He was a handsome man, who had been promoted from lieutenant to the rank of colonel for services rendered in action. He was a perfect soldier, a thorough disciplinarian, and though having the means to live in luxury in the fort, he yet was ready to put up with the greatest hardships in the field.
There was an officers’ club in the fort, a ladies’ club, and with polo, lawn-tennis, rowing on the river, hunting, riding, and fishing-parties, life passed most pleasantly to all, notwithstanding the fact that danger was constantly near, and the shadow of death often came into their midst.
The garrison was a large one, and there were numerous belles and beaux in the military family of the colonel. There was one bachelor captain of cavalry, Dick Caruth, who was a general favorite with all, and considered a fine parti by mothers with daughters in the matrimonial mart, for he was a very handsome, daring fellow, with a fortune and the hope of speedy promotion.
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.