They were pushing their way through the bushes, when Frank suddenly stopped. "Hush!" he said. Willy halted and listened. "There they are." From a little distance to one side, in the direction of the path they had just left, they heard the trampling of a number of horses' feet. "That's not our men," said Willy. "Hugh and the General haven't any horses." "No; that's the Yankees," said Frank. "Let's lie down. They may hear us." The boys flung themselves upon the ground and almost held their breath until the horses had passed out of hearing. "Do you reckon they are hunting for us?" asked Willy in an awed whisper. "No, for Hugh and the General. Come on." They rose, went tipping a little deeper into the pines, and again made their way toward the cave. "Maybe they've caught 'em," suggested Willy. "They can't catch 'em in these pines," replied Frank. "You can't see any distance at all. A horse can't get through, and the General and Hugh could shoot 'em, and then get away before they could catch 'em." They hurried on. "Frank, suppose they take us for Yankees?" Evidently Willy's mind had been busy since Frank's last speech. "They aren't going to shoot _us_," said Frank; but it was an unpleasant suggestion, for they were not very far from the dense clump of pines between two gullies, which the boys called their cave. "We can whistle," he said, presently. "Won't Hugh and the General think we are enemies trying to surround them?" Willy objected. The dilemma was a serious one. "We'll have to crawl up," said Frank, after a pause. And this was agreed upon. They were soon on the edge of the deep gully which, on one side, protected the spot from all approach. They scrambled down its steep side and began to creep along, peeping over its other edge from time to time, to see if they could discover the clearing which marked the little green spot on top of the hill, where once had stood an old cabin. The base of the ruined chimney, with its immense fire-place, constituted the boys' "cave." They were close to it, now, and felt themselves to be in imminent danger of a sweeping fusillade. They had just crept up to the top of the ravine and were consulting, when some one immediately behind them, not twenty feet away, called out: "Hello! What are you boys doing here? Are you trying to capture us?" They jumped at the unexpected voice. The General broke into a laugh. He had been sitting on the ground on the other side of the declivity, and had been watching their manoeuvres for some time. He brought them to the house-spot where Hugh was asleep on the ground; he had been on watch all the morning, and, during the General's turn, was making up for his lost sleep. He was soon wide awake enough, and he and the General, with appetites bearing witness to their long fast, were without delay engaged in disposing of the provisions which the boys had brought.