The Deserter

veteran soldier to require all his commissioned subordinates to put in an appearance at his office immediately after the ceremony of guard-mounting. He might

" or "Good-morning, Mr. Blake,"-never omitting the mention of the name, unless, as was sometimes tried, a squad of them came in together and made their obeisance as a body. In this

the matinée" on some of the fiendishly cold mornings that soon set in; but the experiment was never designedly tried, thanks, possibly, to the frank exposition of his personal views as expressed by Lieutenant Blake, of the cavalry, who said, "Try it if you are stagnating for want of a sensation, my genial plodder, but

and attention of the subalterns and company commanders. The colonel was a strict, even severe, disciplinarian, but he was cool, deliberate, and just. He "worked" his officers, and thereby incurred the criticism of a few, but held the respect of all. He had been a splendid cavalry-commander in the field of all others where his sterling qualities were sure to find responsive appreciation in his officers and men,-on active and stirring campaigns against the Indians,-and among his own regiment he knew that deep in their hearts the --th respected and believed in him, even when they growled at garrison exactions which seemed uncalled for. The infantry officers knew less of him as a sterling campaigner, and were not so well pleased with his discipline. It was all right for him to "rout out" every mother's son in the cavalry at reveille, because all the cavalry officers had to go to stables soon afterwards,-that was all they were fit for,-but what on earth was the use of getting them-the infantry-out of their warm beds before sunrise on a wintry morning and having no end of roll-calls and such things through the day, "just to keep them busy"? The real objection-the main objection-to the colonel's system was that it kept a large number of officers, most of whom were educated gentlemen, hammering

themselves about him, and the question was sometimes confidentially asked of comrades who came down on leave from that isolated station, "How is Hayne doing?" or, "What is Hayne doing?" the language in which he was referred to grew by degrees far less truculent and confident than it had been when he first went thither. Officers of other regiments rarely spoke to the "Riflers" of Mr. Hayne. Unlike one or two others of their arm of the service, this particular regiment of foot held the affairs of its officers as regimental property in which outsiders had no concern. If they had disagreements, they were kept to themselves; and even in a case which in its day had attracted

in every syllable, Lieutenant Hayne, standing in the presence of nearly all the officers of his regiment, had hurled this prophecy in his adversary's teeth: "Thoug

gone East; but hardly had he been away a fortnight when there came the trouble with the Cheyennes at the reservation,-a leap for liberty by some fifty of the band, and an immediate rush of the cavalry in pursuit. There were some bloody atrocities, as there always are. All the troops in the department were ordered to be in readiness for instant service, while the officials eagerly watched the reports to see which way the desperate band would turn; and the next heard of Mr. Hayne was

l,-Mr. Hayne. I desire to relinquish m

kly arose and ex

e had to suffer the loss of noses and ears, even of hands and feet in some cases, but for your attention. Major Stannard will add his thanks to mine when he

ve the slightest recognition of the presence of the officers of his own regiment, and that they as studiously avoided him. One or two of their number had, indeed, risen and stepped forward, as though to offer him the civil greeting due to

teous and formal, there was even constraint among some two or three, but there was civility and an evident desire to refer to his services in behalf of their men. All such attempts, howe

and resolved to shorten it as much as possible. Dropping his p

to look about before you select quart

move in this afternoon and be on duty

one to another, and then began craning their necks to search for the post

uarters according to your rank you will necessarily move somebody out? We are crowde

ppear utterly indifferent; others leaned forward, as though eager to hear the answer

hall turn nobody out, and nobody

with some of the bachelors?" asked

, though perfectly respectful: "I shall liv

in the office,-even on the mat

quarters in the garrison. You will have to m

but, if you will permit me, I can live nea

so,

rie. It is within stone's-throw of the barracks of Company B, and is

and isolated. I believe it was built for the sutler years ago, but was bou

ilors work there; but I can send them back to their own barracks. The house is in

want to live there

sir,-ex

once more. The strained silence continu

wish to speak with you.-Gentlemen, that is al

n the group that entered the club-room, and for a moment no one spoke. There was a general settling into easy-chairs and picking up of newspapers without reference to age or date. No one seemed to want to say anything, and yet every one felt it necessary to have some apparent excuse for becoming absorbed in other matters. This was so e

ensely funny?" growled one of

much like a funeral procession for fun. What I'm chuckling at is the absurdity

ain. "Here's a fellow comes in who's cut by his regiment and has pl

e paper which he had not been reading, and rose impatiently to his feet. "It seems to me, from the little I've heard of Mr.

heard all about that; and my experience is that when a body of officers and gentlemen find, after due deliberation on the evidence, that another has bee

d?" queried a young lieutena

artial," said the captain, crushingly. "It's one thing for a court to sentence, and another for the Presiden

ral Sherman thought the evidence conclusive, and they said so,-especially old Gray Fox. And you ask any of these fellows

dead. That's prima facie e

ath as to where the cut lay, I should say he had cut them.

m. Those fellows did the proper thing, and he ought

or sounder soldier in the army than the adjutant of the Riflers; and he said that it was Hayne's stubborn pride that more than anything else stood in the way of his restoration to social standing. He had made it a rule that every one who was not for him was against him, and refused to admit any man to his societ

ness to our men he froze as stiff as Mulligan's ear. What was the use? I simply couldn't thaw an icicle. What

Hayne, and Mr. Hayne apparently don't want to know me. I think that where a man has been convicted of dishonorable-disgraceful conduct and is cut by his whole regiment it is our business to back the regiment, not the man. Now the questio

ter than I am, and a better officer than most of us. Growl all you want to, comrades mine: 'it's a way we have in the army,' and I like it. So long as I include myself in these malodorous comparisons, you needn't swear. It is my conviction that the Riflers wouldn't say he was guilty to-day if they

or some years, thanks to a leaven of strong and truthful men in whom this trait was pronounced and sustained, it had grown to be the custom of all but a few of the officers to discuss openly and fully all matters of regimental policy and utterly to discountenan

rs generally will regard your calling on the

of those fellows thorough gentlemen and good friends. This will test the question thoroughly. I believe mo

asked "the mole," wheeling sudden

egg, doubtfully. "I thi

suppose he

is mind; and he is making up his mind now,-or he's made it up, for the

o unusual for the commanding officer to send for one of his subordinates after the morning meeting. The soldier tapped at the panel, and at th

?" he asked, as h

Blake, stepping quic

, sir, and could he see the lieutenan

shed his way through the chairs, and t

s sentiment as the cavalry party broke up and scattered

d and entered. All others had gone. There was a moment's hesitatio

consider, too, that I want you to say yes or no exactly as you would to a comrade of your own grade. If you were asked to meet Mr. Hayne

st announced my intenti

with us this evening

so with ple

s. Rayner entered the library in her cosey home and

p this morning?" she asked. "I thou

. Waldron has been here

might have written two or three pages already; and you kn

er something she told m

g and everybody. I advise you to listen to her no

should you want to know, Kate, if

I wanted to know so as to let you see th

t the colonel was going to give a di

ha

t-the colonel-was going-to give-a di

told

I didn'

nvited? No

I don't

he say she h

didn'

, irresolute: "Didn't she tel

what Mrs. Waldron says, if she's such a gossip?" And Miss Trave

aid her big sister, and flounced sudd

wn over her shoulders: "If Captain Rayner comes in, tell h

e you goi

to Mrs. Waldr