whereabouts of the prisoner he was so eager to see.

Apparently I was the only member of the party who gave heed to his steps,
and so timid had I become through looking into the future for danger, that
it was only with difficulty I repressed a cry of alarm when Sergeant
Corney came to a sudden halt, as if he had stumbled upon an enemy.

Jacob, wrapped in his own gloomy thoughts, halted without showing signs of
curiosity or surprise; but I pressed forward eagerly until standing close
behind the old soldier, and then I understood full well why he had
stopped.

Not thirty paces from where we remained hidden in the thicket, it was
possible to see the gleam of a camp-fire, and to hear the faint hum of
voices, as if a large party was near at hand.

After vainly trying to peer through the foliage, Sergeant Corney moved
cautiously forward two or three paces, and, as a matter of course, I
followed close at his heels, far enough to see the reflection of four or
five other fires, as if those around them had no fear of being discovered.

"They must be Britishers!" I whispered, and Sergeant Corney gripped my
hand as if to say that he was of the same idea.

It was our duty, however, to know exactly who it was encamped so near
Brant's village, and, after telling Jacob in a whisper of what we had
seen, the old soldier made his way swiftly through the thicket, my comrade
and I copying his every movement.

Then, when I had decided that we were dangerously near a large force of