He stepped back to one of the two windows on the front of the house, where he discovered an officer and two "grayback" soldiers.

The ghost of his grandmother would not have been half so appalling a sight, and he retreated to the back door with a very undignified haste.
"Gracious me!" exclaimed the lady of the house.

"Who kin thet be ?" "An officer and two soldiers," replied Tom, hastily.
"Then they are arter my old man!" said she, dropping into the only chair the room contained.
"Don't say I'm here, marm, and I'll help your husband, if they catch him.
Tell them he has gone off to be absent a week." "He'd be absent more'n thet if he knowed them fellers was arter him." The woman moved towards the front door, and Tom through the back door; but as he was about to pass into the garden, he caught a glimpse of one of the graybacks in the rear of the house.

For a moment his case seemed to be hopeless; but he retreated into the room again, just as the woman opened the front door to admit the officer.

He could not escape from the house, and his only resource was to secure a hiding place within its walls.