"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 pa.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.s 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 a.s.sured 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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed, 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 hors.e.m.e.n 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.s 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 ident.i.ty of the man who had taken refuge in the squatter"s cabin.