Still on and on the horsemen rode, sometimes dropping into a slower gait, then spurring their horses anew, with never a jest as they rode along, nor a fling of laughter or song to the darkness--a shadowy, silent band with suggestion of deep-set purpose in the ominous quiet they maintained. When at last they swung around the curve of the pike and came in sight of the New Pike gate, the captain drew rein and called a brief halt. "Go forward!" he commanded, selecting Derr for the mission. "Let me go! I'm not afraid!" hastily cried another member of the band, as Milton hesitated and seemed on the point of refusing. It was Steve Judson who spoke, and there was a touch of eagerness in his voice as he made the request. "I have chosen the one to go," said the leader sternly. "If the gate is guarded, as he seems to think is the case, he is on better terms with the toll-takers an' their protectors than any of us." "Aw, let me go!" persisted Steve. "That's always been my duty, an' I'm not afraid to shirk it now. Send me ahead!" "You stay here!" commanded the captain decisively. "I've got other work for you when the time comes." "Go forward!" the captain continued, addressing Milt. "If you find the coast clear, ride on beyond the gate, then signal us, an' guard the road from that point." "I have told you that I believe the gate to be guarded," answered Derr quietly. "I have warned you that it was to be. Do you command me to ride into almost certain danger?" "If you know it to be guarded, you stand in no danger from your friends," answered the leader coldly. "If we find you have betrayed us you will stand in very great danger from your enemies." "I have not betrayed you, I have only warned you," insisted Milt. "Then you should be willing to share the danger with us. A brave man never fears danger if his duty demands it. Go!" "I will go, then, since you command it. Remember, though, comrades," he added, turning to the members of the band who were nearest to him, "if I fail to get back, my blood be upon this man!" He turned and rode quickly through the darkness toward the New Pike gate. [Illustration: HE TURNED AND RODE THROUGH THE DARKNESS.] CHAPTER XIV. On the Squire's return to town, zealously urged by his mission to warn the officers of the law of the intended attack on the New Pike gate, he felt that supreme elation of spirits belonging to a man who already scents splendid victory in the near future. Indeed, it promised to be a double one, for not only would he be enabled to strike an effective blow at the raiders, whose warfare on the toll-gates threatened him with a considerable financial loss, but he would also have it in his power to crush one whose ever-unwelcome presence in the neighborhood seemed likely to deprive the Squire of winning a wife.