You rebels wouldn’t be here!”
Some of the soldiers laughed, others showed signs of anger, and the lieutenant said warningly:
“If you keep that up long, Uncle David, my men will serve you as your friends threatened to do at the old hut.” The song came to a sudden close.
A half-hour later the prisoners were in the Continental camp, confined with an hundred others who had been brought in that day. Then Philip and his friends went to the mess-room for supper. While they were eating an orderly came in, and, touching the lieutenant on the shoulder, said:
“General Gates wishes to see you at seven o’clock.”
The lad looked at his watch.
“I will go immediately,” he answered.
On entering the quarters of the commander-in-chief he was surprised to find his father there. General Gates’s first words, however, explained why the former commander was with him.
“Lieutenant Schuyler,” he said, “I sent for your father to consult with him about a matter which gives me considerable anxiety. Ever since I learned that the courier, Preston, whom I ignorantly set at liberty, had papers for General Clinton in New York, I have been fearful lest that officer should send a force up the river to the aid of General Burgoyne, and attack us in the rear.
“I regard your father as altogether too sanguine when he declares it impossible for Clinton to force his way up the river. It may be so, I hope it is so; but that I may be certain there is no danger of such a happening, I have decided to send a trustworthy messenger down the Hudson to learn the exact condition of affairs there. Your father suggested yourself as one who could perform the task to my satisfaction. In my judgment you are rather young for such a trust; but there is some truth in your father’s declaration that, ‘boys can sometimes pass unnoticed where older messengers would excite suspicion.’ Therefore I have decided to try you. Take as many friends as you think advisable; tell my quartermaster to furnish you with horses and whatever else may be needed, and get away to-night if possible. Go only far enough to make certain we are safe from a rear attack for at least two weeks, and then return with your report. Within that time we hope to overcome the enemy in front of us.”