vagely propped himself up on one elbow, and blurted out,--

"No, Mr. Billings! no! When I want a man punished I'll give the order
myself, sir."

"And is it still your wish, sir, that I make O'Grady walk the rest of
the way?"

For a moment Buxton hesitated; his better nature struggled to assert
itself and induce him to undo the injustice of his order; but the "cad"
in his disposition, the weakness of his character, prevailed. It would
never do to let his lieutenant get the upper hand of him, he argued, and
so the reply came, and came angrily.

"Yes, of course; he deserves it anyhow, by ----! and it'll do him good."

Without another word Mr. Billings turned on his heel and left him.

The command returned to garrison, shaved its stubbly beard of two weeks'
growth, and resumed its uniform and the routine duties of the post.
Three days only had it been back when Mr. Billings, marching on as
officer of the day, and receiving the prisoners from his predecessor,
was startled to hear the list of names wound up with "O'Grady," and when
that name was called there was no response.

The old officer of the day looked up inquiringly: "Where is O'Grady,
sergeant?"

"In the cell, sir, unable to come out."

"O'Grady was confined by Captain Buxton's order late last night," said
Captain Wayne, "and I fancy the poor fellow has been drinking heavily
this time."

A few minutes after, the reliefs being told off, the prisoners sent out
to work, and the officers of the day, new and old, having made their
reports to the commanding officer, Mr. Billings returned to the
guard-house, and, directing his sergeant to accompany him, proceeded to
make a deliberate inspection of the premises. The guard-room itself was
neat, clean, and dry; the garrison prison-room was well ventilated, and
tidy as such rooms ever can be made; the Indian prison-room, despite the
fact that it was empty and every shutter was thrown wide open to the
breeze, had that indefinable, suffocating odor which continued
aboriginal occupancy will give to any apartment; but it was the cells
Mr. Billings desired to see, and the sergeant led him to a row of
heavily-barred doors of rough unplaned timber, with a little grating in
each, and from one of these gratings there peered forth a pair of
feverishly-glittering eyes, and a face, not bloated and flushed, as with
recent and heavy potations, but white, haggard, twitching, and a husky
voice in piteous appeal addressed the sergea