ere," he said. "I think I'd like
to help clear out the Tories, and to get a whack at those pine
robbers. I have a reckoning to settle with them on my own account.
This field will suit me all right."

"Good for you, nevvy," cried his uncle in a shout. "I thought you'd do
it. You are a lad after my own heart. Still, it is only fair that you
should know that your task will be fraught with danger. The Tories
single out for vengeance any man who fights with unction against them.
Let him proceed with too much ardor and he becomes a marked man."

"That is true in any part of the country, uncle, as well as in New
Jersey," was the lad's rejoinder. "I am ready for whatever goes with
the work."

But at this there came a cry from his mother:

"Tom Ashley, what are you getting my boy into?"

"Nothing that my own boys have not endured, Hannah. One fell in the
great battle on yonder plain near the court-house, and lies now in
Freehold burying-ground. The other, Charley, made the same choice as
your boy, and is down at Tom's River helping to defend old Monmouth."

"But oh----" she began when Fairfax interrupted her:

"It's all right, mother. It means no more danger than I'd have to
encounter with the regular army, or than I have already faced in the
militia at home."

"It may be," she answered, but her eyes were troubled. "It may be."

"It waxes late," exclaimed Mrs. Ashley glancing at Sally whose eyelids
were drooping in spite of herself. "These girls, at least, are ready
for bed; and to bed they must go."

And without heeding their protests the good woman hurried them up to a
little room under the eaves, nor would she depart until they were
tucked warmly in the great feather-bed. Sally's drowsiness left her as
soon as she found herself alone with Peggy.

"Peggy," she whispered, snuggling close to her friend, "what does thee
think of it all?"

"'Tis like the Carolinas and Virginia were," returned Peggy soberly.
"Oh, Sally! is it not awful that men should so hunt and hound each
other? The poor people of the states have stood so much that 'tis
marvelous that any are left for resistance. Nurse Johnson whispered to
me that she should not feel easy until we were back in Philadelphia."

"Would that we were," said Sally earnestly. "Peggy!"

"Yes, Sally."

"I was afraid this afternoon when the robbers attacked us. What if I
were to be fearful all the time?"

"We must not be, Sally," spoke Peggy quickly. "'Twould wherrit th