Lieutenant Vassar Turpin, the colonel’s aide, was another catch, and there were half a dozen more. Among the ladies were two who were known as the Rivals. One was Nina de Sutro, a Mexican maiden reared mostly in the United States, and who dwelt with her guardian and kinsman, Colonel Ravel de Sutro and his beautiful wife, who was also a native of the sunny land of Mexico. It was no wonder that Nina de Sutro at twenty was a belle, for she was very beautiful, and she was brilliant and accomplished, though perhaps a little too satirical and bitter at times. Her rival was Clarice Carr, a young lady who was as popular with her own sex as with the men. Those who made comparisons between Nina de Sutro and Clarice Carr were wont to decide almost invariably that the latter was the loveliest woman of the two. She was highly accomplished, having passed much of her life abroad, was an artist, songstress, and musician, as well; while few men dared follow her lead when mounted. With a very large fortune under her control, she preferred to live with her old schoolmate and relative, Mrs. Lester, the wife of Major Lionel Lester, next officer in rank to Lieutenant-Colonel De Sutro at the fort. “I love the free life of these Western wilds far more than all the gaieties of metropolitan life,” she was wont to say, and there was little doubt but she spoke the truth. Thus far neither Clarice Carr nor Nina de Sutro had been won by any of their numerous lovers, and men began to fear that they had both taken secret vows to become old maids. If a rivalry existed between the two, it was Nina, not Clarice, that revealed it, for the latter appeared to know no rival and to live for others rather more than herself. She admired Nina de Sutro greatly, yet felt pained at times to hear her cut deeply when the opportunity offered, and often wound the one she gave the stinging rejoinder to, while, with a look or smile she would call him again to her side. “She is a sad coquette, or heartless one, perhaps, and cannot help it. At times I fear she has had some great sorrow to embitter her life, and, if so, I pity her and could never reproach.” So said Clarice Carr of Nina de Sutro to her confidante and devoted friend, Louise Lester. “So I have thought, Clarice, and Lionel also suggested it, for she is all softness at times, and again almost cruel toward her admirers,” was Mrs. Lester’s comment. When Silk Lasso Sam, in his disguise as the wounded passenger hero, Austin Marvin, had come to the fort, he had devoted himself at first to Nina de Sutro, and she claimed to have met him in Mexico, where he had saved her life. But the secret of that meeting, the secret that was between them, she did not reveal, and he dared not do so.