Our faces were warm,--a little too warm, perhaps,--but our backs were cold. I suggested to the colonel that we build another fire a few yards off and sit between the two. He looked at me approvingly, and even said nothing when I helped to gather brushwood for the second fire, just as if I were one of the party and could go and come where I wished. While I was busy thus, I noticed that he was looking at me very intently and twisting his long white moustache as if he were in doubt. I guessed that he would have something to say to me soon; and I was not wrong. We lighted the second heap of wood, and the blaze sputtered and roared as if it would outdo its comrade ten yards away. We lolled in the heat for a few minutes, and then the colonel, as I had expected he would, beckoned to me. We went on the far side of the second fire, where none of the men would hear us. "What is it, colonel?" I asked, politely. "Can I help you in any way?" "You can," he replied, "and in helping me you will help yourself at the same time." "Then it ought to be easy for us to strike a bargain," I said. "I want some information from you," said the colonel. "Your escape was discovered soon after it was made, but that escape would not have been possible without assistance. Name the man to me, and I will spare your life; I will send you back to your own country." My first impulse was to speak violently. This was the first time he had touched the quick. But unrestrained anger is seldom worth the while. "Colonel," I said, "I may be a Yankee spy, as you call me, but you can scarcely expect me to tell you that." Nor would I have told him, even had not the traitor been his own daughter. The colonel looked confused, and hesitated. Presently he said, "I should not have made you the offer, and I apologize; perhaps I have underestimated you." This was not very flattering, as it could be construed different ways, but I thanked him nevertheless, and we went back to our good position between the fires. The colonel was silent and looked thoughtful. I guessed that he was trying to divine the traitor and would not let the matter drop. I had eaten heartily, and the food, the heat, and the weariness together made a strong soporific. My head nodded, and my eyelids drooped. The colonel, too, looked as if he would like to go to sleep. The men had blankets with them, and I made a proposition. "Colonel," I said, "give me a blanket and let me go to sleep. You needn't guard me; I pledge you my word I won't attempt to escape to-night." He took one look at the banked-up darkness. The wind made a long moan down the ravine. "I don't think you will try it," he said, dryly. "Crothers, give him a blanket." Crothers tossed me the blanket. I rolled myself in it and went to sleep.