In
obedience to the commands of his superior, an officer, with a small
party, was sent to the cottage to conduct Henry Wharton to the place
directed; and the gentleman who was intrusted with the execution of the
order was charged with a letter from Dunwoodie to his friend, containing
the most cheering assurances of his safety, as well as the strongest
pledges of his own unceasing exertions in his favor. Lawton was left
with part of his own troop, in charge of the few wounded; and as soon as
the men were refreshed, the encampment broke up, the main body marching
towards the Hudson. Dunwoodie repeated his injunctions to Captain Lawton
again and again--dwelt on every word that had fallen from the peddler,
and canvassed, in every possible manner that his ingenuity could devise,
the probable meaning of his mysterious warnings, until no excuse
remained for delaying his own departure. Suddenly recollecting, however,
that no directions had been given for the disposal of Colonel Wellmere,
instead of following the rear of the column, the major yielded to his
desires, and turned down the road which led to the Locusts. The horse of
Dunwoodie was fleet as the wind, and scarcely a minute seemed to have
passed before he gained sight, from an eminence, of the lonely vale, and
as he was plunging into the bottom lands that formed its surface, he
caught a glimpse of Henry Wharton and his escort, at a distance,
defiling through a pass which led to the posts above.
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