From time to time, as he caught the eye of an acquaintance -- and especially to officers of the Court of Enquiry -- he tendered the customary civilities of recognition, and received their acknowledgements with composure and grace. It seems that up to this moment he was persuaded that he was not to be hanged, but to be shot to death ; and the inner guard in attendance he took to be the firing party detailed for the occasion. Not until the troops turned suddenly, at a right angle with the course they had hitherto followed, and the gallows rose high before him, was he undeceived. In the very moment of wheeling with his escort, his eye rested on the ill-omened tree, and he recoiled and paused. " Why this emotion, sir?" asked Smith, who held one of his aims. " I am reconciled to my fate," said Andre, clenching his fist and convulsively moving his arms; "but not to the mode of it." " It is unavoidable, sir," was the reply. He beckoned Tallmadge, and inquired anxiously if he was not to be shot : "Must I then die in this manner?" Being told that it was so ordered, " How hard is my fate ! " he cried ; " but it will soon be over."

Ascending the hill side, the prisoner was brought to the gibbet, while the outer guard secured the ceremony from interruption. During the brief preparations, his manner was nervous and restless -- uneasily rolling a pebble to and fro beneath the ball of his foot, and the gland of his throat sinking and swelling as though he choked with emotion. His sen-ant who had followed him to this point now burst forth with loud weeping and lamentations, and Andre for a little turned aside and privately conversed with him.