To such a suggestion, as Lucy knew not the object, she offered no
objection; and a secret departure was effected of the three, who, after
a lonely ride of several hours through a route circuitously chosen to
mislead, were safely brought to the sheltered and rocky abiding-place of
the robbers, as we have already described it. Marks of its offensive
features, however, had been so modified as not to occasion much alarm.
The weapons of war had been studiously put out of sight, and apartments,
distinct from those we have seen, partly the work of nature, and partly
of man, were assigned for the accommodation of the new-comers. The
outlaws had their instructions, and did not appear, though lurking and
watching around in close and constant neighborhood.
Nor, in this particular alone, had the guilty parties made due provision
for their future safety. The affair of the guard had made more stir than
had been anticipated in the rash moment which had seen its consummation;
and their advices warned them of the approach of a much larger force of
state troops, obedient to the direction of the district-attorney, than
they could well contend with.
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