Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/178

 cabin once more, while the red-coat walked around the house outside. At last he brought up before Sally again.

"What did ye expect?" she asked tantalizingly. "Thought ye your mother would attack ye that ye needed the knife?"

James turned purple. "How knew I that no rebel might be in hiding!" he shouted. "They be the kind who hide behind their womenfolk!" he added.

Now it was Sally's turn to flare up. "That be a lie, James Williams, and ye know it!" she cried. "What about our splendid victory at Trenton last Christmas, forsooth! And on January third last at Princeton? I' truth, It seemed to me our men were not so afraid!"

"Here, here!" The red-coat eyed the two irate young people from the door. "Well, the place be empty, sir, so far as I can see," he added grimly to James, who could only look back at him in crestfallen silence. "I do hope," he added, turning away, "that the rest o' your information be more accurate. The rebels most certainly chose some other place for their work than this!"

"Nay," grumbled James, flinging a last malignant glance at Sally as he followed the other, "how was I to know an they changed their plans! At any rate," he added indiscreetly, "I be sure about Uzal Ball! That rebel be home this day—for he does not