They encountered no danger from human foes until they were in the province of New York, and, having left the lakes behind them, were footing it Southward along the now frozen Hudson.  The Indians in Northern New York had been won to our interest, by Sir John Johnson, of Johnson Hall, in the Mohawk Valley, and were more than formerly inclined to vigilance regarding travellers in those lonely regions.  Upon waking suddenly one night when camped in the woods, Philip saw by the firelight that he was surrounded by a party of silent savages; his sword and pistol, and Cornelius’s rifle, being already in their possession.  The two soldiers were held as prisoners for several days, and made to accompany their captors upon long, mysterious peregrinations.  At last they were brought before Sir John Johnson, at one of his forts; and that gentleman, respecting Governor Carleton’s passes, and the fact that Captain Winwood was related by marriage to the De Lanceys, sent them with a guide to Albany.

Here they reported to General Schuyler; and Philip, having learned by the experience of his journey that his wound left him incapacitated for arduous service afoot, desired an arrangement by which he might join the cavalry branch of the army.  Mr. Schuyler was pleased to put the matter through for him, and to send him to Morristown, New Jersey, (where the rebel main force was then in Winter quarters) with a commendatory letter to General Washington.  Cornelius, whose time of service had expired, was free to accompany him.

Philip, being enrolled, without loss of nominal rank, in Lady Washington’s Light Horse, which Cornelius entered as a trooper, had now the happiness of serving near the person of the commander-in-chief.  He was wounded again at the Brandywine, upon which occasion Cornelius bore him off the field without their being captured.  During the Winter at Valley Forge, and at the battle of Monmouth, and in the recent partisan warfare on both sides of the Hudson, their experiences were those of Washington’s army as a whole, of which there are histories enough extant:  until their troop was cut to pieces by Earl Grey, and Captain Winwood was advanced to an independent command.  This was but a recent event.

“And did he never think of us in New York,” said Tom, “that he sent us no word in all this time?”

“Sure, you must thank your British occupation of New York, if you received none of our messages.  General Washington allowed them to pass.”

“Ay, ’tis not easy for rebels to communicate with their friends in New York,” quoth I, “despite the traffic of goods between the Whig country folk and some of our people, that Captain De Lancey knows about.”

“Tut, man!” said De Lancey.  “Some things must be winked at; we need their farm stuff as much as they want our tea and such.  But correspondence from rebels must go to headquarters—­where ’tis like to stop, when it’s for a family whose head is of Mr. Faringfield’s way of thinking.”