were scampering off among the oaks and underbrush, consumed by
excitement and no small degree of apprehension.

"They really seem to be in earnest about it, Jack," urged the young
woman insistently, to offset his somewhat sarcastic comments.

"How the dickens do you suppose they got onto me?" he groaned. "I
thought the tracks were beautifully covered. No one suspected, I'm
sure."

"I told you, dear, how it would turn out," she cried in a panic-stricken
voice.

"Good heavens, Marjory, don't turn against me! It all seemed so easy and
so sure, dear. There wasn't a breath of suspicion. What are we to do?
I'll stop and fight the whole bunch if you'll just let go my arm."

"No, you won't, Jack Barnes!" she exclaimed resolutely, her pretty blue
eyes wide with alarm. "Didn't you hear them say they'd fill you full of
lead? They had guns and everything. Oh, dear! oh, dear! isn't it
horrid?"

"The worst of it is they've cut us off from the river," he said
miserably. "If I could have reached the boat ahead of them they never
could have caught us. I could distance that old raft in a mile."

"I know you could, dear," she cried, looking with frantic admiration
upon his broad shoulders and brawny bare arms. "But it is out of the
question now."