Followed by Birch, the sergeant proceeded in silence to
the door of the intended prison, and, throwing it open with
one hand, he held a lantern with the other to light the
peddler to his prison. Seating himself on a cask, that con-
tained some of Betty's favorite beverage, the sergeant mo-
tioned to Birch to occupy another, in the same manner.
The lantern was placed on the floor, when the dragoon, after
looking his prisoner steadily in the face, observed

"You look as if you would meet death like a man; and I
have brought you to a spot where you can tranquilly ar-
range your thoughts, and be quiet and undisturbed."

" 'Tis a fearful place to prepare for the last change in,"
said Harvey, gazing around his little prison with a vacant eye.
" Why, for the matter of that," returned the veteran, " it
can reckon but little, in the great account, where a man
parades his thoughts for the last review, so that he finds
them fit to pass the muster of another world. I have a
small book here, which I make it a point to read a little
in, whenever we are about to engage, and I find it a great
strengthener in time of need." While speaking, he took a
Bible from his pocket, and offered it to the peddler. Birch
received the volume with habitual reverence; but there was
an abstracted air about him, and a wandering of the eye,
that induced his companion to think that alarm was getting
the mastery of the pedler's feelings; accordingly, he pro-
ceeded in what he conceived to be the offices of consolation.
