at men were wanted there
for the United States cavalry service, and suggested an idea to Bob. He
took a few minutes in which to run it over in his mind, and then faced
about and entered the office.

The law against enlisting minors without the consent of their parents or
guardians is very strict, but Bob got around it by repeating the story
he had told George Ackerman, that he was an orphan, and that there was
no one who had a right to control his actions. The recruiting-officer
was a young man, not more than two or three years older than himself,
but he had seen service away up in the Yellowstone country, and the scar
on his forehead, which was not yet fully healed, marked the track of the
Indian bullet which had come very near putting an end to his career as a
soldier. Being unable to do duty in the field, he had been sent to Texas
to recuperate his health and to recruit men to fill up some of the
depleted cavalry regiments. He questioned Bob very closely, but the
latter gave satisfactory replies, and, having passed the surgeon, his
"descriptive list" was taken and he was duly sworn into the service.
There were a number of newly-enlisted men hanging about the office
waiting to be ordered to some post, and one of them, who acted as
quartermaster-sergeant, took Bob into a back room and served out a
uniform to him.

"What shall I do with my citizen's rig?" asked Bob as he twisted himself
first on one side and then on the other to see how he looked in his new
clothes. "I suppose I can't keep it?"

"Of course not," was the sergeant's quick reply. "It would come too
handy in case you should make up your mind to desert."

"I shall never make up my mind to any such thing," exclaimed Bob,
indignantly. "I have gone into this business with my eyes open, and I am
going to see it through."

"That's the right spirit," said the sergeant. "But wait till you have
ridden twelve hundred miles at a stretch in pursuit of a band of
hostiles, and perhaps you'll weaken."

"What do you know about hostiles?" asked Bob.

"Well, I should think I ought to know all about them, for I have been
there. This is my third enlistment in the regular army."

"Is that so?" exclaimed Bob. "I should think that after so many years'
service you ought to be an officer."

"I was a non-com when I was discharged, and that is as high as any
enlisted man can get now," replied the soldier. "I was a captain during
the war, but they don't take men out of the