the regular sergeant of the
guard. After admonishing the non-commissioned guardian of Harvey to
omit no watchfulness in securing the prisoner, the youth wrapped
himself in his cloak, and, stretched on a bench before a fire, soon
found the repose he needed. A rude shed extended the whole length of
the rear of the building, and from off one end had been partitioned a
small apartment that was intended as a repository for many of the
lesser implements of husbandry. The considerate sergeant thought this
the most befitting place in which to deposit his prisoner until the
moment of execution.

Several inducements urged Sergeant Hollister to this determination,
among which was the absence of the washerwoman, who lay before the
kitchen fire, dreaming that the corps was attacking a party of the
enemy, and mistaking the noise that proceeded from her own nose for
the bugles of the Virginians sounding the charge. Another was the
peculiar opinions that the veteran entertained of life and death, and
by which he was distinguished in the corps as a man of most exemplary
piety and holiness of life. Captain Lawton had rewarded his fidelity
by making him his orderly.

Followed by Birch, the sergeant proceeded in silence to the door of
the intended prison, and, throwing it open with one hand, he held a
lantern with the other to light the peddler to his prison.

Harvey thoroughly examined the place in which he was to pass the
night, and saw no means of escape. He buried his face in both hands,
and his whole frame shook; the sergeant regarded him closely, took up
the lantern, and, with some indignation in his manner, left him to
sorrowful meditations on his approaching fate. Birch sank, in
momentary despair, on the pallet of Betty, while his guardian
proceeded to give the necessary instructions to the sentinels for his
safe-keeping.

Hollister concluded his injunctions to the man in the shed by saying,
"Your life will depend on his not escaping. Let none enter or quit the
room till morning."

"But," said the trooper, "my orders are to let the washerwoman pass in
and out as she pleases."

"Well, let her then; but be careful that this wily peddler does not
get out in the folds of her petticoats." He then continued his walk,
giving similar orders to each of the sentinels near the spot.

For some time after the departure of the sergeant, silence prevailed
within the solitary prison of the peddler, until the dragoon at his
door heard his