rtain in what direction the
Hessians were about to march. He promised not to expose himself
unnecessarily, and to overtake us speedily, so I saw no objection to his
proposal.

We rode on as fast as the horses could go, without risk of falling over
the very rough and ill-formed road. It was late in the day, and still
Spinks had not overtaken us. I began to feel anxious about him, for I
knew that, should he fall into the hands of the Hessians, he would have
very little mercy to expect from them. After what had occurred they
would probably look upon him as a spy, and hang him without ceremony. I
thought of sending back one of the servants who had charge of the
baggage-horses, to try and learn something about him, but Caractacus,
the negro in question, positively refused to go.

"If Massa Spinks dead, Cractus no make him live again," he argued. "If
he live, he come back of his self."

There was no controverting this opinion, so we continued our journey.
We at last came to a cottage, in which was an old woman almost deaf and
blind. After much interrogation, I found that her two sons had gone to
the wars with General Washington, and that a daughter-in-law who lived
with her was away to get some provisions, and, what was of importance to
us, that we were on the road we had wished to take. We had still a
league to go before reaching the house at which Mrs Tarleton wished to
rest before crossing the river. Spinks knew of it, so we hoped that he
would rejoin us there. There was something very genuine about that poor
fellow. I had done him a service, and he wished to do me one, so I
could not help taking a liking to him. Both Mrs Tarleton and her niece
had become somewhat anxious about our friend. The shades of evening
grew rapidly denser, for the twilight in that latitude is short, and
still he did not appear. We could not, however, stop for him, and it
became at last so dark that we could scarcely find the entrance to the
house at which we were to stop. It seemed a long, low building,
surrounded by a courtyard and walls, with several out-houses and gardens
and orchards outside. I made out an entrenchment in front, with a
wooden bridge over a moat, and then a stone wall with some massive
gates. After ringing for some time they were opened, and several armed
men appeared on either side. As we rode on to the hall door there
appeared a blaze of light inside, and a tall, dignified old gentleman
came down the step