According to my way of thinking we were already rewarded by such words as these, and but for the darkness Master Hamilton would have seen my cheeks crimsoned with shame because he had given us far more than we deserved.
It was but natural that there should be considerable confusion on our side of the river; all who had lately changed their camping places were seeking for new quarters, and already the slope of the hill outside the lines of our encampment was literally covered with human beings.
The late comers were compelled to find a resting-place on the other side of the elevation, and thus were our horsemen literally hemmed in. If it should become necessary to make a quick movement, it would require some time to clear the ground in order to avoid trampling the visitors beneath the hoofs of our horses.
Every member of the Regulation was now doing guard duty, and as soon as Sidney and I had concluded our interview with the general, we joined our comrades, when the weary work of pacing to and fro was resumed.
At the river front remained a line of Regulators who allowed any person to come over; but refused passage to such as would have gone back, and thus we held the key to the situation so far as keeping the peace was concerned.
Until this last move of Governor Tryon's I think the majority of our people believed the king's officers would not dare do other than give the prisoners a fair trial, although perhaps no one was convinced that it was more than a farce to bring Fanning before the bar.
Now, however, when we had good proof as to the lengths Tryon was ready to go, and could see plainly that he was using every effort to place the Regulation in a false light before the world, there was much doubt as to the outcome of the cases in court.
The Regulators on duty discussed the matter among themselves as if it was a foregone conclusion that might, not right, would rule, and such of the visitors as I heard conversing were loud in their declarations that justice must prevail even though it should be purchased by force.
"There is likely to be hot times to-morrow," Sidney said to me as we halted an instant when everything seemed peaceful. "If we are brought face to face with Tryon's army, much blood will be shed on both sides before the question is settled definitely."
"But that blood will cement the colonies in such manner that oppression in one will be felt by all the others. We shall have effected a union, and what are our lives in comparison to such a consummation?" a voice said, and, turning, I saw Master James Hunter, who had come up in time to overhear our conversation.