soners. Captain Enderwood swore at the poor old man, though
the captain ever respected age and regarded profanity as the mark of a
boor.

That night Rodney Allison slept in a clean bed in a neat room, with a
doctor by his side and a nurse none other than Miss Danesford herself,
while Captain Lawrence Enderwood, on parole, walked about the city and
then took night watch at the side of his sick friend.

CHAPTER XXVIII

NEW VENTURES WITH OLD ACQUAINTANCES

What is more grateful to a weak, weary mortal on a hot morning than a
snug seat under the shade of a tree, stirred by a gentle breeze from
the river? Rodney Allison could think of nothing, and sank into the
seat with a sigh of relief.

This was his first attempt at walking abroad since his illness, during
which the British had left Philadelphia and returned to New York,
pursued and harassed by the Americans. That morning Captain Enderwood
had left him, and, when he had inquired for his bill, he was told that
it had been paid. He had been dimly conscious during his illness of
the presence of a nurse other than Enderwood, but when he had asked
about it the captain had ignored the question and talked about
something else. Surely he was indebted to some one for his life and
life was very sweet this July morning.

"When d'ye leave yer grave?"

"Hello, Zeb! I was thinking about you, and wondering if we'd ever meet
again."

"An' I was thinkin' the same thing when I got sight o' you an'
concluded we wouldn't."

"Concluded we wouldn't?"

"Ye see, I 'lowed 'twas only yer ghost I was lookin' at. Ye've either
had poor victuals or a poor appetite."

Rodney had the first hearty laugh he enjoyed for months and replied,
"I've been pretty sick and am lucky to have any sort of looks left.
But what are you doing in Philadelphia?"

"I'm hangin' around this town hopin' the schooner Betsy has escaped
the British and will bring my wife."

"Your wife?"

"All the result o' my furlough in Boston."

"So Melicite, of whom Donald Lovell told me so much, consented. Zeb,
you're a born conqueror. When you found you couldn't capture Canada
you won a wife."

"More to my likin' than the whole o' Canada. Now I'm wonderin' how I'm
goin' to support her. A soldier's pay for a month won't buy more'n a
pinch o' salt, an' salt ain't very fillin' 'thout somethin' to go
along with it."

"Well, I know where we can get a square meal, though it won't taste as
good as that roast pig do