est part of the forest.

Harry felt an immense relief. He knew that he might be followed,
but he did not consider it probable. It was more than likely that he
passed for some countryman riding homeward. Martial law had not yet
covered all the hills with a network of iron rules. So he rode on
boldly, and he noticed with satisfaction that the forest seemed to be
extensive and dense. Night, heavy with clouds, was coming, too, and
soon he would be so well hidden that only chance would enable an enemy
to find him.

In a half hour he stopped and took his bearings as best he could.
It seemed to be a wild bit of country. He judged that it was ground
cropped too much in early times, and left to grow into wilderness again.
He was not likely to find anything in it save a hut or two of charcoal
burners. It was a lonely region, very desolate now, with the night
birds calling. The clouds grew heavier and he would have been glad of
shelter, but he put down the wish, recalling to himself with a sort of
fierceness that he was a soldier and must scorn such things. Moreover,
it behooved him to make most of his journey in the night, and this
forest, which ran almost to Washington, seemed to be provided for his
approach.

He had fixed the direction of Washington firmly in his mind, and having
a good idea of location, he kept his horse going at a good walk toward
his destination. As his eyes, naturally strong, grew used to the forest,
and his horse was sure of foot, they were able to go through the bushes
without much trouble. He stopped at intervals to listen for a possible
enemy--or friend--but heard nothing except the ordinary sounds of the
forest.

By and by a wind rose and blew all the clouds away. A shining moon and
a multitude of brilliant stars sprang out. Just then Harry came to a
hillock, clear of trees, with the ground dipping down beyond. He rode
to the highest point of the hillock and looked toward the east into a
vast open world, lighted by the moon and stars. Off there just under
the horizon he caught a gleam of white and he knew instinctively what
it was. It was the dome of the Capitol in that city which was now the
capital of the North alone. It was miles away, but he saw it and his
heart thrilled. He forgot, for the moment, that by his own choice it
was no longer his own.

Harry sat on his horse and looked a long time at that far white glow,
deep down under the horizon. There was the capital of his