called upon to bear ours
also. They shall go home."

So once again Peggy and Sally gathered their belongings together for
an early start to Trenton. All the day before the maidens were in a
pleasurable state of excitement. Each realized that New Jersey was no
longer a place for them, so they were glad to go; still, there were
regrets at parting from these people who had been so kind, and whom
the vicissitudes of fortune might preclude them from ever seeing
again. Full of this feeling, Peggy found herself the victim of a
pleasing melancholy the night before they were to leave, and it was
long past midnight ere she was able to sleep. How long she slept she
did not know, but it seemed to her that she had just fallen into
slumber when something caused her to open her eyes. For a few moments
she lay in that strange debatable region between sleeping and waking
when the mind cannot distinguish between the real and the imaginary.
All at once she sat up, fully awake, every sense strained and alert.
Something was wrong. What was it? She listened intently, but such an
intense stillness reigned throughout the house that Sally's soft
breathing smote her with a sense of disturbance. Parting the curtains
of the bed she glanced apprehensively about the little chamber. The
wooden shutters were closed, but through their bow-shaped openings
came such a brilliant light that every object in the little room was
plainly visible.

"How brightly the moon shines," was her thought, and completely
reassured she was about to draw the curtains when again there came the
mysterious sound that had awakened her.

It was a crackling, snapping sound such as seasoned wood makes when
the flame catches it in the open air. Very much alarmed Peggy slipped
from the bed and ran to one of the windows. Softly she raised the
sash, then cautiously swung back one of the shutters. She gave a low
cry at the sight that met her gaze, and leaned far out of the window.
The barn was a mass of flames, and there were dark forms flitting
about among the budding trees. The raiders! For a moment she stood
stricken with terror. Then the necessity for action roused her.
Fairfax! Thomas Ashley! They must not be caught asleep. What would be
their portion should these men find them? Full of excitement, her
heart beating hard and fast, she sped into the adjoining room where
Nurse Johnson slept.

"Awake!" she cried shaking her violently, her whisper rendered sharp
and penetratin