“Let me tie the horse. It’s my trade, you know,” said the other, with a sardonic grin. “Or shall I put him up? No, you must return, that there may be no suspicion! Well, then, come in, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
They entered the cabin, and took seats by a table, on which Arrison immediately placed some peach brandy. No one else appeared to be present about the premises, though, at first, Aylesford thought he heard a light step moving in the interior room, for the house had two apartments. After taking a long draught, Arrison spoke.
“You were surprised, I suppose, to get the word I sent? You thought I was completely driven out of these parts? But there’s a good time coming, let me tell you,” and he rubbed his hands, “for his Majesty, God bless him! is going to send an expedition against the Neck, burn the vessels there, and reduce the whole district about the mouth of the river. Before a week we’ll have the pick of all the booty here, live and dead, that can be had. The pretty girls, I suppose,” he added with a leer and chuckle, “are not all gone yet.”
For a moment Aylesford sat in mute surprise.
“You amaze me,” he cried, finally. “I have heard nothing of this.”
“How should you?” answered Arrison, with a laugh. “’Gad, if the rebels caught you acting the spy, they’d string you up to one of the buttonwoods, at the Forks, before you could say Jack Robinson. They’d not stop a minute for your laced coat. It would be a short shrift and a dance on nothing, as they say in the old country.”
“Then you play the spy on the rebels, and in return get at the royal General’s secrets—is that it?” said Aylesford.
Arrison nodded.
“And you are sure of your news?”
“As sure as I sit here. The expedition has sailed before this, and its arrival can be delayed only by head-winds. It may be playing the devil among the rebel privateers and their prizes even now.”