"You'll have a time of it," he said dryly. "Smarter fellows than you have been trying to get out of Boston and into Boston all day long, and have made a failure of it. You'll have to go back. We have something to say on this side of the creek, and it's no thoroughfare for anybody this route, for to-night, at least." "We are especially sent to one certain person," said Phil, "and maybe that will make a difference." "Who is it?" inquired the sentinel. "Mr. Jewett." "Who sent you?" Phil told as much in explanation as he thought necessary. "You tell a pretty straight story," said the sentry. "If you're up to any tricks, it won't pay you. Who's that with you, or a little behind you, as you came up the path?" "With us?" exclaimed Phil. "Why nobody." "Yes, there was," declared the sentry. "Some one was dodging along after you. I saw him plainly." "I don't see him now," said Phil, peering sharply back the course they had come, "and it seems impossible that any one would be following us." "Well, he's disappeared now," said the sentry. "It may have been one of our other sentinels. Go ahead. Keep right on this path till you reach the mill. Don't leave it to do any prying." "Why should we?" demanded Andy, who didn't like the preemptory ways of their challenger. "Well, just don't, that's all," continued the sentry. "You may get into trouble if you do. The bushes have eyes and ears around here just now, and we don't want any interfering. You had better get through with Jewett soon as you can, and make your break for Boston lively, for, if the signs don't fail, before another night there may be a heavy rain." "Not with that wind," innocently declared Ralph, who from his sailor experience prided himself on being an expert weather prophet. "Ha! ha!" laughed the sentry. "Not the kind of rain you mean, my lad--this will be a rain of leaden bullets." The boys passed on. They did not even converse now for there was a sort of gruesome spell over each. Their nerves were on a strain, for every bush they passed might conceal a sentry. They passed a hut with no lights or sign of life about it. Near to it and about one hundred feet from the path was a barn. "Some one is in there," said Andy. "I can see a light through the chinks." "Come on, Andy," directed Phil. "Yes, better try, no snooking around," advised Ralph. "That sentry told us to follow our noses, straight." But Andy was persistent. He deviated from the regular path, and the others, irresistibly influenced by his leadership and curiosity, kept pace with him. They came up against the side of the barn, where a long wide crack showed between two shrunken planks.