set in gloom, but an air of gentle melancholy hung
ever about him. He made no intimates, sought no confidences and gave
none among the men. Whatever he was put to do he did surprisingly well.
Corporal Donovan, detailed to drill him when he, with the rest of the
little party, arrived, informed the first sergeant that "that young
feller knew more settin'-up drill than any non-com at the post." So it
proved also with the manual of arms. Blenke was an expert. When put into
a squad for aiming and position drill, Blenke had nothing to learn, and
his shooting and gallery practice was on a par with the best. They sent
him out to the rifle range west of the post and there he "qualified" at
known distance and excelled at the silhouettes, and still he declared he
had never before "taken a blanket." He learned his drill and shooting
with the militia, he said; gave "clerk" as his occupation and wrote a
beautiful hand, though his spelling at times might be criticised. Blenke
had a watch, card-case, shirts, shoes and underwear that told of better
days. Blenke, apparently, had no vices. He neither drank, smoked,
chewed, gambled nor, unless closely pressed as to his past, was he
believed to lie. Blenke looked about him a bit before going either to
church or town. Then Blenke began appearing regularly at chapel service,
and then, modestly, sought permission to enter Miss Sanford's Soldiers'
Advancement Association, where speedily he attracted the especial notice
of that devoted and devotional young woman. Then Blenke offered his
services as writer, copyist, etc., and Priscilla, being much occupied,
gladly installed him at a desk whereat he spent much time when not
elsewhere on duty, and all the while, neat, handy, silent, unobtrusive,
yet seeing everything with those deep, mournful, watchful eyes, Blenke
found means to make himself more and more useful, and presently to
communicate the fact that though his present lot was humble there had
been "advantages" in the past, there were ambitions for the future. To
begin with, he wished to transfer into the cavalry. He knew little, he
said, of the relative merits of those arms before enlisting. He had seen
much since, he said, to convince him that for a young man of spirit the
cavalry offered opportunities not to be looked for in the infantry.
This, he judged, would not displease the squadron commander, whose
influence through Miss Sanford he earnestly sought, and so it resulted
that Blenke, litt