CHAPTER X.
IN SUSPENSE.
Returning to the open sunshine he made the circuit of the house, and onthe north side stopped and studied with an interest he had not feltbefore. A stout post was still standing on that side, and to the post acavalry horse had been tethered within two days, and stood there longenough to paw and trample the gravel all around it. Charlton wascavalryman enough to read in every sign that the steed had been mostunwillingly detained. In evident impatience he had twisted twice andagain around that stubborn bullet-scarred stump, and the troop commandercould almost see him, pawing vigorously, tugging at his "halter-shank,"and plunging about his hated but relentless jailer, and neighing loudlyin hopes of calling back his departing friends. Charlton felt sure that,as the troop rode away, some one of the men had remained here somelittle time.
A hundred yards across the prairie was the "double file" trail of thedetachment on its straight line for the ridge, and here, only a littledistance out, were the hoof-prints of a troop horse both coming andgoing. Even more interested now, the captain went some distance outacross the prairie, and still he found them. Leaving the hut andfollowing to overtake the troop, the horse had instantly taken thegallop; the prints settled that. But what struck Captain Charlton asstrange was that the other tracks, those which were made by the samehorse in coming to the hut, were still to be found far out toward thenortheast. It was evident, then, that the rider had not turned back fromthe command until it had marched some distance from the Niobrara; thathe had not gone back to the bank where they had been in camp, as wouldhave been the case had he lost or left something behind, but had comehere to this abandoned hovel southeast of the trail. Now, what did thatmean? One other thing the captain did not fail to note; that horse hadcast a shoe.
Late as it was when he reached the camp on White River that night--aftermidnight, as it proved--Charlton found his young lieutenant up, andanxiously awaiting him. When the horses had all been cared for, and thetwo officers were alone near their tents, almost the first questionasked by the captain was:
"Did you give any man permission to ride back after you left theNiobrara Friday morning?"
"No, sir," answered Blunt in some surprise. "No one asked, and everyman was in his place when we made our first halt."
Immediately after reveille on Sunday morning, a good hour before the sunwas high enough to peep over the tall white crags to the east of thelittle camp, the two officers were out at the line, superintending thegrooming of the horses. Fifty men were now present for duty, and fiftyactive steeds were tethered there at the picket rope, nipping at eachother's noses or nibbling at the rope itself, and pricking up their earsas the captain stopped to pat or to speak to one after another of hispets. Always particularly careful of his horses, Captain Charlton onthis bright sunshiny morning was noting especially the condition oftheir feet. Every one of those two hundred hoofs were keenly scrutinizedas he passed along the line. But there was nothing unusual in this--henever let a week go by without it.
"You seem to have had a number reshod within the last few hours,sergeant," he said to Graham, as he stopped at the end of the line.
"Yes, sir, I looked them all over yesterday morning. Every shoe is snugand ready now, in case we have to go out. Seven horses were reshodyesterday, and over twenty had the old shoes tacked on."
Grooming over, each trooper vaulted on to the bare back of his horse androde in orderly column down to the running stream, and still Charltonstood there, silently watching his men and noting the condition of theirsteeds. Blunt was bustling about his duties, every now and then lookingover at his soldierly captain. Something told him that the troopcommander had made a discovery or two that had set him to thinking. Hewas even more silent than usual.
At seven o'clock, after a refreshing dip in a pool under the willowsclose at hand, the two officers were seated on their camp-stools andbreakfasting at the lid of the mess chest. Over among the brownbuildings of the post, half a mile away, the bugles were sounding messcall and the infantry people were waking up to the duties of the day.Down the valley, still farther to the east, the smoke was curling fromthe tiny fires among the Indian tepees, and scores of ponies weregrazing out along the slopes, watched by little urchins in picturesquebut dirty tatters. All was very still and peaceful. Even the hulkingsquaws and old men loafing about the Agency store-houses were silent,and patiently waiting for the coming of the clerk with his keys ofoffice. One or two young braves rode by the camp, shrouded in theirdark-blue blankets, and apparently careless of any change in thecondition of affairs, yet never failing to note that there were fiftyhorses and soldiers ready for duty there in camp.
Their breakfast finished, Charlton said that he must go at once to theoffice of the post commander over in garrison, and that he might bedetained some hours. "It will be well to keep the men here, Blunt, forwe may be needed any moment."
And yet, as he was riding away with his orderly, Charlton stopped tolisten to what Sergeant Graham had to say.
"Sergeant Dawson and Private Donovan wanted particularly to go over tothe post for a few hours this morning, and so did some of the others,but I told them that the captain's orders were we should all stay atcamp, we were almost sure to be wanted. They were all satisfied, sir,but Dawson and Donovan, who made quite a point of it, and I said I wouldcarry their request to the captain." And to Blunt's surprise, as well asthat of Sergeant Graham, the captain coolly nodded.
"Very well. They've both been doing hard work of late. Tell them to keeptheir ears open for 'boots and saddles'; otherwise they may stay untilnoon. After dinner, perhaps, I will give others a chance to turn."
Fifteen minutes later Captain Charlton was in consultation with the postcommander, and after guard mounting they returned to the colonel'shouse, where a tall infantry soldier, the provost sergeant, was awaitinghim.