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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19480-8.txt b/19480-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b9c2c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/19480-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7111 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ray's Daughter, by Charles King + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ray's Daughter + A Story of Manila + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: October 6, 2006 [EBook #19480] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAY'S DAUGHTER *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: Grouped about a prostrate form in the pale blue uniform +of a Filipino Captain] + + +RAY'S DAUGHTER + +A Story of Manila + + + +By + +GENERAL CHARLES KING, U.S.V. + +Author of "Ray's Recruit," "Marion's Faith," +"The Colonel's Daughter," etc. + + + +Philadelphia and London +J. B. Lippincott Company +1901 + + +Copyright, 1900 +by +J. B. Lippincott Company + +_Electrotyped and Printed by +J. B. Lippincott Company, +Philadelphia, U.S.A._ + + + + +RAY'S DAUGHTER + +CHAPTER I. + + +The long June day was drawing to its close. Hot and strong the slanting +sunbeams beat upon the grimy roofs of the train and threw distorted +shadows over the sand and sage-brush that stretched to the far horizon. +Dense and choking, from beneath the whirring wheels the dust-clouds rose +in tawny billows that enveloped the rearmost coaches and, mingling with +the black smoke of the "double-header" engines, rolled away in the +dreary wake. East and west, north and south, far as the eye could reach, +hemmed by low, dun-colored ridges or sharply outlined crests of remote +mountain range, in lifeless desolation the landscape lay outspread to +the view. Southward, streaked with white fringe of alkali, the flat +monotone of sand and ashes blended with the flatter, flawless surface +of a wide-spreading, ash-colored inland lake, its shores dotted at +intervals with the bleaching bones of cattle and ridged with ancient +wagon-tracks unwashed by not so much as a single drop from the cloudless +heavens since their first impress on the sinking soil. Here and there +along the right of way--a right no human being would care to dispute +were the way ten times its width--some drowsing lizards, sprawling in +the sunshine along the ties, roused at the sound and tremor of the +coming train to squirm off into the sage-brush, but no sign of animation +had been seen since the crossing of the big divide near Promontory. The +long, winding train, made up of mail-, express-, baggage-, emigrant-, +and smoking-cars, "tourists' coaches," and huge sleepers at the rear, +with a "diner" midway in the chain, was packed with gasping humanity +westward bound for the far Pacific--the long, long, tortuous climb to +the snow-capped Sierras ahead, the parched and baking valley of the +Great Salt Lake long, dreary miles behind. It was early June of the year +'98, and the war with Spain was on. + +There had been some delay at Ogden. The trains from the East over the +Union Pacific and the Denver and Rio Grande came in crowded, and the +resources of the Southern Pacific were suddenly taxed beyond the +expectation of its officials. Troops had been whirling westward +throughout the week, absorbing much of the rolling stock, and the empty +cars were being rushed east again from Oakland pier, but the nearest +were still some hundreds of miles from this point of transfer when a +carload of recruits was dumped upon the broad platform, and the +superintendent scratched his head, and screwed up the corner of his +mouth, and asked an assistant how in a hotter place than even Salt Lake +Valley the road could expect him to forward troops without delay "when +the road took away the last car in the yard getting those Iowa boys +out." + +"There ain't nuthin' left 'cept that old tourist that's been rustin' and +kiln-dryin' up 'longside the shops since last winter," said the junior +helplessly. "Shall we have her out?" + +"Guess you'll have to," was the answer. "It's that or nothin';" and the +boss turned on his heel and slammed the office door behind him. "Ten to +one," said he, "there'll be a kick comin' when the boys see what they've +got to ride in, an' I'll let Jim take the kick." + +The kick had come as predicted, but availed nothing. A score of lusty +young patriots were the performers, but, being destined for service in +the regulars, they had neither Senator nor State official to "wire" to +in wrathful protest, as was usual on such occasions. The superintendent +would have thought twice before ever suggesting that car as a component +part of the train bearing the volunteers from Nebraska, Colorado, or +Iowa so recently shipped over the road. "They could have made it hot for +the management," said he. But these fellows, these waifs, were from no +State or place in particular. They hadn't even an officer with them, but +were hurrying on to their destination under command of a veteran gunner, +"lanced" for the purpose at the recruiting station. He had done his best +for his men. Ruefully they looked through the dust-covered interior and +inspected the muddy trucks and brake-gear. "She wheezes like she had +bronchitis," said the corporal, "and the inside's a cross between a +hen-coop and coal-bin. You ain't going to run that old rookery for a +car, are you?" + +"Best we've got," was the curt reply. Yet the yardman shook his head as +he heard the squeal of the rusty journals, and ordered his men to pack +in fresh waste and "touch 'em up somehow." Any man who had spent a week +about a railway could have prophesied "hot boxes" before that coach had +run much more than its own length, but it wouldn't do for an employee to +say so. The corporal looked appealingly at his fellow-passengers of the +Rio Grande train. There were dozens of them stretching their legs and +strolling about the platform, after getting their hand-luggage +transferred and seats secured, but there was no one in position or +authority to interpose. Some seemed to feel no interest. + +"Get your rations and plunder aboard," he ordered, turning suddenly to +his party, and, loading up with blankets, overcoats, haversacks, and +canteens, the recruits speedily took possession of their new quarters, +forced open the jammed windows to let out the imprisoned and overheated +air, piled their boxes of hard bread and stacks of tinned meat at the +ends and their scant soldier goods and chattels in the rude sections, +then tumbled out again upon the platform to enjoy, while yet there was +time, the freedom of the outer air, despite the torrid heat of the +mid-day sunshine. + +In knots of three or four they sauntered about, their hands deep in +their empty pockets, their boyish eyes curiously studying the signs and +posters, or wistfully peering through the screened doors at the +temptations of the bar and lunch counter or the shaded windows of the +dining-room, where luckier fellow-passengers were taking their fill of +the good cheer afforded. Two of the number, dressed like the rest in +blue flannel shirts, with trousers of lighter hue and heavier make, +fanning their heated faces with their drab, broad-brimmed campaign hats, +swung off the rear end of the objectionable car, and, with a quick +glance about them, started briskly down the track to where the "diner" +and certain sleepers of the Southern Pacific were being shunted about. + +"Come back here, you fellers!" shouted the corporal, catching sight of +the pair. "You don't know how soon this here train may start. Come back, +I say," he added emphatically, as the two, looking first into each +other's eyes, seemed to hesitate. Then, with sullen, down-cast face the +nearer turned and slowly obeyed. The other, a bright, merry youngster, +whose white teeth gleamed as he laughed his reply, still stood in his +tracks. + +"We're only going to the dining-car, corporal," he shouted. "That's +going with us, so we can't be left." + +"You've got no business in the dining-car, Mellen; that's not for your +sort, or mine, for that matter," was the corporal's ultimatum. And with +a grin still expanding his broad mouth, the recruit addressed as Mellen +came reluctantly sauntering in the trail of his comrade, who had +submitted in silence and yet not without a shrug of protest. It was to +the latter the corporal spoke when the two had rejoined their +associates. + +"You've got sense enough to know you're not wanted at that diner, +Murray, whether Mellen has or not. That's no place for empty pockets. +What took you there?" + +"Wanted a drink, and you said 'keep away from the bar-room,'" answered +Murray briefly, his gray eyes glancing about from man to man in the +group, resting for just a second on the form and features of one who +stood a little apart, a youth of twenty-one years probably. "It was +Foster's treat," he added, and that remark transferred the attention of +the party at the instant to the youngster on the outskirts. + +He had been leaning with folded arms against a lamp-post, looking +somewhat wearily up the long platform to where in pairs or little groups +the passengers were strolling, men and women both, seeking relief from +the constraint and stiffness of the long ride by rail. He had an +interesting--even a handsome--face, and his figure was well knit, well +proportioned. His eyes were a dark, soft brown, with very long, curving +lashes, his nose straight, his mouth finely curved, soft and sensitive. +His throat was full, round, and at the base very white and fair, as the +unfastened and flapping shirt-collar now enabled one to see. His hands, +too, were soft and white, showing that at least one of the twenty came +not from the ranks of the toilers. His shoes were of finer make than +those of his comrades, and the handkerchief so loosely knotted at the +opening of the coarse blue shirt was of handsome and costly silk. He +had been paying scant attention to his surroundings, and was absorbed, +evidently, in his watch on the tourists up the platform when recalled +to himself by the consciousness that all eyes were upon him. + +"What's this about your treatin', Foster?" asked the corporal. + +For a week he had felt sure the boy had money, and not a little. Nothing +would have persuaded him to borrow a cent of Foster or anybody else, but +others, and plenty of them, had no such scruples. + +The young recruit turned slowly. He seemed reluctant to quit his +scrutiny of his fellow-passengers. The abrupt tone and manner of the +accustomed regular, too, jarred upon him. It might be the corporal's +prerogative so to address his charges, but this one didn't like it, and +meant to show that he didn't. His money at least was his own, and he +could do with it as he liked. The answer did not come until the question +had been asked twice. Then in words as brief and manner as blunt he +said,-- + +"Why shouldn't I?" + +Corporal Connelly stood a second or two without venturing a word, +looking steadfastly at the young soldier, whose attitude was unchanged +and whose eyes were again fixed on the distant group, as though in weary +disdain of those about him. Then Connelly took half a dozen quick, +springy steps that landed him close to the unmoved recruit. + +"You've two things to learn among two thousand, Foster," said he in low, +firm voice. "One is to keep your money, and the other, your temper. I +spoke for your good principally, but if you've been ladling out your +money to be spent in liquor, I say stop it. There's to be no whiskey in +that car." + +"Nobody wants it less than I do," said Foster wearily. "Why didn't you +keep it out of the others?" + +"Because I never knew till it was gone. How much money did you give +Murray--and why?" and Connelly's eyes were looking straight into those +of Foster as he spoke, compelling respect for sturdy manhood. + +"A dollar, I believe," was the languid answer, "and because he asked +it." And again the lad's gaze wandered off along the platform. + +The switch engine was busily at work making up the train, and brakemen +were signalling up and down the line. The dining-car, followed by some +ponderous sleepers, came gliding slowly along the rails and brought up +with a bump and jar against the buffers of the old tourists' ark +assigned the recruits. Somewhere up at the thronged station a bell began +to jangle, followed by a shout of "All aboard!" + +"Tumble in, you men," ordered Connelly, and at the moment there came a +general movement of the crowd in their direction. The passengers of the +sleepers were hurrying to their assigned places, some with flushed faces +and expostulation. They thought their car should have come to them. + +"It's because our train is so very long," explained the brakeman to some +ladies whom he was assisting up the steps. "We've twice as many cars as +usual. Yours is the next car, ma'am; the one behind the diner." + +The recruit, Foster, had started, but slowly, when in obedience to the +corporal's order his fellows began to move. He was still looking, half +in search, half in expectation, towards the main entrance of the station +building. But the instant he became aware of the movement in his +direction on the part of the passengers he pushed ahead past several of +the party; he even half shoved aside one of their number who had just +grasped the hand-rail of the car, then sprang lightly past him and +disappeared within the door-way. There, half hidden by the gloom of the +interior, he stood well back from the grimy windows, yet peering +intently through at the swiftly passing crowd. + +Suddenly he stooped, recoiled, and seated himself in the opposite +section while his comrades came filing rapidly in, and at the moment a +tall young officer in dark uniform, a man perhaps of twenty-five, with a +singularly handsome face and form, strode past the window, scrupulously +acknowledged Connelly's salute, and then, glancing about, saw the heads +and shoulders of a dozen soldiers at the windows. + +"Why, what detachment is this, corporal?" he asked. "We brought no +troops on our train." + +"Recruits --th Cavalry, sir," was the ready answer. "We came by way of +Denver." + +"Ah, yes; that explains it. Who's in command?" And the tall officer +looked about him as though in search of kindred rank. + +"We have no officer with us, sir," said Connelly diplomatically. +"I'm--in charge." + +"You'll have to hurry, sir," spoke the brakeman at the moment. "Jump on +the diner, if you like, and go through." + +The officer took the hint and sprang to the steps. There he turned and +faced the platform again just as the train began to move. + +A little group, two ladies and a man of middle age, stood directly +opposite him, closely scanning the train, and all on a sudden their +faces beamed, their glances were directed, their hands waved towards +him. + +"Good-by! Good-by! Take good care of yourself! Wire from Sacramento!" +were their cries, addressed apparently to his head, and turning quickly, +he found himself confronting a young girl standing smiling on the +platform of the dining-car, her tiny feet about on a level with his +knees; yet he had hardly to cast an upward glance, for her beaming, +beautiful face was but a trifle higher than his own. In all his life he +had never seen one so pretty. + +Realizing that he stood between this fair traveller and the friends who +were there to wish her god-speed; recognizing, too, with the swift +intuition of his class, the possibility of establishing relations on his +own account, the young soldier snatched off his new forage-cap, briefly +said, "I beg your pardon; take my place," and, swinging outward, +transferred himself to the rear of the recruit car, thereby causing the +corporal to recoil upon a grinning squad of embryo troopers who were +shouting jocular farewell to the natives, and getting much in the way of +train-hands who were busy straightening out the bell-cord. + +Something seemed amiss with that portion of it which made part of the +equipment of the old tourists' car. It was either wedged in the narrow +orifice above the door or caught among the rings of the pendants from +above, for it resisted every jerk, whereat the brakeman set his teeth +and said improper things. It would have grieved the management to hear +this faithful employé's denunciation of that particular item of their +rolling-stock. + +"Get out of the way here, boys, and let's see what's the matter with +this damned bell-cord," he continued, elbowing his way through the swarm +about the door. Once fairly within, he threw a quick glance along the +aisle. The left sections of the car were deserted. Out of almost every +window on the right side poked a head and pair of blue flannel +shoulders. + +Only one man of the party seemed to have no further interest in what was +going on outside. With one hand still grasping the edge of the upright +partition between two sections near the forward end, and the other just +letting go, apparently, of the bell-cord, the tall, slender, well-built +young soldier, with dark-brown eyes and softly curling lashes, was +lowering himself into the aisle. The brakeman proceeded to rebuke him on +the spot. + +"Look here, young feller, you'll have to keep your hands off that +bell-cord. Here I've been cussin' things for keeps, thinking it was +knotted or caught. It was just you had hold of it. Don't you know +better'n that? Ain't you ever travelled before?" + +The man addressed was stowing something away inside the breast of his +shirt. He did it with almost ostentatious deliberation, quietly eying +the brakeman before replying. Then, slowly readjusting the knot of a +fine black-silk necktie, so that its broad, flapping ends spread over +the coarser material of the garment, he slowly looked the justly +exasperated brakeman over from head to foot and as slowly and placidly +answered: + +"Not more than about half around the world. As for your bell-cord, it +was knotted; it caught in that ring. I saw that someone was tugging and +trying to get it loose, so I swung up there and straightened it. Just +what you'd have done under the circumstances, I fancy." + +The brakeman turned redder under the ruddy brown of his sun-tanned skin. +This was no raw "rookie" after all. In his own vernacular, as afterwards +expressed to the conductor, "I seen I was up ag'in' the real t'ing dis +time," but it was hard to admit it at the moment. Vexation had to have a +vent. The bell-cord no longer served. The supposed meddler had proved a +help. Something or somebody had to be the victim of the honest +brakeman's spleen, so, somewhat unluckily, as events determined, he took +it out on the company and that decrepit car, now buzzing along with much +complaint of axle and of bearing. + +"Damn this old shake-down, anyhow!" said he. "The company ought to know +'nough not to have such things lyin' round loose. Some night it'll fall +to pieces and kill folks." And with this implied apology for his +aspersions of Recruit Foster, the brakeman bustled away. + +But what he said was heard by more than one, and remembered when perhaps +he would have wished it forgotten. The delay at Ogden was supplemented +by a long halt before the setting of that blazing sun, necessitated by +the firing of the waste in the boxes of those long-neglected trucks. Far +back as the rearmost sleeper the sickening smell of burning, oil-steeped +packing drove feminine occupants to their satchels in search of +scent-bottles, and the men to such comfort as could be found in flasks +of bulkier make. + +In the heart of the desert, with dust and desolation spreading far on +every hand, the long train had stopped to douse those foul-smelling +fires, and, while train-hands pried off the red-hot caps and dumped +buckets of water into the blazing cavities, changing malodorous smoke to +dense clouds of equally unsavory steam, and the recruits in the +afflicted car found consolation in "joshing" the hard-sweating, +hard-swearing workers, the young officer who had boarded the second +sleeper at Ogden, together with half a dozen bipeds in dusters or +frazzled shirt-sleeves, had become involved in a complication on the +shadier side of the train. + +Somewhere into the sage-brush a jack-rabbit had darted and was now in +hiding. With a dozen eager heads poked from the northward windows and +stretching arms and index fingers guiding them in their inglorious hunt, +the lieutenant and his few associates were stalking the first +four-footed object sighted from the train since the crossing of the bald +divide. + +Within the heated cars, with flushed faces and plying palm-leaf fans, a +few of the women passengers were languidly gazing from the windows. At +the centre window of the second sleeper, without a palm-leaf and looking +serene and unperturbed, sat the young girl whose lovely face had so +excited Mr. Stuyvesant's deep admiration. Thrice since leaving Ogden, on +one pretext or other, had he passed her section and stolen such a look +as could be given without obvious staring. Immediately in rear of the +seat she occupied was an austere maiden of middle age, one of the +passengers who had come on by the Union Pacific from Omaha. Directly +opposite sat two men whom Stuyvesant had held in but scant esteem up to +the time they left the valley of Salt Lake. Now, because their sections +stood over against hers, his manner relaxed with his mood. Circumstances +had brought the elderly maid and himself to the same table on two +occasions in the dining-car, but he had hitherto felt no desire to press +the acquaintance. + +This afternoon he minded him of a new book he had in his bag, for +literature, he judged, might be her hobby, and had engaged her in +conversation, of which his share was meant to impress the tiny, +translucent ear that nestled in the dark-brown coils and waves of the +pretty head in front of him. + +When, however, it became patent that his companion desired to form her +own impressions of the pages uninfluenced by his well-delivered +comments, Mr. Stuyvesant had bethought him of the semi-somnolent +occupants of the opposite section, and some cabalistic signs he ventured +with a little silver cup summoned them in pleased surprise to the +water-cooler at the rear end, where he regaled them with a good story +and the best of V. O. P. Scotch, and accepted their lavish bid to sit +with them awhile. + +From this coign of vantage he had studied her sweet, serious, oval face +as she sat placidly reading a little volume in her lap, only once in a +while raising a pair of very dark, very beautiful, very heavily browed +and lashed brown eyes for brief survey of the forbidding landscape; +then, with never an instant's peep at him, dropping their gaze again +upon the book. + +Not once in the long, hot afternoon had she vouchsafed him the minimum +of a show of interest, curiosity, or even consciousness of his presence. +Then the train made its second stop on account of the fires, and Bre'r +Rabbit his luckless break into the long monotony of the declining day. + +Tentative spikes, clods, and empty flasks having failed to find him, the +beaters had essayed a skirmish line, and with instant result. Like a +meteoric puff of gray and white, to a chorus of yells and the +accompaniment of a volley of missiles, Jack had shot into space from +behind his shelter and darted zigzagging through the brush. A whizzing +spike, a chance shot that nearly grazed his nose, so dazzled his +brainlet that the terrified creature doubled on his trail and came +bounding back towards the train. + +Close to the track-side ran a narrow ditch. In this ditch at the instant +crouched the tall lieutenant. Into this ditch leaped Bunny, and the next +second had whizzed past the stooping form and bored straight into a +little wooden drain. There some unseen, unlooked-for object blocked him. + +Desperately the hind-legs kicked and tore in the effort to force the +passage, and with a shout of triumph the tall soldier swooped upon the +prize, seized the struggling legs, swung the wretched creature aloft, +and for the first time in six mortal hours met full in his own the gaze +of the deep, beautiful brown eyes he had so striven to attract, and they +were half pleading, half commanding for Bunny. The next instant, +uninjured, but leaping madly for life, Bre'r Rabbit was streaking +eastward out of harm's way, a liberated victim whose first huge leap +owed much of its length to the impetus of Stuyvesant's long, lean, +sinewy arm. + +This time when he looked up and raised his cap, and stood there with his +blond hair blowing down over his broad white forehead, although the soft +curves of the ripe red lips at the window above him changed not, there +was something in the dark-brown eyes that seemed to say "Thank you!" + +Yet when he would have met those eyes again that evening, when "Last +call for dinner in the dining-car" was sounding through the train, he +could not. Neither were they among those that peered from between parted +curtains in the dim light of the sleeper, many in fright, all in +anxiety, when somewhere in the dead of the summer night, long after all +occupants of the rearmost cars were wrapped in slumber, the long train +bumped to sudden jarring standstill, and up ahead there arose sound of +rush, of excitement and alarm. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +It was just after sunset when, for the second time, the hot boxes of the +recruit car had been treated to liberal libations from the water-tank, +and the belated train again moved on. + +Dinner had been ready in the dining-car a full hour, but so long as the +sickening smell of burning waste arose from the trucks immediately in +front very few of the passengers seemed capable of eating. The car, as a +consequence, was crowded towards eight o'clock, and the steward and +waiters were busy men. + +The evening air, drifting in through open windows, was cooler than it +had been during the day, but still held enough of the noontide caloric +to make fans a comfort, and Mr. Stuyvesant, dining at a "four-in-hand" +table well to the front, and attempting to hold his own in a somewhat +desultory talk with his fellow-men, found himself paying far more +attention to the lovely face of the girl across the aisle than to the +viands set before him. + +She was seated facing the front, and opposite the austere maiden +previously mentioned. Conversation had already begun, and now Stuyvesant +was able to see that, beautiful in feature as was her face in repose, +its beauty was far enhanced when animated and smiling. + +When to well-nigh perfect external features there is added the charm of +faultlessly even and snowy teeth and a smile that illumines the entire +face, shining in the eyes as it plays about the pretty, sensitive mouth, +a young woman is fully equipped for conquest. + +Stuyvesant gazed in fascination uncontrollable. He envied the prim, +precise creature who sat unbending, severe, and, even while keeping up a +semblance of interest in the conversation, seemed to feel it a duty to +display disapprobation of such youthful charms. + +No woman is so assured that beauty is only skin deep as she who has none +of it. Her manner, therefore, had been decidedly stiff, and from that +had imperceptibly advanced to condescension, but when the steward +presently appeared with a siphon of iced seltzer, and, bowing +deferentially, said he hoped everything was to Miss Ray's liking, and +added that it seemed a long time since they had seen the captain and +supposed he must be a colonel now, the thin eyebrows of the tall maiden +were uplifted into little arches that paralleled the furrows of her brow +as she inquired: + +"Miss Ray?--from Fort Leavenworth?" + +The answer was a smiling nod of assent as the younger lady buried her +lovely, dark face in the flowers set before her by the assiduous waiter, +and Stuyvesant felt sure she was trying to control an inclination to +laugh. + +"Well, you must excuse me if I have been a little--slow," said the elder +in evident perturbation. "You see--we meet such queer people +travelling--sometimes. Don't you find it so?" + +The dark face was dimpling now with suppressed merriment. + +"Yes--occasionally," was the smiling answer. + +"But then, being the daughter of an army officer," pursued the other +hurriedly, "you have to travel a great deal. I suppose you really--have +no home?" she essayed in the half-hopeful tone to be expected of one who +considered that a being so endowed by nature must suffer some +compensatory discomforts. + +"Yes and--no," answered Miss Ray urbanely. "In one sense we army girls +have no home. In another, we have homes everywhere." + +It is a reproach in the eyes of certain severe moralists that a +fellow-being should be so obviously content with his or her lot. The +elder woman seemed to feel it a duty to acquaint this beaming creature +with the manifest deficiency in her moral make-up. + +"Yes, but I should think most any one would rather have a real home, a +place where they weren't bounden to anybody, no matter if it was homely." +(She called it "humbly," and associated it in mind with the words of +Payne's immortal song.) "Now, when I went to see Colonel Ray about our +society, he told me he had to break up everything, going to Cuba, but he +didn't mention about your going West." + +"Father was a little low in his mind that day," said Miss Ray, a shade +of sadness passing over her face. "Both my brothers are in the service, +and one is barely seventeen." + +"Out at service!" interrupted the other. "You don't mean----" + +"No," was the laughing answer, and in Miss Ray's enjoyment of the +situation her eyes came perilously near seeking those of Mr. Stuyvesant, +which she well knew were fixed upon her. "I mean that both are in the +army." + +"Well--I thought not--still--I didn't know. It's all rather new to me, +this dealin' with soldiers, but I suppose I'll get to know all about it +after a spell. Our society's getting much encouraged." + +"Red Cross?" queried Miss Ray, with uplifted brows and evident interest, +yet a suspicion of incredulity. + +"Well, same thing, only _we_ don't propose to levy contributions right +and left like they do. I am vice-president of the Society of Patriotic +Daughters of America, you know. I thought perhaps your father might +have told you. And our association is self-sustaining, at least it +will be as soon as we are formally recognized by the government. You +know the Red Cross hasn't any real standing, whereas our folks expect +the President to issue the order right away, making us part of the +regular hospital brigade. Now, your father was very encouraging, though +some officers we talked to were too stuck up to be decent. When I +called on General Drayton he just as much as up and told me we'd only +be in the way." + +Just here, it must be owned, Miss Ray found it necessary to dive under +the table for a handkerchief which she had not dropped. + +Mr. Stuyvesant, ignoring the teachings of his childhood and gazing over +the rim of his coffee-cup, observed that she was with difficulty +concealing her merriment. Then, all of a sudden, her face, that had been +so full of radiance, became suddenly clouded by concern and distress. +The door at the head of the car had swung suddenly open and remained so, +despite the roar and racket of the wheels and the sweep of dust and +cinders down the aisle. The steward glanced up from his cupboard +opposite the kitchen window at the rear, and quickly motioned to some +one to shut that door. A waiter sprang forward, and then came the +steward himself. The look in the girl's face was enough for Stuyvesant. +He whirled about to see what had caused it, and became instantly aware +of a stout-built soldier swaying uneasily at the entrance and in thick +tones arguing with the waiter. He saw at a glance the man had been +drinking, and divined he was there to get more liquor. He was on the +point of warning the steward to sell him none, but was saved the +trouble. The steward bent down and whispered: + +"This makes the second time he's come in since six o'clock. I refused to +let him have a drop. Can't something be done to keep him out? We can't +lock the door, you know, sir." + +Stuyvesant quickly arose and stepped up the aisle. By this time +everybody was gazing towards the front entrance in concern and +curiosity. The colored waiter was still confronting the soldier as +though to prevent his coming farther into the car. The soldier, with +flushed and sodden face and angry eyes, had placed a hand on the broad +shoulder of the servant and was clumsily striving to put him aside. + +Stuyvesant's tall, athletic figure suddenly shut both from view. Never +hesitating, he quickly elbowed the negro out of the way, seized the +doorknob with his left hand, throwing the door wide open, then, looking +the soldier full in the face, pointed to the tourist car with the other. + +"Go back at once," was all he said. + +The man had been hardly six days in service, and had learned little of +army life or ways. He was a whole American citizen, however, if he was +half drunk, and the average American thinks twice before he obeys a +mandate of any kind. This one coming from a tall young swell was +especially obnoxious. + +The uniform as yet had little effect on Recruit Murray. Where he hailed +from the sight of it had for years provoked only demonstrations of +derision and dislike. He didn't know who the officer was--didn't want to +know--didn't care. What he wanted was whiskey, and so long as the money +was burning in his pocket he knew no reason why he shouldn't have it. +Therefore, instead of obeying, he stood there, sullen and swaying, +scowling up as though in hate and defiance into the grave, set young +face. Another second and the thing was settled. Stuyvesant's right hand +grasped the blue collar at the throat, the long, slender fingers +gripping tight, and half shot, half lifted the amazed recruit across the +swaying platform and into the reeling car ahead. There he plumped his +captive down into a seat and sent for the corporal. Connelly came, +rubbing his eyes, and took in the situation at a glance. + +"I ordered him not to leave the car three hours ago, sir," he quickly +spoke. "But after supper I got drowsy and fell asleep in my section. +Then he skinned out. I'd iron him, sir, if I had anything of the kind." + +"No," said Stuyvesant, "don't think of that. Just keep a watch over him +and forbid his leaving the section. No, sir, none of that," he added, as +in drunken dignity Murray was searching for a match to light his pipe +and hide his humiliation. "There must be no smoking in this flimsy car, +corporal. A spark would set fire to it in a second." + +"Them was my orders, sir. This fellow knows it as well as I do. But he's +given trouble one way or other ever since we started. You hear that +again, now, Murray: no drink; no smoke. I'll see to it that he doesn't +quit the car again, sir," he concluded, turning appealingly to the young +officer, and Stuyvesant, taking a quiet look up and down the dimly +lighted, dusty aisle, was about to return to the "diner," when Murray +struggled to his feet. Balked in his hope of getting more drink, and +defrauded, as in his muddled condition it seemed to him, of the solace +of tobacco, the devil in him roused to evil effort by the vile liquor +procured surreptitiously somewhere along the line, the time had come for +him, as he judged, to assert himself before his fellows and prove +himself a man. + +"You think you're a better man than I am," he began thickly, glaring +savagely at the young officer. "But I'll be even with you, young fellow. +I'll----" And here ended the harangue, for, one broad hand clapped over +the leering mouth and the other grasping the back of his collar, +Corporal Connelly jammed him down on the seat with a shock that shook +the car. + +"Shut up, you drunken fool!" he cried. "Don't mind him, lieutenant. +He's only a day at the depot, sir. Sit still, you blackguard, or I'll +smash you!"--this to Murray, who, half suffocated, was writhing in his +effort to escape. "A--ch!" he cried, with sudden wrenching away of the +brawny hand, "the beast has bitten me," and the broad palm, dripping +with blood, was held up to the light. + +Deeply indented, there were the jagged marks of Murray's teeth. + +"Here, Foster, Hunt, grab this man and don't let him stir, hand or foot. +See what you get for giving a drunkard money. Grab him, I say!" shouted +Connelly, grinning with mingled pain and wrath as the lieutenant led him +to the wash-stand. + +Another recruit, a stalwart fellow, who had apparently seen previous +service, sprang to the aid of the first two named, and between them, +though he stormed and struggled a moment, the wretch was jammed and held +in his corner. + +Stanching the blood as best he could and bandaging the hand with his own +kerchief, Stuyvesant bade the corporal sit at an open window a moment, +for he looked a trifle faint and sick,--it was a brutal bite. But +Connelly was game. + +"That blackguard's got to be taught there's a God in Israel," he +exclaimed, as he turned back to the rear of the car. "I beg the +lieutenant's pardon, but--he is not in the regular army, I see," with a +glance at the collar of the young officer's blouse. "We sometimes get +hard cases to deal with, and this is one of them. This kind of a cur +wouldn't hesitate to shoot an officer in the back or stab him in the +dark if he didn't like him. I hope the lieutenant may never be bothered +with him again. No, damn you!" he added between his set teeth, as he +looked down at the sullen, scowling prisoner, "what you ought to have is +a good hiding, and what you'll get, if you give any more trouble, is a +roping, hand and foot. We ought to have irons on a trip like this, +lieutenant," he continued, glancing up into the calm, refined face of +the young soldier. "But I can get a rope, if you say so, and tie him in +his berth." + +"I have no authority in the matter," said Stuyvesant reflectively. "No +one has but you, that I know of. Perhaps he'll be quiet when he cools +down," and the lieutenant looked doubtfully at the semi-savage in the +section nearest the door. + +"He'll give no more trouble this night, anyhow," said Connelly, as the +officer turned to go. "And thank you, sir, for this," and he held up the +bandaged hand. "But I'll keep my eyes peeled whenever he's about +hereafter, and you'll be wise to do the same, sir." + +For one instant, as the lieutenant paused at the door-way and looked +back, the eyes of the two men met, his so brave and blue and clear; the +other's--Murray's--furtive, blood-shot, and full of hate. Then the door +slammed and Stuyvesant was gone. + +Twice again that night he visited the recruit car. At ten o'clock, after +enjoying for an hour or more the sight of Miss Ray in animated chat with +two of the six women passengers of the sleeper, and the sound of her +pleasant voice, Stuyvesant wandered into the diner for a glass of cool +Budweiser. + +"That's an ugly brute of a fellow that bit your corporal, sir," said the +steward. "I was in there just now, and he's as surly as a cur dog yet." + +Stuyvesant nodded without a word. He was in a petulant frame of mind. He +wanted "worst kind," as he would have expressed it, to know that girl, +but not a glance would she give him. She owed him one, thought he, for +letting that rabbit go. Moreover, being an army girl, as he had learned, +she should not be so offish with an officer. + +Then the readiness with which the corporal had "spotted" him as a +volunteer, as not a regular, occurred to him, and added to his faintly +irritable mood. True, his coat-collar bore the tell-tale letters U. S. +V., but he had served some years with one of the swellest of swell +Eastern regiments, whose set-up and style were not excelled by the +regulars, whose officers prided themselves upon their dress and bearing. + +If it was because he was not of the regular service that Miss Ray would +not vouchsafe him a glance, Mr. Stuyvesant was quite ready to bid her +understand he held himself as high as any soldier in her father's famous +corps. If it was not that, then what in blazes was it? + +He knew that in travelling cross continent in this way it was considered +the proper thing for an officer of the regular army to send his card by +the porter to the wife or daughter of any brother officer who might be +aboard, and to tender such civilities as he would be glad to have paid +his own were he so provided. He wondered whether it would do to send his +pasteboard with a little note to the effect that he had once met Colonel +Ray at the United Service Club, and would be glad to pay his respects to +the colonel's daughter. + +It was an unusual thing for Mr. Stuyvesant to quaff beer at any time, +except after heavy exercise at polo or tennis, but to-night he was +ruffled, and when the porter began making up the berths and dames and +damsels disappeared, he had wandered disconsolately into the diner and +ordered beer as his excuse. Then he crossed the platform and entered the +tourist. + +The night was hot and close. The men were lying two in a berth, as a +rule, the upper berths not being used. + +One or two, Murray among them, had not removed their trousers, but most +of them were stretched out in their undergarments, while others, +chatting in low tones, were watching the brakeman turning down the +lights. They made way respectfully as the lieutenant entered. Connelly +came to meet him and nodded significantly at Murray, who lay in a berth +near the middle of the car, still carefully watched by Hunt. Foster, +wearied, had turned in, and, with his face to the window, seemed to have +fallen asleep. The conductor came through, lantern in hand. + +"It's the quietest and best behaved lot, barring that chap, I ever +carried," said he to Stuyvesant. "But he's wicked enough for a dozen. +Wonder he don't go to sleep." + +"Humph! says he wants a bottle of beer," grunted Connelly. "Can't get to +sleep without it. I wouldn't give it to him if I had a kag." + +"He doesn't deserve it, of course," said the conductor. "What he ought +to have is an all-around licking. But I've known beer to have a soothing +effect on men who'd been drinking, and it might put him to sleep and +save bother." + +"Let him have it," said Stuyvesant briefly. "I'll send it in by the +steward. And, corporal, if you or any of your men would like it, I'll be +glad----" + +Some two or three looked quickly and expectantly up, as though they +might like it very much, but Corporal Connelly said he "dassent," he +"never took a drink of anything on duty since three years ago come +Fourth of July." So the others were abashed and would not ask. Older +hands would not have held their tongues. + +To Murray's surprise, a brimming glass of cool beer was presently +offered him. He gulped it thirstily down, and without a word held out +the glass for more. A grinning waiter obliged him with what remained in +the bottle. Murray asked if that was all, then, with something like a +grunt of dissatisfaction, rolled heavily over and turned his face to the +wall. + +"Well, of all the ungrateful cads I ever seen," said Hunt, "you're the +worst! D'ye know who sent that beer, Murray? It was the young officer +you insulted." But Murray's only answer at the moment was a demand that +Hunt shut up and let him go to sleep. + +The last thing Stuyvesant remembered before dozing off was that the +smell of those journal-boxes was getting worse. At two in the morning, +in the heart of the desert, the conductor had made his way through the +train and remarked that, despite that unpleasant odor, every man of the +recruit detachment was sound asleep. In a berth next the door the +steward of the dining-car had found room, and the entire car seemed +wrapped in repose. + +Five minutes later by the watch, it was wrapped in flames. + +Speaking of the matter later in the morning, the brakeman said it didn't +seem ten seconds after he had pulled the bell-rope and given the alarm +before Lieutenant Stuyvesant, a tall, slim figure in pajamas and +slippers, came bounding to his aid. + +The flames even then were bursting from under the steps and platform, +the dense smoke pouring from the rear door of the recruit car, and +coughing, choking, blinded, staggering, some of them scorched and +blistered, most of them clad only in undershirt and drawers, the +luckless young troopers came groping forth and were bundled on into the +interior of the diner. Some in their excitement strove to leap from the +train before it came to its bumping, grinding halt. Some were screaming +in pain and panic. Only one, Hunt, was dressed throughout in uniform. + +The steward of the diner, nearly suffocated before being dragged out of +his berth, was making vain effort to shove a way back into the blazing +car, crying that all his money was under that pillow. But it was +impossible to stem the torrent of human forms. + +The instant the train stopped, the flames shot upward through the +skylight and ventilator, and then the voice of Connelly was heard +yelling for aid. Seizing a blanket that had been dragged after him by +some bewildered recruit, and throwing it over his head and shoulders, +Stuyvesant, bending low, dove headlong into the dense wall of smoke. + +The flames came leaping and lapping out from the door-way the instant he +disappeared, and a groan of dismay arose from the little group already +gathered at the side of the track. Five, ten seconds of awful suspense, +and then, bending lower still, his loose clothing afire, his hair and +eyebrows singed, his face black with soot and smoke and seared by flame, +the young officer came plunging forth, dragging by the legs a prostrate, +howling man, and after them, blind and staggering, came Connelly. + +Eager hands received and guided the rescuers, leading them into the +diner, while the trainmen worked the stiff levers, broke loose the +coupling, and swung their lanterns in frantic signals to the engineer, +far ahead. + +Another moment and the blazing car was drawn away, run up the track a +hundred yards, and left to illumine the night and burn to ashes, while +male passengers swarmed about the dining-car, proffering stimulant and +consolation. + +Besides Stuyvesant and Corporal Connelly, two soldiers were seriously +burned. Every stitch of clothing not actually on their persons at the +moment of their escape was already consumed, and with it every ounce of +their soldier rations and supplies. + +The men least injured were those who, being nearest the rear door, were +first to escape. The men worst burned were those longest held within the +blazing car, barring one, Murray, whom Hunt had thoughtfully bound hand +and foot as he slept, reasoning that in that way only might his +guardians enjoy a like blessing. + +Connelly had tripped over the roaring bully as he lay on his back in the +aisle. Stuyvesant had rushed in, and between them they dragged him to a +place of safety. There, his limbs unbound, his tongue unloosed, Murray +indulged in a blast of malediction on the road, the company, the +government, his comrades, even his benefactors, and then thoughtfully +demanded drink. There was no longer a stern corporal to forbid, for +Connelly, suffering and almost sightless, had been led into a rear +coach. But there was no longer money with which to buy, for Foster's +last visible cent had gone up in smoke and flame, and, scorched and +smarting in a dozen places, wrapped in a blanket in lieu of clothes, the +dark-eyed young soldier sat, still trembling from excitement, by the +roadside. + +It was three hours before the wreck could be cleared, another car +procured, and the recruits bundled into it. Then, as dawn was spreading +over the firmament, the train pushed on, and the last thing Gerard +Stuyvesant was conscious of before, exhausted, he dropped off to +troubled sleep, was that a soft, slender hand was renewing the cool +bandage over his burning eyes, and that he heard a passenger say "That +little brunette--that little Miss Ray--was worth the hull carload of +women put together. She just went in and nursed and bandaged the burned +men like as though they'd been her own brothers." + +Certainly the young lady had been of particular service in the case of +Connelly and one of the seriously injured recruits. She had done +something for every man whose burns deserved attention, with a single +exception. + +Recruit Foster had declared himself in need of no aid, and with his face +to the wall lay well out of sight. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +At one of the desert stations in the Humboldt Valley a physician boarded +the train under telegraphic orders from the company and went some +distance up the road. + +He had brought lint and bandages and soothing lotions, but in several +cases said no change was advisable, that with handkerchiefs contributed +by the passengers and bandages made from surplus shirts, little Miss Ray +had extemporized well and had skilfully treated her bewildered patients. +Questioned and complimented both, Miss Ray blushingly admitted that she +had studied "First Aid to the Wounded" and had had some instructions in +the post hospitals of more than one big frontier fort. Passengers had +ransacked bags and trunks and presented spare clothing to the few +recruits whom the garments would fit. But most of the men were shoeless +and blanketed when morning dawned, and all were thankful when served +with coffee and a light breakfast, though many even then were too much +excited and some in too much pain to eat. + +Mellen, the laughing and joyous lad of yesterday, was nursing a +blistered hand and arm and stalking about the car in stocking feet and a +pair of trousers two sizes too big for him. Murray, now that the +corporal was no longer able to retain active command, had resumed his +truculent and swaggering manner. Almost the first thing he did was to +demand more money of Foster, and call him a liar when told that every +dollar was burned. Then he sought to pick a fight with Hunt, who had, as +he expressed it, "roped him like a steer," but the carload by this time +had had too much of his bluster and made common cause against him. + +Two brawny lads gave him fair warning that if he laid a finger on Hunt +they would "lay him out." Then he insisted on seeing the corporal and +complaining of ill-treatment. And with such diversion the long day wore +on. + +Stuyvesant, refreshed by several hours of sleep, yet looking somewhat +singed and blistered, went through the car to see the sufferers along +towards eleven o'clock. He had inquired of the porter for Miss Ray, who +was not visible when he had finished his toilet, and was told that she +had remained up until after the doctor came aboard, and was now +sleeping. Finding three of the men stretched in the berths with comrades +fanning them, he ordered cooling drinks compounded by the steward, and +later, as they began the climb of the Sierras and the men grew hungry, +he sought to get a substantial luncheon for them on the diner, but was +told their supply on hand was barely sufficient for the regular +passengers. + +So when the train stopped at Truckee he tumbled off with three of the +party, bought up a quantity of bread and cheese, soda crackers and +fruit, and after consultation with the conductor wired ahead to +Sacramento for a hot dinner for eighteen men to be ready at the +restaurant in the station, it being now certain that they could not +reach San Francisco before midnight. "The company ought to do that," +said the trainmen, and "the company" had authorized the light breakfast +tendered earlier in the day. In view of the fact that every item of +personal property in possession of the recruits had been destroyed, +together with every crumb of their rations, nobody questioned that the +company would only be too glad to do that much for the men so nearly +burned alive in their travelling holocaust. + +Not a doubt was entertained among either passengers or trainmen as to +the origin of the fire. It had started underneath, and the dry woodwork +burned like tinder, and what was there to cause it but those blazing +boxes on the forward truck? The conductor knew there had been no smoking +aboard the car, and that every man was asleep when he went through at +two o'clock. The brakeman had prophesied disaster and danger. It was +God's mercy that warned the poor fellows in time. + +Not until along in the afternoon, as they were spinning swiftly down +through the marvellous scenery about Blue Cañon and Cape Horn, did Miss +Ray again appear. Stuyvesant had been sitting awhile by Connelly, and +had arranged with him to wire to the Presidio for ambulances to meet the +party at Oakland Pier, for two at least would be unable to walk, and, +until provided with shoes and clothing, few could march the distance. +Then he had spent a few minutes with the other patients. + +When he returned to the sleeper there at last was the object of so many +of his thoughts. But she was reclining wearily, her head upon a pillow, +and the austere maid and two other women stood guard over her. "A severe +headache," was the explanation, and Stuyvesant felt that he must defer +his intrusion until later. + +Somewhere down the western slope of the Sierras he found at a station +some delicious cherries, and a little basket of the choicest he made +bold to send with his compliments and the hope that her indisposition +would soon disappear. The porter came back with the lady's thanks. The +cherries were "lovely," but Stuyvesant observed that not more than one +or two found their way to those pearly teeth, the rest being devoured by +her too devoted attendants. + +It was after nine at night when he marshalled his motley party into the +dining-room at Sacramento and they were made glad by substantial, +well-cooked food, with abundant hot coffee. They thanked him gratefully, +did many of the young fellows, and hoped they might meet more such +officers. An elderly passenger who had quietly noted the outlay of money +to which Mr. Stuyvesant had been subjected strolled up to the manager. +"That young gentleman has had to pay too much to-day. Just receipt the +bill if you please," said he, and drew forth a roll of treasury notes. +Stuyvesant went in search of this new benefactor when he heard of it. +"There was really no necessity, sir," said he, "though I fully +appreciate your kindness. The company will doubtless reimburse me for +any such outlay." + +"If they will reimburse you, my young friend," said the veteran +traveller drily, "they'll reimburse me. At all events, I know them +better than you do, and I don't intend to let you bear all the risk." +The lieutenant argued, but the elder was firm. As the men shuffled back +to the train with full stomachs and brightened faces, Murray hulking by +them with averted eyes and Mellen tendering a grinning salute, the +manager came forward. "There's one man shy, sir, even counting the +dinners sent aboard," said he, and Hunt, hearing it, turned back and +explained. + +"It is Foster, sir. He said he wasn't hungry and couldn't eat. I reckon +it's because he wouldn't turn out in such looking clothes as were given +him." + +Yet when Stuyvesant went to the car to see whether the young soldier +could not be induced to change his mind, it was discovered that he had +turned out. His berth was empty. Nor did he appear until just as the +train was starting. He explained that he had stepped off on the outer +side away from the crowd for a little fresh air. There was plenty of +bread and cheese left from luncheon. He didn't care for anything, +really. And, indeed, he seemed most anxious to get back to his berth and +away from the lieutenant, in whose presence he was obviously and +painfully ill at ease. + +Stuyvesant turned away, feeling a trifle annoyed or hurt, he couldn't +tell which, and swung himself to the platform of the sleeper as it came +gliding by. At last he could hope to find opportunity to thank Miss Ray +for her attention to the injured men and incidentally her ministrations +on his own account. Then, once arrived at San Francisco, where he had +friends of rank and position in the army, he would surely meet someone +who knew her father well and possibly herself, some one to present him +in due form, but for the present he could only hope to say a +conventional word or two of gratitude, and he was striving to frame his +thoughts as he hastened into the brightly lighted car and towards the +section where last he had seen her. + +It was occupied by a new-comer, a total stranger, and the three women +recently sharing her section and more than sharing her cherries were now +in animated chat across the aisle. In blank surprise and disappointment, +Stuyvesant turned and sought the porter. + +"Miss Ray! Yes, suh. She done got off at Sacramento, suh. Dere was +friends come to meet her, and took her away in the carriage." + +Once more Stuyvesant found himself constrained to seek the society of +the maiden of uncertain years. Her presence was forbidding, her +countenance severe, and her voice and intonation something appalling. +But she might know Miss Ray's address; he could at least write his +thanks; but he found the vice-president of the Order of the Patriotic +Daughters of America in evil mood. She didn't know Miss Ray's address, +and in the further assertion that she didn't want to know too readily +betrayed the fact that her petulance was due to her not having been +favored therewith. + +"After all I did for her last night and to-day 'twould have been a +mighty little thing to tell where she was going to stop, but just soon's +her fine friends came aboard she dropped us like as if we weren't fit to +notice." + +The irate lady, however, seemed to find scant sympathy and support in +the faces of her listeners, some of whom had long since wearied of her +strident voice and oracular ways. It was well remembered that so far +from being of aid or value in caring for the injured men, she had +pestered people with undesired advice and interference, had made much +noise and no bandages, and later, when an official of the company +boarded the train, had constituted herself spokeswoman for the +passengers, not at all to their advantage and much to his disgust. Then, +finding that Miss Ray was looked upon as the only heroine of the +occasion, she had assumed a guardianship, so to speak, over that young +lady which became almost possessive in form, so passively was it +tolerated. + +She had plied the girl with questions as to the friends who were to meet +her on arrival in San Francisco, and Miss Ray had smilingly given +evasive answers. + +When, therefore, they neared Sacramento and the vice-president announced +her intention of sallying forth to see to it that proper victuals were +provided for her soldier boys, Miss Ray had a few minutes in which to +make her preparations, and the next thing the vice-president saw of her +supposed ward and dependant, that young lady was in the embrace of a +richly dressed and most distinguished looking woman, whose gray hair +only served to heighten the refinement of her features. Just behind the +elder lady stood a silk-hatted dignitary in the prime of life, and +behind him a footman or valet, to whom the porter was handing Miss Ray's +belongings. + +And what the vice-president so much resented was that Miss Ray had not +only never mentioned her purpose of leaving the train at Sacramento, but +never so much as introduced her friends, at whom the vice-president +smiled invitingly while accepting Miss Ray's courteous but brief thanks +for "so much attention during the afternoon," but who merely bowed in +acknowledgment when she would have addressed them on the subject of Miss +Ray's being of so much help to her when help was so much needed, and who +spirited the young lady away to the handsome carriage awaiting her. + +The vice-president was distinctly of the opinion that folks didn't need +to slink off in that way unless they were ashamed of where they were +going or afraid of being found out, whereat Stuyvesant found himself +gritting his teeth with wrath, and so whirled about and left her. + +It was after midnight when they reached the pier at Oakland. There, +under the great train-shed, track after track was covered with troop +cars and a full regiment lay sleeping. + +An alert young officer of the guard raised his hand in salute as +Stuyvesant addressed him. No, there were no ambulances, no soldiers from +the Presidio. They might be waiting across the ferry. + +But how was he to get the injured men across the ferry, thought +Stuyvesant. Two of them would have to be carried. + +The long train, except that recruit car, was now emptied. The throng of +passengers had gone on through the waiting-rooms and up the stairway to +the saloon deck of the huge ferry-boat. If he purposed going, no time +was to be lost, and the porter bearing his hand-luggage ventured a word +to that effect. + +Stuyvesant looked back. There were protruding heads at many of the +windows of the recruit car, but, obedient to the instructions given by +Connelly, no man, apparently, had left his place, and Connelly, though +suffering, had evidently resumed control, much benefited by the services +of another physician who had boarded the train in the late afternoon and +renewed the bandages and dressings of the injured men. Then Stuyvesant +became suddenly aware of a messenger-boy with a telegram. It was +addressed to "Lieutenant Stuyvesant, A. D. C., Train No. 2, Oakland." +Tearing it open, he read as follows: + +"Report by wire condition of Recruit Foster. If serious, have him +conveyed to St. Paul's Hospital. Commission as lieutenant and signal +officer awaits him here." + +It was signed by the adjutant-general at department head-quarters, San +Francisco. + +But the boy had still another. This too he held forth to Stuyvesant, and +the latter, not noticing that it was addressed "Commanding Officer U. S. +Troops, Train No. 2," mechanically opened and read and made a spring for +the car. + +The message was from Port Costa, barely thirty miles away, and briefly +said: "Any your men missing? Soldier left car here believed jumped +overboard return trip ferry-boat." + +One man was missing. Recruit Foster, for whom a commission as lieutenant +and signal officer was waiting at department head-quarters, could not be +found. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +In the busy week that followed Lieutenant Stuyvesant had his full share +of work and no time for social distraction. Appointed to the staff of +General Vinton, with orders to sail without delay for Manila, the young +officer found his hours from morn till late at night almost too short +for the duties demanded of him. + +The transports were almost ready. The troops had been designated for the +expedition. The supplies were being hurried aboard. The general had his +men all the livelong day at the rifle-ranges or drill-grounds, for most +of the brigade were raw volunteers who had been rushed to the point of +rendezvous with scant equipment and with less instruction. The camps +were thronged with men in all manner of motley as to dress and no little +variety as to dialect. Few of the newly appointed officers in the +Department of Supply were versed in their duties, and the young regulars +of the staff of the commanding general were working sixteen hours out of +the twenty-four, coaching their comrades of the volunteers. + +The streets were crowded with citizens eager to welcome and applaud the +arriving troops. Hotels were thronged. Restaurants were doing a thriving +business, for the army ration did not too soon commend itself in its +simplicity to the stomachs of some thousands of young fellows who had +known better diet if no better days, many of their number having left +luxurious homes and surroundings and easy salaries to shoulder a musket +for three dollars a week. + +Private soldiers in blue flannel shirts were learning to stand attention +and touch their caps to young men in shoulder-straps whom they had +laughed at and called "tin soldiers" a year agone because they belonged +to the militia--a thing most of the gilded youth in many of our Western +cities seemed to scorn as beneath them. + +In the wave of patriotic wrath and fervor that swept the land when the +Maine was done to death in Havana Harbor, many and many a youth who has +sneered at the State Guardsmen learned to wish that he too had given +time and honest effort to the school of the soldier, for now, unless he +had sufficient "pull" to win for him a staff position, his only hope was +in the ranks. + +And so, even in the recruit detachments of the regulars, were found +scores of young men whose social status at home was on a plane much +higher than that of many of their officers. But the time had come when +the long and patient effort of the once despised militiaman had won +deserved recognition. The commissions in the newly raised regiments were +held almost exclusively by officers who had won them through long +service with the National Guard. + +And in the midst of all the whirl of work in which he found himself, +Lieutenant Stuyvesant had been summoned to the tent of General Drayton, +commanding the great encampment on the sand-lots south of the Presidio +reservation, and bidden to tell what he knew of one Walter F. Foster, +recruit --th Cavalry, member of the detachment sent on via the Denver +and Rio Grande to Ogden, then transferred to the Southern Pacific train +Number 2 _en route_ to San Francisco, which detachment was burned out +of its car and the car out of its train early on the morning of the +---- of June, 1898, somewhere in the neighborhood of a station with +the uncouth name of Beowawe in the heart of the Humboldt Desert, and +which Recruit Foster had totally disappeared the following evening, +having been last seen by his comrades as the train was ferried across +Carquinez Straits, thirty miles from Oakland Pier, and later by +railway hands at Port Costa on the back trip of the big boat to the +Benicia side. + +There was little Stuyvesant could tell. He hardly remembered the man +except as a fine-featured young fellow who seemed shy, nervous, and +unstrung, something Stuyvesant had hitherto attributed to the startling +and painful experience of the fire, and who, furthermore, seemed +desirous of dodging the lieutenant, which circumstance Stuyvesant could +not fathom at all, and if anything rather resented. + +He explained to the general that he was in no wise responsible for the +care of the detachment. He had only casually met them at Ogden, and +circumstances later had thrown him into closer relation. + +But the veteran general was desirous of further information. He sat at +the pine table in his plainly furnished tent, looking thoughtfully into +the frank and handsome face of the young officer, his fingers beating a +tattoo on the table-top. The general's eyes were sombre, even sad at +times. Beneath them lay lines of care and sorrow. His voice was low, his +manner grave, courteous, even cold. He was studying his man and +discussing in his mind how far he might confide in him. + +Obedient to the general's invitation, Stuyvesant had taken a chair close +to the commander's table and sat in silence awaiting further question. +At last it came. + +"You say he left nothing--no trace--behind?" + +"There was nothing to leave, general. He had only a suit of underwear, +in which he escaped from the car. The men say he had had money and a +valise filled with things which he strove to keep from sight of any of +his fellows. They say that he befriended a tough character by the name +of Murray, who had enlisted with him, and they think Murray knows +something about him." + +"Where is Murray now?" asked the chief. + +"In the guard-house at the Presidio. He gave the corporal in charge a +good deal of trouble and was placed under guard the morning they reached +the city. They had to spend the night with the Iowa regiment at Oakland +Pier." + +Again the gray-haired general gave himself to thought. "Could you tell +how he was dressed when he disappeared?" he finally asked. + +"A young man in the second sleeper gave him a pair of worn blue serge +trousers and his morocco slippers. Somebody else contributed a _négligé_ +shirt and a black silk travelling cap. He was wearing these when last +I spoke to him at Sacramento, where he would not eat anything. I--I had +wired ahead for dinner for them." + +"Yes," said the general with sudden indignation in his tone, "and I'm +told the company refused to reimburse you. What excuse did they give?" + +"It's of little consequence, sir," laughed Stuyvesant. "The loss hasn't +swamped me." + +"That's as may be," answered the general. "It's the principle involved. +That company is coining money by the thousands transporting troops at +full rates, and some of the cars it furnished were simply abominable. +What was the excuse given?" + +"They said, or rather some official wrote, that they wouldn't reimburse +us because they had already had to sustain the loss of that car due to +the carelessness of our men, and their own train-hands, general, knew +there was no smoking and the men were all asleep. Foster had a very +narrow escape, and Corporal Connelly was badly burned lugging Murray +out." + +The general took from a stack of correspondence at his right hand a +letter on club paper, studied it a moment, and then glanced up at +Stuyvesant. "Was not Colonel Ray's regiment with you at Chickamauga?" he +asked. + +"It was expected when I left, general. You mean the --th Kentucky?" + +"I mean his volunteer regiment--yes. I was wondering whether any of his +family had gone thither. But you wouldn't be apt to know." + +And Stuyvesant felt the blood beginning to mount to his face. He could +answer for it that one member had not gone thither. He was wondering +whether he ought to speak of it when Drayton finally turned upon him and +held forth the letter. "Read that," said he, "but regard it as +confidential." + +It was such a letter as one frank old soldier might write another. It +was one of a dozen that had come to Drayton that day asking his interest +in behalf of some young soldier about joining his command. It was dated +at Cincinnati five days earlier, and before Stuyvesant had read half +through the page his hand was trembling. + + "Dear Drayton," it said, "I'm in a snarl, and I want your help. My + sister's pet boy came out to try his hand at ranching near us last + year. He had some money from his father and everything promised + well for his success if he could have stuck to business. But he + couldn't. Billy Ray, commanding my first squadron, was stationed + with me, and the first thing I knew the boy was head over ears in + love with Billy's daughter. I can't blame him. Marion, junior, is + as pretty a girl as ever grew up in the army, and she's a brave + and winsome lass besides--her Dad all over, as her mother says. + + "Walter's ranch was thirty miles away, but he'd ride the sixty six + times a week, if need be, to have a dance with Maidie Ray, and the + cattle could go to the wolves. Then came the war. The Governor of + Kentucky gave Ray the command of a regiment, and that fool boy of + mine begged him to take him along. Ray couldn't. Besides, I don't + think he half liked Walter's devotions to the girl, though he + hadn't anything against him exactly. Then I was retired and sent + home, and the next thing my sister, Mrs. Foster, came tearing in + to tell me Walter had gone and enlisted--enlisted in the regulars + at Denver and was going to 'Frisco and Manila, as he couldn't get + to Cuba. She's completely broke up about it. + + "Foster went to Washington and saw the President and got a + commission for him in the signal corps,--volunteers,--and he + should be with you by the time you get this, so I wired ahead. + + "He isn't altogether a bad lot, but lacks horse sense, and gave + his parents a good deal of anxiety in his varsity days abroad. + He was in several scrapes along with a boon companion who seems + to have been so much like him, physically and morally, that, + mother-like, Mrs. Foster is sure that very much of which her + Walter was accused was really done by Wally's chum. I'm not so + sure of this myself, but at all events Foster made it a condition + that the boy should cut loose from the evil association, as he + called it, before certain debts would be paid. I don't know what + soldier stuff there is in him--if any--but give him a fair start + for old times' sake. + + "I need not tell you that I wish you all the joy and success + the double stars can bring. I'd be in it too but for that old + Spotsylvania shot-hole and rheumatics. My eagles, however, will + fold their wings and take a rest, but we'll flap 'em and scream + every time you make a ten-strike. + + "Yours, as ever, + + "Martindale." + +Stuyvesant did not look up at once after finishing the letter. When he +did, and before he could speak, the general was holding out some +telegrams, and these too he took and read--the almost agonized appeals +of a mother for news of her boy--the anxious inquiries, coupled with +suggestions of the veteran soldier concerning the only son of a beloved +sister. Drayton's fine, thoughtful face was full of sympathy--his eyes +clouded with anxiety and sorrow. Martindale was not the only old soldier +in search of son or nephew that fateful summer. + +"You see how hard it is to be able to send no tidings whatever," he +said. "I sent to you in the hope that you might think of some possible +explanation, might suggest some clue or theory. Can you?" + +There was just one moment of silence, and then again Stuyvesant looked +up, his blue eyes meeting the anxious gaze of the commander. + +"General," he hazarded, "it is worth while to try Sacramento. Miss Ray +is there." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +At sunset that evening the regiments destined to embark with the +expedition commanded by General Vinton were paraded for inspection in +full marching order, while a dozen other commands less fortunate looked +enviously on. The day had been raw and chilly. The wind blew salt and +strong, sending the fog in dripping clouds sailing in at the Golden +Gate, obscuring all the bold northern shore, and streaming up the sandy +slopes and over the wide wastes south of Sutro Heights. Men who owned +overcoats were few and far between, so while the designated battalions +stood and shivered in the wet grass, the mass of spectators hovered +about in ponchos or wrapped in blankets, the down-turned brims of their +campaign hats dripping heavily and contributing much to the weird and +unmilitary look of the wearers. Officers had donned Mackintoshes and +heavy boots. Badges of rank, except in cases of those provided with the +regulation overcoat, were lost to sight. Only among the regulars and one +or two regiments made up from the National Guard were uniforms so +complete that in their foul-weather garb it was possible to distinguish +colonel from subaltern, staff sergeant from private. + +In front of the guard-house at the Presidio a dozen cavalrymen armed +with the new carbine and dressed throughout for winter service, this +being San Francisco June, had formed ranks under command of a sergeant +and stood silently at ease awaiting the coming of the officer of the +day. The accurate fit of their warm overcoats, the cut of their trooper +trousers, the polish of their brasses and buttons, the snug, trim "set" +of their belts, all combined to tell the skilled observer that these +were regulars. + +As such they were objects of interest and close scrutiny to the little +knots of volunteers who had sauntered in to pick up points. To the +former it looked odd and out of gear to see the forage-caps and broad +white stripes of commissioned officers mingling with the slouch hats and +ill-fitting nether garments of the rank and file. + +It was too early in the campaign for "the boys" to have settled down to +realization of the subtle distinction between their status as soldiers +of the Nation and citizens of a sovereign State. To private A of the far +Westerners his company commander was still "Billy, old boy," or at best +"Cap.," save when actually in ranks and on drill or parade. + +To the silently observant volunteer, on the other hand, it was just as +odd to note that when a gray-haired veteran sergeant, issuing from the +guard-house, caught sight of a trig, alert little fellow, with beardless +face and boyish features and keen, snapping dark eyes, hastening towards +him in the garb of a lieutenant of cavalry, the veteran was suddenly +transformed into a rigid statue in light blue, standing attention and at +the salute--a phenomenon that extracted from the infant officer only a +perfunctory touch of finger to cap visor and not so much as a glance. + +How could the "boys" from far Nebraska be supposed to know that the +little chap had spent his whole life in the shadow of the flag, and had +many a time in baby days been dandled on the very arm that was now so +deferentially bent and uplifted in soldier homage? What was there in the +manner of the youngster to betray the fact that he dreaded old Sergeant +Rigney's criticism even more than that of his commanding officer? + +Then came another phenomenon. + +At a brief, curt "Sergeant, get out your prisoners," from the beardless +lips, there was instant fumbling of big keys and clanking of iron from +the hidden recesses of the guard-house. + +The dismounted troopers sprang suddenly to attention. The guard split in +two at its middle, each half facing outward, marched half a dozen paces +away like the duellists of old days from the back to back position, +halted, faced front once more, and stood again at ease, with a broad gap +of a dozen paces between their inner flanks. + +Into this space, shuffling dejectedly in some cases, stalking defiantly +in others, slinking, shivering, and decrepit in the case of two or three +poor wrecks of the rum fiend, a stream of humanity in soiled soldier +garb came pouring from the prison door and lined up under the eyes of +vigilant non-commissioned officers in front of the young lieutenant in +command. + +There they stood, their eyes shifting nervously from group to group of +huddling spectators, their shoulders hunched up to their ears--the +riff-raff of the garrison--the few desperate, dangerous characters from +the surrounding camps, an uncouth, uncanny lot at any time, but looking +its worst in the drip of the floating fog-wreaths and the gloom and +despond of the dying day. The boom of the sunset gun from Alcatraz fell +sullenly on the ear even as the soft trumpets of the cavalry, close at +hand, began sounding the "Retreat." At its last prolonged note the sharp +crack of an old three-inch rifle echoed the report from Alcatraz, and +from the invisible, mist-shrouded top of the staff the dripping folds of +the storm-flag came flapping down in view, limp and bedraggled, and the +guard sprang again to attention as a burly, red-faced, hearty-looking +soldier, with a captain's insignia in loop and braid on the sleeves of +his overcoat, broke a way through the group of lookers-on and, barely +waiting for the salute and report of the young lieutenant commanding, +began a sharp scrutiny of the prisoners before him. + +Down along the line he went, until at the fourth man from the left in +the front rank he stopped short. A bulky, thick-set soldier stood there, +a sullen, semi-defiant look about his eyes, a grim set to the jaws +bristling with a week-old beard of dirty black. Then came the snapping +colloquy. + +"Your name Murray?" + +"That's what they call me." + +"What was your name before that?" + +"Jim." + +Whereat there was a titter in the ranks of prisoners. Some of the guard +even allowed their mouths to expand, and the groups of volunteers, +chuckling in keen enjoyment, came edging in closer. + +Instantly the voice of the officer of the guard was heard ordering +silence, and faces straightened out in the twinkling of an eye. + +The elder officer, the captain, grew a trifle redder, but he was master +of himself and the situation. It is with school-boys as with soldiers, +their master is the man whom pranks or impudence cannot annoy. The +officer of the day let no tone of temper into his next question. Looking +straight into the shifting eyes, he waited for perfect silence, and then +spoke: + +"Jim what? I wish the name under which you served in your previous +enlistment." + +"Never said I'd served before." + +"No. You declared you had not. But I know better. You're a deserter from +the Seventh Cavalry." + +The face under the shrouding campaign hat went gray white with sudden +twitch of the muscles, then set again, rigid and defiant. The eyes +snapped angrily. The answer was sharp, yet seemed, as soldiers say, to +"hang fire" a second. + +"Never seen the Seventh Cavalry in my life." + +The officer of the day turned and beckoned to a figure hitherto kept +well in the background, screened by the groups of surrounding +volunteers. A man of middle age, smooth shaven and stout, dressed in +business sack-suit, came sturdily forward and took position by the +captain's side. + +At sight of the new-comer Murray's face, that had regained a bit of its +ruddy hue, again turned dirty white, and the boy lieutenant, eying him +closely, saw the twitch of his thin, half-hidden lips. + +"Point out your man," said the captain to the new arrival. + +The civilian stepped forward, and without a word twice tapped with his +forefinger the broad breast of Prisoner Murray and, never looking at +him, turned again to the officer of the day. + +"What was his name in the Seventh?" asked the latter. + +"Sackett." + +The captain turned to the officer of the guard. "Mr. Ray," said he, +"separate Murray from the garrison prisoners and have him put in a cell. +That man must be carefully guarded. You may dismiss the guard, sir." + +And, followed by the stranger, Captain Kress was leaving the ground when +Murray seemed to recover himself, and in loud and defiant voice gave +tongue,-- + +"That man's a damned liar, and this is an outrage." + +"Shut up, Murray!" shouted the sergeant of the guard, scandalized at +such violation of military proprieties. "It's gagged you'll be, you +idiot," he added between his set teeth, as with scowling face he bore +down on the equally scowling prisoner. "Come out of that and step along +here ahead of me. I'll put you where shoutin' won't help." And slowly, +sullenly, Murray obeyed. + +Slowly and in silence the groups of spectators broke up and sauntered +away as the last of the prisoners dragged back into the guard-house, and +the guard itself broke ranks and went within doors, leaving only the +sentry pacing mechanically the narrow, hard-beaten path, the sergeant, +and at the turn of the road, the young lieutenant whom Captain Kress had +addressed as Mr. Ray. This officer, having silently received his +superior's orders and seen to it that Murray was actually "behind the +bars," had again come forth into the gathering twilight, the gloaming of +a cheerless day, and having hastened to the bend from which point the +forms of the officer of the day and his associate were still faintly +visible, stood gazing after them, a puzzled look in his brave young +face. + +Not yet a month in possession of his commission, here was a lad to whom +every iota of the routine of a lieutenant's life was as familiar as +though he had drawn the pay for a decade. + +Born and bred in the army, taught from early boyhood to ride and shoot, +to spar and swim, spending his vacation in saddle and his schooldays in +unwilling study, an adept in every healthful and exhilarating sport, +keen with rifle and revolver, with shotgun and rod, with bat and +racquet, with the gloves and Indian clubs, the nimblest quarter-back and +dodger, the swiftest runner of his school, it must be owned that Mr. +Sanford Ray was a most indifferent scholar. Of geography, history, and +languages he had rather more than a smattering because of occasional +tours abroad when still at an impressionable age. Yet Sandy "took more +stock," as he expressed it, and "stawk," as he called it, in Sioux and +the sign language than he did in French or German, knew far more of the +Rockies and Sierras than he did of the Alps, studied the European +cavalry with the eye of an accomplished critic, and stoutly maintained +that while they were bigger swells and prettier to look at, they could +neither ride nor shoot to compare with the sturdy troopers of his +father's squadron. + +"As to uniforms," said Sandy, "anybody could look swagger in the lancer +and huzzar rig. It takes a man to look like a soldier in what our +fellows have to wear." + +It wasn't the field garb Sandy despised, but the full dress, the blue +and yellow enormity in which our troopers are compelled to appear. + +It had been the faint hope of his fond parents that Master Sandy would +grow up to be something, by which was meant a lawyer, an artist, +architect, engineer,--something in civil life that promised home and +fortune. But the lad from babyhood would think of nothing but the army +and with much misgiving, in Sandy's fifteenth year, his father shipped +him to Kentucky, where they were less at home than in Kansas, and gave +him a year's hard schooling in hopes of bracing up his mathematics. + +Sandy was wild to go to West Point, and at the bottom of his heart Major +Ray would have rejoiced had he thought it possible for Sandy to pull +through; but ruefully he minded him how hard a task was his own, and how +close he came to failure at the semi-annual exams. "Sandy hates Math. +even more than I did," said he to Marion, his devoted wife. "It was all +I could do to squirm through when the course was nowhere near as hard as +it is to-day, so don't set your heart on it, little woman." + +The appointment was not so hard to get, for Major Billy had a host of +friends in his native State, and an old chum at the Point assured him he +could coach young Sandy through the preliminary, and indeed he did. +Sandy scraped in after six months' vigorous work, managed to hold his +own through the first year's tussle with algebra and geometry, which he +had studied hard and faithfully before, was a pet in his class, and the +pride and joy of his mother's and sister's heart in yearling camp, where +he blossomed out in corporal's chevrons and made as natty and active a +first sergeant as could be found while the "furlough class" was away. + +But the misery began with "analytical" and the crisis came with +calculus, and to the boy's bitter sorrow, after having been turned back +one year on the former and failing utterly on the latter, the verdict of +the Academic Board went dead against him, and stout old soldiers thereon +cast their votes with grieving hearts, for "Billy Ray's Boy" was a lad +they hated to let go, but West Point rules are inexorable. + +So too were there saddened hearts far out on the frontier where the +major was commanding a cavalry post in a busy summer, but neither he nor +Marion had one word of blame or reproach for the boy. Loving arms, and +eyes that smiled through their sorrow, welcomed him when the little chap +returned to them. "Don't anybody come to meet me," he wrote. "Just let +mother be home." And so it was settled. + +He sprang from the wagon that met him at the station, went hand in hand +with his father into the hall, and then, with one sob, bounded into +Marion's outstretched arms as she stood awaiting him in the little army +parlor. + +The major softly closed the door and with blinking eyes stole away to +stables. There had been another meeting a little later when Marion the +second was admitted, and the girl stole silently to her brother's side +and her arms twined about his neck. Her love for him had been something +like adoration through all the years of girlhood, and now, though he was +twenty and she eighteen, its fervor seemed to know no diminution. They +had done their best, all of them, to encourage while the struggle +lasted, but to teach him that should failure come, it would come without +reproach or shame. + +The path to success in other fields was still before him. The road to +the blessed refuge of home and love and sympathy would never close. + +It was hard to reconcile the lad at first. The major set him up as a +young ranchman in a lovely valley in the Big Horn Range, and there he +went sturdily to work, but before the winter was fairly on the country +was rousing to the appeals of Cuba, and before it was gone the Maine had +sunk, a riddled hulk, and the spring came in with a call to arms. + +Together with some two hundred young fellows all over the land, Sanford +Ray went up for examination for the vacant second lieutenancies in the +army, and he who had failed in analytical and calculus passed without +grave trouble the more practical ordeal demanded by the War Department, +was speedily commissioned in the artillery, and, to his glory and +delight, promptly transferred to the cavalry. + +Then came the first general break up the family had really known, for +the major hurried away to Kentucky to assume command of the regiment of +volunteers of which he had been made colonel. Billy, junior, a lad of +barely seventeen, enlisted at Lexington as a bugler in his father's +regiment, and swore he'd shoot himself if they didn't let him serve. The +Kentuckians were ordered to Chickamauga, the young regular to the +Presidio at San Francisco, and Mrs. Ray, after seeing her husband and +youngest son started for the South, returned to Leavenworth, where they +had just settled down a week before the war began, packed and stored the +household furniture, then, taking "Maidie" with her, hurried westward to +see the last of her boy, whose squadron was destined for service at +Manila. + +The lieutenant, as they delighted in calling him, joined them at Denver, +looking perfectly at home in his field uniform and perfectly happy. They +left Maidie to spend a week with old army friends at Fort Douglas, and +as soon as Sandy was settled in his new duties and the loving mother had +satisfied herself the cavalry would not be spirited away before July, +she accepted the eager invitation of other old friends to visit them at +Sacramento, and there they were, mother and daughter, again united this +very raw and foggy evening, when Mr. Ray, as officer of the guard, stood +at the bend of the roadway east of the Presidio guard-house, gazing +after the vanishing forms of Captain Kress and the burly stranger in +civilian clothes, and wondering where on earth it was he had seen the +latter before. + +So engrossed was he in this that it was only when a second time +addressed that he whirled about and found himself confronting a tall and +slender young officer, with frank, handsome blue eyes and fine, +clear-cut face, a man perhaps five years his senior in age and one grade +in rank, for his overcoat sleeve bore the single loop and braid of a +first lieutenant. + +He was in riding boots and spurs, as Ray noted at first glance, and +there behind him stood an orderly holding the horses of both. + +"Pardon me. I am Lieutenant Stuyvesant of General Vinton's staff. This +is the officer of the guard, I believe, and I am sent to make some +inquiry of a prisoner--a man named Murray." + +"We have such a man," said Ray, eying the newcomer with soldierly +appreciation of his general appearance and not without envy of his +inches. "But he's just been locked in a cell, and it will take an order +from the officer of the day to fetch him out--unless you could see him +in there with other prisoners within earshot." + +"Not very well," answered Stuyvesant, looking curiously into the dark +eyes of the youngster. "Perhaps I'd better see the officer of the day at +once." + +"You'll find him at the club. He's just gone in," said Ray, mindful of +the fact that this was the captain's time for a cocktail, and with a +courteous salute the aide-de-camp hastened away. + +In five minutes he was back with a pencilled scrawl from Kress to the +effect that Lieutenant Stuyvesant was to be permitted to interview the +prisoner Murray outside the guard-house, but sentries must be placed to +prevent escape. + +Quickly young Ray called out the corporal and two men, warned them of +the duty demanded, stationed them up and down the road and opposite the +guard-house, but just out of ear-shot, ordered the prisoner brought +forth, and then, leaving Stuyvesant standing at the post of Number One, +stepped a dozen yards away into the mist. + +A minute later out came the sergeant, marshalling Murray after him, a +sentry at his heels. Then in the gathering darkness the tall officer and +the short, thick-set soldier met face to face, and the latter recoiled +and began glancing quickly, furtively about him. + +Just how it all happened Ray could never quite tell. The light was now +feeble, the lamps were only just beginning to burn. There was a moment +of low-toned talk between the two, a question twice repeated in firmer +tone, then a sudden, desperate spring and dash for liberty. + +Like a centre rush--a charging bull--the prisoner came head on straight +to where young Ray was standing, heedless of a yell to halt, and in less +time than it takes to tell it, the lithe little athlete of West Point's +crack football team had sprung and tackled and downed him in his tracks. + +Biting, cursing, straining, the big bully lay in the mud, overpowered +now by the instant dash of the guard, while their bantam officer, rising +and disgustedly contemplating the smear of wet soil over his new +overcoat, was presently aware of Stuyvesant, bending forward, extending +a helping hand, and exclaiming: + +"By Jove, but that was a neat tackle! You must have been a joy to _your_ +team. What was it?" + +"West Point--last year's." + +"And may I ask--the name?" + +"My name's Ray," said Sandy with beaming smile, showing a row of even, +white teeth under the budding, dark mustache, and Stuyvesant felt the +warm blood surging to his forehead, just as it had before that day in +the general's tent. + +"I think I should have known that," he presently stammered. "It was Miss +Ray who so skilfully treated those poor fellows burned out on our train. +I suppose you heard of it." + +"Why, yes," answered the youngster, again curiously studying the face of +his tall visitor. "Then it was you she--I heard about. Wish I weren't on +duty. I'd be glad to have you over at my quarters or the club." + +"I wish so too, and yet I'm lucky in finding you here, since"--and here +Stuyvesant turned and looked resentfully towards the bedraggled figure +of Murray, now being supported back to the cells--"since that fellow +proved so churlish and ungrateful. He's all wrath at being put behind +the bars and won't answer any questions." + +"What else could he expect?" asked Ray bluntly. "He's a deserter." + +"A deserter!" exclaimed Stuyvesant in surprise. "Who says so?" + +"Captain Kress, officer of the day, or at least a cit who came with him +to identify him. They say he skipped from the Seventh Cavalry." + +At this piece of information Mr. Stuyvesant whirled about again in added +astonishment. "Why," said he, "this upsets--one theory completely. I +declare, if that's true we're all at sea. I beg pardon," he continued, +but now with marked hesitancy--"you know--you've heard, I suppose, +about--Foster?" + +"What Foster?" + +"Why, the recruit, you know, the one we lost at Port Costa," and the +blue eyes were curiously and intently studying the face of the younger +soldier, dimly visible now that the guard-house lamps were beginning to +glow. + +"I knew there was a recruit missing, and--seems to me that was the +name," answered Ray. + +"And--didn't you know who he was--that it was--pardon me, the man +who--lived near you--had a ranch----" + +"Great Scott! You don't mean Wally Foster! _He_ enlisted and in the +cavalry? Well, I'm----" And now Mr. Ray's merriment overcame him. "I +never thought there was that much to Wally. He was a lackadaisical sort +of a spook when I saw him. What possessed him to enlist? He's no stuff +for a soldier." + +Stuyvesant hesitated. That letter of old Colonel Martindale's was shown +him in confidence. But Ray's next impetuous outburst settled it. + +"Oh, by Jove! I see it,--it's----" And here the white teeth gleamed in +the lamplight, for Mr. Ray was laughing heartily. + +"Yes? It's what?" smiled Stuyvesant sympathetically. + +"It's--my sister, I reckon," laughed Ray. "She once said she wouldn't +marry outside of the army, and he heard it." + +"Oh,--did she?" said Stuyvesant reflectively, and then he was silent. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +When Vinton's flotilla drew out into that wonderful bay, and the crowded +transports rode at anchor on the tide, there came swarming about them +all manner of harbor craft, some laden with comforts for the departing +soldiery, some with curiosity seekers, some with contraband of war in +the shape of fruit and fluids, but all were warned to keep a cable's +length at least away. + +The commanding general, with other officers of rank, was darting from +ship to ship in a swift steam launch, holding brief conference with the +colonel in command of each, and finally repairing to his own--the +flagship--where the final adieux were exchanged. + +The general and his aides nimbly mounted the steep stairway to the +bridge, the launch swung loose, and then up to the mast-head flew a +little bunch of bunting that broke as it reached the truck, and there +fluttered in the strong salt wind whistling in from sea the eagerly +awaited signal to "up anchor and follow." + +And then at the stern of the Vanguard the waves were churned into foam +as the massive screw began its spin, and slowly, steadily the flagship +forged ahead to the accompaniment of a deafening din of steam whistles +and sirens all over the bay. Promptly the other transports followed the +movements of the leader, and presently, in trailing column, five big +black steamships, thronged with cheering soldiery, were slowly ploughing +their way towards the grand entrance of that spacious harbor, the +matchless Golden Gate. + +Coming abreast of rock-ribbed Alcatraz, still moving at less than half +speed, the flagship was greeted by the thunder of the parting salute, +and the commanding general, standing with his staff upon the bridge, +doffed his cap and bared his handsome head in acknowledgment. + +"The next guns we're apt to hear will be the Spaniard's at Manila, and +shotted guns instead of blanks," said a staff officer to the tall, +fair-haired aide-de-camp. "What's the matter, Stuyvesant? Beginning to +feel wabbly already? There's no sea here to speak of." + +"I was watching that boat," was the quiet reply, as the young officer +pointed to a small white steamer that appeared coming in pursuit, +carefully picking a way through the host of harbor craft still +screeching and steaming along as escort to the fleet. + +There was an eager light in the bright blue eyes, but the high color had +fled. Stuyvesant looked as though he had not slept as much or as well of +late as perfect health required, and his questioner gazed keenly into +his face, then turned away with a smile. + +Only three days before, on the register of the Occidental appeared among +the arrivals the entry "Mrs. William P. Ray, Miss Ray, Fort +Leavenworth," and that evening at least a dozen officers called and sent +up their cards, and Lieutenant Ray came in from the Presidio and was +with his mother and sister an hour or more. + +The ladies held quite a little levee in the parlor of the familiar old +army hostelry, and Mr. Stuyvesant, after a long and fatiguing day's duty +at camp, accompanied his general to their very handsome apartments at +The Palace, and then falteringly asked if he might be excused awhile--he +had a call or two to make. + +The evening papers had announced the arrival of the wife and daughter of +"the gallant officer so well known for quarter of a century gone by to +many of our citizens--Captain 'Billy' Ray, now colonel of the --th +Kentucky," and Stuyvesant had determined to make an effort to meet them. +But he was a stranger to the officers who called and sent up their +cards--all old regulars. + +Lieutenant Ray was with the party in the parlor, and Stuyvesant felt a +strange shyness when striving to persuade himself to send his card to +that young officer and boldly ask to be presented. Surely it was the +proper thing to seek and meet her and thank her for her deft +ministrations the night of the fire. Surely a man of his distinguished +family and connections need not shrink from asking to be introduced to +any household in all our broad domain, and yet Stuyvesant found himself +nervous and hesitant, wandering about the crowded office, making +pretense of interest in posters and pictures, wistfully regarding the +jovial knots of regulars who seemed so thoroughly at home. + +Over at The Palace, where so many of the general officers and their +staffs were quartered, he had dozens of friends. Here at this favorite +old resort of the regular service he stood alone, and to his proud and +sensitive spirit it seemed as though there were a barrier between him +and these professional soldiers. + +There was the whole secret of his trouble. Absurd and trivial as it may +seem, Stuyvesant shrank from the enterprise, even at the very +threshold,--shrank even from sending his card and asking for Lieutenant +Ray, for no other or better reason than that he did not know how a +volunteer would be welcomed. + +And so for nearly half an hour he hovered irresolute about the office, +unconscious of the many glances of interest and admiration from the keen +eyes of the officers gathered in laughing groups about the marbled +floor. Not one of their number was his superior in form and feature, and +his uniform was the handiwork of Gotham's best military tailor. _They_ +saw that the instant he threw off his cape. + +One of their number whispered that it was Mr. Stuyvesant, General +Vinton's aide, for everybody knew Vinton, and more than one would have +been glad to take the aide-de-camp by the hand and bid him welcome to +their coterie but for that same odd shyness that, once away from camp or +garrison and in the atmosphere of metropolitan life, seems to clog and +hamper the kindlier impulses of the soldier. + +Presently, as Stuyvesant stood at the desk looking over the register, he +heard himself accosted by name, and turning quickly, hopefully, found to +his disappointment only a stocky little man in civilian dress. Yet the +face was familiar, and the trouble in the honest brown eyes looking up +to him, as though for help and sympathy, went right to his heart. Even +before the man could give his name or tell his need, Stuyvesant knew him +and held out a cordial hand: + +"Why! You're our brakeman! I'm glad to see you. What's wrong?" + +"I've lost me job, sir," was the answer, with a little choke. "They let +me out two days ago--for sayin' their rotten old car caught fire from +the boxes, I reckon." + +"You don't tell me!" exclaimed Stuyvesant in honest indignation. "Now, +how can I help you? What shall we do?" + +"Take me to Manila, sir. I don't need this place. There's no one +dependent on me--I can't soldier. They won't 'list a fellow with only +two fingers," and he held up a maimed hand. "Lost the others in a +freight smash-up six years ago. But there's a railway out there that'll +be ours in a few months. Then you'll want Yankee train-hands. Can you +do that much for me, lieutenant?" + +"Come to me at The Palace at eight o'clock in the morning," answered +Stuyvesant. "I'll have had a chance to talk to my general by that time. +Meanwhile"--and with a blush he began drawing forth his purse. + +The brakeman smiled. "I've got money enough, sir. They paid me off and I +had some put by. Thank you all the same, Mr. Stuyvesant.--Oh, yes, sir, +I'm ready," he broke off suddenly in addressing some other person, and +Stuyvesant, turning quickly to see, was confronted by Lieutenant Ray. + +"Oh, how-de-do? Going to be here long?" promptly queried that young +gentleman. "Haven't seen you since the night at the Presidio. 'Scuse me, +will you, I've got to take--er--my sister wants to see the brakeman, you +know.--With you the night of the fire." And with that Mr. Ray hopped +briskly away to the elevator, the ex-trainman following, leaving +Stuyvesant standing enviously at the counter. + +Even a brakeman could go to her and hear her pleasant words and receive +that beaming smile and perhaps a clasp of that cool, slender little +hand, while he who so longed for it all stood without the pale. + +Then an impulse that had been spurring him for half an hour overmastered +him. The parlors were public. At least he could go and take a peep at +her. + +He started for the elevator, then changed his plan, turned, and, with +his cape still thrown over his arm, ascended the stairs. The clerk at +the office desk glanced curiously at him, but the uniform was +sufficient. In a moment he found himself in the broad corridor and +almost in front of the door-way to the parlor. Half a dozen groups, +women and officers, were scattered about in merry conversation, but +Stuyvesant's eyes were riveted instantly on a little party close by the +elevator shaft. There, hat in hand, bowing and blushing, stood the +brakeman. There, with a bright, genial smile on her serene and happy +face, stood a matronly woman who, despite her soft blue eyes and fair +hair and complexion, was patent at once as the mother of the lovely, +dark-eyed girl and the trim young soldier who formed the other members +of the group. + +Three or four officers, some of them past the meridian, others young +subalterns, stood looking on in evident interest, and Stuyvesant halted +spellbound, not knowing just what to do. + +It was over in a moment. The railwayman, confused but happy, had +evidently been the recipient of kind and appreciative words, for his +face was glowing, and Miss Ray's fairly beamed with the radiance of its +smile. Then the door flew open as the elevator-car stopped for +passengers, and the ex-brakeman backed in and disappeared from view. +Then the mother twined an arm about her daughter's slender waist and two +young officers sprang forward to her side. Together they came sauntering +towards the parlor door, and then, all on a sudden, she looked up and +saw him. + +There was no mistaking the flash of instant recognition in her beautiful +eyes. Stuyvesant's heart leaped as his eager gaze met the swift glance, +and noted with joy that she certainly saw and knew him: more than that, +that the sight gave her pleasure. But in another instant she had +recovered herself, and turned to ask some quick question of the young +gallant at her side, and Stuyvesant, who was almost at the point of +bowing low, found himself savagely hating those yellow straps and +stripes and wishing the cavalry in perdition. Somebody was speaking to +Mr. Ray, and he couldn't catch that young officer's eye. The party +stopped a moment at the threshold, one of the officers was saying +good-night, and then a voice at Stuyvesant's elbow said "Which is +Lieutenant Ray?" It was the bell-boy. + +A sudden inspiration came to Stuyvesant. "What is it?" he said. "Have +you a message for him?" + +"Yes," was the answer. "They're telephoning for him from the +Presidio,--want him to come at once." + +"Tell me the whole message and I'll give it," said Stuyvesant. "Anything +wrong?" + +"Yes, sir. The clerk's at the 'phone now, but I couldn't get the +trouble. Something's broke loose, as I understand it." + +And that delay was fatal. Bounding up the steps, three at a stride, came +a young officer, breathless, and made straight for the group. Seeing +that Mrs. Ray and Miss Marion were close at hand, he paused one moment, +then with significant gesture called Ray to his side. Then Stuyvesant +could not but hear every word of the sudden and startling message. + +"Ray, you're wanted at the barracks at once. Prisoners 'scaped and your +house is robbed!" + +Stuyvesant ran beside him as Ray went bounding down the stairs and out +into Montgomery Street. + +"Can I be of any service? Can I help you some way?" he urged, for he saw +the young officer was looking white and anxious. But Ray hurriedly +thanked him and declined. He could not imagine, he said, what his loss +might be, yet something told him if anybody had escaped it was that +hulking sinner Murray. + +He sprang upon the first street-car at the corner, waved his hand in +parting, and was whisked away westward, leaving Stuyvesant standing +disconsolate. + +How now could he hope to meet her? The clerk at the office seemed +friendly and sympathetic when Stuyvesant wandered back there, and gave +him such particulars of the situation at the Presidio as he had been +able to gather over the wire. It seemed that a rumor had reached the +commanding officer that a number of tools had been smuggled into the +guard-house by the prisoners, and by the aid of these they hoped to cut +their way out. Despite the fact that it was growing dark, a search of +the prison room and cells was ordered while the prisoners stood in line +in front awaiting the usual evening inspection. There was no one to tell +just who started it or how, but, all on a sudden, while many of the +guard were aiding in the search inside, the whole array of prisoners, +regular and volunteer, old and young, except those few in irons, made a +sudden and simultaneous dash for liberty, scattering in every direction. +Some had already been recaptured, but at least twenty-five were still at +large, and the post adjutant, telephoning for Ray, briefly added that +there was every evidence that his quarters had been robbed. + +All this Stuyvesant heard with an absorbing interest, wondering whether +it might not be possible to make it a plea or pretext on which to +present himself to Mrs. Ray, and then ask to be presented to her +daughter. A second time he ascended the stairs and, sauntering by, +peered in at the parlor-door. Yes, there sat the charming matron looking +so winsome and kind as she smiled upon her circle of visitors, but, +alas, they were four in number and all officers of rank in the regular +service, and Stuyvesant's shyness again overcame him. + +Moreover, his brief glance into the brightly lighted apartment, all +decorated as it was with flags and flowers, revealed Miss Ray seated +near the window with two young cavalrymen in devoted attendance--all +three apparently so absorbed in their chat that he, lonely and wistful, +escaped observation entirely until, just as he passed from view, her +lovely dark eyes were for an instant quickly raised, and though he knew +it not, she saw him, and saw too that he was wandering aimlessly about, +but, quick as woman's intuition, her eyes returned to the face of the +eager young trooper by her side, for Stuyvesant turned for one more +longing glance before descending, defeated, to the office floor. + +It was his last opportunity, and fate seemed utterly against him, for +when on the following evening his general went to call upon Mrs. Ray and +took his handsome and hopeful aide, "The ladies are out," said the +bell-boy. They were dining at the adjutant-general's. + +In desperation, Stuyvesant went over to a florist's on Post Street, +bought a box of superb roses, and sent them with his card to Miss Ray, +expressing deep regret that he had been denied opportunity to thank her +in person for her kindness to him the night of the fire. He wanted to +say that he owed his eyes to her, but felt that she knew better and +would be more offended than pleased. + +He was to sail on the morrow, and he had not even seen her brother +again. + +But the department commander had said he purposed coming out with a +party of friends to run alongside the flag-ship as she steamed slowly +out to sea, and that was why Mr. Stuyvesant stood so eagerly watching +the ploughing side-wheeler so swiftly coming in pursuit. Already he had +made out the double stars in the bunting at the jack-staff. Already he +could distinguish the forms of several general officers whose commands +were not yet ready for embarkation and the fluttering garments of a +score of women. + +Something told him she would be of the party, and as the Vanguard slowed +down to let the head-quarters' boat run alongside, his heart beat +eagerly when his general said: "We'll go down, gentlemen, and board her. +It'll be much easier than the climb would be to them." + +So it happened that five minutes later he found himself at the heels of +his chief shaking hands mechanically with a dozen officers, while his +eyes kept peering beyond them to where, on the after-deck, the smiling +group of women stood expectant. + +And presently the general pushed on for a word of farewell with them, +the aides obediently following, and then came more presentations to +cordial and kindly people whose names he did not even hear, for just a +little farther on, and still surrounded by cavaliers, stood Mrs. Ray, +the handsomest and most distinguished-looking woman of the party, and +close beside her, _petite_ and graceful, her dark beauty even the more +noticeable in contrast with the fair features of her mother, stood +Maidie. And then at last it came, the simple words that threw down the +social barrier that so long had balked him. + +"My aide-de-camp, Mr. Stuyvesant, Mrs. Ray,--Miss Ray," and with his +soul in his eyes he looked down into that radiant face, smiling so +cordially, unconstrainedly into his, and then found himself striving to +recall what on earth it was he was so anxious to say. + +He knew that he was flushing to the peak of his forage-cap. He knew he +was trying to stammer something. He saw that she was perfectly placid +and at her ease. He saw, worse luck, that she wore a little knot of +roses on the breast of her natty jacket, but that they were not his. He +faltered something to the effect that he had been trying to see her ever +since the night of the fire--had so much to thank her for; and her +white, even, beautiful teeth gleamed as she laughingly answered that the +cherries had more than cancelled the score. + +He asked for news of her brother, and was told that he had been too much +occupied to come in again. They were going out to the Presidio that +afternoon. + +And then he ventured to hope Mr. Ray had sustained no great loss in the +robbery of his quarters, and saw at once that he was breaking news, for +the smile vanished instantly, the lovely face clouded with concern, and +he had only time to stammer: "Then, probably, there was no truth in the +story. I merely happened to hear two nights ago that Mr. Ray's quarters +had been robbed,--about the time the prisoners escaped." And then he +heard his general calling, and saw that the party was already clambering +back to the Vanguard. + +"I--I--I hope I may see you when we get back from Manila, Miss Ray," he +said, as he bowed over her hand. + +"I think you may see me--before that," was the smiling answer. And then +Captain Hawley grabbed him by the arm and rushed him to the side. + +Two minutes more and he was on the deck of the transport. The lines were +cast off, the white side-wheeler, alive with sympathetic faces, some +smiling, some tearful, and a forest of fluttering kerchiefs, dropped +slowly astern, and all that long evening as they bored through the fogs +of the Farallones and bowed and dipped to the long swell of the sea, and +all the long week that followed as they steamed over a sunlit summer +ocean, Stuyvesant found himself repeating again and again her parting +words, and wondering what could have been the explanation of her knowing +nothing of the robbery of her brother's quarters, or what could have +been her meaning when she said "I think you may see me--before that." + +Only once on the run to Honolulu was the flotilla of transports neared +by other voyagers. Three days out from San Francisco the "O. and O." +liner Doric slowly overhauled and gradually passed them by. Exchanging +signals, "All well on board," she was soon lost in the shadows of the +night long miles ahead. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +There was trouble at the Presidio. + +All but ten of the escaped prisoners had been recaptured or +self-surrendered, but the ten still at large were among the worst of the +array, and among the ten was the burly, hulking recruit enlisted under +the name of Murray, but declared by Captain Kress, on the strength of +the report of a detective from town, to be earlier and better known as +Sackett and as a former member of the Seventh Cavalry, from which +regiment he had parted company without the formality of either transfer +or discharge. + +Murray was a man worth his keep, as military records of misdemeanors +went, and a sore-hearted fellow was the sergeant of the guard, held +responsible for the wholesale escape. And yet it was not so much the +sergeant's fault. The evening had come on dark, damp, and dripping. +Gas-lamps and barrack-lanterns were lighted before the sunset gun. The +sergeant himself and several of the guard had been called inside to the +prison room by the commanding officer and his staff. There was a maze of +brick and wooden buildings in front of the guard-house, and a perfect +tangle of dense shrubbery only fifty yards away to the west. It was into +this that most of the fugitives dived and were instantly lost to sight, +while others had doubled behind the guard-house and rushed into an +alley-way that passed in rear of the club and a row of officers' +quarters. + +Some of them apparently had taken refuge in the cellars or wood- and +coal-sheds until thick darkness came down, and others had actually dared +to enter the quarters of Lieutenant Ray, for the back door was found +wide open, the sideboard, wherein had been kept some choice old Kentucky +whiskey produced only on special occasions, had been forced, and the +half-emptied demijohn and some glasses stood on the table in a pool of +sloppy water. + +But what was worse, the lieutenant's desk in the front room, securely +locked when he went to town, had been burst open with a chisel, and Mr. +Ray had declined to say how much he had lost. Indeed, he did not fully +know. + +"Too busy to come in," was the message he had sent his mother the +morning after the discovery, and yet all that morning he remained about +his quarters after one brief interview with the perturbed and +exasperated post commander, ransacking desks, drawers, and trunks in the +vain hope that he might find in them some of the missing property, for +little by little the realization was forced upon him that his loss would +sum up several hundreds--all through his own neglect and through +disregard of his father's earnest counsel. + +Only three days before the lieutenant commanding his troop had been sent +to Oregon and Washington on duty connected with the mustering of +volunteers,--their captain was a field officer of one of the regiments +of his native State,--and, in hurriedly leaving, Lieutenant Creswell had +turned over to his young subordinate not only the troop fund, amounting +to over four hundred dollars, but the money belonging to the post +athletic association, and marked envelopes containing the pay of certain +soldiers on temporary detached service--in all between nine hundred and +one thousand dollars. + +"Whenever you have care of public money--even temporarily--put it at +once into the nearest United States depository," said his father. "Even +office safes in garrison are not safe," he had further said. "Clerks, +somehow, learn the combination and are tempted sometimes beyond their +strength. Lose no time, therefore, in getting your funds into the bank." + +And that was what he meant to do in this case, only, as the absent +troopers were expected to return in two days, what was the use of +breaking up those sealed envelopes and depositing the whole thing only +to have to draw it out in driblets again as the men came to him for it. +Surely he could safely leave that much at least in the quartermaster's +safe. Creswell never thought of depositing the cash at all. He carried +it around with him, a wad of greenbacks and a little sack of gold, and +never lost a cent. + +Ray took the entire sum to the quartermaster's office Tuesday evening +and asked to store it in the safe. The clerk looked up from his desk and +said he was sorry, but the quartermaster was the only man who knew the +combination, and he had gone over to Camp Merritt. + +So Ray kept it that night and intended taking it to town Wednesday +morning, but drills interposed. He carried a little fortune with him +when he went in to meet his mother and sister Wednesday evening, half +intending to ask the genial "major,"--mine host of the Occidental,--to +take care of it for him in the private safe, but the major was out and +the money was still bulging in Ray's pockets when he returned to the +post late that night, and it had been very much in his way. Thursday he +fully expected the troopers back, and yet when stables were over +Thursday evening and he was ready to start for town to join his dear +ones, and was arraying himself in his most immaculate uniform and +secretly rejoicing in the order prohibiting officers from wearing for +the time being civilian dress, he found himself still burdened by the +money packages and in a hurry to catch a certain car or else keep them +waiting for dinner. + +The quartermaster's office was several hundred yards away, and there +stood his own desk, a beautiful and costly thing--his mother's +gift--with its strong locks and intricate system of pigeon-holes and +secret drawers. He would "chance it" one night, he said, and give his +trusted servant orders to stand guard over the premises, and so the +little bag of gold went into one closed compartment, the envelopes and +wads of treasury notes into the hidden drawer, and the key into his +watch-pocket. + +His servant was a young man whose father had been with Colonel Ray for +quarter of a century, a faithful Irishman by the name of Hogan. He was +honest to the core and had but one serious failing--he _would_ drink. +He would go for months without a lapse, and then something would +happen to give him a start, and nothing short of a spree would satisfy +his craving. It was said that in days gone by "old man Hogan" was +similarly afflicted, but those were times when an occasional frolic +was the rule rather than the exception with most troopers on the far +frontier, and Hogan senior had followed the fortunes of the --th +Cavalry and Captain Ray until an Indian bullet had smashed his +bridle-arm and compelled his discharge. + +Whereupon Mrs. Ray had promptly told the gallant fellow that their army +home was to be his, and that if he would consent to serve as butler or +as the captain's own man to look after his boots, spurs, and sabres he +would never lack for money comforts, or home. + +Perhaps had Mrs. Ray foreseen that the dashing Irishman was destined to +lay siege to the heart of her pretty maid, she might have suggested +setting Hogan up in business farther away. Perhaps, too, she would not, +for his almost pathetic devotion to her beloved husband was something +she could never forget. Hogan, the crippled veteran, and Kitty, the +winsome maid, were duly wed, and continued as part of the army household +wherever they went. And in course of the quarter century it seemed to be +but a case of domestic history repeating itself that young "Mart" should +become Mr. Sandy's factotum and valet, even though Sandy could have +secured the services of a much better one for less money. Young Mart had +all his father's old-time dash and impetuosity, but less of his +devotion, and on this particular Thursday evening, just when his master +most needed him, Mart was not to be found. Ray stormed a bit as he +finished his toilet. Then, as there was no time to be lost, he closed +the door of his bedroom behind him and hastened away to the east gate. +Just outside the reservation was a resort kept by a jovial compatriot of +Hogan's,--assuming that an Irishman is always an Irishman whether born +on the sod or in the States,--and there Ray felt pretty sure of finding +his servant and sending him home to mount guard. And there, sure enough, +he learned that Hogan had been up to within five minutes, and had left +saying he must go to help the lieutenant. He was perfectly sober, said +the publican, and it was more than half a mile back to quarters. Ray +would be late for dinner as it was, the car was coming, and so, though +dissatisfied and ill at ease, he jumped aboard, hurried to the +Occidental, and within three hours was stunned and almost crushed by the +tidings that the house had been entered and robbed, probably within an +hour after he left it. + +And now Saturday morning, while the guns of Alcatraz were booming in +salute across the bay and all the garrison was out along the shore or on +the seaward heights, waving farewell to the Vinton flotilla, and his +mother and Maidie had gone out with the department commander to bid them +god-speed, poor Sandy sat wretchedly in his quarters. + +Hogan, overwhelmed by the magnitude of his master's misfortune, and +realizing that it was due in no small degree to his own neglect, was now +self-exiled from the lieutenant's roof, and seeking such consolation as +he could find at the Harp of Erin outside the walls, a miserable and +contrite man,--contrite, that is to say, as manifested in the manner of +his country, for Hogan was pottle deep in his distress. + +Although vouched for as perfectly sober from the Hibernian point of +view, he well knew that he had taken so much that fatal Thursday evening +as to be fearful of meeting his master, and so had kept out of the way +until full time for him to be gone to dinner. Then, working his way +homeward in the darkness of the night, he had marvelled much at finding +the back door open, rejoiced at sight of the demijohn and disorder in +the little dining-room, arguing therefrom that the lieutenant had had +some jovial callers and therefore hadn't missed him. + +Hogan drank, in his master's priceless old Blue Grass Bourbon, to the +health of the party, and then, stumbling into the bedroom and lighting +the lamp, came upon a sight that filled him with dismay--the beautiful +desk burst open, drawers and letters and papers scattered about in utter +confusion,--and in his excitement and terror he had gone on the run to +the adjutant's quarters, told that official of his discovery, and then +learned of the wholesale jail delivery that occurred at retreat. + +He wrung his hands and wept as he listened to his young master's +wrathful rebuke and the recital of his losses. He hung meekly about the +house all night long, but, unable to bear the sight of poor Ray's +mingled anger and distress, he had fled with the coming of the day and +gone to tell his woes to his friend of the Harp. + +Afternoon of Saturday came, and still Ray sat there nerveless. + +He knew that any moment now would bring that loving mother and sister. +He had cleared up the litter left by the robbers, put his desk in order, +and Hogan had done his best with the sideboard in the other room. + +Sympathetic souls among his brother officers had been in from time to +time consoling him with theories that the thief could not escape,--would +surely be recaptured and the money recovered. But on the other hand he +was visited by the returned troopers in quest of their money, and was +compelled to tell them of the robbery and to ask them to wait until +Monday, when he would be able to pay them. + +Luckier than others who have been overtaken in the army by somewhat +similar misfortune, Ray knew that he had only to acquaint his parents +with the extent of his loss, and, even though the sum was great, it +would be instantly made good. Yet the thought of having to tell his +mother was a sore thing. He had disregarded his father's caution. He had +proved unworthy of trust before the gloss had begun to wear from his +first shoulder-straps, and he well knew that his mother's fortune was no +longer what it was at the time of her marriage. + +In the years of their wanderings all over the West all her business +affairs had been in the hands of a trusted agent at home, and it so +often happens that in the prolonged absence of owners trusted agents +follow the lead of the unjust steward of Holy Writ and make friends of +the mammon of unrighteousness and ducks and drakes of their employers' +assets. + +The ranch bought for him the year gone by was a heavy drain. His father, +in giving him a few hundred dollars for his outfit, had told him that +now he must live entirely on his pay, and that he should be able to "put +by" a little every month. + +But, as was to be expected of his father's son and his Kentucky blood, +Sandy could not bid farewell to his associates at the ranch or the +citizens of the little cow and mining town on the Big Horn without a +parting "blow out," in which his health was drunk a dozen times an hour. +Oh, that he had that money now instead of certain unpaid bills in that +ravished secret drawer! It was humiliation inexpressible to have to send +those men away empty-handed, and in his dejection and misery, poor boy, +he wandered to his sideboard instead of going to luncheon at the mess, +and all he had had to eat or drink that day, by the time Mrs. Ray and +Maidie came late in the afternoon, was some crackers and cheese and he +didn't know how many nips of that priceless Blue Grass Bourbon. + +The bright, brave young eyes were glassy and his dark cheek heavily +flushed when at four o'clock he hastened out to assist his mother from +her carriage, and the color fled from her beautiful face; her heart +seemed to stand still and her hand trembled violently as she noted it +all, but took his arm without a word, and, with Maidie silently +following, went up the steps and into the little army home, where the +door closed behind them, and the knot of lookers-on, officers awaiting +the call for afternoon stables, glanced significantly at each other, +then went on their way. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Vinton's flotilla came steaming into Honolulu harbor just as the smoke +of the Doric was fading away on the westward horizon. + +Cheers and acclamations, a banquet tendered to the entire force in the +beautiful grounds about the Palace, and a welcome such as even San +Francisco had not given awaited them. Three days were spent in coaling +for the long voyage to Manila, and during that time officers and men +were enabled to spend hours in sea-bathing and sight-seeing. + +Vinton, eager to push ahead, fumed with impatience over the slow and +primitive methods by which his ships were coaled, but the junior +officers found many a cause for rejoicing over their enforced detention. +Dinners, dances, and surf-rides were the order of every evening. Riding +parties to the Pali and picnics at Pearl Harbor and the plantations +along the railway filled up every hour of the long, soft, sensuous days. + +The soldiers explored every nook and corner of the town and, for a +wonder, got back to ship without serious diminution in their number, and +with a high opinion of the police, who seemed bent on protecting the +blue-coats from the States and making the best of their exuberance of +spirits. + +Only one row of any consequence occurred within the forty-eight hours of +their arrival. Three of the Colorado volunteers playing billiards in a +prominent resort were deliberately annoyed and insulted by some merchant +sailors who had been drinking heavily at the expense of a short, +thick-set, burly fellow in a loud check suit and flaming necktie, a +stranger to the police, who knew of him only that he had landed from the +Doric and was waiting the coming of the Miowera from Vancouver for +Australia, and she was due on the morrow. + +He had taken quarters at a second-rate sailors' lodging-house and at +first kept much to himself, but, once started to drinking with his +maritime neighbors, he became noisy and truculent, and sallied forth +with four of his new-found friends, all half drunk and wholly bent on +mischief. + +The sight of three quiet-mannered young fellows playing pool in the +saloon was just the thing to excite all the blackguard instinct latent +in their half-sodden skins, and from sneering remark they had rapidly +passed to deliberate insult. + +In less than a minute thereafter the three young volunteers, flushed and +panting, were surveying the police and bystanders busily engaged in +dragging out from under the tables and propping up some wrecks of +humanity, while the head devil of the whole business, the burly civilian +in the loud-checked suit, pitched headlong out of the rear window, was +stanching the blood from his broken nose at the hydrant of a neighboring +stable. + +The volunteers were escorted to the landing with all honors, and their +antagonists, barring the ringleader, to the police station. The affair +was over so quickly that few had seen anything of it and only one man +had pitched in to the support of the soldiers--a civilian who came over +on the Vanguard by the authority of General Vinton, the ex-brakeman of +the Southern Pacific. While the Colorado men had little to say beyond +the statement that they had been wantonly insulted if not actually +assailed by a gang of strangers, the railway man was ablaze with +excitement and wrath over the escape of the leader of the vanquished +party. + +"I've seen that cur-dog face of his somewhere before," said he, "and the +quicker you find him and nab him the better. That man's wanted in more +than one place, or I'm a duffer." + +And so the police spent hours that night in search of the stranger, but +to no purpose. He kept in hiding somewhere, and their efforts were vain. +Search of his luggage at the lodging-house revealed the fact that he had +a lot of new shirts, underwear, etc., but not a paper or mark that +revealed his identity. The proprietor said the man had given the name of +Spence, but he heard two of the sailors call him Sackett. + +The following evening the general and his staff dined at the beautiful +home of one of the old and wealthy residents, and towards nine o'clock +Mr. Stuyvesant asked his general's permission to withdraw, as he had two +calls to make before returning aboard ship. They were to sail at dawn. + +Bidding good-night and good-by to his charming hostess, and declining +the hospitable offer of a post-prandial "peg" from her genial lord, the +young officer stepped blithely away down the moonlit avenue. + +It was a beautiful summer night. The skies were cloudless, the air soft +and still. Somewhere, either at the park or in the grounds of the Royal +Hawaiian, the famous band of Honolulu was giving a concert, and strains +of glorious music, rich and full, came floating on the gentle breeze. +Here and there the electric lights were gleaming in the dense tropical +foliage, and sounds of merry chat and musical laughter fell softly on +the ear. + +The broad thoroughfare of Beretania Street was well nigh deserted, +though once in a while the lights of a cab on noiseless wheel flashed +by, and at rare intervals Stuyvesant met or overtook some blissful pair +whispering in the deep shadows of the overhanging trees. + +It was quite a walk to the consul-general's, his first objective point, +but he enjoyed it and the brief visit that followed. Naturally the +affair of the previous evening came up for discussion, and there was +some conjecture and speculation as to the identity of the leader of the +attack on the Denver boys. Stuyvesant repeated what his friend the +brakeman said, that somewhere he had seen the fellow's face before, but +he had only a second's glimpse of it, for the moment he launched in to +the aid of the volunteers the man in the check suit caught sight of +him--and a simultaneous crack on the nose that sent him reeling towards +the open window, through which he darted the instant he could recover +balance, leaving the field equally divided, four to four in point of +numbers, but otherwise with overwhelming advantage on the side of the +clear heads and trained muscles of the soldiers. + +A grewsome sight those sailors had presented when called up for sentence +in the morning, and a remorseful quartette they proved. Moreover, to the +consul-general, who had been called in in the interest of fair play for +Jack, they declared that they were innocent of all evil intent. They +only went in for a little fun with the soldiers. It was that San +Francisco fellow who called himself Spence when he was sober and Sackett +when he got drunk who brought on the row, and then abandoned them to +their fate. He had owned that he "had it in" for soldiers in +general,--hated the whole gang of them and wanted to see them well +licked. He had plenty of money and would pay their fines if the police +"ran them in," and now he had left them in the lurch. + +They had no money and were confronted with the probability of a +month's labor with the "chain-gang" on the public roads if the +consul-general couldn't get them off. So that amiable official had +gone out to the flotilla and had a talk with the Colorado officers and +the three brawny heroes of the billiard-room battle, with the result +that everybody agreed to heap all the blame on the vanished culprit in +the check suit, and the sailors got off with a nominal fine and went +home to nurse their bruises and their wrath against Spence, _alias_ +Sackett. That fellow shouldn't get away on the Miowera if they could +help it. + +All this Stuyvesant was pondering over as, after stopping to leave his +P. P. C. at the Pacific Club, he strolled down Fort Street on his way to +the boat-landing. The big whistle of an incoming steamer had attracted +his attention as he left the consul-general's to make one more call, and +at the club he heard someone say the Miowera had reached her dock and +would sail for Australia in the morning. + +The sky, that had been so cloudless early in the evening, became +somewhat overcast by eleven, and the moonlight was dim and vague as he +reached the landing. + +In his several trips to and from the transport it happened that he had +fallen frequently into the hands of a bright Kanaka boatboy whose +admirable rowing and handling of the boat had pleased and interested +him. + +"Be ready to take me out about 11.30," he had told him, and now where +was he? + +Several officers and soldiers were there bargaining with the boatmen, +and three or four of these amphibious Hawaiians precipitated themselves +on Stuyvesant with appeals for a job, but he asked for Joe. + +"Him gone," was the answer of an eager rival. "Him other job;" but even +as they would have persuaded Stuyvesant that Joe was not to be had and +his selection must be one of their number, Joe himself came running from +the direction of a warehouse a short pistol-shot away. + +"What kept you, Joe?" asked Stuyvesant, as the light boat danced away on +the tide. + +"Feller want me take him outside Miowera," was the answer, "him behind +warehouse." + +"The deuce you say!" exclaimed Stuyvesant, turning about in the +stern-sheets and gazing back to shore. "Are there landing-stairs at the +warehouse, and is he waiting for you there?" + +"Huh," nodded Joe. + +"Then here," said Stuyvesant, glancing moon-ward and noting with +satisfaction that the luminary was behind a thick bank of clouds. "Turn +back and row to the warehouse steps. I want to look at that fellow." So +saying, he quickly threw off his uniform coat with its gleaming +shoulder-straps and collar device, stowed his forage-cap under the seat, +and sat bareheaded and in his shirt-sleeves. + +Obedient to Joe's powerful strokes, the little boat was speedily gliding +in among the shadows of the sailing-ships moored along the quay, and +presently her stern was swung round to a flight of stone steps, and +Stuyvesant bounded ashore. Over at the boat-landing the electric lights +were gleaming and the sound of many voices chaffering over boat-fares +was heard. Here among the sheds and warehouses all was silence and +darkness, but Stuyvesant unhesitatingly strode straight to the corner of +the big building and into the blackness of the westward side, peering +right and left in search of the skulker who dared not come to the open +dock, yet sought means of reaching the Australian steamer. + +For a moment he could distinguish no living object, then paused to +listen, and within ten seconds was rewarded. Somewhere close at hand +between him and a low shed to his left there was the sound of sudden +collision and a muttered oath. Some invisible body had bumped against +some invisible box, and, turning sharply, Stuyvesant made a spring, and +the next instant had grappled with some burly, powerful form, and was +dragging it, despite furious resistance, towards the light. + +He was conscious of the sickening odor of sour whiskey, of a volley of +mad threats and imprecations, of a stinging blow in the face that only +served to make him cling the tighter to his prisoner. Then, as they +swayed and struggled to and fro, he felt that he was not gaining ground, +and that this unseen ruffian might after all escape him. He lifted up +his voice in a mighty shout: + +"Police! Police! This way!" + +Then he heard a savage oath, a sputtering, savage "Let go, damn +your soul!" and then felt a sharp, stinging pang in the right +side--another--another! and earth and sky reeled as his grasp relaxed, +and with a moan of anguish he sank fainting on the dock. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Vinton's fleet had reached Manila. A third expedition had coaled at +Honolulu and gone on its way. More transports were coming, and still +there lingered in this lovely land of sun and flowers--lingered for a +time 'twixt life and death--Vinton's stricken aide-de-camp, Lieutenant +Stuyvesant. + +Of his brutal antagonist no trace had been found. The shrill cries of +the Kanaka boat-boy, supplementing the young officer's stentorian shout +for the police, had brought two or three Hawaiian star-bearers and +club-wielders to the scene of that fierce and well-nigh fatal struggle. +All they found was the gallant victim writhing in pain upon the dock, +his hand pressed to his side and covered with the blood that poured from +his wounds. + +It was half an hour before a surgeon reached them, rowed in with the +general from the Vanguard. By that time consciousness had fled and, +through loss of the vital fluid, Stuyvesant's pulse was well-nigh gone. +They bore him to the Royal Hawaiian, where a cool and comfortable room +could be had, and there, early on the following morning, and to the care +of local physicians, the general was compelled to leave him. + +With the brakeman to aid them, the police searched every nook and corner +of the Miowera, and without result. Murray, _alias_ Spence, _alias_ +Sackett, fugitive from justice, could not be aboard that ship unless he +had burrowed beneath the coal in the bunkers, in which event the stokers +promised he should be shovelled into the furnaces as soon as discovered. +Every sailor's lodging in the town was ransacked, but to no purpose: +Murray could not be found. + +For a fortnight Stuyvesant's fate was in doubt. Officers of the third +expedition could carry with them to Manila only the hope that he might +recover. Not until the ships of the fourth flotilla were sighted was the +doctor able to say that the chances were now decidedly in his favor. + +He was lifted into a reclining chair the day of the flag-raising--that +pathetic ceremony in which, through tear-dimmed eyes, the people saw +their old and much-loved emblem supplanted by the stars and stripes of +their new hope and aspirations. He was sitting up, languid, pallid, and +grievously thin, when the tidings reached him that the transport with +six troops of the --th Cavalry among others had arrived, and the doctor, +with a quizzical grin on his genial face, informed his patient that some +Red Cross nurses were with the command, and that two very nice-looking +young women, in their official caps, aprons, and badges, were at that +moment inquiring at the office if they could not see the invalid officer +and be of some service to him. + +Sore in body and spirit, wrathful at the fate that robbed him of a share +of the glory he felt sure awaited his comrades at Manila, Stuyvesant was +in no humor for a joke and plainly showed it. He gave it distinctly to +be understood that he needed no coddling of any kind and preferred not +to see the ladies, no matter what they belonged to. Not to put too fine +a point upon it, Mr. Stuyvesant said he didn't "wish to be bothered," +and this was practically the reply that reached two very earnest, +kind-hearted young women, for the attendant, scenting the possible loss +of a big fee if he should be supplanted by superior attractions, +communicated the invalid's exact words to the Red Cross nurses, and they +went back, wounded, to their ship. + +Stuyvesant's room was on the ground-floor in one of the outlying +cottages, and its Venetian blinds opened on the broad and breezy +veranda. It was far more quiet and retired than apartments in the main +building, the rooms overhead being vacant and the occupants of that +which adjoined his having left for San Francisco within a day or two of +his coming. + +"I feel too forlorn to see anybody," was his explanation to the doctor. +"So don't let anybody in." But several officers from the transport got +leave to come ashore and take quarters at the Hawaiian. The rooms above +had to be given to them, and their resounding footsteps made him wince. + +"There's two ladies to take this next-door room," said his garrulous +attendant that afternoon, and Stuyvesant thought opprobrious things. +"They'll be giggling and talking all night, I suppose," said he +disgustedly when the "medico" came in late that afternoon. "I wish you'd +move me, if you can't them." + +The doctor went and consulted the head of the house. "Certainly," said +that affable Boniface. "If Mr. Stuyvesant is well enough to be carried +up one flight I can give him a larger, airier room with bath attached, +where he'll be entirely isolated. It was too expensive for our visitors +from the transports, but--I believe you said Mr. Stuyvesant--wouldn't +mind"--a tentative at which the doctor looked wise and sagely winked. + +When that able practitioner returned to the cottage two young women with +Red Cross badges were seated on the veranda, just in from a drive, +apparently, and a dark-eyed little chap in the uniform of a subaltern of +the cavalry was with them. They had drawn their chairs into the shade +and close to the Venetian blinds, behind which in his darkened room +reclined the languid patient. + +"That will drive him simply rabid," said the doctor to himself, and +prepared a professional smile with which to tell the glad tidings that +he should be borne forthwith to higher regions. + +He had left Stuyvesant peevish, fretful, but otherwise inert, asking +only to be spared from intrusion. He found him alert, attent, eager, his +eyes kindling, his cheeks almost flushing. The instant the doctor began +to speak the patient checked him and bent his ear to the sound of soft +voices and laughter from without. + +"I've fixed it all," whispered the medical man reassuringly. "We'll move +you in a minute--just as soon as I can call in another man or two," and +he started for the door, whereat his erratic patient again uplifted a +hand and beckoned, and the doctor tip-toed to his side and bent his ear +and looked puzzled, perturbed, but finally pleased. Stuyvesant said +that, thinking it all over, he "guessed" he would rather stay where he +was. + +And then, when the doctor was gone, what did he do but take a brace in +his chair and bid the attendant go out and say to the officer on the +veranda, Lieutenant Ray, that Mr. Stuyvesant would be very glad to speak +with him if he'd be so kind as to come in, whereat the soft laughter +suddenly ceased. + +There was a sound of light footsteps going in one direction and a +springy, soldierly step coming in the other. Then entered Mr. Sanford +Ray, with outstretched hands, and the attendant, following and peering +over his shoulder, marvelled at the sudden change that had come over his +master. + +Three days later, when the City of Sacramento was pronounced ready to +proceed, and the officers and Red Cross nurses _en route_ to Manila were +warned to rejoin the ship, Lieutenant Stuyvesant "shook," so to speak, +his civil physician, persuaded the army surgeons with the fleet that a +sea-voyage was all he needed to make a new man of him, and was carried +aboard the Sacramento and given an airy stateroom on the upper deck, +vacated in his favor by one of the ship's officers,--consideration not +made public, but Claus Spreckles & Co., bankers, had never before +received such a deposit from this very able seaman in all the years he +had been sailing or steaming in and out of Honolulu harbor. + +And now retribution overtook the invalid. The Red Cross had made a +marvellous name for itself in San Francisco, and was already organized +and doing wonders at Honolulu. Its ministrations had been gladly +accepted by the scores of officers and men among the volunteers, to whom +the somewhat bare and crude conditions of camp hospitals were doubtless +very trying. Women of gentlest birth and most refined associations +donned its badge and dress and wrought in ward, kitchen, or refectory. +It was a noble and patriotic purpose that inspired such sacrifice. + +It was a joy to the embryo soldiery to be fed and comforted day by day +with the delicacies of the Red Cross tables; but there were military +magnates and martinets who dared to question the wisdom of such +preparation for the stern scenes of campaigning ahead of the volunteers, +and who presumed to point out to the officers of this great and +far-reaching charity that, while they were most grateful for such +dainties for the invalids of their command, the daily spectacle of +scores of lusty, hearty young heroes feasting at the tables of the Red +Cross, to the neglect of their own simple but sufficient rations, +prompted the query as to what the boys would do without the Red Cross +when they got into the field and couldn't have cake and pie and cream +with their coffee. + +The Red Cross, very properly, took umbrage at such suggestions and +branded the suggesters as horrid. The Red Cross had done such widespread +good and was ready to do so much more that criticism of its methods was +well-nigh unbearable. And now that it had obtained the sanction of the +government to send out to Manila not only supplies and dainties of every +possible kind, but dozens of its members to serve as nurses to the sick +and wounded, it scored a triumph over rival organizations, notably the +Patriotic Daughters of America, whose vice-president, the austere Miss +Perkins, first bombarded the papers in vain protest and denunciation, +the Red Cross being her main objective, and with abuse of the commanding +officers in camp; then called in person on the same officers to demand +transportation to Manila with the next expedition. + +The Red Cross held its head very high, and with reason. It ruffled its +feathers and resented any slight. It sometimes mistook courteous +protest against its lavish gifts to such soldiers as were in no wise +needy as vicious and unhallowed criticism, and occasionally--_only_ +occasionally--it grievously enlarged and exaggerated alleged slights +received at the hands of luckless officials. And then even those soft +and shapely hands could develop cat-like claws, and the soothing +voices take on an acid and scathing intonation, and the eyes, so ready +to moisten with pity and sympathy at the sight of suffering, could +shoot spiteful little fires at the objects of such divine displeasure, +and poor Stuyvesant's petulant words, wrung from him in a moment of +exasperation and never intended to reach the fair band of sisters of +the Cross, were piled high with additions, impolitic, impolite, +discourteous, impudent, intolerable, yes, even profane and +blasphemous. + +Eleven of the twelve Red Cross nurses, packed three in a room aboard the +Sacramento, swore they would not have anything to do with Mr. +Stuyvesant. The twelfth, the one soldier's daughter in the band, said +nothing at all. + +"Well, now, Miss Ray, _don't_ you think it was most discourteous, most +ungentlemanly, in him to send such a message?" demanded a flushed and +indignant young woman, one of the most energetic of the sisterhood, as +they stood together on the promenade deck in the shade of the canvas +awnings, shunning the glare of the August sun. + +"Are you sure such a message was sent?" was the serious reply. + +"Sure? Why, _certainly_ he did! and by his own servant, too!" was the +wrathful answer. "Didn't he, Miss Porter?" + +And Miss Porter, the damsel appealed to, and one of the two nurses who +sent in their message from the office, promptly assented. Miss Ray +looked unconvinced. + +"Servants, you know, sometimes deliver messages that were never sent," +she answered with quiet decision. "We have seen quite a little of that +in the army, and it is my father's rule to get all the facts before +passing judgment. My brother thought Mr. Stuyvesant's attendant +garrulous and meddlesome." + +"But I asked him if he was sure that was what Mr. Stuyvesant said," +persisted Miss Porter, bridling, "and he answered they were just the +very words." + +"And still I doubt his having sent them as a message," said Miss Ray, +with slight access of color, and that evening she walked the deck long +with a happy subaltern and added to her unpopularity. + +There were several well-informed and pleasant women, maids and matrons +both, in the little sisterhood, but somehow "the boys" did not show such +avidity to walk or chat with them as they did with Miss Ray. She sorely +wanted a talk with Sandy that evening, but the Belgic had come in from +'Frisco only six hours before they sailed and huge bags of letters and +papers were transferred from her to the Sacramento. + +There were letters for Maidie and Sandy both,--several,--but there was +one bulky missive for him that she knew to be from her father, from +far-away Tampa, and the boy had come down late to dinner. They had seats +at the table of the commanding officer, a thing Maidie had really tried +to avoid, as she felt that it discriminated, somehow, against the other +nurses, who, except Mrs. Doctor Wells, their official head, were +distributed about the other tables, but the major had long known and +loved her father, and would have it so. This night, their first out from +Honolulu, he had ordered wine-glasses on the long table and champagne +served, and when dinner was well-nigh over, noticed for the first time +that Ray had turned his glass down. + +"Why, Sandy," he cried impulsively, "it is just twenty-two years ago +this summer that your father made the ride of his life through the +Indian lines to save Wayne's command on the Cheyenne. Now, there are +just twenty-two of us here at table, and I wanted to propose his health +and promotion. Won't you join us?" + +The boy colored to the roots of his dark hair. His eyes half filled. He +choked and stammered a moment and then--back went the head with the old +familiar toss that was so like his father, and through his set lips +Sandy bravely spoke: + +"Can't, major. I swore off--to-day!" + +"All right, my boy, that ends it!" answered the major heartily, while +Marion, her eyes brimming, barely touched her lips to the glass, and +longed to be on Sandy's side of the table that she might steal a hand to +him in love and sympathy and sisterly pride. But he avoided even her +when dinner was over, and was busy, he sent word, with troop papers down +between-decks, and she felt, somehow, that that letter was at the bottom +of his sudden resolution and longed to see it, yet could not ask. + +At three bells, half-past nine, she saw him coming quickly along the +promenade-deck, and she stopped her escort and held out a detaining +hand. + +"You'll come and have a little talk with me, won't you, Sandy?" she +pleaded. "I'll wait for you as long as you like." + +"After I've seen Stuyvesant awhile," he answered hurriedly. "He isn't so +well. I reckon he must have overdone it," and away he went with his +springy step until he reached the forward end of the promenade, where he +tapped at the stateroom door. The surgeon opened it and admitted him. + +His eyes were grave and anxious when, ten minutes later, he reappeared. +"Norris is with him," he said in low tone, as he looked down into the +sweet, serious, upturned face. "He shouldn't have tried it. He fooled +the doctors completely. I'll tell you more presently," he added, noting +that Mrs. Wells, with two or three of the band, were bearing down upon +him for tidings of the invalid, and Sandy had heard,--as who had +not?--the unfavorable opinions entertained by the sisterhood of his +luckless, new-found friend. + +"The doctor says he mustn't be both--I mean disturbed--wants to get him +to sleep, you know," was his hurried and not too happy response to the +queries of the three. "Matter of business he wanted to ask me about, +that's all," he called back, as he broke away and dodged other +inquiries. Once in the little box of a stateroom to which he and a +fellow subaltern had been assigned, he bolted the door, turned on the +electric light, and took from under his pillow a packet of letters and +sat him down to read. There was one from his mother, written on her way +back to Leavenworth, which he pored over intently and then reverently +kissed. Later, and for the second time, he unfolded and read the longest +letter his father had ever penned. It was as follows: + + "I have slipped away from camp and its countless interruptions and + taken a room at the hotel to-night, dear Sandy, for I want to have + a long talk with my boy,--a talk we ought to have had before, and + it is my fault that we didn't. I shrank from it somehow, and now + am sorry for it. + + "Your frank and manful letter, telling me of your severe loss and + of the weakness that followed, reached me two days ago. Your + mother's came yesterday, fonder than ever and pleading for you as + only mothers can. It is a matter that has cost us all dear + financially, but, thanks to that loving mother, you were promptly + enabled to cover the loss and save your name. You know and realize + the sacrifices she had to make, and she tells me that you insisted + on knowing. I am glad you did, my boy. I am going to leave in your + hands the whole matter of repayment. + + "A young fellow of twenty can start in the army with many a worse + handicap than a debt of honor and a determination to work it off. + That steadies him. That matter really gives me less care than you + thought for. It is the other--your giving way to an impulse to + drink--that fills me with concern. You come up like a man, admit + your fault, and say you deserve and expect my severe censure. + Well, I've thought it all over, Sandy. My heart and my arms go out + to you in your distress and humiliation, and--I have not one word + of reproach or blame to give you. + + "For now I shall tell you what I had thought to say when your + graduation drew nigh, had we been able to master mechanics and + molecules and other mathematical rot as useful to a cavalry + officer as a binocular to a blind man, and that I ought to have + told you when you started out for yourself as a young _ranchero_, + but could not bring myself to it so long as you seemed to have no + inclination that way. Times, men, and customs have greatly changed + in the last forty or fifty years, my boy, and greatly for the + better. Looking back over my boyhood, I can recall no day when + wine was not served on your grandfather's table. The brightest + minds and bravest men in all Kentucky pledged each other day and + night in the cup that sometimes cheers and ofttimes inebriates, + and no public occasion was complete without champagne and whiskey + in abundance, no personal or private transaction considered + auspicious unless appropriately 'wet.' + + "Those were days when our statesmen revelled in sentiment and + song, and drank and gambled with the fervor of the followers of + the races. I was a boy of tender years then, and often, with my + playmates, I was called from our merry games to join the gentlemen + over their wine and drain a bumper to our glorious 'Harry of the + West,' and before I went to the Point, Sandy, I knew the best, and + possibly the worst, whiskeys made in Kentucky,--we _all_ did,--and + the man or youth who could not stand his glass of liquor was + looked upon as a milksop or pitied, and yet, after all, respected, + as a 'singed cat,'--a fellow who owned that John Barleycorn was + too much for him, and he did not dare a single round with him. + + "Then came the great war, and wars are always in one way + demoralizing. West Point in the early sixties was utterly unlike + the West Point of to-day, and no worse than a dozen of our + greatest colleges. The corps still had its tales and traditions of + the old time Fourth-of-July dinners at the mess hall, when + everybody made a dash for the decanters and drank everything in + sight. It was the only day in the year on which wine was served. + It was in my time the invariable custom for the superintendent to + receive the Board of Visitors on the day of their arrival at his + quarters and to invite the officers and the graduating class to + meet them, and to set forth, as for years had been the fashion at + Washington, wine and punch in abundance, and the very officers + detailed as our instructors would laughingly invite and challenge + the youngsters so soon to shed the gray and wear the blue to drink + with them again and again. I have seen dozens of the best and + bravest of our fellows come reeling and shouting back to barracks, + and a thoughtless set of boys laughing and applauding. + + "I was stationed at the Point soon after graduation, and the men + who drank were the rule, not the exception. Social visits were + rarely exchanged without the introduction of the decanter. The + marvel is that so many were 'temperate in our meat and drink,' as + my father and grandfather used to plead when, regularly every + morning, the family and the negro servants were mustered for + prayers. At every post where I was stationed, either in the East + or where I was most at home,--the far frontier,--whiskey was the + established custom, and man after man, fellows who had made fine + records during the war, and bright boys with whom I had worn the + gray at the Point, fell by the wayside and were court-martialled + out of service. + + "In '70 and '71 we had a Board that swept the army like a seine + and relegated scores of tipplers to civil life, but that didn't + stop it. Little by little the sense and manhood of our people + began to tell. Little by little the feeling against stimulant + began to develop at the Point. It was no longer a joke to set a + fledgling officer to taste the tempter--it was a crime. Four years + after I was commissioned we had only one total abstainer out of + some fifty officers at the mess, and he was a man whose life and + honor depended on it. Three years ago, when I went to see you, + there were dozens at the mess who never drank at all, and only + eight who even smoked. Athletics and rifle-practice had much to do + with this, I know, but there has gradually developed all over our + land, notably in those communities where the custom used to be + most honored in the observance, a total revulsion of sentiment. + + "Quarter of a century ago, even among many gently nurtured women, + the sight of a man overcome by liquor excited only sorrow and + sympathy; now it commands nothing less than abhorrence. I and my + surviving contemporaries started in life under the old system. + You, my dear boy, are more fortunate in having begun with the new. + Among the old soldiers there are still some few votaries of + Bacchus who have to count their cups most carefully or risk their + commissions. Among those under forty our army has far more total + abstainers than all the others in the world, and such soldiers as + Grant, Crook, Merritt, and Upton, of our service, and Kitchener of + Khartoum, are on record as saying that the staying powers of the + teetotaller exceed those even of the temperate man, and staying + power is a thing to cultivate. + + "As you know, I have never banished wine from our table, my boy. + Both your mother and I had been accustomed to seeing it in daily + use from childhood, yet she rarely touches it, even at our + dinners. But, Sanford, I sent John Barleycorn to the right about + the day your blessed mother promised to be my wife, and though I + always keep it in the sideboard for old comrades whose heads and + stomachs are still sound, and who find it agrees with them better + than wine, I never offer it to the youngsters. They don't need it, + Sandy, and no more do you. + + "But you come of a race that lived as did their fellow-men,--to + whom cards, the bottle, and betting were everyday affairs. It + would be remarkable if you never developed a tendency towards one + or all of them, and it was my duty to warn you before. I mourn + every hour I wasted over cards and every dollar I ever won from a + comrade more than--much more than--the many hundred dollars I lost + in my several years' apprenticeship to poker. It's just about the + poorest investment of time a soldier can devise. + + "Knowing all I do, and looking back over the path of my life, + strewn as it is with the wrecks of fellow-men ruined by whiskey, I + declare if I could live it over again it would be with the + determination never to touch a card for money or a glass for + liquor. + + "And now, my own boy, let me bear the blame of this--your first + transgression. You are more to us than we have ever told you. You + are now your sister's guardian and knight, for, though she goes + under the wing of Mrs. Dr. Wells, and, owing to her intense desire + to take a woman's part we could not deny her, both your mother and + I are filled with anxiety as to the result. To you we look to be + her shield in every possible way. We have never ceased to thank + God for the pride and joy He has given us in our children. (You + yourself would delight in seeing what a tip-top little soldier + Will is making.) You have ever been manful, truthful, and, I say + it with pride and thankfulness unutterable, _square_ as boy could + be. You have our whole faith and trust and love unspeakable. You + have the best and fondest mother in the world, my son. And now I + have not one more word to urge or advise. Think and decide for + yourself. Your manhood, under God, will do the rest. + + "In love and confidence, + + "Father." + +When Marion came tapping timidly at the stateroom door there was for a +moment no answer. Sandy's face was buried in his hands as he knelt +beside the little white berth. He presently arose, dashed some water +over his eyes and brows, then shot back the bolt and took his sister in +his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Not until the tenth day out from Honolulu was Mr. Stuyvesant so far +recovered as to warrant the surgeons in permitting his being lifted from +the hot and narrow berth to a steamer-chair on the starboard side. Even +then it was with the caution to everybody that he must not be disturbed. +The heat below and in many of the staterooms was overpowering, and +officers and soldiers in numbers slept upon the deck, and not a few of +the Red Cross nurses spent night after night in the bamboo and wicker +reclining-chairs under the canvas awnings. + +Except for the tropic temperature, the weather had been fine and the +voyage smooth and uneventful. The Sacramento rolled easily, lazily +along. The men had morning shower-baths and, a few at a time, salt-water +plunges in big canvas tanks set fore and aft on the main deck. On the +port or southern side of the promenade deck the officers sported their +pajamas both day and night, and were expected to appear in khaki or +serge, and consequent discomfort, only at table, on drill or duty, and +when visiting the starboard side, which, abaft the captain's room, was +by common consent given up to the women. + +They were all on hand the morning that the invalid officer was carefully +aided from his stateroom to a broad reclining-chair, which was then +borne to a shaded nook beneath the stairway leading to the bridge and +there securely lashed. The doctor and Mr. Ray remained some minutes with +him, and the steward came with a cooling drink. Mrs. Wells, doctor by +courtesy and diploma, arose and asked the surgeon if there were really +nothing the ladies could do--"Mr. Stuyvesant looks so very pale and +weak,"--and the sisterhood strained their ears for the reply, which, as +the surgeon regarded the lady's remark as reflecting upon the results of +his treatment, might well be expected to be somewhat tart. + +"Nothing to-day, Mrs.--er--Dr. Wells," said the army man, half vexed, +also, at being detained on way to hospital. "The fever has gone and he +will soon recuperate now, provided he can rest and sleep. It is much +cooler on deck and--if it's only quiet----" + +"Oh, he sha'n't be bothered, if that's what you mean," interposed Dr. +Wells with proper spirit. "I'm sure nobody desires to intrude in the +least. I asked for my associates from a sense of duty. Most of them are +capable of fanning or even reading aloud to a patient without danger of +over-exciting him." + +"Unquestionably, madam," responded the surgeon affably, "and when such +ministrations are needed I'll let you know. Good-morning." And, lifting +his stiff helmet, the doctor darted down the companion-way. + +"Brute!" said the lady doctor. "No wonder that poor boy doesn't get +well. Miss Ray, I marvel that your brother can stand him." + +Miss Ray glanced quietly up from her book and smiled. "We have known Dr. +Sturgis many years," she said. "He is brusque, yet very much thought of +in the army." + +But at this stage of the colloquy there came interruption most +merciful--for the surgeon. The deep whistle of the steamer sounded three +quick blasts. There was instant rush and scurry on the lower deck. The +cavalry trumpets fore and aft rang out the assembly. + +It was the signal for boat-drill, and while the men of certain companies +sprang to ranks and stood in silence at attention awaiting orders, other +detachments rushed to their stations at the life-rafts, and others still +swarmed up the stairways or clambered over the rails, and in less than a +minute every man was at his post. Quickly the staff officers made the +rounds, received the reports of the detachment commanders and the boat +crews, and returning, with soldierly salute, gave the results to the +commanding officer, who had taken position with the captain on the +bridge. + +For five or ten minutes the upper deck was dotted by squads of +blue-shirted soldiers, grouped in disciplined silence about the boats. +Then the recall was sounded, and slowly and quietly the commands +dispersed and went below. + +It so happened that in returning to the forecastle about a dozen +troopers passed close to where Stuyvesant lay, a languid spectator, and +at sight of his pale, thin face two of them stopped, raised their hands +in salute, looked first eager and pleased, and then embarrassed. Their +faces were familiar, and suddenly Stuyvesant remembered. Beckoning them +to come nearer, he feebly spoke: + +"You were in the car-fire. I thought I knew your faces." + +"Yes, sir," was the instant reply of the first. "We're sorry to see the +lieutenant so badly hurt--and by that blackguard Murray too, they say. +If the boys ever get hold of him, sir, he'll never have time for his +prayers." + +"No, nor another chance to bite," grinned the second, whom Stuyvesant +now recognized as the lance corporal of artillery. "He's left his mark +on both of us, sir," and, so saying, the soldier held out his hand. + +In the soft and fleshy part of the palm at the base of the thumb were +the scars of several wounds. It did not need an expert eye to tell that +they were human-tooth marks. There were the even traces of the middle +incisors, the deep gash made by the fang-like dog tooth, and between the +mark of the right upper canine and those of three incisors a smooth, +unscarred space. There, then, must have been a vacancy in the upper jaw, +a tooth broken off or gone entirely, and Stuyvesant remembered that as +Murray spoke the eye-tooth was the more prominent because of the ugly +gap beside it. + +"He had changed the cut of his jib considerably," faintly whispered +Stuyvesant, after he had extended a kind but nerveless hand to each, +"but that mark would betray him anywhere under any disguise. Was Foster +ever found?" + +"No, sir. They sent me back to Sacramento, but nobody could remember +having seen anybody like him. I'm afraid he was drowned there at +Carquinez. My battery went over with the third expedition while I was up +there. That's how I happen to be with the cavalry on this trip." Then up +went both hands to the caps again and both soldiers sprang to attention. + +Stuyvesant, looking languidly around, saw that Mr. Ray had returned, +saw, moreover, that his sister was leaning on his arm, her eyes fixed on +the speaker's weather-beaten face. Again it all flashed upon him--the +story of Foster's infatuation for this lovely girl, his enlistment, and +then his strange and unaccountable disappearance. + +"I'm sorry, men," interposed Mr. Ray in pleasant tone, "but the surgeon +has ordered us not to talk with Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and I shall have +to repeat his order to you. You were in the car that was burned, I +suppose?" + +"Yes, sir. Beg pardon--we didn't know about the doctor's orders. We're +mighty glad to see the lieutenant again. Come 'long, Mellen." + +"Wait," whispered Stuyvesant. "Come and see me again. I want to talk +with you, and--thank you for stopping to-day." + +The soldiers departed happy, and Stuyvesant turned wistfully to greet +Miss Ray. She was already beyond reach of his voice, leaning on Sandy's +arm and gazing steadfastly into his face. He saw Mrs. Dr. Wells coming +swiftly towards him with inquiry in her eyes, and impulsively, +peevishly, and in disappointment he turned again his face to the wall, +as it were. At least that was not the Red Cross nurse he longed for, +good and sympathetic and wise in her way as she undoubtedly was. + +He wished now with all his heart that they had placed his chair so that +he could look back along the promenade deck instead of forward over the +forecastle at the sparkling sea. He felt that, pacing up and down +together, the brother and sister must come within ten feet of his chair +before they turned back, and he longed to look at her, yet could not. +Sturgis had said he would return in a few minutes, and he hadn't come. +Stuyvesant felt aggrieved. It would be high noon before many minutes. +Already the ship officers were on the bridge ready to "take the sun," +and mess-call for the men was sounding on the lower decks. He would give +a fortune, thought he, to feel once more that cool, soft, slender little +hand on his forehead. There were other hands, some that were certainly +whiter than Miss Ray's, and probably quite as soft and cool, hands that +before the report of his slur upon the Red Cross would gladly have +ministered to him, but he shrank from thought of any touch but one. He +would have given another fortune, if he had it, could Marion Ray but +come and sit by him and talk in her cordial, pleasant tones. There were +better talkers, wittier, brighter women within hail--women who kept +their hearers laughing much of the time, which Miss Ray did not, yet he +shrank from the possibility of one of their number accosting him. + +Twice he was conscious that Dr. Wells and Miss Porter had tip-toed close +and were peering interestedly at him, but he shut his eyes and would not +see or hear. He did not "want to be bothered," it was only too evident, +and as the ship's bell chimed the hour of noon and the watch changed, +his would-be visitors slipped silently away and he was alone. + +When the doctor came cautiously towards him a few minutes later, +Stuyvesant was to all appearances sleeping, and the "medico" rejoiced in +the success of his scheme. When, not five minutes after the doctor +peeped at him, the voice of the captain was heard booming from the +bridge just over the patient's pillowed head, it developed that the +patient was wide awake. Perhaps what the captain said would account for +this. + +A dozen times on the voyage that mariner had singled out Miss Ray for +some piece of attention. Now, despite the fact that almost the entire +Red Cross party were seated or strolling or reclining there under the +canvas awning and he must have known it, although they were hidden from +his view, he again made that young lady the object of his homage. She +was at the moment leaning over the rail, with Sandy by her side, gazing +at the dark blue, beautiful waters that, flashing and foam-crested, went +sweeping beneath her. The monarch of the ship, standing at the outer end +of the bridge, had caught sight of her and gave tongue at once. A good +seaman was the captain and a stalwart man, but he knew nothing of tact +or discretion. + +"Oh, Miss Ray," he bawled, "come up on the bridge and I'll show you the +chart. Bring the lieutenant." + +For an instant she hesitated, reluctant. Not even the staff of the +commanding officer had set foot on that sacred perch since the voyage +began, only when especially bidden or at boat or fire drill did that +magnate himself presume to ascend those stairs. As for her sister +nurses, though they had explored the lower regions and were well +acquainted with the interior arrangement of the Sacramento, and were +consumed with curiosity and desire to see what was aloft on the +hurricane-deck, the stern prohibition still staring at them in bold, +brazen letters, "Passengers are Forbidden upon the Bridge," had served +to restrain the impulse to climb. + +And now here was Captain Butt singling out Miss Ray again and ignoring +the rest of them. If she could have found any reasonable excuse for +refusing Maidie Ray would have declined. But Sandy's eyes said "Come." +Butt renewed his invitation. She turned and looked appealingly at Mrs. +Wells, as though to say "What shall I do?" but that matron was +apparently engrossed in a volume of Stevenson, and would not be drawn +into the matter, and finally Marion caught Miss Porter's eye. There, at +least, was a gleam of encouragement and sympathy. Impulsive and +capricious as that young woman could be on occasions, the girl had +learned to appreciate the genuine qualities of her room-mate, and of +late had been taking sides for Marion against the jealousies of her +fellows. + +"Why don't you go?" she murmured, with a nod of her head towards the +stairs, and with slightly heightened color, Miss Ray smiled acceptance +at the captain, and, following Sandy's lead through the labyrinth of +steamer-chairs about them, tripped briskly away over the open deck, and +there, at the very foot of the steep, ladder-like ascent, became aware +of Mr. Stuyvesant leaning on an elbow and gazing at her with all his big +blue eyes. + +She had to stop and go around under the stairs and take his thin, +outstretched hand. She had to stop a moment to speak to him, though what +he said, or she said, neither knew a moment after. All she was conscious +of as she turned away was that now at least every eye in all the +sisterhood was on her, and, redder than ever, she fairly flew up the +steep steps, and was welcomed by the chivalric Butt upon the bridge. + +That afternoon several of the Band were what Miss Porter was constrained +to call "nastily snippy" in their manner to her, and, feeling wronged +and misjudged, it was not to be wondered at that her father's daughter +should resent it. And yet so far from exulting in having thus been +distinguished and recognized above her fellows, Miss Ray had felt deeply +embarrassed, and almost the first words she said after receiving the +bluff seaman's effusive greeting were in plea for her associates. + +"Oh, Captain Butt, it's most kind of you to ask me up here--and my +brother, too, will be so interested in the chart-room, but, can't +you--won't you ask Dr. Wells and at least some of the ladies? You know +they all would be glad to come, and----" + +"That's all right, Miss Ray," bawled old Butt, breaking in on her +hurried words. "I'll ask 'em up here some other time. You see we're +rolling a bit to-day, and like as not some of 'em would pitch over +things, and--and--well, there ain't room for more'n three at a time +anyhow." + +"Then you ought to have asked Dr. Wells first and some of the +seniors."--She hesitated about saying elders.--No one of the Band would +have welcomed an invitation tendered on account of her advanced years. + +"It'll be just as bad if I go and ask her now," said Butt testily. "The +others will take offence, and life's too short for a shipmaster to be +explaining to a lot of women why they can't all come at once on the +bridge. I'll have 'em up to-morrow--any three you say." + +But when the morrow came he didn't "have 'em up." Maidie had pleaded +loyally for her associates, but was too proud or sensitive to so inform +them. The captain had said he would do that, and meanwhile she tried not +to feel exasperated at the injured airs assumed by several of the Band +and the cutting remarks of one or two of their number. + +That afternoon, however, the skies became overcast and the wind rose. +That night the sea dashed high towards the rail and the Sacramento +wallowed deep in the surges. Next morning the wind had freshened to a +gale. All air-ports were closed. The spray swept the promenade deck along +the starboard side and the Red Cross and two-thirds of the martial +passenger-list forgot all minor ills and annoyances in the miseries of +_mal de mer_. Three days and nights were most of the women folk cooped +in their cabins, but Miss Ray was an old sailor and had twice seen +far heavier weather on the Atlantic. Sheltered from the rain by the +bridge-deck and from the spray and gale by heavy canvas lashed +athwartship in front of the captain's room, and securely strapped in her +reclining-chair, this young lady fairly rejoiced in the magnificent +battle with the elements and gloried in the bursting seas. Sandy, too, +albeit a trifle upset, was able to be on deck, and one of the "subs" from +the port-side hearing of it, donned his outer garments and cavalry boots +and joined forces with them, and Stuyvesant, hearing their merry voices, +declared that he could not breathe in his stuffy cabin and demanded to be +dressed and borne out on deck too. At first the surgeon said no, +whereupon his patient began to get worse. + +So on the second day the doctor yielded, and all that day and the third +of the storm, by which time the starboard deck was slowly becoming +peopled with a few spectral and barely animate feminine shapes, +Stuyvesant reclined within arm's length of the dark-eyed girl who had so +entranced him, studying her beauty, drinking in her words, and gaining +such health and strength in the life-giving air and such bliss from the +association that Sturgis contemplated with new complacency the happy +result of his treatment, for when the gale subsided, and on the fourth +day they ran once more into smooth and lazy waters, it was Stuyvesant's +consuming desire to take up his bed and walk, except when Miss Ray was +there to talk or read to him. + +And this was the state of affairs when the Sacramento hove in sight of +the bold headlands, green and beautiful, that front the sea at the +northeast corner of mountainous Luzon. Once within soundings and close +to a treacherous shore, with only Spanish authority to rely on as to +rocks, reefs, and shoals, no wonder old Butt could have no women on the +bridge, this, too, at the very time they most wished to be there, since +everything worth seeing lay on the port or southern side, and that given +up to those horrid officers and their pajamas. + +Not until his anchor dropped in Manila Bay did the master of the +Sacramento think to redeem his promise to bid the ladies of the Red +Cross to the sacred bridge, and incidentally to tell them how Miss Ray +had urged it in their behalf while they were out on blue waters, but now +it was too late. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +It was late in the afternoon when the Sacramento, slowly feeling her way +southward, had come within view of El Fraile and Corregidor, looming up +like sentinels at the entrance to the great, far-spreading bay. + +Butt and his assistants, with the field officer in command of the +troops, peered through their binoculars or telescopes for sign of +cruiser or transport along the rocky shores, and marvelled much that +none could be seen. Over against the evening sun just sinking to the +west the dim outlines of the upper masts and spars of some big vessel +became visible for three minutes, then faded from view. The passengers +swarmed on deck, silent, anxious, ever and anon gazing upward at the +bridge as though in hope of a look or word of encouragement. + +It was midsummer and more when they left Honolulu, and by this time the +American force, land and naval, in front of Manila ought to be ample to +overcome the Spaniards. But there was ever that vexing problem as to +what Aguinaldo and his followers might do rather than see the great city +given over to the Americans for law and order instead of to themselves +for loot and rapine. The fact that all coast lights thus far were +extinguished was enough to convince the Sacramento's voyagers that they +were still unwelcome to the natives, but both the shipmaster and the +cavalry officer commanding had counted on finding cruiser, or despatch +boat at least, on lookout for them and ready to conduct them to safe +anchorage. But no such ship appeared, and the alternative of going about +and steaming out to sea for the night or dropping anchor where he lay +was just presenting itself to Butt when from the lips of the second +officer, who had clambered up the shrouds, there came the joyous shout: +"By Jove! There's Corregidor light!" + +Surely enough, even before the brief tropic twilight was over and +darkness had settled down, away to the southward, at regular ten-second +intervals, from the crest of the rock-bound, crumbling parapet on +Corregidor Island, a brilliant light split the cloudy vista and flashed +a welcome to the lone wanderer on the face of the waters. It could mean +only one thing: Manila Bay was dominated by Dewey's guns. The Yankee was +master of Corregidor, and had possessed himself of both fort and +light-house. In all probability Manila itself had fallen. + +"Half speed ahead!" was the order, and again the throb of the engines +went pulsing through the ship, and the Sacramento slowly forged ahead +over a smooth summer sea. At midnight the pilot and glad tidings were +aboard, and at dawn the decks were thronged with eager voyagers, and a +great, full-throated cheer went up from the forecastle head as the gray, +ghost-like shapes of the war-ships loomed up out of the mist and dotted +the unruffled surface. + +But that cheer sank to nothingness beside one which followed fifteen +minutes later, when the red disk of the sun came peeping over the low, +fog-draped range far to the eastward and, saluted by the boom of the +morning gun from the battlements of the old city, there sailed to the +peak of the lofty flag-staff the brilliant colors and graceful folds of +the stars and stripes. + +The three-century rule of Castile and Aragon was ended. The yellow and +red of Spain was supplanted by the scarlet, white, and blue of America, +and in a new glory of its own "Old Glory" unfolded to the faintly rising +breeze, and all along the curving shore and over the placid waters rang +out the joyous, life-giving, heart-stirring notes of the Yankee +reveille. + +For long hours later there came launches, bancas, and cascoes from fleet +and shore. The debarkation of the cavalry began in the afternoon. They +had left their horses at the Presidio, six thousand miles away, and were +troopers only in name. The officers who came as passengers got ashore in +the course of the day and made their way to the Ayuntamiento to report +their arrival and receive their assignments. + +The Red Cross nurses looked in vain for the hospital launch that, it was +supposed, would hasten to convey them to comfortable quarters adjoining +the sick-wards or convalescent camps. They listened with the deepest +interest to the description of the assault of the 13th of August that +made Merritt master of Manila, and the elders, masculine and feminine, +who knew something of what battle meant when American was pitted against +American, looked at each other in wonderment as they heard how much had +been won at cost of so little. + +Sandy Ray, kissing Marion good-by and promising to see Stuyvesant in the +near future, went over the side with his troop and, landing at the stone +dock at the foot of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, found himself trudging +along at the head of his men under massive walls nearly three centuries +old, bristling with antiquated, highly ornamented Spanish guns, and +streaked with slime and vegetation, while along the high parapets across +the moat thousands of Spanish soldiers squatted and stared at them in +sullen apathy. + +Maidie's knight and champion indeed! His duty called him with his +fellows to a far-away suburb up the Pasig River. Her duty held her to +await the movements of the sisterhood, and what she might lack for +sympathy among them was made up in manifest yet embarrassing interest on +part of the tall young aide-de-camp, for Stuyvesant was bidden to remain +aboard ship until suitable accommodation could be found for him ashore. + +Under any other circumstances he would have objected vehemently, but, +finding that the Red Cross contingent was to share his fate, and that +Miss Ray was one of the dozen condemned to remain, he bore his enforced +lot with Christian and soldierly resignation. + +"Only," said Dr. Wells, "one would suppose that the Red Cross was +entitled to some consideration, and that all preparation would have been +made for our coming." It was neither flattering nor reassuring, nor, +indeed, was it kind, that they should be so slighted, said the +sisterhood that evening; but worse still was in store, for on the +morrow, early, the Esmeralda came steaming in from Hong Kong, where, +despite her roundabout voyage, the Belgic had arrived before the +slow-moving Sacramento had rounded the northern point of Luzon, and, on +the deck of the Esmeralda as she steered close alongside the transport, +and thence on the unimpeded way to her moorings up the Pasig, in plain +view of the sisterhood, tall, gaunt, austere, but triumphant, towered +the form of the vice-president of the Patriotic Daughters of America. + +For two days more the Sacramento remained at anchor in the bay over a +mile from the mouth of the river, and for two days and nights the Red +Cross remained aboard, unsought, unsummoned from the shore. The +situation became more strained than ever, the only betterment arising +from the fact that now there was more space and the nurses were no +longer crowded three in a room. Mrs. Dr. Wells moved into that recently +vacated by the cavalry commander, and Miss Ray and her now earnest +friend, Miss Porter, were relieved by the desertion of their eldest +sister, who pre-empted a major's stateroom on the upper deck. + +Butt stirred up a new trouble by promptly coming to Miss Ray and bidding +her move out of that stuffy hole below and take Major Horton's quarters, +and bring Miss Porter with her "if that was agreeable." + +It would have been, very, but "Miss Ray's head was level," as the purser +put it, and despite the snippy and exasperating conduct of most of the +sisterhood, that wise young woman pointed out to the shipmaster that +theirs was a semi-military organization, and that the senior, Mrs. Dr. +Wells, and one or two veteran nurses should have choice of quarters. + +By this time Miss Porter's vehement championship of her charming and +much misjudged friend had excited no little rancor against herself. The +more she proved that they had done Miss Ray injustice, the less they +liked Miss Ray's advocate. It is odd but true that many a woman finds it +far easier to forgive another for being as wicked as she has declared +her to be than for proving herself entirely innocent. + +One thing, anyhow, Miss Porter couldn't deny, said the sisterhood,--she +was accepting devoted attentions from Mr. Stuyvesant, and in her +capacity as a Red Cross nurse that was inexcusable. + +"Fudge!" said Miss Porter. "If it were you instead of Miss Ray he was in +love with, how long would you let your badge keep him at a distance?" + +The sun went down on their unappeased wrath that second night in Manila +Bay, and with the morrow came added cause for disapprobation. Before the +noon hour a snow-white launch with colors flying fore and aft steamed +alongside, and up the stairs, resplendent, came Stuyvesant's general +with a brace of staff officers, all three precipitating themselves on +the invalid and, after brief converse with him, all three sending their +cards to Miss Ray, who had taken refuge on the other deck. + +And even while she sat reflecting what would be the wiser course, the +general himself followed the card-bearer, and that distinguished +warrior, with all the honors of his victorious entry fresh upon him, +inclined his handsome head and begged that he might present himself to +the daughter of an old and cherished friend of cadet days, and seated +himself by her side with hardly a glance at the array of surrounding +femininity and launched into reminiscence of "Billy Ray" as he was +always called, ana it was some little time before she could say,-- + +"Will you let me present you to Dr. Wells, who is practically my +commanding officer?" a request the general was too much of a gentleman +not to accede to at once, yet looked _not_ too much pleased when he +was led before that commanding dame, and then distinctly displeased as, +taking advantage of her opportunity, the indignant lady burst forth with +her grievance: + +"Oh! This is General Vinton! Well, I must say that I think you generals +have treated the ladies of the Red Cross with precious little courtesy. +Here we've been waiting thirty-six hours, and not a soul has come near +us or shown us where to go or told us what to do, while everybody else +aboard is looked after at once." + +"It is a matter entirely out of my jurisdiction, madame," answered the +general with grave and distant dignity. "In fact, I knew nothing of the +arrival of any such party until, at the commanding general's this +morning, your vice-president--is it?--was endeavoring to----" + +"Our vice-president, sir," interposed the lady promptly, "is in San +Francisco, attending to her proper functions. The person you saw is not +recognized by the Red Cross at all, nor by any one in authority that +_I_ know of." + +General Vinton reddened. A soldier, accustomed to the "courtesies +indispensable among military men," ill brooks it that a stranger and a +woman should take him to task for matters beyond his knowledge or +control. + +"You will pardon me if in my ignorance of the matter I fancied the lady +in question to be a representative of your order, and for suggesting +that the chief surgeon is the official to whom you should address your +complaint--and rebukes. Good-morning, madame. Miss Ray," he continued, +as he quickly turned and led that young lady away, "two of my staff +desire to be presented. May I have the pleasure?" + +There was no mistaking the general's disapprobation of the official head +of the sisterhood as represented on the Sacramento. Though he and his +officers remained aboard an hour, not once again would he look towards +Dr. Wells or seem to see any of the party but Miss Ray,--this, too, +despite the fact that she tried to explain matters and pour oil on such +troubled waters. + +Captain Butt sent up champagne to the distinguished party, and Miss Ray +begged to be excused and slipped away to her stateroom, only to be +instantly recalled by other cards--Colonel and Mrs. Brent, other old +friends of her father and mother. She remembered them well, and +remembered having heard how Mrs. Brent had braved all opposition and had +started for Hong Kong the day after the colonel steamed for Manila; and +their coming with most hospitable intent only added to the poor girl's +perplexities, for they showered welcomes upon her and bade her get her +luggage up at once. They had come to take her to their own roof. They +had secured such a quaint, roomy house in Ermita right near the bay +shore, and looking right out on the Luneta and the parade grounds. + +They stormed at her plea that she must not leave her companions. They +bade her send for Miss Porter, and included her in their warm-hearted +invitation; but by the time Maidie was able to get a word in edgewise on +her own account, and begged them to come and meet Mrs. Dr. Wells and the +Red Cross sisterhood, they demurred. + +The general, in Marion's brief absence, had expressed his opinion of +that official head, and the Brents had evidently accepted his views. +Then Vinton and his officers loudly begged Mrs. Brent to play chaperon +and persuade Miss Ray and Miss Porter to accompany them in their fine +white launch on a visit to the admiral on the flag-ship, and said +nothing about others of the order. + +The idea of seeing Dewey on his own deck and being shown all over the +Olympia! Why, it was glorious! But Miss Ray faltered her refusal, even +against Miss Porter's imploring eyes. Then Stuyvesant declared he didn't +feel up to it. + +The general went off to the fleet and the Brents back to shore without +the girls. But in the course of the afternoon four more officers came to +tender their services to "Billy Ray's daughter," and none, not even a +hospital steward, came to do aught for the Red Cross, and by sundown +Maidie Ray had every assurance that the most popular girl at that moment +in Manila army circles was the least popular aboard the Sacramento, and +Kate Porter cried herself to sleep after an out-and-out squabble with +two of the Band, and the emphatic assertion that if she were Marion Ray +she would cut them all dead and go live with her friends ashore. + +But when the morrow came was it to be wondered at that Miss Ray had +developed a high fever? Was it not characteristic that before noon, from +the official head down, from Dr. Wells to Dottie Fellows, the most +diminutive of the party, there lived not a woman of their number who was +not eager in tender of services and in desire to be at the sufferer's +bedside? Was it not manlike that Stuyvesant, who had shunned the +sisterhood for days, now sought the very women he had scorned, and +begged for tidings of the girl he loved? + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +October had come and the rainy season was going, but still the heat of +the mid-day sun drove everybody within doors except the irrepressible +Yankee soldiery, released "on pass" from routine duty at inner barracks +or outer picket line, and wandering about this strange, old-world +metropolis of the Philippines, reckless of time or temperature in their +determination to see everything there was to be seen about the whilom +stronghold of "the Dons" in Asiatic waters. + +Along the narrow sidewalks of the Escolta, already bordered by American +signs--and saloons,--and rendered even more than usually precarious by +American drinks, the blue-shirted boys wandered, open-eyed, marvelling +much to find 'twixt twelve and two the shutters up in all the shops not +conducted, as were the bars, on the American plan, while from some, +still more Oriental, the sun and the shopper both were excluded four +full hours, beginning at eleven. + +All over the massive, antiquated fortifications of Old Manila into the +tortuous mazes of the northern districts, through the crowded Chinese +quarter, foul and ill savored, the teeming suburbs of the native Tagals, +humble yet cleanly; along the broad, shaded avenues, bordered by stately +old Spanish mansions, many of them still occupied by their Castilian +owners, the Yankee invaders wandered at will, brimful of curiosity and +good nature, eager to gather in acquaintance, information, and +bric-à-brac, making themselves perfectly at home, filling the souls of +the late lords of the soil with disdain, and those of the natives with +wonderment through their lavish, jovial, free and easy ways. Within a +month from the time Merritt's little division had marched into the city, +Manila was as well known to most of those far-Western volunteers as the +streets of their own home villages, and, when once the paymaster had +distributed his funds among them and, at the rate of ten cents off on +every dollar, they had swapped their sound American coin for "soft" +Mexican or Spanish _pesos_, the prodigality with which they scattered +their wealth among their dusky friends and admirers evoked the blessings +of the church (which was not slow to levy on the beneficiaries), the +curses of the sons of Spain, who had generally robbed and never given, +and, at first, the almost superstitious awe of the Tagals, who, having +never heard of such a thing before, dreaded some deep-laid scheme for +their despoilment. But this species of dread lived but a few short +weeks, and, before next payday, was as far gone as the money of the +Americanos. + +Those were blithe days in Manila as the autumn came on and the +insurrection was still in the far future. There were fine bands among +the Yankee regiments that played afternoon and evening in the kiosk on +the Luneta, and every household possessed of an open carriage, or the +means of hiring one, appeared regularly each day as the sun sank to the +westward sea, and after making swift yet solemn circuit of the Anda +monument at the Pasig end of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, returned to the +Luneta proper, and wedged in among the closely packed vehicles that +covered the broad, smooth driveways on both sides of the esplanade and +for some hundred yards each way north and south of the band-stand. Along +the shaded and gravelled walks that bordered the Paseo, within short +pistol-shot of the grim bastions beyond the green _glacis_ and even +greener moat, many dark-haired, dark-eyed daughters of Spain, leaving +their carriages and, guarded by faithful duenna, strolled slowly up and +down, exchanging furtive signal of hand or kerchief with some gallant +among the throngs of captive soldiery that swarmed towards sunset on the +parapet. Swarthy, black-browed Spanish officers in cool summer uniform +and in parties of three or four lined the roadway, or wandered up and +down in search of some distraction to the deadly _ennui_ of their +lives now that their soldier occupation was gone, vouchsafing neither +glance nor salutation to their Yankee conquerors, no matter what the +rank, until the wives and daughters of American officers began to arrive +and appear upon the scene, when the disdain of both sexes speedily gave +way to obvious, if reluctant, curiosity. + +South of the walls and outworks of Old Manila and east of the Luneta lay +a broad, open level, bounded on the south by the suburb of Ermita, and +in the midst of the long row of Spanish-built houses extending from the +battery of huge Krupps at the bay-side, almost over to the diagonal +avenue of the Nozaleda, stood the very cosey, finely furnished house +which had been hired as quarters for Colonel Brent, high dignitary on +the department staff. + +Its lower story of cut stone was pierced by the arched drive-way through +which carriages entered to the _patio_ or inner court, and, as in the +tenets of Madrid the Queen of Spain is possessed of no personal means +of locomotion, so possibly to no Spanish dame of high degree may be +attributed the desire, even though she have the power, to walk. + +No other portal, therefore, either for entrance or exit, could be found +at the front. Massive doors of dark, heavy wood from the Luzon forests, +strapped with iron, swung on huge hinges that, unless well oiled, defied +the efforts of unmuscular mankind. A narrow panel opening in one of +these doors, two feet above the ground and on little hinges of its own, +gave means of passage to household servants and, when pressed for time, +to such of their superiors as would condescend to step high and stoop +low. + +To the right and left of the main entrance were store-rooms, servants' +rooms, and carriage-room, and opposite the latter, towards the rear, the +broad stairway that, turning upon itself, led to the living-rooms on the +upper floor--the broad salon at the head of the stairs being utilized as +a dining-room on state occasions, and its northward end as the parlor. +Opening from the sides of the salon, front and rear, were four large, +roomy, high-ceilinged chambers. + +Overlooking and partially overhanging the street and extending the +length of the house was a wide enclosed veranda, well supplied with +tables, lounging-chairs, and couches of bamboo and wicker, its floor +covered here and there with Indian rugs, its surrounding waist-high +railing fitted with parallel grooves in which slid easily the frames of +the windows of translucent shells, set in little four-inch squares, or +the dark-green blinds that excluded the light and glare of mid-day. + +With both thrown back there spread an unobstructed view of the +parade-ground even to the edge of the distant _glacis_, and here it +was the household sat to watch the military ceremonies, to receive their +guests, and to read or doze throughout the drowsier hours of the day. +"Campo de Bagumbayan" was what the natives called that martial flat in +the strange barbaric tongue that delights in "igs" and "ags," in "ings" +and "angs," even to repetition and repletion. + +And here one soft, sensuous October afternoon, with a light breeze from +the bay tempering the heat of the slanting sunshine, reclining in a +broad bamboo easy-chair sat Maidie Ray, now quite convalescent, yet not +yet restored to her old-time vigorous health. + +Her hostess, the colonel's amiable wife, was busy on the back gallery +leading to the kitchen, deep in counsel with her Filipino major-domo and +her Chinese cook, servitors who had been well trained and really needed +no instruction, and for that matter got but little, for Mrs. Brent's +knowledge of the Spanish tongue was even less than her command of +"Pidgin" English. Nevertheless, neither Ignacio nor Sing Suey would fail +to nod in the one case or smile broadly in the other in assent to her +every proposition,--it being one of the articles of their domestic faith +that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, could +best be promoted throughout the establishment by never seeming to differ +with the lady of the house. To all outward appearances, therefore, and +for the first few weeks, at least, housekeeping in the Philippines +seemed something almost idyllic, and Mrs. Brent was in ecstasies over +the remarkable virtues of Spanish-trained servants. + +There had been anxious days during Maidie's illness. The Sacramento had +been ordered away, and the little patient had to be brought ashore. But +the chief quartermaster sent his especial steam-launch for "Billy Ray's +daughter," the chief surgeon, the best ambulance and team to meet her at +the landing; a squad of Sandy's troopers bore her reclining-chair over +the side into the launch, out of the launch to the waiting ambulance, +and out of the ambulance upstairs into the airy room set apart for her, +and, with Mrs. Brent and Miss Porter, Sandy and the most devoted of army +doctors to bear her company and keep the fans going, Maidie's progress +had been rather in the nature of a triumph. + +So at least it had seemed to the austere vice-president of the Patriotic +Daughters of America, who, as it happened, looked on in severe +disapproval. She had asked for that very ambulance that very day to +enable her to make the rounds of regimental hospitals in the outlying +suburbs, and had been politely but positively refused. + +By that time, it seems, this most energetic woman had succeeded in +alienating all others in authority at corps head-quarters, to the end +that the commanding general declined to grant her further audience, the +surgeon-general had given orders that she be not admitted to his inner +office, the deputy surgeon-general had asked for a sentry to keep her +off his premises, the sentries at the First and Second Reserve Hospital +had instructions to tell her, also politely but positively, that she +could not be admitted except in visiting hours, when the surgeon, a +steward, or--and here was "the most unkindest cut of all"--some of the +triumphant Red Cross could receive and attend to her, for at last the +symbol of Geneva had gained full recognition. At last Dr. Wells and the +sisterhood were on duty, comfortably housed, cordially welcomed, and +presumably happy. + +But Miss Perkins was not. She had come to Manila full of high purpose as +the self-styled, accredited representative of any quantity of good +Americans, actuated by motives, no doubt, of purest patriotism. The +nation was full of it,--of men who wanted to be officers, of women who +wanted to be officials, many of whom succeeded only in becoming +officious. There were not staff or line positions enough to provide for +a hundredth part of the men, or societies and "orders" sufficient to +cater to the ambitions of a tenth part of the women. The great Red Cross +gave abundant employment for thousands of gentle and willing hands, but +limited the number of directing heads, and Miss Perkins and others of +the Jellaby stamp were born, as they thought, not to follow but to lead. +Balked in their ambitious designs to become prominent in that noble +national association, women possessed of the unlimited assurance of Miss +Perkins started what might be termed an anti-crusade, with the result +that in scores of quiet country towns, as well as in the cities of the +East and Middle West, many subscriptions were easily gained, and +hundreds of honest, earnest women were rewarded with paper scrolls +setting forth that they were named as Sisters of the American Soldier, +Patriotic Daughters of America, or Ministering Angels of the Camp and +Cot. Shades of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton! the very voice of +such self-appointed angels as Miss Perkins was enough to set the nerves +of strong men on edge and to drive fever patients to madness! Even the +Red Cross could not always be sure of its selection. It did prevent the +sending to Manila of certain undesirable applicants, but it could not +prevent the going of Miss Perkins at the expense of the deluded, on +ships that were common carriers, even though she were a common scold. +There she was, portentous as the British Female portrayed by Thackeray. +Backed by apparently abundant means and obviously indomitable "gall," +she counted on carrying all before her by sheer force of her powers of +self-assertion and the name of the Patriotic Daughters of America. But +the commanding general was the most impassive of men, gifted with a keen +though little suspected sense of humor, and no little judgment in +estimating motive and character. He actually enjoyed the first call made +by Miss Perkins, suggested her coming again on the morrow, and summoned +his chief surgeon and his provost marshal, another keen humorist, to be +present at the interview. It has been asserted that this triumvirate +went so far as to encourage the lady to even wilder flights of +assertion. We have her own word for it that then and there she was +promised as offices three big rooms in the Palace,--the +Ayuntamiento,--six clerks, and a private secretary, but an impartial +witness avows that the sole basis for this was a question propounded to +the provost marshal by the chief surgeon as to whether the chief +quartermaster or the chief engineer should be called on to vacate the +rooms assigned to them as officers in order that the P. D. A. might be +properly recognized and quartered, to which the response was made with +unflinching gravity that something certainly should be vacated "P. D. +Q." if it took all his clerical force to effect it, but this was _sotto +voce_, so to speak, and presumably unheard by the general commanding. It +was gall of another kind, and wormwood, after these first few flattering +receptions, to be greeted thereafter only by aides-de-camp or a military +secretary; then to be told by the chief surgeon that, under instructions +from Washington, only those nurses and attendants recognized and +employed by the general government could be permitted to occupy quarters +or walk the wards about the hospitals. It was bitter to find her +criticisms and suggestions set at naught by "impudent young quacks," as +she called the delighted doctors of the reserve hospitals, to see the +sisterhood of the Red Cross presently clothed with the purple of +authority as well as white caps and aprons, while she and, through her, +the P. D. A.'s were denied the privilege of stirring up the patients and +overhauling the storerooms. Then in her wrath Miss Perkins unbosomed +herself to the press correspondents, a few of whom, seeking sensation, +as demanded by their papers, took her seriously and told tremendous +tales of the brutal neglect of our sick and wounded boys in hospital, of +doctors and nurses in wild debauch on the choice wines and liquors sent +for the sole use of the sick and wounded by such patriotic societies as +the P. D. A.'s, and hinting at other and worse debaucheries (which she +blushed to name), and involved in which were prominent officers and +favorite members of a rival society "which shall be as nameless as it is +shameless." All this had Miss Perkins accomplished within the first +eight days of her sojourn, and by way of Hong-Kong the unexpurgated +edition of her romance, thrown out by the conscienceless censor at +head-quarters, eventually found its way to the United States. It was +while in this uncharitable frame of mind that Miss Perkins caught sight +of the little procession up the Santa Lucia when Maidie was transferred +from ship to shore, and the refusal of the best looking of the "impudent +young quacks" to permit her to see his patient that afternoon augmented +her sense of indignity and wrong. Miss Ray herself went down in the +black book of the P. D. A.'s forthwith. + +But all this time the officials remained in blissful ignorance of the +tremendous nature of the charges laid at their door by this much injured +woman, and Maidie Ray, while duly informed of the frequent calls and +kind inquiries of many an officer, and permitted of late to welcome +Sandy for little talks, had been mercifully spared the infliction of the +personal visitation thrice attempted by her fellow-traveller on the +train. That awful voice, however, uplifted, as was the habit of the +vice-president when aroused, could not fail to reach the sick-room, and +when convalescence came and Miss Perkins came not, Maidie made inquiries +both of Dr. Frank and of her hostess. Frank showed his handsome teeth +and smiled, but Mrs. Brent showed fight. "I won't have such a creature +within my doors!" said she. "I don't believe you were ever intimate +friends, and that she nursed and cared for you in the cars when you were +suffering from shock and fright because of a fire. That's what she says +though. What was it, Maidie? Was it there Mr. Stuyvesant got that burn +on his face?--and lost his eyebrows?" + +And then it transpired that Mr. Stuyvesant had been a frequent and +assiduous caller for a whole fortnight, driving thither almost every +evening. + +But Maidie was oddly silent as to the episode of the fire on the train. +She laughed a little about Miss Perkins and her pretensions, but to the +disappointment of her hostess could not be drawn into talk about that +tall, handsome New Yorker. + +And what seemed strange to Mrs. Brent was that now, when Maidie could +sit up a few hours each day and see certain among the officers' wives, +arriving by almost every steamer from the States, and have happy chats +with Sandy every time he could come galloping in from Paco, and was +taking delight in watching the parades and reviews on the Bagumbayan, +and listening to the evening music of the band, Stuyvesant had ceased to +call. + +Had Maidie noticed it? Mrs. Brent wondered, as, coming in from her +conference with the House of Commons, she stood a moment at the door-way +gazing at the girl, whose book had fallen to the floor and whose dark +eyes, under their veiling lids were looking far out across the field to +the walls and church towers of Old Manila. + +It was almost sunset. There was the usual throng of carriages along the +Luneta and a great regiment of volunteers, formed in line of platoon +columns, was drawn up on the "Campo" directly in front of the house. +Sandy had spent his allotted half hour by his sister's side, and, +remounting, had cantered out to see the parade. Miss Perkins had +declared on the occasion of her third fruitless call that not until Miss +Ray sent for her would she again submit herself to be snubbed. So there +seemed no immediate danger of her reappearance, and yet Mrs. Brent had +given Ignacio orders to open only the panel door when the gate bell +clanged, and to refuse admission, even to the drive-way, to a certain +importunate caller besides Miss Perkins. + +Three days previous there had presented himself a young man in the white +dress of the tropics and a hat of fine Manila straw, a young man who +would not send up his card, but in very Mexican Spanish asked for Miss +Ray. Ignacio sent a boy for Mrs. Brent, who came down to reconnoitre, +and the youth reiterated his request. + +"An old friend" was all he would say in response to her demand for his +name and purpose. She put him off, saying Miss Ray was still too far +from well to see anybody, bade him call next day when Dr. Frank and her +husband, she knew, would probably be there, duly notified them, and +Frank met and received the caller when he came and sent him away in +short order. + +"The man is a crank," said he, "and I shall have him watched." The +colonel asked that one or two of the soldier police guard should be sent +to the house to look after the stranger. A corporal came from the +company barrack around on the Calle Real, and it was after nightfall +when next the "old friend" rang the bell and was permitted by Ignacio to +enter. + +But the instant the corporal started forward to look at him the caller +bounded back into outer darkness. He was tall, sinewy, speedy, and had a +twenty-yard start before the little guardsman, stout and burly, could +squeeze into the street. Then the latter's shouts up the San Luis only +served to startle the sentries, to spur the runner, and to excite and +agitate Maidie. + +Dr. Frank was disgusted when he tried her pulse and temperature half an +hour later and said things to the corporal not strictly authorized by +the regulations. The episode was unfortunate, yet might soon have been +forgotten but for one hapless circumstance. Despite her announcement, +something had overcome Miss Perkins's sense of injury, for she had +stepped from a carriage directly in front of the house at the moment of +the occurrence, was a witness to all that took place, and the first one +to extract from the corporal his version of the affair and his theory as +to what lay behind it. In another moment she was driving away towards +the Nozaleda, the direction taken by the fugitive, fast as her coachman +could whip his ponies, the original purpose of her call abandoned. + +As in duty bound, both Mrs. Brent and Dr. Frank had told Sandy of this +odd affair. Mrs. Brent described the stranger as tall, slender, sallow, +with big cavernous dark eyes that had a wild look to them, and a +scraggly, fuzzy beard all over his face, as though he hadn't shaved for +long weeks. His hands--of course, she had particularly noticed his +hands; what woman doesn't notice such things?--were slim and white. He +had the look of a man who had been long in hospital; was probably a +recently discharged patient, perhaps one of the many men just now +getting their home orders from Washington. + +"Somebody who served under your father, perhaps," said Mrs. Brent +soothingly to Marion, "and thought he ought to see you." + +"Somebody who had not been a soldier at all," said she to Sandy. "He had +neither the look nor the manner of one." And Sandy marvelled a bit and +decided to be on guard. + +"Maidie," he had said that afternoon, before riding away, "when you get +out next week we must take up pistol practice again. You beat me at +Leavenworth, but you can't do it now. Got your gun--anywhere?--the one +Dad gave you?" And Dad or Daddy in the Ray household was the "lovingest" +of titles. + +Maidie turned a languid head on her pillow. "In the upper drawer of the +cabinet in my room, I think," said she. "I remember Mrs. Brent's +examining it." + +Sandy went in search, and presently returned with the prize, a short, +big-barrelled, powerful little weapon of the bull-dog type, sending a +bullet like that of a Derringer, hot and hard, warranted to shock and +stop an ox at ten yards, but miss a barn at over twenty: a woman's +weapon for defence of her life, not a target pistol, and Sandy twirled +the shining cylinder approvingly. It was a gleaming toy, with its ivory +stock and nickeled steel. + +"Every chamber crammed," said Sandy, "and sure to knock spots out of +anything from a mad dog to an elephant, provided it hits. Best keep it +by you at night, Maidie. These natives are marvellous sneak-thieves. +They go all through these ramshackle upper stories like so many ghosts. +No one can hear them." + +Then, when he took his leave, the pistol remained there lying on the +table, and Frank, coming in to see his most interesting patient just as +the band was trooping back to its post on the right of the long line, +picked it up and examined it, muzzle uppermost, with professional +approbation. + +"Yours I see, Miss Ray;--and from your father. A man hit by one of +these," he continued musingly, and fingering the fat leaden bullets, +"would drop in his tracks. You keep it by you?--always?" + +"I? No!" laughed Maidie. "I'm eager to get to my work,--healing--not +giving--gunshot wounds." + +"You will have abundant time, my dear young lady," said the doctor +slowly, as he carefully replaced the weapon on the table by her side, +"and--opportunity, if I read the signs aright, and we must get you +thoroughly well before you begin. Ah! What's that? What's the matter +over there?" he lazily asked. It was a fad of the doctor's never to +permit himself to show the least haste or excitement. + +A small opera-glass stood on the sill, and, calmly adjusting it as he +peered, Frank had picked it up and levelled it towards the front and +centre of the line just back of where the colonel commanding sat in +saddle. A lively scuffle and commotion had suddenly begun among the +groups of spectators. Miss Ray's reclining-chair was so placed that by +merely raising her head she could look out over the field. Mrs. Brent +ran to where the colonel's field-glasses hung in their leathern case and +joined the doctor at the gallery rail. + +Three pairs of eyes were gazing fixedly at the point of disturbance, +already the centre of a surging crowd of soldiers off duty, oblivious +now to the fact that the band was playing the "Star-Spangled Banner," +and they ought to be standing at attention, hats off, and facing the +flag as it came floating slowly to earth on the distant ramparts of the +old city. + +Disdainful of outside attractions, the adjutant came stalking out to +the front as the strain ceased, and his shrill voice was heard turning +over the parade to his commander. Then the surging group seemed to +begin to dissolve, many following a little knot of men carrying on +their shoulders an apparently inanimate form. They moved in the +direction of the old botanical garden, towards the Estado Mayor, and +so absorbed were the three in trying to fathom the cause of the +excitement that they were deaf to Ignacio's announcement. A tall, +handsome, most distinguished-looking young officer stood at the wide +door-way, dressed _cap-a-piè_ in snowy white, and not until, after a +moment's hesitation, he stepped within the room and was almost upon +them, did Miss Ray turn and see him. + +"Why, Mr. Stuyvesant!" was all she said; but the tone was enough. Mrs. +Brent and the doctor dropped the glasses and whirled about. Both +instantly noted the access of color. It had not all disappeared by any +means, though the doctor had, when, ten minutes later, Colonel Brent +came in. + +At the moment of his entrance, Stuyvesant, seated close to Marion's +reclining-chair, was, with all the doctor's caution and curiosity, +examining her revolver. "Rather bulky for a pocket-pistol," he remarked, +as, muzzle downward, he essayed its insertion in the gaping orifice at +the right hip of his Manila-made, flapping white trousers. It slipped in +without a hitch. + +"What was the trouble out there a while ago?" asked the lady of the +house of her liege lord. "You saw it, I suppose?" + +"Nothing much. Man had a fit, and it took four men to hold him. Maidie, +look here. Captain Kress handed this to me--said they picked it up just +back of where the colonel stood at parade. Is he another mash?" + +Marion took the envelope from the outstretched hand, drew forth a little +_carte-de-visite_, on which was the vignette portrait of her own face, +gave one quick glance, and dropped back on the pillow. All the bright +color fled. The picture fell to the floor. "Can you--find Sandy?" was +all she could say, as, with imploring eyes, she gazed into honest +Brent's astonished face. + +"I can, at once," said Stuyvesant, who had risen from his chair at the +colonel's remark. With quick bend he picked up the little card, placed +it face downward on the table by her side, never so much as giving one +glance at the portrait, and noiselessly left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Like many another man's that summer and autumn of '98, Mr. Gerard +Stuyvesant's one overwhelming ambition had been to get on to Manila. The +enforced sojourn at Honolulu had been, therefore, a bitter trial. He had +reached at last the objective point of his soldier desires, and with all +his heart now wished himself back on the Sacramento with one, at +least,--or was it at most?--of the Sacramento's passengers. The voyage +had done much to speed his recovery. The cordial greeting extended by +his general and comrade officers had gladdened his heart. Pleasant +quarters on the breezy bay shore, daily drives, and, presently, gentle +exercise in saddle had still further benefited him. + +He had every assurance that Marion Ray's illness was not of an alarming +nature, and that, soon as the fever had run its course, her +convalescence would be rapid. He was measurably happy in the privilege +of calling every day to ask for her, but speedily realized the poverty +of Oriental marts in the means wherewith to convey to the fair patient +some tangible token of his constant devotion. Where were the glorious +roses, the fragrant, delicate violets, the heaping baskets of cool, +luscious, tempting grapes, pears, and peaches with which from Saco to +Seattle, from the Sault de Sainte Marie to Southwest Pass, in any city +outside of Alaska in the three million square miles of his own native +land, he could have laid siege to her temporary retreat? Ransack the +city as he might,--market, shops, and gardens,--hardly a flower could he +find worthy her acceptance--a garish, red-headed hybrid twixt poppy and +tulip and some inodorous waxen shoots that looked like decrepit +hyacinths and smelled like nothing, representing the stock in trade at +that season of the few flower-stands about Manila. As for fruit, some +stunted sugar bananas about the size of a shoehorn and a few diminutive +China oranges proved the extent of the weekly exhibit along the Escolta. +Once, La Extremeña displayed a keg of Malaga grapes duly powdered with +cork, and several pounds of these did Stuyvesant levy upon forthwith, +and, after being duly immersed in water and cooled in the ice-chest, +send them in dainty basket by a white-robed lackey, with an +unimpeachable card bearing the legend "Mr. Gerard Stuyvesant, +One-Hundred-and-Sixth New York Infantry Volunteers," and much were they +admired on arrival, but that was in the earlier days of Maidie's +convalescence, and Dr. Frank shook his head. Grape-seeds were "perilous +stuff," and Mrs. Brent knew they would not last until Maidie was well +enough to enjoy them, and so--they did not. + +Military duty for the staff was not exacting about Manila in the autumn +days. It was the intermission. The Spanish war was over; the Filipino +yet to come. There was abundant time for "love and sighing," and +Stuyvesant did both, for there was no question the poor fellow had found +his fate, and yet thought it trembling in the balance. Not one look or +word of hers for him could Stuyvesant recall that was more winsome and +kind than those bestowed on other men. Indeed, had he not seen with +jealous eyes with what beaming cordiality and delight she had met and +welcomed one or two young gallants, who, having been comrades of Sandy +in "the Corps" at the Point, had found means to get out to the +Sacramento, obviously to see her, just before that untimely illness +claimed her for its own? Had he not heard his general, his fellow staff +officers, speaking enthusiastically of her beauty and fascinations and +their destructive effects in various quarters? Had he not been compelled +in silence to listen again and in detail to the story of old Sam +Martindale's nephew?--Sam Martingale, the cavalry called him--"Martinet +Martindale" he was dubbed by the "doughboys"--that conscientious, +dutiful, and therefore none too popular veteran, whose sister's children +much more than supplied the lack of his own. + +Farquhar of the cavalry, scion of a Philadelphia family well known to +the Stuyvesants of Gotham and "trotting in the same class," had come +over from department head-quarters, where he had a billet as engineer +officer, to call on Stuyvesant and to cheer him up and contribute to his +convalescence, and did so after the manner of men, by talking on all +manner of topics for nearly an hour and winding up by a dissertation on +Billy Ray's pretty daughter and "Wally" Foster's infatuation. Farquhar +said it was the general belief that Maidie liked Wally mighty well and +would marry him were he only in the army. And Stuyvesant wondered how it +was, in all the years he had known Farquhar and envied him his being a +West Pointer and in the cavalry, he had never really discovered what a +bore, what a wearisome ass, Farquhar could be. + +Then just as Miss Ray was reported sitting up and soon to be able to +"see her friends,"--with what smiling significance did Mrs. Brent so +assure him!--what should Stuyvesant's general do but select Stuyvesant +himself to go on a voyage of discovery to Iloilo and beyond. The +commanding general wanted a competent officer who spoke Spanish to make +a certain line of investigation. He consulted Vinton. Vinton thought +another voyage the very thing for Stuyvesant, and so suggested his name. + +It sent the luckless Gothamite away just at the time of all others he +most wished to remain. When he returned, within a dozen days, the first +thing was to submit his written report, already prepared aboard ship. +The next was to report himself in person at Colonel Brent's, to be asked +into the presence of the girl he loved and longed to see, and, as has +been told, ushered out almost immediately, self-detailed, in search of +Sandy. + +He had found the lad easily enough, but not so the man with the fit, +whom, for reasons of his own and from what he had seen and heard, +Stuyvesant was most anxious to overtake. His carriage whirled him +rapidly past the parade-ground and over to the First Reserve Hospital, +whither he thought the victim had been borne, but no civilian, with or +without fits, had recently been admitted. + +Inquiry among convalescent patients and soldiers along the road without +resulted at last in his finding one of the party that carried the +stricken man from the field. He had come to, said the volunteer, before +they had gone quarter of a mile, had soused his head in water at a +hydrant, rested a minute, offered them a quarter for their trouble, +buttoned up the light coat that had been torn open in his struggle, and +nervously but positively declared himself all right and vastly obliged, +had then hailed a passing _carromatta_, and been whisked away across the +moat and drawbridge into the old city. There all trace was lost of him. + +Baffled and troubled, Stuyvesant ordered his coachman to take him to the +Luneta. The crowd had disappeared. The carriages were nearly all +departed. The lights were twinkling here and there all over the placid +bay. It was still nearly an hour to dinner-time at the general's mess, +and he wished to be alone to think over matters, to hear the soothing +plash and murmur of the little waves, and Stuyvesant vowed in his wrath +and vexation that Satan himself must be managing his affairs, for, over +and above the longed-for melody of the rhythmic waters, he was hailed by +the buzz-saw stridencies of Miss Perkins, whose first words gave the lie +to themselves. + +"I'm all out of breath, and so het up runnin' after you I can't talk, +but I was just bound to see you, an' I've been to your house so often +the soldiers laugh at me. Those young men haven't any sense of decency +or respect, but I'll teach 'em, and you see they'll sing another song. +Where can we sit down?" continued the lady, her words chasing each +other's heels in her breathless haste. "These lazy, worthless Spanish +officers take every seat along here. Why, here! your carriage will do, +an' I've got a thousand things to say!" ("Heaven be merciful," groaned +Stuyvesant to himself.) "I saw you driving, and I told my cabman to +catch you if he had to flog the hide off his horse. Come, aren't +you--don't you want to sit down? I do, anyhow! There's no comfort in my +cab. Here, I'll dismiss it now. You can just drop me on the way home, +you know. I'm living down the Calle Real a few blocks this side of you. +All the soldiers know me, and if _they_ had _their_ say it wouldn't be +the stuck-up Red Cross that's flirting with doctors and living high on +the dainties our folks sent over. The _boys_ are all right. It's your +generals that have ignored the P. D. A.'s, and I'll show 'em presently +what a miss they've made. Wait till the papers get the letters I have +written. But, say--"("And this is the woman I thought might be +literary!" moaned Stuyvesant as he meekly followed to the little open +carriage and, with a shiver, assisted his angular visitor to a seat.) + +"A Key!" she shouted, "A Key, Cochero! No quiere mas hoy. Mañana! Ocho! +Sabe, Cochero? Ocho! Now don't chewbe--What's late in their lingo, +anyhow? 'Tisn't tardy, I know; that's afternoon. Tardeeo? Thank you. +Now--well, just sit down, first, lieutenant. You see _we_ know how +to address officers by their titles, if the Red Cross don't. I'd teach +'em to Mister me if I was an officer. Now, what I want to see you about +first is this. Your general has put me off one way or another every time +I've called this last two weeks. I've always treated him politely, but +for some reason he'll never see me now, and yet they almost ran after me +at first. Now, you can fix it easy enough, and you do it and you won't +regret it. I only want him to listen to me three minutes, and that's +little enough for anybody to ask. You do it, and I can do a good deal +more for you than you think for, an' I will do it, too, if certain +people don't treat me better. It's something you'll thank me for +mightily later on if you don't now. I've had my eyes open, lieutenant, +an' I see things an' I hear things an' I know things you mighty little +suspect." + +"Pardon me, Miss Perkins," interposed Stuyvesant at this juncture, his +nerves fairly twitching under the strain. "Let us get at the matters on +which you wish to speak to me. Malate, Cochero!" he called to the pygmy +Filipino on the box. "I am greatly pressed for time," he added, as the +carriage whirled away, the hoofs of the pony team flying like shuttles +the instant the little scamps were headed homeward. + +"Well, what I want mostly is to see the general. He's got influence with +General Drayton and I know it, and these Red Cross people have poisoned +his ears. Everybody's ears seem to be just now against me and I can get +no hearing whatever. Everything was all right at first; everything was +promised me, and then, first one and then another, they all backed out, +and I want to know why--I'm bound to know why, and they'd better come to +me and make their peace now than wait until the papers and the P. D. +A.'s get after 'em, as they will,--you hear my words now,--they _will_ +do just as soon as my letters reach the States. _You're_ all right +enough. I've told them how you helped with those poor boys of mine +aboard the train. Bad way they'd been in if we hadn't been there, you +and I. Why, I just canvassed that train till I got clothes and shoes +for every one of those poor burned-out fellows, but there wouldn't +anybody else have done it. And nursing?--you ought to have seen those +boys come to thank me the day I went out to the Presidio, an' most +cried--some of them did;--said their own mothers couldn't have done +more, and they'd do anything for me now. But when I went out to their +camp at Paco their major just as much as ordered me away, and that +little whipper-snapper, Lieutenant Ray, that I could take on my knee +and spank---- He--Lieutenant Ray--a friend of yours? Well, you may +_think_ he is, or you may be a friend of _his_, but _I_ can tell you +right here and now he's no friend, and you'll see he isn't. What's +more, I hate to see an honest, high-toned young gentleman just +throwing himself away on people that can't appreciate him. I could +tell you----" + +"Stop, driver!" shouted Stuyvesant, unable longer to control himself. +"Miss Perkins," he added, as the little coachman manfully struggled to +bring his rushing team to a halt at the curb, "I have a call to make and +am late. Tell my coachman where to take you and send him back to this +corner. Good-night, madam," and, gritting his teeth, out he sprang to +the sidewalk. + +It happened to be directly in front of one of those native resorts +where, day and night, by dozens the swarthy little brown men gather +about a billiard-table with its centre ornament of boxwood pins, betting +on a game resembling the Yankee "pin pool" in everything but the +possibility of fair play. Hovering about the entrance or on the +outskirts of the swarm of men and boys, a dozen native women, some with +babies in their arms and nearly all with cigars between their teeth, +stood watching the play with absorbing interest, and a score of dusky, +pot-bellied children from two to twelve years of age sprawled about the +premises, as much at home as the keeper of the place. + +The lamps had been lighted but a few minutes and the game was in full +blast. Some stalwart soldiers, regulars from the Cuartel de Malate from +down the street or the nipa barracks of the Dakotas and Idahos, were +curiously studying the scene, making jovial and unstinted comment after +their fearless democratic fashion, but sagely abstaining from trying +their luck and not so sagely sampling the sizzling soda drinks held +forth to them by tempting hands. Liquor the vendors dare not +proffer,--the provost marshal's people had forbidden that,--and only at +the licensed bars in town or by bribery and stealth in the outlying +suburbs could the natives dispose of the villainous "bino" with which at +times the unwary and unaccustomed American was overcome. + +Three or four men in civilian dress, that somehow smacked of the sea, as +did their muttered, low-toned talk, huddled together at the corner post, +furtively eying the laughing soldiers and occasionally peering up and +down the darkened street. It was not the place Stuyvesant would have +chosen to leave his carriage, but it was a case of any port in a +storm,--anything to escape that awful woman. With one quick spring he +was out of the vehicle and into the midst of the group on the narrow +sidewalk before he noticed them at all, but not before they saw him. +Even as Miss Perkins threw forward a would-be grasping and detaining +hand and called him by name, one of the group in civilian dress gave +sudden, instant start, sprang round the corner, but, tripping on some +obstacle, sprawled full length on the hard stone pavement. Despite the +violence of the fall, which wrung from him a fierce curse, the man was +up in a second, away, and out of sight in a twinkling. + +"Go on!" shouted Stuyvesant impatiently, imperiously, to his coachman, +as, never caring what street he took, he too darted around the same +corner, and his tall white form vanished on the track of the civilian. + +But the sound of the heavy fall, the muttered curse, and the sudden +question in the nearest group, "What's wrong with Sackett?" had reached +Miss Perkins's ears, for while once more the little team was speeding +swiftly away, the strident voice of the lone passenger was uplifted in +excited hail to the coachman to stop. And here the Filipino demonstrated +to the uttermost that the amenities of civilization were yet undreamed +of in his darkened intellect--as between the orders of the man and the +demands of the woman he obeyed the former. Deaf, even to that awful +voice, he drove furiously on until brought up standing by the bayonets +of the patrol in front of the English Club, and in a fury of +denunciation and quiver of mingled wrath and excitement, Miss Perkins +tumbled out into the arms of an amazed and disgusted sergeant, and +demanded that he come at once to arrest a vile thief and deserter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +That night the sentries all over the suburbs of Ermita and Malate were +peering into every dark alleyway and closely scrutinizing every human +being nearing their posts. Few and far between were these, for the +natives were encouraged to remain indoors after nine o'clock, and the +soldiers forbidden to be out. The streets were deserted save by +occasional carriage or carromatta bearing army or navy officers, or what +were termed the foreign residents--English or German as a rule--from +club or calls to their quarters. + +"Lights out" sounded early at the barracks of the soldiery, for they +were up with the dawn for breakfast that they might be through with +their hardest drills before the heat of the day. The "pool rooms," +as the big _Americanos_ called these "wide open," single-tabled +billiard saloons that flourished in almost every block, were required +to put up their shutters at nine o'clock, and every discoverable +establishment in which gambling had prevailed in other form had long +since been closed by a stony-hearted chief of police, whose star was +worn on each shoulder rather than the left breast, and who, to the +incredulous amaze of Spaniard and Filipino alike, listened unmoved to +the pleas of numerous prominent professors of the gambling industry, +even when backed by proffers of a thousand a week in gold. That the +"_partida de billar_" had not also been suppressed was due to the +fact that, like Old Sledge in the Kentucky Court, its exponents +established it to be, not a game of chance, but skill, and such, indeed, +it proved to every Yankee who put up his money against the bank. With an +apparently congenital gift of sleight of hand, developed by years of +practice at pitch penny from toddling babyhood to cock-fighting +adolescence, the native could so manipulate the tools of his game that +no outsider had the faintest "show for his money," while, as against +each other, as when Greek met Greek, it became a battle of the giants, a +trial of almost superhuman skill. It was the one game left to adult +Tagalhood in which he might indulge his all-absorbing and unconquerable +passion to play for money. All over town and suburbs wandered countless +natives with wondering game-cocks under their arms, suffering for a +chance to spur if not to "scrap," for even the national sport had been +stopped. Never in all the services in all the churches of Luzon had such +virtue been preached as that practised by these heartless, soulless +invaders from across the wide Pacific--men who stifled gambling and +scorned all bribes. "Your chief of police is no gentleman," declared +certain prominent merchants, arrested for smuggling opium, and naturally +aggrieved and indignant at such unheard-of treatment. "He did not tell +us how much he wanted! He did not even ask us to pay!" Retained in +responsible positions in the office of the collector of customs, two +Spanish officers of rank were presently found to have embezzled some +twelve thousand dollars in some six weeks of opportunity. "But this is +outrage! This is scandalous!" quoth they, in righteous wrath on being +bidden to disgorge and ordered before a court-martial. "We have nothing +but the customary perquisite! It is you who would rob us!" From highest +to lowest, in church, in state, in school,--in every place,--there +seemed no creed that barred the acquisition of money by any means short +of actual robbery of the person. As for thieving from the premises, the +Filipino stood unequalled--the champion sneak-thief of the universe. + +And the sentries this night, softly lighted by a waning old moon, were +on the lookout everywhere among the suburbs for two malefactors +distinctly differing in type, yet equally in demand. One, said the +descriptions, compiled from the original information of Zenobia Perkins, +Spinster; residence 259 Calle Real, Ermita; occupation, Vice-President +and Accredited Representative for the Philippine Islands of the +Patriotic Daughters of America, and the additional particulars later +obtained from Lieutenant Gerard Stuyvesant, aide-de-camp to General +Vinton, 595 Calle Real, Malate--one, said the descriptions, was a burly, +thick-set, somewhat slouching American, in clothing of the sailor +slop-shop variety, a man of five feet six and maybe forty years, though +he might be much younger; a coarse-featured, heavy-bearded man, with +gray eyes, generally bleary, and one front tooth gone, leaving a gap in +the upper jaw next the canine, which was fang-like, yellow, and +prominent; a man with harsh voice and surly ways; a man known as Sackett +among seamen and certain civilians who probably had made their way to +Manila in the hope of picking up an easy living; a man wanted as Murray +among soldiers for a deserter, jail-bird, and thief. + +The other malefactor was less minutely described. A native five feet +eight, perhaps. Very tall for a Tagal, slender, sinewy, and with a tuft +of wiry hair and sixteen inches of shirt missing. "For further +particulars and the missing sixteen inches, as well as the hair, inquire +at Colonel Brent's, Number 199 Calle San Luis, Ermita." + +It seems that soon after dark that eventful evening Mrs. Brent and Miss +Porter had seen Maidie comfortably bestowed in the big, broad, +cane-bottomed bed in her airy room, and had left her to all appearances +sleeping placidly towards eight o'clock, and then gone out to dinner. +Whatever the cause of her agitation on receiving at Brent's hands the +little card photograph of herself, it had subsided after a brief, +low-toned conference with Sandy, who quickly came and speedily hastened +away, and a later visit from Dr. Frank, whose placid, imperturbable, +restful ways were in themselves well-nigh as soothing as the +orange-flower water prescribed for her. Even the little night-light, +floating in its glass, had been extinguished when the ladies left her. + +The room assigned to Marion was at the north-west corner of the house. +Its two front windows opened on the wide gallery, that in turn opened +out on the Bagumbayan parade. Its west windows, also two in number, were +heavily framed. There were sliding blinds to oppose to the westering +sun, translucent shells in place of brittle glass to temper, yet admit, +the daylight, and hanging curtains that slid easily on their supporting +rods and rendered the room dark as could be desired for the siesta hours +of the tropic day. + +The dinner-table, brightly lighted by lamps hung from hooks securely +driven in the upper beams (lath and plaster are unknown in this seismic +land), was set on the rear gallery overlooking the _patio_, and here, +soon after eight, Brent, his little household, the doctor, and two +more guests were cosily chatting and dining, while noiseless native +servants hovered about and Maidie Ray presumably slept. + +But Maidie was not sleeping. Full of a new anxiety, if not of dread, and +needing to think calmly and clearly, she had turned away from her almost +too assiduous attendants and closed her eyes upon the world about her. A +perplexity, a problem such as never occurred to her as a possibility, +one that sorely worried Sandy, as she could plainly see, had suddenly +been thrust upon her. Hitherto she had ever had a most devoted mother as +her counsellor and friend, but now a time had come when she must think +and act for herself. + +The little card photograph picked up by the men on the scene of the +scuffle at the edge of the Bagumbayan had told its story to her at least +and to Sandy. It could only mean that Foster, he who spent whole days +and weeks at their New Mexican station to the neglect of his cattle-ranch, +he who had 'listed in the cavalry and disappeared--deserted, maybe--at +Carquinez, had eluded search, pursuit, inquiry of every kind, and, all +ignorant, probably, of the commission obtained for him, had, still +secretly, as though realizing his danger, followed her to Manila. + +This then must have been the tall stranger who called himself an old +friend and would give no name, for it was to Foster, in answer to his +most urgent plea,--perhaps touched by his devoted love for her lovely +daughter,--that Mrs. Ray had given that little vignette photograph long +months before. There, on the back, was the date in her mother's hand, +"Fort Averill, New Mexico, February 15, 1898." Well did Marion remember +how he had begged her to write her name beneath the picture, and how, +for some reason she herself could not describe, she had shrunk from so +doing. There had been probably half a dozen pictures of Foster about +their quarters at Averill,--photographs in evening dress, in ranch rig, +in winter garb, in tennis costume,--but only one had he of Maidie, and +that not of her giving. + +Now, what could his coming mean? What madness prompted this stealth and +secrecy? If innocent of wilful desertion, his proper course was to have +reported without delay to the military authorities at San Francisco and +told the cause of his disappearance or detention. But he had evidently +done nothing of the kind. They would surely have heard of it, and now he +was here, still virtually in hiding and possibly in disguise, and one +unguarded word of hers might land him a prisoner, a war-time deserter, +within the walls of the gloomy carcel in Old Manila. + +Sandy she had to tell, and he was overwhelmed with dismay, had galloped +to Paco to see his colonel and get leave for "urgent personal and family +reasons," as he was to say, to spend forty-eight hours in and about +Manila. If a possible thing, Sandy was to trail and find poor Foster, +induce him to surrender himself at once, to plead illness, +inexperience,--anything,--and throw himself on the mercy of the +authorities. Sandy would be back by nine unless something utterly +unforeseen detained him at East Paco. Meantime what else could she +do?--what could she plan to rescue that reckless, luckless, +hare-brained, handsome fellow from the plight into which his misguided, +wasted passion had plunged him? + +From the veranda the clink of glass and china, the low hum of merry +chat, the sound of half-smothered laughter, fell upon the ear and vexed +her with its careless jollity. Impatiently she threw herself upon the +other--the left--side, and then--sat bolt upright in bed. + +Not a breath of air was stirring. The night was so still she could hear +the soft tinkle of the ships' bells off the Luneta,--could almost hear +the soothing plash of the wavelets on the beach. There was nothing +whatever to cause that huge mahogany door to swing upon its well-oiled +hinges. She heard them close it when they went out; she saw that it was +closed when they were gone, yet, as she turned on her pillow and towards +the faint light through the northwest windows, that door was slowly, +stealthily turning, until at last, wide open, it interposed between her +and the outward light at the front. + +Many an evening lately she had lain with hands clasped under the back of +her bonny head looking dreamily out through that big open window, across +the gallery beyond and the open casements in front, watching the twinkle +of the electric lights above the distant ramparts of the old city and +the nearer gleam of the brilliant globes that hung aloft along the west +edge of the Bagumbayan. + +Now one-half of that vista was shut off by the massive door, the other +was unobscured, but even as with beating heart, still as a trembling +mouse, she sat and gazed, something glided slowly, stealthily, +noiselessly between her and those betraying lights, something dark, dim, +and human, for the shape was that of a man, a native, as she knew by the +stiffly brushed-up hair above the forehead, the loosely falling shirt--a +native taller than any of their household servants--a native whose +movements were so utterly without sound that Maidie realized on the +instant that here was one of Manila's famous veranda-climbing +house-thieves, and her first thought was for her revolver. She had left +it, totally forgotten, on the little table on the outer gallery. + +Even though still weak from her long and serious illness, the brave, +army-bred girl was conscious of no sentiment of fear. To cry out was +sure to bring about the instant escape of the intruder, whereas to +capture him and prevent his getting away with such valuables as he had +probably already laid hands on became instantly her whole ambition. The +side windows were closed by the sliding blinds. Even if he leaped from +them it would be into a narrow court shut in by a ten-foot, spike-topped +stone wall. He had chosen the veranda climber's favorite hour, that +which found the family at dinner on the back gallery, and the quiet +streets well-nigh deserted save by his own skilled and trusted "pals," +from whose shoulders he had easily swung himself to the overhanging +structure at the front. He would doubtless retire that way the moment he +had stowed beneath his loose, flapping _ropas_ such items as he deemed +of marketable value. + +He was even now stealthily moving across the floor to where her +dressing-table stood between the westward windows. The man must have the +eyes of a cat to see in the dark, or else personal and previous +knowledge of the premises. If she could only slip as noiselessly out by +the foot of the bed, interpose between him and the door and that one +wide-open window, then scream for help and grab him as he sprang, she +might hope to hold him a second or two, and then Brent and Dr. Frank +would be upon him. + +All her trembling was from excitement: she knew no thought of fear. But +strong and steady hands were needed, not the fever-shattered members +only just beginning to regain their normal tone. She slid from +underneath the soft, light coverlet without a sound. The sturdy yet +elastic bottom of platted cane never creaked or complained. She softly +pushed outward the fine mosquito netting, gathered her dainty night-robe +closely about her slender form, and the next minute her little bare feet +were on the polished, hard-wood floor, the massive door barely five +short steps away. She cautiously lifted the netting till it cleared her +head, and then, crouching low, moved warily towards the dim, vertical +slit that told of subdued light in the salon. + +There was no creak to those thick, black-wood planks with which Manila +mansions are floored. Her outstretched hand had almost reached the knob +when her knee collided with a light bamboo bedroom chair. There was +instant bamboo rasp and protest, followed by instant vigorous spring +across the room, and instant piercing scream from Maidie's lips. + +Something dusky white shot before her eyes, something inky black and +dusky white was snatched at and seized by those nervous, slender, but +determined little hands. Something dropped with clash and clatter on the +resounding floor. Something ripped and tore as an agile, slippery, +squirming form bounded from her grasp over the casement to the veranda, +over the sill into the street, and when Brent and the doctor and the +women-folk came rushing in and lamps were brought and Brent went +shouting to sentries up and down the San Luis and shots were heard +around the nearest corner, Maid Marion, Second, was found crouching upon +the cane-bottomed chair that had baffled her plans, half-laughing, +half-crying with vexation, but firmly grasping in one hand a tuft of +coarse, straight black hair, and in the other a section of Filipino +shirt the size of a lady's kerchief--all she had to show of her +predatory visitor and to account for the unseemly disturbance they had +made. + +"Just to think--just to think!" exclaimed Mrs. Brent, with clasping +hands, "that this time, when you might most have needed it, Mr. +Stuyvesant should have gone off with your pistol!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +But there was little merriment when, five minutes later, the household +had taken account of stock and realized the extent of their losses. + +Maidie's had evidently been the last room visited. The dressing-table +and wardrobe of the opposite chamber--that occupied by Colonel and Mrs. +Brent--had been ransacked. The colonel's watch and chain,--too bulky, he +said, to be worn at dinner in white uniform,--his Loyal Legion and Army +of the Potomac insignia, and some prized though not expensive trinkets +of his good wife were gone. Miss Porter's little purse with her modest +savings and a brooch that had been her mother's were missing. And with +these items the skilled practitioner had made good his escape. + +On the floor, just under the window in Maidie's room, lay a keen, +double-edged knife. The stumps of two or three matches found in the +colonel's apartment and others in Miss Porter's showed that the thief +had not feared to make sufficient light for his purpose, and from the +floor of Marion's room, close to the bureau, just where it had been +dropped when the prowler was alarmed, Miss Porter picked up one of the +old-fashioned "phosphors" that ignite noiselessly and burn with but a +tiny flame. + +Marion's porte-monnaie was in the upper drawer, untouched, and such +jewelry as she owned, save two precious rings she always wore, was +stored in her father's safe deposit box in the bank at home. The colonel +was really the greatest loser and declared it served him right, both +provost-marshal and chief of police having warned him to leave nothing +"lying around loose." + +At sound of the shots on the Calle Nueva, Brent had sallied forth, and, +rushing impetuously into the dimly lighted thoroughfare, had narrowly +missed losing the top of his head as well as his watch, an excited +sentry sending a bullet whizzing into space by way of the colonel's pith +helmet, which prompted the doctor to say in his placid and most +effective way that more heads had been lost that night than valuables, +and one bad shot begat another. + +Sentries down towards the barracks, hearing the three or four quick +reports, bethought them of the time-honored instructions prescribing +that in case of a blaze, which he could not personally extinguish, the +sentry should "shout 'Fire!' discharge his piece, and add the number of +his post." Sagely reasoning that nothing but a fire could start such a +row, or at least that there was sufficient excuse to warrant their +having some fun of their own to enliven the dull hours of the night, +Numbers 7 and 8 touched off their triggers and yelled "Fire;" 5 and 6, +nearer home, followed suit, and in two minutes the bugles were blowing +the alarm all over Ermita and Malate, and rollicking young regulars and +volunteers by the hundred were tumbling out into the street, all +eagerness and rejoicing at the prospect of having a lark with the +_Bomberos_, the funny little Manila firemen with their funnier little +squirts on wheels. + +It was fully half an hour before the officers could "locate" the origin +of the alarm and order their companies back to bed, an order most +reluctantly obeyed, for by that time the nearest native fire-company was +aroused and on the way to the scene. Others could be expected in the +course of the night, and the Manila fire department was something that +afforded the Yankee soldier unspeakable joy. He hated to lose such an +opportunity. + +But for all his professional calm, Dr. Frank was by no means pleased +with the excitement attending this episode. For an hour or more officers +from all over the neighborhood gathered in front of Brent's and had to +be told the particulars, "Billy Ray's daughter" being pronounced the +heroine everybody expected her to be, while that young lady herself, now +that the affair could be called closed, was in a condition bordering on +the electric. "Overwrought and nervous," said Miss Porter, "but laughing +at the whole business." + +What Frank thought he didn't say, but he cut short Sandy's visit to his +sister, and suggested that he go down and tell the assemblage under the +front gallery that they would better return to whist--or whatever game +was in progress when the alarm was given. The colonel could not invite +them in as matters stood, and they slowly dispersed, leaving only a +senior or two and Lieutenant Stuyvesant to question further, for +Stuyvesant, coming from afar and arriving late, was full of anxiety and +concern. + +Despite his temporary escape, circumstances and the civil authorities +(now become decidedly military) had thrown him into still further +association with the woman whom he would so gladly have shunned--the +importunate Miss Perkins. He had taken a turn round the block--and +refuge in the English Club--until he thought her disposed of at home and +his carriage returned. He had come across the little equipage, trundling +slowly up and down the street in search of him, had dined without +appetite and smoked without relish, striving to forget that odious +woman's hints and aspersions, aimed evidently at the Rays, and had gone +to his own room to write when a corporal appeared with the request from +the captain in charge of the police guard of Ermita to step down to the +office. + +It was much after nine then and the excitement caused by the alarm was +about over, the troops going back to barracks and presumably to bed. The +captain apologized for calling on him that late in the evening, but told +him a man recognized as Murray, deserter from the cavalry, was secreted +somewhere in the neighborhood, and it was reported that he, Stuyvesant, +could give valuable information concerning him. Stuyvesant could and +did, and in the midst of it in came Miss Perkins, flushed, eager, and +demanding to know if that villain was yet caught--"and if not, why not?" + +Then she caught sight of Stuyvesant and precipitated herself upon him. +That man Murray had hatefully deceived her and imposed upon her +goodness, she declared. She had done _everything_ to help him at the +Presidio, and he had promised her a paper signed by all the boys asking +that the P. D. A.'s be recognized as the organization the soldiers +favored, and showed her a petition he had drawn up and was getting +signatures to by the hundreds. That paper would have insured their being +recognized by the government instead of those purse-proud Red Cross +people, and then he had wickedly deserted, after--after--and Stuyvesant +could scarcely keep a straight face--getting fifty dollars from her and +a ring that he was going to wear always until he came back from +Manila--an officer. Oh, he was a smart one, a smooth one! All that +inside of three days after he got to the Presidio, and then was +arrested, and then, next thing she knew, he had fled,--petition, money, +ring, and all. + +Another soldier told her the signatures were bogus. And that very night +she recognized him, spite of his beard, and at sight of her he had cut +and run. ("Well he might!" thought Stuyvesant.) And then Miss Perkins +yielded to the strain of overtaxed nerves and had to be conducted home. + +She lived but a block or two away, and it was Stuyvesant who had to play +escort. The air, unluckily, revived her, and at the gateway she turned +and had this to add to her previous statements. + +"You think the Ray people your friends, lieutenant, and I'm not the kind +of a woman to see a worthy young man trifled with. You've been going +there every day and everybody knows it, and knows that you were sent +away to Iloilo in hopes of breaking you of it. That girl's promised in +marriage to that young man who's got himself into such a scrape all on +her account. He's here--followed her here to marry her, and if he's +found he's liable to be shot. Oh, you can believe or not just as you +please, but never say I didn't try to give you fair warning. Know? Why, +I know much more about what's going on here than your generals do. _I_ +have friends everywhere among the boys; _they_ haven't. Oh, very well, +if you won't listen!" (For Stuyvesant had turned away in wrath and +exasperation.) "But you'd be wiser if you heard me out. I've _seen_ Mr. +Foster and had the whole story from his lips. He's been there every day, +too, till he was taken sick----" + +But Stuyvesant was out of the gate and at last out of hearing, and with +a vicious bang to the door, the lady of the P. D. A.'s, so recently +victimized by the astute Sackett, retired to the sanctity of her own +apartment, marvelling at the infatuation of men. + +And yet, though Stuyvesant had angrily striven to silence the woman and +had left her in disgust, her words had not failed of certain weight. +Again he recalled with jealous pain the obvious indifference with which +his approaches had been received. True, no well-bred girl would be more +than conventionally civil to a stranger even under the exceptional +circumstances of their meeting on the train. True, she was cordial, +bright, winsome, and all that when at last he was formally presented; +but so she was to everybody. True, they had had many--at least _he_ +had had many--delightful long interviews on the shaded deck of the +Sacramento; but though he would have eagerly welcomed a chance to +indulge in sentiment, never once did Marion encourage such a move. On +the contrary, he recalled with something akin to bitterness that when +his voice or words betrayed a tendency towards such a lapse, she became +instantly and palpably most conventional. + +Now, in the light of all he had heard from various sources, what could +he believe but that she was interested, to say the least, in that other +man? Well and miserably he recalled the words of Farquhar, who had +served some years at the same station with the Rays: "She's the bonniest +little army girl I know, and her head's as level as it is pretty--except +on one point. She's her father's daughter and wrapped up in the army. +She's always said she'd marry only a soldier. But Maidie's getting +wisdom with years, I fancy. Young Foster will be a rich man in spite of +himself, for he'll have his mother's fortune, and he's heels over head +in love with her." + +"But I understood," interposed the general, with a quick glance at +Stuyvesant, who had risen as though to get another cigar, "that Ray +didn't exactly approve of him." + +"Oh, Ray didn't seem to have any special objection to Foster unless it +was that he neglected his business to lay siege to her. Foster's a +gentleman, has no bad habits, and is the very man nine women out of ten +would rejoice in for a husband, and ninety-nine out of ten, if that were +a mathematical possibility, would delight in as a son-in-law. He isn't +brilliant--buttons would have supplied the lack had he been in the +cavalry. I dare say he'll be ass enough to go in for a commission now +and sell out his ranch for a song. Then, she'd probably take him." + +And then, too, as he strolled thoughtfully up the street, still dimly +lighted by the waning moon and dotted at long intervals by tiny electric +fires, Stuyvesant went over in mind other little things that had come to +his ears, for many men were of a mind with regard to Billy Ray's +daughter, and the young officer found himself vaguely weighing the +reasons why he should now cease to play the moth,--why he should be +winging his flight away from the flame and utterly ignoring the fact +that his feet, as though from force of habit, were bearing him steadily +towards it. The snap and ring of a bayoneted rifle coming to the charge, +the stern voice of a sentry at the crossing of the Calle Faura, brought +him to his senses. + +"Halt! Who is there?" + +"Staff officer, First Division," was the prompt reply, as Stuyvesant +looked up in surprise. + +"Advance, staff officer, and be recognized," came the response from a +tall form in blue, and the even taller white figure stepped forward and +stood face to face with the guardian of the night. + +"I am Lieutenant Stuyvesant, aide-de-camp to General Vinton," explained +the challenged officer, noticing for the first time a little column of +dusky men in heavy leathern helmets and belts shuffling away towards the +Jesuit College with an old-fashioned diminutive "goose-neck" village +engine trailing at their heels. + +"Been a fire, sentry?" he asked. "Where was it?" + +"Up at Colonel Brent's, sir, I believe. His house fronts the +parade-ground. One moment, please! Lieutenant _Who_, sir? The officer +of the guard orders us to account for every officer by name." And +Stuyvesant, who, in instant alarm, had impulsively started, was again +recalled to himself, and, hastily turning back, spoke aloud: + +"Stuyvesant my name is. I'll give it at the guard-house as I pass." + +Once more he whirled about, his heart throbbing with anxiety. Once +more he would have hurried on his way to the Calle San Luis. A fire +there! and she, Marion, still so weak!--exhausted, possibly, by the +excitement--or distress--or whatever it was that resulted from Brent's +sudden presentation of that _carte-de-visite_. He would fly to her at +once! + +For a third time the sentry spoke, and spoke in no faltering tone. He +was an American. He was wearing the rough garb of the private soldier in +the ranks of the regulars, but, like scores of other eager young +patriots that year, he held the diploma of a great, albeit a foreign, +university. He had education, intelligence, and assured social position +to back the training and discipline of the soldier. He knew his rights +as well as his duties, and that every officer in the service, no matter +how high, from commanding general down, was by regulation enjoined to +show respect to sentries, and this tall, handsome young swell, with a +name that sounded utterly unfamiliar to California ears, was in most +unaccountable hurry, and spoke as though he, the sentry, were exceeding +his powers in demanding his name. It put Private Thinking Bayonets on +his mettle. + +"Halt, sir," said he. "My orders are imperative. You'll have to spell +that name." + +In the nervous anxiety to which Stuyvesant was a prey, the sentry's +manner irritated him. It smacked at first of undue, unnecessary +authority, yet the soldier in him put the unworthy thought to shame, +and, struggling against his impatience, yet most unwillingly, Stuyvesant +obediently turned. He had shouldered a musket in a splendid regiment of +citizen soldiery whose pride it was that no regular army inspector could +pick flaws in their performance of guard and sentry duty. He had brought +to the point of his bayonet, time and again, officers far higher in rank +than that which he now held. He knew that, whether necessary or not, the +sentry's demand was within his rights, and there was no course for him +but compliance. He hastened back, and, controlling his voice as much as +possible, began: + +"You're right, sentry! S-t-u-y"--when through a gate-way across the +street north of the Faura came swinging into sight a little squad of +armed men. + +Again the sentry's challenge, sharp, clear, resonant, rang on the still +night air. Three soldiers halted in their tracks, the fourth, with the +white chevrons of a corporal on his sleeves, came bounding across the +street without waiting for a demand to advance for recognition. + +"Same old patrol, Billy," he called, as he neared them. "On the way back +to the guard-house." Then, seeing the straps on the officer's shoulders, +respectfully saluted. "Couldn't find a trace outside. Keep sharp +lookout, Number 6," he added, and turning hurriedly back to his patrol, +started with them up the street in the direction Stuyvesant was longing +to go. + +"Sorry to detain you, sir, and beg pardon for letting him run up on us +in that way. We've got extra orders to-night. There's a queer set, +mostly natives, in that second house yonder" (and he pointed to a +substantial two-story building about thirty paces from the corner). +"They got in there while the fire excitement was on. Twice I've seen +them peeking out from that door. That's why I dare not leave here and +chase after you--after the lieutenant. Now, may I have the name again, +sir." + +And at last, without interruption, Stuyvesant spelled and pronounced the +revered old Dutch patronymic. At last he was able to go unhindered, and +now, overcome by anxiety, eagerness, and dread, he hardly knew what, he +broke into fleet-footed, rapid run, much to the surprise of the staid +patrol which he overtook trudging along on the opposite side of the +street, two blocks away, and never halted until again brought up +standing by a sentry at the San Luis. + +Ten minutes later, while still listening to Brent's oft-repeated tale of +the theft, and still quivering a little from excitement, Stuyvesant +heard another sound, the rapid, rhythmic beat of dancing footsteps. + +"Hullo!" interrupted one of the lingering officers. "Another fire +company coming? It's about time more began to arrive, isn't it?" + +"It's a patrol--and on the jump, too! What's up, I wonder?" answered +Brent, spinning about to face towards the Calle Real. There was an +officer with this patrol,--an officer who in his eagerness could barely +abide the sentry's challenge. + +"Officer of the guard--with patrol," he cried, adding instantly, as he +darted into view. "Sentry, which--which way did that officer go? Tall +young officer--in white uniform!" + +In surprise, the sentry nodded towards the speechless group standing in +front of Brent's, and to them came the boy lieutenant, panting and in +manifest excitement. "I beg pardon, colonel," he began, "our sentry, +Number 6, was found a minute ago--shot dead--down on the Padre Faura. My +men said they saw an officer running from the spot, running this way, +and this gentleman--Mr. Stuyvesant, isn't it?" + +There was an awed silence, an awkward pause. "I certainly was there not +long ago," spoke Stuyvesant, presently. "And Number 6, your sentry, was +then all right. I certainly came running----" + +"That's all I can hear," was the sharp interruption. "My orders are to +arrest you. You're my prisoner, Mr. Stuyvesant," gasped the lad. + +"Preposterous!" said Dr. Frank a few minutes later when told by an +awe-stricken group what had occurred. + +"Preposterous say I!" echoed Brent. "And yet, see here----Oh, of course, +you know Major MacNeil, field officer of the day," he added, indicating +a tall, thin-faced, gray-mustached officer of regulars who had but just +arrived, and who now held forth a gleaming revolver with the words, "I +picked this up myself--not ten yards from where he lay." + +It was Marion's. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +A solemn assemblage was that at the Ermita quarters of the provost-guard +the following day. Officers of rank and soldiers from the ranks, in +rusty blue, in gleaming white, in dingy Khaki rubbed shoulders and +elbows in the crowded courtyard. + +In the presence of death the American remembers that men are born equal, +and forgets the ceremonious observance of military courtesies. All +voices were lowered, all discussion hushed. There was a spontaneous +movement when the division commander entered, and all made way for him +without a word, but sturdily stood the rank and file and held their +ground against all others, for the preliminary examination, as it might +be called, was to take place at ten o'clock. + +The dead man was of their own grade, and an ugly story had gone like +wildfire through the barracks and quarters that his slayer was a +commissioned officer, an aide-de-camp of the general himself, a scion of +a distinguished and wealthy family of the greatest city of America, and +all official influence, presumably, would be enlisted in his behalf. +Therefore, silent, yet determined, were they present in strong force, +not in disrespect, not in defiance, but with that calm yet indomitable +resolution to see for themselves that justice was done, that soldiers of +no other than the Anglo-Saxon race could ever imitate, or that officers, +not American, could ever understand, appreciate, and even tacitly +approve. + +The dead man had died instantly, not in the flush and glory of battle, +but in the lonely, yet most honorable, discharge of the sacred duty of +the sentinel. Murder most foul was his, and had he been well-nigh a +pariah among them,--a man set apart from his kind,--the impulse of his +fellow-soldiers would have been to see to it that his death at such a +time and on such a duty went not unavenged. As it was, the man who lay +there, already stiff and cold, was known among them as one of the +bravest, brightest spirits of their whole array, a lad of birth probably +more gentle than that of many an officer, of gifts of mind and character +superior to those of not a few superiors, a fellow who had won their +fellowship as easily as he had learned the duties of the soldier. + +A whole battalion in the regulars and dozens of gallant boys in the +Idahos and North Dakotas knew Billy Benton and had been full of sympathy +when he was picked up one night some three weeks previous, his head laid +open by a powerful blow from some blunt instrument, bleeding and +senseless. Even when released from hospital a fortnight later he was +dazed and queer, was twice reported out of quarters over night and +absent from roll-call, but was forgiven because of "previous character," +and the belief that he was really not responsible for these soldier +solecisms. + +One thing seemed to worry him, and that was, as he admitted, that he had +been robbed of some papers that he valued. But he soon seemed "all right +again," said his fellows, at least to the extent of resuming duty, and +when, clean-shaved and in his best attire, he marched on guard that glad +October morning, they were betting on him for the first chevrons and +speedy commission. + +All that his few intimates, the one or two who claimed to know him, +could be induced to admit was that his real name was not Benton, and +that he had enlisted utterly against the wishes of his kindred. And so, +regulars and volunteers alike, they thronged the open _patio_ and all +approaches thereto, and no officer would now suggest that that court +be cleared. It was best that "Thinking Bayonets" should be there to hear +and see for himself. + +"No, indeed, don't do anything of the kind," said the general promptly +when asked half-hesitatingly by the captain of the guard whether he +preferred to exclude the men. And in this unusual presence the brief, +straightforward examination went on. + +First to tell his tale was the corporal of the second relief. He had +posted his men between 8.30 and 8.45, Private Benton on Number 6 at the +corner of the Calle Real and Padre Faura. That post had been chosen for +him as being not very far away from that of the guard, as the young +"feller" had not entirely recovered his strength, and the officer of the +day had expressed some regret at his having so soon attempted to resume +duty, but Benton had laughingly said that he was "all right" and he +didn't mean to have other men doing sentry go for him. + +"Soon after nine," said the corporal, "I went round warning all the +sentries to look out for the tall Filipino and short, squat American, as +directed by the officer of the guard. The officer of the guard himself +went round about that time personally cautioning the sentries. There was +a good deal of fun and excitement just then down the street. Number 9 in +the Calle Nueve had shot twice at some fleeing natives who nearly upset +him as they dashed round the corner from the Bagumbayan, and he had +later mistaken Colonel Brent in his white suit for a Filipino and +nervously fired. Numbers 7 and 8 in the side streets mistook the +shooting for fire alarm, and Private Benton repeated, in accordance with +his orders, but when I (the corporal) saw him he was laughing to kill +himself over the Manila fire department." + +Benton didn't seem much impressed at first about the thief and the +deserter, but towards 9.45, when the corporal again visited his post and +the streets were getting quiet, Benton said there were some natives in +the second house across the way whose movements puzzled him. They kept +coming to the front door and windows and peeping out at him. A patrol +came along just then, searching alleyways and yards, and they looked +about the premises, while he, Corporal Scott, started west on the Faura +to warn Number 4, who was over towards the beach, and while there Major +MacNeil, the field officer of the day, came along, and after making +inquiries as to what Number 4 had seen and heard and asking him his +orders, he turned back to the Faura, Corporal Scott following. + +One block west of the Calle Real the major stopped as though to listen +to some sound he seemed to have heard in the dark street running +parallel with the Real, and then stepped into it as though to examine, +so Scott followed, and almost instantly they heard a muffled report +"like a pistol inside a blanket," and hastening round into the Faura +they found Benton lying on his face in the middle of the street, just at +the corner of the Calle Real, stone dead. His rifle they found in the +gutter not twenty feet from him. + +Scott ran at once to the guard-house three blocks away and gave the +alarm. Then the patrol said that a tall officer, running full speed, had +passed them, and here the provost-marshal interposed with-- + +"Never mind what the patrol said. Just tell what you--the witness--did +next." + +Scott continued that he and others with the lieutenant, officer of the +guard, ran back to Number 6's post, and there stood the major with the +pistol. + +"When we asked should we search the yards and alleys the major nodded, +but the moment he heard the men telling about the running officer he +gave the lieutenant orders----" + +And again the provost-marshal said "Never mind," the major would +describe all that. + +And the major did. He corroborated what Corporal Scott had said, and +then went on with what happened after Scott was sent to alarm the guard. +Barring some opening of shutters and peering out on the part of natives +anxious to know the cause of the trouble, there was no further +demonstration until Scott and others came running back. But meanwhile +something gleaming in the roadway--the Calle Real--about fifteen paces +from the corner and up the street--to the north towards the +Bagumbayan--and close to the sidewalk attracted his attention. + +He stepped thither and picked up--this revolver. By the electric light +at the corner he saw that one chamber was empty. When the guard came on +the run and he heard of the tall officer fleeing up towards the +Bagumbayan, the direction in which the pistol lay, he sent Mr. +Wharton--Lieutenant Wharton--with a patrol in pursuit. + +The inscription on the pistol revealed its ownership and cast certain +suspicions that warranted his action, he believed, in ordering the +instant arrest of the officer if found. + +Major MacNeil went on to say he "had not yet made the acquaintance of +Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and did not actually know when he gave the order +that it _was_ Lieutenant Stuyvesant who ran up the street"--and here the +major was evidently in a painful position, but faced his duty like a man +and told his story without passion or prejudice, despite the fact that +he declared the murdered man to be one of the very best young fellows in +his battalion, and that he was naturally shocked and angered at his +death. + +Then the name of Private Reilly was called, and a keen-featured little +Irishman stepped forward. It was one of the patrol. Corporal Stamford, +first relief, was in charge of it. They had been hunting as far over as +the "Knows-a-lady," and on coming back Number 6 told them of some +natives at the second house. Corporal Stamford posted him, Reilly, in +the first yard near the street to head off any that tried to run out +that way, in case they stirred up a mare's nest, and took the other +"fellers" and went round by the front. Nothing came of it, but while +they were beating up the yards and enclosures Reilly heard Benton +challenge, and saw a tall officer come up to be recognized. They had +some words,--the officer and the sentry,--he couldn't tell what, but the +officer spoke excited like, and all of a sudden jumped away and started +as though to run, and Number 6 "hollered" after him, though Reilly +didn't clearly understand what was said. "At all events he made him come +back, and it----" Here Reilly seemed greatly embarrassed and glanced +about the room from face to face in search of help or sympathy. "It +seemed to kind of rile the officer. He acted like he wasn't going to +come back first off, and then the corporal came along with the patrol +and the officer had to wait while Stamford was recognized, and the boys +was sayin' Billy had a right to stand the corporal off until the +lieutenant said advance him. And we was laughin' about it and sayin' +Billy wasn't the boy to make any mistake about his orders, when we heard +the lieutenant come a-runnin' swift down t'other side the street and +then saw him scootin' it for the open p'rade." + +Did the witness recognize the officer?--did he see him plainly? + +"Yes, the electric light was burnin' at the corner, and he'd seen him +several times driving by the 'barks.'" + +Was the officer present?--now? + +"Yes," and Reilly's face reddened to meet the hue of his hair. + +Reluctantly, awkwardly, pathetically almost, for in no wise did +identification, as it happened, depend on his evidence, the little Irish +lad turned till his eyes met those of Stuyvesant, sitting pale, calm, +and collected by his general's side, and while the eyes of all men +followed those of Reilly they saw that, so far from showing resentment +or dismay, the young gentleman bowed gravely, reassuringly, as though he +would have the witness know his testimony was exactly what it should be +and that no blame or reproach attached to him for the telling of what he +had seen. + +Then Dr. Frank was called, and he gave his brief testimony calmly and +clearly. It was mainly about the pistol. He recognized it as one he had +seen and examined the previous afternoon at Colonel Brent's quarters on +the San Luis. It was lying on a little table in the front veranda. He +had closely examined it--could not be mistaken about it, and when he +left it was still lying on that table. Who were present when he left? +"Other than the immediate family, only Lieutenant Stuyvesant." Had he +again visited the colonel's that evening? He had. He returned an hour or +so later to dine. The ladies had then left their seats in the veranda, +and he noticed that the pistol was no longer on the table; presumed Miss +Ray had taken it with her to her room and thought no more about it. As +indicated by the inscription, the pistol was her property. + +Then Lieutenant Ray was called, but there was no response. In low tone +the assistant provost-marshal explained that the orderly sent to Paco +with message for Lieutenant Ray returned with the reply that Mr. Ray had +two days' leave and was somewhere up-town. He as yet had not been found. + +A young officer of artillery volunteered the information that late the +previous evening, somewhere about ten, Mr. Ray had called at the Cuartel +de Meysic, far over on the north side. He was most anxious to find a +soldier named Connelly, who, he said, was at the Presidio at the time +the lieutenant's quarters were entered and robbed, and Lieutenant +Abercrombie had taken Mr. Ray off in search of the soldier. + +Ray not appearing, the examination of Assistant Surgeon Brick began. +Brick was the first medical officer to reach the scene of the murder. +Benton was then stone dead, and brief examination showed the hole of a +bullet of large calibre--probably pistol, 44--right over the heart. The +coarse blue uniform shirt and the fine undergarment of Lisle thread +showed by burn and powder-stain that the pistol had been close to or +even against the breast of the deceased. The bullet was lodged, he +believed, under the shoulder-blade, but no post-mortem had yet been +permitted, a circumstance the doctor referred to regretfully, and it was +merely his opinion, based on purely superficial examination, that death +was instantaneous, the result of the gunshot wound referred to. Dr. +Brick further gave it as his professional opinion that post-mortem +should be no longer delayed. + +And then at last came Stuyvesant's turn to speak for himself, and in +dead silence all men present faced him and listened with bated breath to +his brief, sorrowful words. + +He was the officer halted by the sentry on Number 6 and called upon to +come back. The sentry did not catch his name and had to have it spelled. +He frankly admitted his impatience, but denied all anger at the enforced +detention. The information about the fire at Colonel Brent's had caused +him anxiety and alarm, and as soon as released by the sentry he had run, +had passed the patrol on the run, but there had been no altercation, no +misunderstanding even. The sentry had carried out his orders in a +soldierly way that compelled the admiration of the witness, and before +leaving him Stuyvesant had told him that he had done exactly right. The +news that the sentry was found dead five minutes thereafter was a shock. +Lieutenant Stuyvesant declared he carried no fire-arms whatever that +night and was utterly innocent of the sentry's death. He recognized, he +said, the revolver exhibited by Major MacNeil. He did not hesitate to +admit that he had seen and examined it late the previous afternoon at +the quarters of Colonel Brent, that he had actually put it in his +trousers pocket not two minutes before he left the house to go in search +of Lieutenant Ray, but he solemnly declared that as he left the veranda +he placed the pistol on a little table just to the right of the broad +entrance to the salon, within that apartment, and never saw it again +until it was produced here. + +Frank, candid, "open and aboveboard" as was the manner of the witness, +it did not fail to banish in great measure the feeling of antagonism +that had first existed against him in the crowded throng. But in the +cold logic of the law and the chain of circumstantial evidence they +plainly saw that every statement, even that of Stuyvesant himself, bore +heavily against him. A lawyer, had he been represented by counsel, would +have permitted no such admissions as he had made. A gentleman, +unschooled in the law, preferred the frank admission to the distress of +seeing Mrs. Brent--and perhaps others--called into that presence to +testify to his having had the pistol with him when he left the gallery. + +Brent in his bewilderment had blurted out his wife's words in the +hearing of the provost-marshal's people late the night before, and he +and his household were yet to be called, and when called would have to +say that though they passed and possibly repassed through the salon +between the moment of Stuyvesant's departure and that of their going out +to dinner, not one of their number noticed even so bright and gleaming +an object as Maidie's revolver. True, the lights were not brilliant in +the salon. True, the little table stood back against the wall five or +six feet from the door-way. Still, that pistol was a prominent object, +and a man must have been in extraordinary haste indeed to leave a loaded +weapon "lying round loose" in the hall. + +That was the way "Thinking Bayonets" argued it, and soldiers by the +score crowding the sidewalk and entrance and unable to force their way +in, or even to make room for a most importunate female struggling on the +outskirts, hung on the words of an orderly who, despatched in further +search of Lieutenant Ray, was forcing a way out. + +"How is it going?" said he. "Why, that young feller's just as good as +hanging himself. He admits having had the pistol that did the business." + +Ten minutes later a Filipino servant went to answer an imperative rap at +the panel in the massive door of No. 199 Calle San Luis. Dr. Frank had +been early to see his patient, and had enjoined upon Mrs. Brent and Miss +Porter silence as to last night's tragedy. Not until she was stronger +was Miss Ray to be allowed to know of the murder of Private Benton. "By +that time," said he, "we shall be able to clear up this--mystery--I +_hope_." + +The colonel had gone round to the police-station. Mrs. Brent, nervous +and unhappy, had just slipped out for ten seconds, as she said to Miss +Porter, to see an old army chum and friend who lived only three doors +away. Miss Porter, who had been awake hours of the night, had finally +succeeded, as she believed, in reading Maidie to sleep, and then, +stretching herself upon the bamboo couch across the room, was, the next +thing she knew, aroused by voices. + +Sandy Ray had entered so noiselessly that she had not heard, but Maidie +had evidently been expecting him. In low, earnest tone he was telling +the result of his search the night before. She heard the words: + +"Connelly is down with some kind of fever in hospital and hasn't seen or +heard anything of any one even faintly resembling Foster. Then I found +your old friend the brakeman. General Vinton has got him a good place in +the quartermaster's department, and he tells me he knows nothing, has +seen and heard nothing. Now I'm going to division head-quarters to find +Stuyvesant." + +"And then," said Miss Porter, "my heart popped up into my throat and I +sprang from the sofa." But too late. An awful, rasping voice at the +door-way stilled the soft Kentucky tones and filled the room with dread. + +"Then you've no time to lose, young man. It's high time somebody besides +me set out to help him. That other young man you call Foster lies dead +at the police-station,--killed by _your_ pistol, Miss Ray, and Mr. +Stuyvesant goes to jail for it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +In so far as human foresight could provide against the cabling to the +States of tremendous tales that had little or no foundation, the +commanding general had been most vigilant. The censorship established +over the despatches of the correspondents had nipped many a sensation in +the bud and insured to thousands of interested readers at home far more +truthful reports of the situation at Manila than would have been the +case had the press been given full swing. + +Yet with Hong-Kong only sixty hours away, there was nothing to prevent +their writing to and wiring from that cosmopolitan port, and here, at +least, was a story that would set the States ablaze before it could be +contradicted, and away it went, fast as the Esmeralda could speed it +across the China Sea and the wires, with it, well-nigh girdle the globe. + +A gallant young volunteer, Walter Foster of Ohio, serving in the +regulars under the assumed name of Benton, foully murdered by Lieutenant +Gerard Stuyvesant of New York! A love affair at the bottom of it all! +Rivals for the hand of a fair army girl, daughter of a distinguished +officer of the regular service! Lieutenant Stuyvesant under guard! +Terrible wrath of the soldier's comrades! Lynching threatened! Speedy +justice demanded! The maiden prostrated! Identification of the victim by +Miss Zenobia Perkins, Vice-President and Accredited Representative for +the Philippine Islands of the Society of Patriotic Daughters of America! +Army circles in Manila stirred to the bottom! etc., etc. + +Joyous reading this for friends and kindred in the far-distant States! +Admirable exhibit of journalistic enterprise! The Hong Kong papers +coming over in course of another week were full of it, and of +appropriate comment on the remarkable depravity of the American race, +and Chicago journals, notably the _Palladium_, bristled with editorial +explosions over the oft-repeated acts of outrage and brutality on part +of the American officer to the friendless private in the American ranks. + +And thousands of honest, well-meaning men and women, who had seen, year +after year, lie after lie, one stupendous story after another, +punctured, riddled, and proved a vicious and malignant slander, +swallowed this latest one whole, and marvelled that the American officer +could be the monster the paper proved him to be. + +But one woman at last and at least was happy, perched now on a pinnacle +of fame, and in the Patriotic Daughters of America as represented by +their Vice-President and Accredited Representative in the Philippines, +virtue and rectitude reigned triumphant. Zenobia Perkins was in her +glory. Of all the citizens or soldiers of the United States in and about +Manila, male or female, staff or supply, signal or hospital corps, Red +Cross or crossed cannon, rifles, or sabres, this indomitable woman was +now the most sought after--the most in demand. Her identification of the +dead man had been positive and complete. + +"I suspected instantly," she declared in presence of the assembled +throng, "when I heard Lieutenant Stuyvesant had shot a soldier, just who +it might be. I remembered the young man who disappeared from the train +before we got to Oakland. I suspected him the moment the corporal told +me about the mysterious young man trying to see Miss Ray. I had my +carriage chase right after him to the Nozaleda and caught him, +half-running, half-staggering, and I took him driving until he got +ca-amed down and told him he needn't worry any more. He was among +friends at last, and the P. D. A.'s would take care of him and guard his +secret and see him done right by. Oh, yes, I did! We weren't going to +see an innocent boy shot as a deserter when he didn't know what he was +doing. He wouldn't admit at first that he was Walter Foster at all, but +at last, when he saw I was sure it was him, he just broke right down and +as much as owned right up. He said he'd been slugged or sand-bagged +three weeks before and robbed of money and of papers of value that he +needed to help him in his trouble. He asked me what steps could be taken +to help a poor fellow accused of desertion. He didn't dare say anything +to any of the officers' cause the men he trusted at all--one or two +well-educated young fellows like himself--found out that he'd be shot if +found guilty. The only thing he could do was make a good record for +himself in the infantry, and having done that he could later on hope for +mercy. He asked a heap of questions, and I just told him to keep a stiff +upper lip and we'd see him through, and he plucked up courage and said +he believed he'd be able to have hope again;--at all events he'd go on +duty right off. When I asked him how he dared go to Colonel Brent's, +where at any time Lieutenant Ray might recognize him, he said he never +_did_ except when he knew Lieutenant Ray was out of the way. Then I +tried to get him to tell what he expected to gain by seeing Miss Ray, +and he was confused and said he was so upset all over he really didn't +know that he had been there so often. He thought if he could see her and +tell her the whole story she could have influence enough to get him out +of his scrape. He was going to tell me the whole story, but patrols and +sentries were getting too thick, and he had to get somewhere to change +his dress for roll-call, and I gave him my address and he was to come +and see me in two days, and now he's killed, and it ain't for me to say +why--or who did it." + +Benton's murder was certainly the sensation of the week in Manila, for +there were features connected with the case that made it still more +perplexing, even mysterious. + +Major Farquhar, who must have seen young Foster frequently at Fort +Averill, had been sent to survey the harbor of Iloilo and could not be +reached in time, but Dr. Frank, called in course of the day to identify +the remains, long and carefully studied the calm, waxen features of the +dead soldier, and said with earnest conviction: + +"This is undoubtedly the young man who appeared at Colonel Brent's and +whom I sought to question, but who seemed to take alarm at once and, +with some confused apology, backed away. He was dressed very neatly in +the best white drilling sack-coat and trousers as made in Manila, with a +fine straw hat and white shoes and gloves, but he had a fuzzy beard all +over his face then, and his manner was nervous and excitable. His eyes +alone showed that he was unstrung, bodily and mentally. I set him down +for a crank or some one just picking up from serious illness. The city +is full of new-comers, and as yet no one knows how many strangers have +recently come to town. I saw him only that once in a dim light, but am +positive in this identification." + +Two or three non-commissioned officers of Benton's regiment were +examined. Their stories were concise and to the point. The young soldier +had come with the recruits from San Francisco along late in August. He +was quiet, well-mannered, attended strictly to his own business, and was +eager to learn everything about his duties. They "sized him up" as a +young man of education and good family who hadn't influence enough to +get a commission and so had enlisted to win it. He had money, but no bad +habits. He helped in the office with the regimental papers, and could +have been excused from all duty and made clerk, but wouldn't be. He said +he'd help whenever they wanted him, but he didn't wish to be excused +from guard or drills or patrol or picket--said he wanted to learn all +there was in it. Even the rough fellows in the ranks couldn't help +liking him. He had a pleasant word for everybody that didn't bother him +with questions. He made one or two acquaintances, but kept mostly to +himself; never got any letters from America, but there were two from +Hong Kong, perhaps more. If he wrote letters himself, he posted them +in town. They never went with the company mail from the _cuartel_. +Everybody seemed to know that Benton wasn't his own name, but that was +nothing. The main thing queer about him was that he got a pass whenever +he could and went by himself, most generally out to Paco, where the +cavalry were, yet he said he didn't know anybody there. It was out Paco +way on the Calzada Herran, close to the corner of the Singalon road, the +patrol picked him up with his head laid open, and he'd been flighty +pretty much ever since and troubled about being robbed. Seemed all right +again, however, when reporting for duty, and perfectly sane and straight +then. + +Two very bright young soldiers, Clark and Hunter, were called in for +their statements. They, too, had enlisted in a spirit of patriotism and +desire for adventure; never knew Benton till the voyage was nearly over, +then they seemed to drift together, as it were, and kept up their +friendship after reaching Manila. Benton was not his real name, and he +was not a graduate of any American college. He had been educated abroad +and spoke French and German. No, they did not know what university he +attended. He was frank and pleasant so long as nobody tried to probe +into his past; never heard him mention Lieutenant Stuyvesant. All three +of them, Benton, Clarke, and Hunter, had observed that young officer +during the month as he drove by barracks, sometimes with the general, +sometimes alone, but they did not know his name, and nothing indicated +that Benton had any feeling against him or that he had seen him. They +admitted having conveyed the idea to comrades that they knew more about +Benton than they would tell, but it was a "bluff." Everybody was full of +speculation and curiosity, and--well, just for the fun of the thing, +they "let on," as they said, that they were in his confidence, but they +weren't, leastwise to any extent. They knew he had money, knew he went +off by himself, and warned him to keep a look out or he'd be held up and +robbed some night. + +The only thing of any importance they had to tell was that one day, just +before his misfortune, Benton was on guard and posted as sentry over the +big Krupps in the Spanish battery at the west end of the Calle San Luis. +Clarke and Hunter had a kodak between them and a consuming desire to +photograph those guns. The sentries previously posted there refused to +let them come upon the parapet,--said it was "'gainst orders." Benton +said that unless positive orders were given to him to that effect, he +would not interfere. So they got a pass on the same day and Benton +easily got that post,--men didn't usually want it, it was such a +bother,--but, unluckily, with the post Benton got the very orders they +dreaded. So when they would have made the attempt he had to say, "No." +They came away crestfallen, and stumbled on two sailor-looking men who, +from the shelter of a heavy stone revetment wall, were peering with odd +excitement of manner at Benton, who was again marching up and down his +narrow post, a very soldierly figure. + +"That young feller drove you back, did he?" inquired one of them, a +burly, thick-set, hulking man of middle height. "Puttin' on considerable +airs, ain't he? What's he belong to?" + +"--th Infantry," answered Clarke shortly, not liking the stranger's +looks, words, or manner, and then pushed on; but the stranger followed, +out of sight of the sentry now, and wanted to continue the conversation. + +"Sure he ain't in the cavalry?" asked the same man. + +"Cocksure!" was the blunt reply. "What's it to you, anyhow?" + +"Oh, nothin'; thought I'd seen him before. Know his name?" + +"Name's Benton, far as I know. Come on, Hunter," said Clarke, obviously +unwilling to stay longer in such society, and little more was thought of +it for the time being; but now the provost-marshal's assistant wished +further particulars. Was there anything unusual about the questioner's +teeth? And a hundred men looked up in surprise and suddenly rearoused +interest. + +"Yes, sir," said Clarke, "one tooth was missing, upper jaw, next the big +eye-tooth;" and as the witness stood down the general and the +questioning officer beamed on each other and smiled. + +An adjournment was necessitated during the early afternoon. Lieutenant +Ray's statement was desired, also that of Private Connelly of the +artillery, and an effort had been made through the officers of the +cavalry at Paco to find some of the recruits who were of the detachment +now quite frequently referred to in that command as "the singed cats." +But it transpired that most of them had been assigned to troops of their +regiment not yet sent to Manila, only half the regiment being on +duty--foot duty at that--in the Philippines. The only man among them who +had travelled with Foster from Denver as far as Sacramento was the young +recruit, Mellen. He was on outpost, but would be relieved and sent to +Ermita as quickly as possible. + +Connelly, said the surgeon at the Cuartel de Meysic, was too ill to be +sent thither, unless on a matter of vital importance, and Sandy Ray, +hastening from Maidie's bedside in response to a summons, was met by the +tidings that a recess had been ordered, and that he would be sent for +again when needed. + +Everywhere in Malate, Ermita, Paco, and, for that matter, the barracks +and quarters of Manila, the astonishing story was the topic of all +tongues that day. Among the regulars by this time the tale of Foster's +devotion to Maidie Ray was well known, while that of Stuyvesant's later +but assiduous courtship was rapidly spreading. + +Men spoke in murmurs and with sombre faces, and strove to talk lightly +on other themes, but the tragedy, with all the honored names it +involved, weighed heavily upon them. Stuyvesant came to them, to be +sure, a total stranger, but Vinton had long known him, and that was +enough. His name, his lineage, his high position socially, all united to +throw discredit on the grave suspicion that attached to him. Yet, here +they were, brought face to face, rivals for the hand of as lovely a girl +as the army ever knew. It was even possible that Foster was the +aggressor. Reilly's reluctant words gave proof that discussion of some +kind had occurred, and Stuyvesant broke away and was apparently wrathful +at being compelled to go back; then more words, longer detention; then a +swift-running form, Stuyvesant's, away from the scene; then the fatal +pistol; and against this chain of circumstances only the unsupported +statement of the accused that he left that revolver on the table in the +salon, left it where it was never afterwards seen. No wonder men shook +their heads. + +It was three in the afternoon when the examination was resumed. +Meantime, from all over Manila came the correspondents, burning with +zeal and impatience, for the Esmeralda was scheduled to leave at five, +and a stony-hearted censor at the Ayuntamiento had turned down whole +pages of thrilling "copy" that would cost three dollars a word to send +to the States, but sell for thirty times as much when it got there. + +"Despite the positive identification of the remains," wrote one inspired +journalist, "by such an unimpeachable and intelligent woman as Zenobia +Perkins, who attended the murdered lad after he was so severely burned +upon the train,--despite the equally positive recognition by that +eminent and distinguished surgeon, Dr. Frank, this military satrap and +censor dares to say that not until the identity of the deceased is +established to the satisfaction of the military authorities will the +report be cabled. How long will the people of America submit to such +tyrannical dictation?" + +When the provost-marshal himself, with his assistants and Vinton and +Stuyvesant, returned at three and found Zenobia the vortex of a storm of +questioners, the centre of a circle of rapid-writing scribes, these +latter could have sworn--did swear, some of them--that, far from +expediting matters in order that a full report might be sent by the +Esmeralda, the officials showed a provoking and exasperating disposition +to prolong and delay them. + +And even at this time and at this distance, with all his regard, +personal and professional, for the official referred to, the present +chronicler is unable entirely to refute the allegation. + +Out in the street a score of carriages and as many _quilez_ and +_carromattas_ stood waiting by the curb, and gallant Captain Taylor, of +the Esmeralda, could have added gold by the hundred to his well-earned +store would he but have promised to hold his ship until the court--not +the tide--served. But an aide of the commanding general had driven to +the ship towards two o'clock and said something to that able seaman,--no +power of the press could tell what,--and all importunity as to delaying +his departure there was but one reply,-- + +"Five sharp, and not a second later!" + +It was after three--yes, long after--that witnesses of consequence came +up for examination. Dr. Brick had got the floor and was pleading +_post-mortem_ at once. In this climate and under such conditions +decomposition would be so rapid, said he, that "by tomorrow his own +mother couldn't recognize him." But the provost-marshal drawled that he +didn't see that further mutilation would promote the possibility of +recognition, and Brick was set aside. + +It was quarter to four when young Mellen was bidden to tell whether he +knew, and what he knew of, the deceased, and all men hushed their very +breath as the lad was conducted to the blanket-shrouded form under the +overhanging gallery in the open _patio_. The hospital steward slowly +turned down the coverlet, and Mellen, well-nigh as pallid as the corpse, +was bidden to look. Look he did, long and earnestly. The little weights +that some one had placed on the eyelids were lifted; the soft hair had +been neatly brushed; the lips were gently closed; the delicate, +clear-cut features wore an expression of infinite peace and rest; and +Mellen slowly turned and, facing the official group at the neighboring +table, nodded. + +"You think you recognize the deceased?" came the question. "If so, what +was his name?" + +"I think so, yes, sir. It's Foster--at least that's what I heard it +was." + +"Had you ever known him?--to speak to?" + +"He was in the same detachment on the train. Don't know as I ever spoke +to him, sir," was the answer. + +"But you think you know him by sight? Where did you first notice him?" + +"Think it was Ogden, sir. I didn't pay much attention before that. A man +called Murray knew him and got some money from him. That's how I came to +notice him. The rest of us hadn't any to speak of." + +"Ever see him again to speak to or notice particularly after you left +Ogden? Did he sit near you?" was the somewhat caustic query. + +"No, sir, only just that once." + +"But you are sure this is the man you saw at Ogden?" + +Mellen turned uneasily, unhappily, and looked again into the still and +placid face. That meeting was on a glaring day in June. This was a +clouded afternoon in late October and nearly five months had slipped +away. Yet he had heard the solemn story of murder and had never, up to +now, imagined there could be a doubt. In mute patience the sleeping face +seemed appealing to him to speak for it, to own it, to stand between it +and the possibility of its being buried friendless, unrecognized. + +"It's--it's him or his twin brother, sir," said Mellen. + +"One question more. Had you heard before you came here who was killed?" + +"Yes, sir. They said it was Foster." + +And now, with pencils swiftly plying, several young civilians were +edging to the door. + +James Farnham was called, and a sturdy young man, with keen, +weather-beaten face, stepped into the little open space before the +table. Three fingers were gone from the hand he instinctively held up, +as though expecting to be sworn. His testimony was decidedly a +disappointment. Farnham said that he was brakeman of that train and +would know some of that squad of recruits anywhere, but this one,--well, +he remembered talking to one man at Ogden, a tall, fine-looking young +feller something very like this one. This might have been him or it +might not. He couldn't even be sure that this was one of the party. He +really didn't know. But there was a chap called Murray that he'd +remember easy enough anywhere. + +And then it was after four and the race for the Esmeralda began. It was +utterly unnecessary, said certain bystanders, to question any more +members of the guard, but the provost-marshal did, and not until 4.30 +did he deign to send for the most important witness of all, the brother +of the young girl to whom the deceased had been so devotedly attached. +They had not long to wait, for Sandy Ray happened to be almost at the +door. + +The throng seemed to take another long breath, and then to hold it as, +the few preliminaries answered, Mr. Ray was bidden to look at the face +of the deceased. Pale, composed, yet with infinite sadness of mien, the +young officer, campaign hat in hand, stepped over to the trestle, and +the steward again slowly withdrew the light covering, again exposing +that placid face. + +The afternoon sunshine was waning. The bright glare of the mid-day hours +had given place within the enclosure to the softer, almost shadowy light +of early eve. Ray had but just come in from the street without where the +slanting sunbeams bursting through the clouds beat hot upon the dazzling +walls, and his eyes had not yet become accustomed to the change. +Reverently, pityingly, he bent and looked upon the features of the dead. +An expression, first of incredulity, then of surprise, shot over his +face. + +He closed his eyes a second as though to give them strength for sterner +test, and then, bending lower, once more looked; carefully studied the +forehead, eyebrows, lashes, mouth, nose, and hair, then, straightening +up, he slowly faced the waiting room and said,-- + +"I never set eyes on this man in my life before to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +To say that Mr. Ray's abrupt announcement was a surprise to the dense +throng of listeners is putting it mildly. To say that it was received +with incredulity on part of the soldiery, and concern, if not keen +apprehension, by old friends of Sandy's father who were present, is but +a faint description of the effect of the lad's emphatic statement. + +To nine out of ten among the assembly the young officer was a total +stranger. To more than nine out of ten the identification of the dead as +Walter Foster, Maidie Ray's luckless lover, was already complete, and +many men who have made up their minds are incensed at those who dare to +differ from them. + +True, Mr. Stuyvesant had said that the sentry, Number 6, did not remind +him except in stature, form, and possibly in features, of the recruit he +knew as Foster on the train. He did not speak like him. But, when +closely questioned by the legal adviser of the provost-marshal's +department--the officer who conducted most of the examination with much +of the manner of a prosecuting attorney, Mr. Stuyvesant admitted that he +had only seen Foster once to speak to, and that was at night in the dim +light of the Sacramento station on what might be called the off-side of +the train, where the shadows were heavy, and while the face of the young +soldier was partially covered with a bandage. Yet Vinton attached +importance to his aide-de-camp's opinion, and when Ray came out +flat-footed, as it were, in support of Stuyvesant's views, the general +was visibly gratified. + +But, except for these very few, Ray had spoken to unbelieving ears. +Sternly the military lawyer took him in hand and began to probe. No need +to enter into details. In ten minutes the indignant young gentleman, who +never in his life had told a lie, found himself the target of ten score +of hostile eyes, some wrathful, some scornful, some contemptuous, some +insolent, some only derisive, but all, save those of a few silently +observant officers, threatening or at least inimical. + +Claiming first that he knew Walter Foster well (and, indeed, it seemed +to him he did, for his mother's letters to the Big Horn ranch had much +to say of Maidie's civilian admirer, though Maidie herself could rarely +be induced to speak of him), Ray was forced to admit that he had met him +only twice or thrice during a brief and hurried visit to Fort Averill to +see his loved ones before they moved to Fort Leavenworth, and then he +owned he paid but little attention to the sighing swain. Questioned as +to his opportunities of studying and observing Foster, Sandy had been +constrained to say that he hadn't observed him closely at all. He +"didn't want to--exactly." They first met, it seems, in saddle. The +winter weather was glorious at Averill. They had a fine pack of hounds; +coursing for jack-rabbit was their favorite sport, and, despite the fact +that Foster had a beautiful and speedy horse, "his seat was so poor and +his hand so jerky he never managed to get up to the front," said Sandy. + +It was not brought out in evidence, but the fact was that Sandy could +never be got to look on Foster with the faintest favor as a suitor for +his sister's hand. A fellow who could neither ride, shoot, nor +spar--whose accomplishments were solely of the carpet and perhaps the +tennis-court--the boy had no use for. He and Maidie rode as though born +to the saddle. He had seen Foster in an English riding-suit and English +saddle and an attempt at the English seat, but decidedly without the +deft English hand on his fretting hunter's mouth the one day that they +appeared in field together, and the sight was too much for Sandy. That +night at dinner, and the later dance, Foster's perfection of dress and +manner only partially redeemed him in Sandy's eyes, and--well--really, +that was about all he ever had seen of Foster. + +Questioned as to his recollection of Foster's features, stature, etc., +Sandy did his best, and only succeeded in portraying the deceased almost +to the life. Except, he said, Foster had long, thick, curving eyelashes, +and "this man hasn't"--but it was remembered that brows and lashes both +were singed off in the fire. So that point failed. Questioned as to +whether he realized that his description tallied closely with the +appearance of the deceased, Sandy said that that all might be, but still +"this isn't Foster." Questioned as to whether, if the deceased were +again to have the color and action,--the life that Foster had a year +ago,--might not the resemblance to Foster be complete?--Sandy simply +"couldn't tell." + +Nearly an hour was consumed in trying to convince him he must, or at +least might, be mistaken, but to no purpose. He mentioned a card +photograph of Foster in ranch costume that would convince the gentlemen, +he thought, that there was no such very strong resemblance, and a note +was written to Miss Porter asking her to find and send the picture in +question. It came, a cabinet photo of a tall, slender, well-built young +fellow with dark eyes and brows and thick, curving lashes and oval, +attractive face, despite its boyishness, and nine men out of ten who saw +and compared it with the face of the dead declared it looked as though +it had been taken for the latter perhaps a year or so agone. Ray had +hurt his own case, and, when excused to return to his sister's side, +went forth into the gathering twilight stricken with the consciousness +that he was believed to have lied in hopes of averting scandal from that +sister's name. + +And on the morrow with that _post-mortem_, so insisted on by Brick, no +longer delayed, the dead again lay mutely awaiting the final action of +the civil-military authorities, and to the surprise of the officers and +guards, before going to the daily routine that kept him from early morn +till late at night in his beleaguered office, Drayton came and bowed his +gray head and gazed with sombre eyes into the sleeping features now +before him. + +A pinched and tired look was coming over the waxen face that had been so +calm and placid, as though in utter weariness over this senseless delay. +Drayton had been told of young Ray's almost astounding declaration, and +officers of the law half expected him to make some adverse comment +thereon, but he did not. Alert correspondents, amazed to see the corps +commander at such a place and so far from the Ayuntamiento, surrounded +him as he would have retaken his seat in his carriage, and clamored for +something as coming from him in the way of an expression of opinion, +which, with grave courtesy, the general declined to give, but could not +prevent appearing a week later in a thousand papers and in a dozen +different forms--ferried over to Hong Kong by the Shogun or some other +ship, and cabled thence to waiting Christendom. + +Drayton had his own reasons for wishing to see the remains, then Vinton, +and later Ray, and as his movements were closely followed, the wits of +the correspondents were sorely taxed. But the examination was to be +resumed at nine. A rumor was running wild that Miss Ray herself was to +be summoned to appear, and Drayton had to be dropped in favor of a more +promising sensation. + +It began with dreary surgical technicalities. The heavy bullet had +traversed the ascending aorta "near its bifurcation," said Brick, who, +though only an autopsical adjunct, was permitted to speak for his +associates. Death, said he, had resulted from shock and was probably +instantaneous. No other cause could be attributed. No other wound was +discovered. No marks of scuffle except "some unimportant scratches" on +the shoulder. The bullet was found to weigh exactly the same as those of +the unexploded cartridges in poor Maidie's prized revolver, and though +Brick would gladly have kept the floor and told very much more, the +provost-marshal as gladly got rid of him, for, despite the unwillingness +of the medical officers at the Cuartel de Meysic, Connelly had been +trundled down to Ermita in a springy ambulance and was presently +awaiting his turn. + +The moment his coming was announced, Connelly was ushered in and Brick +shut off short. + +A nurse and doctor were with the sturdy little Irishman, and he needed +but brief instruction as to what was wanted. Taken to the trestle and +bidden to look upon the face of the deceased and say, if he could, who +it was, Connelly looked long and earnestly, and then turned feebly but +calmly to the attentive array. + +"If it wasn't that this looks much thinner," said he, "I'd say it was a +man who 'listed with our detachment at Denver last June, about the first +week. The name was Foster. He disappeared somewhere between Sacramento +and Oakland, and I never saw him again." + +Questioned as to whether there was any mark by which the recruit could +be known, Connelly said that he was present when Foster was physically +examined, and he never saw a man with a whiter skin; there wasn't a mark +on him anywhere then that he could remember. Bidden to tell what he knew +of Foster, the young artilleryman was given a seat, and somewhat feebly +proceeded. Foster was bound to enlist, he said, was of legal age and +looked it; gave his full name, his home and business; said he owned a +ranch down in New Mexico near Fort Averill; didn't know enough to go in +for a commission and was determined to enlist and serve as a private +soldier in the cavalry. He had good clothes and things that he put in a +trunk and expressed back to Averill, keeping only a valise full of +underwear, etc., but that was burned up on the car afterwards. Two days +later, before they started for the West, a man who said his name was +Murray came to the rendezvous and asked for Foster, who was then being +drilled. A detachment was to start the next day, and anybody could see +that Foster wasn't glad to welcome Murray by any means, but on that very +evening Murray said that he too wished to enlist and go with his +"friend." He squeezed through the physical examination somehow, and they +took him along, though nobody liked his looks. + +Then Connelly told what he could of the fire and of Foster's subsequent +disappearance, also of Murray and Murray's misconduct. They asked +Connelly about Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and here Connelly waxed almost +eloquent, certainly enthusiastic, in Stuyvesant's praise. Somebody went +so far, however, as to ask whether he had ever seen any manifestation of +ill-will between Stuyvesant and Recruit Foster, whereat Connelly looked +astonished, seemed to forget his fever, and to show something akin to +indignation. + +"No, indeed!" said he. There was nothing but good-will of the heartiest +kind everywhere throughout the detachment except for that one +blackguard, Murray. They all felt most grateful to the lieutenant, and +so far as he knew they'd all do most anything for him, all except +Murray, but he was a tough, he was a biter, and here the sick man feebly +uplifted his hand and pointed to the bluish-purple marks at the base of +the thumb. + +"Murray did that," said Connelly simply. "He was more like a beast than +a man." + +But the examiners did not seem interested in Murray. General Vinton, who +had again entered and was a close listener, and was observed to be +studying the witness closely, presently beckoned to one of the doctors +and said a word in undertone to him. The medico shook his head. There +was a lull in the proceedings a moment. Connelly was too sick a man to +be kept there long, and his doctor plainly showed his anxiety to get him +away. The crowd too wanted him to go. He had told nothing especially new +except that Murray and Foster were acquainted, and Murray enlisted +because Foster had. + +"Everybody" said by this time this must be Foster's body. What +"everybody" wanted was to get Connelly out of the way now, then +perhaps--_another_ fever patient might be summoned, for they couldn't +expect to keep those remains another day. There was widespread, if +unspoken, hope among the score of correspondents that the +provost-marshal would feel that he must summon Miss Ray. + +But before the examiners could decide there came an unexpected scene. +Vinton went over, bent, and whispered to the provost-marshal, who looked +up, nodded, and glanced towards the witness, sitting flushed and +heavy-eyed, but patient, across the room. Vinton was plainly asking +something, and to the manifest displeasure of many of the crowd the +little Irishman was again accosted. + +"You say Murray was a biter and bit you so that the marks last to this +day. Did you take note of any peculiarity in his teeth?" + +"Yes, sir. One of 'em was gone near the front, right-hand side, next to +the big yellow eye-tooth." + +"Would that make a peculiar mark on human flesh?" + +"Yes, sir," answered Connelly, holding up his hand again and showing the +scar, now nearly five months old. + +"Steward," said the officer placidly, "uncover the shoulder there and +let Connelly look at the mark Dr. Brick referred to." + +Connelly did. He studied the purplish discolorations in the milky skin, +and excitement, not altogether febrile, suddenly became manifest in his +hot, flushed face. Then he held forth one hand, palm uppermost, eagerly +compared the ugly scars at the base of the thumb with the faint marks on +the broad, smooth shoulder, and turned back to the darkened room. With +hand uplifted he cried: + +"Major,"--and now he was trembling with mingled weakness and +eagerness,--"I knew that man Murray was following this young feller to +squeeze money out of him, and when he couldn't get it by threats, he +tried by force. He's followed him clear to Manila, and that's his mark +sure's this is!--sure's there's a God in heaven!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +There came a time of something more than anxiety and worry for all who +knew Gerard Stuyvesant,--for those who loved Marion Ray,--and Sandy was +a sorrow-laden man. Vinton could not stand between his favorite +aide-de-camp and the accusation laid at his door. Frank and his most +gifted fellow-surgeons were powerless to prevent the relapse that came +to Marion and bore her so close to the portals of the great beyond that +there were days and nights when the blithe spirit seemed flitting away +from its fragile tenement, and November was half gone before the crisis +was so far past that recovery could be pronounced only a question of +time. Oh, the strain of those long, long, sleepless days of watching, +waiting, hoping, praying, yet days wherein the watchers could nurse and +help and _act_. Oh, the blackness, the misery of the nights of watching, +waiting in helplessness, well-nigh in despair, for the coming of the +next "cable!" the consciousness of utter impotence to help or to do! the +realization that a priceless life is ebbing away, while they who gave +it--they to whom it is so infinitely precious--are at the very opposite +ends of the earth! Oh, the tremulous opening of those fateful messages, +the breathless reading of the cipher, the awful suspense of the search +through Cable Code pages that dance and swim before the straining eyes! +Oh, the meek acceptance of still further suspense! the almost piteous +thankfulness that all is not yet lost, that hope is not yet abandoned! +Strong men break down and add years to those they have lived. Gentle +women sway and totter at last until relief comes to them through +God-given tears. + +In a fever-stricken camp in Southern swamplands a father waked night +after night, walking the hospitals where his brave lads lay moaning, +seeing in their burning misery, hearing in their last sigh, the +sufferings of a beloved child. By the bedside of her youngest, her baby +boy as she would ever call the lad, who lay there in delirium, knelt a +mother who, as she nursed and soothed this one, prayed without ceasing +for that other, that beloved daughter for whom the Death Angel crouched +and waited under the tropic skies of the far Philippines. Ah, there were +suffering and distress attendant on that strange, eventful epoch in the +nation's history that even the press said nothing about, and that those +who knew it speak of only in deep solemnity and awe to-day. It was +mid-November before they dared to hope. It was December when once again +Maid Marion was lifted to her lounging-chair overlooking the Bagumbayan, +and little by little began picking up once more the threads that were so +nearly severed for all time, and as health and strength slowly returned, +hearing the tidings of the busy, bustling world about her. + +Others too had known anxiety as sore as that which had so lined the face +of Colonel Ray and trebled the silver in the soft hair of Marion, his +wife. Well-nigh distracted, a mother sped across the continent to the +Pacific, there to await the coming of her son's remains. + +From the night of Walter Foster's disappearance at Carquinez no word of +his existence came to give her hope, no trace of his movements until, +late in August, there was brought to her the cabled message: + + "Alive, well, but in trouble. Have written." + +And this was headed Yokohama. Not until October did that longed-for, +prayed-for letter come,--a selfish letter, since it gave no really +adequate excuse for the long weeks of silence, and only told that the +boy had been in hiding, almost in terror of his life. While still dazed +by the shock of the fire and smarting from his burns, wrote Walter, he +had wandered from the cars at Port Costa. He had encountered "most +uncongenial persons," he said, among the recruits, and never realizing +that it was desertion, war-time desertion at that, had determined to get +back to Sacramento and join some other command. Yes. There was another +reason, but--one "mother couldn't appreciate." Unknown to all but one of +his comrades on the train, he had abundant money, realized from the sale +of horses and cattle at the ranch. It was in a buckskin belt about his +waist, and this money bought him "friends" who took him by water to +Sacramento, found him secret lodgings, procured suitable clothing, and +later spirited him off to San Francisco. + +But these money-bought friends showed the cloven hoof, threatened to +give him over to the military authorities to be tried for his life +unless he would pay a heavy sum. They had him virtually a prisoner. He +could only stir abroad at night, and then in company with his jailers. + +There was a man, he wrote, who had a grudge against him, a man +discharged from the ranch, who followed him to Denver and enlisted in +the same party, a man he was most anxious to get rid of, and the first +thing he knew that fellow, who, he supposed, had gone on to Manila, +turned up in disguise and joined forces with his tormentors. That drove +him to desperation, nerved him to one sublime effort, and one night he +broke away and ran. He was fleet of foot, they were heavy with drink, +and he dodged them among the wharves and piers, took refuge on a coast +steamer, and found himself two days later at Portland. + +Here he bethought him of an old friend, and succeeded in finding a man +he well knew he could trust, despite his mother's old dislike for him, a +man who knew his whole past, of his desertion, of his danger,--a man who +was himself about enlisting for service in the Philippines, and who +persuaded him that his surest way to win exemption from punishment was +to hasten after the detachment, beat it, if possible, to Manila, and +join it there at his own expense. + +He still had some hundreds left. They went to San Francisco, where +Walter took steamer at once for Honolulu to await there the coming of +the recruit detachment. The infantry finally came, his friend with them, +but no sign of more cavalry. To Walter's dismay he had seen among the +passengers landed from the Doric the disguised rough whom, as Sackett, +he had so unfavorably known before, who as Murray had followed him into +the army. It would never do to fall into his clutches again: the man +would betray him instantly. Walter kept in hiding until he heard that +Sackett was accused of stabbing a staff officer of General Vinton and +had fled the island. + +Later, when the next troop-ship came, bringing his friend with it, he +again took counsel. As the lad fully admitted, his friend was the same +old chum of Freiburg days--the friend to whom his parents had so much +objected. The fortunes of war had thrown them together, Willard as +impecunious as ever, and the Damon and Pythias, the Orestes and Pylades, +the two Ajaxes of the old days were in close and intimate touch once +more, Damon, as of old, the banker for the twain. The troop-ships were +to proceed as soon as coaled. There were reasons now why Walter wished +to stay in Honolulu, but Willard urged his moving at once on to Hong +Kong and there awaiting the result of his negotiations at Manila. At +Hong Kong it was his hope to receive the word "Come over. All is well," +and, finally, as his funds would soon run out, he closed his letter with +the request that his mother cable him five hundred dollars through the +Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. + +The money she cabled at once, then in dread she had wired Colonel +Martindale, who was gadding about with old army chums when most she +needed him at home, and that gentleman, with a sigh, again went +sisterward, saying he knew the boy was sure to turn up to torment him, +and wondering what on earth young Hopeful had done now. He looked grave +enough when he read the letter, asked for time to communicate +confidentially with a chum at Washington, and was awaiting reply when +all on a sudden the papers came out with this startling despatch telling +of the murder of Private Walter Foster while on his post as sentry at +Manila, and then came weeks of woe. + +Despite Drayton's cable from Manila that the identification of the +remains was not conclusive to him, at least, Mrs. Foster was convinced +that the murdered lad was her only boy, and all because of that +heartless flirt, that designing--that demoniac army girl who had +bewitched him and then brought his blood upon her own head. + +"If it isn't Walter who lies there slain by assassin rival, the innocent +victim of _that creature's_ hideous vanity, would I not have heard from +him? Do you suppose my blessed boy would not _instantly_ have cabled to +tell me he was alive if he wasn't dead?" And, indeed, that was a hard +question to answer. + +And so the remains of Private Willard Benton, that had been viewed by +many a genuinely sorrowing comrade and stowed away with solemn military +honors in a vault at Paco Cemetery, were sealed up as best they could do +it at Manila, and, though unconvinced as to their identity despite the +convictions of others in authority, the commanding general yielded to +cables from the War Department and ordered their shipment to San +Francisco. They were out of sight of all signals from Corregidor when +Martindale's cable came suggesting search for Private Benton Willard. + +Zenobia Perkins sniffed contemptuously and scoffed malignantly when told +that the doubting Thomases were gaining ground and numbers, that though +Mr. Stuyvesant might be brought to trial for killing a man, it would not +be for killing Foster until more was ascertained regarding the actual +victim. Private Connelly, recovered from his fever, was forever hunting +up Farnham, the brakeman, and devising schemes for the capture of that +blackguard Murray. Day and night, he maintained that Murray was the man +who had accosted Clarke and Hunter at the battery, that it was probably +he who, with his pals, had waylaid and robbed the lone recruit returning +from his quest in East Paco, that it was he who must have struggled with +him again before firing the fatal shot; but not a trace of Murray or his +sailor mates could the secret service agents find, and matters were in +this most unsatisfactory state when at the end of November came the +Queen of the Fleet, despatched several weeks before to fetch along the +troops "sidetracked" at Honolulu, just as the commanding general and his +chief surgeon were in consultation as to what on earth to do with +Zenobia Perkins--the woman had become a public nuisance. + +It seems that the Patriotic Daughters of America were now out of +patience and the vice-president out of funds. It seemed that her brief +ascendancy had carried the lady to such an altitude as to dizzy her +brain and rob her of all sense of proportion. It seems that the surgeons +in charge of three hospitals had complained of her meddling, that +colonels of several regiments had discovered her to be the author of +letters to the home papers setting forth that neglect, abuse, and +starvation were driving their men to desertion or the grave. It seems +that the Red Cross had protested against her as the originator of +malignant stories at their expense, and it was evidently high time to +get rid of her, yet how could they if that case was to be tried? Zenobia +Perkins knew they could not and conducted herself accordingly. She came +this day to the Ayuntamiento to demand pay for what she termed her long +detention at Manila. + +"You compel me to remain against my will because I'm an indispensable +witness," said she to the saturnine adjutant-general, beyond whom she +never now succeeded in passing. She was volubly berating him, to his +grim amusement, when the lattice doors from the corridor swung open and +two officers entered. + +For nearly two minutes they stood waiting for a break in her tempestuous +flow of words, but as none came, the senior impatiently stepped forward +and the adjutant-general, looking up, sprang from his chair just as the +chief himself came hurrying out from the _sanctum sanctorum_ and greeted +the newcomers with cordially clasping hands. The lady too had risen. +This was another of those stuck-up star-wearers who at San Francisco as +much as told her she was a nuisance, and who wouldn't send her by +transport to Manila. Yet here she was in spite of them all, and the most +important woman on the island! Zenobia's face was flushed with triumph +that the star-wearer should be made to feel and see before she would +consent to leave the room. + +"Well, I shall have to interrupt you gentlemen," said she, "for _my_ +business won't keep if you propose to keep _me_. I want to know right +here and now, General Drayton, whether I'm to get my pay or not; if not, +I don't propose to wait another day in Manila, and you can get out of +the scrape the best way you know how. No one here but me could swear +that young man Foster was dead, and you know it." + +"You've sworn to what isn't so, madame," interposed the new arrival +placidly. "Here's that young man Foster!" and as he spoke the lattice +doors again swung open, and, very pale, a tall youth in civilian dress +was ushered in, at sight of whom Major Farquhar fairly shouted. + + -------------------- + +"How'd I get him?" said the new-comer five minutes later. "Found him +aboard the Coptic when she met us as we were pulling out from Honolulu. +He was going back to the States. Left Hong Kong before the story was +published. Didn't want to come, of course, but had to." + +"Wasn't there time to write his mother? They surely would have cabled, +and the Coptic must have got into San Francisco a week ago." + +"Certainly! Letter was sent right on by the steamer, addressed to +Cincinnati." + +"O Lord!" said Drayton. "And she was at 'Frisco all the time. Colonel," +he added to his chief-of-staff, "what's the first transport home?" + +"Zealandia, sir; to-morrow." + +"Sorry for the Zealandia, but Zenobia must go with her." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Of course we had not heard the last of her. Honolulu correspondents of +the press had little to write of in those days, but made their little +long, and Zenobia's stories were the biggest things yet brought from +Manila. Those stories were seven days getting from Honolulu to San +Francisco, which was less than half the time it took their author to +bring them to listening ears. Anybody aboard the Zealandia could have +told the scribes the lady was a fabricator of the first magnitude, but +what live correspondent wants to have a good story spoiled? In just +twenty-seven days from that on which Zenobia bade farewell to Manila her +winged words were flashed all over the States, and by thousands were the +stones swallowed that death, disease, pestilence and famine, bribery and +corruption, vice and debauchery, desertion and demoralization ran riot +in the army at Manila, all due to the incapacity, if not actual +complicity, of officers in high position. But mercifully were they +spared the knowledge of these astonishing facts until the papers +themselves began to reach the Eighth Corps some ten weeks after Zenobia +had left it to its fate, and by that time every fellow had his hands +full, for the long-looked-for outbreak had come at last, and the long, +thin Yankee fighting line was too busy making history to waste ink or +temper in denying yarns that, after all, were soon forgotten. + +Then, too, we had been hearing stories that could not be denied right +there in the southern suburbs, and having excitement that needed no +Zenobia to enhance it. To begin with, Walter Foster's tale was of itself +of vivid interest, and, though only the general and Farquhar and Ray +actually heard it, and only two or possibly three staff officers were +supposed to see it after it had been reduced to writing, every steamer +and transport now was bringing officers' families, and men must tell +their wives something once in a while, otherwise they might never know +what _is_ going on and so will believe all manner of things that are +not. + +Walter Foster's mother learned by cable that the remains she awaited, +and that reached port almost the day she got the despatch, were not +those of her only son, but of one who had practically died for him. And +even in the joy of that supreme moment the woman in her turned, after +all, in pity to weep for the motherless lad who had been her boy's +warmest friend in his hours of doubt and darkness and despair. + +A weak vessel was "Wally," as Farquhar had intimated, and so easily +cowed and daunted that in the dread of the punishment accorded the +deserter he had skulked in disguise at Hong Kong, leaving all the burden +of scouting, pleading, and planning for him to Willard, his old-time +chum, who had even less knowledge and experience of army official life +than himself. Willard's early letters to Hong Kong gave Foster little +hope, for at first the only people the recruit could "sound" were +private soldiers like himself. Then Foster read of the arrival of the +Sacramento at Manila, of the presence there of Maidie Ray, and then he +wrote urging his quondam chum to endeavor to see her, to tell her of +his desperate straits, to implore her to exert influence to get him +pardoned, and, in order that she might know that his envoy was duly +accredited, he sent Willard his chief treasure, that little +_carte-de-visite_, together with a few imploring lines. + +Then not a word came from Willard for three mortal weeks, but Foster's +daily visits to the bank were at last rewarded by a despatch from home +bidding him return at once by first steamer, sending him abundant means, +and assuring him all would be well. + +And when the news of his own murder was published in the Hong Kong +papers, without the faintest intimation to the officials of the bank as +to his intentions, he was homeward bound, and never heard a word of it +all until recognized by an officer aboard the Queen as the Coptic +floated into Honolulu Harbor. There he was arrested and turned back. + +Among "Billy Benton's" few effects no letters, no such picture, had been +found, nothing, in fact, to connect him with Foster. Colonel Brent knew +what had become of the _carte-de-visite_, but--how happened it in other +hands than those of Benton? That too was not long to be a mystery. + +One day in late December a forlorn-looking fellow begged a drink of the +bartender at the Alhambra on the Escolta--said he was out of money, +deserted by his friends, and took occasion to remind the dispenser of +fluid refreshment that a few weeks ago when he had funds and friends +both he had spent many a dollar there. The bartender waved him away. + +"Awe, give the feller a drink," said boys in blue, in the largeness of +their nature and the language of the ranks. "What'll you take, Johnny? +Have one with us," and one of the managers hastened over and whispered +to some of the flannel-shirted squad, but to no purpose. + +The "boys" were bent on benevolence, and "beat" though he might be, the +gaunt stranger was made welcome, shared their meat and drink, and, +growing speedily confidential in his cups, told them that he could tell +a tale some folks would pay well to hear, and then proceeded to stiffen +out in a fit. + +This brought to mind the event on the Bagumbayan, and somebody said it +was "the same feller if not the same fit," and it wouldn't do to leave +him there. They took him along in their cab and across to their barracks +by the Puente Colgante, and a doctor ministered to him, for it was plain +the poor fellow was in sore plight, and a few days later a story worth +the telling was going the rounds. The good chaplain of the Californians +had heard his partial confession and urged him to tell the whole truth, +and that night the last vestige of the crumbling case against Gerard +Stuyvesant came tumbling to earth, and Connelly, from the Cuartel de +Meisic, nearly ran his sturdy legs off to find Farnham and tell him the +tale. + +"My real name," said the broken man, "is of no consequence to anybody. I +soldiered nearly ten years ago in the Seventh Cavalry, but that fight at +Wounded Knee was too much for my nerve, and the boys made life a burden +to me afterwards. I 'took on' in another regiment after I skipped from +the Seventh, but luck was against me. We were sent to Fort Meade, and +there was a gambler in Deadwood, Sackett by name, who had been a few +months in the Seventh, but got bob-tailed out for some dirty work, and +he knew me at once and swore he'd give me away if I didn't steer fellows +up against his game after pay-day. I had to do it, but Captain Ray got +onto it all and broke up the scheme and ran Sackett off the reservation, +and then he blew on me and I had to quit again. He shot a man over +cards, for he was a devil when in drink, and had to clear out, and we +met again in Denver. 'Each could give the other away by that time,' said +he, and so we joined partnership." + +The rest was soon told. Sackett got a job on young Foster's ranch and +fell into some further trouble. But when the war came all of them were +enlisted, Foster and Sackett in the regulars and he in the First +Colorado, but they discharged him at Manila because he had fits, and +that gave him a good deal of money for a few days, travel pay home, and +all that. Then who should turn up but Sackett with "money to burn" and a +scheme to make more. They hired a room in Ermita, and next thing he knew +Sackett and some sailor men held up and robbed a soldier, and Sackett +was in a tearing rage because no money-belt was found on him. They only +got some letters, that little photograph, and perhaps forty dollars +"Mex." The photograph he recognized at once,--his former captain's +daughter,--and he begged for it and kept it about him until one evening +he was taken with another fit, and when he came to the picture was gone. + +That night he found Sackett nearly crazy drunk at their lodgings in +Ermita. They had a Filipino boy to wait on them then, and Sackett had +told the boy where he could find money and jewelry while the family were +at dinner around at Colonel Brent's. The boy was willing enough; he was +an expert. But he came back scared through; said that the soldiers were +close after him. He had some jewelry and a pretty revolver. Sackett told +him to keep the jewelry, but took the watch and pistol, and that night +the sentries and patrols were searching everywhere, and Sackett and the +sailors said they must get away somehow. They drank some more, and +finally thought they had a good chance just after the patrol left, and +the sentry was talking to an officer on the Calle Real. + +They sneaked downstairs and out into the Faura, and there Sackett ran +right into the soldier's arms. There was a short, terrible battle, the +soldier against Sackett and his sailor friend. The sailor got the +sentry's gun away, and Sackett and he wrestled as far as the corner, +when there was a shot; the soldier dropped all in a heap and Sackett and +the sailor ran for their lives around the corner,--the last he had ever +seen or heard of them up to this moment. + +So that was how poor Maidie's pistol happened to be picked up on the +Calle Real and why one or two assertive officers lately connected with +the provost-marshal's and secret-service department concluded that it +might be well for them to try regimental duty awhile. That was how it +happened, too, that Lieutenant Stuyvesant was prevailed on to take a +short leave and run over to Hong Kong. But he came back in a hurry, for +there was need of every man and trouble imminent "at the front." + +The dawn of that memorable February day had come that saw Manila girdled +by the flame of forty thousand rifles and shrouded in the smoke that +drifted from the burning roofs of outlying villages from whose walls, +windows, and church towers the insurgent islanders had poured their +pitiless fire upon the ranks of the American soldiery. + +In front of a stone-walled enclosure bordering the principal street in +an eastward suburb two or three officers were in earnest consultation. +From the ambulance close at hand the attendants were carefully lifting +some sorely wounded men. Up the street farther east several little +parties coming slowly, haltingly from the front, told that the incessant +crash and rattle of musketry in that direction was no mere _feu-de-joie_, +while every now and then the angry spat of the steel-clad Mauser on the +stony road, the whiz and whirr about the ears of the few who for duty's +sake or that of example held their ground in the highway, gave evidence +that the Tagal marksmen had their eyes on every visible group of +Americans. + +In the side streets at right angles to the main thoroughfare reserve +battalions were crouching, sheltered from the leaden storm, and awaiting +the longed-for order to advance and sweep the field at the front. From +the grim, gray walls of the great church and convent, which for weeks +had been strictly guarded by order of the American generals against all +possible intrusion or desecration on part of their men, came frequent +flash and report and deadly missile aimed at the helpless wounded, the +hurrying ambulances, even at a symbol as sacred as that which towered +above its altars--the blood-red cross of Geneva. + +It was the Tagal's return for the honor and care and consideration shown +the Church of Rome. As another ambulance came swiftly to the spot, its +driver swayed, clasped his hands upon his breast, and, with the blood +gushing from his mouth, toppled forward into the arms of the hospital +attendants. It was more than flesh and blood or the brigade commander +could stand. + +"Burn that church!" was the stern order as the general spurred on to the +front, and a score of soldiers, leaping from behind the stone walls, +dashed at the barricaded doors. A young staff officer, galloping down +the road, reined in at sight of the little party and whirled about by +the general's side. + +"It's perfectly true, sir," said he. "Right across the bridge in front +of the block-house you can hear him plainly. It's a white man giving +orders to the Filipinos." The general nodded. + +"We'll get him presently. Do they understand the orders on the left?" + +"Everywhere, sir. All are ready and eager," and even the native pony +ridden by the aide seemed quivering with excitement as, horse and rider, +they fell back and joined the two officers following their chief. + +"Hot in front, Stuyvie?" queried the first in undertone, as a Mauser +zipped between their heads to the detriment of confidential talk, and a +great burst of cheers broke from the blue line crouching just ahead +across the open field. "Why, d--n it, man, you're hit now!" + +"Hush!" answered Stuyvesant imploringly, as he pressed a gauntleted hand +to his side. "Don't let the general know. I want to join Vinton in a +moment. It's only a tear along the skin." But blood was soaking through +the serge of his blue sack-coat and streaking the loose folds of his +riding-breeches, and the bright color in his clear skin was giving way +to pallor. + +"Tear, indeed! Here! Quick, orderly! Help me there on the other side!" +and the captain sprang from saddle. A soldier leaped forward, turning +loose his pony, and as the general, with only one aide and orderly, rode +on into the smoke-cloud overhanging the line, Gerard Stuyvesant, +fainting, slid forward into the arms of his faithful friends. + +A few hours later, "lined up" along the river-bank, a great regiment +from the far West, panting and exultant, stood resting on its arms and +looking back over the field traversed in its first grand charge. Here, +there, everywhere it was strewn with insurgent dead and sorely wounded. +Here, there, and everywhere men in American blue were flitting about +from group to group, tendering canteens of cold water to the wounded, +friend and enemy alike. + +Far back towards the dusty highway where the ambulances were hurrying, +and close to the abutments of a massive stone bridge that crossed a +tributary of the Pasig, three officers, a surgeon, and half-a-dozen +soldiers were grouped about a prostrate form in the pale blue uniform, +with the gold embroidery and broad stripes of a Filipino captain, but +the face was ghastly white, the language ghastly Anglo-Saxon. + +With the blood welling from a shothole in his broad, burly chest and the +seal of death already settling on his ashen brow, he was scowling up +into the half-compassionate, half-contemptuous faces about him. Here +lay the "_Capitan Americano_" of whom the Tagal soldiers had been +boasting for a month--a deserter from the army of the United States, a +commissioned officer in the ranks of Aguinaldo, shot to death in his +first battle in sight of some who had seen and known him "in the blue." + +Lieutenant Stuyvesant, revived by a long pull at the doctor's flask, his +bleeding stanched, had again pressed forward to take his part in the +fight, but now lay back in the low Victoria that the men had run forward +from the village, and looked down upon the man who in bitter wrath and +hatred had vowed long months before to have his heart's blood,--the man +who had so nearly done him to death in Honolulu. Even now in Sackett's +dying eyes something of the same brutal rage mingled with the instant +gleam of recognition that for a moment flashed across his distorted +features. It seemed retribution indeed that his last conscious glance +should fall upon the living face of the man to whom he owed his rescue +from a fearful death that night in far-away Nevada. + +But, badly as he was whipped that brilliant Sunday, "Johnny Filipino" +had the wit to note that Uncle Sam had hardly a handful of cavalry and +nowhere near enough men to follow up the advantages, and hence the long +campaign of minor affairs that had to follow. In that campaign Sandy Ray +was far too busy at the front to know very much of what was going on at +the rear in Manila. He listened with little sympathy to Farquhar's brief +disposition of poor Foster's case. "They could remove the desertion and +give him a commission, but they couldn't make Wally a soldier. He went +home when the fighting had hardly begun." Somebody was mean enough to +say if he hadn't his mother would have come for him. + +There was no question as to the identity of the soldier who died in +Filipino uniform. Not only did Stuyvesant recognize him, but so did Ray +and Trooper Mellen, and Connelly, fetched over from the north side to +make assurance doubly sure. It was Sackett-Murray, gambler, horse-thief, +house-robber, deserter, biter, murderer, and double-dyed traitor. He had +fled to the insurgents in dread of discovery and death at the hands of +Benton's comrades. + +And perhaps it was just as well. Foster knew of his hapless end before +he took steamer homeward; knew, too, of Stuyvesant's wound, +and--possibly it had something to do with his departure--of the +disposition made of that fortunately wounded officer. Miss Ray, it +seems, was regularly on duty now, with other Red Cross nurses, and +Stuyvesant went to the "First Reserve" and stayed there a whole week, +and even Dr. Wells came and smiled on him, and Miss Porter beamed, and +still he was not happy--for Maidie came not. She was busy as she could +be at the farther end of the other wards. + +And so Stuyvesant grew impatient of nursing, declared he was well, and +still was far from happy, for at that time Foster was still hovering +about the premises, and Stuyvesant could see only one possible +explanation for that. They moved him back to his breezy quarters at +Malate. But presently a trap was sprung, mainly through Mrs. Brent's +complicity, for once or twice a week it was Maidie's custom to go to her +old friend's roof for rest and tea. And one evening, seems to me it was +Valentine's Day, just before sunset, they were in the veranda,--the +colonel and his kindly wife,--while Maid Marion the Second was in her +own room donning a dainty gown for change from the Red Cross uniform, +when a carriage whirled up to the entrance underneath, and Mrs. Brent, +leaning over the rail, smiled on its sole occupant and nodded +reassuringly. + +Stuyvesant came up slowly, looking not too robust, and said it was +awfully good of Mrs. Brent to take pity on his loneliness and have him +round to tea. Other nice women, younger, more attractive personally than +Mrs. Brent, had likewise bidden him to tea just so soon as he felt able, +but Stuyvesant swore to himself he couldn't be able and wouldn't if he +could. Yet when Mrs. Brent said "Come," he went, though never hoping to +see Marion, whom he believed to be engrossed in duties at the First +Reserve, and on the verge of announcement of her engagement to "that +young man Foster." + +Presently Brent said if Stuyvesant had no objection he'd take his trap +and drive over _Intra muros_ and get the news from MacArthur's +front,--for Mac was hammering at the insurgent lines about +Caloocan,--and Stuyvesant had no objection whatever. Whereupon Mrs. +Brent took occasion to say in the most casual way in the world: + +"Oh, you might send a line to Colonel Martindale, dear. You know Mr. +Foster goes home by the Sonoma--oh, hadn't you heard of it, Mr. +Stuyvesant? Oh, dear, yes. He's been ready to go ever since the fighting +began, but there was no boat." + +And then she too left Stuyvesant,--left him with the New York _Moon_ +bottom topmost in his hand and a sensation as of wheels in his head. She +proceeded, furthermore, to order tea on the back gallery and Maidie to +the front. But tea was ready long before Maidie. + +Far out at the lines of San Pedro Macati Dyer's guns had sighted swarms +of rebels up the Pasig, and with placid and methodical precision were +sending shrapnel in that direction and dull, booming concussions in the +other. An engagement of some kind was on at San Pedro, and Stuyvesant +twitched with nervous longing to get there, despite the doctors, and sat +wondering was another engagement off at Manila. Just what to do he had +not decided. The _Moon_ and his senses were still upside-down when Sing +came in with the transferred tea things and Mrs. Brent with the last +thing Stuyvesant was thinking to see--Maid Marion, all smiles, +congratulation, and cool organdie. + +Ten minutes' time in which to compose herself gives a girl far too great +an advantage under such circumstances. + +"I--I'm glad to see you," said Stuyvesant helplessly. "I thought you +were wearing yourself out at nursing." + +"Oh, it agrees with me," responded Maidie blithely. + +"I suppose it must. You certainly look so." + +"_Merci du compliment, Monsieur_," smiled Miss Ray, with sparkling eyes +and the prettiest of courtesies. She certainly did look remarkably well. + +It was time for Stuyvesant to be seated again, but he hovered there +about that tea-table, for Mrs. Brent made the totally unnecessary +announcement that she would go in search of the spoons. + +"You had no time--I suppose--to look in on anybody but your assigned +vict--patients, I mean," hazarded Stuyvesant, weakening his tentative by +palpable display of sense of injury. + +"Well, you were usually asleep when I cal--inquired, I mean. One or two +lumps, Mr. Stuyvesant?" And the dainty little white hand hovered over +the sugar-bowl. + +"You usually chose such times, I fancy. One lump, thanks." There was +another, not of sugar, in his throat and he knew it, and his fine blue +eyes and thin, sad face were pathetic enough to move any woman's heart +had not Miss Ray been so concerned about the tea. + +"You would have been able to return to duty days ago," said she, +tendering the steaming cup and obviously ignoring his remark, "had you +come right to hospital as Dr. Shiels directed, instead of scampering out +to the front again. You thought more of the brevet, of course, than the +gash. What a mercy it glanced on the rib! Only--such wounds are ever so +much harder to stanch and dress." + +"You--knew about it, then?" he asked with reviving hope. + +"Of course. We _all_ knew," responded Miss Ray, well aware of the fact +that he would have been unaccountably and infinitely happier had it been +she alone. "That is our profession. But about the brevet. Surely you +ought to be pleased. Captain in your first engagement!" + +"Oh, it's only a recommendation," he answered, "and may be as far away +as--any other engagement--of mine, that is." And in saying it poor +Stuyvesant realized it was an asinine thing. So, alack, did she! An +instant agone she was biting her pretty red lips for letting the word +escape her, but his fatuity gave her all the advantage in spite of +herself. It was the play to see nothing that called for reply in his +allusion. So there was none. + +A carriage was coming up the Luneta full tilt, and though still six +hundred yards away, she saw and knew it to be Stuyvesant's returning. +But he saw nothing beyond her glowing face. Mrs. Brent began to sing in +the salon, a symptom so unusual that it could only mean that she +contemplated coming back and was giving warning. Time was priceless, yet +here he stood trembling, irresolute. Would nothing help him? + +"You speak of my--engagement," he blundered blindly on. "I wish you'd +tell me--about yours." + +"Mine? Oh,--with the Red Cross, you mean? And shame be to you, Maidie +Ray, you knew--you well knew--he didn't." + +"I mean--to Mr. Foster. Mrs. Brent has just told me----" + +"Mrs. Brent!" interposes Miss Ray in a flutter of amaze. That carriage +is coming nearer every instant, driving like mad, Brent on the back seat +and a whip-lashing demon on the box. There will be no time for +love-tales once that burly warrior returns to his own. Yet she is +fencing, parrying, holding him at bay, for his heart is bubbling over +with the torrent of its love and yearning and pleading. + +What are bullet-wounds and brevets to this one supreme, sublime +encounter? His heart was high, his voice rang clear and exultant, his +eyes flashed joy and fire and defiance in the face of a thousand deaths +two weeks ago. But here in the presence of a slender girl he can do +naught but falter and stammer and tremble. + +Crack, crack, spatter, clatter, and crash comes the little carriage and +team whirling into the San Luis. He hears it now. He knows what it means +to him--Brent back and the pent-up words still unspoken! It nerves him +to the test, it spurs him to the leap, it drives the blood bounding +through his veins, it sends him darting round the table to her side, +penning her, as it were, between him and the big bamboo chair. And now +her heart, too, is all in a flutter, for the outer works were carried in +his impetuous dash, the assailant is at the very citadel. + +"Marion!" he cried, "tell me, was there--tell me, there _was_ no +engagement! Tell me there _is_ a little hope for me! Oh, you are blind +if you do not see, if you _have_ not seen all along, that I've loved you +ever since the first day I ever saw you. Tell me--quick!" + +Too late. Up comes Brent on the run, and Marion springs past the +would-be detaining arm. "Where's Mrs. B.?" pants the warrior. "Hullo, +Stuyvie! I was afraid you'd got the news and gone out in a cab. M'ria, I +want my belt and pistol!" + +"_Where_ you going?" bursts in the lady of the house--the spoons +forgotten. + +"Out to San Pedro! It's only three miles. Our fellows are going to drive +'em out of Guadaloupe woods. Ready, Sty? Of course you want to see it. +Drive'll do you good, too. Come on." + +"Indeed, you don't stir a step, Colonel Brent!--not a step! What +business have you going into action? You did enough fighting forty years +ago." Brent, deaf to her expostulation, is rushing to the steps, +buckling his belt on the run, but "M'ria" grabs the slack of the Khaki +coat and holds him. Stuyvesant springs for his hat. It has vanished. +Marion, her hands behind her, her lips parted, her heart pounding hard, +has darted to the broad door to the salon, and there, leaning against +the framing, she confronts him. + +At the rear of the salon Thisbe has grappled Pyramus and is being pulled +to the head of the stairs; at the head, Beatrice, with undaunted front, +concealing a sinking heart, defies Benedick. + +"My hat, please," he demands, his eyes lighting with hope and promise of +victory. + +"You have no right," she begins. "You are still a patient." But now, +with bowed head, she is struggling, for he has come close to her, so +close that his heart and hers might almost meet in their wild leaping, +so close that in audacious search for the missing headgear his hands are +reaching down behind the shrinking, slender little form, and his long, +sinewy arms almost encircling her. The war of words at the back stairs +"now trebly thundering swelled the gale," but it is not heard here at +the front. + +His hands have grasped her wrists now. His blond head is bowed down over +hers, so that his lips hover close to the part of the dusky hair. "My +hat, Maidie," he cries, "or I'll--I'll take what I want!" Both hands +tugging terrifically at those slender wrists now, and yet not gaining an +inch. "Do you hear?--I'll--I'll take----" + +"You sha'n't!" gasps Miss Ray, promptly burying her glowing face in the +breast of that happy Khaki, and thereby tacitly admitting that she knows +just what he wants so much more than that hat. + +And then the long, white hands release their hold of the slim, white +wrists; the muscular arms twine tight about her, almost lifting her from +her feet; the bonny brown head bows lower still, his mustache brushing +the soft, damask-rose-like cheek. "I must go, Maidie,--darling!" he +whispers, "without the hat if need be, but not without--this--and +this--and this--and this," and the last one lingers long just at the +corner of the warm, winsome, rosy lips. She could not prevent +it--perhaps she did not try. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ray's Daughter, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAY'S DAUGHTER *** + +***** This file should be named 19480-8.txt or 19480-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/8/19480/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ray's Daughter + A Story of Manila + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: October 6, 2006 [EBook #19480] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAY'S DAUGHTER *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/001.jpg" alt="Grouped about a prostrate form in the pale blue uniform +of a Filipino Captain" width="606" height="403" hspace="0" vspace="4" border="1"> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"><b>Grouped about a prostrate form in the pale blue uniform +of a Filipino Captain</b> +</p> + +<br> +<h1> +RAY'S DAUGHTER +</h1> + +<h2> +A Story of Manila +</h2> + +<br> + +<h3> +By +</h3> + +<h2> +GENERAL CHARLES KING, U.S.V. +</h2> + +<p class="ctr">Author of "Ray's Recruit," "Marion's Faith," +"The Colonel's Daughter," etc. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/002.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="66" height="137" hspace="0" vspace="4" border="0"></p> + +<h4> +Philadelphia and London<br> +J. B. Lippincott Company<br> +1901 +</h4> + + +<h4> +<span class="sc">Copyright</span>, 1900<br> +<span class="sc">by<br> +J. B. Lippincott Company</span> +</h4> + +<p class="ctr"> +<i>Electrotyped and Printed by<br> +J. B. Lippincott Company, +Philadelphia, U.S.A.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="med"> + + +<h2> +RAY'S DAUGHTER +</h2> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/003.jpg" alt="Chapter decoration" width="42" height="49" hspace="0" vspace="4"></p> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER I. +</p> + + +<p> +The long June day was drawing to its close. Hot and strong the slanting +sunbeams beat upon the grimy roofs of the train and threw distorted +shadows over the sand and sage-brush that stretched to the far horizon. +Dense and choking, from beneath the whirring wheels the dust-clouds rose +in tawny billows that enveloped the rearmost coaches and, mingling with +the black smoke of the "double-header" engines, rolled away in the +dreary wake. East and west, north and south, far as the eye could reach, +hemmed by low, dun-colored ridges or sharply outlined crests of remote +mountain range, in lifeless desolation the landscape lay outspread to +the view. Southward, streaked with white fringe of alkali, the flat +monotone of sand and ashes blended with the flatter, flawless surface +of a wide-spreading, ash-colored inland lake, its shores dotted at +intervals with the bleaching bones of cattle and ridged with ancient +wagon-tracks unwashed by not so much as a single drop from the cloudless +heavens since their first impress on the sinking soil. Here and there +along the right of way—a right no human being would care to dispute +were the way ten times its width—some drowsing lizards, sprawling in +the sunshine along the ties, roused at the sound and tremor of the +coming train to squirm off into the sage-brush, but no sign of animation +had been seen since the crossing of the big divide near Promontory. The +long, winding train, made up of mail-, express-, baggage-, emigrant-, +and smoking-cars, "tourists' coaches," and huge sleepers at the rear, +with a "diner" midway in the chain, was packed with gasping humanity +westward bound for the far Pacific—the long, long, tortuous climb to +the snow-capped Sierras ahead, the parched and baking valley of the +Great Salt Lake long, dreary miles behind. It was early June of the year +'98, and the war with Spain was on. +</p> + +<p> +There had been some delay at Ogden. The trains from the East over the +Union Pacific and the Denver and Rio Grande came in crowded, and the +resources of the Southern Pacific were suddenly taxed beyond the +expectation of its officials. Troops had been whirling westward +throughout the week, absorbing much of the rolling stock, and the empty +cars were being rushed east again from Oakland pier, but the nearest +were still some hundreds of miles from this point of transfer when a +carload of recruits was dumped upon the broad platform, and the +superintendent scratched his head, and screwed up the corner of his +mouth, and asked an assistant how in a hotter place than even Salt Lake +Valley the road could expect him to forward troops without delay "when +the road took away the last car in the yard getting those Iowa boys +out." +</p> + +<p> +"There ain't nuthin' left 'cept that old tourist that's been rustin' and +kiln-dryin' up 'longside the shops since last winter," said the junior +helplessly. "Shall we have her out?" +</p> + +<p> +"Guess you'll have to," was the answer. "It's that or nothin';" and the +boss turned on his heel and slammed the office door behind him. "Ten to +one," said he, "there'll be a kick comin' when the boys see what they've +got to ride in, an' I'll let Jim take the kick." +</p> + +<p> +The kick had come as predicted, but availed nothing. A score of lusty +young patriots were the performers, but, being destined for service in +the regulars, they had neither Senator nor State official to "wire" to +in wrathful protest, as was usual on such occasions. The superintendent +would have thought twice before ever suggesting that car as a component +part of the train bearing the volunteers from Nebraska, Colorado, or +Iowa so recently shipped over the road. "They could have made it hot for +the management," said he. But these fellows, these waifs, were from no +State or place in particular. They hadn't even an officer with them, but +were hurrying on to their destination under command of a veteran gunner, +"lanced" for the purpose at the recruiting station. He had done his best +for his men. Ruefully they looked through the dust-covered interior and +inspected the muddy trucks and brake-gear. "She wheezes like she had +bronchitis," said the corporal, "and the inside's a cross between a +hen-coop and coal-bin. You ain't going to run that old rookery for a +car, are you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Best we've got," was the curt reply. Yet the yardman shook his head as +he heard the squeal of the rusty journals, and ordered his men to pack +in fresh waste and "touch 'em up somehow." Any man who had spent a week +about a railway could have prophesied "hot boxes" before that coach had +run much more than its own length, but it wouldn't do for an employee to +say so. The corporal looked appealingly at his fellow-passengers of the +Rio Grande train. There were dozens of them stretching their legs and +strolling about the platform, after getting their hand-luggage +transferred and seats secured, but there was no one in position or +authority to interpose. Some seemed to feel no interest. +</p> + +<p> +"Get your rations and plunder aboard," he ordered, turning suddenly to +his party, and, loading up with blankets, overcoats, haversacks, and +canteens, the recruits speedily took possession of their new quarters, +forced open the jammed windows to let out the imprisoned and overheated +air, piled their boxes of hard bread and stacks of tinned meat at the +ends and their scant soldier goods and chattels in the rude sections, +then tumbled out again upon the platform to enjoy, while yet there was +time, the freedom of the outer air, despite the torrid heat of the +mid-day sunshine. +</p> + +<p> +In knots of three or four they sauntered about, their hands deep in +their empty pockets, their boyish eyes curiously studying the signs and +posters, or wistfully peering through the screened doors at the +temptations of the bar and lunch counter or the shaded windows of the +dining-room, where luckier fellow-passengers were taking their fill of +the good cheer afforded. Two of the number, dressed like the rest in +blue flannel shirts, with trousers of lighter hue and heavier make, +fanning their heated faces with their drab, broad-brimmed campaign hats, +swung off the rear end of the objectionable car, and, with a quick +glance about them, started briskly down the track to where the "diner" +and certain sleepers of the Southern Pacific were being shunted about. +</p> + +<p> +"Come back here, you fellers!" shouted the corporal, catching sight of +the pair. "You don't know how soon this here train may start. Come back, +I say," he added emphatically, as the two, looking first into each +other's eyes, seemed to hesitate. Then, with sullen, down-cast face the +nearer turned and slowly obeyed. The other, a bright, merry youngster, +whose white teeth gleamed as he laughed his reply, still stood in his +tracks. +</p> + +<p> +"We're only going to the dining-car, corporal," he shouted. "That's +going with us, so we can't be left." +</p> + +<p> +"You've got no business in the dining-car, Mellen; that's not for your +sort, or mine, for that matter," was the corporal's ultimatum. And with +a grin still expanding his broad mouth, the recruit addressed as Mellen +came reluctantly sauntering in the trail of his comrade, who had +submitted in silence and yet not without a shrug of protest. It was to +the latter the corporal spoke when the two had rejoined their +associates. +</p> + +<p> +"You've got sense enough to know you're not wanted at that diner, +Murray, whether Mellen has or not. That's no place for empty pockets. +What took you there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Wanted a drink, and you said 'keep away from the bar-room,'" answered +Murray briefly, his gray eyes glancing about from man to man in the +group, resting for just a second on the form and features of one who +stood a little apart, a youth of twenty-one years probably. "It was +Foster's treat," he added, and that remark transferred the attention of +the party at the instant to the youngster on the outskirts. +</p> + +<p> +He had been leaning with folded arms against a lamp-post, looking +somewhat wearily up the long platform to where in pairs or little groups +the passengers were strolling, men and women both, seeking relief from +the constraint and stiffness of the long ride by rail. He had an +interesting—even a handsome—face, and his figure was well knit, well +proportioned. His eyes were a dark, soft brown, with very long, curving +lashes, his nose straight, his mouth finely curved, soft and sensitive. +His throat was full, round, and at the base very white and fair, as the +unfastened and flapping shirt-collar now enabled one to see. His hands, +too, were soft and white, showing that at least one of the twenty came +not from the ranks of the toilers. His shoes were of finer make than +those of his comrades, and the handkerchief so loosely knotted at the +opening of the coarse blue shirt was of handsome and costly silk. He +had been paying scant attention to his surroundings, and was absorbed, +evidently, in his watch on the tourists up the platform when recalled +to himself by the consciousness that all eyes were upon him. +</p> + +<p> +"What's this about your treatin', Foster?" asked the corporal. +</p> + +<p> +For a week he had felt sure the boy had money, and not a little. Nothing +would have persuaded him to borrow a cent of Foster or anybody else, but +others, and plenty of them, had no such scruples. +</p> + +<p> +The young recruit turned slowly. He seemed reluctant to quit his +scrutiny of his fellow-passengers. The abrupt tone and manner of the +accustomed regular, too, jarred upon him. It might be the corporal's +prerogative so to address his charges, but this one didn't like it, and +meant to show that he didn't. His money at least was his own, and he +could do with it as he liked. The answer did not come until the question +had been asked twice. Then in words as brief and manner as blunt he +said,— +</p> + +<p> +"Why shouldn't I?" +</p> + +<p> +Corporal Connelly stood a second or two without venturing a word, +looking steadfastly at the young soldier, whose attitude was unchanged +and whose eyes were again fixed on the distant group, as though in weary +disdain of those about him. Then Connelly took half a dozen quick, +springy steps that landed him close to the unmoved recruit. +</p> + +<p> +"You've two things to learn among two thousand, Foster," said he in low, +firm voice. "One is to keep your money, and the other, your temper. I +spoke for your good principally, but if you've been ladling out your +money to be spent in liquor, I say stop it. There's to be no whiskey in +that car." +</p> + +<p> +"Nobody wants it less than I do," said Foster wearily. "Why didn't you +keep it out of the others?" +</p> + +<p> +"Because I never knew till it was gone. How much money did you give +Murray—and why?" and Connelly's eyes were looking straight into those +of Foster as he spoke, compelling respect for sturdy manhood. +</p> + +<p> +"A dollar, I believe," was the languid answer, "and because he asked +it." And again the lad's gaze wandered off along the platform. +</p> + +<p> +The switch engine was busily at work making up the train, and brakemen +were signalling up and down the line. The dining-car, followed by some +ponderous sleepers, came gliding slowly along the rails and brought up +with a bump and jar against the buffers of the old tourists' ark +assigned the recruits. Somewhere up at the thronged station a bell began +to jangle, followed by a shout of "All aboard!" +</p> + +<p> +"Tumble in, you men," ordered Connelly, and at the moment there came a +general movement of the crowd in their direction. The passengers of the +sleepers were hurrying to their assigned places, some with flushed faces +and expostulation. They thought their car should have come to them. +</p> + +<p> +"It's because our train is so very long," explained the brakeman to some +ladies whom he was assisting up the steps. "We've twice as many cars as +usual. Yours is the next car, ma'am; the one behind the diner." +</p> + +<p> +The recruit, Foster, had started, but slowly, when in obedience to the +corporal's order his fellows began to move. He was still looking, half +in search, half in expectation, towards the main entrance of the station +building. But the instant he became aware of the movement in his +direction on the part of the passengers he pushed ahead past several of +the party; he even half shoved aside one of their number who had just +grasped the hand-rail of the car, then sprang lightly past him and +disappeared within the door-way. There, half hidden by the gloom of the +interior, he stood well back from the grimy windows, yet peering +intently through at the swiftly passing crowd. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly he stooped, recoiled, and seated himself in the opposite +section while his comrades came filing rapidly in, and at the moment a +tall young officer in dark uniform, a man perhaps of twenty-five, with a +singularly handsome face and form, strode past the window, scrupulously +acknowledged Connelly's salute, and then, glancing about, saw the heads +and shoulders of a dozen soldiers at the windows. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, what detachment is this, corporal?" he asked. "We brought no +troops on our train." +</p> + +<p> +"Recruits —th Cavalry, sir," was the ready answer. "We came by way of +Denver." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, yes; that explains it. Who's in command?" And the tall officer +looked about him as though in search of kindred rank. +</p> + +<p> +"We have no officer with us, sir," said Connelly diplomatically. +"I'm—in charge." +</p> + +<p> +"You'll have to hurry, sir," spoke the brakeman at the moment. "Jump on +the diner, if you like, and go through." +</p> + +<p> +The officer took the hint and sprang to the steps. There he turned and +faced the platform again just as the train began to move. +</p> + +<p> +A little group, two ladies and a man of middle age, stood directly +opposite him, closely scanning the train, and all on a sudden their +faces beamed, their glances were directed, their hands waved towards +him. +</p> + +<p> +"Good-by! Good-by! Take good care of yourself! Wire from Sacramento!" +were their cries, addressed apparently to his head, and turning quickly, +he found himself confronting a young girl standing smiling on the +platform of the dining-car, her tiny feet about on a level with his +knees; yet he had hardly to cast an upward glance, for her beaming, +beautiful face was but a trifle higher than his own. In all his life he +had never seen one so pretty. +</p> + +<p> +Realizing that he stood between this fair traveller and the friends who +were there to wish her god-speed; recognizing, too, with the swift +intuition of his class, the possibility of establishing relations on his +own account, the young soldier snatched off his new forage-cap, briefly +said, "I beg your pardon; take my place," and, swinging outward, +transferred himself to the rear of the recruit car, thereby causing the +corporal to recoil upon a grinning squad of embryo troopers who were +shouting jocular farewell to the natives, and getting much in the way of +train-hands who were busy straightening out the bell-cord. +</p> + +<p> +Something seemed amiss with that portion of it which made part of the +equipment of the old tourists' car. It was either wedged in the narrow +orifice above the door or caught among the rings of the pendants from +above, for it resisted every jerk, whereat the brakeman set his teeth +and said improper things. It would have grieved the management to hear +this faithful employé's denunciation of that particular item of their +rolling-stock. +</p> + +<p> +"Get out of the way here, boys, and let's see what's the matter with +this damned bell-cord," he continued, elbowing his way through the swarm +about the door. Once fairly within, he threw a quick glance along the +aisle. The left sections of the car were deserted. Out of almost every +window on the right side poked a head and pair of blue flannel +shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +Only one man of the party seemed to have no further interest in what was +going on outside. With one hand still grasping the edge of the upright +partition between two sections near the forward end, and the other just +letting go, apparently, of the bell-cord, the tall, slender, well-built +young soldier, with dark-brown eyes and softly curling lashes, was +lowering himself into the aisle. The brakeman proceeded to rebuke him on +the spot. +</p> + +<p> +"Look here, young feller, you'll have to keep your hands off that +bell-cord. Here I've been cussin' things for keeps, thinking it was +knotted or caught. It was just you had hold of it. Don't you know +better'n that? Ain't you ever travelled before?" +</p> + +<p> +The man addressed was stowing something away inside the breast of his +shirt. He did it with almost ostentatious deliberation, quietly eying +the brakeman before replying. Then, slowly readjusting the knot of a +fine black-silk necktie, so that its broad, flapping ends spread over +the coarser material of the garment, he slowly looked the justly +exasperated brakeman over from head to foot and as slowly and placidly +answered: +</p> + +<p> +"Not more than about half around the world. As for your bell-cord, it +was knotted; it caught in that ring. I saw that someone was tugging and +trying to get it loose, so I swung up there and straightened it. Just +what you'd have done under the circumstances, I fancy." +</p> + +<p> +The brakeman turned redder under the ruddy brown of his sun-tanned skin. +This was no raw "rookie" after all. In his own vernacular, as afterwards +expressed to the conductor, "I seen I was up ag'in' the real t'ing dis +time," but it was hard to admit it at the moment. Vexation had to have a +vent. The bell-cord no longer served. The supposed meddler had proved a +help. Something or somebody had to be the victim of the honest +brakeman's spleen, so, somewhat unluckily, as events determined, he took +it out on the company and that decrepit car, now buzzing along with much +complaint of axle and of bearing. +</p> + +<p> +"Damn this old shake-down, anyhow!" said he. "The company ought to know +'nough not to have such things lyin' round loose. Some night it'll fall +to pieces and kill folks." And with this implied apology for his +aspersions of Recruit Foster, the brakeman bustled away. +</p> + +<p> +But what he said was heard by more than one, and remembered when perhaps +he would have wished it forgotten. The delay at Ogden was supplemented +by a long halt before the setting of that blazing sun, necessitated by +the firing of the waste in the boxes of those long-neglected trucks. Far +back as the rearmost sleeper the sickening smell of burning, oil-steeped +packing drove feminine occupants to their satchels in search of +scent-bottles, and the men to such comfort as could be found in flasks +of bulkier make. +</p> + +<p> +In the heart of the desert, with dust and desolation spreading far on +every hand, the long train had stopped to douse those foul-smelling +fires, and, while train-hands pried off the red-hot caps and dumped +buckets of water into the blazing cavities, changing malodorous smoke to +dense clouds of equally unsavory steam, and the recruits in the +afflicted car found consolation in "joshing" the hard-sweating, +hard-swearing workers, the young officer who had boarded the second +sleeper at Ogden, together with half a dozen bipeds in dusters or +frazzled shirt-sleeves, had become involved in a complication on the +shadier side of the train. +</p> + +<p> +Somewhere into the sage-brush a jack-rabbit had darted and was now in +hiding. With a dozen eager heads poked from the northward windows and +stretching arms and index fingers guiding them in their inglorious hunt, +the lieutenant and his few associates were stalking the first +four-footed object sighted from the train since the crossing of the bald +divide. +</p> + +<p> +Within the heated cars, with flushed faces and plying palm-leaf fans, a +few of the women passengers were languidly gazing from the windows. At +the centre window of the second sleeper, without a palm-leaf and looking +serene and unperturbed, sat the young girl whose lovely face had so +excited Mr. Stuyvesant's deep admiration. Thrice since leaving Ogden, on +one pretext or other, had he passed her section and stolen such a look +as could be given without obvious staring. Immediately in rear of the +seat she occupied was an austere maiden of middle age, one of the +passengers who had come on by the Union Pacific from Omaha. Directly +opposite sat two men whom Stuyvesant had held in but scant esteem up to +the time they left the valley of Salt Lake. Now, because their sections +stood over against hers, his manner relaxed with his mood. Circumstances +had brought the elderly maid and himself to the same table on two +occasions in the dining-car, but he had hitherto felt no desire to press +the acquaintance. +</p> + +<p> +This afternoon he minded him of a new book he had in his bag, for +literature, he judged, might be her hobby, and had engaged her in +conversation, of which his share was meant to impress the tiny, +translucent ear that nestled in the dark-brown coils and waves of the +pretty head in front of him. +</p> + +<p> +When, however, it became patent that his companion desired to form her +own impressions of the pages uninfluenced by his well-delivered +comments, Mr. Stuyvesant had bethought him of the semi-somnolent +occupants of the opposite section, and some cabalistic signs he ventured +with a little silver cup summoned them in pleased surprise to the +water-cooler at the rear end, where he regaled them with a good story +and the best of V. O. P. Scotch, and accepted their lavish bid to sit +with them awhile. +</p> + +<p> +From this coign of vantage he had studied her sweet, serious, oval face +as she sat placidly reading a little volume in her lap, only once in a +while raising a pair of very dark, very beautiful, very heavily browed +and lashed brown eyes for brief survey of the forbidding landscape; +then, with never an instant's peep at him, dropping their gaze again +upon the book. +</p> + +<p> +Not once in the long, hot afternoon had she vouchsafed him the minimum +of a show of interest, curiosity, or even consciousness of his presence. +Then the train made its second stop on account of the fires, and Bre'r +Rabbit his luckless break into the long monotony of the declining day. +</p> + +<p> +Tentative spikes, clods, and empty flasks having failed to find him, the +beaters had essayed a skirmish line, and with instant result. Like a +meteoric puff of gray and white, to a chorus of yells and the +accompaniment of a volley of missiles, Jack had shot into space from +behind his shelter and darted zigzagging through the brush. A whizzing +spike, a chance shot that nearly grazed his nose, so dazzled his +brainlet that the terrified creature doubled on his trail and came +bounding back towards the train. +</p> + +<p> +Close to the track-side ran a narrow ditch. In this ditch at the instant +crouched the tall lieutenant. Into this ditch leaped Bunny, and the next +second had whizzed past the stooping form and bored straight into a +little wooden drain. There some unseen, unlooked-for object blocked him. +</p> + +<p> +Desperately the hind-legs kicked and tore in the effort to force the +passage, and with a shout of triumph the tall soldier swooped upon the +prize, seized the struggling legs, swung the wretched creature aloft, +and for the first time in six mortal hours met full in his own the gaze +of the deep, beautiful brown eyes he had so striven to attract, and they +were half pleading, half commanding for Bunny. The next instant, +uninjured, but leaping madly for life, Bre'r Rabbit was streaking +eastward out of harm's way, a liberated victim whose first huge leap +owed much of its length to the impetus of Stuyvesant's long, lean, +sinewy arm. +</p> + +<p> +This time when he looked up and raised his cap, and stood there with his +blond hair blowing down over his broad white forehead, although the soft +curves of the ripe red lips at the window above him changed not, there +was something in the dark-brown eyes that seemed to say "Thank you!" +</p> + +<p> +Yet when he would have met those eyes again that evening, when "Last +call for dinner in the dining-car" was sounding through the train, he +could not. Neither were they among those that peered from between parted +curtains in the dim light of the sleeper, many in fright, all in +anxiety, when somewhere in the dead of the summer night, long after all +occupants of the rearmost cars were wrapped in slumber, the long train +bumped to sudden jarring standstill, and up ahead there arose sound of +rush, of excitement and alarm. +</p> + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER II. +</p> + + +<p> +It was just after sunset when, for the second time, the hot boxes of the +recruit car had been treated to liberal libations from the water-tank, +and the belated train again moved on. +</p> + +<p> +Dinner had been ready in the dining-car a full hour, but so long as the +sickening smell of burning waste arose from the trucks immediately in +front very few of the passengers seemed capable of eating. The car, as a +consequence, was crowded towards eight o'clock, and the steward and +waiters were busy men. +</p> + +<p> +The evening air, drifting in through open windows, was cooler than it +had been during the day, but still held enough of the noontide caloric +to make fans a comfort, and Mr. Stuyvesant, dining at a "four-in-hand" +table well to the front, and attempting to hold his own in a somewhat +desultory talk with his fellow-men, found himself paying far more +attention to the lovely face of the girl across the aisle than to the +viands set before him. +</p> + +<p> +She was seated facing the front, and opposite the austere maiden +previously mentioned. Conversation had already begun, and now Stuyvesant +was able to see that, beautiful in feature as was her face in repose, +its beauty was far enhanced when animated and smiling. +</p> + +<p> +When to well-nigh perfect external features there is added the charm of +faultlessly even and snowy teeth and a smile that illumines the entire +face, shining in the eyes as it plays about the pretty, sensitive mouth, +a young woman is fully equipped for conquest. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant gazed in fascination uncontrollable. He envied the prim, +precise creature who sat unbending, severe, and, even while keeping up a +semblance of interest in the conversation, seemed to feel it a duty to +display disapprobation of such youthful charms. +</p> + +<p> +No woman is so assured that beauty is only skin deep as she who has none +of it. Her manner, therefore, had been decidedly stiff, and from that +had imperceptibly advanced to condescension, but when the steward +presently appeared with a siphon of iced seltzer, and, bowing +deferentially, said he hoped everything was to Miss Ray's liking, and +added that it seemed a long time since they had seen the captain and +supposed he must be a colonel now, the thin eyebrows of the tall maiden +were uplifted into little arches that paralleled the furrows of her brow +as she inquired: +</p> + +<p> +"Miss Ray?—from Fort Leavenworth?" +</p> + +<p> +The answer was a smiling nod of assent as the younger lady buried her +lovely, dark face in the flowers set before her by the assiduous waiter, +and Stuyvesant felt sure she was trying to control an inclination to +laugh. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you must excuse me if I have been a little—slow," said the elder +in evident perturbation. "You see—we meet such queer people +travelling—sometimes. Don't you find it so?" +</p> + +<p> +The dark face was dimpling now with suppressed merriment. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—occasionally," was the smiling answer. +</p> + +<p> +"But then, being the daughter of an army officer," pursued the other +hurriedly, "you have to travel a great deal. I suppose you really—have +no home?" she essayed in the half-hopeful tone to be expected of one who +considered that a being so endowed by nature must suffer some +compensatory discomforts. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes and—no," answered Miss Ray urbanely. "In one sense we army girls +have no home. In another, we have homes everywhere." +</p> + +<p> +It is a reproach in the eyes of certain severe moralists that a +fellow-being should be so obviously content with his or her lot. The +elder woman seemed to feel it a duty to acquaint this beaming creature +with the manifest deficiency in her moral make-up. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, but I should think most any one would rather have a real home, a +place where they weren't bounden to anybody, no matter if it was homely." +(She called it "humbly," and associated it in mind with the words of +Payne's immortal song.) "Now, when I went to see Colonel Ray about our +society, he told me he had to break up everything, going to Cuba, but he +didn't mention about your going West." +</p> + +<p> +"Father was a little low in his mind that day," said Miss Ray, a shade +of sadness passing over her face. "Both my brothers are in the service, +and one is barely seventeen." +</p> + +<p> +"Out at service!" interrupted the other. "You don't mean——" +</p> + +<p> +"No," was the laughing answer, and in Miss Ray's enjoyment of the +situation her eyes came perilously near seeking those of Mr. Stuyvesant, +which she well knew were fixed upon her. "I mean that both are in the +army." +</p> + +<p> +"Well—I thought not—still—I didn't know. It's all rather new to me, +this dealin' with soldiers, but I suppose I'll get to know all about it +after a spell. Our society's getting much encouraged." +</p> + +<p> +"Red Cross?" queried Miss Ray, with uplifted brows and evident interest, +yet a suspicion of incredulity. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, same thing, only <i>we</i> don't propose to levy contributions +right and left like they do. I am vice-president of the Society of +Patriotic Daughters of America, you know. I thought perhaps your father +might have told you. And our association is self-sustaining, at least it +will be as soon as we are formally recognized by the government. You +know the Red Cross hasn't any real standing, whereas our folks expect +the President to issue the order right away, making us part of the +regular hospital brigade. Now, your father was very encouraging, though +some officers we talked to were too stuck up to be decent. When I called +on General Drayton he just as much as up and told me we'd only be in the +way." +</p> + +<p> +Just here, it must be owned, Miss Ray found it necessary to dive under +the table for a handkerchief which she had not dropped. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Stuyvesant, ignoring the teachings of his childhood and gazing over +the rim of his coffee-cup, observed that she was with difficulty +concealing her merriment. Then, all of a sudden, her face, that had been +so full of radiance, became suddenly clouded by concern and distress. +The door at the head of the car had swung suddenly open and remained so, +despite the roar and racket of the wheels and the sweep of dust and +cinders down the aisle. The steward glanced up from his cupboard +opposite the kitchen window at the rear, and quickly motioned to some +one to shut that door. A waiter sprang forward, and then came the +steward himself. The look in the girl's face was enough for Stuyvesant. +He whirled about to see what had caused it, and became instantly aware +of a stout-built soldier swaying uneasily at the entrance and in thick +tones arguing with the waiter. He saw at a glance the man had been +drinking, and divined he was there to get more liquor. He was on the +point of warning the steward to sell him none, but was saved the +trouble. The steward bent down and whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"This makes the second time he's come in since six o'clock. I refused to +let him have a drop. Can't something be done to keep him out? We can't +lock the door, you know, sir." +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant quickly arose and stepped up the aisle. By this time +everybody was gazing towards the front entrance in concern and +curiosity. The colored waiter was still confronting the soldier as +though to prevent his coming farther into the car. The soldier, with +flushed and sodden face and angry eyes, had placed a hand on the broad +shoulder of the servant and was clumsily striving to put him aside. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant's tall, athletic figure suddenly shut both from view. Never +hesitating, he quickly elbowed the negro out of the way, seized the +doorknob with his left hand, throwing the door wide open, then, looking +the soldier full in the face, pointed to the tourist car with the other. +</p> + +<p> +"Go back at once," was all he said. +</p> + +<p> +The man had been hardly six days in service, and had learned little of +army life or ways. He was a whole American citizen, however, if he was +half drunk, and the average American thinks twice before he obeys a +mandate of any kind. This one coming from a tall young swell was +especially obnoxious. +</p> + +<p> +The uniform as yet had little effect on Recruit Murray. Where he hailed +from the sight of it had for years provoked only demonstrations of +derision and dislike. He didn't know who the officer was—didn't want to +know—didn't care. What he wanted was whiskey, and so long as the money +was burning in his pocket he knew no reason why he shouldn't have it. +Therefore, instead of obeying, he stood there, sullen and swaying, +scowling up as though in hate and defiance into the grave, set young +face. Another second and the thing was settled. Stuyvesant's right hand +grasped the blue collar at the throat, the long, slender fingers +gripping tight, and half shot, half lifted the amazed recruit across the +swaying platform and into the reeling car ahead. There he plumped his +captive down into a seat and sent for the corporal. Connelly came, +rubbing his eyes, and took in the situation at a glance. +</p> + +<p> +"I ordered him not to leave the car three hours ago, sir," he quickly +spoke. "But after supper I got drowsy and fell asleep in my section. +Then he skinned out. I'd iron him, sir, if I had anything of the kind." +</p> + +<p> +"No," said Stuyvesant, "don't think of that. Just keep a watch over him +and forbid his leaving the section. No, sir, none of that," he added, as +in drunken dignity Murray was searching for a match to light his pipe +and hide his humiliation. "There must be no smoking in this flimsy car, +corporal. A spark would set fire to it in a second." +</p> + +<p> +"Them was my orders, sir. This fellow knows it as well as I do. But he's +given trouble one way or other ever since we started. You hear that +again, now, Murray: no drink; no smoke. I'll see to it that he doesn't +quit the car again, sir," he concluded, turning appealingly to the young +officer, and Stuyvesant, taking a quiet look up and down the dimly +lighted, dusty aisle, was about to return to the "diner," when Murray +struggled to his feet. Balked in his hope of getting more drink, and +defrauded, as in his muddled condition it seemed to him, of the solace +of tobacco, the devil in him roused to evil effort by the vile liquor +procured surreptitiously somewhere along the line, the time had come for +him, as he judged, to assert himself before his fellows and prove +himself a man. +</p> + +<p> +"You think you're a better man than I am," he began thickly, glaring +savagely at the young officer. "But I'll be even with you, young fellow. +I'll——" And here ended the harangue, for, one broad hand clapped over +the leering mouth and the other grasping the back of his collar, +Corporal Connelly jammed him down on the seat with a shock that shook +the car. +</p> + +<p> +"Shut up, you drunken fool!" he cried. "Don't mind him, lieutenant. +He's only a day at the depot, sir. Sit still, you blackguard, or I'll +smash you!"—this to Murray, who, half suffocated, was writhing in his +effort to escape. "A—ch!" he cried, with sudden wrenching away of the +brawny hand, "the beast has bitten me," and the broad palm, dripping +with blood, was held up to the light. +</p> + +<p> +Deeply indented, there were the jagged marks of Murray's teeth. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, Foster, Hunt, grab this man and don't let him stir, hand or foot. +See what you get for giving a drunkard money. Grab him, I say!" shouted +Connelly, grinning with mingled pain and wrath as the lieutenant led him +to the wash-stand. +</p> + +<p> +Another recruit, a stalwart fellow, who had apparently seen previous +service, sprang to the aid of the first two named, and between them, +though he stormed and struggled a moment, the wretch was jammed and held +in his corner. +</p> + +<p> +Stanching the blood as best he could and bandaging the hand with his own +kerchief, Stuyvesant bade the corporal sit at an open window a moment, +for he looked a trifle faint and sick,—it was a brutal bite. But +Connelly was game. +</p> + +<p> +"That blackguard's got to be taught there's a God in Israel," he +exclaimed, as he turned back to the rear of the car. "I beg the +lieutenant's pardon, but—he is not in the regular army, I see," with a +glance at the collar of the young officer's blouse. "We sometimes get +hard cases to deal with, and this is one of them. This kind of a cur +wouldn't hesitate to shoot an officer in the back or stab him in the +dark if he didn't like him. I hope the lieutenant may never be bothered +with him again. No, damn you!" he added between his set teeth, as he +looked down at the sullen, scowling prisoner, "what you ought to have is +a good hiding, and what you'll get, if you give any more trouble, is a +roping, hand and foot. We ought to have irons on a trip like this, +lieutenant," he continued, glancing up into the calm, refined face of +the young soldier. "But I can get a rope, if you say so, and tie him in +his berth." +</p> + +<p> +"I have no authority in the matter," said Stuyvesant reflectively. "No +one has but you, that I know of. Perhaps he'll be quiet when he cools +down," and the lieutenant looked doubtfully at the semi-savage in the +section nearest the door. +</p> + +<p> +"He'll give no more trouble this night, anyhow," said Connelly, as the +officer turned to go. "And thank you, sir, for this," and he held up the +bandaged hand. "But I'll keep my eyes peeled whenever he's about +hereafter, and you'll be wise to do the same, sir." +</p> + +<p> +For one instant, as the lieutenant paused at the door-way and looked +back, the eyes of the two men met, his so brave and blue and clear; the +other's—Murray's—furtive, blood-shot, and full of hate. Then the door +slammed and Stuyvesant was gone. +</p> + +<p> +Twice again that night he visited the recruit car. At ten o'clock, after +enjoying for an hour or more the sight of Miss Ray in animated chat with +two of the six women passengers of the sleeper, and the sound of her +pleasant voice, Stuyvesant wandered into the diner for a glass of cool +Budweiser. +</p> + +<p> +"That's an ugly brute of a fellow that bit your corporal, sir," said the +steward. "I was in there just now, and he's as surly as a cur dog yet." +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant nodded without a word. He was in a petulant frame of mind. He +wanted "worst kind," as he would have expressed it, to know that girl, +but not a glance would she give him. She owed him one, thought he, for +letting that rabbit go. Moreover, being an army girl, as he had learned, +she should not be so offish with an officer. +</p> + +<p> +Then the readiness with which the corporal had "spotted" him as a +volunteer, as not a regular, occurred to him, and added to his faintly +irritable mood. True, his coat-collar bore the tell-tale letters U. S. +V., but he had served some years with one of the swellest of swell +Eastern regiments, whose set-up and style were not excelled by the +regulars, whose officers prided themselves upon their dress and bearing. +</p> + +<p> +If it was because he was not of the regular service that Miss Ray would +not vouchsafe him a glance, Mr. Stuyvesant was quite ready to bid her +understand he held himself as high as any soldier in her father's famous +corps. If it was not that, then what in blazes was it? +</p> + +<p> +He knew that in travelling cross continent in this way it was considered +the proper thing for an officer of the regular army to send his card by +the porter to the wife or daughter of any brother officer who might be +aboard, and to tender such civilities as he would be glad to have paid +his own were he so provided. He wondered whether it would do to send his +pasteboard with a little note to the effect that he had once met Colonel +Ray at the United Service Club, and would be glad to pay his respects to +the colonel's daughter. +</p> + +<p> +It was an unusual thing for Mr. Stuyvesant to quaff beer at any time, +except after heavy exercise at polo or tennis, but to-night he was +ruffled, and when the porter began making up the berths and dames and +damsels disappeared, he had wandered disconsolately into the diner and +ordered beer as his excuse. Then he crossed the platform and entered the +tourist. +</p> + +<p> +The night was hot and close. The men were lying two in a berth, as a +rule, the upper berths not being used. +</p> + +<p> +One or two, Murray among them, had not removed their trousers, but most +of them were stretched out in their undergarments, while others, +chatting in low tones, were watching the brakeman turning down the +lights. They made way respectfully as the lieutenant entered. Connelly +came to meet him and nodded significantly at Murray, who lay in a berth +near the middle of the car, still carefully watched by Hunt. Foster, +wearied, had turned in, and, with his face to the window, seemed to have +fallen asleep. The conductor came through, lantern in hand. +</p> + +<p> +"It's the quietest and best behaved lot, barring that chap, I ever +carried," said he to Stuyvesant. "But he's wicked enough for a dozen. +Wonder he don't go to sleep." +</p> + +<p> +"Humph! says he wants a bottle of beer," grunted Connelly. "Can't get to +sleep without it. I wouldn't give it to him if I had a kag." +</p> + +<p> +"He doesn't deserve it, of course," said the conductor. "What he ought +to have is an all-around licking. But I've known beer to have a soothing +effect on men who'd been drinking, and it might put him to sleep and +save bother." +</p> + +<p> +"Let him have it," said Stuyvesant briefly. "I'll send it in by the +steward. And, corporal, if you or any of your men would like it, I'll be +glad——" +</p> + +<p> +Some two or three looked quickly and expectantly up, as though they +might like it very much, but Corporal Connelly said he "dassent," he +"never took a drink of anything on duty since three years ago come +Fourth of July." So the others were abashed and would not ask. Older +hands would not have held their tongues. +</p> + +<p> +To Murray's surprise, a brimming glass of cool beer was presently +offered him. He gulped it thirstily down, and without a word held out +the glass for more. A grinning waiter obliged him with what remained in +the bottle. Murray asked if that was all, then, with something like a +grunt of dissatisfaction, rolled heavily over and turned his face to the +wall. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, of all the ungrateful cads I ever seen," said Hunt, "you're the +worst! D'ye know who sent that beer, Murray? It was the young officer +you insulted." But Murray's only answer at the moment was a demand that +Hunt shut up and let him go to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +The last thing Stuyvesant remembered before dozing off was that the +smell of those journal-boxes was getting worse. At two in the morning, +in the heart of the desert, the conductor had made his way through the +train and remarked that, despite that unpleasant odor, every man of the +recruit detachment was sound asleep. In a berth next the door the +steward of the dining-car had found room, and the entire car seemed +wrapped in repose. +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes later by the watch, it was wrapped in flames. +</p> + +<p> +Speaking of the matter later in the morning, the brakeman said it didn't +seem ten seconds after he had pulled the bell-rope and given the alarm +before Lieutenant Stuyvesant, a tall, slim figure in pajamas and +slippers, came bounding to his aid. +</p> + +<p> +The flames even then were bursting from under the steps and platform, +the dense smoke pouring from the rear door of the recruit car, and +coughing, choking, blinded, staggering, some of them scorched and +blistered, most of them clad only in undershirt and drawers, the +luckless young troopers came groping forth and were bundled on into the +interior of the diner. Some in their excitement strove to leap from the +train before it came to its bumping, grinding halt. Some were screaming +in pain and panic. Only one, Hunt, was dressed throughout in uniform. +</p> + +<p> +The steward of the diner, nearly suffocated before being dragged out of +his berth, was making vain effort to shove a way back into the blazing +car, crying that all his money was under that pillow. But it was +impossible to stem the torrent of human forms. +</p> + +<p> +The instant the train stopped, the flames shot upward through the +skylight and ventilator, and then the voice of Connelly was heard +yelling for aid. Seizing a blanket that had been dragged after him by +some bewildered recruit, and throwing it over his head and shoulders, +Stuyvesant, bending low, dove headlong into the dense wall of smoke. +</p> + +<p> +The flames came leaping and lapping out from the door-way the instant he +disappeared, and a groan of dismay arose from the little group already +gathered at the side of the track. Five, ten seconds of awful suspense, +and then, bending lower still, his loose clothing afire, his hair and +eyebrows singed, his face black with soot and smoke and seared by flame, +the young officer came plunging forth, dragging by the legs a prostrate, +howling man, and after them, blind and staggering, came Connelly. +</p> + +<p> +Eager hands received and guided the rescuers, leading them into the +diner, while the trainmen worked the stiff levers, broke loose the +coupling, and swung their lanterns in frantic signals to the engineer, +far ahead. +</p> + +<p> +Another moment and the blazing car was drawn away, run up the track a +hundred yards, and left to illumine the night and burn to ashes, while +male passengers swarmed about the dining-car, proffering stimulant and +consolation. +</p> + +<p> +Besides Stuyvesant and Corporal Connelly, two soldiers were seriously +burned. Every stitch of clothing not actually on their persons at the +moment of their escape was already consumed, and with it every ounce of +their soldier rations and supplies. +</p> + +<p> +The men least injured were those who, being nearest the rear door, were +first to escape. The men worst burned were those longest held within the +blazing car, barring one, Murray, whom Hunt had thoughtfully bound hand +and foot as he slept, reasoning that in that way only might his +guardians enjoy a like blessing. +</p> + +<p> +Connelly had tripped over the roaring bully as he lay on his back in the +aisle. Stuyvesant had rushed in, and between them they dragged him to a +place of safety. There, his limbs unbound, his tongue unloosed, Murray +indulged in a blast of malediction on the road, the company, the +government, his comrades, even his benefactors, and then thoughtfully +demanded drink. There was no longer a stern corporal to forbid, for +Connelly, suffering and almost sightless, had been led into a rear +coach. But there was no longer money with which to buy, for Foster's +last visible cent had gone up in smoke and flame, and, scorched and +smarting in a dozen places, wrapped in a blanket in lieu of clothes, the +dark-eyed young soldier sat, still trembling from excitement, by the +roadside. +</p> + +<p> +It was three hours before the wreck could be cleared, another car +procured, and the recruits bundled into it. Then, as dawn was spreading +over the firmament, the train pushed on, and the last thing Gerard +Stuyvesant was conscious of before, exhausted, he dropped off to +troubled sleep, was that a soft, slender hand was renewing the cool +bandage over his burning eyes, and that he heard a passenger say "That +little brunette—that little Miss Ray—was worth the hull carload of +women put together. She just went in and nursed and bandaged the burned +men like as though they'd been her own brothers." +</p> + +<p> +Certainly the young lady had been of particular service in the case of +Connelly and one of the seriously injured recruits. She had done +something for every man whose burns deserved attention, with a single +exception. +</p> + +<p> +Recruit Foster had declared himself in need of no aid, and with his face +to the wall lay well out of sight. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER III. +</p> + + +<p> +At one of the desert stations in the Humboldt Valley a physician boarded +the train under telegraphic orders from the company and went some +distance up the road. +</p> + +<p> +He had brought lint and bandages and soothing lotions, but in several +cases said no change was advisable, that with handkerchiefs contributed +by the passengers and bandages made from surplus shirts, little Miss Ray +had extemporized well and had skilfully treated her bewildered patients. +Questioned and complimented both, Miss Ray blushingly admitted that she +had studied "First Aid to the Wounded" and had had some instructions in +the post hospitals of more than one big frontier fort. Passengers had +ransacked bags and trunks and presented spare clothing to the few +recruits whom the garments would fit. But most of the men were shoeless +and blanketed when morning dawned, and all were thankful when served +with coffee and a light breakfast, though many even then were too much +excited and some in too much pain to eat. +</p> + +<p> +Mellen, the laughing and joyous lad of yesterday, was nursing a +blistered hand and arm and stalking about the car in stocking feet and a +pair of trousers two sizes too big for him. Murray, now that the +corporal was no longer able to retain active command, had resumed his +truculent and swaggering manner. Almost the first thing he did was to +demand more money of Foster, and call him a liar when told that every +dollar was burned. Then he sought to pick a fight with Hunt, who had, as +he expressed it, "roped him like a steer," but the carload by this time +had had too much of his bluster and made common cause against him. +</p> + +<p> +Two brawny lads gave him fair warning that if he laid a finger on Hunt +they would "lay him out." Then he insisted on seeing the corporal and +complaining of ill-treatment. And with such diversion the long day wore +on. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant, refreshed by several hours of sleep, yet looking somewhat +singed and blistered, went through the car to see the sufferers along +towards eleven o'clock. He had inquired of the porter for Miss Ray, who +was not visible when he had finished his toilet, and was told that she +had remained up until after the doctor came aboard, and was now +sleeping. Finding three of the men stretched in the berths with comrades +fanning them, he ordered cooling drinks compounded by the steward, and +later, as they began the climb of the Sierras and the men grew hungry, +he sought to get a substantial luncheon for them on the diner, but was +told their supply on hand was barely sufficient for the regular +passengers. +</p> + +<p> +So when the train stopped at Truckee he tumbled off with three of the +party, bought up a quantity of bread and cheese, soda crackers and +fruit, and after consultation with the conductor wired ahead to +Sacramento for a hot dinner for eighteen men to be ready at the +restaurant in the station, it being now certain that they could not +reach San Francisco before midnight. "The company ought to do that," +said the trainmen, and "the company" had authorized the light breakfast +tendered earlier in the day. In view of the fact that every item of +personal property in possession of the recruits had been destroyed, +together with every crumb of their rations, nobody questioned that the +company would only be too glad to do that much for the men so nearly +burned alive in their travelling holocaust. +</p> + +<p> +Not a doubt was entertained among either passengers or trainmen as to +the origin of the fire. It had started underneath, and the dry woodwork +burned like tinder, and what was there to cause it but those blazing +boxes on the forward truck? The conductor knew there had been no smoking +aboard the car, and that every man was asleep when he went through at +two o'clock. The brakeman had prophesied disaster and danger. It was +God's mercy that warned the poor fellows in time. +</p> + +<p> +Not until along in the afternoon, as they were spinning swiftly down +through the marvellous scenery about Blue Cañon and Cape Horn, did Miss +Ray again appear. Stuyvesant had been sitting awhile by Connelly, and +had arranged with him to wire to the Presidio for ambulances to meet the +party at Oakland Pier, for two at least would be unable to walk, and, +until provided with shoes and clothing, few could march the distance. +Then he had spent a few minutes with the other patients. +</p> + +<p> +When he returned to the sleeper there at last was the object of so many +of his thoughts. But she was reclining wearily, her head upon a pillow, +and the austere maid and two other women stood guard over her. "A severe +headache," was the explanation, and Stuyvesant felt that he must defer +his intrusion until later. +</p> + +<p> +Somewhere down the western slope of the Sierras he found at a station +some delicious cherries, and a little basket of the choicest he made +bold to send with his compliments and the hope that her indisposition +would soon disappear. The porter came back with the lady's thanks. The +cherries were "lovely," but Stuyvesant observed that not more than one +or two found their way to those pearly teeth, the rest being devoured by +her too devoted attendants. +</p> + +<p> +It was after nine at night when he marshalled his motley party into the +dining-room at Sacramento and they were made glad by substantial, +well-cooked food, with abundant hot coffee. They thanked him gratefully, +did many of the young fellows, and hoped they might meet more such +officers. An elderly passenger who had quietly noted the outlay of money +to which Mr. Stuyvesant had been subjected strolled up to the manager. +"That young gentleman has had to pay too much to-day. Just receipt the +bill if you please," said he, and drew forth a roll of treasury notes. +Stuyvesant went in search of this new benefactor when he heard of it. +"There was really no necessity, sir," said he, "though I fully +appreciate your kindness. The company will doubtless reimburse me for +any such outlay." +</p> + +<p> +"If they will reimburse you, my young friend," said the veteran +traveller drily, "they'll reimburse me. At all events, I know them +better than you do, and I don't intend to let you bear all the risk." +The lieutenant argued, but the elder was firm. As the men shuffled back +to the train with full stomachs and brightened faces, Murray hulking by +them with averted eyes and Mellen tendering a grinning salute, the +manager came forward. "There's one man shy, sir, even counting the +dinners sent aboard," said he, and Hunt, hearing it, turned back and +explained. +</p> + +<p> +"It is Foster, sir. He said he wasn't hungry and couldn't eat. I reckon +it's because he wouldn't turn out in such looking clothes as were given +him." +</p> + +<p> +Yet when Stuyvesant went to the car to see whether the young soldier +could not be induced to change his mind, it was discovered that he had +turned out. His berth was empty. Nor did he appear until just as the +train was starting. He explained that he had stepped off on the outer +side away from the crowd for a little fresh air. There was plenty of +bread and cheese left from luncheon. He didn't care for anything, +really. And, indeed, he seemed most anxious to get back to his berth and +away from the lieutenant, in whose presence he was obviously and +painfully ill at ease. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant turned away, feeling a trifle annoyed or hurt, he couldn't +tell which, and swung himself to the platform of the sleeper as it came +gliding by. At last he could hope to find opportunity to thank Miss Ray +for her attention to the injured men and incidentally her ministrations +on his own account. Then, once arrived at San Francisco, where he had +friends of rank and position in the army, he would surely meet someone +who knew her father well and possibly herself, some one to present him +in due form, but for the present he could only hope to say a +conventional word or two of gratitude, and he was striving to frame his +thoughts as he hastened into the brightly lighted car and towards the +section where last he had seen her. +</p> + +<p> +It was occupied by a new-comer, a total stranger, and the three women +recently sharing her section and more than sharing her cherries were now +in animated chat across the aisle. In blank surprise and disappointment, +Stuyvesant turned and sought the porter. +</p> + +<p> +"Miss Ray! Yes, suh. She done got off at Sacramento, suh. Dere was +friends come to meet her, and took her away in the carriage." +</p> + +<p> +Once more Stuyvesant found himself constrained to seek the society of +the maiden of uncertain years. Her presence was forbidding, her +countenance severe, and her voice and intonation something appalling. +But she might know Miss Ray's address; he could at least write his +thanks; but he found the vice-president of the Order of the Patriotic +Daughters of America in evil mood. She didn't know Miss Ray's address, +and in the further assertion that she didn't want to know too readily +betrayed the fact that her petulance was due to her not having been +favored therewith. +</p> + +<p> +"After all I did for her last night and to-day 'twould have been a +mighty little thing to tell where she was going to stop, but just soon's +her fine friends came aboard she dropped us like as if we weren't fit to +notice." +</p> + +<p> +The irate lady, however, seemed to find scant sympathy and support in +the faces of her listeners, some of whom had long since wearied of her +strident voice and oracular ways. It was well remembered that so far +from being of aid or value in caring for the injured men, she had +pestered people with undesired advice and interference, had made much +noise and no bandages, and later, when an official of the company +boarded the train, had constituted herself spokeswoman for the +passengers, not at all to their advantage and much to his disgust. Then, +finding that Miss Ray was looked upon as the only heroine of the +occasion, she had assumed a guardianship, so to speak, over that young +lady which became almost possessive in form, so passively was it +tolerated. +</p> + +<p> +She had plied the girl with questions as to the friends who were to meet +her on arrival in San Francisco, and Miss Ray had smilingly given +evasive answers. +</p> + +<p> +When, therefore, they neared Sacramento and the vice-president announced +her intention of sallying forth to see to it that proper victuals were +provided for her soldier boys, Miss Ray had a few minutes in which to +make her preparations, and the next thing the vice-president saw of her +supposed ward and dependant, that young lady was in the embrace of a +richly dressed and most distinguished looking woman, whose gray hair +only served to heighten the refinement of her features. Just behind the +elder lady stood a silk-hatted dignitary in the prime of life, and +behind him a footman or valet, to whom the porter was handing Miss Ray's +belongings. +</p> + +<p> +And what the vice-president so much resented was that Miss Ray had not +only never mentioned her purpose of leaving the train at Sacramento, but +never so much as introduced her friends, at whom the vice-president +smiled invitingly while accepting Miss Ray's courteous but brief thanks +for "so much attention during the afternoon," but who merely bowed in +acknowledgment when she would have addressed them on the subject of Miss +Ray's being of so much help to her when help was so much needed, and who +spirited the young lady away to the handsome carriage awaiting her. +</p> + +<p> +The vice-president was distinctly of the opinion that folks didn't need +to slink off in that way unless they were ashamed of where they were +going or afraid of being found out, whereat Stuyvesant found himself +gritting his teeth with wrath, and so whirled about and left her. +</p> + +<p> +It was after midnight when they reached the pier at Oakland. There, +under the great train-shed, track after track was covered with troop +cars and a full regiment lay sleeping. +</p> + +<p> +An alert young officer of the guard raised his hand in salute as +Stuyvesant addressed him. No, there were no ambulances, no soldiers from +the Presidio. They might be waiting across the ferry. +</p> + +<p> +But how was he to get the injured men across the ferry, thought +Stuyvesant. Two of them would have to be carried. +</p> + +<p> +The long train, except that recruit car, was now emptied. The throng of +passengers had gone on through the waiting-rooms and up the stairway to +the saloon deck of the huge ferry-boat. If he purposed going, no time +was to be lost, and the porter bearing his hand-luggage ventured a word +to that effect. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant looked back. There were protruding heads at many of the +windows of the recruit car, but, obedient to the instructions given by +Connelly, no man, apparently, had left his place, and Connelly, though +suffering, had evidently resumed control, much benefited by the services +of another physician who had boarded the train in the late afternoon and +renewed the bandages and dressings of the injured men. Then Stuyvesant +became suddenly aware of a messenger-boy with a telegram. It was +addressed to "Lieutenant Stuyvesant, A. D. C., Train No. 2, Oakland." +Tearing it open, he read as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"Report by wire condition of Recruit Foster. If serious, have him +conveyed to St. Paul's Hospital. Commission as lieutenant and signal +officer awaits him here." +</p> + +<p> +It was signed by the adjutant-general at department head-quarters, San +Francisco. +</p> + +<p> +But the boy had still another. This too he held forth to Stuyvesant, and +the latter, not noticing that it was addressed "Commanding Officer U. S. +Troops, Train No. 2," mechanically opened and read and made a spring for +the car. +</p> + +<p> +The message was from Port Costa, barely thirty miles away, and briefly +said: "Any your men missing? Soldier left car here believed jumped +overboard return trip ferry-boat." +</p> + +<p> +One man was missing. Recruit Foster, for whom a commission as lieutenant +and signal officer was waiting at department head-quarters, could not be +found. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER IV. +</p> + + +<p> +In the busy week that followed Lieutenant Stuyvesant had his full share +of work and no time for social distraction. Appointed to the staff of +General Vinton, with orders to sail without delay for Manila, the young +officer found his hours from morn till late at night almost too short +for the duties demanded of him. +</p> + +<p> +The transports were almost ready. The troops had been designated for the +expedition. The supplies were being hurried aboard. The general had his +men all the livelong day at the rifle-ranges or drill-grounds, for most +of the brigade were raw volunteers who had been rushed to the point of +rendezvous with scant equipment and with less instruction. The camps +were thronged with men in all manner of motley as to dress and no little +variety as to dialect. Few of the newly appointed officers in the +Department of Supply were versed in their duties, and the young regulars +of the staff of the commanding general were working sixteen hours out of +the twenty-four, coaching their comrades of the volunteers. +</p> + +<p> +The streets were crowded with citizens eager to welcome and applaud the +arriving troops. Hotels were thronged. Restaurants were doing a thriving +business, for the army ration did not too soon commend itself in its +simplicity to the stomachs of some thousands of young fellows who had +known better diet if no better days, many of their number having left +luxurious homes and surroundings and easy salaries to shoulder a musket +for three dollars a week. +</p> + +<p> +Private soldiers in blue flannel shirts were learning to stand attention +and touch their caps to young men in shoulder-straps whom they had +laughed at and called "tin soldiers" a year agone because they belonged +to the militia—a thing most of the gilded youth in many of our Western +cities seemed to scorn as beneath them. +</p> + +<p> +In the wave of patriotic wrath and fervor that swept the land when the +Maine was done to death in Havana Harbor, many and many a youth who has +sneered at the State Guardsmen learned to wish that he too had given +time and honest effort to the school of the soldier, for now, unless he +had sufficient "pull" to win for him a staff position, his only hope was +in the ranks. +</p> + +<p> +And so, even in the recruit detachments of the regulars, were found +scores of young men whose social status at home was on a plane much +higher than that of many of their officers. But the time had come when +the long and patient effort of the once despised militiaman had won +deserved recognition. The commissions in the newly raised regiments were +held almost exclusively by officers who had won them through long +service with the National Guard. +</p> + +<p> +And in the midst of all the whirl of work in which he found himself, +Lieutenant Stuyvesant had been summoned to the tent of General Drayton, +commanding the great encampment on the sand-lots south of the Presidio +reservation, and bidden to tell what he knew of one Walter F. Foster, +recruit —th Cavalry, member of the detachment sent on via the Denver +and Rio Grande to Ogden, then transferred to the Southern Pacific train +Number 2 <i>en route</i> to San Francisco, which detachment was burned +out of its car and the car out of its train early on the morning of the +—— of June, 1898, somewhere in the neighborhood of a station with the +uncouth name of Beowawe in the heart of the Humboldt Desert, and which +Recruit Foster had totally disappeared the following evening, having +been last seen by his comrades as the train was ferried across Carquinez +Straits, thirty miles from Oakland Pier, and later by railway hands at +Port Costa on the back trip of the big boat to the Benicia side. +</p> + +<p> +There was little Stuyvesant could tell. He hardly remembered the man +except as a fine-featured young fellow who seemed shy, nervous, and +unstrung, something Stuyvesant had hitherto attributed to the startling +and painful experience of the fire, and who, furthermore, seemed +desirous of dodging the lieutenant, which circumstance Stuyvesant could +not fathom at all, and if anything rather resented. +</p> + +<p> +He explained to the general that he was in no wise responsible for the +care of the detachment. He had only casually met them at Ogden, and +circumstances later had thrown him into closer relation. +</p> + +<p> +But the veteran general was desirous of further information. He sat at +the pine table in his plainly furnished tent, looking thoughtfully into +the frank and handsome face of the young officer, his fingers beating a +tattoo on the table-top. The general's eyes were sombre, even sad at +times. Beneath them lay lines of care and sorrow. His voice was low, his +manner grave, courteous, even cold. He was studying his man and +discussing in his mind how far he might confide in him. +</p> + +<p> +Obedient to the general's invitation, Stuyvesant had taken a chair close +to the commander's table and sat in silence awaiting further question. +At last it came. +</p> + +<p> +"You say he left nothing—no trace—behind?" +</p> + +<p> +"There was nothing to leave, general. He had only a suit of underwear, +in which he escaped from the car. The men say he had had money and a +valise filled with things which he strove to keep from sight of any of +his fellows. They say that he befriended a tough character by the name +of Murray, who had enlisted with him, and they think Murray knows +something about him." +</p> + +<p> +"Where is Murray now?" asked the chief. +</p> + +<p> +"In the guard-house at the Presidio. He gave the corporal in charge a +good deal of trouble and was placed under guard the morning they reached +the city. They had to spend the night with the Iowa regiment at Oakland +Pier." +</p> + +<p> +Again the gray-haired general gave himself to thought. "Could you tell +how he was dressed when he disappeared?" he finally asked. +</p> + +<p> +"A young man in the second sleeper gave him a pair of worn blue serge +trousers and his morocco slippers. Somebody else contributed a +<i>négligé</i> shirt and a black silk travelling cap. He was wearing +these when last I spoke to him at Sacramento, where he would not eat +anything. I—I had wired ahead for dinner for them." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said the general with sudden indignation in his tone, "and I'm +told the company refused to reimburse you. What excuse did they give?" +</p> + +<p> +"It's of little consequence, sir," laughed Stuyvesant. "The loss hasn't +swamped me." +</p> + +<p> +"That's as may be," answered the general. "It's the principle involved. +That company is coining money by the thousands transporting troops at +full rates, and some of the cars it furnished were simply abominable. +What was the excuse given?" +</p> + +<p> +"They said, or rather some official wrote, that they wouldn't reimburse +us because they had already had to sustain the loss of that car due to +the carelessness of our men, and their own train-hands, general, knew +there was no smoking and the men were all asleep. Foster had a very +narrow escape, and Corporal Connelly was badly burned lugging Murray +out." +</p> + +<p> +The general took from a stack of correspondence at his right hand a +letter on club paper, studied it a moment, and then glanced up at +Stuyvesant. "Was not Colonel Ray's regiment with you at Chickamauga?" he +asked. +</p> + +<p> +"It was expected when I left, general. You mean the —th Kentucky?" +</p> + +<p> +"I mean his volunteer regiment—yes. I was wondering whether any of his +family had gone thither. But you wouldn't be apt to know." +</p> + +<p> +And Stuyvesant felt the blood beginning to mount to his face. He could +answer for it that one member had not gone thither. He was wondering +whether he ought to speak of it when Drayton finally turned upon him and +held forth the letter. "Read that," said he, "but regard it as +confidential." +</p> + +<p> +It was such a letter as one frank old soldier might write another. It +was one of a dozen that had come to Drayton that day asking his interest +in behalf of some young soldier about joining his command. It was dated +at Cincinnati five days earlier, and before Stuyvesant had read half +through the page his hand was trembling. +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"><p> + "Dear Drayton," it said, "I'm in a snarl, and I want your help. My + sister's pet boy came out to try his hand at ranching near us last + year. He had some money from his father and everything promised + well for his success if he could have stuck to business. But he + couldn't. Billy Ray, commanding my first squadron, was stationed + with me, and the first thing I knew the boy was head over ears in + love with Billy's daughter. I can't blame him. Marion, junior, is + as pretty a girl as ever grew up in the army, and she's a brave + and winsome lass besides—her Dad all over, as her mother says. +</p> + +<p> + "Walter's ranch was thirty miles away, but he'd ride the sixty six + times a week, if need be, to have a dance with Maidie Ray, and the + cattle could go to the wolves. Then came the war. The Governor of + Kentucky gave Ray the command of a regiment, and that fool boy of + mine begged him to take him along. Ray couldn't. Besides, I don't + think he half liked Walter's devotions to the girl, though he + hadn't anything against him exactly. Then I was retired and sent + home, and the next thing my sister, Mrs. Foster, came tearing in + to tell me Walter had gone and enlisted—enlisted in the regulars + at Denver and was going to 'Frisco and Manila, as he couldn't get + to Cuba. She's completely broke up about it. +</p> + +<p> + "Foster went to Washington and saw the President and got a + commission for him in the signal corps,—volunteers,—and he + should be with you by the time you get this, so I wired ahead. +</p> + +<p> + "He isn't altogether a bad lot, but lacks horse sense, and gave + his parents a good deal of anxiety in his varsity days abroad. + He was in several scrapes along with a boon companion who seems + to have been so much like him, physically and morally, that, + mother-like, Mrs. Foster is sure that very much of which her + Walter was accused was really done by Wally's chum. I'm not so + sure of this myself, but at all events Foster made it a condition + that the boy should cut loose from the evil association, as he + called it, before certain debts would be paid. I don't know what + soldier stuff there is in him—if any—but give him a fair start + for old times' sake. +</p> + +<p> + "I need not tell you that I wish you all the joy and success + the double stars can bring. I'd be in it too but for that old + Spotsylvania shot-hole and rheumatics. My eagles, however, will + fold their wings and take a rest, but we'll flap 'em and scream + every time you make a ten-strike. +</p> + +<p> + "Yours, as ever, +</p> + +<p> + "<span class="sc">Martindale</span>." +</p></div> + +<p> +Stuyvesant did not look up at once after finishing the letter. When he +did, and before he could speak, the general was holding out some +telegrams, and these too he took and read—the almost agonized appeals +of a mother for news of her boy—the anxious inquiries, coupled with +suggestions of the veteran soldier concerning the only son of a beloved +sister. Drayton's fine, thoughtful face was full of sympathy—his eyes +clouded with anxiety and sorrow. Martindale was not the only old soldier +in search of son or nephew that fateful summer. +</p> + +<p> +"You see how hard it is to be able to send no tidings whatever," he +said. "I sent to you in the hope that you might think of some possible +explanation, might suggest some clue or theory. Can you?" +</p> + +<p> +There was just one moment of silence, and then again Stuyvesant looked +up, his blue eyes meeting the anxious gaze of the commander. +</p> + +<p> +"General," he hazarded, "it is worth while to try Sacramento. Miss Ray +is there." +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER V. +</p> + + +<p> +At sunset that evening the regiments destined to embark with the +expedition commanded by General Vinton were paraded for inspection in +full marching order, while a dozen other commands less fortunate looked +enviously on. The day had been raw and chilly. The wind blew salt and +strong, sending the fog in dripping clouds sailing in at the Golden +Gate, obscuring all the bold northern shore, and streaming up the sandy +slopes and over the wide wastes south of Sutro Heights. Men who owned +overcoats were few and far between, so while the designated battalions +stood and shivered in the wet grass, the mass of spectators hovered +about in ponchos or wrapped in blankets, the down-turned brims of their +campaign hats dripping heavily and contributing much to the weird and +unmilitary look of the wearers. Officers had donned Mackintoshes and +heavy boots. Badges of rank, except in cases of those provided with the +regulation overcoat, were lost to sight. Only among the regulars and one +or two regiments made up from the National Guard were uniforms so +complete that in their foul-weather garb it was possible to distinguish +colonel from subaltern, staff sergeant from private. +</p> + +<p> +In front of the guard-house at the Presidio a dozen cavalrymen armed +with the new carbine and dressed throughout for winter service, this +being San Francisco June, had formed ranks under command of a sergeant +and stood silently at ease awaiting the coming of the officer of the +day. The accurate fit of their warm overcoats, the cut of their trooper +trousers, the polish of their brasses and buttons, the snug, trim "set" +of their belts, all combined to tell the skilled observer that these +were regulars. +</p> + +<p> +As such they were objects of interest and close scrutiny to the little +knots of volunteers who had sauntered in to pick up points. To the +former it looked odd and out of gear to see the forage-caps and broad +white stripes of commissioned officers mingling with the slouch hats and +ill-fitting nether garments of the rank and file. +</p> + +<p> +It was too early in the campaign for "the boys" to have settled down to +realization of the subtle distinction between their status as soldiers +of the Nation and citizens of a sovereign State. To private A of the far +Westerners his company commander was still "Billy, old boy," or at best +"Cap.," save when actually in ranks and on drill or parade. +</p> + +<p> +To the silently observant volunteer, on the other hand, it was just as +odd to note that when a gray-haired veteran sergeant, issuing from the +guard-house, caught sight of a trig, alert little fellow, with beardless +face and boyish features and keen, snapping dark eyes, hastening towards +him in the garb of a lieutenant of cavalry, the veteran was suddenly +transformed into a rigid statue in light blue, standing attention and at +the salute—a phenomenon that extracted from the infant officer only a +perfunctory touch of finger to cap visor and not so much as a glance. +</p> + +<p> +How could the "boys" from far Nebraska be supposed to know that the +little chap had spent his whole life in the shadow of the flag, and had +many a time in baby days been dandled on the very arm that was now so +deferentially bent and uplifted in soldier homage? What was there in the +manner of the youngster to betray the fact that he dreaded old Sergeant +Rigney's criticism even more than that of his commanding officer? +</p> + +<p> +Then came another phenomenon. +</p> + +<p> +At a brief, curt "Sergeant, get out your prisoners," from the beardless +lips, there was instant fumbling of big keys and clanking of iron from +the hidden recesses of the guard-house. +</p> + +<p> +The dismounted troopers sprang suddenly to attention. The guard split in +two at its middle, each half facing outward, marched half a dozen paces +away like the duellists of old days from the back to back position, +halted, faced front once more, and stood again at ease, with a broad gap +of a dozen paces between their inner flanks. +</p> + +<p> +Into this space, shuffling dejectedly in some cases, stalking defiantly +in others, slinking, shivering, and decrepit in the case of two or three +poor wrecks of the rum fiend, a stream of humanity in soiled soldier +garb came pouring from the prison door and lined up under the eyes of +vigilant non-commissioned officers in front of the young lieutenant in +command. +</p> + +<p> +There they stood, their eyes shifting nervously from group to group of +huddling spectators, their shoulders hunched up to their ears—the +riff-raff of the garrison—the few desperate, dangerous characters from +the surrounding camps, an uncouth, uncanny lot at any time, but looking +its worst in the drip of the floating fog-wreaths and the gloom and +despond of the dying day. The boom of the sunset gun from Alcatraz fell +sullenly on the ear even as the soft trumpets of the cavalry, close at +hand, began sounding the "Retreat." At its last prolonged note the sharp +crack of an old three-inch rifle echoed the report from Alcatraz, and +from the invisible, mist-shrouded top of the staff the dripping folds of +the storm-flag came flapping down in view, limp and bedraggled, and the +guard sprang again to attention as a burly, red-faced, hearty-looking +soldier, with a captain's insignia in loop and braid on the sleeves of +his overcoat, broke a way through the group of lookers-on and, barely +waiting for the salute and report of the young lieutenant commanding, +began a sharp scrutiny of the prisoners before him. +</p> + +<p> +Down along the line he went, until at the fourth man from the left in +the front rank he stopped short. A bulky, thick-set soldier stood there, +a sullen, semi-defiant look about his eyes, a grim set to the jaws +bristling with a week-old beard of dirty black. Then came the snapping +colloquy. +</p> + +<p> +"Your name Murray?" +</p> + +<p> +"That's what they call me." +</p> + +<p> +"What was your name before that?" +</p> + +<p> +"Jim." +</p> + +<p> +Whereat there was a titter in the ranks of prisoners. Some of the guard +even allowed their mouths to expand, and the groups of volunteers, +chuckling in keen enjoyment, came edging in closer. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly the voice of the officer of the guard was heard ordering +silence, and faces straightened out in the twinkling of an eye. +</p> + +<p> +The elder officer, the captain, grew a trifle redder, but he was master +of himself and the situation. It is with school-boys as with soldiers, +their master is the man whom pranks or impudence cannot annoy. The +officer of the day let no tone of temper into his next question. Looking +straight into the shifting eyes, he waited for perfect silence, and then +spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"Jim what? I wish the name under which you served in your previous +enlistment." +</p> + +<p> +"Never said I'd served before." +</p> + +<p> +"No. You declared you had not. But I know better. You're a deserter from +the Seventh Cavalry." +</p> + +<p> +The face under the shrouding campaign hat went gray white with sudden +twitch of the muscles, then set again, rigid and defiant. The eyes +snapped angrily. The answer was sharp, yet seemed, as soldiers say, to +"hang fire" a second. +</p> + +<p> +"Never seen the Seventh Cavalry in my life." +</p> + +<p> +The officer of the day turned and beckoned to a figure hitherto kept +well in the background, screened by the groups of surrounding +volunteers. A man of middle age, smooth shaven and stout, dressed in +business sack-suit, came sturdily forward and took position by the +captain's side. +</p> + +<p> +At sight of the new-comer Murray's face, that had regained a bit of its +ruddy hue, again turned dirty white, and the boy lieutenant, eying him +closely, saw the twitch of his thin, half-hidden lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Point out your man," said the captain to the new arrival. +</p> + +<p> +The civilian stepped forward, and without a word twice tapped with his +forefinger the broad breast of Prisoner Murray and, never looking at +him, turned again to the officer of the day. +</p> + +<p> +"What was his name in the Seventh?" asked the latter. +</p> + +<p> +"Sackett." +</p> + +<p> +The captain turned to the officer of the guard. "Mr. Ray," said he, +"separate Murray from the garrison prisoners and have him put in a cell. +That man must be carefully guarded. You may dismiss the guard, sir." +</p> + +<p> +And, followed by the stranger, Captain Kress was leaving the ground when +Murray seemed to recover himself, and in loud and defiant voice gave +tongue,— +</p> + +<p> +"That man's a damned liar, and this is an outrage." +</p> + +<p> +"Shut up, Murray!" shouted the sergeant of the guard, scandalized at +such violation of military proprieties. "It's gagged you'll be, you +idiot," he added between his set teeth, as with scowling face he bore +down on the equally scowling prisoner. "Come out of that and step along +here ahead of me. I'll put you where shoutin' won't help." And slowly, +sullenly, Murray obeyed. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly and in silence the groups of spectators broke up and sauntered +away as the last of the prisoners dragged back into the guard-house, and +the guard itself broke ranks and went within doors, leaving only the +sentry pacing mechanically the narrow, hard-beaten path, the sergeant, +and at the turn of the road, the young lieutenant whom Captain Kress had +addressed as Mr. Ray. This officer, having silently received his +superior's orders and seen to it that Murray was actually "behind the +bars," had again come forth into the gathering twilight, the gloaming of +a cheerless day, and having hastened to the bend from which point the +forms of the officer of the day and his associate were still faintly +visible, stood gazing after them, a puzzled look in his brave young +face. +</p> + +<p> +Not yet a month in possession of his commission, here was a lad to whom +every iota of the routine of a lieutenant's life was as familiar as +though he had drawn the pay for a decade. +</p> + +<p> +Born and bred in the army, taught from early boyhood to ride and shoot, +to spar and swim, spending his vacation in saddle and his schooldays in +unwilling study, an adept in every healthful and exhilarating sport, +keen with rifle and revolver, with shotgun and rod, with bat and +racquet, with the gloves and Indian clubs, the nimblest quarter-back and +dodger, the swiftest runner of his school, it must be owned that Mr. +Sanford Ray was a most indifferent scholar. Of geography, history, and +languages he had rather more than a smattering because of occasional +tours abroad when still at an impressionable age. Yet Sandy "took more +stock," as he expressed it, and "stawk," as he called it, in Sioux and +the sign language than he did in French or German, knew far more of the +Rockies and Sierras than he did of the Alps, studied the European +cavalry with the eye of an accomplished critic, and stoutly maintained +that while they were bigger swells and prettier to look at, they could +neither ride nor shoot to compare with the sturdy troopers of his +father's squadron. +</p> + +<p> +"As to uniforms," said Sandy, "anybody could look swagger in the lancer +and huzzar rig. It takes a man to look like a soldier in what our +fellows have to wear." +</p> + +<p> +It wasn't the field garb Sandy despised, but the full dress, the blue +and yellow enormity in which our troopers are compelled to appear. +</p> + +<p> +It had been the faint hope of his fond parents that Master Sandy would +grow up to be something, by which was meant a lawyer, an artist, +architect, engineer,—something in civil life that promised home and +fortune. But the lad from babyhood would think of nothing but the army +and with much misgiving, in Sandy's fifteenth year, his father shipped +him to Kentucky, where they were less at home than in Kansas, and gave +him a year's hard schooling in hopes of bracing up his mathematics. +</p> + +<p> +Sandy was wild to go to West Point, and at the bottom of his heart Major +Ray would have rejoiced had he thought it possible for Sandy to pull +through; but ruefully he minded him how hard a task was his own, and how +close he came to failure at the semi-annual exams. "Sandy hates Math. +even more than I did," said he to Marion, his devoted wife. "It was all +I could do to squirm through when the course was nowhere near as hard as +it is to-day, so don't set your heart on it, little woman." +</p> + +<p> +The appointment was not so hard to get, for Major Billy had a host of +friends in his native State, and an old chum at the Point assured him he +could coach young Sandy through the preliminary, and indeed he did. +Sandy scraped in after six months' vigorous work, managed to hold his +own through the first year's tussle with algebra and geometry, which he +had studied hard and faithfully before, was a pet in his class, and the +pride and joy of his mother's and sister's heart in yearling camp, where +he blossomed out in corporal's chevrons and made as natty and active a +first sergeant as could be found while the "furlough class" was away. +</p> + +<p> +But the misery began with "analytical" and the crisis came with +calculus, and to the boy's bitter sorrow, after having been turned back +one year on the former and failing utterly on the latter, the verdict of +the Academic Board went dead against him, and stout old soldiers thereon +cast their votes with grieving hearts, for "Billy Ray's Boy" was a lad +they hated to let go, but West Point rules are inexorable. +</p> + +<p> +So too were there saddened hearts far out on the frontier where the +major was commanding a cavalry post in a busy summer, but neither he nor +Marion had one word of blame or reproach for the boy. Loving arms, and +eyes that smiled through their sorrow, welcomed him when the little chap +returned to them. "Don't anybody come to meet me," he wrote. "Just let +mother be home." And so it was settled. +</p> + +<p> +He sprang from the wagon that met him at the station, went hand in hand +with his father into the hall, and then, with one sob, bounded into +Marion's outstretched arms as she stood awaiting him in the little army +parlor. +</p> + +<p> +The major softly closed the door and with blinking eyes stole away to +stables. There had been another meeting a little later when Marion the +second was admitted, and the girl stole silently to her brother's side +and her arms twined about his neck. Her love for him had been something +like adoration through all the years of girlhood, and now, though he was +twenty and she eighteen, its fervor seemed to know no diminution. They +had done their best, all of them, to encourage while the struggle +lasted, but to teach him that should failure come, it would come without +reproach or shame. +</p> + +<p> +The path to success in other fields was still before him. The road to +the blessed refuge of home and love and sympathy would never close. +</p> + +<p> +It was hard to reconcile the lad at first. The major set him up as a +young ranchman in a lovely valley in the Big Horn Range, and there he +went sturdily to work, but before the winter was fairly on the country +was rousing to the appeals of Cuba, and before it was gone the Maine had +sunk, a riddled hulk, and the spring came in with a call to arms. +</p> + +<p> +Together with some two hundred young fellows all over the land, Sanford +Ray went up for examination for the vacant second lieutenancies in the +army, and he who had failed in analytical and calculus passed without +grave trouble the more practical ordeal demanded by the War Department, +was speedily commissioned in the artillery, and, to his glory and +delight, promptly transferred to the cavalry. +</p> + +<p> +Then came the first general break up the family had really known, for +the major hurried away to Kentucky to assume command of the regiment of +volunteers of which he had been made colonel. Billy, junior, a lad of +barely seventeen, enlisted at Lexington as a bugler in his father's +regiment, and swore he'd shoot himself if they didn't let him serve. The +Kentuckians were ordered to Chickamauga, the young regular to the +Presidio at San Francisco, and Mrs. Ray, after seeing her husband and +youngest son started for the South, returned to Leavenworth, where they +had just settled down a week before the war began, packed and stored the +household furniture, then, taking "Maidie" with her, hurried westward to +see the last of her boy, whose squadron was destined for service at +Manila. +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant, as they delighted in calling him, joined them at Denver, +looking perfectly at home in his field uniform and perfectly happy. They +left Maidie to spend a week with old army friends at Fort Douglas, and +as soon as Sandy was settled in his new duties and the loving mother had +satisfied herself the cavalry would not be spirited away before July, +she accepted the eager invitation of other old friends to visit them at +Sacramento, and there they were, mother and daughter, again united this +very raw and foggy evening, when Mr. Ray, as officer of the guard, stood +at the bend of the roadway east of the Presidio guard-house, gazing +after the vanishing forms of Captain Kress and the burly stranger in +civilian clothes, and wondering where on earth it was he had seen the +latter before. +</p> + +<p> +So engrossed was he in this that it was only when a second time +addressed that he whirled about and found himself confronting a tall and +slender young officer, with frank, handsome blue eyes and fine, +clear-cut face, a man perhaps five years his senior in age and one grade +in rank, for his overcoat sleeve bore the single loop and braid of a +first lieutenant. +</p> + +<p> +He was in riding boots and spurs, as Ray noted at first glance, and +there behind him stood an orderly holding the horses of both. +</p> + +<p> +"Pardon me. I am Lieutenant Stuyvesant of General Vinton's staff. This +is the officer of the guard, I believe, and I am sent to make some +inquiry of a prisoner—a man named Murray." +</p> + +<p> +"We have such a man," said Ray, eying the newcomer with soldierly +appreciation of his general appearance and not without envy of his +inches. "But he's just been locked in a cell, and it will take an order +from the officer of the day to fetch him out—unless you could see him +in there with other prisoners within earshot." +</p> + +<p> +"Not very well," answered Stuyvesant, looking curiously into the dark +eyes of the youngster. "Perhaps I'd better see the officer of the day at +once." +</p> + +<p> +"You'll find him at the club. He's just gone in," said Ray, mindful of +the fact that this was the captain's time for a cocktail, and with a +courteous salute the aide-de-camp hastened away. +</p> + +<p> +In five minutes he was back with a pencilled scrawl from Kress to the +effect that Lieutenant Stuyvesant was to be permitted to interview the +prisoner Murray outside the guard-house, but sentries must be placed to +prevent escape. +</p> + +<p> +Quickly young Ray called out the corporal and two men, warned them of +the duty demanded, stationed them up and down the road and opposite the +guard-house, but just out of ear-shot, ordered the prisoner brought +forth, and then, leaving Stuyvesant standing at the post of Number One, +stepped a dozen yards away into the mist. +</p> + +<p> +A minute later out came the sergeant, marshalling Murray after him, a +sentry at his heels. Then in the gathering darkness the tall officer and +the short, thick-set soldier met face to face, and the latter recoiled +and began glancing quickly, furtively about him. +</p> + +<p> +Just how it all happened Ray could never quite tell. The light was now +feeble, the lamps were only just beginning to burn. There was a moment +of low-toned talk between the two, a question twice repeated in firmer +tone, then a sudden, desperate spring and dash for liberty. +</p> + +<p> +Like a centre rush—a charging bull—the prisoner came head on straight +to where young Ray was standing, heedless of a yell to halt, and in less +time than it takes to tell it, the lithe little athlete of West Point's +crack football team had sprung and tackled and downed him in his tracks. +</p> + +<p> +Biting, cursing, straining, the big bully lay in the mud, overpowered +now by the instant dash of the guard, while their bantam officer, rising +and disgustedly contemplating the smear of wet soil over his new +overcoat, was presently aware of Stuyvesant, bending forward, extending +a helping hand, and exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +"By Jove, but that was a neat tackle! You must have been a joy to +<i>your</i> team. What was it?" +</p> + +<p> +"West Point—last year's." +</p> + +<p> +"And may I ask—the name?" +</p> + +<p> +"My name's Ray," said Sandy with beaming smile, showing a row of even, +white teeth under the budding, dark mustache, and Stuyvesant felt the +warm blood surging to his forehead, just as it had before that day in +the general's tent. +</p> + +<p> +"I think I should have known that," he presently stammered. "It was Miss +Ray who so skilfully treated those poor fellows burned out on our train. +I suppose you heard of it." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, yes," answered the youngster, again curiously studying the face of +his tall visitor. "Then it was you she—I heard about. Wish I weren't on +duty. I'd be glad to have you over at my quarters or the club." +</p> + +<p> +"I wish so too, and yet I'm lucky in finding you here, since"—and here +Stuyvesant turned and looked resentfully towards the bedraggled figure +of Murray, now being supported back to the cells—"since that fellow +proved so churlish and ungrateful. He's all wrath at being put behind +the bars and won't answer any questions." +</p> + +<p> +"What else could he expect?" asked Ray bluntly. "He's a deserter." +</p> + +<p> +"A deserter!" exclaimed Stuyvesant in surprise. "Who says so?" +</p> + +<p> +"Captain Kress, officer of the day, or at least a cit who came with him +to identify him. They say he skipped from the Seventh Cavalry." +</p> + +<p> +At this piece of information Mr. Stuyvesant whirled about again in added +astonishment. "Why," said he, "this upsets—one theory completely. I +declare, if that's true we're all at sea. I beg pardon," he continued, +but now with marked hesitancy—"you know—you've heard, I suppose, +about—Foster?" +</p> + +<p> +"What Foster?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, the recruit, you know, the one we lost at Port Costa," and the +blue eyes were curiously and intently studying the face of the younger +soldier, dimly visible now that the guard-house lamps were beginning to +glow. +</p> + +<p> +"I knew there was a recruit missing, and—seems to me that was the +name," answered Ray. +</p> + +<p> +"And—didn't you know who he was—that it was—pardon me, the man +who—lived near you—had a ranch——" +</p> + +<p> +"Great Scott! You don't mean Wally Foster! <i>He</i> enlisted and in the +cavalry? Well, I'm——" And now Mr. Ray's merriment overcame him. "I +never thought there was that much to Wally. He was a lackadaisical sort +of a spook when I saw him. What possessed him to enlist? He's no stuff +for a soldier." +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant hesitated. That letter of old Colonel Martindale's was shown +him in confidence. But Ray's next impetuous outburst settled it. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, by Jove! I see it,—it's——" And here the white teeth gleamed in +the lamplight, for Mr. Ray was laughing heartily. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes? It's what?" smiled Stuyvesant sympathetically. +</p> + +<p> +"It's—my sister, I reckon," laughed Ray. "She once said she wouldn't +marry outside of the army, and he heard it." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh,—did she?" said Stuyvesant reflectively, and then he was silent. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VI. +</p> + + +<p> +When Vinton's flotilla drew out into that wonderful bay, and the crowded +transports rode at anchor on the tide, there came swarming about them +all manner of harbor craft, some laden with comforts for the departing +soldiery, some with curiosity seekers, some with contraband of war in +the shape of fruit and fluids, but all were warned to keep a cable's +length at least away. +</p> + +<p> +The commanding general, with other officers of rank, was darting from +ship to ship in a swift steam launch, holding brief conference with the +colonel in command of each, and finally repairing to his own—the +flagship—where the final adieux were exchanged. +</p> + +<p> +The general and his aides nimbly mounted the steep stairway to the +bridge, the launch swung loose, and then up to the mast-head flew a +little bunch of bunting that broke as it reached the truck, and there +fluttered in the strong salt wind whistling in from sea the eagerly +awaited signal to "up anchor and follow." +</p> + +<p> +And then at the stern of the Vanguard the waves were churned into foam +as the massive screw began its spin, and slowly, steadily the flagship +forged ahead to the accompaniment of a deafening din of steam whistles +and sirens all over the bay. Promptly the other transports followed the +movements of the leader, and presently, in trailing column, five big +black steamships, thronged with cheering soldiery, were slowly ploughing +their way towards the grand entrance of that spacious harbor, the +matchless Golden Gate. +</p> + +<p> +Coming abreast of rock-ribbed Alcatraz, still moving at less than half +speed, the flagship was greeted by the thunder of the parting salute, +and the commanding general, standing with his staff upon the bridge, +doffed his cap and bared his handsome head in acknowledgment. +</p> + +<p> +"The next guns we're apt to hear will be the Spaniard's at Manila, and +shotted guns instead of blanks," said a staff officer to the tall, +fair-haired aide-de-camp. "What's the matter, Stuyvesant? Beginning to +feel wabbly already? There's no sea here to speak of." +</p> + +<p> +"I was watching that boat," was the quiet reply, as the young officer +pointed to a small white steamer that appeared coming in pursuit, +carefully picking a way through the host of harbor craft still +screeching and steaming along as escort to the fleet. +</p> + +<p> +There was an eager light in the bright blue eyes, but the high color had +fled. Stuyvesant looked as though he had not slept as much or as well of +late as perfect health required, and his questioner gazed keenly into +his face, then turned away with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +Only three days before, on the register of the Occidental appeared among +the arrivals the entry "Mrs. William P. Ray, Miss Ray, Fort +Leavenworth," and that evening at least a dozen officers called and sent +up their cards, and Lieutenant Ray came in from the Presidio and was +with his mother and sister an hour or more. +</p> + +<p> +The ladies held quite a little levee in the parlor of the familiar old +army hostelry, and Mr. Stuyvesant, after a long and fatiguing day's duty +at camp, accompanied his general to their very handsome apartments at +The Palace, and then falteringly asked if he might be excused awhile—he +had a call or two to make. +</p> + +<p> +The evening papers had announced the arrival of the wife and daughter of +"the gallant officer so well known for quarter of a century gone by to +many of our citizens—Captain 'Billy' Ray, now colonel of the —th +Kentucky," and Stuyvesant had determined to make an effort to meet them. +But he was a stranger to the officers who called and sent up their +cards—all old regulars. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Ray was with the party in the parlor, and Stuyvesant felt a +strange shyness when striving to persuade himself to send his card to +that young officer and boldly ask to be presented. Surely it was the +proper thing to seek and meet her and thank her for her deft +ministrations the night of the fire. Surely a man of his distinguished +family and connections need not shrink from asking to be introduced to +any household in all our broad domain, and yet Stuyvesant found himself +nervous and hesitant, wandering about the crowded office, making +pretense of interest in posters and pictures, wistfully regarding the +jovial knots of regulars who seemed so thoroughly at home. +</p> + +<p> +Over at The Palace, where so many of the general officers and their +staffs were quartered, he had dozens of friends. Here at this favorite +old resort of the regular service he stood alone, and to his proud and +sensitive spirit it seemed as though there were a barrier between him +and these professional soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +There was the whole secret of his trouble. Absurd and trivial as it may +seem, Stuyvesant shrank from the enterprise, even at the very +threshold,—shrank even from sending his card and asking for Lieutenant +Ray, for no other or better reason than that he did not know how a +volunteer would be welcomed. +</p> + +<p> +And so for nearly half an hour he hovered irresolute about the office, +unconscious of the many glances of interest and admiration from the keen +eyes of the officers gathered in laughing groups about the marbled +floor. Not one of their number was his superior in form and feature, and +his uniform was the handiwork of Gotham's best military tailor. +<i>They</i> saw that the instant he threw off his cape. +</p> + +<p> +One of their number whispered that it was Mr. Stuyvesant, General +Vinton's aide, for everybody knew Vinton, and more than one would have +been glad to take the aide-de-camp by the hand and bid him welcome to +their coterie but for that same odd shyness that, once away from camp or +garrison and in the atmosphere of metropolitan life, seems to clog and +hamper the kindlier impulses of the soldier. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, as Stuyvesant stood at the desk looking over the register, he +heard himself accosted by name, and turning quickly, hopefully, found to +his disappointment only a stocky little man in civilian dress. Yet the +face was familiar, and the trouble in the honest brown eyes looking up +to him, as though for help and sympathy, went right to his heart. Even +before the man could give his name or tell his need, Stuyvesant knew him +and held out a cordial hand: +</p> + +<p> +"Why! You're our brakeman! I'm glad to see you. What's wrong?" +</p> + +<p> +"I've lost me job, sir," was the answer, with a little choke. "They let +me out two days ago—for sayin' their rotten old car caught fire from +the boxes, I reckon." +</p> + +<p> +"You don't tell me!" exclaimed Stuyvesant in honest indignation. "Now, +how can I help you? What shall we do?" +</p> + +<p> +"Take me to Manila, sir. I don't need this place. There's no one +dependent on me—I can't soldier. They won't 'list a fellow with only +two fingers," and he held up a maimed hand. "Lost the others in a +freight smash-up six years ago. But there's a railway out there that'll +be ours in a few months. Then you'll want Yankee train-hands. Can you +do that much for me, lieutenant?" +</p> + +<p> +"Come to me at The Palace at eight o'clock in the morning," answered +Stuyvesant. "I'll have had a chance to talk to my general by that time. +Meanwhile"—and with a blush he began drawing forth his purse. +</p> + +<p> +The brakeman smiled. "I've got money enough, sir. They paid me off and I +had some put by. Thank you all the same, Mr. Stuyvesant.—Oh, yes, sir, +I'm ready," he broke off suddenly in addressing some other person, and +Stuyvesant, turning quickly to see, was confronted by Lieutenant Ray. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, how-de-do? Going to be here long?" promptly queried that young +gentleman. "Haven't seen you since the night at the Presidio. 'Scuse me, +will you, I've got to take—er—my sister wants to see the brakeman, you +know.—With you the night of the fire." And with that Mr. Ray hopped +briskly away to the elevator, the ex-trainman following, leaving +Stuyvesant standing enviously at the counter. +</p> + +<p> +Even a brakeman could go to her and hear her pleasant words and receive +that beaming smile and perhaps a clasp of that cool, slender little +hand, while he who so longed for it all stood without the pale. +</p> + +<p> +Then an impulse that had been spurring him for half an hour overmastered +him. The parlors were public. At least he could go and take a peep at +her. +</p> + +<p> +He started for the elevator, then changed his plan, turned, and, with +his cape still thrown over his arm, ascended the stairs. The clerk at +the office desk glanced curiously at him, but the uniform was +sufficient. In a moment he found himself in the broad corridor and +almost in front of the door-way to the parlor. Half a dozen groups, +women and officers, were scattered about in merry conversation, but +Stuyvesant's eyes were riveted instantly on a little party close by the +elevator shaft. There, hat in hand, bowing and blushing, stood the +brakeman. There, with a bright, genial smile on her serene and happy +face, stood a matronly woman who, despite her soft blue eyes and fair +hair and complexion, was patent at once as the mother of the lovely, +dark-eyed girl and the trim young soldier who formed the other members +of the group. +</p> + +<p> +Three or four officers, some of them past the meridian, others young +subalterns, stood looking on in evident interest, and Stuyvesant halted +spellbound, not knowing just what to do. +</p> + +<p> +It was over in a moment. The railwayman, confused but happy, had +evidently been the recipient of kind and appreciative words, for his +face was glowing, and Miss Ray's fairly beamed with the radiance of its +smile. Then the door flew open as the elevator-car stopped for +passengers, and the ex-brakeman backed in and disappeared from view. +Then the mother twined an arm about her daughter's slender waist and two +young officers sprang forward to her side. Together they came sauntering +towards the parlor door, and then, all on a sudden, she looked up and +saw him. +</p> + +<p> +There was no mistaking the flash of instant recognition in her beautiful +eyes. Stuyvesant's heart leaped as his eager gaze met the swift glance, +and noted with joy that she certainly saw and knew him: more than that, +that the sight gave her pleasure. But in another instant she had +recovered herself, and turned to ask some quick question of the young +gallant at her side, and Stuyvesant, who was almost at the point of +bowing low, found himself savagely hating those yellow straps and +stripes and wishing the cavalry in perdition. Somebody was speaking to +Mr. Ray, and he couldn't catch that young officer's eye. The party +stopped a moment at the threshold, one of the officers was saying +good-night, and then a voice at Stuyvesant's elbow said "Which is +Lieutenant Ray?" It was the bell-boy. +</p> + +<p> +A sudden inspiration came to Stuyvesant. "What is it?" he said. "Have +you a message for him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," was the answer. "They're telephoning for him from the +Presidio,—want him to come at once." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me the whole message and I'll give it," said Stuyvesant. "Anything +wrong?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. The clerk's at the 'phone now, but I couldn't get the +trouble. Something's broke loose, as I understand it." +</p> + +<p> +And that delay was fatal. Bounding up the steps, three at a stride, came +a young officer, breathless, and made straight for the group. Seeing +that Mrs. Ray and Miss Marion were close at hand, he paused one moment, +then with significant gesture called Ray to his side. Then Stuyvesant +could not but hear every word of the sudden and startling message. +</p> + +<p> +"Ray, you're wanted at the barracks at once. Prisoners 'scaped and your +house is robbed!" +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant ran beside him as Ray went bounding down the stairs and out +into Montgomery Street. +</p> + +<p> +"Can I be of any service? Can I help you some way?" he urged, for he saw +the young officer was looking white and anxious. But Ray hurriedly +thanked him and declined. He could not imagine, he said, what his loss +might be, yet something told him if anybody had escaped it was that +hulking sinner Murray. +</p> + +<p> +He sprang upon the first street-car at the corner, waved his hand in +parting, and was whisked away westward, leaving Stuyvesant standing +disconsolate. +</p> + +<p> +How now could he hope to meet her? The clerk at the office seemed +friendly and sympathetic when Stuyvesant wandered back there, and gave +him such particulars of the situation at the Presidio as he had been +able to gather over the wire. It seemed that a rumor had reached the +commanding officer that a number of tools had been smuggled into the +guard-house by the prisoners, and by the aid of these they hoped to cut +their way out. Despite the fact that it was growing dark, a search of +the prison room and cells was ordered while the prisoners stood in line +in front awaiting the usual evening inspection. There was no one to tell +just who started it or how, but, all on a sudden, while many of the +guard were aiding in the search inside, the whole array of prisoners, +regular and volunteer, old and young, except those few in irons, made a +sudden and simultaneous dash for liberty, scattering in every direction. +Some had already been recaptured, but at least twenty-five were still at +large, and the post adjutant, telephoning for Ray, briefly added that +there was every evidence that his quarters had been robbed. +</p> + +<p> +All this Stuyvesant heard with an absorbing interest, wondering whether +it might not be possible to make it a plea or pretext on which to +present himself to Mrs. Ray, and then ask to be presented to her +daughter. A second time he ascended the stairs and, sauntering by, +peered in at the parlor-door. Yes, there sat the charming matron looking +so winsome and kind as she smiled upon her circle of visitors, but, +alas, they were four in number and all officers of rank in the regular +service, and Stuyvesant's shyness again overcame him. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, his brief glance into the brightly lighted apartment, all +decorated as it was with flags and flowers, revealed Miss Ray seated +near the window with two young cavalrymen in devoted attendance—all +three apparently so absorbed in their chat that he, lonely and wistful, +escaped observation entirely until, just as he passed from view, her +lovely dark eyes were for an instant quickly raised, and though he knew +it not, she saw him, and saw too that he was wandering aimlessly about, +but, quick as woman's intuition, her eyes returned to the face of the +eager young trooper by her side, for Stuyvesant turned for one more +longing glance before descending, defeated, to the office floor. +</p> + +<p> +It was his last opportunity, and fate seemed utterly against him, for +when on the following evening his general went to call upon Mrs. Ray and +took his handsome and hopeful aide, "The ladies are out," said the +bell-boy. They were dining at the adjutant-general's. +</p> + +<p> +In desperation, Stuyvesant went over to a florist's on Post Street, +bought a box of superb roses, and sent them with his card to Miss Ray, +expressing deep regret that he had been denied opportunity to thank her +in person for her kindness to him the night of the fire. He wanted to +say that he owed his eyes to her, but felt that she knew better and +would be more offended than pleased. +</p> + +<p> +He was to sail on the morrow, and he had not even seen her brother +again. +</p> + +<p> +But the department commander had said he purposed coming out with a +party of friends to run alongside the flag-ship as she steamed slowly +out to sea, and that was why Mr. Stuyvesant stood so eagerly watching +the ploughing side-wheeler so swiftly coming in pursuit. Already he had +made out the double stars in the bunting at the jack-staff. Already he +could distinguish the forms of several general officers whose commands +were not yet ready for embarkation and the fluttering garments of a +score of women. +</p> + +<p> +Something told him she would be of the party, and as the Vanguard slowed +down to let the head-quarters' boat run alongside, his heart beat +eagerly when his general said: "We'll go down, gentlemen, and board her. +It'll be much easier than the climb would be to them." +</p> + +<p> +So it happened that five minutes later he found himself at the heels of +his chief shaking hands mechanically with a dozen officers, while his +eyes kept peering beyond them to where, on the after-deck, the smiling +group of women stood expectant. +</p> + +<p> +And presently the general pushed on for a word of farewell with them, +the aides obediently following, and then came more presentations to +cordial and kindly people whose names he did not even hear, for just a +little farther on, and still surrounded by cavaliers, stood Mrs. Ray, +the handsomest and most distinguished-looking woman of the party, and +close beside her, <i>petite</i> and graceful, her dark beauty even the +more noticeable in contrast with the fair features of her mother, stood +Maidie. And then at last it came, the simple words that threw down the +social barrier that so long had balked him. +</p> + +<p> +"My aide-de-camp, Mr. Stuyvesant, Mrs. Ray,—Miss Ray," and with his +soul in his eyes he looked down into that radiant face, smiling so +cordially, unconstrainedly into his, and then found himself striving to +recall what on earth it was he was so anxious to say. +</p> + +<p> +He knew that he was flushing to the peak of his forage-cap. He knew he +was trying to stammer something. He saw that she was perfectly placid +and at her ease. He saw, worse luck, that she wore a little knot of +roses on the breast of her natty jacket, but that they were not his. He +faltered something to the effect that he had been trying to see her ever +since the night of the fire—had so much to thank her for; and her +white, even, beautiful teeth gleamed as she laughingly answered that the +cherries had more than cancelled the score. +</p> + +<p> +He asked for news of her brother, and was told that he had been too much +occupied to come in again. They were going out to the Presidio that +afternoon. +</p> + +<p> +And then he ventured to hope Mr. Ray had sustained no great loss in the +robbery of his quarters, and saw at once that he was breaking news, for +the smile vanished instantly, the lovely face clouded with concern, and +he had only time to stammer: "Then, probably, there was no truth in the +story. I merely happened to hear two nights ago that Mr. Ray's quarters +had been robbed,—about the time the prisoners escaped." And then he +heard his general calling, and saw that the party was already clambering +back to the Vanguard. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I—I hope I may see you when we get back from Manila, Miss Ray," he +said, as he bowed over her hand. +</p> + +<p> +"I think you may see me—before that," was the smiling answer. And then +Captain Hawley grabbed him by the arm and rushed him to the side. +</p> + +<p> +Two minutes more and he was on the deck of the transport. The lines were +cast off, the white side-wheeler, alive with sympathetic faces, some +smiling, some tearful, and a forest of fluttering kerchiefs, dropped +slowly astern, and all that long evening as they bored through the fogs +of the Farallones and bowed and dipped to the long swell of the sea, and +all the long week that followed as they steamed over a sunlit summer +ocean, Stuyvesant found himself repeating again and again her parting +words, and wondering what could have been the explanation of her knowing +nothing of the robbery of her brother's quarters, or what could have +been her meaning when she said "I think you may see me—before that." +</p> + +<p> +Only once on the run to Honolulu was the flotilla of transports neared +by other voyagers. Three days out from San Francisco the "O. and O." +liner Doric slowly overhauled and gradually passed them by. Exchanging +signals, "All well on board," she was soon lost in the shadows of the +night long miles ahead. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VII. +</p> + + +<p> +There was trouble at the Presidio. +</p> + +<p> +All but ten of the escaped prisoners had been recaptured or +self-surrendered, but the ten still at large were among the worst of the +array, and among the ten was the burly, hulking recruit enlisted under +the name of Murray, but declared by Captain Kress, on the strength of +the report of a detective from town, to be earlier and better known as +Sackett and as a former member of the Seventh Cavalry, from which +regiment he had parted company without the formality of either transfer +or discharge. +</p> + +<p> +Murray was a man worth his keep, as military records of misdemeanors +went, and a sore-hearted fellow was the sergeant of the guard, held +responsible for the wholesale escape. And yet it was not so much the +sergeant's fault. The evening had come on dark, damp, and dripping. +Gas-lamps and barrack-lanterns were lighted before the sunset gun. The +sergeant himself and several of the guard had been called inside to the +prison room by the commanding officer and his staff. There was a maze of +brick and wooden buildings in front of the guard-house, and a perfect +tangle of dense shrubbery only fifty yards away to the west. It was into +this that most of the fugitives dived and were instantly lost to sight, +while others had doubled behind the guard-house and rushed into an +alley-way that passed in rear of the club and a row of officers' +quarters. +</p> + +<p> +Some of them apparently had taken refuge in the cellars or wood- and +coal-sheds until thick darkness came down, and others had actually dared +to enter the quarters of Lieutenant Ray, for the back door was found +wide open, the sideboard, wherein had been kept some choice old Kentucky +whiskey produced only on special occasions, had been forced, and the +half-emptied demijohn and some glasses stood on the table in a pool of +sloppy water. +</p> + +<p> +But what was worse, the lieutenant's desk in the front room, securely +locked when he went to town, had been burst open with a chisel, and Mr. +Ray had declined to say how much he had lost. Indeed, he did not fully +know. +</p> + +<p> +"Too busy to come in," was the message he had sent his mother the +morning after the discovery, and yet all that morning he remained about +his quarters after one brief interview with the perturbed and +exasperated post commander, ransacking desks, drawers, and trunks in the +vain hope that he might find in them some of the missing property, for +little by little the realization was forced upon him that his loss would +sum up several hundreds—all through his own neglect and through +disregard of his father's earnest counsel. +</p> + +<p> +Only three days before the lieutenant commanding his troop had been sent +to Oregon and Washington on duty connected with the mustering of +volunteers,—their captain was a field officer of one of the regiments +of his native State,—and, in hurriedly leaving, Lieutenant Creswell had +turned over to his young subordinate not only the troop fund, amounting +to over four hundred dollars, but the money belonging to the post +athletic association, and marked envelopes containing the pay of certain +soldiers on temporary detached service—in all between nine hundred and +one thousand dollars. +</p> + +<p> +"Whenever you have care of public money—even temporarily—put it at +once into the nearest United States depository," said his father. "Even +office safes in garrison are not safe," he had further said. "Clerks, +somehow, learn the combination and are tempted sometimes beyond their +strength. Lose no time, therefore, in getting your funds into the bank." +</p> + +<p> +And that was what he meant to do in this case, only, as the absent +troopers were expected to return in two days, what was the use of +breaking up those sealed envelopes and depositing the whole thing only +to have to draw it out in driblets again as the men came to him for it. +Surely he could safely leave that much at least in the quartermaster's +safe. Creswell never thought of depositing the cash at all. He carried +it around with him, a wad of greenbacks and a little sack of gold, and +never lost a cent. +</p> + +<p> +Ray took the entire sum to the quartermaster's office Tuesday evening +and asked to store it in the safe. The clerk looked up from his desk and +said he was sorry, but the quartermaster was the only man who knew the +combination, and he had gone over to Camp Merritt. +</p> + +<p> +So Ray kept it that night and intended taking it to town Wednesday +morning, but drills interposed. He carried a little fortune with him +when he went in to meet his mother and sister Wednesday evening, half +intending to ask the genial "major,"—mine host of the Occidental,—to +take care of it for him in the private safe, but the major was out and +the money was still bulging in Ray's pockets when he returned to the +post late that night, and it had been very much in his way. Thursday he +fully expected the troopers back, and yet when stables were over +Thursday evening and he was ready to start for town to join his dear +ones, and was arraying himself in his most immaculate uniform and +secretly rejoicing in the order prohibiting officers from wearing for +the time being civilian dress, he found himself still burdened by the +money packages and in a hurry to catch a certain car or else keep them +waiting for dinner. +</p> + +<p> +The quartermaster's office was several hundred yards away, and there +stood his own desk, a beautiful and costly thing—his mother's +gift—with its strong locks and intricate system of pigeon-holes and +secret drawers. He would "chance it" one night, he said, and give his +trusted servant orders to stand guard over the premises, and so the +little bag of gold went into one closed compartment, the envelopes and +wads of treasury notes into the hidden drawer, and the key into his +watch-pocket. +</p> + +<p> +His servant was a young man whose father had been with Colonel Ray for +quarter of a century, a faithful Irishman by the name of Hogan. He was +honest to the core and had but one serious failing—he <i>would</i> +drink. He would go for months without a lapse, and then something would +happen to give him a start, and nothing short of a spree would satisfy +his craving. It was said that in days gone by "old man Hogan" was +similarly afflicted, but those were times when an occasional frolic was +the rule rather than the exception with most troopers on the far +frontier, and Hogan senior had followed the fortunes of the —th Cavalry +and Captain Ray until an Indian bullet had smashed his bridle-arm and +compelled his discharge. +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon Mrs. Ray had promptly told the gallant fellow that their army +home was to be his, and that if he would consent to serve as butler or +as the captain's own man to look after his boots, spurs, and sabres he +would never lack for money comforts, or home. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps had Mrs. Ray foreseen that the dashing Irishman was destined to +lay siege to the heart of her pretty maid, she might have suggested +setting Hogan up in business farther away. Perhaps, too, she would not, +for his almost pathetic devotion to her beloved husband was something +she could never forget. Hogan, the crippled veteran, and Kitty, the +winsome maid, were duly wed, and continued as part of the army household +wherever they went. And in course of the quarter century it seemed to be +but a case of domestic history repeating itself that young "Mart" should +become Mr. Sandy's factotum and valet, even though Sandy could have +secured the services of a much better one for less money. Young Mart had +all his father's old-time dash and impetuosity, but less of his +devotion, and on this particular Thursday evening, just when his master +most needed him, Mart was not to be found. Ray stormed a bit as he +finished his toilet. Then, as there was no time to be lost, he closed +the door of his bedroom behind him and hastened away to the east gate. +Just outside the reservation was a resort kept by a jovial compatriot of +Hogan's,—assuming that an Irishman is always an Irishman whether born +on the sod or in the States,—and there Ray felt pretty sure of finding +his servant and sending him home to mount guard. And there, sure enough, +he learned that Hogan had been up to within five minutes, and had left +saying he must go to help the lieutenant. He was perfectly sober, said +the publican, and it was more than half a mile back to quarters. Ray +would be late for dinner as it was, the car was coming, and so, though +dissatisfied and ill at ease, he jumped aboard, hurried to the +Occidental, and within three hours was stunned and almost crushed by the +tidings that the house had been entered and robbed, probably within an +hour after he left it. +</p> + +<p> +And now Saturday morning, while the guns of Alcatraz were booming in +salute across the bay and all the garrison was out along the shore or on +the seaward heights, waving farewell to the Vinton flotilla, and his +mother and Maidie had gone out with the department commander to bid them +god-speed, poor Sandy sat wretchedly in his quarters. +</p> + +<p> +Hogan, overwhelmed by the magnitude of his master's misfortune, and +realizing that it was due in no small degree to his own neglect, was now +self-exiled from the lieutenant's roof, and seeking such consolation as +he could find at the Harp of Erin outside the walls, a miserable and +contrite man,—contrite, that is to say, as manifested in the manner of +his country, for Hogan was pottle deep in his distress. +</p> + +<p> +Although vouched for as perfectly sober from the Hibernian point of +view, he well knew that he had taken so much that fatal Thursday evening +as to be fearful of meeting his master, and so had kept out of the way +until full time for him to be gone to dinner. Then, working his way +homeward in the darkness of the night, he had marvelled much at finding +the back door open, rejoiced at sight of the demijohn and disorder in +the little dining-room, arguing therefrom that the lieutenant had had +some jovial callers and therefore hadn't missed him. +</p> + +<p> +Hogan drank, in his master's priceless old Blue Grass Bourbon, to the +health of the party, and then, stumbling into the bedroom and lighting +the lamp, came upon a sight that filled him with dismay—the beautiful +desk burst open, drawers and letters and papers scattered about in utter +confusion,—and in his excitement and terror he had gone on the run to +the adjutant's quarters, told that official of his discovery, and then +learned of the wholesale jail delivery that occurred at retreat. +</p> + +<p> +He wrung his hands and wept as he listened to his young master's +wrathful rebuke and the recital of his losses. He hung meekly about the +house all night long, but, unable to bear the sight of poor Ray's +mingled anger and distress, he had fled with the coming of the day and +gone to tell his woes to his friend of the Harp. +</p> + +<p> +Afternoon of Saturday came, and still Ray sat there nerveless. +</p> + +<p> +He knew that any moment now would bring that loving mother and sister. +He had cleared up the litter left by the robbers, put his desk in order, +and Hogan had done his best with the sideboard in the other room. +</p> + +<p> +Sympathetic souls among his brother officers had been in from time to +time consoling him with theories that the thief could not escape,—would +surely be recaptured and the money recovered. But on the other hand he +was visited by the returned troopers in quest of their money, and was +compelled to tell them of the robbery and to ask them to wait until +Monday, when he would be able to pay them. +</p> + +<p> +Luckier than others who have been overtaken in the army by somewhat +similar misfortune, Ray knew that he had only to acquaint his parents +with the extent of his loss, and, even though the sum was great, it +would be instantly made good. Yet the thought of having to tell his +mother was a sore thing. He had disregarded his father's caution. He had +proved unworthy of trust before the gloss had begun to wear from his +first shoulder-straps, and he well knew that his mother's fortune was no +longer what it was at the time of her marriage. +</p> + +<p> +In the years of their wanderings all over the West all her business +affairs had been in the hands of a trusted agent at home, and it so +often happens that in the prolonged absence of owners trusted agents +follow the lead of the unjust steward of Holy Writ and make friends of +the mammon of unrighteousness and ducks and drakes of their employers' +assets. +</p> + +<p> +The ranch bought for him the year gone by was a heavy drain. His father, +in giving him a few hundred dollars for his outfit, had told him that +now he must live entirely on his pay, and that he should be able to "put +by" a little every month. +</p> + +<p> +But, as was to be expected of his father's son and his Kentucky blood, +Sandy could not bid farewell to his associates at the ranch or the +citizens of the little cow and mining town on the Big Horn without a +parting "blow out," in which his health was drunk a dozen times an hour. +Oh, that he had that money now instead of certain unpaid bills in that +ravished secret drawer! It was humiliation inexpressible to have to send +those men away empty-handed, and in his dejection and misery, poor boy, +he wandered to his sideboard instead of going to luncheon at the mess, +and all he had had to eat or drink that day, by the time Mrs. Ray and +Maidie came late in the afternoon, was some crackers and cheese and he +didn't know how many nips of that priceless Blue Grass Bourbon. +</p> + +<p> +The bright, brave young eyes were glassy and his dark cheek heavily +flushed when at four o'clock he hastened out to assist his mother from +her carriage, and the color fled from her beautiful face; her heart +seemed to stand still and her hand trembled violently as she noted it +all, but took his arm without a word, and, with Maidie silently +following, went up the steps and into the little army home, where the +door closed behind them, and the knot of lookers-on, officers awaiting +the call for afternoon stables, glanced significantly at each other, +then went on their way. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</p> + + +<p> +Vinton's flotilla came steaming into Honolulu harbor just as the smoke +of the Doric was fading away on the westward horizon. +</p> + +<p> +Cheers and acclamations, a banquet tendered to the entire force in the +beautiful grounds about the Palace, and a welcome such as even San +Francisco had not given awaited them. Three days were spent in coaling +for the long voyage to Manila, and during that time officers and men +were enabled to spend hours in sea-bathing and sight-seeing. +</p> + +<p> +Vinton, eager to push ahead, fumed with impatience over the slow and +primitive methods by which his ships were coaled, but the junior +officers found many a cause for rejoicing over their enforced detention. +Dinners, dances, and surf-rides were the order of every evening. Riding +parties to the Pali and picnics at Pearl Harbor and the plantations +along the railway filled up every hour of the long, soft, sensuous days. +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers explored every nook and corner of the town and, for a +wonder, got back to ship without serious diminution in their number, and +with a high opinion of the police, who seemed bent on protecting the +blue-coats from the States and making the best of their exuberance of +spirits. +</p> + +<p> +Only one row of any consequence occurred within the forty-eight hours of +their arrival. Three of the Colorado volunteers playing billiards in a +prominent resort were deliberately annoyed and insulted by some merchant +sailors who had been drinking heavily at the expense of a short, +thick-set, burly fellow in a loud check suit and flaming necktie, a +stranger to the police, who knew of him only that he had landed from the +Doric and was waiting the coming of the Miowera from Vancouver for +Australia, and she was due on the morrow. +</p> + +<p> +He had taken quarters at a second-rate sailors' lodging-house and at +first kept much to himself, but, once started to drinking with his +maritime neighbors, he became noisy and truculent, and sallied forth +with four of his new-found friends, all half drunk and wholly bent on +mischief. +</p> + +<p> +The sight of three quiet-mannered young fellows playing pool in the +saloon was just the thing to excite all the blackguard instinct latent +in their half-sodden skins, and from sneering remark they had rapidly +passed to deliberate insult. +</p> + +<p> +In less than a minute thereafter the three young volunteers, flushed and +panting, were surveying the police and bystanders busily engaged in +dragging out from under the tables and propping up some wrecks of +humanity, while the head devil of the whole business, the burly civilian +in the loud-checked suit, pitched headlong out of the rear window, was +stanching the blood from his broken nose at the hydrant of a neighboring +stable. +</p> + +<p> +The volunteers were escorted to the landing with all honors, and their +antagonists, barring the ringleader, to the police station. The affair +was over so quickly that few had seen anything of it and only one man +had pitched in to the support of the soldiers—a civilian who came over +on the Vanguard by the authority of General Vinton, the ex-brakeman of +the Southern Pacific. While the Colorado men had little to say beyond +the statement that they had been wantonly insulted if not actually +assailed by a gang of strangers, the railway man was ablaze with +excitement and wrath over the escape of the leader of the vanquished +party. +</p> + +<p> +"I've seen that cur-dog face of his somewhere before," said he, "and the +quicker you find him and nab him the better. That man's wanted in more +than one place, or I'm a duffer." +</p> + +<p> +And so the police spent hours that night in search of the stranger, but +to no purpose. He kept in hiding somewhere, and their efforts were vain. +Search of his luggage at the lodging-house revealed the fact that he had +a lot of new shirts, underwear, etc., but not a paper or mark that +revealed his identity. The proprietor said the man had given the name of +Spence, but he heard two of the sailors call him Sackett. +</p> + +<p> +The following evening the general and his staff dined at the beautiful +home of one of the old and wealthy residents, and towards nine o'clock +Mr. Stuyvesant asked his general's permission to withdraw, as he had two +calls to make before returning aboard ship. They were to sail at dawn. +</p> + +<p> +Bidding good-night and good-by to his charming hostess, and declining +the hospitable offer of a post-prandial "peg" from her genial lord, the +young officer stepped blithely away down the moonlit avenue. +</p> + +<p> +It was a beautiful summer night. The skies were cloudless, the air soft +and still. Somewhere, either at the park or in the grounds of the Royal +Hawaiian, the famous band of Honolulu was giving a concert, and strains +of glorious music, rich and full, came floating on the gentle breeze. +Here and there the electric lights were gleaming in the dense tropical +foliage, and sounds of merry chat and musical laughter fell softly on +the ear. +</p> + +<p> +The broad thoroughfare of Beretania Street was well nigh deserted, +though once in a while the lights of a cab on noiseless wheel flashed +by, and at rare intervals Stuyvesant met or overtook some blissful pair +whispering in the deep shadows of the overhanging trees. +</p> + +<p> +It was quite a walk to the consul-general's, his first objective point, +but he enjoyed it and the brief visit that followed. Naturally the +affair of the previous evening came up for discussion, and there was +some conjecture and speculation as to the identity of the leader of the +attack on the Denver boys. Stuyvesant repeated what his friend the +brakeman said, that somewhere he had seen the fellow's face before, but +he had only a second's glimpse of it, for the moment he launched in to +the aid of the volunteers the man in the check suit caught sight of +him—and a simultaneous crack on the nose that sent him reeling towards +the open window, through which he darted the instant he could recover +balance, leaving the field equally divided, four to four in point of +numbers, but otherwise with overwhelming advantage on the side of the +clear heads and trained muscles of the soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +A grewsome sight those sailors had presented when called up for sentence +in the morning, and a remorseful quartette they proved. Moreover, to the +consul-general, who had been called in in the interest of fair play for +Jack, they declared that they were innocent of all evil intent. They +only went in for a little fun with the soldiers. It was that San +Francisco fellow who called himself Spence when he was sober and Sackett +when he got drunk who brought on the row, and then abandoned them to +their fate. He had owned that he "had it in" for soldiers in +general,—hated the whole gang of them and wanted to see them well +licked. He had plenty of money and would pay their fines if the police +"ran them in," and now he had left them in the lurch. +</p> + +<p> +They had no money and were confronted with the probability of a month's +labor with the "chain-gang" on the public roads if the consul-general +couldn't get them off. So that amiable official had gone out to the +flotilla and had a talk with the Colorado officers and the three brawny +heroes of the billiard-room battle, with the result that everybody +agreed to heap all the blame on the vanished culprit in the check suit, +and the sailors got off with a nominal fine and went home to nurse their +bruises and their wrath against Spence, <i>alias</i> Sackett. That +fellow shouldn't get away on the Miowera if they could help it. +</p> + +<p> +All this Stuyvesant was pondering over as, after stopping to leave his +P. P. C. at the Pacific Club, he strolled down Fort Street on his way to +the boat-landing. The big whistle of an incoming steamer had attracted +his attention as he left the consul-general's to make one more call, and +at the club he heard someone say the Miowera had reached her dock and +would sail for Australia in the morning. +</p> + +<p> +The sky, that had been so cloudless early in the evening, became +somewhat overcast by eleven, and the moonlight was dim and vague as he +reached the landing. +</p> + +<p> +In his several trips to and from the transport it happened that he had +fallen frequently into the hands of a bright Kanaka boatboy whose +admirable rowing and handling of the boat had pleased and interested +him. +</p> + +<p> +"Be ready to take me out about 11.30," he had told him, and now where +was he? +</p> + +<p> +Several officers and soldiers were there bargaining with the boatmen, +and three or four of these amphibious Hawaiians precipitated themselves +on Stuyvesant with appeals for a job, but he asked for Joe. +</p> + +<p> +"Him gone," was the answer of an eager rival. "Him other job;" but even +as they would have persuaded Stuyvesant that Joe was not to be had and +his selection must be one of their number, Joe himself came running from +the direction of a warehouse a short pistol-shot away. +</p> + +<p> +"What kept you, Joe?" asked Stuyvesant, as the light boat danced away on +the tide. +</p> + +<p> +"Feller want me take him outside Miowera," was the answer, "him behind +warehouse." +</p> + +<p> +"The deuce you say!" exclaimed Stuyvesant, turning about in the +stern-sheets and gazing back to shore. "Are there landing-stairs at the +warehouse, and is he waiting for you there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Huh," nodded Joe. +</p> + +<p> +"Then here," said Stuyvesant, glancing moon-ward and noting with +satisfaction that the luminary was behind a thick bank of clouds. "Turn +back and row to the warehouse steps. I want to look at that fellow." So +saying, he quickly threw off his uniform coat with its gleaming +shoulder-straps and collar device, stowed his forage-cap under the seat, +and sat bareheaded and in his shirt-sleeves. +</p> + +<p> +Obedient to Joe's powerful strokes, the little boat was speedily gliding +in among the shadows of the sailing-ships moored along the quay, and +presently her stern was swung round to a flight of stone steps, and +Stuyvesant bounded ashore. Over at the boat-landing the electric lights +were gleaming and the sound of many voices chaffering over boat-fares +was heard. Here among the sheds and warehouses all was silence and +darkness, but Stuyvesant unhesitatingly strode straight to the corner of +the big building and into the blackness of the westward side, peering +right and left in search of the skulker who dared not come to the open +dock, yet sought means of reaching the Australian steamer. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment he could distinguish no living object, then paused to +listen, and within ten seconds was rewarded. Somewhere close at hand +between him and a low shed to his left there was the sound of sudden +collision and a muttered oath. Some invisible body had bumped against +some invisible box, and, turning sharply, Stuyvesant made a spring, and +the next instant had grappled with some burly, powerful form, and was +dragging it, despite furious resistance, towards the light. +</p> + +<p> +He was conscious of the sickening odor of sour whiskey, of a volley of +mad threats and imprecations, of a stinging blow in the face that only +served to make him cling the tighter to his prisoner. Then, as they +swayed and struggled to and fro, he felt that he was not gaining ground, +and that this unseen ruffian might after all escape him. He lifted up +his voice in a mighty shout: +</p> + +<p> +"Police! Police! This way!" +</p> + +<p> +Then he heard a savage oath, a sputtering, savage "Let go, damn +your soul!" and then felt a sharp, stinging pang in the right +side—another—another! and earth and sky reeled as his grasp relaxed, +and with a moan of anguish he sank fainting on the dock. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER IX. +</p> + + +<p> +Vinton's fleet had reached Manila. A third expedition had coaled at +Honolulu and gone on its way. More transports were coming, and still +there lingered in this lovely land of sun and flowers—lingered for a +time 'twixt life and death—Vinton's stricken aide-de-camp, Lieutenant +Stuyvesant. +</p> + +<p> +Of his brutal antagonist no trace had been found. The shrill cries of +the Kanaka boat-boy, supplementing the young officer's stentorian shout +for the police, had brought two or three Hawaiian star-bearers and +club-wielders to the scene of that fierce and well-nigh fatal struggle. +All they found was the gallant victim writhing in pain upon the dock, +his hand pressed to his side and covered with the blood that poured from +his wounds. +</p> + +<p> +It was half an hour before a surgeon reached them, rowed in with the +general from the Vanguard. By that time consciousness had fled and, +through loss of the vital fluid, Stuyvesant's pulse was well-nigh gone. +They bore him to the Royal Hawaiian, where a cool and comfortable room +could be had, and there, early on the following morning, and to the care +of local physicians, the general was compelled to leave him. +</p> + +<p> +With the brakeman to aid them, the police searched every nook and corner +of the Miowera, and without result. Murray, <i>alias</i> Spence, +<i>alias</i> Sackett, fugitive from justice, could not be aboard that +ship unless he had burrowed beneath the coal in the bunkers, in which +event the stokers promised he should be shovelled into the furnaces as +soon as discovered. Every sailor's lodging in the town was ransacked, +but to no purpose: Murray could not be found. +</p> + +<p> +For a fortnight Stuyvesant's fate was in doubt. Officers of the third +expedition could carry with them to Manila only the hope that he might +recover. Not until the ships of the fourth flotilla were sighted was the +doctor able to say that the chances were now decidedly in his favor. +</p> + +<p> +He was lifted into a reclining chair the day of the flag-raising—that +pathetic ceremony in which, through tear-dimmed eyes, the people saw +their old and much-loved emblem supplanted by the stars and stripes of +their new hope and aspirations. He was sitting up, languid, pallid, and +grievously thin, when the tidings reached him that the transport with +six troops of the —th Cavalry among others had arrived, and the doctor, +with a quizzical grin on his genial face, informed his patient that some +Red Cross nurses were with the command, and that two very nice-looking +young women, in their official caps, aprons, and badges, were at that +moment inquiring at the office if they could not see the invalid officer +and be of some service to him. +</p> + +<p> +Sore in body and spirit, wrathful at the fate that robbed him of a share +of the glory he felt sure awaited his comrades at Manila, Stuyvesant was +in no humor for a joke and plainly showed it. He gave it distinctly to +be understood that he needed no coddling of any kind and preferred not +to see the ladies, no matter what they belonged to. Not to put too fine +a point upon it, Mr. Stuyvesant said he didn't "wish to be bothered," +and this was practically the reply that reached two very earnest, +kind-hearted young women, for the attendant, scenting the possible loss +of a big fee if he should be supplanted by superior attractions, +communicated the invalid's exact words to the Red Cross nurses, and they +went back, wounded, to their ship. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant's room was on the ground-floor in one of the outlying +cottages, and its Venetian blinds opened on the broad and breezy +veranda. It was far more quiet and retired than apartments in the main +building, the rooms overhead being vacant and the occupants of that +which adjoined his having left for San Francisco within a day or two of +his coming. +</p> + +<p> +"I feel too forlorn to see anybody," was his explanation to the doctor. +"So don't let anybody in." But several officers from the transport got +leave to come ashore and take quarters at the Hawaiian. The rooms above +had to be given to them, and their resounding footsteps made him wince. +</p> + +<p> +"There's two ladies to take this next-door room," said his garrulous +attendant that afternoon, and Stuyvesant thought opprobrious things. +"They'll be giggling and talking all night, I suppose," said he +disgustedly when the "medico" came in late that afternoon. "I wish you'd +move me, if you can't them." +</p> + +<p> +The doctor went and consulted the head of the house. "Certainly," said +that affable Boniface. "If Mr. Stuyvesant is well enough to be carried +up one flight I can give him a larger, airier room with bath attached, +where he'll be entirely isolated. It was too expensive for our visitors +from the transports, but—I believe you said Mr. Stuyvesant—wouldn't +mind"—a tentative at which the doctor looked wise and sagely winked. +</p> + +<p> +When that able practitioner returned to the cottage two young women with +Red Cross badges were seated on the veranda, just in from a drive, +apparently, and a dark-eyed little chap in the uniform of a subaltern of +the cavalry was with them. They had drawn their chairs into the shade +and close to the Venetian blinds, behind which in his darkened room +reclined the languid patient. +</p> + +<p> +"That will drive him simply rabid," said the doctor to himself, and +prepared a professional smile with which to tell the glad tidings that +he should be borne forthwith to higher regions. +</p> + +<p> +He had left Stuyvesant peevish, fretful, but otherwise inert, asking +only to be spared from intrusion. He found him alert, attent, eager, his +eyes kindling, his cheeks almost flushing. The instant the doctor began +to speak the patient checked him and bent his ear to the sound of soft +voices and laughter from without. +</p> + +<p> +"I've fixed it all," whispered the medical man reassuringly. "We'll move +you in a minute—just as soon as I can call in another man or two," and +he started for the door, whereat his erratic patient again uplifted a +hand and beckoned, and the doctor tip-toed to his side and bent his ear +and looked puzzled, perturbed, but finally pleased. Stuyvesant said +that, thinking it all over, he "guessed" he would rather stay where he +was. +</p> + +<p> +And then, when the doctor was gone, what did he do but take a brace in +his chair and bid the attendant go out and say to the officer on the +veranda, Lieutenant Ray, that Mr. Stuyvesant would be very glad to speak +with him if he'd be so kind as to come in, whereat the soft laughter +suddenly ceased. +</p> + +<p> +There was a sound of light footsteps going in one direction and a +springy, soldierly step coming in the other. Then entered Mr. Sanford +Ray, with outstretched hands, and the attendant, following and peering +over his shoulder, marvelled at the sudden change that had come over his +master. +</p> + +<p> +Three days later, when the City of Sacramento was pronounced ready to +proceed, and the officers and Red Cross nurses <i>en route</i> to Manila +were warned to rejoin the ship, Lieutenant Stuyvesant "shook," so to +speak, his civil physician, persuaded the army surgeons with the fleet +that a sea-voyage was all he needed to make a new man of him, and was +carried aboard the Sacramento and given an airy stateroom on the upper +deck, vacated in his favor by one of the ship's officers,—consideration +not made public, but Claus Spreckles & Co., bankers, had never before +received such a deposit from this very able seaman in all the years he +had been sailing or steaming in and out of Honolulu harbor. +</p> + +<p> +And now retribution overtook the invalid. The Red Cross had made a +marvellous name for itself in San Francisco, and was already organized +and doing wonders at Honolulu. Its ministrations had been gladly +accepted by the scores of officers and men among the volunteers, to whom +the somewhat bare and crude conditions of camp hospitals were doubtless +very trying. Women of gentlest birth and most refined associations +donned its badge and dress and wrought in ward, kitchen, or refectory. +It was a noble and patriotic purpose that inspired such sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +It was a joy to the embryo soldiery to be fed and comforted day by day +with the delicacies of the Red Cross tables; but there were military +magnates and martinets who dared to question the wisdom of such +preparation for the stern scenes of campaigning ahead of the volunteers, +and who presumed to point out to the officers of this great and +far-reaching charity that, while they were most grateful for such +dainties for the invalids of their command, the daily spectacle of +scores of lusty, hearty young heroes feasting at the tables of the Red +Cross, to the neglect of their own simple but sufficient rations, +prompted the query as to what the boys would do without the Red Cross +when they got into the field and couldn't have cake and pie and cream +with their coffee. +</p> + +<p> +The Red Cross, very properly, took umbrage at such suggestions and +branded the suggesters as horrid. The Red Cross had done such widespread +good and was ready to do so much more that criticism of its methods was +well-nigh unbearable. And now that it had obtained the sanction of the +government to send out to Manila not only supplies and dainties of every +possible kind, but dozens of its members to serve as nurses to the sick +and wounded, it scored a triumph over rival organizations, notably the +Patriotic Daughters of America, whose vice-president, the austere Miss +Perkins, first bombarded the papers in vain protest and denunciation, +the Red Cross being her main objective, and with abuse of the commanding +officers in camp; then called in person on the same officers to demand +transportation to Manila with the next expedition. +</p> + +<p> +The Red Cross held its head very high, and with reason. It ruffled its +feathers and resented any slight. It sometimes mistook courteous protest +against its lavish gifts to such soldiers as were in no wise needy as +vicious and unhallowed criticism, and occasionally—<i>only</i> +occasionally—it grievously enlarged and exaggerated alleged slights +received at the hands of luckless officials. And then even those soft +and shapely hands could develop cat-like claws, and the soothing voices +take on an acid and scathing intonation, and the eyes, so ready to +moisten with pity and sympathy at the sight of suffering, could shoot +spiteful little fires at the objects of such divine displeasure, and +poor Stuyvesant's petulant words, wrung from him in a moment of +exasperation and never intended to reach the fair band of sisters of the +Cross, were piled high with additions, impolitic, impolite, +discourteous, impudent, intolerable, yes, even profane and blasphemous. +</p> + +<p> +Eleven of the twelve Red Cross nurses, packed three in a room aboard the +Sacramento, swore they would not have anything to do with Mr. +Stuyvesant. The twelfth, the one soldier's daughter in the band, said +nothing at all. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, now, Miss Ray, <i>don't</i> you think it was most discourteous, +most ungentlemanly, in him to send such a message?" demanded a flushed +and indignant young woman, one of the most energetic of the sisterhood, +as they stood together on the promenade deck in the shade of the canvas +awnings, shunning the glare of the August sun. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you sure such a message was sent?" was the serious reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Sure? Why, <i>certainly</i> he did! and by his own servant, too!" was +the wrathful answer. "Didn't he, Miss Porter?" +</p> + +<p> +And Miss Porter, the damsel appealed to, and one of the two nurses who +sent in their message from the office, promptly assented. Miss Ray +looked unconvinced. +</p> + +<p> +"Servants, you know, sometimes deliver messages that were never sent," +she answered with quiet decision. "We have seen quite a little of that +in the army, and it is my father's rule to get all the facts before +passing judgment. My brother thought Mr. Stuyvesant's attendant +garrulous and meddlesome." +</p> + +<p> +"But I asked him if he was sure that was what Mr. Stuyvesant said," +persisted Miss Porter, bridling, "and he answered they were just the +very words." +</p> + +<p> +"And still I doubt his having sent them as a message," said Miss Ray, +with slight access of color, and that evening she walked the deck long +with a happy subaltern and added to her unpopularity. +</p> + +<p> +There were several well-informed and pleasant women, maids and matrons +both, in the little sisterhood, but somehow "the boys" did not show such +avidity to walk or chat with them as they did with Miss Ray. She sorely +wanted a talk with Sandy that evening, but the Belgic had come in from +'Frisco only six hours before they sailed and huge bags of letters and +papers were transferred from her to the Sacramento. +</p> + +<p> +There were letters for Maidie and Sandy both,—several,—but there was +one bulky missive for him that she knew to be from her father, from +far-away Tampa, and the boy had come down late to dinner. They had seats +at the table of the commanding officer, a thing Maidie had really tried +to avoid, as she felt that it discriminated, somehow, against the other +nurses, who, except Mrs. Doctor Wells, their official head, were +distributed about the other tables, but the major had long known and +loved her father, and would have it so. This night, their first out from +Honolulu, he had ordered wine-glasses on the long table and champagne +served, and when dinner was well-nigh over, noticed for the first time +that Ray had turned his glass down. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Sandy," he cried impulsively, "it is just twenty-two years ago +this summer that your father made the ride of his life through the +Indian lines to save Wayne's command on the Cheyenne. Now, there are +just twenty-two of us here at table, and I wanted to propose his health +and promotion. Won't you join us?" +</p> + +<p> +The boy colored to the roots of his dark hair. His eyes half filled. He +choked and stammered a moment and then—back went the head with the old +familiar toss that was so like his father, and through his set lips +Sandy bravely spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"Can't, major. I swore off—to-day!" +</p> + +<p> +"All right, my boy, that ends it!" answered the major heartily, while +Marion, her eyes brimming, barely touched her lips to the glass, and +longed to be on Sandy's side of the table that she might steal a hand to +him in love and sympathy and sisterly pride. But he avoided even her +when dinner was over, and was busy, he sent word, with troop papers down +between-decks, and she felt, somehow, that that letter was at the bottom +of his sudden resolution and longed to see it, yet could not ask. +</p> + +<p> +At three bells, half-past nine, she saw him coming quickly along the +promenade-deck, and she stopped her escort and held out a detaining +hand. +</p> + +<p> +"You'll come and have a little talk with me, won't you, Sandy?" she +pleaded. "I'll wait for you as long as you like." +</p> + +<p> +"After I've seen Stuyvesant awhile," he answered hurriedly. "He isn't so +well. I reckon he must have overdone it," and away he went with his +springy step until he reached the forward end of the promenade, where he +tapped at the stateroom door. The surgeon opened it and admitted him. +</p> + +<p> +His eyes were grave and anxious when, ten minutes later, he reappeared. +"Norris is with him," he said in low tone, as he looked down into the +sweet, serious, upturned face. "He shouldn't have tried it. He fooled +the doctors completely. I'll tell you more presently," he added, noting +that Mrs. Wells, with two or three of the band, were bearing down upon +him for tidings of the invalid, and Sandy had heard,—as who had +not?—the unfavorable opinions entertained by the sisterhood of his +luckless, new-found friend. +</p> + +<p> +"The doctor says he mustn't be both—I mean disturbed—wants to get him +to sleep, you know," was his hurried and not too happy response to the +queries of the three. "Matter of business he wanted to ask me about, +that's all," he called back, as he broke away and dodged other +inquiries. Once in the little box of a stateroom to which he and a +fellow subaltern had been assigned, he bolted the door, turned on the +electric light, and took from under his pillow a packet of letters and +sat him down to read. There was one from his mother, written on her way +back to Leavenworth, which he pored over intently and then reverently +kissed. Later, and for the second time, he unfolded and read the longest +letter his father had ever penned. It was as follows: +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"><p> + "I have slipped away from camp and its countless interruptions and + taken a room at the hotel to-night, dear Sandy, for I want to have + a long talk with my boy,—a talk we ought to have had before, and + it is my fault that we didn't. I shrank from it somehow, and now + am sorry for it. +</p> + +<p> + "Your frank and manful letter, telling me of your severe loss and + of the weakness that followed, reached me two days ago. Your + mother's came yesterday, fonder than ever and pleading for you as + only mothers can. It is a matter that has cost us all dear + financially, but, thanks to that loving mother, you were promptly + enabled to cover the loss and save your name. You know and realize + the sacrifices she had to make, and she tells me that you insisted + on knowing. I am glad you did, my boy. I am going to leave in your + hands the whole matter of repayment. +</p> + +<p> + "A young fellow of twenty can start in the army with many a worse + handicap than a debt of honor and a determination to work it off. + That steadies him. That matter really gives me less care than you + thought for. It is the other—your giving way to an impulse to + drink—that fills me with concern. You come up like a man, admit + your fault, and say you deserve and expect my severe censure. + Well, I've thought it all over, Sandy. My heart and my arms go out + to you in your distress and humiliation, and—I have not one word + of reproach or blame to give you. +</p> + +<p> + "For now I shall tell you what I had thought to say when your + graduation drew nigh, had we been able to master mechanics and + molecules and other mathematical rot as useful to a cavalry + officer as a binocular to a blind man, and that I ought to have + told you when you started out for yourself as a young + <i>ranchero</i>, but could not bring myself to it so long as you + seemed to have no inclination that way. Times, men, and customs + have greatly changed in the last forty or fifty years, my boy, and + greatly for the better. Looking back over my boyhood, I can recall + no day when wine was not served on your grandfather's table. The + brightest minds and bravest men in all Kentucky pledged each other + day and night in the cup that sometimes cheers and ofttimes + inebriates, and no public occasion was complete without champagne + and whiskey in abundance, no personal or private transaction + considered auspicious unless appropriately 'wet.' +</p> + +<p> + "Those were days when our statesmen revelled in sentiment and + song, and drank and gambled with the fervor of the followers of + the races. I was a boy of tender years then, and often, with my + playmates, I was called from our merry games to join the gentlemen + over their wine and drain a bumper to our glorious 'Harry of the + West,' and before I went to the Point, Sandy, I knew the best, and + possibly the worst, whiskeys made in Kentucky,—we <i>all</i> + did,—and the man or youth who could not stand his glass of liquor + was looked upon as a milksop or pitied, and yet, after all, + respected, as a 'singed cat,'—a fellow who owned that John + Barleycorn was too much for him, and he did not dare a single + round with him. +</p> + +<p> + "Then came the great war, and wars are always in one way + demoralizing. West Point in the early sixties was utterly unlike + the West Point of to-day, and no worse than a dozen of our + greatest colleges. The corps still had its tales and traditions of + the old time Fourth-of-July dinners at the mess hall, when + everybody made a dash for the decanters and drank everything in + sight. It was the only day in the year on which wine was served. + It was in my time the invariable custom for the superintendent to + receive the Board of Visitors on the day of their arrival at his + quarters and to invite the officers and the graduating class to + meet them, and to set forth, as for years had been the fashion at + Washington, wine and punch in abundance, and the very officers + detailed as our instructors would laughingly invite and challenge + the youngsters so soon to shed the gray and wear the blue to drink + with them again and again. I have seen dozens of the best and + bravest of our fellows come reeling and shouting back to barracks, + and a thoughtless set of boys laughing and applauding. +</p> + +<p> + "I was stationed at the Point soon after graduation, and the men + who drank were the rule, not the exception. Social visits were + rarely exchanged without the introduction of the decanter. The + marvel is that so many were 'temperate in our meat and drink,' as + my father and grandfather used to plead when, regularly every + morning, the family and the negro servants were mustered for + prayers. At every post where I was stationed, either in the East + or where I was most at home,—the far frontier,—whiskey was the + established custom, and man after man, fellows who had made fine + records during the war, and bright boys with whom I had worn the + gray at the Point, fell by the wayside and were court-martialled + out of service. +</p> + +<p> + "In '70 and '71 we had a Board that swept the army like a seine + and relegated scores of tipplers to civil life, but that didn't + stop it. Little by little the sense and manhood of our people + began to tell. Little by little the feeling against stimulant + began to develop at the Point. It was no longer a joke to set a + fledgling officer to taste the tempter—it was a crime. Four years + after I was commissioned we had only one total abstainer out of + some fifty officers at the mess, and he was a man whose life and + honor depended on it. Three years ago, when I went to see you, + there were dozens at the mess who never drank at all, and only + eight who even smoked. Athletics and rifle-practice had much to do + with this, I know, but there has gradually developed all over our + land, notably in those communities where the custom used to be + most honored in the observance, a total revulsion of sentiment. +</p> + +<p> + "Quarter of a century ago, even among many gently nurtured women, + the sight of a man overcome by liquor excited only sorrow and + sympathy; now it commands nothing less than abhorrence. I and my + surviving contemporaries started in life under the old system. + You, my dear boy, are more fortunate in having begun with the new. + Among the old soldiers there are still some few votaries of + Bacchus who have to count their cups most carefully or risk their + commissions. Among those under forty our army has far more total + abstainers than all the others in the world, and such soldiers as + Grant, Crook, Merritt, and Upton, of our service, and Kitchener of + Khartoum, are on record as saying that the staying powers of the + teetotaller exceed those even of the temperate man, and staying + power is a thing to cultivate. +</p> + +<p> + "As you know, I have never banished wine from our table, my boy. + Both your mother and I had been accustomed to seeing it in daily + use from childhood, yet she rarely touches it, even at our + dinners. But, Sanford, I sent John Barleycorn to the right about + the day your blessed mother promised to be my wife, and though I + always keep it in the sideboard for old comrades whose heads and + stomachs are still sound, and who find it agrees with them better + than wine, I never offer it to the youngsters. They don't need it, + Sandy, and no more do you. +</p> + +<p> + "But you come of a race that lived as did their fellow-men,—to + whom cards, the bottle, and betting were everyday affairs. It + would be remarkable if you never developed a tendency towards one + or all of them, and it was my duty to warn you before. I mourn + every hour I wasted over cards and every dollar I ever won from a + comrade more than—much more than—the many hundred dollars I lost + in my several years' apprenticeship to poker. It's just about the + poorest investment of time a soldier can devise. +</p> + +<p> + "Knowing all I do, and looking back over the path of my life, + strewn as it is with the wrecks of fellow-men ruined by whiskey, I + declare if I could live it over again it would be with the + determination never to touch a card for money or a glass for + liquor. +</p> + +<p> + "And now, my own boy, let me bear the blame of this—your first + transgression. You are more to us than we have ever told you. You + are now your sister's guardian and knight, for, though she goes + under the wing of Mrs. Dr. Wells, and, owing to her intense desire + to take a woman's part we could not deny her, both your mother and + I are filled with anxiety as to the result. To you we look to be + her shield in every possible way. We have never ceased to thank + God for the pride and joy He has given us in our children. (You + yourself would delight in seeing what a tip-top little soldier + Will is making.) You have ever been manful, truthful, and, I say + it with pride and thankfulness unutterable, <i>square</i> as boy + could be. You have our whole faith and trust and love unspeakable. + You have the best and fondest mother in the world, my son. And now + I have not one more word to urge or advise. Think and decide for + yourself. Your manhood, under God, will do the rest. +</p> + +<p> + "In love and confidence, +</p> + +<p> + "<span class="sc">Father</span>." +</p></div> + +<p> +When Marion came tapping timidly at the stateroom door there was for a +moment no answer. Sandy's face was buried in his hands as he knelt +beside the little white berth. He presently arose, dashed some water +over his eyes and brows, then shot back the bolt and took his sister in +his arms. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER X. +</p> + + +<p> +Not until the tenth day out from Honolulu was Mr. Stuyvesant so far +recovered as to warrant the surgeons in permitting his being lifted from +the hot and narrow berth to a steamer-chair on the starboard side. Even +then it was with the caution to everybody that he must not be disturbed. +The heat below and in many of the staterooms was overpowering, and +officers and soldiers in numbers slept upon the deck, and not a few of +the Red Cross nurses spent night after night in the bamboo and wicker +reclining-chairs under the canvas awnings. +</p> + +<p> +Except for the tropic temperature, the weather had been fine and the +voyage smooth and uneventful. The Sacramento rolled easily, lazily +along. The men had morning shower-baths and, a few at a time, salt-water +plunges in big canvas tanks set fore and aft on the main deck. On the +port or southern side of the promenade deck the officers sported their +pajamas both day and night, and were expected to appear in khaki or +serge, and consequent discomfort, only at table, on drill or duty, and +when visiting the starboard side, which, abaft the captain's room, was +by common consent given up to the women. +</p> + +<p> +They were all on hand the morning that the invalid officer was carefully +aided from his stateroom to a broad reclining-chair, which was then +borne to a shaded nook beneath the stairway leading to the bridge and +there securely lashed. The doctor and Mr. Ray remained some minutes with +him, and the steward came with a cooling drink. Mrs. Wells, doctor by +courtesy and diploma, arose and asked the surgeon if there were really +nothing the ladies could do—"Mr. Stuyvesant looks so very pale and +weak,"—and the sisterhood strained their ears for the reply, which, as +the surgeon regarded the lady's remark as reflecting upon the results of +his treatment, might well be expected to be somewhat tart. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing to-day, Mrs.—er—Dr. Wells," said the army man, half vexed, +also, at being detained on way to hospital. "The fever has gone and he +will soon recuperate now, provided he can rest and sleep. It is much +cooler on deck and—if it's only quiet——" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, he sha'n't be bothered, if that's what you mean," interposed Dr. +Wells with proper spirit. "I'm sure nobody desires to intrude in the +least. I asked for my associates from a sense of duty. Most of them are +capable of fanning or even reading aloud to a patient without danger of +over-exciting him." +</p> + +<p> +"Unquestionably, madam," responded the surgeon affably, "and when such +ministrations are needed I'll let you know. Good-morning." And, lifting +his stiff helmet, the doctor darted down the companion-way. +</p> + +<p> +"Brute!" said the lady doctor. "No wonder that poor boy doesn't get +well. Miss Ray, I marvel that your brother can stand him." +</p> + +<p> +Miss Ray glanced quietly up from her book and smiled. "We have known Dr. +Sturgis many years," she said. "He is brusque, yet very much thought of +in the army." +</p> + +<p> +But at this stage of the colloquy there came interruption most +merciful—for the surgeon. The deep whistle of the steamer sounded three +quick blasts. There was instant rush and scurry on the lower deck. The +cavalry trumpets fore and aft rang out the assembly. +</p> + +<p> +It was the signal for boat-drill, and while the men of certain companies +sprang to ranks and stood in silence at attention awaiting orders, other +detachments rushed to their stations at the life-rafts, and others still +swarmed up the stairways or clambered over the rails, and in less than a +minute every man was at his post. Quickly the staff officers made the +rounds, received the reports of the detachment commanders and the boat +crews, and returning, with soldierly salute, gave the results to the +commanding officer, who had taken position with the captain on the +bridge. +</p> + +<p> +For five or ten minutes the upper deck was dotted by squads of +blue-shirted soldiers, grouped in disciplined silence about the boats. +Then the recall was sounded, and slowly and quietly the commands +dispersed and went below. +</p> + +<p> +It so happened that in returning to the forecastle about a dozen +troopers passed close to where Stuyvesant lay, a languid spectator, and +at sight of his pale, thin face two of them stopped, raised their hands +in salute, looked first eager and pleased, and then embarrassed. Their +faces were familiar, and suddenly Stuyvesant remembered. Beckoning them +to come nearer, he feebly spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"You were in the car-fire. I thought I knew your faces." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," was the instant reply of the first. "We're sorry to see the +lieutenant so badly hurt—and by that blackguard Murray too, they say. +If the boys ever get hold of him, sir, he'll never have time for his +prayers." +</p> + +<p> +"No, nor another chance to bite," grinned the second, whom Stuyvesant +now recognized as the lance corporal of artillery. "He's left his mark +on both of us, sir," and, so saying, the soldier held out his hand. +</p> + +<p> +In the soft and fleshy part of the palm at the base of the thumb were +the scars of several wounds. It did not need an expert eye to tell that +they were human-tooth marks. There were the even traces of the middle +incisors, the deep gash made by the fang-like dog tooth, and between the +mark of the right upper canine and those of three incisors a smooth, +unscarred space. There, then, must have been a vacancy in the upper jaw, +a tooth broken off or gone entirely, and Stuyvesant remembered that as +Murray spoke the eye-tooth was the more prominent because of the ugly +gap beside it. +</p> + +<p> +"He had changed the cut of his jib considerably," faintly whispered +Stuyvesant, after he had extended a kind but nerveless hand to each, +"but that mark would betray him anywhere under any disguise. Was Foster +ever found?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir. They sent me back to Sacramento, but nobody could remember +having seen anybody like him. I'm afraid he was drowned there at +Carquinez. My battery went over with the third expedition while I was up +there. That's how I happen to be with the cavalry on this trip." Then up +went both hands to the caps again and both soldiers sprang to attention. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant, looking languidly around, saw that Mr. Ray had returned, +saw, moreover, that his sister was leaning on his arm, her eyes fixed on +the speaker's weather-beaten face. Again it all flashed upon him—the +story of Foster's infatuation for this lovely girl, his enlistment, and +then his strange and unaccountable disappearance. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm sorry, men," interposed Mr. Ray in pleasant tone, "but the surgeon +has ordered us not to talk with Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and I shall have +to repeat his order to you. You were in the car that was burned, I +suppose?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. Beg pardon—we didn't know about the doctor's orders. We're +mighty glad to see the lieutenant again. Come 'long, Mellen." +</p> + +<p> +"Wait," whispered Stuyvesant. "Come and see me again. I want to talk +with you, and—thank you for stopping to-day." +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers departed happy, and Stuyvesant turned wistfully to greet +Miss Ray. She was already beyond reach of his voice, leaning on Sandy's +arm and gazing steadfastly into his face. He saw Mrs. Dr. Wells coming +swiftly towards him with inquiry in her eyes, and impulsively, +peevishly, and in disappointment he turned again his face to the wall, +as it were. At least that was not the Red Cross nurse he longed for, +good and sympathetic and wise in her way as she undoubtedly was. +</p> + +<p> +He wished now with all his heart that they had placed his chair so that +he could look back along the promenade deck instead of forward over the +forecastle at the sparkling sea. He felt that, pacing up and down +together, the brother and sister must come within ten feet of his chair +before they turned back, and he longed to look at her, yet could not. +Sturgis had said he would return in a few minutes, and he hadn't come. +Stuyvesant felt aggrieved. It would be high noon before many minutes. +Already the ship officers were on the bridge ready to "take the sun," +and mess-call for the men was sounding on the lower decks. He would give +a fortune, thought he, to feel once more that cool, soft, slender little +hand on his forehead. There were other hands, some that were certainly +whiter than Miss Ray's, and probably quite as soft and cool, hands that +before the report of his slur upon the Red Cross would gladly have +ministered to him, but he shrank from thought of any touch but one. He +would have given another fortune, if he had it, could Marion Ray but +come and sit by him and talk in her cordial, pleasant tones. There were +better talkers, wittier, brighter women within hail—women who kept +their hearers laughing much of the time, which Miss Ray did not, yet he +shrank from the possibility of one of their number accosting him. +</p> + +<p> +Twice he was conscious that Dr. Wells and Miss Porter had tip-toed close +and were peering interestedly at him, but he shut his eyes and would not +see or hear. He did not "want to be bothered," it was only too evident, +and as the ship's bell chimed the hour of noon and the watch changed, +his would-be visitors slipped silently away and he was alone. +</p> + +<p> +When the doctor came cautiously towards him a few minutes later, +Stuyvesant was to all appearances sleeping, and the "medico" rejoiced in +the success of his scheme. When, not five minutes after the doctor +peeped at him, the voice of the captain was heard booming from the +bridge just over the patient's pillowed head, it developed that the +patient was wide awake. Perhaps what the captain said would account for +this. +</p> + +<p> +A dozen times on the voyage that mariner had singled out Miss Ray for +some piece of attention. Now, despite the fact that almost the entire +Red Cross party were seated or strolling or reclining there under the +canvas awning and he must have known it, although they were hidden from +his view, he again made that young lady the object of his homage. She +was at the moment leaning over the rail, with Sandy by her side, gazing +at the dark blue, beautiful waters that, flashing and foam-crested, went +sweeping beneath her. The monarch of the ship, standing at the outer end +of the bridge, had caught sight of her and gave tongue at once. A good +seaman was the captain and a stalwart man, but he knew nothing of tact +or discretion. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Miss Ray," he bawled, "come up on the bridge and I'll show you the +chart. Bring the lieutenant." +</p> + +<p> +For an instant she hesitated, reluctant. Not even the staff of the +commanding officer had set foot on that sacred perch since the voyage +began, only when especially bidden or at boat or fire drill did that +magnate himself presume to ascend those stairs. As for her sister +nurses, though they had explored the lower regions and were well +acquainted with the interior arrangement of the Sacramento, and were +consumed with curiosity and desire to see what was aloft on the +hurricane-deck, the stern prohibition still staring at them in bold, +brazen letters, "Passengers are Forbidden upon the Bridge," had served +to restrain the impulse to climb. +</p> + +<p> +And now here was Captain Butt singling out Miss Ray again and ignoring +the rest of them. If she could have found any reasonable excuse for +refusing Maidie Ray would have declined. But Sandy's eyes said "Come." +Butt renewed his invitation. She turned and looked appealingly at Mrs. +Wells, as though to say "What shall I do?" but that matron was +apparently engrossed in a volume of Stevenson, and would not be drawn +into the matter, and finally Marion caught Miss Porter's eye. There, at +least, was a gleam of encouragement and sympathy. Impulsive and +capricious as that young woman could be on occasions, the girl had +learned to appreciate the genuine qualities of her room-mate, and of +late had been taking sides for Marion against the jealousies of her +fellows. +</p> + +<p> +"Why don't you go?" she murmured, with a nod of her head towards the +stairs, and with slightly heightened color, Miss Ray smiled acceptance +at the captain, and, following Sandy's lead through the labyrinth of +steamer-chairs about them, tripped briskly away over the open deck, and +there, at the very foot of the steep, ladder-like ascent, became aware +of Mr. Stuyvesant leaning on an elbow and gazing at her with all his big +blue eyes. +</p> + +<p> +She had to stop and go around under the stairs and take his thin, +outstretched hand. She had to stop a moment to speak to him, though what +he said, or she said, neither knew a moment after. All she was conscious +of as she turned away was that now at least every eye in all the +sisterhood was on her, and, redder than ever, she fairly flew up the +steep steps, and was welcomed by the chivalric Butt upon the bridge. +</p> + +<p> +That afternoon several of the Band were what Miss Porter was constrained +to call "nastily snippy" in their manner to her, and, feeling wronged +and misjudged, it was not to be wondered at that her father's daughter +should resent it. And yet so far from exulting in having thus been +distinguished and recognized above her fellows, Miss Ray had felt deeply +embarrassed, and almost the first words she said after receiving the +bluff seaman's effusive greeting were in plea for her associates. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Captain Butt, it's most kind of you to ask me up here—and my +brother, too, will be so interested in the chart-room, but, can't +you—won't you ask Dr. Wells and at least some of the ladies? You know +they all would be glad to come, and——" +</p> + +<p> +"That's all right, Miss Ray," bawled old Butt, breaking in on her +hurried words. "I'll ask 'em up here some other time. You see we're +rolling a bit to-day, and like as not some of 'em would pitch over +things, and—and—well, there ain't room for more'n three at a time +anyhow." +</p> + +<p> +"Then you ought to have asked Dr. Wells first and some of the +seniors."—She hesitated about saying elders.—No one of the Band would +have welcomed an invitation tendered on account of her advanced years. +</p> + +<p> +"It'll be just as bad if I go and ask her now," said Butt testily. "The +others will take offence, and life's too short for a shipmaster to be +explaining to a lot of women why they can't all come at once on the +bridge. I'll have 'em up to-morrow—any three you say." +</p> + +<p> +But when the morrow came he didn't "have 'em up." Maidie had pleaded +loyally for her associates, but was too proud or sensitive to so inform +them. The captain had said he would do that, and meanwhile she tried not +to feel exasperated at the injured airs assumed by several of the Band +and the cutting remarks of one or two of their number. +</p> + +<p> +That afternoon, however, the skies became overcast and the wind rose. +That night the sea dashed high towards the rail and the Sacramento +wallowed deep in the surges. Next morning the wind had freshened to a +gale. All air-ports were closed. The spray swept the promenade deck +along the starboard side and the Red Cross and two-thirds of the martial +passenger-list forgot all minor ills and annoyances in the miseries of +<i>mal de mer</i>. Three days and nights were most of the women folk +cooped in their cabins, but Miss Ray was an old sailor and had twice +seen far heavier weather on the Atlantic. Sheltered from the rain by the +bridge-deck and from the spray and gale by heavy canvas lashed +athwartship in front of the captain's room, and securely strapped in her +reclining-chair, this young lady fairly rejoiced in the magnificent +battle with the elements and gloried in the bursting seas. Sandy, too, +albeit a trifle upset, was able to be on deck, and one of the "subs" +from the port-side hearing of it, donned his outer garments and cavalry +boots and joined forces with them, and Stuyvesant, hearing their merry +voices, declared that he could not breathe in his stuffy cabin and +demanded to be dressed and borne out on deck too. At first the surgeon +said no, whereupon his patient began to get worse. +</p> + +<p> +So on the second day the doctor yielded, and all that day and the third +of the storm, by which time the starboard deck was slowly becoming +peopled with a few spectral and barely animate feminine shapes, +Stuyvesant reclined within arm's length of the dark-eyed girl who had so +entranced him, studying her beauty, drinking in her words, and gaining +such health and strength in the life-giving air and such bliss from the +association that Sturgis contemplated with new complacency the happy +result of his treatment, for when the gale subsided, and on the fourth +day they ran once more into smooth and lazy waters, it was Stuyvesant's +consuming desire to take up his bed and walk, except when Miss Ray was +there to talk or read to him. +</p> + +<p> +And this was the state of affairs when the Sacramento hove in sight of +the bold headlands, green and beautiful, that front the sea at the +northeast corner of mountainous Luzon. Once within soundings and close +to a treacherous shore, with only Spanish authority to rely on as to +rocks, reefs, and shoals, no wonder old Butt could have no women on the +bridge, this, too, at the very time they most wished to be there, since +everything worth seeing lay on the port or southern side, and that given +up to those horrid officers and their pajamas. +</p> + +<p> +Not until his anchor dropped in Manila Bay did the master of the +Sacramento think to redeem his promise to bid the ladies of the Red +Cross to the sacred bridge, and incidentally to tell them how Miss Ray +had urged it in their behalf while they were out on blue waters, but now +it was too late. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XI. +</p> + + +<p> +It was late in the afternoon when the Sacramento, slowly feeling her way +southward, had come within view of El Fraile and Corregidor, looming up +like sentinels at the entrance to the great, far-spreading bay. +</p> + +<p> +Butt and his assistants, with the field officer in command of the +troops, peered through their binoculars or telescopes for sign of +cruiser or transport along the rocky shores, and marvelled much that +none could be seen. Over against the evening sun just sinking to the +west the dim outlines of the upper masts and spars of some big vessel +became visible for three minutes, then faded from view. The passengers +swarmed on deck, silent, anxious, ever and anon gazing upward at the +bridge as though in hope of a look or word of encouragement. +</p> + +<p> +It was midsummer and more when they left Honolulu, and by this time the +American force, land and naval, in front of Manila ought to be ample to +overcome the Spaniards. But there was ever that vexing problem as to +what Aguinaldo and his followers might do rather than see the great city +given over to the Americans for law and order instead of to themselves +for loot and rapine. The fact that all coast lights thus far were +extinguished was enough to convince the Sacramento's voyagers that they +were still unwelcome to the natives, but both the shipmaster and the +cavalry officer commanding had counted on finding cruiser, or despatch +boat at least, on lookout for them and ready to conduct them to safe +anchorage. But no such ship appeared, and the alternative of going about +and steaming out to sea for the night or dropping anchor where he lay +was just presenting itself to Butt when from the lips of the second +officer, who had clambered up the shrouds, there came the joyous shout: +"By Jove! There's Corregidor light!" +</p> + +<p> +Surely enough, even before the brief tropic twilight was over and +darkness had settled down, away to the southward, at regular ten-second +intervals, from the crest of the rock-bound, crumbling parapet on +Corregidor Island, a brilliant light split the cloudy vista and flashed +a welcome to the lone wanderer on the face of the waters. It could mean +only one thing: Manila Bay was dominated by Dewey's guns. The Yankee was +master of Corregidor, and had possessed himself of both fort and +light-house. In all probability Manila itself had fallen. +</p> + +<p> +"Half speed ahead!" was the order, and again the throb of the engines +went pulsing through the ship, and the Sacramento slowly forged ahead +over a smooth summer sea. At midnight the pilot and glad tidings were +aboard, and at dawn the decks were thronged with eager voyagers, and a +great, full-throated cheer went up from the forecastle head as the gray, +ghost-like shapes of the war-ships loomed up out of the mist and dotted +the unruffled surface. +</p> + +<p> +But that cheer sank to nothingness beside one which followed fifteen +minutes later, when the red disk of the sun came peeping over the low, +fog-draped range far to the eastward and, saluted by the boom of the +morning gun from the battlements of the old city, there sailed to the +peak of the lofty flag-staff the brilliant colors and graceful folds of +the stars and stripes. +</p> + +<p> +The three-century rule of Castile and Aragon was ended. The yellow and +red of Spain was supplanted by the scarlet, white, and blue of America, +and in a new glory of its own "Old Glory" unfolded to the faintly rising +breeze, and all along the curving shore and over the placid waters rang +out the joyous, life-giving, heart-stirring notes of the Yankee +reveille. +</p> + +<p> +For long hours later there came launches, bancas, and cascoes from fleet +and shore. The debarkation of the cavalry began in the afternoon. They +had left their horses at the Presidio, six thousand miles away, and were +troopers only in name. The officers who came as passengers got ashore in +the course of the day and made their way to the Ayuntamiento to report +their arrival and receive their assignments. +</p> + +<p> +The Red Cross nurses looked in vain for the hospital launch that, it was +supposed, would hasten to convey them to comfortable quarters adjoining +the sick-wards or convalescent camps. They listened with the deepest +interest to the description of the assault of the 13th of August that +made Merritt master of Manila, and the elders, masculine and feminine, +who knew something of what battle meant when American was pitted against +American, looked at each other in wonderment as they heard how much had +been won at cost of so little. +</p> + +<p> +Sandy Ray, kissing Marion good-by and promising to see Stuyvesant in the +near future, went over the side with his troop and, landing at the stone +dock at the foot of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, found himself trudging +along at the head of his men under massive walls nearly three centuries +old, bristling with antiquated, highly ornamented Spanish guns, and +streaked with slime and vegetation, while along the high parapets across +the moat thousands of Spanish soldiers squatted and stared at them in +sullen apathy. +</p> + +<p> +Maidie's knight and champion indeed! His duty called him with his +fellows to a far-away suburb up the Pasig River. Her duty held her to +await the movements of the sisterhood, and what she might lack for +sympathy among them was made up in manifest yet embarrassing interest on +part of the tall young aide-de-camp, for Stuyvesant was bidden to remain +aboard ship until suitable accommodation could be found for him ashore. +</p> + +<p> +Under any other circumstances he would have objected vehemently, but, +finding that the Red Cross contingent was to share his fate, and that +Miss Ray was one of the dozen condemned to remain, he bore his enforced +lot with Christian and soldierly resignation. +</p> + +<p> +"Only," said Dr. Wells, "one would suppose that the Red Cross was +entitled to some consideration, and that all preparation would have been +made for our coming." It was neither flattering nor reassuring, nor, +indeed, was it kind, that they should be so slighted, said the +sisterhood that evening; but worse still was in store, for on the +morrow, early, the Esmeralda came steaming in from Hong Kong, where, +despite her roundabout voyage, the Belgic had arrived before the +slow-moving Sacramento had rounded the northern point of Luzon, and, on +the deck of the Esmeralda as she steered close alongside the transport, +and thence on the unimpeded way to her moorings up the Pasig, in plain +view of the sisterhood, tall, gaunt, austere, but triumphant, towered +the form of the vice-president of the Patriotic Daughters of America. +</p> + +<p> +For two days more the Sacramento remained at anchor in the bay over a +mile from the mouth of the river, and for two days and nights the Red +Cross remained aboard, unsought, unsummoned from the shore. The +situation became more strained than ever, the only betterment arising +from the fact that now there was more space and the nurses were no +longer crowded three in a room. Mrs. Dr. Wells moved into that recently +vacated by the cavalry commander, and Miss Ray and her now earnest +friend, Miss Porter, were relieved by the desertion of their eldest +sister, who pre-empted a major's stateroom on the upper deck. +</p> + +<p> +Butt stirred up a new trouble by promptly coming to Miss Ray and bidding +her move out of that stuffy hole below and take Major Horton's quarters, +and bring Miss Porter with her "if that was agreeable." +</p> + +<p> +It would have been, very, but "Miss Ray's head was level," as the purser +put it, and despite the snippy and exasperating conduct of most of the +sisterhood, that wise young woman pointed out to the shipmaster that +theirs was a semi-military organization, and that the senior, Mrs. Dr. +Wells, and one or two veteran nurses should have choice of quarters. +</p> + +<p> +By this time Miss Porter's vehement championship of her charming and +much misjudged friend had excited no little rancor against herself. The +more she proved that they had done Miss Ray injustice, the less they +liked Miss Ray's advocate. It is odd but true that many a woman finds it +far easier to forgive another for being as wicked as she has declared +her to be than for proving herself entirely innocent. +</p> + +<p> +One thing, anyhow, Miss Porter couldn't deny, said the sisterhood,—she +was accepting devoted attentions from Mr. Stuyvesant, and in her +capacity as a Red Cross nurse that was inexcusable. +</p> + +<p> +"Fudge!" said Miss Porter. "If it were you instead of Miss Ray he was in +love with, how long would you let your badge keep him at a distance?" +</p> + +<p> +The sun went down on their unappeased wrath that second night in Manila +Bay, and with the morrow came added cause for disapprobation. Before the +noon hour a snow-white launch with colors flying fore and aft steamed +alongside, and up the stairs, resplendent, came Stuyvesant's general +with a brace of staff officers, all three precipitating themselves on +the invalid and, after brief converse with him, all three sending their +cards to Miss Ray, who had taken refuge on the other deck. +</p> + +<p> +And even while she sat reflecting what would be the wiser course, the +general himself followed the card-bearer, and that distinguished +warrior, with all the honors of his victorious entry fresh upon him, +inclined his handsome head and begged that he might present himself to +the daughter of an old and cherished friend of cadet days, and seated +himself by her side with hardly a glance at the array of surrounding +femininity and launched into reminiscence of "Billy Ray" as he was +always called, ana it was some little time before she could say,— +</p> + +<p> +"Will you let me present you to Dr. Wells, who is practically my +commanding officer?" a request the general was too much of a gentleman +not to accede to at once, yet looked <i>not</i> too much pleased when he +was led before that commanding dame, and then distinctly displeased as, +taking advantage of her opportunity, the indignant lady burst forth with +her grievance: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! This is General Vinton! Well, I must say that I think you generals +have treated the ladies of the Red Cross with precious little courtesy. +Here we've been waiting thirty-six hours, and not a soul has come near +us or shown us where to go or told us what to do, while everybody else +aboard is looked after at once." +</p> + +<p> +"It is a matter entirely out of my jurisdiction, madame," answered the +general with grave and distant dignity. "In fact, I knew nothing of the +arrival of any such party until, at the commanding general's this +morning, your vice-president—is it?—was endeavoring to——" +</p> + +<p> +"Our vice-president, sir," interposed the lady promptly, "is in San +Francisco, attending to her proper functions. The person you saw is not +recognized by the Red Cross at all, nor by any one in authority that +<i>I</i> know of." +</p> + +<p> +General Vinton reddened. A soldier, accustomed to the "courtesies +indispensable among military men," ill brooks it that a stranger and a +woman should take him to task for matters beyond his knowledge or +control. +</p> + +<p> +"You will pardon me if in my ignorance of the matter I fancied the lady +in question to be a representative of your order, and for suggesting +that the chief surgeon is the official to whom you should address your +complaint—and rebukes. Good-morning, madame. Miss Ray," he continued, +as he quickly turned and led that young lady away, "two of my staff +desire to be presented. May I have the pleasure?" +</p> + +<p> +There was no mistaking the general's disapprobation of the official head +of the sisterhood as represented on the Sacramento. Though he and his +officers remained aboard an hour, not once again would he look towards +Dr. Wells or seem to see any of the party but Miss Ray,—this, too, +despite the fact that she tried to explain matters and pour oil on such +troubled waters. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Butt sent up champagne to the distinguished party, and Miss Ray +begged to be excused and slipped away to her stateroom, only to be +instantly recalled by other cards—Colonel and Mrs. Brent, other old +friends of her father and mother. She remembered them well, and +remembered having heard how Mrs. Brent had braved all opposition and had +started for Hong Kong the day after the colonel steamed for Manila; and +their coming with most hospitable intent only added to the poor girl's +perplexities, for they showered welcomes upon her and bade her get her +luggage up at once. They had come to take her to their own roof. They +had secured such a quaint, roomy house in Ermita right near the bay +shore, and looking right out on the Luneta and the parade grounds. +</p> + +<p> +They stormed at her plea that she must not leave her companions. They +bade her send for Miss Porter, and included her in their warm-hearted +invitation; but by the time Maidie was able to get a word in edgewise on +her own account, and begged them to come and meet Mrs. Dr. Wells and the +Red Cross sisterhood, they demurred. +</p> + +<p> +The general, in Marion's brief absence, had expressed his opinion of +that official head, and the Brents had evidently accepted his views. +Then Vinton and his officers loudly begged Mrs. Brent to play chaperon +and persuade Miss Ray and Miss Porter to accompany them in their fine +white launch on a visit to the admiral on the flag-ship, and said +nothing about others of the order. +</p> + +<p> +The idea of seeing Dewey on his own deck and being shown all over the +Olympia! Why, it was glorious! But Miss Ray faltered her refusal, even +against Miss Porter's imploring eyes. Then Stuyvesant declared he didn't +feel up to it. +</p> + +<p> +The general went off to the fleet and the Brents back to shore without +the girls. But in the course of the afternoon four more officers came to +tender their services to "Billy Ray's daughter," and none, not even a +hospital steward, came to do aught for the Red Cross, and by sundown +Maidie Ray had every assurance that the most popular girl at that moment +in Manila army circles was the least popular aboard the Sacramento, and +Kate Porter cried herself to sleep after an out-and-out squabble with +two of the Band, and the emphatic assertion that if she were Marion Ray +she would cut them all dead and go live with her friends ashore. +</p> + +<p> +But when the morrow came was it to be wondered at that Miss Ray had +developed a high fever? Was it not characteristic that before noon, from +the official head down, from Dr. Wells to Dottie Fellows, the most +diminutive of the party, there lived not a woman of their number who was +not eager in tender of services and in desire to be at the sufferer's +bedside? Was it not manlike that Stuyvesant, who had shunned the +sisterhood for days, now sought the very women he had scorned, and +begged for tidings of the girl he loved? +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XII. +</p> + + +<p> +October had come and the rainy season was going, but still the heat of +the mid-day sun drove everybody within doors except the irrepressible +Yankee soldiery, released "on pass" from routine duty at inner barracks +or outer picket line, and wandering about this strange, old-world +metropolis of the Philippines, reckless of time or temperature in their +determination to see everything there was to be seen about the whilom +stronghold of "the Dons" in Asiatic waters. +</p> + +<p> +Along the narrow sidewalks of the Escolta, already bordered by American +signs—and saloons,—and rendered even more than usually precarious by +American drinks, the blue-shirted boys wandered, open-eyed, marvelling +much to find 'twixt twelve and two the shutters up in all the shops not +conducted, as were the bars, on the American plan, while from some, +still more Oriental, the sun and the shopper both were excluded four +full hours, beginning at eleven. +</p> + +<p> +All over the massive, antiquated fortifications of Old Manila into the +tortuous mazes of the northern districts, through the crowded Chinese +quarter, foul and ill savored, the teeming suburbs of the native Tagals, +humble yet cleanly; along the broad, shaded avenues, bordered by stately +old Spanish mansions, many of them still occupied by their Castilian +owners, the Yankee invaders wandered at will, brimful of curiosity and +good nature, eager to gather in acquaintance, information, and +bric-à-brac, making themselves perfectly at home, filling the souls of +the late lords of the soil with disdain, and those of the natives with +wonderment through their lavish, jovial, free and easy ways. Within a +month from the time Merritt's little division had marched into the city, +Manila was as well known to most of those far-Western volunteers as the +streets of their own home villages, and, when once the paymaster had +distributed his funds among them and, at the rate of ten cents off on +every dollar, they had swapped their sound American coin for "soft" +Mexican or Spanish <i>pesos</i>, the prodigality with which they +scattered their wealth among their dusky friends and admirers evoked the +blessings of the church (which was not slow to levy on the +beneficiaries), the curses of the sons of Spain, who had generally +robbed and never given, and, at first, the almost superstitious awe of +the Tagals, who, having never heard of such a thing before, dreaded some +deep-laid scheme for their despoilment. But this species of dread lived +but a few short weeks, and, before next payday, was as far gone as the +money of the Americanos. +</p> + +<p> +Those were blithe days in Manila as the autumn came on and the +insurrection was still in the far future. There were fine bands among +the Yankee regiments that played afternoon and evening in the kiosk on +the Luneta, and every household possessed of an open carriage, or the +means of hiring one, appeared regularly each day as the sun sank to the +westward sea, and after making swift yet solemn circuit of the Anda +monument at the Pasig end of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, returned to the +Luneta proper, and wedged in among the closely packed vehicles that +covered the broad, smooth driveways on both sides of the esplanade and +for some hundred yards each way north and south of the band-stand. Along +the shaded and gravelled walks that bordered the Paseo, within short +pistol-shot of the grim bastions beyond the green <i>glacis</i> and even +greener moat, many dark-haired, dark-eyed daughters of Spain, leaving +their carriages and, guarded by faithful duenna, strolled slowly up and +down, exchanging furtive signal of hand or kerchief with some gallant +among the throngs of captive soldiery that swarmed towards sunset on the +parapet. Swarthy, black-browed Spanish officers in cool summer uniform +and in parties of three or four lined the roadway, or wandered up and +down in search of some distraction to the deadly <i>ennui</i> of their +lives now that their soldier occupation was gone, vouchsafing neither +glance nor salutation to their Yankee conquerors, no matter what the +rank, until the wives and daughters of American officers began to arrive +and appear upon the scene, when the disdain of both sexes speedily gave +way to obvious, if reluctant, curiosity. +</p> + +<p> +South of the walls and outworks of Old Manila and east of the Luneta lay +a broad, open level, bounded on the south by the suburb of Ermita, and +in the midst of the long row of Spanish-built houses extending from the +battery of huge Krupps at the bay-side, almost over to the diagonal +avenue of the Nozaleda, stood the very cosey, finely furnished house +which had been hired as quarters for Colonel Brent, high dignitary on +the department staff. +</p> + +<p> +Its lower story of cut stone was pierced by the arched drive-way through +which carriages entered to the <i>patio</i> or inner court, and, as in +the tenets of Madrid the Queen of Spain is possessed of no personal +means of locomotion, so possibly to no Spanish dame of high degree may +be attributed the desire, even though she have the power, to walk. +</p> + +<p> +No other portal, therefore, either for entrance or exit, could be found +at the front. Massive doors of dark, heavy wood from the Luzon forests, +strapped with iron, swung on huge hinges that, unless well oiled, defied +the efforts of unmuscular mankind. A narrow panel opening in one of +these doors, two feet above the ground and on little hinges of its own, +gave means of passage to household servants and, when pressed for time, +to such of their superiors as would condescend to step high and stoop +low. +</p> + +<p> +To the right and left of the main entrance were store-rooms, servants' +rooms, and carriage-room, and opposite the latter, towards the rear, the +broad stairway that, turning upon itself, led to the living-rooms on the +upper floor—the broad salon at the head of the stairs being utilized as +a dining-room on state occasions, and its northward end as the parlor. +Opening from the sides of the salon, front and rear, were four large, +roomy, high-ceilinged chambers. +</p> + +<p> +Overlooking and partially overhanging the street and extending the +length of the house was a wide enclosed veranda, well supplied with +tables, lounging-chairs, and couches of bamboo and wicker, its floor +covered here and there with Indian rugs, its surrounding waist-high +railing fitted with parallel grooves in which slid easily the frames of +the windows of translucent shells, set in little four-inch squares, or +the dark-green blinds that excluded the light and glare of mid-day. +</p> + +<p> +With both thrown back there spread an unobstructed view of the +parade-ground even to the edge of the distant <i>glacis</i>, and here it +was the household sat to watch the military ceremonies, to receive their +guests, and to read or doze throughout the drowsier hours of the day. +"Campo de Bagumbayan" was what the natives called that martial flat in +the strange barbaric tongue that delights in "igs" and "ags," in "ings" +and "angs," even to repetition and repletion. +</p> + +<p> +And here one soft, sensuous October afternoon, with a light breeze from +the bay tempering the heat of the slanting sunshine, reclining in a +broad bamboo easy-chair sat Maidie Ray, now quite convalescent, yet not +yet restored to her old-time vigorous health. +</p> + +<p> +Her hostess, the colonel's amiable wife, was busy on the back gallery +leading to the kitchen, deep in counsel with her Filipino major-domo and +her Chinese cook, servitors who had been well trained and really needed +no instruction, and for that matter got but little, for Mrs. Brent's +knowledge of the Spanish tongue was even less than her command of +"Pidgin" English. Nevertheless, neither Ignacio nor Sing Suey would fail +to nod in the one case or smile broadly in the other in assent to her +every proposition,—it being one of the articles of their domestic faith +that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, could +best be promoted throughout the establishment by never seeming to differ +with the lady of the house. To all outward appearances, therefore, and +for the first few weeks, at least, housekeeping in the Philippines +seemed something almost idyllic, and Mrs. Brent was in ecstasies over +the remarkable virtues of Spanish-trained servants. +</p> + +<p> +There had been anxious days during Maidie's illness. The Sacramento had +been ordered away, and the little patient had to be brought ashore. But +the chief quartermaster sent his especial steam-launch for "Billy Ray's +daughter," the chief surgeon, the best ambulance and team to meet her at +the landing; a squad of Sandy's troopers bore her reclining-chair over +the side into the launch, out of the launch to the waiting ambulance, +and out of the ambulance upstairs into the airy room set apart for her, +and, with Mrs. Brent and Miss Porter, Sandy and the most devoted of army +doctors to bear her company and keep the fans going, Maidie's progress +had been rather in the nature of a triumph. +</p> + +<p> +So at least it had seemed to the austere vice-president of the Patriotic +Daughters of America, who, as it happened, looked on in severe +disapproval. She had asked for that very ambulance that very day to +enable her to make the rounds of regimental hospitals in the outlying +suburbs, and had been politely but positively refused. +</p> + +<p> +By that time, it seems, this most energetic woman had succeeded in +alienating all others in authority at corps head-quarters, to the end +that the commanding general declined to grant her further audience, the +surgeon-general had given orders that she be not admitted to his inner +office, the deputy surgeon-general had asked for a sentry to keep her +off his premises, the sentries at the First and Second Reserve Hospital +had instructions to tell her, also politely but positively, that she +could not be admitted except in visiting hours, when the surgeon, a +steward, or—and here was "the most unkindest cut of all"—some of the +triumphant Red Cross could receive and attend to her, for at last the +symbol of Geneva had gained full recognition. At last Dr. Wells and the +sisterhood were on duty, comfortably housed, cordially welcomed, and +presumably happy. +</p> + +<p> +But Miss Perkins was not. She had come to Manila full of high purpose as +the self-styled, accredited representative of any quantity of good +Americans, actuated by motives, no doubt, of purest patriotism. The +nation was full of it,—of men who wanted to be officers, of women who +wanted to be officials, many of whom succeeded only in becoming +officious. There were not staff or line positions enough to provide for +a hundredth part of the men, or societies and "orders" sufficient to +cater to the ambitions of a tenth part of the women. The great Red Cross +gave abundant employment for thousands of gentle and willing hands, but +limited the number of directing heads, and Miss Perkins and others of +the Jellaby stamp were born, as they thought, not to follow but to lead. +Balked in their ambitious designs to become prominent in that noble +national association, women possessed of the unlimited assurance of Miss +Perkins started what might be termed an anti-crusade, with the result +that in scores of quiet country towns, as well as in the cities of the +East and Middle West, many subscriptions were easily gained, and +hundreds of honest, earnest women were rewarded with paper scrolls +setting forth that they were named as Sisters of the American Soldier, +Patriotic Daughters of America, or Ministering Angels of the Camp and +Cot. Shades of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton! the very voice of +such self-appointed angels as Miss Perkins was enough to set the nerves +of strong men on edge and to drive fever patients to madness! Even the +Red Cross could not always be sure of its selection. It did prevent the +sending to Manila of certain undesirable applicants, but it could not +prevent the going of Miss Perkins at the expense of the deluded, on +ships that were common carriers, even though she were a common scold. +There she was, portentous as the British Female portrayed by Thackeray. +Backed by apparently abundant means and obviously indomitable "gall," +she counted on carrying all before her by sheer force of her powers of +self-assertion and the name of the Patriotic Daughters of America. But +the commanding general was the most impassive of men, gifted with a keen +though little suspected sense of humor, and no little judgment in +estimating motive and character. He actually enjoyed the first call made +by Miss Perkins, suggested her coming again on the morrow, and summoned +his chief surgeon and his provost marshal, another keen humorist, to be +present at the interview. It has been asserted that this triumvirate +went so far as to encourage the lady to even wilder flights of +assertion. We have her own word for it that then and there she was +promised as offices three big rooms in the Palace,—the +Ayuntamiento,—six clerks, and a private secretary, but an impartial +witness avows that the sole basis for this was a question propounded to +the provost marshal by the chief surgeon as to whether the chief +quartermaster or the chief engineer should be called on to vacate the +rooms assigned to them as officers in order that the P. D. A. might be +properly recognized and quartered, to which the response was made with +unflinching gravity that something certainly should be vacated "P. D. +Q." if it took all his clerical force to effect it, but this was +<i>sotto voce</i>, so to speak, and presumably unheard by the general +commanding. It was gall of another kind, and wormwood, after these first +few flattering receptions, to be greeted thereafter only by +aides-de-camp or a military secretary; then to be told by the chief +surgeon that, under instructions from Washington, only those nurses and +attendants recognized and employed by the general government could be +permitted to occupy quarters or walk the wards about the hospitals. It +was bitter to find her criticisms and suggestions set at naught by +"impudent young quacks," as she called the delighted doctors of the +reserve hospitals, to see the sisterhood of the Red Cross presently +clothed with the purple of authority as well as white caps and aprons, +while she and, through her, the P. D. A.'s were denied the privilege of +stirring up the patients and overhauling the storerooms. Then in her +wrath Miss Perkins unbosomed herself to the press correspondents, a few +of whom, seeking sensation, as demanded by their papers, took her +seriously and told tremendous tales of the brutal neglect of our sick +and wounded boys in hospital, of doctors and nurses in wild debauch on +the choice wines and liquors sent for the sole use of the sick and +wounded by such patriotic societies as the P. D. A.'s, and hinting at +other and worse debaucheries (which she blushed to name), and involved +in which were prominent officers and favorite members of a rival society +"which shall be as nameless as it is shameless." All this had Miss +Perkins accomplished within the first eight days of her sojourn, and by +way of Hong-Kong the unexpurgated edition of her romance, thrown out by +the conscienceless censor at head-quarters, eventually found its way to +the United States. It was while in this uncharitable frame of mind that +Miss Perkins caught sight of the little procession up the Santa Lucia +when Maidie was transferred from ship to shore, and the refusal of the +best looking of the "impudent young quacks" to permit her to see his +patient that afternoon augmented her sense of indignity and wrong. Miss +Ray herself went down in the black book of the P. D. A.'s forthwith. +</p> + +<p> +But all this time the officials remained in blissful ignorance of the +tremendous nature of the charges laid at their door by this much injured +woman, and Maidie Ray, while duly informed of the frequent calls and +kind inquiries of many an officer, and permitted of late to welcome +Sandy for little talks, had been mercifully spared the infliction of the +personal visitation thrice attempted by her fellow-traveller on the +train. That awful voice, however, uplifted, as was the habit of the +vice-president when aroused, could not fail to reach the sick-room, and +when convalescence came and Miss Perkins came not, Maidie made inquiries +both of Dr. Frank and of her hostess. Frank showed his handsome teeth +and smiled, but Mrs. Brent showed fight. "I won't have such a creature +within my doors!" said she. "I don't believe you were ever intimate +friends, and that she nursed and cared for you in the cars when you were +suffering from shock and fright because of a fire. That's what she says +though. What was it, Maidie? Was it there Mr. Stuyvesant got that burn +on his face?—and lost his eyebrows?" +</p> + +<p> +And then it transpired that Mr. Stuyvesant had been a frequent and +assiduous caller for a whole fortnight, driving thither almost every +evening. +</p> + +<p> +But Maidie was oddly silent as to the episode of the fire on the train. +She laughed a little about Miss Perkins and her pretensions, but to the +disappointment of her hostess could not be drawn into talk about that +tall, handsome New Yorker. +</p> + +<p> +And what seemed strange to Mrs. Brent was that now, when Maidie could +sit up a few hours each day and see certain among the officers' wives, +arriving by almost every steamer from the States, and have happy chats +with Sandy every time he could come galloping in from Paco, and was +taking delight in watching the parades and reviews on the Bagumbayan, +and listening to the evening music of the band, Stuyvesant had ceased to +call. +</p> + +<p> +Had Maidie noticed it? Mrs. Brent wondered, as, coming in from her +conference with the House of Commons, she stood a moment at the door-way +gazing at the girl, whose book had fallen to the floor and whose dark +eyes, under their veiling lids were looking far out across the field to +the walls and church towers of Old Manila. +</p> + +<p> +It was almost sunset. There was the usual throng of carriages along the +Luneta and a great regiment of volunteers, formed in line of platoon +columns, was drawn up on the "Campo" directly in front of the house. +Sandy had spent his allotted half hour by his sister's side, and, +remounting, had cantered out to see the parade. Miss Perkins had +declared on the occasion of her third fruitless call that not until Miss +Ray sent for her would she again submit herself to be snubbed. So there +seemed no immediate danger of her reappearance, and yet Mrs. Brent had +given Ignacio orders to open only the panel door when the gate bell +clanged, and to refuse admission, even to the drive-way, to a certain +importunate caller besides Miss Perkins. +</p> + +<p> +Three days previous there had presented himself a young man in the white +dress of the tropics and a hat of fine Manila straw, a young man who +would not send up his card, but in very Mexican Spanish asked for Miss +Ray. Ignacio sent a boy for Mrs. Brent, who came down to reconnoitre, +and the youth reiterated his request. +</p> + +<p> +"An old friend" was all he would say in response to her demand for his +name and purpose. She put him off, saying Miss Ray was still too far +from well to see anybody, bade him call next day when Dr. Frank and her +husband, she knew, would probably be there, duly notified them, and +Frank met and received the caller when he came and sent him away in +short order. +</p> + +<p> +"The man is a crank," said he, "and I shall have him watched." The +colonel asked that one or two of the soldier police guard should be sent +to the house to look after the stranger. A corporal came from the +company barrack around on the Calle Real, and it was after nightfall +when next the "old friend" rang the bell and was permitted by Ignacio to +enter. +</p> + +<p> +But the instant the corporal started forward to look at him the caller +bounded back into outer darkness. He was tall, sinewy, speedy, and had a +twenty-yard start before the little guardsman, stout and burly, could +squeeze into the street. Then the latter's shouts up the San Luis only +served to startle the sentries, to spur the runner, and to excite and +agitate Maidie. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Frank was disgusted when he tried her pulse and temperature half an +hour later and said things to the corporal not strictly authorized by +the regulations. The episode was unfortunate, yet might soon have been +forgotten but for one hapless circumstance. Despite her announcement, +something had overcome Miss Perkins's sense of injury, for she had +stepped from a carriage directly in front of the house at the moment of +the occurrence, was a witness to all that took place, and the first one +to extract from the corporal his version of the affair and his theory as +to what lay behind it. In another moment she was driving away towards +the Nozaleda, the direction taken by the fugitive, fast as her coachman +could whip his ponies, the original purpose of her call abandoned. +</p> + +<p> +As in duty bound, both Mrs. Brent and Dr. Frank had told Sandy of this +odd affair. Mrs. Brent described the stranger as tall, slender, sallow, +with big cavernous dark eyes that had a wild look to them, and a +scraggly, fuzzy beard all over his face, as though he hadn't shaved for +long weeks. His hands—of course, she had particularly noticed his +hands; what woman doesn't notice such things?—were slim and white. He +had the look of a man who had been long in hospital; was probably a +recently discharged patient, perhaps one of the many men just now +getting their home orders from Washington. +</p> + +<p> +"Somebody who served under your father, perhaps," said Mrs. Brent +soothingly to Marion, "and thought he ought to see you." +</p> + +<p> +"Somebody who had not been a soldier at all," said she to Sandy. "He had +neither the look nor the manner of one." And Sandy marvelled a bit and +decided to be on guard. +</p> + +<p> +"Maidie," he had said that afternoon, before riding away, "when you get +out next week we must take up pistol practice again. You beat me at +Leavenworth, but you can't do it now. Got your gun—anywhere?—the one +Dad gave you?" And Dad or Daddy in the Ray household was the "lovingest" +of titles. +</p> + +<p> +Maidie turned a languid head on her pillow. "In the upper drawer of the +cabinet in my room, I think," said she. "I remember Mrs. Brent's +examining it." +</p> + +<p> +Sandy went in search, and presently returned with the prize, a short, +big-barrelled, powerful little weapon of the bull-dog type, sending a +bullet like that of a Derringer, hot and hard, warranted to shock and +stop an ox at ten yards, but miss a barn at over twenty: a woman's +weapon for defence of her life, not a target pistol, and Sandy twirled +the shining cylinder approvingly. It was a gleaming toy, with its ivory +stock and nickeled steel. +</p> + +<p> +"Every chamber crammed," said Sandy, "and sure to knock spots out of +anything from a mad dog to an elephant, provided it hits. Best keep it +by you at night, Maidie. These natives are marvellous sneak-thieves. +They go all through these ramshackle upper stories like so many ghosts. +No one can hear them." +</p> + +<p> +Then, when he took his leave, the pistol remained there lying on the +table, and Frank, coming in to see his most interesting patient just as +the band was trooping back to its post on the right of the long line, +picked it up and examined it, muzzle uppermost, with professional +approbation. +</p> + +<p> +"Yours I see, Miss Ray;—and from your father. A man hit by one of +these," he continued musingly, and fingering the fat leaden bullets, +"would drop in his tracks. You keep it by you?—always?" +</p> + +<p> +"I? No!" laughed Maidie. "I'm eager to get to my work,—healing—not +giving—gunshot wounds." +</p> + +<p> +"You will have abundant time, my dear young lady," said the doctor +slowly, as he carefully replaced the weapon on the table by her side, +"and—opportunity, if I read the signs aright, and we must get you +thoroughly well before you begin. Ah! What's that? What's the matter +over there?" he lazily asked. It was a fad of the doctor's never to +permit himself to show the least haste or excitement. +</p> + +<p> +A small opera-glass stood on the sill, and, calmly adjusting it as he +peered, Frank had picked it up and levelled it towards the front and +centre of the line just back of where the colonel commanding sat in +saddle. A lively scuffle and commotion had suddenly begun among the +groups of spectators. Miss Ray's reclining-chair was so placed that by +merely raising her head she could look out over the field. Mrs. Brent +ran to where the colonel's field-glasses hung in their leathern case and +joined the doctor at the gallery rail. +</p> + +<p> +Three pairs of eyes were gazing fixedly at the point of disturbance, +already the centre of a surging crowd of soldiers off duty, oblivious +now to the fact that the band was playing the "Star-Spangled Banner," +and they ought to be standing at attention, hats off, and facing the +flag as it came floating slowly to earth on the distant ramparts of the +old city. +</p> + +<p> +Disdainful of outside attractions, the adjutant came stalking out to +the front as the strain ceased, and his shrill voice was heard turning +over the parade to his commander. Then the surging group seemed to +begin to dissolve, many following a little knot of men carrying on +their shoulders an apparently inanimate form. They moved in the +direction of the old botanical garden, towards the Estado Mayor, and +so absorbed were the three in trying to fathom the cause of the +excitement that they were deaf to Ignacio's announcement. A tall, +handsome, most distinguished-looking young officer stood at the wide +door-way, dressed <i>cap-a-piè</i> in snowy white, and not until, +after a moment's hesitation, he stepped within the room and was almost +upon them, did Miss Ray turn and see him. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Mr. Stuyvesant!" was all she said; but the tone was enough. Mrs. +Brent and the doctor dropped the glasses and whirled about. Both +instantly noted the access of color. It had not all disappeared by any +means, though the doctor had, when, ten minutes later, Colonel Brent +came in. +</p> + +<p> +At the moment of his entrance, Stuyvesant, seated close to Marion's +reclining-chair, was, with all the doctor's caution and curiosity, +examining her revolver. "Rather bulky for a pocket-pistol," he remarked, +as, muzzle downward, he essayed its insertion in the gaping orifice at +the right hip of his Manila-made, flapping white trousers. It slipped in +without a hitch. +</p> + +<p> +"What was the trouble out there a while ago?" asked the lady of the +house of her liege lord. "You saw it, I suppose?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing much. Man had a fit, and it took four men to hold him. Maidie, +look here. Captain Kress handed this to me—said they picked it up just +back of where the colonel stood at parade. Is he another mash?" +</p> + +<p> +Marion took the envelope from the outstretched hand, drew forth a little +<i>carte-de-visite</i>, on which was the vignette portrait of her own +face, gave one quick glance, and dropped back on the pillow. All the +bright color fled. The picture fell to the floor. "Can you—find Sandy?" +was all she could say, as, with imploring eyes, she gazed into honest +Brent's astonished face. +</p> + +<p> +"I can, at once," said Stuyvesant, who had risen from his chair at the +colonel's remark. With quick bend he picked up the little card, placed +it face downward on the table by her side, never so much as giving one +glance at the portrait, and noiselessly left the room. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</p> + + +<p> +Like many another man's that summer and autumn of '98, Mr. Gerard +Stuyvesant's one overwhelming ambition had been to get on to Manila. The +enforced sojourn at Honolulu had been, therefore, a bitter trial. He had +reached at last the objective point of his soldier desires, and with all +his heart now wished himself back on the Sacramento with one, at +least,—or was it at most?—of the Sacramento's passengers. The voyage +had done much to speed his recovery. The cordial greeting extended by +his general and comrade officers had gladdened his heart. Pleasant +quarters on the breezy bay shore, daily drives, and, presently, gentle +exercise in saddle had still further benefited him. +</p> + +<p> +He had every assurance that Marion Ray's illness was not of an alarming +nature, and that, soon as the fever had run its course, her +convalescence would be rapid. He was measurably happy in the privilege +of calling every day to ask for her, but speedily realized the poverty +of Oriental marts in the means wherewith to convey to the fair patient +some tangible token of his constant devotion. Where were the glorious +roses, the fragrant, delicate violets, the heaping baskets of cool, +luscious, tempting grapes, pears, and peaches with which from Saco to +Seattle, from the Sault de Sainte Marie to Southwest Pass, in any city +outside of Alaska in the three million square miles of his own native +land, he could have laid siege to her temporary retreat? Ransack the +city as he might,—market, shops, and gardens,—hardly a flower could he +find worthy her acceptance—a garish, red-headed hybrid twixt poppy and +tulip and some inodorous waxen shoots that looked like decrepit +hyacinths and smelled like nothing, representing the stock in trade at +that season of the few flower-stands about Manila. As for fruit, some +stunted sugar bananas about the size of a shoehorn and a few diminutive +China oranges proved the extent of the weekly exhibit along the Escolta. +Once, La Extremeña displayed a keg of Malaga grapes duly powdered with +cork, and several pounds of these did Stuyvesant levy upon forthwith, +and, after being duly immersed in water and cooled in the ice-chest, +send them in dainty basket by a white-robed lackey, with an +unimpeachable card bearing the legend "Mr. Gerard Stuyvesant, +One-Hundred-and-Sixth New York Infantry Volunteers," and much were they +admired on arrival, but that was in the earlier days of Maidie's +convalescence, and Dr. Frank shook his head. Grape-seeds were "perilous +stuff," and Mrs. Brent knew they would not last until Maidie was well +enough to enjoy them, and so—they did not. +</p> + +<p> +Military duty for the staff was not exacting about Manila in the autumn +days. It was the intermission. The Spanish war was over; the Filipino +yet to come. There was abundant time for "love and sighing," and +Stuyvesant did both, for there was no question the poor fellow had found +his fate, and yet thought it trembling in the balance. Not one look or +word of hers for him could Stuyvesant recall that was more winsome and +kind than those bestowed on other men. Indeed, had he not seen with +jealous eyes with what beaming cordiality and delight she had met and +welcomed one or two young gallants, who, having been comrades of Sandy +in "the Corps" at the Point, had found means to get out to the +Sacramento, obviously to see her, just before that untimely illness +claimed her for its own? Had he not heard his general, his fellow staff +officers, speaking enthusiastically of her beauty and fascinations and +their destructive effects in various quarters? Had he not been compelled +in silence to listen again and in detail to the story of old Sam +Martindale's nephew?—Sam Martingale, the cavalry called him—"Martinet +Martindale" he was dubbed by the "doughboys"—that conscientious, +dutiful, and therefore none too popular veteran, whose sister's children +much more than supplied the lack of his own. +</p> + +<p> +Farquhar of the cavalry, scion of a Philadelphia family well known to +the Stuyvesants of Gotham and "trotting in the same class," had come +over from department head-quarters, where he had a billet as engineer +officer, to call on Stuyvesant and to cheer him up and contribute to his +convalescence, and did so after the manner of men, by talking on all +manner of topics for nearly an hour and winding up by a dissertation on +Billy Ray's pretty daughter and "Wally" Foster's infatuation. Farquhar +said it was the general belief that Maidie liked Wally mighty well and +would marry him were he only in the army. And Stuyvesant wondered how it +was, in all the years he had known Farquhar and envied him his being a +West Pointer and in the cavalry, he had never really discovered what a +bore, what a wearisome ass, Farquhar could be. +</p> + +<p> +Then just as Miss Ray was reported sitting up and soon to be able to +"see her friends,"—with what smiling significance did Mrs. Brent so +assure him!—what should Stuyvesant's general do but select Stuyvesant +himself to go on a voyage of discovery to Iloilo and beyond. The +commanding general wanted a competent officer who spoke Spanish to make +a certain line of investigation. He consulted Vinton. Vinton thought +another voyage the very thing for Stuyvesant, and so suggested his name. +</p> + +<p> +It sent the luckless Gothamite away just at the time of all others he +most wished to remain. When he returned, within a dozen days, the first +thing was to submit his written report, already prepared aboard ship. +The next was to report himself in person at Colonel Brent's, to be asked +into the presence of the girl he loved and longed to see, and, as has +been told, ushered out almost immediately, self-detailed, in search of +Sandy. +</p> + +<p> +He had found the lad easily enough, but not so the man with the fit, +whom, for reasons of his own and from what he had seen and heard, +Stuyvesant was most anxious to overtake. His carriage whirled him +rapidly past the parade-ground and over to the First Reserve Hospital, +whither he thought the victim had been borne, but no civilian, with or +without fits, had recently been admitted. +</p> + +<p> +Inquiry among convalescent patients and soldiers along the road without +resulted at last in his finding one of the party that carried the +stricken man from the field. He had come to, said the volunteer, before +they had gone quarter of a mile, had soused his head in water at a +hydrant, rested a minute, offered them a quarter for their trouble, +buttoned up the light coat that had been torn open in his struggle, and +nervously but positively declared himself all right and vastly obliged, +had then hailed a passing <i>carromatta</i>, and been whisked away +across the moat and drawbridge into the old city. There all trace was +lost of him. +</p> + +<p> +Baffled and troubled, Stuyvesant ordered his coachman to take him to the +Luneta. The crowd had disappeared. The carriages were nearly all +departed. The lights were twinkling here and there all over the placid +bay. It was still nearly an hour to dinner-time at the general's mess, +and he wished to be alone to think over matters, to hear the soothing +plash and murmur of the little waves, and Stuyvesant vowed in his wrath +and vexation that Satan himself must be managing his affairs, for, over +and above the longed-for melody of the rhythmic waters, he was hailed by +the buzz-saw stridencies of Miss Perkins, whose first words gave the lie +to themselves. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm all out of breath, and so het up runnin' after you I can't talk, +but I was just bound to see you, an' I've been to your house so often +the soldiers laugh at me. Those young men haven't any sense of decency +or respect, but I'll teach 'em, and you see they'll sing another song. +Where can we sit down?" continued the lady, her words chasing each +other's heels in her breathless haste. "These lazy, worthless Spanish +officers take every seat along here. Why, here! your carriage will do, +an' I've got a thousand things to say!" ("Heaven be merciful," groaned +Stuyvesant to himself.) "I saw you driving, and I told my cabman to +catch you if he had to flog the hide off his horse. Come, aren't +you—don't you want to sit down? I do, anyhow! There's no comfort in my +cab. Here, I'll dismiss it now. You can just drop me on the way home, +you know. I'm living down the Calle Real a few blocks this side of you. +All the soldiers know me, and if <i>they</i> had <i>their</i> say it +wouldn't be the stuck-up Red Cross that's flirting with doctors and +living high on the dainties our folks sent over. The <i>boys</i> are all +right. It's your generals that have ignored the P. D. A.'s, and I'll +show 'em presently what a miss they've made. Wait till the papers get +the letters I have written. But, say—"("And this is the woman I thought +might be literary!" moaned Stuyvesant as he meekly followed to the +little open carriage and, with a shiver, assisted his angular visitor +to a seat.) +</p> + +<p> +"A Key!" she shouted, "A Key, Cochero! No quiere mas hoy. Mañana! Ocho! +Sabe, Cochero? Ocho! Now don't chewbe—What's late in their lingo, +anyhow? 'Tisn't tardy, I know; that's afternoon. Tardeeo? Thank you. +Now—well, just sit down, first, lieutenant. You see <i>we</i> know how +to address officers by their titles, if the Red Cross don't. I'd teach +'em to Mister me if I was an officer. Now, what I want to see you about +first is this. Your general has put me off one way or another every time +I've called this last two weeks. I've always treated him politely, but +for some reason he'll never see me now, and yet they almost ran after me +at first. Now, you can fix it easy enough, and you do it and you won't +regret it. I only want him to listen to me three minutes, and that's +little enough for anybody to ask. You do it, and I can do a good deal +more for you than you think for, an' I will do it, too, if certain +people don't treat me better. It's something you'll thank me for +mightily later on if you don't now. I've had my eyes open, lieutenant, +an' I see things an' I hear things an' I know things you mighty little +suspect." +</p> + +<p> +"Pardon me, Miss Perkins," interposed Stuyvesant at this juncture, his +nerves fairly twitching under the strain. "Let us get at the matters on +which you wish to speak to me. Malate, Cochero!" he called to the pygmy +Filipino on the box. "I am greatly pressed for time," he added, as the +carriage whirled away, the hoofs of the pony team flying like shuttles +the instant the little scamps were headed homeward. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what I want mostly is to see the general. He's got influence with +General Drayton and I know it, and these Red Cross people have poisoned +his ears. Everybody's ears seem to be just now against me and I can get +no hearing whatever. Everything was all right at first; everything was +promised me, and then, first one and then another, they all backed out, +and I want to know why—I'm bound to know why, and they'd better come to +me and make their peace now than wait until the papers and the P. D. +A.'s get after 'em, as they will,—you hear my words now,—they <i>will</i> +do just as soon as my letters reach the States. <i>You're</i> all +right enough. I've told them how you helped with those poor boys of +mine aboard the train. Bad way they'd been in if we hadn't been there, +you and I. Why, I just canvassed that train till I got clothes and +shoes for every one of those poor burned-out fellows, but there +wouldn't anybody else have done it. And nursing?—you ought to have +seen those boys come to thank me the day I went out to the Presidio, +an' most cried—some of them did;—said their own mothers couldn't +have done more, and they'd do anything for me now. But when I went out +to their camp at Paco their major just as much as ordered me away, and +that little whipper-snapper, Lieutenant Ray, that I could take on my +knee and spank—— He—Lieutenant Ray—a friend of yours? Well, you +may <i>think</i> he is, or you may be a friend of <i>his</i>, but +<i>I</i> can tell you right here and now he's no friend, and you'll +see he isn't. What's more, I hate to see an honest, high-toned young +gentleman just throwing himself away on people that can't appreciate +him. I could tell you——" +</p> + +<p> +"Stop, driver!" shouted Stuyvesant, unable longer to control himself. +"Miss Perkins," he added, as the little coachman manfully struggled to +bring his rushing team to a halt at the curb, "I have a call to make and +am late. Tell my coachman where to take you and send him back to this +corner. Good-night, madam," and, gritting his teeth, out he sprang to +the sidewalk. +</p> + +<p> +It happened to be directly in front of one of those native resorts +where, day and night, by dozens the swarthy little brown men gather +about a billiard-table with its centre ornament of boxwood pins, betting +on a game resembling the Yankee "pin pool" in everything but the +possibility of fair play. Hovering about the entrance or on the +outskirts of the swarm of men and boys, a dozen native women, some with +babies in their arms and nearly all with cigars between their teeth, +stood watching the play with absorbing interest, and a score of dusky, +pot-bellied children from two to twelve years of age sprawled about the +premises, as much at home as the keeper of the place. +</p> + +<p> +The lamps had been lighted but a few minutes and the game was in full +blast. Some stalwart soldiers, regulars from the Cuartel de Malate from +down the street or the nipa barracks of the Dakotas and Idahos, were +curiously studying the scene, making jovial and unstinted comment after +their fearless democratic fashion, but sagely abstaining from trying +their luck and not so sagely sampling the sizzling soda drinks held +forth to them by tempting hands. Liquor the vendors dare not +proffer,—the provost marshal's people had forbidden that,—and only at +the licensed bars in town or by bribery and stealth in the outlying +suburbs could the natives dispose of the villainous "bino" with which at +times the unwary and unaccustomed American was overcome. +</p> + +<p> +Three or four men in civilian dress, that somehow smacked of the sea, as +did their muttered, low-toned talk, huddled together at the corner post, +furtively eying the laughing soldiers and occasionally peering up and +down the darkened street. It was not the place Stuyvesant would have +chosen to leave his carriage, but it was a case of any port in a +storm,—anything to escape that awful woman. With one quick spring he +was out of the vehicle and into the midst of the group on the narrow +sidewalk before he noticed them at all, but not before they saw him. +Even as Miss Perkins threw forward a would-be grasping and detaining +hand and called him by name, one of the group in civilian dress gave +sudden, instant start, sprang round the corner, but, tripping on some +obstacle, sprawled full length on the hard stone pavement. Despite the +violence of the fall, which wrung from him a fierce curse, the man was +up in a second, away, and out of sight in a twinkling. +</p> + +<p> +"Go on!" shouted Stuyvesant impatiently, imperiously, to his coachman, +as, never caring what street he took, he too darted around the same +corner, and his tall white form vanished on the track of the civilian. +</p> + +<p> +But the sound of the heavy fall, the muttered curse, and the sudden +question in the nearest group, "What's wrong with Sackett?" had reached +Miss Perkins's ears, for while once more the little team was speeding +swiftly away, the strident voice of the lone passenger was uplifted in +excited hail to the coachman to stop. And here the Filipino demonstrated +to the uttermost that the amenities of civilization were yet undreamed +of in his darkened intellect—as between the orders of the man and the +demands of the woman he obeyed the former. Deaf, even to that awful +voice, he drove furiously on until brought up standing by the bayonets +of the patrol in front of the English Club, and in a fury of +denunciation and quiver of mingled wrath and excitement, Miss Perkins +tumbled out into the arms of an amazed and disgusted sergeant, and +demanded that he come at once to arrest a vile thief and deserter. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</p> + + +<p> +That night the sentries all over the suburbs of Ermita and Malate were +peering into every dark alleyway and closely scrutinizing every human +being nearing their posts. Few and far between were these, for the +natives were encouraged to remain indoors after nine o'clock, and the +soldiers forbidden to be out. The streets were deserted save by +occasional carriage or carromatta bearing army or navy officers, or what +were termed the foreign residents—English or German as a rule—from +club or calls to their quarters. +</p> + +<p> +"Lights out" sounded early at the barracks of the soldiery, for they +were up with the dawn for breakfast that they might be through with +their hardest drills before the heat of the day. The "pool rooms," as +the big <i>Americanos</i> called these "wide open," single-tabled +billiard saloons that flourished in almost every block, were required to +put up their shutters at nine o'clock, and every discoverable +establishment in which gambling had prevailed in other form had long +since been closed by a stony-hearted chief of police, whose star was +worn on each shoulder rather than the left breast, and who, to the +incredulous amaze of Spaniard and Filipino alike, listened unmoved to +the pleas of numerous prominent professors of the gambling industry, +even when backed by proffers of a thousand a week in gold. That the +"<i>partida de billar</i>" had not also been suppressed was due to the +fact that, like Old Sledge in the Kentucky Court, its exponents +established it to be, not a game of chance, but skill, and such, indeed, +it proved to every Yankee who put up his money against the bank. With an +apparently congenital gift of sleight of hand, developed by years of +practice at pitch penny from toddling babyhood to cock-fighting +adolescence, the native could so manipulate the tools of his game that +no outsider had the faintest "show for his money," while, as against +each other, as when Greek met Greek, it became a battle of the giants, a +trial of almost superhuman skill. It was the one game left to adult +Tagalhood in which he might indulge his all-absorbing and unconquerable +passion to play for money. All over town and suburbs wandered countless +natives with wondering game-cocks under their arms, suffering for a +chance to spur if not to "scrap," for even the national sport had been +stopped. Never in all the services in all the churches of Luzon had such +virtue been preached as that practised by these heartless, soulless +invaders from across the wide Pacific—men who stifled gambling and +scorned all bribes. "Your chief of police is no gentleman," declared +certain prominent merchants, arrested for smuggling opium, and naturally +aggrieved and indignant at such unheard-of treatment. "He did not tell +us how much he wanted! He did not even ask us to pay!" Retained in +responsible positions in the office of the collector of customs, two +Spanish officers of rank were presently found to have embezzled some +twelve thousand dollars in some six weeks of opportunity. "But this is +outrage! This is scandalous!" quoth they, in righteous wrath on being +bidden to disgorge and ordered before a court-martial. "We have nothing +but the customary perquisite! It is you who would rob us!" From highest +to lowest, in church, in state, in school,—in every place,—there +seemed no creed that barred the acquisition of money by any means short +of actual robbery of the person. As for thieving from the premises, the +Filipino stood unequalled—the champion sneak-thief of the universe. +</p> + +<p> +And the sentries this night, softly lighted by a waning old moon, were +on the lookout everywhere among the suburbs for two malefactors +distinctly differing in type, yet equally in demand. One, said the +descriptions, compiled from the original information of Zenobia Perkins, +Spinster; residence 259 Calle Real, Ermita; occupation, Vice-President +and Accredited Representative for the Philippine Islands of the +Patriotic Daughters of America, and the additional particulars later +obtained from Lieutenant Gerard Stuyvesant, aide-de-camp to General +Vinton, 595 Calle Real, Malate—one, said the descriptions, was a burly, +thick-set, somewhat slouching American, in clothing of the sailor +slop-shop variety, a man of five feet six and maybe forty years, though +he might be much younger; a coarse-featured, heavy-bearded man, with +gray eyes, generally bleary, and one front tooth gone, leaving a gap in +the upper jaw next the canine, which was fang-like, yellow, and +prominent; a man with harsh voice and surly ways; a man known as Sackett +among seamen and certain civilians who probably had made their way to +Manila in the hope of picking up an easy living; a man wanted as Murray +among soldiers for a deserter, jail-bird, and thief. +</p> + +<p> +The other malefactor was less minutely described. A native five feet +eight, perhaps. Very tall for a Tagal, slender, sinewy, and with a tuft +of wiry hair and sixteen inches of shirt missing. "For further +particulars and the missing sixteen inches, as well as the hair, inquire +at Colonel Brent's, Number 199 Calle San Luis, Ermita." +</p> + +<p> +It seems that soon after dark that eventful evening Mrs. Brent and Miss +Porter had seen Maidie comfortably bestowed in the big, broad, +cane-bottomed bed in her airy room, and had left her to all appearances +sleeping placidly towards eight o'clock, and then gone out to dinner. +Whatever the cause of her agitation on receiving at Brent's hands the +little card photograph of herself, it had subsided after a brief, +low-toned conference with Sandy, who quickly came and speedily hastened +away, and a later visit from Dr. Frank, whose placid, imperturbable, +restful ways were in themselves well-nigh as soothing as the +orange-flower water prescribed for her. Even the little night-light, +floating in its glass, had been extinguished when the ladies left her. +</p> + +<p> +The room assigned to Marion was at the north-west corner of the house. +Its two front windows opened on the wide gallery, that in turn opened +out on the Bagumbayan parade. Its west windows, also two in number, were +heavily framed. There were sliding blinds to oppose to the westering +sun, translucent shells in place of brittle glass to temper, yet admit, +the daylight, and hanging curtains that slid easily on their supporting +rods and rendered the room dark as could be desired for the siesta hours +of the tropic day. +</p> + +<p> +The dinner-table, brightly lighted by lamps hung from hooks securely +driven in the upper beams (lath and plaster are unknown in this seismic +land), was set on the rear gallery overlooking the <i>patio</i>, and +here, soon after eight, Brent, his little household, the doctor, and two +more guests were cosily chatting and dining, while noiseless native +servants hovered about and Maidie Ray presumably slept. +</p> + +<p> +But Maidie was not sleeping. Full of a new anxiety, if not of dread, and +needing to think calmly and clearly, she had turned away from her almost +too assiduous attendants and closed her eyes upon the world about her. A +perplexity, a problem such as never occurred to her as a possibility, +one that sorely worried Sandy, as she could plainly see, had suddenly +been thrust upon her. Hitherto she had ever had a most devoted mother as +her counsellor and friend, but now a time had come when she must think +and act for herself. +</p> + +<p> +The little card photograph picked up by the men on the scene of the +scuffle at the edge of the Bagumbayan had told its story to her at least +and to Sandy. It could only mean that Foster, he who spent whole days +and weeks at their New Mexican station to the neglect of his cattle-ranch, +he who had 'listed in the cavalry and disappeared—deserted, maybe—at +Carquinez, had eluded search, pursuit, inquiry of every kind, and, all +ignorant, probably, of the commission obtained for him, had, still +secretly, as though realizing his danger, followed her to Manila. +</p> + +<p> +This then must have been the tall stranger who called himself an old +friend and would give no name, for it was to Foster, in answer to his +most urgent plea,—perhaps touched by his devoted love for her lovely +daughter,—that Mrs. Ray had given that little vignette photograph long +months before. There, on the back, was the date in her mother's hand, +"Fort Averill, New Mexico, February 15, 1898." Well did Marion remember +how he had begged her to write her name beneath the picture, and how, +for some reason she herself could not describe, she had shrunk from so +doing. There had been probably half a dozen pictures of Foster about +their quarters at Averill,—photographs in evening dress, in ranch rig, +in winter garb, in tennis costume,—but only one had he of Maidie, and +that not of her giving. +</p> + +<p> +Now, what could his coming mean? What madness prompted this stealth and +secrecy? If innocent of wilful desertion, his proper course was to have +reported without delay to the military authorities at San Francisco and +told the cause of his disappearance or detention. But he had evidently +done nothing of the kind. They would surely have heard of it, and now he +was here, still virtually in hiding and possibly in disguise, and one +unguarded word of hers might land him a prisoner, a war-time deserter, +within the walls of the gloomy carcel in Old Manila. +</p> + +<p> +Sandy she had to tell, and he was overwhelmed with dismay, had galloped +to Paco to see his colonel and get leave for "urgent personal and family +reasons," as he was to say, to spend forty-eight hours in and about +Manila. If a possible thing, Sandy was to trail and find poor Foster, +induce him to surrender himself at once, to plead illness, +inexperience,—anything,—and throw himself on the mercy of the +authorities. Sandy would be back by nine unless something utterly +unforeseen detained him at East Paco. Meantime what else could she +do?—what could she plan to rescue that reckless, luckless, +hare-brained, handsome fellow from the plight into which his misguided, +wasted passion had plunged him? +</p> + +<p> +From the veranda the clink of glass and china, the low hum of merry +chat, the sound of half-smothered laughter, fell upon the ear and vexed +her with its careless jollity. Impatiently she threw herself upon the +other—the left—side, and then—sat bolt upright in bed. +</p> + +<p> +Not a breath of air was stirring. The night was so still she could hear +the soft tinkle of the ships' bells off the Luneta,—could almost hear +the soothing plash of the wavelets on the beach. There was nothing +whatever to cause that huge mahogany door to swing upon its well-oiled +hinges. She heard them close it when they went out; she saw that it was +closed when they were gone, yet, as she turned on her pillow and towards +the faint light through the northwest windows, that door was slowly, +stealthily turning, until at last, wide open, it interposed between her +and the outward light at the front. +</p> + +<p> +Many an evening lately she had lain with hands clasped under the back of +her bonny head looking dreamily out through that big open window, across +the gallery beyond and the open casements in front, watching the twinkle +of the electric lights above the distant ramparts of the old city and +the nearer gleam of the brilliant globes that hung aloft along the west +edge of the Bagumbayan. +</p> + +<p> +Now one-half of that vista was shut off by the massive door, the other +was unobscured, but even as with beating heart, still as a trembling +mouse, she sat and gazed, something glided slowly, stealthily, +noiselessly between her and those betraying lights, something dark, dim, +and human, for the shape was that of a man, a native, as she knew by the +stiffly brushed-up hair above the forehead, the loosely falling shirt—a +native taller than any of their household servants—a native whose +movements were so utterly without sound that Maidie realized on the +instant that here was one of Manila's famous veranda-climbing +house-thieves, and her first thought was for her revolver. She had left +it, totally forgotten, on the little table on the outer gallery. +</p> + +<p> +Even though still weak from her long and serious illness, the brave, +army-bred girl was conscious of no sentiment of fear. To cry out was +sure to bring about the instant escape of the intruder, whereas to +capture him and prevent his getting away with such valuables as he had +probably already laid hands on became instantly her whole ambition. The +side windows were closed by the sliding blinds. Even if he leaped from +them it would be into a narrow court shut in by a ten-foot, spike-topped +stone wall. He had chosen the veranda climber's favorite hour, that +which found the family at dinner on the back gallery, and the quiet +streets well-nigh deserted save by his own skilled and trusted "pals," +from whose shoulders he had easily swung himself to the overhanging +structure at the front. He would doubtless retire that way the moment he +had stowed beneath his loose, flapping <i>ropas</i> such items as he +deemed of marketable value. +</p> + +<p> +He was even now stealthily moving across the floor to where her +dressing-table stood between the westward windows. The man must have the +eyes of a cat to see in the dark, or else personal and previous +knowledge of the premises. If she could only slip as noiselessly out by +the foot of the bed, interpose between him and the door and that one +wide-open window, then scream for help and grab him as he sprang, she +might hope to hold him a second or two, and then Brent and Dr. Frank +would be upon him. +</p> + +<p> +All her trembling was from excitement: she knew no thought of fear. But +strong and steady hands were needed, not the fever-shattered members +only just beginning to regain their normal tone. She slid from +underneath the soft, light coverlet without a sound. The sturdy yet +elastic bottom of platted cane never creaked or complained. She softly +pushed outward the fine mosquito netting, gathered her dainty night-robe +closely about her slender form, and the next minute her little bare feet +were on the polished, hard-wood floor, the massive door barely five +short steps away. She cautiously lifted the netting till it cleared her +head, and then, crouching low, moved warily towards the dim, vertical +slit that told of subdued light in the salon. +</p> + +<p> +There was no creak to those thick, black-wood planks with which Manila +mansions are floored. Her outstretched hand had almost reached the knob +when her knee collided with a light bamboo bedroom chair. There was +instant bamboo rasp and protest, followed by instant vigorous spring +across the room, and instant piercing scream from Maidie's lips. +</p> + +<p> +Something dusky white shot before her eyes, something inky black and +dusky white was snatched at and seized by those nervous, slender, but +determined little hands. Something dropped with clash and clatter on the +resounding floor. Something ripped and tore as an agile, slippery, +squirming form bounded from her grasp over the casement to the veranda, +over the sill into the street, and when Brent and the doctor and the +women-folk came rushing in and lamps were brought and Brent went +shouting to sentries up and down the San Luis and shots were heard +around the nearest corner, Maid Marion, Second, was found crouching upon +the cane-bottomed chair that had baffled her plans, half-laughing, +half-crying with vexation, but firmly grasping in one hand a tuft of +coarse, straight black hair, and in the other a section of Filipino +shirt the size of a lady's kerchief—all she had to show of her +predatory visitor and to account for the unseemly disturbance they had +made. +</p> + +<p> +"Just to think—just to think!" exclaimed Mrs. Brent, with clasping +hands, "that this time, when you might most have needed it, Mr. +Stuyvesant should have gone off with your pistol!" +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XV. +</p> + + +<p> +But there was little merriment when, five minutes later, the household +had taken account of stock and realized the extent of their losses. +</p> + +<p> +Maidie's had evidently been the last room visited. The dressing-table +and wardrobe of the opposite chamber—that occupied by Colonel and Mrs. +Brent—had been ransacked. The colonel's watch and chain,—too bulky, he +said, to be worn at dinner in white uniform,—his Loyal Legion and Army +of the Potomac insignia, and some prized though not expensive trinkets +of his good wife were gone. Miss Porter's little purse with her modest +savings and a brooch that had been her mother's were missing. And with +these items the skilled practitioner had made good his escape. +</p> + +<p> +On the floor, just under the window in Maidie's room, lay a keen, +double-edged knife. The stumps of two or three matches found in the +colonel's apartment and others in Miss Porter's showed that the thief +had not feared to make sufficient light for his purpose, and from the +floor of Marion's room, close to the bureau, just where it had been +dropped when the prowler was alarmed, Miss Porter picked up one of the +old-fashioned "phosphors" that ignite noiselessly and burn with but a +tiny flame. +</p> + +<p> +Marion's porte-monnaie was in the upper drawer, untouched, and such +jewelry as she owned, save two precious rings she always wore, was +stored in her father's safe deposit box in the bank at home. The colonel +was really the greatest loser and declared it served him right, both +provost-marshal and chief of police having warned him to leave nothing +"lying around loose." +</p> + +<p> +At sound of the shots on the Calle Nueva, Brent had sallied forth, and, +rushing impetuously into the dimly lighted thoroughfare, had narrowly +missed losing the top of his head as well as his watch, an excited +sentry sending a bullet whizzing into space by way of the colonel's pith +helmet, which prompted the doctor to say in his placid and most +effective way that more heads had been lost that night than valuables, +and one bad shot begat another. +</p> + +<p> +Sentries down towards the barracks, hearing the three or four quick +reports, bethought them of the time-honored instructions prescribing +that in case of a blaze, which he could not personally extinguish, the +sentry should "shout 'Fire!' discharge his piece, and add the number of +his post." Sagely reasoning that nothing but a fire could start such a +row, or at least that there was sufficient excuse to warrant their +having some fun of their own to enliven the dull hours of the night, +Numbers 7 and 8 touched off their triggers and yelled "Fire;" 5 and 6, +nearer home, followed suit, and in two minutes the bugles were blowing +the alarm all over Ermita and Malate, and rollicking young regulars and +volunteers by the hundred were tumbling out into the street, all +eagerness and rejoicing at the prospect of having a lark with the +<i>Bomberos</i>, the funny little Manila firemen with their funnier +little squirts on wheels. +</p> + +<p> +It was fully half an hour before the officers could "locate" the origin +of the alarm and order their companies back to bed, an order most +reluctantly obeyed, for by that time the nearest native fire-company was +aroused and on the way to the scene. Others could be expected in the +course of the night, and the Manila fire department was something that +afforded the Yankee soldier unspeakable joy. He hated to lose such an +opportunity. +</p> + +<p> +But for all his professional calm, Dr. Frank was by no means pleased +with the excitement attending this episode. For an hour or more officers +from all over the neighborhood gathered in front of Brent's and had to +be told the particulars, "Billy Ray's daughter" being pronounced the +heroine everybody expected her to be, while that young lady herself, now +that the affair could be called closed, was in a condition bordering on +the electric. "Overwrought and nervous," said Miss Porter, "but laughing +at the whole business." +</p> + +<p> +What Frank thought he didn't say, but he cut short Sandy's visit to his +sister, and suggested that he go down and tell the assemblage under the +front gallery that they would better return to whist—or whatever game +was in progress when the alarm was given. The colonel could not invite +them in as matters stood, and they slowly dispersed, leaving only a +senior or two and Lieutenant Stuyvesant to question further, for +Stuyvesant, coming from afar and arriving late, was full of anxiety and +concern. +</p> + +<p> +Despite his temporary escape, circumstances and the civil authorities +(now become decidedly military) had thrown him into still further +association with the woman whom he would so gladly have shunned—the +importunate Miss Perkins. He had taken a turn round the block—and +refuge in the English Club—until he thought her disposed of at home and +his carriage returned. He had come across the little equipage, trundling +slowly up and down the street in search of him, had dined without +appetite and smoked without relish, striving to forget that odious +woman's hints and aspersions, aimed evidently at the Rays, and had gone +to his own room to write when a corporal appeared with the request from +the captain in charge of the police guard of Ermita to step down to the +office. +</p> + +<p> +It was much after nine then and the excitement caused by the alarm was +about over, the troops going back to barracks and presumably to bed. The +captain apologized for calling on him that late in the evening, but told +him a man recognized as Murray, deserter from the cavalry, was secreted +somewhere in the neighborhood, and it was reported that he, Stuyvesant, +could give valuable information concerning him. Stuyvesant could and +did, and in the midst of it in came Miss Perkins, flushed, eager, and +demanding to know if that villain was yet caught—"and if not, why not?" +</p> + +<p> +Then she caught sight of Stuyvesant and precipitated herself upon him. +That man Murray had hatefully deceived her and imposed upon her +goodness, she declared. She had done <i>everything</i> to help him at +the Presidio, and he had promised her a paper signed by all the boys +asking that the P. D. A.'s be recognized as the organization the +soldiers favored, and showed her a petition he had drawn up and was +getting signatures to by the hundreds. That paper would have insured +their being recognized by the government instead of those purse-proud +Red Cross people, and then he had wickedly deserted, after—after—and +Stuyvesant could scarcely keep a straight face—getting fifty dollars +from her and a ring that he was going to wear always until he came back +from Manila—an officer. Oh, he was a smart one, a smooth one! All that +inside of three days after he got to the Presidio, and then was +arrested, and then, next thing she knew, he had fled,—petition, money, +ring, and all. +</p> + +<p> +Another soldier told her the signatures were bogus. And that very night +she recognized him, spite of his beard, and at sight of her he had cut +and run. ("Well he might!" thought Stuyvesant.) And then Miss Perkins +yielded to the strain of overtaxed nerves and had to be conducted home. +</p> + +<p> +She lived but a block or two away, and it was Stuyvesant who had to play +escort. The air, unluckily, revived her, and at the gateway she turned +and had this to add to her previous statements. +</p> + +<p> +"You think the Ray people your friends, lieutenant, and I'm not the kind +of a woman to see a worthy young man trifled with. You've been going +there every day and everybody knows it, and knows that you were sent +away to Iloilo in hopes of breaking you of it. That girl's promised in +marriage to that young man who's got himself into such a scrape all on +her account. He's here—followed her here to marry her, and if he's +found he's liable to be shot. Oh, you can believe or not just as you +please, but never say I didn't try to give you fair warning. Know? Why, +I know much more about what's going on here than your generals do. +<i>I</i> have friends everywhere among the boys; <i>they</i> haven't. +Oh, very well, if you won't listen!" (For Stuyvesant had turned away in +wrath and exasperation.) "But you'd be wiser if you heard me out. I've +<i>seen</i> Mr. Foster and had the whole story from his lips. He's been +there every day, too, till he was taken sick——" +</p> + +<p> +But Stuyvesant was out of the gate and at last out of hearing, and with +a vicious bang to the door, the lady of the P. D. A.'s, so recently +victimized by the astute Sackett, retired to the sanctity of her own +apartment, marvelling at the infatuation of men. +</p> + +<p> +And yet, though Stuyvesant had angrily striven to silence the woman and +had left her in disgust, her words had not failed of certain weight. +Again he recalled with jealous pain the obvious indifference with which +his approaches had been received. True, no well-bred girl would be more +than conventionally civil to a stranger even under the exceptional +circumstances of their meeting on the train. True, she was cordial, +bright, winsome, and all that when at last he was formally presented; +but so she was to everybody. True, they had had many—at least <i>he</i> +had had many—delightful long interviews on the shaded deck of the +Sacramento; but though he would have eagerly welcomed a chance to +indulge in sentiment, never once did Marion encourage such a move. On +the contrary, he recalled with something akin to bitterness that when +his voice or words betrayed a tendency towards such a lapse, she became +instantly and palpably most conventional. +</p> + +<p> +Now, in the light of all he had heard from various sources, what could +he believe but that she was interested, to say the least, in that other +man? Well and miserably he recalled the words of Farquhar, who had +served some years at the same station with the Rays: "She's the bonniest +little army girl I know, and her head's as level as it is pretty—except +on one point. She's her father's daughter and wrapped up in the army. +She's always said she'd marry only a soldier. But Maidie's getting +wisdom with years, I fancy. Young Foster will be a rich man in spite of +himself, for he'll have his mother's fortune, and he's heels over head +in love with her." +</p> + +<p> +"But I understood," interposed the general, with a quick glance at +Stuyvesant, who had risen as though to get another cigar, "that Ray +didn't exactly approve of him." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Ray didn't seem to have any special objection to Foster unless it +was that he neglected his business to lay siege to her. Foster's a +gentleman, has no bad habits, and is the very man nine women out of ten +would rejoice in for a husband, and ninety-nine out of ten, if that were +a mathematical possibility, would delight in as a son-in-law. He isn't +brilliant—buttons would have supplied the lack had he been in the +cavalry. I dare say he'll be ass enough to go in for a commission now +and sell out his ranch for a song. Then, she'd probably take him." +</p> + +<p> +And then, too, as he strolled thoughtfully up the street, still dimly +lighted by the waning moon and dotted at long intervals by tiny electric +fires, Stuyvesant went over in mind other little things that had come to +his ears, for many men were of a mind with regard to Billy Ray's +daughter, and the young officer found himself vaguely weighing the +reasons why he should now cease to play the moth,—why he should be +winging his flight away from the flame and utterly ignoring the fact +that his feet, as though from force of habit, were bearing him steadily +towards it. The snap and ring of a bayoneted rifle coming to the charge, +the stern voice of a sentry at the crossing of the Calle Faura, brought +him to his senses. +</p> + +<p> +"Halt! Who is there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Staff officer, First Division," was the prompt reply, as Stuyvesant +looked up in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +"Advance, staff officer, and be recognized," came the response from a +tall form in blue, and the even taller white figure stepped forward and +stood face to face with the guardian of the night. +</p> + +<p> +"I am Lieutenant Stuyvesant, aide-de-camp to General Vinton," explained +the challenged officer, noticing for the first time a little column of +dusky men in heavy leathern helmets and belts shuffling away towards the +Jesuit College with an old-fashioned diminutive "goose-neck" village +engine trailing at their heels. +</p> + +<p> +"Been a fire, sentry?" he asked. "Where was it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Up at Colonel Brent's, sir, I believe. His house fronts the +parade-ground. One moment, please! Lieutenant <i>Who</i>, sir? The +officer of the guard orders us to account for every officer by name." +And Stuyvesant, who, in instant alarm, had impulsively started, was +again recalled to himself, and, hastily turning back, spoke aloud: +</p> + +<p> +"Stuyvesant my name is. I'll give it at the guard-house as I pass." +</p> + +<p> +Once more he whirled about, his heart throbbing with anxiety. Once more +he would have hurried on his way to the Calle San Luis. A fire there! +and she, Marion, still so weak!—exhausted, possibly, by the +excitement—or distress—or whatever it was that resulted from Brent's +sudden presentation of that <i>carte-de-visite</i>. He would fly to her +at once! +</p> + +<p> +For a third time the sentry spoke, and spoke in no faltering tone. He +was an American. He was wearing the rough garb of the private soldier in +the ranks of the regulars, but, like scores of other eager young +patriots that year, he held the diploma of a great, albeit a foreign, +university. He had education, intelligence, and assured social position +to back the training and discipline of the soldier. He knew his rights +as well as his duties, and that every officer in the service, no matter +how high, from commanding general down, was by regulation enjoined to +show respect to sentries, and this tall, handsome young swell, with a +name that sounded utterly unfamiliar to California ears, was in most +unaccountable hurry, and spoke as though he, the sentry, were exceeding +his powers in demanding his name. It put Private Thinking Bayonets on +his mettle. +</p> + +<p> +"Halt, sir," said he. "My orders are imperative. You'll have to spell +that name." +</p> + +<p> +In the nervous anxiety to which Stuyvesant was a prey, the sentry's +manner irritated him. It smacked at first of undue, unnecessary +authority, yet the soldier in him put the unworthy thought to shame, +and, struggling against his impatience, yet most unwillingly, Stuyvesant +obediently turned. He had shouldered a musket in a splendid regiment of +citizen soldiery whose pride it was that no regular army inspector could +pick flaws in their performance of guard and sentry duty. He had brought +to the point of his bayonet, time and again, officers far higher in rank +than that which he now held. He knew that, whether necessary or not, the +sentry's demand was within his rights, and there was no course for him +but compliance. He hastened back, and, controlling his voice as much as +possible, began: +</p> + +<p> +"You're right, sentry! S-t-u-y"—when through a gate-way across the +street north of the Faura came swinging into sight a little squad of +armed men. +</p> + +<p> +Again the sentry's challenge, sharp, clear, resonant, rang on the still +night air. Three soldiers halted in their tracks, the fourth, with the +white chevrons of a corporal on his sleeves, came bounding across the +street without waiting for a demand to advance for recognition. +</p> + +<p> +"Same old patrol, Billy," he called, as he neared them. "On the way back +to the guard-house." Then, seeing the straps on the officer's shoulders, +respectfully saluted. "Couldn't find a trace outside. Keep sharp +lookout, Number 6," he added, and turning hurriedly back to his patrol, +started with them up the street in the direction Stuyvesant was longing +to go. +</p> + +<p> +"Sorry to detain you, sir, and beg pardon for letting him run up on us +in that way. We've got extra orders to-night. There's a queer set, +mostly natives, in that second house yonder" (and he pointed to a +substantial two-story building about thirty paces from the corner). +"They got in there while the fire excitement was on. Twice I've seen +them peeking out from that door. That's why I dare not leave here and +chase after you—after the lieutenant. Now, may I have the name again, +sir." +</p> + +<p> +And at last, without interruption, Stuyvesant spelled and pronounced the +revered old Dutch patronymic. At last he was able to go unhindered, and +now, overcome by anxiety, eagerness, and dread, he hardly knew what, he +broke into fleet-footed, rapid run, much to the surprise of the staid +patrol which he overtook trudging along on the opposite side of the +street, two blocks away, and never halted until again brought up +standing by a sentry at the San Luis. +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes later, while still listening to Brent's oft-repeated tale of +the theft, and still quivering a little from excitement, Stuyvesant +heard another sound, the rapid, rhythmic beat of dancing footsteps. +</p> + +<p> +"Hullo!" interrupted one of the lingering officers. "Another fire +company coming? It's about time more began to arrive, isn't it?" +</p> + +<p> +"It's a patrol—and on the jump, too! What's up, I wonder?" answered +Brent, spinning about to face towards the Calle Real. There was an +officer with this patrol,—an officer who in his eagerness could barely +abide the sentry's challenge. +</p> + +<p> +"Officer of the guard—with patrol," he cried, adding instantly, as he +darted into view. "Sentry, which—which way did that officer go? Tall +young officer—in white uniform!" +</p> + +<p> +In surprise, the sentry nodded towards the speechless group standing in +front of Brent's, and to them came the boy lieutenant, panting and in +manifest excitement. "I beg pardon, colonel," he began, "our sentry, +Number 6, was found a minute ago—shot dead—down on the Padre Faura. My +men said they saw an officer running from the spot, running this way, +and this gentleman—Mr. Stuyvesant, isn't it?" +</p> + +<p> +There was an awed silence, an awkward pause. "I certainly was there not +long ago," spoke Stuyvesant, presently. "And Number 6, your sentry, was +then all right. I certainly came running——" +</p> + +<p> +"That's all I can hear," was the sharp interruption. "My orders are to +arrest you. You're my prisoner, Mr. Stuyvesant," gasped the lad. +</p> + +<p> +"Preposterous!" said Dr. Frank a few minutes later when told by an +awe-stricken group what had occurred. +</p> + +<p> +"Preposterous say I!" echoed Brent. "And yet, see here——Oh, of course, +you know Major MacNeil, field officer of the day," he added, indicating +a tall, thin-faced, gray-mustached officer of regulars who had but just +arrived, and who now held forth a gleaming revolver with the words, "I +picked this up myself—not ten yards from where he lay." +</p> + +<p> +It was Marion's. +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</p> + + +<p> +A solemn assemblage was that at the Ermita quarters of the provost-guard +the following day. Officers of rank and soldiers from the ranks, in +rusty blue, in gleaming white, in dingy Khaki rubbed shoulders and +elbows in the crowded courtyard. +</p> + +<p> +In the presence of death the American remembers that men are born equal, +and forgets the ceremonious observance of military courtesies. All +voices were lowered, all discussion hushed. There was a spontaneous +movement when the division commander entered, and all made way for him +without a word, but sturdily stood the rank and file and held their +ground against all others, for the preliminary examination, as it might +be called, was to take place at ten o'clock. +</p> + +<p> +The dead man was of their own grade, and an ugly story had gone like +wildfire through the barracks and quarters that his slayer was a +commissioned officer, an aide-de-camp of the general himself, a scion of +a distinguished and wealthy family of the greatest city of America, and +all official influence, presumably, would be enlisted in his behalf. +Therefore, silent, yet determined, were they present in strong force, +not in disrespect, not in defiance, but with that calm yet indomitable +resolution to see for themselves that justice was done, that soldiers of +no other than the Anglo-Saxon race could ever imitate, or that officers, +not American, could ever understand, appreciate, and even tacitly +approve. +</p> + +<p> +The dead man had died instantly, not in the flush and glory of battle, +but in the lonely, yet most honorable, discharge of the sacred duty of +the sentinel. Murder most foul was his, and had he been well-nigh a +pariah among them,—a man set apart from his kind,—the impulse of his +fellow-soldiers would have been to see to it that his death at such a +time and on such a duty went not unavenged. As it was, the man who lay +there, already stiff and cold, was known among them as one of the +bravest, brightest spirits of their whole array, a lad of birth probably +more gentle than that of many an officer, of gifts of mind and character +superior to those of not a few superiors, a fellow who had won their +fellowship as easily as he had learned the duties of the soldier. +</p> + +<p> +A whole battalion in the regulars and dozens of gallant boys in the +Idahos and North Dakotas knew Billy Benton and had been full of sympathy +when he was picked up one night some three weeks previous, his head laid +open by a powerful blow from some blunt instrument, bleeding and +senseless. Even when released from hospital a fortnight later he was +dazed and queer, was twice reported out of quarters over night and +absent from roll-call, but was forgiven because of "previous character," +and the belief that he was really not responsible for these soldier +solecisms. +</p> + +<p> +One thing seemed to worry him, and that was, as he admitted, that he had +been robbed of some papers that he valued. But he soon seemed "all right +again," said his fellows, at least to the extent of resuming duty, and +when, clean-shaved and in his best attire, he marched on guard that glad +October morning, they were betting on him for the first chevrons and +speedy commission. +</p> + +<p> +All that his few intimates, the one or two who claimed to know him, +could be induced to admit was that his real name was not Benton, and +that he had enlisted utterly against the wishes of his kindred. And so, +regulars and volunteers alike, they thronged the open <i>patio</i> and +all approaches thereto, and no officer would now suggest that that court +be cleared. It was best that "Thinking Bayonets" should be there to hear +and see for himself. +</p> + +<p> +"No, indeed, don't do anything of the kind," said the general promptly +when asked half-hesitatingly by the captain of the guard whether he +preferred to exclude the men. And in this unusual presence the brief, +straightforward examination went on. +</p> + +<p> +First to tell his tale was the corporal of the second relief. He had +posted his men between 8.30 and 8.45, Private Benton on Number 6 at the +corner of the Calle Real and Padre Faura. That post had been chosen for +him as being not very far away from that of the guard, as the young +"feller" had not entirely recovered his strength, and the officer of the +day had expressed some regret at his having so soon attempted to resume +duty, but Benton had laughingly said that he was "all right" and he +didn't mean to have other men doing sentry go for him. +</p> + +<p> +"Soon after nine," said the corporal, "I went round warning all the +sentries to look out for the tall Filipino and short, squat American, as +directed by the officer of the guard. The officer of the guard himself +went round about that time personally cautioning the sentries. There was +a good deal of fun and excitement just then down the street. Number 9 in +the Calle Nueve had shot twice at some fleeing natives who nearly upset +him as they dashed round the corner from the Bagumbayan, and he had +later mistaken Colonel Brent in his white suit for a Filipino and +nervously fired. Numbers 7 and 8 in the side streets mistook the +shooting for fire alarm, and Private Benton repeated, in accordance with +his orders, but when I (the corporal) saw him he was laughing to kill +himself over the Manila fire department." +</p> + +<p> +Benton didn't seem much impressed at first about the thief and the +deserter, but towards 9.45, when the corporal again visited his post and +the streets were getting quiet, Benton said there were some natives in +the second house across the way whose movements puzzled him. They kept +coming to the front door and windows and peeping out at him. A patrol +came along just then, searching alleyways and yards, and they looked +about the premises, while he, Corporal Scott, started west on the Faura +to warn Number 4, who was over towards the beach, and while there Major +MacNeil, the field officer of the day, came along, and after making +inquiries as to what Number 4 had seen and heard and asking him his +orders, he turned back to the Faura, Corporal Scott following. +</p> + +<p> +One block west of the Calle Real the major stopped as though to listen +to some sound he seemed to have heard in the dark street running +parallel with the Real, and then stepped into it as though to examine, +so Scott followed, and almost instantly they heard a muffled report +"like a pistol inside a blanket," and hastening round into the Faura +they found Benton lying on his face in the middle of the street, just at +the corner of the Calle Real, stone dead. His rifle they found in the +gutter not twenty feet from him. +</p> + +<p> +Scott ran at once to the guard-house three blocks away and gave the +alarm. Then the patrol said that a tall officer, running full speed, had +passed them, and here the provost-marshal interposed with— +</p> + +<p> +"Never mind what the patrol said. Just tell what you—the witness—did +next." +</p> + +<p> +Scott continued that he and others with the lieutenant, officer of the +guard, ran back to Number 6's post, and there stood the major with the +pistol. +</p> + +<p> +"When we asked should we search the yards and alleys the major nodded, +but the moment he heard the men telling about the running officer he +gave the lieutenant orders——" +</p> + +<p> +And again the provost-marshal said "Never mind," the major would +describe all that. +</p> + +<p> +And the major did. He corroborated what Corporal Scott had said, and +then went on with what happened after Scott was sent to alarm the guard. +Barring some opening of shutters and peering out on the part of natives +anxious to know the cause of the trouble, there was no further +demonstration until Scott and others came running back. But meanwhile +something gleaming in the roadway—the Calle Real—about fifteen paces +from the corner and up the street—to the north towards the +Bagumbayan—and close to the sidewalk attracted his attention. +</p> + +<p> +He stepped thither and picked up—this revolver. By the electric light +at the corner he saw that one chamber was empty. When the guard came on +the run and he heard of the tall officer fleeing up towards the +Bagumbayan, the direction in which the pistol lay, he sent Mr. +Wharton—Lieutenant Wharton—with a patrol in pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +The inscription on the pistol revealed its ownership and cast certain +suspicions that warranted his action, he believed, in ordering the +instant arrest of the officer if found. +</p> + +<p> +Major MacNeil went on to say he "had not yet made the acquaintance of +Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and did not actually know when he gave the order +that it <i>was</i> Lieutenant Stuyvesant who ran up the street"—and +here the major was evidently in a painful position, but faced his duty +like a man and told his story without passion or prejudice, despite the +fact that he declared the murdered man to be one of the very best young +fellows in his battalion, and that he was naturally shocked and angered +at his death. +</p> + +<p> +Then the name of Private Reilly was called, and a keen-featured little +Irishman stepped forward. It was one of the patrol. Corporal Stamford, +first relief, was in charge of it. They had been hunting as far over as +the "Knows-a-lady," and on coming back Number 6 told them of some +natives at the second house. Corporal Stamford posted him, Reilly, in +the first yard near the street to head off any that tried to run out +that way, in case they stirred up a mare's nest, and took the other +"fellers" and went round by the front. Nothing came of it, but while +they were beating up the yards and enclosures Reilly heard Benton +challenge, and saw a tall officer come up to be recognized. They had +some words,—the officer and the sentry,—he couldn't tell what, but the +officer spoke excited like, and all of a sudden jumped away and started +as though to run, and Number 6 "hollered" after him, though Reilly +didn't clearly understand what was said. "At all events he made him come +back, and it——" Here Reilly seemed greatly embarrassed and glanced +about the room from face to face in search of help or sympathy. "It +seemed to kind of rile the officer. He acted like he wasn't going to +come back first off, and then the corporal came along with the patrol +and the officer had to wait while Stamford was recognized, and the boys +was sayin' Billy had a right to stand the corporal off until the +lieutenant said advance him. And we was laughin' about it and sayin' +Billy wasn't the boy to make any mistake about his orders, when we heard +the lieutenant come a-runnin' swift down t'other side the street and +then saw him scootin' it for the open p'rade." +</p> + +<p> +Did the witness recognize the officer?—did he see him plainly? +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, the electric light was burnin' at the corner, and he'd seen him +several times driving by the 'barks.'" +</p> + +<p> +Was the officer present?—now? +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," and Reilly's face reddened to meet the hue of his hair. +</p> + +<p> +Reluctantly, awkwardly, pathetically almost, for in no wise did +identification, as it happened, depend on his evidence, the little Irish +lad turned till his eyes met those of Stuyvesant, sitting pale, calm, +and collected by his general's side, and while the eyes of all men +followed those of Reilly they saw that, so far from showing resentment +or dismay, the young gentleman bowed gravely, reassuringly, as though he +would have the witness know his testimony was exactly what it should be +and that no blame or reproach attached to him for the telling of what he +had seen. +</p> + +<p> +Then Dr. Frank was called, and he gave his brief testimony calmly and +clearly. It was mainly about the pistol. He recognized it as one he had +seen and examined the previous afternoon at Colonel Brent's quarters on +the San Luis. It was lying on a little table in the front veranda. He +had closely examined it—could not be mistaken about it, and when he +left it was still lying on that table. Who were present when he left? +"Other than the immediate family, only Lieutenant Stuyvesant." Had he +again visited the colonel's that evening? He had. He returned an hour or +so later to dine. The ladies had then left their seats in the veranda, +and he noticed that the pistol was no longer on the table; presumed Miss +Ray had taken it with her to her room and thought no more about it. As +indicated by the inscription, the pistol was her property. +</p> + +<p> +Then Lieutenant Ray was called, but there was no response. In low tone +the assistant provost-marshal explained that the orderly sent to Paco +with message for Lieutenant Ray returned with the reply that Mr. Ray had +two days' leave and was somewhere up-town. He as yet had not been found. +</p> + +<p> +A young officer of artillery volunteered the information that late the +previous evening, somewhere about ten, Mr. Ray had called at the Cuartel +de Meysic, far over on the north side. He was most anxious to find a +soldier named Connelly, who, he said, was at the Presidio at the time +the lieutenant's quarters were entered and robbed, and Lieutenant +Abercrombie had taken Mr. Ray off in search of the soldier. +</p> + +<p> +Ray not appearing, the examination of Assistant Surgeon Brick began. +Brick was the first medical officer to reach the scene of the murder. +Benton was then stone dead, and brief examination showed the hole of a +bullet of large calibre—probably pistol, 44—right over the heart. The +coarse blue uniform shirt and the fine undergarment of Lisle thread +showed by burn and powder-stain that the pistol had been close to or +even against the breast of the deceased. The bullet was lodged, he +believed, under the shoulder-blade, but no post-mortem had yet been +permitted, a circumstance the doctor referred to regretfully, and it was +merely his opinion, based on purely superficial examination, that death +was instantaneous, the result of the gunshot wound referred to. Dr. +Brick further gave it as his professional opinion that post-mortem +should be no longer delayed. +</p> + +<p> +And then at last came Stuyvesant's turn to speak for himself, and in +dead silence all men present faced him and listened with bated breath to +his brief, sorrowful words. +</p> + +<p> +He was the officer halted by the sentry on Number 6 and called upon to +come back. The sentry did not catch his name and had to have it spelled. +He frankly admitted his impatience, but denied all anger at the enforced +detention. The information about the fire at Colonel Brent's had caused +him anxiety and alarm, and as soon as released by the sentry he had run, +had passed the patrol on the run, but there had been no altercation, no +misunderstanding even. The sentry had carried out his orders in a +soldierly way that compelled the admiration of the witness, and before +leaving him Stuyvesant had told him that he had done exactly right. The +news that the sentry was found dead five minutes thereafter was a shock. +Lieutenant Stuyvesant declared he carried no fire-arms whatever that +night and was utterly innocent of the sentry's death. He recognized, he +said, the revolver exhibited by Major MacNeil. He did not hesitate to +admit that he had seen and examined it late the previous afternoon at +the quarters of Colonel Brent, that he had actually put it in his +trousers pocket not two minutes before he left the house to go in search +of Lieutenant Ray, but he solemnly declared that as he left the veranda +he placed the pistol on a little table just to the right of the broad +entrance to the salon, within that apartment, and never saw it again +until it was produced here. +</p> + +<p> +Frank, candid, "open and aboveboard" as was the manner of the witness, +it did not fail to banish in great measure the feeling of antagonism +that had first existed against him in the crowded throng. But in the +cold logic of the law and the chain of circumstantial evidence they +plainly saw that every statement, even that of Stuyvesant himself, bore +heavily against him. A lawyer, had he been represented by counsel, would +have permitted no such admissions as he had made. A gentleman, +unschooled in the law, preferred the frank admission to the distress of +seeing Mrs. Brent—and perhaps others—called into that presence to +testify to his having had the pistol with him when he left the gallery. +</p> + +<p> +Brent in his bewilderment had blurted out his wife's words in the +hearing of the provost-marshal's people late the night before, and he +and his household were yet to be called, and when called would have to +say that though they passed and possibly repassed through the salon +between the moment of Stuyvesant's departure and that of their going out +to dinner, not one of their number noticed even so bright and gleaming +an object as Maidie's revolver. True, the lights were not brilliant in +the salon. True, the little table stood back against the wall five or +six feet from the door-way. Still, that pistol was a prominent object, +and a man must have been in extraordinary haste indeed to leave a loaded +weapon "lying round loose" in the hall. +</p> + +<p> +That was the way "Thinking Bayonets" argued it, and soldiers by the +score crowding the sidewalk and entrance and unable to force their way +in, or even to make room for a most importunate female struggling on the +outskirts, hung on the words of an orderly who, despatched in further +search of Lieutenant Ray, was forcing a way out. +</p> + +<p> +"How is it going?" said he. "Why, that young feller's just as good as +hanging himself. He admits having had the pistol that did the business." +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes later a Filipino servant went to answer an imperative rap at +the panel in the massive door of No. 199 Calle San Luis. Dr. Frank had +been early to see his patient, and had enjoined upon Mrs. Brent and Miss +Porter silence as to last night's tragedy. Not until she was stronger +was Miss Ray to be allowed to know of the murder of Private Benton. "By +that time," said he, "we shall be able to clear up this—mystery—I +<i>hope</i>." +</p> + +<p> +The colonel had gone round to the police-station. Mrs. Brent, nervous +and unhappy, had just slipped out for ten seconds, as she said to Miss +Porter, to see an old army chum and friend who lived only three doors +away. Miss Porter, who had been awake hours of the night, had finally +succeeded, as she believed, in reading Maidie to sleep, and then, +stretching herself upon the bamboo couch across the room, was, the next +thing she knew, aroused by voices. +</p> + +<p> +Sandy Ray had entered so noiselessly that she had not heard, but Maidie +had evidently been expecting him. In low, earnest tone he was telling +the result of his search the night before. She heard the words: +</p> + +<p> +"Connelly is down with some kind of fever in hospital and hasn't seen or +heard anything of any one even faintly resembling Foster. Then I found +your old friend the brakeman. General Vinton has got him a good place in +the quartermaster's department, and he tells me he knows nothing, has +seen and heard nothing. Now I'm going to division head-quarters to find +Stuyvesant." +</p> + +<p> +"And then," said Miss Porter, "my heart popped up into my throat and I +sprang from the sofa." But too late. An awful, rasping voice at the +door-way stilled the soft Kentucky tones and filled the room with dread. +</p> + +<p> +"Then you've no time to lose, young man. It's high time somebody besides +me set out to help him. That other young man you call Foster lies dead +at the police-station,—killed by <i>your</i> pistol, Miss Ray, and Mr. +Stuyvesant goes to jail for it." +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XVII. +</p> + + +<p> +In so far as human foresight could provide against the cabling to the +States of tremendous tales that had little or no foundation, the +commanding general had been most vigilant. The censorship established +over the despatches of the correspondents had nipped many a sensation in +the bud and insured to thousands of interested readers at home far more +truthful reports of the situation at Manila than would have been the +case had the press been given full swing. +</p> + +<p> +Yet with Hong-Kong only sixty hours away, there was nothing to prevent +their writing to and wiring from that cosmopolitan port, and here, at +least, was a story that would set the States ablaze before it could be +contradicted, and away it went, fast as the Esmeralda could speed it +across the China Sea and the wires, with it, well-nigh girdle the globe. +</p> + +<p> +A gallant young volunteer, Walter Foster of Ohio, serving in the +regulars under the assumed name of Benton, foully murdered by Lieutenant +Gerard Stuyvesant of New York! A love affair at the bottom of it all! +Rivals for the hand of a fair army girl, daughter of a distinguished +officer of the regular service! Lieutenant Stuyvesant under guard! +Terrible wrath of the soldier's comrades! Lynching threatened! Speedy +justice demanded! The maiden prostrated! Identification of the victim by +Miss Zenobia Perkins, Vice-President and Accredited Representative for +the Philippine Islands of the Society of Patriotic Daughters of America! +Army circles in Manila stirred to the bottom! etc., etc. +</p> + +<p> +Joyous reading this for friends and kindred in the far-distant States! +Admirable exhibit of journalistic enterprise! The Hong Kong papers +coming over in course of another week were full of it, and of +appropriate comment on the remarkable depravity of the American race, +and Chicago journals, notably the <i>Palladium</i>, bristled with +editorial explosions over the oft-repeated acts of outrage and brutality +on part of the American officer to the friendless private in the +American ranks. +</p> + +<p> +And thousands of honest, well-meaning men and women, who had seen, year +after year, lie after lie, one stupendous story after another, +punctured, riddled, and proved a vicious and malignant slander, +swallowed this latest one whole, and marvelled that the American officer +could be the monster the paper proved him to be. +</p> + +<p> +But one woman at last and at least was happy, perched now on a pinnacle +of fame, and in the Patriotic Daughters of America as represented by +their Vice-President and Accredited Representative in the Philippines, +virtue and rectitude reigned triumphant. Zenobia Perkins was in her +glory. Of all the citizens or soldiers of the United States in and about +Manila, male or female, staff or supply, signal or hospital corps, Red +Cross or crossed cannon, rifles, or sabres, this indomitable woman was +now the most sought after—the most in demand. Her identification of the +dead man had been positive and complete. +</p> + +<p> +"I suspected instantly," she declared in presence of the assembled +throng, "when I heard Lieutenant Stuyvesant had shot a soldier, just who +it might be. I remembered the young man who disappeared from the train +before we got to Oakland. I suspected him the moment the corporal told +me about the mysterious young man trying to see Miss Ray. I had my +carriage chase right after him to the Nozaleda and caught him, +half-running, half-staggering, and I took him driving until he got +ca-amed down and told him he needn't worry any more. He was among +friends at last, and the P. D. A.'s would take care of him and guard his +secret and see him done right by. Oh, yes, I did! We weren't going to +see an innocent boy shot as a deserter when he didn't know what he was +doing. He wouldn't admit at first that he was Walter Foster at all, but +at last, when he saw I was sure it was him, he just broke right down and +as much as owned right up. He said he'd been slugged or sand-bagged +three weeks before and robbed of money and of papers of value that he +needed to help him in his trouble. He asked me what steps could be taken +to help a poor fellow accused of desertion. He didn't dare say anything +to any of the officers' cause the men he trusted at all—one or two +well-educated young fellows like himself—found out that he'd be shot if +found guilty. The only thing he could do was make a good record for +himself in the infantry, and having done that he could later on hope for +mercy. He asked a heap of questions, and I just told him to keep a stiff +upper lip and we'd see him through, and he plucked up courage and said +he believed he'd be able to have hope again;—at all events he'd go on +duty right off. When I asked him how he dared go to Colonel Brent's, +where at any time Lieutenant Ray might recognize him, he said he never +<i>did</i> except when he knew Lieutenant Ray was out of the way. Then I +tried to get him to tell what he expected to gain by seeing Miss Ray, +and he was confused and said he was so upset all over he really didn't +know that he had been there so often. He thought if he could see her and +tell her the whole story she could have influence enough to get him out +of his scrape. He was going to tell me the whole story, but patrols and +sentries were getting too thick, and he had to get somewhere to change +his dress for roll-call, and I gave him my address and he was to come +and see me in two days, and now he's killed, and it ain't for me to say +why—or who did it." +</p> + +<p> +Benton's murder was certainly the sensation of the week in Manila, for +there were features connected with the case that made it still more +perplexing, even mysterious. +</p> + +<p> +Major Farquhar, who must have seen young Foster frequently at Fort +Averill, had been sent to survey the harbor of Iloilo and could not be +reached in time, but Dr. Frank, called in course of the day to identify +the remains, long and carefully studied the calm, waxen features of the +dead soldier, and said with earnest conviction: +</p> + +<p> +"This is undoubtedly the young man who appeared at Colonel Brent's and +whom I sought to question, but who seemed to take alarm at once and, +with some confused apology, backed away. He was dressed very neatly in +the best white drilling sack-coat and trousers as made in Manila, with a +fine straw hat and white shoes and gloves, but he had a fuzzy beard all +over his face then, and his manner was nervous and excitable. His eyes +alone showed that he was unstrung, bodily and mentally. I set him down +for a crank or some one just picking up from serious illness. The city +is full of new-comers, and as yet no one knows how many strangers have +recently come to town. I saw him only that once in a dim light, but am +positive in this identification." +</p> + +<p> +Two or three non-commissioned officers of Benton's regiment were +examined. Their stories were concise and to the point. The young soldier +had come with the recruits from San Francisco along late in August. He +was quiet, well-mannered, attended strictly to his own business, and was +eager to learn everything about his duties. They "sized him up" as a +young man of education and good family who hadn't influence enough to +get a commission and so had enlisted to win it. He had money, but no bad +habits. He helped in the office with the regimental papers, and could +have been excused from all duty and made clerk, but wouldn't be. He said +he'd help whenever they wanted him, but he didn't wish to be excused +from guard or drills or patrol or picket—said he wanted to learn all +there was in it. Even the rough fellows in the ranks couldn't help +liking him. He had a pleasant word for everybody that didn't bother him +with questions. He made one or two acquaintances, but kept mostly to +himself; never got any letters from America, but there were two from +Hong Kong, perhaps more. If he wrote letters himself, he posted them in +town. They never went with the company mail from the <i>cuartel</i>. +Everybody seemed to know that Benton wasn't his own name, but that was +nothing. The main thing queer about him was that he got a pass whenever +he could and went by himself, most generally out to Paco, where the +cavalry were, yet he said he didn't know anybody there. It was out Paco +way on the Calzada Herran, close to the corner of the Singalon road, the +patrol picked him up with his head laid open, and he'd been flighty +pretty much ever since and troubled about being robbed. Seemed all right +again, however, when reporting for duty, and perfectly sane and straight +then. +</p> + +<p> +Two very bright young soldiers, Clark and Hunter, were called in for +their statements. They, too, had enlisted in a spirit of patriotism and +desire for adventure; never knew Benton till the voyage was nearly over, +then they seemed to drift together, as it were, and kept up their +friendship after reaching Manila. Benton was not his real name, and he +was not a graduate of any American college. He had been educated abroad +and spoke French and German. No, they did not know what university he +attended. He was frank and pleasant so long as nobody tried to probe +into his past; never heard him mention Lieutenant Stuyvesant. All three +of them, Benton, Clarke, and Hunter, had observed that young officer +during the month as he drove by barracks, sometimes with the general, +sometimes alone, but they did not know his name, and nothing indicated +that Benton had any feeling against him or that he had seen him. They +admitted having conveyed the idea to comrades that they knew more about +Benton than they would tell, but it was a "bluff." Everybody was full of +speculation and curiosity, and—well, just for the fun of the thing, +they "let on," as they said, that they were in his confidence, but they +weren't, leastwise to any extent. They knew he had money, knew he went +off by himself, and warned him to keep a look out or he'd be held up and +robbed some night. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing of any importance they had to tell was that one day, just +before his misfortune, Benton was on guard and posted as sentry over the +big Krupps in the Spanish battery at the west end of the Calle San Luis. +Clarke and Hunter had a kodak between them and a consuming desire to +photograph those guns. The sentries previously posted there refused to +let them come upon the parapet,—said it was "'gainst orders." Benton +said that unless positive orders were given to him to that effect, he +would not interfere. So they got a pass on the same day and Benton +easily got that post,—men didn't usually want it, it was such a +bother,—but, unluckily, with the post Benton got the very orders they +dreaded. So when they would have made the attempt he had to say, "No." +They came away crestfallen, and stumbled on two sailor-looking men who, +from the shelter of a heavy stone revetment wall, were peering with odd +excitement of manner at Benton, who was again marching up and down his +narrow post, a very soldierly figure. +</p> + +<p> +"That young feller drove you back, did he?" inquired one of them, a +burly, thick-set, hulking man of middle height. "Puttin' on considerable +airs, ain't he? What's he belong to?" +</p> + +<p> +"—th Infantry," answered Clarke shortly, not liking the stranger's +looks, words, or manner, and then pushed on; but the stranger followed, +out of sight of the sentry now, and wanted to continue the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +"Sure he ain't in the cavalry?" asked the same man. +</p> + +<p> +"Cocksure!" was the blunt reply. "What's it to you, anyhow?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, nothin'; thought I'd seen him before. Know his name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Name's Benton, far as I know. Come on, Hunter," said Clarke, obviously +unwilling to stay longer in such society, and little more was thought of +it for the time being; but now the provost-marshal's assistant wished +further particulars. Was there anything unusual about the questioner's +teeth? And a hundred men looked up in surprise and suddenly rearoused +interest. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," said Clarke, "one tooth was missing, upper jaw, next the big +eye-tooth;" and as the witness stood down the general and the +questioning officer beamed on each other and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +An adjournment was necessitated during the early afternoon. Lieutenant +Ray's statement was desired, also that of Private Connelly of the +artillery, and an effort had been made through the officers of the +cavalry at Paco to find some of the recruits who were of the detachment +now quite frequently referred to in that command as "the singed cats." +But it transpired that most of them had been assigned to troops of their +regiment not yet sent to Manila, only half the regiment being on +duty—foot duty at that—in the Philippines. The only man among them who +had travelled with Foster from Denver as far as Sacramento was the young +recruit, Mellen. He was on outpost, but would be relieved and sent to +Ermita as quickly as possible. +</p> + +<p> +Connelly, said the surgeon at the Cuartel de Meysic, was too ill to be +sent thither, unless on a matter of vital importance, and Sandy Ray, +hastening from Maidie's bedside in response to a summons, was met by the +tidings that a recess had been ordered, and that he would be sent for +again when needed. +</p> + +<p> +Everywhere in Malate, Ermita, Paco, and, for that matter, the barracks +and quarters of Manila, the astonishing story was the topic of all +tongues that day. Among the regulars by this time the tale of Foster's +devotion to Maidie Ray was well known, while that of Stuyvesant's later +but assiduous courtship was rapidly spreading. +</p> + +<p> +Men spoke in murmurs and with sombre faces, and strove to talk lightly +on other themes, but the tragedy, with all the honored names it +involved, weighed heavily upon them. Stuyvesant came to them, to be +sure, a total stranger, but Vinton had long known him, and that was +enough. His name, his lineage, his high position socially, all united to +throw discredit on the grave suspicion that attached to him. Yet, here +they were, brought face to face, rivals for the hand of as lovely a girl +as the army ever knew. It was even possible that Foster was the +aggressor. Reilly's reluctant words gave proof that discussion of some +kind had occurred, and Stuyvesant broke away and was apparently wrathful +at being compelled to go back; then more words, longer detention; then a +swift-running form, Stuyvesant's, away from the scene; then the fatal +pistol; and against this chain of circumstances only the unsupported +statement of the accused that he left that revolver on the table in the +salon, left it where it was never afterwards seen. No wonder men shook +their heads. +</p> + +<p> +It was three in the afternoon when the examination was resumed. +Meantime, from all over Manila came the correspondents, burning with +zeal and impatience, for the Esmeralda was scheduled to leave at five, +and a stony-hearted censor at the Ayuntamiento had turned down whole +pages of thrilling "copy" that would cost three dollars a word to send +to the States, but sell for thirty times as much when it got there. +</p> + +<p> +"Despite the positive identification of the remains," wrote one inspired +journalist, "by such an unimpeachable and intelligent woman as Zenobia +Perkins, who attended the murdered lad after he was so severely burned +upon the train,—despite the equally positive recognition by that +eminent and distinguished surgeon, Dr. Frank, this military satrap and +censor dares to say that not until the identity of the deceased is +established to the satisfaction of the military authorities will the +report be cabled. How long will the people of America submit to such +tyrannical dictation?" +</p> + +<p> +When the provost-marshal himself, with his assistants and Vinton and +Stuyvesant, returned at three and found Zenobia the vortex of a storm of +questioners, the centre of a circle of rapid-writing scribes, these +latter could have sworn—did swear, some of them—that, far from +expediting matters in order that a full report might be sent by the +Esmeralda, the officials showed a provoking and exasperating disposition +to prolong and delay them. +</p> + +<p> +And even at this time and at this distance, with all his regard, +personal and professional, for the official referred to, the present +chronicler is unable entirely to refute the allegation. +</p> + +<p> +Out in the street a score of carriages and as many <i>quilez</i> and +<i>carromattas</i> stood waiting by the curb, and gallant Captain +Taylor, of the Esmeralda, could have added gold by the hundred to his +well-earned store would he but have promised to hold his ship until the +court—not the tide—served. But an aide of the commanding general had +driven to the ship towards two o'clock and said something to that able +seaman,—no power of the press could tell what,—and all importunity as +to delaying his departure there was but one reply,— +</p> + +<p> +"Five sharp, and not a second later!" +</p> + +<p> +It was after three—yes, long after—that witnesses of consequence came +up for examination. Dr. Brick had got the floor and was pleading +<i>post-mortem</i> at once. In this climate and under such conditions +decomposition would be so rapid, said he, that "by tomorrow his own +mother couldn't recognize him." But the provost-marshal drawled that he +didn't see that further mutilation would promote the possibility of +recognition, and Brick was set aside. +</p> + +<p> +It was quarter to four when young Mellen was bidden to tell whether he +knew, and what he knew of, the deceased, and all men hushed their very +breath as the lad was conducted to the blanket-shrouded form under the +overhanging gallery in the open <i>patio</i>. The hospital steward +slowly turned down the coverlet, and Mellen, well-nigh as pallid as the +corpse, was bidden to look. Look he did, long and earnestly. The little +weights that some one had placed on the eyelids were lifted; the soft +hair had been neatly brushed; the lips were gently closed; the delicate, +clear-cut features wore an expression of infinite peace and rest; and +Mellen slowly turned and, facing the official group at the neighboring +table, nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"You think you recognize the deceased?" came the question. "If so, what +was his name?" +</p> + +<p> +"I think so, yes, sir. It's Foster—at least that's what I heard it +was." +</p> + +<p> +"Had you ever known him?—to speak to?" +</p> + +<p> +"He was in the same detachment on the train. Don't know as I ever spoke +to him, sir," was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +"But you think you know him by sight? Where did you first notice him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Think it was Ogden, sir. I didn't pay much attention before that. A man +called Murray knew him and got some money from him. That's how I came to +notice him. The rest of us hadn't any to speak of." +</p> + +<p> +"Ever see him again to speak to or notice particularly after you left +Ogden? Did he sit near you?" was the somewhat caustic query. +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir, only just that once." +</p> + +<p> +"But you are sure this is the man you saw at Ogden?" +</p> + +<p> +Mellen turned uneasily, unhappily, and looked again into the still and +placid face. That meeting was on a glaring day in June. This was a +clouded afternoon in late October and nearly five months had slipped +away. Yet he had heard the solemn story of murder and had never, up to +now, imagined there could be a doubt. In mute patience the sleeping face +seemed appealing to him to speak for it, to own it, to stand between it +and the possibility of its being buried friendless, unrecognized. +</p> + +<p> +"It's—it's him or his twin brother, sir," said Mellen. +</p> + +<p> +"One question more. Had you heard before you came here who was killed?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. They said it was Foster." +</p> + +<p> +And now, with pencils swiftly plying, several young civilians were +edging to the door. +</p> + +<p> +James Farnham was called, and a sturdy young man, with keen, +weather-beaten face, stepped into the little open space before the +table. Three fingers were gone from the hand he instinctively held up, +as though expecting to be sworn. His testimony was decidedly a +disappointment. Farnham said that he was brakeman of that train and +would know some of that squad of recruits anywhere, but this one,—well, +he remembered talking to one man at Ogden, a tall, fine-looking young +feller something very like this one. This might have been him or it +might not. He couldn't even be sure that this was one of the party. He +really didn't know. But there was a chap called Murray that he'd +remember easy enough anywhere. +</p> + +<p> +And then it was after four and the race for the Esmeralda began. It was +utterly unnecessary, said certain bystanders, to question any more +members of the guard, but the provost-marshal did, and not until 4.30 +did he deign to send for the most important witness of all, the brother +of the young girl to whom the deceased had been so devotedly attached. +They had not long to wait, for Sandy Ray happened to be almost at the +door. +</p> + +<p> +The throng seemed to take another long breath, and then to hold it as, +the few preliminaries answered, Mr. Ray was bidden to look at the face +of the deceased. Pale, composed, yet with infinite sadness of mien, the +young officer, campaign hat in hand, stepped over to the trestle, and +the steward again slowly withdrew the light covering, again exposing +that placid face. +</p> + +<p> +The afternoon sunshine was waning. The bright glare of the mid-day hours +had given place within the enclosure to the softer, almost shadowy light +of early eve. Ray had but just come in from the street without where the +slanting sunbeams bursting through the clouds beat hot upon the dazzling +walls, and his eyes had not yet become accustomed to the change. +Reverently, pityingly, he bent and looked upon the features of the dead. +An expression, first of incredulity, then of surprise, shot over his +face. +</p> + +<p> +He closed his eyes a second as though to give them strength for sterner +test, and then, bending lower, once more looked; carefully studied the +forehead, eyebrows, lashes, mouth, nose, and hair, then, straightening +up, he slowly faced the waiting room and said,— +</p> + +<p> +"I never set eyes on this man in my life before to-day." +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XVIII. +</p> + + +<p> +To say that Mr. Ray's abrupt announcement was a surprise to the dense +throng of listeners is putting it mildly. To say that it was received +with incredulity on part of the soldiery, and concern, if not keen +apprehension, by old friends of Sandy's father who were present, is but +a faint description of the effect of the lad's emphatic statement. +</p> + +<p> +To nine out of ten among the assembly the young officer was a total +stranger. To more than nine out of ten the identification of the dead as +Walter Foster, Maidie Ray's luckless lover, was already complete, and +many men who have made up their minds are incensed at those who dare to +differ from them. +</p> + +<p> +True, Mr. Stuyvesant had said that the sentry, Number 6, did not remind +him except in stature, form, and possibly in features, of the recruit he +knew as Foster on the train. He did not speak like him. But, when +closely questioned by the legal adviser of the provost-marshal's +department—the officer who conducted most of the examination with much +of the manner of a prosecuting attorney, Mr. Stuyvesant admitted that he +had only seen Foster once to speak to, and that was at night in the dim +light of the Sacramento station on what might be called the off-side of +the train, where the shadows were heavy, and while the face of the young +soldier was partially covered with a bandage. Yet Vinton attached +importance to his aide-de-camp's opinion, and when Ray came out +flat-footed, as it were, in support of Stuyvesant's views, the general +was visibly gratified. +</p> + +<p> +But, except for these very few, Ray had spoken to unbelieving ears. +Sternly the military lawyer took him in hand and began to probe. No need +to enter into details. In ten minutes the indignant young gentleman, who +never in his life had told a lie, found himself the target of ten score +of hostile eyes, some wrathful, some scornful, some contemptuous, some +insolent, some only derisive, but all, save those of a few silently +observant officers, threatening or at least inimical. +</p> + +<p> +Claiming first that he knew Walter Foster well (and, indeed, it seemed +to him he did, for his mother's letters to the Big Horn ranch had much +to say of Maidie's civilian admirer, though Maidie herself could rarely +be induced to speak of him), Ray was forced to admit that he had met him +only twice or thrice during a brief and hurried visit to Fort Averill to +see his loved ones before they moved to Fort Leavenworth, and then he +owned he paid but little attention to the sighing swain. Questioned as +to his opportunities of studying and observing Foster, Sandy had been +constrained to say that he hadn't observed him closely at all. He +"didn't want to—exactly." They first met, it seems, in saddle. The +winter weather was glorious at Averill. They had a fine pack of hounds; +coursing for jack-rabbit was their favorite sport, and, despite the fact +that Foster had a beautiful and speedy horse, "his seat was so poor and +his hand so jerky he never managed to get up to the front," said Sandy. +</p> + +<p> +It was not brought out in evidence, but the fact was that Sandy could +never be got to look on Foster with the faintest favor as a suitor for +his sister's hand. A fellow who could neither ride, shoot, nor +spar—whose accomplishments were solely of the carpet and perhaps the +tennis-court—the boy had no use for. He and Maidie rode as though born +to the saddle. He had seen Foster in an English riding-suit and English +saddle and an attempt at the English seat, but decidedly without the +deft English hand on his fretting hunter's mouth the one day that they +appeared in field together, and the sight was too much for Sandy. That +night at dinner, and the later dance, Foster's perfection of dress and +manner only partially redeemed him in Sandy's eyes, and—well—really, +that was about all he ever had seen of Foster. +</p> + +<p> +Questioned as to his recollection of Foster's features, stature, etc., +Sandy did his best, and only succeeded in portraying the deceased almost +to the life. Except, he said, Foster had long, thick, curving eyelashes, +and "this man hasn't"—but it was remembered that brows and lashes both +were singed off in the fire. So that point failed. Questioned as to +whether he realized that his description tallied closely with the +appearance of the deceased, Sandy said that that all might be, but still +"this isn't Foster." Questioned as to whether, if the deceased were +again to have the color and action,—the life that Foster had a year +ago,—might not the resemblance to Foster be complete?—Sandy simply +"couldn't tell." +</p> + +<p> +Nearly an hour was consumed in trying to convince him he must, or at +least might, be mistaken, but to no purpose. He mentioned a card +photograph of Foster in ranch costume that would convince the gentlemen, +he thought, that there was no such very strong resemblance, and a note +was written to Miss Porter asking her to find and send the picture in +question. It came, a cabinet photo of a tall, slender, well-built young +fellow with dark eyes and brows and thick, curving lashes and oval, +attractive face, despite its boyishness, and nine men out of ten who saw +and compared it with the face of the dead declared it looked as though +it had been taken for the latter perhaps a year or so agone. Ray had +hurt his own case, and, when excused to return to his sister's side, +went forth into the gathering twilight stricken with the consciousness +that he was believed to have lied in hopes of averting scandal from that +sister's name. +</p> + +<p> +And on the morrow with that <i>post-mortem</i>, so insisted on by Brick, +no longer delayed, the dead again lay mutely awaiting the final action +of the civil-military authorities, and to the surprise of the officers +and guards, before going to the daily routine that kept him from early +morn till late at night in his beleaguered office, Drayton came and +bowed his gray head and gazed with sombre eyes into the sleeping +features now before him. +</p> + +<p> +A pinched and tired look was coming over the waxen face that had been so +calm and placid, as though in utter weariness over this senseless delay. +Drayton had been told of young Ray's almost astounding declaration, and +officers of the law half expected him to make some adverse comment +thereon, but he did not. Alert correspondents, amazed to see the corps +commander at such a place and so far from the Ayuntamiento, surrounded +him as he would have retaken his seat in his carriage, and clamored for +something as coming from him in the way of an expression of opinion, +which, with grave courtesy, the general declined to give, but could not +prevent appearing a week later in a thousand papers and in a dozen +different forms—ferried over to Hong Kong by the Shogun or some other +ship, and cabled thence to waiting Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +Drayton had his own reasons for wishing to see the remains, then Vinton, +and later Ray, and as his movements were closely followed, the wits of +the correspondents were sorely taxed. But the examination was to be +resumed at nine. A rumor was running wild that Miss Ray herself was to +be summoned to appear, and Drayton had to be dropped in favor of a more +promising sensation. +</p> + +<p> +It began with dreary surgical technicalities. The heavy bullet had +traversed the ascending aorta "near its bifurcation," said Brick, who, +though only an autopsical adjunct, was permitted to speak for his +associates. Death, said he, had resulted from shock and was probably +instantaneous. No other cause could be attributed. No other wound was +discovered. No marks of scuffle except "some unimportant scratches" on +the shoulder. The bullet was found to weigh exactly the same as those of +the unexploded cartridges in poor Maidie's prized revolver, and though +Brick would gladly have kept the floor and told very much more, the +provost-marshal as gladly got rid of him, for, despite the unwillingness +of the medical officers at the Cuartel de Meysic, Connelly had been +trundled down to Ermita in a springy ambulance and was presently +awaiting his turn. +</p> + +<p> +The moment his coming was announced, Connelly was ushered in and Brick +shut off short. +</p> + +<p> +A nurse and doctor were with the sturdy little Irishman, and he needed +but brief instruction as to what was wanted. Taken to the trestle and +bidden to look upon the face of the deceased and say, if he could, who +it was, Connelly looked long and earnestly, and then turned feebly but +calmly to the attentive array. +</p> + +<p> +"If it wasn't that this looks much thinner," said he, "I'd say it was a +man who 'listed with our detachment at Denver last June, about the first +week. The name was Foster. He disappeared somewhere between Sacramento +and Oakland, and I never saw him again." +</p> + +<p> +Questioned as to whether there was any mark by which the recruit could +be known, Connelly said that he was present when Foster was physically +examined, and he never saw a man with a whiter skin; there wasn't a mark +on him anywhere then that he could remember. Bidden to tell what he knew +of Foster, the young artilleryman was given a seat, and somewhat feebly +proceeded. Foster was bound to enlist, he said, was of legal age and +looked it; gave his full name, his home and business; said he owned a +ranch down in New Mexico near Fort Averill; didn't know enough to go in +for a commission and was determined to enlist and serve as a private +soldier in the cavalry. He had good clothes and things that he put in a +trunk and expressed back to Averill, keeping only a valise full of +underwear, etc., but that was burned up on the car afterwards. Two days +later, before they started for the West, a man who said his name was +Murray came to the rendezvous and asked for Foster, who was then being +drilled. A detachment was to start the next day, and anybody could see +that Foster wasn't glad to welcome Murray by any means, but on that very +evening Murray said that he too wished to enlist and go with his +"friend." He squeezed through the physical examination somehow, and they +took him along, though nobody liked his looks. +</p> + +<p> +Then Connelly told what he could of the fire and of Foster's subsequent +disappearance, also of Murray and Murray's misconduct. They asked +Connelly about Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and here Connelly waxed almost +eloquent, certainly enthusiastic, in Stuyvesant's praise. Somebody went +so far, however, as to ask whether he had ever seen any manifestation of +ill-will between Stuyvesant and Recruit Foster, whereat Connelly looked +astonished, seemed to forget his fever, and to show something akin to +indignation. +</p> + +<p> +"No, indeed!" said he. There was nothing but good-will of the heartiest +kind everywhere throughout the detachment except for that one +blackguard, Murray. They all felt most grateful to the lieutenant, and +so far as he knew they'd all do most anything for him, all except +Murray, but he was a tough, he was a biter, and here the sick man feebly +uplifted his hand and pointed to the bluish-purple marks at the base of +the thumb. +</p> + +<p> +"Murray did that," said Connelly simply. "He was more like a beast than +a man." +</p> + +<p> +But the examiners did not seem interested in Murray. General Vinton, who +had again entered and was a close listener, and was observed to be +studying the witness closely, presently beckoned to one of the doctors +and said a word in undertone to him. The medico shook his head. There +was a lull in the proceedings a moment. Connelly was too sick a man to +be kept there long, and his doctor plainly showed his anxiety to get him +away. The crowd too wanted him to go. He had told nothing especially new +except that Murray and Foster were acquainted, and Murray enlisted +because Foster had. +</p> + +<p> +"Everybody" said by this time this must be Foster's body. What +"everybody" wanted was to get Connelly out of the way now, then +perhaps—<i>another</i> fever patient might be summoned, for they +couldn't expect to keep those remains another day. There was widespread, +if unspoken, hope among the score of correspondents that the +provost-marshal would feel that he must summon Miss Ray. +</p> + +<p> +But before the examiners could decide there came an unexpected scene. +Vinton went over, bent, and whispered to the provost-marshal, who looked +up, nodded, and glanced towards the witness, sitting flushed and +heavy-eyed, but patient, across the room. Vinton was plainly asking +something, and to the manifest displeasure of many of the crowd the +little Irishman was again accosted. +</p> + +<p> +"You say Murray was a biter and bit you so that the marks last to this +day. Did you take note of any peculiarity in his teeth?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. One of 'em was gone near the front, right-hand side, next to +the big yellow eye-tooth." +</p> + +<p> +"Would that make a peculiar mark on human flesh?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," answered Connelly, holding up his hand again and showing the +scar, now nearly five months old. +</p> + +<p> +"Steward," said the officer placidly, "uncover the shoulder there and +let Connelly look at the mark Dr. Brick referred to." +</p> + +<p> +Connelly did. He studied the purplish discolorations in the milky skin, +and excitement, not altogether febrile, suddenly became manifest in his +hot, flushed face. Then he held forth one hand, palm uppermost, eagerly +compared the ugly scars at the base of the thumb with the faint marks on +the broad, smooth shoulder, and turned back to the darkened room. With +hand uplifted he cried: +</p> + +<p> +"Major,"—and now he was trembling with mingled weakness and +eagerness,—"I knew that man Murray was following this young feller to +squeeze money out of him, and when he couldn't get it by threats, he +tried by force. He's followed him clear to Manila, and that's his mark +sure's this is!—sure's there's a God in heaven!" +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XIX. +</p> + + +<p> +There came a time of something more than anxiety and worry for all who +knew Gerard Stuyvesant,—for those who loved Marion Ray,—and Sandy was +a sorrow-laden man. Vinton could not stand between his favorite +aide-de-camp and the accusation laid at his door. Frank and his most +gifted fellow-surgeons were powerless to prevent the relapse that came +to Marion and bore her so close to the portals of the great beyond that +there were days and nights when the blithe spirit seemed flitting away +from its fragile tenement, and November was half gone before the crisis +was so far past that recovery could be pronounced only a question of +time. Oh, the strain of those long, long, sleepless days of watching, +waiting, hoping, praying, yet days wherein the watchers could nurse and +help and <i>act</i>. Oh, the blackness, the misery of the nights of +watching, waiting in helplessness, well-nigh in despair, for the coming +of the next "cable!" the consciousness of utter impotence to help or to +do! the realization that a priceless life is ebbing away, while they who +gave it—they to whom it is so infinitely precious—are at the very +opposite ends of the earth! Oh, the tremulous opening of those fateful +messages, the breathless reading of the cipher, the awful suspense of +the search through Cable Code pages that dance and swim before the +straining eyes! Oh, the meek acceptance of still further suspense! the +almost piteous thankfulness that all is not yet lost, that hope is not +yet abandoned! Strong men break down and add years to those they have +lived. Gentle women sway and totter at last until relief comes to them +through God-given tears. +</p> + +<p> +In a fever-stricken camp in Southern swamplands a father waked night +after night, walking the hospitals where his brave lads lay moaning, +seeing in their burning misery, hearing in their last sigh, the +sufferings of a beloved child. By the bedside of her youngest, her baby +boy as she would ever call the lad, who lay there in delirium, knelt a +mother who, as she nursed and soothed this one, prayed without ceasing +for that other, that beloved daughter for whom the Death Angel crouched +and waited under the tropic skies of the far Philippines. Ah, there were +suffering and distress attendant on that strange, eventful epoch in the +nation's history that even the press said nothing about, and that those +who knew it speak of only in deep solemnity and awe to-day. It was +mid-November before they dared to hope. It was December when once again +Maid Marion was lifted to her lounging-chair overlooking the Bagumbayan, +and little by little began picking up once more the threads that were so +nearly severed for all time, and as health and strength slowly returned, +hearing the tidings of the busy, bustling world about her. +</p> + +<p> +Others too had known anxiety as sore as that which had so lined the face +of Colonel Ray and trebled the silver in the soft hair of Marion, his +wife. Well-nigh distracted, a mother sped across the continent to the +Pacific, there to await the coming of her son's remains. +</p> + +<p> +From the night of Walter Foster's disappearance at Carquinez no word of +his existence came to give her hope, no trace of his movements until, +late in August, there was brought to her the cabled message: +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"><p> + "Alive, well, but in trouble. Have written." +</p></div> + +<p> +And this was headed Yokohama. Not until October did that longed-for, +prayed-for letter come,—a selfish letter, since it gave no really +adequate excuse for the long weeks of silence, and only told that the +boy had been in hiding, almost in terror of his life. While still dazed +by the shock of the fire and smarting from his burns, wrote Walter, he +had wandered from the cars at Port Costa. He had encountered "most +uncongenial persons," he said, among the recruits, and never realizing +that it was desertion, war-time desertion at that, had determined to get +back to Sacramento and join some other command. Yes. There was another +reason, but—one "mother couldn't appreciate." Unknown to all but one of +his comrades on the train, he had abundant money, realized from the sale +of horses and cattle at the ranch. It was in a buckskin belt about his +waist, and this money bought him "friends" who took him by water to +Sacramento, found him secret lodgings, procured suitable clothing, and +later spirited him off to San Francisco. +</p> + +<p> +But these money-bought friends showed the cloven hoof, threatened to +give him over to the military authorities to be tried for his life +unless he would pay a heavy sum. They had him virtually a prisoner. He +could only stir abroad at night, and then in company with his jailers. +</p> + +<p> +There was a man, he wrote, who had a grudge against him, a man +discharged from the ranch, who followed him to Denver and enlisted in +the same party, a man he was most anxious to get rid of, and the first +thing he knew that fellow, who, he supposed, had gone on to Manila, +turned up in disguise and joined forces with his tormentors. That drove +him to desperation, nerved him to one sublime effort, and one night he +broke away and ran. He was fleet of foot, they were heavy with drink, +and he dodged them among the wharves and piers, took refuge on a coast +steamer, and found himself two days later at Portland. +</p> + +<p> +Here he bethought him of an old friend, and succeeded in finding a man +he well knew he could trust, despite his mother's old dislike for him, a +man who knew his whole past, of his desertion, of his danger,—a man who +was himself about enlisting for service in the Philippines, and who +persuaded him that his surest way to win exemption from punishment was +to hasten after the detachment, beat it, if possible, to Manila, and +join it there at his own expense. +</p> + +<p> +He still had some hundreds left. They went to San Francisco, where +Walter took steamer at once for Honolulu to await there the coming of +the recruit detachment. The infantry finally came, his friend with them, +but no sign of more cavalry. To Walter's dismay he had seen among the +passengers landed from the Doric the disguised rough whom, as Sackett, +he had so unfavorably known before, who as Murray had followed him into +the army. It would never do to fall into his clutches again: the man +would betray him instantly. Walter kept in hiding until he heard that +Sackett was accused of stabbing a staff officer of General Vinton and +had fled the island. +</p> + +<p> +Later, when the next troop-ship came, bringing his friend with it, he +again took counsel. As the lad fully admitted, his friend was the same +old chum of Freiburg days—the friend to whom his parents had so much +objected. The fortunes of war had thrown them together, Willard as +impecunious as ever, and the Damon and Pythias, the Orestes and Pylades, +the two Ajaxes of the old days were in close and intimate touch once +more, Damon, as of old, the banker for the twain. The troop-ships were +to proceed as soon as coaled. There were reasons now why Walter wished +to stay in Honolulu, but Willard urged his moving at once on to Hong +Kong and there awaiting the result of his negotiations at Manila. At +Hong Kong it was his hope to receive the word "Come over. All is well," +and, finally, as his funds would soon run out, he closed his letter with +the request that his mother cable him five hundred dollars through the +Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. +</p> + +<p> +The money she cabled at once, then in dread she had wired Colonel +Martindale, who was gadding about with old army chums when most she +needed him at home, and that gentleman, with a sigh, again went +sisterward, saying he knew the boy was sure to turn up to torment him, +and wondering what on earth young Hopeful had done now. He looked grave +enough when he read the letter, asked for time to communicate +confidentially with a chum at Washington, and was awaiting reply when +all on a sudden the papers came out with this startling despatch telling +of the murder of Private Walter Foster while on his post as sentry at +Manila, and then came weeks of woe. +</p> + +<p> +Despite Drayton's cable from Manila that the identification of the +remains was not conclusive to him, at least, Mrs. Foster was convinced +that the murdered lad was her only boy, and all because of that +heartless flirt, that designing—that demoniac army girl who had +bewitched him and then brought his blood upon her own head. +</p> + +<p> +"If it isn't Walter who lies there slain by assassin rival, the innocent +victim of <i>that creature's</i> hideous vanity, would I not have heard +from him? Do you suppose my blessed boy would not <i>instantly</i> have +cabled to tell me he was alive if he wasn't dead?" And, indeed, that was +a hard question to answer. +</p> + +<p> +And so the remains of Private Willard Benton, that had been viewed by +many a genuinely sorrowing comrade and stowed away with solemn military +honors in a vault at Paco Cemetery, were sealed up as best they could do +it at Manila, and, though unconvinced as to their identity despite the +convictions of others in authority, the commanding general yielded to +cables from the War Department and ordered their shipment to San +Francisco. They were out of sight of all signals from Corregidor when +Martindale's cable came suggesting search for Private Benton Willard. +</p> + +<p> +Zenobia Perkins sniffed contemptuously and scoffed malignantly when told +that the doubting Thomases were gaining ground and numbers, that though +Mr. Stuyvesant might be brought to trial for killing a man, it would not +be for killing Foster until more was ascertained regarding the actual +victim. Private Connelly, recovered from his fever, was forever hunting +up Farnham, the brakeman, and devising schemes for the capture of that +blackguard Murray. Day and night, he maintained that Murray was the man +who had accosted Clarke and Hunter at the battery, that it was probably +he who, with his pals, had waylaid and robbed the lone recruit returning +from his quest in East Paco, that it was he who must have struggled with +him again before firing the fatal shot; but not a trace of Murray or his +sailor mates could the secret service agents find, and matters were in +this most unsatisfactory state when at the end of November came the +Queen of the Fleet, despatched several weeks before to fetch along the +troops "sidetracked" at Honolulu, just as the commanding general and his +chief surgeon were in consultation as to what on earth to do with +Zenobia Perkins—the woman had become a public nuisance. +</p> + +<p> +It seems that the Patriotic Daughters of America were now out of +patience and the vice-president out of funds. It seemed that her brief +ascendancy had carried the lady to such an altitude as to dizzy her +brain and rob her of all sense of proportion. It seems that the surgeons +in charge of three hospitals had complained of her meddling, that +colonels of several regiments had discovered her to be the author of +letters to the home papers setting forth that neglect, abuse, and +starvation were driving their men to desertion or the grave. It seems +that the Red Cross had protested against her as the originator of +malignant stories at their expense, and it was evidently high time to +get rid of her, yet how could they if that case was to be tried? Zenobia +Perkins knew they could not and conducted herself accordingly. She came +this day to the Ayuntamiento to demand pay for what she termed her long +detention at Manila. +</p> + +<p> +"You compel me to remain against my will because I'm an indispensable +witness," said she to the saturnine adjutant-general, beyond whom she +never now succeeded in passing. She was volubly berating him, to his +grim amusement, when the lattice doors from the corridor swung open and +two officers entered. +</p> + +<p> +For nearly two minutes they stood waiting for a break in her tempestuous +flow of words, but as none came, the senior impatiently stepped forward +and the adjutant-general, looking up, sprang from his chair just as the +chief himself came hurrying out from the <i>sanctum sanctorum</i> and +greeted the newcomers with cordially clasping hands. The lady too had +risen. This was another of those stuck-up star-wearers who at San +Francisco as much as told her she was a nuisance, and who wouldn't send +her by transport to Manila. Yet here she was in spite of them all, and +the most important woman on the island! Zenobia's face was flushed with +triumph that the star-wearer should be made to feel and see before she +would consent to leave the room. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I shall have to interrupt you gentlemen," said she, "for +<i>my</i> business won't keep if you propose to keep <i>me</i>. I want +to know right here and now, General Drayton, whether I'm to get my pay +or not; if not, I don't propose to wait another day in Manila, and you +can get out of the scrape the best way you know how. No one here but me +could swear that young man Foster was dead, and you know it." +</p> + +<p> +"You've sworn to what isn't so, madame," interposed the new arrival +placidly. "Here's that young man Foster!" and as he spoke the lattice +doors again swung open, and, very pale, a tall youth in civilian dress +was ushered in, at sight of whom Major Farquhar fairly shouted. +</p> + +<hr class="short"> + +<p> +"How'd I get him?" said the new-comer five minutes later. "Found him +aboard the Coptic when she met us as we were pulling out from Honolulu. +He was going back to the States. Left Hong Kong before the story was +published. Didn't want to come, of course, but had to." +</p> + +<p> +"Wasn't there time to write his mother? They surely would have cabled, +and the Coptic must have got into San Francisco a week ago." +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly! Letter was sent right on by the steamer, addressed to +Cincinnati." +</p> + +<p> +"O Lord!" said Drayton. "And she was at 'Frisco all the time. Colonel," +he added to his chief-of-staff, "what's the first transport home?" +</p> + +<p> +"Zealandia, sir; to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +"Sorry for the Zealandia, but Zenobia must go with her." +</p> + + + + +<hr class="med"> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XX. +</p> + + +<p> +Of course we had not heard the last of her. Honolulu correspondents of +the press had little to write of in those days, but made their little +long, and Zenobia's stories were the biggest things yet brought from +Manila. Those stories were seven days getting from Honolulu to San +Francisco, which was less than half the time it took their author to +bring them to listening ears. Anybody aboard the Zealandia could have +told the scribes the lady was a fabricator of the first magnitude, but +what live correspondent wants to have a good story spoiled? In just +twenty-seven days from that on which Zenobia bade farewell to Manila her +winged words were flashed all over the States, and by thousands were the +stones swallowed that death, disease, pestilence and famine, bribery and +corruption, vice and debauchery, desertion and demoralization ran riot +in the army at Manila, all due to the incapacity, if not actual +complicity, of officers in high position. But mercifully were they +spared the knowledge of these astonishing facts until the papers +themselves began to reach the Eighth Corps some ten weeks after Zenobia +had left it to its fate, and by that time every fellow had his hands +full, for the long-looked-for outbreak had come at last, and the long, +thin Yankee fighting line was too busy making history to waste ink or +temper in denying yarns that, after all, were soon forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +Then, too, we had been hearing stories that could not be denied right +there in the southern suburbs, and having excitement that needed no +Zenobia to enhance it. To begin with, Walter Foster's tale was of itself +of vivid interest, and, though only the general and Farquhar and Ray +actually heard it, and only two or possibly three staff officers were +supposed to see it after it had been reduced to writing, every steamer +and transport now was bringing officers' families, and men must tell +their wives something once in a while, otherwise they might never know +what <i>is</i> going on and so will believe all manner of things that +are not. +</p> + +<p> +Walter Foster's mother learned by cable that the remains she awaited, +and that reached port almost the day she got the despatch, were not +those of her only son, but of one who had practically died for him. And +even in the joy of that supreme moment the woman in her turned, after +all, in pity to weep for the motherless lad who had been her boy's +warmest friend in his hours of doubt and darkness and despair. +</p> + +<p> +A weak vessel was "Wally," as Farquhar had intimated, and so easily +cowed and daunted that in the dread of the punishment accorded the +deserter he had skulked in disguise at Hong Kong, leaving all the burden +of scouting, pleading, and planning for him to Willard, his old-time +chum, who had even less knowledge and experience of army official life +than himself. Willard's early letters to Hong Kong gave Foster little +hope, for at first the only people the recruit could "sound" were +private soldiers like himself. Then Foster read of the arrival of the +Sacramento at Manila, of the presence there of Maidie Ray, and then he +wrote urging his quondam chum to endeavor to see her, to tell her of his +desperate straits, to implore her to exert influence to get him +pardoned, and, in order that she might know that his envoy was duly +accredited, he sent Willard his chief treasure, that little +<i>carte-de-visite</i>, together with a few imploring lines. +</p> + +<p> +Then not a word came from Willard for three mortal weeks, but Foster's +daily visits to the bank were at last rewarded by a despatch from home +bidding him return at once by first steamer, sending him abundant means, +and assuring him all would be well. +</p> + +<p> +And when the news of his own murder was published in the Hong Kong +papers, without the faintest intimation to the officials of the bank as +to his intentions, he was homeward bound, and never heard a word of it +all until recognized by an officer aboard the Queen as the Coptic +floated into Honolulu Harbor. There he was arrested and turned back. +</p> + +<p> +Among "Billy Benton's" few effects no letters, no such picture, had +been found, nothing, in fact, to connect him with Foster. Colonel Brent +knew what had become of the <i>carte-de-visite</i>, but—how happened it +in other hands than those of Benton? That too was not long to be a +mystery. +</p> + +<p> +One day in late December a forlorn-looking fellow begged a drink of the +bartender at the Alhambra on the Escolta—said he was out of money, +deserted by his friends, and took occasion to remind the dispenser of +fluid refreshment that a few weeks ago when he had funds and friends +both he had spent many a dollar there. The bartender waved him away. +</p> + +<p> +"Awe, give the feller a drink," said boys in blue, in the largeness of +their nature and the language of the ranks. "What'll you take, Johnny? +Have one with us," and one of the managers hastened over and whispered +to some of the flannel-shirted squad, but to no purpose. +</p> + +<p> +The "boys" were bent on benevolence, and "beat" though he might be, the +gaunt stranger was made welcome, shared their meat and drink, and, +growing speedily confidential in his cups, told them that he could tell +a tale some folks would pay well to hear, and then proceeded to stiffen +out in a fit. +</p> + +<p> +This brought to mind the event on the Bagumbayan, and somebody said it +was "the same feller if not the same fit," and it wouldn't do to leave +him there. They took him along in their cab and across to their barracks +by the Puente Colgante, and a doctor ministered to him, for it was plain +the poor fellow was in sore plight, and a few days later a story worth +the telling was going the rounds. The good chaplain of the Californians +had heard his partial confession and urged him to tell the whole truth, +and that night the last vestige of the crumbling case against Gerard +Stuyvesant came tumbling to earth, and Connelly, from the Cuartel de +Meisic, nearly ran his sturdy legs off to find Farnham and tell him the +tale. +</p> + +<p> +"My real name," said the broken man, "is of no consequence to anybody. I +soldiered nearly ten years ago in the Seventh Cavalry, but that fight at +Wounded Knee was too much for my nerve, and the boys made life a burden +to me afterwards. I 'took on' in another regiment after I skipped from +the Seventh, but luck was against me. We were sent to Fort Meade, and +there was a gambler in Deadwood, Sackett by name, who had been a few +months in the Seventh, but got bob-tailed out for some dirty work, and +he knew me at once and swore he'd give me away if I didn't steer fellows +up against his game after pay-day. I had to do it, but Captain Ray got +onto it all and broke up the scheme and ran Sackett off the reservation, +and then he blew on me and I had to quit again. He shot a man over +cards, for he was a devil when in drink, and had to clear out, and we +met again in Denver. 'Each could give the other away by that time,' said +he, and so we joined partnership." +</p> + +<p> +The rest was soon told. Sackett got a job on young Foster's ranch and +fell into some further trouble. But when the war came all of them were +enlisted, Foster and Sackett in the regulars and he in the First +Colorado, but they discharged him at Manila because he had fits, and +that gave him a good deal of money for a few days, travel pay home, and +all that. Then who should turn up but Sackett with "money to burn" and a +scheme to make more. They hired a room in Ermita, and next thing he knew +Sackett and some sailor men held up and robbed a soldier, and Sackett +was in a tearing rage because no money-belt was found on him. They only +got some letters, that little photograph, and perhaps forty dollars +"Mex." The photograph he recognized at once,—his former captain's +daughter,—and he begged for it and kept it about him until one evening +he was taken with another fit, and when he came to the picture was gone. +</p> + +<p> +That night he found Sackett nearly crazy drunk at their lodgings in +Ermita. They had a Filipino boy to wait on them then, and Sackett had +told the boy where he could find money and jewelry while the family were +at dinner around at Colonel Brent's. The boy was willing enough; he was +an expert. But he came back scared through; said that the soldiers were +close after him. He had some jewelry and a pretty revolver. Sackett told +him to keep the jewelry, but took the watch and pistol, and that night +the sentries and patrols were searching everywhere, and Sackett and the +sailors said they must get away somehow. They drank some more, and +finally thought they had a good chance just after the patrol left, and +the sentry was talking to an officer on the Calle Real. +</p> + +<p> +They sneaked downstairs and out into the Faura, and there Sackett ran +right into the soldier's arms. There was a short, terrible battle, the +soldier against Sackett and his sailor friend. The sailor got the +sentry's gun away, and Sackett and he wrestled as far as the corner, +when there was a shot; the soldier dropped all in a heap and Sackett and +the sailor ran for their lives around the corner,—the last he had ever +seen or heard of them up to this moment. +</p> + +<p> +So that was how poor Maidie's pistol happened to be picked up on the +Calle Real and why one or two assertive officers lately connected with +the provost-marshal's and secret-service department concluded that it +might be well for them to try regimental duty awhile. That was how it +happened, too, that Lieutenant Stuyvesant was prevailed on to take a +short leave and run over to Hong Kong. But he came back in a hurry, for +there was need of every man and trouble imminent "at the front." +</p> + +<p> +The dawn of that memorable February day had come that saw Manila girdled +by the flame of forty thousand rifles and shrouded in the smoke that +drifted from the burning roofs of outlying villages from whose walls, +windows, and church towers the insurgent islanders had poured their +pitiless fire upon the ranks of the American soldiery. +</p> + +<p> +In front of a stone-walled enclosure bordering the principal street in +an eastward suburb two or three officers were in earnest consultation. +From the ambulance close at hand the attendants were carefully lifting +some sorely wounded men. Up the street farther east several little +parties coming slowly, haltingly from the front, told that the incessant +crash and rattle of musketry in that direction was no mere +<i>feu-de-joie</i>, while every now and then the angry spat of the +steel-clad Mauser on the stony road, the whiz and whirr about the ears +of the few who for duty's sake or that of example held their ground in +the highway, gave evidence that the Tagal marksmen had their eyes on +every visible group of Americans. +</p> + +<p> +In the side streets at right angles to the main thoroughfare reserve +battalions were crouching, sheltered from the leaden storm, and awaiting +the longed-for order to advance and sweep the field at the front. From +the grim, gray walls of the great church and convent, which for weeks +had been strictly guarded by order of the American generals against all +possible intrusion or desecration on part of their men, came frequent +flash and report and deadly missile aimed at the helpless wounded, the +hurrying ambulances, even at a symbol as sacred as that which towered +above its altars—the blood-red cross of Geneva. +</p> + +<p> +It was the Tagal's return for the honor and care and consideration shown +the Church of Rome. As another ambulance came swiftly to the spot, its +driver swayed, clasped his hands upon his breast, and, with the blood +gushing from his mouth, toppled forward into the arms of the hospital +attendants. It was more than flesh and blood or the brigade commander +could stand. +</p> + +<p> +"Burn that church!" was the stern order as the general spurred on to the +front, and a score of soldiers, leaping from behind the stone walls, +dashed at the barricaded doors. A young staff officer, galloping down +the road, reined in at sight of the little party and whirled about by +the general's side. +</p> + +<p> +"It's perfectly true, sir," said he. "Right across the bridge in front +of the block-house you can hear him plainly. It's a white man giving +orders to the Filipinos." The general nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"We'll get him presently. Do they understand the orders on the left?" +</p> + +<p> +"Everywhere, sir. All are ready and eager," and even the native pony +ridden by the aide seemed quivering with excitement as, horse and rider, +they fell back and joined the two officers following their chief. +</p> + +<p> +"Hot in front, Stuyvie?" queried the first in undertone, as a Mauser +zipped between their heads to the detriment of confidential talk, and a +great burst of cheers broke from the blue line crouching just ahead +across the open field. "Why, d—n it, man, you're hit now!" +</p> + +<p> +"Hush!" answered Stuyvesant imploringly, as he pressed a gauntleted hand +to his side. "Don't let the general know. I want to join Vinton in a +moment. It's only a tear along the skin." But blood was soaking through +the serge of his blue sack-coat and streaking the loose folds of his +riding-breeches, and the bright color in his clear skin was giving way +to pallor. +</p> + +<p> +"Tear, indeed! Here! Quick, orderly! Help me there on the other side!" +and the captain sprang from saddle. A soldier leaped forward, turning +loose his pony, and as the general, with only one aide and orderly, rode +on into the smoke-cloud overhanging the line, Gerard Stuyvesant, +fainting, slid forward into the arms of his faithful friends. +</p> + +<p> +A few hours later, "lined up" along the river-bank, a great regiment +from the far West, panting and exultant, stood resting on its arms and +looking back over the field traversed in its first grand charge. Here, +there, everywhere it was strewn with insurgent dead and sorely wounded. +Here, there, and everywhere men in American blue were flitting about +from group to group, tendering canteens of cold water to the wounded, +friend and enemy alike. +</p> + +<p> +Far back towards the dusty highway where the ambulances were hurrying, +and close to the abutments of a massive stone bridge that crossed a +tributary of the Pasig, three officers, a surgeon, and half-a-dozen +soldiers were grouped about a prostrate form in the pale blue uniform, +with the gold embroidery and broad stripes of a Filipino captain, but +the face was ghastly white, the language ghastly Anglo-Saxon. +</p> + +<p> +With the blood welling from a shothole in his broad, burly chest and the +seal of death already settling on his ashen brow, he was scowling up +into the half-compassionate, half-contemptuous faces about him. Here lay +the "<i>Capitan Americano</i>" of whom the Tagal soldiers had been +boasting for a month—a deserter from the army of the United States, a +commissioned officer in the ranks of Aguinaldo, shot to death in his +first battle in sight of some who had seen and known him "in the blue." +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Stuyvesant, revived by a long pull at the doctor's flask, his +bleeding stanched, had again pressed forward to take his part in the +fight, but now lay back in the low Victoria that the men had run forward +from the village, and looked down upon the man who in bitter wrath and +hatred had vowed long months before to have his heart's blood,—the man +who had so nearly done him to death in Honolulu. Even now in Sackett's +dying eyes something of the same brutal rage mingled with the instant +gleam of recognition that for a moment flashed across his distorted +features. It seemed retribution indeed that his last conscious glance +should fall upon the living face of the man to whom he owed his rescue +from a fearful death that night in far-away Nevada. +</p> + +<p> +But, badly as he was whipped that brilliant Sunday, "Johnny Filipino" +had the wit to note that Uncle Sam had hardly a handful of cavalry and +nowhere near enough men to follow up the advantages, and hence the long +campaign of minor affairs that had to follow. In that campaign Sandy Ray +was far too busy at the front to know very much of what was going on at +the rear in Manila. He listened with little sympathy to Farquhar's brief +disposition of poor Foster's case. "They could remove the desertion and +give him a commission, but they couldn't make Wally a soldier. He went +home when the fighting had hardly begun." Somebody was mean enough to +say if he hadn't his mother would have come for him. +</p> + +<p> +There was no question as to the identity of the soldier who died in +Filipino uniform. Not only did Stuyvesant recognize him, but so did Ray +and Trooper Mellen, and Connelly, fetched over from the north side to +make assurance doubly sure. It was Sackett-Murray, gambler, horse-thief, +house-robber, deserter, biter, murderer, and double-dyed traitor. He had +fled to the insurgents in dread of discovery and death at the hands of +Benton's comrades. +</p> + +<p> +And perhaps it was just as well. Foster knew of his hapless end before +he took steamer homeward; knew, too, of Stuyvesant's wound, +and—possibly it had something to do with his departure—of the +disposition made of that fortunately wounded officer. Miss Ray, it +seems, was regularly on duty now, with other Red Cross nurses, and +Stuyvesant went to the "First Reserve" and stayed there a whole week, +and even Dr. Wells came and smiled on him, and Miss Porter beamed, and +still he was not happy—for Maidie came not. She was busy as she could +be at the farther end of the other wards. +</p> + +<p> +And so Stuyvesant grew impatient of nursing, declared he was well, and +still was far from happy, for at that time Foster was still hovering +about the premises, and Stuyvesant could see only one possible +explanation for that. They moved him back to his breezy quarters at +Malate. But presently a trap was sprung, mainly through Mrs. Brent's +complicity, for once or twice a week it was Maidie's custom to go to her +old friend's roof for rest and tea. And one evening, seems to me it was +Valentine's Day, just before sunset, they were in the veranda,—the +colonel and his kindly wife,—while Maid Marion the Second was in her +own room donning a dainty gown for change from the Red Cross uniform, +when a carriage whirled up to the entrance underneath, and Mrs. Brent, +leaning over the rail, smiled on its sole occupant and nodded +reassuringly. +</p> + +<p> +Stuyvesant came up slowly, looking not too robust, and said it was +awfully good of Mrs. Brent to take pity on his loneliness and have him +round to tea. Other nice women, younger, more attractive personally than +Mrs. Brent, had likewise bidden him to tea just so soon as he felt able, +but Stuyvesant swore to himself he couldn't be able and wouldn't if he +could. Yet when Mrs. Brent said "Come," he went, though never hoping to +see Marion, whom he believed to be engrossed in duties at the First +Reserve, and on the verge of announcement of her engagement to "that +young man Foster." +</p> + +<p> +Presently Brent said if Stuyvesant had no objection he'd take his trap +and drive over <i>Intra muros</i> and get the news from MacArthur's +front,—for Mac was hammering at the insurgent lines about Caloocan,—and +Stuyvesant had no objection whatever. Whereupon Mrs. Brent took occasion +to say in the most casual way in the world: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you might send a line to Colonel Martindale, dear. You know Mr. +Foster goes home by the Sonoma—oh, hadn't you heard of it, Mr. +Stuyvesant? Oh, dear, yes. He's been ready to go ever since the fighting +began, but there was no boat." +</p> + +<p> +And then she too left Stuyvesant,—left him with the New York +<i>Moon</i> bottom topmost in his hand and a sensation as of wheels in +his head. She proceeded, furthermore, to order tea on the back gallery +and Maidie to the front. But tea was ready long before Maidie. +</p> + +<p> +Far out at the lines of San Pedro Macati Dyer's guns had sighted swarms +of rebels up the Pasig, and with placid and methodical precision were +sending shrapnel in that direction and dull, booming concussions in the +other. An engagement of some kind was on at San Pedro, and Stuyvesant +twitched with nervous longing to get there, despite the doctors, and sat +wondering was another engagement off at Manila. Just what to do he had +not decided. The <i>Moon</i> and his senses were still upside-down when +Sing came in with the transferred tea things and Mrs. Brent with the +last thing Stuyvesant was thinking to see—Maid Marion, all smiles, +congratulation, and cool organdie. +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes' time in which to compose herself gives a girl far too great +an advantage under such circumstances. +</p> + +<p> +"I—I'm glad to see you," said Stuyvesant helplessly. "I thought you +were wearing yourself out at nursing." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, it agrees with me," responded Maidie blithely. +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose it must. You certainly look so." +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Merci du compliment, Monsieur</i>," smiled Miss Ray, with sparkling +eyes and the prettiest of courtesies. She certainly did look remarkably +well. +</p> + +<p> +It was time for Stuyvesant to be seated again, but he hovered there +about that tea-table, for Mrs. Brent made the totally unnecessary +announcement that she would go in search of the spoons. +</p> + +<p> +"You had no time—I suppose—to look in on anybody but your assigned +vict—patients, I mean," hazarded Stuyvesant, weakening his tentative by +palpable display of sense of injury. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you were usually asleep when I cal—inquired, I mean. One or two +lumps, Mr. Stuyvesant?" And the dainty little white hand hovered over +the sugar-bowl. +</p> + +<p> +"You usually chose such times, I fancy. One lump, thanks." There was +another, not of sugar, in his throat and he knew it, and his fine blue +eyes and thin, sad face were pathetic enough to move any woman's heart +had not Miss Ray been so concerned about the tea. +</p> + +<p> +"You would have been able to return to duty days ago," said she, +tendering the steaming cup and obviously ignoring his remark, "had you +come right to hospital as Dr. Shiels directed, instead of scampering out +to the front again. You thought more of the brevet, of course, than the +gash. What a mercy it glanced on the rib! Only—such wounds are ever so +much harder to stanch and dress." +</p> + +<p> +"You—knew about it, then?" he asked with reviving hope. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course. We <i>all</i> knew," responded Miss Ray, well aware of the +fact that he would have been unaccountably and infinitely happier had it +been she alone. "That is our profession. But about the brevet. Surely +you ought to be pleased. Captain in your first engagement!" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, it's only a recommendation," he answered, "and may be as far away +as—any other engagement—of mine, that is." And in saying it poor +Stuyvesant realized it was an asinine thing. So, alack, did she! An +instant agone she was biting her pretty red lips for letting the word +escape her, but his fatuity gave her all the advantage in spite of +herself. It was the play to see nothing that called for reply in his +allusion. So there was none. +</p> + +<p> +A carriage was coming up the Luneta full tilt, and though still six +hundred yards away, she saw and knew it to be Stuyvesant's returning. +But he saw nothing beyond her glowing face. Mrs. Brent began to sing in +the salon, a symptom so unusual that it could only mean that she +contemplated coming back and was giving warning. Time was priceless, yet +here he stood trembling, irresolute. Would nothing help him? +</p> + +<p> +"You speak of my—engagement," he blundered blindly on. "I wish you'd +tell me—about yours." +</p> + +<p> +"Mine? Oh,—with the Red Cross, you mean? And shame be to you, Maidie +Ray, you knew—you well knew—he didn't." +</p> + +<p> +"I mean—to Mr. Foster. Mrs. Brent has just told me——" +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. Brent!" interposes Miss Ray in a flutter of amaze. That carriage +is coming nearer every instant, driving like mad, Brent on the back seat +and a whip-lashing demon on the box. There will be no time for +love-tales once that burly warrior returns to his own. Yet she is +fencing, parrying, holding him at bay, for his heart is bubbling over +with the torrent of its love and yearning and pleading. +</p> + +<p> +What are bullet-wounds and brevets to this one supreme, sublime +encounter? His heart was high, his voice rang clear and exultant, his +eyes flashed joy and fire and defiance in the face of a thousand deaths +two weeks ago. But here in the presence of a slender girl he can do +naught but falter and stammer and tremble. +</p> + +<p> +Crack, crack, spatter, clatter, and crash comes the little carriage and +team whirling into the San Luis. He hears it now. He knows what it means +to him—Brent back and the pent-up words still unspoken! It nerves him +to the test, it spurs him to the leap, it drives the blood bounding +through his veins, it sends him darting round the table to her side, +penning her, as it were, between him and the big bamboo chair. And now +her heart, too, is all in a flutter, for the outer works were carried in +his impetuous dash, the assailant is at the very citadel. +</p> + +<p> +"Marion!" he cried, "tell me, was there—tell me, there <i>was</i> no +engagement! Tell me there <i>is</i> a little hope for me! Oh, you are +blind if you do not see, if you <i>have</i> not seen all along, that +I've loved you ever since the first day I ever saw you. Tell me—quick!" +</p> + +<p> +Too late. Up comes Brent on the run, and Marion springs past the +would-be detaining arm. "Where's Mrs. B.?" pants the warrior. "Hullo, +Stuyvie! I was afraid you'd got the news and gone out in a cab. M'ria, I +want my belt and pistol!" +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Where</i> you going?" bursts in the lady of the house—the spoons +forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +"Out to San Pedro! It's only three miles. Our fellows are going to drive +'em out of Guadaloupe woods. Ready, Sty? Of course you want to see it. +Drive'll do you good, too. Come on." +</p> + +<p> +"Indeed, you don't stir a step, Colonel Brent!—not a step! What +business have you going into action? You did enough fighting forty years +ago." Brent, deaf to her expostulation, is rushing to the steps, +buckling his belt on the run, but "M'ria" grabs the slack of the Khaki +coat and holds him. Stuyvesant springs for his hat. It has vanished. +Marion, her hands behind her, her lips parted, her heart pounding hard, +has darted to the broad door to the salon, and there, leaning against +the framing, she confronts him. +</p> + +<p> +At the rear of the salon Thisbe has grappled Pyramus and is being pulled +to the head of the stairs; at the head, Beatrice, with undaunted front, +concealing a sinking heart, defies Benedick. +</p> + +<p> +"My hat, please," he demands, his eyes lighting with hope and promise of +victory. +</p> + +<p> +"You have no right," she begins. "You are still a patient." But now, +with bowed head, she is struggling, for he has come close to her, so +close that his heart and hers might almost meet in their wild leaping, +so close that in audacious search for the missing headgear his hands are +reaching down behind the shrinking, slender little form, and his long, +sinewy arms almost encircling her. The war of words at the back stairs +"now trebly thundering swelled the gale," but it is not heard here at +the front. +</p> + +<p> +His hands have grasped her wrists now. His blond head is bowed down over +hers, so that his lips hover close to the part of the dusky hair. "My +hat, Maidie," he cries, "or I'll—I'll take what I want!" Both hands +tugging terrifically at those slender wrists now, and yet not gaining an +inch. "Do you hear?—I'll—I'll take——" +</p> + +<p> +"You sha'n't!" gasps Miss Ray, promptly burying her glowing face in the +breast of that happy Khaki, and thereby tacitly admitting that she knows +just what he wants so much more than that hat. +</p> + +<p> +And then the long, white hands release their hold of the slim, white +wrists; the muscular arms twine tight about her, almost lifting her from +her feet; the bonny brown head bows lower still, his mustache brushing +the soft, damask-rose-like cheek. "I must go, Maidie,—darling!" he +whispers, "without the hat if need be, but not without—this—and +this—and this—and this," and the last one lingers long just at the +corner of the warm, winsome, rosy lips. She could not prevent +it—perhaps she did not try. +</p> + +<br> +<h3> +THE END. +</h3> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ray's Daughter, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAY'S DAUGHTER *** + +***** This file should be named 19480-h.htm or 19480-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/8/19480/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ray's Daughter + A Story of Manila + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: October 6, 2006 [EBook #19480] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAY'S DAUGHTER *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: Grouped about a prostrate form in the pale blue uniform +of a Filipino Captain] + + +RAY'S DAUGHTER + +A Story of Manila + + + +By + +GENERAL CHARLES KING, U.S.V. + +Author of "Ray's Recruit," "Marion's Faith," +"The Colonel's Daughter," etc. + + + +Philadelphia and London +J. B. Lippincott Company +1901 + + +Copyright, 1900 +by +J. B. Lippincott Company + +_Electrotyped and Printed by +J. B. Lippincott Company, +Philadelphia, U.S.A._ + + + + +RAY'S DAUGHTER + +CHAPTER I. + + +The long June day was drawing to its close. Hot and strong the slanting +sunbeams beat upon the grimy roofs of the train and threw distorted +shadows over the sand and sage-brush that stretched to the far horizon. +Dense and choking, from beneath the whirring wheels the dust-clouds rose +in tawny billows that enveloped the rearmost coaches and, mingling with +the black smoke of the "double-header" engines, rolled away in the +dreary wake. East and west, north and south, far as the eye could reach, +hemmed by low, dun-colored ridges or sharply outlined crests of remote +mountain range, in lifeless desolation the landscape lay outspread to +the view. Southward, streaked with white fringe of alkali, the flat +monotone of sand and ashes blended with the flatter, flawless surface +of a wide-spreading, ash-colored inland lake, its shores dotted at +intervals with the bleaching bones of cattle and ridged with ancient +wagon-tracks unwashed by not so much as a single drop from the cloudless +heavens since their first impress on the sinking soil. Here and there +along the right of way--a right no human being would care to dispute +were the way ten times its width--some drowsing lizards, sprawling in +the sunshine along the ties, roused at the sound and tremor of the +coming train to squirm off into the sage-brush, but no sign of animation +had been seen since the crossing of the big divide near Promontory. The +long, winding train, made up of mail-, express-, baggage-, emigrant-, +and smoking-cars, "tourists' coaches," and huge sleepers at the rear, +with a "diner" midway in the chain, was packed with gasping humanity +westward bound for the far Pacific--the long, long, tortuous climb to +the snow-capped Sierras ahead, the parched and baking valley of the +Great Salt Lake long, dreary miles behind. It was early June of the year +'98, and the war with Spain was on. + +There had been some delay at Ogden. The trains from the East over the +Union Pacific and the Denver and Rio Grande came in crowded, and the +resources of the Southern Pacific were suddenly taxed beyond the +expectation of its officials. Troops had been whirling westward +throughout the week, absorbing much of the rolling stock, and the empty +cars were being rushed east again from Oakland pier, but the nearest +were still some hundreds of miles from this point of transfer when a +carload of recruits was dumped upon the broad platform, and the +superintendent scratched his head, and screwed up the corner of his +mouth, and asked an assistant how in a hotter place than even Salt Lake +Valley the road could expect him to forward troops without delay "when +the road took away the last car in the yard getting those Iowa boys +out." + +"There ain't nuthin' left 'cept that old tourist that's been rustin' and +kiln-dryin' up 'longside the shops since last winter," said the junior +helplessly. "Shall we have her out?" + +"Guess you'll have to," was the answer. "It's that or nothin';" and the +boss turned on his heel and slammed the office door behind him. "Ten to +one," said he, "there'll be a kick comin' when the boys see what they've +got to ride in, an' I'll let Jim take the kick." + +The kick had come as predicted, but availed nothing. A score of lusty +young patriots were the performers, but, being destined for service in +the regulars, they had neither Senator nor State official to "wire" to +in wrathful protest, as was usual on such occasions. The superintendent +would have thought twice before ever suggesting that car as a component +part of the train bearing the volunteers from Nebraska, Colorado, or +Iowa so recently shipped over the road. "They could have made it hot for +the management," said he. But these fellows, these waifs, were from no +State or place in particular. They hadn't even an officer with them, but +were hurrying on to their destination under command of a veteran gunner, +"lanced" for the purpose at the recruiting station. He had done his best +for his men. Ruefully they looked through the dust-covered interior and +inspected the muddy trucks and brake-gear. "She wheezes like she had +bronchitis," said the corporal, "and the inside's a cross between a +hen-coop and coal-bin. You ain't going to run that old rookery for a +car, are you?" + +"Best we've got," was the curt reply. Yet the yardman shook his head as +he heard the squeal of the rusty journals, and ordered his men to pack +in fresh waste and "touch 'em up somehow." Any man who had spent a week +about a railway could have prophesied "hot boxes" before that coach had +run much more than its own length, but it wouldn't do for an employee to +say so. The corporal looked appealingly at his fellow-passengers of the +Rio Grande train. There were dozens of them stretching their legs and +strolling about the platform, after getting their hand-luggage +transferred and seats secured, but there was no one in position or +authority to interpose. Some seemed to feel no interest. + +"Get your rations and plunder aboard," he ordered, turning suddenly to +his party, and, loading up with blankets, overcoats, haversacks, and +canteens, the recruits speedily took possession of their new quarters, +forced open the jammed windows to let out the imprisoned and overheated +air, piled their boxes of hard bread and stacks of tinned meat at the +ends and their scant soldier goods and chattels in the rude sections, +then tumbled out again upon the platform to enjoy, while yet there was +time, the freedom of the outer air, despite the torrid heat of the +mid-day sunshine. + +In knots of three or four they sauntered about, their hands deep in +their empty pockets, their boyish eyes curiously studying the signs and +posters, or wistfully peering through the screened doors at the +temptations of the bar and lunch counter or the shaded windows of the +dining-room, where luckier fellow-passengers were taking their fill of +the good cheer afforded. Two of the number, dressed like the rest in +blue flannel shirts, with trousers of lighter hue and heavier make, +fanning their heated faces with their drab, broad-brimmed campaign hats, +swung off the rear end of the objectionable car, and, with a quick +glance about them, started briskly down the track to where the "diner" +and certain sleepers of the Southern Pacific were being shunted about. + +"Come back here, you fellers!" shouted the corporal, catching sight of +the pair. "You don't know how soon this here train may start. Come back, +I say," he added emphatically, as the two, looking first into each +other's eyes, seemed to hesitate. Then, with sullen, down-cast face the +nearer turned and slowly obeyed. The other, a bright, merry youngster, +whose white teeth gleamed as he laughed his reply, still stood in his +tracks. + +"We're only going to the dining-car, corporal," he shouted. "That's +going with us, so we can't be left." + +"You've got no business in the dining-car, Mellen; that's not for your +sort, or mine, for that matter," was the corporal's ultimatum. And with +a grin still expanding his broad mouth, the recruit addressed as Mellen +came reluctantly sauntering in the trail of his comrade, who had +submitted in silence and yet not without a shrug of protest. It was to +the latter the corporal spoke when the two had rejoined their +associates. + +"You've got sense enough to know you're not wanted at that diner, +Murray, whether Mellen has or not. That's no place for empty pockets. +What took you there?" + +"Wanted a drink, and you said 'keep away from the bar-room,'" answered +Murray briefly, his gray eyes glancing about from man to man in the +group, resting for just a second on the form and features of one who +stood a little apart, a youth of twenty-one years probably. "It was +Foster's treat," he added, and that remark transferred the attention of +the party at the instant to the youngster on the outskirts. + +He had been leaning with folded arms against a lamp-post, looking +somewhat wearily up the long platform to where in pairs or little groups +the passengers were strolling, men and women both, seeking relief from +the constraint and stiffness of the long ride by rail. He had an +interesting--even a handsome--face, and his figure was well knit, well +proportioned. His eyes were a dark, soft brown, with very long, curving +lashes, his nose straight, his mouth finely curved, soft and sensitive. +His throat was full, round, and at the base very white and fair, as the +unfastened and flapping shirt-collar now enabled one to see. His hands, +too, were soft and white, showing that at least one of the twenty came +not from the ranks of the toilers. His shoes were of finer make than +those of his comrades, and the handkerchief so loosely knotted at the +opening of the coarse blue shirt was of handsome and costly silk. He +had been paying scant attention to his surroundings, and was absorbed, +evidently, in his watch on the tourists up the platform when recalled +to himself by the consciousness that all eyes were upon him. + +"What's this about your treatin', Foster?" asked the corporal. + +For a week he had felt sure the boy had money, and not a little. Nothing +would have persuaded him to borrow a cent of Foster or anybody else, but +others, and plenty of them, had no such scruples. + +The young recruit turned slowly. He seemed reluctant to quit his +scrutiny of his fellow-passengers. The abrupt tone and manner of the +accustomed regular, too, jarred upon him. It might be the corporal's +prerogative so to address his charges, but this one didn't like it, and +meant to show that he didn't. His money at least was his own, and he +could do with it as he liked. The answer did not come until the question +had been asked twice. Then in words as brief and manner as blunt he +said,-- + +"Why shouldn't I?" + +Corporal Connelly stood a second or two without venturing a word, +looking steadfastly at the young soldier, whose attitude was unchanged +and whose eyes were again fixed on the distant group, as though in weary +disdain of those about him. Then Connelly took half a dozen quick, +springy steps that landed him close to the unmoved recruit. + +"You've two things to learn among two thousand, Foster," said he in low, +firm voice. "One is to keep your money, and the other, your temper. I +spoke for your good principally, but if you've been ladling out your +money to be spent in liquor, I say stop it. There's to be no whiskey in +that car." + +"Nobody wants it less than I do," said Foster wearily. "Why didn't you +keep it out of the others?" + +"Because I never knew till it was gone. How much money did you give +Murray--and why?" and Connelly's eyes were looking straight into those +of Foster as he spoke, compelling respect for sturdy manhood. + +"A dollar, I believe," was the languid answer, "and because he asked +it." And again the lad's gaze wandered off along the platform. + +The switch engine was busily at work making up the train, and brakemen +were signalling up and down the line. The dining-car, followed by some +ponderous sleepers, came gliding slowly along the rails and brought up +with a bump and jar against the buffers of the old tourists' ark +assigned the recruits. Somewhere up at the thronged station a bell began +to jangle, followed by a shout of "All aboard!" + +"Tumble in, you men," ordered Connelly, and at the moment there came a +general movement of the crowd in their direction. The passengers of the +sleepers were hurrying to their assigned places, some with flushed faces +and expostulation. They thought their car should have come to them. + +"It's because our train is so very long," explained the brakeman to some +ladies whom he was assisting up the steps. "We've twice as many cars as +usual. Yours is the next car, ma'am; the one behind the diner." + +The recruit, Foster, had started, but slowly, when in obedience to the +corporal's order his fellows began to move. He was still looking, half +in search, half in expectation, towards the main entrance of the station +building. But the instant he became aware of the movement in his +direction on the part of the passengers he pushed ahead past several of +the party; he even half shoved aside one of their number who had just +grasped the hand-rail of the car, then sprang lightly past him and +disappeared within the door-way. There, half hidden by the gloom of the +interior, he stood well back from the grimy windows, yet peering +intently through at the swiftly passing crowd. + +Suddenly he stooped, recoiled, and seated himself in the opposite +section while his comrades came filing rapidly in, and at the moment a +tall young officer in dark uniform, a man perhaps of twenty-five, with a +singularly handsome face and form, strode past the window, scrupulously +acknowledged Connelly's salute, and then, glancing about, saw the heads +and shoulders of a dozen soldiers at the windows. + +"Why, what detachment is this, corporal?" he asked. "We brought no +troops on our train." + +"Recruits --th Cavalry, sir," was the ready answer. "We came by way of +Denver." + +"Ah, yes; that explains it. Who's in command?" And the tall officer +looked about him as though in search of kindred rank. + +"We have no officer with us, sir," said Connelly diplomatically. +"I'm--in charge." + +"You'll have to hurry, sir," spoke the brakeman at the moment. "Jump on +the diner, if you like, and go through." + +The officer took the hint and sprang to the steps. There he turned and +faced the platform again just as the train began to move. + +A little group, two ladies and a man of middle age, stood directly +opposite him, closely scanning the train, and all on a sudden their +faces beamed, their glances were directed, their hands waved towards +him. + +"Good-by! Good-by! Take good care of yourself! Wire from Sacramento!" +were their cries, addressed apparently to his head, and turning quickly, +he found himself confronting a young girl standing smiling on the +platform of the dining-car, her tiny feet about on a level with his +knees; yet he had hardly to cast an upward glance, for her beaming, +beautiful face was but a trifle higher than his own. In all his life he +had never seen one so pretty. + +Realizing that he stood between this fair traveller and the friends who +were there to wish her god-speed; recognizing, too, with the swift +intuition of his class, the possibility of establishing relations on his +own account, the young soldier snatched off his new forage-cap, briefly +said, "I beg your pardon; take my place," and, swinging outward, +transferred himself to the rear of the recruit car, thereby causing the +corporal to recoil upon a grinning squad of embryo troopers who were +shouting jocular farewell to the natives, and getting much in the way of +train-hands who were busy straightening out the bell-cord. + +Something seemed amiss with that portion of it which made part of the +equipment of the old tourists' car. It was either wedged in the narrow +orifice above the door or caught among the rings of the pendants from +above, for it resisted every jerk, whereat the brakeman set his teeth +and said improper things. It would have grieved the management to hear +this faithful employe's denunciation of that particular item of their +rolling-stock. + +"Get out of the way here, boys, and let's see what's the matter with +this damned bell-cord," he continued, elbowing his way through the swarm +about the door. Once fairly within, he threw a quick glance along the +aisle. The left sections of the car were deserted. Out of almost every +window on the right side poked a head and pair of blue flannel +shoulders. + +Only one man of the party seemed to have no further interest in what was +going on outside. With one hand still grasping the edge of the upright +partition between two sections near the forward end, and the other just +letting go, apparently, of the bell-cord, the tall, slender, well-built +young soldier, with dark-brown eyes and softly curling lashes, was +lowering himself into the aisle. The brakeman proceeded to rebuke him on +the spot. + +"Look here, young feller, you'll have to keep your hands off that +bell-cord. Here I've been cussin' things for keeps, thinking it was +knotted or caught. It was just you had hold of it. Don't you know +better'n that? Ain't you ever travelled before?" + +The man addressed was stowing something away inside the breast of his +shirt. He did it with almost ostentatious deliberation, quietly eying +the brakeman before replying. Then, slowly readjusting the knot of a +fine black-silk necktie, so that its broad, flapping ends spread over +the coarser material of the garment, he slowly looked the justly +exasperated brakeman over from head to foot and as slowly and placidly +answered: + +"Not more than about half around the world. As for your bell-cord, it +was knotted; it caught in that ring. I saw that someone was tugging and +trying to get it loose, so I swung up there and straightened it. Just +what you'd have done under the circumstances, I fancy." + +The brakeman turned redder under the ruddy brown of his sun-tanned skin. +This was no raw "rookie" after all. In his own vernacular, as afterwards +expressed to the conductor, "I seen I was up ag'in' the real t'ing dis +time," but it was hard to admit it at the moment. Vexation had to have a +vent. The bell-cord no longer served. The supposed meddler had proved a +help. Something or somebody had to be the victim of the honest +brakeman's spleen, so, somewhat unluckily, as events determined, he took +it out on the company and that decrepit car, now buzzing along with much +complaint of axle and of bearing. + +"Damn this old shake-down, anyhow!" said he. "The company ought to know +'nough not to have such things lyin' round loose. Some night it'll fall +to pieces and kill folks." And with this implied apology for his +aspersions of Recruit Foster, the brakeman bustled away. + +But what he said was heard by more than one, and remembered when perhaps +he would have wished it forgotten. The delay at Ogden was supplemented +by a long halt before the setting of that blazing sun, necessitated by +the firing of the waste in the boxes of those long-neglected trucks. Far +back as the rearmost sleeper the sickening smell of burning, oil-steeped +packing drove feminine occupants to their satchels in search of +scent-bottles, and the men to such comfort as could be found in flasks +of bulkier make. + +In the heart of the desert, with dust and desolation spreading far on +every hand, the long train had stopped to douse those foul-smelling +fires, and, while train-hands pried off the red-hot caps and dumped +buckets of water into the blazing cavities, changing malodorous smoke to +dense clouds of equally unsavory steam, and the recruits in the +afflicted car found consolation in "joshing" the hard-sweating, +hard-swearing workers, the young officer who had boarded the second +sleeper at Ogden, together with half a dozen bipeds in dusters or +frazzled shirt-sleeves, had become involved in a complication on the +shadier side of the train. + +Somewhere into the sage-brush a jack-rabbit had darted and was now in +hiding. With a dozen eager heads poked from the northward windows and +stretching arms and index fingers guiding them in their inglorious hunt, +the lieutenant and his few associates were stalking the first +four-footed object sighted from the train since the crossing of the bald +divide. + +Within the heated cars, with flushed faces and plying palm-leaf fans, a +few of the women passengers were languidly gazing from the windows. At +the centre window of the second sleeper, without a palm-leaf and looking +serene and unperturbed, sat the young girl whose lovely face had so +excited Mr. Stuyvesant's deep admiration. Thrice since leaving Ogden, on +one pretext or other, had he passed her section and stolen such a look +as could be given without obvious staring. Immediately in rear of the +seat she occupied was an austere maiden of middle age, one of the +passengers who had come on by the Union Pacific from Omaha. Directly +opposite sat two men whom Stuyvesant had held in but scant esteem up to +the time they left the valley of Salt Lake. Now, because their sections +stood over against hers, his manner relaxed with his mood. Circumstances +had brought the elderly maid and himself to the same table on two +occasions in the dining-car, but he had hitherto felt no desire to press +the acquaintance. + +This afternoon he minded him of a new book he had in his bag, for +literature, he judged, might be her hobby, and had engaged her in +conversation, of which his share was meant to impress the tiny, +translucent ear that nestled in the dark-brown coils and waves of the +pretty head in front of him. + +When, however, it became patent that his companion desired to form her +own impressions of the pages uninfluenced by his well-delivered +comments, Mr. Stuyvesant had bethought him of the semi-somnolent +occupants of the opposite section, and some cabalistic signs he ventured +with a little silver cup summoned them in pleased surprise to the +water-cooler at the rear end, where he regaled them with a good story +and the best of V. O. P. Scotch, and accepted their lavish bid to sit +with them awhile. + +From this coign of vantage he had studied her sweet, serious, oval face +as she sat placidly reading a little volume in her lap, only once in a +while raising a pair of very dark, very beautiful, very heavily browed +and lashed brown eyes for brief survey of the forbidding landscape; +then, with never an instant's peep at him, dropping their gaze again +upon the book. + +Not once in the long, hot afternoon had she vouchsafed him the minimum +of a show of interest, curiosity, or even consciousness of his presence. +Then the train made its second stop on account of the fires, and Bre'r +Rabbit his luckless break into the long monotony of the declining day. + +Tentative spikes, clods, and empty flasks having failed to find him, the +beaters had essayed a skirmish line, and with instant result. Like a +meteoric puff of gray and white, to a chorus of yells and the +accompaniment of a volley of missiles, Jack had shot into space from +behind his shelter and darted zigzagging through the brush. A whizzing +spike, a chance shot that nearly grazed his nose, so dazzled his +brainlet that the terrified creature doubled on his trail and came +bounding back towards the train. + +Close to the track-side ran a narrow ditch. In this ditch at the instant +crouched the tall lieutenant. Into this ditch leaped Bunny, and the next +second had whizzed past the stooping form and bored straight into a +little wooden drain. There some unseen, unlooked-for object blocked him. + +Desperately the hind-legs kicked and tore in the effort to force the +passage, and with a shout of triumph the tall soldier swooped upon the +prize, seized the struggling legs, swung the wretched creature aloft, +and for the first time in six mortal hours met full in his own the gaze +of the deep, beautiful brown eyes he had so striven to attract, and they +were half pleading, half commanding for Bunny. The next instant, +uninjured, but leaping madly for life, Bre'r Rabbit was streaking +eastward out of harm's way, a liberated victim whose first huge leap +owed much of its length to the impetus of Stuyvesant's long, lean, +sinewy arm. + +This time when he looked up and raised his cap, and stood there with his +blond hair blowing down over his broad white forehead, although the soft +curves of the ripe red lips at the window above him changed not, there +was something in the dark-brown eyes that seemed to say "Thank you!" + +Yet when he would have met those eyes again that evening, when "Last +call for dinner in the dining-car" was sounding through the train, he +could not. Neither were they among those that peered from between parted +curtains in the dim light of the sleeper, many in fright, all in +anxiety, when somewhere in the dead of the summer night, long after all +occupants of the rearmost cars were wrapped in slumber, the long train +bumped to sudden jarring standstill, and up ahead there arose sound of +rush, of excitement and alarm. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +It was just after sunset when, for the second time, the hot boxes of the +recruit car had been treated to liberal libations from the water-tank, +and the belated train again moved on. + +Dinner had been ready in the dining-car a full hour, but so long as the +sickening smell of burning waste arose from the trucks immediately in +front very few of the passengers seemed capable of eating. The car, as a +consequence, was crowded towards eight o'clock, and the steward and +waiters were busy men. + +The evening air, drifting in through open windows, was cooler than it +had been during the day, but still held enough of the noontide caloric +to make fans a comfort, and Mr. Stuyvesant, dining at a "four-in-hand" +table well to the front, and attempting to hold his own in a somewhat +desultory talk with his fellow-men, found himself paying far more +attention to the lovely face of the girl across the aisle than to the +viands set before him. + +She was seated facing the front, and opposite the austere maiden +previously mentioned. Conversation had already begun, and now Stuyvesant +was able to see that, beautiful in feature as was her face in repose, +its beauty was far enhanced when animated and smiling. + +When to well-nigh perfect external features there is added the charm of +faultlessly even and snowy teeth and a smile that illumines the entire +face, shining in the eyes as it plays about the pretty, sensitive mouth, +a young woman is fully equipped for conquest. + +Stuyvesant gazed in fascination uncontrollable. He envied the prim, +precise creature who sat unbending, severe, and, even while keeping up a +semblance of interest in the conversation, seemed to feel it a duty to +display disapprobation of such youthful charms. + +No woman is so assured that beauty is only skin deep as she who has none +of it. Her manner, therefore, had been decidedly stiff, and from that +had imperceptibly advanced to condescension, but when the steward +presently appeared with a siphon of iced seltzer, and, bowing +deferentially, said he hoped everything was to Miss Ray's liking, and +added that it seemed a long time since they had seen the captain and +supposed he must be a colonel now, the thin eyebrows of the tall maiden +were uplifted into little arches that paralleled the furrows of her brow +as she inquired: + +"Miss Ray?--from Fort Leavenworth?" + +The answer was a smiling nod of assent as the younger lady buried her +lovely, dark face in the flowers set before her by the assiduous waiter, +and Stuyvesant felt sure she was trying to control an inclination to +laugh. + +"Well, you must excuse me if I have been a little--slow," said the elder +in evident perturbation. "You see--we meet such queer people +travelling--sometimes. Don't you find it so?" + +The dark face was dimpling now with suppressed merriment. + +"Yes--occasionally," was the smiling answer. + +"But then, being the daughter of an army officer," pursued the other +hurriedly, "you have to travel a great deal. I suppose you really--have +no home?" she essayed in the half-hopeful tone to be expected of one who +considered that a being so endowed by nature must suffer some +compensatory discomforts. + +"Yes and--no," answered Miss Ray urbanely. "In one sense we army girls +have no home. In another, we have homes everywhere." + +It is a reproach in the eyes of certain severe moralists that a +fellow-being should be so obviously content with his or her lot. The +elder woman seemed to feel it a duty to acquaint this beaming creature +with the manifest deficiency in her moral make-up. + +"Yes, but I should think most any one would rather have a real home, a +place where they weren't bounden to anybody, no matter if it was homely." +(She called it "humbly," and associated it in mind with the words of +Payne's immortal song.) "Now, when I went to see Colonel Ray about our +society, he told me he had to break up everything, going to Cuba, but he +didn't mention about your going West." + +"Father was a little low in his mind that day," said Miss Ray, a shade +of sadness passing over her face. "Both my brothers are in the service, +and one is barely seventeen." + +"Out at service!" interrupted the other. "You don't mean----" + +"No," was the laughing answer, and in Miss Ray's enjoyment of the +situation her eyes came perilously near seeking those of Mr. Stuyvesant, +which she well knew were fixed upon her. "I mean that both are in the +army." + +"Well--I thought not--still--I didn't know. It's all rather new to me, +this dealin' with soldiers, but I suppose I'll get to know all about it +after a spell. Our society's getting much encouraged." + +"Red Cross?" queried Miss Ray, with uplifted brows and evident interest, +yet a suspicion of incredulity. + +"Well, same thing, only _we_ don't propose to levy contributions right +and left like they do. I am vice-president of the Society of Patriotic +Daughters of America, you know. I thought perhaps your father might +have told you. And our association is self-sustaining, at least it +will be as soon as we are formally recognized by the government. You +know the Red Cross hasn't any real standing, whereas our folks expect +the President to issue the order right away, making us part of the +regular hospital brigade. Now, your father was very encouraging, though +some officers we talked to were too stuck up to be decent. When I +called on General Drayton he just as much as up and told me we'd only +be in the way." + +Just here, it must be owned, Miss Ray found it necessary to dive under +the table for a handkerchief which she had not dropped. + +Mr. Stuyvesant, ignoring the teachings of his childhood and gazing over +the rim of his coffee-cup, observed that she was with difficulty +concealing her merriment. Then, all of a sudden, her face, that had been +so full of radiance, became suddenly clouded by concern and distress. +The door at the head of the car had swung suddenly open and remained so, +despite the roar and racket of the wheels and the sweep of dust and +cinders down the aisle. The steward glanced up from his cupboard +opposite the kitchen window at the rear, and quickly motioned to some +one to shut that door. A waiter sprang forward, and then came the +steward himself. The look in the girl's face was enough for Stuyvesant. +He whirled about to see what had caused it, and became instantly aware +of a stout-built soldier swaying uneasily at the entrance and in thick +tones arguing with the waiter. He saw at a glance the man had been +drinking, and divined he was there to get more liquor. He was on the +point of warning the steward to sell him none, but was saved the +trouble. The steward bent down and whispered: + +"This makes the second time he's come in since six o'clock. I refused to +let him have a drop. Can't something be done to keep him out? We can't +lock the door, you know, sir." + +Stuyvesant quickly arose and stepped up the aisle. By this time +everybody was gazing towards the front entrance in concern and +curiosity. The colored waiter was still confronting the soldier as +though to prevent his coming farther into the car. The soldier, with +flushed and sodden face and angry eyes, had placed a hand on the broad +shoulder of the servant and was clumsily striving to put him aside. + +Stuyvesant's tall, athletic figure suddenly shut both from view. Never +hesitating, he quickly elbowed the negro out of the way, seized the +doorknob with his left hand, throwing the door wide open, then, looking +the soldier full in the face, pointed to the tourist car with the other. + +"Go back at once," was all he said. + +The man had been hardly six days in service, and had learned little of +army life or ways. He was a whole American citizen, however, if he was +half drunk, and the average American thinks twice before he obeys a +mandate of any kind. This one coming from a tall young swell was +especially obnoxious. + +The uniform as yet had little effect on Recruit Murray. Where he hailed +from the sight of it had for years provoked only demonstrations of +derision and dislike. He didn't know who the officer was--didn't want to +know--didn't care. What he wanted was whiskey, and so long as the money +was burning in his pocket he knew no reason why he shouldn't have it. +Therefore, instead of obeying, he stood there, sullen and swaying, +scowling up as though in hate and defiance into the grave, set young +face. Another second and the thing was settled. Stuyvesant's right hand +grasped the blue collar at the throat, the long, slender fingers +gripping tight, and half shot, half lifted the amazed recruit across the +swaying platform and into the reeling car ahead. There he plumped his +captive down into a seat and sent for the corporal. Connelly came, +rubbing his eyes, and took in the situation at a glance. + +"I ordered him not to leave the car three hours ago, sir," he quickly +spoke. "But after supper I got drowsy and fell asleep in my section. +Then he skinned out. I'd iron him, sir, if I had anything of the kind." + +"No," said Stuyvesant, "don't think of that. Just keep a watch over him +and forbid his leaving the section. No, sir, none of that," he added, as +in drunken dignity Murray was searching for a match to light his pipe +and hide his humiliation. "There must be no smoking in this flimsy car, +corporal. A spark would set fire to it in a second." + +"Them was my orders, sir. This fellow knows it as well as I do. But he's +given trouble one way or other ever since we started. You hear that +again, now, Murray: no drink; no smoke. I'll see to it that he doesn't +quit the car again, sir," he concluded, turning appealingly to the young +officer, and Stuyvesant, taking a quiet look up and down the dimly +lighted, dusty aisle, was about to return to the "diner," when Murray +struggled to his feet. Balked in his hope of getting more drink, and +defrauded, as in his muddled condition it seemed to him, of the solace +of tobacco, the devil in him roused to evil effort by the vile liquor +procured surreptitiously somewhere along the line, the time had come for +him, as he judged, to assert himself before his fellows and prove +himself a man. + +"You think you're a better man than I am," he began thickly, glaring +savagely at the young officer. "But I'll be even with you, young fellow. +I'll----" And here ended the harangue, for, one broad hand clapped over +the leering mouth and the other grasping the back of his collar, +Corporal Connelly jammed him down on the seat with a shock that shook +the car. + +"Shut up, you drunken fool!" he cried. "Don't mind him, lieutenant. +He's only a day at the depot, sir. Sit still, you blackguard, or I'll +smash you!"--this to Murray, who, half suffocated, was writhing in his +effort to escape. "A--ch!" he cried, with sudden wrenching away of the +brawny hand, "the beast has bitten me," and the broad palm, dripping +with blood, was held up to the light. + +Deeply indented, there were the jagged marks of Murray's teeth. + +"Here, Foster, Hunt, grab this man and don't let him stir, hand or foot. +See what you get for giving a drunkard money. Grab him, I say!" shouted +Connelly, grinning with mingled pain and wrath as the lieutenant led him +to the wash-stand. + +Another recruit, a stalwart fellow, who had apparently seen previous +service, sprang to the aid of the first two named, and between them, +though he stormed and struggled a moment, the wretch was jammed and held +in his corner. + +Stanching the blood as best he could and bandaging the hand with his own +kerchief, Stuyvesant bade the corporal sit at an open window a moment, +for he looked a trifle faint and sick,--it was a brutal bite. But +Connelly was game. + +"That blackguard's got to be taught there's a God in Israel," he +exclaimed, as he turned back to the rear of the car. "I beg the +lieutenant's pardon, but--he is not in the regular army, I see," with a +glance at the collar of the young officer's blouse. "We sometimes get +hard cases to deal with, and this is one of them. This kind of a cur +wouldn't hesitate to shoot an officer in the back or stab him in the +dark if he didn't like him. I hope the lieutenant may never be bothered +with him again. No, damn you!" he added between his set teeth, as he +looked down at the sullen, scowling prisoner, "what you ought to have is +a good hiding, and what you'll get, if you give any more trouble, is a +roping, hand and foot. We ought to have irons on a trip like this, +lieutenant," he continued, glancing up into the calm, refined face of +the young soldier. "But I can get a rope, if you say so, and tie him in +his berth." + +"I have no authority in the matter," said Stuyvesant reflectively. "No +one has but you, that I know of. Perhaps he'll be quiet when he cools +down," and the lieutenant looked doubtfully at the semi-savage in the +section nearest the door. + +"He'll give no more trouble this night, anyhow," said Connelly, as the +officer turned to go. "And thank you, sir, for this," and he held up the +bandaged hand. "But I'll keep my eyes peeled whenever he's about +hereafter, and you'll be wise to do the same, sir." + +For one instant, as the lieutenant paused at the door-way and looked +back, the eyes of the two men met, his so brave and blue and clear; the +other's--Murray's--furtive, blood-shot, and full of hate. Then the door +slammed and Stuyvesant was gone. + +Twice again that night he visited the recruit car. At ten o'clock, after +enjoying for an hour or more the sight of Miss Ray in animated chat with +two of the six women passengers of the sleeper, and the sound of her +pleasant voice, Stuyvesant wandered into the diner for a glass of cool +Budweiser. + +"That's an ugly brute of a fellow that bit your corporal, sir," said the +steward. "I was in there just now, and he's as surly as a cur dog yet." + +Stuyvesant nodded without a word. He was in a petulant frame of mind. He +wanted "worst kind," as he would have expressed it, to know that girl, +but not a glance would she give him. She owed him one, thought he, for +letting that rabbit go. Moreover, being an army girl, as he had learned, +she should not be so offish with an officer. + +Then the readiness with which the corporal had "spotted" him as a +volunteer, as not a regular, occurred to him, and added to his faintly +irritable mood. True, his coat-collar bore the tell-tale letters U. S. +V., but he had served some years with one of the swellest of swell +Eastern regiments, whose set-up and style were not excelled by the +regulars, whose officers prided themselves upon their dress and bearing. + +If it was because he was not of the regular service that Miss Ray would +not vouchsafe him a glance, Mr. Stuyvesant was quite ready to bid her +understand he held himself as high as any soldier in her father's famous +corps. If it was not that, then what in blazes was it? + +He knew that in travelling cross continent in this way it was considered +the proper thing for an officer of the regular army to send his card by +the porter to the wife or daughter of any brother officer who might be +aboard, and to tender such civilities as he would be glad to have paid +his own were he so provided. He wondered whether it would do to send his +pasteboard with a little note to the effect that he had once met Colonel +Ray at the United Service Club, and would be glad to pay his respects to +the colonel's daughter. + +It was an unusual thing for Mr. Stuyvesant to quaff beer at any time, +except after heavy exercise at polo or tennis, but to-night he was +ruffled, and when the porter began making up the berths and dames and +damsels disappeared, he had wandered disconsolately into the diner and +ordered beer as his excuse. Then he crossed the platform and entered the +tourist. + +The night was hot and close. The men were lying two in a berth, as a +rule, the upper berths not being used. + +One or two, Murray among them, had not removed their trousers, but most +of them were stretched out in their undergarments, while others, +chatting in low tones, were watching the brakeman turning down the +lights. They made way respectfully as the lieutenant entered. Connelly +came to meet him and nodded significantly at Murray, who lay in a berth +near the middle of the car, still carefully watched by Hunt. Foster, +wearied, had turned in, and, with his face to the window, seemed to have +fallen asleep. The conductor came through, lantern in hand. + +"It's the quietest and best behaved lot, barring that chap, I ever +carried," said he to Stuyvesant. "But he's wicked enough for a dozen. +Wonder he don't go to sleep." + +"Humph! says he wants a bottle of beer," grunted Connelly. "Can't get to +sleep without it. I wouldn't give it to him if I had a kag." + +"He doesn't deserve it, of course," said the conductor. "What he ought +to have is an all-around licking. But I've known beer to have a soothing +effect on men who'd been drinking, and it might put him to sleep and +save bother." + +"Let him have it," said Stuyvesant briefly. "I'll send it in by the +steward. And, corporal, if you or any of your men would like it, I'll be +glad----" + +Some two or three looked quickly and expectantly up, as though they +might like it very much, but Corporal Connelly said he "dassent," he +"never took a drink of anything on duty since three years ago come +Fourth of July." So the others were abashed and would not ask. Older +hands would not have held their tongues. + +To Murray's surprise, a brimming glass of cool beer was presently +offered him. He gulped it thirstily down, and without a word held out +the glass for more. A grinning waiter obliged him with what remained in +the bottle. Murray asked if that was all, then, with something like a +grunt of dissatisfaction, rolled heavily over and turned his face to the +wall. + +"Well, of all the ungrateful cads I ever seen," said Hunt, "you're the +worst! D'ye know who sent that beer, Murray? It was the young officer +you insulted." But Murray's only answer at the moment was a demand that +Hunt shut up and let him go to sleep. + +The last thing Stuyvesant remembered before dozing off was that the +smell of those journal-boxes was getting worse. At two in the morning, +in the heart of the desert, the conductor had made his way through the +train and remarked that, despite that unpleasant odor, every man of the +recruit detachment was sound asleep. In a berth next the door the +steward of the dining-car had found room, and the entire car seemed +wrapped in repose. + +Five minutes later by the watch, it was wrapped in flames. + +Speaking of the matter later in the morning, the brakeman said it didn't +seem ten seconds after he had pulled the bell-rope and given the alarm +before Lieutenant Stuyvesant, a tall, slim figure in pajamas and +slippers, came bounding to his aid. + +The flames even then were bursting from under the steps and platform, +the dense smoke pouring from the rear door of the recruit car, and +coughing, choking, blinded, staggering, some of them scorched and +blistered, most of them clad only in undershirt and drawers, the +luckless young troopers came groping forth and were bundled on into the +interior of the diner. Some in their excitement strove to leap from the +train before it came to its bumping, grinding halt. Some were screaming +in pain and panic. Only one, Hunt, was dressed throughout in uniform. + +The steward of the diner, nearly suffocated before being dragged out of +his berth, was making vain effort to shove a way back into the blazing +car, crying that all his money was under that pillow. But it was +impossible to stem the torrent of human forms. + +The instant the train stopped, the flames shot upward through the +skylight and ventilator, and then the voice of Connelly was heard +yelling for aid. Seizing a blanket that had been dragged after him by +some bewildered recruit, and throwing it over his head and shoulders, +Stuyvesant, bending low, dove headlong into the dense wall of smoke. + +The flames came leaping and lapping out from the door-way the instant he +disappeared, and a groan of dismay arose from the little group already +gathered at the side of the track. Five, ten seconds of awful suspense, +and then, bending lower still, his loose clothing afire, his hair and +eyebrows singed, his face black with soot and smoke and seared by flame, +the young officer came plunging forth, dragging by the legs a prostrate, +howling man, and after them, blind and staggering, came Connelly. + +Eager hands received and guided the rescuers, leading them into the +diner, while the trainmen worked the stiff levers, broke loose the +coupling, and swung their lanterns in frantic signals to the engineer, +far ahead. + +Another moment and the blazing car was drawn away, run up the track a +hundred yards, and left to illumine the night and burn to ashes, while +male passengers swarmed about the dining-car, proffering stimulant and +consolation. + +Besides Stuyvesant and Corporal Connelly, two soldiers were seriously +burned. Every stitch of clothing not actually on their persons at the +moment of their escape was already consumed, and with it every ounce of +their soldier rations and supplies. + +The men least injured were those who, being nearest the rear door, were +first to escape. The men worst burned were those longest held within the +blazing car, barring one, Murray, whom Hunt had thoughtfully bound hand +and foot as he slept, reasoning that in that way only might his +guardians enjoy a like blessing. + +Connelly had tripped over the roaring bully as he lay on his back in the +aisle. Stuyvesant had rushed in, and between them they dragged him to a +place of safety. There, his limbs unbound, his tongue unloosed, Murray +indulged in a blast of malediction on the road, the company, the +government, his comrades, even his benefactors, and then thoughtfully +demanded drink. There was no longer a stern corporal to forbid, for +Connelly, suffering and almost sightless, had been led into a rear +coach. But there was no longer money with which to buy, for Foster's +last visible cent had gone up in smoke and flame, and, scorched and +smarting in a dozen places, wrapped in a blanket in lieu of clothes, the +dark-eyed young soldier sat, still trembling from excitement, by the +roadside. + +It was three hours before the wreck could be cleared, another car +procured, and the recruits bundled into it. Then, as dawn was spreading +over the firmament, the train pushed on, and the last thing Gerard +Stuyvesant was conscious of before, exhausted, he dropped off to +troubled sleep, was that a soft, slender hand was renewing the cool +bandage over his burning eyes, and that he heard a passenger say "That +little brunette--that little Miss Ray--was worth the hull carload of +women put together. She just went in and nursed and bandaged the burned +men like as though they'd been her own brothers." + +Certainly the young lady had been of particular service in the case of +Connelly and one of the seriously injured recruits. She had done +something for every man whose burns deserved attention, with a single +exception. + +Recruit Foster had declared himself in need of no aid, and with his face +to the wall lay well out of sight. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +At one of the desert stations in the Humboldt Valley a physician boarded +the train under telegraphic orders from the company and went some +distance up the road. + +He had brought lint and bandages and soothing lotions, but in several +cases said no change was advisable, that with handkerchiefs contributed +by the passengers and bandages made from surplus shirts, little Miss Ray +had extemporized well and had skilfully treated her bewildered patients. +Questioned and complimented both, Miss Ray blushingly admitted that she +had studied "First Aid to the Wounded" and had had some instructions in +the post hospitals of more than one big frontier fort. Passengers had +ransacked bags and trunks and presented spare clothing to the few +recruits whom the garments would fit. But most of the men were shoeless +and blanketed when morning dawned, and all were thankful when served +with coffee and a light breakfast, though many even then were too much +excited and some in too much pain to eat. + +Mellen, the laughing and joyous lad of yesterday, was nursing a +blistered hand and arm and stalking about the car in stocking feet and a +pair of trousers two sizes too big for him. Murray, now that the +corporal was no longer able to retain active command, had resumed his +truculent and swaggering manner. Almost the first thing he did was to +demand more money of Foster, and call him a liar when told that every +dollar was burned. Then he sought to pick a fight with Hunt, who had, as +he expressed it, "roped him like a steer," but the carload by this time +had had too much of his bluster and made common cause against him. + +Two brawny lads gave him fair warning that if he laid a finger on Hunt +they would "lay him out." Then he insisted on seeing the corporal and +complaining of ill-treatment. And with such diversion the long day wore +on. + +Stuyvesant, refreshed by several hours of sleep, yet looking somewhat +singed and blistered, went through the car to see the sufferers along +towards eleven o'clock. He had inquired of the porter for Miss Ray, who +was not visible when he had finished his toilet, and was told that she +had remained up until after the doctor came aboard, and was now +sleeping. Finding three of the men stretched in the berths with comrades +fanning them, he ordered cooling drinks compounded by the steward, and +later, as they began the climb of the Sierras and the men grew hungry, +he sought to get a substantial luncheon for them on the diner, but was +told their supply on hand was barely sufficient for the regular +passengers. + +So when the train stopped at Truckee he tumbled off with three of the +party, bought up a quantity of bread and cheese, soda crackers and +fruit, and after consultation with the conductor wired ahead to +Sacramento for a hot dinner for eighteen men to be ready at the +restaurant in the station, it being now certain that they could not +reach San Francisco before midnight. "The company ought to do that," +said the trainmen, and "the company" had authorized the light breakfast +tendered earlier in the day. In view of the fact that every item of +personal property in possession of the recruits had been destroyed, +together with every crumb of their rations, nobody questioned that the +company would only be too glad to do that much for the men so nearly +burned alive in their travelling holocaust. + +Not a doubt was entertained among either passengers or trainmen as to +the origin of the fire. It had started underneath, and the dry woodwork +burned like tinder, and what was there to cause it but those blazing +boxes on the forward truck? The conductor knew there had been no smoking +aboard the car, and that every man was asleep when he went through at +two o'clock. The brakeman had prophesied disaster and danger. It was +God's mercy that warned the poor fellows in time. + +Not until along in the afternoon, as they were spinning swiftly down +through the marvellous scenery about Blue Canon and Cape Horn, did Miss +Ray again appear. Stuyvesant had been sitting awhile by Connelly, and +had arranged with him to wire to the Presidio for ambulances to meet the +party at Oakland Pier, for two at least would be unable to walk, and, +until provided with shoes and clothing, few could march the distance. +Then he had spent a few minutes with the other patients. + +When he returned to the sleeper there at last was the object of so many +of his thoughts. But she was reclining wearily, her head upon a pillow, +and the austere maid and two other women stood guard over her. "A severe +headache," was the explanation, and Stuyvesant felt that he must defer +his intrusion until later. + +Somewhere down the western slope of the Sierras he found at a station +some delicious cherries, and a little basket of the choicest he made +bold to send with his compliments and the hope that her indisposition +would soon disappear. The porter came back with the lady's thanks. The +cherries were "lovely," but Stuyvesant observed that not more than one +or two found their way to those pearly teeth, the rest being devoured by +her too devoted attendants. + +It was after nine at night when he marshalled his motley party into the +dining-room at Sacramento and they were made glad by substantial, +well-cooked food, with abundant hot coffee. They thanked him gratefully, +did many of the young fellows, and hoped they might meet more such +officers. An elderly passenger who had quietly noted the outlay of money +to which Mr. Stuyvesant had been subjected strolled up to the manager. +"That young gentleman has had to pay too much to-day. Just receipt the +bill if you please," said he, and drew forth a roll of treasury notes. +Stuyvesant went in search of this new benefactor when he heard of it. +"There was really no necessity, sir," said he, "though I fully +appreciate your kindness. The company will doubtless reimburse me for +any such outlay." + +"If they will reimburse you, my young friend," said the veteran +traveller drily, "they'll reimburse me. At all events, I know them +better than you do, and I don't intend to let you bear all the risk." +The lieutenant argued, but the elder was firm. As the men shuffled back +to the train with full stomachs and brightened faces, Murray hulking by +them with averted eyes and Mellen tendering a grinning salute, the +manager came forward. "There's one man shy, sir, even counting the +dinners sent aboard," said he, and Hunt, hearing it, turned back and +explained. + +"It is Foster, sir. He said he wasn't hungry and couldn't eat. I reckon +it's because he wouldn't turn out in such looking clothes as were given +him." + +Yet when Stuyvesant went to the car to see whether the young soldier +could not be induced to change his mind, it was discovered that he had +turned out. His berth was empty. Nor did he appear until just as the +train was starting. He explained that he had stepped off on the outer +side away from the crowd for a little fresh air. There was plenty of +bread and cheese left from luncheon. He didn't care for anything, +really. And, indeed, he seemed most anxious to get back to his berth and +away from the lieutenant, in whose presence he was obviously and +painfully ill at ease. + +Stuyvesant turned away, feeling a trifle annoyed or hurt, he couldn't +tell which, and swung himself to the platform of the sleeper as it came +gliding by. At last he could hope to find opportunity to thank Miss Ray +for her attention to the injured men and incidentally her ministrations +on his own account. Then, once arrived at San Francisco, where he had +friends of rank and position in the army, he would surely meet someone +who knew her father well and possibly herself, some one to present him +in due form, but for the present he could only hope to say a +conventional word or two of gratitude, and he was striving to frame his +thoughts as he hastened into the brightly lighted car and towards the +section where last he had seen her. + +It was occupied by a new-comer, a total stranger, and the three women +recently sharing her section and more than sharing her cherries were now +in animated chat across the aisle. In blank surprise and disappointment, +Stuyvesant turned and sought the porter. + +"Miss Ray! Yes, suh. She done got off at Sacramento, suh. Dere was +friends come to meet her, and took her away in the carriage." + +Once more Stuyvesant found himself constrained to seek the society of +the maiden of uncertain years. Her presence was forbidding, her +countenance severe, and her voice and intonation something appalling. +But she might know Miss Ray's address; he could at least write his +thanks; but he found the vice-president of the Order of the Patriotic +Daughters of America in evil mood. She didn't know Miss Ray's address, +and in the further assertion that she didn't want to know too readily +betrayed the fact that her petulance was due to her not having been +favored therewith. + +"After all I did for her last night and to-day 'twould have been a +mighty little thing to tell where she was going to stop, but just soon's +her fine friends came aboard she dropped us like as if we weren't fit to +notice." + +The irate lady, however, seemed to find scant sympathy and support in +the faces of her listeners, some of whom had long since wearied of her +strident voice and oracular ways. It was well remembered that so far +from being of aid or value in caring for the injured men, she had +pestered people with undesired advice and interference, had made much +noise and no bandages, and later, when an official of the company +boarded the train, had constituted herself spokeswoman for the +passengers, not at all to their advantage and much to his disgust. Then, +finding that Miss Ray was looked upon as the only heroine of the +occasion, she had assumed a guardianship, so to speak, over that young +lady which became almost possessive in form, so passively was it +tolerated. + +She had plied the girl with questions as to the friends who were to meet +her on arrival in San Francisco, and Miss Ray had smilingly given +evasive answers. + +When, therefore, they neared Sacramento and the vice-president announced +her intention of sallying forth to see to it that proper victuals were +provided for her soldier boys, Miss Ray had a few minutes in which to +make her preparations, and the next thing the vice-president saw of her +supposed ward and dependant, that young lady was in the embrace of a +richly dressed and most distinguished looking woman, whose gray hair +only served to heighten the refinement of her features. Just behind the +elder lady stood a silk-hatted dignitary in the prime of life, and +behind him a footman or valet, to whom the porter was handing Miss Ray's +belongings. + +And what the vice-president so much resented was that Miss Ray had not +only never mentioned her purpose of leaving the train at Sacramento, but +never so much as introduced her friends, at whom the vice-president +smiled invitingly while accepting Miss Ray's courteous but brief thanks +for "so much attention during the afternoon," but who merely bowed in +acknowledgment when she would have addressed them on the subject of Miss +Ray's being of so much help to her when help was so much needed, and who +spirited the young lady away to the handsome carriage awaiting her. + +The vice-president was distinctly of the opinion that folks didn't need +to slink off in that way unless they were ashamed of where they were +going or afraid of being found out, whereat Stuyvesant found himself +gritting his teeth with wrath, and so whirled about and left her. + +It was after midnight when they reached the pier at Oakland. There, +under the great train-shed, track after track was covered with troop +cars and a full regiment lay sleeping. + +An alert young officer of the guard raised his hand in salute as +Stuyvesant addressed him. No, there were no ambulances, no soldiers from +the Presidio. They might be waiting across the ferry. + +But how was he to get the injured men across the ferry, thought +Stuyvesant. Two of them would have to be carried. + +The long train, except that recruit car, was now emptied. The throng of +passengers had gone on through the waiting-rooms and up the stairway to +the saloon deck of the huge ferry-boat. If he purposed going, no time +was to be lost, and the porter bearing his hand-luggage ventured a word +to that effect. + +Stuyvesant looked back. There were protruding heads at many of the +windows of the recruit car, but, obedient to the instructions given by +Connelly, no man, apparently, had left his place, and Connelly, though +suffering, had evidently resumed control, much benefited by the services +of another physician who had boarded the train in the late afternoon and +renewed the bandages and dressings of the injured men. Then Stuyvesant +became suddenly aware of a messenger-boy with a telegram. It was +addressed to "Lieutenant Stuyvesant, A. D. C., Train No. 2, Oakland." +Tearing it open, he read as follows: + +"Report by wire condition of Recruit Foster. If serious, have him +conveyed to St. Paul's Hospital. Commission as lieutenant and signal +officer awaits him here." + +It was signed by the adjutant-general at department head-quarters, San +Francisco. + +But the boy had still another. This too he held forth to Stuyvesant, and +the latter, not noticing that it was addressed "Commanding Officer U. S. +Troops, Train No. 2," mechanically opened and read and made a spring for +the car. + +The message was from Port Costa, barely thirty miles away, and briefly +said: "Any your men missing? Soldier left car here believed jumped +overboard return trip ferry-boat." + +One man was missing. Recruit Foster, for whom a commission as lieutenant +and signal officer was waiting at department head-quarters, could not be +found. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +In the busy week that followed Lieutenant Stuyvesant had his full share +of work and no time for social distraction. Appointed to the staff of +General Vinton, with orders to sail without delay for Manila, the young +officer found his hours from morn till late at night almost too short +for the duties demanded of him. + +The transports were almost ready. The troops had been designated for the +expedition. The supplies were being hurried aboard. The general had his +men all the livelong day at the rifle-ranges or drill-grounds, for most +of the brigade were raw volunteers who had been rushed to the point of +rendezvous with scant equipment and with less instruction. The camps +were thronged with men in all manner of motley as to dress and no little +variety as to dialect. Few of the newly appointed officers in the +Department of Supply were versed in their duties, and the young regulars +of the staff of the commanding general were working sixteen hours out of +the twenty-four, coaching their comrades of the volunteers. + +The streets were crowded with citizens eager to welcome and applaud the +arriving troops. Hotels were thronged. Restaurants were doing a thriving +business, for the army ration did not too soon commend itself in its +simplicity to the stomachs of some thousands of young fellows who had +known better diet if no better days, many of their number having left +luxurious homes and surroundings and easy salaries to shoulder a musket +for three dollars a week. + +Private soldiers in blue flannel shirts were learning to stand attention +and touch their caps to young men in shoulder-straps whom they had +laughed at and called "tin soldiers" a year agone because they belonged +to the militia--a thing most of the gilded youth in many of our Western +cities seemed to scorn as beneath them. + +In the wave of patriotic wrath and fervor that swept the land when the +Maine was done to death in Havana Harbor, many and many a youth who has +sneered at the State Guardsmen learned to wish that he too had given +time and honest effort to the school of the soldier, for now, unless he +had sufficient "pull" to win for him a staff position, his only hope was +in the ranks. + +And so, even in the recruit detachments of the regulars, were found +scores of young men whose social status at home was on a plane much +higher than that of many of their officers. But the time had come when +the long and patient effort of the once despised militiaman had won +deserved recognition. The commissions in the newly raised regiments were +held almost exclusively by officers who had won them through long +service with the National Guard. + +And in the midst of all the whirl of work in which he found himself, +Lieutenant Stuyvesant had been summoned to the tent of General Drayton, +commanding the great encampment on the sand-lots south of the Presidio +reservation, and bidden to tell what he knew of one Walter F. Foster, +recruit --th Cavalry, member of the detachment sent on via the Denver +and Rio Grande to Ogden, then transferred to the Southern Pacific train +Number 2 _en route_ to San Francisco, which detachment was burned out +of its car and the car out of its train early on the morning of the +---- of June, 1898, somewhere in the neighborhood of a station with +the uncouth name of Beowawe in the heart of the Humboldt Desert, and +which Recruit Foster had totally disappeared the following evening, +having been last seen by his comrades as the train was ferried across +Carquinez Straits, thirty miles from Oakland Pier, and later by +railway hands at Port Costa on the back trip of the big boat to the +Benicia side. + +There was little Stuyvesant could tell. He hardly remembered the man +except as a fine-featured young fellow who seemed shy, nervous, and +unstrung, something Stuyvesant had hitherto attributed to the startling +and painful experience of the fire, and who, furthermore, seemed +desirous of dodging the lieutenant, which circumstance Stuyvesant could +not fathom at all, and if anything rather resented. + +He explained to the general that he was in no wise responsible for the +care of the detachment. He had only casually met them at Ogden, and +circumstances later had thrown him into closer relation. + +But the veteran general was desirous of further information. He sat at +the pine table in his plainly furnished tent, looking thoughtfully into +the frank and handsome face of the young officer, his fingers beating a +tattoo on the table-top. The general's eyes were sombre, even sad at +times. Beneath them lay lines of care and sorrow. His voice was low, his +manner grave, courteous, even cold. He was studying his man and +discussing in his mind how far he might confide in him. + +Obedient to the general's invitation, Stuyvesant had taken a chair close +to the commander's table and sat in silence awaiting further question. +At last it came. + +"You say he left nothing--no trace--behind?" + +"There was nothing to leave, general. He had only a suit of underwear, +in which he escaped from the car. The men say he had had money and a +valise filled with things which he strove to keep from sight of any of +his fellows. They say that he befriended a tough character by the name +of Murray, who had enlisted with him, and they think Murray knows +something about him." + +"Where is Murray now?" asked the chief. + +"In the guard-house at the Presidio. He gave the corporal in charge a +good deal of trouble and was placed under guard the morning they reached +the city. They had to spend the night with the Iowa regiment at Oakland +Pier." + +Again the gray-haired general gave himself to thought. "Could you tell +how he was dressed when he disappeared?" he finally asked. + +"A young man in the second sleeper gave him a pair of worn blue serge +trousers and his morocco slippers. Somebody else contributed a _neglige_ +shirt and a black silk travelling cap. He was wearing these when last +I spoke to him at Sacramento, where he would not eat anything. I--I had +wired ahead for dinner for them." + +"Yes," said the general with sudden indignation in his tone, "and I'm +told the company refused to reimburse you. What excuse did they give?" + +"It's of little consequence, sir," laughed Stuyvesant. "The loss hasn't +swamped me." + +"That's as may be," answered the general. "It's the principle involved. +That company is coining money by the thousands transporting troops at +full rates, and some of the cars it furnished were simply abominable. +What was the excuse given?" + +"They said, or rather some official wrote, that they wouldn't reimburse +us because they had already had to sustain the loss of that car due to +the carelessness of our men, and their own train-hands, general, knew +there was no smoking and the men were all asleep. Foster had a very +narrow escape, and Corporal Connelly was badly burned lugging Murray +out." + +The general took from a stack of correspondence at his right hand a +letter on club paper, studied it a moment, and then glanced up at +Stuyvesant. "Was not Colonel Ray's regiment with you at Chickamauga?" he +asked. + +"It was expected when I left, general. You mean the --th Kentucky?" + +"I mean his volunteer regiment--yes. I was wondering whether any of his +family had gone thither. But you wouldn't be apt to know." + +And Stuyvesant felt the blood beginning to mount to his face. He could +answer for it that one member had not gone thither. He was wondering +whether he ought to speak of it when Drayton finally turned upon him and +held forth the letter. "Read that," said he, "but regard it as +confidential." + +It was such a letter as one frank old soldier might write another. It +was one of a dozen that had come to Drayton that day asking his interest +in behalf of some young soldier about joining his command. It was dated +at Cincinnati five days earlier, and before Stuyvesant had read half +through the page his hand was trembling. + + "Dear Drayton," it said, "I'm in a snarl, and I want your help. My + sister's pet boy came out to try his hand at ranching near us last + year. He had some money from his father and everything promised + well for his success if he could have stuck to business. But he + couldn't. Billy Ray, commanding my first squadron, was stationed + with me, and the first thing I knew the boy was head over ears in + love with Billy's daughter. I can't blame him. Marion, junior, is + as pretty a girl as ever grew up in the army, and she's a brave + and winsome lass besides--her Dad all over, as her mother says. + + "Walter's ranch was thirty miles away, but he'd ride the sixty six + times a week, if need be, to have a dance with Maidie Ray, and the + cattle could go to the wolves. Then came the war. The Governor of + Kentucky gave Ray the command of a regiment, and that fool boy of + mine begged him to take him along. Ray couldn't. Besides, I don't + think he half liked Walter's devotions to the girl, though he + hadn't anything against him exactly. Then I was retired and sent + home, and the next thing my sister, Mrs. Foster, came tearing in + to tell me Walter had gone and enlisted--enlisted in the regulars + at Denver and was going to 'Frisco and Manila, as he couldn't get + to Cuba. She's completely broke up about it. + + "Foster went to Washington and saw the President and got a + commission for him in the signal corps,--volunteers,--and he + should be with you by the time you get this, so I wired ahead. + + "He isn't altogether a bad lot, but lacks horse sense, and gave + his parents a good deal of anxiety in his varsity days abroad. + He was in several scrapes along with a boon companion who seems + to have been so much like him, physically and morally, that, + mother-like, Mrs. Foster is sure that very much of which her + Walter was accused was really done by Wally's chum. I'm not so + sure of this myself, but at all events Foster made it a condition + that the boy should cut loose from the evil association, as he + called it, before certain debts would be paid. I don't know what + soldier stuff there is in him--if any--but give him a fair start + for old times' sake. + + "I need not tell you that I wish you all the joy and success + the double stars can bring. I'd be in it too but for that old + Spotsylvania shot-hole and rheumatics. My eagles, however, will + fold their wings and take a rest, but we'll flap 'em and scream + every time you make a ten-strike. + + "Yours, as ever, + + "Martindale." + +Stuyvesant did not look up at once after finishing the letter. When he +did, and before he could speak, the general was holding out some +telegrams, and these too he took and read--the almost agonized appeals +of a mother for news of her boy--the anxious inquiries, coupled with +suggestions of the veteran soldier concerning the only son of a beloved +sister. Drayton's fine, thoughtful face was full of sympathy--his eyes +clouded with anxiety and sorrow. Martindale was not the only old soldier +in search of son or nephew that fateful summer. + +"You see how hard it is to be able to send no tidings whatever," he +said. "I sent to you in the hope that you might think of some possible +explanation, might suggest some clue or theory. Can you?" + +There was just one moment of silence, and then again Stuyvesant looked +up, his blue eyes meeting the anxious gaze of the commander. + +"General," he hazarded, "it is worth while to try Sacramento. Miss Ray +is there." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +At sunset that evening the regiments destined to embark with the +expedition commanded by General Vinton were paraded for inspection in +full marching order, while a dozen other commands less fortunate looked +enviously on. The day had been raw and chilly. The wind blew salt and +strong, sending the fog in dripping clouds sailing in at the Golden +Gate, obscuring all the bold northern shore, and streaming up the sandy +slopes and over the wide wastes south of Sutro Heights. Men who owned +overcoats were few and far between, so while the designated battalions +stood and shivered in the wet grass, the mass of spectators hovered +about in ponchos or wrapped in blankets, the down-turned brims of their +campaign hats dripping heavily and contributing much to the weird and +unmilitary look of the wearers. Officers had donned Mackintoshes and +heavy boots. Badges of rank, except in cases of those provided with the +regulation overcoat, were lost to sight. Only among the regulars and one +or two regiments made up from the National Guard were uniforms so +complete that in their foul-weather garb it was possible to distinguish +colonel from subaltern, staff sergeant from private. + +In front of the guard-house at the Presidio a dozen cavalrymen armed +with the new carbine and dressed throughout for winter service, this +being San Francisco June, had formed ranks under command of a sergeant +and stood silently at ease awaiting the coming of the officer of the +day. The accurate fit of their warm overcoats, the cut of their trooper +trousers, the polish of their brasses and buttons, the snug, trim "set" +of their belts, all combined to tell the skilled observer that these +were regulars. + +As such they were objects of interest and close scrutiny to the little +knots of volunteers who had sauntered in to pick up points. To the +former it looked odd and out of gear to see the forage-caps and broad +white stripes of commissioned officers mingling with the slouch hats and +ill-fitting nether garments of the rank and file. + +It was too early in the campaign for "the boys" to have settled down to +realization of the subtle distinction between their status as soldiers +of the Nation and citizens of a sovereign State. To private A of the far +Westerners his company commander was still "Billy, old boy," or at best +"Cap.," save when actually in ranks and on drill or parade. + +To the silently observant volunteer, on the other hand, it was just as +odd to note that when a gray-haired veteran sergeant, issuing from the +guard-house, caught sight of a trig, alert little fellow, with beardless +face and boyish features and keen, snapping dark eyes, hastening towards +him in the garb of a lieutenant of cavalry, the veteran was suddenly +transformed into a rigid statue in light blue, standing attention and at +the salute--a phenomenon that extracted from the infant officer only a +perfunctory touch of finger to cap visor and not so much as a glance. + +How could the "boys" from far Nebraska be supposed to know that the +little chap had spent his whole life in the shadow of the flag, and had +many a time in baby days been dandled on the very arm that was now so +deferentially bent and uplifted in soldier homage? What was there in the +manner of the youngster to betray the fact that he dreaded old Sergeant +Rigney's criticism even more than that of his commanding officer? + +Then came another phenomenon. + +At a brief, curt "Sergeant, get out your prisoners," from the beardless +lips, there was instant fumbling of big keys and clanking of iron from +the hidden recesses of the guard-house. + +The dismounted troopers sprang suddenly to attention. The guard split in +two at its middle, each half facing outward, marched half a dozen paces +away like the duellists of old days from the back to back position, +halted, faced front once more, and stood again at ease, with a broad gap +of a dozen paces between their inner flanks. + +Into this space, shuffling dejectedly in some cases, stalking defiantly +in others, slinking, shivering, and decrepit in the case of two or three +poor wrecks of the rum fiend, a stream of humanity in soiled soldier +garb came pouring from the prison door and lined up under the eyes of +vigilant non-commissioned officers in front of the young lieutenant in +command. + +There they stood, their eyes shifting nervously from group to group of +huddling spectators, their shoulders hunched up to their ears--the +riff-raff of the garrison--the few desperate, dangerous characters from +the surrounding camps, an uncouth, uncanny lot at any time, but looking +its worst in the drip of the floating fog-wreaths and the gloom and +despond of the dying day. The boom of the sunset gun from Alcatraz fell +sullenly on the ear even as the soft trumpets of the cavalry, close at +hand, began sounding the "Retreat." At its last prolonged note the sharp +crack of an old three-inch rifle echoed the report from Alcatraz, and +from the invisible, mist-shrouded top of the staff the dripping folds of +the storm-flag came flapping down in view, limp and bedraggled, and the +guard sprang again to attention as a burly, red-faced, hearty-looking +soldier, with a captain's insignia in loop and braid on the sleeves of +his overcoat, broke a way through the group of lookers-on and, barely +waiting for the salute and report of the young lieutenant commanding, +began a sharp scrutiny of the prisoners before him. + +Down along the line he went, until at the fourth man from the left in +the front rank he stopped short. A bulky, thick-set soldier stood there, +a sullen, semi-defiant look about his eyes, a grim set to the jaws +bristling with a week-old beard of dirty black. Then came the snapping +colloquy. + +"Your name Murray?" + +"That's what they call me." + +"What was your name before that?" + +"Jim." + +Whereat there was a titter in the ranks of prisoners. Some of the guard +even allowed their mouths to expand, and the groups of volunteers, +chuckling in keen enjoyment, came edging in closer. + +Instantly the voice of the officer of the guard was heard ordering +silence, and faces straightened out in the twinkling of an eye. + +The elder officer, the captain, grew a trifle redder, but he was master +of himself and the situation. It is with school-boys as with soldiers, +their master is the man whom pranks or impudence cannot annoy. The +officer of the day let no tone of temper into his next question. Looking +straight into the shifting eyes, he waited for perfect silence, and then +spoke: + +"Jim what? I wish the name under which you served in your previous +enlistment." + +"Never said I'd served before." + +"No. You declared you had not. But I know better. You're a deserter from +the Seventh Cavalry." + +The face under the shrouding campaign hat went gray white with sudden +twitch of the muscles, then set again, rigid and defiant. The eyes +snapped angrily. The answer was sharp, yet seemed, as soldiers say, to +"hang fire" a second. + +"Never seen the Seventh Cavalry in my life." + +The officer of the day turned and beckoned to a figure hitherto kept +well in the background, screened by the groups of surrounding +volunteers. A man of middle age, smooth shaven and stout, dressed in +business sack-suit, came sturdily forward and took position by the +captain's side. + +At sight of the new-comer Murray's face, that had regained a bit of its +ruddy hue, again turned dirty white, and the boy lieutenant, eying him +closely, saw the twitch of his thin, half-hidden lips. + +"Point out your man," said the captain to the new arrival. + +The civilian stepped forward, and without a word twice tapped with his +forefinger the broad breast of Prisoner Murray and, never looking at +him, turned again to the officer of the day. + +"What was his name in the Seventh?" asked the latter. + +"Sackett." + +The captain turned to the officer of the guard. "Mr. Ray," said he, +"separate Murray from the garrison prisoners and have him put in a cell. +That man must be carefully guarded. You may dismiss the guard, sir." + +And, followed by the stranger, Captain Kress was leaving the ground when +Murray seemed to recover himself, and in loud and defiant voice gave +tongue,-- + +"That man's a damned liar, and this is an outrage." + +"Shut up, Murray!" shouted the sergeant of the guard, scandalized at +such violation of military proprieties. "It's gagged you'll be, you +idiot," he added between his set teeth, as with scowling face he bore +down on the equally scowling prisoner. "Come out of that and step along +here ahead of me. I'll put you where shoutin' won't help." And slowly, +sullenly, Murray obeyed. + +Slowly and in silence the groups of spectators broke up and sauntered +away as the last of the prisoners dragged back into the guard-house, and +the guard itself broke ranks and went within doors, leaving only the +sentry pacing mechanically the narrow, hard-beaten path, the sergeant, +and at the turn of the road, the young lieutenant whom Captain Kress had +addressed as Mr. Ray. This officer, having silently received his +superior's orders and seen to it that Murray was actually "behind the +bars," had again come forth into the gathering twilight, the gloaming of +a cheerless day, and having hastened to the bend from which point the +forms of the officer of the day and his associate were still faintly +visible, stood gazing after them, a puzzled look in his brave young +face. + +Not yet a month in possession of his commission, here was a lad to whom +every iota of the routine of a lieutenant's life was as familiar as +though he had drawn the pay for a decade. + +Born and bred in the army, taught from early boyhood to ride and shoot, +to spar and swim, spending his vacation in saddle and his schooldays in +unwilling study, an adept in every healthful and exhilarating sport, +keen with rifle and revolver, with shotgun and rod, with bat and +racquet, with the gloves and Indian clubs, the nimblest quarter-back and +dodger, the swiftest runner of his school, it must be owned that Mr. +Sanford Ray was a most indifferent scholar. Of geography, history, and +languages he had rather more than a smattering because of occasional +tours abroad when still at an impressionable age. Yet Sandy "took more +stock," as he expressed it, and "stawk," as he called it, in Sioux and +the sign language than he did in French or German, knew far more of the +Rockies and Sierras than he did of the Alps, studied the European +cavalry with the eye of an accomplished critic, and stoutly maintained +that while they were bigger swells and prettier to look at, they could +neither ride nor shoot to compare with the sturdy troopers of his +father's squadron. + +"As to uniforms," said Sandy, "anybody could look swagger in the lancer +and huzzar rig. It takes a man to look like a soldier in what our +fellows have to wear." + +It wasn't the field garb Sandy despised, but the full dress, the blue +and yellow enormity in which our troopers are compelled to appear. + +It had been the faint hope of his fond parents that Master Sandy would +grow up to be something, by which was meant a lawyer, an artist, +architect, engineer,--something in civil life that promised home and +fortune. But the lad from babyhood would think of nothing but the army +and with much misgiving, in Sandy's fifteenth year, his father shipped +him to Kentucky, where they were less at home than in Kansas, and gave +him a year's hard schooling in hopes of bracing up his mathematics. + +Sandy was wild to go to West Point, and at the bottom of his heart Major +Ray would have rejoiced had he thought it possible for Sandy to pull +through; but ruefully he minded him how hard a task was his own, and how +close he came to failure at the semi-annual exams. "Sandy hates Math. +even more than I did," said he to Marion, his devoted wife. "It was all +I could do to squirm through when the course was nowhere near as hard as +it is to-day, so don't set your heart on it, little woman." + +The appointment was not so hard to get, for Major Billy had a host of +friends in his native State, and an old chum at the Point assured him he +could coach young Sandy through the preliminary, and indeed he did. +Sandy scraped in after six months' vigorous work, managed to hold his +own through the first year's tussle with algebra and geometry, which he +had studied hard and faithfully before, was a pet in his class, and the +pride and joy of his mother's and sister's heart in yearling camp, where +he blossomed out in corporal's chevrons and made as natty and active a +first sergeant as could be found while the "furlough class" was away. + +But the misery began with "analytical" and the crisis came with +calculus, and to the boy's bitter sorrow, after having been turned back +one year on the former and failing utterly on the latter, the verdict of +the Academic Board went dead against him, and stout old soldiers thereon +cast their votes with grieving hearts, for "Billy Ray's Boy" was a lad +they hated to let go, but West Point rules are inexorable. + +So too were there saddened hearts far out on the frontier where the +major was commanding a cavalry post in a busy summer, but neither he nor +Marion had one word of blame or reproach for the boy. Loving arms, and +eyes that smiled through their sorrow, welcomed him when the little chap +returned to them. "Don't anybody come to meet me," he wrote. "Just let +mother be home." And so it was settled. + +He sprang from the wagon that met him at the station, went hand in hand +with his father into the hall, and then, with one sob, bounded into +Marion's outstretched arms as she stood awaiting him in the little army +parlor. + +The major softly closed the door and with blinking eyes stole away to +stables. There had been another meeting a little later when Marion the +second was admitted, and the girl stole silently to her brother's side +and her arms twined about his neck. Her love for him had been something +like adoration through all the years of girlhood, and now, though he was +twenty and she eighteen, its fervor seemed to know no diminution. They +had done their best, all of them, to encourage while the struggle +lasted, but to teach him that should failure come, it would come without +reproach or shame. + +The path to success in other fields was still before him. The road to +the blessed refuge of home and love and sympathy would never close. + +It was hard to reconcile the lad at first. The major set him up as a +young ranchman in a lovely valley in the Big Horn Range, and there he +went sturdily to work, but before the winter was fairly on the country +was rousing to the appeals of Cuba, and before it was gone the Maine had +sunk, a riddled hulk, and the spring came in with a call to arms. + +Together with some two hundred young fellows all over the land, Sanford +Ray went up for examination for the vacant second lieutenancies in the +army, and he who had failed in analytical and calculus passed without +grave trouble the more practical ordeal demanded by the War Department, +was speedily commissioned in the artillery, and, to his glory and +delight, promptly transferred to the cavalry. + +Then came the first general break up the family had really known, for +the major hurried away to Kentucky to assume command of the regiment of +volunteers of which he had been made colonel. Billy, junior, a lad of +barely seventeen, enlisted at Lexington as a bugler in his father's +regiment, and swore he'd shoot himself if they didn't let him serve. The +Kentuckians were ordered to Chickamauga, the young regular to the +Presidio at San Francisco, and Mrs. Ray, after seeing her husband and +youngest son started for the South, returned to Leavenworth, where they +had just settled down a week before the war began, packed and stored the +household furniture, then, taking "Maidie" with her, hurried westward to +see the last of her boy, whose squadron was destined for service at +Manila. + +The lieutenant, as they delighted in calling him, joined them at Denver, +looking perfectly at home in his field uniform and perfectly happy. They +left Maidie to spend a week with old army friends at Fort Douglas, and +as soon as Sandy was settled in his new duties and the loving mother had +satisfied herself the cavalry would not be spirited away before July, +she accepted the eager invitation of other old friends to visit them at +Sacramento, and there they were, mother and daughter, again united this +very raw and foggy evening, when Mr. Ray, as officer of the guard, stood +at the bend of the roadway east of the Presidio guard-house, gazing +after the vanishing forms of Captain Kress and the burly stranger in +civilian clothes, and wondering where on earth it was he had seen the +latter before. + +So engrossed was he in this that it was only when a second time +addressed that he whirled about and found himself confronting a tall and +slender young officer, with frank, handsome blue eyes and fine, +clear-cut face, a man perhaps five years his senior in age and one grade +in rank, for his overcoat sleeve bore the single loop and braid of a +first lieutenant. + +He was in riding boots and spurs, as Ray noted at first glance, and +there behind him stood an orderly holding the horses of both. + +"Pardon me. I am Lieutenant Stuyvesant of General Vinton's staff. This +is the officer of the guard, I believe, and I am sent to make some +inquiry of a prisoner--a man named Murray." + +"We have such a man," said Ray, eying the newcomer with soldierly +appreciation of his general appearance and not without envy of his +inches. "But he's just been locked in a cell, and it will take an order +from the officer of the day to fetch him out--unless you could see him +in there with other prisoners within earshot." + +"Not very well," answered Stuyvesant, looking curiously into the dark +eyes of the youngster. "Perhaps I'd better see the officer of the day at +once." + +"You'll find him at the club. He's just gone in," said Ray, mindful of +the fact that this was the captain's time for a cocktail, and with a +courteous salute the aide-de-camp hastened away. + +In five minutes he was back with a pencilled scrawl from Kress to the +effect that Lieutenant Stuyvesant was to be permitted to interview the +prisoner Murray outside the guard-house, but sentries must be placed to +prevent escape. + +Quickly young Ray called out the corporal and two men, warned them of +the duty demanded, stationed them up and down the road and opposite the +guard-house, but just out of ear-shot, ordered the prisoner brought +forth, and then, leaving Stuyvesant standing at the post of Number One, +stepped a dozen yards away into the mist. + +A minute later out came the sergeant, marshalling Murray after him, a +sentry at his heels. Then in the gathering darkness the tall officer and +the short, thick-set soldier met face to face, and the latter recoiled +and began glancing quickly, furtively about him. + +Just how it all happened Ray could never quite tell. The light was now +feeble, the lamps were only just beginning to burn. There was a moment +of low-toned talk between the two, a question twice repeated in firmer +tone, then a sudden, desperate spring and dash for liberty. + +Like a centre rush--a charging bull--the prisoner came head on straight +to where young Ray was standing, heedless of a yell to halt, and in less +time than it takes to tell it, the lithe little athlete of West Point's +crack football team had sprung and tackled and downed him in his tracks. + +Biting, cursing, straining, the big bully lay in the mud, overpowered +now by the instant dash of the guard, while their bantam officer, rising +and disgustedly contemplating the smear of wet soil over his new +overcoat, was presently aware of Stuyvesant, bending forward, extending +a helping hand, and exclaiming: + +"By Jove, but that was a neat tackle! You must have been a joy to _your_ +team. What was it?" + +"West Point--last year's." + +"And may I ask--the name?" + +"My name's Ray," said Sandy with beaming smile, showing a row of even, +white teeth under the budding, dark mustache, and Stuyvesant felt the +warm blood surging to his forehead, just as it had before that day in +the general's tent. + +"I think I should have known that," he presently stammered. "It was Miss +Ray who so skilfully treated those poor fellows burned out on our train. +I suppose you heard of it." + +"Why, yes," answered the youngster, again curiously studying the face of +his tall visitor. "Then it was you she--I heard about. Wish I weren't on +duty. I'd be glad to have you over at my quarters or the club." + +"I wish so too, and yet I'm lucky in finding you here, since"--and here +Stuyvesant turned and looked resentfully towards the bedraggled figure +of Murray, now being supported back to the cells--"since that fellow +proved so churlish and ungrateful. He's all wrath at being put behind +the bars and won't answer any questions." + +"What else could he expect?" asked Ray bluntly. "He's a deserter." + +"A deserter!" exclaimed Stuyvesant in surprise. "Who says so?" + +"Captain Kress, officer of the day, or at least a cit who came with him +to identify him. They say he skipped from the Seventh Cavalry." + +At this piece of information Mr. Stuyvesant whirled about again in added +astonishment. "Why," said he, "this upsets--one theory completely. I +declare, if that's true we're all at sea. I beg pardon," he continued, +but now with marked hesitancy--"you know--you've heard, I suppose, +about--Foster?" + +"What Foster?" + +"Why, the recruit, you know, the one we lost at Port Costa," and the +blue eyes were curiously and intently studying the face of the younger +soldier, dimly visible now that the guard-house lamps were beginning to +glow. + +"I knew there was a recruit missing, and--seems to me that was the +name," answered Ray. + +"And--didn't you know who he was--that it was--pardon me, the man +who--lived near you--had a ranch----" + +"Great Scott! You don't mean Wally Foster! _He_ enlisted and in the +cavalry? Well, I'm----" And now Mr. Ray's merriment overcame him. "I +never thought there was that much to Wally. He was a lackadaisical sort +of a spook when I saw him. What possessed him to enlist? He's no stuff +for a soldier." + +Stuyvesant hesitated. That letter of old Colonel Martindale's was shown +him in confidence. But Ray's next impetuous outburst settled it. + +"Oh, by Jove! I see it,--it's----" And here the white teeth gleamed in +the lamplight, for Mr. Ray was laughing heartily. + +"Yes? It's what?" smiled Stuyvesant sympathetically. + +"It's--my sister, I reckon," laughed Ray. "She once said she wouldn't +marry outside of the army, and he heard it." + +"Oh,--did she?" said Stuyvesant reflectively, and then he was silent. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +When Vinton's flotilla drew out into that wonderful bay, and the crowded +transports rode at anchor on the tide, there came swarming about them +all manner of harbor craft, some laden with comforts for the departing +soldiery, some with curiosity seekers, some with contraband of war in +the shape of fruit and fluids, but all were warned to keep a cable's +length at least away. + +The commanding general, with other officers of rank, was darting from +ship to ship in a swift steam launch, holding brief conference with the +colonel in command of each, and finally repairing to his own--the +flagship--where the final adieux were exchanged. + +The general and his aides nimbly mounted the steep stairway to the +bridge, the launch swung loose, and then up to the mast-head flew a +little bunch of bunting that broke as it reached the truck, and there +fluttered in the strong salt wind whistling in from sea the eagerly +awaited signal to "up anchor and follow." + +And then at the stern of the Vanguard the waves were churned into foam +as the massive screw began its spin, and slowly, steadily the flagship +forged ahead to the accompaniment of a deafening din of steam whistles +and sirens all over the bay. Promptly the other transports followed the +movements of the leader, and presently, in trailing column, five big +black steamships, thronged with cheering soldiery, were slowly ploughing +their way towards the grand entrance of that spacious harbor, the +matchless Golden Gate. + +Coming abreast of rock-ribbed Alcatraz, still moving at less than half +speed, the flagship was greeted by the thunder of the parting salute, +and the commanding general, standing with his staff upon the bridge, +doffed his cap and bared his handsome head in acknowledgment. + +"The next guns we're apt to hear will be the Spaniard's at Manila, and +shotted guns instead of blanks," said a staff officer to the tall, +fair-haired aide-de-camp. "What's the matter, Stuyvesant? Beginning to +feel wabbly already? There's no sea here to speak of." + +"I was watching that boat," was the quiet reply, as the young officer +pointed to a small white steamer that appeared coming in pursuit, +carefully picking a way through the host of harbor craft still +screeching and steaming along as escort to the fleet. + +There was an eager light in the bright blue eyes, but the high color had +fled. Stuyvesant looked as though he had not slept as much or as well of +late as perfect health required, and his questioner gazed keenly into +his face, then turned away with a smile. + +Only three days before, on the register of the Occidental appeared among +the arrivals the entry "Mrs. William P. Ray, Miss Ray, Fort +Leavenworth," and that evening at least a dozen officers called and sent +up their cards, and Lieutenant Ray came in from the Presidio and was +with his mother and sister an hour or more. + +The ladies held quite a little levee in the parlor of the familiar old +army hostelry, and Mr. Stuyvesant, after a long and fatiguing day's duty +at camp, accompanied his general to their very handsome apartments at +The Palace, and then falteringly asked if he might be excused awhile--he +had a call or two to make. + +The evening papers had announced the arrival of the wife and daughter of +"the gallant officer so well known for quarter of a century gone by to +many of our citizens--Captain 'Billy' Ray, now colonel of the --th +Kentucky," and Stuyvesant had determined to make an effort to meet them. +But he was a stranger to the officers who called and sent up their +cards--all old regulars. + +Lieutenant Ray was with the party in the parlor, and Stuyvesant felt a +strange shyness when striving to persuade himself to send his card to +that young officer and boldly ask to be presented. Surely it was the +proper thing to seek and meet her and thank her for her deft +ministrations the night of the fire. Surely a man of his distinguished +family and connections need not shrink from asking to be introduced to +any household in all our broad domain, and yet Stuyvesant found himself +nervous and hesitant, wandering about the crowded office, making +pretense of interest in posters and pictures, wistfully regarding the +jovial knots of regulars who seemed so thoroughly at home. + +Over at The Palace, where so many of the general officers and their +staffs were quartered, he had dozens of friends. Here at this favorite +old resort of the regular service he stood alone, and to his proud and +sensitive spirit it seemed as though there were a barrier between him +and these professional soldiers. + +There was the whole secret of his trouble. Absurd and trivial as it may +seem, Stuyvesant shrank from the enterprise, even at the very +threshold,--shrank even from sending his card and asking for Lieutenant +Ray, for no other or better reason than that he did not know how a +volunteer would be welcomed. + +And so for nearly half an hour he hovered irresolute about the office, +unconscious of the many glances of interest and admiration from the keen +eyes of the officers gathered in laughing groups about the marbled +floor. Not one of their number was his superior in form and feature, and +his uniform was the handiwork of Gotham's best military tailor. _They_ +saw that the instant he threw off his cape. + +One of their number whispered that it was Mr. Stuyvesant, General +Vinton's aide, for everybody knew Vinton, and more than one would have +been glad to take the aide-de-camp by the hand and bid him welcome to +their coterie but for that same odd shyness that, once away from camp or +garrison and in the atmosphere of metropolitan life, seems to clog and +hamper the kindlier impulses of the soldier. + +Presently, as Stuyvesant stood at the desk looking over the register, he +heard himself accosted by name, and turning quickly, hopefully, found to +his disappointment only a stocky little man in civilian dress. Yet the +face was familiar, and the trouble in the honest brown eyes looking up +to him, as though for help and sympathy, went right to his heart. Even +before the man could give his name or tell his need, Stuyvesant knew him +and held out a cordial hand: + +"Why! You're our brakeman! I'm glad to see you. What's wrong?" + +"I've lost me job, sir," was the answer, with a little choke. "They let +me out two days ago--for sayin' their rotten old car caught fire from +the boxes, I reckon." + +"You don't tell me!" exclaimed Stuyvesant in honest indignation. "Now, +how can I help you? What shall we do?" + +"Take me to Manila, sir. I don't need this place. There's no one +dependent on me--I can't soldier. They won't 'list a fellow with only +two fingers," and he held up a maimed hand. "Lost the others in a +freight smash-up six years ago. But there's a railway out there that'll +be ours in a few months. Then you'll want Yankee train-hands. Can you +do that much for me, lieutenant?" + +"Come to me at The Palace at eight o'clock in the morning," answered +Stuyvesant. "I'll have had a chance to talk to my general by that time. +Meanwhile"--and with a blush he began drawing forth his purse. + +The brakeman smiled. "I've got money enough, sir. They paid me off and I +had some put by. Thank you all the same, Mr. Stuyvesant.--Oh, yes, sir, +I'm ready," he broke off suddenly in addressing some other person, and +Stuyvesant, turning quickly to see, was confronted by Lieutenant Ray. + +"Oh, how-de-do? Going to be here long?" promptly queried that young +gentleman. "Haven't seen you since the night at the Presidio. 'Scuse me, +will you, I've got to take--er--my sister wants to see the brakeman, you +know.--With you the night of the fire." And with that Mr. Ray hopped +briskly away to the elevator, the ex-trainman following, leaving +Stuyvesant standing enviously at the counter. + +Even a brakeman could go to her and hear her pleasant words and receive +that beaming smile and perhaps a clasp of that cool, slender little +hand, while he who so longed for it all stood without the pale. + +Then an impulse that had been spurring him for half an hour overmastered +him. The parlors were public. At least he could go and take a peep at +her. + +He started for the elevator, then changed his plan, turned, and, with +his cape still thrown over his arm, ascended the stairs. The clerk at +the office desk glanced curiously at him, but the uniform was +sufficient. In a moment he found himself in the broad corridor and +almost in front of the door-way to the parlor. Half a dozen groups, +women and officers, were scattered about in merry conversation, but +Stuyvesant's eyes were riveted instantly on a little party close by the +elevator shaft. There, hat in hand, bowing and blushing, stood the +brakeman. There, with a bright, genial smile on her serene and happy +face, stood a matronly woman who, despite her soft blue eyes and fair +hair and complexion, was patent at once as the mother of the lovely, +dark-eyed girl and the trim young soldier who formed the other members +of the group. + +Three or four officers, some of them past the meridian, others young +subalterns, stood looking on in evident interest, and Stuyvesant halted +spellbound, not knowing just what to do. + +It was over in a moment. The railwayman, confused but happy, had +evidently been the recipient of kind and appreciative words, for his +face was glowing, and Miss Ray's fairly beamed with the radiance of its +smile. Then the door flew open as the elevator-car stopped for +passengers, and the ex-brakeman backed in and disappeared from view. +Then the mother twined an arm about her daughter's slender waist and two +young officers sprang forward to her side. Together they came sauntering +towards the parlor door, and then, all on a sudden, she looked up and +saw him. + +There was no mistaking the flash of instant recognition in her beautiful +eyes. Stuyvesant's heart leaped as his eager gaze met the swift glance, +and noted with joy that she certainly saw and knew him: more than that, +that the sight gave her pleasure. But in another instant she had +recovered herself, and turned to ask some quick question of the young +gallant at her side, and Stuyvesant, who was almost at the point of +bowing low, found himself savagely hating those yellow straps and +stripes and wishing the cavalry in perdition. Somebody was speaking to +Mr. Ray, and he couldn't catch that young officer's eye. The party +stopped a moment at the threshold, one of the officers was saying +good-night, and then a voice at Stuyvesant's elbow said "Which is +Lieutenant Ray?" It was the bell-boy. + +A sudden inspiration came to Stuyvesant. "What is it?" he said. "Have +you a message for him?" + +"Yes," was the answer. "They're telephoning for him from the +Presidio,--want him to come at once." + +"Tell me the whole message and I'll give it," said Stuyvesant. "Anything +wrong?" + +"Yes, sir. The clerk's at the 'phone now, but I couldn't get the +trouble. Something's broke loose, as I understand it." + +And that delay was fatal. Bounding up the steps, three at a stride, came +a young officer, breathless, and made straight for the group. Seeing +that Mrs. Ray and Miss Marion were close at hand, he paused one moment, +then with significant gesture called Ray to his side. Then Stuyvesant +could not but hear every word of the sudden and startling message. + +"Ray, you're wanted at the barracks at once. Prisoners 'scaped and your +house is robbed!" + +Stuyvesant ran beside him as Ray went bounding down the stairs and out +into Montgomery Street. + +"Can I be of any service? Can I help you some way?" he urged, for he saw +the young officer was looking white and anxious. But Ray hurriedly +thanked him and declined. He could not imagine, he said, what his loss +might be, yet something told him if anybody had escaped it was that +hulking sinner Murray. + +He sprang upon the first street-car at the corner, waved his hand in +parting, and was whisked away westward, leaving Stuyvesant standing +disconsolate. + +How now could he hope to meet her? The clerk at the office seemed +friendly and sympathetic when Stuyvesant wandered back there, and gave +him such particulars of the situation at the Presidio as he had been +able to gather over the wire. It seemed that a rumor had reached the +commanding officer that a number of tools had been smuggled into the +guard-house by the prisoners, and by the aid of these they hoped to cut +their way out. Despite the fact that it was growing dark, a search of +the prison room and cells was ordered while the prisoners stood in line +in front awaiting the usual evening inspection. There was no one to tell +just who started it or how, but, all on a sudden, while many of the +guard were aiding in the search inside, the whole array of prisoners, +regular and volunteer, old and young, except those few in irons, made a +sudden and simultaneous dash for liberty, scattering in every direction. +Some had already been recaptured, but at least twenty-five were still at +large, and the post adjutant, telephoning for Ray, briefly added that +there was every evidence that his quarters had been robbed. + +All this Stuyvesant heard with an absorbing interest, wondering whether +it might not be possible to make it a plea or pretext on which to +present himself to Mrs. Ray, and then ask to be presented to her +daughter. A second time he ascended the stairs and, sauntering by, +peered in at the parlor-door. Yes, there sat the charming matron looking +so winsome and kind as she smiled upon her circle of visitors, but, +alas, they were four in number and all officers of rank in the regular +service, and Stuyvesant's shyness again overcame him. + +Moreover, his brief glance into the brightly lighted apartment, all +decorated as it was with flags and flowers, revealed Miss Ray seated +near the window with two young cavalrymen in devoted attendance--all +three apparently so absorbed in their chat that he, lonely and wistful, +escaped observation entirely until, just as he passed from view, her +lovely dark eyes were for an instant quickly raised, and though he knew +it not, she saw him, and saw too that he was wandering aimlessly about, +but, quick as woman's intuition, her eyes returned to the face of the +eager young trooper by her side, for Stuyvesant turned for one more +longing glance before descending, defeated, to the office floor. + +It was his last opportunity, and fate seemed utterly against him, for +when on the following evening his general went to call upon Mrs. Ray and +took his handsome and hopeful aide, "The ladies are out," said the +bell-boy. They were dining at the adjutant-general's. + +In desperation, Stuyvesant went over to a florist's on Post Street, +bought a box of superb roses, and sent them with his card to Miss Ray, +expressing deep regret that he had been denied opportunity to thank her +in person for her kindness to him the night of the fire. He wanted to +say that he owed his eyes to her, but felt that she knew better and +would be more offended than pleased. + +He was to sail on the morrow, and he had not even seen her brother +again. + +But the department commander had said he purposed coming out with a +party of friends to run alongside the flag-ship as she steamed slowly +out to sea, and that was why Mr. Stuyvesant stood so eagerly watching +the ploughing side-wheeler so swiftly coming in pursuit. Already he had +made out the double stars in the bunting at the jack-staff. Already he +could distinguish the forms of several general officers whose commands +were not yet ready for embarkation and the fluttering garments of a +score of women. + +Something told him she would be of the party, and as the Vanguard slowed +down to let the head-quarters' boat run alongside, his heart beat +eagerly when his general said: "We'll go down, gentlemen, and board her. +It'll be much easier than the climb would be to them." + +So it happened that five minutes later he found himself at the heels of +his chief shaking hands mechanically with a dozen officers, while his +eyes kept peering beyond them to where, on the after-deck, the smiling +group of women stood expectant. + +And presently the general pushed on for a word of farewell with them, +the aides obediently following, and then came more presentations to +cordial and kindly people whose names he did not even hear, for just a +little farther on, and still surrounded by cavaliers, stood Mrs. Ray, +the handsomest and most distinguished-looking woman of the party, and +close beside her, _petite_ and graceful, her dark beauty even the more +noticeable in contrast with the fair features of her mother, stood +Maidie. And then at last it came, the simple words that threw down the +social barrier that so long had balked him. + +"My aide-de-camp, Mr. Stuyvesant, Mrs. Ray,--Miss Ray," and with his +soul in his eyes he looked down into that radiant face, smiling so +cordially, unconstrainedly into his, and then found himself striving to +recall what on earth it was he was so anxious to say. + +He knew that he was flushing to the peak of his forage-cap. He knew he +was trying to stammer something. He saw that she was perfectly placid +and at her ease. He saw, worse luck, that she wore a little knot of +roses on the breast of her natty jacket, but that they were not his. He +faltered something to the effect that he had been trying to see her ever +since the night of the fire--had so much to thank her for; and her +white, even, beautiful teeth gleamed as she laughingly answered that the +cherries had more than cancelled the score. + +He asked for news of her brother, and was told that he had been too much +occupied to come in again. They were going out to the Presidio that +afternoon. + +And then he ventured to hope Mr. Ray had sustained no great loss in the +robbery of his quarters, and saw at once that he was breaking news, for +the smile vanished instantly, the lovely face clouded with concern, and +he had only time to stammer: "Then, probably, there was no truth in the +story. I merely happened to hear two nights ago that Mr. Ray's quarters +had been robbed,--about the time the prisoners escaped." And then he +heard his general calling, and saw that the party was already clambering +back to the Vanguard. + +"I--I--I hope I may see you when we get back from Manila, Miss Ray," he +said, as he bowed over her hand. + +"I think you may see me--before that," was the smiling answer. And then +Captain Hawley grabbed him by the arm and rushed him to the side. + +Two minutes more and he was on the deck of the transport. The lines were +cast off, the white side-wheeler, alive with sympathetic faces, some +smiling, some tearful, and a forest of fluttering kerchiefs, dropped +slowly astern, and all that long evening as they bored through the fogs +of the Farallones and bowed and dipped to the long swell of the sea, and +all the long week that followed as they steamed over a sunlit summer +ocean, Stuyvesant found himself repeating again and again her parting +words, and wondering what could have been the explanation of her knowing +nothing of the robbery of her brother's quarters, or what could have +been her meaning when she said "I think you may see me--before that." + +Only once on the run to Honolulu was the flotilla of transports neared +by other voyagers. Three days out from San Francisco the "O. and O." +liner Doric slowly overhauled and gradually passed them by. Exchanging +signals, "All well on board," she was soon lost in the shadows of the +night long miles ahead. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +There was trouble at the Presidio. + +All but ten of the escaped prisoners had been recaptured or +self-surrendered, but the ten still at large were among the worst of the +array, and among the ten was the burly, hulking recruit enlisted under +the name of Murray, but declared by Captain Kress, on the strength of +the report of a detective from town, to be earlier and better known as +Sackett and as a former member of the Seventh Cavalry, from which +regiment he had parted company without the formality of either transfer +or discharge. + +Murray was a man worth his keep, as military records of misdemeanors +went, and a sore-hearted fellow was the sergeant of the guard, held +responsible for the wholesale escape. And yet it was not so much the +sergeant's fault. The evening had come on dark, damp, and dripping. +Gas-lamps and barrack-lanterns were lighted before the sunset gun. The +sergeant himself and several of the guard had been called inside to the +prison room by the commanding officer and his staff. There was a maze of +brick and wooden buildings in front of the guard-house, and a perfect +tangle of dense shrubbery only fifty yards away to the west. It was into +this that most of the fugitives dived and were instantly lost to sight, +while others had doubled behind the guard-house and rushed into an +alley-way that passed in rear of the club and a row of officers' +quarters. + +Some of them apparently had taken refuge in the cellars or wood- and +coal-sheds until thick darkness came down, and others had actually dared +to enter the quarters of Lieutenant Ray, for the back door was found +wide open, the sideboard, wherein had been kept some choice old Kentucky +whiskey produced only on special occasions, had been forced, and the +half-emptied demijohn and some glasses stood on the table in a pool of +sloppy water. + +But what was worse, the lieutenant's desk in the front room, securely +locked when he went to town, had been burst open with a chisel, and Mr. +Ray had declined to say how much he had lost. Indeed, he did not fully +know. + +"Too busy to come in," was the message he had sent his mother the +morning after the discovery, and yet all that morning he remained about +his quarters after one brief interview with the perturbed and +exasperated post commander, ransacking desks, drawers, and trunks in the +vain hope that he might find in them some of the missing property, for +little by little the realization was forced upon him that his loss would +sum up several hundreds--all through his own neglect and through +disregard of his father's earnest counsel. + +Only three days before the lieutenant commanding his troop had been sent +to Oregon and Washington on duty connected with the mustering of +volunteers,--their captain was a field officer of one of the regiments +of his native State,--and, in hurriedly leaving, Lieutenant Creswell had +turned over to his young subordinate not only the troop fund, amounting +to over four hundred dollars, but the money belonging to the post +athletic association, and marked envelopes containing the pay of certain +soldiers on temporary detached service--in all between nine hundred and +one thousand dollars. + +"Whenever you have care of public money--even temporarily--put it at +once into the nearest United States depository," said his father. "Even +office safes in garrison are not safe," he had further said. "Clerks, +somehow, learn the combination and are tempted sometimes beyond their +strength. Lose no time, therefore, in getting your funds into the bank." + +And that was what he meant to do in this case, only, as the absent +troopers were expected to return in two days, what was the use of +breaking up those sealed envelopes and depositing the whole thing only +to have to draw it out in driblets again as the men came to him for it. +Surely he could safely leave that much at least in the quartermaster's +safe. Creswell never thought of depositing the cash at all. He carried +it around with him, a wad of greenbacks and a little sack of gold, and +never lost a cent. + +Ray took the entire sum to the quartermaster's office Tuesday evening +and asked to store it in the safe. The clerk looked up from his desk and +said he was sorry, but the quartermaster was the only man who knew the +combination, and he had gone over to Camp Merritt. + +So Ray kept it that night and intended taking it to town Wednesday +morning, but drills interposed. He carried a little fortune with him +when he went in to meet his mother and sister Wednesday evening, half +intending to ask the genial "major,"--mine host of the Occidental,--to +take care of it for him in the private safe, but the major was out and +the money was still bulging in Ray's pockets when he returned to the +post late that night, and it had been very much in his way. Thursday he +fully expected the troopers back, and yet when stables were over +Thursday evening and he was ready to start for town to join his dear +ones, and was arraying himself in his most immaculate uniform and +secretly rejoicing in the order prohibiting officers from wearing for +the time being civilian dress, he found himself still burdened by the +money packages and in a hurry to catch a certain car or else keep them +waiting for dinner. + +The quartermaster's office was several hundred yards away, and there +stood his own desk, a beautiful and costly thing--his mother's +gift--with its strong locks and intricate system of pigeon-holes and +secret drawers. He would "chance it" one night, he said, and give his +trusted servant orders to stand guard over the premises, and so the +little bag of gold went into one closed compartment, the envelopes and +wads of treasury notes into the hidden drawer, and the key into his +watch-pocket. + +His servant was a young man whose father had been with Colonel Ray for +quarter of a century, a faithful Irishman by the name of Hogan. He was +honest to the core and had but one serious failing--he _would_ drink. +He would go for months without a lapse, and then something would +happen to give him a start, and nothing short of a spree would satisfy +his craving. It was said that in days gone by "old man Hogan" was +similarly afflicted, but those were times when an occasional frolic +was the rule rather than the exception with most troopers on the far +frontier, and Hogan senior had followed the fortunes of the --th +Cavalry and Captain Ray until an Indian bullet had smashed his +bridle-arm and compelled his discharge. + +Whereupon Mrs. Ray had promptly told the gallant fellow that their army +home was to be his, and that if he would consent to serve as butler or +as the captain's own man to look after his boots, spurs, and sabres he +would never lack for money comforts, or home. + +Perhaps had Mrs. Ray foreseen that the dashing Irishman was destined to +lay siege to the heart of her pretty maid, she might have suggested +setting Hogan up in business farther away. Perhaps, too, she would not, +for his almost pathetic devotion to her beloved husband was something +she could never forget. Hogan, the crippled veteran, and Kitty, the +winsome maid, were duly wed, and continued as part of the army household +wherever they went. And in course of the quarter century it seemed to be +but a case of domestic history repeating itself that young "Mart" should +become Mr. Sandy's factotum and valet, even though Sandy could have +secured the services of a much better one for less money. Young Mart had +all his father's old-time dash and impetuosity, but less of his +devotion, and on this particular Thursday evening, just when his master +most needed him, Mart was not to be found. Ray stormed a bit as he +finished his toilet. Then, as there was no time to be lost, he closed +the door of his bedroom behind him and hastened away to the east gate. +Just outside the reservation was a resort kept by a jovial compatriot of +Hogan's,--assuming that an Irishman is always an Irishman whether born +on the sod or in the States,--and there Ray felt pretty sure of finding +his servant and sending him home to mount guard. And there, sure enough, +he learned that Hogan had been up to within five minutes, and had left +saying he must go to help the lieutenant. He was perfectly sober, said +the publican, and it was more than half a mile back to quarters. Ray +would be late for dinner as it was, the car was coming, and so, though +dissatisfied and ill at ease, he jumped aboard, hurried to the +Occidental, and within three hours was stunned and almost crushed by the +tidings that the house had been entered and robbed, probably within an +hour after he left it. + +And now Saturday morning, while the guns of Alcatraz were booming in +salute across the bay and all the garrison was out along the shore or on +the seaward heights, waving farewell to the Vinton flotilla, and his +mother and Maidie had gone out with the department commander to bid them +god-speed, poor Sandy sat wretchedly in his quarters. + +Hogan, overwhelmed by the magnitude of his master's misfortune, and +realizing that it was due in no small degree to his own neglect, was now +self-exiled from the lieutenant's roof, and seeking such consolation as +he could find at the Harp of Erin outside the walls, a miserable and +contrite man,--contrite, that is to say, as manifested in the manner of +his country, for Hogan was pottle deep in his distress. + +Although vouched for as perfectly sober from the Hibernian point of +view, he well knew that he had taken so much that fatal Thursday evening +as to be fearful of meeting his master, and so had kept out of the way +until full time for him to be gone to dinner. Then, working his way +homeward in the darkness of the night, he had marvelled much at finding +the back door open, rejoiced at sight of the demijohn and disorder in +the little dining-room, arguing therefrom that the lieutenant had had +some jovial callers and therefore hadn't missed him. + +Hogan drank, in his master's priceless old Blue Grass Bourbon, to the +health of the party, and then, stumbling into the bedroom and lighting +the lamp, came upon a sight that filled him with dismay--the beautiful +desk burst open, drawers and letters and papers scattered about in utter +confusion,--and in his excitement and terror he had gone on the run to +the adjutant's quarters, told that official of his discovery, and then +learned of the wholesale jail delivery that occurred at retreat. + +He wrung his hands and wept as he listened to his young master's +wrathful rebuke and the recital of his losses. He hung meekly about the +house all night long, but, unable to bear the sight of poor Ray's +mingled anger and distress, he had fled with the coming of the day and +gone to tell his woes to his friend of the Harp. + +Afternoon of Saturday came, and still Ray sat there nerveless. + +He knew that any moment now would bring that loving mother and sister. +He had cleared up the litter left by the robbers, put his desk in order, +and Hogan had done his best with the sideboard in the other room. + +Sympathetic souls among his brother officers had been in from time to +time consoling him with theories that the thief could not escape,--would +surely be recaptured and the money recovered. But on the other hand he +was visited by the returned troopers in quest of their money, and was +compelled to tell them of the robbery and to ask them to wait until +Monday, when he would be able to pay them. + +Luckier than others who have been overtaken in the army by somewhat +similar misfortune, Ray knew that he had only to acquaint his parents +with the extent of his loss, and, even though the sum was great, it +would be instantly made good. Yet the thought of having to tell his +mother was a sore thing. He had disregarded his father's caution. He had +proved unworthy of trust before the gloss had begun to wear from his +first shoulder-straps, and he well knew that his mother's fortune was no +longer what it was at the time of her marriage. + +In the years of their wanderings all over the West all her business +affairs had been in the hands of a trusted agent at home, and it so +often happens that in the prolonged absence of owners trusted agents +follow the lead of the unjust steward of Holy Writ and make friends of +the mammon of unrighteousness and ducks and drakes of their employers' +assets. + +The ranch bought for him the year gone by was a heavy drain. His father, +in giving him a few hundred dollars for his outfit, had told him that +now he must live entirely on his pay, and that he should be able to "put +by" a little every month. + +But, as was to be expected of his father's son and his Kentucky blood, +Sandy could not bid farewell to his associates at the ranch or the +citizens of the little cow and mining town on the Big Horn without a +parting "blow out," in which his health was drunk a dozen times an hour. +Oh, that he had that money now instead of certain unpaid bills in that +ravished secret drawer! It was humiliation inexpressible to have to send +those men away empty-handed, and in his dejection and misery, poor boy, +he wandered to his sideboard instead of going to luncheon at the mess, +and all he had had to eat or drink that day, by the time Mrs. Ray and +Maidie came late in the afternoon, was some crackers and cheese and he +didn't know how many nips of that priceless Blue Grass Bourbon. + +The bright, brave young eyes were glassy and his dark cheek heavily +flushed when at four o'clock he hastened out to assist his mother from +her carriage, and the color fled from her beautiful face; her heart +seemed to stand still and her hand trembled violently as she noted it +all, but took his arm without a word, and, with Maidie silently +following, went up the steps and into the little army home, where the +door closed behind them, and the knot of lookers-on, officers awaiting +the call for afternoon stables, glanced significantly at each other, +then went on their way. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Vinton's flotilla came steaming into Honolulu harbor just as the smoke +of the Doric was fading away on the westward horizon. + +Cheers and acclamations, a banquet tendered to the entire force in the +beautiful grounds about the Palace, and a welcome such as even San +Francisco had not given awaited them. Three days were spent in coaling +for the long voyage to Manila, and during that time officers and men +were enabled to spend hours in sea-bathing and sight-seeing. + +Vinton, eager to push ahead, fumed with impatience over the slow and +primitive methods by which his ships were coaled, but the junior +officers found many a cause for rejoicing over their enforced detention. +Dinners, dances, and surf-rides were the order of every evening. Riding +parties to the Pali and picnics at Pearl Harbor and the plantations +along the railway filled up every hour of the long, soft, sensuous days. + +The soldiers explored every nook and corner of the town and, for a +wonder, got back to ship without serious diminution in their number, and +with a high opinion of the police, who seemed bent on protecting the +blue-coats from the States and making the best of their exuberance of +spirits. + +Only one row of any consequence occurred within the forty-eight hours of +their arrival. Three of the Colorado volunteers playing billiards in a +prominent resort were deliberately annoyed and insulted by some merchant +sailors who had been drinking heavily at the expense of a short, +thick-set, burly fellow in a loud check suit and flaming necktie, a +stranger to the police, who knew of him only that he had landed from the +Doric and was waiting the coming of the Miowera from Vancouver for +Australia, and she was due on the morrow. + +He had taken quarters at a second-rate sailors' lodging-house and at +first kept much to himself, but, once started to drinking with his +maritime neighbors, he became noisy and truculent, and sallied forth +with four of his new-found friends, all half drunk and wholly bent on +mischief. + +The sight of three quiet-mannered young fellows playing pool in the +saloon was just the thing to excite all the blackguard instinct latent +in their half-sodden skins, and from sneering remark they had rapidly +passed to deliberate insult. + +In less than a minute thereafter the three young volunteers, flushed and +panting, were surveying the police and bystanders busily engaged in +dragging out from under the tables and propping up some wrecks of +humanity, while the head devil of the whole business, the burly civilian +in the loud-checked suit, pitched headlong out of the rear window, was +stanching the blood from his broken nose at the hydrant of a neighboring +stable. + +The volunteers were escorted to the landing with all honors, and their +antagonists, barring the ringleader, to the police station. The affair +was over so quickly that few had seen anything of it and only one man +had pitched in to the support of the soldiers--a civilian who came over +on the Vanguard by the authority of General Vinton, the ex-brakeman of +the Southern Pacific. While the Colorado men had little to say beyond +the statement that they had been wantonly insulted if not actually +assailed by a gang of strangers, the railway man was ablaze with +excitement and wrath over the escape of the leader of the vanquished +party. + +"I've seen that cur-dog face of his somewhere before," said he, "and the +quicker you find him and nab him the better. That man's wanted in more +than one place, or I'm a duffer." + +And so the police spent hours that night in search of the stranger, but +to no purpose. He kept in hiding somewhere, and their efforts were vain. +Search of his luggage at the lodging-house revealed the fact that he had +a lot of new shirts, underwear, etc., but not a paper or mark that +revealed his identity. The proprietor said the man had given the name of +Spence, but he heard two of the sailors call him Sackett. + +The following evening the general and his staff dined at the beautiful +home of one of the old and wealthy residents, and towards nine o'clock +Mr. Stuyvesant asked his general's permission to withdraw, as he had two +calls to make before returning aboard ship. They were to sail at dawn. + +Bidding good-night and good-by to his charming hostess, and declining +the hospitable offer of a post-prandial "peg" from her genial lord, the +young officer stepped blithely away down the moonlit avenue. + +It was a beautiful summer night. The skies were cloudless, the air soft +and still. Somewhere, either at the park or in the grounds of the Royal +Hawaiian, the famous band of Honolulu was giving a concert, and strains +of glorious music, rich and full, came floating on the gentle breeze. +Here and there the electric lights were gleaming in the dense tropical +foliage, and sounds of merry chat and musical laughter fell softly on +the ear. + +The broad thoroughfare of Beretania Street was well nigh deserted, +though once in a while the lights of a cab on noiseless wheel flashed +by, and at rare intervals Stuyvesant met or overtook some blissful pair +whispering in the deep shadows of the overhanging trees. + +It was quite a walk to the consul-general's, his first objective point, +but he enjoyed it and the brief visit that followed. Naturally the +affair of the previous evening came up for discussion, and there was +some conjecture and speculation as to the identity of the leader of the +attack on the Denver boys. Stuyvesant repeated what his friend the +brakeman said, that somewhere he had seen the fellow's face before, but +he had only a second's glimpse of it, for the moment he launched in to +the aid of the volunteers the man in the check suit caught sight of +him--and a simultaneous crack on the nose that sent him reeling towards +the open window, through which he darted the instant he could recover +balance, leaving the field equally divided, four to four in point of +numbers, but otherwise with overwhelming advantage on the side of the +clear heads and trained muscles of the soldiers. + +A grewsome sight those sailors had presented when called up for sentence +in the morning, and a remorseful quartette they proved. Moreover, to the +consul-general, who had been called in in the interest of fair play for +Jack, they declared that they were innocent of all evil intent. They +only went in for a little fun with the soldiers. It was that San +Francisco fellow who called himself Spence when he was sober and Sackett +when he got drunk who brought on the row, and then abandoned them to +their fate. He had owned that he "had it in" for soldiers in +general,--hated the whole gang of them and wanted to see them well +licked. He had plenty of money and would pay their fines if the police +"ran them in," and now he had left them in the lurch. + +They had no money and were confronted with the probability of a +month's labor with the "chain-gang" on the public roads if the +consul-general couldn't get them off. So that amiable official had +gone out to the flotilla and had a talk with the Colorado officers and +the three brawny heroes of the billiard-room battle, with the result +that everybody agreed to heap all the blame on the vanished culprit in +the check suit, and the sailors got off with a nominal fine and went +home to nurse their bruises and their wrath against Spence, _alias_ +Sackett. That fellow shouldn't get away on the Miowera if they could +help it. + +All this Stuyvesant was pondering over as, after stopping to leave his +P. P. C. at the Pacific Club, he strolled down Fort Street on his way to +the boat-landing. The big whistle of an incoming steamer had attracted +his attention as he left the consul-general's to make one more call, and +at the club he heard someone say the Miowera had reached her dock and +would sail for Australia in the morning. + +The sky, that had been so cloudless early in the evening, became +somewhat overcast by eleven, and the moonlight was dim and vague as he +reached the landing. + +In his several trips to and from the transport it happened that he had +fallen frequently into the hands of a bright Kanaka boatboy whose +admirable rowing and handling of the boat had pleased and interested +him. + +"Be ready to take me out about 11.30," he had told him, and now where +was he? + +Several officers and soldiers were there bargaining with the boatmen, +and three or four of these amphibious Hawaiians precipitated themselves +on Stuyvesant with appeals for a job, but he asked for Joe. + +"Him gone," was the answer of an eager rival. "Him other job;" but even +as they would have persuaded Stuyvesant that Joe was not to be had and +his selection must be one of their number, Joe himself came running from +the direction of a warehouse a short pistol-shot away. + +"What kept you, Joe?" asked Stuyvesant, as the light boat danced away on +the tide. + +"Feller want me take him outside Miowera," was the answer, "him behind +warehouse." + +"The deuce you say!" exclaimed Stuyvesant, turning about in the +stern-sheets and gazing back to shore. "Are there landing-stairs at the +warehouse, and is he waiting for you there?" + +"Huh," nodded Joe. + +"Then here," said Stuyvesant, glancing moon-ward and noting with +satisfaction that the luminary was behind a thick bank of clouds. "Turn +back and row to the warehouse steps. I want to look at that fellow." So +saying, he quickly threw off his uniform coat with its gleaming +shoulder-straps and collar device, stowed his forage-cap under the seat, +and sat bareheaded and in his shirt-sleeves. + +Obedient to Joe's powerful strokes, the little boat was speedily gliding +in among the shadows of the sailing-ships moored along the quay, and +presently her stern was swung round to a flight of stone steps, and +Stuyvesant bounded ashore. Over at the boat-landing the electric lights +were gleaming and the sound of many voices chaffering over boat-fares +was heard. Here among the sheds and warehouses all was silence and +darkness, but Stuyvesant unhesitatingly strode straight to the corner of +the big building and into the blackness of the westward side, peering +right and left in search of the skulker who dared not come to the open +dock, yet sought means of reaching the Australian steamer. + +For a moment he could distinguish no living object, then paused to +listen, and within ten seconds was rewarded. Somewhere close at hand +between him and a low shed to his left there was the sound of sudden +collision and a muttered oath. Some invisible body had bumped against +some invisible box, and, turning sharply, Stuyvesant made a spring, and +the next instant had grappled with some burly, powerful form, and was +dragging it, despite furious resistance, towards the light. + +He was conscious of the sickening odor of sour whiskey, of a volley of +mad threats and imprecations, of a stinging blow in the face that only +served to make him cling the tighter to his prisoner. Then, as they +swayed and struggled to and fro, he felt that he was not gaining ground, +and that this unseen ruffian might after all escape him. He lifted up +his voice in a mighty shout: + +"Police! Police! This way!" + +Then he heard a savage oath, a sputtering, savage "Let go, damn +your soul!" and then felt a sharp, stinging pang in the right +side--another--another! and earth and sky reeled as his grasp relaxed, +and with a moan of anguish he sank fainting on the dock. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Vinton's fleet had reached Manila. A third expedition had coaled at +Honolulu and gone on its way. More transports were coming, and still +there lingered in this lovely land of sun and flowers--lingered for a +time 'twixt life and death--Vinton's stricken aide-de-camp, Lieutenant +Stuyvesant. + +Of his brutal antagonist no trace had been found. The shrill cries of +the Kanaka boat-boy, supplementing the young officer's stentorian shout +for the police, had brought two or three Hawaiian star-bearers and +club-wielders to the scene of that fierce and well-nigh fatal struggle. +All they found was the gallant victim writhing in pain upon the dock, +his hand pressed to his side and covered with the blood that poured from +his wounds. + +It was half an hour before a surgeon reached them, rowed in with the +general from the Vanguard. By that time consciousness had fled and, +through loss of the vital fluid, Stuyvesant's pulse was well-nigh gone. +They bore him to the Royal Hawaiian, where a cool and comfortable room +could be had, and there, early on the following morning, and to the care +of local physicians, the general was compelled to leave him. + +With the brakeman to aid them, the police searched every nook and corner +of the Miowera, and without result. Murray, _alias_ Spence, _alias_ +Sackett, fugitive from justice, could not be aboard that ship unless he +had burrowed beneath the coal in the bunkers, in which event the stokers +promised he should be shovelled into the furnaces as soon as discovered. +Every sailor's lodging in the town was ransacked, but to no purpose: +Murray could not be found. + +For a fortnight Stuyvesant's fate was in doubt. Officers of the third +expedition could carry with them to Manila only the hope that he might +recover. Not until the ships of the fourth flotilla were sighted was the +doctor able to say that the chances were now decidedly in his favor. + +He was lifted into a reclining chair the day of the flag-raising--that +pathetic ceremony in which, through tear-dimmed eyes, the people saw +their old and much-loved emblem supplanted by the stars and stripes of +their new hope and aspirations. He was sitting up, languid, pallid, and +grievously thin, when the tidings reached him that the transport with +six troops of the --th Cavalry among others had arrived, and the doctor, +with a quizzical grin on his genial face, informed his patient that some +Red Cross nurses were with the command, and that two very nice-looking +young women, in their official caps, aprons, and badges, were at that +moment inquiring at the office if they could not see the invalid officer +and be of some service to him. + +Sore in body and spirit, wrathful at the fate that robbed him of a share +of the glory he felt sure awaited his comrades at Manila, Stuyvesant was +in no humor for a joke and plainly showed it. He gave it distinctly to +be understood that he needed no coddling of any kind and preferred not +to see the ladies, no matter what they belonged to. Not to put too fine +a point upon it, Mr. Stuyvesant said he didn't "wish to be bothered," +and this was practically the reply that reached two very earnest, +kind-hearted young women, for the attendant, scenting the possible loss +of a big fee if he should be supplanted by superior attractions, +communicated the invalid's exact words to the Red Cross nurses, and they +went back, wounded, to their ship. + +Stuyvesant's room was on the ground-floor in one of the outlying +cottages, and its Venetian blinds opened on the broad and breezy +veranda. It was far more quiet and retired than apartments in the main +building, the rooms overhead being vacant and the occupants of that +which adjoined his having left for San Francisco within a day or two of +his coming. + +"I feel too forlorn to see anybody," was his explanation to the doctor. +"So don't let anybody in." But several officers from the transport got +leave to come ashore and take quarters at the Hawaiian. The rooms above +had to be given to them, and their resounding footsteps made him wince. + +"There's two ladies to take this next-door room," said his garrulous +attendant that afternoon, and Stuyvesant thought opprobrious things. +"They'll be giggling and talking all night, I suppose," said he +disgustedly when the "medico" came in late that afternoon. "I wish you'd +move me, if you can't them." + +The doctor went and consulted the head of the house. "Certainly," said +that affable Boniface. "If Mr. Stuyvesant is well enough to be carried +up one flight I can give him a larger, airier room with bath attached, +where he'll be entirely isolated. It was too expensive for our visitors +from the transports, but--I believe you said Mr. Stuyvesant--wouldn't +mind"--a tentative at which the doctor looked wise and sagely winked. + +When that able practitioner returned to the cottage two young women with +Red Cross badges were seated on the veranda, just in from a drive, +apparently, and a dark-eyed little chap in the uniform of a subaltern of +the cavalry was with them. They had drawn their chairs into the shade +and close to the Venetian blinds, behind which in his darkened room +reclined the languid patient. + +"That will drive him simply rabid," said the doctor to himself, and +prepared a professional smile with which to tell the glad tidings that +he should be borne forthwith to higher regions. + +He had left Stuyvesant peevish, fretful, but otherwise inert, asking +only to be spared from intrusion. He found him alert, attent, eager, his +eyes kindling, his cheeks almost flushing. The instant the doctor began +to speak the patient checked him and bent his ear to the sound of soft +voices and laughter from without. + +"I've fixed it all," whispered the medical man reassuringly. "We'll move +you in a minute--just as soon as I can call in another man or two," and +he started for the door, whereat his erratic patient again uplifted a +hand and beckoned, and the doctor tip-toed to his side and bent his ear +and looked puzzled, perturbed, but finally pleased. Stuyvesant said +that, thinking it all over, he "guessed" he would rather stay where he +was. + +And then, when the doctor was gone, what did he do but take a brace in +his chair and bid the attendant go out and say to the officer on the +veranda, Lieutenant Ray, that Mr. Stuyvesant would be very glad to speak +with him if he'd be so kind as to come in, whereat the soft laughter +suddenly ceased. + +There was a sound of light footsteps going in one direction and a +springy, soldierly step coming in the other. Then entered Mr. Sanford +Ray, with outstretched hands, and the attendant, following and peering +over his shoulder, marvelled at the sudden change that had come over his +master. + +Three days later, when the City of Sacramento was pronounced ready to +proceed, and the officers and Red Cross nurses _en route_ to Manila were +warned to rejoin the ship, Lieutenant Stuyvesant "shook," so to speak, +his civil physician, persuaded the army surgeons with the fleet that a +sea-voyage was all he needed to make a new man of him, and was carried +aboard the Sacramento and given an airy stateroom on the upper deck, +vacated in his favor by one of the ship's officers,--consideration not +made public, but Claus Spreckles & Co., bankers, had never before +received such a deposit from this very able seaman in all the years he +had been sailing or steaming in and out of Honolulu harbor. + +And now retribution overtook the invalid. The Red Cross had made a +marvellous name for itself in San Francisco, and was already organized +and doing wonders at Honolulu. Its ministrations had been gladly +accepted by the scores of officers and men among the volunteers, to whom +the somewhat bare and crude conditions of camp hospitals were doubtless +very trying. Women of gentlest birth and most refined associations +donned its badge and dress and wrought in ward, kitchen, or refectory. +It was a noble and patriotic purpose that inspired such sacrifice. + +It was a joy to the embryo soldiery to be fed and comforted day by day +with the delicacies of the Red Cross tables; but there were military +magnates and martinets who dared to question the wisdom of such +preparation for the stern scenes of campaigning ahead of the volunteers, +and who presumed to point out to the officers of this great and +far-reaching charity that, while they were most grateful for such +dainties for the invalids of their command, the daily spectacle of +scores of lusty, hearty young heroes feasting at the tables of the Red +Cross, to the neglect of their own simple but sufficient rations, +prompted the query as to what the boys would do without the Red Cross +when they got into the field and couldn't have cake and pie and cream +with their coffee. + +The Red Cross, very properly, took umbrage at such suggestions and +branded the suggesters as horrid. The Red Cross had done such widespread +good and was ready to do so much more that criticism of its methods was +well-nigh unbearable. And now that it had obtained the sanction of the +government to send out to Manila not only supplies and dainties of every +possible kind, but dozens of its members to serve as nurses to the sick +and wounded, it scored a triumph over rival organizations, notably the +Patriotic Daughters of America, whose vice-president, the austere Miss +Perkins, first bombarded the papers in vain protest and denunciation, +the Red Cross being her main objective, and with abuse of the commanding +officers in camp; then called in person on the same officers to demand +transportation to Manila with the next expedition. + +The Red Cross held its head very high, and with reason. It ruffled its +feathers and resented any slight. It sometimes mistook courteous +protest against its lavish gifts to such soldiers as were in no wise +needy as vicious and unhallowed criticism, and occasionally--_only_ +occasionally--it grievously enlarged and exaggerated alleged slights +received at the hands of luckless officials. And then even those soft +and shapely hands could develop cat-like claws, and the soothing +voices take on an acid and scathing intonation, and the eyes, so ready +to moisten with pity and sympathy at the sight of suffering, could +shoot spiteful little fires at the objects of such divine displeasure, +and poor Stuyvesant's petulant words, wrung from him in a moment of +exasperation and never intended to reach the fair band of sisters of +the Cross, were piled high with additions, impolitic, impolite, +discourteous, impudent, intolerable, yes, even profane and +blasphemous. + +Eleven of the twelve Red Cross nurses, packed three in a room aboard the +Sacramento, swore they would not have anything to do with Mr. +Stuyvesant. The twelfth, the one soldier's daughter in the band, said +nothing at all. + +"Well, now, Miss Ray, _don't_ you think it was most discourteous, most +ungentlemanly, in him to send such a message?" demanded a flushed and +indignant young woman, one of the most energetic of the sisterhood, as +they stood together on the promenade deck in the shade of the canvas +awnings, shunning the glare of the August sun. + +"Are you sure such a message was sent?" was the serious reply. + +"Sure? Why, _certainly_ he did! and by his own servant, too!" was the +wrathful answer. "Didn't he, Miss Porter?" + +And Miss Porter, the damsel appealed to, and one of the two nurses who +sent in their message from the office, promptly assented. Miss Ray +looked unconvinced. + +"Servants, you know, sometimes deliver messages that were never sent," +she answered with quiet decision. "We have seen quite a little of that +in the army, and it is my father's rule to get all the facts before +passing judgment. My brother thought Mr. Stuyvesant's attendant +garrulous and meddlesome." + +"But I asked him if he was sure that was what Mr. Stuyvesant said," +persisted Miss Porter, bridling, "and he answered they were just the +very words." + +"And still I doubt his having sent them as a message," said Miss Ray, +with slight access of color, and that evening she walked the deck long +with a happy subaltern and added to her unpopularity. + +There were several well-informed and pleasant women, maids and matrons +both, in the little sisterhood, but somehow "the boys" did not show such +avidity to walk or chat with them as they did with Miss Ray. She sorely +wanted a talk with Sandy that evening, but the Belgic had come in from +'Frisco only six hours before they sailed and huge bags of letters and +papers were transferred from her to the Sacramento. + +There were letters for Maidie and Sandy both,--several,--but there was +one bulky missive for him that she knew to be from her father, from +far-away Tampa, and the boy had come down late to dinner. They had seats +at the table of the commanding officer, a thing Maidie had really tried +to avoid, as she felt that it discriminated, somehow, against the other +nurses, who, except Mrs. Doctor Wells, their official head, were +distributed about the other tables, but the major had long known and +loved her father, and would have it so. This night, their first out from +Honolulu, he had ordered wine-glasses on the long table and champagne +served, and when dinner was well-nigh over, noticed for the first time +that Ray had turned his glass down. + +"Why, Sandy," he cried impulsively, "it is just twenty-two years ago +this summer that your father made the ride of his life through the +Indian lines to save Wayne's command on the Cheyenne. Now, there are +just twenty-two of us here at table, and I wanted to propose his health +and promotion. Won't you join us?" + +The boy colored to the roots of his dark hair. His eyes half filled. He +choked and stammered a moment and then--back went the head with the old +familiar toss that was so like his father, and through his set lips +Sandy bravely spoke: + +"Can't, major. I swore off--to-day!" + +"All right, my boy, that ends it!" answered the major heartily, while +Marion, her eyes brimming, barely touched her lips to the glass, and +longed to be on Sandy's side of the table that she might steal a hand to +him in love and sympathy and sisterly pride. But he avoided even her +when dinner was over, and was busy, he sent word, with troop papers down +between-decks, and she felt, somehow, that that letter was at the bottom +of his sudden resolution and longed to see it, yet could not ask. + +At three bells, half-past nine, she saw him coming quickly along the +promenade-deck, and she stopped her escort and held out a detaining +hand. + +"You'll come and have a little talk with me, won't you, Sandy?" she +pleaded. "I'll wait for you as long as you like." + +"After I've seen Stuyvesant awhile," he answered hurriedly. "He isn't so +well. I reckon he must have overdone it," and away he went with his +springy step until he reached the forward end of the promenade, where he +tapped at the stateroom door. The surgeon opened it and admitted him. + +His eyes were grave and anxious when, ten minutes later, he reappeared. +"Norris is with him," he said in low tone, as he looked down into the +sweet, serious, upturned face. "He shouldn't have tried it. He fooled +the doctors completely. I'll tell you more presently," he added, noting +that Mrs. Wells, with two or three of the band, were bearing down upon +him for tidings of the invalid, and Sandy had heard,--as who had +not?--the unfavorable opinions entertained by the sisterhood of his +luckless, new-found friend. + +"The doctor says he mustn't be both--I mean disturbed--wants to get him +to sleep, you know," was his hurried and not too happy response to the +queries of the three. "Matter of business he wanted to ask me about, +that's all," he called back, as he broke away and dodged other +inquiries. Once in the little box of a stateroom to which he and a +fellow subaltern had been assigned, he bolted the door, turned on the +electric light, and took from under his pillow a packet of letters and +sat him down to read. There was one from his mother, written on her way +back to Leavenworth, which he pored over intently and then reverently +kissed. Later, and for the second time, he unfolded and read the longest +letter his father had ever penned. It was as follows: + + "I have slipped away from camp and its countless interruptions and + taken a room at the hotel to-night, dear Sandy, for I want to have + a long talk with my boy,--a talk we ought to have had before, and + it is my fault that we didn't. I shrank from it somehow, and now + am sorry for it. + + "Your frank and manful letter, telling me of your severe loss and + of the weakness that followed, reached me two days ago. Your + mother's came yesterday, fonder than ever and pleading for you as + only mothers can. It is a matter that has cost us all dear + financially, but, thanks to that loving mother, you were promptly + enabled to cover the loss and save your name. You know and realize + the sacrifices she had to make, and she tells me that you insisted + on knowing. I am glad you did, my boy. I am going to leave in your + hands the whole matter of repayment. + + "A young fellow of twenty can start in the army with many a worse + handicap than a debt of honor and a determination to work it off. + That steadies him. That matter really gives me less care than you + thought for. It is the other--your giving way to an impulse to + drink--that fills me with concern. You come up like a man, admit + your fault, and say you deserve and expect my severe censure. + Well, I've thought it all over, Sandy. My heart and my arms go out + to you in your distress and humiliation, and--I have not one word + of reproach or blame to give you. + + "For now I shall tell you what I had thought to say when your + graduation drew nigh, had we been able to master mechanics and + molecules and other mathematical rot as useful to a cavalry + officer as a binocular to a blind man, and that I ought to have + told you when you started out for yourself as a young _ranchero_, + but could not bring myself to it so long as you seemed to have no + inclination that way. Times, men, and customs have greatly changed + in the last forty or fifty years, my boy, and greatly for the + better. Looking back over my boyhood, I can recall no day when + wine was not served on your grandfather's table. The brightest + minds and bravest men in all Kentucky pledged each other day and + night in the cup that sometimes cheers and ofttimes inebriates, + and no public occasion was complete without champagne and whiskey + in abundance, no personal or private transaction considered + auspicious unless appropriately 'wet.' + + "Those were days when our statesmen revelled in sentiment and + song, and drank and gambled with the fervor of the followers of + the races. I was a boy of tender years then, and often, with my + playmates, I was called from our merry games to join the gentlemen + over their wine and drain a bumper to our glorious 'Harry of the + West,' and before I went to the Point, Sandy, I knew the best, and + possibly the worst, whiskeys made in Kentucky,--we _all_ did,--and + the man or youth who could not stand his glass of liquor was + looked upon as a milksop or pitied, and yet, after all, respected, + as a 'singed cat,'--a fellow who owned that John Barleycorn was + too much for him, and he did not dare a single round with him. + + "Then came the great war, and wars are always in one way + demoralizing. West Point in the early sixties was utterly unlike + the West Point of to-day, and no worse than a dozen of our + greatest colleges. The corps still had its tales and traditions of + the old time Fourth-of-July dinners at the mess hall, when + everybody made a dash for the decanters and drank everything in + sight. It was the only day in the year on which wine was served. + It was in my time the invariable custom for the superintendent to + receive the Board of Visitors on the day of their arrival at his + quarters and to invite the officers and the graduating class to + meet them, and to set forth, as for years had been the fashion at + Washington, wine and punch in abundance, and the very officers + detailed as our instructors would laughingly invite and challenge + the youngsters so soon to shed the gray and wear the blue to drink + with them again and again. I have seen dozens of the best and + bravest of our fellows come reeling and shouting back to barracks, + and a thoughtless set of boys laughing and applauding. + + "I was stationed at the Point soon after graduation, and the men + who drank were the rule, not the exception. Social visits were + rarely exchanged without the introduction of the decanter. The + marvel is that so many were 'temperate in our meat and drink,' as + my father and grandfather used to plead when, regularly every + morning, the family and the negro servants were mustered for + prayers. At every post where I was stationed, either in the East + or where I was most at home,--the far frontier,--whiskey was the + established custom, and man after man, fellows who had made fine + records during the war, and bright boys with whom I had worn the + gray at the Point, fell by the wayside and were court-martialled + out of service. + + "In '70 and '71 we had a Board that swept the army like a seine + and relegated scores of tipplers to civil life, but that didn't + stop it. Little by little the sense and manhood of our people + began to tell. Little by little the feeling against stimulant + began to develop at the Point. It was no longer a joke to set a + fledgling officer to taste the tempter--it was a crime. Four years + after I was commissioned we had only one total abstainer out of + some fifty officers at the mess, and he was a man whose life and + honor depended on it. Three years ago, when I went to see you, + there were dozens at the mess who never drank at all, and only + eight who even smoked. Athletics and rifle-practice had much to do + with this, I know, but there has gradually developed all over our + land, notably in those communities where the custom used to be + most honored in the observance, a total revulsion of sentiment. + + "Quarter of a century ago, even among many gently nurtured women, + the sight of a man overcome by liquor excited only sorrow and + sympathy; now it commands nothing less than abhorrence. I and my + surviving contemporaries started in life under the old system. + You, my dear boy, are more fortunate in having begun with the new. + Among the old soldiers there are still some few votaries of + Bacchus who have to count their cups most carefully or risk their + commissions. Among those under forty our army has far more total + abstainers than all the others in the world, and such soldiers as + Grant, Crook, Merritt, and Upton, of our service, and Kitchener of + Khartoum, are on record as saying that the staying powers of the + teetotaller exceed those even of the temperate man, and staying + power is a thing to cultivate. + + "As you know, I have never banished wine from our table, my boy. + Both your mother and I had been accustomed to seeing it in daily + use from childhood, yet she rarely touches it, even at our + dinners. But, Sanford, I sent John Barleycorn to the right about + the day your blessed mother promised to be my wife, and though I + always keep it in the sideboard for old comrades whose heads and + stomachs are still sound, and who find it agrees with them better + than wine, I never offer it to the youngsters. They don't need it, + Sandy, and no more do you. + + "But you come of a race that lived as did their fellow-men,--to + whom cards, the bottle, and betting were everyday affairs. It + would be remarkable if you never developed a tendency towards one + or all of them, and it was my duty to warn you before. I mourn + every hour I wasted over cards and every dollar I ever won from a + comrade more than--much more than--the many hundred dollars I lost + in my several years' apprenticeship to poker. It's just about the + poorest investment of time a soldier can devise. + + "Knowing all I do, and looking back over the path of my life, + strewn as it is with the wrecks of fellow-men ruined by whiskey, I + declare if I could live it over again it would be with the + determination never to touch a card for money or a glass for + liquor. + + "And now, my own boy, let me bear the blame of this--your first + transgression. You are more to us than we have ever told you. You + are now your sister's guardian and knight, for, though she goes + under the wing of Mrs. Dr. Wells, and, owing to her intense desire + to take a woman's part we could not deny her, both your mother and + I are filled with anxiety as to the result. To you we look to be + her shield in every possible way. We have never ceased to thank + God for the pride and joy He has given us in our children. (You + yourself would delight in seeing what a tip-top little soldier + Will is making.) You have ever been manful, truthful, and, I say + it with pride and thankfulness unutterable, _square_ as boy could + be. You have our whole faith and trust and love unspeakable. You + have the best and fondest mother in the world, my son. And now I + have not one more word to urge or advise. Think and decide for + yourself. Your manhood, under God, will do the rest. + + "In love and confidence, + + "Father." + +When Marion came tapping timidly at the stateroom door there was for a +moment no answer. Sandy's face was buried in his hands as he knelt +beside the little white berth. He presently arose, dashed some water +over his eyes and brows, then shot back the bolt and took his sister in +his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Not until the tenth day out from Honolulu was Mr. Stuyvesant so far +recovered as to warrant the surgeons in permitting his being lifted from +the hot and narrow berth to a steamer-chair on the starboard side. Even +then it was with the caution to everybody that he must not be disturbed. +The heat below and in many of the staterooms was overpowering, and +officers and soldiers in numbers slept upon the deck, and not a few of +the Red Cross nurses spent night after night in the bamboo and wicker +reclining-chairs under the canvas awnings. + +Except for the tropic temperature, the weather had been fine and the +voyage smooth and uneventful. The Sacramento rolled easily, lazily +along. The men had morning shower-baths and, a few at a time, salt-water +plunges in big canvas tanks set fore and aft on the main deck. On the +port or southern side of the promenade deck the officers sported their +pajamas both day and night, and were expected to appear in khaki or +serge, and consequent discomfort, only at table, on drill or duty, and +when visiting the starboard side, which, abaft the captain's room, was +by common consent given up to the women. + +They were all on hand the morning that the invalid officer was carefully +aided from his stateroom to a broad reclining-chair, which was then +borne to a shaded nook beneath the stairway leading to the bridge and +there securely lashed. The doctor and Mr. Ray remained some minutes with +him, and the steward came with a cooling drink. Mrs. Wells, doctor by +courtesy and diploma, arose and asked the surgeon if there were really +nothing the ladies could do--"Mr. Stuyvesant looks so very pale and +weak,"--and the sisterhood strained their ears for the reply, which, as +the surgeon regarded the lady's remark as reflecting upon the results of +his treatment, might well be expected to be somewhat tart. + +"Nothing to-day, Mrs.--er--Dr. Wells," said the army man, half vexed, +also, at being detained on way to hospital. "The fever has gone and he +will soon recuperate now, provided he can rest and sleep. It is much +cooler on deck and--if it's only quiet----" + +"Oh, he sha'n't be bothered, if that's what you mean," interposed Dr. +Wells with proper spirit. "I'm sure nobody desires to intrude in the +least. I asked for my associates from a sense of duty. Most of them are +capable of fanning or even reading aloud to a patient without danger of +over-exciting him." + +"Unquestionably, madam," responded the surgeon affably, "and when such +ministrations are needed I'll let you know. Good-morning." And, lifting +his stiff helmet, the doctor darted down the companion-way. + +"Brute!" said the lady doctor. "No wonder that poor boy doesn't get +well. Miss Ray, I marvel that your brother can stand him." + +Miss Ray glanced quietly up from her book and smiled. "We have known Dr. +Sturgis many years," she said. "He is brusque, yet very much thought of +in the army." + +But at this stage of the colloquy there came interruption most +merciful--for the surgeon. The deep whistle of the steamer sounded three +quick blasts. There was instant rush and scurry on the lower deck. The +cavalry trumpets fore and aft rang out the assembly. + +It was the signal for boat-drill, and while the men of certain companies +sprang to ranks and stood in silence at attention awaiting orders, other +detachments rushed to their stations at the life-rafts, and others still +swarmed up the stairways or clambered over the rails, and in less than a +minute every man was at his post. Quickly the staff officers made the +rounds, received the reports of the detachment commanders and the boat +crews, and returning, with soldierly salute, gave the results to the +commanding officer, who had taken position with the captain on the +bridge. + +For five or ten minutes the upper deck was dotted by squads of +blue-shirted soldiers, grouped in disciplined silence about the boats. +Then the recall was sounded, and slowly and quietly the commands +dispersed and went below. + +It so happened that in returning to the forecastle about a dozen +troopers passed close to where Stuyvesant lay, a languid spectator, and +at sight of his pale, thin face two of them stopped, raised their hands +in salute, looked first eager and pleased, and then embarrassed. Their +faces were familiar, and suddenly Stuyvesant remembered. Beckoning them +to come nearer, he feebly spoke: + +"You were in the car-fire. I thought I knew your faces." + +"Yes, sir," was the instant reply of the first. "We're sorry to see the +lieutenant so badly hurt--and by that blackguard Murray too, they say. +If the boys ever get hold of him, sir, he'll never have time for his +prayers." + +"No, nor another chance to bite," grinned the second, whom Stuyvesant +now recognized as the lance corporal of artillery. "He's left his mark +on both of us, sir," and, so saying, the soldier held out his hand. + +In the soft and fleshy part of the palm at the base of the thumb were +the scars of several wounds. It did not need an expert eye to tell that +they were human-tooth marks. There were the even traces of the middle +incisors, the deep gash made by the fang-like dog tooth, and between the +mark of the right upper canine and those of three incisors a smooth, +unscarred space. There, then, must have been a vacancy in the upper jaw, +a tooth broken off or gone entirely, and Stuyvesant remembered that as +Murray spoke the eye-tooth was the more prominent because of the ugly +gap beside it. + +"He had changed the cut of his jib considerably," faintly whispered +Stuyvesant, after he had extended a kind but nerveless hand to each, +"but that mark would betray him anywhere under any disguise. Was Foster +ever found?" + +"No, sir. They sent me back to Sacramento, but nobody could remember +having seen anybody like him. I'm afraid he was drowned there at +Carquinez. My battery went over with the third expedition while I was up +there. That's how I happen to be with the cavalry on this trip." Then up +went both hands to the caps again and both soldiers sprang to attention. + +Stuyvesant, looking languidly around, saw that Mr. Ray had returned, +saw, moreover, that his sister was leaning on his arm, her eyes fixed on +the speaker's weather-beaten face. Again it all flashed upon him--the +story of Foster's infatuation for this lovely girl, his enlistment, and +then his strange and unaccountable disappearance. + +"I'm sorry, men," interposed Mr. Ray in pleasant tone, "but the surgeon +has ordered us not to talk with Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and I shall have +to repeat his order to you. You were in the car that was burned, I +suppose?" + +"Yes, sir. Beg pardon--we didn't know about the doctor's orders. We're +mighty glad to see the lieutenant again. Come 'long, Mellen." + +"Wait," whispered Stuyvesant. "Come and see me again. I want to talk +with you, and--thank you for stopping to-day." + +The soldiers departed happy, and Stuyvesant turned wistfully to greet +Miss Ray. She was already beyond reach of his voice, leaning on Sandy's +arm and gazing steadfastly into his face. He saw Mrs. Dr. Wells coming +swiftly towards him with inquiry in her eyes, and impulsively, +peevishly, and in disappointment he turned again his face to the wall, +as it were. At least that was not the Red Cross nurse he longed for, +good and sympathetic and wise in her way as she undoubtedly was. + +He wished now with all his heart that they had placed his chair so that +he could look back along the promenade deck instead of forward over the +forecastle at the sparkling sea. He felt that, pacing up and down +together, the brother and sister must come within ten feet of his chair +before they turned back, and he longed to look at her, yet could not. +Sturgis had said he would return in a few minutes, and he hadn't come. +Stuyvesant felt aggrieved. It would be high noon before many minutes. +Already the ship officers were on the bridge ready to "take the sun," +and mess-call for the men was sounding on the lower decks. He would give +a fortune, thought he, to feel once more that cool, soft, slender little +hand on his forehead. There were other hands, some that were certainly +whiter than Miss Ray's, and probably quite as soft and cool, hands that +before the report of his slur upon the Red Cross would gladly have +ministered to him, but he shrank from thought of any touch but one. He +would have given another fortune, if he had it, could Marion Ray but +come and sit by him and talk in her cordial, pleasant tones. There were +better talkers, wittier, brighter women within hail--women who kept +their hearers laughing much of the time, which Miss Ray did not, yet he +shrank from the possibility of one of their number accosting him. + +Twice he was conscious that Dr. Wells and Miss Porter had tip-toed close +and were peering interestedly at him, but he shut his eyes and would not +see or hear. He did not "want to be bothered," it was only too evident, +and as the ship's bell chimed the hour of noon and the watch changed, +his would-be visitors slipped silently away and he was alone. + +When the doctor came cautiously towards him a few minutes later, +Stuyvesant was to all appearances sleeping, and the "medico" rejoiced in +the success of his scheme. When, not five minutes after the doctor +peeped at him, the voice of the captain was heard booming from the +bridge just over the patient's pillowed head, it developed that the +patient was wide awake. Perhaps what the captain said would account for +this. + +A dozen times on the voyage that mariner had singled out Miss Ray for +some piece of attention. Now, despite the fact that almost the entire +Red Cross party were seated or strolling or reclining there under the +canvas awning and he must have known it, although they were hidden from +his view, he again made that young lady the object of his homage. She +was at the moment leaning over the rail, with Sandy by her side, gazing +at the dark blue, beautiful waters that, flashing and foam-crested, went +sweeping beneath her. The monarch of the ship, standing at the outer end +of the bridge, had caught sight of her and gave tongue at once. A good +seaman was the captain and a stalwart man, but he knew nothing of tact +or discretion. + +"Oh, Miss Ray," he bawled, "come up on the bridge and I'll show you the +chart. Bring the lieutenant." + +For an instant she hesitated, reluctant. Not even the staff of the +commanding officer had set foot on that sacred perch since the voyage +began, only when especially bidden or at boat or fire drill did that +magnate himself presume to ascend those stairs. As for her sister +nurses, though they had explored the lower regions and were well +acquainted with the interior arrangement of the Sacramento, and were +consumed with curiosity and desire to see what was aloft on the +hurricane-deck, the stern prohibition still staring at them in bold, +brazen letters, "Passengers are Forbidden upon the Bridge," had served +to restrain the impulse to climb. + +And now here was Captain Butt singling out Miss Ray again and ignoring +the rest of them. If she could have found any reasonable excuse for +refusing Maidie Ray would have declined. But Sandy's eyes said "Come." +Butt renewed his invitation. She turned and looked appealingly at Mrs. +Wells, as though to say "What shall I do?" but that matron was +apparently engrossed in a volume of Stevenson, and would not be drawn +into the matter, and finally Marion caught Miss Porter's eye. There, at +least, was a gleam of encouragement and sympathy. Impulsive and +capricious as that young woman could be on occasions, the girl had +learned to appreciate the genuine qualities of her room-mate, and of +late had been taking sides for Marion against the jealousies of her +fellows. + +"Why don't you go?" she murmured, with a nod of her head towards the +stairs, and with slightly heightened color, Miss Ray smiled acceptance +at the captain, and, following Sandy's lead through the labyrinth of +steamer-chairs about them, tripped briskly away over the open deck, and +there, at the very foot of the steep, ladder-like ascent, became aware +of Mr. Stuyvesant leaning on an elbow and gazing at her with all his big +blue eyes. + +She had to stop and go around under the stairs and take his thin, +outstretched hand. She had to stop a moment to speak to him, though what +he said, or she said, neither knew a moment after. All she was conscious +of as she turned away was that now at least every eye in all the +sisterhood was on her, and, redder than ever, she fairly flew up the +steep steps, and was welcomed by the chivalric Butt upon the bridge. + +That afternoon several of the Band were what Miss Porter was constrained +to call "nastily snippy" in their manner to her, and, feeling wronged +and misjudged, it was not to be wondered at that her father's daughter +should resent it. And yet so far from exulting in having thus been +distinguished and recognized above her fellows, Miss Ray had felt deeply +embarrassed, and almost the first words she said after receiving the +bluff seaman's effusive greeting were in plea for her associates. + +"Oh, Captain Butt, it's most kind of you to ask me up here--and my +brother, too, will be so interested in the chart-room, but, can't +you--won't you ask Dr. Wells and at least some of the ladies? You know +they all would be glad to come, and----" + +"That's all right, Miss Ray," bawled old Butt, breaking in on her +hurried words. "I'll ask 'em up here some other time. You see we're +rolling a bit to-day, and like as not some of 'em would pitch over +things, and--and--well, there ain't room for more'n three at a time +anyhow." + +"Then you ought to have asked Dr. Wells first and some of the +seniors."--She hesitated about saying elders.--No one of the Band would +have welcomed an invitation tendered on account of her advanced years. + +"It'll be just as bad if I go and ask her now," said Butt testily. "The +others will take offence, and life's too short for a shipmaster to be +explaining to a lot of women why they can't all come at once on the +bridge. I'll have 'em up to-morrow--any three you say." + +But when the morrow came he didn't "have 'em up." Maidie had pleaded +loyally for her associates, but was too proud or sensitive to so inform +them. The captain had said he would do that, and meanwhile she tried not +to feel exasperated at the injured airs assumed by several of the Band +and the cutting remarks of one or two of their number. + +That afternoon, however, the skies became overcast and the wind rose. +That night the sea dashed high towards the rail and the Sacramento +wallowed deep in the surges. Next morning the wind had freshened to a +gale. All air-ports were closed. The spray swept the promenade deck along +the starboard side and the Red Cross and two-thirds of the martial +passenger-list forgot all minor ills and annoyances in the miseries of +_mal de mer_. Three days and nights were most of the women folk cooped +in their cabins, but Miss Ray was an old sailor and had twice seen +far heavier weather on the Atlantic. Sheltered from the rain by the +bridge-deck and from the spray and gale by heavy canvas lashed +athwartship in front of the captain's room, and securely strapped in her +reclining-chair, this young lady fairly rejoiced in the magnificent +battle with the elements and gloried in the bursting seas. Sandy, too, +albeit a trifle upset, was able to be on deck, and one of the "subs" from +the port-side hearing of it, donned his outer garments and cavalry boots +and joined forces with them, and Stuyvesant, hearing their merry voices, +declared that he could not breathe in his stuffy cabin and demanded to be +dressed and borne out on deck too. At first the surgeon said no, +whereupon his patient began to get worse. + +So on the second day the doctor yielded, and all that day and the third +of the storm, by which time the starboard deck was slowly becoming +peopled with a few spectral and barely animate feminine shapes, +Stuyvesant reclined within arm's length of the dark-eyed girl who had so +entranced him, studying her beauty, drinking in her words, and gaining +such health and strength in the life-giving air and such bliss from the +association that Sturgis contemplated with new complacency the happy +result of his treatment, for when the gale subsided, and on the fourth +day they ran once more into smooth and lazy waters, it was Stuyvesant's +consuming desire to take up his bed and walk, except when Miss Ray was +there to talk or read to him. + +And this was the state of affairs when the Sacramento hove in sight of +the bold headlands, green and beautiful, that front the sea at the +northeast corner of mountainous Luzon. Once within soundings and close +to a treacherous shore, with only Spanish authority to rely on as to +rocks, reefs, and shoals, no wonder old Butt could have no women on the +bridge, this, too, at the very time they most wished to be there, since +everything worth seeing lay on the port or southern side, and that given +up to those horrid officers and their pajamas. + +Not until his anchor dropped in Manila Bay did the master of the +Sacramento think to redeem his promise to bid the ladies of the Red +Cross to the sacred bridge, and incidentally to tell them how Miss Ray +had urged it in their behalf while they were out on blue waters, but now +it was too late. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +It was late in the afternoon when the Sacramento, slowly feeling her way +southward, had come within view of El Fraile and Corregidor, looming up +like sentinels at the entrance to the great, far-spreading bay. + +Butt and his assistants, with the field officer in command of the +troops, peered through their binoculars or telescopes for sign of +cruiser or transport along the rocky shores, and marvelled much that +none could be seen. Over against the evening sun just sinking to the +west the dim outlines of the upper masts and spars of some big vessel +became visible for three minutes, then faded from view. The passengers +swarmed on deck, silent, anxious, ever and anon gazing upward at the +bridge as though in hope of a look or word of encouragement. + +It was midsummer and more when they left Honolulu, and by this time the +American force, land and naval, in front of Manila ought to be ample to +overcome the Spaniards. But there was ever that vexing problem as to +what Aguinaldo and his followers might do rather than see the great city +given over to the Americans for law and order instead of to themselves +for loot and rapine. The fact that all coast lights thus far were +extinguished was enough to convince the Sacramento's voyagers that they +were still unwelcome to the natives, but both the shipmaster and the +cavalry officer commanding had counted on finding cruiser, or despatch +boat at least, on lookout for them and ready to conduct them to safe +anchorage. But no such ship appeared, and the alternative of going about +and steaming out to sea for the night or dropping anchor where he lay +was just presenting itself to Butt when from the lips of the second +officer, who had clambered up the shrouds, there came the joyous shout: +"By Jove! There's Corregidor light!" + +Surely enough, even before the brief tropic twilight was over and +darkness had settled down, away to the southward, at regular ten-second +intervals, from the crest of the rock-bound, crumbling parapet on +Corregidor Island, a brilliant light split the cloudy vista and flashed +a welcome to the lone wanderer on the face of the waters. It could mean +only one thing: Manila Bay was dominated by Dewey's guns. The Yankee was +master of Corregidor, and had possessed himself of both fort and +light-house. In all probability Manila itself had fallen. + +"Half speed ahead!" was the order, and again the throb of the engines +went pulsing through the ship, and the Sacramento slowly forged ahead +over a smooth summer sea. At midnight the pilot and glad tidings were +aboard, and at dawn the decks were thronged with eager voyagers, and a +great, full-throated cheer went up from the forecastle head as the gray, +ghost-like shapes of the war-ships loomed up out of the mist and dotted +the unruffled surface. + +But that cheer sank to nothingness beside one which followed fifteen +minutes later, when the red disk of the sun came peeping over the low, +fog-draped range far to the eastward and, saluted by the boom of the +morning gun from the battlements of the old city, there sailed to the +peak of the lofty flag-staff the brilliant colors and graceful folds of +the stars and stripes. + +The three-century rule of Castile and Aragon was ended. The yellow and +red of Spain was supplanted by the scarlet, white, and blue of America, +and in a new glory of its own "Old Glory" unfolded to the faintly rising +breeze, and all along the curving shore and over the placid waters rang +out the joyous, life-giving, heart-stirring notes of the Yankee +reveille. + +For long hours later there came launches, bancas, and cascoes from fleet +and shore. The debarkation of the cavalry began in the afternoon. They +had left their horses at the Presidio, six thousand miles away, and were +troopers only in name. The officers who came as passengers got ashore in +the course of the day and made their way to the Ayuntamiento to report +their arrival and receive their assignments. + +The Red Cross nurses looked in vain for the hospital launch that, it was +supposed, would hasten to convey them to comfortable quarters adjoining +the sick-wards or convalescent camps. They listened with the deepest +interest to the description of the assault of the 13th of August that +made Merritt master of Manila, and the elders, masculine and feminine, +who knew something of what battle meant when American was pitted against +American, looked at each other in wonderment as they heard how much had +been won at cost of so little. + +Sandy Ray, kissing Marion good-by and promising to see Stuyvesant in the +near future, went over the side with his troop and, landing at the stone +dock at the foot of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, found himself trudging +along at the head of his men under massive walls nearly three centuries +old, bristling with antiquated, highly ornamented Spanish guns, and +streaked with slime and vegetation, while along the high parapets across +the moat thousands of Spanish soldiers squatted and stared at them in +sullen apathy. + +Maidie's knight and champion indeed! His duty called him with his +fellows to a far-away suburb up the Pasig River. Her duty held her to +await the movements of the sisterhood, and what she might lack for +sympathy among them was made up in manifest yet embarrassing interest on +part of the tall young aide-de-camp, for Stuyvesant was bidden to remain +aboard ship until suitable accommodation could be found for him ashore. + +Under any other circumstances he would have objected vehemently, but, +finding that the Red Cross contingent was to share his fate, and that +Miss Ray was one of the dozen condemned to remain, he bore his enforced +lot with Christian and soldierly resignation. + +"Only," said Dr. Wells, "one would suppose that the Red Cross was +entitled to some consideration, and that all preparation would have been +made for our coming." It was neither flattering nor reassuring, nor, +indeed, was it kind, that they should be so slighted, said the +sisterhood that evening; but worse still was in store, for on the +morrow, early, the Esmeralda came steaming in from Hong Kong, where, +despite her roundabout voyage, the Belgic had arrived before the +slow-moving Sacramento had rounded the northern point of Luzon, and, on +the deck of the Esmeralda as she steered close alongside the transport, +and thence on the unimpeded way to her moorings up the Pasig, in plain +view of the sisterhood, tall, gaunt, austere, but triumphant, towered +the form of the vice-president of the Patriotic Daughters of America. + +For two days more the Sacramento remained at anchor in the bay over a +mile from the mouth of the river, and for two days and nights the Red +Cross remained aboard, unsought, unsummoned from the shore. The +situation became more strained than ever, the only betterment arising +from the fact that now there was more space and the nurses were no +longer crowded three in a room. Mrs. Dr. Wells moved into that recently +vacated by the cavalry commander, and Miss Ray and her now earnest +friend, Miss Porter, were relieved by the desertion of their eldest +sister, who pre-empted a major's stateroom on the upper deck. + +Butt stirred up a new trouble by promptly coming to Miss Ray and bidding +her move out of that stuffy hole below and take Major Horton's quarters, +and bring Miss Porter with her "if that was agreeable." + +It would have been, very, but "Miss Ray's head was level," as the purser +put it, and despite the snippy and exasperating conduct of most of the +sisterhood, that wise young woman pointed out to the shipmaster that +theirs was a semi-military organization, and that the senior, Mrs. Dr. +Wells, and one or two veteran nurses should have choice of quarters. + +By this time Miss Porter's vehement championship of her charming and +much misjudged friend had excited no little rancor against herself. The +more she proved that they had done Miss Ray injustice, the less they +liked Miss Ray's advocate. It is odd but true that many a woman finds it +far easier to forgive another for being as wicked as she has declared +her to be than for proving herself entirely innocent. + +One thing, anyhow, Miss Porter couldn't deny, said the sisterhood,--she +was accepting devoted attentions from Mr. Stuyvesant, and in her +capacity as a Red Cross nurse that was inexcusable. + +"Fudge!" said Miss Porter. "If it were you instead of Miss Ray he was in +love with, how long would you let your badge keep him at a distance?" + +The sun went down on their unappeased wrath that second night in Manila +Bay, and with the morrow came added cause for disapprobation. Before the +noon hour a snow-white launch with colors flying fore and aft steamed +alongside, and up the stairs, resplendent, came Stuyvesant's general +with a brace of staff officers, all three precipitating themselves on +the invalid and, after brief converse with him, all three sending their +cards to Miss Ray, who had taken refuge on the other deck. + +And even while she sat reflecting what would be the wiser course, the +general himself followed the card-bearer, and that distinguished +warrior, with all the honors of his victorious entry fresh upon him, +inclined his handsome head and begged that he might present himself to +the daughter of an old and cherished friend of cadet days, and seated +himself by her side with hardly a glance at the array of surrounding +femininity and launched into reminiscence of "Billy Ray" as he was +always called, ana it was some little time before she could say,-- + +"Will you let me present you to Dr. Wells, who is practically my +commanding officer?" a request the general was too much of a gentleman +not to accede to at once, yet looked _not_ too much pleased when he +was led before that commanding dame, and then distinctly displeased as, +taking advantage of her opportunity, the indignant lady burst forth with +her grievance: + +"Oh! This is General Vinton! Well, I must say that I think you generals +have treated the ladies of the Red Cross with precious little courtesy. +Here we've been waiting thirty-six hours, and not a soul has come near +us or shown us where to go or told us what to do, while everybody else +aboard is looked after at once." + +"It is a matter entirely out of my jurisdiction, madame," answered the +general with grave and distant dignity. "In fact, I knew nothing of the +arrival of any such party until, at the commanding general's this +morning, your vice-president--is it?--was endeavoring to----" + +"Our vice-president, sir," interposed the lady promptly, "is in San +Francisco, attending to her proper functions. The person you saw is not +recognized by the Red Cross at all, nor by any one in authority that +_I_ know of." + +General Vinton reddened. A soldier, accustomed to the "courtesies +indispensable among military men," ill brooks it that a stranger and a +woman should take him to task for matters beyond his knowledge or +control. + +"You will pardon me if in my ignorance of the matter I fancied the lady +in question to be a representative of your order, and for suggesting +that the chief surgeon is the official to whom you should address your +complaint--and rebukes. Good-morning, madame. Miss Ray," he continued, +as he quickly turned and led that young lady away, "two of my staff +desire to be presented. May I have the pleasure?" + +There was no mistaking the general's disapprobation of the official head +of the sisterhood as represented on the Sacramento. Though he and his +officers remained aboard an hour, not once again would he look towards +Dr. Wells or seem to see any of the party but Miss Ray,--this, too, +despite the fact that she tried to explain matters and pour oil on such +troubled waters. + +Captain Butt sent up champagne to the distinguished party, and Miss Ray +begged to be excused and slipped away to her stateroom, only to be +instantly recalled by other cards--Colonel and Mrs. Brent, other old +friends of her father and mother. She remembered them well, and +remembered having heard how Mrs. Brent had braved all opposition and had +started for Hong Kong the day after the colonel steamed for Manila; and +their coming with most hospitable intent only added to the poor girl's +perplexities, for they showered welcomes upon her and bade her get her +luggage up at once. They had come to take her to their own roof. They +had secured such a quaint, roomy house in Ermita right near the bay +shore, and looking right out on the Luneta and the parade grounds. + +They stormed at her plea that she must not leave her companions. They +bade her send for Miss Porter, and included her in their warm-hearted +invitation; but by the time Maidie was able to get a word in edgewise on +her own account, and begged them to come and meet Mrs. Dr. Wells and the +Red Cross sisterhood, they demurred. + +The general, in Marion's brief absence, had expressed his opinion of +that official head, and the Brents had evidently accepted his views. +Then Vinton and his officers loudly begged Mrs. Brent to play chaperon +and persuade Miss Ray and Miss Porter to accompany them in their fine +white launch on a visit to the admiral on the flag-ship, and said +nothing about others of the order. + +The idea of seeing Dewey on his own deck and being shown all over the +Olympia! Why, it was glorious! But Miss Ray faltered her refusal, even +against Miss Porter's imploring eyes. Then Stuyvesant declared he didn't +feel up to it. + +The general went off to the fleet and the Brents back to shore without +the girls. But in the course of the afternoon four more officers came to +tender their services to "Billy Ray's daughter," and none, not even a +hospital steward, came to do aught for the Red Cross, and by sundown +Maidie Ray had every assurance that the most popular girl at that moment +in Manila army circles was the least popular aboard the Sacramento, and +Kate Porter cried herself to sleep after an out-and-out squabble with +two of the Band, and the emphatic assertion that if she were Marion Ray +she would cut them all dead and go live with her friends ashore. + +But when the morrow came was it to be wondered at that Miss Ray had +developed a high fever? Was it not characteristic that before noon, from +the official head down, from Dr. Wells to Dottie Fellows, the most +diminutive of the party, there lived not a woman of their number who was +not eager in tender of services and in desire to be at the sufferer's +bedside? Was it not manlike that Stuyvesant, who had shunned the +sisterhood for days, now sought the very women he had scorned, and +begged for tidings of the girl he loved? + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +October had come and the rainy season was going, but still the heat of +the mid-day sun drove everybody within doors except the irrepressible +Yankee soldiery, released "on pass" from routine duty at inner barracks +or outer picket line, and wandering about this strange, old-world +metropolis of the Philippines, reckless of time or temperature in their +determination to see everything there was to be seen about the whilom +stronghold of "the Dons" in Asiatic waters. + +Along the narrow sidewalks of the Escolta, already bordered by American +signs--and saloons,--and rendered even more than usually precarious by +American drinks, the blue-shirted boys wandered, open-eyed, marvelling +much to find 'twixt twelve and two the shutters up in all the shops not +conducted, as were the bars, on the American plan, while from some, +still more Oriental, the sun and the shopper both were excluded four +full hours, beginning at eleven. + +All over the massive, antiquated fortifications of Old Manila into the +tortuous mazes of the northern districts, through the crowded Chinese +quarter, foul and ill savored, the teeming suburbs of the native Tagals, +humble yet cleanly; along the broad, shaded avenues, bordered by stately +old Spanish mansions, many of them still occupied by their Castilian +owners, the Yankee invaders wandered at will, brimful of curiosity and +good nature, eager to gather in acquaintance, information, and +bric-a-brac, making themselves perfectly at home, filling the souls of +the late lords of the soil with disdain, and those of the natives with +wonderment through their lavish, jovial, free and easy ways. Within a +month from the time Merritt's little division had marched into the city, +Manila was as well known to most of those far-Western volunteers as the +streets of their own home villages, and, when once the paymaster had +distributed his funds among them and, at the rate of ten cents off on +every dollar, they had swapped their sound American coin for "soft" +Mexican or Spanish _pesos_, the prodigality with which they scattered +their wealth among their dusky friends and admirers evoked the blessings +of the church (which was not slow to levy on the beneficiaries), the +curses of the sons of Spain, who had generally robbed and never given, +and, at first, the almost superstitious awe of the Tagals, who, having +never heard of such a thing before, dreaded some deep-laid scheme for +their despoilment. But this species of dread lived but a few short +weeks, and, before next payday, was as far gone as the money of the +Americanos. + +Those were blithe days in Manila as the autumn came on and the +insurrection was still in the far future. There were fine bands among +the Yankee regiments that played afternoon and evening in the kiosk on +the Luneta, and every household possessed of an open carriage, or the +means of hiring one, appeared regularly each day as the sun sank to the +westward sea, and after making swift yet solemn circuit of the Anda +monument at the Pasig end of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, returned to the +Luneta proper, and wedged in among the closely packed vehicles that +covered the broad, smooth driveways on both sides of the esplanade and +for some hundred yards each way north and south of the band-stand. Along +the shaded and gravelled walks that bordered the Paseo, within short +pistol-shot of the grim bastions beyond the green _glacis_ and even +greener moat, many dark-haired, dark-eyed daughters of Spain, leaving +their carriages and, guarded by faithful duenna, strolled slowly up and +down, exchanging furtive signal of hand or kerchief with some gallant +among the throngs of captive soldiery that swarmed towards sunset on the +parapet. Swarthy, black-browed Spanish officers in cool summer uniform +and in parties of three or four lined the roadway, or wandered up and +down in search of some distraction to the deadly _ennui_ of their +lives now that their soldier occupation was gone, vouchsafing neither +glance nor salutation to their Yankee conquerors, no matter what the +rank, until the wives and daughters of American officers began to arrive +and appear upon the scene, when the disdain of both sexes speedily gave +way to obvious, if reluctant, curiosity. + +South of the walls and outworks of Old Manila and east of the Luneta lay +a broad, open level, bounded on the south by the suburb of Ermita, and +in the midst of the long row of Spanish-built houses extending from the +battery of huge Krupps at the bay-side, almost over to the diagonal +avenue of the Nozaleda, stood the very cosey, finely furnished house +which had been hired as quarters for Colonel Brent, high dignitary on +the department staff. + +Its lower story of cut stone was pierced by the arched drive-way through +which carriages entered to the _patio_ or inner court, and, as in the +tenets of Madrid the Queen of Spain is possessed of no personal means +of locomotion, so possibly to no Spanish dame of high degree may be +attributed the desire, even though she have the power, to walk. + +No other portal, therefore, either for entrance or exit, could be found +at the front. Massive doors of dark, heavy wood from the Luzon forests, +strapped with iron, swung on huge hinges that, unless well oiled, defied +the efforts of unmuscular mankind. A narrow panel opening in one of +these doors, two feet above the ground and on little hinges of its own, +gave means of passage to household servants and, when pressed for time, +to such of their superiors as would condescend to step high and stoop +low. + +To the right and left of the main entrance were store-rooms, servants' +rooms, and carriage-room, and opposite the latter, towards the rear, the +broad stairway that, turning upon itself, led to the living-rooms on the +upper floor--the broad salon at the head of the stairs being utilized as +a dining-room on state occasions, and its northward end as the parlor. +Opening from the sides of the salon, front and rear, were four large, +roomy, high-ceilinged chambers. + +Overlooking and partially overhanging the street and extending the +length of the house was a wide enclosed veranda, well supplied with +tables, lounging-chairs, and couches of bamboo and wicker, its floor +covered here and there with Indian rugs, its surrounding waist-high +railing fitted with parallel grooves in which slid easily the frames of +the windows of translucent shells, set in little four-inch squares, or +the dark-green blinds that excluded the light and glare of mid-day. + +With both thrown back there spread an unobstructed view of the +parade-ground even to the edge of the distant _glacis_, and here it +was the household sat to watch the military ceremonies, to receive their +guests, and to read or doze throughout the drowsier hours of the day. +"Campo de Bagumbayan" was what the natives called that martial flat in +the strange barbaric tongue that delights in "igs" and "ags," in "ings" +and "angs," even to repetition and repletion. + +And here one soft, sensuous October afternoon, with a light breeze from +the bay tempering the heat of the slanting sunshine, reclining in a +broad bamboo easy-chair sat Maidie Ray, now quite convalescent, yet not +yet restored to her old-time vigorous health. + +Her hostess, the colonel's amiable wife, was busy on the back gallery +leading to the kitchen, deep in counsel with her Filipino major-domo and +her Chinese cook, servitors who had been well trained and really needed +no instruction, and for that matter got but little, for Mrs. Brent's +knowledge of the Spanish tongue was even less than her command of +"Pidgin" English. Nevertheless, neither Ignacio nor Sing Suey would fail +to nod in the one case or smile broadly in the other in assent to her +every proposition,--it being one of the articles of their domestic faith +that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, could +best be promoted throughout the establishment by never seeming to differ +with the lady of the house. To all outward appearances, therefore, and +for the first few weeks, at least, housekeeping in the Philippines +seemed something almost idyllic, and Mrs. Brent was in ecstasies over +the remarkable virtues of Spanish-trained servants. + +There had been anxious days during Maidie's illness. The Sacramento had +been ordered away, and the little patient had to be brought ashore. But +the chief quartermaster sent his especial steam-launch for "Billy Ray's +daughter," the chief surgeon, the best ambulance and team to meet her at +the landing; a squad of Sandy's troopers bore her reclining-chair over +the side into the launch, out of the launch to the waiting ambulance, +and out of the ambulance upstairs into the airy room set apart for her, +and, with Mrs. Brent and Miss Porter, Sandy and the most devoted of army +doctors to bear her company and keep the fans going, Maidie's progress +had been rather in the nature of a triumph. + +So at least it had seemed to the austere vice-president of the Patriotic +Daughters of America, who, as it happened, looked on in severe +disapproval. She had asked for that very ambulance that very day to +enable her to make the rounds of regimental hospitals in the outlying +suburbs, and had been politely but positively refused. + +By that time, it seems, this most energetic woman had succeeded in +alienating all others in authority at corps head-quarters, to the end +that the commanding general declined to grant her further audience, the +surgeon-general had given orders that she be not admitted to his inner +office, the deputy surgeon-general had asked for a sentry to keep her +off his premises, the sentries at the First and Second Reserve Hospital +had instructions to tell her, also politely but positively, that she +could not be admitted except in visiting hours, when the surgeon, a +steward, or--and here was "the most unkindest cut of all"--some of the +triumphant Red Cross could receive and attend to her, for at last the +symbol of Geneva had gained full recognition. At last Dr. Wells and the +sisterhood were on duty, comfortably housed, cordially welcomed, and +presumably happy. + +But Miss Perkins was not. She had come to Manila full of high purpose as +the self-styled, accredited representative of any quantity of good +Americans, actuated by motives, no doubt, of purest patriotism. The +nation was full of it,--of men who wanted to be officers, of women who +wanted to be officials, many of whom succeeded only in becoming +officious. There were not staff or line positions enough to provide for +a hundredth part of the men, or societies and "orders" sufficient to +cater to the ambitions of a tenth part of the women. The great Red Cross +gave abundant employment for thousands of gentle and willing hands, but +limited the number of directing heads, and Miss Perkins and others of +the Jellaby stamp were born, as they thought, not to follow but to lead. +Balked in their ambitious designs to become prominent in that noble +national association, women possessed of the unlimited assurance of Miss +Perkins started what might be termed an anti-crusade, with the result +that in scores of quiet country towns, as well as in the cities of the +East and Middle West, many subscriptions were easily gained, and +hundreds of honest, earnest women were rewarded with paper scrolls +setting forth that they were named as Sisters of the American Soldier, +Patriotic Daughters of America, or Ministering Angels of the Camp and +Cot. Shades of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton! the very voice of +such self-appointed angels as Miss Perkins was enough to set the nerves +of strong men on edge and to drive fever patients to madness! Even the +Red Cross could not always be sure of its selection. It did prevent the +sending to Manila of certain undesirable applicants, but it could not +prevent the going of Miss Perkins at the expense of the deluded, on +ships that were common carriers, even though she were a common scold. +There she was, portentous as the British Female portrayed by Thackeray. +Backed by apparently abundant means and obviously indomitable "gall," +she counted on carrying all before her by sheer force of her powers of +self-assertion and the name of the Patriotic Daughters of America. But +the commanding general was the most impassive of men, gifted with a keen +though little suspected sense of humor, and no little judgment in +estimating motive and character. He actually enjoyed the first call made +by Miss Perkins, suggested her coming again on the morrow, and summoned +his chief surgeon and his provost marshal, another keen humorist, to be +present at the interview. It has been asserted that this triumvirate +went so far as to encourage the lady to even wilder flights of +assertion. We have her own word for it that then and there she was +promised as offices three big rooms in the Palace,--the +Ayuntamiento,--six clerks, and a private secretary, but an impartial +witness avows that the sole basis for this was a question propounded to +the provost marshal by the chief surgeon as to whether the chief +quartermaster or the chief engineer should be called on to vacate the +rooms assigned to them as officers in order that the P. D. A. might be +properly recognized and quartered, to which the response was made with +unflinching gravity that something certainly should be vacated "P. D. +Q." if it took all his clerical force to effect it, but this was _sotto +voce_, so to speak, and presumably unheard by the general commanding. It +was gall of another kind, and wormwood, after these first few flattering +receptions, to be greeted thereafter only by aides-de-camp or a military +secretary; then to be told by the chief surgeon that, under instructions +from Washington, only those nurses and attendants recognized and +employed by the general government could be permitted to occupy quarters +or walk the wards about the hospitals. It was bitter to find her +criticisms and suggestions set at naught by "impudent young quacks," as +she called the delighted doctors of the reserve hospitals, to see the +sisterhood of the Red Cross presently clothed with the purple of +authority as well as white caps and aprons, while she and, through her, +the P. D. A.'s were denied the privilege of stirring up the patients and +overhauling the storerooms. Then in her wrath Miss Perkins unbosomed +herself to the press correspondents, a few of whom, seeking sensation, +as demanded by their papers, took her seriously and told tremendous +tales of the brutal neglect of our sick and wounded boys in hospital, of +doctors and nurses in wild debauch on the choice wines and liquors sent +for the sole use of the sick and wounded by such patriotic societies as +the P. D. A.'s, and hinting at other and worse debaucheries (which she +blushed to name), and involved in which were prominent officers and +favorite members of a rival society "which shall be as nameless as it is +shameless." All this had Miss Perkins accomplished within the first +eight days of her sojourn, and by way of Hong-Kong the unexpurgated +edition of her romance, thrown out by the conscienceless censor at +head-quarters, eventually found its way to the United States. It was +while in this uncharitable frame of mind that Miss Perkins caught sight +of the little procession up the Santa Lucia when Maidie was transferred +from ship to shore, and the refusal of the best looking of the "impudent +young quacks" to permit her to see his patient that afternoon augmented +her sense of indignity and wrong. Miss Ray herself went down in the +black book of the P. D. A.'s forthwith. + +But all this time the officials remained in blissful ignorance of the +tremendous nature of the charges laid at their door by this much injured +woman, and Maidie Ray, while duly informed of the frequent calls and +kind inquiries of many an officer, and permitted of late to welcome +Sandy for little talks, had been mercifully spared the infliction of the +personal visitation thrice attempted by her fellow-traveller on the +train. That awful voice, however, uplifted, as was the habit of the +vice-president when aroused, could not fail to reach the sick-room, and +when convalescence came and Miss Perkins came not, Maidie made inquiries +both of Dr. Frank and of her hostess. Frank showed his handsome teeth +and smiled, but Mrs. Brent showed fight. "I won't have such a creature +within my doors!" said she. "I don't believe you were ever intimate +friends, and that she nursed and cared for you in the cars when you were +suffering from shock and fright because of a fire. That's what she says +though. What was it, Maidie? Was it there Mr. Stuyvesant got that burn +on his face?--and lost his eyebrows?" + +And then it transpired that Mr. Stuyvesant had been a frequent and +assiduous caller for a whole fortnight, driving thither almost every +evening. + +But Maidie was oddly silent as to the episode of the fire on the train. +She laughed a little about Miss Perkins and her pretensions, but to the +disappointment of her hostess could not be drawn into talk about that +tall, handsome New Yorker. + +And what seemed strange to Mrs. Brent was that now, when Maidie could +sit up a few hours each day and see certain among the officers' wives, +arriving by almost every steamer from the States, and have happy chats +with Sandy every time he could come galloping in from Paco, and was +taking delight in watching the parades and reviews on the Bagumbayan, +and listening to the evening music of the band, Stuyvesant had ceased to +call. + +Had Maidie noticed it? Mrs. Brent wondered, as, coming in from her +conference with the House of Commons, she stood a moment at the door-way +gazing at the girl, whose book had fallen to the floor and whose dark +eyes, under their veiling lids were looking far out across the field to +the walls and church towers of Old Manila. + +It was almost sunset. There was the usual throng of carriages along the +Luneta and a great regiment of volunteers, formed in line of platoon +columns, was drawn up on the "Campo" directly in front of the house. +Sandy had spent his allotted half hour by his sister's side, and, +remounting, had cantered out to see the parade. Miss Perkins had +declared on the occasion of her third fruitless call that not until Miss +Ray sent for her would she again submit herself to be snubbed. So there +seemed no immediate danger of her reappearance, and yet Mrs. Brent had +given Ignacio orders to open only the panel door when the gate bell +clanged, and to refuse admission, even to the drive-way, to a certain +importunate caller besides Miss Perkins. + +Three days previous there had presented himself a young man in the white +dress of the tropics and a hat of fine Manila straw, a young man who +would not send up his card, but in very Mexican Spanish asked for Miss +Ray. Ignacio sent a boy for Mrs. Brent, who came down to reconnoitre, +and the youth reiterated his request. + +"An old friend" was all he would say in response to her demand for his +name and purpose. She put him off, saying Miss Ray was still too far +from well to see anybody, bade him call next day when Dr. Frank and her +husband, she knew, would probably be there, duly notified them, and +Frank met and received the caller when he came and sent him away in +short order. + +"The man is a crank," said he, "and I shall have him watched." The +colonel asked that one or two of the soldier police guard should be sent +to the house to look after the stranger. A corporal came from the +company barrack around on the Calle Real, and it was after nightfall +when next the "old friend" rang the bell and was permitted by Ignacio to +enter. + +But the instant the corporal started forward to look at him the caller +bounded back into outer darkness. He was tall, sinewy, speedy, and had a +twenty-yard start before the little guardsman, stout and burly, could +squeeze into the street. Then the latter's shouts up the San Luis only +served to startle the sentries, to spur the runner, and to excite and +agitate Maidie. + +Dr. Frank was disgusted when he tried her pulse and temperature half an +hour later and said things to the corporal not strictly authorized by +the regulations. The episode was unfortunate, yet might soon have been +forgotten but for one hapless circumstance. Despite her announcement, +something had overcome Miss Perkins's sense of injury, for she had +stepped from a carriage directly in front of the house at the moment of +the occurrence, was a witness to all that took place, and the first one +to extract from the corporal his version of the affair and his theory as +to what lay behind it. In another moment she was driving away towards +the Nozaleda, the direction taken by the fugitive, fast as her coachman +could whip his ponies, the original purpose of her call abandoned. + +As in duty bound, both Mrs. Brent and Dr. Frank had told Sandy of this +odd affair. Mrs. Brent described the stranger as tall, slender, sallow, +with big cavernous dark eyes that had a wild look to them, and a +scraggly, fuzzy beard all over his face, as though he hadn't shaved for +long weeks. His hands--of course, she had particularly noticed his +hands; what woman doesn't notice such things?--were slim and white. He +had the look of a man who had been long in hospital; was probably a +recently discharged patient, perhaps one of the many men just now +getting their home orders from Washington. + +"Somebody who served under your father, perhaps," said Mrs. Brent +soothingly to Marion, "and thought he ought to see you." + +"Somebody who had not been a soldier at all," said she to Sandy. "He had +neither the look nor the manner of one." And Sandy marvelled a bit and +decided to be on guard. + +"Maidie," he had said that afternoon, before riding away, "when you get +out next week we must take up pistol practice again. You beat me at +Leavenworth, but you can't do it now. Got your gun--anywhere?--the one +Dad gave you?" And Dad or Daddy in the Ray household was the "lovingest" +of titles. + +Maidie turned a languid head on her pillow. "In the upper drawer of the +cabinet in my room, I think," said she. "I remember Mrs. Brent's +examining it." + +Sandy went in search, and presently returned with the prize, a short, +big-barrelled, powerful little weapon of the bull-dog type, sending a +bullet like that of a Derringer, hot and hard, warranted to shock and +stop an ox at ten yards, but miss a barn at over twenty: a woman's +weapon for defence of her life, not a target pistol, and Sandy twirled +the shining cylinder approvingly. It was a gleaming toy, with its ivory +stock and nickeled steel. + +"Every chamber crammed," said Sandy, "and sure to knock spots out of +anything from a mad dog to an elephant, provided it hits. Best keep it +by you at night, Maidie. These natives are marvellous sneak-thieves. +They go all through these ramshackle upper stories like so many ghosts. +No one can hear them." + +Then, when he took his leave, the pistol remained there lying on the +table, and Frank, coming in to see his most interesting patient just as +the band was trooping back to its post on the right of the long line, +picked it up and examined it, muzzle uppermost, with professional +approbation. + +"Yours I see, Miss Ray;--and from your father. A man hit by one of +these," he continued musingly, and fingering the fat leaden bullets, +"would drop in his tracks. You keep it by you?--always?" + +"I? No!" laughed Maidie. "I'm eager to get to my work,--healing--not +giving--gunshot wounds." + +"You will have abundant time, my dear young lady," said the doctor +slowly, as he carefully replaced the weapon on the table by her side, +"and--opportunity, if I read the signs aright, and we must get you +thoroughly well before you begin. Ah! What's that? What's the matter +over there?" he lazily asked. It was a fad of the doctor's never to +permit himself to show the least haste or excitement. + +A small opera-glass stood on the sill, and, calmly adjusting it as he +peered, Frank had picked it up and levelled it towards the front and +centre of the line just back of where the colonel commanding sat in +saddle. A lively scuffle and commotion had suddenly begun among the +groups of spectators. Miss Ray's reclining-chair was so placed that by +merely raising her head she could look out over the field. Mrs. Brent +ran to where the colonel's field-glasses hung in their leathern case and +joined the doctor at the gallery rail. + +Three pairs of eyes were gazing fixedly at the point of disturbance, +already the centre of a surging crowd of soldiers off duty, oblivious +now to the fact that the band was playing the "Star-Spangled Banner," +and they ought to be standing at attention, hats off, and facing the +flag as it came floating slowly to earth on the distant ramparts of the +old city. + +Disdainful of outside attractions, the adjutant came stalking out to +the front as the strain ceased, and his shrill voice was heard turning +over the parade to his commander. Then the surging group seemed to +begin to dissolve, many following a little knot of men carrying on +their shoulders an apparently inanimate form. They moved in the +direction of the old botanical garden, towards the Estado Mayor, and +so absorbed were the three in trying to fathom the cause of the +excitement that they were deaf to Ignacio's announcement. A tall, +handsome, most distinguished-looking young officer stood at the wide +door-way, dressed _cap-a-pie_ in snowy white, and not until, after a +moment's hesitation, he stepped within the room and was almost upon +them, did Miss Ray turn and see him. + +"Why, Mr. Stuyvesant!" was all she said; but the tone was enough. Mrs. +Brent and the doctor dropped the glasses and whirled about. Both +instantly noted the access of color. It had not all disappeared by any +means, though the doctor had, when, ten minutes later, Colonel Brent +came in. + +At the moment of his entrance, Stuyvesant, seated close to Marion's +reclining-chair, was, with all the doctor's caution and curiosity, +examining her revolver. "Rather bulky for a pocket-pistol," he remarked, +as, muzzle downward, he essayed its insertion in the gaping orifice at +the right hip of his Manila-made, flapping white trousers. It slipped in +without a hitch. + +"What was the trouble out there a while ago?" asked the lady of the +house of her liege lord. "You saw it, I suppose?" + +"Nothing much. Man had a fit, and it took four men to hold him. Maidie, +look here. Captain Kress handed this to me--said they picked it up just +back of where the colonel stood at parade. Is he another mash?" + +Marion took the envelope from the outstretched hand, drew forth a little +_carte-de-visite_, on which was the vignette portrait of her own face, +gave one quick glance, and dropped back on the pillow. All the bright +color fled. The picture fell to the floor. "Can you--find Sandy?" was +all she could say, as, with imploring eyes, she gazed into honest +Brent's astonished face. + +"I can, at once," said Stuyvesant, who had risen from his chair at the +colonel's remark. With quick bend he picked up the little card, placed +it face downward on the table by her side, never so much as giving one +glance at the portrait, and noiselessly left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Like many another man's that summer and autumn of '98, Mr. Gerard +Stuyvesant's one overwhelming ambition had been to get on to Manila. The +enforced sojourn at Honolulu had been, therefore, a bitter trial. He had +reached at last the objective point of his soldier desires, and with all +his heart now wished himself back on the Sacramento with one, at +least,--or was it at most?--of the Sacramento's passengers. The voyage +had done much to speed his recovery. The cordial greeting extended by +his general and comrade officers had gladdened his heart. Pleasant +quarters on the breezy bay shore, daily drives, and, presently, gentle +exercise in saddle had still further benefited him. + +He had every assurance that Marion Ray's illness was not of an alarming +nature, and that, soon as the fever had run its course, her +convalescence would be rapid. He was measurably happy in the privilege +of calling every day to ask for her, but speedily realized the poverty +of Oriental marts in the means wherewith to convey to the fair patient +some tangible token of his constant devotion. Where were the glorious +roses, the fragrant, delicate violets, the heaping baskets of cool, +luscious, tempting grapes, pears, and peaches with which from Saco to +Seattle, from the Sault de Sainte Marie to Southwest Pass, in any city +outside of Alaska in the three million square miles of his own native +land, he could have laid siege to her temporary retreat? Ransack the +city as he might,--market, shops, and gardens,--hardly a flower could he +find worthy her acceptance--a garish, red-headed hybrid twixt poppy and +tulip and some inodorous waxen shoots that looked like decrepit +hyacinths and smelled like nothing, representing the stock in trade at +that season of the few flower-stands about Manila. As for fruit, some +stunted sugar bananas about the size of a shoehorn and a few diminutive +China oranges proved the extent of the weekly exhibit along the Escolta. +Once, La Extremena displayed a keg of Malaga grapes duly powdered with +cork, and several pounds of these did Stuyvesant levy upon forthwith, +and, after being duly immersed in water and cooled in the ice-chest, +send them in dainty basket by a white-robed lackey, with an +unimpeachable card bearing the legend "Mr. Gerard Stuyvesant, +One-Hundred-and-Sixth New York Infantry Volunteers," and much were they +admired on arrival, but that was in the earlier days of Maidie's +convalescence, and Dr. Frank shook his head. Grape-seeds were "perilous +stuff," and Mrs. Brent knew they would not last until Maidie was well +enough to enjoy them, and so--they did not. + +Military duty for the staff was not exacting about Manila in the autumn +days. It was the intermission. The Spanish war was over; the Filipino +yet to come. There was abundant time for "love and sighing," and +Stuyvesant did both, for there was no question the poor fellow had found +his fate, and yet thought it trembling in the balance. Not one look or +word of hers for him could Stuyvesant recall that was more winsome and +kind than those bestowed on other men. Indeed, had he not seen with +jealous eyes with what beaming cordiality and delight she had met and +welcomed one or two young gallants, who, having been comrades of Sandy +in "the Corps" at the Point, had found means to get out to the +Sacramento, obviously to see her, just before that untimely illness +claimed her for its own? Had he not heard his general, his fellow staff +officers, speaking enthusiastically of her beauty and fascinations and +their destructive effects in various quarters? Had he not been compelled +in silence to listen again and in detail to the story of old Sam +Martindale's nephew?--Sam Martingale, the cavalry called him--"Martinet +Martindale" he was dubbed by the "doughboys"--that conscientious, +dutiful, and therefore none too popular veteran, whose sister's children +much more than supplied the lack of his own. + +Farquhar of the cavalry, scion of a Philadelphia family well known to +the Stuyvesants of Gotham and "trotting in the same class," had come +over from department head-quarters, where he had a billet as engineer +officer, to call on Stuyvesant and to cheer him up and contribute to his +convalescence, and did so after the manner of men, by talking on all +manner of topics for nearly an hour and winding up by a dissertation on +Billy Ray's pretty daughter and "Wally" Foster's infatuation. Farquhar +said it was the general belief that Maidie liked Wally mighty well and +would marry him were he only in the army. And Stuyvesant wondered how it +was, in all the years he had known Farquhar and envied him his being a +West Pointer and in the cavalry, he had never really discovered what a +bore, what a wearisome ass, Farquhar could be. + +Then just as Miss Ray was reported sitting up and soon to be able to +"see her friends,"--with what smiling significance did Mrs. Brent so +assure him!--what should Stuyvesant's general do but select Stuyvesant +himself to go on a voyage of discovery to Iloilo and beyond. The +commanding general wanted a competent officer who spoke Spanish to make +a certain line of investigation. He consulted Vinton. Vinton thought +another voyage the very thing for Stuyvesant, and so suggested his name. + +It sent the luckless Gothamite away just at the time of all others he +most wished to remain. When he returned, within a dozen days, the first +thing was to submit his written report, already prepared aboard ship. +The next was to report himself in person at Colonel Brent's, to be asked +into the presence of the girl he loved and longed to see, and, as has +been told, ushered out almost immediately, self-detailed, in search of +Sandy. + +He had found the lad easily enough, but not so the man with the fit, +whom, for reasons of his own and from what he had seen and heard, +Stuyvesant was most anxious to overtake. His carriage whirled him +rapidly past the parade-ground and over to the First Reserve Hospital, +whither he thought the victim had been borne, but no civilian, with or +without fits, had recently been admitted. + +Inquiry among convalescent patients and soldiers along the road without +resulted at last in his finding one of the party that carried the +stricken man from the field. He had come to, said the volunteer, before +they had gone quarter of a mile, had soused his head in water at a +hydrant, rested a minute, offered them a quarter for their trouble, +buttoned up the light coat that had been torn open in his struggle, and +nervously but positively declared himself all right and vastly obliged, +had then hailed a passing _carromatta_, and been whisked away across the +moat and drawbridge into the old city. There all trace was lost of him. + +Baffled and troubled, Stuyvesant ordered his coachman to take him to the +Luneta. The crowd had disappeared. The carriages were nearly all +departed. The lights were twinkling here and there all over the placid +bay. It was still nearly an hour to dinner-time at the general's mess, +and he wished to be alone to think over matters, to hear the soothing +plash and murmur of the little waves, and Stuyvesant vowed in his wrath +and vexation that Satan himself must be managing his affairs, for, over +and above the longed-for melody of the rhythmic waters, he was hailed by +the buzz-saw stridencies of Miss Perkins, whose first words gave the lie +to themselves. + +"I'm all out of breath, and so het up runnin' after you I can't talk, +but I was just bound to see you, an' I've been to your house so often +the soldiers laugh at me. Those young men haven't any sense of decency +or respect, but I'll teach 'em, and you see they'll sing another song. +Where can we sit down?" continued the lady, her words chasing each +other's heels in her breathless haste. "These lazy, worthless Spanish +officers take every seat along here. Why, here! your carriage will do, +an' I've got a thousand things to say!" ("Heaven be merciful," groaned +Stuyvesant to himself.) "I saw you driving, and I told my cabman to +catch you if he had to flog the hide off his horse. Come, aren't +you--don't you want to sit down? I do, anyhow! There's no comfort in my +cab. Here, I'll dismiss it now. You can just drop me on the way home, +you know. I'm living down the Calle Real a few blocks this side of you. +All the soldiers know me, and if _they_ had _their_ say it wouldn't be +the stuck-up Red Cross that's flirting with doctors and living high on +the dainties our folks sent over. The _boys_ are all right. It's your +generals that have ignored the P. D. A.'s, and I'll show 'em presently +what a miss they've made. Wait till the papers get the letters I have +written. But, say--"("And this is the woman I thought might be +literary!" moaned Stuyvesant as he meekly followed to the little open +carriage and, with a shiver, assisted his angular visitor to a seat.) + +"A Key!" she shouted, "A Key, Cochero! No quiere mas hoy. Manana! Ocho! +Sabe, Cochero? Ocho! Now don't chewbe--What's late in their lingo, +anyhow? 'Tisn't tardy, I know; that's afternoon. Tardeeo? Thank you. +Now--well, just sit down, first, lieutenant. You see _we_ know how +to address officers by their titles, if the Red Cross don't. I'd teach +'em to Mister me if I was an officer. Now, what I want to see you about +first is this. Your general has put me off one way or another every time +I've called this last two weeks. I've always treated him politely, but +for some reason he'll never see me now, and yet they almost ran after me +at first. Now, you can fix it easy enough, and you do it and you won't +regret it. I only want him to listen to me three minutes, and that's +little enough for anybody to ask. You do it, and I can do a good deal +more for you than you think for, an' I will do it, too, if certain +people don't treat me better. It's something you'll thank me for +mightily later on if you don't now. I've had my eyes open, lieutenant, +an' I see things an' I hear things an' I know things you mighty little +suspect." + +"Pardon me, Miss Perkins," interposed Stuyvesant at this juncture, his +nerves fairly twitching under the strain. "Let us get at the matters on +which you wish to speak to me. Malate, Cochero!" he called to the pygmy +Filipino on the box. "I am greatly pressed for time," he added, as the +carriage whirled away, the hoofs of the pony team flying like shuttles +the instant the little scamps were headed homeward. + +"Well, what I want mostly is to see the general. He's got influence with +General Drayton and I know it, and these Red Cross people have poisoned +his ears. Everybody's ears seem to be just now against me and I can get +no hearing whatever. Everything was all right at first; everything was +promised me, and then, first one and then another, they all backed out, +and I want to know why--I'm bound to know why, and they'd better come to +me and make their peace now than wait until the papers and the P. D. +A.'s get after 'em, as they will,--you hear my words now,--they _will_ +do just as soon as my letters reach the States. _You're_ all right +enough. I've told them how you helped with those poor boys of mine +aboard the train. Bad way they'd been in if we hadn't been there, you +and I. Why, I just canvassed that train till I got clothes and shoes +for every one of those poor burned-out fellows, but there wouldn't +anybody else have done it. And nursing?--you ought to have seen those +boys come to thank me the day I went out to the Presidio, an' most +cried--some of them did;--said their own mothers couldn't have done +more, and they'd do anything for me now. But when I went out to their +camp at Paco their major just as much as ordered me away, and that +little whipper-snapper, Lieutenant Ray, that I could take on my knee +and spank---- He--Lieutenant Ray--a friend of yours? Well, you may +_think_ he is, or you may be a friend of _his_, but _I_ can tell you +right here and now he's no friend, and you'll see he isn't. What's +more, I hate to see an honest, high-toned young gentleman just +throwing himself away on people that can't appreciate him. I could +tell you----" + +"Stop, driver!" shouted Stuyvesant, unable longer to control himself. +"Miss Perkins," he added, as the little coachman manfully struggled to +bring his rushing team to a halt at the curb, "I have a call to make and +am late. Tell my coachman where to take you and send him back to this +corner. Good-night, madam," and, gritting his teeth, out he sprang to +the sidewalk. + +It happened to be directly in front of one of those native resorts +where, day and night, by dozens the swarthy little brown men gather +about a billiard-table with its centre ornament of boxwood pins, betting +on a game resembling the Yankee "pin pool" in everything but the +possibility of fair play. Hovering about the entrance or on the +outskirts of the swarm of men and boys, a dozen native women, some with +babies in their arms and nearly all with cigars between their teeth, +stood watching the play with absorbing interest, and a score of dusky, +pot-bellied children from two to twelve years of age sprawled about the +premises, as much at home as the keeper of the place. + +The lamps had been lighted but a few minutes and the game was in full +blast. Some stalwart soldiers, regulars from the Cuartel de Malate from +down the street or the nipa barracks of the Dakotas and Idahos, were +curiously studying the scene, making jovial and unstinted comment after +their fearless democratic fashion, but sagely abstaining from trying +their luck and not so sagely sampling the sizzling soda drinks held +forth to them by tempting hands. Liquor the vendors dare not +proffer,--the provost marshal's people had forbidden that,--and only at +the licensed bars in town or by bribery and stealth in the outlying +suburbs could the natives dispose of the villainous "bino" with which at +times the unwary and unaccustomed American was overcome. + +Three or four men in civilian dress, that somehow smacked of the sea, as +did their muttered, low-toned talk, huddled together at the corner post, +furtively eying the laughing soldiers and occasionally peering up and +down the darkened street. It was not the place Stuyvesant would have +chosen to leave his carriage, but it was a case of any port in a +storm,--anything to escape that awful woman. With one quick spring he +was out of the vehicle and into the midst of the group on the narrow +sidewalk before he noticed them at all, but not before they saw him. +Even as Miss Perkins threw forward a would-be grasping and detaining +hand and called him by name, one of the group in civilian dress gave +sudden, instant start, sprang round the corner, but, tripping on some +obstacle, sprawled full length on the hard stone pavement. Despite the +violence of the fall, which wrung from him a fierce curse, the man was +up in a second, away, and out of sight in a twinkling. + +"Go on!" shouted Stuyvesant impatiently, imperiously, to his coachman, +as, never caring what street he took, he too darted around the same +corner, and his tall white form vanished on the track of the civilian. + +But the sound of the heavy fall, the muttered curse, and the sudden +question in the nearest group, "What's wrong with Sackett?" had reached +Miss Perkins's ears, for while once more the little team was speeding +swiftly away, the strident voice of the lone passenger was uplifted in +excited hail to the coachman to stop. And here the Filipino demonstrated +to the uttermost that the amenities of civilization were yet undreamed +of in his darkened intellect--as between the orders of the man and the +demands of the woman he obeyed the former. Deaf, even to that awful +voice, he drove furiously on until brought up standing by the bayonets +of the patrol in front of the English Club, and in a fury of +denunciation and quiver of mingled wrath and excitement, Miss Perkins +tumbled out into the arms of an amazed and disgusted sergeant, and +demanded that he come at once to arrest a vile thief and deserter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +That night the sentries all over the suburbs of Ermita and Malate were +peering into every dark alleyway and closely scrutinizing every human +being nearing their posts. Few and far between were these, for the +natives were encouraged to remain indoors after nine o'clock, and the +soldiers forbidden to be out. The streets were deserted save by +occasional carriage or carromatta bearing army or navy officers, or what +were termed the foreign residents--English or German as a rule--from +club or calls to their quarters. + +"Lights out" sounded early at the barracks of the soldiery, for they +were up with the dawn for breakfast that they might be through with +their hardest drills before the heat of the day. The "pool rooms," +as the big _Americanos_ called these "wide open," single-tabled +billiard saloons that flourished in almost every block, were required +to put up their shutters at nine o'clock, and every discoverable +establishment in which gambling had prevailed in other form had long +since been closed by a stony-hearted chief of police, whose star was +worn on each shoulder rather than the left breast, and who, to the +incredulous amaze of Spaniard and Filipino alike, listened unmoved to +the pleas of numerous prominent professors of the gambling industry, +even when backed by proffers of a thousand a week in gold. That the +"_partida de billar_" had not also been suppressed was due to the +fact that, like Old Sledge in the Kentucky Court, its exponents +established it to be, not a game of chance, but skill, and such, indeed, +it proved to every Yankee who put up his money against the bank. With an +apparently congenital gift of sleight of hand, developed by years of +practice at pitch penny from toddling babyhood to cock-fighting +adolescence, the native could so manipulate the tools of his game that +no outsider had the faintest "show for his money," while, as against +each other, as when Greek met Greek, it became a battle of the giants, a +trial of almost superhuman skill. It was the one game left to adult +Tagalhood in which he might indulge his all-absorbing and unconquerable +passion to play for money. All over town and suburbs wandered countless +natives with wondering game-cocks under their arms, suffering for a +chance to spur if not to "scrap," for even the national sport had been +stopped. Never in all the services in all the churches of Luzon had such +virtue been preached as that practised by these heartless, soulless +invaders from across the wide Pacific--men who stifled gambling and +scorned all bribes. "Your chief of police is no gentleman," declared +certain prominent merchants, arrested for smuggling opium, and naturally +aggrieved and indignant at such unheard-of treatment. "He did not tell +us how much he wanted! He did not even ask us to pay!" Retained in +responsible positions in the office of the collector of customs, two +Spanish officers of rank were presently found to have embezzled some +twelve thousand dollars in some six weeks of opportunity. "But this is +outrage! This is scandalous!" quoth they, in righteous wrath on being +bidden to disgorge and ordered before a court-martial. "We have nothing +but the customary perquisite! It is you who would rob us!" From highest +to lowest, in church, in state, in school,--in every place,--there +seemed no creed that barred the acquisition of money by any means short +of actual robbery of the person. As for thieving from the premises, the +Filipino stood unequalled--the champion sneak-thief of the universe. + +And the sentries this night, softly lighted by a waning old moon, were +on the lookout everywhere among the suburbs for two malefactors +distinctly differing in type, yet equally in demand. One, said the +descriptions, compiled from the original information of Zenobia Perkins, +Spinster; residence 259 Calle Real, Ermita; occupation, Vice-President +and Accredited Representative for the Philippine Islands of the +Patriotic Daughters of America, and the additional particulars later +obtained from Lieutenant Gerard Stuyvesant, aide-de-camp to General +Vinton, 595 Calle Real, Malate--one, said the descriptions, was a burly, +thick-set, somewhat slouching American, in clothing of the sailor +slop-shop variety, a man of five feet six and maybe forty years, though +he might be much younger; a coarse-featured, heavy-bearded man, with +gray eyes, generally bleary, and one front tooth gone, leaving a gap in +the upper jaw next the canine, which was fang-like, yellow, and +prominent; a man with harsh voice and surly ways; a man known as Sackett +among seamen and certain civilians who probably had made their way to +Manila in the hope of picking up an easy living; a man wanted as Murray +among soldiers for a deserter, jail-bird, and thief. + +The other malefactor was less minutely described. A native five feet +eight, perhaps. Very tall for a Tagal, slender, sinewy, and with a tuft +of wiry hair and sixteen inches of shirt missing. "For further +particulars and the missing sixteen inches, as well as the hair, inquire +at Colonel Brent's, Number 199 Calle San Luis, Ermita." + +It seems that soon after dark that eventful evening Mrs. Brent and Miss +Porter had seen Maidie comfortably bestowed in the big, broad, +cane-bottomed bed in her airy room, and had left her to all appearances +sleeping placidly towards eight o'clock, and then gone out to dinner. +Whatever the cause of her agitation on receiving at Brent's hands the +little card photograph of herself, it had subsided after a brief, +low-toned conference with Sandy, who quickly came and speedily hastened +away, and a later visit from Dr. Frank, whose placid, imperturbable, +restful ways were in themselves well-nigh as soothing as the +orange-flower water prescribed for her. Even the little night-light, +floating in its glass, had been extinguished when the ladies left her. + +The room assigned to Marion was at the north-west corner of the house. +Its two front windows opened on the wide gallery, that in turn opened +out on the Bagumbayan parade. Its west windows, also two in number, were +heavily framed. There were sliding blinds to oppose to the westering +sun, translucent shells in place of brittle glass to temper, yet admit, +the daylight, and hanging curtains that slid easily on their supporting +rods and rendered the room dark as could be desired for the siesta hours +of the tropic day. + +The dinner-table, brightly lighted by lamps hung from hooks securely +driven in the upper beams (lath and plaster are unknown in this seismic +land), was set on the rear gallery overlooking the _patio_, and here, +soon after eight, Brent, his little household, the doctor, and two +more guests were cosily chatting and dining, while noiseless native +servants hovered about and Maidie Ray presumably slept. + +But Maidie was not sleeping. Full of a new anxiety, if not of dread, and +needing to think calmly and clearly, she had turned away from her almost +too assiduous attendants and closed her eyes upon the world about her. A +perplexity, a problem such as never occurred to her as a possibility, +one that sorely worried Sandy, as she could plainly see, had suddenly +been thrust upon her. Hitherto she had ever had a most devoted mother as +her counsellor and friend, but now a time had come when she must think +and act for herself. + +The little card photograph picked up by the men on the scene of the +scuffle at the edge of the Bagumbayan had told its story to her at least +and to Sandy. It could only mean that Foster, he who spent whole days +and weeks at their New Mexican station to the neglect of his cattle-ranch, +he who had 'listed in the cavalry and disappeared--deserted, maybe--at +Carquinez, had eluded search, pursuit, inquiry of every kind, and, all +ignorant, probably, of the commission obtained for him, had, still +secretly, as though realizing his danger, followed her to Manila. + +This then must have been the tall stranger who called himself an old +friend and would give no name, for it was to Foster, in answer to his +most urgent plea,--perhaps touched by his devoted love for her lovely +daughter,--that Mrs. Ray had given that little vignette photograph long +months before. There, on the back, was the date in her mother's hand, +"Fort Averill, New Mexico, February 15, 1898." Well did Marion remember +how he had begged her to write her name beneath the picture, and how, +for some reason she herself could not describe, she had shrunk from so +doing. There had been probably half a dozen pictures of Foster about +their quarters at Averill,--photographs in evening dress, in ranch rig, +in winter garb, in tennis costume,--but only one had he of Maidie, and +that not of her giving. + +Now, what could his coming mean? What madness prompted this stealth and +secrecy? If innocent of wilful desertion, his proper course was to have +reported without delay to the military authorities at San Francisco and +told the cause of his disappearance or detention. But he had evidently +done nothing of the kind. They would surely have heard of it, and now he +was here, still virtually in hiding and possibly in disguise, and one +unguarded word of hers might land him a prisoner, a war-time deserter, +within the walls of the gloomy carcel in Old Manila. + +Sandy she had to tell, and he was overwhelmed with dismay, had galloped +to Paco to see his colonel and get leave for "urgent personal and family +reasons," as he was to say, to spend forty-eight hours in and about +Manila. If a possible thing, Sandy was to trail and find poor Foster, +induce him to surrender himself at once, to plead illness, +inexperience,--anything,--and throw himself on the mercy of the +authorities. Sandy would be back by nine unless something utterly +unforeseen detained him at East Paco. Meantime what else could she +do?--what could she plan to rescue that reckless, luckless, +hare-brained, handsome fellow from the plight into which his misguided, +wasted passion had plunged him? + +From the veranda the clink of glass and china, the low hum of merry +chat, the sound of half-smothered laughter, fell upon the ear and vexed +her with its careless jollity. Impatiently she threw herself upon the +other--the left--side, and then--sat bolt upright in bed. + +Not a breath of air was stirring. The night was so still she could hear +the soft tinkle of the ships' bells off the Luneta,--could almost hear +the soothing plash of the wavelets on the beach. There was nothing +whatever to cause that huge mahogany door to swing upon its well-oiled +hinges. She heard them close it when they went out; she saw that it was +closed when they were gone, yet, as she turned on her pillow and towards +the faint light through the northwest windows, that door was slowly, +stealthily turning, until at last, wide open, it interposed between her +and the outward light at the front. + +Many an evening lately she had lain with hands clasped under the back of +her bonny head looking dreamily out through that big open window, across +the gallery beyond and the open casements in front, watching the twinkle +of the electric lights above the distant ramparts of the old city and +the nearer gleam of the brilliant globes that hung aloft along the west +edge of the Bagumbayan. + +Now one-half of that vista was shut off by the massive door, the other +was unobscured, but even as with beating heart, still as a trembling +mouse, she sat and gazed, something glided slowly, stealthily, +noiselessly between her and those betraying lights, something dark, dim, +and human, for the shape was that of a man, a native, as she knew by the +stiffly brushed-up hair above the forehead, the loosely falling shirt--a +native taller than any of their household servants--a native whose +movements were so utterly without sound that Maidie realized on the +instant that here was one of Manila's famous veranda-climbing +house-thieves, and her first thought was for her revolver. She had left +it, totally forgotten, on the little table on the outer gallery. + +Even though still weak from her long and serious illness, the brave, +army-bred girl was conscious of no sentiment of fear. To cry out was +sure to bring about the instant escape of the intruder, whereas to +capture him and prevent his getting away with such valuables as he had +probably already laid hands on became instantly her whole ambition. The +side windows were closed by the sliding blinds. Even if he leaped from +them it would be into a narrow court shut in by a ten-foot, spike-topped +stone wall. He had chosen the veranda climber's favorite hour, that +which found the family at dinner on the back gallery, and the quiet +streets well-nigh deserted save by his own skilled and trusted "pals," +from whose shoulders he had easily swung himself to the overhanging +structure at the front. He would doubtless retire that way the moment he +had stowed beneath his loose, flapping _ropas_ such items as he deemed +of marketable value. + +He was even now stealthily moving across the floor to where her +dressing-table stood between the westward windows. The man must have the +eyes of a cat to see in the dark, or else personal and previous +knowledge of the premises. If she could only slip as noiselessly out by +the foot of the bed, interpose between him and the door and that one +wide-open window, then scream for help and grab him as he sprang, she +might hope to hold him a second or two, and then Brent and Dr. Frank +would be upon him. + +All her trembling was from excitement: she knew no thought of fear. But +strong and steady hands were needed, not the fever-shattered members +only just beginning to regain their normal tone. She slid from +underneath the soft, light coverlet without a sound. The sturdy yet +elastic bottom of platted cane never creaked or complained. She softly +pushed outward the fine mosquito netting, gathered her dainty night-robe +closely about her slender form, and the next minute her little bare feet +were on the polished, hard-wood floor, the massive door barely five +short steps away. She cautiously lifted the netting till it cleared her +head, and then, crouching low, moved warily towards the dim, vertical +slit that told of subdued light in the salon. + +There was no creak to those thick, black-wood planks with which Manila +mansions are floored. Her outstretched hand had almost reached the knob +when her knee collided with a light bamboo bedroom chair. There was +instant bamboo rasp and protest, followed by instant vigorous spring +across the room, and instant piercing scream from Maidie's lips. + +Something dusky white shot before her eyes, something inky black and +dusky white was snatched at and seized by those nervous, slender, but +determined little hands. Something dropped with clash and clatter on the +resounding floor. Something ripped and tore as an agile, slippery, +squirming form bounded from her grasp over the casement to the veranda, +over the sill into the street, and when Brent and the doctor and the +women-folk came rushing in and lamps were brought and Brent went +shouting to sentries up and down the San Luis and shots were heard +around the nearest corner, Maid Marion, Second, was found crouching upon +the cane-bottomed chair that had baffled her plans, half-laughing, +half-crying with vexation, but firmly grasping in one hand a tuft of +coarse, straight black hair, and in the other a section of Filipino +shirt the size of a lady's kerchief--all she had to show of her +predatory visitor and to account for the unseemly disturbance they had +made. + +"Just to think--just to think!" exclaimed Mrs. Brent, with clasping +hands, "that this time, when you might most have needed it, Mr. +Stuyvesant should have gone off with your pistol!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +But there was little merriment when, five minutes later, the household +had taken account of stock and realized the extent of their losses. + +Maidie's had evidently been the last room visited. The dressing-table +and wardrobe of the opposite chamber--that occupied by Colonel and Mrs. +Brent--had been ransacked. The colonel's watch and chain,--too bulky, he +said, to be worn at dinner in white uniform,--his Loyal Legion and Army +of the Potomac insignia, and some prized though not expensive trinkets +of his good wife were gone. Miss Porter's little purse with her modest +savings and a brooch that had been her mother's were missing. And with +these items the skilled practitioner had made good his escape. + +On the floor, just under the window in Maidie's room, lay a keen, +double-edged knife. The stumps of two or three matches found in the +colonel's apartment and others in Miss Porter's showed that the thief +had not feared to make sufficient light for his purpose, and from the +floor of Marion's room, close to the bureau, just where it had been +dropped when the prowler was alarmed, Miss Porter picked up one of the +old-fashioned "phosphors" that ignite noiselessly and burn with but a +tiny flame. + +Marion's porte-monnaie was in the upper drawer, untouched, and such +jewelry as she owned, save two precious rings she always wore, was +stored in her father's safe deposit box in the bank at home. The colonel +was really the greatest loser and declared it served him right, both +provost-marshal and chief of police having warned him to leave nothing +"lying around loose." + +At sound of the shots on the Calle Nueva, Brent had sallied forth, and, +rushing impetuously into the dimly lighted thoroughfare, had narrowly +missed losing the top of his head as well as his watch, an excited +sentry sending a bullet whizzing into space by way of the colonel's pith +helmet, which prompted the doctor to say in his placid and most +effective way that more heads had been lost that night than valuables, +and one bad shot begat another. + +Sentries down towards the barracks, hearing the three or four quick +reports, bethought them of the time-honored instructions prescribing +that in case of a blaze, which he could not personally extinguish, the +sentry should "shout 'Fire!' discharge his piece, and add the number of +his post." Sagely reasoning that nothing but a fire could start such a +row, or at least that there was sufficient excuse to warrant their +having some fun of their own to enliven the dull hours of the night, +Numbers 7 and 8 touched off their triggers and yelled "Fire;" 5 and 6, +nearer home, followed suit, and in two minutes the bugles were blowing +the alarm all over Ermita and Malate, and rollicking young regulars and +volunteers by the hundred were tumbling out into the street, all +eagerness and rejoicing at the prospect of having a lark with the +_Bomberos_, the funny little Manila firemen with their funnier little +squirts on wheels. + +It was fully half an hour before the officers could "locate" the origin +of the alarm and order their companies back to bed, an order most +reluctantly obeyed, for by that time the nearest native fire-company was +aroused and on the way to the scene. Others could be expected in the +course of the night, and the Manila fire department was something that +afforded the Yankee soldier unspeakable joy. He hated to lose such an +opportunity. + +But for all his professional calm, Dr. Frank was by no means pleased +with the excitement attending this episode. For an hour or more officers +from all over the neighborhood gathered in front of Brent's and had to +be told the particulars, "Billy Ray's daughter" being pronounced the +heroine everybody expected her to be, while that young lady herself, now +that the affair could be called closed, was in a condition bordering on +the electric. "Overwrought and nervous," said Miss Porter, "but laughing +at the whole business." + +What Frank thought he didn't say, but he cut short Sandy's visit to his +sister, and suggested that he go down and tell the assemblage under the +front gallery that they would better return to whist--or whatever game +was in progress when the alarm was given. The colonel could not invite +them in as matters stood, and they slowly dispersed, leaving only a +senior or two and Lieutenant Stuyvesant to question further, for +Stuyvesant, coming from afar and arriving late, was full of anxiety and +concern. + +Despite his temporary escape, circumstances and the civil authorities +(now become decidedly military) had thrown him into still further +association with the woman whom he would so gladly have shunned--the +importunate Miss Perkins. He had taken a turn round the block--and +refuge in the English Club--until he thought her disposed of at home and +his carriage returned. He had come across the little equipage, trundling +slowly up and down the street in search of him, had dined without +appetite and smoked without relish, striving to forget that odious +woman's hints and aspersions, aimed evidently at the Rays, and had gone +to his own room to write when a corporal appeared with the request from +the captain in charge of the police guard of Ermita to step down to the +office. + +It was much after nine then and the excitement caused by the alarm was +about over, the troops going back to barracks and presumably to bed. The +captain apologized for calling on him that late in the evening, but told +him a man recognized as Murray, deserter from the cavalry, was secreted +somewhere in the neighborhood, and it was reported that he, Stuyvesant, +could give valuable information concerning him. Stuyvesant could and +did, and in the midst of it in came Miss Perkins, flushed, eager, and +demanding to know if that villain was yet caught--"and if not, why not?" + +Then she caught sight of Stuyvesant and precipitated herself upon him. +That man Murray had hatefully deceived her and imposed upon her +goodness, she declared. She had done _everything_ to help him at the +Presidio, and he had promised her a paper signed by all the boys asking +that the P. D. A.'s be recognized as the organization the soldiers +favored, and showed her a petition he had drawn up and was getting +signatures to by the hundreds. That paper would have insured their being +recognized by the government instead of those purse-proud Red Cross +people, and then he had wickedly deserted, after--after--and Stuyvesant +could scarcely keep a straight face--getting fifty dollars from her and +a ring that he was going to wear always until he came back from +Manila--an officer. Oh, he was a smart one, a smooth one! All that +inside of three days after he got to the Presidio, and then was +arrested, and then, next thing she knew, he had fled,--petition, money, +ring, and all. + +Another soldier told her the signatures were bogus. And that very night +she recognized him, spite of his beard, and at sight of her he had cut +and run. ("Well he might!" thought Stuyvesant.) And then Miss Perkins +yielded to the strain of overtaxed nerves and had to be conducted home. + +She lived but a block or two away, and it was Stuyvesant who had to play +escort. The air, unluckily, revived her, and at the gateway she turned +and had this to add to her previous statements. + +"You think the Ray people your friends, lieutenant, and I'm not the kind +of a woman to see a worthy young man trifled with. You've been going +there every day and everybody knows it, and knows that you were sent +away to Iloilo in hopes of breaking you of it. That girl's promised in +marriage to that young man who's got himself into such a scrape all on +her account. He's here--followed her here to marry her, and if he's +found he's liable to be shot. Oh, you can believe or not just as you +please, but never say I didn't try to give you fair warning. Know? Why, +I know much more about what's going on here than your generals do. _I_ +have friends everywhere among the boys; _they_ haven't. Oh, very well, +if you won't listen!" (For Stuyvesant had turned away in wrath and +exasperation.) "But you'd be wiser if you heard me out. I've _seen_ Mr. +Foster and had the whole story from his lips. He's been there every day, +too, till he was taken sick----" + +But Stuyvesant was out of the gate and at last out of hearing, and with +a vicious bang to the door, the lady of the P. D. A.'s, so recently +victimized by the astute Sackett, retired to the sanctity of her own +apartment, marvelling at the infatuation of men. + +And yet, though Stuyvesant had angrily striven to silence the woman and +had left her in disgust, her words had not failed of certain weight. +Again he recalled with jealous pain the obvious indifference with which +his approaches had been received. True, no well-bred girl would be more +than conventionally civil to a stranger even under the exceptional +circumstances of their meeting on the train. True, she was cordial, +bright, winsome, and all that when at last he was formally presented; +but so she was to everybody. True, they had had many--at least _he_ +had had many--delightful long interviews on the shaded deck of the +Sacramento; but though he would have eagerly welcomed a chance to +indulge in sentiment, never once did Marion encourage such a move. On +the contrary, he recalled with something akin to bitterness that when +his voice or words betrayed a tendency towards such a lapse, she became +instantly and palpably most conventional. + +Now, in the light of all he had heard from various sources, what could +he believe but that she was interested, to say the least, in that other +man? Well and miserably he recalled the words of Farquhar, who had +served some years at the same station with the Rays: "She's the bonniest +little army girl I know, and her head's as level as it is pretty--except +on one point. She's her father's daughter and wrapped up in the army. +She's always said she'd marry only a soldier. But Maidie's getting +wisdom with years, I fancy. Young Foster will be a rich man in spite of +himself, for he'll have his mother's fortune, and he's heels over head +in love with her." + +"But I understood," interposed the general, with a quick glance at +Stuyvesant, who had risen as though to get another cigar, "that Ray +didn't exactly approve of him." + +"Oh, Ray didn't seem to have any special objection to Foster unless it +was that he neglected his business to lay siege to her. Foster's a +gentleman, has no bad habits, and is the very man nine women out of ten +would rejoice in for a husband, and ninety-nine out of ten, if that were +a mathematical possibility, would delight in as a son-in-law. He isn't +brilliant--buttons would have supplied the lack had he been in the +cavalry. I dare say he'll be ass enough to go in for a commission now +and sell out his ranch for a song. Then, she'd probably take him." + +And then, too, as he strolled thoughtfully up the street, still dimly +lighted by the waning moon and dotted at long intervals by tiny electric +fires, Stuyvesant went over in mind other little things that had come to +his ears, for many men were of a mind with regard to Billy Ray's +daughter, and the young officer found himself vaguely weighing the +reasons why he should now cease to play the moth,--why he should be +winging his flight away from the flame and utterly ignoring the fact +that his feet, as though from force of habit, were bearing him steadily +towards it. The snap and ring of a bayoneted rifle coming to the charge, +the stern voice of a sentry at the crossing of the Calle Faura, brought +him to his senses. + +"Halt! Who is there?" + +"Staff officer, First Division," was the prompt reply, as Stuyvesant +looked up in surprise. + +"Advance, staff officer, and be recognized," came the response from a +tall form in blue, and the even taller white figure stepped forward and +stood face to face with the guardian of the night. + +"I am Lieutenant Stuyvesant, aide-de-camp to General Vinton," explained +the challenged officer, noticing for the first time a little column of +dusky men in heavy leathern helmets and belts shuffling away towards the +Jesuit College with an old-fashioned diminutive "goose-neck" village +engine trailing at their heels. + +"Been a fire, sentry?" he asked. "Where was it?" + +"Up at Colonel Brent's, sir, I believe. His house fronts the +parade-ground. One moment, please! Lieutenant _Who_, sir? The officer +of the guard orders us to account for every officer by name." And +Stuyvesant, who, in instant alarm, had impulsively started, was again +recalled to himself, and, hastily turning back, spoke aloud: + +"Stuyvesant my name is. I'll give it at the guard-house as I pass." + +Once more he whirled about, his heart throbbing with anxiety. Once +more he would have hurried on his way to the Calle San Luis. A fire +there! and she, Marion, still so weak!--exhausted, possibly, by the +excitement--or distress--or whatever it was that resulted from Brent's +sudden presentation of that _carte-de-visite_. He would fly to her at +once! + +For a third time the sentry spoke, and spoke in no faltering tone. He +was an American. He was wearing the rough garb of the private soldier in +the ranks of the regulars, but, like scores of other eager young +patriots that year, he held the diploma of a great, albeit a foreign, +university. He had education, intelligence, and assured social position +to back the training and discipline of the soldier. He knew his rights +as well as his duties, and that every officer in the service, no matter +how high, from commanding general down, was by regulation enjoined to +show respect to sentries, and this tall, handsome young swell, with a +name that sounded utterly unfamiliar to California ears, was in most +unaccountable hurry, and spoke as though he, the sentry, were exceeding +his powers in demanding his name. It put Private Thinking Bayonets on +his mettle. + +"Halt, sir," said he. "My orders are imperative. You'll have to spell +that name." + +In the nervous anxiety to which Stuyvesant was a prey, the sentry's +manner irritated him. It smacked at first of undue, unnecessary +authority, yet the soldier in him put the unworthy thought to shame, +and, struggling against his impatience, yet most unwillingly, Stuyvesant +obediently turned. He had shouldered a musket in a splendid regiment of +citizen soldiery whose pride it was that no regular army inspector could +pick flaws in their performance of guard and sentry duty. He had brought +to the point of his bayonet, time and again, officers far higher in rank +than that which he now held. He knew that, whether necessary or not, the +sentry's demand was within his rights, and there was no course for him +but compliance. He hastened back, and, controlling his voice as much as +possible, began: + +"You're right, sentry! S-t-u-y"--when through a gate-way across the +street north of the Faura came swinging into sight a little squad of +armed men. + +Again the sentry's challenge, sharp, clear, resonant, rang on the still +night air. Three soldiers halted in their tracks, the fourth, with the +white chevrons of a corporal on his sleeves, came bounding across the +street without waiting for a demand to advance for recognition. + +"Same old patrol, Billy," he called, as he neared them. "On the way back +to the guard-house." Then, seeing the straps on the officer's shoulders, +respectfully saluted. "Couldn't find a trace outside. Keep sharp +lookout, Number 6," he added, and turning hurriedly back to his patrol, +started with them up the street in the direction Stuyvesant was longing +to go. + +"Sorry to detain you, sir, and beg pardon for letting him run up on us +in that way. We've got extra orders to-night. There's a queer set, +mostly natives, in that second house yonder" (and he pointed to a +substantial two-story building about thirty paces from the corner). +"They got in there while the fire excitement was on. Twice I've seen +them peeking out from that door. That's why I dare not leave here and +chase after you--after the lieutenant. Now, may I have the name again, +sir." + +And at last, without interruption, Stuyvesant spelled and pronounced the +revered old Dutch patronymic. At last he was able to go unhindered, and +now, overcome by anxiety, eagerness, and dread, he hardly knew what, he +broke into fleet-footed, rapid run, much to the surprise of the staid +patrol which he overtook trudging along on the opposite side of the +street, two blocks away, and never halted until again brought up +standing by a sentry at the San Luis. + +Ten minutes later, while still listening to Brent's oft-repeated tale of +the theft, and still quivering a little from excitement, Stuyvesant +heard another sound, the rapid, rhythmic beat of dancing footsteps. + +"Hullo!" interrupted one of the lingering officers. "Another fire +company coming? It's about time more began to arrive, isn't it?" + +"It's a patrol--and on the jump, too! What's up, I wonder?" answered +Brent, spinning about to face towards the Calle Real. There was an +officer with this patrol,--an officer who in his eagerness could barely +abide the sentry's challenge. + +"Officer of the guard--with patrol," he cried, adding instantly, as he +darted into view. "Sentry, which--which way did that officer go? Tall +young officer--in white uniform!" + +In surprise, the sentry nodded towards the speechless group standing in +front of Brent's, and to them came the boy lieutenant, panting and in +manifest excitement. "I beg pardon, colonel," he began, "our sentry, +Number 6, was found a minute ago--shot dead--down on the Padre Faura. My +men said they saw an officer running from the spot, running this way, +and this gentleman--Mr. Stuyvesant, isn't it?" + +There was an awed silence, an awkward pause. "I certainly was there not +long ago," spoke Stuyvesant, presently. "And Number 6, your sentry, was +then all right. I certainly came running----" + +"That's all I can hear," was the sharp interruption. "My orders are to +arrest you. You're my prisoner, Mr. Stuyvesant," gasped the lad. + +"Preposterous!" said Dr. Frank a few minutes later when told by an +awe-stricken group what had occurred. + +"Preposterous say I!" echoed Brent. "And yet, see here----Oh, of course, +you know Major MacNeil, field officer of the day," he added, indicating +a tall, thin-faced, gray-mustached officer of regulars who had but just +arrived, and who now held forth a gleaming revolver with the words, "I +picked this up myself--not ten yards from where he lay." + +It was Marion's. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +A solemn assemblage was that at the Ermita quarters of the provost-guard +the following day. Officers of rank and soldiers from the ranks, in +rusty blue, in gleaming white, in dingy Khaki rubbed shoulders and +elbows in the crowded courtyard. + +In the presence of death the American remembers that men are born equal, +and forgets the ceremonious observance of military courtesies. All +voices were lowered, all discussion hushed. There was a spontaneous +movement when the division commander entered, and all made way for him +without a word, but sturdily stood the rank and file and held their +ground against all others, for the preliminary examination, as it might +be called, was to take place at ten o'clock. + +The dead man was of their own grade, and an ugly story had gone like +wildfire through the barracks and quarters that his slayer was a +commissioned officer, an aide-de-camp of the general himself, a scion of +a distinguished and wealthy family of the greatest city of America, and +all official influence, presumably, would be enlisted in his behalf. +Therefore, silent, yet determined, were they present in strong force, +not in disrespect, not in defiance, but with that calm yet indomitable +resolution to see for themselves that justice was done, that soldiers of +no other than the Anglo-Saxon race could ever imitate, or that officers, +not American, could ever understand, appreciate, and even tacitly +approve. + +The dead man had died instantly, not in the flush and glory of battle, +but in the lonely, yet most honorable, discharge of the sacred duty of +the sentinel. Murder most foul was his, and had he been well-nigh a +pariah among them,--a man set apart from his kind,--the impulse of his +fellow-soldiers would have been to see to it that his death at such a +time and on such a duty went not unavenged. As it was, the man who lay +there, already stiff and cold, was known among them as one of the +bravest, brightest spirits of their whole array, a lad of birth probably +more gentle than that of many an officer, of gifts of mind and character +superior to those of not a few superiors, a fellow who had won their +fellowship as easily as he had learned the duties of the soldier. + +A whole battalion in the regulars and dozens of gallant boys in the +Idahos and North Dakotas knew Billy Benton and had been full of sympathy +when he was picked up one night some three weeks previous, his head laid +open by a powerful blow from some blunt instrument, bleeding and +senseless. Even when released from hospital a fortnight later he was +dazed and queer, was twice reported out of quarters over night and +absent from roll-call, but was forgiven because of "previous character," +and the belief that he was really not responsible for these soldier +solecisms. + +One thing seemed to worry him, and that was, as he admitted, that he had +been robbed of some papers that he valued. But he soon seemed "all right +again," said his fellows, at least to the extent of resuming duty, and +when, clean-shaved and in his best attire, he marched on guard that glad +October morning, they were betting on him for the first chevrons and +speedy commission. + +All that his few intimates, the one or two who claimed to know him, +could be induced to admit was that his real name was not Benton, and +that he had enlisted utterly against the wishes of his kindred. And so, +regulars and volunteers alike, they thronged the open _patio_ and all +approaches thereto, and no officer would now suggest that that court +be cleared. It was best that "Thinking Bayonets" should be there to hear +and see for himself. + +"No, indeed, don't do anything of the kind," said the general promptly +when asked half-hesitatingly by the captain of the guard whether he +preferred to exclude the men. And in this unusual presence the brief, +straightforward examination went on. + +First to tell his tale was the corporal of the second relief. He had +posted his men between 8.30 and 8.45, Private Benton on Number 6 at the +corner of the Calle Real and Padre Faura. That post had been chosen for +him as being not very far away from that of the guard, as the young +"feller" had not entirely recovered his strength, and the officer of the +day had expressed some regret at his having so soon attempted to resume +duty, but Benton had laughingly said that he was "all right" and he +didn't mean to have other men doing sentry go for him. + +"Soon after nine," said the corporal, "I went round warning all the +sentries to look out for the tall Filipino and short, squat American, as +directed by the officer of the guard. The officer of the guard himself +went round about that time personally cautioning the sentries. There was +a good deal of fun and excitement just then down the street. Number 9 in +the Calle Nueve had shot twice at some fleeing natives who nearly upset +him as they dashed round the corner from the Bagumbayan, and he had +later mistaken Colonel Brent in his white suit for a Filipino and +nervously fired. Numbers 7 and 8 in the side streets mistook the +shooting for fire alarm, and Private Benton repeated, in accordance with +his orders, but when I (the corporal) saw him he was laughing to kill +himself over the Manila fire department." + +Benton didn't seem much impressed at first about the thief and the +deserter, but towards 9.45, when the corporal again visited his post and +the streets were getting quiet, Benton said there were some natives in +the second house across the way whose movements puzzled him. They kept +coming to the front door and windows and peeping out at him. A patrol +came along just then, searching alleyways and yards, and they looked +about the premises, while he, Corporal Scott, started west on the Faura +to warn Number 4, who was over towards the beach, and while there Major +MacNeil, the field officer of the day, came along, and after making +inquiries as to what Number 4 had seen and heard and asking him his +orders, he turned back to the Faura, Corporal Scott following. + +One block west of the Calle Real the major stopped as though to listen +to some sound he seemed to have heard in the dark street running +parallel with the Real, and then stepped into it as though to examine, +so Scott followed, and almost instantly they heard a muffled report +"like a pistol inside a blanket," and hastening round into the Faura +they found Benton lying on his face in the middle of the street, just at +the corner of the Calle Real, stone dead. His rifle they found in the +gutter not twenty feet from him. + +Scott ran at once to the guard-house three blocks away and gave the +alarm. Then the patrol said that a tall officer, running full speed, had +passed them, and here the provost-marshal interposed with-- + +"Never mind what the patrol said. Just tell what you--the witness--did +next." + +Scott continued that he and others with the lieutenant, officer of the +guard, ran back to Number 6's post, and there stood the major with the +pistol. + +"When we asked should we search the yards and alleys the major nodded, +but the moment he heard the men telling about the running officer he +gave the lieutenant orders----" + +And again the provost-marshal said "Never mind," the major would +describe all that. + +And the major did. He corroborated what Corporal Scott had said, and +then went on with what happened after Scott was sent to alarm the guard. +Barring some opening of shutters and peering out on the part of natives +anxious to know the cause of the trouble, there was no further +demonstration until Scott and others came running back. But meanwhile +something gleaming in the roadway--the Calle Real--about fifteen paces +from the corner and up the street--to the north towards the +Bagumbayan--and close to the sidewalk attracted his attention. + +He stepped thither and picked up--this revolver. By the electric light +at the corner he saw that one chamber was empty. When the guard came on +the run and he heard of the tall officer fleeing up towards the +Bagumbayan, the direction in which the pistol lay, he sent Mr. +Wharton--Lieutenant Wharton--with a patrol in pursuit. + +The inscription on the pistol revealed its ownership and cast certain +suspicions that warranted his action, he believed, in ordering the +instant arrest of the officer if found. + +Major MacNeil went on to say he "had not yet made the acquaintance of +Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and did not actually know when he gave the order +that it _was_ Lieutenant Stuyvesant who ran up the street"--and here the +major was evidently in a painful position, but faced his duty like a man +and told his story without passion or prejudice, despite the fact that +he declared the murdered man to be one of the very best young fellows in +his battalion, and that he was naturally shocked and angered at his +death. + +Then the name of Private Reilly was called, and a keen-featured little +Irishman stepped forward. It was one of the patrol. Corporal Stamford, +first relief, was in charge of it. They had been hunting as far over as +the "Knows-a-lady," and on coming back Number 6 told them of some +natives at the second house. Corporal Stamford posted him, Reilly, in +the first yard near the street to head off any that tried to run out +that way, in case they stirred up a mare's nest, and took the other +"fellers" and went round by the front. Nothing came of it, but while +they were beating up the yards and enclosures Reilly heard Benton +challenge, and saw a tall officer come up to be recognized. They had +some words,--the officer and the sentry,--he couldn't tell what, but the +officer spoke excited like, and all of a sudden jumped away and started +as though to run, and Number 6 "hollered" after him, though Reilly +didn't clearly understand what was said. "At all events he made him come +back, and it----" Here Reilly seemed greatly embarrassed and glanced +about the room from face to face in search of help or sympathy. "It +seemed to kind of rile the officer. He acted like he wasn't going to +come back first off, and then the corporal came along with the patrol +and the officer had to wait while Stamford was recognized, and the boys +was sayin' Billy had a right to stand the corporal off until the +lieutenant said advance him. And we was laughin' about it and sayin' +Billy wasn't the boy to make any mistake about his orders, when we heard +the lieutenant come a-runnin' swift down t'other side the street and +then saw him scootin' it for the open p'rade." + +Did the witness recognize the officer?--did he see him plainly? + +"Yes, the electric light was burnin' at the corner, and he'd seen him +several times driving by the 'barks.'" + +Was the officer present?--now? + +"Yes," and Reilly's face reddened to meet the hue of his hair. + +Reluctantly, awkwardly, pathetically almost, for in no wise did +identification, as it happened, depend on his evidence, the little Irish +lad turned till his eyes met those of Stuyvesant, sitting pale, calm, +and collected by his general's side, and while the eyes of all men +followed those of Reilly they saw that, so far from showing resentment +or dismay, the young gentleman bowed gravely, reassuringly, as though he +would have the witness know his testimony was exactly what it should be +and that no blame or reproach attached to him for the telling of what he +had seen. + +Then Dr. Frank was called, and he gave his brief testimony calmly and +clearly. It was mainly about the pistol. He recognized it as one he had +seen and examined the previous afternoon at Colonel Brent's quarters on +the San Luis. It was lying on a little table in the front veranda. He +had closely examined it--could not be mistaken about it, and when he +left it was still lying on that table. Who were present when he left? +"Other than the immediate family, only Lieutenant Stuyvesant." Had he +again visited the colonel's that evening? He had. He returned an hour or +so later to dine. The ladies had then left their seats in the veranda, +and he noticed that the pistol was no longer on the table; presumed Miss +Ray had taken it with her to her room and thought no more about it. As +indicated by the inscription, the pistol was her property. + +Then Lieutenant Ray was called, but there was no response. In low tone +the assistant provost-marshal explained that the orderly sent to Paco +with message for Lieutenant Ray returned with the reply that Mr. Ray had +two days' leave and was somewhere up-town. He as yet had not been found. + +A young officer of artillery volunteered the information that late the +previous evening, somewhere about ten, Mr. Ray had called at the Cuartel +de Meysic, far over on the north side. He was most anxious to find a +soldier named Connelly, who, he said, was at the Presidio at the time +the lieutenant's quarters were entered and robbed, and Lieutenant +Abercrombie had taken Mr. Ray off in search of the soldier. + +Ray not appearing, the examination of Assistant Surgeon Brick began. +Brick was the first medical officer to reach the scene of the murder. +Benton was then stone dead, and brief examination showed the hole of a +bullet of large calibre--probably pistol, 44--right over the heart. The +coarse blue uniform shirt and the fine undergarment of Lisle thread +showed by burn and powder-stain that the pistol had been close to or +even against the breast of the deceased. The bullet was lodged, he +believed, under the shoulder-blade, but no post-mortem had yet been +permitted, a circumstance the doctor referred to regretfully, and it was +merely his opinion, based on purely superficial examination, that death +was instantaneous, the result of the gunshot wound referred to. Dr. +Brick further gave it as his professional opinion that post-mortem +should be no longer delayed. + +And then at last came Stuyvesant's turn to speak for himself, and in +dead silence all men present faced him and listened with bated breath to +his brief, sorrowful words. + +He was the officer halted by the sentry on Number 6 and called upon to +come back. The sentry did not catch his name and had to have it spelled. +He frankly admitted his impatience, but denied all anger at the enforced +detention. The information about the fire at Colonel Brent's had caused +him anxiety and alarm, and as soon as released by the sentry he had run, +had passed the patrol on the run, but there had been no altercation, no +misunderstanding even. The sentry had carried out his orders in a +soldierly way that compelled the admiration of the witness, and before +leaving him Stuyvesant had told him that he had done exactly right. The +news that the sentry was found dead five minutes thereafter was a shock. +Lieutenant Stuyvesant declared he carried no fire-arms whatever that +night and was utterly innocent of the sentry's death. He recognized, he +said, the revolver exhibited by Major MacNeil. He did not hesitate to +admit that he had seen and examined it late the previous afternoon at +the quarters of Colonel Brent, that he had actually put it in his +trousers pocket not two minutes before he left the house to go in search +of Lieutenant Ray, but he solemnly declared that as he left the veranda +he placed the pistol on a little table just to the right of the broad +entrance to the salon, within that apartment, and never saw it again +until it was produced here. + +Frank, candid, "open and aboveboard" as was the manner of the witness, +it did not fail to banish in great measure the feeling of antagonism +that had first existed against him in the crowded throng. But in the +cold logic of the law and the chain of circumstantial evidence they +plainly saw that every statement, even that of Stuyvesant himself, bore +heavily against him. A lawyer, had he been represented by counsel, would +have permitted no such admissions as he had made. A gentleman, +unschooled in the law, preferred the frank admission to the distress of +seeing Mrs. Brent--and perhaps others--called into that presence to +testify to his having had the pistol with him when he left the gallery. + +Brent in his bewilderment had blurted out his wife's words in the +hearing of the provost-marshal's people late the night before, and he +and his household were yet to be called, and when called would have to +say that though they passed and possibly repassed through the salon +between the moment of Stuyvesant's departure and that of their going out +to dinner, not one of their number noticed even so bright and gleaming +an object as Maidie's revolver. True, the lights were not brilliant in +the salon. True, the little table stood back against the wall five or +six feet from the door-way. Still, that pistol was a prominent object, +and a man must have been in extraordinary haste indeed to leave a loaded +weapon "lying round loose" in the hall. + +That was the way "Thinking Bayonets" argued it, and soldiers by the +score crowding the sidewalk and entrance and unable to force their way +in, or even to make room for a most importunate female struggling on the +outskirts, hung on the words of an orderly who, despatched in further +search of Lieutenant Ray, was forcing a way out. + +"How is it going?" said he. "Why, that young feller's just as good as +hanging himself. He admits having had the pistol that did the business." + +Ten minutes later a Filipino servant went to answer an imperative rap at +the panel in the massive door of No. 199 Calle San Luis. Dr. Frank had +been early to see his patient, and had enjoined upon Mrs. Brent and Miss +Porter silence as to last night's tragedy. Not until she was stronger +was Miss Ray to be allowed to know of the murder of Private Benton. "By +that time," said he, "we shall be able to clear up this--mystery--I +_hope_." + +The colonel had gone round to the police-station. Mrs. Brent, nervous +and unhappy, had just slipped out for ten seconds, as she said to Miss +Porter, to see an old army chum and friend who lived only three doors +away. Miss Porter, who had been awake hours of the night, had finally +succeeded, as she believed, in reading Maidie to sleep, and then, +stretching herself upon the bamboo couch across the room, was, the next +thing she knew, aroused by voices. + +Sandy Ray had entered so noiselessly that she had not heard, but Maidie +had evidently been expecting him. In low, earnest tone he was telling +the result of his search the night before. She heard the words: + +"Connelly is down with some kind of fever in hospital and hasn't seen or +heard anything of any one even faintly resembling Foster. Then I found +your old friend the brakeman. General Vinton has got him a good place in +the quartermaster's department, and he tells me he knows nothing, has +seen and heard nothing. Now I'm going to division head-quarters to find +Stuyvesant." + +"And then," said Miss Porter, "my heart popped up into my throat and I +sprang from the sofa." But too late. An awful, rasping voice at the +door-way stilled the soft Kentucky tones and filled the room with dread. + +"Then you've no time to lose, young man. It's high time somebody besides +me set out to help him. That other young man you call Foster lies dead +at the police-station,--killed by _your_ pistol, Miss Ray, and Mr. +Stuyvesant goes to jail for it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +In so far as human foresight could provide against the cabling to the +States of tremendous tales that had little or no foundation, the +commanding general had been most vigilant. The censorship established +over the despatches of the correspondents had nipped many a sensation in +the bud and insured to thousands of interested readers at home far more +truthful reports of the situation at Manila than would have been the +case had the press been given full swing. + +Yet with Hong-Kong only sixty hours away, there was nothing to prevent +their writing to and wiring from that cosmopolitan port, and here, at +least, was a story that would set the States ablaze before it could be +contradicted, and away it went, fast as the Esmeralda could speed it +across the China Sea and the wires, with it, well-nigh girdle the globe. + +A gallant young volunteer, Walter Foster of Ohio, serving in the +regulars under the assumed name of Benton, foully murdered by Lieutenant +Gerard Stuyvesant of New York! A love affair at the bottom of it all! +Rivals for the hand of a fair army girl, daughter of a distinguished +officer of the regular service! Lieutenant Stuyvesant under guard! +Terrible wrath of the soldier's comrades! Lynching threatened! Speedy +justice demanded! The maiden prostrated! Identification of the victim by +Miss Zenobia Perkins, Vice-President and Accredited Representative for +the Philippine Islands of the Society of Patriotic Daughters of America! +Army circles in Manila stirred to the bottom! etc., etc. + +Joyous reading this for friends and kindred in the far-distant States! +Admirable exhibit of journalistic enterprise! The Hong Kong papers +coming over in course of another week were full of it, and of +appropriate comment on the remarkable depravity of the American race, +and Chicago journals, notably the _Palladium_, bristled with editorial +explosions over the oft-repeated acts of outrage and brutality on part +of the American officer to the friendless private in the American ranks. + +And thousands of honest, well-meaning men and women, who had seen, year +after year, lie after lie, one stupendous story after another, +punctured, riddled, and proved a vicious and malignant slander, +swallowed this latest one whole, and marvelled that the American officer +could be the monster the paper proved him to be. + +But one woman at last and at least was happy, perched now on a pinnacle +of fame, and in the Patriotic Daughters of America as represented by +their Vice-President and Accredited Representative in the Philippines, +virtue and rectitude reigned triumphant. Zenobia Perkins was in her +glory. Of all the citizens or soldiers of the United States in and about +Manila, male or female, staff or supply, signal or hospital corps, Red +Cross or crossed cannon, rifles, or sabres, this indomitable woman was +now the most sought after--the most in demand. Her identification of the +dead man had been positive and complete. + +"I suspected instantly," she declared in presence of the assembled +throng, "when I heard Lieutenant Stuyvesant had shot a soldier, just who +it might be. I remembered the young man who disappeared from the train +before we got to Oakland. I suspected him the moment the corporal told +me about the mysterious young man trying to see Miss Ray. I had my +carriage chase right after him to the Nozaleda and caught him, +half-running, half-staggering, and I took him driving until he got +ca-amed down and told him he needn't worry any more. He was among +friends at last, and the P. D. A.'s would take care of him and guard his +secret and see him done right by. Oh, yes, I did! We weren't going to +see an innocent boy shot as a deserter when he didn't know what he was +doing. He wouldn't admit at first that he was Walter Foster at all, but +at last, when he saw I was sure it was him, he just broke right down and +as much as owned right up. He said he'd been slugged or sand-bagged +three weeks before and robbed of money and of papers of value that he +needed to help him in his trouble. He asked me what steps could be taken +to help a poor fellow accused of desertion. He didn't dare say anything +to any of the officers' cause the men he trusted at all--one or two +well-educated young fellows like himself--found out that he'd be shot if +found guilty. The only thing he could do was make a good record for +himself in the infantry, and having done that he could later on hope for +mercy. He asked a heap of questions, and I just told him to keep a stiff +upper lip and we'd see him through, and he plucked up courage and said +he believed he'd be able to have hope again;--at all events he'd go on +duty right off. When I asked him how he dared go to Colonel Brent's, +where at any time Lieutenant Ray might recognize him, he said he never +_did_ except when he knew Lieutenant Ray was out of the way. Then I +tried to get him to tell what he expected to gain by seeing Miss Ray, +and he was confused and said he was so upset all over he really didn't +know that he had been there so often. He thought if he could see her and +tell her the whole story she could have influence enough to get him out +of his scrape. He was going to tell me the whole story, but patrols and +sentries were getting too thick, and he had to get somewhere to change +his dress for roll-call, and I gave him my address and he was to come +and see me in two days, and now he's killed, and it ain't for me to say +why--or who did it." + +Benton's murder was certainly the sensation of the week in Manila, for +there were features connected with the case that made it still more +perplexing, even mysterious. + +Major Farquhar, who must have seen young Foster frequently at Fort +Averill, had been sent to survey the harbor of Iloilo and could not be +reached in time, but Dr. Frank, called in course of the day to identify +the remains, long and carefully studied the calm, waxen features of the +dead soldier, and said with earnest conviction: + +"This is undoubtedly the young man who appeared at Colonel Brent's and +whom I sought to question, but who seemed to take alarm at once and, +with some confused apology, backed away. He was dressed very neatly in +the best white drilling sack-coat and trousers as made in Manila, with a +fine straw hat and white shoes and gloves, but he had a fuzzy beard all +over his face then, and his manner was nervous and excitable. His eyes +alone showed that he was unstrung, bodily and mentally. I set him down +for a crank or some one just picking up from serious illness. The city +is full of new-comers, and as yet no one knows how many strangers have +recently come to town. I saw him only that once in a dim light, but am +positive in this identification." + +Two or three non-commissioned officers of Benton's regiment were +examined. Their stories were concise and to the point. The young soldier +had come with the recruits from San Francisco along late in August. He +was quiet, well-mannered, attended strictly to his own business, and was +eager to learn everything about his duties. They "sized him up" as a +young man of education and good family who hadn't influence enough to +get a commission and so had enlisted to win it. He had money, but no bad +habits. He helped in the office with the regimental papers, and could +have been excused from all duty and made clerk, but wouldn't be. He said +he'd help whenever they wanted him, but he didn't wish to be excused +from guard or drills or patrol or picket--said he wanted to learn all +there was in it. Even the rough fellows in the ranks couldn't help +liking him. He had a pleasant word for everybody that didn't bother him +with questions. He made one or two acquaintances, but kept mostly to +himself; never got any letters from America, but there were two from +Hong Kong, perhaps more. If he wrote letters himself, he posted them +in town. They never went with the company mail from the _cuartel_. +Everybody seemed to know that Benton wasn't his own name, but that was +nothing. The main thing queer about him was that he got a pass whenever +he could and went by himself, most generally out to Paco, where the +cavalry were, yet he said he didn't know anybody there. It was out Paco +way on the Calzada Herran, close to the corner of the Singalon road, the +patrol picked him up with his head laid open, and he'd been flighty +pretty much ever since and troubled about being robbed. Seemed all right +again, however, when reporting for duty, and perfectly sane and straight +then. + +Two very bright young soldiers, Clark and Hunter, were called in for +their statements. They, too, had enlisted in a spirit of patriotism and +desire for adventure; never knew Benton till the voyage was nearly over, +then they seemed to drift together, as it were, and kept up their +friendship after reaching Manila. Benton was not his real name, and he +was not a graduate of any American college. He had been educated abroad +and spoke French and German. No, they did not know what university he +attended. He was frank and pleasant so long as nobody tried to probe +into his past; never heard him mention Lieutenant Stuyvesant. All three +of them, Benton, Clarke, and Hunter, had observed that young officer +during the month as he drove by barracks, sometimes with the general, +sometimes alone, but they did not know his name, and nothing indicated +that Benton had any feeling against him or that he had seen him. They +admitted having conveyed the idea to comrades that they knew more about +Benton than they would tell, but it was a "bluff." Everybody was full of +speculation and curiosity, and--well, just for the fun of the thing, +they "let on," as they said, that they were in his confidence, but they +weren't, leastwise to any extent. They knew he had money, knew he went +off by himself, and warned him to keep a look out or he'd be held up and +robbed some night. + +The only thing of any importance they had to tell was that one day, just +before his misfortune, Benton was on guard and posted as sentry over the +big Krupps in the Spanish battery at the west end of the Calle San Luis. +Clarke and Hunter had a kodak between them and a consuming desire to +photograph those guns. The sentries previously posted there refused to +let them come upon the parapet,--said it was "'gainst orders." Benton +said that unless positive orders were given to him to that effect, he +would not interfere. So they got a pass on the same day and Benton +easily got that post,--men didn't usually want it, it was such a +bother,--but, unluckily, with the post Benton got the very orders they +dreaded. So when they would have made the attempt he had to say, "No." +They came away crestfallen, and stumbled on two sailor-looking men who, +from the shelter of a heavy stone revetment wall, were peering with odd +excitement of manner at Benton, who was again marching up and down his +narrow post, a very soldierly figure. + +"That young feller drove you back, did he?" inquired one of them, a +burly, thick-set, hulking man of middle height. "Puttin' on considerable +airs, ain't he? What's he belong to?" + +"--th Infantry," answered Clarke shortly, not liking the stranger's +looks, words, or manner, and then pushed on; but the stranger followed, +out of sight of the sentry now, and wanted to continue the conversation. + +"Sure he ain't in the cavalry?" asked the same man. + +"Cocksure!" was the blunt reply. "What's it to you, anyhow?" + +"Oh, nothin'; thought I'd seen him before. Know his name?" + +"Name's Benton, far as I know. Come on, Hunter," said Clarke, obviously +unwilling to stay longer in such society, and little more was thought of +it for the time being; but now the provost-marshal's assistant wished +further particulars. Was there anything unusual about the questioner's +teeth? And a hundred men looked up in surprise and suddenly rearoused +interest. + +"Yes, sir," said Clarke, "one tooth was missing, upper jaw, next the big +eye-tooth;" and as the witness stood down the general and the +questioning officer beamed on each other and smiled. + +An adjournment was necessitated during the early afternoon. Lieutenant +Ray's statement was desired, also that of Private Connelly of the +artillery, and an effort had been made through the officers of the +cavalry at Paco to find some of the recruits who were of the detachment +now quite frequently referred to in that command as "the singed cats." +But it transpired that most of them had been assigned to troops of their +regiment not yet sent to Manila, only half the regiment being on +duty--foot duty at that--in the Philippines. The only man among them who +had travelled with Foster from Denver as far as Sacramento was the young +recruit, Mellen. He was on outpost, but would be relieved and sent to +Ermita as quickly as possible. + +Connelly, said the surgeon at the Cuartel de Meysic, was too ill to be +sent thither, unless on a matter of vital importance, and Sandy Ray, +hastening from Maidie's bedside in response to a summons, was met by the +tidings that a recess had been ordered, and that he would be sent for +again when needed. + +Everywhere in Malate, Ermita, Paco, and, for that matter, the barracks +and quarters of Manila, the astonishing story was the topic of all +tongues that day. Among the regulars by this time the tale of Foster's +devotion to Maidie Ray was well known, while that of Stuyvesant's later +but assiduous courtship was rapidly spreading. + +Men spoke in murmurs and with sombre faces, and strove to talk lightly +on other themes, but the tragedy, with all the honored names it +involved, weighed heavily upon them. Stuyvesant came to them, to be +sure, a total stranger, but Vinton had long known him, and that was +enough. His name, his lineage, his high position socially, all united to +throw discredit on the grave suspicion that attached to him. Yet, here +they were, brought face to face, rivals for the hand of as lovely a girl +as the army ever knew. It was even possible that Foster was the +aggressor. Reilly's reluctant words gave proof that discussion of some +kind had occurred, and Stuyvesant broke away and was apparently wrathful +at being compelled to go back; then more words, longer detention; then a +swift-running form, Stuyvesant's, away from the scene; then the fatal +pistol; and against this chain of circumstances only the unsupported +statement of the accused that he left that revolver on the table in the +salon, left it where it was never afterwards seen. No wonder men shook +their heads. + +It was three in the afternoon when the examination was resumed. +Meantime, from all over Manila came the correspondents, burning with +zeal and impatience, for the Esmeralda was scheduled to leave at five, +and a stony-hearted censor at the Ayuntamiento had turned down whole +pages of thrilling "copy" that would cost three dollars a word to send +to the States, but sell for thirty times as much when it got there. + +"Despite the positive identification of the remains," wrote one inspired +journalist, "by such an unimpeachable and intelligent woman as Zenobia +Perkins, who attended the murdered lad after he was so severely burned +upon the train,--despite the equally positive recognition by that +eminent and distinguished surgeon, Dr. Frank, this military satrap and +censor dares to say that not until the identity of the deceased is +established to the satisfaction of the military authorities will the +report be cabled. How long will the people of America submit to such +tyrannical dictation?" + +When the provost-marshal himself, with his assistants and Vinton and +Stuyvesant, returned at three and found Zenobia the vortex of a storm of +questioners, the centre of a circle of rapid-writing scribes, these +latter could have sworn--did swear, some of them--that, far from +expediting matters in order that a full report might be sent by the +Esmeralda, the officials showed a provoking and exasperating disposition +to prolong and delay them. + +And even at this time and at this distance, with all his regard, +personal and professional, for the official referred to, the present +chronicler is unable entirely to refute the allegation. + +Out in the street a score of carriages and as many _quilez_ and +_carromattas_ stood waiting by the curb, and gallant Captain Taylor, of +the Esmeralda, could have added gold by the hundred to his well-earned +store would he but have promised to hold his ship until the court--not +the tide--served. But an aide of the commanding general had driven to +the ship towards two o'clock and said something to that able seaman,--no +power of the press could tell what,--and all importunity as to delaying +his departure there was but one reply,-- + +"Five sharp, and not a second later!" + +It was after three--yes, long after--that witnesses of consequence came +up for examination. Dr. Brick had got the floor and was pleading +_post-mortem_ at once. In this climate and under such conditions +decomposition would be so rapid, said he, that "by tomorrow his own +mother couldn't recognize him." But the provost-marshal drawled that he +didn't see that further mutilation would promote the possibility of +recognition, and Brick was set aside. + +It was quarter to four when young Mellen was bidden to tell whether he +knew, and what he knew of, the deceased, and all men hushed their very +breath as the lad was conducted to the blanket-shrouded form under the +overhanging gallery in the open _patio_. The hospital steward slowly +turned down the coverlet, and Mellen, well-nigh as pallid as the corpse, +was bidden to look. Look he did, long and earnestly. The little weights +that some one had placed on the eyelids were lifted; the soft hair had +been neatly brushed; the lips were gently closed; the delicate, +clear-cut features wore an expression of infinite peace and rest; and +Mellen slowly turned and, facing the official group at the neighboring +table, nodded. + +"You think you recognize the deceased?" came the question. "If so, what +was his name?" + +"I think so, yes, sir. It's Foster--at least that's what I heard it +was." + +"Had you ever known him?--to speak to?" + +"He was in the same detachment on the train. Don't know as I ever spoke +to him, sir," was the answer. + +"But you think you know him by sight? Where did you first notice him?" + +"Think it was Ogden, sir. I didn't pay much attention before that. A man +called Murray knew him and got some money from him. That's how I came to +notice him. The rest of us hadn't any to speak of." + +"Ever see him again to speak to or notice particularly after you left +Ogden? Did he sit near you?" was the somewhat caustic query. + +"No, sir, only just that once." + +"But you are sure this is the man you saw at Ogden?" + +Mellen turned uneasily, unhappily, and looked again into the still and +placid face. That meeting was on a glaring day in June. This was a +clouded afternoon in late October and nearly five months had slipped +away. Yet he had heard the solemn story of murder and had never, up to +now, imagined there could be a doubt. In mute patience the sleeping face +seemed appealing to him to speak for it, to own it, to stand between it +and the possibility of its being buried friendless, unrecognized. + +"It's--it's him or his twin brother, sir," said Mellen. + +"One question more. Had you heard before you came here who was killed?" + +"Yes, sir. They said it was Foster." + +And now, with pencils swiftly plying, several young civilians were +edging to the door. + +James Farnham was called, and a sturdy young man, with keen, +weather-beaten face, stepped into the little open space before the +table. Three fingers were gone from the hand he instinctively held up, +as though expecting to be sworn. His testimony was decidedly a +disappointment. Farnham said that he was brakeman of that train and +would know some of that squad of recruits anywhere, but this one,--well, +he remembered talking to one man at Ogden, a tall, fine-looking young +feller something very like this one. This might have been him or it +might not. He couldn't even be sure that this was one of the party. He +really didn't know. But there was a chap called Murray that he'd +remember easy enough anywhere. + +And then it was after four and the race for the Esmeralda began. It was +utterly unnecessary, said certain bystanders, to question any more +members of the guard, but the provost-marshal did, and not until 4.30 +did he deign to send for the most important witness of all, the brother +of the young girl to whom the deceased had been so devotedly attached. +They had not long to wait, for Sandy Ray happened to be almost at the +door. + +The throng seemed to take another long breath, and then to hold it as, +the few preliminaries answered, Mr. Ray was bidden to look at the face +of the deceased. Pale, composed, yet with infinite sadness of mien, the +young officer, campaign hat in hand, stepped over to the trestle, and +the steward again slowly withdrew the light covering, again exposing +that placid face. + +The afternoon sunshine was waning. The bright glare of the mid-day hours +had given place within the enclosure to the softer, almost shadowy light +of early eve. Ray had but just come in from the street without where the +slanting sunbeams bursting through the clouds beat hot upon the dazzling +walls, and his eyes had not yet become accustomed to the change. +Reverently, pityingly, he bent and looked upon the features of the dead. +An expression, first of incredulity, then of surprise, shot over his +face. + +He closed his eyes a second as though to give them strength for sterner +test, and then, bending lower, once more looked; carefully studied the +forehead, eyebrows, lashes, mouth, nose, and hair, then, straightening +up, he slowly faced the waiting room and said,-- + +"I never set eyes on this man in my life before to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +To say that Mr. Ray's abrupt announcement was a surprise to the dense +throng of listeners is putting it mildly. To say that it was received +with incredulity on part of the soldiery, and concern, if not keen +apprehension, by old friends of Sandy's father who were present, is but +a faint description of the effect of the lad's emphatic statement. + +To nine out of ten among the assembly the young officer was a total +stranger. To more than nine out of ten the identification of the dead as +Walter Foster, Maidie Ray's luckless lover, was already complete, and +many men who have made up their minds are incensed at those who dare to +differ from them. + +True, Mr. Stuyvesant had said that the sentry, Number 6, did not remind +him except in stature, form, and possibly in features, of the recruit he +knew as Foster on the train. He did not speak like him. But, when +closely questioned by the legal adviser of the provost-marshal's +department--the officer who conducted most of the examination with much +of the manner of a prosecuting attorney, Mr. Stuyvesant admitted that he +had only seen Foster once to speak to, and that was at night in the dim +light of the Sacramento station on what might be called the off-side of +the train, where the shadows were heavy, and while the face of the young +soldier was partially covered with a bandage. Yet Vinton attached +importance to his aide-de-camp's opinion, and when Ray came out +flat-footed, as it were, in support of Stuyvesant's views, the general +was visibly gratified. + +But, except for these very few, Ray had spoken to unbelieving ears. +Sternly the military lawyer took him in hand and began to probe. No need +to enter into details. In ten minutes the indignant young gentleman, who +never in his life had told a lie, found himself the target of ten score +of hostile eyes, some wrathful, some scornful, some contemptuous, some +insolent, some only derisive, but all, save those of a few silently +observant officers, threatening or at least inimical. + +Claiming first that he knew Walter Foster well (and, indeed, it seemed +to him he did, for his mother's letters to the Big Horn ranch had much +to say of Maidie's civilian admirer, though Maidie herself could rarely +be induced to speak of him), Ray was forced to admit that he had met him +only twice or thrice during a brief and hurried visit to Fort Averill to +see his loved ones before they moved to Fort Leavenworth, and then he +owned he paid but little attention to the sighing swain. Questioned as +to his opportunities of studying and observing Foster, Sandy had been +constrained to say that he hadn't observed him closely at all. He +"didn't want to--exactly." They first met, it seems, in saddle. The +winter weather was glorious at Averill. They had a fine pack of hounds; +coursing for jack-rabbit was their favorite sport, and, despite the fact +that Foster had a beautiful and speedy horse, "his seat was so poor and +his hand so jerky he never managed to get up to the front," said Sandy. + +It was not brought out in evidence, but the fact was that Sandy could +never be got to look on Foster with the faintest favor as a suitor for +his sister's hand. A fellow who could neither ride, shoot, nor +spar--whose accomplishments were solely of the carpet and perhaps the +tennis-court--the boy had no use for. He and Maidie rode as though born +to the saddle. He had seen Foster in an English riding-suit and English +saddle and an attempt at the English seat, but decidedly without the +deft English hand on his fretting hunter's mouth the one day that they +appeared in field together, and the sight was too much for Sandy. That +night at dinner, and the later dance, Foster's perfection of dress and +manner only partially redeemed him in Sandy's eyes, and--well--really, +that was about all he ever had seen of Foster. + +Questioned as to his recollection of Foster's features, stature, etc., +Sandy did his best, and only succeeded in portraying the deceased almost +to the life. Except, he said, Foster had long, thick, curving eyelashes, +and "this man hasn't"--but it was remembered that brows and lashes both +were singed off in the fire. So that point failed. Questioned as to +whether he realized that his description tallied closely with the +appearance of the deceased, Sandy said that that all might be, but still +"this isn't Foster." Questioned as to whether, if the deceased were +again to have the color and action,--the life that Foster had a year +ago,--might not the resemblance to Foster be complete?--Sandy simply +"couldn't tell." + +Nearly an hour was consumed in trying to convince him he must, or at +least might, be mistaken, but to no purpose. He mentioned a card +photograph of Foster in ranch costume that would convince the gentlemen, +he thought, that there was no such very strong resemblance, and a note +was written to Miss Porter asking her to find and send the picture in +question. It came, a cabinet photo of a tall, slender, well-built young +fellow with dark eyes and brows and thick, curving lashes and oval, +attractive face, despite its boyishness, and nine men out of ten who saw +and compared it with the face of the dead declared it looked as though +it had been taken for the latter perhaps a year or so agone. Ray had +hurt his own case, and, when excused to return to his sister's side, +went forth into the gathering twilight stricken with the consciousness +that he was believed to have lied in hopes of averting scandal from that +sister's name. + +And on the morrow with that _post-mortem_, so insisted on by Brick, no +longer delayed, the dead again lay mutely awaiting the final action of +the civil-military authorities, and to the surprise of the officers and +guards, before going to the daily routine that kept him from early morn +till late at night in his beleaguered office, Drayton came and bowed his +gray head and gazed with sombre eyes into the sleeping features now +before him. + +A pinched and tired look was coming over the waxen face that had been so +calm and placid, as though in utter weariness over this senseless delay. +Drayton had been told of young Ray's almost astounding declaration, and +officers of the law half expected him to make some adverse comment +thereon, but he did not. Alert correspondents, amazed to see the corps +commander at such a place and so far from the Ayuntamiento, surrounded +him as he would have retaken his seat in his carriage, and clamored for +something as coming from him in the way of an expression of opinion, +which, with grave courtesy, the general declined to give, but could not +prevent appearing a week later in a thousand papers and in a dozen +different forms--ferried over to Hong Kong by the Shogun or some other +ship, and cabled thence to waiting Christendom. + +Drayton had his own reasons for wishing to see the remains, then Vinton, +and later Ray, and as his movements were closely followed, the wits of +the correspondents were sorely taxed. But the examination was to be +resumed at nine. A rumor was running wild that Miss Ray herself was to +be summoned to appear, and Drayton had to be dropped in favor of a more +promising sensation. + +It began with dreary surgical technicalities. The heavy bullet had +traversed the ascending aorta "near its bifurcation," said Brick, who, +though only an autopsical adjunct, was permitted to speak for his +associates. Death, said he, had resulted from shock and was probably +instantaneous. No other cause could be attributed. No other wound was +discovered. No marks of scuffle except "some unimportant scratches" on +the shoulder. The bullet was found to weigh exactly the same as those of +the unexploded cartridges in poor Maidie's prized revolver, and though +Brick would gladly have kept the floor and told very much more, the +provost-marshal as gladly got rid of him, for, despite the unwillingness +of the medical officers at the Cuartel de Meysic, Connelly had been +trundled down to Ermita in a springy ambulance and was presently +awaiting his turn. + +The moment his coming was announced, Connelly was ushered in and Brick +shut off short. + +A nurse and doctor were with the sturdy little Irishman, and he needed +but brief instruction as to what was wanted. Taken to the trestle and +bidden to look upon the face of the deceased and say, if he could, who +it was, Connelly looked long and earnestly, and then turned feebly but +calmly to the attentive array. + +"If it wasn't that this looks much thinner," said he, "I'd say it was a +man who 'listed with our detachment at Denver last June, about the first +week. The name was Foster. He disappeared somewhere between Sacramento +and Oakland, and I never saw him again." + +Questioned as to whether there was any mark by which the recruit could +be known, Connelly said that he was present when Foster was physically +examined, and he never saw a man with a whiter skin; there wasn't a mark +on him anywhere then that he could remember. Bidden to tell what he knew +of Foster, the young artilleryman was given a seat, and somewhat feebly +proceeded. Foster was bound to enlist, he said, was of legal age and +looked it; gave his full name, his home and business; said he owned a +ranch down in New Mexico near Fort Averill; didn't know enough to go in +for a commission and was determined to enlist and serve as a private +soldier in the cavalry. He had good clothes and things that he put in a +trunk and expressed back to Averill, keeping only a valise full of +underwear, etc., but that was burned up on the car afterwards. Two days +later, before they started for the West, a man who said his name was +Murray came to the rendezvous and asked for Foster, who was then being +drilled. A detachment was to start the next day, and anybody could see +that Foster wasn't glad to welcome Murray by any means, but on that very +evening Murray said that he too wished to enlist and go with his +"friend." He squeezed through the physical examination somehow, and they +took him along, though nobody liked his looks. + +Then Connelly told what he could of the fire and of Foster's subsequent +disappearance, also of Murray and Murray's misconduct. They asked +Connelly about Lieutenant Stuyvesant, and here Connelly waxed almost +eloquent, certainly enthusiastic, in Stuyvesant's praise. Somebody went +so far, however, as to ask whether he had ever seen any manifestation of +ill-will between Stuyvesant and Recruit Foster, whereat Connelly looked +astonished, seemed to forget his fever, and to show something akin to +indignation. + +"No, indeed!" said he. There was nothing but good-will of the heartiest +kind everywhere throughout the detachment except for that one +blackguard, Murray. They all felt most grateful to the lieutenant, and +so far as he knew they'd all do most anything for him, all except +Murray, but he was a tough, he was a biter, and here the sick man feebly +uplifted his hand and pointed to the bluish-purple marks at the base of +the thumb. + +"Murray did that," said Connelly simply. "He was more like a beast than +a man." + +But the examiners did not seem interested in Murray. General Vinton, who +had again entered and was a close listener, and was observed to be +studying the witness closely, presently beckoned to one of the doctors +and said a word in undertone to him. The medico shook his head. There +was a lull in the proceedings a moment. Connelly was too sick a man to +be kept there long, and his doctor plainly showed his anxiety to get him +away. The crowd too wanted him to go. He had told nothing especially new +except that Murray and Foster were acquainted, and Murray enlisted +because Foster had. + +"Everybody" said by this time this must be Foster's body. What +"everybody" wanted was to get Connelly out of the way now, then +perhaps--_another_ fever patient might be summoned, for they couldn't +expect to keep those remains another day. There was widespread, if +unspoken, hope among the score of correspondents that the +provost-marshal would feel that he must summon Miss Ray. + +But before the examiners could decide there came an unexpected scene. +Vinton went over, bent, and whispered to the provost-marshal, who looked +up, nodded, and glanced towards the witness, sitting flushed and +heavy-eyed, but patient, across the room. Vinton was plainly asking +something, and to the manifest displeasure of many of the crowd the +little Irishman was again accosted. + +"You say Murray was a biter and bit you so that the marks last to this +day. Did you take note of any peculiarity in his teeth?" + +"Yes, sir. One of 'em was gone near the front, right-hand side, next to +the big yellow eye-tooth." + +"Would that make a peculiar mark on human flesh?" + +"Yes, sir," answered Connelly, holding up his hand again and showing the +scar, now nearly five months old. + +"Steward," said the officer placidly, "uncover the shoulder there and +let Connelly look at the mark Dr. Brick referred to." + +Connelly did. He studied the purplish discolorations in the milky skin, +and excitement, not altogether febrile, suddenly became manifest in his +hot, flushed face. Then he held forth one hand, palm uppermost, eagerly +compared the ugly scars at the base of the thumb with the faint marks on +the broad, smooth shoulder, and turned back to the darkened room. With +hand uplifted he cried: + +"Major,"--and now he was trembling with mingled weakness and +eagerness,--"I knew that man Murray was following this young feller to +squeeze money out of him, and when he couldn't get it by threats, he +tried by force. He's followed him clear to Manila, and that's his mark +sure's this is!--sure's there's a God in heaven!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +There came a time of something more than anxiety and worry for all who +knew Gerard Stuyvesant,--for those who loved Marion Ray,--and Sandy was +a sorrow-laden man. Vinton could not stand between his favorite +aide-de-camp and the accusation laid at his door. Frank and his most +gifted fellow-surgeons were powerless to prevent the relapse that came +to Marion and bore her so close to the portals of the great beyond that +there were days and nights when the blithe spirit seemed flitting away +from its fragile tenement, and November was half gone before the crisis +was so far past that recovery could be pronounced only a question of +time. Oh, the strain of those long, long, sleepless days of watching, +waiting, hoping, praying, yet days wherein the watchers could nurse and +help and _act_. Oh, the blackness, the misery of the nights of watching, +waiting in helplessness, well-nigh in despair, for the coming of the +next "cable!" the consciousness of utter impotence to help or to do! the +realization that a priceless life is ebbing away, while they who gave +it--they to whom it is so infinitely precious--are at the very opposite +ends of the earth! Oh, the tremulous opening of those fateful messages, +the breathless reading of the cipher, the awful suspense of the search +through Cable Code pages that dance and swim before the straining eyes! +Oh, the meek acceptance of still further suspense! the almost piteous +thankfulness that all is not yet lost, that hope is not yet abandoned! +Strong men break down and add years to those they have lived. Gentle +women sway and totter at last until relief comes to them through +God-given tears. + +In a fever-stricken camp in Southern swamplands a father waked night +after night, walking the hospitals where his brave lads lay moaning, +seeing in their burning misery, hearing in their last sigh, the +sufferings of a beloved child. By the bedside of her youngest, her baby +boy as she would ever call the lad, who lay there in delirium, knelt a +mother who, as she nursed and soothed this one, prayed without ceasing +for that other, that beloved daughter for whom the Death Angel crouched +and waited under the tropic skies of the far Philippines. Ah, there were +suffering and distress attendant on that strange, eventful epoch in the +nation's history that even the press said nothing about, and that those +who knew it speak of only in deep solemnity and awe to-day. It was +mid-November before they dared to hope. It was December when once again +Maid Marion was lifted to her lounging-chair overlooking the Bagumbayan, +and little by little began picking up once more the threads that were so +nearly severed for all time, and as health and strength slowly returned, +hearing the tidings of the busy, bustling world about her. + +Others too had known anxiety as sore as that which had so lined the face +of Colonel Ray and trebled the silver in the soft hair of Marion, his +wife. Well-nigh distracted, a mother sped across the continent to the +Pacific, there to await the coming of her son's remains. + +From the night of Walter Foster's disappearance at Carquinez no word of +his existence came to give her hope, no trace of his movements until, +late in August, there was brought to her the cabled message: + + "Alive, well, but in trouble. Have written." + +And this was headed Yokohama. Not until October did that longed-for, +prayed-for letter come,--a selfish letter, since it gave no really +adequate excuse for the long weeks of silence, and only told that the +boy had been in hiding, almost in terror of his life. While still dazed +by the shock of the fire and smarting from his burns, wrote Walter, he +had wandered from the cars at Port Costa. He had encountered "most +uncongenial persons," he said, among the recruits, and never realizing +that it was desertion, war-time desertion at that, had determined to get +back to Sacramento and join some other command. Yes. There was another +reason, but--one "mother couldn't appreciate." Unknown to all but one of +his comrades on the train, he had abundant money, realized from the sale +of horses and cattle at the ranch. It was in a buckskin belt about his +waist, and this money bought him "friends" who took him by water to +Sacramento, found him secret lodgings, procured suitable clothing, and +later spirited him off to San Francisco. + +But these money-bought friends showed the cloven hoof, threatened to +give him over to the military authorities to be tried for his life +unless he would pay a heavy sum. They had him virtually a prisoner. He +could only stir abroad at night, and then in company with his jailers. + +There was a man, he wrote, who had a grudge against him, a man +discharged from the ranch, who followed him to Denver and enlisted in +the same party, a man he was most anxious to get rid of, and the first +thing he knew that fellow, who, he supposed, had gone on to Manila, +turned up in disguise and joined forces with his tormentors. That drove +him to desperation, nerved him to one sublime effort, and one night he +broke away and ran. He was fleet of foot, they were heavy with drink, +and he dodged them among the wharves and piers, took refuge on a coast +steamer, and found himself two days later at Portland. + +Here he bethought him of an old friend, and succeeded in finding a man +he well knew he could trust, despite his mother's old dislike for him, a +man who knew his whole past, of his desertion, of his danger,--a man who +was himself about enlisting for service in the Philippines, and who +persuaded him that his surest way to win exemption from punishment was +to hasten after the detachment, beat it, if possible, to Manila, and +join it there at his own expense. + +He still had some hundreds left. They went to San Francisco, where +Walter took steamer at once for Honolulu to await there the coming of +the recruit detachment. The infantry finally came, his friend with them, +but no sign of more cavalry. To Walter's dismay he had seen among the +passengers landed from the Doric the disguised rough whom, as Sackett, +he had so unfavorably known before, who as Murray had followed him into +the army. It would never do to fall into his clutches again: the man +would betray him instantly. Walter kept in hiding until he heard that +Sackett was accused of stabbing a staff officer of General Vinton and +had fled the island. + +Later, when the next troop-ship came, bringing his friend with it, he +again took counsel. As the lad fully admitted, his friend was the same +old chum of Freiburg days--the friend to whom his parents had so much +objected. The fortunes of war had thrown them together, Willard as +impecunious as ever, and the Damon and Pythias, the Orestes and Pylades, +the two Ajaxes of the old days were in close and intimate touch once +more, Damon, as of old, the banker for the twain. The troop-ships were +to proceed as soon as coaled. There were reasons now why Walter wished +to stay in Honolulu, but Willard urged his moving at once on to Hong +Kong and there awaiting the result of his negotiations at Manila. At +Hong Kong it was his hope to receive the word "Come over. All is well," +and, finally, as his funds would soon run out, he closed his letter with +the request that his mother cable him five hundred dollars through the +Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. + +The money she cabled at once, then in dread she had wired Colonel +Martindale, who was gadding about with old army chums when most she +needed him at home, and that gentleman, with a sigh, again went +sisterward, saying he knew the boy was sure to turn up to torment him, +and wondering what on earth young Hopeful had done now. He looked grave +enough when he read the letter, asked for time to communicate +confidentially with a chum at Washington, and was awaiting reply when +all on a sudden the papers came out with this startling despatch telling +of the murder of Private Walter Foster while on his post as sentry at +Manila, and then came weeks of woe. + +Despite Drayton's cable from Manila that the identification of the +remains was not conclusive to him, at least, Mrs. Foster was convinced +that the murdered lad was her only boy, and all because of that +heartless flirt, that designing--that demoniac army girl who had +bewitched him and then brought his blood upon her own head. + +"If it isn't Walter who lies there slain by assassin rival, the innocent +victim of _that creature's_ hideous vanity, would I not have heard from +him? Do you suppose my blessed boy would not _instantly_ have cabled to +tell me he was alive if he wasn't dead?" And, indeed, that was a hard +question to answer. + +And so the remains of Private Willard Benton, that had been viewed by +many a genuinely sorrowing comrade and stowed away with solemn military +honors in a vault at Paco Cemetery, were sealed up as best they could do +it at Manila, and, though unconvinced as to their identity despite the +convictions of others in authority, the commanding general yielded to +cables from the War Department and ordered their shipment to San +Francisco. They were out of sight of all signals from Corregidor when +Martindale's cable came suggesting search for Private Benton Willard. + +Zenobia Perkins sniffed contemptuously and scoffed malignantly when told +that the doubting Thomases were gaining ground and numbers, that though +Mr. Stuyvesant might be brought to trial for killing a man, it would not +be for killing Foster until more was ascertained regarding the actual +victim. Private Connelly, recovered from his fever, was forever hunting +up Farnham, the brakeman, and devising schemes for the capture of that +blackguard Murray. Day and night, he maintained that Murray was the man +who had accosted Clarke and Hunter at the battery, that it was probably +he who, with his pals, had waylaid and robbed the lone recruit returning +from his quest in East Paco, that it was he who must have struggled with +him again before firing the fatal shot; but not a trace of Murray or his +sailor mates could the secret service agents find, and matters were in +this most unsatisfactory state when at the end of November came the +Queen of the Fleet, despatched several weeks before to fetch along the +troops "sidetracked" at Honolulu, just as the commanding general and his +chief surgeon were in consultation as to what on earth to do with +Zenobia Perkins--the woman had become a public nuisance. + +It seems that the Patriotic Daughters of America were now out of +patience and the vice-president out of funds. It seemed that her brief +ascendancy had carried the lady to such an altitude as to dizzy her +brain and rob her of all sense of proportion. It seems that the surgeons +in charge of three hospitals had complained of her meddling, that +colonels of several regiments had discovered her to be the author of +letters to the home papers setting forth that neglect, abuse, and +starvation were driving their men to desertion or the grave. It seems +that the Red Cross had protested against her as the originator of +malignant stories at their expense, and it was evidently high time to +get rid of her, yet how could they if that case was to be tried? Zenobia +Perkins knew they could not and conducted herself accordingly. She came +this day to the Ayuntamiento to demand pay for what she termed her long +detention at Manila. + +"You compel me to remain against my will because I'm an indispensable +witness," said she to the saturnine adjutant-general, beyond whom she +never now succeeded in passing. She was volubly berating him, to his +grim amusement, when the lattice doors from the corridor swung open and +two officers entered. + +For nearly two minutes they stood waiting for a break in her tempestuous +flow of words, but as none came, the senior impatiently stepped forward +and the adjutant-general, looking up, sprang from his chair just as the +chief himself came hurrying out from the _sanctum sanctorum_ and greeted +the newcomers with cordially clasping hands. The lady too had risen. +This was another of those stuck-up star-wearers who at San Francisco as +much as told her she was a nuisance, and who wouldn't send her by +transport to Manila. Yet here she was in spite of them all, and the most +important woman on the island! Zenobia's face was flushed with triumph +that the star-wearer should be made to feel and see before she would +consent to leave the room. + +"Well, I shall have to interrupt you gentlemen," said she, "for _my_ +business won't keep if you propose to keep _me_. I want to know right +here and now, General Drayton, whether I'm to get my pay or not; if not, +I don't propose to wait another day in Manila, and you can get out of +the scrape the best way you know how. No one here but me could swear +that young man Foster was dead, and you know it." + +"You've sworn to what isn't so, madame," interposed the new arrival +placidly. "Here's that young man Foster!" and as he spoke the lattice +doors again swung open, and, very pale, a tall youth in civilian dress +was ushered in, at sight of whom Major Farquhar fairly shouted. + + -------------------- + +"How'd I get him?" said the new-comer five minutes later. "Found him +aboard the Coptic when she met us as we were pulling out from Honolulu. +He was going back to the States. Left Hong Kong before the story was +published. Didn't want to come, of course, but had to." + +"Wasn't there time to write his mother? They surely would have cabled, +and the Coptic must have got into San Francisco a week ago." + +"Certainly! Letter was sent right on by the steamer, addressed to +Cincinnati." + +"O Lord!" said Drayton. "And she was at 'Frisco all the time. Colonel," +he added to his chief-of-staff, "what's the first transport home?" + +"Zealandia, sir; to-morrow." + +"Sorry for the Zealandia, but Zenobia must go with her." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Of course we had not heard the last of her. Honolulu correspondents of +the press had little to write of in those days, but made their little +long, and Zenobia's stories were the biggest things yet brought from +Manila. Those stories were seven days getting from Honolulu to San +Francisco, which was less than half the time it took their author to +bring them to listening ears. Anybody aboard the Zealandia could have +told the scribes the lady was a fabricator of the first magnitude, but +what live correspondent wants to have a good story spoiled? In just +twenty-seven days from that on which Zenobia bade farewell to Manila her +winged words were flashed all over the States, and by thousands were the +stones swallowed that death, disease, pestilence and famine, bribery and +corruption, vice and debauchery, desertion and demoralization ran riot +in the army at Manila, all due to the incapacity, if not actual +complicity, of officers in high position. But mercifully were they +spared the knowledge of these astonishing facts until the papers +themselves began to reach the Eighth Corps some ten weeks after Zenobia +had left it to its fate, and by that time every fellow had his hands +full, for the long-looked-for outbreak had come at last, and the long, +thin Yankee fighting line was too busy making history to waste ink or +temper in denying yarns that, after all, were soon forgotten. + +Then, too, we had been hearing stories that could not be denied right +there in the southern suburbs, and having excitement that needed no +Zenobia to enhance it. To begin with, Walter Foster's tale was of itself +of vivid interest, and, though only the general and Farquhar and Ray +actually heard it, and only two or possibly three staff officers were +supposed to see it after it had been reduced to writing, every steamer +and transport now was bringing officers' families, and men must tell +their wives something once in a while, otherwise they might never know +what _is_ going on and so will believe all manner of things that are +not. + +Walter Foster's mother learned by cable that the remains she awaited, +and that reached port almost the day she got the despatch, were not +those of her only son, but of one who had practically died for him. And +even in the joy of that supreme moment the woman in her turned, after +all, in pity to weep for the motherless lad who had been her boy's +warmest friend in his hours of doubt and darkness and despair. + +A weak vessel was "Wally," as Farquhar had intimated, and so easily +cowed and daunted that in the dread of the punishment accorded the +deserter he had skulked in disguise at Hong Kong, leaving all the burden +of scouting, pleading, and planning for him to Willard, his old-time +chum, who had even less knowledge and experience of army official life +than himself. Willard's early letters to Hong Kong gave Foster little +hope, for at first the only people the recruit could "sound" were +private soldiers like himself. Then Foster read of the arrival of the +Sacramento at Manila, of the presence there of Maidie Ray, and then he +wrote urging his quondam chum to endeavor to see her, to tell her of +his desperate straits, to implore her to exert influence to get him +pardoned, and, in order that she might know that his envoy was duly +accredited, he sent Willard his chief treasure, that little +_carte-de-visite_, together with a few imploring lines. + +Then not a word came from Willard for three mortal weeks, but Foster's +daily visits to the bank were at last rewarded by a despatch from home +bidding him return at once by first steamer, sending him abundant means, +and assuring him all would be well. + +And when the news of his own murder was published in the Hong Kong +papers, without the faintest intimation to the officials of the bank as +to his intentions, he was homeward bound, and never heard a word of it +all until recognized by an officer aboard the Queen as the Coptic +floated into Honolulu Harbor. There he was arrested and turned back. + +Among "Billy Benton's" few effects no letters, no such picture, had been +found, nothing, in fact, to connect him with Foster. Colonel Brent knew +what had become of the _carte-de-visite_, but--how happened it in other +hands than those of Benton? That too was not long to be a mystery. + +One day in late December a forlorn-looking fellow begged a drink of the +bartender at the Alhambra on the Escolta--said he was out of money, +deserted by his friends, and took occasion to remind the dispenser of +fluid refreshment that a few weeks ago when he had funds and friends +both he had spent many a dollar there. The bartender waved him away. + +"Awe, give the feller a drink," said boys in blue, in the largeness of +their nature and the language of the ranks. "What'll you take, Johnny? +Have one with us," and one of the managers hastened over and whispered +to some of the flannel-shirted squad, but to no purpose. + +The "boys" were bent on benevolence, and "beat" though he might be, the +gaunt stranger was made welcome, shared their meat and drink, and, +growing speedily confidential in his cups, told them that he could tell +a tale some folks would pay well to hear, and then proceeded to stiffen +out in a fit. + +This brought to mind the event on the Bagumbayan, and somebody said it +was "the same feller if not the same fit," and it wouldn't do to leave +him there. They took him along in their cab and across to their barracks +by the Puente Colgante, and a doctor ministered to him, for it was plain +the poor fellow was in sore plight, and a few days later a story worth +the telling was going the rounds. The good chaplain of the Californians +had heard his partial confession and urged him to tell the whole truth, +and that night the last vestige of the crumbling case against Gerard +Stuyvesant came tumbling to earth, and Connelly, from the Cuartel de +Meisic, nearly ran his sturdy legs off to find Farnham and tell him the +tale. + +"My real name," said the broken man, "is of no consequence to anybody. I +soldiered nearly ten years ago in the Seventh Cavalry, but that fight at +Wounded Knee was too much for my nerve, and the boys made life a burden +to me afterwards. I 'took on' in another regiment after I skipped from +the Seventh, but luck was against me. We were sent to Fort Meade, and +there was a gambler in Deadwood, Sackett by name, who had been a few +months in the Seventh, but got bob-tailed out for some dirty work, and +he knew me at once and swore he'd give me away if I didn't steer fellows +up against his game after pay-day. I had to do it, but Captain Ray got +onto it all and broke up the scheme and ran Sackett off the reservation, +and then he blew on me and I had to quit again. He shot a man over +cards, for he was a devil when in drink, and had to clear out, and we +met again in Denver. 'Each could give the other away by that time,' said +he, and so we joined partnership." + +The rest was soon told. Sackett got a job on young Foster's ranch and +fell into some further trouble. But when the war came all of them were +enlisted, Foster and Sackett in the regulars and he in the First +Colorado, but they discharged him at Manila because he had fits, and +that gave him a good deal of money for a few days, travel pay home, and +all that. Then who should turn up but Sackett with "money to burn" and a +scheme to make more. They hired a room in Ermita, and next thing he knew +Sackett and some sailor men held up and robbed a soldier, and Sackett +was in a tearing rage because no money-belt was found on him. They only +got some letters, that little photograph, and perhaps forty dollars +"Mex." The photograph he recognized at once,--his former captain's +daughter,--and he begged for it and kept it about him until one evening +he was taken with another fit, and when he came to the picture was gone. + +That night he found Sackett nearly crazy drunk at their lodgings in +Ermita. They had a Filipino boy to wait on them then, and Sackett had +told the boy where he could find money and jewelry while the family were +at dinner around at Colonel Brent's. The boy was willing enough; he was +an expert. But he came back scared through; said that the soldiers were +close after him. He had some jewelry and a pretty revolver. Sackett told +him to keep the jewelry, but took the watch and pistol, and that night +the sentries and patrols were searching everywhere, and Sackett and the +sailors said they must get away somehow. They drank some more, and +finally thought they had a good chance just after the patrol left, and +the sentry was talking to an officer on the Calle Real. + +They sneaked downstairs and out into the Faura, and there Sackett ran +right into the soldier's arms. There was a short, terrible battle, the +soldier against Sackett and his sailor friend. The sailor got the +sentry's gun away, and Sackett and he wrestled as far as the corner, +when there was a shot; the soldier dropped all in a heap and Sackett and +the sailor ran for their lives around the corner,--the last he had ever +seen or heard of them up to this moment. + +So that was how poor Maidie's pistol happened to be picked up on the +Calle Real and why one or two assertive officers lately connected with +the provost-marshal's and secret-service department concluded that it +might be well for them to try regimental duty awhile. That was how it +happened, too, that Lieutenant Stuyvesant was prevailed on to take a +short leave and run over to Hong Kong. But he came back in a hurry, for +there was need of every man and trouble imminent "at the front." + +The dawn of that memorable February day had come that saw Manila girdled +by the flame of forty thousand rifles and shrouded in the smoke that +drifted from the burning roofs of outlying villages from whose walls, +windows, and church towers the insurgent islanders had poured their +pitiless fire upon the ranks of the American soldiery. + +In front of a stone-walled enclosure bordering the principal street in +an eastward suburb two or three officers were in earnest consultation. +From the ambulance close at hand the attendants were carefully lifting +some sorely wounded men. Up the street farther east several little +parties coming slowly, haltingly from the front, told that the incessant +crash and rattle of musketry in that direction was no mere _feu-de-joie_, +while every now and then the angry spat of the steel-clad Mauser on the +stony road, the whiz and whirr about the ears of the few who for duty's +sake or that of example held their ground in the highway, gave evidence +that the Tagal marksmen had their eyes on every visible group of +Americans. + +In the side streets at right angles to the main thoroughfare reserve +battalions were crouching, sheltered from the leaden storm, and awaiting +the longed-for order to advance and sweep the field at the front. From +the grim, gray walls of the great church and convent, which for weeks +had been strictly guarded by order of the American generals against all +possible intrusion or desecration on part of their men, came frequent +flash and report and deadly missile aimed at the helpless wounded, the +hurrying ambulances, even at a symbol as sacred as that which towered +above its altars--the blood-red cross of Geneva. + +It was the Tagal's return for the honor and care and consideration shown +the Church of Rome. As another ambulance came swiftly to the spot, its +driver swayed, clasped his hands upon his breast, and, with the blood +gushing from his mouth, toppled forward into the arms of the hospital +attendants. It was more than flesh and blood or the brigade commander +could stand. + +"Burn that church!" was the stern order as the general spurred on to the +front, and a score of soldiers, leaping from behind the stone walls, +dashed at the barricaded doors. A young staff officer, galloping down +the road, reined in at sight of the little party and whirled about by +the general's side. + +"It's perfectly true, sir," said he. "Right across the bridge in front +of the block-house you can hear him plainly. It's a white man giving +orders to the Filipinos." The general nodded. + +"We'll get him presently. Do they understand the orders on the left?" + +"Everywhere, sir. All are ready and eager," and even the native pony +ridden by the aide seemed quivering with excitement as, horse and rider, +they fell back and joined the two officers following their chief. + +"Hot in front, Stuyvie?" queried the first in undertone, as a Mauser +zipped between their heads to the detriment of confidential talk, and a +great burst of cheers broke from the blue line crouching just ahead +across the open field. "Why, d--n it, man, you're hit now!" + +"Hush!" answered Stuyvesant imploringly, as he pressed a gauntleted hand +to his side. "Don't let the general know. I want to join Vinton in a +moment. It's only a tear along the skin." But blood was soaking through +the serge of his blue sack-coat and streaking the loose folds of his +riding-breeches, and the bright color in his clear skin was giving way +to pallor. + +"Tear, indeed! Here! Quick, orderly! Help me there on the other side!" +and the captain sprang from saddle. A soldier leaped forward, turning +loose his pony, and as the general, with only one aide and orderly, rode +on into the smoke-cloud overhanging the line, Gerard Stuyvesant, +fainting, slid forward into the arms of his faithful friends. + +A few hours later, "lined up" along the river-bank, a great regiment +from the far West, panting and exultant, stood resting on its arms and +looking back over the field traversed in its first grand charge. Here, +there, everywhere it was strewn with insurgent dead and sorely wounded. +Here, there, and everywhere men in American blue were flitting about +from group to group, tendering canteens of cold water to the wounded, +friend and enemy alike. + +Far back towards the dusty highway where the ambulances were hurrying, +and close to the abutments of a massive stone bridge that crossed a +tributary of the Pasig, three officers, a surgeon, and half-a-dozen +soldiers were grouped about a prostrate form in the pale blue uniform, +with the gold embroidery and broad stripes of a Filipino captain, but +the face was ghastly white, the language ghastly Anglo-Saxon. + +With the blood welling from a shothole in his broad, burly chest and the +seal of death already settling on his ashen brow, he was scowling up +into the half-compassionate, half-contemptuous faces about him. Here +lay the "_Capitan Americano_" of whom the Tagal soldiers had been +boasting for a month--a deserter from the army of the United States, a +commissioned officer in the ranks of Aguinaldo, shot to death in his +first battle in sight of some who had seen and known him "in the blue." + +Lieutenant Stuyvesant, revived by a long pull at the doctor's flask, his +bleeding stanched, had again pressed forward to take his part in the +fight, but now lay back in the low Victoria that the men had run forward +from the village, and looked down upon the man who in bitter wrath and +hatred had vowed long months before to have his heart's blood,--the man +who had so nearly done him to death in Honolulu. Even now in Sackett's +dying eyes something of the same brutal rage mingled with the instant +gleam of recognition that for a moment flashed across his distorted +features. It seemed retribution indeed that his last conscious glance +should fall upon the living face of the man to whom he owed his rescue +from a fearful death that night in far-away Nevada. + +But, badly as he was whipped that brilliant Sunday, "Johnny Filipino" +had the wit to note that Uncle Sam had hardly a handful of cavalry and +nowhere near enough men to follow up the advantages, and hence the long +campaign of minor affairs that had to follow. In that campaign Sandy Ray +was far too busy at the front to know very much of what was going on at +the rear in Manila. He listened with little sympathy to Farquhar's brief +disposition of poor Foster's case. "They could remove the desertion and +give him a commission, but they couldn't make Wally a soldier. He went +home when the fighting had hardly begun." Somebody was mean enough to +say if he hadn't his mother would have come for him. + +There was no question as to the identity of the soldier who died in +Filipino uniform. Not only did Stuyvesant recognize him, but so did Ray +and Trooper Mellen, and Connelly, fetched over from the north side to +make assurance doubly sure. It was Sackett-Murray, gambler, horse-thief, +house-robber, deserter, biter, murderer, and double-dyed traitor. He had +fled to the insurgents in dread of discovery and death at the hands of +Benton's comrades. + +And perhaps it was just as well. Foster knew of his hapless end before +he took steamer homeward; knew, too, of Stuyvesant's wound, +and--possibly it had something to do with his departure--of the +disposition made of that fortunately wounded officer. Miss Ray, it +seems, was regularly on duty now, with other Red Cross nurses, and +Stuyvesant went to the "First Reserve" and stayed there a whole week, +and even Dr. Wells came and smiled on him, and Miss Porter beamed, and +still he was not happy--for Maidie came not. She was busy as she could +be at the farther end of the other wards. + +And so Stuyvesant grew impatient of nursing, declared he was well, and +still was far from happy, for at that time Foster was still hovering +about the premises, and Stuyvesant could see only one possible +explanation for that. They moved him back to his breezy quarters at +Malate. But presently a trap was sprung, mainly through Mrs. Brent's +complicity, for once or twice a week it was Maidie's custom to go to her +old friend's roof for rest and tea. And one evening, seems to me it was +Valentine's Day, just before sunset, they were in the veranda,--the +colonel and his kindly wife,--while Maid Marion the Second was in her +own room donning a dainty gown for change from the Red Cross uniform, +when a carriage whirled up to the entrance underneath, and Mrs. Brent, +leaning over the rail, smiled on its sole occupant and nodded +reassuringly. + +Stuyvesant came up slowly, looking not too robust, and said it was +awfully good of Mrs. Brent to take pity on his loneliness and have him +round to tea. Other nice women, younger, more attractive personally than +Mrs. Brent, had likewise bidden him to tea just so soon as he felt able, +but Stuyvesant swore to himself he couldn't be able and wouldn't if he +could. Yet when Mrs. Brent said "Come," he went, though never hoping to +see Marion, whom he believed to be engrossed in duties at the First +Reserve, and on the verge of announcement of her engagement to "that +young man Foster." + +Presently Brent said if Stuyvesant had no objection he'd take his trap +and drive over _Intra muros_ and get the news from MacArthur's +front,--for Mac was hammering at the insurgent lines about +Caloocan,--and Stuyvesant had no objection whatever. Whereupon Mrs. +Brent took occasion to say in the most casual way in the world: + +"Oh, you might send a line to Colonel Martindale, dear. You know Mr. +Foster goes home by the Sonoma--oh, hadn't you heard of it, Mr. +Stuyvesant? Oh, dear, yes. He's been ready to go ever since the fighting +began, but there was no boat." + +And then she too left Stuyvesant,--left him with the New York _Moon_ +bottom topmost in his hand and a sensation as of wheels in his head. She +proceeded, furthermore, to order tea on the back gallery and Maidie to +the front. But tea was ready long before Maidie. + +Far out at the lines of San Pedro Macati Dyer's guns had sighted swarms +of rebels up the Pasig, and with placid and methodical precision were +sending shrapnel in that direction and dull, booming concussions in the +other. An engagement of some kind was on at San Pedro, and Stuyvesant +twitched with nervous longing to get there, despite the doctors, and sat +wondering was another engagement off at Manila. Just what to do he had +not decided. The _Moon_ and his senses were still upside-down when Sing +came in with the transferred tea things and Mrs. Brent with the last +thing Stuyvesant was thinking to see--Maid Marion, all smiles, +congratulation, and cool organdie. + +Ten minutes' time in which to compose herself gives a girl far too great +an advantage under such circumstances. + +"I--I'm glad to see you," said Stuyvesant helplessly. "I thought you +were wearing yourself out at nursing." + +"Oh, it agrees with me," responded Maidie blithely. + +"I suppose it must. You certainly look so." + +"_Merci du compliment, Monsieur_," smiled Miss Ray, with sparkling eyes +and the prettiest of courtesies. She certainly did look remarkably well. + +It was time for Stuyvesant to be seated again, but he hovered there +about that tea-table, for Mrs. Brent made the totally unnecessary +announcement that she would go in search of the spoons. + +"You had no time--I suppose--to look in on anybody but your assigned +vict--patients, I mean," hazarded Stuyvesant, weakening his tentative by +palpable display of sense of injury. + +"Well, you were usually asleep when I cal--inquired, I mean. One or two +lumps, Mr. Stuyvesant?" And the dainty little white hand hovered over +the sugar-bowl. + +"You usually chose such times, I fancy. One lump, thanks." There was +another, not of sugar, in his throat and he knew it, and his fine blue +eyes and thin, sad face were pathetic enough to move any woman's heart +had not Miss Ray been so concerned about the tea. + +"You would have been able to return to duty days ago," said she, +tendering the steaming cup and obviously ignoring his remark, "had you +come right to hospital as Dr. Shiels directed, instead of scampering out +to the front again. You thought more of the brevet, of course, than the +gash. What a mercy it glanced on the rib! Only--such wounds are ever so +much harder to stanch and dress." + +"You--knew about it, then?" he asked with reviving hope. + +"Of course. We _all_ knew," responded Miss Ray, well aware of the fact +that he would have been unaccountably and infinitely happier had it been +she alone. "That is our profession. But about the brevet. Surely you +ought to be pleased. Captain in your first engagement!" + +"Oh, it's only a recommendation," he answered, "and may be as far away +as--any other engagement--of mine, that is." And in saying it poor +Stuyvesant realized it was an asinine thing. So, alack, did she! An +instant agone she was biting her pretty red lips for letting the word +escape her, but his fatuity gave her all the advantage in spite of +herself. It was the play to see nothing that called for reply in his +allusion. So there was none. + +A carriage was coming up the Luneta full tilt, and though still six +hundred yards away, she saw and knew it to be Stuyvesant's returning. +But he saw nothing beyond her glowing face. Mrs. Brent began to sing in +the salon, a symptom so unusual that it could only mean that she +contemplated coming back and was giving warning. Time was priceless, yet +here he stood trembling, irresolute. Would nothing help him? + +"You speak of my--engagement," he blundered blindly on. "I wish you'd +tell me--about yours." + +"Mine? Oh,--with the Red Cross, you mean? And shame be to you, Maidie +Ray, you knew--you well knew--he didn't." + +"I mean--to Mr. Foster. Mrs. Brent has just told me----" + +"Mrs. Brent!" interposes Miss Ray in a flutter of amaze. That carriage +is coming nearer every instant, driving like mad, Brent on the back seat +and a whip-lashing demon on the box. There will be no time for +love-tales once that burly warrior returns to his own. Yet she is +fencing, parrying, holding him at bay, for his heart is bubbling over +with the torrent of its love and yearning and pleading. + +What are bullet-wounds and brevets to this one supreme, sublime +encounter? His heart was high, his voice rang clear and exultant, his +eyes flashed joy and fire and defiance in the face of a thousand deaths +two weeks ago. But here in the presence of a slender girl he can do +naught but falter and stammer and tremble. + +Crack, crack, spatter, clatter, and crash comes the little carriage and +team whirling into the San Luis. He hears it now. He knows what it means +to him--Brent back and the pent-up words still unspoken! It nerves him +to the test, it spurs him to the leap, it drives the blood bounding +through his veins, it sends him darting round the table to her side, +penning her, as it were, between him and the big bamboo chair. And now +her heart, too, is all in a flutter, for the outer works were carried in +his impetuous dash, the assailant is at the very citadel. + +"Marion!" he cried, "tell me, was there--tell me, there _was_ no +engagement! Tell me there _is_ a little hope for me! Oh, you are blind +if you do not see, if you _have_ not seen all along, that I've loved you +ever since the first day I ever saw you. Tell me--quick!" + +Too late. Up comes Brent on the run, and Marion springs past the +would-be detaining arm. "Where's Mrs. B.?" pants the warrior. "Hullo, +Stuyvie! I was afraid you'd got the news and gone out in a cab. M'ria, I +want my belt and pistol!" + +"_Where_ you going?" bursts in the lady of the house--the spoons +forgotten. + +"Out to San Pedro! It's only three miles. Our fellows are going to drive +'em out of Guadaloupe woods. Ready, Sty? Of course you want to see it. +Drive'll do you good, too. Come on." + +"Indeed, you don't stir a step, Colonel Brent!--not a step! What +business have you going into action? You did enough fighting forty years +ago." Brent, deaf to her expostulation, is rushing to the steps, +buckling his belt on the run, but "M'ria" grabs the slack of the Khaki +coat and holds him. Stuyvesant springs for his hat. It has vanished. +Marion, her hands behind her, her lips parted, her heart pounding hard, +has darted to the broad door to the salon, and there, leaning against +the framing, she confronts him. + +At the rear of the salon Thisbe has grappled Pyramus and is being pulled +to the head of the stairs; at the head, Beatrice, with undaunted front, +concealing a sinking heart, defies Benedick. + +"My hat, please," he demands, his eyes lighting with hope and promise of +victory. + +"You have no right," she begins. "You are still a patient." But now, +with bowed head, she is struggling, for he has come close to her, so +close that his heart and hers might almost meet in their wild leaping, +so close that in audacious search for the missing headgear his hands are +reaching down behind the shrinking, slender little form, and his long, +sinewy arms almost encircling her. The war of words at the back stairs +"now trebly thundering swelled the gale," but it is not heard here at +the front. + +His hands have grasped her wrists now. His blond head is bowed down over +hers, so that his lips hover close to the part of the dusky hair. "My +hat, Maidie," he cries, "or I'll--I'll take what I want!" Both hands +tugging terrifically at those slender wrists now, and yet not gaining an +inch. "Do you hear?--I'll--I'll take----" + +"You sha'n't!" gasps Miss Ray, promptly burying her glowing face in the +breast of that happy Khaki, and thereby tacitly admitting that she knows +just what he wants so much more than that hat. + +And then the long, white hands release their hold of the slim, white +wrists; the muscular arms twine tight about her, almost lifting her from +her feet; the bonny brown head bows lower still, his mustache brushing +the soft, damask-rose-like cheek. "I must go, Maidie,--darling!" he +whispers, "without the hat if need be, but not without--this--and +this--and this--and this," and the last one lingers long just at the +corner of the warm, winsome, rosy lips. She could not prevent +it--perhaps she did not try. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ray's Daughter, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAY'S DAUGHTER *** + +***** This file should be named 19480.txt or 19480.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/8/19480/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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