reak up this
government; and if you persist in your efforts, you are going to get
whipped, as you ought to be. Hallo, Mr. Merrick," he added, stopping in
the door of the stable and trying to peer through the darkness. "Did you
hear those gentlemen asking for you a while ago?"

"I was listening," replied the farmer, with a chuckle. "But I
disremembered the voice. The feller talked as though he was holding a
handkercher or something over his mouth. How many of them was there? I
seen three."

"We didn't see any, for Mrs. Merrick wouldn't let us go to the door,"
replied Rodney. "She was the coolest one in the kitchen."

"She's got tol'able grit, Nance has," replied the farmer, and there was
just a tinge of pride in his tones when he said it. "I may happen over
t'other side the ridge some night, and then the tables will be turned
t'other way. Now, if you are ready, we'll make tracks for the swamp. The
way is clear. Thompson's men have give it up as a bad job and gone
home."

"Did they pass along the road?" exclaimed Rodney. "We never heard
them."

"I did, and seen 'em too. There was a right smart passel of 'em--more'n
enough to have made pris'ners of all the Union fellers in the swamp, if
they hadn't been afraid to face the rifles that them same Union men know
how to shoot with tol'able sure aim."

"Why is it necessary for them to hide out?" asked Rodney. "What have
they done?"

"I don't rightly know as I can tell you," replied the farmer, in a tone
which led the boy to believe that he could tell all about it if he felt
so disposed. "But it seems that some high-up Secesh has disappeared and
nobody don't know what's went with 'em; and some folks do say that them
fellers in the swamp had a hand in their taking off. I dunno, kase I
wasn't thar."

So saying, Merrick led the horse from the stable and the boys followed
without saying a word, for they were by no means sure that Thompson's
men had all gone away. They went through a wide field that had once been
planted to corn, and when they had passed a gap in the fence by which it
was surrounded, they found themselves in the edge of a thick wood.

"I don't see how you ever found your way through here alone," said
Rodney to his friend. "It is as dark as pitch."

"Oh, I wasn't alone. One of those Union men came with me as far as this
gap, and then I came on well enough," replied Tom. "It's a wonder those
horsemen didn't discover me. I threw myself flat on the ground bet