"You know me?"
"Well, now, I reckon if I were to call you Ebenezer Pike——"
"If you did?"
"Yes, I was saying I reckon that you would have to say that was your name."
"What gave you that idea? And who is Ebenezer Pike?"
"I am no tory. Yesterday I heard that a prisoner had escaped from the war ship out there, and that the one who had got away was at the bottom of the sea. I was curious, and I asked all about it. Then I was asked if a body wouldn't float into land; and I said mebbe; and then the bluejacket told me he would give me ten shillings if I found the body and gave it up to him. So I searched and found—you."
"And discovered that I was not worth ten shillings?"
"Never mind what I found; I tell you I ain't no tory, and ten pounds, nor ten hundred pounds, would make me give up a live American hero. His dead body wouldn't be of no account to him, so I might give up that."
"And you think I am this escaped prisoner! Well, what do you want to do with me? for I am too weak to oppose your silly whim."
"I am going to take you to my house, and when you get strong you shall go just where you please."