f all effort,
recurring constantly to the girl who had gone to Dodge early in the
summer. Was she still there? If so, how would she greet him now after
these months of absence? The little cavalry column, dust-covered and
weary, seemed fairly to creep along, as day by day he reviewed every
word, every glance, which had passed between them; and at night, under
the stars, he lay with head on his saddle, endeavoring to determine his
course of action, both as to their possible meeting, and with regard to
the following of the clue offered by the haversack. The time he had
hoped for was at hand, but he could not decide the best course of
action. He could only wait, and permit Fate to interfere.

Certain facts were, however, sufficiently clear, and the Sergeant faced
them manfully. Not merely the fact that he was in the ranks, great as
that handicap was, could have prevented an attempt at retaining the
friendship of Molly McDonald. But he was in the ranks because of
disgrace--hiding away from his own people, keeping aloof from his
proper station in life, out of bitter shame. If he had felt thus
before, he now felt it a thousand times more acutely in memory of the
comradeship of her whose words had brought him a new gleam of hope.
Never before had loneliness seemed so complete, and never before had he
realized how wide was the chasm between the old and the new life. This
constantly recurrent memory embittered him, and made him restless. Yet
out of it all, there grew a firmer determination to win back his old
position in the world, to stamp out the lie through which that
Confederate court-martial had condemned him. If Le Fevre were alive,
he meant now to find him, face him, and compel him to speak the truth.
The discovery of that haversack gave a point from which to start, and
his mind centred there with a fixed purpose which obscured all else.

It was after dark when "M" troop, wearied by their long day's march
across the brown grass, rode slowly up the face of the bluff, and into
the parade ground at Fort Dodge. The lights of the guard-house
revealed the troopers' faces, while all about them gleamed the yellow
lamps, as the garrison came forth to welcome their arrival. Guided by
a corporal of the guard the men led their horses to the stables, and,
as they passed the row of officers' houses Hamlin caught a furtive
glimpse in a radius of light that gave his pulses a sudden throb. She
was here then--here! He had ha