had been seeking for.

"Then they are not going to Golden Valley," I said to myself; and then
it came to me like a flash of light--they were going to attack the Fort!

Of course; and that was what was meant about any one being on the watch.

My heart now beat violently, and I began to hasten my steps to get on
before the party, and warn Mr Raydon of their coming. But at the end
of a minute I had to check my pace, and follow more cautiously, as I
tried to think where I could get before them; and the more I tried to
think, the more confused and troubled I grew, for, as far as I could
make out, there was no way but the track which they seemed to know; and
to have gone to right or left meant to encounter some place impossible
to climb in the dark, or a precipice down which I might fall. It was
difficult enough in broad daylight--impossible in the dark; and in spite
of all my thinking, I was at last despairingly compelled to confess that
until the open ground was reached in front of the Fort, I could do
nothing but follow while the enemy led.

I thought of a dozen plans to warn the defenders of the Fort, so as to
put them on the alert, but the only one that seemed possible, was to
wait till we were all pretty near, and then fire my rifle to give the
alarm.

That I knew meant making the ruffians turn on me, but though the risk
was great, I hoped to dash by them in the darkness, and reach the gate.

All this time I had been cautiously creeping along behind the gang, for
at a word from their leader, the men had suddenly become very silent,
and the only sound to be heard was the rattle of a stone kicked to one
side, or a low whisper, evidently an order about the advance.

A curious feeling of despair was creeping over me, and I felt more and
more convinced that I could not get to the front, so that all I should
be able to do would be to wait till they were near the gate, and about
to scale the palisade, for that was what I felt sure they meant to do,
and then fire, let the result be what it might to me.

My difficulties grew greater every minute, as we advanced, and the
strain upon me heavier than I could bear. In anticipation I saw the
scoundrels creeping up to the Fort, cautiously getting over and
silencing whoever was on guard; and then, with a feeling of horror that
was almost unbearable, I saw in imagination the whole place given up to
pillage and destruction, at a time too when I knew that there were many
bales