“‘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 little 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.