two card players had
disappeared, and I imagined they were rolled up in blankets in one
corner of the room. Sal was alone, seated on a stool, her head hanging
forward, sound asleep. Evidently she had received no orders from Rale
to keep watch over the movements of either of us, and was not worried
on account of our absence. In all probability the saloon keeper
believed the deputy was drunk enough to remain in stupor all night, and
he considered my services as bought and paid for. He had traded with
derelicts of my apparent kind before.

I felt nervous, anxious, eager for action. The time dragged horribly.
If I could only be accomplishing something; or if I knew what was
occurring elsewhere. What if something unforeseen should occur to
change Rale's plan? Suppose, for instance, those fellows should decide
to force the marriage tonight, instead of waiting until after arrival
at Jenkins' Crossing? Suppose she resisted them, and was injured? A
suspicion came to me that I might have misunderstood all this. My God!
if I only knew where it was they had concealed the girl.

The two of us explored about the silent cabin, but discovered nothing.
There was no light visible in the rear room, nor any sound of movement
within. The two windows were closed, and the door locked. We found a
convenient stump in the woods, and sat down to wait, where we could see
all that occurred about the cabin. The distant camp fires had died
down, and only occasionally did any sound, generally far away, disturb
the silence. The night was fairly dark, the stars shining brightly
enough, but dense beneath the trees; yet we managed to locate the
nearer sentries by their voices when they reported posts. None were
stationed close by. Everything indicated that we were safely outside
the lines of camp. We conversed in whispers, until Tim, still
influenced by his excessive drinking, became sleepy, and slid off the
stump onto the ground, where he curled up on a pile of leaves. I let
him lie undisturbed, and continued my vigil alone, feeling no
inclination to sleep, every nerve throbbing almost painfully. Three or
four men straggled into the saloon while I sat there, coming from the
direction of the camp, and were doubtless waited upon by Sal. None
remained long within, and all I saw of them were indistinct figures
revealed for a moment, as the light streamed out through the opened
door. One seemed to be an officer, wrapped in a cavalry cloa