Again the
Lieutenant gave an order to 'search the man so that he can go!' Could
anything save him now? Rowley wondered. If he had not been a born
actor he would have shown some sign of the terrible strain he was
under as he waited for the discovery of his hidden burden.

"A moment of agonizing suspense, then the guard said, in a low voice,
'Go on!' and Rowley, without search, went on with his concealed
burden.

"Meanwhile, two accomplices had flanked the picket, and they presently
joined Rowley and showed him the way to a farm not far away, where a
grave was hastily dug and the coffin lowered into it. Two loyal women
helped to fill it in, and planted over it one of the peach-trees which
had so successfully prevented discovery. So ended the Dahlgren
raid--and so the Spy had been foiled in one of the most daring and
colossal plots with which she was connected. Because of the stealing
of the young Colonel's body, Admiral Dahlgren's wish could not be
complied with until after the war."

The raid had failed, and with the return of spring, the Union Army was
closing in around Richmond, which made it an easier matter for Betty
Van Lew to communicate with the Union generals, especially with
General Grant, through his Chief of Secret Service. As the weary
months wore away, more than once the Spy was in an agony of suspense,
when it seemed as if some one of her plots was about to bring a
revelation of her secret activities; as if disclosure by some traitor
was inevitable; but in every case she was saved from danger, and was
able to continue her work for the Union.

And now the Confederate forces were ransacking the South in search of
horses, of which they were sorely in need. The Spy quickly hid her one
remaining animal in the smoke-house, but it was not safe there.
Confederate agents were prowling about the city, searching every
building in which a horse could be secreted. In the dead of night
Betty Van Lew led her steed, with feet wrapped in cloths to prevent
noise, from the smoke-house into the old mansion itself, and stabled
it in the study, where she had covered the floor with a thick layer of
straw to deaden any sound of stamping hoofs. And the horse in his
palatial residence was not discovered.

General Grant was now at the head of all the armies of the United
States, and to him was given the duty of attacking Lee. General
Sherman was at the head of a large force in the West, and his duty was
to crush the force of G