The American troops were still on the march toward the hills when Ben was summoned by an ensign to report to the commander-in-chief. Riding through a press of officers, his right hand at the salute, the boy reached the side of Washington.
“Is your mount fresh enough to make a second journey to Philadelphia?” asked the commander.
“Yes, general.”
“I have another message for Mr. Robert Morris; and as there is no time to write it, you must carry it as you carried his to me.”
Ben saluted.
“The money which he was to dispatch on the night of the first has been delayed, so Master Morris states in a letter received but now. Say to him that the utmost care must be exercised in the transportation of the coin, because of the unsettled state of the roads; say that I desire him to have a guard accompany the carriage, and instruct the person in charge to make for Morristown and not Trenton.”
There were some minor additions to this; and upon receiving the order, Ben wheeled his horse and rode back to his friends.
“Back to Philadelphia,” he announced, “and at once.”
They gathered around him and offered advice as to the most trustworthy way of making his journey. It was no child’s task to cover the ground between their present situation and the river, as they well knew. Ben shook each of them by the hand and bid them good-bye; then taking a rough by-road which ran almost directly toward the Delaware, he spurred forward upon his mission.
It was almost noon and the January sun sparkled upon the snow-covered fields; lower and redder it fell in the west until at length, when he sighted the ice-packed Delaware, the long shadows were stealing along the fringes of woods and upon the eastern slopes of the hills.