he mountain
side, and, a little while afterward, the boy crawled through the bushes
to him alone. His cap was gone, there was a bloody scratch across his
face and he was streaming with perspiration.

"You'll have to excuse me, sir," he panted, "I didn't see anybody but
one of my brothers, and if I had told him, he wouldn't have let ME come.
And I hurried back for fear--for fear something would happen."

"Well, suppose I don't let you go."

"Excuse me, sir, but I don't see how you can very well help. You aren't
my brother and you can't go alone."

"I was," said Hale.

"Yes, sir, but not now."

Hale was worried, but there was nothing else to be done.

"All right. I'll let you go if you stop saying 'sir' to me. It makes me
feel so old."

"Certainly, sir," said the lad quite unconsciously, and when Hale
smothered a laugh, he looked around to see what had amused him. Darkness
fell quickly, and in the gathering gloom they saw two more figures skulk
into the cabin.

"We'll go now--for we want the fellow who's selling the moonshine."

Again Hale was beset with doubts about the boy and his own
responsibility to the boy's brothers. The lad's eyes were shining,
but his face was more eager than excited and his hand was as steady as
Hale's own.

"You slip around and station yourself behind that pine-tree just behind
the cabin"--the boy looked crestfallen--"and if anybody tries to get out
of the back door--you halt him."

"Is there a back door?"

"I don't know," Hale said rather shortly. "You obey orders. I'm not your
brother, but I'm your captain."

"I beg your pardon, sir. Shall I go now?"

"Yes, you'll hear me at the front door. They won't make any resistance."
The lad stepped away with nimble caution high above the cabin, and he
even took his shoes off before he slid lightly down to his place behind
the pine. There was no back door, only a window, and his disappointment
was bitter. Still, when he heard Hale at the front door, he meant to
make a break for that window, and he waited in the still gloom. He could
hear the rough talk and laughter within and now and then the clink of a
tin cup. By and by there was a faint noise in front of the cabin, and he
steadied his nerves and his beating heart. Then he heard the door pushed
violently in and Hale's cry:

"Surrender!"

Hale stood on the threshold with his pistol outstretched in his right
hand. The door had struck something soft and he said sharply again:

"C