thing
as this?"

"On the honesty of a sodger, ma'am," replied Horse Shoe, "the lad shall
be in no danger, as I said before--whatsomedever."

"Then I will say no more," answered the mother. "But Andy, my child, be
sure to let Mr. Robinson keep before you."

Horse Shoe now loaded the fire-arms, and having slung the pouch across
his body, he put the pistol into the hands of the boy; then shouldering
his rifle, he and his young ally left the room. Even on this occasion,
serious as it might be deemed, the sergeant did not depart without
giving some manifestation of that light-heartedness which no
difficulties ever seemed to have the power to conquer. He thrust his
head back into the room, after he had crossed the threshold, and said
with an encouraging laugh, "Andy and me will teach them, Mistress
Ramsay, Pat's point of war--we will _surround_ the ragamuffins."

"Now, Andy, my lad," said Horse Shoe, after he had mounted Captain
Peter, "you must get up behind me. Turn the lock of your pistol down,"
he continued, as the boy sprang upon the horse's rump, "and cover it
with the flap of your jacket, to keep the rain off. It won't do to hang
fire at such a time as this."

The lad did as he was directed, and Horse Shoe, having secured his rifle
in the same way, put his horse up to a gallop, and took the road in the
direction that had been pursued by the soldiers.

As soon as our adventurers had gained a wood, at the distance of about
half a mile, the sergeant relaxed his speed, and advanced at a pace a
little above a walk.

"Andy," he said, "we have got rather a ticklish sort of a job before us,
so I must give you your lesson, which you will understand better by
knowing something of my plan. As soon as your mother told me that these
thieving villains had left her house about fifteen minutes before the
rain came on, and that they had gone along upon this road, I remembered
the old field up here, and the little log hut in the middle of it; and
it was natural to suppose that they had just got about near that hut,
when this rain came up; and then, it was the most supposable case in the
world, that they would naturally go into it, as the driest place they
could find. So now, you see, it's my calculation that the whole batch is
there at this very point of time. We will go slowly along, until we get
to the other end of this wood, in sight of the old field, and then, if
there is no one on the look-out, we will open our first trenc