Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-07-31

room and closed the door, while good
Mrs. Cowan stood weeping for Joy down
the long corridor, and DR.. Quin blinked
his eyes and fused and fidgeted and
strobe around Perry's room with his
hands in his pockets, exploding every
now and then into sudden comment on
the romantic nature of the situation and
the idiocy of some people there at Ros-
sitter. Joy does not KILL" he said;
Maitland would have been dead man
by the end of the week but for this; it
will give him a new lease of life"
And it did Though the Aame was
feeble and Pickering, it was famed by a
JOY unutterable. The boy whom the
stricken father believed his stubborn
pride and condemnation had driven to
despair and suicide was restored to him
in the prime of manly strength, all ten
derness. all forgiveness, and Maitland
whole heart went up in thanksgiving
He begged that Brainard and Stryker
would come to him, that he might thank
them for their faith in his son; he babe
the doctor say to Perry that the moment
he could be lifted from his bed he would
come to clasp his hands and bless him
for being far better friend to his son
than he had been father.
The sergeant's return to the post was
the signal for a general turnout on the
part of the men, all of whom were Curl
GUS to see how he would appear now that
his identity was established. OF course,
his late assailants could not join in the
crowd that thronged about him, but they
listened with eagerneSs to everything
that was told. ''He was just the same
as ever" said all accounts. He had
never been intimate with any of them
but always friendly and kind. One thing
went the rounds like lightning.
you'll be getting your discharge now,
sergeant" said Mrs. Reed, the voluble
wife of the leader of the band, "and
taking up your residence at the ranch, /
suppose. Of course the British minister
can get it for you in a minute"
mot bit of it, Mrs. Reed" was the
laughing answer. Il enlisted to serve
Uncle Sam five years, and he's been too
good a friend to me to turn from. !
shall serve out my time with the til
And the sergeant was true to his word.
If old Maitland could have prevailed, an
application for his sons discharge would
have gone to Washington; but this the
soldier positively forbade. He had eight
months still to servo, and he meant to
carry out his contract to the letter.
IF L. ~
Gwynne thankfully took a week, that
he might be by his fathers side and help
nurse him to better health. "By that
time, too, the garrison will have grown
a little more accustomed to it, sir, and
will have less embarrassment in going
on with my work"
Two days before his return to duty
there came modified sensation in the
shape of the report that a trooper Of
Wayne's company had deserted. He
was a man who had borne bad reputa-
ton as turbulent. mischief making
fellow, and when Sergt. Leary heard of
his going he was in state of wild ex-
element. He begged to be allowed to
see his captain, and to him he confessed
that one of his little party of three had
seen the ring drop from Mr.. Maitland's
finger the night OF the first visit to Dun
raven, had managed to pick it up and
carry it away in the confusion, and had
shown it to his friend in Wayne's troop
when they got back. The latter per-
suaded him to let him take it, as the
lockers of the men who were at Dun
raven were sure, he said, to be searched.
1t was known that he had a grudge
against Gwynne; he was one of the men
who was to have gone to the ranch the
night they purposed riding down and
challenging the Englishmen to come out
and fight, but had unaccountably failed
at the last moment. They believed that
he had chosen that night to hide the
ring in the sergeant's chest: he could
easily have entered through the WIN
dow. And this explanation-the only one
ever made-became at once accepted as
the true one throughout the garrison.
During the week of his furlough the
sergeant found time to spend many hours
by the bedside of Lieut.. Perry, who was
rapidly recovering, and who by the end
of the week had been lifted into an easy
invalid chair and wheeled in to see Mr..
Maitland. When not with Mr.. Perry,
the young troopers tongue was ever
wagging in his praise. He knew many
a fine officer and gallant gentleman in
the service of the old country, he said,
and he admired many captain and sub
altern in that of his adopted land, but
the first one to whom he "warmed"-the
first one to win his affection-was the
young cavalryman who had met his pain
full wound In their defense. Old Matt
land listened to it all eagerly-he had
already given orders that the finest thor
oughbred at Dunraven should be Perry's
the moment he was able to mount again
and he was constantly revolving in mind
how he could show his appreciation of
the officers who had befriended his son.
Mrs Cowan, too, never tired of hearing
Perry's praises, and eagerly questioned
when the narrator tagged. There was
another absorbed auditor, who never
questioned and who listened with down
cast eyes. 1t was she who seldom came
near Perry during his convalescence, she
who startled and astonished the young
fellow beyond measure, the day the am
bulance came down to drive him back to |
the fort, by withdrawing the hand he
had impulsiFely seized when at last she
to bid him adieu. and cutting |
short his eager words with "Mrs. Belknap
will console you, dare say" and alb
ruptly leaving the room.
Poor Nedl In dire distress and per-
plexity he was driven back to Rossiter, |
and that very evening he did most SEN