Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/218

 ignoring both girl and boy who watched her, she rode off into the darkness, followed by her kind-hearted friend, who gave them each farewell greeting before she left.

Sally sighed. "I wonder an she be right?" she said, half to herself. "I wonder an I be wrong to disobey her thus, in not returning to the Mountain!"

Zenas started his horse and Sally, perforce, followed. "Nay," he said sturdily, "ye be right, for our men need the bullets, Sally! Why bother your head o'er her words?"

"But, still, Zenas, she doth be my mistress!" said Sally slowly. "The terms o' the bond hath said that!"

"Ye be wrong, Sally," replied Zenas, "for she did forfeit that authority when she deserted ye. Rest easy on that score, for I do feel sure that Parson Chapman will so agree and dub ye not in wicked rebellion! Nay, rather he will admire ye, Sally—he is not named the 'fighting Parson' for naught—well he knows how bullets be ever needed by our men!"

So reassured, Sally trotted down the hill after her companion. "Where be we going, Zenas?" she asked presently.

Dark and silent, the little hamlet lay at their feet. No cheerful lights flickered in kitchen windows, no lanterns swung like fireflies to and fro