y failed, my senses almost forsook me; I felt upon
the point of suffocation when, with one desperate effort, I struck him
another and a last blow in the face. The weapon which I wielded had
lighted upon the eye, and the point penetrated the brain; the body
quivered under me, the deadly grasp relaxed, and Oliver lay upon the
ground a corpse!

As I arose and shook the weapon and the bloody cloth from my hand, the
moon which he had foretold I should never see rise, shone bright and
broad into the room, and disclosed, with ghastly distinctness, the
mangled features of the dead soldier; the mouth, full of clotting blood
and broken teeth, lay open; the eye, close by whose lid the fatal wound
had been inflicted, was not, as might have been expected, bathed in
blood, but had started forth nearly from the socket, and gave to the
face, by its fearful unlikeness to the other glazing orb, a leer more
hideous and unearthly than fancy ever saw. The wig, with all its rich
curls, had fallen with the hat to the floor, leaving the shorn head
exposed, and in many places marked by the recent struggle; the rich lace
cravat was drenched in blood, and the gay uniform in many places soiled
with the same.

It is hard to say, with what feelings I looked upon the unsightly and
revolting mass which had so lately been a living and a comely man. I had
not any time, however, to spare for reflection; the deed was done--the
responsibility was upon me, and all was registered in the book of that
God who judges rightly.

With eager haste I removed from the body such of the military
accoutrements as were necessary for the purpose of my disguise. I
buckled on the sword, drew off the military boots, and donned them
myself, placed the brigadier wig and cocked hat upon my head, threw
on the cloak, drew it up about my face, and proceeded, with the papers
which I found as the soldier had foretold me, and the key of the outer
lobby, to the door of the guard-room; this I opened, and with a firm
and rapid tread walked through the officers, who rose as I entered, and
passed without question or interruption to the street-door. Here I was
met by the grimlooking corporal, Hewson, who, saluting me, said:

'How soon, captain, shall the file be drawn out and the prisoner
despatched?'

'In half an hour,' I replied, without raising my voice.

The man again saluted, and in two steps I reached the soldier who held
the two horses, as he had intimated.

'Is all right?'