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GERM OF DISSENT

I PEERED UP THE NOSE of one of Farquard Ca the nostril, the other half on Governor Tryon Of the two, I felt more charitably toward the polyp, and I intended to cauterize that out of existence with a hot iron

It see as I sterilizediron in a dish of hot coals

Was this the beginning? Or one of them? It was the end of 1770; in five years more, all of the thirteen Colonies would be at war But each colony would co lived in Boston for so long, I knew from Bree’s school lessons what the process had been--or would be--for Massachusetts Tax, Boston Massacre, Harbor, Hancock, Adams, Tea Party, all that But North Carolina? How had it happened--hoould it happen--here?

It could be happening now Dissension had been si for several years between the planters of the eastern seaboard and the hardscrabble houlators were mostly drawn from the latter class; the former holeheartedly in Tryon’s caht now?" I had given the slave a good slug of ingly, and he nodded, looking uncertain but resigned

I had never heard of Regulators, but here they were, nonetheless--and I had seen enough by now to know just how much the history books left out Were the seeds of revolution being sown directly under my own nose?

Murly, I wrapped a linen napkin round my left hand, took firm hold of the slave’s chin with it, poked the scalpel up his nostril and severed the polyp with a deft flick of the blade It bled profusely, of course, the blood gushing warh the cloth round my hand, but evidently was not very painful The slave looked surprised, but not distressed

The cautery iron was shaped like a tiny spade, a bit of square, flattened metal on the end of a slender rod with a wooden handle The flat bit was s red I pressed the cloth hard against the man’s nose to blot the blood, took it away, and in the split second before the blood spurted out again, pressed the hot iron up his nose against the septuot the proper spot

The slave h tears poured down his cheeks, wet and war blood and flesh was just the sarowled loudly; the slave’s bulging, bloodshot eye led faintly through the tears and snot

I took the iron away, cloth poised No fresh blood flowed I tilted theto see, and was pleased to find the sh on the mucosa The burn would be a vivid red, I knew, but without the light of a scope, it looked black, a small scab hidden like a tick in the hairy shadows of the nostril

The lish; I s wohout the ordeal

"He’ll be quite all right Tell him, please, not to pick at the scab If there should be swelling, pus or fever"--I paused, for the next line should be--"go to your doctor at once," and that was not an option

"Go to your mistress," I said, instead, reluctantly "Or find an herb-wo, and rather muddleheaded, from the little I knew of her Still, any plantation e and ithal to treat a fever And if it should go past simple infection and into septicemiawell, there was not much anyone could do, in that case

I patted the slave’s shoulder and sent hi to the next in line

Infection That as brewing Things see all its troops! But dozens, hundreds, thousands of tiny gerhout the Colonies The Regulation was only one

A small bucket of distilled alcohol stood byinstruments I dipped the cautery iron in this, then thrust it back in the fire; the alcohol ignited with a brief, lightless piff!

I had the unpleasant feeling that the note presently burning a hole in Jamie’s sporran was a siht be stah would burn, and go on burning, searing their destructive way through homes and fareat deal of blood would flow before the hot iron of guns should sear the open wound

Were we never to have a little peace, Jaot three hundred acres near the Yadkin River, but no one on it save himself and his brother" Ja off the sheen ofto his bones He blinked to clear his vision, and shook hi drops that had condensed in his hair

"But," he went on, gesturing toward the plume of smoke that marked MacLeod’s fire, "he’s kin to auld Rabbie Cochrane Rabbie’s not coot eleven grown bairns, scattered over the mountains like seed corn So, take your time wi’ MacLeod, make sure he’s pleased to come, then tell hie in a fortnight, tell hier’s arm to prevent an abrupt departure He squinted into the haze, reckoning up the possibilities They’d visited three caes of four ?

"After Duncan, go across to the sheep pens Angus Og will be there, surely--ye ken Angus Og?"

Roger nodded, hoping he recalled the correct Angus Og He’d met at least four men of that na at heel, and reeked of raool