t in default of native wit to aid him wrestle with his acute
antagonist, the colonel begged that if only one more cavalryman should
be sent to the post in response to the new outcry for protection, he
should come in the shape of a field officer to straighten out Devers.
"He's got," said he, "too damn much individuality for me."

And not only had more cavalry come, but the major had come and gone. If
anything, said Stone, Devers was more unbearable than before, as he now
had over two hundred men to represent instead of a little more than
fifty. Fort Scott was in the height of the holiday festivities, Captain
and Mrs. Cranston with Miss Loomis and the boys were just settling into
the new quarters when Lieutenant and Mrs. Davies were announced as _en
route_ to join.

And now arose a serious question. Who was to receive and entertain the
new-comers until they were able to furnish and move into their own
quarters? If any one, his own captain should be the first to tender
hospitality, but Captain Devers made no move whatsoever. He had a large
and interesting family of his own, which was sufficient excuse. There
were now two classmates of Davies at the post, both in the Fortieth, but
they were youngsters, only a few months in service, who roomed together
in the upper story of old Number Three, and lived at the bachelor mess,
which comprised the contract doctor, the sutler's clerk, and certain of
the quartermaster's employes. The boys would give "Dad" the best they
had and gladly, but they hadn't anything. Even the iron bunks on which
they slept were borrowed from the hospital. "How can a fellow invite a
bride to occupy his one room when he don't own C. and G. E. enough to
furnish a hen-coop?" And by C. and G. E., the army abbreviation for camp
and garrison equipage, the youngster meant to imply that he had no
furniture beyond a camp-chair and a trunk. Cranston himself would gladly
have taken them in but for two reasons,--he had not a vacant room under
his roof, and Margaret did not seem to wish it. It must be confessed
that there had been an outburst heard only by him--confided only to
him--when Mrs. Cranston received, a few weeks after the letter which
sadly told of Davies's mother's death, the brief and possibly
constrained note from her late patient announcing his approaching
marriage to Miss Quimby, who he said had been utterly devoted to poor
mother during her declining days and those of her brief but painful
illness. Ma