How soundly he slept Henry did not know until nearly daylight, when the kicking of a horse’s hoofs on the side of a stall below awoke him. He listened intently, and heard several steeds moving about.
“Some French troopers must be around,” he reasoned, and his heart almost stopped beating at the thought. With extreme care he peered below. He could see two forms stretched out in the semi-darkness. Listening, he heard snoring from another quarter. Not less than six men were below asleep.
“Now I’m as good as caught,” he thought, but an instant after set his teeth hard. No, he would not give in thus easily. He would fight first.
“They must have come in too late to notice the fire I built,” he told himself. “But they’ll see it when they awaken and start on a tour of discovery. I must get away if I wish to save myself.”
There was a small window at one end of the barn, and he found he could drop out and into the snow with ease. But just as he was climbing out another thought came to him—one that amazed even himself, at the risk involved. Why not try to appropriate one of the French troopers’ horses, and perhaps a saber and some food as well?
The exposure had made Henry reckless and he did not stop to consider the plan twice. Turning, he found the rude ladder leading to the lower floor and went down to the bottom.
There were exactly seven of the troopers, all burly fellows, and one an under-officer, who was snoring lustily on the top of a feed box.
Henry’s first move was to untie the horse nearest to the stable door. The snow had drifted in beneath the door, and this helped to deaden the sounds of the animal’s hoofs as it was led outside. Then the young soldier returned and picked up the officer’s saber, and also a pistol and a horn of powder and balls. A knapsack was handy, and into this he stuffed a mass of provisions taken from three other knapsacks. The provisions were only army rations, but they were vastly better than nothing.
As Henry slipped from the stable a second time one of the men stirred uneasily and opened his eyes.
“Who is there?” he asked sleepily, in French.