y finished. "It seemed to me I could almost hear the cannon and
see the boys--our boys--"

Her voice trailed off into silence, and for a long time no one spoke. Each
one of these young girls, who, a few short months before, had scarcely
known the meaning of the word war except as they had read about it in
their histories, was striving desperately to visualize the battle
front--the trenches, great guns belching forth a deadly hail of shells,
the roar of cannon, the moans of dying men--

And there, perhaps, in the mire and horror of it all--the boys--their
boys--

CHAPTER XIII

THE COPPERHEAD

Betty was the first to break the silence.

"But, of course," she said, and they started at the sound of her voice--so
far away had their thoughts been wandering, "it may only be one more of
those rumors the boys are always talking about."

"I suppose so," said Grace, with a sigh. "Anyway, it won't do any good to
worry about it till the time comes."

"Well, I don't know," said Mollie a little irritably. "It's like having a
sword hanging over your head all the time. I'd just as soon have it cut me
in two now and get it over with."

"Yes, it is something like cutting the poor dog's tail off an inch at a
time," sighed Amy, and at the comparison and her sober countenance they
had to laugh despite the very real trouble at their hearts.

"I wish," said Betty wistfully after a while, "the boys could have gotten
leave to-day. I should like to have just one more picnic with them. We've
had such good times together. And we're going to have lots more," she
added, springing to her feet with a sudden, swift smile. "That's our part
of the business from now on. Just to keep smiling and make up our minds
that they're coming back to us just as they went--only better."

"They couldn't be," declared Amy, and once more the other Outdoor Girls
laughed and hugged her.

"Anyway, they've got one good backer in you, Amy dear," said Betty fondly.
"You've no idea how fond all the boys are of you. I declare, sometimes I'm
almost jealous."

"You," cried Amy incredulously, looking at the flushed face and shining
eyes. "You'll never need to be jealous of anybody in your life Betty
Nelson--and especially of me," she added modestly.

Betty laughed and hugged her again.

"Girls, it's getting late," she said suddenly, with another of her swift
changes of subject. "I guess perhaps it's time we were starting back. Oh,
I forgot," she added, in