Later in
the season, on such a night, their crests would gleam with radiance
almost intolerable, the glistening sheen of their spotless crown of
snow. All over this broad expanse of upland prairie and wooded river bed
and boldly undulating bluff line not so much as a spark of fire peeped
through the wing of night to tell the presence of human wayfarer, white,
halfbreed or Indian, even where the Sioux had swarmed, perhaps two
hundred strong, at sunset of the day gone by.
Close at hand, northernmost of the brown line, was the double set of
quarters occupied by Captains Blake and Ray, the latter, as senior,
having chosen the half nearest the bluff because of the encircling
veranda and the fine, far-extending view. A bright light gleamed now
behind the blinds of the corner room of the second floor, telling that
the captain was up and dressing in answer to the commander's summons,
but all the rest of the dozen houses were black, save where at the
middle of the row a faint glow came from the open doorway at the
commanding officer's. Across the broad level of the parade were the
long, low barracks of the troops, six in number, gable-ending east and
west. Closing the quadrangle on the south were the headquarters
buildings and the assembly room, the offices of the adjutant and
quartermaster, the commissary and quartermaster's storehouses, etc.
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