s right. There, in the
moist, yielding sand, were the fresh tracks of a four-mule team and a
Concord wagon or something of the same sort. So much for _that_ night!

"Next evening as a lot of us were sitting out on the major's piazza,
and young Briggs of the infantry was holding forth on the
constellations,--you know he's a good deal of an astronomer,--Mrs.
Powell suddenly turned to him with 'But you haven't told us the name of
that bright planet low down there in the northern sky,' and we all
turned and looked where she pointed. Briggs looked too. It was only a
little lower than some stars of the second and third magnitude that he
had been telling about only five minutes before, only it shone with a
redder or yellower glare,--orange I suppose was the real color,--and was
clear and strong as the light of Jupiter.

"'That?' says Briggs. 'Why, that must be----Well, I own up. I declare I
never knew there was so big a star in that part of the firmament!'

"'Don't worry about it, Briggs, old boy,' drawled the major, who had
been squinting at it through a powerful glass he owns. 'That's terra
firmament. That planet's at the new ranch up on the spur of the
Matitzal.'

"But that wasn't all. Two days after, Baker came in from a scout. He had
been over across the range and had stopped at Burnham's on his way down.
He didn't see Burnham; he wasn't invited in, but he was full of his
subject. 'By _Jove!_ fellows. Have any of you been to the ranches
lately? No? Well, then, I want to get some of the ladies to go up there
and call. In all my life I never saw so pretty a girl as was sitting
there on the piazza when I rode around the corner of the house.
_Pretty!_ She's lovely. Not Mexican. No, indeed! A real American
girl,--a young lady, by Gad!'" That, then, explained the new light.

"And did that give the ranch the name by which it is known to you?" we
asked Wayne.

"Yes. The ladies called it 'Starlight Ranch' from that night on. But not
one of them has seen the girl. Mrs. Frazer and Mrs. Jennings actually
took the long drive and asked for the ladies, and were civilly told
that there were none at home. It was a Chinese servant who received
them. They inquired for Mr. Burnham and he was away too. They asked how
many ladies there were, and the Chinaman shook his head--'No sabe.' 'Had
Mr. Burnham's wife and daughter come?' 'No sabe.' 'Were Mr. Burnham and
the ladies over at the other ranch?' 'No sabe,' still affably grinning,
and e