Texas slid down that pillar with alacrity that would have scared a cat. And the two were hiding in the bushes a moment or two later.
"Gee whiz!" muttered Fischer. "Just think of the risks we took. They might have come in on us."
"Where can they be?" whispered Texas, anxiously. "I hadn't any idea they wouldn't be in by twelve."
"There's nothing they can be doing around here," said Fischer. "I don't know——"
"Look a here!" muttered Texas, excitedly, as a sudden idea occurred to him. "I saw 'em a-goin' down to Highland Falls this evenin', an——"
Fischer gripped him by the arm.
"Jove!" he cried. "We'll go down and lay for 'em. It's a faint chance, but if we catch 'em there it'll be a thousand times less dangerous for us. And if we miss them we can come back. Let's hurry."
It was a dangerous business, that getting down to Highland Falls. There were the camp sentries and the sentries of the regular army, besides, patroling most of the paths. And any of them would have stopped those two rough-looking men if they had seen them skulking about the post. But Fischer had been there three years, and he knew most of the "ropes." He dodged from building to building, always keeping the road in view so as to see their victims if they passed—and finally came out upon the road just at the beginning to cadet limits. Here they hid in a thick clump of bushes and lay down to wait amid the silence of that dark, deserted spot.
"I wonder if they'll come," whispered Texas. "I wish I had one of 'em by the neck. The rascals——"
The words were choked in their utterance; for the officer suddenly nudged his companion and pointed down the road.