tter,"
returned Ben, as he walked towards the cabin, and stationed himself at
the only window on that side of the building.

They listened for some time, and heard the voices of four different
white men, as they judged from their dialect.

"I done tole you I can't cross de riber to-night. We should all be
drownded, shore," replied an unmistakable negro.

CHAPTER XXVI

FOUR FUGITIVES FROM THE BATTLE-FIELD

The whinnying of a horse near the two wanderers attracted their
attention, and Fronklyn went over to look at the animal. He found four
of them hitched to the trees, all of them wearing cavalry saddles. The
sergeant still had his carbine slung at his back. He unslung the
firearm, thinking he might have occasion to use it. He knew the
lieutenant had reloaded his revolver after making with it the holes
across the board which had proved so serviceable to them.

In his report to the Confederate authorities at Richmond, General
Crittenden alludes to a battalion of cavalry, of which some officers
and privates were absent on furloughs, and of which all but about
twenty-five ran away. It is possible that the four troopers who were
trying to force the negro to ferry them over the river belonged to the
number.

"Cavalry," said the sergeant as he returned to the lieutenant.

"They have threatened to shoot the negro if he don't ferry them over to
Robertsport," added Deck, who had remained at the window of the shanty.
"They called him Cuffy; and when they threatened to kill him, he rushed
out of the house. I saw him go into the barn or outhouse in the rear.
The men lost sight of him when they followed him out, and perhaps
thinking he had gone to his boat, they went off in that direction. Let
us find the negro."

They went to the shanty, which did duty as a barn; but Cuffy had
concealed himself, and they could not find him. Deck called him by name
several times; and if the ferryman was not extremely stupid, he could
understand that neither his voice nor his speech was that of the
troopers.

"Who's dar?" responded the negro, after a long delay.

"Come out here, and we will help you out of your trouble," added Deck.

"Who be you uns?" inquired Cuffy, which proved later to be his real
surname.

"We are your friends."

"Whar dem sogers now?" asked the terrified ferryman.

"They moved off towards the river."

"Den dey done gone to steal my boat!" groaned the negro, coming out of
his hiding-place with a gun in