and private mounted fresh horses, borrowed from the farmer, and rode with breakneck speed until they reached the grove. It was quite dark, but the camp-fires of Moseby and his men lighted them to the spot. Springing from his horse at the edge of the grove, the officer left the two horses in care of the young man and hastened to where he saw the camp-fire burning. Stopping for a moment to survey the scene before making his presence known, he observed the six Union officers seated on a log on the opposite side of the fire from where he stood, each with head dropped upon his breast, each with eyes glaring wildly into vacancy or suffused with tears, each with lips pale with fear or moving in silent prayer, and each the very picture of despair in feature and attitude. Moseby was walking to and fro in front of them, uttering oaths and imprecations against them; guards stood about them or walked their rounds silently; while only a little way off, in plain sight, others were busy throwing over or affixing ropes to limbs preparatory for execution. It was a scene which only the pencil of a Raphael might have sketched or a Gorreggio have painted. The officer, having fully surveyed and comprehended the whole scene, suddenly sprang from the darkness into the light of the camp-fire, and in a sharp tone demanded of Colonel Moseby what all this meant. [Illustration: 0127] "You see what it means," Moseby replied, pointing to the men who were affixing the ropes to the trees. "Who are these prisoners, and what have they done that you propose to hang them?" asked the officer. "They are d--d Yankee officers whom I captured this afternoon, and _purpose_ to hang them to-night. Dead men never bite," answered Moseby. "I purpose," said the officer, "that you do no such thing; that these officers be sent under guard to Richmond, and that you yourself report there at once under arrest." Of course a good deal more was said, and a great many oaths uttered on both sides, but the above is about the substance. The Union officers heard and saw all that was said and done, but were so dumbfounded that they could not say a word or utter a cry even to each other. When they did finally comprehend it all, they regarded their deliverer as one sent from heaven, and were ready to fall down and worship him. The transition from death to life was so sudden, so unexpected, that it was some time before they could fully realize whether they were in the body or out of the body, whether their natural senses were still of the earth, earthy, or whether they had been suddenly translated to another sphere, where angels only sing "peace on earth and good will towards men!"