"Tell me no lies or it shall go the worse with you. How long has it been that you of the Carolinas must search for food in the forests?"
"Since his majesty's troops overrode the colony, quartering themselves upon those whose store of provisions was already scanty."
"Be careful how you speak! I am not in a mood to hear insolence from those who rebel against their lawful king," and the major made a threatening gesture, bending from his horse as if he would strike the boys.
Evan stepped back a pace in fear; but Nathan boldly held his ground as he asked bravely:
"Think you, sir, that two lads like us may do the king harm?"
Major Ferguson's face reddened with rage, and motioning for one of the troopers to advance, he said:
"Disarm and bind these insolent cubs who dare bandy words with their betters. They shall talk in a different strain before I am done with them."
"Would you make prisoners of us who are not soldiers?" Nathan asked even as the man seized him by the arm. "Would you carry away from their homes two boys upon whom a family is depending for food?"
"Where are your fathers?" Major Ferguson asked sharply.
"I have none," Nathan replied. "My mother is a widow."