t, the other four sought rest on their cots under the
canvas shelter.

CHAPTER XXV

Bud Shoots

For nearly half an hour Bud had kept his eyes fixed almost continuously
on a certain spot in the dark shadow at the edge of the thicket directly
south of the tent, which faced west. His attention had been drawn to this
spot thirty or forty times after he relieved Max at 1:30 o'clock, and the
cause of his interest was a slight movement in the shadow, suggesting a
shifting of position by an animal of considerable size.

The moon was up, but not high enough to shed much light in the open area
in which the tent was pitched. The sky was clear, and because of the deep
shadows in which this spot was merged, the heavens, to Bud's eyes, were
studded with myriads of gem-like brilliants.

In the dim light thus afforded, the boy sentinel was able to make out
what appeared to be portions of the form of a man partly hidden in the
bushes, which grew at heights varying from three feet to six or seven
feet from the ground. Meanwhile he congratulated himself repeatedly for a
bit of very ordinary ingenuity he had resorted to in order to prepare
himself for any emergency of more or less menacing outlook.

Soon after Mr. Perry announced his intention not to allow any of the boys
to have possession of his pistol while on guard, Bud's mind became busy
on plans for the contrivance of a substitute. In accord with Mr. Perry's
concession, each of the boys cut for himself a stout stick to be used as
a weapon of defense if necessary, and to supplement this Bud decided
first to gather a few dozen stones about the size of a hen's egg in order
that he might exercise his skill at throwing if any suspicious looking
objects should appear to his view.

Then he happened to remember that he had a large rubber band in a small
and little-used pocket of his coat. He had put it there for no particular
reason, perhaps merely to save it. He had found it about three weeks
before and the unusual size and strength of elasticity of the band was
enough to interest any boy in the habit of seeing the adventurous
possibilities of little things.

With the aid of his searchlight, Bud found a small forked limb in a tree
at the edge of the open area, immediately after he took charge of the
guard post, and cut it off. Then he returned to his seat near the tent
and began to whittle. The purpose of this whittling must soon have been
evident to an observer, for he hel