"Abbott was the last man in the Carolinas who should have been trusted with such a duty!"
"If we had hanged the villain it would not now be possible for him to do us so much mischief!"
"Now that the Britishers are certain to be warned of our movements, there is little hope of taking them by surprise!"
These and similar remarks gave the eager, perturbed boys a fair idea of what had occurred; but yet Nathan would not credit that which appeared to be a fact until having more definite assurance that the young Tory was in a condition to work wrong to the patriots of the Carolinas.
"What has happened?" he asked of a man who was insisting that the officers were guilty of a great crime when they prevented the men from hanging the prisoner.
"Happened?" the man repeated angrily. "That young Tory whose neck should have been stretched an hour ago, has given Joseph Abbott the slip, an' is most likely on his way to King's Mountain in order to inform Major Ferguson of what we would have done this night!"
"Ephraim escaped?" Evan repeated in dismay, and immediately there came to him the knowledge of all it might be possible for the Tories to effect.
It was certain that once Major Ferguson had been warned of the proposed attack, it would be so guarded against that a heavy loss of life on the part of the Americans must inevitably be the result, and prudence would dictate that the movement be abandoned.
Insignificant though Ephraim Sowers was, he now had it in his power to save the king's troops from severe loss, and could, most likely, thwart the patriots at the very moment when they might strike such a blow as would free the Carolinas from the invaders.
The escape of the Tory was the most disastrous happening that could have been brought about by the enemies of the colonies, and the knowledge that it was possible only by sheer carelessness on the part of a true friend to the Cause, served to aggravate the offense which had been committed.