THE PREMONITION.
In just two hours after receiving his orders to go to the front,
Lieutenant Carey rode up to the colonel's quarters and dismounted,
and an orderly led behind him a horse equipped with a lady's saddle,
while groups of soldiers stood about and shook their heads ominously at
thought of the daring venture to be made by the young officer and his
fair charge.
Lieutenant Kit Carey was splendidly mounted, and ready for the field,
when he presented himself before Colonel Crandall, for he had on his
sword, a revolver in his belt, and a pair of Colt's, of heavy caliber,
in his saddle holsters.
A blanket rolled behind his saddle, a pair of leather pockets attached
to his saddle, and an army overcoat, made up his equipment, for he was
going "light," as the soldiers say.
There was a revolver in the holster attached to the lady's saddle, a
pair of leather pockets, a closely-rolled _serape_, and no more, for
Miss Foshay's and the lieutenant's baggage was to follow by wagon-train
a few days later, when a force was to go from Colonel Crandall's post
to reinforce General Brooke in the field.
"I am ready, Lieutenant Carey, and must thank you for being willing to
submit to my company on your long ride," said Emma Foshay, a beautiful
girl of eighteen, with a face that revealed a noble nature.
Her form showed its graceful proportions well in her close-fitting
riding habit, trimmed with brass buttons and gold lace, and upon her
head she wore a slouch hat with a broad brim, looped up with a pair of
miniature gold sabers.
"I am happy, indeed, Miss Foshay, to have such pleasant company upon
the long, and, permit me to say, rough ride. But I deem it my duty to
tell you that it may be one of great peril, and that the ride may be an
all night one."
"I thank you for the warning, Lieutenant Carey; but I have weighed the
situation well, and I am ready to put up with all the hardships you
may have to undergo, while the danger but adds a charm to the ride.
Candidly, though, my mother is a great invalid, and I only stole a few
weeks' respite to come here and visit papa, who had to obey orders, and
if my mamma should not have me near her, knowing the situation, I feel
for the result, so I am determined to go, visit father for an hour in
camp, and then hasten on to the station to take the train for home. Now
you understand my position, Lieutenant Carey."
"Perfectly, and am wholly at your service as an escort," and turning to
his commander, Kit Carey continued:
"I report for orders, sir."
"Go with all dispatch to General Brooke, are General Miles' orders,
Lieutenant Carey, to enter upon some special service he has in view for
you. Here are dispatches for the commandant, giving all views from my
standpoint of the situation, and you can explain the positions of the
Indians. That is all, Carey, except I beg you to take care of yourself
and this sweet girl, whom, I candidly say, I would not trust to any
but yourself. Good-by, and Heaven bless you both."
Farewells were said, and leading Emma Foshay to her horse, Kit Carey
raised her to her saddle as easily as he would a child, for he was a
man of phenomenal strength.
Leaping into his own saddle, without aid of the stirrup, he raised his
hat as farewells were waved, and then came ringing cheers from the
soldiers, as an officer called out:
"Three cheers, men, for Lieutenant Kit Carey of the gallant Seventh!"
At a canter the officer and the young girl rode away from the post, and
anxious eyes watched them until they disappeared far away across the
prairie, while old soldiers shook their sage heads in a way that was a
foreboding of evil to come.
If Kit Carey felt any anxiety he did not show it, for his face was as
sunny-hued as ever, and for himself he held no fear whatever, but for
his fair companion.
Emma Foshay had won many hearts while on the short visit to the post,
and yet, if she had a preference herself for any one officer, she was
one to keep the secret hidden in her own heart.
There were some who said that Kit Carey was her favorite, and that
she had taken up her cross in life when she heard one day that he
was engaged to a fair young girl in New York, one who had been his
companion in boyhood, and whose meeting had been a strange romance.
But if Emma Foshay felt that life had lost its charm through a love
unrequited, she did not show to others the aching heart she bore.
Without following a trail, Kit Carey led the way across country, and
seemed only anxious to reach the beaten track to the agency before
night should fall.
After a ride of a couple of hours a halt was made upon the banks of a
stream, and the two ate a cold supper, though a good one, and enjoyed
it, while the horses were staked out for rest and food.
The sun was just an hour from the western horizon, when they resumed
their way, Kit Carey having been off a short distance examining what he
called "signs," and he muttered to himself:
"I don't half like them."
But as cheerily as before he raised his charge to her saddle, and said:
"Let us push on for the trail at a gallop, Miss Foshay."
"You have made some discoveries, Lieutenant Carey, which you do not
wish to tell me?"
"No, I'll tell you frankly, that I believe we will run upon some band
of redskins, but with what treatment at their hands I cannot tell. Be
ready to ride like the wind, or halt and wheel for a race, Miss Foshay,
for we had better run for it than trust to an Indian's humor just now."
"You are captain, sir, so give your orders to run, or fight and I
obey," was the plucky response of the young girl.
Kit Carey smiled and remarked:
"I like your pluck, Miss Foshay, so will frankly tell you that if aught
should happen to me, ride straight east until you strike the broad
trail to the agency. Then wheel to the left and your horse will carry
you in all right, never fear."
"But what could happen to you, Lieutenant Carey?"
"Well, should the Indians jump us, and crowd too close, I will halt to
hold them at bay, and you must ride on--see! Here are the dispatches,
and as a bearer of military dispatches, you must push on and obey
orders."
"But you speak as though you had a premonition of evil," said Emma
Foshay, as Kit Carey placed in her saddle pocket the dispatches.
"You can reach camp, Miss Foshay, and to have you do so I must hold the
redskins in check, and come in later."
"And you expect me to desert you, sir?"
"It will not be a desertion, for you obey orders. Ah! it is as I
feared," and just then dashed over the top of a distant rise half a
hundred mounted redskins.