der Miss Loomis went about her
work with conscious effort, but when told of the arrival of Robert
Langston, the woman in her knew he would not go until he had seen and
spoken with her.

The day of Red Dog's capture was still fresh in the minds of Cranston's
household, as indeed in that of every household at the cantonment. With
field-glasses they had marked the threatening gathering at the distant
village, and the ominous advance in line. Old White had his men in ranks
in less than no time, and the cavalry column, masked by the agency
buildings, was sent at brisk trot to the eastward, so that McPhail's
messenger, spurring at mad gallop for aid, met them midway. Cranston's
troop was instantly deployed into long skirmish line at the gallop, and
the affair was practically over by the time Major White, leaving the
infantry battalion to guard the post, had reached the scene. Meantime
the composure of the mothers and children left at the cantonment was in
no wise augmented by the panic-stricken guise of the arriving refugees,
Mrs. McPhail, with her children, and Mira being the first to appear. It
so happened that the Cranstons' bungalow, being near the eastern end of
the line, proved the natural refuge of the first wagon-load, and that
Mrs. Cranston and Miss Loomis were the angels who thus had to minister
to their weaker sisters. Even then, when nearly "dead with terror," as
she expressed it, Mira would gladly have gone somewhere else, but as
Mrs. McPhail promptly bundled herself and her youngsters out of the
wagon and under the shelter of the Cranstons' wing, there was nothing
left for Mira but to follow suit. Dr. Burroughs came promptly to see
what he could do for her. Both Mrs. Cranston and Miss Loomis mastered
their own anxiety in the effort to comfort these weaklings, and as no
sounds of battle came from the eastward, and the watchers on the roofs
reported Red Dog's people as scattering for their tepees before the
advance of the cavalry, comparative composure was gradually being
restored when the first messenger came in from the front, a corporal of
Cranston's troop, whom the boys hailed with eager acclaim.

"Everything's all right, mum," he blithely saluted Mrs. Cranston. "We've
got old Red Dog again,--Lieutenant Davies nabbed him," he added, with
prompt recognition of Mira's lovely face. "They want Dr. Burroughs to
come down to the agency though." And as the doctor mounted the trooper
said something more in a low tone