The hot winds swept over the arid plains and the sun was more vengeful than the biting cold.

The energies of many drooped, and the sergeants grew short with the men.

But cheerfulness prevailed at the Commandant's house.

In July Beverley Fortescue, named for the fine old Virginia Colonel, Mrs.Fortescue's grandfather, was to come home, in all the glory of his twenty-one years, wearing for the first time the splendid cavalry uniform instead of the grey and gold and black of a military cadet.

More than that, he was to be assigned to duty at Fort Blizzard.