om Cedar Mountain.

At first it had been to him but a mighty pile of rocks; then it had
grown to be a spot beloved for its sacred memories. It had become a
symbol of his highest hopes--the blessed things he held too good for
words. He was riding now in the lust of youthful force; he was dwelling
not in the past; or the hopeful far-ahead; he was in the living _now_,
and, high or low, his instinct bade him drink the cup that came.

As the sun went down, he drew rein and paused with Belle to gaze at the
golden fringe that the cedars made on the mountain's edge in the glow.
He knew it and loved it in every light--best of all, perhaps, in its
morning mist, when the plains were yet gray and the rosy dawn was
touching its gleaming sides. He was content as yet to look on it from
afar. He would seek its pinnacle as he had done before, but something
within him said: "No; not yet."

And the wise young person at his side kept silence; a little puzzled but
content, and waiting, wisely waiting.

CHAPTER LXI

Clear Vision on the Mountain

Kind friends and hearty greetings awaited the Hartigans at the Fort.
Colonel Waller, Mrs. Waller, and the staff received them as long-lost
son and daughter; and with the least delay by decency allowed they went
to the stable to see Blazing Star, still Fort Ryan's pride. The whinnied
welcome and the soft-lipped fumbling after sugar were the outward tokens
of his gladness at the meeting.

"He's the same as ever, Jim," said the Colonel, "but we didn't race last
summer. Red Cloud came as usual, but asked for a handicap of six hundred
yards, which meant that they had not got a speeder they could trust. We
had trouble, too, with the Indian Bureau over the whole thing, so the
affair was called off. As far as we know now, Blazing Star is the racer
of the Plains, with Red Rover making a good second. He's in his prime
yet; he could still walk a stringer on a black night, and while you are
here at the Fort he's yours as much as you want to use him."

Jim's cup was filled to overflowing.

Their midday meal over, a ride was in order; first around the Fort among
the men--Captain Wayne, Osier Mike, Scout Al Rennie--then out over the
sagebrush flat. "Here's the old battle ground of the horses; here's
where you chased the coyote, and here's where Blazing Star took you over
the single stringer bridge on that black night." It was less than a year
he had been away, and yet Jim felt like one who was com