le. So long as Davies and McGrath never turned
up to combat the accusation all would go well. The captain didn't tell
them in so many words they must swear to the ridge trail as the one they
pursued the evening of the tragedy, but he did not oppose it. He asked
them for their recollection of the matter and made his map, as did Mr.
Archer his report, accordingly.

Then when it was found that Recruit Brannan as well as certain old hands
resented the idea of Mr. Davies being held accountable, they had to
muzzle him. Brannan declared he would warn the lieutenant the moment he
returned to the troop, so they made up their minds that he must be
discredited, if not ruined. Howard said that there was in his
writing-case a sealed packet that contained evidence that would send him
to State's prison and "kill" him in the lieutenant's eyes; and this,
indeed, was no idle threat, for Powlett, fearing detection if he either
sold or kept the watch he had torn from Davies's pocket after the
cowardly assault, had sealed it in one package and tied Mira's gushing
letters in another, and long before had induced the unsuspecting boy to
promise to keep and guard them for him as a sacred trust. Only as a last
resort, said Haney, were they to exhibit the proofs of Brannan's
apparent criminality. Meantime, by sending him to the agency or tempting
him with liquor they hoped to keep him harmless.

But Howard soon began striking for leadership. He held the secrets of
his captain and two of his sergeants and was safely out of the troubles
that involved him at home. (He had been wise enough to confide these to
no one and to make poor Brannan swear to preserve his secret.) He was
beginning to hear from relations and receive money from them. He began
to put on airs over everybody, captain and all, and though Haney hated,
and was jealous of his influence, he dared not offend him. They knew it
was he who was seen prowling about Davies's quarters, but they could not
account for it, and strove to make it appear that Brannan was the
culprit. And then he began "sparking" Robideau's daughter in town, and
had become moody, nervous, excitable; talked about mysterious spies and
trailers, and then, suddenly and unaccountably, deserted after a spree
in Braska that had cost him much money,--after a mad scrape in which he
had terrified Mrs. Davies and thrashed Mr. Willett. Who he was or what
he was Sergeant Haney didn't know, but that he was a villain with a
history