Their disadvantage and handicap was now doubled, however, for while they had lost all track of the enemy, there was no assurance that by this time he had not discovered them. For all they knew he might be watching their every movement. It increased their caution, and when, on the still night, they heard the peculiar low whistle that probably no one else would have noticed, or taken for a human sound—the code signal of the three—Tom responded ever so lightly, and they sat down to wait until Harper should come up. When finally he did, they held another whispered council. They agreed that while for the time being the search seemed hopeless, it ought not to be abandoned; and they suddenly realized, too, that with an enemy concealed somewhere in the darkness, it was highly dangerous for them to attempt to proceed directly back to their own company. In the denser darkness of a clump of bushes they halted to consider what course they should pursue. Each turned his mind to a solution of the problem. For several moments no word was spoken, and the faint rumble of distant guns worked upon their dulled senses like a soothing lullaby. Poor, tired, overworked and overwrought youths! They had forgotten to take the inexorable laws of nature into their calculations. Even as they attempted to think, they drowsed. Heavy-lidded eyes closed, and they slept. Now, if ever, were they completely at the mercy of a conscienceless enemy, who might creep upon them and kill before they could make an outcry or a move in their own defense. Fate was stalking in the night. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XI IN THE NICK OF TIME HOW long they had been asleep Tom had not the faintest idea when with a sudden, startled jump, he came to a bewildered wakefulness. He felt deeply depressed, and he was distinctly aware of a feeling of alarm and a sense of impending danger. He could not account for any of the sensations. Whether someone had touched him, or he had been awakened by a sound, he did not know. Perhaps he had been dreaming. He could not tell that, either. Indeed, it was a full minute after he came back to consciousness before he recognized his surroundings and realized where he was. Then he remembered that George and Ollie had been with him. He reached over, touched them both. Ollie groaned slightly in his troubled sleep, and Harper turned restlessly. They were safe, anyway. Tom tried to fathom the strange feeling that possessed him, but he could no more come to an explanation of what caused it than he could shake it off.