Amboy instead.â
âSo this is Amboy!â said Higgins, surprised. âHow far away is Elizabeth-town?â he asked.
âTen miles!â
âWhew!â Higgins glanced up at the sun. âMust be three oâclock. Thatâs quite a march,â he said. âButif you hurry youâll make it all right.â
Ellen was running to keep up with him. âBut Iâm afraid of going by myself.â
âBeing afraid is nothing to hold you back,â said Higgins. âJust square your shoulders and start. Things arenât so bad after you start.â
He was fumbling in his pocket. âHold out your hand, Toliver,â he said, and he pressed a coin into her mitten. âThere. Go get on the stagecoach and youâll be there long before dark.â
Before she could tell him that she already had money in her pocket and there was no stagecoach, an officer on a big gray horse dashed up to her. âBe gone, boy!â he cried angrily as he flicked at her with his riding crop. âIâll have no boys begging from my men!â the officer roared at her.
Ellen ducked, but the horse kept edging her over to the side of the road and turned so she couldnât dodge around him. She couldnât even see Higgins as he marched away.
Very carefully she opened her hand to look at the coinâa fat silver coinâbigger than she had ever seen. And she couldnât even thank him for it. She might never see Higgins again, but sheâd never forget him.
He had given her something more important thanmoney. He had been her friend. Now she knew she could do it somehow.
Back to the old woodcutter she ran to ask the way to Elizabeth-town. âIâm going to walk!â she said to the old man. âIâm going to walk to Elizabeth-town!â she said again when he did not seem to understand her.
He looked at her with a faint smile on his face. âWell,â he said as he gulped down the last of the bread, âI did it myself many a time when I was young and had young legsâlike yours.â He took off his cap and scratched his head as he squinted at the sun. âMust be nigh on to three oâclock. But itâs a good road. You can walk it at night.â
âAt night!â cried Ellen. âIâm going to run most of the way to get there before dark. Iâve walked ten miles before,â she said to the old man. âI can do it again when there is naught else to be done.â
She sounded bold. She sounded like a person who could run ten miles and never stop for breath. But inside she was trembling.
âWell, start running then,â the old man said, and he turned back to his firewood.
Nine
R
unning was easy enough at first. Swinging her blue bundle at her side, Ellen followed a company of soldiers stepping along in double time to the fast beating of the drums. And after the men had come to the end of the town and turned into the fields to their campgrounds, she trotted behind the wagon trains. She could see that the wagons were piled high with things for the soldiersâ campâchests and canvas tents and great iron pots for cooking.
On either side of the road, soldiers were setting uptents and building shacks. There was a bright red glow of campfires back in the fields as far as she could see. A pale blue haze of smoke drifted over the fields.
âIt frightens me to see so many men getting ready to fight our army.â The thought of the message in her loaf of bread made her run all the more quickly. It kept her from thinking about how hungry she was now, and how the cold wind at her back cut through her wool jacket.
But after she had passed the noisy hubbub in the fields around the camp, Ellen slowed down, for the road was rough and there were no drums beating a quick march to help her hurry. âIf I canât run all the way to Elizabeth,â she panted, âat least I can keep up a fast walk. Iâll get there