cupied by three or four persons, whose conversation, as it
came to the sergeant's ear, proved them to be strangers to the family;
and a ray of light from a taper within, after a while, made this more
manifest, by revealing the scarlet uniform of the enemy. Horse Shoe was
thus confirmed in the truth of the report that Butler had been brought
to this place under a military escort. With this conviction he returned
to the sycamore, where he again sat down to wait for the coming of his
companion.

It was after ten o'clock, and the sergeant was casting over in his
thoughts the long absence of John, when his attention was aroused by the
sound of footsteps, and the next instant John Ramsay and Mary Musgrove
stood beside him.

"What kept you till this time of night?" was the sergeant's accost.

"Softly, man, I have news for you," replied Ramsay. "Here is Mary
herself."

"And so she is, indeed!" exclaimed the sergeant, at the same time
shaking her hand, "this is my petticoat-sodger; how goes it with you,
girl?"

"I have only a moment to spare," replied the maiden cheerfully, "and it
is the greatest of good luck that I thought of coming out; for John gave
me a signal, which I was stupid enough not to understand at first. But,
after a while, I thought it could be no one but John Ramsay; and that,
partly, because I expected he would be coming into the neighborhood ever
since I heard of his being at his father's, after the ensign was made a
prisoner."

"I went," said John Ramsay, "to the further side of the house, where I
set to whistling an old-fashioned tune that Mary was acquainted
with--walking away all the time in an opposite direction--as if there
was nothing meant--"

"And I knew the tune, Mr. Horse Shoe," interrupted Mary, eagerly, "it
was Maggie Lauder. John practised that trick once before to show me how
to find my way to him. Upon that, I made an excuse to leave the room,
and slipped out through the garden--and then I followed the whistling,
as folks say they follow a jack-o'-lantern."

"And so, by a countermarch," continued the young dragoon, "we came round
the meadow and through the woods, here."

"Now that you've got here at last," said Horse Shoe, "tell me the news."

"Major Butler is in the house," said Mary and John, both speaking at
once. "He was brought there yesterday from Blackstock's," continued the
maiden. "Orders came from somebody that he was to be kept at our house,
until they had fixed upon wha