an'll be enough to guard it until we get
back. Make haste, for we've no time to lose. Shorty."

"Corpril Elliott," Shorty corrected him, mindful of the presence of
Sergeant Bob Ramsey.

"Yes; excuse me. Corporal Elliott, while we are attending to the
prisoners you go on ahead and reconnoiter. You need not stop unless you
see fit until you are clear into the lodge. Give one low whistle if you
want us to stop, two to come ahead and three to go back."

It was a moonless night, and the broom-like tops of the close-growing
beeches made a dense darkness, into which Shorty plunged, but he could
readily make out a well-beaten path, which he followed. Occasionally
he could make out dark figures moving just ahead of him or crossing the
path.

"Goin' to be a full attendance at the services this evenin'," he
muttered to himself. "But the more the merrier. It'll insure a
goodly number at the mourner's bench when we make the call for the
unconverted."

Big and lumbering as Shorty sometimes seemed in his careless hours, no
wildcat gliding through the brush was more noiseless-footed than he now.
He kept on the darker side of the path, but not a twig seemed to crack
or a leaf rustle under his heavy brogans. Twice he heard lumbering steps
in his rear, and he slipped behind the big trunk of a tree, and saw
the men pass almost within arm's length, but without a suspicion of his
presence.

"Well, for men workin' a dark-lantern job this is about the logiest
crowd I ever struck," he said rather disgustedly. "An elephant'd have
to step on 'em before they'd know he was around. They ain't hardly good
fun."

Presently he heard some rustling over to his right and caught the low
murmur of a voice. He cautiously made his way in that direction until
he made an opening, with a number of men sitting on a log, while others
were standing, leaning on their guns.

"Probably a caucus outside to set up the pins before goin' into the full
meetin'," he said to himself. "As I always like to be with the winnin'
side, I guess I'll jest jine 'em."

He advanced boldly into the opening. At the sound of his approach the
men looked up, and one of those leaning on his gun picked it up and came
toward him.

"You are out late," he whispered, when within speaking distance.

"Yes," answered Shorty. "And I was out late last night."

"Did you see a star?"

"I did."

"What star was it?"

"It was the Star of Bethlehem."

The first speaker had seemed to s