Pemberton. Will you display the American flag?"

"Suppose I refuse?"

"We will pull your house down over your head. We will give you a coat of
tar and feathers, and remove you beyond the limits of the town. If you
ever come back, we will hang you to the nearest tree."

"Good Heaven! Is it possible that my fellow-citizens are
assassins--incendiaries!"

"Your answer, squire."

"For mercy's sake, husband, do what they ask," interposed his wife, who
had been an anxious listener in the adjoining room.

"I must do it," groaned the squire, speaking the truth almost for the
first time in forty-eight hours. "Alas! where is our boasted liberty of
speech!"

"Fudge! squire," replied Captain Barney, contemptuously. "If your friend
Jeff Davis should come to Massachusetts to-morrow, to preach a crusade
against the North, and to raise an army to destroy the free institutions
of the country, I suppose you think it would be an outrage upon free
speech to put him down. We don't think so. Up with the flag, squire."

"Fred, you may hang the flag out at the front window up stairs," said the
squire to his son.

"All right, squire. Now a few words more, and we bid you good night. You