s'pose we shall go back to-morrow, though. I'd like to have yer see some
good stout work first."

"Ain't we in danger here?" inquired Nancy.

The skipper rolled his quid of tobacco in his cheek reflectively a
moment. "Well, no," he said, "I guess nothin' to speak of. They're too
busy answering the batteries; it's only the stray shot that comes our
way. There's a thousand chances to one agin' its hitting us, and I guess
we can stand the one." He looked at Nancy closely to guage the amount of
her courage.

"I guess we can," she answered coolly. This reply seemed to please him.
He had before considered Nancy "a nice lookin' girl;" and now, as he put
down "grit" in his mental catalogue of her fascinations, he smiled to
himself, and thought of a neat little home on the Salem shore where his
mother now presided, and where it was not impossible that some day Nancy
might be persuaded to reign. But the demands of the hour recalled him
from this dream to his usual brisk attention to realities, and as soon
as he had cast anchor, he left the ship in charge of the mate, and went
in search of the General.

General Pepperell was in his tent, resting after a hard day's work. Not
only had he been through the camp cheering the soldiers, by imparting
to them something of his own indomitable resolution and by seeing
personally that everything possible was done for the sufferers in the
hospital, but he had also been for hours superintending the arrangements
on the new battery that was to do such execution upon the granite walls
of Louisburg. Now everything was in readiness and he had ordered two
hours of rest before the firing from it should begin. Nearly an hour of
that had gone by before he entered his tent for the rest he needed, when
almost immediately the messenger reached him.

"Mr. Royal and his daughter here!" he cried. "And Mr. Royal requests
to see Captain Archdale? I don't understand. But I shall hear why
from them." He dispatched an orderly for Stephen who was still at the
battery, and then went with the skipper to the little vessel that had
brought the unexpected guests. Elizabeth never forgot the kindness of
his greeting. In the midst of the strange scene and of preparations for
work in which women had no part, the friendliness of his face and tones,
and his cordial grasp of her hand made her feel almost at home. She had
been sure of courtesy, but she had not dared to look for this, and her
eyes grew dim for an instant.