Harry thought hard and fast, while the two flags talked so contemptuously about him.  The fields were unquestionably deep with mud from the heavy rains, but he must try them.  It was lucky that he had seen the flags while both forces were out of rifle shot.  He decided for the western side, sprang from his horse and threw down a few rails.  In a half minute he was back on his horse, leaped him over the fence, and struck across the field.

It had been lately plowed and the going was uncommonly heavy.  It would be just as heavy however for his pursuers, and his luck in seeing their signals would put him out of range before they reached the field.  But it was a wide field and his horse’s feet sank so deep in the mud that he dismounted and led him.  When he was two-thirds of the way across a shout told him that the two forces had met, and had discovered the ruse of the fugitive.  It did not take much intelligence to understand what he had done, because he was yet in plain sight, and a few of the cavalrymen took pot shots at him, their bullets falling far short.  Harry in his excited condition laughed at these attempts.  Almost anything was a triumph now.  He shook his fist at them and regretted that he could not send back a defiant shot.

The cavalrymen conferred a little.  Then a part pursued across the field, and two detachments rode along its side, one to the north and the other to the south.  Harry understood.  If the mud held him back sufficiently they might pass around the field and catch him on the other side.  He continued to lead his horse, encouraging him with words of entreaty and praise.

“Come on!” he cried.  “You won’t let a little mud bother you.  You wouldn’t let yourself be overtaken by a lot of half-bred horses not fit to associate with you?”

The brave animal responded nobly, and what had been the far edge of the field was rapidly coming nearer.  Beyond it lay woods.  But the flanking movement threatened.  The two detachments were passing around the field on firm ground, and Harry knew that he and his good horse must hasten.  He talked to him continually, boasting about him, and together they reached the fence, which he threw down in all haste.  Then he led his weary horse out of the mud, sprang upon his back and galloped into the bushes.

He knew that the horses passing around the field on firm ground would be fresh, and that he must find temporary hiding, at least as soon as he could.  He was in deep thickets now and he galloped on, careless how the bushes scratched him and tore his uniform.  The Union cavalry would surely follow, but he wanted a little breathing time for his horse, and in eight or ten minutes he stopped in the dense undergrowth.  The horse panted so hard that any one near would have heard him, but there was no other sound in the thicket.  The rest was valuable for both.  Harry was able to concentrate his mind and consider, while the panting of the horse gradually ceased, and he breathed with regularity.  The young lieutenant patted him on the nose and whispered to him consolingly.