ide there."

They found an indifferent meal ready at the wooden hotel, and when they
descended in riding dress a wagon with their baggage was waiting outside
the door, while a few mounted men with wide hats and bandoliers came up
with three saddle-horses. Torrance bestowed the maid in the light wagon,
and, when the two girls were mounted, swung himself into the saddle. Then,
as they trotted down the unpaved street, Hetty glanced at him and pointed
to the dusty horsemen.

"What are the boys for?" she asked.

Torrance smiled grimly. "I told you we had our troubles. It seemed better
to bring them, in case we had any difficulty with Larry's friends."

"Larry's friends?" asked Hetty, almost indignantly.

Torrance nodded. "Yes," he said. "You have seen a few of them. They were
carrying the flag with the inscription at the depot."

Hetty asked nothing further, but Flora Schuyler noticed the little flash
in her eyes, and as they crossed the railroad track the clear notes of the
bugles rose again and were followed by a tramp of feet. Glancing over
their shoulders the girls could see men moving in a body, with the flag
they carried tossing amidst the dust. They were coming on in open fours,
and when the bugles ceased deep voices sent a marching song ringing across
the wooden town.

Hetty's eyes sparkled; the stockriders seemed to swing more lightly in
their saddles, and Flora Schuyler felt a little quiver run through her.
Something that jingling rhythm and the simple words expressed but
inarticulately stirred her blood, as she remembered that in her nation's
last great struggle the long battalions had limped on, ragged and
footsore, singing that song.

"Listen," said Hetty, while the colour crept into her face. "Oh, I know
it's scarcely music, and the crudest verse; but it served its purpose, and
is there any nation on earth could put more swing and spirit into the
grandest theme?"

Torrance smiled somewhat drily, but there was a curious expression in his
face. "Some of those men are drawing their pension, but they're not with
us," he said. "It's only because we have sent in all the boys we can spare
that the Sheriff, who has their partners in his jail, can hold the town."

A somewhat impressive silence followed this, and Flora Schuyler glanced at
Hetty when they rode out into the white prairie with two dusty men with
bandoliers on either flank.

VI

THE INCENDIARY

Events of no apparent moment have extens