I nodded. "It seems we have missed our cue on all sides," he went on, not without bitterness. "I would we might have had a chance to fire a shot or two before the ship went down." "At Camden, you mean? That's but the beginning; the real battles are all to be fought yet, I should say." He shook his head despondently. "You are a newcomer, Jack, and you know not how near outworn the country is. Gilbert Stair has the right of it when he says there will be nothing to stop the redcoats now." I called to mind the resolute little handful under Captain Abram Forney, one of many such, he had told me, and would not yield the point. "There will be plenty of fighting yet, and we must go to bear a hand where it is needed most," said I. "Where will that be, think you? At Charlotte?" He looked at me reproachfully. "This time 'tis you who are the laggard in love, John Ireton. Will you go and leave Mistress Margery wanting an answer to her poor little cry for help?" I shrugged. "What would you? Has she not taken her affair into her own hands?" "God knows how much or little she has had to say about it," said he. "But I mean to know, too, before I put my name on any company roll." We were among the trees by this, moving off for safety's sake, since the day was coming; and he broke off short to wheel and face me as one who would throttle a growling cur before it has a chance to bite. "We know the worst of each other now, Jack, and we must stand to our compact. Let us see her safe beyond peradventure of a doubt; then I'm with you to fight the redcoats single-handed, if you like. I know what you will say--that the country calls us now more than ever; but there must needs be some little rallying interval after all this disaster, and--" "Have done, Richard," said I. "Set the pace and mayhap I can keep step with you. What do you propose?" "This; that we go to Witherby Hall and get speech with Mistress Madge, if so be--" "Stay a moment; who are these Witherbys?" "A dyed-in-the-wool Tory family seated some ten miles across the line in York district. True, 'tis a rank Tory hotbed over there, and we shall run some risk." "Never name risk to me if you love me, Richard Jennifer!" I broke in. "What is your plan?" His answer was prompt and to the point. "To press on afoot through the forest till we come to the York settlement; then to borrow a pair of Tory horses and ride like gentlemen. Are you game for it?" I hesitated. "I see no great risk in all this, and whatever the hazard, 'tis less for one than for two. You'd best go alone, Richard." He saw my meaning; that I would stand aside and let him be her succor if she needed help. But he would not have it so.