An unprotected girl was a welcome prize to them.

It was not death as a spy she had to fear, but worse.

Now, if ever, she must act decisively.

The leader took his hand from her bridle, as if to place it on her.
"Yer a powerful peart sort of a gal, an' ez purty ez a fawn, yer mammy kin git 'long without the medicine a little while, an'-- --" He did not finish the sentence, for before his hand could touch her Rachel's whip cut a deep wale across his face, and then it fell so savagely upon the mare's flank that the high-spirited animal sprung forward as if shot from a catapult, and was a hundred yards away before the rascals really comprehended what had happened.
Onward sped the mettled brute, so maddened by the first cruel blow she had ever received that she refused to obey the rein, but made her own way by and through such objects as she encountered.

When she at last calmed down the road was clear and lonely, and Rachel began searching for indications of a favorable point of approach to the river, that hinted at a bridge or a ford.