about 2:30
Yet those three were men who had hitherto been above suspicion , and there were few soldiers in the regiment who would accept the theory that any one of the three had connived at the escape . As for the sergeant -- he had served four enlistments in the -- teenth , and without a flaw in his record beyond an occasional aberration in the now distant past , due to the potency of the poteen distilled by certain Hibernian experts not far from an old-time `` plains fort , '' where the regiment had rested on its march ` cross continent . As for the officers -- but who would suppose an officer guilty of anything of the kind -- a flagrant military crime ? And yet -- men got to asking each other if it were so that Bugler Curran had carried a note from the prisoner , Morton , to Mr. Gray about 2:30 that afternoon ? And what was this about Gray 's having urged Brooke to swap tours with him an hour later , and what was that story the headquarters clerks were telling about Mr. Gray 's coming to the adjutant and begging to be allowed to `` march on '' that evening instead of Brooke ? It was n't long before these rumors , somehow , got to Canker 's ears , and Canker seemed to grow as big again ; he fairly swelled with indignation at thought of such turpitude on part of an officer . Then he sent for Gray -- it was the afternoon following the sailing of the ships with the big brigade -- and with pain and bewilderment and indignation in his brave blue eyes the youngster came and stood before his stern superior .