other feller, an' him a buck
Injin. Wall, wall, wall, that's the way it do go! Of all the livin'
things upon top o' this yere globe, the mos' onsartin',
crinkety-crankety an' slippery thing is a young 'oman 'at knows she's
poorty an' 'at every other man in the known world is blind stavin'
crazy in love wi' 'er, same as you are. She'll drop ye like a hot tater
'fore ye know it, an' 'en look at ye jes' pine blank like she never
knowed ye afore in her life. It's so, Lieutenant, shore's ye'r born. I
know, for I've tried the odd number of 'em, an' they're all jes' the
same."

By this time Beverley's ears were deaf to Oncle Jazon's querulous,
whining voice, and his thoughts once more followed his wistful gaze
across the watery plain to where the low roofs of the creole town
appeared dimly wavering in the twilight of eventide, which was fast
fading into night. The scene seemed unsubstantial; he felt a strange
lethargy possessing his soul; he could not realize the situation. In
trying to imagine Alice, she eluded him, so that a sort of cloudy void
fell across his vision with the effect of baffling and benumbing it. He
made vain efforts to recall her voice, things that she had said to him,
her face, her smiles; all he could do was to evoke an elusive,
tantalizing, ghostly something which made him shiver inwardly with a
haunting fear that it meant the worst, whatever the worst might be.
Where was she? Could she be dead, and this the shadowy message of her
fate?

Darkness fell, and a thin fog began to drift in wan streaks above the
water. Not a sound, save the suppressed stir of the camp, broke the
wide, dreary silence. Oncle Jazon babbled until satisfied that Beverley
was unappreciative, or at least unresponsive.

"Got to hev some terbacker," he remarked, and shambled away in search
of it among his friends.

A little later Clark approached hastily and said:

"I have been looking for you. The march has begun. Bowman and
Charleville are moving; come, there's no time to lose."

CHAPTER XVIII

A DUEL BY MOONLIGHT

When Hamilton, after running some distance, saw that he was gaining
upon Alice and would soon overtake her, it added fresh energy to his
limbs. He had quickly realized the foolishness of what he had done in
visiting the room of his prisoner at so late an hour in the night. What
would his officers and men think? To let Alice escape would be
extremely embarrassing, and to be seen chasing her would give good