Van Zoon could only have been on legitimate business. We'll dismiss him.
What more have you seen, Peter?"

"Late in the afternoon he went to his schooner, the _Dirkhoeven_, which
is anchored in the river. I could not follow him there, but I saw him
speaking on the deck to a man who did not look like a sailor. They were
there only a minute, then they went into the cabin, and when Mynheer
Van Zoon came ashore he came alone."

"And the man who did not look like a sailor was left on the ship. It may
mean nothing, or it may mean anything, but my mind tells me it hath an
unpleasant significance. Now, I wish I knew this man who is lying hid in
the _Dirkhoeven_. Perhaps it would be better, Jacobus, to instruct Peter
to follow the lad, Lennox, and give the alarm if any threat or menace
appears."

"I think it is the wiser course, Benjamin, and I will even instruct
Peter in such manner."

He spoke a few sentences to Peter, who listened with eagerness,
apparently delighted with the task set for him. When Mynheer Huysman had
finished the lad slipped out at a back door, and was gone like a shadow.

"An admirable youth for our purpose," said Mynheer Jacobus Huysman. "He
likes not work, but if he is to watch or follow anyone he hangs on like
a hound. In Albany he will become the second self of young Lennox, whose
first self will not know that he has a second self."

They returned to the portico. Robert glanced curiously at them, but not
one of the three offered any explanation. He knew, however, that their
guarded talk with Peter had to do with himself, and he felt a great
emotion of gratitude. If he was surrounded by dangers he was also
surrounded by powerful friends. If chance had put him on the outskirts
of the world it had also given him comrades who were an armor of steel
about him.

Tayoga and he occupied their old bedroom at Mynheer Jacobus Huysman's
that night, and once when Robert glanced out of the window he caught a
glimpse of a dark figure lurking in the shrubbery. It was a man who did
not look like a sailor, but as he did not know of the conversation in
the inner room the shadow attracted little attention from him. It
disappeared in an instant, and he thought no more about it.

Robert and his comrades were back in the camp next day, and now they saw
Colonel Johnson at his best, a man of wonderful understanding and tact.
He was soon able to break through the reserve of the New England citizen
officers who were not