All at once the general fancied he could distinguished the shadowy outline of a man, who was approaching the ramparts with the utmost caution. Still this man appeared to care very little about being seen from the town, and only tried to conceal himself from the sentries, who might have noticed him in the camp. Some considerable time elapsed ere this man, who advanced looking back anxiously every moment, arrived within pistol shot of the ramparts. The general rose, and, making an officer a sign to approach, whispered a few words in his ear. The officer went off, and the general returned to his post of observation. The stranger still advanced, apparently growing bolder the nearer he drew to the ramparts. All at once several men dashed out of a postern gate, and ere the stranger had time to attempt a useless resistance, he was thrown down, bound, and carried into the town by the men who had so cleverly seized him. Still, we are bound to mention that the soldiers experienced no difficulty in dragging their prisoner along; on the contrary, he affected to follow them with the most perfect readiness. The general, while waiting for the prisoner, walked up and down the ramparts; when he was brought up to him, he looked at him for a moment in silence. The stranger was a young man, with an intelligent and sarcastic face, tall and powerfully built. "Who are you, scamp?" the general asked him roughly, "And how is it that you dare to prowl so near the walls of a besieged town?" "Hang it all," the stranger replied, in excellent Spanish, though with a marked foreign accent, "I was not prowling round the walls." "What were you doing, then?" "I was merely trying to get into the town." "This is an impudent scoundrel," the general said to himself, "but at least he is frank. And, why, pray, did you want to enter Coahuila?" "If you do not mind, General, giving orders that I should be freed from these cords, which annoy me, I shall answer you with greater ease." "Very good; but I warn you that, at the slightest suspicious movement, I shall have your brains blown out." "That is your business, General," the stranger replied carelessly. At a signal from the general the stranger was unfastened; he gave a sigh of relief on feeling himself at liberty. "There," he said, "now a man can talk." "Are you disposed to answer me?" "Ask me a question." "What is your name?" "Moonshine." "A capital name for a night bird." "It is mine." "What are you?" "Canadian, and wood ranger; but, look ye, General, if we go on this way we shall never come to an end. I prefer coming straight to facts. I have come to offer you a bargain." "What is it?" "Oh, oh, General, do not go on too fast; in the first place how much will you give me?" "Why in the first place I must know--" "The amount, that is true; well, I will tell you,--four hundred ounces."[1]