Just then the solemn hoot of a distant owl was heard. One of the men holding the rope dropped it, and shivered from head to foot. “Boys,” he whispered, “let’s don’t do it. That’s a note of warning. I never knew it to fail.” “Cuss ye fo’ a white-livered coward!” yelled Red Bill. “String them up, I tell ye!” For answer there came the sharp crack of rifles, the rush of armed men, and the infuriated Texans were on them. No mercy was shown; in a moment it was all over. Quickly the cords which bound Calhoun and Nevels were cut, and the terrible nooses removed from their necks. “Thank God, we were in time!” cried Captain Huffman, wringing Calhoun’s hand. But Calhoun stood as one in a trance. So sudden had been his deliverance, he could not realize it. He had nerved himself to die, and now that he was safe, he felt sick and faint, and would have fallen if he had not been supported. Both he and Nevels soon rallied, and poured out their thanks to the brave men who had come to their rescue. “We would never have found you,” said Huffman, “if we had not run on one of the gang who under the threat of death piloted us here.” “Where is he?” asked Calhoun. “With the boys up with the horses.” “Let him go,” pleaded Calhoun; “but for him I would now have been food for the buzzards.” “To which we will leave these carrion,” answered Huffman, pointing to the dead Home Guards. “But we must be going; Morgan is impatient to be on the road.” Great was the rejoicing in Morgan’s command when Captain Huffman returned bringing Calhoun and Nevels safe; and much satisfaction was expressed over the fate of their captors. In half an hour after the return of Captain Huffman’s command, Morgan’s men were en route for Paris. CHAPTER VII. CALHOUN TAKES FRED PRISONER. After leaving Midway, Morgan did not march directly to Paris, but halted at Georgetown, a little city twelve miles north of Lexington. The citizens of Georgetown gave Morgan’s command the same joyous welcome which they had received at almost every place visited; for Morgan came to them not as an enemy, but as a liberator. From Georgetown Morgan resolved to attack Cynthiana, which lies north of Paris, having heard there was a considerable body of Federal troops stationed there. Sending a small force toward Lexington to keep up the fiction of an attack upon that place, Morgan moved with the main body of his force upon Cynthiana.