That they were not all captured was probably owing to the fact that my brother carried his double-barrel in his hands. The sight of the weapon restrained the ardor of the robber crew, who, after they had rescued Luke Redman, allowed Mark and his companions to mount their horses and ride off without making any very determined effort to seize them.
When our fellows had placed a safe distance between themselves and the enemy, the foremost ones waited for those behind to come up, and then they found for the first time that I was missing. That occasioned them but little uneasiness, however; for, knowing that I had been standing guard at the time the attack was made, they supposed that I had been allowed an opportunity to escape, and that I had improved it. I would certainly turn up all right before morning, and there was no need that they should stop to look for me.
Their first hard work must be to alarm the settlers, and the sooner this was done the more certainty there was of capturing Luke and recovering the eight thousand dollars.
They kept their horses in a rapid gallop, and the five miles that lay between them and the settlement were quickly accomplished. When they reached the end of the lane that led from the swamp, Sandy turned toward his own home, Duke and Herbert kept on to theirs, and Mark, leaping his horse over the bars, dismounted at the porch and rushed into the house to arouse father.
During the next hour and a half the country for two or three miles around was in great commotion. Mounted messengers galloped in all directions, stopping at every house to alarm the inmates, hunting horns sounded, guns were fired, all the hounds in the settlement kept up continuous baying, and now and then squads of armed men dashed along the road and turned down the lane that led to the swamp.
Mark, who had thrown himself upon the kitchen floor in front of a blazing fire, snored through it all, and about daylight awoke to find that father had gone off with the rest of the settlers, without thinking to awaken him.
“Now, this is a nice way to treat a fellow, isn’t it?” growled Mark, greatly disappointed. “They will find and capture those villains, and I’ll never have a hand in it at all. I think some one might have called me.”
“Here is a warm breakfast waiting for you, and you will find a fresh horse, saddled and bridled, standing at the door,” said mother. “There are three inches of snow on the ground, and you will have no difficulty in following the settlers’ trail.”
Mark, somewhat mollified by this, walked out on the porch to take a look at the horse that had been provided for him.
As he came out the door, he discovered some one standing near the bars; but the instant he caught sight of him, he sprang behind a thicket of bushes as if anxious to escape observation.