"Certainement, monsieur."
"It is well. Now, my men, keep in shelter of yonder bluff; for under cover of it only can we approach the den unperceived. We are now within three miles of the place." The men received the intelligence with enthusiasm, and put their horses at best speed.
When only fifteen minutes more remained to poor Stephens, the clergyman signed to the others to leave the room; and then, with his hands folded before him, asked the condemned man if he had any message to leave, or any peace to make with God.
No; he was not afraid to meet his God. He had wronged no man, and kept within the bounds of the laws set for his kind. But he had a message to leave—it was enclosed in a letter which he put into the hand of the minister.
"It is for Annette Marton. Oh, my God. We have been only two days betrothed. It is very hard to die."
"This doom was ordained for you, and you must try to meet it like a man."
"Oh, it is not death I fear. That is nothing. But, ah, to leave my love." After he had passed his hands across his temples, as if to clear his understanding, he said, in a voice grown low and calm—
"There is also upon the table a note to my sister, Aster. That is all I have to say."
"Will you not pray with me awhile?"
"No; my heart is right; the rest matters not."