The Deserter | Page 4

was one at the banker's, and that it was notorious in
Washington that the captain's father had made most of his money in
government contracts, and that the captain's original commission in the
regulars was secured through well-paid Congressional influence. The
fact that Rayner had developed into a good officer did not wipe out the
recollection of these facts; and he could have throttled Hayne for
reviving them. It was "a game of give and take," said the youngster;
and he "behaved himself" to those who were at all decent in their
manner to him.
It was a thorn in Rayner's flesh, therefore, when Hayne joined from
leave of absence, after experiences not every officer would care to
encounter in getting back to his regiment, that Captain Hull should
have induced the general to detail him in place of the invalided field
quartermaster when the command was divided. Hayne would have been
a junior subaltern in Rayner's little battalion but for that detail, and it
annoyed the captain more seriously than he would confess.
"It is all an outrage and a blunder to pick out a boy like that," he growls
between his set teeth as Hayne canters blithely away. "Here he's been
away from the regiment all summer long, having a big time and getting
head over ears in debt, I hear, and the moment he rejoins they put him
in charge of the wagon-train as field quartermaster. It's putting a
premium on being young and cheeky,--besides absenteeism," he
continues, growing blacker every minute.
"Well, captain," answers his adjutant, injudiciously, "I think you don't
give Hayne credit for coming back on the jump the moment we were
ordered out. It was no fault of his he could not reach us. He took
chances I wouldn't take."
"Oh, yes! you kids all swear by Hayne because he's a good fellow and
sings a jolly song and plays the piano--and poker. One of these days

he'll swamp you all, sure as shooting. He's in debt now, and it'll fetch
him before you know it. What he needs is to be under a captain who
could discipline him a little. By Jove, I'd do it!" And Rayner's teeth
emphasize the assertion.
The young adjutant thinks it advisable to say nothing that may provoke
further vehemence. All the same, he remembers Rayner's bitterness of
manner, and has abundant cause to.
When the next morning breaks, chill and pallid, a change has come in
the aspect of affairs. During the earliest hour of the dawn the red light
of a light-draught river-boat startled the outlying pickets down-stream,
and the Far West, answering the muffled hail from shore, responded,
through the medium of a mate's stentorian tones, "News that'll rout you
fellows out." The sun is hardly peeping over the jagged outline of the
eastern hills when, with Rayner's entire battalion aboard, she is
steaming again down-stream, with orders to land at the mouth of the
Sweet Root. There the four companies will disembark in readiness to
join the rest of the regiment.
All day long again the wagon-train twists and wriggles through an
ashen section of Les Mauvaises Terres. It is a tedious, trying march for
Hull's little command of troopers,--all that is now left to guard the train.
The captain is constantly out on the exposed flank, eagerly scanning the
rough country to the south, and expectant any moment of an attack
from that direction. He and his men, as well as the horses, mules, and
teamsters, are fairly tired out when at nightfall they park the wagons in
a big semicircle, with the broad river forming a shining chord to the arc
of white canvas. All the live-stock are safely herded within the
enclosure; a few reliable soldiers are posted well out to the south and
east, to guard against surprise, and the veteran Sergeant Clancy is put in
command of the sentries. The captain gives strict injunctions as to the
importance of these duties; for he is far from easy in his mind over the
situation. The Riflers, he knows, are over in the valley of the Sweet
Root. The steamer with Rayner's men is tied up at the bank some five
miles below, around the bend. The ----th are far off to the northward
across the Elk, as ordered, and must be expecting on the morrow to

make for the old Indian "ferry" opposite Battle Butte. The main body of
the Sioux are reported farther down stream, but he feels it in his bones
that there are numbers of them within signal, and he wishes with all his
heart the ----th were here. Still, the general was sure he would stir up
war-parties on the other shore. Individually, he has had very little luck
in scouting during the summer, and he cannot