perceived the long fair hair, and the erect figure clad in the well-known frontier costume, of the man he sought,—­the proud, dashing leader of light cavalry, that beau ideal of the sabreur, the one he dreaded most, the one he loved best,—­Custer.  The commander stood, field-glasses in hand, pointing down into the valley, and the despatch bearer, reining in his horse, his lips white but resolute, trotted straight up the slope toward him.  Custer wheeled, annoyed at the interruption, and Hampton swung down from the saddle, his rein flung across his arm, took a single step forward, lifting his hand in salute, and held forth the sealed packet.

“Despatches, sir,” he said, simply, standing motionless as a statue.

The commander, barely glancing toward him, instantly tore open the long official envelope and ran his eyes over the despatch amid a hush in the conversation.

“Gentlemen,” he commented to the little group gathered about him, yet without glancing up from the paper in his hand, “Crook was defeated over on the Rosebud the seventeenth, and forced to retire.  That will account for the unexpected number of hostiles fronting us up here, Cook; but the greater the task, the greater the glory.  Ah, I thought as much.  I am advised by the Department to keep in close touch with Terry and Gibbons, and to hold off from making a direct attack until infantry can arrive in support.  Rather late in the day, I take it, when we are already within easy rifle-shot.  I see nothing in these orders to interfere with our present plans, nor any military necessity for playing hide and seek all Summer in these hills.  That looks like a big village down yonder, but I have led the dandy Seventh into others just as large.”

He stopped speaking, and glanced up inquiringly into the face of the silent messenger, apparently mistaking him for one of his own men.

“Where did you get this?”

“Cheyenne, sir.”

“What!  Do you mean to say you brought it through from there?”

“Silent Murphy carried it as far as the Powder River.  He went crazy there, and I was compelled to strap him.  I brought it the rest of the way.”

“Where is Murphy?”

“Back with the pack-train, sir.  I got him through alive, but entirely gone in the head.”

“Run across many hostiles in that region?”

“They were thick this side the Rosebud; all bucks, and travelling north.”

“Sioux?”

“Mostly, sir, but I saw one band wearing Cheyenne war-bonnets.”

A puzzled look slowly crept into the strong face of the abrupt questioner, his stern, commanding eyes studying the man standing motionless before him, with freshly awakened interest.  The gaze of the other faltered, then came back courageously.

“I recognize you now,” Custer said, quietly.  “Am I to understand you are again in the service?”

“My presence here is purely accidental, General Custer.  The opportunity came to me to do this work, and I very gladly accepted the privilege.”