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.

The boys were delighted with the mystery of their surroundings. Each
in turn took the General aside and held a long interview with him, and
gave him all their Cousin Belle's messages. No one had ever treated
them with such consideration as the General showed them. The two men
asked th