raw the
blade the wound was enlarged; a rill of blood escaped, running sinuously
down into the deranged clothing. At that moment three men stepped
silently forward from behind the clump of young trees which had
concealed their approach. Two were hospital attendants and carried a
stretcher.

The third was Major Creede Halcrow.

PARKER ADDERSON, PHILOSOPHER

"Prisoner, what is your name?"

"As I am to lose it at daylight to-morrow morning it is hardly worth
while concealing it. Parker Adderson."

"Your rank?"

"A somewhat humble one; commissioned officers are too precious to be
risked in the perilous business of a spy. I am a sergeant."

"Of what regiment?"

"You must excuse me; my answer might, for anything I know, give you an
idea of whose forces are in your front. Such knowledge as that is what I
came into your lines to obtain, not to impart."

"You are not without wit."

"If you have the patience to wait you will find me dull enough
to-morrow."

"How do you know that you are to die to-morrow morning?"

"Among spies captured by night that is the custom. It is one of the nice
observances of the profession."

The general so far laid aside the dignity appropriate to a Confederate
officer of high rank and wide renown as to smile. But no one in his
power and out of his favor would have drawn any happy augury from that
outward and visible sign of approval. It was neither genial nor
infectious; it did not communicate itself to the other persons exposed
to it--the caught spy who had provoked it and the armed guard who had
brought him into the tent and now stood a little apart, watching his
prisoner in the yellow candle-light. It was no part of that warrior's
duty to smile; he had been detailed for another purpose. The
conversation was resumed; it was in character a trial for a capital
offense.

"You admit, then, that you are a spy--that you came into my camp,
disguised as you are in the uniform of a Confederate soldier, to obtain
information secretly regarding the numbers and disposition of my
troops."

"Regarding, particularly, their numbers. Their disposition I already
knew. It is morose."

The general brightened again; the guard, with a severer sense of his
responsibility, accentuated the austerity of his expression an stood a
trifle more erect than before. Twirling his gray slouch hat round and
round upon his forefinger, the spy took a leisurely survey of his
surroundings. They were simple eno