liza," said Dalton earnestly.

Then they galloped away in the dark with Billy leading and riding like a
Comanche. He had taken a fresh horse from the stall and it was almost as
powerful as those ridden by Harry and Dalton.

"See the mountains," said Billy, pointing eastward to a long dark line
dimly visible in the moonlight. "That's the Blue Ridge, and further
south is the Gap, but you can't see it at night until you come right
close to it."

"Do you know any path through the woods, Billy?" asked Harry. "We don't
want to run the risk of capture."

"I was just about to lead you into it," replied the boy, still rejoicing
in the importance of his role. "Here it is."

He turned off from the road into a path leading into thick forest,
wide enough for only one horse at a time. Billy, of course, led, Harry
followed, and Dalton brought up the rear. The path, evidently a short
cut used by farmers, was enclosed by great oaks, beeches and elms, now
in full leaf, and it was dark there. Only a slit of moonlight showed
from above, and the figures of the three riders grew shadowy.

"They'll never find us here, will they, Billy?" said Harry.

"Not one chance in a thousand. Them Yankees don't know a thing about
the country. Anyway, if they should come into the path at the other end,
we'd hear them long before they heard us."

"You're right, Billy, and as we ride on we'll all three listen with six
good ears."

"Yes, sir," said Billy.

Harry, although only a boy himself, was so much older than Billy, who
addressed him as "sir," that he felt himself quite a veteran.

"Billy," he said, "how did it happen that you were riding down this way,
so far from home, to-day?"

"'Cause we heard there was Yanks in the Gap. Ma won't let me go an'
fight with Stonewall Jackson. She says I ain't old enough an' big
enough, but she told me herself to get on the horse an' ride down this
way, an' see if what we heard was true. I saw 'em in little bunches, an'
then that gang come to our house to-night, less 'n ten minutes after I
come back. We'll be at a creek, sir, in less than five minutes. It runs
down from the mountains, an' it's pretty deep with all them big spring
rains. I guess we'll have to swim, sir. We could go lower down, where
there's always a ford, but that's where the Yankees would be crossing."

"We'll swim, if necessary, Billy."

"When even the women and little children fight for us, the South will
be hard to conquer," was Harry