That settled the matter--he did not come in again. Findlay
has served several enlistments, and is regarded as an old soldier, and
once upon a time he was cook for the colonel of the regiment,
therefore he sometimes forgets himself and becomes aggressive. I do
not wonder that Hal dislikes him.
And Hal dislikes Indians, too, and will often hear their low mumbling
and give little growls before I dream that one is near. They have a
disagreeable way of coming to the windows and staring in. Sometimes
before you have heard a sound you will be conscious of an
uncomfortable feeling, and looking around you will discover five or
six Indians, large and small, peering at you through the windows, each
ugly nose pressed flat against the glass! It is enough to drive one
mad. You never know when they are about, their tread is so stealthy
with their moccasined feet.
Faye is officer of the guard every third day now. This sounds rather
nice; but it means that every third day and night--exactly twenty-four
hours--he has to spend at the guard house, excepting when making the
rounds, that is, visiting sentries on post, and is permitted to come
to the house just long enough to eat three hurried meals. This is
doing duty, and would be all right if there were not a daily mingling
of white and colored troops which often brings a colored sergeant over
a white corporal and privates.
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