“If that day comes, I shall return to Boston, and I shall bring with me men as well as sheep.”
“Ho, ho!” laughed the British officer. “That is your thought, is it, hey? It is treason, sir; treason to the British Crown.”
“Sir,” said Putnam, “an enemy to justice is my enemy; is every man’s enemy. It is a man’s duty to stand by human rights.”
Dennis studied every farmhouse and nook and corner by the way. He had a quick mind and a responsive heart, and he was learning America readily.
He could read lettered words, so he looked well at the sign-boards at four corners and on taverns and milestones. He “stumbled” in book reading, but could define signs.
“Could you find your way back again?” asked the Major of him, as they rested beneath the great trees on Boston Common.
“And sure it is, Major. I would find my way back there if I had been landed at the back door of the world.”
“Well,” said the Major, “then you may go back in advance of us alone.”
Dennis parted from the Major, and dismounted in a couple of days or more before the Governor’s war office with
“And it is the top of the morning, it is, Governor.”