“I told you not to drink until I got back, I trusted you. What have you got, a prisoner?” Down an embankment by the roadside a young man came half running, half sliding. As he drew near, the two in the road gazing upon him in speechless surprise.
“God help me!” groaned Mason, “there are two of them!”
And Robert saw before him in British uniform, one so like himself that the resemblance made his brain reel.
“What ails you both?” the new comer asked, “staring like a pair of idiots at me as if—” his eyes rested on Shirtliffe and he staggered back. “Who are you?” he questioned, “and what in heaven’s name do you want?”
“I’m an American,” Robert’s voice sounded like an echo of the other’s, “and I’ve been looking for him”—pointing toward Mason. “I’m going to take him back to where he belongs. You’ve kept him drunk since you took him prisoner, and made him a traitor to his country, but I’m going to save him. Let us pass!”
“Not so fast my gallant rebel,” laughed the young Britisher, “you American gentlemen are worth keeping; your information is valuable. The old patriot there, was willing to talk for whisky. Now what’s your price, you come fresh from headquarters?” he placed himself insolently in front of the pair and folded his arms.
“Stand aside!” said Shirtliffe, in low tense tones, and, laying his hand on Mason’s arm he took a stride forward.
“You might as well let us go, Captain Morley,” Mason’s puzzled face turned from one to the other, “I don’t—know—what’s come over me—I can’t think clear, but something tells me to go—with this—one,” he clung childishly to Robert’s hand.
“And I say once again, stand aside,” Shirtliffe’s eyes were dangerous, “you Britishers have no price which will buy some of us. From this poor weak fellow you have succeeded in getting information, but it was a coward’s trick; he is loyal still at heart, and he goes back with me!”
“You rascal!” a stinging blow in the face made Robert stagger, but only for a moment. The strength which had thriven upon neglect and Puritan rigor, blazed forth at the insult, and with unlooked-for power he flung himself upon Morley.