ing such a disturbance as must have been
heard by any who might have been within an hundred paces of the shed.

At each time such a thing occurred we halted, silent and motionless,
striving to learn whether any of the enemy had been aroused by the
noise, and, hearing nothing that betokened danger, kept on until another
mis-step forced us to a halt once more. Thus we continued, traversing a
distance of no more than fifteen or eighteen feet, but which seemed to
me a full mile, until we were come to the door and had crept out into
the darkness, when I breathed a fervent prayer of thanksgiving, for
surely it seemed as if we had already overcome the greater portion of
the difficulties that lay in our way.

Saul and Pierre were leading the Tory cur, one on either side of him,
and I set off in advance as if believing I was the only lad of the three
who could pilot us in safety.

[Illustration: "WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST WARNING I FOUND MYSELF IN THE
CLUTCHES OF A MAN."]

Because we had succeeded in getting out of the shed without making
sufficient of noise to bring the guard down upon us, did I fancy we were
much the same as free to do as we pleased, and set off at a reasonably
rapid pace around the corner of the shop, when suddenly and without the
slightest warning I found myself in the clutches of a man, my throat
held so tightly in his grasp that I could not give the faintest alarm to
my comrades.

That a British sentinel who had dogged our footsteps held me prisoner, I
had no doubt, and my heart sank like lead in my breast, for to my mind
now was come the end of all things for me in this world. Because of
having been taken while prowling around the village in the night, there
could be no question but that I would be considered and punished as a
spy.

I strove in vain to give some warning to my comrades so they might make
their escape even though I was doomed; but he who held me seemingly
understood that which was in my mind, for he forced me onward lest
Pierre and Saul should over-run us, and thus for mayhap a distance of an
hundred yards we advanced, I, a prisoner, forced to lead my comrades
into what I felt certain was a shameful death.

Because the night was so black they could not see that there were two
persons in advance of them instead of one, therefore did they follow
blindly, and all unconscious of the sickly, deathly terror in my heart,
until we were come to the rise of the land on our way toward the Pigeon