"We seem to run into each other, Major Brice," said he.

The pluck of the man was superb. I could see that the General, too, was
moved, from the way he looked at him. And he speaks a little more
abruptly at such times.

"Guess that settles it, Colonel," he said.

"I reckon it does, General," said Clarence, still smiling. The General
turned from him to the table with a kind of jerk and clapped his hand on
the tissue paper.

"These speak for themselves, sir," he said. "It is very plain that they
would have reached the prominent citizens for whom they were intended if
you had succeeded in your enterprise. You were captured out of uniform
You know enough of war to appreciate the risk you ran. Any statement to
make?"

"No, sir."

"Call Captain Vaughan, Brice, and ask him to conduct the prisoner back."

"May I speak to him, General?" I asked. The General nodded.

I asked him if I could write home for him or do anything else. That
seemed to touch him. Some day I shall tell you what he said.

Then Vaughan took him out, and I heard the guard shoulder arms and tramp
away in the night. The General and I were left alone with the mahogany
table between us, and a family portrait of somebody looking down on us