Head of Kay's

tent had d

fice,found it at last in a tangled heap upon the ground. It was too dark tosee anything distinctly, but he perceived that the canvas

dashing the last vestiges of sleep away with theirknuckles, trooped on

nish that game of footer some other time, when we aren't trying toget

s what the guard was doing. It was trying toget out from undernea

blackguard cut the ropes of the guard-tent. Icouldn't see who it was. He cut off directl

uld, he hinted, be trou

ginning to disgor

said a facetious vo

ic to hear them on the subject of theirmysterious assailants. Matters quieted down rapidly after the tent hadbeen set up again. The spectators were driven b

resumed his beat. The affair wasat an

ht be expected, nothin

y morning paper, ever propounded so fascinating and puzzling abreakfast-table problem. It was the utter impossibility of detectingthe cul

r, of course,

hat they didnothing worse. You'd naturally expect them to slay the sentry, at anyrate."But the rest of the camp, lacking that intimate knowledge of theKayite which he possessed, did not t

t! I'd forgotten. Why don't you move with the times? You'realways thinking of something that's been dead and buried for years.""You remember you said you thought it was those Kay's chaps who didit. I've been thinking it over, and I believe you're right. You see,it was probably somebody who'd been to camp before, or he wouldn'thave known that dodge of loosing the ropes.""I don't

stump-cricket. Silver was in the middle of a story in one of themagazin

said, when t

iness," said Kennedy. "Of course that was all rotwhat I was saying just now. I suddenly remembered that I didn'tparticularly want anybody but you to hear what I was going to say, soI had to invent any rot that I could think of.""But now," said Jimmy Silver, sinking his v

are me not. In fact,say on.""I've had a talk with

s by our special corresp

, he didn't mean to scratch him. He was rather keen onhaving that understood. But his fingers came up against the fellow'scheek as he was falling. So you see we've only got to look for a manwith a scratch on his cheek. It was the right cheek, Jones was almostcertain. I don't see what you're laughing at.""I wish you wouldn't spring these good things of yours on mesuddenly," gurgled Jimmy Silver, rolling about the wooden floor of thetent. "You ought to give a chap some warning. Look here," he added,imperatively, "swear you'll take me with you when you go on your tourt

a prattling infant, "nasty scratch you've got on yourcheek. How did you get it?""Perry

said K

fool," sa

me?" inquired K

an still moredeeply rooted, Walton with an uncomfortable feeling that Kennedy knewtoo much, and that, though he had undoubte

t it behoved