and
were surely on lookout to waylay him--or it. Ever since pay-day two or
three rough characters had been hanging about the store, and Hay
suspected they were watching his movements, with the intention of
getting word to their comrades in crime the moment he started, and it
was almost as much to steal a march on them, as to oblige Nanette, he so
willingly left before it was light. The Rawlins road followed the Platte
Valley all the way to Brenner's, and, once there, he would feel safe,
whereas the Rock Creek trail wound through gulch, ravine and forest most
of the distance, affording many a chance for ambuscade. Of course, said
Mrs. Hay, if her husband had for a moment supposed the general would
wish to see him, he would not have gone, adding, with just a little
touch of proper, wifelike spirit, that on the general's previous visits
he had never seemed to care whether he saw Mr. Hay or not.

All this did Mrs. Dade accept with courteous yet guarded interest. They
were seated in the little army parlor, talking in low tone; for, with
unfailing tact, Mrs. Hay had asked for Esther, and expressed her
sympathy on hearing of her being unnerved by the excitement through
which they had passed. Well she knew that Field's serious condition had
not a little to do with poor Esther's prostration, but that was
knowledge never to be hinted at. Dade himself she did not wish to meet
just now. He was too direct a questioner, and had said and looked things
about Nanette that made her dread him. She knew that, however austere
and commanding he might be when acting under his own convictions, he was
abnormally susceptible to uxorial views, and the way to win the
captain's sympathies or avert his censure, was to secure the kindly
interest of his wife. Mrs. Hay knew that he had sent couriers off by the
Rawlins road--a significant thing in itself--and that couriers had come
in from the north with further news from Webb. She knew he had gone to
the office, and would probably remain there until summoned for
breakfast, and now was her time, for there was something further to be
spoken of, and while gentle and civil, Mrs. Dade had not been receptive.
It was evident to the trader's wife that her lord and master had made a
mistake in leaving when he did. He knew the general was on the way. He
knew there was that money business to be cleared up, yet she knew there
were reasons why she _wanted_ him away,--reasons hardest of all to
plausibly explain. Th