In the Days of Poor Richard

  2

  On a clear, warm day, late in July, 1780, a handsome coach drawn byfour horses crossed King's Ferry and toiled up the Highland road. Itcarried Benedict Arnold and his wife and their baggage. Jack andSolomon passed and recognized them.

  "What does that mean, I wonder?" Jack queried.

  "Dun know," Solomon answered.

  "I'm scared about it," said the younger scout. "I am afraid that thismoney seeker has the confidence of Washington. He has been a goodfighting man. That goes a long way with the Chief."

  Colonel Irons stopped his horse. "I am of half a mind to go back," hedeclared.

  "Why?"

  "I didn't tell the General half that Reed said to me. It was so bitterand yet I believe it was true. I ought to have told him. Perhaps Iought now to go and tell him."

  "There's time 'nough," said Solomon. "Wait till we git back.Sometimes I've thought the Chief needed advice but it's allus turnedout that I was the one that needed it."

  The two horsemen rode on in silence. It was the middle of theafternoon of that memorable July day. They were bound for the neutralterritory between the American and British lines, infested by "cowboys" from the south and "skinners" from the north who were raiding thefarms of the settlers and driving away their cattle to be sold to theopposing armies. The two scouts were sent to learn the facts andreport upon them. They parted at a cross-road. It was near sundownwhen at a beautiful brook, bordered with spearmint and wild iris, Jackwatered and fed his horse and sat down to eat his luncheon. He wasthinking of Arnold and the new danger when he discovered that a manstood near him. The young scout had failed to hear his approach--acircumstance in no way remarkable since the road was little traveledand covered with moss and creeping herbage. He thought not of this,however, but only of the face and form and manner of the stranger. Theface was that of a man of middle age. The young man wrote in a letter:

  "It was a singularly handsome face, smooth shaven and well shaped withlarge, dark eyes and a skin very clean and perfect--I had almost saidit was transparent. Add to all this a look of friendliness andmasterful dignity and you will understand why I rose to my feet andtook off my hat. His stature was above my own, his form erect. Iremember nothing about his clothes save that they were dark in colorand seemed to be new and admirably fitted.

  "'You are John Irons, Jr., and I am Henry Thornhill,' said he. 'I sawyou at Kinderhook where I used to live. I liked you then and, sincethe war began, I have known of your adventures.'

  "'I did not flatter myself that any one could know of them except myfamily, 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 littleway 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 betrayedby his friends. Arnold has been put in command at West Point. He hasplanned 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. Thewiles of an enemy are as an open book to him but those of a friend heis not able to comprehend. He will discredit or only half believe anywarning that you or I may give him. But it is for you and Solomon towarn 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 assumecommand until the third of August.'

  "He shaded his eyes and looked toward the west where the sun wassetting and the low lying clouds were like rose colored islands in agolden 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 myluncheon for I was still hungry.

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

  "I reached the Corlies farm, far down in the neutral territory, at teno'clock and a little before dawn was with Corlies and his neighbors ina rough fight with a band of cattle thieves, in the course of whichthree men and a boy were seriously disabled by my pistols. We hadsalted a herd and concealed ourselves in the midst of it and so wereable to shoot from good cover when the thieves arrived. Solomon and Ispent four days in the neutral territory. When we left it a dozencattle thieves were in need of repair and three had moved to partsunknown. Save in the southern limit, their courage had been broken.

  "I had often thought of Nancy, the blaze-faced mare, that I had gotfrom Governor Reed and traded to Mr. Paulding. I was again reminded ofher by meeting a man who had just come from Tarrytown. Being near thatplace I rode on to Paulding's farm and spent a night in his house. Ifound Nancy in good flesh and spirits. She seemed to know and like thetouch of my hand and, standing by her side, the notion came to me thatI ought to own her. Paulding was reduced in circumstances. Havingbeen a patriot and a money-lender, the war had impoverished him. Myown horse was worn by overwork and so I proposed a trade and offered asum to boot which he promptly accepted. I came back up the north roadwith the handsome, high-headed mare under my saddle. The next night Istopped with one Reuben Smith near the northern limit of the neutralterritory below Stony Point. Smith had prospered by selling suppliesto the patriot army. I had heard that he was a Tory and so I wished toknow 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 andfollowed by quick, stertorous breathing and roars and gestures ofappreciation. His cheerful spirit had no doubt been a help to him inour camp.

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

  "He lifted a foot and swung it in the air while he bent the knee of theleg on which he was standing and opened his mouth widely and blew theair 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,' heremarked, as he continued his cheerful gymnastics. I have never knowna man to whom a joke was so much of an undertaking. He sobered downand added:

  "'This mare is no stranger to oats an' the curry comb."

  "He looked her over carefully before he led her to the stable.

  "Next morning as he stood by her noble head, Smith said to me:

  "'She's a knowin' beast. She'd be smart enough to laugh at my jokesan' I wouldn't wonder.'

  "He was immensely pleased with this idea of his. Then, turningserious, he asked if I would sell her.

  "'You couldn't afford to own that mare,' I said.

  "I had touched his vanity. In fact I did not realize how much he hadmade by his overcharging. He was better able to own her than I andthat he proposed to show me.

  "He offered for her another horse and a sum which caused me to takeaccount of my situation. The money would be a help to me. However, Ishook my head. He increased his offer.

  "'What do you want of her?" I asked.

  "'I've always wanted to own a hoss like that,' he
answered.

  "'I intended to keep the mare,' said I. 'But if you will treat herwell and give her a good home I shall let you have her.'

  "'A man who likes a good joke will never drive a spavined hoss,' heanswered merrily.

  "So it happened that the mare Nancy fell into the hands of ReubenSmith."