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Show In the Days of 'Poor Richard By IRVING BACHELLER j ', C-rHi W TRVING BACHELLER TTTTT.. , . J jj CHAPTER XXVII Continued. 25 Jack and Solomon exercised unusual care In guarding the camp and organizing organ-izing for defense In case of attack. It was soon after Washington's departure depart-ure that Arnold went away on the road to the South. Solomon followed, keeping keep-ing out of his field of vision. The gen-erul gen-erul returned two days later. Solomon came Into Jack's hut about midnight of the day of Arnold's return with Important Im-portant news. Jack was at his desk studying a map of the Highlands. The camp was nt rest. The candle In Jack's hut was the only sign of life around headquarters head-quarters when Solomon, having put out his horse, came to talk with hls'young friend. He stepped close to the desk, swallowed nervously and began his whispered report. "Suthln' neevnilous be goin' on," he began. "A British ship were lyln' nigh the mouth o' the Croton river. Arnold went aboard. An' officer got Into his boat with him and they pulled over to the west shore and went Into the bush. Stayed thar till mos' night. If ' 'twere honest business, why did they go off in the bush alone fer a talk?" Jack shook his head. "Soon as I seen that i went to one o' our batteries an' tol' the cap'n what were on my mind: " 'D n the ol' British tub. We'll make 'er back up a little,' sez he. 'She's too clus anyhow.' "Then he let go a shot that ripped the water front o' her bow. Say, Jack, they were some hoppin' eround on the deck o' the big British war sloop. They h'Isted her sails an' she fell away down the river a mile 'er so. The sun were set when Arnold an' the officer came out o' the bush. I were In a boat with a fish rod an' could Jes' see 'em with my spy glass, the light were so dim. They stood thar lookin' fer the ship. They couldn't see her. They went back into the bush. It come to me what they was goln' to do. Arnold Ar-nold were a-goin' to take the Britisher over to the house o' thut ol' Tory, Reub Smith. I got thar fust an' hid to the bushes front o' the house. Sure 'nough ! that's what were done. Arnold Ar-nold an' t' other feller come erlong an' went Into the house. 'Twere so dark I couldn't see 'em but I knowed 'twere them." "How?" the young man asked. "'Cause they didn't light no candle. They sot in the dark an' they didn't talk out loud like honest men would. I come erway. I couldn't do no more." "I think you've done well," said Jack. "Now go and get some rest. Tomorrow may, be a hard day." Jack 'spent a bad night In the effort ef-fort to be as great as his problem. In the morning he sent Solomon and three other able scouts to look the ground over east, west and south of the army. One of them was to take the road to Hartford and deliver a message to Washington. After the noon mess, Arnold mounted mount-ed his horse and rode away alone. The young brigadier sent for his trusted trust-ed friend, Captain 'Merriwether. "Captain, the general has set out on the east road alone." said Jack. "He la not well. There's something wrong with his heart. I am a little worried about him. He ought not to be traveling alone. My horse is in front of the door. Jump on his hack and keep In sight of the general, hut don't let him know what you are doing." A little later Mrs. Arnold entered the office of the new brigadier in a most cheerful mood. "I have good news for you," she announced. an-nounced. "A British officer has come In a ship under a ling of truce to confer with General Arnold. I sent a letter to Margaret Hare on my own responsibility with the general's official offi-cial communication. I invited her to come with the party nnd promised her safe conduct to our house. 1 expect her. For the rest we look to you. Let us have a wedding at head-quarters. head-quarters. On the night of the twenty-eighth, twenty-eighth, General Washington will have returned. He has agreed to dine with us that evening." "I think that she must have observed ob-served the shadow on my face for. while she spoke, a great fear had come upon me," he testified In the court of inquiry. "It seemed clear to me that, If there was a plot, the capture of Washington himself was to be a part of It and my sweetheart helpful accessory. " 'You know much that I am eager to know,' I said. 'The general has lot told me that he is to meet the British. May I know all the good news?' "'Of course, he will tell you about that,' she assured me. "He has told He only a little. It Is some negotiation negotia-tion regarding an exchange of prisoners. pris-oners. I am rhurh more interested in Margaret and the wedding. I wish you would tell me about her. I have heard that she has become verv beautiful.' beau-tiful.' "I showed Mrs. Arnold the minln-ture minln-ture portrait which Margaret bad given me the day of our little ride and talk In London anil then nn orderly came with a message and that give n an excuse to put an end to this untimely babbling for which I had no heart. The message was from Solomon. Sol-omon. He had got word that the British warship had come back up the river and was two miles above Stony Point with a white flag at her masthead. mast-head. "I went out of doors. Soon I met Merriwether coming into camp. Arnold Ar-nold had returned. He had ridden at a walk toward the headquarters of the Second brigade and turned about and come back without speaking to any one. Arnold was looking down as If absorbed In his own thoughts when Merriwether passed hlin In the road. He did not return the latter's salute. It was evident that the general had ridden away for the sole purpose of being alone. "I went back to my hut and sat down to try to find my way when suddenly the general appeared at my door on his bay mare and asked me to take a little ride with him. I mounted my horse and we rode out on the east road together for half a mile or so. " 'I believe that my wife had some talk with you this morning,' he began. " 'Yes,' I answered. " 'A British officer has come up the river In a ship uuder a white flag with a proposal regarding an exchange of prisoners. In my answer to their request re-quest for a conference, some time ago, I enclosed a letter from Mrs. Arnold to Miss Margaret Hale Inviting Invit-ing her to come to our home where she would find a hearty welcome and her lover now nn able and most valued val-ued officer of the staff. A note received re-ceived yesterday says that Miss Hare Is one of the party. We are glad to be able to do you this little favor.' "I thanked him. " 'I wish that you could go with me down the river to meet her In the morning,' he said. 'But In my absence It will, of course, be necessary for you to be on duty. Mrs. Arnold will go with me and we shall, I hope, bring the young lady safely to headquarters.' "He was preoccupied. His face wore a serious look. There was a melancholy note In his tone I had Up ARNOLD WENT 7 MtTU U AWAY on THE l W&0& 1 road to ;! umtmim I Hi South. V Wv5Sls ill observed that in other talks with him but It was a friendly tone. It tended to put my fears at rest. "I asked the general what he thought of the prospects of success for our cause. " 'They are not promising," he answered. an-swered. 'The defeat of Gates In the South and the scattering of his army in utter rout Is not an encouraging event.' '"I think that we shall get along better now that the Gates bubble has burst,' I answered." This ends the testimony of "the able and most valued officer," Jack Irons, Jr. CHAPTER XXVIII As an Army With Banners. The American army had been sold by Arnold. The noble ideal It had cherished, the blood it hud given, the bitter hardships It hail suffered torture tor-ture in the wilderness, famine In the Highlands, long marches of half naked men in mid-winter, massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley all this had been bartered away, like a shipload of turnips, to satisfy the greed of one man. Again thirty pieces of silver! Was a nation to walk the bitter way to Its Calvary? Major Andre, the, adjutant general of Sir Henry Clinton's large force in New York, was with liie traitor when he rowed from the ship to the west shore of the Hudson and went into the bush under the observation of Solomon with his spy-glass. Arnold was to receive re-ceive a command nnd large pay in the British army. The consideration had been the delivery of maps showing show-ing the positions of Washington's men and the plans of his forts and other defenses, especially those of Forts I'utnam and Clinton and Battery Knox. Much other Information was put In the hands of the British officer, offi-cer, including the prospective movements move-ments of the commander In chief. He was to be taken In the house of the man he had befriended. Andre had 1 -. -.-mB. ' only to reach New York with his treasure and Arnold to hold the confidence con-fidence of his chief for a few days and, before the leaves had fallen, the war would end. The American army and its master mind would be at the mercy of Sir Henry Clinton. Andre would have reached New York rhat night If The Vulture had not changed her position on account of a shot from the battery below Stony Tolnt. For that, credit must be given to the good scout Solomon Binkus. The ship was not in sight when the two men came out In their boat from the west shore of the river while the night was falling. Arnold had heard the shot and now that the ship had left he feared that his treachery treach-ery was suspected. "I may want to get away in that boat myself," he suggested to Andre. "She will not return until she gets orders from you or me," the Britisher assured him. "I wonder what has become of her," said Arnold. "She has probably dropped down the river for some reason," Andre answered. "What am I to do?" "I'll take ' you to the house of a man I know who lives near the river and send you to New York by horse with passports in the morning. You can reach the British lines tomorrow." "I would like that," Andre exclaimed. ex-claimed. "It would afford me a welcome wel-come survey of the terrain." "Smith will give you a suit of clothes that will fit you well enough," said the traitor. "You and he are about of a size. It will be better for you to be in citizens' dress." So it happened that in the darkness of the September evening Smith and Andre, the latter riding the blazed-face blazed-face mare, set out for King's Ferry, where they were taken across the river. They rode a few miles south of the landing to the shore of Crom pond and spent the night with a friend of Smith. In the morning the latter went on with Andre until they had passed Pine's bridge on the Croton river. Then he turned back. Now Andre fared along down the road alone on the back of the mare Nancy. He came to an outpost of the Highland army and presented his pass. It was examined and endorsed and he went on his way. He met transport wagons, a squad of cavalry and later, a regiment of militia coming com-ing up from western Connecticut, but no one stopped him. In the faded hat and coat and trousers of Reuben Smith, this man, who called himself John Anderson, was not much unlike the farmer folk who were riding hither and thither In the neutral territory, terri-tory, on their petit errands. His face was different. It was the well-kept face of an English aristocrat with handsome dark eyes and hair beginning begin-ning to turn gray. A little out of Tarrytown on the highway the horseman traveled, a group of three men were hidden in the bush ragged, reckless, unlettered country lads waiting for cows to come down out of the wild land to be milked. They were "skinners" in the patriot militia, some have said; some that they were farmers' sons not In the army. However that may have been, they were undoubtedly rough, hard-fisted fellows full of the lawless spirit bred by five years of desperate warfare. They were looking for Tories as well as for cattle. Tories were their richest prey, for the latter would give high rewards to be excused ex-cused from the oath of allegiance. They came out upon Andre and challenged chal-lenged him. The latter knew that he had passed the American outposts and thought that he was near the British lines. He was not familiar with the geography of the upper east shore. He knew that the so-called neutral territory was overrun by two parties t lie British being called the "Lower" and the Yankees the "Upper." "What party do you belong to?" Andre demanded. "The Lower." said one of the Y'ankees. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |