mark had barely reached the head of the stairs before the morning gun sounded, and five minutes later he was in line at roll call with the rest of his class. it is needless to say that texas was absent.
texas woke up a while later, and staggered to his feet, feeling carefully of his ribs to make sure they were not really broken. and then he went out and interviewed a sentry in the hall.
"look a yere, mister," said he. "where's this yere place they call the hospital?"
the sentry directed him to await the proper hour, and texas spent the rest of that day, reported by the surgeon as "absent from duty—sick—contusions." and the whole class wondered why.
mark noticed that the cadets were looking at him at breakfast; and he noticed that the members of his own class were rather distant, but he gritted his teeth and made up his mind to face it out.
[pg 39]"if even texas called me a coward," he mused, "i can't expect the rest of 'em to do otherwise."
and so it seemed, for that same morning just after breakfast corporal jasper and cadet spencer paid a visit to mark.
"the class would like, if you please, mr. mallory," said the former, "an explanation of your conduct this morning."
"and i am sorry to say," responded mark, just as politely, "that i am unable to give it. all i can say is that my conduct, though it may seem strange and mysterious, was unavoidable. if you will allow me, i shall be pleased to meet mr. williams to-morrow."
"we cannot allow it," said jasper, emphatically, "unless you consent to explain your action and can succeed in doing it satisfactorily, which you will pardon me for saying i doubt very much, you stand before the academy branded as a coward."
"very well," said mark, "let it be so."
and he turned away, and all through that long, weary morning and the afternoon, too. cadet mallory was in coventry, and not a soul spoke a word to him, except cadet spencer, at drill. and he was frigid.
[pg 40]cadet powers was released from the hospital "cured" that evening after supper, and he limped upstairs to his room, and sat down to think about himself, and to philosophize upon the vanities of life and the follies of ambition. mark did not come up until "tattoo" sounded, and so texas had plenty of time. he felt very meek just then; he wasn't angry any more, and he'd had plenty of time also to think over what a fool he had been in not listening to mark's explanation of his absence. for texas had been suddenly convinced that mark was no coward after all.
while he sat there, a piece of paper sticking out from under the bureau caught his eye. texas was getting very neat recently under west point discipline; he picked that paper up, and read as follows:
"i'll be back in time to fight. explain later. trust me.
"mark."
"oh!" cried texas, springing up from his chair and wrenching a dilapidated shoulder. "he told me he did that—and i called him a liar!"
texas walked up and down, and mused some more. then it occurred to him there might be more paper under[pg 41] that bureau to explain things. he got down, painfully, and fished out another crumpled note. and he read that, too:
"dear mr. mallory: i am in deep trouble, and i need your aid at once. you can tell how serious the trouble is by the fact that i ask you to come to me immediately. if you care to do a generous and helpful act pray do not refuse. sincerely yours,
"mary adams."
mary adams was a girl well known to many of the cadets.
the letter was roughly scrawled on a pad, and when texas finished reading it he flung it on the floor and went and glared at himself in the mirror.
"you idiot!" he muttered, shaking his fist at himself. "here them ole cadets went an' fooled mark mallory again, an' you—bah!"
texas was repentant through and through by that time; he grabbed up his cap savagely and made for the door, with a reckless disregard for sore joints. he hobbled downstairs and out of barracks, and caught mark by the arm just as mark was coming in.
"well, texas?" inquired mark, smiling.
[pg 42]"fust place," said texas, briefly, "want to thank you fo' lickin' me."
"welcome," said mark.
"second place, do it ag'in if i ever lose my temper."
"welcome," said mark.
"third place, i want to 'pologize."
"what's up? what's happened to convince you?"
"nothin' much," said texas, "only i been a' findin' out what a fool i am. hones' now, mark," and as mark looked into the other's pleading gray eyes he saw that texas meant it. "hones' now, this yere's fust time i ever 'pologized in my life. i'm sorry."
and mark took him by the hand. they were friends again from that moment.
"i jist saw that second note from mary adams upstairs," explained texas, "an' then i knowed them ole cadets had fooled you that way ag'in. say, mark, you're mos' as big a fool as me—mos'."
"that note was genuine," answered mark. and then as he saw texas' amazement, he led him aside and explained. "i'll tell you about it," said he, "for i can trust you not to tell. but i can't explain to the rest of the[pg 43] class, and i won't, either, though they may call me a coward if they choose.
"a drummer boy came up here last night—or, rather, this morning. he woke me up and gave me that note, swore it was genuine, too, and i believed him in the end. as you see, mary adams wanted to see me, and she was in a desperate hurry about it. well, i debated over it for a long time; at first i thought i wouldn't, for i was afraid of court-martial; but then as i thought of her in distress i made up my mind to risk it, and i went. as it turned out, old man, you'd have been ashamed of me if i hadn't. there are worse things than being called a coward, and one of em's being a coward.
"i found her in great trouble, as she said. she has a brother, a fellow of about twenty-two, i guess. she lives with her widowed mother, and he takes care of them. i think they are poor. anyway, this brother had gotten two or three hundred dollars from his employer to take a trip out west. he had fallen in with a rather tough crowd down in the village, and they were busy making him spend it as fast as he could. that was the situation."
"it was tough," commented texas.
"the problem was to get him away. the girl hadn't[pg 44] a friend on earth to call on, and she happened to think of me. she begged me to try to get him away. and i'll tell you one thing, too, texas. the cadets say she's a flirt and all that. she may be. i haven't had a chance to find out, and i don't propose to; but a girl that thinks as much of her brother as she does, and does as much for him, is not beyond respect by a good sight. i was really quite taken with her last night."
"beware the serpent," put in texas, laughing. "she's pretty, i'm told. go on."
"well, i found him, after a couple of hours' search, in a tough dive, with a crowd of loafers hanging on to him. i got him out, but i had to knock down——"
"hey!" cried texas, springing up in excitement. "had a fight, did ye? why didn't you take me 'long?"
"i didn't know i was going to fight," said mark, laughing.
"and did you lick 'em?"
"i only had to lick two, and then the rest ran."
texas sighed resignedly, and mark went on:
"i took him home, as i said, and left him with her. i got home just in time for reveille."
"time to have me call you names and to lick me blue,[pg 45] for the same which i have jest thanked yo," added texas, his eyes suspiciously moist. "an' look a yere, ole man"—texas slung his hand around to his hip pocket and "pulled" a beautiful silver-mounted revolver, loaded "to the brim"—"look a yere, mark. this yere gun, i ain't ever gone out 'thout it fo' ten year. she's a——"
"you don't mean to say you've had it on up here!"
"sho'," said texas, "an' i come near usin' it on you, too. mark, you dunno how a texas man is with a gun. mos' of 'em 'ud ruther sell their wives. an' i'm a goin' to give you this to show that—er—that ther' ain't no hard feelin's, you know."
"and i'll take it," said mark, getting hold of texas' other hand at the same time—"take it, if it's only to keep you from carrying it. and there aren't any hard feelings."
