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diff --git a/21664-8.txt b/21664-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc070ca --- /dev/null +++ b/21664-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7833 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, George at the Fort, by Harry Castlemon + + +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: George at the Fort + Life Among the Soldiers + + +Author: Harry Castlemon + + + +Release Date: June 2, 2007 [eBook #21664] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE AT THE FORT*** + + +E-text prepared by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from digital +material generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/americana) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 21664-h.htm or 21664-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/6/6/21664/21664-h/21664-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/6/6/21664/21664-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/georgeatthefort00castrich + + + + + +Roughing It Series. + +GEORGE AT THE FORT; + +Or, + +Life Among the Soldiers. + +by + +HARRY CASTLEMON, + +Author of "The Gunboat Series," "The Sportsman's Club Series," +"The Boy Trapper Series," Etc. + + + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration] + + + +Philadelphia: +Porter & Coates. + + + * * * * * * + + +FAMOUS CASTLEMON BOOKS. + +_Each volume handsomely illustrated and bound in fine extra cloth, black +and gold stamp. 16mo._ + +GUNBOAT SERIES. 6 vols. + +FRANK THE YOUNG NATURALIST. +FRANK ON THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI. +FRANK BEFORE VICKSBURG. +FRANK ON THE PRAIRIE. +FRANK IN THE WOODS. +FRANK ON A GUNBOAT. + +ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES. 3 vols. + +FRANK AMONG THE RANCHEROS. +FRANK AT DON CARLOS' RANCHO. +FRANK IN THE MOUNTAINS. + +SPORTSMAN'S CLUB SERIES. 3 vols. + +THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB IN THE SADDLE. +THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AFLOAT. +THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AMONG THE TRAPPERS. + +FRANK NELSON SERIES. 3 vols. + +SNOWED UP; OR, THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB IN THE MOUNTAINS. +FRANK NELSON IN THE FORECASTLE. +THE BOY TRADERS; OR, THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AMONG THE BOERS. + +BOY TRAPPER SERIES. 3 vols. + +THE BURIED TREASURE; OR, OLD JORDAN'S HAUNT. +THE BOY TRAPPER; OR, HOW DAVE FILLED THE ORDER. +THE MAIL-CARRIER. + +ROUGHING IT SERIES. 3 vols. + +GEORGE IN CAMP; OR, LIFE ON THE PLAINS. +GEORGE AT THE WHEEL; OR, LIFE IN A PILOT HOUSE. +GEORGE AT THE FORT; OR, LIFE AMONG THE SOLDIERS. + +GO AHEAD SERIES. 3 vols. + +GO AHEAD; OR, THE FISHER BOY'S MOTTO. +NO MOSS; OR, THE CAREER OF A ROLLING STONE. +TOM NEWCOMBE; OR, THE BOY OF BAD HABITS. + +_Other Volumes in Preparation._ + + + * * * * * * + + +Copyright, 1882, by Porter & Coates. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I. +DISCONTENTED RECRUITS 5 + +CHAPTER II. +AN OLD FRIEND TURNS UP 24 + +CHAPTER III. +BOB'S FIRST COMMAND 45 + +CHAPTER IV. +A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING 66 + +CHAPTER V. +THE NEW SCOUT 90 + +CHAPTER VI. +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST 113 + +CHAPTER VII. +HOW BRYANT WAS CAPTURED 137 + +CHAPTER VIII. +GEORGE AT THE FORT 159 + +CHAPTER IX. +WHAT GEORGE KNEW ABOUT TRAILING 179 + +CHAPTER X. +HOW GEORGE SAVED THE CAMP 200 + +CHAPTER XI. +TELEGRAPHING BY SMOKES 222 + +CHAPTER XII. +ANOTHER FEATHER FOR BOB'S CAP 242 + +CHAPTER XIII. +HE WINS IT FAIRLY 262 + +CHAPTER XIV. +"THREE CHEERS FOR THE 'BRINDLES'!" 282 + +CHAPTER XV. +MORE BAD LUCK FOR MR. WENTWORTH 303 + +CHAPTER XVI. +CONCLUSION 327 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST facing page 6 + +STORMING THE DUG-OUT " " 84 + +BOB CAPTURES THE DESERTER " " 146 + +TELEGRAPHING BY SMOKE " " 280 + + + + +GEORGE AT THE FORT. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +DISCONTENTED RECRUITS. + + +"Captain, this thing must be stopped. I say it must be stopped, even if +we have to resort to summary measures. We must find out who the +ringleaders are, and make an example of them." + +The speaker was Colonel Brown, the commanding officer of Fort Lamoine. +As he uttered these emphatic words he slammed a paper-weight down upon a +pile of reports which the adjutant had just brought in, and, settling +back in his chair, looked sharply at the officer who stood in front of +the table. The red sash the latter wore around his waist proclaimed him +to be the officer of the day. + +"How many did you say there were in the party who deserted last night?" +continued the colonel. + +"Seven, sir," replied the officer of the day, "and there is a list of +their names. They took no horses with them, but they each secured a +carbine and a box of cartridges." + +"That makes thirty men who have deserted since I took command of this +post," said the colonel, angrily, "and not more than half of them have +been captured.--Orderly, tell Corporal Owens I want to see him. He is +one of the few non-commissioned officers in the command whom I am not +afraid to trust.--Captain, have six picked men, with two days' rations, +detailed to go with him in pursuit of these deserters. He can find and +arrest them if anybody can." + +[Illustration: An Unexpected Guest.] + +The officer of the day closed the door of the colonel's head-quarters +behind him, and in a few minutes the orderly opened it again to admit a +sturdy young soldier, about eighteen years old, who wore upon his arms +the yellow _chevrons_ of a corporal of cavalry. This was Bob Owens--the +boy who stole the _mail-carrier's_ hard-earned money and ran away from +home to enjoy it. He had not changed much in appearance. He had grown +taller and his shoulders were broader, but any one who had known him +before he entered the army would have recognized him now. The fact that +he had been selected to perform the hazardous duty of pursuing and +arresting the deserters who had left the fort the night before fully +armed, and who would not hesitate to make a desperate resistance rather +than allow themselves to be taken back to stand the punishment that +would be inflicted upon them by a court-martial, and the colonel's +declaration that he was one of the few non-commissioned officers in the +command whom he was not afraid to trust, seemed to indicate that our old +friend Bob had won a reputation since he enlisted in Galveston, nearly a +year ago, and done something to win the confidence of his superiors. Let +us go back and see what it was. + +The last time we saw Bob Owens he was just coming out of a +recruiting-office, having enlisted in the regular cavalry and sworn away +his liberty for a long term of years. He did not take this step of his +own free will, but was driven to it by force of circumstances. + +When Bob found Dan Evans in his camp in the woods and stole from him the +money that David, with Dan and Bert Gordon's assistance, had earned by +trapping quails, he ran away from home, and after escaping from the +constable who arrested him at Linwood on suspicion of being a +horse-thief he took passage on board the steamer Sam Kendall for St. +Louis. While he was on the steamer he made the acquaintance of George +Ackerman, who was one of the pilots, and whom he twice saved from +drowning. George owned an extensive cattle-ranche in Texas, which was +held in trust for him by his uncle, John Ackerman, who was his guardian. +After the Sam Kendall was burned he tried to show his gratitude to his +preserver, whom he believed to be alone in the world, by offering him a +home at his house. At first Bob was inclined to refuse. His imagination +having been excited by the cheap novels he had read, he had left home +intending to go on the Plains and make himself famous as a hunter and +Indian-fighter; but George, who had seen more than one professional +hunter in his frontier home, said so much against it, and painted the +poverty and worthlessness of this class of men, and the dangers of the +life they led, in such gloomy colors, that Bob was finally induced to +give up his long-cherished idea, and to consent to accompany his new +friend to his home in Texas. As George had no money, Bob footed all +their bills, and in due time, in spite of the efforts which Uncle John +Ackerman made to separate them in New Orleans, they arrived in +Galveston. + +They had scarcely stepped ashore before their troubles began in earnest. +Bob's pocket was picked while he was passing through the crowd on the +wharf, and the boys found themselves alone in a strange city, without +money enough in their possession to pay for supper or lodging, and no +friend to whom they could go for assistance. They spent the night on the +streets, keeping constantly in motion to avoid attracting the attention +of the police, and when morning came they found a good-natured grocer +who gave them a breakfast of crackers and cheese, and provided George +with the means of writing to Mr Gilbert for money to pay his fare and +Bob's by rail and stage-coach to Palos. If they could only reach that +place, their troubles would be over, for George was well known there, +and everybody would be ready to lend him and his new friend a helping +hand. But Mr. Gilbert lived a long way from Galveston, the mail +facilities between Palos and his rancho were none of the best, and the +boys were utterly at a loss to determine how they were going to exist +during the two or three weeks that must elapse before George could +receive an answer to his letter. + +The two friends passed the day in roaming about the city looking for +work, but nobody needed them. When the afternoon began drawing to a +close they were almost tired out, and George talked of going to some +station-house to spend the night--a project to which Bob could not bear +to listen. The idea of having a policeman's key turned upon him was +dreadful; the bare thought of it was enough to make him gasp for breath. +As he walked along the streets he was continually searching his pockets +in the faint hope of finding the missing money tucked away in some +unexplored corner, and finally he discovered fifty cents in currency in +the watch-pocket of his trousers. His heart bounded at the sight of it. +It was enough to provide him with supper and a night's lodging, but was +not enough to pay for the same comforts for George. + +When Bob found this stray piece of currency he was not long in making up +his mind how to act. He resolved to slip away from George, and +accomplished his purpose by gradually slackening his pace and allowing +the young pilot to get some distance in advance of him, and then he +turned down a cross-street and took to his heels. He made his way to a +cheap lodging-house, ate a hearty supper and went to bed, wondering how +George was getting on and where he would pass the night. The latter, as +we know, fared much better than Bob did, and the latter made a great +mistake in deserting him. His companion had not been gone more than a +half an hour before George encountered Mr. Gilbert, the friend to whom +he had written that morning, and who had come to Galveston on business. +The two looked everywhere for Bob, but were finally obliged to abandon +the search. The missing boy had disappeared as completely as though the +earth had opened and swallowed him up. + +The first question that forced itself upon the mind of Bob Owens when he +awoke the next morning was, "What shall I do next?" A careful +examination of all his pockets showed him that there were no more +fifty-cent pieces in them, and he was obliged to confess to himself that +the future looked exceedingly dark. He walked the streets in a very +disconsolate frame of mind, and had almost decided that he would step +into the nearest grocery-store and ask the proprietor if he would not +give him a job of sawing wood to pay for something to eat, when he +happened to pass a recruiting-office. A sign posted up in front of the +door conveyed to the public the information that men were wanted there +for the United States cavalry service, and suggested an idea to Bob. He +took a few minutes in which to run it over in his mind, and then faced +about and entered the office. + +The law against enlisting minors without the consent of their parents or +guardians is very strict, but Bob got around it by repeating the story +he had told George Ackerman, that he was an orphan, and that there was +no one who had a right to control his actions. The recruiting-officer +was a young man, not more than two or three years older than himself, +but he had seen service away up in the Yellowstone country, and the scar +on his forehead, which was not yet fully healed, marked the track of the +Indian bullet which had come very near putting an end to his career as a +soldier. Being unable to do duty in the field, he had been sent to Texas +to recuperate his health and to recruit men to fill up some of the +depleted cavalry regiments. He questioned Bob very closely, but the +latter gave satisfactory replies, and, having passed the surgeon, his +"descriptive list" was taken and he was duly sworn into the service. +There were a number of newly-enlisted men hanging about the office +waiting to be ordered to some post, and one of them, who acted as +quartermaster-sergeant, took Bob into a back room and served out a +uniform to him. + +"What shall I do with my citizen's rig?" asked Bob as he twisted himself +first on one side and then on the other to see how he looked in his new +clothes. "I suppose I can't keep it?" + +"Of course not," was the sergeant's quick reply. "It would come too +handy in case you should make up your mind to desert." + +"I shall never make up my mind to any such thing," exclaimed Bob, +indignantly. "I have gone into this business with my eyes open, and I am +going to see it through." + +"That's the right spirit," said the sergeant. "But wait till you have +ridden twelve hundred miles at a stretch in pursuit of a band of +hostiles, and perhaps you'll weaken." + +"What do you know about hostiles?" asked Bob. + +"Well, I should think I ought to know all about them, for I have been +there. This is my third enlistment in the regular army." + +"Is that so?" exclaimed Bob. "I should think that after so many years' +service you ought to be an officer." + +"I was a non-com when I was discharged, and that is as high as any +enlisted man can get now," replied the soldier. "I was a captain during +the war, but they don't take men out of the ranks and make officers of +them any more. When I enlisted this time I had to go in as a private; +but I have my old warrants in my pocket, and perhaps they will help me +get a new one when I reach the post where I am to serve." + +"What's a non-com?" asked Bob. + +"Why, a non-commissioned officer," answered the soldier, staring at Bob +as if he were surprised at his ignorance. "You never did any soldiering, +I'll bet." + +"No, I never did," replied the recruit; "this is my first experience." + +"And before you get through with it you will wish that you had never had +any experience at all." + +"Don't you think I shall like the army?" + +"Well, I know _I_ don't like it." + +"Then why did you enlist again?" + +"Because I couldn't do anything else. A man who has soldiered for nearly +fourteen years isn't fit for civil life. Now, make your citizen's +clothes into a bundle and take them around the corner to a little Jew +store you will find there. Mose buys all the recruits' cast-off +clothing. He'll not give you much for them, but the little he will give +you will keep you in gingerbread as long as you stay in the city." + +"How long do you suppose that will be?" + +"I am sure I don't know, but if recruits keep coming in as rapidly as +they have during the last few days, the lieutenant will probably take a +squad off next week." + +"Where will he take it?" + +"That's a conundrum. A private never knows where he is going until he +gets there." + +"Where do you eat and sleep?" + +"We take our meals at the restaurant next door, and having no bunks we +sleep on the benches in the office. You can go about the city as much as +you please, but you must be sure and report at meal-time. If you fail to +do that, you will have the police after you." + +"Why will I?" asked Bob in surprise. + +"Because the lieutenant will think you have deserted." + +Bob was beginning to feel the tight rein of military discipline +already. At home he had always been accustomed to go and come when he +pleased, and he did not like the idea of having his liberty restricted +or of being obliged to obey without question the orders of a boy +scarcely older than himself. But it was too late to think of that now. +The youthful officer was backed up by the entire military and police +force of the United States, and there was no such thing as getting out +of reach of his authority. + +"I am in for it," thought Bob as he rolled up his clothes and started +for the little Jew store around the corner, "but I don't know that I +could have done anything else. I shall have plenty to eat and a place to +sleep, and at the same time I shall be earning money to pay off that +debt I owe Dave Evans. What an idiot I was to keep that money! To pay +for that one act of folly and dishonesty I am compelled to waste some of +the best years of my life in the army. I hope I shall get a chance to +show them that I am no coward, if I am a greenhorn." + +It was little indeed that Mose gave Bob for the articles he had to offer +for sale--just four dollars for clothing that had cost over thirty; but +those four dollars made him feel a little more independent. They +brought him a few delicacies to supplement the plain fare that was +served up to him and his companions at the cheap restaurant at which +they took their meals, and were the means of gaining him the friendship +of one of the recruits, Bristow by name, who stuck to him like a leech +until the last cent had been expended. + +Bob remained in Galveston nearly two weeks, and during that time he saw +everything of interest there was to be seen in the city. Then he began +to grow tired of having nothing to do, and took to hanging about the +office as the others did, and making comments upon those who presented +themselves for enlistment. He was glad indeed when the lieutenant +mustered all the recruits one night and ordered them to report at the +office the next morning at nine o'clock, sharp; but he was provoked +because the officer did not tell them where they were going. This, +however, only proved the truth of the old sergeant's words--that a +private never knew where he was going until he got there. Bob knew that +they were bound for Brownsville when a steamer landed them there a few +hours later, and he found out that they were going from there to Fort +Lamoine when they arrived at that post after a weary tramp of more than +three hundred miles. + +The recruits camped beside the trail at night, and during the daytime +plodded along behind the army-wagon which contained their tents, +blankets, rations and cooking-utensils. It was very fatiguing to all of +them, and it was not long before Bob began to learn something of the +dispositions of the men with whom he was to be intimately associated +during his term of enlistment. The majority of them grumbled lustily, +and even talking of deserting, and there were not more than two or three +besides himself who bore the discomforts of the march with anything like +patience. There was not much restriction placed upon their actions, and, +although they were not permitted to stray away from the line of march +during the daytime, they were allowed to visit any ranches or +farm-houses that might be in the neighborhood of their camping-grounds. +The people they met along the route were very liberal with the products +of their gardens and with their milk, butter and eggs, and the recruits +fared sumptuously every day; but it would have been much better for some +of them if they had remained in camp at night and left the settlers +entirely alone. Not a few of the men with whom they exchanged civilities +unconsciously sowed among them seeds of discontent that were destined +eventually to bear a fruitful crop of trouble. By endeavoring to live up +to the sentiments they heard expressed on every hand, more than one of +the recruits found themselves landed in the military prison at Fort +Leavenworth. + +"I don't see why you chaps swear away your liberty, and work for +thirteen dollars a month, when you might just as well get forty and be +free men," said a rancheman one night, after he has given Bob and three +companions, one of whom was Bristow, all the milk he had to spare. +"You'll soon get enough of soldiering, _I_ tell you. I know, for I have +tried it. It is a heap easier to ride around on your horse and watch +your cattle while they are fattening themselves for market on the rich +grass." + +"But we don't happen to have any cattle to watch," said Bob. + +"Who would give us forty dollars a month?" demanded Bristow, who was one +of the loudest and most persistent grumblers among the recruits. + +"You could get it almost anywhere in this country," replied the +rancheman. "I'd give it to you, for one, and I know of a dozen others +who stand ready to snap up the first man that comes along, no odds +whether he ever herded cattle or not. You have made precious fools of +yourselves, and you'll get a fool's reward. You'll have mean grub, hard +work and poor pay, and be niggers to every little snipe who wears a +shoulder-strap." + +"We've found that out already--haven't we, boys?" said Bristow, as he +and his companions reluctantly took leave of the hospitable rancheman +and retraced their steps toward the camp. "We _are_ precious fools to +work for thirteen dollars, when we might just as well earn three times +that amount, and be our own masters besides. There is no need that +anybody should tell us that our officers will treat us like niggers, for +we have found that out too. Look at that lieutenant! He rides in the +wagon every day, while we have to hoof it." + +"But you must remember that he is not strong," said Bob. "He has not yet +fully recovered from the effects of his wound." + +"I don't believe a word of it," declared Bristow. "He's just as able to +march and cook his own grub and pitch his own tent as we are. It makes +me sick to see how that man Haskins waits on him." (Haskins was the one +who had served out clothing to the recruits in Galveston.) "But a blind +man could see what he is working for," added Bristow. "He wants to get +into the good graces of the lieutenant, hoping that he will be +recommended for a non-com's position when we reach the fort. I tell you +I have seen enough of soldiering already, and the very first chance I +get I am going to skip out." + +"I'll go with you," said one of the recruits. + +"All right! Shake on that." + +"You may depend upon me," said the recruit as he grasped Bristow's +proffered hand. "Do you remember that big-whiskered, loud-voiced +rancheman who gave us the potatoes the other night? He is sadly in need +of help, and he told me that if I would come to his house, bringing +three or four friends with me, he would give us citizens' clothes and +hide us until the officers gave up looking for us. All he asked was, +that we should agree to work for him for twelve months, and promise not +to leave without giving him due notice." + +"I am in for that," exclaimed the recruit who had not spoken +before.--"What do you say, Owens?" + +"I say I am _out_ of it," was the quick reply. "If I did a thing like +that, I never could look a white man in the face again. I have been +guilty of a good many mean acts during my life--some that I would gladly +recall if I could--but I am not mean enough to desert. Besides, I have +no desire to have a bullet sent into me." + +Bob's companions did not know whether to be surprised or angry at this +plain speech. They stared hard at him for a moment, and then Bristow +said, + +"Are you really afraid of being shot? Well, I can set your fears on that +score at rest. I know that the penalty for desertion in the face of the +enemy is death, but we are not in the face of the enemy now. The country +is at peace." + +"I know it is nominally so," answered Bob, "but it is not so in reality, +and never will be so long as these hostile Indians and lawless Mexicans +continue to raid over the Texas border. If you skip out, as you threaten +to do, you may rest assured that you will be brought back by force of +arms, and if you resist you will be shot." + +"How does it come that you know so much more than the rest of us?" +demanded Bristow angrily. "You are not an old soldier." + +"I am aware of that fact, but I have been talking to an old soldier, and +that was Haskins. He told me that Major Elliot, one of General Custer's +officers, pursued a party of deserters, and when they resisted he shot +three of them; and Haskins himself was one of the squad that did the +shooting." + +"I don't believe a word of it," exclaimed Bristow. + +"Neither do I," said another of the recruits. "Of course we expect to be +pursued, but we shall take good care that we are not caught. Any of +these ranchemen who want herdsmen will furnish us with citizens' +clothing, and before our year is out the thing will blow over, and then +we'll go home, and stay there." + +"It won't blow over as easily as you think for," said Bob. "It will be +known to your home authorities and to everybody else that you are +deserters, and all the detectives in the United States will be on the +lookout for you. If you want to live in constant fear of arrest, you can +do it, but I won't." + +Bob stuck to his resolution, and his discontented companions stuck to +theirs. We shall see in due time which of the four made the wisest +decision. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN OLD FRIEND TURNS UP. + + +The long, toilsome journey was completed at last, and late one afternoon +the weary and footsore recruits found themselves drawn up in line on the +parade-ground at Fort Lamoine. After the roll had been called and the +colonel commanding the post had hurriedly inspected them, they were +turned over to a sergeant, who marched them into the barracks. There +they found about two hundred or more soldiers, who, as soon as the order +was given to "break ranks," crowded about them inquiring for late papers +and asking a thousand and one questions in regard to what was going on +in the States. + +Learning from the sergeant that no duty would be required of him that +day, Bob spread his blankets in one of the empty bunks, and, stretching +himself upon them, placed his hands under his head and looked about him +with no little curiosity. Presently a young trooper, a boy about his +own age, who looked as though he were just recovering from a long siege +of sickness, approached, and, seating himself on the edge of Bob's bunk, +began a conversation with him. Those of our readers who have met this +boy before in citizen's dress might have seen something familiar about +him, but still it is doubtful if they would have recognized in +him--Well, we will let him reveal his identity. After a few commonplace +remarks Bob inquired, as he nodded his head toward a soldier who was +hobbling about the room with the aid of a crutch, + +"What's the matter with that man?" + +"Raiders," was the sententious reply. + +"Been in a fight?" asked Bob. + +The young soldier nodded his head. + +"How long since?" + +"Last full moon." + +"I hope these fights don't occur very often." + +"Well, they do--much oftener than I wish they did. I have been in two +pretty hard ones, and that's enough for me. I suppose we shall have more +of them now, for I understand that we have received orders to follow the +raiders across the river and thrash them wherever they can be found." + +"Were you wounded in one of those fights?" asked Bob. "Then you must be +sick," he added when the boy shook his head. + +"Yes, I am sick," was the reply--"homesick and sick at heart. I have +been in the army nearly two years and a half, and I don't see how I can +live to serve out the rest of my time. I am dying by inches." + +"What did you come into the army for, anyhow?" + +"Because I was a fool," answered the young soldier bitterly. + +"Shake," exclaimed Bob, extending his hand; "I came in for the same +reason." + +"Did your parents give their consent?" asked his new acquaintance. + +"No, they didn't. They live in Mississippi, and don't know anything +about it." + +Bob's long tramp had taken a good deal of spirit out of him, and somehow +he could not muster up energy enough to tell any more falsehoods +concerning himself. + +"My parents live in Ohio," said the soldier. + +"Then how in the world did you happen to stray down here to Texas?" +asked Bob. + +"I ran away from home." + +"Shake," said Bob, again extending his hand; "that's just what I did." + +The two runaways shook each other's hands in the most cordial manner, +and instantly all reserve between them vanished. They were companions in +misery and united by a bond of sympathy. The young soldier at once +became very communicative. He had closely guarded his secret for more +than two years, because there was not one among the rough men by whom he +was surrounded who could understand or appreciate his feelings. But here +was one who could sympathize with him, and it was a great relief to him +to know that he could speak freely and run no risk of being laughed at +for his weakness. + +"My name is Gus Robbins," said he, moving up a little closer to Bob and +speaking in a low, confidential tone. "I had as good a home as any boy +need wish for, but I wasn't contented there; still, I don't believe that +I ever should have left it as I did if circumstances had not smoothed +the way for me. My father is the senior partner in the largest dry-goods +store in Foxboro', and he had in his employ two persons, father and son, +who are in a great measure responsible for all the trouble I have got +into. The buy was a clerk like myself, and his father was our +bookkeeper. They had a very wealthy relative, a rancheman, living here +in Texas, and when that relative died it was found that he had willed +his property to our bookkeeper, to be held in trust for his (the +rancheman's) son. They came to Texas to take charge of the estate, and +after a while I received a letter from Ned (that was the boy's name) +inviting me to pay him a visit. As he sent me money enough to bear the +expenses of the journey, I came; and I am very sorry for it. We got +ourselves into trouble by shooting some cattle that had broken into +Ned's wheat-field, and had to dig out for Brownsville at a gallop. Ned +went squarely back on me, and as I had no money to pay my way home, and +hadn't the cheek to ask my father for it, I did what I thought to be the +next best thing--I enlisted. I am very sorry for that too, for there was +where I made my mistake. I ought to have gone back into the country and +hired out to some stock-raiser. Then I could have gone home as soon as I +had earned and saved money enough to take me there; but now I must stay +my time out; that is, unless--" + +Gus paused and looked at Bob. The latter understood him. Here was +another fellow who had made up his mind to desert at the first +opportunity. + +"Don't do that," said Bob, earnestly. "You'll only get yourself into +trouble if you attempt it." + +"I don't care if I am shot for it. I'll make a break for liberty the +very first good chance I get." + +The tone in which these words were uttered satisfied Bob that it would +be of no use whatever to argue the matter. It was plain that Gus had +made up his mind after mature deliberation, and that he was not to be +easily turned from his purpose. + +"Where did your friend Ned go after you reached Brownsville?" asked Bob, +who was much interested in the young soldier's story. + +"I don't know; I left him at the hotel. He will come to some bad end, +and so will his father, for they are both rascals. The property of which +they have charge, and which brings in a big fortune every year, +rightfully belongs to George Ackerman, Ned's cousin; but Ned and his +father--" + +"George Ackerman?" exclaimed Bob, starting up in his bunk. + +Gus nodded his head, and looked at the recruit in great surprise. + +"Is he a cub pilot?" continued the latter. + +"'A cub pilot'?" repeated Gus. "No, he's a herdsman, or I ought rather +to say he _was_ a herdsman. He had stock of his own worth six thousand +dollars. Where he is now I don't know, for on the morning after we left +his ranche, while we were camped in the edge of the timber making up for +the sleep we had lost the night before, we were surprised by a couple of +Greasers, who made a prisoner of George and carried him across the river +into Mexico. I don't know what they did with him, for all George could +induce them to say was that 'Fletcher wanted to see him.'" + +"It's the same fellow," exclaimed Bob, rising from his blanket and +seating himself on the edge of the bunk by his companion's side. "He +told me all about it, but his story was so very remarkable that I didn't +know whether to believe it or not. He gave those Greasers the slip, +secured a berth as cub pilot on a Mississippi River steamer, and that +was where I found him." + +With this introduction Bob went on to tell how he had saved George from +going to the bottom when Uncle John Ackerman pushed him overboard from +the Sam Kendall; related all the thrilling incidents connected with the +burning of the steamer; described how Uncle John had tried to separate +them in New Orleans; in short, he gave a truthful account of his +intercourse with the cub pilot up to the time he deserted him in +Galveston. Bob was heartily ashamed of that now, and could not bear to +speak of it. + +"I became separated from him in some way--it is very easy to lose a +companion in the crowded streets of a city, you know--and that was the +last I saw of him," said Bob in conclusion; and when he told this he +forgot that he had afterward seen George go into a hotel accompanied by +Mr. Gilbert. "Then I didn't know what to do. I had no money; I was +hungry and sleepy, utterly discouraged; and, like you, I sought to end +my troubles by enlisting. I see now that I made a great mistake, but I +am going to serve faithfully during my term of enlistment, if I live. Is +George's ranche far from here?" + +"I don't know, for I am not much acquainted with the country east of +here, never having scouted in that direction. It is about one hundred +and fifty miles from Palos, if you know where that is. As you are +George's friend, I am sorry that you enlisted, for I know that you are +going to have a hard time of it; but since you _did_ enlist, I am glad +you were ordered to this post, for misery loves company, you know. Let's +walk out on the parade, where we can talk without danger of being +overheard. Perhaps you would like to take a look at the place which will +always be associated in your mind with the most unhappy days of your +existence." + +It was plain that Gus took a very gloomy view of things, and of course +his discouraging remarks made an impression upon Bob, although they did +not take away the interest he felt in his surroundings. Everything was +new to him, and he asked a great many questions as he and Gus walked +slowly around the parade toward the stables. + +Fort Lamoine was situated on a high, rocky eminence which overlooked the +surrounding country for half a dozen miles or more in every direction. +The stockade, which enclosed about two acres of ground, was built of +upright logs deeply sunk in the earth. The tops were sawed off level, +and a heavy plate of timber, through which stout wooden pins had been +driven into the end of each log, held them firmly in their place. The +officers' quarters, barracks, store-houses and stables were built in +the same manner. On the outside of the parade were long rows of stately +cottonwood trees, interspersed with shrubs and flowers. In one corner, +on the right-hand side of the principal gate, was the well that supplied +the garrison with water, and in the other was the flagstaff, from which +floated the Stars and Stripes. + +"Emblem of liberty!" said Gus with a sneer as he pointed up at the +flag--"emblem of tyranny, rather." + +"What do you mean by that?" demanded Bob quickly. + +"Oh, you will find out before you have been here long," replied Gus, +shaking his head and looking very wise. "A bigger lot of tyrants than +the officers who command us were never crowded into any one post." + +"Perhaps you don't do your duty as well as you might?" mildly suggested +Bob. + +"I know I don't. I do no more than I am obliged to do, I tell you, and +for the simple reason that I didn't enlist to act as lackey to a lot of +shoulder-straps. I am just as good as they are, but they say I am not. +Why, the last time the paymaster was here his little snipe of a clerk +remarked in my hearing that enlisted men were nothing more than servants +to the officers. What do you think of that?" + +Bob did not know what to think of it, so he said nothing in reply. He +simply resolved that he would not pass judgment upon his superiors until +he had had some experience with them himself. + +"This is by no means the gloomy place that I expected to find it," said +Bob as he and Gus resumed their walk. + +"Oh, the fort itself is good enough," replied Gus; "it's the people who +live in it that I object to. If one could pick his own company, and +could do as he pleased, he might manage to live here for a few years +very comfortably; but we have to associate with some rough characters +there in the barracks, and the officers hold us with our noses close to +the grindstone all the time. They look upon a private as little better +than a dog, and they'll slap him into the guard-house on the slightest +provocation. Now, this is one of the stables; it will accommodate +seventy horses. Those you see in here are blooded animals, and they +belong to the officers. The government horses are always picketed +outside, except when there is danger of a visit from the raiders, and +then they are brought in for safe-keeping. Now, take a good look at the +stable, and then come out and take another look at the stockade. Every +night there are two sentries placed over this stable--one at the front, +and the other at the rear, between the stable and the stockade--and a +guard sleeps inside. Would you believe that, after all these +precautions, it would be possible for anybody to come into the fort and +steal a horse?" + +Bob said he would not. + +"Well, it was done not more than two weeks ago," continued Gus. "One +stormy night these two logs were removed from the stockade, and four of +the best horses in the stable were run off. It must have taken hours to +do the work, and although the sentries were changed while it was going +on, no one knew that a theft had been committed until the next morning." + +"Who did it?" inquired Bob. + +"A couple of Comanches, who were surprised and killed by the squad that +was sent in pursuit of them. The Comanches are acknowledged, even by the +Indians themselves, to be the most expert horse-thieves on the Plains. +Why, one night, when a scouting-party to which I was attached were in +camp and fast asleep, a Comanche crept up and stole the lieutenant's +horse; and in order to do it he had to cut the lariat that was tied to +the officer's wrist. He got away with the horse, and never awoke one of +us." + +Gus Robbins had accumulated an almost inexhaustible fund of such +anecdotes as these during his two and a half years of army-life, and he +related a good many of them to Bob while they were walking about the +fort examining the different objects of interest. From some of them Bob +gained a faint idea of what might be in store for himself. + +The next morning the newly-arrived recruits were formed into an awkward +squad and turned over to the tender mercies of a grizzly old sergeant, +who proved to be anything but an agreeable and patient instructor. He +drilled them for four hours without allowing them a single moment's +rest, abusing them roundly for every mistake they made; and when at last +he marched them to their quarters, it was only that they might eat their +dinner and take half an hour's breathing-spell preparatory to going +through the same course of sprouts again in the afternoon. This routine +was followed day after day until the members of the awkward squad were +declared to be sufficiently drilled to warrant their appearance on +dress-parade. After that they were assigned to the different troops (or +companies) that stood the most in need of men, Bob, to his delight, +finding himself in the same troop to which his new friend, Gus Robbins, +belonged. But even then their troubles did not cease. Instead of +drilling eight hours each day, they drilled six, and were obliged to do +guard-duty besides. Among the three hundred and eighty men who composed +the garrison there were not a few old soldiers who hated this hard work +as cordially as some of the new-comers did, and there was a good deal of +grumbling among them; but Bob Owens never uttered a word of complaint. +Firmly adhering to the resolution he had made when he first enlisted, he +set himself to work to learn just what was required of him, and when he +found out what his duty was, he did it cheerfully and faithfully. He was +always on hand when he was wanted, his equipments were always ready for +inspection, and his horse shone like satin. When his own steed had been +fed and groomed, he turned his attention to the horse belonging to the +lieutenant who commanded the troop to which he belonged, and thereby +aroused the indignation of some of his brother-soldiers. + +"What are you doing that for?" demanded Gus Robbins one day as he and +Bristow entered the stable and found Bob busy at work grooming the +lieutenant's horse. "You are in pretty business, I must say!" + +"Yes, I rather like it," answered Bob. "I always liked to work about +horses, and I am doing this because I haven't anything else to do just +now." + +"Well, I wouldn't do it any more if I were in your place," continued +Gus. "The law expressly prohibits an officer from compelling, or even +hiring, an enlisted man to do his dirty work." + +"It does, does it?" exclaimed Bob. "Didn't you tell me when I just came +here that enlisted men were nothing but servants to their officers?" + +"I didn't mean that, exactly," stammered Gus. "What I _did_ mean was, +that they don't treat us like human beings. If an officer wants a +servant, he must hire a civilian and pay him out of his own pocket; +that's what the law says." + +"I am aware of that fact; but the law doesn't say that I shall not groom +the lieutenant's horse if I choose to do it of my own free will, does +it?" + +"Let the toady alone, Robbins," said Bristow angrily. "The troop hasn't +got all the non-coms that it is entitled to, and Owens is working for +chevrons. You know the lieutenant said the other day that there were +four corporals' and two duty sergeants' warrants waiting for those who +were willing to win them; and this is the way Owens is going to work to +get one of them." + +Bob straightened up, looked sharply at Bristow for a moment, and then +drew back the brush he held in his hand, as if he had half a mind to +throw it at his head. + +"That's what all the boys say, Bob," observed Gus. "If you want to keep +on the right side of the privates, you must not try to curry favor with +the officers." + +"If you want a non-com's warrant, why don't you wait until you get a +chance to win it in battle?" added Bristow. "That's what I intend to do, +and I shall think much more of a promotion earned in that way than I +should of one I had gained by cleaning an officer's horse." + +"Look here, fellows," said Bob earnestly: "I don't do this work for the +lieutenant because I hope to gain anything by it. I do it simply to pass +away the time, for I can't see any fun in loafing about the quarters +doing nothing. If the boys don't like it, let's see them help +themselves." + +"If the lieutenant was a decent man, I wouldn't say a word," answered +Bristow. "But he is so mean that I wouldn't turn my hand over to save +his life." + +"Anybody with half an eye could see what is the matter with you," +retorted Bob. "You have been in the guard-house about half the time +since you have been here, and spent the other half in doing extra duty; +and that's the reason you don't like the lieutenant. If you will wake up +and attend to business, he will treat you well enough." + +Bob's prompt and soldier-like way of performing the work that was +required of him very soon attracted the attention of Lieutenant Earle +(that was the name of the officer in command of the troop to which Bob +belonged), and he took his own way to reward him for it. If he was +ordered off on a scout, Bob Owens was always one of the "picked men" who +accompanied him. If he was sent out with a squad during the full of the +moon to watch the ford a few miles below the fort, Bob was one of the +members of that squad. This did not excite the jealousy of the good +soldiers, for they were always glad to have a brave comrade to back them +up in times of danger, no matter whether he was a greenhorn or a +veteran; but the grumblers and the discontented ones, especially those +who belonged to his own troop, had a good deal to say about it, and +declared that the lieutenant took Bob with him on his expeditions to pay +him for grooming his horse. They disliked him cordially, and it was not +long before an incident happened that caused the dislike of at least one +of them to grow into positive hatred. + +One pleasant afternoon some of the men received permission to go outside +the gates for a short stroll. They wandered off in squads, some going +one way and some another, and Bristow and two companions--one of whom +was Gus Robbins--bent their steps toward the crumbling remains of an old +adobe outpost which marked the spot where more than one desperate fight +with the Apaches had taken place in the days gone by. There they seated +themselves and entered into conversation, Bristow's first words +indicating that they were about to discuss a subject that had before +occupied their attention. + +"I tell you, Robbins," said he, "if you are in earnest in what you say, +now is the time to prove it." + +"I certainly am in earnest," answered Gus; "but, to tell you the honest +truth, I am afraid." + +"'Afraid'!" repeated Bristow in a tone of contempt. "What in the world +are you afraid of?" + +"Of pursuit," replied Gus. "If we resist, we run the risk of being shot; +and if we are captured, we stand an excellent chance of going to +prison." + +"Now, Robbins," said Bristow earnestly, "let me once more explain our +arrangements to you, and you will see that we do not risk anything. In +the first place, the horses are left picketed outside the stockade every +night. They are never brought in, as you know, unless there is danger of +a visit from the raiders. Four of the six men who are to act as +horse-guards to-night belong to our party. When the time for action +arrives, these four men will go to work on the other two and try to +induce them to accompany us. If they don't succeed, they'll bind and gag +them, and so put it out of their power to give the alarm. The sentry who +will be on duty between the stable and the stockade is also one of us, +and of course he will raise no objection when we slip out of the +quarters, one by one, and climb the stockade. As fast as we get over we +will select our horses--I've got mine picked out, and I could put my +hand on him in the darkest of nights--and when the last one has made his +escape we'll mount and put off. Of course we hope to escape by running, +but if we can't do that, we shall turn at bay and make a fight of it. We +have all sworn to stand by one another to the last, and thirty +determined, well-armed men can make things lively for a while, I tell +you." + +Bristow continued to talk in this strain for half an hour, his companion +now and then putting in a word to assist him; and he talked to such good +purpose that Gus Robbins finally consented to make one of the large +party that was to desert the post that very night. Bristow then gave him +the names of the other members--there were several non-commissioned +officers among them--and after urging him to be very careful of himself, +and to say and do nothing that might arouse the suspicions of +"outsiders," the three got upon their feet and walked toward the fort. + +They had scarcely left the ruins when a fatigue-cap arose from behind a +pile of rubbish scarcely a dozen feet from the place where the three +conspirators had been sitting, and a pair of eyes looking out from under +the peak of that cap watched them as they moved away. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +BOB'S FIRST COMMAND. + + +The eyes that were so closely watching the movements of Bristow and his +companions belonged to Bob Owens. The latter had strolled off alone, and +thrown himself behind an angle of the ruined wall to indulge in a few +moments' quiet meditation, and thus unwillingly placed himself in a +position to overhear the details of the plot which we have just +disclosed. If Bristow had not so promptly entered upon the discussion of +the subject of desertion, Bob would have made his presence known to him; +but after he had listened to the first words that fell from his lips he +thought it best to remain quietly in his place of concealment, for he +knew that if he revealed himself, then he would be accused of playing +the part of eavesdropper. + +"Now, here's a go!" thought Bob, rising to his feet when he saw Bristow +and his two friends walk through the gate into the fort, "and I wish +somebody would be kind enough to tell me what I ought to do about it. +Shall I stand quietly by and let them go, or shall I tell the officers +what I have heard? If I let them go, they will run the risk of being +gobbled up by that party of Kiowas who are now raiding the country north +of us; and if I tell the colonel, and it should ever be found out on me, +I should lead a hard life in the quarters. I wish I had been somewhere +else when they came here." + +Thrusting his hands deep into his pockets, Bob left the ruins, and, +walking slowly around the stockade, entered at a gate on the opposite +side. His first care was to hunt up the sergeant-major of his regiment, +whom he found in the quarters. This man had grown gray in the service, +and he was a soldier all over--brave, faithful and untiring in the +performance of his duty. He readily responded to Bob's significant wink, +and followed him out on the parade. + +"Sergeant," said Bob as soon as they were beyond earshot of everybody, +"I have accidentally come into the possession of a secret, and I don't +know what to do with it. There are thirty men in the garrison who are +going to desert to-night." + +The old fellow took a fresh chew of tobacco, pushed his cap on the back +of his head and looked at Bob, who, after telling him where he had been +and how he happened to overhear the plot, continued: + +"It would never do to let them go. You know I was detailed to act as the +colonel's orderly this morning, and I heard that scout who came in just +before noon tell him that there is a large party of hostiles between +here and Fort Tyler. These deserters intend to take their weapons with +them, and think they can make a good fight; but those Kiowas are strong +enough to annihilate them." + +"Small loss that would be to us!" growled the veteran. "We are going to +have some hot work to do before long, and such men are no good in a +fight." + +"It would never do to let them go," repeated Bob, "but there is only one +way to prevent it that I can see; and that is by telling the colonel all +about it. If I do that, and they should find it out, they would go back +on me, sure." + +"Of course they would," said the sergeant. + +"Well, what would you do if you were in my place?" asked Bob. + +"What would I do? I would go straight to the officer of the day and tell +him the whole thing. The good-will of such men don't amount to anything, +any way, and what do you care if they do go back on you? There's only +thirty of them, and that leaves three hundred and fifty good fellows who +will always be ready to befriend you. Do you know who these deserters +are? I'll report the matter if you are afraid, and then let's see one of +them open his head to me." + +Bob repeated the names of the would-be deserters which Bristow had given +as nearly as he could recall them, and the sergeant hurried off to hunt +up the officer of the day, while Bob went back into the quarters. He had +been there but a few minutes when the orderly appeared at the door and +sung out, + +"Owens, the colonel wants to see you." + +"Aha!" exclaimed Bristow, "our good little boy has been doing something +bad at last.--There are no bunks in the guard-house, Owens." + +Bob made no reply. He followed the orderly across the parade and into +the colonel's head-quarters, where he found the officer of the day, the +sergeant-major and all the ranking officers of the garrison. The +colonel questioned him closely in regard to the plot he had discovered, +and finally dismissed him and the sergeant without making any comments. +Half an hour later the entire cavalry force of the garrison was drawn up +in line, the names of forty men who were ordered to the front and centre +were read off, and the rest of the troopers were sent back to their +quarters. Then the bugle sounded "Boots and saddles!" and in a few +minutes more these forty men--one of whom was Bob Owens--rode out of the +gate, led by the scout who had brought the information concerning that +war-party of Kiowas. The squad was commanded by Lieutenant Earle. + +"That's all right," whispered Bristow to one of his fellow-conspirators +as they stood in front of their quarters and saw their comrades ride +away. "There will be just so many men less to follow us to-morrow +morning. But I wish we knew which way they are going," he added in a +tone of anxiety; "and we must find out if we can. We don't want to run +into them if we can possibly avoid them, for there are some of the best +men in the garrison in that party." + +"I suppose we are off after the hostiles," said the soldier who rode by +Bob's side. "The scout told the colonel that there were three hundred +braves in that party, didn't he?" + +Bob answered that that was what he understood him to say. + +"Then I wish we had a hundred men instead of forty," continued the +trooper. "Our squad is too large to conceal itself, and too small to +make a successful fight against such overwhelming odds. Well, if worst +comes to worst--" + +The speaker thrust his hand into his boot-leg and drew out a loaded +Derringer. He intended to send its contents through his own head rather +than fall alive into the hands of the hostiles. Probably nine out of ten +men in that squad were provided with weapons just like it, and which +they intended to use in the same way should circumstances require it. +Veteran Indian-fighters never fail to give this advice to a recruit: +"When it comes to a fight, save the last shot for yourself." + +But, as it happened, Bob and his companions were not out after hostiles +on this particular afternoon, for that raiding-party of Kiowas was +already beyond the reach of any force that the commander of Fort +Lamoine could have sent in pursuit of it. They found out in due time +that their mission was of an entirely different character. They rode at +a sharp trot until it was nearly dark, and then they went into camp in a +belt of post-oaks and cooked and ate their supper. After an hour's rest +they mounted and rode back toward the fort again. Arriving within a mile +of the stockade, a halt was ordered, the men were dismounted, and, every +fourth trooper being left to hold the horses, the others marched off +through the darkness, armed only with their revolvers. Then Bob began to +understand the matter. The object of the expedition was to capture the +deserters. It had been led away from the fort simply as a "blind," and +in order to lull the malcontents into a feeling of security no change +whatever had been made in the guards who were to do duty that night. + +After the lieutenant had marched about half a mile another halt was +ordered, and sixteen men, divided into squads of four men each, were +told off to begin the work. The officer approached each squad in turn, +and after designating some one to take charge of it, gave him his +instructions in a whisper. When he walked up to Bob he asked, + +"Do you know where post No. 4 is? and can you go straight to it without +making any mistake?" + +"Yes, sir, to both your questions," was the prompt reply. + +"Very well. Take command of this squad and go and arrest Dodd, whom you +will find on guard there. Then put Carey in his place, and come back and +report to me at post No. 1, and I will tell you what else to do. The +countersign," added the lieutenant, coming a step nearer to Bob and +speaking in a tone so low that no one else could catch his words, "is +'Custer.' Be quick and still. Forward, march!" + +As Bob moved away with his squad he told himself that fidelity is +sometimes appreciated. This was his first command, and he knew that much +depended upon the way in which he executed the orders that had been +given him. If they were faithfully and skilfully carried out, he might +hope to be entrusted with other commands in future, and so be given +opportunities to distinguish himself and win promotion; for Bob, like +every ambitious boy, was anxious to get ahead as rapidly as possible. + +"What's the matter, Owens?" asked all the members of his squad in +concert as soon as they were out of the lieutenant's hearing. They were +all in the dark, and so was every man belonging to the expedition with +the exception of the lieutenant, the sergeant-major and Bob Owens. The +latter explained the state of affairs in as few words as he could, and +the general verdict was that it would have been no loss to the garrison, +or to the service either, if Bristow and his companions had been +permitted to depart in peace. + +In a few minutes Bob and his men arrived within sight of the place where +the horses were staked out, and a hoarse voice broke the stillness. +"Halt! Who comes there?" was the challenge. + +"Friends, with the countersign," answered Bob after bringing his squad +to a halt. + +"Advance, one friend, and give the countersign," was the next command. + +"Now, boys," said Bob in a low whisper, "you stay here, and when I call +out 'Advance, squad,' come up briskly and surround Dodd, so as to be +ready to overpower him if he shows the least disposition to resist or +cry out." + +So saying, Bob moved off in the direction from which the hail sounded, +and presently discovered the sentry, who stood at "arms port." + +"Halt!" commanded the guard when Bob had approached within a few feet of +him. "Give the countersign." + +Bob whispered the magic word. + +"The countersign is correct," said the sentry, bringing his carbine to a +carry.--"It's you, is it, Owens? What's the matter?" + +"Advance, squad," said Bob in a low tone. "You haven't seen anything +suspicious going on about your post, have you?" he added, wishing to +occupy the sentry's attention until his men could come within supporting +distance of him. "No? Well, I am sorry to say that there is something +suspicious about _you_, and I am ordered to put you in arrest." + +He laid hold of the carbine as he said this, and at the same moment two +of his men placed their hands upon the sentinel's shoulders. The latter, +seeing that resistance was useless, promptly gave up his piece and +dropped his hands by his sides. "It's all that Bristow's work," said he +in angry tones. "I knew he wouldn't do to tie to." + +"Don't say too much," interposed Bob. "You don't want to condemn +yourself.--Carey, take this post until relieved." + +As Bob marched his squad and his prisoner to the place where he was to +meet his commanding officer, he found the intervening posts in the +charge of trusty men. Four of the discontented ones had been secured, +and it only remained for the lieutenant to perfect arrangements for +seizing the others as fast as they came out of the fort. He had already +decided upon his plan of operations, and Bob Owens was called upon to +take the first step toward carrying it out. After he had listened to +some very explicit instructions from his commander, he stole off into +the darkness, and, creeping along the outside of the stockade until he +reached a point opposite the place where the sentry was posted behind +the stables, he stopped and waited to see what was going to happen. +About ten feet from him on his left was another soldier, standing +upright and motionless in the shadow of the stockade. Ten feet beyond +this soldier was another. These were all that Bob could see, but he knew +that there were good men and true stationed at regular intervals all +along the stockade, waiting to act the several parts that had been +assigned to them. + +Bob waited and listened for a quarter of an hour or more, and then he +heard a conversation carried on in a low tone on the other side of the +stockade. He could not catch the words, but he knew that the deserters +were beginning to bestir themselves, and that one of their number was +talking with the sentry. Presently a scratching, scrambling sound, +accompanied by heavy, labored breathing and those incoherent +exclamations that men sometimes use when they are exerting themselves to +the utmost, told Bob that somebody was making his way up the logs. +Keeping his eyes fastened on the top, he saw a soldier climb up and seat +himself on the plate. He could see him very plainly against the light +background of the sky, and he recognized him at once. It was Bristow. He +was about to swing himself off when he discovered Bob standing beneath +him. He stopped, peered down into the darkness for a moment, and then +called out in a frightened whisper, + +"Who is it?" + +"It's all right," whispered Bob in reply; "come on." + +"Who is it, I say?" repeated Bristow in still more earnest tones. + +"Why, don't you know Dodd? Hand me your carbine." + +"Oh!" said Bristow with a great sigh of relief. "It _is_ all right, +isn't it? Here you are." + +Holding his carbine by the strap, Bristow passed it down to Bob, who +promptly slung it upon his back. The latter then pushed up his sleeves, +moved back a little from the stockade, and when Bristow swung himself +down by his hands and dropped lightly to the ground, Bob stepped up and +took him by the arm. + +"I don't need any help," said Bristow, who had landed squarely on his +feet. "But I say, Dodd--" + +"We'll talk about it as we go along," interrupted Bob. "But not a loud +word out of you, unless you want to be gagged." + +"Why, good gracious, it's Owens!" gasped Bristow, reeling back against +the stockade. He did not ask what Bob was doing there or why he had +seized him, for he knew without asking. + +"Yes, it is Owens, and the men you saw ride out of the gate with me this +afternoon are with me now. Here's one of them," added Bob as a soldier +named Loring stepped up and took his place in readiness to catch the +next deserter who came over the stockade. + +Just then the sentry on the inside placed his mouth close to one of the +cracks between the logs and asked, in a cautious tone, + +"How is it, Bristow? Is the coast clear?" + +"All clear," replied Loring, speaking through the same crack. "Tell the +boys to hurry up; we've no time to waste." + +If Bob's captive had any idea of attempting to escape or of alarming his +companions by crying out, he abandoned it very quickly when he saw the +soldiers that were stationed along the stockade. There was a trooper for +every deserter, and as fast as the man at the head of the line caught +one, another moved up and took his place. + +"This bangs me!" said Bristow, in great disgust. "Now comes a +court-martial of course, and Goodness only knows what will come after +that--the guard-house and a heavy fine, or the military prison at Fort +Leavenworth.--I say, Owens, how did the colonel find it out?" + +"Do you suppose he tells his secrets to us privates?" asked Bob in +reply. + +"We spoke to somebody who was not worthy of the confidence we placed in +him," continued Bristow. "The thing never could have become known +unless one of our own number had proved treacherous. But we can easily +find out who he is. There are just thirty of us, and if there are only +twenty-nine arrested, the missing man is the guilty one. When I find out +who he is, I shall take particular pains to see that the next battle he +gets into is his last." + +This threat was uttered in a very low tone of voice, for Bristow and his +captor had by this time reached the place where the lieutenant had +stationed himself to receive his men when they came in with their +prisoners. Bob reported, "Your orders have been obeyed, sir," and took +his stand close behind his officer. + +"I counted only twenty-six," said Bristow when the sergeant-major came +up and announced the complete success of the undertaking. "There must be +four traitors among us." + +"Have you counted in the horse-guards?" asked Bob. "There they are on +the top of that ridge." + +No, Bristow had not counted them in, for he did not know until that +minute that they had been arrested. He was very much astonished when he +learned that every one of his party had been secured, and could not for +the life of him imagine how the colonel had found out about it; for that +he knew _all_ about it was evident from the manner in which the arrests +had been effected. + +Having sent one of his men back to order up the horses, the lieutenant +formed his captives in line, threw a guard around them and marched them +into the fort. Halting them on the parade, he went in to report to the +colonel, and when he came out again he put every one of them into the +guard-house; after which Bob and his companions went to the quarters and +tumbled into their bunks. + +Great was the astonishment among the soldiers the next morning when it +became known that the expedition, which they supposed had gone out in +search of the hostiles, had returned to the fort and captured thirty +armed men, and that the work had been done so quietly that the sentry at +the gate never knew anything about it until it was all over. Of course +they were quite at a loss to determine who it was that told the colonel +about it; and the general impression seemed to be that if there were a +traitor among the deserters, he had allowed himself to be captured with +the others in order to avoid suspicion. + +Among the non-commissioned officers who had attempted to desert was one +of the corporals belonging to Bob's troop, and the next morning Bob was +ordered to take his place and do duty as corporal of the guard. He saw +the prisoners served with breakfast, and the numerous orders he had to +give opened the eyes of one of them, who began to think he had made a +discovery. And so he had, but he could not prove it. + +"I'll tell you what's a fact, boys," said Bristow as he walked to a +remote corner of his prison with a cup of coffee in one hand and some +cracker and bacon in the other: "I know whom we have to thank for our +arrest." + +"Who is it?" asked a dozen voices at once. + +"I'd like to send him my compliments in the shape of a bullet from my +carbine," said the corporal whose place Bob was then filling. "Tell us +who he is, so that we can improve the first chance to get even with +him." + +"There he is," said Bristow, shaking his piece of cracker at Bob. "He +has been trying to get on the blind side of the officers for a long +time, as you all know, and he has accomplished his object at last by +going back on his comrades." + +The prisoners looked at Bob as if they expected him to deny the +accusation; but, to the disappointment of some of them who really liked +him, he had nothing to say. + +"Why don't you speak up and declare that it isn't so?" demanded the +corporal. + +"Because he dare not," exclaimed Bristow. "He couldn't without telling a +lie, and, as he is a good little boy, he wouldn't do that for the +world." + +"I don't believe he did it," said another of the culprits. "He is not +one of us, and how could he have found it out? I believe that the +traitor is right here in the guard-house under arrest." + +"I know he isn't," declared Bristow. "Bob Owens is the only traitor +there is, and you may depend upon it. Now, let me tell you just what is +going to happen when the court-martial comes off: it will be proved to +the satisfaction of all of you that Owens found out about our plans in +some way or other, and went straight to the colonel with them. You will +be disrated, Corporal Jim, and Lieutenant Earle, in order to reward Bob +for carrying tales and to encourage him to carry more, will give him +your place. Why, he has just as good as got the stripes on his arm +now." + +Corporal Jim looked daggers at Bob, and declared that if he was the one +who had disclosed their plot to the colonel, he was too mean for any +use, and ought to be drummed out of the fort. + +"I promised that if I ever found out who the informer was I would serve +him worse than that," said Bristow in savage tones. "I shall keep my +promise, too, if I ever get the chance, for I am one who never forgets +an injury." + +Bob Owens--who, as we know, was not wanting in physical courage--was not +at all alarmed by this threat and a good many others like it to which he +listened during the fifteen minutes the prisoners were occupied in +eating their breakfast. He believed that he was able to take care of No. +1; and when the critical time came, as it did a few weeks later, he +proved to the satisfaction of everybody that his confidence in himself +was not misplaced. + +The court-martial was not long delayed, and the findings being approved +by the proper authorities, the sentences were promptly carried out. The +culprits were confined in the guard-house for different periods of time, +those who had been the most active in inducing their comrades to desert +serving a longer sentence than their victims, and fines were imposed +upon all of them, Bristow's being by far the heaviest, as he was proved +to be the ringleader. He and Gus Robbins--both of whom had been almost +constantly in trouble ever since they arrived at the post--were given to +understand that if they were detected in another attempt at desertion +they could make up their minds to see the inside of the military prison +at Fort Leavenworth. Bristow proved to be a first-class prophet. During +the progress of the trial it came out that Bob Owens was the one who +discovered the plot, and that through him it was communicated to the +colonel. Corporal Jim was of course reduced to the ranks, and Bob was +promoted to fill the vacancy. + +During the next few weeks nothing of interest happened at the fort. The +deserters were released as fast as the terms for which they were +sentenced expired, some of them penitent and fully resolved to do better +in future, while the others were more than ever determined to escape +from military control, in spite of all the officers and guards that +could be placed around them. They carried out their determination, too, +at every opportunity, deserting in parties numbering half a dozen or so, +and they generally succeeded in eluding pursuit. It was a singular fact +that when the pursuers were commanded by commissioned officers they very +often returned without having accomplished anything, but when they were +commanded by sergeants or corporals they were almost always successful. +Luck was on the side of the "non-coms," and the colonel finally learned +to put a great deal of confidence in them. Bob Owens was particularly +fortunate in this respect, and that was the reason his superior sent for +him one morning after the officer of the day had reported that seven men +had deserted during the previous night, taking their arms and a supply +of ammunition with them. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING. + + +"Corporal," said the commandant, taking off his eye-glasses with a jerk, +as he always did when he was about to say something emphatic, "there are +the names of seven men who deserted last night. I want you to take +command of a squad and follow them up and arrest them." + +"Very good, sir," replied Bob. + +"I don't know which way they went, or anything about it," continued the +colonel. "That is something you will have to find out for yourself. I +_do_ know, however, that they went on foot, and that they are armed and +well supplied with ammunition. I want you to capture them at all +hazards--at all hazards, I say," repeated the colonel, bringing his open +hand down upon the table with a ringing slap. "If you come back without +them you need not offer any excuses, for I shall not listen to them. +Arrest anybody you catch outside the stockade wearing a United States +uniform, no matter who he is. There have been no passes granted this +morning, and no one except the guards and the officer of the day has any +business outside. That's all." + +Bob saluted and hurried from the room. As he passed through the hall he +glanced at the list he held in his hand, and saw that it was headed by +the names of Bristow and Gus Robbins. + +"This is about the easiest job I have had yet, and these fellows are +just as good as captured already," said he to himself. "I know right +where to look for them, and I wouldn't be in their shoes for all the +money the paymaster had in his safe the last time he was here. They are +booked for Leavenworth, sure.--May I go out, Willis?" he asked of the +sentry at the gate; "I am acting under orders." + +"That's all right," was the reply; "the officer of the day told me to +pass you. You are going after those deserters, I suppose? Well, now, +look here," added the sentry, after looking all around to make sure that +there was no officer in sight: "you remember those mulewhackers who +brought that freight here the other day, don't you? Well, Bristow and +the rest have gone off to join them. I am certain of it, for I heard +Bristow talking with them, and they assured him that the wagon-master +would give him steady work and good wages if he would hire out to him. +Bristow didn't hesitate to talk with them about it in the presence of a +dozen of us." + +"That was only a ruse on his part," said Bob confidently. "If I followed +the trail of those teamsters I should have my trouble for my pains. I am +going as straight toward Brownsville as I can go, and I shall have my +hand on Mr. Bristow's collar before I have gone thirty miles. You may +rest assured that I shall not come back without him, for if I do I don't +know what the colonel will say to me." + +Bob hastened toward the place where the horses were picketed, and there +he found the officer of the day and the six picked men who had been +detailed to accompany him. It was the work of but a few minutes to lead +their horses into the fort and put the saddles and bridles on them; and +when this had been done, and Bob and his men had secured their carbines, +sabres and revolvers and put two days' rations in their haversacks, they +mounted and rode through the gate at a sharp trot. They were quiet and +orderly enough as long as they remained within sight of the fort, but +when the first ridge over which they passed shut them out from view they +abandoned their efforts to keep in column, threw off all restraint and +shouted and sang at the top of their voices. They looked upon an +expedition like this as a "lark," and enjoyed it as much as a schoolboy +enjoys a picnic. + +Bob did not stop at the first ranches he passed, for he knew that the +deserters (provided, of course, that they had fled along that trail) +must have gone by them in the night, and that consequently their inmates +could give him no information. Besides, Bob had learned by experience +that there was very little confidence to be placed in anything the +ranchemen might say regarding a deserter. A good many of them had served +in the army during the war, and, knowing how very hard is the life a +soldier leads, they sympathized with him in his efforts to escape, and +aided him by every means in their power. Where there was one farmer or +stock-raiser who would give a squad like Bob's any information that +could be relied on, there were a dozen who would conceal the deserter in +their houses and send his pursuers off on the wrong trail. + +After Bob and his troopers had ridden about fifteen miles, and had +shouted and sung off a little of their surplus enthusiasm, they relapsed +into silence and settled down to business. They halted on the top of +every ridge to survey the country before them, and called at every +ranche that lay along their route; but nothing was to be seen or heard +of Bristow and his party. About noon they came within sight of a +squatter's cabin, and Bob decided to stop there and eat dinner. The +owner of the cabin was at home, and he welcomed the horsemen with every +appearance of cordiality. + +"Alight an' hitch, strangers," said he, when he had succeeded in +quieting the small army of dogs which came out from under the cabin to +dispute the further advance of the troopers. "You're as welcome as the +flowers in May." + +"Thank you," said Bob as he swung himself from his saddle. "We intend to +stop here and rest for an hour or so. We'll boil our coffee and cook our +rations on your stove, if you have no objections." + +"I ain't got no stove," replied the squatter hastily--"leastways, none +that you can do cookin' on," he added, with some confusion, when he saw +Bob and one or two of his men look up at the stovepipe which projected +above the roof. + +"All right!" replied the corporal, silencing by a look one of the +troopers who was about to say something. "Then we shall have to build a +fire outside; but that will do just as well, for we are used to cooking +our grub in that way.--Now, Carey, if you and Loring will skirmish +around and find some wood and start the coffee-pot going, we will look +out for your nags." + +"Corporal," whispered one of the troopers, "there's a bug under that +chip. In other words, this old rascal has some reason for wishing to +keep us out of his cabin." + +"Say nothing out loud," replied Bob with a warning gesture. "We are on +the right track, and I know it. If we fail now, it will be through our +own blundering." + +Having seen the horses staked out, Bob walked back to the cabin, and +found the squatter in conversation with Carey and Loring. His first +words indicated that he had been trying to pump them, but without +success. + +"Say, soldier, where might you be a-travellin' to?" he asked as Bob +came up. "I asked them two fellows, an' they told me I had better ask +you." + +"We are looking for seven deserters who passed this way some time this +morning," answered Bob. "They were on foot and carried carbines. Seen +anything of such a party?" + +The squatter brought his hands together with a loud slap before he +replied. + +"I jest knowed them fellows wasn't what they allowed they was," said he. +"In course I seed 'em, an' they told me they was a-lookin' for deserters +themselves. They went off that way, toward the old Brazos trail," added +the squatter, pointing in a direction which lay exactly at right angles +with the course Bob had been pursuing. + +"Did they?" exclaimed the corporal with a great show of eagerness. +"Thank you for the information. We will go that way too as soon as we +have eaten dinner. How long ago did they pass this way?" + +"Jest at daylight." + +"That's another lie," said Bob to himself. "They didn't desert until +after midnight, and they couldn't have travelled between fifteen and +twenty miles in less than five hours on foot. An infantryman might do +it on a pinch, but a trooper couldn't." + +"You'll have to hurry up if you want to ketch 'em," continued the +squatter, who seemed to grow nervous when he saw how deliberately the +troopers went about their preparations for dinner. "They was a-lumberin' +along right peart." + +"Oh, there's no need that we should throw ourselves into a +perspiration," replied Bob indifferently. "We don't care if we don't +find them for a week. You see, when we are out on an expedition like +this we are not obliged to drill, and our pay goes on just the same. If +you have anything good to eat, trot it out; we're wealthy." + +But the squatter protested that he had nothing in his cabin except bacon +and crackers, and his supply of these necessary articles was so small +that he could not possibly spare any of it. He said so much on this +point that the troopers would have been dull indeed if they had not +suspected something. + +"He wants to get us away from here, doesn't he?" said Carey as soon as +he had a chance to speak to Bob. "He thinks that if he provides us with +a good dinner we will spend a long time in eating it. Now, corporal, I +will bet you anything you please that--" + +"I know," interrupted Bob, "and I want you to take a look into the +matter at once. This is my plan." + +Here Bob whispered some rapid instructions to the trooper, who winked +first one eye and then the other to show that he understood them. +Pulling his pipe from his pocket, he proceeded to fill it with tobacco, +while Bob walked up to the squatter, and, taking him confidentially by +the arm, said, as he led him out of earshot of the men, who had seated +themselves about the fire, + +"May I have a word with you in private? You see, I am an officer, and it +won't do for me to talk too freely in the presence of those I command." + +So saying, Bob led the squatter behind the cabin and began making some +very particular inquiries concerning Bristow and his party: What sort of +looking fellows were they? What did they say? Did they get anything to +eat at the cabin? and did his friend the squatter really think they had +gone toward the old Brazos trail? The man was very uneasy, and seemed +impatient to go back to the fire again; but by holding fast to his arm, +and plying him with such questions as these, Bob managed to keep him +behind the cabin for about five minutes, and that was long enough for +Carey to carry out the orders that had been given him. + +As soon as Bob and the squatter disappeared around the corner of the +cabin, Carey put his pipe into his mouth, and, enjoining silence upon +his comrades by shaking his fore finger at them, he quickly mounted the +steps that led to the porch and walked into the cabin. As he did so +there was a faint rustling in one corner of the room, and, looking over +his left shoulder without turning his head, Carey saw a man who was +lying on a rude couch draw a blanket quickly over his face. In his +eagerness to conceal his features the man probably forgot that he had a +pair of feet, for he pulled the blanket up a little too high. + +"Aha! my fine lad," said the trooper as he noiselessly opened the +stove-door and looked into it, as if he were searching for a live coal +with which to light his pipe, "I see a pair of No. 12 army brogans, and +also the lower portions of a pair of light blue breeches with a yellow +stripe down the seams. Bryant, my boy, that's you. I see also that this +stove is in perfect order, but as there are no coals in it, I'll have to +get a light at the fire outside." + +When Carey came out of the cabin his comrades' faces were full of +inquiry, but the trooper only winked at them and nodded his head, as if +to say that he could tell something that would astonish them if he only +felt so disposed. + +By this time dinner was ready, and Loring's loud call of "Coffee!" +brought Bob and the squatter from behind the cabin. The latter accepted +Loring's invitation to drink a cup of coffee with "the boys," but he +disposed of it in great haste, hot as it was, as if he hoped by his +example to induce them to do likewise. But Bob and his companions were +in no hurry. They lingered a long time over their homely meal, and then +the smokers were allowed to empty a pipe apiece before the order was +given to "catch up." The squatter began to breathe easier after that, +and when he saw the troopers in their saddles and ready to start, his +delight was so apparent that they all noticed it. + +"Wa'l, good-bye, if you must go," said he cheerily. "Will you stop when +you come back?" + +"Oh, you needn't expect to see us here again," said Bob. "If we go to +Brazos City, we shall take a short cut across the country when we +return to the fort." + +"That's where I reckon they're goin', as I told you; an' my advice would +be for you to go straight to Brazos, without stoppin' on the way, an' +when they get there you'll be all ready to take 'em in. See?" + +"Yes, I see," answered Bob, "and it's something worth thinking +of.--Forward, column left! Trot! gallop!" + +The troopers moved rapidly away from the cabin, and, to the intense +surprise and indignation of all his followers, who thought that their +corporal had been deceived by the squatter, Bob led them off toward the +old Brazos trail. At length one of them ventured to remonstrate. + +"Corporal," said he, "you're going wrong." + +"I know it," answered Bob.--"Carey, tell us what you saw in that cabin. +Were our suspicions correct?" + +"Indeed they were," was Carey's reply. "In the first place, that stove +was all right, but the squatter didn't want us to use it, for Bryant was +hiding in the cabin. He was lying on the floor, covered up with a +blanket." + +"How do you know it was Bryant?" asked Bob. "Did you see his face?" + +"No, I didn't; it was concealed by the blanket. I saw his feet," said +Carey; and his answer was received by the troopers with a sigh of +satisfaction. It was all that was needed to establish the identity of +the man who had taken refuge in the squatter's cabin. + +"I didn't think I could be wrong," observed Bob, "for that man condemned +himself before we had been in his presence ten minutes." + +"Why don't you go back and snatch Bryant?" demanded one of the troopers, +seeing that the corporal did not slacken his pace. "Why didn't you do it +while we were at the cabin?" + +"Because I had no right to do it," answered Bob. "If I should go to +searching houses, I might get myself into trouble with the colonel. +Another thing, boys: I shouldn't care to enter that man's castle to look +for anything unless I was a civil officer and armed with a +search-warrant. He is a hard one, unless his looks belie him." + +"I thought so myself," said Loring. "But you are not going back without +Bryant, are you? What do you suppose he is doing there, anyway?" + +"Of course I shall not go back without him," answered Bob quietly. "He +has probably hired out to that squatter, and we must watch our chance +and catch him out of doors before we can arrest him." + +"Well, are you going to Brazos City?" + +"Not by a long shot. Bristow and the fellows who are still with him have +not gone that way. As soon as we get behind that belt of post-oaks you +see in advance of us, I intend to circle around and go back toward the +river again." + +Although the troopers rode at a rapid gait, it took them nearly three +hours to carry out this programme. At the end of that time they struck +the old stage-road, which, in the days gone by, had served as a highway +between Brownsville and some of the remote frontier-towns; but when the +raiders forced the settlements back into the interior the stage-route +was abandoned, and all that now remained to tell of the business that +had once been done on it were the half-ruined stations which were +scattered along the road at intervals of fifteen or twenty miles. + +These stations were built of stone, and were large enough to accommodate +a dozen horses and half as many stable-men and drivers, besides the +necessary food for both men and animals. Each station was provided with +a "dug-out," a miniature fort, into which the employees of the route +could retreat in case they were attacked by hostile Indians or Mexican +raiders. It was simply a cellar of sufficient size to shelter nine or +ten men at close quarters, covered with logs and dirt, and furnished +with loopholes on all sides at the height of a foot or more above the +ground. It looked like a mound of earth supported on logs about two feet +high. The only way of getting into one of these little fortifications +was through an underground passage-way which led from the stables. With +these arrangements for their defence a few well-armed and determined men +could hold their own against all the raiders that could get around them. + +About four o'clock in the afternoon Bob and his troopers came within +sight of one of these stations, and as soon as their eyes rested upon it +they drew up their horses with a jerk, at the same time uttering +exclamations of astonishment and delight. Standing in front of the open +door were several men dressed in the uniform of the regular army. They +seemed to be holding a consultation, and so deeply engrossed were they +with their deliberations that they did not notice the approach of the +troopers, although the latter had stopped their horses on the summit of +a high ridge in plain view of them. + +"I wonder if those are our men?" said Carey, with some excitement in his +tones. + +"We shall soon know," was Bob's calm reply. "Whoever they are, they will +have to give an account of themselves, for I am instructed to arrest +everybody I meet wearing a uniform." + +"If they _are_ our fellows, we've got them corralled," remarked Loring. + +"Yes, but I don't much like the way we have 'corralled' them," returned +Carey. "Do you see that dug-out about twenty yards from the northwest +corner of the station? If they go in there they can laugh at us. The +only way we could get them out would be to starve them out." + +"That would take too long," said Bob; and the tone in which the words +were uttered made his comrades look at him with some curiosity. "Let's +go down there and interview them, and then we shall know how to act. +Forward! Trot!" + +Just as these commands were given a commotion among the men in front of +the station indicated that somebody had sounded an alarm. They gazed at +the troopers for a moment as if they were thunderstruck, and then made a +simultaneous rush for the entrance. This action on their part told Bob +as plainly as words that they were the men of whom he had been sent in +pursuit, and that they did not intend to go back to the fort if they +could help it. A moment later a loud slamming and pounding indicated +that the deserters were trying to close and barricade the door. This had +scarcely been accomplished when the troopers dashed up to the station +and swung themselves out of their saddles. + +Leaving two of his men to hold the horses, Bob and the rest walked +around the corner of the station and looked at the dug-out. There was a +face in front of every loophole. Anybody could see that the deserters +had the advantage of position, and the troopers wondered what Bob was +going to do about it. They glanced at his face, but could see nothing +there to tell them whether he was excited, afraid or discouraged. It +wore its usual expression. + +"Well, boys," said Bob at length, "if you have grown tired of roaming +about the country, come out, and we will go back to the post. The +colonel wants to see you." + +"We don't doubt it, but we don't want to see him," replied a voice that +Bob recognized at once. "We think we see ourselves going back! We didn't +desert for that." + +"Gus Robbins, I am sorry that you are in there," said Bob. "What will +you say to your father and mother when you see them again?" + +"Don't know, I am sure," answered Gus. "Haven't had any time to think +about that. But you know yourself that I can't go back to the post. The +colonel said that if I were ever court-marshaled again for desertion, I +should go to prison; but I'll fight till I drop before I'll do that." + +"Say, Bob," shouted another voice, "do you remember what I said I would +do to that informer if I ever found out who he was? You are the fellow, +and here's your pay." + +It was Bristow who spoke, and as he uttered these words he thrust the +muzzle of his carbine through the loophole in front of him. The chorus +of ejaculations and remonstrances which arose from the inside of the +dug-out showed that the rest of the deserters were not yet ready to +resort to the use of their firearms; but Bristow was almost half crazed +by rage and fear, and just as somebody seized him from behind and jerked +him away from the loophole, his carbine roared, and Bob Owens turned +halfway round and staggered back a step or two, as if he were struck and +about to fall. + +This unexpected act excited Bob's troopers--with whom he was an especial +favorite--almost to frenzy. Believing that he had been seriously if not +fatally injured--it did not seem possible that anybody could miss a mark +of the size of his body at the distance of ten paces--one of them sprang +forward to support him, while the others discharged their carbines at +the loopholes in rapid succession. Their volley was not entirely without +effect, for a loud yell of agony came from the inside of the dug-out, +bearing testimony to the fact that one bullet at least had found a +target somewhere on the person of one of the deserters. + +[Illustration: STORMING THE DUG-OUT.] + +"Cease firing!" shouted Bob. + +He gently released himself from the embrace of the strong arms that had +been thrown around him, and looked down at the gaping rent Bristow's +bullet had made in the breast of his coat. The missile had passed +through his thick carbine-sling and breast-belt, had cut into his coat, +vest and shirt, and ploughed a deep furrow through a well-filled wallet +which he carried in his inside pocket. Fortunately, it was a glancing +shot, but the force with which it struck him was almost sufficient to +knock him off his feet. + +"I'm not hurt at all," said he as his men crowded about him, "but I +shall have to put a patch on my coat when I get back to the post.--I +say, there," he shouted, addressing himself to the inmates of the +dug-out, "was there anybody hurt in there? I thought I heard a yell." + +"Yes, and you'll hear another yell if you don't go away and let us +alone," replied Bristow. "I'll make a better shot the next time I pull +on you." + +"All right!" said Bob. "I'll give you a chance in just about five +minutes.--Loring," he added in a lower tone, "you and Phillips stay here +and hold the horses, and the rest of you follow me." + +"Are you going to storm them?" asked Loring. + +"I am," was the decided reply. "It is the only way I can get them out, +for they'll not come of their own free will." + +"Then I sha'n't stay here and hold the horses; that's flat," declared +Loring. + +"Neither will I," chimed in Phillips. "The picket-pins will hold them as +well as we can." + +"All right!" replied Bob. "Stake them out, and while you are doing it +Carey and I will see how we are going to get into the station." + +The door to which Bob now turned his attention did not prove to be a +very serious obstacle. It was made of heavy planks, and if it had been +in good condition it would have taken a good deal of chopping with a +sharp axe before one could have forced his way through it; but the +hinges had rusted off, and the planks had shrunk to such a degree that +the bar which held the door in its place could be seen and reached with +a sabre. A few blows with one of these weapons knocked this bar from its +place, and when that was done, the door, having nothing to support it, +fell back into the stable with a loud crash. Bob entered, with Carey at +his heels, and, making his way to a small apartment which had once been +used as a sleeping-room by the stable-men and drivers, he found there a +trap-door, which he threw open, revealing a flight of rude steps leading +into the underground passage that communicated with the dug-out. By this +time the rest of the troopers arrived on the scene. They looked +dubiously at the dark passage-way, and then they looked at Bob. + +"Do you really mean to go down there, Owens?" asked Loring. "It's sure +death." + +"I believe so myself, but I am going all the same," replied Bob, who was +thoroughly aroused by the attempt that had been made on his life. "If we +are not willing to face death at any moment, we had no business to +enlist. Must I go alone?" + +"Not much," was the unanimous response. "If you are bound to go, we are +going too." + +"Leave your sabres and carbines here," commanded Bob. "They will only be +in the way. Draw revolvers, but don't shoot except in self-defence." + +Bob knew as well as his men did that he was about to enter upon a very +perilous undertaking. Bristow had shown that he was desperate enough to +shoot, and he had even threatened that if he got another chance at Bob +he would make a better shot than he did before. Some of the men who were +with him were known to be hard characters, and it was very probable that +they would back him up in the resistance he seemed determined to make. +But Bob, having made up his mind as to the course he ought pursue, never +once faltered. He was a soldier, and a soldier's first duty was to obey +orders. He had been commanded to find the deserters and arrest them at +all hazards; and, having obeyed the first part of his instructions, he +was resolved to carry them out to the letter or perish in the attempt. + +"Now I think we are all ready," said Bob, after the sabres and carbines +had been laid in the empty bunks and the revolvers drawn and examined. +"Stick close to me, and remember that if we don't take them they will +kill us. Bristow, Sandy and Talbot are the only men we have to fear, and +if we can only get the drop on them we are all right. Come on." + +Although Bob was the youngest soldier, he was the calmest one of the +seven troopers who descended those steps. When he reached the bottom he +looked along the passage-way toward the dug-out, which was dimly lighted +by the sunbeams which streamed in through the loopholes on the western +side, and saw the deserters standing in line awaiting his approach. + +"Halt!" cried a voice. "Come a step nearer and you are all dead men." + +It was Bristow who spoke, and the words were followed by the ominous +click of the lock of his carbine. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE NEW SCOUT. + + +"Halt!" cried Bristow again. It was so dark in the passage-way that he +could not see the troopers, but the sound of their footsteps told him +that they were still advancing toward the dug-out. "That's twice," he +continued. "If I have to halt you the third time, I'll send a bullet out +there." + +"Bristow, you had better not try that," answered Bob, without the least +tremor in his voice. "You have already done more than you will want to +stand punishment for. Besides, I have got you covered, and if you move +that carbine a hair's breadth you are a gone deserter." + +"And I've got the drop on you, Sandy," said Carey, thrusting his cocked +revolver over Bob's shoulder, "so don't wink.--I say, corporal," he +added in a whisper, "I don't see Talbot anywhere." + +"Neither do I," answered Bob. "Keep your eyes open, for he may be up to +playing us some trick." + +Whether it was the cool determination exhibited by Bob and his men, or +the consciousness that they were in the wrong that took all the fight +out of the deserters, we cannot tell; but they were cowed by something, +and when Corporal Owens and his troopers filed into the dug-out, and the +former sternly commanded them to "throw up," every carbine was dropped +to the ground and five pairs of hands were raised in the air. + +"Where's the other?" demanded Bob. "There ought to be six of you." + +"Here I am," said a faint voice. + +Bob looked in the direction from which the voice came, and saw Talbot +sitting in a dark corner, his carbine lying by his side and both his +hands raised above his head. He wore a handkerchief around his forehead, +and, dim as the light was, Bob could see that it was streaked with +blood. + +"Are you badly hurt?" he asked with some anxiety. + +"No, he isn't," exclaimed Bristow, before the wounded man could speak. +"A glancing ball cut a little crease in his scalp, and he thinks he is +killed." + +"I wish you had this little crease in your own scalp," said Talbot, +looking savagely at Bristow. "If it hadn't been for you I never should +have been here." + +"And if it hadn't been for _you_, and a few cowards just like you, we +never should have been captured," retorted Bristow. "We could have held +our own against a squad four times as big as the one Owens has brought +with him; but now--" + +"That'll do," interrupted Bob. "I am not going to have any quarrelling +here; and, Bristow, there's a court-martial coming, and you had better +keep a quiet tongue in your head.--Carey, stand in the mouth of that +passage-way.--Phillips, pick up the carbines, and the rest of you sound +them." + +These orders were promptly obeyed, and when the "sounding" had been +completed the deserters had not even a pocket-knife left. + +"Now, boys," continued Bob, "as you seem to like these quarters so well, +you can stay here to-night--all except you, Talbot; you will come up and +have your wound examined. We didn't come prepared to take care of +injured men, but we will do the best we can for you.--We will get some +supper for you men, and when you feel so inclined you can spread your +blankets on the floor and go to sleep.--Go on, Carey." + +At a sign from Bob the troopers followed Carey, who led the way along +the passage; then Talbot fell in, carrying his blanket over his +shoulder, and Bob brought up the rear. The trap-door was shut, and +Talbot was informed that the sleeping-room was to be his prison for the +night. His wound was dressed with some cold coffee that Bob happened to +have in his canteen, and the deserter was assured that there was no +cause for apprehension. The wound, which was scarcely an inch long, was +only skin-deep, but it bled profusely, and that was probably the reason +why Talbot was so badly frightened. When two sentries had been +posted--one at the door of the stable to keep an eye on Talbot, and the +other at the dug-out to see that the deserters who were confined there +did not attempt to work their way out during the night--Bob ordered +supper to be served at once. He had performed a brave act, and now that +the danger was over he began to realize that he had passed through +something of an ordeal. He lifted his cap, and found that his forehead +was covered with great drops of perspiration. + +"You have done well," said Carey, extending his hand to Bob when the +latter came out of the sleeping-room. "I didn't know you had so much +pluck. I shall take particular pains to see that the lieutenant hears of +this day's work." + +"He will tell you that I did nothing but my duty," replied Bob, who was +very glad to know that his men were satisfied with his conduct. + +"But it isn't everybody who is brave enough to do his duty," said Carey +as he touched a match to the light-wood he had piled in the fireplace; +"and perhaps the lieutenant will say that you ought to be a sergeant. +That _was_ Bryant back there in that squatter's cabin, wasn't it? I +looked for him the minute we entered the dug-out." + +"So did I," answered Bob, "and I saw at a glance that he wasn't there. +We will attend to him to-morrow." + +"But perhaps he won't be there." + +"I think he will. It is my opinion that he has hired out to that +squatter, and that he intends to trust to disguise to escape +recognition. A man in citizen's clothes doesn't look much like the same +man in uniform; did you ever notice that? But even if he isn't there, +what odds does it make to us? We are having a good time, and I would +just as soon stay out here on the plains for a week or ten days as to go +back to the fort and drill." + +"I say, corporal," exclaimed the sentry who was stationed at the door, +"here's somebody coming, and unless my eyes are going back on me he is +dressed in uniform." + +"Who in the world can it be?" exclaimed Carey. + +"We'll soon find out," replied Bob, "for if he has got any of our +uncle's clothes on we are bound to take him in, unless he proves to be +an officer." + +Bob and his men hurried to the door, and, looking in the direction in +which the sentry was gazing, saw a horseman about a quarter of a mile +away. He had halted on the top of a ridge, and Loring, who had good +"Plains eyes," declared that he was looking at them through a +field-glass. He certainly was dressed in uniform, and had with him a +small black mule which bore a good-sized pack on its back. + +"I can't make him out," said Bob, waving his hand in the air and +beckoning the horseman to approach. "He is a soldier, but what is he +doing with that pack-mule? It isn't Bryant, is it? If it is, where did +he get that mule and that field-glass?--Loring, you and Phillips put the +bridles on your horses--never mind the saddles--and stand by to give him +a race if he tries to run away. Don't mount until I give the word." + +But the horseman had no intention of running away. He replied to Bob's +signal by waving his hand over his head, and after putting away his +field-glass rode down the ridge and came toward the station at a gallop. +As he approached nearer the troopers saw that he was a stranger, and a +very good-looking one, too. He was almost as dark as an Indian, his hair +was long enough to reach to his shoulders, and the eyes that looked out +from under the peak of his fatigue-cap were as black as midnight and as +sharp as those of an eagle. He rode a magnificent horse, and his seat +was easy and graceful. His only weapon--that is, the only one that could +be seen--was a heavy Winchester rifle, which was slung at his back. If +he was a soldier, he was a very fancy one, for his cavalry uniform, +although in strict keeping with the regulations, was made of the finest +material; he wore white gauntlet gloves on his hands; and instead of the +ungainly, ill-fitting army shoe he wore fine boots, the heels of which +were armed with small silver spurs. The troopers thought from his dress +and carriage that he must be an officer, and when he drew rein in front +of the station they stood at "attention" and saluted him. + +"I don't deserve that honor, boys," said the stranger with a laugh; "I +am not a shoulder-strap." + +"You are not?" exclaimed Bob, who was not a little astonished as well as +provoked at the mistake he had made. "Well, it seems to me that you are +throwing on a good many frills for a private. Where do you belong?" + +"At Fort Lamoine," said the stranger; and the answer was given in a tone +quite as curt as was that in which the question was asked. + +"So do I, but I don't remember to have seen you there, and so I shall +have to ask you to give an account of yourself. Dismount." + +"I shall do as I please about that," replied the stranger, who had all +the while been staring very hard at Bob. + +"Well, you won't do as you please about it," returned the corporal, +while Carey walked up and took the stranger's horse by the bit. "You +will do as _I_ please. If you belong at Fort Lamoine you will go there +with me in the morning, and then I shall be sure you get there. I am +acting under orders." + +The horseman thrust his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket, and +pulling out a bill-book took from it a paper which he opened and handed +to Bob to read. + +"If you are acting under orders I have no more to say," said he, "but +there is something which I think will see me through until day after +to-morrow. It is my furlough. Look here, partner," he added suddenly, +"isn't your name Bob Owens?" + +The latter started as if he had been shot, his under jaw dropped down, +and for a few seconds he stood looking at the speaker as if he could +hardly believe his ears. Then a light seemed to break in upon him, and +springing forward he grasped the horseman by the arm and fairly pulled +him out of the saddle. After that he shook one of his hands with both +his own and executed a sort of war-dance around him, while the troopers +stood and looked on in speechless amazement. + +"George Ackerman, I am delighted to see you again," cried Bob as soon as +he could speak. "I take it all back, George: I didn't mean to insult +you." + +"It's Owens, isn't it?" said George, for it was he. + +"Of course it is; and if you hadn't been blind you would have known it +as soon as you saw me," replied Bob. + +"I don't think my eyesight is any worse than your own, for you didn't +know me until I called you by name," retorted George. "Your uniform +tells me where you have been and what you have been doing since I last +saw you, but it doesn't tell me how I came to lose you in Galveston so +suddenly and mysteriously. If we had kept together a little while longer +we should have been all right, for I had scarcely missed you before I +ran against Mr. Gilbert--the friend to whom I wrote for money, you know. +If you belong at Fort Lamoine, what are you doing here?" + +"Stake out your horse and mule and I will tell you all about it," +answered Bob. "But first tell me what right you have to wear those +clothes." + +"I am a United States scout," replied George. "At least, that was the +title under which I was sworn in, but it does not clearly explain the +duties that are expected of me. I am to act as guide to the troops when +they cross the river in pursuit of the raiders." + +"Oh yes," exclaimed Bob; "I remember all about it now. I was off after +the hostiles when you came to the post and offered your services to the +colonel. When I came back I found that the men had a good deal to say +about our new scout, who, they said, looked about as much like a scout +as they looked like the queen of England; but I had no idea who he was; +and, seeing it's you, I'll not arrest you," he added with a +laugh.--"Great Cæsar! that was the second close call I have had to-day." + +"If I had had any idea that you were going to touch him I should have +warned you," said George. "It won't do for a stranger to come within +reach of him, and it's the greatest wonder in the world that he didn't +knock your brains out." + +While the two friends were talking, George Ackerman, with the dexterity +acquired by long experience, relieved the mule of his heavy pack and +slipped the halter over his head, leaving the animal at liberty. Bob, +judging the mule by those unruly members of his species that were +employed in the quartermaster's department at the fort, stepped up and +attempted to lay hold of his foretop; but the animal dodged him very +cleverly, and, wheeling like lightning, sent both his heels at the boy's +head. The latter dropped just in time to escape the blow, but he felt +the "wind" of the heels in his face and heard them whistle close by his +ear. + +"Does he always act that way when strangers approach him?" asked Bob as +he picked up his cap. "If he does, you need not be afraid that anybody +will steal him. I tried to catch him because I was afraid he would run +off." + +"Oh, he'll not do that. I never think of staking him out, for he always +stays by my horse, and I can catch him anywhere. There's a horse for +you, Bob, and the best one I ever owned. He is a present from Mr. +Gilbert, who bought him in Kentucky for his own private use, but when he +found that I was going into the army he gave him to me, with the +assurance that Fletcher and his band could never make a prisoner of me +while I was on his back. I lost my old horse, Ranger, at the time I was +captured by the Greasers, and he was killed at the battle of Querétaro. +Now, what are you doing so far away from the fort?" asked George as he +picked up his picket-pin and led the horse around the station to find a +good place to stake him out. "How did you come to go into the army, +anyway, and what have you been doing to win those stripes?" + +"It would take a long time to answer your last two questions," answered +Bob, "and so we will leave them until the rest of the boys have gone to +bed. I came here in pursuit of seven men who deserted last night." + +"You did? Well, Bob, your superiors must have a good deal of confidence +in you to send you off on such an expedition. Where do you expect to +find them?" + +"I have found them already, and arrested them too; that is, I have +caught six of them, and I know where the other one is. I intend to take +him in hand to-morrow, though, to tell the truth, I don't know just how +I am going to do it. I could have arrested him to-day if I had had +authority to take him out of a house; but I wasn't sure on that point, +and so I let him go until I could have time to make up my mind to +something. I got _that_ about fifteen minutes before you came up," said +Bob, directing his friend's attention to the hole in his coat that had +been made by Bristow's bullet. "My men returned the fire and slightly +wounded one of the deserters, who is now laid out on his blanket in the +sleeping-room. By the way, do you know Gus Robbins?" + +"I should say I did," replied George, after he had followed the course +of the bullet through Bob's clothing and expressed his surprise at his +friend's narrow escape. "He ran away from his home in Foxboro', and came +down here to visit my cousin, who was at that time living with his +father at my ranche. He and Ned, who were constantly pluming themselves +on the numerous scrapes from which they had narrowly escaped, could not +rest easy until they kicked up a row in the settlement, and they did it +by shooting Mr. Cook's cattle. The consequence was, that I had to show +them the way out of the country. Don't you remember I told you all about +it on the morning we walked from that trapper's cabin to White River +Landing? I say, Bob, have you any idea of becoming a trapper when your +term of service expires?" + +"Nary idea," was the emphatic reply. "A soldier's life is hard enough +for me, and there is quite as much danger in it as I care to face." + +"What do you know about Gus Robbins?" continued George. "He left my +cousin Ned very suddenly in Brownsville, and none of us ever heard of +him afterward. It can't be possible that he enlisted too?" + +"Yes, he did. He belongs to my troop, and is just as fond of getting +into scrapes as he ever was. When he is not in the guard-house he is +almost sure to be doing extra duty for some offence against military +discipline. He was one of the deserters I was ordered to capture, and he +is in the dug-out now. But I almost wish he had got away. You know him, +and when I was arresting him I almost felt as if I were doing something +against you. I haven't forgotten that you offered me a home, and--" + +"The obligation is all on my side," interrupted George. "You saved my +life twice. Let's sit down here and talk a while. Go ahead and tell me +something." + +The boys threw themselves on the grass near the place where George had +staked out his horse, and Bob began and described some of the +interesting incidents that had happened since he last saw the cub pilot. +He told the truth in regard to everything, not even excepting the +parting in Galveston. His experience in the army was rapidly working a +change in him, and he had not told a wilful lie since he assured the +recruiting-officer that he was an orphan and that there was no one in +the world who had a right to say whether he should enlist or not. + +"I have done a good many mean things in my life, I am sorry to say," Bob +added in winding up his story, "but about the meanest trick I ever +played upon anybody I played upon you on the day we parted. I found +fifty cents in my watch-pocket, which I had carelessly shoved in there +when money was plenty, and I knew it would buy me supper and lodging. It +wasn't enough for both of us, so I ran away from you and went off by +myself. That's the way we became separated, and I tell you of it at the +risk of losing your friendship." + +"You risk nothing at all," replied George, extending his hand. "I +couldn't expect that you would take care of me and pay my way at the +sacrifice of all your own personal comfort; but I do wish you had waited +just a little longer, for then you never would have had to enlist. I am +ready to prove that I think as much of you now as I ever did. I shall +keep an eye on you until your term of service expires, and then you must +go home with me. I am sole master there now--Mr. Gilbert is my guardian, +but he never has a word to say--and as you have no home of your own--" + +"That was a lie, George," interrupted Bob. "I have a home at Rochdale, a +few miles below Linwood, where I first pulled you out of the river--you +know where it is--and as kind a father and mother as any scoundrel of my +size ever had. When I ran away I intended to drop my identity +altogether, and that was the reason I told you I was alone in the world. +What do you think of me _now_?" + +George was greatly astonished at this confession, for he had put +implicit faith in Bob's story. He was strictly truthful himself, and he +could not understand how a boy as physically brave as Bob Owens had +showed himself to be could be coward enough to tell a lie. + +"I feel sorry for you," said he at length; "and if I were in your place +I would go home as soon as I received my discharge--if you keep on as +you have begun you may rest assured that it will be an honorable +one--and try to make amends for my misdeeds. Remember that + + 'No star is ever lost we once have seen; + We always may be what we might have been,' + +and go resolutely to work to 'live it down.' You've got the pluck to do +it, I know." + +"Coffee!" shouted Carey, thrusting his head around the corner of the +station. + +"By the way," continued George as he and Bob arose to their feet, "what +did you mean by saying that, seeing it was I, you wouldn't arrest me?" + +"Oh, the colonel was mad when he started me out this morning, and +ordered me to gobble up everybody--that is, privates and +non-commissioned officers--I caught outside the stockade. But of course +I couldn't touch you if I wanted to, for your leave of absence protects +you. You will stay here to-night and ride to the fort with us to-morrow, +will you not?" + +"Certainly I will. Having found you again, I am not going to leave you +in a hurry. Say, Bob, would you have any objections to bringing Gus +Robbins up to eat supper with us?" + +"None whatever. I am sorry to be obliged to keep him and the rest so +closely confined, but I know that they are a slippery lot--every one of +them has deserted before--and if I should let them get away now that I +have got a grip on them, the colonel would give me Hail Columbia. Gus +has got himself into a mess, George. The first time he deserted he was +simply put into the guard-house and fined, but this escapade is going to +land him at Leavenworth. Now I will make you acquainted with our boys, +and then I will go down and tell Gus that you want to see him." + +After the new scout had been introduced to the troopers, Bob raised the +trap-door and descended into the dug-out, while George opened his +pack-saddle and took out of it a tin cup and plate, a can of condensed +milk, a box or two of sardines and a few other delicacies, which he laid +upon the table beside the simple fare that Carey had just served up. By +the time he had finished the work of opening the cans with the aid of a +formidable-looking hunting-knife which he drew from his boot-leg, Bob +returned, followed by a soldier who looked so unlike the dashing, +fashionably-dressed Gus Robbins he had seen in company with his cousin +Ned that George could hardly bring himself to believe that he was the +same boy. He looked pale and haggard; and that was not to be wondered +at, for the prison at Fort Leavenworth was constantly looming up before +him. + +George, as we know, had a very slight acquaintance with Gus Robbins, +having passed only a few hours in his company, and he was under no +obligations whatever to interest himself in his behalf; but when he saw +how utterly miserable he was, his heart bled for him, and he at once hit +upon a plan for getting him out of the trouble he had brought upon +himself. He greeted Gus very cordially, gave him a seat beside himself +at the table, and tried to put a little life into him by talking about +almost everything except life in the army. + +The deserters must have thought that their captors felt very much elated +over their success, for a noisier party than that which was gathered +about that rough board table was never seen anywhere. Being almost +entirely free from military restraint--sergeants and corporals do not +hold their men with so tight a rein as the commissioned officers do, +although they exact just as prompt obedience to their commands--they +told stories and said witty things and sung songs until they were +hoarse. The additions to their larder which George had been able to +supply gave them a better supper than they were accustomed to, and they +were merry over it. + +None of the members of Bob's squad had ever seen the new scout before, +and, although they treated him with the greatest respect, they were +sadly disappointed in him. The scouts with whom they were familiar were +great, rough, bearded men, strong of limb and slovenly in dress, who had +lived among the Indians all their lives, and had the reputation of being +able to whip their weight in wild-cats; but this one looked as though he +had but just come out of a fashionable tailor's shop, and, moreover, he +was nothing but a boy in years. What could the colonel have been +thinking of when he engaged this stripling to lead men across the river +and into the midst of the desperadoes who were known to have their +strongholds there? It was dangerous work, and the guide ought to be a +person of courage and experience; and George didn't look as though he +had either. That was what the troopers thought as they sat at the table +casting furtive glances at the new scout, who was talking earnestly with +Gus Robbins; but it was not long before they found out that it took a +brave man to follow where he dared lead. + +The first trooper who finished his supper took the place of the sentry +at the door, and the next relieved the one who was standing guard over +the dug-out. When these two had satisfied their appetites the dishes +were washed, the table was laid again and the deserters were ordered up. +Some of them appeared to be very much disheartened, and would scarcely +look their comrades in the face, while the others were so defiant, and +had so much to say about the colonel who had ordered their arrest and +the men who had carried those orders into execution, that Bob was +obliged to warn them that if they did not eat more and jaw less he would +put them back into the dug-out without any supper. + +When the deserters had had all they wanted to eat they were sent down to +their prison, the outside sentry was relieved, and Bob stood guard at +the door, with George for company. They had much to talk about, and it +was long after midnight when they went to bed. They slept on the same +blankets, and the new scout went off into the land of dreams with his +arm thrown lovingly around the boy who had twice saved his life, and +whom he had never expected to see again. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST. + + +"Well, old fellow, what do you think of me now?" + +It was George Ackerman who uttered these words, and the question was +addressed to his herdsman, Zeke. The former stood in front of a +full-length mirror that hung against the wall (among other extravagant +and useless things for which Uncle John had spent his nephew's money +were two elegant pier-glasses, one for his own room and the other for +Ned's), and Zeke was sitting on the edge of a chair, with his elbows +resting on his knees and his chin supported by his hands. + +When the commander of Fort Lamoine accepted his proffered services, +George had asked for and received a furlough for thirty days to enable +him to procure an outfit and to consult with his guardian in regard to +the management of the ranche during his absence. That furlough had +nearly expired, and George was about to start for the fort. The honest +fellows who had so long been employed on the ranche that they began to +look upon themselves as members of the Ackerman family could not bear +the thought of parting from him, and Zeke especially felt very gloomy +over it. He had often denounced, in the strongest terms, the +circumstances which seemed to render it necessary that his young friend +should cast his lot among the soldiers for a season, and on this +particular morning he looked as though he had lost everything that was +worth living for. + +George had just put on his new uniform for the first time, and no one, +except a very intimate acquaintance, would have recognized in him the +rough-looking cowboy whom we introduced to the reader in the first +volume of this series of books. During the eighteen months he had lived +in the pilot-house he had fallen in with some of the ways of those by +whom he was surrounded, and grown very particular in regard to his +personal appearance, although he did not by any means go to extremes, as +his cousin Ned had done. As he placed the jaunty fatigue-cap over his +long, curly hair he looked rather complacently at the handsome face and +figure that were reflected from the polished surface of the mirror. + +"Come, Zeke, don't be cross," said he, walking up to his herdsman and +giving him a slap on the back. "Say just one kind word to me before I +go." + +"I won't," growled Zeke in reply. + +"Then wish me good luck in my new calling," added George. + +"I won't," repeated the herdsman in a still louder tone. "You're always +going off on some new callin' or another, an' I don't see no sort of +sense in it. Didn't I stay home here, quiet an' peaceable, takin' care +of your critters, while you was a-philanderin' up and down the river on +boats that was likely at any minute to burn up or bust their boilers? +Now that you have got safe home again, why in creation don't you stay +here? Good land o' Goshen!" shouted Zeke, jumping up, spreading out his +feet and flourishing both his huge fists in the air, "of all the fool +notions that ever a livin' boy got into his head--" + +"That'll do, Zeke," interrupted George with a laugh. "I have heard that +a thousand times, more or less, already. You will bid me good-bye when +I get ready to go, I suppose?" + +"I s'pose I won't do nothin' of the kind," exclaimed Zeke. "Of all the +fool notions that ever a livin' boy--" + +"I understand. Come here and pack my clothes-bag for me; you can do it +better than I can." + +"I won't. Them things is goin' to hang you higher'n the moon the first +you know," said Zeke, scowling savagely at the elegant Mexican costume +which George lifted from the bed. "Don't you never go 'crost the river +with them duds on, 'cause if you do Fletcher'll string you up for a +spy." + +"Not in peace-times, I guess," answered George. + +"What odds does it make to sich as him whether it's peace-times or not? +You'll see." + +"Well, he will have to catch me before he hangs me. Go and tell the cook +that I am getting tired of waiting for breakfast." + +"I won't; I won't never do nothin' for you no more, nor say another word +to you, nuther." + +"I am sorry you feel so bad about it," said George as he proceeded to +pack his clothes away in a canvas bag he had provided for that purpose; +"but the thing is done, and it can't be undone." + +"I don't care if the Greasers come over here next full moon an' steal +every huf an' horn you've got," exclaimed the angry herdsman. + +"I do," replied George; "I don't want them to do anything of the kind. I +don't want them to steal another steer from me or anybody else, and that +is the very reason I became a scout. Our troops are going to teach those +fellows to stay on their own side of the river, and I am going to help +them do it." + +"There's enough without you," growled Zeke. + +"Suppose that everybody thought so; where would we get the men to fight +our battles?--What in the world is that?" + +For just then there was a terrific uproar on the porch. Above the +stamping of heavy boots and hoarse but subdued ejaculations of rage, +such as men sometimes utter when they are engaged in a fierce struggle, +arose the voice of one who spoke in pleading accents, but whose words +suddenly ceased with a kind of gasping sound, as if his throat had been +seized by a strong hand. Zeke sat up on his chair and looked at George, +whose face expressed the utmost bewilderment. Before either of them +could speak the door was thrown open with great violence, and a +dishevelled and half-strangled man, dressed in a dingy blue jacket and a +pair of dirty leather trousers, was pitched into the room, with such +force that when he brought up against Zeke that worthy herdsman was +knocked out of his chair, and the two came to the floor together. + +"What do you mean by such work as this?" demanded George, looking first +at the prostrate man and then toward the door, where stood Jake and Bob +with their hands clenched and their faces flushed with anger. + +"Jest take a good squint at that feller's figger-head an' answer the +question for yourself, Mr. George," answered Jake, shaking his fist at +the man who had been so unceremoniously introduced into the room.--"Give +it to him good an' strong, Zeke!--Well! I'll--be--blessed!--Won't you, +Bob?" + +This exclamation was called forth by an action on the part of George +Ackerman that astonished Jake and Bob beyond measure. Zeke had instantly +recognized the man who had so unexpectedly prostrated him, and, seizing +him by the back of the neck in his iron grasp, began shaking him as a +dog would shake a rat. George also recognized the man after he had taken +a second look at him, and springing forward he seized Zeke's arm and +tore his grasp loose. Then he assisted the man to his feet, and taking +his hand in his own shook it cordially. + +"Well, I _will_ be blessed!" repeated Jake, who stood looking the very +picture of astonishment.--"Won't you, Bob?" + +"I should say I would," replied the latter, who was equally amazed. +"That's something _I_ never expected to see--an Ackerman shaking hands +with a cattle-thief!" + +"Springer," exclaimed George, "I am glad to see you again; and without +your crutches, too! I hope you have entirely recovered." + +Yes, the man who had made his entrance into George's room in so unusual +a manner was Springer, whom we have often spoken of as the wounded +cattle-thief. He had, as we know, once been in the employ of George's +father; but proving to be utterly unfit for the position he held, Mr. +Ackerman had discharged him, and Springer had sought revenge by making +an unsuccessful effort to burn the ranche. Of course he could not stay +in Texas after that, so he fled across the river and joined his fortunes +with the Contra-Guerrillas, a regiment of desperadoes in the employ of +the ill-starred Maximilian. He belonged, with other renegade Americans, +to Fletcher's band, who were the principal foragers for Maximilian's +army; but instead of robbing the adherents of Juarez, who probably had +no stock worth stealing, they made numerous raids across the river and +ran off the cattle belonging to the Texans. Springer was one of the band +who stampeded George's herd at Catfish Falls, and during the short +skirmish that followed Zeke sent a bullet through each of his legs, +wounding him severely. He managed to keep up with the band a few miles, +but the rapid motion was too much for him, and he was finally abandoned +by his companions, who hurried the captured cattle toward the river, +leaving Springer to look out for himself. + +The pain occasioned by the wounds that had been inflicted upon him by +Zeke's Winchester was so intense that the raider was forced to travel +very slowly. Arriving on the banks of a little stream that ran across +the trail he was pursuing, he rolled out of his saddle to quench his +thirst, which had became almost unbearable; but his bridle slipping from +his hand, his horse wandered away, and, as Springer was not able to +walk, he could not catch him again. He sank helplessly down beside a +tree, where he was presently discovered by George Ackerman, who was +making his way on foot toward Mr. Gilbert's ranche. The boy ministered +to his wants by bringing him water in his hat and sharing with him his +slender stock of provisions, and Springer showed his gratitude by +warning George of a plot which his uncle John and cousin Ned had laid +against him. He went into all the details, but George refused to believe +a word of it until subsequent events, which we have already described, +proved to his entire satisfaction that the thief had told him nothing +but the truth. + +After spending half an hour in the man's company, George caught his +horse, assisted him into the saddle, and Springer succeeded in crossing +into Mexico without being discovered by any of the settlers whom Zeke +had gathered together to recapture George's herd. He made his way to Don +Miguel's ranche, and there our hero found him when he was captured by +Fletcher's men. The raider seemed to be sorry for his misdeeds, and +George had assured him that if he ever made up his mind to turn over a +new leaf and lead a different sort of life, he would assist him by every +means in his power. + +"Springer," said George, drawing up an easy-chair for the use of his +guest, "what brought you over on this side of the river? Have you +abandoned Fletcher for good?" + +The cattle-thief gasped and coughed three or four times, as if he were +trying to clear his throat of something that stuck there and choked his +utterance, and finally nodded his head in reply. + +"Don't pay no attention to him, Mr. George!" exclaimed Bob. "He don't +know nothin' but stealin' an' lyin', that feller don't, an' I wouldn't +trust him as far as I could sling a yearlin'." + +"If it wasn't for sich fellers as him you could stay to hum quiet an' +peaceable like, an' not have to go off fur a soldier," added Jake. + +"When I was a prisoner among the Greasers he gave me advice that +assisted me in making my escape, and why should I not treat him kindly?" +demanded George, turning indignantly upon the speakers. "No visitor at +the Ackerman ranche was ever treated so shamefully before, and I tell +you I don't want the thing repeated." + +"Why, Mr. George," stammered Jake, "he rid up to the porch an' said he +wanted to speak to you, an' so we brung him in--me an' Bob did." + +"Go and tell the cook to put another plate on the table and to hurry up +breakfast," said George with an air of disgust. + +"Mr. George," said Zeke solemnly, "do you mean by that that you're goin' +to break bread with this--this varmint?" + +"I mean that Springer is going to eat a good breakfast with me, if that +is what you want to know," replied George. + +"Then, Bob, you needn't say nothin' about that there other plate," +continued the herdsman, picking up his hat and moving toward the door. +"Springer can have the one I was goin' to use." + +"Zeke, sit down and behave yourself," exclaimed George. + +"No, I won't. I ain't agoin' to eat salt with a man what tried to burn +this ranche over your dead father's head, an' you a little babby at the +time, without no power to help yourself. I don't know what this family +is comin' to, anyhow." + +"No more do I," chimed in Bob, while he and Jake looked daggers at their +employer's new guest. "Things ain't as they used to be in the good ole +days. I won't wait on no table that he sets at." + +As if moved by a common impulse, the three men left the room, Zeke +closing the door behind him with no gentle hand. The cattle-thief seemed +to be greatly relieved to see them go, but their extraordinary conduct +made him very uneasy, and he looked toward George to see what the latter +thought about it. + +"Never mind them," said the boy encouragingly. "They were employed on +this ranche before I was born, and have finally come to think that they +have more rights here than I have. Now, what did you want to see me for? +How can I help you? If I were going to stay at home, so that I could +stand between you and the settlers, I would give you a herdsman's berth, +if that is what you want; but I am going to Fort Lamoine as soon as I +have packed my things and disposed of my breakfast, and I may not be +back for a year. I am a United States scout." + +"I wondered what you were doin' with them soldier-clothes on; an' that +explains it," said Springer, speaking with difficulty. "I don't reckon +you can help me none jest now, but mebbe I can help you by puttin' you +on your guard agin' Fletcher." + +"Is he after me again?" cried George. "I was in hope I had seen and +heard the last of him." + +"Them kind of fellers is always turnin' up when they isn't wanted," +replied Springer. "He's come back to his ole hole at that there ranche, +bringin' a good many of his ole men with him, an' some new ones that +would be wusser than he is, only that ain't possible. Amongst them all, +they have laid a plan to visit you next full moon." + +"Let them come," said George, snapping his fingers in the air; "they'll +not get me, or any stock either." + +"He wants you more'n he wants stock," continued Springer. "That is, he +wants you first. Your uncle John put the very mischief into that there +feller's head, an' he's goin' to make a pris'ner of you, like he did +afore. He knows that you are master here now--that you've got more money +an' cattle than you know what to do with; an' he thinks you would rather +give 'em all up than lose your liberty." + +"No doubt I would," answered George, "but before he can make any demands +upon me he must catch me. That he will never do, for the next time--" + +He was about to say that the next time he saw Don Miguel's ranche he +would be so strongly backed up that he would stand in no fear of the +boss cattle-thief and his band. But he didn't say it, for he did not +know how far it would be safe to trust his friend Springer. He need not +have been so particular on this point, however, for the cattle-thief +knew as much about the contemplated movements of General Ord's forces as +George did himself. The Mexican authorities had been notified that if +the raids from their side of the river were not stopped our troops would +take the matter in hand and punish the thieves wherever they could be +found; and those same authorities had been accommodating enough to warn +Fletcher, and so put him on his guard. + +"Where have you been since I last saw you?" inquired George, "and what +has become of my horse? What did the 'boss' say when he found I had +slipped through his fingers? I told you I shouldn't stay there and allow +myself to be robbed. Did he follow me?" + +"No, he didn't foller you, 'cause nobody knowed till mornin' come that +you had skipped out," answered Springer. "When Fletcher went to call +you to breakfast, an' you wasn't there, he thought you was a-loafin' +around somewheres about the ranche; but when somebody told him that the +hoss with the four white feet, that follered us acrost the river on the +night we tried to get the strong-box out of this house, was gone, he +knowed in a minute what was up, an' he was about the maddest man you +ever see. But he couldn't take time to hunt you up, an' all he could do +was to swear that he'd hold fast to you the next time he got his hands +on to you." + +"He'll never get his hands on me again," said George confidently. + +"I hope he won't, but if he does it'll be worse for you. That there +black hoss of your'n is dead," continued Springer; "he was shot at +Querétaro. You see, when we got down to the place where the fightin' was +goin' on, we knowed in a minute that Max couldn't hold out much longer, +so we started one dark night to cross over to Juarez. His soldiers seen +us comin', an', thinkin' that we were up to some trick or another, they +turned loose on us an' cut us up fearful." + +"It served you just right," said George, with honest indignation. "You +had no business to go in with Maximilian in the first place, but having +joined him you ought to have stood by him to the last." + +"We _did_ stand by him after that, 'cause we had to," answered Springer. +"But it didn't take 'em long to captur' the place, an' it didn't take +them long either to say what should be done with Max. He an' Mejia an' +Miramon were took out on a hill near the ruins of an old stone fort an' +shot. I didn't see it, 'cause I was under guard with Fletcher an' the +rest; but I heared some of 'em who did see it say that just before the +shooting was done Max he says to Miramon, 'The bravest man should have +the post of honor;' so he puts Miramon in the middle, an' Max he stood +on the left. It was a mean piece of business all the way through," said +Springer, drawing his hand nervously across his forehead, "an' I am +powerful glad that I am well out of it. Now, Mr. George, seein' as how +you belong to the army, mebbe I had oughter tell you something. You +remember them two Greasers who shot that cowboy down to Rio Grande City, +an' was put in jail for it, don't you? Well, they belong to our gang, +an' Fletcher an' the rest are getting ready to go down there an' take +'em out." + +"Very well. Go right down to the commanding officer at Eagle Pass and +tell him of it," said George promptly. "Then come up to Fort Lamoine, +and we'll see if the colonel won't do something for Fletcher when he +comes over here to capture me." + +"An' there's another thing I had oughter tell you, Mr. George," +continued Springer, sinking his voice almost to a whisper. "I come over +here as a sort of spy, like. I am to find out all I can about your +ways--where you go of nights, an' all that, you know--an' then I am to +go down to Rio City, take a look about the jail, see how many guards +there are, an' everything else that is worth knowin', an' after that I +am to go back an' tell Fletcher." + +"I am glad you didn't say so while my men were in here," observed +George. + +"I was just a trifle too sharp for that," said Springer, shaking his +head and looking very wise. "I don't want to make them any madder at me +than they be now." + +"But you are not going back to Fletcher with any news, are you? You told +me you had left him for good." + +"Mr. George," said Springer earnestly, "I ain't agoin' to take no news +acrost the river that will do anybody there any good. I ain't forgot +that you helped me when I was a-starving for grub an' water, and I ain't +likely to forget it, nuther. I did say I had quit them fellers for good, +an' when I said it I meant it; but you can see by the way your own men +used me, right here under your nose, that I couldn't stay here without +nobody to back me up. I can't starve, so I'll have to go back till you +come home again." + +"If you will stay on this side of the river I will see that you don't +starve," replied George. "After you have told the commanding officer at +Eagle Pass of the attempt that is to be made to release those murderers, +come up to Fort Lamoine and I will find some honest work for you to do. +The soldiers at the post are not acquainted with you, and consequently +there will be no one to trouble you. I will say that you used to work +for my father, and that will help you to a position." + +While Springer was trying to make the boy understand how grateful he was +to him for his kindness, there was a rap at the door, and Bob thrust his +head into the room to announce in a surly tone that breakfast was +ready. + +"Where's Zeke?" asked George. + +"Gone," was the laconic reply. + +"All right! If he is foolish enough to go off without any breakfast, let +him go. He'll meet me somewhere along the trail and say good-bye, I +know. Bob," added George, pointing to the clothes-bag, which he had +packed while he and his visitor were conversing, "put this into the +pack-saddle, and have everything ready, so that I can start as soon as I +have eaten breakfast.--Come on, Springer." + +George led the way into an adjoining room, and found an excellent +breakfast waiting for him. The cook, knowing that this was the last meal +the young master of the ranche would eat at that table for long months +to come, had exhausted all his knowledge of the cuisine in the effort to +serve up a breakfast that would tempt George to eat, no matter whether +he was hungry or not. + +True to his promise, Bob kept out of the breakfast-room, and George and +his guest were obliged to wait on themselves; but as they were used to +that, they got on very well. While they were eating George once more +repeated the instructions he had given Springer, and reiterated his +promise to furnish him with steady employment and give him a chance to +make an honest living. + +Breakfast over, George accompanied his guest to the door, and saw him +ride away toward Eagle Pass. As soon as he was out of sight the boy went +into the house after his weapons and to take leave of the servants, who +were good-natured enough now that Springer was gone. After shaking them +all by the hand, and listening to their hearty wishes for his safe and +speedy return, he mounted his horse, which stood at the porch saddled +and bridled, took his pack-mule by the halter and rode away toward Mr. +Gilbert's ranche. The first person to greet him as he drew rein in front +of the door was Zeke, who had so emphatically declared that he would not +have another word to say to him. + +"Where's that pizen varmint?" demanded the herdsman in no very amiable +tones. + +"Look here, Zeke," replied George, "if you should happen to meet that +man while I am gone, I want you to treat him civilly; do you understand? +If you see him in trouble, I want you to help him out. He is sorry for +what he has done, and intends to lead a better life; and if you don't +assist him in every way you can, you are not the fellow I take you for." + +"Humph!" exclaimed Zeke contemptuously. "Sorry, ain't he? Wants to lead +a better life, don't he? Well, it's mighty little chance he'll have if +he makes a business of bumpin' up agin me the way he did this mornin', I +bet you." + +"He couldn't help it; Jake and Bob threw him against you. I know he is +in earnest, for he has proved it. He came to the ranch to tell me that +my old friend Fletcher is coming over to capture me next full moon, and +he has now gone down to warn the officer in command at Eagle Pass that +an attempt will soon be made to liberate the murderers who are in jail +there.--Good-morning, Mr. Gilbert. I have stopped to say good-bye." + +"Why don't you slap your foot down an' tell him he sha'n't go, Gilbert?" +demanded Zeke. + +"I am as sorry to have him go as you are," replied Mr. Gilbert. "But it +is to our interest to do all we can to break up this raiding business, +and George can do more than any of us. In fact, he is the only one in +the settlement who can do anything, for you know the colonel wouldn't +accept the services of our company of Rangers when we offered them to +him.--Come in, George, and say good-bye to Mrs. Gilbert and the girls." + +This was soon done, for the boy did not like to linger over the parting; +but still, it was much harder for him to take leave of these good +friends than he thought it would be. The whole family accompanied him to +the door, and when he came out Zeke turned his back to him. + +"Say good-bye to me," said George, giving him a pat on the shoulder; +"it's your last chance." + +"I don't care if it is," shouted the old fellow; "I won't do it." + +"Then I will say it to you: Good-bye, Zeke. It will be a long time +before I see you again, if indeed I ever do, but I never shall forget +you. You have been a good friend to me." + +This was altogether too much for the honest herdsman. He faced quickly +about, and, seizing George's hand with a grip that brought tears to his +eyes, churned it up and down like a pump-handle. Then he dropped it and +turned away, while George, without saying another word, vaulted into his +saddle and rode off. Zeke watched him as long as he remained in sight, +and then in broken accents addressed the silent group who stood in the +doorway: + +"Thar's that there boy."--here he waved his hand in the direction in +which George had disappeared--"he was all I had, an' now he's gone off +to fight them Greasers without askin' me would I let him go. I toted him +in them there arms when he was a yellin' babby not knee-high to a duck; +I put him on the fust hoss he ever rid; I slept under the same blanket +an' herded cattle with him when he got bigger; I larnt him how to throw +the lasso an' shoot the rifle; an' now he's went off an' left me alone! +Dog-gone them pizen Greasers!" roared Zeke, flourishing both his fists +in the air. + +He lingered a moment, looking rather sharply at Mr. Gilbert, as if he +had half a mind to take him to task for giving his consent to George's +"fool notion," and then, thinking better of it, he lumbered down the +steps, mounted his horse and galloped off toward the place where he had +left his herd in charge of an assistant. + +George camped two nights on the prairie, and on the third afternoon, an +hour or two before sunset, he arrived within sight of one of the +stage-company's deserted stables. Or, rather, it _was_ deserted the +last time he saw it, but now there was an armed soldier in front of the +door, and he was presently joined by others, one of whom, by signs, +invited him to approach. George complied, and presently found himself +surrounded by a squad of troopers under the command of Corporal Bob +Owens, who greeted him as we have described. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HOW BRYANT WAS CAPTURED. + + +Reveille was sounded the next morning by Corporal Owens, who, having no +drum or bugle at his command, sprang up at daylight and aroused his +slumbering companions by shouting out the order, "Catch up!" More from +the force of habit than anything else, he called the roll while he was +bundling up the blankets on which he and George had slept, and, making +the sergeant's salute to an imaginary officer, he announced: "All +present or accounted for." Then Carey was ordered to boil the coffee, +and Bob and the three troopers who were off duty went out to groom the +horses. Having brought no brushes or currycombs with them, they were +obliged to content themselves with rubbing the animals down with +handfuls of grass; but they "went through the motions," as Bob expressed +it, and that was all the most exacting officer could have expected of +them under the circumstances. + +As soon as breakfast had been eaten the troopers and their prisoners set +out on the return march, Bob and the new scout leading the way. Behind +them came the deserters, guarded on each flank and in the rear by two +cavalrymen. Their advance was necessarily slow, for the captives had +travelled rapidly the day before in order to put a safe distance between +themselves and the fort, and they were weary and footsore. Gus Robbins, +especially, was nearly "done up." He was in a worse condition than +Talbot was, for the latter seemed to have slept off the effects of his +wound. George felt the greatest compassion for Gus, and offered to lend +him his horse; but Bob, who had grown somewhat hardened to suffering +during his experience in the army, positively forbade it. + +"It wouldn't do, George," said he, looking admiringly at his friend's +sleek, well-conditioned animal, which was constantly champing his bit +and tossing his head as if he were growing impatient at the slow +progress they were making. "Gus would make a break for liberty sure, and +as that nag of yours is able to distance anything in my party, I'd have +to--" Here Bob tapped his carbine significantly. "That's something I +don't want to do. Gus isn't so nearly exhausted as he seems to be. He +is more distressed in mind than he is in body, for he is thinking of the +prison at Fort Leavenworth. After we have gone a few miles we will rest +them by taking them up behind us, but it wouldn't be a very bright trick +to give one of them a horse to himself." + +About eleven o'clock a halt was ordered, and the deserters, who were +riding behind the troopers, having dismounted, Corporal Owens took Carey +off on one side and gave him some very emphatic instructions. Then he +and George also dismounted, and, leaving their horses behind, made their +way cautiously toward a ridge a short distance in advance of them. As +they neared the top they threw themselves on their hands and knees and +crept up until they could look over it. They were in plain view of the +squatter's cabin at which the troopers had stopped to eat their dinner +the day before. Bob took just one look at it, and then hastily backed +down the ridge again. + +"Did you see that fellow chopping wood in front of the shanty?" said he, +addressing himself to George. "That's the man I am looking for." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Am I sure that I have a pair of good eyes?" asked Bob in reply. "Of +course I am. I recognized him in spite of his citizen's clothes. That +squatter has rigged him out in some of his own duds, but they'll not +save him if I can manage in some way to get between him and the cabin." + +"Perhaps, in order to make 'assurance doubly sure,' you had better take +my field-glass and have another look at him," said George. "A false move +might prove fatal to you, for it would show the squatter that you +suspect him of harboring one of your men, and that would put both him +and the deserter on their guard. But if that is your man, I am sorry for +it." + +"Why are you?" demanded Bob, looking at his companion in great surprise. + +"I mean that I am sorry you found him here," George hastened to explain, +"for the chances are that you will not take him without a fight. +Peasley--that's the name of the owner of the cabin--is a notorious +rough, and he would think no more of putting a bullet into you, if he +thought he could escape the consequences, than he would of knocking over +an antelope for breakfast." + +"I thought he looked like that kind of a chap," said Bob. "Well, if he +wants a fight he can be accommodated at very short notice. That's my +man, and I am going to have him, squatter or no squatter." + +As Bob gave utterance to this emphatic declaration he took the +field-glass, which George handed over to him, crept up to the top of the +ridge, and after taking a short survey of the cabin and its surroundings +came back to his friend's side again. + +"I knew I couldn't be mistaken," said he. "I had a fair view of his +face, and as I have seen him every day for the last year, of course I +couldn't fail to recognize him. The squatter is sitting on the porch +smoking his pipe. Now, how shall I go to work to nab him? That's the +question." + +"Ride straight up to him and tell him that you want him," answered +George. "I know of no easier way. I will go with you and see that +Peasley doesn't double-team on you." + +"But Bryant will run into the house the moment he sees me," said Bob. + +"Then run right in after him and pull him out again," answered George +promptly. + +"I am almost afraid to do it. You see, the civil law is supposed to be +supreme, and we soldiers have to mind what we are about, or else +there'll be a big row raised about 'military despotism' and all that. +I'd have to surround the house and keep him in there until I could send +to the post and get authority from the colonel to go in after him. That +is something I shouldn't like to do, for I have carried this thing +through so far without help from anybody, and I want to complete the +work myself. If I should ask for advice, the colonel would probably send +a shoulder-strap down here to rob me of all the glory I have won," added +Bob with a smile. + +"Oh, you needn't laugh over it," exclaimed George. "You have covered +yourself with glory. It isn't every fellow who would go down into a +dug-out to capture six armed men after one of them had given positive +proof that he was not afraid to shoot. That bullet-hole in your coat is +a badge of honor. Now, I have just thought of something: I have brought +with me a full suit of Mexican clothes, and also a saddle and bridle of +the Mexican pattern. You are just about my size--" + +"That's the very idea--nothing could be better," exclaimed Bob, as he +arose to his feet and led the way toward the place where he had left his +men. "It will disguise me completely, won't it? I can ride up and get +between him and the house before he suspects anything, can't I? But how +about the squatter?" + +"I'll join you as soon as I see that you have corralled your man," +replied George. "And you had better tell your followers to hold +themselves in readiness to come up promptly when I signal to them from +the top of the ridge." + +The troopers awaited the boys' return with no little impatience, for the +long consultation they had held on the ridge convinced them that their +officer had discovered something on the other side of it. Bob gave them +a wink and a nod, which instead of satisfying their curiosity only +increased it, and then, to the surprise of all of them, began to divest +himself of his outer clothing, while George threw off the canvas +covering that protected his pack, and drew out of it an elegant +silver-mounted saddle and bridle, and also a suit of clothes made in the +height of the Mexican fashion. + +"If that man of yours is at all sharp he will notice those army-brogans +the first thing, and so you had better pull them off and put on these," +said George, tossing a pair of light patent-leather shoes toward Bob. +"There are the spurs. You had better take my horse too, for that 'U. S.' +brand on your own nag would give you away in a minute. Now go easy, like +an honest Greaser who is going about his legitimate business. Take my +mule with you, for if you try to separate him from the horse he'll raise +row enough to scare all the deserters out of the State." + +It is wonderful what an alteration is sometimes made in one's appearance +by a mere change of clothing. After Bob had got into the Mexican suit +and exchanged his cap for the wide sombrero with its gaudy cord and +tassel, it was doubtful if there was one among his brother-troopers who +would have recognized him if he had chanced to meet him unexpectedly. +Although he was not quite yellow enough for a Mexican, he was +nevertheless pretty well tanned, and George assured him that all he +needed was a black moustache and a long goatee to transform him into a +very good-looking Greaser. + +Everything being in readiness, Bob mounted George's horse, took the +pack-mule's halter, which his friend passed up to him, and, after giving +Carey instructions to bring up the squad and the prisoners promptly +when he was signalled to do so, he rode slowly away, the new scout +following a short distance in his rear, mounted on Bob's nag. + +Arriving at the top of the ridge, Corporal Owens rode over it without +pausing, and had not proceeded far before he became aware that he was +discovered. The squatter got up and came to the end of the porch, the +deserter ceased his chopping and leaned on his axe, and both shaded +their eyes with their hands and looked at him. It was plain that they +were not very well pleased with the result of their observations, for, +after gazing at him for a few seconds, the squatter returned to his seat +and puffed furiously at his pipe, and the deserter resumed his chopping. +At the same moment the dogs appeared in force from under the cabin, +their every action indicating that they had been summoned by the voice +of their master. They looked up at him, wagging their tails vigorously, +and then, encouraged, no doubt, by a low hiss or an order to "hunt 'em +up," began running about with their heads high in the air. Discovering +the approaching horseman, they started for him on the instant, each one +striving to lead in the race and to growl and bark louder than his +companions. + +"They don't think much of Greasers in this part of the country," said +Bob to himself; "and I don't blame them. If I were a stock-raiser I +shouldn't feel very hospitably inclined toward a class of men who are +always on the watch for a chance to jump down on me and steal my cattle. +I wonder if I shall have pluck enough to dismount in the midst of all +these dogs and make the arrest?" added Bob as the fierce brutes closed +about him, all of them with their ears laid back close to their heads +and their hair turned the wrong way, and some crouching at his side as +if they were about to spring up and pull him out of his saddle.--"Get +out! If you interfere with my business there won't be as many of you +to-night as there were this morning. Aha! there's one of you out of the +muss already." + +[Illustration: BOB CAPTURES THE DESERTER.] + +For just here the mule gave a tug at his halter, and Bob, looking over +his shoulder to see what was the matter, caught a momentary glimpse of a +tawny body as it rose in the air, and, turning a complete somersault, +landed on the ground all in a heap. One of the dogs, in his eagerness to +do something grand, had approached a little too close to the mule's +heels--an impertinence which that sagacious quadruped promptly resented +by kicking out with both hind feet and knocking his would-be assailant +into a cocked hat. The dog was not killed, but he was terribly +demoralized, and his howls of anguish did much to dampen the ardor of +his companions, who quickly withdrew to a more respectful distance. + +Bob rode straight up to the house, but the squatter never looked at him, +nor did the deserter stop his work. He drew rein in front of the porch, +swung himself out of the saddle as quick as a flash, and, paying no +attention to the dogs, which bayed him at a distance, but were too +cowardly to assault him, he walked up to the deserter and tapped him on +the shoulder. + +"Bryant, I want you," said he. + +The deserter, whose back was turned toward Bob, wheeled on the instant, +revealing a face that was as white as a sheet. Bob backed around a +little, so that he could keep one eye on Bryant while he watched the +squatter with the other, and saw the man spring to his feet in the +greatest astonishment, his pipe dropping from his mouth as he arose. + +"You didn't expect to see me again so soon, did you?" said Bob, +addressing himself to nobody in particular. + +"Corporal Owens!" gasped the deserter, retreating a step or two, at the +same time grasping his axe firmly in both hands and lifting it over his +head. "Keep away from me; if you come a step nearer I'll--" + +"Drop it!" commanded Bob sternly; and Bryant obeyed, for he saw the +muzzle of a cocked revolver looking him squarely in the face. + +All this happened in less time than we have taken to tell it, but +meanwhile the squatter had not been idle. Quickly recovering from his +amazement, he darted into the cabin, and just as Bryant dropped the +threatening axe he appeared upon the porch with his rifle in his hand. +Cocking it as he drew it to his face, he covered Bob's head with the +weapon, and said, in a voice that trembled with rage and excitement, + +"Look a here, young fellow, that's a game two can play at. Lower your +shootin'-iron or I'll make daylight shine through you." + +"Plump him over, Peasley!" cried Bryant, "plump him over! You are not +going to stand there and let him take me back to the fort, are you? You +promised to protect me. Plump him over! put the dogs on him! Do +something, and be quick about it." + +Bob bore himself with surprising courage during this trying ordeal. He +did not know at what instant the squatter might comply with Bryant's +frantic order to "plump him over" or to "put the dogs on him," but he +never flinched. He did not even change color; and there is every reason +to believe that his bold front saved his life. + +"Bryant," said he in a calm voice, "don't you know that the colonel will +be sure to hear of this, and that you are only making a bad matter worse +by holding out against the inevitable?--As for you, Peasley, you've got +the drop on me, and you can shoot if you feel like it; but if you do you +are a gone squatter. Look there," he added, jerking his thumb over his +shoulder. + +Peasley looked, and saw George Ackerman coming down the ridge at a +furious gallop. + +"That is one of my backers, and there are six more who will be along in +a minute. What did I tell you?" exclaimed Bob as the troopers and their +prisoners came into view over the top of the ridge. "Now, Peasley, if +you don't behave yourself I'll take you to the fort under arrest. I am +in the discharge of my duty, and I am not going to put up with any more +nonsense." + +The squatter lowered his rifle, looked first at Bryant and then at the +troopers, and seemed undecided how to act. While he hesitated George +Ackerman dashed up to the porch, jumping out of his saddle before his +horse had fairly stopped, and, knocking the dogs right and left with the +heavy cavalry sabre which he had found fastened to Bob's saddle, he +mounted the steps and laid hold of the squatter's rifle. + +"Peasley, what are you about?" he exclaimed as he twisted the weapon out +of the man's unresisting grasp. "Are you a born idiot? If you are not, +don't you know that if you raise a fuss here you won't have any roof +left over your head in less than five minutes?" + +The squatter, muttering something under his breath, went back to his +seat and picked up his pipe, and in a few minutes more the troopers and +their prisoners arrived. At a sign from his officer, Loring dismounted +and stood guard over Bryant, while Bob walked up to the porch. + +"What do you think of the situation now, friend Peasley?" said he +cheerfully. "I can't take that man to the fort in those clothes, and so +I would thank you to trot out his uniform." + +"Don't know nothing 'bout no uniform," growled the squatter; "ain't none +here." + +"I know better," answered Bob. "There is one here, and I must have it. +You can either bring it out yourself or I shall search for it; and I +give you fair warning that if I turn my boys loose in your shanty +they'll handle things rough.--Now, what shall I do if that threat +doesn't start him?" said Bob to himself. "I'll search the cabin and take +the consequences; that's what I'll do." + +"Come, Peasley, save yourself trouble by bringing out the uniform," said +George. "There's no use in being a fool." + +The squatter evidently began to think so too, for he sullenly rose from +his seat and went into the cabin, coming out again in a few minutes with +a bundle of clothing, which he threw spitefully down upon the porch. Bob +quietly picked it up, and, carrying it down to Bryant, commanded him to +pull off the squatter's clothes and put on his own; and Bryant at once +complied, for he knew that if he did not Bob would detail two or three +men to make the exchange for him. The new prisoner was then ordered to +fall in with the rest, and the cavalcade once more took up its line of +march for the fort; but a short stop was made as soon as they were out +of sight of the squatter's cabin, during which Bob pulled off his +disguise and put on his own garments. + +"If I am ever obliged to wear this suit, I hope it will serve me as well +as it has served you to-day," said George as he stowed the Mexican +costume away in his pack and placed the silver-mounted saddle and bridle +on top of it. "I didn't think it would so soon be brought into use." + +"If it hadn't been for that same suit I might have got myself into +trouble," said Bob. "Knowing where Bryant was, I never should have gone +back to the fort without him, and if he had taken refuge in the house I +might have gone in after him. What the colonel would have said to me if +I had done that, I don't know." + +During the ride to the fort Bob Owens, to quote from the troopers, +"laughed all over." It was plain to everybody that he was highly elated +over the results of the expedition, as he had an undoubted right to be. +The pursuit and capture of the deserters had been conducted with +considerable skill, and with as much determination as any veteran +officer could have exhibited. Now that the danger was over, and his +efforts to carry out the orders of his superior had been crowned with +complete success, Bob was rather proud of that bullet-hole in his coat. + +The next time the order was given for the troopers to take the prisoners +on their horses, George beckoned to Gus Robbins, who quickly mounted +behind him. After conversing a while upon the various exciting incidents +that had transpired while Gus was Ned Ackerman's guest at George's +ranche, the latter said, + +"I never expected to meet you again, and I would rather not have met you +at all than see you in this scrape." + +"Well, it can't be helped now," answered Gus, with a weak unsuccessful +attempt to appear defiant. "The colonel told me just what I might expect +if I were ever again court-marshaled for desertion, and I went at it +with my eyes open. I am not sorry I tried it, but I am sorry I didn't +get away. If they don't watch me pretty closely, they will never have a +chance to take me to Leavenworth." + +"What do you suppose your father will say when he finds it out?" asked +George. + +"He will never find it out if I can help it." + +"Don't you correspond with him?" + +"Not by a great sight. He doesn't know whether I am dead or alive. I +wish I had changed my name when I enlisted." + +"He lives in Foxboro', Ohio, I believe?" said George. + +Gus replied that he did. + +"Is his name Gus too?" + +"No; his name is Thomas, and he is--I say," exclaimed Gus suddenly, +"what are you asking so many questions for? Do you intend to write to +him about me?" + +"Why, what object could I possibly have in doing that?" asked George, +turning a very innocent-looking face toward the deserter. "I am sure it +is none of my business what you do. Let's talk about something else. We +are getting over the ground pretty rapidly now, and if Bob would let me +I could land you in the fort in four hours. I don't suppose that you are +in any hurry to get there, but what I meant was, that your additional +weight would not prevent this horse of mine from travelling from here to +the fort at his very best licks." + +"No, I don't weigh much now," said Gus with a sigh. "Hard work, hard +fare, hard treatment and constant worry have brought me down to a +hundred and ten pounds." + +"That's not very heavy for a seventeen-year-old boy." + +"Oh, I am nineteen," said Gus, "but just now I feel as though I were +forty." + +"And you look so, too," said George to himself.--"That was the reason I +wanted to know your exact age." + +George had now learned all he cared to know about Gus Robbins. He was a +minor, his father's name was Thomas and he lived in Foxboro', Ohio. He +had gone to work in a roundabout way to gain this information, because +he was afraid that if he asked Gus leading questions and told him what +use he intended to make of his answers, the deserter would refuse to +open his head. He had gained his point by strategy, and he did not +intend that Gus should go to Leavenworth if he could help it. + +Bob's supply of rations being nearly exhausted, his men and the +deserters had a very scant dinner, and they did not get anything more to +eat until they reached the fort. About ten o'clock that night they were +challenged by one of the sentries, and, not knowing the countersign, +were obliged to wait until the corporal of the guard was called. Having +at last been admitted inside of the stockade, Bob marched up in front of +head-quarters, where he ordered a halt, and he and George dismounted and +went in to report to the colonel. Bob was very much astonished at the +manner in which the officer greeted the new scout, and so was the +orderly. They had never before seen him unbend to anybody as he did to +George. Having never been admitted into head-quarters except when they +had business there--some report to make, some orders to receive or some +sharp reprimand to listen to--they knew the commandant only as a stern, +exacting officer who seemed to care for nothing but the "regulations," +and they had never imagined that he could be cordial or friendly with +any one. But now they saw their mistake. The colonel got up from his +seat, shook the boy warmly by the hand, told him he was glad to see +him, called him by his Christian name and pointed him to an easy-chair, +while Bob was left to stand at attention until the colonel got ready to +attend to him. + +"You are all ready for business I see, George," said the colonel as he +resumed his seat at the table. "Well, I'll give you a taste of army-life +by sending you out on a scout to-morrow. I will tell you about it pretty +soon. There's your room," he added, pointing to an apartment adjoining +his own, "and when you get ready you can bring in your luggage. The +officer of the day will show you where to put your horse. You will have +to be your own servant, unless you are willing to hire a civilian and +pay him out of your own pocket. I saw that you came in with Corporal +Owens: did he arrest you?" + +"He was going to, sir," replied George, "but let me off when I showed +him my furlough." + +"Corporal," continued the colonel, turning to Bob, who stood lost in +wonder, "what report have you to make?" + +"I have the honor, sir, to report my entire success," was Bob's reply; +"I've got them all." + +"Where are they now?" + +"On the parade, under guard, sir." + +"Very good. Keep them there until further orders. Tell the officer of +the day I want to see him." + +George thought this was rather hard. Bob had risked his life and +displayed most commendable zeal and ability in carrying out the +colonel's orders, and now the latter dismissed him without one single +word to indicate that he appreciated his services. Why did he not +question the corporal in regard to the manner in which the capture of +the deserters had been effected, and reward him for his gallantry by +making him a sergeant on the spot? That was what George thought _he_ +would have done if he had been commandant of the post, and he then and +there resolved that a full history of Bob's exploit should be laid +before the colonel before he went to sleep that night. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GEORGE AT THE FORT. + + +"Colonel, that young fellow has had a very hard time of it," said George +when Bob had closed the door behind him. + +"I expected it," replied the officer carelessly. "It is a wonder to me +that the deserters didn't kill him, for there were some hard characters +among them and they were well armed." + +This remark would seem to indicate that the colonel was a most unfeeling +man, and that he did not set much if any value upon the life of a +non-commissioned officer; but such was not really the case. When he was +a subaltern his superiors had often assigned to him some very hazardous +undertakings, and when he attained to a rank that entitled him to a +command he sent others into danger and thought nothing of it. A +soldier's first and last duty was to obey any orders he might receive, +and if he lost his life while in the act of executing those orders, +why, it was nothing more than might be expected. + +"They did try to kill him," said George. "Didn't you notice that hole in +the breast of his coat?" + +"I did, and I thought it looked as though it had been made by a bullet." + +"So it was. Bristow shot at him. He wanted to be revenged on Bob for +telling you about those thirty men who tried to desert some time ago, +and if he had been a little better marksman you would have been put to +the trouble of appointing a new corporal in the place of as brave a boy +as ever swung a sabre." + +"Why, George," exclaimed the colonel, becoming interested, "you are +quite enthusiastic. Do you know Corporal Owens?" + +"Yes, sir. He is the one who pulled me out of the river on the night the +old Sam Kendall was burned." + +"Oh yes; you told me about that the first time you were here. Where did +the corporal find Bristow and his party?" + +George answered this question by giving the colonel a circumstantial +account of the pursuit, as he had heard it from Bob's lips, and the +manner in which he had gone to work to secure the deserters after he had +discovered their place of refuge. His description of Bryant's arrest +amused the officer, who declared that it was a very neat piece of +strategy. + +Having placed Bob's case in the most favorable light possible, George +then went on to tell the colonel about Springer's unexpected visit to +his ranche, and described in detail the intended movements of Fletcher +and his band. The officer said he had done right in sending the +cattle-thief to warn the commandant at Eagle Pass, and had no doubt that +that officer would take measures to assist the civil authorities at Rio +Grande City in protecting the jail and giving Fletcher and his men a +warm reception when they came across the river; but, in order to explain +what happened afterward, we must here say that he did nothing of the +kind. Unfortunately for Springer, he was recognized by some ranchemen +who happened to be hanging about the post, and in spite of his +protestations he was arrested and turned over to the marshal, who locked +him up. No attention whatever was paid to his warning, and so positive +was the marshal that there was "something back of it" that he would not +even permit the prisoner to tell his story. + +The cattle-thief remained in jail until the next full moon, and then +Fletcher and his men suddenly made their appearance, just as Springer +said they would. As no precautions had been taken to guard the prison, +the raiders had an easy victory, and before assistance could arrive from +the Pass, Springer and the murderers of the cowboy had been released and +Fletcher was safe across the river. Springer, of course, was much too +sharp to tell how he came to be an inmate of the jail, and the boss +cattle-thief, believing that he had been arrested while trying to carry +out his instructions, treated him with the greatest consideration. + +"What did you mean by saying that you would give me a taste of army-life +by sending me out on a scout to-morrow?" asked George after he had +finished his story. "Any raiding going on about here?" + +"Well, yes. I am going to send Clinton out to punish a war-party of +Kiowas if he can catch them. I am aware you are used to roughing it, but +you know nothing about campaigning with troops, and I thought I would +give you a chance to get your hand in before I call upon you to lead us +across the river. Some young bucks belonging to Satanta's band, the most +of them mere boys, have broken away from their agency and come down here +in pursuit of scalps and fame. Among other outrages which they have +committed, they jumped down on a poor fellow the other day, killed or +scattered his herdsmen, drove off his stock and carried his two children +into captivity. I should like to be the means of ridding the frontier of +that villain, for he is dangerous. During a peace-council that was held +at Fort Dodge some time ago, Satanta talked so glibly about his desire +to cultivate friendly relations with us, and his unalterable +determination to 'follow the white man's road' in future, that he really +succeeded in making the commissioners believe that he was sincere in +what he said. To encourage him in his good resolutions, the department +commander and staff presented him with a uniform coat and sash and a +brigadier-general's hat. How the wily old scoundrel must have laughed in +his sleeve when he saw how completely he had bamboozled some of our best +soldiers!" + +"How long did he keep his promise?" asked George. + +"About three weeks, and then he led an attack, dressed in his new +uniform, against the fort in which the council was held. Oh, he's a good +one! I know you didn't come here to fight Indians, but you'll have to +hold yourself in readiness for anything that turns up." + +"You will always find me around when you want me," replied George. "May +I write a letter here?" he continued, seeing that the colonel picked up +his pen and turned to his table to resume some writing in which he had +been interrupted when Bob and the new scout came in to report. + +"Certainly. There are pens, ink and paper; help yourself. There's the +letter-box over there. The mail-carrier goes out to-morrow." + +Before George could begin work on his letter the officer of the day came +in. He shook hands with the new-comer, to whom he had been introduced on +the occasion of the boy's first visit to the fort, and was told by the +colonel to put the deserters into the guard-house, to show George where +to stake out his horse and mule, and to see that he had somebody to help +him bring in his pack-saddle. + +The work of bringing in his luggage and taking care of his animals was +soon performed, and then George came back and began his letter. It took +him a long time to write it, for he wanted to make it one that would +produce an impression upon the person to whom it was addressed. It was +to Gus Robbins's father. It conveyed to that gentleman the information +that although his son was alive and in fair bodily health, he had +brought himself into serious trouble, having been detected in two +attempts at desertion, and unless his friends at home interested +themselves in his behalf he had a fair prospect of going to prison. If +Mr. Robbins would move in the matter he could easily procure the +culprit's discharge from the service, for he was a minor and had +enlisted without his father's consent; but if there was anything done it +must be done quickly, for it was probable that a court-martial would be +convened in a very few days. Having sealed and addressed the letter, he +bade the colonel good-night and went to bed, feeling satisfied that he +had done all he could for the unfortunate Gus. + +George slept soundly, as he always did, but the morning gun and the +first notes of reveille awoke him. While he was making his toilet with +his usual care and deliberation--as we have said, his long intercourse +with river-dandies had made him very particular on this point--his +friend, Bob Owens, and the men who occupied the quarters with him, were +hurrying on their clothes in order to get into line in time to answer to +their names at roll-call. While they were dressing they talked, and this +was a portion of the conversation that took place between the corporal +and one of the colonel's orderlies--the same one who had been on duty +when Bob went in to report his arrival with the deserters. + +"I say, Owens," exclaimed the orderly, "who was that nobby young officer +who came in with you last night? What is his name, and what rank does he +hold? I know he is green, for he didn't know enough to put on a +dress-coat before he went into the colonel's presence." + +"His name is George Ackerman," answered Bob, "but he is not an officer; +he's a scout." + +"'A scout'!" repeated the orderly in a tone of contempt. "He is a +pretty-looking scout, I must say. What does he know about life on the +Plains?" + +"He knows a good deal more about it than anybody in this room, for he +was born right here in Texas," was the reply. + +"Has he ever seen service?" + +"No, but he knows what danger is, and he has been in some situations +that you wouldn't care to be placed in. During long months of his life +he lived in constant fear of a violent death." + +"I don't doubt that he told you so, but I don't believe it, all the +same," observed the orderly. + +"I can't help that. I am personally acquainted with him, and you are +not. I was with him when the steamer to which he belonged was burned on +the Mississippi River, and came to Texas with him. He owns a big +cattle-ranche a few miles from here, and has an income of about forty +thousand dollars a year." + +"Aha! that accounts for the milk in the cocoa-nut," exclaimed the +orderly. "I know now why it was that the colonel met him in so friendly +a manner. Even those stern old regulars soften in the presence of one +who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, don't they?" + +"But George Ackerman's money didn't get him the position he holds," said +Bob quickly. "He has been a prisoner among the cattle-thieves on the +other side of the river, and knows where they hang out. He is here to +act as our guide when we pursue the raiders across the river." + +"What did the cattle-thieves take him prisoner for?" + +"Because they were promised twenty thousand dollars for it by George's +guardian, who wanted to get him out of the way, so that his son could +inherit George's property. But he managed to escape from them, went up +North and became a pilot, and it was while he was serving in that +capacity that I made his acquaintance." + +"That's a very pretty story," remarked the orderly, "but doesn't it +sound almost too much like a dime novel?" + +"If you don't believe it ask Gus Robbins, if you get a chance to speak +to him. He knows George, and has reason to be grateful to him too. Gus +came down here to visit Ned Ackerman while the latter's father was +acting as George's guardian, and got himself into trouble that would +have ended seriously if George had not befriended him. It was through +that same visit that Gus got into the army." + +"Did you hear what the colonel said to him about a servant?" asked the +orderly. "Whoever saw a scout with a servant? I never did, and neither +did I ever before see a man holding that position treated with so much +consideration by a post-commander. I can't account for it." + +Bob could not account for it either, and so he attempted no explanation. +We may tell the reader that there were two good reasons for it. In the +first place, George was not a regular scout; he might, with more +propriety, have been called a volunteer aide. It is true that he was +sworn into the service, and that he was bound to do his duty faithfully +"during the pleasure of the commanding officer" of Fort Lamoine, but he +drew no pay from the government. He did not even ask that he should be +fed while he lived at the fort, but stood ready to pay his share of the +mess-bill. He had freely offered his services as guide to the troops +because he, in common with every rancheman and farmer in that country, +wanted the raiding-parties broken up, and he believed that he could do +as much, if not more, toward accomplishing that object than any other +single civilian. He was not obliged to wear a uniform (being sworn in, +he had a _right_ to wear it), but he had purchased it for the same +reason that he had purchased the Mexican costume and the other clothing +he had brought with him--because he believed it might some day be of use +to him. We have already seen how one of his disguises came into play. If +he had not brought with him that Mexican suit, it is hard to tell how +Bryant would have been captured. + +In the next place, the colonel was an old acquaintance and friend of +George's father. He had often enjoyed Mr. Ackerman's hospitality, and he +could say, with Zeke, that he had carried George in his arms when the +latter was a "yelling baby not knee-high to a duck," and when he himself +was nothing but a second lieutenant. Since that time a great many things +had happened. Mr. Ackerman and his wife were dead, the second lieutenant +had passed through a terrible war, had worn a major-general's +shoulder-straps in the volunteer army and won a brevet colonelcy in the +regulars, and George had grown almost to manhood. Neither of them knew +of the presence of the other in that country until George, accompanied +by Mr. Gilbert and a few other ranchemen, came to the fort to offer his +services. The colonel knew the boy as soon as he heard his name, and it +was on account of the respect and affection he cherished for the memory +of his father that he extended so cordial a greeting to him; but, like +all the other soldiers who had seen him, the colonel did not think that +George was just the guide he wanted. + +"I need somebody with age and experience, George," said he, "and you +have neither. I know you can handle a herd of cattle and manage your +ranche in good style, but I am not so certain of your ability to act as +guide to my troops. I admire your pluck, and I should be glad to have +you come here and live until you get tired of it; and in order to make +it lawful for you to stay here, I will give you a position as +forage-master." + +"I am very much obliged to you, sir, but that is a berth I don't want," +answered George. "I want to help put down those raiders." + +"But just think of the responsibility that would rest upon you," +protested the colonel. "A single blunder on your part might cripple me +fearfully." + +"You need have no fears on that score," said Mr. Gilbert. "George is +good wherever you put him. He is acquainted with Fletcher, who is the +most active of all the raiders who trouble us; he knows where he hangs +out, and he is the only one on this side of the river who does. When it +comes to trailing, he is at home there too. Can you look at a trail and +tell how old it is and how many men or horses made it?" + +No, the colonel couldn't do that. He always looked to his scouts for +information on those points. + +"George can do it," said Mr. Gilbert. "He has served his time under one +of the best trailers in the country; and that is Zeke, his herdsman." + +After a little more conversation the colonel, although not without many +misgivings, accepted the offer of George's services; and he never had +occasion to regret it. During the very first expedition that was sent +out of the fort after he reported there for duty he showed what he was +made of, and gave the colonel reason for placing almost unlimited +confidence in his judgment. Acting as Bob Owens's counsellor, he enabled +the latter to perform an exploit that made him the lion of the post. + +Having dressed himself, George passed through the colonel's office and +out through the hall to the parade. In the outer door was seated a man +who was bent half double, with his elbows resting on his knees and his +face buried in his hands. Hearing the sound of the boy's footsteps, he +raised his head, revealing a countenance so haggard and sorrowful that +George was startled at the sight of it. The man moved aside to allow him +room to pass, and then covered his face with his hands again, and as +George walked out he was sure he heard him utter a suppressed moan. The +man was not a soldier, for he was dressed in citizen's clothes. He +looked like a rancheman; and as George was a rancheman himself, he +naturally felt some sympathy for the unknown sufferer. After hesitating +a moment, weighing in his mind the propriety of the step he was about to +take, he turned back and asked, + +"What is the matter with you, sir? Are you ill?" + +"'Ill'?" repeated the man, without looking up. "Worse than that--worse +than that." + +"Is there anything that I can do for you?" asked George. "You seem to be +in great trouble." + +As these words fell upon his ear the man straightened up, and, gazing at +George with a pair of wild-looking eyes, said, in a voice that was +rendered husky by some strong emotion, + +"I am in trouble, partner, and although I do not think you can help me +in any way, I feel grateful to you for your sympathy. I have been +bounced by the hostiles and cleaned out--completely cleaned out." + +"That _is_ bad," returned George, who told himself that the man took his +loss very much to heart. He knew a good many stock-raisers who had been +"bounced" and "cleaned out," but he had never before seen one who seemed +to be so utterly broken down by his misfortunes as this one did. The +stranger's next words, however, explained it all. + +"The loss of my ranche and stock I don't mind," said he; "that's +nothing. But when one sees his two motherless boys carried off by the +red fiends, while he is powerless to help them, it's pretty rough, it's +pretty rough." + +"Why, this must be the man the colonel told me about last night," said +George to himself. + +"I should not fear that the savages would raise their hands against the +lives of the boys (they are too young to be put to torture, one being +eight and the other ten years of age) if it were not for one thing," +continued the bereaved father, jumping to his feet and pacing back and +forth like a caged tiger. "I made a hard fight of it, and dropped a +Kiowa for every year of my oldest boy's age. Of course the death of +those warriors will have to be avenged by their relatives. Perhaps you +don't know it, but that is Indian law." + +"I do know it," interrupted George. "I couldn't have lived so close to +these raiders, both Indians and Mexicans, nearly all my life without +learning something about their ways, could I? I am a Texan, like +yourself." + +"You are? I took you for a Yankee soldier." + +"There's where you made a mistake," replied George. "I was born in +Miller county in this State, and I am here to act as guide to the troops +when they cross the river in pursuit of the cattle-thieves." + +"Good! Put it there!" exclaimed the man, extending his hand, while his +face for the moment showed the pleasure he felt at the meeting. "My name +is Wentworth; what is yours?" + +George told him, and Mr. Wentworth said he had often heard the name, and +in a roundabout way had learned something of the family history. + +"I have heard of you too," said George. "You have often been obliged to +run in order to save your life and stock, have you not?" + +"Yes, and I have always succeeded in getting safely away; but there is a +first time for everybody, and mine came three days ago. I was going on +to say that I am afraid the savages will take vengeance on my helpless +little boys for the braves I shot in the fight," continued Mr. +Wentworth. "If they don't do that, they will probably hold them for +ransom; but they might as well tomahawk the boys at once and put them +out of their misery, for I haven't a horn nor a hoof nor a cent of money +to give in exchange for them. I know I have seen them for the last time, +but won't I make it hot for those who stole them?" + +George could not say anything comforting. The sight of the strong man's +overwhelming grief struck him dumb. + +"I know some of the bucks who were in the fight," continued Mr. +Wentworth, grinding his teeth and rubbing his hands nervously together. +"They have often camped on my ranche when they came down here +buffalo-hunting. I don't care what treaties our government may make with +that tribe; there will be eternal war between me and them. No Kiowa +shall ever cross my trail and live--no, not if I hang for it. I only +wish that some of those peace commissioners--those lunatics who believe +that an Indian is a human being and needs only kind treatment to make +him peaceable and friendly--could stand in my boots this minute. I tell +you, Ackerman, if one of them were here now I'd stand and see an Indian +shoot him, and never lift a hand in his defence. I got in last night and +told the colonel about it, and he said he would send out a couple of +companies this morning with orders to overtake and punish them if +possible; but he might as well save his men and horses, for it isn't +possible. They have reached the Staked Plains by this time, and are safe +from pursuit. This is a lovely government for a white man to live under, +isn't it? It is too cowardly to protect us from the Mexicans, and too +tender-hearted to hang an Indian for murder unless he happens to kill +some one high in authority, like General Canby." + +Mr. Wentworth seemed almost beside himself when he thought of his boys, +who were now so many miles away from him, for then it was that he +realized how powerless he was to help them. He went on in this strain +until he had talked himself out of breath, and then he went back to his +seat on the doorstep and covered his face with his hands. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +WHAT GEORGE KNEW ABOUT TRAILING. + + +"It is a hard case," said George to himself as he walked slowly toward +the gate, "and I believe, as Mr. Wentworth does, that he has seen his +children for the last time. In the first place, the chances are that the +Indians, having so long a start, will not be overtaken; but if they go +out of their way to attack other isolated ranches, and the troops should +come up with them, their very first act, if they saw that they were +likely to be whipped, would be to kill their captives, so that they +could not be rescued. It _is_ a hard case, that's a fact, and I don't +see that anything can be done about it. I wish Zeke were here to give +his opinion on the subject." + +The troopers, having answered to the names, were going out to bring in +their horses preparatory to grooming them, and George went with them to +bring in his own. Nearly an hour was devoted to this important duty, +which was performed under the watchful eye of an officer, and although +George often saw his friend Bob, the latter did not speak to him. There +were a good many shoulder-straps around, and work, and not talk, was the +order of the day. Even those of the officers who, having no servants, +were obliged to act as their own grooms, had very little to say to one +another; but when these same officers were gathered around the +breakfast-table half an hour later, they were lively and talkative +enough. There they met on a footing of perfect equality, like the +members of a private family, although the juniors did not forget to say +"sir" when addressing their superiors. There were no orders issued +during the progress of the meal, and in fact very little was said about +military matters; but still, George heard enough to satisfy him that +active operations against the thieving Kiowas were to be commenced +immediately, and that he was to make one of an expedition upon whose +success a good deal depended. + +The appearance of the officers as they passed into the hall after rising +from the breakfast-table must have been a signal to the bugler who +stood in front of the door of head-quarters, for as soon as he saw them +he raised his instrument to his lips and blew a shrill call. The clear, +ringing notes had scarcely ceased when there was a commotion in the +barracks, and a crowd of men came pouring out and hurried toward the +stables. There were a hundred and twenty of them, and they belonged to +the troops A, E and L--the latter commonly called the "Brindles"--of +which Captain Clinton's scouting-party was to be composed. + +"That's 'Boots and saddles,' George," said the colonel, who stood in the +doorway appearing to notice nothing, but in reality keeping a close +watch over the movements of the men to see that everything was done in +accordance with the "regulations." "You are to go with Clinton, you +know. Are you ready?" + +"I will be in half a minute," replied the boy. + +The stirring notes of the bugle, or the prospect of soon meeting face to +face some of the bloodthirsty savages who had devastated Mr. Wentworth's +home, must have excited George, so that he did not readily lay his hand +upon the articles he wanted, for considerably more than half a minute +elapsed before he again appeared with his Winchester on his back, a bag +of cartridges slung over his shoulder and a revolver buckled about his +waist. He ran to the stable, and had just put the saddle and bridle on +his horse when another call of the bugle was heard. This was "To horse," +and in obedience the troopers left the stable and fell into line on the +parade, each man standing at the head of his nag. George did not belong +in line--in fact, he did not know where he _did_ belong--so he kept his +eye on Captain Clinton, and when he saw that officer mount the horse +which an orderly brought up to him, George at once placed himself in his +own saddle, and, riding up to the steps where the colonel was standing, +awaited further developments. + +"Prepare to mount!" commanded Captain Clinton as he rode up in front of +his own troop, and the words were immediately repeated by the other two +company commanders. + +In obedience to this order each trooper placed his left foot in the +stirrup, and at the command "Mount!" which was given soon after, they +all rose from the ground as if moved by the same set of springs, and +seated themselves in the saddles at the same instant. No man was a half +a second ahead or behind his companions. The three company officers then +rode back to the colonel to report that their respective companies were +ready to march, and after they had listened to some verbal instructions +from him, they bade him and the rest of the officers good-bye, the bugle +sounded the "Advance," and the troopers, moving four abreast--or, as a +soldier would have expressed it, in column of fours--rode out of the +gate. There they found Wentworth seated on a wiry little mustang, which +looked altogether too small to carry so heavy a rider. Recognizing +George, who rode by Captain Clinton's side, he gave him a friendly nod, +and without saying a word turned his horse and rode away, the troopers +following a short distance in his rear. + +When soldiers are on the march and in no danger of immediate contact +with the enemy, they are allowed numerous privileges, of which the +troopers composing this particular scouting-party were not slow to avail +themselves. Some of them drew their pipes from their pockets and filled +up for a smoke, others threw one leg over the horns of their saddles and +rode sideways, "woman-fashion," and conversation became general all +along the line. But this talking and smoking did not interfere with +their marching, for they rode rapidly, and made such good progress that +by three o'clock in the afternoon they were within sight of the ruins of +Mr. Wentworth's ranche. And a sorry sight it was, too. Nothing but a +pile of blackened sun-dried bricks remained to mark the spot on which a +few days ago had stood a happy home. Household furniture of every +description was scattered around, but every article had been smashed +beyond all hope of repair. What the savages had not been able to carry +away with them they had ruthlessly destroyed. George did not wonder that +Mr. Wentworth felt vindictive. The man did not have a word to say, but +the expression that came to his face as he sat in his saddle gazing +sorrowfully at the ruins of his home spoke volumes. + +When the troopers came within sight of the ranche, George discovered +that there was a horse staked out near the ruins, and that he had an +owner in the person of a tall, gaunt man, who rose from the ground and +rubbed his eyes as if he had just awakened from a sound sleep. His dress +was an odd mixture of the civilized and savage. He wore a pair of +infantryman's trousers, a rancheman's red shirt, and an Indian blanket +of the same color was thrown over his shoulders. His head was covered by +a Mexican sombrero, and his feet were protected by a pair of +gaudily-ornamented moccasins. While waiting for the troopers to come up +he filled a short black pipe and lighted it at the smoldering fire +beside which he had been sleeping. + +"That's Mountain Mose," said Captain Clinton in reply to George's +inquiring look. "He no doubt gave himself the name because he has lived +on the Plains all his life. He is a lazy, worthless vagabond, but what +he doesn't know about Indians isn't worth knowing. If he would only wake +up and display a little energy, he would be invaluable as a scout." + +"What is he doing here?" asked George. "He seems to be waiting for us." + +"Yes, I expected to find him at this place. He has been out to take a +look at the trail of that war-party who did all this damage.--Well, +Mose, any news?" + +"Not much, cap," drawled the scout. "You put straight for the Staked +Plains, an' if you are lively enough to ketch 'em anywhar, you'll ketch +'em thar." + +"Then we shall never get the cattle," said the captain. "If the Indians +are going in there, they intend that the stock shall die of thirst +rather than fall into our hands." + +"That's jest their little game, cap," said the scout, puffing at his +pipe. "You see, they'll keep along on the edge of the desert, so't they +can have grass an' water in plenty, an' if you don't pester 'em none +they won't go into the Staked Plains at all; but if you push 'em hard +they'll run the critters in thar an' leave 'em, hopin' that you will run +your hosses an' men to death while you are huntin' 'em up. You won't +never see the young ones, nuther; an' I don't see why the colonel sent +out sich a party as this so late in the day, anyhow. We'd oughter been a +hundred miles along that thar trail by sun-up this mornin'." + +George felt the deepest sympathy for Mr. Wentworth, who listened +attentively to what the scout had to say, although he said nothing in +return. His almost overwhelming sorrow showed itself in his face, but +did not take the form of words. + +As Captain Clinton had made no halt for dinner, the colonel having +instructed him to find and receive the report of the scout as soon as +possible, he decided to stop here and allow his men an hour or two for +rest and refreshment. Giving their horses into the charge of some of the +troopers, he and his two company commanders walked away with the scout, +while George rode off to hunt up Bob Owens. He staked his own horse out +beside Bob's, and then walked back with him to take a nearer view of the +ruins. + +"How do you suppose that that man in the sombrero and moccasins knows +that the Indians who did this have fled toward the Staked Plains?" asked +Bob after he and his friend had spent some moments in silent +contemplation of the savages' handiwork. "He certainly hasn't had time +enough to follow the trail clear to those plains." + +"Of course not," answered George. "But he probably followed it far +enough to see that it leads in that direction." + +"Well, explain another thing while you are about it," continued Bob. "I +have been out on a scout before now after the hostiles, following a +trail that was as plain as the nose on one's face, when all at once the +scout would leave that trail and strike off over the prairie where +there wasn't a sign of a pony-track." + +"He was taking a short cut on the Indians," observed George. + +"I know that, and sooner or later he would bring us back to that trail +again; and sometimes we would have gained so much on the hostiles--who +had perhaps been twenty-four hours' journey ahead of us when we left the +trail--that we would find their camp-fires still smoking. Now, what I +want to know is this: How did that scout know that those Indians were +going to that particular spring or creek or ravine near which we found +the trail?" + +"Have you ever hunted foxes?" asked George. + +"I should say I had. When I left home I owned a hound that couldn't be +beaten in running them, for he was posted in all their tricks. But what +have foxes to do with hostile Indians?" + +"I am simply going to use the tricks of the one, which you understand, +to explain the tricks of the other, which you do not understand," +replied George. "They are a good deal alike in some respects. A fox, +when he finds himself hard pressed, will resort to all sorts of +manoeuvres to throw the hounds off the trail. One of his tricks is to +run over a newly-ploughed field, if he can find one, where the scent +will not lie. What would that brag hound of yours do in such a case? +Would he waste valuable time in running about over that field trying to +pick up a scent that wasn't there?" + +"No, he wouldn't. He would run around the outside of the field until he +found the place where the fox left it." + +"Exactly. Now, an Indian is just as full of tricks as a fox is. When he +is afraid of pursuit he will break his party up into small bands, and, +although the trails made by these bands will lead in different +directions at the start, you will find, if you break up your own party +and follow them for a while, that they all tend toward the same points, +where these little bands will all be reunited. Of course each of the +trails will be obliterated as much as possible. Some of them will lead +over rocky ground, where the hoof of a pony will leave no imprint; +others will come to an abrupt termination on the bank of some stream; +and others still will end at a place where the prairie has been burned +over. When these war-parties break up in the way I have described, a +place of meeting is always agreed on beforehand; and if a scout +understands his business he can tell pretty nearly where that place is, +for it is sure to be on the straightest and most direct route to the +agency if the raiders belong to a 'friendly' tribe, or to their +principal village if they belong to a tribe that is openly hostile. If +these Kiowas take to the Staked Plains, they will probably enter it +directly north of here, at its widest part. Then this Mountain Mose, if +he is the scout he pretends to be, will leave their trail to take care +of itself and draw a bee-line for the nearest water; and it will take +thirty hours' rapid marching to reach it, too." + +"How do you know? Have you ever been there?" + +"No, but my herdsman Zeke has; and he has described the course to be +followed so minutely that I can go there any day the sun shines or any +night when the stars shine." + +Bob did not say anything, but his friend noticed that he looked a little +incredulous. + +"It is not so difficult as it appears to be at first glance," George +hastened to say. "Why, when a party of young Indians want to go into a +strange country for plunder and scalps, they gather around some old +warrior, who traces on the ground the direction in which they must +travel in order to reach that country, describes all the water-courses +and locates the principal landmarks to be found along the route; and +with nothing but these verbal instructions to guide them, these little +rascals, some of them not more than thirteen or fourteen years of age, +will make a journey of hundreds of miles through a region that none of +them have ever visited before. My bump of locality is not so large as an +Indian's, but still I have a pretty good memory, and I have travelled +many a mile through a strange country without going a step out of my +way." + +"What sort of a looking place is Staked Plains, anyhow?" asked Bob. "I +have heard so many terrible stories told about it that I am almost +afraid of it. What gave it that name? Are there any _stakes_ there?" + +Bob was inclined to be facetious when he said this, and consequently he +was not a little astonished to hear George say in reply, + +"There may not be any stakes there now, but there used to be. It _is_ a +terrible place, and many a wagon-train has left its bones there. It is +big enough to get lost in, for it lacks only about six thousand +square-miles of being as large as the State of New York; and although it +is not exactly a desert, as we understand the word, it is a barren +waste, where nothing living permanently resides on account of the great +scarcity of water. A long time ago the Mexican traders marked out a +route with stakes across the plain where they found a few small +fountains, and that was what gave it the name it bears. Zeke says it is +a perfect bake-oven. There are no trees to shelter you, no grass for +your horses, no fuel to build a fire with, and an almost unearthly +silence broods over it. I am not superstitious, but Zeke always speaks +of it with a shudder, and I tell you I don't want to see any place that +he is afraid of." + +The two friends continued to talk in this way until Captain Clinton's +cook came up and told George that dinner was ready. They rested half an +hour after the meal was over, and then set out again, Mountain Mose +leading the way and Mr. Wentworth, as before, riding by himself. As +George was a sort of supernumerary, he was under little restraint, and +consequently he rode where he pleased--sometimes in company with the +scout, sometimes beside Captain Clinton, and then fell back to exchange +a few ideas with Bob. He did not, however, waste much time with the +scout. The latter was talkative enough until he learned that George held +the same position that he did, and then he froze up at once. + +"You're a pretty-looking scout, _you_ be!" he exclaimed, moving his eye +over the boy's trim figure. "Do you reckon you could tell the trail of a +Kiowa from the track of a coyote?" + +"Yes, I reckon I could," answered George with a smile. "But you need not +be jealous of me, for I shall not interfere with you in any way. I came +to the post to hunt Greasers, and not to trail Indians." + +"Oh, you did, eh? So you're the chap that's goin' to show the boys the +way acrost the Rio, be you?" + +"I am," replied George. + +"Well, all I've got to say is, that them that follers you is fools. I +thought mebbe you was agoin' to poke your nose into my business; and +that is something I won't put up with from nobody. If thar's anything I +_do_ understand, it's Indians." + +This was true, but it sometimes happens that luck is not on the side of +those who know the most. The scout would have given anything he +possessed if he had been fortunate enough to perform the exploit that +George assisted in performing before two days more had passed over his +head. + +Bob Owens did not fail to notice that there was not the least semblance +of a trail to be seen anywhere. They had left it at the ruins of Mr. +Wentworth's rancho, and he waited with no little impatience to see where +they would pick it up again. He found out about sunset, for at that time +the column reached the banks of a small water-course, and there they +struck the trail, which was so broad and plain that it could be followed +at a gallop. George, in company with some of the officers and the scout, +spent a few minutes in looking it over, and then rode back to report the +result of his observations to Bob Owens. + +"There are not many warriors in the party," said he, "but they are so +well supplied with horses that they can have a fresh mount every day if +they want it." + +"How do you know that?" asked Bob. + +"Because I saw their tracks," replied George. + +"That's not explicit enough. I suppose you did see the tracks of the +horses, and so did I; but how in the world is a fellow going to tell +whether or not those horses had riders on their backs? _That's_ +something that can't be done." + +"Don't be too sure of that. Look here! Would you believe it if I should +tell you that those Indians passed along here after daylight on Thursday +morning?" + +"No, I wouldn't," replied Bob bluntly. He could not, for the life of +him, understand how anybody could draw such conclusions as these by +simply looking at the print of a pony's hoofs in the grass; and if he +had not been so well acquainted with George he would have inclined to +the belief that his friend was "spreading it on" in order to make +himself out a wonderful trailer. "I can't make head or tail of this +business, and I don't believe you can, either; that is, I mean I don't +see how you can." + +"Well, listen while I explain," said George good-naturedly. "In the +first place, I noticed, while we were passing through that belt of +post-oaks back there, that some of the horses left a very devious +trail, passing through thick bushes and under trees whose branches were +so low that they would have swept a rider out of his saddle if he had +not been on the alert to avoid them. Those horses were all loose." + +"Perhaps not," exclaimed Bob. "The Indians might have passed through +there when it was too dark to see where they were going." + +"I know they might, but they didn't, as I shall presently show you. The +horses which made those crooked trails were not mustangs. They were +American horses, and their presence proves another thing that I didn't +think to speak of before; and that is, that the Indians raided other +ranches besides Mr. Wentworth's. How do I know that they were American +horses? Because their tracks were larger than a pony's, and some of them +were shod. The tracks made by the mustangs led through the open part of +the timber, where there were no bushes and low branches; and this is one +proof that the Indians did not pass through there in the night-time. If +they had, they could not have kept in such open ground. I found further +proof that these mustangs were all mounted by noticing that they did not +stop to graze, as the loose horses did, being kept in constant motion +by their riders. What do you think now?" asked George, seeing that Bob +began to open his eyes. + +"It reads like a book, don't it?" was Bob's reply. "But you have +forgotten one very important thing. You said that the Indians passed +through those post-oaks early on Thursday morning. How do you know that +they didn't pass late on Thursday afternoon or early on Friday morning?" + +"You think you have got me there, don't you? Well, you haven't. If there +are 'sermons in stones and books in running brooks,' as the poet tells +us there are, what is the reason that the print of an Indian pony's hoof +may not contain a page of information that will prove to be useful to +him who has the skill to read it? On Wednesday night there was a very +heavy dew, if you remember." + +"I don't remember," replied Bob; "I never pay any attention to such +things." + +"But you must pay attention to such things, and a good deal of it too, +if you are going to be a Plainsman. During the last two nights there has +been no dew at all. I noticed that some blades of grass, which had been +pressed down by the hoofs of the horses and cattle, were covered with +sand which stuck fast to them, having been dried on. This told me that +the tracks were made while the grass was wet, and that the Indians had +passed that way early on Thursday morning, or before the sun had risen +high enough to dry off the dew. There were not more than fifteen or +twenty of them. I didn't have time to see just how many, but they have +stolen over a thousand head of steers and horses. Now, remember all I +have told you, and see if I haven't made a pretty good guess." + +"Do you think we shall catch them?" asked Bob. + +"Well," answered George slowly, "raiding Indians _have_ been overtaken +and neatly whipped before now, but I have always believed that it was +more by good luck than good management. These fellows will begin to show +their tactics as soon as they find out that they are pursued. Then they +will probably leave behind a few of the best mounted of the band to +attract our attention and lead us away from the others, who will make +all haste to take the prisoners and the stolon stock to a place of +safety. If we bite at that bait, we shall lose everything, for as soon +as the decoys have led us as far out of our way as they care to have us +go, they will disappear all of a sudden, and we shall never see them +again. If we keep on after the main body, and travel fast enough to gain +on them, they will drop the stock in the desert, break up into squads of +twos and threes, and we shall have nothing to do but to turn about and +go home again." + +The Indians did manoeuvre pretty nearly as George said they would, but +Captain Clinton and his scouting-party did not go back to the fort until +they had accomplished something. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HOW GEORGE SAVED THE CAMP. + + +The troopers went into camp about midnight, having been nineteen hours +in the saddle, during which time they had marched more than seventy +miles. They halted on the bank of a small stream near a ford over which +the Indians had passed during their retreat. The trail was plain, and +some of the troopers, who did not know quite as much about trailing as +they thought they did, declared that they were close upon the heels of +the raiders. + +"How is that, George?" asked Bob Owens, who had been detailed as one of +the corporals of the guard. "Some of the boys say that if we should +follow the Indians for an hour or two longer we would be within sight of +their camp-fires." + +"What makes them think so?" asked George. + +"Because they have found tracks with the sand still running into them. +Is that one of the signs by which to tell the age of a trail?" + +"Under some circumstances, yes; in the present case, no. You could tell +the age of a trail in that way if the ground around it had not been +disturbed. This country about here is all quicksand, and you can take +your stand almost anywhere along the banks of this stream, and by +jumping up and down shake the ground for ten feet on all sides of you. +When our heavy column crossed the ford and climbed this bank, it shook +the earth, and that was what set the sand to running down into the +tracks." + +"I declare!" exclaimed Bob, gazing admiringly at his friend; "is there +anything a trailer isn't obliged to know?" + +"If he wants to be an expert he must keep his eyes and ears wide open, +and pay strict attention to little things which almost anybody else +would consider to be beneath his notice. It is wonderful what +proficiency a person who has a talent for such things can acquire by +practice. For example, this scout of ours could learn more about a trail +in two minutes than I could in an hour. But he is fearfully jealous," +added George with a laugh, "and you ought to have seen how mad I made +him while we were passing through that belt of post-oaks this afternoon. +Seeing that Captain Clinton was waiting very impatiently for +information, I volunteered the statement that the hostiles had passed +that way early on Thursday morning, and that Mr. Wentworth was not the +only one who had suffered at their hands. The captain asked Mose what he +thought of that, and Mose replied, 'I think jest this here, cap: if that +kid is agoin' to lead this yere party he had better say so, an' I will +go back to the post. He's a'most too fresh, an' he'd better go back in +the woods an' practise at holdin' his chin.' But he did not contradict +my statement, and that was all the evidence I needed to prove that I was +right in what I said. The tracks here on the bank are not as fresh as +you suppose. If they were wet, it would be a sign that the Indians +crossed the ford since three o'clock this afternoon." + +"Why since three o'clock?" asked Bob. + +"Because the sun went under a cloud at that hour, and hasn't showed +himself since to dry off the water that the horses and cattle brought +out of the stream on their feet and legs." + +While the two boys were talking in this way George was getting ready to +go to bed. The camp was located at the foot of a perpendicular bluff +which was perhaps twenty feet in height. On the top of this bluff the +horses were picketed, and beyond them were the sentinels who were to +look out for the safety of the animals and keep guard over their +slumbering companions. Everything outside of the circle of light made by +the camp-fires was concealed by the most intense darkness. Not even a +star twinkled in the sky. George spread his blankets in a sheltered nook +at the foot of the bluff and courted the "drowsy god" in vain. He was +tired and his eyes were heavy, but he could not go to sleep. After +rolling and tossing about for nearly two hours, he became too nervous to +remain inactive any longer, so he slung his rifle on his back and +climbed to the top of the bluff, where he found Bob Owens and two other +non-commissioned officers sitting beside a fire and conversing in low +tones. At another fire a short distance away sat Lieutenant Earle, the +officer of the guard, nodding over his pipe. + +"Hallo!" exclaimed Bob, "what brought you out here?" + +"Oh, I want somebody to talk to," replied George, throwing himself on +the ground by his friend's side, "Somehow, I can't sleep, and that's a +new thing for me." + +"You are not afraid of the hostiles, are you?" asked a corporal from the +other side of the fire. + +"Oh no, because I know that we have nothing to fear from them on such a +night as this. If there were any hostiles in the neighborhood, they +might slip up and steal a few horses, if they thought they could get +away with their booty, but they wouldn't attack a party of the size of +ours and bring on an open fight. It is too dark." + +"Why, that is just the reason they _would_ attack us," exclaimed the +corporal, who, although he had often been on a scout, had never +participated in a battle. "They rely upon the darkness to cover their +movements and to assist them in effecting a surprise. I have read it a +hundred times." + +"Ah, yes," replied George--"story-book Indians make attacks at all hours +of the day and night, but live Plains Indians don't. The reason for it +is this: They believe that they will go into the happy hunting-grounds +with just the same surroundings that attend their departure from this +world. If an Indian is crippled or blind or ill, he will be just the +same Indian in the spirit-land. If he dies from the effects of disease, +he will suffer from that disease for ever; but if he is killed in battle +on a pleasant day, and while he is in the possession of all his strength +and faculties, he will go straight to the Indian's heaven under the most +favorable circumstances." + +"Suppose he is killed on a rainy day?" said the corporal on the other +side of the fire. + +"Or a snowy one?" chimed in a sergeant. + +"Then he is doomed to paddle through rain or snow through all eternity," +replied George; "and that he doesn't like either is proved by the fact +that he will not stir out of camp while it is raining or snowing if he +can help it. If an Indian is hanged, like Captain Jack or those +thirty-seven warriors who were executed at Mankato in 1863 for +participation in the Sioux massacre, he loses all chance of ever seeing +the happy hunting-grounds. So he does if he is scalped; and that's the +reason Indians make such efforts to carry off the body of a fallen +comrade. A Plains Indian never willingly goes into a fight during the +night. If he did, he would make it much warmer for us here on the +frontier than he does now. He may make use of a night like this to get +into position for an attack, but if left to himself he will not raise +the war-whoop before daylight, because he believes that if he is killed +during the dark he will be condemned to pass all eternity in darkness." + +"Well, that is something I never knew before," said the corporal, "and I +have been on the Plains a good many years. Now that I think of it--" + +"Corporal of the guard, No. 7!" came the call through the dense +darkness, whereupon Bob Owens jumped to his feet. + +"What's the trouble out there, I wonder?" said he. + +"Go and see," replied the sergeant with a sleepy yawn: "that's the only +way to find out." + +"Sergeant," said the officer of the guard, "if those horses have had +grass enough, have them brought in and tied to the stable-lines. Look +well to their fastenings." + +"Corporal of the guard, No. 7!" came the call again; and this time it +was uttered in a louder and more earnest tone. + +Bob, who was walking toward post No. 7 with a very deliberate step, now +broke into a run, and George jumped up and followed him. A fortunate +thing it was for that camp and its inmates that he did so. His thorough +acquaintance with the ways of some of the inhabitants of the Plains +enabled him to prevent a catastrophe which would certainly have resulted +in a serious loss of life, and brought Captain Clinton's scout to an +inglorious end then and there. When he and the corporal reached post No. +7 they found the sentry on duty there lying flat on his stomach and +gazing earnestly toward the horizon. + +"What's the matter, Sprague?" demanded Bob. + +"I don't know, I am sure," replied the sentry. "If the hostiles had made +up their minds to pay us a visit, they wouldn't make such a racket as +that, would they? There! don't you hear it? Something's coming this way, +I tell you, and coming on a keen jump, too." + +The three held their breath and listened intently. A second later the +breeze brought to their ears the sound that had attracted the attention +of the sentry--a deep, rumbling sound, faint and far off, but increasing +perceptibly in volume. It resembled the constant muttering of distant +thunder, but they all knew it was not that. Bob's face brightened at +once, but George's grew pale. The corporal did not know the danger that +threatened them, but his companion did; he had heard something like it +before. He had heard it on the night that Fletcher and his band of +raiders stampeded his stock, and he had thrown himself into an old +buffalo-wallow and allowed three hundred frantic cattle to gallop over +his head. + +"Why, it must be cavalry from Fort Tyler," said Bob at length.--"But +I'll tell you what's a fact, boys," he added, as a fresh gust of wind +brought the sound more plainly to his ears: "there must be lots of them, +for I never heard such a roar of hoofs before. They are coming this way, +too. I hope they'll not run over us." + +"Well, they _will_ run over us," said George, speaking quickly but +calmly, "unless you take immediate steps to prevent it. They are not +cavalry; they are buffaloes." + +"Oh! ah!" exclaimed Bob. + +"Humph!" ejaculated the sentry, jumping to his feet.--"Don't tell the +boys what I called you out for, will you, corporal? To tell the truth, I +was just a little bit--" + +He finished the sentence by shrugging his shoulders, and Bob, who knew +what he meant by that, was about to assure him that he would say nothing +in the hearing of the "boys" that would enable them to "get the laugh" +on him, when George Ackerman broke in with-- + +"You had good reason to be alarmed, and this is not a matter to be +dropped with an 'ah!' and an 'oh!' and a 'humph!' You are in great +danger, if you only knew it. Those buffaloes are stampeded, and will not +stop until they are all out of breath." + +"Well, if they don't want to stop, let them run," said Bob. "Who cares? +They don't owe us anything. They will of course turn aside when they see +us." + +"But they will not see you unless you do something to attract their +attention," exclaimed George impatiently. "They will be in among us in +five minutes more, and men and horses will be trampled into the ground +like blades of grass. Wake up and do something, can't you? The safety of +the camp depends upon you, and if you don't move, I will." + +"Great Moses!" ejaculated Bob. He was thoroughly aroused by the earnest +words of his companion, but having never been placed in a situation +like this before, he did not know how to act. "You don't mean that--I +never heard of--" + +"Yes, I do mean that they will trample the whole camp to death unless +you prevent it; and I don't care whether you ever heard of such a thing +being done or not," cried George, seizing the corporal by the arm and +shaking him as if he wanted to put a little energy into him. + +"But what shall I do? Shall I order up the reserve and get the horses +out of the way?" + +"You haven't got time to get them out of the way. The buffaloes will be +upon us before you could take half a dozen of them to a place of safety. +Arouse the camp the first thing, and then call up a few good men to go +out and split the herd the moment it comes in sight." + +Bob, who was still in the dark, was about to ask how he should go to +work to "split" the herd after he had selected the men, but George did +not give him the opportunity. The rumbling of the approaching hoofs grew +louder and louder, and every moment was precious. It sounded before them +and to the right and left of them, indicating that the herd was an +immense one, and that it was advancing with a front broad enough to +overwhelm the entire camp. Knowing that no more time could be wasted in +debating the matter, George unslung his Winchester and fired two shots +into the air. The effect was almost magical. The camp, which had been so +quiet a second before, was aroused into instant life and activity. Loud +cries of "Indians!" and "Fall in!" arose on the still air, followed by +blasts from the bugle and stern notes of command. The officer of the +guard was promptly on the ground, and to him Bob reported that a herd of +stampeded buffaloes was bearing down upon them. The announcement +startled the lieutenant, but he acted with the greatest coolness. As +fast as the men came up he ordered them back to take care of the +horses--all except a dozen or so of the best soldiers known to him, whom +he ordered to follow him. By the time he had taken up his position, +which was on a little rise of ground about fifty yards from post No. 7, +Captain Clinton came up. Taking in at a glance the arrangements which +his subordinate had made to avert the terrible danger that threatened +the camp, he left him and his picked men to carry out those arrangements +or perish in the attempt, while he hastened back to see that the horses +were well secured. + +"Steady!" commanded Lieutenant Earle, speaking in his loudest tones, in +order to make his voice heard above the roar of the threatening hoofs, +which sounded like the noise made by an approaching hurricane. "We are +here to conquer or die. If we don't split that herd they will trample us +out of sight in the ground. We can do it if we are only cool enough to +hold our position. Don't fire until I give the word, and then put in the +shots as rapidly as you know how." + +Bob's hair fairly stood on end, and not even the calm bearing of George +Ackerman, who was constantly by his side and who knew their danger +better than he did, or the lieutenant's assurance that the herd could be +split if they did their full duty, could relieve Bob's mind of the +positive conviction that he and his comrades were doomed to certain and +speedy death. But his courage never faltered, and to show that he did +not intend to allow himself to be outdone in steadiness even by a +shoulder-strap, he walked up and kneeling beside his officer (the men in +the front rank were all kneeling, so that those in the rear rank could +shoot over their heads) waited for the order to fire. + +Nearer came the terror-stricken buffaloes, louder grew the thunder of +their hoofs, and, as if to add to the horror of the situation and to +test the courage of the lieutenant and his devoted little band to the +very utmost, the horses behind them began to grow unmanageable from +fright and to struggle desperately to escape from their fastenings. + +At length, after a few moments of dreadful suspense, the time for action +arrived. A rapidly-moving mass, which was plainly visible, owing to the +fact that it was blacker than the darkness of the night, burst into view +and bore down upon the camp and its little band of defenders. So loud +was the noise made by their hoofs at this moment that the troopers did +not hear the order to fire, which the lieutenant shouted out with all +the power of his lungs; but they saw the flash of his revolver, and lost +no time in opening a hot fire upon that portion of the herd which was +directly in front of them. To Bob it seemed that the rapid discharges of +their breech-loaders had no effect whatever. The black mass before him +was as black and as dense, apparently, as it was when he first saw it, +but, strange to say, instead of plunging upon him and his companions and +trampling them out of all semblance to humanity, it seemed to remain +stationary, although the deafening roar of those countless hoofs told +him that the frantic herd had not in the least slackened its pace. In +fact, his eyes and ears seemed to have suddenly become at "outs," for +they did not endorse each other as they usually did. His eyes told him +that his carbine was fired rapidly, for they showed him the flashes that +followed the pulling of the trigger; but his ears took no note of the +fact, for he could not hear the faintest report. The reason for this +was, that the herd, having been split in two by the first volley, was +moving by on each side of them with a roar and a rush that would have +drowned the discharge of a section of artillery. + +How long the buffaloes were in passing Bob never knew, for he took no +note of time. It was probably not more than two or three minutes, but +during that brief period he passed through an ordeal that he never could +think of afterward without feeling the cold chills creep all over him. +But he did not flinch, and neither did his companions. When the last of +the buffaloes passed to the right and left of them, and the lieutenant +jumped up and stretched his arms and legs as if to assure himself that +he had not been stepped on anywhere, he found that not one of his men +had moved from his place. The front rank was still kneeling, the rear +rank was standing, and they were both as well aligned as they were +before the firing commenced. + +After ordering the front rank to rise, and bestowing upon them all a few +hearty words of commendation, the lieutenant marched his men back to the +camp, where they found some of their companions under arms, and the rest +engaged in bringing in the horses and making them fast to the +stable-lines. The animals were in such a state of alarm, and showed so +strong a desire to run off with the retreating buffaloes, that Captain +Clinton thought it advisable to put a strong guard over them for the +rest of the night, with instructions to examine their fastenings every +few minutes. When this guard had been detailed and the sentries had been +changed, the rest of the troopers went back to their blankets. + +Bob and George were proud of the part they had acted in saving the camp +from destruction, and consequently when they spread their blankets +beside one of the fires they were somewhat provoked to hear the man who +was piling fresh fuel upon it attribute their narrow escape to "luck." +But still there was nothing very surprising in this, for it not +infrequently happens that a soldier stationed in one end of a camp does +not know what is going on in the other end of it, especially in times of +excitement. The same thing happens in a fight. A soldier may be able to +give a clear statement of the part his company took in it, but he knows +nothing of the general plan of the battle or of the number of the +killed, wounded, captured or missing, until he has had time to talk the +matter over with his comrades or to read a published account of it. +During the war it was a common saying among the soldiers in the field +that they never knew anything about the fights they had been in until +they saw the papers. + +"I have been on the Plains nearly three years," said the trooper who was +punching up the fire, "and that was the first time I ever saw a herd of +stampeded buffaloes." + +"I never saw one," said another trooper. "I heard this one, but my horse +kept me so busy that I couldn't take time to look at it." + +"I had a fair view of it," said the one who had first spoken. "My horse +was quiet enough after I got the bit between his teeth, so that I could +manage him, and I stood up there by that farther fire and took it all +in. I tell you, it was a sight!--a regular cataract of buffaloes a +hundred feet wide, tumbling over a bank twenty feet high. I have always +heard that when buffaloes become frightened and get to running they turn +aside for nothing; but this night's experience gives the lie to all such +stories, don't it? When they saw our camp they turned to the right and +left, and crossed the stream above and below us, and never did us the +least damage. Luck was on our side, wasn't it?" + +"'Luck'!" repeated Bob in a tone of disgust; "I guess not. There were +about a dozen men, of whom George Ackerman and I made two, who stood +between you fellows and certain death. If we hadn't held our ground as +if we had grown there, there wouldn't have been one of you left to tell +the story of this night's work." + +The troopers lying about the fire were greatly astonished at these +words, and called for an immediate explanation. Bob told the story in a +few words, adding, as he directed the attention of his auditors to +George Ackerman, who was lying at his ease on his blanket, + +"There's the fellow you have to thank for your 'luck.' Sprague heard +them coming, and so did I after he called me out to his post, but we +didn't know what it was until Ackerman told us. He was the one who +alarmed the camp. I know I did something toward splitting that herd, for +I could see the fire come out of my carbine and my cartridge-box is +empty, but I never heard a report. I didn't hear anything but the +thunder of those hoofs, and I shall hear it to my dying day." + +"I wonder what started them?" said one of the troopers, after he and his +companions had asked a few questions concerning the behavior of the +various members of the squad. "Indians?" + +"Probably they did," answered a sergeant, who just then came up to the +fire to light his pipe, being unable to go to sleep until he had taken a +smoke to quiet his nerves. + +"Probably the Indians had nothing to do with it," said George. "Don't +you know that a herd of buffaloes will feed within a mile or two of an +Indian camp for days at a time, while half a dozen white men would scare +them out of the country in less than an hour? Well, it's a fact." + +"What is the reason for it?" asked Bob. + +"The reason is to be found in the different modes of hunting them. The +Indian, who depends largely upon them for food and clothing, kills no +more of them during a run than the squaws can take care of. He hunts +them almost altogether with the bow and arrow, which are not only very +effective weapons at short range, but they make no noise to scare away +the game. He hunts according to long-established rules, none but the +best men in the tribe being permitted to take part in a run, and in this +way the game is secured before the buffaloes get frightened enough to +break into a stampede. The white man, who hunts principally for profit, +keeps up the killing as long as he can hold the herd within range of his +gun. He follows them persistently during the daytime, and at night lies +in wait to shoot them as they come to the streams to quench their +thirst. A buffalo is a very stupid animal, but, after all, it doesn't +take him long to get some things through his head." + +"Fresh, purty _fresh_!" murmured a voice. + +George looked over his shoulders and saw the scout lying close by on his +blanket. He had come up to the fire and arranged his bed without +attracting the attention of any one. + +"Do you think there is nobody in this party who knows anything except +yourself?" demanded George. + +"Well, no; judgin' by the way you sling your chin, you know it all," +replied the scout. + +"What do you suppose first put this herd in motion?" asked one of the +troopers, who had not yet gained all the information he wanted. + +"That's a question that nobody can answer unless he was on the ground +and saw them start," answered George.--"You'll not dispute that, will +you, Mose?--Our Texas cattle will often get stampeded by the sight of a +little cloud of dust that is suddenly raised by the wind; or some night +a careless herdsman may step between them and the fire and throw his +shadow upon them; or some of the young and foolish members of a drove +will fall to skylarking, and that will frighten the others, and the +first thing you know they are all off like the wind. Buffaloes have just +as little sense. My herdsman has told me that he has seen hundreds of +them, when they were suffering for water, walk into a stream that was +literally choked with the bodies of their companions who had been caught +in the quicksand." + +"Say," growled a drowsy trooper from his blanket, "suppose you boys go +somewhere and hire a hall?" + +George laughed, and, taking the hint thus delicately thrown out, brought +his lecture on buffaloes to a close. The remembrance of the thrilling +scene through which he had just passed did not keep him awake. On the +contrary, sleep came to his eyes almost immediately, and the last sound +he heard as he was about to pass into the land of dreams was the subdued +voice of the scout murmuring, "Fresh, very fresh!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TELEGRAPHING BY SMOKES. + + +The camp was aroused at an early hour the next morning, and by the time +it was fairly daylight breakfast had been disposed of and the column was +again in motion. The firing-squad had brought down a goodly number of +buffaloes in their efforts to split the herd--enough to furnish the +whole camp with a hearty meal and to enable each trooper to carry two +days' cooked rations in his haversack. During the first few miles of +their march there was no trail for them to follow, all traces of the +thieving Kiowas having been obliterated by the hoofs of the stampeded +buffaloes; but this did not interfere with the movements of the scout, +who, from the start, led the way at a rapid pace. He knew the general +direction in which the trail led, and that was enough for him. + +"Where do you think we shall pick it up again?" asked Captain Clinton +of George, who rode by his side. + +"Do you see that butte?" asked George in reply, directing the officer's +attention to a single high peak in the distance, which marked the +south-eastern boundary of the dreaded Staked Plains. "We shall not see +another drop of water until we reach that mountain, and we shall find +some traces of the Indians there, if we do not find them before." + +"Purty fresh!" exclaimed the scout, who had overheard every word of this +conversation. + +"Well, if you know better, why don't you say so?" demanded George. +"Every prediction I have made so far has turned out to be correct. Now, +see how far I miss it when I tell you that the Indians camped beside +that butte last night." + +"Then we are gaining on them?" said the captain. + +"We are," was the boy's confident reply. "And for the reason that we +have followed a direct course and ridden rapidly, while the Indians took +a roundabout way and moved slowly, being hampered by their stolen +cattle." + +George's calculations proved to be correct. About three o'clock in the +afternoon they again took up the trail, and followed it at a gallop. +They reached the peak just before dark, and found abundant evidence that +the Indians had recently camped there. The troopers halted here too to +get a little rest and a wink of sleep, but at nine o'clock they were +once more on the move. The next halt was made about two in the morning, +and at daylight they were again in their saddles and riding ahead as +rapidly as ever. The trail led them along the borders of the Staked +Plains, giving some of the troopers, who had never before scouted so far +in this direction, their first view of that desolate region. A +gloomy-looking place it was. As far as their eyes could reach they could +see nothing but sandhills, with stunted weeds and clumps of grass which +seemed to be struggling hard to maintain a foothold in the arid soil. + +They had marched perhaps ten miles from their last camp when George +Ackerman, who was riding by Captain Clinton's side, discovered +something. He looked at it for a moment, and then called the officer's +attention to it. + +"They have begun their tricks at last," said he. "Do you see that dark +streak out there in the grass? That's a new trail. There! Mose has +discovered it, and is going out to see what it looks like." + +Bringing the column to a halt, the captain, accompanied by George and +some of the officers, rode forward to the place where the scout, who had +got down from his horse, stood bending over the trail. After he had +taken plenty of time in which to make his investigations, he +straightened up to announce the result. + +"Four of them varmints has gone this way, cap," said he. "They've left a +plain trail, on purpose to coax you to foller 'em." + +"They shall be gratified," answered the captain promptly. "As my party +is larger than theirs, I can stand more divisions than they can. I would +as soon whip them in detail as to whip them in a lump.--Earle, take a +dozen men from your troop and follow it up." + +"Very good, sir," replied the lieutenant. + +"Have you brought your signal-code with you? All right! If you discover +anything startling, send a courier to me with the fullest details. I +will follow along after the main body. Be cautious, but at the same time +keep moving, for we ought to be within striking distance of those +rascals in a few hours more." + +The lieutenant saluted and rode back to the column, drawing his sword +as he went. Dropping the weapon behind the third column of fours, he +gave the order. "The first three fours, right by twos--march! Column +left--march!" + +This brought the selected twelve alongside the new trail, which they at +once began to follow up at a gallop, waving their caps to their comrades +as they rode away. By selecting his men in this way the lieutenant did +not happen to take Bob Owens, who rode farther back in the column. The +young soldier, who was not in the habit of being slighted when there was +anything of this kind going on, was both surprised and provoked at his +officer; but he afterward thanked him for choosing his men as he did, +and congratulated himself on having been left behind. Mr. Wentworth +gazed longingly after the lieutenant, and sometimes seemed on the point +of riding in pursuit of him; but he finally made up his mind to stay +with the main column. + +The troopers presently resumed the march, keeping up the same rapid pace +as before, and in a few minutes lost sight of Lieutenant Earle and his +party, who disappeared among the sandhills. The latter must have ridden +very swiftly, for shortly after noon they were a long distance from the +main body, their position being pointed out by a slender column of +white smoke that suddenly arose in the air. + +"That's them varmints, cap," said the scout, whose eye was quick to +detect the signal. "They're talkin' to each other." + +"I know there is somebody where that smoke comes from, but I am not sure +that they are hostiles," replied Captain Clinton. "On the contrary, I am +of the opinion that the men who built that fire want to talk to _me_. At +any rate, I shall soon know." + +As the captain said this he pulled his watch from his pocket with one +hand, and with the other produced a note-book, which he held ready for +reference. The column was not halted, but the eye of every man in it was +fastened upon the distant smoke. When it had ascended to such a height +that its top seemed lost in the clouds, it was suddenly cut loose from +the ground by some mysterious agency, and floated off into space. A few +seconds passed, and then two balloon-shaped clouds arose in quick +succession from the same spot, and George took note of the fact that +when the last one arose the captain looked at his watch. Another short +interval elapsed, and then two more clouds arose, and finally two more; +whereupon the captain gave his knee a ringing slap and consulted his +note-book. + +"I knew I couldn't be mistaken," said he. "That's from Earle, and he is +about to communicate with me by courier.--Push ahead now, scout, for he +is on a hot trail. Hallo! have you found another?" he added as the +scout, instead of obeying the order to "push ahead," suddenly drew up +his horse and threw himself from his saddle. "How many have gone off +this time?" + +"The same number," answered the scout, "an' they were goin' somewhar +too, for their ponies were movin' at full jump when they turned off +here. They're up to some trick or another, but I can't tell yet what it +is." + +"Then we must find out, for it is our business to look into these little +things. I should like to know where this trail leads to, and I want--Let +me see." + +The captain turned about and ran his eye over the column, which came to +a halt as soon as the commanding officer was seen to stop his horse. He +seemed to be in a quandary, out of which he was helped almost +immediately by the sight of a soldierly figure upon which his gaze +rested for a moment. + +"He's the man I want," said the captain aloud.--"Ackerman, will you tell +Lieutenant Smith, who is now in command of Earle's troop, that I want to +see Corporal Owens?" + +"Certainly, sir. May I go with him?" replied George, who knew in a +moment that there was something in the wind. + +The captain nodded assent, and George galloped back to the column. When +he returned Bob Owens rode at his side. The captain was writing--copying +something upon a piece of paper from his note-book--but he stopped long +enough to return Bob's salute, although he did not say anything to him. +Seeing that the officer's horse was growing restive at the delay, and +that by his constant pawing and tossing of his head he disturbed his +rider, who did his writing while seated in the saddle, Bob dismounted +and took the animal by the bridle, and the troopers who remained in +column seized the opportunity to fill and light their pipes. + +"There!" said the captain at length.--"Step up here, corporal, and I +will explain this to you.--Ackerman, tell Lieutenant Smith to pick out +twelve good men to follow this new trail." + +By the time the lieutenant had received and obeyed this order, Captain +Clinton, who was a fast talker, had told the corporal just what he +wanted him to do, and explained to him the contents of the paper he had +copied from his note-book; and Bob, who was quick to comprehend, had +caught and weighed all his words as fast as they were uttered. He then +put himself at the head of his men and led them away, George Ackerman +riding by his side. + +"Now we are off for another lark," exclaimed Carey as soon as he and his +companions had left the column out of hearing. By some chance, he and +Loring and Phillips had been selected to accompany Bob on every one of +his expeditions, and as they had never failed to accomplish the object +for which they were sent out, they began to think that there was nothing +too hard for them to undertake. + +"But this may not be so much of a 'lark' as you think," said Bob; and +Carey afterward recalled the words when he found himself debarred from +accompanying other scouting-parties on account of a painful wound in +his sword-arm. "We are not out after deserters now, but Indians." + +"What are you going to do with them if you find them?" asked Loring. + +"I shall make things as lively for them as I can," replied Bob. "But I +don't think I shall come up with them; and the captain doesn't expect me +to. He is going to follow every trail and force the Indians to go back +to their agency, whether they want to go or not; that is, unless we can +overhaul them before they get there." + +"I _know_ we are not out on a 'lark,'" said George Ackerman. "What would +you say if we had to go into camp to-night without water?" + +"Gracious!" exclaimed Phillips, looking around at the sandhills, which +now shut them in on all sides. "The prospect of finding a stream or a +spring is not very flattering, is it? I wish we could find one now, for +the water in my canteen is just ready to boil." + +"You had better be careful of it," said George, "for it is much better +than none at all." + +"Is there any water to be found in this country?" + +"Oh yes; and this trail will take us to it by the shortest route. An +Indian can't live without water any more than we can, and he knows just +where to find it." + +"Say, George," exclaimed Bob suddenly, "didn't I hear Mose say that when +the four horses that made this trail turned off the _big_ trail, they +were going at full speed?" + +George replied that he did say so. + +"How did he know it?" continued Bob. + +"By the looks of the tracks and the distance between them. When a horse +is walking his hind foot covers about half the print made by his fore +foot, and the tracks are from two and a half to three feet apart. When +the horse is trotting the tracks are not so distinct, the one made by +the fore foot being nearly covered up, and they are from seven to eight +feet apart. When he is running the print of only one foot can be seen, +as a general thing the ground about the tracks is considerably +disturbed, and they are from seven to twelve feet apart." + +If Carey and the rest of the squad did not learn to their entire +satisfaction that they were not out on a picnic this time, the horses on +which they were mounted certainly did, for before an hour had passed +they were very much in need of water--so much so that Bob brought them +down to a trot, and at last to a walk. At the end of another hour their +riders began to suffer in the same way, and it was not long before every +drop in their canteens, warm as it was, had disappeared. Whether it was +the parched appearance of things around them; or the effects of the +wind, which came into their faces as hot as a blast from a furnace; or +the reflection of the sun's rays from the sandhills around them; or the +sand itself, which arose in the air when disturbed by their horses' +hoofs, and settled in their mouths and nostrils,--whether it was one or +all of these causes combined that made them so very thirsty they did not +think to inquire, but certain it was that they would have welcomed the +discovery of a water-course more heartily now than at any other time +during their march. Just how long this state of affairs was to continue +they did not know, for there was not one among them who could tell +whether water was five or twenty miles off. The only thing they could do +was to follow the trail and await the issue of events with all the +patience they could command. + +After they had been separated from the main column for about three +hours, two incidents happened which served to relieve the monotony of +the march, and caused them, for the time being, to forget how +uncomfortably hot and dusty and thirsty they were. As they were riding +silently along behind George Ackerman, whose fast-walking nag had +carried him some distance in advance of the squad, they saw him draw +rein all of a sudden and raise his hand with a warning gesture. Then he +backed his horse under cover of a convenient sandhill, and pulling his +field-glass from the case he carried slung over his shoulder, he +levelled it at some object that had attracted his attention, but which +could not be seen by the troopers. + +Bob at once ordered a halt, and rode forward to inquire into the matter. +When he reached George's side he found himself on the outskirts of a +sort of basin in the plain, which looked as though it might have been +scooped out by the wind. It was covered with sand, and dotted here and +there with little bunches of yellow grass and weeds. On the opposite +side of this basin, which was perhaps a mile and a half wide, was a +single horseman, who was riding toward them at a rapid pace. + +"I couldn't make out, at that distance, whether he was a friend or foe, +so I thought it best to warn you," said George. + +"That was all right, of course. Can you make him out with your glass?" + +"Very plainly. He's a soldier--one of Lieutenant Earle's men, probably." + +"That's just who he is," exclaimed Bob after he had taken a look at the +horseman through the field-glass. "I know him. That signal-smoke we saw +just before we left the column was sent up to inform the captain that +Earle had despatched a courier to him with some important news, and now +we will find out what it is.--Come on, fellows," he added, waving his +hand to the squad; "it is one of our own company, boys." + +Bob and his companion rode out in plain view, and a few seconds later +the troopers joined them. Their sudden appearance must have astonished +the approaching courier, and perhaps alarmed him too, for he pulled up +his horse with a jerk, and, shading his eyes with his hand, gazed at +them long and earnestly. They waved their caps to reassure him, and in a +few minutes he came up. The first words he uttered showed that he had +already had quite enough of scouting in the Staked Plains. + +"Did anybody ever see so dreary a hole as this?" said he as he lifted +his cap and drew his handkerchief across his forehead--"nothing but +sandhills as far as you can see, and one looks so much like another that +a fellow don't know how to shape a course. It must be just fearful in +here when the wind blows.--I say, corporal, where am I? and what are you +doing out here?" + +"I can't answer your first question, for I don't know myself," answered +Bob. "I was sent out to follow a new trail we found just after you sent +up that smoke. What was the meaning of it?--Carey, climb up to the top +of that sandhill and tell us if you can see anything." + +"Lieutenant Earle sent up that smoke to let the captain know that he was +about to send him some news," replied the horseman; "and I don't see why +the captain didn't send up a reply, for I don't know where to find him." + +"I will point out his position as near as I can before you leave us," +said Bob. "Is that news of any importance?" + +"I should say it was," exclaimed the courier. "We've struck it hot, I +tell you. On the banks of a little stream we found somewhere off in that +direction--" + +"Look here, Aleck!" exclaimed Loring; "I thought that canteen of yours +looked as though it had been dipped in water not so _very_ long ago. Why +don't you pass it around? We haven't got a drop left." + +"Is that so?" said the courier, who promptly unslung his canteen. "You +are welcome to it, but touch it easy, so that everybody can have a +taste, and don't forget to save some for Carey.--As I was saying, on the +banks of that stream the scout discovered the tracks of little boots." + +The troopers all uttered exclamations when they heard this, and Loring +was so anxious to hear more that he forgot he was thirsty, and after +holding the canteen in his hand for a moment passed it to a comrade +without tasting of its contents. + +"Mr. Wentworth acted as though he thought he ought to go with Lieutenant +Earle's squad, and when he hears that he will be sorry that he stayed +behind," observed Bob. + +"Won't he, though!" said the courier. + +"I suppose there is no doubt that the tracks were made by his boys?" +said George. + +"None whatever. How could there be? The Indians have no other prisoners +with them." + +"They have none that we know of," said George. "But as they visited +other ranches, they may have taken other boys captive." + +"How do you know that they did visit other ranches?" demanded the +courier. "Mr. Wentworth didn't say anything about it in my hearing." + +"Nor in mine, either," replied George. "But he did say in my hearing +that he had lost not more than half a dozen horses, and the trail shows +that they have more than fifty with them." + +"Well," said the courier, looking down at the horn of his saddle in a +brown study, "if that's the case, the Indians may have--No, they didn't, +either," he added, brightening. "Mr. Wentworth told the colonel, in +Lieutenant Earle's hearing, that the Indians jumped down on his ranche +just after he had finished mending his oldest boy's boots. He put a +patch on each one of them just under the ball of the foot, and those +patches showed in the tracks." + +"Ah!" exclaimed George, "that will pass for evidence." + +"At any rate," continued the courier, "I was ordered to tell the captain +that we were on the trail of the party who had the children. That's all +the news I have, I believe.--What shall I tell the captain for you, +corporal?" + +"Say to him that you found me following up my trail as fast as the +condition of my horses would permit," answered Bob. "It is as plain as +daylight, and if I could only get some water now and then, I could +follow it at a gallop.--What is it, Carey?" + +"A smoke away off to the south-east," replied the soldier, who was lying +flat on the top of the nearest sandhill. + +Bob at once dismounted and made his way up the hill, followed by George +and the courier. They did not expose their full height to view, but +crept up on their hands and knees, and when they reached the top pulled +off their caps before they looked over it. They knew that Indians, when +they are retreating, always leave some of their number to watch the +trail, and they adopted these precautions in order to avoid discovery by +these rear-guards should there chance to be any in the neighborhood. The +reflection of the sun's rays from the brass ornaments on their caps +would have been seen by a watchful Indian at an almost incredible +distance. + +"I see the smoke," said Bob, pulling from his pocket the paper which +Captain Clinton had given him--"Where is your watch, George? Now look +for the signal." + +The smoke, like the one Lieutenant Earle had sent up a few hours before, +ascended in a straight, slender column for a few seconds, and then +floated away out of sight. A few seconds later three little columns, +shaped like the clouds which are thrown out by the discharge of a +cannon, arose in the air in quick succession, followed after a little +delay by three others. Bob waited and watched, but as no more clouds +appeared, he knew that the signal had been made. The next thing was to +find out what it meant. + +"George," said he, "after those first three smokes appeared how long was +it before the others were seen?" + +"Just thirty seconds," replied the time-keeper. + +Bob ran his eye over the paper he held in his hand, and presently found +the following, which he read aloud: "Three smokes, followed at the +interval of half a minute by three others, are intended to point out the +position of the signalling-party."--"There you are!" said he, turning to +the courier. "Fix in your mind the place from which that smoke arose, +and then travel a little to the north of it, so as to allow for the +captain's progress, and you will find him." + +"How far away was that smoke?" asked the courier as he and his +companions crept back down the hill. + +"Fifteen miles," replied George. + +"Whew! Well, I'll get there if I can. Who's got my canteen? Why, you +have left some in it!" he added as one of the squad handed him the +article in question. "Don't any of you want another taste?" + +Yes, there were plenty there who could have drained the canteen to the +last drop and then called for more, but knowing that the courier would +have need of it before he had galloped fifteen miles under that broiling +sun with the hot wind blowing upon him, they all declared that they had +had enough. + +After Carey and Loring had moistened their parched lips the courier +sprang upon his horse and waved his farewell, while Bob and his men, +feeling somewhat refreshed, took up the trail again and followed it at a +trot. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ANOTHER FEATHER FOR BOB'S CAP. + + +The second diversion of which we have spoken occurred about an hour +after Lieutenant Earle's courier left them. It was nothing more nor less +than the discovery of the fact that the party of whom they were in +pursuit had been joined by another warrior, whose pony's tracks came +from the direction in which the lieutenant was supposed to be scouting. +Bob and his men did not seem to attach much importance to this, but +George did. He looked the ground over very carefully, and reached +conclusions that astonished himself. + +"Bob Owens," said he in a low tone as they resumed the march, "you've +got another chance to put a feather in your hat--a big one, too. +Lieutenant Earle will never rescue Mr. Wentworth's boys, but you can if +you're smart." + +Bob, who always listened in the greatest amazement (and with some +incredulity, too, it must be confessed) to his friend's predictions, +could only look the surprise he felt. How any one, by simply looking at +a pony's track, could tell what a party of men whom he had never seen +were going to do, he could not understand. + +"To begin with," continued George, "our Indians expected to have an +addition made to their party, and they expected also that it would be +made just where it _was_ made. How do I know that? By the looks of +things. The ponies were all huddled together in one place, and they must +have stood there a good while, judging by the stamping they did. Their +riders must have dismounted there, for I saw the prints of their +moccasins in the sand. I noticed also that the side of the nearest +sandhill had been disturbed, and that told me that one of their number +had climbed up there to watch for the expected warrior." + +"Perhaps he was watching for us," suggested Bob. + +"If he was, he wouldn't have watched for us with his feet, would he?" +demanded George. + +"'With his feet'?" echoed Bob. + +"Yes. He would have been more likely to watch for us with his eyes." + +"How do you know that he didn't?" + +"Because he climbed up on our side of the hill, and that would have +exposed his whole body to our view if we had been anywhere within sight +of him. His eyes were turned the other way; that is, in Lieutenant +Earle's direction. He wasn't afraid of being seen by us, but he took all +due precautions to conceal himself from the gaze of any one who might +happen to come that way from Lieutenant Earle's command; for near the +place where the ponies were standing I saw the tufts of grass he had +pulled up to tie around his head." + +"Well, I am beat!" exclaimed Bob. + +"What beats you?" + +"You do: I didn't see any of those things." + +"Probably you didn't, for the reason that you didn't look for them. You +see, I have passed a good many years on the Plains, and I have learned +that eternal vigilance is the price of a cowboy's life and liberty. When +his scalp depends upon the correct reading of such signs as those which +I have just described to you, he is not often caught napping. My long +association with Zeke, whose eyes seemed to be everywhere, has got me +into the habit of keeping my own eyes open. Probably there were other +things there that would have been perfectly plain to Zeke or Mountain +Mose which I didn't see. + +"Now, of course I don't _know_ that this new warrior brought Mr. +Wentworth's children with him when he came over to join our Indians, but +everything seems to point that way. One of the proofs--and the +strongest, in my humble opinion--is found in the fact that the Indians +allowed their captives to dismount on the banks of that stream the +courier told us of. I am inclined to believe that they went farther than +that, and compelled the boys to walk in the mud and leave their tracks +there." + +"I don't see why they did that," observed Bob. "I should think they +would want to keep everybody from knowing where the boys were." + +"So they would if they had intended to keep the boys with them, but they +did not. This is their plan, as near as I can get at it; and in order to +make my explanation clearer I will call the party of which Lieutenant +Earle is in pursuit No. 1, that which we want to find No. 2, and that +the captain is following up No. 3. The warriors in No. 1 are doubtless +the best mounted of all the raiders. When they separated from the main +body they left a broad trail, so that they could be easily followed, +taking the children with them, and leaving now and then a sign of their +presence, for no other purpose than to coax the captain to follow them +with his whole force. As soon as they reached a piece of rocky ground, +where a pony's feet would leave no track, one of their number picked up +the boys and brought them over here, where party No. 2 was waiting for +him. Those he left behind will show themselves to Lieutenant Earle +occasionally, and perhaps open a little fight with him, just to induce +him to continue the pursuit. Party No. 3 will drive the stock ahead as +fast as possible, and get away with it if they can; but if they find +that they are likely to be overtaken, they will drop the cattle and do +everything they can to keep the captain on their trail, so as to give +party No. 2 a chance to escape with the prisoners. Now, that's a long +story, and no doubt it is a hard one to believe; but I don't think I am +far from right when I tell you that it is quite in your power to carry +off the honors of this expedition. Captain Clinton will have his hands +full until he recovers that stock; so will Lieutenant Earle as long as +he follows those will-o'-the-wisps in front of him; and to you will be +left the duty, as well as the privilege, of looking out for the safety +of Mr. Wentworth's little boys." + +"Whew!" panted Bob, who was very much impressed, although not wholly +convinced, by his companion's clear and forcible reasoning. "Then I am +the chief man in this scout, am I? Suppose--I say, just _suppose_--I +should be lucky enough to rescue those boys alive and unharmed, what +would the fellows say? What would Mr. Wentworth say?" + +"The boys would cheer you, and you would win Mr. Wentworth's everlasting +gratitude," replied George. "But, Bob, the prisoners have not been +rescued yet, and I warn you that unless you are as sly as a fox you will +be the means of their death. If the Indians discover you, and find +themselves unable to escape, their very first act will be to kill those +boys." + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Bob, dropping his reins upon the horn of his +saddle and pulling off his cap with one hand while he scratched his head +vigorously with the other. "_Good_ gracious! The captain never thought +of that when he sent me off with this squad, did he? George, the +responsibility is too heavy for me. I think I'll ask the captain where +he is, and then go and report to him." + +"That wouldn't be a very smart trick," protested George. "You would not +only be taken to task for wasting valuable time, but the Indians, seeing +a smoke that they couldn't understand arise on their trail, would take +the alarm at once, and you would lose a fine chance of distinguishing +yourself." + +"Don't you suppose they saw the smoke that Lieutenant Earle sent up?" + +"Of course they did--the captain's too. Those same smokes were a good +thing for us, for I am of the opinion that they threw our party off +their guard by leading them to believe they are not pursued. You mustn't +send up a smoke along this trail if you want to catch those Indians. +What are your orders, anyhow?" + +"To follow the trail until I am recalled or until the Indians throw me +off entirely," replied Bob. + +"Then don't you see that you would be disobeying orders by marching your +squad back to the column without a recall?" asked George. "You would +surely get yourself into trouble by doing that, and besides, you would +be hauled over the coals for not taking better care of your men and +horses. They couldn't stand twenty miles more to-night without a rest, +and how much of a rest could they get here in this oven, with no grass +or water? Don't do it, Bob." + +"But the prisoners--just think of the prisoners!" exclaimed the +perplexed corporal. "I don't want to feel that I am responsible for any +harm that may befall them." + +"I don't see how you are going to shirk it." + +"Well, will you take command?" + +"Certainly not," answered George quickly. "Don't confess your incapacity +by surrendering your authority. Besides, a scout never commands--he only +advises; and I will help you in that way all I can. Go on, and say that +you will do your best." + +"I will," said Bob, slamming his cap upon his head and seating himself +firmly in his saddle. "If we can only place ourselves in a position to +cover those boys, the Indians will not have a chance to touch them, I'll +bet you. My men are all good marksmen." + +"And I am a tolerable one myself," said George. "A single hair of those +boys' heads is worth the lives of all the Indians that ever saw the +Staked Plains, and if it becomes necessary to shoot in their defence, I +am ready. There is a high sandhill, and if you will stop here for a few +minutes I will go up and see if I can discover anything." + +Bob raised his hand to halt the squad, and George swung himself out of +his saddle. His first care was to lay aside his cap and rifle, and his +next to pull up a quantity of grass and weeds to be used as a screen. +With these in one hand and his field-glass in the other he crept slowly +to the top of the sandhill, and, holding the screen a few inches above +the ground, he pushed his field-glass under it and looked around. + +"Aha!" was his mental exclamation, "I shall have good news to carry back +to the boys. There's a deep gully about five miles off, and there must +be a stream of water running through it, or else those willows would not +be growing there. I wish we had got here an hour earlier, for then I +should have had daylight to aid me in making my observations. The +Indians probably halted in that gully a few hours ago, and the question +to be decided now is--Hallo! If that isn't smoke rising among those +trees, what is it? And didn't that little cluster of bushes over there +on the top of that hill shift its position just now?" + +George's heart beat wildly as he propounded these inquiries to himself. +He took another long look, and then with a very slow and gradual motion +he deposited his screen upon the sand and backed down to the plain. His +stealthy movements told the troopers that he had seen something. + +"Corporal," said he as they rode up to him, "before you ask any +questions let me suggest that you order your men to remove their sabres +as quietly as possibly." + +Bob quickly unhooked his own sabre from his belt, and looked at his men, +who made all haste to follow his example. They knew that there could be +but one reason for this order. A steel scabbard hanging by the side of a +careless rider will strike against his spurs with every step his horse +takes, or rattle against his leg as the trooper walks about, giving out +a clear ringing sound that will betray his presence to foes far less +watchful and sharp-eared than Indians. + +"So we have run them into their holes, have we?" said Bob when he had +acted upon George's suggestion. + +"That remains to be seen. They are camped about five miles from here, +and one of their lookouts is watching the trail." + +The troopers looked at Bob as if to ask what he was going to do about +it, and Bob, who had as little idea of the orders he ought to give under +the circumstances as he had of the Greek language, looked at George. The +latter did not say anything, for he wanted the troopers to hold fast to +their belief that the corporal was able to act for himself in any and +every emergency; but he gave his friend a look that was plainly +understood. + +"Dismount," commanded Bob; "we'll rest here until we can determine upon +something. Let every man keep fast hold of his horse, for a neigh from +one of them would make dough of our cake in a little less than no time. +Eat and whisper as much as you please, but--" + +"Don't smoke," put in George. + +"Oh, Moses!" ejaculated the troopers in subdued tones. + +"An Indian will smell smoke from a pipe or a camp-fire a long distance," +added George. + +"Then keep your pipes in your pockets, where they can't do any +mischief," said Bob.--"George, I'd like to take a look at that camp." + +George at once led the way up the hill, but when he neared the top he +said in a whisper, + +"Perhaps you had better trust to my eyes instead of your own; not but +that you can see as far as I can, but you might be a little careless in +handling that screen, and the least false motion on your part would be +seen by that lookout, whose eyes are as good as a telescope." + +"All right!" replied Bob, who wondered what he should have done if +George had not been there to advise him. "What shall we do?" + +"Let me take another look, and then I will talk to you." + +So saying, George crept back to the top of the hill and looked under his +screen as before. It was rapidly growing dark, but he could see that the +sentry still kept his position, and that the camp-fire was burning +brightly. + +"They do not stand in the least fear of pursuit," said he as he backed +down to Bob's side, "but they have taken measures to prevent surprise, +as they always do when they are on the war-path." + +"How long do you suppose that sentry will stay there?" + +"Just as long as his friends stay in the gully. I do not mean by that +that this particular Indian will act as lookout all the time, but that +some member of the party will be constantly on the watch." + +The first thing to be done was to decide upon a plan of operations, and +this took a good deal of hard thinking, for there was a good deal +depending upon it. George made the most of the suggestions, and Bob +accepted every one of them without argument. The camp was to be attacked +as soon as they could get within reach of it: both were agreed upon +that. Bob advised a surround, in order to prevent the escape of any of +the Indians; but George objected, urging as a reason for his objections +that no one but an Indian could work his way through those thick bushes +and trees without making a good deal of noise, and that would knock the +whole thing in the head. + +"Don't be too ambitious," said he. "Don't try to grab too big a handful, +and so run the risk of losing everything. Keep your men near you, so +that you can have an eye on every one of them. Look out for the boys; +and if by so doing you give the Indians a chance to escape, as you will +most likely, let them go and welcome." + +An immediate advance having been resolved upon, and the part that each +man was to play in the coming fight (provided the Indians decided to +make a fight of it) having been thoroughly discussed, Bob and his +companion returned to the place where they had left the troopers. The +former issued his orders in a few brief words, and in a very short space +of time eight barefooted men, armed only with their carbines and +revolvers, were drawn up in line ready to do his further bidding; while +the four troopers who were to be left behind to hold the horses and to +take care of the sabres, shoes and stockings which their lucky comrades +had thrown upon the ground, listened with as good grace as they could to +a few parting words from their corporal. + +"Now, boys," said the latter, "keep quiet and don't smoke. We have been +following the trail of only five Indians, but we don't know how many may +have joined them since they went into camp; so you must hold yourselves +in readiness for any emergency. Keep a good lookout for the signal, and +if you don't see it by the time the moon rises, which will be about +midnight, take care of yourselves. Draw as straight a course for the +column as you can, and tell the boys, when you find them, that the reds +got the best of us while we were trying to do our duty. Good-bye.--Lead +on, George." + +Although our hero had passed his life amid scenes of danger, and more +than once listened to the sound of hostile bullets (that was during the +"neighborhood row" of which we have spoken in the first volume of this +series), he had never before taken part in a scout after Indians, and it +may be readily imagined that Bob's parting words did not serve to +encourage him in any great degree. Bob seemed to think that there was a +possibility that their attempted surprise might end in utter defeat. The +bare thought was enough to make George's hair stand on end, but it did +not make him lose any of the sympathy he felt for the boy-captives or +falter in his resolve to do all he could toward effecting their release. +In obedience to Bob's order to "lead on" he raised his rifle to his +shoulder and glided off into the darkness, the troopers following in +single file. Before he had marched half a mile Bob hurried up and placed +himself by his side. + +"Say, George," he whispered, "you are not going toward the camp. If you +follow this course, you will miss it by half a mile or more." + +"I don't want to go toward the camp," was the reply. "We must circle +around so as to come up in the rear of that sentry, who, as I told you, +will stay on the top of that hill as long as his friends stay in the +gully." + +"Do you think we can capture him without alarming the others?" + +"We are not going to try; at least, I sha'n't advise it. If we can save +the boys, we ought to be satisfied. That sentry will dig out as soon as +he scents danger, and all we can do is to let him go." + +"How awful still it is, and how fearful dark!" continued Bob. "I hope +you won't get confused and miss your way." + +"There is no danger of that," replied George confidently. "I can see the +stars, and they are as good as a compass to me. I have often travelled +by them, and they have never fooled me yet." + +"Where are the wolves, I wonder?" said Bob, who was so impatient and so +highly excited that he could not long hold his peace. "They keep up +their unearthly howls every night when we wish them a thousand miles +away, but now, when a yelp from one of them would be a relief, they +don't put in an appearance." + +"And I am glad of it," said George. "Don't you know that a pack of +wolves are the best sentries a camping-party can have?" + +Yes, Bob said he was aware of that fact. + +"Well," continued George, "don't you see that the little breeze there is +stirring is blowing from us toward the camp? If there were any wolves +around, they would probably be on the other side of the gully, for it +would be a waste of time for them to prowl around here among these +sandhills, where they couldn't find even a rabbit to eat. The moment +they caught our wind they would scamper off, and then 'Good-bye, +prisoners.' I wish I knew where those Indians have staked out their +ponies, for I stand more in fear of them than I do of that sentry. If we +should get to windward of them, they would kick up a rumpus directly." + +The longer Bob talked with George the more clearly the difficulties +attending his undertaking seemed to stand but before him, and the +greater grew his anxiety and impatience. If his attempt to surprise the +Indian camp failed, there was no telling when Mr. Wentworth's boys +would be heard of again. If it suited their captors to spare their +lives, they would doubtless be sold to some band who lived at a great +distance from the agency, and who would take the greatest pains to keep +their existence a profound secret. If they were ever given up at all, it +would only be after that particular band had been soundly thrashed for +some outrage, and then they would be brought forward as an element in +the "peace negotiations," their captors demanding a heavy ransom and +taking great credit to themselves for surrendering them. But this might +not happen for years, and during that time a great many things might +happen to the boys. They might become so completely broken down by cruel +treatment that their death would be a blessing, or else so thoroughly +infatuated with the Indian mode of life that, if left to themselves, +they would choose to go back to the wigwams of their savage masters +rather than return to the home of their father. + +"It's now or never," said Bob to himself after he had thought the matter +over. "I don't wonder that Mr. Wentworth feels so spiteful, for if these +Indians are not killed during this scout, they will never be punished +for what they have done to him. The government is too tender-hearted to +touch them, and if Mr. Wentworth takes the law into his own hands, he +will be sure to suffer for it. They will go back to their agency to grow +fat on government grub and be kept warm in winter by government +blankets; and their agent, in order to prevent an investigation that +might take a few dollars out of his pocket, will be ready to swear that +they have never been off their reservation. I wonder how he would feel +if he saw his own children carried into captivity?" + +For two long hours the weary troopers continued the march, stopping for +rest only when Bob and George climbed some sandhill to reconnoitre the +ground before them. The deep silence that brooded over the Staked Plains +was almost oppressive. The bare feet of the troopers gave out no sound +as they sank into the yielding sand, and all that could be heard was +their labored breathing as they walked behind their leader, trusting +implicitly to his guidance. They never uttered a word, but Bob's +impatience and nervousness would have kept his tongue in constant motion +had it not been for George, who gave him an energetic prod in the ribs +whenever he showed a disposition to become colloquial. He felt that he +must do something pretty soon or sink under his burden of +responsibility, which seemed to grow heavier the longer he walked; +consequently, when George stopped all of a sudden and silently pointed +his finger at a dense wall of trees that ran across their path, his +delight knew no bounds. The ravine in which the Indians were encamped +was close in front of them. The murmuring of the waterfall which came up +from its wooded depths was a pleasant sound to his ears, but he and his +troopers had much to do before they could quench their thirst at that +rippling stream. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HE WINS IT FAIRLY. + + +As it was not necessary to waste any precious time in giving verbal +orders, a complete code of signals having been decided upon before they +left their horses, George at once threw himself upon his hands and +knees, and worked his way along the edge of the bluff until he reached a +position directly above the camp, the location of which was pointed out +by a little blaze, scarcely larger, apparently, than the flame of a +candle. He looked in vain for the sentry, and would have given something +handsome if there had been some one at hand to tell him just where he +was. + +"If he still holds his position on the top of that sandhill, we are all +right," said George to himself, "but if he has taken the alarm, we are +all wrong. In that case the Indians have done one of two things: they +have either made ready to ambush us, or else they have fled, taking +their prisoners with them. Well, we shall soon know, for here goes for +the fight that none of us may ever come out of alive." + +As these thoughts passed through George's mind he seized Bob's +waist-belt and gave it two jerks, which meant "Follow me." Then he crept +back along the line, and as he passed each trooper he took him by the +arm and pulled him around, so that his head pointed toward the +camp-fire. This meant a movement by the right flank. After this he and +Bob placed themselves in the centre of the line, the men giving way +right and left to make room for them, and at a given signal Bob stuck +his elbow into the ribs of the trooper to the left of him, while George +in a similar manner admonished the one on the right of himself; and the +advance began, the guide being centre. We mean by this that the men on +Bob's left kept themselves in their proper place in line by touching the +shoulder of the man next on their right, while those on George's right +hand kept within easy reach of the men next on their left, each member +of the line moving no whit slower or faster than the guides in the +centre, Bob and George. If _they_ stopped and listened and tried to +peer through the bushes in front of them to obtain a view of the camp, +the whole line stopped and listened and peered. When the guides advanced +the troopers did the same, their movements being conducted without a +whisper, and with such extreme caution that scarcely a leaf was heard to +rustle. It took them almost an hour to descend the bluff, which was +probably not more than a hundred feet in height, but the sight that +greeted them when the final halt was made more than repaid them for all +their toil. They had crept up within less than a dozen yards of the +fire, and the camp and all its inmates were in plain view of them. + +Their first care was to find the boys, and the next to ascertain the +number and position of their adversaries. The boys were there, lying +side by side on a bed of leaves, with their arms thrown around each +other, and wrapped in slumber as peaceful, apparently, as ever came to +their eyes while they were safe under their father's roof. Every one of +the troopers shut his lips tightly at the sight of them, and half a +dozen cocked carbines were pointed over their unconscious heads, ready +to send to kingdom-come the first thing in the shape of a Kiowa that +dared approach them. They were not protected in any way from the night +air save by the branches of the trees which waved gently above them, +while every one of the four Indians who were lying around them was +wrapped up head and ears in a quilt or blanket which he had stolen +during the raid. + +One sweeping glance was enough to enable Bob and George to take in all +these little details, and it is scarcely necessary to say that they were +highly elated over the promise of success which the situation seemed to +hold out to them. Bob would have been a little better satisfied if he +could have seen any way of taking the Indians alive, and so making a +"finished job of it," as he afterward told his friend George; but, +knowing that this was entirely beyond his power, he was about to give +the signal to advance when a most unexpected interruption occurred. They +heard the snapping of twigs behind them, accompanied by a slight +rustling among the leaves, such as might be made by some heavy body +working its way cautiously through the thick undergrowth. The astonished +troopers hugged the ground closely, holding their breath in suspense; +and in a second more, without a single footstep being audible, the +bushes parted and the form of an Indian warrior could be dimly seen +through the darkness. + +"Beyond a doubt it is the sentry coming in to call his relief," thought +Bob. "_Now_, how am I going to act? Shall I let him go into the camp, or +not?" + +Without pausing an instant, the Indian, all unconscious of danger, +approached the line, and might have passed through it between Bob and +Carey without discovering anything to excite his suspicions, had not the +former, acting upon the impulse of the moment, made up his mind that he +would not go back to his comrades without at least one prisoner to +reward him for his long and tiresome scout. Throwing out his arm, he +caught the warrior around the legs and lifting him from the ground threw +him upon his back. He fell across Carey and Loring, both of whom turned +like lightning and seized him, one trying to secure his arms, so that he +could not draw a weapon, and the other taking him by the throat. +Everything was done quickly, but not quickly enough to shut off the wild +yell with which the captive Indian awoke the echoes of the gully. Seeing +that all further attempts at concealment were useless, Bob and George +jumped to their feet. + +"Forward with a cheer!" yelled the former. "Cover the boys, everybody." + +This last order was hardly necessary, for each individual member of the +squad had secretly resolved to do that very thing, leaving his +companions to act as they pleased. + +The Indians were wide awake and moving before their unlucky comrade's +yell had fairly left his lips. So quickly did they spring to their feet +that the troopers might have thought, if they had been allowed time to +think at all, that the savages had been merely keeping up an appearance +of sleep, so as to be ready to jump from their blankets at the very +first note of alarm. So well schooled were they, and so ready to act, +and to act quickly and intelligently in any emergency, that they did not +hesitate an instant. They did not even look to see from which way the +danger that threatened them was coming, but made a simultaneous rush for +their captives, intending, no doubt, to carry them away if they could, +or to kill them if they found themselves surrounded so that they could +not escape. But no Indian's hand touched those boys again that night. +Three of them fell dead before they had fairly left their tracks, and +the other, taking warning by their fate, dived into the bushes in much +the same way that a boy takes a "header" from a log, and got safely off, +in spite of the bullets which whistled about his ears and scattered the +leaves all over him. The troopers knew that he had got off unhurt, +because there was no blood on the trail which George took up the next +morning and followed to the place where the Indians had left their +horses--a little glade about a quarter of a mile from the camp in which +grass was abundant and water easy of access. + +George at once made his way to the side of the captives, who were +sitting up on their bed of leaves, rubbing their eyes and looking about +in a bewildered sort of way, and throwing his arm around them spoke +soothing and encouraging words in their ears; while Bob, after ordering +one of his men to mend the fire, seized a brand from it and ran back to +see what had become of Carey and Loring. The fight was over, and Carey +was growling lustily over a wound in his arm which the slippery savage +had inflicted upon him, having managed in some mysterious way to gain +momentary possession of his knife; but Loring was unharmed and the +Indian was insensible. He had been knocked out of time by a vicious +whack from the butt of a carbine held in the hands of the enraged Carey. +The blow was not, however, as effective as the trooper intended it +should be, for it had expended a good deal of its power upon the bushes +which happened to be in the way, and instead of sending the Indian out +of the world altogether, it had only stunned him. He was powerless now. +His hands were securely confined by Loring's carbine-sling, and the +latter, having passed the Indian's blanket under his arms and brought +the ends together behind his back, was ready to drag his captive into +camp. + +"I am no slouch--there isn't a boy in the troop, young or old, who can +take my measure on the ground--but if this fellow gave us a fair +specimen of an Indian's way of rough-and-tumble fighting, I don't want +to get hold of any more Indians.--He was a hard one, wasn't he?" said +Loring, appealing to his wounded comrade, who grunted out an emphatic +assent. "He didn't seem to be so very strong, but he was just a trifle +quicker than chain-lightning, and as slippery and wiry as--as--Why, an +eel isn't nowhere alongside of him." + +"I wish I had whacked him over the head before he gave me this prod," +said Carey, shaking his fist at the unconscious object of his wrath. +"It's my sword-arm too, and I'll just bet that the doctor won't let me +go on another scout for a month." + +With Bob's aid the Indian was dragged into camp, and thrown down there +as if he had been a sack of corn. The fire was burning brightly (an +Indian builds a small fire and gets close to it, while a white man +builds a big one and backs away from it), the bodies of the slain +warriors had been dragged into the bushes out of sight, and their +weapons, saddles and bridles, which the troopers intended to carry back +to the fort with them as trophies of their prowess, had been collected +and deposited in a safe place. + +George had been devoting himself to the boys, who did not seem to be at +all afraid, and were by no means so excited as he was. Their astonishing +courage called forth the unbounded admiration of the troopers, and the +pert answers they gave to the questions that were asked them made them +smile. + +"Say, Bob, if you want to see what Texas boys are made of, come here," +said George. "The older one answers to the name of Sheldon, and the +little fellow is Tommy. Sheldon says that if his brother had been a +little older and stronger the Indians never would have taken them to +their village, for they would have killed them and made their escape." + +"Humph!" grunted Carey, whose wound seemed to put him in very bad humor. + +"What makes you say that?" demanded Bob, turning upon him somewhat +sharply. "Don't you know that such things have been done before now?" + +"By boys?" asked Carey. + +"Yes, by boys," replied Bob. + +"No, I don't know it," said the wounded trooper. + +"It's a matter of history, any way," said George. "Two brothers, John +and Henry Johnson, aged respectively thirteen and eleven years of age, +were captured by two Delaware Indians on Short Creek, West Virginia, in +October, 1788. That very night they killed their captors by shooting one +and tomahawking the other." + +"Did they get away?" asked Sheldon eagerly. + +"Yes, sir, they got away. Now, I want to ask you a few questions--and, +Bob, I want you to pay attention to his replies.--Where have you been to +get so much mud on your boots?" + +"Why, back there in the plains we came to a little bayou, and the banks +of it was all muddy; and the Injins they pulled us off the ponies and +made us walk into all that there mud, and then they laughed at us +because we didn't like it," answered the boy; and his ludicrous display +of rage over the indignity that had been put upon himself and his +brother made the troopers smile again. + +"Go on," said George. "What did you do next?" + +"Well, they took us out of the mud after a while, the Injins did, and +then one of 'em he took us on a pony and rode off by himself until he +found this party; and we've been with them ever since." + +"What did I tell you?" exclaimed George, hitting Bob a back-handed slap +on the chest. "What do you think of my guessing now?" + +"I think you are pretty good at it," answered Bob. "And seeing you +_are_, I wish you would try your hand in a new line. Suppose you take a +couple of men with you, and all our canteens and coffee-pots, and guess +your way down the bluff to the stream, and bring us back a supply of +water? We'll have a good fire going by the time you return, and then +we'll boil a cup of coffee." + +"I'll do it," said George readily. + +"And while you are guessing, guess at the probable movements of that +Indian who got away," continued Bob. "Will he be likely to trouble us +to-night?" + +"He will not," was the confident reply. "Our party is too large. He will +make the best of his way home, you may depend upon it." + +While George and the two troopers whom Bob detailed to accompany him +were gone after the water, those who remained in camp were not idle. One +bound up Carey's wounded arm, another brought in a bountiful supply of +fire-wood, others stood guard, and one assisted the corporal in +collecting a quantity of leaves and light branches, and went out with +him to signal to the four men who had been left behind with the horses. +They readily found the hill which had served as a lookout-station for +the warrior who was now a captive in their hands; and they knew it when +they found it, for there was the pile of bushes through which he had +looked while watching the trail, and the print of his body in the sand. +A fire was speedily lighted on the summit, and kept burning brightly to +guide the absent troopers to the captured camp. That little beacon +shining through the darkness must have been a welcome sight to their +eyes, for it told of the complete success of their companions and of the +rest and water that were to be found where they were. + +When George returned to the camp after nearly half an hour's absence he +found the fire blazing cheerily, and the two rescued boys, who seemed +almost exhausted by their long journey, sleeping soundly beside it, +covered by a quilt which some kind-hearted trooper had thrown over their +shoulders. The troopers were laughing heartily but silently at Carey and +Loring, who seemed to bear their merriment with very bad grace. + +"What's the matter now?" inquired George as he distributed the canteens +among them and placed the coffee-pots beside the fire. + +"Come here and see for yourself," replied Loring, taking George by the +arm and leading him to the place where the captive Indian lay, all the +troopers following at his heels. + +"Me good Injun," grunted the prisoner, who seemed to have recovered his +senses. + +"So I perceive," replied George. "Good Indians steal stock and carry off +white boys, don't they?--But I don't see anything about him to laugh +at." + +"Why, he's nothing but a kid," exclaimed Phillips, "and yet Carey and +Loring are both willing to confess that it was all they could do to +handle him. They told us a wonderful story about the terrible fight they +had before they could tie him, and so we took a look at him, expecting +to find him a giant; but instead of that--Well, you can see that he's +only a papoose." + +George looked down at the boyish face and slender figure of the young +warrior, then at the two grizzly old veterans who had fought so hard to +capture him, and felt more than half inclined to laugh himself. Either +one of them could have strangled him with a finger and a thumb if he +could have got hold of him; but getting a good hold was the trouble. An +Indian makes up in suppleness and activity what he lacks in strength, +and it takes a good man to handle one. Of course the troopers were sorry +for their wounded comrade, but they had "got a joke" on him, and it was +a long time before he heard the last of it. + +The men who had been left to take care of the horses arrived in about an +hour, and then George had another disagreeable task to perform, which +was to pilot the animals down to the water and find a feeding-ground for +them. Being entirely unacquainted with the gully and surrounding +country, it took him a long time to do this; but he accomplished it at +last, in spite of the darkness, and about one o'clock in the morning he +was at liberty to go to his blanket. + +The troopers slept later than usual the next morning, for they were all +tired out; but Bob's loud call of "Catch up!" brought them to their feet +before the sun had risen high enough to send any of his rays into the +camp. As there was a good deal to be done and but little time to do it +in, four details were made, and certain duties assigned to each. The +first, which consisted solely of Loring, was ordered to dish up a cup of +coffee in a little less than no time; George and Phillips were +instructed to follow up the trail of the missing Indian and see where it +led to; Bob and a companion bent their steps toward the sandhill to +ascertain the whereabouts of the main body of the expedition; and the +others brought in the horses and gave them the grain that was left in +the saddle-pockets. + +Before ascending the hill Bob and his companion gathered each an armful +of dry grass and weeds. These were deposited upon the highest part of +the hill and lighted by a match which Bob struck on his coat-sleeve. As +soon as the blaze was fairly started, but before the whole pile was +ignited, Bob smothered it by throwing on more grass and weeds; and when +this was done a column of smoke that could be seen at the distance of +fifty miles began to rise in the air. + +"Now let me see," said Bob, pulling out the paper which Captain Clinton +had copied from his note-book when he started him on the trail. "I want +to say, 'Where are you, captain?' and how shall I say it?" + +He ran his eye down the page and finally found these instructions: + +"A detached party desiring to ascertain the position of the main body +will signal as follows: A long smoke of a minute's duration; three short +smokes, followed by half a minute's interval; two short smokes, with +half a minute's interval; one short smoke, followed immediately by a +long one. If the signal is observed, the reply will be the same. If no +reply is received in five minutes, repeat from some other and, if +possible, higher point, and so continue until an answering signal is +seen." + +As the reader may not quite understand this, we will tell just how Bob +made the signal. He allowed the column of smoke to ascend just one +minute by his watch, then took a blanket from his shoulder and with a +quick movement threw it over the smoldering pile, holding two of the +corners tight to the ground, while his companion held the opposite +corners. This, of course, confined the smoke so that no more arose. At +the end of half a minute he raised the blanket three times in quick +succession, and three balloon-shaped clouds floated off over the +sandhills. Waiting half a minute, he lifted the blanket twice, and two +more little clouds arose. At the end of another half a minute he +permitted a single cloud to escape, and then threw the blanket off +altogether; whereupon a long, slender column, like the one that arose +when the fire was first started, shot up into the air. Then Bob seated +himself on the ground and waited rather anxiously for a reply; but he +was not obliged to wait long. Before the five minutes had elapsed an +answering smoke was seen; and though it was a long distance off, the +atmosphere was so clear, and the white clouds showed so plainly against +the blue sky, that the signal could be plainly read. It was the same as +the one Bob had just sent up, and so he knew that it was intended for +him. + +This mode of signalling, which is usually called "telegraphing by +smokes," is in general use among the Plains Indians, and it was from +them that our army-officers serving on the border caught the idea. Of +course they have a system of their own, which is very different from +that of the Indians. The latter cannot read an army-signal, and neither +can the officers, with all their striving and scheming, gain a key that +will enable them to read the Indian code. It is as much of a mystery as +the manner in which a chief conducts a drill of his warriors or controls +them in battle without appearing to hold any communication with them. +Both these secrets are closely guarded, the Indians considering that it +would be "bad medicine" to reveal them to the white man. + +"Did you see the exact spot from which that smoke arose?" Bob asked of +his companion. + +"Yes," answered the trooper. + +"Then fix it in your mind, so that you can point it out to George +Ackerman. Now that our work is done we will go back to camp." + +Breakfast was soon despatched, and in less than half an hour the squad +was again on the move, three of the troopers, in order to accommodate +the rescued boys and the Indian captive, being obliged to "carry +double." Their route lay along the edge of the bluff, within easy reach +of water, only three halts being made--one for dinner, and two for the +purpose of sending up signals to Captain Clinton. As his replies, which +were promptly made, came from the same place, Bob became satisfied that +the captain was waiting for him. Of course this caused much speculation +among the troopers. Had the captain given up the pursuit, or had he +overtaken and scattered the thieves and recovered Mr. Wentworth's stock? +Bob was inclined to hold to the latter opinion. + +[Illustration: TELEGRAPHING BY SMOKE.] + +"The captain is a hard man to get away from when he once makes up his +mind for business," said he; "and I just know that he's got those +cattle, or the most of them. If he has, Mr. Wentworth is all right, for +we have got his boys. If your theory is correct--and I begin to believe +it is, for everything else has turned out just as you said it +would--Lieutenant Earle will come out at the little end of the horn, +won't he?" + +"Some officer almost always has to do that," answered George. "But the +lieutenant will have some honor reflected upon him, if he doesn't win +any for himself, for it was a portion of his own troop, commanded by one +of his own non-commissioned officers, who rescued the boys." + +About two hours before sunset the troopers began to call one another's +attention to the fact that the sandhills, among which they had been +marching all day long, were growing less in number and height, and to +congratulate themselves on drawing near to their journey's end. An hour +later they came to the last hill, and as they were riding by it a sentry +who had been stationed there presented himself to their view. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"THREE CHEERS FOR THE 'BRINDLES'!" + + +"Hallo, Buel!" exclaimed Bob, recognizing in the sentry one of his own +company boys, "you'll let us in, won't you?" + +"Well, I _am_ beat!" replied the man. "Corporal, you're a brick. Three +cheers for the 'Brindles'!" + +He stood in the "position of a soldier," with his carbine at a "carry," +and spoke in a low tone, for he knew that there were officers with +field-glasses not far away, and that he had no business to exchange +compliments with anybody after this fashion while he was on post. But +when he saw the captive Indian and Mr. Wentworth's boys he could not +restrain himself. + +"Bob, the boys ought to give you a benefit," he added. + +"We've got something to show for this scout, even if we are 'Brindles,' +haven't we?" said the corporal, holding himself very stiffly in his +saddle and looking straight before him, so as not to 'give the sentry +away.' "Have you beaten us any?" + +"Not by a great sight." + +"What have you done, anyway?" + +"We've got the most of the stock back, but nary red. Where's Lieutenant +Earle?" + +"Haven't seen him," answered Bob. + +"We haven't seen him either, nor have we heard from him since that +courier arrived." + +The troopers now found themselves on the border of a wide plain, whose +opposite side was bounded by a long line of willows, which fringed the +banks of a water-course. On the edge of the willows were gathered the +members of the main body, who, having been apprised by their sentinels +of the approach of Bob and his party, had assembled to see them come in. +Bob began to grow excited at once. He and his men had performed no +ordinary exploit, and so impatient was he to have his success known to +his comrades that he could not wait until he reached the camp to tell +his story. + +"You fellows who carry double, ride out there and square yourselves +around, so that they can see that we have not returned empty-handed," +commanded Bob, who forthwith proceeded to execute his own order by +placing the three men who "carried double" one behind the other, +broadside to the camp, so that the officers with their field-glasses +could observe that each horse had two riders on his back. "I declare I +feel like one of those old Roman conquerors--on a small scale; but in +order to carry out the role I ought to make one end of a lariat fast to +that Indian's neck and drag him into the camp, oughtn't I? That's the +way the Romans used to do with their captives, only they chained them to +their chariot-wheels. There you are!--Swing your caps, you kids, and +holler, to let your father know you are here." + +The boys obeyed with alacrity, swinging their caps around their heads +and laughing and shouting by turns, while the two soldiers behind whom +they rode raised their own caps on the muzzles of their carbines and +joined in with a wild soldier yell. George Ackerman kept watch of the +camp through his glass to note the movements of its inmates and make +reports of the manner in which this demonstration was received by them. + +"There's the captain," said he. "He is coming out in front of the men, +in company with some of the officers. Now they are all looking at us +through their glasses. Now the captain has taken down his glass and is +saying something. Here they come!" + +It was evident that the captain had reported the result of his +observations, for as George uttered these last words and lowered his +glass the men broke into a run and dashed across the plain, raising +their charging-yell as they came. + +"You fellows who carry double, take the post of honor," commanded Bob; +"ride at the head of the squad.--Say, boys," he added, facing about in +his saddle and speaking to the men behind him, "look out for Wentworth. +There was a look in his eye the last time I saw him that I didn't at all +like, and when he finds out that we have captured one of the Indians, he +may--" + +"There he comes now!" exclaimed one of the troopers. + +Bob looked toward the camp, and saw that his man had not been mistaken. +Behind the troopers, who were still running forward to meet their +returning comrades, but rapidly overhauling them with every jump of his +horse, was the father of the rescued boys. He rode without saddle, +bridle or hat, his long hair was streaming straight out behind him, he +carried in his hand the rifle with which he had done such deadly work +while he was defending his home, and he was constantly digging his heels +into the sides of his horse, as if he were trying to make him go faster. +The man could have but one object in view: that was Bob's opinion, and +it must have been Captain Clinton's opinion too, judging by his actions. +The latter had raised both hands to his face and stood with his head +thrown back, as if he were shouting out some orders; but if he gave any +they were drowned in the lusty cheers of the approaching troopers, who +ran as if they were engaged in a foot-race. + +"That man certainly means mischief," said George. + +"I am sure of it," replied the corporal. "But I should act in just the +same way if I were in his place. I'd put an end to that Indian in spite +of all the soldiers that ever wore the 'honored blue;' but that, I know, +would be very wrong, for this red imp is one of the government wards, +and nobody must presume to lay an ugly hand on him." + +"What would be done with Mr. Wentworth if he should shoot your +prisoner?" asked George. + +"'What would be done with him?'" repeated Bob, bitterly. "Why, he would +be put in arrest before he could say 'Jerusalem!' and the agent of the +Kiowas would insist on his being tried for murder, notwithstanding the +fact that this same Indian was one of the party that burned Mr. +Wentworth's house and carried his children into captivity. Why, George, +unless you are posted you have no idea--But I will tell you a short +story by and by. Just now I must attend to our friend Mr. Wentworth. +Stand by me, for I believe I shall need a helping hand before I get +through with him." + +While this conversation was going on Bob had kept a watchful eye upon +the movements of Mr. Wentworth, who had by this time passed the troopers +and was guiding his horse so as to come up on the left flank of Bob's +squad. As soon as the latter became satisfied that this was the man's +intention, he rode out of the line and placed himself beside the captive +Indian, who was riding on Loring's horse and was by no means an +uninterested spectator of what passed before him. He too was keeping his +gaze directed toward Mr. Wentworth, whom he doubtless recognized. + +"White man very angry--heap mad--as mad, in fact, as a wet hen," said +Bob, trying to imitate an Indian's way of talking, but making a sad mess +of it in his excitement. "He's mad at you for carrying his boys off, and +he's going to shoot you dead--heap dead--as dead as a door-nail; and +he'll serve you just right, too." + +"I hope he won't miss the red and hit me," said Loring. + +"You needn't be afraid of that, for these Texans are all good shots," +answered Bob; adding in a lower tone, "I'll just tell you what's a fact, +Loring: I wouldn't interfere with him if I could help it." + +The young savage understood what Bob said, but not a muscle of his face +changed. If he had been an old warrior, he would probably have begun his +death-chant; but having performed no deeds of which he could boast, he +remained silent and calmly awaited the fate that would have been +inevitable had it not been for George Ackerman's skill in horsemanship. + +The animal on which Mr. Wentworth was mounted was evidently accustomed +to being ridden without a bridle, for his master guided him with the +greatest ease. When he had almost reached the squad he suddenly swerved +from his course, in obedience to a signal conveyed to him by a quick +movement of his rider's body, and galloping swiftly around the head of +the line stopped short on the other flank. By this unexpected change of +tactics the enraged father had gained a position on the unguarded side +of the prisoner, and if he had acted as soon as his horse came to a +standstill he would have accomplished his purpose in spite of +everything; but he could not resist the temptation to talk for just a +moment, and that moment's delay defeated him. Cocking his rifle with +great deliberation, he said fiercely, + +"You have eaten salt in my house, you have slept by my fire, you have +drunk from my spring when you were thirsty, you Indian dog, and now--" + +When the man had gone thus far rage choked his utterance, and he could +not say another word. He drew his rifle to his shoulder, but the muzzle, +instead of covering the head of the Indian, covered the person of George +Ackerman, who was coming toward him with all the speed his horse could +put forth. + +The boy had sprung into life and activity the instant he witnessed Mr. +Wentworth's cunning manoeuvre, for he knew what it meant. Giving a pull +at his left rein, at the same time touching his horse lightly with the +spurs, the animal wheeled like a flash on his hind feet, and, dashing +through the line behind Bob Owens (some of the troopers afterward +declared that he jumped clear over Bob's horse), brought his rider to +the right side of the Indian just in time to intercept the deadly aim. +In another second George had seized the rifle with both hands, and a +terrific struggle began between him and Mr. Wentworth for the possession +of the weapon. In less time than it takes to tell it the man, having no +stirrups to support him, was jerked off his horse, and before he could +recover himself and plant his feet firmly on the ground the rifle was +twisted out of his grasp, and the bullet contained in the chamber was +sent whistling harmlessly off over the sandhills. + +"No more of that!" exclaimed Bob, who rode up just half a minute too +late to be of any assistance. "Keep quiet now, or you'll go back to camp +with a guard over you." + +"Mr. Wentworth," said George, bending down from his saddle and laying +his hand upon the angry man's shoulder, "your good sense must tell you +that the corporal can't stand peaceably by and see his prisoner shot. +What are you thinking of?" + +"Give me that gun," panted Mr. Wentworth, who was white to the lips and +trembling in every limb. "I'll--I'll--" + +"You'll do nothing but behave yourself," interrupted Bob. "You can't +have that rifle again until Captain Clinton says so, for you don't know +how to act when you have it in your hands; you point it around too loose +and reckless. Haven't you something besides revenge to think of now? +Can't you see that we have brought your boys back to you safe and +sound?" + +The man's face softened at once. Tears came to his eyes, and darting +quickly around Bob's horse he ran up to his children, and, pulling them +both to the ground at once, folded them in his arms. But we will not say +any more about that meeting, will we? The joy of a family reunited under +circumstances like these is something too sacred to be intruded upon +even by a sympathizing pen, isn't it? Even the troopers, some of whom +had witnessed many an affecting scene, could not stand it, but turned +away their heads and drew their hands hastily across their eyes, as if +to brush away something that seemed to be obscuring their vision. One of +them caught Mr. Wentworth's horse, and after the latter had mounted and +taken his boys up with him, one in front and the other behind, the squad +continued its march toward the camp. + +When Bob came to look in front of him, he found that the appearance of +things had changed somewhat. The comrades who had started out to meet +him were no longer advancing in a compact body. They had halted and +drawn themselves up in two parallel lines, facing each other, and +leaving room enough between them for Bob and his squad to pass through. + +"Hallo!" exclaimed the delighted corporal. "The boys have got up a +reception for us, and we must meet it in good shape.--Attention, squad! +Draw sabres!--Loring, ride on ahead with Mr. Wentworth.--George, come up +on my right." + +When these orders were issued the men promptly fell into line, +conversation ceased on the instant, tobacco was knocked out of pipes +that had but just been filled, carbines were adjusted in +soldier-fashion, caps that had been worn with the peak behind were +turned right side in front, and twelve bright blades leaped from their +scabbards. In this order the successful troopers rode by their comrades, +who cheered them loudly, and then fell in behind and followed them into +camp, marching in column of fours. Bob at once rode up to Captain +Clinton's fire, and dismounted to make his report, which he did in this +way: + +"I have the honor, sir, to report that we surprised five Indians in camp +last night, captured one, killed three and released Mr. Wentworth's +boys." + +"Good for you, corporal!" exclaimed the captain, his astonishment +getting the better of him for the moment. "Anybody hurt on your side?" + +"One wounded, sir. Private Carey received a knife-thrust in the right +arm while assisting Private Loring to capture the Indian." + +"Very good," said the captain, resuming his official tones and dignity +at the same time. "Stake out your horses, and then come back here. I +want to hear all the particulars. What was the cause of that disturbance +out there on the plain?" + +"I was the cause of it, cap, you bet," exclaimed Mr. Wentworth, whose +face did not look much as it did when he galloped out to meet Bob and +his squad. Then it was disturbed with passion; now it was beaming with +joy. "I'd ha' sent that Injin to the happy land o' Canaan in a little +less than the shake of a buck's tail if Ackerman hadn't stopped me, you +bet." + +"It was a good thing for you that he did stop you," said the captain +quietly. "You would have brought yourself into serious trouble by such a +proceeding." + +"I know that," said Mr. Wentworth, "but who cares for trouble when his +dander's up? Say, cap, may I have my rifle? Ackerman took it away from +me." + +"You may have it on condition that you will make no more attempts on the +life of this prisoner," replied the captain. "There is a law to deal +with such fellows as he is." + +"Where in the world is it, I'd like to know?" exclaimed Mr. Wentworth +fiercely. "It hasn't got out here to Texas yet. If I had shot him, as I +meant to do, you would have had a guard over me in no time; but he came +with a band of his friends and set fire to my house, and carried off my +little boys, and killed my herdsmen, and drove off my stock; and you, +knowing it all, stand here, with your hundred and twenty blue-coats, +and tell me that I must not touch him. Your colonel will give him up +when his agent makes a demand for him, and he'll go back to his +reservation, and the government will feed him on good food and give him +good clothes, and some rascally trader will sell him more powder and +balls to kill white folks with; but if _I_--Dog-gone my +buttons!--Ackerman, give me that rifle." + +It was plain that Mr. Wentworth's "dander" was still "up"--'way up. The +listening troopers exchanged glances of approval with one another, and +would have cheered him if they had dared. Being a civilian, the man was +at liberty to talk pretty much as he pleased; but if one of their own +number had made such an exhibition of temper in the presence of an +officer, he would have been punished for it. + +"We will not discuss that matter," said the captain calmly. "I know my +business and attend to it strictly, leaving the agents to look out for +their own affairs. They are not responsible to me, or to you either, for +the manner in which they do the work entrusted to them." + +"All right, cap," said Mr. Wentworth, picking up one of his boys and +then lowering him carefully to the ground. "Mum is the word, if you say +so. But I haven't heard you tell Ackerman to give me that rifle yet." + +"Neither have I heard you make that promise," was the reply. + +"Well, I'll make it, but I tell you I hate to, mightily." + +The captain smiled, and nodded to George, who rode up and handed over +the Winchester. + +"She's a good one, cap, and when she speaks she means business--_she_ +does," said Mr. Wentworth, holding the recovered weapon off at arm's +length and gazing at it with admiring eyes. "She is sure death on +Kiowas, for she knows I have got something ag'inst them. She rubbed out +ten of 'em during the last fight she was in, and she'll spoil the good +looks of many more of them before I hand her over to my oldest boy for +good.--Put her on your shoulder, Sheldon, and come on." + +Lifting his youngest child in his arms, Mr. Wentworth walked away, +Sheldon marching proudly by his side with the rifle on his shoulder, and +the horse following quietly at his heels. Then Bob and George rode away +with the squad, the troopers gradually dispersed, and the captain and +his officers went back to the blankets on which they had been dozing +away the time while waiting for Corporal Owens. + +If it had not been for the fact that he had nearly a thousand head of +recaptured stock on his hands, the captain would have set out for the +fort at once; but it is almost impossible to drive Texas cattle during +the night, for they are about half wild, anyway, and as easily stampeded +as a herd of buffaloes. Under favorable circumstances two men who +understand their business can take care of a herd of five hundred of +them; but this stock which the captain had just recovered from the +Indians had grown so unmanageable during the short time they had been in +the possession of the raiders, who had pushed them ahead night and day +at their greatest speed, that it took thirty well-mounted troopers to +keep them within bounds. If they became quieted down during the night, +the captain intended to set out for the fort with the main body of his +men early the next morning, leaving a few of his troopers to assist Mr. +Wentworth to drive the cattle in. + +"I say, corporal," exclaimed Carey as Bob led his squad away, "where +does Wentworth hang out? What mess does he grub with?" + +"I don't know," answered Bob. "I saw him going toward the other end of +the camp." + +"Now, such work as that won't do," continued Carey. "He'll go up there +among those high-toned Grays or Blacks, and they will honey around those +boys of his and make much of them, and cut us Brindles completely out of +their good graces. They belong to us, and they ought to stay with us; +don't you say so?" + +Bob replied that he did say so. + +"Can't we bring them into our mess?" asked Carey. + +"You can try. I'll take care of your horse if you want to make the +attempt." + +Carey at once dismounted, and started back toward the upper end of the +camp, and Bob rode on to find the place where his troop had staked out +their horses. While he is looking for it we will explain what the words +"Grays," "Blacks" and "Brindles," as used by Private Carey, meant. + +One of the first things to be done in a new regiment of cavalry, or in +an old one that has just been remounted, is to "color the horses." We +mean by this that the animals are divided into lots according to their +color, the blacks being placed in one lot, the grays in another, the +whites in another, and so on. After these divisions are made there are +always some "off" horses, such as roans and browns, which are put into a +lot by themselves and called the "brindles." The ranking captain then +makes his choice of the colors. For the sake of illustration, we will +suppose that he prefers to have his company mounted on black horses. He +first takes the finest animal in the lot for his own use, his first +lieutenant comes next, the second lieutenant next, the first sergeant +next, and so on down through all the sergeants and corporals, each one +selecting according to his rank. Then those of the privates who have +proved themselves to be the best soldiers are called up one by one, and +after they have made their selections the shirks and grumblers, like +Bristow and Gus Robbins, have to take those that are left. + +The captain who is second in command makes the next choice of colors, +and his horses are distributed in the same way. The whites are generally +chosen next to the last, not because they are not as good or as handsome +as the others, but for the reason that it is harder work for the men to +keep them clean, and in action they present conspicuous marks for the +rifles of the enemy. "The brindles," the horses of all colors and of no +color at all to speak of, are the only ones left, and the lowest company +commander must take them because he has no choice. He does not like +them, and neither do his men, because the troop that is doomed to ride +them cannot make so fine appearance on dress-parade as the others do, +and for the reason that the Brindles are the butt of all the jokes that +old soldiers can play upon one another. When we have said that we have +said a good deal, for if there is any mischief that a lot of veterans +will not think of when they have a leisure hour on their hands, we don't +know what it is. + +When the horses were "colored" at Fort Lamoine the brindles fell to the +lot of Lieutenant Earle, as he was the lowest company commander, all the +others being captains. This was the troop to which Bob Owens belonged, +and, in common with its other members, he had suffered from the +practical jokes that had been played upon him by the more fortunate +troopers. But of late these jokes were not as frequent as they had +formerly been, for the "Brindles" had proved themselves to be the best +of soldiers. When their achievements were taken into consideration they +led every troop in the garrison. They had gallantly borne their part in +every duty they were called on to perform, their non-commissioned +officers had invariably been successful when sent out in pursuit of +deserters, and now one of them had done something for which the members +of his regiment were glad to honor him in the way we have described. +During the rest of Bob's life at Fort Lamoine but little was said about +the despised Brindles; but if any trooper _did_ forget himself and make +disparaging remarks concerning them or their "ringed, streaked and +striped" horses, some listening Brindle would promptly interrupt him +with-- + +"Look here, Bub, we didn't enlist to show ourselves off on dress-parade. +When you Blacks" (or Grays or Chestnuts, as the case might be, the +offending trooper being designated by the color of the horses on which +his company was mounted) "have followed an Indian trail across the +Staked Plains, and been burned up by an August sun, and had your mouths +and throats filled so full of sand that you couldn't tell the truth for +a whole month, and have surprised a party of hostiles in their camp, +and rescued two prisoners alive and unharmed,--when you have done all +that, you can talk; until then hold your yawp. That feat has never been +accomplished but once in the Department of Texas, and then it was +accomplished by _our_ boys, the Brindles of the ----th Cavalry." + +Bob and his men were proud of that exploit, and, what was more, they did +not mean to be robbed of any of the honor they had won. That was one +reason why they wanted to bring Mr. Wentworth and his boys into their +mess. They supposed they were going back to the fort with Captain +Clinton's command, and they wanted to carry those boys through the gate +themselves. But, as it happened, the captain had decided upon something +else, and by that decision had unconsciously given Bob's lucky squad of +Brindles an opportunity to add to their laurels. We shall see what use +they made of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MORE BAD LUCK FOR MR. WENTWORTH. + + +While Bob and his men were staking out their horses they were besieged +by anxious Brindles who wanted to know just where they had been and what +they had done during their absence. No incident connected with the +experience of their successful comrades was deemed too trivial for their +notice. Bob and the rest answered their questions as fast as they were +able, and asked a good many in return. They learned that Captain Clinton +had fallen in with the stolen cattle about one o'clock that morning, but +the Indians they had hoped to find with them were not to be seen. The +captain had pursued them so closely that they did not have time to drive +the stock into the Staked Plains, to die there of thirst, and neither +did they harass the column, as George said they would. Their force was +too small to accomplish anything by it. The captain had spent all the +forenoon in gathering up the stock, and it was now feeding on the +prairie close by, guarded by a large squad of troopers. + +"I'll tell you what's a fact, boys," said one of the Brindles. "This +raid must have been a big thing, for just after you left us we struck +the trail of a large drove that joined ours, and a little farther on we +found another. But they were both older than our own, so the scout said, +and the drove we followed was left behind as a sort of bait for us to +swallow, while the main herd was driven off." + +"Why didn't you go on after the main herd?" asked Bob. + +"It would have been of no use. It had too much of a start; and besides, +we have already got just as much on our hands as we can attend to. We +have been all day gathering up the cattle we have got, and it is just +all we can do to hold fast to them. The fellows up there must attend to +the rest." + +By "the fellows up there" the troopers meant to indicate the cavalry +attached to the several posts north of the Staked Plains. + +When Bob went back to the captain's head-quarters, George, being a +privileged character, went with him. The officer questioned them +closely in regard to their movements, took copious notes to assist him +in making out his report to the colonel, and by the time he got through +he came to the conclusion that the two young men deserved especial +mention for the skill and courage they had exhibited. He rewarded them +on the spot by giving them more work to do--some that was not supposed +to have any danger in it, but which, nevertheless, gave them an +opportunity to show whether the success that had attended them during +their last scout was owing to good luck or good management. + +"I am more than satisfied, because you have accomplished more than I +expected of you," said the captain as he put his note-book into his +pocket. "As you will probably have some hard riding to do to-morrow, I +will see that you are allowed a good night's rest." + +"Are we going back to the fort in the morning, sir?" asked George. + +Although Bob was fully as anxious as his companion was to know what the +captain meant by saying that he and his squad would probably have some +hard riding to do the next day, he never would have dared to ask such a +question; and if he had, the officer, if he had made any reply at all, +would very likely have told him that he would find out all about it in +due time. But he expressed no surprise at George's inquisitiveness. + +"_I_ am going back to fort," said he, "but you and the corporal will +have to stay and help Mr. Wentworth with the cattle. You will be of more +use to him, George, than half a dozen green hands, for you know how to +drive stock and can act as instructor to the rest. You know where +Holmes's ranche is, I suppose? Well, I shall want the corporal to stay +with Mr. Wentworth until he gets there, and then you will have to guide +the squad to the fort. If you should happen to meet any raiders on the +way, why take them in," added the captain with a smile.--"Corporal, is +Carey badly hurt?" + +"He grumbles a good deal, sir, but I think it is more from anger than +pain." + +"Perhaps you had better take a man in his place and let him go to the +fort with us, so that the doctor can look at his arm," said the captain. + +"I tell you there is nothing like having friends at court," said Bob as +he and George walked away. "Until you came among us I didn't know that +these officers could be so very friendly and good-natured. Why, George, +if I knew the country as well as you do, and could get scout's pay, I +would stay in the army all my life. We have got a sort of roving +commission now, and I hope we can do something with it before we go back +to the fort." + +Details for such duties as this which had just been assigned to Corporal +Owens are about the only recreations that fall to the lot of a private +soldier on the Plains, and they are eagerly sought after. Being almost +always commanded by a sergeant or corporal who has proved to the +satisfaction of his superiors that he can be trusted, the men never fail +to enjoy themselves to the fullest extent. It is a great relief to them +to be entirely out of reach of their Argus-eyed officers, who are so +prompt to take them to task for the least neglect of duty. + +When they reached the place where the Brindles were encamped, they found +that Carey had been successful in his mission. He had brought Mr. +Wentworth and his boys back with him, and the troopers were crowded +about them listening to Sheldon's account of his experience among the +Kiowas. + +"Get all you can out of them, boys," exclaimed Bob, "for you will not +see them after to-night." + +"Why won't we?" asked half a dozen troopers at once. + +"Because they are not going to the fort. They are going to Holmes's +ranche, wherever that is, and we're going to see them safely there with +the stock." + +"We? who?" + +"Our same old squad--all except Carey." + +The owner of that name, whose face had lighted up with pleasure, jumped +to his feet with an angry exclamation. "What do you mean by that, +corporal?" he demanded. + +"It's no fault of mine, Carey," replied Bob. "The captain thinks you had +better go to the fort, so that the doctor can look at your wound." + +Carey made no reply, but elbowed his way through the crowd and started +toward the other end of the camp. In a few minutes he was standing in +front of Captain Clinton with his hand to his cap. + +"What is it, Carey?" asked that officer after he had returned the +salute. + +"My respects to you, sir," answered the trooper, "and, if I might take +the liberty, I'd like to know why I am to be left behind while the rest +of our squad goes off on a picnic with them cattle?" + +"Why, you are wounded," said the captain. + +"Just a little scratch, sir," protested the trooper. "But even if I had +no right arm at all, I could ride and shoot, and when it came to yelling +I'd be there too." + +"Very good. If you think you can stand it, go on." + +"Thank you, sir. I knew you wouldn't go back on old Carey. I've been in +every muss my troop has been in, and nobody ever hinted that I didn't do +my duty." + +The captain nodded his head and waved his hand in token of dismissal, +and the trooper hurried away. + +Up to this time George Ackerman had always messed with the officers, but +that night he took supper with Bob's squad, because both he and they +considered that he belonged to it. During the progress of the meal he +reminded the corporal that the latter had promised to tell him a story. + +"Oh yes," said Bob, after thinking a moment. "I was telling you, I +believe, that if Mr. Wentworth killed that Indian he would be arrested +and tried for murder. Well, that's an Indian's idea of justice, and it +seems to be the agents' idea too. The Indians think they have a perfect +right to kill and scalp whenever they feel like it, but if a white man +kills one of them it is an awful thing. If they can't get hold of the +man who did the shooting or any of his relations, they look to the +government for pay. On a certain occasion a scouting-party of ten men +was surprised and utterly wiped out. The surprise was so complete that +every one of the party was killed at the first fire, with the exception +of a corporal, who had just time to knock over two of the reds before he +too was shot. Shortly afterward a peace was patched up, and a band of +braves came in, bringing with them an old woman for whom they asked a +government pension because her two sons had fallen in battle. Inquiries +were made, and it turned out that these two sons were the very Indians +who had been killed by the corporal. What do you think of such +impudence?" + +George did not know what to think of it, and probably the reader doesn't +either; but this very incident is on record. + +By daylight the next morning the camp was deserted. The main body of the +troops was riding rapidly toward Fort Lamoine, and a few miles behind it +came the herd which Captain Clinton had recaptured. It was moving +leisurely along in front of Mr. Wentworth and George, who controlled it +with less difficulty than the rest of the squad would have experienced +in managing a dozen cattle. Behind them came Bob and his men, with the +two boys, who were mounted on a couple of their father's horses which +had been found with the herd. George's quick eye had already noticed +that there were at least half a dozen different brands among the cattle, +and he told himself that when the animals bearing these brands had been +delivered up to their lawful owners, Mr. Wentworth would have very +little stock left. + +Bob and his troopers enjoyed this "picnic" by being lazy. They had +nothing to do worth speaking of but to follow along in the rear of the +herd and talk to the boys, the most of the work being performed by +George and Mr. Wentworth, who during the first part of the journey +managed the cattle both day and night. They offered to assist in any way +they could, but the practised herders did not need them, and besides, +they were afraid to trust them. + +"I don't want to lose these steers and horses again, after all the +trouble I have had to get them," Mr. Wentworth always replied. "I know +you are good soldiers, or else you couldn't have got my boys back for +me; but you can't herd cattle. The least awkward movement on your part +would send them galloping back toward the Staked Plains again. Wait +until they get over their fright, and then you can try your hands at +guarding them during the night." + +On the afternoon of the fifth day Bob noticed that George's field-glass +was often brought into requisition both by himself and Mr. Wentworth, +and on riding forward to inquire the cause of it, he was informed that +they were looking for Mr. Taylor's ranche. + +"And who is Mr. Taylor?" was Bob's next question. + +"He is one of Mr. Wentworth's neighbors who was raided by the Indians. +We know it, for we have some of his cattle with us; but whether or not +they did him any damage beyond stealing his stock, we don't know; and we +can't tell, either, until we find his house if it is still standing, or +the ruins of it if it has been destroyed." + +"Then we must be getting pretty near our journey's end," said Bob, whose +arms and shoulders began to ache when he thought of the tedious routine +of drill and guard-duty upon which he must enter as soon as he returned +to the fort. + +"I don't know what you mean by _near_," replied George. "The fort is all +of a hundred and fifty miles from here, and we are not going toward it. +We are going toward Holmes's ranche; and even if we have the best of +luck, it will take us two weeks to get there." + +"That sounds better," said Bob, who was greatly relieved. "When you +spoke of Mr. Wentworth's neighbors, I was afraid that our +pleasure-excursion was about to be brought to an end, for he doesn't +live so _very_ far from the fort, you know." + +"It's just over there," shouted Mr. Wentworth at this moment. "I see +cattle, and that proves that the raiders didn't scoop Taylor as they did +me. Now look sharp; we've got rounding out enough to do already." + +"What does he mean by that?" asked Bob. + +"He means that we mustn't allow our cattle to mix in with Mr. Taylor's, +for if we do we shall have to round them all out again. By 'rounding +out' we mean separating the different herds from each other; and that is +something that none but good herdsmen can do. It requires skill and a +big stock of patience, I tell you. Just let a few green hands try it, +and see how much they would make at it. Why, they would scare the cattle +so that they would run clear out of the State." + +Although Mr. Wentworth had declared that Mr. Taylor's ranche was "just +over there," our friends did not reach it that day, nor until late in +the afternoon of the next. Before they got there they knew just what Mr. +Taylor's experience with the Kiowa raiders had been, for they had passed +two or three of his herds, whose keepers had told them all about it. The +Indians had suddenly made their appearance, coming from the south, and +driving before them a large number of cattle; and although they had not +come within five miles of Mr. Taylor's ranche, they had picked up one of +his small herds which happened to be in their path. + +Our friends camped that night close by Mr. Taylor's ranche, which proved +to be a perfect little fort. It was built of heavy stone, was well +supplied with provisions, and defended by five stalwart fellows who were +armed with Winchester rifles. The raiders would have had a nice time of +it if they had come there. The owner listened in great surprise to Mr. +Wentworth's story, made much of his boys, and would not let him and +George "round out" the stock that bore his brand. + +"You're welcome to the steers, neighbor," said he. "I've got more left +than I can take care of if the Kiowas bounce me as earnestly as they did +you, and you will need them to help you start a new herd." + +This same thing was repeated by every one of the half a dozen other +ranchemen to whom Mr. Wentworth offered to surrender their stock. They +all sympathized with him, and wanted to aid him by every means in their +power. The result was, that our friends arrived within one day's march +of their journey's end with just as many cattle as they had when they +left the Staked Plains. Although Mr. Wentworth had been "completely +cleaned out," he was still worth something like twenty thousand dollars. + +George and his party made their last camp a short distance from the +cabin of a squatter, who rode over to see them during the evening. He +went home about ten o'clock, and George and his companions lay down on +their blankets, leaving the herd to the care of four mounted troopers. +The latter, who during the journey had exhibited the greatest eagerness +to learn something of the mysteries of cattle-herding, had so far +progressed in knowledge and skill as to be able to stand guard at night, +and to give George and Mr. Wentworth an opportunity to obtain the rest +of which they began to stand so much in need. About midnight George +mounted his horse and rode around the herd to assure himself that +everything was just as it should be. He went on horseback, because +everybody rides while working about Texas cattle. If a man should +venture among them on foot during the daytime, his life would be in +danger; and if he went around them at night, he would probably stampede +the whole herd. + +"All serene," said Loring, who was the first guard George encountered +during his rounds. "The moon shines so brightly that I can see the +movements of every steer in the drove." + +"If we were a little nearer the river perhaps things wouldn't be quite +so serene," answered George. "The Mexicans take just such a night as +this for their raids." + +About an hour after George had retired to his blanket Loring noticed +that the cattle began to show signs of uneasiness. Those that were +standing up began to move about, those that were lying down arose and +moved about with them, and presently the whole herd was in motion. The +cattle did not attempt to run away, but walked restlessly about, as if +they were unable to find a place that suited them. + +"Suke, thing! suke, thing!" said Loring coaxingly. + +The travelled reader would have said at once that Loring was a +Southerner; and if he could have heard Phillips on the other side of the +cattle trying to soothe them with "Co-boss! co-boss!" he would have said +that Phillips was from the North. But the cattle did not understand +either of them, or if they did they paid no attention to them. Their +restlessness increased every moment, and finally Loring, good soldier +though he was, deserted his post and started for camp as fast as he +could make his horse walk. + +"Ackerman," said he in an excited voice, "get up. There is something +wrong with those cattle." + +George was on his feet in an instant. One glance at the herd was enough. + +"I should say there was something wrong!" he exclaimed. "How long has +this thing been going on?" + +"Not more than five minutes." + +"Which way are they looking," continued George. + +"Every way, but the most of them keep their heads in that direction," +said Loring, waving his arm toward the south. + +"Call everybody in camp while I speak to Bob and Mr. Wentworth. No noise +now. I am afraid we are going to have trouble." + +In less than two minutes all the troopers had been aroused, and George +was holding an earnest consultation with Mr. Wentworth and the corporal. +"I've seen cattle act that way before," said he, speaking as rapidly as +he could make his tongue move, for time was precious; "and if we were a +little nearer the river I could easily tell what is the matter with +them; but I never heard of the Greasers coming so far into the country +as this, and it may be nothing but nervousness that's troubling them. +My advice would be to mount the men and move them quietly in line on the +north side of the herd, and perhaps by making such a show of numbers we +can keep them within bounds until they are quieted down.--What do you +say, Mr. Wentworth?" + +"It is the only thing that can be done," replied Mr. Wentworth, who +seemed to be greatly excited and alarmed; "and even that is a slim +chance.--Make haste, corporal. Do all you can for me, for if I lose this +herd I shall be ruined, sure enough." + +"Catch up!" commanded Bob. + +"Look here," said George, seizing his friend by the shoulder and +speaking with all the earnestness he could throw into his tones: "if you +get in line in front of those cattle, and they start to run toward you, +don't try to stop them, for you can't do it, any more than we could stop +those buffaloes the other night. Run before them, and gradually draw off +to the right or left of them, and you will get safely off; otherwise +they will certainly run over you. But I am afraid it is too late to do +anything," added George as he noted the increasing restlessness of the +cattle. + +"It is too late! it is too late!" exclaimed Mr. Wentworth, rubbing his +hands nervously together. "There they go!" + +Even as he spoke a noise like the rumbling of distant thunder sounded in +their ears, and instantly the whole herd made off at the top of its +speed. Looking over the mass of horns and tails that was tossed wildly +in the air, the troopers were horrified to see Phillips standing +directly in front of it. Being fully determined to do his duty to the +utmost, the brave fellow sat in his saddle, swinging his arms about his +head, and no doubt shouting at the top of his voice to stop the advance +of the frightened herd, which was bearing down upon him with the +resistless power of an avalanche. + +"The man is crazy!" cried George in great alarm. Then, raising both +hands to his face and using them as a speaking-trumpet, he yelled, with +all the power of his lungs, + +"Run! run for your life!" + +Phillips afterward said that he did not hear what George said to him--in +fact, he couldn't hear anything but the noise of those hoofs--but, +seeing that if he remained where he was his death was certain, he +wheeled his horse and fled with the speed of the wind. The last his +friends saw of him was as he dashed over the top of a ridge, with the +stampeded cattle close behind him. When they were all out of sight and +the rumble of their hoofs had died away in the distance, the troopers +turned to look at Mr. Wentworth. He stood with his hands in his pockets +gazing disconsolately in the direction in which the herd had +disappeared, but had nothing to say. + +"Now, here's a go!" whispered Bob, giving George a nudge in the ribs +with his elbow. "What am I to do? This is something Captain Clinton +didn't think to provide for, isn't it? I was ordered to go to Holmes's +ranche with Mr. Wentworth, but I wasn't told to follow up and collect +his cattle if they were stampeded." + +"You mustn't think of following them up," said George decidedly. "There +is no man in the world who could get that same herd together again, for +it will join others as soon as it gets over its fright; and how could we +tell these cattle from others bearing the same brand? They are gone, and +that's all there is of it. You must mount at once and see if you can +find anything of Phillips." + +"All right!--Mr. Wentworth," said Bob, "we are very sorry for the loss +you have sustained, but we have done all we could for you." + +"I know it, corporal, and I am very grateful to you and to the captain, +who was kind enough to send you with me. Such things as these will +happen sometimes, in spite of everything. Now I hardly know what to do." + +Neither would anybody else have known what to do under the same +circumstances. Mr. Wentworth had no home, no property except his rifle +and the horses he and his boys rode, no work to do, and but little to +eat in his haversack. It was a trying situation for a man who but a few +days before had been worth a fortune, and almost any one would have been +disheartened. + +"I'll tell you what you can do," said George. "You can easily find your +way to the Ackerman settlement, and if you go there and give Mr. Gilbert +a note of introduction which I will write for you, he will take care of +you until you can decide upon something." + +George did not feel at liberty to tell Mr. Wentworth all he had on his +mind. As soon as he returned to the fort he intended to write to his +guardian, asking him if he might furnish Mr. Wentworth with a +sufficient number of cattle from his own herds to give the impoverished +man a new start in life. Of course Mr. Wentworth had a few cattle of his +own among those that had just run off, but it would take some time to +gather them up; and as he would not want to be troubled with his boys +while he was engaged in the work, George intended to ask Mr. Gilbert to +take care of them during their father's absence, and to lend Mr. +Wentworth a few good herdsmen to assist him in getting his stock +together. While he was thinking about it, and before Mr. Wentworth could +thank him for his generous offer, something happened which told them +very plainly that the stampede that had just taken place was not owing +to the nervousness of the cattle, but to the presence of those of whom +George Ackerman had every reason to stand in fear. + +Their attention was first attracted by some unusual sound. They could +not have told what it was or from which direction it came, but they all +heard it, and waited for it to be repeated, that they might locate and +define it. There was a moment's silence, and then a chorus of wild yells +arose on the night air, accompanied by the rapid discharge of firearms. +The troopers looked at one another in blank amazement, and then at +George, who was not long in assigning a cause for the disturbance. + +"The Greasers are attacking the squatter," he exclaimed; and he was +quite as much astonished to be called upon to say it as the troopers +were to hear it. It must be a strong and daring band that would venture +so far into the country, and almost involuntarily George whispered the +name of Fletcher. Bob was quick to decide upon his course. He knew just +what Captain Clinton would expect of him if he were there. + +"Mr. Wentworth," said he, "we must lend that man a helping hand. As you +can't go with us on account of your boys, you will have to look out for +yourself and them." + +"And I am just the man who can do it," replied Mr. Wentworth. "Good-bye +and good luck to you! Shoot hard, and shoot to hit." + +"How cool and confident he is! I wish I had half his courage," thought +Bob as he ordered his men into their saddles, following it up with the +commands, "Forward! Trot! gallop!" + +The troopers fell into line as they moved off, and a few yards in +advance of them rode George and Bob. The former could easily have taken +the lead if he had desired to do so, but, knowing that he did not +command the squad, he curbed his impatience as well as he could and kept +close by his friend's side. The troopers unslung their carbines, George +made ready his Winchester, while Bob, who believed as firmly in the +virtues of "cold steel" as did the gallant officer whom he afterward +accompanied on his last memorable march, drew his sabre. All on a sudden +the firing ceased, and when the troopers rode over the brow of a ridge a +few minutes later, they saw a thin blue smoke arising from the +squatter's cabin, and that told them more than they wanted to know. +George was both astonished and enraged at the sight--astonished to know +that the raiders would stop during one of their marauding expeditions, +when haste was so necessary, to attack and burn so humble a dwelling as +the abode of the squatter, and enraged to see that they had been +successful enough to do even that. There was a crowd of Mexicans around +the building, and others with horses were standing close by. + +"Gobble the horses, Bob," said George, who was so highly excited that he +could scarcely speak, "and then you can ride down and capture the +raiders at your leisure." + +Bob caught the idea in an instant. Turning in his saddle, he waved his +sabre over his head, but instead of giving the command "Charge!" he +effectually closed the mouths of his followers, who had already opened +their lips and drawn in a long breath preparatory to giving vent to +their favorite yell, by saying in a low tone, "Silence!" + +Bob did not know whether or not this order had ever before been given +during a charge, and, what was more, he did not care. His object was to +cut the men who were lingering about the burning cabin off from their +horses, and in order to do that he must get as close as he could to them +before he was discovered. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CONCLUSION. + + +The men about the cabin were so engrossed in their work of destruction, +and the horse-guards were so intent on watching them, that Bob's advance +was not discovered until he and his followers were within less than two +hundred yards of the cabin. So entirely unexpected was their appearance +that for a moment the cattle-thieves were struck motionless with +astonishment; then they recovered their power of action, and those who +were on foot made a rush for their horses. Some succeeded in reaching +them, but others did not. Two or three of them fell before the carbines +of the troopers, who opened a hot fire as soon as they saw that they +were discovered, and the horse-guards, believing that the attacking +party was backed up by a large force of soldiers which was close at +hand, instantly put spurs to their nags and galloped off, taking the +loose horses with them and leaving their companions to look out for +themselves. + +"Throw down and throw up, Greasers!" commanded Corporal Owens as he +dashed up to the cabin swinging his sabre over his head; and the order, +which meant, "Throw down your weapons and throw up your hands," was +obeyed by five sullen fellows, who muttered Spanish oaths between their +teeth and looked mad enough to do almost anything. + +There was no fight at all. If there had been a shot fired at the +troopers, they didn't know it. The party that had gone off with the +horses outnumbered Bob's, and could, beyond a doubt, have driven them +off the field if they had only thought so; but their surprise was +complete, and, more than that, they were demoralized. The presence of +the troopers they regarded as part of a pre-concerted plan to cut them +off from the river, and that frightened them more than Bob's sudden +onslaught. + +"Still another feather for your cap, Corporal Owens," said George, after +he and Loring and a few others had taken a shot or two apiece at the +retreating cattle-thieves, "and nobody hurt on our side, either. Now +I--What are you doing here? Is this the way you keep your promise?" + +These questions were addressed to one of the prisoners, who took off his +sombrero and scratched his head as if he were trying to stir up his +ideas so that he could make some reply to these peremptory +interrogations. + +"Springer," continued George, slowly, "what are you doing here? Where's +the squatter?" + +"In there," replied the cattle-thief, jerking his head toward the cabin, +which was now fairly ablaze and sending out so much heat that the +troopers were obliged to draw away from it. "He never would have touched +him, Fletcher wouldn't, if he had kept in the house an' left us alone; +but he plumped one of us over when we fust came up; an' this here is the +consequence," added Springer, nodding his head toward the cabin again. + +George knew why it was that the cattle-thieves had stopped to destroy +the squatter's house. He had killed one of their number, and they, in +turn, had killed him after a hard fight, and it was now too late to +recover his body or to save a single thing the cabin contained. + +"So this is the fellow who twice befriended you, is it?" said Bob, who +was surprised to hear George call one of the prisoners by name. "Don't +you think it would be a good plan to chuck him into the fire too?" + +"_I_ do," said Loring fiercely. + +Springer drew a little nearer to George for protection. + +"I didn't have any hand in it," said he earnestly--"honor bright, I +didn't. I can explain everything, so that you can see that I am not to +blame for being here." + +"Carey," exclaimed Bob, "go back to Mr. Wentworth and give him his +choice between taking care of himself and going to the fort with us. +Hurry up, now.--If I only had a spade or two, I would make these +prisoners bury their dead comrades." + +"Springer," said George, "can these friends of yours understand +English?" + +The cattle-thief replied that they could not; they were all Mexicans. + +"I am glad to hear it, for I want to ask you a few questions before you +explain how you came to be here. Did Fletcher have his whole band with +him to-night?" + +"Not half of 'em," was the reply; "he had only about thirty men." + +"How many has he in all?" + +"Two hundred or so." + +"Does he still make his head-quarters at the Don's ranche?" + +"Yes; but look here, Mr. George," said Springer earnestly; "if you are +goin' over there after him, be mighty careful. You know what sort of a +looking place that ranche is--all stone, you know--an' them fellows is +all old soldiers, an' they'll fight awful." + +George nodded his head as if to say that he knew all about that, and +spent some minutes in questioning the prisoner in regard to the road +that led to the ranche, while Bob sat by on his horse and listened. By +the time George had heard all he wanted to know, and Springer had told +how he had been arrested by the officer at Eagle Pass and rescued by +Fletcher, Carey came back. + +"Mr. Wentworth will take care of himself," reported the trooper. "He +says that if he went to the fort he would have to come back to Holmes's +ranche, anyway--he is going to make his home there for a while, for he +and Holmes were boys together--and so he might just as well go there in +the first place, and save time and travelling. He sent his best wishes +to everybody, and hopes we will catch all the scoundrels who wiped out +the squatter." + +"I wish we could," said Bob, facing about in his saddle and gazing in +the direction in which the thieves had retreated; "but we have five +prisoners to take care of, and so our hands are tied." + +"You just ought to have seen him, corporal," continued Carey. "He had +thrown his three horses in a sort of triangle by tying their feet +together and tripping them up in some way, and there he lay with his +boys behind his living breastworks, all ready for a fight. Grit to the +last, wasn't he? When I asked him why he hadn't mounted and dug out as +soon as we left, he said that that wouldn't have been safe, for he might +have run right in among the Greasers before he knew it." + +"Well, boys," said Bob, gazing sorrowfully at the glowing bed of coals +that covered the site of the squatter's cabin, "there is nothing more we +can do here, and so we will make a break for the fort." + +"Look here, corporal," said one of the troopers: "if you are going to +make us carry double with those dirty Greasers, I am going to kick." + +"Don't you worry," answered Bob. "I shouldn't do it myself, and of +course I sha'n't ask you to do it. They'll have to walk.--Springer, draw +these Mexican gentlemen up in line." + +Springer gave the necessary order in Spanish, and it was sullenly +obeyed. + +"Just remind them, Springer, that if they don't step faster than that +somebody may hasten their movements with a prod from the point of a +sabre," said Bob angrily. "We are in no humor to stand a great deal of +nonsense from them. Now, right-face them; that's better.--Fall in around +them, squad, four on each flank and four in the rear. Forward, +march!--Now, George, which way is the fort from here?" + +"Off there," replied George, "but I am going to take you to the +river-trail." + +"What for?" + +"So that you can get something to eat." + +If they had been a little farther down the river, say about twenty-five +miles, George would have taken them to his own house. It would have +given him no little pleasure to entertain these companions of a long, +toilsome and dangerous scout under his own roof; but of course he could +not think of leading them out of their way in order to do it. They found +plenty to eat after they reached the river-trail, but the ranchemen at +whose houses they halted could give them no information concerning the +raiders. They had been on that side of the river, and had gone back +empty-handed, and that was all the ranchemen knew about the matter. This +made it plain that Bob's gallant dash had not been without its effect. +It had frightened the thieves so thoroughly that they dared not stop to +pick up any of the cattle they found in their way. + +Bob and his troopers camped that night near a farm-house whose owner was +so delighted to see the five prisoners they had brought with them, and +to learn of the success that had attended them ever since Captain +Clinton sent them off by themselves, that he insisted on giving them a +seat at his table. The next morning he gave them a breakfast; but the +first squad who went in--which included Bob and George--had scarcely +taken possession of their chairs when one of the sentries was heard +calling lustily for the corporal of the guard. Bob excused himself and +ran out, only to return again almost immediately and startle everybody +with the order, "Boots and saddles!" George jumped up from the table, +wondering what was the matter. When he reached the porch he found out. +About a mile up the trail was a long column of blue-coats coming down at +a sweeping trot. + +"They are our boys, and they are after the Greasers," exclaimed Bob, as +George came down the steps. "It's lucky we are here, for you are the +very man they want if they are going across the river.--Catch up, boys, +and fall in just as we do when we are on the march, only face to the +left, so as to front the column when it comes up." + +If we have a reader who is familiar with cavalry tactics, he will have +discovered, long before this time, that Corporal Owens was not at all +particular as to the orders he gave, provided he could make his men act +to suit him. When in the presence of his superiors he always gave the +proper commands, in order to save himself from the reproof that would +have promptly followed the slightest departure from the tactics; but +when he was in command of a scouting-party he was decidedly free and +easy. Even an old trooper might have been puzzled over this last order, +but the men who had marched with him so many miles were quick to catch +his meaning and prompt to carry out his wishes; so that when the whole +available cavalry force of Fort Lamoine, numbering two hundred men, came +sweeping by the farm-house a few minutes later, with Captain Clinton +riding at the head, they were astonished to see Bob's little squad drawn +up in a hollow square, with their prisoners in the centre. Of late there +had been a good many anxious inquiries made concerning these very men, +and here they were, safe and sound, and, wonderful to tell, with more +prisoners to show what good soldiers they were. + +"Three cheers for the 'Brindles,' the old reliables!" shouted the +sergeant-major; and the yells that arose from two hundred pairs of +strong lungs could have been heard a long distance away. + +George lifted his cap in response to a nod of recognition from Captain +Clinton, and in obedience to a sign from him rode over to his side; but +Bob and his men sat in their saddles as stiff as so many posts, looking +straight to the front. When the next call for cheers came, however, it +almost knocked Bob over. + +"Three cheers for Sergeant Owens!" shouted a "Brindle;" and then came +three more yells, followed by a "tiger" as loud and piercing as an +Indian war-whoop. During his absence Bob had been promoted in general +orders for gallantry, his pay as sergeant to begin on the day he rescued +Mr. Wentworth's boys from the hands of the Kiowas. + +Presently the bugle sounded, and the column came to a halt. The officers +at once fell out and crowded around George, who, in as few words as +possible, told Captain Clinton what Bob's squad had been doing since the +captain left them back there on the borders of the Staked Plains. The +officers were all very much pleased, especially Lieutenant Earle, who +for a moment threw off his dignity and rode up to thank the members of +the squad which had brought so much credit upon the troop he commanded. + +"Sergeant," said he, extending his hand--which Bob accepted after +running his own hand through his sword-knot and dropping his sabre by +his side--"I congratulate you and all your men. You have done well." + +Bob managed to stammer out something about being glad to have pleased +the lieutenant, and the latter, after ordering them to sheathe their +sabres, went on to tell how he had followed the Indians in his front +until his men and horses were nearly exhausted and almost dead for want +of water, and how he had finally returned to the fort a day behind the +column, utterly disgusted with his want of success, to find that some of +his own troop had carried off the honors of the scout. He was proud to +command such men. + +Meanwhile, Captain Clinton and George were engaged in an earnest +consultation. The former told the young scout that he been sent out to +punish the raiders who had just recrossed the river, and that he was +going to do it, too. He was going to drive them out of their stronghold, +and George must show him the way to it. His men had already had their +coffee, but as George and the rest of Bob's squad had had none, they +might stay there at the farm-house until they had eaten the breakfast +that had been prepared for them, and then ride on rapidly and overtake +the column, which would move down the trail at a trot. This having been +decided upon, a squad was made up of details from the different +companies to take charge of the prisoners, and the command given to a +corporal, who was instructed to take them to the fort. Then the column +rode on, the corporal marched off with his captives, and Bob and his +troopers went back to the farm-house to eat their breakfast. + +During the meal George Ackerman, who had thus far been one of the gayest +of the party, was very silent and thoughtful. It was almost impossible +for any one to get a word out of him. His face was as white as a sheet, +but although everybody noticed it, Bob Owens was the only one who could +account for it. When they had satisfied their appetites they went out to +hold the horses, so that the rest of the squad could come in, and George +and the new sergeant, who was not a little elated over his unexpected +promotion, led their nags off on one side, so that they could converse +without being overheard. + +"I know just how it is," said Bob, "for I have felt so ever since +Captain Clinton ordered me to follow up that trail. When you know that a +good many lives besides your own depend upon a decision you may have to +make in an instant of time, I tell you it is rather trying to a +fellow's nerves. I used to envy the colonel and all the other high +officers in the garrison, but I wouldn't give up my little sergeant's +berth for double the money they make. There's too much responsibility +connected with the positions they hold." + +George told himself that that was just the objection to his own +position. He began to see that being a scout meant something. There were +two hundred men in Captain Clinton's command, and what if they should +all be sacrificed by some blunder on his part? + +As soon as the rest of the troopers had eaten breakfast, and Bob had +thanked the farmer for his hospitality, the troopers sprang into their +saddles and galloped after the column. When they overtook it George rode +up beside the captain, and the Brindles, without creating the least +confusion, fell into their usual places--all except Bob Owens, who did +not belong in the ranks any longer. Being second sergeant, his place was +in the rear of his company, "opposite the left file of the rear four;" +and that was the position he fell into as soon as he had reported the +arrival of his squad to the lieutenant. + +"Well, Ackerman," said Captain Clinton as the boy galloped up beside +him, "we are in your hands. We want to go to the nearest ford, and we +don't want to get there before dark." + +"Very good, sir. If you will move the column in that direction," said +George, indicating a 'right oblique,' "you will cut off twenty miles, +and besides, you can walk all the way, and save your horses for a rapid +eighteen-mile ride that must come as soon as we cross the river." + +We need not dwell upon the incidents of that day's march, or enlarge +upon the feeling of suspense that George Ackerman experienced during +that "rapid eighteen-mile ride" to which he had referred. It will be +enough to say that they crossed the ford just after dark in safety; that +George, without the least difficulty, found the narrow road that led +from the river to Don Miguel's ranche; that at his suggestion the column +marched "right by twos," which changed the troopers from four to two +abreast, Captain Clinton and George riding at the head; that they moved +as silently as possible, so as not to alarm any of the people living +along the route, and rapidly, in order to reach the ranche before the +cattle-thieves could receive notice of their approach; and that at the +end of two hours they galloped into the valley and saw Fletcher's +stronghold in plain view before them. A single glance at it showed them +that they had arrived just in the nick of time. The courtyard was +lighted up with lanterns, excited men were moving to and fro, loud +voices were heard shouting out words of command, and the whole interior +of the building presented a scene of the wildest commotion. Some +watchful friend had got ahead of the column and warned the thieves, and +they were gathering up their plunder preparatory to beating a hasty +retreat. They were on the watch too, for the column had scarcely made +its appearance when a sentry called out, "Who is it?" (equivalent to +"Who goes there?"), following up his challenge with the cry of "The +Americans! the Americans!" + +George afterward said that he never had a very clear idea of what +happened during the next few minutes. He remembered that he heard the +bugle sound a charge; that he dashed through the arched stone gateway at +headlong speed side by side with Captain Clinton; and that the rapid +discharge of firearms rang in his ears, accompanied by the cries of the +cattle-thieves, who fled in every direction, and such cheers and yells +from the troopers as he had never heard before. When he came to +himself, his horse, which seemed to enter fully into the spirit of the +matter, was dancing about in front of a pile of forage that filled one +end of the courtyard. When George saw it he threw himself from his +saddle and caught up a lantern. + +"I have seen the inside of this hole for the last time," said he to +himself. "If Fletcher lives to make a prisoner of me, he shall not bring +me to this ranche, and neither shall he harbor here to raid on my +stock." + +As these thoughts passed through the boy's mind he smashed the glass +globe of the lantern with one savage kick, and picking up the lamp +applied the flame to the pile of forage. He set it on fire in half a +dozen different places, and then turned and threw the lamp into one of +the nearest rooms, which seemed to be well filled with something. When +he had done that he was frightened. What if it was powder in there? But, +fortunately, it wasn't. It was some combustible matter that blazed up +fiercely, sending huge volumes of flames out of the door and lighting up +the courtyard, which was now occupied only by American troopers. The +cattle-thieves had behaved just as they did when Bob Owens so gallantly +attacked a portion of their number at the squatter's cabin. They fled +in hot haste, making their escape by the roof, by doors whose existence +George never dreamed of, and by squeezing themselves through the narrow +openings that served the ranche in the place of windows. And, strange to +tell, there was no one injured on either side. Having satisfied himself +on this point by searching all the rooms to make sure that there were no +dead or wounded men in them, the captain ordered his troopers into the +saddle and departed as rapidly and silently as he had come. George +looked over his shoulder now and then, and when he saw the thick clouds +of smoke that arose in the air growing thicker and blacker, he told +himself that he had made sure work of the old ranche, and that it would +never serve the cattle-thieves for a harboring-place again. + +Of course there was an "investigation" made by the Mexican government, +but if it ever amounted to anything, George never heard of it. The +expedition certainly had a moral effect, and no doubt that was just what +the department commander wanted. A body of Mexican troops was ordered to +the river almost immediately, and after that the raiders were by no +means as bold as they had formerly been. They crossed the Rio Grande +now and then lower down, toward Eagle Pass, but the troopers there were +on the alert, and after they had thrashed the thieves a few times on +their own ground, and some of their leaders had been arrested by the +Mexican authorities, the Texans began to feel comparatively safe. + +George Ackerman was kept actively employed at the fort much longer than +he thought he would be when he first went there. By order of Colonel +Brown he crossed the river on several occasions disguised in his Mexican +suit, and he always brought back some information concerning the +raiders; and once he came so near being captured by his old enemy, +Fletcher, that it was a wonder how he escaped. But long before this +happened Gus Robbins had received his discharge as a minor, and gone +back to Foxboro', a wiser if not a happier boy; Bristow had found his +way into the military prison at Fort Leavenworth; and the cattle-thieves +whom Bob Owens had captured at the squatter's cabin had been turned over +to the civil authorities. George did all he could to secure Springer's +release, but his efforts were unavailing, and with his companions he was +sentenced to the penitentiary for a long term of years. Mr. Wentworth +had come out all right. With the aid of his friend, Mr. Holmes, he had +gathered up all his cattle that had been stampeded by the Mexican +raiders, and rebuilt his ranche in a more substantial manner, and he and +his boys made it a point to visit the post very frequently to see the +men who had rendered them such signal service. + +The months wore on, the raids in Colonel Brown's district grew less and +less frequent until they ceased altogether, and then the colonel told +George that he might go home if he so desired. He did desire it, for he +was growing tired of life among the soldiers, and besides, he knew it +would be a waste of time for him to remain at the fort when he could no +longer be of any use there. So, after taking leave of the officers and +of the men who had accompanied him on his expeditions, he mounted his +horse, took his pack-mule by the halter and set out. The troopers, who +had assembled at the gate to see him go, cheered him lustily as he rode +through their ranks, and George carried away with him the assurance that +their feelings toward him were very unlike those with which they had +regarded him when he first made his appearance at the fort. + +Sergeant Owens never lost the position he held in the estimation of both +officers and men. He did his duty faithfully, never squandered a cent of +his pay at the sutler's store, and at last had the satisfaction of +telling himself that he had refunded every cent of the _Mail Carrier's_ +money, interest included. He kept up a regular correspondence with his +father, who told him he was proud of the record he had won, and said +everything he could to encourage him. One thing that pleased Bob was the +knowledge of the fact that everybody in and about Rochdale was familiar +with his history. They knew just what he had done when the steamer Sam +Kendall was burned, and the particulars of his exploit on the Staked +Plains had been published in the papers. He would go home a hero, +instead of sneaking back like a thief in the night; and that is +something that runaway boys don't often do. + +George Ackerman was glad to get back to his ranche again. He thoroughly +enjoyed the quiet life he led there, it was so different from the life +of bustle and excitement he had led at the fort. One bright moonlight +night, while he was pacing up and down the porch, thinking over old +times, and wondering what Bob Owens and the rest of the boys were doing +at the fort, he was aroused from the reverie into which he had fallen by +the sound of horses' hoofs on the trail. He stopped abruptly, and after +listening a moment heard the clanking of sabres mingling with the sound +of the horses' feet. Greatly surprised, George descended the steps, and +walking out to the trail discovered a long line of horsemen approaching. +There was no need that he should ask who they were or where they came +from, for as soon as they saw him they greeted him vociferously. They +were troopers from Fort Lamoine. They rode on past the ranche, but two +men who were riding at the head of the column turned off and came up to +him. One was Mr. Gilbert and the other was Captain Clinton. + +"Why, captain," exclaimed George, "this is an unexpected pleasure. May I +ask where you are going? You'll not march any farther to-night?" + +"No, we're not going any farther," was the answer. "I was about to camp +near Mr. Gilbert's ranche, but when I happened to mention your name, he +told me that you lived only ten miles away; so I came on, thinking that +perhaps you would like to see the boys again for the last time. We're +going up to Fort Lincoln to join General Terry," continued the captain, +as he dismounted and gave his horse up to one of George's herdsmen. +"That's in Dakota, you know. A determined--and, I hope, +successful--effort is about to be made to crush that old rascal, Sitting +Bull, by throwing three strong columns upon him--one under Crook from +the south, another under Gibbon from the west, and the third under Terry +from the east. There's where your old friends the 'Brindles' are going. +I suppose it doesn't make any difference to you where we camp?" + +"Of course not," replied George. "There is plenty of grass and water +close at hand. Come into the house, both of you. I want to hear all +about that great expedition." + +Were there not exciting times in the ranche that night? and didn't +George find the greatest satisfaction in acting as host to the men with +whom he had so often messed at the fort? The supper was the best the +house could afford, and all the officers in the column sat down to it. +When they had talked themselves out, and were about to go to camp, +George asked and obtained permission for Sergeant Owens and all the +members of his old squad to come in and visit him. Then there was +another supper to be eaten and another long conversation to be had, and +the consequence was that when reveille was sounded no one in that ranche +had had a wink of sleep. + +Bob Owens rode away with his command that morning, and it was a long +time before George heard of him again. He left Fort Lincoln with General +Terry, went off with Custer on that memorable scout, and when that +officer divided his command into three detachments, Sergeant Owens was +one of those who were detailed to remain behind with the packs. He heard +all of that terrible fight on that bright Sunday afternoon when Reno was +defeated and Custer fell with so many of his devoted followers. He took +part in the closing scenes of it, for when the packs were ordered up, +about six o'clock in the evening, he was under fire from that time until +nine, and saw eighteen of his companions killed and forty-six wounded. +He marched back to Fort Lincoln with the remnants of the expedition, +which had been whipped at every point by the wily old savage it had +hoped to crush, and was ordered to Fort Leavenworth, where he received +his honorable discharge. Then he went home, and he is there now, living +on the best of terms with everybody, especially David Evans. Although he +was kept in the army long months beyond his time, he does not complain, +for it gives him the opportunity to refer, when speaking of his frontier +experience, to the "time when he was with Custer." + +George Ackerman is living in his Texas home, managing his own affairs +with the assistance of an occasional word from Mr. Gilbert, and keeping +up a regular correspondence with his friend Bob Owens, whom he hopes +some day to see at his ranche again. He has never heard from his uncle +John or from Ned since he parted from them in Galveston. George has seen +some stirring times during his life, and has learned how to enjoy +himself in a quiet way. He has accumulated a large fund of stories +during his travels, and takes pleasure in relating them to any attentive +listener. Of all the numerous adventures in which he had borne a part, +he delights most to talk about those that befell him during his LIFE +AMONG THE SOLDIERS. + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + "himself to be could be coward" on page 106 is left as it + was in the original + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE AT THE FORT*** + + +******* This file should be named 21664-8.txt or 21664-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/6/6/21664 + + + +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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