“Mother dear, do not weep; they shall be avenged!  Nobody can listen to Uncle Charles and not be moved.  Hark how they are shouting now—­hark!  I can see them raising their arms to heaven.  They are shaking their fists in the direction of the windows of the Assembly House.  Surely those cowardly men must be roused to action; they cannot hear unmoved a tale such as Uncle Charles has to tell!”

“Yet even so the dead will not be restored to life; and war is a cruel, bitter thing.”

“Yes, but victory is glorious.  And we shall surely triumph, for our cause is righteous.  I am sure of that.  And Julian Dautray says the same.  I think he is a very good man, mother; I think he is better than the Quakers, though he does not talk as if he thought himself a saint.

“O mother, there is Uncle Humphrey looking up at us!  I pray you let me go down to him.  I long so greatly to hear what Uncle Charles is saying.  And I shall be safe in his care.”

“I think I will come, too,” said Hannah, whose interest and curiosity were keenly aroused; and after signalling as much to Humphrey, they threw on their cloaks and hoods, and were soon out in the streets, where an excited crowd had gathered.

“The posts have come in,” said Humphrey, as they made their way slowly along, “and there is news of fresh disasters, and nearer.  In a few minutes we shall have more news.  Men have gone in who promise to come out and read us the letters.  But the bearers themselves declare that things are terrible.  The Germans have been attacked.  A Moravian settlement has been burnt to the ground, and all its inhabitants butchered.  Families are flying from the border country, naked and destitute, to get clear of the savages and their tomahawks.  Every where the people are calling aloud upon the Assembly to come to their succour.”

The crowd in the street was surging to and fro.  Some were Quakers, with pale, determined countenances, still holding to their stubborn policy of non-resistance to the enemy, but of obstinate resistance to the Governor and the proprietaries.  The sight of these men seemed to inflame the rest of the populace, and they were hustled and hooted as they made their way into the Assembly; whilst the Governor was cheered as he went by with a grave and troubled face, and on the steps of his house he turned and addressed the people.

“My friends,” he said, “I am doing what I can.  I have written to the proprietaries and to the government at home.  I have told them that the conduct of the Assembly is to me shocking beyond parallel.  I am asking for fresh powers to deal with this horrible crisis.  But I cannot look for an answer for long; and meantime are all our helpless settlers in the west to be butchered?  You men of the city, rise you and make a solemn protest to these obstinate rulers of yours.  I have spoken all that one man may, and they will not hear.  Try you now if you cannot make your voice heard.”