Strong parties held the heights of Harlem, and the northern end of
Manhattan Island was bristling with the bayonets of the English
sentinels, yet the peddler glided among them unnoticed and uninjured.
His approaches to the American lines were also frequent; but generally
so conducted as to baffle pursuit. Many a sentinel, placed in the gorges
of the mountains, spoke of a strange figure that had been seen gliding
by them in the mists of the evening. These stories reached the ears of
the officers, and, as we have related, in two instances the trader had
fallen into the hands of the Americans. The first time he had escaped
from Lawton, shortly after his arrest; but the second he was condemned
to die. On the morning of his intended execution, the cage was opened,
but the bird had flown. This extraordinary escape had been made from the
custody of a favorite officer of Washington, and sentinels who had been
thought worthy to guard the person of the commander in chief. Bribery
and treason could not be imputed to men so well esteemed, and the
opinion gained ground among the common soldiery, that the peddler had
dealings with the dark one. Katy, however, always repelled this opinion
with indignation; for within the recesses of her own bosom, the
housekeeper, in ruminating on the events, concluded that the evil
spirit did not pay in gold.
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