At the same moment the door was violently thrown open, and the dining-room was filled with an irregular mass of motley, ragged, red-coated men, whose reckless demeanor and hardened faces indicated that they had been recruited from the lowest and most depraved classes of the inhabitants of the colony.

They were led by a middle-aged man of dissipated appearance, whose rough and brutal aspect was not concealed by the captain's uniform he wore, nor was the malicious triumph in his bearing and in his voice veiled by the mock courtesy with which he advanced, pistol in hand.
"What means this intrusion, sir ?" shouted Colonel Wilton, in a voice of thunder.
"This is Colonel Wilton, I believe, is it not ?" said the leader of the band, taking off his hat.
"Yes, sir, it is; you, Mr.Johnson, should be the last to forget it, and I desire to know at once the meaning of this outrageous descent upon a peaceful dwelling." The man bowed low with mock courtesy.

"I shall have to ask your pardon, my dear sir, for appearing before the great Colonel Wilton so unceremoniously.

But my orders, I regret to say, allow me no discretion whatever; they are imperative.

You are my prisoner.