Ralph agreed, and they proceeded in this manner for some time.

“I don’t think we are on the track now,” Ralph said at last.

“Oh, yes, we are,” the officer replied confidently.

Ralph stooped and felt the ground.  “The grass is very short,” he observed, “but it is grass.”

The officer followed his example.

“Oh, it is only a track now,” he said.  “Just a footpath, and the grass is not worn off.  I am convinced we are right.”

“Well,” Ralph said, “just go a little way to the right and left, and see if the grass gets longer.  It seems to me all the same.”

The officer did so, and was obliged to own that he could not perceive any difference.  Ralph now spread his men out in a line and directed them to feel on the ground to see if they could discover the track.  They failed to do so, and Ralph then ordered them together again.

“We will halt here, sergeant, till daylight.  It’s no use groping about in the dark.  For anything we know we may be going exactly in the wrong direction.  The men can of course sit down if they like; and they may as well eat a piece of bread and try their water-bottles.  But tell them not to eat more than half their ration.  We may be longer before we get out of this than we expect.”

The order was given, the men piled their arms and seated themselves on the short turf.  Presently Ralph heard a sudden exclamation of surprise and satisfaction as one of the men tasted the contents of his water-bottle, and in a minute there was a buzz of talk.  Before scarce a word had been spoken; the men had been marching in a sort of sulky silence, disgusted at being taken from their beds for work they disliked, and at their long march through the damp night air; but their satisfaction at this unexpected comfort loosened their tongues.

Pipes were produced and lighted, and the discomfort of the situation altogether forgotten.  Desmond had handed to Ralph the flask and packet of sandwiches he had prepared for himself, and he, too, felt less strongly the chilling effects of the damp and darkness after partaking of them.  The excise officer had also made his preparations.

“We should be more certain as to our whereabouts if we had stopped at that heap of stones as I proposed, Mr. Fitzgibbon.”

“I don’t deny, sir, you were right as it has turned out; only I wouldn’t have believed that I could have missed the path, and I did want to get close to the place before we were observed.  I knew that we couldn’t actually surprise them till morning; for the hut lies some distance in a bog, and there would be no crossing it unless we could see.  Still if we could have got to the edge without the alarm being given, they would not have time to hide the things before we reached them.  I have ridden across this place many a time after dark, and never missed my way.”

“That was the sagacity of your horse more than your own, I expect,” Ralph said.  “A horse can find his way along a path he has once traveled better than any man can do.  In the first place, I think he can see better in the night; and in the second, he has some sort of instinct to guide him.  However, I don’t suppose it much matters; we shall find the path easily enough in the morning.  And, as you said, the mist will hide our movements quite as effectually as the darkness would do.”