"Growing uneasy, Darius?" I asked, and the old man laughed good-naturedly as I thus passed him some of his own coin. "It's gettin' warm all around; but I reckon we've come mighty nigh to the limit set by the commander." Then it was that the man next beside me cried aloud as he held up his right hand from which the blood was beginning to flow from a bullet wound. I was too angry to be frightened just then, for it seemed as if Lieutenant Frazier was remaining too long under fire, and a moment later came the welcome command. I dare venture to say that, with the exception of Lieutenant Frazier and Darius, every man moved more readily and quickly than he ever did before, until we were a good mile from the scene of destruction, striking directly across the country for Upper Marlboro. Now and then it was possible to catch glimpses of the flames, which towered above the tops of the nearby trees; but we heard nothing of the enemy, which seemed to me strange until I mentioned the fact to Darius when he came up, after loitering in the rear with the lieutenant as if to show his contempt for the Britishers. "I allow there's plenty of sense in their stayin' where the fleet is burnin'," the old man said quietly. "They saw only a few men leave when it had been said that Joshua Barney had five hundred with him. Now what more natural for them to suppose that we are tryin' to lead 'em into an ambush--for the Britishers still believe we fight in Injun fashion? Then again, it ain't likely the foot soldiers are carryin' rations, havin' the boats with 'em, an' it would be poor judgment to send a lot of men into the woods empty-handed, so to speak." "Then you do not believe we shall be pursued?" "If we are it'll be a fool trick," the old man replied, and then he fell back to the rear in response to a signal from the lieutenant. After he had thus given his opinion, which I believe to be shared by Lieutenant Frazier, it was in my mind that we would tramp leisurely across the country until coming up with Commodore Barney's force; but immediately we appeared to be out of danger word was given to quicken the pace. Now it was that the officer and Darius marched in advance, the former having given the word that we were to keep close at his heels, and during two hours I traveled faster than I ever did before. It seemed as if the musket, which had seemingly been a feather's weight when we started, weighed more than twenty pounds at the end of the second hour, and I was so nearly winded that it was as if I could go no further without first taking some rest. Jerry was no less fatigued than I, and did not hesitate to say he believed the lieutenant was making us march thus fast simply to gratify some foolish whim. Then we were come to Upper Marlboro, after fording the stream, and the pleasure I felt at being allowed to sit down that I might rest my aching feet was so great that it cannot properly be described.