Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 179: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

172 LOOKING INTO HIS OWN GRAVE. hang the Unionist, then pretend sorrow for it after- ward if any trouble should come. - The Union captain must die as a spy—he must die at all hazards. | ‘‘T don’t mean to be hard with you, Captain Chet- wood,’’ said Colonel Trafton, in a soft voice. ‘*You and J are comparative strangers. We met for the first time a few years ago; that acquaintance has not ripened into love, I assure you. Nevertheless, I like you better on continued acquaintance; but duty, stern and grim, bids me put aside my feelings in this case. It is my duty to see that you do no more spying for the Yankees. My men will dig your grave here, under one of these trees, and the murmuring breezes will singe: a requiem over your tomb, ”’ ‘You infernal villain !’’ ‘“There, that will do. You ought to thank me for being so kind, so thoughtful of your good,’’ pursued _ the villain, with ironical devilishness. ‘‘If you fell in battle, your body might lay for days on the field, _ to be picked at by birds of prey, and at last your car- cass find lodgement in a hole where hundreds of the sans culottes are thrown indiscriminately. Your fate is better. This huge rock shall be your headstone, -- and your name shall be delicately carved in its flinty surface. You will have a most enduring monument, captain. Upon the whole, I think you ought to thank me for my kindness.’ | ‘he prisoner made no reply. Colonel Trafton turned away, and. issued orders to his men, who went at work with their sabres, scoop- ing a hole in the ground not far away. ) _ It was an ominous work, and Captain Chetwood could not repress a shudder. He looked about him for an opportunity to escape from the doom worked out for him by the scheming and heartless colonel. | | No such opportunity presented itself,