"Our plot had been well laid, and thus far had succeeded. I, with eleven
horsemen, drawn up in easy pistol shot one of the other, had taken our
ground in perfect silence; and, as we readily discovered, by the
untrodden surface of the snow, our enemies were as yet undisturbed. My
station was the extreme left of our line, as we faced westward, close to
the first ridge of the southern hill; and there I sat in mute
expectancy, my holsters thrown wide open, my Kuchenreuters loaded and
cocked, and my good ounce-ball rifle lying prepared within the hollow of
my arm.
"Within a short half hour I saw the second party, captained by our
friend Garry, coming up one by one, and forming silently and promptly
upon the hill side--and directly after I heard the crash and shout of
our beaters, as they plunged into the thicket at its westward end. So
far as I could perceive, all had gone well. Two sides, my own eyes told
me, were surrounded, and the continuous line in which the shouts ran all
along the farther end, would have assured me, if assurance had been
needful, for Tom himself commanded in that quarter, that all was
perfectly secure on that side. A Jerseyman, a hunter of no small repute,
had been detached with a fourth band to guard the open fields upon the
north; due time had been allotted to him, and, as we judged, he was upon
his ground.
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