e class ring gleaming in the moonlight, lay idly on
his knee. Lacking stature, size or weight, the physical attributes that
make a man impressive, he looked the picture of the young athlete, firm
and fit and trained for speed and staying power, yet cold in his
steel-like strength and quality.

Overtopping him, standing where he, too, could hear and gaze, elegant
in form, graceful in pose, and precise in dress, the picture of
chivalric officer and gentleman, Hal Willett had the advantage of
nearly six more inches in height, a presence that was at once
commanding and assured, and a face as strikingly handsome as that of
Harris was severely plain. Willett's eyes and hair were of a deep,
lustrous brown, his eyebrows thick and heavily arched, his mouth soft,
sensitive, with lips that were beautifully curved and teeth that were
white and well-nigh perfect. His mustache, though long and curling, was
carefully trained away so as to hide none of the charms that lurked
beneath. He looked at once the knight of the ballroom and the
battlefield, a man to make his mark in either contest, love or war, and
make it he had. Life had been full of gifts to Harold Willett. He came
from old border stock. His name was first of the presidential ten the
year he entered the Point, first on the list of cadet corporals in the
yearling June and first among the first sergeants the following year.
An uncontradicted rumor had it that he could have been sergeant-major,
but that he told the commandant his ambition lay in the senior
captaincy, and first captain he had been named his first class summer,
only to lose it late in August, the penalty of a rash and forbidden
exploit for the sake of a smile, and possibly a caress, and lose it to
the man who, starting at the foot of the list of his chevroned fellows
two years before, had risen only to "late sergeant" of a centre company
when they came from furlough, but, standing foremost in "Tactics," well
up in every subject but French and drawing, and impeccable in conduct,
won a captaincy in spite of his lack of inches. Graduating a dozen
files ahead of his brilliant comrade, Harris had sought and won
commission in the cavalry, was sent to duty in New Mexico and then in
Arizona, ever roughing it in the deserts or the mountains until in
physique he was hard as hickory, and in spirit wellnigh as elastic.
Never until this recent experience in the Apache Mohave country had he
shown symptom of discouragement. Now