oesn't the chief hurry the men, and why doesn't the
enemy follow them at a rush? I want to be stirring; I want to go."

"Well done, young hurry-me-up!" chuckled Serge. "That's all very
pretty. You want this and you want that, and you want to be racing the
ponies along and making the chariot rock and the wheels spin round, till
bump, crash, one of the wheels flies off or drops to pieces, over goes
the car, sending you yesterday and me to-morrow, and the driving boy
with his head knocked off, while the poor ponies stand staring and
broken-winded, and no message taken to the master."

"What are you talking about, Serge?" cried Marcus, angrily.

"You, boy, and what you want to do," growled the old man. "That's not
the way to carry a despatch, and if we are going to get where we want,
it will have to be slow and sure. It will be all very well going to the
heads of the ponies as soon as the way's clear and leading them in and
out amongst the rocks, so that if any of the enemy sees us he'll think
we are sneaking away; but when that's done and we are clear of the
enemy, what then?"

"Why, we must gallop off," cried Marcus, excitedly. "This is not a time
for your slow and sure."

"Oh, arn't it?" grumbled Serge. "Then you want to gallop right away at
once, do you?"

"Of course."

"Which way? What way? And how?"

"What are you talking about?" cried Marcus.

"You know, and yet you don't know. Where's our army? Haven't we got to
find the track they left?"

"Of course."

"Yes, of course, boy, but where's the beginning of it?" growled Serge,
as he made a comprehensive motion, sweeping round one hand. "There will
be no one to ask, for the country will be cleared--all the fighting men
gone to the wars, all the women and children and old folk hiding among
the mountains. Our army will have made a clean sweep of everything, and
we have got to eat. It all sounds very nice, my boy, but to go off at a
gallop such as you speak of means riding to nowhere, and the army never
found."

"Oh, Serge, don't talk like that."

"Must, boy. We will gallop when we can, but lots of the time we shall
pretty well have to crawl."

"Oh!" groaned Marcus, as he felt the truth of the old soldier's words.

"There, don't make a noise like that, but look round here and see what's
going on. It's a sight, boy, such as you may never see again."

"I can't stand and look at sights," cried the boy, angrily.

"But you must. It's part o