air of leather leggings, which he strapped on.
Then Oscar tied the cases together with a rope and hung them across his
saddle-bow.

"The place--what of it?" asked Armitage.

"There may be worse--I have not decided."

Armitage laughed aloud.

"Is it as bad as that?"

The man was busy tightening the saddle girths, and he answered Armitage's
further questions with soldierlike brevity.

"You have been here--"

"Two weeks, sir."

"And nothing has happened? It is a good report."

"It is good for the soul to stand on mountains and look at the world. You
will like that animal--yes? He is lighter than a cavalry horse. Mine, you
will notice, is a trifle heavier. I bought them at a stock farm in
another valley, and rode them up to the place."

The train sent back loud echoes. A girl in a pink sun-bonnet rode up on a
mule and carried off the mail pouch. The station agent was busy inside at
his telegraph instruments and paid no heed to the horsemen. Save for a
few huts clustered on the hillside, there were no signs of human
habitation in sight. The lights in a switch target showed yellow against
the growing dawn.

"I am quite ready, sir," reported Oscar, touching his hat. "There is
nothing here but the station; the settlement is farther on our way."

"Then let us be off," said Armitage, swinging into the saddle.

Oscar led the way in silence along a narrow road that clung close to the
base of a great pine-covered hill. The morning was sharp and the horses
stepped smartly, the breath of their nostrils showing white on the air.
The far roar and whistle of the train came back more and more faintly,
and when it had quite ceased Armitage sighed, pushed his soft felt hat
from his face, and settled himself more firmly in his saddle. The keen
air was as stimulating as wine, and he put his horse to the gallop and
rode ahead to shake up his blood.

"It is good," said the stolid cavalryman, as Armitage wheeled again into
line with him.

"Yes, it is good," repeated Armitage.

A peace descended upon him that he had not known in many days. The light
grew as the sun rose higher, blazing upon them like a brazen target
through deep clefts in the mountains. The morning mists retreated before
them to farther ridges and peaks, and the beautiful gray-blue of the
Virginia hills delighted Armitage's eyes. The region was very wild. Here
and there from some mountaineer's cabin a light penciling of smoke stole
upward. They once passed a