Barnabas hauled the canoe high and dry under the stockade, and led his companions up the bank and around to the gate. A sentry was on guard, and after a little questioning he passed the party through. As they went across the yard they observed a horse tied to a post; the animal was saddled and bridled, and showed traces of recent hard riding. In the middle room of the block-house something of a stirring nature seemed to be taking place. The new arrivals heard voices raised in shrill and angry dispute, and as they entered they saw two soldiers roughly pushing a man toward a door at one side of the room. The prisoner was strenuously resisting, and clamoring to be set free, and in his struggles he revealed his face to Nathan. With a thrill of excitement the lad recognized the last man he could have expected to find here. CHAPTER XIV IN WHICH NATHAN FEIGNS SLUMBER TO SAVE HIS LIFE "Unhand me, you ruffians!" cried the prisoner, as he continued to resist. "I protest against this brutal treatment. I protest against so unjust a sentence. I am not a spy. I am a non-combatant, and entitled to freedom. I was sent to this country on a legal and private matter by my employers, the firm of Sharswood & Feeman--" Just then one of the soldiers, losing patience, struck the man a blow between the eyes that felled him to the floor. He was too stunned to make any further resistance or appeal, and his captors flung him into the room and slammed the door. "Lad, that--that ain't the lawyer chap you spoke of?" inquired Barnabas, as he observed Nathan's agitation. "The very same!" Nathan cried, excitedly "Noah Waxpenny, of London, who came to the Indian Queen that night!" "The man who wanted information of your father and Major Langdon?" Godfrey asked, incredulously. "Yes, that's the one," exclaimed Nathan. "I'm sure he can clear up the mystery. I must speak to him right away." The lad was too excited to know what he was doing, and before his friends could check him he made a rush for the door of the inner room. But the officer in command of the fort--an ill-featured sergeant--gave him a push that sent him reeling back. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "And you?" he added, turning to Barnabas and Godfrey, and regarding them with angry suspicion. Barnabas briefly explained, and the sergeant was somewhat mollified when he learned that the strangers were fugitives from Wyoming. "It's all right," he grumbled, "but you had no call to interfere with my duty. Do you know that spy yonder?" The lad here spoke the name he gives himself--Noah Waxpenny. "Spy?" exclaimed Barnabas. "Yes, man; I said spy. I've just given him a trial, and to-morrow morning he hangs." "What proof have you of his guilt?"