“If four or five should go out, there would still remain as many as our people of Wilkesbarre believe to be here,” I continued, thinking aloud rather than making a statement which demanded any answer, and the old man asked with more of impatience than I had yet seen him display: “What wild plan have you in mind, Jonathan Ogden? Don’t forget that you are the captain of this company, and as such it is your duty to keep them together.” “A poor captain have I made,” I replied, hotly. “It were better for all that the youngest of the party had been selected for the command. If I should go out, you can serve the lads more to their advantage than I could ever hope to do.” “There is no good reason why you make such talk as that, and I would refuse to listen, save that it is necessary I know upon what your mind is dwelling.” “That can be told quickly,” I replied, burning with the desire to be where I could strike a blow at those who were making ready for such work as the imps of the evil one would blush at. “I am minded to go out there, not boldly, nor in a careless manner, but to creep upon that band of demons until it be possible either to drive them away, or do the last friendly act to our comrades who are prisoners--bring them to their death quickly.” “He who has had the most experience in warfare with the savages will tell you, Jonathan Ogden, that you haven’t one chance in ten thousand, even though you take all your company of Minute Boys, to drive away those savages after they have once begun, or made ready for their cruel work. I grant you it would be a blessed boon to kill the lads quickly; but to do that you would bring down, not only upon yourselves, but on all within this stockade, that horde of ravening wolves.” I was not minded to continue the discussion when the moments were so precious, and knew beyond a peradventure that Simon Bartlett would never give his consent to my going in case I asked it; therefore did I put the matter plainly before him: “It is my intent, Master Bartlett, to do whatsoever I can to aid my comrades, and with the expectation of meeting death while doing it. Neither the fact that I am in command of this company, nor that it is a forlorn hope on which I am embarking, can prevent me. If so be two others here want to go with me, I believe it possible the dear lads may be killed before they are tortured.” “I am one who goes with you, Jonathan Ogden,” came a voice near at hand, and, looking down from the platform on which the old man and I were standing, I saw Giles March, who had come up unobserved and thus heard a goodly portion of the conversation. “But you must stay here, Giles,” I cried, and he replied, sharply: “What fetters have I more than you? Is the captain of a company the only one who is permitted to attempt a man’s work?” As a matter of course, that silenced me. What reply could I make to such questions?