Pierre seized upon the blanket which had fallen from Uncle 'Rasmus's knees when he set about making his way toward the door to offer his body as a living barricade, and tore it into strips until he had an apology for a rope sufficient to have tied two men, and began dextrously binding Hunt's feet and arms.
His action caused me to bestir myself, and I began to fashion a gag for the fellow's mouth, knowing full well that we could not frighten him into silence as we had frightened Horry Sims.
The Jerseyman recovered from his exertions before little Frenchie and I had finished our task, and then he took from my hand the stout billet of wood which I was wrapping with strips torn from the blanket, as he said:
"I am not minded to have the blood of this fellow on my head, yet perhaps it would be better for all concerned if we shut off his wind for so long a time that it could never be recovered again, for he is like to be a millstone around your neck, lad, and may yet succeed in working his purpose. Killing one in cold blood, even though it be for the Cause, is more than I am willing to undertake."
"But he must be gagged," I cried, thinking that Master Morgan was growing soft-hearted and might waste too much time in mourning over his victim.
"Let not your heart be troubled as to that, lad," the Jerseyman said grimly. "To thrust this gag into the fellow's mouth just now would be indeed the same as cutting his throat. We must wait until he is well nigh conscious of his surroundings, and then bind it in place so securely that he cannot work loose from it."
Then it was, while Morgan knelt by Abel Hunt's side awaiting the proper moment to deprive him of all power of speech, that I realized what we had done. I speedily understood that this victory of ours was the same as a disaster, for how could we, unable to procure food or water save at great risk, care for two prisoners, and at the same time the thought came into my mind like a red light of warning, that the companionship of Abel Hunt would embolden Horry Sims, and mayhap make of him something more than the coward he had thus far shown himself.
Even though we should be able to feed these prisoners, yet must we hold them here in the midst of the British camp where the least accident would bring the soldiers in upon us, and it did not at that moment seem to me possible we could keep the two fellows in the loft any length of time without in some way betraying the secret.
"What about the Tory lad?" Master Morgan asked while he yet awaited the proper time for thrusting the gag into Hunt's mouth.
"We are forced to hold him, as a matter of course. The question in my mind as you spoke was how we might care for two prisoners, while we ourselves are in much the same situation, save than we are at liberty to move about inside this cabin?"