"By joining the force which Ninian Hamilton is gathering you may be free from the sheriffs for a time; but it is possible that by so doing you will be charged with treason."
"Do you count on serving with him, Master Peyster?" Sidney asked, and the old man replied quickly,
"I have already set down my name as one who will serve the colonies to the best of my poor powers, for I am of the Regulation, as are your fathers. I am but now summoning all of the association to the rescue of those who are so unjustly imprisoned—those who were taken because they put faith in Tryon's sworn word."
"Where may Master Hamilton's force be found?" I asked eagerly, for now my mind was made up to join those who would measure strength against the king.
My plight could not well be worse in case I should be charged with treason, for of a verity the inability to raise such an amount of money as the hungry officeholders demanded was, in the Carolinas, a greater crime than that of conspiring against the king himself.
"The rendezvous is near Chapel Hill, where the highway crosses the New Hope River. You will not be welcomed, however, unless you go armed, for the association can provide neither weapons nor money."
Having said this much old Jacob spurred his horse on, as if afraid of saying anything which might influence us in our decision; but he need not have been so particular, because even before he ceased speaking both Sidney and I were resolved.
The dear lad turned to me with a question in his eyes when Master Peyster rode away, and I answered it by saying:
"There is naught else left for us to do. From what the old man said we know that the sheriff's officers will soon be at our heels, and anything is better than rotting in Hillsborough jail."
"Then we have only to turn back for our weapons, and the treason is complete," he said with a laugh, wheeling his horse around as he spoke.