noon
`` I knowed a feller onct that was goin ' past a bull-pen , '' declared one trooper , `` and he had a pail of cherries , and I 'll be darned if -- '' `` But , say ! Down home , one time , '' put in a second , `` there was a vaquero with a red sash that was stoopin ' to fix a flank girth , and -- '' `` Why , that ai n't a two-spot to what happened in Kansas a year ago this summer . The purtiest gal I ever seen -- you know them Kansas gals can be purty -- she had a wig that 'd keep your hands warm in January . Well -- '' When , however , the surgeon recounted the story at the bachelors ' noon mess , mirth over it was noticeably lacking . To the little circle of officers there was nothing comical in the fact that a man from the post had molested the girls so recently orphaned . And all save Fraser vowed stormily that Matthews would be called to account . The young lieutenant said nothing .