In an instant the intelligent animal was flying after the girls, who quickly recognized his hoof-beats. Meanwhile the men who had captured Dick and Bob knew the danger they would run remaining on the ground, and they hurried away with the two boys, letting Bob's bay go free. They went on so rapidly that Dick was unable to see much of the way, but he knew the direction they took almost by instinct, and could have returned without trouble if he had been liberated. The men kept the two boys in the middle of the party and held on to them tightly.
"We got the rebels an' we'll get the reward," said one.
"Yes, the gals an' the other rebels won't be able to find the house, and they can hunt all they like."
It was a sharp decline to the river, down the lane, and one of the men stumbled and rolled several yards, picking himself up with a grunt and a groan and a lot of bad language, and then hurrying after the rest. Dick heard the swash of the water on the gravel bank, and then saw the river itself dimly, but in another moment some dark object loomed up before him, and then he and Bob were taken into a house, the front of which was much lower than the back on account of the steepness of the hank. The boys were taken to the front and then down a flight of steps to a room in the rear, where they were left in the dark, the door being locked and barred on the outside.
"Who are these fellows, do you suppose, Dick?" asked Bob, when they were left alone.
"I don't know. Tories, no doubt, or just men who want the reward offered for my capture."
"But there is none offered for me," with a laugh. "Why should they take me with them?"
"To keep you from giving the alarm. They would have taken the girls if they had thought twice."
"But will the girls be able to show them the way?"
"They can take them to where we were attacked, and after that the boys will follow the trail. Mark is a good hand at that sort of thing, and he will have good boys to help him."