"I shall stay by you," Enoch said decidedly as he reined in his horse. "They are getting no nearer, and—Look out!"
The warning cry had hardly been uttered when the reports of muskets or pistols rang out once more; but this time the whistling of the bullets could not be heard.
"They have lost ground!" Enoch cried joyfully. "Don't punish your horse so much, but slacken the pace a bit till he gets his wind. We'll best them yet."
Again and again the weapons were discharged, but the boys no longer bent their heads, for they were out of range, and the race was well-nigh won.
Five minutes later the pursuers were lost to view in the distance, and Jacob cried in a tone of relief:
"We've outridden them at last; but if they had held on five minutes longer, it would have been all over, so far as I'm concerned, for I don't believe this beast could have held a trot half a mile more."
"Let him walk awhile, and we'll keep a good lookout in case they should make another try for us. Do you know the roads hereabouts?"
"Yes; all of them. If it was daylight you could see my home from the next hill. There is no short cut hereabouts that they can take to get ahead of us, and we're certain to go through all right!"
CHAPTER VIII.
BARREN HILL.
The boys now had good reason to believe that the most difficult portion of their work was accomplished.