“Get up, Bill, and let us in,” the young officer replied.
“Ho! ’Tis you, Master Phil,” came the reply. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
Then the bolts were shot back, the gate was thrown open, and the four lads entered.
“We’ll go right to the barn with you, Bill, and turn in there for a few hours,” the leader of the little party said. “I don’t care to disturb mother until her usual hour for rising.”
“As you say, Master Phil,” the old servant replied, and in a few minutes he had taken their horses, while the weary riders, throwing some blankets on the soft hay, stretched themselves upon them and went to sleep. They were aroused by a girlish voice calling:
“Phil! Brother Phil, where are you? Bill said you had come home.”
“Here I am, Susan,” Philip answered, and, rising, he went to the door of the barn where he met his sister, who was a few years younger than himself. After greeting her affectionately, he said: “I have three lads with me. Will you tell mother? Then we’ll join you at the house.”
“Let me meet your friends first,” she said, waiting for them to come forward. After they were presented, she remarked pleasantly:
“I’ve heard of you all through my father’s letters, and you will find a warm welcome here.” Then she ran on ahead to announce their coming.
In a few minutes they were in the presence of Mistress Schuyler, who received her son as only a fond mother can, and extended to the other lads a most cordial greeting. A hearty meal was served a little later, and then the daughter entertained the other boys while Phil and his mother had a half-hour together, during which he delivered his father’s message. With a heroism that matched her husband’s she sent back the reply: