startled now. "The map barely makes it ten."

"It is but ten, and scarcely that, by the direct White Briar road, or,
at least, so I heard some of the younger officers say; but it seems the
Rebel pickets are posted so close to the White Briar that my friends
decided it would be unsafe to proceed that way."

This was news indeed,--news so unexpected and startling that I forgot
all caution.

"Then what road do they call this?"

She laughed at my evident ignorance, as well as the eagerness of my
tone.

"Really, you are a most peculiar guide," she exclaimed gayly. "You
almost convince me that you are lost. Fortunately, sir, out of my vast
knowledge of this mysterious region, I am able to enlighten you to some
extent. We are now riding due southward along the Allentown pike."

Craig leaned forward so as to look across her horse's neck to where I
rode on the opposite side.

"May I speak a word, sir?" he asked cautiously.

"Certainly, Sergeant; do you make anything out of all this?"

"Yes, sir," he answered eagerly. "I know now exactly how we missed it,
and where we are. The cut-off to the White Briar I spoke to you about
this afternoon cannot be more than a hundred yards below here."