At any other time George might have consented to accept their hospitality out of sheer good nature. But now he somehow instinctively drew back. It may have been that his first impression of the two men was still strong upon him; or it may have been something else. He did not, however, pause to work it out; but with a bow and a polite wave of the hand, he said:

“You are very kind. Some other time, perhaps; but not to-night.”

And with that he swung along up Broadway, leaving them standing gazing after him.

[138]

CHAPTER X SHOWS HOW WASHINGTON CAME TO NEW YORK

When George Prentiss told Major Hyde and Captain Henderson that he would remain in New York until Washington arrived with the army from Boston, he had not reckoned with the uncertainties of the service.

When

That very evening he was called upon to board a swift-sailing ship to New London, there to deliver certain important writings to the officer in command of that division of the army which was expected to have already reached that point. This duty the young New Englander performed with the promptness native to him; and, under orders of the authorities at New London, he rode with other dispatches to Washington at Norwich.

As he dismounted from his horse before the commander-in-chief’s headquarters, he was greeted with a hearty:

“What! do we see you again, old chap? We thought we’d lost you for a week or more.”

The speaker was a stalwart young man in[139] a continental uniform; and beside him stood another, sleek and pippin-faced and with a friendly smile.

[139]

“The leaders of this army,” laughed the latter, “seem to know an accomplished dispatch bearer when they see one. It speaks well for their discernment.”

George shook them both heartily by the hand.

“I had not expected to see you, either. I had heard,” to the stalwart one, “that you’d been sent off on a recruiting expedition through the Massachusetts towns.”

Nat Brewster nodded gravely.

“I returned only yesterday. And we had but little success. Now that their own homes are not threatened, the people seem 

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