stened to admit him, he passed on and vanished in the gloom
without checking his motion or speaking.

"That wasn't Fred," whispered Jennie; "I know his walk too well."

"It makes no difference," replied Sterry, "you can depend that he will
soon put in an appearance."

But the slow minutes dragged along and nothing was seen of him. By and
by a faint hope began to form that the urgent request of the ladies
had been conceded, for they insisted that they could see no reason why
it should not be.

A full hour passed, and, when it was after 9 o'clock, all doubt was
removed. The attack would not be made until close upon midnight.
Monteith Sterry would be given the chance, provided Duke Vesey showed
the way for him.

The crisis was so near that it was deemed best to let all know what
was in contemplation. Capt. Asbury, therefore, explained it to the
men, as the daughter had explained to the mother.

"Those fellows can't be trusted," the leader added; "they may seek to
give the impression that the delay has been granted, while preparing
to assail us when least expected. The night is dark, as you see, and
favourable to their plans. Keep the closest watch possible on all
sides of the house, for to set fire to it they must approach near
enough to touch the building."

"Suppose we catch sight of some one stealing up?" asked one of the
cattlemen.

"Challenge him, and if he does not give a satisfactory response,
fire."

"What will be a satisfactory response?"

"The voice of Fred Whitney, and I may say of Duke Vesey, or the
announcement that the individual is the bearer of a message for us. In
the latter case, of course, he will approach from the front. When you
shoot, too, boys, you mustn't throw away any shots, for this isn't
going to be child's play."

"We understand that," was the significant response of a couple of the
stockmen.

It was now growing so late that Sterry placed himself near the rear
door to watch for the expected signal from Vesey, feeling, as the
minutes passed, a nervousness greater than at any time before.

Since no light burned in the house, the only means of determining the
hour was by striking a match and holding it in front of a watch. Hope
became high when 10 o'clock was at hand.

Sterry half expected, in case everything promised well, that Vesey
would manage to give something in the nature of a preliminary signal,
but the closest scrutiny showed nothing of the kind.

Capt. Asbury, who ma