“H’m!� grunted the corporal. “It doesn’t seem that late; but, you know, you can’t tell anythink about anythink in this blarsted country.�
Brinton now began to be very much afraid that his father would come before the soldiers left. He wanted to move the pendulum faster and faster, but after what the corporal had said he did not dare to. Then, when the men lapsed into silence, it suddenly came over Brinton how dreadfully weary he was, how all his bones ached, and how much, how very much, he wanted to cry. But he felt that his father’s only chance of safety lay in his keeping the pendulum swinging to and fro, to and fro.
At last, however, came the welcome sound of the corporal’s voice bidding the men get ready to start.
Whang—whang—whang—whang—whang—whang!
“Fall in!� ordered the corporal. “Forward, march!�
As the sound of their footsteps died away, Brinton, all of a tremble, opened the door of the clock and stumbled out. He knelt at the window and watched the retreating forms of the redcoats. As they disappeared down the road he heard a noise behind him, and jumped up with a start.
There stood his father!
The next instant Brinton was sobbing in his arms.
Brinton’s mother came into the room. “Dear me!� she said; “what ever can be the matter with the clock? It’s half an hour fast.�