ason of it all--of his fatal course, of
our quarrel, and of the meeting by the banks of the river Elk.

CHAPTER VII

THE DEFIANCE OF THE TORY

A few weeks later I was up and out, fast gaining strength and courage
for the long ride to the northward to join the gallant fellows of the
Maryland Line, who had taken up their line of march soon after the
accident befell me. And though I was eager to be off, the surgeon
would not let me go, and so, until I could gather strength for the
long journey, I served as best I could my country and the commands of
the Committee of Public Safety sitting at the Head of Elk. Thus it was
I rode one day by the side of Edward Veasey, High Sheriff of the
county of Cecil, carrying the writ and command of the Committee of
Public Safety to Charles Gordon of the Braes, now a suspected Tory
and a malcontent. And as I rode by the side of the High Sheriff on
this most unpleasant task, I longed to turn back and let the Sheriff
ride on alone; but duty held me as a point of honour. For as it was, I
was carrying I knew not what ruin and destruction to the roof of the
very house that once had received me as a guest and that sheltered the
fairest eyes that had ever gazed in mine. And now I was to appear
before that house as the bearer of ill-tidings. Ah, duty often wears a
gruesome countenance; yet it is a sign of courage to face this duty
down, and I sat more firmly in my saddle and rode nearer to the High
Sheriff. He was a stern and determined man; he was short of stature,
stout of frame, and sat his powerful horse like the fox-hunter that he
was. But, though it was the height of summer, and the hills and the
forests were green, the air laden with the odour of flowers, and the
streams full and rushing, there was anything but a smile on the High
Sheriff's face. For though he was no friend to Gordon of the Braes, he
liked not the errand on which he rode, and would gladly have turned
his horse's head with me.

"If they want to fight," said he to me, "why don't they join the
Maryland Line and leave men alone who are disposed to be quiet? They
will have enough to do in repulsing the redcoats, and should not stir
up opposition in the rear of our armies, which this persecution of
private individuals will certainly do. I wish some other carried this
writ, and I was with the lads fighting in the North."

"Aye, so do I, but it is the order of the committee," said I grimly.

"True, and as such must be