"Aye, ye must go, Williams!"
"'Tis good time, beshrew me an it isn't!"
"What, art lingering here wi' thy fat acres and thy grist mill and all?"
"Tory dog, say I! W'e want not such as ye i' this neighborhood!"
Master Williams rose slowly to his feet. There was a stunned look upon his face now, as he recognized near neighbors and good friends among that angry gathering. His wife, too, stumbled to her feet, felt her way slowly past her children to place her hand upon his arm. When she had done so, some of the eyes softened as they gazed at her sweet pale face.
"Why come ye here i' this manner, neighbors?" asked Nathaniel Williams. Amos and James, who had remained seated, now rose and ranged themselves one on either side of their parents, and so faced the mob.
One man, evidently selected spokesman, advanced. "Williams," he said coldly, "we ha' not come—this time—to do thy person bodily injury! But we have come to see why ye do remain here! The Amnesty Act hath long since expired and having no word o' your swearing allegiance to our cause, we know ye to be Tory. Miy, then, are ye here? We demand your banishment and your lands confiscate to the State! E'en this day hath your king sent his troops into our fair land of New
