Show yourselves!"

"Is it all right?" Isaac asked timidly, and in a tone which was little
better than a squeak. "Is it all right, corporal?"

"Come in here, Isaac Rice. Can it be it was you who fired those shots?"

The raw recruit came forward almost timidly, and Corporal 'Lige,
shifting the three muskets he had taken possession of over on to his
left arm, seized the boy by the hand.

"I've done a good bit of soldierin' in my day, lad; seen surprises, an'
ambushes, an' attacks of a similar kind without number; but never did I
know of anything that was done with more neatness an' dispatch than this
same job of yours, which has saved my neck from bein' stretched. I'm
proud of you, lad!"

Isaac was overwhelmed by this praise, yet not to such an extent but that
there was a great fear in his mind lest he had taken a human life, and
he asked anxiously:

"Do you suppose I hurt either of them seriously, Corporal 'Lige?" and he
pointed to where the wounded men lay.

"It is to be hoped you killed 'em both, so that we may be spared any
further trouble with the vermin," and not until then did the corporal
condescend to give any attention to those enemies who had been so sadly
worsted by a boy.

Just at this moment the wounded Tories suffered more in mind than in
body, for they now understood who had made the attack upon them, and it
can readily be fancied that both were ashamed at having been thus
defeated in their purpose by one whom they had considered of so little
importance that no effort was made to deprive him of his liberty when
they surprised the encampment.

It was with the most intense relief that young Rice heard the corporal's
report, which was to the effect that he who had acted as leader of the
party had a severe but apparently not exceedingly dangerous wound in the
shoulder, while his comrade was suffering from a bullet-hole in the leg.

"They're disabled, lad, but not killed, an' the first bit of soldierin'
that you have been called on to do is like to give great credit with
such as Colonel Allen and Colonel Easton. Tell me how you happened to
think of overcoming them in this shape?"

"I didn't think of it," the boy replied. "It seemed to me you were like
to be hanged and I only did what was in my power."

"I came nigher to havin' my neck stretched than ever before, an' as it
was, the villainous Tories pulled mighty hard on that rope, before you
effected the rescue; but, lad, you must have thought! Thi