The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-30

mere IN the dark / ran over une
whole unpromising phases of the
enterprise; how five days before my
cOmmandant. Major Lee. had sum-
mOned me to tell me that the general
| had asked him for a man who would
dare risk everything to gain infOrma-
ton of how the Arnold plot ran and
of those implicated; one who would
even Care kidnap the traitor in the
very enjoyment of his safety. The man
VINO so dared must appear to desert
from Tappan. This was asking much;
my honor among my comrades and the
risk of a. spy's death from the British;
and yet, young fool of % that L was,
/ accepted.
J. can see that low room, now, i'm the
De Witt house in Tappan. the gen
erals anxious face, Major Harry'S
bold eyes.
l turned my mare through the picket
line and gave her free head when the
patrol challenged, dashing over the
moist roads, for, as bad luck would
have it, the rain had blotted out the
ruts, leaving the mares footprints
patent to the pursuers, for the farrier
put the same mark on the left forward
shoe of all Major Lees horses.
t'or the moment, / believe, they
hesitated dumfounded that so faithful
a soldier as 1 should suddenly initiate
Arnold. In all the diSaffection there
never had been desertion from that
corps. Who can be trusted? [ could
fancy them muttering. I knew that
Major Lee would delay them all he
could. But he, too, must carry out the
play He. too, must appear astounded
mat l, who always had proven faith
ful, should all at once become among
the most faithless. [ thought all this
while the mare bore me over the road
toward Bergen, for [ designed to hail
the kings patrols at Paulus Hook.
But with all the delay [ had but lit
tie the start. Soon l heard them after
me, and the mare almost spent. The
sky hghtened. The mare seemed to be
going even slower, and I knew kas [
came to the forks on the hill, which is
by the Three Pigeons" inn. above
Bergen. that they probably would
catch me before I could make the
stone bridge below. Nay, turning in
my saddle [ could see in the darkish
dawn Cornet Middleton heading the
pursuers, and hear his loud hello
At the forks, within a stones throw
of the Three Pigeons" for a moment
I deliberated. Should I have my rep
utatiOn all lost for nothing? They
probably would shoot me as it was,
nor could they ever believe me as an
honest man.
Only for a moment did I hesitate,
you may believe, before turning di-
rectly down the slope by Elizabeth
Point. to the river, and there, as luck
would have it, was patrol. I sprang
from the mare, and waded through
the marsh into the river hallooing.
Just then the pursuers perceived my
detour and a bullet came singing
around my ears. [ pushed on beyond
my depth, and the men in the boat,
compromising the situation, pulled
me in, firing and shouting derisively
to my old comrades, whose curses,
reached me-
I was taken to Sir Henry Clinton,
who, examining me closely, ended by
believing in my sincerity, as in faith
the desertion was plain enough, and
that one from Major Lees corps.
AS we had thought would be the
case. he recommended me as an hon
est fellow to General Arnold, who, too,
had run to the kings side [ could
detect a certain detestation in Sir
Henry'S tone when he spoke of Ar
mold. who had received his 10000 and
his brigadiership as the price of his
service, who yet was sincerely dis
liked, more because the affair had
cost the army Major Andre, 1 believe,
than for any other reason.
l reported that morning TO the new
British brevet brigadier at 3 Broad
way, in the old bathrooms, over
Burns Arms"
do not know what I had expected
of the man. l had heard so much TO
his discredit. l saw simply an agree
ably hammered gentleman, who ques-
toned me closely, and in the end be-
lieved that I had been persuaded by
his example.
Strangely too, he rented of widow,
Mistress Warren, whose daughter
Priscilla Warren, T once had made fu-
rious love to in Virginia. A plump,
fair haired, grey eyed girl. Mistress
Priscilla's greeting, her congratula-
tons to me at having come over from
rebellion to loyalty, made me for a
moment sicken again of the false
part.
/ must explain this to show how
that which followed came about. Nor
did Benedict Arnold fail to treat me
with further consideration. He prom
ised to obtain me a commission in a
legion of American loyalists in time
to join the expedition Lord Howe was
then preparing to send TO the Virginia
Capes. In the meantime, other decent
lodging being hard to find, he had
permitted me to take a room at the
Widow Warren's.
In fact, all had gone exactly as the
plan had been laid. ] had commune |
cated. as L nave SAID, WIN General |
showing him, as l had it |
from Arnold himself, who appeared to
trust me implicitly. the full extent of
the treachery, and the names of the |
few persons in any way implicated. [ !
have been told that this information |
first gave the general-in-chief heart to |
believe there remained those he could |
trust: and that the major-general he |
was, after all, not in the
affair.
And now the rest was all plain. Ar
mold would stroll in the garden to /
quiet his nerves before bed My des-
perate fellow would hide behind the
loosed paling, 1 could be sure, at the |
appointed hour l was now equally /
sure of Master Roland having the |