“Did you see more than one?” asked Dawson, who was utterly amazed to know the rebels had come between him and his mother. If that was the case he might as well go back, for all hope of bringing her into the Union camp was, as he expressed it, “up stump.”
“No, I didn’t see but one, and he was a Johnny, for the way he took to the bush was a caution,” said the man. “That was what brought us out here in such a hurry. We didn’t know but there might be others behind you, and we thought we would be ready for you.”
“Well, Dawson, I am going ahead if you are,” said Leon.
“Talk enough,” exclaimed Dawson, placing his foot in the stirrup and swinging himself upon his horse. “All I want is a little pluck to back me up, and I will have my mother up here before you see the sun rise.”
“You have got the old man’s grit, I can see that easy enough,” said the sentry. “Good-bye and good luck to you. We don’t want to say a word to dishearten you, but if you come back here at all, you’ll come a-flying. One sentry can’t stop you.”
The boys laughed, but anybody could see that it was forced, and in a few moments they were around the bend, out of sight. It was there that the rebel spy had been seen. They looked sharply into the woods as they passed along—every boy had his revolver drawn and hanging by his side—but the thickets were as silent as if nobody had ever been there. Leon and Tom were very pale, there was no mistake about that, but they kept as close at the heels of Dawson’s horse as they could possibly get. Not a word was said until the woods had been passed and they found themselves in the midst of a long cotton-field which stretched away on both sides of them, and in the distance was a row of buildings which Dawson pointed out to them.
“If we can get there inside of that house we are all right,” said he, and a person wouldn’t have thought from the way he spoke that he was thinking of his mother. “There is where she lives.”
“If that spy was in the bushes and saw us when we went by, what was the reason he didn’t jump out and grab us?” said Tom.
“Perhaps he was alone,” said Leon, who would have felt safer if that spy, whoever he was, had been among his friends. “He wants more help before he attempts to arrest us.”
“Now, boys, let’s keep perfectly still and ride up to the house as though we had a right there,” said Dawson. “You are not afraid to shoot, are you, Tom?”