“Oh! one moment! for heaven’s sake, one moment!  Still hear me!  I would not have fired upon your captain!  Nor would I fire upon one of you, who close upon me only at your captain’s order.  There is something within me that shrinks from taking life! even the life of an enemy—­any life but my own, and that only in such a desperate strait as this.  Oh! by the mercy that is in my own heart, show mercy to me!  You are men!  You have mothers, or sisters, or wives at home, whom you hope to meet again, when war and its insanities are over.  Oh! for their sakes, show mercy to the defenseless girl who stands here in your power!  Do not compel her to shed her own blood! for, sure as you advance one step toward me, I pull this trigger, and fall dead at your feet.”  And Edith raised the pistol and placed the muzzle to her own temple—­her finger against the trigger.

The men stood still—­the captain swore.

“H—­l fire and flames!  Do you intend to stand there all day, to hear the wench declaim?  Seize her, curse you!  Wrench that weapon from her hand.”

“Not so quick as I can pull the trigger!” said Edith—­her eyes blazing with the sense of having fate—­the worst of fate in her own hands; it was but a pressure of the finger, to be made quick as lightning, and she was beyond their power!  Her finger was on the trigger—­the muzzle of the pistol, a cold ring of steel, pressed her burning temple!  She felt it kindly—­protective as a friend’s kiss!

“Seize her!  Seize her, curse you!” cried the brutal Thorg, “what care I whether she pull the trigger or not?  Before the blood cools in her body, I will have had my satisfaction!  Seize her, you infernal—­”

“Captain, countermand your order!  I beg, I entreat you, countermand your order!  You yourself will greatly regret having given it, when you are calmer,” said a young officer, riding hastily forward, and now, for the first time, taking a part in the scene.

An honorable youth in a band of licensed military marauders.

“’Sdeath, sir!  Don’t interfere with me!  Seize her, rascals!”

“One step more, and I pull the trigger!” said Edith.

“Captain Thorg!  This must not be!” persisted the young officer.

“D—­n, sir!  Do you oppose me?  Do you dare?  Fall back, sir, I command you!  Scoundrels! close upon that wench and bind her!”

“Captain Thorg!  This shall not be!  Do you hear?  Do you understand?  I say this violence shall not be perpetrated!” said the young officer, firmly.

“D—­n, sir!  Are you drunk, or mad?  You are under arrest, sir!  Corporal Truman, take Ensign Shields’ sword!”

The young man was quickly disarmed, and once more the captain vociferated: 

“Knock down and disarm that vixen!  Obey your orders, villains!  Or by h—­l, and all its fiends, I’ll have you all court-martialed, and shot before to-morrow noon!”

The soldiers closed around the unprotected girl.