I'll send him an order to
strike. Tell him to destroy it if he wins. If he loses--I'll publish it
and take the blame on myself. Can you do this?"
"I will or die in the effort," was the quick reply.
"All right. Take this card at once to Stanton's office. Ask him to send
you by boat to Aquia--by horse from there. Return here for your papers."
In ten minutes John had dispatched a note to Betty:
"DEAREST: God saved me from an act of madness. He sent His message
through your sweet spirit. I am leaving for the South on a
dangerous mission for the President. If I live to return I am all
yours--if I die, I shall still live through eternity if only to
love you.
"JOHN."
Within an hour he had communicated with the commander of the Knights,
his arrangements were complete, and he was steaming down the river on
his perilous journey.
CHAPTER XXXVII
MR. DAVIS SPEAKS
John Vaughan arrived in Richmond a day before Jaquess and Gilmore. His
genial Southern manner, his perfect accent and his possession of the
signs and pass words of the Knights of the Golden Circle made his
mission a comparatively easy one.
He had brought a message from the Washington Knights to Judah P.
Benjamin, which won the confidence of Mr. Davis' Secretary of State and
gained his ready consent to his presence on the occasion of the
interview.
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