"We can find a stick once we are clear of the city. Have you got hold of the bridle?"
"Yes; I'll take care of this fellow. Get the other quickly, for if any one should come now we'd be in a bad plight. I had rather be in prison as a spy than a horse thief."
That Jacob was familiar with the interior of the stable was proved by the celerity of his movements.
Although Enoch was in that frame of mind when the seconds drag like minutes, it seemed to him as if he had but just taken charge of the first animal before his comrade had the other in the floor.
There was hardly time for one to have counted twenty when Master Ludwick opened the stable door cautiously as he whispered:
"Mount, Enoch, and ride at a walk until we are so far away that the hoof-beats won't be heard in case any of the family should chance to be at home. Remember, we must keep together as long as possible; but if it happens that we are separated, each must do his best at finding General Lafayette's camp!"
"Don't stop to give orders now, but come on!" Enoch replied nervously as he mounted, and in another moment the young patriots were riding slowly up the street.
Neither dared to speak, and the noise of the animals' feet on the hard road sounded so loud in their ears that it seemed as if any one half a mile away must hear it.
Both the boys understood, however, that considerably more noise would be made if they allowed their horses to trot, and, dangerous though the position was, they reined their steeds down to a walk until fully a quarter of a mile had been traversed, when Jacob said grimly:
"It's time to let them out now, and if we are caught it won't be because we haven't been cautious enough!"