Year: 1873

The Guard-House Gentleman.


Lieutenant Charles Smythe-Smith all
register-was ommander of the post and
unquestioned autocrat of territory COM
prisng sixteen square miles of granite,
mesquit and sand. But supreme authority
was never vested in one more unappre-
ciated of its privileges and responsibilities,
perhaps because in his dominion he was
so seldom called upon to exercise his pre-
rogative that he nearly forgot his distin-
guished position. Certainly his thoughts
were very far from any troubles of this
kind this July morning, as he sat in the
inner room of the traders store, sole oc-
cupant of the apartment. There was
round pine table there, covered with a
red artillery blanket, and the floor had
been sprinkled and swept away until each
leg stood upon little pedestal of earth.
Many rude game of poker had been
played there, and the small box of
"beans" still sat upon the cloth, but the
useful piece of furniture had its sole use
at this moment in being rest for the
heutenant's feet. The commander was
trying to read a copy of the New York
Herald only four weeks old, but his eyes
wandered away from the dull columns
The Herald slipped from his fingers, and
a faint wish that it was night halt de-
veloped itself in his indolent head. Then,
remembering his dignity, he reused him
self enough toy vawn, and toremark through
the open window to the group of delib-
crate ravens that he wished something
would happen. Whereupon something
did happen, which in that dull country,
was enough to keep him awake for the
rest of the day.


1t was a circumstance wholly unimpOr-
tant of itself which attracted his attention,
for it was only the sound of a peculiarly
mellow voice from the outer room. AS
there are eyes which are never deceived
in the recognition of face, so there are
ears which remember voices heard casual
ly months or wears before The tones
were low, peculiarly modulated. and per-
tectly polite, and the accent was that of
German educated in the English tongue.
At first the commandant listened through
the open door with that degree of interest
which attaches to a stranger in a lonely
place. Then it began dimly to remind
him of something or some one more than
a thousand miles away. Very soon he
had determined that it was the voice of a
soldier, one that he had noticed for its
perfect cultivation and gentlemanly tone
when he first heard it, and that he had
wondered at as coming flom throat en-
circled by 4 leathern stock, and possessed
by man in the uniform of a private
soldier Finally, the whole story came
to him like remembered picture. The
Inspector Generals Office at Fort Leaven-
worth the group of officers who sat there,
boyish-faced, rakish, idle in time OF peace
brave, active and enduring in war. the
material of every standing army; and
there among them, but far off, stood the
man whose voice he seemed now to hear
as he heard it then in the constrained
position of ''attention," his bright black
eye and regular features marking him
more distinctly from his humble position,
and his concise answer, and clear defini-
tions, imparting information to his su-
periors, leaving the impression that one
August Stein, private in the U. s. In
fantry, was the ablest man then in the
Office of the inspector general of the de-
partment of the Missouri. But it was not
for these things alone that Lieutenant
Smythe remembered the man whose voice
he thought he heard. 1t was partly from
the peculiar look darted after him like
lightning as he left the room, which seen
again under any circumstances, would
mark the man. 1t was the look which
distinguishes that class of men of which
there are fortunately few, who, for suffi-
cient stake, will face any danger and
commit any crime; who disdain law as
not meant for them; who fascinate when
they will and defy when they must. and
who are the Machiavelis of social life.


And this voice was the voice of Stein.
The five years of his enlistment could not
have expired. His regiment was stationed
five hundred miles away. A man dis
charged for disability would hardly come
to these ends of the earth for home, and
the gentlemanly soldier was deserter


By this time certain of the man, and
morally certain of his crime, the COM
mandant still felt feeling OF regret,
which was only half acknowledged to
himself, that this mans evil genius had
brought him so near the only man by
whom he could possibly have been recog-
nized. Here was man detected by his
voice more than a thousand miles from
where that voice had last been heard and
who was himself ignorant that his un-
conscious gift, was about to bring upon
him his life's greatest misfortune and dis
grace. AS the commandant pondered
these things the voice ceased, and he rose
and entered the room Just as the stranger
was turning to 60 out. A glance light
ing into CLEAN of recognition from the
remarkable eyes, and down towards the
cannon, through the sage, Stein was gone
like a flash. with all the vigor and deter
mination which belongs to such men.


Immediately in front of the door stood
small train of asses; laden in the usual
manner with baskets, sacks and house.
hold utensils. Standing near were three
or four Mexicans, and mounted upon one
was woman whose robes had fallen
from her face, and who watched the flight
with clasped hands and startled manner.
These things the commandant took in at
glance. They were common. In this
country no man travels alone, unless it be
in some desperate emergency in which.
safety is secondary consideration, and
these, he thought, were travelling party
in whose company the deserter had
reached the post. The flight, causeless
under any other circumstances, had
strange effect upon the girl. Her brown
cheek blanched and as she watched the
fast retreating figure her eyes had in them
KIND OF desperate agony.


STEMS flight was in full view of half a
dozen soldiers. Any lingering disposi-
ton to play with the duty for the sake of
pity was idle now, and these sons of Mars
thoroughly understood the situation. In
a moment more three of them were in
pursuit. The girl slipped from her
donkey, and with frantic gestures and