“Well, they watched us closely enough for a while. I couldn’t stir, even to walk about and stretch my cramped limbs, without being threatened with a rifle levelled at me!” “The wretches!” “And all that time we heard the firing in the distance, and knew that a great battle was going on between the guerrillas and our own troops. And we prayed heartily for the success of our men.” “Your prayers were heard, Elfie.” “Of course we could not guess which way the tide of victory would turn. We could only see the clouds upon clouds of black and sulphurous smoke rolling over the hill, and hear the continual firing, and smell the suffocating fumes of gunpowder that were overpowering even at this distance.” “That was because the wind blew straight from the hill in this direction.” “In this way several hours passed, and then we began to hear the thunder of flying horsemen crossing the plain. And one of our guard rode out to reconnoitre, and came back in a hurry, exclaiming: “‘By the devil! if the clock peddlers haven’t beaten us! Our men are flying as fast as their horses can carry them before the Yankee cavalry! I am not agoing to stay here guarding a girl and a parson, until I am captured! What do you say, boys?’ “Apparently the ‘boys’ agreed with their companion. They rode together and consulted in a low voice and in great excitement, while we still felt, as it seemed, the very earth shake with the thunder of the flying and chasing horsemen. Meanwhile I felt great hopes of being allowed to escape. My hopes were soon destroyed, however, by the words of the corporal, who had command of the guard. “‘It will never do to let _them_ get off, blast them! any more than it will do for us to stay here and be captured by the Yankees! I’ll tell you what, boys! we will tie them to trees, so that if the colonel _does_ come back to look for them—which I doubt very much if he will, even if he should have escaped being killed or wounded, or taken prisoner—he will find them; that’s all! Now what do you say to that!’ “The corporal’s proposal was adopted by acclamation. And the wretches immediately seized us and bound us, each to a tree, as you found us, Justin. And then they mounted their horses and galloped away, and we saw no more of them.” “Nor of any others?” “No! we remained here, while the night grew darker, and darker. We still occasionally felt the earth shake under the thunder of the flying and following horsemen; but no one entered the grove. And after a while even _that_ noise ceased.” “Were you frightened, Elfie?” “No, not until a wolf or some other wild animal came up and stood before me, and looked up in my face with his fiery eyes, as if he were balancing the question whether he should eat me then, or take his supper a few minutes later. I felt my flesh creep and my blood grow cold then, Justin! And I screamed with all my might. And the creature took to its heels and ran away!” “Poor Elfie!”