Page:Roads of Destiny (1909).djvu/133

 “On the evening of the seventeenth we camped by a little stream on the bare hills five miles from Aguas Frias. At daybreak we were to take up the march again.

“At midnight I was standing outside my tent inhaling the fresh cold air. The stars were shining bright in the cloudless sky, giving the heavens their proper aspect of illimitable depth and distance when viewed from the vague darkness of the blotted earth. Almost at its zenith was the planet Saturn; and with a half-smile I observed the sinister red sparkle of his malignant attendant—the demon star of Kearny’s ill luck. And then my thoughts strayed across the hills to the scene of our coming triumph where the heroic and noble Don Rafael awaited our coming to set a new and shining star in the firmament of nations.

“I heard a slight rustling in the deep grass to my right. I turned and saw Kearny coming toward me. He was ragged and dew-drenched and limping. His hat and one boot were gone. About one foot he had tied some makeshift of cloth and grass. But his manner as he approached was that of a man who knows his own virtues well enough to be superior to rebuffs.

“‘Well, sir,’ I said, staring at him coldly, ‘if there is anything in persistence, I see no reason why you should not succeed in wrecking and ruining us yet.’

“‘I kept half a day’s journey behind,’ said Kearny, fishing out a stone from the covering of his lame foot ‘so the bad luck would n’t touch you. I could n’t help it, Captain; I wanted to be in on this game. It was a