us believe at Ceralvo's. 'Twas there they wanted to have you stop, for
there you'd have no chance at all. Shure, do you suppose if the
Apaches _were_ out--if this story _was_ true--they wouldn't have heard
it and investigated it by this time, and the beacon-fire would have
been blazing at the Picacho?"

Then Murphy turned and ran around the corner of the corral to a point
where he could see the dim outline of the range against the western
sky. The next moment his voice rose upon the night air, vibrant,
thrilling,--

"Look! God be good to us, major! It's no lie. The signal-fire's
blazing at the peak."




II.


Late that night, with jaded steeds, a little troop of cavalry was
pushing westward across the desert. The young May moon was sinking to
rest, its pure pallid light shining faintly in contrast with the ruddy
glow of some distant beacon in the mountains beneath. Ever since
nightfall the rock buttress at the pass had been reflecting the lurid
glare of the leaping flames as, time and again, unseen but busy hands
heaped on fresh fuel and sent the sparks whirling in fiery eddies to
the sky. Languid and depressed after a long day's battling with the
fierce white sunshine, horses and men would gladly have spent the
early hours of night dozing at their rude bivouac in the Christobal.