dies of snow,
bundling them up in the big, warm capes of their regulation overcoats,
the officers half led, half carried their precious charges. The captain
bore his son and heir; Lieutenant Ross escorted Mrs. Rayner; two others
devoted themselves exclusively to Miss Travers; a fourth picked up the
Maltese kitten. Two or three smart, trim-looking infantry soldiers
cleared the section of bags and bundles of shawls, and the entire party
was soon within the door-way of the waiting-room, where a red-hot
coal-stove glowed fierce welcome. Here the ladies were left for a
moment, while all the officers again bustled out into the storm and
fought their way against the northwest gale until they reached the
little crowd gathered about the door-way of the freight-sheds. A stout,
short, burly man in beaver overcoat and cap pushed through the knot of
half-numbed spectators and approached their leader:

"We have only two ambulances, captain,--that is all there was at the
post when the despatch came,--and there are a dozen of these men,
besides Dr. Grimes, all more or less crippled, and Grimes has both hands
frozen. We must get them out at once. Can we take your wagon?"

"Certainly, doctor. Take anything we have. If the storm holds, tell the
driver not to try to come back for us. We can make the ladies
comfortable here at the hotel for the night. Some of the officers have
to get back for duties this evening. The rest will have to stay. How did
they happen to get caught in such a freeze?"

"They couldn't help it. Stannard had chased the Cheyennes across the
range, and was ordered to get back to the railway. It was twenty below
when they started, and they made three days' chase in that weather; but
no one seemed to care so long as they were on the trail. Then came the
change of wind, and a driving snow-storm, in which they lost the trail
as a matter of course; and then this blizzard struck them on the
back-track. Grimes is so exhausted that he could barely hold out until
he got here. He says he never could have brought them through from
Bluff Siding but for Mr. Hayne: he did everything."

"Mr. Hayne! Was he with them?"

"He was on the train, and came in at once to offer his services. Grimes
says he was invaluable."

"But Mr. Hayne was East on leave: I _know_ he was. He was promoted to my
company last month,--confound the luck!--and was to have six months'
leave before joining. I wish it was six years. Where is he now?" And the
cap