any exercise at all. I felt it myself yesterday,
although we did little more than ten miles."

"Oh, but then you have been wounded. And you do look so ill,
Frank."

"I dare say the wound had a little to do with it," he said; "but of
course the climate is trying too; though it is cooler up on the
hills than it is in that bay."

"Now, Frank, the first question of all is--How is my mother? What
did she do when I was missing? It must have been awful for her."

"Of course, it was a terrible anxiety, Bertha, but she bore it
better than would be expected, especially as she had not been well
before."

"It troubled me more, Frank, than even my own affairs. As soon as I
had time to think at all, I could not imagine what she would do,
and the only comfort was that she had you to look after her."

"No doubt it was a comfort, dear, that she had someone to lean upon
a little.

"Halt!" he broke off suddenly, as there was the sound of a stick
breaking among the trees close by. "Stand to your arms, men, and
gather closely.

"Bertha, do you and Anna take your place in the centre, and please
lie down."

"I cannot do that, Frank," she said, positively. "Here you are all
risking your lives for us, and now you want me to put myself quite
safe while you are all in danger."

"I want to be able to fight, Bertha, free of anxiety, and to be
able to devote my whole attention to the work. This I can't do if I
know that you are exposed to bullets."

"Well, I can't lie down anyhow, Frank; but Anna and I will crouch
down if you say that we must when they begin to fire."

They were silent for two or three minutes, and no sounds were heard
in the wood.

"We shall be attacked sooner or later," Frank said quietly to the
men. "We will take to the trees on our right if we are attacked
from the left, and to those on the left if they come at us from the
right. If we are attacked on both sides at once, take to the right.

"George, do you and Harrison and Jones get behind trees, next to
the path. It will be your business to prevent anyone from passing
on that side. I, with the other two, will take post behind trees
facing the other way. The four boatmen with Dominique will shelter
themselves in the bushes between us, with Miss Greendale and her
maid in the middle. They will be the reserve, and if a rush is made
from either side, they will at once advance and beat it back.

"You understand, Dominique?"

"Me understand, sar. If those fellow