but the river is full and of
considerable width; still, I think I can get across. But my boy cannot
swim a stroke."

"I know where there is a boat hid in the wood near the river," the girl
said. "It belongs to a neighbor of ours, and when the Yankees seized the
boats he had his hauled up and hidden in the woods. He was a Southerner,
heart and soul, and thought that he might be able sometimes to take
useful information across the river to our people; but a few weeks
afterward his house was attacked by one of these bands--it was always
said it was that of Mullens--and he was killed, defending it to the
last. He killed several of the band before he fell, and they were so
enraged that, after plundering it, they set it on fire and fastened the
door, and his wife and two maidservants were burned to death."

"I wish instead of throwing his pistol out of the window, I had blown
his brains out with it," Vincent said; "and I would have done so, if I
had known what sort of fellow he was. However, as to the boat, can you
give me instructions where to find it, and is it light enough for two
men to carry?"

"Not to carry, perhaps, but to push along. It is a light boat he had for
pleasure. He had a large one, but that was carried away with the
others. I cannot give you directions, but I can lead you to the place."

"I should not like you to do that," Vincent said. "We might be caught,
and your share in the affair might be suspected."

"Oh there is no fear of that," the girl said; "besides, I am not afraid
of danger."

"I don't think it is right, Miss Kingston, for a young lady like you to
be living here alone with an old servant in such times as these. You
ought to go into a town until it's all over."

"I have no one to go to," the girl said simply. "My father bought this
place and moved here from Georgia only six years ago, and all my friends
are in that State. Except our neighbors round here I do not know a soul
in Tennessee. Besides, what can I do in a town? We can manage here,
because we have a few fowls, and some of our neighbors last spring
plowed an acre or two of ground and planted corn for us, and I have a
little money left for buying other things; but it would not last us a
month if we went into a town. No, I have nothing to do but to stay here
until you drive the Yankees back. I will willingly take you down to the
boat to-night. Chloe can come with us and keep me company on the way
back. Of course it would not be sa