"Well, the substance of it all was that he had sent a lot of Iroquois across the river to cut us off before we can reach Wilkesbarre, and he has no doubt they will succeed. He goes over himself, so as to be on hand, I believe, to take charge of me--that is, when _they catch me_." "Is that all?" "Do you think of anything more?" asked Rosa, addressing Ned. "You have given all that was said--that is, all that is worth telling," answered the young man, into whose brain were burned some utterances which had not been referred to by his fair companion. "If there is anything else," persisted Jo, "why, let's have it; for though it may seem trifling to you, it may be of importance when weighed by the Mohawk. Out with all you remember!" "I have nothing more to tell," replied Ned, feeling the situation becoming embarrassing. "I forgot something else," added the girl, in a light manner, that sent the shivers down the back of young Minturn, for his instinct told him what was coming. "You can't ask me to tell you all the bad words Colonel Butler used." "Not unless you would like to go over them, but let me know what it was that _caused_ him to speak in that style?" "Oh! but he had good cause for it all, for that wicked Captain Bagley told him there was a young gentleman somewhere that thought all the world of me, and of whom I thought all the world, and the idea that I liked anybody else besides him was what made him so angry. I believe you have _all_ now." "Yes, I believe I have," replied Jo, with a low laugh. "Jack and I were standing almost as close to them as were you and Ned, and we heard their conversation." If the pretty sister had possessed a parasol, she would have made her brother's head feel the weight thereof. All this was pure jest that seemed to intrude itself by a law of physiology into the hearts oppressed so long by grief, dread and anxiety. But there was one heart upon which the airy words fell with a weight of which the speakers never dreamed. To Ned Clinton there was something cruel in this reference to his affection for Rosa. He considered it a sacred secret--perhaps dimly suspected now by Rosa herself--too sacred, indeed, to be spoken of in jest by others.