!"

"All right, then," said Hallisey. "You've done well by us already.
Good-night."

It was a fine moonlight night and Hallisey now knew those woods as well
as did his late host. He led his two comrades up another stiff mile of
steady climbing. Then he struck off, by an almost invisible trail, into
the dense timber. Silently the three men moved, threading the fragrant,
silver-flecked blackness with practised woodsmen's skill. At last their
file-leader stopped and beckoned his mates.

Over his shoulder the two studied the scene before them: A clearing
chopped out of the dense tall timber. In the midst of the clearing a log
cabin, a story and a half high. On two sides of the cabin a straggling
orchard of peach and apple trees. In the cabin window a dim light.

It was then about eleven o'clock. The three Troopers, effacing
themselves in the shadows, laid final plans.

The cabin had two rooms on the top floor and one below, said Hallisey,
beneath his breath. The first-floor room had a door and two windows on
the north, and the same on the south, just opposite. Under the west end
was a cellar, with an outside door. Before the main door to the north
was a little porch. This, by day, commanded the sweep of the
mountain-side; and here, when Drake was "hiding out" in some neighboring
eyrie, expecting pursuit, his wife was wont to signal him concerning the
movements of intruders.

Her code was written in dish-water. A panful thrown to the east meant
danger in the west, and _vice versa_; this Hallisey himself had seen and
now recalled in case of need.

Up to the present moment each officer had carried his carbine, taken
apart and wrapped in a bundle, to avoid the remark of chance observers
by the way. Now each put his weapon together, ready for use. They
compared their watches, setting them to the second. They discarded their
coats and hats.

The moon was flooding the clearing with high, pale light, adding greatly
to the difficulty of their task. Accordingly, they plotted carefully.
Each Trooper took a door--Hallisey that to the north, Merryfield that to
the south, Smith that of the cellar. It was agreed that each should
creep to a point opposite the door on which he was to advance, ten
minutes being allowed for all to reach their initial positions; that at
exactly five minutes to midnight the advance should be started, slowly,
through the tall grass of the clearing toward the cabin; that in case of
any unusual noise or