“But I’m sure you don’t want us to turn you all out by force, and burn down your settlement, though it seems to me as if there isn’t much left to burn,” he added, as he glanced round at the distant heaps of burned timber and ashes.
“We will build it all up ready for you, sir, against your expedition comes,” said Colonel Preston, sharply.
“Oh, come, come,” said the man; “that’s all brag. Look here: take my advice, make friends with the Dons here, and let me say you’ll pack off quietly, because they mean mischief if you do not go.”
“You have had my answer, sir,” said the General, haughtily. “Tell your leader that, for his own sake, I hope he will not drive us to extremities. We are prepared to fight, and fight we shall to the end.”
“Oh, very well,” said the man, in a grumbling tone; “I’m only a messenger. I’ve given our people’s orders, and now I’m ready to take back yours. Only don’t say, when you’re all made prisoners and marched off to our plantations, that I didn’t as an Englishman give you a timely hint.”
The General bowed, and the man stood staring at him for a few moments, and then from one to the other, in an undecided way.
“Then you won’t go?” he said at last.
The General made a sign to Colonel Preston.
“No, sir; we will not go,” said the latter, firmly.
“Oh, very well. ’Tarn’t my fault. I like peace, I do; but if you will have it rough, why, it’s your own fault.”