ed that that wasn't the only thing he had been misinformed
about by a jugful, and he looked as though he'd like to put me in arrest
too--the old slab; he would, too, if he had the grit of his wife; but he
didn't. He sent Warner down just a moment ago to say that if Mr. Ray
desired to speak to him about the matter he would see him this evening,
as 'he desired to go to town on the morrow.' Ray begged Warner to sit
down, offered him a toddy or a glass of wine, and, finally, as though it
had suddenly occurred to him, exclaimed, 'Oh! Do _I_ want to see the
colonel? Why, really, Mr. Warner, I know of nothing that--well, _you_
might say this, you know: it isn't at all necessary that _I_ should see
him, and I do not send this as a message; but, as the colonel appears to
have furnished much of the information on these charges without
reference to me, I shall probably answer them in the same way,--without
reference to him.' Gad! I never saw Ray more placidly polite, and he's
always most full of fight at such times."

But even with such "an old slab" as Whaling anything more impolitic than
the conduct of these two cavalry subalterns could hardly have been
imagined. Warner never told the colonel what Ray said; but, of course,
had to say that Ray expressed no desire to see him. By the following
morning the colonel was chafing over it a great deal, and over the
indignation expressed around the post at Ray's arrest. He concluded that
he wanted to see the young man himself, and an opportunity unexpectedly
occurred. Sergeant Wolf's recent desertion was still a source of much
subdued excitement, and efforts had been made to capture him. It had
begun to leak around the garrison that he had been sent for the night of
his departure by Lieutenant Ray, and did not return to the band barracks
until eleven o'clock, "when he acted queer." The post quartermaster was
much exercised about the theft of one of the best horses from the band
stable, as he had become responsible for them in the absence of Mr.
Billings. Possibly Ray could throw some light on the matter, and, to
that officer's surprise, he was sent for at guard-mounting. His first
idea was that his remarks to Warner had been carried to the colonel, and
that he was to be overhauled for them. His head was perhaps a trifle
higher than usual, therefore, when he entered the office. The first
question sent the blood surging to his forehead, and he almost staggered
with surprise.

"Mr. Ray," sa