“Yes, sir,” replied a voice from somewhere in the line.
“Your boy is in the service, too. You don’t suppose that he has deserted, do you?”
“Well, he went off into the woods, and I haven’t seen him since. You can go in and see for yourself, sir.”
“Seeing is believing. It will not take but a minute.”
The captain dismounted from his horse and pounded loudly upon the closed door, but met with no response. Then he pushed open the door and entered the house. By the flickering light that was thrown out by the fire that was blazing on the hearth the lieutenant found a candle, and when he had struck a light a scene of the greatest confusion was presented. The bureau drawers were all thrown every which way, and when they made their way to the sleeping-room, not a vestige of clothing was there on the bed.
“Gee-whizz!” shouted the captain. “Here’s where one of those fellows has been. Arrest that man out there—the one riding the clay-bank mule.”
The men outside began riding about the house, but no such man could be found. They saw the place where the solitary hound had been confined, but he was gone, and the man on the clay-bank mule had disappeared.
“Don’t you find him anywhere?” shouted the captain, coming out of the door in great excitement.
“No, sir. He has skipped,” exclaimed one of the men.
“He’s gone off this way,” shouted another. “I hear somebody going through the field.”