the Hessians had turned from the highway into the Mile Square
road. Peyton immediately led his men to that road. Thus, as old
Valentine said, that part of the highway between the manor-house and
King's Bridge remained clear of these rebel dragoons, and Major Colden
stood in no danger of meeting them on his return to New York. The
major, nevertheless, did not spare his horse as he pursued his lonely
way through the windy darkness. When he arrived at King's Bridge he
was glad to give his horse another rest, and to accept an invitation
to a bottle and a game in the tavern where the British commanding
officer was quartered.

The Hessians had not gone far on the Mile Square road, when their
leader called a halt and consulted with his subordinate officer. They
were now near Mile Square, where the Tory captain, James De Lancey,
kept a recruiting station all the year round, and Valentine's Hill,
where there was a regiment of Highlanders. Their own security was
thus assured, but they might do more than come off in safety,--they
might strike a parting blow at their pursuers. A plan was quickly
formed. A messenger was despatched to Mile Square to request a small
reinforcement. The troop then turned back towards the highway, having
planned for either one of two possibilities. The first was that the
rebel dragoons, not thinking the Hessians had turned into the Mile
Square road, would ride on down the highway. In that case, the
Hessians would follow them, having become in their turn the
pursuers, and would fall upon their rear. The noise of firearms would
alarm the Hessian camp by Tippett's Brook, below, and the rebels
would thus be caught between two forces. The second possibility was
that the Americans would follow into the Mile Square road. When the
sound of their horses soon told that this was the reality, the
Hessians promptly prepared to meet it.

The force divided into two parts. The foremost blocked the road, near
a turning, so as to remain unseen by the approaching rebels until
almost the moment of collision. The second force stayed some rods
behind the first, forming in two lines, one along each side of the
road. As to each force, some were armed with sabres and cavalry
pistols, but most, being mounted yagers of Van Wrumb's battalion, with
rifles.

As for the little detachment of Lee's Light Horse that was now
galloping along the Mile Square road, under Harry Peyton's command,
the arms were mainly broadswords and pisto