crossing
the yard from the western part of the enclosure, towards the house; that
immediately after the shout was given, they discovered several people
running back in the same direction: they hailed them, which being
disregarded, they fired upon them, one of whom they brought down, which
was the wounded man they had brought in. The others, though they pursued
them, got off.

The prisoner's wound was not dangerous, the ball had shattered his arm,
and glanced upon his breast. They dressed his wound as well as they
could, and then requested him to unfold the circumstances of the
suspicious appearance in which he was involved.

"First promise me, on your honour, said the stranger, that you will use
your influence to prevent my being punished or imprisoned."

This they readily agreed to, on condition that he would conceal nothing
from them--and he gave them the following relation:

That they were a part of a gang of _illicit traders_; men who had
combined for the purpose of carrying on a secret and illegal commerce
with the British army on Long Island, whom, contrary to the existing
laws, they supplied with provisions, and brought off English goods,
which they sold at very extortionate prices. But this was not all; they
also brought over large quantities of counterfeit continental money,
which they put off among the Americans for live stock, poultry, produce,
&c. which they carried to the Island. The counterfeit money they
purchased by merely paying for the printing; the British having obtained
copies of the American emission, struck immense quantities of it in
New-York, and insidiously sent it out into the country, in order to sink
our currency.

This gang was likewise connected with the cow-boys, who made it their
business to steal, not only milch cows, and other cattle, but also hogs
and sheep, which they drove by night to some convenient place on the
shores of the Sound, where these _thief-partners_ received them, and
conveyed them to the British.

"In our excursions across the Sound, continued the wounded man, we had
frequently observed this mansion, which, from every appearance, we were
convinced was uninhabited:--we therefore selected it as a suitable place
for our future rendezvous, which had therefore been only in the open
woods. To cross the moat, we dragged up an old canoe from the sea shore,
which we concealed in the bushes as soon as we recrossed from the old
mansion. To get over the wall we used ladders