"I? Will I not be patient, after the lesson I have just learned upon
the evils of the opposite? Be easy on my account, dear old friend, I
will be as patient as Job, meek as Moses and long-suffering as--my own
sweet mother!" said Traverse, earnestly.
The drum was now heard beating to quarters, and Traverse, wringing his
friend's hand, left him.
Herbert returned to his ship full of one scheme, of which he had not
spoken to Traverse lest it should prove unsuccessful. This scheme was
to procure his free discharge before they should set sail for the Rio
Grande. He had many influential friends among the officers of his
regiment, and he was resolved to tell them as much as was delicate,
proper and useful for them to know of the young recruit's private
history, in order to get their cooperation.
Herbert spent every hour of this day and the next, when off duty, in
this service of his friend. He found his brother officers easily
interested, sympathetic and propitious. They united their efforts with
his own to procure the discharge of the young recruit, but in vain; the
power of Colonel Le Noir was opposed to their influence and the
application was peremptorily refused.
Herbert Greyson did not sit down quietly under this disappointment, but
wrote an application embodying all the facts of the case to the
Secretary of War, got it signed by all the officers of the regiment and
despatched it by the first mail.
Simultaneously he took another important step for the interest of his
friend. Without hinting any particular motive, he had begged Traverse
to let him have his photograph taken, and the latter, with a laugh at
the lover-like proposal, had consented. When the likeness was finished
Herbert sent it by express to Major Warfield, accompanied by a letter
describing the excellent character and unfortunate condition of
Traverse, praying the major's interest in his behalf and concluding by
saying: "You cannot look upon the accompanying photograph of my friend and any
longer disclaim your own express image in your son."
How this affected the action of Old Hurricane will be seen hereafter.
Traverse, knowing nothing of the efforts that had been and were still
being made for his discharge, suffered neither disappointment for
failure of the first nor anxiety for the issue of the last.
He wrote to his mother and Clara, congratulating them on their good
fortune; telling them that he, in common with many young men of St.
Louis, had volunteered for the Mexican War; that he was then in New
Orleans, en route for the Rio Grande, and that they would be pleased to
know that their mutual friend, Herbert Greyson, was an officer in the
same regiment of which he himself was at present a private, but with
strong hopes of soon winning his epaulettes. He endorsed an order for
his mother to draw the thousand dollars left him by Doctor Day, and he
advised her to re-deposit the sum in her own name for her own use in
case of need. Praying God's blessing upon them all, and begging their
prayers for himself, Traverse concluded his letter, which he mailed the
same evening.