aydon; "did you not open out your men in line?"

"Far as we could," said Barker, gruffly. "It's so thick down below we
couldn't get along."

"Man!" cried Mr Raydon, "they've been too sharp for you, and let you
pass. Why--oh, good heavens! they must have known of our plans.
They'll have stolen out at the mouth of the valley, gone up, and taken
the Fort."

A dead silence reigned for a few minutes, as Mr Raydon stood thinking.
Then suddenly--

"We did not give them credit for being so sharp as they are," he
continued. "Here, forward all of you, back to the river. I hope my
fears are wrong."

"Hadn't we better go your way?" said Barker. "The forest is frightfully
thick below, and it will take us hours."

"The way we came will take twice as long," said Mr Raydon, sternly;
"and it is one fearful climb right up into the mountain. We must go
this way. Follow as quickly as possible. There will be no need to keep
a look-out now."

The men mustered up without a word, and with Mr Raydon and Barker
leading, we tramped on as fast as we could, but making very poor
progress during the next hour, for all were growing hot and exhausted,
and the labour was really terrible. But they pressed on in silence,
while Mr Raydon and Barker talked together rather bitterly about the
ill success of the expedition.

We must have been walking about two hours when--

"It will be night before we get to the Fort," I heard the former say;
"and who knows what may have happened there!"

"But your men will make a fight for it," said Barker.

"My principal fellow, Grey, will fight to the death," said Mr Raydon;
"but there are not enough to hold the place. It is ruin and
destruction. I ought not to have come."

"Hush!" I said, excitedly. "What's that?"

Mr Raydon stopped short, and held up his hand, when a low, dull,
roaring sound as of a flood of water rushing up the valley was heard
increasing rapidly.

"Great heavens!" cried Mr Raydon, excitedly; "they have fired the
forest down below."

And as he spoke there was a faint hot puff of air borne toward us, and
with it the unmistakable odour of burning wood.

A thrill of excitement ran through the men at the above words, and they
looked at one another. The next moment they would have rushed back up
the valley, but Mr Raydon cried sharply--

"No, no, my lads; the fire cannot be right across the valley; let's go
on and try and pass it."

They seemed to be ready to obey the fi