“I will soon know the truth,” cried the chaplain.  “I, a man of peace, can surely go forth, and ascertain who these people are, and what is their object.”

“You, Woods!  My dear fellow, do you imagine a tribe of blood-thirsty savages will respect you, or your sacred office?  You have a sufficient task with the king’s forces, letting his enemies alone.  You are no missionary to still a war-cry.”

“I beg pardon, sir”—­put in the serjeant—­“his reverence is more than half right”—­here the chaplain rose, and quitted the room in haste, unobserved by the two colloquists—­“There is scarce a tribe in the colony, your honour, that has not some knowledge of our priesthood; and I know of no instance in which the savages have ever ill-treated a divine.”

“Poh, poh, Joyce; this is much too sentimental for your Mohawks, and Oneidas, and Onondagas, and Tuscaroras.  They will care no more for little Woods than they care for the great woods through which they journey on their infernal errands.”

“One cannot know, Hugh”—­observed the anxious mother—­“Our dear Robert is in their hands; and, should Mr. Woods be really disposed to go on this mission of mercy, does it comport with our duty as parents to oppose it?”

“A mother is all mother”—­murmured the captain, who rose from table, kissed his wife’s cheek affectionately, and left the room, beckoning to the serjeant to follow.

Captain Willoughby had not been gone many minutes when the chaplain made his appearance, attired in his surplice, and wearing his best wig; an appliance that all elderly gentlemen in that day fancied necessary to the dignity and gravity of their appearance.  Mrs. Willoughby, to own the truth, was delighted.  If this excellent woman was ever unjust, it was in behalf of her children; solicitude for whom sometimes induced her to overlook the rigid construction of the laws of equality.

“We will see which best understands the influence of the sacred office, captain Willoughby, or myself;” observed the chaplain, with a little more importance of manner than it was usual for one so simple to assume.  “I do not believe the ministry was instituted to be brow-beaten by tribes of savages, any more than it is to be silenced by the unbeliever, or schismatic.”

It was very evident that the Rev. Mr. Woods was considerably excited; and this was a condition of mind so unusual with him, as to create a species of awe in the observers.  As for the two young women, deeply as they were interested in the result, and keenly as Maud, in particular, felt everything which touched the fortunes of Robert Willoughby, neither would presume to interfere, when they saw one whom they had been taught to reverence from childhood, acting in a way that so little conformed to his ordinary manner.  As for Mrs. Willoughby, her own feelings were so much awakened, that never had Mr. Woods seemed so evangelical and like a saint, as at that very moment; and it would not have been difficult to persuade her that he was acting under something very like righteous superhuman impulses.