All the windows were protected by stout oaken shutters which, when
closed, almost transformed the dwelling into a fortress, giving
security against any ordinary attack. There were no loopholes in
the walls through which the muzzle of the deadly rifle could be
thrust and fired from within. This feature, so common in the
primitive abodes of the country, was not in accordance with John
Reynolds's Quaker principles. While indisposed to fight, it was
evident that the good man intended to interpose between himself
and his enemies all the passive resistance that his stout little
domicile could offer.
And he knew that he had enemies of the bitterest and most
unscrupulous character. He was a stanch Whig, loyal to the
American cause, and, above all, resolute and active in the
maintenance of law and order in those lawless times. He thus had
made himself obnoxious to his Tory neighbors, and an object of
hate and fear to a gang of marauders, who, under the pretence of
acting with the British forces, plundered the country far and
near.
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