Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/280

264 come over here to fight men of my own race, and sometimes I wish I had stood out, as some of my friends did, and not come at all. That was why King George had to get Hessian troops to send over, for his own subjects did n't want to fight, especially when a good many of them thought the colonies were not all wrong either. But that's neither here nor there. I'm a good subject of his Majesty King George, God bless him,—and I don't believe in rebellion anyway, though I may not like the job of helping to put it down. But what beats me is, when I land in America, to find that the very worst and most bitter men are Americans. Why, you could n't find a man in the whole British army who would treat the rebels as you have just served these men—they may be your own friends and neighbors, for all I know. We can't do anything more here, and this man is coming around all right," he added, as he glanced at the burning buildings and then at Jacob Gunning, who now was sitting erect.

"Ye 're on yer way to Esopus, are n't ye, Lieutenant?" inquired Claudius Brown.

"Yes. Are you going, too?" responded the lieutenant suspiciously.

"We will if ye want us to. Ye 're to wait