“My God!” cried Edgar, starting to his feet with a savage look. “What new enemy is this that dare utter lies so foul! Merciful Heaven! is there no hope for me? Am I to be condemned on the testimony of such villains?”
The stranger, with a look of fear depicted on every lineament of his face, sprung behind the soldier.
“Keep him off! keep him off!” he screamed, “he’ll kill me!”
For a short time the court-room was a scene of intense excitement, and the judges arose to quell it.
“Remand your prisoner,” said the justice, to the officer who was in charge of Edgar.
After a short consultation, the tribunal gave their verdict against Edgar; and Colonel Hall, though his heart bled with pity for the sad fate of his young friend, saw before him nothing save his stern, uncompromising duty, and with trembling hand, signed the death-warrant.
It briefly stated, that Edgar Sherwood had been detected within the American lines, as a British spy in disguise, and that thereby, according to the laws of war, he was liable to suffer death, and that the court adjudged him to the penalty—sentencing him to be executed by hanging, on the morning of the following day.
The sentence of the court was communicated to the prisoner, who received it with perfect resignation. The assembly dispersed, and the judges retired to their own quarters with unmoved exterior, and the consciousness of dispassionate integrity.
It was on the night after the trial, that a solitary traveler might have been seen pursuing his way through a thick wood situated about ten miles from the fort.