o your eyes I know
'tis you, Robert, your very self. Sit you down and tell me how you have
risen from the grave, and why you've come to comfort an old man with
this most sudden and welcome news!"

The moisture rose in Robert's eyes. Truly he had friends, and not least
among them was this thin, shrewd Bostonian. He drew a chair close to the
colonel and spun the wonderful tale of his kidnapping, the sea fight,
the wreck, the island and his rescue by the _Hawk_. Colonel Strong
listened intently and seldom interrupted, but when Robert had finished
he said:

"'Tis clear, lad, that your belief in the good spirits was well placed.
We lose nothing by borrowing a little from the Iroquois beliefs. Their
good spirits are our angels. 'Tis all the same in the essence, only the
names are different. 'Tis clear, too, that they were watching over you.
And now this house is your home so long as you stay in Boston. We're
full of the great war, as you'll soon learn. Mr. Pitt has sent over a
new commander and a mighty attempt will be made on Quebec, though if the
King and Parliament of Britain did their full duty, the expedition would
be three times as large, and, if the Legislature and Governor of
Massachusetts also did their full duty, they would give three times as
much help."

"I'll stay gladly with you to-night, sir, but I must go in the morning.
I wish to reach Albany as soon as possible and show that I'm not dead.
You're the first, sir, of all my friends, to learn it. I must tell my
comrades of the _Hawk_ good-bye too. They've been very good to me, and
their ship is in your harbor."

"But you spend the night here. That's promised, and I can give you news
of some of your friends, those gallant lads who were with us in the
great adventure by the lake. The young Englishman, Grosvenor, the
Philadelphians, Colden, Wilton and Carson, and the Virginians, Stuart
and Cabell, have all been to see me. Grosvenor joins a regiment with
Wolfe, the Grenadiers, I think, and the Philadelphians and Virginians
are transferred to the Royal Americans, for the term of the war, at
least."

"I hope to see them all, sir, under the walls of Quebec. Captain Whyte
of the _Hawk_ offered to take me in his ship to the rendezvous at
Louisbourg, but I felt that I must go first to Albany and then join
Willet and Tayoga. We'll go by land and meet the army and fleet coming
down the St. Lawrence."

"A proper plan, and a proper ambition, my lad. I would that I cou