The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-09-06
Continued from Page 81
A SOLDIERS SACRIFICE.

waxed very pale and hard as he said
shortly:
Bring the prisoner here"
Travers, heavily manacled, was
brought forward.
The colonel motioned to the SER
geant to draw off his men, and the
guard, lining up and grounding arms
at respectful distance, left uncle
and nephew facing each other.
For a moment neither spoke. Trav-
ers, with head erect, eyed the old sol
der calmly and waited to be ques-
toned.
Ernest Travers," said the colonel
at last, and his voice was harsh,
when you joined the army of liberty
you for the time being severed all
family ties and became the servant
of your country, which you swore to
serve faithfully and defend with your
life. Remember that you are dealing
not with your uncle, but your superior
officer, and that claims of relationship
cannot be evoked. You are accused
of terrible crime, the punishment of
which is an ignominious death. I'm
less you can prove to me beyond the
shadow of doubt that you are inno-
CENT?, the penalty will be inflicted and
pitilessly.
''The charge against you is that you
are spy in the service of your coun-
try's enemies; that you have system
atically kept them informed of the
movements of the army of liberty;
that while on outpost duty you were
caught holding intercourse with some
person or persons unknown, emissary
or emissaries of the enemy; that in
the confusion caused by the unex-
pected arrival of the guard you, or
the person to whom you had given
it, dropped cipher message written
by you, the meaning of which is not
yet known to your superior officers,
but which is thought to betray mill
tary secrets of which you by some
means yet to be discovered have OBJ
tanned possession. What have you to
say?"
THAT l am innocent, sir"
THAT is no answer. Facts and de-
tails are what l want, not empty
phrases. warn you again not to
trife with me. 1t is matter of life
or death to you"
Il was on outpost duty and saw a
man advancing through the wood.
suspected that he might be a spy and
tried to arrest him. He escaped as
the guard came up
your duty was to challenge him
and if necessary fire upon him. Did
you do that?"
mo, sir. From some cause or other
had tainted little while previously
and dropped my musket some PAGES
from where l fell. When l recovered
saw the man coming through the
wood and feared that if I moved to
reach my musket he would see me
and get away. / sprang out upon him
as he passed me-"
"You tainted! A likely story, truly.
At any rate, you must have seen the
mans face if you struggled with him.
Do you know him? Would you know
him if you saw him AGAIN."
ut was pitch dark in the wood"
why did you say you did not know
what you were doing off duty when
the sergeant caught your"
Il was probably dazed by blow re-
ceived in the struggle, which made my
head bleed, as you see."
THAT proves nothing. You may
have struck your head against tree
in your precipitation to return on the
approach of the guard. What is the
meaning of this cipher?"
81 do not know, sir"
who gave it to your"
mo one; it must have been dropped
by the man with whom 1 struggled"
rs that the only explanation you
can offer?"
"That is all, sir"
What you have told me is tissue
of absurd, patiently absurd, false
hoods
Il admit that circumstantial evil
dence is strongly against me, but 1
assure you on my honor, sir, that am
innocent"
'The honor of traitor and a spy!"
No, sir; the honor of an honest
man and patriot
Il do not believe you,'' said the
colonel, f1ercely. The sergeant's &C
count of the circumstances in which
he had arrested the young man ap-
peared to leave no room for doubt as
to his guilt. He thought upon all
that he had done for him. The base
ingratitude with which he had appar-
emily been requited and the fact that
member of his family had been the
traitor who had so long eluded him
and wrought such harm to the patriot
army maddened him. For a moment
he lost his head, forgot the dignity of
his position and struck the prisoner
with his clenched fist.
The news of Travers' arrest and of
the charge against him had spread
through the camp like wiIdfire and
caused the greatest excitement. The
men, disregarding for once the author
ity of their officers, rushed at the
prisoner as he was marched through
the lines and would have torn him to
pieces had they not been beaten back
by the guard. who so vigorously used
their muskets as clubs. As it was,
when, half an hour later, he was TAX
en- before the drumhead court-martiaI.
over which Washington himself pre-
sided he was fearfu1ly hrq1fSod and