CHAPTER X.
I HEAR AN OLD SONG.
When we sailed at daybreak next morning I had the glow of satisfaction with my own doings which is a safe precursor of misfortunes.

I had settled my business with the Free Companions, and need look for no more trouble on that score.

But what tickled my vanity was my talk with Ringan and Lawrence at the Monacan lodge and the momentous trust they had laid on me.

With a young man's vanity, I saw myself the saviour of Virginia, and hailed as such by the proud folk who now scorned me.

My only merits, as I was to learn in time, are a certain grasp of simple truths that elude cleverer men, and a desperate obstinacy which is reluctant to admit defeat.