with a briskness which displeased his
chief.

'You wouldn't be quite so jolly cheerful over it if you knew what it was
like!' he grumbled.

'Why not?' said Guy. 'You beat the others easily enough by yourself, and
we shall be three this time.'

'Oh, it's all very fine to talk,' retorted the General; 'but we shall
see what your mother and uncle say about it. They--they may think we
ought not to take any notice of it.'

Jack's eyes opened wide at this. 'Not take any notice of an attack by
Black Bogallalas! I don't see how we can very well help noticing it!'

'It all depends on what Mrs. Jolliffe says,' replied the conscientious
General. 'I'm only a visitor here, and it wouldn't be the right thing
for me to lead you into danger without leave.'

'Well, you weren't so particular the first time the Indians came!'
remarked Guy.

'Will you shut up about that first time!' the Commander burst out, in
exasperation; 'it's the second time now--that is, if it isn't all
humbug. That's what I mean to find out first--you stay here till I come
back, will you?'

Taking the strip of bark with him, he went slowly up to the house. He
had an uneasy feeling that the Indian's challenge was genuine enough,
but he still hoped to have it pronounced a forgery. This may seem
strange indeed to some, considering the courage of which he had already
given proof, but I do not wish to make any further mystery, particularly
as most of my readers will probably have already guessed the secret of
this apparent contrast.

The fact is, then, that Clarence Tinling had the best of reasons for
being cool and courageous on the previous occasion. Those Indians were
entirely imaginary; he had written the warning himself, and instructed
the coachman's boy to throw it over the stockade; the attack on the fort
and the brilliant victory were an afterthought.

What had he done it for? That is rather difficult to explain--perhaps he
hardly knew himself; he had a vague idea of proving to those
disrespectful girls that enemies did exist, and that the protection of
an Army was not to be despised.

Then when he found himself alone in the camp, the temptation to carry
his invention further was too much for him; and after Jack and Guy and
Cecily, and even Uncle Lambert himself, accepted his story without
hesitation, and treated him as a hero--why, it would have looked so
silly to explain then, and so he went through with it.

Lying is lying, whatever explanations