'And that's quite right to be sure, and very suitable to the occasion, Pete,' he said. 'Bless your heart, who ever looked to see this day when you went up that same tree to get Mr. Godfrey down; and a very near thing too, so it was?'
'To think of me ever having to help Mr. Godfrey down,' laughed Pete, as he lashed the flag-staff to the topmost bough; 'why, if one's to believe Uncle Kiah, he can a'most run up the mast with his eyes shut, and stand on his head on the top.'
'Oh, that's not nearly all he can do,' said Nancy, who was there, of course, steadying the ladder.
'Nance, is it true that your Uncle Kiah came home in a post chaise with the gentlemen?' asked one of the inn maids.
'Of course it is,' said Nancy, with her head inches higher than usual.
'And did King George really thank Master Godfrey himself for saving them French papers?'
'Of course,' said Nancy, promptly, 'or at least he sent somebody very grand to do it.'
'And did he and his papa really swim over from France with the letters in their mouths and the cannon-balls flying all over them?'
'I'll tell you all about it by-and-bye, I'm going to get eggs for the captain's breakfast,' said Nancy, who was as important as the Admiral of the Fleet; 'but you see if Mr. Godfrey doesn't have a ship of his own directly, and medals all over him.'
And at the top of Sir Godfrey's oak the English flag flew free and fair, as it flies amidst the storm of shot and shell, the roar of winds and the din of battle.