"Halt!" cried some voices behind them. Looking back they could see that about a dozen soldiers were in hot pursuit. A ball sped by George, dangerously near the capacious pocket in which Waggie was ensconced; a second bullet would have ended the life of Watson had it come an inch nearer the crown of his head. "Look here," said Watson. "These men are fresh--we are weakened by imprisonment--they will get up to us in the end. Let's try a trick. The next time the bullets come we'll drop as if we were dead." At that moment another volley rattled around and over them. Watson threw up his arms, as if in agony, and sank on the grass. George uttered a loud cry, and went down within a few feet of his companion. All but one of the Confederates halted, upon seeing the apparent success of their aim, and turned to pursue in a new direction. The remaining soldier came running up to the two prisoners, and after taking one look which convinced him that they were either dead or dying he scurried back to rejoin his detachment. There was no use in wasting time over corpses when living enemies remained to be caught. The "corpses" waited until all was quiet around them. Then they arose, and kept on towards the woods. These they reached when darkness had fallen upon the trees--a circumstance which aided them in one way, as it lessened the danger of pursuit. But in another way the night impeded their progress for they could not get their bearings. They groped from tree to tree, and from bush to bush, like blind men. Once they heard a great rustling, and were convinced that it was caused by some of their companions, but they dared not speak, for fear of a mistake. At last they stumbled out upon a deserted highroad. "Where are we?" whispered George. "I don't know," returned Watson. "Hark! Do you hear anything?" A sound, at first very faint, became more and more distinct as they listened. Galloping horsemen and the rattle of sabres proclaimed the approach of cavalry. "Back into the woods," urged Watson. "We may be putting ourselves in a trap--but for the life of me I don't know where else to go!" They hurried into the wood, where they crawled under a scrubby pine bush, and anxiously awaited the outcome. On rushed the horsemen until they reached the outskirts of the wood. Here they halted. The hiders under the pine bush could hear one of the officers say: "The infantry will soon be here to relieve us." "We've had a great time to-night," growled another officer. "These Yankees, not content with troubling us on the battle-field, must even stir things up when they are prisoners." "I don't wonder those locomotive-stealers wanted to escape," laughed the first officer. "They know what the punishment of a spy always is." In a few minutes a company of infantry marched to the scene. After a short conference between their officers and those of the cavalry the horsemen galloped away. The infantry were now formed into squads, and sent to keep guard in the woods.