A Colonial Wooing
coat. "If it doesn't go out or burn out I shall be thankful, and it will be the only time it was of any use," John said to himself, so cheerfully that doubtless he was smiling when he spoke. It was a plan of Robert Pearson's that John classed among the over-confidences of the plan as a whole.
"And now for the seat of war," continued John, almost audibly,—a queer phase for a Friend's mouth. And with the skill of the Indian who had taught him to paddle a canoe he shot out into the stream and headed for Bordentown. Every moment it was growing darker, and if there were other people abroad at this time in boats, John thought how readily an accident might happen. Frequently he stopped to listen, but only the chatter of the peeping frogs or the swirl of the rapid waters as the incoming tide swept about stranded tree-trunks was heard. Then on and on, guided by the little light that filtered through the clouds, he at last saw a dull red light gleaming fitfully near the water's surface, and he knew that the Watson boat, with Ruth on board, was near. John
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