e white robe shrivels fast now, the
brown pursues it up the mountain side till at the last there is nothing
left but a high-up snow-cap hiding beneath the pines, slowly dissolving
in a million crystal rills to swell the rolling Cheyenne far below. The
spring birds fill the air, the little ones that twitter as they pass,
and the great gold-breasted prairie lark that sings and sings: "The
Spring, the Spring, the glory of the Spring!" Then all the world is
glad, and stronger than the soft new wind, deeper than the impulse of
awakening flower bulbs, broader than the brightening tinge of green--is
the thrill of a world-wide, sky-wide joy and power, the exquisite
tenderness and yearning which if you know, you know; and if you do not
know it none can make you understand.

"O God of the blue and the green and the wind, oh, send me what my
spirit craves." That is the prayer, the unspoken prayer, of every
sun-wise creature in these days; and the wild things race and seek, and
search and race, not knowing what draws them ever on; but they surely
know when they find it, and then they are at rest.

And they rode, Belle and Jim, the big square man, and the maid with the
age-old light in her eyes, and they rejoiced in the golden plains. They
rode with the wild things of the plain, and though they talked of the
past and the future there was for them but one thing worth a thought,
the golden present in their golden youth.

"Oh, Belle, what fools we are! We talk of the past and of far-off days,
of the blessings that are ahead of us, and I know there is no better joy
than this, to ride and shout and be alive right now with you!"

Midnight had burgeoned out into a big strong horse; not swift, but
staunch and better fitted than the other for a rider of such weight. The
wound of losing Blazing Star had healed, and the scar it left was a
precious thing to Jim much as the Indian holds his Sun Dance scars as
proofs of fortitude unflinching.

Fort Ryan and all the plains were in a rosy light this spring. It was a
threefold joy to ride on Midnight, with Belle, and to visit Blazing Star
in his stall at the Fort. Hartigan felt a little guilty as the gentle
creature would come and nose about for sugar lumps while Midnight would
lay back his ears at the approach. Midnight had a temper, as was well
known; but it was never let forth, for the master that had so little
skill in handling men was adept with the horse.

These were very full days for J