THE "TERRORS" IN BATTLE "Couldn't you let me begin that supper with a hardtack right now ?" pleaded our hungry young trooper, as soon as he could make himself heard.

"It's a day and a half since my last meal, which was only a small ration of boiled rice, and it seems as though a hardtack at this minute would do me more good than the promise of a hundred Waldorf suppers." The hunger that demanded even a despised hard-tack was at that time so incredible to the well-fed Riders, that at first they could not believe his request to be made in earnest.

When, however, they saw the eagerness with which he began to devour one of the iron-clad biscuits, hesitatingly offered by Rollo Van Kyp, they were convinced that he was indeed on the verge of starvation.

They were also reminded of their own keen appetites, for, amid the excitement of that day's landing and their forced march from Daiquiri, they had eaten nothing since a daylight breakfast.

But each man carried three days' rations, and camp-fires were quickly ablaze in every direction.