came the trail of two cavalry horses, shod alike, both at the lope,
both draggy and weary. From the point where lay Donovan and his steed
there was but one horse-track. Whirling sharply around, the rider had
sent his mount at thundering gallop back across the valley; then a
hundred yards away, in long curve, had reined him to the southeast.
The troopers who followed the hoof-marks out about an eighth of a mile
declared that, unwounded, both horse and rider were making the best of
their way towards Moreno's ranch. Farther search, not fifty yards to
the front, revealed the fact that at the edge of a little depression
and behind some cactus-bushes three human forms had been lying prone,
and from this point probably had sped the deadly bullet.

"Apaches, by God!" muttered one of the men.

"Apaches, your grandmother!" was the sergeant's fierce reply. "Will
you never learn sense, Moore? When did Apaches take to wearing store
clothes and heeled boots? There's no Apache in this, lieutenant. Look
here, sir, and here. Move out farther, some of you fellows, and see
where they hid their horses. Corporal Donovan was with 'C' troop down
the Gila last week, sir. They were to meet and escort the paymaster
most like. It's my belief he was one of the guard, and that the
ambulance has been jumped this very night. These are road agents, not
Apaches, and God knows what's happened if they've got away with Patsy.
Sure he was one of the nerviest men in the whole troop, sir."

Drummond listened, every nerve a-tingle, even while with hurried hands
he cut open the shirt at the brawny throat and felt for fluttering
heart-beat or faintest sign of life. Useless. The shot-hole under the
left eye told plainly that the leaden missile had torn its way through
the brain and that death must have been instantaneous. The soldier's