Captain Guilfoyle returned to his seat by the table to await General Foster's return. After noting down some items in a well worn dispatch book, he leaned his head on his hand and gave himself to deep and serious thought, until, finally, a look of grim determination settled on his smooth, boyish face. When the General returned, Captain Guilfoyle rose to report his work finished. "McClandish has come in without any news of importance; the two scouts with him were killed and he is badly wounded," he reported further, after receiving orders relating to the disposition of the papers he had copied. The grave, anxious look that settled over General Foster's face as he listened, showed how he regarded the failure of an undertaking from which so much had been hoped. In obedience to a word from his superior, the young officer went on to give a full account of all he had learned from McClandish. When he had finished he made a moment's pause, then added quickly, leaning forward and speaking almost in a whisper, "If you will allow me to go, I believe I can bring full and reliable information of the strength of the enemy's forces and of his plans and intentions." The General stopped his rapid pacing across the tent and looked keenly at the slim, boyish figure standing before him. "If you could: if we knew the strength of the Rebel forces and where they mean to strike, worn out and demoralized as our troops are, we could surely intercept them and turn them back," he said. "I can try," replied Captain Guilfoyle. "You know the fate of the most of the men who have gone," said the General gravely. "But it may not be mine," returned the younger officer. "McClandish is one of our best lieutenants and the two scouts with him were old, both in experience and training. How can you succeed where they and all the others have failed?" added General Foster after a long pause. "I believe I can do it." "How?" "If you will accept my services and see that my destination is kept secret, and that I shall never be required to tell how I gain any information I bring back, I will be back at the earliest possible moment and I trust with a full knowledge of what the enemy mean to do," replied Captain Guilfoyle firmly. "I only ask that no person except yourself shall know for what I have gone. Send me instead of Freeland to Washington with these dispatches. Let it be known I have gone there, but after I have delivered them let me follow my own plan. I cannot tell just how long I must be away, but you may be assured not one day, not one hour longer than necessary." A low, earnest conversation followed, which ended in General Foster accepting the offer of his young aid. CHAPTER II. From this point I will drop the cloak of an observer and narrate events as they followed fast upon each other.