Part 12 (2/2)

”By this time Montagnie was convinced that he was in deadly peril and he quickly decided to sell his life as dearly as possible. Swinging his club he knocked down one of them and leaping over his prostrate body started up the steep side of the Pa.s.s. For some reason he was not fired upon but before he gained the top he was astonished to see two of the party whom he had left in the valley now approaching from above him, almost as if they had dropped out of the clouds.”

”How did they do it?” inquired Grant.

”Very likely they knew of a short cut. At all events the young messenger was caught between the two parties. They took him to a little shanty in the woods and then began to search him. They cut his hat into shreds, and of course found nothing valuable. Then they made him take off his coat and as soon as they had cut the lining they discovered the letters which were hidden there.

”Young Montagnie expected every moment that he would be shot or hanged.

One of the common methods of hanging employed by the cowboys in those days was to put a noose around the prisoner's neck, tie the rope to the limb of a tree after they had put the man on horseback, and then, when they struck the horse and it started quickly, the wretched victim was left hanging in the air. But for some unexplained reason young Montagnie was simply kept in the house three days. Then when he still confidently believed that he was being led to his death he was taken down the Hudson and carried across to New York, where he was shut up in the old Van Cortlandt Sugar House, which stood near the corner of what is now Broadway and Cortlandt Street. You see there were so many American prisoners in New York that the British had to make use of some of the big buildings besides the jails.”

”Yes,” suggested John, ”I have heard that they used some of the churches as jails.”

”They did,” responded Mr. Sanders.

”Well, what happened to young Montagnie?”

”I was just about to tell you,” said Sanders, smiling as he spoke.

”Naturally he felt very bitter when he found himself a prisoner in the old sugar-house. He was so thoroughly convinced that his capture was useless and that he might have made his way successfully across the country to Morristown, that he was angry at Was.h.i.+ngton for his arbitrary command.

”However, three days later his keeper showed him a copy of _Rivington's Gazette_. Rivington was a printer in New York and was a very bitter Tory. Montagnie was not especially interested when he first took the paper, but in a moment he was keenly excited when his eye fell upon an announcement that one of Was.h.i.+ngton's messengers had been captured and that valuable information had been found concealed in his coat. The statement further announced that in this paper was a letter from General Was.h.i.+ngton to General Heath in which the commander explained that he was about to attack the British in New York and expected to find General Clinton entirely unprepared for such action.

”And at that very time,” resumed Mr. Sanders, ”Was.h.i.+ngton with his little army had crossed the Delaware River and was on his way toward Yorktown to help Greene and Lafayette. It was impossible now for Clinton to leave New York, believing as he did that it was about to be attacked, and even after he had found out the trick which Was.h.i.+ngton had played upon him it was too late for him to try to transport his army by sea because Was.h.i.+ngton would arrive at Yorktown before the red coats possibly could come to the aid of Cornwallis. The battle of Yorktown followed, as you know, and Cornwallis and his army were made prisoners.

Indeed it was at Yorktown that really the final independence of the Colonies was won. But I have always felt that the part which young Montagnie took in winning the victory at Yorktown has never been known as it ought to be.”

”What became of him?” inquired Fred.

”I don't know. I have often tried to find out,” replied Mr. Sanders.

”You see the men in those days were so busy making history that they had little time in which to write it. As a consequence there are many things which we would like to know, but do not.”

”Now,” continued Mr. Sanders as he arose from his seat, ”I understand that you boys have lost an automobile.”

”We didn't lose it,” exclaimed George; ”it was stolen.”

”It seems to me,” said Mr. Sanders, ”that if you had an automobile and haven't one now you must have lost it, whatever the way in which it disappeared.”

CHAPTER XI-THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING CAR

”What are you going to do?” inquired Mr. Sanders.

”We don't know what to do,” explained Fred. ”We thought when you came out here you would tell us.”

”I think I shall leave it for you boys to settle among yourselves.”

”But don't you want to get your car back?” demanded Grant in surprise.

”Indeed I do,” said Mr. Sanders.

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