Looking down, he saw something glitter.

What was his surprise to discover in the ashes a gold watch and chain which he had often seen upon the neck of Mary Prescott.

A portion of the chain had been melted by the intense heat, but by some singular means, the watch had been so well preserved that there was scarcely a blemish upon it.

As he picked it up, Cato exclaimed, with rolling eyes: "Dat is Miss Mary's! dat is Miss Mary's!" "It couldn't have been around her neck, certainly, when it was lost." "No, she allers laid it on de stand aside her bed, and dat's de way it got dar.

See, dar's de legs ob de stand." It was as the negro said, and in the hope of finding some more of the valuables of the family, the soldier kicked the ashes and cinders hither and thither and searched among them for a considerable time.
Nothing further rewarded him, however.