think they'll go
over the hill. We're safe here so long as we remain quiet; that is, safe
for the time. Slade will hang on as long as there's a possible chance to
find us."

"Sergeant, if they do happen to stumble upon us in the dark I hope
you'll promise to do one thing for me."

"I'll do anything I can, Mr. Mason."

"Kill Slade first. That little villain gives me the horrors. I believe
the soul of the last bloodhound I shot has been reincarnated in him."

"All right, Mr. Mason," returned the sergeant, placidly, "if we have to
fight I'll make sure of Slade at once. Is there anybody else you'd like
specially to have killed?"

"No thank you, Sergeant. I don't hate any of the others, and I suppose
they'd have dropped the chase long ago if it hadn't been for this fellow
whom you call Slade. Now, I think I'll lie quiet, while you watch."

"Very good, sir. I'll tell you everything I can see. They're passing
over the hill out of sight, and if they return I won't fail to let you
know."

Sergeant Whitley, a man of vast physical powers, hardened by the long
service of forest and plain, was not weary at all, and, in the dusk, he
looked down with sympathy and pity at the lad who had closed his eyes.
He divined the nature of the ordeal through which he had gone. Dick's
face, still badly swollen from the bites of the mosquitoes, showed
all the signs of utter exhaustion. The sergeant could see, despite the
darkness, that it was almost the face of the dead, and he knew that
happy chance had brought him in the moment of Dick's greatest need.

He ceased to whisper, because Dick, without intending it, had gone
to sleep again. Then the wary veteran scouted in a circle about their
refuge, but did not discover the presence of an enemy.

He sat down near the sleeping lad, with his rifle between his knees,
and watched the moon come out. Owing to his wilderness experience he had
been chosen also to go on a scout toward Jackson, though he preferred to
make his on foot, and the sound of Dick's shots at the hounds had drawn
him to an observation which finally turned into a rescue.

After midnight the sergeant slept a little while, but he never awakened
Dick until it was almost morning. Then he told him that he would go with
him on the mission to Hertford, and Dick was very glad.

"What's become of Slade and his men?" asked Dick.

"I don't know," replied the sergeant, "but as they lost the trail in the
night, it's pretty likely they