“I want a chance to distinguish myself,” declared the lad. “That, and to prove my loyalty too. All of General Arnold’s old men will be regarded with suspicion until they show that they are true. And now good-bye, Peggy.” “Good-bye, John,” spoke the maiden sorrowfully. “Thee carries my sympathy and prayers with thee.” He bade her good-bye again, and left. Early next morning Peggy set forth at speed hoping to overtake Mr. and Mistress Hart before the day’s end. Her thoughts were busied with Drayton and his grief, and she now acknowledged to herself the fear that had filled her lest he too should prove disloyal. “But it hath not even occurred to him to be other than true,” she told herself with rejoicing. And so thinking she rode along briskly, and was not long in reaching the spot where they had been stopped by the dying vidette. She gazed at the place with melancholy, noting that the bushes were trampled as though a number of men had passed over them. Doubting not but that this appearance had been caused by the soldiers who had been sent for the body, which was indeed the fact, the girl sped on rapidly, trying not to think of all that had occurred in the past few days. Peggy had been sure of her bearings up to this time, for she had traversed the highway twice to this point, but from this on she was confronted by an unfamiliar road. So it happened that when directly she came to a place where the road diverged into two forks, she drew rein in bewilderment. “Why,” she exclaimed, “I don’t know which one to take. What shall I do? How shall I decide, Star?” appealing to the only living thing near. Hearing her name the little mare neighed, tossed her head, and turned into the branch of the roadway running toward the South, just as though she had taken matters in hand for herself. Peggy laughed. “So thee is going to decide for me, is thee?” she asked patting the pony’s neck. “Well, we might as well go in this direction as the other. I know not which is the right one. I hope that we will come to a house soon where I may ask.” But no dwelling of any kind came in sight. The afternoon wore away, and the girl became anxious. She did not wish to pass the night in the woods. The memory of that night so long ago when she and Harriet had ridden to Amboy was not so pleasant that she wished to repeat the experience. But Star sped ahead as though familiar with her surroundings. At nightfall there was still no sign of either Joe Hart and his wife, or sight of habitation. “I fear me we have lost our way, Star,” she mused aloud. “I wonder what we’d best do? Keep moving, methinks. ’Tis the only way to reach anywhere.”