rd Valletort, who, supported by pillows, was concluding a
narrative that had chained the earnest attention of his auditory, even
amid the deep and heartfelt sympathy perceptible in each for the
forlorn and hopeless condition of the narrator. At the side of the
unhappy baronet, and enveloped in a dressing gown, as if recently out
of bed, sat, reclining in a rude elbow chair, one whose pallid
countenance denoted, that, although far less seriously injured, he,
too, had suffered severely:--it was Lieutenant Johnstone.

The narrative was at length closed; and the officer, exhausted by the
effort he had made in his anxiety to communicate every particular to
his attentive and surprised companions, had sunk back upon his pillow,
when, suddenly, the loud and unusual "Who comes there?" of the sentinel
stationed on the rampart above the gateway, arrested every ear. A
moment of pause succeeded, when again was heard the "Stand, friend!"
evidently given in reply to the familiar answer to the original
challenge. Then were audible rapid movements in the guard-house, as of
men aroused from temporary slumber, and hastening to the point whence
the voice proceeded.

Silently yet hurriedly the officers now quitted the bedside of the
dying man, leaving only the surgeon and the invalid Johnstone behind
them; and, flying to the rampart, stood in the next minute confounded
with the guard, who were already grouped round the challenging
sentinel, bending their gaze eagerly in the direction of the road.

"What now, man?--whom have you challenged?" asked Major Blackwater.

"It is I--De Haldimar," hoarsely exclaimed one of four dark figures
that, hitherto, unnoticed by the officers, stood immediately beyond the
ditch, with a burden deposited at their feet. "Quick, Blackwater, let
us in for God's sake! Each succeeding minute may bring a scouting party
on our track. Lower the drawbridge!"

"Impossible!" exclaimed the major: "after all that has passed, it is
more than my commission is worth to lower the bridge without
permission. Mr. Lawson, quick to the governor, and report that Captain
de Haldimar is here: with whom shall he say?" again addressing the
impatient and almost indignant officer.

"With Miss de Haldimar, Francois the Canadian, and one to whom we all
owe our lives," hurriedly returned the officer; "and you may add," he
continued gloomily, "the corpse of my sister. But while we stand in
parley here, we are lost: Lawson, fly to my fathe