s? We are having a good time, and I would
just as soon stay out here on the plains for a week or ten days as to go
back to the fort and drill."

"I say, corporal," exclaimed the sentry who was stationed at the door,
"here's somebody coming, and unless my eyes are going back on me he is
dressed in uniform."

"Who in the world can it be?" exclaimed Carey.

"We'll soon find out," replied Bob, "for if he has got any of our
uncle's clothes on we are bound to take him in, unless he proves to be
an officer."

Bob and his men hurried to the door, and, looking in the direction in
which the sentry was gazing, saw a horseman about a quarter of a mile
away. He had halted on the top of a ridge, and Loring, who had good
"Plains eyes," declared that he was looking at them through a
field-glass. He certainly was dressed in uniform, and had with him a
small black mule which bore a good-sized pack on its back.

"I can't make him out," said Bob, waving his hand in the air and
beckoning the horseman to approach. "He is a soldier, but what is he
doing with that pack-mule? It isn't Bryant, is it? If it is, where did
he get that mule and that field-glass?--Loring, you and Phillips put the
bridles on your horses--never mind the saddles--and stand by to give him
a race if he tries to run away. Don't mount until I give the word."

But the horseman had no intention of running away. He replied to Bob's
signal by waving his hand over his head, and after putting away his
field-glass rode down the ridge and came toward the station at a gallop.
As he approached nearer the troopers saw that he was a stranger, and a
very good-looking one, too. He was almost as dark as an Indian, his hair
was long enough to reach to his shoulders, and the eyes that looked out
from under the peak of his fatigue-cap were as black as midnight and as
sharp as those of an eagle. He rode a magnificent horse, and his seat
was easy and graceful. His only weapon--that is, the only one that could
be seen--was a heavy Winchester rifle, which was slung at his back. If
he was a soldier, he was a very fancy one, for his cavalry uniform,
although in strict keeping with the regulations, was made of the finest
material; he wore white gauntlet gloves on his hands; and instead of the
ungainly, ill-fitting army shoe he wore fine boots, the heels of which
were armed with small silver spurs. The troopers thought from his dress
and carriage that he must be an officer, and when he drew re