"You will be too late, sir," the Hessian said coldly. "I have my orders, and before you are half way to the general's camp, that prisoner will be swinging from that bough."
"I order you to desist, sir, till I return," General Hamilton said.
"As I do not happen to be in your division, General Hamilton, and as I have received my orders from the commander in chief, I decline altogether to take orders from you."
Walter, who had resigned himself to his fate, stood watching the altercation with a renewed feeling of hope. This died out when the colonel spoke, and two of the troopers seized him, but at that moment his eye fell upon one of the English officers.
"Colonel L'Estrange!" he exclaimed.
The officer started, at hearing his name called out by the prisoner, but he did not recognize him.
"I am Walter Davenant. You remember, sir, the wreck off Bray?"
"Good heavens!" Colonel L'Estrange exclaimed, pressing forward.
"It is the lad who saved my life, General Hamilton!
"Gentlemen, this young officer saved my life at the risk of his own. I cannot and will not stand by and see him murdered."