liquor, still kept his head and lead, and would have played, but by
this time Willett was writing I.O.U.'s. The prospector's cash was gone.
The hitherto modest, retiring, silent man of the desk and ledgers had
won heavily from the officer, yet only a trifle from his employers, and
Craney suggested a recess until night. "Then we'll meet again--and
settle," said Willett, half extending his hand.

"You bet we'll settle," said Case, the bookkeeper, wholly ignoring it,
and even then the fact was noted and thereafter remembered.

"I think I won't go up t-o the post just now," said Willett to Craney.
"Perhaps you have----"

"Certainly, Mr. Willett. Come right in here," said the trader
hospitably, leading the way into a darkened room. "Take a good nap;
sleep as long as you want to. I'll send you in a tub if you like." The
tub was gratefully accepted, and then they left him. At noon when the
general asked Strong if Willett "wasn't feeling well," Strong said
Willett had been up late and was probably still asleep. Bonner, it was
known, had not turned in again after two o'clock, and the discovery
that 'Tonio was missing. He was dozing on the porch in his easy-chair
when first call sounded for reveille, and Lilian, like gentle-hearted
Amelia, lay dreaming of her wearied knight as having kept vigil with
the sentries to the break of day that she and those she loved might
sleep in security, and now, of course, he must indeed be wearied.

Therefore there came a surprise to her, and to the fond and watchful
mother, when toward four o'clock in the afternoon Mrs. Stannard dropped
in to chat with them awhile, and to tell about Harris, by whose bedside
she had been sitting and reading for nearly two hours. Mrs. Archer
welcomed the news. The doctor had promised to let her know as soon as
he considered it wise for her to go, and the general was so anxious and
disturbed on Mr. Harris's account. It so happened that the general,
with a small escort, had ridden over to search the valley with glasses
from the peak, and then the first thing Mrs. Stannard said was, "I
thought that Mr. Willett might have been glad to go with the general."

"And did he not?" asked Mrs. Archer, after one quick glance at Lilian's
averted eyes.

"Why, no," and now Mrs. Stannard hesitated; "I saw, at least I think I
saw, him coming up from the river a little while ago. He may have been
following 'Tonio's trail, you know. It was easy enough in the sand,
they said, but