rlow,
turning his head and meeting Mrs. Fortescue's glance; her face was pale
and so was Anita's, but the eyes of both were undaunted.

Gamechick trotted ahead, sometimes faltering and going around in a
circle, the escort waiting patiently until he once more found his own
tracks. They were still a mile away from the entrance of the mountain
pass when Anita, looking up into the clear dark blue sky where the
palpitating stars were coming out, saw the blue smoke curling upward
from the pass.

"Daddy and Mr. Broussard have made a fire," she cried.

"Is Mr. Broussard with the Colonel?" asked Major Harlow, in surprise.
Until then, no one had spoken Broussard's name, or knew he was with
Colonel Fortescue.

"I think so," replied Anita, "I was watching my father as he rode
toward the main entrance and I saw Mr. Broussard join him and they rode
off together."

When they reached the rugged mountain road, the horses, with rough-shod
feet, scrambled up like cats. Now the searching party could not only
see the blue smoke floating above their heads, but they perceived a
delicate odor of burning fir branches. When they reached a spot in the
pass where a bridle path diverged Gamechick halted, putting his nose to
the ground as he stepped about and then throwing back his head in
disappointment.

In the midst of the stillness came the sound of a voice; Broussard was
trolling out a ballad in Spanish which he had learned in the far-off
jungles of the Philippines. Mrs. Fortescue glanced at Anita. A
brilliant smile and a warm blush illuminated the girl's face. The
mother smiled; she knew the old, old story that Anita's violet eyes
were telling.

Major Harlow raised a ringing cheer in which Sergeant McGillicuddy and
the officers and troopers joined. An answering cheer came back. It
was unnecessary then for Gamechick to show the way by galloping ahead.

Within five minutes the pass was full of cavalrymen. Mrs. Fortescue,
down on her knees in the snow, was examining Colonel Fortescue's broken
ankle. Anita, for once losing the quiet reserve that was hers by
nature, was sitting by the Colonel, her arm around his neck, her cheek
against his, and the tears were dropping on her cheeks.

"Oh, daddy," she was whispering, "I knew that something had happened to
you and that I must come to you, and that was why I begged and prayed
my mother to come with me, and now we have found you, we have found
you!"

Colonel Fortescue drew the g