To my surprise I found that this little French lad had, without acquainting me with his purpose, made ready for the venture, thus again proving his right to act as our captain.
He had at some time while in old Mary's cabin made ready a gag of wood covered with strips torn from a blanket, and this, much against Horry Sims's will, we thrust into the fellow's mouth, tying it securely; but promising that if he followed at his best pace and without making an attempt to get away, he should soon be relieved from what must have been in the highest degree painful.
Then we began again to make our way over the rubbish, this time with greater noise than when Pierre and I had entered, because we could not direct the young Tory's footsteps as cautiously as our own, and more than once before we had come to the door did we dislodge a bit of timber or a fragment of wood, causing such a disturbance as must have been heard by any who might have been within an hundred paces of the shed.
At each time such a thing occurred we halted, silent and motionless, striving to learn whether any of the enemy had been aroused by the noise, and, hearing nothing that betokened danger, kept on until another mis-step forced us to a halt once more. Thus we continued, traversing a distance of no more than fifteen or eighteen feet, but which seemed to me a full mile, until we were come to the door and had crept out into the darkness, when I breathed a fervent prayer of thanksgiving, for surely it seemed as if we had already overcome the greater portion of the difficulties that lay in our way.
Saul and Pierre were leading the Tory cur, one on either side of him, and I set off in advance as if believing I was the only lad of the three who could pilot us in safety.
"WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST WARNING I FOUND MYSELF IN THE CLUTCHES OF A MAN."
Because we had succeeded in getting out of the shed without making sufficient of noise to bring the guard down upon us, did I fancy we were much the same as free to do as we pleased, and set off at a reasonably rapid pace around the corner of the shop, when suddenly and without the slightest warning I found myself in the clutches of a man, my throat held so tightly in his grasp that I could not give the faintest alarm to my comrades.
That a British sentinel who had dogged our footsteps held me prisoner, I had no doubt, and my heart sank like lead in my breast, for to my mind now was come the end of all things for me in this world. Because of having been taken while prowling around the village in the night, there could be no question but that I would be considered and punished as a spy.