AFTER THE DESPATCH-BEARER I was cool-headed, and accustomed to this species of adventure, or I should never have been there.

Yet, I confess my nerves tingled as I crept cautiously forward through the fringe of bushes, seeking the exact spot where the major had disappeared down what must have been some species of road.

There were sentinels posted about the tent; I saw the silhouette of one, and heard several voices conversing gruffly as I slunk past, yet could not definitely locate these last in the gloom.
There was a little row of tents--three or four--back of the larger one occupied by the general; but these were unlighted and silent.

I crept past them unobserved, emerging into a more open space, where my groping hands encountered wheel-tracks, and the beaten earth of a road.
This apparently ran nearly east and west, as I recalled direction, and I turned to the right, bending low in the shadows, and advancing at a crouching run.

Seemingly there was nothing to obstruct progress.