It was a surprise to me that Uncle 'Rasmus should be able to find his way anywhere between the two rivers, for I hardly remembered of seeing him stray from the bounds of the plantation; but certain it was, at least to my mind, that he should go his gait, for now had we come to put all our dependence upon him, so far as making any move toward recovering the stolen horses was concerned.
In fact it now began to seem to me, so far as proving ourselves Minute Boys, that unless we could get within the British entrenchments we could do naught of good for those men who, I doubted not, were slowly making their way toward the town of York to hold my Lord Cornwallis prisoner until the time should come when they might lay their hands heavily upon him.
Thus it was that Uncle 'Rasmus went off by himself, going down past the line of grape-vines across the creek, as I supposed, while we three struck out along the road until we had traveled perhaps a quarter of a mile, when little Frenchie suddenly halted and said as he turned upon us:
"Why is it that all three shall travel twelve miles or more this day, and repeat the same journey to-morrow forenoon?"
"You know why it is," Saul cried angrily. "You claimed to understand all that Uncle 'Rasmus had in his crazy head."
"I did understand, and it is because of seeing what we may do with his help, I am asking why the three of us should go from here to York and back this night, simply to retrace our steps to-morrow morning?"
"What else may we do?" I asked impatiently.
"Two might go on with the blankets and the bundle, and, arriving at the dead cottonwood, remain there all night, while the third, staying behind now, can set off from the plantation at break of day, bringing with him such an amount of food as will explain why we wish to visit old Mary's cabin."
"Then those who went on to-night would sleep on the ground, whereas the one who remained here would take his rest in bed," Saul said grimly, and with that shrug of the shoulders which sometimes irritated and sometimes pleased me, Pierre replied:
"Yes, that is true, and if you have not yet slept on the ground, you could be the one to stay here. It makes no difference which two of us go on; but it seems important that one remain here in order to bring fresh food in the morning, thus making a pretext for entering the British lines."