The horses, impatient at having been restrained, darted forward swiftly when the reins were loosened, and Enoch cried in delight:
"They are in the proper trim for rapid traveling, and we should be able to keep ahead of foot soldiers, for, of course, we are in advance of them."
"I don't believe the Britishers have started yet, and it's almost certain there is no enemy between us and the American force. We've just the same as won our swords already!"
"Never mind the swords if we—"
Enoch ceased speaking very suddenly as a voice, coming apparently from the thicket that bordered the road, cried sternly:
"Halt! Halt or I fire!"
Instead of making any reply Jacob struck his horse with both heels, darting ahead of Enoch for the time being, and in another instant the command rang out:
"Fire! Then see that they do not escape!"
"They're mounted men!" Enoch cried in fear as he bent over the neck of the horse, involuntarily glancing back just as a broad sheet of flame lighted up the trees a short distance in the rear, and he heard the whistling of bullets over his head almost at the same instant that the reports of the weapons rang out.
"Are you hurt, Jake?" he cried anxiously.