"It aint possible that this can be all sheer bad luck. It aint
no one in our company, I'll be bound. We aint had any new recruits
lately, and there aint a man among us whom I could not answer for. There
must be a black sheep in Gregory's or Vincent's corps. The enemy seem up
to every move, and, between us, we have lost more than thirty men in the
last few weeks. There aint no doubt about it--there's a traitor
somewhere and he must be a clever one, and he must have pals with him,
or he couldn't send news of what we are doing so quickly. It beats me
altogether, and the men are all furious."
"I've been talking with some of our men," Peter said a few days
afterward, "and we agree that we are bound to get to the bottom of this
matter. We're sartin sure that the traitor don't belong to us. What we
propose is this, that the hull of us shall go up together, without
saying a word to a soul, and scatter ourselves along the river at all
the points where a chap going with a message to the enemy would be
likely to cross. The night we go out we'll get the three captains all to
give orders to their men for an expedition, so that whoever it is that
sends messages from here would be sure to send over word to the Yankees;
and it'll be hard if we don't ketch him. What do you say?"
"I think the plan is a very good one," Harold answered. "If you like, I
will go with my father and ask Gregory and Vincent to send their men."
Captain Wilson at once went to these officers.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193