CHAPTER XVIII
BURGLARY AT BLAKE'S
The doctor started at the heels of the corporal, but was distanced longbefore he reached the scene. The sergeant of the guard was hammering onthe front door of Blake's quarters; but, before the summons was answeredfrom within, Mrs. Ray, in long, loose wrapper, came hurrying forth fromher own--the adjoining--hallway. Her face was white with dread. "It isI, Nannie. Let us in," she cried, and the door was opened by a terrifiedservant, as the doctor came panting up the steps. Together he and Mrs.Ray hurried in. "Robbers!" gasped the servant girl--"Gone--the backway!" and collapsed on the stairs. Sergeant and corporal both torearound to the west side and out of the rear gate. Not a sign offugitives could they see, and, what was worse, not a sign of sentry.Number 5, of the third relief, should at that moment have been pacingthe edge of the bluff in rear of the northernmost quarters, and yetmight be around toward the flagstaff. "Find Number 5," were thesergeant's orders, and back he hurried to the house, not knowing what toexpect. By that time others of the guard had got there and theofficer-of-the-day was coming,--the clink of his sword could be hearddown the road,--and more windows were uplifted and more voices werebegging for information, and then came Mrs. Dade, breathless but calm.
Within doors she found the doctor ministering to a stout female whoseemed to have gone off in an improvised swoon--Mrs. Blake's importedcook. Up the stairs, to her own room again, Mrs. Blake was being led byMarion Ray's encircling arm. Three women were speedily closeted there,for Mrs. Dade was like an elder sister to these two sworn friends, and,not until Mrs. Dade and they were ready, did that lady descend thestairs and communicate the facts to the excited gathering in the parlor,and they in turn to those on the porch in front. By this time Flinthimself, with the poet quartermaster, was on hand, and all Fort Frayneseemed to rouse, and Mrs. Gregg had come with Mrs. Wilkins, and thesetwo had relieved the doctor of the care of the cook, now talkingvolubly; and, partly through her revelations, but mainly through themore coherent statements of Mrs. Dade, were the facts made public.Margaret, the cook, had a room to herself on the ground floor adjoiningher kitchen. Belle, the maid, had been given the second floor back, inorder to be near to her young mistress. Bitzer, the Blakes'man-of-all-work,--like McGann, a discharged soldier,--slept in thebasement at the back of the house, and there was he found, blinking,bewildered and only with difficulty aroused from stupor by a wrathfulsergeant. The cook's story, in brief, was that she was awakened by Mrs.Blake's voice at her door and, thinking Belle was sick, she jumped upand found Mrs. Blake in her wrapper, asking was she, Margaret, up stairsa moment before. Then Mrs. Blake, with her candle, went into the diningroom, and out jumped a man in his stocking feet from the captain's denacross the hall, and knocked over Mrs. Blake and the light, and made forher, the cook; whereat she screamed and slammed her door in his face,and that was really all she knew about it.
But Mrs. Blake knew more. Awakened by some strange consciousness ofstealthy movement about the house, she called Belle by name, thinkingpossibly the girl might be ill and seeking medicine. There was sound ofmore movement, but no reply. Mrs. Blake's girlhood had been spent on thefrontier. She was a stranger to fear. She arose; struck a light and,seeing no one in her room or the guest chamber and hallway, hastened tothe third room, and was surprised to find Belle apparently quietlysleeping. Then she decided to look about the house and, first, went downand roused the cook. As she was coming out of the dining room, a manleaped past her in the hall, hurling her to one side and dashing out thelight. Her back was toward him, for he came from Gerald's own premisesknown as the den. In that den, directly opposite, was one of herrevolvers, loaded. She found it, even in the darkness and, hurryingforth again, intending to chase the intruder and alarm the sentry at therear, encountered either the same or a second man close to the backdoor, a man who sprang past her like a panther and darted down thesteps at the back of the house, followed by two shots from her Smith &Wesson. One of these men wore a soldier's overcoat, for the cape, rippedfrom the collar seam, was left in her hands. Another soldier's overcoatwas later found at the rear fence, but no boots, shoes or tracksthereof, yet both these men, judging from the sound, had been instocking feet, or possibly rubbers, or perhaps--but that last suspicionshe kept to herself, for Mrs. Hay, too, was now among the arrivals inthe house, full of sympathy and genuine distress. The alarm, then, hadgone beyond the guard-house, and the creators thereof beyond the ken ofthe guard, for not a sentry had seen or heard anything suspicious untilafter the shots; then Number 8, Flint's latest addition, declared thatfrom his post at Hay's corral he had distinctly heard the swifthoofbeats of a brace of ponies darting up the level bench to thewestward. Number 5 had turned up safely, and declared that at the momentthe scream was heard he was round by the flagstaff, listening to thenight chorus of a pack of yelping coyotes, afar out to the northwest,and then he thought he heard scrambling and running down at the foot ofthe bluff just as the shots were fired. Investigation on his part waswhat took him out of sight for the moment, and later investigationshowed that one marauder, at least, had gone that way, for a capelessgreatcoat was found close down by the shore, where some fugitive hadtossed it in his flight. This overcoat bore, half erased from the soiledlining, the name of Culligan, Troop "K;" but Culligan had served outhis time and taken his discharge a year before. The other overcoat waseven older, an infantry coat, with shorter cape, bearing a companynumber "47," but no name. Both garments savored strongly of the stable.
Then, before quiet was restored, certain search was made about thequarters. It was found the intruders had obtained admission through thebasement door at the back, which was never locked, for the sentry onNumber 5 had orders to call Bitzer at 5:30 A. M., to start the fires,milk the cow, etc.,--Hogan, Ray's factotum, being roused about the sametime. The marauders had gone up the narrow stairway into the kitchen,first lashing one end of a leather halter-strap about the knob ofBitzer's door and the other to the base of the big refrigerator,--aneedless precaution, as it took sustained and determined effort, as manya sentry on Number 5 could testify, to rouse Bitzer from even a nap.
It was no trick for the prowlers to softly raise the trap door leadingto the kitchen, and, once there, the rest of the house was practicallyopen. Such a thing as burglary or sneak thieving about the officers'quarters had been unheard of at Frayne for many a year. One precautionthe visitors had taken, that of unbolting the back door, so that retreatmight not be barred in case they were discovered. Then they had goneswiftly and noiselessly about their work.
But what had they taken? The silver was upstairs, intact, under Mrs.Blake's bed; so was the little safe in which was kept her jewelry andtheir valuable papers. Books, bric-a-brac,--everything downstairs--seemed unmolested. No item was missing from its accustomedplace. Mrs. Blake thought perhaps the intruders had not entered her roomat all. In Gerald's den were "stacks," as he said, of relics, souvenirs,trophies of chase and war, but no one thing of the intrinsic value offifty dollars. What could have been the object of their midnight search?was the question all Fort Frayne was asking as people dispersed and wenthome,--the doctor intimating it was high time that Mrs. Blake waspermitted to seek repose. Not until he had practically cleared the houseof all but her most intimate friends, Mrs. Dade and Mrs. Ray, wouldWaller permit himself to ask a question that had been uppermost in hismind ever since he heard her story.
"Mrs. Blake, someone has been ransacking Mr. Field's quarters forletters or papers. Now,--was there anything of that kind left by thecaptain that--someone may have needed?"
Nannie Blake's head was uplifted instantly from Marion's shoulder. Shehad been beginning to feel the reaction. For one moment the three womenlooked intently into each other's faces. Then up they started andtrooped away into Gerald's den. The doctor followed. The upper drawer ofa big, flat-topped desk stood wide open, and pretty Mrs. Blake openedher eyes and mouth in emulation as she briefly exclaimed--
"It's gone!"
Then Waller went forthwith to the quarters of
the commander and caughthim still in conference with his quartermaster and the guard, four orfive of the latter being grouped without. The major retired to his frontroom, where, with Wilkins, he received the doctor.
"Major Flint," said Waller, "those overcoats belong to Mr. Hay'sstablemen,--Pete and Crapaud. Will you order their immediate arrest?"
"I would, doctor," was the answer, "but they are not at the corral. Weknow how to account for the hoofbeats in the valley. Those scoundrelshave got nearly an hour's start, and we've nobody to send in chase."
Then it presently appeared that the post commander desired to continueconference with his staff officer, for he failed to invite the postsurgeon to be seated. Indeed, he looked up into the doctor's kindlingeyes with odd mixture of impatience and embarrassment in his own, andthe veteran practitioner felt the slight, flushed instantly, and, withmuch _hauteur_ of manner, took prompt but ceremonious leave.
And when morning came and Fort Frayne awoke to another busy day, as ifthe excitements of the night gone by had not been enough for it, a newstory went buzzing, with the first call for guard mount, about thegarrison; and, bigger even than yesterday, the two details, in soldiersilence, began to gather in front of the infantry quarters. Major Flinthad ordered sentries posted at the trader's home, with directions thatMrs. Hay was not to be allowed outside her gate, and no one, man orwoman, permitted to approach her from without except by expresspermission of the post commander. "General Harney" and "Dan," the twobest horses of the trader's stable, despite the presence of the sentryat the front, had been abstracted sometime during the earlier hours ofthe night, and later traced to the ford at Stabber's old camp, and withPete and Crapaud, doubtless, were gone.
That day the major wired to Omaha that he should be reinforced at once.One half his little force, he said, was now mounted each day for guard,and the men couldn't stand it. The general, of course, was in the field,but his chief of staff remained at headquarters and was empowered toorder troops from post to post within the limits of the department.Flint hoped two more companies could come at once, and he did not carewhat post was denuded in his favor. His, he said, was close to theIndian lands,--separated from them, in fact, only by a narrow andfordable river. The Indians were all on the warpath and, aware of hispuny numbers, might be tempted at any moment to quit the mountains andconcentrate on him. Moreover, he was satisfied there had been frequentcommunication between their leaders and the household of the post traderat Fort Frayne. He was sure Mrs. Hay had been giving them valuableinformation, and he expected soon to be able to prove very seriouscharges against her. Meantime, he had placed her under surveillance.(_That_ she had been ever since his coming, although she never realizedit.) Fancy the sensation created at Omaha, where the Hays were wellknown, when this news was received! Flint did not say "under arrest,"guarded day and night by a brace of sentries who were sorely disgustedwith their duty. He had no doubt his appeals for more troops would behonored, in view of his strenuous representations, but the day passedwithout assurance to that effect and without a wired word to say hisaction regarding Mrs. Hay had been approved. It began to worry him. At 3P. M. Mrs. Hay sent and begged him to call upon her that she mightassure and convince him of her innocence. But this the major found meansto refuse, promising, however a meeting in the near future, after he hadreceived tidings from the front, which he was awaiting and expectingevery moment. He had reluctantly given permission to visit her to Mrs.Dade, Mrs. Ray and two or three other women whose hearts were filledwith sympathy and sorrow, and their heads with bewilderment, over theamazing order. Indeed, it was due to Mrs. Dade's advice that she so fartriumphed over pride and wrath as to ask to see the major and explain.She had received tidings from her husband and Nanette. She was perfectlywilling to admit it,--to tell all about it,--and, now that Pete andCrapaud had turned out to be such unmitigated rascals, to have themcaught and castigated, if caught they could be. But all this involved nodisloyalty. They had always been friendly with the Sioux and the Siouxwith them. Everybody knew it;--no one better than General Crook himself,and if he approved why should a junior disapprove? Indeed, as she askedher friends, what junior who had ever known Mr. Hay and her, or theIndians either, would be apt to disapprove so long as the Indians, whenon the warpath, received no aid or comfort from either her husband orherself? "And if they had," said she, further, waxing eloquent over hertheme, "could we have _begun_ to give them half the aid or comfort--or athousandth part of the supplies and ammunition--they got day after daythrough the paid agents of the Interior Department?"
But these were questions army people could not properly discuss,--theirmission in life being rather to submit to, than suggest, criticism.
And so another restless day went by and no more news came from eitherfront or rear--from the range to the north or Rock Springs at the south,and Flint was just formulating another fervid appeal to that impassivefunctionary, the adjutant general at Omaha, when toward evening wordcame whistling down the line in the person of Master Sanford Ray, thattwo couriers were in sight "scooting" in from Moccasin Ridge, and Flintand fully half the soldier strength of Fort Frayne gathered on thenorthward bluff like the "wan burghers" of ancient Rome, to watch andspeed their coming. Who could tell what the day might yet bring forth?
It was well nigh dark before the foremost reached the ford--a scout inworn and tawdry buckskin, wearied and impassive. He gave his despatch tothe care of the first officer to accost him and took the way to thestore, briefly saying in reply to questions, that he was "too dry tospeak the truth." So they flocked, at respectful distance, about themajor as he read the hurried lines. The general bade the post commanderwire the entire message to Washington, and to take all precautions forthe protection of the few settlers about him. The columns under ColonelHenry and Major Webb had united near the head waters of the Clear Forkof the Powder; had had a rattling running fight with Lame Wolf's people;had driven them into the mountains and were following hot on the trail,but that Stabber's band and certain disaffected Sioux had cut loose fromthe main body and gone south. Whistling Elk, a young chief of muchambition had quarrelled with certain of the Red Cloud element, andjoined Stabber, with his entire band. "Look out for them and watch forsignals any day or night from Eagle Butte."
Flint read with sinking heart. Indian fighting was something far tooscientific for his martial education and too much for his skeletoncommand. In the gathering dusk his face looked white and drawn, and oldWilkins, breasting his way up the slope, puffed hard, as he begged fornews. There was still another despatch, however, which was evidentlyadding to the major's perturbation, for it concerned him personally andfor the moment Wilkins went unheard.
The general desires that you send the couriers back within twenty-four hours of their arrival, after you have had time to scout the line of the Platte say twenty miles each way, giving full report of every Indian seen or heard of. He enjoins vigilance and hopes to keep the Sioux so busy that they can send no more in your direction. Should they do so, however, he will pursue at once. He trusts that you are doing everything possible to comfort and reassure Mrs. Hay, and that you can send good news of Lieutenant Field.
And this when he had just refused to remove the sentries or to visitMrs. Hay:--this when he had just been told by Dr. Waller that LieutenantField was distinctly worse.
"He is simply fretting his heart out here," were the doctor's words tohim but a short time before, "and, while unable to mount a horse, he isquite strong enough now to take the trip by ambulance, slowly, that is,to Rock Springs. I fear his father is failing. I fear Field will fail ifnot allowed to go. I recommend a seven days' leave, with permission toapply to Omaha for thirty--he'll probably need it."
"I can't permit government teams and ambulances to be used for any suchpurpose," said the major, stoutly. "It is distinctly against orders."
"Then, sir, he can go in my spring wagon and we'll hire mules from Mrs.Hay," was the doctor's prompt reply. "He can do no good here, major. Hemay do
much good there."
But Flint was full of information and official zeal. The matter ofField's going had been broached before, and, when told of it, theWilkins pair had been prompt with their protests. "Of course he'd bewantin' to get away," said Wilkins, "wid all that money to account for,let alone these other things." The Irishman was hot against the youngWest Pointer who had derided him. He doubtless believed his own words.He never dreamed how sorely the lad now longed to see his father,--howdeep was his anxiety on that father's account,--how filled withapprehension on his own, for that rifled desk had brought him reason formost painful thought. Wilkins and Field had been antagonistic from thestart. Neither could see good in the other and, egged on by his worthyspouse's exhortations, the quartermaster had seized the opportunity tofill the post commander's too receptive mind with all his ownsuspicions--and this at a crucial time.
"I can't listen to it, Dr. Waller," said the major, sternly. "Here's amatter of near a thousand dollars that young man has got to answer forthe moment he is well enough to stir. And if he can't account forit--you well know what my duty will demand."