There was but barely
time to reach the lawn again, before the fire broke through the windows,
and wrapped the whole building in a sheet of flame.
"God be praised!" ejaculated the preserver of Sarah. "It would have been
a dreadful death to die."
The trooper turned from gazing at the edifice, to the speaker, and to
his astonishment, instead of one of his own men, he beheld the peddler.
"Ha! the spy," he exclaimed; "by heavens, you cross me like a specter."
"Captain Lawton," said Birch, leaning in momentary exhaustion against
the fence, to which they had retired from the heat, "I am again in your
power, for I can neither flee, nor resist."
"The cause of America is dear to me as life," said the trooper, "but she
cannot require her children to forget gratitude and honor. Fly, unhappy
man, while yet you are unseen, or it will exceed my power to save you."
"May God prosper you, and make you victorious over your enemies," said
Birch, grasping the hand of the dragoon with an iron strength that his
meager figure did not indicate.
"Hold!" said Lawton. "But a word--are you what you seem?--can you--are
you--"
"A royal spy," interrupted Birch, averting his face, and endeavoring to
release his hand.
"Then go, miserable wretch," said the trooper, relinquishing his grasp.
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