On being commanded to push forward once more the boys obeyed readily, if not willingly, and during the hour which elapsed before they gained the desired point, Nathan and Isaac had ample opportunity for conversation, since their captors did not seem to be averse to their talking one with the other.
“Of course, we shall be held prisoners by the king’s troops once we are arrived at Crown Point,” Isaac ventured to say after they had traveled steadily, although slowly, onward for nearly half an hour, and young Beman replied in a petulant tone:
“That goes without saying, and it shows what a fool I’ve been in running around with those who would oppose the king’s will. If father is eager to ruin himself, that’s no 198 reason I should be a fool, and I’d better have listened to mother.”
“Why speak of what has been done?” Corporal ’Lige’s recruit asked in what he intended should be a soothing tone. “I am not acquainted with the country as you are, neither am I so brave; but yet it seems as if we should be on the alert for a chance to escape.”
“Now you talk like a fool! How may we escape with these three men on watch, all of whom are willing to shoot us at the first chance we give them. I’m not minded to have a bullet put through my body; but would rather trust to the king’s troops, in the hope that after a time we may be set free.”
“Yet if we could give these men the slip?”
“You may be certain we shan’t have a chance.”
“Yet, suppose we did?”
“Why will you be so weak-headed, Isaac Rice? If this is really war between the king and the colonies, the lives of boys like us count for but little, especially since two of these men are eager to be rid of us.”
Isaac understood that it was useless just at this time to make any attempt at arousing his companion from the petulant despondency into which he had fallen, wherefore wisely kept silent; but at the same time was firmly resolved to be on the lookout for any opportunity of gaining his freedom.