The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1890-02-12

went the ROUNDS AXE llgntnlng,
you'll be getting your discharge now,
sergeant" said Mrs. Reed, the voluble
wife of the leader of the band, land
taking up your residence at the ranch,
suppose. Of course the British minister
can get it for you in a minute.
''Not bit of it, Mrs. Reed" was the
laughing answer. II 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 serve, and he meant to
carry out his contract to the letter.
Stryker offered him furlough. and
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
I will have less embarrassment in going
on with my work.
Two days before his return to duty
there came a modified sensation in the
shape of the report that trooper of
Wayne's company had deserted He
was man who had borne bad reputa-
ton as a 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 tc
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, an 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 al Dunraven should be Perry's
the moment he was able to mount again
and he was constantly revolving in mino
how he could show his appreciation OF
the officers who had befriended his son
Mrs. Cowan, too, never tired of hearing
Perrys praises, and eagerly questioned
when the narrator tagged There was
another absorbed auditor, who never
o,,J xx,bC Iic+oYoJ with Joxx1v,