Roused by the observation of his friend, De Haldimar
quitted his position near the sentry box, and advanced
to the outer edge of the rampart. To him, as to his
companions, the outline of the old bomb proof was now
distinctly visible, but it was sometime before they could
discover, in the direction in which Valletort pointed,
a dark speck upon the common; and this so indistinctly,
they could scarcely distinguish it with the naked eye.

"Your sight is quite equal to your aim, Sir Everard,"
remarked Lieutenant Johnstone, one of Erskine's subalterns,
"and both are decidedly superior to mine; yet I used to
be thought a good rifleman too, and have credit for an
eye no less keen than that of an Indian. You have the
advantage of me, however; for I honestly admit I never
could have picked off yon fellow in the dark as you have
done."

As the dawn increased, the dark shadow of a human form,
stretched at its length upon the ground, became perceptible;
and the officers, with one unanimous voice, bore loud
testimony to the skill and dexterity of him who had,
under such extreme disadvantages, accomplished the death
of their skulking enemy.

"Bravo, Valletort," said Charles de Haldimar, recovering
his spirits, as much from the idea, now occurring to him,
that this might indeed be the stranger whose appearance
had so greatly disturbed his father, as from the