hom we have yet
to meet, and with Mr. Gleason, is still detained on that horse
board,--very reluctantly, too, fretting himself into a fever over it say
some accounts, and other accounts say worse. Bucketts, as quartermaster,
is behind at Hays gathering up the fragments that remain and shipping
property to the new station. Captain Canker is here: he was East with
his wife and little ones, vastly enjoying the surf at Cape May, when the
telegram reached him saying that the --th were off for the wars again,
and within twelve hours he was in pursuit. Four of the group now waiting
around the colonel's tent came in just that way.

"Gentlemen," says the colonel, stepping quickly from the tent, "I called
you here for a word or two. First, there will be forty new horses here
at three this afternoon. They will be distributed according to color
among the eight companies, five to each. See to it that they are shod
first thing. There will be twenty in the next lot; they are to be left
here for Webb and Truscott. Overhaul your ammunition and equipments at
once, and if anything is lacking, you can draw from Cheyenne depot this
afternoon. I presume those of you who are to take station at Russell
will want to go over to see about your quarters, but my advice is that
only those who have families make any selection: there will be some
changes by the time we get back. We march at six in the morning, so have
everything cleared up to-day. There will be no further drill. Those who
have business to attend to in town or at the fort can leave camp without
further permission. I shall remain here until we start, and one officer
from each troop must be in camp, at stables, and during night. That's
all, unless somebody has questions to ask." And the colonel looks
inquiringly around.

Apparently nobody has, and the group breaks up. Some few of the older
officers remained to talk over the prospects at the colonel's tent.
Others went to the garrison to rejoin anxious wives and children, and to
spend the last day with them in helping get things settled in the new
army homes to which they had been so suddenly moved. A third party, "the
youngsters," or junior officers, sauntered across the intervening
stretch of prairie towards the low wooden building standing just north
of the entrance-gate of the fort. In old army days 'twas known as "the
sutler's." In modern parlance it is simply called "the store." The
middle room of which, fitted up with a couple of