"I wouldn't like to see you hold any other woman's hand that way." Their horses' shoulders rubbed and she accidentally swayed toward him; she seemed to lose her balance. In a minute his strong arms were about her; a great emotion swept him and all his ardent soul was aflame. With sudden abandon of all restraint, he showered on her lips a lover's passionate kisses, and forced his unwonted tongue and lips to shape the old refrain: "I love you; I love you; I love you better than my life." She hid her burning face, but he held her tight, and the horses moved as one. "Will you, Belle? Will you be my wife? I can't do anything without you. You have saved me from ruin. I can't do anything without you." A jack rabbit sprang from under their feet, and Blazing Star, true to his training, darted away; and so the pair were forced apart. But, in a moment, Jim was back. "Will you, Belle? Won't you take me?" He seized her hand and would have sought her lips again, but she held him back. "I will, Jim, on one condition. Will you promise?" "Anything. I'll promise anything I have or can be. Tell me what it is, Belle?" "I will not tell you now; but I will before we get back to Cedar Mountain. Now let us ride"; and she touched her pony with the quirt, and led at a gallop which ended only at the house of Colonel Waller in Fort Ryan. CHAPTER XXXI Love in The Saddle "Here come Apollo and Psyche," said Mrs. Waller, as she glimpsed them from the window. The Colonel was just leaving for his office and called to them, "Good morning! Go on in; Mrs. Waller is at home. I'll be back in half an hour." Already there was a fire in the house, for the nights were chilly, and when the Colonel returned, they were sitting around it in the parlour. "I want to see the stable," said Belle, so forth they went together, Hartigan with Mrs. Waller leading, and Belle with the Colonel. She lingered till the others were out of easy hearing, then led up to the subject of the horse race. "It's a pretty sore subject yet," answered the Colonel. "Most of my men are pinching their families on half pay to work off their debts to those wily redskins." "Do they have to pay?" said Belle. "Well, these are debts of honour, you know, and in the man's code, that puts them ahead of rent, clothing, food, or mortgages." "I suppose the men have got a lesson that will cure them of gambling for evermore?" "Oh, no. Not at all. All they are thinking about now is where to get a horse that can turn the tables." "Seems to me like burning one's hand because one got a finger scorched." "Well, that's the man of it," said the Colonel. "If we could get Jim to run Blazing Star, the whole garrison would mortgage their lives for cash to stake on it and win back all they had lost or risked." "Well, he won't; I tell you that. But why don't you buy Blazing Star, Colonel?" "Because he won't sell. We've tried every way. I never saw a man so daffy over his horse."