nce more explain our
arrangements to you, and you will see that we do not risk anything. In
the first place, the horses are left picketed outside the stockade every
night. They are never brought in, as you know, unless there is danger of
a visit from the raiders. Four of the six men who are to act as
horse-guards to-night belong to our party. When the time for action
arrives, these four men will go to work on the other two and try to
induce them to accompany us. If they don't succeed, they'll bind and gag
them, and so put it out of their power to give the alarm. The sentry who
will be on duty between the stable and the stockade is also one of us,
and of course he will raise no objection when we slip out of the
quarters, one by one, and climb the stockade. As fast as we get over we
will select our horses--I've got mine picked out, and I could put my
hand on him in the darkest of nights--and when the last one has made his
escape we'll mount and put off. Of course we hope to escape by running,
but if we can't do that, we shall turn at bay and make a fight of it. We
have all sworn to stand by one another to the last, and thirty
determined, well-armed men can make things lively for a while, I tell
you."

Bristow continued to talk in this strain for half an hour, his companion
now and then putting in a word to assist him; and he talked to such good
purpose that Gus Robbins finally consented to make one of the large
party that was to desert the post that very night. Bristow then gave him
the names of the other members--there were several non-commissioned
officers among them--and after urging him to be very careful of himself,
and to say and do nothing that might arouse the suspicions of
"outsiders," the three got upon their feet and walked toward the fort.

They had scarcely left the ruins when a fatigue-cap arose from behind a
pile of rubbish scarcely a dozen feet from the place where the three
conspirators had been sitting, and a pair of eyes looking out from under
the peak of that cap watched them as they moved away.

CHAPTER III.

BOB'S FIRST COMMAND.

The eyes that were so closely watching the movements of Bristow and his
companions belonged to Bob Owens. The latter had strolled off alone, and
thrown himself behind an angle of the ruined wall to indulge in a few
moments' quiet meditation, and thus unwillingly placed himself in a
position to overhear the details of the plot which we have just
disclosed. If Br