"Water!" I cried. "Some water! She may be dying!" "Never mind about water," said the captain, dryly. "Here is something that is much better for woman, as well as for man, in such cases." He produced a flask, and, raising Miss Desmond's head, poured some fiery liquid in her mouth. It made her cough, and presently she revived and sat up. She was very pale, but there was much animation in her eye. "You have sent the warning, captain, have you not?" she asked, her mind still dwelling upon the object for which she had come. "Do not fear, Miss Desmond," said the leader, gravely. "Our people know now, and they will be ready for the enemy when they come, thanks to your courage and endurance." Then he beckoned to me, and we walked a bit up the hill-side, leaving Miss Desmond sitting on the turf and leaning against a tree. "A noble woman," said the captain, looking back at her. "Yes," said I, fervently. "It was a lucky fortune that gave you such companionship to-night," he continued. "Yes," replied I, still with fervor. "Lieutenant Chester," he said, "that is not the only particular in which fortune has been kind to you to-night." "No," I replied, with much astonishment at the patness with which he spoke my true name. "I have said," he continued, with the utmost gravity, "that fortune has been very kind to-night to Lieutenant Robert Chester, of the American army. I may add that it has been of equal kindness to Lieutenant Melville, of the British army." "Who are you, and what are you?" I cried, facing about, "and why do you speak in such strange fashion?" "I do not think it is strange at all," he said, a light smile breaking over his face. "So far as I am concerned, it is a matter of indifference, Lieutenant Chester or Lieutenant Melville: which shall it be?" I saw that it was useless for me to pretend more. He knew me, and was not to be persuaded that he did not. So I said,-- "Let it be Lieutenant Robert Chester, of the American army. The name and the title belong to me, and I feel easier with them than with the others. I have not denied myself. Now, who are you, and why do you know so much about me?" "Nor will I deny myself, either," he said, a quiet smile dwelling upon his face. "I am William Wildfoot, captain of rangers in the American army." "What! are you the man who has been incessantly buzzing like a wasp around the British?" I cried. "I have done my humble best," he said, modestly; "I even chased you and your friend Lieutenant Marcel into Philadelphia. For which I must crave your forgiveness. Your uniforms deceived me; but since then we have become better acquainted with each other." "How? I do not understand," I said, still in a maze. "Perhaps you would know me better if I were to put on a red wig," he said. "Do not think, Lieutenant Chester, that you and Lieutenant Marcel are the only personages endowed with a double identity." I looked at him closely, and I began to have some glimmering of the truth.