hat?" he cried in a shrill voice.

The lads did not reply, but still stood listening. A third time the cry
rang out from the woods. Then Chester laughed aloud.

"It's a cat!" he exclaimed.

"A cat!" echoed Stubbs.

"Yes, cats are plentiful in the war zone. Necessity has taken the edge
off their skin-deep docility, and many of them resemble hyenas more than
the domestic pets they used to be."

"Then there is nothing to fear," said Stubbs, drawing a breath of relief.

"No," replied Chester, "there is nothing to fear so long as we are many,
but two or three of them would not hesitate to attack a single man. In
fact, they have done so before now."

"What! pet cats attack a man?" exclaimed Stubbs.

"Yes, and from what I have heard, they are pretty tough customers. I
heard that one man, in an encounter with four of the animals, had one of
his eyes scratched out and was otherwise badly clawed before he could
shoot them. Half starved, they are perfectly wild."

Stubbs shuddered.

"Let's get away from here, then," he exclaimed.

At a command from Hal, the troop moved off again and Stubbs stuck closely
between the two lads.

They had progressed perhaps half a mile further when Stubbs felt his hat
suddenly lifted from his head, and at the same moment the sharp crack of
a rifle shattered the stillness of the night.

With a shout of terror the war correspondent threw himself to the ground
and, like an ostrich, seemed to try to bury his head in the hard road.

Hal turned quickly and, taking quick aim with his revolver, fired into
the bushes, a little below the spot where the rifle had flashed fire. A
scream of pain rewarded this shot.

Without waiting to ascertain whether there was more than one of the
enemy, Hal shouted a command, and the British cavalrymen poured a volley
into the woods, aiming low and scattering their fire. Loud guttural
exclamations and shouts were the answer to the fusillade.

Immediately Hal shouted:

"To the ground, men! Down quick!"

He suited the action to the word, as did Chester, Captain Anderson and
all of the troop. They did not fall a moment too soon, for there now came
from the bushes a scattering and withering volley that would have done
terrible execution among the little troop of British, but for the fact
that they were beneath the line of fire.

"Up and into the bushes!" cried Hal.

A moment and the British were screened from the fire of the enemy on the
opposite side of th