field."

"I've no doubt of it," said Captain Whyte with the greatest sincerity.
"I'm all for cooeperation with the experienced men of the colonies, and
so is a far greater than I, the illustrious Mr. Pitt. They're on the
ground, they've lived their lives here and they ought to know."

"Our hope is in Mr. Pitt," said Mr. Carver. "You speak well of him,
Captain Whyte, and 'tis pleasing to our ears to hear you, because you
cannot know how his name inspires confidence in the colonies. Why, sir,
we look upon him as almost the half of England!"

It was so. And it was destined to remain so. Whatever happened between
England and America, the name of the elder Pitt, the great Englishman,
kept and keeps its place in the hearts of Americans, who in some
respects are the most sentimental and idealistic of all peoples.

Robert saw that the two young English officers and the two middle aged
Boston merchants were arriving at an understanding, that good relations
were established already, and he thought it wise to leave them together.

"I think," he said, "that I will visit Colonel Strong at his house, and
as my time in Boston must be short 'twill be best for me to go now."

Both Mr. Carver and Mr. Mason urged him to spend the night at their
houses, and Captain Whyte and Lieutenant Lanham were zealous for his
return with them to the _Hawk_, but he declined the offer, though saying
he would certainly visit the sloop before he left Boston. He judged that
it would be wise to leave the four together, in the coffee-house, and,
after receiving careful instructions how to reach the mansion of that
most respectable and worthy Bostonian, Colonel Elihu Strong, he went
into the street.

He found the Strong home to be a goodly house, one of the best in the
city, partly of brick and partly of wood, with columns in front, all
very spacious and pleasing. He knocked with a heavy brass knocker and a
trim colored maid responded.

"Is Colonel Strong at home?" he asked.

"He is, sir," she responded in English as good as his own, "though
confined to his chair with a wound in the leg which makes his temper a
trifle short at times."

"Naturally. So would mine be if I couldn't walk. I wish to see him."

"What name, sir, shall I say?"

"Tell him 'tis one who served with him in wilderness fighting, on the
eve of Ticonderoga."

She looked at him doubtfully, but her face cleared in a moment. Robert's
frank, open gaze invited everybody's confidence