ot, and we ain't
in it!"

I looked and saw nothing save that the sentry guard had risen to throw a
handful of dry branches on the dying fire. But on the instant the dry
wood blazed up, and in the wider circle of firelight I saw what the
keener eyes of Ephraim Yeates had descried the sooner. In the shadowy
background of the surrounding forest a dozen horsemen were converging in
orderly array upon the encampment, and at the blazing up of the dry
branches their leader gave the command to charge.

What sham battle there was, or was meant to be, was over in the briefest
space. The troopers galloped in with shouts and aimless pistolings,
raising a clamor that was instantly doubled by the yells of the Indians.
As for resistance, the charging troop met with nothing worse than the
yellings and a scattering fusillade in air. Then the ring of horsemen
narrowed in to closer quarters and there was some flashing of bare steel
in the firelight, at which the Cherokee kidnappers melted away and
vanished as if by magic.

With the shouts and the firing Margery and her maid had burst out of the
sleeping-lodge to find themselves in the thick of the sham battle; and
it was but womanlike that they should add their shrieks to the din,
being as well terrified as they had a right to be. But now the leader of
the attacking troop speedily brought order with a word of command; and
when his men fell back to post themselves as vedettes among the trees,
the officer dismounted to uncover courteously and to bow low to the
lady.

"The hoss-captain!" muttered Ephraim Yeates, under his breath; but we
did not need his word for it. 'Twas but a child's pebble-toss across
the barrier stream, and we could both see and hear.

"I give you joy of your escape, Mistress Margery," said the baronet,
mouthing his words like a player who had long since conned his lines and
got them well by heart and letter-perfect. "These slippery savages have
given us a pretty chase, I do assure you. But you are trembling yet,
calm yourself, dear lady; you are quite safe now."

I was watching her intently as he spoke. 'Twas now hard upon two months
since I had seen her last in that fateful upper room at Appleby Hundred,
and the interval--or mayhap it was only the hardships and distresses of
the captive flight--had changed her woefully. Yet now, as when we had
stood together at the bar of Colonel Tarleton's court, I saw her pass
from mood to mood in the turning of a leaf, her nat