Tales of Puritan Land
paper into his mouth and swallowed it. He gave the name of Robert Lockwood, and when Putnam demanded to know what he had been doing near the camp without a permit he said that he was bound by a promise not to tell.
"Are you a patriot?" asked the general.
"I am a royalist. I do not sympathize with rebellion. I have been a man of peace in this war."
Putnam strode about the room, giving vent to his passion in language neither choice nor gentle, for he had been much troubled by spies and informers since he had been there. Then, stopping, he said:
"Some one was with you to-night—some of my men. Tell me that traitor's name and I'll spare your life and hang him before the whole army."
The prisoner turned pale and dropped his head. He would not violate his promise.
"You are a British spy, and I'll hang you at sunrise!" roared Putnam.
In vain the young man pleaded for time to appeal to Washington. He was not a spy, he insisted, and it would be found, perhaps too late, that a terrible mistake had been committed. His words were unheeded: he was led away and bound, and as the sun was rising on the next morning the sentence of court-martial was executed upon him.
At noon Mary returned from the parsonage, her eyes dancing and her mouth dimpling with smiles. Going to Putnam, she said, with a dash of sauciness, "I have succeeded, general. I found a lad last
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