The disappointment left me angrier than ever, but helpless. I
could only sit down and wait, knowing nothing of what was going on
below. I finally heard the two shots out by the stable, and went to the
window. Three horsemen rode past the corner of the house, and then, a
moment or two later, I saw a man running along, crouching behind the
fence. I could not tell who he was, only he had on a gray uniform, and
he suddenly turned, and made for the house. Once he tripped and fell,
and got up with his hands to his head as though hurt. That was the last
glimpse I had of him from the window. Perhaps five minutes later I heard
some one moving in the next room. I supposed it was the guard prowling
about, and kept still. Then the door was pushed open, and Captain Le
Gaire came in."
"But where was the guard then?"
"I don't know. I asked, but the captain had seen no one. I cannot tell
you how the man looked, acted, or exactly what he said. The first glance
at him awoke my sympathy, before he had spoken a word, for his uniform
was torn and covered with dirt, and his face all blood from a wound on
the temple. He was trembling like a child, and could hardly talk. I
washed his wound out, and bound it up before I even asked a question. By
that time he was himself again, and began to explain.
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