the most extreme care, to avoid displacing a stone. He
found the path was excessively steep and rugged, little more, indeed,
than a sheep track. It took him half an hour to reach the bottom, and
he found that, in some places, sappers had been lately at work
obliterating the path, and that it could scarcely be considered
practicable for men hampered with their arms and ammunition.

Another half hour's work took him to the top again, and a few minutes
later he rejoined his companion.

"That won't do," he said. "We must try again. There is a path, but the
troops could scarcely climb it if unopposed, and certainly could not do
so without making such a noise as would attract the notice of the
sentinels above."

"That is the battery they call Sillery," the midshipman said. "They
have fired at us over and over again from there, as we went up or down
the river. There is another about a mile further on. It is called
Samos."

Upon reaching the Samos battery, James again crept up and reconnoitred.
The way down, however, was even more difficult than at Sillery. There
was, indeed, no regular path, and so steep was the descent that he
doubted whether it would be possible for armed men to climb it. Even
he, exceptionally strong and active as he was, and unencumbered with
arms, had the greatest difficulty in making his way down and up again
and, indeed, could only do so by grasping the trunks of trees and
strong bushes.

"It can't be done there," he said to the midshipman when he joined him
again. "And now we must look for a hiding place. We must have been five
or six hours since we started, and the nights are very short. At any
rate, we cannot attempt another exploration before morning."

"I wish we could explore the inside of a farm house and light upon
something to eat and drink," the midshipman said.

"It's no use wishing," James replied. "We can't risk anything of that
sort and, probably, all the farm houses are full of troops. We have got
a little bread left. That will hold us over tomorrow comfortably."

"It may hold us," Middleton said; "but it certainly won't hold me
comfortably. My idea of comfort, at the present time, would be a round
of beef and a gallon of ale."

"Ah! You are an epicure," James laughed. "If you had had three or four
years of campaigning in the forest, as I have had, you would learn to
content yourself on something a good deal less than that."

"I might," the boy said; "but I have my doubts abo