ow and then, so it isn't like doin' extra work."

"Your lads will make good names for themselves among those who love the
Cause, if they keep on as they've begun," the colonel said in the most
kindly tone, and the praise made me as proud as any peacock, for I had
hoped we might be able to show him we could do the work of men.

For the life of me I couldn't get my wits together quickly enough to thank
him as I should have done, and immediately he said, as if speaking to one
of his officers:

"See that a sharp watch be kept from now on, and do not hesitate to raise
an alarm if anything unusual is seen, Captain Campbell."

I am certain my cheeks reddened when he thus recognized my rank, yet I was
such a simple that I could only stammer:

"You must have in mind, sir, somethin' the same as has Sergeant Corney. He
has lately been here predicting an assault for to-morrow."

"The sergeant uses his ears to some purpose," the colonel said, with a
laugh, and then he walked away, leaving me with a determination to keep
guard as I had never kept it before.

Chapter XVII.

Perplexing Scenes

Surely if ever a boy had been warned of coming danger I was that one, and
the great fear in my mind was lest at the critical moment I fail to do my
duty.

It seemed as if the commandant had much the same as told me he was
depending upon the Minute Boys to bring him word of the first sign or
sound of danger, and I was nervously afraid lest, by some unlucky chance,
I might disappoint him.

After having dwelt upon the matter for half an hour or more, giving undue
prominence to my own responsibility, I aroused Jacob, who was sleeping in
an angle of the wall hard by, and repeated to him the substance of the
conversations with Colonel Gansevoort and Sergeant Corney.

"Well, I don't know why we should be in a better position than any other
to know what may be goin' on," he said, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "If the
sergeant has the rights of it, an' the savages are done with the siege,
then we're not likely to see much from this point."

"But we're not certain the old man knows better than any one else; he has
figured it out to suit himself, without havin' definite knowledge. The
commandant has much the same as praised our company, an' we must see to it
that he has no cause to blame."

By this time Jacob was fully awake, and he set out along such portion of
the wall as was under our charge, straining his eyes in the direction of