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 worrying more about the other men than himself."

"And sure, when we met the doctor, by chance, with news of this meat, the little cap'n told us to come in and eat, but he wouldn't. He went on—him and the doctor—hungry as he was, to find the camp below," mumbled John. "They'll send hosses. How many did you kill? Four?"

"Four," assured Baroney. "Stub one, the doctor one, I myself had the fortune to kill two. Stub, he found them; but it was the good God who put them there, waiting for us."

"I suppose we might have a bit of a fire, and eat like Christians, whilst waiting?" Terry proposed wistfully.

"The marrow is strong; we must not get sick," Baroney wisely counseled. "Let us butcher, and be ready for the horses; and to-morrow we will all have a big Christmas dinner."

"To-morrow Christmas?" exclaimed John. "Right you are! Hooray for Christmas!"

They cheered for Christmas; and with aching brain Stub puzzled over the new word.

Toward the last of their butchering Corporal Jerry Jackson and Hugh Menaugh arrived with two horses. The camp was famished, the lieutenant and the doctor had toiled in, and now everybody there