panic among my captors as I never saw paralleled.”

“And still you dare stay here,” said the girl, in a tone of wonder. “Oh, sir, if you value your life, let me entreat you to fly. The road to Derryfield is straight and easy.”

“And yet you stay here,” said the hussar, meaningly. “Why should I fear what you do not?”

“Oh, sir, that is different. I am—I can not tell you what. But I entreat you to fly.”

“Madam,” said Schuyler, gravely, “I should be glad to do so, for my duty calls me away. But I have no horse, and the woods are full of enemies. If I go on foot, the chances are that I never get there.”

“What then? You can not stay here—you say you saw him—what is to be done? You must go back whence you came.”

[Pg 37]

[Pg 37]

“I can not do it,” said Schuyler. “The scouts of Burgoyne’s army are between me and home. I must get to Derryfield, if I have to steal a horse.”

Diana wrung her hands in agony.

“Man, man, I tell you he will kill you if you stay here. You must go away.”

“I have a choice of deaths, then,” said the hussar, coolly. “I am safe from the Indians, on this mountain, and as for the demon, if he kills me, he will serve his enemies. On my mission to Derryfield depends the whole future of a campaign.”

As he spoke, the sound of another horn, deep, hoarse and bellowing, echoed from the top of the hill, and the girl turned deadly pale, ejaculating:

“It is too late! He is here! You are lost!”

In spite of his general courage and coolness, an involuntary thrill of terror gathered over the heart of Adrian Schuyler, as he listened to the mysterious sounds of the phantom horn. It echoed from hill to hill in deep reverberations, and when it died away, left him with an indescribable sense of awe.

At the same moment, as if the mysterious demon had waited to sound his horn till the aspects of nature were in harmony with diabolical influences, a sudden shadow swept over the sun, and Adrian, looking up, beheld a deep thundercloud, hitherto hidden behind the 

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