. They one and all averred that they had left them sleeping in
the hut, and that they had no notion where they could have gone.

"Could the fellows, when probably as drunk as Pat, have fallen into the
torrent and been drowned!" exclaimed the lieutenant anxiously.

"Sure, they were as sober as judges," observed Dan, one of our men. Then
an idea seemed to strike him. "To be sure, your honour, they might have
gone fishing up the stream. That broth of a boy Barney might jist have
rolled in, and the long Dutchman have tried to haul him out, and both
have been carried away together. Ill luck to Roaring Water, if it has
swallowed up my countryman Barney."

I suspected, from the way in which Dan spoke, that he had no great
belief that such a catastrophe had occurred; in fact, knowing the fellow
pretty well, I thought it very probable that, notwithstanding what he
said, he was cognizant of the whereabouts of the truants.

Uncle Jeff and the lieutenant examined and cross-examined all the men;
but no satisfactory information could be got out of them.

"Whether they come back or not, I must be on my way to-morrow morning
with Sperry; while I leave my sergeant under your care, if you will take
charge of him," said the lieutenant.

Uncle Jeff willingly undertook to do this.

"As you are unacquainted with the way, and Pat is not likely to be of
much assistance, if Uncle Jeff will allow me I will act as your guide to
the mouth of the pass, after which you will have no great difficulty in
finding your way to Fort Harwood," I said to the lieutenant.

He gladly accepted my offer.

"But what about the possibility of the farm being attacked by the
Indians? You would not like in that case to be absent, and I should be
unwilling to deprive your friends of your aid," he observed. "If you
accompany me, I must leave Sperry to attend on Sergeant Custis, and to
come on with him when he is well enough. Although I do not compare the
Irishman to you, yet, should the farm be attacked, I can answer for his
firing away as long as he has a bullet left in his pouch."

Uncle Jeff, much to my satisfaction, allowed me to accompany the
lieutenant. I had a good horse, too, and had no fears about making my
way back safely, even should the country be swarming with Indians.

When the lieutenant spoke of the possibility of the farm being attacked
by the Redskins, Uncle Jeff laughed. "They will not venture thus far,"
he observed. "But even if they do com