The Swamp Dragoons were always prowling about in the woods, and turning up most unexpectedly, and how did we know but that some of them had witnessed all that had taken place at Dead Man’s Elbow? If that was the case, they would never permit Luke to be taken to the settlement if they could help it; and as they were a desperate lot of fellows, we did not care to come in contact with them.
I had another reason for wishing to start for home immediately. The cold, which had been intense in the morning, was increasing in severity, and some portions of my wet clothing were frozen stiff; and now that the excitement attending the chase and capture of the robber had somewhat abated, I found that I was chilled through, and so benumbed that I could scarcely stand.
More than that, the storm which had been threatening us for the last three days had set in, and the rain and sleet began to rattle through the leafless branches above our heads. It promised to be a dismal night, and we were twenty miles from home.
These same thoughts, or others very nearly akin to them, must have been passing through the minds of the rest of our fellows, for they looked anxiously at one another and at the lowering sky, and Herbert said:
“We’ve wasted too much time already. The sooner we start for home the better. Friend Redman, we are not playing with you, and if you want to save yourself some rough handling, you will be careful what you do. Let’s untie his feet, fellows, and put him on Joe’s extra horse.”
Our prisoner evidently thought it best to heed Herbert’s advice, for when the horse which I had ridden during the pursuit was brought up, and we lifted him from the ground, and placed him on the animal’s back, he did not offer the least resistance. He uttered terrible threats, however, but we paid no more attention to them than we did to the whistling of the wind.
As soon as we had gone through all his pockets, in search of the pistol with which he had threatened us (by the way, he didn’t have any thing about him more dangerous than a pocket-knife), we sprang into our saddles and set out for home; Duke heading the cavalcade, Mark following at his heels, leading the horse on which our captive was mounted, Herbert coming next with the valise, and Sandy and I bringing up the rear, keeping a close watch over Luke Redman, and holding ourselves in readiness to resist his first attempt at escape.
In this way we passed the five miles that lay between Dead Man’s Elbow and the bayou on the banks of which we had stopped to eat our dinner.
As we rode through the camp, Sandy dismounted long enough to secure possession of the squirrels he had shot a few hours before, and which still lay at the root of the tree where he had left them.
“Mebbe we won’t see home to-night,” said he, “so I’ll take these along; ’cause I know by experience that it is monstrous lonesome campin’ in the woods without nothing to eat.”