302 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



who whispered to their guide and then led the way up to a building 

 which seemed by the shadowy outline to be a large stone barn. They 

 entered it and were severally placed in small nooks where they could 

 feel that the hay was all around them except on the side of the wall. 

 Shortly after some provisions were brought to them with the same 

 silence, and it was signified to them that they were to remain concealed 

 the whole of the coming day. Through a crevice in the wall, Lee could 

 discover as the day came on, that the barn was attached to a small farm 

 house. lie was so near the house that he could overhear the conversa- 

 tion which was carried on about the door. The morning rose clear, and 

 it was evident from the inquiries of horsemen, who occasionally galloped 

 up to the door, that the country was alarmed. The farmer gave short 

 and surly replies, as if unwilling to be taken oft' from his labor, but the 

 other inmates of the house were eager in their questions, and from the 

 answers, Lee gathered that the means by which he and his companions 

 had escaped were as mysterious as ever. 



" The next night, when all was quiet, they resumed their march, and 

 explained to Lee that, as he was not with them in their conspiracy, and 

 was accidentally associated with them in their escape, they should take 

 the precaution to keep him before them, just behind the guide. He sub- 

 mitted without opposition, though the arrangement considerably lessened 

 his chances of escape. He observed, from the direction of the stars, that 

 they did not move in a direct line towards the Delaware, but they 

 changed their courses so often that he could not conjecture at what point 

 they intended to strike the river. He endeavored, whenever any pecu- 

 liar object appeared, to fix it in his memory as well as the darkness would 

 permit, and succeeded better than could have been expected, considering 

 the agitated state in which he traveled. 



" For several nights they went on in this manner, being delivered over 

 to different persons, from time to time ; and as Lee could gather from 

 their whispering conversations, they were regularly employed on occa- 

 sions like the present, and well rewarded by the British for their services. 

 Their employment was full of danger ; and though they seemed like des- 

 perate men, he could observe that they never remitted their precautions. 

 They were concealed days in barns — cellars — caves made for the purpose, 

 and similar retreats, and one day was passed in a tomb, the dimensions 

 of which had been enlarged, and the inmates, if there had been any, ban- 

 ished to make room for the living. The burying grounds were a favor- 

 ite retreat, and on more occasions than one they were obliged to resort 

 to superstitious alarms to remove intruders upon their path : their success 

 fully justified the experiment, and, unpleasantly situated as he was, in 

 the prospect of soon being a ghost himself, he could not avoid laughing 

 at the expedition with which old and young fled from the fancied appari- 



