nteresting. The men were
mostly tall, thin, and with keen but composed eyes. They were of purer
British blood than those in New York, but it seemed to Robert that they
had departed something from type. They were more strenuous than the
English of Old England, and the New Yorkers, in character if not in
blood and appearance, were more nearly English than the Bostonians. He
also thought, and he was not judging now so much from a glimpse of
Boston as from the New England men whom he had met, that they were
critical both of themselves and others, and that they were a people who
meant to have their way at any cost.

But his attempts to estimate character and type were soon lost in his
huge delight at being back in his own country. Robert's mind was a
mirror. It always reflected his surroundings. Quickly adaptable, he
usually perceived the best of everything, and now busy and prosperous
Boston in its thin, crisp air, delighted him immeasurably. His feelings
were much as they had been when he visited New York. Here was a great
city, that is, great for his country and time, and it was destined to be
much greater.

As usual with sailors Captain Whyte and Lieutenant Lanham wished to go
to a coffee house, and Robert, nothing loath, accompanied them to one of
good quality to which they were directed near the water front. Here they
found numerous guests in the great common room and much talk going
forward, mostly talk of the war, as was natural. There was much
criticism of the British Government, not restrained at all, rather
increased, by the uniforms of the two naval officers.

"'Tis reported that the new expedition gathered at Louisbourg will go
the way of the one that was repulsed at Ticonderoga," said a thin,
elderly man. "I hear 'tis commanded by young Wolfe, who is sickly and
much given to complaint. Abercrombie, who led us at Ticonderoga, was
fat, old and slothful, and now Wolfe, who leads the new force is young,
sickly and fretful. It seems that England can't choose a middle course.
Why doesn't she send us a man?"

"That I can't tell you, Master Carver," said the man whom he was
addressing, "but I do know that if England would consult Massachusetts
more we'd fare better in this war. We should have marched over the
French army at Ticonderoga. I can't understand to this day how we lost
that battle."

"It seems that in very truth we lacked something there."

Robert was sitting not ten feet from them and their tone being