of the sentry at the
coal-shed. He whispered the mystic countersign over the levelled bayonet
of the infantryman, swearing to himself at the regulation which puts an
officer in such a "stand-and-deliver" attitude for the time being, and
then, by way of getting square with the soldier for the sharply military
way in which his duty as sentry had been performed, the captain
proceeded to catechise him as to his orders. The soldier had been well
taught, and knew all his "responses" by rote,--far better than Buxton,
for that matter, as the latter was anything but an exemplar of
perfection in tactics or sentry duty; but this did not prevent Buxton's
snappishly telling him he was wrong in several points and contemptuously
inquiring where he had learned such trash. The soldier promptly but
respectfully responded that those were the exact instructions he had
received at the adjutant's school, and Buxton knew from experience that
he was getting on dangerous ground. He would have stuck to his point,
however, in default of something else to find fault with, but that the
crack of a whip, the crunching of hoofs, and a rattle of wheels out in
the darkness quickly diverted his attention.

"What's that, sentry?" he sharply inquired.

"A carriage, sir. Leastwise, I think it must be."

"Why don't you know, sir? It must have been on your post."

"No, sir; it was 'way off my post. It drove up to Lieutenant Hayne's
about half an hour ago."

"Where'd it come from?" asked the captain, eagerly.

"From town, sir, I suppose." And, leaving the sentry to his own
reflections, which, on the whole, were not complimentary to his superior
officer, Captain Buxton strode rapidly through the darkness to
Lieutenant Hayne's quarters. Bright lights were still burning within,
both on the ground-floor and in a room above. The sentries were just
beginning the call of one o'clock when he reached the gate and halted,
gazing inquisitively at the house front. Then he turned and listened to
the rattle of wheels growing faint in the distance as the team drove
away towards the prairie town. If Hayne had gone to town at that hour of
the night it was a most unusual proceeding, and he had not the
colonel's permission to absent himself from the post: of that the
officer of the day was certain. Then, again, he would not have gone and
left all his lights burning. No: that vehicle, whatever it was, had
brought somebody out to see him,--somebody who proposed to remain
se