Alexis questioned his men. One remembered that a great black charger had dashed through the troop in the midst of the battle and had fled to the rear. He remembered that a form was upon the animal’s back.
“It must have been Chester,” said Hal to Alexis. “Do you go on in pursuit of the Austrians, and I will go back and see if I can find him.”
“Good,” said Alexis. “The horse probably will run back to the main column. You should not have much trouble finding him.”
With a word of command Alexis ordered the troop ahead, and Hal started back on the trail of his chum.
When Chester was again aware of things he was still clasping the horse’s neck and was being borne along he knew not whither. His head ached and his left leg pained him greatly. He was dizzy and too weak to raise himself from his position. He could not hear any sound of fighting. He tried to sit up and look around, but this added to his pain, so he fell forward on the neck of his horse again.
Suddenly the horse stopped.
Once more Chester tried to sit up. This time he was successful, and in spite of the pain glanced about him. The horse had halted near a little house, set back some fifty feet from the road, and even as he looked up a woman came from the doorway. She started in astonishment at the sight of the horse and its wounded rider, and hastened back into the house. She reappeared in a moment, however, accompanied by a second woman, the latter armed with a huge revolver.
The two now approached the lad and lifted him from the horse. They supported him as he dragged himself into the house, and dropped weakly into a chair. Then the women stepped back and pointed the revolver at him.
“You shall remain here,” she said, “until I can turn you over to the Austrians.”
Chester was somewhat surprised. By the assistance given him by the women, he had thought that, after resting up, he would be allowed to rejoin his friends; but the set expression on the woman’s face told the lad that she meant what she said.