Then the lurkers heard a man coming toward them. Neither dared stir, as the slightest noise might prove enough for their undoing. It was a desperate situation, at any rate, for it hardly seemed possible that the sentry could fail to come upon them. But in another minute the sentry had halted. "Huh!" the bunkies heard him mutter. "I reckon I'm getting as nervous as a sick cat, after what happened to Corporal Raynes's outpost last night." Then the lurkers heard the sentry slowly returning to the point from which he had first challenged them. It was three full minutes ere cautious Private Overton ventured to crawl away from the spot. He crawled for more than a hundred and fifty yards, too, ere he ventured to rise to crouch, peering all around him. Then he nodded to Noll, close behind him, and the bunkies proceeded. It was not until they had made fifteen minutes more of the most stealthy progress that Hal and Noll began to feel really easy. "Now, see here, bunkie," spoke Private Overton at last, "we're not as well 'out of the woods' as we might be fooled into imagining. I think it is even dangerous for us to go together just now. We might run into a scouting detachment, lurking among the rocks, or behind bushes, and get captured after all. Look hard through the darkness. Do you see that massive, peculiar formation of rock ahead? About three quarters of a mile from here, I would say." "Yes; I remember noting it in daylight," nodded Terry. "All right. You make a wide detour to the left, and I'll do the same to the right. Go cautiously every step of the way, and have your eyes and ears open. Take your time. I'll meet you there." "But what's the good of doing that?" objected Noll. "Just this: If we go together we may run into a superior force of the enemy and be captured. If we go singly we won't both be caught by the same force, anyway, and there'll be a chance for one of us to get through to Captain Cortland with the news. Left oblique for yours, Noll! March!" It was nearly fifteen minutes later when the chums met at the spot agreed upon. "Whew!" muttered Hal, halting, as he came up and recognized his bunkie. "I guess we're safely away now, Noll. That being the case, I don't mind admitting to you that when we left the cave and stepped out into the camp, I hadn't a belief in the world, hardly, that we'd get away with our strategy." "Oh, my shoes!" winced Noll. "What's the matter with them?" "Oh, nothing, except that they're full of sore feet!" "I've some trouble of that sort myself," Hal grinned. "But we've got to forget all about it until we get to the twin oaks. Forward, bunkie!" They traveled together, after that. An hour later they heard the most welcome challenge in the world: "Halt! Who's there?" The speaker belonged to a B Company outpost. "Friends," replied Private Overton. "How many friends?" "Two." The sentry spoke something in an undertone. Then, after a brief pause, he continued: