had intended going to Rapid City, but at the last moment in town
received information rendering his visit unnecessary, indeed
inadvisable. A man with whom he had had business associations in the
past, and who owed him much money, had been there, but had headed him
off by promising to meet him in Silver Hill. The train came, but not the
man, yet the conductor said such a man had boarded the train at the
Junction and must have dropped off as they slowed up for town after
passing Bonner's Bluff. Blenke had spent most of Monday night and all of
Tuesday in further search. Tuesday evening came a clue. The evasive
"party" had been seen at Skid's drinking heavily, and Blenke hastened
thither in partial disguise, he said, and was there when late Tuesday
night the shrieks from Skidmore's private quarters told of peril. The
drunken crowd in the bar at first took no heed. Shrieks were things of
frequent occurrence, but Blenke had rushed, found the shack all ablaze
within, and with difficulty and much personal risk had succeeded in
pulling out Mrs. Skidmore and her terrified child.

Blenke by manner, not by words, continued to convey to his inquisitors
that he took it much amiss that a soldier who had done such credit to
his uniform and the service should on his return be subjected to such
rigid cross-questioning, and be treated with such obvious suspicion. But
both colonel and captain had more to ask. Had he seen aught of the trio
from the fort who claimed to have spent Monday evening at Skidmore's?
Blenke declared he had not. He had spent that evening searching about
town; but he had heard of them, yes. There was no little talk among the
cowboys, tramps, toughs, and ranchmen in and about Skidmore's concerning
a party of soldiers that had been there hours Monday evening "raising
the devil." There had been a rough-and-tumble fight, too, but Blenke
virtuously disclaimed all personal knowledge of the men or their
misdemeanors. Asked to name some of the places he had visited Monday
evening and Tuesday in town, Blenke unhesitatingly mentioned as many as
a dozen. The adjutant jotted them down, and when the colonel sent an
officer in to investigate, it was found that Blenke's statement, like
his manner, was irreproachable. Moreever, it was found by the testimony
of certain hangers-on at Skidmore's that the story told by the
incarcerated trio was equally true. They had been seen about the
premises, drinking, card-playing, loafing, early in