Toward dawn, at the darkest period of the night, Barney saw lights ahead of him.  Apparently he was approaching a village.  He went more cautiously now, but all his care did not prevent him from running for the second time that night almost into the arms of a sentry.  This time, however, Barney saw the soldier before he himself was discovered.  It was upon the edge of the town, in an orchard, that the sentinel was posted.  Barney, approaching through the trees, darting from one to another, was within a few paces of the man before he saw him.

The American remained quietly in the shadow of a tree waiting for an opportunity to escape, but before it came he heard the approach of a small body of troops.  They were coming from the village directly toward the orchard.  They passed the sentry and marched within a dozen feet of the tree behind which Barney was hiding.

As they came opposite him he slipped around the tree to the opposite side.  The sentry had resumed his pacing, and was now out of sight momentarily among the trees further on.  He could not see the American, but there were others who could.  They came in the shape of a non-commissioned officer and a detachment of the guard to relieve the sentry.  Barney almost bumped into them as he rounded the tree.  There was no escape—­the non-commissioned officer was within two feet of him when Barney discovered him.  “What are you doing here?” shouted the sergeant with an oath.  “Your post is there,” and he pointed toward the position where Barney had seen the sentry.

At first Barney could scarce believe his ears.  In the darkness the sergeant had mistaken him for the sentinel!  Could he carry it out?  And if so might it not lead him into worse predicament?  No, Barney decided, nothing could be worse.  To be caught masquerading in the uniform of an Austrian soldier within the Austrian lines was to plumb the uttermost depth of guilt—­nothing that he might do now could make his position worse.

He faced the sergeant, snapping his piece to present, hoping that this was the proper thing to do.  Then he stumbled through a brief excuse.  The officer in command of the troops that had just passed had demanded the way of him, and he had but stepped a few paces from his post to point out the road to his superior.

The sergeant grunted and ordered him to fall in.  Another man took his place on duty.  They were far from the enemy and discipline was lax, so the thing was accomplished which under other circumstances would have been well night impossible.  A moment later Barney found himself marching back toward the village, to all intents and purposes an Austrian private.

Before a low, windowless shed that had been converted into barracks for the guard, the detail was dismissed.  The men broke ranks and sought their blankets within the shed, tired from their lonely vigil upon sentry duty.