"Coward! coward!" chimed in the others, with angry contempt.
"I sprained my ankle. Didn't you know it?" said the miserable Jack, with a writhing countenance, limping.
"Sprained your granny!" exclaimed Harris. "I never saw a sprained ankle go over the ground as fast as yours did, just as we came to the dog."
"Then I heard the gun," said Jack, "and I was afraid either Seth or Frank was shot."
"Woe to the man of turkeys if they are!" said Joe, twisting the neck of his fowl to quiet it. "We'll serve him as I am serving this hen."
The boys hastened to a rendezvous they had appointed with the absent ones, followed by Jack at a very creditable pace, considering his excruciating lameness.
As yet, neither Frank nor Seth had been shot. The charge of buck shot fired from the rebel fowling-piece had entered the bushes just as the blue uniform left them. But the secessionist cocked the other barrel of his piece immediately, with the intention of making up for the error of his first aim.
"Shoot me," shouted Seth, "and you'll be swinging from that limb in five minutes!"
The man hesitated, glancing quickly about for those who were expected to put Seth's threat into execution.
"I've twenty fellows with me," added Seth, "and they'll string you up in no time, by darn!"