With the opening of the Territory of Kansas the first Regiment of UnitedStates Cavalry, commanded by Colonel E.V. Sumner, had been transferredto Fort Leavenworth.
The life of the barracks was young Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart.
Colonel Lee had been transferred from West Point to the command of theSecond United States Cavalry on the Mexican Border at the same time thatStuart\'s regiment was moved to Kansas.
The rollicking song-loving, banjo-playing Virginian had earlydistinguished himself as an Indian fighter. He had been dangerouslywounded, but recovered with remarkable rapidity. His perfect health andhis clean habits stood him in good stead on the day an Indian\'s bulletcrashed through his breast.
He was a favorite with officers and men. As a cadet he had given promiseof the coming soldier. At the Academy he was noted for his strictattendance to every military duty, and his erect, soldierly bearing. Hewas particularly noted for an almost thankful acceptance of a challengeto fight any cadet who might feel himself aggrieved. The boys called hima "Bible Class Man." He was never known to swear or drink. They alsocalled him "Beauty Stuart," in good natured boyish teasing.
He was the best-looking cadet of his class, as he was the best-lookingyoung officer of his regiment. His hair was a reddish brown. His eyes adeep steel blue, his voice clear and ringing.
In his voice the soul of the man spoke to his fellows. He was alwayssinging--always eager for a frolic of innocent fun. Above all, he wasalways eager for a frolic with a pretty girl. He played both the banjoand the guitar and little he cared for the gathering political feudwhich old John Brown and his sons had begun to foment on the frontier.
As a Southerner the struggle did not interest him. It was a foregoneconclusion that the country would be settled by Northern immigrants.
They were pouring into the Territory in endless streams. A colony fromNew Haven, Connecticut, one hundred strong, had just settled sixty milesabove Lawrence on the Kansas River. They knew how to plow and planttheir fields and they had modern machinery with which to do it. Thefew Southerners who came to Kansas were poorly equipped. Lawrence wascrowded with immigrants from every section of the North. The fields werewhite with their tents. A company from Ohio, one from Connecticut, andone from New Hampshire were camping just outside the town. Daily theirexploring committees went forth to look at localities. Daily newcompanies poured in.
Stuart let them pour and asked no questions about their politics. He waskeen on one thing only--the pretty girls that might be among them.
When exploring parties came to Fort Leavenworth, the young Lieutenantinspected them with an eye single to a possible dance for the regiment.
The number of pretty girls was not sufficient to cause excitement amongthe officers as yet. The daughters of the East were not anxious toexplore Kansas at this moment. The Indians were still troublesome attimes.
A rumor spread through the barracks that the prettiest girl in Kansashad just arrived at Fort Riley, sixty-eight miles beyond Topeka. ColonelPhillip St. George Cooke of Virginia commanded the Fort and his daughterFlora had ventured all the way from Harper\'s Ferry to the plains to seeher beloved daddy.
The news thrilled Stuart. He found an excuse to carry a message fromColonel Sumner to Colonel Cooke.
He expected nothing serious, of course. Every daughter of Virginia knewhow to flirt. She would know that he understood this from the start. Itwould be nip and tuck between the Virginia boy and the Virginia girl.
He had always had such easy sailing in his flirtations he hoped MissFlora would prove a worthy antagonist.
As a matter of course, Colonel Cooke asked the gallant young Virginianto stay as his guest.
"What\'ll Colonel Sumner say, sir?" Stuart laughed.
"Leave Sumner to me.""You\'ll guarantee immunity?""Guaranteed.""Thank you, Colonel Cooke, I\'ll stay."Stuart could hardly wait until the hour of lunch to meet the daughter.
He was impatient to ask where she was. The Colonel guessed his anxietyand hastened to relieve it, or increase it.
"You haven\'t met my daughter, Lieutenant?" he asked casually.
"I haven\'t that honor, Colonel, but this gives me the happyopportunity."He said it with such boyish fun in his ringing voice that Cooke laughedin spite of his desire to maintain the strictest dignity. He halfsuspected that the young officer might meet his match in more ways thanone.
"She\'ll be in at noon," the Commander remarked. "Off riding with one ofthe boys.""Of course," Stuart sighed.
He began to scent a battle and his spirits rose. He went to his room,took his banjo out of its old leather strapped case and tuned itcarefully. He made up his mind to give the young buck out riding withher the fight of his life while there.
He heard the ring of the girl\'s laughter as she bade her escort goodbyeat the door. He started to go down at once and begin the struggle.
Something in the ring of her young voice stopped him. There was a joyousstrength in it that was disconcerting. A girl who laughed like that hadpoise. She was an individual. He liked, too, the tones of her voicebefore he had seen her.
This struck him as odd. Never in his life before had he liked a girlbefore meeting her just for a tone quality in her voice. This onehaunted him the whole time he was changing his uniform.
He decided to shave again. He had shaved the night before very late. Hedidn\'t like the suggestion of red stubble on his face. It might put himat a disadvantage.
He resented the name of Beauty Stuart and yet down in his man soul heknew that he was vain.
He began to wonder if she were blonde or brunette, short or tall, petiteor full, blue eyes or brown? She must be pretty. Her father was a man ofdelicate and finely marked features--the type of Scotch-Irish gentlemenwho had made the mountains of Virginia famous for pretty women andbrainy men.
He heard her softly playing a piano and wondered how on earth they hadever moved a piano to this far outpost of civilization. The cost wasenormous. But the motive of her father in making such a sacrifice toplease her was more important. His love for her must be unusual. Itpiqued his interest and roused again his impulse for a battle royal withanother elusive daughter of his native state.
He made up his mind not to wait for the call to lunch. He would walkboldly into the reception room and introduce himself. She knew he wasthere, of course.
At the first sound of his footstep, her hand paused on the keys and sheturned to greet him, rising quickly, and easily.
The vision which greeted Stuart stunned him for a moment. A perfectblonde with laugh............