It was high time we continued the race, and, the horses having had quite a breathing spell, we sent them ahead once more at their best pace.
After this we stopped twice to give the animals water, and once to breathe them, before the gray light told that a new day was upon us.
Then it was that Master Howell proposed we take to the thicket, and after we were screened by the trees we led the horses a mile or more parallel with the road. Then we crossed over to the other side, taking good care to cover such hoof-prints as had been left on the highway.
After these precautions it seemed as if we might consider ourselves reasonably well hidden from those who came in pursuit, and surely I was not sorry of an opportunity for rest.
We had been in the saddle not less than eighteen hours, and during six or seven hours more were so strung up by excitement that it was as if we had been two days without repose.
Fortunately the deputies had not been despoiled of their haversacks when taken prisoners, therefore we had food sufficient to provide us with one hearty meal, and this we ate immediately after the horses were picketed where was grass in abundance.
Not until we were eating did Sidney ask Masters Howell and Hunter anything concerning their adventure, and soon we were in possession of all the facts.
The deputies, finding themselves opposed by six horsemen, surrendered immediately after Sidney and I rode away. They were asked no questions, nor was there an attempt to search them. The royalist led the prisoners to the lean-to, tied their hands and feet, and left them in charge of the negro, giving orders for him to shoot with intent to kill if either made any effort to cry out for help in case travelers passed that way.
Neither Master Howell nor Master Hunter had any definite idea as to what the scoundrels intended to do with them; but both believed that but for the rescue they would have been taken to Hillsborough and there lodged in jail on a charge of sedition or treason.
"Yes, I recognized one of them," Master Howell said in reply to my question. "He who appeared to be the leader I have seen in Fanning's office, therefore there was no question in my mind but that the party set out from Hillsborough in advance of us. Some one at Maddock's Mill played the traitor."