"Hello--Dick."
"Nell!" Gale reached for her hand, held it tightly, and found
speech difficult.
"You needn't worry--about your old horse," she said, as Belding
carried her toward the door. "Oh, Dick! Blanco Sol is--glorious!"
Gale turned to greet his friend. Indeed, it was but a haggard ghost
of the cavalryman. Thorne looked ill or wounded. Gale's greeting
was also a question full of fear.
Thorne's answer was a faint smile. He seemed ready to drop from
the saddle. Gale helped Ladd hold Thorne upon the horse until
they reached the house. Belding came out again. His welcome was
checked as he saw the condition of the cavalryman. Thorne reeled
into Dick's arms. But he was able to stand and walk.
"I'm not--hurt. Only weak--starved," he said. "Is Mercedes--
Take me to her."
"She'll be well the minute she sees him," averred Belding, as he and
Gale led the cavalryman to Mercedes's room. There they left him;
and Gale, at least, felt his ears ringing with the girl's broken cry
of joy.
When Belding and Gale hurried forth again the rangers were tending
the tired horses. Upon returning to the house Jim Lash calmly lit
his pipe, and Ladd declared that, hungry as he was, he had to tell
his story.
"Shore, Beldin'," began Ladd, "that was funny about Diablo catchin'
Blanco Sol. Funny ain't the word. I nearly laughed myself to
death. Well, I rode in Sol's tracks all the way to Casita. Never
seen a rebel or a raider till I got to town.
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