"Fools, to set out in pursuit of us with drums beating!" said Captain Grudd. "Very kind in them to give us notice! They should bring lighted torches, too."
"Once in the mountains," said Stackridge, "we are safe. There we can defend ourselves against a hundred. Other Union men will join us, or bring us supplies. We ought to have made this move before; and I'm glad we've been forced to it at last. If every Union man in the south had made a bold stand in the beginning, this cursed rebellion never would have got such a start."
Suddenly bells and drums were silent. "The less noise the more danger," said Stackridge. The way was growing difficult for the horse's feet. The cow-paths, which it had been easy to follow at first, disappeared among the thickets. At length, on the crest of a hill, the party halted to rest.
"Daylight!" said Stackridge, turning his face to the east.
The sky was brightening; the shadows in the valley melted slowly away; far off the cocks crew.
"Hark!" said the captain. "Do you hear anything?"
"I heard a woice!" said Carl.
"Hist!" said Penn. "Look yonder! there they come! around those bushes at the foot of the oak!"
"Sure as fate, there they are!" said the captain.
The fugitives crowded to his side, eager, grasping their gunstocks, and peering with intent eyes through the darkness in the direction in which he pointed.