The Florence daily tribune., 1898-03-05
CHAPTER III.


nouncement of Fanny Hayward's en-
gagement 10 Mr.. McI.anc and few
weeks before the marriage. Randolph
Merriam had left For; SedgwiclS in COM
mand Of detachment of cavalry cs-
! corting government survey TO the
| Mescalcro range. II was not his tour
The detail belonged to Harrison,
younger officer, who had been saving Up
all winter for a two-months' leave ard
chance TO spend his savings at the
! great exposition at Chicago. 4 rcleut-
less colonel would allow him no leave,
because 1t was his turn for field duty,
and because so many officers wished to
| go to the fair that il was out OF tle
/ question as to expect anyone 80 ofIcr 80
take the detail for him The detacl-
men, would he In the field 1T icrs, three
months. possibly four. Harrison. con
sequently, was the b,uest rinn at Sedc-
wick. and said more hard things about
! government surveys, aud i..orc Improper
things, than could well he recorded here.
Everybody had been congratulating
Merriam ON the final receipt CT what the
lawyers didn't scoop" of his little leg
acy, and for two weeks he had been us
huppy as Harrison was miserable.
! Then, to the utter amaze of every hoSsy.
| just the day before it was time fer the
command to start it was announced
that llarrison's application for leave
had gone forward approved. and that
Merriam bad asked for aud been grant
ed the luxury OF three or tour months
jog through the roughcst and most for
bidding Of mountain ranges. He had
even got the coloncls permission TO 20
ahead and wait for the detachment AT
! the old mission on the Santa Clara, mud
had started late at night, accompanied
only by an orderly. People couldn't be-
lieve their cars, and the pest commander
rejoiced in the possession of secret
even his wife couldn't coax GU, OF him
the constituencies. Grabbed old
crank! as one of his gnrrison. not sub
| icct to court-martial, described him.
The adjutant hnd to ndmit that Mer-
riam had been closetcd with The X. O.
nearly half an hour. and had Looked
black and blue both, but 10 hluckcr, No
bluer, when he came out than when he
went in, No, he did not ihi, L thni my
body else had complained of Mcrriain's
owing himmoney. He did not think any
body had had word to say ngainst HIM
The old man had simply scrt for The nd ),
jutnnt right after the interview aud re-.
marked: "Mr. Blossom, YOU can zen
Mr. Harrison he may submit thot .appll-
cation for leave and I'll forwr pl 1tar-
proved. Mr.. Merriam has my Consent
to take that escort in his stcad" But
hadn't he told anybody? Didn't any
body know ?wcrc the very natural ques-
tions asked. No. Merriam's enc inti-
mate and chum in his re.simert was Bill
Whitaker, and Riil was away up at
Santa Fe at the time, n witness lefure
general court-mar:ial. Merriam was Il
frequent visitor III the Haynes quar-
ters, and everybody knew that in his
own regiment he had no warmer lriends
than Capt. and Mrs. Lawrence IInyrc.
of the Rifers. and Merriam had had
long talk with Hnync before calling on
the colonel. But no enc who l.fcw
either Haync or his charming wife ever
thought of trying TO extract from TEEN
information as 10 other pcorle'ayerso
al affairs. Old Buxton, the t,ragoou-of-
the-old-army-sort Of lieutenant colo
mel, did try to pump the captain.
but YVES most coolly ard civi,,y sruhbcd
for his pains. Buxton was n man Ilayne
never spoke to except in Ike incst
formal way. There had been scme
trouble between them ever 30 lorp AGO,
when Haync was young seccad lieu
tenant rnd .'Bux" the serior cartaia CT
the --th cavalry The softcriag touch
of time had cfTaced much of t.lr bitter
ness of that old, cid story. Tayne had
fr,-srr Cd "a -;r,-, 1.o
son with Ruxtcn, ard fourl i, awkward
TO preserve the rulcsof. .nonirtercourse
with Q field officer whowns frequently
in command, so he spoke respectfully
and courteously to his scaicl whenever
they met, but the courtesy WAS rs cold
and the meetings as rare as he could
make them. Bux, however. "borc no
malicc," as he said, and was quite ready
to be magnarimous ard forgive Hayre
for what had ti-arsrired in he past, but
then Buxton, rot Eaync. had l,een the
offender. Indeed, Buxton was a pschY-
derm on whom snubs had ltt,e effect.
He believed Iloyne knew Why Merriam
had asked for his most undesirable de
tail, and so inportuned him with eager
inqury-nll to no purpose. Harrison
blissfully vert on TO Chicago and Mer-
riarn ont 80 the Mcscalcro, ard was no
more heard Of or from for several weeks.
Then the Ecws came that he was SCI
riously i'll with mountain fever al the
| oantonmsst on Catamount creelS and
Bin Whitaker was hurried thithcr TO
TO BE CONTINUED
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