Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/179

 leave until to-morrow for the Town by the River!"

"Will ye hush!" Angrily the British officer turned upon James.

There was a little silence, broken only by the crunch of their boot soles upon the garden path as they went toward their horses. Then Sally, standing unobserved within the door, heard James speak in a quick, sharp voice.

"I tell ye," he declared, "the maid yonder doth know where these women be! She it was who did gi' the message to my mother! Why not make her tell?"

Sally clutched dizzily at the wall behind her. The words "that the girl be branded i' the arm!" flashed terrifyingly through her mind. Was she to be tortured here, now, and forced to betray her friends? The British officer's next words, however, dispelled her newborn fears. Apparently, more than Jerry Lawrence in the King's army knew humanity. Not all were of Stockton's or Cunningham's caliber!

"We war not on women or children under my command!" he returned coldly. And Sally, in tremendous relief, saw both James and him rejoin the company of waiting horsemen, mount their horses hurriedly, and ride away in the direction whence they had come, toward the Town by the River, finally disappearing around a bend in the road.