"Is your horse fresh?" General Washington asked when Enoch rode up.
"Yes, sir."
"Then you will take this letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, who is, or will be by the time you arrive, at Cranberry. This is purely a personal matter, and you will present the letter without ostentation. Be discreet during the journey, for although I do not anticipate your meeting the enemy between here and that point, it is not impossible there may be scouting parties out."
There was apparently no reason why Enoch should return to where he had left his friend Greene, and he set off without delay, riding during the remainder of the day, and at nightfall was standing in front of General Lafayette's quarters—a dilapidated house on the easterly side of the small settlement of Cranberry.
Asking for an interview on the plea of important business, and taking good care not to mention the fact that he was a messenger from the commander-in-chief, Enoch was admitted at a time when the marquis was alone, and, therefore, had no difficulty in giving him the letter privately.
The marquis read it carefully, appeared alternately surprised and disappointed, and finally asked:
"Are you on General Washington's staff, my boy?"
"His excellency was so kind as to say that I should consider myself in that position; but it was only done, when I brought the news of the evacuation, in order that I might have no trouble in getting rations for myself and horse."
"It seems that you still occupy that position?"
"Yes, sir, and the reason, I suppose, is that my services are required; but I am not really an aid."