"I will! Men, you are enemies to the federal soldiers only, not innocent women. Seize that cowardly captain, and I will return with the ladies, and restore them to their friends. It will benefit all those of our friends who----" A ball, fired from the pistol of Branch, went crashing through the brain of the speaker, and he rolled from his horse a corpse. "You see how far his interference has benefited him," said Branch, pointing to the dead body. "Are there any more who wish to share his fate?" The party were silent. They were now ascending the sharp hill, or range of hills, which skirts the creek upon the north. Turning to the right, he proceeded onward, but observing he was not followed, he asked: "Why do you halt?" "Because we go in another direction." "I command you to follow me," yelled Branch. "We do not recognize your authority." "You shall see it here," replied the infuriated captain, as he drew forth his revolver. In an instant the five horsemen had leveled their rifles at his breast, and one of them said: "Go your way, sir, and we will not molest you. Be careful how you interfere with us." "Do as you please, cowards," replied Branch. He started on his way, while the horsemen proceeded down the hill at a rapid rate. Alibamo bent forward, and whispered words to Mamie, which seemed to be those of hope, as the countenance of the latter brightened very much. Then, starting to her feet, while her frame quivered with excitement, she cried: "I knew it would be so! Look there, Miss Hayward! Look there!" "What do you mean?" yelled Branch. "That you are foiled at last, fiend of darkness, that you are." Let us return to Springfield. The excitement endured by Hayward, together with the pain he suffered from the constant irritation of his wounds, and his loss of blood, were more than he could bear, and he sank to the earth, although he still retained his consciousness. Nettleton remained by his side, although Hayward urged him to join his brothers in the unequal contest. "There ain't no occasion to do that!" said the brave fellow. "Them Body-guard will whip them darn skunks in less than three minutes, and besides some on 'em might come around you, and I calculate if they do, to make them smell brimstone." The fight was over. Nettleton and William Margrave assisted Captain Hayward to the city, and secured a room for him in one of the houses occupied by a Union family. In a short time both Johnson and Adjutant Hinton joined him. The Indian was absent. "Have you received any intelligence of my sister?" asked Hayward, in a trembling voice. "Not yet, but Fall-leaf is absent, and I feel satisfied that he is with or near both your sister and mine," replied Margrave. "He will return with them very soon, I believe." "Did you see or hear anything of Branch?" asked Hayward.