"
The search was made everywhere. Soldiers pried in every possible place,
but they found nobody who could not give an adequate account of his
presence in Richmond. Harry felt sure nevertheless that Shepard was
somewhere in the capital, protected by his infinite daring and resource,
and they received the startling news the next day after the search that a
messenger sent northward with dispatches for Lee had been attacked only
a short distance from the city. He had been struck from behind, and did
not see his assailant, but the wound in the head--the man had been found
unconscious--and the missing dispatches were sufficient proof.
A night later precious documents were purloined from the office of the
Secretary of War and a list of important earthworks on the North and
South Carolina coast disappeared from the office of the Secretary of
the Navy. Alarm spread through all the departments of the Confederacy.
Some one, spy and burglar too, had come into the very capital, and he was
having uncommon success.
Harry had not the least doubt that it was Shepard, and he was filled with
an ambition to capture this man, whom he really liked. If Shepard were
caught he would certainly be hanged, but then a spy must take his chances.
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