As conversation ceased for a time Noel and Dennis withdrew to a part of the tent where they were by themselves. The face of every man in the tent betrayed his feeling of anxiety. Even Noel, the youngest of the soldiers, was becoming alarmed at the outlook. Far removed from his own regiment, among those who were strangers to him and who knew nothing of his record or even of his presence in the army, the young soldier desperately tried to think of some one to whom he might appeal for aid.

If he had been left free to follow his own wishes he would immediately have sought the colonel and stated his case to that officer. As it was, however, he was not only prevented from seeing the leader, but also was in a position in which his statements would not be accepted without further proof. His anger at the little sutler, who had brought the trouble upon him, became keener, but his very helplessness tended only to increase his anxiety.

The anxiety of the young prisoners would have been much greater if they had known that at this very time Harper's Ferry was about to be taken and the soldiers of the garrison made prisoners. The two great divisions of the Southern army, as we know, had been planning to cross the mountains and reunite at Hagerstown or Boonesborough.

General Jackson, energetic and prompt, successfully carried out the task which had been assigned to him. Indeed, he was as prompt in his actions as was his great commander. On the first day of his advance he marched fourteen miles and that same night decided to cross the Potomac River. The following day he was only four miles west of Martinsburg, and in the morning when he moved upon the little place, to his surprise he found that the garrison already had abandoned the post.

The general quickly resumed his march and on the following day, after his troops had covered more than sixty miles in the four days, he came within sight of the Federal forces.

There was a slight delay now, but on the 13th of September General McLaws reached the hills known as Maryland Heights and at the same time General Walker, who was meeting with no resistance at all, occupied Loudon Heights above Harper's Ferry.

All that night General Jackson was awake, receiving frequent reports from both of his subordinates, and before the morning came he had made all his plans for a combined attack upon Harper's Ferry by all the divisions under his command.

Right at the angle formed by the junction of the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers lies Harper's Ferry. To the south were heights which were strongly held by the Union troops. It was in the afternoon of September 14, when at the command of General Jackson the Confederate batteries began to pour a heavy artillery fire upon the Union troops on the heights, and when night fell he had worked his army into such a position that it really commanded both flanks of the Bolivar Heights where these Union soldiers were stationed.

The following morning there was a brief interval of quiet and then General Jackson prepared to assault the heights. But before the attempt was made the Union garrison capitulated.

Not only were more than twelve thousand prisoners secured (for the garrisons which had been stationed at Winchester and at Martinsburg had retired previously to Harper's Ferry), but there also were seventy-three great guns and something like thirteen thousand small arms that became the prizes of the victors.

"Whist!" whispered Dennis, speaking for the first time since the boys had been consigned to the guard-tent. "'Tis a black day for us, I'm thinkin'. 'Tis a foine way, too, to treat the boys that niver thought of desartin'."

"We'll get out of this all right," said Noel, speaking with a confidence he was far from feeling. "They'll have to find out first whether or not we're really deserters before they punish us."

"If I had that little spalpeen, Levi, here, I'd get some satisfaction, anyway! What for do you suppose he told the captain that we were desarters?"

"There's fifty dollars reward offered to any one who will help in the return of a deserter; at least, that's what I have been told," said Noel.

"That explains it, thin," said Dennis confidently. "That explains it all. For fifty dollars that Levi would sell his mother and his whole family."

"Fifty dollars is a good deal of money, Dennis."

"So it is. So it is," acknowledged the young Irish soldier, "but it's a lot more than Levi is worth."

"How much more?"

"Just fifty dollars, to a cint."

The attempt to speak lightly of their troubles, however, was almost pathetic. Both boys were exceedingly anxious and their feelings were not relieved by the manifestly increasing fears of their companions.

It was now early in the afternoon and the guard as yet had not come with their food. Noel had decided that he would await the coming of this man and beg him to obtain permission for him to see the colonel. The boy felt that, if only he could be admitted to the presence of that officer, he would be able to state some things which would lead to the prompt release both of himself and his companion.

There was a long interval, however, before a soldier came to bring their dinner, if hard-tack and water could be dignified by such a term. Neither Dennis nor Noel ate of the food thus provided. Not only were their appetites gone, but their anger had increased as they thought of the way in which they were being treated after their difficult and perilous services all through the campaign on the Peninsula.

The feeling of Dennis frequently found voice in his expressions of anger and disgust. Noel, however, was more controlled in his manner and seldom spoke except in reply to the questions of his comrade.

Noel eagerly had begged the soldier who had brought their dinner to report to the colonel that one of the men was innocent and most earnestly begged permission to explain to him how he had been falsely accused.

He was by no means confident that the soldier would bear his request to the colonel and still less was he hopeful that the colonel would grant him an interview.

He was, therefore, the more surprised when an hour later an orderly came to the tent and said, "Who is the man that asked to see the colonel?"

Instantly three of the inmates replied that they had made this request. To the surprise and consternation of Noel Curtis the orderly simply said, "There will be time for only one and he will have to be quick. I don't see why the colonel waits, anyway. The only place for a deserter is at the end of a rope that's tied so that his feet will be about three feet above the ground. That's the way one of the deserters was served this morning."

"What!" demanded Noel, his face turning pale in spite of his effort to be calm. "Do you really mean to say that a deserter was hanged to-day?"

"That's exactly what I mean to say," said the soldier lightly. "So many men have tried to break loose lately that it has been decided to use stricter measures. Perhaps they will be better to you, though, and instead of hanging you, they will just let you be shot. That's a better way. Leastwise, that's what I would want if I had to take my choice."

"I'm the one," said Noel hastily, "who sent word to the colonel asking for permission to see him."

"He isn't the man!" shouted the other three in unison; and each added, "I'm the man!"

"How will I ever know?" said the orderly as he gazed in confusion first at one prisoner and then at another.

"I'll tell you," suggested Noel. "Ask each man to tell how he sent his message, and the one that gives it right is to be the one who shall have a chance."

"Good!" said the orderly. "How did you send word?" he asked, turning to Noel as he spoke.

"Ask these other men first," suggested Noel. "I was the last one to put in a claim that I had sent word, so let me be the last one to explain how I sent it."

"All right. Now, go ahead, you tell how you sent your word," the orderly demanded as he looked keenly at the oldest of the trio.

"I don't just remember," stammered the soldier. "It seems to me I sent a letter."

"That's what I did, too," said the second. "I wrote a note and sent it by one of the boys."

"And how did you get word to him?" the orderly inquired as he turned to the third man.

"I give it up. I'll own up, too, that I didn't send any word at all, though I wanted to. Perhaps I took the wish for the deed."

"Now explain how you sent your message," said the soldier as he again turned to Noel.

"I sent it by the man who brought us our dinner to-day."

"That's right. You're the boy. You come with me."

Without any delay Noel was conducted by the orderly to the tent of the colonel, and soon was admitted.

He remained standing near the table upon which the officer was writing. The colonel did not even glance at his visitor for a time as he continued his task. At last, however, he looked up and said abruptly, "Well, what is it?"

"I have come to tell you," said Noel, somewhat embarrassed in spite of his determination to be self-controlled, "that I have been accused of being a deserter."

"Oh, you're the man who sent word by Dan Tague."

"I don't know the man's name," said Noel respectfully.

"Well, he brought your message. And you say you are not a deserter?"

"Yes, sir."

"But you cannot prove it?"

"I can and I will if you'll give me a little time."

"But I have positive information here," said the colonel, taking a paper from his pocket, "that you are a deserter. It states that you and another man named Dennis O'Hara both deserted at Harper's Ferry and were discovered not far from here this morning by Captain Blowers."

"I don't know the captain's name, Colonel," said Noel. "I did not desert at Harper's Ferry. I was outside the lines—"

"What were you doing outside the lines?" interrupted the colonel.

"I was foraging."

"Was any one with you?"

"Yes, sir. Dennis O'Hara."

"Ah, ha! Then the story is true that you both were outside the lines?"

"Yes, sir! that's true, although it isn't true that we deserted."

"To what regiment do you belong?"

"To the —th."

"To which company?"

Noel gave the number of his company.

"Who was your colonel?"

"Colonel Crawford."

"That's correct," said the officer. "All these things tally. I have a statement here that you and—your name is Noel Curtis, is it not?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I have a statement here that Noel Curtis and Dennis O'Hara, both belonging to Company —— of the —th regiment deserted just before the attack on Harper's Ferry."

"Colonel, may I ask you who made that statement?"

"The sutler is the one who informed us."

"Did any one else tell you?"

"I think so. I haven't all the papers here and I have no time to go into details about this. Have you served long?"

"We enlisted last spring, my brother and I. We were both in the Peninsula campaign. My brother was sick and went home on a furlough."

"Where is your home?"

"In New York State, on the border of the St. Lawrence River. My brother and I were both sharpshooters."

The colonel smiled incredulously as he looked at the young soldier, but all he said in reply was, "I have nothing but your unsupported word for this, while I have the testimony of others against you. The fact that you were outside the lines at Harper's Ferry is against you, and it's just about as black when Captain Blowers reports that he was informed by reliable witnesses that you are a deserter and were seen several times skulking about the region. We are compelled to make examples of these men right now, or we shan't have anybody left to stand against Lee. You'll have to find better reasons for convincing me than you have given this afternoon."

"Will you make some investigations, Colonel?"

"No, not now. There is no time. Do you hear those guns?" he demanded as the roar of distant cannon was heard. "We may be ordered to advance at any time. Meanwhile I must give my men a good lesson, and I cannot do it in a better way than by making an example of such men as you."

"Don't you believe what I have told you?"

"I don't," said the colonel tartly. "Your story is just about as plausible as the one young Naylor told me before I had him hanged."

Noel's face became pale as he heard the statement lightly repeated by the colonel that some one had been hanged that very day for desertion. He was aware, however, from the attitude of the officer and the abrupt manner in which he turned again to his writing that there was little use in trying further to plead his cause. Turning about, Noel, still under the guard of the orderly, left the tent and was conducted back to the place where he had been confined with his companions.