y that it was not
easy of cultivation, and hence remained clothed in dense forest and
undergrowth. Twice more Harry heard the sound of pursuing voices and
hoofs, and then the noise of running water came to his ears. Twenty
yards farther and he came to a creek flowing between high banks, on which
the forest grew so densely that the sun was scarcely able to reach the
water below.

The creek at first seemed to be a bar to his advance, but thinking it
over he led his horse carefully down into the stream, mounted him and
rode with the current, which was not more than a foot deep. Fortunately
the creek had a soft bottom and there was no ringing of hoofs on stones.

He went slowly, lest the water splash too much, and kept a wary watch on
the banks above, which were growing higher. He did not know where the
creek led, but it offered both a road and concealment, and it seemed that
Providence had put it there for his especial help.

He rode in the bed of the stream fully an hour, and then emerged from
the hills into a level and comparatively bare country. It was a region
utterly unknown to him, but with his splendid idea of direction and the
sun to guide him he knew his straight course to Lee. The country before
him seemed to be given up wholly to grass, as he noticed neither corn nor
wheat. He saw several farm hands, but decided to keep away from them.
That was no country for the practice of horsemanship by a lone
Confederate soldier, nor did he like to be the fox in a fox hunt.

Yet the fox he was. He chose a narrow road leading between cedars,
and when he had advanced upon it a few hundred yards he heard the sound
of a trumpet behind him, and at the edge of the woods that he had left.
He saw horsemen in blue emerging and he had no doubt that they were the
same men whom he had eluded in the thickets.

"Their pursuit of me is getting to be a habit," he said to himself with
the most intense annoyance. "It's a good thing, my brave horse, that
you've had a long rest."

He shook up the reins and began to gallop. He heard a faint shout in the
distance and saw the troopers in pursuit. But he did not fear them now.
Numerous fences would prevent them from flanking him, and he saw that the
road led on, straight and level. He shook the reins again and the horse
lengthened his stride.

He felt so exultant that he laughed. It would be easy enough now to
distance this Union troop. Then the laugh died suddenly on his lips