ll cried forward. Come what
would, he either must go on to the end or accept the humiliation that
awaits him who turns back. But why was the realization withheld from one
so willing--from one who had dared face the world alone?

For the first time the loneliness and isolation of his life was borne in
upon him as he reviewed the past, step by step, and thought of the woman
he had chosen to share the future with him and whom it was impossible to
disassociate from his plans.

Fortune seemed to have deserted him. A sudden revulsion and sickening
sense of failure swept over him, crushing and overwhelming him. Would
the voices never break silence? Must he forever ride alone with the sun
in his face? Save for a cricket that chirped dreamily in a cleft of the
rock close at hand, and the distant, subdued sounds of voices and
barking of dogs in the Indian camps below him, there was no response to
his query.

Strange that he, Jack Forest, the possessor of twenty millions, the
associate of the great people of this world, and who was never referred
to by his family and friends as other than the Magnificent, the man who
did things, should find himself in the heart of the Mexican deserts
apparently as far from his goal as when he started. It was incredible,
but true, nevertheless. For was he not there in the midst of the
wilderness with the scent of the sage in his nostrils and the alkali
dust on his boots?

He closed his eyes and let his head sink forward on his breast, wearied
by the oft-repeated endeavor to solve that which was fast becoming a
riddle, a chimera to him, and he probably would have fallen asleep had
he not been startled suddenly into a consciousness of his surroundings
by a low whinny; soft and plaintive as a child's voice. Looking up, he
saw Starlight standing before him with ears erect and pointed forward,
gazing inquiringly into his face.

Again the Chestnut whinnied, and lowering his head, caressed his
shoulder affectionately with his nose. Then raising his head, he began
to paw the ground impatiently, indicating as plainly as words that it
was time to resume their journey.

The night wind sighed across the desert and there was a chill in the
air as the moon mounted higher in the heavens; an ideal night for
travel. Jose awoke with a start and sitting bolt upright on the ground,
gazed about him with a dazed, bewildered air, trying to collect his
scattered senses.

"_Capitan!_" he cried, regarding him inten