“Such were Carlisle and Roberts, Quakers of that time, living in Philadelphia.  While the British were in possession of the city those two men were employed as secret agents in detecting foes to the government, and by their secret information caused many patriots to be arrested and thrown into prison.  Lossing tells us that Carlisle, wearing the meek garb and deportment of a Quaker, was at heart a Torquemada.”

“And who was Torquemada, mamma?” queried Walter.

“A Dominican monk of Spain, who lived in the times of Ferdinand and Isabella, and was by them appointed inquisitor-general.  He organized the Inquisition throughout Spain, drew up the code of procedure, and during sixteen years caused between nine and ten thousand persons to be burned at the stake.”

“Mamma! what a cruel, cruel wretch!” cried Walter.  “Oh, but I’m glad nobody can do such cruel things in these days!  I hope Roberts and Carlisle weren’t quite so wicked as he.”

“No, I should not like to think they would have been willing to go to quite such lengths, though they seem to have shown enough malignity toward their patriotic fellow-countrymen to make it evident that they had something of the spirit of the cruel and bloodthirsty Torquemada.

“Though they would not bear arms for the wealth of the Indies, they were ever ready to act as guides to those whose object was to massacre their fellow-countrymen; and that only because they were determined to be free.”

“Were not some of those in New Jersey known as ‘Pine Robbers,’ Grandma Elsie?” asked Evelyn.

“Yes; they infested the lower part of Monmouth County, whence they went on predatory excursions into other parts of the State, coming upon the people at night to burn, murder, plunder, and destroy.  They burrowed caves in the sandhills on the borders of the swamps, where they concealed themselves and their booty.”

“Did they leave their hiding-places only in the night time, mamma?” asked Walter.

“No,” she replied, “they would sometimes sally forth during the day and attack the farmers in their fields.  So that the men were compelled to carry muskets and be ready to fight for their lives, while women and children were kept in a constant state of terror.”

“I think I have read that one of the worst of them was a blacksmith, living in Freehold?” remarked Evelyn, half inquiringly.

“Yes, his name was Fenton; he was a very wicked man, who, like many others calling themselves Tories, took advantage of the disturbance of the times to rob and murder his fellow-countrymen; he began his career of robbery and murder very early in the war.

“One of his first acts, as such, was the plundering of a tailor’s shop in the township.  A committee of vigilance had been already organized, and its members sent Fenton word that if he did not return what he had stolen he should be hunted out and shot.

“He was a coward, as such villains almost always are, and did return the clothing, sending with it a written message, ’I have returned your ——­ rags.  In a short time I am coming to burn your barns and houses, and roast you all like a pack of kittens.’