CHAPTER XXI.
ACCUSED.
Colonel Dunwoody was true to his word, and returned to his quarters by the house of Major Lester. Clarice opened the door for him, and he said pleasantly:
“Thanks, for I am in full retreat, and this is a haven of refuge for me. Glance up and down the rows and you’ll discover several ambushing-parties lying in wait for me, and I have barely escaped the petticoats upon my trail by dodging in here. I am very much in demand to-day by the ladies, Miss Clarice.”
Clarice laughed at beholding, as the colonel had said, the petticoat ambushers in squads ready to head him off and learn the facts regarding the prisoner.
As none of the officers had yet been made acquainted with just how matters stood, of course the ladies could not learn from their husbands what was really the status of affairs.
The colonel having thrown himself into an easy chair, said:
“Well, Miss Clarice, I had a long talk with that very wonderful man, Silk Lasso Sam.”
“Yes, sir, and I suppose found him unrepentant, as he was upon the single visit I made to him?”
“He was unrepentant, yes; but did I understand you to say that you had been but once to see him, Miss Clarice?”
“That is all, sir.”