ittle before dawn was with Corlies and his neighbors in
a rough fight with a band of cattle thieves, in the course of which
three men and a boy were seriously disabled by my pistols. We had
salted a herd and concealed ourselves in the midst of it and so were
able to shoot from good cover when the thieves arrived. Solomon and I
spent four days in the neutral territory. When we left it a dozen
cattle thieves were in need of repair and three had moved to parts
unknown. Save in the southern limit, their courage had been broken.

"I had often thought of Nancy, the blaze-faced mare, that I had got
from Governor Reed and traded to Mr. Paulding. I was again reminded of
her by meeting a man who had just come from Tarrytown. Being near that
place I rode on to Paulding's farm and spent a night in his house. I
found Nancy in good flesh and spirits. She seemed to know and like the
touch of my hand and, standing by her side, the notion came to me that
I ought to own her. Paulding was reduced in circumstances. Having
been a patriot and a money-lender, the war had impoverished him. My
own horse was worn by overwork and so I proposed a trade and offered a
sum to boot which he promptly accepted. I came back up the north road
with the handsome, high-headed mare under my saddle. The next night I
stopped with one Reuben Smith near the northern limit of the neutral
territory below Stony Point. Smith had prospered by selling supplies
to the patriot army. I had heard that he was a Tory and so I wished to
know him. I found him a rugged, jovial, long-haired man of middle age,
with a ready ringing laugh. His jokes were spoken in a low tone and
followed by quick, stertorous breathing and roars and gestures of
appreciation. His cheerful spirit had no doubt been a help to him in
our camp.

"'I've got the habit o' laughin' at my own jokes,' said he. 'Ye see
it's a lonely country here an' if I didn't give 'em a little
encouragement they wouldn't come eround,' the man explained.

"He lifted a foot and swung it in the air while he bent the knee of the
leg on which he was standing and opened his mouth widely and blew the
air out of his lungs and clapped his hands together.

"'It also gives you exercise,' I remarked.

"'A joke is like a hoss; it has to be fed or it won't work,' he
remarked, as he continued his cheerful gymnastics. I have never known
a man to whom a joke was so much of an undertaking. He sobered down
and added: