[color=007236]"You keep Keziah safe, you hear me?"[/color]

The man didn't know him and had little reason to trust him, yet William stepped forward to take his hand and reassure him, "I promise you, Samuel ... [i]no[/i] harm shall come to your sister, less they go through me first."  He leaned in a bit closer and in a whisper added a reassurance that he knew the older brother desperately needed, "No one ... and I mean [i]no[/i] one ... will touch your sister ... in any way."

He could see in Samuel's eyes that his meaning was clear, but again William knew Samuel had no reason to trust the stranger.  Yet, the doctor must have believed William because soon enough, he and his wife had disappeared into the night leaving the pair alone together.

Oh, well, not [i]entirely[/i] alone, of course.  As Keziah headed back inside and William shut the door behind her, he looked to the one armed soldier who was once again passed out in his corner chair.  William asked if there was anything they needed to do for him, acted accordingly -- including covering him with a blanket -- and then set about making a bed on the floor in front of the door.  He explained vaguely to Keziah, "Just in case someone tries to enter during the night."

They chatted a moment more, but William wasn't eager to discuss the impending massacre further this late, so he feigned exhaustion and bid Keziah a good night.  He stoked the fire as she turned down the lanterns, and with one final glance at her as she departed for her own room -- and one final ogling of her backside, thinking to himself [i]Not the time or even the era to be thinking that[/i] -- William laid down atop the makeshift bed to stare at the light of the dancing flames upon the under side of the cabin's roof.  

William had feigned exhaustion to avoid any further discussion of the events of the day or coming days, but apparently he'd been more tired than he'd thought: before he'd had any real time to consider the happenings of the past hours, he was soundly asleep...

...so much so that he didn't know there were intruders in the cabin until one had a hand over his mouth and two others were seizing control of his limbs.  William struggled and broke his face free just long enough to scream out, "[i]Keziah, run...![/i]"  William couldn't know whether or not she had heard the men before they entered her home; couldn't know whether or not she'd escaped, leaving him behind; couldn't know whether they intruders had gotten her also, because no sooner had he yelled his warning then [i]the lights went out[/i], as they say...
 
...and when he awoke again, he was bound and gagged in the back of a cart bouncing down a rough road, heading for the Headquarters of the Massachusetts Militia and -- ultimately -- a meeting with the Commander of the patriot forces, General George Washington.