. You will get cold here."

CHAPTER XXXI

PEACE AT EVENING TIME

In his lonely house in the wilderness Thomas Norman was undergoing
great agony of mind and body. The presence of the first band of
slashers had been hard for him to endure, and when they were joined
later by the rebels from the Washademoak, his distress was intense.
But he knew that he had brought this trouble upon himself. He had sown
the seeds of dissension which had sprung up into wild and ungovernable
thistles. How he despised the slashers as they crowded about him,
drinking his rum, eating his food, and polluting the air with their
reeking bodies and coarse language. This excitement increased the
distress in his side until he felt that he would go crazy with the
pain. Of this the rebels thought nothing. They were beyond human
sympathy, so the condition of their chief affected them as little as if
he had been a dog.

The critical moment arrived when the rebels had broken down the door
leading into the adjoining room and the girl they were seeking was not
there. For a few minutes Norman's life hung in the balance. The angry
men charged him with hiding the girl and keeping her from them. It was
only with the greatest difficulty that he was able to subdue their
wrath. He told them that he was as much surprised as they were, and he
had no idea what had become of the girl. Although the men threatened
and cursed, they did not lay hands upon their chief, but contented
themselves by informing him that when they came back he must have the
girl there.

With a great sigh of relief Norman sank down upon his pillow as the
slashers left the house for their march against the mast-cutters. It
was storming hard, and this suited their purpose. They believed that
the King's men would be all housed and sound asleep, with the idea of
an attack on such a stormy night far from their thoughts. They would
also be ahead of the rangers, and their deed would be accomplished
before Davidson's men could arrive.

When the slashers were gone, Norman's mind returned to the missing
girl. He was greatly concerned, feeling certain that she had fled to
the forest for protection from the rebels. He expected her to return
when the men had left, but as the hours moved slowly by and she did not
appear, he feared the worst. He imagined that she had become
bewildered by the storm, had lost her way, and perished. He groaned
aloud as he thought of this, for he was