Page:Randall Parrish - The Red Mist.djvu/387

 Rh I swept one glance out through the window, and then about the dim interior, endeavoring to locate the men nearest us. Only one stood close enough to observe our movements, and I sent him with a message to the sergeant.

"Now, Noreen," I whispered swiftly, "this is the best time. Take these papers; they are for Jackson; give them to the first Confederate officer you meet, and have them forwarded at once. Don't trust Nichols for a single moment out of range of your revolver."

"You will not come?"

"Not now; you would not wish me to desert my comrades—would you?"

"Oh, I do not know! I do not know. It is so hard to decide. You really wish me to go? It will please you?"

"Yes."

"And you will come if—if you can? I am to wait, and and hope for you?"

"I pledge you my word, dear girl."

She clung to my hands, her face uplifted in the moonlight.

"I—I am your wife," she said softly, "and I—I want you to—"

Three shots rang out clear and distinct without, and a voice shouted hoarsely.