on full of fear.

Thorne's answer was a faint smile. He seemed ready to drop from the
saddle. Gale helped Ladd hold Thorne upon the horse until they reached
the house. Belding came out again. His welcome was checked as he saw
the condition of the cavalryman. Thorne reeled into Dick's arms. But
he was able to stand and walk.

"I'm not--hurt. Only weak--starved," he said. "Is Mercedes-- Take me
to her."

"She'll be well the minute she sees him," averred Belding, as he and
Gale led the cavalryman to Mercedes's room. There they left him; and
Gale, at least, felt his ears ringing with the girl's broken cry of joy.

When Belding and Gale hurried forth again the rangers were tending the
tired horses. Upon returning to the house Jim Lash calmly lit his
pipe, and Ladd declared that, hungry as he was, he had to tell his
story.

"Shore, Beldin'," began Ladd, "that was funny about Diablo catchin'
Blanco Sol. Funny ain't the word. I nearly laughed myself to death.
Well, I rode in Sol's tracks all the way to Casita. Never seen a rebel
or a raider till I got to town. Figgered Nell made the trip in five
hours. I went straight to the camp of the cavalrymen, an' found them
just coolin' off an' dressin' down their hosses after what looked to me
like a big ride. I got there too late for the fireworks.

"Some soldier took me to an officer's tent. Nell was there, some white
an' all in. She just said, 'Laddy!' Thorne was there, too, an' he was
bein' worked over by the camp doctor. I didn't ask no questions,
because I seen quiet was needed round that tent. After satisfying
myself that Nell was all right, an' Thorne in no danger, I went out.

"Shore there was so darn many fellers who wanted to an' tried to tell
me what'd come off, I thought I'd never find out. But I got the story
piece by piece. An' here's what happened.

"Nell rode Blanco Sol a-tearin' into camp, an' had a crowd round her in
a jiffy. She told who she was, where she'd come from, an' what she
wanted. Well, it seemed a day or so before Nell got there the
cavalrymen had heard word of Thorne. You see, Thorne had left camp on
leave of absence some time before. He was shore mysterious, they said,
an' told nobody where he was goin'. A week or so after he left camp
some Greaser give it away that Rojas had a prisoner in a dobe shack
near his camp. Nobody paid much attention to what the Greaser said.
He wanted money for mescal. An' it was usual for