“Do you see that, Captain Carleton? It’s Uncle Paul’s dwelling; they have set it on fire. I never thought they would do that, though I have watched more than one burning house in these mountains, and have almost felt a thrill of pride as I thought how dearly we were paying for our love to the old flag; but when it comes to my own home, the pride is all gone, the fire burns deeper, and one is half tempted to question the price required for the Union.” Tom was about to speak to her, when she turned abruptly upon him, and said: “Captain Carleton, do you believe your Northern we men,—your Rose, your Annie would bear and brave what the loyal women of the South endure? They may be true to the Union,—no doubt they are, and they think they know what war means; but I tell you they do not. Did they ever see their friends and neighbors driven to the woods and hills like hunted beasts, or watch the kindling flames devouring their own houses, as I am doing now? for I know that is my Uncle Paul’s, and whether he still lives, or is hung between the earth and heavens, God only knows, and perhaps _he_ has forgotten. I sometimes think he has, else why does he not send us aid? Where are your hordes of men? Why do they not come to save us, when we have waited so long, and our eyes and ears are weak and weary with watching for their coming?” She was talking now more to herself than to her companion, and she looked a very queen of tragedy, as, with her hair floating over her shoulders, and her hands pressed tightly together, she walked hurriedly the length and breadth of the long flat rock which bordered a precipice near to the cave Tom was about to answer her, when a ball went whizzing past him, while the loud shouts of the men, whose heads were visible beneath the distant trees, told that he had been discovered. To return to the cave and take Maude with him, was the work of a moment, and amid yells of fury the drunken mob came on to where Maude, forgetting everything now except Tom Carleton, stood waiting for them. They would not harm her, she knew, and like a lioness guarding its young, she stood within the cave, but so near the entrance that her face was visible to the men, who at sight of her stopped suddenly, and asked what she was doing there, and who she had with her. “My brother Charlie and Captain Carleton, the man whom you sought at Uncle Paul’s,” she answered, fearlessly, as she held with a firm grasp the dangerous-looking weapon, which she knew how to use. “And pray, what may you be doing with the Yankee? asked one of the coarser of the men; and Maude replied “I am standing between him and just such creatures as you are.” While Tom, grasping her shoulder, said: “Step aside, Maude; I cannot endure this. You, a girl, defending me! I must go out. Let me pass.” “To certain death? Never!” Maude replied, thrusting him back with a strength born of desperation.