make it, and be at our meeting place
when I arrived, but how he could possibly do so was in a realm beyond my
comprehension.

When the evening star sank and touched the forest I quietly left our
camp. The night air was delightfully mellow, but my soul, my nerves, my
determination were as cold as the long blade of my knife. In our present
days of railroads, telegraphs and institutions of learning I was merely
a chap setting out to take a girl from a den of rogues; but in this
night-bathed Florida wilderness civilization had been stripped to the
bone. I was a man going forth to steal a female--I had come from my lair
at dusk, set off with a snarl on my lips and a firm grip upon my stone
axe; so completely dominated by this feeling that human pawns who might
stand in the way would be of no more consequence than ants.

From the lighter prairie I cautiously approached the black shadows of
the forest, made impenetrably dark by a network of branches and a mat of
leaves which no ray from the half grown moon could pierce. As I was
about to enter Smilax arose from the ground in front of me.

"Good," he whispered. "We rest li'l while; then go fix 'em."

CHAPTER XVII

THE RESCUE

We lay in silence till at last, faintly, came the call of post one. I
listened, trying to catch the quality of his voice, knowing I soon
should have to imitate it. To the call of the next man I also listened.
The third did not concern us more than to know he was on duty. No others
called, so the guard had not been strengthened. These voices seemed to
arouse Smilax, for he raised himself up on one elbow, whispering:

"What time they say?"

"Ten o'clock," I answered.

"Good. We fix 'em 'leven; come."

So the game was on! I followed silently--and savagely; for, as I have
said, the human pawns who stood between me and my maid held no more
value than the ants.

For about ten minutes our progress went reasonably well, then Smilax
slowed to a pace of extreme caution and finally sank to his hands and
knees. In this manner we crawled a few hundred yards farther.

"Here your place," he put his lips close to my ear and whispered. "First
man not ve'y far; straight. You find out when he call once more, or
flash light. Watch when Two man call so you know where go next. No let
'em call 'leven. Good. Me go now." And he was off like a snake to take
up a position behind post two.

I felt about me and, finding the ground clear of any growth that might