As he listened the sound came again, sharp and crackling. Somebody was evidently approaching him and using the utmost caution in doing so. After the first sharp crackling of the broken stems, he heard no more. Ned reached back and drew his revolver. Then, crouching on his knees behind a close-growing bush, he waited the coming of his trailer. CHAPTER XXIV. NED’S HEROIC DEED. Hardly daring to draw a breath, and with his heart pounding against his ribs as if it would break them, Ned waited. It was overpoweringly hot in the brush. The sweat dribbled from his forehead and rolled down his nose, itching it in maddening fashion, but he did not dare to move a hand to mop his brow. A moment of inattention, he felt, might cost him his life. Suddenly the crackling was repeated, this time close at hand. Ned could not repress a start, and as his frame twitched nervously the brush directly in front of him parted. To his astonishment, something red was thrust through. In the sudden relief to his feelings, Ned almost burst into a roar of laughter, for the rubicund object quickly revealed itself as Herc’s scarlet thatch. The former farm boy raised a red, dripping face, and gazed inquiringly about him, his countenance framed oddly in the dusty brush. “I’ll swear I heard something,” he muttered. “And you did, too,” whispered Ned, in a cautious tone, but one which carried. “Ned----” almost shouted Herc. “Hush, you red-headed Indian! do you want to bring the insurgent army down on us? “What on earth are you doing here?” demanded Ned, as Herc drew closer. “Why, I saw you slip from your horse, and I guessed you were going to do something risky. I couldn’t help it, Ned, I had to be with you.” “But, Herc, this is a dangerous errand. It may mean death.” “I know that,” rejoined Herc simply. “That’s the reason I came--so that I could be with you in case of trouble.” “Herc, you are a brick!” exclaimed Ned, his voice shaken with real feeling. He reached out and clasped the Dreadnought Boy’s hand. “We’re in this thing together now,” he went on. “And we’ll see it through together.” “You bet. Now, come on.” Forward crept the two boys. In a few minutes they gained the edge of the declivity, through which they hoped to crawl, unseen by the insurgent gunners. Without a word, for it was not a situation which any words would fit, they emerged from the friendly cover of the brush, and began crawling along the bottom of the dusty dip. It seemed terribly shallow, now that they were in it, and, flat as they stretched themselves, Ned felt that they must look as big as elephants. “Reminds me of the time I played in a show at the village hall,” whispered Herc, as they crawled through the dust. “I felt like I was the only thing on the stage.”