n't, sir, and--several why he should."

CHAPTER XXIII

A WELCOME PERIL

"For such light duty as he may be able to perform," read the order that
had brought Sandy Ray to Minneconjou. First it was the Canteen, and
under the young officer's zealous management that fiercely assailed and
finally abolished institution had been a credit to the post and a
comfort to the men. It was not the duty Ray best loved, by any means,
but, being debarred by his wound from active exercise, compelled as yet
to ride slowly and with caution, he had thankfully accepted and
thoroughly performed it. Then had come his serious trouble, and then,
when, had he known the stories in circulation, he should have remained
to face them, he was ordered away, leaving, like Sir Peter Teazle, his
character behind him.

He was ordered to a difficult, probably dangerous and possibly perilous
duty, and, knowing this, he could not for an instant delay or demur. It
wasn't in the blood of the Rays to shirk. Far better might it have been
for Sandy had someone, either friend or foe, suggested that his being
selected, when he belonged to neither regiment represented in the
garrison, was in itself intimation that the stories at his expense were
believed, and if that were true he should be sent to Coventry--not to
command. There were young fellows in both the cavalry and infantry at
Minneconjou who would eagerly have welcomed the detail, with its chance
of swelling an efficiency record. Under any other circumstances there
might have been protest, there would have been growling. Now there were
only silence and significant looks. Even at the Club (Minneconjou had
set its seal against the time-honored, but misleading, appellation
"Mess"), where her name could not be mentioned, even in a whisper, the
order was accepted without comment. There was a woman in the case!

Ordinarily, under circumstances demanding the detail of a guard for such
purposes, post commanders would send a company under a captain, or half
a company under a subaltern; but Stone hated to lose a unit from his
regimental line. He had sent to the wood camp a sergeant with a dozen
picked men--one or two from each of his infantry companies. Now he sent
a lieutenant and thirty of the rank and file, selected at random, to the
aid of the agent. Of this thirty a sergeant, two corporals and twelve
men were taken from the squadron, for it might be necessary to send out
mounted men to make arrests, said