which it broke was terminated by a perfectly marked square,
extraordinarily clear-cut and distinct. Such a square, occurring
at the end of a broken line means rescue, salvation. I had long
been aware of this strange figuration in my hand, and had often
wondered what it presaged. But now, as once more I looked at it,
it came upon me with sudden conviction that in some way I was
destined to be delivered from death at the last moment, and I thought
that if this be so it would be horrible should C. have been killed
first. If I were to be saved I should certainly save him also,
for my pardon would involve the pardon of both, or my rescue the
rescue of both. Therefore it was important to provide for his safety
until after my fate was decided. The officer seemed to take this
last request into more serious consideration than the first. He
said shortly: "I may be able to manage that for you," and then
at once rose and took up the papers I had signed. "When are we to
be shot?" I asked him. "Tomorrow morning," he replied, as promptly
as before. Then he went out, turning the key of the guardroom upon me.


The dawn of the next day broke darkly. It was a terribly stormy day;
great black lurid thunderclouds lay piled along the horizon, and
came up slowly and awfully against the wind. I looked upon them
with terror; they seemed so near the earth, and so like living,
watching things. They hung out of the sky, extending long ghostly
arms downwards, and their gloom and density seemed supernatural.
The soldiers took us out, our hands bound behind us, into a quadrangle
at the back of their barracks. The scene is sharply impressed on
my mind. A palisade of two sides of a square, made of wooden planks,
ran round the quadrangle. Behind this palisade, and pressed up
close against it, was a mob of men and women--the people of the