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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/19952-8.txt b/19952-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..978541c --- /dev/null +++ b/19952-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5234 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of To The Front, 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: To The Front + A Sequel to Cadet Days + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: November 28, 2006 [EBook #19952] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO THE FRONT *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, and 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.) + + + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | + | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this | + | document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: [See p. 252] + THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE] + + + * * * * * + + + + + TO THE FRONT + + A SEQUEL TO + CADET DAYS + + BY + GENERAL CHARLES KING + + + ILLUSTRATED + + + + NEW YORK AND LONDON + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + MCMVIII + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + Copyright, 1908, by HARPER & BROTHERS. + + _All rights reserved._ + + Published March, 1908. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + TO + THREE BOYS, CADETS YET TO BE + TO "COPE" AND THE MAJOR + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + PRELUDE 1 + + I. FROM THE GRAY TO THE BLUE 11 + + II. THE FIRST CALL 30 + + III. AWAY TO THE WEST 39 + + IV. "I'M READY NOW" 49 + + V. FIRST NIGHT ON THE RANGE 61 + + VI. FIRST AID TO THE WOUNDED 76 + + VII. A BALKED ARREST 89 + + VIII. A RACE TO THE FORT 102 + + IX. BAD NEWS FROM THE MINES 114 + + X. FIRST SHOTS OF THE SUMMER 128 + + XI. A NIGHT ON GUARD 142 + + XII. THE MAN OF THE SIEGE 156 + + XIII. AWAY ON THE WARPATH 168 + + XIV. A SCOUT FOR THE SIOUX 180 + + XV. FIRST SIGHT OF THE FOE 198 + + XVI. PROOF POSITIVE OF GUILT 213 + + XVII. THE WAR-DANCE AND THE CHARGE 224 + +XVIII. BATTLE AND VICTORY 239 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE _Frontispiece_ + +CADETS AT DRILL, WEST POINT _Facing p._ 14 + +"BIG BEN WAS BUSY WITH HIS OIL-CAN" " 84 + +"NOT A WHIFF OF THE DRAUGHT COULD BE WASTED" " 102 + +SILVER SHIELD " 128 + +"'STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HERD, MEN. CH-A-A-A-RGE!'" " 236 + +UNITED STATES CAVALRY IN WINTER RIG " 242 + +"UP WENT TWO LITTLE PUFFS OF EARTH" " 248 + + + + +TO THE FRONT + + + + +TO THE FRONT + + + + +PRELUDE + + +It was graduation day at West Point, and there had been a remarkable +scene at the morning ceremonies. In the presence of the Board of +Visitors, the full-uniformed officers of the academic and military +staff, the august professors and their many assistants, scores of +daintily dressed women and dozens of sober-garbed civilians, the +assembled Corps of Cadets, in their gray and white, had risen as one +man and cheered to the echo a soldierly young fellow, their "first +captain," as he received his diploma and then turned to rejoin them. It +was an unusual incident. Every man preceding had been applauded, some +of them vehemently. Every man after him, and they were many, received +his meed of greeting and congratulation, but the portion accorded Cadet +Captain "Geordie" Graham, like that of Little Benjamin, exceeded all +others, and a prominent banker and business man, visiting the Point for +the first time, was moved to inquire why. + +"I think," said the officer addressed, a man of his own age, though his +spare form and smooth-shaven cheek and chin made him look ten years +younger--"I think it is that Graham has been tried in all manner of +ways and has proved equal to every occasion. They say he's sheer grit." + +A keen and close observer was the banker--"a student of men," he called +himself. He had been tried in many a way and proved equal to every +occasion. He had risen from the ranks to the summit. He, too, they said +in Chicago, was "sheer grit." Moreover, they did not say he had "made +his pile out of others' losings"; but, like most men who have had to +work hard to win it, until it began to come so fast that it made +itself, John Bonner judged men very much by their power to earn money. +Money was his standard, his measure of success. + +And this, perhaps, was why John Bonner could never understand his +brother-in-law, the colonel, a most distinguished soldier, a modest and +most enviable man. + +Twenty-five years had Bonner known that now gray-haired, gray-mustached +veteran. Twenty-five years had he liked him, admired him, and much of +late had he sought to know him, but Hazzard was a man he could not +fathom. + +"Fifteen years ago," said he to a fellow-magnate, "I told that man if +he'd quit soldiering, and bring Carrie and the children to Chicago, I'd +guarantee him an income ten times the regular pay he's getting; and he +smiled, thanked me, and said he was quite content--content, sir, on two +thousand a year, and so, too, was Sis. Now, think of that!" + +And Bonner was bubbling over with the same idea to-day, yet beginning +to see light. Two prominent senators, men of world-wide renown, held +Hazzard long in close conference, and were merely civil to him, the +magnate, who, as he said, "could buy the three of 'em three times +over." A general whose name was but second to that of Grant seized his +brother-in-law by both hands, and seemed delighted to greet him, yet +had barely a word for "his millions," him to whom the Board of Trade +bowed humbly at home. A great war secretary, whom they had recently +dined at the Grand Pacific and whose dictum as to the purchase of +supplies meant much to Chicago, but vaguely remembered and absently +greeted the man of wealth, yet beamed with pleasure at sight of his +small-salaried soldier companion. The secretary drew Hazzard off to one +side, in fact, and left the man of stocks and the stock-yards standing. + +That evening, after the simple home dinner, with Carrie and the young +people and the colonel smiling about the board, Bonner's vexation of +spirit found vent. Duties drew the soldier away, and the banker was +left with his sister. + +"What is your pay _now_, Carrie?" he abruptly asked. + +"A row of threes, John--$333.33 a month," was the amused answer. + +"And Hazzard's been through two wars, Heaven knows how many campaigns +and vicissitudes, and been serving the United States, night and day, +some thirty years, and that's all he has to show for it, every cent of +which has to go for living expenses--rearing, feeding, clothing, and +educating these youngsters." + +"Pretty nearly. We've a little laid by for Jack's college, and the +President gives Lou his cadetship, you know, but"--and here the +blithe-faced little woman looked archly at "Uncle John," though her +look was one that said, "I mean every word of this"--"we don't think +that's all there is to it, by any manner of means. Think of his war +record! Isn't that a proud thing to leave to our boys? See how he is +regarded by the best men in our country, from the President down! He is +not yet an old man, but he has 'all that should accompany old +age--love, honor, obedience, troops of friends'--and, honestly, John, +with health and competence and _us_, what more _should_ he want?" + +"Well," said Bonner, tenaciously, "I could have put him where he would +have been worth three hundred thousand by this time." + +"And it wouldn't have tempted him; and I'd rather see him as he is." + +"Well, I'm blessed if I can understand it," said Bonner. Then callers +put a stop to the chat. Then the colonel himself came home to his cosey +quarters, and silence had settled down over the beautiful plain. The +lights were dimmed in the barracks; the sentries paced their measured +rounds; from the verandas of the hotel came the ripple of murmured +words and soft laughter, and a tinkle of banjo and guitar. At the gate +the colonel exchanged good-night greetings with a happy-faced, motherly +looking woman whom Bonner had noticed overwhelmed with pride and +emotion during the ceremonies in the morning. He did not at first +recognize the tall, erect young fellow on whose arm she proudly leaned +as she walked home through the shifting moonlight. + +"That was young Graham, in whom you were so interested this morning," +said Hazzard, briefly. + +"_Was_ it? Oh, I thought he'd gone with the graduates." + +"Only down to the city to say good-bye. He came back to his mother by +late train. I fancy she's more to him than a lot of fun with the boys." + +"See here, Hazzard," observed Bonner, solemnly, "I've been looking into +things here nigh onto a week. It's fine! It's all right for a soldier +school! But, now take that young chap for a sample. What on earth does +he know outside of drill and mathematics and what you call discipline? +What could he do in case we cut off all this--this foolishness--and +came down to business? I'd be willing to bet a sweet sum that, take him +out of the army, turn him loose in the streets, and he'd starve, by +gad! before he could ever earn enough to pay for a quick lunch." + +"I think you'd lose," was the quiet answer. + +"Well, I'd just like to try it. Pit him and his kind against our +keen-witted, sharp, aggressive young _bus_iness men--men with +_bus_iness heads, _bus_iness experience"--Bonner's emphasis on the +first syllable was reinforced by a bang of the fist on the arm of his +chair--"and, and, by gad! they'd be skinned alive--skinned out of their +last cent, sir." + +"That," said the colonel, dryly, "is not improbable. They are trained +as soldiers, not as sharpers. But, all the same, in spite, if you +please, of their soldier training, I fancy most of these lads that quit +us to-day, if brought face to face with sudden emergency, +responsibility, something calling for courage, coolness, +judgment--above all, for action--would hold their own, and I'd back +them even in competition with your aggressive young friends in business +life." + +"Why, they're taught to deal only with soldiers--with machines--not +men," argued Bonner. + +"Well, such as they have handled men not soldiers more than once, in +your own city, Bonner, and to your vast benefit. They'll come to it +again some day. As for that young man, I picked him a year ago from his +whole class for the place that calls for the most judgment, tact, quiet +force, capacity to command--the 'first captaincy'--and never did I see +it better filled." + +"Oh, granted as to that! But strip off the uniform, sword, and +authority; set him among the men _we_ have to deal with--what could he +do with a railway strike? How could he handle maddened mill operatives, +laborers, switchmen, miners? Think of that, Hazzard! That isn't +fighting Indians, with a regiment at your back. You mark what I say!" + +"Well, mobs, miners, or Indians, our young officers have had to meet +all kinds at times," said the colonel; "and if ever Graham is up +against them, Bonner, I'm thinking you'll hear of it." + +And, oddly enough, before he was one month older, sitting in his office +in Chicago, Bonner was hearing it with a vengeance. There was the +mischief to pay in at least one of his mines. Oddly enough, before he +was one year older, George Montrose Graham, graduated cadet, was "up +against them," all three--mobs, miners, and Indians. How he met them +and how he merited the colonel's confidence let them judge who read. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM THE GRAY TO THE BLUE + + +It was just after sunset of one of the longest days of the loveliest of +our summer months. The roar of the evening gun had gone re-echoing +through the Highlands of the Hudson. The great garrison flag was still +slowly fluttering earthward, veiled partially from the view of the +throng of spectators by the snowy cloud of sulphur smoke drifting +lazily away upon the wing of the breeze. Afar over beyond the barren +level of the cavalry plain the gilded hands of the tower-clock on "the +old Academic" were blended into one in proclaiming to all whom it might +concern that it was five minutes past the half-hour 'twixt seven and +eight, and there were girls in every group, and many a young fellow in +the rigid line of gray and white before them, resentful of the fact +that dress parade was wofully late and long, with tattoo and taps only +two hours or so away. The season for the regular summer "hops" had not +yet begun, for this was away back in the eighties, when many another +old West Point fashion still prevailed; but there was to be an informal +dance in the dining-room of the hotel, and it couldn't come off until +after supper, and supper had to be served to some people who were +"pokey" enough to care to come by late boat, or later train, and were +more eager to see the cadets on parade than to seek Mine Host Craney's +once bountiful table. + +What made it more exasperating was that rumors were afloat to the +effect that the adjutant had long and important orders to publish, and +this would still further prolong the parade. Cadet Private Frazier, +First Class, one of the best dancers in the battalion, was heard to +mutter to his next-door neighbor in the front rank of the color +company: "It'll be nine o'clock before we get things going at the +hotel, and we've got to quit at nine-thirty. _Con_found the orders!" +And yet, peering from under the visor of his shako, Mr. Frazier could +see without disturbing the requisite pose of his head, "up and straight +to the front, chin drawn in," that over near the south end of the row +of gayly attired visitors, seated or standing at the edge of the camp +parade-ground, there was one group, at least, to whom, as Frazier knew, +the orders meant much more than the dance. There, switching the short +grass with his stocky cane, stood their grim senior surgeon, Doctor, or +Major, Graham. There, close beside him and leaning on the arm of a +slender but athletic, sun-tanned young fellow in trim civilian dress, +stood the doctor's devoted wife. With them was a curly-headed youth, +perhaps seventeen years of age, restless, eager, and impatient for the +promised news. Making his way eagerly but gently through the dense +throng of onlookers, a bronze-faced, keen-eyed, powerfully built +officer in the uniform of the cavalry came up at the moment and joined +them. "Have you heard anything yet?" he murmured to Mrs. Graham, whose +kind and gentle eyes seemed to light at sound of his voice. + +"Not yet," she answered, with a shake of the head. "All we learned just +a few minutes ago was that the order was here and would be published on +parade. The commandant returned only just in time." + +"And there's been no telegram--no word from outside?" + +"Not a thing, Mr. McCrea. It just so happened." + +"Well, if that isn't odd! To begin with, it's most unusual to get out +the order so early. They must be in a hurry to assign the graduates +this year. Pops, old boy, if you don't get our regiment, I'll say the +secretary of war is deaf to the wishes of every officer and most of the +men. We told him when he came out to look over Fort Reynolds, and +incidentally look into the mines--but that was last year--Oh, bother, +Williams," he suddenly broke off, "what do you want to lose precious +time for, putting 'em through the manual?" + +This sudden outbreak was levelled at the unconscious officer +commanding the parade (the "officer in charge," as he was termed), Mr. +Williams having replied, "Take your post, sir," to the adjutant's +stately salute in presenting the statuesque line. Whereupon the +adjutant "recovered" sword, strode briskly up, passed beyond the plumed +commander, and took his station to his left and rear. With much +deliberation of manner, Mr. Williams drew sabre and easily gave the +various orders for the showy manual of arms, the white-gloved hands +moving like clockwork in response to his command until, with +simultaneous thud, the battalion resumed the "order," certain +spectators with difficulty repressing the impulse to applaud. + + [Illustration: CADETS AT DRILL, WEST POINT] + +Then back to the centre stalked the young adjutant, Mrs. Graham +unconsciously drawing unflattering comparison between the present +incumbent, soldierly though he seemed, and her own boy's associate and +friend, Claude Benton, adjutant of the class graduated barely a +fortnight earlier, "her own boy," perhaps the most honored among them. +She was clinging to his arm now, her pride and joy through all his +years of sturdy boyhood and manly youth. She knew well that the hope +and longing of his heart was to be assigned to the cavalry regiment of +which Lieutenant McCrea was quartermaster, the regiment once stationed +at old Fort Reynolds, in the Rockies, when Dr. Graham was there as post +surgeon and Geordie was preparing for West Point. Indeed, Mr. McCrea +had "coached" her son in mathematics, and had been most helpful in +securing the appointment. And now here was the quartermaster on leave +of absence, the first he had had in years, spending several weeks of +his three months' rest at the scene of his own soldier school-days. + +But it was "Bud," her younger son, who had come rushing down to the +surgeon's quarters only a few minutes before parade with the +all-important news. "Mither!--Geordie!" he cried, "Captain Cross says +the assignment order's come and will be published at parade. Hurry up!" + +Dr. Graham could hardly believe it. As McCrea said, the War Department +seldom issued the order before mid-July. "Mac" even hoped to be in +Washington in time to say a word to the adjutant-general in Geordie's +behalf. It was known that many would be assigned to the artillery, to +which Cadet Graham had been recommended by the Academic Board. But all +his boyhood had been spent on the frontier; his earliest recollections +were of the adobe barracks and sun-dried, sun-cracked, sun-scorched +parade of old Camp Sandy in Arizona. He had learned to ride an Indian +pony in Wyoming before he was eight; he had learned to shoot in Montana +before he was twelve; and he had ridden, hunted, fished, and shot all +over the wide West before the happy days that sent him to the great +cadet school of the nation. And now that he was graduated, with all his +heart and hope and ambition he prayed that he might be commissioned in +a cavalry regiment, if possible in McCrea's. Give him _that_, he said, +and he would ask no favor from any man. + +How his heart was beating as he watched the adjutant, whom he himself +had schooled and drilled and almost made, for Graham had been famous in +his cadet days as a most successful squad instructor, a model first +sergeant, and a great "first captain." How odd it seemed that he, a +graduate, and that all these people, officers, and children, should now +be hanging on the words that might fall from the younger soldier's +lips! A telegram from Washington had told a veteran general visiting at +the Point that his son had been assigned to the artillery, that the +order would doubtless be published that evening. But it so happened +that not until just before parade did the commandant return from a long +ride, and so had no time to read it through. He had simply handed it, +with others, to the silent young soldier, who had stood in full uniform +full five minutes awaiting his coming. "Better order 'parade rest' part +of time. It's a long read," he briefly said, and, stowing the orders +under his sash, the adjutant had saluted, faced about, and hastened +away. + +And now that young official has received the reports of the first +sergeants and sent them, high-headed, martial, and precise, back to +their stations in the line. And now again he has faced the commanding +officer, saluted, and announced, "All are present, sir." And now that +deliberate functionary has at last said, "Publish the orders, sir." And +silence seems to fall, even upon the chatting groups of girls, as, with +brief "'Tentio-o-o-on to Orders," the adjutant drops the point of his +sword, letting it dangle from the gold swordknot on his wrist, and in +another moment the clear young voice is ringing over the attent and +martial audience. + +"War Department, Washington, D.C., June 25, 189--," he begins, and then +briskly rattles away at the terse official paragraphs: "The following +assignment of graduates of the United States Military Academy are +hereby announced to take effect from June 14th." It begins with that +highly scientific and enviable body, the Corps of Engineers, and Mr. +George Graham, up to this moment still officially known as cadet, +touches his mother's arm at sound of the third name on the list--that +of Connell, his chum, his chosen comrade, his much-loved classmate +through the long four years. "Dear old Con," he murmurs into her ears. +"I'll telegraph my congratulations to him, whatever comes to me." + +There are eight in all assigned to the engineers, and then come the +names of those gazetted to the artillery--five famous regiments, too, +and Graham notes with joy that Beard, Conway, Foster, and Lawrence, all +of whom were lower in general standing than himself, get their +longed-for billet with the "red legs," and his name is not mentioned. +That means he has not been assigned where he preferred not to go. But +would the war secretary assign him where he longed to be? Yes, here it +comes, first on the cavalry list, and his heart beats for joy. + + + "F----th Regiment of Cavalry. + + "No. 15, Cadet George Montrose Graham to be Second Lieutenant, + Troop 'E,' _vice_ Fenton, promoted." + +And though her eyes are brimming and her lips _will_ quiver, Mrs. +Graham clasps both her boy's hands in her own in speechless sympathy. +It cannot all be joy, for this means miles and miles of separation that +must come all too soon. Geordie can scarce believe his ears. Oh, it is +too good! Not only the --th, but "E" Troop, Captain Lane's troop, the +troop of which Feeny was first sergeant, the troop in which veteran +Sergeant Nolan, two years ago at old Fort Reynolds, had said he and the +men so hoped to see the day when Mr. Geordie might come back to them to +be their lieutenant. + +And now McCrea was grasping and wringing his hand, with a "Welcome to +the old regiment, Geordie," and blue-eyed "Bud" was dancing rapturously +about until the doctor sternly bade him cease. "Is that the way you +think they behave at Columbia, sir?" having never seen the behavior of +Columbiads, or other collegians, at a ball match or boat-race or any +public occasion of undergraduate rejoicing. Even among the spectators +were many who lost interest for the moment in what the adjutant was +reading, and watched, with kindling eyes, the unexpected little scene. +But when Colonel Hazzard himself, the soldierly commandant, with his +silver-gray mustache and hair, came striding through the crowd and held +forth his hand to the young soldier, who instantly and instinctively +faced him at attention, everybody within hearing noted the cordiality +in his hearty tones as he shook Geordie's hand: "Mr. Graham, I'm more +than glad you got the regiment of your choice, and you're going to one +of the best captains in the army. I was on duty in tactics when Lane +was in the Corps. Well, Mrs. Graham, we think we are sending him the +making of one of the best lieutenants," and with that the colonel bowed +as he took the hand of Geordie's mother. "Good sons make good soldiers +all the world over, Mrs. Graham, and we'll expect great things of +yours," he added, then grasped the doctor's out-stretched hand and gave +way to others who came crowding forward, among them a gentle, motherly +woman in half-mourning, whose eyes were moist as she exchanged greeting +with Mrs. Graham. + +"Benny will be here the moment they break ranks," she said. "I know he, +too, will want to congratulate George." + +And so there was quite a little gathering, and what the papers call an +"ovation," about the young graduate, who was blushing not a little +through his healthy tan. He was quite unable to hear where his +classmates had been distributed in the other regiments of cavalry and +infantry, and he was anxious to know, but even when the line of cadet +officers came marching to the front and stood at salute before the +battalion commander, and then broke ranks, and as many as a dozen made +a rush at their former first captain, eager to take him by the hand and +say a word of congratulation before they went bounding away to doff +dress hats, plumes, and sashes--even then Graham could not see the +order, for Colonel Hazzard called for it to show to a bevy of +bright-eyed girls, who knew the graduating class, now scattered all +over the United States, knew almost every one of them better than they +did this, their foremost cadet officer, for George Graham, though he +could dance, had seemed to care little for hops and less for girls. His +few leisure hours of the last year at the Point he had spent at the +side of his mother. + +But at last, leaving Mrs. Frazier and Benny at camp, the Grahams were +walking slowly homeward in the wake of the brave young battalion, +marching away with its quick, elastic stride to the spirited music of +the fifes and drums. Lieutenant McCrea was still with them, while +Lieutenant Wood, another family friend, had taken to the telegraph +office Geordie's pencilled words of congratulation to his chum Connell, +now lieutenant of engineers. Mrs. Graham leaned heavily on the arm of +her sturdy son, thinking of all the joy that had been hers, after the +years of separation. It had been such a welcome, welcome order that +took Major Graham to duty at West Point the last lap of their boy's +cadet life. Every Saturday evening he had spent "at home" in the +surgeon's quarters, and many a Sunday afternoon. How she had looked +forward from week end to week end! How swiftly had the weeks slipped +by! How would she miss him in the years to come! How lonely would be +the Saturdays and Sundays without her boys, for "Buddy" too, was to +leave the home nest. He had passed for Columbia and was to have some +terms at what the doctor loved to call "the humanities" before taking +up the study of medicine. Her heart had been full of rejoicing and +thanksgiving when graduation came, barely a fortnight agone--yet when, +for the last time in cadet uniform Geordie stood before her, so +soldierly, so manly, so honored by his comrades in the Corps, and she +followed him with brimming eyes when, leaving his diploma in her hand, +he turned away to his room, in the tower of the old first division, to +lay aside forever the plume and sash, the sword and chevrons of the +first captaincy, to shed the academy uniform for good and all, she knew +she wished the whole year could be lived over again; she knew she would +rather the time were still far distant when her son should "change the +gray for the blue." + +But now, now, every hour of every day for three glorious and beautiful +months, she was to have him by her side. She need not, she would not, +think of the separation to come late in September, when he must join +his regiment and be her boy no more. At least she would try not to +think, but here was this cold, stern, business-like order to remind her +that she had given her first-born to the service of his country--that +now he belonged to the general government and no longer to her. All too +soon--oh, many weeks too soon--had the mandate appeared, for it would +haunt her day and night until the hour for parting came. Ah, thank God, +that at least would not be for weeks! Even Geordie now had become +silent and serious. He was listening to McCrea's eager words to Dr. +Graham, all about the regiment and Fort Reynolds, and how he wished +they were back there again, the finest station the --th had ever had, +he declared, and "so near the mines!" + +"Just think, Geordie," he cried, "if we were all at Reynolds we could +run up the range to the Silver Shield any day, and watch them dragging +out gold." + +"You haven't lost faith in the Shield, then?" asked Mrs. Graham, +smilingly. She thought and cared so little herself. She knew that +several officers at Reynolds, her husband and McCrea among them, had +invested their scant savings in that most promising venture. She knew +that McCrea had vowed it would make them all rich if not famous one of +these days, and that her methodical, cautious "canny Scot" of a husband +had figured, pondered, and consulted long before he, too, had become +convinced. She knew their holdings had been quoted far above what was +paid for them, but what of all that? She had her boys, her husband, her +army home, her health, and high content. What was wealth to her? + +"I own I was thinking more of the hunting and fishing, the scenery, and +the splendid range," said Geordie, "but no matter where 'E' Troop goes, +I want to be with it." + +"If the Shield pans out according to promise," said McCrea, with a +laugh, "the regiment won't see me for many a day after I realize. I'm +going in for a year's leave--and Europe." + +They had reached the front of Grant Hall by this time and were +strolling slowly along, their voices hushed for the moment by the +cheery hum of boyish talk and the clatter of mess furniture, as the +Corps sat at their late supper. Then several officers, gathered about +the steps of the club rooms in the south end, lifted their caps to Mrs. +Graham and smiled greeting to the party. + +"Come back, Geordie!" was the cheery hail. "We want to wet that +assignment in cavalry fashion." But Graham laughed and shook his head. + +"Can't break away just now," said he. "I'll look in later." + +"What I can't understand," said McCrea, "is that we got no word. With +Freeman and Blake both on duty in Washington, one would think they'd +have wired if they knew." + +"It's coming now," said the doctor, pointing to the telegraph orderly +turning away from the steps of his quarters and coming swiftly toward +them, brown envelope in hand. Just in front of the hospital gateway he +met the party, saluted, and tendered the uppermost of two or three +despatches to the doctor. + +"Freeman, I'm betting," said McCrea, as the doctor tore it open and +read. They walked on slowly, expectant, but he did not speak. Then Mrs. +Graham turned, gave one look, dropped Geordie's arm and clasped that of +her husband. The rugged, weather-beaten face had grown suddenly gray. + +"George! husband!" she cried. "What's gone wrong?" + +For answer he simply handed her the paper. + + "Designate proxy; meeting Monday. Fear everything lost. Come if + possible." + +"Mac," said the old doctor, solemnly, "it's Silver Shield that's melted +away. Everything we had in the world." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRST CALL + + +Fort Reynolds, as has been told in the earlier story of George Graham's +cadet days, lay among the eastward foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, +with a bustling little frontier city only six miles away down the +winding valley of what was, in the early eighties, a clear, cold, and +beautiful mountain stream that shone in the sun like molten silver. + +Silver Run it was called when Uncle Sam built the picturesque frontier +fort of hewn logs and unseasoned pine soon after the Civil War. Silver +Run, cold, pure, and glistening, it remained when Fort Reynolds became +an important military post. Then the --th Cavalry took station at +Reynolds, and there Geordie Graham found them when, with his father and +mother and "Bud," he had come from cold Montana to the finest station +they yet had known, and to the firmest friends, many of whom they had +met before, when Geordie, as a little boy, was "Corporal Pops" to every +man at old Camp Sandy. + +But Silver Run, though it ran more silver than it ever knew before, was +beautiful no longer. Mines of remarkable value, mines of gold and +silver, had been discovered twenty and thirty miles back in the +mountains. Mining towns had sprung up along the steep and rocky banks. +Mining methods had turned a limpid stream into a turbid torrent. Two +railways had run their lines, hewing, blasting, boring, and tunnelling +up the narrow valley, first to reach the mines and finally to merge in +a "cut-off" to the great Transcontinental, so that now huge trains of +Pullmans went straining slowly up-grade past the site of old Fort +Reynolds, or came coasting down with smoking tires and fire-spitting +brake-shoes, and between the loss of the water for his horses, and the +hemming in of his rifle-ranges by rail right of way, Uncle Sam +declared Fort Reynolds no longer tenable for cavalry. The regiment had +been sent elsewhere, and only a quartermaster-sergeant and a squad of +men remained. + +Yet Reynolds stood in the midst of thriving industries and swarming +men. The First National Bank in town had now a marble front and a +thousand depositors. The town was now a city and a railway centre, and +the backbone of its business was no longer cattle, but mines and +mining, full of fabulous wealth for those "on the inside," but of dark +and devious measures for those "on the outside" or away, and of these +were half a dozen army officers who had been dazzled by the easily +acquired dollars of the earliest arrivals, and of these officers was +one of the last men his friends thought possible to mislead--shrewd, +calculating, cautious, canny old "Sawny" Graham, post surgeon at Fort +Reynolds in the late eighties. + +Yet prospectors and explorers ten years earlier had declared gold would +be found up the banks of Silver Run. In the glorious park country back +of Squaw Caņon, where Geordie and Bud had camped and fished and hunted +as boys, the signs of the restless scouts of the great army of miners +were to be seen at every hand. And then finally, in the very September +that followed the return of Graham and Connell to take up the last half +of their course at the Academy, there came sudden and thrilling +announcement of "big finds" along Lance Creek, the upper tributary of +Silver Run; then even finer indications on the Run itself, and the West +went wild. All of a sudden the mountain-sides bristled with armed men +and their _burros_. Camps sprang up in a night and shafts were sunk in +a day. Yampah County, from primeval wilderness, leaped to renown, with +a population of ten thousand. Gold and silver came "packed" down the +trails to the First National. Then, faster than the precious metal came +down, costly machinery, and prices, went up. Fortunes were declared in +a week. Officers and men at Reynolds caught the craze. + +Many an old sergeant took his discharge and his savings and went to the +mines; and young troopers without discharges took their lead and +followed suit, and the colonel wired the War Department that if the +regiment wasn't ordered away there wouldn't be anything left to order +in the spring. Luckily, heavy snow-storms came and blocked the trails, +and there was a lull at the mines, but unluckily, not before the few +officers at Reynolds who had saved a dollar had invested every cent of +their savings in the shares of the Golconda, the White Eagle, the +Consolidated Denver, and especially the Silver Shield, and the man who, +through frugality and good management, had the most to invest, and who +had invested all, was Major Graham. When he left there for West Point +the August following he had refused four times what he paid for his +shares, and saw fortune smiling on his pathway to the Hudson. Now, less +than ten months thereafter, on the borders of the Hudson, he saw ruin +staring him in the face. + +For there had been assessments, and he had borrowed to meet them. There +had come rumors of "leaks" and he had kept them to himself. McCrea, +his boy's best friend in the regiment, had consulted him only ten days +back as to whether it were not wise to realize on a portion at least of +their holdings, and Graham, dreading a "bear" movement on the market, +had said, "Hold fast." + +And now McCrea had turned back. He must go at once, he said, to the +telegraph office. So Graham, his sorrowing wife, and his silent boys +went on. She led him into their cheery quarters, and seated him in his +old arm-chair and came and nestled beside him. + +"What is there to grieve about, dear?" she pleaded. "What does it +really matter to us? We have health, home, our boys, each other--quite +enough to live on--Why should it so distress you? Indeed, I almost +cried aloud, 'Is that all?' when you showed me the message. I feared so +much worse. Why, think, Graeme, in all the gay crowd that comes here +every day, is there a woman half as happy as I am? Is there one of them +really as rich as we are--we who have so many blessings?" + +"It's for 'Bud' I'm thinking most now," was the mournful answer. "There +can be no Columbia for him. I've borrowed money to meet the +assessments, and the money's got to be paid. This isn't like having +one's house burned, or his ranch blown away, his herds scattered, by +the act of God. This is being robbed of the savings of years by +organized, legalized swindlers, men who claimed to be our friends. It's +that--and my helplessness--that hurts." + +The boys had remained without, talking in low, grave tones, Bud's +boisterous spirits suddenly quenched. Presently the sound of their +murmuring died away. There was no answer when Mrs. Graham called. Going +to the door she looked anxiously about her. From up the roadway to the +north came the sound of merry voices and the shuffle of many feet--the +battalion hurrying down the broad stone steps of Grant Hall and forming +for the march back to camp. The young "first captain" called them to +attention and gave the commands that swung them into column of platoons +and striding away under the leafy arch to the open plain. Oh, with +what pride had she not listened, night after night, from September to +mid-June, to Geordie's ringing, masterful tones, _her_ Geordie, +foremost officer of the Corps! And now all that was ended with the +graduation to which he had so long looked forward, and now, when but +half an hour ago he had so rejoiced in his assignment to the regiment +of his choice--now must come this cloud upon his young life, his and +blithe-hearted Bud, who so adored him. She knew well that his first act +would be to set aside a certain portion of his scanty pay for her use, +and for her own part she would not so have it. + +But where were the boys, and why had they gone? It was some minutes +before Bud returned, alone. + +"Where is Geordie?" she asked. + +Bud dropped his cap on the hall table, looking dispirited and troubled. + +"Gone to the hotel, mother--wants to see"--with a gulp--"McCrea--and +I'm of no use to anybody." + +"You can be and will be," was the gentle answer, as the mother wound an +arm about and led him within. There in silence and semi-darkness they +sat awhile. The doctor had gone into his little library to look over +memoranda and accounts. It was nine o'clock when Geordie's quick, +soldierly step was heard on the walk without. He came bounding up and +in, alert, virile, and vigorous. + +"You saw Mr. McCrea, Geordie?" + +"Yes, mother. He's going to Newburg to catch the Pacific express on the +Central, and, mother--I'm going with him." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AWAY TO THE WEST + + +By the general regulations of the United States army there is granted +three months' leave of absence to graduated cadets of the Military +Academy, to be taken advantage of immediately after graduation. It is +given to these young men after their four years of rigorous discipline +and hard study, that they may have abundant time to visit home and +friends, and to enjoy a period of rest before reporting for duty again +to begin their careers as officers of the army. + +For nearly two weeks since Graham's graduation day the mother had had +him for her very own, busying herself in the choice of his modest +outfit, and taking it not a little to heart that he declined to order +his uniform and equipment until, as he said, he knew where he was +going. She longed to see him in his "regimentals," yet shrank from it +as a reminder that all too soon he would be taken from her side to wear +it day after day with his comrades in arms. She could not think of that +parting to come late in September. She would think only of the glory +that was hers in having him here, having him now, with no bugle-call to +tear him from her side. She was just beginning to realize her +possession, her happiness, when that hateful telegram told of disaster +at the mines, and urged her husband to have a representative at the +spot. Within one hour of its receipt, George had come to say that he +would be that representative, and within two hours, with at least his +father's full consent, her dream was at an end and her boy was gone. + +That night toward ten he and McCrea were spinning away up the west +shore under the lofty, rock-ribbed scarp of Crow Nest and Storm King, +to ferry over to Fishkill from Newburg, and there take the Pacific +express, making its first stop out of New York City. Each had hurriedly +packed such store of clothing as seemed most appropriate to the region +and the business to which he was bound. There was no vestige of uniform +or badge of rank and station. Geordie took with him his favorite rifle, +and in his valise, to be exhumed when they reached the Rockies, was a +revolver he knew, rather better than his classmates, how to use, for he +had learned as a lad on the plains. Each had his ticket for Chicago, +where they were to change for Denver. Each had a money belt and a +modest sum in currency. Each had his hopes of rescuing something if not +all of the imperilled property, and neither had even a vague idea of +the peril, difficulty, and treachery he was destined to encounter. + +Everything had promised well when Silver Shield was first exploited. +Its promoters and agents showed high-grade ore, and reports of expert +mining engineers promised abundance of it. All that was needed was +development. "Come in now, on the ground-floor, and you'll be coining +money in a year's time," said Mr. Breifogle, and to the number of seven +the commissioned force at Fort Reynolds had "come." So long as they +remained close to the spot all seemed going well. But Graham had been +ordered to the Point, and the regiment over in the Oklahoma country. +Then came trouble. + +It seemed odd that stock held so high should so soon have to be +assessed. But "some expensive machinery was necessary." Then came a +second and larger demand. Silver Shield was so valuable that envious +eyes had been directed to it, and fraudulent claims and claimants were +constantly turning up. Threatened litigation would be long and +expensive. It would be cheaper far to buy off the litigants. So Graham, +with a sigh and sore premonition of trouble, obtained the necessary +amount on his personal note. McCrea, with inward misgiving, borrowed +and sent it. Officers at Reno sent up what they could, but it wasn't +enough, and in May came a third appeal. The secretary wrote that +litigation had begun, and there was reason to believe the courts were +being "approached" by the enemy. It was absolutely essential that +"these parties should be bought off," and quite a sum would be +necessary. The First National Bank of Argenta (which had once been +robbed of a great sum by road-agents, who were run down and captured by +officers and men of the --th, and the money recovered) ought in all +conscience to be grateful to its benefactors, yet when Graham, McCrea, +and Major Lawrence wrote, begging advice in the premises, the bank was +non-committal. Some of its customers were among the litigants, as was +later discovered. And so it resulted that not until near the end of +June did it dawn upon the officers involved that the whole matter was +nothing more nor less than a well-conceived, but rascally, scheme to +"milk them dry," as was the expression, secure their shares at a +sacrifice, or drive them out entirely. + +And they, the absentees, were only seven against seventy or more, who +were experienced in all the crafts and devices by which mines have been +dug at the expense of the many and then made to enrich the few. + +It was late at night when the fellow-travellers reached Denver. McCrea +was depressed and silent, Geordie eager to push ahead. The former had +had time to think over the situation, and in Chicago, while waiting for +the Pacific express to start, he had had a fifteen-minute talk with a +relative, a Western business man, to whom mining and undermining were +matters well understood, and what this expert said had filled him with +dismay. "You've simply been bled until you could bleed no more," said +he. "Now they've no further use for you. What they want is your stock +at five cents on the dollar, to sell to some new gudgeon at fifty. Why +on earth, Mac, when you were considering this, didn't you consult me?" +Why, indeed! Like many another man, Mac's eyes had been blinded, his +ears deafened to everything but the wiles of the charmer. But with +Geordie it was different. He had come because his father was bound to +the wheel of duty and could not. Moreover, barring inexperience and +youth, Geordie was better fitted to go and do than was his father, the +doctor. + +He would waste no time with agents. He would employ no lawyer--that was +simply waste of both time and money. Of the former they had little and +of the latter even less. But his brain was active and fertile. He had +slept but little on their swift westward way until after crossing the +Mississippi. His mother's grief at parting, and her speechless anxiety +as to the dangers that might beset him, had affected him deeply, and at +first his silence and preoccupation were due to that. But the fighting +blood of the Graeme was in his veins, and against the abominable wrong +these "sharks" would do his father and his scattered friends the young +fellow was bent on giving valiant battle; and he thought he saw his way +to strike and to strike hard. + +McCrea had given him the names of most of the sergeants of the old +regiment who, when their time expired, had taken their discharge and +gone to the mines. Among them were three on whom he believed he could +count to back him in a pinch. Among them was the veteran Nolan, on whom +he _knew_ he could count. + +McCrea had wired ahead to an old and trusted friend, a resident of +Denver and a successful railway engineer. He was at the station waiting +when the two alighted from their train. It was McCrea's plan to spend +one day in Denver in consultation with certain officials, and then to +spring a surprise on the "board" at Argenta two days later. He had +wired to Fort Reno on the way, urging that one officer, at least, of +those most interested should hasten to Denver and meet him, and in the +hands of Mr. Warden, their engineer friend, was the reply: Captain Lee +would be with them in the morning. To register at a prominent hotel +would simply advertise their coming. Warden had seen to that and +engaged quarters for them near his own. Thither they were to go at +once, and, valises in hand, they followed Warden's lead, McCrea and +their guide talking eagerly together, Geordie following, silent and +observant. Toward the iron gateway they pressed, jostled and elbowed by +hurrying passengers. + +"It's but a few blocks' walk," Warden was saying. "I've a cart to take +your grips and we can chat as we go. I thought you'd be glad of a bite +or a cup of tea or something before turning in. Mr. Ross, who wired Dr. +Graham, is here, and he'll meet us at the restaurant. He thinks they +are following him--shadowing him." + +"Who?" asked McCrea. + +"Why, the crowd that are trying to get control there of Silver Shield. +Some of them live in Argenta, he says, and found out he had been in +correspondence with the doctor, and that it was he who had given +warning." Then, glancing over his shoulder as they neared the gate, and +speaking to Geordie, he continued, "What is the name of the brewer up +there who wanted your place at the Point for his son?" + +"Breifogle." + +"That's the man," answered Warden. "Ross says he's one of the leaders +of the move. Most of his money has been made by freezing out other +men." + +And just at that moment, moving leisurely along in the rear of the +train-load of belated passengers, they reached the exit gate, and the +instant they came under the broad, blue-white glare of the electric +globe overhead there was a sudden stir in the little gathering along +the iron fence. A burly young man darted swiftly away, and in his haste +tripped backward over an empty baby carriage. In a second he was +floundering on the floor, his bowler hat rolling one way, his stick +flying another. A shrill voice began to berate him as he struggled to +his feet, but he paused neither to explain nor listen. He swooped for +his hat and shot for a dark passage, but not before Geordie had caught +a glimpse of his face. + +"That was young Breifogle," said he. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"I'M READY NOW" + + +There was no other train over the Transcontinental, westward, before +7.30 A.M. They had reached Denver by the Pacific express, and in five +minutes the sleeper in which the two had journeyed from Chicago would +be whirling swiftly away for "The Springs" before beginning the long, +tortuous climb over the huge bulwark between them and the watershed of +the great Colorado beyond. There had really been no reason why Graham +should stop over at Denver. He knew none of the officials of the Silver +Shield there resident. He did not wish to know them. They had doubtless +conspired with their associates at Argenta to "squeeze out" his father +and friends. They hoped and expected to buy in for a song the valuable +stock held by this scattered band of soldiers and some twenty or +thirty prospective victims in the distant East. This would give them a +controlling interest in the property. It would make them virtual owners +of a valuable mine. It would make them richer by far than they were +beforehand. This would impoverish, and it might ruin, many of the +absent who had furnished the means by which Silver Shield was +developed. It was robbery outright, but robbery of a kind so common in +our country that people have become callous to it. It was by just such +means and methods that many of the great fortunes of America have been +won, and the winners ride to-day on the topmost wave of prosperity and +popular acclaim, when, if the people but realized the truth, many an +object of their adulation would be wearing convict stripes and prison +pallor to the end of his dishonored days. + +But Graham had journeyed with his long-time friend and senior +officer--senior by seven years--and McCrea's plans, to a certain point, +seemed to dominate those of the younger and less experienced man. +McCrea's idea was to "tackle" the local directors first and compel +recognition of their rights. He, as post quartermaster, had had +business dealings with bankers and merchants both in Denver and +Chicago. He believed that, reinforced by the presence of Captain Lee +from Reno, he could make a certain impression, or else certain threats, +that would bring these magnates to time. + +But Dr. Graham, an older head, thought otherwise, had so instructed +Geordie and so endeavored to impress McCrea. The men, said he, had +planned this out. "They stand to lose little in the market if the +stocks are 'beared.' They have invested little; we have invested our +all. If nothing was found they could quit. If good ore was found, then +it was their game to conceal the fact, to demand more and more money +for more and more development, force us out, get our shares, and own +the property. Why, laddie, the man that warned me dared not sign his +name, for every wire was watched; yet I'd stake six months' pay he's +got the rights of it. There's ore there in plenty!" + +And so every indication said at the start. It wasn't until many Eastern +people had been induced to invest (Dr. Graham's New York friends, the +Fraziers, among them) that managers and directors began to tell dismal +tales and ask for more and more. It was then that Dr. Graham bethought +him of a brother Scot who dwelt near Argenta, a man once so poor that +when his bairns were down with diphtheria he could not coax Argenta +doctors out across the five-mile stretch of storm-swept, frozen +prairie. It was the burly post surgeon from the fort who rode eight +miles to and eight miles back in any kind of weather, night or day, +until he snatched those babies back from death, and gave them, weak and +gasping, yet alive, to the arms of their weeping and imploring and at +last rejoicing mother. Oh, those are deeds that women remember so long +as life remains to them, and that but few men forget, and the clansman, +who couldn't begin to pay in cash for what "the Graeme" had done for +him and his, could reward in fealty now. It was Donald Ross to whom the +doctor had written, and Ross who made investigation and reply. + +And yet, though he had taken precaution to send his letter from a +village post-office, and his message from a railway station ten miles +east of Argenta, the spies of Silver Shield had heard of one or both, +and now their watcher knew that two at least of the enemy were in their +camp. For what else was young Breifogle there? For what but to give +warning had he so suddenly vanished? + +It was of all this that Geordie was thinking, as silently he strode +along by the side of the two elders, hearing yet scarcely heeding their +eager talk. He had plans and projects of his own. Father was not the +only one who had a friend or two in Yampah and up the range. Veteran +troopers of the old regiment were scouting there for gold and silver, +where ten years earlier they had scouted for the red warriors of +Colorow and Yampah Jack. If he could but get in touch with Nolan, with +Feeny, with almost any one of those now mining who once rode in "E" +Troop! If he could only reach some of the men he guided over the +Divide to the successful capture of the gang that looted the First +National! Oh, the shame of Breifogle's ingratitude! As one of the +bank's directors at that time, he had pledged everlasting gratitude to +the officers and troopers who had restored their treasure. + +Suddenly Warden turned a corner, pushed back a swinging door, led the +way into a clean, brightly lighted little "dairy" restaurant, passed on +through to the less public tables partitioned off in alcoves of their +own, and here, behind an outspread newspaper, sat, lonely and +expectant, a broad-shouldered ranchman whose weather-beaten face beamed +joyously at sight of the three, and whose big hands were on young +Graham's squared shoulders before they had fairly shaken greeting to +any one. "Geordie, mon, but it's glad I am to see ye!" was the +whispered welcome. "Softly, now, there's--others here." + +Quickly they were served with steaks, scrambled eggs, toast, tea or +coffee, as they chose, and two at least were hungry, yet Geordie, +brimful of eagerness to put his plan into execution, could hardly +spare time to eat. Yes, Ross knew Nolan and Feeny of old. Many's the +time they'd dropped in at the ranch when antelope-stalking down the +foot-hills. Nolan had prospered. He and Feeny, both, when last heard of +were somewhere up among the mines. Burns was in Collins's Camp on Lance +Creek. Toomey and Scully had got "cleaned out" and were firing on the +Transcontinental. + +"Where?" demanded Geordie, his eyes dilating. + +"Mountain Division, both of 'em. Toomey on the Mogul that pulls the +Time Freight over the range--" And here Geordie stopped him. + +"Hear this, Mr. McCrea," said he. "Toomey, of 'E' Troop, fireman on the +big freight-engine! He'll surely know where the others are. Now, _you_ +know the railway people. You say you've got to stay here a day or two. +Get _me_ permission to ride on any freight-engine, Mountain Division, +for the next three days, and I'm off for the mines before we're half a +day older, and no man here or there the wiser." + +"They'd spot you as you went through Argenta," said McCrea. "Breifogle +will be watching every train." + +"Every _car_ of every train, perhaps; but I'll be firing by the time we +get there, black with soot and coal-dust, and they wouldn't know me if +they saw me. If the division superintendent doesn't give it away--and +you--who's to know I've turned fireman on a freight? There's my chance, +McCrea, and you know it!" + +"By Jove, Geordie, but I believe you're right," was McCrea's answer, +rising to his feet and facing the eager young fellow across the table. +"You're a 'dandy,' as was said of you on graduation day, only it was +meant in a different sense. Who's in charge at the station now, +Warden?" he asked, with sudden resolution. "I knew most of their +traffic men when I was quartermaster." + +Warden whipped out a railway folder. "Colorado Transcontinental," he +read, and began skimming down a long list of official titles and names. +Traffic managers, freight and passenger agents, superintendents, +division superintendents, and then, "Here we are, Mountain Division: +W.B. Anthony." + +"Know him well," cried McCrea. "He brought the first passengers up to +Argenta in eighty-seven. He was freight conductor on the U.P. when I +was a boy at Cheyenne. We'll nab him first thing in the morning." + +"Can't we nab him to-night?" asked Geordie. + +McCrea laughed. "You're keen as your father, Pops," said he. "Niver put +off till t'-morrow what can be done the day." + +"The laddie's right," said Ross. "I'm betting you'll find him at the +yards till after No. 2 comes in--the Flyer--that's due at 12.40." + +And so it happened that, as the clocks were pointing to the quarter +after midnight, Lieutenant Ralph McCrea and the newly appointed +subaltern, both in plain travelling dress, once more appeared at the +Union Station, and presently learned that Mr. Anthony was about the +yard. It was not long thereafter that they found him, busy, as such men +must ever be, yet recognizing McCrea at a glance and giving him +cordial welcome. + +But when McCrea presented his friend, "Lieutenant Graham, whose father +you probably knew as post surgeon at Reynolds," and then made his +request, the official looked grave. + +"It's against orders," said he. "The Old Man has jacked up more than +one of the best engineers for allowing it. Why, the Governor had to get +a permit from the general manager for his son to ride in the cab of the +Flyer only last week, and for some reason they've shut down on our +freight people entirely. Gil Frost, bringing his own brother, who used +to fire on the Union Pacific, over on old 550 two weeks ago, had to +dance the carpet the next morning right here in Denver." + +"How do you break in your _new_ firemen?" asked Geordie. "Some of our +best men are firing for you now. They had to begin somehow, I suppose." + +"Pitch 'em neck and crop into a cab, with a short-handled shovel and a +sharp-tongued old hand. It nigh breaks their backs, but they learn +quick that way." + +"Well, pitch me, neck and crop, into a cab, with as short a handle and +sharp a tongue as you like, Mr. Anthony. I'm on three months' leave, +and for reasons of my own want to learn how to fire an engine." + +For a moment Anthony looked at the young fellow in amaze. Then the +resolute, square-jawed, clean-cut face began to impress him. + +"Well, I've been dealing with you army men out here nigh onto twenty +years," said he, "and I'm blessed if I ever heard the like of that." + +"Don't let it surprise you into telling it, Anthony, that's all," put +in McCrea. "Here! Let me give you a pointer--you've got a West Pointer. +I've known you for a square man ever since we were stationed at +Russell," and, linking his arm in that of the astonished official, +McCrea drew him a few paces away from the point where they found him, +with a great passenger-engine hissing and throbbing close at hand, +waiting to take the Flyer whirling eastward toward the Missouri. +Geordie stood silently and watched them. He saw the wonderment in +Anthony's strong face give way to interest as McCrea talked rapidly on; +saw interest deepen to sympathy and a certain excitement. In three +minutes Anthony broke away and came hurrying back, looking at his +watch. + +"Mr. Graham," said he, "d' you want to go up the line this very night? +Could you be ready in two hours?" + +"I'm ready now," was the instant reply. "All I want is an old cap and +overalls--the blacker the better." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FIRST NIGHT ON THE RANGE + + +Away up among the Rockies, with towering, pine-fringed, snow-sprinkled +crests looming dimly about them in the moonlight, two young men stood +waiting by a switch-target of the Transcontinental. Facing westward, +they could see the huge bulk of the mountain range rolling up between +them and the starry sky-line, black and forbidding in the middle +distance, yet fading away northward and southward into faint and tender +outlines--soft grays and violets--and with the earliest signals in the +East of the speedy coming of the long summer's day. Facing eastward, +there confronted them close at hand the huge black bulk of the mammoth +Mogul engine, its dazzling head-light shining afar up the westward +right of way, and throwing into heavier shade, by force of contrast, +every object outside its beams. In the solemn stillness of nature in +those high levels, almost the only sound was the soft hiss of escaping +steam from the cylinder-cocks or an occasional rumble from the boiler. +Even murmured words seemed audible and intelligible sixty feet away, +and twice big Ben Tillson, the engineer of 705, had pricked up his ears +as he circled about his giant steed, oiling the grimy joints, elbows, +and bearings, and pondering in his heavy, methodical way over certain +parting instructions that had come to him from the lips of the division +superintendent. "A young feller learning firing" would board him at +Chimney Switch, forty miles out from the Springs, and the Boss desired +Ben Tillson to understand that "The Road" had its reasons, and the +"young feller" was to be spared the customary quizzing. Furthermore, +Ben Tillson was to understand that nothing was to be said about it. If +anybody at Argenta or among the mines had any questions to ask, Ben was +to know next to nothing. + +But what set Ben's wits to work was the odd behavior of his fireman, +Jim Toomey. Toomey was a silent sort of chap as a rule, and surely, +too, with a grudge against the gang over in Hatch's Cove and up the +Run. Toomey had taken to firing because he had got cleaned out at the +mines. Toomey ordinarily wasn't over-civil to anybody. Toomey, too, had +been favored with a word from Mr. Anthony, and never had Big Ben seen +his fireman more cheery over his work than he was that night as they +panted and strained up the foot-hills to Chimney Switch. Ben could have +sworn Toomey was "excited like" when they side-tracked there for a +way-train, and never in the course of Big Ben's experience had he seen +an old fireman greet a would-be as Toomey welcomed the tall "young +feller" in the dirty cap, shirt, and overalls who there clambered into +the cab. Twice, Ben could have further sworn, he had heard Toomey say +"sir," a word Toomey used to no one less than the division +superintendent. + +Somewhat grudgingly and suspiciously, therefore, had Ben nodded +greeting and looked the "young feller" over. He did not extend his +hand. The new-comer had on a pair of oiled-buck gauntlets, "soldier +gauntlets," such as the cavalry used to have at Reynolds, that "all the +boys in the cabs are stuck on." Even at the hardest kind of shovelling +they outlived every other kind a dozen weeks, and the fireman was a +lucky malefactor who could induce a soldier to part with his. + +And though the "young feller's" cap and clothing were strictly and +unimpeachably professional and grimy, it was the face no less than the +gloves and boots that told Ben Tillson this was no needy seeker after a +job. The boots were new and fine, laced daintily up the front, and +showed their style even through the lack of polish and the coating of +dust and ashes. The gauntlets also, though worn and old, were innocent +of grease. This was no cub fireman, said Ben, resentfully, as he +revolved in mind a scheme or two that should take the stuffing of +conceit out of him, when suddenly he paused. "Why, certainly," Ben had +it, just another case such as he had been reading about, how the sons +of successful railway magnates, discarding wealth and luxuries, had +determined to learn the business from the bottom up and fit themselves +for future eminence in railway circles. The "young feller" must be a +Gould or a Vanderbilt, a Ledyard, a Huntington, a son of somebody at +the financial head of things. While sacrificing none of his steady +self-reliance or self-respect, Ben Tillson decided to treat his new +fireman, assistant to the old, with all due civility. He would cringe +or kowtow to no one, but, like the sturdy citizen he was, Ben deemed it +wise to keep on the good side of the powers. It was necessary, however, +that the new-comer should understand who was boss on that engine, and +even as they stood waiting at the Chimney Ben had taken occasion to +say, "I see you're not stuck on shovelling, young man"; then with a +most knowing and suggestive wink, "I reckon you'd rather do tennis or +tiddlywinks," and was surprised at the answer. + +"As matters stand, I'd rather be shovelling here than playing +tennis--anywhere." + +"It's the first time you ever saw the West from a cab-window, I'm +betting," said Ben. And George Graham, who had seen more of the West +than Ben could ever hope to see, and who knew the Silver Run country +before ever the railway reached the foot-hills, had the wisdom to +answer, "You'd win." + +And now at Buffalo Butte 705 was side-tracked, awaiting the coming of +passenger No. 4, east bound, and then--then there would be a clear run +to and through Argenta. Then would come the familiar scenes about old +Fort Reynolds; then the wild and picturesque beauty of Squaw Caņon and +Hatch's Cove, and then George Graham would be able to judge by surface +indications how far his disguise had really disguised him. Toomey had +already told him where Nolan and Feeny could be found. Toomey was to +send word or a letter to both of them, and then it would be time to +decide on the next move. + +For now the scheme was to reach the heart of what might be called the +enemy's country, and to get there unsuspected, unobserved, and thus far +all was working well. + +It was the second morning after his reaching Denver. Mr. Anthony had +put him through to the Springs, and then to Chimney Switch, where he +was to wait for 705 and Toomey. And even now as they stood there, he +and Toomey, exchanging at intervals some low-toned words at the switch, +the eastward skies were slowly taking on their early morning garb of +pink and violet, the eastward fronts of the snow-sifted peaks and domes +far to the north and south were lighting up with wondrous hues of gold +and crimson; the stars aloft were paling and the moon was sinking low, +and still big 705 stood hissing and grumbling placidly on the long +siding, and the green lights back at the caboose blinked sleepily +against the dawn. Two glimmering threads of light in rigid right lines, +converging far beyond the rear of the train, stretched eastward from +their feet until lost in the shadows of Buffalo Butte, and not yet had +Toomey's accustomed ear been able to detect the faint, whirring, song +of the rails that tells of the coming of far-distant, thundering +wheels. "She's late again," said Toomey, uneasily. "We should have +heard her whistling for Spearman's Ranch five minutes ago, and I wanted +to pull you out of Argenta before seven o'clock." + +"You still think I'm not grimy enough," said Geordie, with a grin. "I +can lay on a coat of coal-dust--" + +"'Tisn't that," came the murmured answer, with a shake of the head. +"It's the back and shoulders, sir. You couldn't turn yourself +hindside-foremost, could you, and get your chest between your +shoulder-blades?" + +"I can cultivate a stoop," said Geordie, with a forward hunch of the +shoulders. "But there you go with that 'sir' again. We're in uniform, +but not that of the cavalry. You'll betray me yet, Toomey, if you're +not careful. Now, about the stoop--" + +"It might do, s--, if you could keep it, but from the time you came to +Reynolds you were the straightest boy in the garrison, and now, with +four years at West Point, you've got a back on you flat as a board. +That's what's going to queer us in passing you off for a kid fireman. +It was hard enough going through before it was fairly light. Now, +unless No. 4 gets in in five minutes, the sun will be lighting the +length of the shed at Argenta, and we've got cars to cut out there, +too. Confound No. 4!" + +And then a certain superfluous lantern, bleary with a night of service, +came dawdling up the side of the train, and the conductor hove in +sight, watch in hand. "Four left Argenta on time," said he to the +engineer. "What the mischief keeps her? She ought to have gone by five +minutes ago. Who's yonder with Toomey?" + +"Friend of his; young feller from Chimney, learning firing. Old man's +orders," he added, at sight of rebuke in the conductor's eyes. "Told me +himself to take him along and give him a show." + +The conductor set his lantern down near the fore truck of the tender. +He did not half like it that a superior should give orders to his +engineer that did not come through him. He had been a soldier in his +day and accustomed to military ways of doing things. He was already +chafing over a delay that would bring him behind time to Argenta. Now +he was nettled at this apparent slight. "When did he tell you, and +where?" was the demand. "He was at Denver the last I saw of him." + +"He ran out to the Springs on No. 5; passed you at Monument, probably; +spoke to me at the round-house about ten o'clock." And having thus +summarily settled the matter, Big Ben clambered sulkily once more into +the cab. + +The conductor made a grimace expressive of much disgust. Presently he +turned, left his lantern by the side of the engine, and then came +angering on to the switch. He decided to see for himself what the +stranger was like. + +In the gray light of the dawn the two young men, one of them stockily, +strongly built, the other very slender and erect, were absorbed in +eager talk. Not until the conductor was within five yards of them did +Graham note his coming and signal "Hush." Abruptly came the challenge: + +"'Ain't you heard her whistle yet, Toomey?" and the tone implied that +sheer neglect could be the only explanation for Toomey's failure in +case no whistle had been heard. + +"Nary whistle," was the indifferent answer. + +"Well, how could you expect to hear it? You were talking a blue +streak." And while the conductor's rebuke was levelled at Toomey, his +sombre eyes were on Graham. + +"Doing that to keep awake," was the blunt reply. "Haven't been to bed +for thirty hours." + +"That's nothing. In my day a-soldiering we didn't get to bed once a +week. That's when we was after Morgan. You regulars couldn't stand +that, I s'pose." + +"In my day we didn't get to bed once a month," answered Toomey, with +equal truth. "That was when we was after Sittin' Bull. The volunteers +that started on _that_ chase petered out at Powder River." + +The conductor sniffed. It had been give and take 'twixt him and Toomey +ever since the discovery that each had served in the cavalry. Beaten +thus far in the battle of chaff, the conductor tried another as he +studied Geordie with unfriendly eyes. + +"Got a kid fireman here--'nother of y'r officers' dog-robbers?" he +demanded. + +Toomey whirled on him in an instant, in spite of Geordie's +quick-gripping hand. "You're boss on this train, Cullin," said he, +savagely, "and you know I can't jaw back as you deserve, but if Bob +Anthony happens to be where he can hear of _that_ remark, you'll get +your time or _I'm_ a liar." + +For a moment Cullin stood and glared, wrath and humiliation +commingling. Graham it was who quickly stepped forward and interposed. + +"Yes, I'm playing kid fireman, Mr. Cullin," said he, quietly, "and I +was told by the division superintendent if any trouble arose to give +this to the conductor," whereat he held forth a card on the back of +which dimly appeared some written words. Over these Cullin glanced, +unappeased, until he came to the last line and signature. Then a +curious change swept slowly over his face. He looked Graham carefully, +doubtfully from head to foot, slowly thrust the card in a +waistcoat-pocket, and was turning silently away when Geordie hailed +him, a ready smile on his young face. + +"I'll trouble you for the card," said he. "I may meet _other_ +conductors." + +Slowly Cullin fumbled for it, twiddled it between his fingers, and +finally, half reluctant, restored it. At that instant, faint, distant, +but distinct, came the sound of the whistle of the belated No. 4. +"That's for Spearman's now," thought Geordie, but so tense had been the +scene that for a moment no man spoke. + +Then Toomey gave tongue. + +"She'll go by here kiting," said he. "Ten miles down-grade and a +two-mile straightaway from Cimarron Bend, out yonder." Again the +whistle, and nearer. "That's for the crossing at the creek. By gad, +she's just jumping! Hang onto your hair when you see her head-light and +scramble for the cab." + +Another whistle, two short blasts and a long. Nearer still, yet still +out of sight; and then presently there shot into view, over a mile +away to the west, even though the gray light of the summer's dawn now +overspread the landscape, the glare of a head-light. It was No. 4 +coming full tilt. + +And then--surprise! From steam-drum and 'scape-valve jetted clouds of +flat-driven steam. No. 4 had suddenly "shut off," and was now coasting +downhill like a huge toboggan. + +Another blast came from the whistle. "By Jove, she's going to stop!" +said Cullin. "What on earth's the meaning of that?" + +With prodigious shriek and roar of steam, with clinching, crunching +air-brakes on the glistening tires, with sparks flying from the +whirring wheels and signal-lanterns swinging at the side, No. 4 came +rushing in. As the baggage-car shot by, a little group of men stood by +the doorway about a recumbent figure, and the conductor whisked up his +lantern and started after it. When nearly opposite the caboose the big +train settled to a stop. Four pairs of strong arms lifted the prostrate +figure from one car to the other. There were brief, hurried words. A +lantern waved; the whistle sounded two quick blasts; No. 4 slowly +started, quickly gained speed, and, almost as quickly as it came, was +steaming away for Buffalo Butte, its pale lamps gleaming dimly in the +gathering light. The conductor came running forward. + +"Pull out for Argenta, Ben!" he shouted. "Say, young feller, drop +shovelling and come back. I've got nobody to help me, and here No. 4's +loaded me with a half-dead man to be taken home. There's a row at the +mines. Every man is out from Silver Shield!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +FIRST AID TO THE WOUNDED + + +Slowly, jerkily, the Time Freight began to gather headway as the big +Mogul pulled, hissing loudly, from the siding to the main track, the +ugly brown cars winding grudgingly after. This was before the days of +mile-long freight-trains with air-brakes and patent couplers. Over the +grades of the Transcontinental no engine yet had pulled more than +twenty "empties." There was ever the danger of breaking in two. In the +dim interior of the caboose the conductor, with Geordie Graham by his +side, was bending over a battered and dishevelled form. As the rear +trucks went clicking over the switch-points, the former sprang to the +open doorway to see that his brakeman reset and locked the switch, and +with a swift run overtook the caboose and swung himself aboard. + +"I'll be up in a minute, Andy," cried Cullin to his aid, already +scrambling up the iron ladder for his station on the roof. "This poor +devil's battered into pulp and I can't leave him." And again he was by +Graham's side--Graham who, kneeling now and sponging with cold water +the bruised, hacked, disfigured face of the senseless victim, had made +a startling discovery. + +Here, with his clothing ripped, torn, and covered with dirt and blood, +with one arm obviously broken and his head beaten, kicked, and cruelly +gashed--here, beyond a doubt, lay the man who nearly five years earlier +had been the one obstacle between him and the goal of his ambition, the +cadetship at West Point; here lay the son of the man probably most +prominent in the conspiracy against the absent shareholders of Silver +Shield; here, in fine, lay the almost lifeless body of the youth he had +seen spying upon their arrival at Denver--young Breifogle himself. + +By this time the Mogul was grinding her way up the track, in determined +effort to land the Time Freight in the yards at Argenta before the +whistle blew for seven o'clock. It was a twelve-mile pull up-grade, +every inch of the way--twisting, turning, and tunnelling, as has been +said--and the caboose reeled and swayed from side to side as it rounded +the reverse curves and swung at the tail of the train. Cullin, lantern +in hand, had climbed to his seat in the lookout. + +"I've got to be up here," he explained, "till we are through the +tunnels. Do what you can. I suppose sponging is all we _can_ do." + +Graham nodded. He had stripped the leather-covered cushion from the +conductor's chair, and with this and a rolled coat made a support for +the senseless head. He had a fire-bucket of cold water, and even as he +plied the wet sponge and sought to stanch the trickling blood, his wits +were at work. The men on No. 4 had only time to say that four miles out +from Argenta, down the Run beyond Narrow Gauge Junction, their whistle +suddenly shrieked, the air-brakes were set with a clamp that jolted the +whole train, and they slowed down just enough not to knock into +flinders a hand-car that was sailing ahead of them, down-grade. "The +pilot hit it a lick that tossed it into the ditch," No. 4's crew had +explained, and beside it they had found--this. + +And "this" it was now Geordie's task and duty to keep alive until they +could turn it over to competent hands at Argenta. "This," which others +failed to know, he had recognized. "This" it was for him to make known, +yet in so doing he might betray himself and the purpose of his coming, +and so undo every hope and plan he had made. There was no Toomey to +help him now--no devoted ex-trooper and friend to back him. Engineer, +fireman, conductor, and brakemen, every man of the crew had to be at +his post as the freight panted away up the winding mountain road. The +crew of No. 4 had searched the pockets in vain for a clew as to the +injured man's identity. Everything was gone. His assailants had seen to +that. Not a scrap had been found that could account for him. Even the +shirt "tab" bore no initials; the watch-pocket of the trousers bore no +name. The garments had been purchased ready-made and gave no sign. + +Then there was another matter to be considered. Badly as he was +battered and bruised, the man was not dying. Graham knew how to test +the pulse, and its strength told him not to fear. The chances were that +his patient would return to consciousness before very long. Then +recognition of his grimy attendant would probably follow. Breifogle was +no fool, as Graham remembered, and a fireman's black cap and sooty +shirt and overalls would be but scant disguise. + +And to carry out his plan it was essential that he should pass through +Argenta, reach Hatch's Cove and eventually the Silver Shield mine, and +reach this latter unknown and unsuspected. Toomey and he had hit on a +plan--once Toomey could succeed in getting word to Nolan. But that, +reasoned Geordie, might be impossible now in view of this new +complication--serious trouble at the mines, and "every man out at +Silver Shield." + +If only he could see Toomey again for a moment! That was impossible. +Toomey's every muscle was needed to keep that fiery and insatiable +monster fed with fuel every rod of the way to Argenta. There was no +intermediate stop. There could be no signals--no sending of a message. +Half the distance had they gone, panting and straining, barely fifteen +miles to the hour. Broad daylight, and then the rejoicing sunshine, had +come to cheer and gladden and revive, and Cullin shouted inquiry, as he +bent down from his perch, and Graham nodded or shook his head by way of +reply. Swiftly and scientifically he kept up the play of the sponges; +shook his head to Cullin's suggestion of a little more whiskey--the +frontier's "first aid" for every kind of mishap. The pulse said there +was no further need of it, at the moment at least. And then, as they +rumbled over some resounding bridge-work and crossed the swift and +foaming Run, the train crept under the shadow of the cliff and +stretched away over a bit of open, undulating grassland, and then the +racket ceased for a while and it was possible, by bending down, to +catch the patient's breathing. + +And it gave Geordie an idea. + +The poor, bruised head was turning in restless pain; the puffed and +swollen lips were moving; the still unconscious man was muttering. Not +a word could Geordie distinguish. It was all guesswork. But, glancing +up at Cullin, he called: "He's trying to talk. Perhaps I can get his +name," and again inclined his ear and bent down over the luckless +fellow's face. "Yes," he said, loudly, so that Cullin could hear--"yes, +I understand.... Don't worry.... You're with friends.... Tell us your +name and home.... What? Try once again.... Bry--what? Oh, Breifogle?... +Yes. Argenta? That's just where we're going. We'll be there very soon. +Don't try to talk more now." And again the sponge was busily plied, and +then the grimy nurse glanced upward at Cullin, now shinning down from +his perch in the skylight. "His home's right ahead at Argenta. +Breifogle's the name." + +"Breifogle!" shouted Cullin, aghast. "Why, that's the big brewer, +banker, mine-owner, and Lord knows what all--that owns half of Yampah +County and wants to own the rest. Could he tell who slugged him? Does +he know anything about it? Ask him." + +Obediently Geordie put the question, but no answer came. "Seems to have +wandered off," he said. "Perhaps we'd be wise to worry him with no more +questions. If he's what you say, they'll be looking everywhere for him. +When did the men at Silver Shield go out?" + +"Yesterday morning at ten o'clock, so they said on No. 4. There was a +pack of 'em come down to Argenta to get to the owners, they said. By +gad, they seem to have got _at_ one of 'em!" + +A moan from the sufferer was the only answer. Graham shook his head. +"How soon can you make it?" he asked. "The sooner this man's in expert +hands the better 'twill be." + +"Twelve minutes," said Cullin, with a snap of his silver watch-lid. +"_You_ seem no slouch of a handler yourself. Where'd you learn?" + +"I lived with a doctor awhile," was the quiet answer. "He had to patch +men up occasionally." And Geordie could barely suppress the grin that +twitched the corners of his mouth. How strangely already his adventure +was faring! "I suppose after hammering him senseless they set him +adrift on that hand-car, hoping it would finish him and hide their +crime," he hazarded. + +"Looks like it," was Cullin's short answer as once more he climbed to +his station. + +Ten minutes later they were slowly trundling in among a maze of tracks +and sidings, with long trains of gondolas, coal-cars, and dingy-brown +freight-boxes on both sides. Cullin was shouting to invisible +switchmen, and presently the train came bumping to a stand. Another +minute and two or three early birds among the yardmen were climbing +aboard and curiously, excitedly, peering over Geordie's head. He never +looked up. Calmly he continued his sponging. Then Cullin's voice was +heard again. A stretcher was thrust in at the rear door. Three or four +men, roughly dressed, but with sorrow and sympathy in their careworn +faces, bent over the prostrate body. They seemed to look to Graham +for instructions. + + [Illustration: "BIG BEN WAS BUSY WITH HIS OIL-CAN"] + +"You know where to take him?" he asked. "All right, then, I'll leave +him with you." And before the station-master or other official could +come, Graham had seen his patient transferred to the stretcher, borne +forth into the sunshine and away to the passenger-room. Then, slipping +from the left rear steps, with the train between him and the building, +Geordie sauntered, softly whistling, up to the front again, and in five +minutes was helping Toomey at the cab. + +It was not yet seven. Big Ben was busy with his oil-can. Three cars had +been cut out from the train and run to a platform close at hand. It was +high time they were off again, but the conductor was held in the +office, whither he had gone for orders, as well as to report concerning +their unsought passenger. Toomey was still angered against Cullin, +between whom and himself there was ever more or less friction, but +Geordie had begun to take a fancy to him. Cullin would never have said +what he did had he known the identity of Toomey's pupil, and Geordie +argued that Cullin's gruff and insolent greeting was in reality a +tribute to his powers--a recognition of the fact that he looked the +part he was trying to play. + +With so very much at stake depending on Graham's remaining +unrecognized, with old Fort Reynolds only six miles ahead, and Silver +Shield only twenty-six farther, it would be foolish to become involved +in a squabble. But Toomey had been nursing his wrath. Big Ben was not +too fond of Cullin, and Geordie found that they were quite bent on +making trouble at first opportunity. In spite of the early hour an air +of excitement pervaded the station. Many men were idling about the +passenger platform, and here and there little groups could be seen in +muttered conversation. There was no laughter, no light-hearted chaff. +It was noted by both men in the cab, before Geordie rejoined them, that +as the injured man was borne on his stretcher across the yard into the +passenger station, these groups seemed rather to edge away instead of +crowding about in morbid curiosity. + +No need to ask who or what they were. The pallor of the faces, so +startling in contrast to the healthy tan of the ranch folk or the +swarthy grime of the railway men--the mud-splashed boots and trousers +told their tale. They were miners to a man, and miners in ugly mood. + +"The town's been full of 'em since noon yesterday," said a yardman to +Ben, in answer to his question. "They are here to see the Silver Shield +officers, and have been told they'd be up from Denver on No. 3. They +chased old Breifogle out of his office yesterday afternoon, and he's +been hiding ever since. Young Breifogle has been missing ever since +yesterday noon." + +"That's him on the stretcher," said Big Ben, gloomily, for the news was +already flying round. "Cullin says he's about done for. This young +feller in here took care of him all the way up from Buffalo Butte. No. +4 picked him up down the gulch and put him aboard us there." + +A long whistle was the only comment. At the first words spoken by the +yardman, a quick glance passed between the two young men on the +opposite, the fireman's, side of the cab. They could not see the +speaker, but they knew the voice. It was that of a former trooper of +the --th, another soldier who had sought to treble his savings at the +mines and had lost them all; then, too proud to return and "take on" +again, had found starvation-wages at Argenta. + +"Stay here," whispered Toomey, "and keep sittin'." Then, wiping his +hands on a wad of waste, and with an affable grin on his face, he swung +over behind Ben and leaned out of the cab. + +"Hullo, Scotty! Any of our fellers in that outfit?" + +"Hullo, Toomey! None of 'em with _that_ gang, but there's three of 'em +came, and old Nolan's head of the whole caboodle. He's their cap' and +spokesman." + +"Nolan! Nolan here?" cried Toomey, in great excitement, while Geordie +felt his heart beating hard. + +"Nolan, as big as life and twice as wicked." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A BALKED ARREST + + +For a moment Graham's spirits sank like lead. Nolan, the stanch old +soldier who had been his foremost trooper friend and guide, was the man +of all others on whom he pinned his faith, on whose help he had relied, +and upon whose loyalty and devotion he was ready to stake his every +hope of success. And now--so said this former soldier and comrade--now +Nolan was here in Argenta, instead of up at the mines, here with a mob +of strikers, their leader and spokesman, chief of the crew, possibly, +that had nearly done to death the son of one of the principal directors +of Silver Shield. + +That Breifogle was his father's enemy, and a leading spirit in the plot +to rob him, Geordie Graham knew full well. That Breifogle the younger +had been sent to Denver to watch for the coming of Dr. Graham, McCrea, +or others of the officers, all of whom he knew by sight and name, there +was every reason to believe; but that Nolan should take part in or +countenance the mobbing of the Breifogles, or any others of the +mine-owners, was abhorrent, if not impossible. + +Now for the moment Geordie longed for the presence of McCrea, who had +remained in Denver in hopes of bringing local officials to their senses +and his terms. And McCrea, for his part, was at the same moment wishing +to Heaven he had followed Geordie's lead and pushed ahead for the field +of battle. The Denverite members of the board, warned of his presence, +had easily managed to elude him, and with others were now on their way +to Argenta for a special meeting, while McCrea was still held at a +distance, lured by an appointment for a conference to come off that +very morning at eleven, long three hours after the other conferees had +vanished from town. + +But no older head was there to advise. Graham alone, representing the +aggrieved shareholders, was at the scene of action. He could take +counsel with no man on the ground. Win or lose he must decide and act +for himself. Here he sat in the cab of the Mogul, impatient only five +minutes back to push ahead for the mines, to get away without +recognition. Now it might well be that the point at which to act was +right here in town. + +"The mine is being operated at heavy expense and loss," had been the +latest wail from the secretary. "There is not ore enough in sight to +begin to pay the wages of the men. Yet every test convinces us that +abundant results must follow further development." Another assessment, +therefore, on top of all previous levies, had been the imperative +demand. Geordie did not know it, but that pound was the last that broke +the hold of three. They had sold their stock for what it would bring, +and Breifogle and his clique were laughing in their sleeves. They knew +there was ore in abundance, both in sight and touch. Geordie and McCrea +believed it, and believed that if the one could establish the fact, +and the other could bring the directors to book with proof of foul +measures to squeeze out the small shareholders, victory would be in +their hands. + +But what was to be done now? By this time the fact that young Breifogle +had been fearfully beaten must be known to every man about the station, +and was swiftly racing to the opening doors of every shop, office, and +homestead in town. By this act the miners had destroyed every hope of +sympathy, or even, possibly, of justice. Whatever their grievance it +could not warrant murder. But what _was_ their grievance? What could +have precipitated trouble at the mines and a wholesale walkout at +Silver Shield? What could have brought the miners, nearly a hundred +strong, here to Argenta, with Nolan at their head--Nolan, who had been +the company's faithful servant, the best manager of men, the most +level-headed and reliable "boss" at the Silver Shield? + +Toomey's friend had hurried away, for sound of increasing excitement +came from the groups, now merging into one, about the telegraph +office. Big Ben swung himself out of the cab once more, and with arms +akimbo stood watching the distant gathering, wishing Cullin would come +with orders or else with explanation of the delay. This left Graham and +Toomey alone in the cab, and Toomey's first question was, "What can you +do now, sir?" + +"Find Nolan," was the brief answer, "and get to the bottom of this." + +"Orders may come any minute," said Toomey, looking anxiously over his +shoulder. "We'll have to pull out and go ahead. You couldn't--stay here +at Argenta, could you?" + +"I may _have_ to. Here's Cullin now." + +"But no orders," said Toomey, with a gasp of relief, for from far over +the tracks, catching sight of his watchful engineer, Cullin had waved +his hand, palm towards them, twice to and fro, a gesture so like the +Indian sign "No go" that Geordie knew its meaning at a glance. Silently +they awaited his coming and listened, breathless, for his tidings when +he came. + +"What's the row about?" asked Ben, as Cullin reached them, breathing +hard. + +"Why, about their boss, it seems. The company gave him the bounce +yesterday, and ordered him off the premises. He demanded fair play and +a hearing, and then young Breifogle, who had gone up with the order for +his discharge, began abusing him. Nolan--that's the man's name--called +him down, and then Breifogle broke loose and cursed him, called him +traitor and all manner of names, and ordered some of his men to throw +him out. They did it, too, and brought on a fight. Breifogle and his +friends were armed and the men were not. They shot two miners, arrested +the 'ringleaders,' as they called 'em, and locked 'em up. Then the men +quit the mine and laid for Breifogle when he tried to get out. He hired +a rig and drove t'other way, out to Miners' Joy, slid out on the Narrow +Gauge last night, and there was a dozen of 'em headed him off down at +the Junction. Nolan and his crowd had come down here to see the +directors and get their rights. Of course some of them did it, and +there you are!" + +"Where's Nolan now?" asked Toomey. + +"Where _is_ he? Over at the company's office waiting for the directors, +when he ought to be making tracks for Mexico." + +Graham's heart had been beating harder with every word. It bounded with +wrath as he listened to this, yet listened in silence and stern +self-control. But Toomey got a dig in the ribs that plainly said, "Make +him say why." + +"'Twouldn't be like Long Nolan to be skipping when he's needed by his +friends," growled Toomey. "He's no quitter, if he _was_ at Powder +River," whereby it was Cullin's turn to get a dig, and little did he +relish it. + +"That's another I owe you, Toomey," said he, "and we'll settle it +by-and-by. Just now I'm thinking for your friend, if you are not. I +knew him before ever you did, and would go ten miles to your one to +help him. What you haven't sense enough to see is, that it won't be an +hour before the sheriff's after him with a warrant, and if Breifogle +dies he'll swing, sure as death. He was raving when they threw him out +of the gate, and swore he would get even with Breifogle, and when it +comes to trial there'll be a dozen witnesses to swear that he _did_. +What kind of a trial do you think he'd have here at Argenta, with half +the town owned by Breifogle & Co.?" + +This was, indeed, putting a new face on it, and still Graham listened +in silence, trying to control the quiver and tingle of his nerves. + +There came a sudden call from the office. Shoving his way through the +little mass of miners on the platform, the station-agent stepped to the +edge and waved a hand to Cullin, but the hand was empty. The release +order had not come. The big Mogul and the freight were still held, and +now it was much after seven, and Argenta all astir. Cullin turned +doggedly away. He seemed to know what was coming and did not half like +it. Leaping down from the platform and striding over the +cinder-blackened ties, the agent met him before he crossed the second +track--met him and spoke in tone so low even Big Ben could not hear. +All three men at the cab, they could not help it, were listening +eagerly. It was easy to see, however, that the station-master was +seeking information Cullin could not or dared not give. Every gesture, +the upheaved shoulders, the sideward droop of the head, the forward +toss of the hands, palms to the front, all as much as said, "Don't ask +me." Then the agent turned slowly away, walked a dozen steps, looked +back, and called: + +"I'll tell 'em what you say, but you'd better come yourself. Narrow +Gauge'll get 'the Old Man' on the wire presently, then you'll have to. +I'm betting they hold you here till you do." + +"Not if I know myself or--my orders," growled Cullin, as he returned, +black-browed, to the cab. + +"What's up?" asked Big Ben, presently, seeing that the conductor waited +to be asked. + +"Why, those Narrow Gauge fellows--they're owned here, you know--claim +that two of their men were shot by the same gang that did up Breifogle. +They're wiring both ways from the Junction, up here for sheriff and +detectives, and down to the Springs for Bob Anthony. They say No. 4 +and I both know things about the slugging we haven't told. They say No. +4 took three of the sluggers away, and that we're hiding some to take +up into the mountains and turn 'em loose where they'll be safe. The +only man with us is--this kid," and Cullin looked up darkly into the +cab, his gloomy eyes on Geordie's coal-blackened face. + +Now, indeed, it was time for action, and, quietly as he could, Geordie +put the question: + +"Did you tell them you had a stranger in the cab?" + +"Told 'em you were the only thing--or kind--I had." + +"But you told them I'd come all the way with you from Chimney Switch, +did you not?" + +"I didn't tell 'em anything except what I said to Folder here--the +station-master. I told 'em, through him, if they wanted anything on +this train they needn't ask me. I wasn't responsible." + +Graham and Toomey exchanged quick glances. A wretched end would it be +to all their planning if Geordie should now be dragged off the cab as +accessory to the assault on young Breifogle, his helpless charge and +patient of the early morning hours. + +Yet that was just what now was likely to happen. Resentful of there +being a mystery about the cab, a secret he was not allowed to share--an +outsider made known by Cullin's superiors to Cullin's subordinates, yet +not presented to him--true to human nature Cullin had told what Geordie +would conceal. In less than no time the enemy would know 705 had +brought a stranger within their gates who was too wary to come by +passenger-train. In less than ten minutes they might be there with a +warrant for his arrest. + +And at that very moment there went up a shout from the group of miners +at the office. One of their kind had come running in, breathless and +alarmed. Three or four words only had he spoken, but they were enough. +As one man the twoscore turned and ran for the broad street beyond the +passenger station, were swallowed up in the gap between the express and +baggage sheds and the passenger waiting-rooms, and could be heard +shouting loudly beyond the high board fence--a chorus of cheers that +seemed to start near the main entrance and went travelling on the wings +of the wind westward up the lively street. + +And a moment later, even while they were wondering, out came "Folder +here," the agent--this time paper in hand and waving for Cullin. +"Orders at last," said Cullin, and sprang to get them. And this time +both Graham and Toomey swung from the cab and eagerly followed. +"Warrant out for Nolan!" they heard Folder say, "but they'll not get +him here. The gang has whisked him away to the Fort and beyond, I +reckon; and the sheriff who goes to Silver Shield takes his life in his +hands." Then his eyes fell on the two firemen. "One of _you's_ wanted," +he added, "but I don't know which, and they're coming now." + +He pointed down the yard toward the east entrance. Almost on the run, +two men came hurrying in. Toomey grabbed Geordie's sleeve. "They +sha'n't have you _here_, anyhow. Jump for the cab." And jump they did, +all three. Moved now by some indefinable sympathy he had not felt +before, Cullin urged them on, and thrust the order into Big Ben's hairy +fist as it swung from the window. Ben gave one glance, his left hand +grasping the lever; Toomey made a flying leap for the bell-cord; +Geordie scrambled in after; hiss went the steam-cocks; clang went the +bell, and with an explosive cough that shook her big frame almost free +of the rails the Mogul heaved slowly ahead. The shortened "Time +Freight" picked up its heels and came jerkily after, and with her +ponderous drivers rolling swifter and swifter, and the heavy panting +speedily changing to short, quick, and quickening puffs, faster and +faster big 705 swung clear of the switch-points, smoothly rounded to +the main line, and with its dozen brown chickens following close, +Indian file, after the fussy old hen in the lead, away went the fast +freight, flaunting its green flags at the rear in the face of the +pursuit, and the deputies drew up disgusted at the edge of the yard, +their signals and their shouts unheeded. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A RACE TO THE FORT + + +Three miles out and the Mogul's six drivers were spinning like so many +tops. Flat along the grimy roofs of the heaving freight-cars behind, +the cloud of coal smoke from her stunted chimney fled rearward until +clear of the train, then drifted idly across the rolling uplands. Ahead +and to right and left, distant, snow-capped summits barred the +sky-line. On either side the gray-green slopes, bare and treeless, +billowed away, higher and higher toward the range, with here and there +a bunch of fattening cattle gazing stupidly at the invaders of their +peace and quietude. Close at hand to the left the murky waters of the +stream flashed quickly by. Close at hand to the right the hard-beaten +prairie road meandered over the sod. There had been a ridge or two +and some sharp curves just west of town, and now, as they rounded +the last of these and flew out upon an almost level track, the bottom +of some prehistoric mountain lake, the eyes of two of the three silent +occupants of the cab were strained along the gleaming rails ahead, and +almost at the same instant the same thought sprang to the lips of +each--Big Ben, with his left hand at the throttle, hunched up on his +shelf, his cap pulled down over the bushy brows, and Geordie, across +the cab on the fireman's seat, clinging to the window-frame to +withstand the lurching of the throbbing monster, while between them, on +the coal-blackened floor, Toomey, with his big shovel flinging open the +iron gate to the blazing furnace for every new mouthful he fed it, and +snapping it shut when he turned away for another, for not a whiff of +the draught could be wasted. Once past the deserted station at the Fort +there would come eight miles of twisting and turning and struggling +up-grade, and every pound of steam would be needed to pull even this +baker's dozen of heavily laden cars now thundering merrily along +behind. + + [Illustration: "NOT A WHIFF OF THE DRAUGHT COULD BE WASTED"] + +Only two short, smooth miles ahead lay the low ridge that formed the +eastern boundary of the old reservation. Beyond it, on the broad +_mesa_, stood the buildings of the frontier garrison, once Geordie's +home and refuge. The tall flag-staff came suddenly into view, and in +less than four minutes they would be rushing by. Over forty miles to +the hour were they flying now. Big Ben had just let out another notch +as they swung into the two-mile tangent, when at the same instant he +and Geordie caught sight of three or four black dots dimly bobbing in +the midst of a little dust-cloud on the roadway far ahead, and almost +at the same instant came from each the low cry, "There they are!" + +Toomey dropped his shovel and glanced forward over Ben's burly +shoulder, then, grabbing the vertical handrails on cab and tender, +leaned out and gazed astern. The wagon road twisted over the bleak +"divide" the train had just rounded, and, barring a team or two jogging +slowly into town, was bare of traffic. "No chasers so far," he shouted, +as he again stooped to his tools. + +"No chasers but us could catch 'em," growled Ben. "We'll give 'em a +toot of the whistle!" he shouted across to Geordie, and the steam blast +shrieked through the keen morning air in obedience to the quick pull at +the cord. + +And now 705 was fairly flying, the green flags at the rear flattened +like shingles in the whistling wind, and a cloud of mingled dust and +smoke rolling furiously after the caboose. Big Ben had "pulled her wide +open," and under full head of steam the powerful engine tore like a +black meteor up the glistening track. In eagerness and excitement +almost uncontrollable George Graham clung to his perch and gazed with +all his eyes. Barely a mile ahead now spurred the fugitives, his old +friend Nolan in their midst--Nolan whom he had come all those miles to +see! + +And then a strange thing happened. So far from finding reassurance, +friendship, sympathy in the whistle blast, the riders had read the very +opposite. So far from slackening speed and letting the signalling train +come up on them, they had suddenly veered to the left, the south, and, +bending low like jockies over their coursers' manes, they shot across +the track, dived down into the pebbly bottom, and the next thing +Geordie saw they were plunging breast-deep through the brown and +heaving torrent, the waters foaming at their knees. + +"Might 'a' known it!" bellowed Toomey, disgusted. "'Course they reason +we've got the sheriff and posse aboard, and they're taking the +short-cut to the--you know," he said, with a sudden significant gulp, +to Geordie, and a warning glance at Ben. Even now that he had left the +trooper habits months behind, Toomey could not forget or disregard +trooper ethics. Ben might be friendly to Nolan, just as he claimed, +but--would Ben keep other's secrets? + +And even under his coat of coal and tan Geordie's face blazed suddenly. +As a lad whom the troopers knew and loved and trusted, he could not +help knowing in by-gone days of the ranch just south of the +post--"Saints' Rest," they called it, laughingly--the shack owned and +occupied by an old soldier with a numerous family: the rendezvous for +many a revel, the resting-place of many a hunting-party, the refuge of +many a home-bound squad of "the boys," before the days of the canteen +that brought comfort and temperance into the army for the short but +blessed spell of its existence--boys just back from an unhallowed +frolic in town, and not yet sober enough to face their first sergeant +and "the Old Man" at the orderly room. Oh, wonderful things were told +of old Shiner and his ranch! In the eyes of some straitlaced commanders +he had been little better than a receiver of stolen goods, a soldier +Shylock who loaned moneys at usurious interest, a gambler who fleeced +the trooper folk of their scanty pay, a dispenser of bad liquors and +worse morals. Some truth there may have been in some of these tales, +yet Shiner had been a strangely useful man. He supplied the post with +milk and cream, butter and eggs, of better quality and lower price than +could possibly be had in town. He knew the best hunting and fishing on +the range. He had teams and "rigs" at all times at the service of +officers and soldiers, when the post ambulance was forbidden by an +unfeeling government. He had a corral and stockade that had more than +once bidden stout defiance to both the law and the lawless. He had, so +the fort children firmly believed, a subterranean passage from his +stockade to the sentry-lines. He was hated by both sheriff and sutler +in days when the latter lived and thrived; he overreached the one, +undersold the other, and outwitted both. He befriended every soldier in +a scrape, whether the offence were against the majestic letter of the +civil law or only the unimportant spirit of the military. In the eyes +of the few he was much of a sinner; in the eyes of the many no less of +a saint; and, after careful casting up of accounts, the colonel of the +--th Cavalry had declared Shiner far more good than bad, treated him +accordingly, and won a surprised and devoted friend and ally. Another +officer Shiner swore by was Dr. Graham, and for reasons similar to +those of his fellow, and farther-distant, ranchman Ross. + +Yet Geordie had often heard of mysterious doings at Shiner's that would +not bear official investigation--had heard and kept silent. In those +days Shiner dwelt close under the sheltering wing of a sympathetic +garrison. Now, if still there, he must be living in the light, and for +the first time it dawned upon Geordie that what he heard of Shiner in +by-gone days and kept to himself, he could not hear and know and keep +to himself now. It was one thing to be a garrison boy; it was another +to be an officer in the army of the United States. + +The instant that it dawned upon him that Nolan and his friends were +heading across country for Shiner's old plant, riding hard in the +belief that they were pursued by rail, it flashed upon him that he +could not join Nolan there--indeed, he must, if a possible thing, guide +or direct him elsewhere. + +Already the pursued were through the ford and, with dripping flanks, +were scrambling up the opposite shore. Already big 705 was almost +abreast of them, and in another moment would be swiftly speeding by. +It was two years since Geordie last set eyes on Nolan, but there was no +mistaking, even at that distance, the tall, gaunt figure and the +practised seat in saddle. Behind him trailed three comrades, two of +whom, at least, were tyros in the art of horsemanship. They were +hanging on for dear life as their steeds labored on after the leader. +The object of all four was obviously to get beyond easy rifle range of +the rushing train before drawing rein to reconnoitre, and now, probably +noting that the engine was driving on full speed, with no sign of +stopping, the tall horseman in the lead circled swiftly to his right, +along the crest of a low ridge perhaps three hundred yards away, then +peered from under his broad hatbrim at the supposed enemy. + +And then it was that Graham and Toomey, both, sprang back to the +coal-pile in the tender, clambered high as possible on the shifting +slope, and, balancing as best they could, whipped off their caps, swung +them joyously about their heads, and eagerly gave the old-time, +well-known cavalry signal, "Forward!" "Forward!" They saw Nolan and +his friends seated on their panting horses, staring after them in amaze +and wonderment, then resolutely following. + +A mile now would bring them whistling by the site of old Fort Reynolds, +and a lump rose in Geordie's throat, for the weather-beaten, ramshackle +stables came in view as the Mogul rounded a long, easy curve, and +there, beyond them and on the level bench before them, stood the trim +rows of officers' quarters, now deserted and tenantless, yet guarded by +the single sergeant and his little squad of men. To the right, afar up +the track near the foot-bridge and ford, lay the station building, +wellnigh useless now since the greater interests and industries, that +had made the railway possible and forced the Indian farther back, had +also fouled the mountain stream and spoiled the site for a cavalry +post. + +There stood the freight sheds; there were the chutes for horses and +mules; there, beyond them, the now abandoned office and waiting-room; +and there, still glistening white and towering, the semaphore +signal-mast of the railway; and then and there, sure and sudden, there +dropped the black arm straight across and above their glistening path +in the never-to-be-neglected order--Stop! + +Big Ben's lined face went swiftly gray through its coat of grime, but +the firm hand did its instant work with the throttle. Then, swinging +from his seat, he grasped the glistening lever and, peering intently +forward, stood ready to throw it in reverse. Toomey sprang for the cord +and jerked one fierce toot out of the whistle, the old-time signal for +down-brakes before Westinghouse and his science put everything at the +touch of the engineer. Almost at the moment the swift rush of the train +became jarring and rough. Two daring men scampered, monkey-like, along +the top of the cars, twisting a brake on each, then darting to the +next. A furious gust of steam tore from the escape-valve and streamed +away overhead. Not a thing was in sight on the track, not a soul on the +platform, to account for the alarming signal. A switch-target clanked +as they tore over the points; a vagrant dog scurried away toward the +once thriving saloon, and not until they drove in, hissing, grinding, +and bumping, to the side of the dusty platform, did Ben's keen eyes +catch sight of two herdsmen's horses--cow ponies--tethered back of the +shanty beside the saloon, and up went the lid of his box at the +instant, in went his right hand, and then out it came full grasp on a +brown-barrelled six-shooter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BAD NEWS FROM THE MINES + + +"A hold-up," muttered Toomey, as, obedient to Big Ben's orders, "Duck, +you two!" he and Geordie crouched for the moment in the dark interior +of the cab. But who would hold up a freight bound to, not away from, +the mines? Twice, thrice, indeed, since the cavalry had been sent from +Fort Reynolds, the overland express had been flagged between Argenta +and Summit Siding, and masked men had boarded the train, despoiled the +passengers and Pullmans; and once old Shiner had come under suspicion +because certain plunder was found at his place. + +"The robbers are discharged soldiers," swore the sheriff of Yampah; +"their haunt is at Shiner's." Yet not so much as a scrap of other +evidence was there found. Shiner threw open his doors to the officers, +bade them search high and low, declared upon honor as he would upon +oath that he himself had found the damaging evidence--two pocket-books +and some valueless papers--on the open prairie a mile from his place +the day after the third of the "hold-ups." There had long been bad +blood betwixt him and the sheriff, and this time the man of the law +gave the lie, and but for prompt work of bystanders--deputy Shiners and +sheriffs both--there would have been cause for a coroner's inquest on +the spot. Before that day it had been avowed hostility between them; +now it was war to the knife. Much of this was known to the men of the +railway, who sided according to their lights. Few of them knew Shiner; +many knew the sheriff. It was patent at a glance that Big Ben held to +the views of the latter and looked upon Shiner's hand, or Shiner's +hands, as the cause of the hold-up. Nor was he entirely wrong. Even as +Cullin came running up the track from the rear of the train, and +brakemen running atop of it, eager to learn the cause of the stop, two +men with saddle-bags slung over the left arm stepped out from behind +the passenger depot and met the conductor half-way. Glancing back, Ben +caught sight of them and, pistol in hand, started to swing from the +engine, crying "Come on!" to Toomey. Springing to his feet, Toomey gave +one look back to the platform. His keen eyes danced with excitement and +joy. "Hold on!" he shouted to Ben. "It's all right. Lay low," he +whispered to Geordie. "It's Shiner himself!" + +And old Shiner it was, cool, quiet, pale, resolute in face of a furious +conductor and a threatening crew--Shiner, presently backed by a +sergeant of regulars and two of his men, who had come running over the +foot-bridge at the stop of the train, and now silently ranged +themselves in tacit support. What Cullin had demanded was how Shiner +dared tamper with the signals--how, in fact, he had managed to, since +they had been carefully locked--and who was he, anyhow. And Shiner had +simply answered: "I've a boy shot and dying at Silver Shield. I only +heard it late in the night. There's no other way to get to him. I pay +full fare and all damages"--but he got no further, for Toomey came +atrot from the engine, threw himself upon him, and grasped his hand. + +"What's the trouble, old man?" was the instant question. + +And Shiner, turning, saw an old friend and beneficiary, and should have +taken heart at the sight. Instead of which, at sound of a sympathetic +voice, he who had been firm and fearless in the face of abuse and +opposition now wellnigh broke down. "They've killed--little Jack!" he +almost sobbed. "Thank God _you're_ here, Toomey!" + +"Of course you'll take him!" cried Toomey, turning sharp on Cullin. + +"Of course I _won't_ take him!" snarled Cullin, wrath and temper +stiffening his back, "but the law shall, quick as I can fix it. Back to +your cab, both of you!" he waved, for Ben, too, was bulkily climbing +the platform steps. "Pull out at once and don't you stop for no more +snidework!" + +"And leave this man here?" shouted Toomey. "Then you can do your own +firing from here on, Cullin. Hold on, Ben, till I get my things off. +You can obey if you like, but it's the last run I make with +this--faugh! And you say _you've_ been a soldier!" It was Toomey's +chance, after weeks of pent-up rage for battle, and he couldn't throw +it away. Seeing that Ben, dull, heavy, and uncomprehending, was staring +stupidly about him, not knowing what to do; seeing that even Cullin was +melting at sight of the grief in Shiner's face; seeing the sympathy in +the eyes of the bluecoats and the shame in those of the brakemen, +Toomey turned loose on his adversary, and Toomey, when fairly started, +could talk to the point. It was a tongue-lashing, indeed, and one that +left the conductor no chance to reply. + +"It's 'gainst orders, and you know it, Toomey," was his futile gasp, +when Toomey stopped for breath. + +"'Gainst orders you've broken time and again, and you know it! 'Gainst +orders Bob Anthony would break your head for not breaking! It's 'gainst +orders for you to pull out now when you're blocked, till you get +further orders--and yet you say go." + +"How can I get orders without a man or a wire at the station?" burst in +Cullin, grasping at straws. "How can I get authority to take this man +along? He's liable to arrest anyhow for tampering with the signals." + +And then another voice was interjected, another disputant stepped +quickly forward, and Toomey checked himself in the first breath of an +impassioned outburst; his black hand suddenly shot half-way up to the +cap-visor, then came down with a jerk; his heels had clicked together +and his knees straightened out, then as suddenly went limp. The +new-comer had sprung up the steps. The form was slender and sinewy. +Hands, face, and dress were black with soot, but the young voice was +deep and the ring of accustomed command was in every word. "That's your +cue, Mr. Cullin. Arrest him and fetch him along." Then turning to +Toomey: "There's no one at the cab. Better get back, quick!" he added. +And Toomey went. + +Big Ben gave one look and, without a word, waddled after his fireman. +The tears that stood in old Shiner's eyes dashed away at the brush of a +sleeve. A light of astonishment, comprehension, relief suddenly gleamed +in their place. The sergeant stared for a moment, looked blankly at his +men, then side-stepped for another long gaze at the new-comer's face. +Cullin turned sharply, resentful at first at the tone of authority, +wrath in his heart and rebuke on his tongue, but then came sudden +reminder of Anthony's card--the card the strange young fellow had +presented only when needed to convince, the card he had been so +sagacious as to retain, the card that proclaimed him a friend of the +powers and a person to be considered. Moreover, the friend and person +had suggested a means by which actual surrender to the situation might +appear as virtual and moral victory. One more look at Shiner and then +Shiner settled it. "I submit to arrest, Mr. Cullin. Let me go with +you--and settle." + +"Get aboard the caboose," was the gruff answer, and, all apparent +meekness, Shiner obeyed. "Not you," added Cullin, as Shiner's +saddle-bag-bearing friend would have followed. "Give me the bags," said +Shiner, "and you look to--" A significant glance at the signal told the +rest. Cullin followed it with his eyes, saw the arm still lowered to +the "stop," knew that it should not be left there, and for a moment +held back. + +"_He_'ll fix it," said Shiner, from the platform of the caboose, while +his eyes sought the face of the tall young fellow at Cullin's back. +Cullin strode to the corner of the office and followed the ranchman +with curious eyes. That sun-tanned, bow-legged person straddled down +the back steps, his big spurs jingling, a high boot-heel catching on +next to the lowermost and pitching him forward. He clamped his +broadbrim on his head with one hand and steadied his holster with the +other, straightened up with half-stifled expletive, and the next minute +was swarming up the slender iron rungs of the signal-ladder. "He's got +to prop it up where it belongs," said the sergeant. "Reckon he must +have shot the wire that held it." And of a truth the wire was severed. +But when Cullin turned back to his train with the mystery cleared, the +sight and sound of new commotion blocked his own signal to start. + +Two horsemen, on foam-spattered broncos, were spurring vehemently down +the road from the eastward ridge. Two others were trailing exhaustedly +two hundred lengths behind, only just feebly popping over the divide. +And to these persons both his prisoner and his prisoner's advocate, who +were clasping hands as he whirled and saw them, were now signalling +cheer and encouragement. Ten cars ahead, at the cab, Big Ben and +Toomey, too, were leaning far out and eagerly watching the chase; the +sergeant and his men, wondering much at the sight, but professionally +impassive, strode to the end of the platform for better view, then all +of a sudden began to shout and swing their caps, and before Cullin +could recover from his surprise the foremost rider, tall, spare, with +long, grizzled mustache and fiery eyes, threw himself from saddle and +came bounding up the steps. He was surrounded in an instant, only one +man hanging back. The slender young fellow in the grimy cap and +overalls quietly stepped into the dark interior of the caboose. + +In the glare of the unclouded sunshine, breathing hard from his +exertion, his hand grasped successively by Shiner and the three +soldiers, the veteran trooper told his hurried tale, while, one after +another, his followers, wellnigh exhausted, labored after him, and +finally rolled stiffly to _terra firma_ at the station, their wretched +livery mounts, with dripping, quivering flanks and drooping heads, +stood straddling close at hand, too utterly used up to stagger away. + +Nolan's story was brief but explicit. Somebody in the swarm that +overwhelmed the Narrow Gauge train the previous night had crept back to +town after midnight and started the story that young Breifogle had been +slugged by the gang. By early morning it got to the father's ears. With +the sheriff and some friends he had driven down in the wake of No. 4, +found plenty of men who could tell of the mobbing, but none who could +tell of his son. The miners had scattered; the few passengers also, +glad that they were not "wanted" by that infuriated crowd. It was then +after sunrise, and, almost crazed by anxiety and wrath, Breifogle had +hurried back to Argenta. His first thought seemed to be vengeance on +Nolan, whom rumor declared the ringleader of his son's assailants, and +a warrant was out for his arrest, even as the big Mogul was rolling +into the yard, with its dingy-brown train of freight-cars and the +battered body of that luckless youth, Nolan's assailant at Silver +Shield. + +The first full peril of his situation broke upon Nolan the instant the +news was rushed to him. Innocent of any part in the assault though he +was--ignorant of it, in fact, until dawn--he well knew that every +artifice would be played against him, and that all the power, the +means, and methods of the Breifogle clique would be lavishly used. Long +imprisonment would be sure, harsh trial certain, acquittal improbable, +hanging almost a certainty. + +"Away with you! Get back to the mines and the mountains!" was the +instant warning, and without the loss of a minute, mounted on such +horses as his friends could hire, he and three of his trustiest +followers had galloped away. They thought the sheriff was at their +heels when the Fast Freight came thundering after them, but hailed, +with amaze and joy, the signal from the tender, and, feeling sure the +train would await them here, had spurred on to the station. + +"You'll send the horses back for us, will you, sergeant?" he finished. +Then eagerly, "Now, conductor, shall we pull out for Summit?" + +"Pull out for nothing," was the astounding answer. "You know perfectly +no Time Freight on this road takes a passenger of any kind, and it +would be more'n my job's worth to take you!" + +"Then, in God's name, why did you signal?" was the almost agonized +question. + +"Signal be jiggered! I never signalled. No man of _my_ crew signalled. +If you want to get back to the mines, stay here and flag No. 5. She'll +be along at eleven." + +"Along at _eleven_! Man alive, the sheriff will be here with a posse of +forty long before that!" + +"_Long_ before that!" almost screamed old Shiner. "Look, there, what +you see! He's coming now!" + +And then Geordie Graham, listening with beating heart within the open +doorway of the caboose, could stand the strain no longer. The man he +must see, the man on whom everything depended, the old friend whom he +most trusted and believed in stood in sore peril. The cause for which +he had come all these miles must fail so sure as Nolan slipped into the +power of the adversary, even though grasped by the hand of the law. It +was no time for ethics--no time for casuists. He let his voice out in +the old tone of authority: + +"You've no time to lose, Mr. Cullin. Arrest them, too, and come on!" + +With wonderment in his eyes, with Shiner whispering caution in his ear, +"Long" Nolan was hustled aboard the caboose just as the wheels began to +turn, his breathless followers clambering after, while afar up the +divide toward the east, by twos and threes, in eager pursuit, egged on +by lavish promise of reward, the sheriff of Yampah, with a score of his +men, spurred furiously on the trail of a train that, starting slowly +and heavily, speedily gained headway and soon went thundering up the +grade, "leaving the wolves behind." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +FIRST SHOTS OF THE SUMMER + + +Half-way up the scarred slope of mountain-side, and opposite the mouth +of a deep ravine, hung the crude wooden buildings and costly machinery +of a modern mine. Zigzagging up the heights, the road that led to it +from the ramshackle town in the valley was dotted with groups of +rough-coated men, all plodding steadily onward. Perched on "benches" +and shelves and dumps of blasted rock and fresh-heaped earth, similar +though smaller clusters of buildings dotted the lower slopes, marring +the grand outlines and sweeping curves of the great upheavals, cutting +ugly gashes in the green and swelling billows, yet eagerly sought in +the race for wealth and the greed for gold, because of the treasures +they wrested from the bowels of the everlasting hills. Afar down the +winding valley a turbid stream went frothing away to the foot-hills, +telling of labor, turmoil, and strife. Beside it twisted and turned the +railway that burrowed through the range barely five miles back of the +town, and reappeared on the westward face of the Silver Bow, clinging +dizzily to heights that looked down on rolling miles of pine, cedar, +stunted oak, and almost primeval loneliness. The mineral wealth, said +the experts, lay on the eastward side, and by thousands the miners were +there, swarming like ants all over the surface seeking their golden +gain. + + [Illustration: SILVER SHIELD] + +And something was surely amiss at the mines when the chimneys of as +many as six of the "plants" gave forth no smoke, when the fires were +out and the men adrift. Something had happened that called the +craftsmen from a dozen other burrows to the aid of those at the new and +lately thronging works, on that shoulder at the mouth of the gorge--the +mine of the Silver Shield. Murder most foul, said the story, had been +done in the name of the law. Armed guards of the property had shot +down, it was said, a half-score of workmen, clamoring only for their +pay and their rights. A son of the principal owner, so it was known, +had ordered his men to fire. A son of an old soldier and settler, +living in peace barely forty miles away, was one of the victims, for he +had taken sides with Long Nolan, who without rhyme or reason had been +discharged, and violently flung from the premises. There had been a +wild rush on the guard, a volley, a recoil, a rally in force, and an +outcry for vengeance. Then the guard had to shoot in earnest and +self-defence, for their lives were at stake. Some of the men had gone +to Argenta to plead with the owners, but most had remained to stir all +hands within ten miles to the support of their fellows. The miscreant +who had ordered "fire" had escaped across to Miners' Joy, only to be +dealt with by sympathizers on the Narrow Gauge; but the men who fired +and who shot to kill were trapped like rats in a hole. Surrounded on +every side, every avenue of escape now guarded, they and the luckless +manager of the mine were cooped in their log fortification, with two +lives and several serious wounds to answer for, and as the sun went +westering this long summer's day they had two hours left in which to +decide--come out and surrender or be burned out where they lay. + +Half the village had gone to swell the ranks of the rioters; another +half--slatternly women and unkempt children--swarmed in the single +street and gazed upward at the heights. Every ledge about the +threatened buildings was black with men, men furious with hate and mad +with liquor, men needing only determined and resolute leaders to go in +and finish their fearful work. + +But here was their lack. The men they had counted on, one man in +particular on whose account many of their number had braved the guard +and threatened the owners--one man, Long Nolan himself, refused point +blank to have aught to do with them or their plans. Another man, he +whose son lay dying in the village, shot down by the guards, was there, +sad-eyed yet stern-faced, to stay and dissuade them. The one train up +from the East that day--the only one that could come, for now the road +was blown out in a dozen places down the gorge--had brought with it +Nolan and Shiner, with two or three friends at their back, and Nolan +and Shiner, in spite of their wrongs, were pleading hard for peace, +pleading so hard, so earnestly, that by 5 P.M. many a man, American +born, had seen the force of their reasoning and had stepped back from +the front. + +But among the killed was a poor lad from the mountains of Bohemia. +Among the vengeful throng were swarms of foreigners who could +understand little or nothing of what Nolan and his friends were saying, +and who speedily would have scorned it could they have understood, for +at five o'clock another speaker took the stand, a man of the people he +called himself, a foreigner long on our shores, yet fluent in the +language of the Slavs, and in ten minutes the torrent was turned. With +terror in his eyes, a man who had long worked with Nolan, a foreigner, +too, came running to the silent, anxious little group of Anglo-Saxons. +"Nolan--Nolan," he cried. "He says you was traitor! He says you was +gone to Argenta and told all their secrets, and you was bought +off--bribed--and you bring strangers to help you! He says you and they +are just spies, an' now they come for _you_!" + +One glance from where the little group were crouching, sheltered from +possible shots from the buildings, yet between them and the throng, +told Nolan and Shiner the alarm was real, the words were true. Like so +many maddened beasts, a gang of uncouth, unkempt, blood-thirsty beings +were now crowding up the narrow roadway from the bench below. + +"My God, Mr. Geordie!" cried Nolan, in sudden agony of spirit, "I never +once dreamed of this!" + +It was, indeed, a moment of terror. Here, barely a dozen in all, were +Nolan, Shiner, George Graham, and a few of the more intelligent, the +Americans, among the miners. There, possibly a hundred yards away, and +to the number of at least three hundred, a throng of human brutes, +utterly ignorant, superstitious, credulous, craftily inspired, were +now surging slowly forward up the heights. Two minutes would bring them +about the little party in overwhelming strength. Flight anywhere +downhill was impossible. The one refuge in sight was that beleaguered +little clump of buildings just beyond them up the slope, garrisoned by +a dozen desperate men who had shouted warning again and again, they'd +shoot down the first man that showed a head above the rocks. + +But desperate straits need desperate measures. All on a sudden a tall, +slender youth, in the coarse dress of a railway fireman, sprang from +the midst of the pallid-faced group and, waving his handkerchief over +his head, called back, "Stay where you are one minute!" and then, +without a second's falter or swerve, straight for the nearest building, +a low, one-story log-house, the manager's office near the mouth of the +mine, waving his white signal high as his arm could reach, and +shouting, "Don't fire--we are friends!" George Graham swiftly climbed +for the upper level. One rifle flashed. One bullet whizzed over his +head, but he reached the road, then, both arms extended, rushed +straight for the door. + +It was thrown open to admit him by Cawker, the manager, white-faced +almost as they whom Geordie had left. "Come out here!" cried Graham. +"See for yourself. Nolan, Shiner, with those few lads, are all that +have stood between you and the mob below. Every American is out of it. +They're coming to kill Nolan for turning against them. Call him up! +Call them all--There's barely a dozen. Then you've got just as many +more to stand by you!" + +And Cawker had sense to see and to realize. "Call 'em yourself," said +he. "Don't shoot, men! These are friends come to aid us!" he cried, +running up and down in front of the loop-holes. "Come on, Nolan and all +of you," he added, for Graham had gone bounding half-way back again, +and, like so many goats, the threatened party came scrambling out of +their shelter and up the steep incline, while afar down the hill-side +rose a yell of baffled rage and vengeance. + +"Hold the rest of them whatever you do!" shouted Geordie, again racing +back. "Don't let that gang over the edge or you're gone!" And again the +brown barrels of the rifles thrust forth from the wooden walls and were +turned on the bend of the road. Almost breathless, Long Nolan, and with +him the little squad of adherents, came running up to the door. +"Inside, quick as you can!" shouted Cawker. "We've got to give those +blood-hounds a lesson." + +Even as he spoke a shot struck the thick, iron hinge of the heavy door, +the lead spattering viciously. Another ripped through the casement of +the nearest window, and a shiver of glass was heard within, as the +bullet spun through the shade of a lamp swinging from the beam above. +Cawker ducked, unaccustomed to such sounds, and dove to the interior. +Old Nolan, soldier of the Civil War and veteran of many an Indian +skirmish, disdained to notice it. Geordie, bemoaning the luck that had +left his pet rifle in Denver, busied himself with Nolan in "herding" +the party within before himself following. Then Shiner was found +missing. + +"He started with us," cried Nolan. "He wanted to go back to be with his +boy, but we showed him he'd never get through. Those brutes would head +him off and kick his life out. He must have--Good God, Mr. Geordie! +Look where he lies!" + +And then they saw that the old plainsman, in his eagerness to make a +way back to his possibly dying son, had quit the rush when half-way up, +had turned eastward and sought a foot-path down the mountain-side, had +found it guarded, like the rest, by a gang that yelled savage welcome +at sight of him. Then, too late, he had turned again, had managed to +run some fifty yards along the jagged slope, when a shot from a +well-aimed rifle laid him low. With a leg broken just above the knee, +poor Shiner went down, and without so much as a word, with only one +glance into each other's eyes, Long Nolan and Geordie swooped down to +the rescue. + +Breasting the hill fifty yards below him came the heaving throng of +rioters, few of them, luckily, with fire-arms, but all bent on +vengeance. Darting downhill to Shiner came the old and the new of the +regiment he had known for years and swore by to the end--Nolan, its +oldest sergeant when discharged; Graham, its youngest subaltern when so +recently commissioned. But, old and new, they were one in purpose and +in spirit. The trained muscles, the lithe young limbs of the new bore +him bounding down the slope in half the time it took the elder. Shiner +lay facing the coming throng, grim hate in his eyes and revolver in +hand. In the fury of yells that arose he never heard the shout of +encouragement from above. Geordie was bending over him, had seized him +by the arm, was slinging him on his broad young back before ever Shiner +saw the face of his rescuer, and Geordie, with his helpless burden, was +stumbling up the height again before Nolan could join and aid him. + +By that time the peering guardians of the office had caught sight of +the cause of the pandemonium of howls and curses from below, and the +onward rush was stayed by the sound of shots from the hill and bullets +whistling overhead. Yet only for a moment. Bullets sent downhill almost +always fly high, and finding this to be so the mob took courage and +came on again, those who had guns or revolvers shooting frantically up +the slope, splintering rocks and spattering dirt as they bit at the +heels of the rescuers. It was a desperate, do or die, neck or nothing, +bit of daring and devotion--Nolan's third and Geordie's first +experience in just such a feat. But the blood of the Graemes was up, +and the younger soldier was not to be outdone by the old. The guards at +the office burst into a cheer as the two came staggering up to the +level, with poor Shiner groaning between them, and then quick work and +hot was needed, for the mob came fierce on their trail. + +"There's more Winchesters there in the gun-rack," shouted Cawker, as +Shiner was laid on a bunk in a back room. "They'll be all round us here +in a minute." + +"Aim low and pick out the leaders, d'ye hear?" panted Nolan. "Don't let +'em get within reach of the buildings, whatever you do. They'll burn +'em over our heads. Let me have your loop-hole, _you_!" he ordered a +young fellow, whose lips were blue with excitement and dread. "Go sit +by Shiner and give him water till I spoil a few of these voters." And +the presence of the veteran, the confident ring of his voice, seemed to +lend instant courage to the defence. + +And courage, cool courage and grit, were needed, for the situation was +difficult, if not, indeed, desperate. With any skilled leader to direct +the mob, the refuge sought by the defence would already have been +ruined. The office building, made of hewn logs laid horizontally and +with possible view of defence, had been placed at the brow of the slope +on one side and near the mouth of the mine on the other. Later, +however, rude structures of unplaned pine sprung up--compressor-plant, +blacksmith-shop, and the like--about it, no one of them strong enough +to serve as a fort, and all of them a menace now because they screened +the approaches on two sides and could be fired in a dozen places. + +And now that Graham and Nolan were here to aid, this defect was noticed +at once. + +"This won't do at all, Mr. Cawker," said Graham, as he sprung the lever +of a new Winchester and glanced into the chamber. "We'll be surrounded +and burned out of here in ten minutes. We've got to occupy those +others, too." + +Cawker stared at the "young feller" with angering eyes. A moment agone +and he was praising his daring, but that astonishing tone of authority +nettled him. What business had a railway fireman telling him, a mine +manager, what to do in case of a row? + +"_You_ get to a loop-hole and 'tend to that," snapped he. "I'll 'tend +to my business," and he turned to Long Nolan, just heaving up from a +peep-hole, for support and approval. Nolan he knew for a soldier of +old. He had learned to respect him quite as much as he jealously +feared, and Nolan's answer took him utterly aback: + +"You do as he tells you and do it quick. He knows his business better'n +ever you'll begin to know yours." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A NIGHT ON GUARD + + +Two minutes more, with eight men to back him, George Graham was +knocking or sawing out holes in the blacksmith-shop, and presently a +man with a reliable Winchester was crouched by each opening watching +the next move of the foe. The shop was perched at the edge of a +flat-topped "dump", commanding the rocky slopes to the roadway on one +side, the hill on the other. It was exposed to shots from below, yet +the hardest to reach by direct assault. In the larger building a bit +farther back, the compressor-house, Cawker and four others were +stationed, guarding the approach from the north. The manager had taken +Nolan's broad hint, and the subsequent orders, with one long look of +amaze, then with the light of comprehension in his eyes and the +silence of consent on his lips. Did he not know that the main charge +against Nolan had been loyalty to his old comrades rather than his new +employers? Did he not know, or at least more than suspect, that the +company was trying to "freeze out" the distant holders? Did he not +know, down in his heart, that it was out and out robbery? And now, in +spite of youth and disguise, the manager saw in this masterful stranger +one of the very elements the owners had sought to keep at a distance +and in ignorance of true conditions. So far from resenting, he now +thanked God for his coming. What else could explain Nolan's +deference--Nolan, the most independent and self-respecting man at the +mines? What else could it mean but that this youth was one of his +officers--men skilled and schooled in warfare if not in mining--men +taught to face danger with stout heart and stubborn front? All in the +space of a few seconds the truth had flashed upon Cawker. It might not +be just what the owners would want, thought he, but it's almighty good +for us all. + +Nolan, with a handful of men, still clung to the stoutest of the +buildings. It stood without the entrance to the ravine in which had +been discovered the outcropping that started the fame of Silver Shield. +In this, also, stood two other buildings, but these were so far from +the outer shop that flames need not be feared. Nolan was to care for +the wounded and guard the outward approach, and all three were in close +support of each other. Whoever managed to rush that little group of +buildings would know, if he lived, that he had been through a fight. + +And now it was after six of the long summer day. The rioters had +received a wholesome lesson in the volley that met their first attempt +to swarm up from the south. They had gone tumbling and cursing back to +shelter, with three men wounded and many of the others badly scared, +and now were being harangued by their vociferous leader, and hundreds +had come to hear. Graham turned to the young Slav who had borne the +first news to Nolan. "Creep out there as far as you can," he ordered, +"listen to what is said, and tell me. They cannot reach you." But the +frightened lad crouched and whimpered. He _dared_ not. + +"Come on, then," answered Geordie, grasping the stout collar of the +hickory shirt, and come he had to, moaning and imploring. With revolver +in his right hand, his unwilling interpreter in the left, Geordie +scrambled down to the roadway, and then, coming in view of the gang, +crouched with his prisoner behind sheltering bowlders, regardless of +the shots which began to hiss from below. The speaker was still +shouting; his words were easily heard. Yells of approval and savage +delight punctuated every other sentence. "What was that?" demanded +Geordie, as the applause became furious. + +"He say they make circle--all sides, uphill, sidehill, downhill. They +all together run in when he give the word." + +"He fights like a Cheyenne," grinned the young commander. "How soon do +they begin?" + +"Right off; now! They come from _all_ round!" was the almost agonized +cry. + +"Then I won't have to lug you back. You can go!" + +And like a frightened hare the young foreigner darted away, dodging and +diving up the slope, only to fall exhausted at the top, and then to +creep on all-fours to the shelter of the office. Already some of the +armed rioters had managed to climb far up the hill-side and from behind +rock or ledge to open fire on the platform. The range was full three +hundred yards, their aim was poor, and the bullets flew wild, but the +effect on this poor lad was all they could ask. He collapsed at the +opening door. + +Leisurely, yet cautiously, Geordie climbed in his tracks--went first to +the office to give warning to Nolan, then round to the compressor to +instruct the little guard. Cawker poked a head from a window and looked +anxiously toward the gaping mouth of the ravine. The darkness of night +was already settling in its gloomy depths. The homely shed looked black +and forbidding. Aloft on each side were precipitous slopes affording +but slight foothold. Little likelihood was there of rioters sliding +down to attack them, but, suppose they pried loose, or blasted out, +some of those huge rocks up the mountain and sent them rolling, +bounding, crashing down? What might _then_ happen? + +A bullet tearing through the shingling, ten feet above Cawker's +protruding head, made him jerk it in, like a turtle, but presently it +reappeared at the window. + +"It's the dynamite I'm thinking of," said he. "A rock lighting on that +now--" + +"Where is it?" interrupted Graham. + +"In that first shed yonder--a dozen boxes." + +"Bring two men and come along," was the quick order, and it was no time +now for reluctance, resentment, much less refusal. The two men summoned +shrank back and would not come, but Cawker found two who dared to +follow. It was a case of "duck and run" for all. + +"Watch the hill-side above!" shouted Graham, in tones that rang through +every building and reached every ear. "Shoot down every man that tries +to heave rocks into the ravine, or fire at us. We're going to move +that dynamite." + +Once within the shelter of the gorge, with comrades carefully sighting +the slopes, Geordie felt the danger would not be very great. A swift +rush carried all four over the open space of twenty yards. Three or +four shots came zipping from aloft, but the instant ring of Winchesters +back of them told that watchful eyes had noted every head that +appeared, and the swift crackle of fire from the shop put instant stop +to the fun up the slope. Into the store-room the manager led them, and +unlocked a heavy little trap-door within; then, one by one, the +ominous-looking cases were dragged forth, hoisted, and swiftly borne to +the mouth of the mine. Three tunnels there seemed to be, as Geordie +hurriedly noted, but into the largest and lowermost they shouldered +their perilous burden and carefully, cautiously, stacked the boxes well +inside; went back, and searched out, and followed with all the fuse and +powder stored at the top. Then, with rock and ore and barrels of earth, +they built a stout barrier in front of the tunnel, blocking it from +without, and the sun was down and night was upon them when they +stumbled back to their posts. + +For now still a weightier problem remained to them--how to defend those +works in the dark. + +In all, Geordie Graham found they had just twenty men on whom he could +count. The trembling young Slav at the blacksmith-shop, the blue-lipped +boy in the office, and sorely wounded old Shiner were out of the fight. +But Cawker's mine-guards were native born, or Irish, and most of the +reinforcements that came with Nolan and himself were Americans, and all +were good men and true. By day they could see and shoot at any man or +men who sought to approach them with hostile intent. By night they +could see nothing. There was only one way, said Graham, to prevent the +more daring among the rioters crawling in on them and firing some of +the shops, and that was to throw out strong pickets on every side, then +trust to their ears, their grit, and their guns. + +Already he had been selecting good positions in which to post his +sentries. Ten at least, full half his force, would be needed, and while +vigilant watch was kept through the twilight, and a warning shot sent +at every hat that showed within dangerous range, Geordie went from +building to building picking out his men. + +Arms, ammunition, and provisions, fortunately, they had in abundance. +The company had long since seen to that. Nolan already had set "Blue +Lips" to work building a fire in the big kitchen stove at the office +and setting the kettle to boil. Coffee, hard bread, and bacon, with +canned pork and beans, were served to all hands, about five at a time, +and then, with Nolan to station the watchers on the south and west +fronts, George and his five stole out on the northward slope, alert, +cautious, and silent, moving only a few paces at a time. + +Afar down in the depths of the valley the clustered lights of the +excited town shone brilliantly through the gloaming. Every now and then +through the surrounding silence came the bark of dogs, the shrill +voices of clamoring women, and occasionally a burst of howls and yells. +Some rude orator was still preaching death and destruction to a more +than half-drunken gang, urging them on to the aid of their brethren up +the levels above. All about the Silver Shield, however, was ominously +still. Over on opposite heights and down in stray gulches could be seen +the flitting lights of rival establishments, and away to the west, +around the base of the mountain where the railway squirmed by the side +of the tortuous stream, two or three locomotive-engines, on stalled +trains, had been whistling long and hard for aid. All that was useless. +Above for a mile, below for a league, the track had been torn up in +places, and down along Silver Run, toward Hatch's Cove and the +foot-hills, culverts and cuts had been mined and blown out for five +miles more. No sheriff's posses from below, no hated Pinkertons, no +despised militia, no dreaded regulars, should come to the aid of Silver +Shield till there was nothing left worth saving. + +And up here on the northward flank of the bold, rounded heights that +overhung the town, and harbored now both besieged and besiegers, +invisible to each other and to the lower world in the darkness, Geordie +Graham lay crouching behind a little bowlder, every sense on edge, for +to his left front, a little higher up, he could distinctly hear low, +gruff voices, confused murmurings and movements, sounds that told him +that, relying on their overwhelming numbers, the mob was coming slowly, +surely, down to carry out their threat to fire the buildings and to +finish as they pleased the wretched defenders. + +It was barely nine o'clock. Below him, perhaps twenty yards downhill, +was his nearest sentry. Above him, and a little retired, was another, a +silent young German-American who had been at the head of the men +working tunnel Number Two. Beyond him still, and thrown back toward the +head of the ravine, was one of Cawker's guard, a sharp-eyed, +sharp-witted chap who had seemed at first to chafe at Graham's hints +and orders, yet had acted on them. And on these two, so far as sound +could enable him to judge, all ignorant of their presence and purpose, +this uncouth mass of men was bearing down. Winchester in hand and, as +he himself said later, his heart in his mouth, Geordie stole swiftly +uphill to the post of the German and found him kneeling and all aquiver +with excitement. He, too, had just heard. + +"Don't fire till I do," said Graham. "I'll be right out where you can +hear me challenge." A few steps higher he climbed, and then called low +and clear: + +"D'you hear them coming, guard? Can you see anything?" + +And the answer came in the drawl of the Southland: + +"Hyuh 'em plain 'nuff, but they don't show a light yet. Reckon they +don't mean tuh." + +"We'll give them the fill of our magazines if they don't halt at the +word. Wait till I let drive, then let them have it!" + +And so, crouching low, straightforward along the slope he sped, till, +perhaps twenty yards out, the black bulk of the mountain-side loomed +between him and the westward heaven, while against the stars of the +northern horizon he could dimly determine, heaving steadily toward him, +not fifty paces away, some huge, murmuring, moving mass. And then there +rang out on the silence of the night, clear, stern, and commanding, a +voice the like of which their ears had never heard, in words that even +they could not fail to comprehend: + +"Halt where you are--or we fire!" + +There was an instant of recoil and confusion and fear. Then furious +tones from far back in the throng and guttural shoutings that seemed +urging them on, for, presently, on they came, but in the silence and +dread of death. + +Back went the lever of Graham's Winchester; slap went the bolt to its +seat, with the shining cartridge ahead of it; up came the butt to the +shoulder; and then, once more, that deep, virile voice rang along the +heights and went echoing away across the gorge. Back at the mine +Nolan's heart leaped at the sound of it. Away down in the village they +heard it and shrank, for the next instant set them all shrieking; for +the lightning flashed and the rifles barked loud and swift, and strong +men howled and turned and fled, anywhere out of the way, and some fell +headlong, screaming and cursing, in the rush and panic that spread from +one stern and sudden word--the soldier command: "Fire!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN OF THE SIEGE + + +Down in the valley that night there was commotion and uproar for hours, +but there was quiet at Silver Shield. One after another furious +speeches were made in foreign tongues, speeches in which the murderous +occupants of the mine buildings were doomed to an eternity of torment, +and the would-be murderous element among the miners was lauded to the +skies and urged to further effort. + +But the astonishing repulse, the fact that they had been met in the +open as well as in the dark, and that a swift and sudden fire had been +poured into their very midst, had shattered the nerve of men already +shaken, although it later turned out that only three of their number +had really been shot (two of them in the back), and that twoscore had +been trampled and torn by their own people, while some thirty or more +were missing, "left dead on the hill," said their fellows, in the mad +rush for safety that followed the first flash. That sharp, stern order +and the instant response had started the rumor that soldiers, regulars, +had come up from the fort. It was pointed out that while the +Transcontinental was blocked down the Run, no one had thought to +cripple the Narrow Gauge over in the valley beyond. The road was open +to Miners' Joy, the road by which young Breifogle had made his escape, +and by this roundabout route had succor reached the besieged garrison. + +All that liquor and eloquence could do was tried on the raging townsmen +that night, but not until broad daylight could they be induced to make +another trial, and by that time few were able to keep their feet on the +level. + +Less than half a dozen shots from each of five Winchesters had been +enough, combined with darkness, to utterly rout the mass of rioters. +Mindful of the lesson well learned at the Point--to instantly follow a +staggering blow--Graham had sprung from his cover, called to his +fellows to "come on," and so, shouting and shooting at the very heels +of the panic, had not only chased them in headlong flight, but, +returning, had picked up half a dozen terrified prisoners and herded +them back to Nolan for such reassurance and comfort as that grim old +trooper saw fit to administer. When morning broke the depths of the +valley were still shrouded in mist and gloom. Up on the heights the +brilliant hues of the dawn shone far and wide on rocky peak and +pinnacle and, above the wooden tower of the office building, on the +fluttering folds of an American flag. + +That was a grewsome day on Lance Creek. Four of the mines, temporarily +bereft of hands, had fired up and gone to work with such force as they +had, and declined to take back the men who had quit. The managers, +superintendents, bosses, and owners held council together and started +out with what they termed a relief expedition to rescue the garrison of +Silver Shield. They were seen as they came solemnly marching uphill, +waving a white flag by way of assurance, and were met on the roadway +by Nolan and Geordie. Cawker was taking a much-needed nap. + +"Are you all safe?" was the eager question from below. + +"Safe from what?" asked Nolan, from above. + +"Why, the mob, the rioters. Didn't they try to clean you out last +night?" + +"Did they?" asked Nolan turning to his silent young friend the fireman. +"Was that what those fellows were thinking of that you chased off the +hill? Why, maybe it was! But here, what we came down to find out was +about Shiner's boy. How's he?" + +Then the rescuers looked at one another in some bewilderment. The +leaders were friends of Cawker. They hardly knew Nolan. They did not +know his companion the fireman. + +"D'you mean to tell us you've had no trouble up there?" was the eager +demand. + +"Why, lots of it, four days ago--'t least _I_ had," answered Nolan, +grimly, "but nothin' worth mention last night." + +"Why, man," cried the manager of the White Eagle, "there were a +thousand riotous Bohemians and Dagoes, and Lord knows what all, went up +there last night to burn those buildings over your heads and you with +'em." + +"Why, cert'nly," said Nolan, with preternatural gravity and a wink at +his comrade, who was doing his utmost to keep a straight face. "It must +have been some of those fellows _you_ blew in about ten o'clock. But +say," he broke off, as though this matter bored him, "what we want to +know is about Shiner's boy. They didn't seem to have time to talk." + +By which time it dawned upon the officials present that Nolan was +having fun with them, and though the spokesmen were nettled, many +others, with genuine American sense of humor, felt that he couldn't be +blamed. + +"Your name is Nolan, I think," said a man from the Denver. "We've heard +of you. Shiner's boy is better, though still weak. You mustn't feel we +left you to shift for yourselves up there. Our men were all out, and +we didn't know how soon they'd be swooping on us. 'Twasn't until last +night it was generally known that you were back, and that you and your +friends were what saved Cawker and the Silver Shield yesterday. How's +_he_?" + +"Cawker? Oh, Cawker's probably about got dinner ready for you gentlemen +by this time. If you are sure about Shiner we won't go down." + +"Go down? Why, Nolan, they'd murder you!" + +But there came a sudden shot, and then a shout, from somewhere uphill. +On the edge of the dump a man was eagerly waving his hat, pointing away +to the northeast along the massive slope of the mountain. + +"Well, Mr. Fireman," said Nolan, "I guess we'll have to go back. But +you are sure about Shiner, are you?"--this again to the visitors, as he +persisted in calling them. "Well, come right along up and see the old +man himself. Dinner ought to be ready now." + +But, once back at the buildings, Nolan left to Cawker and his guard +the pleasure of receiving the crowd from across the creek. He and +Geordie were needed at once at the lookout on top of the office, the +little tower above which fluttered the flag. Down on the platform +anxious faces were upturned, for the sentry had seen a countless throng +of men, so he said, coming over from Miners' Joy. To Cawker and his +fellows it meant but one thing: The miners in the northward valley, +more numerous than these along Lance Creek, reinforced, probably, by a +swarm of the idlers from Hatch's Cove, were coming to the aid of their +friends and fellow-countrymen in the strike at Silver Shield. + +For two miles out the road from the village meandered up a winding +ravine, then went twisting and turning along the eastward face of the +mountain until it dipped out of sight over the massive divide. Down in +the depths of the gorge little dots of men could be seen hurrying away +up the trail as though going to meet the coming concourse. Away out +along the mountain-side not to exceed three or four vehicles and a +scant dozen of horsemen could dimly be made out, crawling slowly +southward, coming gingerly towards them. Where, then, was the +"countless throng"? + +"They were in sight on yonder ridge," said the lookout, "not ten +minutes ago. They must be hiding in the hollows, waiting for the others +to catch up," whereupon Nolan, looking daggers, had called him a +scarehead, and Geordie shouted for Cawker's glass. It was sent up the +stairway in less than a minute and focussed on Porphyry Point, a +massive buttress overhanging the farther valley. For long seconds +Geordie steadied the binocular against the staff and peered silently +through. At last he said: "Some riders and two or three livery-rigs are +coming, but I see no men afoot." Then, turning over his shoulder to +Cawker, standing in the midst of his friends and fellow-managers, and +looking eagerly aloft, he called: "Better have dinner now, if it's +ready. It will take 'em an hour to get here." + +"Who is that young fellow, anyhow?" asked Townsend, of the Vanguard +Mine, and the ears of a score of men awaited the answer. + +"That young feller," said Cawker, in low tone, and impressively, "was a +stranger to every one here, except old Nolan and Shiner, just +twenty-four hours ago. Now there ain't one of 'em but swears by him. I +don't know him from Adam, and Nolan won't tell, but, gentlemen--that +young feller's a dandy!" + +And this of a youth in grimy cap, flannels, and overalls, with a pair +of smouched soldier gauntlets hiding the white of his hands, and a +coating of coal-dust and smudge hiding all but the clear, healthy white +of his eyes! + +But an hour later came at least partial enlightenment. Picking their +way, afoot and a few in saddle, welcomed by shouts from the lately +besieged, and escorted by a deputation sent forward to meet them, there +began to arrive certain citizens well known to the neighborhood by name +and reputation. + +There was the sheriff of Yampah, with a small squad of deputies. There +was the mayor of Argenta, a director in the mines, and with him, +puffing prodigiously and slowly up the ramp from the wagon-road, two +brother directors away out from Denver. There were certain prominent +citizens of Argenta and Hatch's Cove. There were certain railway men, +with men and tools at their back and no time to waste. There were two +men in civilian dress whom many a man of Silver Run knew for soldiers +at once, for as such had they known them before--Captain Lee and +Quartermaster McCrea of the old --th Cavalry--and there had been a +remarkable meeting and hand-shaking between them and Nolan, and a +whispered confabulation, at the end of which the two dove into the +office building where Shiner still lay, comforted by better news of his +boy, by good surgical aid, and by a skilful and competent nurse who, +for more than one reason, preferred to keep out of sight for the time +being. There had been a face-to-face meeting between sergeant and +sheriff when Nolan came forth from a rapturous scene at old Shiner's +bedside. But this time the sheriff looked sheepish, and there was no +talk of arrest. Young Breifogle, it seems, would not die of his +wounds. One of the culprits had "split" and the real assailants were +known. + +And there had been a fine shower of congratulation on Cawker for his +heroic defence and determined stand against tremendous odds, and the +three magnates present of Silver Shield had begun with much unction to +talk of reward and appreciation, and very probably Cawker felt both +heroic and deserving, and quite ready to accept all credit and pay, but +there were too many witnesses, too many wise men, too many suggestive +smiles and snickers and audible remarks, and Cawker had sense to see +and then to rise manfully to the occasion. + +"We did the best we knew how, gentlemen," said he, "but I am bound to +say Silver Shield would have been in ruins this minute, and most of us +dead, if it hadn't been for Nolan--the man you ordered thrown out." + +There was a silence almost dramatic for a moment. + +"Who ordered him thrown out?" asked Mr. Stoner, of Denver. + +"The directors, sir, unless young Mr. Breifogle lied. These men are my +witnesses." + +And the answer came straightway. + +"No such orders were given by the board. If Mr. Breifogle gave them, +they were his alone." + +Whereupon a shout went up that shook the roof. But the end was not yet. +Nolan was dragged forward to be grasped by the hand and smothered with +congratulations, and old Nolan, in turn, would have none of it. A dozen +men had seized Geordie Graham, even as his classmates and comrades had +chaired him a few weeks back at the Point, and black, grimy, and +protesting, he was heaved forward and deposited in front of the +astonished trio. But the shout that went up from all sides was +significant. Lee and McCrea were shouting, too. + +"More heroes?" asked Mr. Stoner, wide-eyed and uncomprehending. +"Well--er, Nolan, they told us on the way over that there must be a +hundred soldiers here." + +"That's about right, sir," grinned Nolan; then, reaching forth, he laid +a hand lightly on Graham's broad shoulder, "and here stands--most of +'em." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AWAY ON THE WARPATH + + +And all these chapters it has taken to tell how it came about that +Second Lieutenant George Montrose Graham was quite a celebrity in the +--th Cavalry before ever he reported for duty with his troop. Several +weeks the Silver Shield Mining Company spent in a squabble among +themselves that ended in the smothering of "the Breifogle interest," +and came near to sending "the Boss of Argenta" to jail. Several days +elapsed before Captain Lee and Lieutenants McCrea and Graham felt it +entirely prudent to leave, but when they did it was with the assurance +that stockholders who had endured to the end, as had Graham, Lee, and +McCrea, were now to reap the reward of their tenacity. + +It is a recorded fact that, within three weeks after the departure of +McCrea and Geordie from West Point for the West, there came an offer to +Dr. Graham of something like six times the cost price of his shares, +and the offer was declined, with thanks. + +It is a recorded fact that Silver Shield was reorganized within the +summer, to the end that the controlling interest passed from Colorado +to Chicago. + +It is a recorded fact that, from afar out in the Rockies, there came to +Lieutenant Colonel Hazzard, Commandant of Cadets, a "wire" that puzzled +him not a little until he laid it before his clear-headed wife, who +gave him a delighted kiss and scurried away to show it to Mrs. Graham. +It read: + + "You win. I lose; and, losing, am a heavy winner." + +For Bonner had supplied the money that paid for much of that costly +plant, most of which would have gone up in smoke and down in ruin could +the mob have had its way. Bonner himself had rushed out to Denver at +news of the trouble. Bonner sent for Cawker and Nolan, and others of +the employés, and learned for himself how things had been going, and +was not too civil to Stoner and his Denver colleagues. Bonner, a +director in the Transcontinental, heard from Anthony and Cullin all +about the young fireman they spirited up to the mines, and the elder +Breifogle had to hear how that young fireman cared for the battered son +and heir, after his "beating up" at the fists and feet of the rioters, +and if Breifogle bore no love for the Grahams, he at least loved his +own. + +It is a recorded fact that old Shiner got well of his wound after many +long weeks, and his brave boy in much shorter time, and that both were +handsomely rewarded. Cawker came in for a good thing by way of a raise, +but it was Long Nolan whom Bonner and the magnates set on a +pinnacle--Long Nolan, and, as Nolan would have it, Nolan's young +commander. + +It is a matter of record that when Captain Lee went back to the +regiment he congratulated Lane, for one thing, on having held on to his +stocks--almost the only one at Reno who did--and, for another, on +having such a youngster for second lieutenant. "He has won his spurs," +said Lee, "before ever he donned his uniform." And there was rejoicing +in the regiment over Lee's description of events, for five of the +younger officers, graduated within three years, knew "Pops" in his +cadet days and remembered him well; and all of the old officers who had +served at Camp Sandy and at Fort Reynolds knew him in babyhood, or +boyhood, or both. So did most of the veteran troopers. + +And it is a matter of record that, on the eastward way again, both +McCrea and Geordie dined with Mr. Bonner at the Chicago Club, and the +new major-general commanding the military division graciously accepted +Bonner's bid to be one of the dinner-party, and took Geordie aside +after coffee had been served, noting that the silent young fellow +neither smoked nor touched his wine, and asked him a few questions +about the Point and many about the mines, and at parting the general +was so good as to express the wish that when Geordie came out to join +in September he would stop and see him, all of which was very +flattering to a young fellow just out of cadet gray, and Geordie, as in +duty bound, said that he certainly would, little dreaming how soon--how +very soon--he and the old regiment would be riding hard under the lead +of that hard-riding leader, and facing a foe led by warriors true and +tried--a foe any ten of whom could have made mince-meat of ten times +their number of such foemen as Graham had met at the mines. + +How could they, the brave young class, have dreamed, that exquisite +June day of their graduation, that within six months some of their +number were destined to do desperate battle with a desperate band of +the braves of the allied Sioux in the Bad Lands of South Dakota? + +For it is also a matter of record that Lieutenant and Quartermaster +McCrea made application, as he had promised, for six months' leave of +absence, with permission to go beyond sea, and with every intention of +spending most of the winter in sunny Italy. But he spent it in saddle +and snowdrift, in scout and skirmish, and in at least one sharp, +stinging, never-to-be-forgotten battle with the combined bands of the +Sioux, and came within an ace of losing his life as well as his leave, +for many a brave soldier and savage warrior fell in that bitter +fight--Geordie Graham's maiden battle. Little wonder he hopes he may +never see another like it. + +And it all came about as such affairs have so often occurred in the +past. Unheeded warnings, unnoted threats, unpunished outbreaks, that +experienced soldiers about the reservation could readily understand, +and foretell what was coming, and make their own individual +preparations for the inevitable. But nothing they could report to +superiors would shake the serene confidence of the Department of the +Interior in the pacific purposes of its red children, the wards of the +nation. All along in the summer and the early autumn the "ghost-dance" +had been spreading from tribe to tribe, the war drum had been thumping +in the villages, the Indian messiah, a transparent fraud, as all might +see, wandered unrebuked from band to band--half a dozen messiahs, in +fact--and along in September, instead of Geordie Graham's best-loved +chum and classmate, Connell, of the Engineers, there came to the Point +a letter from that young officer, that Graham received with rejoicing, +read with troubled eyes, and for the first time in his life kept from +his mother. There came a time, later still, when there were many +letters to be kept from her, but those sorrowful days were not as yet. +This letter, however, he could not bring himself to show her, for it +told of things she had been dreading to hear ever since the papers +began telling of the ghost-dancing on the plains. It read: + + "PECATONICA, WISCONSIN, _September 5th._ + + "DEAR POPS,--I fully intended to be with you to spend a week as + promised, before joining at Willett's Point, but you are more + likely to be spending that week with me. I am just back from a + run to the Black Hills with father. He has some property about + Deadwood. Returning, I stopped two days at Fort Niobrara, as + the guest of 'Sampson' Stone, whose troop is stationed there, + and I tell you it was interesting. He took me up to the + reservation, and I had my first look at the Sioux on their + native heath, and saw for myself how peaceful they are. + Everybody at the agency is scared stiff. Every officer at the + fort, from the colonel down, is convinced that war is coming. + The governor of Nebraska has been up looking after the settlers + and ranch folk and warning them away. General Miles has an + officer there watching the situation. From him I heard that + your regiment is to be sent to the field at once to march + northward; that other troops are warned, and I suppose you'll + be joining somewhere on the way. But the row, when it comes, + will break out north of the Niobrara, and the --th may not get + there in time. + + "Stone says if you want a taste of the real thing, to apply for + orders to report for duty to the commanding officer at Fort + Niobrara until the arrival of your regiment. I have begged the + Chief of Engineers to let me have a few weeks in the field with + General Miles, and am assured that the general will apply for + me. Not that I can be of any value as Engineer Officer, but + just to get the experience, and perhaps see what we've been + reading of a dozen years--a real Indian campaign. Now, old man, + you know that country. You were there as a boy. _You_ could be + of use. Why not ask for orders at once? Then we can push out + via Sioux City together. I know how the mother will protest, + especially since she was robbed of three precious weeks in + July; but, isn't it the chance of a lifetime? Isn't this what + we are for, after all? Wire decision. Yours as ever, + + "CONNELL." + +"Good old Badger," murmured Geordie. "He always was right." Then that +letter went to an inner pocket, and for the first time in his life, +with something to conceal from her, George Graham turned to his mother. + +It was a beautiful September evening. The gray-and-white battalion had +just formed for parade. The throng of spectators lined the roadway in +front of the superintendent's quarters, and with that proud mother +clinging as usual to his arm, with that ominous letter in the breast of +his sack-coat, so close that her hand by a mere turn of the wrist could +touch it, George Graham stood silently beside her as she chatted +happily with Mrs. Hazzard. Not ten feet distant, leaning on a cane, was +an officer lamed for life and permanently retired from service because +of a desperate wound received in savage warfare. With him, eagerly +talking, was a regimental comrade who had survived the bloody day on +the Little Big Horn, and he was telling of things he had seen and men +whom he had met, men whose names were famous among the Sioux and were +now on the lips of the nation at large. Foremost of these was the +old-time enemy of every white man, long the leader of the most powerful +band that ever disputed the dominion of the West, Tatanka +Iyotanka--Sitting Bull. + +Not fifty miles from Standing Rock Agency, surrounded by devoted +followers, dwelling in Indian ease and comfort, but rejoicing in new +opportunities for evil, Sitting Bull, said the spokesman, was holding +frequent powwows with the ghost-dancers, urging, exciting, encouraging +all, and still the Indian Bureau would not--and the army, therefore, +could not--interfere. Everywhere from the Yellowstone to the confines +of Nebraska the young braves of the allied bands were swarming forth +and holding their fierce and ominous rites, and the autumn air of the +Dakotas rang with the death song and war-whoop. The blood craze was +upon them and would not down. The messiah had appeared to chief after +chief, warning him the time had come to rise and sweep the white +invaders from the face of the earth, promising as reward long years of +plenty and prosperity, the return of the vanished buffalo, the +resurrection of their famous dead, a savage millennium the thought of +which was more than enough to array the warriors for battle. "It's +coming; it's _bound_ to come!" said the captain, in his decisive way, +"and if old Bull isn't choked off speedily we'll have work for a dozen +regiments as well as ours." + +Graham listened, fascinated, yet praying his mother might not hear. +Secure in the possession of her stalwart son, full of joy in their +present and pride in his past, she chatted merrily on. Mrs. Frazier, +too, had joined them, another woman who had reason to rejoice in +Geordie's prowess at Silver Shield. They were so blithely, busily, +engaged that he presently managed to slip unobserved away and join the +little group about the speaker. Colonel Hazzard, too, was there and +held forth a cordial hand to the new-comer. Geordie's father never +betrayed half the pride in him that the colonel frankly owned to. + +"This must interest you not a little," said he. + +"More than I can tell you, sir," was the quick answer. "More than I +dare let mother know! But I have come for advice. I've a letter from +Mr. Connell. Read it, sir, and tell me how to go about it. Before +mother can get wind of it, I want orders to report at Niobrara." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A SCOUT FOR THE SIOUX + + +The dawn of an autumn day was breaking over a barren and desolate +landscape. The mist was rising from the silent pools of the narrow +stream that alternately lay in lazy reaches and sped leaping and +laughing in swift rapid over pebbly bed--the Mini Chaduza of the Sioux. +The sun was still far below the eastward horizon, but the clouds were +gorgeous with his livery of red and gold, and the stars had shrunk from +sight before the ardor of his beams. The level "bench" through which +the stream meandered, the billowing slopes to the north and south, were +bare of foliage and uninviting to the eye, yet keen and wary eyes were +scanning their bald expanse, studying every crest and curve and ridge +in search of moving objects. Only at the very brink of the flowing +waters, and only in far-scattered places along the stream, little +clumps of cottonwood-trees gave proof that nature had not left the +valley utterly without shade and refuge when the summer's sun beamed +hotly down upon the lower lands of the Dakotas. And now only among +these scattered oases could even practised eyes catch any sign of life. + +Here and there under the banks and shielded from outer view, near-by +watchers might discover little, dull-red patches glowing dimly in the +semi-darkness. Here and there among the timber and along the brink +little groups of dark objects, shifting slowly about, betrayed the +presence of animal life, and afar out upon the prairie slopes tiny +black spots on every side, perhaps a dozen in all, told the +plains-practised eye that here was a cavalry bivouac--a little detached +force of Uncle Sam's blue-shirted troopers, thrown out from the shelter +of fort or garrison, and lurking for some purpose in the heart of the +Indian country. + +For Indians there were by scores right here at the old antelope +crossing only the night before. The sands of the ford were still +trampled by myriad hoofs of ponies and streaked by the dragging poles +of the travois. The torn earth on the northward rise out of the stream +was still wet and muddy from the drip of shaggy breast and barrel of +their nimble mounts. No need to call up Iron Shield or Baptiste or +young Touch-the-Skies, Sioux scouts from the agency, to interpret the +signs and point the way. The major commanding and all his officers and +most of his men could read the indications as well as the half-breeds, +natives to the soil. A big band of young warriors, with a few elders, +had yielded to the eloquence of the messengers of Sitting Bull and were +out for mischief. They had been missing from the agencies several +weeks; had been ghost-dancing with their fellows from Pine Ridge to the +west, and were by this time probably on their way to swell the ranks +and stiffen the back of that big chief of the Minniconjou Sioux--"Big +Foot," as known to the whites, Si Tanka, as known to the Indian +Bureau, and "Spotted Elk," so said Iron Shield, the scout, as known to +the Sioux themselves. + +A famous character was Si Tanka. Next to Sitting Bull, now that Gall +was out of the way, dying of illness and old age, Si Tanka had more +influence than any chief afield, and he longed to be acknowledged head +of the allied Sioux. He had been to Washington, had been photographed +side by side with Mr. Blaine on the steps of the Capitol; had sold to +the whites the right of way for a railway through his Cheyenne River +lands. He belonged to the Cheyenne River Agency far to the east, and +declined to live there. He had his own village up in the Cherry Creek +country, midway between the troops at Fort Meade in the Black Hills and +Fort Bennett on the Missouri. He had white man's log-cabins, wagons, +furniture, horses, hens, and chickens. He had, moreover, hundreds of +cartridges, and the means and appliances wherewith to reload his +shells, and he had, what was worse, a lively son, Black Fox, who had +more Winchesters than he knew what to do with, and an insatiable +longing to use them against the whites. + +Ever since the ghost-dancing had begun, Si Tanka stayed in the open. +Agents went forth and begged him to come in where he belonged--to the +Cheyenne Agency at the east, or to the Pine Ridge to the southwest, or +the Rosebud to the southeast, or, if his lordship preferred, he might +even go camp near Fort Meade, or surrender at Standing Rock Agency to +the northeast, but to be out in the wilds and barely one hundred miles +from Sitting Bull, also posing as a private and sovereign citizen, +accepting government support but declining government supervision--that +was something the Indian Bureau viewed with alarm, and well it might, +for if Tatanka Iyotanka (Bull Sitting Big) and Siha Tanka, Si for short +(Foot Big), should take it into their dusky heads to be allies and not +rivals, if the great Uncapapa and the big Minniconjou were to join +forces, there would be the mischief to pay all over the West. So the +Bureau sent and civilly requested. Si Tanka most uncivilly replied, +and Tatanka Iyotanka scorned to reply at all. + +What made matters bad was this, that young braves were eternally +getting crazy over the ghost-dancing and going off to join these big +chiefs. "_Akichita hemacha_" ("I am a warrior"), being all they had to +say to friends and teachers who sought to dissuade them. + +Away up at Fort Meade, in the Black Hills, were some high-mettled +fellows, cavalry and infantry, who were eagerly watching the +indications, one burly major of Horse fairly losing his temper over the +situation, and begging the powers to let him take his capital squadron, +with one or two companies of infantry, and, between his horsemen, his +"walkaheaps," and himself, sturdy "Napa Yahmni," as the Sioux had named +him, swore he'd bring Big Foot to his senses and back to the agency. +Napa yahmni meant "three fingers," that being all that were left on one +of his hands after a scrimmage with Southern sabres during the great +Civil War. Really, there was reason why something should be done, or +surely the settlers and ranch folk would be made to suffer. And with +troops there at Fort Meade, in the Hills, and over at Fort Yates, on +the Missouri, and at Fort Robinson off to the southwest, or Niobrara +here to the east, it was high time Mr. Big Foot was made to behave, and +still the government stayed its orders and held its hand. + +One cool-headed, nervy, mild-mannered young officer had taken his life +in his hands, and a half-breed interpreter in civilized clothing, +visited Si Tanka's big village and had a talk with his turbulent +braves, to the end that as many as forty decided to quit, go home and +be good, give up evil spirits, intentions, and ghost-dancing, to the +rage of Black Fox and the amaze of Napa Yahmni, but it wasn't a week +before another Messiah broke loose among the sand-hills of western +Nebraska, and braves by the dozen sped thither to hear him; and +presently both agencies had another influx of outsiders, urging revolt +and uprising, and the old men counselled vainly, and preachers and +teachers pleaded without avail. The young wards of the nation were +ripe for mischief. The day of their deliverance had come. The Messiah +was calling his chosen to the wild wastes of the Bad Lands, where they +could sing and shout and dance till they dropped, and then if they went +mad with religion, and away to the warpath, it meant woe for western +Nebraska and for the Dakotas far and near. This was the situation that +called for a scout from Fort Niobrara, and thus it happened that for +over a fortnight a little column of cavalry had been patrolling the +breaks and the valleys away to the northwest, peering into the old +haunts of the Sioux along the headwaters of the pretty streams rising +among the hills beyond the weather-beaten landmark of Eagle's Nest. +They found lodge poles a-plenty on Black Pipe Creek, and the ashes of +many a little fire along Pass Creek and Bear-in-the-Lodge, and away to +the Yellow Medicine. They circled clear round the wild worshippers, it +seems, far west as the Wounded Knee, without ever encountering one; and +yet keeping them on the move had broken up their incantations, and, as +the major believed, had worn out their obstinate determination to +stick to their medicine-men and Messiahs whether the Great White Father +would have it or not. + +For two days the column had followed, eastward now, the trail of a big +band, and just when Baptiste and Touch-the-Sky, interpreters, would +have it that the crazy chiefs and their followers had been fairly +headed off and balked of their purpose of joining Big Foot beyond the +Cheyenne, just when it seemed likely that another day would enable the +troops to overhaul them and herd them peaceably, if possible, forcibly, +if not, back to the sheltering wing of the agency and the Indian +police, lo, just at sunset, after a long day's march, a corporal had +come galloping, full cry, from the rear-guard, while the scouts were +still far out to the front: "The Indians are back of us at least six +miles, going like mad for the north!" + +Then the major commanding said things that made his pilots' ears +tingle. It was all gospel truth. Finding themselves followed and being +steadily pressed onward toward the fort and the settlements, the +astute warriors had left a goodly sized party ambling along in front, +to lead the cavalry on; had dropped away all afternoon by twos and +threes as though looking for antelope or black tail, not northward +where the valley of the upper Chaduza was open and shallow and they +could be seen for miles, but southward among the breaks and ravines +where they were hidden entirely; had reassembled on a little branch to +the southwest and then, when the column was well out of sight, had +rushed for the north and the wild country so recently left; had forded +the Chaduza and by moonrise were doubtless safely camped for the night +on the south fork of White River. All the major could do was order his +men to the right-about, march to the crossing (another weary six miles +after the thirty-six of the day), and, with drooping horses and riders, +unsaddle, cook supper, and settle for the night, then send couriers to +the post in the morning. + +And now morning had come and couriers had not yet gone, for an hour +before the first break of day--the _anpaniya_ of the Sioux--there had +come galloping from the northeast a riderless horse, at sight of whose +blood-stained saddle and stirrup hood the herd-guard woke the officer +of the pickets. The captain unrolled from his blanket, took one look by +the light of the moon, and bade the corporal find Baptiste, who needed +not to see the saddle; he knew the horse at a glance. + +"Pete Gamble's," said he. "They've begun killing!" And Pete Gamble was +a ranchman well known to them all, both Indian and white. "If they +would kill _him_," said he, "they would kill anybody." + +And as if this were not enough, barely half an hour later two men, mad +with terror, came spurring in over the northward ridge, almost +delirious with joy to find themselves in the presence of friends. Their +little hunting camp, they said, had been suddenly "jumped" early in the +night. They had managed to get out with stampeded horses, but every one +else was butchered, and the Indians were after _them_. The major +doubled his guards to the north and awaited the Indian coming. He +would not rouse his wearied men until actually assailed. + +But now it was fairly broad daylight, and not an Indian feather had +shown nor an Indian shot been heard. Slowly, sleepily, at the gruff +summons of their sergeants, the troopers were crawling out of their +blankets and stretching and yawning by the fires. No stirring +trumpet-call had roused them from their dreams. A stickler for style +and ceremony was the major in garrison, but out on Indian campaign he +was "horse sense from the ground up," as his veterans put it. He +observed all formalities when on ordinary march, and none whatever when +in chase of the Indians. + +He had let them sleep to the very last minute, well knowing he might +have stern demands to make that day. He and his adjutant had reduced +the statements of the hunters to writing, and a brief, soldierly report +was now ready to go to the general commanding the department, who had +come out to Fort Niobrara to be nearer the scene of action. The fort +lay nearly fifty miles away, south of east, the agency even farther to +the north and east, and the recalcitrant braves were heading away +through the wilds of their old reservation, and might stop only for +occasional bite, sup, or sleep until they joined forces with Big Foot +or Black Fox, full a hundred miles as the crow flies, for now were they +branded renegades in the light of the law. + +In the crisp, chill air of the late autumn morning tiny smokes from the +cook-fires sailed straight aloft, melting speedily into the blue. For +nearly half a mile along the stream horses and pack-mules were +scattered upon the "bench," browsing eagerly on the dew-laden bunch +grass. Farther out beyond them on every side, with their campaign hats +pulled down over their grim eyebrows and their heads deep in the +collars of their cavalry overcoats, the men of the guard still kept +vigilant watch. Long years of experience on the Indian frontier had +taught their leaders the need of precaution, and the sentries took +their cue from the "old hands." By a little camp-fire, booted, +spurred, slouch-hatted, like his troopers, and muffled in a light-blue +overcoat that could not be told from theirs, the major commanding was +giving brief directions to three troopers who stood silently before +him, their carbines dangling from their broad shoulder-belts, with the +reins of their chargers in hand. Wiry and gaunt were these chargers, +wiry and gaunt were the men, for those were days when neither horse nor +rider went over-weight on campaign, or came back with a superfluous +ounce. But horses and men had stripped for the day's work. Blanket, +poncho, and overcoat, saddle-bags, side lines, lariat, and +picket-pin--everything, in fact, but themselves, their arms, +cartridges, canteens, saddles, saddle-blankets, and bridles--had been +left to the pack-train. A good breakfast to start with, a few hardtack +and slices of bacon in the breast-pocket of the hunting-shirt, settled +the question of subsistence. They were to start at once, deliver those +despatches at Niobrara, unless headed off by Indians, long before set +of sun, and be back with reply before its rise on the morrow. + +Then came the question as to the fate of the poor fellows of Gamble's +and the hunters' camp. + +"Mr. Willard," said the major to his adjutant, as the couriers mounted +and rode away, "send one platoon over to Gamble's camp--it'll take 'em +all day--and another back on the trail of the teamsters, and see what +they can find of the outfit. They'll have to hunt for it themselves. +The hunters say they wouldn't go back for a million apiece." + +The adjutant was figuring in his note-book. He closed it, arose at +once, and looked about him. Officers and men, the six troops, or +companies, of the detachment seemed busy at breakfast. The aroma of +soldier coffee floated on the keen morning air, and under the gentle, +genial influence of the welcome stimulant men began to thaw out, and +presently the firesides were merry with chaff and fun. A curious and +sympathetic group, to be sure, hovered about the survivors of the +hunters' camp, listening rather doubtfully to their tales, for the +tales had taken devious turns under cross-examination. But for the +bloody trappings of Pete Gamble's horse, telling mutely of tragedy, the +hunters might have met only contempt and scoffing. Indian scares were +old as the trails. + +"Whose turn is it?" presently questioned the major, as Mr. Willard +started away. The adjutant halted and faced about: + +"'D' and 'F' troops, sir." + +"All right. One officer and twenty men from each will be enough." + +And then came striding forward, with quick, elastic steps, a young +soldier in dark-blue campaign shirt and riding-breeches, a three weeks' +stubble on his clear-cut, sun-burned face, a field-glass slung over one +shoulder, a leather-covered note-book tucked away inside his +cartridge-belt. No sign of rank was visible about his dress, yet there +could be little doubt of it. The major looked up, smiling. + +"Fast going for topographical notes yesterday, wasn't it, Mr. Connell?" + +"I'm afraid so, sir. Indeed, I'm ashamed to submit them, but I wouldn't +have missed this scout for a month's pay, all the same." + +"Well, we don't often see the engineers on this sort of duty. I'm glad +the general sent you along. What is it, captain?" he broke off, turning +to a gray-mustached, choleric-looking veteran who came suddenly upon +them, breathing rather hard. + +"Major," began the stout man, impetuously, "this makes the third time +in ten days 'F' Troop's been ordered on side scout, or some part of it. +Now we're ordered back to hunt up what's left of that wagon camp, +and--" + +"One moment, captain," interposed the commander, placidly. "You say +'we.' My orders are only one officer and twenty men." + +"Well, I have only one officer with me, and _he_ don't belong," was the +querulous rejoinder. "He's simply a volunteer with the command, and so +utterly inexperienced that I consider it necessary to go myself. I +can't trust my men to a mere boy just out of school." + +"That will do, Captain Garrett," said the major, promptly, yet with +absolutely unruffled tone and temper. "If _I_ can, _you_ may. Mr. +Graham has had more experience than you are aware of." + +"Does Mr. Graham go--in command?" asked Connell, eagerly, as Captain +Garrett, silenced, but swelling with amaze, stood helplessly by. "May +_I_ go with him, sir?" + +"By all means, Mr. Connell, if you wish." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FIRST SIGHT OF THE FOE + + +In half an hour the sun was up and two little detachments of cavalry +were up and away--one of them, under Lieutenant O'Fallon, filing out of +the cotton-woods, at the eastward verge, and heading straight on the +trail of the couriers, who were already out of sight down the valley; +the other, leaving a few minutes later, was just disappearing from view +of the watchers in the bivouac, over the low ridge or divide that +spanned the northward sky-line. Once before, five years back, Geordie +Graham had led a little cavalry command on a swift and successful chase +after a gang of frontier desperadoes who had robbed the bank at +Argenta. Now, for the first time in his life, he was both guide and +commander. Now, as they had done time and again in cadet days, Connell +and Graham, "Badger" and "Coyote," went side by side, almost hand in +hand, on the path of stirring and at last perilous duty. + +To Connell the scout had thus far been one of almost unalloyed +enjoyment and profit. Attached to the staff of the commander as +engineer and topographical officer, he had ridden at will on the flanks +of the column, a single orderly his sole attendant, a prismatic compass +his only instrument. Then with the declining hours of the day came the +making up of his notes, and after supper the hours of confab with +Geordie, who, whenever possible, would come over to headquarters +camp-fire. There was no sociability at his own. + +"It is too bad," Major Berry had confided to Connell the third day out. +"It just so happened that 'Old Grumbly' was the one captain without a +subaltern when Mr. Graham reported for duty with us, and your fine +young classmate had to take the place of one of the absentees. The +colonel couldn't help himself. Grumbly is a good soldier in his way, +Mr. Connell, and knows his trade, too. I suppose Graham has--sized him +up?" This with a cock of his head and a keen glance. + +"Shouldn't wonder, sir; but if he has, he's kept it to himself." + +"Well, if Garrett gets to bothering Graham too much, you let me know." + +"I will, sir, if Graham lets _me_ know, but--I'm mistaken in Graham if +he opens his head on the subject." + +And though the scout was now in its third week, and things had been +said and done by "Grumbly" Garrett that set other men to talking, not a +word had come from "Coyote." + +But it soon transpired that if Graham wouldn't speak of his troop +commander _pro tem._, neither did he speak to him, save when occasion +required. Day after day on the march it was noted that while the senior +lieutenant of each troop rode side by side with his captain, the young +West Pointer serving with "F" was almost always at the rear of its +column of twos, where, as it transpired, Garrett had given him orders +to march and see that the men kept closed. But no complaint came from +Graham. + +Now, however, as the two old chums rode away on a side scout of their +own, it might well be expected that "Coyote" would be less reticent. +The eyes of half the command had followed them appreciatively as the +detachment started, Graham and Connell in the lead, Sergeant Drum, and +his nineteen following in compact column of twos. No sooner did they +reach the outlying sentries, however, than it was noted that the young +leader looked back over his shoulder, and the next moment two troopers +detached themselves from the rest and spurred out ahead until full six +hundred yards in the lead. Then two others obliqued out to the right +and left until nearly as a great a distance on the flanks. + +"Knows his biz," said the adjutant, sententiously. + +"Knows nothing but what I've taught him day by day," snarled Captain +Garrett. "And I wash my hands of all responsibility for that detachment +once it's out of sight of us." + +"Shut up," growled a junior. "The 'Old Man's' got ears, and he'll hear +you." + +"Well, I _want_ him to hear--it's time he _did_ hear--and heed," was +the surly answer. But "Grumbly's" eyes were wisely watching the major +as he spoke, noting that the "Old Man" was busy with his binocular, +following Graham's movements up the long, gradual, northward slope. The +moment the major dropped it and turned toward the group, Captain +Garrett changed his tone. "What I'm most afraid of is his getting +lost," said he. + +"You needn't be, captain," said the bearded commander, placidly. "Mr. +Graham knows this country better than we do. He spent long months here +before ever we set eyes on it." + +Garrett's jaw dropped. "Then why didn't he tell me? How was I to know?" + +"Principally, I fancy," drawled the adjutant, who loved to rub "Old +Grumbly's" fur the wrong way, "because you told him two weeks ago that +when you wanted advice or information on any subject from him you'd ask +it." + +But while Graham had as yet won no friend in Captain Garrett, he had +found many among the troopers. His fine horsemanship, his kind, +courteous manner to them, his soldierly bearing toward their irascible +captain, had appealed to them at the start and held them more and more +toward the finish. They saw the second day out that he was no novice at +plainscraft. The captain had asked his estimate of the distance from a +ford of the Chaduza to a distant butte, and promptly scoffed at his +answer; indeed, it surprised most of them. Yet "Plum" Gunnison, +pack-master, who had served seven years at the post, said the +lieutenant was right. They saw within the fourth day that the new-comer +was an old stager in more ways than one. "Touch-the-Sky," scout and +interpreter, said the lieutenant knew sign talk, which was more than +their captain did. They were to see still more within the compass of a +day's march, but they had seen enough in their two weeks' comradeship +to give them confidence in the young officer they never felt for their +own and only "Grumbly," who, with all his experience, would often +blunder, and Grumbly's blunders told on his troop, otherwise they might +not have cared. + +In low tone the troopers were chatting as they crossed the divide and +once more came in view of the two far out in advance, riding now +northeastward. They were following back, without much difficulty, the +hoof-prints of the two fugitives who, riding in terror and darkness, +had so fortunately found their bivouac at break of day. And it was of +these two both the men and their young officers were talking as the +little party jogged steadily on. + +Peaceful hunters and law-abiding men the pair had represented +themselves. They were originally five in all--three "pardners," a +wagoner, and a cook. Their "outfit" consisted of a covered wagon with +four draught and three saddle horses. They indignantly spurned the +suggestion that they had whiskey to swap with the Indians for fur and +peltries. They had a ranch down on Snake River, were well known in +Valentine, had never made trouble, nor had trouble, with the Indians; +but the game was all gone from their home neighborhood, and so long as +they kept off the reservation they knew there was no reason for the +Indians troubling them. And here came another suggestion. The "Old +Man," Major Berry, had somewhat bluntly asked if they did not know they +had been trespassing, had been well within the reservation lines and +north of Nebraska, and the two swore stoutly that Lem Pearson, partner +and projector of the enterprise, had said he knew the country +perfectly, had been there half a dozen times, and they left it all to +him. They never dreamed they were doing wrong until their camp was +"jumped" in the dead of night, and the Sioux chased them every inch of +the way till they got in sight of the cavalry. + +Yet here was the detachment, at six o'clock of this sparkling morning, +clear out of sight of the rest of the cavalry, and half-way across the +long swale of the next divide, and, though the print of the shod horses +was easily followed, not once yet, anywhere--although the little troop +was spread out in long extended line and searched diligently--not once +had they found the print of a pony hoof. Now they were full an hour, +and nearly four miles, out from camp, and Geordie signalled, slowly +swinging his campaign hat about his head, for his men to assemble, then +dismount and take their ten minutes' rest. + +"Con," said he, presently, "it's my belief those scamps were lying. The +only Indians near the Chaduza were those that skipped for White River +last night and are probably heading for Eagle's Nest now. Their trail +must be three miles or more west of us here, and South Fork isn't three +miles ahead. We'll see it from yonder ridge." + +Connell was squatting, tailor fashion, on the turf, and thoughtfully +playing "mumble-t'-peg" with his hunting-knife, while his troop horse +cropped thriftily at the bunch grass. Graham had been giving a glance +over his little command, watching the resetting of a saddle or a +careful folding of a blanket. It would presently be time to mount and +start, but there was something on his mind, and, as of old, he wanted +to have it out with his chum. + +Connell drew his knife from the sod, then, with the point on the tip of +the left forefinger and the haft deftly held between the thumb and +finger of his right, shifted it over by his right ear and sent it +whirling down, saw it sink two inches in the sand, bolt upright, then +queried: "They said their camp was on the Fork ten miles away +northward. Could that be?" + +"It might. The Fork turns almost square to the north and runs back of +Rosebud. But what I mean is, they weren't chased by the Sioux. I doubt +if they fought them at all." + +"How about Gamble's horse?--and the blood? There's been some kind of a +fight. Look, Con! There's a signal!" + +Surely enough. As Connell sprang to his feet and the men quickly turned +to their grazing horses, one of the troopers, far in advance, could be +seen close to the crest of the divide. He had dismounted to creep +forward and peer over, and now, half-way back to where he had left his +horse, was waving his hat, with right arm extended from directly over +his head down to the horizontal and to the east. + +"Mount!" said Geordie, quietly, springing lightly to saddle with a +thrill of excitement in his young heart. "Follow at a walk, sergeant, +off to the northeast. That's where we're needed, Con." + +For the advance-guard, mounting quickly, was now loping along parallel +with the divide, yet keeping well down below its backbone, and, putting +spurs to their horses, "Badger" and "Coyote," the chums of old, darted +swiftly away to join them. + +Five minutes more, while a trooper held the horses of the young +officers and their guides, while in silence and with eager eyes the +little detachment came jogging over the swale to the support of the +leaders, three forms were crouching forward to the top of the wavelike +ridge, and presently three heads, uncovered, were peering over into the +valley beyond. Then the arm of one of them was outstretched, pointing. +Then the field-glasses of two others were unslung, fixed and focused +on some distant object; and then back, still crouching, came one of the +number, signalling to Sergeant Drum to come on. Whereupon, without a +word of command, simply following the example of their foremost man, +the riders gave the bridle-hand, and with the other whipped the ready +carbines from their sockets, and with the butts resting on the right +thigh, the brown muzzles advanced, came on at a swift trot, those in +rear unconsciously pressing forward on those in front. + +Then another signal--this time from their young commander, who had come +running down afoot, leaving "Badger" at the crest. In the eagerness of +the forward rush the riders were opening out, coming right and left +front into line, as the soldiers say, and Graham's gauntleted +hands--the same gauntlets Big Ben had coveted three months +earlier--were extended full to right and left, the length of each arm, +and then brought "palms together" in front. "Close in," it said, as +plain as day, and almost instantly Drum's gruff voice could be heard in +rebuke; almost as quickly the practised riders could be seen closing +the outer leg and rein. Another moment and the little line was trotting +almost boot to boot. Then as they neared the point where the slope +became abrupt, Graham's right hand, palm forward, went straight aloft, +a gesture instantly repeated by the sergeant, and in two seconds more +the horses, panting a little with excitement, were pawing the turf, and +Drum's voice, low and compelling, ordered, "Count fours!" The next +moment the odd numbers darted forward four yards, and halted. The next, +with carbines swung over their shoulders, numbers one, two, and three +were swinging from saddle, the next all horses were again in one line, +with every fourth trooper still seated in saddle; and the dismounted +men deftly lashing their reins to the headstalls of numbers two and +three, while three himself passed his reins up to number four. Then, +nimbly, with carbines at trail, up came a dozen wiry young fellows in +dusty campaign rig, running swiftly up the slope, and in another moment +were sprawling on their stomachs close to the crest, their slouch hats +flung aside. + +And this was what they saw: Before them, to the right front, stretching +away to the north, lay a broad valley, through which meandered a wider, +bigger stream than the familiar Chaduza. It came winding down from the +west before making its sweeping bend to the northward. It was fringed +in spots by cotton-woods, and bare to the very banks in others. It was +desolate and lifeless far as the eye could see, west and north. But +away to the northeast, perhaps seven miles or so, a faint column of +smoke was rising against the skies. Away to the northwest, perhaps a +dozen miles, in alternate puffs, another and narrower smoke column was +rising--Sioux signals, as they knew at once--and right down here before +their eyes, midway between the shining river and the foot of the +northward slope, perhaps two thousand yards out--a little more than a +mile--was coming toward them a four-horse wagon, its white top a wreck, +its struggling team lashed by the whip of the driver and the quirts of +half a dozen dusky outriders, while others still circled and shouted +and urged them on, while afar back on the east bank of the stream other +riders could be seen darting about in keen excitement. All on a sudden, +but by no means all unprepared, "Corporal Pops" and his little command +found themselves facing a new proposition and a band of turbulent +Sioux. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PROOF POSITIVE OF GUILT + + +And the first words spoken came from the lips of Sergeant Drum--like +many another old campaigner among the old-time regulars, a privileged +character. + +"Didn't I tell ye those fellers were lyin'? Here's their wagon now, +that was burnt over their heads!" + +At intervals of several paces, as they could best find points from +which to see without being seen from the northern side, the little +detachment lay sprawled along the crest, the brown barrels of the +carbines well forward. Graham and Connell, peering through their +field-glasses, their elbows resting on the turf, were side by side +about the centre. Behind them, nearly a hundred paces down the +southward slope, stood the horses in an irregular line, a corporal +remaining in charge, keenly watching the movements of his superiors, +yet keeping constant control of the four horse-holders, who, like +himself, remained in saddle. There could be no telling what moment they +might be needed. + +For an odd and perplexing situation was this in which the young +commander was placed. Ordered to follow back the trail of the fugitive +hunters to the point where they claimed to have been "jumped" by +hostile Indians; ordered to find, if possible, the remains of the +victims, men and horses, and of the burned wagon and "outfit"; ordered +also to search for signs by which the assailants might be discovered, +the command had come suddenly in sight of a wagon and horses that +answered the description of those said to have been destroyed, and if +that wasn't a white man driving them, both binoculars were at fault. + +But what did it mean that the captors should be coming southwestward +with their booty? Why had they not burned the wagon? They could never +use it at the reservation. Many young men, of course, were out and +afield with the ghost-dancers, but the elders, the native police, and +the agent would quickly hear of it, and trouble would follow for +somebody. George Sword, Sioux chief of police and stanch adherent of +General Crook--"Wichahnpi Yahmni" (Three Stars), as they called him +whom so long the Sioux had honored, and whom now they were so deeply +mourning--George Sword was a man who did his duty well; Geordie, as a +boy, had known him, and known how the general trusted him. A wagon like +this would be of no more use to the captors than a locomotive; yet here +they were, a dozen of them, urging it on, while others of their kind, +afar back down-stream, were darting about, little black dots of +horsemen scampering over the distant slopes, evidently watching some +parties still farther away and invisible to the lurking cavalry. + +Could it be that they were trying to repeat an old-time deed of +chivalry told to this day of their fathers--restoring lost property to +the legitimate owners? Could it be that, knowing the presence of the +squadron on the Mini Chaduza, and the probability of the frightened +owners having found refuge there, these Indians were now actually +driving thither? They were still on their reservation. There was +nothing but the fugitives' statement to warrant the belief that the +camp had been attacked and burned. There was nothing, in fact, to +justify an attack upon the present possessors. They would probably +scatter, rush to the reservation, tell their tale to the agent, and the +press and the peace societies would presently be flooding the country +with columns concerning the murderous onslaught on a friendly people +made by a reckless soldiery. + +Yet something had to be done, and that right speedily; for now, instead +of breasting the long slope, and coming, as at first, straight toward +the ridge, the Indians were lashing the leaders in gradual turn to the +westward. Now they were skirting the foot of the incline and moving +parallel to the ridge, and then it was that Geordie saw the reason. +They had made the wide sweep outward in order to circle the head of a +ravine which, starting only a few hundred yards out to the left front, +went winding deeper and steeper through the "bench" until it finally +opened out into the creek bottom a long mile away. + +Yes, the whole scheme was evident now. They had captured the camp and +the wagon with its contents, and, knowing the difficult country and +crossings along the lower Fork, were scurrying with their booty around +the great southward bend, hoping to get away to the west, reach the +trail of the war-party that had evaded the cavalry, and follow on with +their prize. Or else, still keeping within the reservation line, to +drive on westward for the valley of the Wounded Knee and their red +brethren of the Pine Ridge Agency, the Brulés of old Spotted Tail's +(Sinte gleshka's) long famous band. + +Yet there, too, this wagon would be a white elephant. Why had they not +divided among themselves the simple contents of a hunter's camp outfit, +cut loose with the horses, and burned the big vehicle, which they could +not use? + +Then all in a moment the truth flashed upon Geordie. Years before he +had heard of such traffic, heard the fierce denunciation lavished by +officers and men upon the miscreants who, for love of gold, would sell +to Indians, at fabulous price, the means of murdering their fellow-men. +All on a sudden his voice was heard: + +"Back to your horses, men! Mount, sergeant, and follow. Come on, +Connell! That's why it takes four horses to lug it--that wagon is +loaded with lead!" + +One minute more and from the lips of one wary Indian, well out on the +"bench," went up a shrill whoop of warning. Away up the the grassy +incline, from over the ridge and spurring straight for the wagon, now +at the head of the ravine, came two lithe young horsemen, riding like +the wind, the right hand of the foremost far uplifted in the signal +known the plains over--to halt. Behind these two came an orderly +trooper full gallop. Behind these three, presently, there popped into +view a score of slouch-hatted, blue-bloused, sturdy dragoons, and with +many a screech of wrath and disgust, away went the last of the Sioux, +scooting for the shelter of the creek bank beyond. Shoot they longed +to, yet dare not. The word had not yet gone forth. The medicine-men +still said nay. The time was not yet ripe. A few days more must they +suffer until Si Tanka and his braves were met, until, in overwhelming +force, they could turn on the scattered and helpless settlers. That was +easier warfare than fighting soldiers, and counted for just as much in +scalps and glory. Away they went to the cotton-wood bottom, and one +wellnigh exhausted, thoroughly demoralized white man collapsed on the +driver's seat, and four sweating, staggering horses pulled up, panting +and blowing, and the score of blue-coated riders came thundering on, to +rein up in triumph around a silent but obviously excited brace of +lieutenants, one of whom simply pointed into the depths of the wagon +body. From under a lot of dingy camp equipage peeped out three or four +little boxes the soldiery knew at sight. Sergeant Drum spurred +alongside and whisked off what was left of the cover, and a dirty +blanket or two, and there was a larger box, half filled with magazine +rifles. There were ten boxes of Winchester cartridges, one thousand to +the box. There was the secret of the "hunter's camp." They had been +selling arms to the Sioux. + +"Good find, that, Geordie," grinned Connell, as his comrade sat +pencilling a brief despatch to the major, while three of the men, with +liberal sprinklings from their canteens and brisk fanning with their +hats, were striving to revive the collapsed wagoner. + +"I need his story," said our plains-wise Pops. "Pull him to, if +possible," and then went on with his writing. + + + "SOUTH FORK, WHITE RIVER, + "_October_ -- '90, 9 A.M. + "_Lieutenant H.H. Willard, Adjutant Detachment + --th Cavalry._ + + "SIR,--I have to report that we have just intercepted a small + party of Sioux driving off a four-horse wagon, which contains + eleven Henry and Winchester rifles and at least ten thousand + rounds of ball cartridges. This is probably the 'outfit' of the + fugitives who reached bivouac this morning, reporting it burned + and their comrades killed. + + "One of the latter, at least, is alive, but we found him + unconscious, although unharmed. He was driving the wagon. The + Indians scattered, but are now assembling in the cotton-woods a + mile distant. More seem coming to join them. If attacked, we + will hold out; but I wish to push on and ascertain what befell + the others. We cannot, however, leave the wagon, nor have I + force enough to leave a guard. + + "Very respectfully, + "G.M. GRAHAM, + "_Second Lieutenant --th Cavalry_, + "_Commanding detachment_." + +Then came a significant P.S., at sight of which, little over an hour +later, Major Berry's eyes snapped, and so did his speech. + +"Bring those two scoundrels here!" said he, and a hangdog-looking pair +they were when presently lined up before the bearded commander, while +no less a personage than Captain Garrett, at the head of forty +troopers, was setting forth on the trail of his much-envied subaltern, +to relieve him, if surrounded and attacked by the Sioux; to relieve +him, in any event, of the care of the wagon, but under no circumstances +to relieve him of his command or duties. Unless menaced by strong +parties of the Sioux, Mr. Graham was to go ahead with a dozen +additional men, carry out his orders, and Captain Garrett with the rest +should bring that wagon to camp. + +Then with Geordie's report and postscript in hand, the major stood +glowering at the fugitives of the morning, now most ruefully yet +furtively studying his face. They suspected something amiss when warned +awhile before that they were not to try to ride off. They knew there +was mischief to pay now. + +"You two sku--specimens," began the major, ominously, "told me you were +only accidentally on the Sioux reservation. You swore you were simply +out hunting antelope." + +"That's God's truth, major," whined the taller of the two, though the +other seemed ready to parley and plead. + +"That's an infernal lie!" was the answer. "You told me the Sioux +'jumped' your camp, killed your partner, and burned your wagon." And +with menace in his burning eyes the veteran officer paused for a reply. + +"'Fore God, major, that's how it looked to us. 'Course it was +pitch-dark--" + +"Pitch-dark--in bright moonlight! This is worse, and more of it. +You're a pair of black-hearted villains! You went there deliberately. +You went with a wagon-load of arms and ammunition to sell to Sioux +Indians just bound for the war-path. You'd swing for that if there was +any law in the land, but swing you shall--anyhow!" + +"You dassn't touch us!" burst in the leader, sudden spirit and defiance +in his tone, well knowing how powerless were the military in face of +civil law. "We're no poor devils of dog-robbers. We demand protection +and a fair trial--a jury of our peers; that means no hide-bound gang of +soldiers. You can't prove we sold so much as a shot, an' you know it, +an' you're only trying to bluff." + +"That's enough, _you_!" was the startling answer. "Sergeant of the +guard, shoot these men like dogs if they attempt to escape. We sha'n't +waste time trying to prove you sold arms. What we can prove, and will +prove, and by your own man, too, and hang you high as Haman for it, is +that Pete Gamble, deputy sheriff, caught you at your devilish work, and +you shot him dead from ambush!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE WAR-DANCE AND THE CHARGE + + +With two days' cooked rations in their saddle-bags now, with a line of +hearty appreciation from Major Berry and renewed instructions to go +ahead, with a dozen more men than he had at the start, and the best +wishes of his temporary commander, Geordie Graham had pushed on again +northeastward down the right bank of the Fork. Waiting until the party +was fairly out of sight over the far-distant "divide," and watching +meantime the movements of the still remaining Indians in the timber, +Captain Garrett finally put his puny command in march for the Mini +Chaduza, bringing the wagon and the now semi-restored charioteer along. +Five of Gunnison's pack-mules, sent on with the troop, had so lightened +the wagon of its load that the lately abused horses, given a good feed +of oats and a swallow of water, were able to trundle it lightly along. +With another day it was started under escort for Niobrara, its late +owners, cursing their fate, unwilling passengers inside. + +It was late afternoon when the two halves of "F" Troop lost sight of +each other, the captain going, grumbling, back to the main body with a +much disappointed command; the subaltern riding swiftly away down the +widening valley, with an exultant platoon at his back, all hands +rejoicing that theirs was the first capture of the campaign. Parallel +with them, afar across the stream, darting from cover to cover and +keeping vigilant watch, rode half a dozen redskins. Most of their +brethren, by this time, were far away toward Eagle's Nest, in quest of +the main body. These few were charged with the duty of keeping track of +the little troop, in order to be able to report exactly the direction +in which it was going and that no pursuit was intended. This definitely +settled, they, too, galloped away, and the valley, so far as Geordie +could judge, was now free of red riders. + +The sun was low in the west. The wagon-tracks still led on. The night +was near at hand, and the troopers in advance had seen no sign of a +camp. Ten miles, at least, had they marched, and, avoiding a deep +westward bend of the stream, the trail now led them over a low ridge, +from whose crest the scouts signalled, "Nothing in sight." + +Yet, a few minutes later, Graham and Connell, dismounting there the +better to scour the country with their glasses, were seen by the main +body to spring to their feet and then to saddle, Graham facing toward +them and with his hat signalling, "Change direction half left," whereat +Sergeant Drum, riding steadily along perhaps four hundred yards behind +his young commander, simply turned his horse's head in the direction +indicated, left the wagon-track, and silently his comrades followed. +"They've found it," said Drum, and found it they had. + +Though the wheel-marks still held to the northward, and the three +troopers far in the lead had seen nothing as yet worthy of special +report, the strong lenses of the signal-glass had told their own story. + +"Look yonder, Connell, in that clump of cotton-woods beyond the low +point," were Graham's words as he sprang to his feet. "See those black +things in the timber? They're buzzards!" + +Five minutes later the corporal, too, was signalling, he and his men at +a halt. They, too, had made discoveries: the track, as it later +developed, of two shod horses pursued by shoeless Indian ponies. +Southeastward this trail went up a long, shallow ravine, then veered +round to the south. It told of fugitives and, for a time, of pursuers. +Ten minutes after the first discovery, down in the sandy bottom and +close to the stream, the officers caught sight of a brace of prairie +wolves, skulking away from the timber, among the branches of which some +grewsome birds were flapping and fluttering, while two or three sailed +slowly overhead. Presently the riders came in view of a little +scooped-out shelter where the sand was all torn by hoofs, and herein +lay the poor remains that served as confirmation of the driver's +story--all that was left, as was soon determined, of poor Gamble, one +of the most feared and fearless men of the Western frontier. + +Shot twice, and from behind, he had managed to gallop a few hundred +yards up-stream, and then, weak from loss of blood, had toppled out of +saddle, crawled to this hollow, and presently died. Half a mile farther +down-stream the camp site was found, hoof and moccasin tracks in +myriads about it, camp-kettles and débris still scattered around, empty +cans, sacks, and boxes flung at the edge of the stream. Here, +evidently, the traders had spent two or three days, and here, there, +and everywhere were fragments of pasteboard cartridge-cases. A thriving +industry, this, until suddenly swooped upon by Gamble, who paid for his +discovery with his life. Here, then, was closed one chapter of the +hunters' tale. But what had become of their partner? What had broken up +their camp and driven them, terror-stricken, from the reservation? + +Not until the dawning of another day was this fully determined. +Meanwhile there came new complications--a strange and stirring +adventure of their own. + +Finding fair grass on the "bench" a few rods farther down the stream, +Geordie had chosen a site for the bivouac, and disposed his little +force for the night. While there had been as yet no overt act of +hostility on the part of the Sioux, and while all the Indians taking +part in the affair of the morning had now, apparently, ridden off to +join the renegade band, and were presumably far to the northwest, no +chances could be taken. The horses, after two hours' grazing, were led +into the timber and hoppled. The sentries were posted well out. The +little camp-fires had been screened under the bank, and full half the +command had rolled in their blankets and settled to sleep. When the +moon came peering up over the distant eastward heights, Geordie and +Connell, chatting in low tones under a sheltering cotton-wood, were +suddenly summoned by a trooper coming in on the run from the outpost +below, a mile at least from where they had buried poor Gamble. +"Indians, sir," said he, "and lots of 'em, coming up the valley on the +other bank." + +"Douse your fires, there!" was the first order. "Look well to your +horses, sergeant. Stay here in charge. I'll send word what to do." + +Then, with eager stride, Geordie hurried away after the messenger, +Connell close at his heels. Two hundred yards they followed, winding +along under the bank, and presently came to a sharp bend, beyond which +and across the stream the prairie lay open and undulating for many a +league, the only obstruction to the view being a little grove of +cotton-woods on the opposite shore and possibly half a mile away, and +that little grove and the level bench about it were alive with Indians +and Indian ponies, the former at least in high state of excitement. + +Kneeling behind the trunk of a fallen cotton-wood, two troopers were +intently studying the situation. "They came riding down from over +yonder to the northeast, sir," said one of them, a corporal, making +room for his lieutenant. "There must have been as many as a hundred all +told, with others trailing behind. There's going to be a pow-wow of +some kind. They've unsaddled and turned the ponies out, and some +feller's shoutin' and singin'--you can hear him now, sir." + +Hear him! As he warmed up to his speech, incantation, or whatever it +was, the speaker could have been heard distinctly a long mile away, and +all the bivouac up-stream, not already sound asleep, sat up to listen. +War-chief or medicine-man, he had a voice that dinned upon the ear of +night and dominated all other sounds, from guttural grunt of assent to +frantic yell of applause, as the roar of Niagara in the Cave of the +Winds drowns the futile babble of the guides. Once in early boyhood +Geordie had heard an Indian orator of whom his father and +fellow-officers spoke ever in honor and esteem--a chief whose people +wellnigh worshipped him--"Rolling-Thunder-in-the-Mountains," they +called him ("Hin-Mato-Iya-Latkit," in their weird dialect). And as +George and Connell knelt here now, listening to this deep, reverberant +voice, thundering from bluff to bluff across the mile-wide valley, the +name and fame of old Chief Joseph, whom the whites had so misunderstood +and wronged, came back to the young commander with redoubled force. + +But no such chief as Joseph was this who, standing in the leaping +firelight, high among the red warriors about him, was lashing them to +frenzy with his resounding words. No interpreter crouched with the +little party at the point; none was needed to tell them that he was +preaching of battle, blood, and vengeance. From time to time the wail +of women could be heard, wild as the scream of the panther, and, as one +sign led to another, it dawned upon Geordie and the veteran trooper by +his side that some brave of the band had recently been done to death by +foul means or treachery, that now the tribe was being roused to a pitch +of fury, to a mad thirst for vengeance; and even before the red orator +had finished his harangue the war-drum began its fevered throb, the +warriors, brandishing knife, club, hatchet, or gun, sprang half +stripped into the swift-moving circle, and with shrill yells and weird +contortions started the shuffling, squirming, snake-like evolutions of +the war-dance. Faster, wilder went the drumbeats; fiercer, madder went +the dance; and, unable to resist the impulse, Graham and Connell, +secure in the belief that the Indians were utterly engrossed, crept +cautiously onward and outward, with the corporal at their back, +determined to see what they could of this savage and appalling +ceremony. + +Half-way to the scene had they crept when the shrill wailing of the +squaws gave way to shriller screams, to almost maniac laughter. The +orator had ceased his incantations. The wild drummers stopped their +pounding. The warriors, as though with one accord, clustered about the +fire in fascination, and for the moment all save the squaws were +stilled, and the crouching watchers, quarter of a mile away, looked +blankly into each other's faces for explanation. "What on earth are +they up to now?" whispered Connell. + +The answer came within the minute: a sound sweeter to savage ears than +love-lay of the maidens, than war-song of the braves, than even the +wild, triumphant chorus of the scalp-dance; a sound that suddenly rose +for a moment above the clamor of the squaws, and then was answered and +overwhelmed and drowned in mad, exultant, even fiendish, yells of +delight--it was the scream of a strong man in awful agony. + +"My God!" cried the corporal. "They've got some poor devil there, +torturing, burning him to death!" + +"To the horses! Come on, Con!" was the instant answer. And the three +went bounding back along the bank, pursued and spurred by the savage +shouting from below, but, as God so willed it, without so much as a +glance. Over the lair of the picket they flew, with only the orders +"Come on!" Away over the elastic "bench" they dashed, hot-foot for the +bivouac, and Drum, the veteran, saw them coming like the wind, and read +their tale and the instant need. "Saddle up!" he shouted, while the +group was still afar. "Jump for it, men! There's not a second to lose!" + +Up from their blankets sprang the few sleepers. In from their stations +scurried the outlying sentries. Rattle went the bits between the teeth +of the excited chargers. Slap went the saddles on the broad, glossy +backs. There was hurry and rush and swift leaping for arms, the snap of +cinchas, the snorting of steeds, yet not a word was spoken until the +low order to lead into line; and straightway old Drum marshalled his +men, silent, yet with hearts beating like hammers, and then down their +front rode their youthful lieutenant, a stranger to all but a month +agone, yet now they lived on his slightest word. Oh, what +thoughts--what thoughts of mother and home, and the brave old days of +boyhood and the Point, had been winging through his brain during the +long hours of the day! But now--now there was no time for thought! +There was time only for action; for a fellow-man lay in deadly peril, +in dreadful torment, only a short mile away. + +"Not a sound--not a shot, men," he ordered, as the quivering line +reined up before him. "Follow our lead, stampede the ponies, and charge +through the crowd; then rally quick as you can." + +Splash! drove the leaders into the shallows. Breast deep, foaming, they +spurred through the stream, the troop plunging after, with carbines +slung over their shoulders. Out on the opposite bank and up to the +"bench" they swarmed, then veered away northward over the resounding +level, Geordie and Connell, classmates and chums, bounding away in +advance. No danger of Indian eyes or ears, no dread of hindering shot +or ambush. When the pale-face writhes at the torture stake, even Indian +vedette forgets his trade for the lust of such luxury as witnessing +that. Up into line with the leading four galloped the chargers in rear. +On toward the leaping flames in the grove led those lithe young riders +ahead. Mad with excitement, some nervous new horses snatched at their +bits and burst from the line, and Geordie, glancing back, saw them +gaining in spite of restraining hand. What mattered it, anyhow? +Every second was precious. The ground was open, the herded ponies less +than half a mile forward, and already alarmed. "Let 'em go!" he +shouted, with a wave of the revolver over his head. "Straight through +the herd, men. _Ch-a-a-a-rge!_" + + [Illustration: "'STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HERD, MEN. + _CH-A-A-A-RGE!_'"] + +Then up went a cheer that rang over the valley, shrill above the +thunder of hoofs, the shriek and scream of terrified squaws, the shouts +of astonished braves. Away like the wind went the streaming swarm of +ponies, in mad flight for the north! Away like scatter-brained rabbits, +darting hither and thither in the firelight, rushing madly to shelter, +leaping from the "bench" to the sandy bottom below, scurrying in wild +panic anywhere, everywhere, went warriors, women, and children; for, +close on the heels of the vanishing herd came unknown numbers of +blue-coated, brave--hearted, tumultuous riders, tearing through camp +like a human tornado, turning the scene of the late revel into a +turmoil of woe. Vain the few shots aimed in haste and excitement. Vain +the rallying cry of a fighting chief. A blow from the butt of Ned +Connell's revolver sprawled him headlong over a prostrate form--a white +man "staked out" in front of the fire, swooning from mingled misery, +weakness, and joy. + +It was Pearson, the missing "partner," captured alive by the Sioux, +doomed to die by slow torture, in revenge for a young warrior shot down +by the gun-traders in a senseless squabble two nights before. + +And the troop had saved him and his fellow-captive, the cook, without +so much as firing a shot. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BATTLE AND VICTORY + + +And this was the story that went on the heels of the escort convoying +the gun-traders in to the fort, and much did Major Berry relish the +composition of that report. It had long been the claim of himself and +his comrades that white men were encouraged to enter the reservation +with arms and cartridges, and that it was easy for the Sioux to lure +their police, or to mislead the sheriff, away from the point where +these unprincipled smugglers crossed the line. + +Now, infuriated at the cowardice and treachery of two of their number, +Pearson, the leader, and Bent, the wagoner, had made a clean breast of +the business. They had driven hard bargains, had laid in good stores of +beaver, wolf, and deer skins, and no little cash. Then Little Crow +came, quarrelled over an obvious cheat, called one partner a liar, was +struck, abused, and thrown out. He galloped away and came back with +Gamble, a man they dare not let live, once having learned their secret. +Both Little Crow and he were treacherously shot by the partners as they +were riding to warn George Sword and his police. Then came the swift +vengeance of the Sioux, the flight of Hurley and Gross, leaving their +unwary comrades to an awful fate. While one party of Indians made way +with the wagon, in hopes of running it--horses, contents, and all--to +the camp of Si Tanka, another party, the immediate relatives and +friends of Little Crow, rode off with the two captives to the village +where Little Crow lay dying, and finally, fearing interruption there, +came back to the valley by night for the wildest, most delirious orgy +known to Indian tradition--the slow doing to death of captured enemy by +ingenious and horrible torture. + +And this was the indescribable ceremony nipped in the bud by our young +lieutenant and his twoscore men, to whose energy, courage, and skill +Major Berry gave all credit, though Garrett claimed it "in the name of +my troop." + +All night had they faced a furious and clamorous band--chiefs, +warriors, and women--shouting denunciation, demanding their prey, and +threatening attack in tremendous force. But Geordie had posted his men +for battle, hidden the recaptured under the bank, and dared the whole +band to come on and get them, if they thought it advisable, which, it +seems, they did not. With his patients on Indian _travois_ ("borrowed," +ponies and all, perhaps without ceremony, from the supply on the spot), +Graham slowly retraced his steps the following morning, and was met +half-way in by the squadron in force, the heartiest kind of a welcome, +and news that thrilled through his veins like the sound of the charge. + +"The --th and your own troop are camped south of the line, Mr. Graham. +I have orders for you to go in to-morrow." + +Just so soon, therefore, as he could turn over his patients to the care +of the surgeon, write his brief report of the scout, and say good-bye +and a few words of thanks to Sergeant Drum and his fellows, who longed +to tell him how they hated to let him go, and after hearty handshakes +from Berry and his brother officers ("Samson" Stone taking special +credit to himself for having, as he expressed it, "put Graham and +Connell onto the time of their lives"), our Geordie blushingly bade +farewell to these comrades of a strenuous month, and, with faithful +Connell at his side, and a little escort attending, rode away down to +the Chaduza, to report to the general commanding, and then go on to his +own, for ominous tales had come from the Bad Lands. There was trouble +in store for all. + + [Illustration: UNITED STATES CAVALRY IN WINTER RIG] + +First, however, there was wonderful welcome for him at Niobrara. The +skies had grown wintry. The snow patches were beginning to dot the +prairie, but the camp-fires burned the brighter, and men clustered +about them and talked of the "luck" of the new lieutenant, whom the +general himself alighted from his escort wagon to greet and to +question. For several days the chums were needed at the fort, where +both prisoners and witnesses were held, but the case against the +self-styled hunters was so overwhelming that the demand for their stay +was soon at an end, and, in the train of the general, they went on +westward to the winter camp of the assembled cavalry, whither "the old +regiment" had preceded them, and there, one dark and wintry evening, +with the snow-flakes sifting down, and the depths of a distant valley +all dotted with tiny blazes--the cook fires of a whole brigade--they +were met by a troop of cavalry in fur caps and gauntlets, and huge, +blanket-lined overcoats--swarthy, bearded fellows, with service-stained +boots and trappings, but looking fit for the hardest kind of +campaigning and any kind of a fight. It swung from column into line, +saluted the general with advanced carbines, and then, wheeling by fours +to right, trotted briskly away with the little cortčge, and presently +its commander, after a few words with the general, fell back, peering +from under his bushy headpiece, and sung out in cheery tones Geordie +had not heard for many a day, yet knew on the instant: + +"Ah, there you are, Mr. Graham! We have a horse with us ready for you +now!" And lo! it was Captain Lane, with his own troop ("E" of the +--th), sent out to lead the general's escort into camp. Leaving the +companions of the long, jolting ambulance ride, Geordie sprang to the +back of a mettlesome bay, led forward by a muffled-up trooper who +steadied the young officer's stirrup before turning aside to remount, +while a tall, spare, wiry-looking sergeant sat stiffly in saddle, his +fur-covered hand at salute, his long gray mustache and stubbly beard +and thin hooked nose being almost all that could be seen of the face; +yet the twinkle in his waiting captain's eyes and a twitch in the +muscles of the veteran's lips set Geordie to staring, and presently out +went his hand and up went his glad young voice: + +"Nolan! Nolan! _You_ back with us again!" + +"Couldn't keep out of it, sir, when we got word that the old troop was +to have another Indian campaign. No more could Toomey." + +And lo! it was his friend of the Big Mogul now again bestriding a troop +horse, detailed specially to meet him! And Lane, with a wave of his +hand and a laugh that was good to hear, left the three cronies of +Silver Run to ride in together while he galloped on to his duties. + +"But the mines, Nolan, and your position?" questioned Geordie, as soon +as the greetings were over and he could recover from his amaze. + +"The mine is as sound as a government bond, sir, and Shiner's holding +down my job till I want it again; and Mr. Anthony told me to say that +whenever the lieutenant got tired of soldiering to come back with +Toomey and take his old trick with the shovel." + +And so, joyous and laughing, the three friends of old rode down to the +thronging camps in the valley, and to the stern duties that so soon +awaited them. + +For there came a day when men's faces went white with the news that +Sitting Bull, the great chief (Tatanka-iyo-Tanka), had died in +desperate fight with the police sent to arrest him; that Si Tanka and +his band, nabbed by "Napa Yahmni," had most unaccountably managed later +to elude him, and were now at large, raising the standard of revolt, +summoning all the wild warriors far and near to join forces with him. +And then, indeed, the frontier blazed with signal-fires by night and +burning ranches by day, and there came a week of hard riding for the +old regiment, and of sharp campaigning for all--a week in which at last +the wily red chief Si Tanka was finally surrounded and, with all his +people and ponies, herded on down through the Bad Lands to the breaks +of Wounded Knee--fierce, truculent, defiant. For long months he had +braved the "Great Father" himself, refusing to submit to any authority; +but the sight of those long columns of silent, disciplined "horse +soldiers," squadrons white and black, some of them riding along with +wonderful little field-guns clinking beside them on wheels, overawed +Si Tanka's followers and disheartened his friends. + +There came a day when he had to submit, and agree to surrender, and go +whither orders might send him, and with his fierce spirit crushed, he +bowed his head and took to his lodge, and laid him down in his robes, +sick, body and soul. And then the old regiment marched over to the +mission to guard prisoners and property, and another was sent scouting +after scattering little war parties, and Connell, who had again been +serving with the general, got word to Geordie that orders had come +putting an end to his "holiday," and calling him East to his legitimate +duty. Could Geordie get over to see him, and the disarming of Big +Foot's band, on the morrow? + +Graham showed the missive to his captain, and Lane took it to the +colonel. "Let Graham go," said the latter. "There's nothing to be done +here." + +And so it happened that once again the two chums were together, and +this time on a momentous and perilous day. + +They saw from the hill-side the scowling braves of Big Foot, led forth +from camp and seated on the ground, shrouded in their blankets, in +long, curving lines. They saw the designated troops of a rival regiment +drawn up in silent array, facing the sullen warriors. They saw the +women and children of the latter huddled at the edge of the Indian +camp, while officers, sergeants, and soldiers were sent searching +through the frowzy lodges for secreted arms. Through their glasses they +saw the old medicine-man, in the centre of the Indian ranks, glancing +furtively, savagely, right and left, his lips moving in muttered +incantation, while the searchers among the lodges came forth from one +after another, baffled, empty-handed, suspicious. Why had not some one +suggested it would be wise to search, individually, each brave before +conducting him to the line? + +"There's going to be trouble, Con!" cried Graham, suddenly dropping his +field-glass. "Look! There goes McCrea!" And surely enough, at that very +instant, as though he, too, had noted the ominous signs, their elder +comrade came galloping diagonally across the front, heading straight +for the spot where stood the commander of the silent little battalion. +"He's going to warn them," answered Connell. "Let's join him." + + [Illustration: "UP WENT TWO LITTLE PUFFS OF EARTH"] + +And just as he spoke, and before either could turn to the waiting +horses, up into air went the hands of the chanter, up went two little +puffs of earth, sand, and gravel as he tossed them on high; and before +even they could come sifting and showering downward, up in a flash +sprang the muttering line, off went every blanket, and out leaped a +warrior, armed and painted for battle. Suddenly they whirled on the +searchers advancing upon them. Crash went their wild volley, downing +both friend and foe, for the first shots tore straight through the +huddle of women, and their shrieks followed swift on the deadly clamor +of the guns. + +And then for a moment there was dire confusion. In the space of a +second, it seemed, the red line had leaped to its feet, then dashed +through the smoke of its volley, straight for the cowering forms of old +men, women, and children. Another second and, sheltered by the skirts +of their squaws, the warriors were blazing away at the astonished +soldiery. "Good God, boys, we can't fire on women and children!" +shouted one brave young sergeant. "Down on your faces! Down!" And +"down" was his last word, as down on his bullet-riven face he plunged, +shot dead through the brain. + +Almost at the same moment McCrea's galloping steed stumbled heavily +forward and rolled stiffening on the frozen earth, his gallant rider +flung headlong beyond him. Another moment and Geordie and Connell, +leaping from saddle, had run to his aid, even as the crash of a volley, +at the word of command, told that the troopers had answered the furious +challenge. Another moment still, and a young surgeon sprang to the +relief of the signalling officers; and then, leaving their senseless +friend to his care, all athrill with the fury of battle, Graham and +Connell, "Badger" and "Coyote," whipping out their revolvers, rushed on +down the slope to join the blue line just springing afoot to the +charge. + +Of the moment that followed, the wild cheer and onward dash, the race +over blood-stained snow-patches, the stumble over falling forms (some +friend, some foe), the ripping and slashing at fire-spitting lodges, in +which some of the band had sought refuge, the agonized screaming of +children, the appalling shrieks of the squaws--of all this it was +difficult later to give clear account. Geordie only knew that he, and +those nearest him in the rush through the smoke, lost many a shot +rather than risk killing fleeing women and babes, spared warriors who +would never spare them, for down went first one comrade, down went +another, and all on a sudden something bit, stung, and tore through his +thigh, and down on his outflung arms, with Con sobbing over him, went +Geordie Montrose Graham, first captain the year agone, fireman in July, +and now junior lieutenant of Company "E." + +Many a Christmas holiday was spoiled that winter by the news from +Wounded Knee. "Bud" Graham, Columbia freshman, spending a fortnight +with father and mother at the Point, had gone with them and Colonel +Hazzard to Grant Hall one starlit evening. Orders were to be published +to the corps of cadets at supper, and the commandant wished them to +hear. They ascended the broad stone steps, Mrs. Graham on the arm of +the colonel, Mrs. Hazzard escorted by grim "Dr. Sawney," who was +wondering not a little what might be coming. Two or three officers from +the mess joined the little family party, and they all clustered at the +big folding-doors--Bud breathless with anticipation and excitement. The +cadet corporal of the guard saluted at sight of the distinguished +arrivals, and, at a sign from the colonel, held open the portal on one +side so that, without being seen, the visitors could distinctly hear +what might be read within. + +And presently it came. In ringing tones the adjutant ordered attention. +The chatter and clamor instantly ceased. Briefly the young officer +rattled off the details for the morrow, and then announced: + +"The following communication is published for the information of the +battalion of cadets: + + + "FIELD HEADQUARTERS, + "FORT NIOBRARA, NEB., _December_ --, 1890. + "COMMANDING OFFICER, --TH CAVALRY, + "_In the Field, near Wounded Knee._ + + "SIR,--The general commanding the military division directs me + to notify you of the return of the detachment under Major + Berry, --d Cavalry, after a thorough scout of some three weeks' + duration, resulting in the breaking up and scattering of + several of the bands of 'ghost-dancers,' and the capture of at + least one large party now being sent under escort to Pine Ridge + Agency. + + "One most important result of the scout was the discovery and + arrest of certain white men engaged in selling arms and + ammunition to the Indians, the capture of much of their + 'outfit,' and the rescue, under circumstances of imminent + peril, of two of the party whom the Indians were in the very + act of putting to death by torture. + + "The entire credit for this exploit, which was conducted with + excellent judgment and most commendable dash and daring, is + given by Major Berry to Lieutenant George Montrose Graham, of + your regiment, and the division commander-- + +But he could be heard no further. The iron discipline of West Point was +powerless to stem the torrent of cadet enthusiasm at this public +mention of their beloved leader of the year gone by. Up sprang the +entire corps, and the rafters rang with the thunder of their cheers--a +thunder that seemed to redouble rather than dwindle at sight of the +silver-haired commandant, smiling in through the opening door. + +And from such a scene as that, with streaming eyes and trembling lips +and a heart overflowing with pride, joy, gratitude, and the longing to +throw herself upon her knees and pour out her very soul in praise and +thanksgiving, this devoted mother was summoned to another. + +The doctor had fled away from the bevy of friends who had hastened to +congratulate and shake him by the hand. He had finally escaped to his +little den, trying to compose himself, and write calmly and +judiciously, as became a father, to his soldier son. Bud, nearly wild +with delight, had finally been "fired," as he expressed it, from Cadet +Frazier's room by the officer-in-charge, and started for home toward +half-past ten o'clock, when in front of the officers' mess he was +suddenly hailed by a grave-faced professor: + +"You're needed at home, Bud," and, running, he found Colonel Hazzard +and his father at the library door, a telegram open in the latter's +trembling hand. + +"Not a word now, son. Just read this and then--call mither." + +With paling face and suddenly swimming eyes, Bud read the dancing +words: + + "Severe action. Graham wounded; left thigh. Serious, but doing + well. Our loss heavy. + + "(Signed) MCCREA." + +And so they got the first news of the bitter midwinter battle that +ended the days of Big Foot and so many of his band, that cost us the +lives of so many gallant officers and men, among the icy flats and +snow-patched ravines along the Wounded Knee. + + * * * * * + +But there came a meeting in March that brought surcease for all that +fond mother's sorrow. There came an evening when the battalion, in its +muffling winter garb of gray, went bounding up the broad stone steps +into the old mess-hall, and, stripping off caps and overcoats, quickly +settled down to their hearty supper, for the days were longer, the +first spring drills had begun, and tremendous appetites had these alert +young fellows. The clamor and chatter began on the instant--a merry +riot of chaff and fun. No outlying picket gave warning of the approach +of disturbers, but once again that great-hearted commandant had planned +a demonstration that should delight a mother's soul. Once again he was +leading her up to the massive portal, with a tall youth swinging on +crutches beside her, and a joyous little party in her train. Only that +day had he arrived--her Geordie--a little pallid from long housing and +wearied from the long ride, but wonderfully well and happy otherwise, +and assured that a few weeks more would see him strong as ever. Connell +had met him at Buffalo. Bud was up from New York. McCrea had escorted +him all the way from Chicago, where John Bonner would have held him +for a week of lionizing, but he could not be stopped for an hour. Nolan +and Toomey had ridden every mile to the railway to see their young +leader aboard, but over the meeting with that yearning mother there was +none on earth to spy. Long hours she kept him to herself, but, now that +evening had come, she yielded him to the colonel's pleading. + +"It is for their sake," said he, and for their sake even Geordie +consented. + +And so, very much as he had planned on the previous occasion, Colonel +Hazzard led them to the door as supper was nearly over, having +previously notified his officer-in-charge, but no man in the corps was +in the secret. "Whatever happens," said he, "shall be entirely +spontaneous." + +For a moment they waited until, as before, the voice of the adjutant +was heard, clear and commanding, above the clamor. Then came the +publications, a perfunctory order or two, and then the colonel put +forth a hand, pushed open the door, and while Mrs. Graham and Bud, +trembling with excitement, clung to each other's arms, and the rest of +the group instinctively closed about them, Hazzard turned to the two +young graduates--his captains of the year gone by, now looking not a +little white and by no means happy--and signalled "step within," he +himself close following, and throwing wider the door so that Mrs. +Graham might see. + +As the big half swung slowly inward, and the two crutches were planted +across the threshold, Connell hung back, but the colonel would not so +have it. The corporal of the guard, surprised at the intrusion, stepped +forward to check the strangers within their gates, then as suddenly +halted, his eyes alight with instant recognition and rejoicing, his +hand springing up in salute, even as the cadet officers at the head of +the nearest tables found their feet in instant and irresistible +impulse. Up, too, sprang the first captain, at the opposite side, his +first thought to rebuke, his second, at sight of the halted trio, to +shout with delight. Before he could gather his wits the matter was +settled for him, for all. The adjutant, amazed, dropped his paper and +uplifted his eyes, for his voice was stilled by a stentorian shout from +an inner table and the simultaneous rush of a light-footed fellow who +almost swept Pops off his crutches as his arms flung about him. +"Cyclone" Holt, a big-lunged Kentuckian, had bounded to his chair with +a yell of "Hurray! 'Badger' and '_Ki_ote!'" and all order was gone in +an instant. Up as one man sprang the startled battalion. Had Holt gone +mad? Had Frazier a fit? For answer came cheers from those nearest the +door, cheers that spread like wildfire from table to table, and all in +a second every young soldier was swinging a napkin and shouting like +mad--some leaping on chairs, some even mounting the tables, a scene +such as the mess-hall never witnessed before. Vain the effort of some +one to guide the cheering (they had not then learned an academy yell), +and for once in its day the corps went wild, every man for himself. +They yelled at Geordie, blushing and dishevelled from Benny's embrace. +They yelled at Connell, standing modestly by, with his set lips +twitching, his eyes filling fast. They yelled at their colonel, now +smilingly backing away. They yelled for three minutes without ever a +stop, until some fellow, versed in town-meeting methods, began yelling +for "Speech!" and that started others, and "Speech!" was the word +ringing all over the hall, and that was more than enough to start +Geordie. Speak he could not and would not. He could only stand smiling +and shaking his head, until he saw they would not be denied; and then, +at last, the lad who had faced and downed popular prejudice all through +his cadet life, who had faced foes at the Point and foes on the +plains--faced them with dauntless front and determined will--who had +stood like a rock at the front of the enemy, trembled now like a leaf +in the sight of his friends, and so, for the first time, shrank back +and fled. Just as on the day of his graduation, our Geordie turned from +the tumult of comrade acclaim and sought his mother's side. Con darted +after him, and the big door closed on the chums of cadet days, on the +"Badger" and "Coyote"--on Connell and "Corporal Pops." + + + + +THE END + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 134: beleagured replaced with beleaguered | + | | + | The last four chapter titles were numerical only, | + | "CHAPTER" was added for consistency. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To The Front, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO THE FRONT *** + +***** This file should be named 19952-8.txt or 19952-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/9/5/19952/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, and 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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charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of To the Front, by General Charles King. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + H1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + H5,H6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + H2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + H3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + H4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; 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background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: silver; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: silver; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of To The Front, 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: To The Front + A Sequel to Cadet Days + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: November 28, 2006 [EBook #19952] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO THE FRONT *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, and 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> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text.<br /> +For a complete list, please see the <a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/cover.jpg" width="40%" alt="Front Cover" /></a><br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="90%" alt="THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE" /></a><br /> +<p class="right" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em; font-size: 85%;">[See p. 252]</p> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>TO THE FRONT</h1> + +<h4>A SEQUEL TO</h4> +<h3>CADET DAYS</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>GENERAL CHARLES KING</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>ILLUSTRATED</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS<br /> +MCMVIII</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>Copyright, 1908, by <span class="sc">Harper & Brothers</span>.<br /> +<i>All rights reserved.</i><br /> +Published March, 1908.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h4>TO<br /> +THREE BOYS, CADETS YET TO BE<br /> +TO "COPE" AND THE MAJOR</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td width="15%" class="tdr"><span style="font-size: 80%;">CHAP.</span></td> + <td width="70%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="15%"><span style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#PRELUDE">Prelude</a></td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">I.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">From the Gray To the Blue</a></td> + <td class="tdr">11</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">II.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">The First Call</a></td> + <td class="tdr">30</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">III.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Away To the West</a></td> + <td class="tdr">39</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">"I'm Ready Now"</a></td> + <td class="tdr">49</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">V.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">First Night on the Range</a></td> + <td class="tdr">61</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">First Aid To the Wounded</a></td> + <td class="tdr">76</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">A Balked Arrest</a></td> + <td class="tdr">89</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">A Race To the Fort</a></td> + <td class="tdr">102</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IX.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Bad News From the Mines</a></td> + <td class="tdr">114</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">X.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">First Shots of the Summer</a></td> + <td class="tdr">128</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">A Night on Guard</a></td> + <td class="tdr">142</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">The Man of the Siege</a></td> + <td class="tdr">156</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">Away on the Warpath</a></td> + <td class="tdr">168</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">A Scout for the Sioux</a></td> + <td class="tdr">180</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">First Sight of the Foe</a></td> + <td class="tdr">198</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Proof Positive of Guilt</a></td> + <td class="tdr">213</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">The War-dance and the Charge</a></td> + <td class="tdr">224</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">Battle and Victory</a></td> + <td class="tdr">239</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td width="80%" class="tdlsc"><a href="#frontis">The Opening of the Battle at Wounded Knee</a></td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%"><i>Frontispiece</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep014">Cadets at Drill, West Point</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Facing p.</i> 14</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep084">"Big Ben was Busy with his Oil-Can"</a></td> + <td class="tdr">84</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep102">"Not a Whiff of the Draught Could be Wasted"</a></td> + <td class="tdr">102</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep128">Silver Shield</a></td> + <td class="tdr">128</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep236">"'Straight Through The Herd, Men. CH-A-A-A-RGE!'"</a></td> + <td class="tdr">236</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep242">United States Cavalry in Winter Rig</a></td> + <td class="tdr">242</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep248">"Up Went two Little Puffs of Earth"</a></td> + <td class="tdr">248</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>TO THE FRONT</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="PRELUDE" id="PRELUDE"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>TO THE FRONT</h2> +<br /> + +<h3>PRELUDE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was graduation day at West Point, and there had been a remarkable +scene at the morning ceremonies. In the presence of the Board of +Visitors, the full-uniformed officers of the academic and military +staff, the august professors and their many assistants, scores of +daintily dressed women and dozens of sober-garbed civilians, the +assembled Corps of Cadets, in their gray and white, had risen as one +man and cheered to the echo a soldierly young fellow, their "first +captain," as he received his diploma and then turned to rejoin them. +It was an unusual incident. Every man preceding had been applauded, +some of them vehemently. Every man after him, and they were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>many, +received his meed of greeting and congratulation, but the portion +accorded Cadet Captain "Geordie" Graham, like that of Little Benjamin, +exceeded all others, and a prominent banker and business man, visiting +the Point for the first time, was moved to inquire why.</p> + +<p>"I think," said the officer addressed, a man of his own age, though +his spare form and smooth-shaven cheek and chin made him look ten +years younger—"I think it is that Graham has been tried in all manner +of ways and has proved equal to every occasion. They say he's sheer +grit."</p> + +<p>A keen and close observer was the banker—"a student of men," he +called himself. He had been tried in many a way and proved equal to +every occasion. He had risen from the ranks to the summit. He, too, +they said in Chicago, was "sheer grit." Moreover, they did not say he +had "made his pile out of others' losings"; but, like most men who +have had to work hard to win it, until it began to come so fast that +it made itself, John Bonner judged men very much by their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>power to +earn money. Money was his standard, his measure of success.</p> + +<p>And this, perhaps, was why John Bonner could never understand his +brother-in-law, the colonel, a most distinguished soldier, a modest +and most enviable man.</p> + +<p>Twenty-five years had Bonner known that now gray-haired, +gray-mustached veteran. Twenty-five years had he liked him, admired +him, and much of late had he sought to know him, but Hazzard was a man +he could not fathom.</p> + +<p>"Fifteen years ago," said he to a fellow-magnate, "I told that man if +he'd quit soldiering, and bring Carrie and the children to Chicago, +I'd guarantee him an income ten times the regular pay he's getting; +and he smiled, thanked me, and said he was quite content—content, +sir, on two thousand a year, and so, too, was Sis. Now, think of +that!"</p> + +<p>And Bonner was bubbling over with the same idea to-day, yet beginning +to see light. Two prominent senators, men of world-wide renown, held +Hazzard long in close conference, and were merely civil to him, the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>magnate, who, as he said, "could buy the three of 'em three times +over." A general whose name was but second to that of Grant seized his +brother-in-law by both hands, and seemed delighted to greet him, yet +had barely a word for "his millions," him to whom the Board of Trade +bowed humbly at home. A great war secretary, whom they had recently +dined at the Grand Pacific and whose dictum as to the purchase of +supplies meant much to Chicago, but vaguely remembered and absently +greeted the man of wealth, yet beamed with pleasure at sight of his +small-salaried soldier companion. The secretary drew Hazzard off to +one side, in fact, and left the man of stocks and the stock-yards +standing.</p> + +<p>That evening, after the simple home dinner, with Carrie and the young +people and the colonel smiling about the board, Bonner's vexation of +spirit found vent. Duties drew the soldier away, and the banker was +left with his sister.</p> + +<p>"What is your pay <i>now</i>, Carrie?" he abruptly asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>"A row of threes, John—$333.33 a month," was the amused answer.</p> + +<p>"And Hazzard's been through two wars, Heaven knows how many campaigns +and vicissitudes, and been serving the United States, night and day, +some thirty years, and that's all he has to show for it, every cent of +which has to go for living expenses—rearing, feeding, clothing, and +educating these youngsters."</p> + +<p>"Pretty nearly. We've a little laid by for Jack's college, and the +President gives Lou his cadetship, you know, but"—and here the +blithe-faced little woman looked archly at "Uncle John," though her +look was one that said, "I mean every word of this"—"we don't think +that's all there is to it, by any manner of means. Think of his war +record! Isn't that a proud thing to leave to our boys? See how he is +regarded by the best men in our country, from the President down! He +is not yet an old man, but he has 'all that should accompany old +age—love, honor, obedience, troops of friends'—and, honestly, John, +with health and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>competence and <i>us</i>, what more <i>should</i> he want?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Bonner, tenaciously, "I could have put him where he would +have been worth three hundred thousand by this time."</p> + +<p>"And it wouldn't have tempted him; and I'd rather see him as he is."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm blessed if I can understand it," said Bonner. Then callers +put a stop to the chat. Then the colonel himself came home to his +cosey quarters, and silence had settled down over the beautiful plain. +The lights were dimmed in the barracks; the sentries paced their +measured rounds; from the verandas of the hotel came the ripple of +murmured words and soft laughter, and a tinkle of banjo and guitar. At +the gate the colonel exchanged good-night greetings with a +happy-faced, motherly looking woman whom Bonner had noticed +overwhelmed with pride and emotion during the ceremonies in the +morning. He did not at first recognize the tall, erect young fellow on +whose arm she proudly leaned as she walked home through the shifting +moonlight.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>"That was young Graham, in whom you were so interested this morning," +said Hazzard, briefly.</p> + +<p>"<i>Was</i> it? Oh, I thought he'd gone with the graduates."</p> + +<p>"Only down to the city to say good-bye. He came back to his mother by +late train. I fancy she's more to him than a lot of fun with the +boys."</p> + +<p>"See here, Hazzard," observed Bonner, solemnly, "I've been looking +into things here nigh onto a week. It's fine! It's all right for a +soldier school! But, now take that young chap for a sample. What on +earth does he know outside of drill and mathematics and what you call +discipline? What could he do in case we cut off all this—this +foolishness—and came down to business? I'd be willing to bet a sweet +sum that, take him out of the army, turn him loose in the streets, and +he'd starve, by gad! before he could ever earn enough to pay for a +quick lunch."</p> + +<p>"I think you'd lose," was the quiet answer.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd just like to try it. Pit him and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>his kind against our +keen-witted, sharp, aggressive young <i>bus</i>iness men—men with +<i>bus</i>iness heads, <i>bus</i>iness experience"—Bonner's emphasis on the +first syllable was reinforced by a bang of the fist on the arm of his +chair—"and, and, by gad! they'd be skinned alive—skinned out of +their last cent, sir."</p> + +<p>"That," said the colonel, dryly, "is not improbable. They are trained +as soldiers, not as sharpers. But, all the same, in spite, if you +please, of their soldier training, I fancy most of these lads that +quit us to-day, if brought face to face with sudden emergency, +responsibility, something calling for courage, coolness, +judgment—above all, for action—would hold their own, and I'd back +them even in competition with your aggressive young friends in +business life."</p> + +<p>"Why, they're taught to deal only with soldiers—with machines—not +men," argued Bonner.</p> + +<p>"Well, such as they have handled men not soldiers more than once, in +your own city, Bonner, and to your vast benefit. They'll <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>come to it +again some day. As for that young man, I picked him a year ago from +his whole class for the place that calls for the most judgment, tact, +quiet force, capacity to command—the 'first captaincy'—and never did +I see it better filled."</p> + +<p>"Oh, granted as to that! But strip off the uniform, sword, and +authority; set him among the men <i>we</i> have to deal with—what could he +do with a railway strike? How could he handle maddened mill +operatives, laborers, switchmen, miners? Think of that, Hazzard! That +isn't fighting Indians, with a regiment at your back. You mark what I +say!"</p> + +<p>"Well, mobs, miners, or Indians, our young officers have had to meet +all kinds at times," said the colonel; "and if ever Graham is up +against them, Bonner, I'm thinking you'll hear of it."</p> + +<p>And, oddly enough, before he was one month older, sitting in his +office in Chicago, Bonner was hearing it with a vengeance. There was +the mischief to pay in at least one of his mines. Oddly enough, before +he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>one year older, George Montrose Graham, graduated cadet, was +"up against them," all three—mobs, miners, and Indians. How he met +them and how he merited the colonel's confidence let them judge who +read.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>FROM THE GRAY TO THE BLUE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>It was just after sunset of one of the longest days of the loveliest +of our summer months. The roar of the evening gun had gone re-echoing +through the Highlands of the Hudson. The great garrison flag was still +slowly fluttering earthward, veiled partially from the view of the +throng of spectators by the snowy cloud of sulphur smoke drifting +lazily away upon the wing of the breeze. Afar over beyond the barren +level of the cavalry plain the gilded hands of the tower-clock on "the +old Academic" were blended into one in proclaiming to all whom it +might concern that it was five minutes past the half-hour 'twixt seven +and eight, and there were girls in every group, and many a young +fellow in the rigid line of gray and white before them, resentful of +the fact <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>that dress parade was wofully late and long, with tattoo and +taps only two hours or so away. The season for the regular summer +"hops" had not yet begun, for this was away back in the eighties, when +many another old West Point fashion still prevailed; but there was to +be an informal dance in the dining-room of the hotel, and it couldn't +come off until after supper, and supper had to be served to some +people who were "pokey" enough to care to come by late boat, or later +train, and were more eager to see the cadets on parade than to seek +Mine Host Craney's once bountiful table.</p> + +<p>What made it more exasperating was that rumors were afloat to the +effect that the adjutant had long and important orders to publish, and +this would still further prolong the parade. Cadet Private Frazier, +First Class, one of the best dancers in the battalion, was heard to +mutter to his next-door neighbor in the front rank of the color +company: "It'll be nine o'clock before we get things going at the +hotel, and we've got to quit at nine-thirty. <i>Con</i>found the orders!" +And <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>yet, peering from under the visor of his shako, Mr. Frazier could +see without disturbing the requisite pose of his head, "up and +straight to the front, chin drawn in," that over near the south end of +the row of gayly attired visitors, seated or standing at the edge of +the camp parade-ground, there was one group, at least, to whom, as +Frazier knew, the orders meant much more than the dance. There, +switching the short grass with his stocky cane, stood their grim +senior surgeon, Doctor, or Major, Graham. There, close beside him and +leaning on the arm of a slender but athletic, sun-tanned young fellow +in trim civilian dress, stood the doctor's devoted wife. With them was +a curly-headed youth, perhaps seventeen years of age, restless, eager, +and impatient for the promised news. Making his way eagerly but gently +through the dense throng of onlookers, a bronze-faced, keen-eyed, +powerfully built officer in the uniform of the cavalry came up at the +moment and joined them. "Have you heard anything yet?" he murmured to +Mrs. Graham, whose kind and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>gentle eyes seemed to light at sound of +his voice.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," she answered, with a shake of the head. "All we learned +just a few minutes ago was that the order was here and would be +published on parade. The commandant returned only just in time."</p> + +<p>"And there's been no telegram—no word from outside?"</p> + +<p>"Not a thing, Mr. McCrea. It just so happened."</p> + +<p>"Well, if that isn't odd! To begin with, it's most unusual to get out +the order so early. They must be in a hurry to assign the graduates +this year. Pops, old boy, if you don't get our regiment, I'll say the +secretary of war is deaf to the wishes of every officer and most of +the men. We told him when he came out to look over Fort Reynolds, and +incidentally look into the mines—but that was last year—Oh, bother, +Williams," he suddenly broke off, "what do you want to lose precious +time for, putting 'em through the manual?"</p> + +<p>This sudden outbreak was levelled at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>unconscious officer +commanding the parade (the "officer in charge," as he was termed), Mr. +Williams having replied, "Take your post, sir," to the adjutant's +stately salute in presenting the statuesque line. Whereupon the +adjutant "recovered" sword, strode briskly up, passed beyond the +plumed commander, and took his station to his left and rear. With much +deliberation of manner, Mr. Williams drew sabre and easily gave the +various orders for the showy manual of arms, the white-gloved hands +moving like clockwork in response to his command until, with +simultaneous thud, the battalion resumed the "order," certain +spectators with difficulty repressing the impulse to applaud.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep014" id="imagep014"></a> +<a href="images/imagep014.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep014.jpg" width="90%" alt="CADETS AT DRILL, WEST POINT" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CADETS AT DRILL, WEST POINT<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Then back to the centre stalked the young adjutant, Mrs. Graham +unconsciously drawing unflattering comparison between the present +incumbent, soldierly though he seemed, and her own boy's associate and +friend, Claude Benton, adjutant of the class graduated barely a +fortnight earlier, "her own boy," perhaps the most honored among them. +She was clinging to his arm now, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>her pride and joy through all his +years of sturdy boyhood and manly youth. She knew well that the hope +and longing of his heart was to be assigned to the cavalry regiment of +which Lieutenant McCrea was quartermaster, the regiment once stationed +at old Fort Reynolds, in the Rockies, when Dr. Graham was there as +post surgeon and Geordie was preparing for West Point. Indeed, Mr. +McCrea had "coached" her son in mathematics, and had been most helpful +in securing the appointment. And now here was the quartermaster on +leave of absence, the first he had had in years, spending several +weeks of his three months' rest at the scene of his own soldier +school-days.</p> + +<p>But it was "Bud," her younger son, who had come rushing down to the +surgeon's quarters only a few minutes before parade with the +all-important news. "Mither!—Geordie!" he cried, "Captain Cross says +the assignment order's come and will be published at parade. Hurry +up!"</p> + +<p>Dr. Graham could hardly believe it. As <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>McCrea said, the War +Department seldom issued the order before mid-July. "Mac" even hoped +to be in Washington in time to say a word to the adjutant-general in +Geordie's behalf. It was known that many would be assigned to the +artillery, to which Cadet Graham had been recommended by the Academic +Board. But all his boyhood had been spent on the frontier; his +earliest recollections were of the adobe barracks and sun-dried, +sun-cracked, sun-scorched parade of old Camp Sandy in Arizona. He had +learned to ride an Indian pony in Wyoming before he was eight; he had +learned to shoot in Montana before he was twelve; and he had ridden, +hunted, fished, and shot all over the wide West before the happy days +that sent him to the great cadet school of the nation. And now that he +was graduated, with all his heart and hope and ambition he prayed that +he might be commissioned in a cavalry regiment, if possible in +McCrea's. Give him <i>that</i>, he said, and he would ask no favor from any +man.</p> + +<p>How his heart was beating as he watched <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>the adjutant, whom he himself +had schooled and drilled and almost made, for Graham had been famous +in his cadet days as a most successful squad instructor, a model first +sergeant, and a great "first captain." How odd it seemed that he, a +graduate, and that all these people, officers, and children, should +now be hanging on the words that might fall from the younger soldier's +lips! A telegram from Washington had told a veteran general visiting +at the Point that his son had been assigned to the artillery, that the +order would doubtless be published that evening. But it so happened +that not until just before parade did the commandant return from a +long ride, and so had no time to read it through. He had simply handed +it, with others, to the silent young soldier, who had stood in full +uniform full five minutes awaiting his coming. "Better order 'parade +rest' part of time. It's a long read," he briefly said, and, stowing +the orders under his sash, the adjutant had saluted, faced about, and +hastened away.</p> + +<p>And now that young official has received <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>the reports of the first +sergeants and sent them, high-headed, martial, and precise, back to +their stations in the line. And now again he has faced the commanding +officer, saluted, and announced, "All are present, sir." And now that +deliberate functionary has at last said, "Publish the orders, sir." +And silence seems to fall, even upon the chatting groups of girls, as, +with brief "'Tentio-o-o-on to Orders," the adjutant drops the point of +his sword, letting it dangle from the gold swordknot on his wrist, and +in another moment the clear young voice is ringing over the attent and +martial audience.</p> + +<p>"War Department, Washington, D.C., June 25, 189—," he begins, and +then briskly rattles away at the terse official paragraphs: "The +following assignment of graduates of the United States Military +Academy are hereby announced to take effect from June 14th." It begins +with that highly scientific and enviable body, the Corps of Engineers, +and Mr. George Graham, up to this moment still officially known as +cadet, touches his mother's arm at sound of the third name on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>the +list—that of Connell, his chum, his chosen comrade, his much-loved +classmate through the long four years. "Dear old Con," he murmurs into +her ears. "I'll telegraph my congratulations to him, whatever comes to +me."</p> + +<p>There are eight in all assigned to the engineers, and then come the +names of those gazetted to the artillery—five famous regiments, too, +and Graham notes with joy that Beard, Conway, Foster, and Lawrence, +all of whom were lower in general standing than himself, get their +longed-for billet with the "red legs," and his name is not mentioned. +That means he has not been assigned where he preferred not to go. But +would the war secretary assign him where he longed to be? Yes, here it +comes, first on the cavalry list, and his heart beats for joy.</p> + +<div class="block"> +<p>"F——th Regiment of Cavalry.</p> +<p>"No. 15, Cadet George Montrose Graham to be Second Lieutenant, +Troop 'E,' <i>vice</i> Fenton, promoted."</p></div> + +<p>And though her eyes are brimming and her lips <i>will</i> quiver, Mrs. +Graham clasps both <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>her boy's hands in her own in speechless sympathy. +It cannot all be joy, for this means miles and miles of separation +that must come all too soon. Geordie can scarce believe his ears. Oh, +it is too good! Not only the —th, but "E" Troop, Captain Lane's +troop, the troop of which Feeny was first sergeant, the troop in which +veteran Sergeant Nolan, two years ago at old Fort Reynolds, had said +he and the men so hoped to see the day when Mr. Geordie might come +back to them to be their lieutenant.</p> + +<p>And now McCrea was grasping and wringing his hand, with a "Welcome to +the old regiment, Geordie," and blue-eyed "Bud" was dancing +rapturously about until the doctor sternly bade him cease. "Is that +the way you think they behave at Columbia, sir?" having never seen the +behavior of Columbiads, or other collegians, at a ball match or +boat-race or any public occasion of undergraduate rejoicing. Even +among the spectators were many who lost interest for the moment in +what the adjutant was reading, and watched, with kindling eyes, the +unexpected little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>scene. But when Colonel Hazzard himself, the +soldierly commandant, with his silver-gray mustache and hair, came +striding through the crowd and held forth his hand to the young +soldier, who instantly and instinctively faced him at attention, +everybody within hearing noted the cordiality in his hearty tones as +he shook Geordie's hand: "Mr. Graham, I'm more than glad you got the +regiment of your choice, and you're going to one of the best captains +in the army. I was on duty in tactics when Lane was in the Corps. +Well, Mrs. Graham, we think we are sending him the making of one of +the best lieutenants," and with that the colonel bowed as he took the +hand of Geordie's mother. "Good sons make good soldiers all the world +over, Mrs. Graham, and we'll expect great things of yours," he added, +then grasped the doctor's out-stretched hand and gave way to others +who came crowding forward, among them a gentle, motherly woman in +half-mourning, whose eyes were moist as she exchanged greeting with +Mrs. Graham.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>"Benny will be here the moment they break ranks," she said. "I know +he, too, will want to congratulate George."</p> + +<p>And so there was quite a little gathering, and what the papers call an +"ovation," about the young graduate, who was blushing not a little +through his healthy tan. He was quite unable to hear where his +classmates had been distributed in the other regiments of cavalry and +infantry, and he was anxious to know, but even when the line of cadet +officers came marching to the front and stood at salute before the +battalion commander, and then broke ranks, and as many as a dozen made +a rush at their former first captain, eager to take him by the hand +and say a word of congratulation before they went bounding away to +doff dress hats, plumes, and sashes—even then Graham could not see +the order, for Colonel Hazzard called for it to show to a bevy of +bright-eyed girls, who knew the graduating class, now scattered all +over the United States, knew almost every one of them better than they +did this, their foremost cadet officer, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>George Graham, though he +could dance, had seemed to care little for hops and less for girls. +His few leisure hours of the last year at the Point he had spent at +the side of his mother.</p> + +<p>But at last, leaving Mrs. Frazier and Benny at camp, the Grahams were +walking slowly homeward in the wake of the brave young battalion, +marching away with its quick, elastic stride to the spirited music of +the fifes and drums. Lieutenant McCrea was still with them, while +Lieutenant Wood, another family friend, had taken to the telegraph +office Geordie's pencilled words of congratulation to his chum +Connell, now lieutenant of engineers. Mrs. Graham leaned heavily on +the arm of her sturdy son, thinking of all the joy that had been hers, +after the years of separation. It had been such a welcome, welcome +order that took Major Graham to duty at West Point the last lap of +their boy's cadet life. Every Saturday evening he had spent "at home" +in the surgeon's quarters, and many a Sunday afternoon. How she had +looked forward <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>from week end to week end! How swiftly had the weeks +slipped by! How would she miss him in the years to come! How lonely +would be the Saturdays and Sundays without her boys, for "Buddy" too, +was to leave the home nest. He had passed for Columbia and was to have +some terms at what the doctor loved to call "the humanities" before +taking up the study of medicine. Her heart had been full of rejoicing +and thanksgiving when graduation came, barely a fortnight agone—yet +when, for the last time in cadet uniform Geordie stood before her, so +soldierly, so manly, so honored by his comrades in the Corps, and she +followed him with brimming eyes when, leaving his diploma in her hand, +he turned away to his room, in the tower of the old first division, to +lay aside forever the plume and sash, the sword and chevrons of the +first captaincy, to shed the academy uniform for good and all, she +knew she wished the whole year could be lived over again; she knew she +would rather the time were still far distant when her son should +"change the gray for the blue."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>But now, now, every hour of every day for three glorious and beautiful +months, she was to have him by her side. She need not, she would not, +think of the separation to come late in September, when he must join +his regiment and be her boy no more. At least she would try not to +think, but here was this cold, stern, business-like order to remind +her that she had given her first-born to the service of his +country—that now he belonged to the general government and no longer +to her. All too soon—oh, many weeks too soon—had the mandate +appeared, for it would haunt her day and night until the hour for +parting came. Ah, thank God, that at least would not be for weeks! +Even Geordie now had become silent and serious. He was listening to +McCrea's eager words to Dr. Graham, all about the regiment and Fort +Reynolds, and how he wished they were back there again, the finest +station the —th had ever had, he declared, and "so near the mines!"</p> + +<p>"Just think, Geordie," he cried, "if we were all at Reynolds we could +run up the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>range to the Silver Shield any day, and watch them +dragging out gold."</p> + +<p>"You haven't lost faith in the Shield, then?" asked Mrs. Graham, +smilingly. She thought and cared so little herself. She knew that +several officers at Reynolds, her husband and McCrea among them, had +invested their scant savings in that most promising venture. She knew +that McCrea had vowed it would make them all rich if not famous one of +these days, and that her methodical, cautious "canny Scot" of a +husband had figured, pondered, and consulted long before he, too, had +become convinced. She knew their holdings had been quoted far above +what was paid for them, but what of all that? She had her boys, her +husband, her army home, her health, and high content. What was wealth +to her?</p> + +<p>"I own I was thinking more of the hunting and fishing, the scenery, +and the splendid range," said Geordie, "but no matter where 'E' Troop +goes, I want to be with it."</p> + +<p>"If the Shield pans out according to promise," said McCrea, with a +laugh, "the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>regiment won't see me for many a day after I realize. I'm +going in for a year's leave—and Europe."</p> + +<p>They had reached the front of Grant Hall by this time and were +strolling slowly along, their voices hushed for the moment by the +cheery hum of boyish talk and the clatter of mess furniture, as the +Corps sat at their late supper. Then several officers, gathered about +the steps of the club rooms in the south end, lifted their caps to +Mrs. Graham and smiled greeting to the party.</p> + +<p>"Come back, Geordie!" was the cheery hail. "We want to wet that +assignment in cavalry fashion." But Graham laughed and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Can't break away just now," said he. "I'll look in later."</p> + +<p>"What I can't understand," said McCrea, "is that we got no word. With +Freeman and Blake both on duty in Washington, one would think they'd +have wired if they knew."</p> + +<p>"It's coming now," said the doctor, pointing to the telegraph orderly +turning away from the steps of his quarters and coming <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>swiftly toward +them, brown envelope in hand. Just in front of the hospital gateway he +met the party, saluted, and tendered the uppermost of two or three +despatches to the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Freeman, I'm betting," said McCrea, as the doctor tore it open and +read. They walked on slowly, expectant, but he did not speak. Then +Mrs. Graham turned, gave one look, dropped Geordie's arm and clasped +that of her husband. The rugged, weather-beaten face had grown +suddenly gray.</p> + +<p>"George! husband!" she cried. "What's gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>For answer he simply handed her the paper.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Designate proxy; meeting Monday. Fear everything lost. Come if +possible."</p></div> + +<p>"Mac," said the old doctor, solemnly, "it's Silver Shield that's +melted away. Everything we had in the world."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE FIRST CALL</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Fort Reynolds, as has been told in the earlier story of George +Graham's cadet days, lay among the eastward foot-hills of the Rocky +Mountains, with a bustling little frontier city only six miles away +down the winding valley of what was, in the early eighties, a clear, +cold, and beautiful mountain stream that shone in the sun like molten +silver.</p> + +<p>Silver Run it was called when Uncle Sam built the picturesque frontier +fort of hewn logs and unseasoned pine soon after the Civil War. Silver +Run, cold, pure, and glistening, it remained when Fort Reynolds became +an important military post. Then the —th Cavalry took station at +Reynolds, and there Geordie Graham found them when, with his father +and mother and "Bud," he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>had come from cold Montana to the finest +station they yet had known, and to the firmest friends, many of whom +they had met before, when Geordie, as a little boy, was "Corporal +Pops" to every man at old Camp Sandy.</p> + +<p>But Silver Run, though it ran more silver than it ever knew before, +was beautiful no longer. Mines of remarkable value, mines of gold and +silver, had been discovered twenty and thirty miles back in the +mountains. Mining towns had sprung up along the steep and rocky banks. +Mining methods had turned a limpid stream into a turbid torrent. Two +railways had run their lines, hewing, blasting, boring, and tunnelling +up the narrow valley, first to reach the mines and finally to merge in +a "cut-off" to the great Transcontinental, so that now huge trains of +Pullmans went straining slowly up-grade past the site of old Fort +Reynolds, or came coasting down with smoking tires and fire-spitting +brake-shoes, and between the loss of the water for his horses, and the +hemming in of his rifle-ranges by rail right of way, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>Uncle Sam +declared Fort Reynolds no longer tenable for cavalry. The regiment had +been sent elsewhere, and only a quartermaster-sergeant and a squad of +men remained.</p> + +<p>Yet Reynolds stood in the midst of thriving industries and swarming +men. The First National Bank in town had now a marble front and a +thousand depositors. The town was now a city and a railway centre, and +the backbone of its business was no longer cattle, but mines and +mining, full of fabulous wealth for those "on the inside," but of dark +and devious measures for those "on the outside" or away, and of these +were half a dozen army officers who had been dazzled by the easily +acquired dollars of the earliest arrivals, and of these officers was +one of the last men his friends thought possible to mislead—shrewd, +calculating, cautious, canny old "Sawny" Graham, post surgeon at Fort +Reynolds in the late eighties.</p> + +<p>Yet prospectors and explorers ten years earlier had declared gold +would be found up the banks of Silver Run. In the glorious park +country back of Squaw Cañon, where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>Geordie and Bud had camped and +fished and hunted as boys, the signs of the restless scouts of the +great army of miners were to be seen at every hand. And then finally, +in the very September that followed the return of Graham and Connell +to take up the last half of their course at the Academy, there came +sudden and thrilling announcement of "big finds" along Lance Creek, +the upper tributary of Silver Run; then even finer indications on the +Run itself, and the West went wild. All of a sudden the mountain-sides +bristled with armed men and their <i>burros</i>. Camps sprang up in a night +and shafts were sunk in a day. Yampah County, from primeval +wilderness, leaped to renown, with a population of ten thousand. Gold +and silver came "packed" down the trails to the First National. Then, +faster than the precious metal came down, costly machinery, and +prices, went up. Fortunes were declared in a week. Officers and men at +Reynolds caught the craze.</p> + +<p>Many an old sergeant took his discharge and his savings and went to +the mines; and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>young troopers without discharges took their lead and +followed suit, and the colonel wired the War Department that if the +regiment wasn't ordered away there wouldn't be anything left to order +in the spring. Luckily, heavy snow-storms came and blocked the trails, +and there was a lull at the mines, but unluckily, not before the few +officers at Reynolds who had saved a dollar had invested every cent of +their savings in the shares of the Golconda, the White Eagle, the +Consolidated Denver, and especially the Silver Shield, and the man +who, through frugality and good management, had the most to invest, +and who had invested all, was Major Graham. When he left there for +West Point the August following he had refused four times what he paid +for his shares, and saw fortune smiling on his pathway to the Hudson. +Now, less than ten months thereafter, on the borders of the Hudson, he +saw ruin staring him in the face.</p> + +<p>For there had been assessments, and he had borrowed to meet them. +There had come rumors of "leaks" and he had kept <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>them to himself. +McCrea, his boy's best friend in the regiment, had consulted him only +ten days back as to whether it were not wise to realize on a portion +at least of their holdings, and Graham, dreading a "bear" movement on +the market, had said, "Hold fast."</p> + +<p>And now McCrea had turned back. He must go at once, he said, to the +telegraph office. So Graham, his sorrowing wife, and his silent boys +went on. She led him into their cheery quarters, and seated him in his +old arm-chair and came and nestled beside him.</p> + +<p>"What is there to grieve about, dear?" she pleaded. "What does it +really matter to us? We have health, home, our boys, each other—quite +enough to live on—Why should it so distress you? Indeed, I almost +cried aloud, 'Is that all?' when you showed me the message. I feared +so much worse. Why, think, Graeme, in all the gay crowd that comes +here every day, is there a woman half as happy as I am? Is there one +of them really as rich as we are—we who have so many blessings?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>"It's for 'Bud' I'm thinking most now," was the mournful answer. +"There can be no Columbia for him. I've borrowed money to meet the +assessments, and the money's got to be paid. This isn't like having +one's house burned, or his ranch blown away, his herds scattered, by +the act of God. This is being robbed of the savings of years by +organized, legalized swindlers, men who claimed to be our friends. +It's that—and my helplessness—that hurts."</p> + +<p>The boys had remained without, talking in low, grave tones, Bud's +boisterous spirits suddenly quenched. Presently the sound of their +murmuring died away. There was no answer when Mrs. Graham called. +Going to the door she looked anxiously about her. From up the roadway +to the north came the sound of merry voices and the shuffle of many +feet—the battalion hurrying down the broad stone steps of Grant Hall +and forming for the march back to camp. The young "first captain" +called them to attention and gave the commands that swung them into +column of platoons and striding away <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>under the leafy arch to the open +plain. Oh, with what pride had she not listened, night after night, +from September to mid-June, to Geordie's ringing, masterful tones, +<i>her</i> Geordie, foremost officer of the Corps! And now all that was +ended with the graduation to which he had so long looked forward, and +now, when but half an hour ago he had so rejoiced in his assignment to +the regiment of his choice—now must come this cloud upon his young +life, his and blithe-hearted Bud, who so adored him. She knew well +that his first act would be to set aside a certain portion of his +scanty pay for her use, and for her own part she would not so have it.</p> + +<p>But where were the boys, and why had they gone? It was some minutes +before Bud returned, alone.</p> + +<p>"Where is Geordie?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Bud dropped his cap on the hall table, looking dispirited and +troubled.</p> + +<p>"Gone to the hotel, mother—wants to see"—with a gulp—"McCrea—and +I'm of no use to anybody."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>"You can be and will be," was the gentle answer, as the mother wound +an arm about and led him within. There in silence and semi-darkness +they sat awhile. The doctor had gone into his little library to look +over memoranda and accounts. It was nine o'clock when Geordie's quick, +soldierly step was heard on the walk without. He came bounding up and +in, alert, virile, and vigorous.</p> + +<p>"You saw Mr. McCrea, Geordie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother. He's going to Newburg to catch the Pacific express on +the Central, and, mother—I'm going with him."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>AWAY TO THE WEST</h4> +<br /> + +<p>By the general regulations of the United States army there is granted +three months' leave of absence to graduated cadets of the Military +Academy, to be taken advantage of immediately after graduation. It is +given to these young men after their four years of rigorous discipline +and hard study, that they may have abundant time to visit home and +friends, and to enjoy a period of rest before reporting for duty again +to begin their careers as officers of the army.</p> + +<p>For nearly two weeks since Graham's graduation day the mother had had +him for her very own, busying herself in the choice of his modest +outfit, and taking it not a little to heart that he declined to order +his uniform and equipment until, as he said, he knew where he was +going. She longed to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>see him in his "regimentals," yet shrank from it +as a reminder that all too soon he would be taken from her side to +wear it day after day with his comrades in arms. She could not think +of that parting to come late in September. She would think only of the +glory that was hers in having him here, having him now, with no +bugle-call to tear him from her side. She was just beginning to +realize her possession, her happiness, when that hateful telegram told +of disaster at the mines, and urged her husband to have a +representative at the spot. Within one hour of its receipt, George had +come to say that he would be that representative, and within two +hours, with at least his father's full consent, her dream was at an +end and her boy was gone.</p> + +<p>That night toward ten he and McCrea were spinning away up the west +shore under the lofty, rock-ribbed scarp of Crow Nest and Storm King, +to ferry over to Fishkill from Newburg, and there take the Pacific +express, making its first stop out of New York City. Each had +hurriedly packed such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>store of clothing as seemed most appropriate to +the region and the business to which he was bound. There was no +vestige of uniform or badge of rank and station. Geordie took with him +his favorite rifle, and in his valise, to be exhumed when they reached +the Rockies, was a revolver he knew, rather better than his +classmates, how to use, for he had learned as a lad on the plains. +Each had his ticket for Chicago, where they were to change for Denver. +Each had a money belt and a modest sum in currency. Each had his hopes +of rescuing something if not all of the imperilled property, and +neither had even a vague idea of the peril, difficulty, and treachery +he was destined to encounter.</p> + +<p>Everything had promised well when Silver Shield was first exploited. +Its promoters and agents showed high-grade ore, and reports of expert +mining engineers promised abundance of it. All that was needed was +development. "Come in now, on the ground-floor, and you'll be coining +money in a year's time," said Mr. Breifogle, and to the number of +seven the commissioned force at Fort <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>Reynolds had "come." So long as +they remained close to the spot all seemed going well. But Graham had +been ordered to the Point, and the regiment over in the Oklahoma +country. Then came trouble.</p> + +<p>It seemed odd that stock held so high should so soon have to be +assessed. But "some expensive machinery was necessary." Then came a +second and larger demand. Silver Shield was so valuable that envious +eyes had been directed to it, and fraudulent claims and claimants were +constantly turning up. Threatened litigation would be long and +expensive. It would be cheaper far to buy off the litigants. So +Graham, with a sigh and sore premonition of trouble, obtained the +necessary amount on his personal note. McCrea, with inward misgiving, +borrowed and sent it. Officers at Reno sent up what they could, but it +wasn't enough, and in May came a third appeal. The secretary wrote +that litigation had begun, and there was reason to believe the courts +were being "approached" by the enemy. It was absolutely essential that +"these parties should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>be bought off," and quite a sum would be +necessary. The First National Bank of Argenta (which had once been +robbed of a great sum by road-agents, who were run down and captured +by officers and men of the —th, and the money recovered) ought in all +conscience to be grateful to its benefactors, yet when Graham, McCrea, +and Major Lawrence wrote, begging advice in the premises, the bank was +non-committal. Some of its customers were among the litigants, as was +later discovered. And so it resulted that not until near the end of +June did it dawn upon the officers involved that the whole matter was +nothing more nor less than a well-conceived, but rascally, scheme to +"milk them dry," as was the expression, secure their shares at a +sacrifice, or drive them out entirely.</p> + +<p>And they, the absentees, were only seven against seventy or more, who +were experienced in all the crafts and devices by which mines have +been dug at the expense of the many and then made to enrich the few.</p> + +<p>It was late at night when the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>fellow-travellers reached Denver. +McCrea was depressed and silent, Geordie eager to push ahead. The +former had had time to think over the situation, and in Chicago, while +waiting for the Pacific express to start, he had had a fifteen-minute +talk with a relative, a Western business man, to whom mining and +undermining were matters well understood, and what this expert said +had filled him with dismay. "You've simply been bled until you could +bleed no more," said he. "Now they've no further use for you. What +they want is your stock at five cents on the dollar, to sell to some +new gudgeon at fifty. Why on earth, Mac, when you were considering +this, didn't you consult me?" Why, indeed! Like many another man, +Mac's eyes had been blinded, his ears deafened to everything but the +wiles of the charmer. But with Geordie it was different. He had come +because his father was bound to the wheel of duty and could not. +Moreover, barring inexperience and youth, Geordie was better fitted to +go and do than was his father, the doctor.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>He would waste no time with agents. He would employ no lawyer—that +was simply waste of both time and money. Of the former they had little +and of the latter even less. But his brain was active and fertile. He +had slept but little on their swift westward way until after crossing +the Mississippi. His mother's grief at parting, and her speechless +anxiety as to the dangers that might beset him, had affected him +deeply, and at first his silence and preoccupation were due to that. +But the fighting blood of the Graeme was in his veins, and against the +abominable wrong these "sharks" would do his father and his scattered +friends the young fellow was bent on giving valiant battle; and he +thought he saw his way to strike and to strike hard.</p> + +<p>McCrea had given him the names of most of the sergeants of the old +regiment who, when their time expired, had taken their discharge and +gone to the mines. Among them were three on whom he believed he could +count to back him in a pinch. Among them was the veteran Nolan, on +whom he <i>knew</i> he could count.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>McCrea had wired ahead to an old and trusted friend, a resident of +Denver and a successful railway engineer. He was at the station +waiting when the two alighted from their train. It was McCrea's plan +to spend one day in Denver in consultation with certain officials, and +then to spring a surprise on the "board" at Argenta two days later. He +had wired to Fort Reno on the way, urging that one officer, at least, +of those most interested should hasten to Denver and meet him, and in +the hands of Mr. Warden, their engineer friend, was the reply: Captain +Lee would be with them in the morning. To register at a prominent +hotel would simply advertise their coming. Warden had seen to that and +engaged quarters for them near his own. Thither they were to go at +once, and, valises in hand, they followed Warden's lead, McCrea and +their guide talking eagerly together, Geordie following, silent and +observant. Toward the iron gateway they pressed, jostled and elbowed +by hurrying passengers.</p> + +<p>"It's but a few blocks' walk," Warden was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>saying. "I've a cart to +take your grips and we can chat as we go. I thought you'd be glad of a +bite or a cup of tea or something before turning in. Mr. Ross, who +wired Dr. Graham, is here, and he'll meet us at the restaurant. He +thinks they are following him—shadowing him."</p> + +<p>"Who?" asked McCrea.</p> + +<p>"Why, the crowd that are trying to get control there of Silver Shield. +Some of them live in Argenta, he says, and found out he had been in +correspondence with the doctor, and that it was he who had given +warning." Then, glancing over his shoulder as they neared the gate, +and speaking to Geordie, he continued, "What is the name of the brewer +up there who wanted your place at the Point for his son?"</p> + +<p>"Breifogle."</p> + +<p>"That's the man," answered Warden. "Ross says he's one of the leaders +of the move. Most of his money has been made by freezing out other +men."</p> + +<p>And just at that moment, moving leisurely along in the rear of the +train-load of belated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>passengers, they reached the exit gate, and the +instant they came under the broad, blue-white glare of the electric +globe overhead there was a sudden stir in the little gathering along +the iron fence. A burly young man darted swiftly away, and in his +haste tripped backward over an empty baby carriage. In a second he was +floundering on the floor, his bowler hat rolling one way, his stick +flying another. A shrill voice began to berate him as he struggled to +his feet, but he paused neither to explain nor listen. He swooped for +his hat and shot for a dark passage, but not before Geordie had caught +a glimpse of his face.</p> + +<p>"That was young Breifogle," said he.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>"I'M READY NOW"</h4> +<br /> + +<p>There was no other train over the Transcontinental, westward, before +7.30 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> They had reached Denver by the Pacific express, and +in five minutes the sleeper in which the two had journeyed from +Chicago would be whirling swiftly away for "The Springs" before +beginning the long, tortuous climb over the huge bulwark between them +and the watershed of the great Colorado beyond. There had really been +no reason why Graham should stop over at Denver. He knew none of the +officials of the Silver Shield there resident. He did not wish to know +them. They had doubtless conspired with their associates at Argenta to +"squeeze out" his father and friends. They hoped and expected to buy +in for a song the valuable stock held by this scattered band of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>soldiers and some twenty or thirty prospective victims in the distant +East. This would give them a controlling interest in the property. It +would make them virtual owners of a valuable mine. It would make them +richer by far than they were beforehand. This would impoverish, and it +might ruin, many of the absent who had furnished the means by which +Silver Shield was developed. It was robbery outright, but robbery of a +kind so common in our country that people have become callous to it. +It was by just such means and methods that many of the great fortunes +of America have been won, and the winners ride to-day on the topmost +wave of prosperity and popular acclaim, when, if the people but +realized the truth, many an object of their adulation would be wearing +convict stripes and prison pallor to the end of his dishonored days.</p> + +<p>But Graham had journeyed with his long-time friend and senior +officer—senior by seven years—and McCrea's plans, to a certain +point, seemed to dominate those of the younger and less experienced +man. McCrea's idea was to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>"tackle" the local directors first and +compel recognition of their rights. He, as post quartermaster, had had +business dealings with bankers and merchants both in Denver and +Chicago. He believed that, reinforced by the presence of Captain Lee +from Reno, he could make a certain impression, or else certain +threats, that would bring these magnates to time.</p> + +<p>But Dr. Graham, an older head, thought otherwise, had so instructed +Geordie and so endeavored to impress McCrea. The men, said he, had +planned this out. "They stand to lose little in the market if the +stocks are 'beared.' They have invested little; we have invested our +all. If nothing was found they could quit. If good ore was found, then +it was their game to conceal the fact, to demand more and more money +for more and more development, force us out, get our shares, and own +the property. Why, laddie, the man that warned me dared not sign his +name, for every wire was watched; yet I'd stake six months' pay he's +got the rights of it. There's ore there in plenty!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>And so every indication said at the start. It wasn't until many +Eastern people had been induced to invest (Dr. Graham's New York +friends, the Fraziers, among them) that managers and directors began +to tell dismal tales and ask for more and more. It was then that Dr. +Graham bethought him of a brother Scot who dwelt near Argenta, a man +once so poor that when his bairns were down with diphtheria he could +not coax Argenta doctors out across the five-mile stretch of +storm-swept, frozen prairie. It was the burly post surgeon from the +fort who rode eight miles to and eight miles back in any kind of +weather, night or day, until he snatched those babies back from death, +and gave them, weak and gasping, yet alive, to the arms of their +weeping and imploring and at last rejoicing mother. Oh, those are +deeds that women remember so long as life remains to them, and that +but few men forget, and the clansman, who couldn't begin to pay in +cash for what "the Graeme" had done for him and his, could reward in +fealty now. It was Donald Ross to whom the doctor had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>written, and +Ross who made investigation and reply.</p> + +<p>And yet, though he had taken precaution to send his letter from a +village post-office, and his message from a railway station ten miles +east of Argenta, the spies of Silver Shield had heard of one or both, +and now their watcher knew that two at least of the enemy were in +their camp. For what else was young Breifogle there? For what but to +give warning had he so suddenly vanished?</p> + +<p>It was of all this that Geordie was thinking, as silently he strode +along by the side of the two elders, hearing yet scarcely heeding +their eager talk. He had plans and projects of his own. Father was not +the only one who had a friend or two in Yampah and up the range. +Veteran troopers of the old regiment were scouting there for gold and +silver, where ten years earlier they had scouted for the red warriors +of Colorow and Yampah Jack. If he could but get in touch with Nolan, +with Feeny, with almost any one of those now mining who once rode in +"E" Troop! If he could only reach some of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>the men he guided over the +Divide to the successful capture of the gang that looted the First +National! Oh, the shame of Breifogle's ingratitude! As one of the +bank's directors at that time, he had pledged everlasting gratitude to +the officers and troopers who had restored their treasure.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Warden turned a corner, pushed back a swinging door, led the +way into a clean, brightly lighted little "dairy" restaurant, passed +on through to the less public tables partitioned off in alcoves of +their own, and here, behind an outspread newspaper, sat, lonely and +expectant, a broad-shouldered ranchman whose weather-beaten face +beamed joyously at sight of the three, and whose big hands were on +young Graham's squared shoulders before they had fairly shaken +greeting to any one. "Geordie, mon, but it's glad I am to see ye!" was +the whispered welcome. "Softly, now, there's—others here."</p> + +<p>Quickly they were served with steaks, scrambled eggs, toast, tea or +coffee, as they chose, and two at least were hungry, yet Geordie, +brimful of eagerness to put his plan <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>into execution, could hardly +spare time to eat. Yes, Ross knew Nolan and Feeny of old. Many's the +time they'd dropped in at the ranch when antelope-stalking down the +foot-hills. Nolan had prospered. He and Feeny, both, when last heard +of were somewhere up among the mines. Burns was in Collins's Camp on +Lance Creek. Toomey and Scully had got "cleaned out" and were firing +on the Transcontinental.</p> + +<p>"Where?" demanded Geordie, his eyes dilating.</p> + +<p>"Mountain Division, both of 'em. Toomey on the Mogul that pulls the +Time Freight over the range—" And here Geordie stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Hear this, Mr. McCrea," said he. "Toomey, of 'E' Troop, fireman on +the big freight-engine! He'll surely know where the others are. Now, +<i>you</i> know the railway people. You say you've got to stay here a day +or two. Get <i>me</i> permission to ride on any freight-engine, Mountain +Division, for the next three days, and I'm off for the mines before +we're half a day older, and no man here or there the wiser."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>"They'd spot you as you went through Argenta," said McCrea. "Breifogle +will be watching every train."</p> + +<p>"Every <i>car</i> of every train, perhaps; but I'll be firing by the time +we get there, black with soot and coal-dust, and they wouldn't know me +if they saw me. If the division superintendent doesn't give it +away—and you—who's to know I've turned fireman on a freight? There's +my chance, McCrea, and you know it!"</p> + +<p>"By Jove, Geordie, but I believe you're right," was McCrea's answer, +rising to his feet and facing the eager young fellow across the table. +"You're a 'dandy,' as was said of you on graduation day, only it was +meant in a different sense. Who's in charge at the station now, +Warden?" he asked, with sudden resolution. "I knew most of their +traffic men when I was quartermaster."</p> + +<p>Warden whipped out a railway folder. "Colorado Transcontinental," he +read, and began skimming down a long list of official titles and names. +Traffic managers, freight and passenger agents, superintendents, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>division superintendents, and then, "Here we are, Mountain Division: +W.B. Anthony."</p> + +<p>"Know him well," cried McCrea. "He brought the first passengers up to +Argenta in eighty-seven. He was freight conductor on the U.P. when I +was a boy at Cheyenne. We'll nab him first thing in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Can't we nab him to-night?" asked Geordie.</p> + +<p>McCrea laughed. "You're keen as your father, Pops," said he. "Niver +put off till t'-morrow what can be done the day."</p> + +<p>"The laddie's right," said Ross. "I'm betting you'll find him at the +yards till after No. 2 comes in—the Flyer—that's due at 12.40."</p> + +<p>And so it happened that, as the clocks were pointing to the quarter +after midnight, Lieutenant Ralph McCrea and the newly appointed +subaltern, both in plain travelling dress, once more appeared at the +Union Station, and presently learned that Mr. Anthony was about the +yard. It was not long thereafter that they found him, busy, as such +men must ever be, yet recognizing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>McCrea at a glance and giving him +cordial welcome.</p> + +<p>But when McCrea presented his friend, "Lieutenant Graham, whose father +you probably knew as post surgeon at Reynolds," and then made his +request, the official looked grave.</p> + +<p>"It's against orders," said he. "The Old Man has jacked up more than +one of the best engineers for allowing it. Why, the Governor had to +get a permit from the general manager for his son to ride in the cab +of the Flyer only last week, and for some reason they've shut down on +our freight people entirely. Gil Frost, bringing his own brother, who +used to fire on the Union Pacific, over on old 550 two weeks ago, had +to dance the carpet the next morning right here in Denver."</p> + +<p>"How do you break in your <i>new</i> firemen?" asked Geordie. "Some of our +best men are firing for you now. They had to begin somehow, I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"Pitch 'em neck and crop into a cab, with a short-handled shovel and a +sharp-tongued <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>old hand. It nigh breaks their backs, but they learn +quick that way."</p> + +<p>"Well, pitch me, neck and crop, into a cab, with as short a handle and +sharp a tongue as you like, Mr. Anthony. I'm on three months' leave, +and for reasons of my own want to learn how to fire an engine."</p> + +<p>For a moment Anthony looked at the young fellow in amaze. Then the +resolute, square-jawed, clean-cut face began to impress him.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've been dealing with you army men out here nigh onto twenty +years," said he, "and I'm blessed if I ever heard the like of that."</p> + +<p>"Don't let it surprise you into telling it, Anthony, that's all," put +in McCrea. "Here! Let me give you a pointer—you've got a West +Pointer. I've known you for a square man ever since we were stationed +at Russell," and, linking his arm in that of the astonished official, +McCrea drew him a few paces away from the point where they found him, +with a great passenger-engine hissing and throbbing close at hand, +waiting to take the Flyer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>whirling eastward toward the Missouri. +Geordie stood silently and watched them. He saw the wonderment in +Anthony's strong face give way to interest as McCrea talked rapidly +on; saw interest deepen to sympathy and a certain excitement. In three +minutes Anthony broke away and came hurrying back, looking at his +watch.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Graham," said he, "d' you want to go up the line this very night? +Could you be ready in two hours?"</p> + +<p>"I'm ready now," was the instant reply. "All I want is an old cap and +overalls—the blacker the better."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>FIRST NIGHT ON THE RANGE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Away up among the Rockies, with towering, pine-fringed, snow-sprinkled +crests looming dimly about them in the moonlight, two young men stood +waiting by a switch-target of the Transcontinental. Facing westward, +they could see the huge bulk of the mountain range rolling up between +them and the starry sky-line, black and forbidding in the middle +distance, yet fading away northward and southward into faint and +tender outlines—soft grays and violets—and with the earliest signals +in the East of the speedy coming of the long summer's day. Facing +eastward, there confronted them close at hand the huge black bulk of +the mammoth Mogul engine, its dazzling head-light shining afar up the +westward right of way, and throwing into heavier shade, by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>force of +contrast, every object outside its beams. In the solemn stillness of +nature in those high levels, almost the only sound was the soft hiss +of escaping steam from the cylinder-cocks or an occasional rumble from +the boiler. Even murmured words seemed audible and intelligible sixty +feet away, and twice big Ben Tillson, the engineer of 705, had pricked +up his ears as he circled about his giant steed, oiling the grimy +joints, elbows, and bearings, and pondering in his heavy, methodical +way over certain parting instructions that had come to him from the +lips of the division superintendent. "A young feller learning firing" +would board him at Chimney Switch, forty miles out from the Springs, +and the Boss desired Ben Tillson to understand that "The Road" had its +reasons, and the "young feller" was to be spared the customary +quizzing. Furthermore, Ben Tillson was to understand that nothing was +to be said about it. If anybody at Argenta or among the mines had any +questions to ask, Ben was to know next to nothing.</p> + +<p>But what set Ben's wits to work was the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>odd behavior of his fireman, +Jim Toomey. Toomey was a silent sort of chap as a rule, and surely, +too, with a grudge against the gang over in Hatch's Cove and up the +Run. Toomey had taken to firing because he had got cleaned out at the +mines. Toomey ordinarily wasn't over-civil to anybody. Toomey, too, +had been favored with a word from Mr. Anthony, and never had Big Ben +seen his fireman more cheery over his work than he was that night as +they panted and strained up the foot-hills to Chimney Switch. Ben +could have sworn Toomey was "excited like" when they side-tracked +there for a way-train, and never in the course of Big Ben's experience +had he seen an old fireman greet a would-be as Toomey welcomed the +tall "young feller" in the dirty cap, shirt, and overalls who there +clambered into the cab. Twice, Ben could have further sworn, he had +heard Toomey say "sir," a word Toomey used to no one less than the +division superintendent.</p> + +<p>Somewhat grudgingly and suspiciously, therefore, had Ben nodded +greeting and looked the "young feller" over. He did not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>extend his +hand. The new-comer had on a pair of oiled-buck gauntlets, "soldier +gauntlets," such as the cavalry used to have at Reynolds, that "all +the boys in the cabs are stuck on." Even at the hardest kind of +shovelling they outlived every other kind a dozen weeks, and the +fireman was a lucky malefactor who could induce a soldier to part with +his.</p> + +<p>And though the "young feller's" cap and clothing were strictly and +unimpeachably professional and grimy, it was the face no less than the +gloves and boots that told Ben Tillson this was no needy seeker after +a job. The boots were new and fine, laced daintily up the front, and +showed their style even through the lack of polish and the coating of +dust and ashes. The gauntlets also, though worn and old, were innocent +of grease. This was no cub fireman, said Ben, resentfully, as he +revolved in mind a scheme or two that should take the stuffing of +conceit out of him, when suddenly he paused. "Why, certainly," Ben had +it, just another case such as he had been reading about, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>how the sons +of successful railway magnates, discarding wealth and luxuries, had +determined to learn the business from the bottom up and fit themselves +for future eminence in railway circles. The "young feller" must be a +Gould or a Vanderbilt, a Ledyard, a Huntington, a son of somebody at +the financial head of things. While sacrificing none of his steady +self-reliance or self-respect, Ben Tillson decided to treat his new +fireman, assistant to the old, with all due civility. He would cringe +or kowtow to no one, but, like the sturdy citizen he was, Ben deemed +it wise to keep on the good side of the powers. It was necessary, +however, that the new-comer should understand who was boss on that +engine, and even as they stood waiting at the Chimney Ben had taken +occasion to say, "I see you're not stuck on shovelling, young man"; +then with a most knowing and suggestive wink, "I reckon you'd rather +do tennis or tiddlywinks," and was surprised at the answer.</p> + +<p>"As matters stand, I'd rather be shovelling here than playing +tennis—anywhere."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>"It's the first time you ever saw the West from a cab-window, I'm +betting," said Ben. And George Graham, who had seen more of the West +than Ben could ever hope to see, and who knew the Silver Run country +before ever the railway reached the foot-hills, had the wisdom to +answer, "You'd win."</p> + +<p>And now at Buffalo Butte 705 was side-tracked, awaiting the coming of +passenger No. 4, east bound, and then—then there would be a clear run +to and through Argenta. Then would come the familiar scenes about old +Fort Reynolds; then the wild and picturesque beauty of Squaw Cañon and +Hatch's Cove, and then George Graham would be able to judge by surface +indications how far his disguise had really disguised him. Toomey had +already told him where Nolan and Feeny could be found. Toomey was to +send word or a letter to both of them, and then it would be time to +decide on the next move.</p> + +<p>For now the scheme was to reach the heart of what might be called the +enemy's country, and to get there unsuspected, unobserved, and thus +far all was working well.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>It was the second morning after his reaching Denver. Mr. Anthony had +put him through to the Springs, and then to Chimney Switch, where he +was to wait for 705 and Toomey. And even now as they stood there, he +and Toomey, exchanging at intervals some low-toned words at the +switch, the eastward skies were slowly taking on their early morning +garb of pink and violet, the eastward fronts of the snow-sifted peaks +and domes far to the north and south were lighting up with wondrous +hues of gold and crimson; the stars aloft were paling and the moon was +sinking low, and still big 705 stood hissing and grumbling placidly on +the long siding, and the green lights back at the caboose blinked +sleepily against the dawn. Two glimmering threads of light in rigid +right lines, converging far beyond the rear of the train, stretched +eastward from their feet until lost in the shadows of Buffalo Butte, +and not yet had Toomey's accustomed ear been able to detect the faint, +whirring, song of the rails that tells of the coming of far-distant, +thundering wheels. "She's late again," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>said Toomey, uneasily. "We +should have heard her whistling for Spearman's Ranch five minutes ago, +and I wanted to pull you out of Argenta before seven o'clock."</p> + +<p>"You still think I'm not grimy enough," said Geordie, with a grin. "I +can lay on a coat of coal-dust—"</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't that," came the murmured answer, with a shake of the head. +"It's the back and shoulders, sir. You couldn't turn yourself +hindside-foremost, could you, and get your chest between your +shoulder-blades?"</p> + +<p>"I can cultivate a stoop," said Geordie, with a forward hunch of the +shoulders. "But there you go with that 'sir' again. We're in uniform, +but not that of the cavalry. You'll betray me yet, Toomey, if you're +not careful. Now, about the stoop—"</p> + +<p>"It might do, s—, if you could keep it, but from the time you came to +Reynolds you were the straightest boy in the garrison, and now, with +four years at West Point, you've got a back on you flat as a board. +That's what's going to queer us in passing you off for a kid fireman. +It was hard enough going <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>through before it was fairly light. Now, +unless No. 4 gets in in five minutes, the sun will be lighting the +length of the shed at Argenta, and we've got cars to cut out there, +too. Confound No. 4!"</p> + +<p>And then a certain superfluous lantern, bleary with a night of +service, came dawdling up the side of the train, and the conductor +hove in sight, watch in hand. "Four left Argenta on time," said he to +the engineer. "What the mischief keeps her? She ought to have gone by +five minutes ago. Who's yonder with Toomey?"</p> + +<p>"Friend of his; young feller from Chimney, learning firing. Old man's +orders," he added, at sight of rebuke in the conductor's eyes. "Told +me himself to take him along and give him a show."</p> + +<p>The conductor set his lantern down near the fore truck of the tender. +He did not half like it that a superior should give orders to his +engineer that did not come through him. He had been a soldier in his +day and accustomed to military ways of doing things. He was already +chafing over a delay that would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>bring him behind time to Argenta. Now +he was nettled at this apparent slight. "When did he tell you, and +where?" was the demand. "He was at Denver the last I saw of him."</p> + +<p>"He ran out to the Springs on No. 5; passed you at Monument, probably; +spoke to me at the round-house about ten o'clock." And having thus +summarily settled the matter, Big Ben clambered sulkily once more into +the cab.</p> + +<p>The conductor made a grimace expressive of much disgust. Presently he +turned, left his lantern by the side of the engine, and then came +angering on to the switch. He decided to see for himself what the +stranger was like.</p> + +<p>In the gray light of the dawn the two young men, one of them stockily, +strongly built, the other very slender and erect, were absorbed in +eager talk. Not until the conductor was within five yards of them did +Graham note his coming and signal "Hush." Abruptly came the challenge:</p> + +<p>"'Ain't you heard her whistle yet, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>Toomey?" and the tone implied that +sheer neglect could be the only explanation for Toomey's failure in +case no whistle had been heard.</p> + +<p>"Nary whistle," was the indifferent answer.</p> + +<p>"Well, how could you expect to hear it? You were talking a blue +streak." And while the conductor's rebuke was levelled at Toomey, his +sombre eyes were on Graham.</p> + +<p>"Doing that to keep awake," was the blunt reply. "Haven't been to bed +for thirty hours."</p> + +<p>"That's nothing. In my day a-soldiering we didn't get to bed once a +week. That's when we was after Morgan. You regulars couldn't stand +that, I s'pose."</p> + +<p>"In my day we didn't get to bed once a month," answered Toomey, with +equal truth. "That was when we was after Sittin' Bull. The volunteers +that started on <i>that</i> chase petered out at Powder River."</p> + +<p>The conductor sniffed. It had been give and take 'twixt him and Toomey +ever since the discovery that each had served in the cavalry. Beaten +thus far in the battle of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>chaff, the conductor tried another as he +studied Geordie with unfriendly eyes.</p> + +<p>"Got a kid fireman here—'nother of y'r officers' dog-robbers?" he +demanded.</p> + +<p>Toomey whirled on him in an instant, in spite of Geordie's +quick-gripping hand. "You're boss on this train, Cullin," said he, +savagely, "and you know I can't jaw back as you deserve, but if Bob +Anthony happens to be where he can hear of <i>that</i> remark, you'll get +your time or <i>I'm</i> a liar."</p> + +<p>For a moment Cullin stood and glared, wrath and humiliation +commingling. Graham it was who quickly stepped forward and interposed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm playing kid fireman, Mr. Cullin," said he, quietly, "and I +was told by the division superintendent if any trouble arose to give +this to the conductor," whereat he held forth a card on the back of +which dimly appeared some written words. Over these Cullin glanced, +unappeased, until he came to the last line and signature. Then a +curious change swept slowly over his face. He looked Graham carefully, +doubtfully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>from head to foot, slowly thrust the card in a +waistcoat-pocket, and was turning silently away when Geordie hailed +him, a ready smile on his young face.</p> + +<p>"I'll trouble you for the card," said he. "I may meet <i>other</i> +conductors."</p> + +<p>Slowly Cullin fumbled for it, twiddled it between his fingers, and +finally, half reluctant, restored it. At that instant, faint, distant, +but distinct, came the sound of the whistle of the belated No. 4. +"That's for Spearman's now," thought Geordie, but so tense had been +the scene that for a moment no man spoke.</p> + +<p>Then Toomey gave tongue.</p> + +<p>"She'll go by here kiting," said he. "Ten miles down-grade and a +two-mile straightaway from Cimarron Bend, out yonder." Again the +whistle, and nearer. "That's for the crossing at the creek. By gad, +she's just jumping! Hang onto your hair when you see her head-light +and scramble for the cab."</p> + +<p>Another whistle, two short blasts and a long. Nearer still, yet still +out of sight; and then presently there shot into view, over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>a mile +away to the west, even though the gray light of the summer's dawn now +overspread the landscape, the glare of a head-light. It was No. 4 +coming full tilt.</p> + +<p>And then—surprise! From steam-drum and 'scape-valve jetted clouds of +flat-driven steam. No. 4 had suddenly "shut off," and was now coasting +downhill like a huge toboggan.</p> + +<p>Another blast came from the whistle. "By Jove, she's going to stop!" +said Cullin. "What on earth's the meaning of that?"</p> + +<p>With prodigious shriek and roar of steam, with clinching, crunching +air-brakes on the glistening tires, with sparks flying from the +whirring wheels and signal-lanterns swinging at the side, No. 4 came +rushing in. As the baggage-car shot by, a little group of men stood by +the doorway about a recumbent figure, and the conductor whisked up his +lantern and started after it. When nearly opposite the caboose the big +train settled to a stop. Four pairs of strong arms lifted the +prostrate figure from one car to the other. There were brief, hurried +words. A lantern <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>waved; the whistle sounded two quick blasts; No. 4 +slowly started, quickly gained speed, and, almost as quickly as it +came, was steaming away for Buffalo Butte, its pale lamps gleaming +dimly in the gathering light. The conductor came running forward.</p> + +<p>"Pull out for Argenta, Ben!" he shouted. "Say, young feller, drop +shovelling and come back. I've got nobody to help me, and here No. 4's +loaded me with a half-dead man to be taken home. There's a row at the +mines. Every man is out from Silver Shield!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>FIRST AID TO THE WOUNDED</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Slowly, jerkily, the Time Freight began to gather headway as the big +Mogul pulled, hissing loudly, from the siding to the main track, the +ugly brown cars winding grudgingly after. This was before the days of +mile-long freight-trains with air-brakes and patent couplers. Over the +grades of the Transcontinental no engine yet had pulled more than +twenty "empties." There was ever the danger of breaking in two. In the +dim interior of the caboose the conductor, with Geordie Graham by his +side, was bending over a battered and dishevelled form. As the rear +trucks went clicking over the switch-points, the former sprang to the +open doorway to see that his brakeman reset and locked the switch, and +with a swift run overtook the caboose and swung himself aboard.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>"I'll be up in a minute, Andy," cried Cullin to his aid, already +scrambling up the iron ladder for his station on the roof. "This poor +devil's battered into pulp and I can't leave him." And again he was by +Graham's side—Graham who, kneeling now and sponging with cold water +the bruised, hacked, disfigured face of the senseless victim, had made +a startling discovery.</p> + +<p>Here, with his clothing ripped, torn, and covered with dirt and blood, +with one arm obviously broken and his head beaten, kicked, and cruelly +gashed—here, beyond a doubt, lay the man who nearly five years +earlier had been the one obstacle between him and the goal of his +ambition, the cadetship at West Point; here lay the son of the man +probably most prominent in the conspiracy against the absent +shareholders of Silver Shield; here, in fine, lay the almost lifeless +body of the youth he had seen spying upon their arrival at +Denver—young Breifogle himself.</p> + +<p>By this time the Mogul was grinding her way up the track, in +determined effort to land <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>the Time Freight in the yards at Argenta +before the whistle blew for seven o'clock. It was a twelve-mile pull +up-grade, every inch of the way—twisting, turning, and tunnelling, as +has been said—and the caboose reeled and swayed from side to side as +it rounded the reverse curves and swung at the tail of the train. +Cullin, lantern in hand, had climbed to his seat in the lookout.</p> + +<p>"I've got to be up here," he explained, "till we are through the +tunnels. Do what you can. I suppose sponging is all we <i>can</i> do."</p> + +<p>Graham nodded. He had stripped the leather-covered cushion from the +conductor's chair, and with this and a rolled coat made a support for +the senseless head. He had a fire-bucket of cold water, and even as he +plied the wet sponge and sought to stanch the trickling blood, his +wits were at work. The men on No. 4 had only time to say that four +miles out from Argenta, down the Run beyond Narrow Gauge Junction, +their whistle suddenly shrieked, the air-brakes were set with a clamp +that jolted the whole train, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>and they slowed down just enough not to +knock into flinders a hand-car that was sailing ahead of them, +down-grade. "The pilot hit it a lick that tossed it into the ditch," +No. 4's crew had explained, and beside it they had found—this.</p> + +<p>And "this" it was now Geordie's task and duty to keep alive until they +could turn it over to competent hands at Argenta. "This," which others +failed to know, he had recognized. "This" it was for him to make +known, yet in so doing he might betray himself and the purpose of his +coming, and so undo every hope and plan he had made. There was no +Toomey to help him now—no devoted ex-trooper and friend to back him. +Engineer, fireman, conductor, and brakemen, every man of the crew had +to be at his post as the freight panted away up the winding mountain +road. The crew of No. 4 had searched the pockets in vain for a clew as +to the injured man's identity. Everything was gone. His assailants had +seen to that. Not a scrap had been found that could account for him. +Even the shirt "tab" bore no initials; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>the watch-pocket of the +trousers bore no name. The garments had been purchased ready-made and +gave no sign.</p> + +<p>Then there was another matter to be considered. Badly as he was +battered and bruised, the man was not dying. Graham knew how to test +the pulse, and its strength told him not to fear. The chances were +that his patient would return to consciousness before very long. Then +recognition of his grimy attendant would probably follow. Breifogle +was no fool, as Graham remembered, and a fireman's black cap and sooty +shirt and overalls would be but scant disguise.</p> + +<p>And to carry out his plan it was essential that he should pass through +Argenta, reach Hatch's Cove and eventually the Silver Shield mine, and +reach this latter unknown and unsuspected. Toomey and he had hit on a +plan—once Toomey could succeed in getting word to Nolan. But that, +reasoned Geordie, might be impossible now in view of this new +complication—serious trouble at the mines, and "every man out at +Silver Shield."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>If only he could see Toomey again for a moment! That was impossible. +Toomey's every muscle was needed to keep that fiery and insatiable +monster fed with fuel every rod of the way to Argenta. There was no +intermediate stop. There could be no signals—no sending of a message. +Half the distance had they gone, panting and straining, barely fifteen +miles to the hour. Broad daylight, and then the rejoicing sunshine, +had come to cheer and gladden and revive, and Cullin shouted inquiry, +as he bent down from his perch, and Graham nodded or shook his head by +way of reply. Swiftly and scientifically he kept up the play of the +sponges; shook his head to Cullin's suggestion of a little more +whiskey—the frontier's "first aid" for every kind of mishap. The +pulse said there was no further need of it, at the moment at least. +And then, as they rumbled over some resounding bridge-work and crossed +the swift and foaming Run, the train crept under the shadow of the +cliff and stretched away over a bit of open, undulating grassland, and +then the racket ceased for a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>while and it was possible, by bending +down, to catch the patient's breathing.</p> + +<p>And it gave Geordie an idea.</p> + +<p>The poor, bruised head was turning in restless pain; the puffed and +swollen lips were moving; the still unconscious man was muttering. Not +a word could Geordie distinguish. It was all guesswork. But, glancing +up at Cullin, he called: "He's trying to talk. Perhaps I can get his +name," and again inclined his ear and bent down over the luckless +fellow's face. "Yes," he said, loudly, so that Cullin could +hear—"yes, I understand.... Don't worry.... You're with friends.... +Tell us your name and home.... What? Try once again.... Bry—what? Oh, +Breifogle?... Yes. Argenta? That's just where we're going. We'll be +there very soon. Don't try to talk more now." And again the sponge was +busily plied, and then the grimy nurse glanced upward at Cullin, now +shinning down from his perch in the skylight. "His home's right ahead +at Argenta. Breifogle's the name."</p> + +<p>"Breifogle!" shouted Cullin, aghast. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>"Why, that's the big brewer, +banker, mine-owner, and Lord knows what all—that owns half of Yampah +County and wants to own the rest. Could he tell who slugged him? Does +he know anything about it? Ask him."</p> + +<p>Obediently Geordie put the question, but no answer came. "Seems to +have wandered off," he said. "Perhaps we'd be wise to worry him with +no more questions. If he's what you say, they'll be looking everywhere +for him. When did the men at Silver Shield go out?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday morning at ten o'clock, so they said on No. 4. There was a +pack of 'em come down to Argenta to get to the owners, they said. By +gad, they seem to have got <i>at</i> one of 'em!"</p> + +<p>A moan from the sufferer was the only answer. Graham shook his head. +"How soon can you make it?" he asked. "The sooner this man's in expert +hands the better 'twill be."</p> + +<p>"Twelve minutes," said Cullin, with a snap of his silver watch-lid. +"<i>You</i> seem no slouch of a handler yourself. Where'd you learn?"</p> + +<p>"I lived with a doctor awhile," was the quiet answer. "He had to patch +men up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>occasionally." And Geordie could barely suppress the grin that +twitched the corners of his mouth. How strangely already his adventure +was faring! "I suppose after hammering him senseless they set him +adrift on that hand-car, hoping it would finish him and hide their +crime," he hazarded.</p> + +<p>"Looks like it," was Cullin's short answer as once more he climbed to +his station.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later they were slowly trundling in among a maze of tracks +and sidings, with long trains of gondolas, coal-cars, and dingy-brown +freight-boxes on both sides. Cullin was shouting to invisible +switchmen, and presently the train came bumping to a stand. Another +minute and two or three early birds among the yardmen were climbing +aboard and curiously, excitedly, peering over Geordie's head. He never +looked up. Calmly he continued his sponging. Then Cullin's voice was +heard again. A stretcher was thrust in at the rear door. Three or four +men, roughly dressed, but with sorrow and sympathy in their careworn +faces, bent over the prostrate body. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>They seemed to look to Graham +for instructions.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep084" id="imagep084"></a> +<a href="images/imagep084.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep084.jpg" width="45%" alt=""BIG BEN WAS BUSY WITH HIS OIL-CAN"" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"BIG BEN WAS BUSY WITH HIS OIL-CAN"<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>"You know where to take him?" he asked. "All right, then, I'll leave +him with you." And before the station-master or other official could +come, Graham had seen his patient transferred to the stretcher, borne +forth into the sunshine and away to the passenger-room. Then, slipping +from the left rear steps, with the train between him and the building, +Geordie sauntered, softly whistling, up to the front again, and in +five minutes was helping Toomey at the cab.</p> + +<p>It was not yet seven. Big Ben was busy with his oil-can. Three cars +had been cut out from the train and run to a platform close at hand. +It was high time they were off again, but the conductor was held in +the office, whither he had gone for orders, as well as to report +concerning their unsought passenger. Toomey was still angered against +Cullin, between whom and himself there was ever more or less friction, +but Geordie had begun to take a fancy to him. Cullin would never have +said what he did had he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>known the identity of Toomey's pupil, and +Geordie argued that Cullin's gruff and insolent greeting was in +reality a tribute to his powers—a recognition of the fact that he +looked the part he was trying to play.</p> + +<p>With so very much at stake depending on Graham's remaining +unrecognized, with old Fort Reynolds only six miles ahead, and Silver +Shield only twenty-six farther, it would be foolish to become involved +in a squabble. But Toomey had been nursing his wrath. Big Ben was not +too fond of Cullin, and Geordie found that they were quite bent on +making trouble at first opportunity. In spite of the early hour an air +of excitement pervaded the station. Many men were idling about the +passenger platform, and here and there little groups could be seen in +muttered conversation. There was no laughter, no light-hearted chaff. +It was noted by both men in the cab, before Geordie rejoined them, +that as the injured man was borne on his stretcher across the yard +into the passenger station, these groups <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>seemed rather to edge away +instead of crowding about in morbid curiosity.</p> + +<p>No need to ask who or what they were. The pallor of the faces, so +startling in contrast to the healthy tan of the ranch folk or the +swarthy grime of the railway men—the mud-splashed boots and trousers +told their tale. They were miners to a man, and miners in ugly mood.</p> + +<p>"The town's been full of 'em since noon yesterday," said a yardman to +Ben, in answer to his question. "They are here to see the Silver +Shield officers, and have been told they'd be up from Denver on No. 3. +They chased old Breifogle out of his office yesterday afternoon, and +he's been hiding ever since. Young Breifogle has been missing ever +since yesterday noon."</p> + +<p>"That's him on the stretcher," said Big Ben, gloomily, for the news +was already flying round. "Cullin says he's about done for. This young +feller in here took care of him all the way up from Buffalo Butte. No. +4 picked him up down the gulch and put him aboard us there."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>A long whistle was the only comment. At the first words spoken by the +yardman, a quick glance passed between the two young men on the +opposite, the fireman's, side of the cab. They could not see the +speaker, but they knew the voice. It was that of a former trooper of +the —th, another soldier who had sought to treble his savings at the +mines and had lost them all; then, too proud to return and "take on" +again, had found starvation-wages at Argenta.</p> + +<p>"Stay here," whispered Toomey, "and keep sittin'." Then, wiping his +hands on a wad of waste, and with an affable grin on his face, he +swung over behind Ben and leaned out of the cab.</p> + +<p>"Hullo, Scotty! Any of our fellers in that outfit?"</p> + +<p>"Hullo, Toomey! None of 'em with <i>that</i> gang, but there's three of 'em +came, and old Nolan's head of the whole caboodle. He's their cap' and +spokesman."</p> + +<p>"Nolan! Nolan here?" cried Toomey, in great excitement, while Geordie +felt his heart beating hard.</p> + +<p>"Nolan, as big as life and twice as wicked."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>A BALKED ARREST</h4> +<br /> + +<p>For a moment Graham's spirits sank like lead. Nolan, the stanch old +soldier who had been his foremost trooper friend and guide, was the +man of all others on whom he pinned his faith, on whose help he had +relied, and upon whose loyalty and devotion he was ready to stake his +every hope of success. And now—so said this former soldier and +comrade—now Nolan was here in Argenta, instead of up at the mines, +here with a mob of strikers, their leader and spokesman, chief of the +crew, possibly, that had nearly done to death the son of one of the +principal directors of Silver Shield.</p> + +<p>That Breifogle was his father's enemy, and a leading spirit in the +plot to rob him, Geordie Graham knew full well. That Breifogle the +younger had been sent to Denver <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>to watch for the coming of Dr. +Graham, McCrea, or others of the officers, all of whom he knew by +sight and name, there was every reason to believe; but that Nolan +should take part in or countenance the mobbing of the Breifogles, or +any others of the mine-owners, was abhorrent, if not impossible.</p> + +<p>Now for the moment Geordie longed for the presence of McCrea, who had +remained in Denver in hopes of bringing local officials to their +senses and his terms. And McCrea, for his part, was at the same moment +wishing to Heaven he had followed Geordie's lead and pushed ahead for +the field of battle. The Denverite members of the board, warned of his +presence, had easily managed to elude him, and with others were now on +their way to Argenta for a special meeting, while McCrea was still +held at a distance, lured by an appointment for a conference to come +off that very morning at eleven, long three hours after the other +conferees had vanished from town.</p> + +<p>But no older head was there to advise. Graham alone, representing the +aggrieved <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>shareholders, was at the scene of action. He could take +counsel with no man on the ground. Win or lose he must decide and act +for himself. Here he sat in the cab of the Mogul, impatient only five +minutes back to push ahead for the mines, to get away without +recognition. Now it might well be that the point at which to act was +right here in town.</p> + +<p>"The mine is being operated at heavy expense and loss," had been the +latest wail from the secretary. "There is not ore enough in sight to +begin to pay the wages of the men. Yet every test convinces us that +abundant results must follow further development." Another assessment, +therefore, on top of all previous levies, had been the imperative +demand. Geordie did not know it, but that pound was the last that +broke the hold of three. They had sold their stock for what it would +bring, and Breifogle and his clique were laughing in their sleeves. +They knew there was ore in abundance, both in sight and touch. Geordie +and McCrea believed it, and believed that if the one could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>establish +the fact, and the other could bring the directors to book with proof +of foul measures to squeeze out the small shareholders, victory would +be in their hands.</p> + +<p>But what was to be done now? By this time the fact that young +Breifogle had been fearfully beaten must be known to every man about +the station, and was swiftly racing to the opening doors of every +shop, office, and homestead in town. By this act the miners had +destroyed every hope of sympathy, or even, possibly, of justice. +Whatever their grievance it could not warrant murder. But what <i>was</i> +their grievance? What could have precipitated trouble at the mines and +a wholesale walkout at Silver Shield? What could have brought the +miners, nearly a hundred strong, here to Argenta, with Nolan at their +head—Nolan, who had been the company's faithful servant, the best +manager of men, the most level-headed and reliable "boss" at the +Silver Shield?</p> + +<p>Toomey's friend had hurried away, for sound of increasing excitement +came from the groups, now merging into one, about the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>telegraph +office. Big Ben swung himself out of the cab once more, and with arms +akimbo stood watching the distant gathering, wishing Cullin would come +with orders or else with explanation of the delay. This left Graham +and Toomey alone in the cab, and Toomey's first question was, "What +can you do now, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Find Nolan," was the brief answer, "and get to the bottom of this."</p> + +<p>"Orders may come any minute," said Toomey, looking anxiously over his +shoulder. "We'll have to pull out and go ahead. You couldn't—stay +here at Argenta, could you?"</p> + +<p>"I may <i>have</i> to. Here's Cullin now."</p> + +<p>"But no orders," said Toomey, with a gasp of relief, for from far over +the tracks, catching sight of his watchful engineer, Cullin had waved +his hand, palm towards them, twice to and fro, a gesture so like the +Indian sign "No go" that Geordie knew its meaning at a glance. +Silently they awaited his coming and listened, breathless, for his +tidings when he came.</p> + +<p>"What's the row about?" asked Ben, as Cullin reached them, breathing +hard.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>"Why, about their boss, it seems. The company gave him the bounce +yesterday, and ordered him off the premises. He demanded fair play and +a hearing, and then young Breifogle, who had gone up with the order +for his discharge, began abusing him. Nolan—that's the man's +name—called him down, and then Breifogle broke loose and cursed him, +called him traitor and all manner of names, and ordered some of his +men to throw him out. They did it, too, and brought on a fight. +Breifogle and his friends were armed and the men were not. They shot +two miners, arrested the 'ringleaders,' as they called 'em, and locked +'em up. Then the men quit the mine and laid for Breifogle when he +tried to get out. He hired a rig and drove t'other way, out to Miners' +Joy, slid out on the Narrow Gauge last night, and there was a dozen of +'em headed him off down at the Junction. Nolan and his crowd had come +down here to see the directors and get their rights. Of course some of +them did it, and there you are!"</p> + +<p>"Where's Nolan now?" asked Toomey.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>"Where <i>is</i> he? Over at the company's office waiting for the +directors, when he ought to be making tracks for Mexico."</p> + +<p>Graham's heart had been beating harder with every word. It bounded +with wrath as he listened to this, yet listened in silence and stern +self-control. But Toomey got a dig in the ribs that plainly said, +"Make him say why."</p> + +<p>"'Twouldn't be like Long Nolan to be skipping when he's needed by his +friends," growled Toomey. "He's no quitter, if he <i>was</i> at Powder +River," whereby it was Cullin's turn to get a dig, and little did he +relish it.</p> + +<p>"That's another I owe you, Toomey," said he, "and we'll settle it +by-and-by. Just now I'm thinking for your friend, if you are not. I +knew him before ever you did, and would go ten miles to your one to +help him. What you haven't sense enough to see is, that it won't be an +hour before the sheriff's after him with a warrant, and if Breifogle +dies he'll swing, sure as death. He was raving when they threw him out +of the gate, and swore he would get even with Breifogle, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>and when it +comes to trial there'll be a dozen witnesses to swear that he <i>did</i>. +What kind of a trial do you think he'd have here at Argenta, with half +the town owned by Breifogle & Co.?"</p> + +<p>This was, indeed, putting a new face on it, and still Graham listened +in silence, trying to control the quiver and tingle of his nerves.</p> + +<p>There came a sudden call from the office. Shoving his way through the +little mass of miners on the platform, the station-agent stepped to +the edge and waved a hand to Cullin, but the hand was empty. The +release order had not come. The big Mogul and the freight were still +held, and now it was much after seven, and Argenta all astir. Cullin +turned doggedly away. He seemed to know what was coming and did not +half like it. Leaping down from the platform and striding over the +cinder-blackened ties, the agent met him before he crossed the second +track—met him and spoke in tone so low even Big Ben could not hear. +All three men at the cab, they could not help it, were listening +eagerly. It was easy to see, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>however, that the station-master was +seeking information Cullin could not or dared not give. Every gesture, +the upheaved shoulders, the sideward droop of the head, the forward +toss of the hands, palms to the front, all as much as said, "Don't ask +me." Then the agent turned slowly away, walked a dozen steps, looked +back, and called:</p> + +<p>"I'll tell 'em what you say, but you'd better come yourself. Narrow +Gauge'll get 'the Old Man' on the wire presently, then you'll have to. +I'm betting they hold you here till you do."</p> + +<p>"Not if I know myself or—my orders," growled Cullin, as he returned, +black-browed, to the cab.</p> + +<p>"What's up?" asked Big Ben, presently, seeing that the conductor +waited to be asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, those Narrow Gauge fellows—they're owned here, you know—claim +that two of their men were shot by the same gang that did up +Breifogle. They're wiring both ways from the Junction, up here for +sheriff and detectives, and down to the Springs for Bob <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>Anthony. They +say No. 4 and I both know things about the slugging we haven't told. +They say No. 4 took three of the sluggers away, and that we're hiding +some to take up into the mountains and turn 'em loose where they'll be +safe. The only man with us is—this kid," and Cullin looked up darkly +into the cab, his gloomy eyes on Geordie's coal-blackened face.</p> + +<p>Now, indeed, it was time for action, and, quietly as he could, Geordie +put the question:</p> + +<p>"Did you tell them you had a stranger in the cab?"</p> + +<p>"Told 'em you were the only thing—or kind—I had."</p> + +<p>"But you told them I'd come all the way with you from Chimney Switch, +did you not?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't tell 'em anything except what I said to Folder here—the +station-master. I told 'em, through him, if they wanted anything on +this train they needn't ask me. I wasn't responsible."</p> + +<p>Graham and Toomey exchanged quick glances. A wretched end would it be +to all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>their planning if Geordie should now be dragged off the cab as +accessory to the assault on young Breifogle, his helpless charge and +patient of the early morning hours.</p> + +<p>Yet that was just what now was likely to happen. Resentful of there +being a mystery about the cab, a secret he was not allowed to +share—an outsider made known by Cullin's superiors to Cullin's +subordinates, yet not presented to him—true to human nature Cullin +had told what Geordie would conceal. In less than no time the enemy +would know 705 had brought a stranger within their gates who was too +wary to come by passenger-train. In less than ten minutes they might +be there with a warrant for his arrest.</p> + +<p>And at that very moment there went up a shout from the group of miners +at the office. One of their kind had come running in, breathless and +alarmed. Three or four words only had he spoken, but they were enough. +As one man the twoscore turned and ran for the broad street beyond the +passenger station, were swallowed up in the gap between the express +and baggage sheds and the passenger <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>waiting-rooms, and could be heard +shouting loudly beyond the high board fence—a chorus of cheers that +seemed to start near the main entrance and went travelling on the +wings of the wind westward up the lively street.</p> + +<p>And a moment later, even while they were wondering, out came "Folder +here," the agent—this time paper in hand and waving for Cullin. +"Orders at last," said Cullin, and sprang to get them. And this time +both Graham and Toomey swung from the cab and eagerly followed. +"Warrant out for Nolan!" they heard Folder say, "but they'll not get +him here. The gang has whisked him away to the Fort and beyond, I +reckon; and the sheriff who goes to Silver Shield takes his life in +his hands." Then his eyes fell on the two firemen. "One of <i>you's</i> +wanted," he added, "but I don't know which, and they're coming now."</p> + +<p>He pointed down the yard toward the east entrance. Almost on the run, +two men came hurrying in. Toomey grabbed Geordie's sleeve. "They +sha'n't have you <i>here</i>, anyhow. Jump for the cab." And jump they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>did, all three. Moved now by some indefinable sympathy he had not felt +before, Cullin urged them on, and thrust the order into Big Ben's +hairy fist as it swung from the window. Ben gave one glance, his left +hand grasping the lever; Toomey made a flying leap for the bell-cord; +Geordie scrambled in after; hiss went the steam-cocks; clang went the +bell, and with an explosive cough that shook her big frame almost free +of the rails the Mogul heaved slowly ahead. The shortened "Time +Freight" picked up its heels and came jerkily after, and with her +ponderous drivers rolling swifter and swifter, and the heavy panting +speedily changing to short, quick, and quickening puffs, faster and +faster big 705 swung clear of the switch-points, smoothly rounded to +the main line, and with its dozen brown chickens following close, +Indian file, after the fussy old hen in the lead, away went the fast +freight, flaunting its green flags at the rear in the face of the +pursuit, and the deputies drew up disgusted at the edge of the yard, +their signals and their shouts unheeded.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>A RACE TO THE FORT</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Three miles out and the Mogul's six drivers were spinning like so many +tops. Flat along the grimy roofs of the heaving freight-cars behind, +the cloud of coal smoke from her stunted chimney fled rearward until +clear of the train, then drifted idly across the rolling uplands. +Ahead and to right and left, distant, snow-capped summits barred the +sky-line. On either side the gray-green slopes, bare and treeless, +billowed away, higher and higher toward the range, with here and there +a bunch of fattening cattle gazing stupidly at the invaders of their +peace and quietude. Close at hand to the left the murky waters of the +stream flashed quickly by. Close at hand to the right the hard-beaten +prairie road meandered over the sod. There had been a ridge or two +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>some sharp curves just west of town, and now, as they rounded +the last of these and flew out upon an almost level track, the bottom +of some prehistoric mountain lake, the eyes of two of the three silent +occupants of the cab were strained along the gleaming rails ahead, and +almost at the same instant the same thought sprang to the lips of +each—Big Ben, with his left hand at the throttle, hunched up on his +shelf, his cap pulled down over the bushy brows, and Geordie, across +the cab on the fireman's seat, clinging to the window-frame to +withstand the lurching of the throbbing monster, while between them, +on the coal-blackened floor, Toomey, with his big shovel flinging open +the iron gate to the blazing furnace for every new mouthful he fed it, +and snapping it shut when he turned away for another, for not a whiff +of the draught could be wasted. Once past the deserted station at the +Fort there would come eight miles of twisting and turning and +struggling up-grade, and every pound of steam would be needed to pull +even this baker's dozen of heavily laden cars now thundering merrily +along behind.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep102" id="imagep102"></a> +<a href="images/imagep102.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep102.jpg" width="60%" alt=""NOT A WHIFF OF THE DRAUGHT COULD BE WASTED"" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"NOT A WHIFF OF THE DRAUGHT COULD BE WASTED"<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>Only two short, smooth miles ahead lay the low ridge that formed the +eastern boundary of the old reservation. Beyond it, on the broad +<i>mesa</i>, stood the buildings of the frontier garrison, once Geordie's +home and refuge. The tall flag-staff came suddenly into view, and in +less than four minutes they would be rushing by. Over forty miles to +the hour were they flying now. Big Ben had just let out another notch +as they swung into the two-mile tangent, when at the same instant he +and Geordie caught sight of three or four black dots dimly bobbing in +the midst of a little dust-cloud on the roadway far ahead, and almost +at the same instant came from each the low cry, "There they are!"</p> + +<p>Toomey dropped his shovel and glanced forward over Ben's burly +shoulder, then, grabbing the vertical handrails on cab and tender, +leaned out and gazed astern. The wagon road twisted over the bleak +"divide" the train had just rounded, and, barring a team or two +jogging slowly into town, was bare of traffic. "No chasers so far," he +shouted, as he again stooped to his tools.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>"No chasers but us could catch 'em," growled Ben. "We'll give 'em a +toot of the whistle!" he shouted across to Geordie, and the steam +blast shrieked through the keen morning air in obedience to the quick +pull at the cord.</p> + +<p>And now 705 was fairly flying, the green flags at the rear flattened +like shingles in the whistling wind, and a cloud of mingled dust and +smoke rolling furiously after the caboose. Big Ben had "pulled her +wide open," and under full head of steam the powerful engine tore like +a black meteor up the glistening track. In eagerness and excitement +almost uncontrollable George Graham clung to his perch and gazed with +all his eyes. Barely a mile ahead now spurred the fugitives, his old +friend Nolan in their midst—Nolan whom he had come all those miles to +see!</p> + +<p>And then a strange thing happened. So far from finding reassurance, +friendship, sympathy in the whistle blast, the riders had read the +very opposite. So far from slackening speed and letting the signalling +train come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>up on them, they had suddenly veered to the left, the +south, and, bending low like jockies over their coursers' manes, they +shot across the track, dived down into the pebbly bottom, and the next +thing Geordie saw they were plunging breast-deep through the brown and +heaving torrent, the waters foaming at their knees.</p> + +<p>"Might 'a' known it!" bellowed Toomey, disgusted. "'Course they reason +we've got the sheriff and posse aboard, and they're taking the +short-cut to the—you know," he said, with a sudden significant gulp, +to Geordie, and a warning glance at Ben. Even now that he had left the +trooper habits months behind, Toomey could not forget or disregard +trooper ethics. Ben might be friendly to Nolan, just as he claimed, +but—would Ben keep other's secrets?</p> + +<p>And even under his coat of coal and tan Geordie's face blazed +suddenly. As a lad whom the troopers knew and loved and trusted, he +could not help knowing in by-gone days of the ranch just south of the +post—"Saints' Rest," they called it, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>laughingly—the shack owned and +occupied by an old soldier with a numerous family: the rendezvous for +many a revel, the resting-place of many a hunting-party, the refuge of +many a home-bound squad of "the boys," before the days of the canteen +that brought comfort and temperance into the army for the short but +blessed spell of its existence—boys just back from an unhallowed +frolic in town, and not yet sober enough to face their first sergeant +and "the Old Man" at the orderly room. Oh, wonderful things were told +of old Shiner and his ranch! In the eyes of some straitlaced +commanders he had been little better than a receiver of stolen goods, +a soldier Shylock who loaned moneys at usurious interest, a gambler +who fleeced the trooper folk of their scanty pay, a dispenser of bad +liquors and worse morals. Some truth there may have been in some of +these tales, yet Shiner had been a strangely useful man. He supplied +the post with milk and cream, butter and eggs, of better quality and +lower price than could possibly be had in town. He knew the best +hunting and fishing on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>the range. He had teams and "rigs" at all +times at the service of officers and soldiers, when the post ambulance +was forbidden by an unfeeling government. He had a corral and stockade +that had more than once bidden stout defiance to both the law and the +lawless. He had, so the fort children firmly believed, a subterranean +passage from his stockade to the sentry-lines. He was hated by both +sheriff and sutler in days when the latter lived and thrived; he +overreached the one, undersold the other, and outwitted both. He +befriended every soldier in a scrape, whether the offence were against +the majestic letter of the civil law or only the unimportant spirit of +the military. In the eyes of the few he was much of a sinner; in the +eyes of the many no less of a saint; and, after careful casting up of +accounts, the colonel of the —th Cavalry had declared Shiner far more +good than bad, treated him accordingly, and won a surprised and +devoted friend and ally. Another officer Shiner swore by was Dr. +Graham, and for reasons similar to those of his fellow, and +farther-distant, ranchman Ross.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>Yet Geordie had often heard of mysterious doings at Shiner's that +would not bear official investigation—had heard and kept silent. In +those days Shiner dwelt close under the sheltering wing of a +sympathetic garrison. Now, if still there, he must be living in the +light, and for the first time it dawned upon Geordie that what he +heard of Shiner in by-gone days and kept to himself, he could not hear +and know and keep to himself now. It was one thing to be a garrison +boy; it was another to be an officer in the army of the United States.</p> + +<p>The instant that it dawned upon him that Nolan and his friends were +heading across country for Shiner's old plant, riding hard in the +belief that they were pursued by rail, it flashed upon him that he +could not join Nolan there—indeed, he must, if a possible thing, +guide or direct him elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Already the pursued were through the ford and, with dripping flanks, +were scrambling up the opposite shore. Already big 705 was almost +abreast of them, and in another moment would be swiftly speeding by. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>It was two years since Geordie last set eyes on Nolan, but there was +no mistaking, even at that distance, the tall, gaunt figure and the +practised seat in saddle. Behind him trailed three comrades, two of +whom, at least, were tyros in the art of horsemanship. They were +hanging on for dear life as their steeds labored on after the leader. +The object of all four was obviously to get beyond easy rifle range of +the rushing train before drawing rein to reconnoitre, and now, +probably noting that the engine was driving on full speed, with no +sign of stopping, the tall horseman in the lead circled swiftly to his +right, along the crest of a low ridge perhaps three hundred yards +away, then peered from under his broad hatbrim at the supposed enemy.</p> + +<p>And then it was that Graham and Toomey, both, sprang back to the +coal-pile in the tender, clambered high as possible on the shifting +slope, and, balancing as best they could, whipped off their caps, +swung them joyously about their heads, and eagerly gave the old-time, +well-known cavalry signal, "Forward!" "Forward!" They saw Nolan <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>and +his friends seated on their panting horses, staring after them in +amaze and wonderment, then resolutely following.</p> + +<p>A mile now would bring them whistling by the site of old Fort +Reynolds, and a lump rose in Geordie's throat, for the weather-beaten, +ramshackle stables came in view as the Mogul rounded a long, easy +curve, and there, beyond them and on the level bench before them, +stood the trim rows of officers' quarters, now deserted and +tenantless, yet guarded by the single sergeant and his little squad of +men. To the right, afar up the track near the foot-bridge and ford, +lay the station building, wellnigh useless now since the greater +interests and industries, that had made the railway possible and +forced the Indian farther back, had also fouled the mountain stream +and spoiled the site for a cavalry post.</p> + +<p>There stood the freight sheds; there were the chutes for horses and +mules; there, beyond them, the now abandoned office and waiting-room; +and there, still glistening white and towering, the semaphore +signal-mast of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>the railway; and then and there, sure and sudden, +there dropped the black arm straight across and above their glistening +path in the never-to-be-neglected order—Stop!</p> + +<p>Big Ben's lined face went swiftly gray through its coat of grime, but +the firm hand did its instant work with the throttle. Then, swinging +from his seat, he grasped the glistening lever and, peering intently +forward, stood ready to throw it in reverse. Toomey sprang for the +cord and jerked one fierce toot out of the whistle, the old-time +signal for down-brakes before Westinghouse and his science put +everything at the touch of the engineer. Almost at the moment the +swift rush of the train became jarring and rough. Two daring men +scampered, monkey-like, along the top of the cars, twisting a brake on +each, then darting to the next. A furious gust of steam tore from the +escape-valve and streamed away overhead. Not a thing was in sight on +the track, not a soul on the platform, to account for the alarming +signal. A switch-target clanked as they tore over the points; a +vagrant dog scurried away toward the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>once thriving saloon, and not +until they drove in, hissing, grinding, and bumping, to the side of +the dusty platform, did Ben's keen eyes catch sight of two herdsmen's +horses—cow ponies—tethered back of the shanty beside the saloon, and +up went the lid of his box at the instant, in went his right hand, and +then out it came full grasp on a brown-barrelled six-shooter.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>BAD NEWS FROM THE MINES</h4> +<br /> + +<p>"A hold-up," muttered Toomey, as, obedient to Big Ben's orders, "Duck, +you two!" he and Geordie crouched for the moment in the dark interior +of the cab. But who would hold up a freight bound to, not away from, +the mines? Twice, thrice, indeed, since the cavalry had been sent from +Fort Reynolds, the overland express had been flagged between Argenta +and Summit Siding, and masked men had boarded the train, despoiled the +passengers and Pullmans; and once old Shiner had come under suspicion +because certain plunder was found at his place.</p> + +<p>"The robbers are discharged soldiers," swore the sheriff of Yampah; +"their haunt is at Shiner's." Yet not so much as a scrap of other +evidence was there found. Shiner threw open his doors to the officers, +bade <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>them search high and low, declared upon honor as he would upon +oath that he himself had found the damaging evidence—two pocket-books +and some valueless papers—on the open prairie a mile from his place +the day after the third of the "hold-ups." There had long been bad +blood betwixt him and the sheriff, and this time the man of the law +gave the lie, and but for prompt work of bystanders—deputy Shiners +and sheriffs both—there would have been cause for a coroner's inquest +on the spot. Before that day it had been avowed hostility between +them; now it was war to the knife. Much of this was known to the men +of the railway, who sided according to their lights. Few of them knew +Shiner; many knew the sheriff. It was patent at a glance that Big Ben +held to the views of the latter and looked upon Shiner's hand, or +Shiner's hands, as the cause of the hold-up. Nor was he entirely +wrong. Even as Cullin came running up the track from the rear of the +train, and brakemen running atop of it, eager to learn the cause of +the stop, two men with saddle-bags slung over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>the left arm stepped +out from behind the passenger depot and met the conductor half-way. +Glancing back, Ben caught sight of them and, pistol in hand, started +to swing from the engine, crying "Come on!" to Toomey. Springing to +his feet, Toomey gave one look back to the platform. His keen eyes +danced with excitement and joy. "Hold on!" he shouted to Ben. "It's +all right. Lay low," he whispered to Geordie. "It's Shiner himself!"</p> + +<p>And old Shiner it was, cool, quiet, pale, resolute in face of a +furious conductor and a threatening crew—Shiner, presently backed by +a sergeant of regulars and two of his men, who had come running over +the foot-bridge at the stop of the train, and now silently ranged +themselves in tacit support. What Cullin had demanded was how Shiner +dared tamper with the signals—how, in fact, he had managed to, since +they had been carefully locked—and who was he, anyhow. And Shiner had +simply answered: "I've a boy shot and dying at Silver Shield. I only +heard it late in the night. There's no other way <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>to get to him. I pay +full fare and all damages"—but he got no further, for Toomey came +atrot from the engine, threw himself upon him, and grasped his hand.</p> + +<p>"What's the trouble, old man?" was the instant question.</p> + +<p>And Shiner, turning, saw an old friend and beneficiary, and should +have taken heart at the sight. Instead of which, at sound of a +sympathetic voice, he who had been firm and fearless in the face of +abuse and opposition now wellnigh broke down. "They've killed—little +Jack!" he almost sobbed. "Thank God <i>you're</i> here, Toomey!"</p> + +<p>"Of course you'll take him!" cried Toomey, turning sharp on Cullin.</p> + +<p>"Of course I <i>won't</i> take him!" snarled Cullin, wrath and temper +stiffening his back, "but the law shall, quick as I can fix it. Back +to your cab, both of you!" he waved, for Ben, too, was bulkily +climbing the platform steps. "Pull out at once and don't you stop for +no more snidework!"</p> + +<p>"And leave this man here?" shouted Toomey. "Then you can do your own +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>firing from here on, Cullin. Hold on, Ben, till I get my things off. +You can obey if you like, but it's the last run I make with +this—faugh! And you say <i>you've</i> been a soldier!" It was Toomey's +chance, after weeks of pent-up rage for battle, and he couldn't throw +it away. Seeing that Ben, dull, heavy, and uncomprehending, was +staring stupidly about him, not knowing what to do; seeing that even +Cullin was melting at sight of the grief in Shiner's face; seeing the +sympathy in the eyes of the bluecoats and the shame in those of the +brakemen, Toomey turned loose on his adversary, and Toomey, when +fairly started, could talk to the point. It was a tongue-lashing, +indeed, and one that left the conductor no chance to reply.</p> + +<p>"It's 'gainst orders, and you know it, Toomey," was his futile gasp, +when Toomey stopped for breath.</p> + +<p>"'Gainst orders you've broken time and again, and you know it! 'Gainst +orders Bob Anthony would break your head for not breaking! It's +'gainst orders for you to pull out now when you're blocked, till <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>you +get further orders—and yet you say go."</p> + +<p>"How can I get orders without a man or a wire at the station?" burst +in Cullin, grasping at straws. "How can I get authority to take this +man along? He's liable to arrest anyhow for tampering with the +signals."</p> + +<p>And then another voice was interjected, another disputant stepped +quickly forward, and Toomey checked himself in the first breath of an +impassioned outburst; his black hand suddenly shot half-way up to the +cap-visor, then came down with a jerk; his heels had clicked together +and his knees straightened out, then as suddenly went limp. The +new-comer had sprung up the steps. The form was slender and sinewy. +Hands, face, and dress were black with soot, but the young voice was +deep and the ring of accustomed command was in every word. "That's +your cue, Mr. Cullin. Arrest him and fetch him along." Then turning to +Toomey: "There's no one at the cab. Better get back, quick!" he added. +And Toomey went.</p> + +<p>Big Ben gave one look and, without a word, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>waddled after his fireman. +The tears that stood in old Shiner's eyes dashed away at the brush of +a sleeve. A light of astonishment, comprehension, relief suddenly +gleamed in their place. The sergeant stared for a moment, looked +blankly at his men, then side-stepped for another long gaze at the +new-comer's face. Cullin turned sharply, resentful at first at the +tone of authority, wrath in his heart and rebuke on his tongue, but +then came sudden reminder of Anthony's card—the card the strange +young fellow had presented only when needed to convince, the card he +had been so sagacious as to retain, the card that proclaimed him a +friend of the powers and a person to be considered. Moreover, the +friend and person had suggested a means by which actual surrender to +the situation might appear as virtual and moral victory. One more look +at Shiner and then Shiner settled it. "I submit to arrest, Mr. Cullin. +Let me go with you—and settle."</p> + +<p>"Get aboard the caboose," was the gruff answer, and, all apparent +meekness, Shiner <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>obeyed. "Not you," added Cullin, as Shiner's +saddle-bag-bearing friend would have followed. "Give me the bags," +said Shiner, "and you look to—" A significant glance at the signal +told the rest. Cullin followed it with his eyes, saw the arm still +lowered to the "stop," knew that it should not be left there, and for +a moment held back.</p> + +<p>"<i>He</i>'ll fix it," said Shiner, from the platform of the caboose, while +his eyes sought the face of the tall young fellow at Cullin's back. +Cullin strode to the corner of the office and followed the ranchman +with curious eyes. That sun-tanned, bow-legged person straddled down +the back steps, his big spurs jingling, a high boot-heel catching on +next to the lowermost and pitching him forward. He clamped his +broadbrim on his head with one hand and steadied his holster with the +other, straightened up with half-stifled expletive, and the next +minute was swarming up the slender iron rungs of the signal-ladder. +"He's got to prop it up where it belongs," said the sergeant. "Reckon +he must have shot the wire that held it." And <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>of a truth the wire was +severed. But when Cullin turned back to his train with the mystery +cleared, the sight and sound of new commotion blocked his own signal +to start.</p> + +<p>Two horsemen, on foam-spattered broncos, were spurring vehemently down +the road from the eastward ridge. Two others were trailing exhaustedly +two hundred lengths behind, only just feebly popping over the divide. +And to these persons both his prisoner and his prisoner's advocate, +who were clasping hands as he whirled and saw them, were now +signalling cheer and encouragement. Ten cars ahead, at the cab, Big +Ben and Toomey, too, were leaning far out and eagerly watching the +chase; the sergeant and his men, wondering much at the sight, but +professionally impassive, strode to the end of the platform for better +view, then all of a sudden began to shout and swing their caps, and +before Cullin could recover from his surprise the foremost rider, +tall, spare, with long, grizzled mustache and fiery eyes, threw +himself from saddle and came bounding up the steps. He was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>surrounded +in an instant, only one man hanging back. The slender young fellow in +the grimy cap and overalls quietly stepped into the dark interior of +the caboose.</p> + +<p>In the glare of the unclouded sunshine, breathing hard from his +exertion, his hand grasped successively by Shiner and the three +soldiers, the veteran trooper told his hurried tale, while, one after +another, his followers, wellnigh exhausted, labored after him, and +finally rolled stiffly to <i>terra firma</i> at the station, their wretched +livery mounts, with dripping, quivering flanks and drooping heads, +stood straddling close at hand, too utterly used up to stagger away.</p> + +<p>Nolan's story was brief but explicit. Somebody in the swarm that +overwhelmed the Narrow Gauge train the previous night had crept back +to town after midnight and started the story that young Breifogle had +been slugged by the gang. By early morning it got to the father's +ears. With the sheriff and some friends he had driven down in the wake +of No. 4, found plenty of men who could tell of the mobbing, but none +who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>could tell of his son. The miners had scattered; the few +passengers also, glad that they were not "wanted" by that infuriated +crowd. It was then after sunrise, and, almost crazed by anxiety and +wrath, Breifogle had hurried back to Argenta. His first thought seemed +to be vengeance on Nolan, whom rumor declared the ringleader of his +son's assailants, and a warrant was out for his arrest, even as the +big Mogul was rolling into the yard, with its dingy-brown train of +freight-cars and the battered body of that luckless youth, Nolan's +assailant at Silver Shield.</p> + +<p>The first full peril of his situation broke upon Nolan the instant the +news was rushed to him. Innocent of any part in the assault though he +was—ignorant of it, in fact, until dawn—he well knew that every +artifice would be played against him, and that all the power, the +means, and methods of the Breifogle clique would be lavishly used. +Long imprisonment would be sure, harsh trial certain, acquittal +improbable, hanging almost a certainty.</p> + +<p>"Away with you! Get back to the mines <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>and the mountains!" was the +instant warning, and without the loss of a minute, mounted on such +horses as his friends could hire, he and three of his trustiest +followers had galloped away. They thought the sheriff was at their +heels when the Fast Freight came thundering after them, but hailed, +with amaze and joy, the signal from the tender, and, feeling sure the +train would await them here, had spurred on to the station.</p> + +<p>"You'll send the horses back for us, will you, sergeant?" he finished. +Then eagerly, "Now, conductor, shall we pull out for Summit?"</p> + +<p>"Pull out for nothing," was the astounding answer. "You know perfectly +no Time Freight on this road takes a passenger of any kind, and it +would be more'n my job's worth to take you!"</p> + +<p>"Then, in God's name, why did you signal?" was the almost agonized +question.</p> + +<p>"Signal be jiggered! I never signalled. No man of <i>my</i> crew signalled. +If you want to get back to the mines, stay here and flag No. 5. She'll +be along at eleven."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>"Along at <i>eleven</i>! Man alive, the sheriff will be here with a posse +of forty long before that!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Long</i> before that!" almost screamed old Shiner. "Look, there, what +you see! He's coming now!"</p> + +<p>And then Geordie Graham, listening with beating heart within the open +doorway of the caboose, could stand the strain no longer. The man he +must see, the man on whom everything depended, the old friend whom he +most trusted and believed in stood in sore peril. The cause for which +he had come all these miles must fail so sure as Nolan slipped into +the power of the adversary, even though grasped by the hand of the +law. It was no time for ethics—no time for casuists. He let his voice +out in the old tone of authority:</p> + +<p>"You've no time to lose, Mr. Cullin. Arrest them, too, and come on!"</p> + +<p>With wonderment in his eyes, with Shiner whispering caution in his +ear, "Long" Nolan was hustled aboard the caboose just as the wheels +began to turn, his breathless followers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>clambering after, while afar +up the divide toward the east, by twos and threes, in eager pursuit, +egged on by lavish promise of reward, the sheriff of Yampah, with a +score of his men, spurred furiously on the trail of a train that, +starting slowly and heavily, speedily gained headway and soon went +thundering up the grade, "leaving the wolves behind."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>FIRST SHOTS OF THE SUMMER</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Half-way up the scarred slope of mountain-side, and opposite the mouth +of a deep ravine, hung the crude wooden buildings and costly machinery +of a modern mine. Zigzagging up the heights, the road that led to it +from the ramshackle town in the valley was dotted with groups of +rough-coated men, all plodding steadily onward. Perched on "benches" +and shelves and dumps of blasted rock and fresh-heaped earth, similar +though smaller clusters of buildings dotted the lower slopes, marring +the grand outlines and sweeping curves of the great upheavals, cutting +ugly gashes in the green and swelling billows, yet eagerly sought in +the race for wealth and the greed for gold, because of the treasures +they wrested from the bowels of the everlasting hills. Afar down +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>winding valley a turbid stream went frothing away to the +foot-hills, telling of labor, turmoil, and strife. Beside it twisted +and turned the railway that burrowed through the range barely five +miles back of the town, and reappeared on the westward face of the +Silver Bow, clinging dizzily to heights that looked down on rolling +miles of pine, cedar, stunted oak, and almost primeval loneliness. The +mineral wealth, said the experts, lay on the eastward side, and by +thousands the miners were there, swarming like ants all over the +surface seeking their golden gain.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep128" id="imagep128"></a> +<a href="images/imagep128.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep128.jpg" width="90%" alt="SILVER SHIELD" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SILVER SHIELD<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>And something was surely amiss at the mines when the chimneys of as +many as six of the "plants" gave forth no smoke, when the fires were +out and the men adrift. Something had happened that called the +craftsmen from a dozen other burrows to the aid of those at the new +and lately thronging works, on that shoulder at the mouth of the +gorge—the mine of the Silver Shield. Murder most foul, said the +story, had been done in the name of the law. Armed guards of the +property had shot down, it was said, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>half-score of workmen, +clamoring only for their pay and their rights. A son of the principal +owner, so it was known, had ordered his men to fire. A son of an old +soldier and settler, living in peace barely forty miles away, was one +of the victims, for he had taken sides with Long Nolan, who without +rhyme or reason had been discharged, and violently flung from the +premises. There had been a wild rush on the guard, a volley, a recoil, +a rally in force, and an outcry for vengeance. Then the guard had to +shoot in earnest and self-defence, for their lives were at stake. Some +of the men had gone to Argenta to plead with the owners, but most had +remained to stir all hands within ten miles to the support of their +fellows. The miscreant who had ordered "fire" had escaped across to +Miners' Joy, only to be dealt with by sympathizers on the Narrow +Gauge; but the men who fired and who shot to kill were trapped like +rats in a hole. Surrounded on every side, every avenue of escape now +guarded, they and the luckless manager of the mine were cooped in +their log fortification, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>with two lives and several serious wounds to +answer for, and as the sun went westering this long summer's day they +had two hours left in which to decide—come out and surrender or be +burned out where they lay.</p> + +<p>Half the village had gone to swell the ranks of the rioters; another +half—slatternly women and unkempt children—swarmed in the single +street and gazed upward at the heights. Every ledge about the +threatened buildings was black with men, men furious with hate and mad +with liquor, men needing only determined and resolute leaders to go in +and finish their fearful work.</p> + +<p>But here was their lack. The men they had counted on, one man in +particular on whose account many of their number had braved the guard +and threatened the owners—one man, Long Nolan himself, refused point +blank to have aught to do with them or their plans. Another man, he +whose son lay dying in the village, shot down by the guards, was +there, sad-eyed yet stern-faced, to stay and dissuade them. The one +train up from the East that day—the only one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>that could come, for +now the road was blown out in a dozen places down the gorge—had +brought with it Nolan and Shiner, with two or three friends at their +back, and Nolan and Shiner, in spite of their wrongs, were pleading +hard for peace, pleading so hard, so earnestly, that by 5 +<span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> many a man, American born, had seen the force of their +reasoning and had stepped back from the front.</p> + +<p>But among the killed was a poor lad from the mountains of Bohemia. +Among the vengeful throng were swarms of foreigners who could +understand little or nothing of what Nolan and his friends were +saying, and who speedily would have scorned it could they have +understood, for at five o'clock another speaker took the stand, a man +of the people he called himself, a foreigner long on our shores, yet +fluent in the language of the Slavs, and in ten minutes the torrent +was turned. With terror in his eyes, a man who had long worked with +Nolan, a foreigner, too, came running to the silent, anxious little +group of Anglo-Saxons. "Nolan—Nolan," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>he cried. "He says you was +traitor! He says you was gone to Argenta and told all their secrets, +and you was bought off—bribed—and you bring strangers to help you! +He says you and they are just spies, an' now they come for <i>you</i>!"</p> + +<p>One glance from where the little group were crouching, sheltered from +possible shots from the buildings, yet between them and the throng, +told Nolan and Shiner the alarm was real, the words were true. Like so +many maddened beasts, a gang of uncouth, unkempt, blood-thirsty beings +were now crowding up the narrow roadway from the bench below.</p> + +<p>"My God, Mr. Geordie!" cried Nolan, in sudden agony of spirit, "I +never once dreamed of this!"</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, a moment of terror. Here, barely a dozen in all, were +Nolan, Shiner, George Graham, and a few of the more intelligent, the +Americans, among the miners. There, possibly a hundred yards away, and +to the number of at least three hundred, a throng of human brutes, +utterly ignorant, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>superstitious, credulous, craftily inspired, were +now surging slowly forward up the heights. Two minutes would bring +them about the little party in overwhelming strength. Flight anywhere +downhill was impossible. The one refuge in sight was that beleaguered +little clump of buildings just beyond them up the slope, garrisoned by +a dozen desperate men who had shouted warning again and again, they'd +shoot down the first man that showed a head above the rocks.</p> + +<p>But desperate straits need desperate measures. All on a sudden a tall, +slender youth, in the coarse dress of a railway fireman, sprang from +the midst of the pallid-faced group and, waving his handkerchief over +his head, called back, "Stay where you are one minute!" and then, +without a second's falter or swerve, straight for the nearest +building, a low, one-story log-house, the manager's office near the +mouth of the mine, waving his white signal high as his arm could +reach, and shouting, "Don't fire—we are friends!" George Graham +swiftly climbed for the upper level. One rifle flashed. One <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>bullet +whizzed over his head, but he reached the road, then, both arms +extended, rushed straight for the door.</p> + +<p>It was thrown open to admit him by Cawker, the manager, white-faced +almost as they whom Geordie had left. "Come out here!" cried Graham. +"See for yourself. Nolan, Shiner, with those few lads, are all that +have stood between you and the mob below. Every American is out of it. +They're coming to kill Nolan for turning against them. Call him up! +Call them all—There's barely a dozen. Then you've got just as many +more to stand by you!"</p> + +<p>And Cawker had sense to see and to realize. "Call 'em yourself," said +he. "Don't shoot, men! These are friends come to aid us!" he cried, +running up and down in front of the loop-holes. "Come on, Nolan and +all of you," he added, for Graham had gone bounding half-way back +again, and, like so many goats, the threatened party came scrambling +out of their shelter and up the steep incline, while afar down the +hill-side rose a yell of baffled rage and vengeance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>"Hold the rest of them whatever you do!" shouted Geordie, again racing +back. "Don't let that gang over the edge or you're gone!" And again +the brown barrels of the rifles thrust forth from the wooden walls and +were turned on the bend of the road. Almost breathless, Long Nolan, +and with him the little squad of adherents, came running up to the +door. "Inside, quick as you can!" shouted Cawker. "We've got to give +those blood-hounds a lesson."</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke a shot struck the thick, iron hinge of the heavy +door, the lead spattering viciously. Another ripped through the +casement of the nearest window, and a shiver of glass was heard +within, as the bullet spun through the shade of a lamp swinging from +the beam above. Cawker ducked, unaccustomed to such sounds, and dove +to the interior. Old Nolan, soldier of the Civil War and veteran of +many an Indian skirmish, disdained to notice it. Geordie, bemoaning +the luck that had left his pet rifle in Denver, busied himself with +Nolan in "herding" the party within before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>himself following. Then +Shiner was found missing.</p> + +<p>"He started with us," cried Nolan. "He wanted to go back to be with +his boy, but we showed him he'd never get through. Those brutes would +head him off and kick his life out. He must have—Good God, Mr. +Geordie! Look where he lies!"</p> + +<p>And then they saw that the old plainsman, in his eagerness to make a +way back to his possibly dying son, had quit the rush when half-way +up, had turned eastward and sought a foot-path down the mountain-side, +had found it guarded, like the rest, by a gang that yelled savage +welcome at sight of him. Then, too late, he had turned again, had +managed to run some fifty yards along the jagged slope, when a shot +from a well-aimed rifle laid him low. With a leg broken just above the +knee, poor Shiner went down, and without so much as a word, with only +one glance into each other's eyes, Long Nolan and Geordie swooped down +to the rescue.</p> + +<p>Breasting the hill fifty yards below him came the heaving throng of +rioters, few of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>them, luckily, with fire-arms, but all bent on +vengeance. Darting downhill to Shiner came the old and the new of the +regiment he had known for years and swore by to the end—Nolan, its +oldest sergeant when discharged; Graham, its youngest subaltern when +so recently commissioned. But, old and new, they were one in purpose +and in spirit. The trained muscles, the lithe young limbs of the new +bore him bounding down the slope in half the time it took the elder. +Shiner lay facing the coming throng, grim hate in his eyes and +revolver in hand. In the fury of yells that arose he never heard the +shout of encouragement from above. Geordie was bending over him, had +seized him by the arm, was slinging him on his broad young back before +ever Shiner saw the face of his rescuer, and Geordie, with his +helpless burden, was stumbling up the height again before Nolan could +join and aid him.</p> + +<p>By that time the peering guardians of the office had caught sight of +the cause of the pandemonium of howls and curses from below, and the +onward rush was stayed by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>the sound of shots from the hill and +bullets whistling overhead. Yet only for a moment. Bullets sent +downhill almost always fly high, and finding this to be so the mob +took courage and came on again, those who had guns or revolvers +shooting frantically up the slope, splintering rocks and spattering +dirt as they bit at the heels of the rescuers. It was a desperate, do +or die, neck or nothing, bit of daring and devotion—Nolan's third and +Geordie's first experience in just such a feat. But the blood of the +Graemes was up, and the younger soldier was not to be outdone by the +old. The guards at the office burst into a cheer as the two came +staggering up to the level, with poor Shiner groaning between them, +and then quick work and hot was needed, for the mob came fierce on +their trail.</p> + +<p>"There's more Winchesters there in the gun-rack," shouted Cawker, as +Shiner was laid on a bunk in a back room. "They'll be all round us +here in a minute."</p> + +<p>"Aim low and pick out the leaders, d'ye hear?" panted Nolan. "Don't +let 'em get <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>within reach of the buildings, whatever you do. They'll +burn 'em over our heads. Let me have your loop-hole, <i>you</i>!" he +ordered a young fellow, whose lips were blue with excitement and +dread. "Go sit by Shiner and give him water till I spoil a few of +these voters." And the presence of the veteran, the confident ring of +his voice, seemed to lend instant courage to the defence.</p> + +<p>And courage, cool courage and grit, were needed, for the situation was +difficult, if not, indeed, desperate. With any skilled leader to +direct the mob, the refuge sought by the defence would already have +been ruined. The office building, made of hewn logs laid horizontally +and with possible view of defence, had been placed at the brow of the +slope on one side and near the mouth of the mine on the other. Later, +however, rude structures of unplaned pine sprung up—compressor-plant, +blacksmith-shop, and the like—about it, no one of them strong enough +to serve as a fort, and all of them a menace now because they screened +the approaches on two sides and could be fired in a dozen places.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>And now that Graham and Nolan were here to aid, this defect was +noticed at once.</p> + +<p>"This won't do at all, Mr. Cawker," said Graham, as he sprung the +lever of a new Winchester and glanced into the chamber. "We'll be +surrounded and burned out of here in ten minutes. We've got to occupy +those others, too."</p> + +<p>Cawker stared at the "young feller" with angering eyes. A moment agone +and he was praising his daring, but that astonishing tone of authority +nettled him. What business had a railway fireman telling him, a mine +manager, what to do in case of a row?</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> get to a loop-hole and 'tend to that," snapped he. "I'll 'tend +to my business," and he turned to Long Nolan, just heaving up from a +peep-hole, for support and approval. Nolan he knew for a soldier of +old. He had learned to respect him quite as much as he jealously +feared, and Nolan's answer took him utterly aback:</p> + +<p>"You do as he tells you and do it quick. He knows his business +better'n ever you'll begin to know yours."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>A NIGHT ON GUARD</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Two minutes more, with eight men to back him, George Graham was +knocking or sawing out holes in the blacksmith-shop, and presently a +man with a reliable Winchester was crouched by each opening watching +the next move of the foe. The shop was perched at the edge of a +flat-topped "dump", commanding the rocky slopes to the roadway on one +side, the hill on the other. It was exposed to shots from below, yet +the hardest to reach by direct assault. In the larger building a bit +farther back, the compressor-house, Cawker and four others were +stationed, guarding the approach from the north. The manager had taken +Nolan's broad hint, and the subsequent orders, with one long look of +amaze, then with the light of comprehension in his eyes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>and the +silence of consent on his lips. Did he not know that the main charge +against Nolan had been loyalty to his old comrades rather than his new +employers? Did he not know, or at least more than suspect, that the +company was trying to "freeze out" the distant holders? Did he not +know, down in his heart, that it was out and out robbery? And now, in +spite of youth and disguise, the manager saw in this masterful +stranger one of the very elements the owners had sought to keep at a +distance and in ignorance of true conditions. So far from resenting, +he now thanked God for his coming. What else could explain Nolan's +deference—Nolan, the most independent and self-respecting man at the +mines? What else could it mean but that this youth was one of his +officers—men skilled and schooled in warfare if not in mining—men +taught to face danger with stout heart and stubborn front? All in the +space of a few seconds the truth had flashed upon Cawker. It might not +be just what the owners would want, thought he, but it's almighty good +for us all.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>Nolan, with a handful of men, still clung to the stoutest of the +buildings. It stood without the entrance to the ravine in which had +been discovered the outcropping that started the fame of Silver +Shield. In this, also, stood two other buildings, but these were so +far from the outer shop that flames need not be feared. Nolan was to +care for the wounded and guard the outward approach, and all three +were in close support of each other. Whoever managed to rush that +little group of buildings would know, if he lived, that he had been +through a fight.</p> + +<p>And now it was after six of the long summer day. The rioters had +received a wholesome lesson in the volley that met their first attempt +to swarm up from the south. They had gone tumbling and cursing back to +shelter, with three men wounded and many of the others badly scared, +and now were being harangued by their vociferous leader, and hundreds +had come to hear. Graham turned to the young Slav who had borne the +first news to Nolan. "Creep out there as far as you can," he ordered, +"listen to what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>is said, and tell me. They cannot reach you." But the +frightened lad crouched and whimpered. He <i>dared</i> not.</p> + +<p>"Come on, then," answered Geordie, grasping the stout collar of the +hickory shirt, and come he had to, moaning and imploring. With +revolver in his right hand, his unwilling interpreter in the left, +Geordie scrambled down to the roadway, and then, coming in view of the +gang, crouched with his prisoner behind sheltering bowlders, +regardless of the shots which began to hiss from below. The speaker +was still shouting; his words were easily heard. Yells of approval and +savage delight punctuated every other sentence. "What was that?" +demanded Geordie, as the applause became furious.</p> + +<p>"He say they make circle—all sides, uphill, sidehill, downhill. They +all together run in when he give the word."</p> + +<p>"He fights like a Cheyenne," grinned the young commander. "How soon do +they begin?"</p> + +<p>"Right off; now! They come from <i>all</i> round!" was the almost agonized +cry.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>"Then I won't have to lug you back. You can go!"</p> + +<p>And like a frightened hare the young foreigner darted away, dodging +and diving up the slope, only to fall exhausted at the top, and then +to creep on all-fours to the shelter of the office. Already some of +the armed rioters had managed to climb far up the hill-side and from +behind rock or ledge to open fire on the platform. The range was full +three hundred yards, their aim was poor, and the bullets flew wild, +but the effect on this poor lad was all they could ask. He collapsed +at the opening door.</p> + +<p>Leisurely, yet cautiously, Geordie climbed in his tracks—went first +to the office to give warning to Nolan, then round to the compressor +to instruct the little guard. Cawker poked a head from a window and +looked anxiously toward the gaping mouth of the ravine. The darkness +of night was already settling in its gloomy depths. The homely shed +looked black and forbidding. Aloft on each side were precipitous +slopes affording but slight foothold. Little likelihood was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>there of +rioters sliding down to attack them, but, suppose they pried loose, or +blasted out, some of those huge rocks up the mountain and sent them +rolling, bounding, crashing down? What might <i>then</i> happen?</p> + +<p>A bullet tearing through the shingling, ten feet above Cawker's +protruding head, made him jerk it in, like a turtle, but presently it +reappeared at the window.</p> + +<p>"It's the dynamite I'm thinking of," said he. "A rock lighting on that +now—"</p> + +<p>"Where is it?" interrupted Graham.</p> + +<p>"In that first shed yonder—a dozen boxes."</p> + +<p>"Bring two men and come along," was the quick order, and it was no +time now for reluctance, resentment, much less refusal. The two men +summoned shrank back and would not come, but Cawker found two who +dared to follow. It was a case of "duck and run" for all.</p> + +<p>"Watch the hill-side above!" shouted Graham, in tones that rang +through every building and reached every ear. "Shoot down every man +that tries to heave rocks <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>into the ravine, or fire at us. We're going +to move that dynamite."</p> + +<p>Once within the shelter of the gorge, with comrades carefully sighting +the slopes, Geordie felt the danger would not be very great. A swift +rush carried all four over the open space of twenty yards. Three or +four shots came zipping from aloft, but the instant ring of +Winchesters back of them told that watchful eyes had noted every head +that appeared, and the swift crackle of fire from the shop put instant +stop to the fun up the slope. Into the store-room the manager led +them, and unlocked a heavy little trap-door within; then, one by one, +the ominous-looking cases were dragged forth, hoisted, and swiftly +borne to the mouth of the mine. Three tunnels there seemed to be, as +Geordie hurriedly noted, but into the largest and lowermost they +shouldered their perilous burden and carefully, cautiously, stacked +the boxes well inside; went back, and searched out, and followed with +all the fuse and powder stored at the top. Then, with rock and ore and +barrels of earth, they built a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>stout barrier in front of the tunnel, +blocking it from without, and the sun was down and night was upon them +when they stumbled back to their posts.</p> + +<p>For now still a weightier problem remained to them—how to defend +those works in the dark.</p> + +<p>In all, Geordie Graham found they had just twenty men on whom he could +count. The trembling young Slav at the blacksmith-shop, the +blue-lipped boy in the office, and sorely wounded old Shiner were out +of the fight. But Cawker's mine-guards were native born, or Irish, and +most of the reinforcements that came with Nolan and himself were +Americans, and all were good men and true. By day they could see and +shoot at any man or men who sought to approach them with hostile +intent. By night they could see nothing. There was only one way, said +Graham, to prevent the more daring among the rioters crawling in on +them and firing some of the shops, and that was to throw out strong +pickets on every side, then trust to their ears, their grit, and their +guns.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>Already he had been selecting good positions in which to post his +sentries. Ten at least, full half his force, would be needed, and +while vigilant watch was kept through the twilight, and a warning shot +sent at every hat that showed within dangerous range, Geordie went +from building to building picking out his men.</p> + +<p>Arms, ammunition, and provisions, fortunately, they had in abundance. +The company had long since seen to that. Nolan already had set "Blue +Lips" to work building a fire in the big kitchen stove at the office +and setting the kettle to boil. Coffee, hard bread, and bacon, with +canned pork and beans, were served to all hands, about five at a time, +and then, with Nolan to station the watchers on the south and west +fronts, George and his five stole out on the northward slope, alert, +cautious, and silent, moving only a few paces at a time.</p> + +<p>Afar down in the depths of the valley the clustered lights of the +excited town shone brilliantly through the gloaming. Every now and +then through the surrounding silence <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>came the bark of dogs, the +shrill voices of clamoring women, and occasionally a burst of howls +and yells. Some rude orator was still preaching death and destruction +to a more than half-drunken gang, urging them on to the aid of their +brethren up the levels above. All about the Silver Shield, however, +was ominously still. Over on opposite heights and down in stray +gulches could be seen the flitting lights of rival establishments, and +away to the west, around the base of the mountain where the railway +squirmed by the side of the tortuous stream, two or three +locomotive-engines, on stalled trains, had been whistling long and +hard for aid. All that was useless. Above for a mile, below for a +league, the track had been torn up in places, and down along Silver +Run, toward Hatch's Cove and the foot-hills, culverts and cuts had +been mined and blown out for five miles more. No sheriff's posses from +below, no hated Pinkertons, no despised militia, no dreaded regulars, +should come to the aid of Silver Shield till there was nothing left +worth saving.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>And up here on the northward flank of the bold, rounded heights that +overhung the town, and harbored now both besieged and besiegers, +invisible to each other and to the lower world in the darkness, +Geordie Graham lay crouching behind a little bowlder, every sense on +edge, for to his left front, a little higher up, he could distinctly +hear low, gruff voices, confused murmurings and movements, sounds that +told him that, relying on their overwhelming numbers, the mob was +coming slowly, surely, down to carry out their threat to fire the +buildings and to finish as they pleased the wretched defenders.</p> + +<p>It was barely nine o'clock. Below him, perhaps twenty yards downhill, +was his nearest sentry. Above him, and a little retired, was another, +a silent young German-American who had been at the head of the men +working tunnel Number Two. Beyond him still, and thrown back toward +the head of the ravine, was one of Cawker's guard, a sharp-eyed, +sharp-witted chap who had seemed at first to chafe at Graham's hints +and orders, yet had acted on them. And <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>on these two, so far as sound +could enable him to judge, all ignorant of their presence and purpose, +this uncouth mass of men was bearing down. Winchester in hand and, as +he himself said later, his heart in his mouth, Geordie stole swiftly +uphill to the post of the German and found him kneeling and all +aquiver with excitement. He, too, had just heard.</p> + +<p>"Don't fire till I do," said Graham. "I'll be right out where you can +hear me challenge." A few steps higher he climbed, and then called low +and clear:</p> + +<p>"D'you hear them coming, guard? Can you see anything?"</p> + +<p>And the answer came in the drawl of the Southland:</p> + +<p>"Hyuh 'em plain 'nuff, but they don't show a light yet. Reckon they +don't mean tuh."</p> + +<p>"We'll give them the fill of our magazines if they don't halt at the +word. Wait till I let drive, then let them have it!"</p> + +<p>And so, crouching low, straightforward along the slope he sped, till, +perhaps twenty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>yards out, the black bulk of the mountain-side loomed +between him and the westward heaven, while against the stars of the +northern horizon he could dimly determine, heaving steadily toward +him, not fifty paces away, some huge, murmuring, moving mass. And then +there rang out on the silence of the night, clear, stern, and +commanding, a voice the like of which their ears had never heard, in +words that even they could not fail to comprehend:</p> + +<p>"Halt where you are—or we fire!"</p> + +<p>There was an instant of recoil and confusion and fear. Then furious +tones from far back in the throng and guttural shoutings that seemed +urging them on, for, presently, on they came, but in the silence and +dread of death.</p> + +<p>Back went the lever of Graham's Winchester; slap went the bolt to its +seat, with the shining cartridge ahead of it; up came the butt to the +shoulder; and then, once more, that deep, virile voice rang along the +heights and went echoing away across the gorge. Back at the mine +Nolan's heart leaped at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>sound of it. Away down in the village +they heard it and shrank, for the next instant set them all shrieking; +for the lightning flashed and the rifles barked loud and swift, and +strong men howled and turned and fled, anywhere out of the way, and +some fell headlong, screaming and cursing, in the rush and panic that +spread from one stern and sudden word—the soldier command: "Fire!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE MAN OF THE SIEGE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Down in the valley that night there was commotion and uproar for +hours, but there was quiet at Silver Shield. One after another furious +speeches were made in foreign tongues, speeches in which the murderous +occupants of the mine buildings were doomed to an eternity of torment, +and the would-be murderous element among the miners was lauded to the +skies and urged to further effort.</p> + +<p>But the astonishing repulse, the fact that they had been met in the +open as well as in the dark, and that a swift and sudden fire had been +poured into their very midst, had shattered the nerve of men already +shaken, although it later turned out that only three of their number +had really been shot (two of them in the back), and that twoscore had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>been trampled and torn by their own people, while some thirty or more +were missing, "left dead on the hill," said their fellows, in the mad +rush for safety that followed the first flash. That sharp, stern order +and the instant response had started the rumor that soldiers, +regulars, had come up from the fort. It was pointed out that while the +Transcontinental was blocked down the Run, no one had thought to +cripple the Narrow Gauge over in the valley beyond. The road was open +to Miners' Joy, the road by which young Breifogle had made his escape, +and by this roundabout route had succor reached the besieged garrison.</p> + +<p>All that liquor and eloquence could do was tried on the raging +townsmen that night, but not until broad daylight could they be +induced to make another trial, and by that time few were able to keep +their feet on the level.</p> + +<p>Less than half a dozen shots from each of five Winchesters had been +enough, combined with darkness, to utterly rout the mass of rioters. +Mindful of the lesson well learned at the Point—to instantly follow a +staggering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>blow—Graham had sprung from his cover, called to his +fellows to "come on," and so, shouting and shooting at the very heels +of the panic, had not only chased them in headlong flight, but, +returning, had picked up half a dozen terrified prisoners and herded +them back to Nolan for such reassurance and comfort as that grim old +trooper saw fit to administer. When morning broke the depths of the +valley were still shrouded in mist and gloom. Up on the heights the +brilliant hues of the dawn shone far and wide on rocky peak and +pinnacle and, above the wooden tower of the office building, on the +fluttering folds of an American flag.</p> + +<p>That was a grewsome day on Lance Creek. Four of the mines, temporarily +bereft of hands, had fired up and gone to work with such force as they +had, and declined to take back the men who had quit. The managers, +superintendents, bosses, and owners held council together and started +out with what they termed a relief expedition to rescue the garrison +of Silver Shield. They were seen as they came solemnly marching +uphill, waving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>a white flag by way of assurance, and were met on the +roadway by Nolan and Geordie. Cawker was taking a much-needed nap.</p> + +<p>"Are you all safe?" was the eager question from below.</p> + +<p>"Safe from what?" asked Nolan, from above.</p> + +<p>"Why, the mob, the rioters. Didn't they try to clean you out last +night?"</p> + +<p>"Did they?" asked Nolan turning to his silent young friend the +fireman. "Was that what those fellows were thinking of that you chased +off the hill? Why, maybe it was! But here, what we came down to find +out was about Shiner's boy. How's he?"</p> + +<p>Then the rescuers looked at one another in some bewilderment. The +leaders were friends of Cawker. They hardly knew Nolan. They did not +know his companion the fireman.</p> + +<p>"D'you mean to tell us you've had no trouble up there?" was the eager +demand.</p> + +<p>"Why, lots of it, four days ago—'t least <i>I</i> had," answered Nolan, +grimly, "but nothin' worth mention last night."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>"Why, man," cried the manager of the White Eagle, "there were a +thousand riotous Bohemians and Dagoes, and Lord knows what all, went +up there last night to burn those buildings over your heads and you +with 'em."</p> + +<p>"Why, cert'nly," said Nolan, with preternatural gravity and a wink at +his comrade, who was doing his utmost to keep a straight face. "It +must have been some of those fellows <i>you</i> blew in about ten o'clock. +But say," he broke off, as though this matter bored him, "what we want +to know is about Shiner's boy. They didn't seem to have time to talk."</p> + +<p>By which time it dawned upon the officials present that Nolan was +having fun with them, and though the spokesmen were nettled, many +others, with genuine American sense of humor, felt that he couldn't be +blamed.</p> + +<p>"Your name is Nolan, I think," said a man from the Denver. "We've +heard of you. Shiner's boy is better, though still weak. You mustn't +feel we left you to shift for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>yourselves up there. Our men were all +out, and we didn't know how soon they'd be swooping on us. 'Twasn't +until last night it was generally known that you were back, and that +you and your friends were what saved Cawker and the Silver Shield +yesterday. How's <i>he</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Cawker? Oh, Cawker's probably about got dinner ready for you +gentlemen by this time. If you are sure about Shiner we won't go +down."</p> + +<p>"Go down? Why, Nolan, they'd murder you!"</p> + +<p>But there came a sudden shot, and then a shout, from somewhere uphill. +On the edge of the dump a man was eagerly waving his hat, pointing +away to the northeast along the massive slope of the mountain.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Fireman," said Nolan, "I guess we'll have to go back. But +you are sure about Shiner, are you?"—this again to the visitors, as +he persisted in calling them. "Well, come right along up and see the +old man himself. Dinner ought to be ready now."</p> + +<p>But, once back at the buildings, Nolan left <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>to Cawker and his guard +the pleasure of receiving the crowd from across the creek. He and +Geordie were needed at once at the lookout on top of the office, the +little tower above which fluttered the flag. Down on the platform +anxious faces were upturned, for the sentry had seen a countless +throng of men, so he said, coming over from Miners' Joy. To Cawker and +his fellows it meant but one thing: The miners in the northward +valley, more numerous than these along Lance Creek, reinforced, +probably, by a swarm of the idlers from Hatch's Cove, were coming to +the aid of their friends and fellow-countrymen in the strike at Silver +Shield.</p> + +<p>For two miles out the road from the village meandered up a winding +ravine, then went twisting and turning along the eastward face of the +mountain until it dipped out of sight over the massive divide. Down in +the depths of the gorge little dots of men could be seen hurrying away +up the trail as though going to meet the coming concourse. Away out +along the mountain-side not to exceed three or four vehicles and a +scant dozen of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>horsemen could dimly be made out, crawling slowly +southward, coming gingerly towards them. Where, then, was the +"countless throng"?</p> + +<p>"They were in sight on yonder ridge," said the lookout, "not ten +minutes ago. They must be hiding in the hollows, waiting for the +others to catch up," whereupon Nolan, looking daggers, had called him +a scarehead, and Geordie shouted for Cawker's glass. It was sent up +the stairway in less than a minute and focussed on Porphyry Point, a +massive buttress overhanging the farther valley. For long seconds +Geordie steadied the binocular against the staff and peered silently +through. At last he said: "Some riders and two or three livery-rigs +are coming, but I see no men afoot." Then, turning over his shoulder +to Cawker, standing in the midst of his friends and fellow-managers, +and looking eagerly aloft, he called: "Better have dinner now, if it's +ready. It will take 'em an hour to get here."</p> + +<p>"Who is that young fellow, anyhow?" asked Townsend, of the Vanguard +Mine, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>the ears of a score of men awaited the answer.</p> + +<p>"That young feller," said Cawker, in low tone, and impressively, "was +a stranger to every one here, except old Nolan and Shiner, just +twenty-four hours ago. Now there ain't one of 'em but swears by him. I +don't know him from Adam, and Nolan won't tell, but, gentlemen—that +young feller's a dandy!"</p> + +<p>And this of a youth in grimy cap, flannels, and overalls, with a pair +of smouched soldier gauntlets hiding the white of his hands, and a +coating of coal-dust and smudge hiding all but the clear, healthy +white of his eyes!</p> + +<p>But an hour later came at least partial enlightenment. Picking their +way, afoot and a few in saddle, welcomed by shouts from the lately +besieged, and escorted by a deputation sent forward to meet them, +there began to arrive certain citizens well known to the neighborhood +by name and reputation.</p> + +<p>There was the sheriff of Yampah, with a small squad of deputies. There +was the mayor of Argenta, a director in the mines, and with him, +puffing prodigiously and slowly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>up the ramp from the wagon-road, two +brother directors away out from Denver. There were certain prominent +citizens of Argenta and Hatch's Cove. There were certain railway men, +with men and tools at their back and no time to waste. There were two +men in civilian dress whom many a man of Silver Run knew for soldiers +at once, for as such had they known them before—Captain Lee and +Quartermaster McCrea of the old —th Cavalry—and there had been a +remarkable meeting and hand-shaking between them and Nolan, and a +whispered confabulation, at the end of which the two dove into the +office building where Shiner still lay, comforted by better news of +his boy, by good surgical aid, and by a skilful and competent nurse +who, for more than one reason, preferred to keep out of sight for the +time being. There had been a face-to-face meeting between sergeant and +sheriff when Nolan came forth from a rapturous scene at old Shiner's +bedside. But this time the sheriff looked sheepish, and there was no +talk of arrest. Young Breifogle, it seems, would not die of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>his +wounds. One of the culprits had "split" and the real assailants were +known.</p> + +<p>And there had been a fine shower of congratulation on Cawker for his +heroic defence and determined stand against tremendous odds, and the +three magnates present of Silver Shield had begun with much unction to +talk of reward and appreciation, and very probably Cawker felt both +heroic and deserving, and quite ready to accept all credit and pay, +but there were too many witnesses, too many wise men, too many +suggestive smiles and snickers and audible remarks, and Cawker had +sense to see and then to rise manfully to the occasion.</p> + +<p>"We did the best we knew how, gentlemen," said he, "but I am bound to +say Silver Shield would have been in ruins this minute, and most of us +dead, if it hadn't been for Nolan—the man you ordered thrown out."</p> + +<p>There was a silence almost dramatic for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Who ordered him thrown out?" asked Mr. Stoner, of Denver.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>"The directors, sir, unless young Mr. Breifogle lied. These men are my +witnesses."</p> + +<p>And the answer came straightway.</p> + +<p>"No such orders were given by the board. If Mr. Breifogle gave them, +they were his alone."</p> + +<p>Whereupon a shout went up that shook the roof. But the end was not +yet. Nolan was dragged forward to be grasped by the hand and smothered +with congratulations, and old Nolan, in turn, would have none of it. A +dozen men had seized Geordie Graham, even as his classmates and +comrades had chaired him a few weeks back at the Point, and black, +grimy, and protesting, he was heaved forward and deposited in front of +the astonished trio. But the shout that went up from all sides was +significant. Lee and McCrea were shouting, too.</p> + +<p>"More heroes?" asked Mr. Stoner, wide-eyed and uncomprehending. +"Well—er, Nolan, they told us on the way over that there must be a +hundred soldiers here."</p> + +<p>"That's about right, sir," grinned Nolan; then, reaching forth, he +laid a hand lightly on Graham's broad shoulder, "and here stands—most +of 'em."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>AWAY ON THE WARPATH</h4> +<br /> + +<p>And all these chapters it has taken to tell how it came about that +Second Lieutenant George Montrose Graham was quite a celebrity in the +—th Cavalry before ever he reported for duty with his troop. Several +weeks the Silver Shield Mining Company spent in a squabble among +themselves that ended in the smothering of "the Breifogle interest," +and came near to sending "the Boss of Argenta" to jail. Several days +elapsed before Captain Lee and Lieutenants McCrea and Graham felt it +entirely prudent to leave, but when they did it was with the assurance +that stockholders who had endured to the end, as had Graham, Lee, and +McCrea, were now to reap the reward of their tenacity.</p> + +<p>It is a recorded fact that, within three <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>weeks after the departure of +McCrea and Geordie from West Point for the West, there came an offer +to Dr. Graham of something like six times the cost price of his +shares, and the offer was declined, with thanks.</p> + +<p>It is a recorded fact that Silver Shield was reorganized within the +summer, to the end that the controlling interest passed from Colorado +to Chicago.</p> + +<p>It is a recorded fact that, from afar out in the Rockies, there came +to Lieutenant Colonel Hazzard, Commandant of Cadets, a "wire" that +puzzled him not a little until he laid it before his clear-headed +wife, who gave him a delighted kiss and scurried away to show it to +Mrs. Graham. It read:</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"You win. I lose; and, losing, am a heavy winner."</p></div> + +<p>For Bonner had supplied the money that paid for much of that costly +plant, most of which would have gone up in smoke and down in ruin +could the mob have had its way. Bonner himself had rushed out to +Denver at news of the trouble. Bonner sent for Cawker and Nolan, and +others of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>employés, and learned for himself how things had been +going, and was not too civil to Stoner and his Denver colleagues. +Bonner, a director in the Transcontinental, heard from Anthony and +Cullin all about the young fireman they spirited up to the mines, and +the elder Breifogle had to hear how that young fireman cared for the +battered son and heir, after his "beating up" at the fists and feet of +the rioters, and if Breifogle bore no love for the Grahams, he at +least loved his own.</p> + +<p>It is a recorded fact that old Shiner got well of his wound after many +long weeks, and his brave boy in much shorter time, and that both were +handsomely rewarded. Cawker came in for a good thing by way of a +raise, but it was Long Nolan whom Bonner and the magnates set on a +pinnacle—Long Nolan, and, as Nolan would have it, Nolan's young +commander.</p> + +<p>It is a matter of record that when Captain Lee went back to the +regiment he congratulated Lane, for one thing, on having held on to +his stocks—almost the only one at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>Reno who did—and, for another, on +having such a youngster for second lieutenant. "He has won his spurs," +said Lee, "before ever he donned his uniform." And there was rejoicing +in the regiment over Lee's description of events, for five of the +younger officers, graduated within three years, knew "Pops" in his +cadet days and remembered him well; and all of the old officers who +had served at Camp Sandy and at Fort Reynolds knew him in babyhood, or +boyhood, or both. So did most of the veteran troopers.</p> + +<p>And it is a matter of record that, on the eastward way again, both +McCrea and Geordie dined with Mr. Bonner at the Chicago Club, and the +new major-general commanding the military division graciously accepted +Bonner's bid to be one of the dinner-party, and took Geordie aside +after coffee had been served, noting that the silent young fellow +neither smoked nor touched his wine, and asked him a few questions +about the Point and many about the mines, and at parting the general +was so good as to express the wish that when Geordie came out to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>join +in September he would stop and see him, all of which was very +flattering to a young fellow just out of cadet gray, and Geordie, as +in duty bound, said that he certainly would, little dreaming how +soon—how very soon—he and the old regiment would be riding hard +under the lead of that hard-riding leader, and facing a foe led by +warriors true and tried—a foe any ten of whom could have made +mince-meat of ten times their number of such foemen as Graham had met +at the mines.</p> + +<p>How could they, the brave young class, have dreamed, that exquisite +June day of their graduation, that within six months some of their +number were destined to do desperate battle with a desperate band of +the braves of the allied Sioux in the Bad Lands of South Dakota?</p> + +<p>For it is also a matter of record that Lieutenant and Quartermaster +McCrea made application, as he had promised, for six months' leave of +absence, with permission to go beyond sea, and with every intention of +spending most of the winter in sunny <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>Italy. But he spent it in saddle +and snowdrift, in scout and skirmish, and in at least one sharp, +stinging, never-to-be-forgotten battle with the combined bands of the +Sioux, and came within an ace of losing his life as well as his leave, +for many a brave soldier and savage warrior fell in that bitter +fight—Geordie Graham's maiden battle. Little wonder he hopes he may +never see another like it.</p> + +<p>And it all came about as such affairs have so often occurred in the +past. Unheeded warnings, unnoted threats, unpunished outbreaks, that +experienced soldiers about the reservation could readily understand, +and foretell what was coming, and make their own individual +preparations for the inevitable. But nothing they could report to +superiors would shake the serene confidence of the Department of the +Interior in the pacific purposes of its red children, the wards of the +nation. All along in the summer and the early autumn the "ghost-dance" +had been spreading from tribe to tribe, the war drum had been thumping +in the villages, the Indian messiah, a transparent fraud, as all +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>might see, wandered unrebuked from band to band—half a dozen +messiahs, in fact—and along in September, instead of Geordie Graham's +best-loved chum and classmate, Connell, of the Engineers, there came +to the Point a letter from that young officer, that Graham received +with rejoicing, read with troubled eyes, and for the first time in his +life kept from his mother. There came a time, later still, when there +were many letters to be kept from her, but those sorrowful days were +not as yet. This letter, however, he could not bring himself to show +her, for it told of things she had been dreading to hear ever since +the papers began telling of the ghost-dancing on the plains. It read:</p> + +<div class="block"> +<p style="margin-left: 5%;">"<span class="sc">Pecatonica, Wisconsin</span>, <i>September 5th.</i></p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">Dear Pops</span>,—I fully intended to be with you to spend +a week as promised, before joining at Willett's Point, but you +are more likely to be spending that week with me. I am just +back from a run to the Black Hills with father. He has some +property about Deadwood. Returning, I stopped two days at Fort +Niobrara, as the guest of 'Sampson' Stone, whose troop is +stationed there, and I tell you it was interesting. He took me +up to the reservation, and I had my first look at the Sioux <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>on +their native heath, and saw for myself how peaceful they are. +Everybody at the agency is scared stiff. Every officer at the +fort, from the colonel down, is convinced that war is coming. +The governor of Nebraska has been up looking after the settlers +and ranch folk and warning them away. General Miles has an +officer there watching the situation. From him I heard that +your regiment is to be sent to the field at once to march +northward; that other troops are warned, and I suppose you'll +be joining somewhere on the way. But the row, when it comes, +will break out north of the Niobrara, and the —th may not get +there in time.</p> + +<p>"Stone says if you want a taste of the real thing, to apply for +orders to report for duty to the commanding officer at Fort +Niobrara until the arrival of your regiment. I have begged the +Chief of Engineers to let me have a few weeks in the field with +General Miles, and am assured that the general will apply for +me. Not that I can be of any value as Engineer Officer, but +just to get the experience, and perhaps see what we've been +reading of a dozen years—a real Indian campaign. Now, old man, +you know that country. You were there as a boy. <i>You</i> could be +of use. Why not ask for orders at once? Then we can push out +via Sioux City together. I know how the mother will protest, +especially since she was robbed of three precious weeks in +July; but, isn't it the chance of a lifetime? Isn't this what +we are for, after all? Wire decision. Yours as ever,</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="sc">Connell</span>."</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>"Good old Badger," murmured Geordie. "He always was right." Then that +letter went to an inner pocket, and for the first time in his life, +with something to conceal from her, George Graham turned to his +mother.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful September evening. The gray-and-white battalion had +just formed for parade. The throng of spectators lined the roadway in +front of the superintendent's quarters, and with that proud mother +clinging as usual to his arm, with that ominous letter in the breast +of his sack-coat, so close that her hand by a mere turn of the wrist +could touch it, George Graham stood silently beside her as she chatted +happily with Mrs. Hazzard. Not ten feet distant, leaning on a cane, +was an officer lamed for life and permanently retired from service +because of a desperate wound received in savage warfare. With him, +eagerly talking, was a regimental comrade who had survived the bloody +day on the Little Big Horn, and he was telling of things he had seen +and men whom he had met, men whose names were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>famous among the Sioux +and were now on the lips of the nation at large. Foremost of these was +the old-time enemy of every white man, long the leader of the most +powerful band that ever disputed the dominion of the West, Tatanka +Iyotanka—Sitting Bull.</p> + +<p>Not fifty miles from Standing Rock Agency, surrounded by devoted +followers, dwelling in Indian ease and comfort, but rejoicing in new +opportunities for evil, Sitting Bull, said the spokesman, was holding +frequent powwows with the ghost-dancers, urging, exciting, encouraging +all, and still the Indian Bureau would not—and the army, therefore, +could not—interfere. Everywhere from the Yellowstone to the confines +of Nebraska the young braves of the allied bands were swarming forth +and holding their fierce and ominous rites, and the autumn air of the +Dakotas rang with the death song and war-whoop. The blood craze was +upon them and would not down. The messiah had appeared to chief after +chief, warning him the time had come to rise and sweep the white +invaders from the face of the earth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>promising as reward long years +of plenty and prosperity, the return of the vanished buffalo, the +resurrection of their famous dead, a savage millennium the thought of +which was more than enough to array the warriors for battle. "It's +coming; it's <i>bound</i> to come!" said the captain, in his decisive way, +"and if old Bull isn't choked off speedily we'll have work for a dozen +regiments as well as ours."</p> + +<p>Graham listened, fascinated, yet praying his mother might not hear. +Secure in the possession of her stalwart son, full of joy in their +present and pride in his past, she chatted merrily on. Mrs. Frazier, +too, had joined them, another woman who had reason to rejoice in +Geordie's prowess at Silver Shield. They were so blithely, busily, +engaged that he presently managed to slip unobserved away and join the +little group about the speaker. Colonel Hazzard, too, was there and +held forth a cordial hand to the new-comer. Geordie's father never +betrayed half the pride in him that the colonel frankly owned to.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>"This must interest you not a little," said he.</p> + +<p>"More than I can tell you, sir," was the quick answer. "More than I +dare let mother know! But I have come for advice. I've a letter from +Mr. Connell. Read it, sir, and tell me how to go about it. Before +mother can get wind of it, I want orders to report at Niobrara."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>A SCOUT FOR THE SIOUX</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The dawn of an autumn day was breaking over a barren and desolate +landscape. The mist was rising from the silent pools of the narrow +stream that alternately lay in lazy reaches and sped leaping and +laughing in swift rapid over pebbly bed—the Mini Chaduza of the +Sioux. The sun was still far below the eastward horizon, but the +clouds were gorgeous with his livery of red and gold, and the stars +had shrunk from sight before the ardor of his beams. The level "bench" +through which the stream meandered, the billowing slopes to the north +and south, were bare of foliage and uninviting to the eye, yet keen +and wary eyes were scanning their bald expanse, studying every crest +and curve and ridge in search of moving objects. Only at the very +brink of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>the flowing waters, and only in far-scattered places along +the stream, little clumps of cottonwood-trees gave proof that nature +had not left the valley utterly without shade and refuge when the +summer's sun beamed hotly down upon the lower lands of the Dakotas. +And now only among these scattered oases could even practised eyes +catch any sign of life.</p> + +<p>Here and there under the banks and shielded from outer view, near-by +watchers might discover little, dull-red patches glowing dimly in the +semi-darkness. Here and there among the timber and along the brink +little groups of dark objects, shifting slowly about, betrayed the +presence of animal life, and afar out upon the prairie slopes tiny +black spots on every side, perhaps a dozen in all, told the +plains-practised eye that here was a cavalry bivouac—a little +detached force of Uncle Sam's blue-shirted troopers, thrown out from +the shelter of fort or garrison, and lurking for some purpose in the +heart of the Indian country.</p> + +<p>For Indians there were by scores right <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>here at the old antelope +crossing only the night before. The sands of the ford were still +trampled by myriad hoofs of ponies and streaked by the dragging poles +of the travois. The torn earth on the northward rise out of the stream +was still wet and muddy from the drip of shaggy breast and barrel of +their nimble mounts. No need to call up Iron Shield or Baptiste or +young Touch-the-Skies, Sioux scouts from the agency, to interpret the +signs and point the way. The major commanding and all his officers and +most of his men could read the indications as well as the half-breeds, +natives to the soil. A big band of young warriors, with a few elders, +had yielded to the eloquence of the messengers of Sitting Bull and +were out for mischief. They had been missing from the agencies several +weeks; had been ghost-dancing with their fellows from Pine Ridge to +the west, and were by this time probably on their way to swell the +ranks and stiffen the back of that big chief of the Minniconjou +Sioux—"Big Foot," as known to the whites, Si Tanka, as known to the +Indian Bureau, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>and "Spotted Elk," so said Iron Shield, the scout, as +known to the Sioux themselves.</p> + +<p>A famous character was Si Tanka. Next to Sitting Bull, now that Gall +was out of the way, dying of illness and old age, Si Tanka had more +influence than any chief afield, and he longed to be acknowledged head +of the allied Sioux. He had been to Washington, had been photographed +side by side with Mr. Blaine on the steps of the Capitol; had sold to +the whites the right of way for a railway through his Cheyenne River +lands. He belonged to the Cheyenne River Agency far to the east, and +declined to live there. He had his own village up in the Cherry Creek +country, midway between the troops at Fort Meade in the Black Hills +and Fort Bennett on the Missouri. He had white man's log-cabins, +wagons, furniture, horses, hens, and chickens. He had, moreover, +hundreds of cartridges, and the means and appliances wherewith to +reload his shells, and he had, what was worse, a lively son, Black +Fox, who had more Winchesters than he knew what to do with, and an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>insatiable longing to use them against the whites.</p> + +<p>Ever since the ghost-dancing had begun, Si Tanka stayed in the open. +Agents went forth and begged him to come in where he belonged—to the +Cheyenne Agency at the east, or to the Pine Ridge to the southwest, or +the Rosebud to the southeast, or, if his lordship preferred, he might +even go camp near Fort Meade, or surrender at Standing Rock Agency to +the northeast, but to be out in the wilds and barely one hundred miles +from Sitting Bull, also posing as a private and sovereign citizen, +accepting government support but declining government supervision—that +was something the Indian Bureau viewed with alarm, and well it might, +for if Tatanka Iyotanka (Bull Sitting Big) and Siha Tanka, Si for short +(Foot Big), should take it into their dusky heads to be allies and not +rivals, if the great Uncapapa and the big Minniconjou were to join +forces, there would be the mischief to pay all over the West. So the +Bureau sent and civilly requested. Si Tanka most uncivilly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>replied, +and Tatanka Iyotanka scorned to reply at all.</p> + +<p>What made matters bad was this, that young braves were eternally +getting crazy over the ghost-dancing and going off to join these big +chiefs. "<i>Akichita hemacha</i>" ("I am a warrior"), being all they had to +say to friends and teachers who sought to dissuade them.</p> + +<p>Away up at Fort Meade, in the Black Hills, were some high-mettled +fellows, cavalry and infantry, who were eagerly watching the +indications, one burly major of Horse fairly losing his temper over +the situation, and begging the powers to let him take his capital +squadron, with one or two companies of infantry, and, between his +horsemen, his "walkaheaps," and himself, sturdy "Napa Yahmni," as the +Sioux had named him, swore he'd bring Big Foot to his senses and back +to the agency. Napa yahmni meant "three fingers," that being all that +were left on one of his hands after a scrimmage with Southern sabres +during the great Civil War. Really, there was reason why something +should be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>done, or surely the settlers and ranch folk would be made +to suffer. And with troops there at Fort Meade, in the Hills, and over +at Fort Yates, on the Missouri, and at Fort Robinson off to the +southwest, or Niobrara here to the east, it was high time Mr. Big Foot +was made to behave, and still the government stayed its orders and +held its hand.</p> + +<p>One cool-headed, nervy, mild-mannered young officer had taken his life +in his hands, and a half-breed interpreter in civilized clothing, +visited Si Tanka's big village and had a talk with his turbulent +braves, to the end that as many as forty decided to quit, go home and +be good, give up evil spirits, intentions, and ghost-dancing, to the +rage of Black Fox and the amaze of Napa Yahmni, but it wasn't a week +before another Messiah broke loose among the sand-hills of western +Nebraska, and braves by the dozen sped thither to hear him; and +presently both agencies had another influx of outsiders, urging revolt +and uprising, and the old men counselled vainly, and preachers and +teachers pleaded without avail. The young wards of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>the nation were +ripe for mischief. The day of their deliverance had come. The Messiah +was calling his chosen to the wild wastes of the Bad Lands, where they +could sing and shout and dance till they dropped, and then if they went +mad with religion, and away to the warpath, it meant woe for western +Nebraska and for the Dakotas far and near. This was the situation that +called for a scout from Fort Niobrara, and thus it happened that for +over a fortnight a little column of cavalry had been patrolling the +breaks and the valleys away to the northwest, peering into the old +haunts of the Sioux along the headwaters of the pretty streams rising +among the hills beyond the weather-beaten landmark of Eagle's Nest. +They found lodge poles a-plenty on Black Pipe Creek, and the ashes of +many a little fire along Pass Creek and Bear-in-the-Lodge, and away to +the Yellow Medicine. They circled clear round the wild worshippers, it +seems, far west as the Wounded Knee, without ever encountering one; and +yet keeping them on the move had broken up their incantations, and, as +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>major believed, had worn out their obstinate determination to +stick to their medicine-men and Messiahs whether the Great White Father +would have it or not.</p> + +<p>For two days the column had followed, eastward now, the trail of a big +band, and just when Baptiste and Touch-the-Sky, interpreters, would +have it that the crazy chiefs and their followers had been fairly +headed off and balked of their purpose of joining Big Foot beyond the +Cheyenne, just when it seemed likely that another day would enable the +troops to overhaul them and herd them peaceably, if possible, +forcibly, if not, back to the sheltering wing of the agency and the +Indian police, lo, just at sunset, after a long day's march, a +corporal had come galloping, full cry, from the rear-guard, while the +scouts were still far out to the front: "The Indians are back of us at +least six miles, going like mad for the north!"</p> + +<p>Then the major commanding said things that made his pilots' ears +tingle. It was all gospel truth. Finding themselves followed and being +steadily pressed onward toward <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>the fort and the settlements, the +astute warriors had left a goodly sized party ambling along in front, +to lead the cavalry on; had dropped away all afternoon by twos and +threes as though looking for antelope or black tail, not northward +where the valley of the upper Chaduza was open and shallow and they +could be seen for miles, but southward among the breaks and ravines +where they were hidden entirely; had reassembled on a little branch to +the southwest and then, when the column was well out of sight, had +rushed for the north and the wild country so recently left; had forded +the Chaduza and by moonrise were doubtless safely camped for the night +on the south fork of White River. All the major could do was order his +men to the right-about, march to the crossing (another weary six miles +after the thirty-six of the day), and, with drooping horses and +riders, unsaddle, cook supper, and settle for the night, then send +couriers to the post in the morning.</p> + +<p>And now morning had come and couriers had not yet gone, for an hour +before the first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>break of day—the <i>anpaniya</i> of the Sioux—there had +come galloping from the northeast a riderless horse, at sight of whose +blood-stained saddle and stirrup hood the herd-guard woke the officer +of the pickets. The captain unrolled from his blanket, took one look +by the light of the moon, and bade the corporal find Baptiste, who +needed not to see the saddle; he knew the horse at a glance.</p> + +<p>"Pete Gamble's," said he. "They've begun killing!" And Pete Gamble was +a ranchman well known to them all, both Indian and white. "If they +would kill <i>him</i>," said he, "they would kill anybody."</p> + +<p>And as if this were not enough, barely half an hour later two men, mad +with terror, came spurring in over the northward ridge, almost +delirious with joy to find themselves in the presence of friends. +Their little hunting camp, they said, had been suddenly "jumped" early +in the night. They had managed to get out with stampeded horses, but +every one else was butchered, and the Indians were after <i>them</i>. The +major doubled his guards to the north and awaited the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>Indian coming. +He would not rouse his wearied men until actually assailed.</p> + +<p>But now it was fairly broad daylight, and not an Indian feather had +shown nor an Indian shot been heard. Slowly, sleepily, at the gruff +summons of their sergeants, the troopers were crawling out of their +blankets and stretching and yawning by the fires. No stirring +trumpet-call had roused them from their dreams. A stickler for style +and ceremony was the major in garrison, but out on Indian campaign he +was "horse sense from the ground up," as his veterans put it. He +observed all formalities when on ordinary march, and none whatever +when in chase of the Indians.</p> + +<p>He had let them sleep to the very last minute, well knowing he might +have stern demands to make that day. He and his adjutant had reduced +the statements of the hunters to writing, and a brief, soldierly +report was now ready to go to the general commanding the department, +who had come out to Fort Niobrara to be nearer the scene of action. +The fort lay nearly fifty miles away, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>south of east, the agency even +farther to the north and east, and the recalcitrant braves were +heading away through the wilds of their old reservation, and might +stop only for occasional bite, sup, or sleep until they joined forces +with Big Foot or Black Fox, full a hundred miles as the crow flies, +for now were they branded renegades in the light of the law.</p> + +<p>In the crisp, chill air of the late autumn morning tiny smokes from +the cook-fires sailed straight aloft, melting speedily into the blue. +For nearly half a mile along the stream horses and pack-mules were +scattered upon the "bench," browsing eagerly on the dew-laden bunch +grass. Farther out beyond them on every side, with their campaign hats +pulled down over their grim eyebrows and their heads deep in the +collars of their cavalry overcoats, the men of the guard still kept +vigilant watch. Long years of experience on the Indian frontier had +taught their leaders the need of precaution, and the sentries took +their cue from the "old hands." By a little camp-fire, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>booted, +spurred, slouch-hatted, like his troopers, and muffled in a light-blue +overcoat that could not be told from theirs, the major commanding was +giving brief directions to three troopers who stood silently before +him, their carbines dangling from their broad shoulder-belts, with the +reins of their chargers in hand. Wiry and gaunt were these chargers, +wiry and gaunt were the men, for those were days when neither horse +nor rider went over-weight on campaign, or came back with a +superfluous ounce. But horses and men had stripped for the day's work. +Blanket, poncho, and overcoat, saddle-bags, side lines, lariat, and +picket-pin—everything, in fact, but themselves, their arms, +cartridges, canteens, saddles, saddle-blankets, and bridles—had been +left to the pack-train. A good breakfast to start with, a few hardtack +and slices of bacon in the breast-pocket of the hunting-shirt, settled +the question of subsistence. They were to start at once, deliver those +despatches at Niobrara, unless headed off by Indians, long before set +of sun, and be back with reply before its rise on the morrow.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>Then came the question as to the fate of the poor fellows of Gamble's +and the hunters' camp.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Willard," said the major to his adjutant, as the couriers mounted +and rode away, "send one platoon over to Gamble's camp—it'll take 'em +all day—and another back on the trail of the teamsters, and see what +they can find of the outfit. They'll have to hunt for it themselves. +The hunters say they wouldn't go back for a million apiece."</p> + +<p>The adjutant was figuring in his note-book. He closed it, arose at +once, and looked about him. Officers and men, the six troops, or +companies, of the detachment seemed busy at breakfast. The aroma of +soldier coffee floated on the keen morning air, and under the gentle, +genial influence of the welcome stimulant men began to thaw out, and +presently the firesides were merry with chaff and fun. A curious and +sympathetic group, to be sure, hovered about the survivors of the +hunters' camp, listening rather doubtfully to their tales, for the +tales had taken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>devious turns under cross-examination. But for the +bloody trappings of Pete Gamble's horse, telling mutely of tragedy, +the hunters might have met only contempt and scoffing. Indian scares +were old as the trails.</p> + +<p>"Whose turn is it?" presently questioned the major, as Mr. Willard +started away. The adjutant halted and faced about:</p> + +<p>"'D' and 'F' troops, sir."</p> + +<p>"All right. One officer and twenty men from each will be enough."</p> + +<p>And then came striding forward, with quick, elastic steps, a young +soldier in dark-blue campaign shirt and riding-breeches, a three +weeks' stubble on his clear-cut, sun-burned face, a field-glass slung +over one shoulder, a leather-covered note-book tucked away inside his +cartridge-belt. No sign of rank was visible about his dress, yet there +could be little doubt of it. The major looked up, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Fast going for topographical notes yesterday, wasn't it, Mr. +Connell?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so, sir. Indeed, I'm ashamed to submit them, but I +wouldn't have missed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>this scout for a month's pay, all the same."</p> + +<p>"Well, we don't often see the engineers on this sort of duty. I'm glad +the general sent you along. What is it, captain?" he broke off, +turning to a gray-mustached, choleric-looking veteran who came +suddenly upon them, breathing rather hard.</p> + +<p>"Major," began the stout man, impetuously, "this makes the third time +in ten days 'F' Troop's been ordered on side scout, or some part of +it. Now we're ordered back to hunt up what's left of that wagon camp, +and—"</p> + +<p>"One moment, captain," interposed the commander, placidly. "You say +'we.' My orders are only one officer and twenty men."</p> + +<p>"Well, I have only one officer with me, and <i>he</i> don't belong," was +the querulous rejoinder. "He's simply a volunteer with the command, +and so utterly inexperienced that I consider it necessary to go +myself. I can't trust my men to a mere boy just out of school."</p> + +<p>"That will do, Captain Garrett," said the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>major, promptly, yet with +absolutely unruffled tone and temper. "If <i>I</i> can, <i>you</i> may. Mr. +Graham has had more experience than you are aware of."</p> + +<p>"Does Mr. Graham go—in command?" asked Connell, eagerly, as Captain +Garrett, silenced, but swelling with amaze, stood helplessly by. "May +<i>I</i> go with him, sir?"</p> + +<p>"By all means, Mr. Connell, if you wish."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>FIRST SIGHT OF THE FOE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In half an hour the sun was up and two little detachments of cavalry +were up and away—one of them, under Lieutenant O'Fallon, filing out +of the cotton-woods, at the eastward verge, and heading straight on +the trail of the couriers, who were already out of sight down the +valley; the other, leaving a few minutes later, was just disappearing +from view of the watchers in the bivouac, over the low ridge or divide +that spanned the northward sky-line. Once before, five years back, +Geordie Graham had led a little cavalry command on a swift and +successful chase after a gang of frontier desperadoes who had robbed +the bank at Argenta. Now, for the first time in his life, he was both +guide and commander. Now, as they had done time and again in cadet +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>days, Connell and Graham, "Badger" and "Coyote," went side by side, +almost hand in hand, on the path of stirring and at last perilous +duty.</p> + +<p>To Connell the scout had thus far been one of almost unalloyed +enjoyment and profit. Attached to the staff of the commander as +engineer and topographical officer, he had ridden at will on the +flanks of the column, a single orderly his sole attendant, a prismatic +compass his only instrument. Then with the declining hours of the day +came the making up of his notes, and after supper the hours of confab +with Geordie, who, whenever possible, would come over to headquarters +camp-fire. There was no sociability at his own.</p> + +<p>"It is too bad," Major Berry had confided to Connell the third day +out. "It just so happened that 'Old Grumbly' was the one captain +without a subaltern when Mr. Graham reported for duty with us, and +your fine young classmate had to take the place of one of the +absentees. The colonel couldn't help himself. Grumbly is a good +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>soldier in his way, Mr. Connell, and knows his trade, too. I suppose +Graham has—sized him up?" This with a cock of his head and a keen +glance.</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't wonder, sir; but if he has, he's kept it to himself."</p> + +<p>"Well, if Garrett gets to bothering Graham too much, you let me know."</p> + +<p>"I will, sir, if Graham lets <i>me</i> know, but—I'm mistaken in Graham if +he opens his head on the subject."</p> + +<p>And though the scout was now in its third week, and things had been +said and done by "Grumbly" Garrett that set other men to talking, not +a word had come from "Coyote."</p> + +<p>But it soon transpired that if Graham wouldn't speak of his troop +commander <i>pro tem.</i>, neither did he speak to him, save when occasion +required. Day after day on the march it was noted that while the +senior lieutenant of each troop rode side by side with his captain, +the young West Pointer serving with "F" was almost always at the rear +of its column of twos, where, as it transpired, Garrett had given him +orders to march <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>and see that the men kept closed. But no complaint +came from Graham.</p> + +<p>Now, however, as the two old chums rode away on a side scout of their +own, it might well be expected that "Coyote" would be less reticent. +The eyes of half the command had followed them appreciatively as the +detachment started, Graham and Connell in the lead, Sergeant Drum, and +his nineteen following in compact column of twos. No sooner did they +reach the outlying sentries, however, than it was noted that the young +leader looked back over his shoulder, and the next moment two troopers +detached themselves from the rest and spurred out ahead until full six +hundred yards in the lead. Then two others obliqued out to the right +and left until nearly as a great a distance on the flanks.</p> + +<p>"Knows his biz," said the adjutant, sententiously.</p> + +<p>"Knows nothing but what I've taught him day by day," snarled Captain +Garrett. "And I wash my hands of all responsibility for that +detachment once it's out of sight of us."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>"Shut up," growled a junior. "The 'Old Man's' got ears, and he'll hear +you."</p> + +<p>"Well, I <i>want</i> him to hear—it's time he <i>did</i> hear—and heed," was +the surly answer. But "Grumbly's" eyes were wisely watching the major +as he spoke, noting that the "Old Man" was busy with his binocular, +following Graham's movements up the long, gradual, northward slope. +The moment the major dropped it and turned toward the group, Captain +Garrett changed his tone. "What I'm most afraid of is his getting +lost," said he.</p> + +<p>"You needn't be, captain," said the bearded commander, placidly. "Mr. +Graham knows this country better than we do. He spent long months here +before ever we set eyes on it."</p> + +<p>Garrett's jaw dropped. "Then why didn't he tell me? How was I to +know?"</p> + +<p>"Principally, I fancy," drawled the adjutant, who loved to rub "Old +Grumbly's" fur the wrong way, "because you told him two weeks ago that +when you wanted advice or information on any subject from him you'd +ask it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>But while Graham had as yet won no friend in Captain Garrett, he had +found many among the troopers. His fine horsemanship, his kind, +courteous manner to them, his soldierly bearing toward their irascible +captain, had appealed to them at the start and held them more and more +toward the finish. They saw the second day out that he was no novice +at plainscraft. The captain had asked his estimate of the distance +from a ford of the Chaduza to a distant butte, and promptly scoffed at +his answer; indeed, it surprised most of them. Yet "Plum" Gunnison, +pack-master, who had served seven years at the post, said the +lieutenant was right. They saw within the fourth day that the +new-comer was an old stager in more ways than one. "Touch-the-Sky," +scout and interpreter, said the lieutenant knew sign talk, which was +more than their captain did. They were to see still more within the +compass of a day's march, but they had seen enough in their two weeks' +comradeship to give them confidence in the young officer they never +felt for their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>own and only "Grumbly," who, with all his experience, +would often blunder, and Grumbly's blunders told on his troop, +otherwise they might not have cared.</p> + +<p>In low tone the troopers were chatting as they crossed the divide and +once more came in view of the two far out in advance, riding now +northeastward. They were following back, without much difficulty, the +hoof-prints of the two fugitives who, riding in terror and darkness, +had so fortunately found their bivouac at break of day. And it was of +these two both the men and their young officers were talking as the +little party jogged steadily on.</p> + +<p>Peaceful hunters and law-abiding men the pair had represented +themselves. They were originally five in all—three "pardners," a +wagoner, and a cook. Their "outfit" consisted of a covered wagon with +four draught and three saddle horses. They indignantly spurned the +suggestion that they had whiskey to swap with the Indians for fur and +peltries. They had a ranch down on Snake River, were well known in +Valentine, had never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>made trouble, nor had trouble, with the Indians; +but the game was all gone from their home neighborhood, and so long as +they kept off the reservation they knew there was no reason for the +Indians troubling them. And here came another suggestion. The "Old +Man," Major Berry, had somewhat bluntly asked if they did not know +they had been trespassing, had been well within the reservation lines +and north of Nebraska, and the two swore stoutly that Lem Pearson, +partner and projector of the enterprise, had said he knew the country +perfectly, had been there half a dozen times, and they left it all to +him. They never dreamed they were doing wrong until their camp was +"jumped" in the dead of night, and the Sioux chased them every inch of +the way till they got in sight of the cavalry.</p> + +<p>Yet here was the detachment, at six o'clock of this sparkling morning, +clear out of sight of the rest of the cavalry, and half-way across the +long swale of the next divide, and, though the print of the shod +horses was easily followed, not once yet, anywhere—although <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>the +little troop was spread out in long extended line and searched +diligently—not once had they found the print of a pony hoof. Now they +were full an hour, and nearly four miles, out from camp, and Geordie +signalled, slowly swinging his campaign hat about his head, for his +men to assemble, then dismount and take their ten minutes' rest.</p> + +<p>"Con," said he, presently, "it's my belief those scamps were lying. +The only Indians near the Chaduza were those that skipped for White +River last night and are probably heading for Eagle's Nest now. Their +trail must be three miles or more west of us here, and South Fork +isn't three miles ahead. We'll see it from yonder ridge."</p> + +<p>Connell was squatting, tailor fashion, on the turf, and thoughtfully +playing "mumble-t'-peg" with his hunting-knife, while his troop horse +cropped thriftily at the bunch grass. Graham had been giving a glance +over his little command, watching the resetting of a saddle or a +careful folding of a blanket. It would presently be time to mount and +start, but there was something on his mind, and, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>as of old, he wanted +to have it out with his chum.</p> + +<p>Connell drew his knife from the sod, then, with the point on the tip +of the left forefinger and the haft deftly held between the thumb and +finger of his right, shifted it over by his right ear and sent it +whirling down, saw it sink two inches in the sand, bolt upright, then +queried: "They said their camp was on the Fork ten miles away +northward. Could that be?"</p> + +<p>"It might. The Fork turns almost square to the north and runs back of +Rosebud. But what I mean is, they weren't chased by the Sioux. I doubt +if they fought them at all."</p> + +<p>"How about Gamble's horse?—and the blood? There's been some kind of a +fight. Look, Con! There's a signal!"</p> + +<p>Surely enough. As Connell sprang to his feet and the men quickly +turned to their grazing horses, one of the troopers, far in advance, +could be seen close to the crest of the divide. He had dismounted to +creep forward and peer over, and now, half-way back to where he had +left his horse, was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>waving his hat, with right arm extended from +directly over his head down to the horizontal and to the east.</p> + +<p>"Mount!" said Geordie, quietly, springing lightly to saddle with a +thrill of excitement in his young heart. "Follow at a walk, sergeant, +off to the northeast. That's where we're needed, Con."</p> + +<p>For the advance-guard, mounting quickly, was now loping along parallel +with the divide, yet keeping well down below its backbone, and, +putting spurs to their horses, "Badger" and "Coyote," the chums of +old, darted swiftly away to join them.</p> + +<p>Five minutes more, while a trooper held the horses of the young +officers and their guides, while in silence and with eager eyes the +little detachment came jogging over the swale to the support of the +leaders, three forms were crouching forward to the top of the wavelike +ridge, and presently three heads, uncovered, were peering over into +the valley beyond. Then the arm of one of them was outstretched, +pointing. Then the field-glasses of two others were unslung, fixed and +focused <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>on some distant object; and then back, still crouching, came +one of the number, signalling to Sergeant Drum to come on. Whereupon, +without a word of command, simply following the example of their +foremost man, the riders gave the bridle-hand, and with the other +whipped the ready carbines from their sockets, and with the butts +resting on the right thigh, the brown muzzles advanced, came on at a +swift trot, those in rear unconsciously pressing forward on those in +front.</p> + +<p>Then another signal—this time from their young commander, who had +come running down afoot, leaving "Badger" at the crest. In the +eagerness of the forward rush the riders were opening out, coming +right and left front into line, as the soldiers say, and Graham's +gauntleted hands—the same gauntlets Big Ben had coveted three months +earlier—were extended full to right and left, the length of each arm, +and then brought "palms together" in front. "Close in," it said, as +plain as day, and almost instantly Drum's gruff voice could be heard +in rebuke; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>almost as quickly the practised riders could be seen +closing the outer leg and rein. Another moment and the little line was +trotting almost boot to boot. Then as they neared the point where the +slope became abrupt, Graham's right hand, palm forward, went straight +aloft, a gesture instantly repeated by the sergeant, and in two +seconds more the horses, panting a little with excitement, were pawing +the turf, and Drum's voice, low and compelling, ordered, "Count +fours!" The next moment the odd numbers darted forward four yards, and +halted. The next, with carbines swung over their shoulders, numbers +one, two, and three were swinging from saddle, the next all horses +were again in one line, with every fourth trooper still seated in +saddle; and the dismounted men deftly lashing their reins to the +headstalls of numbers two and three, while three himself passed his +reins up to number four. Then, nimbly, with carbines at trail, up came +a dozen wiry young fellows in dusty campaign rig, running swiftly up +the slope, and in another moment were sprawling on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>their stomachs +close to the crest, their slouch hats flung aside.</p> + +<p>And this was what they saw: Before them, to the right front, +stretching away to the north, lay a broad valley, through which +meandered a wider, bigger stream than the familiar Chaduza. It came +winding down from the west before making its sweeping bend to the +northward. It was fringed in spots by cotton-woods, and bare to the +very banks in others. It was desolate and lifeless far as the eye +could see, west and north. But away to the northeast, perhaps seven +miles or so, a faint column of smoke was rising against the skies. +Away to the northwest, perhaps a dozen miles, in alternate puffs, +another and narrower smoke column was rising—Sioux signals, as they +knew at once—and right down here before their eyes, midway between +the shining river and the foot of the northward slope, perhaps two +thousand yards out—a little more than a mile—was coming toward them +a four-horse wagon, its white top a wreck, its struggling team lashed +by the whip of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>driver and the quirts of half a dozen dusky +outriders, while others still circled and shouted and urged them on, +while afar back on the east bank of the stream other riders could be +seen darting about in keen excitement. All on a sudden, but by no +means all unprepared, "Corporal Pops" and his little command found +themselves facing a new proposition and a band of turbulent Sioux.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>PROOF POSITIVE OF GUILT</h4> +<br /> + +<p>And the first words spoken came from the lips of Sergeant Drum—like +many another old campaigner among the old-time regulars, a privileged +character.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell ye those fellers were lyin'? Here's their wagon now, +that was burnt over their heads!"</p> + +<p>At intervals of several paces, as they could best find points from +which to see without being seen from the northern side, the little +detachment lay sprawled along the crest, the brown barrels of the +carbines well forward. Graham and Connell, peering through their +field-glasses, their elbows resting on the turf, were side by side +about the centre. Behind them, nearly a hundred paces down the +southward slope, stood the horses in an irregular line, a corporal +remaining in charge, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>keenly watching the movements of his superiors, +yet keeping constant control of the four horse-holders, who, like +himself, remained in saddle. There could be no telling what moment +they might be needed.</p> + +<p>For an odd and perplexing situation was this in which the young +commander was placed. Ordered to follow back the trail of the fugitive +hunters to the point where they claimed to have been "jumped" by +hostile Indians; ordered to find, if possible, the remains of the +victims, men and horses, and of the burned wagon and "outfit"; ordered +also to search for signs by which the assailants might be discovered, +the command had come suddenly in sight of a wagon and horses that +answered the description of those said to have been destroyed, and if +that wasn't a white man driving them, both binoculars were at fault.</p> + +<p>But what did it mean that the captors should be coming southwestward +with their booty? Why had they not burned the wagon? They could never +use it at the reservation. Many young men, of course, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>were out and +afield with the ghost-dancers, but the elders, the native police, and +the agent would quickly hear of it, and trouble would follow for +somebody. George Sword, Sioux chief of police and stanch adherent of +General Crook—"Wichahnpi Yahmni" (Three Stars), as they called him +whom so long the Sioux had honored, and whom now they were so deeply +mourning—George Sword was a man who did his duty well; Geordie, as a +boy, had known him, and known how the general trusted him. A wagon +like this would be of no more use to the captors than a locomotive; +yet here they were, a dozen of them, urging it on, while others of +their kind, afar back down-stream, were darting about, little black +dots of horsemen scampering over the distant slopes, evidently +watching some parties still farther away and invisible to the lurking +cavalry.</p> + +<p>Could it be that they were trying to repeat an old-time deed of +chivalry told to this day of their fathers—restoring lost property to +the legitimate owners? Could it be that, knowing the presence of the +squadron on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>Mini Chaduza, and the probability of the frightened +owners having found refuge there, these Indians were now actually +driving thither? They were still on their reservation. There was +nothing but the fugitives' statement to warrant the belief that the +camp had been attacked and burned. There was nothing, in fact, to +justify an attack upon the present possessors. They would probably +scatter, rush to the reservation, tell their tale to the agent, and +the press and the peace societies would presently be flooding the +country with columns concerning the murderous onslaught on a friendly +people made by a reckless soldiery.</p> + +<p>Yet something had to be done, and that right speedily; for now, +instead of breasting the long slope, and coming, as at first, straight +toward the ridge, the Indians were lashing the leaders in gradual turn +to the westward. Now they were skirting the foot of the incline and +moving parallel to the ridge, and then it was that Geordie saw the +reason. They had made the wide sweep outward in order to circle the +head of a ravine which, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>starting only a few hundred yards out to the +left front, went winding deeper and steeper through the "bench" until +it finally opened out into the creek bottom a long mile away.</p> + +<p>Yes, the whole scheme was evident now. They had captured the camp and +the wagon with its contents, and, knowing the difficult country and +crossings along the lower Fork, were scurrying with their booty around +the great southward bend, hoping to get away to the west, reach the +trail of the war-party that had evaded the cavalry, and follow on with +their prize. Or else, still keeping within the reservation line, to +drive on westward for the valley of the Wounded Knee and their red +brethren of the Pine Ridge Agency, the Brulés of old Spotted Tail's +(Sinte gleshka's) long famous band.</p> + +<p>Yet there, too, this wagon would be a white elephant. Why had they not +divided among themselves the simple contents of a hunter's camp +outfit, cut loose with the horses, and burned the big vehicle, which +they could not use?</p> + +<p>Then all in a moment the truth flashed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>upon Geordie. Years before he +had heard of such traffic, heard the fierce denunciation lavished by +officers and men upon the miscreants who, for love of gold, would sell +to Indians, at fabulous price, the means of murdering their +fellow-men. All on a sudden his voice was heard:</p> + +<p>"Back to your horses, men! Mount, sergeant, and follow. Come on, +Connell! That's why it takes four horses to lug it—that wagon is +loaded with lead!"</p> + +<p>One minute more and from the lips of one wary Indian, well out on the +"bench," went up a shrill whoop of warning. Away up the the grassy +incline, from over the ridge and spurring straight for the wagon, now +at the head of the ravine, came two lithe young horsemen, riding like +the wind, the right hand of the foremost far uplifted in the signal +known the plains over—to halt. Behind these two came an orderly +trooper full gallop. Behind these three, presently, there popped into +view a score of slouch-hatted, blue-bloused, sturdy dragoons, and with +many a screech of wrath and disgust, away <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>went the last of the Sioux, +scooting for the shelter of the creek bank beyond. Shoot they longed +to, yet dare not. The word had not yet gone forth. The medicine-men +still said nay. The time was not yet ripe. A few days more must they +suffer until Si Tanka and his braves were met, until, in overwhelming +force, they could turn on the scattered and helpless settlers. That +was easier warfare than fighting soldiers, and counted for just as +much in scalps and glory. Away they went to the cotton-wood bottom, +and one wellnigh exhausted, thoroughly demoralized white man collapsed +on the driver's seat, and four sweating, staggering horses pulled up, +panting and blowing, and the score of blue-coated riders came +thundering on, to rein up in triumph around a silent but obviously +excited brace of lieutenants, one of whom simply pointed into the +depths of the wagon body. From under a lot of dingy camp equipage +peeped out three or four little boxes the soldiery knew at sight. +Sergeant Drum spurred alongside and whisked off what was left of the +cover, and a dirty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>blanket or two, and there was a larger box, half +filled with magazine rifles. There were ten boxes of Winchester +cartridges, one thousand to the box. There was the secret of the +"hunter's camp." They had been selling arms to the Sioux.</p> + +<p>"Good find, that, Geordie," grinned Connell, as his comrade sat +pencilling a brief despatch to the major, while three of the men, with +liberal sprinklings from their canteens and brisk fanning with their +hats, were striving to revive the collapsed wagoner.</p> + +<p>"I need his story," said our plains-wise Pops. "Pull him to, if +possible," and then went on with his writing.</p> + +<div class="block"> +<p class="right">"<span class="sc">South Fork, White River</span>,<br /> +"<i>October</i> — '90, 9 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span></p> +<p class="noin">"<i>Lieutenant H.H. Willard, Adjutant Detachment</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5%;"><i>—th Cavalry.</i></span></p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">Sir</span>,—I have to report that we have just intercepted +a small party of Sioux driving off a four-horse wagon, which +contains eleven Henry and Winchester rifles and at least ten +thousand rounds of ball cartridges. This is probably the +'outfit' of the fugitives who reached bivouac this morning, +reporting it burned and their comrades killed.</p> + +<p>"One of the latter, at least, is alive, but we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>found him +unconscious, although unharmed. He was driving the wagon. The +Indians scattered, but are now assembling in the cotton-woods a +mile distant. More seem coming to join them. If attacked, we +will hold out; but I wish to push on and ascertain what befell +the others. We cannot, however, leave the wagon, nor have I +force enough to leave a guard.</p> + +<p class="right"><span style="padding-right: 10%;">"Very respectfully,</span><br /> +"<span class="sc" style="padding-right: 5%;">G.M. Graham,</span><br /> +"<i>Second Lieutenant —th Cavalry</i>,<br /> +"<i>Commanding detachment</i>."<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>Then came a significant P.S., at sight of which, little over an hour +later, Major Berry's eyes snapped, and so did his speech.</p> + +<p>"Bring those two scoundrels here!" said he, and a hangdog-looking pair +they were when presently lined up before the bearded commander, while +no less a personage than Captain Garrett, at the head of forty +troopers, was setting forth on the trail of his much-envied subaltern, +to relieve him, if surrounded and attacked by the Sioux; to relieve +him, in any event, of the care of the wagon, but under no +circumstances to relieve him of his command or duties. Unless menaced +by strong parties of the Sioux, Mr. Graham was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>to go ahead with a +dozen additional men, carry out his orders, and Captain Garrett with +the rest should bring that wagon to camp.</p> + +<p>Then with Geordie's report and postscript in hand, the major stood +glowering at the fugitives of the morning, now most ruefully yet +furtively studying his face. They suspected something amiss when +warned awhile before that they were not to try to ride off. They knew +there was mischief to pay now.</p> + +<p>"You two sku—specimens," began the major, ominously, "told me you +were only accidentally on the Sioux reservation. You swore you were +simply out hunting antelope."</p> + +<p>"That's God's truth, major," whined the taller of the two, though the +other seemed ready to parley and plead.</p> + +<p>"That's an infernal lie!" was the answer. "You told me the Sioux +'jumped' your camp, killed your partner, and burned your wagon." And +with menace in his burning eyes the veteran officer paused for a +reply.</p> + +<p>"'Fore God, major, that's how it looked to us. 'Course it was +pitch-dark—"</p> + +<p>"Pitch-dark—in bright moonlight! This <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>is worse, and more of it. +You're a pair of black-hearted villains! You went there deliberately. +You went with a wagon-load of arms and ammunition to sell to Sioux +Indians just bound for the war-path. You'd swing for that if there was +any law in the land, but swing you shall—anyhow!"</p> + +<p>"You dassn't touch us!" burst in the leader, sudden spirit and +defiance in his tone, well knowing how powerless were the military in +face of civil law. "We're no poor devils of dog-robbers. We demand +protection and a fair trial—a jury of our peers; that means no +hide-bound gang of soldiers. You can't prove we sold so much as a +shot, an' you know it, an' you're only trying to bluff."</p> + +<p>"That's enough, <i>you</i>!" was the startling answer. "Sergeant of the +guard, shoot these men like dogs if they attempt to escape. We sha'n't +waste time trying to prove you sold arms. What we can prove, and will +prove, and by your own man, too, and hang you high as Haman for it, is +that Pete Gamble, deputy sheriff, caught you at your devilish work, +and you shot him dead from ambush!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE WAR-DANCE AND THE CHARGE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>With two days' cooked rations in their saddle-bags now, with a line of +hearty appreciation from Major Berry and renewed instructions to go +ahead, with a dozen more men than he had at the start, and the best +wishes of his temporary commander, Geordie Graham had pushed on again +northeastward down the right bank of the Fork. Waiting until the party +was fairly out of sight over the far-distant "divide," and watching +meantime the movements of the still remaining Indians in the timber, +Captain Garrett finally put his puny command in march for the Mini +Chaduza, bringing the wagon and the now semi-restored charioteer +along. Five of Gunnison's pack-mules, sent on with the troop, had so +lightened the wagon of its load <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>that the lately abused horses, given +a good feed of oats and a swallow of water, were able to trundle it +lightly along. With another day it was started under escort for +Niobrara, its late owners, cursing their fate, unwilling passengers +inside.</p> + +<p>It was late afternoon when the two halves of "F" Troop lost sight of +each other, the captain going, grumbling, back to the main body with a +much disappointed command; the subaltern riding swiftly away down the +widening valley, with an exultant platoon at his back, all hands +rejoicing that theirs was the first capture of the campaign. Parallel +with them, afar across the stream, darting from cover to cover and +keeping vigilant watch, rode half a dozen redskins. Most of their +brethren, by this time, were far away toward Eagle's Nest, in quest of +the main body. These few were charged with the duty of keeping track +of the little troop, in order to be able to report exactly the +direction in which it was going and that no pursuit was intended. This +definitely settled, they, too, galloped away, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>valley, so far +as Geordie could judge, was now free of red riders.</p> + +<p>The sun was low in the west. The wagon-tracks still led on. The night +was near at hand, and the troopers in advance had seen no sign of a +camp. Ten miles, at least, had they marched, and, avoiding a deep +westward bend of the stream, the trail now led them over a low ridge, +from whose crest the scouts signalled, "Nothing in sight."</p> + +<p>Yet, a few minutes later, Graham and Connell, dismounting there the +better to scour the country with their glasses, were seen by the main +body to spring to their feet and then to saddle, Graham facing toward +them and with his hat signalling, "Change direction half left," +whereat Sergeant Drum, riding steadily along perhaps four hundred +yards behind his young commander, simply turned his horse's head in +the direction indicated, left the wagon-track, and silently his +comrades followed. "They've found it," said Drum, and found it they +had.</p> + +<p>Though the wheel-marks still held to the northward, and the three +troopers far in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>lead had seen nothing as yet worthy of special +report, the strong lenses of the signal-glass had told their own +story.</p> + +<p>"Look yonder, Connell, in that clump of cotton-woods beyond the low +point," were Graham's words as he sprang to his feet. "See those black +things in the timber? They're buzzards!"</p> + +<p>Five minutes later the corporal, too, was signalling, he and his men +at a halt. They, too, had made discoveries: the track, as it later +developed, of two shod horses pursued by shoeless Indian ponies. +Southeastward this trail went up a long, shallow ravine, then veered +round to the south. It told of fugitives and, for a time, of pursuers. +Ten minutes after the first discovery, down in the sandy bottom and +close to the stream, the officers caught sight of a brace of prairie +wolves, skulking away from the timber, among the branches of which +some grewsome birds were flapping and fluttering, while two or three +sailed slowly overhead. Presently the riders came in view of a little +scooped-out shelter where the sand was all torn by hoofs, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>and herein +lay the poor remains that served as confirmation of the driver's +story—all that was left, as was soon determined, of poor Gamble, one +of the most feared and fearless men of the Western frontier.</p> + +<p>Shot twice, and from behind, he had managed to gallop a few hundred +yards up-stream, and then, weak from loss of blood, had toppled out of +saddle, crawled to this hollow, and presently died. Half a mile +farther down-stream the camp site was found, hoof and moccasin tracks +in myriads about it, camp-kettles and débris still scattered around, +empty cans, sacks, and boxes flung at the edge of the stream. Here, +evidently, the traders had spent two or three days, and here, there, +and everywhere were fragments of pasteboard cartridge-cases. A +thriving industry, this, until suddenly swooped upon by Gamble, who +paid for his discovery with his life. Here, then, was closed one +chapter of the hunters' tale. But what had become of their partner? +What had broken up their camp and driven them, terror-stricken, from +the reservation?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>Not until the dawning of another day was this fully determined. +Meanwhile there came new complications—a strange and stirring +adventure of their own.</p> + +<p>Finding fair grass on the "bench" a few rods farther down the stream, +Geordie had chosen a site for the bivouac, and disposed his little +force for the night. While there had been as yet no overt act of +hostility on the part of the Sioux, and while all the Indians taking +part in the affair of the morning had now, apparently, ridden off to +join the renegade band, and were presumably far to the northwest, no +chances could be taken. The horses, after two hours' grazing, were led +into the timber and hoppled. The sentries were posted well out. The +little camp-fires had been screened under the bank, and full half the +command had rolled in their blankets and settled to sleep. When the +moon came peering up over the distant eastward heights, Geordie and +Connell, chatting in low tones under a sheltering cotton-wood, were +suddenly summoned by a trooper coming in on the run from the outpost +below, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>a mile at least from where they had buried poor Gamble. +"Indians, sir," said he, "and lots of 'em, coming up the valley on the +other bank."</p> + +<p>"Douse your fires, there!" was the first order. "Look well to your +horses, sergeant. Stay here in charge. I'll send word what to do."</p> + +<p>Then, with eager stride, Geordie hurried away after the messenger, +Connell close at his heels. Two hundred yards they followed, winding +along under the bank, and presently came to a sharp bend, beyond which +and across the stream the prairie lay open and undulating for many a +league, the only obstruction to the view being a little grove of +cotton-woods on the opposite shore and possibly half a mile away, and +that little grove and the level bench about it were alive with Indians +and Indian ponies, the former at least in high state of excitement.</p> + +<p>Kneeling behind the trunk of a fallen cotton-wood, two troopers were +intently studying the situation. "They came riding down from over +yonder to the northeast, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>sir," said one of them, a corporal, making +room for his lieutenant. "There must have been as many as a hundred +all told, with others trailing behind. There's going to be a pow-wow +of some kind. They've unsaddled and turned the ponies out, and some +feller's shoutin' and singin'—you can hear him now, sir."</p> + +<p>Hear him! As he warmed up to his speech, incantation, or whatever it +was, the speaker could have been heard distinctly a long mile away, +and all the bivouac up-stream, not already sound asleep, sat up to +listen. War-chief or medicine-man, he had a voice that dinned upon the +ear of night and dominated all other sounds, from guttural grunt of +assent to frantic yell of applause, as the roar of Niagara in the Cave +of the Winds drowns the futile babble of the guides. Once in early +boyhood Geordie had heard an Indian orator of whom his father and +fellow-officers spoke ever in honor and esteem—a chief whose people +wellnigh worshipped him—"Rolling-Thunder-in-the-Mountains," they +called him ("Hin-Mato-Iya-Latkit," in their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>weird dialect). And as +George and Connell knelt here now, listening to this deep, reverberant +voice, thundering from bluff to bluff across the mile-wide valley, the +name and fame of old Chief Joseph, whom the whites had so +misunderstood and wronged, came back to the young commander with +redoubled force.</p> + +<p>But no such chief as Joseph was this who, standing in the leaping +firelight, high among the red warriors about him, was lashing them to +frenzy with his resounding words. No interpreter crouched with the +little party at the point; none was needed to tell them that he was +preaching of battle, blood, and vengeance. From time to time the wail +of women could be heard, wild as the scream of the panther, and, as +one sign led to another, it dawned upon Geordie and the veteran +trooper by his side that some brave of the band had recently been done +to death by foul means or treachery, that now the tribe was being +roused to a pitch of fury, to a mad thirst for vengeance; and even +before the red orator had finished his harangue the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>war-drum began +its fevered throb, the warriors, brandishing knife, club, hatchet, or +gun, sprang half stripped into the swift-moving circle, and with +shrill yells and weird contortions started the shuffling, squirming, +snake-like evolutions of the war-dance. Faster, wilder went the +drumbeats; fiercer, madder went the dance; and, unable to resist the +impulse, Graham and Connell, secure in the belief that the Indians +were utterly engrossed, crept cautiously onward and outward, with the +corporal at their back, determined to see what they could of this +savage and appalling ceremony.</p> + +<p>Half-way to the scene had they crept when the shrill wailing of the +squaws gave way to shriller screams, to almost maniac laughter. The +orator had ceased his incantations. The wild drummers stopped their +pounding. The warriors, as though with one accord, clustered about the +fire in fascination, and for the moment all save the squaws were +stilled, and the crouching watchers, quarter of a mile away, looked +blankly into each other's faces for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>explanation. "What on earth are +they up to now?" whispered Connell.</p> + +<p>The answer came within the minute: a sound sweeter to savage ears than +love-lay of the maidens, than war-song of the braves, than even the +wild, triumphant chorus of the scalp-dance; a sound that suddenly rose +for a moment above the clamor of the squaws, and then was answered and +overwhelmed and drowned in mad, exultant, even fiendish, yells of +delight—it was the scream of a strong man in awful agony.</p> + +<p>"My God!" cried the corporal. "They've got some poor devil there, +torturing, burning him to death!"</p> + +<p>"To the horses! Come on, Con!" was the instant answer. And the three +went bounding back along the bank, pursued and spurred by the savage +shouting from below, but, as God so willed it, without so much as a +glance. Over the lair of the picket they flew, with only the orders +"Come on!" Away over the elastic "bench" they dashed, hot-foot for the +bivouac, and Drum, the veteran, saw them coming like the wind, and +read their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>tale and the instant need. "Saddle up!" he shouted, while +the group was still afar. "Jump for it, men! There's not a second to +lose!"</p> + +<p>Up from their blankets sprang the few sleepers. In from their stations +scurried the outlying sentries. Rattle went the bits between the teeth +of the excited chargers. Slap went the saddles on the broad, glossy +backs. There was hurry and rush and swift leaping for arms, the snap +of cinchas, the snorting of steeds, yet not a word was spoken until +the low order to lead into line; and straightway old Drum marshalled +his men, silent, yet with hearts beating like hammers, and then down +their front rode their youthful lieutenant, a stranger to all but a +month agone, yet now they lived on his slightest word. Oh, what +thoughts—what thoughts of mother and home, and the brave old days of +boyhood and the Point, had been winging through his brain during the +long hours of the day! But now—now there was no time for thought! +There was time only for action; for a fellow-man lay in deadly peril, +in dreadful torment, only a short mile away.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>"Not a sound—not a shot, men," he ordered, as the quivering line +reined up before him. "Follow our lead, stampede the ponies, and +charge through the crowd; then rally quick as you can."</p> + +<p>Splash! drove the leaders into the shallows. Breast deep, foaming, +they spurred through the stream, the troop plunging after, with +carbines slung over their shoulders. Out on the opposite bank and up +to the "bench" they swarmed, then veered away northward over the +resounding level, Geordie and Connell, classmates and chums, bounding +away in advance. No danger of Indian eyes or ears, no dread of +hindering shot or ambush. When the pale-face writhes at the torture +stake, even Indian vedette forgets his trade for the lust of such +luxury as witnessing that. Up into line with the leading four galloped +the chargers in rear. On toward the leaping flames in the grove led +those lithe young riders ahead. Mad with excitement, some nervous new +horses snatched at their bits and burst from the line, and Geordie, +glancing back, saw them gaining in spite of restraining <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>hand. What +mattered it, anyhow? Every second was precious. The ground was open, +the herded ponies less than half a mile forward, and already alarmed. +"Let 'em go!" he shouted, with a wave of the revolver over his head. +"Straight through the herd, men. <i>Ch-a-a-a-rge!</i>"</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep236" id="imagep236"></a> +<a href="images/imagep236.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep236.jpg" width="90%" alt=""'STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HERD, MEN. CH-A-A-A-RGE!'"" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"'STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HERD, MEN. <i>CH-A-A-A-RGE!</i>'"<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Then up went a cheer that rang over the valley, shrill above the +thunder of hoofs, the shriek and scream of terrified squaws, the +shouts of astonished braves. Away like the wind went the streaming +swarm of ponies, in mad flight for the north! Away like +scatter-brained rabbits, darting hither and thither in the firelight, +rushing madly to shelter, leaping from the "bench" to the sandy bottom +below, scurrying in wild panic anywhere, everywhere, went warriors, +women, and children; for, close on the heels of the vanishing herd +came unknown numbers of blue-coated, brave—hearted, tumultuous +riders, tearing through camp like a human tornado, turning the scene +of the late revel into a turmoil of woe. Vain the few shots aimed in +haste and excitement. Vain the rallying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>cry of a fighting chief. A +blow from the butt of Ned Connell's revolver sprawled him headlong +over a prostrate form—a white man "staked out" in front of the fire, +swooning from mingled misery, weakness, and joy.</p> + +<p>It was Pearson, the missing "partner," captured alive by the Sioux, +doomed to die by slow torture, in revenge for a young warrior shot +down by the gun-traders in a senseless squabble two nights before.</p> + +<p>And the troop had saved him and his fellow-captive, the cook, without +so much as firing a shot.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>BATTLE AND VICTORY</h4> +<br /> + +<p>And this was the story that went on the heels of the escort convoying +the gun-traders in to the fort, and much did Major Berry relish the +composition of that report. It had long been the claim of himself and +his comrades that white men were encouraged to enter the reservation +with arms and cartridges, and that it was easy for the Sioux to lure +their police, or to mislead the sheriff, away from the point where +these unprincipled smugglers crossed the line.</p> + +<p>Now, infuriated at the cowardice and treachery of two of their number, +Pearson, the leader, and Bent, the wagoner, had made a clean breast of +the business. They had driven hard bargains, had laid in good stores +of beaver, wolf, and deer skins, and no little cash. Then Little Crow +came, quarrelled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>over an obvious cheat, called one partner a liar, +was struck, abused, and thrown out. He galloped away and came back +with Gamble, a man they dare not let live, once having learned their +secret. Both Little Crow and he were treacherously shot by the +partners as they were riding to warn George Sword and his police. Then +came the swift vengeance of the Sioux, the flight of Hurley and Gross, +leaving their unwary comrades to an awful fate. While one party of +Indians made way with the wagon, in hopes of running it—horses, +contents, and all—to the camp of Si Tanka, another party, the +immediate relatives and friends of Little Crow, rode off with the two +captives to the village where Little Crow lay dying, and finally, +fearing interruption there, came back to the valley by night for the +wildest, most delirious orgy known to Indian tradition—the slow doing +to death of captured enemy by ingenious and horrible torture.</p> + +<p>And this was the indescribable ceremony nipped in the bud by our young +lieutenant and his twoscore men, to whose energy, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>courage, and skill +Major Berry gave all credit, though Garrett claimed it "in the name of +my troop."</p> + +<p>All night had they faced a furious and clamorous band—chiefs, +warriors, and women—shouting denunciation, demanding their prey, and +threatening attack in tremendous force. But Geordie had posted his men +for battle, hidden the recaptured under the bank, and dared the whole +band to come on and get them, if they thought it advisable, which, it +seems, they did not. With his patients on Indian <i>travois</i> +("borrowed," ponies and all, perhaps without ceremony, from the supply +on the spot), Graham slowly retraced his steps the following morning, +and was met half-way in by the squadron in force, the heartiest kind +of a welcome, and news that thrilled through his veins like the sound +of the charge.</p> + +<p>"The —th and your own troop are camped south of the line, Mr. Graham. +I have orders for you to go in to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Just so soon, therefore, as he could turn over his patients to the +care of the surgeon, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>write his brief report of the scout, and say +good-bye and a few words of thanks to Sergeant Drum and his fellows, +who longed to tell him how they hated to let him go, and after hearty +handshakes from Berry and his brother officers ("Samson" Stone taking +special credit to himself for having, as he expressed it, "put Graham +and Connell onto the time of their lives"), our Geordie blushingly +bade farewell to these comrades of a strenuous month, and, with +faithful Connell at his side, and a little escort attending, rode away +down to the Chaduza, to report to the general commanding, and then go +on to his own, for ominous tales had come from the Bad Lands. There +was trouble in store for all.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep242" id="imagep242"></a> +<a href="images/imagep242.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep242.jpg" width="90%" alt="UNITED STATES CAVALRY IN WINTER RIG" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">UNITED STATES CAVALRY IN WINTER RIG<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>First, however, there was wonderful welcome for him at Niobrara. The +skies had grown wintry. The snow patches were beginning to dot the +prairie, but the camp-fires burned the brighter, and men clustered +about them and talked of the "luck" of the new lieutenant, whom the +general himself alighted from his escort wagon to greet and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>to +question. For several days the chums were needed at the fort, where +both prisoners and witnesses were held, but the case against the +self-styled hunters was so overwhelming that the demand for their stay +was soon at an end, and, in the train of the general, they went on +westward to the winter camp of the assembled cavalry, whither "the old +regiment" had preceded them, and there, one dark and wintry evening, +with the snow-flakes sifting down, and the depths of a distant valley +all dotted with tiny blazes—the cook fires of a whole brigade—they +were met by a troop of cavalry in fur caps and gauntlets, and huge, +blanket-lined overcoats—swarthy, bearded fellows, with +service-stained boots and trappings, but looking fit for the hardest +kind of campaigning and any kind of a fight. It swung from column into +line, saluted the general with advanced carbines, and then, wheeling +by fours to right, trotted briskly away with the little cortège, and +presently its commander, after a few words with the general, fell +back, peering from under his bushy headpiece, and sung <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>out in cheery +tones Geordie had not heard for many a day, yet knew on the instant:</p> + +<p>"Ah, there you are, Mr. Graham! We have a horse with us ready for you +now!" And lo! it was Captain Lane, with his own troop ("E" of the +—th), sent out to lead the general's escort into camp. Leaving the +companions of the long, jolting ambulance ride, Geordie sprang to the +back of a mettlesome bay, led forward by a muffled-up trooper who +steadied the young officer's stirrup before turning aside to remount, +while a tall, spare, wiry-looking sergeant sat stiffly in saddle, his +fur-covered hand at salute, his long gray mustache and stubbly beard +and thin hooked nose being almost all that could be seen of the face; +yet the twinkle in his waiting captain's eyes and a twitch in the +muscles of the veteran's lips set Geordie to staring, and presently +out went his hand and up went his glad young voice:</p> + +<p>"Nolan! Nolan! <i>You</i> back with us again!"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't keep out of it, sir, when we got <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>word that the old troop +was to have another Indian campaign. No more could Toomey."</p> + +<p>And lo! it was his friend of the Big Mogul now again bestriding a +troop horse, detailed specially to meet him! And Lane, with a wave of +his hand and a laugh that was good to hear, left the three cronies of +Silver Run to ride in together while he galloped on to his duties.</p> + +<p>"But the mines, Nolan, and your position?" questioned Geordie, as soon +as the greetings were over and he could recover from his amaze.</p> + +<p>"The mine is as sound as a government bond, sir, and Shiner's holding +down my job till I want it again; and Mr. Anthony told me to say that +whenever the lieutenant got tired of soldiering to come back with +Toomey and take his old trick with the shovel."</p> + +<p>And so, joyous and laughing, the three friends of old rode down to the +thronging camps in the valley, and to the stern duties that so soon +awaited them.</p> + +<p>For there came a day when men's faces <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>went white with the news that +Sitting Bull, the great chief (Tatanka-iyo-Tanka), had died in +desperate fight with the police sent to arrest him; that Si Tanka and +his band, nabbed by "Napa Yahmni," had most unaccountably managed +later to elude him, and were now at large, raising the standard of +revolt, summoning all the wild warriors far and near to join forces +with him. And then, indeed, the frontier blazed with signal-fires by +night and burning ranches by day, and there came a week of hard riding +for the old regiment, and of sharp campaigning for all—a week in +which at last the wily red chief Si Tanka was finally surrounded and, +with all his people and ponies, herded on down through the Bad Lands +to the breaks of Wounded Knee—fierce, truculent, defiant. For long +months he had braved the "Great Father" himself, refusing to submit to +any authority; but the sight of those long columns of silent, +disciplined "horse soldiers," squadrons white and black, some of them +riding along with wonderful little field-guns clinking beside them on +wheels, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>overawed Si Tanka's followers and disheartened his friends.</p> + +<p>There came a day when he had to submit, and agree to surrender, and go +whither orders might send him, and with his fierce spirit crushed, he +bowed his head and took to his lodge, and laid him down in his robes, +sick, body and soul. And then the old regiment marched over to the +mission to guard prisoners and property, and another was sent scouting +after scattering little war parties, and Connell, who had again been +serving with the general, got word to Geordie that orders had come +putting an end to his "holiday," and calling him East to his +legitimate duty. Could Geordie get over to see him, and the disarming +of Big Foot's band, on the morrow?</p> + +<p>Graham showed the missive to his captain, and Lane took it to the +colonel. "Let Graham go," said the latter. "There's nothing to be done +here."</p> + +<p>And so it happened that once again the two chums were together, and +this time on a momentous and perilous day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>They saw from the hill-side the scowling braves of Big Foot, led forth +from camp and seated on the ground, shrouded in their blankets, in +long, curving lines. They saw the designated troops of a rival +regiment drawn up in silent array, facing the sullen warriors. They +saw the women and children of the latter huddled at the edge of the +Indian camp, while officers, sergeants, and soldiers were sent +searching through the frowzy lodges for secreted arms. Through their +glasses they saw the old medicine-man, in the centre of the Indian +ranks, glancing furtively, savagely, right and left, his lips moving +in muttered incantation, while the searchers among the lodges came +forth from one after another, baffled, empty-handed, suspicious. Why +had not some one suggested it would be wise to search, individually, +each brave before conducting him to the line?</p> + +<p>"There's going to be trouble, Con!" cried Graham, suddenly dropping +his field-glass. "Look! There goes McCrea!" And surely enough, at that +very instant, as though he, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>too, had noted the ominous signs, their +elder comrade came galloping diagonally across the front, heading +straight for the spot where stood the commander of the silent little +battalion. "He's going to warn them," answered Connell. "Let's join +him."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep248" id="imagep248"></a> +<a href="images/imagep248.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep248.jpg" width="43%" alt=""UP WENT TWO LITTLE PUFFS OF EARTH"" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"UP WENT TWO LITTLE PUFFS OF EARTH"<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>And just as he spoke, and before either could turn to the waiting +horses, up into air went the hands of the chanter, up went two little +puffs of earth, sand, and gravel as he tossed them on high; and before +even they could come sifting and showering downward, up in a flash +sprang the muttering line, off went every blanket, and out leaped a +warrior, armed and painted for battle. Suddenly they whirled on the +searchers advancing upon them. Crash went their wild volley, downing +both friend and foe, for the first shots tore straight through the +huddle of women, and their shrieks followed swift on the deadly clamor +of the guns.</p> + +<p>And then for a moment there was dire confusion. In the space of a +second, it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>seemed, the red line had leaped to its feet, then dashed +through the smoke of its volley, straight for the cowering forms of +old men, women, and children. Another second and, sheltered by the +skirts of their squaws, the warriors were blazing away at the +astonished soldiery. "Good God, boys, we can't fire on women and +children!" shouted one brave young sergeant. "Down on your faces! +Down!" And "down" was his last word, as down on his bullet-riven face +he plunged, shot dead through the brain.</p> + +<p>Almost at the same moment McCrea's galloping steed stumbled heavily +forward and rolled stiffening on the frozen earth, his gallant rider +flung headlong beyond him. Another moment and Geordie and Connell, +leaping from saddle, had run to his aid, even as the crash of a +volley, at the word of command, told that the troopers had answered +the furious challenge. Another moment still, and a young surgeon +sprang to the relief of the signalling officers; and then, leaving +their senseless friend to his care, all athrill with the fury of +battle, Graham and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>Connell, "Badger" and "Coyote," whipping out their +revolvers, rushed on down the slope to join the blue line just +springing afoot to the charge.</p> + +<p>Of the moment that followed, the wild cheer and onward dash, the race +over blood-stained snow-patches, the stumble over falling forms (some +friend, some foe), the ripping and slashing at fire-spitting lodges, +in which some of the band had sought refuge, the agonized screaming of +children, the appalling shrieks of the squaws—of all this it was +difficult later to give clear account. Geordie only knew that he, and +those nearest him in the rush through the smoke, lost many a shot +rather than risk killing fleeing women and babes, spared warriors who +would never spare them, for down went first one comrade, down went +another, and all on a sudden something bit, stung, and tore through +his thigh, and down on his outflung arms, with Con sobbing over him, +went Geordie Montrose Graham, first captain the year agone, fireman in +July, and now junior lieutenant of Company "E."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>Many a Christmas holiday was spoiled that winter by the news from +Wounded Knee. "Bud" Graham, Columbia freshman, spending a fortnight +with father and mother at the Point, had gone with them and Colonel +Hazzard to Grant Hall one starlit evening. Orders were to be published +to the corps of cadets at supper, and the commandant wished them to +hear. They ascended the broad stone steps, Mrs. Graham on the arm of +the colonel, Mrs. Hazzard escorted by grim "Dr. Sawney," who was +wondering not a little what might be coming. Two or three officers +from the mess joined the little family party, and they all clustered +at the big folding-doors—Bud breathless with anticipation and +excitement. The cadet corporal of the guard saluted at sight of the +distinguished arrivals, and, at a sign from the colonel, held open the +portal on one side so that, without being seen, the visitors could +distinctly hear what might be read within.</p> + +<p>And presently it came. In ringing tones the adjutant ordered +attention. The chatter and clamor instantly ceased. Briefly the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>young +officer rattled off the details for the morrow, and then announced:</p> + +<p>"The following communication is published for the information of the +battalion of cadets:</p> + +<div class="block"> +<p class="cen">"<span class="sc">Field Headquarters</span>,<br /> +"<span class="sc">Fort Niobrara, Neb.</span>, <i>December</i> —, 1890.</p> +<p class="noin sc">Commanding Officer, —th Cavalry,</p> +<p class="right">"<i>In the Field, near Wounded Knee.</i></p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">Sir</span>,—The general commanding the military division +directs me to notify you of the return of the detachment under +Major Berry, —d Cavalry, after a thorough scout of some three +weeks' duration, resulting in the breaking up and scattering of +several of the bands of 'ghost-dancers,' and the capture of at +least one large party now being sent under escort to Pine Ridge +Agency.</p> + +<p>"One most important result of the scout was the discovery and +arrest of certain white men engaged in selling arms and +ammunition to the Indians, the capture of much of their +'outfit,' and the rescue, under circumstances of imminent +peril, of two of the party whom the Indians were in the very +act of putting to death by torture.</p> + +<p>"The entire credit for this exploit, which was conducted with +excellent judgment and most commendable dash and daring, is +given by Major Berry to Lieutenant George Montrose Graham, of +your regiment, and the division commander—</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>But he could be heard no further. The iron discipline of West Point +was powerless to stem the torrent of cadet enthusiasm at this public +mention of their beloved leader of the year gone by. Up sprang the +entire corps, and the rafters rang with the thunder of their cheers—a +thunder that seemed to redouble rather than dwindle at sight of the +silver-haired commandant, smiling in through the opening door.</p> + +<p>And from such a scene as that, with streaming eyes and trembling lips +and a heart overflowing with pride, joy, gratitude, and the longing to +throw herself upon her knees and pour out her very soul in praise and +thanksgiving, this devoted mother was summoned to another.</p> + +<p>The doctor had fled away from the bevy of friends who had hastened to +congratulate and shake him by the hand. He had finally escaped to his +little den, trying to compose himself, and write calmly and +judiciously, as became a father, to his soldier son. Bud, nearly wild +with delight, had finally been "fired," as he expressed it, from +Cadet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>Frazier's room by the officer-in-charge, and started for home +toward half-past ten o'clock, when in front of the officers' mess he +was suddenly hailed by a grave-faced professor:</p> + +<p>"You're needed at home, Bud," and, running, he found Colonel Hazzard +and his father at the library door, a telegram open in the latter's +trembling hand.</p> + +<p>"Not a word now, son. Just read this and then—call mither."</p> + +<p>With paling face and suddenly swimming eyes, Bud read the dancing +words:</p> + +<div class="block2"> +<p>"Severe action. Graham wounded; left thigh. Serious, but doing +well. Our loss heavy.</p> + +<p class="right">"(Signed) <span class="sc">McCrea</span>."</p> +</div> + +<p>And so they got the first news of the bitter midwinter battle that +ended the days of Big Foot and so many of his band, that cost us the +lives of so many gallant officers and men, among the icy flats and +snow-patched ravines along the Wounded Knee.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>But there came a meeting in March that brought surcease for all that +fond mother's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>sorrow. There came an evening when the battalion, in +its muffling winter garb of gray, went bounding up the broad stone +steps into the old mess-hall, and, stripping off caps and overcoats, +quickly settled down to their hearty supper, for the days were longer, +the first spring drills had begun, and tremendous appetites had these +alert young fellows. The clamor and chatter began on the instant—a +merry riot of chaff and fun. No outlying picket gave warning of the +approach of disturbers, but once again that great-hearted commandant +had planned a demonstration that should delight a mother's soul. Once +again he was leading her up to the massive portal, with a tall youth +swinging on crutches beside her, and a joyous little party in her +train. Only that day had he arrived—her Geordie—a little pallid from +long housing and wearied from the long ride, but wonderfully well and +happy otherwise, and assured that a few weeks more would see him +strong as ever. Connell had met him at Buffalo. Bud was up from New +York. McCrea had escorted him all the way from Chicago, where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>John +Bonner would have held him for a week of lionizing, but he could not +be stopped for an hour. Nolan and Toomey had ridden every mile to the +railway to see their young leader aboard, but over the meeting with +that yearning mother there was none on earth to spy. Long hours she +kept him to herself, but, now that evening had come, she yielded him +to the colonel's pleading.</p> + +<p>"It is for their sake," said he, and for their sake even Geordie +consented.</p> + +<p>And so, very much as he had planned on the previous occasion, Colonel +Hazzard led them to the door as supper was nearly over, having +previously notified his officer-in-charge, but no man in the corps was +in the secret. "Whatever happens," said he, "shall be entirely +spontaneous."</p> + +<p>For a moment they waited until, as before, the voice of the adjutant +was heard, clear and commanding, above the clamor. Then came the +publications, a perfunctory order or two, and then the colonel put +forth a hand, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>pushed open the door, and while Mrs. Graham and Bud, +trembling with excitement, clung to each other's arms, and the rest of +the group instinctively closed about them, Hazzard turned to the two +young graduates—his captains of the year gone by, now looking not a +little white and by no means happy—and signalled "step within," he +himself close following, and throwing wider the door so that Mrs. +Graham might see.</p> + +<p>As the big half swung slowly inward, and the two crutches were planted +across the threshold, Connell hung back, but the colonel would not so +have it. The corporal of the guard, surprised at the intrusion, +stepped forward to check the strangers within their gates, then as +suddenly halted, his eyes alight with instant recognition and +rejoicing, his hand springing up in salute, even as the cadet officers +at the head of the nearest tables found their feet in instant and +irresistible impulse. Up, too, sprang the first captain, at the +opposite side, his first thought to rebuke, his second, at sight of +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>halted trio, to shout with delight. Before he could gather his +wits the matter was settled for him, for all. The adjutant, amazed, +dropped his paper and uplifted his eyes, for his voice was stilled by +a stentorian shout from an inner table and the simultaneous rush of a +light-footed fellow who almost swept Pops off his crutches as his arms +flung about him. "Cyclone" Holt, a big-lunged Kentuckian, had bounded +to his chair with a yell of "Hurray! 'Badger' and '<i>Ki</i>ote!'" and all +order was gone in an instant. Up as one man sprang the startled +battalion. Had Holt gone mad? Had Frazier a fit? For answer came +cheers from those nearest the door, cheers that spread like wildfire +from table to table, and all in a second every young soldier was +swinging a napkin and shouting like mad—some leaping on chairs, some +even mounting the tables, a scene such as the mess-hall never +witnessed before. Vain the effort of some one to guide the cheering +(they had not then learned an academy yell), and for once in its day +the corps went wild, every man for himself. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>They yelled at Geordie, +blushing and dishevelled from Benny's embrace. They yelled at Connell, +standing modestly by, with his set lips twitching, his eyes filling +fast. They yelled at their colonel, now smilingly backing away. They +yelled for three minutes without ever a stop, until some fellow, +versed in town-meeting methods, began yelling for "Speech!" and that +started others, and "Speech!" was the word ringing all over the hall, +and that was more than enough to start Geordie. Speak he could not and +would not. He could only stand smiling and shaking his head, until he +saw they would not be denied; and then, at last, the lad who had faced +and downed popular prejudice all through his cadet life, who had faced +foes at the Point and foes on the plains—faced them with dauntless +front and determined will—who had stood like a rock at the front of +the enemy, trembled now like a leaf in the sight of his friends, and +so, for the first time, shrank back and fled. Just as on the day of +his graduation, our Geordie turned from the tumult of comrade acclaim +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>sought his mother's side. Con darted after him, and the big door +closed on the chums of cadet days, on the "Badger" and "Coyote"—on +Connell and "Corporal Pops."</p> + + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 134: beleagured replaced with beleaguered<br /> +<br /> +The last four chapter titles were numerical only, "CHAPTER" was added for consistency.<br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To The Front, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO THE FRONT *** + +***** This file should be named 19952-h.htm or 19952-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/9/5/19952/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, and 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: To The Front + A Sequel to Cadet Days + +Author: Charles King + +Release Date: November 28, 2006 [EBook #19952] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO THE FRONT *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, and 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.) + + + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | + | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this | + | document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: [See p. 252] + THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE] + + + * * * * * + + + + + TO THE FRONT + + A SEQUEL TO + CADET DAYS + + BY + GENERAL CHARLES KING + + + ILLUSTRATED + + + + NEW YORK AND LONDON + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + MCMVIII + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + Copyright, 1908, by HARPER & BROTHERS. + + _All rights reserved._ + + Published March, 1908. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + TO + THREE BOYS, CADETS YET TO BE + TO "COPE" AND THE MAJOR + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + PRELUDE 1 + + I. FROM THE GRAY TO THE BLUE 11 + + II. THE FIRST CALL 30 + + III. AWAY TO THE WEST 39 + + IV. "I'M READY NOW" 49 + + V. FIRST NIGHT ON THE RANGE 61 + + VI. FIRST AID TO THE WOUNDED 76 + + VII. A BALKED ARREST 89 + + VIII. A RACE TO THE FORT 102 + + IX. BAD NEWS FROM THE MINES 114 + + X. FIRST SHOTS OF THE SUMMER 128 + + XI. A NIGHT ON GUARD 142 + + XII. THE MAN OF THE SIEGE 156 + + XIII. AWAY ON THE WARPATH 168 + + XIV. A SCOUT FOR THE SIOUX 180 + + XV. FIRST SIGHT OF THE FOE 198 + + XVI. PROOF POSITIVE OF GUILT 213 + + XVII. THE WAR-DANCE AND THE CHARGE 224 + +XVIII. BATTLE AND VICTORY 239 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE _Frontispiece_ + +CADETS AT DRILL, WEST POINT _Facing p._ 14 + +"BIG BEN WAS BUSY WITH HIS OIL-CAN" " 84 + +"NOT A WHIFF OF THE DRAUGHT COULD BE WASTED" " 102 + +SILVER SHIELD " 128 + +"'STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HERD, MEN. CH-A-A-A-RGE!'" " 236 + +UNITED STATES CAVALRY IN WINTER RIG " 242 + +"UP WENT TWO LITTLE PUFFS OF EARTH" " 248 + + + + +TO THE FRONT + + + + +TO THE FRONT + + + + +PRELUDE + + +It was graduation day at West Point, and there had been a remarkable +scene at the morning ceremonies. In the presence of the Board of +Visitors, the full-uniformed officers of the academic and military +staff, the august professors and their many assistants, scores of +daintily dressed women and dozens of sober-garbed civilians, the +assembled Corps of Cadets, in their gray and white, had risen as one +man and cheered to the echo a soldierly young fellow, their "first +captain," as he received his diploma and then turned to rejoin them. It +was an unusual incident. Every man preceding had been applauded, some +of them vehemently. Every man after him, and they were many, received +his meed of greeting and congratulation, but the portion accorded Cadet +Captain "Geordie" Graham, like that of Little Benjamin, exceeded all +others, and a prominent banker and business man, visiting the Point for +the first time, was moved to inquire why. + +"I think," said the officer addressed, a man of his own age, though his +spare form and smooth-shaven cheek and chin made him look ten years +younger--"I think it is that Graham has been tried in all manner of +ways and has proved equal to every occasion. They say he's sheer grit." + +A keen and close observer was the banker--"a student of men," he called +himself. He had been tried in many a way and proved equal to every +occasion. He had risen from the ranks to the summit. He, too, they said +in Chicago, was "sheer grit." Moreover, they did not say he had "made +his pile out of others' losings"; but, like most men who have had to +work hard to win it, until it began to come so fast that it made +itself, John Bonner judged men very much by their power to earn money. +Money was his standard, his measure of success. + +And this, perhaps, was why John Bonner could never understand his +brother-in-law, the colonel, a most distinguished soldier, a modest and +most enviable man. + +Twenty-five years had Bonner known that now gray-haired, gray-mustached +veteran. Twenty-five years had he liked him, admired him, and much of +late had he sought to know him, but Hazzard was a man he could not +fathom. + +"Fifteen years ago," said he to a fellow-magnate, "I told that man if +he'd quit soldiering, and bring Carrie and the children to Chicago, I'd +guarantee him an income ten times the regular pay he's getting; and he +smiled, thanked me, and said he was quite content--content, sir, on two +thousand a year, and so, too, was Sis. Now, think of that!" + +And Bonner was bubbling over with the same idea to-day, yet beginning +to see light. Two prominent senators, men of world-wide renown, held +Hazzard long in close conference, and were merely civil to him, the +magnate, who, as he said, "could buy the three of 'em three times +over." A general whose name was but second to that of Grant seized his +brother-in-law by both hands, and seemed delighted to greet him, yet +had barely a word for "his millions," him to whom the Board of Trade +bowed humbly at home. A great war secretary, whom they had recently +dined at the Grand Pacific and whose dictum as to the purchase of +supplies meant much to Chicago, but vaguely remembered and absently +greeted the man of wealth, yet beamed with pleasure at sight of his +small-salaried soldier companion. The secretary drew Hazzard off to one +side, in fact, and left the man of stocks and the stock-yards standing. + +That evening, after the simple home dinner, with Carrie and the young +people and the colonel smiling about the board, Bonner's vexation of +spirit found vent. Duties drew the soldier away, and the banker was +left with his sister. + +"What is your pay _now_, Carrie?" he abruptly asked. + +"A row of threes, John--$333.33 a month," was the amused answer. + +"And Hazzard's been through two wars, Heaven knows how many campaigns +and vicissitudes, and been serving the United States, night and day, +some thirty years, and that's all he has to show for it, every cent of +which has to go for living expenses--rearing, feeding, clothing, and +educating these youngsters." + +"Pretty nearly. We've a little laid by for Jack's college, and the +President gives Lou his cadetship, you know, but"--and here the +blithe-faced little woman looked archly at "Uncle John," though her +look was one that said, "I mean every word of this"--"we don't think +that's all there is to it, by any manner of means. Think of his war +record! Isn't that a proud thing to leave to our boys? See how he is +regarded by the best men in our country, from the President down! He is +not yet an old man, but he has 'all that should accompany old +age--love, honor, obedience, troops of friends'--and, honestly, John, +with health and competence and _us_, what more _should_ he want?" + +"Well," said Bonner, tenaciously, "I could have put him where he would +have been worth three hundred thousand by this time." + +"And it wouldn't have tempted him; and I'd rather see him as he is." + +"Well, I'm blessed if I can understand it," said Bonner. Then callers +put a stop to the chat. Then the colonel himself came home to his cosey +quarters, and silence had settled down over the beautiful plain. The +lights were dimmed in the barracks; the sentries paced their measured +rounds; from the verandas of the hotel came the ripple of murmured +words and soft laughter, and a tinkle of banjo and guitar. At the gate +the colonel exchanged good-night greetings with a happy-faced, motherly +looking woman whom Bonner had noticed overwhelmed with pride and +emotion during the ceremonies in the morning. He did not at first +recognize the tall, erect young fellow on whose arm she proudly leaned +as she walked home through the shifting moonlight. + +"That was young Graham, in whom you were so interested this morning," +said Hazzard, briefly. + +"_Was_ it? Oh, I thought he'd gone with the graduates." + +"Only down to the city to say good-bye. He came back to his mother by +late train. I fancy she's more to him than a lot of fun with the boys." + +"See here, Hazzard," observed Bonner, solemnly, "I've been looking into +things here nigh onto a week. It's fine! It's all right for a soldier +school! But, now take that young chap for a sample. What on earth does +he know outside of drill and mathematics and what you call discipline? +What could he do in case we cut off all this--this foolishness--and +came down to business? I'd be willing to bet a sweet sum that, take him +out of the army, turn him loose in the streets, and he'd starve, by +gad! before he could ever earn enough to pay for a quick lunch." + +"I think you'd lose," was the quiet answer. + +"Well, I'd just like to try it. Pit him and his kind against our +keen-witted, sharp, aggressive young _bus_iness men--men with +_bus_iness heads, _bus_iness experience"--Bonner's emphasis on the +first syllable was reinforced by a bang of the fist on the arm of his +chair--"and, and, by gad! they'd be skinned alive--skinned out of their +last cent, sir." + +"That," said the colonel, dryly, "is not improbable. They are trained +as soldiers, not as sharpers. But, all the same, in spite, if you +please, of their soldier training, I fancy most of these lads that quit +us to-day, if brought face to face with sudden emergency, +responsibility, something calling for courage, coolness, +judgment--above all, for action--would hold their own, and I'd back +them even in competition with your aggressive young friends in business +life." + +"Why, they're taught to deal only with soldiers--with machines--not +men," argued Bonner. + +"Well, such as they have handled men not soldiers more than once, in +your own city, Bonner, and to your vast benefit. They'll come to it +again some day. As for that young man, I picked him a year ago from his +whole class for the place that calls for the most judgment, tact, quiet +force, capacity to command--the 'first captaincy'--and never did I see +it better filled." + +"Oh, granted as to that! But strip off the uniform, sword, and +authority; set him among the men _we_ have to deal with--what could he +do with a railway strike? How could he handle maddened mill operatives, +laborers, switchmen, miners? Think of that, Hazzard! That isn't +fighting Indians, with a regiment at your back. You mark what I say!" + +"Well, mobs, miners, or Indians, our young officers have had to meet +all kinds at times," said the colonel; "and if ever Graham is up +against them, Bonner, I'm thinking you'll hear of it." + +And, oddly enough, before he was one month older, sitting in his office +in Chicago, Bonner was hearing it with a vengeance. There was the +mischief to pay in at least one of his mines. Oddly enough, before he +was one year older, George Montrose Graham, graduated cadet, was "up +against them," all three--mobs, miners, and Indians. How he met them +and how he merited the colonel's confidence let them judge who read. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM THE GRAY TO THE BLUE + + +It was just after sunset of one of the longest days of the loveliest of +our summer months. The roar of the evening gun had gone re-echoing +through the Highlands of the Hudson. The great garrison flag was still +slowly fluttering earthward, veiled partially from the view of the +throng of spectators by the snowy cloud of sulphur smoke drifting +lazily away upon the wing of the breeze. Afar over beyond the barren +level of the cavalry plain the gilded hands of the tower-clock on "the +old Academic" were blended into one in proclaiming to all whom it might +concern that it was five minutes past the half-hour 'twixt seven and +eight, and there were girls in every group, and many a young fellow in +the rigid line of gray and white before them, resentful of the fact +that dress parade was wofully late and long, with tattoo and taps only +two hours or so away. The season for the regular summer "hops" had not +yet begun, for this was away back in the eighties, when many another +old West Point fashion still prevailed; but there was to be an informal +dance in the dining-room of the hotel, and it couldn't come off until +after supper, and supper had to be served to some people who were +"pokey" enough to care to come by late boat, or later train, and were +more eager to see the cadets on parade than to seek Mine Host Craney's +once bountiful table. + +What made it more exasperating was that rumors were afloat to the +effect that the adjutant had long and important orders to publish, and +this would still further prolong the parade. Cadet Private Frazier, +First Class, one of the best dancers in the battalion, was heard to +mutter to his next-door neighbor in the front rank of the color +company: "It'll be nine o'clock before we get things going at the +hotel, and we've got to quit at nine-thirty. _Con_found the orders!" +And yet, peering from under the visor of his shako, Mr. Frazier could +see without disturbing the requisite pose of his head, "up and straight +to the front, chin drawn in," that over near the south end of the row +of gayly attired visitors, seated or standing at the edge of the camp +parade-ground, there was one group, at least, to whom, as Frazier knew, +the orders meant much more than the dance. There, switching the short +grass with his stocky cane, stood their grim senior surgeon, Doctor, or +Major, Graham. There, close beside him and leaning on the arm of a +slender but athletic, sun-tanned young fellow in trim civilian dress, +stood the doctor's devoted wife. With them was a curly-headed youth, +perhaps seventeen years of age, restless, eager, and impatient for the +promised news. Making his way eagerly but gently through the dense +throng of onlookers, a bronze-faced, keen-eyed, powerfully built +officer in the uniform of the cavalry came up at the moment and joined +them. "Have you heard anything yet?" he murmured to Mrs. Graham, whose +kind and gentle eyes seemed to light at sound of his voice. + +"Not yet," she answered, with a shake of the head. "All we learned just +a few minutes ago was that the order was here and would be published on +parade. The commandant returned only just in time." + +"And there's been no telegram--no word from outside?" + +"Not a thing, Mr. McCrea. It just so happened." + +"Well, if that isn't odd! To begin with, it's most unusual to get out +the order so early. They must be in a hurry to assign the graduates +this year. Pops, old boy, if you don't get our regiment, I'll say the +secretary of war is deaf to the wishes of every officer and most of the +men. We told him when he came out to look over Fort Reynolds, and +incidentally look into the mines--but that was last year--Oh, bother, +Williams," he suddenly broke off, "what do you want to lose precious +time for, putting 'em through the manual?" + +This sudden outbreak was levelled at the unconscious officer +commanding the parade (the "officer in charge," as he was termed), Mr. +Williams having replied, "Take your post, sir," to the adjutant's +stately salute in presenting the statuesque line. Whereupon the +adjutant "recovered" sword, strode briskly up, passed beyond the plumed +commander, and took his station to his left and rear. With much +deliberation of manner, Mr. Williams drew sabre and easily gave the +various orders for the showy manual of arms, the white-gloved hands +moving like clockwork in response to his command until, with +simultaneous thud, the battalion resumed the "order," certain +spectators with difficulty repressing the impulse to applaud. + + [Illustration: CADETS AT DRILL, WEST POINT] + +Then back to the centre stalked the young adjutant, Mrs. Graham +unconsciously drawing unflattering comparison between the present +incumbent, soldierly though he seemed, and her own boy's associate and +friend, Claude Benton, adjutant of the class graduated barely a +fortnight earlier, "her own boy," perhaps the most honored among them. +She was clinging to his arm now, her pride and joy through all his +years of sturdy boyhood and manly youth. She knew well that the hope +and longing of his heart was to be assigned to the cavalry regiment of +which Lieutenant McCrea was quartermaster, the regiment once stationed +at old Fort Reynolds, in the Rockies, when Dr. Graham was there as post +surgeon and Geordie was preparing for West Point. Indeed, Mr. McCrea +had "coached" her son in mathematics, and had been most helpful in +securing the appointment. And now here was the quartermaster on leave +of absence, the first he had had in years, spending several weeks of +his three months' rest at the scene of his own soldier school-days. + +But it was "Bud," her younger son, who had come rushing down to the +surgeon's quarters only a few minutes before parade with the +all-important news. "Mither!--Geordie!" he cried, "Captain Cross says +the assignment order's come and will be published at parade. Hurry up!" + +Dr. Graham could hardly believe it. As McCrea said, the War Department +seldom issued the order before mid-July. "Mac" even hoped to be in +Washington in time to say a word to the adjutant-general in Geordie's +behalf. It was known that many would be assigned to the artillery, to +which Cadet Graham had been recommended by the Academic Board. But all +his boyhood had been spent on the frontier; his earliest recollections +were of the adobe barracks and sun-dried, sun-cracked, sun-scorched +parade of old Camp Sandy in Arizona. He had learned to ride an Indian +pony in Wyoming before he was eight; he had learned to shoot in Montana +before he was twelve; and he had ridden, hunted, fished, and shot all +over the wide West before the happy days that sent him to the great +cadet school of the nation. And now that he was graduated, with all his +heart and hope and ambition he prayed that he might be commissioned in +a cavalry regiment, if possible in McCrea's. Give him _that_, he said, +and he would ask no favor from any man. + +How his heart was beating as he watched the adjutant, whom he himself +had schooled and drilled and almost made, for Graham had been famous in +his cadet days as a most successful squad instructor, a model first +sergeant, and a great "first captain." How odd it seemed that he, a +graduate, and that all these people, officers, and children, should now +be hanging on the words that might fall from the younger soldier's +lips! A telegram from Washington had told a veteran general visiting at +the Point that his son had been assigned to the artillery, that the +order would doubtless be published that evening. But it so happened +that not until just before parade did the commandant return from a long +ride, and so had no time to read it through. He had simply handed it, +with others, to the silent young soldier, who had stood in full uniform +full five minutes awaiting his coming. "Better order 'parade rest' part +of time. It's a long read," he briefly said, and, stowing the orders +under his sash, the adjutant had saluted, faced about, and hastened +away. + +And now that young official has received the reports of the first +sergeants and sent them, high-headed, martial, and precise, back to +their stations in the line. And now again he has faced the commanding +officer, saluted, and announced, "All are present, sir." And now that +deliberate functionary has at last said, "Publish the orders, sir." And +silence seems to fall, even upon the chatting groups of girls, as, with +brief "'Tentio-o-o-on to Orders," the adjutant drops the point of his +sword, letting it dangle from the gold swordknot on his wrist, and in +another moment the clear young voice is ringing over the attent and +martial audience. + +"War Department, Washington, D.C., June 25, 189--," he begins, and then +briskly rattles away at the terse official paragraphs: "The following +assignment of graduates of the United States Military Academy are +hereby announced to take effect from June 14th." It begins with that +highly scientific and enviable body, the Corps of Engineers, and Mr. +George Graham, up to this moment still officially known as cadet, +touches his mother's arm at sound of the third name on the list--that +of Connell, his chum, his chosen comrade, his much-loved classmate +through the long four years. "Dear old Con," he murmurs into her ears. +"I'll telegraph my congratulations to him, whatever comes to me." + +There are eight in all assigned to the engineers, and then come the +names of those gazetted to the artillery--five famous regiments, too, +and Graham notes with joy that Beard, Conway, Foster, and Lawrence, all +of whom were lower in general standing than himself, get their +longed-for billet with the "red legs," and his name is not mentioned. +That means he has not been assigned where he preferred not to go. But +would the war secretary assign him where he longed to be? Yes, here it +comes, first on the cavalry list, and his heart beats for joy. + + + "F----th Regiment of Cavalry. + + "No. 15, Cadet George Montrose Graham to be Second Lieutenant, + Troop 'E,' _vice_ Fenton, promoted." + +And though her eyes are brimming and her lips _will_ quiver, Mrs. +Graham clasps both her boy's hands in her own in speechless sympathy. +It cannot all be joy, for this means miles and miles of separation that +must come all too soon. Geordie can scarce believe his ears. Oh, it is +too good! Not only the --th, but "E" Troop, Captain Lane's troop, the +troop of which Feeny was first sergeant, the troop in which veteran +Sergeant Nolan, two years ago at old Fort Reynolds, had said he and the +men so hoped to see the day when Mr. Geordie might come back to them to +be their lieutenant. + +And now McCrea was grasping and wringing his hand, with a "Welcome to +the old regiment, Geordie," and blue-eyed "Bud" was dancing rapturously +about until the doctor sternly bade him cease. "Is that the way you +think they behave at Columbia, sir?" having never seen the behavior of +Columbiads, or other collegians, at a ball match or boat-race or any +public occasion of undergraduate rejoicing. Even among the spectators +were many who lost interest for the moment in what the adjutant was +reading, and watched, with kindling eyes, the unexpected little scene. +But when Colonel Hazzard himself, the soldierly commandant, with his +silver-gray mustache and hair, came striding through the crowd and held +forth his hand to the young soldier, who instantly and instinctively +faced him at attention, everybody within hearing noted the cordiality +in his hearty tones as he shook Geordie's hand: "Mr. Graham, I'm more +than glad you got the regiment of your choice, and you're going to one +of the best captains in the army. I was on duty in tactics when Lane +was in the Corps. Well, Mrs. Graham, we think we are sending him the +making of one of the best lieutenants," and with that the colonel bowed +as he took the hand of Geordie's mother. "Good sons make good soldiers +all the world over, Mrs. Graham, and we'll expect great things of +yours," he added, then grasped the doctor's out-stretched hand and gave +way to others who came crowding forward, among them a gentle, motherly +woman in half-mourning, whose eyes were moist as she exchanged greeting +with Mrs. Graham. + +"Benny will be here the moment they break ranks," she said. "I know he, +too, will want to congratulate George." + +And so there was quite a little gathering, and what the papers call an +"ovation," about the young graduate, who was blushing not a little +through his healthy tan. He was quite unable to hear where his +classmates had been distributed in the other regiments of cavalry and +infantry, and he was anxious to know, but even when the line of cadet +officers came marching to the front and stood at salute before the +battalion commander, and then broke ranks, and as many as a dozen made +a rush at their former first captain, eager to take him by the hand and +say a word of congratulation before they went bounding away to doff +dress hats, plumes, and sashes--even then Graham could not see the +order, for Colonel Hazzard called for it to show to a bevy of +bright-eyed girls, who knew the graduating class, now scattered all +over the United States, knew almost every one of them better than they +did this, their foremost cadet officer, for George Graham, though he +could dance, had seemed to care little for hops and less for girls. His +few leisure hours of the last year at the Point he had spent at the +side of his mother. + +But at last, leaving Mrs. Frazier and Benny at camp, the Grahams were +walking slowly homeward in the wake of the brave young battalion, +marching away with its quick, elastic stride to the spirited music of +the fifes and drums. Lieutenant McCrea was still with them, while +Lieutenant Wood, another family friend, had taken to the telegraph +office Geordie's pencilled words of congratulation to his chum Connell, +now lieutenant of engineers. Mrs. Graham leaned heavily on the arm of +her sturdy son, thinking of all the joy that had been hers, after the +years of separation. It had been such a welcome, welcome order that +took Major Graham to duty at West Point the last lap of their boy's +cadet life. Every Saturday evening he had spent "at home" in the +surgeon's quarters, and many a Sunday afternoon. How she had looked +forward from week end to week end! How swiftly had the weeks slipped +by! How would she miss him in the years to come! How lonely would be +the Saturdays and Sundays without her boys, for "Buddy" too, was to +leave the home nest. He had passed for Columbia and was to have some +terms at what the doctor loved to call "the humanities" before taking +up the study of medicine. Her heart had been full of rejoicing and +thanksgiving when graduation came, barely a fortnight agone--yet when, +for the last time in cadet uniform Geordie stood before her, so +soldierly, so manly, so honored by his comrades in the Corps, and she +followed him with brimming eyes when, leaving his diploma in her hand, +he turned away to his room, in the tower of the old first division, to +lay aside forever the plume and sash, the sword and chevrons of the +first captaincy, to shed the academy uniform for good and all, she knew +she wished the whole year could be lived over again; she knew she would +rather the time were still far distant when her son should "change the +gray for the blue." + +But now, now, every hour of every day for three glorious and beautiful +months, she was to have him by her side. She need not, she would not, +think of the separation to come late in September, when he must join +his regiment and be her boy no more. At least she would try not to +think, but here was this cold, stern, business-like order to remind her +that she had given her first-born to the service of his country--that +now he belonged to the general government and no longer to her. All too +soon--oh, many weeks too soon--had the mandate appeared, for it would +haunt her day and night until the hour for parting came. Ah, thank God, +that at least would not be for weeks! Even Geordie now had become +silent and serious. He was listening to McCrea's eager words to Dr. +Graham, all about the regiment and Fort Reynolds, and how he wished +they were back there again, the finest station the --th had ever had, +he declared, and "so near the mines!" + +"Just think, Geordie," he cried, "if we were all at Reynolds we could +run up the range to the Silver Shield any day, and watch them dragging +out gold." + +"You haven't lost faith in the Shield, then?" asked Mrs. Graham, +smilingly. She thought and cared so little herself. She knew that +several officers at Reynolds, her husband and McCrea among them, had +invested their scant savings in that most promising venture. She knew +that McCrea had vowed it would make them all rich if not famous one of +these days, and that her methodical, cautious "canny Scot" of a husband +had figured, pondered, and consulted long before he, too, had become +convinced. She knew their holdings had been quoted far above what was +paid for them, but what of all that? She had her boys, her husband, her +army home, her health, and high content. What was wealth to her? + +"I own I was thinking more of the hunting and fishing, the scenery, and +the splendid range," said Geordie, "but no matter where 'E' Troop goes, +I want to be with it." + +"If the Shield pans out according to promise," said McCrea, with a +laugh, "the regiment won't see me for many a day after I realize. I'm +going in for a year's leave--and Europe." + +They had reached the front of Grant Hall by this time and were +strolling slowly along, their voices hushed for the moment by the +cheery hum of boyish talk and the clatter of mess furniture, as the +Corps sat at their late supper. Then several officers, gathered about +the steps of the club rooms in the south end, lifted their caps to Mrs. +Graham and smiled greeting to the party. + +"Come back, Geordie!" was the cheery hail. "We want to wet that +assignment in cavalry fashion." But Graham laughed and shook his head. + +"Can't break away just now," said he. "I'll look in later." + +"What I can't understand," said McCrea, "is that we got no word. With +Freeman and Blake both on duty in Washington, one would think they'd +have wired if they knew." + +"It's coming now," said the doctor, pointing to the telegraph orderly +turning away from the steps of his quarters and coming swiftly toward +them, brown envelope in hand. Just in front of the hospital gateway he +met the party, saluted, and tendered the uppermost of two or three +despatches to the doctor. + +"Freeman, I'm betting," said McCrea, as the doctor tore it open and +read. They walked on slowly, expectant, but he did not speak. Then Mrs. +Graham turned, gave one look, dropped Geordie's arm and clasped that of +her husband. The rugged, weather-beaten face had grown suddenly gray. + +"George! husband!" she cried. "What's gone wrong?" + +For answer he simply handed her the paper. + + "Designate proxy; meeting Monday. Fear everything lost. Come if + possible." + +"Mac," said the old doctor, solemnly, "it's Silver Shield that's melted +away. Everything we had in the world." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRST CALL + + +Fort Reynolds, as has been told in the earlier story of George Graham's +cadet days, lay among the eastward foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, +with a bustling little frontier city only six miles away down the +winding valley of what was, in the early eighties, a clear, cold, and +beautiful mountain stream that shone in the sun like molten silver. + +Silver Run it was called when Uncle Sam built the picturesque frontier +fort of hewn logs and unseasoned pine soon after the Civil War. Silver +Run, cold, pure, and glistening, it remained when Fort Reynolds became +an important military post. Then the --th Cavalry took station at +Reynolds, and there Geordie Graham found them when, with his father and +mother and "Bud," he had come from cold Montana to the finest station +they yet had known, and to the firmest friends, many of whom they had +met before, when Geordie, as a little boy, was "Corporal Pops" to every +man at old Camp Sandy. + +But Silver Run, though it ran more silver than it ever knew before, was +beautiful no longer. Mines of remarkable value, mines of gold and +silver, had been discovered twenty and thirty miles back in the +mountains. Mining towns had sprung up along the steep and rocky banks. +Mining methods had turned a limpid stream into a turbid torrent. Two +railways had run their lines, hewing, blasting, boring, and tunnelling +up the narrow valley, first to reach the mines and finally to merge in +a "cut-off" to the great Transcontinental, so that now huge trains of +Pullmans went straining slowly up-grade past the site of old Fort +Reynolds, or came coasting down with smoking tires and fire-spitting +brake-shoes, and between the loss of the water for his horses, and the +hemming in of his rifle-ranges by rail right of way, Uncle Sam +declared Fort Reynolds no longer tenable for cavalry. The regiment had +been sent elsewhere, and only a quartermaster-sergeant and a squad of +men remained. + +Yet Reynolds stood in the midst of thriving industries and swarming +men. The First National Bank in town had now a marble front and a +thousand depositors. The town was now a city and a railway centre, and +the backbone of its business was no longer cattle, but mines and +mining, full of fabulous wealth for those "on the inside," but of dark +and devious measures for those "on the outside" or away, and of these +were half a dozen army officers who had been dazzled by the easily +acquired dollars of the earliest arrivals, and of these officers was +one of the last men his friends thought possible to mislead--shrewd, +calculating, cautious, canny old "Sawny" Graham, post surgeon at Fort +Reynolds in the late eighties. + +Yet prospectors and explorers ten years earlier had declared gold would +be found up the banks of Silver Run. In the glorious park country back +of Squaw Canon, where Geordie and Bud had camped and fished and hunted +as boys, the signs of the restless scouts of the great army of miners +were to be seen at every hand. And then finally, in the very September +that followed the return of Graham and Connell to take up the last half +of their course at the Academy, there came sudden and thrilling +announcement of "big finds" along Lance Creek, the upper tributary of +Silver Run; then even finer indications on the Run itself, and the West +went wild. All of a sudden the mountain-sides bristled with armed men +and their _burros_. Camps sprang up in a night and shafts were sunk in +a day. Yampah County, from primeval wilderness, leaped to renown, with +a population of ten thousand. Gold and silver came "packed" down the +trails to the First National. Then, faster than the precious metal came +down, costly machinery, and prices, went up. Fortunes were declared in +a week. Officers and men at Reynolds caught the craze. + +Many an old sergeant took his discharge and his savings and went to the +mines; and young troopers without discharges took their lead and +followed suit, and the colonel wired the War Department that if the +regiment wasn't ordered away there wouldn't be anything left to order +in the spring. Luckily, heavy snow-storms came and blocked the trails, +and there was a lull at the mines, but unluckily, not before the few +officers at Reynolds who had saved a dollar had invested every cent of +their savings in the shares of the Golconda, the White Eagle, the +Consolidated Denver, and especially the Silver Shield, and the man who, +through frugality and good management, had the most to invest, and who +had invested all, was Major Graham. When he left there for West Point +the August following he had refused four times what he paid for his +shares, and saw fortune smiling on his pathway to the Hudson. Now, less +than ten months thereafter, on the borders of the Hudson, he saw ruin +staring him in the face. + +For there had been assessments, and he had borrowed to meet them. There +had come rumors of "leaks" and he had kept them to himself. McCrea, +his boy's best friend in the regiment, had consulted him only ten days +back as to whether it were not wise to realize on a portion at least of +their holdings, and Graham, dreading a "bear" movement on the market, +had said, "Hold fast." + +And now McCrea had turned back. He must go at once, he said, to the +telegraph office. So Graham, his sorrowing wife, and his silent boys +went on. She led him into their cheery quarters, and seated him in his +old arm-chair and came and nestled beside him. + +"What is there to grieve about, dear?" she pleaded. "What does it +really matter to us? We have health, home, our boys, each other--quite +enough to live on--Why should it so distress you? Indeed, I almost +cried aloud, 'Is that all?' when you showed me the message. I feared so +much worse. Why, think, Graeme, in all the gay crowd that comes here +every day, is there a woman half as happy as I am? Is there one of them +really as rich as we are--we who have so many blessings?" + +"It's for 'Bud' I'm thinking most now," was the mournful answer. "There +can be no Columbia for him. I've borrowed money to meet the +assessments, and the money's got to be paid. This isn't like having +one's house burned, or his ranch blown away, his herds scattered, by +the act of God. This is being robbed of the savings of years by +organized, legalized swindlers, men who claimed to be our friends. It's +that--and my helplessness--that hurts." + +The boys had remained without, talking in low, grave tones, Bud's +boisterous spirits suddenly quenched. Presently the sound of their +murmuring died away. There was no answer when Mrs. Graham called. Going +to the door she looked anxiously about her. From up the roadway to the +north came the sound of merry voices and the shuffle of many feet--the +battalion hurrying down the broad stone steps of Grant Hall and forming +for the march back to camp. The young "first captain" called them to +attention and gave the commands that swung them into column of platoons +and striding away under the leafy arch to the open plain. Oh, with +what pride had she not listened, night after night, from September to +mid-June, to Geordie's ringing, masterful tones, _her_ Geordie, +foremost officer of the Corps! And now all that was ended with the +graduation to which he had so long looked forward, and now, when but +half an hour ago he had so rejoiced in his assignment to the regiment +of his choice--now must come this cloud upon his young life, his and +blithe-hearted Bud, who so adored him. She knew well that his first act +would be to set aside a certain portion of his scanty pay for her use, +and for her own part she would not so have it. + +But where were the boys, and why had they gone? It was some minutes +before Bud returned, alone. + +"Where is Geordie?" she asked. + +Bud dropped his cap on the hall table, looking dispirited and troubled. + +"Gone to the hotel, mother--wants to see"--with a gulp--"McCrea--and +I'm of no use to anybody." + +"You can be and will be," was the gentle answer, as the mother wound an +arm about and led him within. There in silence and semi-darkness they +sat awhile. The doctor had gone into his little library to look over +memoranda and accounts. It was nine o'clock when Geordie's quick, +soldierly step was heard on the walk without. He came bounding up and +in, alert, virile, and vigorous. + +"You saw Mr. McCrea, Geordie?" + +"Yes, mother. He's going to Newburg to catch the Pacific express on the +Central, and, mother--I'm going with him." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AWAY TO THE WEST + + +By the general regulations of the United States army there is granted +three months' leave of absence to graduated cadets of the Military +Academy, to be taken advantage of immediately after graduation. It is +given to these young men after their four years of rigorous discipline +and hard study, that they may have abundant time to visit home and +friends, and to enjoy a period of rest before reporting for duty again +to begin their careers as officers of the army. + +For nearly two weeks since Graham's graduation day the mother had had +him for her very own, busying herself in the choice of his modest +outfit, and taking it not a little to heart that he declined to order +his uniform and equipment until, as he said, he knew where he was +going. She longed to see him in his "regimentals," yet shrank from it +as a reminder that all too soon he would be taken from her side to wear +it day after day with his comrades in arms. She could not think of that +parting to come late in September. She would think only of the glory +that was hers in having him here, having him now, with no bugle-call to +tear him from her side. She was just beginning to realize her +possession, her happiness, when that hateful telegram told of disaster +at the mines, and urged her husband to have a representative at the +spot. Within one hour of its receipt, George had come to say that he +would be that representative, and within two hours, with at least his +father's full consent, her dream was at an end and her boy was gone. + +That night toward ten he and McCrea were spinning away up the west +shore under the lofty, rock-ribbed scarp of Crow Nest and Storm King, +to ferry over to Fishkill from Newburg, and there take the Pacific +express, making its first stop out of New York City. Each had hurriedly +packed such store of clothing as seemed most appropriate to the region +and the business to which he was bound. There was no vestige of uniform +or badge of rank and station. Geordie took with him his favorite rifle, +and in his valise, to be exhumed when they reached the Rockies, was a +revolver he knew, rather better than his classmates, how to use, for he +had learned as a lad on the plains. Each had his ticket for Chicago, +where they were to change for Denver. Each had a money belt and a +modest sum in currency. Each had his hopes of rescuing something if not +all of the imperilled property, and neither had even a vague idea of +the peril, difficulty, and treachery he was destined to encounter. + +Everything had promised well when Silver Shield was first exploited. +Its promoters and agents showed high-grade ore, and reports of expert +mining engineers promised abundance of it. All that was needed was +development. "Come in now, on the ground-floor, and you'll be coining +money in a year's time," said Mr. Breifogle, and to the number of seven +the commissioned force at Fort Reynolds had "come." So long as they +remained close to the spot all seemed going well. But Graham had been +ordered to the Point, and the regiment over in the Oklahoma country. +Then came trouble. + +It seemed odd that stock held so high should so soon have to be +assessed. But "some expensive machinery was necessary." Then came a +second and larger demand. Silver Shield was so valuable that envious +eyes had been directed to it, and fraudulent claims and claimants were +constantly turning up. Threatened litigation would be long and +expensive. It would be cheaper far to buy off the litigants. So Graham, +with a sigh and sore premonition of trouble, obtained the necessary +amount on his personal note. McCrea, with inward misgiving, borrowed +and sent it. Officers at Reno sent up what they could, but it wasn't +enough, and in May came a third appeal. The secretary wrote that +litigation had begun, and there was reason to believe the courts were +being "approached" by the enemy. It was absolutely essential that +"these parties should be bought off," and quite a sum would be +necessary. The First National Bank of Argenta (which had once been +robbed of a great sum by road-agents, who were run down and captured by +officers and men of the --th, and the money recovered) ought in all +conscience to be grateful to its benefactors, yet when Graham, McCrea, +and Major Lawrence wrote, begging advice in the premises, the bank was +non-committal. Some of its customers were among the litigants, as was +later discovered. And so it resulted that not until near the end of +June did it dawn upon the officers involved that the whole matter was +nothing more nor less than a well-conceived, but rascally, scheme to +"milk them dry," as was the expression, secure their shares at a +sacrifice, or drive them out entirely. + +And they, the absentees, were only seven against seventy or more, who +were experienced in all the crafts and devices by which mines have been +dug at the expense of the many and then made to enrich the few. + +It was late at night when the fellow-travellers reached Denver. McCrea +was depressed and silent, Geordie eager to push ahead. The former had +had time to think over the situation, and in Chicago, while waiting for +the Pacific express to start, he had had a fifteen-minute talk with a +relative, a Western business man, to whom mining and undermining were +matters well understood, and what this expert said had filled him with +dismay. "You've simply been bled until you could bleed no more," said +he. "Now they've no further use for you. What they want is your stock +at five cents on the dollar, to sell to some new gudgeon at fifty. Why +on earth, Mac, when you were considering this, didn't you consult me?" +Why, indeed! Like many another man, Mac's eyes had been blinded, his +ears deafened to everything but the wiles of the charmer. But with +Geordie it was different. He had come because his father was bound to +the wheel of duty and could not. Moreover, barring inexperience and +youth, Geordie was better fitted to go and do than was his father, the +doctor. + +He would waste no time with agents. He would employ no lawyer--that was +simply waste of both time and money. Of the former they had little and +of the latter even less. But his brain was active and fertile. He had +slept but little on their swift westward way until after crossing the +Mississippi. His mother's grief at parting, and her speechless anxiety +as to the dangers that might beset him, had affected him deeply, and at +first his silence and preoccupation were due to that. But the fighting +blood of the Graeme was in his veins, and against the abominable wrong +these "sharks" would do his father and his scattered friends the young +fellow was bent on giving valiant battle; and he thought he saw his way +to strike and to strike hard. + +McCrea had given him the names of most of the sergeants of the old +regiment who, when their time expired, had taken their discharge and +gone to the mines. Among them were three on whom he believed he could +count to back him in a pinch. Among them was the veteran Nolan, on whom +he _knew_ he could count. + +McCrea had wired ahead to an old and trusted friend, a resident of +Denver and a successful railway engineer. He was at the station waiting +when the two alighted from their train. It was McCrea's plan to spend +one day in Denver in consultation with certain officials, and then to +spring a surprise on the "board" at Argenta two days later. He had +wired to Fort Reno on the way, urging that one officer, at least, of +those most interested should hasten to Denver and meet him, and in the +hands of Mr. Warden, their engineer friend, was the reply: Captain Lee +would be with them in the morning. To register at a prominent hotel +would simply advertise their coming. Warden had seen to that and +engaged quarters for them near his own. Thither they were to go at +once, and, valises in hand, they followed Warden's lead, McCrea and +their guide talking eagerly together, Geordie following, silent and +observant. Toward the iron gateway they pressed, jostled and elbowed by +hurrying passengers. + +"It's but a few blocks' walk," Warden was saying. "I've a cart to take +your grips and we can chat as we go. I thought you'd be glad of a bite +or a cup of tea or something before turning in. Mr. Ross, who wired Dr. +Graham, is here, and he'll meet us at the restaurant. He thinks they +are following him--shadowing him." + +"Who?" asked McCrea. + +"Why, the crowd that are trying to get control there of Silver Shield. +Some of them live in Argenta, he says, and found out he had been in +correspondence with the doctor, and that it was he who had given +warning." Then, glancing over his shoulder as they neared the gate, and +speaking to Geordie, he continued, "What is the name of the brewer up +there who wanted your place at the Point for his son?" + +"Breifogle." + +"That's the man," answered Warden. "Ross says he's one of the leaders +of the move. Most of his money has been made by freezing out other +men." + +And just at that moment, moving leisurely along in the rear of the +train-load of belated passengers, they reached the exit gate, and the +instant they came under the broad, blue-white glare of the electric +globe overhead there was a sudden stir in the little gathering along +the iron fence. A burly young man darted swiftly away, and in his haste +tripped backward over an empty baby carriage. In a second he was +floundering on the floor, his bowler hat rolling one way, his stick +flying another. A shrill voice began to berate him as he struggled to +his feet, but he paused neither to explain nor listen. He swooped for +his hat and shot for a dark passage, but not before Geordie had caught +a glimpse of his face. + +"That was young Breifogle," said he. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"I'M READY NOW" + + +There was no other train over the Transcontinental, westward, before +7.30 A.M. They had reached Denver by the Pacific express, and in five +minutes the sleeper in which the two had journeyed from Chicago would +be whirling swiftly away for "The Springs" before beginning the long, +tortuous climb over the huge bulwark between them and the watershed of +the great Colorado beyond. There had really been no reason why Graham +should stop over at Denver. He knew none of the officials of the Silver +Shield there resident. He did not wish to know them. They had doubtless +conspired with their associates at Argenta to "squeeze out" his father +and friends. They hoped and expected to buy in for a song the valuable +stock held by this scattered band of soldiers and some twenty or +thirty prospective victims in the distant East. This would give them a +controlling interest in the property. It would make them virtual owners +of a valuable mine. It would make them richer by far than they were +beforehand. This would impoverish, and it might ruin, many of the +absent who had furnished the means by which Silver Shield was +developed. It was robbery outright, but robbery of a kind so common in +our country that people have become callous to it. It was by just such +means and methods that many of the great fortunes of America have been +won, and the winners ride to-day on the topmost wave of prosperity and +popular acclaim, when, if the people but realized the truth, many an +object of their adulation would be wearing convict stripes and prison +pallor to the end of his dishonored days. + +But Graham had journeyed with his long-time friend and senior +officer--senior by seven years--and McCrea's plans, to a certain point, +seemed to dominate those of the younger and less experienced man. +McCrea's idea was to "tackle" the local directors first and compel +recognition of their rights. He, as post quartermaster, had had +business dealings with bankers and merchants both in Denver and +Chicago. He believed that, reinforced by the presence of Captain Lee +from Reno, he could make a certain impression, or else certain threats, +that would bring these magnates to time. + +But Dr. Graham, an older head, thought otherwise, had so instructed +Geordie and so endeavored to impress McCrea. The men, said he, had +planned this out. "They stand to lose little in the market if the +stocks are 'beared.' They have invested little; we have invested our +all. If nothing was found they could quit. If good ore was found, then +it was their game to conceal the fact, to demand more and more money +for more and more development, force us out, get our shares, and own +the property. Why, laddie, the man that warned me dared not sign his +name, for every wire was watched; yet I'd stake six months' pay he's +got the rights of it. There's ore there in plenty!" + +And so every indication said at the start. It wasn't until many Eastern +people had been induced to invest (Dr. Graham's New York friends, the +Fraziers, among them) that managers and directors began to tell dismal +tales and ask for more and more. It was then that Dr. Graham bethought +him of a brother Scot who dwelt near Argenta, a man once so poor that +when his bairns were down with diphtheria he could not coax Argenta +doctors out across the five-mile stretch of storm-swept, frozen +prairie. It was the burly post surgeon from the fort who rode eight +miles to and eight miles back in any kind of weather, night or day, +until he snatched those babies back from death, and gave them, weak and +gasping, yet alive, to the arms of their weeping and imploring and at +last rejoicing mother. Oh, those are deeds that women remember so long +as life remains to them, and that but few men forget, and the clansman, +who couldn't begin to pay in cash for what "the Graeme" had done for +him and his, could reward in fealty now. It was Donald Ross to whom the +doctor had written, and Ross who made investigation and reply. + +And yet, though he had taken precaution to send his letter from a +village post-office, and his message from a railway station ten miles +east of Argenta, the spies of Silver Shield had heard of one or both, +and now their watcher knew that two at least of the enemy were in their +camp. For what else was young Breifogle there? For what but to give +warning had he so suddenly vanished? + +It was of all this that Geordie was thinking, as silently he strode +along by the side of the two elders, hearing yet scarcely heeding their +eager talk. He had plans and projects of his own. Father was not the +only one who had a friend or two in Yampah and up the range. Veteran +troopers of the old regiment were scouting there for gold and silver, +where ten years earlier they had scouted for the red warriors of +Colorow and Yampah Jack. If he could but get in touch with Nolan, with +Feeny, with almost any one of those now mining who once rode in "E" +Troop! If he could only reach some of the men he guided over the +Divide to the successful capture of the gang that looted the First +National! Oh, the shame of Breifogle's ingratitude! As one of the +bank's directors at that time, he had pledged everlasting gratitude to +the officers and troopers who had restored their treasure. + +Suddenly Warden turned a corner, pushed back a swinging door, led the +way into a clean, brightly lighted little "dairy" restaurant, passed on +through to the less public tables partitioned off in alcoves of their +own, and here, behind an outspread newspaper, sat, lonely and +expectant, a broad-shouldered ranchman whose weather-beaten face beamed +joyously at sight of the three, and whose big hands were on young +Graham's squared shoulders before they had fairly shaken greeting to +any one. "Geordie, mon, but it's glad I am to see ye!" was the +whispered welcome. "Softly, now, there's--others here." + +Quickly they were served with steaks, scrambled eggs, toast, tea or +coffee, as they chose, and two at least were hungry, yet Geordie, +brimful of eagerness to put his plan into execution, could hardly +spare time to eat. Yes, Ross knew Nolan and Feeny of old. Many's the +time they'd dropped in at the ranch when antelope-stalking down the +foot-hills. Nolan had prospered. He and Feeny, both, when last heard of +were somewhere up among the mines. Burns was in Collins's Camp on Lance +Creek. Toomey and Scully had got "cleaned out" and were firing on the +Transcontinental. + +"Where?" demanded Geordie, his eyes dilating. + +"Mountain Division, both of 'em. Toomey on the Mogul that pulls the +Time Freight over the range--" And here Geordie stopped him. + +"Hear this, Mr. McCrea," said he. "Toomey, of 'E' Troop, fireman on the +big freight-engine! He'll surely know where the others are. Now, _you_ +know the railway people. You say you've got to stay here a day or two. +Get _me_ permission to ride on any freight-engine, Mountain Division, +for the next three days, and I'm off for the mines before we're half a +day older, and no man here or there the wiser." + +"They'd spot you as you went through Argenta," said McCrea. "Breifogle +will be watching every train." + +"Every _car_ of every train, perhaps; but I'll be firing by the time we +get there, black with soot and coal-dust, and they wouldn't know me if +they saw me. If the division superintendent doesn't give it away--and +you--who's to know I've turned fireman on a freight? There's my chance, +McCrea, and you know it!" + +"By Jove, Geordie, but I believe you're right," was McCrea's answer, +rising to his feet and facing the eager young fellow across the table. +"You're a 'dandy,' as was said of you on graduation day, only it was +meant in a different sense. Who's in charge at the station now, +Warden?" he asked, with sudden resolution. "I knew most of their +traffic men when I was quartermaster." + +Warden whipped out a railway folder. "Colorado Transcontinental," he +read, and began skimming down a long list of official titles and names. +Traffic managers, freight and passenger agents, superintendents, +division superintendents, and then, "Here we are, Mountain Division: +W.B. Anthony." + +"Know him well," cried McCrea. "He brought the first passengers up to +Argenta in eighty-seven. He was freight conductor on the U.P. when I +was a boy at Cheyenne. We'll nab him first thing in the morning." + +"Can't we nab him to-night?" asked Geordie. + +McCrea laughed. "You're keen as your father, Pops," said he. "Niver put +off till t'-morrow what can be done the day." + +"The laddie's right," said Ross. "I'm betting you'll find him at the +yards till after No. 2 comes in--the Flyer--that's due at 12.40." + +And so it happened that, as the clocks were pointing to the quarter +after midnight, Lieutenant Ralph McCrea and the newly appointed +subaltern, both in plain travelling dress, once more appeared at the +Union Station, and presently learned that Mr. Anthony was about the +yard. It was not long thereafter that they found him, busy, as such men +must ever be, yet recognizing McCrea at a glance and giving him +cordial welcome. + +But when McCrea presented his friend, "Lieutenant Graham, whose father +you probably knew as post surgeon at Reynolds," and then made his +request, the official looked grave. + +"It's against orders," said he. "The Old Man has jacked up more than +one of the best engineers for allowing it. Why, the Governor had to get +a permit from the general manager for his son to ride in the cab of the +Flyer only last week, and for some reason they've shut down on our +freight people entirely. Gil Frost, bringing his own brother, who used +to fire on the Union Pacific, over on old 550 two weeks ago, had to +dance the carpet the next morning right here in Denver." + +"How do you break in your _new_ firemen?" asked Geordie. "Some of our +best men are firing for you now. They had to begin somehow, I suppose." + +"Pitch 'em neck and crop into a cab, with a short-handled shovel and a +sharp-tongued old hand. It nigh breaks their backs, but they learn +quick that way." + +"Well, pitch me, neck and crop, into a cab, with as short a handle and +sharp a tongue as you like, Mr. Anthony. I'm on three months' leave, +and for reasons of my own want to learn how to fire an engine." + +For a moment Anthony looked at the young fellow in amaze. Then the +resolute, square-jawed, clean-cut face began to impress him. + +"Well, I've been dealing with you army men out here nigh onto twenty +years," said he, "and I'm blessed if I ever heard the like of that." + +"Don't let it surprise you into telling it, Anthony, that's all," put +in McCrea. "Here! Let me give you a pointer--you've got a West Pointer. +I've known you for a square man ever since we were stationed at +Russell," and, linking his arm in that of the astonished official, +McCrea drew him a few paces away from the point where they found him, +with a great passenger-engine hissing and throbbing close at hand, +waiting to take the Flyer whirling eastward toward the Missouri. +Geordie stood silently and watched them. He saw the wonderment in +Anthony's strong face give way to interest as McCrea talked rapidly on; +saw interest deepen to sympathy and a certain excitement. In three +minutes Anthony broke away and came hurrying back, looking at his +watch. + +"Mr. Graham," said he, "d' you want to go up the line this very night? +Could you be ready in two hours?" + +"I'm ready now," was the instant reply. "All I want is an old cap and +overalls--the blacker the better." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FIRST NIGHT ON THE RANGE + + +Away up among the Rockies, with towering, pine-fringed, snow-sprinkled +crests looming dimly about them in the moonlight, two young men stood +waiting by a switch-target of the Transcontinental. Facing westward, +they could see the huge bulk of the mountain range rolling up between +them and the starry sky-line, black and forbidding in the middle +distance, yet fading away northward and southward into faint and tender +outlines--soft grays and violets--and with the earliest signals in the +East of the speedy coming of the long summer's day. Facing eastward, +there confronted them close at hand the huge black bulk of the mammoth +Mogul engine, its dazzling head-light shining afar up the westward +right of way, and throwing into heavier shade, by force of contrast, +every object outside its beams. In the solemn stillness of nature in +those high levels, almost the only sound was the soft hiss of escaping +steam from the cylinder-cocks or an occasional rumble from the boiler. +Even murmured words seemed audible and intelligible sixty feet away, +and twice big Ben Tillson, the engineer of 705, had pricked up his ears +as he circled about his giant steed, oiling the grimy joints, elbows, +and bearings, and pondering in his heavy, methodical way over certain +parting instructions that had come to him from the lips of the division +superintendent. "A young feller learning firing" would board him at +Chimney Switch, forty miles out from the Springs, and the Boss desired +Ben Tillson to understand that "The Road" had its reasons, and the +"young feller" was to be spared the customary quizzing. Furthermore, +Ben Tillson was to understand that nothing was to be said about it. If +anybody at Argenta or among the mines had any questions to ask, Ben was +to know next to nothing. + +But what set Ben's wits to work was the odd behavior of his fireman, +Jim Toomey. Toomey was a silent sort of chap as a rule, and surely, +too, with a grudge against the gang over in Hatch's Cove and up the +Run. Toomey had taken to firing because he had got cleaned out at the +mines. Toomey ordinarily wasn't over-civil to anybody. Toomey, too, had +been favored with a word from Mr. Anthony, and never had Big Ben seen +his fireman more cheery over his work than he was that night as they +panted and strained up the foot-hills to Chimney Switch. Ben could have +sworn Toomey was "excited like" when they side-tracked there for a +way-train, and never in the course of Big Ben's experience had he seen +an old fireman greet a would-be as Toomey welcomed the tall "young +feller" in the dirty cap, shirt, and overalls who there clambered into +the cab. Twice, Ben could have further sworn, he had heard Toomey say +"sir," a word Toomey used to no one less than the division +superintendent. + +Somewhat grudgingly and suspiciously, therefore, had Ben nodded +greeting and looked the "young feller" over. He did not extend his +hand. The new-comer had on a pair of oiled-buck gauntlets, "soldier +gauntlets," such as the cavalry used to have at Reynolds, that "all the +boys in the cabs are stuck on." Even at the hardest kind of shovelling +they outlived every other kind a dozen weeks, and the fireman was a +lucky malefactor who could induce a soldier to part with his. + +And though the "young feller's" cap and clothing were strictly and +unimpeachably professional and grimy, it was the face no less than the +gloves and boots that told Ben Tillson this was no needy seeker after a +job. The boots were new and fine, laced daintily up the front, and +showed their style even through the lack of polish and the coating of +dust and ashes. The gauntlets also, though worn and old, were innocent +of grease. This was no cub fireman, said Ben, resentfully, as he +revolved in mind a scheme or two that should take the stuffing of +conceit out of him, when suddenly he paused. "Why, certainly," Ben had +it, just another case such as he had been reading about, how the sons +of successful railway magnates, discarding wealth and luxuries, had +determined to learn the business from the bottom up and fit themselves +for future eminence in railway circles. The "young feller" must be a +Gould or a Vanderbilt, a Ledyard, a Huntington, a son of somebody at +the financial head of things. While sacrificing none of his steady +self-reliance or self-respect, Ben Tillson decided to treat his new +fireman, assistant to the old, with all due civility. He would cringe +or kowtow to no one, but, like the sturdy citizen he was, Ben deemed it +wise to keep on the good side of the powers. It was necessary, however, +that the new-comer should understand who was boss on that engine, and +even as they stood waiting at the Chimney Ben had taken occasion to +say, "I see you're not stuck on shovelling, young man"; then with a +most knowing and suggestive wink, "I reckon you'd rather do tennis or +tiddlywinks," and was surprised at the answer. + +"As matters stand, I'd rather be shovelling here than playing +tennis--anywhere." + +"It's the first time you ever saw the West from a cab-window, I'm +betting," said Ben. And George Graham, who had seen more of the West +than Ben could ever hope to see, and who knew the Silver Run country +before ever the railway reached the foot-hills, had the wisdom to +answer, "You'd win." + +And now at Buffalo Butte 705 was side-tracked, awaiting the coming of +passenger No. 4, east bound, and then--then there would be a clear run +to and through Argenta. Then would come the familiar scenes about old +Fort Reynolds; then the wild and picturesque beauty of Squaw Canon and +Hatch's Cove, and then George Graham would be able to judge by surface +indications how far his disguise had really disguised him. Toomey had +already told him where Nolan and Feeny could be found. Toomey was to +send word or a letter to both of them, and then it would be time to +decide on the next move. + +For now the scheme was to reach the heart of what might be called the +enemy's country, and to get there unsuspected, unobserved, and thus far +all was working well. + +It was the second morning after his reaching Denver. Mr. Anthony had +put him through to the Springs, and then to Chimney Switch, where he +was to wait for 705 and Toomey. And even now as they stood there, he +and Toomey, exchanging at intervals some low-toned words at the switch, +the eastward skies were slowly taking on their early morning garb of +pink and violet, the eastward fronts of the snow-sifted peaks and domes +far to the north and south were lighting up with wondrous hues of gold +and crimson; the stars aloft were paling and the moon was sinking low, +and still big 705 stood hissing and grumbling placidly on the long +siding, and the green lights back at the caboose blinked sleepily +against the dawn. Two glimmering threads of light in rigid right lines, +converging far beyond the rear of the train, stretched eastward from +their feet until lost in the shadows of Buffalo Butte, and not yet had +Toomey's accustomed ear been able to detect the faint, whirring, song +of the rails that tells of the coming of far-distant, thundering +wheels. "She's late again," said Toomey, uneasily. "We should have +heard her whistling for Spearman's Ranch five minutes ago, and I wanted +to pull you out of Argenta before seven o'clock." + +"You still think I'm not grimy enough," said Geordie, with a grin. "I +can lay on a coat of coal-dust--" + +"'Tisn't that," came the murmured answer, with a shake of the head. +"It's the back and shoulders, sir. You couldn't turn yourself +hindside-foremost, could you, and get your chest between your +shoulder-blades?" + +"I can cultivate a stoop," said Geordie, with a forward hunch of the +shoulders. "But there you go with that 'sir' again. We're in uniform, +but not that of the cavalry. You'll betray me yet, Toomey, if you're +not careful. Now, about the stoop--" + +"It might do, s--, if you could keep it, but from the time you came to +Reynolds you were the straightest boy in the garrison, and now, with +four years at West Point, you've got a back on you flat as a board. +That's what's going to queer us in passing you off for a kid fireman. +It was hard enough going through before it was fairly light. Now, +unless No. 4 gets in in five minutes, the sun will be lighting the +length of the shed at Argenta, and we've got cars to cut out there, +too. Confound No. 4!" + +And then a certain superfluous lantern, bleary with a night of service, +came dawdling up the side of the train, and the conductor hove in +sight, watch in hand. "Four left Argenta on time," said he to the +engineer. "What the mischief keeps her? She ought to have gone by five +minutes ago. Who's yonder with Toomey?" + +"Friend of his; young feller from Chimney, learning firing. Old man's +orders," he added, at sight of rebuke in the conductor's eyes. "Told me +himself to take him along and give him a show." + +The conductor set his lantern down near the fore truck of the tender. +He did not half like it that a superior should give orders to his +engineer that did not come through him. He had been a soldier in his +day and accustomed to military ways of doing things. He was already +chafing over a delay that would bring him behind time to Argenta. Now +he was nettled at this apparent slight. "When did he tell you, and +where?" was the demand. "He was at Denver the last I saw of him." + +"He ran out to the Springs on No. 5; passed you at Monument, probably; +spoke to me at the round-house about ten o'clock." And having thus +summarily settled the matter, Big Ben clambered sulkily once more into +the cab. + +The conductor made a grimace expressive of much disgust. Presently he +turned, left his lantern by the side of the engine, and then came +angering on to the switch. He decided to see for himself what the +stranger was like. + +In the gray light of the dawn the two young men, one of them stockily, +strongly built, the other very slender and erect, were absorbed in +eager talk. Not until the conductor was within five yards of them did +Graham note his coming and signal "Hush." Abruptly came the challenge: + +"'Ain't you heard her whistle yet, Toomey?" and the tone implied that +sheer neglect could be the only explanation for Toomey's failure in +case no whistle had been heard. + +"Nary whistle," was the indifferent answer. + +"Well, how could you expect to hear it? You were talking a blue +streak." And while the conductor's rebuke was levelled at Toomey, his +sombre eyes were on Graham. + +"Doing that to keep awake," was the blunt reply. "Haven't been to bed +for thirty hours." + +"That's nothing. In my day a-soldiering we didn't get to bed once a +week. That's when we was after Morgan. You regulars couldn't stand +that, I s'pose." + +"In my day we didn't get to bed once a month," answered Toomey, with +equal truth. "That was when we was after Sittin' Bull. The volunteers +that started on _that_ chase petered out at Powder River." + +The conductor sniffed. It had been give and take 'twixt him and Toomey +ever since the discovery that each had served in the cavalry. Beaten +thus far in the battle of chaff, the conductor tried another as he +studied Geordie with unfriendly eyes. + +"Got a kid fireman here--'nother of y'r officers' dog-robbers?" he +demanded. + +Toomey whirled on him in an instant, in spite of Geordie's +quick-gripping hand. "You're boss on this train, Cullin," said he, +savagely, "and you know I can't jaw back as you deserve, but if Bob +Anthony happens to be where he can hear of _that_ remark, you'll get +your time or _I'm_ a liar." + +For a moment Cullin stood and glared, wrath and humiliation +commingling. Graham it was who quickly stepped forward and interposed. + +"Yes, I'm playing kid fireman, Mr. Cullin," said he, quietly, "and I +was told by the division superintendent if any trouble arose to give +this to the conductor," whereat he held forth a card on the back of +which dimly appeared some written words. Over these Cullin glanced, +unappeased, until he came to the last line and signature. Then a +curious change swept slowly over his face. He looked Graham carefully, +doubtfully from head to foot, slowly thrust the card in a +waistcoat-pocket, and was turning silently away when Geordie hailed +him, a ready smile on his young face. + +"I'll trouble you for the card," said he. "I may meet _other_ +conductors." + +Slowly Cullin fumbled for it, twiddled it between his fingers, and +finally, half reluctant, restored it. At that instant, faint, distant, +but distinct, came the sound of the whistle of the belated No. 4. +"That's for Spearman's now," thought Geordie, but so tense had been the +scene that for a moment no man spoke. + +Then Toomey gave tongue. + +"She'll go by here kiting," said he. "Ten miles down-grade and a +two-mile straightaway from Cimarron Bend, out yonder." Again the +whistle, and nearer. "That's for the crossing at the creek. By gad, +she's just jumping! Hang onto your hair when you see her head-light and +scramble for the cab." + +Another whistle, two short blasts and a long. Nearer still, yet still +out of sight; and then presently there shot into view, over a mile +away to the west, even though the gray light of the summer's dawn now +overspread the landscape, the glare of a head-light. It was No. 4 +coming full tilt. + +And then--surprise! From steam-drum and 'scape-valve jetted clouds of +flat-driven steam. No. 4 had suddenly "shut off," and was now coasting +downhill like a huge toboggan. + +Another blast came from the whistle. "By Jove, she's going to stop!" +said Cullin. "What on earth's the meaning of that?" + +With prodigious shriek and roar of steam, with clinching, crunching +air-brakes on the glistening tires, with sparks flying from the +whirring wheels and signal-lanterns swinging at the side, No. 4 came +rushing in. As the baggage-car shot by, a little group of men stood by +the doorway about a recumbent figure, and the conductor whisked up his +lantern and started after it. When nearly opposite the caboose the big +train settled to a stop. Four pairs of strong arms lifted the prostrate +figure from one car to the other. There were brief, hurried words. A +lantern waved; the whistle sounded two quick blasts; No. 4 slowly +started, quickly gained speed, and, almost as quickly as it came, was +steaming away for Buffalo Butte, its pale lamps gleaming dimly in the +gathering light. The conductor came running forward. + +"Pull out for Argenta, Ben!" he shouted. "Say, young feller, drop +shovelling and come back. I've got nobody to help me, and here No. 4's +loaded me with a half-dead man to be taken home. There's a row at the +mines. Every man is out from Silver Shield!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +FIRST AID TO THE WOUNDED + + +Slowly, jerkily, the Time Freight began to gather headway as the big +Mogul pulled, hissing loudly, from the siding to the main track, the +ugly brown cars winding grudgingly after. This was before the days of +mile-long freight-trains with air-brakes and patent couplers. Over the +grades of the Transcontinental no engine yet had pulled more than +twenty "empties." There was ever the danger of breaking in two. In the +dim interior of the caboose the conductor, with Geordie Graham by his +side, was bending over a battered and dishevelled form. As the rear +trucks went clicking over the switch-points, the former sprang to the +open doorway to see that his brakeman reset and locked the switch, and +with a swift run overtook the caboose and swung himself aboard. + +"I'll be up in a minute, Andy," cried Cullin to his aid, already +scrambling up the iron ladder for his station on the roof. "This poor +devil's battered into pulp and I can't leave him." And again he was by +Graham's side--Graham who, kneeling now and sponging with cold water +the bruised, hacked, disfigured face of the senseless victim, had made +a startling discovery. + +Here, with his clothing ripped, torn, and covered with dirt and blood, +with one arm obviously broken and his head beaten, kicked, and cruelly +gashed--here, beyond a doubt, lay the man who nearly five years earlier +had been the one obstacle between him and the goal of his ambition, the +cadetship at West Point; here lay the son of the man probably most +prominent in the conspiracy against the absent shareholders of Silver +Shield; here, in fine, lay the almost lifeless body of the youth he had +seen spying upon their arrival at Denver--young Breifogle himself. + +By this time the Mogul was grinding her way up the track, in determined +effort to land the Time Freight in the yards at Argenta before the +whistle blew for seven o'clock. It was a twelve-mile pull up-grade, +every inch of the way--twisting, turning, and tunnelling, as has been +said--and the caboose reeled and swayed from side to side as it rounded +the reverse curves and swung at the tail of the train. Cullin, lantern +in hand, had climbed to his seat in the lookout. + +"I've got to be up here," he explained, "till we are through the +tunnels. Do what you can. I suppose sponging is all we _can_ do." + +Graham nodded. He had stripped the leather-covered cushion from the +conductor's chair, and with this and a rolled coat made a support for +the senseless head. He had a fire-bucket of cold water, and even as he +plied the wet sponge and sought to stanch the trickling blood, his wits +were at work. The men on No. 4 had only time to say that four miles out +from Argenta, down the Run beyond Narrow Gauge Junction, their whistle +suddenly shrieked, the air-brakes were set with a clamp that jolted the +whole train, and they slowed down just enough not to knock into +flinders a hand-car that was sailing ahead of them, down-grade. "The +pilot hit it a lick that tossed it into the ditch," No. 4's crew had +explained, and beside it they had found--this. + +And "this" it was now Geordie's task and duty to keep alive until they +could turn it over to competent hands at Argenta. "This," which others +failed to know, he had recognized. "This" it was for him to make known, +yet in so doing he might betray himself and the purpose of his coming, +and so undo every hope and plan he had made. There was no Toomey to +help him now--no devoted ex-trooper and friend to back him. Engineer, +fireman, conductor, and brakemen, every man of the crew had to be at +his post as the freight panted away up the winding mountain road. The +crew of No. 4 had searched the pockets in vain for a clew as to the +injured man's identity. Everything was gone. His assailants had seen to +that. Not a scrap had been found that could account for him. Even the +shirt "tab" bore no initials; the watch-pocket of the trousers bore no +name. The garments had been purchased ready-made and gave no sign. + +Then there was another matter to be considered. Badly as he was +battered and bruised, the man was not dying. Graham knew how to test +the pulse, and its strength told him not to fear. The chances were that +his patient would return to consciousness before very long. Then +recognition of his grimy attendant would probably follow. Breifogle was +no fool, as Graham remembered, and a fireman's black cap and sooty +shirt and overalls would be but scant disguise. + +And to carry out his plan it was essential that he should pass through +Argenta, reach Hatch's Cove and eventually the Silver Shield mine, and +reach this latter unknown and unsuspected. Toomey and he had hit on a +plan--once Toomey could succeed in getting word to Nolan. But that, +reasoned Geordie, might be impossible now in view of this new +complication--serious trouble at the mines, and "every man out at +Silver Shield." + +If only he could see Toomey again for a moment! That was impossible. +Toomey's every muscle was needed to keep that fiery and insatiable +monster fed with fuel every rod of the way to Argenta. There was no +intermediate stop. There could be no signals--no sending of a message. +Half the distance had they gone, panting and straining, barely fifteen +miles to the hour. Broad daylight, and then the rejoicing sunshine, had +come to cheer and gladden and revive, and Cullin shouted inquiry, as he +bent down from his perch, and Graham nodded or shook his head by way of +reply. Swiftly and scientifically he kept up the play of the sponges; +shook his head to Cullin's suggestion of a little more whiskey--the +frontier's "first aid" for every kind of mishap. The pulse said there +was no further need of it, at the moment at least. And then, as they +rumbled over some resounding bridge-work and crossed the swift and +foaming Run, the train crept under the shadow of the cliff and +stretched away over a bit of open, undulating grassland, and then the +racket ceased for a while and it was possible, by bending down, to +catch the patient's breathing. + +And it gave Geordie an idea. + +The poor, bruised head was turning in restless pain; the puffed and +swollen lips were moving; the still unconscious man was muttering. Not +a word could Geordie distinguish. It was all guesswork. But, glancing +up at Cullin, he called: "He's trying to talk. Perhaps I can get his +name," and again inclined his ear and bent down over the luckless +fellow's face. "Yes," he said, loudly, so that Cullin could hear--"yes, +I understand.... Don't worry.... You're with friends.... Tell us your +name and home.... What? Try once again.... Bry--what? Oh, Breifogle?... +Yes. Argenta? That's just where we're going. We'll be there very soon. +Don't try to talk more now." And again the sponge was busily plied, and +then the grimy nurse glanced upward at Cullin, now shinning down from +his perch in the skylight. "His home's right ahead at Argenta. +Breifogle's the name." + +"Breifogle!" shouted Cullin, aghast. "Why, that's the big brewer, +banker, mine-owner, and Lord knows what all--that owns half of Yampah +County and wants to own the rest. Could he tell who slugged him? Does +he know anything about it? Ask him." + +Obediently Geordie put the question, but no answer came. "Seems to have +wandered off," he said. "Perhaps we'd be wise to worry him with no more +questions. If he's what you say, they'll be looking everywhere for him. +When did the men at Silver Shield go out?" + +"Yesterday morning at ten o'clock, so they said on No. 4. There was a +pack of 'em come down to Argenta to get to the owners, they said. By +gad, they seem to have got _at_ one of 'em!" + +A moan from the sufferer was the only answer. Graham shook his head. +"How soon can you make it?" he asked. "The sooner this man's in expert +hands the better 'twill be." + +"Twelve minutes," said Cullin, with a snap of his silver watch-lid. +"_You_ seem no slouch of a handler yourself. Where'd you learn?" + +"I lived with a doctor awhile," was the quiet answer. "He had to patch +men up occasionally." And Geordie could barely suppress the grin that +twitched the corners of his mouth. How strangely already his adventure +was faring! "I suppose after hammering him senseless they set him +adrift on that hand-car, hoping it would finish him and hide their +crime," he hazarded. + +"Looks like it," was Cullin's short answer as once more he climbed to +his station. + +Ten minutes later they were slowly trundling in among a maze of tracks +and sidings, with long trains of gondolas, coal-cars, and dingy-brown +freight-boxes on both sides. Cullin was shouting to invisible +switchmen, and presently the train came bumping to a stand. Another +minute and two or three early birds among the yardmen were climbing +aboard and curiously, excitedly, peering over Geordie's head. He never +looked up. Calmly he continued his sponging. Then Cullin's voice was +heard again. A stretcher was thrust in at the rear door. Three or four +men, roughly dressed, but with sorrow and sympathy in their careworn +faces, bent over the prostrate body. They seemed to look to Graham +for instructions. + + [Illustration: "BIG BEN WAS BUSY WITH HIS OIL-CAN"] + +"You know where to take him?" he asked. "All right, then, I'll leave +him with you." And before the station-master or other official could +come, Graham had seen his patient transferred to the stretcher, borne +forth into the sunshine and away to the passenger-room. Then, slipping +from the left rear steps, with the train between him and the building, +Geordie sauntered, softly whistling, up to the front again, and in five +minutes was helping Toomey at the cab. + +It was not yet seven. Big Ben was busy with his oil-can. Three cars had +been cut out from the train and run to a platform close at hand. It was +high time they were off again, but the conductor was held in the +office, whither he had gone for orders, as well as to report concerning +their unsought passenger. Toomey was still angered against Cullin, +between whom and himself there was ever more or less friction, but +Geordie had begun to take a fancy to him. Cullin would never have said +what he did had he known the identity of Toomey's pupil, and Geordie +argued that Cullin's gruff and insolent greeting was in reality a +tribute to his powers--a recognition of the fact that he looked the +part he was trying to play. + +With so very much at stake depending on Graham's remaining +unrecognized, with old Fort Reynolds only six miles ahead, and Silver +Shield only twenty-six farther, it would be foolish to become involved +in a squabble. But Toomey had been nursing his wrath. Big Ben was not +too fond of Cullin, and Geordie found that they were quite bent on +making trouble at first opportunity. In spite of the early hour an air +of excitement pervaded the station. Many men were idling about the +passenger platform, and here and there little groups could be seen in +muttered conversation. There was no laughter, no light-hearted chaff. +It was noted by both men in the cab, before Geordie rejoined them, that +as the injured man was borne on his stretcher across the yard into the +passenger station, these groups seemed rather to edge away instead of +crowding about in morbid curiosity. + +No need to ask who or what they were. The pallor of the faces, so +startling in contrast to the healthy tan of the ranch folk or the +swarthy grime of the railway men--the mud-splashed boots and trousers +told their tale. They were miners to a man, and miners in ugly mood. + +"The town's been full of 'em since noon yesterday," said a yardman to +Ben, in answer to his question. "They are here to see the Silver Shield +officers, and have been told they'd be up from Denver on No. 3. They +chased old Breifogle out of his office yesterday afternoon, and he's +been hiding ever since. Young Breifogle has been missing ever since +yesterday noon." + +"That's him on the stretcher," said Big Ben, gloomily, for the news was +already flying round. "Cullin says he's about done for. This young +feller in here took care of him all the way up from Buffalo Butte. No. +4 picked him up down the gulch and put him aboard us there." + +A long whistle was the only comment. At the first words spoken by the +yardman, a quick glance passed between the two young men on the +opposite, the fireman's, side of the cab. They could not see the +speaker, but they knew the voice. It was that of a former trooper of +the --th, another soldier who had sought to treble his savings at the +mines and had lost them all; then, too proud to return and "take on" +again, had found starvation-wages at Argenta. + +"Stay here," whispered Toomey, "and keep sittin'." Then, wiping his +hands on a wad of waste, and with an affable grin on his face, he swung +over behind Ben and leaned out of the cab. + +"Hullo, Scotty! Any of our fellers in that outfit?" + +"Hullo, Toomey! None of 'em with _that_ gang, but there's three of 'em +came, and old Nolan's head of the whole caboodle. He's their cap' and +spokesman." + +"Nolan! Nolan here?" cried Toomey, in great excitement, while Geordie +felt his heart beating hard. + +"Nolan, as big as life and twice as wicked." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A BALKED ARREST + + +For a moment Graham's spirits sank like lead. Nolan, the stanch old +soldier who had been his foremost trooper friend and guide, was the man +of all others on whom he pinned his faith, on whose help he had relied, +and upon whose loyalty and devotion he was ready to stake his every +hope of success. And now--so said this former soldier and comrade--now +Nolan was here in Argenta, instead of up at the mines, here with a mob +of strikers, their leader and spokesman, chief of the crew, possibly, +that had nearly done to death the son of one of the principal directors +of Silver Shield. + +That Breifogle was his father's enemy, and a leading spirit in the plot +to rob him, Geordie Graham knew full well. That Breifogle the younger +had been sent to Denver to watch for the coming of Dr. Graham, McCrea, +or others of the officers, all of whom he knew by sight and name, there +was every reason to believe; but that Nolan should take part in or +countenance the mobbing of the Breifogles, or any others of the +mine-owners, was abhorrent, if not impossible. + +Now for the moment Geordie longed for the presence of McCrea, who had +remained in Denver in hopes of bringing local officials to their senses +and his terms. And McCrea, for his part, was at the same moment wishing +to Heaven he had followed Geordie's lead and pushed ahead for the field +of battle. The Denverite members of the board, warned of his presence, +had easily managed to elude him, and with others were now on their way +to Argenta for a special meeting, while McCrea was still held at a +distance, lured by an appointment for a conference to come off that +very morning at eleven, long three hours after the other conferees had +vanished from town. + +But no older head was there to advise. Graham alone, representing the +aggrieved shareholders, was at the scene of action. He could take +counsel with no man on the ground. Win or lose he must decide and act +for himself. Here he sat in the cab of the Mogul, impatient only five +minutes back to push ahead for the mines, to get away without +recognition. Now it might well be that the point at which to act was +right here in town. + +"The mine is being operated at heavy expense and loss," had been the +latest wail from the secretary. "There is not ore enough in sight to +begin to pay the wages of the men. Yet every test convinces us that +abundant results must follow further development." Another assessment, +therefore, on top of all previous levies, had been the imperative +demand. Geordie did not know it, but that pound was the last that broke +the hold of three. They had sold their stock for what it would bring, +and Breifogle and his clique were laughing in their sleeves. They knew +there was ore in abundance, both in sight and touch. Geordie and McCrea +believed it, and believed that if the one could establish the fact, +and the other could bring the directors to book with proof of foul +measures to squeeze out the small shareholders, victory would be in +their hands. + +But what was to be done now? By this time the fact that young Breifogle +had been fearfully beaten must be known to every man about the station, +and was swiftly racing to the opening doors of every shop, office, and +homestead in town. By this act the miners had destroyed every hope of +sympathy, or even, possibly, of justice. Whatever their grievance it +could not warrant murder. But what _was_ their grievance? What could +have precipitated trouble at the mines and a wholesale walkout at +Silver Shield? What could have brought the miners, nearly a hundred +strong, here to Argenta, with Nolan at their head--Nolan, who had been +the company's faithful servant, the best manager of men, the most +level-headed and reliable "boss" at the Silver Shield? + +Toomey's friend had hurried away, for sound of increasing excitement +came from the groups, now merging into one, about the telegraph +office. Big Ben swung himself out of the cab once more, and with arms +akimbo stood watching the distant gathering, wishing Cullin would come +with orders or else with explanation of the delay. This left Graham and +Toomey alone in the cab, and Toomey's first question was, "What can you +do now, sir?" + +"Find Nolan," was the brief answer, "and get to the bottom of this." + +"Orders may come any minute," said Toomey, looking anxiously over his +shoulder. "We'll have to pull out and go ahead. You couldn't--stay here +at Argenta, could you?" + +"I may _have_ to. Here's Cullin now." + +"But no orders," said Toomey, with a gasp of relief, for from far over +the tracks, catching sight of his watchful engineer, Cullin had waved +his hand, palm towards them, twice to and fro, a gesture so like the +Indian sign "No go" that Geordie knew its meaning at a glance. Silently +they awaited his coming and listened, breathless, for his tidings when +he came. + +"What's the row about?" asked Ben, as Cullin reached them, breathing +hard. + +"Why, about their boss, it seems. The company gave him the bounce +yesterday, and ordered him off the premises. He demanded fair play and +a hearing, and then young Breifogle, who had gone up with the order for +his discharge, began abusing him. Nolan--that's the man's name--called +him down, and then Breifogle broke loose and cursed him, called him +traitor and all manner of names, and ordered some of his men to throw +him out. They did it, too, and brought on a fight. Breifogle and his +friends were armed and the men were not. They shot two miners, arrested +the 'ringleaders,' as they called 'em, and locked 'em up. Then the men +quit the mine and laid for Breifogle when he tried to get out. He hired +a rig and drove t'other way, out to Miners' Joy, slid out on the Narrow +Gauge last night, and there was a dozen of 'em headed him off down at +the Junction. Nolan and his crowd had come down here to see the +directors and get their rights. Of course some of them did it, and +there you are!" + +"Where's Nolan now?" asked Toomey. + +"Where _is_ he? Over at the company's office waiting for the directors, +when he ought to be making tracks for Mexico." + +Graham's heart had been beating harder with every word. It bounded with +wrath as he listened to this, yet listened in silence and stern +self-control. But Toomey got a dig in the ribs that plainly said, "Make +him say why." + +"'Twouldn't be like Long Nolan to be skipping when he's needed by his +friends," growled Toomey. "He's no quitter, if he _was_ at Powder +River," whereby it was Cullin's turn to get a dig, and little did he +relish it. + +"That's another I owe you, Toomey," said he, "and we'll settle it +by-and-by. Just now I'm thinking for your friend, if you are not. I +knew him before ever you did, and would go ten miles to your one to +help him. What you haven't sense enough to see is, that it won't be an +hour before the sheriff's after him with a warrant, and if Breifogle +dies he'll swing, sure as death. He was raving when they threw him out +of the gate, and swore he would get even with Breifogle, and when it +comes to trial there'll be a dozen witnesses to swear that he _did_. +What kind of a trial do you think he'd have here at Argenta, with half +the town owned by Breifogle & Co.?" + +This was, indeed, putting a new face on it, and still Graham listened +in silence, trying to control the quiver and tingle of his nerves. + +There came a sudden call from the office. Shoving his way through the +little mass of miners on the platform, the station-agent stepped to the +edge and waved a hand to Cullin, but the hand was empty. The release +order had not come. The big Mogul and the freight were still held, and +now it was much after seven, and Argenta all astir. Cullin turned +doggedly away. He seemed to know what was coming and did not half like +it. Leaping down from the platform and striding over the +cinder-blackened ties, the agent met him before he crossed the second +track--met him and spoke in tone so low even Big Ben could not hear. +All three men at the cab, they could not help it, were listening +eagerly. It was easy to see, however, that the station-master was +seeking information Cullin could not or dared not give. Every gesture, +the upheaved shoulders, the sideward droop of the head, the forward +toss of the hands, palms to the front, all as much as said, "Don't ask +me." Then the agent turned slowly away, walked a dozen steps, looked +back, and called: + +"I'll tell 'em what you say, but you'd better come yourself. Narrow +Gauge'll get 'the Old Man' on the wire presently, then you'll have to. +I'm betting they hold you here till you do." + +"Not if I know myself or--my orders," growled Cullin, as he returned, +black-browed, to the cab. + +"What's up?" asked Big Ben, presently, seeing that the conductor waited +to be asked. + +"Why, those Narrow Gauge fellows--they're owned here, you know--claim +that two of their men were shot by the same gang that did up Breifogle. +They're wiring both ways from the Junction, up here for sheriff and +detectives, and down to the Springs for Bob Anthony. They say No. 4 +and I both know things about the slugging we haven't told. They say No. +4 took three of the sluggers away, and that we're hiding some to take +up into the mountains and turn 'em loose where they'll be safe. The +only man with us is--this kid," and Cullin looked up darkly into the +cab, his gloomy eyes on Geordie's coal-blackened face. + +Now, indeed, it was time for action, and, quietly as he could, Geordie +put the question: + +"Did you tell them you had a stranger in the cab?" + +"Told 'em you were the only thing--or kind--I had." + +"But you told them I'd come all the way with you from Chimney Switch, +did you not?" + +"I didn't tell 'em anything except what I said to Folder here--the +station-master. I told 'em, through him, if they wanted anything on +this train they needn't ask me. I wasn't responsible." + +Graham and Toomey exchanged quick glances. A wretched end would it be +to all their planning if Geordie should now be dragged off the cab as +accessory to the assault on young Breifogle, his helpless charge and +patient of the early morning hours. + +Yet that was just what now was likely to happen. Resentful of there +being a mystery about the cab, a secret he was not allowed to share--an +outsider made known by Cullin's superiors to Cullin's subordinates, yet +not presented to him--true to human nature Cullin had told what Geordie +would conceal. In less than no time the enemy would know 705 had +brought a stranger within their gates who was too wary to come by +passenger-train. In less than ten minutes they might be there with a +warrant for his arrest. + +And at that very moment there went up a shout from the group of miners +at the office. One of their kind had come running in, breathless and +alarmed. Three or four words only had he spoken, but they were enough. +As one man the twoscore turned and ran for the broad street beyond the +passenger station, were swallowed up in the gap between the express and +baggage sheds and the passenger waiting-rooms, and could be heard +shouting loudly beyond the high board fence--a chorus of cheers that +seemed to start near the main entrance and went travelling on the wings +of the wind westward up the lively street. + +And a moment later, even while they were wondering, out came "Folder +here," the agent--this time paper in hand and waving for Cullin. +"Orders at last," said Cullin, and sprang to get them. And this time +both Graham and Toomey swung from the cab and eagerly followed. +"Warrant out for Nolan!" they heard Folder say, "but they'll not get +him here. The gang has whisked him away to the Fort and beyond, I +reckon; and the sheriff who goes to Silver Shield takes his life in his +hands." Then his eyes fell on the two firemen. "One of _you's_ wanted," +he added, "but I don't know which, and they're coming now." + +He pointed down the yard toward the east entrance. Almost on the run, +two men came hurrying in. Toomey grabbed Geordie's sleeve. "They +sha'n't have you _here_, anyhow. Jump for the cab." And jump they did, +all three. Moved now by some indefinable sympathy he had not felt +before, Cullin urged them on, and thrust the order into Big Ben's hairy +fist as it swung from the window. Ben gave one glance, his left hand +grasping the lever; Toomey made a flying leap for the bell-cord; +Geordie scrambled in after; hiss went the steam-cocks; clang went the +bell, and with an explosive cough that shook her big frame almost free +of the rails the Mogul heaved slowly ahead. The shortened "Time +Freight" picked up its heels and came jerkily after, and with her +ponderous drivers rolling swifter and swifter, and the heavy panting +speedily changing to short, quick, and quickening puffs, faster and +faster big 705 swung clear of the switch-points, smoothly rounded to +the main line, and with its dozen brown chickens following close, +Indian file, after the fussy old hen in the lead, away went the fast +freight, flaunting its green flags at the rear in the face of the +pursuit, and the deputies drew up disgusted at the edge of the yard, +their signals and their shouts unheeded. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A RACE TO THE FORT + + +Three miles out and the Mogul's six drivers were spinning like so many +tops. Flat along the grimy roofs of the heaving freight-cars behind, +the cloud of coal smoke from her stunted chimney fled rearward until +clear of the train, then drifted idly across the rolling uplands. Ahead +and to right and left, distant, snow-capped summits barred the +sky-line. On either side the gray-green slopes, bare and treeless, +billowed away, higher and higher toward the range, with here and there +a bunch of fattening cattle gazing stupidly at the invaders of their +peace and quietude. Close at hand to the left the murky waters of the +stream flashed quickly by. Close at hand to the right the hard-beaten +prairie road meandered over the sod. There had been a ridge or two +and some sharp curves just west of town, and now, as they rounded +the last of these and flew out upon an almost level track, the bottom +of some prehistoric mountain lake, the eyes of two of the three silent +occupants of the cab were strained along the gleaming rails ahead, and +almost at the same instant the same thought sprang to the lips of +each--Big Ben, with his left hand at the throttle, hunched up on his +shelf, his cap pulled down over the bushy brows, and Geordie, across +the cab on the fireman's seat, clinging to the window-frame to +withstand the lurching of the throbbing monster, while between them, on +the coal-blackened floor, Toomey, with his big shovel flinging open the +iron gate to the blazing furnace for every new mouthful he fed it, and +snapping it shut when he turned away for another, for not a whiff of +the draught could be wasted. Once past the deserted station at the Fort +there would come eight miles of twisting and turning and struggling +up-grade, and every pound of steam would be needed to pull even this +baker's dozen of heavily laden cars now thundering merrily along +behind. + + [Illustration: "NOT A WHIFF OF THE DRAUGHT COULD BE WASTED"] + +Only two short, smooth miles ahead lay the low ridge that formed the +eastern boundary of the old reservation. Beyond it, on the broad +_mesa_, stood the buildings of the frontier garrison, once Geordie's +home and refuge. The tall flag-staff came suddenly into view, and in +less than four minutes they would be rushing by. Over forty miles to +the hour were they flying now. Big Ben had just let out another notch +as they swung into the two-mile tangent, when at the same instant he +and Geordie caught sight of three or four black dots dimly bobbing in +the midst of a little dust-cloud on the roadway far ahead, and almost +at the same instant came from each the low cry, "There they are!" + +Toomey dropped his shovel and glanced forward over Ben's burly +shoulder, then, grabbing the vertical handrails on cab and tender, +leaned out and gazed astern. The wagon road twisted over the bleak +"divide" the train had just rounded, and, barring a team or two jogging +slowly into town, was bare of traffic. "No chasers so far," he shouted, +as he again stooped to his tools. + +"No chasers but us could catch 'em," growled Ben. "We'll give 'em a +toot of the whistle!" he shouted across to Geordie, and the steam blast +shrieked through the keen morning air in obedience to the quick pull at +the cord. + +And now 705 was fairly flying, the green flags at the rear flattened +like shingles in the whistling wind, and a cloud of mingled dust and +smoke rolling furiously after the caboose. Big Ben had "pulled her wide +open," and under full head of steam the powerful engine tore like a +black meteor up the glistening track. In eagerness and excitement +almost uncontrollable George Graham clung to his perch and gazed with +all his eyes. Barely a mile ahead now spurred the fugitives, his old +friend Nolan in their midst--Nolan whom he had come all those miles to +see! + +And then a strange thing happened. So far from finding reassurance, +friendship, sympathy in the whistle blast, the riders had read the very +opposite. So far from slackening speed and letting the signalling train +come up on them, they had suddenly veered to the left, the south, and, +bending low like jockies over their coursers' manes, they shot across +the track, dived down into the pebbly bottom, and the next thing +Geordie saw they were plunging breast-deep through the brown and +heaving torrent, the waters foaming at their knees. + +"Might 'a' known it!" bellowed Toomey, disgusted. "'Course they reason +we've got the sheriff and posse aboard, and they're taking the +short-cut to the--you know," he said, with a sudden significant gulp, +to Geordie, and a warning glance at Ben. Even now that he had left the +trooper habits months behind, Toomey could not forget or disregard +trooper ethics. Ben might be friendly to Nolan, just as he claimed, +but--would Ben keep other's secrets? + +And even under his coat of coal and tan Geordie's face blazed suddenly. +As a lad whom the troopers knew and loved and trusted, he could not +help knowing in by-gone days of the ranch just south of the +post--"Saints' Rest," they called it, laughingly--the shack owned and +occupied by an old soldier with a numerous family: the rendezvous for +many a revel, the resting-place of many a hunting-party, the refuge of +many a home-bound squad of "the boys," before the days of the canteen +that brought comfort and temperance into the army for the short but +blessed spell of its existence--boys just back from an unhallowed +frolic in town, and not yet sober enough to face their first sergeant +and "the Old Man" at the orderly room. Oh, wonderful things were told +of old Shiner and his ranch! In the eyes of some straitlaced commanders +he had been little better than a receiver of stolen goods, a soldier +Shylock who loaned moneys at usurious interest, a gambler who fleeced +the trooper folk of their scanty pay, a dispenser of bad liquors and +worse morals. Some truth there may have been in some of these tales, +yet Shiner had been a strangely useful man. He supplied the post with +milk and cream, butter and eggs, of better quality and lower price than +could possibly be had in town. He knew the best hunting and fishing on +the range. He had teams and "rigs" at all times at the service of +officers and soldiers, when the post ambulance was forbidden by an +unfeeling government. He had a corral and stockade that had more than +once bidden stout defiance to both the law and the lawless. He had, so +the fort children firmly believed, a subterranean passage from his +stockade to the sentry-lines. He was hated by both sheriff and sutler +in days when the latter lived and thrived; he overreached the one, +undersold the other, and outwitted both. He befriended every soldier in +a scrape, whether the offence were against the majestic letter of the +civil law or only the unimportant spirit of the military. In the eyes +of the few he was much of a sinner; in the eyes of the many no less of +a saint; and, after careful casting up of accounts, the colonel of the +--th Cavalry had declared Shiner far more good than bad, treated him +accordingly, and won a surprised and devoted friend and ally. Another +officer Shiner swore by was Dr. Graham, and for reasons similar to +those of his fellow, and farther-distant, ranchman Ross. + +Yet Geordie had often heard of mysterious doings at Shiner's that would +not bear official investigation--had heard and kept silent. In those +days Shiner dwelt close under the sheltering wing of a sympathetic +garrison. Now, if still there, he must be living in the light, and for +the first time it dawned upon Geordie that what he heard of Shiner in +by-gone days and kept to himself, he could not hear and know and keep +to himself now. It was one thing to be a garrison boy; it was another +to be an officer in the army of the United States. + +The instant that it dawned upon him that Nolan and his friends were +heading across country for Shiner's old plant, riding hard in the +belief that they were pursued by rail, it flashed upon him that he +could not join Nolan there--indeed, he must, if a possible thing, guide +or direct him elsewhere. + +Already the pursued were through the ford and, with dripping flanks, +were scrambling up the opposite shore. Already big 705 was almost +abreast of them, and in another moment would be swiftly speeding by. +It was two years since Geordie last set eyes on Nolan, but there was no +mistaking, even at that distance, the tall, gaunt figure and the +practised seat in saddle. Behind him trailed three comrades, two of +whom, at least, were tyros in the art of horsemanship. They were +hanging on for dear life as their steeds labored on after the leader. +The object of all four was obviously to get beyond easy rifle range of +the rushing train before drawing rein to reconnoitre, and now, probably +noting that the engine was driving on full speed, with no sign of +stopping, the tall horseman in the lead circled swiftly to his right, +along the crest of a low ridge perhaps three hundred yards away, then +peered from under his broad hatbrim at the supposed enemy. + +And then it was that Graham and Toomey, both, sprang back to the +coal-pile in the tender, clambered high as possible on the shifting +slope, and, balancing as best they could, whipped off their caps, swung +them joyously about their heads, and eagerly gave the old-time, +well-known cavalry signal, "Forward!" "Forward!" They saw Nolan and +his friends seated on their panting horses, staring after them in amaze +and wonderment, then resolutely following. + +A mile now would bring them whistling by the site of old Fort Reynolds, +and a lump rose in Geordie's throat, for the weather-beaten, ramshackle +stables came in view as the Mogul rounded a long, easy curve, and +there, beyond them and on the level bench before them, stood the trim +rows of officers' quarters, now deserted and tenantless, yet guarded by +the single sergeant and his little squad of men. To the right, afar up +the track near the foot-bridge and ford, lay the station building, +wellnigh useless now since the greater interests and industries, that +had made the railway possible and forced the Indian farther back, had +also fouled the mountain stream and spoiled the site for a cavalry +post. + +There stood the freight sheds; there were the chutes for horses and +mules; there, beyond them, the now abandoned office and waiting-room; +and there, still glistening white and towering, the semaphore +signal-mast of the railway; and then and there, sure and sudden, there +dropped the black arm straight across and above their glistening path +in the never-to-be-neglected order--Stop! + +Big Ben's lined face went swiftly gray through its coat of grime, but +the firm hand did its instant work with the throttle. Then, swinging +from his seat, he grasped the glistening lever and, peering intently +forward, stood ready to throw it in reverse. Toomey sprang for the cord +and jerked one fierce toot out of the whistle, the old-time signal for +down-brakes before Westinghouse and his science put everything at the +touch of the engineer. Almost at the moment the swift rush of the train +became jarring and rough. Two daring men scampered, monkey-like, along +the top of the cars, twisting a brake on each, then darting to the +next. A furious gust of steam tore from the escape-valve and streamed +away overhead. Not a thing was in sight on the track, not a soul on the +platform, to account for the alarming signal. A switch-target clanked +as they tore over the points; a vagrant dog scurried away toward the +once thriving saloon, and not until they drove in, hissing, grinding, +and bumping, to the side of the dusty platform, did Ben's keen eyes +catch sight of two herdsmen's horses--cow ponies--tethered back of the +shanty beside the saloon, and up went the lid of his box at the +instant, in went his right hand, and then out it came full grasp on a +brown-barrelled six-shooter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BAD NEWS FROM THE MINES + + +"A hold-up," muttered Toomey, as, obedient to Big Ben's orders, "Duck, +you two!" he and Geordie crouched for the moment in the dark interior +of the cab. But who would hold up a freight bound to, not away from, +the mines? Twice, thrice, indeed, since the cavalry had been sent from +Fort Reynolds, the overland express had been flagged between Argenta +and Summit Siding, and masked men had boarded the train, despoiled the +passengers and Pullmans; and once old Shiner had come under suspicion +because certain plunder was found at his place. + +"The robbers are discharged soldiers," swore the sheriff of Yampah; +"their haunt is at Shiner's." Yet not so much as a scrap of other +evidence was there found. Shiner threw open his doors to the officers, +bade them search high and low, declared upon honor as he would upon +oath that he himself had found the damaging evidence--two pocket-books +and some valueless papers--on the open prairie a mile from his place +the day after the third of the "hold-ups." There had long been bad +blood betwixt him and the sheriff, and this time the man of the law +gave the lie, and but for prompt work of bystanders--deputy Shiners and +sheriffs both--there would have been cause for a coroner's inquest on +the spot. Before that day it had been avowed hostility between them; +now it was war to the knife. Much of this was known to the men of the +railway, who sided according to their lights. Few of them knew Shiner; +many knew the sheriff. It was patent at a glance that Big Ben held to +the views of the latter and looked upon Shiner's hand, or Shiner's +hands, as the cause of the hold-up. Nor was he entirely wrong. Even as +Cullin came running up the track from the rear of the train, and +brakemen running atop of it, eager to learn the cause of the stop, two +men with saddle-bags slung over the left arm stepped out from behind +the passenger depot and met the conductor half-way. Glancing back, Ben +caught sight of them and, pistol in hand, started to swing from the +engine, crying "Come on!" to Toomey. Springing to his feet, Toomey gave +one look back to the platform. His keen eyes danced with excitement and +joy. "Hold on!" he shouted to Ben. "It's all right. Lay low," he +whispered to Geordie. "It's Shiner himself!" + +And old Shiner it was, cool, quiet, pale, resolute in face of a furious +conductor and a threatening crew--Shiner, presently backed by a +sergeant of regulars and two of his men, who had come running over the +foot-bridge at the stop of the train, and now silently ranged +themselves in tacit support. What Cullin had demanded was how Shiner +dared tamper with the signals--how, in fact, he had managed to, since +they had been carefully locked--and who was he, anyhow. And Shiner had +simply answered: "I've a boy shot and dying at Silver Shield. I only +heard it late in the night. There's no other way to get to him. I pay +full fare and all damages"--but he got no further, for Toomey came +atrot from the engine, threw himself upon him, and grasped his hand. + +"What's the trouble, old man?" was the instant question. + +And Shiner, turning, saw an old friend and beneficiary, and should have +taken heart at the sight. Instead of which, at sound of a sympathetic +voice, he who had been firm and fearless in the face of abuse and +opposition now wellnigh broke down. "They've killed--little Jack!" he +almost sobbed. "Thank God _you're_ here, Toomey!" + +"Of course you'll take him!" cried Toomey, turning sharp on Cullin. + +"Of course I _won't_ take him!" snarled Cullin, wrath and temper +stiffening his back, "but the law shall, quick as I can fix it. Back to +your cab, both of you!" he waved, for Ben, too, was bulkily climbing +the platform steps. "Pull out at once and don't you stop for no more +snidework!" + +"And leave this man here?" shouted Toomey. "Then you can do your own +firing from here on, Cullin. Hold on, Ben, till I get my things off. +You can obey if you like, but it's the last run I make with +this--faugh! And you say _you've_ been a soldier!" It was Toomey's +chance, after weeks of pent-up rage for battle, and he couldn't throw +it away. Seeing that Ben, dull, heavy, and uncomprehending, was staring +stupidly about him, not knowing what to do; seeing that even Cullin was +melting at sight of the grief in Shiner's face; seeing the sympathy in +the eyes of the bluecoats and the shame in those of the brakemen, +Toomey turned loose on his adversary, and Toomey, when fairly started, +could talk to the point. It was a tongue-lashing, indeed, and one that +left the conductor no chance to reply. + +"It's 'gainst orders, and you know it, Toomey," was his futile gasp, +when Toomey stopped for breath. + +"'Gainst orders you've broken time and again, and you know it! 'Gainst +orders Bob Anthony would break your head for not breaking! It's 'gainst +orders for you to pull out now when you're blocked, till you get +further orders--and yet you say go." + +"How can I get orders without a man or a wire at the station?" burst in +Cullin, grasping at straws. "How can I get authority to take this man +along? He's liable to arrest anyhow for tampering with the signals." + +And then another voice was interjected, another disputant stepped +quickly forward, and Toomey checked himself in the first breath of an +impassioned outburst; his black hand suddenly shot half-way up to the +cap-visor, then came down with a jerk; his heels had clicked together +and his knees straightened out, then as suddenly went limp. The +new-comer had sprung up the steps. The form was slender and sinewy. +Hands, face, and dress were black with soot, but the young voice was +deep and the ring of accustomed command was in every word. "That's your +cue, Mr. Cullin. Arrest him and fetch him along." Then turning to +Toomey: "There's no one at the cab. Better get back, quick!" he added. +And Toomey went. + +Big Ben gave one look and, without a word, waddled after his fireman. +The tears that stood in old Shiner's eyes dashed away at the brush of a +sleeve. A light of astonishment, comprehension, relief suddenly gleamed +in their place. The sergeant stared for a moment, looked blankly at his +men, then side-stepped for another long gaze at the new-comer's face. +Cullin turned sharply, resentful at first at the tone of authority, +wrath in his heart and rebuke on his tongue, but then came sudden +reminder of Anthony's card--the card the strange young fellow had +presented only when needed to convince, the card he had been so +sagacious as to retain, the card that proclaimed him a friend of the +powers and a person to be considered. Moreover, the friend and person +had suggested a means by which actual surrender to the situation might +appear as virtual and moral victory. One more look at Shiner and then +Shiner settled it. "I submit to arrest, Mr. Cullin. Let me go with +you--and settle." + +"Get aboard the caboose," was the gruff answer, and, all apparent +meekness, Shiner obeyed. "Not you," added Cullin, as Shiner's +saddle-bag-bearing friend would have followed. "Give me the bags," said +Shiner, "and you look to--" A significant glance at the signal told the +rest. Cullin followed it with his eyes, saw the arm still lowered to +the "stop," knew that it should not be left there, and for a moment +held back. + +"_He_'ll fix it," said Shiner, from the platform of the caboose, while +his eyes sought the face of the tall young fellow at Cullin's back. +Cullin strode to the corner of the office and followed the ranchman +with curious eyes. That sun-tanned, bow-legged person straddled down +the back steps, his big spurs jingling, a high boot-heel catching on +next to the lowermost and pitching him forward. He clamped his +broadbrim on his head with one hand and steadied his holster with the +other, straightened up with half-stifled expletive, and the next minute +was swarming up the slender iron rungs of the signal-ladder. "He's got +to prop it up where it belongs," said the sergeant. "Reckon he must +have shot the wire that held it." And of a truth the wire was severed. +But when Cullin turned back to his train with the mystery cleared, the +sight and sound of new commotion blocked his own signal to start. + +Two horsemen, on foam-spattered broncos, were spurring vehemently down +the road from the eastward ridge. Two others were trailing exhaustedly +two hundred lengths behind, only just feebly popping over the divide. +And to these persons both his prisoner and his prisoner's advocate, who +were clasping hands as he whirled and saw them, were now signalling +cheer and encouragement. Ten cars ahead, at the cab, Big Ben and +Toomey, too, were leaning far out and eagerly watching the chase; the +sergeant and his men, wondering much at the sight, but professionally +impassive, strode to the end of the platform for better view, then all +of a sudden began to shout and swing their caps, and before Cullin +could recover from his surprise the foremost rider, tall, spare, with +long, grizzled mustache and fiery eyes, threw himself from saddle and +came bounding up the steps. He was surrounded in an instant, only one +man hanging back. The slender young fellow in the grimy cap and +overalls quietly stepped into the dark interior of the caboose. + +In the glare of the unclouded sunshine, breathing hard from his +exertion, his hand grasped successively by Shiner and the three +soldiers, the veteran trooper told his hurried tale, while, one after +another, his followers, wellnigh exhausted, labored after him, and +finally rolled stiffly to _terra firma_ at the station, their wretched +livery mounts, with dripping, quivering flanks and drooping heads, +stood straddling close at hand, too utterly used up to stagger away. + +Nolan's story was brief but explicit. Somebody in the swarm that +overwhelmed the Narrow Gauge train the previous night had crept back to +town after midnight and started the story that young Breifogle had been +slugged by the gang. By early morning it got to the father's ears. With +the sheriff and some friends he had driven down in the wake of No. 4, +found plenty of men who could tell of the mobbing, but none who could +tell of his son. The miners had scattered; the few passengers also, +glad that they were not "wanted" by that infuriated crowd. It was then +after sunrise, and, almost crazed by anxiety and wrath, Breifogle had +hurried back to Argenta. His first thought seemed to be vengeance on +Nolan, whom rumor declared the ringleader of his son's assailants, and +a warrant was out for his arrest, even as the big Mogul was rolling +into the yard, with its dingy-brown train of freight-cars and the +battered body of that luckless youth, Nolan's assailant at Silver +Shield. + +The first full peril of his situation broke upon Nolan the instant the +news was rushed to him. Innocent of any part in the assault though he +was--ignorant of it, in fact, until dawn--he well knew that every +artifice would be played against him, and that all the power, the +means, and methods of the Breifogle clique would be lavishly used. Long +imprisonment would be sure, harsh trial certain, acquittal improbable, +hanging almost a certainty. + +"Away with you! Get back to the mines and the mountains!" was the +instant warning, and without the loss of a minute, mounted on such +horses as his friends could hire, he and three of his trustiest +followers had galloped away. They thought the sheriff was at their +heels when the Fast Freight came thundering after them, but hailed, +with amaze and joy, the signal from the tender, and, feeling sure the +train would await them here, had spurred on to the station. + +"You'll send the horses back for us, will you, sergeant?" he finished. +Then eagerly, "Now, conductor, shall we pull out for Summit?" + +"Pull out for nothing," was the astounding answer. "You know perfectly +no Time Freight on this road takes a passenger of any kind, and it +would be more'n my job's worth to take you!" + +"Then, in God's name, why did you signal?" was the almost agonized +question. + +"Signal be jiggered! I never signalled. No man of _my_ crew signalled. +If you want to get back to the mines, stay here and flag No. 5. She'll +be along at eleven." + +"Along at _eleven_! Man alive, the sheriff will be here with a posse of +forty long before that!" + +"_Long_ before that!" almost screamed old Shiner. "Look, there, what +you see! He's coming now!" + +And then Geordie Graham, listening with beating heart within the open +doorway of the caboose, could stand the strain no longer. The man he +must see, the man on whom everything depended, the old friend whom he +most trusted and believed in stood in sore peril. The cause for which +he had come all these miles must fail so sure as Nolan slipped into the +power of the adversary, even though grasped by the hand of the law. It +was no time for ethics--no time for casuists. He let his voice out in +the old tone of authority: + +"You've no time to lose, Mr. Cullin. Arrest them, too, and come on!" + +With wonderment in his eyes, with Shiner whispering caution in his ear, +"Long" Nolan was hustled aboard the caboose just as the wheels began to +turn, his breathless followers clambering after, while afar up the +divide toward the east, by twos and threes, in eager pursuit, egged on +by lavish promise of reward, the sheriff of Yampah, with a score of his +men, spurred furiously on the trail of a train that, starting slowly +and heavily, speedily gained headway and soon went thundering up the +grade, "leaving the wolves behind." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +FIRST SHOTS OF THE SUMMER + + +Half-way up the scarred slope of mountain-side, and opposite the mouth +of a deep ravine, hung the crude wooden buildings and costly machinery +of a modern mine. Zigzagging up the heights, the road that led to it +from the ramshackle town in the valley was dotted with groups of +rough-coated men, all plodding steadily onward. Perched on "benches" +and shelves and dumps of blasted rock and fresh-heaped earth, similar +though smaller clusters of buildings dotted the lower slopes, marring +the grand outlines and sweeping curves of the great upheavals, cutting +ugly gashes in the green and swelling billows, yet eagerly sought in +the race for wealth and the greed for gold, because of the treasures +they wrested from the bowels of the everlasting hills. Afar down the +winding valley a turbid stream went frothing away to the foot-hills, +telling of labor, turmoil, and strife. Beside it twisted and turned the +railway that burrowed through the range barely five miles back of the +town, and reappeared on the westward face of the Silver Bow, clinging +dizzily to heights that looked down on rolling miles of pine, cedar, +stunted oak, and almost primeval loneliness. The mineral wealth, said +the experts, lay on the eastward side, and by thousands the miners were +there, swarming like ants all over the surface seeking their golden +gain. + + [Illustration: SILVER SHIELD] + +And something was surely amiss at the mines when the chimneys of as +many as six of the "plants" gave forth no smoke, when the fires were +out and the men adrift. Something had happened that called the +craftsmen from a dozen other burrows to the aid of those at the new and +lately thronging works, on that shoulder at the mouth of the gorge--the +mine of the Silver Shield. Murder most foul, said the story, had been +done in the name of the law. Armed guards of the property had shot +down, it was said, a half-score of workmen, clamoring only for their +pay and their rights. A son of the principal owner, so it was known, +had ordered his men to fire. A son of an old soldier and settler, +living in peace barely forty miles away, was one of the victims, for he +had taken sides with Long Nolan, who without rhyme or reason had been +discharged, and violently flung from the premises. There had been a +wild rush on the guard, a volley, a recoil, a rally in force, and an +outcry for vengeance. Then the guard had to shoot in earnest and +self-defence, for their lives were at stake. Some of the men had gone +to Argenta to plead with the owners, but most had remained to stir all +hands within ten miles to the support of their fellows. The miscreant +who had ordered "fire" had escaped across to Miners' Joy, only to be +dealt with by sympathizers on the Narrow Gauge; but the men who fired +and who shot to kill were trapped like rats in a hole. Surrounded on +every side, every avenue of escape now guarded, they and the luckless +manager of the mine were cooped in their log fortification, with two +lives and several serious wounds to answer for, and as the sun went +westering this long summer's day they had two hours left in which to +decide--come out and surrender or be burned out where they lay. + +Half the village had gone to swell the ranks of the rioters; another +half--slatternly women and unkempt children--swarmed in the single +street and gazed upward at the heights. Every ledge about the +threatened buildings was black with men, men furious with hate and mad +with liquor, men needing only determined and resolute leaders to go in +and finish their fearful work. + +But here was their lack. The men they had counted on, one man in +particular on whose account many of their number had braved the guard +and threatened the owners--one man, Long Nolan himself, refused point +blank to have aught to do with them or their plans. Another man, he +whose son lay dying in the village, shot down by the guards, was there, +sad-eyed yet stern-faced, to stay and dissuade them. The one train up +from the East that day--the only one that could come, for now the road +was blown out in a dozen places down the gorge--had brought with it +Nolan and Shiner, with two or three friends at their back, and Nolan +and Shiner, in spite of their wrongs, were pleading hard for peace, +pleading so hard, so earnestly, that by 5 P.M. many a man, American +born, had seen the force of their reasoning and had stepped back from +the front. + +But among the killed was a poor lad from the mountains of Bohemia. +Among the vengeful throng were swarms of foreigners who could +understand little or nothing of what Nolan and his friends were saying, +and who speedily would have scorned it could they have understood, for +at five o'clock another speaker took the stand, a man of the people he +called himself, a foreigner long on our shores, yet fluent in the +language of the Slavs, and in ten minutes the torrent was turned. With +terror in his eyes, a man who had long worked with Nolan, a foreigner, +too, came running to the silent, anxious little group of Anglo-Saxons. +"Nolan--Nolan," he cried. "He says you was traitor! He says you was +gone to Argenta and told all their secrets, and you was bought +off--bribed--and you bring strangers to help you! He says you and they +are just spies, an' now they come for _you_!" + +One glance from where the little group were crouching, sheltered from +possible shots from the buildings, yet between them and the throng, +told Nolan and Shiner the alarm was real, the words were true. Like so +many maddened beasts, a gang of uncouth, unkempt, blood-thirsty beings +were now crowding up the narrow roadway from the bench below. + +"My God, Mr. Geordie!" cried Nolan, in sudden agony of spirit, "I never +once dreamed of this!" + +It was, indeed, a moment of terror. Here, barely a dozen in all, were +Nolan, Shiner, George Graham, and a few of the more intelligent, the +Americans, among the miners. There, possibly a hundred yards away, and +to the number of at least three hundred, a throng of human brutes, +utterly ignorant, superstitious, credulous, craftily inspired, were +now surging slowly forward up the heights. Two minutes would bring them +about the little party in overwhelming strength. Flight anywhere +downhill was impossible. The one refuge in sight was that beleaguered +little clump of buildings just beyond them up the slope, garrisoned by +a dozen desperate men who had shouted warning again and again, they'd +shoot down the first man that showed a head above the rocks. + +But desperate straits need desperate measures. All on a sudden a tall, +slender youth, in the coarse dress of a railway fireman, sprang from +the midst of the pallid-faced group and, waving his handkerchief over +his head, called back, "Stay where you are one minute!" and then, +without a second's falter or swerve, straight for the nearest building, +a low, one-story log-house, the manager's office near the mouth of the +mine, waving his white signal high as his arm could reach, and +shouting, "Don't fire--we are friends!" George Graham swiftly climbed +for the upper level. One rifle flashed. One bullet whizzed over his +head, but he reached the road, then, both arms extended, rushed +straight for the door. + +It was thrown open to admit him by Cawker, the manager, white-faced +almost as they whom Geordie had left. "Come out here!" cried Graham. +"See for yourself. Nolan, Shiner, with those few lads, are all that +have stood between you and the mob below. Every American is out of it. +They're coming to kill Nolan for turning against them. Call him up! +Call them all--There's barely a dozen. Then you've got just as many +more to stand by you!" + +And Cawker had sense to see and to realize. "Call 'em yourself," said +he. "Don't shoot, men! These are friends come to aid us!" he cried, +running up and down in front of the loop-holes. "Come on, Nolan and all +of you," he added, for Graham had gone bounding half-way back again, +and, like so many goats, the threatened party came scrambling out of +their shelter and up the steep incline, while afar down the hill-side +rose a yell of baffled rage and vengeance. + +"Hold the rest of them whatever you do!" shouted Geordie, again racing +back. "Don't let that gang over the edge or you're gone!" And again the +brown barrels of the rifles thrust forth from the wooden walls and were +turned on the bend of the road. Almost breathless, Long Nolan, and with +him the little squad of adherents, came running up to the door. +"Inside, quick as you can!" shouted Cawker. "We've got to give those +blood-hounds a lesson." + +Even as he spoke a shot struck the thick, iron hinge of the heavy door, +the lead spattering viciously. Another ripped through the casement of +the nearest window, and a shiver of glass was heard within, as the +bullet spun through the shade of a lamp swinging from the beam above. +Cawker ducked, unaccustomed to such sounds, and dove to the interior. +Old Nolan, soldier of the Civil War and veteran of many an Indian +skirmish, disdained to notice it. Geordie, bemoaning the luck that had +left his pet rifle in Denver, busied himself with Nolan in "herding" +the party within before himself following. Then Shiner was found +missing. + +"He started with us," cried Nolan. "He wanted to go back to be with his +boy, but we showed him he'd never get through. Those brutes would head +him off and kick his life out. He must have--Good God, Mr. Geordie! +Look where he lies!" + +And then they saw that the old plainsman, in his eagerness to make a +way back to his possibly dying son, had quit the rush when half-way up, +had turned eastward and sought a foot-path down the mountain-side, had +found it guarded, like the rest, by a gang that yelled savage welcome +at sight of him. Then, too late, he had turned again, had managed to +run some fifty yards along the jagged slope, when a shot from a +well-aimed rifle laid him low. With a leg broken just above the knee, +poor Shiner went down, and without so much as a word, with only one +glance into each other's eyes, Long Nolan and Geordie swooped down to +the rescue. + +Breasting the hill fifty yards below him came the heaving throng of +rioters, few of them, luckily, with fire-arms, but all bent on +vengeance. Darting downhill to Shiner came the old and the new of the +regiment he had known for years and swore by to the end--Nolan, its +oldest sergeant when discharged; Graham, its youngest subaltern when so +recently commissioned. But, old and new, they were one in purpose and +in spirit. The trained muscles, the lithe young limbs of the new bore +him bounding down the slope in half the time it took the elder. Shiner +lay facing the coming throng, grim hate in his eyes and revolver in +hand. In the fury of yells that arose he never heard the shout of +encouragement from above. Geordie was bending over him, had seized him +by the arm, was slinging him on his broad young back before ever Shiner +saw the face of his rescuer, and Geordie, with his helpless burden, was +stumbling up the height again before Nolan could join and aid him. + +By that time the peering guardians of the office had caught sight of +the cause of the pandemonium of howls and curses from below, and the +onward rush was stayed by the sound of shots from the hill and bullets +whistling overhead. Yet only for a moment. Bullets sent downhill almost +always fly high, and finding this to be so the mob took courage and +came on again, those who had guns or revolvers shooting frantically up +the slope, splintering rocks and spattering dirt as they bit at the +heels of the rescuers. It was a desperate, do or die, neck or nothing, +bit of daring and devotion--Nolan's third and Geordie's first +experience in just such a feat. But the blood of the Graemes was up, +and the younger soldier was not to be outdone by the old. The guards at +the office burst into a cheer as the two came staggering up to the +level, with poor Shiner groaning between them, and then quick work and +hot was needed, for the mob came fierce on their trail. + +"There's more Winchesters there in the gun-rack," shouted Cawker, as +Shiner was laid on a bunk in a back room. "They'll be all round us here +in a minute." + +"Aim low and pick out the leaders, d'ye hear?" panted Nolan. "Don't let +'em get within reach of the buildings, whatever you do. They'll burn +'em over our heads. Let me have your loop-hole, _you_!" he ordered a +young fellow, whose lips were blue with excitement and dread. "Go sit +by Shiner and give him water till I spoil a few of these voters." And +the presence of the veteran, the confident ring of his voice, seemed to +lend instant courage to the defence. + +And courage, cool courage and grit, were needed, for the situation was +difficult, if not, indeed, desperate. With any skilled leader to direct +the mob, the refuge sought by the defence would already have been +ruined. The office building, made of hewn logs laid horizontally and +with possible view of defence, had been placed at the brow of the slope +on one side and near the mouth of the mine on the other. Later, +however, rude structures of unplaned pine sprung up--compressor-plant, +blacksmith-shop, and the like--about it, no one of them strong enough +to serve as a fort, and all of them a menace now because they screened +the approaches on two sides and could be fired in a dozen places. + +And now that Graham and Nolan were here to aid, this defect was noticed +at once. + +"This won't do at all, Mr. Cawker," said Graham, as he sprung the lever +of a new Winchester and glanced into the chamber. "We'll be surrounded +and burned out of here in ten minutes. We've got to occupy those +others, too." + +Cawker stared at the "young feller" with angering eyes. A moment agone +and he was praising his daring, but that astonishing tone of authority +nettled him. What business had a railway fireman telling him, a mine +manager, what to do in case of a row? + +"_You_ get to a loop-hole and 'tend to that," snapped he. "I'll 'tend +to my business," and he turned to Long Nolan, just heaving up from a +peep-hole, for support and approval. Nolan he knew for a soldier of +old. He had learned to respect him quite as much as he jealously +feared, and Nolan's answer took him utterly aback: + +"You do as he tells you and do it quick. He knows his business better'n +ever you'll begin to know yours." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A NIGHT ON GUARD + + +Two minutes more, with eight men to back him, George Graham was +knocking or sawing out holes in the blacksmith-shop, and presently a +man with a reliable Winchester was crouched by each opening watching +the next move of the foe. The shop was perched at the edge of a +flat-topped "dump", commanding the rocky slopes to the roadway on one +side, the hill on the other. It was exposed to shots from below, yet +the hardest to reach by direct assault. In the larger building a bit +farther back, the compressor-house, Cawker and four others were +stationed, guarding the approach from the north. The manager had taken +Nolan's broad hint, and the subsequent orders, with one long look of +amaze, then with the light of comprehension in his eyes and the +silence of consent on his lips. Did he not know that the main charge +against Nolan had been loyalty to his old comrades rather than his new +employers? Did he not know, or at least more than suspect, that the +company was trying to "freeze out" the distant holders? Did he not +know, down in his heart, that it was out and out robbery? And now, in +spite of youth and disguise, the manager saw in this masterful stranger +one of the very elements the owners had sought to keep at a distance +and in ignorance of true conditions. So far from resenting, he now +thanked God for his coming. What else could explain Nolan's +deference--Nolan, the most independent and self-respecting man at the +mines? What else could it mean but that this youth was one of his +officers--men skilled and schooled in warfare if not in mining--men +taught to face danger with stout heart and stubborn front? All in the +space of a few seconds the truth had flashed upon Cawker. It might not +be just what the owners would want, thought he, but it's almighty good +for us all. + +Nolan, with a handful of men, still clung to the stoutest of the +buildings. It stood without the entrance to the ravine in which had +been discovered the outcropping that started the fame of Silver Shield. +In this, also, stood two other buildings, but these were so far from +the outer shop that flames need not be feared. Nolan was to care for +the wounded and guard the outward approach, and all three were in close +support of each other. Whoever managed to rush that little group of +buildings would know, if he lived, that he had been through a fight. + +And now it was after six of the long summer day. The rioters had +received a wholesome lesson in the volley that met their first attempt +to swarm up from the south. They had gone tumbling and cursing back to +shelter, with three men wounded and many of the others badly scared, +and now were being harangued by their vociferous leader, and hundreds +had come to hear. Graham turned to the young Slav who had borne the +first news to Nolan. "Creep out there as far as you can," he ordered, +"listen to what is said, and tell me. They cannot reach you." But the +frightened lad crouched and whimpered. He _dared_ not. + +"Come on, then," answered Geordie, grasping the stout collar of the +hickory shirt, and come he had to, moaning and imploring. With revolver +in his right hand, his unwilling interpreter in the left, Geordie +scrambled down to the roadway, and then, coming in view of the gang, +crouched with his prisoner behind sheltering bowlders, regardless of +the shots which began to hiss from below. The speaker was still +shouting; his words were easily heard. Yells of approval and savage +delight punctuated every other sentence. "What was that?" demanded +Geordie, as the applause became furious. + +"He say they make circle--all sides, uphill, sidehill, downhill. They +all together run in when he give the word." + +"He fights like a Cheyenne," grinned the young commander. "How soon do +they begin?" + +"Right off; now! They come from _all_ round!" was the almost agonized +cry. + +"Then I won't have to lug you back. You can go!" + +And like a frightened hare the young foreigner darted away, dodging and +diving up the slope, only to fall exhausted at the top, and then to +creep on all-fours to the shelter of the office. Already some of the +armed rioters had managed to climb far up the hill-side and from behind +rock or ledge to open fire on the platform. The range was full three +hundred yards, their aim was poor, and the bullets flew wild, but the +effect on this poor lad was all they could ask. He collapsed at the +opening door. + +Leisurely, yet cautiously, Geordie climbed in his tracks--went first to +the office to give warning to Nolan, then round to the compressor to +instruct the little guard. Cawker poked a head from a window and looked +anxiously toward the gaping mouth of the ravine. The darkness of night +was already settling in its gloomy depths. The homely shed looked black +and forbidding. Aloft on each side were precipitous slopes affording +but slight foothold. Little likelihood was there of rioters sliding +down to attack them, but, suppose they pried loose, or blasted out, +some of those huge rocks up the mountain and sent them rolling, +bounding, crashing down? What might _then_ happen? + +A bullet tearing through the shingling, ten feet above Cawker's +protruding head, made him jerk it in, like a turtle, but presently it +reappeared at the window. + +"It's the dynamite I'm thinking of," said he. "A rock lighting on that +now--" + +"Where is it?" interrupted Graham. + +"In that first shed yonder--a dozen boxes." + +"Bring two men and come along," was the quick order, and it was no time +now for reluctance, resentment, much less refusal. The two men summoned +shrank back and would not come, but Cawker found two who dared to +follow. It was a case of "duck and run" for all. + +"Watch the hill-side above!" shouted Graham, in tones that rang through +every building and reached every ear. "Shoot down every man that tries +to heave rocks into the ravine, or fire at us. We're going to move +that dynamite." + +Once within the shelter of the gorge, with comrades carefully sighting +the slopes, Geordie felt the danger would not be very great. A swift +rush carried all four over the open space of twenty yards. Three or +four shots came zipping from aloft, but the instant ring of Winchesters +back of them told that watchful eyes had noted every head that +appeared, and the swift crackle of fire from the shop put instant stop +to the fun up the slope. Into the store-room the manager led them, and +unlocked a heavy little trap-door within; then, one by one, the +ominous-looking cases were dragged forth, hoisted, and swiftly borne to +the mouth of the mine. Three tunnels there seemed to be, as Geordie +hurriedly noted, but into the largest and lowermost they shouldered +their perilous burden and carefully, cautiously, stacked the boxes well +inside; went back, and searched out, and followed with all the fuse and +powder stored at the top. Then, with rock and ore and barrels of earth, +they built a stout barrier in front of the tunnel, blocking it from +without, and the sun was down and night was upon them when they +stumbled back to their posts. + +For now still a weightier problem remained to them--how to defend those +works in the dark. + +In all, Geordie Graham found they had just twenty men on whom he could +count. The trembling young Slav at the blacksmith-shop, the blue-lipped +boy in the office, and sorely wounded old Shiner were out of the fight. +But Cawker's mine-guards were native born, or Irish, and most of the +reinforcements that came with Nolan and himself were Americans, and all +were good men and true. By day they could see and shoot at any man or +men who sought to approach them with hostile intent. By night they +could see nothing. There was only one way, said Graham, to prevent the +more daring among the rioters crawling in on them and firing some of +the shops, and that was to throw out strong pickets on every side, then +trust to their ears, their grit, and their guns. + +Already he had been selecting good positions in which to post his +sentries. Ten at least, full half his force, would be needed, and while +vigilant watch was kept through the twilight, and a warning shot sent +at every hat that showed within dangerous range, Geordie went from +building to building picking out his men. + +Arms, ammunition, and provisions, fortunately, they had in abundance. +The company had long since seen to that. Nolan already had set "Blue +Lips" to work building a fire in the big kitchen stove at the office +and setting the kettle to boil. Coffee, hard bread, and bacon, with +canned pork and beans, were served to all hands, about five at a time, +and then, with Nolan to station the watchers on the south and west +fronts, George and his five stole out on the northward slope, alert, +cautious, and silent, moving only a few paces at a time. + +Afar down in the depths of the valley the clustered lights of the +excited town shone brilliantly through the gloaming. Every now and then +through the surrounding silence came the bark of dogs, the shrill +voices of clamoring women, and occasionally a burst of howls and yells. +Some rude orator was still preaching death and destruction to a more +than half-drunken gang, urging them on to the aid of their brethren up +the levels above. All about the Silver Shield, however, was ominously +still. Over on opposite heights and down in stray gulches could be seen +the flitting lights of rival establishments, and away to the west, +around the base of the mountain where the railway squirmed by the side +of the tortuous stream, two or three locomotive-engines, on stalled +trains, had been whistling long and hard for aid. All that was useless. +Above for a mile, below for a league, the track had been torn up in +places, and down along Silver Run, toward Hatch's Cove and the +foot-hills, culverts and cuts had been mined and blown out for five +miles more. No sheriff's posses from below, no hated Pinkertons, no +despised militia, no dreaded regulars, should come to the aid of Silver +Shield till there was nothing left worth saving. + +And up here on the northward flank of the bold, rounded heights that +overhung the town, and harbored now both besieged and besiegers, +invisible to each other and to the lower world in the darkness, Geordie +Graham lay crouching behind a little bowlder, every sense on edge, for +to his left front, a little higher up, he could distinctly hear low, +gruff voices, confused murmurings and movements, sounds that told him +that, relying on their overwhelming numbers, the mob was coming slowly, +surely, down to carry out their threat to fire the buildings and to +finish as they pleased the wretched defenders. + +It was barely nine o'clock. Below him, perhaps twenty yards downhill, +was his nearest sentry. Above him, and a little retired, was another, a +silent young German-American who had been at the head of the men +working tunnel Number Two. Beyond him still, and thrown back toward the +head of the ravine, was one of Cawker's guard, a sharp-eyed, +sharp-witted chap who had seemed at first to chafe at Graham's hints +and orders, yet had acted on them. And on these two, so far as sound +could enable him to judge, all ignorant of their presence and purpose, +this uncouth mass of men was bearing down. Winchester in hand and, as +he himself said later, his heart in his mouth, Geordie stole swiftly +uphill to the post of the German and found him kneeling and all aquiver +with excitement. He, too, had just heard. + +"Don't fire till I do," said Graham. "I'll be right out where you can +hear me challenge." A few steps higher he climbed, and then called low +and clear: + +"D'you hear them coming, guard? Can you see anything?" + +And the answer came in the drawl of the Southland: + +"Hyuh 'em plain 'nuff, but they don't show a light yet. Reckon they +don't mean tuh." + +"We'll give them the fill of our magazines if they don't halt at the +word. Wait till I let drive, then let them have it!" + +And so, crouching low, straightforward along the slope he sped, till, +perhaps twenty yards out, the black bulk of the mountain-side loomed +between him and the westward heaven, while against the stars of the +northern horizon he could dimly determine, heaving steadily toward him, +not fifty paces away, some huge, murmuring, moving mass. And then there +rang out on the silence of the night, clear, stern, and commanding, a +voice the like of which their ears had never heard, in words that even +they could not fail to comprehend: + +"Halt where you are--or we fire!" + +There was an instant of recoil and confusion and fear. Then furious +tones from far back in the throng and guttural shoutings that seemed +urging them on, for, presently, on they came, but in the silence and +dread of death. + +Back went the lever of Graham's Winchester; slap went the bolt to its +seat, with the shining cartridge ahead of it; up came the butt to the +shoulder; and then, once more, that deep, virile voice rang along the +heights and went echoing away across the gorge. Back at the mine +Nolan's heart leaped at the sound of it. Away down in the village they +heard it and shrank, for the next instant set them all shrieking; for +the lightning flashed and the rifles barked loud and swift, and strong +men howled and turned and fled, anywhere out of the way, and some fell +headlong, screaming and cursing, in the rush and panic that spread from +one stern and sudden word--the soldier command: "Fire!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN OF THE SIEGE + + +Down in the valley that night there was commotion and uproar for hours, +but there was quiet at Silver Shield. One after another furious +speeches were made in foreign tongues, speeches in which the murderous +occupants of the mine buildings were doomed to an eternity of torment, +and the would-be murderous element among the miners was lauded to the +skies and urged to further effort. + +But the astonishing repulse, the fact that they had been met in the +open as well as in the dark, and that a swift and sudden fire had been +poured into their very midst, had shattered the nerve of men already +shaken, although it later turned out that only three of their number +had really been shot (two of them in the back), and that twoscore had +been trampled and torn by their own people, while some thirty or more +were missing, "left dead on the hill," said their fellows, in the mad +rush for safety that followed the first flash. That sharp, stern order +and the instant response had started the rumor that soldiers, regulars, +had come up from the fort. It was pointed out that while the +Transcontinental was blocked down the Run, no one had thought to +cripple the Narrow Gauge over in the valley beyond. The road was open +to Miners' Joy, the road by which young Breifogle had made his escape, +and by this roundabout route had succor reached the besieged garrison. + +All that liquor and eloquence could do was tried on the raging townsmen +that night, but not until broad daylight could they be induced to make +another trial, and by that time few were able to keep their feet on the +level. + +Less than half a dozen shots from each of five Winchesters had been +enough, combined with darkness, to utterly rout the mass of rioters. +Mindful of the lesson well learned at the Point--to instantly follow a +staggering blow--Graham had sprung from his cover, called to his +fellows to "come on," and so, shouting and shooting at the very heels +of the panic, had not only chased them in headlong flight, but, +returning, had picked up half a dozen terrified prisoners and herded +them back to Nolan for such reassurance and comfort as that grim old +trooper saw fit to administer. When morning broke the depths of the +valley were still shrouded in mist and gloom. Up on the heights the +brilliant hues of the dawn shone far and wide on rocky peak and +pinnacle and, above the wooden tower of the office building, on the +fluttering folds of an American flag. + +That was a grewsome day on Lance Creek. Four of the mines, temporarily +bereft of hands, had fired up and gone to work with such force as they +had, and declined to take back the men who had quit. The managers, +superintendents, bosses, and owners held council together and started +out with what they termed a relief expedition to rescue the garrison of +Silver Shield. They were seen as they came solemnly marching uphill, +waving a white flag by way of assurance, and were met on the roadway +by Nolan and Geordie. Cawker was taking a much-needed nap. + +"Are you all safe?" was the eager question from below. + +"Safe from what?" asked Nolan, from above. + +"Why, the mob, the rioters. Didn't they try to clean you out last +night?" + +"Did they?" asked Nolan turning to his silent young friend the fireman. +"Was that what those fellows were thinking of that you chased off the +hill? Why, maybe it was! But here, what we came down to find out was +about Shiner's boy. How's he?" + +Then the rescuers looked at one another in some bewilderment. The +leaders were friends of Cawker. They hardly knew Nolan. They did not +know his companion the fireman. + +"D'you mean to tell us you've had no trouble up there?" was the eager +demand. + +"Why, lots of it, four days ago--'t least _I_ had," answered Nolan, +grimly, "but nothin' worth mention last night." + +"Why, man," cried the manager of the White Eagle, "there were a +thousand riotous Bohemians and Dagoes, and Lord knows what all, went up +there last night to burn those buildings over your heads and you with +'em." + +"Why, cert'nly," said Nolan, with preternatural gravity and a wink at +his comrade, who was doing his utmost to keep a straight face. "It must +have been some of those fellows _you_ blew in about ten o'clock. But +say," he broke off, as though this matter bored him, "what we want to +know is about Shiner's boy. They didn't seem to have time to talk." + +By which time it dawned upon the officials present that Nolan was +having fun with them, and though the spokesmen were nettled, many +others, with genuine American sense of humor, felt that he couldn't be +blamed. + +"Your name is Nolan, I think," said a man from the Denver. "We've heard +of you. Shiner's boy is better, though still weak. You mustn't feel we +left you to shift for yourselves up there. Our men were all out, and +we didn't know how soon they'd be swooping on us. 'Twasn't until last +night it was generally known that you were back, and that you and your +friends were what saved Cawker and the Silver Shield yesterday. How's +_he_?" + +"Cawker? Oh, Cawker's probably about got dinner ready for you gentlemen +by this time. If you are sure about Shiner we won't go down." + +"Go down? Why, Nolan, they'd murder you!" + +But there came a sudden shot, and then a shout, from somewhere uphill. +On the edge of the dump a man was eagerly waving his hat, pointing away +to the northeast along the massive slope of the mountain. + +"Well, Mr. Fireman," said Nolan, "I guess we'll have to go back. But +you are sure about Shiner, are you?"--this again to the visitors, as he +persisted in calling them. "Well, come right along up and see the old +man himself. Dinner ought to be ready now." + +But, once back at the buildings, Nolan left to Cawker and his guard +the pleasure of receiving the crowd from across the creek. He and +Geordie were needed at once at the lookout on top of the office, the +little tower above which fluttered the flag. Down on the platform +anxious faces were upturned, for the sentry had seen a countless throng +of men, so he said, coming over from Miners' Joy. To Cawker and his +fellows it meant but one thing: The miners in the northward valley, +more numerous than these along Lance Creek, reinforced, probably, by a +swarm of the idlers from Hatch's Cove, were coming to the aid of their +friends and fellow-countrymen in the strike at Silver Shield. + +For two miles out the road from the village meandered up a winding +ravine, then went twisting and turning along the eastward face of the +mountain until it dipped out of sight over the massive divide. Down in +the depths of the gorge little dots of men could be seen hurrying away +up the trail as though going to meet the coming concourse. Away out +along the mountain-side not to exceed three or four vehicles and a +scant dozen of horsemen could dimly be made out, crawling slowly +southward, coming gingerly towards them. Where, then, was the +"countless throng"? + +"They were in sight on yonder ridge," said the lookout, "not ten +minutes ago. They must be hiding in the hollows, waiting for the others +to catch up," whereupon Nolan, looking daggers, had called him a +scarehead, and Geordie shouted for Cawker's glass. It was sent up the +stairway in less than a minute and focussed on Porphyry Point, a +massive buttress overhanging the farther valley. For long seconds +Geordie steadied the binocular against the staff and peered silently +through. At last he said: "Some riders and two or three livery-rigs are +coming, but I see no men afoot." Then, turning over his shoulder to +Cawker, standing in the midst of his friends and fellow-managers, and +looking eagerly aloft, he called: "Better have dinner now, if it's +ready. It will take 'em an hour to get here." + +"Who is that young fellow, anyhow?" asked Townsend, of the Vanguard +Mine, and the ears of a score of men awaited the answer. + +"That young feller," said Cawker, in low tone, and impressively, "was a +stranger to every one here, except old Nolan and Shiner, just +twenty-four hours ago. Now there ain't one of 'em but swears by him. I +don't know him from Adam, and Nolan won't tell, but, gentlemen--that +young feller's a dandy!" + +And this of a youth in grimy cap, flannels, and overalls, with a pair +of smouched soldier gauntlets hiding the white of his hands, and a +coating of coal-dust and smudge hiding all but the clear, healthy white +of his eyes! + +But an hour later came at least partial enlightenment. Picking their +way, afoot and a few in saddle, welcomed by shouts from the lately +besieged, and escorted by a deputation sent forward to meet them, there +began to arrive certain citizens well known to the neighborhood by name +and reputation. + +There was the sheriff of Yampah, with a small squad of deputies. There +was the mayor of Argenta, a director in the mines, and with him, +puffing prodigiously and slowly up the ramp from the wagon-road, two +brother directors away out from Denver. There were certain prominent +citizens of Argenta and Hatch's Cove. There were certain railway men, +with men and tools at their back and no time to waste. There were two +men in civilian dress whom many a man of Silver Run knew for soldiers +at once, for as such had they known them before--Captain Lee and +Quartermaster McCrea of the old --th Cavalry--and there had been a +remarkable meeting and hand-shaking between them and Nolan, and a +whispered confabulation, at the end of which the two dove into the +office building where Shiner still lay, comforted by better news of his +boy, by good surgical aid, and by a skilful and competent nurse who, +for more than one reason, preferred to keep out of sight for the time +being. There had been a face-to-face meeting between sergeant and +sheriff when Nolan came forth from a rapturous scene at old Shiner's +bedside. But this time the sheriff looked sheepish, and there was no +talk of arrest. Young Breifogle, it seems, would not die of his +wounds. One of the culprits had "split" and the real assailants were +known. + +And there had been a fine shower of congratulation on Cawker for his +heroic defence and determined stand against tremendous odds, and the +three magnates present of Silver Shield had begun with much unction to +talk of reward and appreciation, and very probably Cawker felt both +heroic and deserving, and quite ready to accept all credit and pay, but +there were too many witnesses, too many wise men, too many suggestive +smiles and snickers and audible remarks, and Cawker had sense to see +and then to rise manfully to the occasion. + +"We did the best we knew how, gentlemen," said he, "but I am bound to +say Silver Shield would have been in ruins this minute, and most of us +dead, if it hadn't been for Nolan--the man you ordered thrown out." + +There was a silence almost dramatic for a moment. + +"Who ordered him thrown out?" asked Mr. Stoner, of Denver. + +"The directors, sir, unless young Mr. Breifogle lied. These men are my +witnesses." + +And the answer came straightway. + +"No such orders were given by the board. If Mr. Breifogle gave them, +they were his alone." + +Whereupon a shout went up that shook the roof. But the end was not yet. +Nolan was dragged forward to be grasped by the hand and smothered with +congratulations, and old Nolan, in turn, would have none of it. A dozen +men had seized Geordie Graham, even as his classmates and comrades had +chaired him a few weeks back at the Point, and black, grimy, and +protesting, he was heaved forward and deposited in front of the +astonished trio. But the shout that went up from all sides was +significant. Lee and McCrea were shouting, too. + +"More heroes?" asked Mr. Stoner, wide-eyed and uncomprehending. +"Well--er, Nolan, they told us on the way over that there must be a +hundred soldiers here." + +"That's about right, sir," grinned Nolan; then, reaching forth, he laid +a hand lightly on Graham's broad shoulder, "and here stands--most of +'em." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AWAY ON THE WARPATH + + +And all these chapters it has taken to tell how it came about that +Second Lieutenant George Montrose Graham was quite a celebrity in the +--th Cavalry before ever he reported for duty with his troop. Several +weeks the Silver Shield Mining Company spent in a squabble among +themselves that ended in the smothering of "the Breifogle interest," +and came near to sending "the Boss of Argenta" to jail. Several days +elapsed before Captain Lee and Lieutenants McCrea and Graham felt it +entirely prudent to leave, but when they did it was with the assurance +that stockholders who had endured to the end, as had Graham, Lee, and +McCrea, were now to reap the reward of their tenacity. + +It is a recorded fact that, within three weeks after the departure of +McCrea and Geordie from West Point for the West, there came an offer to +Dr. Graham of something like six times the cost price of his shares, +and the offer was declined, with thanks. + +It is a recorded fact that Silver Shield was reorganized within the +summer, to the end that the controlling interest passed from Colorado +to Chicago. + +It is a recorded fact that, from afar out in the Rockies, there came to +Lieutenant Colonel Hazzard, Commandant of Cadets, a "wire" that puzzled +him not a little until he laid it before his clear-headed wife, who +gave him a delighted kiss and scurried away to show it to Mrs. Graham. +It read: + + "You win. I lose; and, losing, am a heavy winner." + +For Bonner had supplied the money that paid for much of that costly +plant, most of which would have gone up in smoke and down in ruin could +the mob have had its way. Bonner himself had rushed out to Denver at +news of the trouble. Bonner sent for Cawker and Nolan, and others of +the employes, and learned for himself how things had been going, and +was not too civil to Stoner and his Denver colleagues. Bonner, a +director in the Transcontinental, heard from Anthony and Cullin all +about the young fireman they spirited up to the mines, and the elder +Breifogle had to hear how that young fireman cared for the battered son +and heir, after his "beating up" at the fists and feet of the rioters, +and if Breifogle bore no love for the Grahams, he at least loved his +own. + +It is a recorded fact that old Shiner got well of his wound after many +long weeks, and his brave boy in much shorter time, and that both were +handsomely rewarded. Cawker came in for a good thing by way of a raise, +but it was Long Nolan whom Bonner and the magnates set on a +pinnacle--Long Nolan, and, as Nolan would have it, Nolan's young +commander. + +It is a matter of record that when Captain Lee went back to the +regiment he congratulated Lane, for one thing, on having held on to his +stocks--almost the only one at Reno who did--and, for another, on +having such a youngster for second lieutenant. "He has won his spurs," +said Lee, "before ever he donned his uniform." And there was rejoicing +in the regiment over Lee's description of events, for five of the +younger officers, graduated within three years, knew "Pops" in his +cadet days and remembered him well; and all of the old officers who had +served at Camp Sandy and at Fort Reynolds knew him in babyhood, or +boyhood, or both. So did most of the veteran troopers. + +And it is a matter of record that, on the eastward way again, both +McCrea and Geordie dined with Mr. Bonner at the Chicago Club, and the +new major-general commanding the military division graciously accepted +Bonner's bid to be one of the dinner-party, and took Geordie aside +after coffee had been served, noting that the silent young fellow +neither smoked nor touched his wine, and asked him a few questions +about the Point and many about the mines, and at parting the general +was so good as to express the wish that when Geordie came out to join +in September he would stop and see him, all of which was very +flattering to a young fellow just out of cadet gray, and Geordie, as in +duty bound, said that he certainly would, little dreaming how soon--how +very soon--he and the old regiment would be riding hard under the lead +of that hard-riding leader, and facing a foe led by warriors true and +tried--a foe any ten of whom could have made mince-meat of ten times +their number of such foemen as Graham had met at the mines. + +How could they, the brave young class, have dreamed, that exquisite +June day of their graduation, that within six months some of their +number were destined to do desperate battle with a desperate band of +the braves of the allied Sioux in the Bad Lands of South Dakota? + +For it is also a matter of record that Lieutenant and Quartermaster +McCrea made application, as he had promised, for six months' leave of +absence, with permission to go beyond sea, and with every intention of +spending most of the winter in sunny Italy. But he spent it in saddle +and snowdrift, in scout and skirmish, and in at least one sharp, +stinging, never-to-be-forgotten battle with the combined bands of the +Sioux, and came within an ace of losing his life as well as his leave, +for many a brave soldier and savage warrior fell in that bitter +fight--Geordie Graham's maiden battle. Little wonder he hopes he may +never see another like it. + +And it all came about as such affairs have so often occurred in the +past. Unheeded warnings, unnoted threats, unpunished outbreaks, that +experienced soldiers about the reservation could readily understand, +and foretell what was coming, and make their own individual +preparations for the inevitable. But nothing they could report to +superiors would shake the serene confidence of the Department of the +Interior in the pacific purposes of its red children, the wards of the +nation. All along in the summer and the early autumn the "ghost-dance" +had been spreading from tribe to tribe, the war drum had been thumping +in the villages, the Indian messiah, a transparent fraud, as all might +see, wandered unrebuked from band to band--half a dozen messiahs, in +fact--and along in September, instead of Geordie Graham's best-loved +chum and classmate, Connell, of the Engineers, there came to the Point +a letter from that young officer, that Graham received with rejoicing, +read with troubled eyes, and for the first time in his life kept from +his mother. There came a time, later still, when there were many +letters to be kept from her, but those sorrowful days were not as yet. +This letter, however, he could not bring himself to show her, for it +told of things she had been dreading to hear ever since the papers +began telling of the ghost-dancing on the plains. It read: + + "PECATONICA, WISCONSIN, _September 5th._ + + "DEAR POPS,--I fully intended to be with you to spend a week as + promised, before joining at Willett's Point, but you are more + likely to be spending that week with me. I am just back from a + run to the Black Hills with father. He has some property about + Deadwood. Returning, I stopped two days at Fort Niobrara, as + the guest of 'Sampson' Stone, whose troop is stationed there, + and I tell you it was interesting. He took me up to the + reservation, and I had my first look at the Sioux on their + native heath, and saw for myself how peaceful they are. + Everybody at the agency is scared stiff. Every officer at the + fort, from the colonel down, is convinced that war is coming. + The governor of Nebraska has been up looking after the settlers + and ranch folk and warning them away. General Miles has an + officer there watching the situation. From him I heard that + your regiment is to be sent to the field at once to march + northward; that other troops are warned, and I suppose you'll + be joining somewhere on the way. But the row, when it comes, + will break out north of the Niobrara, and the --th may not get + there in time. + + "Stone says if you want a taste of the real thing, to apply for + orders to report for duty to the commanding officer at Fort + Niobrara until the arrival of your regiment. I have begged the + Chief of Engineers to let me have a few weeks in the field with + General Miles, and am assured that the general will apply for + me. Not that I can be of any value as Engineer Officer, but + just to get the experience, and perhaps see what we've been + reading of a dozen years--a real Indian campaign. Now, old man, + you know that country. You were there as a boy. _You_ could be + of use. Why not ask for orders at once? Then we can push out + via Sioux City together. I know how the mother will protest, + especially since she was robbed of three precious weeks in + July; but, isn't it the chance of a lifetime? Isn't this what + we are for, after all? Wire decision. Yours as ever, + + "CONNELL." + +"Good old Badger," murmured Geordie. "He always was right." Then that +letter went to an inner pocket, and for the first time in his life, +with something to conceal from her, George Graham turned to his mother. + +It was a beautiful September evening. The gray-and-white battalion had +just formed for parade. The throng of spectators lined the roadway in +front of the superintendent's quarters, and with that proud mother +clinging as usual to his arm, with that ominous letter in the breast of +his sack-coat, so close that her hand by a mere turn of the wrist could +touch it, George Graham stood silently beside her as she chatted +happily with Mrs. Hazzard. Not ten feet distant, leaning on a cane, was +an officer lamed for life and permanently retired from service because +of a desperate wound received in savage warfare. With him, eagerly +talking, was a regimental comrade who had survived the bloody day on +the Little Big Horn, and he was telling of things he had seen and men +whom he had met, men whose names were famous among the Sioux and were +now on the lips of the nation at large. Foremost of these was the +old-time enemy of every white man, long the leader of the most powerful +band that ever disputed the dominion of the West, Tatanka +Iyotanka--Sitting Bull. + +Not fifty miles from Standing Rock Agency, surrounded by devoted +followers, dwelling in Indian ease and comfort, but rejoicing in new +opportunities for evil, Sitting Bull, said the spokesman, was holding +frequent powwows with the ghost-dancers, urging, exciting, encouraging +all, and still the Indian Bureau would not--and the army, therefore, +could not--interfere. Everywhere from the Yellowstone to the confines +of Nebraska the young braves of the allied bands were swarming forth +and holding their fierce and ominous rites, and the autumn air of the +Dakotas rang with the death song and war-whoop. The blood craze was +upon them and would not down. The messiah had appeared to chief after +chief, warning him the time had come to rise and sweep the white +invaders from the face of the earth, promising as reward long years of +plenty and prosperity, the return of the vanished buffalo, the +resurrection of their famous dead, a savage millennium the thought of +which was more than enough to array the warriors for battle. "It's +coming; it's _bound_ to come!" said the captain, in his decisive way, +"and if old Bull isn't choked off speedily we'll have work for a dozen +regiments as well as ours." + +Graham listened, fascinated, yet praying his mother might not hear. +Secure in the possession of her stalwart son, full of joy in their +present and pride in his past, she chatted merrily on. Mrs. Frazier, +too, had joined them, another woman who had reason to rejoice in +Geordie's prowess at Silver Shield. They were so blithely, busily, +engaged that he presently managed to slip unobserved away and join the +little group about the speaker. Colonel Hazzard, too, was there and +held forth a cordial hand to the new-comer. Geordie's father never +betrayed half the pride in him that the colonel frankly owned to. + +"This must interest you not a little," said he. + +"More than I can tell you, sir," was the quick answer. "More than I +dare let mother know! But I have come for advice. I've a letter from +Mr. Connell. Read it, sir, and tell me how to go about it. Before +mother can get wind of it, I want orders to report at Niobrara." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A SCOUT FOR THE SIOUX + + +The dawn of an autumn day was breaking over a barren and desolate +landscape. The mist was rising from the silent pools of the narrow +stream that alternately lay in lazy reaches and sped leaping and +laughing in swift rapid over pebbly bed--the Mini Chaduza of the Sioux. +The sun was still far below the eastward horizon, but the clouds were +gorgeous with his livery of red and gold, and the stars had shrunk from +sight before the ardor of his beams. The level "bench" through which +the stream meandered, the billowing slopes to the north and south, were +bare of foliage and uninviting to the eye, yet keen and wary eyes were +scanning their bald expanse, studying every crest and curve and ridge +in search of moving objects. Only at the very brink of the flowing +waters, and only in far-scattered places along the stream, little +clumps of cottonwood-trees gave proof that nature had not left the +valley utterly without shade and refuge when the summer's sun beamed +hotly down upon the lower lands of the Dakotas. And now only among +these scattered oases could even practised eyes catch any sign of life. + +Here and there under the banks and shielded from outer view, near-by +watchers might discover little, dull-red patches glowing dimly in the +semi-darkness. Here and there among the timber and along the brink +little groups of dark objects, shifting slowly about, betrayed the +presence of animal life, and afar out upon the prairie slopes tiny +black spots on every side, perhaps a dozen in all, told the +plains-practised eye that here was a cavalry bivouac--a little detached +force of Uncle Sam's blue-shirted troopers, thrown out from the shelter +of fort or garrison, and lurking for some purpose in the heart of the +Indian country. + +For Indians there were by scores right here at the old antelope +crossing only the night before. The sands of the ford were still +trampled by myriad hoofs of ponies and streaked by the dragging poles +of the travois. The torn earth on the northward rise out of the stream +was still wet and muddy from the drip of shaggy breast and barrel of +their nimble mounts. No need to call up Iron Shield or Baptiste or +young Touch-the-Skies, Sioux scouts from the agency, to interpret the +signs and point the way. The major commanding and all his officers and +most of his men could read the indications as well as the half-breeds, +natives to the soil. A big band of young warriors, with a few elders, +had yielded to the eloquence of the messengers of Sitting Bull and were +out for mischief. They had been missing from the agencies several +weeks; had been ghost-dancing with their fellows from Pine Ridge to the +west, and were by this time probably on their way to swell the ranks +and stiffen the back of that big chief of the Minniconjou Sioux--"Big +Foot," as known to the whites, Si Tanka, as known to the Indian +Bureau, and "Spotted Elk," so said Iron Shield, the scout, as known to +the Sioux themselves. + +A famous character was Si Tanka. Next to Sitting Bull, now that Gall +was out of the way, dying of illness and old age, Si Tanka had more +influence than any chief afield, and he longed to be acknowledged head +of the allied Sioux. He had been to Washington, had been photographed +side by side with Mr. Blaine on the steps of the Capitol; had sold to +the whites the right of way for a railway through his Cheyenne River +lands. He belonged to the Cheyenne River Agency far to the east, and +declined to live there. He had his own village up in the Cherry Creek +country, midway between the troops at Fort Meade in the Black Hills and +Fort Bennett on the Missouri. He had white man's log-cabins, wagons, +furniture, horses, hens, and chickens. He had, moreover, hundreds of +cartridges, and the means and appliances wherewith to reload his +shells, and he had, what was worse, a lively son, Black Fox, who had +more Winchesters than he knew what to do with, and an insatiable +longing to use them against the whites. + +Ever since the ghost-dancing had begun, Si Tanka stayed in the open. +Agents went forth and begged him to come in where he belonged--to the +Cheyenne Agency at the east, or to the Pine Ridge to the southwest, or +the Rosebud to the southeast, or, if his lordship preferred, he might +even go camp near Fort Meade, or surrender at Standing Rock Agency to +the northeast, but to be out in the wilds and barely one hundred miles +from Sitting Bull, also posing as a private and sovereign citizen, +accepting government support but declining government supervision--that +was something the Indian Bureau viewed with alarm, and well it might, +for if Tatanka Iyotanka (Bull Sitting Big) and Siha Tanka, Si for short +(Foot Big), should take it into their dusky heads to be allies and not +rivals, if the great Uncapapa and the big Minniconjou were to join +forces, there would be the mischief to pay all over the West. So the +Bureau sent and civilly requested. Si Tanka most uncivilly replied, +and Tatanka Iyotanka scorned to reply at all. + +What made matters bad was this, that young braves were eternally +getting crazy over the ghost-dancing and going off to join these big +chiefs. "_Akichita hemacha_" ("I am a warrior"), being all they had to +say to friends and teachers who sought to dissuade them. + +Away up at Fort Meade, in the Black Hills, were some high-mettled +fellows, cavalry and infantry, who were eagerly watching the +indications, one burly major of Horse fairly losing his temper over the +situation, and begging the powers to let him take his capital squadron, +with one or two companies of infantry, and, between his horsemen, his +"walkaheaps," and himself, sturdy "Napa Yahmni," as the Sioux had named +him, swore he'd bring Big Foot to his senses and back to the agency. +Napa yahmni meant "three fingers," that being all that were left on one +of his hands after a scrimmage with Southern sabres during the great +Civil War. Really, there was reason why something should be done, or +surely the settlers and ranch folk would be made to suffer. And with +troops there at Fort Meade, in the Hills, and over at Fort Yates, on +the Missouri, and at Fort Robinson off to the southwest, or Niobrara +here to the east, it was high time Mr. Big Foot was made to behave, and +still the government stayed its orders and held its hand. + +One cool-headed, nervy, mild-mannered young officer had taken his life +in his hands, and a half-breed interpreter in civilized clothing, +visited Si Tanka's big village and had a talk with his turbulent +braves, to the end that as many as forty decided to quit, go home and +be good, give up evil spirits, intentions, and ghost-dancing, to the +rage of Black Fox and the amaze of Napa Yahmni, but it wasn't a week +before another Messiah broke loose among the sand-hills of western +Nebraska, and braves by the dozen sped thither to hear him; and +presently both agencies had another influx of outsiders, urging revolt +and uprising, and the old men counselled vainly, and preachers and +teachers pleaded without avail. The young wards of the nation were +ripe for mischief. The day of their deliverance had come. The Messiah +was calling his chosen to the wild wastes of the Bad Lands, where they +could sing and shout and dance till they dropped, and then if they went +mad with religion, and away to the warpath, it meant woe for western +Nebraska and for the Dakotas far and near. This was the situation that +called for a scout from Fort Niobrara, and thus it happened that for +over a fortnight a little column of cavalry had been patrolling the +breaks and the valleys away to the northwest, peering into the old +haunts of the Sioux along the headwaters of the pretty streams rising +among the hills beyond the weather-beaten landmark of Eagle's Nest. +They found lodge poles a-plenty on Black Pipe Creek, and the ashes of +many a little fire along Pass Creek and Bear-in-the-Lodge, and away to +the Yellow Medicine. They circled clear round the wild worshippers, it +seems, far west as the Wounded Knee, without ever encountering one; and +yet keeping them on the move had broken up their incantations, and, as +the major believed, had worn out their obstinate determination to +stick to their medicine-men and Messiahs whether the Great White Father +would have it or not. + +For two days the column had followed, eastward now, the trail of a big +band, and just when Baptiste and Touch-the-Sky, interpreters, would +have it that the crazy chiefs and their followers had been fairly +headed off and balked of their purpose of joining Big Foot beyond the +Cheyenne, just when it seemed likely that another day would enable the +troops to overhaul them and herd them peaceably, if possible, forcibly, +if not, back to the sheltering wing of the agency and the Indian +police, lo, just at sunset, after a long day's march, a corporal had +come galloping, full cry, from the rear-guard, while the scouts were +still far out to the front: "The Indians are back of us at least six +miles, going like mad for the north!" + +Then the major commanding said things that made his pilots' ears +tingle. It was all gospel truth. Finding themselves followed and being +steadily pressed onward toward the fort and the settlements, the +astute warriors had left a goodly sized party ambling along in front, +to lead the cavalry on; had dropped away all afternoon by twos and +threes as though looking for antelope or black tail, not northward +where the valley of the upper Chaduza was open and shallow and they +could be seen for miles, but southward among the breaks and ravines +where they were hidden entirely; had reassembled on a little branch to +the southwest and then, when the column was well out of sight, had +rushed for the north and the wild country so recently left; had forded +the Chaduza and by moonrise were doubtless safely camped for the night +on the south fork of White River. All the major could do was order his +men to the right-about, march to the crossing (another weary six miles +after the thirty-six of the day), and, with drooping horses and riders, +unsaddle, cook supper, and settle for the night, then send couriers to +the post in the morning. + +And now morning had come and couriers had not yet gone, for an hour +before the first break of day--the _anpaniya_ of the Sioux--there had +come galloping from the northeast a riderless horse, at sight of whose +blood-stained saddle and stirrup hood the herd-guard woke the officer +of the pickets. The captain unrolled from his blanket, took one look by +the light of the moon, and bade the corporal find Baptiste, who needed +not to see the saddle; he knew the horse at a glance. + +"Pete Gamble's," said he. "They've begun killing!" And Pete Gamble was +a ranchman well known to them all, both Indian and white. "If they +would kill _him_," said he, "they would kill anybody." + +And as if this were not enough, barely half an hour later two men, mad +with terror, came spurring in over the northward ridge, almost +delirious with joy to find themselves in the presence of friends. Their +little hunting camp, they said, had been suddenly "jumped" early in the +night. They had managed to get out with stampeded horses, but every one +else was butchered, and the Indians were after _them_. The major +doubled his guards to the north and awaited the Indian coming. He +would not rouse his wearied men until actually assailed. + +But now it was fairly broad daylight, and not an Indian feather had +shown nor an Indian shot been heard. Slowly, sleepily, at the gruff +summons of their sergeants, the troopers were crawling out of their +blankets and stretching and yawning by the fires. No stirring +trumpet-call had roused them from their dreams. A stickler for style +and ceremony was the major in garrison, but out on Indian campaign he +was "horse sense from the ground up," as his veterans put it. He +observed all formalities when on ordinary march, and none whatever when +in chase of the Indians. + +He had let them sleep to the very last minute, well knowing he might +have stern demands to make that day. He and his adjutant had reduced +the statements of the hunters to writing, and a brief, soldierly report +was now ready to go to the general commanding the department, who had +come out to Fort Niobrara to be nearer the scene of action. The fort +lay nearly fifty miles away, south of east, the agency even farther to +the north and east, and the recalcitrant braves were heading away +through the wilds of their old reservation, and might stop only for +occasional bite, sup, or sleep until they joined forces with Big Foot +or Black Fox, full a hundred miles as the crow flies, for now were they +branded renegades in the light of the law. + +In the crisp, chill air of the late autumn morning tiny smokes from the +cook-fires sailed straight aloft, melting speedily into the blue. For +nearly half a mile along the stream horses and pack-mules were +scattered upon the "bench," browsing eagerly on the dew-laden bunch +grass. Farther out beyond them on every side, with their campaign hats +pulled down over their grim eyebrows and their heads deep in the +collars of their cavalry overcoats, the men of the guard still kept +vigilant watch. Long years of experience on the Indian frontier had +taught their leaders the need of precaution, and the sentries took +their cue from the "old hands." By a little camp-fire, booted, +spurred, slouch-hatted, like his troopers, and muffled in a light-blue +overcoat that could not be told from theirs, the major commanding was +giving brief directions to three troopers who stood silently before +him, their carbines dangling from their broad shoulder-belts, with the +reins of their chargers in hand. Wiry and gaunt were these chargers, +wiry and gaunt were the men, for those were days when neither horse nor +rider went over-weight on campaign, or came back with a superfluous +ounce. But horses and men had stripped for the day's work. Blanket, +poncho, and overcoat, saddle-bags, side lines, lariat, and +picket-pin--everything, in fact, but themselves, their arms, +cartridges, canteens, saddles, saddle-blankets, and bridles--had been +left to the pack-train. A good breakfast to start with, a few hardtack +and slices of bacon in the breast-pocket of the hunting-shirt, settled +the question of subsistence. They were to start at once, deliver those +despatches at Niobrara, unless headed off by Indians, long before set +of sun, and be back with reply before its rise on the morrow. + +Then came the question as to the fate of the poor fellows of Gamble's +and the hunters' camp. + +"Mr. Willard," said the major to his adjutant, as the couriers mounted +and rode away, "send one platoon over to Gamble's camp--it'll take 'em +all day--and another back on the trail of the teamsters, and see what +they can find of the outfit. They'll have to hunt for it themselves. +The hunters say they wouldn't go back for a million apiece." + +The adjutant was figuring in his note-book. He closed it, arose at +once, and looked about him. Officers and men, the six troops, or +companies, of the detachment seemed busy at breakfast. The aroma of +soldier coffee floated on the keen morning air, and under the gentle, +genial influence of the welcome stimulant men began to thaw out, and +presently the firesides were merry with chaff and fun. A curious and +sympathetic group, to be sure, hovered about the survivors of the +hunters' camp, listening rather doubtfully to their tales, for the +tales had taken devious turns under cross-examination. But for the +bloody trappings of Pete Gamble's horse, telling mutely of tragedy, the +hunters might have met only contempt and scoffing. Indian scares were +old as the trails. + +"Whose turn is it?" presently questioned the major, as Mr. Willard +started away. The adjutant halted and faced about: + +"'D' and 'F' troops, sir." + +"All right. One officer and twenty men from each will be enough." + +And then came striding forward, with quick, elastic steps, a young +soldier in dark-blue campaign shirt and riding-breeches, a three weeks' +stubble on his clear-cut, sun-burned face, a field-glass slung over one +shoulder, a leather-covered note-book tucked away inside his +cartridge-belt. No sign of rank was visible about his dress, yet there +could be little doubt of it. The major looked up, smiling. + +"Fast going for topographical notes yesterday, wasn't it, Mr. Connell?" + +"I'm afraid so, sir. Indeed, I'm ashamed to submit them, but I wouldn't +have missed this scout for a month's pay, all the same." + +"Well, we don't often see the engineers on this sort of duty. I'm glad +the general sent you along. What is it, captain?" he broke off, turning +to a gray-mustached, choleric-looking veteran who came suddenly upon +them, breathing rather hard. + +"Major," began the stout man, impetuously, "this makes the third time +in ten days 'F' Troop's been ordered on side scout, or some part of it. +Now we're ordered back to hunt up what's left of that wagon camp, +and--" + +"One moment, captain," interposed the commander, placidly. "You say +'we.' My orders are only one officer and twenty men." + +"Well, I have only one officer with me, and _he_ don't belong," was the +querulous rejoinder. "He's simply a volunteer with the command, and so +utterly inexperienced that I consider it necessary to go myself. I +can't trust my men to a mere boy just out of school." + +"That will do, Captain Garrett," said the major, promptly, yet with +absolutely unruffled tone and temper. "If _I_ can, _you_ may. Mr. +Graham has had more experience than you are aware of." + +"Does Mr. Graham go--in command?" asked Connell, eagerly, as Captain +Garrett, silenced, but swelling with amaze, stood helplessly by. "May +_I_ go with him, sir?" + +"By all means, Mr. Connell, if you wish." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FIRST SIGHT OF THE FOE + + +In half an hour the sun was up and two little detachments of cavalry +were up and away--one of them, under Lieutenant O'Fallon, filing out of +the cotton-woods, at the eastward verge, and heading straight on the +trail of the couriers, who were already out of sight down the valley; +the other, leaving a few minutes later, was just disappearing from view +of the watchers in the bivouac, over the low ridge or divide that +spanned the northward sky-line. Once before, five years back, Geordie +Graham had led a little cavalry command on a swift and successful chase +after a gang of frontier desperadoes who had robbed the bank at +Argenta. Now, for the first time in his life, he was both guide and +commander. Now, as they had done time and again in cadet days, Connell +and Graham, "Badger" and "Coyote," went side by side, almost hand in +hand, on the path of stirring and at last perilous duty. + +To Connell the scout had thus far been one of almost unalloyed +enjoyment and profit. Attached to the staff of the commander as +engineer and topographical officer, he had ridden at will on the flanks +of the column, a single orderly his sole attendant, a prismatic compass +his only instrument. Then with the declining hours of the day came the +making up of his notes, and after supper the hours of confab with +Geordie, who, whenever possible, would come over to headquarters +camp-fire. There was no sociability at his own. + +"It is too bad," Major Berry had confided to Connell the third day out. +"It just so happened that 'Old Grumbly' was the one captain without a +subaltern when Mr. Graham reported for duty with us, and your fine +young classmate had to take the place of one of the absentees. The +colonel couldn't help himself. Grumbly is a good soldier in his way, +Mr. Connell, and knows his trade, too. I suppose Graham has--sized him +up?" This with a cock of his head and a keen glance. + +"Shouldn't wonder, sir; but if he has, he's kept it to himself." + +"Well, if Garrett gets to bothering Graham too much, you let me know." + +"I will, sir, if Graham lets _me_ know, but--I'm mistaken in Graham if +he opens his head on the subject." + +And though the scout was now in its third week, and things had been +said and done by "Grumbly" Garrett that set other men to talking, not a +word had come from "Coyote." + +But it soon transpired that if Graham wouldn't speak of his troop +commander _pro tem._, neither did he speak to him, save when occasion +required. Day after day on the march it was noted that while the senior +lieutenant of each troop rode side by side with his captain, the young +West Pointer serving with "F" was almost always at the rear of its +column of twos, where, as it transpired, Garrett had given him orders +to march and see that the men kept closed. But no complaint came from +Graham. + +Now, however, as the two old chums rode away on a side scout of their +own, it might well be expected that "Coyote" would be less reticent. +The eyes of half the command had followed them appreciatively as the +detachment started, Graham and Connell in the lead, Sergeant Drum, and +his nineteen following in compact column of twos. No sooner did they +reach the outlying sentries, however, than it was noted that the young +leader looked back over his shoulder, and the next moment two troopers +detached themselves from the rest and spurred out ahead until full six +hundred yards in the lead. Then two others obliqued out to the right +and left until nearly as a great a distance on the flanks. + +"Knows his biz," said the adjutant, sententiously. + +"Knows nothing but what I've taught him day by day," snarled Captain +Garrett. "And I wash my hands of all responsibility for that detachment +once it's out of sight of us." + +"Shut up," growled a junior. "The 'Old Man's' got ears, and he'll hear +you." + +"Well, I _want_ him to hear--it's time he _did_ hear--and heed," was +the surly answer. But "Grumbly's" eyes were wisely watching the major +as he spoke, noting that the "Old Man" was busy with his binocular, +following Graham's movements up the long, gradual, northward slope. The +moment the major dropped it and turned toward the group, Captain +Garrett changed his tone. "What I'm most afraid of is his getting +lost," said he. + +"You needn't be, captain," said the bearded commander, placidly. "Mr. +Graham knows this country better than we do. He spent long months here +before ever we set eyes on it." + +Garrett's jaw dropped. "Then why didn't he tell me? How was I to know?" + +"Principally, I fancy," drawled the adjutant, who loved to rub "Old +Grumbly's" fur the wrong way, "because you told him two weeks ago that +when you wanted advice or information on any subject from him you'd ask +it." + +But while Graham had as yet won no friend in Captain Garrett, he had +found many among the troopers. His fine horsemanship, his kind, +courteous manner to them, his soldierly bearing toward their irascible +captain, had appealed to them at the start and held them more and more +toward the finish. They saw the second day out that he was no novice at +plainscraft. The captain had asked his estimate of the distance from a +ford of the Chaduza to a distant butte, and promptly scoffed at his +answer; indeed, it surprised most of them. Yet "Plum" Gunnison, +pack-master, who had served seven years at the post, said the +lieutenant was right. They saw within the fourth day that the new-comer +was an old stager in more ways than one. "Touch-the-Sky," scout and +interpreter, said the lieutenant knew sign talk, which was more than +their captain did. They were to see still more within the compass of a +day's march, but they had seen enough in their two weeks' comradeship +to give them confidence in the young officer they never felt for their +own and only "Grumbly," who, with all his experience, would often +blunder, and Grumbly's blunders told on his troop, otherwise they might +not have cared. + +In low tone the troopers were chatting as they crossed the divide and +once more came in view of the two far out in advance, riding now +northeastward. They were following back, without much difficulty, the +hoof-prints of the two fugitives who, riding in terror and darkness, +had so fortunately found their bivouac at break of day. And it was of +these two both the men and their young officers were talking as the +little party jogged steadily on. + +Peaceful hunters and law-abiding men the pair had represented +themselves. They were originally five in all--three "pardners," a +wagoner, and a cook. Their "outfit" consisted of a covered wagon with +four draught and three saddle horses. They indignantly spurned the +suggestion that they had whiskey to swap with the Indians for fur and +peltries. They had a ranch down on Snake River, were well known in +Valentine, had never made trouble, nor had trouble, with the Indians; +but the game was all gone from their home neighborhood, and so long as +they kept off the reservation they knew there was no reason for the +Indians troubling them. And here came another suggestion. The "Old +Man," Major Berry, had somewhat bluntly asked if they did not know they +had been trespassing, had been well within the reservation lines and +north of Nebraska, and the two swore stoutly that Lem Pearson, partner +and projector of the enterprise, had said he knew the country +perfectly, had been there half a dozen times, and they left it all to +him. They never dreamed they were doing wrong until their camp was +"jumped" in the dead of night, and the Sioux chased them every inch of +the way till they got in sight of the cavalry. + +Yet here was the detachment, at six o'clock of this sparkling morning, +clear out of sight of the rest of the cavalry, and half-way across the +long swale of the next divide, and, though the print of the shod horses +was easily followed, not once yet, anywhere--although the little troop +was spread out in long extended line and searched diligently--not once +had they found the print of a pony hoof. Now they were full an hour, +and nearly four miles, out from camp, and Geordie signalled, slowly +swinging his campaign hat about his head, for his men to assemble, then +dismount and take their ten minutes' rest. + +"Con," said he, presently, "it's my belief those scamps were lying. The +only Indians near the Chaduza were those that skipped for White River +last night and are probably heading for Eagle's Nest now. Their trail +must be three miles or more west of us here, and South Fork isn't three +miles ahead. We'll see it from yonder ridge." + +Connell was squatting, tailor fashion, on the turf, and thoughtfully +playing "mumble-t'-peg" with his hunting-knife, while his troop horse +cropped thriftily at the bunch grass. Graham had been giving a glance +over his little command, watching the resetting of a saddle or a +careful folding of a blanket. It would presently be time to mount and +start, but there was something on his mind, and, as of old, he wanted +to have it out with his chum. + +Connell drew his knife from the sod, then, with the point on the tip of +the left forefinger and the haft deftly held between the thumb and +finger of his right, shifted it over by his right ear and sent it +whirling down, saw it sink two inches in the sand, bolt upright, then +queried: "They said their camp was on the Fork ten miles away +northward. Could that be?" + +"It might. The Fork turns almost square to the north and runs back of +Rosebud. But what I mean is, they weren't chased by the Sioux. I doubt +if they fought them at all." + +"How about Gamble's horse?--and the blood? There's been some kind of a +fight. Look, Con! There's a signal!" + +Surely enough. As Connell sprang to his feet and the men quickly turned +to their grazing horses, one of the troopers, far in advance, could be +seen close to the crest of the divide. He had dismounted to creep +forward and peer over, and now, half-way back to where he had left his +horse, was waving his hat, with right arm extended from directly over +his head down to the horizontal and to the east. + +"Mount!" said Geordie, quietly, springing lightly to saddle with a +thrill of excitement in his young heart. "Follow at a walk, sergeant, +off to the northeast. That's where we're needed, Con." + +For the advance-guard, mounting quickly, was now loping along parallel +with the divide, yet keeping well down below its backbone, and, putting +spurs to their horses, "Badger" and "Coyote," the chums of old, darted +swiftly away to join them. + +Five minutes more, while a trooper held the horses of the young +officers and their guides, while in silence and with eager eyes the +little detachment came jogging over the swale to the support of the +leaders, three forms were crouching forward to the top of the wavelike +ridge, and presently three heads, uncovered, were peering over into the +valley beyond. Then the arm of one of them was outstretched, pointing. +Then the field-glasses of two others were unslung, fixed and focused +on some distant object; and then back, still crouching, came one of the +number, signalling to Sergeant Drum to come on. Whereupon, without a +word of command, simply following the example of their foremost man, +the riders gave the bridle-hand, and with the other whipped the ready +carbines from their sockets, and with the butts resting on the right +thigh, the brown muzzles advanced, came on at a swift trot, those in +rear unconsciously pressing forward on those in front. + +Then another signal--this time from their young commander, who had come +running down afoot, leaving "Badger" at the crest. In the eagerness of +the forward rush the riders were opening out, coming right and left +front into line, as the soldiers say, and Graham's gauntleted +hands--the same gauntlets Big Ben had coveted three months +earlier--were extended full to right and left, the length of each arm, +and then brought "palms together" in front. "Close in," it said, as +plain as day, and almost instantly Drum's gruff voice could be heard in +rebuke; almost as quickly the practised riders could be seen closing +the outer leg and rein. Another moment and the little line was trotting +almost boot to boot. Then as they neared the point where the slope +became abrupt, Graham's right hand, palm forward, went straight aloft, +a gesture instantly repeated by the sergeant, and in two seconds more +the horses, panting a little with excitement, were pawing the turf, and +Drum's voice, low and compelling, ordered, "Count fours!" The next +moment the odd numbers darted forward four yards, and halted. The next, +with carbines swung over their shoulders, numbers one, two, and three +were swinging from saddle, the next all horses were again in one line, +with every fourth trooper still seated in saddle; and the dismounted +men deftly lashing their reins to the headstalls of numbers two and +three, while three himself passed his reins up to number four. Then, +nimbly, with carbines at trail, up came a dozen wiry young fellows in +dusty campaign rig, running swiftly up the slope, and in another moment +were sprawling on their stomachs close to the crest, their slouch hats +flung aside. + +And this was what they saw: Before them, to the right front, stretching +away to the north, lay a broad valley, through which meandered a wider, +bigger stream than the familiar Chaduza. It came winding down from the +west before making its sweeping bend to the northward. It was fringed +in spots by cotton-woods, and bare to the very banks in others. It was +desolate and lifeless far as the eye could see, west and north. But +away to the northeast, perhaps seven miles or so, a faint column of +smoke was rising against the skies. Away to the northwest, perhaps a +dozen miles, in alternate puffs, another and narrower smoke column was +rising--Sioux signals, as they knew at once--and right down here before +their eyes, midway between the shining river and the foot of the +northward slope, perhaps two thousand yards out--a little more than a +mile--was coming toward them a four-horse wagon, its white top a wreck, +its struggling team lashed by the whip of the driver and the quirts of +half a dozen dusky outriders, while others still circled and shouted +and urged them on, while afar back on the east bank of the stream other +riders could be seen darting about in keen excitement. All on a sudden, +but by no means all unprepared, "Corporal Pops" and his little command +found themselves facing a new proposition and a band of turbulent +Sioux. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PROOF POSITIVE OF GUILT + + +And the first words spoken came from the lips of Sergeant Drum--like +many another old campaigner among the old-time regulars, a privileged +character. + +"Didn't I tell ye those fellers were lyin'? Here's their wagon now, +that was burnt over their heads!" + +At intervals of several paces, as they could best find points from +which to see without being seen from the northern side, the little +detachment lay sprawled along the crest, the brown barrels of the +carbines well forward. Graham and Connell, peering through their +field-glasses, their elbows resting on the turf, were side by side +about the centre. Behind them, nearly a hundred paces down the +southward slope, stood the horses in an irregular line, a corporal +remaining in charge, keenly watching the movements of his superiors, +yet keeping constant control of the four horse-holders, who, like +himself, remained in saddle. There could be no telling what moment they +might be needed. + +For an odd and perplexing situation was this in which the young +commander was placed. Ordered to follow back the trail of the fugitive +hunters to the point where they claimed to have been "jumped" by +hostile Indians; ordered to find, if possible, the remains of the +victims, men and horses, and of the burned wagon and "outfit"; ordered +also to search for signs by which the assailants might be discovered, +the command had come suddenly in sight of a wagon and horses that +answered the description of those said to have been destroyed, and if +that wasn't a white man driving them, both binoculars were at fault. + +But what did it mean that the captors should be coming southwestward +with their booty? Why had they not burned the wagon? They could never +use it at the reservation. Many young men, of course, were out and +afield with the ghost-dancers, but the elders, the native police, and +the agent would quickly hear of it, and trouble would follow for +somebody. George Sword, Sioux chief of police and stanch adherent of +General Crook--"Wichahnpi Yahmni" (Three Stars), as they called him +whom so long the Sioux had honored, and whom now they were so deeply +mourning--George Sword was a man who did his duty well; Geordie, as a +boy, had known him, and known how the general trusted him. A wagon like +this would be of no more use to the captors than a locomotive; yet here +they were, a dozen of them, urging it on, while others of their kind, +afar back down-stream, were darting about, little black dots of +horsemen scampering over the distant slopes, evidently watching some +parties still farther away and invisible to the lurking cavalry. + +Could it be that they were trying to repeat an old-time deed of +chivalry told to this day of their fathers--restoring lost property to +the legitimate owners? Could it be that, knowing the presence of the +squadron on the Mini Chaduza, and the probability of the frightened +owners having found refuge there, these Indians were now actually +driving thither? They were still on their reservation. There was +nothing but the fugitives' statement to warrant the belief that the +camp had been attacked and burned. There was nothing, in fact, to +justify an attack upon the present possessors. They would probably +scatter, rush to the reservation, tell their tale to the agent, and the +press and the peace societies would presently be flooding the country +with columns concerning the murderous onslaught on a friendly people +made by a reckless soldiery. + +Yet something had to be done, and that right speedily; for now, instead +of breasting the long slope, and coming, as at first, straight toward +the ridge, the Indians were lashing the leaders in gradual turn to the +westward. Now they were skirting the foot of the incline and moving +parallel to the ridge, and then it was that Geordie saw the reason. +They had made the wide sweep outward in order to circle the head of a +ravine which, starting only a few hundred yards out to the left front, +went winding deeper and steeper through the "bench" until it finally +opened out into the creek bottom a long mile away. + +Yes, the whole scheme was evident now. They had captured the camp and +the wagon with its contents, and, knowing the difficult country and +crossings along the lower Fork, were scurrying with their booty around +the great southward bend, hoping to get away to the west, reach the +trail of the war-party that had evaded the cavalry, and follow on with +their prize. Or else, still keeping within the reservation line, to +drive on westward for the valley of the Wounded Knee and their red +brethren of the Pine Ridge Agency, the Brules of old Spotted Tail's +(Sinte gleshka's) long famous band. + +Yet there, too, this wagon would be a white elephant. Why had they not +divided among themselves the simple contents of a hunter's camp outfit, +cut loose with the horses, and burned the big vehicle, which they could +not use? + +Then all in a moment the truth flashed upon Geordie. Years before he +had heard of such traffic, heard the fierce denunciation lavished by +officers and men upon the miscreants who, for love of gold, would sell +to Indians, at fabulous price, the means of murdering their fellow-men. +All on a sudden his voice was heard: + +"Back to your horses, men! Mount, sergeant, and follow. Come on, +Connell! That's why it takes four horses to lug it--that wagon is +loaded with lead!" + +One minute more and from the lips of one wary Indian, well out on the +"bench," went up a shrill whoop of warning. Away up the the grassy +incline, from over the ridge and spurring straight for the wagon, now +at the head of the ravine, came two lithe young horsemen, riding like +the wind, the right hand of the foremost far uplifted in the signal +known the plains over--to halt. Behind these two came an orderly +trooper full gallop. Behind these three, presently, there popped into +view a score of slouch-hatted, blue-bloused, sturdy dragoons, and with +many a screech of wrath and disgust, away went the last of the Sioux, +scooting for the shelter of the creek bank beyond. Shoot they longed +to, yet dare not. The word had not yet gone forth. The medicine-men +still said nay. The time was not yet ripe. A few days more must they +suffer until Si Tanka and his braves were met, until, in overwhelming +force, they could turn on the scattered and helpless settlers. That was +easier warfare than fighting soldiers, and counted for just as much in +scalps and glory. Away they went to the cotton-wood bottom, and one +wellnigh exhausted, thoroughly demoralized white man collapsed on the +driver's seat, and four sweating, staggering horses pulled up, panting +and blowing, and the score of blue-coated riders came thundering on, to +rein up in triumph around a silent but obviously excited brace of +lieutenants, one of whom simply pointed into the depths of the wagon +body. From under a lot of dingy camp equipage peeped out three or four +little boxes the soldiery knew at sight. Sergeant Drum spurred +alongside and whisked off what was left of the cover, and a dirty +blanket or two, and there was a larger box, half filled with magazine +rifles. There were ten boxes of Winchester cartridges, one thousand to +the box. There was the secret of the "hunter's camp." They had been +selling arms to the Sioux. + +"Good find, that, Geordie," grinned Connell, as his comrade sat +pencilling a brief despatch to the major, while three of the men, with +liberal sprinklings from their canteens and brisk fanning with their +hats, were striving to revive the collapsed wagoner. + +"I need his story," said our plains-wise Pops. "Pull him to, if +possible," and then went on with his writing. + + + "SOUTH FORK, WHITE RIVER, + "_October_ -- '90, 9 A.M. + "_Lieutenant H.H. Willard, Adjutant Detachment + --th Cavalry._ + + "SIR,--I have to report that we have just intercepted a small + party of Sioux driving off a four-horse wagon, which contains + eleven Henry and Winchester rifles and at least ten thousand + rounds of ball cartridges. This is probably the 'outfit' of the + fugitives who reached bivouac this morning, reporting it burned + and their comrades killed. + + "One of the latter, at least, is alive, but we found him + unconscious, although unharmed. He was driving the wagon. The + Indians scattered, but are now assembling in the cotton-woods a + mile distant. More seem coming to join them. If attacked, we + will hold out; but I wish to push on and ascertain what befell + the others. We cannot, however, leave the wagon, nor have I + force enough to leave a guard. + + "Very respectfully, + "G.M. GRAHAM, + "_Second Lieutenant --th Cavalry_, + "_Commanding detachment_." + +Then came a significant P.S., at sight of which, little over an hour +later, Major Berry's eyes snapped, and so did his speech. + +"Bring those two scoundrels here!" said he, and a hangdog-looking pair +they were when presently lined up before the bearded commander, while +no less a personage than Captain Garrett, at the head of forty +troopers, was setting forth on the trail of his much-envied subaltern, +to relieve him, if surrounded and attacked by the Sioux; to relieve +him, in any event, of the care of the wagon, but under no circumstances +to relieve him of his command or duties. Unless menaced by strong +parties of the Sioux, Mr. Graham was to go ahead with a dozen +additional men, carry out his orders, and Captain Garrett with the rest +should bring that wagon to camp. + +Then with Geordie's report and postscript in hand, the major stood +glowering at the fugitives of the morning, now most ruefully yet +furtively studying his face. They suspected something amiss when warned +awhile before that they were not to try to ride off. They knew there +was mischief to pay now. + +"You two sku--specimens," began the major, ominously, "told me you were +only accidentally on the Sioux reservation. You swore you were simply +out hunting antelope." + +"That's God's truth, major," whined the taller of the two, though the +other seemed ready to parley and plead. + +"That's an infernal lie!" was the answer. "You told me the Sioux +'jumped' your camp, killed your partner, and burned your wagon." And +with menace in his burning eyes the veteran officer paused for a reply. + +"'Fore God, major, that's how it looked to us. 'Course it was +pitch-dark--" + +"Pitch-dark--in bright moonlight! This is worse, and more of it. +You're a pair of black-hearted villains! You went there deliberately. +You went with a wagon-load of arms and ammunition to sell to Sioux +Indians just bound for the war-path. You'd swing for that if there was +any law in the land, but swing you shall--anyhow!" + +"You dassn't touch us!" burst in the leader, sudden spirit and defiance +in his tone, well knowing how powerless were the military in face of +civil law. "We're no poor devils of dog-robbers. We demand protection +and a fair trial--a jury of our peers; that means no hide-bound gang of +soldiers. You can't prove we sold so much as a shot, an' you know it, +an' you're only trying to bluff." + +"That's enough, _you_!" was the startling answer. "Sergeant of the +guard, shoot these men like dogs if they attempt to escape. We sha'n't +waste time trying to prove you sold arms. What we can prove, and will +prove, and by your own man, too, and hang you high as Haman for it, is +that Pete Gamble, deputy sheriff, caught you at your devilish work, and +you shot him dead from ambush!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE WAR-DANCE AND THE CHARGE + + +With two days' cooked rations in their saddle-bags now, with a line of +hearty appreciation from Major Berry and renewed instructions to go +ahead, with a dozen more men than he had at the start, and the best +wishes of his temporary commander, Geordie Graham had pushed on again +northeastward down the right bank of the Fork. Waiting until the party +was fairly out of sight over the far-distant "divide," and watching +meantime the movements of the still remaining Indians in the timber, +Captain Garrett finally put his puny command in march for the Mini +Chaduza, bringing the wagon and the now semi-restored charioteer along. +Five of Gunnison's pack-mules, sent on with the troop, had so lightened +the wagon of its load that the lately abused horses, given a good feed +of oats and a swallow of water, were able to trundle it lightly along. +With another day it was started under escort for Niobrara, its late +owners, cursing their fate, unwilling passengers inside. + +It was late afternoon when the two halves of "F" Troop lost sight of +each other, the captain going, grumbling, back to the main body with a +much disappointed command; the subaltern riding swiftly away down the +widening valley, with an exultant platoon at his back, all hands +rejoicing that theirs was the first capture of the campaign. Parallel +with them, afar across the stream, darting from cover to cover and +keeping vigilant watch, rode half a dozen redskins. Most of their +brethren, by this time, were far away toward Eagle's Nest, in quest of +the main body. These few were charged with the duty of keeping track of +the little troop, in order to be able to report exactly the direction +in which it was going and that no pursuit was intended. This definitely +settled, they, too, galloped away, and the valley, so far as Geordie +could judge, was now free of red riders. + +The sun was low in the west. The wagon-tracks still led on. The night +was near at hand, and the troopers in advance had seen no sign of a +camp. Ten miles, at least, had they marched, and, avoiding a deep +westward bend of the stream, the trail now led them over a low ridge, +from whose crest the scouts signalled, "Nothing in sight." + +Yet, a few minutes later, Graham and Connell, dismounting there the +better to scour the country with their glasses, were seen by the main +body to spring to their feet and then to saddle, Graham facing toward +them and with his hat signalling, "Change direction half left," whereat +Sergeant Drum, riding steadily along perhaps four hundred yards behind +his young commander, simply turned his horse's head in the direction +indicated, left the wagon-track, and silently his comrades followed. +"They've found it," said Drum, and found it they had. + +Though the wheel-marks still held to the northward, and the three +troopers far in the lead had seen nothing as yet worthy of special +report, the strong lenses of the signal-glass had told their own story. + +"Look yonder, Connell, in that clump of cotton-woods beyond the low +point," were Graham's words as he sprang to his feet. "See those black +things in the timber? They're buzzards!" + +Five minutes later the corporal, too, was signalling, he and his men at +a halt. They, too, had made discoveries: the track, as it later +developed, of two shod horses pursued by shoeless Indian ponies. +Southeastward this trail went up a long, shallow ravine, then veered +round to the south. It told of fugitives and, for a time, of pursuers. +Ten minutes after the first discovery, down in the sandy bottom and +close to the stream, the officers caught sight of a brace of prairie +wolves, skulking away from the timber, among the branches of which some +grewsome birds were flapping and fluttering, while two or three sailed +slowly overhead. Presently the riders came in view of a little +scooped-out shelter where the sand was all torn by hoofs, and herein +lay the poor remains that served as confirmation of the driver's +story--all that was left, as was soon determined, of poor Gamble, one +of the most feared and fearless men of the Western frontier. + +Shot twice, and from behind, he had managed to gallop a few hundred +yards up-stream, and then, weak from loss of blood, had toppled out of +saddle, crawled to this hollow, and presently died. Half a mile farther +down-stream the camp site was found, hoof and moccasin tracks in +myriads about it, camp-kettles and debris still scattered around, empty +cans, sacks, and boxes flung at the edge of the stream. Here, +evidently, the traders had spent two or three days, and here, there, +and everywhere were fragments of pasteboard cartridge-cases. A thriving +industry, this, until suddenly swooped upon by Gamble, who paid for his +discovery with his life. Here, then, was closed one chapter of the +hunters' tale. But what had become of their partner? What had broken up +their camp and driven them, terror-stricken, from the reservation? + +Not until the dawning of another day was this fully determined. +Meanwhile there came new complications--a strange and stirring +adventure of their own. + +Finding fair grass on the "bench" a few rods farther down the stream, +Geordie had chosen a site for the bivouac, and disposed his little +force for the night. While there had been as yet no overt act of +hostility on the part of the Sioux, and while all the Indians taking +part in the affair of the morning had now, apparently, ridden off to +join the renegade band, and were presumably far to the northwest, no +chances could be taken. The horses, after two hours' grazing, were led +into the timber and hoppled. The sentries were posted well out. The +little camp-fires had been screened under the bank, and full half the +command had rolled in their blankets and settled to sleep. When the +moon came peering up over the distant eastward heights, Geordie and +Connell, chatting in low tones under a sheltering cotton-wood, were +suddenly summoned by a trooper coming in on the run from the outpost +below, a mile at least from where they had buried poor Gamble. +"Indians, sir," said he, "and lots of 'em, coming up the valley on the +other bank." + +"Douse your fires, there!" was the first order. "Look well to your +horses, sergeant. Stay here in charge. I'll send word what to do." + +Then, with eager stride, Geordie hurried away after the messenger, +Connell close at his heels. Two hundred yards they followed, winding +along under the bank, and presently came to a sharp bend, beyond which +and across the stream the prairie lay open and undulating for many a +league, the only obstruction to the view being a little grove of +cotton-woods on the opposite shore and possibly half a mile away, and +that little grove and the level bench about it were alive with Indians +and Indian ponies, the former at least in high state of excitement. + +Kneeling behind the trunk of a fallen cotton-wood, two troopers were +intently studying the situation. "They came riding down from over +yonder to the northeast, sir," said one of them, a corporal, making +room for his lieutenant. "There must have been as many as a hundred all +told, with others trailing behind. There's going to be a pow-wow of +some kind. They've unsaddled and turned the ponies out, and some +feller's shoutin' and singin'--you can hear him now, sir." + +Hear him! As he warmed up to his speech, incantation, or whatever it +was, the speaker could have been heard distinctly a long mile away, and +all the bivouac up-stream, not already sound asleep, sat up to listen. +War-chief or medicine-man, he had a voice that dinned upon the ear of +night and dominated all other sounds, from guttural grunt of assent to +frantic yell of applause, as the roar of Niagara in the Cave of the +Winds drowns the futile babble of the guides. Once in early boyhood +Geordie had heard an Indian orator of whom his father and +fellow-officers spoke ever in honor and esteem--a chief whose people +wellnigh worshipped him--"Rolling-Thunder-in-the-Mountains," they +called him ("Hin-Mato-Iya-Latkit," in their weird dialect). And as +George and Connell knelt here now, listening to this deep, reverberant +voice, thundering from bluff to bluff across the mile-wide valley, the +name and fame of old Chief Joseph, whom the whites had so misunderstood +and wronged, came back to the young commander with redoubled force. + +But no such chief as Joseph was this who, standing in the leaping +firelight, high among the red warriors about him, was lashing them to +frenzy with his resounding words. No interpreter crouched with the +little party at the point; none was needed to tell them that he was +preaching of battle, blood, and vengeance. From time to time the wail +of women could be heard, wild as the scream of the panther, and, as one +sign led to another, it dawned upon Geordie and the veteran trooper by +his side that some brave of the band had recently been done to death by +foul means or treachery, that now the tribe was being roused to a pitch +of fury, to a mad thirst for vengeance; and even before the red orator +had finished his harangue the war-drum began its fevered throb, the +warriors, brandishing knife, club, hatchet, or gun, sprang half +stripped into the swift-moving circle, and with shrill yells and weird +contortions started the shuffling, squirming, snake-like evolutions of +the war-dance. Faster, wilder went the drumbeats; fiercer, madder went +the dance; and, unable to resist the impulse, Graham and Connell, +secure in the belief that the Indians were utterly engrossed, crept +cautiously onward and outward, with the corporal at their back, +determined to see what they could of this savage and appalling +ceremony. + +Half-way to the scene had they crept when the shrill wailing of the +squaws gave way to shriller screams, to almost maniac laughter. The +orator had ceased his incantations. The wild drummers stopped their +pounding. The warriors, as though with one accord, clustered about the +fire in fascination, and for the moment all save the squaws were +stilled, and the crouching watchers, quarter of a mile away, looked +blankly into each other's faces for explanation. "What on earth are +they up to now?" whispered Connell. + +The answer came within the minute: a sound sweeter to savage ears than +love-lay of the maidens, than war-song of the braves, than even the +wild, triumphant chorus of the scalp-dance; a sound that suddenly rose +for a moment above the clamor of the squaws, and then was answered and +overwhelmed and drowned in mad, exultant, even fiendish, yells of +delight--it was the scream of a strong man in awful agony. + +"My God!" cried the corporal. "They've got some poor devil there, +torturing, burning him to death!" + +"To the horses! Come on, Con!" was the instant answer. And the three +went bounding back along the bank, pursued and spurred by the savage +shouting from below, but, as God so willed it, without so much as a +glance. Over the lair of the picket they flew, with only the orders +"Come on!" Away over the elastic "bench" they dashed, hot-foot for the +bivouac, and Drum, the veteran, saw them coming like the wind, and read +their tale and the instant need. "Saddle up!" he shouted, while the +group was still afar. "Jump for it, men! There's not a second to lose!" + +Up from their blankets sprang the few sleepers. In from their stations +scurried the outlying sentries. Rattle went the bits between the teeth +of the excited chargers. Slap went the saddles on the broad, glossy +backs. There was hurry and rush and swift leaping for arms, the snap of +cinchas, the snorting of steeds, yet not a word was spoken until the +low order to lead into line; and straightway old Drum marshalled his +men, silent, yet with hearts beating like hammers, and then down their +front rode their youthful lieutenant, a stranger to all but a month +agone, yet now they lived on his slightest word. Oh, what +thoughts--what thoughts of mother and home, and the brave old days of +boyhood and the Point, had been winging through his brain during the +long hours of the day! But now--now there was no time for thought! +There was time only for action; for a fellow-man lay in deadly peril, +in dreadful torment, only a short mile away. + +"Not a sound--not a shot, men," he ordered, as the quivering line +reined up before him. "Follow our lead, stampede the ponies, and charge +through the crowd; then rally quick as you can." + +Splash! drove the leaders into the shallows. Breast deep, foaming, they +spurred through the stream, the troop plunging after, with carbines +slung over their shoulders. Out on the opposite bank and up to the +"bench" they swarmed, then veered away northward over the resounding +level, Geordie and Connell, classmates and chums, bounding away in +advance. No danger of Indian eyes or ears, no dread of hindering shot +or ambush. When the pale-face writhes at the torture stake, even Indian +vedette forgets his trade for the lust of such luxury as witnessing +that. Up into line with the leading four galloped the chargers in rear. +On toward the leaping flames in the grove led those lithe young riders +ahead. Mad with excitement, some nervous new horses snatched at their +bits and burst from the line, and Geordie, glancing back, saw them +gaining in spite of restraining hand. What mattered it, anyhow? +Every second was precious. The ground was open, the herded ponies less +than half a mile forward, and already alarmed. "Let 'em go!" he +shouted, with a wave of the revolver over his head. "Straight through +the herd, men. _Ch-a-a-a-rge!_" + + [Illustration: "'STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HERD, MEN. + _CH-A-A-A-RGE!_'"] + +Then up went a cheer that rang over the valley, shrill above the +thunder of hoofs, the shriek and scream of terrified squaws, the shouts +of astonished braves. Away like the wind went the streaming swarm of +ponies, in mad flight for the north! Away like scatter-brained rabbits, +darting hither and thither in the firelight, rushing madly to shelter, +leaping from the "bench" to the sandy bottom below, scurrying in wild +panic anywhere, everywhere, went warriors, women, and children; for, +close on the heels of the vanishing herd came unknown numbers of +blue-coated, brave--hearted, tumultuous riders, tearing through camp +like a human tornado, turning the scene of the late revel into a +turmoil of woe. Vain the few shots aimed in haste and excitement. Vain +the rallying cry of a fighting chief. A blow from the butt of Ned +Connell's revolver sprawled him headlong over a prostrate form--a white +man "staked out" in front of the fire, swooning from mingled misery, +weakness, and joy. + +It was Pearson, the missing "partner," captured alive by the Sioux, +doomed to die by slow torture, in revenge for a young warrior shot down +by the gun-traders in a senseless squabble two nights before. + +And the troop had saved him and his fellow-captive, the cook, without +so much as firing a shot. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BATTLE AND VICTORY + + +And this was the story that went on the heels of the escort convoying +the gun-traders in to the fort, and much did Major Berry relish the +composition of that report. It had long been the claim of himself and +his comrades that white men were encouraged to enter the reservation +with arms and cartridges, and that it was easy for the Sioux to lure +their police, or to mislead the sheriff, away from the point where +these unprincipled smugglers crossed the line. + +Now, infuriated at the cowardice and treachery of two of their number, +Pearson, the leader, and Bent, the wagoner, had made a clean breast of +the business. They had driven hard bargains, had laid in good stores of +beaver, wolf, and deer skins, and no little cash. Then Little Crow +came, quarrelled over an obvious cheat, called one partner a liar, was +struck, abused, and thrown out. He galloped away and came back with +Gamble, a man they dare not let live, once having learned their secret. +Both Little Crow and he were treacherously shot by the partners as they +were riding to warn George Sword and his police. Then came the swift +vengeance of the Sioux, the flight of Hurley and Gross, leaving their +unwary comrades to an awful fate. While one party of Indians made way +with the wagon, in hopes of running it--horses, contents, and all--to +the camp of Si Tanka, another party, the immediate relatives and +friends of Little Crow, rode off with the two captives to the village +where Little Crow lay dying, and finally, fearing interruption there, +came back to the valley by night for the wildest, most delirious orgy +known to Indian tradition--the slow doing to death of captured enemy by +ingenious and horrible torture. + +And this was the indescribable ceremony nipped in the bud by our young +lieutenant and his twoscore men, to whose energy, courage, and skill +Major Berry gave all credit, though Garrett claimed it "in the name of +my troop." + +All night had they faced a furious and clamorous band--chiefs, +warriors, and women--shouting denunciation, demanding their prey, and +threatening attack in tremendous force. But Geordie had posted his men +for battle, hidden the recaptured under the bank, and dared the whole +band to come on and get them, if they thought it advisable, which, it +seems, they did not. With his patients on Indian _travois_ ("borrowed," +ponies and all, perhaps without ceremony, from the supply on the spot), +Graham slowly retraced his steps the following morning, and was met +half-way in by the squadron in force, the heartiest kind of a welcome, +and news that thrilled through his veins like the sound of the charge. + +"The --th and your own troop are camped south of the line, Mr. Graham. +I have orders for you to go in to-morrow." + +Just so soon, therefore, as he could turn over his patients to the care +of the surgeon, write his brief report of the scout, and say good-bye +and a few words of thanks to Sergeant Drum and his fellows, who longed +to tell him how they hated to let him go, and after hearty handshakes +from Berry and his brother officers ("Samson" Stone taking special +credit to himself for having, as he expressed it, "put Graham and +Connell onto the time of their lives"), our Geordie blushingly bade +farewell to these comrades of a strenuous month, and, with faithful +Connell at his side, and a little escort attending, rode away down to +the Chaduza, to report to the general commanding, and then go on to his +own, for ominous tales had come from the Bad Lands. There was trouble +in store for all. + + [Illustration: UNITED STATES CAVALRY IN WINTER RIG] + +First, however, there was wonderful welcome for him at Niobrara. The +skies had grown wintry. The snow patches were beginning to dot the +prairie, but the camp-fires burned the brighter, and men clustered +about them and talked of the "luck" of the new lieutenant, whom the +general himself alighted from his escort wagon to greet and to +question. For several days the chums were needed at the fort, where +both prisoners and witnesses were held, but the case against the +self-styled hunters was so overwhelming that the demand for their stay +was soon at an end, and, in the train of the general, they went on +westward to the winter camp of the assembled cavalry, whither "the old +regiment" had preceded them, and there, one dark and wintry evening, +with the snow-flakes sifting down, and the depths of a distant valley +all dotted with tiny blazes--the cook fires of a whole brigade--they +were met by a troop of cavalry in fur caps and gauntlets, and huge, +blanket-lined overcoats--swarthy, bearded fellows, with service-stained +boots and trappings, but looking fit for the hardest kind of +campaigning and any kind of a fight. It swung from column into line, +saluted the general with advanced carbines, and then, wheeling by fours +to right, trotted briskly away with the little cortege, and presently +its commander, after a few words with the general, fell back, peering +from under his bushy headpiece, and sung out in cheery tones Geordie +had not heard for many a day, yet knew on the instant: + +"Ah, there you are, Mr. Graham! We have a horse with us ready for you +now!" And lo! it was Captain Lane, with his own troop ("E" of the +--th), sent out to lead the general's escort into camp. Leaving the +companions of the long, jolting ambulance ride, Geordie sprang to the +back of a mettlesome bay, led forward by a muffled-up trooper who +steadied the young officer's stirrup before turning aside to remount, +while a tall, spare, wiry-looking sergeant sat stiffly in saddle, his +fur-covered hand at salute, his long gray mustache and stubbly beard +and thin hooked nose being almost all that could be seen of the face; +yet the twinkle in his waiting captain's eyes and a twitch in the +muscles of the veteran's lips set Geordie to staring, and presently out +went his hand and up went his glad young voice: + +"Nolan! Nolan! _You_ back with us again!" + +"Couldn't keep out of it, sir, when we got word that the old troop was +to have another Indian campaign. No more could Toomey." + +And lo! it was his friend of the Big Mogul now again bestriding a troop +horse, detailed specially to meet him! And Lane, with a wave of his +hand and a laugh that was good to hear, left the three cronies of +Silver Run to ride in together while he galloped on to his duties. + +"But the mines, Nolan, and your position?" questioned Geordie, as soon +as the greetings were over and he could recover from his amaze. + +"The mine is as sound as a government bond, sir, and Shiner's holding +down my job till I want it again; and Mr. Anthony told me to say that +whenever the lieutenant got tired of soldiering to come back with +Toomey and take his old trick with the shovel." + +And so, joyous and laughing, the three friends of old rode down to the +thronging camps in the valley, and to the stern duties that so soon +awaited them. + +For there came a day when men's faces went white with the news that +Sitting Bull, the great chief (Tatanka-iyo-Tanka), had died in +desperate fight with the police sent to arrest him; that Si Tanka and +his band, nabbed by "Napa Yahmni," had most unaccountably managed later +to elude him, and were now at large, raising the standard of revolt, +summoning all the wild warriors far and near to join forces with him. +And then, indeed, the frontier blazed with signal-fires by night and +burning ranches by day, and there came a week of hard riding for the +old regiment, and of sharp campaigning for all--a week in which at last +the wily red chief Si Tanka was finally surrounded and, with all his +people and ponies, herded on down through the Bad Lands to the breaks +of Wounded Knee--fierce, truculent, defiant. For long months he had +braved the "Great Father" himself, refusing to submit to any authority; +but the sight of those long columns of silent, disciplined "horse +soldiers," squadrons white and black, some of them riding along with +wonderful little field-guns clinking beside them on wheels, overawed +Si Tanka's followers and disheartened his friends. + +There came a day when he had to submit, and agree to surrender, and go +whither orders might send him, and with his fierce spirit crushed, he +bowed his head and took to his lodge, and laid him down in his robes, +sick, body and soul. And then the old regiment marched over to the +mission to guard prisoners and property, and another was sent scouting +after scattering little war parties, and Connell, who had again been +serving with the general, got word to Geordie that orders had come +putting an end to his "holiday," and calling him East to his legitimate +duty. Could Geordie get over to see him, and the disarming of Big +Foot's band, on the morrow? + +Graham showed the missive to his captain, and Lane took it to the +colonel. "Let Graham go," said the latter. "There's nothing to be done +here." + +And so it happened that once again the two chums were together, and +this time on a momentous and perilous day. + +They saw from the hill-side the scowling braves of Big Foot, led forth +from camp and seated on the ground, shrouded in their blankets, in +long, curving lines. They saw the designated troops of a rival regiment +drawn up in silent array, facing the sullen warriors. They saw the +women and children of the latter huddled at the edge of the Indian +camp, while officers, sergeants, and soldiers were sent searching +through the frowzy lodges for secreted arms. Through their glasses they +saw the old medicine-man, in the centre of the Indian ranks, glancing +furtively, savagely, right and left, his lips moving in muttered +incantation, while the searchers among the lodges came forth from one +after another, baffled, empty-handed, suspicious. Why had not some one +suggested it would be wise to search, individually, each brave before +conducting him to the line? + +"There's going to be trouble, Con!" cried Graham, suddenly dropping his +field-glass. "Look! There goes McCrea!" And surely enough, at that very +instant, as though he, too, had noted the ominous signs, their elder +comrade came galloping diagonally across the front, heading straight +for the spot where stood the commander of the silent little battalion. +"He's going to warn them," answered Connell. "Let's join him." + + [Illustration: "UP WENT TWO LITTLE PUFFS OF EARTH"] + +And just as he spoke, and before either could turn to the waiting +horses, up into air went the hands of the chanter, up went two little +puffs of earth, sand, and gravel as he tossed them on high; and before +even they could come sifting and showering downward, up in a flash +sprang the muttering line, off went every blanket, and out leaped a +warrior, armed and painted for battle. Suddenly they whirled on the +searchers advancing upon them. Crash went their wild volley, downing +both friend and foe, for the first shots tore straight through the +huddle of women, and their shrieks followed swift on the deadly clamor +of the guns. + +And then for a moment there was dire confusion. In the space of a +second, it seemed, the red line had leaped to its feet, then dashed +through the smoke of its volley, straight for the cowering forms of old +men, women, and children. Another second and, sheltered by the skirts +of their squaws, the warriors were blazing away at the astonished +soldiery. "Good God, boys, we can't fire on women and children!" +shouted one brave young sergeant. "Down on your faces! Down!" And +"down" was his last word, as down on his bullet-riven face he plunged, +shot dead through the brain. + +Almost at the same moment McCrea's galloping steed stumbled heavily +forward and rolled stiffening on the frozen earth, his gallant rider +flung headlong beyond him. Another moment and Geordie and Connell, +leaping from saddle, had run to his aid, even as the crash of a volley, +at the word of command, told that the troopers had answered the furious +challenge. Another moment still, and a young surgeon sprang to the +relief of the signalling officers; and then, leaving their senseless +friend to his care, all athrill with the fury of battle, Graham and +Connell, "Badger" and "Coyote," whipping out their revolvers, rushed on +down the slope to join the blue line just springing afoot to the +charge. + +Of the moment that followed, the wild cheer and onward dash, the race +over blood-stained snow-patches, the stumble over falling forms (some +friend, some foe), the ripping and slashing at fire-spitting lodges, in +which some of the band had sought refuge, the agonized screaming of +children, the appalling shrieks of the squaws--of all this it was +difficult later to give clear account. Geordie only knew that he, and +those nearest him in the rush through the smoke, lost many a shot +rather than risk killing fleeing women and babes, spared warriors who +would never spare them, for down went first one comrade, down went +another, and all on a sudden something bit, stung, and tore through his +thigh, and down on his outflung arms, with Con sobbing over him, went +Geordie Montrose Graham, first captain the year agone, fireman in July, +and now junior lieutenant of Company "E." + +Many a Christmas holiday was spoiled that winter by the news from +Wounded Knee. "Bud" Graham, Columbia freshman, spending a fortnight +with father and mother at the Point, had gone with them and Colonel +Hazzard to Grant Hall one starlit evening. Orders were to be published +to the corps of cadets at supper, and the commandant wished them to +hear. They ascended the broad stone steps, Mrs. Graham on the arm of +the colonel, Mrs. Hazzard escorted by grim "Dr. Sawney," who was +wondering not a little what might be coming. Two or three officers from +the mess joined the little family party, and they all clustered at the +big folding-doors--Bud breathless with anticipation and excitement. The +cadet corporal of the guard saluted at sight of the distinguished +arrivals, and, at a sign from the colonel, held open the portal on one +side so that, without being seen, the visitors could distinctly hear +what might be read within. + +And presently it came. In ringing tones the adjutant ordered attention. +The chatter and clamor instantly ceased. Briefly the young officer +rattled off the details for the morrow, and then announced: + +"The following communication is published for the information of the +battalion of cadets: + + + "FIELD HEADQUARTERS, + "FORT NIOBRARA, NEB., _December_ --, 1890. + "COMMANDING OFFICER, --TH CAVALRY, + "_In the Field, near Wounded Knee._ + + "SIR,--The general commanding the military division directs me + to notify you of the return of the detachment under Major + Berry, --d Cavalry, after a thorough scout of some three weeks' + duration, resulting in the breaking up and scattering of + several of the bands of 'ghost-dancers,' and the capture of at + least one large party now being sent under escort to Pine Ridge + Agency. + + "One most important result of the scout was the discovery and + arrest of certain white men engaged in selling arms and + ammunition to the Indians, the capture of much of their + 'outfit,' and the rescue, under circumstances of imminent + peril, of two of the party whom the Indians were in the very + act of putting to death by torture. + + "The entire credit for this exploit, which was conducted with + excellent judgment and most commendable dash and daring, is + given by Major Berry to Lieutenant George Montrose Graham, of + your regiment, and the division commander-- + +But he could be heard no further. The iron discipline of West Point was +powerless to stem the torrent of cadet enthusiasm at this public +mention of their beloved leader of the year gone by. Up sprang the +entire corps, and the rafters rang with the thunder of their cheers--a +thunder that seemed to redouble rather than dwindle at sight of the +silver-haired commandant, smiling in through the opening door. + +And from such a scene as that, with streaming eyes and trembling lips +and a heart overflowing with pride, joy, gratitude, and the longing to +throw herself upon her knees and pour out her very soul in praise and +thanksgiving, this devoted mother was summoned to another. + +The doctor had fled away from the bevy of friends who had hastened to +congratulate and shake him by the hand. He had finally escaped to his +little den, trying to compose himself, and write calmly and +judiciously, as became a father, to his soldier son. Bud, nearly wild +with delight, had finally been "fired," as he expressed it, from Cadet +Frazier's room by the officer-in-charge, and started for home toward +half-past ten o'clock, when in front of the officers' mess he was +suddenly hailed by a grave-faced professor: + +"You're needed at home, Bud," and, running, he found Colonel Hazzard +and his father at the library door, a telegram open in the latter's +trembling hand. + +"Not a word now, son. Just read this and then--call mither." + +With paling face and suddenly swimming eyes, Bud read the dancing +words: + + "Severe action. Graham wounded; left thigh. Serious, but doing + well. Our loss heavy. + + "(Signed) MCCREA." + +And so they got the first news of the bitter midwinter battle that +ended the days of Big Foot and so many of his band, that cost us the +lives of so many gallant officers and men, among the icy flats and +snow-patched ravines along the Wounded Knee. + + * * * * * + +But there came a meeting in March that brought surcease for all that +fond mother's sorrow. There came an evening when the battalion, in its +muffling winter garb of gray, went bounding up the broad stone steps +into the old mess-hall, and, stripping off caps and overcoats, quickly +settled down to their hearty supper, for the days were longer, the +first spring drills had begun, and tremendous appetites had these alert +young fellows. The clamor and chatter began on the instant--a merry +riot of chaff and fun. No outlying picket gave warning of the approach +of disturbers, but once again that great-hearted commandant had planned +a demonstration that should delight a mother's soul. Once again he was +leading her up to the massive portal, with a tall youth swinging on +crutches beside her, and a joyous little party in her train. Only that +day had he arrived--her Geordie--a little pallid from long housing and +wearied from the long ride, but wonderfully well and happy otherwise, +and assured that a few weeks more would see him strong as ever. Connell +had met him at Buffalo. Bud was up from New York. McCrea had escorted +him all the way from Chicago, where John Bonner would have held him +for a week of lionizing, but he could not be stopped for an hour. Nolan +and Toomey had ridden every mile to the railway to see their young +leader aboard, but over the meeting with that yearning mother there was +none on earth to spy. Long hours she kept him to herself, but, now that +evening had come, she yielded him to the colonel's pleading. + +"It is for their sake," said he, and for their sake even Geordie +consented. + +And so, very much as he had planned on the previous occasion, Colonel +Hazzard led them to the door as supper was nearly over, having +previously notified his officer-in-charge, but no man in the corps was +in the secret. "Whatever happens," said he, "shall be entirely +spontaneous." + +For a moment they waited until, as before, the voice of the adjutant +was heard, clear and commanding, above the clamor. Then came the +publications, a perfunctory order or two, and then the colonel put +forth a hand, pushed open the door, and while Mrs. Graham and Bud, +trembling with excitement, clung to each other's arms, and the rest of +the group instinctively closed about them, Hazzard turned to the two +young graduates--his captains of the year gone by, now looking not a +little white and by no means happy--and signalled "step within," he +himself close following, and throwing wider the door so that Mrs. +Graham might see. + +As the big half swung slowly inward, and the two crutches were planted +across the threshold, Connell hung back, but the colonel would not so +have it. The corporal of the guard, surprised at the intrusion, stepped +forward to check the strangers within their gates, then as suddenly +halted, his eyes alight with instant recognition and rejoicing, his +hand springing up in salute, even as the cadet officers at the head of +the nearest tables found their feet in instant and irresistible +impulse. Up, too, sprang the first captain, at the opposite side, his +first thought to rebuke, his second, at sight of the halted trio, to +shout with delight. Before he could gather his wits the matter was +settled for him, for all. The adjutant, amazed, dropped his paper and +uplifted his eyes, for his voice was stilled by a stentorian shout from +an inner table and the simultaneous rush of a light-footed fellow who +almost swept Pops off his crutches as his arms flung about him. +"Cyclone" Holt, a big-lunged Kentuckian, had bounded to his chair with +a yell of "Hurray! 'Badger' and '_Ki_ote!'" and all order was gone in +an instant. Up as one man sprang the startled battalion. Had Holt gone +mad? Had Frazier a fit? For answer came cheers from those nearest the +door, cheers that spread like wildfire from table to table, and all in +a second every young soldier was swinging a napkin and shouting like +mad--some leaping on chairs, some even mounting the tables, a scene +such as the mess-hall never witnessed before. Vain the effort of some +one to guide the cheering (they had not then learned an academy yell), +and for once in its day the corps went wild, every man for himself. +They yelled at Geordie, blushing and dishevelled from Benny's embrace. +They yelled at Connell, standing modestly by, with his set lips +twitching, his eyes filling fast. They yelled at their colonel, now +smilingly backing away. They yelled for three minutes without ever a +stop, until some fellow, versed in town-meeting methods, began yelling +for "Speech!" and that started others, and "Speech!" was the word +ringing all over the hall, and that was more than enough to start +Geordie. Speak he could not and would not. He could only stand smiling +and shaking his head, until he saw they would not be denied; and then, +at last, the lad who had faced and downed popular prejudice all through +his cadet life, who had faced foes at the Point and foes on the +plains--faced them with dauntless front and determined will--who had +stood like a rock at the front of the enemy, trembled now like a leaf +in the sight of his friends, and so, for the first time, shrank back +and fled. Just as on the day of his graduation, our Geordie turned from +the tumult of comrade acclaim and sought his mother's side. Con darted +after him, and the big door closed on the chums of cadet days, on the +"Badger" and "Coyote"--on Connell and "Corporal Pops." + + + + +THE END + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 134: beleagured replaced with beleaguered | + | | + | The last four chapter titles were numerical only, | + | "CHAPTER" was added for consistency. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To The Front, by Charles King + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO THE FRONT *** + +***** This file should be named 19952.txt or 19952.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/9/5/19952/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, and 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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