pone the wedding. I did not tell him. He was standing
with Magdalen Brant, and she was crying. I did not know she
had received bad news. She said the news was bad. Perhaps Sir
George can help her.

"I will tell him later that the wedding must be postponed....
I don't know why, either. I cannot think. I can scarcely see
to write. Oh, help me once more, my darling! Do not come to
Varicks'! That is all I desire on earth! For we must never,
never, see each other again!"

* * * * *

Stunned, I reeled to my feet and stumbled out into the moonlight,
staring across the misty wilderness into the east, where, beyond the
forests, somewhere, she lay, perhaps a bride.

A deathly chill struck through and through me. To a free man, with one
shred of pity, honor, unselfish love, that appeal must be answered. And
he were the basest man in all the world who should ignore it and show
his face at Varick Manor--were he free to choose.

But I was not free; I was a military servant, pledged under solemn oath
and before God to obedience--instant, unquestioning, unfaltering
obedience.

And in my trembling hand I held my written orders to report at Varick
Manor.

XX

COCK-CROW

At dawn we left the road and struck the Oneida trail north of the river,
following it swiftly, bearing a little north of east until, towards
noon, we came into the wagon-road which runs over the Mayfield hills and
down through the outlying bush farms of Mayfield and Kingsborough.

Many of the houses were deserted, but not all; here and there smoke
curled from the chimney of some lonely farm; and across the stump
pasture we could see a woman laboring in the sun-scorched fields and a
man, rifle in hand, standing guard on a vantage-point which
overlooked his land.

Fences and gates became more frequent, crossing the rough road every
mile or two, so that we were constantly letting down and replacing
cattle-bars, unpinning rude gates, or climbing over snake fences of
split rails.

Once we came to a cross-roads where the fence had been demolished and a
warning painted on a rough pine board above a wayside watering-trough.

"WARNING!

All farmers and townsfolk are hereby requested and ordered to
remove gates, stiles, cow-bars, and fences, which includes
all obstructions to the public highway, in order that the
cavalry may pass without difficulty. Any person fou