s, dismissing that
worthy from the service on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and
a gentleman, and awarding a year's imprisonment at such penitentiary,
etc., as the reviewing authority should direct, and by the same post the
official order transferring Lieutenant Loring of the Engineers to duty
in the Department of the Platte, and then what did the steamship company
do but issue invitations for a dinner to be given in honor of that
distinguished young officer, and great was the noise thereof until it
was known that the gentleman had gratefully, but firmly declined. Then
the papers said "it was rumored" that the General had forbidden his
acceptance, despite the fact that the General had expressed publicly
his gratification that the company had at last done something in
recognition of its indebtedness to the army--which was most adroit, and
equally impersonal. And all the while Loring himself was having anything
but an enviable time of it. A man so reticent and retiring could not but
be annoyed by the persistent calls and cross-questions of all manner of
people in whom he had but small personal interest. He wished to have
nothing whatever to say upon the subject, denied himself to reporters
and relapsed into impenetrable reserve when importuned by brother
officers whom he but slightly knew. One or two with whom he would gladly
have held counsel were far removed, one at least forever, from his
circle. The stalwart old inspector, Turnbull, lay sleeping his last
sleep in the cemetery at Monterey. The veteran who served as president
of the Nevins' court was in far Arizona, and Blake, sound of heart, if
not of head, was under a cloud at Yuma. His forceful expressions
concerning the imbecility of department officials led to his being
confined very closely to company work and minor, yet exacting, duties
at the post, all because of his abandonment of Lieutenant Loring at a
critical moment, said the few defenders of the department's letter to
the post commander on that subject. "All because of his too vehement
defense of Loring," said everybody else.

With feverish eagerness, Loring awaited the sailing of the next steamer.
Every item for which he stood accountable was then at his office,
invoices and receipts made out in full. Nothing was needed but the
officer designated to relieve him. The Columbia was to leave on
Saturday, and up to Thursday evening no relief had appeared. Friday
morning the adjutant-general received a