for her; for presently she retired to her own chamber and lay
down on her bed to rest for an hour or so before supper, in order to
recover from the fatigue and the constant motion of the long voyage;
and I went out into the town to inquire where Colonel Willett might be
found.

The sluggish Dutch burghers of Albany appeared to be active enough that
lovely September afternoon; hurrying hither and thither through the
streets, and not one among them sufficiently civil to stop and give me
an answer to my question concerning Colonel Willett. At first I could
make nothing of this amazing bustle and hurry; wagons, loaded with
household furniture, clattered through the streets or toiled up and down
the hills, discharging bedding, pots and pans, chairs, tables, the
family clock, and Heaven knows what, on to the wharves, where a great
many sloops and other craft were moored, the _Wind-Flower_ among them.

In the streets, too, wagons were standing before fine residences and
shops; servants and black slaves piled them high with all manner of
goods. I even saw a green parrot in a cage, perched atop of a pile of
corded bedding, and the bird cocked his head and called out
continually: "Gad-a-mercy! Gad-a-mercy! Gad-a-mercy!"

An invalid soldier of Colonel Livingston's regiment, his right arm
bandaged in splints, was standing across the street, apparently vastly
amused by the bird in the wagon; and I crossed over to him and asked
what all this exodus might signify.

"Why, the town is in a monstrous fright, friend," he drawled, cradling
his shattered arm and puffing away at his cob-pipe. "Since April, when
them red-devils of Brant's struck Cherry Valley for the second time,
and cleaned up some score and odd women and children, these here
thrifty Dutchmen in Albany have been ready to pack up and pull foot at
the first breath o' foul news."

"But," said I, "what news has alarmed them now?"

"Hey? Scairt 'em? Waal, rumors is thicker than spotted flies in the
sugar-bush. Some say the enemy are a-scalping at Torlock, some say
Little Falls. We heard last week that Schenectady was threatened. It
may be true, for there's a pest o' Tories loose in the outlying county,
and them there bloody Iroquois skulk around the farms and shoot little
children in their own dooryards."

"Do you believe there is any danger in Albany?" I asked incredulously.

He shrugged his shoulders, nursing his bandaged arm.

Then, troubled and apprehensive, I asked