gain and again, but he could not lie there any
longer for the uneasy feeling that tormented him.

The men in the long room slept easily enough, but he could not, and he
told himself that he might just as well get up and go and watch with one
of the sentries, for then he would be doing something towards protecting
the station.

He rose then softly, and fastening on his belt with the bayonet
attached, he went cautiously out into the night air, to see that though
the stars twinkled brightly, the night was very dark. All was perfectly
still, and as he went cautiously round, every man seemed to be on the
watch, when suddenly a thought struck him which sent a cold shiver
through his breast.

He was standing just beneath the window of the officers' quarters, where
he knew that Rachel Linton and her cousin would be sleeping, and the
sentry nearest, the man who should be on the keenest watch, was, if he
was not mistaken, Private Sim.

He could not make out for certain from where he stood, but he felt
almost certain that this was the case, and that Sim was occupying the
most important outpost of the little fort.

With his heart beating wildly he crept back to the place where the men
lay asleep, and going on tiptoe from one to the other, he satisfied
himself by the dim light of the lamp swinging from the roof that Private
Sim was not there.

"It was utter madness," he muttered to himself. "Lund should have
known," and in his excitement he recalled to mind the night when he had
found him asleep.

He remembered, too, what a fearful night that was, and he felt that this
might prove to be just as dangerous, as he hurried back, catching up his
rifle and pouch as he went, and then going quietly along to where
Private Sim was stationed.

It was undoubtedly the weakest spot about the fort, and in place of one
untrustworthy man, two of the most trusty should have been stationed
there. By some error of judgment, however, this was not done, and
Private Sim held the lives of all in the little fort within his hand.

Gray thought that after all he might be misjudging him, and therefore he
went on cautiously, listening as he stopped from time to time, and
expecting to be challenged; but there was no sound to be heard, and as
Gray went closer it seemed to him as if no sentry had been placed there.
But as he went nearer there was no error of judgment upon his part. It
was as he suspected. Private Sim was seated on the ground, his r