Zelda and her uncle reined in their horses and viewed the tranquil beauty of the scene with satisfaction. Farm hands were clearing a bit of land farther down-stream and their voices rose in the quiet air. Merriam suggested that the men were skirmishers and that an army lay behind them and would soon swing into view.
“What a place this is for a little artillery work,” he continued. “Those fellows are marching up the river--foolish too, to get caught in a place like that, with a bluff on one side and a river on the other.”
“But they could cross the river,--the gentlemen on horseback, whatever you call them.”
“Beg pardon, sir!” She lifted her hand to her riding hat. “It’s an awfully poor little stream. The foot soldiers could walk across.”
“There’s a courier now, just riding down to the water.”
Merriam pointed across the river. A horseman appeared there suddenly, glancing up and down the little valley. He had left the town road and followed a faint fisherman’s trail to the water.
“He’d be an easy mark for a sharp-shooter,” Merriam remarked.
“Too easy. There wouldn’t be anything very splendid in murdering a man that way. You have to slay them in bunches to make it glorious. He’s probably a farmer looking for his cows.”
“Wrong again. He’s in proper riding clothes, I should say.”
“He’s going to spoil them, _I_ should say!”
The horseman had forced his reluctant mount to the water’s edge.
Merriam looked down with a professional eye. The horse was acting badly, and the rider was urging it with voice and spur. In a moment the splashing of the water could be heard plainly by the spectators. The stream was of uneven depth, and the horse lost its footing for a few yards but swam boldly on.
“By Jove! That fellow knows his business,” ejaculated Merriam.
The rider had got out of the stirrups and was standing on his saddle crouching low over the horse, which for a minute was submerged.
“He must be a circus performer,” declared Zelda.
“No; the government has a school on the Hudson where they teach tricks like that.”
“Oh, a West Pointer! But what’s he doing here?”
“Let’s get out of this,” said the old gentleman, tightening the hold on his reins and ignoring her question.
He had been watching the horseman closely and his keen old eyes had recognized an acquaintance.