"Stop!" he cried, but the negro came thundering blindly on, as though he meant to ride down anything in his way. Firefly swerved aside, and Ephraim shot by, pulling in with both hands and shouting:
"Marse Erskine! Yassuh, yassuh! Thank Gawd you'se come." When he wheeled he came back at a gallop--nor did he stop.
"Come on, Marse Erskine!" he cried. "No time to waste. Come on, suh!"
With a few leaps Firefly was abreast, and neck and neck they ran, while the darky's every word confirmed the instinct and reason that had led Erskine where he was.
"Yassuh, Miss Barbary gwine to run away wid dat mean white man. Yassuh, dis very night."
"Dis mawnin'. He been pesterin' her an' pleadin' wid her all day an' she been cryin' her heart out, but Mammy say she's gwine wid him. 'Pears like she can't he'p herse'f."
"No, suh, he got an orficer an' four sojers wid him."
"He say as how dey was on a scoutin' party an' 'scaped."
"Does he know that Cornwallis has surrendered?"
"Oh, yassuh, he tol' Miss Barbary dat. Dat's why he says he got to git away right now an' she got to go wid him right now."
"Did he say anything about General Dale and Mr. Harry?"
"Yassuh, he say dat dey's all right an' dat dey an' you will be hot on his tracks. Dat's why Mammy tol' me to ride like de debbil an' hurry you on, suh." And Ephraim had ridden like the devil, for his horse was lathered with foam and both were riding that way now, for the negro was no mean horseman and the horse he had saved was a thoroughbred.
"Dis arternoon," the negro went on, "he went ovah to dat cabin I tol' you 'bout an' got dat American uniform. He gwine to tell folks on de way dat dem udders is his prisoners an' he takin' dem to Richmond. Den dey gwine to sep'rate an' he an' Miss Barbary gwine to git married somewhur on de way an' dey goin' on an' sail fer England, fer he say if he git captured folks'll won't let him be prisoner o' war--dey'll jes up an' shoot him. An' dat skeer Miss Barbary mos' to death an' he'p make her go wid him. Mammy heah'd ever' word dey say."
Erskine's brain was working fast, but no plan would come. They would be six against him, but no matter--he urged Firefly on. The red ball from which Ephraim had leaped had gone down now. The chill autumn darkness was settling, but the moon was rising full and glorious over the black expanse of trees when the lights of Red Oaks first twinkled ahead. Erskine pulled in.