rtment, and criticize everything that
both armies do, too. The firing brought them up as soon as it began, you
may be sure."

Slowly but steadily and surely the drama unfolded itself before their
fascinated eyes. They could see the slow advance of Abbey's dismounted
troopers as soon as the firing in the enemy's rear convinced them that
the support they had been awaiting had come at last. And before long the
enemy was completely surrounded by a chain of Red troops, firing
steadily. It lasted for nearly twenty minutes and then a bugle blew,
over to their right, and in another moment the "Cease Firing" call had
passed from regiment to regiment. The appeal to the umpires had been
made, and now the troops that had been seeking all possible cover showed
themselves, that the umpires might inspect the position and see whether
there was any possible chance for the entrapped regiments of the Blue
army to extricate themselves.

"They hung on too long," said Jack. "They ought to have begun their
retreat before daylight. Then they might have been able to fall back and
slip away and around to join the main Blue army at Mardean. I'm afraid
they'll all be written down as captured now."

Jack was right in his idea, too. The umpires, after a careful inspection
of the situation, decided that General Bean's tactics had been
successful.

"You are to be congratulated, General," said a Brigadier General of the
regular army, the chief umpire, riding up to the militia commander. "A
very neat evolution, carefully planned and worked out. We were inclined
to think that they had fooled you. Abbey was in a bad way until you came
up. But you came out very well."

CHAPTER X

THE SCOUTS MEET AN OLD FRIEND

Jack Danby's clever scouting had changed the entire situation. The
capture of his two regiments made General Bliss's situation decidedly
precarious. His case was not hopeless yet, by any means, since, as the
attacking force, the Blue army had been the stronger to begin with,
because the War Department had so arranged matters that the advantage of
position favored the Red forces sufficiently to make up for the superior
force of General Bliss. General Bean's quick following up of the
information Jack had given, however, had enabled the Red army to
equalize the forces of the contending armies, and General Harkness, who
threw a cavalry brigade into Bremerton within three hours of the timely
warning Jack sent him, was now in no danger of