Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1900-04-04
CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VII.
Billy Gray was indeed in close ar
rest and. the grim prophecy was full
flled-Col. Canker was proving "any-
thing but guardian angel to him." The
whole regiment, officers and men, bar
ring only the commander, was practi-
cally in mourning with sorrow for him
and chagrin over it's own discontinue.
Not only one important prisoner was
gone, but two; not only two, but four.
No man in authority was able to say
just when or how it happened, for it
was Canker's own order that the pris-
oners, should not be paraded when the
guard fell in at night. They were here
at tattoo and at taps all right. The Of
ficer of the guard, said several soldiers,
prisoners-young Morton-just after
tattoo, at which time the entire guard
had been inspected by the commanding
officer. But at reveille four most i'm
portant prisoners were gone, and such
was Canker's wrath that not only was
Gray in arrest, but the sergeant of the
guard also, while the three luckless
men who were successfully posted as
sentries during the night at the back of
the wooden shell that served as a guard
house-were now in close confinement
in the place of the escaped quartette.
Yet those three were men who had
hitherto been above suspicion, and
there were few soldiers in the regiment
who would accept the theory that any
one of the three had connived at the es-
cape. AS for the sergeant - he had
served four enlistments in the
and without flaw in his record beyond
an occasional alteration in the now
distant past, due to the potency of the
poteen distilled by certain Hibernian
experts not far from an old-time plains
fort, where the regiment had rested on
its march cross continent. AS for the
oficers-but who would suppose an
officer guilty of anything of the kind
a fragrant military crime? And yet
men got to asking each other if it were
so that Bugler Curran had carried
note from the prisoner, Morton, to Mr..
Gray about $3.50 that afternoon? And
what was this about Gray's having
urged Brooke to swap tours with him
an hour later, and what was that story
the headquarters clerks were telling
about Mr.. Gray's coming to the adju-
tant and begging to be allowed to
march on that evening instead of
Brooke? 1t wasn't long before these
rumors, somehow, got to Canker's ears,
and Canker seemed to grow as big
again; he fairly swelled with indigna-
ton at thought of such turpitude on
part of an officer. Then he sent for Gray
it was the afternoon following the
sailing of the ships with the big brigade
and with pain and bewilderment and
indignation in his brave blue eyes the
youngster came and stood before his
stern superior. Gordon, who sent the
message, and who had heard Canker's
denunciatory remarks, had found time
to scribble word or two: admit
nothing; say nothing; do nothing but
hold your tongue and temper. If c.
insists on answers say you decline eN-
cept in presence of your1egal adviser"
So there was a scene in the command
er's tent that afternoon. The morning
had not been without it's joys. Along
about ten o'clock as Gray sat writing
to his father in his little canvas home,
he heard voice that sent the blood
leaping through his veins and filled his
eyes with light. Springing from his
campstool and capsizing it as he did
so, he poked his curly head from
the entrance of the tent - and
there she was -o only a dozen feet
away - Maj. Lane in courteous at
tendance, Mr.. Prime sadly following,
and Miss Prime quite content with the
devotions of Capt. Schuyler. Only a
dozen feet away and coming straight to
him, with frank smiles and sympathy
in her kind and winsome face-wlth
hand outstretched the moment she
caught sight of him. 1--WE 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 off, and uncle was too tired
in the evening. Indeed, we are all very,
very sorry!" And poor Billy never
heard or cared what the others said, so
absorbed was he in drinking in her gen.
tie words and gazing into her soft; dark
ewes. No wonder he found it difficult
to release her hand. That brief visit,
filed with sweetness and sunshine,
ought to have been a 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
Capker demanded to be informed who
thew were and where they had been, and
Gordon answered they were Miss Law
renee, of Santa Anita, and Miss Prime,
of New York-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.
So 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-
fened" the little fellow to the extent
Of Drawing Canker's anger and telling
him he had said all he proposed to say
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
.snnn,,n sal, forhade his committing him