“Well, you found it a good place, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir. That is, it is well enough now.”
“What do you mean by now?”
“I mean, sir, that the colonel has got so that he can trust me, and he sends me out on little expeditions—like this one, for instance.”
“Oh,” said the general with a smile. “Well, you live up to your full duty while you are in garrison and I will answer for it that you will see plenty of service of this kind.”
The general then opened the dispatches, and when he had got a page half read he noticed that Parker was still standing, with his hat in his hand, and he told him to sit down, at the same time offering a slight apology for his neglect. The lieutenant thanked him and took a chair, running his eye over the articles of furniture with which the general had thought it necessary to surround himself, and he made up his mind that the officer was not as fond of hunting as his colonel was. There were no weapons to be seen, and not a stuffed head of antelope or buffalo did he see to remind him of the plains.
“Now, lieutenant, I shall want you to have my answer in your colonel’s hands as soon as possible,” said the general. “Do you want some refreshments—you or your men?”
“No, sir. We brought in our pockets a bite to eat. I have but one man with me.”
The general did not say anything more. He did not express surprise that Parker had come away from the fort with only a guide, for he evidently thought that was the way to do. He wrote rapidly for fifteen minutes, and when the dispatch was completed he handed it to the young officer and said: “There you are, sir. Good luck to you,” and his interview with the general was completed.
“He is a man after my own heart,” said Parker, when he came up to the place where the guide was standing, holding the horses. “There is the officer of the day at the gate. Let us ask him to pass us out.”