^rfT;^; 7^ (novelist ppblishing co.,(. NTCW YORK r«U. Ool, i NO. 18 Rose Street. i 1-^-D TT X vy-H.-tv The loynti Caononeei or, A War Mystery of Antietam. By ANTHONY P. MORRIS. '^'''""%%^^'J^ /^'^ The old cannoneer sticks by his gun m the slaughter on the Antietam. THE WAR LIBRARY. Tlie IVtouiitaiii Camioneei- ; BT ANTHONY P. MOBRIS CHAPTER I A SOUTHERN SYMPATHIZER. It was on the eve of one of the remarkable and decisive battles of the great civil war. The famous Confederate General Lee had crossed the frontier li-to Maryland, after several conquests, and the Union army found itself in a condition merely defensive and rather humiliated before the nation. Dismay was in the shattered ranks o£ the battalions at the capi- tal after Pope's disastrous campaign; but a vast thrill pervaded the weary army when it was known that once again the soldiers' favorite chieftain, McClellan, was to reassume command of the nearly vanquished troops. At the date on which our story opens, the brave and able general who now guided the destiny of the blue clad host had been fortu- nately apprised of Lee's intention to possess himself of Harper's Perry, and even then the former was in a position to succor Colo- nel Miles— having brilliantly swept open the passes of South Mountain and sounded through the struggle there the signal guns that might have apprised the garrison at the ferry of his formida- ble proximity. But Harper's Ferry had surrendered to Jacksou and Walker, McClellan had come too late. Not too late, however, to interfere with Lee's contemplated campaign; for, being aware of the caliber of the general who was now marching against him, Lee now saw that a great battle must be fought, and skillfully began concentrating his forces for the in- evitable struggle. East of Sharpsburg, facing the purling waters of the .intietam, were the stern fronts of the Southern generals whose names for valor history will remember, and the to north, east and southeast slowly approached the long lines of blue in grand array beneath the flowing glorious stars and stripes. Thus matters were when we take the reader to a commodious dwelling to the west of Sharpsburg, on the Shepherdstown road. the home of James Bartholomew, a wealthy gentleman whoso broad acres extended nearly to the glistening shore of the Potomac river, winding its snaky course at that point. Bartholomew was one of those who, despite the sample of rags and suffering and perceptible disintegration which pervaded the Confederate host, had partaken of that spirit of enthusiastic sup- port for the cause of the South, which Lee had so confidently, and it appeared vainly to the greater extent, counted upon as in store for him when he began this campaign for the " restoration of Southern liberties " in Western Maryland. A thorough secessionist from the first, he had had no fair or safe opportunity of proclaiming his sympathies until now, when he saw, as he declared, the advent of the movement which would ter- minate in the complete overthrow of the government at Wash- ington. A man of small stature, with a fringe of whitish-gray hair, a very nervous temperament, and twinkling blue-gray eyes that contain- ed a cunning expression fairly foxy. foxy he was, for at the age of nearly sixty years he had accumu- lated considerable wealth, by speculation and otherwise iu the management of his land thereabout, and long ago had acquired the reputation of being unmistakably miserly in all things excepting what contributed directly to his own personal comfort. A confirmed bachelor he had ever been, but in the household of James Bartholomew there was the fairest young girl of any in all the country road. No mere ward was she. A mystery was woven in the life ot lovely Belle Bartholomew, to whom he had given his name; and many iu the town of Sharps- burg could recall the night when he had taken under his loot- much lo the astonishment of every one— a helpless little infant who came from where no one ever could ascertain, and who seem- ed to have touched the only tender spot in the miser's acrimonious nature. A brunette of rosy type, with flashing, penetrating, merry black eves, an exquisite figure, a hand that dispensed her miserly pro- tector's money at times so freely among those who deserved chari- ly that the old man was wont to storm at her iu a rage that in- variably ended in a kiss from her rich lips to bring back the smile to his wrinkled face. Uncle Jim he had always been called by this bright, winsoiuo vision of lieauty. Night lay over tlie road that wound its circuit before the house. The Confederate lines that were marshalled on tlic west of Sharpsburg had drawn in closer to the town, and only a lew stragglers iu gray could be detected now and then iu the gloom, following carelessly in the wake of McLaws, who had come to unite with Lee from the detour bj way ot Shepherdstown. In the great parlor of this square, stone dwelling, old Barthole- mew was pacing to and fro unrestedly. He rubbed his skinny palms together like twining eels, he shook his sparse hair ou his jerking head, and from his thin lips, muttered : " She'll be killed ! She'll plunge her neck into the line of some fool of a picket and have her head blown off— I know it! Forever riding, forever skipping, dashing, flying about when she ought tof ' be shut up out of danger, like any other sensible girl! I've a no- tion to help the jade out in her suicidal intentions- no, no, no, I don't mean thatl But she worries the soul and life out of me. Hey, who's this?" For as he half raved about somebody of something which seemed to cause a sort of frantic uneasiness, there was a heavy footstep on the broad porch, and a small darky came running in with the in- telligence that a visitor had arrived. "It's deMassa Cap'n wot hes de big 'staches," announced the boy ; and with eyes still rolling, and turned in the direction of the person approaching, the boy sidled in a manner of deep awa around the door jamb. The comer was a tall man of fine physique, attired in a full suit of gray, with great slouch hat, wearing a heavy sword at his belt, and in the belt a monstrous pistol. His face was not unhandsome, but there was something about the sinister curl of his immense black mustacheand in the piercing black eyes, that seemed to repel the beholder. A doughty Confederate was he — Captain Jack Striker, of Jack- son's division. As he appeared, old Bartholomew hastened forward to greet him warmly. " Ah, my dear captain. You are back among us again. I'm glad of it ; I do not know of any one I would rather see enter my house than yourself, excepting it be General Lee himself. Be seated," n-heeling forward a chair. And he called sharply: "Pomp! — Pomp! you son of night! where are you?" " Hyar, Massa James." " Wine, Pomp— bring us some wine— and cigars, too, Pomp. While the negro lad hastened for the refreshments. Captain Jack Striker seated his large form in a chair with the air of a man who feels that he has a perfect right to the fullest hospitality of the house. But there was a slight frown on the captain's face as he half-ab- sent ly answered to the other's ilervously rattling volley of ques- " Yes, we've just got back from that little affair at Harper's Ferry. It was an easy matter to run the Yanks in from tho heights, and some blood was spilled. Miles got his death wound, it has been rumored by the scouts— all the be*ter. But I did not come here to talk of that flght, friend Bartholemew. I havesome- thiiig important to say to you; and it you don't want your house pulled slam down about your ears, you'll pay close attention, and take summary action upon the subject I mean to communi- cate " " My house pulled down you say?" "Precisely so." " Why, what iu the world But here is the wine. Have a sip, my dear captain. Light a cigar. There — what areyou talk- ing about? My house pulled down? Explain." With his own glass poised in hesitancy near his lips, James Bar- tholomew looked searchingly at the Confederate officer, the ex. pression of his countenance one of wondering perplexity. CHAPTER II. A BLUNT PKOPOSAL. The words next uttered by Captain Striker, for some weighty reason, caused the face ot James Bartholemew to pale slightly. " Do you want that ward of yours to run your neck into a hal- ter, or bring you out before a platoon of soldiers to be shot ?" "Halter! Shot!" "I said it." " I do not see what you are driving at?" " Listen, then, and you will understand. Perhaps you are not aware of the doings of Miss Bell. But these are times when mili- tary people judge a man's proclivities by his surroundings to some extent, especially if a member ot his own family is guilty of strange doings not consistent with the profession he makes aloud " "My dear sir"- breaking in nervously— "please tell me what you are getting at? What have I done? What has anybody "Ah, now you speak it"— dashing off his liquor at a frulp. " Now, you strike the key. What hn» anybody donf? Mis< B-lle fkU THE WA.R LIBRARY. : that ill bring destruction on yon has done, 13 doing, sometnii as sure as you stand there." " She ! Impossible ! Belle would not do aTiything mise either herself or me." "There you are -n-rong. Sit down. Let ua discus quietly." With wide eyes, Bartholomew seated himself in an opposite chair, staring at the captain in astonishment. " I am afraid," said the gnty-auited ofBcer, "that your ward. Miss Belle, is not so stanch .a Southerner as she has led you and me and everybody else to think. "Wait, now, I will explain my meaning. We know that ever smco McClellan left Frederick, his couriers and spies have been thick all over the locality be- tween here and that place; some of them, fortunately, have been captured and strung up. But there has been one, it seems, that thoshrewedest (if our army could never trap, and who must be the one who was so cunning as to get possession of the order from Lee to Jackson and ileLaws, sending them to capture Harper's ral McClellan. The 3 say." jinou3 twiukle Ferry, and which order was revealed 1 spy of whom I speak is a woman— so t "A woman!" "Yes, and no ordinary one, either;' in the black, piercing eyes. "Well, sir, well?" " She is Been, at times, dressed iu a riding habit of gray. At otlier times, it is believed, she has successfully assumed the garb of a farm boy, and numerous mastiuerades besides ; a very smart young girl, in fact, who had "better be devoting herself to the cause which she leads everybody to believe is the paramount love of her heart— the good cause of the South." '• Have I not said that your ward, Miss Belle, would cause you to be shot as a Yankee sympathizer if yQu do not put a stop to her doings ! No, I did not exactly say it, either; but that is what I mean." " What!" as the other's meaning dawned upon him, " you hint that Belle is a spy for the accursed Yankees ?" "That is just what I declare." "Preposterous!" " You will find out to your cost that there is nothing preposter- ous about it, but a succession of hard facts. In plain words, Miss Belle is a spy." Old Bartholemew seemed too overcome by surprise for utter- ance. He stared into the captain's face like one bewildered. " But it is not yet common knowledge that such is the identity of this bold young lady'" pursued Striker, letting his chair down and tilting it forward the otlier way confidentially, while his voice sunk lower. " I may say tiiat there are not a half dozeu besides myself who have penetrated the seciet." " But it is a most ridiculous suspicion.' "No suspicion at all, I say; it is a fact. Now let me tell you that it has not been twenty-four hours since I saw Miss Belle in conver- sation with a very suspicious character at the Potomac ford to whom she gave a package of papers. Could you swear as to where she was just twenty-four hours ago ?" A half smiling exclamation broke from the old man. " Yes, sir; yes, I can." " Oh, you can ?" " Undoubtedly. She was here in this house; I saw her at exact- ly twenty-f onr hours ago ascending the stairs to the library. I spoke with her." and as if he had utterly overthrown any suspic- ions which the caplain might have entertained, he rubbed his eely fingers iu and out iu satisfaction. " Have you any proof beside your own word ?" " Why, captain!" iu astonishment that his own word was not en- tirely sufficient. " Because," added Striker, " if there comes an iuvestigation you will need it, the additional proof, I mean." " Pomp ! Pomp !" called the old man, a little excitedly. "Hyer, massa." "When did you see Miss Belle last? For," to the captain, "to tell the truth, I have not seen her since last night." " Seen de Miss Belle las' night," answered Pomp. "What time?" " Jes' 'bout dis time, Massa James." "Would you swear to that, you little rascal?" put Striker, wheeling frowningly upon the boy. Pomp must have understood the nature of an oat li, for he re- plied promptly : "Deed I would. G e es I kuows Miss Belle.' Cirtholemew dismiss d Lim. "So you see," laughed Bartholemew, though the laugh was not as free from uneasiness as he would have wished it to appear, " it wouldlii!i:npos3ible, my dear sir, for the young lady to be in two different places at the same time." Captain Striker seemed to be somewhat puzzled. He arose and liegau walking thoughtfully before the old niau and muttered . "There is a mystery here, then, for I will make oath that I saw :^Miss Belle at the ford, talking with a man who wore a big white beard. I was within twelve feet of the pair, and I very plainly recognized her voice. " If you thought you had discovered a mare's nest, and came to put me on my guard, I am all the same obliged to you," said Bar- tholemew, and it was evident that he was iu earnest. " But you see you must have been mistaken, so there's an end of it." Striker resumed his seat. He regarded the other steadily over the rim of another glass of wine which he filled, and when he had carefully wiped his long-ended mustache, said : "Take a good look at me. I am not such a disagreeable appear- ing man, am I ?" was the quite surprising question that next came from the captain. "Well, no; rather a handsome man, if 1 do not flatter you too broadly." " And I have the honor to stand pretty well in your esteem, I believe, eh, Bartholemew?" " High indeed, sir, " answered the wondering old gentleman. " Then, sir, let me say that the chief object; in my coming here to-night is to ask that I may have your perraissiou and aid in securing the beautiful Miss Belle for my wife. I am, as you know pretty well supijlied with the necessary cash to " "Heigho!" breaking in. "Are you in love with my ward?" " That is precisely it." " This is a surprise." "Will you aid my suit with her?" " Now that is something," halt whined old Bartholemew, " that I must hesitate to undertake. Belle is pretty much her own mis- tress. I have no objection to such a match, but to aid you Hark! I think she is coming now. Suppose you try your suit your- self." And as it glad of an interruption that just then occurred, he ariise and stepped toward the hall. Tlie interruption was a sound of rapidly galloping horselioofs on tlie short path leading up from the road to the house. I'limp, the negro boy was seen to flit swiftly past the doorway, as if to meet the comer. CHAPTER III. BELLE BAETrOLEMEW. While he stoCd at the door waiting the entrance of some new ar- rival, James Bartholemew was saying, in his mind : "Forsooth! this Captain Striker is a blunt fellow— a man with' considerable assurance. Hardly a year have I known him. and presuming upon the fact that I have always made him very wel- come at my house, he asks me for my ward as a wife as coolly as he would for the loan of a horse. 1 am glad Belle is here. I think that is she on the path. Zounds ! I hardly knew how to an- swer him." The captain, mentally, as he looked first toward the dark entry- way aud then at the form of old Bartholemew : "He evaded me— the rat! but I have made up my mind that Miss Belle is the most beautiful girl I ever saw, and that I shall have her for a wife. I think I hav« a means of compelling both him and her to listen agreeably to my offer of marriage." The something which Striker inwardly promised himself was to insure the success of his suit for the hand of the Southern beauty, has been in a measure shown in his brief conversation of the pre- vious chapter. In a chapter to follow, the reader will see what good cause the Confederate officer had to believe that the young girl was a spy for the hated army of the North. Outside was heard the hoofstrokes of a dashing rider who seem- ed careless whether the horse plunged directly into the house as it came forward. Suddenly, as if there had been a fierce jerk on the bridle by a master hand, the sound ceased, and simultaneously : " Pomp !" rung a cheery, musical voice. "Hyer, Miss Belle." "Yes, it is Belle," again muttered Bartholemew, not loud enough for his companion to hear. " Now, then, let us see what she will say to this bold Captain Striker if he is bold as to ask her to marry him— and I think he is bold enough for anything." " She comes," passed within the expectant brain of Striker, and he fondled his luxuriant mustache and smiled in auticipaiions of promise based both upon conceit and the knowledge that, it he chose, he could make considerable trouble in the family of Jamea Bartholemew. " If she will listen sensibly to an offer that any other woman would consider an honor," he mused, "theu it will be plain sailing, and I shall be a very happy individual. If she de- clines, I— well, let us see if she will decline." THE WAR LIBRARY. A qiAck. flrm footstep in the hall, theu iuto thi. room walked a very vision of loveliness. " How do you do. Uncle Jim ?" '"How do you do? you say, and vou have l)een gone all day. Look, you miss " " There, there, now ; don't scold. Who " She was about to ask who the visitor was, as her eyes rested on him suddenly. I Then : " Good-evening, Captain Striker." The captain bowed his prot'oundest. Bartholemew seemed to be briefly hushed by the smiling admon- ition not to scold. But as the lovely brunette slowly drew off her riding gloves, an oppressive silence fell upon the trio. " I have done myself the honor to call this evening, Miss Belle," said the captain, " upon a very important matter which concerns both you and me." "Concerns me? Important? What can it be ?" " May I hope that you are not too tired after your unusuaUy long ride to hear what I have to say ?" " E.xeuse me," said old Bartholemew, and he whisked out of sight into the hall, mumbling as he went: '-Oho! he is bold enough. He will jump right into the business of asking her to marry him. A dashing fighter is Captain Striker. Let us see if he can win a victory here." It was evident by the old gentleman's expression of face that he had no idea of his lovely ward accepting the captaiu's suit>. "What is it you have to say to me?" she inquired, constrain- edly, and taking a seat not far from the still standing ofBcer. " You must be aware, Miss Belle, that I am a soldier of no mean reputation. I am also a man of some means. I will be plain in what I have to say. I have seen but little of you, but that brief opportunity has resulted in my feeling a very deep regard for you, and I earnestly desire you to become my wife." He paused, for she had immediately risen, with brows elevated, and regarded him in utmost amazement. " Will you accept the offer of my heart and hand. Miss Belle?" "Assuredly— no," washer ready response. He bowed his peculiarly profound bow, and said : I " It is not altogether unexpected by me— this answer. But be kind enough to listen to me " " Not further upon this subject, sir." Calmly he stroked his mustache, pulling the ends] until his lips dragged slightly apart and showed his white teeth disagreeably. '■ It will probably be better for yourself. Miss Belle, if you hear what I shall say, since I see that I cannot woo you as a lover might. Will you please tell me how long you have been absent from your home— where you were at about this hour last night?" " Captain Striker, I consider this impertmence." " For your own good, answer me," he urged, in the tone of a man who would compel obedience. Belle was erect. She gathered her rich, gray hued riding-habit up over one arm— the movement displaying a dainty booted fool that wore a glistening spur— and into her cheeks rose an additional color of indignation at the captain's manner and speech. Some quick, resentful word was upon the ripe lips but she con- trolled the impulse and merely gazed at him in haughty silence. " For your own good. Miss Belle, tell me, if you dare, where you were at about this hour last nij,ht?" " I decline to answer. Since when were you constituted grand inquisitor, sir? Excuse me " She would have swept past him and from the room, but he detained her with outstretched hand, and the smile on his bold, dissipated features was ominous "A moment." " Let me pass. Captain Striker." Deeper grew the color in the cheeks of the warm blooded South- ern girl. "Miss Belle, it pains me," he said, with a hypocritical tone it was impossible to conceal, " to inform you that in these times there is little attentiou paid to sex when a spy is taken in the very midst of camp. I am sure it would make me feel sad to see so beautiful a girl as yourself dangling at the end of a rope." " What do you mean ?" she demanded, sharply. " Ah, Miss Belle, you wear a popular suit of gray, and you make everybody believe that you are a true Confederate. But you are playing a dangerous game — a very dangerous game, I assure you. Come, I know, and there are others who know, that you are in communication with the Yankee foe — I myself saw you, last night, handing papers to a ragged fellow, a companion spy no doubt, near the Potomac ford " He was abruptly checked. Belle advanced to a position directly in front of him, and her lustrous black eyes flashed a dangerous Are. "You lie. Captain Striker. It ia not a pretty speech from a woman's lips— but I say, you lie ! Stand aside," " Beware!" besaia, sibTlanfiy. *'l can prove what I am saying. It is in my power to destroy even so lovely a being as yourself. I love you " " Y'ou love !" she interrupted, with a cutting sneer. " Ay, and so madly that, if you cannot accept an honorable man's suit, I shall " To her bosom leaped one of her plump, strong hands. The next instant she had him covered by the muzzle of a gleaming revolver. Her voice was terribly impressive as she cried, in an anger still under a wonderful control : " Stand away from that door! Hesitate a minute, and as sure as there is a Heaven above, I wiU send a bullet through you!" Reckless soldier though he was. Captain Striker was not exactly a fool. He must have been aware of her nature, for he Instantly obeyed the order, while the frowning barrel followed his move- ments until he had made clear the way to the door. CHAPTER IV. A OHOST AT THE STABLE. At the moment Belle would have passed by and left her insulter, there transpired something that was a little startling, causing her to pause. From somewhere outside the house there rung up a yell as of some one in mortal terror. Not a single yell, either, for following the first sound was a suc- cession of cries that were almost blood-curdling. A step that was recognizable as that of James Bartholemew was heard hastening along the hall. The next instant he was demanding sternly of some one who ap- proached with scampering feet " Hello, here ! what the dogs is the matter? Speak out, you little black imp!" Following this, the voice of Pomp, wailing, moaning, stuttering in overwhelming affright: " Oh, de good Lord ! Oh, sabe me, Massa James ! Oh, de ghost — de ghost! Outdar— oh!" "Ghost? What are you talking about ? Speak?" " Oh, de good Lord ! Hyer I see Miss Belle go in de parlor while I took de boss to de stable, and dar— and dar— oh, Massa James!— dar 1 see Miss Belle ag'in, a-standin' dar by de do , an' 'longside o' her anoder ghost like debil hisself with ha'ry face, wot skeered de lifeouten me!" "Pomp, you little ass, did you put Miss Belle's horse away and give him feed?" "No, 'ndeedy, Massa James. Ijes'fiew away from dar, an' I can't go back no more dis night, if youse lick de hideoff'nme — 'deed I can't. De ghost de oder presence ob Miss Belle, am a stalkin' roun' dar." "Bah!" And here sounded something like a kick, which brought addi- tional wailing from black Pomp. Into the captain's eyes had come a singular light as he heard the frightened avowals of the negro boy. To Belle it contained no import beyond the fact that something had frightened the lad, which he had magnified into a ghost. But she did understand that her horse, an animal she idolized, was be- ing neglected after the hard ride she had given him, and availing of the captain's prompt obedience to stand aside, she hurried past him, giving him no more thought than if he did not exist. In the hall she passed old Bartholemew and the moaning, terri- fied Pomp, saying r "Don't scold him, Uncle Jim. He is only a boy, and I suppose he has imagined himself frightened at something. I will attend to Diamond." Bartholemew returned to the parlor. Captain Striker was walking to and fro, his sword raised rest- ingly over his arm. " So you thought you would come back to say good-by to a guest, did you ?" he half snapped, turning toward the ratty-faced old man. " Now, my dear captain, what is the matter? " " The matter is that I have been rejected. And the matter is that I do not mean it shall stand that way. Harkee: I believe you have that negro scamp trained to swear to anything you may say to shield your ward from suspicion. But it won't work. I am going from here to inform Lee, himself, that the worst spy of all the Yankee host is Belle Bartholemew. You are harboring and shielding her. Y'ou know all about her doings. We'll see if I can- not be, at least, revenged upon her if I cannot have her for my own ; and you will feel what Captain Jack Striker can do when he makes up his mind." Striker was evidently in a riot of rage. His thick, dark brows were knit in a terrible frown. The old man threw himself into a chair with a weary sigh. " I cannot help what you do, captain. I know you are misin- THE WA.R LIBRARY. ■ rnu'd. that you have been deueived by your owu eyes. Belle is i,u]..eent of the charge. But I cau say no more." With an ungentlemanly oath, the tall captain started from the house. Hardly had he left the porch, when he was arrested by the ap- proach of a squad of mounted men, whose sabers jangled as they rode forward. The ranger leader threw himself from his horse, and beckoned Striker to one side. " I am doing a little business on my own account," he said, in an undertone. " For some time past I have seen a young lady gal- loping around the country on a black horse, and she attired in a full suit of gray. A-very pretty girl— lovely, iu fact. Last night she crossed the Antietam below the last bridge. To-night I got on her track again, and we traced her " "Well?" as the other hesitated. " Traced her here!" "Hush!" admonished Striker, quickly grasping the ranger's arm. " Not so loud, my friend. I am on the same trail. Did you recognize this girl, or woman, whom you suspect— for I see you have suspicions ?" " Of course I have suspicions. I believe her to be a spy. No, I haven't had a square look at her face." "Then I am further ou the trail than you. Be guided by me to some extent." "All right." " Come inside. Tou are acquainted with old Bartholemew ?" "No." " Well, I will make you acquainted. Come." The two captains entered the house. Bartholemew was still seated where Striker had left him. In the old man's face was a dejected look ; for he Lad been mut- tering: " She'll be the ruin of me — of us both. What can she be doing ? I know she indulges in wild rides, but I cannot believe that she is false to the Sunny South ? No Ah! new-comers." He heard the sound of approaching horsemen without. Upon the reappearance of Captain Striker, accompanied by an- other in regimental gray, he arose to receive them. "A friend of mine," Striker introduced, " Captain Sorrel. Be acquainted, gentlemen." Whatever might have passed upon this introduction, it was in- terrupted strangely. As the two men advanced to grasp hands, a pistol-shot sounded outside. It was iu the rear. Following the shot, a clatter of iron shod hoofs. " Something has happened to my ward!" exclaimed Barthole- mew. He ran past the two officers and out to the rear. Also curious to know what the shot signified, they followed. They were just in time to catch a glimpse — an uncertain glimpse in the gloom of the niglit— of a fleeingrider wlu) was making nway l.y the held beyond the stables. This ridt-r was a womau, whose long habit streamed far out behind the swift horse. An examination of the stable revealed that Belle's favorite beast. Diamond, was missing. The rangers, attracted by the shot, had come around from the front. Striker whispered something into the ear of Captain Sorrel. "No!" exclaimed the latter; "you don't mean it?" " But I do And I tell you, you are right, for I myself saw the girl hand some papers to a fellow in rags, at the ford, last night. Off with you!" " Follow me, lads!" cried Sorrel, to his men. In a few seconds the rangers, with Sorrel at their head, were gal- loping away in the wake of the apparent fugitive. "Soho! that is the game this pretty girl ''is playing, is it?" he muttered, by jerks, on his speeding animal. " Well, I should hate mightily to kill a woman, but if lean come up once more with this.bold spy in petticoats, I shall either bring her iu a prisoner or have her bored with bullets, depend!" "You see," said Captain Striker, maliciously, to old Barthole- mew, " they are even now after your ward. I shall have some re- venge, mind that, if I cannot possess the lovely Belle." He wheeled off and was presently lost iu the darkness. Bartholemew had returned to the house, his own mind in con- siderable perplexity. " Can it be that it is so, after all ?" he questioned himself. CHAPTER V. CHASING A SPr. Straight to the center-table, whereon stood the decanter, went James Bartholemew on re-entering the.parlor. In another moment his glance rested upon something that had not been ou the table when he hurried out to see what could have caused the pistol-shot. A folded paper ! The paper tied with a string to a small pebble. Some one must have been within the room during his absence. What was the paper? Curiously he took it up and unfolded it. The next instant he uttered a short, low cry, and half staggered back, clapping one hand on his brow. What he read upon the paper was this : "James Bartholemew, beware! Fane Fusor still Uvea. The sacred trust that was his shall yet bo carried out, despite your vil- 1am y" "His writing! his writing!" burst from Bartholemew's lips, as from one overcome by a combined fear and amazement. "Can the dead rise to life again? Am I dreaming? Save ray soul! if Fane Fusor is alive, after all, what reckoning will he not call me to!" Crumpling the paper into his pocket, he cast guilty glances around, and muttered, in a strange way, over and over "Fane Fusor ulive! What is going to happen now ? and I can- not account for everything 1 have wasted and I have spent too much of the trust ; I have lost sight of one whose life to him, 1 know, was as precious as his own. Curse the fate that ever brought Fane Fusor back to life, when I so surely thought him dead— dead long ago." A remarkable change had come over James Bartholemew with- in those few seconds. He looked now like a man who momentari- ly expects to be confronted by something or somebody whose presence could terrify him to his soul's core— looked a very crimi- nal, nervous, snapping, searching glances about, and with one hand in his pocket crunching the mysterious piece of paper which had so wrought upon him. While this scene transpired in the home of James Bartholemew, far to the north, beyond the sunken road leading to the canal, on, on sped the mounted form of a female with the rangers m hot pur- suit. Surely it must be Belle! She was making toward the woods to the northwest of Sharps- burg, and fearlessly she rode the steed so well known as belonging to Belle. " Courage, good horse ; keep it up, good fellow ; we')', soon be safe from those coming behind," she spoke to the animal, which seemed to be exerting its muscles with an almost human knowl- edge of the pursuers in the rear. Her voice, too, was the voice of Belle Bartholemew. To herlright were the fires of the Confederate army, then stretching northward beyond Piper's and swerved near the Dunker church ; further off, the heights whereagreat battle was soon to befought, the inner pickets of the Confederate host were nearly to the course she was pursuing. She seemed to have a thorough knowledge of her rout to avoid the sentries, for soon she neared the grim trees and urged the horse into their depths. Scarcely had she gone a dozen yards when a low, signaliuu; whis- tle arrested her. " Fusee?" she called, checking on the rein. "Here." Forward from the almost impenetrable shade came the figure of a man " 1 am pursued. Act quickly ; what shall we do ?" "Dismount!" said the man. "There are not many. We can rei ceive them. Out with your revolver, and use it when they are close." On plunged the horsemen. Captain Sorrel had strained to his utmost to overtake the fugi- tive ere she could reach the shelter of the woods, and he was well mounted, tor, by the time the girl had dismounted, he and his men were at the edge of the trees. " On, boys!" they heard him shout. " She is in here; four of you make around and cross the road and get to the back of the woods. She is aiming for the pike." Satisfied that he was on the track of a spy", Sorrel gave these or- ders ; for not yet had the brigades of Early and Jackson reached their assigned postson the left, and a bold dash might readily carry her safely across or around to the ford at Pry's mill. But the girl and the man, in the silent depths, awaited Captain Sorrell, to receive him in a manner that was to be a huge sur- prise. " Is it safe to use our weapons?" asked the girl, not be apt to bring down upon us a force larger fore us ?" "I think not. Ready! Here they come!" Sorrel, followed by six rangers — four havingstarted immediately to obey the order for the interception of the female spy— rapidly entered the double gloom of foliage and night. ' Will the noise an this one be- 6 THE WAR LIBRARY. " In owl" whispered the man in amoush, to the girl at his siae. Prom their covert, the forms of the rangers were plainly out- llneJ against the sky beyond. Suddenly there brolio Ihe snappy cracli of revolvers and the whistle of bullets cuttiu'r ttie leaves. The unexpected volley had the effect of checking the advancing rangers. Tew men, liowever brave, care to face an enemy they cannot see, and whose marksmanship is made manifest to deadli- ness. All halted, and while one of the wounded men on the ground set up a series of painful moans, the others seemed inclined to retreat. " Forward, 1 say I" commanded Sorrel A curse was upon the ranger captain's lips when again the re- volvers barked, and the second discharge revealing that there was a foe more than the pursued girl withm the impervious darkness, Sorrell also appeared to suddenly think that it would be better to get out of the predicament. Withdrawing a short distance he disposed of his men in singles over a semi-circle which commanded the whole of that side where the spy had entered, and riding to aud fro from his improvised posts, he waited doggedly for daylight which was yet many hours distant. " You had better take the information I can give you," said the girl to her companion, and her voice was that of one who must have lieen accustomed to danger, so even was it in the moment of this trying adventure. "It is importaut, aud it matters uothiiig about me. I have been in worse scrapes than this since McC'lellan left Frederick, and I've always come out all right, haven't I, you dear old Fusee?" " Tlli'ss your lirijrlit pvp», ypQ, ynn bnrn; Init I sometimes fear I do agieat sin when 1 let yuu diish into tlie dangers you do." " Don't worry. There, now, while those fellows are waiting for us to tome out into their, clutches listen to the news and be off with it. I know pretty much the whole programme for receiving McClellan. I was all through Longstreet's corps to-day disguised as an old negro woman with home-made pies; but the news. The bridges are already garrisoned strongly. Only the furthest one north will afford an easy crossing, Hill will be on the right. Hood is now posting on the 'left. The place to attack is on the left. Altogether, there are not over forty thousand men in line. That is ail." " Good-by, then, my bonny Belle," and with the words, the man glideil like a specter from her side. When alone she performed something that showed she was pre- pared for just such emergencies as the one in which she now fouud herself. From a capacious pocket she drew forth four square aud ample pieces of cloth provided with buckles and extra twine. lu a few minutes she had muffled the hoofs of her horse, and then slowly began to move from thespot, making no betrayal noise as she vent. And her companion had called her " Belle." It surely seemed that the bold Captain Striker was right in charging her with being a spy. CHAPTER VI. OLD FUSEE. Ou this night of the fifteenth of September the Union army was fast distributing into its position for the coming battle, as well in the daikness as in the light of the late afternoon on which it had arrived at the east bank of Antietam creek. At his headquarters the great general was planning his method of attack with counsellors both wise and impetuous. A ir.-rht not to be soon forgotten by those who survive to-day the solemn moments there at Pry's mill. But McClellan, though admirably informed so far of the enemy's movements, was then waiting for something of which his brave oflRiers knew nothing; and there were those who attributed his humor to that same spirit which may have designated fatal slow- ness in the array he led. The famous strategist, however, knew what he was about. Th.> night was far gone when an aide appeared and saluted, with lljo information that some one had demanded an audience. Thosr who stood near saw a sudden light overspread their com- mander's countenance, while he answered, quickly; ' "Bri.ig him to me at once." A strange looking individual it was that entered. A man with a visage that bore the sears of battles in the distant past. There was but little of his face visible, because of a wonderful beard that grew nearly up into his eyes ; but on brow and nose, and eveu the eyelids, were marks as from steel slashings. Tanned to iron-like darkness, broad shouldered, bauds hairy ami hard, with livid scars on the palms and backs— it required no sec- ond glance to see in him a veteran who had faced the shock of (war in other times thaij the now active struggle for the Union. Though surely more than seventy years of age, it would appear as if nature had formed a knotty monument of endurance in his frame, only : howing her seamy ravages of time in the long, snow- white locks dangling from his head and bushing from his jaws. His eyes were keen— perhaps keener— than those of younger years ; and his figure, as he stood before his general, had no supine bend, hut reared with the loug trained straightness of the soldier. His attire, while of the Union blue, was almost without regula- tion in its make up, and the hat, which he dropped at his feet as lie saluted, was a battered specimen of an army slouch that might liave been excellent in other days. Such was Old Fusee, the gunner. Such in appearance, and his fame as a marksman was known in many battles since the notorious defeat of McDowell at Bull Run. At this time, he was known to belong with Weaver's artillery, then stationed between headquarters and the turnpike bridge, but seldom, except in an engagement, was he to be seen with the liiittery, and few there were who Knew the valuable service which ,Vs if expecting to receive something from the comer, McClellan lu-M out one hand. Fusee advanced, taking from an inner pocket a folded paper. " Thet 'ar, gen'ral," he said, handing over the paper, " is a map o' the Johnnys as it war to-day — I reckon to-day, corz I got it late last night. Hood's moving to the Confed'rate left ; Hill's droppin' down tow'rd the 'Tomac, an' all the bridges, 'cept one, is ready to blaze hail Columiiiainto you if you try to pass 'em." " Except one, you say ?" "This very one up here — the most north'ard. The rebs hev no •nor'n forty thousand men to flght agin you. But the best wav to ::tlack is from the north. An' ll.at, g.-n nil, with wl.at tl.ei ar' map will tell you, is all the news I've got." Eagerly opening the rough map brought to him by the veteran who was evidently an experienced spy, McClellan dismissed him with one of those compliments which he ever paid to bravery and faithfulness — a few words, no more, such as made him dear then and remembered now among the boys in blue who fought iu the Army of the Potomac. Old Fusee sought his battery at its stand near the Keedysville pike, and as he appeared among his comrades, after reporting, he was greeted by a shout that told full well his vast popularity. When at last he eould release himself from the gripping hands that would fairly have embraced him, he threw himself down on a little knoll on the ridge, his face toward the Confederate lines on the other side of the Antietam. No blanket or covering needed he. He was a child of war whose liones had absorbed the dew on many a camp and battlefield, who '■:id fought and fell nigh wounded unto death ou that famous field of Waterloo, when the allies thundered the fate of Bonaparte. He was but little more than a youth then, but he had held dear to heart the memory of the terrible day when he had cast aside his drum and snatched up the colors from a fallen standard bearer, and in his childish hands bore it amid the shouts of strong men dropping dead as they cheered beneath the avalanche of Wei, lington. Old Fusee had no letters to read ; his prayers were said ; only an old, scarred veteran he seemed, with no one to weep if he should fall, no one to miss him out of the world's mass of men. But had some one crept near to him as he lay sleeping there, he might have l)een heard to murmur something in the dreams that were his— a name which issued from his lips with a tenderness that told his fast withering heart was not desolate, some one was very dear to him somewhere on the face of the earth; and the name he uncon- sciously uttered was : " Belle, Belle ! my bonny, bonny Belle ! Bless your bright eyes, my bonny Belle!" Short seems the sleep of the soldier who lays on his arm in ex- pectancy of the dread battle on the morrow. Boom ! A gun roused every sleeping eye in the army that had dared to sleep. The morning had dawned. The morning of the sixteenth ; and men girded themselves and clinched their teeth in contemplation of what was to come. At his own favorite gun stood Old Fusee, flrgt of all to obey the bugle call. The Confederate batteries on the west of the Antietam had sent an early reminder that they were there. Promptly were their guns answered by the boys in blue. Ere long there raged a very duel between the batteries, and Old Fusee appeared to be in his element when came the order to open fire on the enemy. Stripped to the waist, his broad chest herved up in great knots the muscles which had been but hinted at in his loose blouse; though grim was his war-worn visage, a smile, which others saw, aud which sent a thrill of enthusiasm to the breasts of those who THE WA.R LIBRARY. saw, played around his moutb, aud his actions were as calm and ti-ained as it at some mere jilay amid the shrieking shot overhead and around. From Weaver's battery came the shots that told most heavily on the hosts on the opposite shore. Yet it was soon manifest that the Yankee gunnefe were far superior, in all their artillery delivery, to the graycoats. The battle was not to open yet, however. Acting on the information he had received from Old Fusee and from othrv quarters, McClellan was concentrating his forces at those poivil.v whence he would hurl himself upon the stubborn lines across the Antietam. Hooker was moving to the north, having crossed the bridge. Burnside, at the south, was to await the order which, when the battle fairly opened, would result in carrying the Sharpsburg crest and cut off Lee's retreat toward Shepherdstown. Crests aud ridges, valleys and roads, in that early morning, were swarming with the opposing hosts that would soon come together in the mighty clash of coufliot. Still boomed the guns of the dueling artillerists. Marched and counter-marched the brigades maneuvering for position. The bugles blew their shrill blasts, the drums beating and colors of North and South, proudly borne by the glittering ranks, were floating defiantly on the air. Strange aud startling echoes, these, in those picturesque bights, where ere long the blood of brave men was to dye the sod in slip- pery streams. The atmosphere was gradually becoming as it compressed in iympathetio readiness for the terriflc explosion. CHAPTER VII. THE MYSTERIOUS NOTE. As James Bartholemew strode backward and forward in his par- lor, in that excitement produced by the mysterious missive which he had found upon the center table, he was presently brought to an abrupt halt by one of the most remarkable oocurrences in his life. In the doorway stood Belle Bartholemew. And he had seen her, within a few minutes, speeding far away toward the hills, pursued by the rangers of Captain Sorrel. The young girl's face was unusually pale ; in her dark, lustrous eves there was a singular, a sort of anxious expression. "Belle I ' ••Well, Uncle Jim?" " Why, how the dogs — where did you come from?" ■•'Coiue from ! 1 haven't been anywhere." • You have not! Did you not just now start off again on Dia- II inl,"in a wild race, with a lot of mounted men after you ?" ■ Does it seem so?" .she looked at him with a degree of surprise. But he marked her pale features— features that he had never be- fore known to be other than rosy with buoyant spirits or the ex- citement of exercise. " What has happened, girl?" "Nothing." " Where were you last night ?" Now she raised her glorious head, and the wonted light came into her eyes as she answered promptly, half defiantly : " W't't' Frank Carlton." "What?" He fairly glared upon her. " You were with that accursed Yankee!— that man to whom 1 declared you were never to speak again." " Therr-, uncle," with some of her usual lightness of spirit, which ever met him in his moods of anger, " that was a long while ago, at the breaking out of the war. I thought, too, that it would be an easy matter for me to obey your commands regarding him, as he went over to the side we both abhor. But, ah, me I it is a severe thing to love," she concluded, with a heavy sigh. " Love, forsooth ! " he fumed. " And when I heard from him, that he was in this vicinity, I could not resist his appeal for an interview, Yes, I met him last night." "Where?" with fleroe suddenness. Then, as she did not at once answer, he continued : " I can tell you where you trysted with this lover whom you should hate rather than love. It was at the Potomac ford. And I begin to see that you are more than a mere sweetheart; you and 3ies in the midst of the array now in Sharpsburg. You gave him papers of some kind last night. veying in- ■ formation to the enemy. And "—with increasing rage—" and you are no ward of mine. There! I've said it. I ought to have said it long ago, before you brought this disgrace upon us. I will not have a traitor about mel I'll disown youl I'll clear you out!" and he paced back and forth again, as he had been doing wheu she entered. Hirting his coat-tails up and down, puffing out his atttfuu- ated cheeks, rolling his ratty eyes anon upon her In the glances of a man almost speechless with fury. " Uncle Jim, part of your language I do not understand. But you, yourself, have taught me the spirit of independence which I think I possess, and I shall take you at your word. You shall not be burdened with one who is, as you declare, a disgrltft) to you. You need not clear me out. I will go. But what do you mean by saying that T. met Frank Carlton at tlie ford ? I was nowhere near there." " Oh, you were not ?" "Positively, no. Ah!" in a sudden remembrance,"! see, this contemptible idiot. Captain Striker, said something about seeing uie there, too. I am at a loss to comprehend, honestly. Uncle Jim. I tell you I have not been near the ford tor nearly a week." "Umph!" He turned short around and left her. Alone, Belle pressed her hands to her temples like one in the pain of some deep worriment. " What can it all mean?" she murmured, lowly, "Who could have been this strange girl I met at the stable, whose face I could not make out in the darkness, and who begged me to aid in her flight from a band of men who, she said, were in pursuit of her 7 What is this tale about my being at the ford and handing papers to a man supposed to be a Union spy? I am suspected of, dis- loyalty to the South— my own sweet, sunny South ! I am in a maze to-night. And Uncle Jim never spoke to me so harshly be- fore. Does he mean what he has said ? Oh, no ! I cannot think it. I will wait until to-morrow, and if he is still angry, then I will Huvc hiiii Iiireve;-. He lias lieeu very kind to me since I was but ; babe — a babe I was wheu he became my guardian, he says» It will cost me a struggle to leave him, but I will— I will " "Miss Belle?" A negro girl was standing in the doorway. This was Pomp's sister. " What is it, Topsy ? " recovering herself to conceal from the girl that there was aught amiss. " I'se afraid de paper you gin me lo' to lay on de table has bro't trouble 'twixt you an' Massa James." " Paper, Topsy ? What paper?" " Why de paper wot you gin me out by de stable fo' to put on dai yere table whar Massa James mus' boun' to fin' hit." " I did not give you any paper." "Sho, chile! an' hyar's de gol' piece wot you gin me too. You's forget hit mighty quick. Miss Belle." "You must be dreaming, Topsy." "Sho! You gin me a fol' up paper, an' say, 'Top-, take dis an' lay on de table where Massa James sure for' to fin' hit, an' hyar's a dollar.' I done done hit. Den I watches to' to see if he gotten hit. Sure 'nuff, he gotten hit, an' den— de good Lawd! he's act >s' sit he war scared a nigh to deaft An' den I couldn't help hit. Miss Belle— I jes' heerd you an' he's spattin' in hyar, an so I'se afeard I hadn't oughter done hit." Belle saw that it was useless to argue the point. Topsy was positive ; and Belle knew that she had not seen the girl when sha had gone to the stable— though she had seen some one else, as may be judged by her perplexed murmurings. " Have it your way, Topsy. Bring me some wine j I cannob touch the wine that Captain Striker has drank of." A little shudder of repugnance for the man, and thoughts of th» man passed over her. The girl departed, leaving her young mistress in another vein oC wonderment. " Could it have been the person I saw at the stable— the stranger who was pursued, she said, by mounted men— who paid Topsy to perform this errand ? What kind of errand could it have been, to cause Uncle Jim to look ' scared nigh to death?' I—" She paused in her self -questioning as her glance fell upon a slip of paper on the carpet. It was the mysterious missive. In his rage, as he flirted his coat tails up and down, Barthole- mew had unknowingly jerked out the significant communication which contained a menace from a dreaded source. Leaning forward, she picked it up. The next minute she was reading the lines scribbled there. "This must be the note Topsy alludes to! Uncle Jim threat- ened?— by a party named Fane Fusor " Topsy's returning footsteps caused her to slip the scrawl out of sight in her pocket. Hastily swallowing a small quantity of the wine, she hurried up stairs to her bedroom, to read again the remarkable epistle and rack her brain for some solution of its meaning. And scarcely had she disappeared, when Bartholemew re-entered the parlor, easting anxious glances about the floor. He had missed the paper. THE WAR LIBRARY. Treacherous paper!— for it contained a hint at some crooked deediu the past of the rich bachelor which it would not he well for him to let the world know at that day in Belle's life. CHAPTER VIII. CAPTCKINQ A BRAVE GIRL. She, whom we left in the woods through which ran the sunken road to the northwest of Sharpsburg, could not be aware of the picket-like cordon that Captain Sorrel had placed along the front of the thicket, nor of the four rangers who had been dispatched to intercept her should she emerge at the opposite side of her shelter, though the order to the latter had been loudly spoken, the noise of the horses' hoofs and the snarling cries of the men to their pantmg beasts had rendered his words unintelligible to the two in am- oush We have seen that this girl must be a spy, and, being such, she knew that Stuart and the artillery had not reached the position in- tended for them near the higher branch and on the same sunken road she now followed. The girl, at the moment the reader first saw her, was making the effort to return to the Federal lines, having accomplished all that could have been expected of her before the opening of the fierce battle which was to come. Many miles had she to go over before the necessary detour could be made; for, unlike the mau whom she had met in the woods, who, in male attire, and bolder and stronger than she, could pass dangers that would haye been impossible for her to surmount, she was wise to seek avoidance of any exposure that might result in her capture. She knew, too, by the fact of the recent hot pursuit, that she was fully suspected as a spy, and to be caught meant death to her, girl though she was. When slie reached the thinner portion of the wood, she paused. All was slill, save t\u- distant snuinls nf riuiimur and rumbling thiit told of the C"' that tmr.st upon the agonizml beings like a vision from that other world whose undreamable verge they were so soon to tread. Girls of nerve and beauty, too, were they ! " God bless you !" greeted them by the side of slabs slippery with the gore of those whom no mortal art could not save. And: " God bless you !" was breathed a hundred times from lips whose thirst their canteens quenched. Ministering angels, these two rarely beautiful girls, palely, quiet- ly gliding amid the trying scene, with soft words and su' istantial comfort for the helpless, bleeding fellow men brought b .ok from the reverbatine maelstrom beyond. Bloody— bloody Antietam! The right wing of the Union army was now ^black with smoke and red with human miserj Yet on the gallant blues! On slowly but resolute, like veterans that history immortalized before their time. By ten o'clock the second bridge had been carried and Richard- son, with thundering batteries quaking the earth and air, mowed lanes and furrows in the ranks of Hill. The " center " was in. Fiercer the roar and rage of that slippery field ! Then slowly, stubbornly the Confederate lines fell back— slowly, with the monuments of Union dead behind each inch they gave. Back, back, the front of Hill before the grim heroes of Richard^- son and French. Sedgewick, in the woods to the right, was pressing Jackson gra^- dually in, step by step. Around the Dunker ohurch the dead were heaping. Jackson, Early, Hood and Hill had given ground and now were abreast in a mighty line that seemed as firm as rock. Yet on the boys in blue ! Where was the Ninth corps now? Where was Burnside?— he who waited on the Union left to strike with vigor at Longstreet's host of gray. Again and again had the corps that lay behind the bights receiv- ed the order frOm McClellau to carry the lower stone bridge and assail the Confederate right. Hour after hour the great commander waited to hear the guns of Burnside, which would have lessened the slaughter on the Union right by their divertisement. Noon had come and passed ere the bights swarmed with the blue lines that passed the last bridge; and then there were fresh divis- ions just arrived from Harper's Ferry, which joined the confliot and wrested from the tardy Burnside each dear-bought inch he had gained. For awhile the guns boomed on ; but the tragedy of death had ceased on the Union right — the fire was of a straggliag kind at in- tervals amid the pall of smoke that settled in the woody depths or hugged the gory ground with its sulphurous breath. The day was spent. The terrific battle was past— leaving all its horrors without a vie tory for either side. Watchful were the armies when the cloak of night had fallen. None knew what might be yet to come ; the grimy faces that waited, their owners standing or laying exhausted on the ground, were fixed in steru expectancy. Strange was the lull, in which the ears of men seemed to detect murmurs and mutterings that were like the vibration of the terri- ble battle borne on some perpetuating draught afar and farther into the distance. Ears, deafened by cannon and musketry, still seemed to hear the noises of the struggle, and the glances ihrown around were at times those of men who expected to see fresh belching batteries, new bursts of flame from some advancing line of blue or yelling front of gray. But night was stealing over all ; around the bluffs, the valleys, and the shot-torn treetops, the last lingering rays of daylight were banging. Antietam had gone into history. In a woody spot to the west of where brave Hooker fell wounded during the terrific charges near the Dunker church, a by-scene to the conflict of the fading day was progressing. Two men in uniforms of gray were there. One lay with his head elevated on a gnarly log, his coat open a the front, and from his breast a trickling stream of blood that could not, would not, be stanched. By his side kuelt the second, who seemed striving with all the skill he possessed to relieve the wounded man, who said, lather weakly : "No use. Sorrel, old comrade — I'm a-goner." " Curse the infernal Yanks !" gritted the voice of the ranger cap- tain. Sorrel. "They have given you your last slug, I do believe- They haven't whipped us yet, though; so lake comfort from that." THE WAR LIBRARY. 15 " Poor comfort for a dyingjaian," said the other, iu a tone of ghastly humor. The man with the great, bleeding hole in his breast was Captain Jack Striker. " I have got to go, and I know it," he continued. "There's no use slobbering and blubbering over it, either. But, before I die, Sorrel, old comrade mine, I have something to say to you." " What is it you have to say, old friend ? I am listening." "I wish," responded Striker, evidently speaking with consider- able difficulty, "I wish to say something in regard to Belle Bar- tholomew. 'Sflame ! the hardest thing to swallow is the knowledge that I am to die before I succeeded iu making that beautiful witch my wife." " But go on," urged Sorrel, who was immediately interested by this allusion to the lovely girl. The ranger had half conceived already the idea that he would much like to possess such a girl for his own as Belle Bartholemew seemed to be. At the prospect of Jack Striker dying, and this fact Removing his friend from the position of a rival, the idea in evor bryo before was now aroused more forcibly by Striker's words : '• I wish to say something in regard to Belle Bartholemew." CHAPTER XVII, WEATH OF A VILLAINOC Sorrel saw that his comrade's minutes were numbered. What- j'ver was to be imparted must be said iu a hurry. '• Drink some of this," he insisted, holding a small flask of spirits to the dying man's mouth. Striker allowed the liquor to gurgle down his throat with signs or considerable relish. After the draught, he smacked his lips feebly. •' That is good," he commented. " But you have something to say," persisted Sorre "Yes— about this witch of a girl. Belle Bartholemew.' •' Well, what about Belle Bartholemew 1 You wish me to take some message to her from you?" • onamesi no. i am a dymg man; but I determined that she shall not escape." "Escape? How? What do you mean ?" " If she cannot be my wife, she shall be the wife of the man I select tor her," was the rather remarkable speech of Capkiu Striker, and his weakening voice was a hiss, as it even iu his last fading moments he clung to his amorous passion for the young girl in a savage way. " Blast it ! I don't catch just what you mean, comrade." " Belle Bartholemew is no kin to old James Bartholemew " " I know that." "Ha! but you do not know that the girl is entitled to a snug fortune in her o- inies, and a row with this trio might get us into a lar worse mess." " True. I had not reckoned on that." At this point occurred something unfortunate. Belle Bart'aolemew heard the whispered conversation. The brave "irl was averse to being held inactive by the presence of only three men. She had not the experience of Belie Fusor, else ehe would never have done what she now did. In an under tone she said ; "We are armed. Let us charge tUem. The chances are we can easily rout them." Another moment showed the rashness ble inflexion. " Ho !" sounded the voice of Captain Sorrel. " I hear somebody talliing." " And so do I," joined one of the men. "Good! They are iu hiding near. Beat about— beat about!" Withdrawn sabers, following the example of their leader, the rangers began flaying the bushes to right and left, thrusting, jab- bing, and momentarily drawing nearer to the bushy hiding-place. It was only a question of a short time ere the discovery must be made. ,. . , But Sorrel and his vassals stopped beating thebu'/nesand listened in astonishment to a challenge that just then greeted tliem, thus: "S-a-y, ain'tyouboyeesabarkiu'upthc wrong tree? Who in iu blasted tarnation do yeou take us fur, eh? Better be a pokin' round som'ers war yeou b'long at, hadn't yeou ?" "Here they are in this bush. Charge into them, lads !" But there was no immediate obedience to the order. For while that order was on the ranger captain's lips, all dis- tictly heard the ominous cocking click of moi-e than one revolver, and again the disguised voice of Old Fusee said : " Charge away !" " Cap, they're armed, " reminded one of the hesitating men. "Armed ? Yea, they are armed. Did you expect to capture a man who was unarmed ? Charge, I say !" " Why don't you charge too?" asked one, suggestively. Kow Sorrel was no coward ; to the contrary, he was a bold as well as a bad man. But it has already been shown that at that particular time he had a very great inducement to avoid any danger that might re- sult in death. The audible clicking of the revolvers meant death. If by chance he should receive a mortal wound, that would be the end of him and his visions of the one hundred thousand dollars that he might gra^I> if Belle Bartholemew, by fair means or foul, could be made his wife. Even while he urged his meu to drive the bidden parties from their covert, he was cautious enough to shelter himself behind a tree on the opposite side from that whence came the sound of cocking revolvers. " I have dropped my saber in the tangle — curse it !" he lied, read- ily ; " and my pistols I emptied in a set-to with some Yanks a little way back. You may have heard the shots. At them, you ! Ho ! fifty dollars apiece if you get hold of the girls !" "Better let us alone!" warned the voice of Old I'usee. The ranger captain's offer was accepted with even more spry- ness than he had hoped for. With a yell they charged into the tall bushes. And another yell followed, as four revolvers banged and four bullets, every one, found a mark at that short range. Badly, though not fatally wounded, the rangers who risked their lives to win the reward offered by Sorrel, retreated precipitately. " Charge ! At them again !" snarled their captain. "Cap, I'm wounded!" " So'm I !" howled the second ranger. As the men thus answered their captain, Old Fusee hailed them from his hiding place : "Why ain't yeou a takin' us out o' hyer— say? Or, hev you concluded to let peac'ble cit'zens alone— hey ?" "I'll have you out of there yet, you cursed Yanks ! " shouted Sorrel, in a rage. "Oh, will you, now?" The tantalizing tone almost drove the ranger captain into an un- governable frenzy. But he controlled his desire to rush in upon the defiant little party, as he most assuredly would have done, heaiHong, under any other circumstances than those we have named, and snarled back at them with an oath : "By my soul! I'll catch and string you all up on the highest tree iu the woods — ha!" The last as, having located the speaker. Old Fusee fired his re- volver in the direction of the captain, the ball cutting with a spite- ful zip through the edge of the bark of the tree, The subordinates, having learned wliat kind of mettle they were dealing with, had also sought shelter, and, wiser than their leader, they held utter silence, notwithstanding the pain of their wounds, lest a bullet might be sent in their direction. While matters were thus at a stand. Sorrel suddenly saw a file of men approaching through the gloom like a line of phantoms, mak- ing scarcely any noise to tell of their proximity. A file of men with guns, whereon gleamed dully in the shadows the brightness of polished bayonets. Stealthily they came stalking on, their progress being at but a f<'w feet from the tree where Sorrel stood. Near enough for him to discover, presently, that they were Con»^ federates whom he at once conceived to be a picket patrol. " Ho, there?" he called, stepping out. "Halt! Who comes?" demanded a sh.arp voice. " Captain Si Snrrel, of Sorrel's rangers." " Advance and give the countersign " " But, curse it !" interrupted Sorrel ; " I haven't been in since the fight, and I liaven't got any password. There are three of us; and from what I liear, that is aljout all that is left of my company after this bloody and abominable Antietam." "Come forward. Captain Sorrel." The ranger advanced and was presently being closely scrutinized by the officer iu charge of the patrol. A few questions and answers seemed to satisfy the Confederate; tnd then he asked : " I heard a lively succession of shots here. We were coming to- investigate it. Can you tell me anything about it?" CHAPTER XX. 3 ales. One of "We are after four cursed Yanks. Two the females is a spy." " Have you lost them?" "Lost them!" his rage showing itself afresli at the thought of how he had been held at bay by the ready revolvers of the pur- ried Sorrel, his arms beginning those vertical see-sau- i ujj ue liave seen before, and his weapon barking with a s"ii., u.adly n-«iilarity. At the first fire Uhi'c if the blue coats went down, two of them tiever to rise again. But these were no stragglers. Men of courage were they, and the remainder still pressed on to assail the trio of rangers fearlessly. And it seemed that this steady advance must have discouraged the rangers, for, after the first fire, their bullets sped wide of the mark, and in another moment it was to be a hand to hand en- counter. Atsight of soldiers of his own colors. Major Carlton could not restrain himself. He appeared to forget the errand upon which • lie and his party were bent, he only saw a conflict between the boys in blue and the hated gray. Snatching forth his revolver, he sprang from his concealment, shouting: "Down 'em! Down with the rebs!" Carlton's fire had been directed entirely upon Sorrel. The captain dropped his weapons, threw up his arms and spun ruuiid several times, as if mortally hurt, and a stream of bloo(J t'li.shed over his bearded face. But he recovered himself, wheeled again and dashed headlong away from the spot. In the opposite direction started, at a full run, the other two, but halted as still another sound broke on this battle in miniature. "Charge! Into 'em! Down with the accursed Yanks!" were words that rung through the trees at this juncture. Forward at a run came the squad we have seen Sorrel meet shortly before, led by the fiery young lieutenant. Covering the retreat of Sorrel, they charged upon the Federals, and ere the latter could fly two of them were prisoners held by the roughest hands that every griped with the strength of hatred. It was then that Carlton realized how thoughtless had been his act. ■ - To escape capture he must flee. It would never do to return to the concealment he had left. } That would betray the girls. Thinking and acting quickly, he turned and bounded away in a direction opposite to that from which the lieuteuant and his squad bad approached. Several bullets whistled over his receding hejd, fortunately none striking him. Examination showed that the captain had received a terrible • scalp wound, which laid open a furrow clear around the skull. But it was not a wound that a man would be apt to die with if attended to iu time. The lieutenant was a skillful manipulator of bandages, fortun- ately, and soon Sorrel was considerably relieved, though still an iigly sigjir, with his blazing eyes and his beard clotted and "Your voice sounds familiar to me," remarked the lieutenant, "•bile occupied In adjusting the bandages. " Yes, we have met before ; not long ago this night." "To-night?" "Yes. But we had no light. You thought I was not what I told . you I was. Ho ! you would, no doubt, have ordered me shot when you came to that conclusion. Are you satisfied now that I am no infernal spy ?" "Y'ou are ' " Captain Si Sorrel, of Sorrel's rangers." " Captain, I must confess, I thought you had deceived ns about there being parties— Yankees— in the bushes." " Did you not see a man— a Yankee devil— in major's uniform banging away with liis pistols as you arrived here ?" "Ha! yes. Where is he?" and the lieutenant looked quickly . over his shoulder to see whether that person was included in the capture. "Ho! where is he?" Sorrel repeated the other's words. "Yes, where is he ? Why, a mile from here by this time, I calculate. But hist! listen. He issued from there!" Sorrel, still maintaining his position against the tree, as if weak from the effect of his wound, pointed toward the mass of vinesand creepers that hung down over the edge of the bank. "He issued from there," he whispered, hoarsely. "Well?" " Bah ! did I not tell you that there were four in the lot ? It the Y'ankee major came from a hidingplace in those vines, can you not . see (he rest must be there." "You are right," hastily arising. " But wait," detained Sorrel, as the lieutenant made as if to ad- vance at once and boldly upon the suspected hiding place. "Well, what is it?" " One of those girls I mentioned is Belle Bartholemew, the ward of old James Bartholemew, who lives on the Shepherdstown road. James Bartholemew is an iutimate friend of General Lee's. Blazes! if harm befalls Belle Bartholemew, you -Bill hear from General Lee! Eemember that." " What is she doing with another girl who is, you say, a Y'ankee spy?" " Was there ever a man who could account for what a woman does? The two girls are together. That I know, and it is alll know— excepting that the other is a spy. So be careful what you are at.'' 20 THE WAR LIBRARY, " " Now we will attend to those who are, you think, in that tangle of vines there." " Yes, in there. But remember what I have arid about one of those who are in hiding, lieutenant." " My memory is not so very short." Falcon turned, and, with a frown, surveyed the overhanging screen of vines, unaware that behind it was a fissure almost like a cave. "Fall in 1 Attention! charge those bushes!" he shouted, and setting the example, he plunged in the direction whence the shot came. His men followed promptly. But only half way to the ambush had they gone when there came a startling check. Bang! Zip!— zip! And again some one cried : " God save me!— I'm a dead manl" Another shot; and this time it was from the trees on the east. Both shots had found a mark, and two graycoats lay bleeding and - dead on the sward. This second attack, and from an opposite quarter, produced a panic. The men halted irresolutely. ' We're surrouuded !" ejaculated one. The idea was universally conceived. With hesitating glances at their leader, who was himself somewhat taken aback by the dis- charges at front and rear, they broke and made off in a disordered body to the north, to escape the attack from the west and east. "Ho!" blurted Sorrel, in some alarm. " We are, as that man said, sui rounded, I think. I must look outfor my earcasa I must take care of myself, or I may not live to find my charming Belle Bartholemew and get hold upon that hundred thousand'doirars which is hers. But, by my soul ! she is in that tangle of vines in the face of the hill, I am sure, and I shall not run any further than is absolutely necessary." _ ,v,- j n ■ For fully half an hour the ranger captain mamtained his double watch, upon the screen of vines and to see who had so completely routed the Confederates. And steadily as he gazed he failed to observe that the prisoners were slylj- moving by scarcely perceptible squirming toward a certain point of the thicket beyond, until suddenly he rubbed his eyes as if there was yet some of the recent blood from his wound in them, and his bearded mouth yawned in astonishment. For the Union boys had vanished. He had not seen a face that peered cautiously out at the bound prisoners, the motioning hand that signaled them to keen silent aaJ roll and squirm toward that particular point. " I am Major Carlton, of the — Pennsylvania Reserves," guard- edly said their liberator, jv. , !„ "And now that we are in some force, we will go to the rein- • torcement of some ladies that are ensconced in that vine bower "^^Hurrah for you, major!" said one, though lowly. " If I dared I would just like to shout a s weet chee r about now." CHAPTER XXIV. " HE DESTINATION BEACHED. Who. the shots from the invincible foe rung forth upon the Co'S'XX Bellf Fusor grasped her companion's arm and ■ -whispered, biunedly : ,_ ^ ,. " This divertisement will give us a chance to escape. "In what way?" "See! the grays are running! Now is our chance. Come! Quickly she gained ter feet. To see a familiar outline— familiar even in the gloom— standing beside her companion. It was Old Fusee. " Bright eyes," he said, lowly. She was by his side in an instant. "You are safe! You dear Old Fusee, I am so glad I" " Safe. But Where's the major ?" When told of Carlton's action, he shook his head and com- mented : " A bad move. We must find him, though. And I think I know about where to look. Ifwas he, no doubt, who fired those other shots into the rebs. Some one treated them to bullets from the op- posite side of the opening just as I opened fire. For I suspected you were in our cave, bright eyes, and thought I would try the mettle of the grayooats. Remain here while I scout about after the major." Not long were they to wait. Fusee had not gone far from the girls when he saw Carlton and the boys in blue emerge boldly from the trees. "The rebs must have cleared out entirely," he thought, else he would never be so venturesome." And he hailed : " Major, this way. The girls are here." "That you, Fusee?" " Yes. Come up the bank." Carlton turned to the Federals. "I must part from you, my lads. We'll meet again in battle, I guess. Take my advice aud get back into your lines, and don't be roaming so far from camp. You've had a narrow escape to-night. I have important things on hand to attend to, or I would like to liavH you remain with me. There, now, good-by." " Good-by!" they responded ; and one added, gratefully : " God Ijless you, major, for the good turn you've done us." " It's all right. Good-by." A few minutes later he was once more with his reunited party, and the four made another start in the direction of .lames Barthole- uifw's house, though by a round-about way, to avoid the bivouac lues of the Confederates which were dotting the greater portion of the country north of the Shepherdstown road. Cavalry, loo, was seen by them moving along at intervals— per- haps the shattered regiments of that futile charge duriug the day ivlLMi Sorrel's rangers were so badly cut up. Foitune seemed to be more witli the quartet now, however, and ere long they were in sight of the large stone dwelling that had been the home of Belle Bartholemew since infancy. Though the Confederate fires were to the north and south of the road, the immediate viciuity of the house appeared to be free from eiKom passmen t. By still cautious maneuvering they mauaged to draw near. Fusee then bade them halt. " I will go ou alone," he said. " Look ; you see that light shining from an upper window ?" "Yes." " This is no new locality for me to be in ; years and years ago, when bright-eyed Belle here was a baby, I lived not far frcm the home of James Bartholemew. Yonder light, I think, as it was in those bjigone days, comes from the apartment used as a library; and iu that library, in the long ago, sat James Bartholemen- and myself, talking of one of the most sacred trusts that was ever given to two men. James was an upright aud, I believe, an honorable man then " "What is there so very serious between you and Uncle Jim ?"^ Belle asked, breaking in, for Old Fusee was beginning to uttei words more in theshapeof an obliviousmusingthanas if hemeant to address those with him. " You shall knoTT ell very soon. This much I will say ; lu yonder house lives a man who has wronged you and dear bright eyes hare,, more than lauguage can flud words to condemn. No matter at this time; wait. Mark that light. It comes from the library. I am going there; I am about to confront James Bartholemew with his own dark deed. When you shall see that light dim and brighten again thrice, do you all come, too. Come without hesitancy straight up to the library— Belle Barthofemew will show the way. I may have a sight for you then ; a man cringing and begging foi mercy that he does not deserve. Major, I leave these precious one& ^both very precious- to your keeping." " Have you no fear for them, as long as I shall breathe." Old Fusee seemed to take an extraordinary solemn leave of his friends, even for so mysterious a missiou as he was bent upon. He paused to imprint a kiss upon the brow of the beautiful girl spy — a kiss as reverential as a father's. Did he apprehend that there was something ahead which might make this his last parting with the young girl he seemed to love so dearly. As his form receded from them, Belle Fusor said, uneasily : " I am afraid something terrible is about to happen. I have never seen dear Old Fusee so affected before. Ah, what can be the secret between him and James Bartholemew ?" Belle Bartholemew was silent. She had heard enoush to con- vince her that the man she had really learned to love as a benefac- tor, and who had been strangely iudulgent with her, was guilty of some crime that would not bear the light of exposure. While Old Fusee was moving forward upon Ufs unknown errand, a pair of baleful eyes were fixed upon the trio who awaited the promised signal. Captain Sorrel, not far in their rear, was skulking away toward the line of Confederate fires that burned near the road by Sharps- burg. CHAPTER XXV. A MISER AND HIS GOU). The great stone mansion appeared to be deserted without and within. There was no sign of life; aud the few horses in the stables were whinnying as if their accustomed attention had been neglected. Closed tight were all the windows and doors— all save that one high window from which gleamed the light Fusee had called his friends' gaze upon. Puriog the day pl(J James Bartholemew bad been on the top of THE WA.R LIBRARY. 21 Ills dwelliiig, spy-glass I'n Hand, earnestly watching that portioq of the battlefield which was not obstructed from the view obtain- aiile from the eminence on which his house was built. All through the day, watching the great clouds of smoke and listening to the boom and rattle of guns that roared upward from where brave men were falling like wheat beneath the reap- er's scythe. It was only when (oo dark to distinguish more than the (ong lines of volleying musketry that he Anally closed the glass and de- scended through the scuttle. There was an angry— a troubled look in his ratty face. "Zounds! I am afraid— yes, I am afraid that Lee is going to be whipped. Perdition seize every Yankee on Maryland soil !" Somewhat to his surprise, he noted shortly that the house was without any occupant save himself— this when he rung and rung again thrice over to give an order for some refreshment ; for, from early morning until the shades of evening fell, he had neither eaten nor drank anything, so intensely had he been absorbed with watching that wonderful battleground. Pomp, Topsy, the cook, all had fled when the morning broke — fled to escape the terrible Yankees who, the old man had taught them to believe, were accustomed to eat negroes without pepper or salt ! They were long ago far away in the hills to the west of Sharpsburg before their old master descended from the roof. When he found that he was surely alone, a strange thought seemed to strike him. Going all over the house, he made sure that all was secure, and then, taking a lamp, he descended the stairs to the cellar. It was then fully night. Down he went; and his actions were singular, for he paused anon and glanced backward as if fearful of being followed. Midway in the underground passage between the two cellars he finally halted, and once again looked searohingly toward the joisted stairs, listening as if in expectancy of some footfall following after him. Satisfied that no one could be near, he went to a comer of the solid masonry around him and took up a small shovel. With this in hand he returned to the spot where he had deposited the lamp. Then James Bartholomew began a mysterious operation. Striking the shovel into the earth that was worn almost to the solidity of stone by the passage of feet over it, he started to dig in- dustriously. The dirt piled slow beside him at first, but presently he struck the more yielding earth beneath the surface, and ere long a con- siderable heap accumulated, and an excavation of perhaps three feet square was made. Then the shovel struck something that gave forth a metallic sound, and " Ah !" he aspired, bending downward. At the bottom of the opening thus made was an iron slab At one edge of the slab was a ring. Grasping this ring he raished the slab. A remarkable sight was revealed. Beneath the slab was an iron receptacle, and in this were a num- ber of buckskin bags with labels. Gold— gold was there, and in the next minute he had lifted out one of the bags, untied the twine that held its neck, and poured out upon the earthen floor a shower of golden eagles— double eagles, too, that shimmered and shone in the rays of the dully burning lamp. " Mine ! All mine!" he actually Jabbered. " It required a nerve to win it; but it's all mine— all mine! Ha, ha! Pretty gold! Oh, you pretty pieces !" He raised whole handfulls of the glittering coin, permitting it to slide and slip affectionately through his fingers; and as the daz- zling money fell and jingled he continued to mutter, while his face was bright with avaricious grinning : "Pretty gold! Oh, pretty gold!" We have said in a former chapter that James Bartholomew was miserly ; but it has been reserved for this chapter to show the love of money that possessed his whole soul, that the reader may more fully comprehend what led him to a crime for which the reckon- ing was fast now drawing near. " How many years— how many years," he continued to jabber as his eyes feasted on the hidden wealth. " Oh, nobody knew where you were, my pretty yellow things ! '''hey talked of war and the loss of everything that rich people might have. But I was too shrewd for them— yes, too shrewd. I drew you all in, my pets ; I gathered you from afar and near. You came safely into the fold. While others have lost and are losing all that they have toiled to earn, you are here— you are here! Oh, I could not part from you, ray pretty, pretty golden prizes !" Over and over again the shiny heap was raised and allowed to slip jingling through his fingers, and his thin lips drew back until the few teeth he had were exposed in the grin that became set rigidly on his exulting face. Suddenly he threw up his head. "What's that?" fell in a whispery hiss from his chattering itongue. He cast a frightened look toward the joisted stairs, with both le wa^ about to snatch it from him. For, in the midst of his avaricious glee, he heard a sound as o( some one moving in the upper passage. It seemed impossible that any one could be in the house; but presently the sound unmistakably was the sound of footsteps, not very stealthy either. Trembling with excitement, he grasped the shovel and began throwing the di't buck again on top of the iron slab, which he let fall into its resting place. This accomplislied, he took up the lamp and hurried from the cellar corridor, muttering in trepidatioi Satisfied that the intruder could not have been spying upon his I'evelation of the hidden gold, he became vexed at what he con- sidered a bold— an over-bold— entrance into the privacy of his dwelling. By the time he had reached the second floor, he was frowning and ready for a hot speech of resentment. The sound of footsteps had ceased. But the old man had located their cc-irse; he knew terloper had gone to the library. With quick, jerky strides he hurried to the library. Within the room burned the only light in the building besides the lamp he still carried, and which we have seen to attract the attention of our quartette outside. Waving his own lamp ahead, he crossed the threshold. Crossed and paused abruptly, as he found himself confronted l)y a man with a snowy beard and twinkling, bright eyes, who turned upon him as he came in and regarded him with a steady sternness. A shutter at one of the lower windows, wrenched completely J, _, , he had ob- he did not seem to know, and whoso presence there was so great a surprise to him. Well, sir, who are you ? What do you want 1 Zounds ! you that the i have broken into my house forcibly- CHAPTEB XXVr. THE GREED OF GOLD. Fusee interrupted him by a gesture. And he said : •' James Bartholemew, I am here to demand an account of the trust that was confided to you aud to me nearly twenty years ago. Are you ready to give it ?" At sound of that deep voice, Bartholemev seemed suddenly seized with an ague. His hands trembled, the limbs beneath him shook Onsteadily Had he not advanced quickly and deposited the lamp upon ' table, he would have let it fall from his hold and shatter on floor. "You!" he gasped. " You here, Pane Fusor?" "Ay, here. You know me now." the ' But I thought you were surely dead ?" '"' * ' fault, 1 - my fault? Yes. The same murderous tools that you hired to strangle the ' It is not yo ny fault?" ■Th villain ! that I am i * . ^'-'■•. /•"''=""jo U.U.U01UUS LUU13 luai you nirea to 8trangl< twin children of Arnold Yokes came near accomplishing th sassmation you hired them to perform " " I hired assassins ! Fane Fusor, what do you mean ?" Either old Bartholemew had recovered a wonderful possession of himselt, or the front he assumed now was the most overpowerin"- astonishment imaginable. • " "No matter, I know that you hired ruffians to strike out my life at the same time they threw into the mountain stream the help- less httle infant child of Arnold Yokes. That, even I could over- look ; for I have learned since that the remaining child you took good care of. Your conscience must have smote you hard, James Bartholemew, after the report of the death of the other babe and the false report that I, too, had sunk forever out of life under the waters. The weight of the sacrifice of two lives weighed heavily, that you should have paused, and instead of destroying the re^ maining child, reared her in comfort aud indulgence——" " Pane Fusor, what are you talking about ? This is all Greek to me, the old man broke in ; but his shrunken face was very pale aud his ratty eyes— now no longer ratty, but half glaring upon the speaker— were bulging wide. f' & f " Sit down," said Old Fusee, imperatively. The other obeyed, mechanically. Fusee took a chair opposite; and steadily, almost fiercely, he held the man before him under his gaze. "When Arnold Yokes died, he left to you and to me his infant and twin children. He left, also, a considerable sum of money for their maintenance and education— sufficient to have accumulated by this time, quite a snug fortune. Ah, you were an honorable man then, James. But the greed of gold entered your heart; it fastened and grew upon you until, night and day, you thought of nothing else, save how you could grasp the heritage of the orphans. ^ ight and day you were taxing your brain for a means by which you could rid yourself of them and me. You knew that as long as Hived you dare not be guilty of a wrong toward them. In a short time an assassin's plot was the result of your constant "You determined that the children should die— have it appear as if they were drowned accidentally in the mountain stream You decided that I must die. Oh. a hellish plot you formed. One infant was cast into the stream ; but there is a God above who does not permit such deeds. "I had been struck down and hurled Into the water bv vour ruffian accomplices, but the blow did not kill. I floated 'halt alive, down the stream, aud Providence broijght me to I lie spot where the oiher dark deed had been done. I saw, I rfs.ued the " Half dead, filled with horror by the attempt upon mv life, 1 could not think what could have been its object, until the finding of the babe suggested the instigator of the vile plot. Long I lurk- ed about the place, after that, to save the other child it a similar THE WAR LIBRARY. fate was in store for her | but you seemea not to meditate any in- jury to it, and I followed you watchfully when you removed it from your other home in West Virginia and came here to live " "Stop!" interrupted Bartholemew, assuminfc a stern exterior that was far different from the quakins within his heart. "If I have been all the villain that you say, why have you not come forward and denounced me ere this ? Let me tell you that such a tale is preposterous. Imournedthelossof theinfant.andinstituted a rigorous search for it. Everyone — myself iucluded — came to the conclusion that some hungry bear in the mountains had made off with it. A bear was killed, too, a few daysafter the disappearance of the child." " I say you are lying, and the boldness you are exhibiting now Is assumed. But it will not avail you " " Then this will." As he uttered the words, short and sharp, Bartholemew sudden- ly reached up and back of his coat collar. Thenext instant he had snatched from a sheath beneath the col- lar along and gleaming bowie knife. Gripins; the knife, he half arose and bent his body toward Fusee, poising his arm aloft to strike. But tlie lilow did not fall. Nor did Fusee make the slightest motion to ward off the intend- ed stroke of the kuife. Still as a statue he sat ; but his keen eyes burned as they fixed even more intently upon Bartholemew, and there was that in their depths that seemed to palsy the very nerves of the arm that raised the murderous weapon withiu a few inches of liis breast. " James Bartholemew," he said, m a voice fairly quivering in its sternness, "do you think that one who lived through Waterloo, and who has faced the guns of the Southern army siuce tlie day at Sumter, is to be frightened by a toy like tluit? Why, I could take it from you and drive it back into your own lieart as easily as I could pluck an apple from its bough. Pooh !" As Old Fusee said " pooh!" he threw out one arm, striking the other on the wrist such a blow that, from sheer pain, the giasp on the kuife W.1S instantly relaxed, and the bright blade fell to the carpet, stiekitig straight up at Bartholemew's feet. " I did not come forward and denounce your attempt upon my life and the life of the babe because I wished to ascertain, first, ex- actly what your object was. And as I became convinced that If you had intended to kill the other babe you had changed your mind, I could afford to wait. It took many years to fathom your scheme entirely. War broke out, and, my restless spirit at ouce pnthralled by enthusiasm, I enlisted in thearmy of the North. At the first real sign of war I learned your plot. You were resolved to be rid of the heirs of Arnold Yokes, that you might possess their wealth. And by a provision of the will— for Fokes was a widower, a foreigner, and without any friends he would have trusted, save vou and me — if the children died before reaching maturity, the money would go to the trustees. You realized on all invesments immediately. You have now, it it is not spent, the accumulated wealth in hiding. "I have nothing o£ the sort. If there was any money the out- break of the war swept it away " "You lie again, James Bartholemew!" "Ha- The old wrelch made as if to drawanother bowie knife from that sheath under his coat collar. " You sa7ed every dollar of it," Fusee continued, heedless or care- less of the motion that said plainly Bartholemew would readily have stabbed him where he sat. "You have it now. And I am here to-night to make you restore it to those to whom it rightfully belongs. "Those " "Yes; the babe, I told you, was saved. She has lived with me since I snatched her from the stream. She isnow a woman, grown and beautiful. Slio has followed me in more than one campaign, and is known lo General McClellan as Belle Fusor, one of his most efficient spies." "Ah !" aspirated Bartholemew, as he saw now how it was that his Belle— Belle gartholemew— had been mistaken for a spy by Can tain Striker and others. "I will not give it up!" was passing, burningly, through his heated brain. " I will not be deprived of ray pretty golden prizes at this lale day. It would almost impoverish me. too, since all that I had " hich was at all available has gone to help the South in this struggle against the Yankee invaders. No— I will make a fight for it." His ratty eyes— now again ratty— snapped a dangerous fire. CHAPTER XXVII. A COWAEDLT DEED. With the resolution formed to resist— though he had no definite idea in what mannner— the expressed intention of Fane Fusor to make him deliver up to the orphans the money of which he had robbed them, James Bartholemew then began acting a part to gain time during which he might be able to form some plan either to destroy the man before him or escape in some other way the actual ruin which this visit portended for him. Assuming a contrite manner, he said : "Fane Fusor, you are wronging me in supposing that I ever caused an assault upon your life or the life of Arnold Yokes' child. True, I have handled, and spent, more or less, some of the principal the children would have inherited from their father and been possessed of ere this if I had done as I ought to. But that inheritance is intact. They can have it whenever ttiey choose to ask for it." Again, in his brain, he was saying: "Zounds! it worse comes to worse, I have not lied in that piece of information, for I have the gold safe — and will keep it .safe, if I can only think of some secure means of ridding myself of this busybody who has risen from the grave I long ago paid a round sum to haV'i him put into. I must have a little time to think." Then, aloud : "I am glad, if the child fell into the stream, as you say she did. that you were there. Fane Fusor, to rescue her— verv glad— yes. Where is she now ? I would like to see her. I would like to con- fess what a great rascal I have been, and ask her forgiveness. Do you think she will forgive me, Fane Fusor, if she realizes how very repentant I am'i Notwithstanding his hard effort to prevent it there was a sus- picious light in the ratty eyes. Fusee regarded him searcliingly. "The rescued babe," he said, " is now near hear. Both the chil- dren of Arnold Vokesare near this house at this moment." " Call her, then— call both. I will throw myself entirely upon mercy and yours." As if he disdained to fear £ Fusee arose. ly thing from this villainous old man, i table and walked toward the „.. . ..u^ c.^u.uu 4^.,*,.,^,^ iA.o .,ii,_k toward James Bartholemew; and then into the ratty eyes came such a lurid sparkle as to have caused the beholder's veins to congeal. Fusee advanced straight to the window and lowered the curtaiu slightly. Then, by a sudden motion, he showed and hid the lamp thrice, giving the signal agreed upon between him and those who waited, watching, outside. With a rapid and noiseless movement, Bartholemew pulled open a drawer in the trable by which he sat- From the drawer he snatched a dueling pistol of heavy caliber, cocking it without a sound. In a second he had the deadly tube aimed at the back of Old Fusee, and now his face was fairly eadaverou.^ in its rageful and nal. A loud report filled the room. A spasmodic cry burst from Old Fusee, and while, the lamp fell crashing to the floor, he reeled backward a few steps, finally sink- ing lifeless liefcn' ilioeyes of his murderer. Like the nozzl.' of son].- huge ape was the grinning mouth of di- abolical Janu's Hill Ilioli iHcw, as he saw the man he feared go down with tljo falul liulht in his back. "Ha, ha! ' he j;iblnred. "You thought I would yield up the golden treasure that I had already stained my soul with crime for. You thought you had me in a corner. But I am not conquered yet, my bold Yankee champion of orphans ! Oh, that bullet has found your vitials, has it!" and he stepped to the side of the pros- trate and motionless old gunner, holding the still smoking weapon in his hand. " But he said that the others were close at hand. What others, now? Are there more than the girls ?— the children of Arnold Yokes ? That waving of the lamp was a signal of some sort. They will be here presently. I shall be ready to receive them — oh, yes." He looked toward the doorway, listening. True," there sounded, a moment later, footsteps in the hall down stairs, and the sliuttiug of a door. Somewhat to his astonishment, the party who entered was an officer in major's uniform. Frank Carlton But close behind him were the two Belles. They had heard the pistol shot. Belle Fusor ins antly conoeived that some peril menaced or harm had befallen the old gunner whom she loved with a daughter's affection. It was she who first saw the jirone and lifeless figure on the floor near the window, and she cried : "Ah, Heaven! he is killed! Fusee is dead!" Speeding across the room as if oblivious of the presence of James Bartholemew, she knelt and raised the bloody head to her lap, calling upon the dear old mau to speak to her. But,there was no response from the aged and thickly bearded lips of Fane Fusor. "Wretch! what have you done?" demanded CarJton, striding forward to confront Bartholemew. " I have killed an accursed Yankee!" he answered, in loud wrath at seeing another who wore the hated blue thus boldly intrude into his house. " And had I another pistol, I would shoot you down where you stand." "Uncle Jim, can it be possible that you have committed a mur- der?'' spoke Belle, shuddering. "Yes, I have; and but for you and your accursed father, and your twin sister, I should never be what I now am— a man who defies you and everybody who sides with you. I will have my triumph yet." With which speech, delivered in a shout, he made a long leap toward the girl as if he would have grasped and, perhaps, throt- tled her. Carlton caught and held him. " I swear, by Heaven, if you have indeed killed that dear old man, I will run you through with my sword," threatened the major, while Bartholemew kicked and struggled vainly in his em- bracing arms. Bartholemew now seemed to be seized with a degree of frenzy that bordered on insanity. Sounds inarticulate issued from his lips; healmost frothed at the mouth, and curses on the Yankee major poured hot and fast be- tween his grinding teeth. And while the two thus combated for the mastery, there was an- other sound below stairs which none heard because of the feet that scuffled over the carpet, striking and overturning chairs and shivering the glass of the tall bookcase in atom.s over them. Another tramp of feet, and, mingling in the tramp, the jangle of sabers. Carlton had as much as he could do to meet the fierce assault of the old secessionist, who fought with tooth, nail and kicking gaiters. A warning cry came from Belle Bartholemew, who stood yet near to the theshold of the library. With a final and successful effort Carlton hurled his wild-faced antagonist back to the further side of the room, then turned to see what meant the cry from his betrothed. Instantly he flashed forth his sword, and in his other hand quick- ly followed his levolver. For there in the doorway, half hideous in the swathes that were bound around his wounded scalp, stood Captain Sorrel. THE WAR LIBEAR 2a Beliii'id tho ranger captain were four men iu gray cavalry attire, wearing huge sal)ers, and wliose eyes, as they glanced into the apartment ove'- the shoulders of their leader, wore like the eyes of beasts that famish for some new prey. "By my soul! you infernal Yank! Limhere! I am after you!" he blurted, immediately. '• And I am here!" retorted Carlton, stoutly. CHAPTER XXVIII. CONCLUSION. Wherever fell the heavy sabers, there was the sword, to meet an* turn them aside; and Sorrel half paused in admiration of the mvin who, while he wore the detested l>lue, was one to impress the be- holder with his astonishing bravery and skill. •'By my life! the fellow fights like a lion with well trained claws. Ten to one, he would whip ray rangers if I was not here." Clash! elashl the sabers and the snord. Around him in an ever wliizzing, gleaming circle twirled the blade of Carlton. Futile fell every lunge and thrust that was spite- fully aimed i.t his body. Then again Sorrel threw himself Into the midst of the melee, pressing the luajor with a skill that was superior to that of the mechanicallv diilled rangers. '•DoKs! cowards!" shouted brave Carlton. "Five to one you are! But come on!" As the last word left his lips, he succeeded in bringing his sharp- edged sword around in a terrific stroke that sliced the neck of one of his foes, nearly severing the bead from the body. It was a spacious room in which this iiueciual and savage conflict waged; the ceiUng was bifib, permitting full play fur the major's remarkable swordsraaiisbi|i. Clash! clash! the whirring steel! It was a siusrular circumstance that none had drawn a revolver to shoot Carlton, as might easily have been done, and thus at once terminate the struggle. The rangers had taken their cue from Sorrel, supposing that their leader's oli.imt was to capture the Yankee alive. As yet, ('aillou luicl not used his n-vnlver. Now. \vl).-ii be fomifl hlins.-lf .■iM-nmi.assH.I by Wvr mm, all eager for his lii.-, and all, in bis n.in.i, ba>.. .M.war.ls b. atta<-l-: a man wiXh suohod.ls, lie raise,] tlir hanuner <.f the weapon willi Ins lett thumb -whil t forward full defied the lunges of thesabers— and suddenly th at the breast of Sorrel. The ranger leader saw his danger. But he saw it too late. Bang ! exploded the tube of death. Sorrel, uttering a yell, let fall his saber, threw up his arms and reeled backward. ■The occurrence seemed to stagger the others for a second ; and in that second, availing promptly of the divertisement, again Carl- ton's sword swept around, and another neck was sliced by a mortal wound. The major's act reminded the remaining pair of rogues that they, too, carried revolvers. It was now a desperate game with them. If this wonderful Yankee could successfully resist the onslaught of five men, and deal out wounds while ho foujiht, what chance would they, only t wo, have before the terrible skill of that gleam- ing, and now bloody sword ? Springing backward as in one accord, they plucked forth their heavy cavalry revolvers before the major coukl follow them up or again cnek bis weapon foi- a shot. would assuredlv have been a dead man. But there were others there who seemed to have been forgotten in the scene of combat. Others who jiossessed nerve and the will to act iu just such an emergency as now transpired. Ere the cavalry revolvers could crack and pierce the gallant major's body with their slug-pointed balls, there was another sound— the bark of two revolvers, held and aimed respectively by Belle Fusor and Belle Bartholomew. Beneath this unlooked-for fire, the last one of the fierce rangers sunk to the carpet that was already red with the blood of the elain. Five faces of the dead lay upturned there, and most hideous of all was the bandaged, ugly, scowl-browed visage of the ranger leader. Captain Sorrel. He would know no more dreams of the hundred thousand dol- lars, and the beautiful girl he would have persecuted. Panting and triumphant, Carlton rested on the point of the sword that had served him so well, and a faint smile overspread his heated face, as he said : "It is a wicked scene; but we could not help it. It was their lives or mine." He glanced over to where the form of James Bartholemew was " When hurled across the room, the old villain in falling, had struck his temple against a chair, and the blow rendered him un- conscious. " What shall we do with him ? I cannot murder him ; I do not believe he can handle a saber, or I would arm him and myself equally with sabers from these dead vagabonds and make him fight for his life. For, dear girls, I may tell you now, that Old Fusee revealed to me, before starting to come here, the crime James Bartholemew had perpetrated against you. Poor old man! he must have had some premonition of what was to happen, and took that precaution so that if he met with accident or death, I could carry out his intentions to the letter aud obtain justice tor you. You two are twin sisters; aud if Old Fusee really is no more, I will explain all to you. Let us examine him more closely." They went to the side of the prostrate gunner. Belle Fusor knelt again at his side, raising his head. As she did so, she excLiimed : "No! — no! be is not dead! Look! be live.s — he lives! Oh, Heaven be praised ! dear Old Fusee is .'tfill alive." Still alive— but, ah ! how very, very faint was the spark that "Do I still live and breathe?" he asked, huskil-^. '■isityou^ bright eyes'/" "Dear Fusee! Oh, you are alive, thank God! You are Dot mortally hurt; no, I cannot think it." He half inter nipted her in a weary, sleepy way. " Do not hope for me, bright eyes; I am dying " "Oh, no, no, no'" "Yes, dying. It should not be concealed. I cannot be with you long. You have been a dear, affectionate girl ; you have loved Old Fusee, and 1 have tried to bo a father to you, bright eyes— yes, I have tried." The girl would have spoken ; but the words broke in sobs that she could not repress, and Belle Bartholemew and the major both stood with dimming eyes over the pair whose lives had been so strangely and closely hound together. "Major," said the dying gunner, "you know the history ot James Bartholemew's crime. Will you see that these two treas- I, these ]iiire and beautiful girls, get back that of which they ha\ 'Iswe ■r too well, Frank Car.„on, to think that you will user forguL that oath. 1 £.m going— Ha! where is James B.irtholemew T' Old Fusee turned his head to glance across the room. The others, absorbed solely with him, saw not the skulking figure that was at that moment creeping upon them. and instantly and i ished bowie knife that was-tieking in the floor by the table where it had been knocked li i his ;.'rasp by Old Fusee shortly before. Dropping slightly nnilei' the table, as it did at the time, and as the recent combat"betweeu the major and the Confederates had occurred at another side of the room, the sharp weapon had re- mained undisturbed, unnoticed there. Now grasping the bowie knife with a frenzied hold, and his eyes snapping the fire of hate and deadly resolve, he iVas sneaking up behind those who stood, unconscious of his movements, looking down upon the dying gunner. But that fortuuate impulse of inquiry, and the turning of his head, showed Old Fusee the danger that menaced those he loved. ' ■ rderer!" burst from his lips. ■ " streng _ a small revolver which he ' wont to carry there at all times. In a motion that told of practical quickness, he leveled the weapon, cocking it as he iirought it forward. Before the others could fully comprehend what was transpiring, the revolver had filled the room with its whip-hke report, and a It was the cannoneer's last shot. With the action, his head dropped— he was dead ! With the death of Old Fusee our story is nearly told. Carlton removed the ghastly corpses from the house, and the cold form of the old gunner was gently placed upon a bier until arrangement could be made to give him suitable burial. In an after examination of the premises, the newly disturbed earth in the cellar corridor was discovered, and v.-ith a suspicion that the miser might have a treasure concealed there, the major found and made use of the same shovel with whicli we have seen James Bartholemew lay bare what was, iu reality, the wealth of which he had despoiled the orphans. Ere the night grew into the small hours, the two girls were gaii- iug upon what they realized must be their own vast accumulation of inheritance from their father, Arnold Yokes. Of course they could never know, now that Bartholemew was dead, exactly how much they had been robbed of ; but the glit- tering heap of gold laid bare by the shovel iu the major's hands was an immense amount, and enough to provide them with every comfort so long as they should live. By the dialogue that passed between James Bartholemew and Old Fusee, the reader knows how deep had been the wrong perpe- trated upon the beautiful orphans. Carlton remained with the girls in tbe great stone house over which hung the mourning of death; They were very quiet there; aud by a dispensation of fortune, the building was not molested by the Confederate hosts so near, who, had they dreamed that inside those tight, closed windows was one who wore the hated blue, would have rased each partic- ular piece of masonry, but what they would have sacrificed him without delay. The morning of the eighteenth came. ~ ■ -■ ' '"^ >— Ty-he! burst of guns, nothing to indicate that again the waves of carnage were sweeping over the AntiiJtam. The day passed, and under cover of that night Lee withdrew with his army, disorganized and suffering, back to the soil of Virginia. When the retreat was assured, Carlton ventured forth, and the first act of his party was to see that dear Old Fusee was tenderly laid away in a grave whereon were strewn flowers of fragrance watered by tears of love. Of the further adventures of Major Carlton, the record of the — Pennsylvania Reserves must speak. Soon after the events we have related, he was marcliinp again with McClellan toward Warrentou, aud the beautiful sisters were ou their way North, But when Frank Carlton's term expired, be returned for his promised bride, and there was a brilliant wedding iu that time, now more than twenty years ago. iu which the gallant major and the beautiful Southern girl were the principals. Belle, the spy, continued iu that capacity until the war closed, and since then has beeu the loved aud honored wife of a Union genenU. £IHE END.) 24 THE WAR LIBRARY. Catalogue of the War Library. Earlier numbers in print. 246-CHICKAHOIVIINY JOE. Edwards. 248-A DASHING YANKEE MIDDY. 1249-KILPATRICK'S FAMOUS RIDE. 250-BEFORE RICHMOND. ByA.Giant. 25 I -VOLUNTEER DUKE. By D. Duncan- 252-FREMONT, THE PATHFINDER. 253-SIECE-CUNS AT FISHER. 254-WITH THE BOYS IN BLUE. 255-STONEWALL JACKSON'S DIS- PATCH-BEARER. ByA. P. Morris. 256 ALONG THE POTOMAC. Wayde. 257-THE OLD KNAPSACK. By Forbes. 258-CARL, THE UNION SCOUT. 259-CAMP AND CONFLICT. Myrtle. 260-THE LAST CHARGE. By Hoyne. 261-MAD ABE, THE SCOUT. Hoyne. 263-GRANT'S SIGNAL GUN. E.Park. 264-LiFE IN THE SADDLE. By Judson. 265-SHERIDAN IN THE SHENAN- DOAH. Br Warnc Miller. 266-THE ARTILLERY SCOUT. 267-ON TO GLORY. By Mai. W. Wilmot. 268-HILT TO HILT. By J. M. MerriU. 269 THE MYSTERIOUS MAJORi 270-THE UNION FOREVER. By Walsh. 271-BAYONET BEN. By Maj. A. F.Grant. 272-AN IRISH FIRE-BRAND. Wilmot. 273-RAIDING THROUGH VIRGINIA. 274-THE LAST SHOT. By Leon Lenoir. 275-RUNNING THE BATTERIES. 276-OLD KEEN SABER. ByA. F.Grant. 277-THE BLOCKADE RUNNER. 278-THE CHICKAHOMINY SPY. 279-GREENBACK GEORGE. By Eflor. 280-MAJOR PAULINE CUSHMAN. 281-THE HUNTFD DESERTER. 282-WILD BILL. Uy a^ueksliiu Sam. 283-THE DRUMMER BOY. Wilmot. 284~CANNONEER BOB'S RUSE. By Ma,ior A. F. Urant. 285-THE HERO CAPTAIN. By O. Eilor. 286-T H E O L D F L A C . By Capt. Forrest. 287-KNAPSACK NICK. By M. Hoyne. 288-"ON TO GETTYSBURG." Manly. 28d-SHERIDAN AT APPOMATTOX. By Ward Edward.*, U, S. V. 290-TRUE AS STEEL. By Mackintosh. 29 I -LITTLE IRISH. By Ward Edwards. 292-McCLELLAN'S SCOUT. Forrest. 293-A REMARKABLE CAPTAIN. By Morris Kedwing. 294-LIFE IN LIBBY PRISON. Warren. 295-AT SEVEN PINES. By W. Walters. 296-GEN. W.T.SHERMAN. VanOrden. 297-BRAVE BEN. By M. C. Walsh. 298-THE GRAY RAIDER. By Redwing. 299-HANDSOME JACK. ByP.Kaycee. 300-THE IRISH BRIGADE. Carlton. 30I-LIEUTENANT STEVE. M. Hoyne. 302-THE WAR HORSE OF WIN- CHESTER. Bv Wainr Walter Brisbane. 303-THE TRAITOR GENERAL. By Corpora) Morris Hoyne. 304-0UT WITH MOSBY. Oram Eflor. 305-0N THE RAPPAHANNOCK 306-GEN. PHIL H. SHERIDAN. By W. H. Van Ordeu. 307-M0RCAN AND HIS MEN. Grant. 308-FREEDOM'SSONS.ByM.Bedwing. 309-THE CHATTANOOGA SCOUT. 3IO-DARINC DAN. By Ward Edwards. 31 l-JOHN BROWN'S RAID. By Merrill. 312-UNOER FARRAGUT. A.F.Grant. 313-THE FIGHTING FIFTH. w.Goode. 314-FARLEY'STRAIL. By Maj. wihnot. 3 1 5-GEORCIA GAMP-FIRES. WaltcrB. 316-LINCOLN'S SPY. By A. F. Grant. 317-SHERMAN AT ATLANTA. 318-SADDLE AND BIVOUAC. 319-A SPY IN BLUE. By Morris Hoyne. 320-L0YAL MOSE. By Roland Dare. 321-A YOUNG MARINE. By Redwing. 322-HARPER S FERRY. By W. Wilmot. 323-CLEAR GRIT. By Mai line Manly. 324-THE RIVAL COURIERS. 325-BEFORE PETERSBURG. Grant. 326-DOWN IN DIXIE. By Hugh AUen. 327-LIBBY PRISON. By Oram Eflor. 328-WAR'S ALARM. By Morris Redwing. 329-UNDER FIRE. By Anthony P. Morris. 330-M ARCHING ON. By Ward Edwards. 331-SWORD AND SASH. ByN.Myrtle. 332-BORDER GUERRILLAS. Hoyne 333-MOSBY'S TRAIL. By M. Redwing. 334-BLACK CUDJO. By Lieut. Keene. 335-BRAVE COLONEL KELLY. 336-ISLAND NUMBER TEN. Frazier. 337-WINNING HIS SPURS. Redwing. 338-A YANKEE MIDDY. By Edwards. 339-COLD HARBOR; or. The Blaze of Battle. A Thrilling Story of the Chick- aiiominy. By R. Dare. 340-FIGHTING JOE HOOKER; or, The Battle Thrilling Stor: Marline Manly 341-BOMB PROOF; or. Dying in the Last Ditch. A Tale of Petersburg. By Anthony P. Morris. 342-A SOLDIER OF FATE; or, Phil Kearny's Last Charge. An Exciting Tale of the Second Bull Run Battle. By Colonel Oram Eflor. 343-CUSTER AND HIS MEN; or. The Bold Riders of Virginia. By Marline 344-THE ARMY DETECTIVE; or. Following a War Mystery. AStory of Secret Service Life During the RebelUon. By Colonel Oram Eflor. 349-IN FOR THE WAR; or. The Forts of the Mississippi. A Romance of Thrilling Adventure Afloat and Ashore. By Ward Edwards. 346-OL0 POTOMAC: or,The Retreat from Richmond. A RattUng Tale of the Seven Days' Battles. By Col. Lawrence Leslie, Statt OlKcer. 347-PIONEER PETE; or, Always at the Front. A story of the Wilderness Campalfra. By M. Redwing. 348-UNION JACK; or. Heroes in Blue. A story of the Great Raihroad Chase. By Ward Edwards. 349-ANDERSONVILLE STOCKADE; or, A Wild Flight Through Dixie. A Rattling Tale of Stoneman and His Men. By A. Forbes (War Correspondent). 350-0UT WITH KILPATRICK; or, The Dashing Yankee Raiders. A Rattling Record of Adventure in the Cav- alry Service. By Lieut. Keene, U. S. A. 351-THE SOLDIER MAGICIAN; or. The Conspirators of Washing- . A Startling Story of Spy-Lite at the tal. By Corporal M. Hoyne. 352-ROUGH AND READY; or. Into n theCannon'sMouth. A LivelyTale Oram Eflor. of Adv •lug th By Colonel 353-PARTISANPATE;or,The Raid- ers of Kentucky. A stirring story of the Battle of Mill Springs. By M. Redwing. 354-THE SKY SCOUTS; or. Balloon- ing for the Union. A Lively Tale of Adventure During the War. By Colonel Oram Eflor. 355-THE OCEAN DETECTIVE; or, Captain Talcott's Secret. A Th'illing^l'ale of Ocean Warfare. By Major A.F.Grant, 356-DARING MICKEY LOFTUS ; or, A Blundering Irish Soldier. A Hu- morous and Thrilling Tale of the War in the West. By Sergeant Miles McCann. 357-CAPTAIN MONTAGUE, The aula. By Captain J. W. Southard. 358-SKIRMISHER SAM; or. Fight* ing with Sherman, A Rousing Story of the Jlarch from Chattanooga to Atlanta. By Aleck Forbes, "War Correspondent." 359-THE LOYAL GUIDE; or. The Trail Dog of the Swamp. By Mor- ris Redwing. 360-FORT SUMTER ; or. The Open- ing Guns of War. A Thrilling War Story of Intense Interest. By Major A. F. Grant. 361-FACING THE FOE; or. The Hunted Spy. a story of Battle and Adventure in Virginia. By Ward Edwards. 362-THE GIRL GUERRILLA; or. The Secret League of Gray. A Romance of Love and War. By J. M. Merrill. 363-VETERAN DAN; or. The Old Hero of Sharpsburg. A story of Lee's Invasion of Maryland. By Morris Red- wing. 364-PRESCOTT'S GUERRILLAS; or, A Fight for the Great Bertram Fortune. A stirring Story of Tennessee During the War. By Judge Baldwin. 365-WILSON'S CREEK;or,"l Fights MitSigel." By Duke Duncan. 366-UNDER GUARD; or. Raid and Battle in Kentucky, By Corporal Morris Hoyne. 367-BATTERY BOB ; or, Crest and Plain at Fredericksburg. By An- thony P. Morris. 368-SIGNAL SERVICE SAM ;or. The Siege of Knoxvilte. By Ward Edwards, "High Private," U. S. V. 369-THE WAR DETECTIVE ; or, Se- cret Service in the Rebellion. A Story of Booth's Great Conspiracy. By Maj. A. F. Grant. 370-PHIL, THE SCOUT ; or, A Fight for Beauregard's Dispatches. A Story of Pittsburg Landing. By Captain Ilean Verne, 37 I -" TO HORSE ; " or. The Winged Scout of Georgia. By Anthony P. 372-LION-HEARTED LUKE ; or. The Plan to Capture Mosby. A story of Perilous Adventure in the War of the Rebellion. By Ward Edwards. 373-THE SWORD CHAMPIONS ; or. Rival Spies of Chancellorsville. A Story ot^.he Battles in the Thickets of the Rappahannock. By Anthony P. Morris. 374-LOYAL NED;or,TheLast Cruise of the Alabama, a Romance of the Famous Rebel Privateer. By Major j Grant. 375-THE RIVAL CADETS; or. From West Point to Battlefields, a stir- ring Story of Adventure in the Late War, By Ward Edwards. 376-KILPATRICK'S BEST BOWER; or, A Cavalry Sweep Through Georgia. By Marline Manly. 377-ON SHILOH'S FIELD; or. Fight- ing Kit of Kentucky. By Ward Ed- wards, "High Private," U. S. V, 378-THE WAR REPORTER ; or. Bat- tle Smoke Among the Mount- ains. By Hugb Allen." 379-SHARPSHOOTER AND SPY; or. The Terrible Panic at Bull Run. By Major A. F. Grant. 380-MAD SAM THE CAVALRYMAN: or, With Sheridan in theShenan- doah. By Mark Wilton. 381-THE MOUNTAIN CANNONEER; or, A War Mystery of Antietam. By Anthony P. Morris. SX>3BCX.A.X> :E 13 IT I OPT. Life and Military Services of GENERAL U. S. GRANT, For sale by all Newsdealers in the United States. 'Subscription price, $5.00 a year; single copy, by mail, ten cents. Address NOVELIST PUBLISHING CO., No. 18 Rose Street, New York.