Great was the stir and turmoil at Wild Horse Creek. Long before
daylight, while all the gear was stiff with a rime of frost, tents
were struck, kit bags loaded, blankets rolled; and after breakfast
these, together with the Quartermaster's stores, mess kit, nosebags,
and all the equipments of a summer camp, were bestowed upon the
transport waggons. At noon the troop was to march on the first short
stage of a journey across the Rocky Mountains by the Crow's Nest Pass
to the winter station, the divisional headquarters on the Great
Plains.
But the wheels of routine were jarred long before mid-day. The
Colonel had, as a magistrate, to hear the charge of incendiarism
brought against the prisoners, Burrows and Ramsay. Moreover,
Regimental Number 1107, Constable La Mancha, on the expiration of his
term of service, was to "turn in" his kit, to receive his discharge,
and to be struck off the strength of the Force. But neither could
the arson case be examined for lack of the chief witness, nor could
La Mancha be discharged until he had surrendered his horse, arms,
accoutrements, and clothing. And the Blackguard was absent without
leave.
The Colonel was furious, reviled the Sergeant-Major, placed the
Corporal of the Guard under arrest, also the picket for permitting La
Mancha's midnight defection; the Sergeant-Major hurt the cook's
feelings by the tone in which he ordered the unpacking of camp
equipment for dinner; the men waited comfortless beside their horses;
and all with one accord reviled the Blackguard. But when the culprit
rode in at noon, accompanied by a lady whom he blandly presented to
the Sergeant-Major as the Señora La Mancha, D Troop changed its mind,
greeting the Blackguard with three rousing cheers. From the Colonel
to the troop dog all realised that the presence of a lady in camp had
changed the situation, particularly as the lady was obviously
attractive--a maid so sweetly shy that everything must be done to set
her at ease, to smooth the roughness of her surroundings, to show D
Troop on its best behaviour.
Leaving his wife in charge of Dandy Irvine, as the most presentable
man in the division, La Mancha went about the camp raking up
ill-conditioned rags and worn-out garments to represent his kit,
which was to be delivered over to the authorities, together with his
arms and accoutrements. At another time the Quartermaster would have
asked what scarecrow had been robbed, now he received the whole mess
of rubbish with his blandest smile. Changing into his cowboy
equipment, the Blackguard gave away his Government clothes to all who
would accept them as his parting gift, reserving only a fine buffalo
overcoat, a set of blankets, and some underwear for future use.
The Colonel hastily, sitting as magistrate, found means to discharge
his prisoners on the ground of insufficient evidence. Then the
Sergeant-Major presented La Mancha's discharge, filled in with the
obvious falsehood that his character and behaviour were both, and had
always been, "very good."
"Now, La Mancha," said the Colonel, "besides your pay you are
entitled to transport and sustenance to your place of
enlistment--Winnipeg. Will you have cash or a requisition?"
"Cash, sir."
The Colonel wrote out a cheque to cover the costs of this imaginary
journey of twelve hundred miles, a second cheque for La Mancha's pay
up to date, and a third in lieu of a wedding present from the
officers of the division.
Dinner followed, Dandy and all the non-commissioned officers fighting
among themselves for the right to serve the Señora La Mancha, who sat
in state upon a buffalo coat near their camp fire, all smiles and
blushes. This was her wedding breakfast, served under the frosty
blue sky by a swarm of soldiers, who one and all would have offered
with the beef and bread their hearts and hands, but for the prior
claims of their comrade.
Meanwhile the Blackguard, respectfully declining invitations from the
Officers' and Sergeants' Messes, dined for the last time with the
troop, and afterwards, when pipes were lit before the saddling,
accepted a wedding present from D Division which would materially
help in his provision for married life.
Only Mr. Burrows and Mr. Ramsay, discharged from their arrest and
welcomed by the Officers' Mess, were discontented with the wintry
sunlight, the dry bright wind, the scent of the dying summer.
Outwitted by the Blackguard, humiliated in their summary treatment by
the law, their grievance received hilariously as a huge joke, they
were only too glad to excuse themselves with a plea of pressing
business at the Throne, while their crestfallen departure after
dinner provoked the troop to a burst of ironical cheering.
But the Blackguard and his Señora, mounted on horses lent by the
Sergeant-Major, rode out with the troop on its first stage down the
valley, an adventure which Violet La Mancha will ever remember as the
most delightful thing in her life. Indeed, it was a sight to stir
one's blood, that march of frontier cavalry, to see the big bronzed
men sitting their horses with careless grace, the tough, wiry
bronchos walking sedately after a canter, the transport lumbering
briskly in the midst, and all down the long double line of riders the
gleam of blue rifle barrels, a glitter of belts, a glow of scarlet.
The valley reached away on every side in all its loveliness of bush
and prairie, on either side hung white Alps above the misty blue of
distant forest, and over all were soft little clouds like herds of
driven sheep, while the sun raced westward to his setting through dim
immensities of sky.
"See," said the Blackguard proudly to his wife, "yonder, right at the
foot of the hills, I've built a cabin for you of great big logs, and
the chinks are all filled in with moss to make it cosy. The hearth
is in the snuggest corner, and all the furniture is made with an axe
of clean red cedar, smelling ever so fresh, like pencils. You can
look out among the pine trees down to the creek, which is full of
trout for our supper, and I've chopped away the bush, so that when we
sit by the door after sundown we can see right away across the valley
to the great high peaks above the Crow's Nest Pass. Will you be
contented, little one?"
"Yes, I shall always be content, because I have you, my great big
Blackguard--and I love you."