funds to pay his passage across to Charlestown in the
ferry-boat had he any idea that Walter was penniless. The boy made no
explanations, and his host could not but believe he was fully and
properly prepared for the long journey before him.

Walter did not have as good fortune on his return as in the morning.
When he arrived at the shore he saw several boats going to and fro, but
the afternoon was considerably more than half spent before he succeeded
in finding a boatman who would allow him to work his passage.

Then, when he finally landed on the opposite shore, an hour was spent
in searching for the horse, which had wandered into the woods, and by
the time the boy was ready to begin the return journey the sun hung low
in the sky.

"It will be another night-ride," he muttered, as he leaped into the
saddle. "I did hope to reach Salem early in the evening, and so I might
have done had I been possessed of enough money to pay my ferriage.
Master Revere would have given it to me, but I could not tell him that
I, who had been received into the ranks of the Sons of Liberty, had not
so much as a shilling."

He was comparatively fresh when he drew rein in front of Master
Cotton's stable shortly before midnight, and although the time could
well have been spent in slumber, he devoted an hour to caring for the
weary steed who had borne him so bravely.

To awaken Master Cotton was not a portion of Walter's plan. That
gentleman had shown himself to be of such a timid nature that the young
messenger believed he would pot be pleased at receiving any
information; therefore, as soon as the horse had been cared for, he
started out of Salem on foot, intending to make himself a bed on the
ground when he should be within shelter of the woods.

As he walked rapidly on in the cool night air, feeling refreshed
because of the opportunity of stretching his legs after sitting in the
saddle so long, the desire for slumber fled from his eyes. There was no
reason why he should halt until he felt drowsy again, and he continued
on, thinking alternately of what he had accomplished, of the mill he
hoped at some future time to see erected on the small tract of land
bordering the Pascataqua River which his father had bequeathed him, and
of the taxes to be paid by some means within twenty-four hours of his
arrival.

With so much to occupy his mind, he forgot his weariness, and the hours
went by without his being aware of the passage of time.

Whe