“He’s Iron Hand, I’m sure o’ that!” again added Putney.
“Well, man,” Colonel Hall turned about so as to face the scout, “I shall have him arrested at once, but if it turns out that the charge is false, you shall be punished in his stead. Now I ask you once more, are you sure he is the man?”
Putney turned very pale, but answered:
“I am.”
The colonel then dispatched him for an officer. In a short time, guards began to appear at the different places of ingress and exit to the ball-room. The assembly noticed this and the dance stopped suddenly. A sergeant entered the room, and informed Captain Sherwood that the colonel requested his presence. The company stood still with astonishment. What had happened—were the British approaching?
In a moment the news spread like wild-fire in the assembly, that Captain Edgar Sherwood was arrested, and imprisoned on a charge of being the Tory chieftain, Iron Hand, and a British spy! At this announcement, a loud shriek burst forth from the upper end of the room, and Imogene Lear sunk fainting to the floor.
CHAPTER IV.
THE NIGHT RIDE.
The night had turned out dark and drear, and the lowering clouds denoted the approach of a storm. The last echo of the booming gun had scarcely died away, warning the inmates of the fort that it was time for all unnecessary lights to be extinguished, and for all nightly revels to cease.
The shrill cry of the sentinel’s “All’s well” had passed from mouth to mouth, denoting the security of the hour, and the non-apprehension of an attack. The lights in the different quarters were gradually extinguished, showing a reluctance of the occupants to abandon their evening amusements.
As the last glimmer died away, the battlements of the fort were wrapped in an almost impenetrable gloom. Nothing broke the deathlike stillness, save the measured tread of the guard as he walked his lonely post, or the hooting of the owl, as it rung upon the silence of the night from the depth of the neighboring forest.