t. It isn't Christian, but I suppose it
has some sort of excuse."

"Of course it has. Drop a little lower, Mr. Mason. I see the bushes out
there shaking."

"And that's the sign that Slade and his men have come. Well, I'm not
sorry."

Both Dick and the sergeant lay almost flat with their heads raised a
little, and their rifles pushed forward. The bushes ceased to shake,
but Dick had no doubt their pursuers were before them. They had probably
divined, too, that the quarry was at bay and was dangerous. Evidently
the sergeant had been correct when he said Slade was full of craft and
cunning.

While they waited the spirit of Dick's famous ancestor descended upon
him in a yet greater measure. Their pursuers were not Indians, but this
was the deep wilderness and they were merely on a skirt of the great
war. Many of the border conditions were reproduced, and they were to
fight as borderers fought.

"What do you think they're doing?" Dick whispered.

"Feeling around for us. Slade won't take any more risk than he has to.
Did you see those two birds fly away from that bough, sudden-like? I
think one of the men has just crept under it. But the fellow who exposes
himself first won't be Slade."

Dick's inherited instinct was strong, and he watched not only in front,
but to right and left also. He knew that cunning men would seek to flank
and surprise them, and he noticed that the sergeant also watched in a
wide circle. He still drew tremendous comfort from the presence of the
skillful veteran, feeling that his aid would make the repulse of Slade a
certainty.

A rifle cracked suddenly in the bushes to their right, and then another
by his side cracked so suddenly that only a second came between. Dick
heard a bullet whistle over their heads, but he believed that the one
from his comrade's rifle had struck true.

"I've no way of telling just now," said the sergeant, calmly, "but I
don't believe that fellow will bother any more. If we can wing another
they're likely to let us alone and we can go on. They must know by
the trail that we're now two instead of one, and that their danger has
doubled."

Dick had felt that the danger to their pursuers had more than doubled.
He had an immense admiration for the sergeant, who was surely showing
himself a host. The man, trained so long in border war, was thoroughly
in his element. His thick, powerful figure was drawn up in the fashion
of a panther about to spring. Bulky as he was he s