Indians, in reality, turned your brains with fear?"

What, however, was his own surprise, and that of Lieutenant
Johnstone, when, on a closer examination of the corpse,
which the men had now placed with its face uppermost,
they discovered the bewildering fact that it was not,
indeed, Captain de Haldimar who lay before them, but a
stranger, dressed in the uniform of that officer.

There was no time to solve, or even to dwell on the
singular mystery; for the Indians, though now retired,
might be expected to rally and renew the attack. Once
more, therefore, the detachment moved forward; the officers
dropping as before to the rear, to watch any movements
of the enemy should he re-appear. Nothing, however,
occurred to interrupt their march; and in a few minutes
the heavy clanking sound of the chains of the drawbridge,
as it was again raised by its strong pullies, and the
dull creaking sound of the rusty bolts and locks that
secured the ponderous gate, announced the detachment was
once more safely within the fort.

While the wounded men were being conveyed to the hospital,
a group, comprising almost all the officers of the
garrison, hastened to meet Captain Erskine and Lieutenant
Johnstone. Congratulations on the escape of the one,
and compliments, rather than condolences, on the accident
of the other, which the arm en echarpe denoted to be
slight, were hastily and warmly proffered. These
felicitations were the genuine ebullitions of the hearts