ous-looking young officer came up, and the
General gave him an order.

"He must be found and not allowed to escape," he said in closing.

"Yes, sir: I'll find him," he said, as he hurried off.

Ten minutes later a small body of horsemen rode rapidly out of camp in
the direction the pedler had taken. The picket at the bridge across
the little stream below the camp had seen nothing of the pedler, and
the men separated and began to visit the camps stretched along the
slopes above the stream.

An hour or two later Captain Albert reported that he had traced the spy
to a place just over the creek, where he was believed to be harbored.
He wanted more men to surround the house.

"Take a detail and arrest him, or burn the house," ordered the General,
angrily. "It is a perfect nest of treason--even the slaves are
rebels!" he said to himself, as he walked up and down, as though in
justification of his savage order. He put his hand in his pocket. It
struck a little square envelope.

"Or wait," he called to the captain, who was just withdrawing. "I will
go there myself, and take it for my head-quarters. It is a better
place than this. I cannot stand this smoke any longer. That will
break up their treasonable work."

VI

SANTA CLAUS PASSES THE LINES

All that day the tongues of the two little ones at Holly Hill had been
chattering unceasingly of the expected visit of Santa Claus that night.
Mrs. Stafford had tried to explain to Charlie and Evelyn that it would
be impossible for Santa Claus to bring them their presents this year;
but she was met with the undeniable and unanswerable statement that
their father had promised them. Before going to bed they had hung
their stockings on the mantelpiece right in front of the chimney, so
that Santa Claus would be sure to see them.

The mother had broken down over Evelyn's prayer, "not to forget my
papa, and not to forget my dolly," and "to take care of my papa and of
Santa Claus and not to let the Yankees hurt 'em," and her tears fell
silently after the little ones were asleep, as she put the finishing
touches to the tiny gray uniform for Charlie. She was thinking not
only of the children's disappointment, but of the absence of him on
whose promise they had so securely relied. He had been away now for a
year, and she had had no word of him for many weeks. Where was he?
Was he dead or alive? Mrs. Stafford sank on her knees by the bedside.

"O God, give me faith