congress.  The major had endeavoured to persuade a white man, who professed to hold the legal authority for what was doing, of the perfectly neutral disposition of his father, when, according to Joel’s account, to his own great astonishment, the argument was met by the announcement of Robert Willoughby’s true character, and a sneering demand if it were likely a man who had a son in the royal army, and who had kept that son secreted in his own house, would be very indifferent to the success of the royal cause.

“They’ve got a wonderful smart man there for a magistrate, I can tell you,” added Joel, with emphasis, “and he ra’ally bore as hard on the major as a lawyer before a court.  How he found out that the major was at the Hut is a little strange, seein’ that none of us know’d of it; but they’ve got extraor’nary means, now-a-days.”

“And, did major Willoughby admit his true character, when charged with being in the king’s service?”

“He did—­and like a gentleman.  He only insisted that his sole ar’nd out here was to see his folks, and that he intended to go back to York the moment he had paid his visit.”

“How did the person you mention receive his explanations?”

“Waal, to own the truth, he laugh’d at it, like all natur’.  I don’t believe they put any great weight on a syllable the major told ’em.  I never see critturs with such onbelievin’ faces!  After talking as long as suited themselves, they ordered the major to be shut up in a buttery, with a warrior at the door for a sentinel; a’ter which they took to examining me.”

Joel then proceeded with an account—­his own account, always, be it remembered—­of what passed between himself and the strangers.  They had questioned him closely touching the nature of the defences of the Hut, the strength of the garrison, its disposition, the number and quality of the arms, and the amount of the ammunition.

“You may depend on’t, I gave a good account,” continued the overseer, in a self-satisfied way.  “In the first place, I told ’em, the captain had a lieutenant with him that had sarved out the whull French war; then I put the men up to fifty at once, seein’ it was just as easy to say that, as thirty or thirty-three.  As to the arms, I told ’em more than half the pieces were double-barrelled; and that the captain, in particular, carried a rifle that had killed nine savages in one fight.”

“You were much mistaken in that, Joel.  It is true, that a celebrated chief once fell by this rifle; even that is not a matter for boasting.”

“Waal, them that told me on’t, said that two had fallen before it, and I put it up to nine at once, to make a good story better.  Nine men had a more desperate sound than two; and when you do begin to brag, a man shouldn’t be backward.  I thought, howsever, that they was most non-plussed, when I told ’em of the field-piece.”

“The field-piece, Strides!—­Why did you venture on an exaggeration that any forward movement of theirs must expose?”