're far from here. At any rate they're not
bothering us just now. How're you feeling, Mr. Mason?"

"Fine, except that my face still burns."

"We'll have to hold up a Confederate house somewhere and get oil of
pennyroyal. That'll cure you, but I guess you've learned now, Mr.
Mason, that mosquitoes in a southern swamp are just about as deadly as
bullets."

"So they are, Sergeant, and this is not my first experience. Luck has
been terribly against me this trip, but it turned when I met you last
night."

"Yes, Mr. Mason. In this case two rifles are better than one. We're
prowling right through the heart of the Confederacy, but I'm thinking
we'll make it. We've got a great general now, and we mustn't fail to
bring up Colonel Hertford and his cavalry. I've an idea in my head that
General Grant is going to carry through big plans."

"Then I think it's time we were starting."

"So do I, Mr. Mason, and now will you take these crackers and smoked
ham? I've plenty in my knapsack. I learned on the plains never to travel
without a food supply. If a soldier starves to death what use is he to
his army? And I reckon you need something to eat. You were about tired
out when I met you last night."

"I surely was, Sergeant, but I'm a new man this morning. You and I
together can't fail."

Dick, in truth, felt an enormous relief. He and his young comrades had
learned to trust Sergeant Whitley implicitly, with his experience of
forest and plain and his infinite resource.

"Where do you figure we are, Sergeant?" he asked.

"In the deep woods, Mr. Mason, but we haven't turned much from the line
leading you to the place where you were to meet Colonel Hertford. You
haven't really lost time, and we'll start again straight ahead, but
we've got to look out for this fellow Slade, who's as tricky and
merciless as they ever make 'em."

"Tell me more about Slade, Sergeant."

"I don't know a lot, but I heard of him from some of our scouts. He was
an overseer of a big plantation before the war. From somewhere up North,
I think, but now he's more of a rebel than the rebels themselves. Often
happens that way. But you've got to reckon with him."

"Glad I know that much. He reminds me of a man I've seen, though I can't
recall where or when. It's enough, though, to watch out for Slade. Come
on, Sergeant, I'm feeling so fine now that with your help I'm able to
fight a whole army."

The two striding through the forest, started toward the meetin