other, had died in their tracks, victims of Red
Cloud and the Ogallalla Sioux.

And all for what? Late that night the quartermaster in wild agitation
sought his colonel's door, a package in his hands. "For God's sake, sir,
look at this!" he cried.

The cords had just been cut, the seals just broken, the stout paper
carefully opened and the contents of the precious packet exposed to
view. It held no money at all, nothing but layer on layer of waste and
worthless paper!

CHAPTER XXI.

A week went by at Fort Emory, and not a word came back from Dean. The
furious storm that swept the hills and swelled the rivers was the talk
of every army post within two hundred miles, while in the gambling halls
and saloons of Laramie, Cheyenne and Gate City men spoke of it in low
tones and with bated breath. If ever the bolts of heaven were launched
to defeat a foul crime it was right there at Canon Springs, for the
story was all over Wyoming by this time how the worst gang of cutthroats
that ever infested the wide West had galloped in strong force to that
wild, sequestered nook to murder Dean and his whole party of the hated
"blue bellies," if need be, but at all hazards to get the precious
package in his charge. Fifty thousand dollars in government greenbacks
it contained, if Hank Birdsall, their chosen leader, could be believed,
and hitherto he had never led them astray. He swore that he had the
"straight tip," and that every man who took honest part in the fight,
that was sure to ensue, should have his square one thousand dollars.
Thirty to ten, surrounding the soldiers along the bluffs on every side,
they counted on easy victory. But the warning thunder had been enough
for the young troop leader, and prompted him to break camp and get out
of the gorge. They were starting when Birdsall's scouts peered over the
bank and the outlaw ordered instant pursuit, just in time to meet the
fury of the flood and to see some of his fellows drowned like rats in a
sewer.

But who betrayed the secret? What officer or government employe revealed
the fact that Dean was going with so much treasure?--and what could have
been his object? Birdsall had taken to the mountains and was beyond
pursuit. "Shorty," one of his men, rescued from drowning by the mail
carrier and escort coming down from Frayne, confessed the plot and the
General was now at Emory investigating. Major Burleigh had taken to his
bed. Captain Newhall was reported gone to Denv