the information necessary had been gleaned from the prisoner, he
should, if thought advisable, again be returned to them, to be put to
death or not, as they might see proper. To this arrangement, all having
at last consented, the gallant Captain advanced to me, shook my hand,
and said that my life was for the present safe, and that I was to
accompany him to Detroit, where I would be treated as a prisoner of war.

"It is impossible to describe my feelings, on hearing this joyful
intelligence; therefore I shall leave you to imagine them, aided as you
will be by your own experience under similar circumstances. And now let
me close my long narrative as briefly as possible; for the hour is
already late, and I must rise betimes on the morrow to join this
expedition against the savages."

"Surely, Algernon," exclaimed Ella, with pale features, "you are not
going to leave us again so soon?"

"Where duty calls, Ella, there is my place; and if I fall in honorable
action, in defence of my country and friends, perchance my life may
atone for matters whereof _you_ are not ignorant."

Ella buried her face in her hands, to conceal her emotion; and Algernon,
with an effort at composure, again proceeded.

"At Detroit I experienced kind treatment, as a prisoner of war; but
still it was captivity, and I longed for freedom. Many, many an hour
did I employ in planning my escape; yet month upon month rolled on, and
still I remained in durance. At last startling rumors reached me, that
the Indians of the different tribes were banding together, to march upon
the frontiers and depopulate the country; and remembering the savage
threat of Girty, I doubted not he was the instigator, and would be
leader of the expedition; and I determined, at all hazards, if such a
thing were in the province of possibility, to effect my escape, and give
the country warning of the impending danger. To be brief, I succeeded,
as my presence here tells for itself; but no one knows, save myself, and
He who knows all things, the misery I suffered from fatigue, lack of
food, and the fear of again being captured by some roving band of
savages--the which I shall detail, perhaps, should my life be spared me,
at some future period, but not at the present.

"I swam the Ohio, a short distance above the Falls, and made my way,
to the best of my judgment, directly towards Boonesborough, where I
arrived, a few days since, in a state of complete exhaustion. The noble
old hun