“Yes; Glen has told me. I hope you’ll be able to walk soon.” David Hollis looked at his nephew anxiously.
“In two or three days maybe,” said the trapper.
Don groaned. “Not until then?” he asked. “Meanwhile Aunt Martha is all alone.”
“Yes, and she needs you, Donald.” David Hollis was plainly worried. “The worst of it is,” he continued, “that the King’s soldiers have fortified the Neck and are mighty watchful. There’s no way of getting in or out.”
“You’re wrong there,” said Glen. “The back harbor’s dry at low water, you know.”
David Hollis looked doubtful. “It’d be too great a risk to try and cross that way,” he said. “If anything should happen, I’d never forgive myself.”
“Now, listen here,” said Glen; “I promised the boy I’d get him back, and, by thunder, I’m a man of my word. A dark night, a little fog, and nothing’s easier.”
Don’s uncle said nothing for several minutes. At last he grasped the old trapper’s hand. “Glen,” he said, “I’ve never yet known you to fail in an undertaking. May you succeed in this. I see no other way.”
The next day was Friday, and thanks to the trapper’s ointment Don was able to walk a very little. In the evening his uncle came to talk with him again. “I probably shan’t see you again for some time,” he said. “My company is leaving Cambridge. When you see your Aunt Martha I want you to say this to her: tell her first of all that I’m safe and well and that she needn’t worry. Second, tell her that at the first opportunity I want her to leave the town; it’s the height of folly to remain. And, Donald”—David Hollis spoke in a low voice,—“tell her I love her. And now, my boy, good-bye, and God bless you!”
That was the last that Don saw of his uncle for many, many weeks. The next day he and the trapper went for a short walk among the narrow, twisting streets of the town. Soldiers were quartered in many of the houses, and people were talking of others that were soon to arrive. One man remarked that as a result of the British attack on Concord and Lexington an army of twenty thousand Provincials had arisen almost overnight. There was much brave talk of attacking the King’s troops in Boston and of driving them headlong into the sea.