Part 27 (1/2)

”No,” said the man, sullenly, ”it is to you I deliver the peddler, and from you I claim my reward.”

”Are you Harvey Birch?” said Dunwoodie, advancing with an air of authority that instantly drove the Skinner to a corner of the room.

”I am,” said Birch, proudly.

”And a traitor to your country,” continued the major, with sternness. ”Do you know that I should be justified in ordering your execution this night?”

”'Tis not the will of G.o.d to call a soul so hastily to His presence,” said the peddler with solemnity.

”You speak truth,” said Dunwoodie; ”and a few brief hours shall be added to your life. But as your offense is most odious to a soldier, so it will be sure to meet with the soldier's vengeance. You die to-morrow.”

”'Tis as G.o.d wills.”

”I have spent many a good hour to entrap the villain,” said the Skinner, advancing a little from his corner, ”and I hope you will give me a certificate that will ent.i.tle us to the reward; 'twas promised to be paid in gold.”

”Major Dunwoodie,” said the officer of the day, entering the room, ”the patrols report a house to be burned near yesterday's battle ground.”

”'Twas the hut of the peddler,” muttered the leader of the gang. ”We have not left him a s.h.i.+ngle for shelter; I should have burned it months ago, but I wanted his shed for a trap to catch the sly fox in.”

”You seem a most ingenious patriot,” said Lawton. ”Major Dunwoodie, I second the request of this worthy gentleman, and crave the office of bestowing the reward on him and his fellows.”

”Take it; and you, miserable man, prepare for that fate which will surely befall you before the setting of to-morrow's sun.”

”Life offers but little to tempt me with,” said Harvey, slowly raising his eyes, and gazing wildly at the strange faces in the apartment.

”Come, worthy children of America!” said Lawton, ”follow, and receive your reward.”

The gang eagerly accepted the invitation, and followed the captain towards the quarters a.s.signed to his troop. Dunwoodie paused a moment, from reluctance to triumph over a fallen foe, before he proceeded.

”You have already been tried, Harvey Birch; and the truth has proved you to be an enemy too dangerous to the liberties of America to be suffered to live.”

”The truth!” echoed the peddler, starting, and raising himself in a manner that disregarded the weight of his pack.

”Aye! the truth; you are charged with loitering near the continental army, to gain intelligence of its movements, and, by communicating them to the enemy, to enable him to frustrate the intentions of Was.h.i.+ngton.”

”Will Was.h.i.+ngton say so, think you?”

”Doubtless he would; even the justice of Was.h.i.+ngton condemns you.”

”No, no, no,” cried the peddler, in a voice and with a manner that startled Dunwoodie. ”Was.h.i.+ngton can see beyond the hollow views of pretended patriots. Has he not risked his all on the cast of a die? If a gallows is ready for me, was there not one for him also? No, no, no, no-Was.h.i.+ngton would never say, 'Lead him to a gallows.'”

”Have you anything, wretched man, to urge to the commander in chief why you should not die?” said the major, recovering from the surprise created by the manner of the other.

Birch trembled, for violent emotions were contending in his bosom. His face a.s.sumed the ghastly paleness of death, and his hand drew a box of tin from the folds of his s.h.i.+rt; he opened it, showing by the act that it contained a small piece of paper. On this doc.u.ment his eye was for an instant fixed-he had already held it towards Dunwoodie, when suddenly withdrawing his hand he exclaimed,-

”No-it dies with me. I know the conditions of my service, and will not purchase life with their forfeiture-it dies with me.”

”Deliver that paper, and you may possibly find favor,” cried Dunwoodie, expecting a discovery of importance to the cause.