Part 58 (1/2)
”I don't know you----”
Ned drew a sigh of relief. One danger was pa.s.sed. He couldn't recognize him. The rest should be easy.
”You don't need to, my boy,” he whispered. ”You're looking for a friend--money?”
”Yes. I'll sell my soul into h.e.l.l for it right now,” he gasped.
”You don't need to do that.” Ned drew two hundred dollars in gold from his pocket and clinked the coin.
”You see that gold?”
”Yes, yes--what do you want for it?”
”I want you to get for me to-morrow morning the exact number of men in McClellan's army. I want the figures from Stanton's office--you understand. I want the name of each command, its numbers and its officers. I know already half of them. So you can't lie to me. Give me this information here to-morrow night and the gold is yours. Will you do it?”
The boy glanced at Ned for a moment:
”I'll see you in h.e.l.l first. I've a notion to arrest you--d.a.m.ned if I don't----”
He wheeled and started toward the corner.
Ned's left hand gripped his with the snap of a steel trap, his right holding his revolver.
”Don't you be a fool. I know that you're ruined. I saw you in Joe Hall's----”
The boy's jaw dropped.
”You saw me?” he stammered.
”Yes. You're done for, and you know it. Bring me those figures and I'll double the pile--four hundred dollars.”
The weak eyes s.h.i.+fted uneasily. He hesitated and faltered:
”All right. Meet me here at seven o'clock. For G.o.d's sake, don't speak to me if there's anyone in sight.”
All next day Ned watched Betty's house in vain. At dark, in despair and desperation, he wrote a note.
”DEAR MISS BETTY:
”For one look into your dear eyes I am here. I've tried in vain to meet you. I can't leave without seeing you. I'll wait in the park at the foot of the avenue to-morrow night at dusk. Just one touch of your hand and five minutes near you is all I ask----”
There was no signature needed. She would know. He mailed it and hurried to his appointment.
The boy was prompt. There was no one in sight. Ned hurriedly examined the sheet of paper, verified the known commands and their numbers and, convinced of its genuineness, handed the money to the traitor.
”For G.o.d's sake, never speak to me again or recognize me in any way,” he begged through chattering teeth. ”I got those things from Stanton's desk and copied them.”
Ned nodded, placed the precious doc.u.ment in his pocket, and watched the fool hurry with swift feet straight to Joe Hall's place and disappear within.
Betty failed to come at the appointed time and he was heartsick. He would finish his work in six hours to-morrow and he should not lose a moment in pa.s.sing the Federal lines. The precious figures he had bought were memorized and the paper destroyed. In six hours next day he completed the drawings of the fort on which information had been asked and was ready to leave.
But he had not seen Betty. He tried to go and each effort only led him to the corner from which he watched her house. He lingered until night and waited an hour again in the dark. And still she had not come. And then it slowly dawned on him that she must have realized from the moment she read his message the peril of his position and the danger of his betrayal in their meeting.