Lettice looked suddenly grave. “I reckon I’d better not go alone,” she said, as she turned away.
“It is such a lovely afternoon for a sail,” she remarked, as she settled herself in the boat. “You don’t expect to shoot any game, do you, Jamie? What’s the gun for?”
“For defence, if need be, and this pistol, too.” He laid it down by the side of the gun.
Lutie put both hands to her ears. “Law, Mars Jeems, yuh ain’t gwine in de way o’ dem Britishers, is yuh?” she asked in terror.
“I’m not going to get in their way if I can help it, but they may get in ours. I think, after all, Lettice, you and Lutie had best go back.”
“Not I!” Lettice returned. “I’m here, and here I’ll stay, Britisher or no Britisher. I don’t mean to have you go alone; besides, Aunt Martha is not well, and I ought to go over as soon as I can, she might need me.”
“Rhoda said they might need me, not you.”
“How self-satisfied some one is all of a sudden! I say they may need me. Now, push off; there’s no use parleying. I’ll jump in and swim there if you don’t hurry.”
“I believe you are capable of it,” Jamie returned.
“Of course I am. I am sure the packet would not be running if there were any danger, and you told me, yourself, that none of the enemy had been seen around here.”