utenant Halsey to parade at 4 p. m.,
with overcoats, two days' rations, and ball cartridges; also for
Assistant Surgeon Kesler to report for duty with the party. Orders as to
destination were communicated direct to the lieutenant from the post
commander, and on the minute the little column moved, taking the road to
the station. The regiment from which it came had been in active service
among the Indians on the frontier for a long time, and the officers and
men were tried and seasoned fighters. Lieutenant Halsey had been well
known at the West Point balls as the "leader of the german." From the
last of these balls he had gone straight to the field, and three years
had given him an enviable reputation for _sang-froid_ and determined
bravery. He looked every inch the soldier as he walked along the trail,
his cloak thrown back and his sword tucked under his arm. The doctor,
who carried a Modoc bullet in some inaccessible part of his scarred
body, growled good-naturedly at the need of walking, and the men,
enveloped in their army-blue overcoats, marched easily by fours.
Reaching the station, the lieutenant called the agent aside, and with
him inspected, on a siding, a long platform car on which benches had
been placed and secured. Then he took his seat in the station and
quietly waited, occasionally twisting his long blond mustache. The
doctor took a cigar with the agent, and the men walked about or sat on
the edge of the platform. One of them, who obtained a surreptitious
glance at his silent commander, told his companions that there was
trouble ahead for somebody.

"That's just the way the leftenant looked, boys," said he, "when we was
laying for them Apaches that raided Jones's Ranch and killed the women
and little children."

In a short time the officer looked at his watch, formed his men, and
directed them to take their places on the seats of the car. They had
hardly done so when the whistle of the approaching train was heard. When
it came up, the conductor, who had his instructions from Sinclair, had
the engine detached and backed on the siding for the soldiers' car,
which thus came between it and the foremost baggage car when the train
was again made up. As arranged, it was announced that the troops were to
be taken a certain distance to join a scouting party, and the curiosity
of the passengers was but slightly excited. The soldiers sat quietly in
their seats, their repeating rifles held between their knees, and the