ong in conversation, of which I caught a
few words.

"Who was he? You mean the lad they're after down yonder? Oh, I mind now,
you came up late after we'd started the chase. Holy Mother, I don't know
much myself, now I come to think of it. He looked like a Britisher, what
I saw of him, an' he was fightin' with a Captain of Rangers--Grant was
the name; maybe you know the man?--behind one of the stands. Old Hollis
heard the clash of the steel; an' he called to us, an' the whole bunch
started on a run. It was too dark to see much, but we jumped in an'
pulled 'em apart, never once thinkin' it was more than two young hotheads
doin' a little blood-lettin'. Then this chap turned an' run for it,
trippin' up Sandy McPherson to get clear, and we after him. Somebody said
he was a spy, an' that's the whole I know about it."

"They'll never get him," returned the other solemnly.

"An' why do you think that, man? Sure, an' they're searchin' the shore
both ways, an' Carter has got his fellers ridin' the outposts. To my mind
he hasn't the chance of a rat in a trap, the poor devil."

Bill blew a cloud of smoke into the air, which a puff of wind swept down
into my face.

"Because it's my notion he swum for it. I was closest down the bank, an'
somethin' hit the water. I'm dead sure o' that, though I didn't see the
first thing. It's my guess the lad dived, an' never come up agin 'till he
was out there in them shadows."

"But them's the Jerseys over yonder; if he was a spy he'd be headin' the
other way."

"It's little he'd think of the way with the gang of us yelpin' at his
heels. Besides, there's plenty of his kind over in those Jerseys who'd
take good care of the likes of him. Was ye ever foragin' over there,
lad?"

The other grunted, and the speaker went on steadily.

"They take pot shots at ye from every bit o' woods, or stone wall. They're
sure devils for that kind o' skirmishin' work. God pity the men ordered
out into them parts."

"But there's a guard, stationed across yonder."

"Pish, a corporal's squad, just about opposite at the ferry landin', an'
a company of Yagers down at Gloucester. There's plenty room between for a
bold lad to find free passage."

The two fell silent, staring out over the water. They had set me
thinking, however, and this knowledge of where the British pickets were
stationed was exactly the information I most required. I had no desire to
cross the Delaware, yet apparently in that direction lay t