"Where shall I go, father?" he asked.

The Squire was silent for a while. He had exhausted himself by the
energy with which he had spoken hitherto. When next he opened his
lips his words came more slowly and languidly.

"If I were in your place, boy, I should go forth and see what is
doing at the seat of war. I love not war for its own sake. It is a
cruel and terrible thing. Yet there be times when it becomes a
righteous thing; and methinks England is doing right to ally
herself with the foes of France to crush the tyranny of that proud
nation, whose king would fain be monarch of all Europe if he could.
I know not whether men untrained to arms may enlist themselves in
the ranks of the great Duke of Marlborough, whose genius is winning
renown for England's sons. But were I young, methinks I would go
forth and see some of the great things that are doing in the world;
and it might well be that a fine grown young fellow, with stalwart
limbs, a firm seat on a horse, and a knowledge of sword play and
the use of firearms, might even find a place in the ranks of the
great general. Whether or not, he would see life as he had never
seen it before, and learn lessons which might make a man of him all
his life."

The prospect was attractive and exciting for Tom, who loved a fight
as he loved nothing else, and who had a very exalted idea of his
own prowess and skill in arms. He could wrestle and throw better
than any antagonist he had ever met, and was no novice with pistol
or sword. He had the good opinion of his powers which naturally
came to one who had seldom or never found his match in his native
place; and already in imagination he saw himself riding at the head