o be incapable of active exercise. But when we set out for the
rendezvous I speedily learned that whether my companion had spared the
food, or devoured more than his share, it was possible for him to move
at such a pace as caused me to breathe quickly and hard in the effort to
keep at his heels.

It is not to be supposed that we could go from my home to Barton's point
through the streets without coming upon some of the lobster backs, for
since the town was put under martial law the watch had been replaced by
soldiers, and there were so many of them patrolling the streets 'twixt
sunset and sunrise that one could hardly poke his nose outside the door
without brushing it against half a dozen.

We were not delayed in the short journey, however, because of my
familiarity with the gardens and byways on the route, which admitted of
our making fair progress while shunning the streets, and he who could
have pounced upon us would indeed have been a quicker-witted lobster
back than I have yet seen.

When we arrived at the rope walk we found some of the lads overly
impatient, as indeed they had good cause to be, for those whom I warned
earlier in the day had gone immediately to the rendezvous, therefore
were forced to cool their heels there from six to eight hours, which
must have seemed a long time when you realize that they were literally
burning with impatience to play the part of soldiers, and I could not
but ask myself with somewhat of anxiety, how they might view the
situation when coming to understand that they were to be employed as
drovers, or in carrying bags of grain from the shore to the vessels?

"Are they all here?" Hiram asked me when standing beneath the shelter of
a lean-to which served as store-house, as he surveyed my company.

"Ay, every one of them," I replied carelessly, believing it was possible
to see them all, and as I spoke Harvey Pearson piped up in his shrill
voice:

"All save Seth Jepson. An hour ago he suddenly remembered that he must
attend to some work which his mother had laid out for him, and went off
at full speed, promising to come back before you showed yourselves."

"So! He's the lad you believed might have a leaning toward Toryism,"
Hiram said sharply as he wheeled about to face me, and on the instant I
understood that he doubted the truth of Seth Jepson's excuse for leaving
the company.

"How long did he stay here?" I asked of Harvey, whom I knew to have been
one of the first to arri