"And would you like to remember that we captured a lad who was once our friend, for others to hang in cold blood?"
"Almost anything would be better than that we were shut out from following those with whom we should ride this night."
"I am counting that we will yet bear them company," Nathan replied cheerily. "Even a Tory cannot make his way across the country without leaving a trail, and now that we know where it may be taken up, the rest ought to be easy."
"Unless he has suddenly lost his senses, we cannot follow him on horseback. If I was trying to escape from mounted men, it would not be difficult to strike such a course as should be impossible for them to follow."
"That he did not do so at the start is positive, else Abbott would never have sent such word by his wife," Nathan replied, heeding not the petulance of his comrade. "If we hold to it that Ephraim Sowers has made his escape, then is he the same as free, but I shall continue to claim we have fair chance of overtaking him, until we know beyond a peradventure that he cannot be found. Every second is of value to us now, and we'll waste no more time in idle talk."
With this remark, which Evan might well have construed as a rebuke, Nathan struck his horse sharply with the spurs, and the two quickly left Mrs. Abbott far in the rear.
CHAPTER XI.
SUCCESS.
In silence the two lads rode on at the full speed of their horses until they were come to the home of the man who had caused so much trouble through his carelessness, and here Nathan dismounted, leading his steed by the bridle as he made a complete circuit of the building.
To boys who had been taught the art of woodcraft because it was absolutely necessary they should be expert in following a trail or hiding one, it was a simple matter to ascertain where the Tory had made his escape from the house, and at what point he struck into the woods, although a person ignorant of such matters might have looked in vain for any token of the flight.
"There's no need of spending much time over such a plain sign as that," Evan said, now recovered somewhat from his petulance, for hope that they might soon recapture the spy had sprung up in his heart. "I never would have believed Ephraim Sowers was such a simple as to thus give information regarding his movements! Surely he knew Abbott would set out at once in pursuit, and yet has made no attempt to hide his trail."