s. Halford.

"You must eat," said her husband, simply, "and you must make the rest of
them eat. You might do all right without it, but I wouldn't trust the
rest of them. You may need all the nerve you've got."

"Yes, dear," said his wife, submissively. She had been with her husband
in times of danger, and she knew he was a leader to be followed. "I'll
have sandwiches and coffee and tea; I can make them drink tea, anyway."

"Third," went on Jack Halford, as if he had not been interrupted, "bring
my field-glass with you. Dirck and I will range together along the
river. If I put up a white handkerchief anywhere down there, you stay
where you are and we will come to you. If I put up this red one, come
right down with blankets and brandy in the first carriage you can get
hold of. Get on the north edge of the hill and you can keep a line on us
almost anywhere."

"Couldn't you give us some signal, dear, to tell us if--if--if it's all
right?"

"If it was all wrong," replied the husband, "you wouldn't want the
mother to learn it that way. I'll signal to you privately, however. If
it's all right, I'll wave the handkerchief; if I move it up and down,
you'll understand."

Two minutes later he bade her good-by at the door.

"Now remember," he said, "white means wait, red means ride."

And having delivered himself of this simple mnemonic device, he passed
out into the darkness.

At the next gate he met Dirck and the two swung into step together, and
walked up the street with the steady stretching tread of men accustomed
to walking long distances. They said "Hello!" as they met, and their
further conversation was brief.

"River," said Halford; "what do you think?"

"River, sure," said the other; "a lot of those younger boys have been
taking the youngsters down there lately. I saw that kid down there last
week, and I'll bet a dollar his mother would swear that he'd never seen
the river."

"Then we won't say anything about it to her," said Halford, and they
reached along in silence.

Before them, when they came to the end of the road, rose a hill with a
broad plateau on its stomach. Here through the dull haze of the morning
they saw smoky-orange lights beginning to flicker uncertainly as the
wind that heralds the sunrise came fitfully up. The soft wet grass under
their feet was flecked with little grayish-silver cobwebs, and here and
there they heard the morning chirp of ground-nesting birds. As they went
farther up the