ld look out upon the
broad valley and see the shadows of the mountains steal across it as
the sun went westering. He seemed to love to watch the morning flame on
the bald summit of the huge peak so close at hand; it made him think of
the Picacho about whose base he had sported as a boy. He seemed to love
to see Ramon and Pancha hovering ever about him. He would look at them,
take their hands, then place their hands together and hold them between
his own. But most of all he loved to see Harris bending over him,
moving about him, and when Lilian came and gave him drink and touched
his fevered head, his glittering eyes would soften and follow her with
such a world of wistfulness as though they would speak the longing of
his heart. Then he would look from her to Harris, and from Harris back
to her, in a way that sent the blushes surging to her forehead, and the
sight of those blushes set that young soldier's heart to bounding.

One beautiful afternoon, when the sun was slanting low and the great
dome of the peak was all agleam with crimson and with gold, they were
gathered about his shelter, for the spirit had been wandering and his
strength was almost gone. Without the canvas, their women weeping with
Pancha, their young men silent and sad, a group of the old band hovered
along the slope of the low mesa. It was thought he could hardly survive
the night, and with the sinking of the sun his mind seemed clouding
more, and he called, over and over, for "Chiquito," who knelt there
clinging to his hand. Even Archer had come, leaning heavily upon his
crutches, and Bella, his wife, and Lilian--Lilian upon whom the dying
eyes rested again and again. 'Tonio was now too weak to lift a hand; he
could not signal; but something in his gaze seemed to call her to him
irresistibly. He was breathing with such difficulty that the surgeon,
bending over him on the other side of the pallet, slipped an arm
beneath his shoulders, Harris from his side aiding, and together they
slowly raised him almost to a sitting posture, his weary head resting
on "Chiquito's" shoulder. But the eyes still sought Lilian, and Archer,
watching, murmured to her, "Go."

To take his other hand, feebly plucking at the light coverlet, she had
to kneel so close to Harris that he could feel the swift throbbing of
her heart against his arm, and 'Tonio, looking now into the two young
faces so near together, so close to his own, began with all his
remaining strength slowly d