“You would never find the place,” Lee said, with a shake of his head. “It would be easier for you to come back here, but I shall want to know exactly when to expect you. Which is your room in the May house?” he ended.
“The one at the southwest corner,” she replied after an instant’s effort to fix the points of the compass.
“Good,” he replied. “That is the first bit of luck we’ve had so far. I can see that room from a place I know in the woods. When you’re sure you’ll have a chance to get here alone, pull the curtain down all the way. If it is at night and you plan to reach me the next morning, a lighted candle will tell me. I haven’t much else to do, so I’ll be watching most of the time,” he added with a pathetic smile.
“Very well,” Dorothea agreed and prepared to start on.
“Don’t bring all that money in bills,” he cautioned her. “Five hundred dollars in State notes and two thousand, say, in Confederate money will be ample.”
“That hardly seems enough,” she replied, remembering Lucy’s saying that it took a barrelful of Confederate money to pay for the bung-hole.
“It will be plenty,” he assured her. “Good-by, and thank you very, very much for coming to my aid.”
He held out his hand and Dorothea took it, but at that moment there came the sounds of footsteps on the path beyond them.
“Go quickly, it’s Harriot looking for me,” she whispered, and Lee Hendon plunged into the thicket.
Dorothea turned, expecting to see her young cousin ready with a bantering remark at her slowness, but to her great astonishment April came toward her, walking at a rather rapid pace. An instant later the two girls stopped short and stared at each other.