incent's face, and the drawn expression of the mouth, how much he had
suffered.

"You have made so light of your wound that we have not thought of it
half as much as we ought to do, and you must have thought me terribly
heartless to be laughing and talking when you were in such pain. But it
will never do to go on like this; it is quite impossible for you to be
traveling so far without having your shoulder properly attended to."

"I should certainly be glad to have it looked to," Vincent replied. "I
don't know whether the bullet's there or if it has made its way out, and
if that could be seen to, and some splints or something of that sort put
on to keep things in their right place, no doubt I should be easier; but
I don't see how it is to be managed. At any rate, for the present we
must go on, and I would much rather that you said nothing about it.
There it is, and fretting over it won't do it any good, while if you
talk of other things I may forget it sometimes."

In two hours they came upon the railway, whose course lay diagonally
across that they were taking. They followed it until they caught sight
of the houses of Mount Pleasant, some two miles away, and then crossed
it. After walking some distance farther they came upon a small clearing
with a log-hut, containing apparently three or four rooms, in the
center.

"We had better skirt round this," Vincent suggested.

"No," Lucy said in a determined voice, "I have made up my mind I would
go to the first place we came to and see whether anything can be done
for you. I can see you are in such pain you can hardly walk, and it
will be quite impossible for you to go much further. They are sure to be
Confederates at heart here, and even if they will not take us in, there
is no fear of their betraying us; at any rate we must risk it."

Vincent began to remonstrate, but without paying any attention to him
the girl left the shelter of the trees and walked straight toward the
house. The others followed her. Vincent had opposed her suggestion, but
he had for some time acknowledged to himself that he could not go much
further. He had been trying to think what had best be done, and had
concluded that it would be safest to arrange with some farmer to board
Lucy and her nurse for a time, while he himself with Dan went a bit
farther; and then, if they could get no one to take them in, would camp
up in the woods and rest. He decided that in a day or two, if no
improvement took pla