“Laws, I hope not,” whispered Louisa.
“Can you climb this tree? Out to that furthest limb?” asked Alison.
“I should hope so,” returned Louisa.
Alison crept along the extended limb and suddenly dropped from it to the ground. Louisa, in good faith, imitated her movement, though it would seem to the uninitiated as if only a tangle of thorn and brier were below to receive them. However, Alison knew her way well, and presently they were hidden in the depth of the thicket, kneeling on the ground and peeping through the screen of leaf and bramble.
At some distance away the group of buildings loomed up darkly under the starry heavens; first the house and its nearer outbuildings, hen-house, meat-house, corn-crib and wood-shed; a little beyond these stood the stable. The girls heard the tramping of the horses and saw dark figures moving stealthily. There were apparently only two or three persons. Alison’s heart beat fast. She felt very sure that this hiding-place of hers would not be discovered, that a fire directed from this point of vantage would surprise the intruders and, unless they were in large enough numbers to assume the offensive, that she and Louisa might well expect to frighten them off. She knew that Hero was the most valuable of the horses and was Christine’s especial pet; the fact of his belonging to Stephen gave him so large a claim upon her affections that if he were taken she would be inconsolable, therefore Alison was determined to rescue him at all hazards. The others she would be sorry to lose, but they were less valuable. She hoped that Christine would not awaken, for if she gave the alarm and directed the men’s attention to the house where she was alone it might be the worse for her, since a desperado would stand at nothing. The country was full of such men who lost no opportunity of securing plunder whenever chance afforded, and who would not hesitate to commit murder when thwarted. Dreadful possibilities crowded to Alison’s mind as she crouched in the dew-laden thicket by Louisa’s side. She regretted her sudden resolve in leaving the house and shivered, not from the chill of the night air, but from a sharp alarm.
“Skeered?” whispered Louisa.
“No, not exactly,” Alison returned. “I was thinking of Tina; if she should wake up; if they were to go to the house and find her alone.”
“Sh!” Louisa appreciated the situation, but her courage was high. “I don’t believe they want anything but the horses and they ain’t got an idea of going to the house.” She kept her eyes fixed upon the stable from which now came three mounted horsemen. Each of the two foremost men led two horses and the third had Hero in charge. Alison set her teeth hard as the first two men passed beyond the clump of trees, and just here, as luck would have it, the last of the three fell a little behind the others on account of Hero’s sudden swerving. Did he detect the presence of his friends hidden in the thicket, that he plunged and pranced at such a rate? At all events his behavior called down growling curses from the man who led him.
“It is Hero,” whispered Alison. “He shall not be taken.” And with this one thought in her mind she raised her rifle and fired. Louisa, too, discharged first one pistol and then the other, aiming at nothing in particular, for at Alison’s shot the man reeled from his saddle and fell to the ground. Hero promptly cantered back to his stable. The men in advance, hearing the reports, cast a quick look behind them, spurred on their horses and escaped, leaving their companion to his fate.
After having used up all their ammunition the two girls waited a while to see if the coast was clear, and then they left their hiding-place, swung themselves upon the low-hanging tree and made their way back trembling with excitement, and dreading to see what lay so still by the roadside.