“Now see here, Major Strahan,” cried Marian, in mock dignity, “as your superior officer, I am capable of judging of the merits of you both, and neither of you can change my estimate.  You are insubordinate, and I shall put you under arrest if you don’t tell me how you escaped at once.  You have kept a woman’s curiosity in check almost as long as your brave regiment held the enemy, and that’s your greatest achievement thus far.  Proceed.  Captain Blauvelt has enabled me to keep an eye on you till you fell and the enemy charged over you.  Now you know just where to begin.”

“My prosaic story is soon told.  Swords and pike-staffs! what a little martinet you are!  Well, the enemy was almost on me.  I could see their flushed, savage faces.  Even in that moment I thought of you and whispered, ‘Good-by,’ and a prayer to God for your happiness flashed through my mind.”

“Arthur, don’t talk that way.  I can’t stand it;” and there was a rush of tears to her eyes.

“I’m beginning just where you told me to.  The next second there was a sting in my right arm, then something knocked me over and I lost consciousness for a few moments.  I am satisfied, also, that I was grazed by a bullet that tore my scabbard from my side.  When I came to my senses, I crawled behind a rock so as not to be shot by our own men, and threw away my sword.  I didn’t want to surrender it, you know.  Soon after a rebel jerked me to my feet.

“‘Can you stand?’ he asked.

“‘I will try,’ I answered.

“‘Join that squad of prisoners, then, and travel right smart.’

“I staggered away, too dazed for many clear ideas, and with others was hurried about half a mile away to a place filled with the rebel wounded.  Here a Union soldier, who happened to have some bandages with him, dressed my arm.  The Confederate surgeons had more than they could do to look after their own men.  Just before dark all the prisoners who were able to walk were led into a large field, and a strong guard was placed around us.

“Although my wound was painful, I obtained some sleep, and awoke the next morning with the glad consciousness that life with its chances was still mine.  We had little enough to eat that day, and insufficient water to drink.  This foretaste of the rebel commissariat was enough for me, and I resolved to escape if it were a possible thing.”

“You wanted to see me a little, too, didn’t you?  Nevertheless, you shall have a good lunch before long.”

“Such is my fate.  First rebel iron and now irony.  I began to play the role of feebleness and exhaustion, and it did not require much effort.  Of course we were all on the qui vive to see what would happen next, and took an intense interest in the fight of the 3d, which Blauvelt has described.  The scene of the battle was hidden from us, but we gathered, from the expression of our guards’ faces and the confusion around us, that all had not gone to the