“Thank you, Mike, for the courage you show, and the interest you take in all our welfares—­Is it not too soon to venture down upon the flats, Joel?  I must trust to you as a guide.”

“I think Miss Maud would do full as well if she did.  Mike must be told, too, not to talk so much, and above all, not to speak so loud.  He may be heard, sometimes, a dozen rods.”

“Tould!” exclaimed the county Leitrim-man, in heat—­“And isn’t tould I’ve been twenty times already, by your own smooth conversation?  Where’s the occasion to tell a thing over and over ag’in, when a man is not wanting in ears.  It’s the likes of you that loves to convarse.”

“Well, Mike, for my sake, you will be silent, I hope,” said Maud.  “Remember, I am not fitted for a battle, and the first thing is to get safely into the house.  The sooner we are down the hill, perhaps, the better it may be.  Lead the way, then, Joel, and I will follow.  Michael will go next to you, in readiness for any enemy, and I will bring up the rear.  It will be better for all to keep a dead silence, until it be necessary to speak.”

This arrangement was made, and the party proceeded, Maud remaining a little behind, in order that the major might catch glimpses of her person, in the sombre light of the hour and the forest, and not miss the road.  A few minutes brought them all upon the level land, where, Joel, instead of entering the open fields, inclined more into the woods, always keeping one of the many paths.  His object was to cross the rivulet under cover, a suitable place offering a short distance from the point where the stream glided out of the forest.  Towards this spot Joel quietly held his way, occasionally stopping to listen if any movement of importance had occurred on the flats.  As for Maud, her eyes were frequently cast behind her, for she was fearful Robert Willoughby might miss the path, having so little acquaintance with the thousand sinuosities he encountered.  She caught glimpses of his person, however, in the distance, and saw that he was on the right track.  Her chief concern, therefore, soon became an anxiety that he should not be seen by her companions.  As they kept a little in advance, and the underbrush was somewhat thick, she had strong hopes that this evil would be avoided.

The path being very circuitous, it took some time to reach the spot Joel sought.  Here he, Mike, and Maud, crossed the rivulet on a tree that had been felled expressly to answer the purposes of a rustic foot-bridge; a common expedient of the American forest.  As our heroine had often performed this exploit when alone, she required no assistance, and she felt as if half the danger of her critical situation had vanished, when she found herself on the same side of the stream as the Hut.  Joel, nothing suspecting, and keeping all his faculties on the sounds and sights that might occur in front, led the way diligently, and soon reached the verge of the woods.  Here he paused for his companions to join him.