A little further on came the river, whereupon Dan backed off for a few feet and told Cale to undo the prisoner’s hands. Cale was prompt to obey, and the first thing that Leon did when he felt his arms free was to stretch them above his head, as if he enjoyed having them at liberty once more. He did not make a motion to escape, for there was the revolver looking him in the face.
“Now take off your clothes, you two, and be ready to swim the river,” said Dan.
“Am I going over there with him?” asked Cale, and he was thoroughly frightened at the prospect.
“You go first, and when you get over there you can pick up a club. I’ll keep his clothes behind with me, and the revolver, too, and if he wants to run off naked let him go. I bet you he’ll be glad to have his clothes again.”
The two boys lost no time in taking off their clothes, and there was one thing that Leon didn’t like pretty well. He would lose his shirt by the operation; but there was no help for it that he could see. In due time the boys were all over, and Leon saw his shirt go upon the back of Dan Newman.
“There, now, I feel like myself again,” exclaimed Dan. “I can go among our officers now and have a shirt on. Button your coat up tight, Leon, and no wind can get in. Now you must have your hands tied again.”
This much being accomplished, the prisoner and his captors went ahead at a more rapid pace, the woods being more open, and they held their course parallel with the main road. Their object was to get below the bend, where they would be out of sight of the sentries. At the end of half an hour they emerged from the woods, and striking the road went on their way with increased speed.
“Don’t you know some place along here where you can go and get something to eat?” asked Leon. “I could travel twice as fast if I had something on my stomach.”
“I was just thinking of that thing myself,” answered Dan. “I am going to stop at the first house I meet. And remember, Leon, no trying to get away,” he added, showing the revolver he still carried in his hand.
Leon didn’t make any reply. He knew now that he was beyond all reach of help, and after he got something to eat—that was the first thing on the programme—he must make up his mind to face “our officers,” who wouldn’t be apt to treat him any too well. But first one house was passed and then another, and as neither Dan nor Cale had the courage to go in and beg something to eat, Leon finally gave it up as a bad job, and thought he would have to go on to Mobile before he could get a mouthful to stay his appetite. At last they came along to a place that Leon remembered. The first time he saw it there was a pleasant farm-house, and corn-cribs and negro quarters in abundance; but now everything had been given up to the flames, and some of the ruins were still smoking.