He had begun to load the musket as he spoke, doing so with deliberation as if there was no good reason why he should make haste; and such leisurely movements had even more effect upon the Tory than did the show of ammunition.
"I didn't count you had more than a single charge," he said, with a whine.
"It seemed odd to me that you should suddenly have plucked up so much courage," Nathan replied scornfully. "Even though our ammunition had been exhausted, you could not have held us back with that rotten club. Load carefully, Evan, for I don't want to make any mistake as to aim!"
"Are you countin' on killin' me?" Ephraim cried, in an agony of terror, flinging down his poor weapon and holding out both hands in supplication. "Would you murder a fellow who never did you any harm?"
"You are the veriest coward in the Carolinas;" and Nathan spoke in a tone of such contempt that even the thick-skinned Tory winced.
"Come out here, and we'll make certain of taking you back to Broad River!"
The Tory meekly obeyed, making no show of protest lest he might bring down the anger of his captors upon himself; and Evan said, as he finished loading both weapons:
"Do you walk ahead, Nathan, and let him follow. I'll come close at his heels, and we'll spend no more time over this job than may be necessary. Abbott should be near at hand by the time we get back to the trail."
Ephraim obeyed in silence and, because he neither begged nor whined, the boys feared lest he had some plan of escape in his mind.
"Do not take your eyes from him for a single instant," Nathan cried warningly as he led the way in the manner suggested by Evan, "and shoot at the first suspicious move he makes. We have done this work in short order, and now it will be because of our own carelessness if the troop sets off without us."