could have seen, and, when at last he found
them, Dick, despite the dusk, saw his figure expand and his eyes flash.
He had been kneeling down examining the imprints and when he arose the
colonel asked:

"What is it, Whitley?"

"Men have passed here, sir, and, as they couldn't have been ours, they
were the enemy. The tracks lead south on the slope, and they must have
been going that way to join Slade's command."

"Then you think, Sergeant, we should follow this trail?"

"Undoubtedly, sir, but we must look out for an ambush. These men know
the mountains thoroughly, and if we were to walk into their trap they
might cut us to pieces."

"Then we won't walk into it. Lead on, Sergeant. If the enemy is near, I
know that you will find him in time."

The sergeant's brown face flushed with pride, but he followed on the
trail without a word and behind him came the whole regiment, implicit
in its trust, and winding without noise like a great coiling serpent
through the forest.

Dick was a woodsman himself, and he kept close to the sergeant, watching
his methods, and seeking also what he could find. While they lost the
trail now and then, he saw the sergeant recover it in the openings. He
noted, too, that it was increasing in size. Little trails were flowing
into the big one like brooks into a river, and the main course was
uniformly south, but bearing slightly upward on the slope.

The sergeant stopped at the melancholy cry of an owl, apparently three
or four hundred yards ahead. Both he and Dick raised their heads and
listened for the answer, which they felt sure was ready. The long,
sinister hoot in reply came from a point considerably farther away, but
at about the same height on the slope.

"They have two forces, sir," said the sergeant to Colonel Winchester,
"and I think they're about to unite."

"As a wilderness fighter, what would you suggest, Sergeant?"

"To wait here a little and lie hidden in the brush. We're rightly afraid
of an ambush if we go on, then why not make the same danger theirs? I
think it likely that the other force is coming this way. Anyway, we can
tell in a minute or two, 'cause them owls are sure to hoot again. If I'm
right, we can catch 'em napping."

"An excellent idea, Sergeant. Ah! there are the signals you predicted!"

The owl hooted again from the same point directly in front, and then
came the reply of the other, now nearer. The sergeant drew a deep breath
of satisfaction.

"Yes,