“There’s hot coffee,” he said, “an’ hot pone, an’ hot meat. They’ll warm up y’r in’ards an’ limber up y’r tongue. Fall to now—’fore the things gits cold.” Douglas required no urging. He was trembling with hunger and fatigue; he felt as though he should faint, if he fasted much longer. With evident satisfaction, Farley and Bright Wing silently watched him as he ate. Duke rested his nose upon his master’s knee and, heaving a sigh of content, drowsily closed his great eyes. The soldiers knocked the ashes from their pipes and, one by one, curled up in their blankets and fell asleep. When Ross had finished, he stretched his feet to the fire and, turning to Farley, asked smilingly: “What did General Harrison say when you made a demand upon him, for a share of his supper for me?” “Said it ’forded him great pleasure to do so—a pleasure ’xceeded only by the pleasure he felt in knowin’ you was still alive an’ _able_ to eat. Then he told me to say to you to call at his quarters, in the mornin’; that he wanted to meet you ag’in, an’ that ther’ was a subject demandin’ your attention—’r words to that effect.” A pleased expression rested upon Douglas’s powder-stained face, as he said: “And I shall be delighted to meet my old commander again. He’s one of nature’s gentlemen.” Then he dreamily stared into the red embers, and was silent. “Look here!” Joe cried in a testy tone. “Don’t be goin’ back into the past an’ dreamin’ ’bout things that can never be, Ross Douglas. Me an’ Bright Wing wants to hear ’bout how you sarcumvented the redskins an’ got here to the fort. Don’t we, Injin?” The Wyandot lifted his head from between his knees and answered: “Ugh! Want know ’bout fight—heap much, all, everything.” Douglas smiled wearily and began his narrative. As he proceeded with his graphic description of the battle and the incidents and adventures following it, his interested comrades drew closer to him and listened with eager attention, to every word that fell from his lips. The camp-fires died down; the garrison was wrapped in silence and darkness. Nothing broke the stillness but Douglas’s whispered tones, the heavy breathing of the sleeping soldiers, and the muffled footfalls of the sentries pacing their beats about the walls. At last Ross closed his recital, and yawningly remarked: “I’ve told you all. Now let’s lie down to rest; my eyes are so heavy that I can hardly keep them open.” “An’ no wonder,” Farley murmured. “Ross, you’ve been through a heap to-day—a dang sight! But jest let me ask you one question. Now you’ve found ol’ Sam Larkin’s gal—an’ she’s a wife an’ a mother—what’re you goin’ to do?” “Save her from the brute who has ruined her life,” Douglas replied fiercely. “That’s all right,” Joe persisted. “But how’re you goin’ to do it?” “I don’t know yet,” Douglas answered. “I’ve not learned what she desires.” “Well, you can’t marry her, of course.”