r the
night; and very soon the horses were picketed and the men were under
canvas, sentries were posted, and everything was made snug and
comfortable for the night.

About nine o'clock, feeling greatly fatigued, Jim turned into his tent,
and, wrapping himself in his heavy overcoat, threw himself down on the
ground, determined to get to sleep early that he might feel fresh and
fit for the next morning, when they might reasonably expect to get into
touch with the enemy. But try as he might, and tired as he was, sleep
refused to visit him, and the harder he tried the wider awake did he
become. He also found that he was rapidly becoming obsessed by a
horrible feeling that all was not right, that there was some unknown but
terrible danger hovering over the sleeping camp. He strove to
dispossess his mind of such fancies by assuring himself that sentries
were posted everywhere, and that therefore the camp would be early
alarmed in the event of an attack being made; but it was all to no
purpose; the presentiment only held him the more firmly in its embrace.
He had just looked at his watch and discovered that it was midnight, and
that he had been tossing and tumbling for three hours, when his ears
caught a very faint sound, coming apparently from some distance away.

Douglas sprang to his feet in a moment, and striding to the flap of his
tent, bent all his energies to the task of listening intently. Yes,
there it was again! It was coming from the direction of a wooden
suspension bridge which spanned a broad ravine, and which the force had
crossed about a quarter of an hour before camping down; and it took the
form of heavy, muffled blows of iron against wood.

"Hallo!" exclaimed Douglas, "there is something wrong here! but what are
the sentries doing?"

In a second he had belted on his sword and revolver, and plunged out of
the tent in the direction from which the sound was coming, and a few
minutes later arrived at the place where the sentry should have been
standing; but there was no sign of the man--he was nowhere to be seen.

"_Caramba_!" exclaimed Jim, "I believe there has been foul play here!"
and he began to hunt about among the undergrowth for some sign of the
missing man. The next moment he stumbled over something soft, and fell
upon his knees, putting out his hands to save himself. They came in
contact with a rough overcoat, and in an instant Jim knew it for that of
the sentry. Somewhat incautiously Jim st