took to his heels incontinently, and left us alone with the dead.
"Good God! what have you done?" I cried, aghast at her deed. "These men were soldiers."
She laughed into my scared face.
"You don't suppose death counts for much in this country. This is only spy carrion," and with the utmost sang-froid she stooped and rifled the pockets of the dead leader, turning the body over for the purpose, and took from his pocket a paper which she held up for me to read. "I was sure of it."
"What the bearer does is by my order and authority.
(Signed), M. Kolfort, General."
"General Kolfort is the implacable leader of the
Russian party, and that document was my death warrant,"
she said.
In a moment I saw my danger, and she read my thought instantly.
"Yes, you are committed, my friend; now you will have to join us," and she smiled triumphantly in my face. "I am glad."
