e papers I had found in
the chair-arm. One was a passport signed by one of the biggest men in
the country, authorizing Francis Leroy to pass in and out of the Union
lines at any time, day or night, and the other--there were but two--was
some useless information with respect to the movements of the Federal
forces between Murfreesborough and Memphis.

As I came more and more to my senses, I knew that these papers had been
the cause of my undoing; I could see in it, as plain as day, the hand
of Jane Ryder, and I was truly sorry. I thought I had been around the
world and back again, and I should have been very wise, but the bandage
and Jane Ryder were too much for me. How did she know that I had
secured the papers? And why did she permit the soldiers to attack me. I
was feeling very foolish and childish.

Then I observed that a large man was sitting in front of the small
fireplace, and his long legs were stretched completely across the
hearth. His head was thrown back, his mouth was open, and he was sound
asleep. There was half a handful of some kind of medicine in a saucer
on the table, and I judged that the man would be better off for a dose
of it. I suppose it was common table salt, but, whatever it was, the
notion remained with me that it would be a help to the man. It was a
fantastic notion, but it persisted, and finally I lifted the saucer,
emptied the medicine in my palm, and transferred it to the open mouth
of the man. It failed to arouse him; he merely closed his jaws on the
dose and slept on.

I enjoyed the man's discomfiture before it occurred; I knew what a
terrible splutter there would be when the stuff began to melt and run
down his windpipe. I should have laughed aloud, but the bandage was
hurting me terribly. With a vague hope of getting some relief from
pain, I opened the door as softly as I could, went out and closed it
behind me. Another door was open directly in front of me, and through
this I went. In the room a woman was sitting at a window, her head in
her hands. She looked up when she heard the slight noise I made, and I
was surprised to find myself face to face with Jane Ryder. Her eyes
were red and swollen with weeping, and her hands were all of a tremble.

"Will you please, ma'am, take this off?" I said, pointing to the
bandage.

She placed her finger on her lip. "Sh-sh!" she whispered, and then,
whipping around me, closed the door with no more noise than the wing of
a night-bird might make.