"We'll be glad to see you, Murray," Dick said cordially. "You haven't been round for a long time. What brings you up Criffell in full uniform? I must say it's a better fit than some they've been serving out lately."
Murray laughed.
"We are giving the Terriers a run; but business first. I suppose you haven't seen any turf that might have been dug over recently, or stones that seemed to have been pulled up?"
"No. Did you expect to find anything of the sort?"
"To tell the truth, I don't know what I did expect to find. We're ostensibly practising scouting, but there's a batch of Dumfries cyclists scouring the Galloway roads, and I imagine the authorities have some reason for sending us out."
"I suppose if you met a foreigner or anybody with an electric battery, he'd go into the bag," Dick suggested. "After reading the newspapers, one must admit that the Terriers are remarkably good shots. In fact, it's not safe to meet them in the dark."
"You imagine this turnout isn't merely part of the men's training?" Andrew asked.
Murray looked thoughtful.
"No; I believe there is something going on round here. We've got orders to search the country as far as Screel of Bengairn—though of course that can't be done in a day. I heard they mean to organize scouting parties in the Castle Douglas neighborhood."
"Well, perhaps a wireless installation could be made small enough to carry about and hide; but a good deal of Galloway's a wilderness of granite and heath."