on.

"De c'unel dat stubbo'n I jes' have to talk mighty plain 'fore I could
make him pudge erlong," proudly whispered the servant as he passed me.

I sprang to my feet, and Colonel Lewis and His Excellency, John Murray,
Earl of Dunmore, our royal governor, leisurely strolled into view.

Colonel Lewis wore no wig and was smoking a pipe, of which he was
inordinately fond. It was characteristic of him to be more democratic and
careless in personal presentment when with his superiors than when meeting
the rough and ready people of the border.

Nor was Governor Dunmore given to set forms. He was forty-two years of age
and in his prime, a man among men. He could be most democratic, and on
this day there was none of the town beau's fastidiousness in his dress.
Yet his wig and his coat were a mode in themselves, while his shoe, knee
and stock buckles were of gold. Ultra-genteel young bucks would have had
such buckles set with brilliants, that they might twinkle and glitter at
every mincing step.

His Excellency walked with a man's stride and gave the impression of being
careless in dress, whereas, in fact, he always was perfect in his points.
He dominated his attire and left you scarcely conscious of it. The two of
them had been discussing something with great earnestness for as they drew
near me the colonel gestured with his pipe-stem, and His Excellency pushed
back his wig and appeared inclined to disagree.

"Lord, man! I tell you it's their cursed provincial jealousy. They malign
the man."

"Your Excellency, I am not the judge," Colonel Lewis calmly replied. "I
simply repeat what I hear, and suggest how it may be disastrous to the
campaign."

"Jealousy and slander!" heatedly declared the governor. Then his lively
gaze rested on me. He frowned, as if trying to remember, then smiled with
that graciousness he could so charmingly display when he deemed it worth
while and said:

"I've been keeping you from your guest, Colonel. He looks brown and lean
enough to have traveled far and to have brought a pretty earful. I know
the face and ought to be calling him by name."

Colonel Lewis advanced a few steps and bowed slightly, and refreshed the
governor's recollection by saying:

"He is Basdel Morris, Your Excellency. Of Prince William County
originally. Before Your Excellency came to Virginia he came out here to
act as scout and messenger between us and Fort Pitt."

"Fort Dunmore," coldly corrected the governor, giving