le," I said desperately.

"I hope so, with my whole heart; although I've always had a sneaking
admiration for Vandyke, too. He's such a dashed fine-looking chap, a
credit to the army, and all that. To clear March--really clear him,
without leaving a stain of carelessness even--means to ruin Vandyke. For
March can't be made white as snow without Vandyke being proved a liar,
and--by Jove, yes, a traitor to his country!"

"That's what he must be proved," I said.

"It'll be a tough proposition. As I see it, there's no proof."

"It must be found."

"That's easy to say. But if there's any, it ought to be found by the
court."

"When will the trial come on?" I asked.

"In a few days. I don't know yet just when."

"In the meantime, Eagle is under arrest?"

"Yes. It's sickening."

"Aren't his friends--I mean among the officers--indignant?"

"They're mighty sorry, all broken up, and don't know what to think. But,
of course, Major Vandyke's got a good many friends, too. As for the Fort
Bliss officers, they're so wild about the whole business that I'm afraid
they're a bit prejudiced against March--those of them who don't know him
personally. You see, there was an awful row on the hill after the
firing--but I didn't mean to tell you about that----"

"Why not, as I know the rest? I suppose some of them arrived----"

"I should say they did arrive! That's too slow a word. The noise shot
'em out of their blessed beds--those of 'em who had gone to bed--and
brought the others out of any old place they happened to be in: club,
hotel, friends' houses. The first thing we knew, we had the General
Commanding on us. They know _some_ language, those grand old Johnnies!
Poor March! He was up against it, I can tell you. His worst enemy would
have been sorry for him."

"Fiends! What did they do?" I gasped.

"It wasn't so much what they did as what they said. But I shan't
give you details, Peggy, so don't try and worm 'em out of me.
It'll only waste our valuable time. March was under arrest--that's
enough. I suppose he ought to be grateful that it's been 'judged
expedient'--that's the phrase--never to let the story in its full
enormity leak out. Vandyke was so smart at apologies and explanations in
that Mexican dash of his last night, and the part he played appealed
such a lot to the chaps over there, who're nothing if they're not
sensational, that it's hoped the incident won't have any serious
international results at all. The gre