The chase was fruitless. They scoured the forest for miles around, but were finally obliged to abandon the search. Chagrined and disappointed by their ill-success, they were slowly returning to where they had left their companion that morning.
The day was drawing gradually to a close. The sun had already disappeared behind the western hills, when the two ruffians were suddenly confronted by a female—it was Imogene.
It appears that after leaving the house, she wandered, she knew not whither, until chance directed her attention to a small cavity near the roadside, where she lay concealed during the greater part of the day without being discovered by her pursuers.
The shades of night were fast approaching, wrapping the grand old forest in a somber gloom, when Imogene awakened to a sense of her lonely situation. As she pondered on her isolated condition, her mind was filled with fear and dreadful forebodings.
The thought, that she was there alone in that gloomy forest, a prey to wild beasts and starvation, almost distracted her. She almost wished that she had not effected her escape, and was about to give vent to her wild grief, when the tread of horses attracted her attention.
She paused and listened. Her ears had not deceived her. There was no mistaking the sound—some one was approaching. She quickly hid herself in the bushes, where she could get a view of the passers-by.
She had not long to wait; the footsteps steadily approached, and the next instant two horsemen loomed up in the distance. What was it that made Imogene start, and sent the hot blood coursing through her veins, as she caught sight of the foremost stranger?
“No—yes—it must be—it is he!” she murmured to herself. She could with difficulty refrain from uttering a cry of joy, as she recognized in the form of one of these men, the pretended American scout and patriot—Hank Putney.
The sight of the scout reanimated her and restored her drooping spirits, and she quickly determined to discover herself to him and claim his protection until she should reach some place of safety.
At the sudden appearance of Imogene, after her recapture had been given up as hopeless, the scowl that darkened the brows of the two ruffians gave place to a look of savage joy.