Friday again, and late in the day, and Bob Lanier's arrest lacked but a
few hours of its first full week, and Bob was in bandages and bed in a
sunny room of the hospital. Ennis, after a long night in saddle and a
short "spat" with the colonel, was taking a much needed nap. Stannard
and his wife had gone down to Doctor Mayhew's to meet Mrs. Osborn, who
had come to spend the afternoon. Paymaster Scott was up and about, and,
in his independent way, had been saying unrelishable things to Button,
who was in most peppery frame of mind. A wire had come from department
headquarters to say an inspector would follow. "Instead of ordering a
general court to try Lieutenant Lanier, they have ordered a colonel out
to try me, by gad!" said Button. "For that's just what it all amounts
to."
And of all colonels to investigate matters at Cushing, there wasn't one
in the army Button would not rather have had than the very one who was
coming--bluff, blunt, rasping old Riggs, best known to fame and Fort
Cushing, as "Black Bill."
"Why," said Button, to Scott, "this sending one field officer of cavalry
to sit in judgment on the official deeds of another is nothing short
of--of infamous, and I'm amazed at Crook's doing it."
"It ain't Crook," said Scott, not without a little malicious delight in
Button's disgust. "He's away up at Washakie, and of course his adjutant
general don't want to act or even advise until he knows all about it.
You've seen fit to charge Lanier with all manner of things, and I don't
wonder headquarters are staggered."
"But--_Bill Riggs_--to come and overhaul _my_ regiment, when it's
notorious he never could command even a two-company camp without having
everybody by the ears! Such men aren't fit to be inspectors!"
Indeed, there was much to warrant poor Button's disgust. He had
preferred most serious charges against Lanier. He had accused him of
quitting camp on campaign, quitting his guard in garrison, quitting his
quarters when in arrest, failing to quit himself of a money obligation,
drinking and consorting with enlisted men, and in his letter of
transmittal he had intimated that there were other misdeeds he might yet
have to uncover. All, said Button, on the information of veteran
officers and sergeants of the regiment--notably Captains Curbit and
Snaffle, Lieutenants Crane and Trotter, Sergeants Whaling and
Fitzroy--and now here were both medical officers, both of his majors,
two of his best captains, seven of his subalterns, and nine-tenths of
the women folk at Fort Cushing taking sides with Lanier and issue with
him--their colonel and commander. And here, too, were Lieutenant and
Mrs. Foster, highly connected, influential, wealthy, insisting that his
most active and important witness, the unimpeachable Sergeant Fitzroy,
had corrupted their coachman, run off with their sleigh, and ruined
(this was Mrs. Foster) their horses.
Foster, first lieutenant of Snaffle's troop, seldom on speaking terms
with his captain, had discovered the deed at morning stables just five
minutes before the aggrieved sergeant drove in with the missing property
_and_ Lieutenant Ennis as escort. Foster was in a fury over it, the more
so because Fitzroy had maintained, respectfully enough but most
stubbornly, that the circumstances were such that he felt justified in
making immediate use of any property under his care or charge, that he
would explain everything to his captain and the colonel, but begged to
be excused in the lieutenant's present frame of mind from arguing the
matter with him.
And the story Snaffle told Button before Foster could reach him went far
to strengthen Fitzroy's position. Snaffle said that so far from
Fitzroy's corrupting the coachman, the boot should be on the other foot,
were Fitzroy corruptible--that Foster would find his coachman a
double-dyed liar when he came to the truth of that runaway the night of
the dance--that Foster's sleigh and carriage and driving horses had no
right in a Government stable anyhow--were only there on sufferance
(which was true, for Foster kept saddlers besides--all the law allowed
him)--and that under the circumstances, when, as was well known, at
least twenty officers and troopers on Government mounts had gone forth
at night in violation of standing orders, without the commanding
officer's knowledge or consent--all on the plea of rescuing Mayhew's
daughter, Lieutenant Foster ought to be ashamed of himself for abusing
Fitzroy for taking the sleigh in hopes of having a warm nest to fetch
the poor girl home in as soon as he'd found her. "Sure, did Mr. Ennis
expect her to ride back on his cantle on so bitter a night? Faith,
Fitzroy was worth the whole pack of 'em put together, if they'd only let
him alone."
And that, at nine o'clock, when Ennis was sent for, was the colonel's
way of looking at it. Moreover, he had a rasp up his sleeve for our
massive young friend on half a dozen other counts.
"In point of fact, Mr. Ennis, that girl has simply fooled the whole
party and is probably laughing at all of you. A girl that will run away
without a word or line to her father, and marry an out-and-out
adventurer--a mere nobody--has neither heart nor head anyhow. And now
you've interfered in a matter of discipline just as Mr. Lanier did, and
I gave _you_ credit for better sense. You know I had ordered that
fellow's arrest."
Ennis took it all, all this and more, in grave silence and
subordination. He would have gone without a word, but Button would not
so have it. Button demanded his reasons, and began hitting back before
Ennis had named even two. This brought on the "spat," as Barker
irreverently described it, and left the colonel in no judicial mood in
which to see Stannard, Sumter, and others, as see them he had to in
course of the day.
But flatly he swore that Sergeant Fitzroy should not go in arrest. It
was only too clear they sought to make a victim of him.
And so all Fort Cushing seemed in turmoil and trouble as the sun of the
23d went out and "Black Bill" came in, yet that sun must have been
potent, for Mrs. Stannard's face, as homeward she sped, after a long
talk with Mrs. Osborn, was radiant with sunshiny smiles. "You're not to
know anything yet, Luce, at least until you get it from Doctor Mayhew,
for you never could keep it, and for a week at least it's got to be
kept."
"Well, one thing you _can_ tell," said the major, "that is, if you know,
and put a stop to an awful amount of censure that poor girl's getting.
Why did she leave no word for her father?"
"Because she expected to be home in two hours;" and the reader can judge
just how full and satisfactory must that answer have been.
But were matters mending for Mr. Lanier? was the question still
troubling Mrs. Stannard. Neither Kate nor Miriam had she seen since the
night of the fire. Miriam Arnold was confined to her room. Kate Sumter
would not leave her, and yet over these two devoted friends there still
hovered a spell. The mutual trust and faith seemed shaken. The old
confidence or intimacy was gone.
Now, whatever Mrs. Osborn had told that so cheered Mrs. Stannard, it is
certain the latter could not contain herself long, and that, even as
the major was summoned, toward nine of the evening, to join the solemn
conclave at the colonel's (where by this time Button had opened
proceedings by giving "Black Bill" the best dinner a frontier larder and
cellar afforded), she bustled over to the Sumters', was delightedly
welcomed by her friend and neighbor, whose husband, too, had been called
to council, and presently these two sages were in confidential chat.
To them presently entered the captain, electric, bristling. He wanted
the bundle of latest newspapers. They had not half read them, and
Colonel Button was all eagerness to see some articles concerning the
campaign about which Riggs had been twitting him--asking him whom he had
subsidized at this late hour to rescue his reputation, etc. Riggs had
seen three long, well-written letters in the great New York _Morning
Mail_, obviously the work of a correspondent on the spot, an eye-witness
to the scenes he had described, and these letters refuted the calumnies
recently heaped on Button and his comrades--gave him, in fact, high
praise for soldiership, bravery, energy, even though the writer owned
himself by no means one of the colonel's circle, if, indeed, one of his
personal friends and admirers. Only the Sumters, at Cushing, subscribed
for the _Morning Mail_. Riggs had seen the paper at Omaha. It took a
search of some minutes before even the first was found. Then Sumter's
eyes danced as he read, and Mrs. Sumter exclaimed over another, and for
the first time in a week sounds of cheer arose in that little home.
Presently Mrs. Stannard read aloud a spirited, stirring paragraph,
describing a dash led by Lieutenant Lanier, and then Sumter made a swoop
for all three pages and said, "The quicker Button can see these the
sooner he'll come to his senses," and begging pardon for the rudeness,
took the papers and his leave and almost collided with Kate, who at
sound of the name and the glad ring of the voices had crept down-stairs
for the news.
And so she had to come in and see Mrs. Stannard, and hear some few at
least of the details of Dora Mayhew's romantic, runaway marriage, and
while they were being told tattoo was sounded, and then Mrs. Stannard
asked if she might not creep up-stairs and see Miriam; she thought she
might cheer her a bit. This left mother and daughter alone together, and
again, and even more painfully, Mrs. Sumter noted how sad and
unresponsive was Kate at mention of Lanier.
It must have been nearly an hour later when Sumter came hurriedly in,
threw his furs off in the hall, and with troubled face re-entered the
parlor. His wife rose instantly, laid her head upon his arm, and asked,
"What has happened?"
"A scene the like of which I never thought to hear of in this regiment.
We had adjourned to the office. Snaffle had been drinking a bit and got
angered and flustered when Riggs cross-examined him. One thing led to
another, and finally in exasperation he blurted out, 'I'm sick of being
called the accuser of Mr. Lanier. By God, I've defended him! I've hidden
worse things than ever I told you yet, and now I'll stand it no longer!
You twit me with spying and slandering. Then by all that's holy, you
shall say here and now who's the better man. 'T was Lieutenant Lanier
himself that leapt from the window this night a week ago--the back upper
window of Sumter's quarters. That's how his hand was cut and torn, and
I've got three men that'll swear to it!'"
He broke off suddenly, for Kate had turned, flung herself from the room
and into the arms of Mrs. Stannard. One long look into the sorrowful
eyes of his wife, and Sumter quickly followed, and drew the sobbing girl
from those kind arms into his own.
"My child, my child," he said, "surely you did not _see_ him?"
"No! No! No!" was the instant answer. "No!" again she sobbed.
"Then tell me what it means, Kate, daughter. It is--I demand it!"
"Oh, father, father--it was--it was what I _heard_--when she
screamed--and fell?"
"_What_ did you hear?"
"The other voice--_his_ voice. It said plainly, 'Miriam, hush! Don't you
know me?'"