Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/285

The very silence was of itself impressive, and in spite of the feeling of depression that now possessed him, Robert Dorlon soon found himself looking eagerly forward to the time when the other division should be met at the fork in the road. Of the purpose and destination of the band he had no question, for it had been said by the leader himself in his conversation with Claudius Brown that they were bound for Esopus, and Robert was convinced that there could be but one object in such an advance. At Esopus the few prisoners whom the Americans had secured were held; and doubtless the coming of the lieutenant with his redcoats had something to do with a project for their release by their friends. There flashed into his mind the recollection of the letter which he himself had taken from the man whom he had discovered in the bushes in the rear of Hannah Nott's house, and he was striving to think out the possible connection between that fact and the present advance of the band, in the midst of which he was marching. Days had elapsed since his discovery, and Jacob Gunning had sent his own daughter with the letter to parties in whose hands the information would not be permitted to be useless.