resolve, for what could I do single-handed, except for the boy Humphrey Hyde, against so many.  But it was all, and a man can but give his all.  I knew if the militia were to find Mary and Catherine Cavendish in that house, grave harm might come to them, if indeed it came not already without that.  So I stood back against the door which I had previously tried, and found fast, and Sir Humphrey was with me.  Then came a hush for a moment whilst the magistrate with Captain Waller, and others sitting on their horses around him, read the Riot Act, and bade us all disperse and repair to our homes, and verily I wonder, if ever there hath been in all the history of England such a farce and mummery as that same Riot Act, and if ever it were read with much effect when a riot were well under way.

Scarcely time they gave the worthy man to finish, and indeed his voice trembled as if he had the ague, and he seemed shrinking for shelter under his big wig, but they drowned out his last words with hisses, then there was a wild rush of the rabble and a cry of “Down with the tobacco!” and “A Bacon, A Bacon!” Then the militia charged, and there were the flashes of swords and partisans and the thunder of firearms.

I stood there, feeling like a deserter from the ranks, yet bound to keep the door of Laurel Creek, and I had a pistol in either hand and so had Sir Humphrey Hyde, but for a minute nobody seemed to heed us.  Then as I stood there, I felt the door behind me yield a bit and a hand was thrust out, and a voice whispered, “Harry, Harry, come in hither; we can hold the house against an army.”

My heart leapt, for it was Mary, and, quicker than a flash, I had my mind made up.  I turned upon Sir Humphrey and thrust him in before he knew it, through the opening of the door, and called out to him to bar and bolt as best he could inside, while I held the door.  He, whether he would or not, was in the house, and seeing some of the soldiers riding our way with Captain Waller at their head, was forced to clap to the door, and shoot the bolts, but as he did so I heard a woman’s shrill cry of agony ring out.

I stood there, and Captain Waller rode up with his soldiers, and flashing his sword before my face like a streak of fire, bade me surrender in the name of his Majesty, and stand aside.  But I stood still with my two pistols levelled, and had him full within range.  Captain Waller was a young man, and a brave one, and never to my dying day shall I forget that face which I had the power to still with death.  He looked into the muzzles of my two pistols, and his rosy colour never wavered, and he shouted out again to me his command to surrender and stand aside in the name of the King, and I stood still and made no reply.  I knew that I could take two lives and then struggle unarmed for perhaps a moment’s space, and that all the time saved might be precious for those in the house.  At all events, it was all that I could do for Mary Cavendish.