ween
the old corn-rows, and saw them quite distinctly. Mr. Hobson said he
would wait here for me."

"And he has kept his word, although he began to think you were never
coming back," replied a voice from the darkness. "Is this the friend who
helped you last night? I can just make out that there are three of
you."

If it had been daylight there is no telling how Rodney Gray would have
passed through the ordeal of shaking hands with a Union man who was
suspected of being concerned in the "taking off" of some prominent
secessionists in his settlement. It was a large, muscular hand that
grasped his own, and Rodney knew that there was a big man behind it. He
knew, too, that Mr. Hobson (that was the name by which the stranger was
introduced) had no reason for supposing that he was anything but what
Tom Percival represented him to be--a Union boy who had run away from
home and come up North because his relatives were all secessionists and
opposed to his Union principles. That was about the story Tom Percival
had told Merrick, and it was reasonable to suppose that he had told Mr.
Hobson and his fellow fugitives the same. Indeed he became sure of it a
moment later, for Mr. Hobson said, while he continued to hold fast to
Rodney's hand and shake it:

"So it seems that we Missourians are not the only ones who have to stand
persecution because we believe in upholding the Stars and Stripes. I
have heard something of your history from our young friend Percival, and
assure you that I sympathize with you deeply. I want to compliment you
on the courage and skill you showed in helping him escape from those
guerrillas last night."

"It is hardly worth speaking of," answered Rodney, as soon as he could
collect his wits. "Tom would have done the same for me."

"I am sure he would, but it was none the less a brave act on your part.
Now let us go to camp. If I don't get back pretty soon my friends will
wonder what has become of me. By the way, didn't I hear a body of men
riding along the road going west, a short time since?"

Merrick replied that they were some of Thompson's men, who probably
thought it safer to keep to the big road than it would be to attempt to
capture half a dozen well-armed Union men in a dark swamp. Hobson and
his party were not likely to be molested, but still Merrick thought it
would be best for them to remain concealed a while longer, and depend
upon him for their provisions and news. Merrick did not forget to t