ar from
Fitzroy's corrupting the coachman, the boot should be on the other foot,
were Fitzroy corruptible--that Foster would find his coachman a
double-dyed liar when he came to the truth of that runaway the night of
the dance--that Foster's sleigh and carriage and driving horses had no
right in a Government stable anyhow--were only there on sufferance
(which was true, for Foster kept saddlers besides--all the law allowed
him)--and that under the circumstances, when, as was well known, at
least twenty officers and troopers on Government mounts had gone forth
at night in violation of standing orders, without the commanding
officer's knowledge or consent--all on the plea of rescuing Mayhew's
daughter, Lieutenant Foster ought to be ashamed of himself for abusing
Fitzroy for taking the sleigh in hopes of having a warm nest to fetch
the poor girl home in as soon as he'd found her. "Sure, did Mr. Ennis
expect her to ride back on his cantle on so bitter a night? Faith,
Fitzroy was worth the whole pack of 'em put together, if they'd only let
him alone."

And that, at nine o'clock, when Ennis was sent for, was the colonel's
way of looking at it. Moreover, he had a rasp up his sleeve for our
massive young friend on half a dozen other counts.

"In point of fact, Mr. Ennis, that girl has simply fooled the whole
party and is probably laughing at all of you. A girl that will run away
without a word or line to her father, and marry an out-and-out
adventurer--a mere nobody--has neither heart nor head anyhow. And now
you've interfered in a matter of discipline just as Mr. Lanier did, and
I gave _you_ credit for better sense. You know I had ordered that
fellow's arrest."

Ennis took it all, all this and more, in grave silence and
subordination. He would have gone without a word, but Button would not
so have it. Button demanded his reasons, and began hitting back before
Ennis had named even two. This brought on the "spat," as Barker
irreverently described it, and left the colonel in no judicial mood in
which to see Stannard, Sumter, and others, as see them he had to in
course of the day.

But flatly he swore that Sergeant Fitzroy should not go in arrest. It
was only too clear they sought to make a victim of him.

And so all Fort Cushing seemed in turmoil and trouble as the sun of the
23d went out and "Black Bill" came in, yet that sun must have been
potent, for Mrs. Stannard's face, as homeward she sped, after a long
talk with Mrs.