"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.