"Colonel, I protest," pleaded the heartsick lover. "I forbid you to ever put your foot inside my quarters again!" "Colonel--" "Silence, sir! I forbid you to ever speak to my daughter again!" "But, Colonel--" "I repudiate you and all yours. I wipe you from the map. You don't exist. I don't know you. I never knew you. Get out of my sight!" The tall, slender form slowly straightened and a look of cold pride shot from the depths of his blue eyes. Without a word he turned and left. X ROMANCE Black Hawk was leading his red warriors in a great uprising. A wave of fierce excitement swept the frontier. There was stern work now for men to do and women must wait alone. The regiment marched to the front. The Colonel as a man was freezingly formal with the Lieutenant. As an officer, he knew his worth and relied on it in every emergency. The State of Illinois had raised two companies of raw recruits to join in subduing the Indians. The Colonel sent his most efficient subordinate to swear in the new soldiers. On the morning of the muster, there appeared before the tall Lieutenant, a man full three inches taller, and famous in his county as the gawkiest, slab-sidest, homeliest, best-natured fellow in the State. He was dressed in a suit of blue jeans. In slow, pleasing drawl, he announced: "I am the Captain, of this company--" And he waved his long arm toward the crowd of his countrymen on the right. Lieutenant Jefferson Davis promptly administered to Abraham Lincoln his first oath to support the Constitution and laws of the United States. Two men destined to immortal fame had met and passed with scarcely a glance at each other. The young army officer was too much of a gentleman to mark the ill-fitting blue jeans of the awkward captain of militia. Great events, after all, make men great. Only the eye of God could foresee the coming tragedy in which these two would play their mighty roles. At the end of the brief struggle on the frontier, Black Hawk's people were scattered to the four winds and the brave old warrior, with a handful of his men, sought Colonel Taylor's command to surrender. Again, the Colonel sent his most accomplished officer, the Lieutenant whom he had forbidden to enter his house,--to treat with the fallen Chief. The Lieutenant received with kindly words the broken-hearted warrior, his two sons and sixty braves, and conducted them at once as prisoners of war to the barracks at St. Louis. The cholera was raging at Rock Island, and on the boat two of the Indian prisoners were seized with the fatal disease. The Lieutenant, at the risk of his life, personally ministered to their needs. The two stricken men made known to the commander in broken words and signs that they had sworn an oath of eternal friendship. In pleading tones the stronger said: "We beg the good Chief to put us ashore that hand in hand we may go to the happy hunting grounds together." Near the first little settlement their prayer was granted.