From the Ranks | Page 9

say."
"There is such a ladder back there, captain," said the sergeant, "but it
always hangs on the fence just behind the young officers'
quarters,--Bachelors' Row, sir, I mean."
"And that ladder was there an hour ago when I went my rounds," said
the corporal, earnestly. "I had my hurricane-lamp, sir, and saw it on the
fence plainly. And there was nothing behind the colonel's at that hour."
Chester turned away, thoughtful and silent. Without a word he walked

straight into the quadrangle, past the low line of stone buildings, the
offices of the adjutant and quartermaster, the home of the
sergeant-major, the club and billiard-room, past the long, piazza-shaded
row of bachelor quarters, and came upon the plank walk at the corner
of the colonel's fence. Ten more steps, and he stood stock-still at the
head of the flight of wooden stairs.
There, dimly visible against the southern sky, its base on the plank
walk below him, its top resting upon the eaves midway between the
dormer-window and the roof of the piazza, so that one could step easily
from it into the one or on to the other, was the very ladder that half an
hour before was lying on the ground behind the house.
His heart stood still. He seemed powerless to move,--even to think.
Then a slight noise roused him, and with every nerve tingling he
crouched ready for a spring. With quick, agile movements, noiseless as
a cat, sinuous and stealthy as a serpent, the dark figure of a man issued
from Alice Renwick's chamber window and came gliding down.
One second more, and, almost as noiselessly, he reached the ground,
then quickly raised and turned the ladder, stepped with it to the edge of
the roadway, and peered around the angle as though to see that no
sentry was in sight, then vanished with his burden around the corner.
Another second, and down the steps went Chester, three at a bound,
tip-toeing it in pursuit. Ten seconds brought him close to the culprit,--a
tall, slender shadow.
"You villain! Halt!"
Down went the ladder on the dusty road. The hand that Chester had
clinched upon the broad shoulder was hurled aside. There was a sudden
whirl, a lightning blow that took the captain full in the chest and
staggered him back upon the treacherous and entangling rungs, and, ere
he could recover himself, the noiseless stranger had fairly whizzed into
space and vanished in the darkness up the road. Chester sprang in
pursuit. He heard the startled challenge of the sentry, and then Leary's
excited "Halt, I say! Halt!" and then he shouted,--

"Fire on him, Leary! Bring him down!"
Bang went the ready rifle with sharp, sullen roar that woke the echoes
across the valley. Bang again, as Leary sent a second shot after the first.
Then, as the captain came panting to the spot, they followed up the
road. No sign of the runner. Attracted by the shots, the sergeant of the
guard and one or two men, lantern-bearing, came running to the scene.
Excitedly they searched up and down the road in mingled hope and
dread of finding the body of the marauder, or some clue or trace.
Nothing! Whoever he was, the fleet runner had vanished and made
good his escape.
"Who could it have been, sir?" asked the sergeant of the officer of the
day. "Surely none of the men ever come round this way."
"I don't know, sergeant; I don't know. Just take your lamp and see if
there is anything visible down there among the rocks. He may have
been hit and leaped the wall.--Do you think you hit him, Leary?"
"I can't say, sor. He came by me like a flash. I had just a second's look
at him, and--Sure I niver saw such runnin'."
"Could you see his face?" asked Chester, in a low tone, as the other
men moved away to search the rocks.
"Not his face, sor. 'Twas too dark."
"Was there--did he look like anybody you knew, or had
seen?--anybody in the command?"
"Well, sor, not among the men, that is. There's none so tall and slim
both, and so light. Sure he must 'a' worn gums, sor. You couldn't hear
the whisper of a footfall."
"But whom did he seem to resemble?"
"Well, if the captain will forgive me, sor, it's unwillin' I am to say the
worrd, but there's no one that tall and light and slim here, sor, but

Loot'nant Jerrold. Sure it couldn't be him, sor."
"Leary, will you promise me something on your word as a man?"
"I will, sor."
"Say not one word of this matter to any one, except I tell you, or you
have to, before a court."
"I promise, sor."
"And I believe you. Tell the sergeant