"Durn it; thet's just what I can't quite figure out, sir--whether we
uns be to ther north or south of ther white church. Then, somehow or
other, it seems like to me as if this yere road lay a bit too close ter
the edge of ther plateau ter ever be the main pike what the Feds
marched over. I reckon from ther direction it runs that maybe it might
be a branch like, or a wood-road leadin' inter the other. If thet's the
way it is, then them fellers we uns is tryin' ter dodge ought ter be
down yonder ter the left somewhar."

I gazed vaguely out into the black vacancy to which he pointed.

"Well, if we should chance to run up against one of their picket posts
we shall be soon enlightened," I returned, urging my horse carefully
forward. "But we shall have to take the chances, for it would not prove
healthy for either of us to be caught here by daylight."

I heard Craig chuckle grimly to himself, as if he found humor in the
thought, but without other attempt to give utterance to his feelings he
ranged up close to my side.

Not daring to venture on any gait faster than a walk along this unknown
and ill-defined mountain trail, we slowly and cautiously worked our way
forward for more than an hour, meeting with no human obstacle to our
progress, yet feeling that each step forward was surrounded by imminent
peril. That we were now well within the guarded lines of the enemy we
were both assured, although where or how we had succeeded in
penetrating the cordon of picket posts unobserved we could only
conjecture. The darkness about us seemed intensified by the high,
overhanging bank of rock at our left; on the other side, and but dimly
revealed against the sky-line, I could perceive Craig's gaunt figure as