ing more sharply, and there is a rise in the last hundred yards or
so before we reach the place where the road forks. We had better go a
little more slowly now, sir."

Another five minutes there was a stumble and a fall in front of Ralph.

"Halt!" he exclaimed sharply. "What is it, Mr. Fitzgibbon?"

"I have fallen over the pile of stones," the officer said, "and hurt
myself confoundedly."

"Don't you think we had better halt till daylight?"

"I think we can keep on, sir. The nearer we get there the better; and
if we should miss the path we can halt then and wait till daybreak."

"Well, we can do that," Ralph agreed.

"I will go on ahead, sir, twenty or thirty yards at a time and then
speak, and you can bring the men on to me, then I will go on again. It
will be slow work, but I can keep the path better if I go at my own
pace."

Ralph agreed, and they proceeded in this manner for some time.

"I don't think we are on the track now," Ralph said at last.

"Oh, yes, we are," the officer replied confidently.

Ralph stooped and felt the ground. "The grass is very short," he
observed, "but it is grass."

The officer followed his example.

"Oh, it is only a track now," he said. "Just a footpath, and the grass
is not worn off. I am convinced we are right."

"Well," Ralph said, "just go a little way to the right and left, and
see if the grass gets longer. It seems to me all the same."

The officer did so, and was obliged to own that he could not perceive
any difference. Ralph now spread his men out in a line and directed
them to feel on the ground to see if they could discover the track.
They failed to do so, and Ralph then ordered them together again.

"We will halt here, sergeant, till daylight. It's no use groping about
in the dark. For anything we know we may be going exactly in the wrong
direction. The men can of course sit down if they like; and they may
as well eat a piece of bread and try their water-bottles. But tell
them not to eat more than half their ration. We may be longer before
we get out of this than we expect."

The order was given, the men piled their arms and seated themselves on
the short turf. Presently Ralph heard a sudden exclamation of surprise
and satisfaction as one of the men tasted the contents of his
water-bottle, and in a minute there was a buzz of talk. Before scarce
a word had been spoken; the men had been marching in a sort of sulky
silence, disgusted at being taken from their