a step forward with the left, only the
toe of which was on the ground as he leaned forward to peer into our
camp."

"'Ma'velous! Ma'velous, Sherlock!' How do you do it?" chortled Hippy.

"Elfreda, please fetch my revolver. I am going to follow out this trail
a little way. Perhaps I may discover something," said Grace.

Hippy said he would accompany her, but Grace shook her head.

"Please stay here and look out for the camp. If I need you I will shoot
three times."

"I wish you would not go out," urged Elfreda. "What is to be gained?
Nothing, and there may be much to lose."

"Grace has made up her mind to go, so you might as well save your
breath, J. Elfreda," said Anne.

"Some persons are so stubborn," murmured Emma.

Grace smiled and nodded, then parted the bushes and stepped in. She was
lost to their sight in a few seconds, moving on through the tangle of
bush and vine without causing a rustle that their listening ears could
hear.

"Fine, fine!" observed Miss Briggs. "We surely have made a most
excellent start."

"Cheer up. The worst is yet to come," reiterated Hippy. "Keep your ears
open. I'll be back in a moment."

Hippy ran to his tent, returning with his heavy army revolver strapped
to his waist.

"What are you going to do?" questioned Anne. "Grace said you were not to
follow her."

"I'm not going to. I have merely prepared myself in case she signals for
me. All hands keep quiet and listen. Stop that noise!" warned Hippy as
Wash struck a chord on his harmonica. "Nora, if he sounds another note,
take the infernal music box away from him. I--hark!"

A sharp report startled the Overland girls.

"That wasn't Grace's revolver," announced Lieutenant Wingate, leaning
forward in a listening attitude, but before the words had left his lips,
in fact, instantly following the first shot came a heavy report, a bang
that woke the mountain echoes.

"That's Grace! That's a service revolver," cried Hippy.

"They're at it!" exclaimed Elfreda, as three more shots in quick
succession, two of them from Grace's revolver, were fired.

"Run, Hippy!" cried Nora Wingate. "Shake your feet!"

"My knees are shaking already. Isn't that enough?" returned Hippy as he
plunged into the bushes going to Grace's assistance, but there was
nothing in his movements to indicate that his knees were shaking. Hippy
Wingate knew no fear, as befitted a man who had fought many winning
battles with the Germans high above the earth, but