A little after midnight, the two orderlies became seriously alarmed
(I ought to mention that one was recently from Cork, and the other
from Kerry), and reported to the general that a conversation was
being carried on in an unknown language by two persons in the woods
beyond, and whom they verily believed to be spies of the enemy. The
general was not a little perplexed at this intelligence, for the
better informed orderly declared, that while one shouted in very bad
Irish, the other seemed to answer him in Dutch. The general listened
attentively for a minute or more, when the noise was again heard. It
turned out, however, that the intruders were only a pair of owls,
who had perched in some trees near by, and were exchanging hootings
for their own entertainment.






CHAPTER XIII.

THE KIND OF REINFORCEMENTS WE HAD TO DEFEND THE CITY.





THIS is an exact portrait of General Jubal A. Early, who was sent to
capture Washington, but arrived a little too late.