t George Romney Lee,
--th Cavalry, is hereby relieved from duty at the U. S. Military
Academy, and will join his troop now in the field against hostile
Indians.

"_Second._ Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent U. S. Military
Academy, the charges preferred against Cadet Captain Philip S. Stanley
are withdrawn. Cadet Stanley will be considered as graduated with his
class on the 12th instant, will be released from arrest, and authorized
to avail himself of the leave of absence granted his class."

Nannie starts from her pillow, clasping in her thin white fingers the
soft hand that would have restrained her.

"Miriam!" she cries. "Then--will he go?"

The dark, proud face bends down to her; clasping arms encircle the
little white form, and Miriam Stanley's very heart wails forth in
answer,--

"Oh, Nannie! He is almost there by this time,--both of them. They left
to join the regiment three days ago; their orders came by telegraph."

Another week, and Uncle Jack is again with them. The doctors agree that
the ocean voyage is now not only advisable, but necessary. They are to
move their little patient to the city and board their steamer in a day
or two. Will has come to them, full of disgust that he has been assigned
to the artillery, and filling his mother's heart with dismay because he
is begging for a transfer to the cavalry, to the --th Regiment,--of all
others,--now plunged in the whirl of an Indian war. Every day the papers
come freighted with rumors of fiercer fighting; but little that is
reliable can be heard from "Sabre Stanley" and his column. They are far
beyond telegraphic communication, hemmed in by "hostiles" on every side.

Uncle Jack is an early riser. Going down for his paper before breakfast,
he is met at the foot of the stairs by a friend who points to the
head-lines of the _Herald_, with the simple remark, "Isn't this hard?"

It is brief enough, God knows.

"A courier just in from Colonel Stanley's camp brings the startling news
that Lieutenant Philip Stanley, --th Cavalry, with two scouts and a
small escort, who left here Sunday, hoping to push through to the Spirit
Wolf, were ambushed by the Indians in Black Canyon. Their bodies, scalped
and mutilated, were found Wednesday night."

Where, then, was Romney Lee?

CHAPTER VII.

BLACK CANYON.

The red sun is going down behind the line of distant buttes, throwing
long shadows out across the grassy upland. Every crest and billow o