be brought before the court some very interesting
testimony could be dragged from him, and, finally, that both Armstrong
and Mrs.--well, the wife of a staff officer who is already well on the
way to Manila--might be compelled to testify. I cannot bring myself to
repeat more that he said; but he was in an ugly and almost defiant mood,
and I had to give him a dressing down. You may say to Armstrong for me
that I do not believe one word of Canker's calumny at his expense or that
of the lady in the case. But he declared his intention of laying the
whole matter before General Drayton immediately on his arrival, and it is
best that Armstrong should be prepared. As for the lady, Canker said she
and Armstrong were very close friends when they were at Fort Stanhope ten
years ago, though they no longer meet as such.

"And that brings me to another matter. I declined positively to allow two
or three ladies, wives of officers, to go on to Manila with Canker's
command; and they said that as I had promised Mrs. Garrison a passage I
had no right to refuse them. Pressed for their authority, two very
estimable women told me that, at the Presidio two days before we sailed,
Mrs. Garrison openly boasted of having my promise to send her on the very
next steamer. Now, who is really the fabricator? I told her positively
that, with my consent, she should not go; and she laughed delightedly,
and said she only asked as a matter of form--the whole thing had already
been settled. Just see to it that if any more transports start before my
return no woman is permitted aboard except, of course, authorized nurses.
Gray is a very sick boy to-night, but you might wire his father, saying
nothing of the arrest, that the doctors are confident of his recovery in
course of time."

Armstrong read these pages twice over before he looked up.

"How did this letter come?" he asked.

"By the Salvador yesterday."

"And the next mail for Honolulu?" queried Armstrong, rising from his
chair and handing back the folded letter.

"The next mail closed an hour ago, man. The China sails at two. No other
boat for a week. Where are you going now?"

"To camp for ten minutes, then to the Presidio."

"Oh, come over to the club and have a bite first?" said the
adjutant-general, rising and wriggling out of his uniform coat as he did
so. "I won't keep you half an hour."

"That half-hour may prove precious," answered Armstrong, already at the
door. "Many thanks all the sa