"Then make haste and tell them of this," said Ezra, delighted. "Tell them that it is of great importance that they should come at once."

"I'm off," said the Porcupine. And away he darted, his short legs twinkling at a most marvelous speed.

"It will all be arranged without difficulty in a little time now," said Ezra to the adventurer.

"Fortune favors us in spite of my bad temper," replied Scarlett. Then he added, after the fashion of a philosopher: "Never allow your dependence upon your sword to become your greatest a.s.set. It is a mistake. The wise man always waits until the end before he takes matters into his own keeping. For at the last moment, Fortune may fling her rarest gifts at his feet."

The lieutenant now spoke.

"In these days, gentlemen," said he, "one cannot be too careful. I am dangerously placed here, and with but few men. I can, therefore, afford to trust n.o.body."

"Sir," said Scarlett promptly and with a wave of the hand, "say no more about it. You are young and unaccustomed to your work; but you have done well for all."

The lieutenant was fully as old as the speaker; and he was regarding Scarlett with a puzzled look, when there came a clatter of hoofs upon the road and up clashed Ben Cooper, George Prentiss and Nat Brewster, the latter bearing the dwarf before him in the saddle.

With one accord they leaped to the ground and cl.u.s.tered about Ezra with cries of welcome and delight.

"Why, it's a good month since you left us," cried Ben.

"We'd all but given you up for dead," said George, gravely.

"But we're glad to have you back," spoke Nat Brewster, quietly. "The cause would be the poorer for the loss of Ezra Prentiss."

"Master Brewster," and the lieutenant addressed Nat, whose grave manner always caused him to be selected from the group upon occasions like this, "these gentlemen but a short time ago landed here in a boat. They claim to have come from Boston, and this one," indicating Ezra, "claims to be acquainted with you."

"I can vouch for him," cried Nat, his strong hand upon Ezra's shoulder, "and," with a quick look at Scarlett, "if this gentleman is a friend of his, I can vouch for him also."

"While my acquaintance with him is something less than two months'

duration," said Ezra, "I can safely say that he is a friend in everything that the term implies."

Nat shook Scarlett by the hand, and Ben, George and the Porcupine followed in their turn; and as they did so, Ezra told the adventurer their names.

"I have heard of you all many times," said Scarlett with vast satisfaction. "And I have listened to some of your experiences of nights at our inn, the 'Jolly Rover.' After hearing them, and seeing you, I can say that it all affords me much pleasure."

"I recall Ezra telling us of you after his return from Chelmsford some time since," said Nat. "He said that you appeared to be a gentleman of parts."

The adventurer a.s.sumed his favorite att.i.tude.

"If experience makes for quality, I am to be pardoned if I claim it,"

said he. "I was younger than the youngest of you when I fought my first field, and since then I have seen service under many flags." All the time he spoke, and in fact before he began, his eyes went alternately from Ezra to George and back again. Now he broke off his remarks and addressed the latter: "Your name, sir, is--?"

"George Prentiss," replied the boy.

Scarlett turned to Ezra.

"Your grandfather called you George," said he, shrewdly.

"Because of a mistake," said Ezra, his face flushed as he called to mind the fact that the mistake was not corrected.

The soldier of fortune seemed to divine this feeling; he slapped Ezra upon the back.

"No," said he, "never be ashamed that you did not undeceive him. What you did was for the best." Then, with another look at George, "I scarcely blame the old gentleman for his blunder. Your brother is most marvelously like you."

Here George said eagerly to Ezra:

"You have seen grandfather?"

"Twice while in Boston. He is well."

"But as staunch for the King as ever?"

"Yes."

They had left the guard and were making their way along a narrow road, the horses, under care of the Porcupine, following. Nat now spoke.

"That you have been in Boston," said he to Ezra, "is astonishing news.

But that you have slipped out again seems almost impossible."

"Yet here we are," smiled Ezra.

"But tell us about it," urged Ben Cooper, his round, good-natured face full of expectancy. "We are all but gaping to hear it."

So with that, as they walked along, Ezra related how on that April night at Charlestown, he had been seized with a desire to venture toward the "Indian's Head." Then how he met with the spy Pennington, and also, for the second time, with Scarlett. From the experiences at the inn, he went to the crossing of the river, the interview with his grandfather and General Gage and the long stay at the "Jolly Rover" in Ship Street. But when the latter part of the story was told, the eyes of Nat, George and Ben opened widely; the Porcupine, back with the horses, executed a caper in the road.

"An attack!" said Nat, his face all alight.

"At last!" cried George, with an involuntary tug at his belt.

"We'll make them run as we did before," declared Ben Cooper.

But, as was usual, Nat's was the practical mind.

"It is good news," said he, "and we are all glad of it. But the next move, I think, is to get it to the ears of General Ward."

A chorus of a.s.sent followed this. In a few minutes they reached an encampment of colonists; to a gray-haired captain, a veteran of the Louisburg, Nat represented the case as far as he saw fit and asked that two mounts be loaned them.

"We haven't horses enough for our own use," said the captain. "But if it is, as you say, a matter of great importance, why of course you must be accommodated."

Accordingly the nags were brought forward and saddled. Then all six, with the dwarf riding with Nat, mounted and rode off at a smart canter, heading for Cambridge and General Ward.

CHAPTER XIII

SHOWS HOW EZRA RODE WITH PRESCOTT TOWARD BUNKER HILL

As the six dashed along the morning roads toward Roxbury, Ezra noted much improvement in the American position; and those works that were in view had grown stronger and much more formidable than heretofore.