No very strict watch seemed to be kept, and, in truth, it did not seem to be needed here so near to Washington, and so far away from the Southern army.
Before ten o'clock everything settled into quiet, and he cautiously climbed a great beech which was in full and deep foliage.

The boughs were so many and the leaves so dense that one standing directly under him could not have seen him.

But he went up as far as he could go, and, crouched there, made a comprehensive survey.
It was a fine moonlight night and he saw the earthworks stretching for a long distance, thorough and impregnable to anything except a great army.
Beyond that was a silver band which was the Potomac, and beyond the river were the clustered roofs which were Washington.

But he turned his eyes back to the earthworks, and he tried to fasten firmly in his mind their number and location.

This, too, would be important news, most welcome to Beauregard.
The boy's elation grew.