"An' he best have a care that he don't get his roof burnt over him an' his d----d King's friends." "Have a care yourself, man," said John Devereux, warningly. "'T is not wise to do aught yet that will give them a handle to use for our own hurt." "Aye," muttered the third, "that may do for now. But if Jameson don't go with his own sort when they leave the place, it may not be so easy for him as it has been in the past." "How long, think ye, Master John, afore the redcoats quit the Neck?" inquired Bait. "That were a hard matter for any one to say," was the young man's reply. Then, as he urged his horse forward, he turned to add over his shoulder, "But take my advice, and avoid any brawling with the soldiers, for the present, should you run foul of them." "That will have to be as it may," one of the men answered doggedly, "accordin' as to how they mind their own affairs and let us alone." "We shall come to have fighting in our streets yet, Jack; you may be sure of it," said Hugh Knollys. "Our men can never brook with any patience the swaggering of these impudent fellows." The other glanced at him warningly, with a significant motion of the head toward Dorothy; but the girl did not appear to notice their talk, and was looking dreamingly away into the distance. Mary Broughton, who was slightly in advance, turned her head; and Hugh saw how her blue eyes were kindling as she exclaimed, "I, for one, should not care if we _did_ come to blows! I'd like to see our men show the Britishers that they cannot have matters altogether their own way down here." "Would you like to take a gun yourself, Mary, and help teach them this lesson?" was Hugh's laughing question. "Yes," she declared resolutely. "And I am sure I could handle it, too." "You'll never need to do that, sweetheart, so long as I live to carry out your mind," said Jack, who had been wondering why Hugh looked at Dorothy so oddly, and why she was so strangely silent. When the early evening meal was over that night, the two young men took their way into the town, where a meeting was to be held. Old Leet rowed them down, they preferring this as being least likely to attract notice; and avoiding the old wharf, they landed on the beach, near the warehouses, thence taking their way cautiously through the fish-flakes that filled the fields, until they reached the streets up in the town. These were deserted, but filled with lurking shadows, being dimly lit by a stray lamp fastened here and there to the buildings. They walked slowly toward the town hall, while they talked in low tones of Jameson, making no doubt but that his attentions and hospitality to the Britishers would be known and commented upon at the meeting. When close to the hall a wild clamor broke out from somewhere ahead of them; and they hurried forward to learn what it might mean.