Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-12-27

away - Maj. Lane in courteous at
Mr.. Prime sadly following,
and Miss Prime quite content with the
devotiona Of Capt. Schuyler. Only a
dozen feet away and coming straight to
him, with frank smiles and sympathy
in her kind and winsoms face-with
hand outstretched the moment she
caught sight Of him. Eve wanted to
come when we heard Of It yesterday,
Mr.. Gray" said Amy Lawrence, "but
it was dark when we got back from see
ing the fleet OF, and uncle was too tired
IT. the evening. Indeed, we are all very,
very sorryl" And poor Billy never
heard or cared what the others said, 20
absorbed was he in drinking in her gen.
tie words and gazing into her soft, dark
eyes. No wonder he found It difficult
to release her hand. That brief visit,
filed with sweetness and sunshine,
ought to have been blessing to him
all day long, but Canker caught sight
Of the damsels as they walked away
on the arms Of the attendant cavaliers
Miss Lawrence more than once smiling
back at the incarcerated Billy-and
Canker demanded to be informed who
they were and where they had been, and
Gordon answered they were Miss Law
renee, Of Santa Anita, and Miss Prime,
Of New Yofc-and he "reckoned" they
must have been in to condole with Mr..
Gray-whereat Canker snarled that
people ought to know better than to
visit officers in arrest-it was tanta-
mount to disrespect to the commander.
It was marvellous how many things in
Canker's eyes were disrespectfuL
30 he heard these stories with eager
ears and sent for Gray, and thought to
bully him into an admission or confes-
sion, but Gordon's words had "stif-
fenedn the little fellow to the extent
Of Drawing Canker's anger and telling
him he had said all he proposed to ray
when the colonel called him up the
previous day. The result Of that was
his being placed in close arrest and In
formed that he should be tried by gen.
eral court-martial at once. So he had
taken counsel, as was his right, and
counsel" forbade his committing him
self in any way.
Then you refuse TO divulge the con-
tents Of that note and to say why you
were so eager to go on guard out of
your turn2" said Canker, oracularly.
That in itself is sufficient to convince
any fair-minded court Of your guilt,
sir" Whereat Gordon winked at Billy
and put his tongue in his cheek-and
Billy stood mute until ordered, with
much asperity, to 60 back to his tent
But there were other things that
might we'll 60 toward convincing a
court Of the guilt Of Lieut.. Gray, and
poor Billy contemplated them with
sinking heart. Taking prompt ad-
vantage Of his position q officer of the
guard, he had caused the young pris-
oner to be brought outside the guard
house, and as . heavy, dripping fog had
come on the wings Of the night wind,
sailing in from the sea, he had led the
way to the sheltered side, which hap
pened to be the darkest one, of the rude
little building, and had there hidden
him tell his story. But Morton glanced
uneasily at sentry who followed close
and was lowering suspiciously about.
II cannot talk about-the affair-with
that fellow spying" he said, with an
eager plea in his tone and . sign of the
hand that Gray well knew and quickly
recognized. Keep around in front.
I'll be responsible for this prisoner"
were his orders, and, almost reluctant
~, the man left. He was q veteran SOL
der, and his manner impressed the
lieutenant with . vague sense Of
trouble. Twice the sentry glanced
back and hesitated, as though some
thing were on his mind that he must
tell, but finally he disappeared and kept
out Of the way during the brief inter-
view that immediately followed. The
prisoner eagerly, excitedly began his
explanation-swiftly banishing any lin
gering doubts Gray might have enter
tanned az to his innocence. But he had
come from stove-heated guard room
into the cold sea wind Of the Pacific
into the floating wisps Of vapor that
sent chill to the marrow. He was far
too lightly clad for that climate, and
presently he began to shivsr.
"You are cold" said Gray, pityingly.
"Have you no overcoat7"
"It's at my tent-I never expected to
spend this night here. I've been be-
fore the summary court, fined for alb
sence, and thought that would end 1t,
but instead of that I'm prisoner and
the man who should be here is stalking
about camp, planning moro robberies.
Yet I'd rather associate with the very
worst of deserters or dead beats in
side there" and the dark eyes glanced
almost in horror-the slender figure
shook with unmingled repulsion and
chill-"than with that smooth-tongued
sneak and liar. There's no crime too
mean for him to commit, Mr.. Gray,
I, I'D S The man are bsginnin1 e know 4,
lAAN1A ~ solAAA NanN NJ 1e1b
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