‘Good! Come, gentlemen. If all goes well, we shall sup with Frémont to-night. If not, we have a strong position at Lewiston, and there we will await the attack which is sure to be made to-morrow, if we fail in our plans to-day. Come!’
Without another word to or thought of Ephraim, he dashed out of the hut.
CHAPTER VIII.
A PAIR OF RELUCTANT RECRUITS.
Ephraim followed the officers to the door of the hut and looked out. For five minutes he maintained this position without moving or speaking; then he turned inwards again, and with his usual quiet grin on his face, hailed: ‘Ye kin git down now, Luce. I reckon the coast is cl’ar.’
Lucius swung down to the floor and burst out laughing. ‘How well you managed that, Grizzly!’ he said. ‘Do you know, at one time I thought that you were going to make a clean breast of it, and tell the general that we had been in the balloon.’
‘I ’low I had some thorts er it,’ answered Ephraim; ’fer he seemed dead sot agin the cunnel himself; but ye never know what’ll happen. After all, they war all Yanks in hyar, and though the ginrul seemed inclined ter be perfeckly fair and squar ’bout them two escaped balloonists, ye carn’t tell how his complexshun might hev changed ef wanst he knew he’d got his claws onter ’em.’
‘That’s so,’ agreed Lucius. ‘It was best to be on the safe side. And you told him the simple truth.’