“I think we are without the lines, Peggy. ’Tis about time, and now we can seek the turnpike.”
She had scarcely finished speaking when out of the darkness came the peremptory command:
“Friends,” answered Harriet, as the two obediently brought their horses to a standstill.
In the darkness the shadowy form of the sentinel was but dimly visible, but a feeble ray of the pale moonlight caught the gleam of his musket, and Peggy saw with a thrill of fear that it was pointed directly toward Harriet.
“Advance, and give the countersign,” came the order.
How it came about Peggy could not tell, but as he gave the command, Fleetwood reared suddenly upon his hind feet, and, pawing the air with his forelegs and snorting viciously, advanced toward the guard threateningly. An ominous click of the firelock sounded. Wild with terror at the sight, and fearful of what might happen, Peggy cried shrilly:
“Why didn’t you say so before?” growled the sentry lowering his gun. “What’s the matter with that horse?”
“I think he must have stepped among some thorn bushes,” replied Harriet sweetly. “I will soon quiet him, friend. The underbrush is thick hereabouts.”
“Too thick to be straying around in at night,” he answered with some roughness. “That horse is enough to scare the British. What are you doing in the woods? You are bound to lose your way.”
“We have done that already,” she told him with apparent frankness. She had succeeded by this time in quieting Fleetwood, who now resumed his normal position. By the merest chance they had stumbled upon the password, and she purposed making the most of it. “You see we were at a party in the camp, and coming back my cousin and I thought to make a short cut through the woods so as to get home quickly. We ought to have been there long ago, but ’twas a pretty little frisk, and we just couldn’t make up our minds to leave. You know how it is.”
“Yes,” he rejoined laughing good naturedly. “I know how ’tis. I’ve gals of my own. Well, you just get over to that road as fast as you can. ’Tis a half mile straight to your right. And say! if another sentinel asks for the countersign speak right up. You’re liable to get a ball if you don’t.”
“Thank you,” she said. “We will remember. Come, my cousin.”