Nat’s wits came slowly back to him during this time, and he painfully grasped each fact as it presented itself to him. The struggle with the stranger came first—then, finally, the object of the man’s visit.
“The saddle-bags!” he cried, starting to his feet.
“Are gone,” replied Ben Cooper in a startled tone, for in his anxiety for Nat this important fact had been forgotten.
Nat’s eyes went accusingly toward Ezra; he had not fully recovered from the shock of the blow and the boy’s figure was seen through a sort of haze.
“And the message?” spoke Nat, in an unsteady voice.
“It is safe,” replied Ezra Prentiss, quietly. “I have it here in my pocket.”
CHAPTER XVI
THE TALL MAN BRINGS A FRIEND
At the announcement of Ezra, his companions gazed at him in surprise.
“What Mr. Revere said upon the stairs as we were going to bed,” said the young New Englander, “made quite an impression upon me. So I had not been buried in the four-poster long before I found that I could not sleep so long as the message was where it was. So I got up, removed it from the bag and put it under my mattress.”
Revere was much gratified at this.