landor sat at the centre table and went over requisition blanks by the light of a green-shaded student lamp. the reflection made him look livid and aging. felipa had noticed it, and then she had turned to the fire and sat watching, with her soft eyes half closed, the little sputtering sparks from the mesquite knot. she had been immovable in that one position for at least an hour, her hands folded with a weary looseness in her lap. if it had not been that her face was very hard to read, even her husband might have guessed that she was sad. but he was not thinking about her. he went on examining the papers until some one came upon the front porch and knocked at the door. then he got up and went out.
it was the post-trader, he told felipa when he came back, and he was asking for help from the officer-of-the-day. some citizens down at the store were gambling and drinking high, and were becoming uproarious.
landor sent for a squad of the guard and went to put them out. it was just one of the small emergencies that go to make up the chances of peace. he might or he might not come back alive; the probabilities in favor of the former, to be sure. but the risks are[pg 186] about equal whether one fights indians or citizens drunk with liquor and gaming.
the men went away, however, without much trouble beyond tipsy protests and mutterings, and the sutler rewarded the guard with beer, and explained to landor that several of the disturbers were fellows who were hanging round the post for the beef contract; the biggest and most belligerent—he of the fierce, drooping mustachios—was the owner of the ranch where the kirby massacre had taken place, as well as of another one in new mexico.
landor paid very little attention just then, but that same night he had occasion to think of it again.
it was his habit to go to bed directly after taps when he was officer-of-the-day, and to visit the guard immediately before reveille the next morning. but the requisitions and some troop papers kept him until almost twelve, so that he decided to make his rounds as soon as the clock had struck twelve, and to sleep until sunrise. felipa had long since gone off to bed. he turned down the lamp, put on his cape and cap, and with his revolver in his pocket and his sabre clicking a monotonous accompaniment went out into the night.
it was not very dark. the sky was thick with clouds, but there was a waning moon behind them. the only light in the garrison was in the grated windows of the guard-house.
visiting the guard is dull work, and precisely the same round, night after night, with hardly ever a variation. but to-night there occurred a slight one.[pg 187] landor was carrying his sabre in his arm, as he went by the back of the quarters, in order that its jingle might not disturb any sleepers. for the same reason he walked lightly, although, indeed, he was usually soft-footed, and came unheard back of brewster's yard. brewster himself was standing in the shadow of the fence, talking to some man. landor could see that it was a big fellow, and the first thing that flashed into his mind, without any especial reason, was that it was the rancher who had been in trouble down at the sutler's store.
it gave cause for reflection; but an officer was obviously at liberty to talk to whomsoever he might choose around his own premises, at any hour of the day or night. so the officer of the day went on, treading quietly. but he had something to think about now that kept off drowsiness for the rest of the rounds. brewster's fondness for the society of dubious civilians was certainly unfortunate. and the conjunction of the aspiring beef contractor and the commissary officer was also unfortunate, not to say curious. because of this. the beef contract was about to expire, and the commandant had advertised for bids. a number of ranchers had already turned their papers in. furnishing the government's soldiers with meat is never an empty honor.
the bids, duly sealed, were given into the keeping of the commissary officer to be put in his safe, and kept until the day of judgment, when all being opened in public and in the presence of the aspirants, the lowest would[pg 188] get the contract. it was a simple plan, and gave no more opportunity for underhand work than could be avoided. but there were opportunities for all that. it was barely possible—the thing had been done—for a commissary clerk or sergeant, desirous of adding to his pittance of pay, or of favoring a friend among the bidders, to tamper with the bids. by the same token there was no real reason why the commissary officer could not do it himself. landor had never heard, or known, of such a case, but undoubtedly the way was there. it was a question of having the will and the possession of the safe keys.
there were only the bids to be taken out and steamed open. the lowest found, it was simple enough for the favored one to make his own a quarter of a cent less, and to turn it in at the last moment. but one drawback presented itself. some guileful and wary contractors, making assurance twice sure, kept their bids themselves and only presented them when the officers sat for the final awarding. certainly brewster would have been wiser not to have been seen with the big civilian. during the two days that elapsed before the awarding of the contract, landor thought about it most of the time.
it came to pass in the working out of things that the commandant elected to spend the night before the opening of the bids, in the small town some miles away, where one of the first families was giving a dinner. this left landor, as next in rank, in temporary command. it had happened often enough before, in one way[pg 189] or another, but this time the duties of the position seemed to weigh upon him. he was restless and did not care to sleep. he sent felipa off to bed, and sat watching where her lithe young figure had gone out of the door for some minutes. then he ran his hand across his mouth contemplatively, stroked his mustache, and finally went out of the house and down to ellton's quarters.
when the baby began to cry, as it was always quite sure to do sooner or later, and mrs. ellton went up to it, landor spoke. "if i should come for you at any hour to-night, i wish you would hold yourself in readiness to go out with me immediately."
he was not the sort of a man of whom to ask explanations. ellton said "very well," and proceeded to talk about the troop's hogs and gardens, both of which were a source of increase to the troop funds.
mrs. ellton returned before long, and landor went back home.
"i shall be in and out all night, more or less," he told felipa. she reached her hands from the bedclothes and stroked the deep lines on his forehead, the lines she had had most to do with putting there. but she did not ask for confidences. she never did. it was not her way. he kissed her and went out into the night again, to sit upon his porch at a spot where, through the cottonwood branches, he commanded a view of brewster's front door and of the windows of the commissary office.
the silence of the garrison was absolute. over in[pg 190] the company clerk's office of one of the infantry barracks there was a light for a time. then, at about midnight, it too was put out. a cat came creeping from under the board walk and minced across the road. he watched it absently.
when he looked up again to brewster's house, there was a chink of faint light showing through a curtain. he got up then and went down to ellton's quarters.
ellton himself answered the muffled knock. "i didn't turn in," he said to the mysterious figure, shrouded in a cape, with a visor down to its peering eyes.
landor told him to get his cap and come out. he followed the shadows of the trees near the low commissary building, and they stood there, each behind a thick cottonwood trunk. landor watched the light in brewster's window. it disappeared before long, and they held their breaths. ellton began to guess what was expected to happen. yet brewster himself did not come out.
landor had almost decided that he had made an ungenerous mistake, when ellton came over with one light spring and, touching him on the shoulder, pointed to the window of the commissary office. a thick, dark blanket had evidently been hung within, but the faintest red flicker showed through a tiny hole.
then landor remembered for the first time that there was a back door to brewster's quarters and to the commissary. he crept over to the commissary and tried the door gently. it was fast locked. then he went to the window. it was a low one, on a level with his[pg 191] chest, with wide-apart iron bars. he ran his hand between them now, and, doubling his fist, broke a pane with a sudden blow. as the glass crashed in, he grasped the gray blanket and drew it back. brewster was standing in front of the open safe, the package of bids in his hands, and the big rancher was beside him holding a candle and shading it with his palm. they had both turned, and were staring, terror-eyed, at the bleeding hand that held back the blanket.
"can you see, ellton?" landor asked in his restrained, even voice. he evidently meant that there should be no more noise about this than necessary, that the post should know nothing of it.
"i can see, sir," the lieutenant answered.
then landor spoke to the commissary officer. "you will oblige me, mr. brewster, by returning those bids to the safe and by opening the door for me." he dropped the blanket, drew back his cut hand, warm and wet with blood, and wrapped it in a handkerchief very deliberately, as he waited.
presently the front door opened. the commissary officer evidently had all the keys. landor and ellton, who were commandant and adjutant as well, went through the close-smelling storeroom, which reeked with codfish and coffee, into the office.
the citizen was still there, still holding the candle and shading it, scared out of the little wits he had at the best of times. he was too frightened as yet to curse brewster and the wary scoundrel back in arizona, who had set him on to tampering with the military,[pg 192] and had put up the funds to that end—a small risk for a big gain.
landor pointed to him. "who is this?" he asked.
brewster told him. "it is mr. lawton, of the circle k ranch."
"what is he doing here?"
"he was helping me."
"helping you to do what?"
"to get out the bids." his courage was waxing a little.
"for what purpose?" went on the cross questions.
"to take them over to my quarters and keep them safe."
"yes?" said landor. the inflection was not pleasing. it caused brewster to answer somewhat weakly, "yes."
"do you think, sir, that you could tell that to twelve officers and make them believe it?"
brewster was silent, but he neither flinched nor cowered, nor yet shifted his eyes.
landor turned to the citizen. "where is your bid, mr. lawton?"
"i ain't put it in yet," he stammered feebly.
"don't put it in, then. leave the reservation to-night. you understand me, do you? now go!"
lawton set down the candle upon the desk, and crept away by the rear door.
after he had gone, landor turned to brewster once more. "are all the bids in the safe again?"
they were.
[pg 193]
"is it closed?"
it was.
"give me the keys—all the keys."
he handed them over.
ellton stood by the door, with his hands in his pockets, and a countenance that tried hard to maintain the severity of discipline. but he was plainly enjoying it.
"now, mr. brewster," said landor, going to the safe and resting his elbow upon it, and leaning forward in his earnestness, "i am going to tell you what you are to do. it would be better for the service and for all concerned if you do it quietly. i think you will agree with me, that any scandal is to be avoided. come to the opening of the bids to-morrow, at noon, quite as though nothing of this disgraceful sort had happened. i will keep the keys until then. but by retreat to-morrow evening i want your resignation from the service in the hands of the adjutant. if it is not, i shall prefer charges against you the next morning. but i hardly think you will deem it advisable to stand a court-martial." he stopped and stood erect again.
brewster started to protest, still with the almost unmoved countenance of an innocent man. at any rate, he was not an abject, whining scoundrel, thought ellton, with a certain amount of admiration.
landor held up a silencing hand. "if you have any explanations that you care to make, that it would be worth any one's time to listen to, you may keep them for a judge advocate." he pointed to the door.
brewster hesitated for a moment, then walked out,[pg 194] a little unsteadily. they blew out the candle and took down the gray blanket. "a stone can have broken that pane, and i cut my hand on a bottle," said landor.
ellton answered "very good," and they went out, locking the door.
