and
southeast." Page 175]

And so it would seem Case, the bookkeeper, had "inside information,"
and so it happened that, within an hour after sunset, once again the
gray-haired commander and the wounded subaltern were in conference, and
Case's strange story was told in full. "There's more than enough in it
to demand our warning Turner," said Harris. "Can you get me up to
Squadron Peak--to-night?"

Just at tattoo the old-fashioned, yellow ambulance, drawn by a brace of
mules, backed up at Bentley's quarters, and Harris was carefully lifted
aboard. The general, with Strong and Bonner, stood at hand to say
godspeed. "Promise him safe conduct," said the commander, as they drove
away, and Harris touched his hat in acknowledgment. Briggs, with twenty
stout foot soldiers, awaited them at the abandoned ranch. The doctor
and two attendants accompanied him. The road for nearly four miles lay
along the sandy flats, then went boring westward into the foothills,
while a little worn branch turned off to the peak. Two-thirds of the
way to the top the mules were able to pull the jolting vehicle, and
from thence half a dozen brawny arms bore the young soldier on a
stretcher to the summit. It was then after eleven, and the moon still
behind the Mogollon, lowering black against the silvering skies full
forty miles to the eastward. Already there was sufficient light to
guide them, and a sergeant led on to a point where, surrounded by
knee-high rocks, was a little blackened space where in bygone days many
a signal fire had blazed, and here the men tossed the tinder, the pine
cones and dead branches they had gathered on the climb. A match was
applied. All crouched or stooped among the rocks, as the flames
presently leaped on high, and gave ear to the quiet orders of the young
soldier, practically in command. "Keep watch now, all round, especially
east and south-east. It may be ten minutes before you get an answer,
and there _may_ come a dozen. More fuel may be needed," whereat half a
dozen dark forms silently backed away down the slope, and all men
waited and watched. Harris, with one arm and shoulder still bandaged,
and obviously weak, sat grasping at the corner a folded blanket and
busily coaching Briggs, who listened, absorbed. Ten, twelve, fourteen
the minutes rolled by. The silvery sheen spread higher over the
eastward sky. The crest of the distant Mesa was just fringing with
dazzling white, when two voices at once exclaimed: "There y