en the
commotion from the window of the council chamber, and hastened to the
scene. "Put up your sword," he said to the lieutenant.

"What have you been doing, sir?" he asked, turning sternly to Robert.

"Suppose you first ask those two fellows what they've been doing?
Nevertheless, Colonel, lest you might not get a true answer, allow me
to say that they insulted a lady, that I knocked one down and tossed
the other into the watering-trough, to teach them better manners. For
doing it your lieutenant has seen fit to draw his sword and threaten
to split my head open."

It was said quietly and calmly.

"What have you to say to that?" Colonel Dalrymple asked, addressing
the soldiers, who made no reply.

"Lieutenant, take them to the guardhouse, and consider yourself under
arrest till I can look into this matter. Don't you know better than to
draw your sword against a citizen in this way?"

The lieutenant made no reply, but looked savagely at Robert, as if to
say, "I'll have it out with you sometime," sheathed his sword and
turned away, following the crestfallen soldiers to the guardhouse.

Colonel Dalrymple bowed courteously, as if to apologize for the insult
to the lady. Robert came to the conclusion that he was a gentleman.

The negroes were laughing and chuckling and telling the rapidly
gathering crowd what had happened. Robert, having no desire to be
made conspicuous, walked up Queen Street. He tarried a moment to look
at the iron-grated windows and double-bolted doors of the jail, then
turned down Hanover Street and made his way to the Green Dragon.

III.

THE SONS OF LIBERTY.

"Is it far to Doctor Warren's house?" Robert asked of the landlord
after supper.

"Oh no, only a few steps around the corner on Hanover Street. So you
are going to call on him, just as your father always does. You will
find him a nice gentleman. He is kind to the poor, charging little or
nothing when they are sick and need doctoring. He isn't quite thirty
years old, but there isn't a doctor in town that has a larger
practice. He is a true patriot. I heard a man say the other day that
if Joe Warren would only let politics alone he would soon be riding in
his own coach. The rich Tories don't like him much. They say it was he
who gave Governor Bernard such a scorching in Ben Edes's newspaper
awhile ago. He is eloquent when he gets fired up. You ought to hear
him in town meeting; you won't find him stuck up one mite; you can
t