"Dr. Sitgreaves has gone down the road to meet him, I know.
What is that glittering in the moon?"
Directly opposite the window where they stood, were the outbuildings of
the farm, and the quick eye of Lawton caught at a glance the object to
which she alluded.
"'Tis the glare of firearms," said the trooper, springing from the
window towards his charger, which yet remained caparisoned at the door.
His movement was quick as thought, but a flash of fire was followed by
the whistling of a bullet, before he had proceeded a step. A loud shriek
burst from the dwelling, and the captain sprang into his saddle; the
whole was the business of but a moment.
"Mount--mount, and follow!" shouted the trooper; and before his
astonished men could understand the cause of alarm, Roanoke had carried
him in safety over the fence which lay between him and his foe. The
chase was for life or death, but the distance to the rocks was again too
short, and the disappointed trooper saw his intended victim vanish in
their clefts, where he could not follow.
"By the life of Washington," muttered Lawton, as he sheathed his saber,
"I would have made two halves of him, had he not been so nimble on the
foot--but a time will come!" So saying, he returned to his quarters,
with the indifference of a man who knew his life was at any moment to be
offered a sacrifice to his country.
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