d another.

"String him up, along with the schoolmaster down at the Beekman place
to-morrow morning!" roared a third. All was wild commotion in a moment.
But in that moment Andy took his chances and made for the thicket, and
the hidden path over which he and Washington went that day that now
seemed so long ago. A man leaned from a horse and tried to clutch him,
lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. Confusion covered Andy's
dash.

"He's gone!" yelled the man who had fallen.

"Which way?" shouted several in response.

Which way? Aye, that was the query. Which way!

Andy made for the dry bed of the stream. No rustling leaves must betray
him. Not in flight was his safety now, but in silent hiding until
darkness should come. Down into the muddy pool of the once rushing
brook, rolled the boy. In the distance he heard:

"No trail here, my lord!" and he smiled grimly.

"Well, a lost lame rebel is of less account than the regiments ahead,"
shouted the Captain. "Bad luck to the young devil. Cut cross country and
try the river road!"

"They have an hour to the good!" thought Andy, as he remembered the
weary patriots and young Aaron Burr. Soon all was quiet, and with the
palpitating silence a new thought grew in Andy's brain. "Better string
him up to-morrow with the schoolmaster!" Whom did they mean!

"Schoolmaster! Spy!" The two words struck dully on the aching brain.
Suppose! Andy sat up and gazed wildly into the dense underbrush. "Could
it be?" But no; the idea was too horrible.

The long shadows began to creep among the rocks they loved so well.
Still Andy sat staring into the awful possibility that the words
conjured up.

"Schoolmaster! Spy!" He could stand it no longer. Cautiously he crept up
the bank. Through all the excitement he had clung to his crutch. It must
serve him well now. He set out determinedly toward the highway. Come
what might, he must reach the Beekman place as soon as possible, and he
hoped that the road was safe, owing to interest being centered
elsewhere. In this hope he was right. Below and above him, excitement
ran rife, but the highway seemed to belong to him alone.

CHAPTER VI

THEN MARCHED THE BRAVE

A terrible storm was coming up, after the sultry day. Andy's whole being
centered upon the thought that he must reach the Beekman Place; and the
coming storm might delay him. Only so far did it affect him. He felt no
hunger; it troubled him a little that his mother and Ruth