"Well, and what did you lose when you showed yourself not only a traitor to the Cause, but a cur, gaining the confidence of your comrades only that you might betray them to a British prison? Can such as you walk the streets freely while I, who have made no pretense of being other than what your governor calls a rebel, must remain in hiding?"
"It is the duty of every true man, as well as lad, to serve the king, and there can be no such thing as treachery when one works in behalf of his lawful sovereign," Seth replied, wincing and raising his arm before his face as if thinking I counted on striking him.
"The lawful sovereign of these colonies is whosoever the people shall choose to be their ruler, and the time is speedily coming, Seth Jepson, when the lobster backs will be driven out of Boston. After that has been done you will be called upon to settle with the Minute Boys, and I assure you the debt won't be easily paid."
I was deliberately striving to work myself up into a fury that I might strike the cur senseless with a blow, taking the chance of killing him, for as the seconds sped I realized how great was our danger unless his tongue could be silenced.
He must have seen something of this in my face, for he wheeled about suddenly, crying at the full strength of his lungs as he attempted to flee:
"Murder! murder!"
He had no time to make further outcry, for as soon as the word was repeated I clutched him by the throat from behind, dragging him backward, and burying my fingers so deeply in his neck that he was like to be strangled.
It was only when his eyes bulged out and his tongue protruded, as after the hangman has finished his work, that I realized I was within an ace of taking a human life. Then I released my hold; kneeling on his breast, I pinned both his arms down to the ground so that he had no opportunity of escaping, or making an attack upon me.
No sooner had I done this, and he began to breathe more freely, than I realized that by my assault I had increased the danger, for surely, even at that time of night, those living near about must have heard that shrill, frantic cry.
To leave him now in condition to follow me, would be the greatest folly of all, and acting upon the impulse of the moment I clutched him by the collar, dragging the cur to his feet as if he had been of no more weight than a baby. Then I forced him on before me down Union street toward the mill pond as I said sharply, yet in a cautious tone, while I withdrew my knife from its sheath that he might see I had a weapon: