friends, he was taken
seriously ill. By what seemed the merest chance Elizabeth learned of
him, and it was through her efforts and sacrifices that he was spared,
to enjoy in the comforts of home and family, years, scant in number
but abundant in happiness.

Rodney Allison won promotion--the esteem of all who knew him--and who
could wish for greater? A few years later, on the spot where had stood
the lodge of Ahneota, he built a home such as he planned that night,
years before, when he lay by the spring looking down on the sleeping
Indian village; and Zeb was his neighbour, prosperous and respected.
Some called Rodney "Colonel" Allison because of his military
experience and influence, but he preferred the title of "Squire," and
by this he was generally known among neighbours and friends. In the
Indian wars he was serviceable in securing peace, for he was trusted
alike by red people and white. Through influential friends, of whom
General Morgan was one, he was able to accomplish much that was of
benefit to the pioneers with whom he had cast his lot.

Soon after Benedict Arnold's treason, Rodney received a letter from
Donald Lovell, then a captain in the army. "Uncle Dick," the letter
said, "exclaimed when he heard of it: 'what a pity that a British
bullet had not taken his life before a British bribe killed his good
name!'" It became a custom for Rodney and Zeb to yearly exchange
letters with Donald Lovell who, later in life, established his home
down on the far-away Kennebec River.

"Squire" Allison's children were David, and Harriet, and Elizabeth,
and Rupert, and Donald; and Elizabeth's eyes were very dark blue with
long lashes, at times as serene as the eyes of the beautiful lady
whose portrait had greeted those who came to "The Hall." At other
times they flashed, as did those which her father, when a shivering
soldier lad, saw looking out of the old coach and mocking him as he
stood guard one bleak winter night.

THE END

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