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mothers than fight the French; but (swearing a horrid oath) you shan't find it so easy to get off next time, my lad." Two others sprung forward at the same moment, and laid hold of their prisoner, who was too much stupified by the variety of emotions to offer any resistance, or even to utter a single word.
"Gentlemen," said the minister, gently laying his hand upon the hand of the foremost, as it eagerly grasped the young man's shoulder, "there is no occasion to use any violence. You are, I suppose, in the performance of your duty; and I give you my word, you shall here meet with no resistance; but, in the name of the parents who gave you birth, I conjure you to act like men, and not like savage brutes."
"We are no savages," returned the foremost; "we are his Majesty's soldiers, and come to execute his Majesty's orders on the body of this deserter, who will be tried and shot, as sure as he stands there."
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