cels of their clothes, and I
extorted their names, all except one who was too far gone in drink.

"To-morrow, gentlemen," I said, "I will send back your belongings,
together with the tar and feathers, which you may find useful some
other day. The night is mild, and a gentle trot will keep you from
taking chills. I should recommend hurry, for in five minutes the dogs
will be loosed. A pleasant journey to you."

They moved off, and then halted and apparently were for returning. But
they thought better of it, and presently they were all six of them
racing and stumbling down the hill in their shifts.

The Quaker stretched his legs and lit a pipe. "Was it not a scurvy
trick of fate," he observed to the ceiling, "that these poor lads
should come here for a night's fooling, and find the best sword in the
Five Seas?"

CHAPTER XIII.

I STUMBLE INTO A GREAT FOLLY.

I never breathed a word about the night's doings, nor for divers
reasons did Ringan; but the story got about, and the young fools were
the laughing-stock of the place. But there was a good deal of wrath,
too, that a trader should have presumed so far, and I felt that things
were gathering to a crisis with me. Unless I was to suffer endlessly
these petty vexations, I must find a bold stroke to end them. It
annoyed me that when so many grave issues were in the balance I should
have these troubles, as if a man should be devoured by midges when
waiting on a desperate combat.

The crisis came sooner than I looked for. There was to be a great
horse-racing at Middle Plantation the next Monday, which I had half a
mind to attend, for, though I cared nothing for the sport, it would
give me a chance of seeing some of our fellows from the York River. One
morning I met Elspeth in the street of James Town, and she cried
laughingly that she looked to see me at the races. After that I had no
choice but go; so on the Monday morning I dressed myself with care,
mounted my best horse, and rode to the gathering.

'Twas a pretty sight to see the spacious green meadow, now a little
yellowing with the summer heat, set in the girdle of dark and leafy
forest. I counted over forty chariots which had brought the rank of the
countryside, each with its liveried servant and its complement of
outriders. The fringe of the course blazed with ladies' finery, and a
tent had been set up with a wide awning from which the fashionables
could watch the sport. On the edge of the woods a multitu