“Because, ’squire, it’s impossible to do otherwise.  We can’t go to work, for the life of us, if we wished to; we all feel that we have gone too far, and those, whose own consciences do not trouble them, are yet too much troubled by fear of the consequences to be in any hurry to take up handspike or hammer again in this quarter of the world.”

The too guilty man had indeed spoken his own and the condition of the people among whom he lived.  They could now see and feel the fruits of that rash error which had led them on; but their consciousness came too late for retrieval, and they now wondered, with a simplicity truly surprising to those who know with what facility an uneducated and warm people may be led to their own ruin, that this consciousness had not come to them before.  Ralph, attended by Forrester, advanced among the crowd.  As he did so, all eyes were turned upon him, and a sullen conference took place, having reference to himself, between Munro and a few of the ringleaders.  This conference was brief, and as soon as it was concluded, the landlord turned to the youth, and spoke as follows:—­

“You were a witness, Mr. Colleton, of this whole transaction, and can say whether the soldiers were not guilty of the most unprovoked assault upon us, without reason or right.”

“I can say no such thing, sir,” was his reply.  “On the contrary, I am compelled to say, that a more horrible and unjustifiable transaction I never witnessed.  I must say that they were not the aggressors.”

“How unjustifiable young sir?” quickly and sternly retorted the landlord “Did you not behold us ridden down by the soldiery? did they not attack us in our trenches—­in our castle as it were? and have we not a right to defend our castle from assailants?  They took the adventure at their peril, and suffered accordingly.”

“I know not what your title may be to the grounds you have defended so successfully, and which you have styled your castle, nor shall I stop to inquire.  I do not believe that your right either gave you possession or authorized your defence in this cruel manner.  The matter, however, is between you and your country.  My own impressions are decidedly against you; and were I called upon for an opinion as to your mode of asserting your pretended right, I should describe it as brutal and barbarous, and wholly without excuse or justification, whether examined by divine or human laws.”

“A sermon, a sermon from the young preacher, come, boys, give him Old Hundred.  Really, sir, you promise almost as well as the parson you heard yesterday; and will take lessons from him, if advised by me.  But go on—­come to a finish—­mount upon the stump, where you can be better seen and heard.”

The cheek of the youth glowed with indignation at the speech of the ruffian, but he replied with a concentrated calmness that was full of significance:—­