Chapter Nineteen.
The Dark Way.
“They’ve missed us,” said Cyril excitedly. “Shall I run to the leader, sir, and hurry him on?”
“No, my lad,” said the colonel, “we shall do nothing by hurrying. Our retreat must be carried out slowly. We can get on no faster than the mules will walk. Keep on as we are.”
He left them after listening for a few minutes, and hurried forward to reach his place again by the leading mule, for the sagacious beast had gone steadily on, followed by the others, acting as if it knew its duty as well as a human being—that duty being to follow the easiest course offered by the valley, which ran parallel with one of the outer ranges of foot-hills, there being no track whatever to act as guide.
“Sounds quite reviving,” said John Manning in a whisper. “We’ve had so much dull do-nothing times, that it quite freshens one up.”
“How long will it be before they overtake us?” said Perry anxiously.
“How long have we been coming here, sir?” replied the old soldier.
“I don’t know—an hour, I suppose.”