The Tory Maid | Page 4

are severed for ever."
"Yes; but she should have thought of that before she forced us to it."
"What spoiled children you are," she cried. "Because the taffy is not as
good as usual you want to pull the house down about our ears."
Thus receiving and parrying thrusts, we rode along the banks of the Elk,
and as we neared the ferry we met numbers of men travelling the same

way with us, all bound for the great mustering, and though they
returned our salutations, seeing the black cockade in our hats, they
scowled on Gordon of the Braes.
"There goes that dog of a Tory," I would hear them growl to one
another as we passed.
But Gordon rode on with a cool, indifferent, almost contemptuous
manner, which made the frowns grow blacker, and the mutterings
deeper and louder. But no man as yet sought to beard him, for his
courage and his daring were well known throughout the shore, and it
would have taken a bold man indeed to cross Gordon of the Braes.
At last we came to the ferry and saw on the hillside, among the forest
trees, the white tents, already taking on the appearance of a
well-regulated camp. The little town amid the trees, busy with the life
of the moving crowd, and bright with the uniforms of the Maryland
Line, which we were soon to don, formed a curious spectacle as we
entered.
Every part of the province was represented. Here was a tall
backwoodsman in his coonskin cap, buckskin shirt and leggings, with
his long and deadly rifle, totally unadorned by the glint of silver or
chasing on the barrel to betray him to his redskin neighbour--and you
knew that one of Cresap's riflemen was before you.
By his side, for the moment, was a young tobacco planter from Prince
George. The youngster to whom he was talking, clad in the scarlet and
buff of the Maryland Line, was a young dandy from Annapolis.
And so it was all through the crowd, the frontiersman, the hard-riding
country squire, and the city swell, all mingled together, and all
animated with one all-pervading and all-engrossing thought--how best
to secure the freedom of the country and resist the tyranny of the King.
As we made our way through the crowd the faces grew dark as they
saw the Tory, but as Dick and I rode on either hand, with our black
cockades, the crowd murmuringly gave way before us, and though all

the people were hostile to him, and he could not help but see it, he
coolly looked them over and rode as if he had no enemy within a
hundred miles.
But the colour in Mistress Jean's cheek flamed high, and I saw her little
hands clenched together, as if she would like to tell these rebels what
she thought of their treatment of her father. And I, seeing the war signal
so clearly on her cheek, and daring not the batteries of her eyes and wit,
was discreet and said not a word.
We took our way to the inn, kept by one John McLean, a genial host
and Scotchman, who was well known in three provinces, and kept the
finest inn for many miles around.
He received us in a jovial way, for though he was a stanch patriot, he
and Gordon had been friends for many years.
"So, Mistress Jean, you have deigned to honour my roof with your
presence. Welcome, welcome, all of you."
And though I had swung myself off Toby to assist Mistress Jean to
dismount, he was before me and swung her lightly to the ground.
"I declare," he said, "you grow bonnier every day, lassie," which
brought a blush to her cheek. Then, turning, he called his wife and
placed Mistress Jean in her charge.
"I am sorry to say, gentlemen, that the inn is very crowded, as you see,
but I think I can find a place for you." Then drawing the Tory aside for
a little way, we heard him remonstrating with him for coming to the
town at such a time, when the feeling ran so strong and high against the
Loyalist.
"You risk your life," he said, "for the slightest spark or indiscretion will
bring a mob, boiling and seething around you. The officers will not be
able to hold the men in, as they are only volunteers, and have not yet
felt the hand of discipline."

But Charles Gordon shrugged his shoulders, and his reply came distinct
and clear: "I thought you knew me better, McLean. I would not hide
my head for a hundred or a thousand of them;" and he turned and went
into the inn.
The innkeeper made a gesture of despair. "That is always the way,"
said he,