a short time the train began
to move very slowly. The officers and men came running back, but
the dogs were not with them! My heart was almost broken; to leave my
beautiful dog on the plains to starve to death was maddening. I wanted
to be alone, so to the dressing room I went, and with face buried in a
portiere was sobbing my very breath away when Mrs. Pierce, wife of Major
Pierce, came in and said so sweetly and sympathetically: "Don't cry,
dear; Hal is following the car and the conductor is going to stop the
train."

Giving her a hasty embrace, I ran back to the end of the last car, and
sure enough, there was Hal, the old Hal, bounding along with tail high
up and eyes sparkling, showing that the blood of his ancestors was still
in his veins. The conductor did not stop the train, simply because the
soldiers did not give him an opportunity. They turned the brakes and
then held them, and if a train man had interfered there would have been
a fight right then and there.

As soon as the train was stopped Faye and Ryan were the first to go for
the dogs, but by that time the hounds thought the whole affair great fun
and objected to being caught--at least Ryan's dog objected. The porter
in our car caught Hal, but Ryan told him to let the dog go, that he
would bring the two back together. This was shrewd in Ryan, for he
reasoned that Major Carleton might wait for an officer's dog, but never
for one that belonged to only an enlisted man; but really it was the
other way, the enlisted men held the brakes. The dogs ran back almost
a mile to the water tank, and the conductor backed the train down after
them, and not until both dogs were caught and on board could steam budge
it ahead.

The major was in temporary command of the regiment at that time. He is
a very pompous man and always in fear that proper respect will not be
shown his rank, and when we were being backed down he went through our
car and said in a loud voice: "I am very sorry Mrs. Rae, that you
should lose your fine greyhound, but this train cannot be detained any
longer--it must move on!" I said nothing, for I saw the two big men in
blue at the brake in front, and knew Major Carleton would never order
them away, much as he might bluster and try to impress us with his
importance, for he is really a tender-hearted man.

Poor Faye was utterly exhausted from running so long, and for some time
Ryan was in a critical condition. It seems that he buried his wife quite
re