A certain emphasis on the last word caused Huntoon to glance toward Neville, who was scrutinizing the inside of his pipe, and had scarcely noted the stranger's entrance.
"Go on," said Huntoon, "it is quite safe. I'll be warrant for the close mouth of my friend here. Besides," here he drew back behind Neville, and tapped his forehead significantly, "he is a stranger here, and neither cares nor knows anything of our entanglements."
"Then, Master Huntoon, I will make a clean breast of the matter that brought me hither. You are a Virginian, and a man of honor."
"Certainly the former, and I have some hopes of the latter."
"Then join us in our effort to wrest away the land which the perfidious Calverts have stolen under guise of royal grant from the Commonwealth."
"'Stolen' is a strong word, Councillor."
"Not too strong to fit the occasion. Was not the license to trade with the natives along the Maryland shore granted to me by the government of Virginia, and afterward by the King himself?"
"It was."
"Was it not under authority of Virginia that I made a settlement at Kent Island? "
"Yes, but—"