"I see, sir, that you're striking camp, for a march. I don't want to be a prisoner and a nuisance while there are wheels in mud-holes."
That spirit appealed most powerfully to Sam. "Defend yourself," he said gravely. "I'm your best friend."
He knew I loved him dearly.
"Sir, I found this lady abandoned on the Selkirks in several feet of snow. I took her to the padre at the mission. It was no time for fooling, I gave her the only protection possible. Sir, you'd have done the same. Now I've come straight to report."
"What, go through a mock marriage with an officer's wife?"
"That, sir, is not true."
"What, you charge my brother officer!—Corporal, just stand back out of ear-shot. Now, La Mancha, what on earth do you mean?"
I told him of Sarde's bogus marriage with Miss Burrows, performed by Happy Bill, a bogus parson, of how the facts were discovered by Joe Chambers, who died, passing the woman's defense to me, of my duel with Sarde to obtain her release, and her return to her guardian, Loco Burrows.
"You bring no charge, then," asked Sam, "against Inspector Sarde?"
"None, if he leaves me alone."