d Colonel Kenton, very soberly, "you are all
agreed that my son shall carry to South Carolina the message that
Kentucky will follow her out of the Union?"

"We are," they said, all together.

"I shall be glad and proud to go," said Harry, speaking for the first
time.

"I knew it without asking you," said Colonel Kenton. "I suggest to you,
friends, that he start before dawn, and that he go to Winton instead
of the nearest station. We wish to avoid observation and suspicion.
The fewer questions he has to answer, the better it will be for all of
us."

They agreed with him again, and, in order that he might be fresh and
strong for his journey, Harry was sent to his bedroom. Everything
would be made ready for him, and Colonel Kenton would call him at the
appointed hour. As he withdrew he bade them in turn good night, and
they returned his courtesy gravely.

It was one thing to go to his room, but it was another to sleep.
He undressed and sat on the edge of the bed. Only when he was alone did
he realize the tremendous change that had come into his life. Nor into
his life alone, but into the lives of all he knew, and of millions more.

It had ceased snowing and the wind was still. The earth was clothed
in deep and quiet white, and the pines stood up, rows of white cones,
silvered by the moonlight. Nothing moved out there. No sound came.
He felt awed by the world of night, and the mysterious future which must
be full of strange and great events.

He lay down between the covers and, although sleep was long in coming,
it came at last and it was without dreams.

CHAPTER II

A COURIER TO THE SOUTH

Harry was awakened by his father shaking his shoulder. It was yet dark
outside, but a small lamp burned on his table.

"It is time for you to go, Harry," said Colonel Kenton, somewhat
unsteadily. "Your horse, bridle and saddle on, is waiting. Your
breakfast has been cooked for you, and everything else is ready."

Harry dressed rapidly in his heaviest and warmest clothing. He and his
father ate breakfast by lamplight, and when he finished it was not yet
dawn. Then the Colonel himself brought him his overcoat, comforter,
overshoes, and fur cap.

"The saddlebags are already on your horse," he said, "and they are
filled with the things you will need. In this pocket-book you will
find five hundred dollars, and here is, also, an order on a bank in
Charleston for more. See that you keep both money and or