The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-14
CHAPTER II.

Promotion was raplQ IN the cavalry
In those days, so soon after the war
Indians contributed largely to the gen
eraI move but there were other causes,
too. Dean had served little over a
year as second lieutenant in troop
doing duty along the lower Platte,
when vacancies occurring gave him n
speedy and unlooked-for lift. He had
met Mr.. Folsom only once. The veteran
trader had embarked much of his cap
itaI in business at Gate City beyond
the Rockies, but officers from Fort
Emory. close to the new frontier town,
occasionally told him he had won a
stanch friend in that solid citizen.
You ought to get transferred to
Emory" they said. Here's the band.
half dozen pretty girls. hops twice
week, hunts and picnics all through
the spring and summer in the noun
tains. fishing ad libitum, ard lots of
fun all the year around" But Deans
ears were oddly deaf. a classmate let
fall the observation that it was be
cause of a New York girl who had JILL
ed him that Dean had forsWOrn society
and stuck to a troop in the field; but
men who knew and served with the
young fellow found him an enthusiast
in his profession, passionateiy fond OF
cavalry life in the open, q bold rider.
a keen shot and born hunter. Up
with the dawn day after day, Ia saddle
long hours, scouting the divides and
ridges. stalking antelope and blacl-t2il
deer, chasing buffalo, he lived a life
that hardened every muscle, DTonZeU
the skin, cleared the eye and brain,
and gave TO even monOtOnOus existence
a ''VeTVe' and ZeSt the daWdlors in
those OId-time garrisons never knew.
All the long summer of the year att1s
his graduation, from mid-April until
November, he never once slept beneath
d wooden roof, and more often than
not the sky was his only canopy. That
summer. too. Jessie spent at home.
Propose with her most Of the time,
and one year more would finish them
al the reliable cid Ohio school. By that
time Folsom's handsome new home
would be in readiness to receive his
daughter at Gate City. BY that time.
too, Marshall might hope TO have
leave and come in to Illinois to well
come his sister and gladden. his moth
er's eyes. But until then, the boy had
said to himself, he'd stick to the field.
and the troop that had the toughest
work to do was the one that best suit
ed him, and so it had happened that
by the second spring OF his service in
the regiment no Subaltern was held in
higher esteem by senior officers or re-
garded with more envy by the lazy
ores among the juniors than the young
graduate, for those, too, We're days in
which graduates were few and far be-
tween, except in higher grades. Twice
had he ridden in the dead of winter
the devious trail through the Medicine
Bow range to Frayne. Once already
had he been sent the long march to
ana from the Big Horn, and when Ger
tain officers were ordered to the noun
tains early in the spring to locate the
site of the new post at Warrior Gap,
Brooks troop, as has been said, went
along as escort and Brooks caught
mountain fever in the hills, or some
such 2ilment, and made the home trip
III the ambulance, leaving the active
command of &C" troop to his Suhaltern.
With the selection of the site Dean
had nothing to 90. Silently he looked
on as the Quartermaster, the engineer
and a staff officer from Omaha paced
off certain lines took shots with their
instruments at neighbOring heights,
and sampled the sparkling waters Of
the Fork. Two companies of infantry,
sent down from further posts along
the northern slope of the range, had
stacked their guns and pitched their
dog tents" and Vigilant vedettes and
sentries peered over every command
ing height and ridge to secure the in
Vaders against surprise. Invaders they
certainly were from the Indian point
of view, for this was Indian story land,
the most priced, the most beautiful,
the most prolific in fish and game in
all the continent. Never had the red
man chung with such tenacity to any
section Of his hunting grounds as did
the Northern Sioux to this the north
and northeast watershed of the B.g
Horn range. Old Indian fighters
among the men shook their heads when
the quartermaSter selected q level
bench as the site on which to begin
the stOckade that was to enclose the
officers quarters and the barracks,
storehouse and magazine, and omin
ously they glanced at one another and
then at the pine-skrted ridge that
rose, sharp and sudden, against the
Sky, not four hundred yards away,
dominating the site entirely.
Il shouldn't like the job of clearing
away the gang of Indians that might
seize that ridge" said Dean, when
later asked by the engineer what he
thought of it, and Dean had twice by
that time been called upon to help
hustle" Indians out of threatening
positions, and knew whereof he spoke.
II shouldn't worry over things you're
never likely to have to do" said the
quartermaster, with sarcastic empha-
Sis, and he was a man who never yet
had had to face q foeman in the field,
and Dean said nothing more, but felt
right we'll he had no friend in Maj.
Burleigh.
They left the infantry there to guard
the site and protect the gang of wood
choppers set to work at once, then
turned their faces homeward. They
had spent four days and nights at the
Gap. and the more the youngSter saw
of the rUtund quartermaSter the less
he cared TO cultivate him. A portly,
heavily built man was he, some forty
years Of age, a WidOWer, whose chill
di'on We're at their mothers old home
in the far East, a business man with a
keen eye for opportunities and in
VlstINerts, q fellow who was reputed
ia have stock in a dozen mines and
kindred enterprises, q knowing hand
Who drove fast horses and owned quite
Il stable, q sharp hand who played a
thriving game Of poker, and had no
compuncti0ns as to winning. Officers
at Emory were fighting shy of him.
HI PLAYED TOO big a game for their
small pay and pockets, and the men
with whom he took his pleasure were
big contractors or weIl-known sports"
and gamblers. who in those days
thronged the frontier towns, and most
men did them homage. But on this
trip BurIejgh had no big gamblers
alorg ana missed his evening game,
and. once arrived at camp along the
Fork he had "rOped in" some of the
infantry officers, but Brooks and the
engineer declined to play, and so had
Dean from the very start
"All true cavahymen ought to be
able 10 take n hand at poker" sneered