d the garb of actual rank resumed in 1870. He
could bear the title _ad infinitum_, but not the sign.

The silver leaf, as said, had come to replace the worn and tarnished
gold by '73, then mountain fever had seized and laid him by the heels,
and then all the Indians in Arizona, or the army women out of it, could
not dissuade Mrs. Archer from her duty. She and Lilian were the
heroines of a buckboard ride from Drum Barracks to the Colorado, from
the Colorado to Prescott, from Prescott down through wild and tortuous
canons to and beyond the valley of the Verde--to the wondering eyes of
the waiting garrison and the welcoming arms of the fond husband and
father at Almy.

And this was but the week gone by, just before the "Newly Arrived" had
reached Prescott--just before "Hefty" Harris had returned from scout.
Not until this very morning--the first since their reunion of that
warm, yet winter's evening of the previous day--had the two classmates
set eyes on Miss Archer (it was as she rode away by her father's side
for a canter up the valley), and not until this late afternoon, as the
sun was dipping behind the black range of the Mazatzal, did they have
opportunity to speak with her.

Even as 'Tonio stood, silent and statuesque, while the doctor went on
record as to the rainfall of the Verde watershed, there came suddenly
into view, jogging quietly up the winding road from the lower ford,
three riders, followed by half a pack of lagging, yapping hounds--"The
Old Man," the maiden and the orderly--and all men on the wooden porch
of the unpainted mess building, rose to their feet in deference to the
united "powers above," rank and age, youth and beauty, and presently
the commander was saying for the benefit of the two new-comers: "My
daughter, gentlemen. Lilian, Mr. Harris, Mr. Willett."

Inadvertently he had named them in the inverse order of rank--a small
matter, though Willett had been promoted to his bar a year ahead of
Harris. Otherwise, it was with a fair field and no favor the old-time
rivals of cadet days stood for the first time in the presence of the
only army girl at that moment to be found in the far-flung shadow of
the Mazatzal--stood side by side, facing both the starter and the prize
in what was destined to be the last great contest of their lives.

CHAPTER II.

"Come and dine with us this evening, you two," the "Old Man" was
saying, a few minutes later. He had been home long enough to consult
the "C