It hardly seemed possible he would go there, but he had been a guest there for some time, and probably knew the place well; perhaps realized he would be safer within--where no one would expect him to be--than on the road.

This was the conception which gradually came to me, but the others believed he had gone straight ahead, seeking the nearest Confederate outpost.

Able to walk alone by this time, I went in through the back door, and bathed my face at the sink, leaving Hardy and Bell to search for further signs of the fugitive.
As I washed I thought rapidly over the situation.

Le Gaire knew that Chambers' force would be along the pike within a few hours--probably long before the appearance of any Federal advance in the neighborhood, as he was unaware that I had sent back a courier.

The house was the very last place in which we would seek for him, and the easiest place to attain.