"I don't think you'll be disturbed tonight, after the failure the riders made last night. There's an old sayin' that lightnin' seldom strikes twice in the same place." "But night-riders may," insisted Sophronia. "I doubt it. Even if they should come, they wouldn't want _you_. I really don't know of but one person that does," Billy added with an engagingly meaning look. "I could name half a dozen, at least," retorted Sophronia, with a coquettish toss of her head, as her cavalier assisted her to mount. Sally was most glad to see her visitors, for she earnestly hoped through Sophronia or her beau, at least, to learn something of Milton Derr--whether there were any rumors of his being hurt, or if either of them had seen him since yesterday. If not, it augered ill for the owner of the blood-stained hat which had been picked up in the road near the toll-house. Finally, when her mother had gone out of the room, Sally hurriedly asked concerning the young man, and on learning that he had not been seen, she added that she had an important message for him, and asked Billy to tell him so within the next day or two, if possible. That night in the privacy of her room, and under a promise of the deepest secrecy on Sophronia's part, Sally confided to her bosom friend the besetting fear that Milt had been wounded the night before. "Try and see him for me. If he's much hurt, let me know at once, but if he isn't, tell him to leave here as quickly as possible, that he is strongly suspected of being a raider, and to go away before any arrests are made. Tell him to go at once." "How did you find out about the night-riders coming?" asked Sophronia. "Through Squire Bixler. He's got a spy that's keeping him posted, and, I believe, this spy told him they would come last night." "How do you know there's a spy?" asked her friend thoughtfully. "I overheard him talking to the Squire one day when I was hid behind the stone wall that runs along the pike," and straightway the girl related the whole occurrence to her friend. "It's a hatched-up plot between the Squire and this man to get Milt into trouble," she added in conclusion. "Didn't you see who the other man was?" asked Sophronia, beginning to connect this fact with some other circumstances in her mind, as links are added to a chain. "No I was afraid to peep over the fence for fear they might see me." "Could it have been Jade Beddow?" "No, I would have known his voice. It wasn't him, I'm certain of that. There was something about the man's voice that held a familiar sound, as if I had heard it before, but I can't place it." "Do you think you would recognize it if you should hear it again?" "Yes, I'm sure I should." "Then I b'lieve I can run that spy to the ground," said Sophronia decisively. "I believe I know the man an' the place where he's buried the money he got for tellin' on the raiders." "You don't say!" cried Sally, in open-eyed wonder.