bed. Spread his two blankets before the fire, and he can sleep there,
while every particle of cold and stiffness is being roasted out of him."

"You boys are very good to me," said Dick gratefully.

"It's done merely in the hope that your gratitude will keep you from
giving us the licking you promised," said Pennington.

Then they left him and Dick slept soundly until he was awakened the next
day by Warner. The fire was out, the rain had ceased long since and the
sun was shining brilliantly.

"Hop up, Dick," said Warner briskly. "Breakfast's ready. Owing to your
wound we let you sleep until the last moment. Come now, take the foaming
coffee and the luscious bacon, and we'll be off, leaving Bellevue again
to its masters, if they will come and claim it."

"Has anything happened in the night?"

"Nothing since you ran your face against a pile driver, but Sergeant
Daniel Whitley, who reads the signs of earth and air and wood and water,
thinks that something is going to happen."

"Is it Forrest?"

"Don't know, but it's somebody or something. As soon as we can eat
our luxurious breakfasts we mean to mount and ride hard toward Grant.
We're scouts, but according to Whitley the scouts are scouted, and this
is a bad country to be trapped in."