I was getting to have a better opinion of these soldiers which the king had sent against us, and a conversation such as we were overhearing then did much toward taking away the personal enmity I had always felt toward the lobster-backs. They were in the same position as Seth Hartley had been, sworn on enlisting to serve his majesty, and were but doing their duty when they fired upon us Americans. Yet all this might they do, and not relish the task. I strained my ears to hear more of the conversation; but it had come to an end, for the man had relieved his mind concerning Luther Stedman, or some other of the same kidney, and was done with his grumbling for the time being. Not another word was spoken, so far as I could hear, and within a short time the sound of footsteps told that the visitors were departing. “Who were they talking about?” I whispered eagerly to Abraham as soon as it seemed safe to speak, and he replied: “I can’t say for certain; but it strikes me that it might be Abel Grant an’ Luther Stedman. Whether it was or no, however, that marine was a decent fellow, an’ had a fair opinion of the Tories.” At this point Seth Hartley laid his hand on my arm to command attention, as he said almost solemnly: “That marine was a mate of mine. He was drafted, as was I, to the ship Good Hope, an’ if so be she’s bein’ used as a prison hulk, I’m thinkin’ our dream of lendin’ aid to Abel Grant stands in a fair way of bein’ realized. Barney Nelson, he who was grumblin’, is a good deal of a man, and has the right idea about you colonists. If so be matters are as I think, an’ we could come to have private speech with him, I’m believin’ a full half of the work would be done.” I could hardly believe my ears. That we should have thus come upon, or, I might say, thus been visited by a comrade of Seth’s seemed almost incredible, and that the very ship from which we had escaped was the one where we could count on finding Abel Grant, seemed too strange a coincidence to be true. “Is it likely that she would be the one selected as a prison ship?” I asked hurriedly. “As well her as another, lad. It seems to me that it must be, otherwise why is Barney engaged in escortin’ prisoners to and fro?” “An’ you believe he would lend a hand in the freein’ of Abel?” “I’m not goin’ so far as to say that, Ephraim Lyttle; but this you may count on, that if Barney, without breaking the oath he took, can serve us in any way, he’ll do it. It’s a big point in our favor, however he may look at the matter, if we have a friend among those who man the prison ship.” “But if he is on duty there, how did he happen to come here?” I asked like a simple, and Seth very properly shut my mouth by saying: “That’s a question you don’t expect I can answer. It remains for us to know where Abel is, and we’ll hope he’s quartered aboard Barney’s ship.”