the week. No, I'll march straight to the signal.
There they must know where the Indians have gone."

"Ay, ay, sir, but then you can only pursue, and a stern chase is a
long one."

Drummond turned in saddle as they rode forth upon the dark _falda_
and gazed long and fixedly at the trooper by his side. Imperturbably
Bland continued to look straight ahead. Queer stories had been afloat
regarding this new acquisition. He mingled but little with the men. He
affected rather the society of the better class of non-commissioned
officers, an offence not likely to be condoned in a recruit. He was
already distinguished for his easy mastery of every detail of a
cavalryman's duty, and for his readiness to go at any or all times on
scout, escort, or patrol, and the more hazardous or lonely the task
the better he seemed to like it. Then he was helpful about the offices
in garrison, wrote a neat hand, was often pressed into service to aid
with the quartermaster or commissary papers, and had been offered
permanent daily duty as company clerk, but begged off, saying he loved
a horse and cavalry work too well to be mured in an office. He was
silence and reticence itself on matters affecting other people, but
the soul of frankness, apparently, where he was personally concerned.
Anybody was welcome to know his past, he said. He was raised in Texas;
had lived for years on the frontier; had been through Arizona with a
bull-team in the 50's, and had 'listed under the banner of the Lone
Star when Texas went the way of all the sisterhood of Southern (not
border) States, and then, being stranded after the war, had
"bullwhacked" again through New Mexico; had drifted again across the
Mimbres and down to the old Spanish-Mexican town of Tucson; had tried
prospecting, mail-riding, buck-board driving, gambling; had been one
of the sheriff's posse that cleaned out Sonora Bill's little band of
thugs and cut-throats, and had expressed entire willingness to
officiate as that lively outlaw's executioner in case of his capture.
He had twice been robbed while driving the stage across the divide and
had been left for dead in the Maricopa range, an episode which he said
was the primal cause of his dissipations later. Finally, after a
summary discharge he had come to the adjutant at Camp Lowell,
presented two or three certificates of good character and bravery in
the field from officers who bore famous names in the Southern army,
and the regimental recruiting