rp to his
left, and in an instant the two men were face to face.

"Rawdon," spoke the new-comer, his tone curt, domineering, insolent,
"what do you mean by letting an officer lead your horse to stables? Go
you to yours at once! Take my horse, too, and groom _him_."

Rawdon flushed to his forehead, said not a word, came forth into the
light, and then turned squarely.

"My orders were from Lieutenant Lanier, sergeant, and they were
distinctly to stop here."

"Go you at once and do as I say," was the instant rejoinder, and the
veins in the sergeant's face were swelled almost to bursting. His eyes
were fiery, his lips were quivering in his wrath.

"Indeed, Sergeant Fitzroy," began the girl rebukefully, "those were
Lieutenant Lanier's orders."

"Hang Lieutenant Lanier's orders! No stripling sub can give such orders
in this regiment. How dare you delay there? Go, you townskip, or I'll
kick you through the ----"

But now with blazing eyes Dora Mayhew threw herself in front of him.
Tall, lithe, and slender herself, she seemed just the height of the
young trooper she defended. "If you raise hand or foot against Rawdon,
Sergeant Fitzroy, it's the last time you come inside our gate. No, I'll
_not_ stand aside! Before you strike him you'll have to strike me."

And then and there Sergeant Fitzroy realized that the fears and
forebodings of the past month were more than grounded. If angered
before, he was maddened now. Brushing her light form aside with one
sweep of his powerful arm, he sprang forward at the young soldier's
throat just as a tall, lean man, with grizzled beard but athletic build,
bounded up the steps and caught his wrist.

"None of that in my house, Fitzroy!" came the order, stern and
compelling. "In God's name, what does this mean?" And, still grasping
the sergeant's arm, the speaker, with his face nearly as white as his
stable frock, fairly backed the raging Englishman against the wooden
pillar and held him there.

"Let go, Mayhew!" raved the sergeant. "I've ordered that young rip to
stables, and he refuses to go."

"He was ordered to stay, papa, until you came," protested Dora, her eyes
ablaze. "Lieutenant Lanier--_that_ man's superior officer--gave him the
colonel's message to you."

"He was ordered to go by Lieutenant Lanier's superior, the
officer-of-the-day, whom I represent," was Fitzroy's answer; "and the
longer he stays the worse 't will be for him."

"No officer ever authorized you to come t