That ended the dance, but not the excitement. Women and girls were
seeking their wraps even before the corporal came, and now went
twittering homeward, each on the arm of her escort, except in the case
of those allied forces, the wives of certain seniors, who long had
lived, moved, and ruled in the regiment, and now in eager yet guarded
tones were discussing the events of the hour gone by. With these went
Mrs. Foster, her husband having joined the searching party, and her
sleigh, instead of returning, being still missing and unaccounted for.
Not yet midnight, and in the space of less than one hour all Fort
Cushing had been stirred by the news. A most popular and prominent young
officer had been placed in close arrest. A prominent, if not most
popular, sergeant, had been pummelled. An alarming scene of some kind
had occurred at the quarters of Captain Sumter. No one outside of the
immediate family knew just what had happened, and those inside cared not
to tell. Mrs. Sumter had hurried away the minute she learned that her
husband had gone. The colonel, sternly silent, led his wife to their
door, and there left her, saying he had summoned certain officers to
join him at once, and she, who ruled him in all matters domestic almost
as she managed the children, knew well that when roused he would brook
no interference in matters professional, and Bob Lanier, a prime
favorite of hers, had in some way managed to fall under the ban of his
extreme displeasure.
At the office were presently assembled the colonel, the adjutant, the
quartermaster, the post surgeon, and to them came Paymaster Scott. At
the "store," the only club-room they had in those days, were gathered
half the commissioned officers of the post. At Sumter's there kept
coming and going by twos and threes, from all along the officers' line,
a succession of sympathetic callers, who left even more mystified than
when they arrived. Mrs. Sumter was aloft with Kate and their guest, and,
as the captain civilly but positively told all visitors, "had to be
excused." One of the girls was "somewhat hysterical." Miriam had had a
fright in the dark on their return home and screamed. Something foolish,
probably, but none the less effective. No! Sumter thought Mrs. Sumter
would need no help, yet he was _so_ much obliged to the several who
suggested going up just to see if they couldn't "do something." Captain
Sumter was a devoted husband and father, a capital officer, and a
gentleman to the core, but the captain could be just a trifle distant at
times, and this was one of them.
Another house was virtually closed to question. To the disappointment of
many and the disapprobation of a few, Bob Lanier had closeted himself
with his classmate and most intimate friend "Dad" Ennis; then, after a
brief colloquy with Barker, the adjutant, had caused a big card to be
tacked on his door whereon was crayoned in bold black letters "BUSY."
But at quarter past twelve the assistant surgeon, Doctor Schuchardt,
called, as was known, for the second time, and entered without ceremony.
When the officer-of-the-day came tramping along the boardwalk at 12.30,
and turned in at the gate, he struck the panel with the hilt of his
sabre, by way of hint that his call was official and not to be denied.
Ennis, therefore, came to the door, but came with gloomy brow.
"I am ordered by Colonel Button to ask certain questions of Lieutenant
Lanier," said the official from the depths of his fur cap.
"How's that, Doc?" called Ennis, over his massive shoulder. "Can your
patient see the officer-of-the-day?"
"Not yet, with my consent," came the stout answer.
"Shout your questions, captain," sang out the patient, with much too
little humility of manner, yet Lanier knew Curbit well and knew his
mission to be unwelcome.
Therefore, in Captain Curbit's most official tones, _ab imo pectore_,
came question the first:
"Is Trooper Rawdon in hiding anywhere about your quarters?"
To which, truculently, came response in Lanier's unmistakable voice:
"He is not, if _I_ know it."
"Do you know or suspect where he is?"
"Neither. And there is no reason why I should."
"Have you seen him--to-night?"