Miss Lawson--at any cost. If you are discovered by
a sentry, silence him before he makes a noise. If you can't find your
own canoe, take any one you see; you'll find ours drawn up in the
bushes to the left of the trail, not far from the flat rock. It'll
only hold two; so you get Stiles and Miss Lawson afloat, then hump back
here. You understand, now? If they haven't touched the big canoe you
are to go along with the others; you are to come back only if the canoe
is too small to take you also. And if you get into trouble--fight!"

"Ay goin' tew rase hell," grinned Svenson, growling with delight as he
swung the big club with which he had armed himself and tapped the
hunting knife in his belt. "Don't Ay toll you dat Ay ben gude smart
mans? Veil, by golly, das no yoke! Yust vatch may rase hell an' soak
dem on da hed!"

"Not unless you can't possibly get away without a fight, remember,"
warned Phil. "If it comes to a showdown, Miss Lawson,--if you are
discovered--you are to slip out of sight into the woods immediately.
And that means _immediately_, please. Don't wait for anything. Stiles
and Svenson will hold them back long enough for you to reach a canoe.
And for God's sake, get in and away as fast as you can go. You are the
one on whom most depends, remember. You _must_ get away without fail,
no matter what happens to the rest of us.

"Jimmy, you are to stick with Svenson if there's a fight and help him
all you can. In an emergency your help might just turn the whole
trick. Get hold of a club as soon as you get down the hill. If we
only had some more guns! There's only the two revolvers and Cork and
I'll need those to put up a front. We'll join you as fast as possible
if you get into trouble. Miss Lawson is an expert canoeist and the
river is not difficult; so she'll be all right. Stick with Svenson,
Jimmy."

Satisfied that all of them understood their parts, he told them to wait
for his signal to creep down the hill, and turned to the side that
faced the camp. The two men, carrying the torch and the white flag,
had almost reached the foot of the hill by this time and as they showed
no indication of halting, Kendrick stopped them with a sharp command.

"That's close enough!" he called in warning. "What do you want?"

"Red sent us over to find out what'n hell you fellas means by grabbin'
off one o' our men."

"He's not one of your men," denied Phil.

"You're a liar!" cried the man who was car