Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/144

128 thought of the young girl and her mother whom he had so recently left in their lonely farmhouse. The courage of the girl, her gray eyes that at times seemed almost to snap fire, her intrepid and apparently fearless manner, ind at the same time her gentleness and the tenderness with which she had cared for him, were uppermost in his mind. It was strange, he reflected, that he should be thinking so much more of what Hannah had done than of the part her mother had taken. Both were in peril, and as soon as he had delivered his letter into the hands of General Clinton and received his instructions from him, he would at once seek out Mr. Nott and his sons and inform them of the danger that threatened their home. If it should be impossible for the men to return, then at least they could make arrangements for the removal of the two women to some place where they would be safe from harm.

His meditations were interrupted as he glanced up and recognized that he was once more near Dirck's home. His first inclination was to stop and see the man, and perhaps follow out his original purpose of being ferried across the river, then proceed on that side until he should have gained a place opposite