we two Elks
would be on night and day duty, with the major. The doctor said that he
would be out of danger in five days. By that time the message would be
long overdue. It was too bad. We had tried so hard.

The doctor left us written directions, until he should come back; and
he rode off for the mines.

Fitz and I took over the nursing, and let the two women go on about
their ranch work. They were mighty nice to us, and we didn't mean to
bother them any more than was absolutely necessary. The two Red Foxes
stayed a while longer. They said that they would light out early in the
morning, if the major had a good night, in time to catch the train all
right. But they didn't; we might have smelled a mouse, if we hadn't been
so anxious about the major. They were good as gold, those two Red Foxes.

You see, the major kept fussing. He was worried over the failure of the
message. He had it on his mind all the time. To-morrow was the fifteenth
day--and here we were, laid up because of him. We told him no matter; we
all had done our Scouts' best, and no fellows could have done more. But
we would stick by him. That was our Scouts' duty, now.

He kept fussing. When we took his temperature, as the doctor had
ordered, it had gone up two degrees. That was bad. We could not find any
other special symptoms. His cut didn't hurt him, and he had not a thing
to complain of--except that we wouldn't carry the message through in
time.

"You'll have to do it," said Red Fox Scout Van Sant to Fitz and me.

"But we can't."

"Why not?"

That was a silly question for a Scout to ask.

"We can't leave Tom."

"Yes, you can. Hal and I are here."

"You've got to make that train, right away."

"No, we haven't."

"But you'll miss the Yellowstone trip!"

"We can take it later."

"No, sir! That won't do. The major and we, and the general, too, if he
knew, won't have it that way at all. You fellows have been true Scouts.
Now you go ahead."

Scout Van flushed and fidgeted.

"Well, to tell the truth," he blurted, "I guess we've missed connections
a little anyway. But we don't care. We sent a telegram in this afternoon
by the doctor to our crowd, telling them to go ahead themselves and not
to expect us until we cut their trail. The doctor will telephone it to
the operator."

We gasped.

"You see," continued Van, "we two Red Foxes can take care of the major
while you're gone, like a brick. We're first-aid nurses, and the doctor
has told