aptain Howard whose acquaintance
I made aboard the _Mollie Able_, and he got it from a friend of his."

"My limited knowledge of the English language will not permit me to do
this subject justice," declared Tom. He looked around for something to
sit down on, and then leaned against the wall for support. "My father
has heard of you and would have helped you at the risk of his life. He
wouldn't go back on a Barrington boy any more than I would; but if you
should be searched by rebels anywhere between here and Springfield, that
letter would hang you. Burn it before you take the road to-morrow."

"If your father is so well known, I don't see why his neighbors haven't
hung him before this time," said Rodney.

"It's safer to try the bushwhacking game, and he has been shot at three
times already. He doesn't expect to live to see the end of these
troubles, but he is like your cousin Marcy Gray--he doesn't haul in his
shingle one inch. Burn that letter, I tell you."

"I didn't intend to present it unless I had to," replied Rodney. "Now,
then, what brought you here? I thought you were hidden in the swamp
along with some other refugees."

"So I was; but I came back on purpose to see if Merrick had heard
anything from you. I was on my way to the house when I thought I would
stop and look in here. I was hidden in the bushes when those Emergency
men rode down the road. Of course they are going to the swamp, and I
don't know whether I can get back there to-night or not. I wonder how
they got on to my track so quick."

Rodney said that Merrick thought it was through old man Swanson. Tom
replied that he had never heard of such a man, and Rodney went on to
tell of his accidental meeting with him at the cross-roads, adding:

"Mr. Westall told him that I and my horse were all right, and not to be
interfered with, and that he would make something by keeping a bright
lookout for a boy without any boots on, and a roan colt. One of the
party also told him that you were unarmed, but Swanson didn't take much
stock in that. He declared that there were plenty of people in the
country who would be mean enough to give you clothes and weapons for the
asking, and I reckon he was about right. I gave you a revolver and I see
some one else has furnished you with a pair of boots. Now, didn't you
know, when you ran off with my horse, leaving yours for me to ride, that
every man I met would take me for you?"

"That's a fact," replied Tom, "but I nev