R, FORT SCOTT:

"'Notify Captain Devers that his letters have been received,
and that the court for his trial will convene not later than
the fifteenth instant.

"'By command of General ----.'"

And when it is remembered that he had persistently demanded prompt trial
it is surprising that the accused officer looked completely
disconcerted. The fact of the matter was Captain Devers had no idea that
the members and witnesses could be brought together again before
mid-September, if then. That night he sat up writing until very late,
and sent two messages away by wire. He was sorely troubled now, but
could he have seen the group gathered solemnly about the dying sergeant
far away at Antelope Springs, and heard his faint, whispered words as
Archer took them down, Devers would have stood aghast.

A charming little informal dance was going on at the fort one August
evening about a week later. The Leonards would not attend them now, but
with five such belles as Mesdames Stone, Darling, Davies, Flight, and
Plodder, to say nothing of other lesser lights of the garrison galaxy,
there was no lack of womanly beauty, only the cavaliers were short. One
officer, an infantry subaltern, represented the martial element, the
other men were civilians. Courtenay had brought out two Eastern friends;
Burtis was on hand as usual, and Willett, metaphorically, at least, at
Mira's feet. The poor girl actually lacked the sense to see that his
infatuation was such that he had no eyes, ears, or senses left for any
one else. Possibly she gloried in his devotion. At all events he danced
with her again and again and watched her jealously when she danced with
others. At last towards eleven o'clock Leonard suddenly appeared at the
door of the dancing-room, holding an open letter in his hand, and
beckoned to his comrade. "I'll have to trouble you to come with me to
the quartermaster's storehouse," said he. "There is a chest there that
must be opened to-night." And though the lieutenant was surprised, he,
in common with everybody else in the Fortieth, had learned that Leonard
rarely opened his mouth except to speak by authority, and so went with
barely a word to the ladies left behind, nor did he return in ten
minutes, as he said he would. The old non-commissioned officer left in
charge of the "A" company stores was awaiting their coming with the
quartermaster sergeant. He looked troubled and perplexed when Leonard
handed him the key