"You can try yourself, and I'd give a hundred dollars, if I had it, to see you find it," he said.
I hurriedly left the plow, but though we hunted everywhere could discover no trace of the missing uniform. "I didn't think we would," said the harassed brother, with a groan of dismay. "She's—well, the Lord only knows what Sally would do if she took the notion, and there's no shirking the trouble. I've got to find out if she has the whole blame outfit on."
"I'll leave you to settle that point," I said; and hearing the locked door of Sally's portion of the house wrenched open and garments being hurled about, I surmised that Steel was prosecuting his inquiries. He flung the split door to with a crash when he came out, leaving, as I saw by a brief glimpse, ruin behind him, and he grew very red in the face as he looked at me.
"It will be a mighty relief when she marries somebody," he said gloomily. "The only comfort is that you're a sensible man, and one could trust you, Ormesby. You will never breathe a word of this. There's no use trying to catch her, for she can get as much out of a beast as any man."
I pledged myself willingly, smothering a wild desire to laugh; and, as it happened, it was I who met the truant riding home very wearily two days later. Her mount was a chestnut, while Cotton's horse was gray, and there was a bundle strapped before her. Still, except for a spattering of mire, she was dressed in a manner befitting a young lady, and actually blushed crimson when I accosted her.
"Where have you been, Sally, and where did you get the horse?"
"In to the railroad; and I borrowed him from Carsley's wife. They'll send the corporal's over," she said. "I'm very tired, Harry Ormesby. Won't you get me supper instead of worrying me?"
Silence seemed best, and I could not resist the appeal, and so hurried back to set about the supper; while what passed between brother and sister I do not know, though when they came in together Sally appeared triumphant and Steel in a very bad humor.
"I'm going to see whether you have let the patient starve. You'll come along with me," she said, when she came out of her own quarters, with no trace of the journey about her. We entered the lean-to shed, which Steel and I occupied together, and found Cotton better in health, though as depressed as he had been all day. Sally held out a bag and a handful of documents towards him.
"There are your papers and money. Now all you have to do is to get well again," she said demurely.