n up there," was the order from
Washington, and no wonder the General was troubled. Then in the midst of
it all began to come these rumors affecting Burleigh's integrity; then
the determination to send Loring to look after this new boon companion
with whom Burleigh was consorting; then a dispatch from old Colonel
Stevens, "Old Pecksniff," as the irreverent youngsters called him, the
commander at Fort Emory on the outskirts of Gate City, telling of a
tremendous storm that had swept the Laramie plains and the range of the
Medicine Bow and Rattlesnake Hills, just after Lieutenant Dean had been
sent forth with a small party of troopers to push through to Warrior Gap
with a big sum of money, ten thousand dollars in cash, for the payment
of contractors and their men at the new post, and, what was of thrilling
import, there had been a deep laid scheme to head him off, ambuscade him
and get that money. Hank Birdsall and his gang, forty of the worst
toughs on the Western frontier, had "got the tip" from some one in the
secret in Gate City, and no one outside of the post commander himself
and one of Burleigh's confidential clerks, had the faintest inkling of
the transaction. Nothing but that storm could have defeated their
purpose. Several of the outlaws and many of their horses were drowned,
and one of the gang, rescued at the last minute by the mail carrier to
Frayne--rescued just in time to save his life, had gasped his confession
of the plot. Birdsall and his people were now scattering over the
territory, but "Old Pecksniff" felt that matters so serious demanded
full report to the department commander, and this full report had
reached Omaha the very night that Loring got his orders to leave.

Hastening to the office in compliance with the imperative summons, his
heart beating heavily despite his calm of manner, his thoughts reverting
to that well-known face and the appealing voice at his window despite
his utmost effort to forget them, Loring found the General with his
chief-of-staff and Captain Stone busy over telegrams and dispatches. One
of these the General handed to the Engineer. Then, as the latter read,
the veteran of three wars arose from his chair, took the young soldier
by the arm and led him aside, a proceding that caused Captain Stone to
glance up from the telegram he was swiftly copying, and to follow with
angering eyes, until suddenly aware that the adjutant-general was
observing him, then his pen renewed its scr