end of the bridge. Thereupon I said to myself, "This is not a night for
assassination."

"The countersign," for the third time, proceeded from the armed Apollyon
in front of me. I grew familiar.

"Come now, my good friend, this little business of mine requires some
dispatch. During the war in America--"

The click of the hammer of the sentry's rifle interrupted me. I felt
uncomfortable. I had been out in the night air many times before, but I
never knew it to be so disagreeably chilly. It climbed in behind my
shirt collar, travelled down my back with a shivering sensation, and
culminated in a regular ague when it reached my knees. With a terrific
effort I calmed myself, and opened on the soldiers again. "During the
war in America--" There are occasions in a man's lifetime when the mere
fact of his tongue cleaving unexpectedly to the roof of his mouth is no
evidence of cowardice. I had unquestionably reached that eventful period
of my existence, but I also possessed physical energy to try once more.

"My good, kind friend, I was going to say that during the war in
America--"

"Oh! d--n your war in America!" roared the sentry, levelling his
rifle full at me.

There is no American living who would sooner resent an insult to his
native land than myself, and at such a crisis I felt that within me
which might rise at any moment and crush the foul calumniator. But I
reasoned to myself that I would not take the life of this man, now. I