os, his high, stern features working in the
moonlight, and his bold glance softened into an exquisite melancholy.

"I too am friendless," said Landless, "and bound to a far more degrading
captivity than that you suffer. Our fate is the same."

The Indian took his hand in his, and raising it, pressed the forefinger
against a certain spot upon his shoulder. "You have a friend," he said.

"You make too much of a very slight service," said Landless. "But I
embrace your offer of friendship--there's my hand upon it. And now I
must be going upon my way. Good-night!"

The Indian gave a guttural "Good-night," and Landless strode on through
the thinning woods. Shortly he emerged from the forest and saw before
him tobacco fields and a house, and beyond the house the vast sheet of
the Chesapeake slumbering beneath the moon. There was a beaten path
leading to the house. Landless struck into it and followed it until it
led him beneath a window which (having been once sent with a message to
the Surveyor-General), he knew to belong to the sleeping-chamber of
Major Carrington. Stopping beneath this window he listened for any sound
that might warn him of aught stirring within or without the
mansion,--all was silent, the house and its inmates locked in slumber.

He took a handful of pebbles from the path and threw them, one by one,
against the wooden shutter, the thud of the last pebble being answered
by a slight noise from within the room. Presently the shutter was opened
and an authoritative voice demanded:--

"Who is it? What do you want?"

Landless came closer beneath the window. "Major Carrington," he said in
a low voice, "It is I, Godfrey Landless. I must have speech with you."

There was a moment's silence, and then the other said coldly, "'Must' is
a word that becomes neither your lips nor my ears. I know no reason why
Miles Carrington _must_ speak with the servant of Colonel Verney."

"As you please: Godfrey Landless craves the honor of a word with Major
Carrington."

"And what if Major Carrington refuses?" said the other sharply.

"I do not think he will do so."

The Surveyor-General hesitated a moment, then said:--

"Go to the great door. I will open to you in a moment. But make no
noise."

Landless nodded, and proceeded to follow his directions. Presently the
door swung noiselessly inward, and Carrington, appearing in the opening,
beckoned Landless within, and led the way, still in profound silence,
across the