un medicine he works."
"Ca'n't be from his mother," cogitated Lee. "Writin' ain't trembly
none--looks like it was writ by a school-marm, an' a lally-cooler at
that. Circuit will have to git one o' them pianer-like writin' makers
and keep poundin' it on the back till it hollers, ef he allows to lope
close up in that gal's writin' class.
"Lord! but won't thar be fun for us all Winter he'pin' him 'tend to his
correspondence!
"Let's you an' me slip round and tip off the outfit to shet up till
after supper, an' then all be ready with a hot line o' useful hints
'bout his answerin' her."
Ben joyously fell in with Lee's plan. The tips were quickly passed
round. But none of the hints were ever given, not a single one. A
facer lay ahead of them beside which the mere receipt of the five
letters was nothing. To be sure, the letters were the greatest
sensation the outfit had enjoyed since they stood off successfully two
troops of U. S. Cavalry, come to arrest them for killing twenty
maurauding Utes. But what soon followed filled them with an
astonishment that stilled their mischievous tongues, stirred sentiments
long dormant, and ultimately, in a measure, tuned their own
heart-strings into chord with the sweet melody ringing over Circuit's
own.
Supper was called, and upon it the outfit fell--all but Circuit. They
attacked it wolf-fashion according to their habit, bolting the steaming
food in a silence absolute but for the crunching of jaws and the shrill
hiss of sipped coffee. The meal was half over before Circuit, the last
letter finished, tucked his five treasures inside his shirt, stepped
over the bench to a vacant place at the table, and hastily swallowed a
light meal; in fact he rose while the rest were still busy gorging
themselves. And before Lee or the others were ready to launch at
Circuit any shafts of their rude wit, his manoeuvres struck them dumb
with curiosity.
Having hurried from the table direct to his bunk, Circuit was observed
delving in the depths of his war sack, out of which he produced a set
of clean under-clothing, complete from shirt to socks, and a razor.
Besides these he carefully laid out his best suit of store clothes, and
from beneath the "heading" of the bunk he pulled a new pair of boots.
All this was done with a rapidity and method that evinced some set
purpose which the outfit could not fathom, a purpose become the more
puzzling when, five minutes later, Circuit returned from
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