The Vigilants' Mistake

by John Thornbury

 CHAPTER I

FRANK STAPLES served in the cavalry during the rebellion, and went through the Valley with Sheridan. At the close of the war he left the service with an honorable discharge in his pocket—and very little else. He had achieved neither fame nor fortune. He had done a soldier’s duty faithfully and intelligently. There were no politicians in his family. His father and uncles were men of strong convictions. They had kept the flag of freedom flying in the unpropitious days when it did not pay, but when the change came they were thrust aside by the howling dervishes of the eleventh hour. So Frank was neither promoted nor brevetted. There was Tom Tidier, who had two brevets thrust upon him— one for distinguished services in mustering the troops of the United States in, and the other for mustering them out. There were others of Frank’s college chums who were brevetted for actions in which he was, but they were not.

It was imperative that he should do something for a livelihood. Going back to the legal studies he had abandoned a year before he would have been admitted to the bar was out of the question. Soldiering had spoiled him for any sedentary occupation. He could not stand the confinement of office-work. He felt that he must find some pursuit which would give him plenty of exercise. A horse must necessarily be one of the tools of his new trade. He knew… Read More