"
By this time they had gained the apartment, and Katherine, after
assisting her cousin to place Alice on her bed, returned to do the
honors of the drawing-room.
Colonel Howard ceased his examination of the prisoners, at her entrance,
to inquire, with courtly solicitude, after the invalid; and, when his
questions were answered, he again proceeded, as follows:
"This is what the lads would call plain sailing, Borroughcliffe: they
are out of employment in Sunderland, and have acquaintances and
relatives in Whitehaven, to whom they are going for assistance and
labor. All very probable, and perfectly harmless."
"Nothing more so, my respectable host," returned the jocund soldier;
"but it seemeth a grievous misfortune that a trio of such flesh and
blood should need work wherewithal to exercise their thews and sinews,
while so many of the vessels of his majesty's fleet navigate the ocean
in quest of the enemies of old England."
"There is truth in that; much truth in your remark," cried the colonel.
"What say you, my lads, will you fight the Frenchmen and the Don----ay!
and even my own rebellious and infatuated countrymen? Nay, by heaven, it
is not a trifle that shall prevent his majesty from possessing the
services of three such heroes. Here are five guineas apiece for you the
moment that you put foot on board the Alacrity cutter; and that can
easily be done, as she lies at anchor this very night, only two short
leagues to the south of this, in a small port, where she is riding out
the gale as snugly as if she were in a corner of this room.
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