"Damon, here's a mail that must go across the river to-night. Can you
pull an oar?"

"Yas," replied the man.

"Then get some one to go with you, and start at once. The skiff, you
know, is in the creek, just above where that Yankee gun-boat lies."

"Yas," answered the man again, as he took the mail-bags which the
colonel handed him.

"This one," continued the rebel, pointing to a small canvas bag which
one of his officers had just brought out of the house--"this one
contains my mail--all official documents, to go to Richmond. Be careful
of it. Don't let the Yankees get hold of you."

"No," replied the soldier, as he shouldered the mail and disappeared.

The conversation that followed, of which Archie heard every word, served
to convince him that, although the rebels kept up a bold front, and
appeared sanguine of success in their attempts to destroy the
Government, yet among themselves they acknowledged their cause to be
utterly hopeless unless some bold stroke could be made to "dishearten
the Yankees."

In spite of Archie's dangerous situation, which had tried his nerves
severely, he listened to every word that was uttered, and even became
interested in what the rebels were saying. Now and then he was called to
a sense of his situation by the movements of the horse, which, being