‘Where shall we hide, then?’ asked Lucius. ‘I tell you I’ve had enough of trying to break through lines.’
‘I agree with ye thar,’ assented Ephraim. ‘Thar must be no more er that sort er fun. We must make a push across the woods and try and reach the mountain. We kin hide thar well enuff, or make our way along it, whichever seems most reasonable.’
‘We shall only lose ourselves in the wood again,’ protested Lucius. ‘What is the good of that?’
‘Even so, we’ll hev a better chance ter dodge out er sight among the trees,’ argued Ephraim. ‘Honestly, I think it ain’t safe ter stay hyar.’
‘Well, go ahead,’ said Lucius. ‘I am with you whatever you do. You’ve got the longest head.’
‘I couldn’t manage ter git the despatch through, fer all my long head,’ exclaimed Ephraim admiringly.—‘Come along, then.’
They slipped through the window, and entered the wood in Indian file, Lucius holding on to the skirt of Ephraim’s tunic, lest by any chance they should get separated in the intense darkness, for though the dawn was beginning to break, it would be some time yet before the light would be powerful enough to illuminate the recesses of the forest.
As the stars paled in the sky before the approach of morning, two things happened, both fraught with importance to our fugitives, though they plunged along, steering blindly through the wood, trusting to Providence to guide them aright, and ignorant meanwhile of the turn of events. First, Stonewall Jackson’s infantry began to move across the foot-bridge which he had thrown over the South Fork; and, secondly, Colonel Spriggs, tired of the ineffectual pursuit, and resting his wearied men under the mountain not far from the Confederate lines, sullenly turned his angry face once more in the direction of his own camp. Not that he intended to reach it just yet. His plan—a very simple one—was to lose himself in the wood until the growing day should have revealed to him what the enemy were about. If a battle should begin, he would thus be able to keep clear of it; while, if otherwise, he could fall back upon the camp quietly and at his leisure. But Colonel Spriggs had reckoned without General Jackson, whose plans included the advance of Brigadier-general Taylor’s Louisiana troops through the woods by the side of the mountain, and it was therefore not improbable that Colonel Spriggs would find himself in a very warm corner for once in his life before the day was much older.
Of all these facts and probabilities, however, the boys knew nothing as they held steadily on through the pathless woods, hoping and trusting that their luck would lead them out upon the mountain-side, and at the same time keeping a wary eye for possible surprises or openings in the forest where an enemy might lurk.
The light grew stronger and the woods brighter, and suddenly they came upon just such a place, a natural clearing, where the trees grew thinly and the ground was covered with logs and underbrush. To walk across this did not seem the right thing to do; but to their joy they saw the mountain looming in front of them, and knew that at least their faces were in the right direction.