n the hut she would bear
him out in the assertion. But it was not likely that this would be
accepted as against Jackson's testimony; besides, inquiry among her
neighbors would certainly lead to the discovery that she was speaking an
untruth, and might even involve her in his fate as his abettor. But most
of all he decided against this course because it would involve the
telling of a lie.

Vincent considered that while in disguise, and doing important service
for his country, he was justified in using deceit; but merely for the
purpose of saving his own life, and that perhaps uselessly, he would not
lie. His fate, of course, was certain. He was a spy, and would be shot.
Vincent had so often been in the battlefield, so often under a fire from
which it seemed that no one could come alive, that the thought that
death was at hand had not for him the terrors that possess those
differently circumstanced. He was going to die for the Confederacy as
tens of thousands of brave men had died before, and he rejoiced over the
precaution he had taken as to the transmission of his discoveries on
the previous day, and felt sure that General Lee would do full justice
to his memory, and announce that he had died in doing noble service to
the country.

He sighed as he thought of his mother and sisters; but Rose had been
married in the spring, and Annie was engaged to an officer in General
Beauregard's staff. Then he thought of Lucy away in Georgia, and for the
first time his lips quivered and his cheek paled.

The negro guards, who had been enlisted but a few weeks, were wholly
ignorant of their duties, and having once conveyed their prisoner into
the room, evidently considered that all further necessity for military
strictness was at an end. They had been ordered to stay in the room with
the prisoner, but no instruction had been given as to their conduct
there. They accordingly placed their muskets in one corner of the room,
and proceeded to chatter and laugh without further regarding him.

Under other circumstances this carelessness would have inspired Vincent
with the thought of escape, but he knew that it was out of the question
here. There were Federal camps all round, and a shout from the negroes
would send a hundred men in instant pursuit of him. There was nothing
for him to do but to wait for the end, and that end would assuredly come
in the morning. From time to time the door opened, and the negro
sergeant looked in. Apparently