Charlton and Lieutenant Blunt in +the lead, and by Monday night the broad valley was clear of savage foes, +the cavalry were resting by their bivouac fires, and then, from the lips +of Captain Wallace, Charlton heard the story of Fred Waller's exploit, +and of the long gallop that brought about the rescue of Colonel Gaines. +Our captain could hardly wait for morning to come, but in two days more +he was standing by the bedside of his old sergeant at Sidney barracks, +and Trumpeter Fred was there too. + +One week later, in the big, sunshiny assembly room of the old barrack, +an impressive scene took place, and a long remembered though very brief +trial was brought to an abrupt close. A court-martial was in session at +Sidney; the general who commanded the department had himself arrived to +look into the condition of affairs about the Indian reservation, and +with Captain Charlton had had a long consultation, at the close of +which the bearded, kindly-faced brigadier had gone to the hospital with +the troop commander, and bending over old Waller as he lay upon the +narrow cot, took his hand and talked with him about Five Forks and +Appomattox, and then promised him that his wish should be respected. It +was a singular wish--a strange thing for a father to ask. Old Sergeant +Waller had insisted that his boy should be brought to trial before the +court-martial then in session, and convicted or acquitted of the double +charge of theft and desertion that had been lodged against him. In vain +Charlton represented to him that it was not necessary, nobody believed +the stories now; the veteran was firm and positive in the stand he +made. + +"Everywhere in this department, sir, my boy's name has been held up to +shame as a thief and a deserter. There is only one way to clear him; let +him stand trial, prove his innocence, and let us fix the guilt where it +belongs." And Waller was right. + + +Who that was in the court room that hot August morning, when the south +wind blew the dust-cloud into the post and burned the very skin from the +bronzed faces around the whitewashed wall, will ever forget the closing +incidents of that trial? At the long wooden table sat the nine officers +who composed the court with their gray-haired president at the head, +all dressed in their full uniforms, all grave and silent. At the lower +end of the table was the keen, shrewd face of the young judge advocate +who conducted the entire proceedings. On one side of him, quiet, +self-possessed, and patient, sat little Fred, neat and trim as a new pin +in his faultless fatigue dress. A little behind the boy was his captain, +Charlton, and along the wall, at the end of the room, Colonel Gaines, +with his arm still in a sling, and Captain Cross, with his piercing +restless eyes and "fighting face." On the other side of the judge +advocate stood the chair in which witness after witness had taken his +seat and given his testimony, and now at high noon it was empty, and +the crowd of spectators, sitting in respectful silence around the room, +craned their necks and gazed at the doorway in hushed, yet eager +curiosity to see the man whose name had just been passed to the orderly. +It was understood that the case for the prosecution depended mainly upon +his evidence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +COURT-MARTIAL. + + +First Sergeant Graham had sworn to the disappearance of the money at the +Niobrara and the fact that at daybreak the trumpeter had gone with his +horse, arms, and equipments. He also told of his belief that he and the +men who slept near him that night had been stupefied by chloroform. Two +other troopers told of the loss of their money at the same time; the +hospital steward from Fort Robinson testified to Fred's coming to him +and getting a little vial of chloroform on a forged request from +Sergeant Graham. Corporal Watts had positively identified a ten-dollar +bill, which was in the trumpeter's possession when he was searched (at +his own request) when first accused of the crime, as one stolen from him +at the Niobrara. He had had some experience, he said, and had made a +record of the numbers; and this record, in a little notebook, was +exhibited to the court. + +Not once had the defense interposed or asked a question. It was +evidently the policy of Fred's advisers to let the prosecution go as far +as it chose. And now came the announcement of the name that was most +intimately connected with the case, and Sergeant Dawson in his complete +uniform strolled into court, removed the gauntlet from his right hand, +and holding it aloft, looked the judge advocate squarely in the face and +swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. +Then he sat down and glanced quickly around him, but his eyes did not +seem to see Fred Waller, nor did they rest for an instant on Captain +Charlton, who, tugging at his mustache, looked steadily at the face of +his left guide. Then began the slow, painful, cumbrous method by which +the law of the land requires military courts to extract their evidence, +every question and answer being reduced to writing. Sergeant Dawson +gave, as required, his full rank, troop, regiment, and station, but +hesitated as to the latter point. "I was left behind at Red Cloud when +the troop came away Sunday a week ago, sir, along with Private Donovan, +and we were kept there until I got orders to come here with the hospital +steward. I just got in this morning, and I'm told the troop is back at +the Platte crossing." But the matter of station was of no particular +consequence, and the examination proceeded. Yes, he knew the prisoner, +Trumpeter Fred Waller, Troop B, and had known him several years before +he had enlisted. Told to tell in his own way what he knew of the +circumstances that led to the charges against Waller, the witness +cleared his throat and began. + +It was the night they camped at the Niobrara, giving the date, that the +prisoner seemed restless. All the men expected the Indians to make an +attempt to run off the horses, and all were wakeful, but he had most +occasion to notice Waller, who didn't seem able to sleep. That night +passed without alarm of any kind, but the next night it was very dark, +the moon went down at eleven, and the horses got to stamping and +snorting. Witness was sergeant of the guard, and all night long had to +be moving about among his sentries and the herd. About midnight he had +come in to the fire, where Sergeant Graham was sleeping, to clean out +his pipe, that had clogged. His leather wallet, with his money and some +papers, was inside the canvas scouting jacket that the captain allowed +him and others of the men to wear, and he took the jacket off a few +minutes while he walked over to the stream and soused his head and face +in the cold water, a thing he always tried to do when he felt sleepy. +While there he thought he heard a call from the sentry up the stream and +he ran thither, and it was just then that the horses began making such a +fuss. He kept around among the sentries, trying to find out the cause, +and did not go back to the fire until it was all quiet after two +o'clock, and then he slipped into his jacket and overcoat and hurried +back to where Donovan was on post below the bivouac. There was some +noise they could not understand, far out on the prairie in that +direction. He never missed his money and the wallet until daybreak, when +it was discovered that Waller had gone. He never heard him steal away +during the night, and was simply amazed when told of his desertion. The +lieutenant had been disposed to blame him at first for letting the +trumpeter get away with his horse, but no man could have been more +vigilant than he was. "The captain had never blamed him," he was sure +from the captain's manner when he spoke to him about it at Red Cloud. +And Dawson looked confidently now at his commander, but that gentleman +never changed a muscle of his face. + +As was customary, the judge advocate inquired if the prisoner had any +questions to ask, and the spectators were amazed when he calmly +answered, "No." Big beads of sweat were trickling down the sergeant's +face by this time, but he could not control the look of wonderment that +flashed for one instant into his eyes at this refusal of a valued +privilege. + +"Has the court any questions?" asked the judge advocate, and to the +still greater wonderment of spectators and witness no member of the +court appeared to care to inquire further. When Sergeant Dawson left +the court room and walked away toward the barracks he knew that all eyes +were upon him, and just as soon as he could throw aside his saber, +helmet, and full dress he lost no time in getting to the trader's store +and swallowing half a tumbler of raw whisky. He thought the ordeal over +and that he was free. It was with a sensation of something like +premonition that, as he came forth, he saw at the barracks the orderly +of the court-martial, who had been sent to warn him that he would be +called by the defense at two o'clock. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PRISON AND PROMOTION. + + +That afternoon the court room was crowded when Sergeant Dawson retook +his seat and glanced for the first time at the prisoner before him. In +front of the boy was a little table, on which was a number of slips of +paper. One of these was quietly passed to the judge advocate, who took +it, wheeled in his chair, and read aloud: + +"What answer did you give Lieutenant Blunt when he asked if you had +been outside the sentry-line the night the prisoner disappeared?" + +"I told him that I had not, sir," was the prompt reply. + +The judge advocate posted the reply on his record sheet, and wrote the +answer below. Then came another slip. + +"What answer did you give the captain when asked if any man had ridden +back toward the Niobrara the morning the troop left there for Red +Cloud?" + +The sergeant's throat seemed to clog a little, but he gulped down the +obstruction. "I said no man went back, sir." + +"What buildings, if any, were there near the spot where the troop was in +bivouac on the Niobrara?" + +Dawson's face was losing its ruddy hue, but the beads of sweat were +starting afresh. + +"An old empty log hut, sir. I didn't take much notice of it, sir." + +"How far from the sentries was it?" + +"I don't just know, sir. Two or three hundred yards perhaps." His lips +were beginning to twitch, and his eyes to wander nervously from face to +face. + +"How much money did you lose with your wallet that night?" + +"Over sixty dollars, sir; every cent I had." + +"What answer did you give Captain Charlton at Red Cloud when he asked +you if you had seen anything of it since that night?" + +"I told him no, sir." + +"With whose money were you playing cards then, below Red Cloud, on the +Sunday the troop marched away, leaving you behind?" + +Dawson's face was ghastly. He choked for a moment, then seemed to make a +desperate effort to pull himself together. "It wasn't so, sir," he +muttered; then more loudly, "It was just a few dollars I borrowed," he +began, but looking furtively around he caught one glimpse of his +captain's stern face, and just beyond him, through the open window, the +sight of a tall, straight form in the uniform of the infantry. It was +the provost sergeant from Fort Robinson. + +"It wasn't mine," he weakly murmured. + +Another slip, and in the same cool, relentless tone the judge advocate +read: + +"What reason had you for taking your horse to the post blacksmith, +instead of the cavalry farrier, to be shod the evening you reached Fort +Robinson?" + +Again the pallor of his face was almost ghastly, a hunted and desperate +look came into his flitting eyes. One could have heard a pin drop +anywhere in the court room, so intense was the silence. For the first +time Dawson began to realize that his every movement had been watched, +traced, and reported--and still he strove to rally. + +"He was a better horse-shoer, that's all." + +"You have testified that you did not go outside of the line on the night +of the camp on the Niobrara, and did not allow anyone to go back after +the troop marched away. For what purpose did you, yourself, ride back +and enter the log hut you described?" + +"I--I never did," gasped Dawson, with glaring eyes and ashen face, +"I----" but his tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth, for +Captain Charlton quietly arose, stepped forward, and placed upon the +table a large, flat wallet, at sight of which the sergeant's nerves gave +way entirely. He made one or two efforts to speak, he struggled as if +to rise, his eyes rolled in his head, and in another instant he was +slipping helplessly to the floor. A young surgeon sprang to his side as +the bystanders strove to lift him, and with one brief glance turned to +the court: "Mr. President, this man is in a spasm, and should be taken +to the hospital." + +"Very good, sir," was the calm reply. "Major Edwards, will you see to it +that a sentry is posted over him. That man must not be allowed to +escape." + +Two more witnesses were examined that afternoon--the provost sergeant +and Captain Charlton. The former testified that Dawson had been gambling +and had lost heavily in the post before pay day; that on that fateful +Sunday, bill after bill he had seen him pay--over one hundred dollars at +the table in the gamblers' tent down below the reservation--before he +interfered, warned him of the departure of his troop, and ordered him to +report in garrison with his horse at once. Donovan had merely been a +looker-on at the mad game in which the sergeant had sought to recover +his losses. + +Charlton stated that, after his investigation at Red Cloud, he was +confident that Dawson was the trooper who rode back to the old ranch, +and that something must be concealed there. Searching it late, Sunday +night, he found in the dugout a spot where the earth had been recently +scooped away, and there in Dawson's old rubber poncho was the wallet +with his papers and about two hundred dollars of the missing money, or +what his men believed to be such. + +And then, amid the sympathetic glances of all the court, young Fred told +his strange but soldierly story. It was Dawson who asked him to get the +chloroform for him at Red Cloud and gave him the folded pencil note; it +was Dawson who suggested to him the idea of sleeping down below the +bivouac that evening near where Donovan was posted, and it was Dawson +who roused him suddenly and startlingly in the dead of the night. "Up +with you, Fred, boy!" he had said. "Up with you, but make no noise. +There's the devil's own news! The Indians are out everywhere! The +lieutenant's just got a courier from Robinson, and he and Sergeant +Graham have to write dispatches to go right to the captain at Laramie. +You know the whole Platte valley, and how to get across and reach the +Sidney road below?" Of course he did. "Then the lieutenant says, for +God's sake lose not a minute; go for all you're worth; keep well to the +west until you cross the Platte, and then make for the southeast, and +warn back everybody who is coming north. He says Mrs. Charlton and the +children were to come that way, Saturday or Sunday, to join the captain +at Red Cloud. You can save them, if you're in time." + +Suddenly roused from sleep, Fred was bewildered for an instant; could +only realize that his loved benefactors and friends were in deadly peril +and that he was chosen to haste and rescue them, Dawson lifted him into +the saddle; pressed some money into his hand to buy food when he reached +the settlement or Sidney, in case he met no travelers this side; led him +to the water's edge, and bade him lose not an instant. He never dreamed +of harm or wrong or plot until his wounded father told him the foul +charge against him, after his long and gallant ride that blazing +Sunday. + +Then for a moment the little man broke down and sobbed; and old war-worn +soldiers in the court turned away with glistening eyes, and the +president, rapping on the table, huskily ordered the room to be cleared. +Charlton's arms were around his trumpeter's shoulders as he led him to +the open air, and to his father's bedside. "Cleared!" he said, in answer +to the longing look in the sergeant's eyes. "Cleared! There isn't a man, +woman, or child in all the post that doesn't know the verdict, and that +Dawson is doomed to four years in prison." And then he left them +together and alone. + + [Illustration: HE SOUNDED THE RETREAT.] + +Dawson's trial and confession settled it all. He himself was the thief, +who sought in this way to replace the money lost in gambling and to +throw upon Fred Waller, should he escape, the burden of the crime. But a +merciful God had watched over the boy in his brave and loyal effort; had +guided him in safety through a host of savage foes, and led him on to +honor and vindication in the end. For months there was no happier boy on +all the wide frontier than the little hero of the Sidney route; no +happier father than brave old Sergeant Waller. + + +Long years afterward, riding one evening into a cavalry camp on the +Southern plains, Captain Cross and the writer noted a tall, blue-eyed, +bronzed-cheeked trooper, whose twirling mustache was almost the color +of the faded yellow of the chevrons on his sleeve. Despite dust and the +rough prairie dress, no finer soldier had met their eyes in the long +column that went flitting by. + +"Who is that young first sergeant?" + +"That?" answered Cross in surprise. "Don't you know who that is? Why, +man, that's Charlton's old Trumpeter Fred." + + +THE END. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + + + Text in italics is enclosed with underscores: _italics_. + + Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from + the original. + + Punctuation has been corrected without note. + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows: + Page 22: fellowed changed to followed + Page 70: aint changed to ain't + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trumpeter Fred, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUMPETER FRED *** + +***** This file should be named 37415-8.txt or 37415-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/1/37415/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, David E. 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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: Trumpeter Fred + A Story of the Plains + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: September 13, 2011 [EBook #37415] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUMPETER FRED *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, David E. Brown and 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> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> + + +<p class="center"><span class="giant">TRUMPETER FRED</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">CAPT. CHARLES KING, U. S. A.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p class="center"><span class="huge">TRUMPETER FRED</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><i>A STORY OF THE PLAINS</i></span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">CAPTAIN CHARLES KING, U. S. A.</span></p> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF "FORT FRAYNE," "AN ARMY<br /> +WIFE," ETC.</p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="big"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></span></p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/tp.png" alt="" /></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">F. TENNYSON NEELY</span></p> +<p class="center">PUBLISHER</p> +<p class="center"><span class="big">NEW YORK CHICAGO</span></p> +<p class="center">1896</p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="center">Copyright, 1896,<br /> +BY<br /> +<span class="big">F. TENNYSON NEELY</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CONTENTS.</span></p> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> + + +<tr><td><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td> A DANGEROUS MISSION,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17"> 17</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td> THE OATH OF ENLISTMENT,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_26"> 26</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td> A ROBBER IN CAMP,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_40"> 40</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td> SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_47"> 47</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td> TRAILING THE TRAITOR,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_56"> 56</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td> CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_67"> 67</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td> TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_75"> 75</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td> LOYAL FRIENDS,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87"> 87</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td> LURKING FOES,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101"> 101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td> IN SUSPENSE,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_113"> 113</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td> HEMMED IN BY SAVAGE FOES,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_124"> 124</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td> MYSTERIOUS HOOF-PRINTS,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_135"> 135</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td> AWAY TO THE RESCUE!</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_148"> 148</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XIV.</td><td> INNOCENT OR GUILTY,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_164"> 164</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XV.</td><td> COURT-MARTIAL,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_179"> 179</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XVI.</td><td> PRISON AND PROMOTION,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_188"> 188</a></td></tr></table> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs01.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">TRUMPETER FRED.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="giant">TRUMPETER FRED.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER I.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">A DANGEROUS MISSION.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_t1.png" alt="T" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">THERE were only thirty in all that night when the troop reached the +Niobrara and unsaddled along the grassy banks. Rather slim numbers for +the duty to be performed, and with the captain away, too. Not that the +men had lack of confidence in Lieutenant Blunt, but it was practically +his first summer at Indian campaigning, and, however well a<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> young +soldier may have studied strategy and grand tactics at West Point, it is +something very different that is needed in fighting these wild warriors +of our prairies and mountains. Blunt was brave and spirited, they all +knew that; but in point of experience even Trumpeter Fred was his +superior. All along the dusty trail, for an hour before they reached the +ford, the tracks of the Indian ponies had been thickly scattered. A war +party of at least fifty had evidently gone trotting down stream not six +hours before the soldiers rode in to water their tired and thirsty +steeds. No comrades were known to be nearer at hand than the garrison at +Fort Laramie, fifty long miles away, or those guarding the post of<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> Fort +Robinson, right in the heart of the Indian country, and in the very +midst of the treacherous tribes along White River. And yet, under its +second lieutenant and with only twenty-nine "rank and file," here was +"B" Troop ordered to bivouac at the Niobrara crossing, and despite the +fact that all the country was alive with war parties of the Sioux, to +wait there for further orders.</p></div> + +<p>"Only twenty-nine men all told and a small boy," said Sergeant Dawson, +who was forever trying to plague that little trumpeter. It was by no +means fair to Fred Waller, either, for while he was somewhat undersized +for his fifteen years, his carbine and his Colt's revolver were just as +big<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> and just as effective as those of any man in the troop, and he knew +how to use them, no matter how hard the "Springfield" kicked. He rode +one of the tallest horses, too, and sat him well and firmly, +notwithstanding all his furious plunging and "buckings," the day that +Dawson slipped the thorny sprig of a wild rosebush under the saddle +blanket.</p> + +<p>From the first sergeant down to the newest recruit, all the men had +grown fond of little Fred in that year of rough scouting and campaigning +around old Red Cloud's reservation—all of them, that is to say, with +the possible exception of Dawson, who annoyed him in many ways when the +officers or first sergeant did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> happen to be near, and who sometimes +spoke sneeringly of him to such of the troopers as would listen, but +these were very few in number.</p> + +<p>Fred was the only son of brave old Sergeant Waller, who had served with +the regiment all over the plains before the great war of the rebellion, +and who had been its standard-bearer in many a sharp fight and stirring +charge in Virginia. Now he carried two bullet wounds, and on his bronzed +cheek a long white seam, a saber scar, as mementoes of Beverly Ford, +Winchester, and Five Forks, and through the efforts of his war +commanders a comfortable berth as ordnance sergeant had been secured for +him at one of the big frontier posts along the railway.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> Fred was the +pride of the old soldier's heart, and nothing would do but that he, too, +must be a trooper. The boy was born far out across the plains in sight +of the Chihuahua Mountains, had followed the regiment in his mother's +arms up the valley of the Rio Grande to the Albuquerque, then eastward +along the Indian-haunted Smoky Hill route to Leavenworth. When the great +war burst upon the nation little Fred was just beginning to toddle about +the whitewashed walls of the laundresses' quarters—his father was +Corporal Waller then—and his baby eyes were big as saucers when he was +carried aboard of a big steamship and paddled down the muddy Missouri +and around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> by Cairo and up the winding Ohio to Cincinnati. He was even +more astonished at the railway cars that bore the soldiers and a few +women and children eastward and finally landed them at Carlisle. There +at the old cavalry barracks the little fellow grew to lusty boyhood, +while his father was bearing the blue and gold standard through battle +after battle on the Virginia soil. And when the war was over and the +regiment was hurried out to "the plains," and again to protect the +settlers, the emigrants, and the railway builders from the ceaseless +assaults of the painted Indians, little Fred went along, and his soldier +education was fairly begun.</p> + +<p>Old Waller was now first sergeant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> of "B" troop. The regimental +commander and most of the officers were greatly interested in the +laughing, sun-tanned, blue-eyed boy, who rode day after day on his wiry +Indian pony along the flanks of the column, scorning, though barely +seven years old, to stay in the wagons with the women and children. +Everybody had a jolly word of greeting for Fred, and kind-hearted +Captain Blaine set his "company tailor" to work, and presently there was +made for the boy a natty little cavalry jacket and a tiny pair of yellow +chevrons. "Corporal Fred" they called him then, and, though he strove +hard not to show it, grim old Sergeant Waller was evidently as proud<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +and pleased as the child. He taught the little man to "stand attention" +and bring up his chubby brown hand in salute whenever an officer passed +by, and most scrupulously was that salute returned. He early placed the +boy under the instruction of the veteran chief trumpeter, and made him +practice with the musicians as soon as he was "big enough to blow," as +he expressed it. And then, too (for there were no army schools, or +schoolmasters in those days), regularly as the day came round and the +sergeant's morning duties were done, he had his boy at his knee, book or +slate in hand, patiently teaching him the little that he knew himself, +and wistfully looking for some better instructor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER II.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">THE OATH OF ENLISTMENT.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_i2.png" alt="I" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_2">IT was while stationed at old Fort Sanders that Waller's enthusiastic +devotion to his new captain and his captain's family began. The former +troop commander was ordered to the retired list, broken down by wounds, +and the senior lieutenant stepped into his place. Waller bade farewell +to his old captain with tear-dimmed eyes—they had served together for +over fifteen years—and with much inward misgiving, but<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> not the +faintest outward show thereof, saluted the new arrival, a young officer +but a soldier through and through; it was not a week before the sergeant +had fully satisfied himself as to that. Presently the new captain's +family reached the fort and took up their abode; a fair-haired, +blue-eyed young mother with two children, a boy and a girl, the eldest +being three years younger than Fred; and then began another and strong +interest.</p></div> + +<p>That very winter scarlet fever devastated the fort. Few children escaped +the scourge. There were a dozen little graves in the cemetery out on the +prairie when the long winter came to an end. There were two or three +larger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> graves, and one of these held all that was mortal of Fred's +loving mother; he and his stern, sad-faced father were now alone in the +world.</p> + +<p>And Captain Charlton's little household had not been spared. It was +among the officers' quarters that the pestilence had first appeared. +Frank and Florence Charlton were among the children earliest stricken. +The servants fled the house, as frontier servants will, and their place +was promptly supplied by Mrs. Waller. She and her husband would listen +to no remonstrance, and Mrs. Charlton, overwhelmed with care and dread, +was only too glad to have the strong, cheery army woman's help. Over the +little brown cottage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> the shadow of death hovered for days before it was +lifted and borne away, and when at last all danger was over and all was +again all hope and peace the sergeant's wife went back to her own humble +roof across the parade, and there suddenly sickened and died. When the +scourge was finally swept from the garrison and the soft winds began to +blow from the South, the stricken old soldier was glad of the chance to +go with his troop into the field-service, and was almost happy in one +thing. Mrs. Charlton had taken his boy as one of her own, and each day +she was teaching him faithfully and well. When the troop rode away from +Sanders Fred was left behind to occupy a little room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> under the +captain's roof. "Remember, sir, you are sergeant of the guard, and that +house and that household are your special charge for all summer long," +were Waller's parting words to his boy.</p> + +<p>Regularly as the mail reached the troop during its summer scouting +Captain Charlton's home missives had their messages for Sergeant Waller; +and soon, to his unspeakable joy, letters all his own, addressed in a +round boyish hand that grew firmer every week, began to come as his +share of the welcome package. Never would he presume to ask for news, +yet the captain was not slow to notice how old Waller was sure to be +busy close at hand when the home letters came, and prompt to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> answer, +and with soldierly salute to stand erect before his young commander and +strive not to show the pride and delight that tingled in every vein at +the glowing words in which Mrs. Charlton told of his boy's rapid +progress and his devotion to her and the children. His lip would quiver +uncontrollably and his eyes fill; his hand might tremble as it touched +the brim of his scouting hat, but the salute was precise as ever.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs02.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">ADDRESSED IN A ROUND BOYISH HAND.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"I thank the captain, and beg to thank the captain's kind lady," was his +invariable formula on such occasions. "I hope the boy will always do his +duty."</p> + +<p>And then he would face about and stride away with his head very high in +the air and his eyes blinking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> hard, and almost immediately his voice +would be heard sternly berating some trooper whose horse had tangled +himself in his lariat, or whose "kit" was not stowed in proper shape +about the saddle. It was his way of striving to hide the joy those +messages brought him, and the men were quick to see through it all, and +little "Reddy" Mulligan, reprimanded for the third time within a +fort-night, started a laugh all through the bivouac by his whimsical +protest:</p> + +<p>"It's more good news you've been getting from Fred, sergeant, dear; +isn't it now? Faith, I wish he'd play ye a thrick wanst in a while, like +other byes. Maybe thin I'd be mintioned to the captain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> for a +corporalship." And for once the veteran turned his back on the laughing +troop conscious of defeat.</p> + +<p>In '74 old Waller changed the yellow stripes and diamond of the first +sergeantcy for the crimson and the star of the ordnance, and the +troopers, one and all, said good-by to him with infinite regret. Perhaps +Dawson, who was next in rank, may be excepted. He confidently expected +to be promoted in Waller's place. But though a dashing soldier and a +smart non-commissioned officer, he was not the stanch, reliable man the +captain needed, and proved it by celebrating Waller's promotion in a +very boisterous and unseemly manner. It was plain that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> had been +drinking heavily, and though Captain Charlton saved him from arrest and +court-martial he would not promote him, and plainly, though privately, +told him why. The troop knew it was for this reason, but Dawson swore it +was all on account of Waller's influence against him when Sergeant +Graham was named in regimental orders as the old veteran's successor.</p> + +<p>That same summer, with firm hand and glistening eyes, Waller signed his +consent to the enlistment of his son as trumpeter in the old troop. How +he watched the boy's glowing face as the oath of enlistment, so often +lightly spoken, was solemnly repeated, and Fred was bound to the +service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> of his country. How he trembled from head to foot when, but a +few weeks afterward and in the dead of night, Charlton and his men +hurried forth to intercept a band of Indians who had swooped down upon +the herders south of Laramie Peak. Waller could hardly buckle the +cantle-straps of Fred's saddle as the little fellow, all eagerness, was +bustling about his horse in the dim light of the stable lanterns. Yet +when the captain and Lieutenant Rayburn came trotting briskly down the +roadway and the men were silently "leading into line," it was the old +sergeant's hand that grasped the boy's left foot and swung him lightly +into his seat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>"Whatever happens, sir, mind you keep close to the captain," was his +parting injunction to his boy. Then his heels came together with the old +cavalry "click" and his twitching fingers were stiffened as they went +suddenly up in salute to Mr. Rayburn, who bent down from his saddle to +say that they would try and take good care of Fred. But Waller answered:</p> + +<p>"I thank the lieutenant. The boy is a soldier now, sir. He must take his +chances with the rest." Then with one lingering clasp of the trumpeter's +hand, "Join your captain," he ordered, and turned away into the +darkness.</p> + +<p>But the sentry on No. 6 bore witness to the fact that the ordnance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +sergeant never went to bed again all that night, and the men sent to +unload and store the ammunition that came next day from Rock Island +Arsenal declared that old Waller was gruffer than ever. All the next +night too, he was awake, waiting, watching for tidings from the North. +Nothing came until sunset of the second day, just as the whole command +was turning out for retreat parade, and then Corporal Rock rode in with +dispatches and trotted straight to where the commanding officer was +standing in front of the adjutant's office. All eyes were upon him as he +threw himself from the saddle and handed the packet to the colonel. Half +a dozen officers hastened to join<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> their commander as he tore it open. +The piazzas of the officers' quarters were quickly alive with ladies and +children, breathlessly eager to hear the news. The colonel's orderly was +seen hastening to the surgeon's house—that looked ominous—then Rock +remounted; trotted to Captain Charlton's gate, where Mrs. Charlton was +tremblingly awaiting him. "It's all right, ma'am," he hastened to say. +"Leastwise the captain's safe, but Mulligan is shot—and Ryan and +Sergeant Frazer." She hurried in the house with the precious letter he +placed in her hands, and while several ladies hastened to join her, the +messenger returned to the office.</p> + +<p>All this while Sergeant Waller<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> had stood like a statue under the tall +white flag-staff where the non-commissioned staff assembled at retreat, +watching every move with dry, aching eyes, and a face gray as his +mustache.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER III.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">A ROBBER IN CAMP.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_t2.png" alt="T" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">THE trumpet played the retreat, the sunset gun thundered its good-night +to the god of day; the adjutant hurried over and received the reports of +the companies, the staff, and band, and then a messenger came running to +them: "Mrs. Charlton wants you, Sergeant Waller. Fred's all safe, but +they had a sharp fight."</p></div> + +<p>The old man could not trust himself to speak. "Listen to this, +sergeant," exclaimed Mrs. Charlton,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> as she hurried through the little +group of ladies at her doorway, and looked up in his face with +tear-dimmed eyes:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Tell Waller that in a running fight of four miles Fred rode close +at my heels and no man could have shown more spirit or less fear. I +am sure it was a shot from his carbine that tumbled one war pony +into the Laramie; and every call he had to sound rang out clear as a +bell. I'm proud of the boy."</p> + +<p>Waller's face was twitching and working; he cleared his throat and tried +to speak; he dashed his hand across his eyes and ground his heels into +the gravel of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> walk; he heard the kind and gentle voices of the +ladies joining in the chorus of congratulation, but he could not see +their faces; a mist had risen before his eyes. Even the old formula, "I +thank the captain's lady," had deserted him. He mumbled some +inarticulate words, and then, in dread of disastrous breakdown, turned +suddenly away and strode across the drive. More than one woman was in +tears. There was not a ripple of faintest laughter when it was seen that +in his blindness the old sergeant had collided with the tree box at the +edge of the acequia. Straight to his humble quarters he went; but they +were beautiful to him, radiant with the light of joy, pride, gratitude, +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> love that beamed and burnt in his honest heart.</p> + +<p>And now, a year later, all the cavalry was in the field. Gold had +tempted explorers and miners innumerable to the Black Hills of +Dakota—Indian land by solemn treaty. The Government warned the invaders +back, but to no purpose. The Indians swarmed from the agencies and +massacred all whom they could overpower. Charlton's troop had early been +hurried up to Red Cloud, and now with others was engaged in the perilous +work of patrolling the trails around the Indian haunts.</p> + +<p>Two months of hard and most exciting work had they had, and still the +troubles were not over; and then just after the paymaster<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> with his iron +safe and bristling escort had paid the outlying posts a visit, and +Captain Charlton had been ordered in with him to attend a court-martial +at Fort Laramie, there came a week that no man in "B" troop ever forgot.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rayburn had been wounded and was in the hospital at Fort Robinson. +Twenty of the men were away on escort duty, and so it happened that only +young Lieutenant Blunt and about thirty troopers were left at the camp +just west of the Agency. Fearful that the money, "burning" as it always +does in the soldiers' pockets, would tempt his men to gamble or drink +and get into mischief around the crowded post, Charlton had ordered that +the troop should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> march at once to the Niobrara and wait there for his +return. It was known, of course, that many Indian bands were out, and it +promised to be adventurous. It was Mr. Blunt's first independent +command, too, and he felt a trifle nervous. All went well, however, +until the morning of the second day, when Sergeant Graham excitedly +called his young commander, his face clouded with dismay.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant," he cried, "Sergeant Dawson and several men were robbed +last night. The money's clean gone!"</p> + +<p>Blunt was out of his blanket in an instant. "How much is missing?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell yet, sir—a good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> deal. But that is not the worst of it."</p> + +<p>"What on earth could be worse?"</p> + +<p>"Trumpeter Waller's gone, sir—deserted; taken his horse, arms, and +everything!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER IV.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_l1.png" alt="L" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">LIEUTENANT BLUNT'S position on this bright July morning was most +embarrassing. Personally he had known the pet trumpeter of "B" troop +less than a year; for, as was said in the previous chapter, in point of +actual experience on the frontier the boy was the superior of the young +West Pointer, who had joined only the preceding autumn. Finding young +Fred so great a favorite<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> among the officers and men, Mr. Blunt was +quite ready to accept the general verdict, although his first impression +of the youngster was that he was a trifle spoiled. On the other hand no +other man in the troop had so favorably impressed the new officer as the +"left principal guide," Sergeant Dawson, whose dashing horsemanship, +fine figure and carriage, and sharp, soldierly ways had attracted his +attention at the first outset. Then Dawson's manner to him was so +scrupulously deferential and soldierly on all occasions—sometimes the +old war-worn sergeants would be a trifle supercilious with green +subalterns—that Blunt's moderate amount of vanity was touched.<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> He was +always glad, when his turn came round as officer of the guard, to find +Sergeant Dawson on the detail, and he recalled, when he came to think +over the events of his first half year with the regiment that very +summer, that it was when on guard he began to imagine Fred Waller was +"somewhat spoiled." Twice the boy "marched on" as orderly trumpeter when +he and Dawson were on the guard detail for the day, and both times the +sergeant had found fault with the musician, and had most respectfully +and diplomatically, but in that semi-confidential manner which shrewd +old soldiers so well know how to assume to very young subalterns, given +Mr. Blunt to understand<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> that the boy "needed looking after." Months +later, when Blunt and Rayburn were discussing the probabilities of +promotion, when the sergeant-major of the regiment took his discharge +and there was lively competition among the soldiers for this, the finest +non-commissioned post in the regiment, Blunt warmly advocated Dawson's +claim. "He is the nattiest sergeant in the whole command," he said, "and +the smartest one I know."</p></div> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" answered Rayburn with a certain superiority of manner and a +quiet sarcasm that provoked the junior officer; "there's no question +about Dawson's smartness. One after another every 'plebe' in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +regiment starts in with the same enthusiasm about Dawson. I had it +myself about eight years ago. But the trouble with him is he isn't a +stayer; he can't stand prosperity."</p> + +<p>But Blunt preferred to hold to his own views and his faith in the second +sergeant of the troop. And so it happened that on this eventful morning +he sent Sergeant Graham at once to investigate as to the amounts stolen +during the night, and directed that Sergeant Dawson, who was in command +of the herd and picket guard, should come to him immediately.</p> + +<p>The sun was just rising above the low treeless ridges on the horizon as +the lieutenant stood erect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> and looked about him. Close at hand the +Niobrara—"the Running Water"—was brawling over its stony shallows, and +the smoke of tiny cook-fires was floating upward into the keen, crisp, +morning air. Northward the slopes were bare and treeless, too, but +closely carpeted with the dense growth of buffalo grass. Only a few +yards out from the bivouac, hoppled and sidelined, the troop horses were +cropping the still juicy herbage, and three or four soldiers, carbine in +hand and garbed in their light-blue overcoats, were posted well out +beyond the herd on every side, watching the valley far and near for any +signs of Indian coming. Below the bivouac, and further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> from the Laramie +road, was an old log hut, once used as a ranch and "bar" for thirsty +souls traversing the well-worn way to the reservation; but the tide of +travel had first shifted to the Sidney route, and then been stemmed +entirely, so far as the line to or near the agencies was concerned, and +the proprietor had taken himself and his fiery poison to better-paying +fields. Far away to the southwest the blue cone of Laramie Peak stood +boldly against the sky. Nearer at hand, though a day's ride away, old +Rawhide Butte rose sturdily from the midst of surrounding prairie +slopes. Upstream, among some sparse cottonwood, a bit of ruddy color +among the branches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> caught the lieutenant's quick eye. Some Indian +brave, wrapped in his blanket, had been laid to rest there out of reach +of the snarling coyotes, one of whom could be dimly discerned slinking +away under the bank, just out of easy rifle range.</p> + +<p>Off to the south lay the same bold, barren, desolate-looking expanse of +rolling prairie. Blunt could not suppress a shudder as he thought of the +terrible risk the boy had run in his mad break for the settlements +beyond the Platte. Of course he could go nowhere else. North, east, and +west, all was Indian land, and no lone white man could live there. Of +course he was making for the cattle ranges and settlements in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> Nebraska. +Such at least were the lieutenant's theories. He had spent only one year +on the frontier, but had been there long enough to know that among the +cowboys, ranchmen, and especially among the "riff-raff" ever hanging +about the small towns and settlements, a deserter from the army was apt +to be welcomed and protected, if he had money, arms, or a good horse. +Once plundered of all he possessed, the luckless fellow might then be +turned over to the nearest post and the authorized reward of thirty +dollars claimed for his apprehension; but if well armed and sober, the +deserter had little trouble in making his way through the toughest +mining camps and settlements.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER V.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">TRAILING THE TRAITOR.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_f1.png" alt="F" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">FRED Waller knew all the Valley of the North Platte as well as he did +the trails around Sanders and Red buttes, and if he could succeed in +eluding the Indian war parties, he would have no difficulty in fording +the river, or swimming if necessary; and, with the start he must have +had, his light weight, and powerful horse, it would be next to +impossible to catch him, even if they could follow his trail. Besides,<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +were they not ordered to remain at the Niobrara until Charlton's return? +The more Mr. Blunt thought of the matter the more worried and perplexed +he became. Anywhere else he might have sent a sergeant with a couple of +men in pursuit, but here it would be exposing them to almost certain +death. It was some minutes before Sergeant Dawson came in answer to the +summons. Blunt could see the troopers gathered about the first sergeant, +excitedly discussing the affair and bemoaning their individual losses. +Graham was noting the amounts on a slip of paper, and his fine face was +pale with distress. "Is that all now, men?" he asked as he completed<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +the list, then sharply turned away, and once more approached his young +commander.</p></div> + +<p>"Lieutenant," he said, halting and raising his hand in salute, "it isn't +quite so bad as I feared, but bad enough. Sergeant Farron, Corporal +Watts, and I are the principal losers, besides Sergeant Dawson. Three of +the men who went into the Agency on pass just after we were paid had +left most of their money with me, and that is gone. I had it with my own +in the flat wallet I always carried in the inside pocket of my +hunting-shirt. You can see, sir, how it was done," and the sergeant +displayed a long clean cut through the Indian tanned buckskin. "It took +a sharp knife and a light<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> hand to do that, for I'm not a heavy sleeper. +Farron, Watts, and I were sleeping side by side just over there on the +bank, and they heard nothing all the night. But will the lieutenant look +at this handkerchief, sir? Is it chloroformed? I feel dull and heavy, as +though I had been drugged. He couldn't have got it from me any other +way."</p> + +<p>Blunt took the bandanna and sniffed it cautiously, and then turned it +over and curiously inspected it. There was certainly an odor of +chloroform about it—a strong odor.</p> + +<p>"Whose is this?" he asked. "I do not remember seeing any of the men +wearing one like this."</p> + +<p>"None of them own it, sir. I've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> asked the whole party but Sergeant +Dawson and the men on guard. They have these cheap red things for sale +at the store there at the Red Cloud Agency, but none of the troop have I +ever seen wearing them; they are too small for neck handkerchiefs. +Dawson is out yet, trying to locate the trail. I've sent Robbins for +him," and the sergeant looked anxiously away southward, searching the +prairie with a world of pain and trouble in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"What could possibly have induced the boy to turn scoundrel all at +once?" asked the lieutenant. "It will break his old father's heart."</p> + +<p>"I can't account for it, sir. He has been as honest and square as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> boy +could be ever since his enlistment; but the men tell me that he has been +spending a good deal of time over in the post whenever we camped there, +and I am afraid, from what Donovan says, that he has been gambling with +the young fellows at the band quarters. There's a hard lot in there, I'm +told; and the old hands encourage the boys to get all they can out of +strangers, and then they turn to and fleece the boys. It is about four +hundred dollars he has taken. A man knows that will last but a little +while on the frontier, but to a boy it seems a big pile."</p> + +<p>Then, rapidly approaching, the bounding hoofs of a troop horse were +heard. Blunt eagerly turned and saw Sergeant Dawson galloping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> toward +them down the north bank. Reining in so suddenly as almost to throw his +panting bay upon his haunches, he vaulted lightly to the ground and +stood before the lieutenant, his face beaded with sweat and his eyes +glaring.</p> + +<p>"Which way has he gone? could you tell?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I trailed him out across the prairie yonder for three hundred +yards or so. Then he took the Laramie road, and there the hoof tracks +are all confused; but I knew he would never keep that line very long, +and I'm almost certain I found the place where he turned off—a mile +beyond the ford and well over the bluffs."</p> + +<p>"Turned south toward the Sidney route?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>"Yes, sir, as though he was going to skirt the road a while, then make +for Scott's Bluffs, keeping well west of the Sidney stage route. If he +got on that he'd be likely to meet Captain Forrest's troop, sir."</p> + +<p>"But you were in charge of the guard, sergeant. How came it that your +sentries and you could let a man slip out with his horse and everything? +The night was still, and they ought to have heard, even if they couldn't +see."</p> + +<p>"It was dark as pitch, lieutenant; the new moon was down before eleven +o'clock; and as for hearing, the horses were uneasy and stamping or +snorting all the while from midnight until two o'clock. Either they +sniffed Indians, or the coyotes startled them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> Then, the stream makes +such a noise over the rocks, sir; and the lieutenant will remember we +had no sentries out across the stream. The Indians couldn't stampede the +herd from that direction."</p> + +<p>"But how could he get his horse out from the herd without——"</p> + +<p>"It wasn't there, sir," broke in the trooper, eager to defend himself +against the imputation of carelessness or neglect. "Sergeant Graham will +bear me out, sir, that Trumpeter Waller has been allowed to lariat his +horse close by where he slept, and sometimes he'd loop the lariat by a +light cord to his wrist. The captain allowed it, sir, and I supposed +that the lieutenant would not care to change the captain's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> orders. Last +night he slept, or rather made down his blanket and drove his picket-pin +at the lower edge of the bivouac, sir, down there by that point; and +Private Donovan tells me he moved still further down after dark. We +could hear his horse whinnying a while—he didn't like being so far from +the others. It's my belief, sir, he waited until all was quiet, and took +some time when I was out on the prairie visiting the sentries to slip up +the bank to where Sergeant Graham was sleeping, make his haul of the +money, and then ride for all that he was worth as soon as he had got +beyond ear-shot. It was easy enough to slip away through the stream +without being heard."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>"He has left his saddle-bags, blanket, and everything that was heavy, +except his arms, behind him," said Graham moodily.</p> + +<p>"And you really think that he has stolen the money and is trying to +escape?" questioned the lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, sir," answered Dawson almost tearfully, "I don't know what to +think. I hate to believe it of the boy we were all so fond of, though I +used to plague him sometimes, just in fun—but I don't know what else to +think. The men say that he has been a little wild at times, since he got +from under the old man's care. But I don't know, sir; I wouldn't be apt +to know what was going on in the barrack there at Robinson."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER VI.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_b3.png" alt="B" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">BLUNT turned sorrowfully away and began to pace slowly up and down the +bank. Near at hand over a little camp-fire his coffee pot was bubbling +and hissing enticingly, but even the aroma of his accustomed morning +beverage failed to attract him. What was he to do? What could he do? +Ordered to remain there to escort the captain safely to Red Cloud, on +his return from the court, it was impossible to pursue.<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> Equally unwise +would it be to send a small squad. Waller had taken his life in his +hands when he rode away through the night, but he could cross the +Rawhide and be in comparative safety, so far as the Indian attack was +concerned, by sunrise of this day. Now that daylight had come, Blunt +well knew that every stretch of prairie from the Platte to the White +River would be thoroughly searched by keen and eager eyes, and death +would be the very least that any small party of whites could expect. He +knew perfectly well that already he and his little troop were being +closely scrutinized from the distant ridges. Had he not seen in the +tepees of the Cheyennes, but the week<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> before, as many as three pairs of +binocular field-glasses? and had not Colonel Randall told him they knew +their use and value as well as anyone? If there was only some way of +getting word to Captain Charlton at Laramie. There ran the single wire +of the military telegraph, but there was neither office nor station +nearer than Red Cloud Agency. No man in the troop would thank him for +being ordered to go either way with dispatches, though he knew the order +would be obeyed. Silently and gloomily, instead of with their usual +cheery alacrity, the men had got to work with their curry-combs and +brushes and were touching up their horses while waiting for their own +breakfast;<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> and presently Blunt's orderly came forward, holding a tin +cup of steaming coffee.</p></div> + +<p>"Won't the lieutenant drink a little of this, sir, and try a bite of +bacon? There isn't much appetite in the troop this morning, sir, but it +ain't so much because the money's gone. I've known the old sergeant and +the boy nigh unto ten years now, sir, an' I never thought it would come +to this."</p> + +<p>Blunt thanked the soldier and sat down at the edge of the rushing +stream, sipping his coffee and trying to think what to do. The drink +warmed his blood and cheered him up a trifle. Ordering his horse to be +saddled, he mounted and, taking his rifle, rode through the Niobrara and +out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> upon the open prairie on the other side. It was not long before he +found the hoof-tracks made the night before, and, without knowing why, +he slowly followed them out toward the low ridge at the southwest. For +ten minutes he went at a quiet walk and with downward-searching eyes as +he reached the road, striving to decide which hoof-prints were made by +Waller's horse.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, back at camp he heard the ringing report of a cavalry carbine +borne on the rising breeze, and, whirling about, saw that they were +signaling to him. Putting spurs to his steed he galloped full tilt for +the ford, and then for the first time saw the cause of the excitement. +Far up on the opposite slope, and jogging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> easily down toward the troop, +came an Indian pony and an Indian rider, but not in war-paint and +feathers. As Mr. Blunt plunged through the stream he recognized the +young half-breed scout known to all of the soldiers as "Little Bat," and +Bat, without a word, rode up and handed him a letter. It was from the +commanding officer at Fort Robinson, and very much to the point. It read +somewhat as follows:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Captain Charlton telegraphs that he will be detained several days. +Meantime you are needed here, as the Indians are again quitting the +reservations in large numbers. Move immediately upon receipt of +this."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs03.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">JOGGING ALONG AT AN EASY PACE.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>That evening therefore the little troop once more rode down the valley +of the White River, the "Smoking Earth" as the Indians called it, and by +sunset were camped at Red Cloud. In much distress of mind Mr. Blunt +called upon the commanding officer to tell him of the disappearance of +the money and his trumpeter, and to ask the colonel's advice as to the +proper course for him to pursue. It was agreed that telegrams should be +sent at once to the captain at Fort Laramie and to the commanding +officer at Sidney barracks on the railway, notifying them of the crime +and the desertion. Blunt begged for a moment's delay until he could hear +from Sergeant Graham, whom he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> had sent to make certain investigations, +and long before tattoo the sergeant came—and with him the hospital +steward.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant, the store-keeper says he sold just such a handkerchief as +that to Trumpeter Waller last week, and the steward can tell about the +chloroform."</p> + +<p>Both officers looked inquiringly at the steward.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, it was pay day that young Waller handed me a penciled note +from Sergeant Graham, saying that he had a bad tooth-ache and asking for +a little chloroform, and I gave it to him."</p> + +<p>"I never wrote such a note, sir, and never sent him on such a message," +said Graham.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER VII.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_b3.png" alt="B" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">BAD news travels fast. Captain Charlton at Fort Laramie was stunned by +the tidings flashed to him by telegraph from Red Cloud. Despite the +array of damaging evidence, he could not bring himself to believe that +Fred Waller was a thief: but he was sore at heart when he thought of the +misery and sorrow the news must bring to the dear ones at his army +home—above all to the proud old sergeant, whose life seemed almost<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +bound up in the boy. Well knowing that it could only be a day or two +before the story would make its way to the posts along the railroad, and +would reach Sanders, doubtless, in a more exaggerated form, the captain +decided to warn his wife at once, and by the stage leaving that very +night a letter went in to Cheyenne, and thence by train over the great +"divide" of the Rockies to Fort Sanders, giving to Mrs. Charlton all +particulars thus far received, but charging her to say nothing until +further tidings.</p></div> + +<p class="blockquot">"I cannot believe it [wrote he], and am going at once to join the +troop and make full investigation. Meantime I have written by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +same mail to Major Edwards, who commands at Sidney barracks, to make +every effort to trace the boy, should he have come south of the +Platte; and you must be sure to see, when the news reaches Sanders, +that the sergeant is assured of my disbelief in the whole story, and +of my determination that Fred shall have justice done him. It will +be several days before you can hear from me again."</p> + +<p>And the news reached Sanders, as he feared, all too soon. Telegraph +offices "leaked" on the frontier in those days. The operators at the +military stations were all enlisted men, who were not bound by the +regulations of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> Western Union, and who could not keep to themselves +every item of personal interest. The Sidney office wired mysterious +inquiries to Sanders; Sanders insisted on knowing what it meant, and +presently Laramie, Sanders, Sidney, Russell, Red Cloud, and even Chug +Water were clicking away in confidential discussion over the +extraordinary theft and flight. And Mrs. Charlton's letter came none too +early to save old Waller from despair. It was a woman, a gabbling +laundress, who first told him of the rumor, and Mrs. Charlton saw him +hastening to the telegraph office just as she had finished reading the +letter.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Nelson, quick!" she called to a young officer just passing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +gate. "Stop Sergeant Waller at once. Don't let him go to the office. +Make him come here to me. He will hear and obey you."</p> + +<p>And Mr. Nelson touched his cap, leaped lightly across the acequia, and +his powerful young voice was heard thundering, "Sergeant Waller!" in +peremptory tones across the parade. "Sergeant Waller!" echoed a half +dozen voices as the loungers on barrack porches took up the cry, +"Lieutenant Nelson wants you!" and the soldier instinct prevailed, the +old man turned and hastened toward the officers' quarters.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Mrs. Charlton," asked Nelson. "Has there been another +fight? Is Fred killed? It will break the old man's heart."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>"Oh, Mr. Nelson! I can't tell you about it yet!" she almost wailed. +"There's bad news, and I'm afraid the old man has heard it. Stay here, +near me a moment, can you? Oh, look at his face! Look at his face! He +has heard."</p> + +<p>White, livid, trembling from head to foot, the old soldier hurried +toward the young officer and dumbly raised his hand in the mechanical +salute.</p> + +<p>"It is Mrs. Charlton who wants you, sergeant," said Mr. Nelson kindly. +"Go to her," and without a word the veteran passed in at the gate.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs04.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">HE RAISED HIS HANDS AND PRESSED THEM TO HIS EYES.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>She held forth her hand, her eyes brimming with tears. Instinctively he +halted, the old respect and reverence for "captain's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> lady" checking +the wild torrent of grief and anxiety, but she caught him by the arm and +led him wondering and submissive, yet overwhelmed with cruel dread, into +her cool and darkened parlor. There, with wild, imploring eyes, the old +man half stretched forth two palsied hands, his forage cap falling +unheaded to the floor, his whole frame shaking.</p> + +<p>"Don't give way, sergeant; don't believe it!" she cried, and at her +first words a look as of horror came into the stricken old face, and the +hands clasped together in piteous appeal. "Listen to what the captain +says. His letter has just come, and I was sure, when I saw you, that +someone had told you the rumor. Captain Charlton<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> will not believe a +word of it. He was at Laramie on court-martial or it would not have +happened. He has hurried back to Red Cloud to investigate, and he +declares that Fred shall have justice done him. I'll never believe +it—never! Why, we would trust him with anything we owned."</p> + +<p>"I—I thank the captain. I thank Mrs. Charlton," he brokenly replied. +"It's stunned like I am." He raised his hands and pressed them against +his eyes, and one of them was lowered suddenly, feebly groping for +support. She seized his arm and strove to lead him to a sofa. "You must +sit down, sergeant," she said.</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am, no!" he protested,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> straightening himself with a violent +effort. "Now, may I hear what it is they say against my boy, ma'am? I +want every word. Don't be afraid, ma'am, I can bear it."</p> + +<p>Then, with infinite sympathy and pity, she told him, softening every +detail, suggesting an explanation for every circumstance that pointed to +his guilt; and all the time the old man stood there, his eyes, filled +with dumb anguish, fixed upon her face, his hands clasped together as +though in entreaty, his fingers twitching nervously. At every new and +damaging detail, condone or explain it though she would, he shuddered as +though smitten with a sharp, painful spasm; but when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> it came to Fred's +midnight disappearance—horse, arms, and all—in the heart of the Indian +country, stealing away from his comrades in the shadow of disgrace and +crime, the old man groaned aloud and buried his face in his hands. Some +time he stood there, reeling, yet resisting her efforts to draw him to a +seat. She pleaded with him hurriedly, impulsively, yet he seemed not to +hear. At last with one long shivering sigh, he suddenly straightened up +and faced her. His hands fell by his side. He cleared his throat and +strove to speak:</p> + +<p>"You've been good to me, ma'am—so good"—and here he choked, and for a +moment could not go on—"and to my boy"—at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> last he finished, with +impulsive rush of words. "I know how they're sometimes tempted. I know +how, more than once, the little fellow would be led away by the roughs +in the troop, just to worry me; but he never hid a thing from me, ma'am, +never; and if he's in trouble now he would tell me the whole truth, even +if it broke us both down. I'll not believe it till I see him, ma'am; but +I must go—I must go until I find my boy."</p> + +<p>Blinded with tears, Mrs. Charlton could hardly see the swaying, +grief-bowed old soldier as he left the house; but Nelson was waiting +close at hand, and stepped forward and took his place by the sergeant's +side.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>"I don't know what the trouble is," he said, "but I'm going as far as +the headquarters with you, and if there is anything on earth I can do to +help you, do not fail to tell me."</p> + +<p>That night, with a week's furlough and a letter from his post commander +to Major Edwards at Sidney, old Sergeant Waller was jolting eastward in +the caboose of a freight train.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER VIII.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">LOYAL FRIENDS.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_i2.png" alt="I" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_2">IT was on Friday morning, at daybreak, that the desertion of Trumpeter +Waller was reported to Lieutenant Blunt. It was Friday night that the +telegrams were sent to Laramie and that Charlton's letter left by stage. +It was Saturday afternoon just before parade that the mail was +distributed at Fort Sanders; and that very evening, before Major Edwards +had received and had time to read his letter from the<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> West, the +sergeant had started on his long and fatiguing journey. All night long +in sleepless misery he sat in a corner of the caboose, occasionally +rising and tramping unsteadily to and fro. At Cheyenne a delay of half +an hour occurred, and he left the train and paced restlessly up and down +the platform under the freight sheds. He dared not go down to the +lighted offices and the crowded passenger station just below him. It +seemed as though everyone knew of Fred's story by this time. He could +see the gleam of forage-cap ornaments and the glint of army buttons +among the people at the dépot, and knew there were several officers and +soldiers there. Never before had he known what<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> it was to shrink from +facing any man on earth; but to-night, though he almost starved for +further news from his boy, he could not bring himself to meet them and +ask.</p></div> + +<p>Along toward morning, at Pine Bluffs, a herdsman got aboard, and what he +had to say was of startling interest. Hitherto the Indian war parties +had kept well to the north of the Platte, "but" said he, "ever since +Friday the Sidney road has been swarming with them—both sides of the +river—and they are killing everything white they can lay their hands +on."</p> + +<p>"My God!" thought Waller, "and Fred must be in the very midst of them. +Better so," he added, "if indeed he can be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> guilty." The herder had +evidently been sorely frightened by all he heard, and he was hurrying to +Sidney to join a party of cattle-men who were camping there. He had been +drinking too, and took more and more as the night wore on, and became +maudlin in his talk. It was nine o'clock on Sunday morning when they +reached Sidney station, and the first thing that old Waller saw was a +strong concord wagon with a four-mule team and an army driver. Two +infantry soldiers with their rifles and girt with cartridge-belts were +standing close at hand. Two officers were stowing their rifles inside +the wagon, and an orderly was strapping the tarpaulin over the light +luggage in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> "boot." One of the officers the sergeant knew +instantly—an aid-de-camp of the commanding general. The other was older +in years and bore on his cap the insignia of the staff. The younger +officer saw him before he could step into the office, and Sergeant +Waller knew it—knew too, with the quickness of thought, that he had +heard of Fred's disappearance and presumable crime. He could have shrunk +from meeting his superiors in the shadow of this bitter sorrow and +disgrace. Even while he could not accept the belief that his boy was +actually a deserter and a thief, he knew full well what other men must +think. But Captain Cross was a cavalryman himself, and had known old +Waller<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> for years. He dropped his rifle, came straight forward, and took +him by the hand.</p> + +<p>"Sergeant, I don't believe it of your boy; I've known his father too +long," was all he said, as he pressed the veteran's hand. Poor old +Waller, worn with anguish, long vigil, and utter lack of food of any +kind, was now so weak that he could only, with the utmost difficulty, +choke back the sobs that shook his frame. Speak he dare not; he would +have broken down. Cross led him to the lunch room at the station and +made him swallow a cup of coffee, then gently questioned him as to what +he knew.</p> + +<p>"We go at once to Red Cloud—Colonel Gaines and I—and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> maybe on the +road I shall hear something of him. Sergeant, rest assured your son +shall have fair play," said the aid-de-camp, as he was about to turn +away.</p> + +<p>"But, captain—I beg pardon, sir," broke in Waller hurriedly, in almost +the first words he had spoken. "Where is your escort? Surely you won't +take this route without one?"</p> + +<p>"There isn't a trooper at Sidney, sergeant. We have a couple of +infantrymen in the wagon and another on a mule. That's the best we can +do, and we've got no time to spare. We must be at Red Cloud to-morrow, +and this is the shortest line."</p> + +<p>"But, sir, haven't you heard? The Sioux are out in force and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> all along +the road, both above and below the Platte. There's a herder on the train +who told us. He got aboard at Pine Bluffs this morning."</p> + +<p>"I can hardly believe that," answered Cross. "Captain Forrest with the +Grays is scouting south of Red Cloud. Captain Wallace was ordered to +watch the fords along the Platte on this line; Captain Charlton is +out—or at least the whole troop has been, and there are three more. +Surely Major Edwards would know over at the barracks, if the Indians +were anywhere between us and the river,—we'll get an escort from +Captain Wallace the other side,—but he has not heard a word."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>"But I beg the captain to hear what the man says, sir," urged Sergeant +Waller. "He's been drinking, but he tells the same story, practically, +that he told us when he got aboard. Let me find him, sir."</p> + +<p>And find him he did, even more maudlin and thick-tongued by this time, +and evidently determined to make the most of his dramatic story for the +benefit of the two officers and swarm of interested lookers-on. He only +succeeded in inspiring the colonel with mingled incredulity and disgust.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe a word of it," he said to Captain Cross. "And we are +losing valuable time. We must start at once."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>An hour later this peaceful Sabbath morning, the sergeant stood, cap in +hand, before Major Edwards on the veranda of his pleasant quarters. Two +pretty children were playing with a big, shaggy, lazy staghound, pulling +his ears and tormenting him in various ways; a pleasant-faced lady came +forth, sunshade and prayer book in hand, and at sight of her the little +ones reluctantly rose and bade good-by to their four-footed friend, and +the party started slowly away across the green parade to the post +chapel, nodding and smiling to the spruce orderly, who stood +respectfully aside to let them pass. Mrs. Edwards glanced quickly and +sympathetically into the sergeant's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> sad face as he stood there before +her husband's easy-chair. She knew well what it all meant, but there was +nothing for her to say. Small parties of infantry officers and of ladies +and children joined them on the way to the humble wooden sanctuary; the +soft notes of the bugle were sounding church call; a warm gentle breeze +from the southern plains stirred the folds of the big flag; the sunshine +was joyous and brilliant, and all spoke of peace, order, and +contentment. Yet there stood Waller with almost bursting heart; and +yonder, only a few miles across the grassy ridge to the north, rode that +little party of officers and men to almost certain death.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>The major looked up as he finished reading the letter placed in his +hands.</p> + +<p>"I have no words to tell you of my sympathy and sorrow, sergeant. Of +course you know my plain duty in the matter. The sheriff has been +notified, and two of his deputies already have gone out to search. He +would hardly be mad enough to come anywhere near us, if guilty. But if +he is taken he will be held here under my charge, and I will see that +you have every proper opportunity of visiting him. The adjutant tells me +you had heard something of the Indians being south of the Platte. What +was it?"</p> + +<p>"A man who boarded our train at the Bluffs, sir. He claimed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> have had +to ride hard for his life yesterday afternoon, and that there were +scores of the Sioux this side of the river. I took him to Colonel Gaines +and Captain Cross, sir; but the man had been drinking so much that they +distrusted him entirely. They left the station before I started for the +barracks, sir."</p> + +<p>The major sat thoughtfully gazing out across the parade a moment; then +answered:</p> + +<p>"We have had no rumors of anything of the kind, and they would be almost +sure to come this way to us, if anyone heard of such stories. There are +no settlers along the road, after leaving the springs, out here until +you reach the Platte. I can hardly believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> it, but we'll see what can +be got from the man when he sobers up. Now the sergeant-major will go +with you to the quarters, and I will see you later in the day."</p> + +<p>But later in the day that promise was forgotten in an excitement of far +greater magnitude.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER IX.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">LURKING FOES.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_c1.png" alt="C" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">CHURCH was over. The bugler had just sounded mess call, and the soldiers +in their neat "undress" uniform were just going in to dinner, when a man +on a "cow pony"—one of those wiry, active little steeds so much in use +around the cattle-herd—came full speed into the garrison and threw +himself from the saddle at Major Edwards' gate. It was the telegraph +operator at the railway station. In his hands were two<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> brown envelopes, +and Major Edwards, as he stepped forward to meet him, saw in his face +the tell-tale look of a bearer of bad news.</p></div> + +<p>"I've no idea whose horse that is, major. There were a half dozen of 'em +in front of a saloon there in town, and I jumped on the first I saw. +These have just come—one from Laramie, one from Omaha. I dropped +everything at the office to fetch them to you."</p> + +<p>Edwards tore open first one and then the other. The first read:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Couriers in front of Captain Wallace report large war parties along +the Platte, and some across, raiding the Sidney road. Four<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +teamsters killed, scalped, and mutilated three miles south of river. +Bodies found. Warn back everybody attempting to go that way."</p> + +<p>The second was from the office of the department commander himself:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Indians in force south of Platte, on Sidney road. If Colonel Gaines +and Captain Cross have started, send couriers at once to recall +them."</p> + +<p>The major's face was dark with dismay.</p> + +<p>"They have been gone nearly four hours," he exclaimed. "Even if I had +swift riders ready, who could catch them in time?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>"I've been a trooper all my life, sir," came sudden answer. "Give me a +horse and carbine and let me go."</p> + +<p>The major might have known 'twas Sergeant Waller.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>True to his word, and arranging with the officers of the court-martial +to return in case his further testimony was required, Captain Charlton +set forth at daybreak on Saturday, intending to push straight through to +Red Cloud as fast as mules could drag or horses bear him. To the +Niobrara crossing the road was hard and smooth, when once they cleared +the sandy wastes of the Platte bottom. He had a capital team, a light +ambulance, and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> little squad of seasoned troopers to go with him as +escort. It was a drive of nearly ninety miles, but he proposed resting +his animals an hour at the Niobrara, another hour at sunset; feeding and +watering carefully each time, and so keeping on to the old Agency until +he reached his troop late at night.</p> + +<p>No danger was to be apprehended until the party got beyond the Rawhide, +and not very much until they were across the Niobrara, but Charlton and +his half a dozen troopers had been over each inch of the ground time and +again, and very little did they dread the Sioux.</p> + +<p>After midday the little party had halted close beside the spot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> where +Blunt's detachment had made their bivouac so short a time before. Here +were the ashes of their cook-fires and the countless hoof-prints of the +horses. Here, too, was the trail in double file, leading away northward +across the prairie—a short cut to the Red Cloud road. Charlton followed +it with his keen eyes, and noted with a smile how straight a line its +young leader must have made for the "dip" in the grassy ridge a mile +away, through which ran the hard, beaten track. Blunt prided himself on +these little points of soldiership, as the captain well remembered, and +when charged with guiding at the head of a column, was pretty sure to +fix his eyes on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> some distant landmark and steer for that, with little +regard for what might be going on at the rear.</p> + +<p>The ambulance mules, tethered about the tongue, were busily crunching +their liberal measure of oats. Each cavalry horse, too, buried his nose +deep in the shimmering pile his rider had carefully poured for him upon +the dry side of the saddle-blanket. The men were contentedly eating +their hard-tack and bacon and drinking their coffee from huge tin cups +with the relish of old frontiersmen. One trooper, a few yards away out +on the prairie, kept vigilant watch. Pondering deeply over the strange +and unaccountable charge that had been laid at his young trumpeter's +door, the captain was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> slowly pacing down the bank, puffing away at the +briar root pipe that was the constant companion of his scouting days. +Suddenly he heard the sentry call, and, turning, saw him pointing to the +ground at his feet.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Horton?" he asked, going over toward him.</p> + +<p>"Pony tracks, sir. The Indians have been nosing around here since our +men left."</p> + +<p>There were the prints of some half a dozen little unshod hoofs dotting +the sandy hollows in the low ground near the stream, and easily +traceable among the clumps of buffalo grass beyond. Charlton could see +where they had gathered in one spot, as though their riders were then in +consultation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> and then scattered once more along the bank. Two hundred +yards away stood the lonely log cabin, all that was left of what had +been the ranch, and following the trail, the captain presently found +himself nearing it. Two tracks seemed to lead straight thither, and +before he reached it were joined by several more. Close to the abandoned +hut the ground was worn smooth and hard; yet in the hollows were +accumulations of dust blown from the roadway up the stream. Around here +the pony tracks were thick, and just within the gaping doorway were +footprints in the dust—some of spurred bootheels and broad soles, one +still more recent of Sioux moccasins. Through the solid log<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> walls two +small square windows had been cut and narrow slits for rifles, in the +days when the occupants had frequent occasion to defend their prairie +castle. The opening to the subterranean "keep" was yawning under the +eastern wall, its wooden cover having long since been broken up for +fuel. Charlton stood for a moment within the blackened and dusty +doorway, and glanced curiously around him.</p> + +<p>Except for the new footprints it looked very much as it did when he had +first taken occasion to inspect the interior, earlier in the summer. +There was nothing left that anyone could carry away, and he wondered why +the Indians should have troubled themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> to dismount and prowl +about. An Indian hates a house on general principles, and enters one +only when he expects to make something by it. Those recent boot-prints, +nearly effaced by the moccasins, were doubtless those of some of Blunt's +party. Curiosity had prompted some time-killing trooper to stroll out +here and take a look at the place. The sunshine streaming in at the open +doorway made a brilliant oblong square upon the earthen floor and +lighted up the grimy interior. The steps cut down to the dark "dugout" +were crumbling away, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet +into the passage leading to the underground fortress, where as a final +resort in an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> Indian siege the little garrison could take refuge. A +lantern or a candle would show the way, but Charlton had neither. Taking +out his match-case, however, he bent down, struck a light, and peered +in. Somebody had done the same thing within the last day or two, for +there were the stub ends of two matches just like his in the dust at the +bottom of the steps, and there, too—yes, he lighted another match and +studied it carefully—there was the print of cavalry boots going in and +coming out again. Whoever was his predecessor, he had more curiosity +than the captain. Charlton had seen prairie "dugout" forts before, and +did not care to waste time now.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER X.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">IN SUSPENSE.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_r1.png" alt="R" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">RETURNING to the open sunshine he made the circuit of the house, and on +the north side stopped and studied with an interest he had not felt +before. A stout post was still standing on that side, and to the post a +cavalry horse had been tethered within two days, and stood there long +enough to paw and trample the gravel all around it. Charlton was +cavalryman enough to read in every sign<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> that the steed had been most +unwillingly detained. In evident impatience he had twisted twice and +again around that stubborn bullet-scarred stump, and the troop commander +could almost see him, pawing vigorously, tugging at his "halter-shank," +and plunging about his hated but relentless jailer, and neighing loudly +in hopes of calling back his departing friends. Charlton felt sure that, +as the troop rode away, some one of the men had remained here some +little time.</p></div> + +<p>A hundred yards across the prairie was the "double file" trail of the +detachment on its straight line for the ridge, and here, only a little +distance out, were the hoof-prints of a troop horse both coming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> and +going. Even more interested now, the captain went some distance out +across the prairie, and still he found them. Leaving the hut and +following to overtake the troop, the horse had instantly taken the +gallop; the prints settled that. But what struck Captain Charlton as +strange was that the other tracks, those which were made by the same +horse in coming to the hut, were still to be found far out toward the +northeast. It was evident, then, that the rider had not turned back from +the command until it had marched some distance from the Niobrara; that +he had not gone back to the bank where they had been in camp, as would +have been the case had he lost or left something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> behind, but had come +here to this abandoned hovel southeast of the trail. Now, what did that +mean? One other thing the captain did not fail to note; that horse had +cast a shoe.</p> + +<p>Late as it was when he reached the camp on White River that night—after +midnight, as it proved—Charlton found his young lieutenant up, and +anxiously awaiting him. When the horses had all been cared for, and the +two officers were alone near their tents, almost the first question +asked by the captain was:</p> + +<p>"Did you give any man permission to ride back after you left the +Niobrara Friday morning?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," answered Blunt in some surprise. "No one asked,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> and every +man was in his place when we made our first halt."</p> + +<p>Immediately after reveille on Sunday morning, a good hour before the sun +was high enough to peep over the tall white crags to the east of the +little camp, the two officers were out at the line, superintending the +grooming of the horses. Fifty men were now present for duty, and fifty +active steeds were tethered there at the picket rope, nipping at each +other's noses or nibbling at the rope itself, and pricking up their ears +as the captain stopped to pat or to speak to one after another of his +pets. Always particularly careful of his horses, Captain Charlton on +this bright sunshiny morning was noting especially the condition of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +their feet. Every one of those two hundred hoofs were keenly scrutinized +as he passed along the line. But there was nothing unusual in this—he +never let a week go by without it.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have had a number reshod within the last few hours, +sergeant," he said to Graham, as he stopped at the end of the line.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I looked them all over yesterday morning. Every shoe is snug +and ready now, in case we have to go out. Seven horses were reshod +yesterday, and over twenty had the old shoes tacked on."</p> + +<p>Grooming over, each trooper vaulted on to the bare back of his horse and +rode in orderly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> column down to the running stream, and still Charlton +stood there, silently watching his men and noting the condition of their +steeds. Blunt was bustling about his duties, every now and then looking +over at his soldierly captain. Something told him that the troop +commander had made a discovery or two that had set him to thinking. He +was even more silent than usual.</p> + +<p>At seven o'clock, after a refreshing dip in a pool under the willows +close at hand, the two officers were seated on their camp-stools and +breakfasting at the lid of the mess chest. Over among the brown +buildings of the post, half a mile away, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> bugles were sounding mess +call and the infantry people were waking up to the duties of the day. +Down the valley, still farther to the east, the smoke was curling from +the tiny fires among the Indian tepees, and scores of ponies were +grazing out along the slopes, watched by little urchins in picturesque +but dirty tatters. All was very still and peaceful. Even the hulking +squaws and old men loafing about the Agency store-houses were silent, +and patiently waiting for the coming of the clerk with his keys of +office. One or two young braves rode by the camp, shrouded in their +dark-blue blankets, and apparently careless of any change in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> the +condition of affairs, yet never failing to note that there were fifty +horses and soldiers ready for duty there in camp.</p> + +<p>Their breakfast finished, Charlton said that he must go at once to the +office of the post commander over in garrison, and that he might be +detained some hours. "It will be well to keep the men here, Blunt, for +we may be needed any moment."</p> + +<p>And yet, as he was riding away with his orderly, Charlton stopped to +listen to what Sergeant Graham had to say.</p> + +<p>"Sergeant Dawson and Private Donovan wanted particularly to go over to +the post for a few hours this morning, and so did some of the others, +but I told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> them that the captain's orders were we should all stay at +camp, we were almost sure to be wanted. They were all satisfied, sir, +but Dawson and Donovan, who made quite a point of it, and I said I would +carry their request to the captain." And to Blunt's surprise, as well as +that of Sergeant Graham, the captain coolly nodded.</p> + +<p>"Very well. They've both been doing hard work of late. Tell them to keep +their ears open for 'boots and saddles'; otherwise they may stay until +noon. After dinner, perhaps, I will give others a chance to turn."</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes later Captain Charlton was in consultation with the post +commander, and after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> guard mounting they returned to the colonel's +house, where a tall infantry soldier, the provost sergeant, was awaiting +him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER XI.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">HEMMED IN BY SAVAGE FOES.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_b3.png" alt="B" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">BACK at the cavalry camp there was no little subdued chat and wonderment +among the troopers. Lounging in the shade of the trees along the stream, +and puffing away at their pipes, playing cards, as soldiers will, and +poking fun at one another in rough, good-natured ways, the men were yet +full of the one absorbing theme—Fred Waller's most unaccountable +disappearance and the loss of so much of their hard-earned money.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>"I would have bet any amount," said Corporal Wright, "that when the old +man"—the captain is always the "old man" to his troops—"got back he +would ride over Sergeant Dawson roughshod for letting Waller slip away +on his guard; but I listened to him this morning and he talked to him +just like a Dutch uncle. I tell you Dawson felt a heap better after it +was over. He said the captain never blamed him at all."</p> + +<p>Noon came, so did an orderly telling Mr. Blunt that the captain wished +to see him over at the telegraph office, and to order the horses fed at +once. Forty-eight big portions of oats were poured from the sacks +forthwith. Dawson and Donovan were not yet back.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>"Leave theirs out," said Sergeant Graham, "they'll be back presently. +This means business again, and no mistake. Where's the trouble now, I +wonder?"</p> + +<p>Shall we look and see? Far to the south, far beyond the bold bluffs of +the White River, far beyond the swift waters of the Niobrara,—"L'Eau +qui Court" of the old French trapper,—far across the swirling flood of +the North Platte, and dotting the northward slopes, swarms of naked, +brilliantly painted red warriors in their long, trailing war bonnets of +eagle's feathers are darting about on nimble ponies, or, crouching prone +along the ridges, are eagerly watching a dust-cloud coming northward on +the Sidney road.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> Behind them, between them and the Platte, are the +weltering mutilated bodies of half a dozen herders and teamsters, and +the smoking ruins of their big freight-wagons. Like the tiger's taste of +blood, the savage triumph in the death of their hapless foes has tempted +them far beyond their accustomed limits. Knowing the cavalry to be +scouting only north of the Platte, they have made a wide detour and +swooped around to this danger-haunted road, eagerly watching for the +coming of other white men, who, like the last, should be ignorant of +their presence and too few in number to cope with such a foe. Here along +the ridge north of the little "Branch" of the Platte, half a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> hundred +young warriors crouch and wait. Farther back, equally vigilant, other +bands are hiding among the breaks and ravines near the river, while +their scouts keep vigilant watch for the coming of cavalry. Forrest's +Grays and Wallace's Sorrels cannot be more than a day's ride away, and +will be hurrying for the road the moment they know that the Indians have +slipped around them. Wallace, up the Platte, has already heard.</p> + +<p>It is three o'clock this hot, still Sunday afternoon, and they have been +six hours out from Sidney, driving swiftly and steadily northward, when, +as they reach the summit of a high ridge and stop to breathe their +panting team,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> Colonel Gaines takes a long look through his field glass. +Just in front is the shallow valley of the little stream now called the +"Pumpkinseed" though pumpkins were unheard-of features in the landscape +of fifteen years ago.</p> + +<p>Off to their right front, several miles away, lie the low, broad bottom +lands of the Platte. Across the Pumpkinseed, a mile distant, another +ridge, like the one on which they halted, only not so high; to the +westward a tumbling sea of prairie upland—all buttes, ridges, ravines, +coulées—but not a living soul is anywhere in sight. Far as his +practiced eye can sweep the horizon and the broad lowlands of the Platte +not a sign of living, moving object can Colonel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> Gaines detect. Turning +around, he trains his glass upon the tortuous road they had been +following, and along which the dust is slowly settling in their wake. +Something seems to attract his gaze, for he holds the binocle steadily +toward the south. Naturally Captain Cross and the two soldiers follow +with their eyes; the third infantryman has dismounted, and is +readjusting the girths of his saddle.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asks Cross.</p> + +<p>"I can't make out," is the reply, "Something is kicking up a dust there, +some miles behind us. A horseman, I should say, though I've seen nobody. +Wait a few minutes. He's down in a swale now, whoever it is."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs05.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">HE TOOK A LONG LOOK THROUGH HIS GLASSES.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Everybody turns to look and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> listen. Those were days when such a thing +as a single horseman following in pursuit had a meaning that is lacking +now.</p> + +<p>Three, four minutes they wait in silence; then the colonel suddenly +exclaims:</p> + +<p>"I have him—a mere dot yet!"</p> + +<p>Presently he lowers his glasses, and dusts the lenses with his +handkerchief. His face is graver.</p> + +<p>"Whoever that is, he is riding for all he is worth," he says. "I half +believe he wants to catch us."</p> + +<p>Another long look. Utter silence in the party. A mule in the wheel team +gives an impatient shake of his entire system, and chains, tugs, and +swing-bars all rattle noisily.</p> + +<p>"Quiet there, you fool!" growls<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> the driver angrily, and with a +threatening sweep of his long whip-lash. Then the silence becomes +intense again, and every man strains his eyes over the prairie slopes +shimmering in the heat of the July sun. Suddenly an exclamation bursts +from two or three pairs of bearded lips. Far away, but in plain sight in +that rare atmosphere, a speck of a horseman darts into view over a +distant ridge, sweeps down the slope at full gallop, and plunges out of +sight again in a low dip of the rolling surface.</p> + +<p>"No man rides like that unless there is mischief abroad," mutters Cross, +as he swings out of the wagon to the ground. "Give me my rifle, +Murray."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>Then, sudden as thunderclap from summer sky, with wild, shrill clamor, +with thunder of hoofs, and sputter of rapid shots; with yell and taunt +and hideous war cry, from the very ground itself, from behind every +little ridge; up from the ravines, down from the prairie buttes; hurling +upon them in mad, raging race, there flashes into sight of their +startled eyes a horde of painted savages.</p> + +<p>"The Sioux! The Sioux!" yells the driver, as he leaps from his box.</p> + +<p>"Hang on to your mules!" shouts Cross. "Down with you, men! Fire slow! +They'll veer when they get in closer. Now!"</p> + +<p>Bang! goes Cross' piece. Bang! bang! the rifles of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> nearest +soldiers. The mules plunge wildly, and are tangled in an instant in the +traces. Over goes the wagon with a crash. Bang goes Gaines' big +Springfield as he coolly spreads himself on the ground. An Indian pony +stumbles and hurls his rider on the turf, and Cross gives an exultant +cheer. Yet all the same he knows full well that now it is life or death. +The little party is hemmed in by a host of savage foes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER XII.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">MYSTERIOUS HOOF-PRINTS.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_i2.png" alt="I" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_2">IT was Saturday night that, from far up the Platte, the news came to +Captain Wallace of the dash made by the Sioux for the Sidney road. For +two days previous he had been hunting Indians upstream toward the +Rawhide, and had found a perfect network of pony tracks and had had some +very distant glimpses of flitting warriors. His scouts had told him that +the Sioux and Cheyennes were swarming over the<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> country to the northwest +of him, and that none had appeared to the east. It was his business, +therefore, to move against them, and move he did, trusting that Forrest +and the Grays would be alert along the southern verge of the +reservations that no formidable parties could slip southward in his +absence.</p></div> + +<p>But this was simply part and parcel of the Indian scheme. Having lured +him two days' march away from the Sidney crossing, these enterprising +warriors kept him occupied, while their confederates, making a wide +detour around Forrest, slipped across the Platte and swooped down upon +the poor fellows with the freight wagons. Only one of their number<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +managed to escape, and he, madly riding westward, came upon some +herdsmen who promptly joined him in his flight. They had seen the +cavalry going up the north bank a day or two before, and they never drew +rein until they found them. Wallace at once sent couriers westward to +Fort Laramie with the news, and at break of day started downstream with +his whole troop. They had not marched five miles before they came upon +the hoof-prints of a single horse, and just beyond the point where these +hoofprints crossed their trail, the tracks of half a dozen Indian ponies +met their eager eyes. One old sergeant, reining out of column to the +right, followed the shod tracks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> over to the river bank, and a +lieutenant spurred out and joined him when he signaled with his +broad-brimmed scouting hat. The rest of the troop moved stolidly ahead.</p> + +<p>Presently the young officer overtook the column and reined in beside his +captain.</p> + +<p>"Where did they go, Park?"</p> + +<p>"Straight into the stream, sir, and evidently to the other side. +Sergeant Brooks says 'twas a troop horse with a light rider, and that he +had to swim across. The river is six feet deep out there, but it was his +only way of escape. The Indians couldn't have been far behind, and yet +they didn't follow. Their tracks turn down the bank on this side. Brooks +is following them now."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>"Who on earth could have come through here at such a time? Why, the +country has been running over with Indians!"</p> + +<p>"That's what puzzles me, sir, but Brooks says there is no mistake. It's +the cavalry shoe, of course. It's just after pay day at Robinson. Could +it have been a deserter?"</p> + +<p>"No man in his senses would have dared such a thing," is the impatient +answer. "It may be some other infernal trick to get us away from our +legitimate business. What we've got to do is reach that Sidney road by +sunset. By Jove! if I'm court-martialed for this business, it won't +surprise me." And the captain's horse evidently felt the sudden grip of +the knees, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> he took a sudden spurt and set most of the troop at the +nerve-wearing jog-trot. Mr. Park said nothing more, but for the life of +him he could not help thinking of those lone hoofprints and of that +solitary rider. Who could he be?</p> + +<p>It is time we got back to him. Only one man or boy, known to us at +least, could have come that way. It was Trumpeter Fred.</p> + +<p>Daybreak Friday had found him a few miles south of the Niobrara, and +close to the Laramie road. At noon Friday he had halted at the Rawhide +to rest his horse and take a bite of luncheon, but all his young soul +was athrill with eagerness; every faculty was alert. Warned of the +recent presence of Indians on every side, he was yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> seeking to gain +the Platte before nightfall; cross to the south bank, where there was +comparative safety; ride southeastward until his horse was exhausted, +picket him where grass and water were near at hand, sleep till dawn +again, and then push on. He must reach the Sidney road before Sunday +morning and strike it far below the river.</p> + +<p>But here, as he neared the valley, a sight had met his eyes which made +his young heart leap. The banks of the Rawhide were dotted here and +there by fresh pony tracks, and, coming from the distant ridges to the +east, they had gone in as though to water, and then turned down toward +the Platte, the very way he wanted to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> go. An hour, with his horse +hidden behind him in a shallow ravine, Fred Waller was lying prone upon +the ground, and peering over a ridge into the low, level wastes +stretching far to the southeast, bordering the Platte to the very +horizon. What most attracted his gaze was a little dust cloud, miles +away downstream, into which tiny black dots were moving, with other +little dots scurrying about at some distance from the main cluster. No +need to tell him they were Indians.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs06.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">FLAT ON THE GROUND WAS PEERING OVER THE RIDGE.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>It was some minutes before he could determine which way they were really +going, but when he finally saw that they were bound down the valley, the +boy's heart beat high with hope. He could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> venture down to the Platte +as soon as they had passed entirely out of sight, and find some place to +cross well to the west of them. An hour he waited and still they were in +view. Then they seemed to disappear in a little clump of timber. He +waited fifteen to twenty minutes, and they were still there. Then it +suddenly dawned upon him that the whole band were resting in the shade +while their scouts searched the neighborhood. He was five or six miles +from the river, and every inch of ground in front was open. He knew well +that their eyes were keener than his, and should he make a dash for it +they would certainly see and give chase. What he could not detect, and +did not dream of, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> that miles still further away down the Platte +another dust cloud was slowly advancing—Wallace's troop coming +upstream—and their scouts were watching that.</p> + +<p>At last, after another hour of anxiety, he determined to slip away +westward, go up the Rawhide a few miles until he could gain the shelter +of some low-lying ridges, crossing the stream, and making a wide +circuit, sweep around to the Platte. He might still reach it before dark +and find a ford, or at least a place to swim across; he could trust "Big +Jim" for that. But even as he would have put this plan in execution, he +saw to his dismay a new move among the warriors. Four little dots came +riding from the timber<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> and pushing back up the valley. These were only +the advance. In half an hour the whole band came jogging leisurely out +of the shadows, and little dots farther east came streaking across the +flats to join them. Fred saw that the whole war party was now retracing +its steps and coming back upstream, and that now, if he waited, he might +pursue his original intention of crossing at the shallows, ten miles +below the mouth of the Rawhide. And so, patiently and pluckily, he kept +his ground,—"Big Jim" contentedly filling himself with buffalo grass +the while,—and not until the sun was low in the west did Fred realize +their real intent. Just as the scouts, far in advance of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> main +party, reached the winding banks of the Rawhide, they seemed to hold +brief consultation; one of them plunged through to the western side, the +other three turned and came straight toward the watching boy.</p> + +<p>Great Heavens! It meant that the whole party was coming up the Rawhide, +and before dark would find and follow his track. Fred's first impulse +was to mount, and giving Jim the spurs, ride on the wings of the wind +back to the north—back to the Niobrara, where he had left the troop in +bivouac. There at least was safety, for they could not trail him in the +dark. But the second thought covered him with shame. Go back—go back +now! Never, so long as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> had a chance for life and hope. Away from +here, and instantly, he must speed on his mission, and in another moment +his girth was tightened, and "Big Jim," astonished, was racing away +eastward, but keeping the sheltered ridge between him and the Platte.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER XIII.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">AWAY TO THE RESCUE!</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_t1.png" alt="T" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">THAT night Fred Waller slept fitfully on the open prairie, with "Big +Jim" tethered close at hand. Saturday morning found him ten miles to the +east and ten miles further from the river than the point where he +watched the Sioux the previous evening. Hungry and worn with anxiety as +he was, the poor boy's heart sank within him when he cautiously peered +over the ridge into the valley. After an early<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> morning ride, he saw the +dust clouds near the stream, and felt that he was still cut off. Noon +was near when, far as he could see up or down, the valley was clear; and +then creeping out from his lair, he again mounted and rode straight for +the Platte. Warily he watched in every direction, but no intruders came. +He was spurring over the flats only a mile from the river before the +first sign of pursuit was made. Then, far back toward the bluffs he had +left, Fred spied a little party of warriors coming after him full tilt. +Never stopping for more than one glance he gave Jim the rein, urging him +to full speed; marked, as he flashed across it only a few hundred yards<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +from the bank, the trail of a cavalry command going up the valley and +wondered whose it could be; then he and Jim went crashing through the +gravel at the water's edge and plunged boldly into the running stream. +Deeper and deeper brave old Jim pushed in until the waters foamed about +his broad and muscular breast; then Fred threw himself from the saddle, +and keeping tight hold of the pommel and steadying his carbine with the +same hand, "Swim for it, old man!" he shouted to his gallant horse, and +in another minute he and Jim were floating with the current, yet rapidly +nearing the other shore. Three minutes and, dripping wet but safe, they +were scrambling up the<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> south bank and speeding away over the bounding +turf with the baffled pursuers still two miles behind.</p></div> + +<p>And these were the tracks that Wallace found as he came hurrying back +downstream.</p> + +<p>Saturday again Fred Waller and his faithful horse spent on the open +prairie, for in the darkness he found it impossible to make his way. The +moon was gone by one o'clock, and her light had been all too faint +before. But Sunday, just a little after noon, he had come in sight of +the goal he had sought through such infinite pluck and peril—the Sidney +road; and as he gazed at it from afar, peering at it as usual from +behind a sheltering bluff, his heart sank into his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> boots. He had come +too late; there on that distant trail were the tiny columns of blue +smoke floating skyward which told of burning wagons, now in crumbling +ruins. Worse than that, here close at hand, over on the other side of +the long, shallow swale, were twoscore Indian warriors in all their +barbaric finery, excitedly watching the coming of other victims.</p> + +<p>With a moan of anguish Fred Waller marked, a mile beyond and rapidly +approaching them, a four-mule ambulance with a single soldier cantering +along behind.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my God, my God!" he groaned aloud. "I am too late, after all."</p> + +<p>But the wagon halted on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> distant hills. The Indians, absorbed in +their cat-like watch, were eagerly gesticulating and excitedly pointing +to some object far beyond. Several of their numbers lashed their ponies +into a tearing gallop and sped away in wide circuit to the southward, +keeping the bluffs between them and the wagon. Others followed part of +the distance. He knew the maneuver well; already they were planning the +surround. In helpless agony he watched, for he was powerless to +aid—powerless even to warn. He seized his ready carbine, loosened the +cartridges in his belt, and looked eagerly to Jim's girths. Then once +again he faced the southeast, and saw, far away across the waves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> of +prairie, a little puff of dust and a little black dot—a rider—coming +full tilt in the wake of the wagon.</p> + +<p>"Who can it be?" he wondered. "Can he possibly know of this ambuscade?"</p> + +<p>All too late! A sudden flashing signal from the leader, and all at an +instant with trailing feathers, with war cry and the thunder of a +hundred hoofs, the painted band has whirled across the ridge in front +and is down in the dip beyond. Every Indian has vanished from his view +and whirled into sight of the victims on the crest beyond.</p> + +<p>In an instant, too, Fred Waller is in saddle, and spurring on to the +ridge which they have just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> left, and then once more he reins in where +he can just peer over the crest. He notes with a cheer of joy that the +charge is checked—that the Indians have veered off and are now dashing +in a great circle around the central point on the height beyond. He sees +the wild stampede and tangle of the mules, the overthrow of the +ambulance; the quick, cool, resolute reply of the attacked. He marks +with a glow of mad delight, of reviving hope, that there is not a woman +or child with the party.</p> + +<p>"Thank God!" he cries aloud, "It isn't Mrs. Charlton." He waves his hat +with exultation as he sees a pony stumbling in death upon the prairie, +and his rider<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> limping painfully away; he knows now that they are +soldiers, holding their own for at least a time, and that all depends on +getting aid for them before nightfall. Far up the valley on the other +side he had marked at noon a dust-cloud sailing slowly toward him. It +must be the Sorrels or the Grays, hastening back to clear the Sidney +road. Here is the thing to do: gallop back, recross the river, meet and +guide them to the rescue. There is still time to get them here before +the sun goes down—if only the besieged can hold out that long.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs07.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">IN FULL FLIGHT.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>One more glance he takes at the stirring picture before him, longing to +drive a shot at the nearest Indians, and as he gazes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> there comes +staggering, laboring into sight from around a point of bluff beyond the +beleaguered party, a horse all foam and blood, who goes plunging to +earth only a few yards away from the ambulance, and rolls stiffening and +quivering in his death agony; but the gray-haired old rider has leaped +safely to the ground, and his carbine flashed its instant defiance at +the yelling foe. Even at that distance there is no mistaking the +well-known form. Fred Waller's wondering eyes have recognized at +once—his father.</p> + +<p>Now indeed he speeds away for help! Now indeed, has Jim to run for more +than life! Turning his back upon the thrilling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> scene, the little +trumpeter goes like a prairie gale, whirling back to the valley of the +Platte.</p> + +<p class="center">* * * * *</p> + +<p>The sun is sinking behind the bluffs, and its last rays fall on a +bullet-riddled ambulance; on the stiffening bodies of a half dozen +slaughtered animals—a horse and some mules; on a grim, determined +little band of soldiers—two of them sorely wounded. The red shafts +gleam on a litter of empty cartridge-shells and tinge the canvas top of +the overturned wagon. Out on the rolling prairie several hundred yards +away, the turf is dotted here and there by Indian ponies, the innocent +victims of this savage warfare. Such Indian braves as have fallen have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +long since been picked up by their raging comrades and borne away. +Despite their numbers, never once yet have the savages managed to reach +the defenders. Time and again they have swooped down in charge only to +be met by cool, well-aimed shots that tumbled some of their numbers to +the turf and sent the others veering and yelling into the old familiar +circle. At last they are trying the expedient of long-range shots from +different points of the compass, hoping to kill or cripple the whole +party by sundown. The bullets clip the turf and scatter the dust all +over the ridge. There is practically no shelter, for the ground is too +hard to dig. Old Sergeant Waller is prostrate with a bullet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> through the +thigh. Colonel Gaines has bound his handkerchief tightly around his arm. +The driver lies flat on his face—dead. Every now and then the others +turn longing eyes southward, hoping for some sign of infantry coming +from the post, so many a mile away. They know well that Edwards will +have levied on every wagon in Sidney to bring them; but not a whiff of +dust-cloud do they see. One of the soldiers gives a low moan and clasps +his hands to his side; and Cross mutters between his set teeth, "Five +minutes more of this will settle it."</p> + +<p>But what means this sudden scurry and excitement among the besiegers? +Why do they crowd<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> and clamor there at the north? What can they see over +that ridge beyond the little stream? Presently others join them. Then +more and more. Then there are whoops of rage; a few ill-aimed, +scattering shots. Three or four of the red men ride daringly, tauntingly +down, as though to resume the attack, and shout vile epithets in vilest +English in response to the shots with which they are greeted, and then +they too go riding away. "Lie down, you idiots!" yells Captain Cross to +the two soldiers who would spring up to cheer, but a moment more and +even the wounded wave their feeble hands and join in the triumphant +shout. The ridge is cleared of every vestige of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> foe. The warriors +go speeding away eastward toward the Platte. Far out over the prairie, +to the northeast, a troop of blue horsemen are driving in pursuit, and, +over the neighboring crest, come a half dozen friendly forms and faces, +spurring their foam-flecked horses in the race.</p> + +<p>"Look up, sergeant! Look up, old man! Here's Fred himself. Didn't I tell +you he was no deserter?" It was Cross' voice, and it is Cross' strong +arm that lifts the wondering, trembling veteran to his feet. The young +fellow has leaped from his horse and is springing toward them. With +wondrous look of relief, of inexpressible joy, of gratitude beyond all +words, of almost Heaven-born<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> rapture mingling with the sunshine in his +old face, the sergeant stretches forth his trembling arms and cries +aloud, "My boy! my boy!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER XIV.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">INNOCENT OR GUILTY.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_t2.png" alt="T" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">THE provost sergeant at Fort Robinson is a man who has seen and heard a +great deal in the course of his army life, and who has the enviable +faculty of knowing everything that is going on around him, without +appearing to know anything at all. It had been his duty, a day or two +previous, to expel from the limits of the reservation a rascally pack of +gamblers—a species of two-legged prairie wolf<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> that in the rough old +days on the frontier followed every movement of the Army paymasters, and +lured and trapped the soldiers until every cent of their money was gone. +In point of number the gamblers were strong enough to take care of +themselves in case of Indian attack, yet rarely did they venture far +from the protection of the nearest troops. Driven out of post and +forbidden to return, they had simply camped with their whole "outfit" at +the lower edge of the military reservation, where the laws of the State +of Nebraska and not the orders of Uncle Sam took precedence. And here +they "set up shop" again, and had a game going in full blast this very +sunshiny Sunday<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> morning, and the provost sergeant knew all about it. He +also knew by ten o'clock that Sergeant Dawson and Private Patsy Donovan +of Charlton's troop, with some adventurous spirits from the garrison, +were down there, "bucking their luck" against the tricks of these +skilled practitioners; and it was not hard to predict what the result +would be.</p></div> + +<p>"Shall I take a file of the guard and fetch them back, sir?" he asked +the colonel commanding, and that gentleman glanced inquiringly at his +cavalry friend.</p> + +<p>"How say you, captain?" Charlton reflected a moment and then replied:</p> + +<p>"No, colonel. I should say let them have all the rope they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> choose to +take. I can get them when they are needed. You are sure about their +whereabouts on Tuesday and Wednesday nights?" he asked, turning to the +sergeant.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly, sir; and just what they lost and how much they owed the +quartermaster's gang when they left."</p> + +<p>"Just see where they are at noon then, and let me know," and the provost +sergeant went his way, leaving the officers in consultation.</p> + +<p>At noon the soldier telegrapher came hurrying to the colonel and handed +him a dispatch.</p> + +<p>"I feared as much," said the old soldier as he handed the paper to +Captain Charlton. "This means work for you at once. Let us go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> to the +office; there will be dispatches from Omaha presently. Isn't it strange +that no one at Sidney should have heard of the Indians getting over the +Platte?"</p> + +<p>At two o'clock Charlton's troop was in saddle, with only three familiar +faces missing from the line. In the new excitement the men had ceased to +speak of Trumpeter Fred. What puzzled them now was the absence of Dawson +and Donovan. A sergeant sent into the garrison, to warn them that the +troop was to march at once, came back to say that he had searched every +stable and corral; the horses were nowhere about the post or the Agency +stores, and men on guard said that they had seen the two troopers riding +away<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> down White River soon after one o'clock, and they had not come +back. And when Graham reported them absent to Captain Charlton, as the +latter in his familiar scouting costume rode out to take command, the +whole troop was amazed that their leader seemed to treat it as a matter +of no consequence whatever. He returned the sergeant's salute and +inquired:</p> + +<p>"Every horse fed and watered?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Every man got two days' hard bread and bacon?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"How much ammunition?"</p> + +<p>"Eighty rounds carbine per man—twenty revolver, sir."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>"Very good, sergeant;" and this brief colloquy ended, the sergeant +reined about and rode to the right flank. "Prepare to mount—mount!" +ordered the captain. "Form ranks!" and without further delay, "Fours +right—march!" and away they went up the lonely valley, along the +winding water, breaking into columns of twos and riding "at ease" the +moment they had passed the point where the post commander and a little +knot of officers had assembled to bid them God-speed. Captain Charlton +bent down from his saddle to grasp the colonel's extended hand and +whisper a few words in his ear. The colonel nodded appreciatively. "They +can't escape," he answered low,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> and then, watched by friendly eyes in +that little group until out of sight, and by fierce and lurking spies +until darkness shrouded them from view, the troop rode jauntily on its +mission; Charlton and Blunt in murmured consultation in the lead, and +forty-eight stalwart troopers confidently and unquestioningly following +in their tracks. Who cared that an all-night ride through Indian-haunted +wilds was before them? It was an old, old story to every man.</p> + +<p>Were there "ghost lights" on the Niobrara that night? The Indian spies +could swear by the deeds of their ancestors that the troop soon climbed +out of the valley of the White River and rode briskly southward by the +Sidney<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> trail, and that every man was in his place in column when +they wound down in the "Running Water" flats at twilight. Yet +hours afterward, far to the west, miles away at the Laramie +crossing, there were twinkling, dancing, "firefly" gleams—like +will-o'-the-wisps—through the chinks and loop-holes of that old log +hut, and when morning came the ground was stamped with a fresh impress +of half a dozen set of hoof tracks—shod horses, not Indian ponies this +time.</p> + +<p>It must have meant "bad medicine" for the Sioux, for when morning came +all the bands that had been so confidently raiding the trails through +the settlements found themselves compelled to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> seek the shelter of their +reservations. From Laramie to Sidney the stalwart infantry came marching +to the scene, and from east, north, and west the cavalry came trotting, +troop after troop, to hem in and head them off. The very band that +ventured south of the Platte and killed in cold blood those helpless +teamsters, and then sought the destruction of Gaines and his men, +fleeing now before Wallace's troops, were met and soundly thrashed by +our friends of Company B, with Captain Charlton and Lieutenant Blunt in +the lead, and by Monday night the broad valley was clear of savage foes, +the cavalry were resting by their bivouac fires, and then, from the lips +of Captain Wallace, Charlton<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> heard the story of Fred Waller's exploit, +and of the long gallop that brought about the rescue of Colonel Gaines. +Our captain could hardly wait for morning to come, but in two days more +he was standing by the bedside of his old sergeant at Sidney barracks, +and Trumpeter Fred was there too.</p> + +<p>One week later, in the big, sunshiny assembly room of the old barrack, +an impressive scene took place, and a long remembered though very brief +trial was brought to an abrupt close. A court-martial was in session at +Sidney; the general who commanded the department had himself arrived to +look into the condition of affairs about the Indian reservation, and +with Captain Charlton had had a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> long consultation, at the close of +which the bearded, kindly-faced brigadier had gone to the hospital with +the troop commander, and bending over old Waller as he lay upon the +narrow cot, took his hand and talked with him about Five Forks and +Appomattox, and then promised him that his wish should be respected. It +was a singular wish—a strange thing for a father to ask. Old Sergeant +Waller had insisted that his boy should be brought to trial before the +court-martial then in session, and convicted or acquitted of the double +charge of theft and desertion that had been lodged against him. In vain +Charlton represented to him that it was not necessary, nobody believed +the stories now; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> veteran was firm and positive in the stand he +made.</p> + +<p>"Everywhere in this department, sir, my boy's name has been held up to +shame as a thief and a deserter. There is only one way to clear him; let +him stand trial, prove his innocence, and let us fix the guilt where it +belongs." And Waller was right.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Who that was in the court room that hot August morning, when the south +wind blew the dust-cloud into the post and burned the very skin from the +bronzed faces around the whitewashed wall, will ever forget the closing +incidents of that trial? At the long wooden table sat the nine officers +who composed the court<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> with their gray-haired president at the head, +all dressed in their full uniforms, all grave and silent. At the lower +end of the table was the keen, shrewd face of the young judge advocate +who conducted the entire proceedings. On one side of him, quiet, +self-possessed, and patient, sat little Fred, neat and trim as a new pin +in his faultless fatigue dress. A little behind the boy was his captain, +Charlton, and along the wall, at the end of the room, Colonel Gaines, +with his arm still in a sling, and Captain Cross, with his piercing +restless eyes and "fighting face." On the other side of the judge +advocate stood the chair in which witness after witness had taken his +seat and given his testimony, and now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> at high noon it was empty, and +the crowd of spectators, sitting in respectful silence around the room, +craned their necks and gazed at the doorway in hushed, yet eager +curiosity to see the man whose name had just been passed to the orderly. +It was understood that the case for the prosecution depended mainly upon +his evidence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER XV.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">COURT-MARTIAL.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_f1.png" alt="F" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">FIRST SERGEANT GRAHAM had sworn to the disappearance of the money at the +Niobrara and the fact that at daybreak the trumpeter had gone with his +horse, arms, and equipments. He also told of his belief that he and the +men who slept near him that night had been stupefied by chloroform. Two +other troopers told of the loss of their money at the same time; the +hospital steward from Fort Robinson testified to Fred's<span class="pagenumb"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> coming to him +and getting a little vial of chloroform on a forged request from +Sergeant Graham. Corporal Watts had positively identified a ten-dollar +bill, which was in the trumpeter's possession when he was searched (at +his own request) when first accused of the crime, as one stolen from him +at the Niobrara. He had had some experience, he said, and had made a +record of the numbers; and this record, in a little notebook, was +exhibited to the court.</p></div> + +<p>Not once had the defense interposed or asked a question. It was +evidently the policy of Fred's advisers to let the prosecution go as far +as it chose. And now came the announcement of the name that was most +intimately connected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> with the case, and Sergeant Dawson in his complete +uniform strolled into court, removed the gauntlet from his right hand, +and holding it aloft, looked the judge advocate squarely in the face and +swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. +Then he sat down and glanced quickly around him, but his eyes did not +seem to see Fred Waller, nor did they rest for an instant on Captain +Charlton, who, tugging at his mustache, looked steadily at the face of +his left guide. Then began the slow, painful, cumbrous method by which +the law of the land requires military courts to extract their evidence, +every question and answer being reduced to writing. Sergeant Dawson +gave,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> as required, his full rank, troop, regiment, and station, but +hesitated as to the latter point. "I was left behind at Red Cloud when +the troop came away Sunday a week ago, sir, along with Private Donovan, +and we were kept there until I got orders to come here with the hospital +steward. I just got in this morning, and I'm told the troop is back at +the Platte crossing." But the matter of station was of no particular +consequence, and the examination proceeded. Yes, he knew the prisoner, +Trumpeter Fred Waller, Troop B, and had known him several years before +he had enlisted. Told to tell in his own way what he knew of the +circumstances that led to the charges<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> against Waller, the witness +cleared his throat and began.</p> + +<p>It was the night they camped at the Niobrara, giving the date, that the +prisoner seemed restless. All the men expected the Indians to make an +attempt to run off the horses, and all were wakeful, but he had most +occasion to notice Waller, who didn't seem able to sleep. That night +passed without alarm of any kind, but the next night it was very dark, +the moon went down at eleven, and the horses got to stamping and +snorting. Witness was sergeant of the guard, and all night long had to +be moving about among his sentries and the herd. About midnight he had +come in to the fire, where Sergeant Graham was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> sleeping, to clean out +his pipe, that had clogged. His leather wallet, with his money and some +papers, was inside the canvas scouting jacket that the captain allowed +him and others of the men to wear, and he took the jacket off a few +minutes while he walked over to the stream and soused his head and face +in the cold water, a thing he always tried to do when he felt sleepy. +While there he thought he heard a call from the sentry up the stream and +he ran thither, and it was just then that the horses began making such a +fuss. He kept around among the sentries, trying to find out the cause, +and did not go back to the fire until it was all quiet after two +o'clock, and then he slipped into his jacket<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> and overcoat and hurried +back to where Donovan was on post below the bivouac. There was some +noise they could not understand, far out on the prairie in that +direction. He never missed his money and the wallet until daybreak, when +it was discovered that Waller had gone. He never heard him steal away +during the night, and was simply amazed when told of his desertion. The +lieutenant had been disposed to blame him at first for letting the +trumpeter get away with his horse, but no man could have been more +vigilant than he was. "The captain had never blamed him," he was sure +from the captain's manner when he spoke to him about it at Red Cloud. +And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> Dawson looked confidently now at his commander, but that gentleman +never changed a muscle of his face.</p> + +<p>As was customary, the judge advocate inquired if the prisoner had any +questions to ask, and the spectators were amazed when he calmly +answered, "No." Big beads of sweat were trickling down the sergeant's +face by this time, but he could not control the look of wonderment that +flashed for one instant into his eyes at this refusal of a valued +privilege.</p> + +<p>"Has the court any questions?" asked the judge advocate, and to the +still greater wonderment of spectators and witness no member of the +court appeared to care to inquire further. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> Sergeant Dawson left +the court room and walked away toward the barracks he knew that all eyes +were upon him, and just as soon as he could throw aside his saber, +helmet, and full dress he lost no time in getting to the trader's store +and swallowing half a tumbler of raw whisky. He thought the ordeal over +and that he was free. It was with a sensation of something like +premonition that, as he came forth, he saw at the barracks the orderly +of the court-martial, who had been sent to warn him that he would be +called by the defense at two o'clock.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER XVI.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">PRISON AND PROMOTION.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/drop_t2.png" alt="T" width="60" height="60" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">THAT afternoon the court room was crowded when Sergeant Dawson retook +his seat and glanced for the first time at the prisoner before him. In +front of the boy was a little table, on which was a number of slips of +paper. One of these was quietly passed to the judge advocate, who took +it, wheeled in his chair, and read aloud:</p></div> + +<p>"What answer did you give Lieutenant Blunt when he asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> if you had +been outside the sentry-line the night the prisoner disappeared?"</p> + +<p>"I told him that I had not, sir," was the prompt reply.</p> + +<p>The judge advocate posted the reply on his record sheet, and wrote the +answer below. Then came another slip.</p> + +<p>"What answer did you give the captain when asked if any man had ridden +back toward the Niobrara the morning the troop left there for Red +Cloud?"</p> + +<p>The sergeant's throat seemed to clog a little, but he gulped down the +obstruction. "I said no man went back, sir."</p> + +<p>"What buildings, if any, were there near the spot where the troop was in +bivouac on the Niobrara?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>Dawson's face was losing its ruddy hue, but the beads of sweat were +starting afresh.</p> + +<p>"An old empty log hut, sir. I didn't take much notice of it, sir."</p> + +<p>"How far from the sentries was it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't just know, sir. Two or three hundred yards perhaps." His lips +were beginning to twitch, and his eyes to wander nervously from face to +face.</p> + +<p>"How much money did you lose with your wallet that night?"</p> + +<p>"Over sixty dollars, sir; every cent I had."</p> + +<p>"What answer did you give Captain Charlton at Red Cloud when he asked +you if you had seen anything of it since that night?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>"I told him no, sir."</p> + +<p>"With whose money were you playing cards then, below Red Cloud, on the +Sunday the troop marched away, leaving you behind?"</p> + +<p>Dawson's face was ghastly. He choked for a moment, then seemed to make a +desperate effort to pull himself together. "It wasn't so, sir," he +muttered; then more loudly, "It was just a few dollars I borrowed," he +began, but looking furtively around he caught one glimpse of his +captain's stern face, and just beyond him, through the open window, the +sight of a tall, straight form in the uniform of the infantry. It was +the provost sergeant from Fort Robinson.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>"It wasn't mine," he weakly murmured.</p> + +<p>Another slip, and in the same cool, relentless tone the judge advocate +read:</p> + +<p>"What reason had you for taking your horse to the post blacksmith, +instead of the cavalry farrier, to be shod the evening you reached Fort +Robinson?"</p> + +<p>Again the pallor of his face was almost ghastly, a hunted and desperate +look came into his flitting eyes. One could have heard a pin drop +anywhere in the court room, so intense was the silence. For the first +time Dawson began to realize that his every movement had been watched, +traced, and reported—and still he strove to rally.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>"He was a better horse-shoer, that's all."</p> + +<p>"You have testified that you did not go outside of the line on the night +of the camp on the Niobrara, and did not allow anyone to go back after +the troop marched away. For what purpose did you, yourself, ride back +and enter the log hut you described?"</p> + +<p>"I—I never did," gasped Dawson, with glaring eyes and ashen face, +"I——" but his tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth, for +Captain Charlton quietly arose, stepped forward, and placed upon the +table a large, flat wallet, at sight of which the sergeant's nerves gave +way entirely. He made one or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> two efforts to speak, he struggled as if +to rise, his eyes rolled in his head, and in another instant he was +slipping helplessly to the floor. A young surgeon sprang to his side as +the bystanders strove to lift him, and with one brief glance turned to +the court: "Mr. President, this man is in a spasm, and should be taken +to the hospital."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir," was the calm reply. "Major Edwards, will you see to it +that a sentry is posted over him. That man must not be allowed to +escape."</p> + +<p>Two more witnesses were examined that afternoon—the provost sergeant +and Captain Charlton. The former testified that Dawson had been gambling +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> had lost heavily in the post before pay day; that on that fateful +Sunday, bill after bill he had seen him pay—over one hundred dollars at +the table in the gamblers' tent down below the reservation—before he +interfered, warned him of the departure of his troop, and ordered him to +report in garrison with his horse at once. Donovan had merely been a +looker-on at the mad game in which the sergeant had sought to recover +his losses.</p> + +<p>Charlton stated that, after his investigation at Red Cloud, he was +confident that Dawson was the trooper who rode back to the old ranch, +and that something must be concealed there. Searching it late, Sunday +night, he found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> in the dugout a spot where the earth had been recently +scooped away, and there in Dawson's old rubber poncho was the wallet +with his papers and about two hundred dollars of the missing money, or +what his men believed to be such.</p> + +<p>And then, amid the sympathetic glances of all the court, young Fred told +his strange but soldierly story. It was Dawson who asked him to get the +chloroform for him at Red Cloud and gave him the folded pencil note; it +was Dawson who suggested to him the idea of sleeping down below the +bivouac that evening near where Donovan was posted, and it was Dawson +who roused him suddenly and startlingly in the dead of the night. "Up +with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> you, Fred, boy!" he had said. "Up with you, but make no noise. +There's the devil's own news! The Indians are out everywhere! The +lieutenant's just got a courier from Robinson, and he and Sergeant +Graham have to write dispatches to go right to the captain at Laramie. +You know the whole Platte valley, and how to get across and reach the +Sidney road below?" Of course he did. "Then the lieutenant says, for +God's sake lose not a minute; go for all you're worth; keep well to the +west until you cross the Platte, and then make for the southeast, and +warn back everybody who is coming north. He says Mrs. Charlton and the +children were to come that way,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> Saturday or Sunday, to join the captain +at Red Cloud. You can save them, if you're in time."</p> + +<p>Suddenly roused from sleep, Fred was bewildered for an instant; could +only realize that his loved benefactors and friends were in deadly peril +and that he was chosen to haste and rescue them, Dawson lifted him into +the saddle; pressed some money into his hand to buy food when he reached +the settlement or Sidney, in case he met no travelers this side; led him +to the water's edge, and bade him lose not an instant. He never dreamed +of harm or wrong or plot until his wounded father told him the foul +charge against him, after his long and gallant ride that blazing +Sunday.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>Then for a moment the little man broke down and sobbed; and old war-worn +soldiers in the court turned away with glistening eyes, and the +president, rapping on the table, huskily ordered the room to be cleared. +Charlton's arms were around his trumpeter's shoulders as he led him to +the open air, and to his father's bedside. "Cleared!" he said, in answer +to the longing look in the sergeant's eyes. "Cleared! There isn't a man, +woman, or child in all the post that doesn't know the verdict, and that +Dawson is doomed to four years in prison." And then he left them +together and alone.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/gs08.png" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption">HE SOUNDED THE RETREAT.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Dawson's trial and confession settled it all. He himself was the thief, +who sought in this way to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> replace the money lost in gambling and to +throw upon Fred Waller, should he escape, the burden of the crime. But a +merciful God had watched over the boy in his brave and loyal effort; had +guided him in safety through a host of savage foes, and led him on to +honor and vindication in the end. For months there was no happier boy on +all the wide frontier than the little hero of the Sidney route; no +happier father than brave old Sergeant Waller.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Long years afterward, riding one evening into a cavalry camp on the +Southern plains, Captain Cross and the writer noted a tall, blue-eyed, +bronzed-cheeked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> trooper, whose twirling mustache was almost the color +of the faded yellow of the chevrons on his sleeve. Despite dust and the +rough prairie dress, no finer soldier had met their eyes in the long +column that went flitting by.</p> + +<p>"Who is that young first sergeant?"</p> + +<p>"That?" answered Cross in surprise. "Don't you know who that is? Why, +man, that's Charlton's old Trumpeter Fred."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="big">THE END.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p> +Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.<br /> +<br /> +Punctuation has been corrected without note.<br /> +<br /> +Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Page 22: fellowed changed to followed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Page 70: aint changed to ain't</span></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trumpeter Fred, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUMPETER FRED *** + +***** This file should be named 37415-h.htm or 37415-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/1/37415/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, David E. 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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: Trumpeter Fred + A Story of the Plains + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: September 13, 2011 [EBook #37415] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUMPETER FRED *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, David E. Brown and 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.) + + + + + + + + + + TRUMPETER FRED + + + + + [Illustration: CAPT. CHARLES KING, U. S. A.] + + + + + TRUMPETER FRED + + _A STORY OF THE PLAINS_ + + BY + CAPTAIN CHARLES KING, U. S. A. + + AUTHOR OF "FORT FRAYNE," "AN ARMY + WIFE," ETC. + + _ILLUSTRATED_ + + + F. TENNYSON NEELY + PUBLISHER + NEW YORK CHICAGO + + 1896 + + + Copyright, 1896, + BY + F. TENNYSON NEELY + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. A DANGEROUS MISSION, 17 + +II. THE OATH OF ENLISTMENT, 26 + +III. A ROBBER IN CAMP, 40 + +IV. SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES, 47 + +V. TRAILING THE TRAITOR, 56 + +VI. CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE, 67 + +VII. TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES, 75 + +VIII. LOYAL FRIENDS, 87 + +IX. LURKING FOES, 101 + +X. IN SUSPENSE, 113 + +XI. HEMMED IN BY SAVAGE FOES, 124 + +XII. MYSTERIOUS HOOF-PRINTS, 135 + +XIII. AWAY TO THE RESCUE! 148 + +XIV. INNOCENT OR GUILTY, 164 + +XV. COURT-MARTIAL, 179 + +XVI. PRISON AND PROMOTION, 188 + + + + + [Illustration: TRUMPETER FRED.] + + + + +TRUMPETER FRED. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A DANGEROUS MISSION. + + +There were only thirty in all that night when the troop reached the +Niobrara and unsaddled along the grassy banks. Rather slim numbers for +the duty to be performed, and with the captain away, too. Not that the +men had lack of confidence in Lieutenant Blunt, but it was practically +his first summer at Indian campaigning, and, however well a young +soldier may have studied strategy and grand tactics at West Point, it is +something very different that is needed in fighting these wild warriors +of our prairies and mountains. Blunt was brave and spirited, they all +knew that; but in point of experience even Trumpeter Fred was his +superior. All along the dusty trail, for an hour before they reached the +ford, the tracks of the Indian ponies had been thickly scattered. A war +party of at least fifty had evidently gone trotting down stream not six +hours before the soldiers rode in to water their tired and thirsty +steeds. No comrades were known to be nearer at hand than the garrison at +Fort Laramie, fifty long miles away, or those guarding the post of Fort +Robinson, right in the heart of the Indian country, and in the very +midst of the treacherous tribes along White River. And yet, under its +second lieutenant and with only twenty-nine "rank and file," here was +"B" Troop ordered to bivouac at the Niobrara crossing, and despite the +fact that all the country was alive with war parties of the Sioux, to +wait there for further orders. + +"Only twenty-nine men all told and a small boy," said Sergeant Dawson, +who was forever trying to plague that little trumpeter. It was by no +means fair to Fred Waller, either, for while he was somewhat undersized +for his fifteen years, his carbine and his Colt's revolver were just as +big and just as effective as those of any man in the troop, and he knew +how to use them, no matter how hard the "Springfield" kicked. He rode +one of the tallest horses, too, and sat him well and firmly, +notwithstanding all his furious plunging and "buckings," the day that +Dawson slipped the thorny sprig of a wild rosebush under the saddle +blanket. + +From the first sergeant down to the newest recruit, all the men had +grown fond of little Fred in that year of rough scouting and campaigning +around old Red Cloud's reservation--all of them, that is to say, with +the possible exception of Dawson, who annoyed him in many ways when the +officers or first sergeant did not happen to be near, and who sometimes +spoke sneeringly of him to such of the troopers as would listen, but +these were very few in number. + +Fred was the only son of brave old Sergeant Waller, who had served with +the regiment all over the plains before the great war of the rebellion, +and who had been its standard-bearer in many a sharp fight and stirring +charge in Virginia. Now he carried two bullet wounds, and on his bronzed +cheek a long white seam, a saber scar, as mementoes of Beverly Ford, +Winchester, and Five Forks, and through the efforts of his war +commanders a comfortable berth as ordnance sergeant had been secured for +him at one of the big frontier posts along the railway. Fred was the +pride of the old soldier's heart, and nothing would do but that he, too, +must be a trooper. The boy was born far out across the plains in sight +of the Chihuahua Mountains, had followed the regiment in his mother's +arms up the valley of the Rio Grande to the Albuquerque, then eastward +along the Indian-haunted Smoky Hill route to Leavenworth. When the great +war burst upon the nation little Fred was just beginning to toddle about +the whitewashed walls of the laundresses' quarters--his father was +Corporal Waller then--and his baby eyes were big as saucers when he was +carried aboard of a big steamship and paddled down the muddy Missouri +and around by Cairo and up the winding Ohio to Cincinnati. He was even +more astonished at the railway cars that bore the soldiers and a few +women and children eastward and finally landed them at Carlisle. There +at the old cavalry barracks the little fellow grew to lusty boyhood, +while his father was bearing the blue and gold standard through battle +after battle on the Virginia soil. And when the war was over and the +regiment was hurried out to "the plains," and again to protect the +settlers, the emigrants, and the railway builders from the ceaseless +assaults of the painted Indians, little Fred went along, and his soldier +education was fairly begun. + +Old Waller was now first sergeant of "B" troop. The regimental +commander and most of the officers were greatly interested in the +laughing, sun-tanned, blue-eyed boy, who rode day after day on his wiry +Indian pony along the flanks of the column, scorning, though barely +seven years old, to stay in the wagons with the women and children. +Everybody had a jolly word of greeting for Fred, and kind-hearted +Captain Blaine set his "company tailor" to work, and presently there was +made for the boy a natty little cavalry jacket and a tiny pair of yellow +chevrons. "Corporal Fred" they called him then, and, though he strove +hard not to show it, grim old Sergeant Waller was evidently as proud +and pleased as the child. He taught the little man to "stand attention" +and bring up his chubby brown hand in salute whenever an officer passed +by, and most scrupulously was that salute returned. He early placed the +boy under the instruction of the veteran chief trumpeter, and made him +practice with the musicians as soon as he was "big enough to blow," as +he expressed it. And then, too (for there were no army schools, or +schoolmasters in those days), regularly as the day came round and the +sergeant's morning duties were done, he had his boy at his knee, book or +slate in hand, patiently teaching him the little that he knew himself, +and wistfully looking for some better instructor. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE OATH OF ENLISTMENT. + + +It was while stationed at old Fort Sanders that Waller's enthusiastic +devotion to his new captain and his captain's family began. The former +troop commander was ordered to the retired list, broken down by wounds, +and the senior lieutenant stepped into his place. Waller bade farewell +to his old captain with tear-dimmed eyes--they had served together for +over fifteen years--and with much inward misgiving, but not the +faintest outward show thereof, saluted the new arrival, a young officer +but a soldier through and through; it was not a week before the sergeant +had fully satisfied himself as to that. Presently the new captain's +family reached the fort and took up their abode; a fair-haired, +blue-eyed young mother with two children, a boy and a girl, the eldest +being three years younger than Fred; and then began another and strong +interest. + +That very winter scarlet fever devastated the fort. Few children escaped +the scourge. There were a dozen little graves in the cemetery out on the +prairie when the long winter came to an end. There were two or three +larger graves, and one of these held all that was mortal of Fred's +loving mother; he and his stern, sad-faced father were now alone in the +world. + +And Captain Charlton's little household had not been spared. It was +among the officers' quarters that the pestilence had first appeared. +Frank and Florence Charlton were among the children earliest stricken. +The servants fled the house, as frontier servants will, and their place +was promptly supplied by Mrs. Waller. She and her husband would listen +to no remonstrance, and Mrs. Charlton, overwhelmed with care and dread, +was only too glad to have the strong, cheery army woman's help. Over the +little brown cottage the shadow of death hovered for days before it was +lifted and borne away, and when at last all danger was over and all was +again all hope and peace the sergeant's wife went back to her own humble +roof across the parade, and there suddenly sickened and died. When the +scourge was finally swept from the garrison and the soft winds began to +blow from the South, the stricken old soldier was glad of the chance to +go with his troop into the field-service, and was almost happy in one +thing. Mrs. Charlton had taken his boy as one of her own, and each day +she was teaching him faithfully and well. When the troop rode away from +Sanders Fred was left behind to occupy a little room under the +captain's roof. "Remember, sir, you are sergeant of the guard, and that +house and that household are your special charge for all summer long," +were Waller's parting words to his boy. + +Regularly as the mail reached the troop during its summer scouting +Captain Charlton's home missives had their messages for Sergeant Waller; +and soon, to his unspeakable joy, letters all his own, addressed in a +round boyish hand that grew firmer every week, began to come as his +share of the welcome package. Never would he presume to ask for news, +yet the captain was not slow to notice how old Waller was sure to be +busy close at hand when the home letters came, and prompt to answer, +and with soldierly salute to stand erect before his young commander and +strive not to show the pride and delight that tingled in every vein at +the glowing words in which Mrs. Charlton told of his boy's rapid +progress and his devotion to her and the children. His lip would quiver +uncontrollably and his eyes fill; his hand might tremble as it touched +the brim of his scouting hat, but the salute was precise as ever. + + [Illustration: ADDRESSED IN A ROUND BOYISH HAND.] + +"I thank the captain, and beg to thank the captain's kind lady," was his +invariable formula on such occasions. "I hope the boy will always do his +duty." + +And then he would face about and stride away with his head very high in +the air and his eyes blinking hard, and almost immediately his voice +would be heard sternly berating some trooper whose horse had tangled +himself in his lariat, or whose "kit" was not stowed in proper shape +about the saddle. It was his way of striving to hide the joy those +messages brought him, and the men were quick to see through it all, and +little "Reddy" Mulligan, reprimanded for the third time within a +fort-night, started a laugh all through the bivouac by his whimsical +protest: + +"It's more good news you've been getting from Fred, sergeant, dear; +isn't it now? Faith, I wish he'd play ye a thrick wanst in a while, like +other byes. Maybe thin I'd be mintioned to the captain for a +corporalship." And for once the veteran turned his back on the laughing +troop conscious of defeat. + +In '74 old Waller changed the yellow stripes and diamond of the first +sergeantcy for the crimson and the star of the ordnance, and the +troopers, one and all, said good-by to him with infinite regret. Perhaps +Dawson, who was next in rank, may be excepted. He confidently expected +to be promoted in Waller's place. But though a dashing soldier and a +smart non-commissioned officer, he was not the stanch, reliable man the +captain needed, and proved it by celebrating Waller's promotion in a +very boisterous and unseemly manner. It was plain that he had been +drinking heavily, and though Captain Charlton saved him from arrest and +court-martial he would not promote him, and plainly, though privately, +told him why. The troop knew it was for this reason, but Dawson swore it +was all on account of Waller's influence against him when Sergeant +Graham was named in regimental orders as the old veteran's successor. + +That same summer, with firm hand and glistening eyes, Waller signed his +consent to the enlistment of his son as trumpeter in the old troop. How +he watched the boy's glowing face as the oath of enlistment, so often +lightly spoken, was solemnly repeated, and Fred was bound to the +service of his country. How he trembled from head to foot when, but a +few weeks afterward and in the dead of night, Charlton and his men +hurried forth to intercept a band of Indians who had swooped down upon +the herders south of Laramie Peak. Waller could hardly buckle the +cantle-straps of Fred's saddle as the little fellow, all eagerness, was +bustling about his horse in the dim light of the stable lanterns. Yet +when the captain and Lieutenant Rayburn came trotting briskly down the +roadway and the men were silently "leading into line," it was the old +sergeant's hand that grasped the boy's left foot and swung him lightly +into his seat. + +"Whatever happens, sir, mind you keep close to the captain," was his +parting injunction to his boy. Then his heels came together with the old +cavalry "click" and his twitching fingers were stiffened as they went +suddenly up in salute to Mr. Rayburn, who bent down from his saddle to +say that they would try and take good care of Fred. But Waller answered: + +"I thank the lieutenant. The boy is a soldier now, sir. He must take his +chances with the rest." Then with one lingering clasp of the trumpeter's +hand, "Join your captain," he ordered, and turned away into the +darkness. + +But the sentry on No. 6 bore witness to the fact that the ordnance +sergeant never went to bed again all that night, and the men sent to +unload and store the ammunition that came next day from Rock Island +Arsenal declared that old Waller was gruffer than ever. All the next +night too, he was awake, waiting, watching for tidings from the North. +Nothing came until sunset of the second day, just as the whole command +was turning out for retreat parade, and then Corporal Rock rode in with +dispatches and trotted straight to where the commanding officer was +standing in front of the adjutant's office. All eyes were upon him as he +threw himself from the saddle and handed the packet to the colonel. Half +a dozen officers hastened to join their commander as he tore it open. +The piazzas of the officers' quarters were quickly alive with ladies and +children, breathlessly eager to hear the news. The colonel's orderly was +seen hastening to the surgeon's house--that looked ominous--then Rock +remounted; trotted to Captain Charlton's gate, where Mrs. Charlton was +tremblingly awaiting him. "It's all right, ma'am," he hastened to say. +"Leastwise the captain's safe, but Mulligan is shot--and Ryan and +Sergeant Frazer." She hurried in the house with the precious letter he +placed in her hands, and while several ladies hastened to join her, the +messenger returned to the office. + +All this while Sergeant Waller had stood like a statue under the tall +white flag-staff where the non-commissioned staff assembled at retreat, +watching every move with dry, aching eyes, and a face gray as his +mustache. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A ROBBER IN CAMP. + + +The trumpet played the retreat, the sunset gun thundered its good-night +to the god of day; the adjutant hurried over and received the reports of +the companies, the staff, and band, and then a messenger came running to +them: "Mrs. Charlton wants you, Sergeant Waller. Fred's all safe, but +they had a sharp fight." + +The old man could not trust himself to speak. "Listen to this, +sergeant," exclaimed Mrs. Charlton, as she hurried through the little +group of ladies at her doorway, and looked up in his face with +tear-dimmed eyes: + + "Tell Waller that in a running fight of four miles Fred rode close + at my heels and no man could have shown more spirit or less fear. I + am sure it was a shot from his carbine that tumbled one war pony + into the Laramie; and every call he had to sound rang out clear as a + bell. I'm proud of the boy." + +Waller's face was twitching and working; he cleared his throat and tried +to speak; he dashed his hand across his eyes and ground his heels into +the gravel of the walk; he heard the kind and gentle voices of the +ladies joining in the chorus of congratulation, but he could not see +their faces; a mist had risen before his eyes. Even the old formula, "I +thank the captain's lady," had deserted him. He mumbled some +inarticulate words, and then, in dread of disastrous breakdown, turned +suddenly away and strode across the drive. More than one woman was in +tears. There was not a ripple of faintest laughter when it was seen that +in his blindness the old sergeant had collided with the tree box at the +edge of the acequia. Straight to his humble quarters he went; but they +were beautiful to him, radiant with the light of joy, pride, gratitude, +and love that beamed and burnt in his honest heart. + +And now, a year later, all the cavalry was in the field. Gold had +tempted explorers and miners innumerable to the Black Hills of +Dakota--Indian land by solemn treaty. The Government warned the invaders +back, but to no purpose. The Indians swarmed from the agencies and +massacred all whom they could overpower. Charlton's troop had early been +hurried up to Red Cloud, and now with others was engaged in the perilous +work of patrolling the trails around the Indian haunts. + +Two months of hard and most exciting work had they had, and still the +troubles were not over; and then just after the paymaster with his iron +safe and bristling escort had paid the outlying posts a visit, and +Captain Charlton had been ordered in with him to attend a court-martial +at Fort Laramie, there came a week that no man in "B" troop ever forgot. + +Mr. Rayburn had been wounded and was in the hospital at Fort Robinson. +Twenty of the men were away on escort duty, and so it happened that only +young Lieutenant Blunt and about thirty troopers were left at the camp +just west of the Agency. Fearful that the money, "burning" as it always +does in the soldiers' pockets, would tempt his men to gamble or drink +and get into mischief around the crowded post, Charlton had ordered that +the troop should march at once to the Niobrara and wait there for his +return. It was known, of course, that many Indian bands were out, and it +promised to be adventurous. It was Mr. Blunt's first independent +command, too, and he felt a trifle nervous. All went well, however, +until the morning of the second day, when Sergeant Graham excitedly +called his young commander, his face clouded with dismay. + +"Lieutenant," he cried, "Sergeant Dawson and several men were robbed +last night. The money's clean gone!" + +Blunt was out of his blanket in an instant. "How much is missing?" he +asked. + +"I can't tell yet, sir--a good deal. But that is not the worst of it." + +"What on earth could be worse?" + +"Trumpeter Waller's gone, sir--deserted; taken his horse, arms, and +everything!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. + + +Lieutenant Blunt's position on this bright July morning was most +embarrassing. Personally he had known the pet trumpeter of "B" troop +less than a year; for, as was said in the previous chapter, in point of +actual experience on the frontier the boy was the superior of the young +West Pointer, who had joined only the preceding autumn. Finding young +Fred so great a favorite among the officers and men, Mr. Blunt was +quite ready to accept the general verdict, although his first impression +of the youngster was that he was a trifle spoiled. On the other hand no +other man in the troop had so favorably impressed the new officer as the +"left principal guide," Sergeant Dawson, whose dashing horsemanship, +fine figure and carriage, and sharp, soldierly ways had attracted his +attention at the first outset. Then Dawson's manner to him was so +scrupulously deferential and soldierly on all occasions--sometimes the +old war-worn sergeants would be a trifle supercilious with green +subalterns--that Blunt's moderate amount of vanity was touched. He was +always glad, when his turn came round as officer of the guard, to find +Sergeant Dawson on the detail, and he recalled, when he came to think +over the events of his first half year with the regiment that very +summer, that it was when on guard he began to imagine Fred Waller was +"somewhat spoiled." Twice the boy "marched on" as orderly trumpeter when +he and Dawson were on the guard detail for the day, and both times the +sergeant had found fault with the musician, and had most respectfully +and diplomatically, but in that semi-confidential manner which shrewd +old soldiers so well know how to assume to very young subalterns, given +Mr. Blunt to understand that the boy "needed looking after." Months +later, when Blunt and Rayburn were discussing the probabilities of +promotion, when the sergeant-major of the regiment took his discharge +and there was lively competition among the soldiers for this, the finest +non-commissioned post in the regiment, Blunt warmly advocated Dawson's +claim. "He is the nattiest sergeant in the whole command," he said, "and +the smartest one I know." + +"Oh, yes!" answered Rayburn with a certain superiority of manner and a +quiet sarcasm that provoked the junior officer; "there's no question +about Dawson's smartness. One after another every 'plebe' in the +regiment starts in with the same enthusiasm about Dawson. I had it +myself about eight years ago. But the trouble with him is he isn't a +stayer; he can't stand prosperity." + +But Blunt preferred to hold to his own views and his faith in the second +sergeant of the troop. And so it happened that on this eventful morning +he sent Sergeant Graham at once to investigate as to the amounts stolen +during the night, and directed that Sergeant Dawson, who was in command +of the herd and picket guard, should come to him immediately. + +The sun was just rising above the low treeless ridges on the horizon as +the lieutenant stood erect and looked about him. Close at hand the +Niobrara--"the Running Water"--was brawling over its stony shallows, and +the smoke of tiny cook-fires was floating upward into the keen, crisp, +morning air. Northward the slopes were bare and treeless, too, but +closely carpeted with the dense growth of buffalo grass. Only a few +yards out from the bivouac, hoppled and sidelined, the troop horses were +cropping the still juicy herbage, and three or four soldiers, carbine in +hand and garbed in their light-blue overcoats, were posted well out +beyond the herd on every side, watching the valley far and near for any +signs of Indian coming. Below the bivouac, and further from the Laramie +road, was an old log hut, once used as a ranch and "bar" for thirsty +souls traversing the well-worn way to the reservation; but the tide of +travel had first shifted to the Sidney route, and then been stemmed +entirely, so far as the line to or near the agencies was concerned, and +the proprietor had taken himself and his fiery poison to better-paying +fields. Far away to the southwest the blue cone of Laramie Peak stood +boldly against the sky. Nearer at hand, though a day's ride away, old +Rawhide Butte rose sturdily from the midst of surrounding prairie +slopes. Upstream, among some sparse cottonwood, a bit of ruddy color +among the branches caught the lieutenant's quick eye. Some Indian +brave, wrapped in his blanket, had been laid to rest there out of reach +of the snarling coyotes, one of whom could be dimly discerned slinking +away under the bank, just out of easy rifle range. + +Off to the south lay the same bold, barren, desolate-looking expanse of +rolling prairie. Blunt could not suppress a shudder as he thought of the +terrible risk the boy had run in his mad break for the settlements +beyond the Platte. Of course he could go nowhere else. North, east, and +west, all was Indian land, and no lone white man could live there. Of +course he was making for the cattle ranges and settlements in Nebraska. +Such at least were the lieutenant's theories. He had spent only one year +on the frontier, but had been there long enough to know that among the +cowboys, ranchmen, and especially among the "riff-raff" ever hanging +about the small towns and settlements, a deserter from the army was apt +to be welcomed and protected, if he had money, arms, or a good horse. +Once plundered of all he possessed, the luckless fellow might then be +turned over to the nearest post and the authorized reward of thirty +dollars claimed for his apprehension; but if well armed and sober, the +deserter had little trouble in making his way through the toughest +mining camps and settlements. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +TRAILING THE TRAITOR. + + +Fred Waller knew all the Valley of the North Platte as well as he did +the trails around Sanders and Red buttes, and if he could succeed in +eluding the Indian war parties, he would have no difficulty in fording +the river, or swimming if necessary; and, with the start he must have +had, his light weight, and powerful horse, it would be next to +impossible to catch him, even if they could follow his trail. Besides, +were they not ordered to remain at the Niobrara until Charlton's return? +The more Mr. Blunt thought of the matter the more worried and perplexed +he became. Anywhere else he might have sent a sergeant with a couple of +men in pursuit, but here it would be exposing them to almost certain +death. It was some minutes before Sergeant Dawson came in answer to the +summons. Blunt could see the troopers gathered about the first sergeant, +excitedly discussing the affair and bemoaning their individual losses. +Graham was noting the amounts on a slip of paper, and his fine face was +pale with distress. "Is that all now, men?" he asked as he completed +the list, then sharply turned away, and once more approached his young +commander. + +"Lieutenant," he said, halting and raising his hand in salute, "it isn't +quite so bad as I feared, but bad enough. Sergeant Farron, Corporal +Watts, and I are the principal losers, besides Sergeant Dawson. Three of +the men who went into the Agency on pass just after we were paid had +left most of their money with me, and that is gone. I had it with my own +in the flat wallet I always carried in the inside pocket of my +hunting-shirt. You can see, sir, how it was done," and the sergeant +displayed a long clean cut through the Indian tanned buckskin. "It took +a sharp knife and a light hand to do that, for I'm not a heavy sleeper. +Farron, Watts, and I were sleeping side by side just over there on the +bank, and they heard nothing all the night. But will the lieutenant look +at this handkerchief, sir? Is it chloroformed? I feel dull and heavy, as +though I had been drugged. He couldn't have got it from me any other +way." + +Blunt took the bandanna and sniffed it cautiously, and then turned it +over and curiously inspected it. There was certainly an odor of +chloroform about it--a strong odor. + +"Whose is this?" he asked. "I do not remember seeing any of the men +wearing one like this." + +"None of them own it, sir. I've asked the whole party but Sergeant +Dawson and the men on guard. They have these cheap red things for sale +at the store there at the Red Cloud Agency, but none of the troop have I +ever seen wearing them; they are too small for neck handkerchiefs. +Dawson is out yet, trying to locate the trail. I've sent Robbins for +him," and the sergeant looked anxiously away southward, searching the +prairie with a world of pain and trouble in his eyes. + +"What could possibly have induced the boy to turn scoundrel all at +once?" asked the lieutenant. "It will break his old father's heart." + +"I can't account for it, sir. He has been as honest and square as a boy +could be ever since his enlistment; but the men tell me that he has been +spending a good deal of time over in the post whenever we camped there, +and I am afraid, from what Donovan says, that he has been gambling with +the young fellows at the band quarters. There's a hard lot in there, I'm +told; and the old hands encourage the boys to get all they can out of +strangers, and then they turn to and fleece the boys. It is about four +hundred dollars he has taken. A man knows that will last but a little +while on the frontier, but to a boy it seems a big pile." + +Then, rapidly approaching, the bounding hoofs of a troop horse were +heard. Blunt eagerly turned and saw Sergeant Dawson galloping toward +them down the north bank. Reining in so suddenly as almost to throw his +panting bay upon his haunches, he vaulted lightly to the ground and +stood before the lieutenant, his face beaded with sweat and his eyes +glaring. + +"Which way has he gone? could you tell?" + +"Yes, sir, I trailed him out across the prairie yonder for three hundred +yards or so. Then he took the Laramie road, and there the hoof tracks +are all confused; but I knew he would never keep that line very long, +and I'm almost certain I found the place where he turned off--a mile +beyond the ford and well over the bluffs." + +"Turned south toward the Sidney route?" + +"Yes, sir, as though he was going to skirt the road a while, then make +for Scott's Bluffs, keeping well west of the Sidney stage route. If he +got on that he'd be likely to meet Captain Forrest's troop, sir." + +"But you were in charge of the guard, sergeant. How came it that your +sentries and you could let a man slip out with his horse and everything? +The night was still, and they ought to have heard, even if they couldn't +see." + +"It was dark as pitch, lieutenant; the new moon was down before eleven +o'clock; and as for hearing, the horses were uneasy and stamping or +snorting all the while from midnight until two o'clock. Either they +sniffed Indians, or the coyotes startled them. Then, the stream makes +such a noise over the rocks, sir; and the lieutenant will remember we +had no sentries out across the stream. The Indians couldn't stampede the +herd from that direction." + +"But how could he get his horse out from the herd without----" + +"It wasn't there, sir," broke in the trooper, eager to defend himself +against the imputation of carelessness or neglect. "Sergeant Graham will +bear me out, sir, that Trumpeter Waller has been allowed to lariat his +horse close by where he slept, and sometimes he'd loop the lariat by a +light cord to his wrist. The captain allowed it, sir, and I supposed +that the lieutenant would not care to change the captain's orders. Last +night he slept, or rather made down his blanket and drove his picket-pin +at the lower edge of the bivouac, sir, down there by that point; and +Private Donovan tells me he moved still further down after dark. We +could hear his horse whinnying a while--he didn't like being so far from +the others. It's my belief, sir, he waited until all was quiet, and took +some time when I was out on the prairie visiting the sentries to slip up +the bank to where Sergeant Graham was sleeping, make his haul of the +money, and then ride for all that he was worth as soon as he had got +beyond ear-shot. It was easy enough to slip away through the stream +without being heard." + +"He has left his saddle-bags, blanket, and everything that was heavy, +except his arms, behind him," said Graham moodily. + +"And you really think that he has stolen the money and is trying to +escape?" questioned the lieutenant. + +"Indeed, sir," answered Dawson almost tearfully, "I don't know what to +think. I hate to believe it of the boy we were all so fond of, though I +used to plague him sometimes, just in fun--but I don't know what else to +think. The men say that he has been a little wild at times, since he got +from under the old man's care. But I don't know, sir; I wouldn't be apt +to know what was going on in the barrack there at Robinson." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. + + +Blunt turned sorrowfully away and began to pace slowly up and down the +bank. Near at hand over a little camp-fire his coffee pot was bubbling +and hissing enticingly, but even the aroma of his accustomed morning +beverage failed to attract him. What was he to do? What could he do? +Ordered to remain there to escort the captain safely to Red Cloud, on +his return from the court, it was impossible to pursue. Equally unwise +would it be to send a small squad. Waller had taken his life in his +hands when he rode away through the night, but he could cross the +Rawhide and be in comparative safety, so far as the Indian attack was +concerned, by sunrise of this day. Now that daylight had come, Blunt +well knew that every stretch of prairie from the Platte to the White +River would be thoroughly searched by keen and eager eyes, and death +would be the very least that any small party of whites could expect. He +knew perfectly well that already he and his little troop were being +closely scrutinized from the distant ridges. Had he not seen in the +tepees of the Cheyennes, but the week before, as many as three pairs of +binocular field-glasses? and had not Colonel Randall told him they knew +their use and value as well as anyone? If there was only some way of +getting word to Captain Charlton at Laramie. There ran the single wire +of the military telegraph, but there was neither office nor station +nearer than Red Cloud Agency. No man in the troop would thank him for +being ordered to go either way with dispatches, though he knew the order +would be obeyed. Silently and gloomily, instead of with their usual +cheery alacrity, the men had got to work with their curry-combs and +brushes and were touching up their horses while waiting for their own +breakfast; and presently Blunt's orderly came forward, holding a tin +cup of steaming coffee. + +"Won't the lieutenant drink a little of this, sir, and try a bite of +bacon? There isn't much appetite in the troop this morning, sir, but it +ain't so much because the money's gone. I've known the old sergeant and +the boy nigh unto ten years now, sir, an' I never thought it would come +to this." + +Blunt thanked the soldier and sat down at the edge of the rushing +stream, sipping his coffee and trying to think what to do. The drink +warmed his blood and cheered him up a trifle. Ordering his horse to be +saddled, he mounted and, taking his rifle, rode through the Niobrara and +out upon the open prairie on the other side. It was not long before he +found the hoof-tracks made the night before, and, without knowing why, +he slowly followed them out toward the low ridge at the southwest. For +ten minutes he went at a quiet walk and with downward-searching eyes as +he reached the road, striving to decide which hoof-prints were made by +Waller's horse. + +Suddenly, back at camp he heard the ringing report of a cavalry carbine +borne on the rising breeze, and, whirling about, saw that they were +signaling to him. Putting spurs to his steed he galloped full tilt for +the ford, and then for the first time saw the cause of the excitement. +Far up on the opposite slope, and jogging easily down toward the troop, +came an Indian pony and an Indian rider, but not in war-paint and +feathers. As Mr. Blunt plunged through the stream he recognized the +young half-breed scout known to all of the soldiers as "Little Bat," and +Bat, without a word, rode up and handed him a letter. It was from the +commanding officer at Fort Robinson, and very much to the point. It read +somewhat as follows: + + "Captain Charlton telegraphs that he will be detained several days. + Meantime you are needed here, as the Indians are again quitting the + reservations in large numbers. Move immediately upon receipt of + this." + + [Illustration: JOGGING ALONG AT AN EASY PACE.] + +That evening therefore the little troop once more rode down the valley +of the White River, the "Smoking Earth" as the Indians called it, and by +sunset were camped at Red Cloud. In much distress of mind Mr. Blunt +called upon the commanding officer to tell him of the disappearance of +the money and his trumpeter, and to ask the colonel's advice as to the +proper course for him to pursue. It was agreed that telegrams should be +sent at once to the captain at Fort Laramie and to the commanding +officer at Sidney barracks on the railway, notifying them of the crime +and the desertion. Blunt begged for a moment's delay until he could hear +from Sergeant Graham, whom he had sent to make certain investigations, +and long before tattoo the sergeant came--and with him the hospital +steward. + +"Lieutenant, the store-keeper says he sold just such a handkerchief as +that to Trumpeter Waller last week, and the steward can tell about the +chloroform." + +Both officers looked inquiringly at the steward. + +"Yes, sir, it was pay day that young Waller handed me a penciled note +from Sergeant Graham, saying that he had a bad tooth-ache and asking for +a little chloroform, and I gave it to him." + +"I never wrote such a note, sir, and never sent him on such a message," +said Graham. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES. + + +Bad news travels fast. Captain Charlton at Fort Laramie was stunned by +the tidings flashed to him by telegraph from Red Cloud. Despite the +array of damaging evidence, he could not bring himself to believe that +Fred Waller was a thief: but he was sore at heart when he thought of the +misery and sorrow the news must bring to the dear ones at his army +home--above all to the proud old sergeant, whose life seemed almost +bound up in the boy. Well knowing that it could only be a day or two +before the story would make its way to the posts along the railroad, and +would reach Sanders, doubtless, in a more exaggerated form, the captain +decided to warn his wife at once, and by the stage leaving that very +night a letter went in to Cheyenne, and thence by train over the great +"divide" of the Rockies to Fort Sanders, giving to Mrs. Charlton all +particulars thus far received, but charging her to say nothing until +further tidings. + + "I cannot believe it [wrote he], and am going at once to join the + troop and make full investigation. Meantime I have written by the + same mail to Major Edwards, who commands at Sidney barracks, to make + every effort to trace the boy, should he have come south of the + Platte; and you must be sure to see, when the news reaches Sanders, + that the sergeant is assured of my disbelief in the whole story, and + of my determination that Fred shall have justice done him. It will + be several days before you can hear from me again." + +And the news reached Sanders, as he feared, all too soon. Telegraph +offices "leaked" on the frontier in those days. The operators at the +military stations were all enlisted men, who were not bound by the +regulations of the Western Union, and who could not keep to themselves +every item of personal interest. The Sidney office wired mysterious +inquiries to Sanders; Sanders insisted on knowing what it meant, and +presently Laramie, Sanders, Sidney, Russell, Red Cloud, and even Chug +Water were clicking away in confidential discussion over the +extraordinary theft and flight. And Mrs. Charlton's letter came none too +early to save old Waller from despair. It was a woman, a gabbling +laundress, who first told him of the rumor, and Mrs. Charlton saw him +hastening to the telegraph office just as she had finished reading the +letter. + +"Mr. Nelson, quick!" she called to a young officer just passing the +gate. "Stop Sergeant Waller at once. Don't let him go to the office. +Make him come here to me. He will hear and obey you." + +And Mr. Nelson touched his cap, leaped lightly across the acequia, and +his powerful young voice was heard thundering, "Sergeant Waller!" in +peremptory tones across the parade. "Sergeant Waller!" echoed a half +dozen voices as the loungers on barrack porches took up the cry, +"Lieutenant Nelson wants you!" and the soldier instinct prevailed, the +old man turned and hastened toward the officers' quarters. + +"What is it, Mrs. Charlton," asked Nelson. "Has there been another +fight? Is Fred killed? It will break the old man's heart." + +"Oh, Mr. Nelson! I can't tell you about it yet!" she almost wailed. +"There's bad news, and I'm afraid the old man has heard it. Stay here, +near me a moment, can you? Oh, look at his face! Look at his face! He +has heard." + +White, livid, trembling from head to foot, the old soldier hurried +toward the young officer and dumbly raised his hand in the mechanical +salute. + +"It is Mrs. Charlton who wants you, sergeant," said Mr. Nelson kindly. +"Go to her," and without a word the veteran passed in at the gate. + + [Illustration: HE RAISED HIS HANDS AND PRESSED THEM TO HIS EYES.] + +She held forth her hand, her eyes brimming with tears. Instinctively he +halted, the old respect and reverence for "captain's lady" checking +the wild torrent of grief and anxiety, but she caught him by the arm and +led him wondering and submissive, yet overwhelmed with cruel dread, into +her cool and darkened parlor. There, with wild, imploring eyes, the old +man half stretched forth two palsied hands, his forage cap falling +unheaded to the floor, his whole frame shaking. + +"Don't give way, sergeant; don't believe it!" she cried, and at her +first words a look as of horror came into the stricken old face, and the +hands clasped together in piteous appeal. "Listen to what the captain +says. His letter has just come, and I was sure, when I saw you, that +someone had told you the rumor. Captain Charlton will not believe a +word of it. He was at Laramie on court-martial or it would not have +happened. He has hurried back to Red Cloud to investigate, and he +declares that Fred shall have justice done him. I'll never believe +it--never! Why, we would trust him with anything we owned." + +"I--I thank the captain. I thank Mrs. Charlton," he brokenly replied. +"It's stunned like I am." He raised his hands and pressed them against +his eyes, and one of them was lowered suddenly, feebly groping for +support. She seized his arm and strove to lead him to a sofa. "You must +sit down, sergeant," she said. + +"No, ma'am, no!" he protested, straightening himself with a violent +effort. "Now, may I hear what it is they say against my boy, ma'am? I +want every word. Don't be afraid, ma'am, I can bear it." + +Then, with infinite sympathy and pity, she told him, softening every +detail, suggesting an explanation for every circumstance that pointed to +his guilt; and all the time the old man stood there, his eyes, filled +with dumb anguish, fixed upon her face, his hands clasped together as +though in entreaty, his fingers twitching nervously. At every new and +damaging detail, condone or explain it though she would, he shuddered as +though smitten with a sharp, painful spasm; but when it came to Fred's +midnight disappearance--horse, arms, and all--in the heart of the Indian +country, stealing away from his comrades in the shadow of disgrace and +crime, the old man groaned aloud and buried his face in his hands. Some +time he stood there, reeling, yet resisting her efforts to draw him to a +seat. She pleaded with him hurriedly, impulsively, yet he seemed not to +hear. At last with one long shivering sigh, he suddenly straightened up +and faced her. His hands fell by his side. He cleared his throat and +strove to speak: + +"You've been good to me, ma'am--so good"--and here he choked, and for a +moment could not go on--"and to my boy"--at last he finished, with +impulsive rush of words. "I know how they're sometimes tempted. I know +how, more than once, the little fellow would be led away by the roughs +in the troop, just to worry me; but he never hid a thing from me, ma'am, +never; and if he's in trouble now he would tell me the whole truth, even +if it broke us both down. I'll not believe it till I see him, ma'am; but +I must go--I must go until I find my boy." + +Blinded with tears, Mrs. Charlton could hardly see the swaying, +grief-bowed old soldier as he left the house; but Nelson was waiting +close at hand, and stepped forward and took his place by the sergeant's +side. + +"I don't know what the trouble is," he said, "but I'm going as far as +the headquarters with you, and if there is anything on earth I can do to +help you, do not fail to tell me." + +That night, with a week's furlough and a letter from his post commander +to Major Edwards at Sidney, old Sergeant Waller was jolting eastward in +the caboose of a freight train. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LOYAL FRIENDS. + + +It was on Friday morning, at daybreak, that the desertion of Trumpeter +Waller was reported to Lieutenant Blunt. It was Friday night that the +telegrams were sent to Laramie and that Charlton's letter left by stage. +It was Saturday afternoon just before parade that the mail was +distributed at Fort Sanders; and that very evening, before Major Edwards +had received and had time to read his letter from the West, the +sergeant had started on his long and fatiguing journey. All night long +in sleepless misery he sat in a corner of the caboose, occasionally +rising and tramping unsteadily to and fro. At Cheyenne a delay of half +an hour occurred, and he left the train and paced restlessly up and down +the platform under the freight sheds. He dared not go down to the +lighted offices and the crowded passenger station just below him. It +seemed as though everyone knew of Fred's story by this time. He could +see the gleam of forage-cap ornaments and the glint of army buttons +among the people at the depot, and knew there were several officers and +soldiers there. Never before had he known what it was to shrink from +facing any man on earth; but to-night, though he almost starved for +further news from his boy, he could not bring himself to meet them and +ask. + +Along toward morning, at Pine Bluffs, a herdsman got aboard, and what he +had to say was of startling interest. Hitherto the Indian war parties +had kept well to the north of the Platte, "but" said he, "ever since +Friday the Sidney road has been swarming with them--both sides of the +river--and they are killing everything white they can lay their hands +on." + +"My God!" thought Waller, "and Fred must be in the very midst of them. +Better so," he added, "if indeed he can be guilty." The herder had +evidently been sorely frightened by all he heard, and he was hurrying to +Sidney to join a party of cattle-men who were camping there. He had been +drinking too, and took more and more as the night wore on, and became +maudlin in his talk. It was nine o'clock on Sunday morning when they +reached Sidney station, and the first thing that old Waller saw was a +strong concord wagon with a four-mule team and an army driver. Two +infantry soldiers with their rifles and girt with cartridge-belts were +standing close at hand. Two officers were stowing their rifles inside +the wagon, and an orderly was strapping the tarpaulin over the light +luggage in the "boot." One of the officers the sergeant knew +instantly--an aid-de-camp of the commanding general. The other was older +in years and bore on his cap the insignia of the staff. The younger +officer saw him before he could step into the office, and Sergeant +Waller knew it--knew too, with the quickness of thought, that he had +heard of Fred's disappearance and presumable crime. He could have shrunk +from meeting his superiors in the shadow of this bitter sorrow and +disgrace. Even while he could not accept the belief that his boy was +actually a deserter and a thief, he knew full well what other men must +think. But Captain Cross was a cavalryman himself, and had known old +Waller for years. He dropped his rifle, came straight forward, and took +him by the hand. + +"Sergeant, I don't believe it of your boy; I've known his father too +long," was all he said, as he pressed the veteran's hand. Poor old +Waller, worn with anguish, long vigil, and utter lack of food of any +kind, was now so weak that he could only, with the utmost difficulty, +choke back the sobs that shook his frame. Speak he dare not; he would +have broken down. Cross led him to the lunch room at the station and +made him swallow a cup of coffee, then gently questioned him as to what +he knew. + +"We go at once to Red Cloud--Colonel Gaines and I--and maybe on the +road I shall hear something of him. Sergeant, rest assured your son +shall have fair play," said the aid-de-camp, as he was about to turn +away. + +"But, captain--I beg pardon, sir," broke in Waller hurriedly, in almost +the first words he had spoken. "Where is your escort? Surely you won't +take this route without one?" + +"There isn't a trooper at Sidney, sergeant. We have a couple of +infantrymen in the wagon and another on a mule. That's the best we can +do, and we've got no time to spare. We must be at Red Cloud to-morrow, +and this is the shortest line." + +"But, sir, haven't you heard? The Sioux are out in force and all along +the road, both above and below the Platte. There's a herder on the train +who told us. He got aboard at Pine Bluffs this morning." + +"I can hardly believe that," answered Cross. "Captain Forrest with the +Grays is scouting south of Red Cloud. Captain Wallace was ordered to +watch the fords along the Platte on this line; Captain Charlton is +out--or at least the whole troop has been, and there are three more. +Surely Major Edwards would know over at the barracks, if the Indians +were anywhere between us and the river,--we'll get an escort from +Captain Wallace the other side,--but he has not heard a word." + +"But I beg the captain to hear what the man says, sir," urged Sergeant +Waller. "He's been drinking, but he tells the same story, practically, +that he told us when he got aboard. Let me find him, sir." + +And find him he did, even more maudlin and thick-tongued by this time, +and evidently determined to make the most of his dramatic story for the +benefit of the two officers and swarm of interested lookers-on. He only +succeeded in inspiring the colonel with mingled incredulity and disgust. + +"I don't believe a word of it," he said to Captain Cross. "And we are +losing valuable time. We must start at once." + +An hour later this peaceful Sabbath morning, the sergeant stood, cap in +hand, before Major Edwards on the veranda of his pleasant quarters. Two +pretty children were playing with a big, shaggy, lazy staghound, pulling +his ears and tormenting him in various ways; a pleasant-faced lady came +forth, sunshade and prayer book in hand, and at sight of her the little +ones reluctantly rose and bade good-by to their four-footed friend, and +the party started slowly away across the green parade to the post +chapel, nodding and smiling to the spruce orderly, who stood +respectfully aside to let them pass. Mrs. Edwards glanced quickly and +sympathetically into the sergeant's sad face as he stood there before +her husband's easy-chair. She knew well what it all meant, but there was +nothing for her to say. Small parties of infantry officers and of ladies +and children joined them on the way to the humble wooden sanctuary; the +soft notes of the bugle were sounding church call; a warm gentle breeze +from the southern plains stirred the folds of the big flag; the sunshine +was joyous and brilliant, and all spoke of peace, order, and +contentment. Yet there stood Waller with almost bursting heart; and +yonder, only a few miles across the grassy ridge to the north, rode that +little party of officers and men to almost certain death. + +The major looked up as he finished reading the letter placed in his +hands. + +"I have no words to tell you of my sympathy and sorrow, sergeant. Of +course you know my plain duty in the matter. The sheriff has been +notified, and two of his deputies already have gone out to search. He +would hardly be mad enough to come anywhere near us, if guilty. But if +he is taken he will be held here under my charge, and I will see that +you have every proper opportunity of visiting him. The adjutant tells me +you had heard something of the Indians being south of the Platte. What +was it?" + +"A man who boarded our train at the Bluffs, sir. He claimed to have had +to ride hard for his life yesterday afternoon, and that there were +scores of the Sioux this side of the river. I took him to Colonel Gaines +and Captain Cross, sir; but the man had been drinking so much that they +distrusted him entirely. They left the station before I started for the +barracks, sir." + +The major sat thoughtfully gazing out across the parade a moment; then +answered: + +"We have had no rumors of anything of the kind, and they would be almost +sure to come this way to us, if anyone heard of such stories. There are +no settlers along the road, after leaving the springs, out here until +you reach the Platte. I can hardly believe it, but we'll see what can +be got from the man when he sobers up. Now the sergeant-major will go +with you to the quarters, and I will see you later in the day." + +But later in the day that promise was forgotten in an excitement of far +greater magnitude. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LURKING FOES. + + +Church was over. The bugler had just sounded mess call, and the soldiers +in their neat "undress" uniform were just going in to dinner, when a man +on a "cow pony"--one of those wiry, active little steeds so much in use +around the cattle-herd--came full speed into the garrison and threw +himself from the saddle at Major Edwards' gate. It was the telegraph +operator at the railway station. In his hands were two brown envelopes, +and Major Edwards, as he stepped forward to meet him, saw in his face +the tell-tale look of a bearer of bad news. + +"I've no idea whose horse that is, major. There were a half dozen of 'em +in front of a saloon there in town, and I jumped on the first I saw. +These have just come--one from Laramie, one from Omaha. I dropped +everything at the office to fetch them to you." + +Edwards tore open first one and then the other. The first read: + + "Couriers in front of Captain Wallace report large war parties along + the Platte, and some across, raiding the Sidney road. Four + teamsters killed, scalped, and mutilated three miles south of river. + Bodies found. Warn back everybody attempting to go that way." + +The second was from the office of the department commander himself: + + "Indians in force south of Platte, on Sidney road. If Colonel Gaines + and Captain Cross have started, send couriers at once to recall + them." + +The major's face was dark with dismay. + +"They have been gone nearly four hours," he exclaimed. "Even if I had +swift riders ready, who could catch them in time?" + +"I've been a trooper all my life, sir," came sudden answer. "Give me a +horse and carbine and let me go." + +The major might have known 'twas Sergeant Waller. + + +True to his word, and arranging with the officers of the court-martial +to return in case his further testimony was required, Captain Charlton +set forth at daybreak on Saturday, intending to push straight through to +Red Cloud as fast as mules could drag or horses bear him. To the +Niobrara crossing the road was hard and smooth, when once they cleared +the sandy wastes of the Platte bottom. He had a capital team, a light +ambulance, and a little squad of seasoned troopers to go with him as +escort. It was a drive of nearly ninety miles, but he proposed resting +his animals an hour at the Niobrara, another hour at sunset; feeding and +watering carefully each time, and so keeping on to the old Agency until +he reached his troop late at night. + +No danger was to be apprehended until the party got beyond the Rawhide, +and not very much until they were across the Niobrara, but Charlton and +his half a dozen troopers had been over each inch of the ground time and +again, and very little did they dread the Sioux. + +After midday the little party had halted close beside the spot where +Blunt's detachment had made their bivouac so short a time before. Here +were the ashes of their cook-fires and the countless hoof-prints of the +horses. Here, too, was the trail in double file, leading away northward +across the prairie--a short cut to the Red Cloud road. Charlton followed +it with his keen eyes, and noted with a smile how straight a line its +young leader must have made for the "dip" in the grassy ridge a mile +away, through which ran the hard, beaten track. Blunt prided himself on +these little points of soldiership, as the captain well remembered, and +when charged with guiding at the head of a column, was pretty sure to +fix his eyes on some distant landmark and steer for that, with little +regard for what might be going on at the rear. + +The ambulance mules, tethered about the tongue, were busily crunching +their liberal measure of oats. Each cavalry horse, too, buried his nose +deep in the shimmering pile his rider had carefully poured for him upon +the dry side of the saddle-blanket. The men were contentedly eating +their hard-tack and bacon and drinking their coffee from huge tin cups +with the relish of old frontiersmen. One trooper, a few yards away out +on the prairie, kept vigilant watch. Pondering deeply over the strange +and unaccountable charge that had been laid at his young trumpeter's +door, the captain was slowly pacing down the bank, puffing away at the +briar root pipe that was the constant companion of his scouting days. +Suddenly he heard the sentry call, and, turning, saw him pointing to the +ground at his feet. + +"What is it, Horton?" he asked, going over toward him. + +"Pony tracks, sir. The Indians have been nosing around here since our +men left." + +There were the prints of some half a dozen little unshod hoofs dotting +the sandy hollows in the low ground near the stream, and easily +traceable among the clumps of buffalo grass beyond. Charlton could see +where they had gathered in one spot, as though their riders were then in +consultation, and then scattered once more along the bank. Two hundred +yards away stood the lonely log cabin, all that was left of what had +been the ranch, and following the trail, the captain presently found +himself nearing it. Two tracks seemed to lead straight thither, and +before he reached it were joined by several more. Close to the abandoned +hut the ground was worn smooth and hard; yet in the hollows were +accumulations of dust blown from the roadway up the stream. Around here +the pony tracks were thick, and just within the gaping doorway were +footprints in the dust--some of spurred bootheels and broad soles, one +still more recent of Sioux moccasins. Through the solid log walls two +small square windows had been cut and narrow slits for rifles, in the +days when the occupants had frequent occasion to defend their prairie +castle. The opening to the subterranean "keep" was yawning under the +eastern wall, its wooden cover having long since been broken up for +fuel. Charlton stood for a moment within the blackened and dusty +doorway, and glanced curiously around him. + +Except for the new footprints it looked very much as it did when he had +first taken occasion to inspect the interior, earlier in the summer. +There was nothing left that anyone could carry away, and he wondered why +the Indians should have troubled themselves to dismount and prowl +about. An Indian hates a house on general principles, and enters one +only when he expects to make something by it. Those recent boot-prints, +nearly effaced by the moccasins, were doubtless those of some of Blunt's +party. Curiosity had prompted some time-killing trooper to stroll out +here and take a look at the place. The sunshine streaming in at the open +doorway made a brilliant oblong square upon the earthen floor and +lighted up the grimy interior. The steps cut down to the dark "dugout" +were crumbling away, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet +into the passage leading to the underground fortress, where as a final +resort in an Indian siege the little garrison could take refuge. A +lantern or a candle would show the way, but Charlton had neither. Taking +out his match-case, however, he bent down, struck a light, and peered +in. Somebody had done the same thing within the last day or two, for +there were the stub ends of two matches just like his in the dust at the +bottom of the steps, and there, too--yes, he lighted another match and +studied it carefully--there was the print of cavalry boots going in and +coming out again. Whoever was his predecessor, he had more curiosity +than the captain. Charlton had seen prairie "dugout" forts before, and +did not care to waste time now. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN SUSPENSE. + + +Returning to the open sunshine he made the circuit of the house, and on +the north side stopped and studied with an interest he had not felt +before. A stout post was still standing on that side, and to the post a +cavalry horse had been tethered within two days, and stood there long +enough to paw and trample the gravel all around it. Charlton was +cavalryman enough to read in every sign that the steed had been most +unwillingly detained. In evident impatience he had twisted twice and +again around that stubborn bullet-scarred stump, and the troop commander +could almost see him, pawing vigorously, tugging at his "halter-shank," +and plunging about his hated but relentless jailer, and neighing loudly +in hopes of calling back his departing friends. Charlton felt sure that, +as the troop rode away, some one of the men had remained here some +little time. + +A hundred yards across the prairie was the "double file" trail of the +detachment on its straight line for the ridge, and here, only a little +distance out, were the hoof-prints of a troop horse both coming and +going. Even more interested now, the captain went some distance out +across the prairie, and still he found them. Leaving the hut and +following to overtake the troop, the horse had instantly taken the +gallop; the prints settled that. But what struck Captain Charlton as +strange was that the other tracks, those which were made by the same +horse in coming to the hut, were still to be found far out toward the +northeast. It was evident, then, that the rider had not turned back from +the command until it had marched some distance from the Niobrara; that +he had not gone back to the bank where they had been in camp, as would +have been the case had he lost or left something behind, but had come +here to this abandoned hovel southeast of the trail. Now, what did that +mean? One other thing the captain did not fail to note; that horse had +cast a shoe. + +Late as it was when he reached the camp on White River that night--after +midnight, as it proved--Charlton found his young lieutenant up, and +anxiously awaiting him. When the horses had all been cared for, and the +two officers were alone near their tents, almost the first question +asked by the captain was: + +"Did you give any man permission to ride back after you left the +Niobrara Friday morning?" + +"No, sir," answered Blunt in some surprise. "No one asked, and every +man was in his place when we made our first halt." + +Immediately after reveille on Sunday morning, a good hour before the sun +was high enough to peep over the tall white crags to the east of the +little camp, the two officers were out at the line, superintending the +grooming of the horses. Fifty men were now present for duty, and fifty +active steeds were tethered there at the picket rope, nipping at each +other's noses or nibbling at the rope itself, and pricking up their ears +as the captain stopped to pat or to speak to one after another of his +pets. Always particularly careful of his horses, Captain Charlton on +this bright sunshiny morning was noting especially the condition of +their feet. Every one of those two hundred hoofs were keenly scrutinized +as he passed along the line. But there was nothing unusual in this--he +never let a week go by without it. + +"You seem to have had a number reshod within the last few hours, +sergeant," he said to Graham, as he stopped at the end of the line. + +"Yes, sir, I looked them all over yesterday morning. Every shoe is snug +and ready now, in case we have to go out. Seven horses were reshod +yesterday, and over twenty had the old shoes tacked on." + +Grooming over, each trooper vaulted on to the bare back of his horse and +rode in orderly column down to the running stream, and still Charlton +stood there, silently watching his men and noting the condition of their +steeds. Blunt was bustling about his duties, every now and then looking +over at his soldierly captain. Something told him that the troop +commander had made a discovery or two that had set him to thinking. He +was even more silent than usual. + +At seven o'clock, after a refreshing dip in a pool under the willows +close at hand, the two officers were seated on their camp-stools and +breakfasting at the lid of the mess chest. Over among the brown +buildings of the post, half a mile away, the bugles were sounding mess +call and the infantry people were waking up to the duties of the day. +Down the valley, still farther to the east, the smoke was curling from +the tiny fires among the Indian tepees, and scores of ponies were +grazing out along the slopes, watched by little urchins in picturesque +but dirty tatters. All was very still and peaceful. Even the hulking +squaws and old men loafing about the Agency store-houses were silent, +and patiently waiting for the coming of the clerk with his keys of +office. One or two young braves rode by the camp, shrouded in their +dark-blue blankets, and apparently careless of any change in the +condition of affairs, yet never failing to note that there were fifty +horses and soldiers ready for duty there in camp. + +Their breakfast finished, Charlton said that he must go at once to the +office of the post commander over in garrison, and that he might be +detained some hours. "It will be well to keep the men here, Blunt, for +we may be needed any moment." + +And yet, as he was riding away with his orderly, Charlton stopped to +listen to what Sergeant Graham had to say. + +"Sergeant Dawson and Private Donovan wanted particularly to go over to +the post for a few hours this morning, and so did some of the others, +but I told them that the captain's orders were we should all stay at +camp, we were almost sure to be wanted. They were all satisfied, sir, +but Dawson and Donovan, who made quite a point of it, and I said I would +carry their request to the captain." And to Blunt's surprise, as well as +that of Sergeant Graham, the captain coolly nodded. + +"Very well. They've both been doing hard work of late. Tell them to keep +their ears open for 'boots and saddles'; otherwise they may stay until +noon. After dinner, perhaps, I will give others a chance to turn." + +Fifteen minutes later Captain Charlton was in consultation with the post +commander, and after guard mounting they returned to the colonel's +house, where a tall infantry soldier, the provost sergeant, was awaiting +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HEMMED IN BY SAVAGE FOES. + + +Back at the cavalry camp there was no little subdued chat and wonderment +among the troopers. Lounging in the shade of the trees along the stream, +and puffing away at their pipes, playing cards, as soldiers will, and +poking fun at one another in rough, good-natured ways, the men were yet +full of the one absorbing theme--Fred Waller's most unaccountable +disappearance and the loss of so much of their hard-earned money. + +"I would have bet any amount," said Corporal Wright, "that when the old +man"--the captain is always the "old man" to his troops--"got back he +would ride over Sergeant Dawson roughshod for letting Waller slip away +on his guard; but I listened to him this morning and he talked to him +just like a Dutch uncle. I tell you Dawson felt a heap better after it +was over. He said the captain never blamed him at all." + +Noon came, so did an orderly telling Mr. Blunt that the captain wished +to see him over at the telegraph office, and to order the horses fed at +once. Forty-eight big portions of oats were poured from the sacks +forthwith. Dawson and Donovan were not yet back. + +"Leave theirs out," said Sergeant Graham, "they'll be back presently. +This means business again, and no mistake. Where's the trouble now, I +wonder?" + +Shall we look and see? Far to the south, far beyond the bold bluffs of +the White River, far beyond the swift waters of the Niobrara,--"L'Eau +qui Court" of the old French trapper,--far across the swirling flood of +the North Platte, and dotting the northward slopes, swarms of naked, +brilliantly painted red warriors in their long, trailing war bonnets of +eagle's feathers are darting about on nimble ponies, or, crouching prone +along the ridges, are eagerly watching a dust-cloud coming northward on +the Sidney road. Behind them, between them and the Platte, are the +weltering mutilated bodies of half a dozen herders and teamsters, and +the smoking ruins of their big freight-wagons. Like the tiger's taste of +blood, the savage triumph in the death of their hapless foes has tempted +them far beyond their accustomed limits. Knowing the cavalry to be +scouting only north of the Platte, they have made a wide detour and +swooped around to this danger-haunted road, eagerly watching for the +coming of other white men, who, like the last, should be ignorant of +their presence and too few in number to cope with such a foe. Here along +the ridge north of the little "Branch" of the Platte, half a hundred +young warriors crouch and wait. Farther back, equally vigilant, other +bands are hiding among the breaks and ravines near the river, while +their scouts keep vigilant watch for the coming of cavalry. Forrest's +Grays and Wallace's Sorrels cannot be more than a day's ride away, and +will be hurrying for the road the moment they know that the Indians have +slipped around them. Wallace, up the Platte, has already heard. + +It is three o'clock this hot, still Sunday afternoon, and they have been +six hours out from Sidney, driving swiftly and steadily northward, when, +as they reach the summit of a high ridge and stop to breathe their +panting team, Colonel Gaines takes a long look through his field glass. +Just in front is the shallow valley of the little stream now called the +"Pumpkinseed" though pumpkins were unheard-of features in the landscape +of fifteen years ago. + +Off to their right front, several miles away, lie the low, broad bottom +lands of the Platte. Across the Pumpkinseed, a mile distant, another +ridge, like the one on which they halted, only not so high; to the +westward a tumbling sea of prairie upland--all buttes, ridges, ravines, +coulees--but not a living soul is anywhere in sight. Far as his +practiced eye can sweep the horizon and the broad lowlands of the Platte +not a sign of living, moving object can Colonel Gaines detect. Turning +around, he trains his glass upon the tortuous road they had been +following, and along which the dust is slowly settling in their wake. +Something seems to attract his gaze, for he holds the binocle steadily +toward the south. Naturally Captain Cross and the two soldiers follow +with their eyes; the third infantryman has dismounted, and is +readjusting the girths of his saddle. + +"What is it?" asks Cross. + +"I can't make out," is the reply, "Something is kicking up a dust there, +some miles behind us. A horseman, I should say, though I've seen nobody. +Wait a few minutes. He's down in a swale now, whoever it is." + + [Illustration: HE TOOK A LONG LOOK THROUGH HIS GLASSES.] + +Everybody turns to look and listen. Those were days when such a thing +as a single horseman following in pursuit had a meaning that is lacking +now. + +Three, four minutes they wait in silence; then the colonel suddenly +exclaims: + +"I have him--a mere dot yet!" + +Presently he lowers his glasses, and dusts the lenses with his +handkerchief. His face is graver. + +"Whoever that is, he is riding for all he is worth," he says. "I half +believe he wants to catch us." + +Another long look. Utter silence in the party. A mule in the wheel team +gives an impatient shake of his entire system, and chains, tugs, and +swing-bars all rattle noisily. + +"Quiet there, you fool!" growls the driver angrily, and with a +threatening sweep of his long whip-lash. Then the silence becomes +intense again, and every man strains his eyes over the prairie slopes +shimmering in the heat of the July sun. Suddenly an exclamation bursts +from two or three pairs of bearded lips. Far away, but in plain sight in +that rare atmosphere, a speck of a horseman darts into view over a +distant ridge, sweeps down the slope at full gallop, and plunges out of +sight again in a low dip of the rolling surface. + +"No man rides like that unless there is mischief abroad," mutters Cross, +as he swings out of the wagon to the ground. "Give me my rifle, +Murray." + +Then, sudden as thunderclap from summer sky, with wild, shrill clamor, +with thunder of hoofs, and sputter of rapid shots; with yell and taunt +and hideous war cry, from the very ground itself, from behind every +little ridge; up from the ravines, down from the prairie buttes; hurling +upon them in mad, raging race, there flashes into sight of their +startled eyes a horde of painted savages. + +"The Sioux! The Sioux!" yells the driver, as he leaps from his box. + +"Hang on to your mules!" shouts Cross. "Down with you, men! Fire slow! +They'll veer when they get in closer. Now!" + +Bang! goes Cross' piece. Bang! bang! the rifles of the nearest +soldiers. The mules plunge wildly, and are tangled in an instant in the +traces. Over goes the wagon with a crash. Bang goes Gaines' big +Springfield as he coolly spreads himself on the ground. An Indian pony +stumbles and hurls his rider on the turf, and Cross gives an exultant +cheer. Yet all the same he knows full well that now it is life or death. +The little party is hemmed in by a host of savage foes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MYSTERIOUS HOOF-PRINTS. + + +It was Saturday night that, from far up the Platte, the news came to +Captain Wallace of the dash made by the Sioux for the Sidney road. For +two days previous he had been hunting Indians upstream toward the +Rawhide, and had found a perfect network of pony tracks and had had some +very distant glimpses of flitting warriors. His scouts had told him that +the Sioux and Cheyennes were swarming over the country to the northwest +of him, and that none had appeared to the east. It was his business, +therefore, to move against them, and move he did, trusting that Forrest +and the Grays would be alert along the southern verge of the +reservations that no formidable parties could slip southward in his +absence. + +But this was simply part and parcel of the Indian scheme. Having lured +him two days' march away from the Sidney crossing, these enterprising +warriors kept him occupied, while their confederates, making a wide +detour around Forrest, slipped across the Platte and swooped down upon +the poor fellows with the freight wagons. Only one of their number +managed to escape, and he, madly riding westward, came upon some +herdsmen who promptly joined him in his flight. They had seen the +cavalry going up the north bank a day or two before, and they never drew +rein until they found them. Wallace at once sent couriers westward to +Fort Laramie with the news, and at break of day started downstream with +his whole troop. They had not marched five miles before they came upon +the hoof-prints of a single horse, and just beyond the point where these +hoofprints crossed their trail, the tracks of half a dozen Indian ponies +met their eager eyes. One old sergeant, reining out of column to the +right, followed the shod tracks over to the river bank, and a +lieutenant spurred out and joined him when he signaled with his +broad-brimmed scouting hat. The rest of the troop moved stolidly ahead. + +Presently the young officer overtook the column and reined in beside his +captain. + +"Where did they go, Park?" + +"Straight into the stream, sir, and evidently to the other side. +Sergeant Brooks says 'twas a troop horse with a light rider, and that he +had to swim across. The river is six feet deep out there, but it was his +only way of escape. The Indians couldn't have been far behind, and yet +they didn't follow. Their tracks turn down the bank on this side. Brooks +is following them now." + +"Who on earth could have come through here at such a time? Why, the +country has been running over with Indians!" + +"That's what puzzles me, sir, but Brooks says there is no mistake. It's +the cavalry shoe, of course. It's just after pay day at Robinson. Could +it have been a deserter?" + +"No man in his senses would have dared such a thing," is the impatient +answer. "It may be some other infernal trick to get us away from our +legitimate business. What we've got to do is reach that Sidney road by +sunset. By Jove! if I'm court-martialed for this business, it won't +surprise me." And the captain's horse evidently felt the sudden grip of +the knees, for he took a sudden spurt and set most of the troop at the +nerve-wearing jog-trot. Mr. Park said nothing more, but for the life of +him he could not help thinking of those lone hoofprints and of that +solitary rider. Who could he be? + +It is time we got back to him. Only one man or boy, known to us at +least, could have come that way. It was Trumpeter Fred. + +Daybreak Friday had found him a few miles south of the Niobrara, and +close to the Laramie road. At noon Friday he had halted at the Rawhide +to rest his horse and take a bite of luncheon, but all his young soul +was athrill with eagerness; every faculty was alert. Warned of the +recent presence of Indians on every side, he was yet seeking to gain +the Platte before nightfall; cross to the south bank, where there was +comparative safety; ride southeastward until his horse was exhausted, +picket him where grass and water were near at hand, sleep till dawn +again, and then push on. He must reach the Sidney road before Sunday +morning and strike it far below the river. + +But here, as he neared the valley, a sight had met his eyes which made +his young heart leap. The banks of the Rawhide were dotted here and +there by fresh pony tracks, and, coming from the distant ridges to the +east, they had gone in as though to water, and then turned down toward +the Platte, the very way he wanted to go. An hour, with his horse +hidden behind him in a shallow ravine, Fred Waller was lying prone upon +the ground, and peering over a ridge into the low, level wastes +stretching far to the southeast, bordering the Platte to the very +horizon. What most attracted his gaze was a little dust cloud, miles +away downstream, into which tiny black dots were moving, with other +little dots scurrying about at some distance from the main cluster. No +need to tell him they were Indians. + + [Illustration: FLAT ON THE GROUND WAS PEERING OVER THE RIDGE.] + +It was some minutes before he could determine which way they were really +going, but when he finally saw that they were bound down the valley, the +boy's heart beat high with hope. He could venture down to the Platte +as soon as they had passed entirely out of sight, and find some place to +cross well to the west of them. An hour he waited and still they were in +view. Then they seemed to disappear in a little clump of timber. He +waited fifteen to twenty minutes, and they were still there. Then it +suddenly dawned upon him that the whole band were resting in the shade +while their scouts searched the neighborhood. He was five or six miles +from the river, and every inch of ground in front was open. He knew well +that their eyes were keener than his, and should he make a dash for it +they would certainly see and give chase. What he could not detect, and +did not dream of, was that miles still further away down the Platte +another dust cloud was slowly advancing--Wallace's troop coming +upstream--and their scouts were watching that. + +At last, after another hour of anxiety, he determined to slip away +westward, go up the Rawhide a few miles until he could gain the shelter +of some low-lying ridges, crossing the stream, and making a wide +circuit, sweep around to the Platte. He might still reach it before dark +and find a ford, or at least a place to swim across; he could trust "Big +Jim" for that. But even as he would have put this plan in execution, he +saw to his dismay a new move among the warriors. Four little dots came +riding from the timber and pushing back up the valley. These were only +the advance. In half an hour the whole band came jogging leisurely out +of the shadows, and little dots farther east came streaking across the +flats to join them. Fred saw that the whole war party was now retracing +its steps and coming back upstream, and that now, if he waited, he might +pursue his original intention of crossing at the shallows, ten miles +below the mouth of the Rawhide. And so, patiently and pluckily, he kept +his ground,--"Big Jim" contentedly filling himself with buffalo grass +the while,--and not until the sun was low in the west did Fred realize +their real intent. Just as the scouts, far in advance of the main +party, reached the winding banks of the Rawhide, they seemed to hold +brief consultation; one of them plunged through to the western side, the +other three turned and came straight toward the watching boy. + +Great Heavens! It meant that the whole party was coming up the Rawhide, +and before dark would find and follow his track. Fred's first impulse +was to mount, and giving Jim the spurs, ride on the wings of the wind +back to the north--back to the Niobrara, where he had left the troop in +bivouac. There at least was safety, for they could not trail him in the +dark. But the second thought covered him with shame. Go back--go back +now! Never, so long as he had a chance for life and hope. Away from +here, and instantly, he must speed on his mission, and in another moment +his girth was tightened, and "Big Jim," astonished, was racing away +eastward, but keeping the sheltered ridge between him and the Platte. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +AWAY TO THE RESCUE! + + +That night Fred Waller slept fitfully on the open prairie, with "Big +Jim" tethered close at hand. Saturday morning found him ten miles to the +east and ten miles further from the river than the point where he +watched the Sioux the previous evening. Hungry and worn with anxiety as +he was, the poor boy's heart sank within him when he cautiously peered +over the ridge into the valley. After an early morning ride, he saw the +dust clouds near the stream, and felt that he was still cut off. Noon +was near when, far as he could see up or down, the valley was clear; and +then creeping out from his lair, he again mounted and rode straight for +the Platte. Warily he watched in every direction, but no intruders came. +He was spurring over the flats only a mile from the river before the +first sign of pursuit was made. Then, far back toward the bluffs he had +left, Fred spied a little party of warriors coming after him full tilt. +Never stopping for more than one glance he gave Jim the rein, urging him +to full speed; marked, as he flashed across it only a few hundred yards +from the bank, the trail of a cavalry command going up the valley and +wondered whose it could be; then he and Jim went crashing through the +gravel at the water's edge and plunged boldly into the running stream. +Deeper and deeper brave old Jim pushed in until the waters foamed about +his broad and muscular breast; then Fred threw himself from the saddle, +and keeping tight hold of the pommel and steadying his carbine with the +same hand, "Swim for it, old man!" he shouted to his gallant horse, and +in another minute he and Jim were floating with the current, yet rapidly +nearing the other shore. Three minutes and, dripping wet but safe, they +were scrambling up the south bank and speeding away over the bounding +turf with the baffled pursuers still two miles behind. + +And these were the tracks that Wallace found as he came hurrying back +downstream. + +Saturday again Fred Waller and his faithful horse spent on the open +prairie, for in the darkness he found it impossible to make his way. The +moon was gone by one o'clock, and her light had been all too faint +before. But Sunday, just a little after noon, he had come in sight of +the goal he had sought through such infinite pluck and peril--the Sidney +road; and as he gazed at it from afar, peering at it as usual from +behind a sheltering bluff, his heart sank into his boots. He had come +too late; there on that distant trail were the tiny columns of blue +smoke floating skyward which told of burning wagons, now in crumbling +ruins. Worse than that, here close at hand, over on the other side of +the long, shallow swale, were twoscore Indian warriors in all their +barbaric finery, excitedly watching the coming of other victims. + +With a moan of anguish Fred Waller marked, a mile beyond and rapidly +approaching them, a four-mule ambulance with a single soldier cantering +along behind. + +"Oh, my God, my God!" he groaned aloud. "I am too late, after all." + +But the wagon halted on the distant hills. The Indians, absorbed in +their cat-like watch, were eagerly gesticulating and excitedly pointing +to some object far beyond. Several of their numbers lashed their ponies +into a tearing gallop and sped away in wide circuit to the southward, +keeping the bluffs between them and the wagon. Others followed part of +the distance. He knew the maneuver well; already they were planning the +surround. In helpless agony he watched, for he was powerless to +aid--powerless even to warn. He seized his ready carbine, loosened the +cartridges in his belt, and looked eagerly to Jim's girths. Then once +again he faced the southeast, and saw, far away across the waves of +prairie, a little puff of dust and a little black dot--a rider--coming +full tilt in the wake of the wagon. + +"Who can it be?" he wondered. "Can he possibly know of this ambuscade?" + +All too late! A sudden flashing signal from the leader, and all at an +instant with trailing feathers, with war cry and the thunder of a +hundred hoofs, the painted band has whirled across the ridge in front +and is down in the dip beyond. Every Indian has vanished from his view +and whirled into sight of the victims on the crest beyond. + +In an instant, too, Fred Waller is in saddle, and spurring on to the +ridge which they have just left, and then once more he reins in where +he can just peer over the crest. He notes with a cheer of joy that the +charge is checked--that the Indians have veered off and are now dashing +in a great circle around the central point on the height beyond. He sees +the wild stampede and tangle of the mules, the overthrow of the +ambulance; the quick, cool, resolute reply of the attacked. He marks +with a glow of mad delight, of reviving hope, that there is not a woman +or child with the party. + +"Thank God!" he cries aloud, "It isn't Mrs. Charlton." He waves his hat +with exultation as he sees a pony stumbling in death upon the prairie, +and his rider limping painfully away; he knows now that they are +soldiers, holding their own for at least a time, and that all depends on +getting aid for them before nightfall. Far up the valley on the other +side he had marked at noon a dust-cloud sailing slowly toward him. It +must be the Sorrels or the Grays, hastening back to clear the Sidney +road. Here is the thing to do: gallop back, recross the river, meet and +guide them to the rescue. There is still time to get them here before +the sun goes down--if only the besieged can hold out that long. + + [Illustration: IN FULL FLIGHT.] + +One more glance he takes at the stirring picture before him, longing to +drive a shot at the nearest Indians, and as he gazes there comes +staggering, laboring into sight from around a point of bluff beyond the +beleaguered party, a horse all foam and blood, who goes plunging to +earth only a few yards away from the ambulance, and rolls stiffening and +quivering in his death agony; but the gray-haired old rider has leaped +safely to the ground, and his carbine flashed its instant defiance at +the yelling foe. Even at that distance there is no mistaking the +well-known form. Fred Waller's wondering eyes have recognized at +once--his father. + +Now indeed he speeds away for help! Now indeed, has Jim to run for more +than life! Turning his back upon the thrilling scene, the little +trumpeter goes like a prairie gale, whirling back to the valley of the +Platte. + + * * * * * + +The sun is sinking behind the bluffs, and its last rays fall on a +bullet-riddled ambulance; on the stiffening bodies of a half dozen +slaughtered animals--a horse and some mules; on a grim, determined +little band of soldiers--two of them sorely wounded. The red shafts +gleam on a litter of empty cartridge-shells and tinge the canvas top of +the overturned wagon. Out on the rolling prairie several hundred yards +away, the turf is dotted here and there by Indian ponies, the innocent +victims of this savage warfare. Such Indian braves as have fallen have +long since been picked up by their raging comrades and borne away. +Despite their numbers, never once yet have the savages managed to reach +the defenders. Time and again they have swooped down in charge only to +be met by cool, well-aimed shots that tumbled some of their numbers to +the turf and sent the others veering and yelling into the old familiar +circle. At last they are trying the expedient of long-range shots from +different points of the compass, hoping to kill or cripple the whole +party by sundown. The bullets clip the turf and scatter the dust all +over the ridge. There is practically no shelter, for the ground is too +hard to dig. Old Sergeant Waller is prostrate with a bullet through the +thigh. Colonel Gaines has bound his handkerchief tightly around his arm. +The driver lies flat on his face--dead. Every now and then the others +turn longing eyes southward, hoping for some sign of infantry coming +from the post, so many a mile away. They know well that Edwards will +have levied on every wagon in Sidney to bring them; but not a whiff of +dust-cloud do they see. One of the soldiers gives a low moan and clasps +his hands to his side; and Cross mutters between his set teeth, "Five +minutes more of this will settle it." + +But what means this sudden scurry and excitement among the besiegers? +Why do they crowd and clamor there at the north? What can they see over +that ridge beyond the little stream? Presently others join them. Then +more and more. Then there are whoops of rage; a few ill-aimed, +scattering shots. Three or four of the red men ride daringly, tauntingly +down, as though to resume the attack, and shout vile epithets in vilest +English in response to the shots with which they are greeted, and then +they too go riding away. "Lie down, you idiots!" yells Captain Cross to +the two soldiers who would spring up to cheer, but a moment more and +even the wounded wave their feeble hands and join in the triumphant +shout. The ridge is cleared of every vestige of the foe. The warriors +go speeding away eastward toward the Platte. Far out over the prairie, +to the northeast, a troop of blue horsemen are driving in pursuit, and, +over the neighboring crest, come a half dozen friendly forms and faces, +spurring their foam-flecked horses in the race. + +"Look up, sergeant! Look up, old man! Here's Fred himself. Didn't I tell +you he was no deserter?" It was Cross' voice, and it is Cross' strong +arm that lifts the wondering, trembling veteran to his feet. The young +fellow has leaped from his horse and is springing toward them. With +wondrous look of relief, of inexpressible joy, of gratitude beyond all +words, of almost Heaven-born rapture mingling with the sunshine in his +old face, the sergeant stretches forth his trembling arms and cries +aloud, "My boy! my boy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +INNOCENT OR GUILTY. + + +The provost sergeant at Fort Robinson is a man who has seen and heard a +great deal in the course of his army life, and who has the enviable +faculty of knowing everything that is going on around him, without +appearing to know anything at all. It had been his duty, a day or two +previous, to expel from the limits of the reservation a rascally pack of +gamblers--a species of two-legged prairie wolf that in the rough old +days on the frontier followed every movement of the Army paymasters, and +lured and trapped the soldiers until every cent of their money was gone. +In point of number the gamblers were strong enough to take care of +themselves in case of Indian attack, yet rarely did they venture far +from the protection of the nearest troops. Driven out of post and +forbidden to return, they had simply camped with their whole "outfit" at +the lower edge of the military reservation, where the laws of the State +of Nebraska and not the orders of Uncle Sam took precedence. And here +they "set up shop" again, and had a game going in full blast this very +sunshiny Sunday morning, and the provost sergeant knew all about it. He +also knew by ten o'clock that Sergeant Dawson and Private Patsy Donovan +of Charlton's troop, with some adventurous spirits from the garrison, +were down there, "bucking their luck" against the tricks of these +skilled practitioners; and it was not hard to predict what the result +would be. + +"Shall I take a file of the guard and fetch them back, sir?" he asked +the colonel commanding, and that gentleman glanced inquiringly at his +cavalry friend. + +"How say you, captain?" Charlton reflected a moment and then replied: + +"No, colonel. I should say let them have all the rope they choose to +take. I can get them when they are needed. You are sure about their +whereabouts on Tuesday and Wednesday nights?" he asked, turning to the +sergeant. + +"Perfectly, sir; and just what they lost and how much they owed the +quartermaster's gang when they left." + +"Just see where they are at noon then, and let me know," and the provost +sergeant went his way, leaving the officers in consultation. + +At noon the soldier telegrapher came hurrying to the colonel and handed +him a dispatch. + +"I feared as much," said the old soldier as he handed the paper to +Captain Charlton. "This means work for you at once. Let us go to the +office; there will be dispatches from Omaha presently. Isn't it strange +that no one at Sidney should have heard of the Indians getting over the +Platte?" + +At two o'clock Charlton's troop was in saddle, with only three familiar +faces missing from the line. In the new excitement the men had ceased to +speak of Trumpeter Fred. What puzzled them now was the absence of Dawson +and Donovan. A sergeant sent into the garrison, to warn them that the +troop was to march at once, came back to say that he had searched every +stable and corral; the horses were nowhere about the post or the Agency +stores, and men on guard said that they had seen the two troopers riding +away down White River soon after one o'clock, and they had not come +back. And when Graham reported them absent to Captain Charlton, as the +latter in his familiar scouting costume rode out to take command, the +whole troop was amazed that their leader seemed to treat it as a matter +of no consequence whatever. He returned the sergeant's salute and +inquired: + +"Every horse fed and watered?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Every man got two days' hard bread and bacon?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How much ammunition?" + +"Eighty rounds carbine per man--twenty revolver, sir." + +"Very good, sergeant;" and this brief colloquy ended, the sergeant +reined about and rode to the right flank. "Prepare to mount--mount!" +ordered the captain. "Form ranks!" and without further delay, "Fours +right--march!" and away they went up the lonely valley, along the +winding water, breaking into columns of twos and riding "at ease" the +moment they had passed the point where the post commander and a little +knot of officers had assembled to bid them God-speed. Captain Charlton +bent down from his saddle to grasp the colonel's extended hand and +whisper a few words in his ear. The colonel nodded appreciatively. "They +can't escape," he answered low, and then, watched by friendly eyes in +that little group until out of sight, and by fierce and lurking spies +until darkness shrouded them from view, the troop rode jauntily on its +mission; Charlton and Blunt in murmured consultation in the lead, and +forty-eight stalwart troopers confidently and unquestioningly following +in their tracks. Who cared that an all-night ride through Indian-haunted +wilds was before them? It was an old, old story to every man. + +Were there "ghost lights" on the Niobrara that night? The Indian spies +could swear by the deeds of their ancestors that the troop soon climbed +out of the valley of the White River and rode briskly southward by the +Sidney trail, and that every man was in his place in column when +they wound down in the "Running Water" flats at twilight. Yet +hours afterward, far to the west, miles away at the Laramie +crossing, there were twinkling, dancing, "firefly" gleams--like +will-o'-the-wisps--through the chinks and loop-holes of that old log +hut, and when morning came the ground was stamped with a fresh impress +of half a dozen set of hoof tracks--shod horses, not Indian ponies this +time. + +It must have meant "bad medicine" for the Sioux, for when morning came +all the bands that had been so confidently raiding the trails through +the settlements found themselves compelled to seek the shelter of their +reservations. From Laramie to Sidney the stalwart infantry came marching +to the scene, and from east, north, and west the cavalry came trotting, +troop after troop, to hem in and head them off. The very band that +ventured south of the Platte and killed in cold blood those helpless +teamsters, and then sought the destruction of Gaines and his men, +fleeing now before Wallace's troops, were met and soundly thrashed by +our friends of Company B, with Captain Charlton and Lieutenant Blunt in +the lead, and by Monday night the broad valley was clear of savage foes, +the cavalry were resting by their bivouac fires, and then, from the lips +of Captain Wallace, Charlton heard the story of Fred Waller's exploit, +and of the long gallop that brought about the rescue of Colonel Gaines. +Our captain could hardly wait for morning to come, but in two days more +he was standing by the bedside of his old sergeant at Sidney barracks, +and Trumpeter Fred was there too. + +One week later, in the big, sunshiny assembly room of the old barrack, +an impressive scene took place, and a long remembered though very brief +trial was brought to an abrupt close. A court-martial was in session at +Sidney; the general who commanded the department had himself arrived to +look into the condition of affairs about the Indian reservation, and +with Captain Charlton had had a long consultation, at the close of +which the bearded, kindly-faced brigadier had gone to the hospital with +the troop commander, and bending over old Waller as he lay upon the +narrow cot, took his hand and talked with him about Five Forks and +Appomattox, and then promised him that his wish should be respected. It +was a singular wish--a strange thing for a father to ask. Old Sergeant +Waller had insisted that his boy should be brought to trial before the +court-martial then in session, and convicted or acquitted of the double +charge of theft and desertion that had been lodged against him. In vain +Charlton represented to him that it was not necessary, nobody believed +the stories now; the veteran was firm and positive in the stand he +made. + +"Everywhere in this department, sir, my boy's name has been held up to +shame as a thief and a deserter. There is only one way to clear him; let +him stand trial, prove his innocence, and let us fix the guilt where it +belongs." And Waller was right. + + +Who that was in the court room that hot August morning, when the south +wind blew the dust-cloud into the post and burned the very skin from the +bronzed faces around the whitewashed wall, will ever forget the closing +incidents of that trial? At the long wooden table sat the nine officers +who composed the court with their gray-haired president at the head, +all dressed in their full uniforms, all grave and silent. At the lower +end of the table was the keen, shrewd face of the young judge advocate +who conducted the entire proceedings. On one side of him, quiet, +self-possessed, and patient, sat little Fred, neat and trim as a new pin +in his faultless fatigue dress. A little behind the boy was his captain, +Charlton, and along the wall, at the end of the room, Colonel Gaines, +with his arm still in a sling, and Captain Cross, with his piercing +restless eyes and "fighting face." On the other side of the judge +advocate stood the chair in which witness after witness had taken his +seat and given his testimony, and now at high noon it was empty, and +the crowd of spectators, sitting in respectful silence around the room, +craned their necks and gazed at the doorway in hushed, yet eager +curiosity to see the man whose name had just been passed to the orderly. +It was understood that the case for the prosecution depended mainly upon +his evidence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +COURT-MARTIAL. + + +First Sergeant Graham had sworn to the disappearance of the money at the +Niobrara and the fact that at daybreak the trumpeter had gone with his +horse, arms, and equipments. He also told of his belief that he and the +men who slept near him that night had been stupefied by chloroform. Two +other troopers told of the loss of their money at the same time; the +hospital steward from Fort Robinson testified to Fred's coming to him +and getting a little vial of chloroform on a forged request from +Sergeant Graham. Corporal Watts had positively identified a ten-dollar +bill, which was in the trumpeter's possession when he was searched (at +his own request) when first accused of the crime, as one stolen from him +at the Niobrara. He had had some experience, he said, and had made a +record of the numbers; and this record, in a little notebook, was +exhibited to the court. + +Not once had the defense interposed or asked a question. It was +evidently the policy of Fred's advisers to let the prosecution go as far +as it chose. And now came the announcement of the name that was most +intimately connected with the case, and Sergeant Dawson in his complete +uniform strolled into court, removed the gauntlet from his right hand, +and holding it aloft, looked the judge advocate squarely in the face and +swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. +Then he sat down and glanced quickly around him, but his eyes did not +seem to see Fred Waller, nor did they rest for an instant on Captain +Charlton, who, tugging at his mustache, looked steadily at the face of +his left guide. Then began the slow, painful, cumbrous method by which +the law of the land requires military courts to extract their evidence, +every question and answer being reduced to writing. Sergeant Dawson +gave, as required, his full rank, troop, regiment, and station, but +hesitated as to the latter point. "I was left behind at Red Cloud when +the troop came away Sunday a week ago, sir, along with Private Donovan, +and we were kept there until I got orders to come here with the hospital +steward. I just got in this morning, and I'm told the troop is back at +the Platte crossing." But the matter of station was of no particular +consequence, and the examination proceeded. Yes, he knew the prisoner, +Trumpeter Fred Waller, Troop B, and had known him several years before +he had enlisted. Told to tell in his own way what he knew of the +circumstances that led to the charges against Waller, the witness +cleared his throat and began. + +It was the night they camped at the Niobrara, giving the date, that the +prisoner seemed restless. All the men expected the Indians to make an +attempt to run off the horses, and all were wakeful, but he had most +occasion to notice Waller, who didn't seem able to sleep. That night +passed without alarm of any kind, but the next night it was very dark, +the moon went down at eleven, and the horses got to stamping and +snorting. Witness was sergeant of the guard, and all night long had to +be moving about among his sentries and the herd. About midnight he had +come in to the fire, where Sergeant Graham was sleeping, to clean out +his pipe, that had clogged. His leather wallet, with his money and some +papers, was inside the canvas scouting jacket that the captain allowed +him and others of the men to wear, and he took the jacket off a few +minutes while he walked over to the stream and soused his head and face +in the cold water, a thing he always tried to do when he felt sleepy. +While there he thought he heard a call from the sentry up the stream and +he ran thither, and it was just then that the horses began making such a +fuss. He kept around among the sentries, trying to find out the cause, +and did not go back to the fire until it was all quiet after two +o'clock, and then he slipped into his jacket and overcoat and hurried +back to where Donovan was on post below the bivouac. There was some +noise they could not understand, far out on the prairie in that +direction. He never missed his money and the wallet until daybreak, when +it was discovered that Waller had gone. He never heard him steal away +during the night, and was simply amazed when told of his desertion. The +lieutenant had been disposed to blame him at first for letting the +trumpeter get away with his horse, but no man could have been more +vigilant than he was. "The captain had never blamed him," he was sure +from the captain's manner when he spoke to him about it at Red Cloud. +And Dawson looked confidently now at his commander, but that gentleman +never changed a muscle of his face. + +As was customary, the judge advocate inquired if the prisoner had any +questions to ask, and the spectators were amazed when he calmly +answered, "No." Big beads of sweat were trickling down the sergeant's +face by this time, but he could not control the look of wonderment that +flashed for one instant into his eyes at this refusal of a valued +privilege. + +"Has the court any questions?" asked the judge advocate, and to the +still greater wonderment of spectators and witness no member of the +court appeared to care to inquire further. When Sergeant Dawson left +the court room and walked away toward the barracks he knew that all eyes +were upon him, and just as soon as he could throw aside his saber, +helmet, and full dress he lost no time in getting to the trader's store +and swallowing half a tumbler of raw whisky. He thought the ordeal over +and that he was free. It was with a sensation of something like +premonition that, as he came forth, he saw at the barracks the orderly +of the court-martial, who had been sent to warn him that he would be +called by the defense at two o'clock. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PRISON AND PROMOTION. + + +That afternoon the court room was crowded when Sergeant Dawson retook +his seat and glanced for the first time at the prisoner before him. In +front of the boy was a little table, on which was a number of slips of +paper. One of these was quietly passed to the judge advocate, who took +it, wheeled in his chair, and read aloud: + +"What answer did you give Lieutenant Blunt when he asked if you had +been outside the sentry-line the night the prisoner disappeared?" + +"I told him that I had not, sir," was the prompt reply. + +The judge advocate posted the reply on his record sheet, and wrote the +answer below. Then came another slip. + +"What answer did you give the captain when asked if any man had ridden +back toward the Niobrara the morning the troop left there for Red +Cloud?" + +The sergeant's throat seemed to clog a little, but he gulped down the +obstruction. "I said no man went back, sir." + +"What buildings, if any, were there near the spot where the troop was in +bivouac on the Niobrara?" + +Dawson's face was losing its ruddy hue, but the beads of sweat were +starting afresh. + +"An old empty log hut, sir. I didn't take much notice of it, sir." + +"How far from the sentries was it?" + +"I don't just know, sir. Two or three hundred yards perhaps." His lips +were beginning to twitch, and his eyes to wander nervously from face to +face. + +"How much money did you lose with your wallet that night?" + +"Over sixty dollars, sir; every cent I had." + +"What answer did you give Captain Charlton at Red Cloud when he asked +you if you had seen anything of it since that night?" + +"I told him no, sir." + +"With whose money were you playing cards then, below Red Cloud, on the +Sunday the troop marched away, leaving you behind?" + +Dawson's face was ghastly. He choked for a moment, then seemed to make a +desperate effort to pull himself together. "It wasn't so, sir," he +muttered; then more loudly, "It was just a few dollars I borrowed," he +began, but looking furtively around he caught one glimpse of his +captain's stern face, and just beyond him, through the open window, the +sight of a tall, straight form in the uniform of the infantry. It was +the provost sergeant from Fort Robinson. + +"It wasn't mine," he weakly murmured. + +Another slip, and in the same cool, relentless tone the judge advocate +read: + +"What reason had you for taking your horse to the post blacksmith, +instead of the cavalry farrier, to be shod the evening you reached Fort +Robinson?" + +Again the pallor of his face was almost ghastly, a hunted and desperate +look came into his flitting eyes. One could have heard a pin drop +anywhere in the court room, so intense was the silence. For the first +time Dawson began to realize that his every movement had been watched, +traced, and reported--and still he strove to rally. + +"He was a better horse-shoer, that's all." + +"You have testified that you did not go outside of the line on the night +of the camp on the Niobrara, and did not allow anyone to go back after +the troop marched away. For what purpose did you, yourself, ride back +and enter the log hut you described?" + +"I--I never did," gasped Dawson, with glaring eyes and ashen face, +"I----" but his tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth, for +Captain Charlton quietly arose, stepped forward, and placed upon the +table a large, flat wallet, at sight of which the sergeant's nerves gave +way entirely. He made one or two efforts to speak, he struggled as if +to rise, his eyes rolled in his head, and in another instant he was +slipping helplessly to the floor. A young surgeon sprang to his side as +the bystanders strove to lift him, and with one brief glance turned to +the court: "Mr. President, this man is in a spasm, and should be taken +to the hospital." + +"Very good, sir," was the calm reply. "Major Edwards, will you see to it +that a sentry is posted over him. That man must not be allowed to +escape." + +Two more witnesses were examined that afternoon--the provost sergeant +and Captain Charlton. The former testified that Dawson had been gambling +and had lost heavily in the post before pay day; that on that fateful +Sunday, bill after bill he had seen him pay--over one hundred dollars at +the table in the gamblers' tent down below the reservation--before he +interfered, warned him of the departure of his troop, and ordered him to +report in garrison with his horse at once. Donovan had merely been a +looker-on at the mad game in which the sergeant had sought to recover +his losses. + +Charlton stated that, after his investigation at Red Cloud, he was +confident that Dawson was the trooper who rode back to the old ranch, +and that something must be concealed there. Searching it late, Sunday +night, he found in the dugout a spot where the earth had been recently +scooped away, and there in Dawson's old rubber poncho was the wallet +with his papers and about two hundred dollars of the missing money, or +what his men believed to be such. + +And then, amid the sympathetic glances of all the court, young Fred told +his strange but soldierly story. It was Dawson who asked him to get the +chloroform for him at Red Cloud and gave him the folded pencil note; it +was Dawson who suggested to him the idea of sleeping down below the +bivouac that evening near where Donovan was posted, and it was Dawson +who roused him suddenly and startlingly in the dead of the night. "Up +with you, Fred, boy!" he had said. "Up with you, but make no noise. +There's the devil's own news! The Indians are out everywhere! The +lieutenant's just got a courier from Robinson, and he and Sergeant +Graham have to write dispatches to go right to the captain at Laramie. +You know the whole Platte valley, and how to get across and reach the +Sidney road below?" Of course he did. "Then the lieutenant says, for +God's sake lose not a minute; go for all you're worth; keep well to the +west until you cross the Platte, and then make for the southeast, and +warn back everybody who is coming north. He says Mrs. Charlton and the +children were to come that way, Saturday or Sunday, to join the captain +at Red Cloud. You can save them, if you're in time." + +Suddenly roused from sleep, Fred was bewildered for an instant; could +only realize that his loved benefactors and friends were in deadly peril +and that he was chosen to haste and rescue them, Dawson lifted him into +the saddle; pressed some money into his hand to buy food when he reached +the settlement or Sidney, in case he met no travelers this side; led him +to the water's edge, and bade him lose not an instant. He never dreamed +of harm or wrong or plot until his wounded father told him the foul +charge against him, after his long and gallant ride that blazing +Sunday. + +Then for a moment the little man broke down and sobbed; and old war-worn +soldiers in the court turned away with glistening eyes, and the +president, rapping on the table, huskily ordered the room to be cleared. +Charlton's arms were around his trumpeter's shoulders as he led him to +the open air, and to his father's bedside. "Cleared!" he said, in answer +to the longing look in the sergeant's eyes. "Cleared! There isn't a man, +woman, or child in all the post that doesn't know the verdict, and that +Dawson is doomed to four years in prison." And then he left them +together and alone. + + [Illustration: HE SOUNDED THE RETREAT.] + +Dawson's trial and confession settled it all. He himself was the thief, +who sought in this way to replace the money lost in gambling and to +throw upon Fred Waller, should he escape, the burden of the crime. But a +merciful God had watched over the boy in his brave and loyal effort; had +guided him in safety through a host of savage foes, and led him on to +honor and vindication in the end. For months there was no happier boy on +all the wide frontier than the little hero of the Sidney route; no +happier father than brave old Sergeant Waller. + + +Long years afterward, riding one evening into a cavalry camp on the +Southern plains, Captain Cross and the writer noted a tall, blue-eyed, +bronzed-cheeked trooper, whose twirling mustache was almost the color +of the faded yellow of the chevrons on his sleeve. Despite dust and the +rough prairie dress, no finer soldier had met their eyes in the long +column that went flitting by. + +"Who is that young first sergeant?" + +"That?" answered Cross in surprise. "Don't you know who that is? Why, +man, that's Charlton's old Trumpeter Fred." + + +THE END. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + + + Text in italics is enclosed with underscores: _italics_. + + Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from + the original. + + Punctuation has been corrected without note. + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows: + Page 22: fellowed changed to followed + Page 70: aint changed to ain't + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trumpeter Fred, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUMPETER FRED *** + +***** This file should be named 37415.txt or 37415.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/1/37415/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, David E. 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