At that moment the sound of galloping troops fell upon our ears, and a little later the largest body of American soldiers I had yet seen swept around a turn in the road just ahead of us. I drew to the left, and they thundered past, going in the direction of Boston. My companion turned his horse, and prepared to join the troops. As he galloped off with them, I heard him shouting my name, at which I saw three or four of those nearest to him turn their heads and look back toward me somewhat curiously. But they all kept on, and were soon lost in the dust and distance. As I went on my way alone, I could not help thinking upon the words of my late companion, who had left me as suddenly as he came upon me. What he had told me regarding laws and taxes was not really news; I had heard the rebel side of the case many times from Duncan Hale; but there was quite a different note in the words of the rough young farmer. Evidently there were two sides to the great question--at least it was not difficult to see that people thought there were. With myself, as with many others, up to the time of the real outbreak, it had not been necessary to take sides. But now it was quite different. Then I was a schoolboy thinking only of Oxford; now I was the sole defender and counsellor of my mother and sisters. I was anxious to try the case fairly and honestly. I wished to do right. Consulting my feelings alone, recalling the words of Duncan Hale, and remembering that my father had been slain, I felt that perhaps I had done wrong in not openly, even before the troop of soldiers, declaring myself a sympathiser with the King and his cause. But second thought showed me that such a course would have been folly. If I did this, what of my mother and sisters? It was here that the real difficulties of my situation first dawned upon me. Things were strangely bound together. As I rode along, thinking all the while, the situation, instead of growing simpler, became more complex. The whole country was, I saw, in the hands of the rebels. During my entire ride so far, I had not seen a single soldier of the King. My mother and sisters, my father's fine and valuable property, were all at the mercy of the King's enemies. Duncan Hale was a fugitive, if not already a captive. My brother was somewhere in the King's service, but, following his usual policy, my father had revealed nothing. Then if we were able to find him, how could he help us? He could not look for a discharge at such a time. Again, his presence with us might mean more of danger than his absence from us. But the question that insisted on coming to me most seriously and frequently was, 'How am I to serve the King, and yet do what is best for my mother and sisters?'