Having said this, I also mounted, to show my readiness to set off without further delay, and old Peter needed no words to tell him that the moment had come when he was to act the part of guide in good truth. Therefore he set off in advance, striking directly into the undergrowth, where our horses, although finding some difficulty in making their way, managed to maintain a fairly good rate of speed during two hours, when we came upon the Santee road, much to my surprise, for I had fancied the distance to be greater. Once upon the highway, Gabriel leaped from the saddle and began tearing the one blanket which he carried into strips, as if he had suddenly lost his senses. “We must do what we may toward muffling the sound of the horses’ hoofs on the beaten road,” he said hurriedly, and in a twinkling all three of us began the same task, for there was no need of further explanation. Within ten minutes, for we worked to disadvantage in the night, having no cord with which to tie the muffling on the horses’ feet, and then as fast as the steeds could be urged forward, for the woollen foot-covering crippled them to a certain extent, we rode toward the ferry, breathing quick with the excitement of the moment, because each step was bringing us nearer to a possible encounter, when the odds would be heavily against us. As nearly as I could judge, there were yet two hours of the night remaining, and it seemed to me as if we were in a fair way of accomplishing our purpose, when suddenly, and at the very moment while I was congratulating myself upon Gabriel’s foresight in hastening matters as he had, there came from the bushes on the side of the road fifty paces or more in advance of us, the thrilling cry: “Halt, or we shall fire!” Following this could be heard sounds of command, as if the unseen speaker was stationing a heavy force on either side of the road to enforce his demands. On the instant my heart sank like lead, for I had no doubt but that we had come upon a considerable body of the enemy. It was reasonable to suppose that he who had spoken was the leader of the same party we had spied upon, and a similar thought must have been in Gabriel Marion’s mind, for I heard him cry half to himself: “What stupids we were to so miscalculate the location of the halting-place!” As a matter of course we obeyed the command on the instant, there being nothing else left to do, for our party of four would have shown themselves little less than idiots to have made any attempt at riding down so formidable a body as was apparently directly in advance of us, and flight seemed equally fruitless. As I pulled my horse to a standstill there came to my eyes a picture of the prison-ships as I had seen them lying at anchor in Charleston harbor, and I could have cried aloud in grief because of this sudden end which was put to our undertaking.