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All the children joined in, and the mother was heart-broken.
In the midst of it all father and son walked in, radiant and smiling.
If Zeb had been really dead and made himself visible to his astonishedfamily, they could not have been more alarmed.
"Mistress Garvan, stop your blubbering. We shall have visitors thisnight; sha'n't we, Zeb?"
"Yes, dad."
"Friends of mine. Oh, it will be a great time. Mistress, I'll buy thechilder new clothes, ay, that I will, and I'll have a new ox for thefarm. It is good, I tell you, to have friends."
Mistress Garvan wondered what had come over her stern husband.
She knew he had not been drinking, for he would not allow even as muchas a drop of dry cider to come into the house.
"What have you been doing, Zeke?" she asked him.
"Nothing; it's only a little surprise we have. Isn't it so, Zeb?"
But Zeb had disappeared, and so no answer was forthcoming from him.
Zeb had seen more than he had heard, and he knew of the encampment onLake Dunmore.
He had watched the men, and found out that they drilled at night. Hehad become suspicious, but had no means of verifying his suspicionsuntil that conversation with Eben.
When Eben had incautiously mentioned his name, Zeb remembered that hehad heard a man tell his father that Allen was accompanied by a youngscout whose name was Pike.
Zeke was getting very fidgety.
He kept looking at the tall clock, which his father had brought fromEngland many years before, and wondered whether his plot had failed.But his face brightened when a knock at the door betokened the presenceof visitors.
He opened the door himself, and Ethan Allen and Remember Baker steppedin.
"Welcome, most welcome! I would rather see you here than the king ofEngland."
Allen placed his finger on his lip as a hint not to speak too loudly.
Zeke laughed.
"I respect your caution; a day will come when your name will be shoutedfrom the housetops."
"You are too flattering, farmer."
"Not so; but come to supper. My good wife knows how to tickle thepalate of my friends, and you are my friends. Where's Zeb, mother?"
"He went out."
"He is a bad fellow; I am sure I shall never tame him. I would he wereold enough to join the----"
"Yes; what age is he?"
"Only sixteen."
"He is old enough if he has inclination----"
"A truce to such talk; let us get some supper. By my father's memory,I smell pig's head and cabbage. Good thing, even if it is late atnight. Come, friends, and we will talk after."
Zeke led the way into the kitchen and bade his guest be seated.
