CHAPTER PAGE I Off for a Sleigh-ride 1 II Something of the Past 13 III The Team that Ran Away 22 IV Ward Porton Again 32 V What Asa Dickley Had to Say 42 VI More Trouble 53 VII Face to Face 63 VIII The Basswood Fortune 72 IX Something About Miniatures 82 X The Big Sleighing-Party 93 XI Held by the Blizzard 104 XII Tim Crapsey's Plot 114 XIII What Washington Bones had to Tell 124 XIV Movements of the Enemy 133 XV The Return to Crumville 143 XVI How the Miniatures Disappeared 153 XVII A Vain Search 163 XVIII The Civil Engineering Examination 173 XIX Off for Texas 181 XX In New York City 191 XXI Dave in Washington 201 XXII In Texas at Last 211 XXIII At the Engineering Camp 221 XXIV A Midnight Alarm 230 XXV The Mexican Raiders 239 XXVI The Chase on the Bridge 249 XXVII Across the Rio Grande 259 XXVIII A Strange Discovery 269 XXIX The Capture 278 XXX The Fortune Recovered--Conclusion 288 ILLUSTRATIONS The team left the roadway, and the next instant had crashed through a frail railway fence (_Page 24_) _Frontispiece_