vine
must have appeared a dark, impenetrable void, while our feet in the
grass scarcely made a sound. Once we saw a moving figure above us,
barely visible against the sky-line, and halted breathlessly, every eye
uplifted, until the apparition vanished; and once, warned by the
cracking of a twig, we lay flat on our faces while a spectral company
went past us on foot, heading at right-angles across our path. I counted
twenty men in the party, but could distinguish nothing as to uniform or
equipment. We waited motionless until the last straggler had
disappeared. By this time we were well behind the Confederate lines,
with troops probably on either side, for this gash in the surface had
both narrowed and veered sharply to the east. It still remained
sufficiently deep to conceal our movements, and, as we had circled the
picket lines, we could proceed with greater confidence. We were beyond
the vigilance of sentinels, and could be discovered now only through
some accidental encounter. I touched Le Gaire on the shoulder, and
whispered in his ear:

"How much farther is it?"

"'Bout half a mile, sah," staring about into what to me was impenetrable
darkness. "Yo' see de forked tree dar on de lef'?"

I was not sure, yet there was something in that direction which might
be what he described.

"I guess so--why?"

"I 'members dat tree, for dar's a spring just at de foot ob it."

"Is the rest of the way hard?"

"No, sah, not wid me goin' ahead of yo', for dar's a medium good path
from de spring up to de top o' de hill. I'se pow'ful feared though we
might run across some ob dem Confed sojers 'round yere."

I tried to look at him, but could see only the whites of his eyes, but
his voice somehow belied his words--to my mind there was no fear in the
fellow. I passed back word along the line, and found all the men
present. Not a sound came out of the night, and I ordered the ex-slave
to lead on.

CHAPTER XVIII

OVERHEARD CONVERSATION

It was a little gully, hardly more than a tramped footpath, leading down
the bank up which we crept until we attained the level. With eyes
sharpened by the long night vigil we could perceive the dim outlines of
buildings, and a glow or two of distant lights. I felt of the face of my
watch, deciding the time to be not far from half-past twelve. Our tramp
had seemed longer than a trifle over three hours, and it was a relief to
know we still had so much of darkness left in which to operate. I