"Bang!" came a musket-shot, and the ball whistled over the heads of the men grouped on the banks of the stream. The shot came from the direction of the cabins.
Uncle Dan gave the signal, and the thunder of twenty horses' feet coming down the hill instantly followed.
"Two of you stay and guard the prisoner, the rest follow me!" cried Uncle Dan, as he started up the hill, closely followed by his entire force, for every man was anxious to be in at the rescue, and every one expected that some one else would guard the prisoner, who, in consequence, was not guarded at all. Finding himself wholly deserted by the excited soldiery, Jackson hurried away down the stream. He looked injured and neglected, and slunk away, as in shame, from the men who so obstinately avoided his company.
Uncle Dan never paused in his headlong pursuit of the flying enemy until he had reached the door of the cabin. Irene and Mrs. Jackson had been both surprised and terrified by the shouting and the discharge of firearms, but it was not until Uncle Dan stood in the doorway that either realized that Irene's rescue was the object of the attacking party.
With a wild cry, Irene sprang from the cabin into the arms of the old scout.
"Uncle Dan, Uncle Dan, take me home! Promise me you will take me home!" she cried as she clung to the veteran.
"You bet I will, my little angel?" replied the old man, brushing the gathering moisture from his eyes. "How long have you been here?"
"Night before last I was brought here."
"Is there any one with you in the cabin?"
"No one but a poor woman, who is frightened almost to death."