or to so much as step aside that he might be spared pain.

Before hearing a single word, Isaac understood that these late-comers
were no friends of the corporal's, and he endured the pain in silence,
hoping that by so doing he might escape observation.

It was hardly probable the strangers failed to see him, for he had been
lying within a few feet of his companion; but that he was not the object
of their regard could be readily understood.

The man who had thus pinned the boy to the earth by his heel wore
moccasins rather than boots, otherwise Isaac would have received severe
injury, and as it was, the corporal's recruit suffered considerable pain
before the foot was finally removed; but yet made no sound.

So far as he could judge by the conversation, these strangers must have
been in camp some time before he was awakened, for when he first opened
his eyes they were in the midst of an unpleasant conversation with the
old soldier, such as had evidently been carried on for some moments.

"If he don't choose to tell, string him up to a tree," one of the party
cried impatiently at the moment Isaac first became conscious that
matters were not running smoothly in this private encampment. "A dead
rebel is of more good than a live one, and we have no time to lose."

"Hang me, if that's what you're hankerin' for!" Corporal 'Lige cried in
a voice that sounded thick and choked as if a heavy pressure was upon
his throat. "Even though I knew more concernin' this 'ere expedition
than I do, not a word should I speak."

"We'll soon see whether you're so willing to dance on nothing," the
first speaker cried vindictively, and then came noises as if the man was
making ready to carry his threat into execution.

"Give him another chance," one of the Tories suggested. "Let the old
fool tell us all he knows of Allen's plans, an' we'll leave him none the
worse for our coming."

"I know nothing!" the corporal cried in a rage. "Do you reckon the
colonel would lay out his campaign before me?"

"It is said he did so before you left Pittsfield."

"Whoever says that is a liar; but even though he had made the fullest
explanations, I would not reveal the plans to you. You must think I'm a
mighty poor kind of a soldier if I don't know how to die rather than
play the traitor."

"You'll soon have a chance of proving what you can do!" the third man
cried angrily, and then it was he stepped forward, leaving Isaac free to
do as he thought bes