the pleasure they felt in the enjoyment of the younger people.  Jonathan Zane stood near the door.  Moody and silent he watched the dance.  Wetzel leaned against the wall.  The black barrel of his rifle lay in the hollow of his arm.  The hunter was gravely contemplating the members of the bridal party who were dancing in front of him.  When the dance ended Lydia and Betty stopped before Wetzel and Betty said:  “Lew, aren’t you going to ask us to dance?”

The hunter looked down into the happy, gleaming faces, and smiling in his half sad way, answered:  “Every man to his gifts.”

“But you can dance.  I want you to put aside your gun long enough to dance with me.  If I waited for you to ask me, I fear I should have to wait a long time.  Come, Lew, here I am asking you, and I know the other men are dying to dance with me,” said Betty, coaxingly, in a roguish voice.

Wetzel never refused a request of Betty’s, and so, laying aside his weapons, he danced with her, to the wonder and admiration of all.  Colonel Zane clapped his hands, and everyone stared in amazement at the unprecedented sight Wetzel danced not ungracefully.  He was wonderfully light on his feet.  His striking figure, the long black hair, and the fancifully embroidered costume he wore contrasted strangely with Betty’s slender, graceful form and pretty gray dress.

“Well, well, Lewis, I would not have believed anything but the evidence of my own eyes,” said Colonel Zane, with a laugh, as Betty and Wetzel approached him.

“If all the men could dance as well as Lew, the girls would be thankful, I can assure you,” said Betty.

“Betty, I declare you grow prettier every day,” said old John Bennet, who was standing with the Colonel and the Major.  “If I were only a young man once more I should try my chances with you, and I wouldn’t give up very easily.”

“I do not know, Uncle John, but I am inclined to think that if you were a young man and should come a-wooing you would not get a rebuff from me,” answered Betty, smiling on the old man, of whom she was very fond.

“Miss Zane, will you dance with me?”

The voice sounded close by Betty’s side.  She recognized it, and an unaccountable sensation of shyness suddenly came over her.  She had firmly made up her mind, should Mr. Clarke ask her to dance, that she would tell him she was tired, or engaged for that number—­anything so that she could avoid dancing with him.  But, now that the moment had come she either forgot her resolution or lacked the courage to keep it, for as the music commenced, she turned and without saying a word or looking at him, she placed her hand on his arm.  He whirled her away.  She gave a start of surprise and delight at the familiar step and then gave herself up to the charm of the dance.  Supported by his strong arm she floated around the room in a sort of dream.  Dancing as they did was new to the young people at the Fort—­it was a style then in vogue in