While he was considering these facts, the men in the attic were endeavoring to raise the scuttle. They did not at once succeed; but Somers’s prospects were presently destroyed, when several of the rebels took hold of the shutter and raised it, tumbling the fugitive over on the roof. A short ladder was placed on the floor, and the lieutenant mounted to the top of the house.
“Surrender!” said the officer.
“I suppose there is no help for it,” replied Somers.
“Not the least; resistance would be useless.”
“I surrender.”
“Go down, then, if you please.”
Somers descended the ladder to the garret, where he found Colonel Roman and half a dozen cavalrymen.
“I am sorry you are taken, since you did not wish to be taken,” said the planter.
“I could not very well help myself.”
The lieutenant led the way down stairs to the library, which was the largest room in the house, and in which the seven guerillas, now disarmed, were held by their captors.