set down in
general orders that come from the right head-quarters; and I think the
Rev. Mr. Woods ought to be judged by the same rule."

As the captain saw no use in prolonging the dialogue, he dismissed his
companions. He then sought his wife, in order to make her acquainted
with the actual state of things. This last was a painful duty, though
Mrs. Willoughby and her daughters heard the truth with less of
apprehension than the husband and father had anticipated. They had
suffered so much from uncertainty, that there was a relief in learning
the truth. The mother did not think the authorities of the colony would
hurt her son, whom she fancied all men must, in a degree, love as she
loved. Beulah thought of her own husband as Bob's safeguard; while Maud
felt it to be comparative happiness to know he was unharmed, and still
so near her.

This unpleasant duty discharged, the captain began to bethink him
seriously of his military trust. After some reflection, and listening
to a few more suggestions from Joyce, he consented to let the "quaker"
be put on wheels. The carpenters were immediately set at work to
achieve this job, which the serjeant volunteered to superintend, in
person. As for Joel, his wife and children, with the miller, occupied
most of the morning; the day turning, and even drawing towards its
close, ere he became visible, as had formerly been his wont, among the
men of the settlement.

All this time, everything without the palisades lay in the silence of
nature. The sun cast its glories athwart the lovely scene, as in one of
the Sabbaths of the woods; but man was nowhere visible. Not a hostile
Indian, or white, exhibited himself; and the captain began to suspect
that, satisfied with their captures, the party had commenced its return
towards the river, postponing his own arrest for some other occasion.
So strong did this impression become towards the close of the day, that
he was actually engaged in writing to some friends of influence in
Albany and on the Mohawk to interpose their names and characters in his
son's behalf, when the serjeant, about nine o'clock, the hour when he
had been ordered to parade the guard for the first half of the night,
presented himself at the door of his room, to make an important report.

"What now, Joyce?" demanded the captain. "Are any of our fellows
sleepy, and plead illness?"

"Worse than that, your honour, I greatly fear," was the answer. Of the
ten men your honour comma