changed, and she might feel very different toward my interference.
Perhaps I was destined to lose rather than gain, yet it was too late now
to draw back--I must play the game out to its ending. I wrote rapidly,
utterly ignoring her conversation with Hardy, yet someway conscious that
Le Gaire sought to join in, and was answered in a single swift sentence,
the girl not even turning to glance at him. The simple action caused my
heart to leap to my throat--could it be the lady played a part, her
coldness to me intended to deceive others? It was a hope, at least, and
I went to my task with fresh courage. I told it all in a dozen
sentences--Johnston's plans for the morrow; the withdrawal of
Confederate troops from our left, and their concentration in reserve of
the enemy's centre; our capture of the Hardy house, and my hope to
retain possession until the right of our line could be flung forward.
Then I called Ross, and he came across the room, looking scarcely more
than a boy, but with a serious face.

"Can you find your way back down the ravine to our lines, my lad?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then don't lose any time. The Confederate troops have been withdrawn,
but you must watch out for stragglers. Give this to Colonel Cochran, and
tell him it must be forwarded to headquarters at once. Explain to him
the situation here. Now be off."

He saluted, wheeled sharply about, and went out the window. I heard him
strike the ground. Then I sat silently looking at the others in the
room, wondering how the sergeant was getting along, and slowly realizing
that I had a white elephant on my hands. I was endeavoring to play two
games at once, love and war, and the various moves were confusing. It
might be possible even for my little squad to hold this advance
position until reinforcements arrived, but what could be done with the
prisoners? Billie might forgive me--realizing the motive--for all which
had occurred thus far, but if I were to turn her father and Le Gaire
over to the hardships of a Northern prison, I could expect no mercy. I
cared little as to the fate of the others, they had taken the chances of
war, but these two must be liberated before our troops came up. I could
not catch the girl's eyes; she sat with averted face, talking earnestly
to her father. Uneasy, and puzzled how best to straighten out the
tangle, I went out into the hall, and glanced in at the room opposite. A
bunch of gray-clad men were against the wall, disarmed and hel