to him that he could almost smell their smoke, and still
neither he nor his horse was hit. After making all due allowance for
badness of aim at a gallop, it was almost a miracle, and he drew new
courage from the fact.

He passed the cornfields and with a sharp jerk of the reins turned his
weary horse into the woods on the right. The forest was thick with a
considerable growth of underbrush, but Harry was a skillful and daring
rider, and he guided his horse so expertly that in a few moments he was
hidden from the view of the cavalry. But he knew that it could not
continue so long. They would spread out, driving everything in front
of them as they advanced. He was still the fox and they were still the
hunters. Yet he had gained something. For a fugitive the forest was
better than the open.

He maintained his direction toward Jackson's camp. His horse leaped a
gully and he barely escaped being swept off on the farther side by the
bough of a tree. Then some of his pursuers caught sight of him again,
and a half dozen shots were fired. He was not touched, but he felt his
horse shiver and he knew at once that the good, true animal had been
hit. A few leaps more and the living machinery beneath him began to jar
heavily.

Another thick clump of undergrowth hid him at that moment from the
cavalrymen, and he did the only thing that was left to him. Throwing
one leg over the saddle, he leaped clear and darted away. Before he had
gone a dozen steps he heard his horse fall heavily, and he sighed for a
true and faithful servant and comrade gone forever.

He heard the shouts of the Union horsemen who had overtaken the fallen
horse, but not the rider. Then the shouts ceased, and for a little
while there was no thud of hoofs. Evidently they were puzzled. They
had no use for a dead horse, but they wanted his rider, and they did not
know which way he had gone. Harry knew, however, that they would soon
spread out to a yet greater extent, and being able to go much faster on
horseback than he could on foot, they would have a certain advantage.

He had lost his blanket from his shoulders, but he still had his pistol,
and he kept one hand on the butt, resolved not to be taken. He heard
the horsemen crashing here and there among the bushes and calling to one
another. He knew that they pursued him so persistently because they
believed him to be one who had spied upon their army and it would be of
great value to them that h