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"To a quick breath "But--what then?"

"Don't just know, yet It's a fact, though; they're certainly savages Two tribes, one with torches, one with dru in here to parley or fight or soular po on hand Trouble ahead, whichever side wins!"

"For us?"

"That depends Maybe we'll be able to lie hidden, here, till this thing blows over, whatever it may be If not, and if they cut off our water-supply, well--"

He ended with a kind of growl The sound gave Beatrice a strange sensation She kept a moment's silence, then remarked: "They're up around Central Park now, the drums are, don't you think so? How far do you "

In silence they climbed the shaky ladder, reached the tower stairs and descended theStern did was to strike a light, which he masked in a corner, behind a skin stretched like a screen from one wall to the other By this illumination, very dim yet adequate, he minutely examined all their firearms

He loaded every one to capacity andorder Then he satisfied hies was a Madison Forest, by the door leading into the suite of offices, and by the stair-head that gave access to the fifth floor

Then he blew out the light again

"Two revolvers, one shotgun, and one rifle, all told," said he "All uess that'll hold them for a while, if it comes down to brass tacks! How's your nerve, Beatrice?"

"Never better!" she whispered, from the dark He saw the dim white blur that indicated her face, and it was very dear to him, all of a sudden--dearer, far, than he had ever realized

"Good little girl!" he exclai her the rifle A moment his hand pressed hers Then with a quick intake of the breath, he strode over to theand once ed he "Hear that, will you?"

Again they listened

Louder now the dru of a fever-pulse inside a sickmass of bees, drifted doind

"Maybe they'll pass by?" whispered Beatrice

"It's Madison Forest they're aiineer "See there!"

He pointed to ard

There, far off along the forest-lane of Fourteenth Street, a sudden glea the trees, vanished, reappeared, was joined by two, ten, a hundred others And now the whole approach to Madison Forest, by several streets, began to sparkle with these feux-follets, weaving and flickering unsteadily toward the square