The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-11-24
SOMERSET. "A, WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER


| quickly opened Them, and, as he read,
the Others watched him keenIy.
'It's good find, boys, and all right
That's what comes of making a general
out of farmer. Who was the fool
that tried TO hide this in the lining OF
a sleeve?" he inquired, turning to
Montagnie. "Why, it's the very first
place we'd look into. And you must
have been drunk to think you could
get through Ramapo pass with them.
Yoa don't look like lack-wit, but you
must have been not to have taken the
upper road. But Clinton will be glad
10 get this Now. boys, what shall we
do with this fellow, hang him or send
him away?"
"Saoot him ~ said the one whom
the messenger had struck. ats none
too good for him.
"We'll see about that little later"
replied Smith. "We've got to get this
letter to Clinton the first thing we do"
Two were left with the prisoner as
guard, and the Others soon rode away.
For three days and nights Montagnie
lay in the hut, bound hand and foot.
Not for moment were the cords loos-
ened. and each day his guard told him
they were about 10 take him out and
hang him, and leave his body on tree
by the roadside as warning to all
Wings. The preacher had fully resign
ed himself aud expected daily that the
threat would be put into execution.
On the fourth day Smith returned,
AID, after hurried consultation with
the guards, rode away. The prisoners
hands were loosened, and his aching
limbs were rubbed by tie guard, but he
had no other thought than that he was
being prepared for his execution. Ac-
cordingly, when in a few hours he was
hidden to follow them out of the hut,
he glanced on every side for the rope
he thought TO see dangling from some
tree. As he walked on, his thoughts
were somewhat bitter against Wash
ington. Why had he insisted upon mis-
coming through Ramapo pass? ? If he
had been left to his own devices, he
would have taken the upper road, and
never would have fallen into the power
of these desperadoes.
"Can you ride?' said one of the men
abruptly.
YES" replied the preacher. Were
they about TO mount him on a horse
and then start the horse off after the
moose had been adjusted? He had
heard of that plan having been used.
But he had no time for meditation,
for they came to a place where three
horses were waiting. Almost before he
knew what had occurred, the prisoner
found himself mounted and riding rap
idly along the road, with one guard on
either side.
What could it mean? He saw no
rope, and not a ord was spoken. On
and on they went, and gradually it
dawned upon the young mans mind
what the destination was to be. Nor
was he mistaken, for he soon was car
ried across the river and placed in the
old sugar-house prison in New York,
one of the famous provost prisons Of
that day.
"You're a great one" said the guard
to Montagnie the next day. "Those
letters you had were all about Wash
ington's plan to attack New York But
Clinton can take hint, and everybody
in the city is getting ready TO receive
the rebels.n Then he took from his
pocket copy of Rivington's Gazette,
which contained long account of his
capture, the nature of the dispatches he
had carried, and the use Sir Henry was
making of the information he had
gained.
Suddenly, as the guard finished his
reading, Montaignie laughed aloud.
''What are you laughing at?' asked the
angry guard as he left. "I don't see any
thing funny in that"
But the prisoner did, and all his Bit
terness toward Washington had van
ished in a moment. Now he under
stood it all. Washington had intended
all the time to have him taken prisoner
with those dispatches OIL his person and
thus to hold the British jE New York
while he started for Virginia.
How well he held theIn we know
from the fact that when Sir Henry next
heard of him he was already oeyond the
Delaware, too far away to he pursued,
and it was too late to send word or aid
10 CORVALLIS.
As for Parson MOntagnie, he was not
long kept prisoner, for the war was
soon ended, but for years it was his de-
light to tell the story of his capture
II had read about the Greeks holding
the pass of Thermopyle," he would say,
land keeping out the enemy, bat L
kept the enemy in by failing TO hold
the pass at Ramapo. Atlanta Consti-
tuition.