No one could mistake Seth for other than an Englishman, owing to his speech, and the Tory sent us on our way with many a soft word, believing he was holding converse with those who loved the king as dearly as he professed to do. Twice we came upon a single Tory abroad, most likely to spy out some poor Whig, and in each case did Seth speak fairly while Sam and I kept in the shadow that we might not be seen, with the result that never once was our real character suspected, and then, just after daybreak, we were come to the creek on which we had left our gallant little sloop after she had borne us so bravely past all the king’s ships. Verily I had the hardest kind of work to prevent myself from shouting aloud in joy when I saw the end of her topmast above the foliage, thus showing that our enemies had not found her; but I was literally stunned when, on clambering over the rail, I found the cuddy hatch fastened on the inside, thus giving proof that some one had taken possession of her. CHAPTER XVII. UNDER FIRE. I was in the advance when we came upon the gallant little Swiftsure lying half concealed by the foliage as when we had been forced to abandon her, and had leaped aboard while my comrades were a dozen or more paces in the rear. It required no more than ten seconds for me to make the discovery that the hatch was bolted on the inside, thus showing that the cuddy had occupants, and without stopping to question whether it might be prudent thus to raise my voice, I cried: “There’s somebody aboard here! Hurry, lads, for perhaps we set a trap without knowin’ it, an’ have caught some game!” Seth Hartley, realizing my folly, for if there were Britishers in the cuddy I was thus much the same as inviting an attack, came up at full speed believing we had lighted upon a hornet’s nest, and I had had time to grow more uneasy in mind when the hatch was pushed open. Now I did indeed cry aloud in astonishment not unmixed with fear, for I fancied it was the face of Abraham Decker that looked out upon me, and yet I knew, or believed I did, that it could not be him in the flesh, for if the lad was alive and at liberty he would be in Peter Snyder’s hut. “Well, have I changed so much in these few hours that you don’t know me?” the lad asked as he thrust his head and shoulders through the hatch, and, as I fancied, looked with surprise upon me. “Have you given up tryin’ to lend Abel Grant a hand?” I was aroused from my stupor of surprise by hearing Sam cry in a joyful tone as he clambered over the rail: “If this isn’t good fortune I never expect to have any! How does it happen that you are here, Abraham Decker?” “First tell me why you have abandoned Abel?” the lad demanded, for by this time Seth Hartley had come aboard, and he could see that we three were alone.