"It scarcely surprises me," murmured Miss Carryl with a steady smile. "I saw only your eyes before, but they seemed too beautiful for a boy's."

Then she bent her delicately-molded head and studied the passport. The Messenger, still blushing, drew her hat firmly over her forehead and fastened a loosened braid. Presently she took up her bridle.

"I will ask Colonel Gay's protection for Waycross House," she said in a low voice. "I am so dreadfully sorry that this has happened."

"You need not be; I have only tried to do for my people what you are doing for yours--but I should be glad of a guard for Waycross. _His_ grave is in the orchard there." And with a quiet inclination of the head she turned away into the oak-bordered avenue, walking slowly toward the house which, in a few moments, she must leave forever.

In the late sunshine her bees flashed by, seeking the fragrant home-hives; long, ruddy bars of sunlight lay across grass and tree trunk; on the lawn the old servant still chopped at the unkempt grass, and the music of his sickle sounded pleasantly under the trees.

On these things the fair-haired Southern woman looked, and if her eye dimmed and her pale lip quivered there was nobody to see. And after a little while she went into the house, slowly, head held high, black skirt lifted, just clearing the threshold of her ancestors.

Then the Special Messenger, head hanging, wheeled her horse and rode slowly back to Osage Court House.

She passed the Colonel, who was dismounting just outside his tent, and saluted him without enthusiasm:

"The leak is stopped, sir. Miss Carryl is going to Sandy River; John Deal is on his way. They won't come back--and, Colonel, won't you give special orders that her house is not to be disturbed? She is an old school friend."

The Colonel stared at her incredulously.

"I'm afraid you still have your doubts about that leak, sir."

"Yes, I have."

She dismounted wearily; an orderly took her horse, and without a word she and the Colonel entered the tent.

"They used bees for messengers," she said; "that was the leak."

"Bees?"

"Honey bees, Colonel."

For a whole minute he was silent, then burst out:

"Good God! _Bees!_ And if such a--an extraordinary performance were possible how did _you_ guess it?"

"Oh," she said patiently, "I used them that way when I was a little girl. Bees, like pigeons, go back to their homes. Look, sir! Here, in order, are the dispatches, each traced in cipher on a tiny roll of tissue. They were tied to the bees' thighs."

[Transcriber's Note: in the following cyphers, subscripted numerals and special symbols are contained in curly brackets, like this: {3}]

And she spread them out in order under his amazed eyes; and this is what he saw when she pieced them together for him:

EIO{2}W{2} x I{8}W{3} {triangle} NI{7}W{3} x OII{6}I{5}W{3} x ENI{7}I{7}I{4}I{8}I{5}O{2} N x I{7}IE x I{4}O{2}I{2} x N x HI{5} x IO{2}E x N x O x E x WNW{3} x W x I{8}E{3}XHN {crescent} x L x I{3} O{2}XW{3}I{5}W{3}NW{2} x

I{4}I{2} x I{8}W{3}I{7}I{4}LI x NW{3}x I{5}O{2}HI x O{2}I{4}EI{3}W{3} x HNI{7}I{7} {circle+} W{2}

"That's all very well," he said, "but how about this hieroglyphic? Do you think anybody on earth is capable of reading such a thing?"

"Why not?"

"Can _you_?"

"All such ciphers are solved by the same method.... Yes, Colonel, I can read it very easily."

"Well, would you mind doing so?"

"Not in the slightest, sir. The key is extremely simple. I will show you." And she picked up pencil and paper and wrote:

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty

"Now," she said, "taking the second letter in each word, we can parallel that column thus:

N equals the letter A W equals the letter B H equals the letter C O equals the letter D I equals the letter E

"Then, in the word _six_ we have the letter _I_ again as the second letter, so we call it I{2}. And, continuing, we have:

I{2} equals the letter F E equals the letter G I{3} equals the letter H I{4} equals the letter I E{2} equals the letter J L equals the letter K W{2} equals the letter L H{2} equals the letter M O{2} equals the letter N I{5} equals the letter O I{6} equals the letter P E{3} equals the letter Q I{7} equals the letter R I{8} equals the letter S W{3} equals the letter T

"Now, using these letters for the symbols in the cipher:

EIO{2}W{2} x I{8}W{3} {triangle} NI{7}W{3} x OII{6}I{5}W{3} x ENI{7}I{7}I{4}I{8}I{5}O{2} N x I{7}IE x I{4}O{2}I{2} x N x HI{5} x IO{2}E x N x O x E x WNW{3} x W x I{8}E{3}XHN {crescent} x L x I{3} O{2}XW{3}I{5}W{3}NW{2} x

I{4}I{2} x I{8}W{3}I{7}I{4}LI x NW{3}x I{5}O{2}HI x O{2}I{4}EI{3}W{3} x HNI{7}I{7} {circle+} W{2}

"We translate it freely thus, and I'll underline only the words in the cipher:

Gen'l Stuart (Sandy River?)

(The present) Depot Garrison (of Osage Court House is) One Reg(iment) (of) Inf(antry) One Co(mpany of) Eng(ineers) One Four G(un) Bat(tery) Two Sq(uadrons) (of) Cav(alry) Eleven Hun(dred men) Total If (you) strike (strike) at once (and at) night!

(Signed) Carryl.

"Do you see, Colonel, how very simple it is, after all?"

The Colonel, red and astounded, hung over the paper, laboriously verifying the cipher and checking off each symbol with its alphabetical equivalent.

"What's that mark?" he demanded; "this symbol----"

"It stands for the letter U, sir."

"How do you know?"

The Messenger, seated sideways on the camp table, one small foot swinging, looked down and bit her lip.

"Must I tell you?"

"As you please. And I'll say now that your solving this intricate and devilish cipher is, to me, a more utterly amazing performance than the rebel use of bees as messengers."

She shook her head slowly.