Although this circumstance did not tend to make his mind
easier, it was, however, presently diverted by a new arrival and a
strange recognition.
As he rode through the camp a group of officers congregated before a
large mess tent appeared to be highly amused by the conversation--half
monologue and half harangue of a singular-looking individual who stood
in the centre. He wore a "slouch" hat, to the band of which he had
imparted a military air by the addition of a gold cord, but the brim was
caught up at the side in a peculiarly theatrical and highly artificial
fashion. A heavy cavalry sabre depended from a broad-buckled belt under
his black frock coat, with the addition of two revolvers--minus their
holsters--stuck on either side of the buckle, after the style of a stage
smuggler. A pair of long enameled leather riding boots, with the tops
turned deeply over, as if they had once done duty for the representative
of a cavalier, completed his extraordinary equipment. The group were so
absorbed in him that they did not perceive the approach of their chief
and his orderly; and Brant, with a sign to the latter, halted only a few
paces from this central figure. His speech was a singular mingling
of high-flown and exalted epithets, with inexact pronunciation and
occasional lapses of Western slang.
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