"I mean him.... And his troops. Where are they at this moment?"
"Do you not know that the army is before Stanwix?"
"I know it now," said I gravely.
"Mercy on us, Jack!" cried Claudia, finding her voice shrilly; "will you not tell us how it is that we meet you here on the Oneida road and close to our own army?"
I shook my head: "No, Claudia, I shall not tell you. But I must ask you how you came here and whither you now are bound. And you must answer."
They gazed at my sombre face with an intentness and anxiety that made me sadder than ever I was in all my life.
Then, without a word, Lady Johnson laid aside the silken flap of her red foot-mantle. And there my shocked eyes beheld a new born baby nursing at her breast.
"We accompanied my husband from Buck Island to Oswego," she said tremulously. "And, as the way was deemed so utterly secure, we took boat at Oneida Lake and brought our horses.... And now are returning—never dreaming of danger from—from your people—Jack."
I stared at the child; I stared at her.
"In God's name," I said, "get forward then, and hail your horsemen escort. Say to them that the road is dangerous! Take to your batteau and get you to Oswego as soon as may be. And I strictly enjoin you, come not this way again, for there is now no safety in Tryon for man or woman or child, nor like to be while red-coat or green remains within this new-born nation!