Midnight
She did not even know that there was any impropriety in it . She thought her heart had heard the trumpet-call of duty , and , like Joan of Arc , though it took her among camps and dangers , she would not flinch . So Nimbus returned happy ; an officer was sent to examine the location and report . Mollie , mounted upon Midnight , accompanied him . Of course , this fact and her unbounded delight at the quaint beauty of Red Wing was no part of the reason why Lieutenant Hamilton made a most glowing report on the location ; but it was owing to that report that the officer at the head of the `` Bureau '' in that district , the department-commander , and finally the head of the Bureau , General Howard himself , indorsed the scheme most warmly and aided it most liberally . So that soon afterward the building was furnished as a school-house , Mollie Ainslie , with Lucy Ellison , an old schoolmate , as her assistant , was installed at the old hostlery , and bore sway in the school of three hundred dusky pupils which assembled daily at Red Wing . Midnight was given royal quarters in the old log-stable , which had been re-covered and almost rebuilt for his especial delectation , the great square stall , with its bed of dry oak leaves , in which he stood knee-deep , being sufficient to satisfy even Miss Mollie 's fastidious demands for the comfort of her petted steed After a time Eliab Hill , to whose suggestion the whole plan was due , became also an assistant instructor .