These were things that were being
told, too, to the men of Sanders's returning troop before they were
fairly unsaddled at the stables; and that night, before ever he sought
his soldier pillow, Shannon had been to "C" Troop's quarters in search
of Trooper Stern and had wrung from him all that he could tell of
Carmody's last fight on earth--of his last words to Lieutenant
Blakely.
Meantime a sorely troubled man was Major Plume. That his wife would
have to return to Sandy he had learned from the lips of Colonel Byrne
himself. Her own good name had been involved, and could only be
completely cleared when Wren and Blakely were sufficiently recovered
to testify, and when Mullins should be so thoroughly restored as to be
fit for close cross-examination. Plume could in no wise connect his
beloved wife with either the murderous assault on Mullins or the
mysterious firing of Blakely's quarters, but he knew that Sandy could
not so readily acquit her, even though it might saddle the actual deed
upon her instrument--Elise. He had ordered that Blakely should be
brought to his own quarters because there he could not be reached by
any who were unacceptable to himself, the post commander. There were
many things he wished to know about and from Blakely's lips alone. He
could not stoop to talk with other men about the foibles of his wife.
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