and, since
the war began, I have known of your adventures.'

"'I did not flatter myself that any one could know of them except my
family, and my fellow scout and General Washington,' I answered.

"'Well, I happen to have had the chance to know of them,' he went on.
'You are a true friend of the great cause. I saw you passing a little
way back and I followed for I have something to say to you.'

"'I shall be glad to hear of it,' was my answer.

"'Washington can not be overcome by his enemies unless he is betrayed
by his friends. Arnold has been put in command at West Point. He has
planned the betrayal of the army.'

"'Do you know that?' I asked.

"'As well as I know light and darkness.'

"'Have you told Washington?'

"'No. As yet I have had no opportunity. I am telling him, now,
through you. In his friendships he is a singularly stubborn man. The
wiles of an enemy are as an open book to him but those of a friend he
is not able to comprehend. He will discredit or only half believe any
warning that you or I may give him. But it is for you and Solomon to
warn him and be not deceived.'

"'I shall turn about and ride back to camp,' I said.

"'There is no need of haste,' he answered. 'Arnold does not assume
command until the third of August.'

"He shaded his eyes and looked toward the west where the sun was
setting and the low lying clouds were like rose colored islands in a
golden sea, and added as he hurried away down the road to the south:

"'It is a beautiful world.'

"'Too good for fighting men,' I answered as I sat down to finish my
luncheon for I was still hungry.

"While I ate, the tormenting thought came to me that I had neglected to
ask for the source of his information or for his address. It was a
curious oversight due to his masterly manner and that sense of the
guarded tongue which an ordinary mortal is apt to feel in the presence
of a great personality. I had been, in a way, self-bridled and
cautious in my speech, as I have been wont to be in the presence of
Washington himself. I looked down the road ahead. The stranger had
rounded a bend and was now hidden by the bush. I hurried through my
repast, bridled my horse and set off at a gallop expecting to overtake
him, but to my astonishment he had left the road. I did not see him
again, but his words were ever with me in the weeks that followed.

"I reached the Corlies farm, far down in the neutral territory, at ten
o'clock and a l