"You, may be sure," she, added, "that the woman
will arouse the whole neighborhood, and that they will all be after
us." I needed no further hint to push on. We were going toward Water
Gap, as Boston Yankee had advised, and when we were about eight
miles on the way, I deemed it prudent to drive into the woods and to
wait till night before going on. We drove in just off the road, and
tied our horse. We were effectually concealed; our pursuers, if
there were any, would be sure to go by us, and meantime we could
talk over our plans for the future. Sarah told me that when Mary
came to the house the night before, she was not at all surprised to
see her, as she occasionally came up from Easton to make them a
little visit, and to stay all night; that she went to the
summer-house with Mary to sit down and talk, and almost immediately
saw the ring on Mary's finger; that when she saw it she at once
recognized it, and asked her: "O! Mary, where did you get that
ring?" "Keep quiet," said Mary: "don't talk loud, or some one may
hear you; don't be agitated; your lover is near, and has sent me to
tell you." It was joyful news to Sarah, and how readily she had
acquiesced in my plan for an elopement was manifest in the fact that
she was then by my side.
We bad not been in the woods an hour when, as I anticipated, we
heard our pursuers, we did not know how many there were, drive
rapidly by. "Now we can go on, I suppose," said Sarah. "Oh no, my
dear," I replied, "now is just the time to wait quietly here;" and
wait we did till eight o'clock, when our pursuers, having gone on a
few miles, and having seen or learned nothing of the fugitives, came
by again "on the back track.
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