John knew that he was safe now, and let his tired horses walk slowly down the hillside and across the space of plain beyond.

To his left were the gaol and the barrack-sheds, and gathered about them stood hundreds of waggons and tents, towards which he drove.

Evidently the town was deserted and its inhabitants were in laager.

When he was within half a mile or so, a picket of mounted men rode out to meet him, followed by a miscellaneous crowd on horseback and on foot.
"Who goes there ?" shouted a voice in honest English.
"A friend who is uncommonly glad to see you," John answered, with that feeble jocosity in which we are all apt to indulge when at length a great weight is lifted from our nerves..