"Then here I deliver to your hands a condemned traitor; this is Harvey
Birch, the peddler spy."

Lawton started as he looked his old acquaintance in the face, and
turning to the Skinner with a lowering look, he asked:

"And who are you, sir, that speak so freely of your neighbors? But,"
bowing to Dunwoodie, "your pardon, sir; here is the commanding
officer; to him you will please address yourself."

"No," said the man, sullenly, "it is to you I deliver the peddler, and
from you I claim my reward."

"Are you Harvey Birch?" said Dunwoodie, advancing with an air of
authority that instantly drove the Skinner to a corner of the room.

"I am," said Birch, proudly.

"And a traitor to your country," continued the major, with sternness;
"do you not know that I should be justified in ordering your execution
this night?"

"'Tis not the will of God to call a soul so hastily to his presence,"
said the peddler, with solemnity.

"You speak truth," said Dunwoodie; "but as your offence is most odious
to a soldier, so it will be sure to meet with the soldier's vengeance;
you die to-morrow."

"'Tis as God wills."

"I have spent many a good hour to entrap the villain," said the
Skinner, advancing from his little corner; "and I hope you will give
me a certificate that will entitle us to the reward; 'twas promised to
be paid in gold."

"Major Dunwoodie," said the officer of the day, entering the room,
"the patrols report a house to be burnt near yesterday's
battle-ground."

"'Twas the hut of the peddler," muttered the leader of the gang; "we
have not left him a shingle for shelter; I should have burned it
months ago, but I wanted his shed for a trap to catch the sly fox in."

"You seem a most ingenious patriot," said Lawton. "Major Dunwoodie, I
second the request of this worthy gentleman, and crave the office of
bestowing the reward on him and his fellows."

"Take it;--and you, miserable man, prepare for the fate which will
surely befall you before the setting of to-morrow's sun."

"Life offers but little to tempt me with," said Harvey, slowly raising
his eyes and gazing wildly at the strange faces in the apartment.

"Come, worthy children of America!" said Lawton, "follow and receive
your reward."

The gang eagerly accepted the invitation, and followed the captain
towards the quarters assigned to his troop.

The officer to whose keeping Dunwoodie had committed the peddler,
transferred his charge to the custody of