"At Cherry Valley," he replied, as if a journey there and back was the most simple thing imaginable. "Meanin' that you have been home since the night you left the cave?" I repeated, in astonishment. "Ay, no less than that." "But why did you do it?" I cried, speaking so loudly as to call forth a warning groan from Sergeant Corney. "Because I believed it might be possible for you to escape, providin' we had help enough near at hand," he replied, and I said, even more mystified than before: "Surely you could not expect to get help for us from Cherry Valley?" "Ay; and that is just what I did." "Is my uncle here?" "No, indeed; he believed my scheme to be so wild that he would hardly listen to me, and said you three had the same as come to your death already, therefore it was useless to raise a finger in your behalf while there were so many hundred people near at hand needin' assistance." "Who then did you expect would come to our aid?" I asked, and Jacob replied, with what sounded very like a chuckle of satisfaction: "Who else, save the Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley?" But for the rawhide ropes which held me so cruelly immovable, I would have leaped to my feet in astonishment; as it was, I involuntarily gave so violent a start as to cause myself considerable pain, and then asked, in great heat: "Why do you play upon our hopes, so lately raised, by declaring that the company of lads is here?" "Not a bit of play about it, Noel," Jacob replied, in so cheery a tone that my heart became wondrously light. "Four an' twenty of our company, with John Sammons still acting as captain, are within an hundred yards of this lodge, an', what is more, we count on takin' you away with us before another day shall dawn." Then it was as if Jacob believed he had satisfied our curiosity so much as was necessary at such a time, for without delay he moved from one to the other, deftly cutting the rawhide which held us motionless, and three minutes had not elapsed from the time he first showed himself inside the lodge until our limbs were freed. We were no longer bound, but yet remained helpless. I could move neither hand nor foot, struggle as I might. It was as if my limbs were dead while my body yet remained alive; but Jacob, who had in his wild plan considered just such a probability, set about chafing my arms and legs until the feeling began to return. He performed the same office for Sergeant Corney, I aiding in the task before it was finished; but a good ten minutes elapsed before we had command of our limbs, and then it was that even Master Sitz began to believe it might be possible for us to escape from the encampment.