Ira now returned to his bed and lay down, but tossed restlessly about, which uneasiness his companion soon shared. At length they both dozed, but only to be awakened within a short time by the sound of voices on the river below them.
“There is the hut! Be careful, and keep well in to the bank, or we shall go down the falls!” one voice exclaimed.
“Hello! there’s another canoe. Some one else is here!” another cried.
“Hush! The red-coats may have a guard here, and we will be able to capture them,” a third said in a lower tone.
Both sleepers were now awake; but Ira, for reasons of his own, kept quiet, and breathed heavily. The next instant the captain leaped to his feet, and came noiselessly over to him. Shaking the lad vigorously, he whispered:
“Quick, Master Le Geyt! The Yankees have come, and we must run for it!”
The young scout arose, and the officer, running to the open window, jumped out, evidently expecting his companion to follow, as he ran toward the hill. At its foot he paused, and looked back. Several dark forms were near the cabin, and in another instant the door was burst open.
“There they go,” some one shouted, and then two or three guns were discharged.
One of the bullets whistled dangerously near the Britisher’s head, and, believing he had been seen, he clambered on as stealthily as possible. Gaining the summit, he stopped again and listened. There were shouts to be heard, and lights at the hut; but no sound of any one following, and, concluding that his comrade had been killed or captured, the engineer plunged on down the other side of the ridge, disappearing in the thicket at its base.
Could he have looked back, it would have been possible to see Ira shaking hands heartily with the six persons who came into the building, three of whom were his own comrades, and the others no less loyal to the Cause. Had he remained in hearing he would have heard Dan Cushing’s explanation: