VIII
Ennis and Schuchardt were still there, and started at sight of Lanier"s white face. Without a word he led on to an inner room, where Ennis sprang to his side. "Help me off with these," he said, "and bring a lamp. Come up-stairs, Barker;" and, wondering, both the others followed.
There were but two sleeping rooms aloft in the little bachelor set.
Ennis had the one facing the parade. Lanier"s looked out upon the hospital and surgeon"s quarters at the back. Into this room marched Bob Lanier and threw open the door of the single closet wherein was hanging uniform and civilian garb in some profusion. Ennis held the lamp on high, and with his free hand Lanier began throwing out the contents--a new uniform dress coat, an older one that had done duty for the three previous years, two sack coats or "blouses," the police officers"
overcoat of the day, several pairs of blue trousers, with the broad stripe of the cavalry, and these as they came were flung on the bed by Barker and "Shoe." Then appeared a suit of evening clothes, carefully handled. Then a brown business suit of tweeds, then a light drab overcoat, and then the closet was well nigh empty, and Lanier faced them with the simple words: "It"s gone!"
"What"s gone?" demanded Ennis.
"Why, that dark gray mixture sack suit I brought from leave last year.
It always hung "way back in here."
"_Who_ wants it now, I"d like to know?" demanded Ennis.
"Our colonel, who accuses me of costuming Rawdon for his getaway." And the three friends looked at each in something like consternation.
Then Barker spoke: "It"s only fair to the colonel to tell the rest, Bob.
Rawdon"s box, that he left for safe keeping with a friend in town, had not only the suit you saw at the office, but a new fur cap with your name in it. There were other things that looked queer. The day of the storm Quinlan came over to the guard-house after his visit here, wearing a new cap instead of his old one, and Ca.s.sidy swooped on it, thinking it yours, for it was here he got it, and the name in that cap was Rawdon.
It leaked out somehow. Fitzroy hunted the story down."
"The name was burnt out when Ca.s.sidy brought it back to me," said Lanier slowly. "He claimed that in lighting his pipe----"
"Poor Ca.s.sidy lied every way he could think of to save you," said Barker ruefully. "It"s the young cad you befriended and helped along that"s tricked you in the end, and you"re not the only man, I"m afraid."
"Roped Rafferty in, I suppose," said Schuchardt, while a light of superior wisdom stole slowly over the face of Lieutenant Ennis.
"Rafferty, doubtless, to the extent of bribing or wheedling him out of Bob"s new cits----"
"But those were _not_ mine that Fitzroy had!" burst in Lanier.
"Of course not. He"s left you a worn suit in place of the new. Where"d he steal that one, I wonder? There isn"t another officer of your size and build at the post. But, here, I"ve got to go back and report, and my report will be in these words: "Mr. Lanier has been robbed, too,"" and Barker made for the stairs.
"One moment," called Ennis. "You said Bob wasn"t the only man this fellow had tricked. Do you mean----" he paused suggestively.
"I mean, yes--that there"s more than one man, and there"s at least one poor girl in the garrison to mourn that fellow"s loss, and be d---- to him!" and with that Barker was gone.
b.u.t.ton listened to his adjutant"s report with something almost like a sneer. Stannard and Sumter heard it with grave faces, but without a word. Snaffle, who had drifted in, sn.i.g.g.e.red with obvious triumph.
"Gentlemen," said the colonel, "you have not heard the half of what I know, and every day brings something new. This comes in from Laramie to-day, brought with the mail that lay over at the Chugwater during the storm. Read that, Stannard." And Stannard took the paper and glanced over it, blinked his eyes, sniffed, and said: "I"ve heard about that case, and I"ll take Lanier"s story any day against--that fellow"s affidavit."
"Major Stannard," said b.u.t.ton severely, "you are speaking contemptuously of your superior officer."
"Colonel b.u.t.ton," answered Stannard, with high held head, but with firm hand on his temper, "I am speaking contemptuously of my superior officer"s _informant_, not of the commanding officer of Fort Laramie. If you care to look you will see that he quotes, not a.s.serts, that "this money was advanced to Mr. Lowndes on Mr. Lanier"s statement that the young man was summoned home by the serious illness of his mother, and that he, Mr. Lanier, would be responsible for the transaction. Mr.
Lowndes has never repaid it, and Mr. Lanier when appealed to four weeks since not only refused to make it good, but abused and cursed me for simply asking for what was my own." Now, sir," concluded Stannard, "I haven"t sought to learn the facts in the case, but I"ll bet ten dollars to ten cents you have yet to hear them."
"Very good, gentlemen," answered b.u.t.ton, rising in obvious chagrin. "It is quite evident in your opinion Mr. Lanier is a persecuted saint and I am an abandoned sinner, but just as soon as I can reach Omaha this case shall be laid before a general court-martial, and meanwhile I waste no more words defending my actions."
Whereupon, with formal "Good-night, sir," from Stannard and Sumter, and a grumpy dismissal from the indignant commander, the ill-starred conference broke up. Snaffle, pouring balm into b.u.t.ton"s ready ear, as he saw him home, went in and drank his health at the well-stocked sideboard, and then started straightway across the parade to his troop quarters, and, late as it was, called for his first sergeant.
The men were mostly in bed, as they should be at such an hour, but there had been an informal dance, and many of the sergeants were still at the hop room. Beyond this brightly lighted building, and about in the rear of the infantry barracks at the westward end, was the slide into the creek valley, whereat so many of the officers" children had been coasting early in the evening, and where now--nearly eleven o"clock--half a hundred young people of both s.e.xes, wives and daughters of quartermaster"s employees and of the elder sergeants, attended by their gallants from the garrison, were having a merry time of it. The moon shone in brilliance. The night air, frosty and still, was full of exhilaration. The officer-of-the-guard, merely cautioning the revellers to control their impulse to shout, had gone on his way with implied permission to keep up the fun, and presently other officers appeared upon the brow of the bluff, interested observers. One of them, the junior medical officer of the post, was known to all, for his duty it was to attend the families of the soldiery resident in the little village of their own, just west of the quartermaster"s corral, and sheltered by the long line of bluffs from the northerly gale. Deep in snowdrifts lay the snug little cabins, cottages and shacks, wherein dwelt these blithe-hearted folk--many of the girls as pretty, and to the full as coquettish, as their sisters of the official circle in the big "fort" enclosure above. Still farther to the west lay three little houses on the level "bench," by the swift-running stream--the homes of the corral-master, the wagon-master and the veterinarian--civilians all, as then ordained, yet men who had lived their lives with the army on the frontier.
And it was one of these, the veterinary surgeon, a gray-haired man of nearly sixty, who presently came toiling up the hillside, touched his fur cap front in salutation to tall Lieutenant Ennis, and begged leave to speak a moment with Doctor Schuchardt, whom he led slowly away.
Looking gravely after them and pondering many things in mind, Ennis, none the less, had attentive ear for the chatter and gossip of a neighboring group that had suspended their sledding for the moment and were curiously watching the pair.
"There"s no more the matter wid Dora Mayhew than there is wid me, "cept one," said a red-cheeked maid of "laundress row," to the eager group about her. "She"s been daft about that young dude Rawdon ever since he came last spring to Frayne."
"Yes, an" deef to c.o.c.kney Fitz," laughed another.
And Ennis, turning quickly, noted the group, four young non-commissioned officers and three of the garrison girls, all of them toying with the name of good old Mayhew"s bonny daughter, she whom that veteran English horseman had taught and guarded with such jealous care, to the end that jealousy burned in the hearts of a dozen other girls less favored in face or fortune. Well had Ennis known of Sergeant Fitzroy"s aspirations.
Few in the regiment had not, and few there were who did not know that, in spite of Mayhew"s avowed dislike for him, the girl had for a time encouraged. It may have been only to pique the others, for Fitzroy was clever, well-to-do, a rising man in the service; indeed, one who had "money in the bank and men in his toils," said elder women in the quarters.
Then, in April, to Fort Frayne, had come this handsome young fellow Rawdon, with better looks, better manners, and even, as it seemed, better money, for Rawdon was lavish where Fitzroy was "near," and the favor of the young girl, who had toyed with the Englishman, turned from him to this unknown. Then the whole command went forth to war and to a summer of sharp work. Then with the late October, headquarters, band, and six troops had been transferred from Frayne to Cushing, close in to civilization. Then had come Fitzroy"s new opportunity, with Rawdon left at Frayne. Then had come Rawdon himself; then the night of mystery; then the day of the storm, and when the skies above were clear again Rawdon was gone, no man knew whither, leaving a trail of suspicion, accusation, and a weeping, well-nigh desperate girl behind.
And in this web of intrigue and mystery Bob Lanier had become deeply, even dangerously, involved. Ennis was sorely worried. It was to see Mayhew the two friends had come, and, lo, Mayhew had met them on the way, himself in trouble and perplexity.
"Where did you say she was now?" Ennis heard the doctor ask, as they rejoined him.
"She went to speak with Mrs. Stannard, but said ladies were there, so she came back a while ago. I could hear her crying in her room before she went the second time;" and poor Mayhew"s head was drooping.
"And you wish me to see her to-night?"
"If you"d be so good, doctor. She"ll soon be home. I was going over in search of her now."
"Wait," said Ennis. "Listen!"
There was a flurry among the revellers a few rods away. Two men had run toward the corner of the nearest barrack, looming black against the northward sky. Others could be seen hurrying after them. Then, _could_ it be? Yes, sharp and clear came the sound of a shot from away over toward the hospital. Another nearer; another still nearer, and distant shouts, and then the blare of the trumpet.
"Come on! It"s fire!" said Ennis, and sprang in pursuit of the leaders, "Shoe," and Mayhew following. "It"s fire!" went up the cry along the hillside. "Fire!" echoed the nearest sentry, letting fly the load in his rifle. "Fire!" shouted the few wakeful fellows in barracks, tumbling instantly every man from his bunk to his boots and into his ready clothes. "Fire!" yelled the sergeant-of-the-guard, as he tore in among his sleeping comrades. "Fire!" echoed the cry from barrack to barrack, as the men poured forth into the night, and then, as Ennis rounded the corner and came in full view of the wide open parade with the long line of quarters beyond, his heart leaped for his throat in wild dismay. "My G.o.d, lieutenant, it"s _your_ house!" panted a racing trooper. "My G.o.d, and Bob"s all alone!" sobbed Ennis, as he sped through the snow, for already from the front dormer and from the lower windows the flames were mounting high in the trail of a black volume of smoke, and over the crackle and roar of the fire, the rush and clamor of men, the thrilling alarum of echoing bugle and trumpet, there rose on the night air the scream of a girl, imploring instant aid, and this time at least there could be no doubt, for the cry was, "Save him! Save him!"
Of the minutes that followed no man could give collected account. All Ennis saw as he came staggering round to the rear of the flaming furnace that once was a house, was a wild-eyed girl being led away by a group of sympathetic women, and a little group of men bundling a slender yet vigorously protesting form in a snow drift, where one or two others were being rolled and buffeted; while others still, with a keening Irishman in their grasp, were lugging him back to hospital; while Corporal Ca.s.sidy, with his hair singed close to his head, his face and hands seared and his clothing soaked, smoking, and a general wreck, was striving to evade his handlers and stand attention to the colonel, who for his part was bending over Bob Lanier just emerging from his third involuntary plunge in the drifts, and sputtering objurgations on his would-be benefactors.
"In G.o.d"s name, Lanier," almost wailed the colonel, as at last that young gentleman, likewise singed and scorched and soaked and dripping, yet preternaturally cool for one just out of a blazing h.e.l.l, found his feet and faced his commander--"in G.o.d"s name, why didn"t you jump when they told you? There was nothing but snowdrifts below----"
"There was a colonel coming," said Bob, with a grin of mingled anguish and satisfaction, "who held _that_ sort of thing to be breach of arrest."
IX
Few men slept the rest of the night for talking over the stirring scenes of that spectacular fire. Indeed, there had been a strenuous fight to keep it from spreading, and the Graysons" quarters next door were badly scorched, and the Graysons woefully scared, before the little bachelor hall had burned itself out. Big Jim Ennis had lost pretty much everything he owned except what he had on. Lanier was not much better off. As to the origin of the fire, Bob merely said that he had turned the lights low in the sitting-room, and, obedient to "Shoe"s" orders, had gone up to his roost, too wrathful and amazed over what had occurred even to think of sleep--to think, in fact, of anything but the colonel"s words. So absorbed was he, as he slowly undressed, he never noted the sounds from below until his room of a sudden seemed filled with smoke, and, throwing open the door, he was amazed to find the hallway ablaze, the stairs impa.s.sable. Running to his dormer window, he yelled fire at the top of his voice. Sentry Number Five heard and came running down along the back fence; saw the peril, let drive a shot and gave the yell that roused every one at the hospital--poor Rafferty, half crazed, half dazed, and by no means half dressed, coming leaping along among the first.
And there at his back window, choking with smoke and tossing out clothing and other belongings, stood Mr. Lanier. Some men went searching for ladders up the line of back yards, the post hook and ladder truck being, of course, on the far side of the garrison. There being no extension and sheds to this little box, as to the larger quarters up the line, other men began shouting, and Lieutenant Grayson imploring Mr.
Lanier to jump, for already the flames had burst through the windows below. Then came the episode the regiment laughed over, swore over, talked over, many a long year thereafter. To Grayson"s appeal Bob"s only answer was a calm and deliberate: