nted, picked up the hat, swung himself again into saddle,
and with rejoicing heart sped away again on his mission. There were
still those suspicious flashes off to the east that he must dodge, and
to avoid them he shaped his course well to the west.

Let us turn for a moment to the camp of the cavalry down in Lodge Pole
Valley. We have not heard from them since early evening when the
operator announced his intention of going over to have a smoke and a
chat with some of his friends on guard.

"Taps," the signal to extinguish lights and go to bed, had sounded early
and, so far as the operator at Lodge Pole knew when he closed his
instrument, the battalion had gladly obeyed the summons.

It happened, however, that the colonel had been talking with one of his
most trusted captains as they left the office a short time before, and
the result of that brief talk was that the latter walked briskly away
towards the bivouac fires of his troop and called "Sergeant Stauffer!"

A tall, dark-eyed, bronzed trooper quickly arose, dropped his pipe, and
strode over to where his captain stood in the flickering light, and,
saluting, "stood attention" and waited.

"Sergeant, let the quartermaster-sergeant and six men stay here to load
our baggage in the morning. Mount the rest of the troop at once, without
any noise,--fully equipped."

The sergeant was too old a soldier even to look surprised. In fifteen
minutes, with hardly a sound of unusual preparation, fifty horsemen had
"led into line," had mounted, and were riding silently off northward.
The colonel said to the captain, as he gave him a word of good-by,--

"I don't know that you'll find anything out of the way at all, but, with
such indications, I believe it best to throw forward a small force to
look after the Chug Valley until we come up. We'll be with you by
dinner-time."

Two hours later, when the telegraph operator, breathless and excited,
rushed into the colonel's tent and woke him with the news that his wire
was cut up towards the Chug, the colonel was devoutly thankful for the
inspiration that prompted him to send "K" Troop forward through the
darkness. He bade his adjutant, the light-weight of the officers then on
duty, take his own favorite racer, Van, and speed away on the trail of
"K" Troop, tell them that the line was cut,--that there was trouble
ahead; to push on lively with what force they had, and that two more
companies would be hurried to their support.

At