made his
compliments and solicited a brief interview. He apologized as well as
he could for the outrageous behavior of the militia, and offered to do
anything in his power to make amends. The only favor which the proud
woman asked was the privilege of embarking as soon as practicable, on
a down-river boat that would carry her and her children to the South.

"Can you procure for me the family boat which my husband provided for
us at Marietta?"

The colonel feared not. Marietta was out of his jurisdiction.

"Is there any boat that I can borrow here, or buy? I must join my
husband; I promised him that I would not delay."

"I'd lend you my big piroque, but you'll overset before you get as far
as Farmer's Castle," said Byle.

"Pardon me," responded Madam Blennerhassett, in tones of apology,
bestowing looks of infinite gratitude on her zealous guardian; "I
cannot put in words my sense of obligation to you, sir. Colonel
Phelps, I owe to this gentleman more than money can repay! It was he
who protected me and my servants from the drunken soldiers; he drove
them out, risking his life; he was wounded defending us!"

"You don't owe me a fip. It is no trouble at all to me to do a little
chore for you. It was fool's luck, anyway. I saw you in town this
morning, skiting about, from pillar to post, and says I to myself,
'There's uneasiness under that fine bonnet!' I noticed you dodge in at
the court-house and at Squire Hale's, and everywhere, and something
told me to investigate. So I went in wherever I saw you come out, in
reg'lar order, and larnt, I guess, just about as much as you did,
about your disappointment and your worry. Then I thought, 'as like as
not that woman is having more trouble down upon the island than I know
anything about. So, true as calamus is sweet-flag, as soon as you was
on your white horse, like the old lady of Banbury Cross, I was in my
everyday skiff, and I didn't lose you out of my sight from the minute
you started to the minute Peter and Ransom took you on the ferry--but
I slid along where you couldn't spy me."

"I did see you, sir, and I confess I imagined you might be some
river-ruffian watching me with no good intention. I did you great
injustice."

"I looked like a river pirate, did I? No, ma'am, I was a privateer,
but not a pirate. I was sailing under your colors, unbeknown to you.
Is that correct military language, Phelps? To make a long story short,
Scipio told me in his charcoal style wh