The

which I have mentioned, became the scene of secret movements. British officer was now alone in the same secluded apartment, where he had passed the preceding night, in busy and trying duties. The appearance of the room had changed essentially. The table was swept of its contents, and a few burnt fragments of paper were scattered upon the ashes. There was no fire, and a solitary lamp shed a feeble light, from the hearth where it stood, against the walls, where it flickered and flared, as the wind stirred the flame. The officer was now muffled in his surtout, so that his dress was hidden as before under the covering it afforded. He seemed like one prepared for travel, but waiting the arrival of something before his departure. As, with measured steps, and in thoughtful mood, he paced the floor, he sometimes appeared to recollect himself, and would stop, and listen, as though he were expecting the sudden approach of another. He then resumed his tread. But every succeeding pause became longer, and accompanied with an expression of anxiety which argued a delay in the expected person, that could not be accounted for, as well as apprehension in the mind of the listener. At length, finding there was no sound to be heard in the dreary stillness, his own footfall became wearisome, and he seated himself at the table, and, clasping his hands wearily before him, gazed with much earnestness upon a beautiful and brilliant ring that glittered upon his finger. A kind of melancholy expression went over his face, as his full and steady eye rested on the jewel; and his intelligent features brightened for a moment, as milder memories flowed back upon him. It was one of those looks that the sensitive heart sends up to the countenance, when the recollection of those things that have gladdened it revisits it againlike the gentle wind that stirs deep fountains in their solitude. It was the look that plays round the fine brow, and the fine lip, when associations that are tender and dear are called mournfully from their slumbers, to hallow some of the desolate or desperate moments of our life.

The youthful officer still continued to gaze upon the brilliant, and sometimes closed his eyes, like one lost in the depth of his meditations. He then drew forth a small tablet, and busied himself in alternately turning its leaves, and perusing lines that seemed to command an unusual interest, from the long time and pensive manner in which he hung over them. Once, with a rapid pencil, he traced a few words, but immediately closed its pages, returned it to its place, and reclined his head thoughtfullyupon the table. His mind was still occupied with far and pleasing remembrances, when he was roused from his reverie by the trampling of a horse, and the immediate approach of steps towards the house, and then along the passage leading to the room in which he was seated. The door opened, and the American commander hastily entered, with his brow contracted to an unusual frown, his lips firmly compressed, and his whole mien indicative of suppressed passion and disappointment. You have been detained,' said the other, rising suddenly; and I began to imagine some unforeseen difficulty; but you see I am ready.'

'But others are not,' returned his companion; and there is an unforeseen difficulty. Fate seems determined to try our inventive talent, as well as our temper, this time.'

'What has happened now?' said the Englishman quickly, but with collectiveness; must we make up for desperate measures? or is it merely delay that startles you?'

Both, major, both,' replied the officer; your steps must be direct and decided. The hazard must be run. I feel that delay, in the execution of this scheme, is worse than death. Every minute of delay is a

year to my hurrying hopes. You cannot embark to-night; it is impossible that you return to New York by ship.'

'Impossible!' returned the other, in astonishment. But I will make it possible; I will on board this instant.'

I would to God it were practicable,' answered his companion; 'I would to God it were so for you -for me-for the cause; but it is out of the question: the vessel cannot be reached in safety.'

This must not be,' was the reply; I can reach the ship as easily as I came from it. You speak of no new danger, sir; and, if there be any, I can only say, I am ready to face it as I can; and, if it be a desperate case, we must take desperate measures to meet it.'

'Such was the remedy, sir, I was about to propose, and which I must eventually urge upon you,' returned the other. The case is desperate, as there is no boat to put off, and the measure must now he desperate, as you must return to the British posts by land. You will perceive the absolute necessity of this step, when I inform you, that, in seeking for and arranging the means to convey you on board, I was told that the ship had dropped down the river so far, that the boatman now utterly refuse to row to her moorings. Some of our cannon were drawn to the shore and brought to bear upon her; and she was thus compelled to shift her position. Of this movement I was ignorant till it was too late to interpose; and now-the foul fates take their unstable souls!-these men conspire with this cursed mischance to drive us to extremities! There is, therefore, but one course to be taken; and I submit to you whether there is room for a moment's hesitation, or a moment's delay. I say, on, at once; let the plot speed, and your departure be instant! The speaker fixed his restless eye for a moment on the person he addressed, and his fame dilated under the struggle of his imprisoned and conflicting passions, as he awaited his answer.

The young Briton needed no spur to his bravery or his resolves. Neither was he a person to be effectually influenced by the hasty opinions, or urgent representations of another, where his course was plain and his duty pointed the way. His sense of that duty was superior to the loudest argument. But, on the present occasion, there seemed to be peculiar weight and meaning in the reasons he had listened to, and their tendency was to give additional influence to his own convictions. There appeared to be no resource open, but the one solitary step which had been suggested. He was aware that, now the plan was perfected, to delay its execution was weakness-and, worse than that, was impolitic and dangerous. He at once saw the hazard to which this unexpected issue subjected him; but, with a spirit that threw indignantly aside all considerations of his individual fate, he made up his heart boldly to encounter it. If he succeeded, it would give a brilliancy to the adventurous deed that fortune compelled him to undertake; if he failed, he would be supported by the recollection that he failed in fulfilling one of those desperate duties which the chance of war sometimes devolves upon the most honorable as well as the boldest. During these reflections, his companion stood gazing intently upon the cheerless hearth, and often slowly passed his hand across his brow, thus throwing into deeper shade his harsh and varying features; he turned as the younger officer addressed him :

'I believe you are in the right, general; it is a heavy chance ; but I see the fitness of the course you urge upon me. This plan must not-shall not, prove abortive; the business must not end here,nor must it cool. The step, dark as you say it is, must be taken. I must take measure of this

fair ground between us and our garrison, and see what a fleet horse can do in an exigency. It must be done the case requires it, and I am ready to proceed.'

:

Not yet,' returned the other, brightening, not yet, speedy as we must be. That dress will betray you; you must become half republican to keep me in countenance, and change this rich uniform for the sober coat of a yeoman.'

'Never was the firm and serious answer. 'I will return even as I came; and, if I fall, I will fall in mine own harness. It is needless to waste words or time on such things. This garment will afford me ample disguise. Besides, by my pass, I am a soldier on public service, from this spot to our outposts. Indeed, my dress will defy common scrutiny.'

'But it is against more than common scrutiny I wish you to guard,' answered his companion.

'Press me no farther, said the other, but let us to horse, and commend each other to the night.'

'Be it so, then, since so you are resolved,' returned his companion, as he led the way to the door. Headlong and unsuspecting boy!' muttered he, be the issue of this step on your own head; and, as for mine, why I have long since set my life upon a cast; and, if it turn against me, I shall not be the only loser in the game:' and they issued together into the dim moonlight. The night looked favorable for their purpose. The clouds lay in a still and compact mass against the heavens, save in that part of the horizon where the 'pale queen' was ascending. As it was, she would soon be veiled, and an uncertain light, at best, would then leave objects half visible over the landscape. One full star blazed in the west, and was just sinking over one of the soaring summits. 'There is the beacon of our good fortune; see where it smiles upon our enterprize,' said the American officer, pointing towards the planet. May it not prove a poetic omen that good fortune still brightens over that fortress, while thick clouds hang over us?' returned the other, doubtfully. But you see it is gone!' continued he, quickly changing his tone even while we speak, it is gone!'

6

'So sink the prospects and hopes of America!' said the other, as he turned away, with a withering smile. But here stand our horses, and seem to chide us by their uneasiness; but let us to their backs, for the sooner we part the quicker comes our meeting. I can only say, good night, and God speed ye! They accordingly mounted, and the graceful Englishman, bowing with inimitable ease, and in fine military style, waved his hand in parting salute, and immediately put his horse into a rapid gallop. The person he left, remained there gazing after him, till his form was lost in the mist of a valley into which he had plunged. He then turned his horse in another direction, and soon disappeared among the hills.

How it sped with that young horseman, and how he bore him on his way, it now remains to tell. The animal he bestrode was fleet and powerful, and went forward as though he was familiar with the path. There was light enough to bring into view the dark outline of the country he traversed, and to give him a vivid impression of its wildness and variety. Here the road wound among rocks and woods that clustered round and above him in every frowning and fantastic form which nature loves to display in her solitary places, and here it ran far off into plains where it was lost in obscurity. Now he directed his rapid course into deep and dark ravines, and now mounted lofty ridges, where every

sound that was going upon the night wind seemed to come up to him. Here he shot along its dark side, till the high land again sunk in the low land, and the slight-worn path again precipitated itself into woods and glens. Though the movement of the rider was too rapid for deep and calm reflections, still his was not a mind to remain passive in a situation which, if not actually poetical, had still enough of the wild and adventurous about it to tinge it with romance. It was a situation calculated to produce powerful, and even tumultuous excitement, in a bosom shaken by strong feelings, and trained to grand and startling associations. It was one to make the heart throb loud, and the eye glance quickly. It was fitted to call up the spirits of the imagination, and to throw over those minds that have owned, and loved to own, their peculiar influences, that spell which has bound them in their boyhood, and which, to this time, they had only read of, but never realized. Upon a spirit constituted like that of our solitary horseman, these associations poured themselves with an intensity that was new to him. The consciousness of his situation thrilled to his soul; but there was a sense of the high daring, the hazardous nature, and the wild uncertainty of the important service he was engaged in, which lent a nameless interest to the chance, and even gave attraction to the danger. Sometimes the possible issue would shoot across his fancy, and her ready pencil sketched upon the very air before him, a sad premature death and weeping friends-bright ambition expiring in its ashes-young glory sinking in dishonor! Then his thoughts sprung to his country-beyond the seas-and, for an instant, he saw those that he gloried in and loved, and the recollection of danger vanished before the vision of an honorable return, and a welcome of smiles and praises! These momentary illusions served somewhat to beguile the way, but were not strong enough to draw the young soldier from his self-recollection. There was enough around him to warn him, at times, that he was in the country of an enemy, and on a path beset with difficulties, and guarded by suspicion. Sometimes the lonely cry of the sentinel, or the stroke of a drum, as he drew near an outpost, suddenly recalled his wandering attention, and his noble animal erected his head, and pricked his ears, as the sound broke on the stillness, while his own heart beat audibly as he reined up to listen. Then, when the challenge was answered, and the password given, it seemed as though a new flood of life was poured through his heart, while he bounded forward on his way, and left the echoes of All's well! far behind him on the wind. The rush of the night-air by his fevered face, the undiminished vigor of his horse, and the recollection of all he had thus far surmounted, served to inspire him with fresh animation, and he looked back on every post passed as a victory won. Forward! forward bravely, as you have done, my noble fellow;' said he to his charger, 'and we will come in view of the spires ere many hours have followed on reveille.'

Alternately exercised by feelings of such opposite excitement, he rode out the long watches of the night. The moon went down, and morning began to redden the east with her coming. The situation of the rider became more perilous as he advanced, and he felt the necessity of exercising all the self-command as well as all the caution that he was master of. He perceived that additional observation was bestowed upon him at each remove. The examination of his credentials was more deliberated, and his person was more closely scanned, as the morning light brought it into fuller survey. Still he passed forward without suspi

cion; but he became particularly sensible of the vigilance of his enemies, and their resoluteness in guarding every avenue, where approach might be anticipated, or through which any impression might be made upon their positions above. Nor were the steps taken, or movements made, by the American party along the banks of the Hudson merely precautionary. Scouts might frequently be seen traversing the country, to prevent the execution of schemes of depredation or secret intercourse, which the foe and the disaffected were not backward to attempt; and it often happened, that something in the nature of an onset followed, when the soldiers fell in with such marauders in their act of foray.

So far as such movements might be called military, they were sometimes made from the encampment at North Castle, then a post of importance held by the Americans. A principal object of the scouting parties was to cut off the communication of the North River post, and come down on the cow-boys, as they swept that way with their supplies. At the time I speak of, such excursions were common; for the occasion that demanded them was of daily occurrence. But I must return to my story -The sun was now well risen, and threw his broad golden light far over the landscape, gladdening the hills, and brightening the waters. A deep flush shot through the wood tops, beneath which our traveller pursued his lonely course, and the dewy branches shook down their huge glittering drops across his path, as the early wind began to stir among them. As he issued into open ground, the roadside sparkled with a thousand gems,-brilliant emblems, as he thought, of his prosperity and his fortunes! but, like them, alas! though he knew it not, they were at that moment withering and vanishing, under an influence stern as fate, and from which there was no possibility of escaping. But now, as the fresh air, mingling with the healthful exhalations of the morning, circled around him, and reinvigorated his lately sinking spirits; and when he strained his view towards the point of his destination, and fancied he could almost see the flag of his country waving in welcome to his weary coming; when he felt a consciousness of security stealing upon, and gradually mastering the painful sense of danger by which he had been so long and so constantly exercised, his thoughts and feelings at once and irresistibly concentrated.

Success, the one thing he had hoped for, and prayed for; for which he had trembled alternately with fear and with delight; for which life interposed, and honor and good fame besought in the tears that became a soldier; success the only thing he now asked of Heaven; brilliant success sat on his helm, and spoke on his brow, and in his fine lip, and his eloquent eye. His heart expanded, his countenance lighted with the warmth of hope, and his very arteries, in their loud pulsations, seemed like voices, passing the good watchword of safety from the joyous citadel to the outposts. Still, as hill and vale were left behind him, his assurances grew stronger, and his doubts disappeared like the young dew he had but just gazed on; till at length certain was he of the vicinity of the British lines, all apprehension subsided, and a delightful calm settled upon the deep waters of his spirit. It was like the halcyon descending upon a mirrored sea!

Day had now advanced so far, and the conviction that toil was nearly over, and danger well nigh past, had become so effectual with our rider, that both policy and pleasure caused him to relax his speed: and he travelled on with an ease and almost carelessness of motion, to which he had before been a stranger. There was even a gaiety mingled itself with