2. During this time General Schuyler was staying at his house, which stood just outside the stockade or walls of Albany. The British commander sent out a party of Tories and Indians to capture General Schuyler.
3. When they reached the outskirts of the city, they learned from a Dutch laborer, whom they had taken, that the general's house was guarded by six soldiers, three watching by night, and three by day. They then let the Dutchman go, after making him swear an oath of secrecy. This oath he did not keep very strictly, for, the minute the band was out of sight, he took to his short legs and warned the general of their approach.
4. On one of those scorching August days, when you feel as if you hardly had energy enough to move, and when the very trees droop their dusty leaves, too lazy to hold up their heads, Schuyler and his family were sitting in the large hall, when a servant entered and told the general that there was a strange man at the back door who wished to see him.
5. Schuyler, understanding the trap, gathered his family in one of the upper rooms, and, giving orders that the doors and windows should be barred, fired a pistol from one of the top-story windows to alarm the neighborhood. The guards, who had been lounging in the shade of a tree, started to their feet at the sound of the pistol; but, alas! too late, for they found themselves surrounded by a crowd of dusky figures, who bound them hand and foot, before they had time to resist.
6. In the room up-stairs was the sturdy general, standing resolutely by the door, with his gun in hand, his black slaves gathered around him, each with some weapon. At the other end of the room the women were huddled together, some weeping, some praying. Suddenly, a crash is heard, which chills the very blood, and brings vividly to each one's mind the tales of Indian massacres so common at that day. The band had broken in at one of the windows.
7. At that moment, Mrs. Schuyler springing to her feet, rushed to the door; for she remembered that the baby, only a few months old, having been forgotten in the hour of flight, was asleep in its cradle on the first floor. But the general, catching her in his arms, told her that her life was of more value than her child's, and that, if any one must go, he would. While, however, this generous struggle was going on, the third daughter, gliding past them, was soon at the side of the cradle. All was as black as night in the hall, save for a small patch of light just at the foot of the stairs; this came from the dining-room, where the Indians could be seen pillaging the shelves, pulling down the china, and quarreling with one another over their ill-gotten booty.
8. How to get past the spot was the question, but the girl did not hesitate. She reached the cradle unobserved, and was just darting back with her precious burden, when, by ill-luck, one of the savages happened to see her. Whiz! went his sharp tomahawk, within a few inches of the baby's head, and, clearing the edge of the brave girl's dress, stuck deep in the stair-rail.
9. Just then one of the Tories, seeing her flit by, and supposing her to be a servant, called after her, "Wench, wench, where is your master?" She, stopping a moment, called back, "Gone to alarm the town!" and, hurrying on, was soon again with her father up-stairs.
10. And now, nearly all the plunder having been secured, the band was about to proceed to the real object of the expedition, when the general, raising one of the windows, called out in lusty tones, as if commanding a large body of men: "Come on, my brave fellows! Surround the house! Secure the villains who are plundering!" The cowards knew that voice, and they each and every one of them took to the woods as fast as their legs would carry them, leaving the general in possession of the field.