"I do. I shall fight for my home against the governor of New York—ay, against the king himself. Stand back! You have no warrant for my arrest and no writ of dispossession."
"I had, but I have been robbed,"
"A likely story that. If it is as you say, then you are not a fit person to be a sheriff."
"I own I was careless, but that will not help you."
"I shall not surrender without a writ."
"But you will be a prisoner, anyway, for there is a warrant out for your arrest as a rebel and a traitor."
"Was that stolen, also?"
"Mine was but a duplicate; the original has been sent by the hand of Sheriff Alston."
"Where is he?"
A man stepped forward and announced himself as Alston, a sheriff duly appointed by Gov. Tryon, of the Colony of New York.