"Ten dollars," spoke the constable, also moved to shame.
"Cannon, will you take me for it?"
"I'll take your judgment-bond or the cash, Captain Van Dorn, nothing
less."
"Put back her stuff," the captain said, slightly pressing Levin's hand,
as if to say, "This is for you"--"put back her stuff and I'll settle it
with Isaac Cannon."
"God bless you!" cried the woman, taking her babe from the cradle and
hushing its hunger at her breast; "they call you a wicked man, but
blessings on you for all the good you do!"
"_Chito! chito!_" smiled Van Dorn. "I did it for this foolish boy; I pity
none."
Hulda had resorted to the strand, or river street of Cannon's Ferry,
where there were two storehouses, and she had borrowed quill and ink,
and written a letter addressed to "Mrs. Ellenora Dennis, Princess Anne,
Somerset County, Maryland," saying:
"_Madam, Levin, your son, is near this place against his will, among
dangerous men and in great temptation, but he has found a friend. In one
week this friend will try to write again, and, if not heard from, seek
Levin Dennis at Johnson's Cross-roads_."
This letter, written with all her unproficient speed, had just been
folded, wafered, and endorsed, and she had put down one of the shillings
of 1815 to pay the postage, when a shadow fell upon the store counter,
and the letter was withdrawn from her hand; Van Dorn stood by her side.
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