"There's no telling who may be on the watch," said he, "or whether all our blacks are as loyal as they pretend to be. And, boys, don't say a word in Tom's hearing about showing the Yanks the way to the river. He'll take it for granted, of course, that somebody is going to do it, but we'll make it hard for him to prove it on any of us."
Rodney did not waste many minutes in comparing notes with Mrs. Griffin (he already knew everything she could have told him), but threw his overcoat across his arm and motioned to Ned to go ahead with the basketful of things that had been provided for the fugitives' dinner. It took them three-quarters of an hour to reach the edge of the woods, so slow and cautious were they in their movements, and they found two of the soldiers at the fence waiting for them. Rodney and Dick recognized them on the instant, and shook hands with them through the fence as cordially as though they had always been the warmest of friends.
"Say," whispered Rodney, as soon as the greeting was over. "Call up the corporal and the other Yank. I have a few words to say to you that I don't want your prisoner to hear."
"Are you afraid of him, too?" asked one of the soldiers. "Then I can't understand why you are so anxious to have him go free. We can't leave him in camp alone, for if we do he'll run off."
"He hasn't the pluck to try it," said Ned, passing his basket over the fence. "But I'll stay with him. You are not afraid to trust me, I suppose, after allowing me to stand guard over him all night."
But Ned hadn't told of the astounding proposition Tom made while he was standing guard over him. That was something he kept to himself until he told his story in Mrs. Gray's dining room. He climbed the fence and disappeared in the woods, and presently the corporal and the "other Yank" came up.
"If anyone had told me that I'd ever shake hands with a rebel in this friendly way, I should have said he didn't know what he was talking about," said the corporal. "Johnny, how are you by this time? You and your chum must have got safe home or else you wouldn't be here. You know our story, of course, so there's no need of telling it over again."
"No need and no time," replied Rodney, "for you ought to be jogging along now. You've an open and dangerous country before you, and very likely every man in it is on the lookout for you."