“What are they doing here?” Archie asked, as if he had forgotten we were on the road leading from Charleston, and Gabriel replied in a hoarse whisper: “The chances are they have been sent to Snow’s Island, or else are in pursuit of us.” “That last can hardly be true,” I said, again showing how simple I was. “The British commander would not think it necessary to send out so large a party for three unarmed boys.” “Ay, but suspecting, as they must if Seth Hastings told them my name, that we are bound for General Marion’s rendezvous, it would be only wise to send a sufficient force to capture all the rebels that might be found at the end of the journey.” With this Gabriel crept yet nearer the camp-fire, and we followed him, moving ever so slowly, but halting not until having come within twenty feet or less, when it was possible to distinguish some of the words which were spoken. As we lay there, hardly daring to breathe lest our presence should be betrayed, many of those who had been caring for the horses joined their comrades, and all appeared to be in the best of humor, but to our disappointment nothing was said regarding the purpose of their journey. Therefore we remained as much in the dark as before until suddenly there came between us and the glare of the camp-fire a figure which caused me to grip Gabriel’s arm fiercely even as Archie Gordon’s hand was pressing upon my shoulder as if he would bury his nails in my flesh. Little wonder was it that we were filled with both surprise and alarm at the sight of this newcomer, for he was none other than that villainous renegade, Seth Hastings! It needed now no word from the men to tell us why they were here. That Seth had explained who Gabriel was, there could be no question, and because the cur was ignorant of the fact that my mother and father had fled to General Marion’s plantation, he had supposed we were making directly for Snow’s Island. That the whelp had offered his services as guide there was not the slightest doubt in my mind, and yet even at that time, when my anger and surprise were so great as to be nearly overwhelming, I asked myself again and again why it was that he, who had professed friendship for all three of us lads, should be doing what was in his power to compass our death. He was pursuing us like an avenger, and yet, rack my brain as I might, I could think of no act, however trifling, which he might have construed as against himself. It was while I lay thus in a maze of perplexity, and perhaps fear, that Gabriel Marion pressed my hand significantly as he began to retrace his way through the bushes, and, as a matter of course, Archie and I followed, although it seemed to both of us at the time as if it were wiser to remain within sight of that villainous cur in the hope of putting a speedy end to his evil-doing. CHAPTER III RECRUITS