Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-12-10
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Copyright. 1899 by Tennysou Neely.1
CHAPTER II.

Just what an officers actual ranE
might be in the days that followed close
ON the heels of the war was matter NJ
man could tell from either his dress o.
address. Few indeed were they who es
capped the deluge of brevets that poured
over the army and soaked some men six
deep.
There were we'll authenticated cases
of we'll preserved persons who had never
so much as seen battle and were yet,
on one pretext or another, brevetted
away up among the stars for faithful
and meritorious service" recruiting,
mastering or disbursing.
We had colonies by title whose func-
lions were purely those of the file closer.
We had generals by brevet who had
never set squadron in the field and
didn't know the difference between a
pole yoke and a pedometer.
Every captain, except one or two who
had laughingly declined, wore the
straps of field officer, some few even of
generals, and so when one heard mil
itary looking man addressed as colonel
the chances were ten to one that he
was drawing only the stipend of COM
pany officer, and in matters of actual
rank in the army it was money that
talked.
But there could be no questioning
the right of the senior Of the two Off
GERS who had alighted at Sancho's to
the title of colonel. Soldier stood out
all over him, even though his garb was
concealed by nondescript buster. His
face, lined, thin Tipped and resolute,
was tanned by desert suns and winds.
His hair, once brown, was almost
white. His beard, once flowing and
silky, was cropped to gray stubble.
His steely blue eyes snapped under their
heavy thatch. His head was carried high
. and we'll back, and his soft felt hat,
wide brimmed, was pulled down over
the brows. His deep chest, square shout
ders, erect carriage and straight, mus
cuIar legs all told Of days and years in
the field, and every word he uttered
had about it the crisp, clear cut ring of
command.
1t was safe to bet that no mere COM
pany was the extent of this soldiers
authority, and Sancho, keen observer,
had put him down for lieutenant colo
mel at least Full colonies were mostly
older men, and Arizona had but one in
"the days of the empire
The ranchman had eagerly whispered
questions to the loungers as to the iden-
tity of the two arrivals, but without
3; success. Both were strangers, although
the Junior had been seen at the ranch
once before, the day Blake's troop was
oamped there on the way back from the
Dragons. There was the packet left by
the orderly to be called for by officers
arriving on the Yuma stage, addressed
in olerkly hand, but Sancho, alas,
could not read.
lowering as near as the gravity and
dignity of his station would permit, he
had heard the colonel's query about
Blake. He pricked up his ears at once.
TeDiente Blake-thirty miles east on
the Maricopa road! Why, how was
this? Some one had told him Blake had
been to the Colorado and was coming
back by this very stage. How did
Blake get to the east of Sancho's ranch,
after having once gone west, without
Sancho's knowing it?
Suspiciously be watched the two SOL
diers, the grizzled colonel, the slim
lieutenant. They were talking together
in low tone; at least the colonel was
talking eagerly, energetically and with
much gesticulation. The junior listened
wordless to every word. What had he
meant by "the bird had hown?'' Why
should Nevins "skip?" An unpleasant
fear seized upon Sancho. He knew
Nevins, at least a Nevins, captain
whom everybody knew in fact and few
men trusted. What had Nevins been
doing, or rather what that he had been
doing was he to be held to account for?
Why should the colonel so eagerly ask
where they could reach Blake?
Time was when Sancho f1attered him
self there was no deviltry going on in
Arizona, except such as originated with
the Indians, in which he had not at
least the participation of full knowl-
edge, yet here came two officials, hasten
ing by stage instead of marching with
military deliberatiOn and escort, and
they were in quest Of the Senior Captain
Nevins, of whom all men had heard and
at whose hands many had suffered, for
was not he a player whom the very
cards seemed to obey?
Was it not he who broke the bank at
Bustamente's during the fiesta at Tue
son but five months agone? Was it not
Nevins who won all the money those
two young tenientes possessed, two boys
from the far east just joining their regi-
ments and haplessly falling into the
hands of this dashing, dapper, whole
souled, hospitable comrade, who made
his temporary quarters their home IN
til they could find opportunity to go
forward to the distant posts where their
respective companies were stationed?
Was it not Nevins who, right there
at Sancho's ranch, finding party of
prosDectors, several ex-Confederate SOL