o go. I vas more
villing to go as I vas to have my prains spilt. If that is vat you mean
by villing, I vas villing."

"Why did they take you prisoner?"

"Pecause. I vill tell you. Gad vas shleeping like thunder: you know vat
I mean--shnoring. Nothing could make him vake up; so they let him
shnore. But I vake up, and they say, I suppose, they must kill me or
take me off, for if I vas left pehind I vould raise the alarm too soon."

"Well, where did they take you?"

Carl was silent a moment, then looking Colonel Derring full in the face,
he said earnestly,--

"They make me shwear I vould not tell."

"Minny-fish," said the colonel, "this won't do. The secret is out, and
it is too late for you to try to keep it back. Toby betrayed it. Mrs.
Stackridge has been arrested, and she has confessed that her husband and
his friends are hid in a cave. We sent out a scout, who has come in and
corroborated both their statements. Gad discovered the cave; but he has
sprained his ankle. He describes the spot accurately, but he's too lame
to climb the hills again. What we want is a guide to go in his place.
Now, Minny-fish, here's a chance for you to earn a pardon, and prove
your loyalty. You promised Captain Sprowl, did you not, that you would
conduct him to the cave?"

Carl, overwhelmed by the colonel's confident assertions, breathed a
moment, then replied,--

"I pelieve I vas making him some promise."

"Notwithstanding your oath that you would not tell?" said Lysander,
eager to cross and corner him.

"To show the vay, that is not to tell," replied Carl. "I shwore I vould
not tell, and I shall not tell. But if you vill go mit me to the cave, I
vill go mit you and take you. Then I keep my promise to you and my oath
to them. You see, I did not shwear not to take you," he added, with a
smile.

With a smile on his face, but with profound perturbations of the soul.
For he saw himself sinking deeper and deeper into this miry difficulty,
and how he was to extricate himself without dragging his friends down,
was still a terrible enigma.

"I believe the boy is honest," said Derring. "Sergeant, have those irons
taken off. Captain Sprowl, you will manage the affair, and take this boy
as your guide. I advise you to trust him. But until he has thoroughly
proved his honesty, keep a careful eye on him, and if you become
convinced that he is deceiving you, shoot him down on the spot. I say,
shoot him on the spot," repeated the colonel, im