Willmar tribune., 1900-02-28
CHAPTER II.

Oh camp stools and candle boxes or
braced against the tent poles, were near
ly dozen officers, all in the somber
dark blue regulation uniform, several
in riding boots and spurs, some even
wearing the heavy, frogged overcoat;
all but two, juniors of the staff, men
who stood on the shady side of 40,
four of the number wearing on their
shoulders the silver stars of generals
of division or brigade, and among their
; thinning crops of hair the silver
strands that told of years of service.
One man alone, the commanding gen.
eral, was speaking; all the others lis
tened in respectful silence. In the
gloom OF that late, fog-shrouded after
noon lantern or two would have been
welcome, but the conference had be-
gun while it was still light enough for
the chief to read the memoranda on his
desk, and now he was talking without
notes. In the array of grave, thought
full faces, some actually somber and
severe in expression, smile would have
seemed out of place, yet, all on sud-
den, grim features relaxed, deep-set
eyes twinl1led and glanced quickly
about in search Of kindred sympathetic
spirits, and more than half the bearded
faces broadened into grin of merri-
ment, and as many heads were sudden
ly uplifted, for just as the gray-haired
chief ended an impressive period with
the words: ut will be no laughing
matter if can lay hold of them" there
burst upon the surprised ears of the
group peal of the merriest laughter
imaginable ripping, joyous, mu-
steal laughter of happy girlhood ming
ling with the hearty, wholesome, if
somewhat boyish, outburst of jollity
of healthful youth.
"Merciful powcrs!" exclaimed the
chief. II had forgotten all about those
people. They must have been here 20
minutes"
''Sixty-fve, sir, by the watch,'' said
saturnine-looking soldier, tall and stall
wart, and wearing the shield of the ad
jutant generals department on the col
lar of his sack coat.
"They ought to go, then" was the
placid suggestion of third officer,
man with keen eyes, thin, almost ascetic
face, but there twitched a quaint
humor about the lines of his lips.
''That visits past the retiring age"
And then another peal of merriment
from the adjoining tent put a stop to
conversation.
''They don't lack for entertainers"
hazarded a staff officer as soon as he
could make himself heard. ''The SOL
emn-looking Gothamite who came with
them must have slipped OUT
1T seems he knows Col. Armstrong;"
said the chief, thoughtfully. II sent for
him an hour ago, and he may be pilot
ing Mr.. Prime around camp, looking up
the runaway
'Another case?" asked a bri gade COM
mander, with a shrug of his shoulders.
'Another case" answered the gener-
nj, with sigh. 1T isn't always home
troubles that drive them to it. This
boy had everything a doting father
could give him. What on earth could
make him bolt and enlist for the ware"
No one answered for moment. Then
the officer with the humorous twinkle
about the eyes and the twitch at the
lip corners bent forward, placed his
elbows on his knees, his fingers tip to
tip, gazed dreamily at the floor, and
sententiously said:
"Girl.''
Whereupon his next neighbor, a
stocky, thickset man in the uniform of
a brigadier, never moving eye, head or
hand, managed to bring a sizable foot
in heavy riding boot almost savagely
upon the slim gaiter of the humorist,
who suddenly started and flushed to the
temples, glanced quickly at the chief,
and then as quickly back to the floor,
his blue eyes clcuded in genuine dis
tress.
The generals gray face had seemed
to grow grayer in the gloom. Again
there came, like ripping echo, the
chorus of merry laughter from the ad
joining tent, only it seemed trifle SUBJ
dued, possibly as though one or two of
the merry-makers had joined less
heartily. With sudden movement the
general rose. ''Well, I've kept you long
enough" he said. ''Let the three regi-
ments be got in readiness at once, but
relax no effort in-that other matter.
Find the guilty parties if a possible
thing"
And then the group dissolved. One
or two of the number looked back, half
hesitating, at the entrance of the tent,
but the chief had turned again to the
Uttered table before him, and, seating
himself, rested his gray head in the
hand nearest his visitors. 1t was as
though he wished to conceal his face.
One of the last to go-the thin-faced SOL
dier with the twinkling blue eyes, hung
irresolutely behind the chief moment
as though he had it in his mind to speak,
then turned and fairly tip-toed out,
leaving the camp commander to the So
ciety of single staff officer, and to the
gathering darkness.
Kindly say to Mr.. Prime, or his
friends, that will join them in O mo-
ment," said the former, presently,
without so much as uplifting head or
eye, and the aid-de-camp left as noise
lessly as his predecessor, the humorist.
But when he was gone and "The Chief"
sat alone, the sound of merry chat and
laughter still drifted in with the mist
at the half-opened entrance. Shadowy
forms fitted to and fro between the Of
fetal tent and the lights beginning to
twinkle at brigade headquarters across
the wide roadway. An orderly
scratched at the tent flap, but got no an