st gleam of light in the sky. He woke Dan.

"Dan, take the kettle down to the river and fill it. We had better have
some breakfast before we make our start. If you can't find your way
back, whistle, and I will answer you."

Dan, however, had no occasion to give the signal. It took him little
more than five minutes to traverse the distance that had occupied them
half an hour in the thick darkness, and Vincent was surprised when he
appeared again with the kettle. Not until it was boiling, and the bacon
was ready, did Vincent raise his voice and call Lucy and the nurse.

"This is reversing the order of things altogether," the girl said as
she came out and saw breakfast already prepared. "I shall not allow it
another time, I can tell you."

"We are old campaigners, you see," Vincent said, "and accustomed to
early movements. Now please let us waste no time, as the sooner we are
off the better."

In a quarter of an hour breakfast was eaten and the basket packed, and
they were on their way. Now the bright, glowing light in the east was
sufficient guide to them as to the direction they should take, and
setting their face to the south they started through the forest. Soon
they came upon a little stream running through the wood, and here
Vincent suggested that Lucy might like to bathe her face, a suggestion
which was gratefully accepted. He and Dan went a short distance down the
streamlet, and Vincent bathed his face and head.

"Dan, I will get you to undo this bandage and get off my coat; then I
will make a pad of my handkerchief and dip it in the water and you can
lay it on my shoulder, and then help me on again with my coat. My arm is
getting horribly painful."

Vincent's right arm was accordingly drawn through the sleeve and the
coat turned down so as to enable Dan to lay the wet pad on the shoulder.

"It has not bled much," Vincent said, looking down at it.

"No, sah; not much blood on de shirt."

"Pull the coat down as far as the elbow, Dan, and bathe it for a bit."

Using his cap as a baler, Dan bathed the arm for ten minutes, then the
wet pad was placed in position, and with some difficulty the coat got on
again. The arm was then bandaged across the chest, and they returned to
the women, who were beginning to wonder at the delay.

CHAPTER XIII.

LAID UP.

"You must see a surgeon, whatever the risk," Lucy said when the others
joined them, for now that it was light she could see by the paleness of
V