collisions of pickets and skirmishers. Hence Jerome Searing,
with his extraordinary daring, his woodcraft, his sharp eyes, and
truthful tongue. On this occasion his instructions were simple: to get
as near the enemy's lines as possible and learn all that he could.

In a few moments he had arrived at the picket-line, the men on duty
there lying in groups of two and four behind little banks of earth
scooped out of the slight depression in which they lay, their rifles
protruding from the green boughs with which they had masked their small
defenses. The forest extended without a break toward the front, so
solemn and silent that only by an effort of the imagination could it be
conceived as populous with armed men, alert and vigilant--a forest
formidable with possibilities of battle. Pausing a moment in one of
these rifle-pits to apprise the men of his intention Searing crept
stealthily forward on his hands and knees and was soon lost to view in a
dense thicket of underbrush.

"That is the last of him," said one of the men; "I wish I had his rifle;
those fellows will hurt some of us with it."

Searing crept on, taking advantage of every accident of ground and
growth to give himself better cover. His eyes penetrated everywhere, his
ears took note of every sound. He stilled his breathing, and at the
cracking of a twig beneath his knee stopped his progress and hugged the
earth. It was slow work, but not tedious; the danger made it exciting,
but by no physical signs was the excitement manifest. His pulse was as
regular, his nerves were as steady as if he were trying to trap a
sparrow.

"It seems a long time," he thought, "but I cannot have come very far; I
am still alive."

He smiled at his own method of estimating distance, and crept forward. A
moment later he suddenly flattened himself upon the earth and lay
motionless, minute after minute. Through a narrow opening in the bushes
he had caught sight of a small mound of yellow clay--one of the enemy's
rifle-pits. After some little time he cautiously raised his head, inch
by inch, then his body upon his hands, spread out on each side of him,
all the while intently regarding the hillock of clay. In another moment
he was upon his feet, rifle in hand, striding rapidly forward with
little attempt at concealment. He had rightly interpreted the signs,
whatever they were; the enemy was gone.

To assure himself beyond a doubt before going back to report upon so
important a matter,