aken off his boots to relieve his swollen feet, and was
carrying them in his hands. Imitating the language and manners of an
uneducated West Virginian, he asked the sentinel if he "had seed
anything of a red steer." The sentinel had not. After continuing the
conversation for a time, he finally said: "Well, I must be a goin'; it
is a gettin' late, and I am durned feared I won't git back to the farm
afore night. Good day." "Hold on," said the sentinel; "better go and see
the Captain." "O, no; don't want to trouble him; it is not likely he has
seed the steer, and it's a gettin' late." "Come right along," replied
the sentinel, bringing his gun down; "the Captain will not mind being
troubled; in fact, I am instructed to take such men as you to him."

Captain Cunard questioned the prisoner closely, asked whom he worked
for, how much he was getting a month for his services, and, finally,
pointing to the long-legged military boots which he was still holding in
his hands, asked how much they cost. "Fifteen dollars," replied the
prisoner. "Fifteen dollars! Is not that rather more than a farm hand who
gets but twelve dollars a month can afford to pay for boots?" inquired
the Captain. "Well, the fact is, boots is a gettin' high since the war,
as well as every thing else." But Captain Cunard was not satisfied. The
prisoner was not well up in the character he had undertaken to play, and
was told that he must go to head-quarters. Finding that he was caught,
he at once threw off the mask, and confessed that he was Captain J. A.
De Lagniel, formerly of the regular army, but now in the Confederate
service. Wounded at the battle of Rich mountain, he had been secreted at
a farm-house near Beverly until able to travel, and was now trying to
get around our pickets and reach the rebel army. He had been in the
mountains five days and four nights. The provisions with which he
started, and which consisted of a little bag of biscuit, had become
moldy. He thought, from the distance traveled, that he must be beyond
our lines and out of danger.

De Lagniel is an educated man, and his wife and friends believe him to
have been killed at Rich mountain. He speaks in high terms of Captain
Cunard, and says, when the latter began to question him, he soon found
it was useless to play Major Andre, for Paulding was before him, too
sharp to be deceived and too honest to be bribed. When De Lagniel was
brought into camp he was wet and shivering, weak, and thorou