and the great trees on the lawn were taking gray and ghostly shapes in
the dim perspective.

"You heard what he had to say?" said he.

I nodded.

"It seems we have missed our cue on all sides," he went on, not without
bitterness. "I would we might have had a chance to fire a shot or two
before the ship went down."

"At Camden, you mean? That's but the beginning; the real battles are all
to be fought yet, I should say."

He shook his head despondently. "You are a newcomer, Jack, and you know
not how near outworn the country is. Gilbert Stair has the right of it
when he says there will be nothing to stop the redcoats now."

I called to mind the resolute little handful under Captain Abram Forney,
one of many such, he had told me, and would not yield the point.

"There will be plenty of fighting yet, and we must go to bear a hand
where it is needed most," said I. "Where will that be, think you? At
Charlotte?"

He looked at me reproachfully.

"This time 'tis you who are the laggard in love, John Ireton. Will you
go and leave Mistress Margery wanting an answer to her poor little cry
for help?"