"Most generally," he was saying, "if a man deserts, and is caught again, they make him serve out all the original time of his enlistment without any pay or allowance." "For instance," suggested another man, "if a soldier has enlisted for four years and deserts at the end of six months, if they should catch him they would bring him back and make him serve three years and six months more without pay, would they?" "That's it," said the first prisoner. "Sometimes they send the deserters off to Dry Tortugas." "They might as well banish them from everywhere as to send them there." "That's right." "Where is this Dry Tortugas you're talking about?" inquired another. "It's a group of islands that belong to the United States down near the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. It's about one hundred and twenty miles southwest of Cape Sable." "And where is Cape Sable?" "That's the southern part of Florida. Where is your geography, man? These islands of the Dry Tortugas are very low and swampy, and they are covered with mangrove bushes." "What are they?" "Oh, they are something like the banana. Sometimes the deserters there are made to serve a term of years with ball and chain." "What do you think is going to happen to us?" "That's not easy to tell. There have been so many men trying to get away that I'm afraid that it will go hard with us." Noel was listening intently to the conversation, but its effect upon him was not so marked as it was upon Dennis. The fear in the heart of the young Irishman was great, if it could be estimated by the expression which appeared upon his face. CHAPTER XXIV A FRUITLESS INTERVIEW As conversation ceased for a time Noel and Dennis withdrew to a part of the tent where they were by themselves. The face of every man in the tent betrayed his feeling of anxiety. Even Noel, the youngest of the soldiers, was becoming alarmed at the outlook. Far removed from his own regiment, among those who were strangers to him and who knew nothing of his record or even of his presence in the army, the young soldier desperately tried to think of some one to whom he might appeal for aid. If he had been left free to follow his own wishes he would immediately have sought the colonel and stated his case to that officer. As it was, however, he was not only prevented from seeing the leader, but also was in a position in which his statements would not be accepted without further proof. His anger at the little sutler, who had brought the trouble upon him, became keener, but his very helplessness tended only to increase his anxiety. The anxiety of the young prisoners would have been much greater if they had known that at this very time Harper's Ferry was about to be taken and the soldiers of the garrison made prisoners. The two great divisions of the Southern army, as we know, had been planning to cross the mountains and reunite at Hagerstown or Boonesborough.