g off. The side
road did not appear, and Malinkoff grew more and more apprehensive.
There were no lights ahead, as there should be if he were approaching
the village. Once he thought he saw dark figures crouching close to the
ground as the car passed, but put this down to nerves. Five hundred
yards beyond, he discovered that his eyes had not deceived him. A red
light appeared in the centre of the road, and against the skyline--for
they were ascending a little incline at the moment--a number of dark
figures sprang into view.

The chauffeur brought the car to a halt with a jerk, only just in time,
for his lamps jarred against the pole which had been placed across the
road.

Malcolm had drawn his revolver, but the odds were too heavy, besides
which, in bringing his car to a standstill, the driver had shut off his
engine and the last hope of bunking through had disappeared.

A man carrying a red lamp came to the side of the car, and flashed the
light of a torch over the occupants.

"One, two, three, four," he counted. "There should be five."

He peered at them separately.

"This is the aristocrat general, this is the American revolutionary,
this is the woman. There is also a criminal. Did any man jump out?" he
asked somebody in the darkness, and there was a chorus of "No!"

Footsteps were coming along the road; the guard which had been waiting
to close them in from the rear, was now coming up. The man with the
lamp, who appeared to be an officer, made a circuit of the car and
discovered the carrier seat, but its occupant had vanished.

"There was a man here, you fools," he shouted. "Search the road; he
cannot have gone far. Look!"

He put the light on the road.

"There are his boots. You will find him amongst the bushes. Search
quickly."

Malcolm, at the girl's side, put his arm about her shoulder.

"You are not afraid?" he said gently, and she shook her head.

"I do not think I shall ever be afraid again," she replied. "I have
faith in God, my dear. Cherry has escaped?" she asked.

"I think so," he replied in a guarded tone. "He must have seen the
soldiers and jumped. They have just found his boots in the roadway."

The officer came back at that moment.

"You have weapons," he said. "Give them to me."

It would have been madness to disobey the order, and Malcolm handed over
his revolver and Malinkoff followed suit. Not satisfied with this, the
man turned them out in the road whilst he conducted a searc