Page:The woman in battle .djvu/481

Rh culty will be in getting a chance to talk to any of the men privately."

"O, I'll arrange that for you by giving you a confidential letter, which, however, you must be careful not to let any one see except the commanding officer. If those fellows are up to any tricks, I want to know all about it at once. There has been a good deal of talk at different times about the prisoners attempting to stampede, but it has been pretty much all newspaper sensation, with nothing in it."

"But, you know, colonel, something of the kind might be attempted; and if a stampede or an insurrection should take place, it would create a good deal of excitement just now."

"Yes, yes; that's so. If there is anything on foot I want to discover it, and I want you to find out all you possibly can, and let me know immediately."

"Well, you can rely upon me, and I think you will find me as shrewd as most of your detectives are."

"If you will only keep your eyes and ears well open, and open your mouth only when you have business to talk about, I will most likely find you a good deal shrewder."

"Why, colonel, you don't appear to have the best opinion in the world of some of your detectives."

"O, yes, they do pretty well ; some of them are really first-rate men; but they are not as smart as they ought to be for the kind of service they are in."

"I suppose some of those rebel spies give you a good of trouble in keeping the run of them."

"O, you haven't any idea of it. Half the people of Washington and its immediate vicinity are rebel sympathizers, and would be spies if they dared, and knew how. And then they are at work all through the North and in Canada. Some of my people are after a spy now who has been travelling be tween Richmond and Canada, but they don't seem to be able to lay their hands on her. If they don't catch her soon, I have half a mind to let you try what you can do, if you succeed well with your present trip."

The conversation at this point, I concluded, was getting to be rather too personal, and I thought it best to change the subject, although I could not help smiling at the idea of Baker employing me to catch myself. That, I thought, would be entirely too arduous a task for me to undertake in my then rather feeble state of health, although there might be both amusement and profit in it. Forbearing, however, to enter