, however, at last had found her opportunity and could
not be laughed out of it. The chaplain was warned, he said, that
exposure to the wintry night air was hazardous, and he was reluctantly
compelled to withdraw, and Priscilla, by no means reluctantly, to part
with him. She was in desperate earnest and in the full tide of apparent
success, with all Minneconjou watching with absorbed if mischievous
interest. Priscilla's mourners' bench, it must be owned, was graced by
the presence of one or two veteran troopers, the mention of whose names
was enough to start the risibilities of that godless array, "the Mess."
There was Shaughnessy, who had served six enlistments and never kept the
chevrons six months at a time. There was Kelly, the "champeen
thrumpether," who could blow "Taps" that would bring tears to your eyes
one day and maledictions on his head the next. There was Costigan, who
had been "bobtailed" out of two of the best regiments of infantry of the
service, and only "taken on" in Ray's old troop by special permission,
because of his undeniable valor in Indian campaign and the fact that
when he let whisky alone there was not a neater, nattier soldier, Horse,
Foot or Dragoon, to be found in the field. Priscilla had indeed gathered
in some of the reprobates, and sought to reach more. She begged that, in
accordance with their plaintive request, the inmates of the guard-house,
immortal "Company Q," might be allowed the benefit and privileges of the
Association. Had not He said He came not to call the just but the
sinners to repentance? and, as Uncle Will whimsically remarked, "If what
Priscilla wants are sinners--she's got 'em."

And this was the state of things when Stone arrived; took command,
reinforced the garrison with eight stout companies and band of the
Sixty-first, and the guard-house with a score of military malefactors
who, hearing of Miss Sanford's Soldiers' Advancement Association, begged
leave to partake of its blessings, including the coffee and sandwiches.
Then Stone suddenly "tumbled to the scheme," as Billy, Junior, a fierce
skeptic from the start, described it. Then Stone himself attended a
meeting, to the obvious embarrassment of the congregation, though
Priscilla beamed upon him in the sudden belief that here indeed was a
heart worth the moving. What Stone saw was quite enough to convince him
of the utter absurdity of permitting the further attendance of, at
least, the guard-house contingent, but he