ew moments
one of the field-hands, followed by Seymour, burst panting into the
room, his mouth working with excitement and his eyes almost starting
from his head.

"Well, sir, what is it?" said the colonel.

"Foh de Lawd's sake, suh, dey'se a-comin', suh, dey'se a-comin'.
Dey'se right behin' me; dey'll be heah in a minute, suh."

"Who is coming, you idiot!" exclaimed the colonel.

"De redcoats, de British sojuhs, suh; dey 'se fohty boat-loads ob 'em;
dey'se come off fum de lil' sloop out in de ribah, and dey 'se gwine
kill we all, and bu'n de house down. Dey done shot Mars' Blodgett, and
dey'se coming heah special to get you, suh, Mars' Kunnel, kase I heahd
dem say, when I was lyin' down on de wha'f, dat de man dey wanted was
dat Kunnel Wilton."

"It is quite true, sir; they seem to be a party of raiders of some
sort," said Seymour, coolly. "I fear that Blodgett has been killed, as
I heard nothing of him. I saw them from the brow of the hill. Perhaps
you may escape by the back way, though there is little time for that.
Do you take Miss Wilton and try it, sir; leave me to hold these men in
play."

"Yes, yes, father," urged Katharine; "I know it must be Lord Dunmore's
men and Johnson. They know that you have come back from France, and
now the man wants to take you prisoner. You remember what the governor
told you at Williamsburg, that he would make you rue the day you cast
your lot in with the colonists and refused to assist him in the
prosecution of his measures. And you know we have been warned at least
a dozen times about it. Oh, what shall we do? Do fly, and let me stay
here and receive these men."

"What! my daughter, do you think a Wilton has ever left his house to be
defended by his guest and by a woman! Seymour, I believe, however, as
an officer in the service of our country, your best course is to leave
while there is yet time."

"I will never leave you, sir; I will stay here with you and Mistress
Katharine, and share whatever fate may have in store for you."

But even as he spoke, the crowding footsteps of many men were heard at
both entrances to the wide hall-way which ran through the house. At
the same moment the door was violently thrown open, and the dining-room
was filled with an irregular mass of motley, ragged, red-coated men,
whose reckless demeanor and hardened faces indicated that they had been
recruited from the lowest and most depraved classes of the inhabitants
of the colony.