Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-14
CHAPTER VIII.
What the letters Said.

The list had received marching orders,
together with the rest of the heterogeneous
array of soldiery assembled in front OF
Washington. With fatal unanimily the
press and public were shouting ION to
Richmond" demanding that a motley force
of 80 go men should sally forth and hew
a way through an hundred miles of diver
sified country and an hundred thousand of
brave, united and determined, even though
unorganized, men. How anything but dis
aster was to be looked for, whether at Bull
Run or beyond. puzzles the later day read
err Our friends of the list marched well in
the van, minus two of their officers known
to our readers, Lieutenant Kent. on de-
tached service as aid-de-camp to General
Runyon and captain John Winn, absent
in Washington when the order was issued.
and authorized to delay joining just
twenty-four hours until the doctors could
say whether Trooper Rex Ingraham of the
regular cavalry could live or must die.
Desperately ill, indeed, had he been-so ill
that in his delirium he had risen against
the hospital attendants and striven to fight
his way to the cars So Ill, that in his de-
lirium he had raved about Editha RaynOr
and Ned Burnham and the robbery in New
York, and of Premier and of some girl
whose name was strange to VIM, though
he had heard mention of her home-So i'll
that when he first began his wild talk. and
Winn's name was often on his lips the sur
geon in charge sent word Of his plight. and
Winn got leave and came over from camp.
and there for the first time learned that his
friend, the patient, was also a prisoner I'M
der serious charge: that he was to be tried
for having assaulted and ridden down a
sentry in discharge of his duty. But this
trial may postpone that-ndefinitely," said
the doctor gravely. and Winn sat sorrow
I fully by the bedside of the burning, tossing,
sometimes raving patient, and heard things
that set him to thinking and then to writ
ing-first to Ned fundamentally to Ed
itha.
The 1etters-two-to the former brought
no response, at the time That matter was
settled later. The letter to Miss Raynor
was couched In terms less urgent than
those to Burnham, but the response came
as the fever began to leave poor Rex. and
Winn, thinking 10 be gone a long time in
stead of back in a week, sealed it, with a
copy of his own letter to Miss RaynOr. and
gave instructions that. when Mr.. 1ngraham
was entirely restored the packet together
with his letter of explanation to Rex, should
then be given him. but not before. Late
on the 18th of July he set forth to catch the
list on the way to Bull Rum and on the
oath he was trundled back to town in a
wabbly ambulance and the worst kind Of
a temper. to find that the hole in his leg
would keep him in bed the best part of a
month and that Rex Ingraham had got the
letter-and a relapse.
Confusion. it seems, had reigned in Wash
ington for days after that unlocked for,
yet most probable disaster in front of
Manassas Weak as he was. Ingraham
was then on the mend and alert, and had
begged to be made of use when the bulk
Of the wounded were, brought in and the
preparations proved utterly inadequate.
They moved him away to another ward, a
few belongings with him. and somebody
found and gave him those letters. and that
night he broke out. no man could say how,
and was picked up in the streets near the
Baltimore and Ohio station, by a cropping
patrol, after twenty-four hours of absence
and exposure. These letters. found on his
person. told part Of the story and led to
his prompt return to the hospital but not