g's men, and I was in ordinary clothes--the rough
homespun furnished by Farrell. If, by any chance, I was not the party
they had expected to waylay, I might be released without search.

"Who am I?" I echoed. "Do you mean you have gone to all this trouble
without knowing whom you hold prisoner?"

"It seems so," coolly. "We know who we thought you were, but I am
beginning to doubt your being the right man. Peter, take his hat off."

I straightened up bareheaded, the faint star-gleam on my face. The
lieutenant remained quiet, but Peter broke his sphinx-like silence.

"Tain't him, is it?"

"No; he must have taken the other road after all," with a slight laugh.
"We've been on a wild-goose chase. However, it's too late now to catch
the fellow on this trip."

Peter rubbed his bald pate, his eyes on me.

"An' what'll we do with this lad?" he answered drawlingly. "Turn him
loose?"

"Bring him along. We'll find out to-morrow who he is, and what his
business may be. Men are not riding these roads at midnight without some
purpose."

He wheeled his horse, and, with a touch of the spur, disappeared in the
darkness ahead. Peter clambered back into the saddle, and gripped my
rein.

"Come on," he said disgustedly, kicking the black in the side. "It's a
ways yet afore yer lie down."

We rode steadily, and at a good pace. Occasionally the older man swore
solemnly, but Peter never uttered a sound, not even turning his head at
my attempts to draw him into conversation. The situation mystified me,
but it became more and more evident that I should have to wait until
morning before learning the truth. Neither guard would open his lips, and
the lieutenant rode straight forward, merely a dim shadow, in advance.
There was no figuring the affair out. Why should these fellows, who,
earlier in the evening, had been part of Delavan's wagon guard, be in
ambush to waylay some rider on the Bristol road? Who was it they sought
to capture? Where were they taking me, and why was I not released as soon
as they discovered their mistake? These were the main questions, but
there were others also arising in mind. This did not seem to me like an
ordinary party of troopers; there was an offhand freedom from discipline
totally unlike the British service. Neither Peter nor the Indian seemed
to belong to the class with which the army was recruited. Peter appeared
more like a well-trained servant, and his riding was atrocious. And the
lieutenant! There