fantastic toe, but "Inez so
loved to dance" he considerately left her to finish it, with Foster to
fetch her home; which Foster did.

But, of the few elders at Minneconjou who had personal knowledge of
Dwight's prowess as a cavalry drillmaster in by-gone days, and of the
many who, being told thereof, had gone forth to see and to enjoy, there
lived now not one who had not suffered disappointment. So far from being
the calm, masterful, yet spirited teacher and leader, clear and explicit
in his instructions and serene and self-controlled where men and horses
became nervous and fidgety, Dwight proved strangely petulant and
querulous. His tone and manner were complaining, nagging, even snarling.
Nothing seemed to please him. Troop leaders, subalterns and sergeants
were forever coming in for a rasping, and each successive day the
command paced slowly, sedately homeward, cooling off after a hot drill,
looking more and more sullen and disgusted. Officers dismounted at the
Club, quaffed "shandygaff" and sometimes even "Scotch and soda" in
silent sense of exasperation. The men rode away to stables, rubbed down
and, as they plied the wisps, said opprobrious things between their set
teeth. As for the horses, they took counsel together when turned out to
herd and settled it to their satisfaction that something was sorely
amiss with the major--who had at last begun to swear.

And something was sorely amiss with Dwight, as anyone who noted his
brilliant, restless eyes, his haggard face and fitful manner could not
fail to see. It was at this stage of the proceedings, as Stone squarely
owned up later, that he as post commander should have taken Dwight to
task, even to the extent of administering correction. But the strongest
soldier is sometimes disarmed at sight of a fellow's suffering, and, for
fear of adding one pang, will suppress a needed word. Thus it happens
that occasionally a commander passes unrebuked a soldier's fault. Thus
it happens time and again that men, stern and unflinching in dealing
with their fellows, submit in silence to years of a woman's abuse,
because "she's such a sufferer."

But here was something Stone might, and possibly should, have done and
thereby measurably cleared the social sky and surely earned Dwight's
silent gratitude, and this Stone did not do, even though spurred thereto
by a clear-visioned wife, and that was--say a word of admonition to
Captain Foster.

He deserved it. All Minneconjou was a