“I think after Molly’s rested I’ll ride into town and see Ezra. He must be a regular mail-bag for news. Will you come along, Nat?”

“I think not,” replied the other.

“I’ve often spoken to him about you,” persisted Ben. “He’ll be glad to see you.”

[28]“Another time will do just as well. I hardly feel like going in to town to-day.”

[28]

“Very well,” and Ben turned away. “Some other time then. But you must know Ezra before he leaves. You’ll like him.”

After Ben had gone, Nat clasped his hands about his knees and continued to gaze across the fields toward Cliveden. The August sun was warm and the insects buzzed lazily about in it, their wings a-glitter. The level, fertile country was new to Nat; up north in the Wyoming valley the rugged hills crowded one upon the other; the grim, defiant forests circled the settlements; the stony earth fought stubbornly against the plow.

His mother had been Mr. Cooper’s sister; she had met and married Nat’s father and had gone with him into the wilderness to make a home. But both were now dead. Nat, whose mother had carefully taught him, had served two terms as master in a log schoolhouse. But the work did not altogether please him; and when his uncle sent for him to take him into his office, he had gladly grasped the opportunity.

[29]Even in the far Wyoming valley, the growing discontent was felt; but the boy had no notion that matters were so grave until he arrived at Philadelphia and found neighbors arrayed against each other and representatives of the colonies scheduled to meet and pass solemn resolutions protesting against England’s unfair laws.

[29]

He ran over all his old impressions and his new ones as well, as he sat in the wide doorway of the Cooper house. And through all his thoughts the saying of old Stephen Comegies kept recurring.

“‘It’s easy to call rebels together,’” he repeated, following Ben’s version of the saying as well as he could. “‘But it’s not always so easy to get them together.’”

The boy’s thick black brows came together in a frown and his locked fingers gripped his knees closely.

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