"Shut up! man, and get Ray away from this crowd quick. I want _him_."
Blake simply stared. Mrs. Stannard turned quickly and almost ran into the house. Mrs. Whaling lifted her eyes heavenward, as though imploring Divine mercy on the doomed one; Mrs. Turner flushed, and looked wonderingly from one to the other; Mrs. Wilkins dropped her parasol and picked it up pretty much as though it were a shillelah and she meant to use it as such, and then the group began to break up. Ray, glancing over his shoulder to inquire the cause of the sudden cessation of talk, caught sight of the snowy plume dancing on up the walk, of Blake standing in petrified and indignant silence, and then of Mrs. Stannard"s face,--her eyes filling with tears. He recalled instantly her recent questions and half-uttered warnings, and something told him the blow had come. He gave one quick look at Miss Sanford; their eyes met, and hers, too, were full of trouble and something she could not express.
"Excuse me, but I want to inquire what this means," he said, and, bowing quietly, he turned to the gate where Blake still stood looking after Warner, who had halted farther up the row.
"It"s you, Billy boy; and d.a.m.n me if I don"t believe the world is mad!"
Ray stalked up the line fast as his halting gait would admit.
Wonderment, indignation, bitterness, were in his heart, but he choked it all down, and his eyes were fixed full upon the staff-officer, who, seeing him alone, came rapidly back to meet him. Something of the old reckless, dauntless manner rea.s.serted itself as they reached speaking distance. The adjutant was toying nervously with his sword-knot. Despite all Gleason"s insinuations, despite official papers that had been going to and fro, he felt it impossible to believe the allegations against Mr.
Ray, and his unbelief was never so p.r.o.nounced as at this moment when they came together. He had never seen it done before, but instinctively--by an impulse he could not restrain--he raised his hand in salute as he spoke the brief official words,--
"Mr. Ray, you are hereby placed in close arrest, by order of Colonel Whaling."
And Ray, with courteous return of the salute, replied with almost smiling grace,--
"Very well, Mr. Warner. I presume you will give me prompt information as to the charges;" and, facing about, went slowly and deliberately to his quarters.
Mrs. Stannard stood at the door-way until she saw him turn, then, taking Miss Sanford"s hand, drew her within the hall, saying simply, "Come."
"What can it mean, Mrs. Stannard? Surely he will stop and tell us."
"He cannot, Miss Marion. He must go direct to his quarters. I will send Mr. Blake at once to him. They are going now together. I shall go and find out all I can. Do not tell Mrs. Truscott."
And without a word Marion Sanford went slowly up the stairs and to her room. Mrs. Stannard listened until she heard her close the door, then hastened down the row in pursuit of Mr. Blake. Ray waved his hand to her as he stepped inside the threshold, and Blake, fuming with fury, came back to meet her.
"Was there ever such an outrage? It is something of Gleason"s doing, of course, but Ray says he can stand it if G. can, and is disposed to laugh it off; but there"s something else, I"m afraid; have you heard anything?"
"Nothing but vague rumors, Mr. Blake, but enough to worry me. There is some deep-laid plot or I"m fearfully mistaken. Gleason would never dare do it alone. Can"t you telegraph to the regiment and have things stopped?"
"They are far above Fetterman, and can only be reached by courier. Webb and Gleason went out with small escort last night, so the despatches say. By Jove! I"ll try it. Surely the colonel and Stannard and Wayne ought to be told. Wayne is still at Laramie, but he would come.
Something must be done to block these lies whatever they are."
"Oh, if Luce were only where we could make him hear! Mr. Blake, _can"t_ you find out from Mr. Warner what the trouble is,--what the charges are?"
"Of course I can. It is some mere local mischief that fellow Gleason has kicked up. I"ll go just as soon as I"ve seen Billy."
And go he did: and would have gone straight into the old colonel"s office even had that veteran not called him in. And when next Mr. Blake appeared upon the walk, the light had gone out of his face. He went slowly, reluctantly, wretchedly, back down the row. He could not bear to carry the news to Ray, yet he had promised, and in his hand was a copy of the charges and specifications preferred against his friend. So far from being a mere local matter the arrest was ordered from division headquarters, the court was already selected, and the time fixed for its meeting. Long before sunset the whole garrison knew--and with what additions and exaggerations who can say?--that Lieutenant Ray was to be tried by court-martial for offences that reflected on the honor of the whole regiment, and that accepting bribes and large sums of money from prominent contractors while on the horse board, gambling with them and misappropriating public funds, were the main allegations. The charges were signed by a prominent staff-officer, and Gleason"s name only appeared incidentally as a witness; so did that of Rallston, Ray"s brother-in-law; but there were several others. Blake laid the bulky paper before his friend with this word,--
"Before you say aye or nay to any one of the charges in this batch of infamy, I want to say to you, Ray, that I"ll stake my commission on their utter falsity."
And he had said practically the same thing to the post commander.
That afternoon Mr. Blake, after a long talk with Ray, knocked at Mrs.
Stannard"s door and asked to see her a moment. She came to him in dire anxiety. Long before this had Mrs. Whaling been in to lament over the downfall of this unhappy young man, and to expatiate on the gravity of the charges. On Mrs. Stannard"s making prompt and spirited expression of her utter disbelief in them, the good lady had lifted her eyes in pathetic appeal to heaven that so mercifully enables us to bear the tribulations that befall our friends, and groaned, a veritable Stiggins in skirts. Ah, no; she hoped, she prayed, of course, it might prove false; but the general--the general said the array of witnesses was overwhelming, and then his temptations! and his past career! She had been told he was addicted to the vices of drink and cards in their worst form. Ah, no; it was futile to hope. She feared the worst. And Mrs.
Stannard was wellnigh ready to bid her begone,--the old croaking raven!
as down in her inmost heart she termed her. She was full of faith and loyalty, but she was fearfully worried, and Blake"s coming was a G.o.dsend.
"How is he?" she asked.
"Astonished, of course; mad, not a little; but as full of pluck as ever.
What I want to see you about is this. He forbids my telegraphing to have things stopped. He wants a court, wants to be tried; the quicker the better; says I can write to Stannard or anybody, but not to think of stopping proceedings. All he seems to care for is this: he fully expected to be well enough to travel in two weeks, and then he wanted to join the regiment as fast as horse could take him. All that is now impossible. He has not said a word about Gleason, but I have sent a couple of telegrams from him that will make his brother-in-law smart."
"And have you telegraphed to Fort Fetterman? I"m sure they would have a chance to send the news."
"Yes, of course I did. What I can"t get over is this: that much of this matter must have been reported through old Whaling here by Gleason, and it has all been done in the dark. The old rip never gave us a chance to refute any story that Gleason would tell. Did you hear about Ray"s message to him?"
"No. When--what was it?"
"Instead of asking to see the commanding officer, as the average officer does when put in arrest for a thing he is innocent of, Ray never mentioned him. About an hour ago I met the colonel, and he asked me how Ray was behaving, and was beginning something about not letting him drink, when I could hold in no longer, and told him flatly that Ray hadn"t taken as many drinks in a month as he had in a day. You ought to have seen him; he was struck all aback, and stammered something about his having been led to suppose Ray was doing a good deal of that sort of thing. I replied that that wasn"t the only thing he had been misinformed about by a jugful, and he looked as though he"d like to put me in arrest too--the old slab; he would, too, if he had the grit of his wife; but he didn"t. He sent Warner down just a moment ago to say that if Mr. Ray desired to speak to him about the matter he would see him this evening, as "he desired to go to town on the morrow." Ray begged Warner to sit down, offered him a toddy or a gla.s.s of wine, and, finally, as though it had suddenly occurred to him, exclaimed, "Oh! Do _I_ want to see the colonel? Why, really, Mr. Warner, I know of nothing that--well, _you_ might say this, you know: it isn"t at all necessary that _I_ should see him, and I do not send this as a message; but, as the colonel appears to have furnished much of the information on these charges without reference to me, I shall probably answer them in the same way,--without reference to him." Gad! I never saw Ray more placidly polite, and he"s always most full of fight at such times."
But even with such "an old slab" as Whaling anything more impolitic than the conduct of these two cavalry subalterns could hardly have been imagined. Warner never told the colonel what Ray said; but, of course, had to say that Ray expressed no desire to see him. By the following morning the colonel was chafing over it a great deal, and over the indignation expressed around the post at Ray"s arrest. He concluded that he wanted to see the young man himself, and an opportunity unexpectedly occurred. Sergeant Wolf"s recent desertion was still a source of much subdued excitement, and efforts had been made to capture him. It had begun to leak around the garrison that he had been sent for the night of his departure by Lieutenant Ray, and did not return to the band barracks until eleven o"clock, "when he acted queer." The post quartermaster was much exercised about the theft of one of the best horses from the band stable, as he had become responsible for them in the absence of Mr.
Billings. Possibly Ray could throw some light on the matter, and, to that officer"s surprise, he was sent for at guard-mounting. His first idea was that his remarks to Warner had been carried to the colonel, and that he was to be overhauled for them. His head was perhaps a trifle higher than usual, therefore, when he entered the office. The first question sent the blood surging to his forehead, and he almost staggered with surprise.
"Mr. Ray," said the colonel, abruptly, "do you know anything of the causes of Wolf"s desertion?"
It was a moment before he could reply. Know? Of course he knew; but it was a thing to be sacredly guarded. He _could_ not tell of that interview without betraying _her_, without bringing Grace Truscott"s name into the very snare that Gleason had laid for it. The colonel saw his hesitation, and wheeled around in his chair; Mr. Warner looked up in surprise.
"I say, do you know anything of Wolf"s desertion,--of its causes, of where he has probably gone?" repeated the colonel, sharply.
"I do not know where he has gone, sir; I have formed an opinion as to the cause of his desertion."
"And what is it, Mr. Ray?"
"If it concerned me, I would answer unhesitatingly, Colonel Whaling. As it is, I cannot."
"What possible reason can there be for silence, sir? I do not understand."
"I cannot explain it now, sir. Let me simply a.s.sure you that I never saw him until within the last few days, that I had an interview with him the night of his desertion, and that he has had some trouble of a personal and private nature. Other than that I can give no account of him."
"This is most extraordinary, Mr. Ray. How came you to know anything of his private history, sir?"
"I decline to say, sir."
"By heavens, Mr. Ray! Do you realize that in addition to the other charges against you, you are laying yourself open to those of abetting desertion?"
"Possibly, sir. If so, I can meet them before the proper tribunal."
"You may go, sir. Stop! one moment: I have telegraphed to Sidney, to Denver, and to Laramie City to be on the lookout for him. I demand to know whether you have an idea where he has gone; _that_ you can answer!"
"I have not, colonel."
"Do you think of any place I have not mentioned where he would be apt to go?"
Ray turned whiter now, but his eyes were unflinching.
"I do; but it is only conjecture."
"What place, sir?"