The Spy | Page 6

affected a neutrality they did not feel. The lower towns were,
of course, more particularly under the dominion of the crown, while the
upper, finding a security from the vicinity of the continental troops,
were bold in asserting their revolutionary opinions, and their right to
govern themselves. Great numbers, however, wore masks, which even
to this day have not been thrown aside; and many an individual has
gone down to the tomb, stigmatized as a foe to the rights of his
countrymen, while, in secret, he has been the useful agent of the leaders
of the Revolution; and, on the other hand, could the hidden repositories
of divers flaming patriots have been opened to the light of day, royal
protections would have been discovered concealed under piles of
British gold.
At the sound of the tread of the noble horse ridden by the traveler, the
mistress of the farmhouse he was passing at the time might be seen
cautiously opening the door of the building to examine the stranger;
and perhaps, with an averted face communicating the result of her
observations to her husband, who, in the rear of the building, was
prepared to seek, if necessary, his ordinary place of concealment in the
adjacent woods. The valley was situated about midway in the length of

the county, and was sufficiently near to both armies to make the
restitution of stolen goods no uncommon occurrence in that vicinity. It
is true, the same articles were not always regained; but a summary
substitute was generally resorted to, in the absence of legal justice,
which restored to the loser the amount of his loss, and frequently with
no inconsiderable addition for the temporary use of his property. In
short, the law was momentarily extinct in that particular district, and
justice was administered subject to the bias of personal interests and the
passions of the strongest.
The passage of a stranger, with an appearance of somewhat doubtful
character, and mounted on an animal which, although unfurnished with
any of the ordinary trappings of war, partook largely of the bold and
upright carriage that distinguished his rider, gave rise to many surmises
among the gazing inmates of the different habitations; and in some
instances, where conscience was more than ordinarily awake, to no
little alarm.
Tired with the exercise of a day of unusual fatigue, and anxious to
obtain a speedy shelter from the increasing violence of the storm, that
now began to change its character to large drops of driving rain, the
traveler determined, as a matter of necessity, to make an application for
admission to the next dwelling that offered. An opportunity was not
long wanting; and, riding through a pair of neglected bars, he knocked
loudly at the outer door of a building of a very humble exterior, without
quitting his saddle. A female of middle age, with an outward bearing
but little more prepossessing than that of her dwelling, appeared to
answer the summons. The startled woman half closed her door again in
affright, as she saw, by the glare of a large wood fire, a mounted man
so unexpectedly near its threshold; and an expression of terror mingled
with her natural curiosity, as she required his pleasure.
Although the door was too nearly closed to admit of a minute scrutiny
of the accommodations within, enough had been seen to cause the
horseman to endeavor, once more, to penetrate the gloom, with longing
eyes, in search of a more promising roof, before, with an ill-concealed
reluctance, he stated his necessities and wishes. His request was

listened to with evident unwillingness, and, while yet unfinished, it was
eagerly interrupted by the reply:
"I can't say I like to give lodgings to a stranger in these ticklish times,"
said the female, in a pert, sharp key. "I'm nothing but a forlorn lone
body; or, what's the same thing, there's nobody but the old gentleman at
home; but a half mile farther up the road is a house where you can get
entertainment, and that for nothing. I am sure 'twill be much
convenienter to them, and more agreeable to me--because, as I said
before, Harvey is away; I wish he'd take advice, and leave off
wandering; he's well to do in the world by this time; and he ought to
leave off his uncertain courses, and settle himself, handsomely, in life,
like other men of his years and property. But Harvey Birch will have
his own way, and die vagabond after all!"
The horseman did not wait to hear more than the advice to pursue his
course up the road; but he had slowly turned his horse towards the bars,
and was gathering the folds of an ample cloak around his manly form,
preparatory to facing the storm again, when something in the speech