The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-12-19

!, IulAOMs uuu W0A xo6ON uHSAO0AASA AASAAA,
the Platte to the Pecos. Sheridan de-
termined upon winter campaign. al
though he understood well the suffer
ings entailed upon the troops by ex-
posture on the open plains at that sea-
son. Yet he knew the habits of In
dians; that they would expect immu-
nifty from attack and would gather in
villages, subject to surprise. He,
therefore, decided that the result
would justify the necessary hardships
involved. To this end smaller posts
were abandoned. and the widely scat
tered soldiers ordered to central
points in preparation for the contem-
plated movement. Devere had been
deserted earlier. and Major Mcdonald
had marched his men to Dodge, where
Molly awaited his coming. Retained
there on garrison duty, the two occu-
pied a one-story, yellow stone struc-
! ture fronting the parade ground. In
October, orders to march reached IN"
troop Seventh Cavalry, at Fort Union.
and the ragged bronzed troopers, who
all summer long had been scouting the
New Mexican plains, turned their
horses heads to the northeast in hope
fulness of action. With them up the
deserted Santa Fee trail, past burned
stations and wrecks of wagon trains,
rode Sergeant Hamlin, silent and eft1-
Gent the old Confederate haversack
fastened to his saddle, and his mind.
in spite of all effort, recurring con-
stantly to the girl who had gone to
Dodge early in the summer. Was she
still there? If so, how would she greet
him now after these months of alb
sence? The little cavalry column,
dust-covered and weary, seemed fair
ly to creep along, as day by day he re-
viewed every word, every glance,
which had passed between them; and
at night, under the stars, he lay with
head on his saddle, endeavoring to de-
termine his course of action, both as
to their possible meeting, and with re-
gard to the following Of the clue Of
fered by the haversack. The time he
had hoped for was at hand, but he
could not decide the best course of &C
ton. He could only wait, and permit
Fate to interfere.
Certain facts were, however, sufi-
GENTLY clear, and the Sergeant faced
them manfully. Not merely the fact
! that he was in the ranks, great as
that handicap was, could have pre-
vented an attempt at retaining the
friendship of Molly Mcdonald. But he
was in the ranks because of disgrace
hiding away from his own people.
keeping aloof from his proper station
in life, out of bitter shame. If he had
felt thus before, he now felt 1t thou
sand times more acutely in memory
of the comradeship of her whose
words had brought him a new CLEAN
Of hope. Never before had loneliness
seemed so complete, and never before
had he realized how wide was the
chasm between the old and the new
life This constantly recurrent mem
DRY embittered him, and made him
restless. Yet out of it all, there grew
firmer determination to win back his
old position in the world, to stamp
out the lie through which the Confed-
crate court-martial had condemned
him. If lie Fevre were alive, he meant
now to find him, face him, and COM
pel him to speak the truth. The dis
covery of that haversack gave point
from which to start, and his mind CEN
tered there with a fixed purpose which
obscured all else.
It was after dark when IN" troop
wearied by their long days march
across the brown grass, rode slowly
up the face of the bluff, and into the
parade ground at Fort Dodge. The
lights of the guard-house revealed the
troopers faces, while all about them
cleaned the yellow lamps, as the gar
rison came forth to welcome their ar
rival. Guided by corporal of the
guard the men led their horses to the
stables, and, as they passed the row
of officers houses Hamlin caught a
furtive glimpse in a radius of light
that gave his pulses sudden throb.
She was here then-here! He had
hardly dared hope for this. They
would meet again; that could scarcely
be avoided in such narrow quarters.
But how? On what terms? He ven
tured the one swift glimpse at her-a
slender, white-robed figure. one among
group of both men and women be-
fore an open door, through which the
! light streamed-heard her ask: Who
are they? What cavalry troop is that?''
caught the response in mans voice:
en- of the Seventh, from Fort Union,'
and then passed by, his eyes looking
straight ahead, his hand gripping his
horses bit.
Thirty minutes later in the great
barn-like barracks, he hung his &C
az ~