It was late in the afternoon when Rose cried "They are coming Ned; there is a party of cavalry behind!"
Ned looked round; and far back along the straight road he saw a body of horsemen.
"They are a long distance behind," he said; "now for a race!"
The boys plied their sticks and the horses sprang on at full gallop.
"How much are they gaining, Rose?" he asked, after twenty minutes' hard riding.
"They are nearer, Ned—a good deal nearer; but they have not gained half their distance yet."
"The sun set fully ten minutes ago," Ned said; "in another half-hour it will be dark. Their horses must be done up or they would gain faster on us, as ours have to carry double, and are getting terribly blown; but there is a wood, which looks a large one, a couple of miles ahead. If we can get there five minutes before them we are safe."
By dint of flogging their horses they entered the wood while their pursuers were half a mile behind.
"Another hundred yards," Ned said, "and then halt. Now, off we get."
In an instant they leaped off, and gave a couple of sharp blows with their sticks to the horses, who dashed off at a gallop down the road.
It was already perfectly dark in the wood, and the fugitives hurried into the thickest part. In five minutes they heard the cavalry come thundering past.
"We must push on," Ned said; "fortunately, we have done no walking, for we must be far away by to-morrow morning. They will come up with the horses before very long, and will know we are in the wood, and they will search it through and through in the morning."
