Who can it be ?" The moonlight fell upon the pebbly beach of the river a little farther out; overcoming his reluctance, he half lifted, half carried the body out where the light would fall upon its face.

This face, which was unknown to him, was that of a desperate-looking ruffian, who was dressed in a soiled and tattered uniform, the coat of which was red; the man's hand tightly clasped a discharged pistol; he had been shot in the breast, for where his coat had fallen open might be seen a dark red stain about a ragged hole in his soiled gray shirt; the bullet had been fired at short range, too, for there were powder marks all about his breast.

Talbot noticed these things rapidly, his mind working quickly.
"Oh, Mars' Hil'ry--wha-wha's de mattah?
I kyarnt hol' dese hosses; dey'se sumfin wrong, sho'ly," broke in the groom, his teeth chattering with terror.
"Quiet, man! don't make so much noise.

This is the dead body of a man, a soldier; he has been shot too.

Take the horses back beyond the old tree on the little bend there; tie them securely, and come back here quickly.