Only at this sign of danger did I realize that I had arisen without taking up the weapon which lay by my side when I fell asleep, and to correct such unsoldierly oversight I turned to get my musket, at the same time laying my hand over Gabriel’s mouth that he might not make an outcry as I awakened him. The dear lad struggled to rise on the instant, pressing my hand to show that he understood danger of some kind was near at hand, and as I released him he sprang lightly to his feet, musket in hand. Then, before I could pick up my gun, there came on the still air a cautious hiss like unto the noise which it is wrongly said is made by a serpent, and I wheeled about quickly, knowing that if those outlines I had seen were enemies, they surely would not be thus giving warning of their approach. Gabriel advanced a few paces, uttering the low hoot of an owl, and then assured that this announcement had been understood, three strangers advanced swiftly yet silently toward us. Before they were come up, however, I had my musket ready for immediate use in case it should so chance their intentions were not friendly; but such precaution was needless, for as the foremost of the strangers came near, Gabriel seized him by the hands. “Who is it?” I whispered with impatient curiosity, and Gabriel replied: “This is Jacob Breen, a neighbor of ours in St. John’s Parish, whom I would have gone in search of if we had had time on that day we stopped at my home.” “And with me are Henry Moulton and Jared Green,” the newcomer said in the faintest of whispers, adding immediately afterward, “Come farther back into the thicket, for yonder, where you may see that tiny flame, is encamped a squad of Britishers, who have with them a lad whom, if I mistake not, I have seen in Charleston.” “Seth Hastings!” burst from the lips of both Gabriel and me, and then he who was known as Jacob Breen proposed leaving our comrades peacefully sleeping, for so weary were the poor fellows that it would have required something more than a whispered conversation to have awakened them, while we five went forward. Not until we had walked two or three minutes, and then come upon a dense thicket, did we halt, when Gabriel squatted upon the ground, which movement we took as a token that we should follow his example, lest even in the gloom of the night our forms might be seen by some prowling enemy if we remained erect. There, huddled together like frightened sheep, we were completely hidden, and I asked, before any one else could speak, the question which had come to my mind when Gabriel spoke the name of Jacob Breen: “How did you come to find us in the darkness?” “We were riding from home, counting to gain Snow’s Island to-morrow morning, travelling at night rather than in the day because of knowing there were so many redcoats hereabout, when we came upon old Peter.” “Then you must have gone on to where the command is halted.”