"I'll give you the chance to do that. My sporting blood is up now——"
"That's just the way with me," said Hervey; "that's where you and I are alike."
"Yes. I think we'll have to put this fellow Slade where he belongs."
"You leave that to me," said Hervey.
There was a pause of a few moments. The whole camp had turned in by now and distant voices had ceased. A cricket chirped somewhere close by. An acorn fell from a tree overhead and rolled down the roof of the troop cabin a few yards distant, the sound of its falling emphasized by the stillness. Hervey hitched up his stocking again. Mr. Denny watched him. Perhaps he was studying this wandering minstrel of his more closely than ever before. It may have been that the silence and isolation were on Hervey's side....
"Anyway, you don't have to keep me here, because—and I didn't come back for that."
"Hervey, you spoke about a medal—the Gold Cross. You don't mean the supreme heroism award, of course. Slade didn't try to lure you back with hints about such a thing?"
"Hanged if I know what he meant."
"He sent a note after you? Have you it with you?"
"I made paper bullets out of it to shoot at lightning bugs on the way home."