There were men closely watching the building from the moment darkness closed over the scene.  Had Sterry attempted to steal along the side of the house and then dodge away, he would have been detected and halted at once.  On the contrary, he moved with his usual gait in a diagonal direction toward the stables.  His object was to learn the likeliest method of leaving the place.

He had perhaps walked fifty feet, when some one advanced from the gloom and called, in an undertone: 

“Halloo, who is that?”

“It’s I, Smith; who are you?”

The name, of course, was a venture, but it was not uncommon, as the reader knows, and more likely to be right than any other.  The best of it was, it seemed to satisfy the other, who, without announcing his own, asked: 

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve been looking around to see what I could learn.”

“Anything new?”

“No, not as far as I can discover; they seem to have a light burning in there, but are waiting for us.”

“I wonder they didn’t give you a shot; Vesey says they are desperate, and he brought back word that they would shoot the first of us seen prowling about the place.  I wonder you didn’t catch it.”

“I took good care.  When do you suppose the fight will open?”

“Pretty soon; I s’pose you are as tired of this dallying as the rest of us.”

“Well, it strikes me as best to wait until sure everything is ready.”

Sterry was anxious to end this pointless conversation, for the stranger had approached quite near and peered into his face, as though not free from suspicion.  The darkness was deep, but on the other side of the ridge a small fire was burning, from fragments brought from the stables.  Of this the adventurer meant to keep clear at all hazards.  More than one rustler knew him intimately, and it might be that he to whom he was talking was an old acquaintance and enemy.

How Sterry longed for the presence of Vesey!

In a natural manner he sauntered up the ridge, as if his intention was to return to the camp-fire, that being the course most likely to dissipate any misgiving on the part of the other.

The latter made no response, and Sterry kept on, thinking: 

“I’m rid of him, any way, and ought to have less trouble with others that may wish to ask questions.”

But, glancing over his shoulder, he was startled to observe that the man, instead of moving off, as he had supposed, was standing motionless in the gloom, as if studying him.

“By gracious!” concluded the youth, “he must have noticed my voice, for, not knowing Smith, how could I imitate it?”

The situation would have made any one uneasy, but he did not hasten nor retard his footsteps until he reached the top of the ridge, and was able to observe the camp-fire clearly.

It was small, as has been said, but five or six figures were lolling about it, smoking, talking, and passing the dismal hours as inclination prompted.  Other forms were moving hither and thither, some of them quite close to where Sterry had halted, though none paid him any attention.