hen they were nearly to the Lanham house, "are you
willing to tell what happened?"

"As nearly as I know. I got upon the trail of that spy who has been
infesting Richmond. I knew at the time that it couldn't have been any
one else. I followed him up an alley, but he waited for me at the turn,
and before I could defend myself he let loose with his right. When I
came drifting back into the world I was lying upon the bed in Miss
Carden's cottage."

"He showed you some consideration. He might have quietly put you out of
the way with a knife."

"Shepard and I don't care to kill each other. Each wants to defeat the
other's plans. It's got to be a sort of duel between us."

"So I see, and he has scored latest."

"But not last."

"We'd better stick to the tale about the fall. Such a thing could happen
to anybody in these dark streets. But that Miss Carden is a fine woman.
She showed true human sympathy, and what's more, she gave help."

"She's all that," agreed Harry heartily.

They had their own keys to the Lanham house and slipped in without
awakening anybody. Their explanations the next day were received without
question and in another day Harry's jaw was no longer sore, though his
spirit was. Yet the taking of important documents ceased suddenly,
and Harry was quite sure that his encounter with Shepard had at least
caused him to leave the city.

CHAPTER XII

IN WINTER QUARTERS

Harry was sent a few days later with dispatches from the president to
General Lee, who was still in his camp beside the Opequan. Dalton was
held in the capital for further messages, but Harry was not sorry to make
the journey alone. The stay in Richmond had been very pleasant. The
spirits of youth, confined, had overflowed, but he was beginning to feel
a reaction. One must return soon to the battlefield. This was merely
a lull in the storm which would sweep with greater fury than ever. The
North, encouraged by Gettysburg and Vicksburg, was gathering vast masses
which would soon be hurled upon the South, and Harry knew how thin the
lines there were becoming.

He thought, too, of Shepard, who was the latest to score in their duel,
and he believed that this man had already sent to the Northern leaders
information beyond value. Harry felt that he must strive in some manner
to make the score even.

It was late in the summer when he rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia
and delivered the letters to the commander-