To this proposal I could raise no objection, so, ordering Grampus to keep the people at the pumps to prevent the vessel from sinking, I handed the ladies into the boat, and steered for a rough little wooden stage near the large house I had observed on shore. I had a white flag at the end of a boat-hook in the bows of the boat, that I might be prepared for friends or foes. Not a person was to be seen moving. I ran the boat alongside the stage, and with my passengers stepped on shore, leaving Rockets with the flag and two other hands in the boat. There was, for a short distance, a piece of uncultivated open ground, and then a wood of somewhat scrubby trees through which a path led. We had walked along it but a short distance, when, turning an angle, we were confronted by a body of militia, mustering some dozen or twenty men. "Halt!" cried the sergeant at the head of the party. "Strangers! who are you?" I tried to explain. "That's all very well, and may or may not be true, mister," answered the sergeant, who certainly was not one of nature's gentlemen. "I ain't bound to believe your gammon, I guess; you may be spies, so come along with us and we'll see about it." Here Mrs Tarleton stepped forward. "We are American ladies," said she. "We owe much to this officer, and trust that our countrymen will afford us the aid we require." The fellow still doubted, and was evidently inclined to use us roughly, when we saw a fresh body of men coming along the road, headed by an officer. He at once advanced to inquire into the matter. At first he also seemed not at all ready to believe us. "So many spies are dodging about in various disguises that you may be of that character for what I know to the contrary," he remarked, eyeing us hard. Mrs Tarleton was inclined to be very indignant. As I looked at the man there was something in the tone of his voice and his countenance I thought I recognised. "Is your name Spinks?" I asked. "I guess you're right," he answered. "And you were wounded before New York, and an English officer gave you a sup of spirits and some fresh water, and washed your wounds, and--" "He did, he did; and you're the man who did it!" he exclaimed, springing forward and grasping my hand warmly. "I thought I knew your voice--you saved my life, that you did. I said Amos Spinks would be grateful, and so he will. I'm a lieutenant now; I was then only a private."