Presently, the men who had gone into the cabin returned with some pieces of cord, with which they proceeded to confine the hands of their prisoners, who offered no resistance. By the time this was accomplished, the man whom the mate had handled so roughly had been restored to consciousness, and supported himself against the cabin to collect his thoughts, while the others stood silently by, as if awaiting his orders.
"Get every thing ready," he said, at length, "and let the job be done at once. It needs no judge or jury to decide the fate of these men, knowing, as we do, what has befallen those of our number who were so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the Federals."
The rebels, in obedience to the order, brought out of the cabin two pieces of rope, which they took to a tree that stood close by, and, coiling them up in their hands, threw one end over a limb that stretched out about six feet from the ground, and fastened them there.
"Douse my top-lights," exclaimed the mate, as he witnessed these proceedings, "but it is all up with us, sir. They're going to swing us to the yard-arm."
The horrid truth was too apparent, and Frank was so completely unnerved that he was compelled to lean against the cabin for support. He was soon aroused by the voice of the leader of the rebels, who said:
"This is to be done in retaliation for an order issued by Admiral Porter, stating that he would hang all 'guerrillas,' as he termed them, who might be caught firing into transports along the river. You can see the effect of that order right here. Out of a company of a hundred of us who entered the army at the commencement of the war, you see all that are left. The remainder have been killed or captured by you gun-boat men. Those captured have suffered the penalty of that order. They were no more guerrillas, however, than you are, but were regularly sworn into the service, and were detailed to harass the enemy in every possible manner; and, for obeying our orders, some of us have been strung up like dogs. We shall continue to retaliate on you until our government receives notice that the order has been countermanded. I will give you an hour, and at the end of that time you must swing."
