"Do you know where they were bound?" asked Captain Bayard.
"I did not speak to them, nor did they see me; I thought it would be
better to keep out of the way of such desperate characters in a
lonely place. I learned from a friend of theirs at Date Creek that
they intend to open a monte bank at La Paz."
"Then they are likely to remain there for some time."
"Can't something be done to get the ponies back, sir?" asked Frank.
"Perhaps so. I will consider the matter."
The mail was taken to my office and soon distributed through the
command. Among my letters was one from Colonel Burton, the father of
the boy sergeants. He said he had been expecting to send for his sons
by this mail, but additional detached service had been required of him
which might delay their departure from Whipple for another month, if
not longer. He informed me that a detail I had received to duty as
professor of military science and tactics in a boys' military school
had been withheld by the department commander until my services could
be spared at Fort Whipple, and that he thought the next mail, or the
one following it, would bring an order relieving me and ordering me
East.
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