de mists am risin'--I
see yo' da, honey--fo'ebber and fo'ebber--"

As he surveyed this prospect, with these words ringing in his ears,
the brief silence was broken by a bugle call and the trampling of
feet.

"The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall arise," said the prisoner,
turning and facing the soldiers calmly. "You have come for me?" he
asked, quietly.

"Yes," said the officer in command. "General Scott has granted your
request in view of certain circumstances, and you will be shot,
instead of hanged."

The face of the prisoner lighted wonderfully. He drew himself erect
and smiled with some of the assumption of the old insolence, that
expression Saint-Prosper so well remembered! His features took on a
semblance to the careless, dashing look they had borne when the
soldier crossed weapons with him at the Oaks, and he neither asked nor
intended to give quarter.

"I thank you," he observed, courteously. "At least, I shall die like a
gentleman. I am ready, sir! Do not fasten my hands. A Mauville can die
without being tied or bound."

The officer hesitated: "As to that--" he began.

"It is a reasonable request," said Saint-Prosper, in a low tone.

Mauville abruptly wheeled; his face, dark and sinister, was lighted
with envenomed malignity; an unnaturally clear perception replaced the
stupor of his brain, and, bending toward Saint-Prosper, his eye rested
upon him with such rancor and malevolence the soldier involuntarily
drew away. But one word fell from the land baron's lips, low,
vibrating, full of inexpressible bitterness. "Traitor!"

"Come, come!" interrupted the officer in command of the execution
party; "time is up. As I was told not to fasten your hands, you shall
have your wish. Confess now, that is accommodating?"

"Thanks," returned Mauville carelessly, relapsing into his old manner.
"You are an obliging fellow! I would do as much for you."

"Not much danger of that," growled the other. "But we'll take the will
for the deed. Forward, march!"

* * * * *

After the reverberations, carried from rock to rock with menacing
reiteration, had ceased, the stillness was absolute. Even the
song-bird remained frightened into silence by those awful echoes. Then
the sun rested like a benediction on the land and the white cross of
Cortez was distinctly outlined against the blue sky. But soon the long
roll of drums followed this interval of quiet.

"Fall in!" "Atte