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Many an unexpected event has resulted from the formal, concise orders

issued by the War Departuise of Mars has thus

frequently toyed with the fate of allant soldier

forward, all unsuspecting, into a battle of the heart

It was no pleasant assignreeted First Lieutenant

Donald Brant, coiment

came once more within the environs of civilization, from its summer

exercises in the field Bethune had developed into a somewhat

important post, socially as well as from a strictly military

standpoint, and numerous indeed were the attractions offered there to

any young officer whose duty called him to serve the colors on those

bleak Dakota prairies Brant frowned at the innocent words, reading

theated

disgust, yet there was no escaping their plainthe Sioux, trouble in which the Cheyennes,

and probably others also, were beco northern border recognized the approach of soery Restlessness pervaded

the Indian country; recalcitrant bands roa warriors disappeared from the reservation lie tales of weird

dances amid the brown Dakota hills Uneasiness, the spirit of

suspected peril, hung like a pall over the plains; yet none could

safely predict where the blow ht first descend

Brant was not blind to all this, nor to the necessity of having in

readiness selected bodies of seasoned troops, yet it was not in soldier

nature to refrain fro when the earliest detail chanced to

fall to hih he

crushed the innocent paper passionately beneath his heel, five hours