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.