midnight
was therefore his quiet inquiry ; and when Mr. Holmes assured him that there was , and the two went off together arm in arm , leaving Mrs. Miller to wonder what it all could mean , and to go in and upbraid her pet lieutenant for venturing from his room when still so weak , it was soon evident to more eyes than those of Dr. Bayard that something of unusual interest was indeed brewing , and that the ordinarily genial and jovial major was powerfully moved . In ten minutes the two men were at the telegraph office and the operator was `` calling '' Cheyenne . An hour later , after another brief and earnest talk with Miss Forrest on the upper gallery of `` Bedlam , '' Mr. Holmes 's travelling wagon rolled into the garrison and away he went . At midnight he was changing horses at `` The Chug . '' The next day he was at Cheyenne and wired the major from that point . Two days more and he was heard from at Denver , and then there was silence . At the end of the week Private Parsons , of Terry 's Grays , who had been carried for three or four successive mornings as `` on detached service , '' then as `` absent without leave , '' was formally accounted for as `` deserted , '' and it began to be whispered about the garrison that grave and decidedly sensational reasons attended his sudden disappearance .