heir comrades; while the commandant and the
other two men hastily put on their boots, seized their arms and
accouterments and, in two minutes, the whole party were marching
quietly down the village. No incident, whatever, marked their
retreat. The sentry had been undisturbed, during their absence; and
in a few minutes the whole party were out of the village, without
the slightest alarm having been raised.

They followed the road by which they had come, for about a mile;
and then turned off a side path in the forest, to the left. They
followed this for a short distance, only, into the forest; and
then, when they arrived at a small, open space, a halt was ordered.
The prisoner was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, by the two
franc tireurs who carried him on their shoulders, and a fire was
speedily lighted.

Major Tempe then ordered the prisoner to be unbound and ungagged
and, with a guard upon either side of him, to be placed in front of
the company--drawn up in a semi-circle by the fire. The prisoner
was a man of about fifty-five, with a sallow, cunning face. He
could scarcely stand and, indeed, would have sunk on his knees, in
his abject terror, had not the guards by his side held him by the
arms.

"Men," Major Tempe said, "undoubted as the guilt of the prisoner
appeared to be, we had got no absolute proof; and a mistake might
have been possible, as to the name of the village whose
schoolmaster had betrayed us. This letter found in his coat pocket,
and this German money--the price of our blood--leave no further
doubt possible."

And here the major read the Prussian colonel's letter.

"Are you still of opinion that he merits death?"

"Yes, yes," the men exclaimed, unanimously.

"Prisoner," Major Tempe said, "you have heard your sentence. You
are a convicted traitor--convicted of having betrayed your country,
convicted of having sold the blood of your countrymen. I give you
five minutes to ask that pardon, of God, which you cannot obtain
from man."

The miserable wretch gave a cry of terror, and fell on his knees;
and would have crawled towards his judge, to beg for mercy, had not
his guard restrained him. For the next five minutes, the forest
rang with alternate cries, entreaties, threats, and curses--so
horrible that the four boys, and several of the younger men, put
their hands to their ears and walked away, so as not to see or hear
the terrible punishment. At the end of that time there was a brief
st