one was
racing before him down the dark ravine. There had been a woman there!
He could not quite blot that out--but not she; not Molly McDonald.
If--if it were she; if he had really seen her face in the flare, if it
was no dream, then what? Why, he must screen her from discovery, give
her opportunity to slip away. This was the one vague, dim thought
which took possession of the man. It obscured all else; it sent him
blindly crashing over the edge of the ravine. He heard the sentry at
his right cry hoarsely, he heard excited shouts from the open windows
of the barracks; then his feet struck a man's body, and he went down
headlong.

Almost at the instant the sentry was upon him, a gun-muzzle pressing
him back as he attempted to rise.

"Be still, ye hell hound," was the gruff order, "or I 'll blow yer to
kingdom come! Sergeant of the guard, quick here! Post Number Six!"

Hamlin lay still, half stunned by the shock of his fall, yet conscious
that the delay, this mistake of the sentry, would afford her ample
chance for escape. He could hear men running toward them, and his eyes
caught the yellow, bobbing light of a lantern. His hand reached out
and touched the body over which he had fallen, feeling a military
button, and the clasp of a belt--it was a soldier then who had been
shot. Could she have done it? Or did she know who did? Whatever the
truth might be, he would hold his tongue; let them suppose him guilty
for the time being; he could establish innocence easily enough when it
came to trial. These thoughts flashed through his mind swiftly; then
the light of the lantern gleamed in his eyes, and he saw the faces
clustered about.

"All right, Mapes," commanded the man with the light. "Let the fellow
up until I get a look at him. Who the hell are you?"

"Sergeant Hamlin, Seventh Cavalry."

"Darned if it ain't. Say, what does all this mean, anyhow? Who's
shot? Turn the body over, somebody! By God! It's Lieutenant Gaskins!"

Hamlin's heart seemed to leap into his throat and choke him; for an
instant he felt faint, dazed, staring down into the still face ghastly
under the rays of the lantern. Gaskins! Then she was concerned in the
affair; he really had seen her hiding there against the wall. And the
man's eyes were open, were staring in bewilderment at the faces. The
Sergeant of the guard thrust the lantern closer.

"Lift his head, some o' yer, the man's alive. Copley, get some water,
an' two