CHAPTER VII.
TIMELY AID.
It appeared to me that Master Howell was trying to "lock his stable door after the horse had been stolen," when he mourned the fact that what we were doing in our own defense might be taken as open rebellion.
To my mind the people had rebelled openly and with emphasis when the Regulators rode, four hundred strong, to release Masters Husband and Hunter.
We four who had visited Brunswick to lay before the governor a petition couched in most respectful language, could not be accused of aiding and abetting rebellion when we objected to being shot down or taken prisoners by strangers who had no lawful warrant to deprive honest citizens of their lives or liberty.
As the matter presented itself to my view, those on the outside were the ones who acted in a rebellious manner, and there was no honest judge in the country who would not rule that we had every right to protect ourselves.
Something of this kind I said to Master Howell when he appeared to be bowed down with grief because, as he declared, our people were making a show of what might be called treason, and to my great surprise I found that we who were fighting our way from Brunswick to Hillsborough did not have any place in what it might please the governor to term "open rebellion."
"We four are of no consequence in the outcome of this matter," Master Howell said, condescending to explain to me the situation as it appeared to him, "and yet through us, or, rather, through our distress, will the king's officers most likely declare the upper Carolina under military rule. If we could continue our journey to Maddock's Mill without interruption, all would be well. Or, if we fought for our lives from this moment until we were killed or come to our journey's end, it would also be of no moment. That which distresses me is, that young Payne will give the Regulators an account of our troubles, and those gentlemen will ride in full force to aid us. Then has come the time for Governor Tryon's minions to declare that the colony is in revolt, and the fact that four hundred armed men have banded together to regulate affairs outside their own country is fair proof that the cry of treason has good foundation."
"Well, and what then?" I made bold to say.
"Then will the king's troops be sent to Hillsborough and the surrounding towns. Fanning and Edwards can work their will on the people, with an armed force at their backs, and when the Regulators oppose the military it will be represented that the whole colony is in revolt."
"That was much the condition of affairs when we left Maddock's Mill," I ventured to suggest.