"Well, if we ain't soldiers," the chief speaker said, "we're Home
Guards, and that's the same thing here; we've as much authority as we
want to back us out. Why didn't you stop, and tell us who you are, and
where you're going?"
By this time I was cool enough to reflect, and act with a purpose. For
my own, as well as for his sake, I was most anxious that Shipley should
escape. I knew they would not find a scrap of compromising paper on me;
but he was a perfect post-carrier of dangerous documents, and a marked
man besides--altogether a suspicious companion for an innocent traveler.
So I began to discuss several points with my captors in a much calmer
tone--demonstrating that from the irregularity of their challenge we
could not suppose it came from any regular picket--that there were many
horse-thieves and marauders about, so that it behoved travelers to be
cautious--that it would have been impossible to have explained our
names, object, and destination in a breath, even if they had given more
time for such reply: finally, making a virtue of necessity, I consented
to accompany them to the regular out-post of Greenland, stipulating that
I should have a horse to carry me and my saddle-bags; for my knee was
still bleeding, and stiffening fast.
All this debate took ten minutes at least, during which time my captors
seemed to have forgotten my companion's existence, though they must have
seen his figure cross the open ground when they first fired.
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