ese did not seem to mind
much.

Charlie told me at Maginnis that he did not want to return to Shaw, and
I wondered at that so many times. I went in the kitchen two miserable
mornings back and found him sitting down looking unhappy and
disconsolate. I do not remember to have ever seen a Chinaman sitting
down that way before, and was afraid he might be sick, but he said at
once and without preamble, "Me go 'way!" He saw my look of surprise and
said again, "Me go 'way--Missee Bulk's Chinee-man tellee me go 'way." I
said, "But, Charlie, Lee has no right to tell you to go; I want you
to stay." He hesitated one second, then said in the most mournful of
voices, "Yes, me know, me feel vellee blad, but Lee, he tellee me go--he
no likee mason-man." No amount of persuasion could induce him to stay,
and that evening after dinner he packed his bedding on his back and went
away--to the Crossing, I presume. Charlie called himself a mason, and
has a book that he made himself which he said was a "mason-man blook,"
but I learned yesterday that he is a "high-binder," no mason at all,
and for that reason the Chinamen in the garrison would not permit him to
remain here. They were afraid of him, yet he seemed so very trustworthy
in every way. But a highbinder in one's own house!

There has been another departure from the family--Bettie has been sold!
Lieutenant Warren wanted her to match a horse he had recently bought.
The two make a beautiful little team, and Bettie is already a great
pet, and I am glad of that, of course, but I do not see the necessity of
Lieutenant Warren's giving her sugar right in front of our windows! His
quarters are near ours. He says that Bettie made no objections to the
harness, but drove right off with her mate.

There was a distressing occurrence in the garrison yesterday that I
cannot forget. At all army posts the prisoners do the rough work, such
as bringing the wood and water, keeping the yards tidy, bringing the
ice, and so on. Yesterday morning one of the general prisoners here
escaped from the sentry guarding him. The long-roll was beaten, and as
this always means that something is wrong and calls out all the troops,
officers and men, I ran out on the porch to see what was the matter,
fearing there might be a fire some place. It seemed a long time before
the companies got in line, and then I noticed that instead of fire
buckets they were carrying rifles. Directly every company started off
on double time