Part 2 What Occurred in Glencaid Chapter 3 Under Orders

Many an unexpected event has resulted from the formal, concise orders
issued by the War Department. Cupid in the disguise of Mars has thus
frequently toyed with the fate of men, sending many a gallant soldier
forward, all unsuspecting, into a battle of the heart.

It was no pleasant assignment to duty which greeted First Lieutenant
Donald Brant, commanding Troop N, Seventh Cavalry, when that regiment
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
them over again with gloomy eyes and an exclamation of unmitigated
disgust, yet there was no escaping their plain meaning. Trouble was
undoubtedly brewing among the Sioux, trouble in which the Cheyennes,
and probably others also, were becoming involved. Every soldier
patrolling that long northern border recognized the approach of some
dire development, some early coup of savagery. Restlessness pervaded
the Indian country; recalcitrant bands roamed the "badlands";
dissatisfied young warriors disappeared from the reservation limits and
failed to return; while friendly scouts told strange 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 might first descend.