And they discovered some horsemen drawn up before them beside the road. It was the night-patrol.
"Friends," answered Stackridge, marching straight on.
"Halt, and give an account of yourselves!" shouted the patrol.
"We are peaceable citizens, if let alone," said Stackridge. "You'd better not meddle with us."
The horsemen waited for them to pass, then, firing their pistols at the fugitives, put spurs to their horses, and galloped away towards the village.
"Don't fire!" cried Stackridge, as half a dozen pieces were levelled in the darkness. "We've no ammunition to throw away, and no time to lose. They'll give the alarm. Take straight to the mountains!"
Nobody had been hit. Turning aside from the road, they took their way across the broad pasture lands that sloped upwards to the rocky hills. The dark valley spread beneath them; on the other side rose the dim outlines of the shadowy mountain range; over all spread a still, cloudless sky, thick-strewn with glittering star-dust.
In the village, the ringing of bells startled the night with a wild clamor. Stackridge laughed.
"They'll make noise enough now to wake Gad himself! But noise won't hurt anybody. Hear the drums!"
"They are coming this way," said Penn.