ever saw," and then
she laughed again. "And I'm not forage, am I? And there's not a soul
but me in this carriage; look for yourself. There, now tell Pete to
drive on, please. After all, I'm glad to see you. And send my love to
your mother and Naomi, won't you."

Rodney hesitated. She was the same imperious, winsome girl who had
been his favourite playmate. No, there was no one inside the carriage;
he was sure of that. How the men would laugh at him for capturing a
negro and a girl! He felt like a ninny and afraid he might look like
one.

"Drive on," he said with all the importance he could command, adding:
"I am sorry to delay you, but must obey orders."

"Good night," she called back as she rode away. The coachman was
plying the whip, and there was a note of triumph in her voice that
somehow jarred on Rodney's nerves.

As he paced back and forth the conviction that he had made a grave
mistake grew upon him, though for his life he could not be sure why it
might be a mistake. Why need he say anything about the affair? The men
would only joke him. Yes, he would tell the whole story and take the
responsibility.

"Did ye inspect the inside o' the nigger as well as the carriage?" was
the question sharply asked him by the officer the following day, when
it was found that the officer's horse was gone from the stable, and
that every slave on the place had run away the day before, just after
the search of the house.

[Illustration: "'SAY, YOU FELLERS AS HEV BREECHES OUGHT TER BRING US IN A
BITE TER EAT.'"]

Assuming the disguise of a black menial was the last thing he would
have suspected a haughty British officer to do!

Oh, but the disappointment was a bitter one! He had expected
promotion. Certainly he had earned it. Now, that hope was gone. His
blunder was the jest of his comrades, who would call after him:
"Nigger in the woodpile, nigger on the box."

Morgan, troubled with rheumatism, had gone to his home in Winchester
for the winter. The army was half starved and poorly clothed, and
to make matters worse, it was generally understood that these
hardships were due to corruption and incompetency; for there were
some in authority, in those days, who were greedy, dishonest and
hard-hearted.

Young Allison had occasion to visit the camp at Valley Forge and the
sights he saw there never left his memory. Wretchedness and misery
were on every side. How did Washington, knowing as he must that these
conditions were unn