Dolly Duane’s kindly heart was filled with pity at the rough usage of the “little lord.�
“Oh, sir,� she said, as she pushed through the crowd and laid her hand on the big bully’s arm, “let the child go. ’Tis unmannerly to treat him as you do, and you’re very, very cruel.�
The fellow turned roughly around and looked down into Dolly’s disturbed and protesting face.
“What, another of ’em?� he said surlily. “Why, the place is full of little Tories.�
“No, no; no Tory I!� said indignant Dolly. “My father is Mr. Duane, and he is no Tory.�
“Mr. Duane, of the Congress?� “Give up the lad to the maid.� “Why harm the child?� came mingled voices from the crowd.
“What care I for Duane!� said the bully contemptuously. “One man’s as good as another now in free America—isn’t he? Bah! you’re all cowards; but I know when I’ve got a good thing. You don’t bag a Phillipse every day, I’ll warrant you.�
“No; but we bag other game once in a while,� said Dolly’s cousin, young Edward Livingston, pushing his way to her side. “We bag turncoats, and thieves, and murthering runagates sometimes, even in ‘free America’; and we know what to do with them when we do bag them. Friends,� he cried, turning to the crowd, “do you know this fellow? He’s a greater prize than the little Phillipse. ’Tis Big Jake of the Saw-mill—a ‘skinner’ one day and a ‘cow-boy’ next, as it suits his fancy and as it brings him booty. I know him, and so does the water-guard. I am Livingston, of Clermont Manor. Let down the lad, man, or we’ll turn you over to the town-major. He’d like rarely to have a chance at you.�
The crowd uttered a cry of rage as it closed excitedly around the burly member of the lawless gang that had preyed upon the defenceless people of the lower Hudson during the years of war and raid. The bully paled at the sound, and loosed his hold upon the little Phillipse. Without waiting to see the issue, young Livingston dragged the “little lord� from the throng, while his companion, Master Clinton, hurried Dolly along, and they were soon free from the crowd that was dealing roughly enough with Big Jake of the Saw-mill.
“Now, Dolly, let us go back to the farm before we get into further trouble,� said Cousin Ned, a pleasant young fellow of eighteen, who looked upon himself as the lawful protector of “the children.�