r a sword," said
Colonel Talbot, "as they will be in the way of speed. But you'd better
have two pistols. Now, go! I send you upon a dangerous errand, but I
hope that the son of George Kenton, my old friend, will succeed. Hark!
There is Carrington again! How strangely this war arrays comrades
against one another!"

A shell burst almost at the center of the fort, and, for a few moments,
the air was full of earth and flying fragments of steel. But in another
minute Harry made his preparations, dropped over the rear earthwork and
crouched for a little while against it. Before him stretched an open
space of several hundred yards and here he felt was his greatest danger.
The Northern sharpshooters might be lurking at the edge of the forest,
and he ran great danger of being picked off as he fled. He looked up
hopefully at the skies and saw a few clouds, but they did not promise
much. Starshine and moonshine together gave enough light for a good
sharpshooter.

Bending until he was half stooped, he took his chance and ran across the
clearing. His flesh quivered, fearing the sudden impact of a bullet
upon it, but no crack of a rifle came and he darted into the protecting
shades of the forest. He lay a few minutes among the trees, until his
lungs filled with fresh air. Then he rose and advanced cautiously up
the slope, which lay to the south of the fort. The besieging force was
massed on the northern side of the fort, but it was probable that they
had outposts here also, to guard against such errands as the one upon
which Harry himself was bent.

Yet he felt sure of getting through. One youth in a forest was hard
to find. The clouds at which he had looked so hopefully were really
growing a little heavier now. It would take good eyes to find him and
swift feet to catch him. He paused again halfway up the slope, and saw
a flash of flame from the Northern forest. Then came the thunderous
roar of one of Carrington's guns, all the louder in the still night,
and he saw the shell burst just over the fort.

He knew that these guns would play all night on the Southern recruits,
allowing them but little rest and sleep and shaking their nerves still
further.

But he must not pause for the guns. A hundred yards further and he sank
quietly into a clump of bushes. Voices had warned him and he lay quite
still while a Northern officer and twenty soldiers passed. They were so
near that he heard them talking and they spo