“Then, if you are right, are we like to find Wyoming Fort” (by which I meant the Wilkesbarre stockade) “in the same condition, and we would be no better off to go there.” “Our course lies across the river,” Master Bartlett said, decidedly, “and there is no reason why we should linger here any longer than may be necessary for you to regain your strength.” “Then let our stay be short, if it rests with me,” Giles March said, quickly. “I am as fit for a tramp or a swim now as I ever shall be; but first we must go farther down the river, in order to give the slip to those who were hunting us as if we were wild ducks.” He had no more than spoken, when we were startled into silence by hearing in the distance a noise such as might have been made by a large animal forcing his way through the thicket, and straightway Master Bartlett whispered: “Those who were hunting us like wild ducks have taken up the scent in right good shape. Unless we can bar these gates, it is a matter of skulking in the woods, with the chances against us.” Even the old man made a mistake when he proposed that we take refuge there, nor were Giles and I any the wiser, for, springing into the enclosure, we set about swinging the heavy barricades of logs into place, and fastening them with the bars which yet remained near at hand. Then it was, while we were waiting breathlessly to learn if those who were on our trail would discover the refuge, that I began to realize what had been done. We were without weapons, already nearly starved, and had shut ourselves in this place like rats in a trap. If, peradventure, those who were coming got an inkling of our situation, and it stood to reason they would know we could have no firearms after taking to the river, our capture would be but the work of a few moments. Even while such thoughts were in my mind, it was possible to hear footsteps, and now and then a smothered exclamation, as those who were advancing tripped or fell, and Master Bartlett gripped my arm in a manner which told that he had come to understand much the same as had I. Then we heard from the outside the same voices which had come to our ears from the river: “You were right, Sam; the rebels decided that they could hold this place, and mayhap there are more inside than the three whom we have followed.” “It won’t take long to smoke them out,” another voice replied, and the first speaker said: “There is no need of running our noses into danger when the work can be done safely. Go back for half a dozen more men,--tell them there is rare sport to be had here, and in the meanwhile we’ll see to it the cubs don’t give us the slip.” “We have made fools of ourselves,” Master Bartlett whispered, “and I am the one who is to blame for our getting into this trap. An idiot should have had better sense than to have walked in here, knowing he was being followed.”