"Hold on a minute. I'm talking with some interested spectators."
Whereat the shadow of the big man shot out of sight, and the ladies
found that it was useless to remain,--there would be no further
developments so long as they did; and so they came away, with many a
lingering backward look. "But the idea of asking such a fool question as
'How's that?' Why couldn't the man _say_ what he meant?" It was
gathered, however, that Armitage and Chester had been making some
experiments that bore in some measure on the mystery. And all this time
Mr. Jerrold was in his quarters, only a stone's-throw away. How
interested _he_ must have been!
But, while the garrison was relieved at knowing that Alice Renwick would
not be on hand for the german and it was being fondly hoped she might
never return to the post, there was still another grievous
embarrassment. How about Mr. Jerrold?
He had been asked to lead when the german was first projected, and had
accepted. That was fully two weeks before; and now--no one knew just
what ought to be done. It was known that Nina Beaubien had returned on
the previous day from a brief visit to the upper lakes, and that she had
a costume of ravishing beauty in which to carry desolation to the hearts
of the garrison belles in leading that german with Mr. Jerrold. Old
Madame Beaubien had been reluctant, said her city friends, to return at
all. She heartily disapproved of Mr. Jerrold, and was bitterly set
against Nina's growing infatuation for him. But Nina was headstrong and
determined: moreover, she was far more than a match for her mother's
vigilance, and it was known at Sibley that two or three times the girl
had been out at the fort with the Suttons and other friends when the
old lady believed her in quarters totally different. Cub Sutton had
confided to Captain Wilton that Madame Beaubien was in total ignorance
of the fact that there was to be a party at the doctor's the night he
had driven out with Nina and his sister, and that Nina had "pulled the
wool over her mother's eyes" and made her believe she was going to spend
the evening with friends in town, naming a family with whom the
Beaubiens were intimate. A long drive always made the old lady sleepy,
and, as she had accompanied Nina to the fort that afternoon, she went
early to bed, having secured her wild birdling, as she supposed, from
possibility of further meetings with Jerrold. For nearly a week, said
Cub, Madame Beaubien had dogged Nina so that she could not get a moment
with the man with whom she was evidently so smitten, and the girl was
almost at her wits' end with seeing the depth of his flirtation with
Alice Renwick and the knowledge that on the morrow her mother would
spirit her off to the cool breezes and blue waves of the great lake. Cub
said she so worked on Fanny's feelings that they put up the scheme
together and made him bring them out. Gad! if old Maman only found it
out there'd be no more germans for Nina. She'd ship her off to the good
Sisters at Creve-Coeur and slap her into a convent and leave all her
money to the Church.
And yet, said city society, old Maman idolized her beautiful daughter
and could deny her no luxury or indulgence. She dressed her superbly,
though with a somewhat barbaric taste where Nina's own good sense and
Eastern teaching did not interfere. What she feared was that the girl
would fall in love with some adventurer, or--what was quite as bad--some
army man who would carry her darling away to Arizona or other
inaccessible spot. Her plan was that Nina should marry here--at
home--some one of the staid young merchant princes rising into
prominence in the Western metropolis, and from the very outset Nina had
shown a singular infatuation for the buttons and straps and music and
heaven-knows-what-all out at the fort. She gloried in seeing her
daughter prominent in all scenes of social life. She rejoiced in her
triumphs, and took infinite pains with all preparations. She would have
set her foot against Nina's simply dancing the german at the fort with
Jerrold as a partner, but she could not resist it that the papers should
announce on Sunday morning that "the event of the season at Fort Sibley
was the german given last Tuesday night by the ladies of the garrison
and led by the lovely Miss Beaubien" with Lieutenant or Captain
Anybody. There were a dozen bright, graceful, winning women among the
dames and damsels at the fort, and Alice Renwick was a famous beauty by
this time. It was more than Maman Beaubien could withstand, that her
Nina should "lead" all these, and so her consent was won. Back they came
from Chequamegon, and the stately home on Summit Avenue reopened to
receive them. It was Monday noon when they returned, and by three
o'clock Fanny Sutton had told Nina Beaubien what she knew of the
wonderful rumors that were floating in from Sibley. She was more than
half disposed to be in love with Jerrold herself. She expected a proper
amount of womanly horror, incredulity, and indignation; but she was
totally unprepared for the outburst that followed. Nina was transformed
into a tragedy queen on the instant, and poor, simple-hearted, foolish
Fanny Sutton was almost scared out of her small wits by the fire of
denunciation and fury with which her story was greeted. She came home
with white, frightened face and hunted up Cub and told him that she had
been telling Nina some of the queer things the ladies had been saying
about Mr. Jerrold, and Nina almost tore her to pieces, and could he go
right out to the fort to see Mr. Jerrold? Nina wanted to send a note at
once; and if he couldn't go she had made her promise that she would get
somebody to go instantly and to come back and let her know before four
o'clock. Cub was always glad of an excuse to go out to the fort, but a
coldness had sprung up between him and Jerrold. He had heard the ugly
rumors in that mysterious way in which all such things are heard, and,
while his shallow pate could not quite conceive of such a monstrous
scandal and he did not believe half he heard, he sagely felt that in the
presence of so much smoke there was surely some fire, and avoided the
man from whom he had been inseparable. Of course he had not spoken to
him on the subject, and, singularly enough, this was the case with all
the officers at the post except Armitage and the commander. It was
understood that the matter was in Chester's hands, to do with as was
deemed best. It was believed that his resignation had been tendered; and
all these forty-eight hours since the story might be said to be fairly
before the public, Jerrold had been left much to himself, and was
presumably in the depths of dismay.
One or two men, urged by their wives, who thought it was really time
something were done to let him understand he ought not to lead the
german, had gone to see him and been refused admission. Asked from
within what they wanted, the reply was somewhat difficult to frame, and
in both cases resolved itself into "Oh, about the german;" to which
Jerrold's voice was heard to say, "The german's all right. I'll lead if
I'm well enough and am not bothered to death meantime; but I've got some
private matters to attend to, and am not seeing anybody to-day." And
with this answer they were fain to be content. It had been settled,
however, that the officers were to tell Captain Chester at ten o'clock
that in their opinion Mr. Jerrold ought not to be permitted to attend so
long as this mysterious charge hung over him; and Mr. Rollins had been
notified that he must be ready to lead.
Poor Rollins! He was in sore perplexity. He wanted nothing better than
to dance with Nina Beaubien. He wondered if she _would_ lead with him,
or would even come at all when she learned that Jerrold would be unable
to attend. "Sickness" was to be the ostensible cause, and in the youth
and innocence of his heart Rollins never supposed that Nina would hear
of all the other assignable reasons. He meant to ride in and call upon
her Monday evening; but, as ill luck would have it, old Sloat, who was
officer of the day, stepped on a round pebble as he was going down the
long flight to the railway-station, and sprained his ankle. Just at five
o'clock Rollins got orders to relieve him, and was returning from the
guard-house, when who should come driving in but Cub Sutton, and Cub
reined up and asked where he would be apt to find Mr. Jerrold.
"He isn't well, and has been denying himself to all callers to-day,"
said Rollins, shortly.
"Well, I've got to see him, or at least get a note to him," said Cub.
"It's from Miss Beaubien, and requires an answer."
"You know the way to his quarters, I presume," said Rollins, coldly:
"you have been there frequently. I will have a man hold your horse, or
you can tie him there at the rail, just as you please."
"Thanks. I'll go over, I believe." And go he did, and poor Rollins was
unable to resist the temptation of watching whether the magic name of
Nina would open the door. It did not; but he saw Cub hand in the little
note through the shutters, and ere long there came another from within.
This Cub stowed in his waistcoat-pocket and drove off with, and Rollins
walked jealously homeward. But that evening he went through a worse
experience, and it was the last blow to his budding passion for
sparkling-eyed Nina.
It was nearly tattoo, and a dark night, when Chester suddenly came in:
"Rollins, you remember my telling you I was sure some of the men had
been getting liquor in from the shore down below the station and
'running it' that way? I believe we can nab the smuggler this evening.
There's a boat down there now. The corporal has just told me."
Smuggling liquor was one of Chester's horrors. He surrounded the post
with a cordon of sentries who had no higher duty, apparently, than that
of preventing the entrance of alcohol in any form. He had run a
"red-cross" crusade against the post-trader's store in the matter of
light wines and small beer, claiming that only adulterated stuff was
sold to the men, and forbidding the sale of anything stronger than "pop"
over the trader's counter. Then, when it became apparent that liquor was
being brought on the reservation, he made vigorous efforts to break up
the practice. Colonel Maynard rather poohpoohed the whole business. It
was his theory that a man who was determined to have a drink might
better be allowed to take an honest one, _coram publico_, than a
smuggled and deleterious article; but he succumbed to the rule that only
"light wines and beer" should be sold at the store, and was lenient to
the poor devils who overloaded and deranged their stomachs in
consequence. But Chester no sooner found himself in command than he
launched into the crusade with redoubled energy, and spent hours of the
day and night trying to capture invaders of the reservation with a
bottle in their pockets. The bridge was guarded, so was the crossing of
the Cloudwater to the south, and so were the two roads entering from the
north and west; and yet there was liquor coming in, and, as though "to
give Chester a benefit," some of the men in barracks had a royal old
spree on Saturday night, and the captain was sorer-headed than any of
the participants in consequence. In some way he heard that a rowboat
came up at night and landed supplies of contraband down by the
river-side out of sight and hearing of the sentry at the
railway-station, and it was thither he hurriedly led Rollins this Monday
evening.
They turned across the railway on reaching the bottom of the long
stairs, and scrambled down the rocky embankment on the other side,
Rollins following in reluctant silence and holding his sword so that it
would not rattle, but he had no faith in the theory of smugglers. He
felt in some vague and unsatisfactory way a sense of discomfort and
anxiety over his captain's late proceedings, and this stealthy descent
seemed fraught with ill omen.
Once down in the flats, their footsteps made no noise in the yielding
sand, and all was silence save for the plash of the waters along the
shores. Far down the river were the reflections of one or two twinkling
lights, and close under the bank in the slack-water a few stars were
peeping at their own images, but no boat was there, and the captain led
still farther to a little copse of willow, and there, in the shadows,
sure enough, was a row-boat, with a little lantern dimly burning, half
hidden in the stern.
Not only that, but as they halted at the edge of the willows the captain
put forth a warning hand and cautioned silence. No need. Rollins's
straining eyes were already fixed on two figures that were standing in
the shadows not ten feet away,--one that of a tall, slender man, the
other a young girl. It was a moment before Rollins could recognize
either; but in that moment the girl had turned suddenly, had thrown her
arms about the neck of the tall young man, and, with her head pillowed
on his breast, was gazing up in his face.
"Kiss me once more, Howard. Then I must go," they heard her whisper.
Rollins seized his captain's sleeve, and strove, sick at heart, to pull
him back; but Chester stoutly stood his ground. In the few seconds more
that they remained they saw his arms more closely enfold her. They saw
her turn at the brink, and, in an utter abandonment of rapturous,
passionate love, throw her arms again about his neck and stand on tiptoe
to reach his face with her warm lips. They could not fail to hear the
caressing tone of her every word, or to mark his receptive but gloomy
silence. They could not mistake the voice,--the form, shadowy though it
was. The girl was Nina Beaubien, and the man, beyond question, Howard
Jerrold. They saw him hand her into the light skiff and hurriedly kiss
her good-night. Once again, as though she could not leave him, her arms
were thrown about his neck and she clung to him with all her strength;
then the little boat swung slowly out into the stream, the sculls were
shipped, and with practised hand Nina Beaubien pulled forth into the
swirling waters of the river, and the faint light, like slowly-setting
star, floated downward with the sweeping tide and finally disappeared
beyond the point.
Then Jerrold turned to leave, and Chester stepped forth and confronted
him:
"Mr. Jerrold, did I not instruct you to confine yourself to your
quarters until satisfactory explanation was made of the absences with
which you are charged?"
Jerrold started at the abrupt and unlooked-for greeting, but his answer
was prompt:
"Not at all, sir. You gave me to understand that I was to remain
here--not to leave the post--until you had decided on certain points;
and, though I do not admit the justice of your course, and though you
have put me to grave inconvenience, I obeyed the order. I needed to go
to town to-day on urgent business, but, between you and Captain
Armitage, am in no condition to go. For all this, sir, there will come
proper retribution when my colonel returns. And now, sir, you are spying
upon me,--_spying_, I say,--and it only confirms what I said of you
before."
"Silence, Mr. Jerrold! This is insubordination."
"I don't care a damn what it is, sir! There is nothing contemptuous
enough for me to say of you or your conduct to me--"
"Not another word, Mr. Jerrold! Go to your quarters in arrest.--Mr.
Rollins, you are witness to this language."
But Rollins was not. Turning from the spot in blankness of heart before
a word was uttered between them, he followed the waning light with eyes
full of yearning and trouble; he trudged his way down along the sandy
shore until he came to the silent waters of the slough and could go no
farther; and then he sat him down and covered his face with his hands.
It was pretty hard to bear.