rying the flag. "He belongs
to our party an' we want him back damn quick or we'll come an' take
him. What're you holdin' him prisoner fer? You let him go, Mister,
an' there won't be no more fuss about it."

"All right. If he wants to go back to the camp, he can go. Wait a
minute and I'll ask him."

He made a pretense of doing so.

"Away you go now! Don't step on any loose stones. Good luck, Miss
Lawson," was what he whispered.

The girl ran over to him and caught his hand.

"I think it's great of you, Mr. Kendrick," she murmured. "Good-bye,
and good luck to you also," and with that she was gone; but he thrilled
at the farewell pressure of her fingers.

"Hi, you, up there! We can't wait here all night."

"There seems to be a slight misunderstanding, old man," placated Phil.
"He says he prefers to stay here. He says you kept him prisoner over
there and didn't give him enough to eat."

"Aw, he's full o' _hooch_!" cried the spokesman with a loud guffaw.
"He'll be gittin' a heluva lot less grub where he is. Say, are you
guys goin' to be good sports or aincha? Red told me to invite the
bunch over to camp fer a snort. C'm on over an' hev a drink on us an'
cut out the shenanigans."

"Now, that sounds pretty decent of you," approved Phil. "Wait till I
see what the rest say."

He ducked down again to find McCorquodale crossing from the opposite
side of "The Saucer," where he had been keeping eyes and ears open for
a surprise attack in case the white flag was but a treacherous ruse.

"Everythin' jake so far, 'bo," whispered he with elation. "They's down
to level ground 'thout a peep--slick as a whistle."

"Good," breathed Phil. He climbed again into view. "Listen, boys. My
friends say to thank you for the invite, but they aren't thirsty. Did
you know that we had a spring of cold water up here?"

The fellow grew angry.

"If youse don't come youse'll be damn sorry, Mister. You've plugged a
couple o' our fellas pretty bad an' y'aint goin' to git away with
nothin' like that."

"Why, what will you do?"

"We'll damn soon show you, Mister. We've got you surrounded right
now." Phil's heart sank; he had been hoping that the sound of an
accordeon and singing at the camp meant that most of them were over
there. "If we can't do no better, we'll starve youse out in a couple
o' days."

"You can't do that," scoffed Phil. "We've got water right here and a
big package of concentrated food tablets that