"Then have you suffered needlessly, as do all who fail of taking heed to everything which goes on around them, judging one incident from its connection with another," little Frenchie said with a low, soft laugh, and then, taking my hand in his as if he was the father and I a baby, he led me to the scuttle, going down the ladder in advance cautiously, much as though believing it would be necessary to aid my faltering steps.
CHAPTER VII
MORGAN, THE SPY
When Pierre and I were come to the lower floor I noted that some one had thrown a bit of wood on the embers, and it was blazing up sufficiently to cast faint rays of light whereby we could see Uncle 'Rasmus standing midway between the outer door and the chimney, looking down upon the red-coated man who lay near the fireplace, as if questioning what his intentions might be.
Saul stood opposite the stranger gazing at him in mingled wonderment and alarm, while the man himself appeared to be wholly unconcerned and entirely at his ease, as if he was among friends in the one place of all others he most desired to be.
It was a strange scene that thus presented itself to me, and rendered so by this seeming Britisher among us who claimed the proud title of rebels, apparently friendly after having learned what should have brought us to a speedy military trial, the conclusion of which must have been conviction and the halter.
It was the soldier who broke the silence, as he said with a faint smile wherein was more of sadness than of mirth:
"By this time you lads must have come to understand that I am a friend instead of an enemy, and yet I am enlisted in the king's service, wearing this uniform in token of being willing to serve him."