"I admit all you say, colonel. I have long--ah--considered you most unfairly treated, but really--ah--in this case of Lieutenant Dean's, it is, as I said before, inexperience and--ah--the result of-ah--er--not unnatural loss of--er--balance at a most exciting time. A word of--ah--admonition, if you will pardon my suggestion, all he probably needs, for he has really behaved very well--ah--surprisingly well in conducting this--ah--pursuit." And so was it settled that later the colonel was to see Mr. Dean, and admonish accordingly, but that meantime the adjutant should go and whisper in his ear that his arrest was ended, and all would be explained later, thereby releasing him before the girls discovered the fact that he was confined to his tent. But the adjutant came too late. The tearful eyes of one, the flushed and anxious faces of both damsels, and the set look in the eyes of both the young officers at Dean's tent, as the adjutant approached, told him the cat was out of the bag. "The explanation cannot be made too promptly for me, sir," said Dean, as he received the colonel's message and permitted the adjutant to depart without presenting him to the two prettiest girls he had seen in a year. "Now, Loomis, just as quick as possible I want you to go with me to that man Burleigh. I'll cram his words down his throat." "Hush, Dean, of course, I'll stand by you! But--both girls are looking. Wait until to-morrow." How many a project for the morrow is dwarfed or drowned by events unlooked for--unsuspected at the time! Not ten minutes later Folsom and Burleigh came strolling together to the little tent. Ashamed of his apparently unjust accusation, Folsom had begged the quartermaster's pardon and insisted on his coming with him and seeing the young people before driving back to town. The horses were being groomed at the picket line. The western sun was low. Long shadows were thrown out over the sward and the air was full of life and exhilaration. The somber fears that had oppressed the quartermaster an hour earlier were retiring before a hope that then he dare not entertain. "You--you stood by me like a trump, Burleigh," old Folsom was saying, "even after I'd abused you like a thief. If I can ever do you a good turn don't you fail to let me know." And Burleigh was thinking then and there how desperately in need of a good turn he stood that minute. What if Folsom would back him? What if----