e answered,
still in tones of thrilling calmness, "I'll try! I'll try! But I
_know_ I am _not_ prepared."

Slavens, who was a man of immense strength and iron resolution,
turned to his friend Buffum, and could only articulate,
"Wife--children--tell"--when utterance failed.

Scott was married only three days before he came to the army, and the
thought of his young and sorrowing wife nearly drove him to despair.
He could only clasp his hands in silent agony.

Ross was the firmest of all. His eyes beamed with unnatural light, and
there was not a tremor in his voice as he said, "Tell them at home, if
any of you escape, that I died for my country, and did not regret it."

All this transpired in a moment, and even then the Marshal and other
officers standing by him in the door, exclaimed:

"Hurry up there! come on! we can't wait!"

In this manner my poor comrades were hurried off. Robinson, who was
too sick to walk, was dragged away with them. They asked leave to bid
farewell to our other boys, who were confined in the adjoining room,
but it was sternly refused!

Thus we parted. We saw the death cart containing our comrades drive
off, surrounded by cavalry. In about an hour it came back _empty_. The
tragedy was complete!

Later in the evening, the Provost-Marshal came to the prison, and, in
reply to our questions, informed us that our friends "Had met their
fate as brave men should die everywhere."

The next day we obtained from the guards, who were always willing to
talk with us in the absence of the officers, full particulars of the
seven-fold murder.

When our companions were mounted on the scaffold, Wilson asked
permission to say a few words, which was granted--probably in the hope
of hearing some confession which would justify them in the murder they
were about to commit. But this was not his intention. It was a strange
stand--a dying speech to a desperate audience, and under the most
terrible circumstances.

But he was equal to the occasion. Unterrified by the near approach of
death, he spoke his mind freely. He told them that "they were all in
the wrong; that he had no hard feelings toward the Southern people for
what they were about to do, because they had been duped by their
leaders, and induced by them to engage in the work of rebellion. He
also said, that though he was condemned as a spy, yet he was none, and
they well knew it. He was only a soldier in the performance of the
duty he had been detailed