t one hour the boy had changed from
youth to man. The love which he had hardly dreamed was in his heart
had risen like a wave and overwhelmed him; the capture and abduction of
his sweetheart, the whole brutal and outrageous proceeding, had filled
him with burning wrath. He could not wait to strike a blow for liberty
against such tyranny now, and his soul was full of resentment to the
mother he had loved and honored, because she had held him back; all of
the devoted past was forgotten in one impetuous desire of the present.
To-morrow should see him on the way to the army, he swore. He wrung
his hands in impotent passion.

"Katharine, Katharine, where are you?" he murmured. Seymour stirred.
"Are you in pain, my friend?"

"No," said the sailor quietly, his heart beating against the
blood-stained handkerchief, as he echoed in his soul the words he had
heard: "Katharine, Katharine, where are you? where are you?"

CHAPTER X

_A Soldier's Epitaph_

Left to himself in the deserted hall, the old sailor walked over to the
body of the old soldier. Many a quaint dispute these two old men had
held in their brief acquaintance, and upon no one thing had they been
able to agree, except in hatred of the English and love of their common
country. Still their disputes had been friendly, and, if they had not
loved, they had at least respected each other.

"I wish I had not been so hard on the man. I really liked him,"
soliloquized the sailor. "Poor Blodgett, almost forgotten, as Mr.
Talbot says. He died the right way, though, doing his duty, fighting
for his country and for those he loved. Well, he was a brave man--for
a soldier," he murmured thoughtfully.

Out on the river the little sloop was speeding rapidly along. Ride as
thou wilt, Philip, she cannot be overtaken. Most of the exhausted men
lay about the decks in drunken slumber. Johnson stood moodily by the
man at the helm; his triumph had been tempered by Desborough's
interference. Two or three of the more decent of his followers were
discussing the events of the night.

"Poor Joe!" said one.

"Yes, and Evans and Whitely too," was the reply.

"Ay, three dead, and nobody hurt for it," answered the other.

"You forget the old fellow at the landing, though."

"Yes, he fought like the devil, and came near balking the whole game.
That was a lucky shot you got in, Davis, after Evans missed and was
hit. That fellow was a brave man--for a rebel," said the r