n him so much at ease in ordinary intercourse,
Peggy reflected marveling. "I think," continued the youth, "that no
other horse ever bore it."

"Then it must be unusual," declared Sally. "Thee makes me very
curious, Friend Fairfax. What is it?"

"Marsal," he answered. A twinkle came into his eyes as he added:
"After Margaret and Sally: Marsal!" Saluting, he passed on to the head
of the column.

There was a gasp of surprise from the maidens, then a peal of laughter
followed, so mirthful that Nurse Johnson and her sister joined it.

"He hath the best of us, Peggy," cried Sally. "But who would have
dreamed that he had it in him?"

"Of a truth he hath improved markedly," agreed Peggy. "I fear me that
we shall have to change our tactics, Sally."

"'Tis not that he hath lost his diffidence, girls, but the reaction
from fear of danger to us hath rendered him light-hearted," declared
the lad's mother. "He is so relieved that 'tis easy to jest."

And this was the case with them all. So merrily the journey proceeded.
The incubus of fear was lifted from them for the time, and a certain
joyousness of expression was the natural result. It was twenty-five
miles from Monmouth Court House to Tom's River, and so slowly did they
travel that it was not until the next evening that they emerged from
the forest into a long stretch of cleared road at the end of which lay
the thriving little town.

About a hundred yards to the east of the road, on a slight eminence
in the center of cleared ground, stood the blockhouse. It was a rude
structure, unfinished, about six or seven feet high, built of logs
with loopholes between them, and a number of brass swivels on the top,
which was entirely open. Indeed there was no way of entering save by
climbing. A short distance beyond the fort a bridge spanned the river,
for the village was situated on both banks of the stream. Four miles
away the tides of Barnegat Bay swelled and ebbed through Cranberry
Inlet into the ocean. It was the nearness of this inlet that gave the
little place its importance. It was at this time perhaps the best
inlet on the coast except Little Egg Harbor, and was a favorite base
of operations for American privateers on the outlook for British
vessels carrying supplies to New York.

In the near vicinity of the village a gristmill, a sawmill, and salt
works gave evidence of the occupations of the inhabitants; while on
the river, which at this point broadened into a bay, floa