t wind of it?"

"Yes, sir," was the earnest reply. "Anybody could have heard them."

"Um," said the colonel, reflectively. "Then I think you--erred in
interfering. Couldn't you have got there just a little later?"

"But the regulations prohibit fighting, sir!" said the junior,
aggrieved.

"Certainly, and your course promotes it. You see they were already at
it. Five minutes more would have settled the thing one way or another,
and that would have been the end of it. They would have shaken hands and
been good friends. Now, neither of them has had enough. Each believes he
can whip the other, and those youngsters will neither be able to sleep
nor study till they've fought it out. Always prevent a quarrel when you
can, but once they get going, never stop a square fight, never see or
hear it--until you know it's over."

In like manner a wiser head than that which dictated the telegraphic
instructions to the department commander that night, would have seen
that it was far better for all parties in the mix at San Francisco if
Mr. Loring had been detained there long enough to have the matter
investigated from start to finish, and so to "fix the responsibility."
It was not of vital importance that he should sail by first steamer, but
there had been friction between this particular General and the
Engineers, between him and the adjutant-general, between him and the
secretary of war, between him and the division commander, then
temporarily absent, and a general who differs with so many eminent and
astute authorities as these enumerated must occasionally err in
judgment. Had Loring stayed and been accorded a complete investigation,
the chances are that he and the General would have shaken hands and
parted friends, for both had sterling qualities. But orders given in
compliance with orders from superiors are sometimes given only
grudgingly. The General had heard in that brief interview with his
late-at-night callers enough to convince him that the harshest charges
laid at Loring's door belonged elsewhere. But there were things Loring
had been too proud to explain. There was his insubordinate--so the
General regarded it--appeal over his commander's head to the bureau in
Washington. There was his defiance of his envoy and representative,
Captain Petty. There were lots of little things that ruffled the dignity
of the veteran autocrat, especially the somewhat peremptory tone of the
dispatch from the War Department, and the General