ld him of the discovery of the revolver and the universal
connection of 'Tonio with the attempted murder, and Harris bowed his
head wearily upon his hands: "I will not believe it," was all he said.

A sergeant and six men had gone with despatches and orders to find the
field column along the Black Mesa. A runner had been sent to McDowell
with the news, and another to Camp Sandy, where was Colonel Pelham, the
district commander, giving details of the attempted assassination of
the young staff officer, and warning all to arrest 'Tonio on sight. The
affair was the one topic of talk in every barrack room, mess, and
gathering at the post, and the subject of incessant comment and
speculation at the store. That 'Tonio was the culprit no man was heard
to express the faintest doubt. There were some who went so far as to
say that _any_ man, officer, soldier or civilian, who dared to strike
an Indian of 'Tonio's lineage had nothing less to expect. The one
question was, how had 'Tonio succeeded in luring his victim, unarmed,
to the spot, and why had he left his vengeance unfinished? The one man
along officers' row to express dissent from public opinion was
Lieutenant Harris; the one man at the store to sit in unresponsive
silence was Mr. Case--the bookkeeper.

Busy with his books, making up for the lost time, he said, sitting long
hours at his desk, within earshot of almost everything, and hearing
every theory expressed, he never so much as opened his lips upon the
subject further than to say that, from all accounts, the lieutenant
brought it on himself, and should never have ventured out alone, much
less unarmed.

"You didn't like him any too well yourself," bluntly hazarded Bonner,
two days after the tragedy, and, somehow, a rumor of a row between them
at the doctor's quarters was again in circulation.

"I didn't," said Case, imperturbably. "But that score is settled."

In the course of the prompt investigation made by Archer during the
daylight hours that followed the affray, Bentley had deemed it a duty
to tell the commander of the disturbance between Willett and Case,
ascribing it to Case's vinous excitement after some transaction at
cards, and though Archer believed the bookkeeper totally innocent of
any part in the distressing affair that followed, both he and Bentley
believed it due to everybody that Case's possible connection with it be
looked into. With Craney they visited Case's own sanctum in the store
building not