“Friend Fairfax,” she called.
“Yes,” answered the lad rising from behind the boxes.
“Colonel Tarleton is after the Assembly at Charlottesville. He wants especially to capture the governor and Patrick Henry.”
“Why, they’ll hang them if they do,” cried Fairfax excitedly. “How do you know, Mistress Peggy?”
“I heard him say so,” answered Peggy. “Friend, what shall we do? They should be warned.”
“Yes,” he answered. “That is what I must do.”
“Thee?” she cried, amazed. “Why, thee is weak and sick, Friend Fairfax. Thee cannot go.”
“I must. Oh,” he groaned. “If I but had a horse. If I but had a horse I could get to Charlottesville before them.”
“It might cost thee thy life,” the girl reminded him. “Thee is too ill to go.”
“What am I but one among many?” he said. “I must try to steal one of their horses.”