some new trick.
He's probably tickled to death to think that you didn't turn him down
absolutely."

"I'll promise you one thing, anyhow, Pete. I won't make a move toward
meeting him, nor have anything to do with him, without telling Dick
Crawford and Mr. Durland about it first. And I won't do anything that
they don't thoroughly approve of. Will that satisfy you?"

"Sure it will, Jack! Thanks! I hate to seem like a coward, but I'm a lot
more afraid for you when you're in some danger than I would be if it
were myself. That's why I'm so leery of this fellow Broom. I'm sure he
means some sort of mischief, and I surely do hope that Mr. Durland and
Dick Crawford will make you feel the same way about it that Tom Binns
and I do."

"What, are you in on this, too?" asked Jack, with a smile, turning to
little Tom Binns.

"I certainly am, Jack!" answered Tom. "I think Pete's quite right."

Then they got the car, and took the road for Mardean, prepared to turn
back when they reached the right cross roads, and scout along toward
Fessenden Junction.

Before them, on the other branch of the Mardean road, toward Tryon
Creek, there had been heavy firing. That had gradually died away,
however, and presently, as they sped on, they met a single soldier on
horseback. It proved to be their friend, Jim Burroughs.

"Hello, Lieutenant!" called Jack, cheerily, as he stopped his car and
saluted. "How is the battle going?"

"Fine and dandy," returned Jim Burroughs, reigning up his horse. "We got
to Tryon Creek, and we licked them there. They didn't come along for
more than two hours after we were in position. The umpires stopped the
fighting after a while, and gave us the decision. I don't see how
they're going to get through to Fessenden Junction, and, if we hold them
on this line, they'll never get near enough to the capital even to
threaten it, that's one sure thing!"

"I'm certainly glad we got the true news," said Jack, after Jim
Burroughs had ridden on. "It would have been fierce if that fresh
lieutenant had been wrong himself, and we had given our own army false
information that would have enabled them to beat us. But it's all right,
as it turns out, and I guess that they haven't got any chance at all of
beating us now."

"I'm glad of that, too," said Pete. "We certainly took enough trouble to
get the right dope, didn't we?"

CHAPTER XV

A DECISIVE MOVEMENT

Pete Stubbs was secretly glad that the scouting trip towar