m he
had wickedly wronged were doing what they could to aid him.

He declared that there were no less than twenty dead savages lying
nearabout the place when he started for the fort, while as many more,
badly wounded, were putting forth every effort at escaping beyond range of
our gun.

All this was repeated to me by Sergeant Corney, who had heard it from
Reuben Cox himself, and when he was come to an end of the recital I asked:

"Now that he is here, an' likely to live, what will be done with him?"

"That's what I can't say, lad, an' I'm of the belief that it puzzles the
commandant not a little. Desertion in the face of an enemy is punishable
by death the world over, an' rightly, for a soldier can commit no greater
crime; but what about shootin' a man who has already suffered a dozen
deaths?"

I soon came to know that the question I had asked of the sergeant was
being discussed by all the garrison, many of the men declaring that Reuben
Cox deserved to be treated as any other deserter, while a large number
claimed that the sufferings he had endured should be considered as having
atoned for the crime.

The arguments became so warm that it was evident Colonel Gansevoort would
be forced to come to some decision regarding the matter, and so he did on
this same day when we were called out on the parade-ground, being formed
in a hollow square.

Then it was that the commandant laid the affair before us without comment,
save as he declared that neither he nor his staff were willing to settle
the question themselves, and he had decided to leave it to the
garrison,--the men who must suffer because of the information given to St.
Leger, if it so chanced that the British commander gained any advantage
through it.

"Discuss it thoroughly among yourselves," the colonel said, "and, having
made up your minds as to what punishment should be dealt out to Cox, write
the verdict on a bit of paper, signing your names thereto, and leave the
same at headquarters. Whatsoever the majority of you declare just to all
concerned, shall be done."

Then we were dismissed from parade, and on the instant there ensued such a
buzzing and humming that one might have thought an hundred swarms of bees
had taken possession of the fort, as each man tried to impress upon his
neighbor that he had the only correct solution to the painful question.

Our Minute Boys were all of the same mind, and it gave me no little
satisfaction to know that my compan