The horses, jaded with much travelling, moved forward with hanging heads at a snail’s pace; slowly the minutes went by until the darkness enveloped us, and we were forced to trust to the instinct of the animals for keeping the path. I was near to crying aloud in fear, thus proving myself the veriest coward, when amid the blackness of the night I saw a yet darker figure moving swiftly toward me. My horse’s bridle was seized, and I drew a long breath of relief as a familiar voice whispered: “It is time to halt, for we have found our enemy.” It was one of the Marshall lads, who had come through the foliage almost at right angles with the course we were pursuing, and had failed to reach the leader, therefore I whispered hoarsely to Master Sawyer that the scouts were come in. “There are ten or fifteen men at the negro’s shack, which is less than half a mile to the left--you must have passed the trail which leads to it,” Joseph Marshall whispered when we had gathered around him as closely as the growth of trees would permit. “They have been questioning among themselves as to whether we will come, for I crept so near as to be able to hear a portion of the conversation.” “What sort of men are they?” Master Sawyer asked. “Soldiers, Tories, or lads?” “There are three who wear red coats, much torn, and I fancy they were among those who were in such haste to get away from us in the last action. Such of the others as I could see had the look of Tories; and all are supplied with weapons.” “And Seth Hastings?” Archie asked eagerly. “Ay, he is there, and on such good terms with the three redcoats that I can well believe he was their companion in the flight.” It now seemed a simple thing for us to get possession of that villainous cur. He had most like been with the enemy we last met, and fled with his present companions to this place in the thicket, which it was reasonable to suppose they had come upon by chance. It was easy to guess that the old negro knew of our being at the Davis plantation, and had given the information, whereupon Seth Hastings contrived the plan; a mighty poor one, as he would soon learn. Not until the other two scouts had come in and brought up their horses did we venture to make any move other than raise the question as to whether we had best not leave the animals where they were; but to this Master Sawyer dissented, giving as his reason: “I have always found that the more quickly you can come upon your enemy, and the better equipped you are for chasing him, the more chances there are of making a capture. Therefore if the trail be broad enough, let us ride.” I shall always regret our having followed Master Sawyer’s advice on that occasion, for had we dismounted and crept up as would have been possible, then was Seth Hastings made prisoner beyond a peradventure, and thus one precious life would have been saved to the Carolinas and to the Minute Boys.