Landless laughed. "So you ran away?"
"Yes; some four years ago, just after I came to man's estate." (He was about nineteen.) "Stowed myself away on board the Mary Hart at Plymouth. Made the Virginny voyage for my health, and on landing was sold by the captain for my passage money. Time 's out in three years, but I may begin to make my fortune before then, for—" He stopped speaking to give Landless a sidelong glance from out his blue eyes, and then went on.
"A voice speaks through the land, from the Potomac to the James, and from the falls of the Far West to the great bay. What says the voice?"
Landless answered, "The voice saith, 'Comfort ye, my people, for the hour of deliverance is at hand.'"
"It 's all right!" cried the boy gleefully. "I thought you was one of us. We are all in the fun together!"
"We are in for a desperate enterprise that may hang every man of us," said Landless sternly. "I do not see the 'fun,' and I think you talk something loudly for a conspirator."
The boy was nothing abashed. "There's none to hear us," he said. "I can be as mum as t' other Dick's cat when there are ears around. As for fun, Losh! what better fun than fighting!"
"You seem to have a pretty good time as it is."
"Lord, yes! Life 's jolly enough, but you see there 's mighty little variety in it."
"I have found variety enough," said Landless.